Kicking the Tires

Posted on Fri Feb 16th, 2024 @ 5:30pm by Ensign Noah Balsam & Captain Björn Kodak

Mission: Stardust and Sin
Location: The Chop Yards
Timeline: Mission Day 2 at 2030

[The Chop Yards]
[Hukatuse Tagumik]
[MD 2: 2030 Hours]

Torvis had led the way up to the shuttle in question, the Trade pointing out other hulks -- or rather, chopped up pieces of them -- along the way. There seemed to be all manner of ships in the bowels of Hukatuse but most were not from races the Starfleeters recognized or had working knowledge of. The temptation to stop and study each hulk was strong but Irynya had kept the group on mission and before too long, they'd arrived at their destination: the lone Kazon shuttle sitting in a line of other similarly sized craft, all waiting their turn to be gutted of useful parts and material before being subjected to the giant chop saws that gave this place its name.

Noah had felt the tug- this was a kid in a candy store situation- until his body's hyperactive tendencies made him want to stop and shake it out, jump a little. He suppressed it and tried to focus on his tricorder: eyes down and tunneled into its readings.

Upon reaching the shuttle, Irynya had volunteered to stand watch outside, eyes directed back towards Koloss, who was still watching their group from across the way. The Foreman seemed particularly interested in their little group, perhaps due to the obscene amounts of metal strips Noah had flashed about when buying the part he'd noticed earlier. That, or Koloss had traced them back to the Sojo itself, which sat in Hukatuse's humongous docking bay like a Thanksgiving turkey ready for carving. The Starfleet vessel was, no doubt, a prize desired and anyone associated with the Sojo was likely to be a point of interest. Thus Iry kept her eyes focused and maintained the grip of her right hand on the small phaser in her pocket.

Sava and Noah, meanwhile, had gone inside the shuttle proper with Torvis. After confirming that the ship was, indeed, the one they were looking for -- without, of course, revealing such to the Trabe trader -- the Kelpien security officer had swept the cockpit for trouble but found none. And so it was that Sava now kept a wary eye on Torvis and the shuttle's entry ramp -- ever vigilant for threats -- while Noah facilitated the exchange with the Chop Yard's representative. While the desire to buy the Kazon shuttle wasn't itself a ruse -- after all, they did want to study the vessel to understand Subrek's mysterious technological advancements -- the real reason for the prospective sale had been kept secret, at least thus far.

With Iry on guard duty outside and Sava watching from within, most of the responsibility for this particular exchange had now fallen on Noah's very young shoulders. While not inherently a test, the happenstance was, however, proving a crucible for the young engineer's inexperience. It also provided him an opportunity to prove his mettle as a newly-minted Ensign.

"So? Any thoughts?" Torvis spoke up, breaking the few moments of silence that'd stretched out after they entered the craft. He gestured expansively around them, his hands encompassing everything on display.

The shuttle was, of course, decidedly Kazon in design. But like Subrek's ship -- the Kordra-Lisrit -- the shuttle wasn't as run-of-the-mill as anyone who knew that race would expect from them. External scans had certainly indicated beefed up armor plating and shield and weapons technology. There'd been minimal scoring from energy weapons on the hull but the real damage had been done by a torpedo or missile of some kind impacting the starboard engine housing.

The damage had no doubt left the shuttle only capable of limping into the Starbirth Oasis. There Kaldri must have followed the timed trail of safety down into the gravity well, navigating the space between the Twin Fire stars to arrive at Hukatuse. The repairs needed to fix the shuttle would likely have cost way, way more than someone on the run like Kaldri could afford. And even if she could get the ship fixed, how would she escape and evade Subrek in a vessel so much slower than his own?

Inside the shuttle, there were various sections of damage from overloaded wall panels and consoles. The power had obviously been cut as nothing was currently alive: no lights, no glowing display panels, nothing. Torvis, Noah, and Sava could see only by the grace of the lighting units built into the shoulders of their suits.

The lanky Systems Specialist was pacing slowly. As they'd entered the shuttle's proximity, he'd activated the full array of his engineering peripherals. His cheeks were puffed, poised to exhale as he stared at the amber readouts floating in his line of sight. "I need access inside," he said to Torvis, his eyes swiveling to the Trabe for permission to enter. He smiled, a bit uncertain. "To-to make sure what, uh, I'd have to replace if we buy it." Internally Noah was struggling with having to be slightly duplicitous. What Starfleet wanted was to assess the ship's new technology.

When Torvis had led him inside, Noah immediately approached one of the panels and with some difficulty pulled from his suit a small device. He attached it with a squeak and a click to one of the panels. The control console flickered to life- a strange half-life of blinking and fluttering keys, most lit up in inoperable tones of gray or red. Nonetheless, Noah laid fingers on keys and deliberately turned his head down to look at the screen through his holographic interface. His eyes were searching through them, as the peripheral did its best to translate from Starfleet's known Kazon language database.

"Energy Heart.... offline. Heat veins... pragh... oh, alpha... beta... damaged..." Noah muttered to himself. Noah translated that as the system's coolant safeties were offline. Likely what he was looking at was a damage report. And as useful as his little auxiliary power device was, it could only show him something like an echo of the last readout it was giving.

Noah puffed his cheeks and breathed out again. "It's puh-pretty fragged, Mr. Torvis," He said, twisting back to look at the Trabe with a conflict of feelings that his benignness couldn't hide. He sidestepped to another console, taking his little power device with him and attaching it. Again the screen flickered into its ghost of a life and Noah peered at it. "Ship's Back Lungs... gol-ka-ger dargah... oh, thirty two percent. Ok. I probably didn't say that right..." He muttered to himself. "OK this... um..." he said more audibly, while he moved to scratch his nose only to be blocked by his suit. "Damn. This is Life Support."

"That's an interesting little device," Torvis remarked, having watched Noah move from panel to panel, recalling the ghost data back to life. "And damned useful, it would seem," he noted, an envious look flashing across his face underneath his clear face plate. "We hooked up power ourselves to assess whether the craft was salvageable or not. Problem was," the Trabe gestured to another bank of burned out panels, "we ended up doing more damage as a result. When we turned on the juice, half the panels in here exploded."

Noah smiled at the Trabe- almost slyly. "This is a a BIE." He looked up at the flickering console and squinted his eyes at the data. "It's m-more of a postmortem device than... m-much else. Backup Indexing Emulator." He laid his fingers on the ghostly keys, "It'll let me at least see the last thing their computer was trying to tell them." He looked back at the man, "Do you have anything like that?"

"I'm not an engineer," Torvis explained, "but I'm pretty sure whoever modified this shuttle changed its base power requirements. Our people couldn't figure out how to adjust the flow regulation to match and the charge capacitors just blew everything out. Or so I'm told," he noted. Curiously, for someone who wasn't an engineer, the Trabe seemed to know an awful lot about what had happened. "The shuttle was deemed a lost cause," the translator continued to parse his foreign words into Earth standard phrases, "and sent to the saws for carving up."

Noah puffed his cheeks out and nodded agreement. "They-they did more than that. I don't think it's even Kazon technology. Ah-at least not on it's own. This is l-like putting a HEMI in a Volkswagen." Noah pressed his hands on the console, his elbows limberly turning just back enough to reveal his hyper-mobility. "This system isn't meant for a shuttle. He was pausing, thinking, never a great judge of the intentions of others. But Noah almost felt like the man knew more than he was letting on. It was kind of like talking to a used shuttle salesman. Or most run of the mill Ferengi.

"Are-are the engineers who tried to reactivate it here? Tha-that I can talk to?" His brows raised, "Do you have what they tried to use to activate the system? Maybe?" He squatted down and started to look for the interface that the engineers must have used to try and power the device. But it sort of felt like someone had ham-fisted the shuttle. This wasn't battle damage to Noah's eyes- albeit inexperienced eyes.

"A...HEMI in a what?" Torvis replied instinctively, a chuckle escaping his lips. He could tell the young man was excited about the shuttle and its contents and was, perhaps, forgetting to use commonly understood analogies. He waved away his own question and instead focused on answering Noah's. "Those engineers are up in the repair berths, I'm afraid. When ships are deemed not fit for salvage, the engineers send them down here for the chopping," the Trabe said, making a chopping motion with his right hand. "We don't really interface with them much but I can pull the report they made on this ship. Seems only fair if you're thinking of purchasing it."

"Sorry," Noah grimaced with a guffaw. "A large engine meant for transport puh-put into a small people-carrier." he explained. His nod was slow and processing a moment later. "I-I understand. I'd appreciate it." He moved to scratch his cheek only to discover that yet again, he was impeded by the suit that kept him safe from all number of things.

Torbis reached into the satchel slung across his chest and withdrew the Hukatuse version of a PADD. He quickly keyed up the report in question and, side-stepping fallen ceiling debris, moved over to hand it to Noah. Approaching the lanky one earned him a look from his shockingly tall companion, who still stood watch nearby. The Trabe held up his left hand in a I'm no threat gesture but stopped shorter of Noah than he'd originally intended, instead holding out the device for him to approach and take on his own. This seemed to ameliorate the Kelpien's concerns.

Noah accepted the PADD with a quick and disarmed smile as if he either felt no threat if there were one, or perhaps he didn't even consider it. In Noah's mind, this was an engineering "geek out." At least he was doing the geeking and Torvis was the unfortunate second party. Noah dropped eyes to the PADD and once again flicked his holographics into play to translate.

The PADD contained a short report detailing the engineers' initial examination of the shuttle. When the shuttle had been impounded and turned over to the engineers' care, they'd noted the battle damage on the starboard engine -- rendering it in need of a complete rebuild -- but also recorded that the shuttle was otherwise mostly functional...at least until the power modulation issue Torvis had mentioned occurred. The accident had fried several of the craft's systems and the engineer responsible had, apparently, been fired for his incompetence. But beyond that, there was no additional data to be reviewed.

"Th-thank you," Noah said. "That actually, um, says a lot. I-I appreciate it." With that assessment underway, Noah went into diagnostic mode. This ship was... to say unusual would be lacking. It had Kazon skin. It had Kazon muscles. But the rest of it was anything but Kazon. The youth returned the PADd to Torvis with another amiable albeit shy smile and ventured back to the console he'd been eyeing. "I-I think I should probably talk to my ship. To-to, um," he looke dback at the Trabe, "Arrange pur-" He stopped.

His eyes dropped. "Sorry, to arrange umm purchase." But his fingers fell onto the controls. "Interesting," he muttered. "Index." And from the small BIE appears an androgynous and bald being. "Run a forensics d-diagnostic and identify junction alpha, 41-wakka-cano...pluntar-21."

The pale hologram turned to the boy, "This system is offline."

"S-sorry. Mr. Torvis. Meet Index. They are a photonic engineering assistant subroutine. I-I brought her to my ship from Ishikawa Station." The boy turned again to the console and muttered what the words translated to in Linguacode. Lattice shell.. Noah double-checked. These were the defenses. His eyes searched the panel further. This was in a special subroutine that the BIE had brought up- possibly the last subroutine that either Kaldri or the engineers had tried to access. "Index, identify subroutine Delta-Delta-Quarang-21-Primary."

"This activates the vessel's deflector shield grid." Index said. His eyes narrowed. He opened his mouth and thought better of it. Then why is lattice shell a separate defensive system?

"Ah." Noah nodded. He straightened. "M-may I contact my vessel to arrange purchase?" He asked.

"Astonishing," Torvis had said when laying eyes on Index for the first time. He started to approach Noah again -- to get a closer look at the holographic figure being projected from the small device -- but a withering look from Sava again brought him up short. He'd been about to inquire into the possibility of purchasing an Index of his own when the engineer started going back and forth with the subroutine-made-solid. The look on the Trabe's face gave away that he did not entirely understand the discussion taking place but as it came to a close and Noah asked permission to contact his vessel, Torvis nodded and smiled amiably.

"Of course! Please do. I'll wait in the rear compartment to give you some privacy," the trader said, motioning back the way they'd come to indicate where he'd park himself, hopefully out of earshot. In his line of work, stepping aside so that private decisions could be made over comms was nothing new to him, after all. "Take all the time you need," Torvis said before slipping away, glancing one last time at the hologram before disappearing into the back of the shuttle.

Noah nodded his thanks with a grimacey-smile crossing too broadly over his face. It was weird, bargaining for pay. And to pay for something that... it wasn't just junk. There was something here. He stepped as deeply into the cockpit as he could to ensure privacy and then managed to touch- or more aptly, squeeze- his commbadge in the pocket of his suede jacket under all his protective gear. "Balsam to Sojourner. Priority one." He said in a soft mutter, looking at Sava to include her the conversation and knowing that Iry would already be listening in. "We-we have a problem." He added with a hush. "Repeat, Balsam to Sojourner."

"Sojourner here," came a potentially unfamiliar voice over the commline. "This is Lieutenant Nevek. Lieutenant Oliveria is busy speaking with Commander t'Nai. What's the issue, Mr. Balsam?" Ah, the voice belonged to the Andorian Tactical officer currently manning the Bridge.

The young systems specialist stayed furtive, his glance flicking to the ghostly console and then to the stoic face of Index. "We have located Kaldri's shuttle. I'm trying to secure resources to purchase it," he said. "But we have a-another issue. I was doing a f-forensics diagnostic and I found something. They-they appear to have a piece of technology that we need to investigate further." Noah paced up to the console and flipped his holographic opticals down into place. "It looks like some kind of advanced ablative armor system. Over."

"Ablative armor? On a shuttle?" The Andorian sounded instantly more interested than he had been moments before. "That's definitely peculiar. Not exactly standard issue for Kazon tech," Nevek noted. It wasn't hard to imagine his antennae slowly waggling with curiosity. "If you're able to purchase the ship, we could arrange to have it loaded onto the Sojo for further examination. Do you need more metal than Lieutenant Sava has on hand?" He sounded almost disbelieving as he asked this.

"Sava? came Iry's voice, her tone full of questions. Being outside the shuttle, she couldn't train her arched eyebrow at the Kelpien.

"Almost forgot," Sava said, sheepish for perhaps the first time ever in front of Noah. She was glad Irynya was outside and could not see the look on her face. The Kelpien unslung her backpack and crouched, setting it on the ground so she could open the pack's main zipper.

Revealed inside were several solid bars of dense, chrome-like metal -- the color and texture denoted the bars as the highest form of currency sought on Hukatuse. Each party member had been given a few strips of that particular denomination to barter with but the bars Sava had been carrying were worth an incredible amount: they'd make pretty much anyone on the station quite wealthy.

Noah's eyebrows rose sharply. "That's... a lot." His nose wrinkled, "I think."

"Bridgeport ordered us to keep these secret and only use them in case of emergency," Sava explained. "Every security officer has some. Figured we were best suited to protect them. Didn't want to make any of you targets," the Kelpien noted. "He figured we might need to buy our way out of sticky situations. Strips weren't going to be enough to cut it. Enough to buy a ship, though, you think?"

"I-I hope so. I'm not really... uhh. Lets say I'd make a bad Ferengi. But we'll manage. If we need more, I-I'll comm back. Balsam out." He squeezed his badge again and then looked to the impassive face of Index. "Th-thanks Index. You can close." The hologram dis-apparated without a trace of emotion. Noah then went to the console and pressed his fingers against his BIE. With a squelchy click, it came free and with it, the data on the console flickered back into dull reflection. He pocketed his device and tried to wipe the look of trepidation off his face.

"We-we should move," he said to the swaying Kelpien female. It felt weird to him to give instructions like that. But Balsam emerged from the shuttle to meet Torvis, halting before the Trabe. He smiled. "Um, hi." He awkwardly waved. "I can m-make payment now. And-and we'd like to have it transferred to our ship's shuttlebay immediately. Which we might be able to help with."

Sava had nodded in agreement and followed the lanky engineer out of the shuttle. Torvis, it seemed, had left the craft entirely and was standing with Irynya, chatting politely as the Risian kept her gaze trained on Koloss. The foreman had gone back to his business, it seemed, but that didn't mean he wouldn't potentially cause trouble if he felt there was a reason to. Handing the heavy backpack over to Noah -- weighed down with the three metal bars as it was -- the Kelpien took up station nearby to help Iry keep an eye on things. That included Torvis, whom she still didn't entirely trust.

"You can?" Torvis said, looking at Noah with a very interested look. "But I've not told you the price yet, young man. What if you can't afford it? As you know, this shuttle has some advanced technology integrated into it. Even in the state it's in," the Trabe gestured to the ship in all it's wrecked glory, "it's still worth quite a bit. Not many who pass through Hukatuse possess that kind of wealth. I'd say the shuttle is worth at least...three klekkit bars," the trader named the chrome-like metal, the number of bars said experimentally, as if to test Noah's real interest in the purchase.

Noah smiled in an accidentally disarming way, shrugging, "I-I mean, um..." He silenced himself. He looked down at the satchel now firmly in his hands. He hated bartering. He wasn't good at haggling. "A-advanced technology. That's sort of a re-relative statement. But..." Noah blinked. "Three klekkit bars. OK. Deal?" He extended his slim and bony hand.

Torvis' eyes widened under his faceplate. Clearly, he'd expected some back and forth to settle on the price, especially since the denizens of and visitors to Hukatuse were rarely so flush with valuable metals. That Noah and his people could afford three klekkit bars was something of an astonishing revelation. The fact that the young man seemed to have said bars on his person, no less, even more so. But that sparked an idea...

The Trabe would have settled for just one klekkit bar: that much would have made Koloss very happy with him. But now the question was -- with the bars presumably in the satchel without need to send for them -- should he pass all three bars to the foreman and thus elevate his own standing by facilitating such a prosperous trade? Or pocket the other two bars to drastically upscale his own wealth? Either option was extremely gratifying but Torvis settled on keeping one extra bar for himself and giving Koloss the other two: that seemed the most equitable...as long as Koloss didn't find out, of course.

To Noah, the Trabe summoned his own disarming smile and offered the engineer a nod. "We do, I believe, have a deal, yes," Torvis' eyes twinkled -- not that such might be seen underneath his protective face shield. He looked at the outstretched hand with curiosity, tilting his head to regard the appendage like a q'zaathik hound might listen for a strange, sudden sound. Confusion clouded the trader's features as he looked at both Sava and Irynya, hoping maybe there might be clarification in their gazes. There wasn't so Torvis turned back to Noah and outstretched his own arm, hand erected like a karate chop to try to mirror the engineer's own hand. He didn't understand that he needed to step forward and grasp it, however. What a strange custom, the Trabe thought.

Noah grasped his hand once he figured out that the Trabe was probably unconfused by this outdated Human custom.

After giving it a few moments of awkward hand-hanging in the air, Torvis then said, "Once I have the bars, I will facilitate getting the shuttle back to your ship. We having towing tugs that can fly down here through there," he gestured upward and away, toward the giant hole in the cavernous ceiling, which was cut off from the vacuum outside by a series of interlocking airlock doors. "They will come to collect the shuttle and carry it to your ship in the Docks. Can you people load it in from there?"

"We have transporter, tuh-technology. If you can lower your transporter inhibitors, I-I can just have it beamed to our ship. And save your team the, um, trouble." Noah suggested. Then he turned back to Sava and dropped his gaze down to the satchel he had in his hands. He reached inside and produced the three chrome klekkit bars that the two of them had settled on. It seemed strange to Noah, to use something so... easily reproduced. In the Alpha Quadrant it tended to come down to either Latinum- or useful substances that were hard to replicate, like warp plasma and dilithium.

Noah handed the satchel back to Sava and turned to the Trabe. "Three-three bars," he said, ready to slap them into Torvis' hand.

"Transporter technology?" Torvis said, stars in his eyes for a moment. The twinkle of starlight -- as well as the excitement in his tone -- dissipated as the trader got over his initial surprise. "Wealthy and technologically advanced? That's quite the combination. Unfortunately," he adopted the tone of one who had to deliver terrible news in a gentle way, "Hukatuse does not allow such technology to be used here. It's for our own security, you see. If people can transport things they buy away, then they could also transport things they have not bought. Such permission "

Noah was quick to nod acquiescence. "Oh."

"Fear not, though," Torvis' winning tone returned, "it is no imposition. In fact, the costs of labor, time, and equipment have already been factored into the purchase price." This time, the man did step forward but the Kelpien made no ocular complaints at such. Taking the bars quite gingerly, he stashed them away into his own satchel and then adopted the biggest, most shit-eating grin personal. "Congratulations, young man. You've just purchased yourself this shuttle. I hope it brings you much satisfaction but remember..." he arched an eyebrow, "all sales are final, hmm?"

Again the lanky one nodded agreement.

Gesturing back down the way the group had come -- back down to the Chop Yard floor and out -- the Trabe said, "Thank you for your patronage. Should you need anything else during your time here, simply ask for me: I'll be quite happy to assist you again." Given that the Starfleeters had just made him much richer, Torvis couldn't look any happier. "It was truly a pleasure, my friends. Take care," he said with a dip of his head.

"I'll-I'll supervise the transfer. I'm-I'm interested how you do this," Noah pressed. "It's also my job. It was a pleasure, s-sir. Thank you for helping us." He nodded again again and smiled at the Trabe.

A Post By

Captain Björn Kodak
as Torvis and Sava

Lieutenant JG Irynya
Assistant Chief Helmsman

Ensign Noah Balsam
Systems Specialist