With a little help from my friends

Posted on Wednesday August 21st, 2019 @ 19:32 hours by Alexandria Farron & Mayterial Droz & Clinton Westbrooke Jr & Mercy & Tobie Fitzsimmons & Taben Natal
Edited on on Wednesday August 21st, 2019 @ 22:45 hours

Mission: Hot Couture
Location: Cargo bay 17, Deck 7, S.S. Fawkes
Timeline: MD02 - 0900 hours
2307 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Mayterial kept rubbing her hands together, pacing aimlessly around the cargo bay, in between stacks of dried rice and other consumables they had to get to Langley station. She took in uneasy breaths, waiting for the people she had called on to arrive in the bay so that they could discuss the task ahead. She was glad to have M'erah by her side at this moment, somehow the large cat had integrated very well with the crew, despite his transformation during the incident with the dust. She knew he could count on him, if nothing else the guilt alone would keep him loyal and fierce, "I wonder if everyone will fit into this bay..." she spoke nervously, an oddity for her.

M'erah gave a bit of a toothy grin at the Captain, "Of courrrse, Captain." he spoke with his outspoken, low baritone, purr, "otherrrwise I'm surrre some of ourrr crrrew is proficient at tetrrris."

"I played tetris..." Alexandria said after entering the cargo bay. She shifted awkwardly, realizing she'd done it again--stepping into someone else's conversation. She didn't know who May was speaking to, or even what was being discussed. Normally she wouldn't have said anything. But she was good at tetris. She attempted to sneak off and find a crate to sit on before she could be drawn into the conversation.

"Everyone played Tetris," Clint said, walking in behind Alexandria and giving his boss a nod. At least one of them was still the same person.

"What's a tetris?" Fitz asked, coming into the conversation late. She was twirling her black curls up on top of her head and cinching them in place with a pair of chopsticks as she walked.

"What's a tetris?" Clint repeated, looking back at her with confusion. "Seriously, kid? You've never played tetris?"

"Not that I mind being called kid," Fitz laughed, "But I'm as old as you are at least. And I've never seen a tetris. I'm a far-flung corn raised lady."

"Ain't no way you're 35," Clint said, flatly. "I figured even corn raised ladies had Tetris," He said with a gruff chuckle. " Been around forever."

Alexandria had found a crate to sit on, and climbed atop it with all the sloth-like grace of one who was athletic, but also quite lazy. "What's corn?" She asked from her perch on the crate.

"Yer right I'm thirty-six," Tobie teased. She eyed him briefly as she rounded a few of the crates piled up. "Not. Had. Corn. That I can fix. I'll find you some corn, my dear. It's a thoroughly useless vegetable, but it tastes fairly good and makes bourbon."

"Only makes bourbon if there's barley and rye," Clint added with a chuckle. "Otherwise that's called moonshine," He said, grinning deviously.

"I didn't say that it's all corn, just you've had it if you've had bourbon," Tobie returned the grin just as broadly. "I'm betting you've had bunches in years gone by."

"Oh." Alexandria said, a bit perplexed by the other words she wasn't familiar with. She'd never eaten bourbon. Or moonshine. Barley and rye she'd heard before in passing, but not in the right context to glean any understanding at the time. Food ingredients. She wasn't very good with those. But that was hardly surprising, considering she'd spent most of her life on a planet where nothing grew. Plus the replicator in the habitat had broken down a lot, so she'd gotten quite used to living off oatmeal and nutrient paste. Now, her stomach tended to get grouchy whenever she tried anything else.

"Tetris is a puzzle game. Blocks of varying shapes descend, and you have to rotate them so they fit efficiently on the floor. Fill a row to clear it away. Otherwise a mess stacks up and you run out of space and you lose. It's... uhh... basically like working in here." Alexandria scratched her head as it finally dawned on her why the first mate brought it up in the first place. A large, messy lock of hair fell from her beanie as she did so, but she didn't seem to care.

That's when Mercy stumbled inside, hunched over, using a walkig cane made from a piece of structural steel with wrappings of fabric around it. Her knee was bandaged and she was avoiding using it, moving slowly because of this. Her head was bandaged as well, and the normally present keen and observant light was gone from her eyes, now just looking flat and with a sense of guilt on her features.

"Well, I guess mess is the best way to describe this. Let me start off with saying that there's a reason we're meeting in the cargo bay, away from inquisitive ears of passengers." Mayterial looked around, knowing how ominous she sounded, "let me start off by saying that during a basic supply run on the surface Kari was kidnapped." She only glanced at Mercy momentarily. She didn't hold her responsible, she couldn't really fathom how she would feel if the same had happened to her. "Now we always talk about being a family, and having each other's back, and that this is the only certainty we have out here in the black." She looked around at the gathered crew, the deck hands shuffling uneasily in the back, they worked closely with Kari, "I will go to the corners of this quadrant to get Kari back, one way or the other, but I want to give you all the opportunity to walk away from this with your hands clean." She looked around and gave a slightly comforting smile to everyone, "If you step out of this cargo bay, there'll be no hard feelings. There's plenty of other job opportunities our here on Rangalor." Her smile faded, "but if you stay I will take that as a sign that you are willing to go as far as I am to make this right." She felt a pang of guilt in her gut for Kari's predicament.

At May's words, Mercy limped her way over to the Captain's side, rising to her full height with a wince. She didn't say anything. Just stood next to her Captain. As family.

Alexandria did not know who Kari was. But then again, she didn't know who half the people in the room with her were either. People came, and people left. It had been that way in Starfleet, and it seemed that was how it worked on the private side of space travel as well. It wasn't the transient nature of it all that kept Alexandria from making friends or getting to know people,, it was the simple fact that she just wasn't really much good at either.

"What about the authorities?" Alexandria asked, even though she suspected she already knew the answer she would get. Space wasn't always consistently lawless. Some places were better than others at dealing with their criminal elements, and Starfleet tended to keep an eye on those that were deemed lacking, corrupt, or plain incompetent. There could be a ship around to assist. Or reports of similar incidents that might help. As for her own suspicions, Alexandria wasn't convinced that all the cargo and supplies that found their way onto the ship were entirely legal. May claimed that they were, but the cargo of the potent hallucinogenic substance she'd recently been exposed to suggested a different story... whatever she shipping manifests might say.

"It was made clear to us that if we involved them they'd kill Kari." Mayterial took in a sharp breath through her nose, this wasn't a time where she felt like holding people's hands and walking them through everything. She needed people that fell in line and did what needed to be done.

"I may be able to help with that, Captain," a Vulcan woman said, as she stepped into the impromptu meeting place. "With the local authorities, that is. I have some contacts with the constabulary. Not to get them involved. But they may have some information that could prove beneficial in retrieving your crewmember. I can make inquiries with them without being detected by the individuals you're dealing with."

"I appreciate the offer, T'Kisha, but before we go any further with this line of enquiry I need to know that all of you are with me on this." May looked over at the rest of the crew that hadn't spoken up yet, hoping to get their support and push to get their friend back.

Alexandria shrugged, though whether that was a committal gesture or otherwise seemed unclear. She made no moves to leave though. She didn't understand what the plan was. Were they going to go pay the ransom? Or did May intend to recover the woman through force or some other means? Using force seemed unlikely. Alexandria hadn't recalled seeing many weapons on the ship. Half the crew were probably prohibited from owning them, due to criminal convictions. Whatever the plan was, it probably wasn't a very good one. But she didn't really feel like being left behind on Rangalor. Especially if women were being kidnapped there. At least on the Fawkes, someone would come looking for her if she did go missing. Theoretically.

"Well, yeah," Tobie piped up after a moment. She looked around to see who else would speak up. "I'll help. I'm in."

"My hands ain't been clean for a long time, Cap'n," Clint said with a snort, "I go where you go."

M'erah just purred in acknowledgement. He was here for the long haul, these people were part of his pride now.

"Well, Chuck and Zebulon are itching for some target practice," Taben replied with a mischievous grin as he reached down and patted the two holstered Cardassian disrupters at his side. He realized immediately after saying it that his new crewmates were unlikely to be aware of his penchant for naming his weapons. Whatever, he was being helpful. "Besides, we've gotta show people that they can't fuck with us. Er, not without our consent, anyway."

Mayterial didn't pay too much attention to the comments, she just wanted to make sure that she had offered them the opportunity to get out before it got to hot, "So there's two things that need to be done, one I need to know where they're holding Kari." She looked around the room, "T'Kisha, Taben, M'erah, find them discreetly, and come up with a plan to get her out safely. Don't do anything without my say so. We're going to try and do what they ask of us to increase our chances of actually getting the opportunity."

"Locating the individuals holding her shouldn't be a problem," T'Kisha replied, before adding dryly,"In the parlance of an earlier era, I know a guy that knows a guy. From there..." T'Kisha gave a Gallic and very un-Vulcanlike shrug. "My talents run to extracting objects, not sentient beings. I will have to defer to my colleagues for that portion of the planning," she added, nodding toward the first officer and master-at-arms.

Taben nodded in reply to the Vulcan's invitation, "I'll start putting together the materials we'll likely need for an extraction. Once we've got more information, I'll formulate a specific plan and run it through with you all." He paused for a moment before continuing, deepening his tone, "One thing I want to emphasize to everyone here is that these sorts of missions are the most challenging. We're not just killing bad guys here or capturing a bounty, so it limits our options and exposes us to greater risks. I'm gonna be a hardass when it comes to drilling how we handle this operation. Believe me, you'd rather deal with this asshole than be dead or worse."

"Which brings me to the rest of you, Clint, Mercy, Alex, Tobie, we need to come up with a plan to infiltrate the Rangalor Museum of History. In about a weeks time they will add something to their collection and we're being asked to liberate the piece from the museum's care." Mayterial took in a breath, she had never done such a high profile heist before, "We need a way in, a way out, a way around security and some sort of contingency when it all goes to shit."

"Get me blueprints and I'll find a weakness we can exploit." the massive Sirran spoke in a thick and warm voice. "Every security system has a weakness."

Clint grinned, "I'll handle the contingency plan," He said, sounding just a bit too eager to do so.

"I'll follow lead or be a distraction. I'm still pretty new to doin' wrongdoings.." Tobie offered with an apologetic shrug.

Alexandria nearly did a double take as the conversation shifted from hostage rescue to grand larceny. She actually scrubbed a finger in her ear to see if she was hearing things correctly. Were the two tasks connected? Judging from how May shifted from one topic to another they were? So the news tabloids were true then. Captain May was a pirate. "Umm... okay." Alexandria said, playing along. She was still very confused about the mess she'd ended up in, but she'd seen enough holovids to know what happened to the folks who backed out of the heist planning once it'd started. She wondered what the prisons on Rangalor were like. Her mother had said more than once that she'd end up in one some day.

"Good. Let's get to it." Mayterial clapped her ands together as if to ceremoniously closing the meeting and dismissing everyone back to their regular day lives. She fought the urge to set off immediately in the direction of her quarters and pouring herself a drink. This was going to be a long week.

[OFF]

Mayterial Droz
Captain

Taben Natal
First mate

Alexandria Farron
Navigator

Clint Westbrooke
Quartermaster

Mercy
Engineer

T'Kisha
Signaller

Tobie Fitzsimmons
Boatswain

S.S. Fawkes