Letting the fur fly

Posted on Mon Nov 1st, 2021 @ 1:13am by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani

Mission: Season 5: Episode 3: CAPETOWN
Location: USS Elysium
Timeline: MD 1 930 HRS
1812 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Kaden was at a dining area picking up a meal when he noticed a pink fluff of hair in the crowd. He recognized it as the young Ensign Derani he never forgets a face he felt now might be better to get to know the young lady so he smoothed out his black outfit and grabbed a drink before approaching her. "May I sit with you?"

She looked at him for a moment trying to remember where she'd seen him. Then it clicked. He was the gym bunny civilian with the suspiciously military ship she'd had to piggyback to the Hull. "Er, Yes?"

Kaden wasn't sure if it was straight answers but he plopped down in the chair across from her. He reached into his jacket pulling out a small plastic bag with a single pink strand of hair in it. "First, I was wanting to return this." He placed it down and slid it over. "You seem to shed like a cat." He teased.

"Oh. Sorry." Miraj tightened her bunches reflexively. "it happens occasionally." She moved the bag to the side slightly. "How's The Redemption? Are they settling down okay?"

"Actually, I am glad I ran into you, Ensign, I was curious on how we can find a more suitable spot for my ship, or is she to be clinging onto the Elysium like a momma whale?" Kaden asked as he dug into his food.

"Oh. Well, there's a couple of options." She lied, she'd completely forgotten to think about it. The minimal drag the piggybacked ship added in warp had just been something she'd factored in without even thinking. "You can leave her where she is. That will probably be easiest if you need to come and go as you please. But if we start using the QSD I don't know if she'll be secure. She' probably will play merry hell with Slipstream, and could get snapped off. We could just about squeeze you into the lower bay, but you wouldn't be able to get out easily, we;ll have to empty it out, back her in, and then pack everything back in around it. Getting out would require a day's notice, to do all the shuffling."

Kaden washed his food down before setting down his fork. "There is a third option but it will require money I may be a bartender but you Starfleet types could always hire me to run a load out if needed. That free up some space for my ship and I least be of some help." He offered.

"I'm sorry, I don't follow?"

"The Elysium can't be in two places at once what if a colony nearby needs supplies while you Starfleet types are out on an active chase for some criminal?" Kaden pointed his thumb to himself. "I can help get those supplies to that colony for you for a reasonable fee of course."

Miraj frowned. So far Elysium hadn't needed to be in two places at once. And she had no idea how to go about authorizing funds transfers. Money was a kind of fuzzy subject on her best days. "Well. You'd have to ask the captain." She wasn't sure the captain wouldn't rather send their own ships. It wasn't as if there weren't plenty of people on board to act as pilots. "But even so, it doesn't solve the problem that your ship is so damn big. I think the best thing to do is to talk to the captain about downsizing the jollyboat complement. That would free up room."

"Shouldn't that be your department?"

Mira shrugged. "I like my ships. I don't want to get rid of any of them. This is their home. I'm not going to choose them over yours." She wasn't going to admit that the Redemption left her feeling creeped out. "I know you got scammed, about permission to bring it on board, but I wouldn't have let you. It's too big and it gets in the way. So I'm kicking it up to the Captain to make the decision. I'll follow orders. If the captain likes you, I'm sure he'll find in your favor and we'll lose a few shuttles. It's a better deal than the CAG would give you."

Kaden honestly felt a bit hurt on how she felt about his ship but the Redemption was his baby, not hers however bringing up in the imposter bought up another concern. "Speaking of scammed, I hear Security right now is swamped over the whole Green incident so be a while before I get a chance to talk to them about it. But I find it rather perplexing you don't seem to be concerned over someone out there soiling your name."

She sighed and twisted a finger into one of her bunches. "As you said, they're busy, and they probably don't think it's important. They'll leave it to whoever tracks down deserters probably. My friend who'd help out is off-ship right now, so I've not really got anyone who'll chase it for me. And I have no idea how to investigate anything, so it's not as if I can do it myself."

Kaden leaned back in his seat. "Yeah, tell me about I am no cop so I don't know even where to start." He fell silent for a moment. "Well, hopefully, things will settle down where both of us can get someone to look into it. Trust me I am not subtle to chase petty thugs and it saves a lot of headaches and body bags."

"Body bags?" Miraj asked, somewhat alarmed. "Why would you need body bags?"

Kaden's suddenly turned red as he realized he blurted out a bit too much information. "Uh, did I say body bags? I meant Bayer Asprin." He knew that was the dumbest thing to use to try to cover his error.

"I don't know what that is?" Miraj looked at him, "But I know what bodybags are for. So the question stands."

Kaden feeling the pressure struggled to think of something to get the young lady to not focus on the matter.

"You!" A man's voice yelled from behind them. A large brute of a chef approached the two meat cleaver in hand. "You pink-haired little thief where is my shipment of Romulan mollusks? You have any idea how expensive those are?" It seemed Miraj's double had struck again.

She just gaped at him. "What shipment? I don't know what you're talking about?"

Her innocence seemed to anger the chef more. "You promised me that I get the freshest Romulan mollusk's in the sector if I paid you extra. Instead, you send me this?!" The chef pulled out some rancid smelling Romulan mollusk slamming it down on her plate. "What gives.?"

Kaden sat there watching his muscles twitching under his sharp clothing he could sense things were going to get south. If the young Ensign didn't try to defuse the situation.

She shrank back away from the irate figure brandishing the very sharp object. "I really don't know what you're talking about. I'm a pilot, not a QM. I don't have anything to so with supplies. Really. I don't think we've even met. and ive never even heard of a romulan clam before now, " She looked at the sorry looking lump of black slime, sitting in a greenish grey rubbery looking dish that might have been a shell. "And i;ve never laid eyes on that...food? before."

"Liar!" The chef yelled before taking the cleaver raising it over his head.

That was when Kaden kicked into action taking his fork tossing it into the man's hand like a weapon. The brute yelled in pain before dropping the cleaver before Kaden got to his feet taking him by the hair planting his face into the rancid mollusks on the table pinning the chef's arms behind his back.

Strangely in a very calm manner the bartender leaned forward the smell of the black slime not even phasing him. "Calm down, you are not the only one who is a victim this person posing as the Ensign. I promise you she is telling you the truth she is not behind this. But I can promise you Ensign Derani will help get to the bottom of this and set things right."

Kaden looked up at Miraj. "Won't you?"

Miraj had jumped back at the sudden violence, entirely unused to it. The rest of the mess hall had gone deathly silent too, all eyes looking towards them. "Uh, yes. Yes I will." she managed to get out, eyes darting warily from the cook to the bartender, not wanting to provoke either of them. The comment about bodybags suddenly made way too much sense. "Whatever you say."

"Whatever you say?!" The chef struggled to say.

Kaden wished she not of said that last part cause the man was getting angrier before being forced to take the fork and dig it further into his hand. "I said relax!" Causing him to whimper in pain.

The bartender shot Miraj a rather annoyed look before bringing the man off the table. "Now, you are going to go sickbay get that hand looked at," He paused looking at the rotting mesh. "Then you are going to clean up and let me and the Ensign deal with this hooligan."

Kaden released the Chef who said nothing instead stumbled away holding his hand vomiting next to Miraj and shooting her a angry look as he left.

Straightening his black sharp outfit Kaden turned to the pink haired young lady. "Don't worry he won't bother you again." He fixed his cuffs. "But next time play along it go a lot easier."

She was still looking pale and wide eyes, and she nodded fervently to agree with him, looking more than a little like a deer caught in headlights. "okay."

Kaden took notice of her becoming pale. "You okay?" He asked a tone of concern in his voice.

"yes, Yes, I'm fine," she said, to quickly and slightly higher than she liked. "I'm just going to.. I'll just... I'm going to go now." She slid out of her seat. she wanted to be away from anyone who could so calmly put a fork through someone's hand, even if that was in her own defense. "I'll talk to security about the identity thing, I promise. I just need a little.. time.. yes time, so, I'm going now. Good bye" And she huried from the mess hall as fast as she could go.

"Miraj? Miraj, wait!" Kaden called out he didn't mean to frighten her he was trying to help. He wanted to chase after her to try explain that she didn't need to be scared of him but thought against it. "Shit!" The bartender muttered clearly angry with himself paying a nice sum to the staff for the trouble and calmly left.