Gredlhar & Forebodings

Posted on Thu Jun 30, 2016 @ 4:14pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro

2,002 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Interlude - Day 1
Location: Box of Delights
Timeline: MD 01 16:30

::On::

Off duty for the afternoon, Annora decided to explore more of the station. Noticing a sign for a place called "Box of Delights", the security guard entered the location to see what it was about.

It was getting busy, though not yet heaving. A Gorn who must have weighed eight hundred pounds, and looking slightly ridiculous in what looked like a tuxedo adapted for his physique gave her the hairy eyeball as she walked through the large opening. Inside were a huge variety of species, sitting at tables, or standing at the wave shaped bar that cut across half the space, or crowded round tongo or dabo tables or other games of chance.

Waiting staff moved amongst them, all of them young and very attractive, dressed in tight clothing that accentuated their assets, as they moved drinks from the bar, rounded up empties and brought them back to swap with new trays. At the bar itself was an incredibly tall woman, six and half foot tall, violet skinned with deep amethyst hair. She was mixing a drink, showing off by juggling bottles, throwing glassware back and forth to a young Bajoran man.

As Annora approached the Bar, the woman finished up the order she was working on by flicking a series of olives into a series of martini glasses for an attractive Risan woman to whisk away, and then turned to Annora "What's your poison?"

Entering the establishment, Annora took in the sights. In more than one way the name of the bar was quite fitting. She noticed the Gorn but paid him no more attention than that. He was likely there as a bouncer, and she had no plans to stir up trouble. Dressed like much of the civilian population, and her hair loose, there was nothing that screamed Starfleet unless one studied her mannerisms real close. Several species she knew, but there were just as many that she couldn't identify.

Taking a spot at the bar, she answered the other woman's question. "I'll have a glass of Gredlahr, thanks."

"Absolutely." Yolanthe took a hurricane glass and put it front of the new customer. She added ice then poured from a bottle she took from a freezer. It steamed gently as it met the warm air of The Box, and the ice cubes cracked as the cold fluid hit them. Gredlahr was an Andorian spirit, ice distilled, and tasted somewhat like rum, but even sweeter.

"You're a new face," Yolanthe observed. "Been aboard long?"

With the size of the station, Annora wondered how people knew if you were new to the station. Of course the major establishments were likely frequented by a majority of the population on a semi-regular basis. Either way she kept her answer kind of vague.

"Nope, I've been here less than a month."

She took a sip of the drink.
"Very nice. Always tastes better chilled, although I've had some try to convince me otherwise. The drink was created by a people who live on a cold planet, so it makes sense to serve it cold."

"Someone explained the chemistry of why drinks generally have a fuller taste when warm. I'm not sure I understood it. I can't tell a mole from molecule." Yolanthe grinned and started reaching for more glassware to fill a new order, her skin shifting from violet to a pretty periwinkle as she did so.

"Yeah, some people like to analyze their food and drink. Personally I'm not that picky as long as it tastes good."

She chuckled.
"Guess I'm easy to please that way."

"SO you here for prospecting? or passing through?" a thick green liquid was coaxed from its bottle with a shake to lurk at the bottom of a hurricane glass.

"Prospecting?"

She wasn't quite sure what the other woman meant.

"I'm not here for anything in particular. Guess that makes me just passing through. Just a gal looking for a drink and some food. From the looks of things, I picked a good location for that."

"We're the best," Yolanthe's skin and hair became a more intense blue. "Nowhere like us on the station." She pushed a menu across the bar. "That's our menu. Let me know if you see something your like."

Studying the menu for a minute, she made her choice.
"I'll have a plate of Denobulan sausage, Thanks."

She considered some Hasperat, but wasn't in the mood for spicy food.

"Coming right up" Yolanthe touched a screen under the bar and sent the order to the kitchen. Then she started layering a large measure of something blue from a hexagonal bottle on top of the green liquid. "So what brought you out this way if it wasn't the new planet down there?"

The short answer was Starfleet, but she didn't see a need to advertise that fact. "I've always liked being on the frontier. The fact that there's a new planet down there, is just icing on the cake. It will certainly be interesting to see how things work out between the various groups laying claim."

There was shouting from the front of The Box, and Yolanthe looked up in concern, going bright blue to a dark mustard from head to toe. "Excuse me a moment," she said, and stepped out from behind the long bar to investigate what the disturbance was. Boys, who to her eyes looked young, maybe just old enough to start work, were alternating between glaring defiantly and looking furtive. Harry stood between the three humans and the door. "Whats going on?" she asked him

"These kids were hanging around. I told them to clear off, and they called me a fat lizard."

"Good to see the art of witty repartee is not lost." Yolanthe's skin lightened up to a yellow-gold. She stepped forward. "All-right, children. leave now, or I'll call security."

She was pretty sure the Gorn could handle them, so for the moment Annora was simply observing the situation. However, she was ready to intervene should the need arise.

"Fuck off, bitch" said one of the boys. He had a thin strip of beard on his chin, and brown hair flopped in his eyes. "This is public space, we can stand here. We don't have to do anything an alien skank tells us."

Yolanthe sighed, and her skin lightened again. "Last chance, I'm calling Security in three..." she kept her eye on the speaker, he seemed to be the one in charge. The boys didn't move. Two-"

One of the others, who'd been hidden behind his friends, hurled and smooth green egg at her. It wasn't large, but it happened so quickly and came so fast she barely registered it before it had smashed straight into her chin, the fragile shell bursting and coating her face with grey green slime that dripped down onto her decollete.

Pulling her comm-badge out of her jeans pocket, Annora activated it.
=/\= Tessaro to security, we have several youths causing a scene at the Box of Delights. You might want to send a security team by in case things go south. =/\=

Sometimes all it took was the sight of a uniformed security team to get people to back off. If nothing else security could escort the youth to whoever was in charge of them, and let them take things from there.

=/\= Roger that Lt, I'll send a team your way. Security out. =/\=

Putting the badge back in her pocket, Annora moved away from the bar and in front of the youth. The security guard found herself involuntarily starting to adopt a fighting stance, with her feet should width apart and her body turned slightly side-wise to the errant youth.

"You heard the lady. She asked you to leave."

Yolanthe, now a bright lemon color, wiped the egg white from her skin and shook it off onto the floor glanced at Annora, and recognized the stance. The last thing she wanted was a patron kicking off. Security would never let her hear the end of it.

"Who asked you, bitch?" said the one in charge.

"Yeah, piss off." said the third."

She tried to remember her deescalation training, but that particular knowledge wasn't coming to her at the moment. Instead she fell back on instinct, and avoided directly answering the questions of the youth.

"The way I see it you have 2 options. Voluntarily leave now, or wait until security hauls you away. If you don't like sharing space with non-humans than so be it, but a frontier station this large you'd better learn how to co-exist."

The leader snorted. "Or we can throw them, and their friends out the nearest airlock." He drew a breath to say some more, but the egg thrower suddenly hissed, "Security!" and all three did a runner, scarpering off down the promenade and vanishing into the evening crowds.

The trio of security guards eyed the youth running through the crowds but didn't bother perusing them. Instead they turned their attention to those at the bar. The burly Andorian leading the group nodded in recognition of Annora before addressing Yolanthe.

"Petty Officer Zh'tilnen, Starfleet security, would you like to file a formal report ma'am?"

Yolanthe had ignored the the security detail at first, too busy frowning after the young men who had disappeared towards the stairs to the lower levels. When they addressed her, she turned her attention back, her skin going from butter yellow to a pale aqua. She wasn't sure she wanted to make this formal, but nothing seemed to be behind more than simply xenophobia. Would making a formal complaint make things better or worse. for her and all the people who came to her bar.

"Oh for the simple days when I was just the ambassador's whore," she muttered to herself. The dislike thrown her way for her choice of lovers then at least had a source. She didn't understand that anymore than she understood the teenagers. But at least that was just personal. She didn't have to worry about precipitating a race riot by reporting it.

"No," she decided. "it was just boys being dumb. I'm sure they'll grow out of it."

The Andorian made a short notation on his PADD before responding. "Understood ma'am. But if the same group repeatedly returns, I strongly recommend filing a formal complaint."

He glanced briefly at the burly Gorn before continuing.
"I know you like to handle things in house, but feel free to give us a call if things start getting out of hand. That's what we're here for."

"Of course," Yolanthe said, with absolute sincerity, even though she had no intention of doing so

Satisfied with the response, Zh'tilnen turned his attention to Annora. "Anything to add Lieutenant?"

Not wanting to cause more of a scene, the security officer shook her head. "Nope, that about sums it up. A couple of wayward youth who need to learn to play nice with others."

Dipping his antennae slightly, the Petty Officer motioned for his team to depart. "Sounds good. Glad we could be of assistance."

Yolanthe turned to Annora. "Lieutenant?"

Extending her right hand, Annora made a proper introduction.
"Sorry, let's start things over. Lt Annora Tessaro, Starfleet security."

"Yolanthe Ibalin, The Box of Delights." Yolanthe shook, a little awkwardly, she didn't get much practice at the human gesture.

"Nice to meet you Yolanthe."

She motioned towards the bar.
"Shall we get back to the food and drink?"

Yolanthe turned a pale blue. "I note you didn't say back to normal. I think you're going to fit in here just fine."

Annora chuckled now that the tension was dissipating.
"I may be new to the station, but I'm not new to bars or life on the frontier. Normal is a relative term."

"Ain't that the truth." Yolanthe agreed. "Another Gredlhar? On the house."

"Sure thank you."

Annora followed the other woman back to the bar, glad a bigger scene had been avoided.

[OFF]

Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner, The Box of Delights

Lieutenant (JG) Annora Tessaro
Assistant Chief of Security
DS5

 

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