From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Jul 29 2008 - 01:22:37 PDT
=Vulcan Humor=
(cont'd from "Upgrades")
LOCATION: HAVEN Space Station
SCENE: Rakka's Office
STARDATE: [2.8]0729.0121
Raxl followed the Cardassian into the office. Rakka's Gorn henchman brought up the rear, and kept looking at Raxl in a way that suggested he might like to remove several important parts of his anatomy. Raxl did his best to give the lizardman a "no hard feelings" smile, but unfortunately, Gorn anatomy didn't differentiate much from "smiling" and "preparing to bite somebody's head off", so he couldn't tell if the Gorn had forgiven him or not.
Rakka went to a replicator on the wall and ordered himself a Cardassian drink. He sipped it silently, enjoying the taste, before suddenly seeming to remember that Raxl was there also.
"I'm sorry, I'm being rude," Rakka said. "Would you like something to drink?"
"I'm not thirsty," Raxl frowned. "You want to tell me what this is all about, Rakka?"
"Offering you a drink?" the Cardassian asked. "I thought you humans called it 'hospitality'."
"You know what I mean," Raxl said, flopping down in Rakka's chair behind the desk and putting his feet up. Rakka turned and stared for a moment at Raxl, obviously displeased that the bounty hunter had taken his chair. However, he then decided to let it pass and strolled over to the window overlooking his club. The glass had been repaired by now, and Rakka breathed a little on the glass and wiped at a smudge.
"Well," he began, turning now to face Raxl. "I think we should start by clarifying that I don't like you very much. You are disrespectful, dishonest, and you have a nasty habit of not paying your debts on time. If circumstances were different, I would have been quite content to let you rot in that cell."
"Then it's a good thing circumstances aren't different," Raxl replied. "Now, you want to explain why not?"
"As much as I dislike you, I dislike Martin Anders even less," Rakka shrugged. "Since he's come to HAVEN, he's been nothing but a thorn in my side. He fancies himself my political rival in the HAVEN Council, and thinks we're playing some childish game of intrigue. I find the whole affair wearying, of course. He has bought himself enough friend on the council that moving against him directly could hurt my interests on the station, and so I am faced with a difficult choice: deal with him personally and suffer the backlash, or endure his presence in pained silence. You represent a third option."
"So you have yourself a secret admirer," Raxl said. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"It occurs to me that, rather than moving against Anders on my own, I can work through a proxy," Rakka explained. "Namely, you."
"Wait a minute," Raxl said, putting up a hand. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Budo Pumbular. I'm not killing Martin Anders."
"Even if that means you go back to your cell?" Rakka asked, flashing his shark-like smile. Raxl frowned deeply, but nodded.
"I'm not a murderer," he said.
"Interesting," Rakka grinned. "As I said, Anders is the one who thinks our disagreement is personal. I, on the other hand, could care less if he lives or dies. I just want him gone."
"Gone?"
"Off of HAVEN and out of this system," Rakka nodded. "What happens to him after that isn't my concern."
"Okay," Raxl nodded. "But we've still got a problem. If Anders has bought his way into HAVEN's Council, he's going to protected. And I doubt he's in a hurry to leave the station anytime soon."
"That's your problem," Rakka shrugged. "Of course, now that you are free from prison, Anders is likely taking steps to neutralize you. I would act quickly."
Raxl frowned. The Cardassian wasn't giving him much choice, of course, but he still didn't like being bullied like this. Dealing with Rakka was always a tightrope walk- and at any moment, the Cardassian could decide to cut the rope.
And Raxl had to face the reality that he probably wasn't going to capture Martin Anders. The man had obviously carved himself a comfortable niche on HAVEN, where even the influence of someone like Budo Pumbular couldn't harm him. This explained why Budo hadn't acted on the information himself, why he had hired Raxl- the risk on collecting this bounty was dangerously high.
Attacking Anders in a corridor was suicide. Raxl was a good shot and decent in a fight, but he probably couldn't take out two bodyguards *and* Anders before getting shot himself... and Anders' bodyguards wouldn't have their weapons set on stun. And even if Raxl somehow succeeded, there was still the matter of HAVEN security.
The only way to get at Anders was off the station, and there was no way Anders would leave HAVEN while Raxl was in the area. The only way to get Anders off the station would be to somehow get *everyone* off the station, and that would only happen if....
Suddenly, Raxl smiled. He looked over at Rakka.
"I know you don't want to hear this," he said. "But I'm going to need to borrow some money."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: GATEWAY Station
SCENE: CEO's Office
Crichton finished reading the PADD and set it down, nodding at the Vulcan standing in front of his desk. She stood at perfect attention, and had remained unmoving during the entire time that Crichton was reading the PADD.
"You designed these modifications yourself?" he asked.
When she spoke, only her lips moved. The rest of her remained still in that stoic, creepy Vulcan kind of way. "That is correct, lieutenant."
"Well, they're solid," Crichton shrugged. "I'll shuffle some work crews around and get started first thing tomorrow. Shouldn't take more than a couple of days to get the modifications completed."
"Good," Sardra.
"Of course, I'll need you on hand for some of it," Crichton said, lowering his eyes back to the PADD.
"Afraid to poke around station security systems on your own?"
This caught Crichton off guard. He raised his eyes back to Sardra, whose faced remained a perfect mask of Vulcan neutrality. Had he detected a hint of amusement in her voice when she'd said that?
"No," Crichton said, raising an eyebrow. "I assure you, I know the systems of GATEWAY like the back of my hand. But we'll need new security override codes installed for the new systems, and I'll need you to authorize them."
"No need to get defensive, lieutenant," Sardra said, her face neutral but her tone sounding like a friendly smile. "I was just joking."
"Joking?" Crichton asked in disbelief. "Vulcans are joking now?"
"Vulcans always joke, lieutenant," Sardra said. "We find other species don't always understand our humor."
"I guess I'll have to remember that," Crichton said.
"I hope working with a Vulcan again won't be a problem for you," Sardra remarked. This also caught Crichton off guard.
"What do you mean?"
"I've read reports of what happened during GATEWAY's isolation," the Vulcan replied. "Your predecessor, Lt. Salor, was afflicted with Bendii Syndrome and became violently fixated on you. That must have been a difficult situation, especially in light of everything else that was going on at the time."
"It was," Crichton said. He hadn't thought about Salor in months, but the mention now brought it all back. He still felt some guilt over how things were handled, and regret that the Vulcan had died before Crichton could apologize.
"As I said, I hope my heritage will not interfere with our working together," Sardra said.
"It won't," Crichton nodded. "I don't usually hold grudges against an entire species."
"If it helps, I'm reasonably certain I don't have Bendii Syndrome," Sardra said, and once again there was a hint of playfulness in her tone, barely discernable against her emotionless expression.
"That's good to know," Crichton said, smiling. "Glad to meet you, Lt. Vol. I have a feeling you're going to be an interesting co-worker."
---------------------------------------------------
LOCATION: HAVEN
SCENE: Marketplace
Binar Ruto sighed, centering a box of illegal Telosian spice on his countertop for the thousandth time that day. Wartime might be profitably for the weapons brokers, but it was hard on your work-a-day black-market merchant like Ruto. He specialzed in small, rare items that were difficult to find anywhere else. It meant he could charge high prices for his merchandise, but it also meant that the average customer wasn't interested in anything he had to sell. And today, like all week, business was very slow.
He was about ready to close up shop for the day and while out the evening hours with an Orion consort, but suddenly something happened that Binar Ruto would not have expected in a hundred years: a customer actually approached.
"Afternoon, buddy," Raxl Dreyton smiled, laying a stack of credits on the countertop. "You still have that vial of P'traxian flu?"
=========================================================================
NRPG: Crichton and Sardra's first meeting, as well as more with Raxl Dreyton. Is everyone enjoying the Raxl storyline, by the way? I hoped to write some novellas starring him, but I wanted to see how well recieved they might be first. Plus, it gives me some extra stuff to write during R&R. :-D
Jamie- Hope I did okay with Sardra!
Shawn Putnam
a.k.a.
Jacob Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Nov 19 2008 - 03:10:55 PST