Out of the Shadows - Part 2

Posted on Sat Jun 2nd, 2018 @ 4:01pm by Splendora Sage
Edited on on Fri Jun 15th, 2018 @ 4:35pm

1,504 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 95 - Helping Old Friends
Location: Starbase 400 - Promenade
Timeline: MD 5, 1100 Hours

ON:

The next day, the stranger arrived at the gallery with the painting in a protective cover.

Vox, who was in the main part of the gallery, saw the gentleman approaching.

"Hello again. Is that the painting? " Vox asked.

"It is, and I forgot to properly introduce myself the other day, my name is Tomarn. " Tomarn replied.

"Nice to meet you. Lets get the painting up on a stand and take a look at it. " Vox said.

Splendora ended her session a bit early. She wanted to be there for the unveiling, not just out of sheer curiosity but because she had an odd feeling about this man. Her Betazoid senses were tingling in a bad way. There was something...off about this person and she wanted to be there to make sure Vox was okay. Tom would probably kill her but she had to be there. She entered the gallery and called out for Vox.

Alex was getting off from another shift that had been quite stressful ans he decided that he'd give Vox’s shop another visit. Vox was a little preoccupied the previous day and Alex didn’t get much of a chance to talk to him. After walking into the shop, it was abuzz with various patreons, including a person he recognised from last night. She looked a little distressed and he decided to double check on her.

Walking over to her, he gently tapped her shoulder and asked, “I remember you from last night. You were talking to Vox. Is everything okay?”

Splendora smiled, "It is indeed. I was just waiting for Vox. He has a painting I just purchased and another he was going to show me." She thought a moment, "Mr. Fintel right?"

Vox spotted both Splendors and Alex . " Sorry to interrupt but you might want to see this. Apparently this a painting I did over 200 years ago when I was Azrel Vox. "

Splendora smiled, "I'd love to. Coming Mr. Fintel?" She was glad to have a Starfleet officer around. She wished Vito was here too.

Nodding slightly, Alex followed the group to where the painting was being housed.

Vox turned to Tomarn. "OK, lets take a look at this painting. " said Vox.

Tomarn carefully removed the protective covering from the painting to reveal it to a now waiting audience.

Vox, stepped backwards upon seeing the painting in front of him. This was no ordinary painting that had been painted by Azrel Vox. This was a unique painting, one which Vox had almost forgotten about.

"Where dd you get this? " Vox asked Tomarn.

The painting was brightly coloured with pictures of buildings and structures that clearly did not fit together. It was as though it was a collage of pictures like in a scrapbook.

"I recently acquired it after hearing rumours of its existence and stories I read in my late grandfather's journals, his name was Yena."

"Woah, wait a minute, Yena was your grandfather? He was the only one who survived the skirmish that claimed the lives of four of the most notorious smugglers in the Alpha Quadrant. One of them was an old friend of mine, Zando. I am assuming you know more about this painting than you are letting on."

Tomarn smiled. "You painted this as a map to help Zando remember where he has hidden his loot but he never got to retrieve it and his descendants had no idea what they had hanging on their wall. I am curious to see if his loot is still there after 250 years. "

"It would be quite an adventure to find out. It may take me a few days to remember how I painted this and decipher it. How long are you here for?" Vox asked.

"I can stay as long as necessary. " Tomarn replied.

Vox looked over to Alex and Splendora. "Looks like you got more than you bargained for." he smiled.

Splendora's heart sank. She knew this was dangerous. The smart thing would be to walk away now. "Vox can I talk to you a minute?" She motioned towards a corner far enough for them not to be overheard.

The two moved to the corner. "what's on your mind Splendora? " Vox asked still glancing at the painting.

Alex followed both of them and could feel the tension that was springing up in the room. Before Splendora could say anything, Alex said, "Well, I can probably speak for my dear lady here and say, this would be a dangerous mission to go on. Not only that, but how would you get off the starbase? You don't have a ship, do you?"

Vox smiled. "I do have a small shuttlecraft which I use now and then but its very reliable so I doubt it would be a good idea to use that, so I don't really have any transportation. "

"Well, I might be able to see if Admiral K'Temoc would let you borrow one of the Delta Flyer Runabouts under the purview of the Science Department, so you could make your little journey," Alex said, scratching his chin and throwing out ideas.

Vox looked at Splendora. "Anything to add to this? " he asked.

"Other then both of you are playing with fire? No not in the least." She rolled her eyes. "Vox you know that by Trill regulations you are not allowed to cling to your old life, photos, pictures sure but taking up something a former host was involved in....that's crossing the grey." She eyed the other gentlemen with a weary eye before returning her gaze to Vox and then Alex. "Plus the Admiral might not like this so much. That person who brought the painting...something feels off."

Vox smiled at Splendora.

"Azrel only painted the picture to help a friend. I did not expect to see it again, especially not after over 200 years. Back then, the deal was that once he had retrieved his loot , Zando would destroy the painting. When I heard he had been killed in a skirmish I assumed the painting had been lost with him. Clearly not. Its debatable that the loot will be still there after this long anyway and as for Tomarn over there, I don't trust him either. So what do we do? I could translate the clues and send him on his way I suppose, thats not too far into the grey is it?

Splendora thought, "This bares some thinking. If you give him the location he goes away but the treasure doesn't belong to him. If you tell him a lie he comes back and you are in trouble. Who did the treasure belong to in the first place?"

"Well, I don't actually know what the treasure consists of. All I remember is its the loot of Zando who was a well known smuggler. So, we could look at this two ways. The first, the loot is things Zando bought with money earned from smuggling and therefore belongs to Zando's descendants. Or second, the loot is actually stolen property and should be returned to whomever he stole it from. Using either of those removes our friend over there from the equation. Also, as it has been over 200 years, is it still there?"

Alex scratched his chin and watched the two of them talk for a moment. As you two stopped for a moment, Alex said, “Well, either way, they could pose a threat to the star base if they decided to start a firefight on the promenade. So, the loot needs to be found before anyone gets hurt.”

Splendora shook her head. "I can't believe I'm suggesting this but how about the three of us find it and return it to the rightful owners?"

"I think we need to all sit down and discuss it, and that includes our friend over there." Vox replied pointing to Tomarn. "He owns the painting and so has a right to join us if we do go looking for it. If my memory is coming back to me, the place we have go to is an uninhabited planet near the Typhon Expanse called Alarin."

"How about this. We sit down and try to gage his reasons for looking for the treasure. He's less likely to talk to me and Alex but you are different. If his intentions are pure, for lack of a better word, we all go. If not we have two choices, go along and then make haste and Robin Hood the treasure or try to find it before he does." Splendora was surprised at her own willingness to help out here. Alex was a fleeter he could choose to help or not but for her it was more like she was missing something. Adventure? The loss of self? She couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Very well." Vox replied. He walked back over to Tomarn. "Can you meet us back here tomorrow morning so we can all discuss this further? " Vox asked.

"Sure not a problem. Until then" Tomarn replied.

END OF PART 2..

RSS Feed