Third Place Winner Stardate 20501.26
The Heist - Lt[JG] Alex Page
© 2005 by Federation Space and the author pen named Alex Page
Aboard "The Sparrow", in an Asteroid Field on the edge of Federation territory.
"OK men, you know the plan." said Captain Beloras.
Captain Beloras was pacing round the table where his most trusted crewmembers were sat. They all nodded.
The room around them was small, containing the table, six chairs, and various items on the wall, which on closer inspection were technological and decorative items from many different races. These included a small Klingon viewscreen, a Star Fleet issue replicator, and a Romulan bladed weapon, amongst other things.
"I don't need to tell you that this will be the biggest job we've ever pulled," The Captain continued, "but bear that in mind. There can be no mistakes."
The crew nodded again to show that they understood their Captain's words.
"All right, dismissed."
As the crew left the breifing room, Beloras wondered to himself. Was he going out of his depth this time?
No.....he thought, people call me the Pirate King, for Aturon's sake.
This was true, Captain Beloras was known as "The Pirate King" by many rightly fearing planetary inhabitants and starship crews.
It won't go wrong. I've planned this down to the last detail for months. It will not go wrong.
Telak VI Defense Headquarters, half a light year from the asteroid field.
"An unidentified ship just appeared on sensors, sir. They came out from behind an asteroid."
"Onscreen." barked Commander Wilcon.
The Telak VI defense HQ's viewscreen flickered to life, and The Sparrow was displayed.
"I don't recognise it......how many life-signs?"
"Um.....I'm not sure if these sensors are funtioning correctly sir, apparently there are no life-signs aboard that vessel!"
"The sensors are fine, you idiot. No life-signs? Then it must have come here on auto-pilot. Hmm. At any rate, It doesn't look to be a threat at the moment, sensors aren't reading any dangerous materials aboard and it's not moving. Just keep an eye on it."
"Aye, sir."
Ten minutes beforehand, aboard The Sparrow.
Captain Beloras had done extensive research on Telak VI's sensor net. He had found out the precise distances at which they could detect a ship coming out of warp. After all, he wasn't going to pull a job this size, without doing his homework first. He walked over to his console on the Bridge.
"Computer."
[Beep.]
"Lay in an auto-pilot course for Telak VI at warp eight, to come out of warp exactly seventy-one thousand, two hundred and thrirty four point four kilometres away from the planet, then come to a dead stop."
[Course laid in.]
"Computer."
[Beep.]
"At the precise moment The Sparrow drops out of warp, beam the entire crew down to these co-ordinates on the planet's surface."
Beloras punched in the co-ordinates.
[Acknowledged.]
"Computer."
[Beep.]
"When I send a transmission on The Sparrow's ultra-high emergency frequency, beam the entire crew back immediately, engage a high-energy turn so we're facing our current co-ordinates, and engage maximum warp."
[Acknowledged.]
Captain Beloras knew this would be a strain on The Sparrow's systems, but she could handle it.
It won't have to last for long, anyway.
"Computer."
[Beep.]
"Engage!"
Telak VI.
Captain Beloras and his crew materialised in an alley in Telak VI's capital, two minutes walk from their target.
"OK, men, this is it, let's go. Time is of the essence."
The group, which was roughly two dozen, walked swiftly out of the alley, and blended in with the crowd. They all headed in the direction planned, and two minutes later, arrived, Captain Beloras in front. They stopped. This was it. The Telak Bank. The largest bank in ten sectors. Beloras felt a pang of apprehension, but soon subdued it mentally.
Beloras and his crew walked into the Telak Bank. There were plenty of people coming and going, so two dozen people entering the same building at once seemed only a little conspicuous. They positioned themselves at various points in the main hall, at places they had agreed beforehand.
Everyone in position? ok.
Beloras caught the eye of his First Officer, Janeth, and nodded. It happened almost instantly. Phase rifles were drawn, bank employees were shot, and civilians ran for their lives. Within about fifteen seconds, Beloras and his crew were the only ones in the hall. The employees hadn't even had time to call for help, they were stunned by phaser fire too quickly. However, undoubtably a civilian would let the authorities know, so The Sparrow's crew couldn't waste time.
"Go! Get Going!" shouted Beloras, and he ran with his crew down the main stairs, rifles in hand. A minute and sixteen stunned guards later, they arrived at the vault. It was a sight to behold. Twenty huge stacks of pure latinum, each twenty-two feet high and ten feet from corner to corner width-ways.
The crew spread out, and all reached into their pockets. Twenty devices were taken out.
Fantastic inventions, these life-sign amplifiers.......and I'd expect so, considering the price I paid for them...... thought Beloras, as he watched his crew attatch their amplifiers to the stacks of latinum.
"Everyone ready????" Beloras shouted.
"Aye, sir!" came a chorus of reply.
Beloras didn't wait a nanosecond longer than he had to. He reached into his pocket and pressed the button he kept there, which sent a message to The Sparrow on the ultra-high emergency frequency.
The Telak VI authorities arrived at that precise moment, but all they saw was two-dozen men and twenty stacks of latinum disappearing into thin air.
Aboard The Sparrow.
Beloras and his crew materialized in The Sparrow's cargo bay with their prize. A lot of pirates would have stopped to gloat here, but "The Pirate King" as they called him, was no fool. Gloating would come later.
"Everyone hold on to something!"
The crew just had time to grab something before the lurch of the high-energy turn kicked in. It only lasted a second, then the Sparrow went to warp.
Telak VI Defense Headquarters.
"Commander!"
"What?" came the formiddable Commander Wilcon's sharp reply.
"That vessel, sir!"
"What about it, idiot?"
"It just executed a HET and jumped to warp, sir!"
At that moment, a transmission came through.
[...Commander Wilcon, this is Commander Celcan. Do not let any ships leave the vicinity, I repeat, do not let any ships whatsoever leave the vicinity, the Telak Bank has been robbed and the robbers have transported away, we think possibly to a ship.]
A blast of Telak obscenities came from Commander Wilcon's mouth, followed by orders.
"Get all available ships on that vessel's warp trail right NOW!"
Aboard The Sparrow.
"Everyone stay here except Janeth! Janeth, you come with me to the Bridge."
The Captain and First Officer made their way to the Bridge as fast as they could. Janeth checked their co-ordinates. They would reach their destination in approximately ten seconds.
"Computer, disengage warp on my mark!" shouted the First Officer.
One second, two seconds.
Come on.......
Three, four, five seconds.
Get it right, Janeth......
Six, seven, eight, nine...
"MARK!"
With perfect timing, The Sparrow came to a dead halt two thousand kilometres from their destination.
Aboard the Telak Police ship, T-Enforcer.
"There they are, sir!"
"Get a transporter lock on everyone on board!"
"Having trouble, sir, there's something confusing our sensors."
"Then we don't have time to clear it all up! Target them and open fire!"
Aboard the Sparrow, seconds beforehand.
"We're here, Captain!"
"OK! Prepare for transport of everyone and the latinum!"
"Captain, a Telak Police Ship has dropped out of warp behind us."
"Damn! Beloras to the Cargo Bay! Everyone re-attach your life-sign amplifiers right now if they're not still on!"
A few seconds later the reply came, [...Done, sir.]
"COMPUTER! Initiate transport of everyone on board to the Seraphim!"
Aboard the T-Enforcer.
The T-Enforcer opened a full spread of phaser and torpedo fire on the Sparrow, and after the explosion cleared, the Sparrow was no more.
"Well done, Lieutenant. Lock on to any latinum remaining in space and beam it aboard, I doubt it was destroyed."
"Sensors are picking up absolutely no traces of latinum in that area of space whatsoever, sir."
"WHAT? They must have transported it somewhere before we blew them up! Scan the asteroid field!"
"Scanning...............It's there, sir, in that large asteroid directly ahead."
"Then beam it aboard!"
The Lieutenant didn't have a chance to reply, let alone initiate a transport, before the asteroid in question promptly shot off into space.
If space wasn't a vaccum, the T-Enforcer Captain's curses would have been heard 20 parsecs away.
Aboard The Seraphim.
Beloras and Janeth breathed a sigh of relief, which turned to joy. They embraced in a man-hug, then sat down.
"Beloras to the crew. We have jumped to trans-warp, and the Telak cannot follow at this kind of speed. Go to your stations, and congratulations."
Janeth and Beloras looked at each other.
"That," spoke Janeth with a huge grin on his face, "was the most cunning plan I have ever known. People will be talking about that one for generations! Disguising the getaway ship as an asteroid with holo-emitters then jumping to trans-warp! Simply put, that was sublime, Captain, and what we've stolen will more than cover the cost and keep us loaded for years to come!"
Beloras couldn't help but sport a grin too. "But now we have another tough mission on our hands."
Janeth's smile faded a little.
Another mission so soon? Can't we rest? Haven't we stolen quite enough to keep us in luxury for ten years? Janeth thought.
Beloras spoke once more. "Now we have to decide how to spend it!"
