Back in business

Posted on Sun May 21, 2023 @ 4:28am by Civilian 'Arrival' Geral Lasuma & Civilian Sha'rae Astare & Captain Maritza Soran

1,220 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Lasuma'a
Timeline: 2030

[DS5 - Lasuma's]

After his 'meeting' with Turvan and the show on the promenade with his lacky, Geral had sent a message to his company offices on Bajor that he was not only alive and operating but requested Sha'rae's location. Given the distance it had taken some time for the reply to came in.

To his surprise he was informed that she was still in the area. Those Cardassian asshats could have at least told him that so he wouldn't have wasted his time.


[CV Maritza]

As a civilian vessel the Lasuma Enterprises yacht, that had been named after the woman who had sacrificed herself to save it and the evacuees from DS5, and several freighters had had to take up a position away from the shipyard in a 'safer location'. From time to time a Federation or Klingon ship would pass by, but shipments to the station were becoming backlogged. Fortunately, Sha'rae had manage to acquire some cargo containers so that the freighters could offload the DS5 portions of their cargo and continue the runs. Those remaining to help manage the cargo were on local runs from the new markets that had recently been opened.

It had been another long day and Sha'rae was trying to relax in one of the Yacht's saunas. Laying atop the towel as the heat and steam filled the room, and she took deep breaths trying to relax. Sweat was beading on her body, and she could feel her muscles loosening.

Her arms at her side as he layed there she spoke to herself, "Finally. I sooo needed this." Exhaling with a sigh of contentment she relished the moment. Her relaxation wasn't to last as moments later the comm sounded. == Ms. Astare you have a call from Deep Space 5...From Mr. Lasuma! ==

"Transfer the call to my quarters!" Bolting naked from the sauna she ran to her room, wrapping the towel around her as she went. Sitting at her desk her activated opened the transmission. As Geral's face came appeared on the holo-monitor she began to cry. "OHhh Thank God!"


[DS5 - Lasuma's]

Geral looked at his assistant, wet hair, no makeup, towel wrapped around her..."Good to see you to. Enjoying your time off?" he asked humorously with a smile.

She ran a hand though her stream and sweat dampened hair. == I'm sorry sir, I was...How are you able to contact me? ==

Cutting her off as he shook his head. "Nothing to be sorry about. I'm sorry I interrupted, whatever it is I interrupted. As to the 'how', I was able to negotiate communications for business purposes and the passage of our freighters through the lines."

Her face turned from embarrassment and relief to puzzlement and then to somber. == Geral, the Captain... Maritza... she's... ==

"I know."

== How?! ==

Swallowing hard as he recalled the footage he had been forced to watch. He took a deep breath; exhaling, "Turvan was gracious enough to show me. No doubt as a part of some plot of his or just to twist the knife as it were."

== That BASTARD! ==

While he couldn't have agreed more with her sentiment, he knew this conversation was either being actively monitored or would be reviewed soon. Most likely the first, so he had a role to play. "That aside how are things on your side of the border? Shipments piling up no doubt."

== That they are, and we saw the Cardassian broadcast. Why... ==

He had no doubt the broadcast that Turvan had released was highly edited but he could confirm that later.
Ignoring her confusion, he continued. "Begin to have the current stockpiles brought onto the station. Several shops were damaged in the attack as well as by...resistance...and are in need of repair. Those shops and a few others are needing resupply to get them back up and running as well. We are taking care of all of that. I will be transmitting a list of needed repairs and the merchandise to restock the shops on the promenade.

"Assemble three, no four repair teams, the sooner thing are fixed the better. Our people only, No Federation types. The last thing I need is some holier-than-thou Starfleet Admiral screwing up what I've managed to establish by trying to use my company as a means to infiltrate the station. If they try anything, remind them that we have a rite of passage agreement not only with the Federation but the Cardassian Union.

"Those on the repair teams will most likely be tracked and monitored closely while on the station and when done they will leave. Make sure the teams are aware of that possibility. I don't want any incidents either. After that normal trade shipments to our clients on the station and for our shops will return to normal. Well almost; the Old Way of doing things is done...the new normal here will be the usual Cardassian inspections prior to offloading and before departure of course.

"For now, I want you to remain where you are as a sort of rendezvous point for our ships coming to and from the station. Once thing have returned stabilized here who knows, maybe we'll just go home."


[CV Maritza]

Sha'rae looked at the face on the display. It was hard to believe what he was saying...although with Maritza death perhaps he just wanted to get things operation so he could leave. Then again... "Yes sir. I will get started as soon as I get your transmission."

His face grinned. == It can wait until morning. Go finish whatever you were doing before I interrupted. Goodnight Shar. We'll speak soon. ==


[CV Maritza]

Sha'rae sat back in the chair as the holo-display faded and remained there for some time. Eventually she got up, wiping her face of tears that had dried some time ago. She showered, ate, and notified the freighter captains to begin transporting the cargo to their dock first thing tomorrow. She wasn't looking forward to dealing with Starfleet, but she pushed that from her mind as she got ready to go to bed.

She had been in a funk all evening after her conversation with Geral. It had been like he was just giving up, but she couldn't blame him for wanting to leave DS5. She was brushing her hair when she stopped her eyes when wide and she dropped her brush and dashed to her desk to pull up the lists he had sent. The repair materials had nothing but the merchandise list...it was there...the clue for an 'if this than that' multi-level code and encryption matrix that even the Dominion hadn't broken. How could she have been so stupid...the 'Old Way of doing things' indeed.

It would take her some time to complete the extraction and once she had the information, she began the process of acquiring the items needed. Nothing went out via subspace that wasn't encoded, but it had begun. Her enthusiasm and determination had made her lose all track of time and as she sent word to one of Dorian's wartime contacts, her alarm sounded. She'd been up all night and all she did was smile. Things had been put in motion...and she couldn't wait to see what happened next.


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Geral Lasuma
Owner of Lasuma Enterprises

Sha'rae Astare
Aid to Geral Lasuma

 

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