Trading Partners (The Station, Part III, Team Two)

Posted on 22 Jun 2018 @ 2:06am by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Jennin Rhula & Ensign Quinn Mackie

4,776 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: The Search Begins
Location: Vargass Station
Timeline: MD 2 || 1000 Hours

Camila headed out of the shop and towards a large group of people gathered around what seemed to be a place where rapid transactions seemed to be taking place. She saw some type of what she assumed to be currency being exchanged for parts, exotic looking goods and other things. "Looks like a place to get some local money," she said. "What do we have for inventory, Mackie?"

Quinn had been looking around the station, studying storefronts and individuals, hoping to spot something that could be remotely familiar enough that could be useful. "Hmm?" he replied, startled. Then it hit him what she'd asked. "Oh. Uh... Self sealing stem bolts, laser welders, flux removers, optronic data ports, alphanumeric sequencers, micro-resonators and some EJ-7 interlocks," he recited from memory.

"Self sealing stem bolts," she muttered. "Watch, they'll probably be worth their weight in latinum over here and the most valuable commodity in the system history. I know I have no idea what they're for. Let's go." With that, she headed to the group of aliens and waited in the disorganized line."

What was the axiom? One man's common item, another species' treasure? Quinn couldn't quite recall it exactly, but it was certain it went something like that. The ensign's eyes darted around, noticing that many sets of eyes were focused on the away team. It was understandable, really. Starfleet was boldly going where no one had gone before, much less heard about them.

But Quinn did not follow Camila into the line. Instead, he started to browse, taking a look at several of the devices behind the counters, and many of the textiles on display.

Camila made it up to the counter and hoped the language matrixes she had were compatible with whatever species she was facing. "I have a case of self sealing stem bolts, three laser welders, two alphanumeric sequencers and a half a dozen micro-resonators for sale," she said. "What can you offer me for them?"

"Are you selling all of it?" asked the red-skinned, three-eyed Golonite from behind the counter. "Where'd you steal them?"

"None of it is stolen and it's all in new condition," Camia told the three eyed alien. "I fully expect not to get ripped off, either." Not that she knew the local exchange rate.

Spoken like a new arrival, thought the Golonite. Here he'd thought he'd seen everything, but the first new species in decades was standing in front of him. He was certainly going to try and rip her off. "What about that?" he asked, pointing to the brooch on her chest.

"That's not for sale," Camila said. "And non-negotiable."

"A shame," remarked the Golonite, using a hidden hand to press a concealed button. Knowing that she was in possession of something she absolutely didn't want to give up meant that he absolutely had to have it. The button didn't alert anyone to come to his aid, but it did activate a camera above to take a recording of her and alert his clan that there was now a target. "Do you have samples of the items to trade?"

"We do," Camila responded and tapped her combadge. =^=Di Pasquale to Ensign Tabor. Can you beam one of each of the following to my location? I need a self sealing stem bolt, a laser welder, a alphanumeric sequencer and a micro-resonator.=^=

=^=Right away, Chief,=^= came the response. A minute later, a box filled with one item each appeared by her feet and she bent down to pick it up to set on the counter. "Feel free to inspect them," she said.

The first item the Golonite picked up was the stem bolt. He rolled it over, lightly tested what he could and picked up a nearby scanner to analyze the contents. He'd have to perform a thorough examination of each item, and this would take a couple minutes.

Camila looked back to where Mackie and Jennin where and arched an eyebrow. "Have you two found anything interesting?"

"This three-eyed fellow is, biologically speaking, not much different from you or me," Rhula offered. "Similarly easy to kill," he added with a slight grin. "If the need arose, of course."

Quinn didn't answer the lieutenant, as he was still browsing, looking at each of the alien species as he wandered. He'd come a long way since hiding in a closet months ago when the Black Hawk had been boarded by the Syndicate. He'd gone from a bumbling cadet to a confident ensign who was looking for information that would benefit both the crew and himself. He made eye contact with several species, and in spite of the unknownness of this station, Quinn felt safe, and that enabled him to continue pressing forward and searching.

"All right," gruffed the Golonite, getting the omber-haired woman's attention. "I'm not interested in your micro-resonator," he said, pushing the device back to her. "The alphanumeric sequencer and the stem bolts are the most interesting. Unlike junk shops, we're not interested in single pieces. How much do you have to trade of both?"

"I have one hundred and forty-four of each and the capacity to get more," Camila told him. "The more you buy, the better the price you'll get."

"More?" asked the Golonite. "You're the cleanest distributor I've ever seen. Why sell here and not start your own business?"

"You need a good reputation before you can do that," Camila said. "Word gets out that I'll sell at a fair price, more people will come to me to buy."

"So you're here to stay then?" the Golonite asked.

"Depends on how business is and how friendly the locals are," she replied noncommittally before she gave a casual look around with her well-trained Security oriented eyes. If anyone were watching them with real interest beyond alien curiosity, she would spot them. She looked to where Mackie was browsing but getting a bit far away from herself and Jennin. "Hey Mackie," she called out. "Can you beam more alphanumeric sequencer and the stem bolts here, please? A gross of each."

Quinn had barely heard the order, realizing only then how far out of earshot he'd gone. He nodded to the lieutenant, as well as turning and walking towards her, tapping his combadge and communicating to the runabout the order. By the time he arrived at the security chief's location, the crates materialized beside her, stacked nearly for her to grab.

Camila grabbed the first crate of self sealing stem bolts and set them on the counter with a grunt. "All yours for the right price," she said. "Each one is new, too, so you'll be making a good profit when you sell them."

The Golonite looked carefully again at the samples he held. "Ten Daaliks for each stem bolt."

She thought about it and while she wasn't versed in the local currency, or currency in general, she had a feeling he was offering her a price far below what he would sell them for. Still, it was fourteen hundred Daaliks, if that was what the local currency was called, and she still had the alphanumeric sequencers to sell. "Make it twenty each and you have a deal," she haggled with a bit of hope in her voice like she expected to be talked down in price but had to try.

"Fifteen," immediately replied the Golonite, noticing her thirst for money. "For both." He was assuming at this point that this was all she had of the items, and he knew his employer would want to capitalize on the monopoly before the market became diluted.

Camila sighed. "Done," she said with a bit of hesitation while doing the math in her head. Forty-three hundred would likely be enough to get them the information they needed on the station. "But don't forget that I can get you more of them as soon as my boss gets them to me."

The Golonite handed over the contract for her to sign before exchanging the currency for the goods. "Standard sale contract," he informed her. "No signature, no funds." It really was a simple contract. After all, he knew his employer would be more interested in what he didn't get, but they had people for that.

She pulled out her tricorder to scan the document and read the translation once the language matrice activated. Finally, she gave a nod and put the signature Admiral Kathryn Janeway on the line. "And done," she said. After all, they had no idea who Janeway was and she had never actually introduced herself and Janeway would never find out.

With the contract signed, the Golonite pulled his device back over and opened a box that was out of sight. As he pulled out the currency, two brutes arrived and picked up the crates. "Here you go," he said, handing over a collection of coins. "Four thousand Daaliks."

Camila was going to object that he owed her another three hundred and twenty, but she was happy to get the four thousand Daaliks when she saw how big the brutes were. She just hoped that he wasn't giving her a lot less than he claimed it was since she didn't know the local currency at all. "As soon as I get more goods in, I'll look you up," she said as she put the money in one of her belt pouches. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

She stepped away from the alien and turned to look for Mackie and Jennin. "Ready?" she asked them.

Quinn nodded. "Where to next, Lieutenant? We've got some money, but what can we do with it?"

"Now we try to find some stellar cartography maps of this system and maybe the history of it," Camila said as she stepped aside and gave a thousand Daaliks each to Quinn and Rhula.

Quinn was confused and excited all at the same time. This would finally give him an opportunity to do what he'd been hoping to do since arriving. "Are we splitting up?"

She thought for a moment, but the young Ensign had proven himself and his reliability several times since she had first seen him as a cadet. "Yes, but keep in contact every fifteen minutes or if you learn something," she said. "If there's any trouble, beam back to the runabout immediately and contact me. Understood?" She asked both the men.

The ensign wasn't going to refuse. After all, it was now just as he hoped, getting a chance to look around on his own. Thankfully, he had his phaser should it be required, but he wasn't concerned about his own safety. For now, there were other objectives. "Yes, ma'am," he confirmed.

"On second thought, we better not," Camila said as she headed towards where the Ensign was until she was close enough. She lowered her voice. "After all, we just made a large sale and some of those aliens looked as if they'd like to part us from our new funds." She looked back to where Jennin was and waited for him to catch up. As the Chief of Security, it was her job to protect the crew and she couldn't do that if they were all in different places.

He tried his best to hide his disappointment. He would have to find another way in the future, but perhaps she was right. Perhaps the attention they attracted would work out for their benefit. "Then we shouldn't stay here. There seems to be a lot of different people and groups about. Maybe we can find someone who's selling star charts or something."

"You're on point," Camila told him. "Use that nose of yours to find us a likely place." She motioned for Jennin to join them as she looked around and took note of how many aliens were in their vicinity and how many were looking their way.

Shaking his head, Quinn led the trio deeper into the station. By allowing him to take point, he was able to look around as they navigated uncertain waters, passing several groups of thugs in the process. Just the sight of these similarly-clad aliens drew plenty of attention from the onlookers. The more they walked, the more certain it became that these locals were more than uncertain about the outsiders. So uncertain, they started attracting some followers, ultimately escalating to the trio having their path blocked by five armed Golonites.

"Come with us," the lead Golonite demanded.

Camila stepped up beside of Quinn, one hand by her side not far from her phaser but not close enough to be threatening. She knew how fast her draw was and at point blank range, there was little chance of missing if the shot was aimed or not. "What's this about?" she asked politely.

Two of the Golonites already had their weapons drawn, and the others had their hands near their holsters. If any of the aliens were able to pull their weapons quickly, they'd be lucky just to get off a single shot. "We have questions. And you have answers."

"I have questions which you haven't answered, too," Camila pointed out as she took notice of the drawn weapons and readiness of the aliens. "Me and my companions are legitimate traders here doing legal business transactions." She recognized the species as being the same as the one she had done business with and put two and two together. "However, if the gentlemen I did business with is claiming I cheated him, I'd be more than happy to pull up the transaction details to confirm everything is legal as well as my inventory log."

The Golonite grunted. "Legal has nothing to do with it, pink-skin. Now, you will come with us, one way or another."

I left a life of self punishment, overworked and alcoholism to be treated like this by gangster aliens. Thanks, Geisler Camila thought. "What's the other way?" she asked as her voice hardened. "Surely you don't want to cause a conflict here in the open. In fact," she paused and raised her voice. "Is anyone here the legal authority on this station?!" she bellowed.

"A few Daaliks here, a favor there," mused the Golonite, "and the station boss looks the other way. The Golonite Syndicate, the Mauraders, even the Italia Conglomerate. We own this station, and we do what we want. And right now, my boys are wanting to shoot something. Besides, where will you run? We've already got your ship."

"I'll give you five hundred Daaliks to go away," Camila said. "The docking fee is going to be paid in full, too. Now will you leave us alone?"

"My employer is not interested in your money," the Golonite stated. "Where you come from... that's invaluable."

"Look," the ombre haired woman said. "I could tell you exactly how to get there, but there's a couple factors to take into consideration. First, you would probably die trying to get there and that's not a threat. It's a fact. Others have tried and all that came through were empty hulks filled with dead crew. Second, you would be in the minority and quickly rousted out, locked up, and probably interrogated until you told everything you knew. The organization I'm with spans a hundred and fifty planets and we're united. Anything I could tell you would be useless to you because you'd never be able to use it."

The Golonite wasn't deterred, but something else did catch his attention. "Mind your own business, Javok," he snarled to a figure behind the trio. "We've got this."

"Clearly you don't, snarled a platinum-skinned triped behind the Starfleet team. Next to him were six associates, their weapons already drawn and powered. "We will not allow you to have a monopoly on the outsiders."

Meanwhile, Quinn had been watching, following the Lieutenant's lead. His own eyes moved from Golonite to Golonite, unable to find one with the resolve to be friendly to any of them. At the arrival of the tripedal species, Quinn did the same, still not finding a weak spot. Slowly, he activated his tricorder to take a look at their surroundings, hopeful to find anything useful. All that he could tell was that there was an alley nearby, and some sort of signal that would interfere with transporters. It wouldn't stop the transports, but there was no guarantee that DNA wouldn't be accidentally mixed, and he certainly wasn't ready to part with his manhood.

"There's a faulty conduit," Quinn whispered, indicating to the left with his eyeballs. "An EM surge might be enough to set it off and cause a distraction."

Camila looked to the left and back at the others. "Set it off with your tricorder and get ready to run," she whispered back. "Preferably while crouching down and moving erratically."

Quinn looked at the wall, then back at the station locals who continued to trade insults at each other. "This is not going to end well," he muttered, pressing a button on his tricorder to send out the surge of energy. The act burned out his tricorder, but it did do as expected, causing the conduit to explode and a firefight to start.

Camila was drawing her phaser the moment the conduit exploded and fired a sweeping burst across the aliens closest to her while she ducked down and scrambled for the nearest safe spot. She hoped Mackie and Jennin were doing the same because with all the shots being exchanged and people panicking, she could barely see who was doing what. She was tempted to pull out a stun grenade before a tripedal being loomed before her and she fired another heavy stun burst at the alien. It toppled and one of its arms hit her like a club and she felt her right arm go numb, causing the phaser to fall from her fingers. She crouch down and scooped it up quickly with her left hand, but knew she was at a disadvantage.

Quinn took cover as well, but he didn't take to firing his phaser right away. For now, he wrestled with himself. Did he disappear or allow himself to be captured? Or, did he join the fight and stay in this for a while longer? Quinn had a good thing going and couldn't afford to lose it. He didn't make a decision until he say Lieutenant Di Pasquale get wounded. Somehow that woman just kept standing, no matter how much she was hurt.

The young ensign made eye contact with a Golonite. As the Golonite spun to fire his weapon, Quinn lifted his phaser and fired. Setting three wasn't enough to down it, but it was enough to make him stagger. Raising to setting four, he fired again, downing his target.

Camila ducked down and saw more aliens rushing in, some just spoiling for a fight and others looking to take advantage of the situation to settle old grudges or a chance at looting. She awkwardly put her phaser under her arm and worked a stun grenade from her belt. "Note to self, spread grenades more evenly," she muttered. "Fire in the hole!" she screamed for the benefit of Mackie and Jennin before she armed the stun grenade and lobbed it into the middle of the firefight.

The grenade detonated, taking with it two Golonites and one of the tripedals. The firefight ended a few seconds later, with only one of the Golonites, heavily wounded, surviving. While most of his company was dead, it was only those that the aliens shot that were stunned. Unable to raise his weapon to defend himself, he looked towards the Starfleet team. "You... you did not kill us. Why?" he asked, noticing that some of his fallen comrades were still breathing.

She got up, her right arm still hanging limp and her phaser in her left hand once more and looked at the Golonite. "Because," she said. "My people don't kill. Now who sent you after us and why?"

"No one sent us," he hissed. "You attract attention because of who you are and where you came. Our worlds were destroyed by people with great power. Anyone who can breach that barrier is here for the spoils that remain."

Camila pulled her medkit awkwardly from her belt and knelt down beside the Golonite, then pulled her tricorder out next to scan him. "I can help you, but you have to help me in return. Information is more valuable than anything," she told him as she opened the medkit and pulled out a hypo with a grunt. Working with her left hand wasn't helping, but she was determined to show that she wasn't the bad person.

"Why should the Golonite Syndicate help you?" he snarled, masking his surprise that she was willing to treat him. He eyed the other two with them, as well as the crowd that was gathering. "Who the hell are you people?"

She loaded a ampule that the tricorder indicated was the best pain suppressor compatible with his species after a diagnostic of her scan, then pressed it to his arm. "We're Starfleet," she said. "The good guys who help others so they can help themselves. If you want to help the Golonite Syndicate, you can start by learning how to help instead of just trying to take." She set the hypospray down and pulled out a dermal regenerator next for the abrasions and cuts he had.

He scoffed, almost laughing at her suggestion regarding help. "Help," he remarked, shaking his head. "If you'd walked a mile in any of our shoes, you'd know there's no such thing as helping one another here. There's nowhere to live, nothing to gain. Even power is fleeting. Whoever created the barrier, they'd made sure we'd never get out."

Camila looked at the alien as she ran the regenerator over his wounds. "You said your worlds were destroyed by people with great power. Who are they and where did they come from, or where did they go?" she asked.

"You ask too much, pale skin," the Golonite winced, his skin starting to turn purple at the location of the wound. "If you're looking for them, then you've got a death wish."

The Security Chief's anger finally boiled over and she dropped the dermal regenerator and dug her finger into the wound and hissed in his ear. "If you don't start talking now, I'm going to shove a grenade down your pants and give my regards to your future children."

The Golonite winced, now wishing he was dead. Still, he did not reply.

Ensign Mackie, however, did. "Lieutenant," he hissed, looking to the stunned Golonites and tripedals that were starting to stir. "We should think about getting out of here."

"Fine," Camila hissed as she grabbed the medkit and shoved the regenerator in it and clipped it to her tactical belt. Then she pulled her phaser and nudged it up to a heavy stun as she looked around. "Let's get out of here."

Quinn nodded, picking up the few Daaliks he'd dropped on the ground and securing them in his satchel. "Yes, let's."

She waited until they were both near her, then tapped her combadge. =^=Di Pasquale to runabout. What's your status?=^= she inquired of the Security personnel on there as she headed back the way they had came.

"We've got company," came the reply from the security team left to guard the runabout.

=^=Define company=^= Camila said as she picked up the pace.

"Different groups of aliens are trying to get into the runabout," answered the security ensign. "Our shields are up, but I don't think that's going to keep them out for long."

=^=Lower the shields for a half moment, then bring them up and press them outwards to push them back," the Security Chief ordered as she broke into a run. =^=I'm on the way=^=

The lieutenant was not rewarded an instant reply as the channel was muted.

Quinn broke into a run behind her as well. He might have tried to wander off, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't survive long without the lieutenant, and he valued his life, no matter how interested he was in making some contacts for himself.

"We did it, and it worked. But it seems to have just made them madder, Lieutenant," said the voice over the combadge.

=^=We'll be there in a second.=^= Camila responded as she drew a stun grenade from her belt pouch and armed it. Her right arm still hurt like hell, but she only needed to lob the grenade instead of go for pinpoint accuracy of a phaser. "Phasers ready!" she called out as she approached the area where the runabout was. She stopped and peeked around the corner, then rolled the grenade towards the enemy and ducked back. "Cover!"

The grenade detonated a moment later, with only a couple of thuds to be heard. Their surprise entry was sacrificed, however, as weapons fire that was directed at the runabout suddenly turned on the new arrivals.

"Seriously?" Camila said to no one. "They're still up?" She tapped her combadge. =^=Give them another shield nudge and then I'll take out the rest=^= she said to the Security officers still in the runabout.

"Standby." There was a soft hum as the runabout's shields were lowered and then a buzz of energy as they were quickly restored, forcing the attacking parties to be propelled backwards.

While they were doing that, Camila quickly modified her phaser to fire on wide beam. She gave a nod to Mackie and Jennin, then crouched low and came around the corner from where she had been hiding and swept the phaser from left to right while firing on setting three with the wider beam.

Quinn nodded, following the lieutenant's move, sweeping the phaser just like her. After their quick bursts, everyone had been downed, save for the mercenaries protected by being on the other side of the shielded runabout. It did not take long for them to redistribute themselves under new cover to return fire. One of them shouted into a comlink for reinforcements.

She ducked back down again and tapped her combadge once more. =^=Bring the runabout up a few feet and swing it around=^= she told the personnel inside of it. "Keep a look out behind us, Ensign," she told Quinn.

The only action behind Quinn was a bulkhead sliding shut, sealing them away from the rest of the station. It seemed whoever had control of the bulkheads wanted to contain the firefight. "Going back in isn't an option!" shouted Quinn.

The runabout powered up and came up off the deck and swung around, leaving the alien defenders exposed. The moment she had clearance, Camila dropped down to the deck and swept her phaser from left to right at the exposed legs of the aliens.

The floor was cut out from under the final attackers and soon the blasts from all of the opponents just stopped. An eerie silence overtook the docking bay. The away team was safe, but for how long?

Camila came to her feet cautiously and went around disarming the downed aliens before she tapped her combadge. =^=Set the runabout down and lower the force fields.=^= she ordered. =^=Bring more restraining cuffs, too.=^= She closed that channel and tapped her combadge again. =^=Di Pasquale to Geisler. We've come under attack and are back at the runabout. What's the status of your team?=^=

The runabout came down and lowered the shields, then one of the two Security personnel came out and began to restrain the unconscious aliens.

=^=We're on our way back now. Sounds like you didn't have anymore luck than we did. Prepare the runabout. We're leaving this place.=^= Joey replied.

=^=The runabout's prepared,=^=Camila responded. =^=The bulkhead in the hangar is closed, though. Prepare to be beamed aboard.=^=

She had the runabout settle down and lower the forcefields and then entered it. "Prepare to beam Geisler, Kij and Miller directly here," she said as she waited for Mackie and Jennin to come aboard.

=^=Energize.=^= Joey said, grateful they were one step closer to being home.

Camila gave the signal and the forms of the other officers started to appear before she headed back to the cockpit. They didn't have clearance to leave and hadn't paid the docking fees, but she felt they had paid more than enough with the attacks on the station and she wasn't about to wait to plead her case. "Shields up, phasers hot," she announced as she brought the torpedoes online and armed. "Everyone strap in. This is going to be a bumpy ride."

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