Is this it?

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2009 @ 4:09pm by Walter Jones & Tyl'varas Shrive & William Baker

1,256 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Recruitment
Location: Starbase Mothball Yard
Timeline: 1 Month Prior

"Heh Heh" The dock master laughed as he shoved piece of food into his mouth as the shuttle weaved in and out of the mothballed cargo freighters and transport ships. "All of these ships are for sale; some are in better repair then anything you are going to find anywhere else. And at reasonable prices too."

Jones looked over at Tyl'varas and Will then frowned, this had been the third yard that they had been to, and it was the same story at most of them, broken down pieces of space junk that hadn't seen warp in 10 years.

Glancing around with disgust, Shrive let out a weary sigh. "I'm beginning to think that the stars have delegated refuse collection to us," Tyl'varas dryly stated. Looking disdainfully towards the dock master, he continued, "We're not interested in these dilapidated wrecks. If this is the best you have to offer, you're surely wasting our time."

Dejected, he pulled out a flask of brandy from his jacket; Shrive took a quick swig, gave a wretched look as if drinking a mix of reactor coolant and Ferengi excrement, and then offered it towards Walter and William.

Walter shook his hand at the brandy, he had tried it a few times before and lost a few days worth of time, he turned at the Dock Master, "What have you got that isn't quite a death trap yet? These vessels are.... well they are something but we need something that isn't going to fall apart on us pulling it out of the yard."

"Well.. there is one..." with a greasy hand he manipulated the control panel and the shuttle swung around a few pieces of space debris and sped towards a 2 derelict hulls at the far end of the yard. Heh.. I'm going to show ya a ship that I think is right up your ally, brought it in a few years ago.. needs some polish but the old girl is pretty air tight...."

"That is good I thought I was going to need to invest in some space suits with the crap you've shown us so far." Jones leaned in closer to Shrive and Baker and whispered. "If this last ship doesn't look promising we might have to jump to another yard... or steal this shuttle." he smiled at the two as the dock master brought the shuttle in closer.

Shrive glanced back to Walter, looking as if he were going to make a retort, but caught out of the corner of his eye the viewscreen. "Looks like we're about there... This had better be worth it."

As the shuttle made it's approach, amongst the wrecks of various ships appeared a long brownish vessel on the viewscreen. The first thing that came to Shrive's mind was that it was looking an awful lot like a Cardassian design, and secondly, it was uglier than a pink skin baby.

The Dock master, with a sleazy grin on his face, pointed to the hulk of a ship, stating, "This I have for serious and astute buyers such as you gentlemen." Rubbing his sweaty hands together nervously, he continued, "This ship has had a great history, lots of money made with it. It can fly now, and just think about how much you can haul around in this thing!"

Tyl'varas looked intently on the ship as the dockmaster zoomed in the viewscreen on the ship. Looking back at Walter and William, he said, "A Groumall class... This thing is hideous. The only good thing about this ship is if we need to put anything on it, it won't make it even uglier... I'd doubt it even has working disruptor banks."

"Something about it has a certain charm to it. Those old ships could take a beating. I've seen it first hand, they designed them so that the cargo containers shielded most of the vital parts." He turned and looked at the dockmaster. "Does life support work on that old thing."

"Hey.. I'll throw in the air for free.. we can go over if you want, we've cleaned out most of the last crew that was in there! Lots of history! Lots of Profit!" The man was obviously starting to sweat with anticipation at potentially selling this ship. The shuttle swung in closer to the freighter. Most of the hull plating seemed in good condition, a few phaser burns here and there marked the hull from a battle, and there was obvious damage to the main engine.

Walter huddled the two men together, "I think this might be a winner.. lets go take a look shall we? I think that old ship has... character! A certain... Spunk if you will."

William took a good long look at the dingy yellow orangish hull of the vessel in question "Better than bumming a ride around the universe. I say we have a go at her."

Looking back and forth between Jones and Baker, Tyl'varas sported a sly grin, and stated, "I think we should get him to throw in this shuttle for wasting our time before, still. Couldn't hurt."

"Ok, take us in, lets see this piece of work." Jones looked back at the dock master.

"You won't be disappointed! HAha!" The shuttle flew around and hooked up to the docking port linking up the freighter. The locking ring engaged and the hissing noise of pressure equalization rang through the small shuttle. As the hatch swung open, a slightly cold chill entered the cabin, the inside was dark with a few blinking lights flashing through.

Walter stepped into the ship, the air reeked of musk and what smelled like burnt Cardassian flesh. Turning left into the bridge most of the original equipment had been ripped out and replaced with Federation tech. "I like it, go take a look around the rest of the ship and see what you think."

Shrive pulled out a datapad and an engineering tricorder from a satchel at his back. Punching in some data into the datapad, he started towards the bridge. Glancing back, he asked, "Is this thing armed?"

"Heh, only the best that technology of the Cardassian Union 30 years ago!! Heh! This baby can defend herself from most comers, this particular ship fended off a Klingon war bird!" The dock master walked in to the ship. "That is until the Klingons transported over and slaughtered the whole bunch of them. She's got 4 spiral wave banks and 2 torpedo launchers, 1 forward and one aft with rotating 270 degree firing arcs."

Jones lightly moved his fingers over the control panels, getting a tactile feel for the controls. The dock master walked in and pushed a button on the control panel that brought up the interior lights. "Take a look around I've got some time, there are are shuttles in the bay, they need some work, engine room is far aft." He stopped to cough and almost sounded like he hacked up a lung. "Medical bay and crew quarters are on deck 2 heh heh."

Walter turned around and took in the entirety of the bridge, there was already something that was speaking to him. "I'll take it, but you are going to throw in docking and repair services for wasting our time."

The dockmaster nearly choked on what he was eating. "WHAT? That wasn't in any agreement."

"Yeah, and my Andorian friend over there doesn't like to be shown the run around, and he is in a very foul mood"

The man looked over at Shrive, "Fine fine... I'll have them haul this over to docking port 5..."

 

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