Tag: sto hook

Arena
When I materialized, I was in an arena. Enemies attacked fast, without pause, flashing before me like visions, like memories. I slashed them away. There was no time to stand victorious before another would strike. A new, different, terrifying creature from some other place, brought here away from its home just to fight for some wretch of a being’s entertainment. 
I slew every one of them, remorseless. The creatures became people, at some point, and I hardly noticed. Everything was a fog again, of blood and death. 
Survive. For Borealis II. For everything since then. For revenge. 

The fog turned to screams. The lights flashed. Footsteps thundered. Weapons fire lanced through the murky air outside of the arena. The shield doors died, dropping, and everything inside ran. I ran, without even realizing that my feet were moving. I was a part of the crowd, even as I ran from it. Chaos. Shoving, grinding, slicing, burning…people went down around me but I kept running. Past the crowd. Past the doors. Past the bouncers. Past the guards. Slice. Burn. Keep. Running. Survive. 

The hallway I ran down began to darken. My feet would not move. Keep. Running. A beam shot down around me and I fell into it, all of my senses on fire. 

Confrontation

“The Crocodile! Tell me what you know!”

Hassan sat there, a smug king of horrors in his dirty, sweaty castle. His smile never changed, as if it were painted onto his mask of a face, worn for particularly unwelcome guests. He leaned forward ever so slightly and gurgled as he spoke.

 
“I’m not in the business of disclosing information about my business partners. You know…that could be dangerous for me, and my partners. A man such as yourself ought to understand that. Or be made to understand.”

I gripped my blade, barely wiped dry of the blood of Hassan’s guards. I had hacked my way into the fortress, through far more intimidating foes than this pile of filth before me. But my face must have twitched, because he laughed, barking, so suddenly that I thought he was choking on his drink. 

“Don’t look so surprised, Captain ‘Hook’. Of course I’ve heard of you, and your vendetta against the mad Gorn. It’s my business to know of such things. But obviously I have you at a disadvantage, because you don’t seem to know me.”

“I know enough. I know that you’ve been in business with that ‘Mad Gorn’ for longer than you care to admit. I know he has something on you, and that you, in turn, have to provide illegal military technology and medical supplies. What I don’t know is why.” I saw a flicker of defeat on his face, and I acted on it. I took a step forward. 

“Wrong, Captain. What you don’t know is that I never do business with second-rate pirates…” 

“Wha…” a transport beam began to dematerialize around me. Damn. 

“Well, I suppose that’s actually a lie,” Hassan’s voice cracked, “I meant to say, I never do it face-to-face!” 

Ambush
“It’s a trap!” 
I barely heard the shout before I felt the crackle of weapons discharge in the dry air. My newly acquired crew had been behind me, but now scattered to engage the attackers. 
“Form up!” I yelled, but knew it was little use. The crew was not accustomed to fighting as one unit. They were, after all, strangers to each other. I chased after my crew, firing at the Nausicaans and Orions. If I can’t have order, then chaos it shall be. At least we seemed to be heading in the general direction of the warlord’s encampment. 
Nimbus III does not want to give up its secrets easily, but I’ll be damned if I let a desert world get the best of me. 

Acquisition. 
It’s a song often sung by Ferengi traders. So often, it can easily be tuned out by tired ears waiting at the bar for a drink and a refuel. Ferengi voices grate out their rules and their greedy, cowardly reasonings. But all that shines is not necessarily latinum. There are other ways to acquire besides rigged dabo tables and cheating your business partners. Ways that get me increasingly faster ships, more powerful weapons…power. Power to pursue my goal. I have my own “rules of acquisition”. Somehow, I think most Ferengi would be rather uncomfortable following them, though.

Answers. 
They have proven to be just as elusive as the Crocodile himself. He slipped away from our last encounter, leaving not even a clue. I have chased him from starbase to starbase, through outposts and trading colonies and spaceports…but to no avail. Many have seen him. Many have spoken to him. Most have conducted some sort of unsavory business with him. No one seems to know where he is or how to contact him. No one seems to even know who he is, what he is about, what his weaknesses are. 
I’m not even sure anymore if I’m chasing answers, or the man, or something even less tangible.