The Price of Failure

After the tumultuous events at Arista III, Captain Ral is busy being debriefed as the rest of the Mazu's senior staff heads out on an undercover mission to an exotic marketplace in search of leads on the whereabouts of the Arista station's lone survivor and the Orion pirates who attacked them...but what they find among the back alleys and bargain bins are dangers, seductions, and a confrontation that may prove too costly!  Secrets are revealed as the mysteries deepen in The Price of Failure!

## Synopsis

Back on Deep Space K7, Captain Ral has been called away for a debrief with Admiral Davis, leaving Lt. Commander Neumann in command.  The rest of the Mazu’s crew has planned to go to trade hub on Verex 3 in the 14 Eridani system, in the hopes of picking up the trail of the Orion Pirates, Dr. Jennifer Prescott, or both.

Ramirez has taken it upon himself to disguise one of the shuttles for the undercover mission because he believed it was not a legal operation.  Neumann explains to Ramirez that there are protocols for these things, and that he can trust command.

Neumann, Morganth, Izottiat, Ramirez, and Cade, dressed in civilian clothing, take the shuttle to Verex 3. En route, Cade and Neumann share some of their backstories.

At Verex 3, they find a busy trade hub with Orion, Federation, Ferengi, and Klingon presence.  Izzy, Ramirez, and Cade go to the dock master to look for the runabout from the station at Arista III.  Izzy distracts the guard, Berek, by helping him with a repair on his ship, while Ramirez and Cade arrange for an hour in the Dock Master’s office in exchange for a bottle of 2320 Romulan Ale.  Neumann and Morganth go to the market searching for signs of the Orion pirates offloading equipment from the station.  They find a Ferengi merchant, Breg, who promises to “get anything you want.”

After regrouping, Ramirez and Neumann go back to the Ferengi merchant.  Izzy continues to find busy work on Berek’s ship.  Cade and Morganth go to the medical station to see if a woman matching Prescott’s description came in for aid.  A doctor negotiates access to a similar human woman for a fancy Vulcan outfit.

Ramirez and Neumann gain access to Breg’s stash.  There are two pieces of equipment that appear to be taken from the station - a Quantum Inhibitor and part of an Isolation Field Generator.  Ramirez negotiates with the Ferengi. In exchange for the Romulan Ale, the Vulcan robes, and information about the Orions who sold him the equipment, he promises two favors - one from himself, and one from another Ferengi trader named Damon Tarbok, with whom he says he does business.  Breg points them to the secret dock used by the Orion pirates.

At the Dock Master’s office, they give Breg access to a record terminal as his first favor, and find no individual Runabout transponder signals from the last three days, but lots of sketchy Orion activity.  There was one Orion shuttle that has made several trips in and out of the secret dock over the last couple of days, but registered to a ship called the Bellaron that is not currently listed as being in orbit.

Izzy identifies the two pieces of equipment from the Arista III station.  The Isolation Field Generator is used for containing humanoid lifeforms, modified to use power from a high-powered source, and the Quantum Inhibitor is a modification of a medical stasis field, which isolates subatomic particles.

At the secret dock, the away team finds an Orion crew loading up a shuttle with a large quantity of food and supplies - much more than a single starship would need on a standard supply run.  After Cade and Ramirez attempt to talk to one of the Orions in charge about Arista and Prescott, Neumann is taken captive by one of the Orion women, and the rest of the team walk away to regroup.  Izzy and Ramirez go to the shuttlecraft to get it back to the secret bay.  Morganth and Cade sneak back into the bay.  Neumann holds off the interrogation of the Orion woman by telling her more about his life.  Morganth and Cade blow up some containers in the bay and briefly engage in combat with some of the Orions before the Orion woman comes back out with Neumann in tow and demands to talk.  Izzy and Ramirez get the shuttle into the bay.

The Orion woman explains that they were paid by the Romulans to take equipment from the station, and the cloaking device was part of the payment.  They did not get everything they were sent for, and now they are packing extra supplies to try to get away.  She hands over a data padd and lets the away team leave.

As the away team leaves the station and heads back to the Mazu, something large explodes near the trading post - probably the Bellaron.  Morganth and Cade decrypt the data on the Padd, and discover information on a Michael Prescott, who was killed in action at Wolf 359, but appears to have an aunt Amber Prescott living on Ajilon colony.

Morganth suggests the crew be less generous with mission information in the future, and they return to the Mazu.