Team Bajor pt4
Posted on Thu Sep 18th, 2025 @ 1:17pm by Remal Kajun & Patin & Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali
2,372 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
For Bajor!
Location: Bajor
The sun hung low over Plenth in the early morning hours, casting long shadows across a sprawling field of twisted metal and clattering satellite dishes that somehow managed to stay upright. Yikta’s Travel Tours and Junk Parks Emporium was less a building and more a declaration of organized chaos: rickety walkways wound between hulking shuttles missing wings, piles of starship scrap stacked like modern art, and dangling signs promising “Authentic Orbital Relics!” in letters that were half neon, half rust. A faint smell of oil, fried jumja sticks, and something vaguely metallic hung in the air, and every so often, a rogue panel would clatter to the ground with the kind of dramatic flair that only Yikta could make feel intentional.
Behind a crooked desk fashioned from a shuttle hull, Yikta himself perched with a grin that revealed a mischievous glint, his half-missing ear catching the last light of day. “Ah, welcome, welcome!” he bellowed, arms wide as if embracing the chaos itself. “Step lightly, folks—these relics bite! And don’t touch the—well, touch what you want, I don’t care, but the comm arrays are... mostly untested.” With a flourish, he gestured to a nearby mound of satellite dishes that teetered perilously over a pit of old shuttle engines, and then, as if by magic—or stubborn physics—they remained upright. “Learn about Bajoran satellite history, marvel at my collection, or just try not to lose a limb!”
Kids clambered across the “Junk Park,” darting between half-buried antennae while a tour group of curious neighbors followed, scribbling notes and snapping holo-photos of improbably balanced debris towers. Somewhere in the middle of it all, Yikta’s voice rang out again, weaving tales of orbital mishaps, near-misses with Pah-Wraith loyalists, and a “legendary” shuttle that once survived a collision with a meteor the size of a Ferengi. The whole scene teetered between absurdity and awe, a chaotic testament to a man who had somehow turned ninety years of missing ears, lost fingers, and tinkering with satellites into a carnival of knowledge, humor, and controlled mayhem.
Zio brought the hover car in low and landed in the parking area with a subtle hiss of the engines. "Well, this is the place." She declared, "Busier than the last time I was here."
"You've been here before?" Rhenora asked with a raised eyebrow. It looked like a junk yard, however the voice was one she hadn't heard in decades. "Yikta! By the Prophets you are still alive there." she wandered over to the old codger and wrapped him in a hug, more to gauge his reaction than anything else.
"Once, when I was but a little thing." Zio replied as she looked down at her false leg and remembered days gone by.
Yitka embraced Rhenora with a welcoming hug. "Blessed be! Come in. Come in. Welcome to the Emporium." He bolstered. "Take a look around. Let me know if you're in the market. Everything is for sale, today only!" He was loud, and full of energy for such an old codger. He didn't seem to recognize them by face, at least on the surface.
Aurora smiled as she watched Rhenora, before she looked around gauging their surroundings. It certainly was a very rough looking area.
Savar stood silently as his eyes swept the area. It looked like a junk yard, with the assortment of antennas, satellite parts along with other space junk that littered the grounds for as far as one could see.
Remal stepped forward into the mix, shaking Yitka's hand that was clearly lacking fingers. "Yitka, the great." He jested. "We were hoping to chat with you about chartering a tour. You wouldn't still be in the business by chance would you?"
Yitka looked up into Remal's face and went silent for a moment as if studying the man. He then clapped his hands together loudly, smiled and became animated again. "But of course! Come, step into my office where we can have a, quiet conversation. To work out the details." He gestured into a room off to the side, hidden by a ragged and tattered old burlap bag.
From what Rhen could see, things were very tough. Yikta was thin and aged; most of his 'junk' seized or rusted. These were hard times, yet he was still trying to eek out enough to live. As she looked around, a young family appeared, looking for something among the rusted electronics. Drawn to them, she asked, "Can I help you?"
"The heating unit in our house broke; it is so very cold without it, and we have no wood for a fire." The father explained. "We are hoping Yikta might exchange some soup for some parts. It's not much, but it's all we have."
Rhenora's heart broke as she took in the two young children, huddled against their mother for security and warmth. "Come, let me see if we can find you something that might work."
Remal and Zio followed Yitka behind the burlap to the office, where Yitka offered a seat. "Come, tell ole' Yitka why you're really here?"
"It's like we said. We are looking for a shuttle tour to take us to see the weather satellites. Heard you might be able to help us out."
Yitka shifted, his eyes, which were already heavy slits, squinted further. "You'd be surprised what an old man like me can do, but a group such as yours? Three Bajorans and a pair of Vulcans? Could fool me, but ole Yitka doesn't think this is some family trip."
Zio sat forward. "There's no fooling you. Why would we try? We are trying to fix what's broken. Right now, you are the key and time is short."
He studied her for a moment, "People have gone missing for less. If they knew I was even having this conversation." Then he gave a broad smile and winked at her. "Lucky for you, this room is... private." He finished and pointed up at a small device on the ceiling, likely a jammer of sorts.
"So you'll help?" Zio asked. "What do you want in return?" She could tell by his face that he was a bargaining man and would want compensation.
"I'll tell you, if, we make it back alive," Yitka said before grunting and then standing up. His hand reached out in a familiar-looking request. He was asking, without words, to read Zio and Remal's Pah.
Zio hesitated, but then relinquished and allowed him to take her ear in his old leathery hands. He hummed for a moment before nodding and letting go. Then he turned to Remal for the same treatment. Not a fan, Remal hesitated before leaning into it. After all the mission was on the line.
Yitka took Remal's ear, hummed for a moment before suddenly retracted like he had received a zap to the hand. "I am sorry. I had no idea of whom I was talking to." He suddenly became very animated. "Come, come. Let me close shop and I'll show you my tour shuttle." He then hurried out of the office leaving Remal and Zio to follow.
Meanwhile Rhenora was elbows deep in a broken satellite, knees in the hard packed snow and hair poking out behind her as she all but buried herself trying to remove the component she thought would be useful. Thinking back to the old times the power relays were always first to go on the heating units. Burned out from over use and poor maintenance. The one from the satellite could work, if she could just remove it.
"Damnit, give it up!" She swore as she yanked on the frozen interface, hands numb and beginning to bleed from the effort.
"Hey, aren't you?".... the woman asked curiously, a glimmer of recognition in her eyes.
"I'm just trying to help you with your heating unit," Rhenora grumbled, her voice muffled by the tight confines. "Finally!" She emerged victorious, a thin smear of blood on the frozen power unit. "Sorry I didn't have the right tools to remove it properly."
Savar stood with Aurora and watched as Remal and Zio disappeared with Yitka into his 'office'. His gaze shifted to Rhenora as she was elbow deep in a rusted satellite. He walked over to her. "May i be of assistance Cap..." The stopped and corrected himself, "Rhenora." He said at last.
Aurora rifled through the little backpack she was carrying. She always came well prepared, pulling out two flat-packed foil blankets. “Here you go, take these,” She offered them to the children. “They’re blankets, they’ll help keep you warm.”
Savar nodded at Aurora's kind, generous gesture. "Aurora, do we not have some energy/ emergency rations we could spare as well?"
“You bet we do!” Aurora nodded, pulling out some ration packs and energy bars. “Here you take these…” she offered them to the family, not wanting to see children going cold and hungry.
"These should help until more assistance is forthcoming," Savar told the family. He was pleased they were able to help in some small way, but every journey began with a single, small step.
The father looked up as his children accepted the gifts. "You're not from around here, are you? No one gives away food or blankets. Are you here to make it rain? My crops have failed the last 2 seasons; we have nothing but what we can salvage and scavenge," the tired man implores. "If we can fix this heating unit at least we can cook what food we have and heat the house..."
"Come, Dear, let us not trouble these kind folk with our ordeals after they have so kindly helped us. Leave the soup for Yikta and let us be on our way," the mother turned to gather the children.
"Help will be coming for you and the others. Your plight has not gone unheard or unnoticed." Savar replied to the man. "Persevere for a little longer."
Yitka disappeared for a minute around a pile of parts only to reemerge further down a different path. “Behold!” Yitka declared, sweeping a half-oiled rag toward the shuttle parked crookedly on its landing struts, as though gravity had lost the argument halfway. The hull is patched in no fewer than three colors of mismatched plating, each panel a proud badge of survival. “She’s the finest tour shuttle this side of Bajor’s moons! Custom-modified, battle-tested, and—most importantly—mostly sealed against vacuum!” He thumps the side, and the shuttle groans like an old animal. “That sound? That’s confidence.”
He ushers the passengers closer, tapping the gangplank as if it were a red carpet. “Now, don’t be fooled by the dents, the scorch marks, or the smell of burnt kava root. Every mark tells a story, and every story adds five credits of character to your trip! And wait until you see the interior—oh-ho-ho! Reclining seats salvaged from a Cardassian courier, drink holders welded from authentic Starfleet rations trays, and windows big enough to watch the stars or… well, whatever flies off the hull mid-flight. You’ll have the full experience!”
Lowering his voice conspiratorially, Yitka leans in with a grin that’s equal parts salesman and trickster. “Other tours promise safety. I promise adventure. So strap in—tightly—and remember: if the emergency lights come on, it’s not a failure… It’s mood lighting!”
Remal folded his arms, expression caught somewhere between disbelief and amusement as Yitka patted the shuttle’s flaking hull like it was a prize-winning mare. His lips quirked just enough to show he wasn’t buying the pitch, but he wasn’t about to ruin the performance either.
“Adventure, huh?” he muttered, brow rising. “That’s one word for ‘questionably airworthy.’” He stepped closer, giving the shuttle an appraising tap with his knuckle. The sound it made wasn’t entirely reassuring. “I’ve flown rafts sturdier than this. But...” he shot Yitka a sidelong grin, dry humor sparking in his eyes, “...I’ll give you this much: you know how to sell a bad idea like it’s the last bottle of spring wine on the table.”
He paused, letting the silence hang just long enough before adding, quieter, “If this thing makes it all the way back from the tour without shedding more parts than it starts with, I might even recommend it to my enemies.”
"May the Prophets protect us," Zio said as she took in the sight of the pile of scraps Yitka called a shuttle. "If our enemy takes a single shot at us, we'll all be space debris." She turned to Rhenora, "What do you think, is the salvation of Bajor worth a trip in this rust bucket, or should we have stopped at an Orb booth and called Patin for help first?"
"Patin was hidden from my view." Rhenora admitted sadly, her eyes downcast she they stepped into the shuttle. "And the Prophets had nothing of meaning to say." Her mind was reeling from the rejection, moreover that the Prophets seemed to have cast her aside now her duty to them was complete.
Everyone now inside, and strapped down to the best of their ability, Yitka hefted himself into the pilot's seat and fired up the engines. There was an audible groan of metal on metal. He smacked the console and proclaimed, "Turbine's a bit temperamental, just gotta show her whose boss." The turbine cranked once more before letting out a puff of black smoke.
"Need me to get out and push?" Remal joked.
"If you think it would help." Yitka bantered back. He spun the turbines once more and they finally kicked over with a high pitched whirl. "Whoo! Thank you ole girl, I knew you wouldn't let me down again. Alright everybody, hold onto your butts!"
"Again! What do you mean again?" Zio asked from her seat which seemed to have a spring poking her in the butt.
The shuttle shook as it lifted out of the junk pile and continued to shake as it lifted slowly up and through the various atmospheric layers. The dry and dusty ball beneath them was beginning to show it's true colors as their mission loomed ahead.
TBC
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