Filling in the Blanks
Ensign Hok
-=Stra II=-
Ensign Hok
-=Stra II=-
Hok was in his position as the small team quietly advanced toward the medical center. Though they were advancing slowly, he found it difficult, at times, to keep pace with the long strides of O'Sullivan, who was leading the team.
The darkness and quiet around them was eerie. Hok knew where the people had gone, and knew they were alive, but the scene reminded him of what the Hewmons called a ghost town, a place that failed to earn profit, so the people had abandoned it.
What a horrible place.
O'Sullivan signaled for everyone to halt. His tricorder detected something, and he had stopped to focus his scan.
Hok craned his head to listen.
"Is there a problem, Commander," said Salvek.
Hok spun around to face Christiane, who was bringing up the rear. "Look out!"
It was too late. A man had leaped off an awning of a nearby building, tackled Christiane, and taken the communications officer's phaser, which he was now brandishing menacingly.
"Nobody move!"
Hok obliged the man, freezing in place, his eyes riveted on the distraught Strasa, who looked like he had gone ten rounds with a drunk Nausicaan.
"Ferengi, over here. Give him your phaser," said the Strasa, gesturing toward Salvek.
Hok's eyes widened with surprise. Why did the man choose him to be his hostage. Sighing, he tossed his phaser to Salvek and stood next to the man.
"Listen, I make my living as a day trader on the Ferengi open market. I haven't logged on and made a trade since all this happened. I need to get to your shuttle to check my portfolio."
A man after my own heart, thought Hok. He smiled inwardly, as he thought of an opportunity to exploit the Strasa for some profit. The man was so desperate, Hok could probably get away with charging him a full brick of latinum to use the shuttle comm system.
"I would need my superior's approval on that," said Hok, hoping so very much that Salvek would give it. Instead, the Vulcan tried to persuade the man to take some food and water.
"I don't care about food and water! I need to check my portfolio!"
The man was angry now. Hok pleaded to Salvek with his eyes.
As the negotiations continued, O'Sullivan had managed to circle around to the side. He tossed a flash grenade, which knocked the man to the ground.
Filled with disappointment, Hok grabbed the phaser the man had taken from Christiane. *Frakking do-gooders,* he thought.
-=Medical Complex, Stra II=-
Upon reaching the medical center, Salvek and O'Sullivan met the Strasa military officer in command and were trying to persuade him to activate a large screen they had seen outside. The thought was, to give the people some sort of technology to appease them, which would prevent the eventual riot and rush on the medical center the unruly crowd would do once their withdrawal became bad enough. Oddly, the military officer, Dret, was unwilling to do so.
Bored, Hok managed to slip away and was talking to a small group of men that wanted to buy his tricorder.
"So far, the top offer is a latinum pen. Can anyone do better?" Hok looked hopefully at each man, though he wasn't expecting anything.
"I can give you my wedding ring," said one of the men, his hands trembling as he removed it from his finger. "It's solid platinum, and has a full carat diamond in it."
Hok was about to agree to the deal, when two Strasa soldiers came over and shooed away the men negotiating with him. Dumbfounded, he wondered what he would need to do to catch a break.
Wondering away casually, when no one was paying attention to him, Hok slipped away again and approached another group of patients.
"I have a perfectly good power cell available for the highest bidder," said Hok quietly, as he showed the group his tricorder.
"A power cell?" said one of the Strasa. "Here are the medications the doctors gave me. Take what you want, just give me the cell."
"No, take mine," said another Strasa. "My dose is bigger."
"Ferengi, take these," said a woman with a child. "There's two of us, so I have more drugs."
Hok stared at the medication the woman held out to him, then at the wild look in her eyes. Slumping his shoulders and lowering his head, he shuffled away and rejoined his fellow officers.
Breaux questioned him with a glance.
"These people were offering me their pain medications in exchange for the power cell in my tricorder," Hok grimaced, as he gestured towards the group he had just been with. "They had no other currency to offer."
Hok couldn't believe he had actually turned down profit, to show compassion. The Hewmons had infected him worse than he ever thought.
Ensign Hok
Conn Officer
USS Serendipity NCC 2012
Conn Officer
USS Serendipity NCC 2012