Darkened Stars - Chapter 19

Darkened Stars - Chapter 19

Stardate 29384.8 - May 20, 2352 - 20:04:00

Massaging her temples to ward off the tension headache she could feel coming on, Rain couldn't help but feel her current circumstances were the universe punishing her for something.

“So then I tried to explain to her that it's really not recommended to try and use Horga'hn in that manner. But of course she ignored me, oh no, it's not like I've lived here all my life or anything, so I totally haven't seen a buuunch of people get them stuck in places they really shouldn't be or anything. And what do you know? Next morning I show up to work and get yelled at by the night shift boss because they had to rush in a specialist.”

Rain's eye ridge twitched, and she once more checked the chronometer on her communicator to see only twenty minutes had passed since she and her new host, a short Risian woman with pink hair and a rather sizeable bosom by the name of Serena, had sat down to wait for the first arena fights of the night to begin.

“I mean really.” Serena continued with a pout as she leaned her chest into Rain's arm in a move that would have normally left the Asari a blushing mess. “What was I supposed to do? Grab the Horga'hn and run away? Hide in the closet and watch her all night even though she'd already told me to get lost? I mean yes, that last can be fun, but a lot of people get annoyed when you do it, and Klingons are worse because they always have knives.”

“Of course, I told the night shift boss that, but he waved it off, said I should have tried to sleep with instead. As if that wasn't one of the first things I tried when she brought the Horga'hn out. But she was straight! Can you believe that!? The coordinator really screwed up on that one, sending a woman out to play host to a straight woman.”

Rain whimpered slightly, her 'happy ditz’ tolerance level never having been particularly high even before she had spent years trying to become the Klingon equivalent of a shut-in.

“At least I know you're interested, cause Bree said you were staring at her chest a bunch. And mine are a lot better than hers! And all natural too, since unlike her the only genemod I have is for the hair. Waaay too much upkeep otherwise, though I guess you wouldn't know that with the tentacle things you got going on. Not that that doesn't work for you or anything, because it really does, and I kind of want to try stroking them just to see what they feel like.”

Something caught in Rain's throat at the image that last bit of chatter conjured, and she began to cough trying to clear it out of her windpipe as Serena gave her a worried look.

“Do you want a drink?” The pink haired woman asked. “I know this arena can get a bit dusty, but the Klingons insist the dry dirt and gravel in the combat area makes the fights more interesting to watch.”

“Can this place’s replicators do Sake?” Rain inquired once she was able, seizing onto the vague hope that a bottle of strong drink would make it easier to zone out the other woman.

Serena relaxed her grip and with a small hop got back up to her feet. “The old Terran drink? Sure. Just give a minute to go pick up a bottle.”

With that she walked off, and Rain breathed a sigh of relief at the temporary reprieve. Not that their location in one of the many booths lining the outside of the arena floor was particularly quiet, but it was the white noise of a crowd instead of the consistent chatter of someone talking in her ear.

“So you're the one who rolled Serena today.” A Risian man offered in a playful tone as he slid into the other end of her booth. “You're either going to have a really great time tonight, or an absolutely miserable one.”

Rain took a moment to look him over, tall, short dark hair, wearing a relaxed looking suit of some kind that showed off a respectable amount of muscle and a face that, like every Risian she had seen so far, wouldn't have been out of place on a Hollywood A list star.

“Is there any chance I could equal the two out and just have an okay time?” She asked hopefully.

“Oh, always.” He returned with a grin. “You could take the chance and run off to spend the night wandering around on your own. But you don't seem like the type who would leave a well meaning girl like that to get in trouble with her bosses.”

Well, it had been more that Rain didn't want to annoy whichever group it was that had set up the whole meet, greet, and escort system since they were likely to be at least marginally connected to those she was hoping to be able to sell her cargo hold of slavers and criminals to. But she supposed now that he had brought it up, that was something that would have left her feeling like she'd accidentally kicked a puppy who'd just been trying to cheer her up after a long day at work.

“I'm a fierce Klingon adjacent warrior you know.” She groused, crossing her arms and leaning back in the curved couch-like seat.

“I could tell from the armor.” He said as he gave an amused glance to the boob window and her cerulean cleavage within. “But you also spent the better part of an hour listening to Serena talk about anything that came to mind without punching her in the face and stalking off.”

She stared at the man for a moment with a surprise look on her face as a sudden worry formed in her gut that she knew from experience would lead no place good. “Does that happen often?”

“Not often.” He said before resting one of his arms on the table and leaning forward slightly to give her a grin. “At least, not outside of Jamaharon.”

And that was absolutely not Rain's cup of tea, something which must have shown on her face given the way the Risian man gave an acknowledging tilt of his head before straightening back up.

“I suppose that's not really to your tastes then. Fair enough. So what is?”

“I'm not really here for relaxing.” Rain told him, starting to suspect the man may have been trying to pick her up, an altogether odd feeling given she'd never really had a random guy just come up and try that with her before. “Too many important things to get done before that becomes an option.”

She also very much didn't want her first time to be with someone from the planet of bicycles… Or with a man… Or with… Rain cut that train of thought off before it could go any further and instead focused back on the man.

The Risian man shook his head and chuckled lightly. “An off-worlder with Important things to do on Risa? That sounds dangerously like work.”

“Relaxation requires money.” Rain pointed out in a droll tone as she looked around for any sign of Serena’s imminent return with her alcohol.

The fact that she was unable to see the woman’s moderately distinctive pink hair anywhere was a bit odd, especially taking into account there were at least two replicator stations less than thirty meters away from where they had sat down. And it left her wondering if maybe her ask had been a bit harder to fill then the other woman had implied.

“In some cases.” The man agreed as he continued to watch her. “But given the protection provided to us by the Alliance, we’d be poor hosts indeed to not do our best to provide for their various needs.”

A respectable line, and if Rain hadn’t been absolutely sure the other shoe would eventually drop it might have been reassuring enough to get her to relax a little. But with the knowledge that this was the mirror universe version of Risa, the only way that was going to happen was with enough drink to forget the thousand and one horror movie like scenarios running around in the back of her brain.

“What I need is someone to sell my cargo to.” She muttered in annoyance as she began to drum her fingers on the table.

“The Slaves?” He put forward as a small smile graced his lips. “Yes, I suppose that would be something you’d wish to handle before everything else.”

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“They keep showing up.” Keiko muttered as she glared at the ever expanding group of people that had started arriving shortly after they had begun setting up on the beach.

“It’s a beach party.” Korak offered with a grin, the half-Klingon teen having been the only one of them with anything even approaching what Keiko suspected was a relatively normal upbringing. “You throw one and people just show up, same thing happened with my old gang when we’d have them in New Honolulu.”

“Though of course.” He continued as he focused on barely covered chests of a handful of the newcomers in particular. “We didn’t have girls like the Risian one’s around.”

Keiko grunted, very specifically not looking down at her own comparatively less than impressive assets.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with small and tight you know.” Korak went on, headless of Keiko’s rapidly increasing desire to smack him. “Cardi girls tend to lean that way, and you wouldn’t believe some of the ways they can bend when you get them–

A loud smack echoed out, and Keiko looked over to see Strelka standing behind Korak with her hand raised as the younger half-Klingon rubbed the back of his head gingerly. “I don’t want to hear about what you got up to with Cardassians.”

Korak turned to try and look Strelka in the eye, a task Keiko could see him visibly fail at with the way his eyes focused instead on the half-Klingon woman’s large barely wrapped assets. 

“Don’t be like that Strel.” He begged as he finally dragged his eyes away from the rapidly more annoyed woman’s breasts. “We’re on Risa, the world of sin where your every vice can be catered to, not your mom’s manor where ya gotta spend the night practicing the tIngDagh.”

“I enjoyed practicing the tIngDagh.” Strelka growled at Korak as she crossed her arms defensively over her chest. “What I don’t enjoy is you acting like a sli'vak with more dick than brains.”

“At least I’m not wading hip deep in denial like you.” Korak taunted, taking a few quick steps away from Strelka to avoid her follow up swipe. 

“Look at me.” He singsonged. “I’m princess Strelka of house Ozhpri, and someday I’m going to unseat the man who banished me to show everyone else in the house that my mother wasn’t mistaken to keep me around.”

“As if.” He continued in a more normal tone, completely missing the rapidly darkening look on Strelka’s face. “You’re in the same barge as me now, discarded for being more trouble than you’re worth even though you did everything right.”

A screech of outrage finally echoed out of Strelka’s throat, and Korak’s eyes went wide as he turned and began to run, the half-Klingon woman dashing across the sand after him mere moments later with clear murder in her eyes.

“Klingon mating rituals continue to leave me questioning how the species is able to survive pairing up at all.” A voice muttered from behind Keiko, the unexpectedness of it enough to make the Japanese woman reach for the sheathed sword on her back even as she turned to engage whoever it might be.

“As a Vulcan.” T’Lyn began, as her eyes flicked to hand Keiko still had resting on her blade. “If I wished to fight you in close quarters combat, I’m afraid to say that it would be very little challenge.”

Keiko would like to think things might be different with an actual weapon, but as their sparring attempt had quickly proven, the Vulcan woman’s greater strength, reflexes, and reaction times made even trying to get a hit in a dangerous affair for the Japanese woman.

“Thought you wanted to stay in?” She asked the Vulcan as she relaxed her grip.

“Jarat wished to see me in a bikini.” T’Lyn said simply as she shot a quick glance over to where the half-Cardassian in question was quietly talking with his sister. “And the warm sands remind me of Vulcan, so I thought we might give sex on the beach a try.”

“Just make sure you do it on the other side of the ship.” Keiko instructed, not wanting to have to deal with whatever might come of the pair doing otherwise.

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Author’s Notes: Poor Rain, she completely failed her insight checks to realize that she was being scouted out and handled Vegas VIP style. But it’s not completely her fault, she’s just used to being so generally unimportant that she has to work to get the type of attention someone arriving in a newly captured spaceship does.