Repayment Part 5

Posted on Sun Feb 5th, 2012 @ 7:27pm by Melody Johnson & Petty Officer First Class Tanner Willeg

1,856 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 78 - Colonial Uprising
Location: The Blaze & Draken
Timeline: Current - Day 2 (Stardate 54658.79)

Melody materialized in a dimly lit alley between two buildings. She looked around, getting her bearings. The alley opened up on one end to a street that seemed to be busy. The other end of the alley was so dark that Melody was unable to see where it opened but it didn't matter because she knew where she was going from the directions she had been given. She headed for the street she could see. When she exited the alley she stopped and looked to her left and then to her right.

Minled was a small city of approximately 15 - 20,000 inhabitants. It wasn't a city of industry nor did it have any redeeming artistic venues. What it was known for two things...at least throughout the the Galaxy's "privateer" sector....one was a gathering place for those who chose to participate in activities that were less than licit and, where most cities had their downtown, uptown and the seedier area of the city, Minled was mostly the latter. Considering those that visited Minled and patronized its seamier establishments, one would expect to find that there was little or no form of law enforcement, but that was not the case in Minled. The second thing that Minled was known for was its corrupt government officials and even more corrupt law enforcers. If you had the misfortune of becoming involved in any confrontation with "Minled's Finest" and were well-heeled...chances were good that you would be able to buy your way out of trouble. If your pockets weren't plenteous then you could almost be assured you were going to spend time in their less than reputable "correctional" facility. And the latter was what brought Melody to Minled on the planet Draken.

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And what had brought Tanner to the planet? Though it'd sounded like a vague answer, she'd been honest with Melody: she wanted an adventure. And she there'd been a rushing urge to get away from the station for a while.

"Alright, Blaze..."

After a brief pause with no immediate response, Tanner launched into nervous chatter. "Okay, Blaze, I'm sorry about that comment earlier. It was rash of me. You're really a very beau... handsome ship with a charming demeaning and the strength of a steamrunner. I hereby officially apologize."

=/\=Light. I am also light and fast.=/\=

Great, she'd found a ship with self-esteem issues. "You're very light for a cargo vessel. Now, could you please take us..." Pulling up the map of the system and tapping on the moon, Tanner finished, "here."

=/\=And fast.=/\=

Tanner sighed, "you know, being aware of your weaknesses shows a strength of character."

=/\=In that case, your weaknesses include a disregard for the feelings of others, and a complete lack of piloting skills.=/\=

"That's not true. I can fly..."

=/\=Public record on several planets would indicate otherwise.=/\=

"Several... That's ridiculous. There's no record of... What are you talking about?"

=/\=Ah. You chastise me for not admitting weakness, but cannot admit yourself that there's proof of your own inadequacies. There is note of a situation involving a carnival ride on Earth's moon. A crashed public transport vessel on your home-planet of Betazed. And the T'Daran authorities are prepared to arrest you on sight should you return to the planet.=/\=

Tanner blinked in surprise. "It was a fair, not a carnival, it was a freak accident, no one was harmed, and the ride was fixed. The public transport on Betazed was a trolley, not a vessel, and it didn't crash. In fact, the only problem it caused was that a few people ran late."

=/\=A fount of informative corrections that renews my confidence. Am I to assume that T'Dara was likewise not what it sounds like in the report?=/\=

Taking the controls and plotting out a manual route, Tanner eased the Blaze in the correct direction, resigned that the ship was not likely to give up the interrogation. "That depends. What does the report say?"

=/\=You are listed, along with a small group of Federation members, as terrorists and arsonists. They claim you destroyed a government facility, lit fire to yet another government building, refused to submit to local security protocols, helped a fugitive escape from prison, stole from a casino, and are suspected of prostitution.=/\=

"I'm not a hooker!"

=/\=Again, I am thrilled to know you are a fine, upstanding citizen. Arson, terrorism, et cetera, and your defense is that you are not a prostitute.=/\=

"I didn't steal from a casino, and I didn't prostitute myself..." The Blaze eased behind Semtro, and Tanner let out a sigh of combined relief and frustration. "The rest... Some of it was unintentional, but is technically correct."

=/\=Some. Was unintentional. Well, that is just great.=/\=

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The street Melody stood on was lined on both sides with seedy taverns, questionable brothels and other sundry houses of ill repute. She saw the sign displaying the establishment she was looking for and headed for it. She walked through the door into the dark, odorous and noisy tavern and walked up to the bar. When the bartender approached her she inconspicuously slid a small pouch with several bars of Latinum in it to the bartender and said a name to which the bartender glanced around to see if they were being observed and when he was sure that they weren't he nodded in the direction of the back of the room and whispered, "green coat," then hurried to the other end of the bar where he became busy washing glasses in the sink behind the bar.

Melody looked in the direction the bartender had indicated and immediately saw what he had told her to look for. In a booth in a dark corner of the back of the room sat a male Nezu wearing a Kelly Green coat and surrounded by females of varied species and who were obviously "working girls". Melody made her way across the crowded room to the booth in the shadows.

"Dular Zorn?" Melody says when she gets to the corner booth.

The male Nezu in the green coat looked up at Melody, questioningly. "Who's asking?" He said as two large Solari males walked up and flanked Melody on both sides.

"Mirren sent me," Melody said simply and withdrew an envelope and small pouch filled with several bars of Latinum from her belt and held both items out to the Nezu.

One of the Solaris reached out and grabbed the items out of Melody's hand and opened both...peering in at their contents. When he was convinced that neither item contained anything that could harm his employer, he handed them both to the Nezu who took them from the large Solari. After examining the contents of the envelope and then the contents of the pouch he looked back at Melody and said, "I am who you seek."

"Well...duh!" Melody thought to herself but was smart enough to hold her tongue.

"As for what you came for I am afraid there had to be some changes to the rendezvous point," Dular said.

Melody felt one of her inner warning flags go up. "What sort of changes?" She asked dubiously.

Dular chased a couple of his consorts, that had been sitting on his right, away and gestured to the now empty seat in the booth. "Have a seat and I will explain," he said and as Melody reluctantly sat down next to him, Dular waved a barmaid over. "Have a drink, Miss.....," he hesitated having forgotten her name and he quickly looked at the "letter of introduction" she had handed him. "...Johnson. Or do you prefer Melody?" He asked pleasantly.

"Aldelbaran Whiskey," Melody said to the barmaid when she arrived at the table then she turned and looked directly at Dular and said, "it's CAPTAIN...not miss. Captain Mel."

"Did you say Capt. Mel?" Dular questioned with surprise.

"That's right," Melody said as the bar maid set her drink down on the table in front of her and walked away. Melody picked up her glass and took a generous sip of the green beverage.

"You are THE Captain Mel," Dular asked again in obvious disbelief.

"Yeah," Melody said taking another sip of her drink. "You got a problem with that?" She asked...her gaze locked with Dular's and her right hand inconspicuously slid inside her jacket and its fingers caressed the hand grip of her phaser pistol

After staring more through Melody than at her for several seconds, Dular slapped his hand on the top of the table and burst into loud laughter. "Not at all," he said. "I was just expecting...well....someone...," Dular seemed at a loss for words.

"Taller?" Melody said and grimaced. She picked up her glass and took another drink. "Yeah. I get that a lot," she said and set her glass back down. "Now about these changes?" She asked, prodding the Nezu to get back onto the subject.

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Rolling her eyes, and realizing her main task was to simply sit and wait, Tanner tried to shrug off the sarcasm. "You know, Blaze... You're kind of a jerk."

=/\=And you are kind of a fraud.=/\=

"That'd mean I'm pretending to be something I'm not. I haven't technically said anything that isn't correct."

=/\=You have also admitted that the claims of terrorism, arson, and assisting a fugitive are technically correct. Sounds like technicalities aren't your strong suit.=/\=

"Correct, but accidental. Run a scan for other ships and life-signs in the area."

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Melody left the tavern feeling very uneasy about the last minute change of the rendezvous location. She stood on the sidewalk in front of the tavern and looked at the directions to the new location that Dular had scribbled on the back of a blank bar tab he had gotten from one of the barmaids. She didn't like it. Something just didn't seem right. And the fact that, from the moment she had made eye contact with the Nezu, she had decided that she didn't trust him. Under "normal" circumstances, she would have said forget it and would have returned whatever she had been paid up to that point to the person who had hired her because she believed that no job...no matter how well it paid....was worth taking unnecessary risks. Especially when the job held no monetary compensation because she had once told someone that she owed them after they had helped her out of a sticky situation and now they wanted to collect. As she folded up the blank bar tab with the directions on it and stuck it under her belt, she shook her head slowly. Something wasn't right and she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.

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=/\=You said some. What was intentional?=/\=

Yelling at the Blaze would only lead to problems. Information from the scan flashed on the console. Eyes passing over the screen, the engineer bit her lip to keep from cursing. "The prison break... that was on purpose."

=/\=While I would be more impressed to hear your ability to keep from being thrown into prison in the first place, you may need that talent.=/\=

TO BE CONTINUED

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