Mission Briefing

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

NX-05 Challenger

Mission Briefing -- April 23, 2156

 

Doctor McCellan hit the floor of the Bridge with a thud as her unconscious form was dropped by her Orion assailant. "There are two others. One of them knocked Mabot out." The green-skinned brute reported to the two figures at the center of the Bridge.

 

The similarity in their appearances ended at their green complexions. The figure on the left was a muscled behemoth, towering above even the rest of the males on the Bridge; the top of his head nearly touched the ceiling. His body was wrapped in metal--a flexible suit of linked iron strips dropped from his neck to his thighs, a skullcap with chains dangling from its rim rested atop his head, and long iron bands covered his thick calves and forearms. Various instruments were attached to his right forearm band and connected via cables to a power pack atop his shoulder. There could be no doubt by his appearance that he was strong enough to wear all this equipment comfortably.

 

The woman to the right was much smaller and was wearing far less. Aside from the strips of cloth barely covering her chest and loins, the petite Orion was wearing only a spiked collar around her neck. She was as exotic and alluring as any Orion female, but her face was now contorted in anger and frustration. "Bind her." She commanded one of the two males still left among her Bridge crew. Two had been sent to the passenger suites when the slaves began their escape. Two more, including the one who had brought McCellan to the Bridge, were sent when the first two failed to report in. Her resources were dwindling rapidly, and she would be loath to send away her personal bodyguard.

 

"The guards in engine control are not reporting in." The crewman at the comm station announced.

 

The woman's rage intensified at this, the accompanying burst of pheromones serving to further intoxicate her crew. "How are they overcoming the guards so quickly?!"

 

"There are still two guards on the crew level." The comm crewman added.

 

"Send them to engine control. Then help him with Mabot and the other prisoners." The woman nodded toward the Orion who was heading back down the ladder to retrieve Marlin and Rex. The crew's mobility had been compromised when the Humans managed to deactivate the lift and take out the portside emergency ladder. What few men were left couldn't respond quickly to the Humans' actions.

 

This was a feisty, resourceful bunch of slaves that Rago had dropped on Alekya. But now she had three of them in her custody. For all the ingenuity of Humans, they had one glaring weakness--they cared too much for one another. It was a weakness she planned to exploit.