8 Salvation
Radil followed the guide path laid out by the tricorder. It reminded Macen of when he, T'Kir, Ro, Tulley, and Harry Mudd III went in search of lost artifacts on Caldos II. That brought a moment of nostalgia. Rockford noticed the change.
"What are you thinking of?" she asked.
Macen explained what had happened and she grinned, "So, you had some actual adventures with the Maquis?"
"They were few and far between but we did manage to save civilization from the Cardassians on occasion," he said it playfully but she could tell he was also serious.
"You've never told me much about those days," she reminded him.
"You've never really brought up the Tarsus Wars," Macen aimed right back at her.
"Annika fought the Tarsus Wars. I came along afterwards," Rockford's reply served to remind Macen that Annika Ryst's compartmentalized personalities served different purposes at different times and each had a unique sense of history.
"Those stories all involve T'Kir. I didn't think you'd want to be reminded of her," Macen admitted.
Rockford cuffed upside the head, "Don't think. I want to know your stories and share them with you. I'll tell you what I can of our history and then we can compare notes. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," Macen sheepishly replied.
"Hey Lovebirds, you may want to check this out." Radil called from the cockpit. Daggit rode shotgun so Macen and Rockford had to crowd in the space between stations. Macen bumped her aside with his hip and she yelped. Tickling his ribs she got him to make an allowance for her petite frame.
The wreckage was fairly contained. The shuttle had been mostly intact as it made contact with the ground. Auray had the presence of mind and control of the craft to land beside the slums and not in them. The shuttle's fuselage was intact. The warp nacelles were sheared off and the rear loading ramp was blown off. It was nowhere to be seen in the debris trail so presumably it was lost earlier in the flight.
"Take us down," Macen ordered.
"Yes, O Lord and Master," Radil quipped.
Radil landed the flyer. It was a competent landing but it lacked the flair of Grace's landings. Daggit grabbed the rifles from where he'd secured them and gave Radil hers and then exited the craft. Radil followed, rifle draped across her.
Daggit and Radil formed a perimeter and studied the surrounding country. Rockford began taking scans of the wreckage. It only took her a moment to make her first find.
"Brin, there's Andorian blood in the cockpit." She reported.
He came to examine her findings, "Any sign of what injured her?"
"My guess is she was caught by a shard when the cockpit windshield shattered. There's a blood outline of a knife-like shape but the object is gone," she explained.
"Our good Chief Inspector and his team," Macen surmised.
"Safe bet," she concurred.
"Is there a trail of blood?" he asked.
"Only as far as the emergency lockers. I'd say she grabbed a med kit and used the dermal regenerator to seal the cut before she bugged out," Rockford observed.
"Any supplies missing?" Macen wondered as he stared at the open compartments.
"You've got to be kidding me, right? This wreck has been picked apart. It was probably a scavengers dream," Rockford lectured.
Macen nodded, "Point taken. Anything else of note in here?"
"I could probably record the fingerprints of a few hundred people," Rockford dryly complained.
They exited the shuttle and Macen indicated the slums that rose just a few hundred meters away, "Do you think she'd go there or into the woods?"
Rockford studied the barren field that eventually spawned a woodland, "It's almost a kilometer of open country between here and the tree line. If she was in a hurry to escape detection, and she probably was, her best bet for hiding is the urban landscape. I got the impression the cops wouldn't follow her into it."
"The inspector did refer to them as 'savages'," Macen added.
"Yeah, and he said it with fear in his voice. I'm willing to bet my professional reputation that our girl headed into the cityscape," Rockford's reputation at detection was formidable so it was no idle wager.
"Rab, Jenrya, we're headed into the urban jungle." Macen called out.
They formed up and went to the right as a concession to Macen's consulting the Currents. Daggit took the lead. Macen followed with Rockford trailing him. Radil brought up the rear. They were hyper-vigilant, ready for a firefight or ambush to break out in any moment. Macen tried to speak to a few natives that were on the street but the Felkorians invariably turned away and walked off.
Finally, after traversing eight blocks, a Felkorian approached them, "Hey Starfleet! Are you looking for your pilot?"
"We're not Starfleet," Macen established that fact right away, "But we are looking for the Starfleet pilot. We can make it worth your while."
"Follow me. I'll take you to her," the Felkorian promised.
They walked for another four blocks and the entered a derelict building on the left side of the street. As their eyes adjusted to the dark they recognized that they'd entered a large open area. In the center of it was Auray tied to a chair. Her head was slumped into her chest and her uniform jacket and blouse were unzipped.
"Jenrya," Macen said.
Radil moved forward and knelt next to Auray and began inspecting her injuries. She used her tricorder to scan the Andorian. She grew angry.
"The bastards beat her. She has massive bruising on her breasts. Prophets know how many people took turns groping them," Radil angrily declared.
"I can show you how many." The Felkorian chuckled. He began yapping and let out a single howl.
"Did he just bark at us?" Macen asked Rockford.
"I think it was meant for them," she pointed out all of the Felkorians entering the space. They were surrounded.
"I've got east." Daggit announced, his rifle tucked into his shoulder.
Rockford had her pistol drawn and cradled in two hands, "I've got north."
"I'll handle west." Macen also had his phaser in a two handed grip.
"I'll take south as soon as I get her up and running." Radil promised. She applied a stimulant to Auray's system. She put away the hypospray as Auray's eyes fluttered open.
"No!" she yelled, "No more!"
Radil gripped her shoulders, "Snap out of it. We're the good guys. We're here to take you home."
"You're Bajoran," Auray realized.
"And you're Andorian," Radil smarted off, "Let's get multicultural after we get out of here."
Radil pulled out a flick knife and cut the bonds holding Auray. She got the zhen to her feet but the pilot had a severe limp and had to be supported. Radil moved around her and wrapped her left arm around Auray's waist.
"Hold on to me." She instructed.
Auray threw her arm over Radil's shoulders. Radil had her rifle unencumbered but she also had a phaser strapped to each leg, "Grab a phaser. Maybe you'll get some payback before this is over."
Auray was hesitant at first but then with a look of grim determination, she pulled a phaser pistol free from Radil's left leg.
"Good girl," Radil praised her, "Now start walking towards the exit."
The lead Felkorian growled, "You're not going anywhere, Fed. We want a ransom and I figure whatever you were going to offer pales in comparison to what they'd offer for the lot of you."
"Walk down this path and all you'll get is an early grave. I'm willing to pay for her freedom. Take the latinum while you can," Macen offered.
"I don't think so," the Felkorian laughed. Macen shot him. The pack moved forward but the SID team punctuated that movement with phaser bursts. The pack halted.
"Keep this up and it gets very real," Macen thumbed up the power to his phaser. The others followed suit.
"You got nowhere to go, Fed. We'll give you ten arfets to surrender." A deputy counter offered.
Calculating that the time equaled fifteen minutes, Macen tapped the comm badge on his belt, "Macen to Grace."
Grace's voice filled the air, "I hear you."
"Lock onto this position and get us out of here." Macen instructed.
"Do you need an extraction already? You've barely had time to piss of the locals." Grace chided him.
"Hannah, I'm not laughing," Macen replied.
"Must be bad. We'll be there in a few." She promised.
The time counted down and just as the deadline arrived, Grace's voice filled the open circuit, "We have you on sensors. We can only transport two at a time so who goes first?"
"Radil and her friend are the priority." Macen decided.
The Bajoran and Andorian dissolved in a halo of energy. The Felkorian pack surged forward. McMasters targeted Macen and Rockford next. They quickly hopped out of the transporter frame and McMasters brought up Daggit. The Angosian looked totally nonchalant.
"Damn. It was just getting interesting," he grumbled.
"Where's Auray?" Rockford inquired of McMasters.
"Jenrya took her to the medical unit." He answered.
The Corsair, like all Danube-class runabouts, was a modular design. While the cockpit and rear passenger compartment were kept stock, the center modules had been selected for general mission use. One was a single occupancy brig. Next to it was the armory. Across the way was a medical module with two biobeds and it was fully stocked and rated as a trauma unit. The last module had two sonic showers and a decontamination cell.
Radil had Auray on a bed and was running a medical tricorder over her. The biobed's sensors were also examining her. Rockford approached while Radil was distracted.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
"Is it really over?" Auray asked with tears in her eyes.
As an Infiltrator Ryst had been captured and tortured on occasion. Rockford had been spared that but she had access to communal memories of such events. She knew that Auray needed affirmation that it was well and truly over.
She gripped the zhen's hand, "It's over. You'll never see them again."
"I knew Captain McKinley wouldn't leave me." Auray sighed.
Rockford decided not to disabuse her of that notion. McKinley hadn't been pressed to abandon his pilot yet, just to delay any and all search efforts until the political climate was better. She didn't believe him to be capable of unnecessarily abandoning a member of his crew.
"Strap in. It's gonna get bumpy," Grace's voice filled the runabout. Radil and Rockford were nearly thrown off of their feet as the ship jumped to maximum impulse. They strapped Auray's waist belt and then activated the emergency crash seats in the med bay.
"We've got six hostiles in bound. Targeting sensors are active and their weapons are hot." Daggit read off from his displays.
"Now you can raise shields." Macen conceded.
Grace made her announcement and then pushed the impulse engines' virtual throttle bars to maximum. The runabout leapt ahead but as it did so it drew fire from the constabulary flyers trailing it. Grace tried a serious of evasive maneuvers but the flyers were aircraft while the runabout had the aerodynamics of a brick.
"Head for the city. Maybe we can lose them in the traffic," Macen suggested.
"We're twice as big as their flyers; I think we'll stand out." Grace snapped.
"But they'll have to shoot at their own people," Macen offered.
Grace grinned, "Good point."
The Corsair headed for a traffic lane. Rather than get bogged down in it, she flew above in the buffer between traffic levels. The flyers continued firing.
"They're shooting at their own people!" Grace was incensed.
"How effective is their formation?" Macen asked.
"It's a two layered double delta. They're pretty much bracketing us," Grace explained.
"Try street level and see what they do," Macen ordered.
Grace gave him a wary glance and then shrugged. She rolled the runabout off of the traffic lane and dove for the deck. The flyers pursued but they gave up firing when the Corsair began a mad flight down city streets and lanes. Grace kept them ten meters in the air so there was no danger of hitting a person but civilian traffic lifting off and descending was nearly grazed a few times.
"Now what?" she asked.
"Just run a loop," Macen instructed.
"For how long?" she wanted to know.
"I'm working on it," he promised.
"Sir, Macen's team is under fire in downtown Verid." Kreow informed Shar.
"Contact Blek. I want to talk to him now!" Shar demanded.
"They're breaking off," Daggit announced.
"Why?" Macen wondered.
"Who the hell cares?" Grace opined, "As long as we can navigate again."
"Head back to the spaceport," Macen told Grace.
"Aren't we returning Auray to the Intrepid?" Grace wondered.
"Somebody just intervened on our behalf. This window may close if we leave the planet and it may not reopen upon our return. Auray's a survivor. She can handle a few more days without a ship's counselor," Macen said expressly.
"You're the Listener," Grace dubiously gave in.
Grace returned them to the same pad where they'd parked before. Macen explained to Auray that the team was there to rescue Admiral Johnson and the diplomatic team. She'd have to stay aboard the Corsair with Grace while the others searched for Johnson and the others.
McMasters met the news that he was coming with excitement. Auray showered and replicated a new uniform and then joined Grace in the cockpit as the others exited. Grace ushered her back to passenger lounge.
"They'll comm us if they need us," she explained.
"So now what?" Auray asked.
"How are you at Wings over Tokyo?" Grace asked with a grin.
"You have the game here?" Auray's antennas twitched excitedly.
"I've killed the computer six ways from Sunday," Grace admitted, "I've been looking for a challenge and you present the perfect one."
"I want to be the zero pilot," Auray said with a feral grin.
"Okay, you're on," Grace readily consented and got the holoprojector and motion control joysticks out of the storage locker where they were held.