From: Kenneth Field (envision_at_fidalgo.net)
Date: Wed Jul 11 2007 - 13:21:43 PDT
"The Check Is In The Mail"
(continues from Jerome's "Stacking the Deck")
Location: GS-2
Stardate: 2.70711.1301
Scene: Impulse Drives, a shop on the Promenade
Maury R. Tee, Professor of English (Ret.), rubbed his hands together in almost gleeful anticipation. It wasn't often that events played directly into his hands, but today was one of those days.
He picked up a handset for "discreet" conversations and punched up the very private number of a Bolian crime lord of his acquaintance. Across the Promenade, the armed and armored team of Starfleet Security Officers nodded at each other, and led by a dashing Andorian woman, burst through the door of the Get Your Groove On Bar. From what he'd learned of the establishment's floor plan (which did not match the floor plan filed with Starfleet, of course) it would take the authorities several minutes to punch through Rixx's defenses, even if they managed to locate him before he could get out.
Tee figured he had just enough time.
[[Yes?]] came a basso voice with a Bolian accent.
"I've always liked a man who answers his own phone," Tee smiled into the receiver, his teeth whiter than white and very sharp.
[[Tee? What do you want?]]
The man had gotten almost Klingon in his insistence on brevity. But then Rixx owed Tee money, and that didn't make for close relationships during a time of crisis.
"I'm just calling to remind you that you still owe me money on that mint condition Monopoly "Get Out of Jail Free" card I located for you. About forty strips of latinum as I recall. And I'm afraid it's about to go delinquent."
[[Listen, Tee. I'm right in the middle of something. Can I call you back?]]
"Is this the veritable 'the check is in the mail' routine?" Tee smiled more broadly still.
[[Not at all, Tee. I pay my debts. And I expect the same from *my* debtors. I will stop by today and pay you myself.]]
Tee thought the man might have more than a little difficulty following through on that promise in the foreseeable future. Had the man been a bit more forthcoming, Tee might have warned him that he was about to be visited by unsympathetic minions of the Station Authority. Instead, he figured he could keep him on the line a little longer, and perhaps that "Get Out of Jail Free" Card would come in quite handy for Zane Rixx. Especially once Tee told him how the card really worked. For a price, of course.
"Certainly, Mr. Rixx. I trust that if you ever have need of my services, you will not hesitate to call."
There was the sudden sound of a phaser blast, a lot of shouting, and the line went dead.
"Now that is satisfaction guaranteed," Tee said, cradling the phone behind the counter.
H.W., the basketball-sized security drone dropped down from its ceiling perch and hovered near his shoulder.
"Who's satisfaction would that be?" the droid buzzed unhappily.
"Why mine, of course," Tee positively grinned as he wiped very clean hands on his very clean apron.
"Shameful," pontificated the little machine before it drifted away.
"Quite," Tee turned back to his task.
-------------------- =/\=
NRPG: See what happens when you don't pay your bills on time?
-------------------- =/\=
Kenneth Field
envision_at_fidalgo.net
aka Commander Gene McInnis
CNS/GS-2
aka Lt. JG Mowree Nurunyon
aCNS/GS-2
aka Tomas' Alexei Vukovic
Former Chief of Staff to Ambassador Xana Bonviva
currently with the BORG
aka Maury R. Tee
Professor of English (Retired)
Proprietor of "Impulse Drives,"
a little shop of horrors
GS-2, Promenade
"To gently lie and prove the lie true ... everything is finally a promise ... what
seems a lie is ramshackle need, wishing to be born." -- Ray Bradbury
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
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