I know you lawman!

Posted on Fri Feb 13, 2015 @ 7:53am by

1,648 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: https://ds5.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/6
Location: Box of Delights

[ON]

[Civilian Docking Hanger - Observation Deck]

Steiner had been aboard Deep Space Five for just over ten hours. He'd got a room in a hotel near the civilian docking hangers and had hung around the docks and cargo bays to get some idea of how things went down here. He'd spent a couple of hours watching the cargo shuttles coming and going from an observation window.

The MV Hentar had delivered containers of contraband through here and taken delivery of outbound stolen Starfleet phasers, that had also passed through these hangers. Not to mention the illegal traffic in immigrants.

From the volume of traffic it seemed the station moved literally hundred of containers in and out everyday, trying to keep track of more than few of them from his vantage point was nearly impossible. Just when he was getting bored and considering trying elsewhere he noticed one shuttle coming in that bypassed the usual holding pattern of craft waiting to be checked and unloaded.

This one landed on the far side of the hanger, near a maintenance bay. He couldn't see what was happening as the hatch was on the far side of the craft. But after a few minutes the shuttle lifted off again and moved back into the queue.

With the shuttle gone he could see there were two people at the maintenance bay, they were walking away from a freight turbo lift door that was just closing. He caught a glimpse of a cargo container in the freight lift, right before the doors shut.

"So that one came off early" He noted "And didn't go through the usual unloading procedure"

He recorded the number on the cargo shuttle for further investigation, so he could find out what ship was being unloaded at the time and who the pilots were. From what he had glimpsed they had dropped off a single cargo container, but there was no reason that people couldn't have been moved aboard the station in the same way. A quick stop at maintenance, hustle them off the shuttle and into the lift.

Once illegal immigrants were aboard the station, hiding them among the fifty thousand civilian populace would not be too hard. He had no doubt there was an underworld trade in documents and identifications for those able to pay.

It was a sad truth that the freedoms and liberties of the Federation also left it vulnerable to criminals willing to exploit those ideals for their own selfish gains.

Steiner hung around for another hour, hoping to spot some kind of outgoing contraband, but there was no other movement around the maintenance bay and any one of the hundred of containers leaving the dock could be hiding smuggled goods.

He decided it was lunch and time for something to eat, so went down to the promenade. There were a variety of places to choose from high class restaurants to self-serve replicator cafes. He wandered around for a while to find a suitable venue for an unemployed crewman looking for work to eat in.


[The Box Of Delights]

He settled on The Box Of Delights, it looked relatively classy but anywhere that had a Gorn for a bouncer probably had a reason to need a Gorn as a bouncer. Steiner wandered in and found a seat at the bar, one where he had his back towards a wall. he ordered a tall beer and a menu from the pretty barmaid. While he appeared to be reading the menu he took a few moments to look over the bar.

It was dressed in shades of blue and violet, the bar itself was a long sinuous wave with a dozen species propping it up. Behind it was a room divider that held many many bottles of drinks from dozens of worlds. Beyond that, gaming tables, dabo, roulette, tongo and Roladan Wild Draw. Punters were already betting enthusiastically. The chatter of voices and the sounds of objects slamming coming from above told him that there were plenty of young people upstairs playing barokie or dom-jot.

It was fairly busy even at lunch time. A tall, willowy and attractive female humanoid was wending her way between customers, from the look of the interactions she was either a hostess or possibly the owner. The woman's species also seemed to have some form of chameleon genes and her skin coloring changed as she moved around. Bokkai maybe? Steiner wondered.

Steiner ordered lunch and took a sip of his beer while he waited. He looked around some more, trying to spot anyone who looked like they might be involved in merchant shipping with whom he might strike up a conversation.

A group of Ferengi entered, there were four of them. They came up to the bar and leered over the barmaid as they ordered. Steiner's food arrived and he began eating, he noticed a couple of the Ferengi looking at him, he gave them a quick smile and a nod and went back to his lunch.

They didn't return the smile, instead they went into a huddle and began a whispered conversation. Out of the corner of his eye he saw them shooting him occasional looks and the looks weren't friendly. Steiner stayed relaxed but his mind began churning. He had no idea who they might be, none looked familiar, but it was possible they recognized him as law enforcement from somewhere.

He decided on an exit strategy, finished his lunch and beer and asked for the bill. Just as he was paying, the huddle broke up and one of the Ferengi came over.

Awww, here we go... Steiner thought and, pretending not to notice the scowl on the Ferengi's face, he got up from the stool to leave.

"I know you!" the Ferengi spat "You're a Federation Marshal! You arrested my cousin!"

Steiner shrugged "Me? Nah, I think you've got the wrong guy. I work handling freight"

The Ferengi stepped in front of Steiner, blocking his path and the other three moved up behind.

"No! I know you!" The Ferengi began jabbing his finger at Steiner "I'm Klatec, you put my cousin in prison!"

Steiner had busted a Ferengi criminal ring some years ago, he'd known at the time they had not got all of those involved. It was possible this Klatec and his cronies were some of the ones who got away.

"Like I said" Steiner replied, keeping his voice even "I just work freight handling. Sorry about your cousin, but you've got the wrong guy. Now I was just - "

"Screw my cousin! He's a fool to get caught!" The Ferengi interrupted "But he owed me fifty bars! You put him in prison, now you owe me fifty bars!"

He was shouting now and customers were starting to take notice. The bar went quiet as all eyes and, in a couple of cases, antenna and optical inputs turned towards the disturbance at the bar.

Steiner nearly laughed out loud. That was a first, being hustled for some perp's dept after arresting them!

He managed to keep a straight face and said "Look, you've got the wrong man. I don't know you or your cousin. I don't owe you anything. And I'm leaving!"

"Liar! You're a Federation Marshal! You can pay Latium or...you can pay blood!" Klatec pulled himself up to his full height, which still brought him up about eighteen inches shorter than Steiner, then produced a small bladed weapon.

Despite the Ferengi's diminutive size this situation was turning ugly and Steiner was unarmed. Not many merchant crewman walked around with Federation issue phasers and so Steiner's cover role didn't include one.

Wary now, Steiner spread his feet to get a good stance, brought his hands up and prepared to defend himself. Klatec waved the knife around a little and gave Steiner an evil toothy smile, while his cronies began to spread out in a half circle. Not particularly impressed with the show Steiner still realized that he would quickly be outflanked and so chose to take the fight to his opponent, He opened his hands and dropped his shoulders in feigned resignation

"Easy there! I don't want any trouble." he said, faking a little fear in his voice "I really don't know anything about your cousin, but I've got a couple of bars of Latnium. You're welcome to them ok?"

As Steiner hoped Klatec relaxed a little and the other three stopped their flanking move. Steiner made as if to put his left hand into his pants pocket, moving the hand slowly, allowing it to tremble a little bit "They're here ok, I'll get you the money" he said

"Show me Lawman!" Klatec demanded "It better be close to fifty bars! Or you're gonna get cut!'

"Ok ok" Steiner said, his left hand nearly at his pocket. Just as he hoped Klatec's avarice overcame his tactical ability and his eyes flicked to Steiner's pocket. Gotcha!

Bunching his right fist Steiner took a step forward and slammed it straight into the Ferengi's chest. His left hand came up and locked onto Klatec's right wrist, twisting it sharply back in towards Klatec's own body.

He drove his right hand up now, to the Ferengi's neck, jabbed him in the windpipe and used his body weight to force Klatec's right hand holding the blade inwards, forcing the Ferengi to drop the blade or stab himself. It clattered to the floor and Steiner jammed his boot down in it

The attack took Klatec and the others by surprise, but one of his henchmen recovered quickly. He charged in and caught Steiner in the jaw with a right hook. Spitting blood Steiner shoved Klatec away from him, sending the Ferengi sprawling back into a table of customers and turned to face this new assault.

Which is right when the Gorn and the tall woman arrived...

[To Be Continued...]

[OFF]

 

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