SD 9-14-02 - "Kzin out of the Bag" #6 - Well, we got the girls back.
But things didn't go entirely as planned ...
Our entry into Kizn space was unnoticed. It wasn't much longer when we spotted the Ferrengi ship. The first sign something was wrong was it's course. It was going about in almost random directions all over the place, in Dammer's words "As erratic as a Gorn at the helm." When we scanned for life signs, there turned out to be a sizable number of non-Ferrengi, and a decreasing number of Ferrengi. We couldn't identify what they were, and we saw no other ships about. But we could locate K'Lynxyl and Lera. But we couldn't beam them out due to the shields, we needed to get to them with com badges. I was wondering if Dammers wanted to lead the boarding party, but he said no. With no other ships around, I decided to lead it myself.
A simple job I felt. None of these others were with the girls yet, and Ferrengi aren't known for their courage.
We had to stun a few Ferengi who were around. The electronic lock to the brig area was unusually tricky though, taking us longer to get it open than we thought. But get it open we did, and we rushed in ...
And then the door on the other side was bashed down, and a Kzin officer came through.
He and we aimed our weapons at each other, but he was clearly outgunned. I told him we were taking our crew back. Then K'Lynxyl shouted at us to hold our fire, calling the Kzin "brother."
Her brother? ... And I thought things were confused enough already.
From what I heard, it seems Chaal Ritt placed the bounty on K'Lynxyl years ago. Somehow, the Ferrengi heard a rumor about it, complete with a wildly inflated price. They decided to look for confirmation, but decided to hack the Freedom's computer's to do it, and its info on the Kizinti was hoplessly outdated. (sigh) Once again, "Freedom weirdness" strikes, this time on the poor girls. But it backfired on the Ferrengi in the end. After the bounty was put out, Chaal Ritt was killed by this man, Maarcuz Riit. When the Ferrengi broadcasted they had K'Lynxyl, M. Riit claimed to be acting on his behalf and beamed over ... with a Kzin boarding party. The result was the Ferrengi getting reduced to hamburger.
So a redshirt brought the cell's forcefield down and I released K'Lynxyl and Lera, giving the first a blanket. Both girls were very ... thankful to me. Then one of M. Riit's soldier's dragged the Ferrengi captian in, unhurt but petrified. M. Riit grabbed him, threatened him so he was trembling even more than ever, then ordered him taken to his ship to be "prepared." I take it that means his execution. Can't say I'm sorry for the *$^%$^%.
Got a comm from the ship, saying they had gotten a tractor lock on the Ferrengi ship and were headed back to Federation space. I told them to stop on the border. Dammers seemed quite anxious, as the "illegal armament" as M. Riit called them revealed themselves - Klingon ships with cloaking devices. I doubt this will be getting any mention in the press, as we had to do a little border crossing before seeing them, a "search without warrant."
Lera wanted to go back right away, so after giving her a comm, she was beamed to sickbay where the EMH has been trying to research a Junk-water cure. Then came the matter of K'Lynxyl's clothes. I ordered the ship to send over an Inspector's uniform, but M. Riit insisted she wear something of Kzin design, a suit of armor. M. Riit wanted K'Lynxyl and I to go to his ship, but she wanted to get back to the Freedom as soon as possible, so we all beamed over, M. Riit included.
I hope that "Barney" holo is turned off.