SubAccount: Mondo'li Nari

[Edge of Gothos City - Rogue Planet - Larn System]

Edge of Gothos City - Rogue Planet - Larn System

Mondo smirked at his superior officer's humor at the ludicrous position they were in, having articles disappeared off of their person at the whims of some powerful puppetmaster.

Then something new developed.  Mondo eyed the approaching Romulan, and frowned somewhat as the officer asked to speak with 'humans.'  Why did homogenous nations always seem to assume that 'humans' were the default standard species in charge of anything important within the Federation?

Mondo glanced to Briggs and Wessex, and considered the Captain, and his frown deepened.

In any event, this was not the time nor the place to correct the Romulan's misguided notion, or consider whether it had any validity.  Instead, Mondo continued to watch the approaching Romulan and leaned close to Lieutenant Wessex.

"Do you wish me to circle wide to take a flanking position, Sir?"

Only then did it occur to him that the Romulans might have done the same, using this overture as a distraction.  The Hupyrian turned his head, looking all around them for places where an enemy might take cover or attempt an unseen approach.

[DEATH]

DEATH

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  Mondo had wondered what it would be like, when it finally came.  He had thought to die during the Leyton rebellion.  Or on one of a handful of incidents that had happened since then.  He hadn't expected to die on an impossible world, playing out some sort of game for some unknown entity or entities of great power.

The darkness came, but somehow his consciousness didn't end.  He saw a light.  Would his ancestors be waiting there for him?  Would he join them in adding his spirit to the great tapestry of his family line?  Would he add his strength to a distant cousin?  A neice?  Would he see their lives, and be able to reach out to help them in moments of need?

All of these musings ended rather abruptly as he found himself standing once again with the away team, clutching at wounds that no longer existed.

Mondo reached down and found his weapon.  He would rather shoot himself than to participate in a continuous cycle of pantomime murder.

But another solution was soon transmitted to them.

"Sirs... if this Sheriff is the source of our troubles, and if he has a source of power, he would surely maintain it in a central, protected location.  Perhaps the Sheriff's own office?"

If Mondo had vital equipment to protect, he would keep it where he could keep a close eye on it.

[Rogue Planet - The Showdown]

Rogue Planet - The Showdown

Mondo smiled at Wessex's comment of drink preferences.  But he was right- whoever set up this scenario was probably fallible.

When it became apparent that their opponents were Romulans, Mondo's jaw clenched.  They were being manipulated into murdering Romulans.  Perhaps nothing else here was real.  The people in town.  The town itself.  But Romulans were known to be here before this away team was launched.

The Romulans were most likely real.

"Sirs... I believe we should surrender to the Romulans."

He glanced back at the Sheriff of Gothos.

"We are being maneuvered into bloodshed, and I believe these Romulans are legitimate people.  Not some manufactured fabrication or illusion."

There was no way to know, of course.  Everyone here could be real.  Perhaps even kidnapped from elsewhere to play out this scenario.  But Mondo's instinct was that the Romulans- and perhaps the omnipotent Sheriff- were the only real components to this place.

"I would rather surrender to them, than kill them simply for the sake of some archaic simulated combat scenario.  If we surrender, there is no conflict.  Perhaps this simulation will end, or be thwarted."

[Mysterious Red Planet - Gothos City]

Mysterious Red Planet - Gothos City

Mondo was pleasantly surprised when Sims rose without any injury being evident, despite him definitely being shot.  Either the wound had rapidly and miraculously healed, or it had never been real at all.  But upon further reflection, his pleasure dissipated.

What did this mean?  Had Mondo killed people when his team was never in real danger?

Were those people even really dead?

What was going on, here?

But he did not have time to ruminate on it.  Soon, they were ushered away by the Sheriff, who began to exhibit uncanny knowledge of the team.  Mondo leaned close to Wessex, "Sir... the references this man is making... they resemble actual biographical details from our lives."

It was, perhaps, an obvious observation...  But either this man had access to Federation information resources, or he had access to their minds and memories.

[Mysterious Red Planet - Gothos City]

Mysterious Red Planet - Gothos City

Mondo felt a grim satisfaction at having somehow confronted the armed robbers successfully with the help of the rest of the team.  He despised taking lives, but he had begun to find peace in a savage equation:  If a contest came between Them and Us, it was his job to make sure the survivor was Us.

He walked over to the fallen foes, examining them to see if they were well and truly dead.

No breathing.  Plenty of blood.  He reached down to unbuckle their belts and retrieve their weapons.

At that moment, a new figure appeared.  The 'Sheriff.'  Some kind of law-enforcement?   Mondo eyed the man with suspicion, wondering if he was bringing more violence.  But it didn't seem so.

Standing with one of the belts and guns, he looked towards Wessex.

"Another firearm, Sir?"

He hoped the Sheriff would not interfere.  If their wounded away-team member survived, then they were still one weapon short.  This would fix the problem. 

[Mysterious Red Planet - Gothos City]

Mysterious Red Planet - Gothos City

Mondo's hand went instinctively to his newly acquired slugthrower as the bandits opened fire on his fellow away-team members.  He also found himself flinching at the thunderous report of the weapons.

The Hupyrian was not surprised when the criminals' wild shooting didn't connect with much.  He had already noted that the weapons were probably inaccurate.  Still, despite the weapons, and the apparent lack of skill processed by their antagonists, they inflicted a casualty.  Before Mondo could even touch his 'iron' he had already failed in his job.

The Security of the team had been breached.

Stepping sideways to place his significant frame between the shooters and the injured away-team member, he drew his weapon and pulled back its priming lever.  Then he leveled the 'Colt' as best he could against the man who seemed to be the lead outlaw.  Finally, he squeezed the trigger, hoping to unleash a slug of his own against the foe.  His movements were not the practiced ones of a quick-draw artist.  But they were deliberate, steady, and filled with willful intent.

[Mysterious Red Planet - Gothos City]

Mysterious Red Planet - Gothos City

Mondo didn't express it openly, but he was privately glad that the salesman exploded in anger and denied Wessex the right to purchase a firearm.  It meant they would still have spare currency in their party.  Still, he planned to offer his own gun to his superior.  The Hupyrian was not ignorant of the fact that he had a significant physical advantage over most humanoids.  Hence, he had less need of a weapon than most people.

However, any pleasure he might have taken in the retention of coinage, and any intention he had in offering up his gun, was interrupted by the arrival of three criminals.  It was anathema to his nature to allow his team to be robbed this way.  However, he did not have sufficient competence with his newly-purchased weapon to do anything about it, even if Commander Briggs had been inclined to order it.

He had observed certain basics: The lever-striker at the back of the weapon could be pulled to prepare the weapon for firing, which rotated the cylinder while priming the trigger.  Then the trigger could be depressed to release the lever-striker.  It would fall upon a metallic cartridge which contained a kinetic-sensitive explosive.  This would then propel the metallic slug down a rifled barrel.

Not that the rifling would mean much, given such rudimentary sights.  He doubted these weapons could achieve even 5 MOA.  He wouldn't trust his 'Colt' to hit a target much farther away than he could throw the thing... and perhaps not even that far.

But that was all moot.

He could easily understand these weapons with a reasoned technical analysis.  But proficiency with a weapon required much more than a technical understanding.  It required extensive practice.  Earned muscle memory.  An instinctive understanding of balance and performance that came only with regular familiarity.

He had none of that.

And so, when Briggs humiliatingly ordered Wessex to hand over a portion of his coins, Mondo couldn't help but feel that doing so was the most pragmatic option available to them.  He glanced back at his superior, offering Wessex an apologetic look.   As if to say, "I wish I had my phaser, Boss.  No one would touch you, then."

[City of Gothos, Mysterious Red Planet]

City of Gothos, Mysterious Red Planet

Mondo nodded in appreciation of his superior's kind words, but then frowned at the salesman, who claimed to only stock one brand of weapon.  Perhaps he did, and that was why he was so anxious to unload them upon the Challenger team.  But it was inconceivable to the Hupyrian that no other weapons would be available here.  How would people hunt food with these short-barrelled slugthrowers?

Only then did Mondo remind himself that this entire scenario was illegitimate.  This was a strange habitable spot on an otherwise uninhabitable world.  This was a tiny town with no connection to a greater nation of people.  This was a bubble of simulated reality.

Their weapons had been taken, and now they were being offered these.  It could not be a coincidence.

Finally, he succumbed to the inevitable, counting forty-nine of his coins and handing them over.  There seemed no choice beyond playing along with the scripted scenario.  He held up his one last coin, "You wouldn't take a man's only remaining unit of currency, would you?"

It was his final attempt at objection.  If he received further resistance, he'd hand over his final coin as well.  Perhaps this manufactured reality would provide more coins if they were needed to play out the part.

Still, the questions remained... what part was the Challenger away-team playing?  To what end?

And where were the Romulans in all of this?

[Gothos City - Rogue Planet - Larn System]

Gothos City - Rogue Planet - Larn System

Somehow, fifty coins of gold pressed... gold... had appeared on Mondo's person.  It felt like they were in a holodeck facility, playing out some sort of scripted adventure or holo-novel.

Mondo's eyes went wide when the Commander accepted the price of 50 gold for the pistols without haggling at all.  Although his own superior officer and the XO were both trying to get information from the salesman, and though he knew it was improper to interrupt them, he found himself unable to hold his tongue.

And that was something quite rare for a trained Hupyrian servant.

"Sirs," Mondo spoke softly, leaning close to Wessex and Briggs.  "If this man has enough of these weapons to equip our entire team, he may be willing to part with them for a better price.  We might need additional coins for food, lodgings, and other supplies in this town if we can not quickly return to the Challenger.  And... we may not want to purchase these particular weapons.  Diversifying the capability of the team might be better."

He pointed at the weapon Kyle was strapping on, "This seems to be a short-barreled slugthrower, like a Tellarite Thunderer, apparently using chemically propelled projectiles.  The sighting system is rudimentary.  The effective range is unlikely to exceed 25 meters.  And the capacity seems limited to these chambers within a rotating cylinder.

At the same technological development, we might expect to find long-arms.  Possibly with a higher capacity or with a larger projectile diameter.  And it is possible that different weapons may have better prices."

[The Impossible Planet - The Impossible Town]

The Impossible Planet - The Impossible Town

Mondo glanced to Wessex, and then nodded, "Yes, Sir."

Taking point without a weapon made the tall Hupyrian feel more like a physical barrier to harm, like a wall, rather than someone who had any hope of actually countering danger.  However, he quickly shook off the sensation.  He could, in fact, hope to overpower a wide variety of wilderness creature, as well as any unarmed sentients who wished to pummel the party with their bare hands.  He was more than just a large target.

When they came to the town sign- oddly written in Standard- Mondo was alarmed to see that the town population had decreased, rather than increased, lately.  There were many reasons this could be that were not nefarious, but the red paint brought only the sinister ones to mind.

"The structures seem simple, largely organic.  I have not seen many trees.  I presume the lumber was imported from elsewhere.  This implies either a trade network or a replication facility."  Mondo tried to make useful observations as he scanned the area for threats.  Perhaps naturally for a Hupyrian raised in the presence of Ferengi, his first observations were economic.

When a person hailed them, Mondo interposed himself between them and the rest of the party.

Human.  Or at least a near-identical humanoid species.

"Shooting-iron?" Mondo asked, "Is that some sort of weapon?"

He glanced back at the rest of the landing team, then returned his attention to the man speaking.  "What does this place use for trade?  Currency?"

You could take the Hupyrian from Ferenginar, but you couldn't take Ferenginar from the Hupyrian.

[USS Challenger - Armory]

USS Challenger - Armory

Mondo, Wessex, and three other security personnel had just sealed their environmental suits when the call came in.

Lieutenant Wessex. Grab Mister Nari and two other officers and gear up in full combat kit. Draw out an extra phaser for myself and meet me in Transporter Room One in five minutes. Briggs out.

Mondo touched one of the Security crewmen on the shoulder, shaking his head.  They had anticipated this call ever since the mysterious red planet had materialized in their vicinity.  But there had been no way to know how many would be called into action.  Crewman Vizetti shrugged and began getting undressed.

After Wessex made his reply, Mondo grabbed one last photon grenade before the four of them headed out towards the transporter room, in full tactical array.

The Impossible Desert - The Impossible World

As the transporter beam deposited them, and Mondo felt the warm breeze on his skin, it became immediately apparent that something was wrong.  He turned, surveying the other members of the team.  It was the same for all of them.

They'd been stripped of all means to protect themselves.

"Someone must have intercepted our transporter beam... stripped us of weapons and armor."  The Hupyrian spoke, frowning slightly, "But anyone capable of such a thing could have more easily simply killed us."

That was some small comfort, at least.

[USS Challenger - Enlisted Mess]

USS Challenger - Enlisted Mess

Mondo sipped his cup, considering what Crewman Valdez had said.

"So, a rogue planet is merely a planet not orbiting a star?" Mondo asked, "Why is this remarkable?"

"It's not exactly remarkable.  Not in and of itself.  Orbital dynamics will sometimes cast an orbital body clear out of a solar system, and we do encounter them from time to time.  But what is unusual, is for there to be a big red rogue planet in this particular area.  An area which has previously been explored.  Modern sensors can detect a planet-sized body at quite a distance.  So, we should have mapped all the rogue bodies out this way long ago.  That's why I think the people reporting such a thing must have been using illicit chems."

Mondo nodded, finishing his cup.  "So, it is like the old Hupyrian adage: Finding a fire in your fire-pit is not surprising.  But finding a fire on your roof is cause for concern."

"Exactly," Valdez confirmed, chuckling at the phrase, "Objects out of context."

Suddenly, a giant red planet appeared in the rear viewport of the mess hall.

Mondo stared at the viewport for a moment, then stood up.  "Well... I think I should probably report to Lieutenant Wessex."

"But you're not on shift today, are you?" Valdez asked, his back facing the remarkable appearance of a planet "I thought you had your counselor appointment today."

Mondo shook his head.  "Considering the context... today was probably a bad day to take off."

With that, he recycled his beverage and headed out of the mess hall, leaving a bewildered crewman in his wake.

[Delta Flyer Class Runabout Mjolnir, On approach for rescue]

Delta Flyer Class Runabout Mjolnir, On approach for rescue

Mondo winced slightly at his friend's tone.  Hupyrian servants were trained to accept a certain amount of abuse from their Masters, but it was harder to take a harsh tone from a friend.  He didn't blame Lahr.  The situation was terrible.  But he didn't have the practice to passively endure it without reaction.

"No shuttles can be allowed to make landfall," Mondo said, "Not to drop off supplies, and not for any other reason, either.  Not until we have a formidable Security team in place, ready to protect them.  Any supplies we provide, and anyone we evacuate, will have to be dropped or pulled from orbit via transporter or drone."

Mondo turned to look at Lahr, and then glanced to the other members of the runabout crew.

"Even at the worst we have seen together, you and I... we have been dealing mostly with trained, uniformed entities.  Sometimes, sadistic individuals.  Pirates.  Criminals.  Sometimes, sick people.  We have even dealt with the good citizens of worlds who have experienced generations of Utopia and peaceful living.  Generations of conditioning that take time to degrade."

He gestured vaguely towards the planet.

"This is not that.  We have never dealt with anything like this.  These are going to be multitudes of people, enough to fill the horizon of your imagination.  People wild with fear, desperate.  They will believe their lives are about to end.   And they will be right.  Their entire planet is on the edge of a knife, and every breath they take could be their last.

They can not be trusted to be orderly, or to be safe.  Their government can't be trusted to keep them so.  No one down there was really prepared for this, because there is no way to adequately prepare for this.  It will be utter, screaming, bloody chaos.

Only a potential threat in their faces, which is more imminent than the threat at their backs, will keep them from swarming any shuttle that lands among them.  Any shuttle that makes landfall on that world will be at risk of an endless, wild mob.  It is a recipe for suicide, not for rescue.

I am not even sure we have enough Security on the entire ship to adequately secure a single landing site when faced with that kind of heinous reality."

[Delta Flyer Class Runabout Mjolnir, On approach for rescue]

Delta Flyer Class Runabout Mjolnir, On approach for rescue

Mondo began assessing the shuttle squadron's evacuation capacity from his auxiliary station.

"Not all shuttles have transporter capability, though the ones without it can be aided by the ones who have it.  Ionization of the atmosphere could be a problem for transport... and it's one I don't know how to solve.

But there are more pressing questions:

Do we evacuate people in areas where the nuclear devices detonated?  People who are terribly burned and irradiated and most likely to die?

Do we evacuate people in intermediate areas, who are free from direct burns, but who will certainly die from intense radiation exposure?

Or do we evacuate people in areas distant from the detonations, who are currently completely healthy, but who are in danger of exposure to future radioactive winds and rain which will poison them in upcoming hours and days?"

What was the triage for a case like this?  How did they choose who to save?

The Hupyrian simply did not know.

Competent psychological assistance will doubtless be most welcome on this ship.  :-)