Exploring

Posted on Fri Jun 19, 2020 @ 5:27pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Commander James Holbridge & Major Victor Crowe

2,536 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: The Binary Suns
Location: Merchant District

After paying the tab for their drinks, Kennit headed toward the exit from the small bar and back out to the street. With Torres beside her, his taller muscular frame making him look like her bodyguard (which in a way he was), she paused a moment to allow her eyes to adjust from the cool dim bar interior to the brilliant, blazing heat of the desert. Overhead, the systems twin suns burned down with a relentless heat. The implants in her body adjusted her metabolism to adapt to the heat, preventing her from possible heat related physical issues.

After confirming directions to the merchant district, they set off walking along the pedestrian path laid alongside the main roadway. Rhea was somewhat surprised by the mixture of technology and animal-drawn conveyances in use. There were massive, heavy trawlers using great treads which lumbered along grinding over the hard packed roadway carrying massive loads of god-knew what. Smaller vehicles which used some sort of anti-gravity repulsor technology combined with small turbine engines which slipped swiftly in and out of the slower traffic, these seemed to be primarily for personal passenger transport. And, there were great carts pulled by a variety of enormous creatures. Most seemed to be huge, slow moving reptiles which were roughly 2 meters tall, with a thick green/tan hide. Short, muscular legs with clawed feet and a long tail gave them a somewhat fierce appearance though the creatures were clearly slow, docile and domesticated for use. They were led by handlers who walked near the beasts head guiding them, a few were ridden with saddles of a sort strapped about their harness.

The other creatures being used for work were equally massive, great shaggy mammals with long dense fur and great curling horns to either side of their head. These creature moaned and rub led as they walked along, as hot as it was the heat did not seem to bother them despite their heavy fur. They smelled too, considerably more so than the big reptiles had. A very sharp, pungent smell. One beast dedicated as it lumbered past, a thick utterly foul smelling mess of loose, muddy consistency fecal matter which narrowly missed splattering on Torres - whose nimble avoidance as he leapt to one side and away from the splattering mess was impressive.

“I don’t think I want to know what those things eat..” was all the Captain said, using part of her clothing to try and cover her nose. “That is..really.. just.. bad..” she added with a chuckle.

"Yeah... I don't think I've ever smelled anything that bad." he with a slight grimace on his face showing that he was trying to hold his breath as much as possible.

“Looks like the merchant district is just ahead,” she said with a nod of hr head toward a large structure, built of the adobe/stone of some type and bleached white by the suns. A large wall stretched out from the building, a wide gate clearly the entrance into the next sector of the city. As they passed through the gate with other beings going about their own business, they were scanned by a security system. The guard monitoring the system worked for the ruling mob boss, who had installed the system to keep track of what e termed and left the merchant district more than for security. Kennit’s scan was unlike anything the guard had ever seen, the technology which was melded into her body registering as a complete unknown.

It wasn’t long before a report was being shared with the powerful leader of the criminal organization which ran the city. Curious, not recognizing their species or the highly unusual female, combined with news of strangers starting a fight in one of his bars who had slipped out and as yet not been found.. an order was given.


Back in the merchant district, a very amused Captain was watching as her chief engineer dug into a damaged but still operational ‘pod racer’, as they’d learned the devices were called. Her voice relaxed, she spoke with the shop keeper a moment and then after another moment of haggling, paid for and purchased the damaged toy for her officer. Walking over to where Miguel was digging under the open service panel of the damaged engine, she said “I hope your happy. I’m pretty sure I just paid way more than this heap is worth and I’m still not sure you’re going to be able to get it into the cargo bay of the ship we flew down here..”

"Ah you didn't have to do that... a schematic or something on this repulsorlift technology they use for anti-grav would have been fine." he said as he closed the hatch he had been looking at. "But that being said with a sample I'll be able to see if it's better than ours, and maybe find ways to combine the tech with our own." Miguel said with a big smile on his face.

“Oh no.. I had to purchase it.” she replied. “The merchant was quite insistent after you started poking around in its innards..”

"Excuse me..." came from behind them. When the two officers turned around they found a tall humanoid with pale almost white skin. He, at least he looked male, had a pair of prehensile appendages that sprouted from the crown of his skull, as if it were some sort of headtail.

Kennit turned, her gaze assessing this new being in a swift scan, the beings species not identified or catalogued by the Borg, at least .. not since her last brief connection with the Collective. Pinkish colored eyes. Two rounded boney protuberances on his forehead, with the prehensile appendages currently curled around his shoulders. She didn’t speak, waiting instead to allow this being instead to continue.

"I... have been sent by my master.... who would like to meet with you." the alien stated trying to sound as diplomatic as possible.

“And who is your master, that we would have business with him?” Kennit asked in response.

"My master is he that controls everything you see on this world." he said with a smile and a bow as if he was praising a deity.

The Captain looked over to Torres, who as her ‘guard’ was looking decidedly unimpressed. A sparkle of humor in her eyes, Kennit slowly turned back to the waiting messenger and said, “Does your master have a name?“

"Why yes... of course... forgive me." he said sounding agitated that he had forgotten that bit of information. "I serve the magnificent Jabba Desilijic Tiure."

She gave a slightly dismissive shrug, “What do you think..” she said with a look to Torres. “Feel like a little wide excursion?”

"Well you wanted to gather more information on this system. What better way to do it." he told her.

“Can’t argue with that..” the Captain answered. Turning back to the waiting messenger, she said “Lead the way.”

After a rather speedy ride in what they called a speeder, they were taken to a huge stadium. It was the same stadium that they had seen on the holo screen at the bar. The alien they had come to know as Bib Fortuna explained to them that today was annual race in honor of the holiday Boonta Eve. His master always attended the final championship race and that was where they would meet, in his private booth. The sound was deafening as the packed audience cheered on the racers. Miguel was surprised he could barely hear the roar of the pod racers over it. It was so distracting that he nearly missed Bib Fortuna introducing them to his boss.

Miguel had expected to see a humanoid, but what he saw was far different. In front of them was a massive slug-like creature who had a large mouth and stubby arms. His skin seemed thick, tough and muscular as well as wrinkled and slimy. His eyes were watery and he had slack facial expressions. His body ended in a tail.

The massive creature looked at the two new arrivals. He didn't seem as impressed by them as his major domo had been. "So what brings you to my world?" he asked and a near by droid translated.

The Captain raised one eyebrow at the way this Jabba claimed the world as his. From the look of the thugs around him. she suspected this was the leader of one of the criminal elements here. “It was here.” she answered. “As this system was not on our charts, I felt it prudent to stop and have a look.”

"Interesting.. I was under the impression that you were looking for something specific." Jabba said as he looked at the female. He was now eyeing her differently than he had earlier. It was almost as if he had just noticed something about her.

She just made a slight motion with her head, dismissive. “You need better spies.”

"Then I suppose the people that arrived with you... are just.... passengers?" he asked her.

"Passengers?" she echoed with a laugh. "Do I look like a cruise ship director?"

Jabba motioned to one of his men. Then man held out his hand and produced a small circular device and then a hologram appeared showing the image of two of the Victory's crew (AJ and Nicole) "So if these people that arrived with you weren't passengers, they must be crew." Almost on cue the part where AJ was telling Nicole that they were on the run. "Now I'm wondering Captain why would your people be on the run?" Even before he had finished speaking the hologram changed and was now showing a fight that had broken out where they had been located.

Watching the hologram, Kennit's demeanor shifted as she listend to and watched as her crew directly violated the orders she'd given to stay out of trouble. Her eyes turned black, and for an instant the nanites in her blood surged sending shadows under her skin which briefly traced the arteries and veins within her body as she watched. Finally, as the video ended she said "They are on the run from me.. having ignored my express order to not cause trouble for us while we are here." Her voice was soft, calm. Too soft for the malice and anger her soft tone held,

"You are an interesting woman Captain..." he complemented. "So what kind of business are you involved in? Perhaps it is something that my... organization can help you with."

“Business?” She echoed. Giving a slight shake of her head she said, “No business but that which benefits us. My ship is.. an explorer. We detected this planet on our sensors. I took a small runabout and came here with a small complement of officers to take a look around. See what, if anything, might be of interest.”

Jabba grabbed a small creature from a bowl that was conveniently next to him. He put the still alive creature in his mouth and took a bite of it. "Do your people usually make use of cybernetics to such a degree as what is in your body?" he asked her. He was wondering what would be a better business deal negotiating some sort of deal where he could have his smugglers transporting supplies into her whatever territory these strangers came from, or maybe dissecting this female and removing all the cybernetics within her.

“My people don’t do this. A race of cybernetically enhanced beings did, against my will. I killed the ones responsible, and kill their kind now.. every chance I get.” she answered, her voice utterly without emotion.

"I see." he told her as he took another large bite out of what he was eating thus finishing the small creature off. "Well if that is all, then I'm sorry for having disturbed you. I was hoping that perhaps some new business opportunities would have come up with our meeting." he added.

Looking vaguely bored, she answered “I didn’t say I was not interested in a business arrangement. I said I was in business of what benefits me. I’m still waiting for you to do more than eat and make small talk about the implants in my body which.. if that guard of yours moving closer to me doesn’t back off.. he’ll get an up close and personal demonstration of just how swiftly and easily I can ruin his entire day..”. Her voice never changed, calm, slightly bored but not hostile.

Jabba laughed "Come, come, enjoy the race with me and tell me what may interest you and we'll see if we can do business." he told her as he waved the guard off.

Kennit watched the guard for a moment, her dark eyes meeting the guard’s hostile gaze as if daring him to go for it (she was). Some deep instinct told the guard, a stocky, somewhat porcine being not to push this slender alien female and with a soft grunt, the guard backed away and returned to where he had been standing prior to the arrival of the two new arrivals.

Looking over to Miguel, she gave a little ‘come along’ jerk of her head and then moved to take a seat near Jabba’s raised dias. Accepting a tray from a servant, she allowed the servant to pour a drink from a large chilled pitcher. The ale it contained was delicious, with a rich flavor and definitely strong level of alcohol. The alcohol wouldn’t effect her, and Torres she knew had taken a preemptive dose of an alcohol inhibiter before they’d left the Valkyrie to go exploring. Settling back in the cooler shaded area to watch the pod race, as Jabba called the event. Gazing out over the crowd, Kennit noted two familiar faces in the crowd near where Jabba’s observation box was located. Major Crowe and Lt. Cmdr. Holbridge were close at hand, doing a good job of appearing to be focused on the race while keeping a very close watch over the proceedings in the box. Catching Crowe’s eye, she gave an imperceptible motion of her hand as she lifted the drink glass to her lips and signaled a simple message. :Hold position.:

IN THE CROWD

Jim nodded, then looked back at Vic. Crowe touched his temple and the six-man fire team moved into preplanned observation positions. "Keep your eyes peeled, folks. Perimeter to six-point-two-one meters"

"Lotta strange lookin' mutts in the crowd, Bulldog," a Marine whispered over the secure com-channel.

"That oughta keep the science geeks happy!" another Marine replied.

"Cut the chatter, Marines!" Holbridge ordered sharply. "Eyes out, and stay frosty!"

JABBA'S THRONE AREA

Turning to speak with Jabba, the discussion turned to a number of topics, all related to 'business' opportunities. Clearly, the primary means of gaining and holding his power was through smuggling. And, if what she was hearing was any indication.. Jabba's smuggling organization was enormous. If nothing else, they'd need to keep an eye on the goings on here just to ensure that should Federation interests spread into this area - the Federation was protected.

 

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