The Defiance-Cargo Hold
Co-written by Bingellia and Harbertia
Mihal understood that this jump would take a while, and the debate about supplies sparked an urge to take inventory. He understood that this ship had a hold full of personal belongings. They may not necessarily be from the prisoner’s aboard, but the people aboard would likely be happier with some form of private entertainment and a set of clothes that weren’t prisoner jumpsuits. This urge, however, was partially out of some selfish desire, Mihal’s clothes weren’t exactly cheap and he had a ring on his possessions when he had been captured by the Command. Besides, the crew would need someone with dressier clothes for the plan to scam crime lords and criminals out of money and ship parts.
Quietly, with a data register in his hand, he stood up from his bed and made his way down by stairs to the third deck. Somewhere past the stasis pods would be the hold which would hopefully have amenities which could be distributed and Mihal’s possessions. After walking through rows of pods, Mihal knew he had struck his mark when the pods were replaced with waist-high storage units with each drawer organized by serial number. Immediately, he looked at the register, which listed prisoner numbers with their corresponding numbers on the crates. Thankfully, he found his very quickly and, since the Command never expected a mutiny, found the drawer unlocked. He opened it excitedly. “Yes!” He yelled, perhaps a little too loudly, as he saw his suit and, laying in a baggie on top of the clothes, his ring.
A grown came from the threshold of the hold. Mihal's yell echoing amid the stasis pods beyond, growing fainter as it traveled further along. The grown too soon followed in a similar way. There was the Ragon, one hand on the door frame, the other by it's side, a grey jumpsuit on, eyes closed and slowly opening. It stuck out it's tongue for a moment before uttering softly; "That was, loud."
Mihal snapped around out of fear. He clearly wasn't expecting to have been followed and an assumption that he was stealing certainly wouldn't sit well with several of the former prisoners. Noticing that it was the Ragon, the horror stories he was told took over and he took a step back, almost falling backwards on the table that was now behind. Standing straight up again, Mihal tried to stop shaking while reminding himself that this particular Ragon hadn't yet shown violent impulses. "This," he cleared his throat, "This is not what it looks like!"
The Ragon, turned it's head , eyeing the Kiellar- sterner now. It's slow mind had not considered the prospect of wrong doing which it now had to process. It then looked at the crates and nodded. "Just, barrowing then?" it asked with a hint of doubt. The Kiellar had a fearful look, and thus the Ragon stayed in the threshhold- just in case it decided to attempt fleeing.
"Nonono." He waved the tablet to at the ragon in front of him. "I found what seems to be an cargo register laying around. I just want my clothes and to find something so have things to do besides sitting around until we touch down " If the ragon didn't believe him, he was utterly screwed. The reptilian was larger than kiellar were, and Mihal didn't fancy his chances unarmed. He cautiously walked over to the ragon with the tablet held out. "Here. Look through this."
The ragon took hold of the tablet with it's free hand, and moving it's tail to obscure passage through the door, though it's size surely did so already. "This is good." it said with a chuckle, "I came for similiar reasons. I have little you could have taken, and see no reason not to use what is here. With this list we can avoid taking from those presently awake." The ragon smiled at Mihal, "You are very smart- caution is a good trait to have in the wild. I desire something for the cunning ploy." she handed the tablet back- her hands where too large to effectively use it, "I must look like a pirate where I presently, in this," she said pulling a bit on the suit, "I do not and I'd like something looser fitting."
Mihal smiled back as best he could as the last of the adrenaline wore off. Taking the tablet back, he shrugged, "It was dumb chance, mostly. It was left on a table, so I'm guessing some crewman had it during the mutiny. " He walked back the drawer of his things, and eagerly put the ring on his pinky finger. It was silver, slightly tarnished from sheer age, with small bust of a Kiellar women raised on it's face. Mihal chucked faintly as he looked relieved at the ring, "Well, I have a suit folded up here, but I doubt it's going to fit you." He turned back to the ragon, "What's your name or number, I can check the drawers for you. It might not help with the plan, but it's better than that jumpsuit."
The ragon stepped into the hold past the threshold, "Sshalah. Sshalah Krilin Ruul. I do not remember a number." She
seemed excited, though she knew she had little. Only what was on her when she was taken into custody. It wasn't going to be much and unfortunately for her was not going to be much different from what she was presently wearing.
The number would have been quicker, but, considering she was likely the only Ragon, it didn't take Mihal long to find her number and match it to a crate. It opened as easily as the first. He turned his head back to the ragon after digging through it briefly, "It's just a grey jumpsuit with some kind of gold logo I've never seen before. Did you have anything else?" Well, he mentally sighed, this was likely useless for what they need and it seemed pretty similar to the jumpsuit she was put in.
Sshalah shook her head, "The arrival was unexpected, and I did not have- cleaner clothes to wear. I have nothing else." she said with disappointment at her own situation. No funds, and a suit not much better from that issued to her by the Kiellar.
Mihal's eyebrow raised slightly as he looked over the ragon again, but he was in the same boat after all.. "Well, that will change when we touch down. The insectoid gave me 5,000 credits, so we'll probably be buying clothes for this plan. I have a set, although I doubt I'll be involved unless we need someone who looks like a decently well off kiel slaver. Captain Thanica will likely need a nicer set as well, and the muscle needs stuff that doesn't look ripped of Kiellar marines." Looking down at the table, he skimmed through the listings. "There's a box listed here as Xeno ship. That probably deserves a look, don't you think? And it can't belong to anyone specific in the pods."
"It can't hurt to look inside." she said, closer for a better view- towering over Mihal. Her mind a still a bit chill from passing the stasis pods and not putting elements she's aware of together with the finding, "It may hold something we can use." she said, not elaborating further.
"Oh Sshalah, by the way, I'm Mihal." He finally said as he stood back up. He walked down the row to the mystery crate and waited for the Ragon to catch up with him to watch out of curiosity. "Ready?" He asked as he grabbed the handle and slowly opened the draw. Quite frankly, he was surprised by the content as he it looked over. Several small electronics, a few printed photos featuring what looked to be Dhasath, and a small silver cross attached to some beads. "Well," he looked up at the ragon hovering above him, "what do you think?" Out of instinct, he grabbed a photo and inspected it. It featured a women in a blue uniform of some sort holding a young child and being kissed by a man in a dark hooded top. He noticed a name tag on the uniform, but couldn't make it out.
Sshalah flicked her tongue to get a taste of any smell in the air, and that jogged a memory and brought it together as she leaned down to get a better look to further confirm; "It's Huemann. More varried then I expected," she though outloud, "the Carter is one." She tilted her head a little, "This must be a mated pair, while I've only seen males of the species I assume this one," she said hovering her finger over the one in blue, "must be female, if the Dasath simularities apply to both sexes or if indeed they have two sexes. I cant' tell if the child is male or female- maybe they are born sexless and metamorphosis latter in life?" She asked seeking to hear what Mihal was thinking as he had asked her opinion.
"Perhaps they are born sexless." Mihal nodded, "The universe is a very strange place." He dug around behind the devices, and felt a stem. Pulling it, he found a pair of orange tinted glasses. "These seem primitive." He put them on and looked around. The fit was a little off given the length of Kiellar ears. "They only seem to darken the room." He folded the stems and placed them back into the drawer.
"Perhaps they are used in conjunction with a light based weapon. A photon grenade perhaps?" said Sshalah as Mihal put the glasses into the drawer.
"Maybe," Mihal chuckled, "but these are physical photos. How advanced can these people be?" He grabbed two more photos of interest from the drawer. One seemed to show a picture ships of sorts, only he knew it couldn't be as the uniform of pilot wasn't space worthy. He held it up for Sshalah and pointed to the strange craft. "This reminds me of a starfighter from a holovid from a show when I was younger, but doesn't seem spaceworthy. The pilot has a mask on, but it only covers his lower face. The set of glasses seem match the ones here as well. " Looking at the back while Sshalah looked, he noticed some script. "Look, there's some some strange lettering on the back in black ink. "
"If we stare at it long enough, it should be made clear." She narrowed her gaze to focus upon it. It was, taking a good while it seemed. She was use to words just being understood but these slowly took form;
Mess with the Best, Die like the Rest. Sshalah 'hmsed' at this. "The Hueman-" she looked down at Mihal, "We should expect has not shown us the length of thier capacities or has not yet known the Ragon." she said looking aback at the image. "The tech is, certainly lesser then our own." she said speaking of her people.
"It's the same with the Command. I'm no military mind, but that looks incredibly obsolete." He looked at the other photo. "This is a group of them, lined up in white uniforms with a bowl-like helmets. They all seem to be smiling." He paused and focused on the center figure. "That's probably the... what did you call them? Hiumann? That's the Hiumann aboard." Mihal fought the urge to scoff as the cliche image of a strict, stoic Kiel came to mind. "He doesn't seem much like a Captain."
"I do not know him well enough to comment; the Huemanns could be reckless or hyperemotional though that seems a mammalian trend- however I shall value your observation." She said with a soft smile before she reached into the drawer and in a clawed finger and thumb held beads from which dangled the silver cross, "This could be a key, possibly magnetic," she dangled it near some metal to no effect, "or electrical in nature. Perhaps to their starship." she looked back into the box as she lowered the cross down, "What do you suppose those- electrical items are for?"
"We'll see what he is like in time then." Looking at the cross, Mihal raised his pinky finger to show off his ring. "It's likely just a piece of jewelry, though I can't say how valuable it may be beyond it being to one of the hiumann's personal tastes ." He looked down at the devices and grabbed one, "Now, these are the exciting part." Much to his dismay however, the device did nothing when he pressed the button on the center device. He fiddled with the other buttons and, again, the screen remained black. He shrunk slightly before laughing, "I guess that makes sense. Nothing holds a charge forever."
"Disappointing," Sshalah said with a sigh, "Before we close this dwarer, I'd like to see another photo- perhaps a few more. I'm sure the Huemann can tell more, but I am finding this enjoyable. If you'd like to wait I'm willing to. I can take my," she groaned a bit, "only other jumpsuit and- go somewhere. I will not find anything of use here to me."
"Go ahead," He answered placed a few on the top of the unit of drawers next to him". I'm going to stay and go through some more of the nearby crates. We may find some modern electronics." Mihal replied as he stood again and stretched his legs. "But first," he pulled the drawer as far as he could and rattled it gently, "I'm going to lift this out of it's tracks so we can take it to the hiumann when we leave." With the drawer extended fully, Mihal lifted from underneath and freed the drawer from it's unit, placing it on top of the mass of drawers. "I figure that will be easier then bringing them down here."
Sshalah nodded, "I shall carry that for you." She was after all 4.3 meters tall, with more muscle in her tail alone then two of Mihal's arms. "Guide me from here, to a place we can set this down or to the Huemann directly."
Mihal nodded at the towering reptile. As far as first impressions when, Mihal thought this had went pretty well, at least by Kiellar-Ragon relationships. “I think it would be better to take it to them now. I can always come back and look again later.” Before the pair left the hold area back through the pods, Mihal returning to his drawer and grabbed his set of clothes. “I’ll quickly change on the way if we pass an empty room.” With a simple nod from the Ragon, the pair were on their way.
Thankfully, although more out of intent then incident, the pair did pass a spare room. The Kiel slipped inside, took of his jumpsuit, and replaced it with his black undershirt, a high collared white shirt, his grey jacket, and a pair of black pants. He returned to the ragon patiently waiting as he buttoned his jacket closed. Seeing the Kiel return, Sshalah smiled with a slight chuckle, "I don't suppose you're a prince?" she asked with some amusement. Seeing him, or anyone from the mutiny and revolt, so well dressed wasn't what she was expecting.
Mihal smiled at the ragon and shook his head, “A governor, maybe, but a prince?” He chuckled as the pair started walking, “Never. Anyway, let get that drawer to the bridge.”