The Way the Wind Blows

Posted on Tue Oct 31, 2017 @ 1:34am by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Captain Maritza Soran

775 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: The Box of Delights
Timeline: MD 08 1900

::ON::

This place was not somewhere Soran would have chosen to enter. too big, too noisy, too much. But tonight, for exactly those reasons, it was why she was here. She needed to see and she needed to hear, without benefit of the filters of reports, and opinions. And she also needed to be seen.

There was something rotten on DS5. Something eating away at the heart of the Federation dream of equality and aspiration and fulfillment for all, and the root of that tumor was on the Promenade. Her instinct was specifically on the third level, where the smaller, boutique locations, sat. But it took, as the human's like to say, two to tango. So she was starting here, in the biggest, most popular, most fashionable of all the drinking dens, game hall and night spots.

The Box of Delights.

As usual it was busy. Not the full on crowd of a later evening when the partying began in earnest, but enough. She pressed through to the wave shaped bar, found a stool at toward one end, and waited to catch the bar tender's eye.

The owner herself was in attendance, tal by most species standards, above the heads of most of the men, let alone the women, her normally violet skin closer to a rich purple, and her hair even darker, like a damson plum. She was mixing cocktails, showily, juggling and twirling glasses and bottles, with extravagant long pours or spinning the ingredients into the glass.

Eventually, She glimpsed Maritza and moved down the bar. "Good evening, Commander. We don't usually see you in here."

"No", Maritza agreed. "But sometimes change is good."

"it is," Yolanthe replied. "I hear congratulations are in order. can I get you something to celebrate?"

"Virgin Sunrise." Maritza ordered. she wasn't going to drink here. She wanted her wits about her.

"Really?" Yolanthe raised a damson eyebrow. "Not much of a celebration."

"I'm not celebrating, I'm working."

"Working?" All work and no play makes the captain a dull girl."

"I'm not the captain yet. I've not had the rank promotion, just the position."

The bokkai looked up in surprise from where she was trickling syrup downt he side of the glass. "I thought that was standard."

Soran shook her head, keeping her own resentment of the fact to herself. "There's paperwork to do. It will take time."

Yolanthe turned to grab all the fruit that went into garnishing the drink, "So if you're working what are you doing in here?"
She pushed the finish glass across the bar.

"Trying to get a feel for the way things are going amongst the civlians. The reports I get tell me a lot of things, but its time I came down here myself."

"We definitely need more of a fleet presence down here." Yolanthe agreed. "Us civvies are beginning to think you've forgotten about the other half of the station."

"I will agree we have not been as attentive to the issues down here as we should have been. But I was not responsible for internal matters before now."

"And now you are." Yolanthe stated. "What are you going to do about that hate-monger Raddon and his friend Gabriel?"

"I can't comment on ongoing investigations," Soran said, deadpan. "Why don't you tell me what you think I should know."

Yolanthe turned a dark fulvous yellow, "You need to know that not talking to us isn't helping." her thoughts drifted to the private hangar., but she wanted to keep that titbit to herself for now. Let the Yridian handle that. "People are scared. People are starting to arm themselves. Something big is going to happen soon, and when it does, all hell is going to break out."

"We've been feeling this for some itme now. Why is it different?" maritza pointed out.

"Because people are dying, and Raddon is up to something." the Bokkai's skin was becoming a brighter shade of yellow. "Arrest him before someone else dies and I end up with another body on my front step. This is a bar, not a morgue!"

"I can't arrest anyone without evidence." Maritza pointed out. "rightn ow, his right to freedom of speech protects him, he can say what he likes, however deplorable. Until we see something more concrete, he's untouchable."

Yolanthe tossed a towel onto the bar with a sigh. "They'll be a battle on the promenade before you get any evidence."

Privately Soran agreed. Things were coming to a head. "But could she do anything and still stay within the law? Her options were running out.

::OFF::

Commander Martiza Soran
CO
DS5

Yolanthe Ibalin
Proprietor
The Box of Delights

 

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