A/N: Thank you SnidgetHex and pallysAramisRios for reviewing!
"The Cavalry"
2394
"This is all your fault."
"How is it my fault?"
"Ferengi are savvy businessmen, Rios," he mimicked, tugging at the fibrous gel cords binding his wrists behind his back. "They'll trade in anything for a profit. And they'll screw over anyone for a profit too!"
Raffi grunted as he bumped against her, the two of them tied up back-to-back on the floor in the cargo hold of the Ferengi ship they'd delivered their merchandise to. No sooner had they completed delivery, however, had they found themselves at gunpoint and relieved of their weapons and communicators.
The cargo hold doors slid open and their two-timing associate, Krox, stepped inside, rocking on the balls of his heels with a smug smirk on his face. Rios wanted to chop those gargantuan ears right off and stuff them down the Ferengi's throat.
"Krox, what the hell!" Raffi snapped. "Double crossing business partners isn't exactly the way to keep yourself in business for long. You think anyone will want to work with you if they hear you're a backstabbing cheat?"
Krox canted his head thoughtfully. "You make a good point. But neither of you are going to be in a position to tell anyone about it. There's a uridium mine in need of workers, and two young and strong slaves will fetch me a decent profit." He giggled to himself and strode away, shouting orders to get their ship ready to take off.
Rios scowled and strained against his bonds some more, to no avail. "This is all your fault."
"Bite me."
…
Enoch sat at the navigational controls on the bridge, tapping away at the console. La Sirena was in orbit above the planet the captain and Miss Musiker had beamed down to with their latest cargo to deliver. Enoch was taking advantage of the downtime to run a diagnostic on the navigation system, something he was only able to do when Rios was away, outside of an emergency, of course. The ENH might have been an emergency hologram, but he liked doing something productive without any urgency behind it.
The comm beeped, and Enoch automatically swiped the key to open the channel, expecting the captain. Yet before he could greet Rios with a cheerful hello, strange voices sounded through the speaker.
"How do you get this thing to work?"
"How should I know?"
There was the sound of metal striking metal three times in quick succession.
"Get one of the prisoners and make them activate it."
"You know they won't. Humans are too stubborn for their own good."
Enoch frowned and decided to remain quiet rather than politely offer his assistance.
"Just track the signal back to the ship so we can locate it and tow it out of orbit. That's a huge chunk of profit just sitting up there!"
"I'm working on it!"
Well, that didn't sound good. Enoch muted the comm while leaving the connection open and keyed in a sequence to activate his fellow holograms. Four almost identical figures shimmered onto the bridge.
Emil looked around and frowned. "Yes, what is it?"
"I believe the captain and Miss Musiker are in trouble," Enoch replied, running a scan of the beam-down coordinates. There was a Ferengi freighter, slightly smaller than La Sirena, parked on the outskirts of the city. He detected two human bio signs within, but when he tried to get a lock with the transporter, something was blocking the targeting system.
"What kind of trouble?" Emil asked in a long-suffering tone.
Enoch keyed up the first part of the comm transmission he'd eavesdropped on and replayed it for his fellow holos.
"Ach, yoo think the captain and the lassie are the human prisoners?" Ean said.
Enoch nodded. "There are two humans inside the Ferengi vessel, but I can't get a transporter lock on them."
"Conchetumadres," Emmet growled.
"Also, it looks like the ship is getting ready to take off," Enoch added.
"Well, that's problematic," Emil said.
"What exactly are we supposed to do about it?" Mister Hospitality put in.
The five holos looked at each other.
"I suppose," Enoch spoke up, "we'll have to go down there and rescue them."
"But without a transporter lock and us unable to set foot off the ship, how do you plan on executing a rescue operation?" Hospitality countered primly.
"Disparen a los bastardos," Emmet said with a shrug.
Emil rolled his eyes. "Yes, and shoot up the people we're trying to rescue. Good show."
"We only need ta take oot the jamming device," Ean said.
Enoch nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, exactly! I'll fly the ship; Emmet will take out the source of the jamming signal; Ean will beam them up as soon as he's got a lock. And Emil will be standing by with a medical kit. Who knows how those scoundrels have treated the captain and Miss Musiker."
Hospitality huffed indignantly. "And what am I going to do?"
"Begin composing a scathing review of this Ferengi captain's business ethics," Enoch replied. "No doubt Captain Rios will want to get the word out once he's returned. And Miss Musiker will make sure he never does business in this sector again."
"If you get them out alive," Hospitality retorted before marching off.
Enoch furrowed his brows. That wasn't a nice way to wish them luck.
"Better hurry," Ean said, nodding to the current sensor readings.
Enoch jolted and swiveled in the seat to face forward as he powered up the engines and laid in a descent course through the atmosphere. Those Ferengi thought La Sirena was floating idly above the planet, unmanned and vulnerable for the taking. They were wrong.
The view out the windows quickly filled with atmospheric clouds and the blazing heat ignited upon re-entry. Enoch piloted the ship down through the cloud cover and across a sweeping desert wilderness while simultaneously trying to narrow down the source of the jamming signal.
"Top starboard section," he told Emmet, seated at the other operations station.
La Sirena soared down to pull up into a hover just above the parked Ferengi vessel. Enoch could see through the bridge windows the large-lobed figures scrambling to peer out the panes up at them. Their expressions were utterly flummoxed as they sputtered and jabbed fingers. Enoch waved and smiled as Emmet opened fire on them.
With the tactical EH's aim, a single torpedo exploded along the starboard side, and Enoch beamed as his sensor readings revealed they could now get a transporter lock on their people. He read the energizing signature in the computer as Ean completed the task in the back of the ship at the pad.
"Got 'em!" the engineering holo called.
Enoch turned the ship and headed back up into space.
Emmet unleashed one last barrage on their way out that ripped through the Ferengis' engines, no doubt crippling the ship.
Enoch shot him a dry look. "That was overkill."
Emmet shrugged blithely and stretched his arms up behind his head.
Enoch sighed but turned his attention back to piloting the ship. Once they were out of the atmosphere, he set them back into a stationary orbit and got up to go check on his captain and Miss Musiker.
"In one piece?" he jauntily asked, finding them standing on their own two feet and ignoring Emil hovering with a tricorder.
"No worse for wear," the EMH declared.
"Hang on," Raffi said, holding a hand up. "You guys fired on the Ferengi ship?"
"To disable whatever was blocking the transporter, yes," Enoch replied. "Don't worry, we knew from scans that you weren't being held near the section Emmet had to blow up."
Raffi looked stunned and perhaps impressed. "How'd you even know we were in trouble?"
"The Ferengis activated one of your communicators, though I surmised they didn't realize it at the time. It wasn't difficult to ascertain things hadn't gone according to plan." He grinned again. "And we came to the rescue!"
Ean leaned forward with a grin and wink of his own. "We be the cavalry."
Raffi continued to shake her head dubiously. "Wow."
Rios pushed past them all with a grunt. "I need a shower."
"You're welcome, Captain!" Enoch called after him.
Rios grunted again in acknowledgement, then called back over his shoulder, "And no more business with Ferengis!"
Enoch shared a pleased smile with his fellow holos. All in a day's work.