Facing the aftermath

Posted on Sat Sep 15, 2018 @ 2:13am by Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin & Civilian Ricardo Draxx

1,694 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Victory Conditions
Location: The smoking ashes of "the Box"
Timeline: MD10 1100

ON:

Zoe had never been so scared or worried or Angry for that matter. What the hell had her brother done. He had snapped. Completely. She argued it over and over with Orson who Draxx had ordered back to the station. It had taken him over 24 hours to locate where Biggs had stashed her and Zeak, the only one of Lucy's children she had managed to rescue. Biggs hadn't returned. If Orson hadn't of rescued them the poor baby would likely of given into all its Gorn urges and eaten her a few days later.

"Where is he now?" she demanded for about the hundredth time as they finally left her former prison.

"Zo," Orson had to nearly run as he followed her now carrying the Gorn baby. "You need to get checked out. You need to change. You need ...."

"Don't tell me what I need to do," she whirled round on the man. Then promptly burst into tears. Orson awkwardly attempted to pull her into a hug but the baby now thankfully with a full belly kept squirming in his arms. She leaned into his one free arm. "My brother. How could he ... Lucy. The other babies. You. He tried to kill you all and Draxx, now he's condemned to go back .... into Torns regime."

"I know," Orson said quietly.

She suddenly jumped up as a thought occurred. "We have to give Zeak to Harry. With no mother now. He needs a father. Come on we are going to the box."

A few minutes later she broke down in tears again as she stared at the remains of where she used to work.

The shutters were down, but the postern door was open, and there was movement inside, feint sounds of voices and things being moved.

"Zo you sure thats a good move?" Orson asked as she started towards the door. Zeak seemed to stop squirming as they got closer. She didn't answer Orson, merely walking up to the door and poking her head in. "Hello? Yolanthe? Harry? Anyone?"

Inside was a wreck. Most of the Mezzanine had fallen down, leaving a ragged line of floor around the edge of the large holodeck. The main bar area was just as trashed. Scorchmarks reached up the walls, and the glass shelves that held all the bottles was smashed, and the wreckage covered in ash.

The huge gorn doorman, now in just a vest and pants, was lifting the heaviest pieces of rubble away from the bar. YOlanthe, her skin a murky, green tinged grey was moving furniture into piles. There was also a small orion girl with short red hair, wielding a broom and sweeping up piles of ash and shattered glass.

Yolanthe turned, and went a sharp bright cyan. "Zoe? I thought you'ld left?" SHe narrowed her eyes. "Where's Draxx?" she asked suspiciously.

Zoe and Orson holding Zeak walked in and up to Yolanthe. "I did but my brother ..."

"Betrayed us all," Orson spat angrily.

Zoe looked at him sadly and nodded to Yolanthe. "He set a bomb in Draxx's ship about 2 hours into the journey. I managed to grab hold of Zeak and keep him away from the fire before my brother beamed me onto a hidden transfer he had waiting," Zoe said. "He brought us here and kept us locked up for 2 days. Orson found me."

Orson slowly approached the Gorn male. The baby in his arms sniffed at Harry, recognising his fathers scent. Orson held the tiny lizard out towards him.

The baby gorn practically leaped the space between them, and skittered up to curl against his father's enormous chest. He nuzzled at the baby, then looked at the two humans "Where's Lucy?"

"You're all he has now," Zoe told him sadly.

"Lucy and one of the babies were critical when Draxx ordered me to get after Biggs and find Zoe. I'm sorry Harry. Two died in the blast," Orson said miserably.

The giant Gorn let own a sound like a mewl, only in a deep octave, vibrating the air. Yolanthe had gone a sharp cyan breifly, then a deep charcoal. "Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry." She looked around the bar, 'Come through the back.
We can talk there."

A few minutes later, they were all crowded into Yolanthe's roccoco styled office in back of house. This part of The Box was untouched. The fire had been powerful, but brief, and hadn't breached the bulkheads sperating out the storage and staff areas. She was pushing glasses of stiff drink into everyone's hands. "Tell us what happened."

"We don't know. Biggs turned on us, set a bomb to go off a couple of hours into flight, forced Zo to go with him and left the rest of us for dead," Orson said putting his arm round Zoe. "After years of ..

"Being family," Zoe sniffed.

"And we don't know why and we don't know where he is now. All we know is he came back here and locked Zo and Zeak up. But I am going to find his deceitful arse mark my words. What happened here?" Orson asked.

Yolanthe's skin turned a solar yellow. "Ghosts of the past came to visit. They brought friends. There was a disagreement over who who they thought got to play ball. One side set the bar on fire. I think one side might have been friends of Draxx." A memory tickled at her mind. "And they mentioned Biggs."

"Nope," Orson said. "We are the only friends he has. Trust me."

"Its true," Zoe told her. "They mentioned Biggs?"

"Draxx said he thought he had been sending some messages. He thought your Romulan friends boss lady made him an offer for some side money he couldn't refuse. As long as it didn't interfere in the rest of our plans he was happy to let it continue. Now I wonder, did Biggs make it look like that was happening," Orson said thinking suddenly.

"Whoever did whatever," Yolanthe concluded, sipping from her glass. "Either way, my bar is going to take some serious repairs. Its an all hands call, if you want it?"

"Its unlikely we will see Draxx for a while," Orson said nodding and pulling his sleeves up. "Where do you want us to start?"

Yolanthe indicated the twisted piles of furniture and assorted chunks of rubble. "Grab a broom? There's ash and broken bottles to clear. Or you can carry all the furniture out to the replicator and trash it? Whichever you find more fun." She gave Zoe a weak smile. "On the plus side, the kitchen is intact. I don't know if you consider that a lost opportunity."

Zoe gave her a weak smile. "Well at least I can put some hot drinks and lunch on for us."

"I will never say no to someone else doing my cooking." Yolanthe grabbed a shovel and went back to gathering up the piles of shattered glass that was the reminder of her on display stock. "So where is Draxx, if he's tangled up in this sorry mess too?"

"Doing something very stupid," Orson answered as Zoe disappeared into the intact kitchen. "He's going back into Torms organisation. Thinks he can do some good on the inside. That plus the big guy will just keep hunting him down anyway if he doesn't comply to his summons."

He rolled up his sleeves revealing some defined muscle and grabbed another shovel following her, "And he sent me back with specific instructions to find and keep Zo safe and try keep the business running legitimately in the meantime. I assume," he looked at the colour changing alien wondering if all Draxx's claiming that she was a candidate for an decent ally and not just some bit of skirt he wanted to tap was true, "Despite yours and Draxx's differences. That keeping Zo safe features on the same page."

She stopped shovelling for a minute. Her own culture jealously protected men, women were cheap and plentiful, and expendable. She'd never propose a man protecting a woman. "Well the doing something stupid part seems very likely." She resumed work, pushing some more spread out bits into a pile, "I'm not making promises, besides a job. As you can see, I'm not making the best job of watching my own arse, let alone someone else's."

Orson merely cocked an eyebrow at that statement but said no more. Inside his head though he was chiding her for not trusting Draxx. Her little move with what she had pulled with the new security chief had made him angry and move to fast. Draxx always weighed things longer in his experience but no he suddenly decided to jump ship right after Yolanthe screwed him over. And look what had happened.

Cheeky sod was giving her the side eye. She flickered a dark gold, leaning on her shovel. "Look, after this-" she waved a hand at the wreckage of the bar - "Security is all over me. No-one is going to get close to you. Or Zoe. Ground Zero here is probably the safest place on the station."

Orson nodded. It figured she would dump tidying up and salvaging her bar on them just so she can lay low until the heat was off her. "When will you be back?" he asked.

She flushed bright turqoise, "I'm not going anywhere. Why would I? This place is a mess. Its going to take days to clear up."

Orson gave her a confused look and then decided to hell with it he wasn't bothering further. No wonder Draxx got frustrated with this woman. She made no sense. "Tea," Zoë's voice rang out a mug suddenly in his face. "Most definitely," he mumbled.

"Thank you." Yolanthe reached over and accepted her own. "This place. We're a family here. A very very pretty, occasionally dysfunctional, family. But a famlily. I know its not what you're used to, but if we can help you through, we will."

Orson nodded and continued on tidying up. Zoe was safe for the moment and he would await further instructions from Draxx.

OFF:

Orson & Zoe
NPC Liam Reynolds

Yolanthe Ibalin
Owner, The Box of Delights

 

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