The Hygar system was hours away, but the small raiding party had plenty to do as they pored over data from a small surveillance probe they'd sent ahead of them.
"Okay, it looks like there's about 120 effectives," K'Tag said as he looked over the readout. "Thirty of them are away from the base at any time. They've got a small craft, a cutter-sized vessel."
"The transport may be able to take the cutter, but I wouldn't mind backup," Tadanni replied. "Are there any Federation or allied assets in the area?"
"Nothing from the Federation. There is a Ferengi cruiser about eight light-years away. Comm traffic from the cruiser seems to indicate that they might be on an anti-piracy mission of their own," Johnny said. "Perhaps we can team up?"
"You're the best hand we've got with the Ferengi," Tarik said. "Get in touch with them. The worst they can say is no. If they say no, we'll just have to make this a smash-and-grab and get out before the cutter returns."
Johnny got up and went to the comm station. Within moments he was volubly engaged in an arguement in the hissing Ferengi language.
"From the bio readings from the probe, it looks like Zac and N'Garen are still at the base. I read eight more non-Nausicaan lifesigns as well," Ming said. "Two might be Mullurans; it's hard to tell at this resolution."
"As long as the cutter's away we've got a chance at rescuing them. There aren't any other long-range craft at the base," Tarik said. "We can set down in the jungle to the south of the base. Beam us down from orbit and activate stealth run," he said, addressing Tadanni. "We might need you for close air support later on, so if you can, maintain a geosynchronous orbit."
"Understood," Tadanni said. "I'll maintain orbit at 150 kilometers and await your signal."
"Colonel, I have an idea," Ming said tentatively.
"Well, speak up, man!" Tarik said. "If you have any ideas about making this easier, then by all means go ahead. We're a team here."
Ming told him the idea. Tarik smiled. "Yes, I think that will do just nicely. Get to work on it at once!"
One hour later...
"Okay, the Ferengi agreed to intercept the cutter. They're looking for the same thing we are, apparently," Johnny said.
"What did it cost us?" K'Tag asked.
"Five thousand bars of latinum, payable out of the pirates' stash. They wanted twenty thousand," Johnny replied.
K'Tag grunted. "Thieving veren'gan ptaQ!" he spat.
"They'll get their latinum; we'll get our people," Tarik said. "Everyone gets what they want out of this... except for the pirates, of course!" Everyone laughed. "Wang, how's that project coming?"
"Almost done. This should just about do it... yes!" he exclaimed.
"Good. That'll get their attention!" Tarik said.
The planet, an orb swirling with green and white, hove into view as the Hawke transport closed on its destination. "Stealth run activated," Tadanni said.
"Okay, everyone! Game time! Mr. Wang, unleash your little surprise for our Nausicaan friends!"
"Computer, download program Wang-0372A to specified coordinates on planet. Select random song from music database for broadcast."
<Acknowledged. Download complete.>
"Mr. Tadanni, beam us out!" Tarik shouted.
"HOOO-RAH!" the four men shouted as the transporter beam encompassed them.
The four men, dressed in black raiding coveralls with tactical armor, appeared in the middle of the compound. The power was out, and loud, obnoxious music blared from every comm circuit in the base. Pirate technicians ran to and fro, attempting to disconnect the comm circuits.
Wang produced his tricorder. "The prisoners are 60 meters northeast of here," he said as a Nausicaan guard took notice of the raiders and began firing. The group dropped behind a shipping container for cover.
"Wang, Chee -- head to the prisoners! K'Tag, you and I will hit the operations center!" Tarik said. The team split up amid a smoke grenade tossed by K'Tag into the compound.
Tarik emerged from the smoke to find four Nausicaan pirates taking aim at them. Both Tarik and K'Tag fired at them with their phaser rifles. One pirate dropped; the rest scattered and a gun battle ensued.
"You know, I kinda like this song!" Chee said as he and Wang engaged Nausicaan pirates to the tune of "Rock Lobster".
"It was either this or the Beijing Opera," Wang replied as he dropped a pirate with a roundhouse kick to the head. "I'm glad I let the computer pick!"
The two had closed rapidly with a group of Nausicaans vigorously defending a cargo container that Ming's tricorder indicated contained some of the prisoners. Johnny smashed one of the pirates in the mouth with the butt of his rifle while Ming sent down another with a series of intricate martial arts maneuvers. Once all eight of the pirates had been defeated, Johnny shot all of them dead with his rifle. Ming looked on, flabbergasted.
"Pirates have no rights under the Khitomer Convention," Johnny explained calmly. "They may be dealt with at the discretion of any interested party."
Ming opened the shipping container. Three humans, two Bajorans, and a Trayvan sat in the darkened container, filthy despite their own best efforts to contain the filth of their existence. Their clothes were torn; the women were naked and shied away from contact. He couldn't bear to look very long.
"We're from Starfleet. You're safe now," Johnny said, then tapped his combadge. "Chee to Tadanni -- six to beam up from my location," he said, passing transponders to the bewildered prisoners.
[Acknowledged.] The six wretched prisoners vanished from existence, to reappear aboard the transport.
"Next time," Ming said, burning with rage, "I want to deal with the pirates at my own discretion."
"You have a deal, my friend," Johnny said with a knowing look on his face.
[Chee to Tarik -- Zac and N'Garen were not with the prisoners we just liberated. They must have been moved since we landed!]
"I've got a pretty good idea where they might be. Get over to Operations!" Tarik yelled into his combadge as he and K'Tag were pinned down by withering fire from the direction of the pirates' command and control center.
K'Tag activated a photon grenade and tossed it in the direction of a shack where a large number of pirates were holding out. The shack immediately vaporized, leaving behind assorted pieces of Nausicaans. "Cover me!" he yelled as he rushed toward the C&C.
Tarik laid down suppressing fire while K'Tag rushed the door, bat'leth gleaming in the jungle sun. A guard came out the door and immediately K'Tag gutted him, roaring incomprehensible Klingon profanity the whole time.
Johnny and Ming joined Tarik as he began to work his way toward the door. K'Tag was inside the building, engaging the defenders in hand-to-hand combat as the other three team members advanced. It didn't take long for them to find Zac and N'Garen. Both were tied up and being held at gunpoint by a Nausicaan. "Go no farther! If you return to your vessel I will spare their lives!" the Nausicaan bellowed.
"Your word is meaningless!" K'Tag spat.
Before anyone could take action, a rather astonishing sequence of events occurred. Zac, remembering his Tanzaran heritage, shapeshifted into a mongoose and immediately ran to N'Garen, gnawing away at her bonds. Before the guard could do anything, K'Tag blasted him out of existence with his phaser.
Zac shapeshifted back into his usual form, while N'Garen burst her bonds. N'Garen immediately rushed to K'Tag, embracing him.
"Your behavior is unseemly for a Klingon in battle. Take arms! Our fight is not yet done!"
"Give it a rest for a moment, why don't you?" Tarik said to him. "She's not fully Klingon, after all!"
"Would you tolerate such behavior from a Romulan child?"
"Don't know -- never had one! Let's move!" Tarik said, not willing to escalate the discussion any further.
The prisoners freed, their next task was to get out of the compound. So far, the mission had gone smoothly. Too smoothly...
Meanwhile, in orbit, Jarrod Tadanni had his hands full. The pirate cutter had reappeared. Tadanni worked the Hawke through its paces, firing phasers and photon bursts meant for air-ground combat. "Damn!" he swore as the transport took a hit. "They must have penetrated the stealth shielding!"
[K'Tag to Tadanni -- six to beam up!] the comm channel alerted him.
"Unable to comply! Engaged with hostile forces at the moment!" Tadanni replied.
"Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way," Tarik commented as the remaining Nausicaan defenders began to rally. They'd made a substantial dent in the base's defenses, but there were still over seventy pirates left. "We'd better dig in and hope either Tadanni or the Ferengi can get us out of here!"
N'Garen, needing no prompting, retrieved the rifle of the guard who had been watching them. She took her place against one of the windows of the C&C shack, a hardened bunker designed to resist attack. K'Tag smiled. She's a Klingon after all, when it counts! he thought.
"Wang, watch Zac and be ready to plug the gap. K'Tag, N'Garen, take the right. Chee and I have the left," Tarik said quietly.
"But I want to see what's going on!" Zac protested.
"Trust me, child, you don't," Johnny said deadpan.
"I read two Mullurans outside," Wang said as he checked his tricorder. "They're together."
K'Tag looked through his viewfinder. "They're officers. I'm recording this for later use."
"Good idea. The Nausicaans had to be getting their backing from somewhere in order to get aboard the station!" Tarik replied. "Wang, get on a terminal and see what you can find out. Download everything you can, then frag the system!"
"Come with me, Zac. You can help here!" Ming said as the two left for the computers. Ming was sure he could find some sort of busywork to make Zac feel important.
<Warning. Shields at 40 percent,> the transport's computer alerted Tadanni as the pirate cutter scored yet another hit. Jarrod swore as he pulled back from low orbit. They'll have to hold their own for now. I've got to safeguard the ship if they're to have any chance at all! he thought.
Entering the atmosphere would only bring the cutter after him, and reinforce the base. The energy readings for the weapons systems were getting dangerously low. This is turning out to be a very bad idea.
[Attention Federation vessel. This is the Ferengi cruiser Leverage, DaiMon Vex in command. We are assisting as agreed.]
"Thank Tiadara!" Jarrod said aloud as the cruiser swooped in and began firing on the cutter. The cutter immediately hove to. The transport's sensors indicated multiple transporter signals. The Ferengi are boarding the cutter. Good! While not generally known as a warrior people, the Ferengi armed forces were nonetheless very professional and more than a match even against the ferocious Nausicaans.
"DaiMon Vex, this is Lieutenant Commander Jarrod Tadanni. We thank you for your assistance. I am proceeding to the planet surface to extract our team."
[Very good. Our representatives are also proceeding to the planet.]
Back on the planet, the firefight had started. Four against seventy-two. The team held the line for as long as possible, but the sheer weight of numbers pushed them away from their positions. The Nausicaans, led by the Mulluran officers, entered the bunker.
Fighting immediately went hand-to-hand. N'Garen and K'Tag stood back to back, N'Garen with her d'k tahg dagger and K'Tag with his bat'leth. Johnny and Tarik fought individually, with Tarik using lethal Vulcan martial arts and Johnny brandishing a knife. No one could quite remember what happened as the melee devolved into an old-fashioned brawl.
Two of the Nausicaans managed to make it to the computer terminal where Ming was working. One of them attempted to grab Zac, but Ming stopped him short with a palm strike to the chin. He ducked repeated haymaker blows from the Nausicaan and eventually dropped down and swept the Nausicaan's legs from under him. Ming grabbed his phaser and burned the pirate to a crisp. "No mercy!" he yelled in Chinese.
Meanwhile, Zac was busy with the other pirate. Zac, now more confident of his shapeshifting abilities, had shifted into a wolverine and was busy making short work of the Nausicaan's arm. The Nausicaan swept his arm against the wall, knocking Zac off. Ming finished the job with a phaser burst straight to the chest of the pirate. He then grabbed his tricorder and began scanning Zac.
"Are you okay?" he asked the unconscious wolverine.
The wolverine shifted back into a little boy. "I'm okay, Mr. Wang!"
Just then the fighting stopped. The Nausicaans who had reached the bunker had been dispatched, and no more were entering. K'Tag looked cautiously outside... and laughed!
The others looked also, brought about by the sharp Klingon laughter. Fifty Ferengi troops from the cruiser had beamed down behind the Nausicaans and were disarming the pirates!
The deal was simple: the Ferengi took possession of all the pirate loot (most of which had come from a Ferengi trader, which had prompted their response). The team took the captives and the surviving Mulluran officer. Not having the means to transport so many prisoners, and no real desire to execute all of them, the team left the Nausicaans to the Ferengi (who then executed them).
[The Nausicaans are becoming more active in all sectors,] DaiMon Vex said to Tarik. [Cooperation between the Ferengi Alliance and the Federation in this matter may be profitable for all sides.]
"Particularly if the Mullurans are also involved," Tarik agreed. "Initiate dialogue with your superiors and I will discuss the matter with mine. Destroying the pirates will ensure profits for everyone!" About bloody time we got some help in this sector, he thought.
Zac and N'Garen joined the other freed hostages, now eating combat rations and dressed in work coveralls, in the main transport bay while the four officers took positions in the cabin.
"Let's get the hell out of here," K'Tag said.