The Hornet's Nest

Posted on 10 Jun 2025 @ 2:22am by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Ensign Ronin Tetnel & Lieutenant JG Sunni Wallace & Crewman Nicholas Foy & Story Teller

2,761 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Cover of Darkness
Location: Flotsam
Timeline: July 5, 2390 || 0900 hours

Two long, arduous days had passed since D'rimo and his goons had forced the Golden Stars to load up the Flotsam and hastily attached cargo pods with copious amounts of birythium. And, while there was only a single ship in orbit of Mellon, six fighter-size craft had been launched from the Confederation warship to escort the Flotsam to an undisclosed location.

If the bulky exterior cargo containers weren't enough, having two Karemma guards keep a watchful eye on the human crew for the last two days prevented the crew of the Flotsam from any funny business. Emily Carter had successfully bartered her way aboard the spacecraft as well, her own intentions not fully clear.

After two days and being watched by the two Karemma guards in the Flotsam, Camila had worked out between herself and other others, barring Emily, a hand signal communication system that was from basic sign language taught in Starfleet Academy, even if Crewman Foy had to learn a bit of it on the fly.

While they had an escort of fighters, she felt they could easily outrun them if they dumped the pods of birythium, then get back to the ship. She mused on how to cause a distraction big enough to make good their escape. She decided that if D'rimo could be deprived of the birythium and they could escape, it would be even better.

She looked over at Emily and gave a wan smile. "It'd be a shame if we came all this way and lost it, wouldn't it?" she asked.

Emily's eyes narrowed, standing just slightly beside Francesca and watching through the viewports. It had been an uncanny feeling these last couple of days aboard the former Starfleet runabout. The consoles still had the familiar LCARS interface that she'd never forgotten, but the typical Starfleet metallic smell was nowhere to be found. "Depends on how one looses it," she cautiously replied.

Sunni glanced toward the two women from where she stood. If they were concocting some sort of plan, she hoped that the rest of them would be privy to said plan. However, she was pretty good at flying by the seat of her pants. For now, she would bide her time and wait to be given orders or some sort of signal.

Foy stood by Sunni and kept quiet for a little bit. He was feeling similar to Sunni, as he wasn't sure what kind of plan was starting to be formed, but he didn't want to break their train of thoughts. Everyone had been on edge since they arrived and D'rimo was inserted into this whole situation and Foy knew that they would have to work together to get out of a sticky situation.

Stay calm. Stay alert. Be ready. Camila signed the basics to Sunni, Foy and Ronin when the Karemma looked away for a moment. She looked at the controls for the pods attached to the Flotsam and gestured the number two to Sunni and another number two to Foy, indicating that she wanted each of them to take two of the pods magnetic lock as a target. She looked at Ronin, then laid her hand casually on the console and slid a finger near the tractor beam activator.

Ronin gave a subtle nod and positioned himself near the cockpit and stretched as he leaned back against the frame, partly blocking the view of the guard.

Outside the forward viewport, it was clear to see that they were quickly approaching an asteroid field. Outside the field were two other fighter craft that matched the design of the Flotsam's six escorts. Not far inside the field was a hastily constructed base on a large asteroid and a large craft tucked inside a brightly lit cavern.

From what Foy could gather with the sign language, he had. to target two of the pods. He made sure to get ready alongside Sunni. Foy made sure that he wouldn't be noticed either while trying to get a lock when he needed to get a lock.

Once she was sure that the others knew what their assigned roles where, she gestured a Wait for now and headed over to where Emily was. "It's been a boring trip, but looks like it's going to be more exciting," she said casually as she gave warning to her.

"Exciting?" Emily asked, clearly not at all in the know. "What's more exciting than making a delivery of what was supposed to be liberating to a captor who hasn't said at all what this is for?"

Sunni was indeed alert and ready for anything, but she was still feeling a bit anxious. There was no true plan formulated that she'd been made aware of, so whatever happened would be on the fly, and depend on the quick thinking of everyone on board. "There has been too much excitement if you ask me," she muttered.

Ahead of the runabout, the cavern started to come into view. Inside the brightly lit space was a large craft that matched the one in orbit of Mellon. This craft, however, appeared to be damaged, revealing a large open section of the ship. The opening was smooth, as if the damaged hull plating had been removed and was awaiting new plating to be installed.

Camila blinked when she saw what was coming into view, Emily's question and her plan temporarily forgotten. Well, twelve percent of a plan. It couldn't be, but it had to be. G90B. She was stunned. It looked at is it had recently taken damage and she hoped that whoever did it had given it the beating it deserved. Now she had to find out more, even if it meant not sacrificing the birythium to escape, but perhaps they could hit a bigger target. That ship.

One of the Karemma stepped forward to the center, free-standing console and tapped a couple of buttons to send an automated ping to their escorts. He waited for a moment before some text appeared on the console. "We have updated instructions," he announced to the room. "We are to take the birythium to the refinery located inside the cavern."

Nick cocked his head slightly as he heard the updated plan from the one Karemma. He wasn't sure what to do, so he waited to see what Camila and Sunni did. He walked up alongside of them and got a better view of the G90B. Nick knew that everything that they might've even planned out before came unraveled when he saw that.

Sunni looked to the Karemma standing in front of her. Before she knew what was happening, the young security analyst sprang into action, launching herself at him and going for his throat with her fingers, digging them deep into his flesh. There was much anger pent up inside of her. Frustration. So many things.

The young woman shook her head and snapped out of it, bringing herself back to the present after what she could only assume was wishful thinking. Still, she needed to focus. They all did. "I don't suppose that says why plans have changed?"

Camila sat at the controls of the Flotsam and entered the new coordinates. This was a golden opportunity. She hoped the others would also see it as such.

Nick understood instantly and jumped onto the console nearby. He was furiously putting in commands and making sure that they could fight their way through whatever was about to come up. He looked at Camilla and Sunni before saying, "Just make sure we can fly our way out of here. I'll make sure we aim right."

Camila doubted they'd give a second chance and pointed at Sunni and Ronin. "You and you, go back and prepare for delivery." She pointed at Foy. "You stay with me."

"Yes, ma'am," Sunni said as she rose to her feet to head to the back. Something was about to go down, and she was ready to do her part.

Ronin headed back with her. "You got it, Boss," he said.

"You got it boss," Foy replied with a sly smile on his face for the first time in a little while.

The Karemma who was standing in the rear of the cramped cockpit kept his rifle pointed downward as he followed Sunni and Ronin into the rear compartment. He had no idea what the humans were up to, but it was best to not let them operate without supervision.

Sunni looked to the Karemma as they entered the rear of the Flotsam. "Did you know they were going to change the location of the drop?" She found herself asking as she moved over to a console and began to move her fingers over the display.

"Technically, this is the drop," the Karemma said, moving to stand next to her at the console. "The real location was not disclosed on purpose in case you humans tried something stupid."

When the Karemma turned his back, Ronin grabbed a medkit that hadn't been taken and swung it for the back of his head as hard as he could. "Too bad I'm not Human," he said.

Ronin's hit rang true, surprising the Karemma and forced the man forward. Unable to control his forward motion, the Karemma's head hit the top of the console, cracking the glass, and rendering the Karemma unconscious. The sound, however, was loud enough to be heard in the cockpit.

"What's going on back there?" the other Karemma asked, turning around to shout down the corridor.

"I tripped," Sunni called back as she removed the disruptor from the unconscious Karemma. That couldn't have worked out better. "It's a bit of a tight fit back here."

Nick got up for a moment while the other Karemma guard was distracted for that brief moment before and looked around. He wanted something he could use in case the guard turned around and found a medkit underneath the console nearby. Nick grabbed it and used it to knock out the other guard.

Between the noise in the back and Crewman Foy suddenly taking out the other Karemma, Camila found herself temporarily stunned, but pleased at the initiative. "Bind him quickly," she hissed as she jumped up from the cockpit and grabbed a hyperspanner that they had used to make adjustments on the Flotsam and quickly headed towards the back of the runabout.


Where she stopped when she saw the unconscious Karemma and Sunni and Ronin looking fine. "What happened back here?" she asked Sunni since she was Security.

Emily's gaze and focus had been fixated on the forward viewport, and it wasn't until she heard Camila's voice that she turned around to find the cockpit empty. Well, mostly empty. The one named Smith was tying up a Karemma whereas Francesca was disappearing into the rear of the craft. "What the hell?" she called aloud. She looked down, up, down, and then up again before storming off to the rear of the craft. "What the hell is going on here?"

Sunni looked up as she finished binding the Karemma's arms behind his back. "He made a dig about humans. Ronin took offense and knocked him out," she answered. "It seems we have some explaining to do, too."

Ronin looked a bit sheepish but nodded. "I figured that this was our only chance."

"Crewman Foy did the same thing to our guard in the cockpit," Camila said before she turned her attention to Emily.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale of the USS Black Hawk. Commodore Harvey Geisler sent me concerning the aliens that attacked your colony. That's their ship in that asteroid and we have to get that information back as soon as possible without dying. Secure yourself in a seat. You can protest and ask question later." Camila knew it was a data dump of information to process, but she didn't have time and headed back to the cockpit.

Whatever wind in Emily's sails was suddenly deflated. In the last few seconds, she had gone from worrying about the safety of her family and loved ones at Mellon to a very visible expression that relayed her deep surprise. "Wait!" she called, following her to the cockput. "No, no, no... Geisler's just a fucking Commander. Whatever intel you've been fed here is clearly false. What the hell is going on here?"

"Lieutenant Wallace, get on the tractor beam and try to slingshot those cargo pods around the inside of the asteroid and causse as much damage as possible. Bounce them around and let them go."

"I'm on it," Sunni said as she moved over to one of the consoles and began to move her fingers over the display. There would only be one chance to get this right, and the young security analyst planned to do just that. When she was sure things were ready, she looked to Camila. "Ready on your word."

"Ensign Tetnel, give me every bit of power to shields that you can."

Ronin nodded and settled into his seat, preparing to die if it came to it. "Yes, Commander," he said as his fingers flew over the console.

Camila barely glanced at Emily as she prepared to launch the Flotsam the moment the cargo pods were in action. "Sit down and shut up, Petty Officer Third Class Carter!" she barked. "Commodore Geisler is in charge of the USS Black Hawk and I am his Chief of Security."

Emily blinked twice, her dumbfoundedness only growing. How is it that in the Golden Stars second major issue in five years that Harvey Geisler and the Black Hawk find themselves in the middle of it. And the fact that this woman knew Emily's rank at the time of her dishonorable discharge, well, that certainly eliminated all thoughts that this was another con. "Very well," she mumbled, taking her seat.

"Let them fly, Lieutenant " Camila ordered Sunni as she brought the torpedoes and phasers hot and saw the shields were going hot. "Fire when ready at any target out there, Crewman Foy!" She immediately powered up the engines and she plotted the most erratic course she could into the computer, ready to engage in a microsecond.

Foy took a seat at one of the consoles on the side and made sure that the targeting sensors were online and could be locked onto any target that they might need. Once everything was ready, he looked at Camilla and said, "Targeting sensors are ready and we're ready to fire."

"You got it," Sunni said as her hands flew over the controls, locking onto the drifting cargo pods. The tractor beam pulsed to life, gripping the metallic containers with an unseen force as she let loose with her previously calculated trajectory.

The runabout soon neared the asteroid where the large vessel rested with its wounds open, obscuring the refinery behind it. No shields were present around any of the ships or structures, a clear indication that this was all one small happy family that trusted each other. Or, a family that had no choice but to keep their screens down to allow their precious cargo through.

Foy had been manning the targeting sensors, where he got a good lock for both photon torpedoes and phasers. He locked on and began firing at the targets that were fed to his console by Camila and Sunni.

With the cargo pods on the fly, shields up and phasers and torpedoes in action, Camila kicked the Flotsam into full impulse and headed for the nearest clear point while dropping down under the fighters, pulled the runabout into a one hundred and eighty degree roll and headed for the exit.

The weapons barrage from the runabout took full advantage of G90B's open wound. Explosions rippled throughout the inside of the ship. One of the cargo pods entered the fray, exploding in a spectacular fashion and ripping away at least a quarter of the alien vessel. The other pods went in different directions, each gliding for a different target. The fighters had a simple choice, chase the runabout, or save their precious cargo.

Not a single craft hesitated, and in doing so, created an opening for the Flotsam to slip away.

"Hang on!" Camila called as she sent a final barrage of torpedoes towards the refinery and took the Flotsam to warp and towards home.

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