Wait, What's for sale?

Posted on Sun Oct 27th, 2024 @ 4:41am by Lieutenant JG T'lenn & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters

1,980 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Gone, Without Ever Knowing the Way
Location: Flea Market, Freecloud
Timeline: MD 0, 0800 hours

While the group was waiting for a response from their contact on Freecloud they happened to walk past a rather large traders market. Much of the area was open area, but there were sections that funneled off into covered corridors into what almost looked like a mall. The group split into pairs to check out the area.

T'lenn and Nash walked the stalls of the flea market under their covers of Ael and Thomas Malone. They paused to look at trinkets on one of the tables. "Perhaps before too much longer we should find something to purchase," she said in a low voice.

“Well, it appears there is quite a variety of merchants. Perhaps some jewelry, maybe a brooch for your outfit? If you’re hungry, we can stop for something to eat?” Nash suggested.

"There is an item of jewelry that I could purchase if we see an appropriate vender. I have also found myself to have an increased appetite lately. If you are hungry, food would also be agreeable," T'lenn responded.

“Very well. I’m sure there’s some vegetarian fare around. Come on, let’s take a look,” Nash said. He was cautious and very aware of his surroundings, but confident enough to make his way.

"Vegetarian is not necessary. I'm sure I can find something. I'm Romulan, remember," T'lenn responded.

She took the lead, walking up to a food vendor advertising in Romulan first, and various other languages after including Vulcan. Nothing was written in Federation Standard.

T'lenn walked up to the counter and ordered in perfect Romulan, "Hveolhaonn dei nim re orders hvaedroalh vineriine."

What Nash heard through his Universal Translator was, I'd like two orders of vineriine. The attendant taking the order scowled over T'lenn's shoulder at her Human companion.

T'lenn saw the gesture and slapped the counter firmly, though not loudly with an open palm. "I was hoping for a taste from my homeworld, but if you do not approve, we can take our business elsewhere."

“No, this will do nicely. I’m always open to trying new things. Smells better than Klingon, I can tell you that,” Nash said. The pungent aromas were actually pleasing to him, reminding him of the smells of Southern Indian cuisine.

The attendant met T'lenn with a sly smile. "I see he means a lot to you. If he's a friend of yours, we'll serve him."

T'lenn handed over the money, and the cook came up behind the attendant with two baskets of food and handed them to T'lenn. "When you are tired of him, you know where to find us."

T'lenn made a show of looking each up and down before walking away. She waited until they were a decent distance before handing Nash his basket of the Romulan dish. "Let's find another place to sit. I do not think having them stare at us will be good for our cover."

Nash nodded and he took his food bowl from T'lenn and moved away from prying eyes.

Nash found a group of picnic tables where a few others had gathered. Some were eating, others appeared to be making connections - either business or otherwise. The types of people patronizing the market were diverse, both in race and in socioeconomic status. T'lenn gestured subtly to what appeared to be a Rakhari family.

"Apparently this is a child-friendly location," T'lenn commented with some surprise.

A group of four Pakleds waddled up to a vender two stalls away. T'lenn pretended to not notice them, but they naturally spoke louder than many other races and their voices easily carried over to the table.

"We have these already." The Pakleds walked through the vendor's stall picking items and examining them closely before placing them back down.

"You have a warehouse. Let's see that," another one of the Pakleds demanded.

"Here, here, here. Here is an inventory of what we have back at the warehouse," the shopkeeper held out two different PADDS to the Pakleds.

T'lenn raised an eyebrow at the Commander.

Nash nodded to his feaux-Romulan colleague and tilted his head to try to hone in on what the Pakleds were doing. He certainly could not see the PADDs but was interested to know what “inventory” to which the shopkeeper was referring.

Winters continued the charade. “How’s your food, Ael? {whispers} Can you hear anything that they’re saying?”

"This is Starfleet," the first Pakled said with some awe and nodding in approval. "But where is the rest. This is no good."

Without a word to one another T'lenn and Nash both stood up, threw their food away in the nearest trash can, and walked over to the vendor's stall, splitting up so that they were on either side of the group talking to the vendor.

"Well, this is just what was brought in. The rest you'd have to go get," the blonde haired man stated holding his hands up and flashing them a smile.

One of the Pakleds looked him up and down. "You will come with us."

The man started waving his hands and shaking his head. "No, no, no. I don't do that. But for the right price, I'll tell you where to find it."

Nash and T’Lenn walked in opposite directions, keeping the vendor stand in center view. Nash collided with the blond-haired man and one of the Pakleds. “Pardon me, I’m sorry. Wasn’t watching where I was going.” The PADD he was holding fell to the ground and the Pakled oaf picked it up quickly.

He pretended to dust himself off and, in the process, caught a glimpse of the PADD screen. The word “Dalton” got his immediate attention. “Fuck,” he said to himself.

T'lenn's eyes narrowed as she saw Nash's frustration, so she decided to try a different approach. She walked up the vendor so that she was standing next to him and gave him the once over, and a look that invited him to do the same.

"Did I hear you say something about Starfleet? My business associates and I would be very interested in any Starfleet tech you have to sell. T'lenn turned to face him and gestured for him to lean forward. When he did she whispered in his ear. "You could name your price, but we don't compete with Pakleds. I'm Ael by the way. And you are?"

The man smiled and licked his lips as he took in T'lenn's figure. "You can call me Axel. And while I would certainly be open to entertaining a new buyer, it's a free market." He looked over at the Pakleds and smiled and nodded, earning some low key cheering from them. "And I know they are good for it. I've never heard of you."

"Does it matter if the money is real?" T'lenn asked. "Can I at least see the inventory, and maybe I'll let you peek into my bank account."

T'lenn looked over at Nash. That didn't have any Starfleet gear on them, but maybe he had brought something that would download the information from a PADD if she could get her hands on one.

Axel handed her the PADD. "Why are you so interested in Starfleet?"

T'lenn scrolled through the PADD and casually walked over to Nash. "They've always touted to be the best at everything and morally superior. I would think anyone would want an opportunity to see what the buzz is about. Why aren't you keeping this for yourself?"

Always the engineer, Nash happened to be carrying a portable data storage device. Only slightly larger in size than a combadge, the storage device had unlimited capacity, but limited range. It had to be within 10 meters of the data to be downloaded.

A couple of angry Pakleds had approached Axel making it difficult for him to answer. T'lenn used the distraction to talk to Nash.

"Any luck?" She asked.

“As a matter of fact,” Nash said as he showed T’Lenn his small storage unit. “About two more minutes and we’ll have all the data uploaded to my little friend here. I almost left it home. When I heard what we were dealing with, I grabbed it last minute. There’s a data port interface for retrieval of all the data.”

T'lenn took a deep breath. Two minutes was a long time to stare at PADD. Thankfully Axel was still trying to accommodate the Pakled customers, who were apparently repeat business for Axel. T'lenn overheard something about money being transferred in exchange for a set of coordinates.

"Sorry sweetheart, that deal is closed. Did you see anything else you liked." Axel leaned against a counter and smiled at T'lenn in a way that resembled more of a smirk.

"No. Not today." She handed him one of the business cards that had been made for their cover. "Maybe next time." She handed the PADD back to him just as Nash had finished what he needed.

T'lenn walked away from the vendor back towards where they had come from originally.

After catching up to her, Nash filled her in. “This gadget worked like a charm. There’s a lot of stuff to parse through. Problem is, there are only serial numbers. No real description or items cataloged. I can figure out what a few of them are. I deal with this stuff everyday. But it will take time , which we don’t have. The serial numbers are standardized for most of our ships these days. At least ships of the same class. Sorry, T’Lenn. Thought we’d have better luck.”

"We have the dealer's name and business information. I overheard him saying that he intends to transmit coordinates to the Pakleds upon payment. We need to get this information back to Captain Johansen. It may still be possible for us obtain the coordinates." T'lenn continued walking, making her way back to their ship.

Nash followed closely behind T’Lenn to make sure they weren’t being followed. They walked practically in unison; the journey was quick and mainly quiet. Once they were back at the ship, Nash broke the silence. “This shouldn’t take long. I have the transmission codes that the Captain will recognize as coming from us. I can scramble the carrier wave to avoid detection.”

As Nash began working T'lenn replied, "We will need to update Lieutenant Cyn, but we should take heed of her caution and wait until we are back at the vessel or another secure location. Humans tend to underestimate the auditory capabilities of other races."

“Guilty as charged, Lieutenant. I should be more careful…and more considerate. As far as Phaedrae goes, yes, I will keep her in the loop. She’s been helpful and knows the lay of the land better than both of us.”

“Before we get underway, there’s something you should know. The missing ship, Dalton, I have a… friend aboard. He’s my counterpart-Chief Engineer. His name is Tanis Eedro, Bajoran. We trained together at the Academy. I dated his sister. Before I met Sara. So there’s a little more personal incentive. Hope you understand.”

"If there is the slightest chance that any of the information being passed along today is true, then all of us are highly motivated to find the Dalton as quickly as possible, Commander," T'lenn responded with sincerity. "All Starfleet officers are our brethren, whether we knew anyone on board personally or not."

“Yes, that may be true, but it doesn’t make it less difficult for their families. Not knowing anything for almost a decade? They need some kind of closure,” Nash said as the transmission was signaled as complete. “That’s it, T’Lenn. The data is off to Astrea. Let’s back to town and find our friends.”

~OFF~

Commander Nash Winters
Chief Engineer
USS Astrea

&

Lieutenant J.G. T'lenn
Science Officer
USS Astrea

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