Star Trek: Eventide 777 - lower-ship-port

Lucian walked into the ship port, checking over the status of the refueling of his ship. He leaned against the window looking out on his ship, the Federation style refit of the Cardassian Groumall type, acquired towards the end of the Dominion War. The front section had that standard federation shuttle point instead of the Cardassian forked design. Minor alterations to the rear of the ship included Federation issue Nacelles mounted along with the original engines, which gave it a nice burst of speed. The ship itself was painted with crumbling red paint that may have once been crimson, now peeling away, revealing the plating underneath. This was The Rose. His pride and joy, and for now, busy refueling and looking pretty.

She enters curiously after hearing someone inside the room. She turns to see someone with their ship, refueling it. "Hello?"

Lucian was slightly distracted with his PADD, checking through systems remotely as it refueled. "Busted... inoperable... missing, somehow? Well at least life support still works on you, old girl. Who needs comfort anyway, I'll just get some food at that bar with the cute Orion chick. Hope I'm making you jealous." He grumbled as he put the PADD down, hearing someone calling out. "Gonna assume you're talking to me?" He responded without turning around, seemingly studying his ship still. "If it is about business, may be grounded for a short while, at least until repairs are done. Should only be a matter of days, I promise."

"Oh, no. I was just walking around to cool down a bit because of some jerk in the chat room. Ensign Emin, by the way. You are?" She asked curiously.

Lucian felt like laughing there. Seems he ruffled some feathers, still a bit of fun here and there never hurt anyone. As far as he was concerned, this was just business, and Starfleet was just lurking like they always did when the possibility of war was nearby. "Don't like doing names. They always leave, die, or simply fade into the background anyway." He said, providing a clue at who he was, and a rare insight into the depressive frustration that made up most of his childish antics. "The big girl out there likes to introduce herself however, she goes by The Rose."

"Makes sense to me, nice to meet your ship then. Although I can't say ships are any better than people in that department. Somehow they also seem to fade away eventually" She smiles. "Your a pilot then? That's cool, I have a friend back on Bajor that's a pilot. Whatcha here for anyway? Just standard cargo or transport or something?"

"Ah Rose here doesn't fade away. I don't let her. She's gotten me through more scrapes than I care to count, which isn't bad considering she was in service during the Dominion War, on the other side. Captured and retrofitted for Starfleet use, before being stressed to breaking point and just left to drift in a dark corner of space. Felt a connection with her then, and bought her outright. Still mostly inoperable, but the essential systems work, and the hull is like flying a small vault." Lucian nodded with a smile. "Used to fly her with a crew, until they all up and left one day. So now I'm just flying cargo, people, and whatever else for the Civilian population of the station."

"Ah, sounds like one sturdy ship." She comments and studies the ship called Rose. "Sounds like you've been through one or two scrapes together. I can see why you've formed an attachment."

"Sturdy doesn't begin to cover it. It's the versatility and speed that makes her quite so good. Three refits in her lifetime, means that nearly any component can be installed and still work. Been times where I've had to scavenge parts from wrecks in space to get back to a dock to properly repair her. My first and only ship." Lucian looked out over his ship, ugly, thuggish, and underpowered in a fight. He loved it. "Keeps me in trouble, and keeps latinum in my pockets. Don't need much else in the system, trouble and money."

"Sounds like an exciting life! Any stories you'd like to share?" Her eyes sparkled with interest, she loves stories. Especially the ones her grandparents used to tell her from the Bajoran Occupation or the real old ones passed down from even before that. The ones about justice and revenge from the days before.

"Stories huh? Let me think..." Lucian leant against the wall, rubbing his chin. "Okay, so, picture this. Myself and Rose drifting through space, ruptured warp core, and an entire nacelle sheared from the side of the ship, antimatter is leaking out around the ship and we're stuck on impulse with a fleet of very angry Ferengi in tow. May or may not have been involved with selling them less than honest latinum ore. But considering I knew they would then beam aboard to steal the rest of the cargo, I was within my right to make sure the rest was unrefined iron. So they start to close the distance, weapons firing as my shields go down. I'm stuck in engineering, with a rapidly destabilizing warp core. What happens next?"

Her eyes widen as she envisioned the plot, if she was sitting down she'd be at the edge of her seat. While it was slightly different than the stories her grandparents told her they still carried the same idea. Just replace the angry Ferengi with Cardassians and your all set to go! "What? What happened next?"

"Simple. The ship is trailing antimatter, and the warp core is about to explode. So I dump the warp core, sprint to the bridge to take the helm, and as the warp core detonates, reacting with the antimatter to create a blast big enough for most of the Ferengi ships, I ride the wave into the gravitational pull of a nearby moon, and use the gravity well to slingshot the ship away from the main damaging blast of the warp core, slipping away in the chaos of the blast. Spent two weeks living in my EVA suit due to damage to the life support on the rear section of the ship, and crawled at impulse to the nearest Starbase for repairs."

"Woa...that's pretty cool! I can't believe you did that...that's pretty awesome. Reminds me of the stories my grandparents tell me of the Bajoran Occupation. They did some pretty neat stuff too. What's the most dangerous thing you've ever done?" She asked eagerly.

"Most dangerous thing I have ever done... Probably running across the outside of Rose in a malfunctioning EVA suit, with 1% oxygen left in it, while the radiation shielding was still buffering. Cardassian security program locked all the internal doors, so I had to make runs across the outside of the ship to get from room to room to override it."

"Cardassian aye? I have nothing against Cardassians.. except the obvious. But I have met a couple who were pretty nice. What's the full story though? Why were you in that situation in the first place?"

"The situation itself was incredibly boring actually. Was just a standard medicine delivery for a hospital world; flying along when I decide to poke through the computer's archives, and accidentally trip some kind of anti-theft system. Thankfully the bulkheads in the bridge and engineering were Federation refits, so weren't affected by the system surge." Lucian explained, shrugging his shoulders idly like it wasn't a big deal.

"That's good, it must feel so exhilarating to be in situations like those with the adrenaline running through your veins and that risk that if you don't do it right...your dead! Although, I probably shouldn't be thinking like that should I?" She laughs nervously. "I mean, it's pretty tiring afterwards and you just want to sleep and write your report. From what I can tell anyway, my first mission was a few days ago."

"That's the best thing about being freelance. No reports needed, and no crew needed to rely upon." Lucian stated bluntly. "I cannot get along with any of those rules and regulations. Never have been able to, and never will be able to; why overcomplicate with paperwork? I just do as I do, fill out manifests, and improvise if I get into trouble. No need for anything else other than a sharp wit and fast legs."

"Actually, you'd be surprised how relaxing it is to just debrief and write your report. And it actually feels nice to help someone who can't help themselves, to protect them." She blushed as she thought about the applause that was given to her after she had helped saved all those officers and civilians from the enemies cargo bay. It almost didn't feel right since she wasn't supposed to take the lead anyway. It should have been for Lieutenant Whidbey or Lieutenant Voxellus, someone with more experience than her. Still, she was glad she was able to step in when they were injured.

"Yeah, no thank you. You can keep your glory and your heroism. I'm just a simple man trying to survive in a universe that wants to kill you." Lucian frowned as he thought on all the ways he had nearly died in the past, if he tried to help other people, he would just be shoving himself in the way of danger; not what he wanted or needed. "Hard enough to stay alive day to day without keeping others alive. It's why I'm glad this station seems to be calm again, no risk, and lots of reward. You won't catch me putting myself out like that."

"I quite like the risk honestly, if anything, I won't die a worthless death. At least it would have been for something rather than just simply surviving. I want to live and make an impact in other's lives, I don't care if they know about it or not. I just want to die for a purpose or a cause." She says thoughtfully.

"All death is worthless. There's no such thing as a worthy death, and don't let any Klingon tell you otherwise. Survival is the top priority for any creature, and I think even Klingons don't want to die, just excuse it with worthy death and all that stuff." Lucian shook his head, before fixing his hair. "But hey, feel free to go about being the hero. Just don't expect anyone like me to have your back; went freelance so I couldn't be guilt tripped into helping others."

She stays quiet for a moment, what he was saying sounded so wrong. To her at least. What's the point of just surviving? She wanted to live and make an impact. Or else there really wouldn't be any point. With a mind like that, Bajor wouldn't have ever been free from Cardassian rule and the space would just be a mess of individuals just vying for survival. "Oh, I'm not trying to guilt trip you or anything. Besides, I don't need you to watch my back. That's what other officers are for... actually my job is to protect you and the station." She says curiously, it felt weird. Specially since the man in front of her seemed to have been through alot and she was just fresh out of the academy. It was thrilling to think she might one day save his life though.

Lucian shook his head, his augmented eye glinting in the light as he did so. "Great... I feel so much safer knowing my life is in the hands of the Federation. Because they have helped me on so many other occasions where my life was in the balance." He stated sarcastically. The man appeared to have quite the distaste for the Federation. He sighed in frustration, moving to the airlock of his ship. "Got repairs I need to be getting on with. See you starside, jackboot." He revealed himself with his parting word, like every good merchant.

She pursed her lip in annoyance. It appears the man in front of her was the same jerk from the chatroom. At the very least he told good stories and seemed nice enough. Although his perspective seemed a little warped to her. She nodded as she began to leave. "See you later Vaysh!" She gave a quick smile before leaving the room.

After a while of fixing his ship, Lucian left the port, heading back to his usual haunt, that being the bar.

She entered the lower-ship-port and began looking around for the person of the same likeness of that of the image on her PADD. She pushed through the clearing out room and made sure to check around every corner to see if she could spot the bomber.

Here there were a good number of visitors making their way to where the USS Pontoon was to escort them out. Some people seemed to be debating whether they wanted to actually leave or not, trying to wait for further orders to evacuate the station entirely instead.

She continued to look around for the offender, the person responsible for the bombing and the chaos that reigned on the station.

It was difficult to see over the crowds of people currently conversing or making their way onto the ship. Due to the sheer number of people gathered here it was difficult to make out individual figures at all.

Struggling to see everyone clearly, especially the person who she was trying to find, she continued to look for the tell tale signs of the bomber. The species, color of their skin, the shape of their head...all these things she looked for as well as any suspicious activity going on in the crowd. She continued pushing through the many people and scanning the crowd.

The image which had been provided from the security cameras had indicated someone with prominent pointed ears, a very pale skin which seemed an almost light-blue or grey in the lighting, lithe in build and average in height. Their clothing had been relatively plain, green in colour with a roughly-made scarf looped around their neck. Here and there were a couple of bald people but they didn't match the rest of the description: one a Human male judging by the ears and skin colour, and a Bolian who was too blue to be the person from the camera. It was still difficult to see...

She hummed thoughtfully as she walked through and surveyed the crowd, making her way to where everyone was leaving through and positioned herself by the wall so that she could see the people passing through. She stood on her tip toes to get a better look, while not exactly short she wasn't the tallest person either but continued to look diligently.

That little bit of extra height just helped Emin to see over the shoulder of a particularly tall Klingon -- and right at the entrance to the airlock behind only a couple of people waiting to board, was a rather slim, average height, bald person with distinctly pointed ears.

She smiled after spotting the just the person she was looking for. She quickly but discreetly made her way to the alien, thankful that she had been on reserve before everything happened and was still wearing off-duty close. She made it to the bomber and smiled cheerily. "Hello there, mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Nervously she had been wringing her hands together, waiting as patiently as she could but evidently failing to keep that patience reigned in. Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of someone approaching. They didn't seem Starfleet but oh stars, what if they were? It was nervously that she shrunk back as the person stopped just beside her, eyes widening and already looking terrified. "Please, I just want to leave..."

Georgia walked into the port but stayed at the entrance, looking over the group as if she was just there to guide some people along. She'd see how things go first before reacting. An officer was with them already, time will tell what will happen next.

"Hey, I just gotta ask you some questions." She said said friendly. "Mind if you come over to the side for a bit? What's your name?" She asked curiously as she lead the way to the opposite side of the port away from the exit. "I'm Ensign Emin, you?"

It wasn't as if she could run considering the crowd and how literally anyone else could catch her. What good would running do? It would only get her into even more trouble after- Oh, she didn't want to think about it. She followed behind the officer - so they were Starfleet - with diligence, nervously fidgeting all the while. When they came to a stop her gaze nervously darted about, cautious of anyone listening. "It's- I'm Akuvek. Please, I don't want to miss the ship leaving..."

"Akuvek, that's a nice name." She mused before catching the tactical Lieutenant nearby. Good, backup. "I have a question though, one very important question. Why are you here? And don't go telling me it's because of PACT Galactica, tell me the truth. Why are you here?" She raised a brow, her voice calm. "Because our cameras seem to think that you were the one who planted the bomb."

It appeared that the officer's friendly disposition had been a ruse. At the question of why was she here she opened her mouth, ready to say for PACT Galactica, but was cut off. In an instant her eyes had welled up with tears, gaze downcast, hands shaking despite holding them together in an attempt to stop them from doing so. Her voice had gone from a nervous tone to a shudder whisper. "I didn't know that it was a bomb. I didn't- oh, the people, some of them are dead aren't they? I didn't- I didn't know, I didn't want to hurt anyone-"

Georgia kept an eye in the woman, mentally that is. She wanted to be certain they actually told the truth. Perk of being an empath and all.

"Hey, it's okay." She soothed. "Mind telling me what happened? If you didn't know it was a bomb what did you think it was?" She asked curiously. "And I'm sure if you cooperate everything will be just fine alright?" She looked to the Betazoid briefly to see if she knew whether or not the Reman had been lying.

There wasn't any indication of deceit. The woman's mind raged with fear and an intense, horrid guilt. She took a slow, shaky breath in before speaking again, trying to look at Jessil without breaking into tears again. "I thought- that it was just some sort of ornament, a collector's piece, that someone would come to pick up or sell or... I don't know, I don't know, but it was stupid, stupid, I shouldn't have done it and now- now people are dead because of me!" Towards the end she had become distraught again, failing to hold back the tears.

She gave a nod towards Emin. The truth, no doubt.

She nodded slightly before turning back to the person in front of her. "Hey, if that's true there shouldn't be any charges against you." She assured her. "How did you come into possession of the bomb?" She prodded calmly. "Where did you get it?"

"I was hired on Mol'Rihan," she stated, glancing between this Ensign and the other woman just to the side of them. How many of them were there waiting for her? What was going to happen to her now? She couldn't afford this to happen, but it had happened, people were dead... "I thought it was j-just another sort of market job, they know I'm a good thief and-- Oh, I know that's wrong in general, but I had to, I..."

"Ah, I see." She said thoughtfully. That certainly changed things. She had been hired for this specifically, the only thing she didn't know was that it was an explosive? Hm... curious. "Well, how about you come with me right now okay?" She gave her a reassuring smile before guiding her out to the corridor.

[D] After disappearing somewhere, Müller appeared in the lower ship port, where he had docked the Annemarie after doing a brief test flight with her engines and getting some stuff ~~Weapons~~ mounted onto her hull. He was currently leaning outside the airlock to his ship with a boot against the wall. He was wearing his typicial cargo crewman's jumpsuit with a thick jacket with a few scorch marks on it.

[D] After also ~~poofing out of existence~~ working for a few days she had the idea of exploring the starbase, and came upon the lower ship port; she was off duty, anyways. Looking around, she noticed a guy in a jumpsuit and jacket, and began approaching, not really wanting to disturb him but still wanting to greet him.

He continued reading the report on a PADD he had in his hands for a few seconds before sighing and dropping it. He saw the starfleet person coming towards him and nodded to her "Hello there." He called in a casual and easy going tone

"Oh, uh... hi!" she replied, smiling at the man and giving a small wave; she was still in uniform.

"Hi, is something wrong?" He asked, moving away from the wall and turning towards her so his attention was on her, he was around five foot four, he probably weighed around one hundred and forty pounds and was built like a bulldog, short, neck partially throwing his head forward, he had a scar that ran down the left side of his face that was basically cutting his scruffy beard in two

"Nope," she answered. "Just looking around. What're you doin'?"

"Just running through the manifest to my ship, still being used as just a storage module at the moment..." He said with a rueful chuckle before giving her an easy grin "Erwin Müller. Captain and owner of the cargo ship Annemarie." He said, sticking a hand out to the ensign

Shaking his hand, she replied, "Virol Ota, engineering ensign on this base," smiling again.

He returned the smile with an easy going grin "Nice to meet you, which do you want me to call you by, Virol or your personal name?" He asked, Bajorans have their personal names last, he reminded himself.

"I'm fine with Ota," she replied.

"Well. Nice to meet you Ota. Call me Erwin. What do you do on the station?" He asked, once more leaning against the airlock

"I'm a warp core specialist; I work on the station's warp core," * she replied, a warm smile on her face.*

"Ah nice, I'm afraid the Annemarie has to deal with me and my security brain..." He said with a soft grin, he looked to be around his early to mid thirties at the moment so it would be odd for him to already be out of Starfleet

She let out a laugh, and smiled at that statement.

"I manage to keep her in one piece... usually..." He added, chuckling as well

"What do you do, usually?" she asked.

"Usually I just spot weld the part back into place where it works until I can get her back to the hands of professionals... I rebuilt most of her from scratch so I know most of her systems..." He explained with a shrug "I have a basic engineering robot that I use to keep the warp core running."

She listened intently, this seemed interesting.

He gave her an awkward smile "Sorry... you probably don't want to hear me rant about my ship..." He said after a second

"No no, it's okay," she replied; she wanted to hear more about the Annemarie.

"Alright, what do you want to know then" He asked, giving her an easy grin again

"Well... everything, I guess," she replied, with a light laugh, straightening her hair in the process.

"Heh... She's an Antares class freighter, not one of those robotic ones from when the original Enterprise came out... One of the new ones. She was a rusting hulk when I got her a year ago, I basically stripped her down and completely redone, including her deck plans." He explained with a soft smile at the ensigns interest

Her eyes widened hearing that, wanting to hear even more about the ship.

He chuckled again and looked at a pair of benches "Do we want to sit and talk about it so that we aren't standing here awkwardly?" He asked casaully

"Sure," she replied, smiling and nodding.

He nodded and moved to the bench, waiting for her to join him

She joined him on the bench, sitting down on it.

"What else shall I tell you about?" He asked after she sat

"Hmmm... is it warp capable?" Dumb question, kind of; if it was a cargo ship, it was almost certainly warp capable.

"Yes it is..." He said in a slightly offended tone "It reaches warp five point two on the good days..."

She noticed his tone, and asked, "Is.. is something wrong?" still smiling but slightly worried.

"Just messing with you... Yeah, she is warp capable."

She giggled a little, slightly embarrassed that she didn't realize he was messing with her.

He chuckled "Anything else?"

She shrugged, not really knowing what else to say; her mind was kind of blank at the moment.

"Anything else you want to know about my ship then?" He asked after a second

"Hmmm... not really," she replied.

"Alright... it was nice to meet you then Ota." He said with a smile, he stuck his hand out again

"Nice meeting you too, Erwin," she replied, shaking his hand, again with that warm smile.

He returned the smile before standing "Well, I really should be going, got to check the manifest again and then do some minor welds along the innards of the Annemarie. Till next time Ota..." He said politely

"'Til next time, Erwin," she replied, smiling one last time, before continuing to wander around the port.

He gave her a final nod before walking back to the airlock and entering it