Darkened Stars - Chapter 29

Darkened Stars - Chapter 29

Stardate 29460.2 - June 17, 2352, Time - 10:23:48

For her first space station the uncreatively named Trillius Station was something of a disappointment, though she supposed it was possible that was just the rundown docking port that looked like it hadn't seen a cleaning crew since the Empire fell.

It honestly built something of an interesting picture, and when taken alongside the defense satellites made Rain wonder if Trill was in the middle of some kind of societal decline.

Thankfully however that wasn't really her problem, because she was here to do a job, make some money on the side selling seafood, and hopefully find a doctor or engineer willing to sign on to the ship's crew.

“You’re Raine?” The average looking dark haired Trill man asked as he fidgeted slightly in place, the four armed grey uniformed Trill guards with him looking a good deal more intimidating than the surly half-klingon and duster wearing woman with a sword she herself had brought.

She raised an eyeridge at the man. “Unless there's another Asari flying around in a captured Orion interceptor under the flag of a Klingon nobel house, then yes.”

And if there was, she really wanted to know about it, because that could mean all sorts of bad things in Star Trek.

“I assume you’re Vrilon Nal?”

“Yes.” He replied with a furtive nod as he tried to look past her and into the ship. “Where's the package? I need to check the–

“Stop.” Rain interrupted, getting the distinct sense that he was about to let slip more than she wanted to know. “Don’t know what’s in it, don’t want to know what’s in it. Just give me the confirmation code, and then we can tag the container you’re here to get for transport to wherever.”

Vrilon frowned at her for a moment, seeming like he wanted to say something before reaching into the pocket of his vest and pulling out a small padd which he offered forward.

Accepting it from him, a quick glance confirmed it contained the confirmation code Raine had memorized, and she handed the device back satisfied since that was her due diligence done.

“Okay then.” She said, turning and motioning for him to follow after her. “Let’s get this over with.”

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Stardate 29460.3 - June 17, 2352, Time - 11:16:30

The cargo container now firmly someone else's problem, Rain had utilized her captain's prerogative to drag Keiko out and go explore the station while leaving T'Lyn to handle the resupply and tradegood issues.

“You sure we can trust T'Lyn not to screw us over?” Keiko inquired as they walked through a very rundown looking promenade filled with mostly closed up shops and the occasional furative looking Trill that seemed to be doing their best to ignore their existence.

“No.” Rain admitted with a frown as she looked around for someplace that looked like it might still be staffed and open. “But what does she have to gain from turning on us? Without my Klingon connections the ships of questionable use to her at best given how far from Vulcan we are. The crew likes me because I’m not an asshole and pay well for minimal amounts of work. And most of the money is codelocked to the point it would take an unreasonable amount of effort to use without me.”

“She could just want power.” Keiko offered, stopping a moment to glare at a somewhat obvious Trill pickpocket that looked like he was weighing his odds. “A lot of people are like that.”

The thought that T'Lyn might just be buying her time had been rather persistent, mainly because Rain still hadn't figured out how the Vulcan woman was mirrored. Outside of a rather vocal enjoyment of sex, which might not even be the Mirror universe at play so much as her just not repressing everything with logic.

Catching back up to Rain with a few quick steps, Keiko gave a considering glance around before seeming to come to a decision. “This place is dying.”

“Certainly seems that way.” Rain agreed with a grimace, wondering if there was any chance at all of them getting permission to beam down to the planet.

“Bar's open at least.” Keiko said as they stopped in front of a dingy looking doorway with a flickering sign above it labeling it as Fral's.

Rain considered it for a moment before shaking her head. “Tempting, but I learned my lesson on Risa, no unknown alcohol for me in public.”

Waking up naked on a beach and having to do a walk of shame back to the ship once had been more than enough for her.

“So then where are we going?” Keiko asked as she gave a slight look of disappointment to the bar.

With any annoyed sigh, Rain started walking again. “I'll know it when I see it.”

She had no idea what it might be, but the line had sounded cool in her head so she'd gone with it.

They were nearly halfway around the promenade when Keiko spoke up again in a low whisper. “We're being followed.”

Rain blinked, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder to try and confirm Keiko's claim as she did her best to consciously continue the same meandering wander she had been doing before.

“By who?” She whispered back.

“Trill's in uniforms.” Keiko returned after a moment. “Same as the guys who were with Vrilon earlier.”

Oh for fuck's sake.” Rain muttered, her mind instantly conjuring a dozen reasons this could be bad.

Now that she was actually looking for it she could see what Keiko meant, and not just behind them either, as the Asari could make out a pair of uniformed male and female doing a relatively bad job of skulking in the shadows of a closed up shop ahead of them.

“So what do you think?” She began, stopping in place and waiting for the inevitable now that they were functionally surrounded. “Government or private security?”

“Uniforms are too cheap for private security.” Keiko offered as the two in front of them began moving. “Bosses usually like to show off their money.”

Considering her experiences in New Chicago for a moment, Rain had to acknowledge the Japanese woman's point.

“Something I can help you with?” Rain asked as the pair approached.

They exchanged glances and then the woman spoke. “Captain Falling Waters, we're going to need you to come with us to the supervisor's office.”

Rain stared at the woman for a moment, her eye ridge twitching slightly in annoyance at the name  as the urge to give into pettiness momentarily overtook her. “I think you have the wrong person, I’m Captain Rain.”

A look that was halfway between annoyance and confusion flashed across the woman’s face before settling onto a scowl. “That’s what I said.”

She began to reach for Rain’s arm only to pause when Keiko visibly began reaching for the sword slung across her back. “Please don’t make this difficult ma’am.”

“We’re on board a space station Keiko.” Rain reminded the Japanese woman, the Trill woman’s partner visibly untensing when the sword carrying woman crossed her arms instead and let out an annoyed huff.

There was a time and place for fighting back, and surrounded by armed men, on a space station, surrounded by heavily armed defense satellites wasn’t it unless you had some way to actually survive all that.

“Lead the way then.”

The Trill woman nodded, beginning to walk only to immediately stop when both Rain and Keiko moved to follow.

“Only you, your Terran bodyguard will need to return to your ship.”

Rain considered that for a moment before giving a cautious nod to Keiko. “It’s all right, but if things start exploding you’re free to lead an armed incursion into the station to rescue me.”

The Trill woman looked like she was visibly holding herself back from objecting to the very idea of that, but Rain had already been blown up once this month and wasn’t looking to make a habit of it, so she could deal with the mostly empty threat.

“All right.” Keiko agreed with a nod, playing along with a surprising amount of seriousness given their currently limited supply of weapons.

“Well.” Rain continued, turning back to the Trill woman with a slightly annoyed look on her face. “Lead on Macduff.”

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Author’s Notes: A shorter chapter, but a chapter nonetheless.

And what’s this? A Friday release? Why yes, it is, I’m trying a slightly different schedule for a bit to see if it stabilizes the release of Cerulean/Darkened Stars.