Latinum is Forever

Posted on Fri Apr 7th, 2023 @ 6:01am by Mal Garrison & Lieutenant Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen [Taylor] & Lieutenant JG Heather De La Rosa {Kelea-Salik}

Mission: Tales from the other side of the Mirror
Location: Safe Harbour, The Mirror Universe
Timeline: After "For your eyes only"
1666 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Zed had handed them each a small satchel, containing various things; a knife, two type 1 phasers, half a dozen ampoules of something he swor would knock out typical humanoids in one dose, two for tough buggers like Klingons and nausicaans. There were some lock picks, a tricorder, two tiny comm units that sat on the ears like a cuff, a collapsible grapple and cable. Finally he pressed a small round pin into Heather's hand.

"Sensor baffle. You'll read as orion and trill to the sensor sweeps. Do not lose them, do not take them off." Zed smiled, as he fixed the other pin under Savar's collar where it would be hidden from casual sight. Smoothing it back down he stepped back and gave them a mocking salute. "I'll be back in beaming range every 12 hours if you need an exit. Good luck."

And with that he beamed them to the patchwork spacestation known as Safe Harbour. They materialised in a quiet side corridor of what looked like a Ferengi vessel from the blocky script fading on the walls.

Heather looked around then looked towards Savar. “Well I guess there’s no turning back now, let’s get this done. Once this is over we can start a peaceful life away from all this.”

"Agreed. I look forward to such a life." Savar replied simply as his eyes swept the area they were currently in. " As you stated, let us get this done."

Heather nodded. “I honestly don’t know where to start, without my abilities I feel completely useless.”

"You have different abilities now." Savar whispered to her. "Use your eyes and ears to hear and see what id around us."

Heather nodded. “That I can do.” She smiled as she let her years of training take over, keeping her eyes peeled for anything unusual, and her ears open for hints they could use.

"We are aboard a ship, by the appearance and shape of the corridor." Savar said able to stop himself from addressing Heather by her name.

Heather nodded as she looked around. She could hear multiple voices coming from the end of the corridor to her left, the corridor itself was long, with closed doors, some of which were welded shut. The sounds on the right couldn’t have been more different, the general sounds of a busy working ship. She motioned Savar to the left end. “Think we should gate crash?”

Savar didn't rush an answer, " We will need to interact with others at some point, there is no time like the present. We can also observe the others and see how well our disguises are."

Heather took a deep breath and nodded. “Let’s get this over with.”

" A precise and true statement my love. We must now act what we appear to be an Orion and his slave."

Heather nodded taking her place as a subservient slave at her master’s beck and call. “In another time and place this could be quite the turn on.” Heather smiled a wry smile, before becoming her played part. Standing behind Savar, she kept her eyes low, and her mouth closed. Slaves didn’t speak unless they were spoken to.

Savar looked at Heather, "Indeed, most interesting. I shall keep that in mind. However, for now it must remain as an unfulfilled desire." He whispered as the pair readied themselves for entrance into the drama they were about to undertake.

“I’m your obedient slave master” Heather offered a wry grin before resuming her cover.

"If only." Savar quipped lowly so only Heather could hear, a bemused smile on his face.

Heather followed Savar into the room, letting her counselling experience guide her rather than the senses she regretted no longer having. She wouldn’t fail Savar, they would do this and come out on top.

It was quickly apparent that they were back in the same broad area of they had seen when they first came on board Safe Harbour, that served as Promenade and marketplace, and denizens of the patchwork spacestation milled around, shopping and socialising. People could be heard bartering, or barking their speciall offers, and generally just talking. A glance a round showed a chandlery that specialised in small ships; another stall was a specialist in engineering for larger vessels, there were traders who'd buy goods and cargoes of all types, and sell the same. The steady busy hum of a community at the edges, holding on for all it could.

Savar slowed his stride so Heather could come alongside him. he leaned over as if he was instructing her as he spoke. "We are back where our journey began."

Heather nodded, keeping up the pretence that her master was giving her instructions. “Yes, master.”

Savar nodded at Heather, "Very good." Then in a lower voice, "Let us leave here and get out among the general population and see what we can uncover."

Heather nodded again, following her ‘master’ as they walked on milling amongst the populous of the station again.

The first thing about blending in was to act like you belonged wherever you were at. Savar and Heather did just that, walking about unhurried, looking in various shops and the crowds as they walked along.

Heather kept her eyes and ears open as she strolled along with Savar, their cover allowed them to blend in without much interest from anyone else.

Savar looked for any unusual behavior under the pretense of looking in shops or looking at various items offered for sale.

Nothing stood out as obvious. People seeemed to be perfectly comfortable, unaware of a potential traitor in their midst as they went about their business.

Then a female voice behind them said, "First time at Safe Harbour?"

Heather turned to look but said nothing, it wasn’t a slave’s place to speak unless their master allowed it. She wasn’t going to blow their cover with a silly mistake.

Savar turned as well to look at the speaker. A female Trill. "No. We have been here before." He answered not elaborating or expounding on his answer.

"You look a bit lost." The trill woman's spots were dark, almost black, against her rich sienna complexion, and were marred along her jaw and neck by a messy scar that left jagged shiny pink slashes crawling onto her cheeks. "Need a hand?"

Heather looked at Savar, then back at the Trill woman. “That is up to my master to decide.”

Savar nodded in approval at Heather's answer. "My servant is correct. "You are?" He asked hoping for a name to put with the face.

"I'm Hex. I work round here. Maintaining ports and umbilicals mostly. Are you just passing through, or looking to e residents of our little republic of thieves?"

Savar nodded as he learned the name of the friendly newcomer. "I have not decided. For now, I am just looking the area over."

"Well then," Hex said, "Chandler and Sutlers if your moving on," She indicated two large stores, one looking like it was mostly the cargo bay of a small freighter welded into the seam between two of the larger hulls that formed that end of the market. "If you're staying, you'll want to try the labor exchange. Mostly its where captains stop in to get extra hands for their ships, but Joachim keeps a list of what needs doing on station too. Its all hands to the capstan round here."

Savar took in all Hex was saying. "I see. Most beneficial. Thank you for the information. My servant and I will definitely check into them. Who is Joachim by the way?"

"Runs the labor exchange. Half blood cardassian, but don't blame him. You know humans can't keep their dicks out of anything."

Heather looked at Savar. It seemed they were heading straight to the top man.

"I see." Savar replied simply. He nodded at Heather in silent acknowledgement of Hex's statement.

The trill regarded them, and suspicion began to thicken the air, "So, what ship did you come in on?"

Savar didn't miss a beat, but didn't reply too fast. "The Orion transport Damo. Why do you ask Hex?"

"I'm a curious person." Hex pulled a cigar from her jacket pocket, along with a cutter. She snipped the cutter a couple of times. "'specially with new faces." She snipped the end of the cigar with a hiss of steel on steel. "And yours are very new."

Savar nodded at Hex's explanation. "Perhaps so, however I do not remember seeing your face the last time I, we were here."

A lighter appeared out of nowhere, and Hex dragged in a breath through the cigar. Then blew a long stream out into the air between them. "Well," she gestured with the cigar up and down her body. "New digs. Trifled used, bit of a fixer-upper, but that's never bothered me."

“My master tends to be careful who he trusts, and deals with” Heather looked at Hex. “In his business it pays to be careful.”

Savar looked at Heather and then Hex, "Indeed and until I decide I can trust you Hex, that is how it will be."

The trill woman shrugged a shoulder, "Whatever makes you feel good, honey." She tucked the lighter back in the pocket of her leather jacket, and turned to leave. "Why don't you two run along? We've all got places to go, people to be."

"We would have been on our way except for the fact you stopped us." Savar pointed out, looking at Heather, "Come." He told her.

“Yes master.” Heather nodded as she stood read to move on with Savar.

Hex wandered off, her path away marked by noxious puffs off cigar smoke rising up to the high domed ceiling of Safe Harbour's market. She didn't look back, leaving the two terrans alone.

Savar gave a quick glance backwards at the retreating figure of Hex. "We should make ourselves scarce, disappear into the crowd." He whispered to Heather.