SIM:Patri Jia Kom's recollection of Attempted Capture by the Grendellai

((Auxilliary Engineering - DS-17))

((OOC: Sorry it's a tad long. Had to finally establish what motivates Patri))

::Patri stood there waiting, noticing the others returning to their business. Perhaps she was safe from detection for the time being. With regard to her previous offer of help, Patri heard Rogers over the communicator,::

Rogers: =^= We're interested.

::It was all falling into place. Before long she would be on the bridge, giving the starfleet officers data on the exact whereabouts of the USS Phoenix. The Grendellai would be humilliated. She still hated the dogs for what they had done to her.::

((Flashback - New-Cyprus Colony))

::Patri, now ten years old, huddled under her bed. Only a few minutes before, her parents had been having a huge fight over who would be responsible for raising her. Her mother wanted a divorce after fourteen years of marriage, but her father still wanted to raise his daughter.

As the months had gone by, both her father and her mother had tried to drag her into the fight, each trying win her allegiance. She hated all the yelling and had gotten into the habit of running to her room and hiding under her bed whenever her parents got started again. From there she could hear both sides without anyone trying to convince her of anything. She knew she needed to prepare herself. Mommy and Daddy didn't love each other. And if one or both of her parents loved her they did so at least in part in order to win her love back. But she would be living with only one parent soon. Who would it be?

Always, she had the same argument with herself. Her father was frightening enough when he was angry. Naturally she gravitated toward her mother. Why couldn't they get along? It was always the same, fighting for no reason while the rest of civilization seemed to go on happily oblivious to the unrest inside the Kom residence.

But tonight was different. There was an eery calm outside the house. Or was this just the way she remembered it in light of what happened next? Soon there were sirens blaring throughout the city and thunderous sounds.::

The fighting stopped and she could hear snarling voices from someone else.

Voice1: What's this? Both of healthy stature and build!

Voice2: Requisitioned and noted.

::What would she do now? She froze as she listened to her mother scream "No!" and her father yell something only to be cut off by the blast of a disruptor, followed by her mother screaming, "What have you done to him??!"

Silence. Patri's heart pounded as she heard the footsteps. She had blocked off her door with a chair when her parents had started fighting. That would stop whoever it was. She was certain. There was a pounding and the chair she'd used to block her door flew toward her as she hid under the bed. She heard one of its wooden legs crack as it struck the bed frame. The door swung open to reveal two hideous-looking brown-gray monsters.

Patri hid her eyes and curled into a ball. But the bed was being lifted and soon a strong hand was dragging her by the arm out from under the bed.::

Monster1: She's a bit young, isn't she?

Monster2: Still.

::She heard a high-pitched sound and then felt a throbbing pain inside her head.::

Monster2: Requisitioned and noted.

Monster1: Wait! Federation reinforcements are within two lightyears of here.

Monster2: Not worth it then... Let me just deactivate the...

Monster1: We don't have the time!

For a year her parents were gone and Patri was taught in a boarding school. She remembered the day her parents finally were rescued by Federation forces.

Standing at the door to the school, the two people smiled as best they could. But something was wrong. Patri could see it in their eyes. Indeed she could see it in their faces. These two were not her parents...

((Present))

::Patri knew now that the two monsters had been Grendellai who had been trying to transport an identity chip into her skull in order to tag her. They had been slavers.

Worse still, the identity chip had somehow damaged her brain, causing her to lose some memories. She'd gone to various doctors and all had shaken their heads. Patri had been in the middle of her adolescence by the time the defect had been discovered and by then it was too late. Her brain had changed so much that the damage could not be reversed.::

Rogers: =^= If you really want to work with us then let’s start with a name. Is this Ms Patricia ?

Patri: =^= What do you think?

::Suddenly she found herself enveloped in the glistening transporter beam. Everything went white for a moment and then the beam dissipated and she was standing on the bridge of a starship.::

((Bridge - USS Independence-A))

::She could see a security officer staring at her now.::

Patri: Ah, you must be--

Rogers: This ship is going to self destruct in a little over 4 minutes. You seem to think you know what’s going on. I suggest you help us get out of this situation.

Patri: Self destruct? That's... Oh God.

::She knew the Grendellai were too sophisticated to do something like this. Even Marty the bomb gave her her doubts. She'd promised the cartel huge returns on the station if only they'd help her to track down the Phoenix before it managed to get into Grendellai space and add to the technology of the growing hoardes of dogs.

But what if it was all a lie? What if.... Patri thought back to something she had read. "Find out each person's thumbscrew. This is the art of setting their wills into action."

She'd asked that Cartel criminal to get her access to the USS Independence's engineering equipment. And they'd given it to her. She never told them why she needed it, only that she needed it in order to help them. And in truth she'd tagged the Phoenix with a locator she'd stolen from Kevin just as the Phoenix was captured, transporting it aboard. Then she planned to give the tracking capabilities to whichever Starfleet officers she could find.

But now the ship whose assistance she was about to enlist was about to self destruct.::

Patri: ::Nodding now, still stunned at what had just happened.:: Okay. Usually these things have loopholes, like authorization handles. I'll see if I can get at one for--

Cody: Belay that. Patri, reroute any further instructions to my station.

Patri-Jia Kom Hacker and Information Pirate, simmed by Ensign Kevin Breeman Engineering Officer USS Independence-A