Crawling out the woodwork

Posted on 26 Nov 2017 @ 6:00pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark

1,608 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: The Ruby Glow Lounge, Earth
Timeline: MD 80 2300

ON:

Letting out a long, slow breath, Gabriel Stark lounged back in his bar stool, his body stretching and arching as he tried to encourage it to unwind. He'd picked a bit of a dive as far as bars went. Dark...thrumming with energy and the bass of throbbing dance music...the smell of sour alcohol...the air a touch too warm to be truly comfortable, encouraging more drinking.

In all, it was the kind of place Gabriel missed when he was in space. Although, he was never one to turn down a swanky club either.

He knocked his rum back, enjoying the burn of the real thing as he closed his eyes, his tongue flicking out over his bottom lip to savour the taste. Before his empty shotglass had even hit the bar, his hand lifted for a refill.

It had been a tough few months of extra training. He only had himself to blame, he knew that, having enrolled himself for it. No one had forced him. He was wound tight from it though, all the barking and barracking, it had been a hard grind. He'd never been great at biting his lip and he'd been knocked down more than once over the past weeks to try and get him to buckle down and get the best out of him.

He was glad that he'd done it, but he was also glad it was over and done with. And now...he'd decided he deserved to relax and kick back a bit during his time off while he waited to be assigned to a ship. And for Gabriel, that meant a drink, a dance and creeping home in the morning light.

Unbeknownst to him, his journey had been watched all the way from his Academy digs, to the sweaty noisy club with its wildly gyrating dancers. And now, from out of the miasma of recreational substances, lightless gloom and throbbing music, slithered Lladrian Ulqomar. The Hallian had been raised on Earth whilst his parents had served at the Academy, but he'd never taken to the strictness and discipline of fleet life. He'd taken his empathic abilities and put them to use to make his life easier. A little nudge there, a little help, and it was easy to convince people that they really wanted to try this powder. Or that painting was a genuine example of the Andorian neo-naivetist genius, Karzel Tr'rem.

And now he needed some help with his new venture. And he knew just the clever boy to help him. He oozed up to Gabriel's side. "Well, well, well. Of all the gin joints in all the world?"

Gabriel looked across to him, the surprise clear on both his face and in the long moment of silence that stretched out. "...you walk into mine?" he countered, a half smile coming to him, a little unsure of how to feel at seeing him.

Lladrian had never given him any real trouble, but the fact still remained, he was a face from the past. His past in prison. And that stirred up a lot of memories and regrets that he wasn't comfortable with dwelling on.

Gabriel summoned a brighter smile all the same though, hopping off his barstool to offer his hand over in greeting. "Wow, it's been....a long time. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good. Went straight." A lie, but it would put Gabriel at ease, Lladrian hoped. "Its not been smooth, but its starting to come together. Been looking into a new investment plan. Its got potential. What about you?"

"I guess I know the feeling," Gabriel let out a sharp breath. Didn't he just. He patted the stool next to him before motioning to the bar tender. "Things are slowly looking....well normal, I guess most people would call it. Scary huh..." he chuckled as he winked to him.

"Well, being responsible citizens ain't easy." The Hallian, poked at the indent in his forehead common to all hallians. "I'm not surprised you need some Bolian Rocket Fuel to keep going." He raised his tumbler filled with a noxious green liquid. "Did you get back into fleet? You said you wanted to."

"Yeah," Gabriel cast him a small smile, but it wasn't quite full of feeling. It had been a tricky path after all. "I was surprised, but I had a good sponsor. I had to drop all hopes of being an officer though. I had to enlist instead. Still, that was more than I thought I'd ever get," he admitted.

"That's too bad." Lladrian waved to the bar tender, indicated for a top-up of their glasses on him. "They'll hang a moment of weakness around your neck for the rest of your life though. That must suck."

Gabriel fell silent at that. It was something that played on his mind often enough. He shrugged it away, sliding his glass across for a refill. "Well at the moment my main concern is trying to keep my temper," he admitted with a soft chuckle. He knew the other man must have seen him lose it now and then. His temper was always close to the surface, whether he liked it or not. He'd struggled with it even as a kid.

Lladrian patted him on the shoulder. "Don't look so glum. There's plenty of ways to stick it to The Man if you want to. You can still have your fleet, and your petty vengeance. Nothing major, nothing illegal. Its just using the system against itself."

Gabriel half turned in his stool to get a proper look at him, frowning slightly with confusion over the words. "Using the system against itself?" he asked lightly.

"Yeah," Lladrian said, "Little things that don't hurt people but can make starfleet bleed." He took a sip of his drink. "A starship replicator can do so much that civilian ones can't, for example. Spreading some love that way can be profitable. And it's a replicator, doesn't cost anything to Starfleet."

Gabriel was silent as he listened, his head tilting as he watched him with growing uncertainty at his words. "Well, maybe doesn't cost them anything, but it would cost me my job," he chuckled, shaking his head as he knocked his drink back.

Llandrian shook his head and beamed a beneficient smile. "Only if you get caught, and I know you Gabriel. You're too smart for that. Reroute a command, borrow a login, overwrite a voiceprint. Nothing hard for a smart boy like you."

Gabriel held his drink in midair at the flattery, his dark eyes narrowing slightly as he watched him. He turned fully on the stool to face him, searching his features intently. "Bloody hell, you're actually serious, aren't you...."

"As a Borg Invasion." Lladrian confirmed, raising his glass in mock salute. "What do you say? Want to stick it to The Man in a completely untraceable way? Like I know you want to," he added with a conspiratorial nudge.

A few years back and Gabriel probably would have been tempted to find a way to 'stick it to the man'. Maybe even a tiny, rebellious, anger fueled part of him still did deep down. But it was easily overruled by his head and heart. He was finally part of something bigger than him. Something good. "Look, I don't know what you're into, but I don't want any part of it. Things are going good. I want to keep it that way."

"Fair enough." Llandrian nodded, knocked back the remains of drink and winced as it burnt all the way down. He drummed his hands on the bar a moment, as if trying to remember something. Then he shrugged, and offered his hand to Gabriel. "Well, I tried. You take care now."

Gabriel watched the hand for a long moment, frowning at how the reunion had gone. He finally sighed though, consciously forcing himself to relax again as he gave the hand a shake. "You too. And stay out of trouble."

"And do give my regards to your family I hear you're an uncle now? Family. Such a precious thing." Llandrian gave him a smile and started away through the crowd towards the exit.

It took a mere moment for Gabriel to see red at the comment. He'd always struggled with his temper, and despite having tried hard to steady it over the years, some things could still easily push his buttons. He was up and over to him in a second, grabbing his arm to stop him from walking any further away. "Now you listen to me, and you listen bloody carefully..." Gabriel whispered harshly, close to his ear. "You go anywhere near my family, and I'll break you," he assured him easily. Yeah, his family were mostly bastards. But they were his bastards. And the kid was going to have a rough enough time growing up in his messed up family without outside threats.

Llandrian went pale, licked suddenly dried lips, "Stay in touch, Gabe. Think about it. Come in on your own terms, everyone's happy, no-one gets hurt. Just don't think too long, okay?"

Gabriel shoved his arm hard out of his grip to get him away from him, shaking his head, jaw clenched. "You don't want to go to war with me and my family," he warned him, his heart thumping hard in his chest with anger. "Keep your dirty hands to yourself."

Llandrian nodded, still pale. "You're right, I don't want to go to war." He turned away, then called over his shoulder, "But I'm not the one calling the shots. Be seeing you, Gabe."

OFF:

PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security Officer

Lladrian Ulqomar
Fixer

RSS Feed

Comments (1)