A spin of the wheel

Posted on 13 Aug 2023 @ 6:20pm by Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Morgan Tarin & Ensign Tora Zalos & Yukime Frost

3,072 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Pleiades Cluster, Regula I
Timeline: MD 11: 0800 hrs

[ON]

Tora had woken up at 0700 hours sharp (and forgotten to eat in her rush, whoops!), packed her bags and dashed off to Earth Spacedock to catch her shuttle at 0800. Once inside she'd passed out (fallen asleep, not actually passed out) in the back and woken up seven hours later to the pilot shaking her awake in the shuttlebay of the USS Medea - which wasn't her assignment. That, the pilot had explained, was six months away at warp, on Regula I, and the Medea was merely ferrying her there on its assigned route.

That, of course, had been six months ago. Upon arrival she'd found her way to her assigned temporary quarters aboard the station and, after setting her bags down, had decided to find herself something to eat. Suffice to say she was very happy indeed with what she'd found; there was an absolutely killer steakhouse not too far down decks from her quarters and she'd easily sampled half its signature menu before leaving quite happy and full.

Now she sat alone in the surprisingly empty bar with a glass of Andorian ale set before her, bag of shopping placed at her feet. Honestly, she could get used to this - especially if the Galileo supposedly came back here often. Living here wasn't half bad, honestly, and she wouldn't have minded being permanently assigned here - not that she preferred it to her first shipboard assignment.

=^=Ensign Zalos, report to the station commander's office in ten minutes=^= The comm chirped in the room with a deep male voice.

Well, this was it. Maybe. Good thing she'd only taken two sips of her drink before the announcement came through; she was barely even buzzed. Why the station commander would want to see her, she did not know - but orders were orders. Tora returned her glass to the bartender with an apologetic smile and made her way out.

Precisely nine minutes and thirty seconds later, Tora stood before the commander's office door and chimed the doorbell. She'd taken great pains to make sure her appearance was perfectly within regulations, stomach bubbling with a fizzy mix of excitement and trepidation all the while. Hopefully she hadn't gotten in trouble for something - she'd hardly settled in at all, after all. Except devour three plates of delicious steak and sides, maybe, but even that hardly counted.

"Ah, Ensign Zalos," a young man with dark, dusky markings down the sides of his face and neck stood from a desk that was somewhat cluttered with a collection of padds, notes and picture frames. He neatened his dark hair as he moved to meet her, a large padd held in the crook of his arm. "If you come with me, the commander is ready to see you," he tilted his head to indicate that she should walk with him, leading her down a short but plush corridor. He pressed the chime on the door before opening it with a delicate tap of the hand. "Ensign Zalos to see you," he announced before motioning for her to move inside.

"Come on in ensign." Silk stood and observed the woman at the door to her office. *Hmm.....not many Cardassians in Star Fleet, interesting. Not bad looking* "There's a replicator over there if you would like anything."

Slightly bemused by the yeoman's announcement of her arrival (which she felt was a bit unnecessary, really) Tora stepped forward into the station commander's office. She didn't know what (or whom) she was expecting to see when she stepped through the door, but a curvaceous Asian woman of maybe forty years old that certainly didn't seem Starfleet wasn't quite it.

Nonetheless. Life was ever ready to throw curveballs.

"Ensign Zalos reporting as ordered, ma'am." She said smoothly, standing at attention with her hands behind her back. "How may I be of service?" It was something of an old habit from living on Risa, really, but she'd found the phrase to be useful all around.

"Relax Ensign...Zalos." Yukime glanced down at the PADD. "I called you here to let you know that your boarding onto the Galileo is going to be delayed by a few days. The details are not in the report, imagine that, but the ship sustained damage and is cruising at reduced warp." Silk took her seat and waved to the other one in front of the desk. "That ship was here for an overhaul not that far back, I can only guess that perhaps something didn't work out. Thus, it appears you are on extended leave for a bit longer unless Star Fleet sends anything new. Any questions that I might be able to answer?"

Not that she wasn't happy to have a few extra days of break - but hearing that made Tora's shoulders sag slightly. Six months. Six whole months she had waited to start her duties aboard the Galileo proper, fresh out of the Academy (or not really, considering the Pandora's captain had had her shadow a fellow anthropologist for the journey here) and meet her crewmates, and now this. Not that it was at all unusual; space was an unpredictable environment without a doubt and unintended occurrences were thus always on the menu, but really now? Oh, well.

"It's alright, I can wait a few more days." She answered as she sat down across from the older woman and fixed her bright amber eyes on her. *Not too bad.* She thought to herself as she appraised the woman in front of her. She reminded her of Kelea, actually, with her figure and strong resemblance to the Asian subtype of humans - except, of course, Kelea was an beautiful Trill woman. Oh, what fun they'd had together.

"As to questions... where is the Galileo exactly? I'd just like to get an idea od where I might be goijg for missions." She continued, tapping a thoughtful finger to her chin. "And is there anything I ought to know about the nature of the Galileo's missions?"

"Sorry. I have not been informed of that. The last message was they had sustained damage and were returning back to the base. As far as scope, the ship has been assigned to this area of space." Yukime picked up a PaDD. "Considering the ship's prior encounters, she seems to manage to get into quite a few scrapes, including the utter destruction of the previous model in the designation." She looked up once more. "Thus, even when the ship arrives, my guess is that it will need not only an outfit but repairs. Thus, you might be cooling your heels for a little while longer." She tapped another PaDD. "Risa. Interesting. You don't have to tell me but curious about a little I read in your file." Yukime chuckled a little. "Fleeced enough customers there in my lifetime."

"I moved there when I was a little girl. Spent most of my young life there, actually, until I decided that my universe wasn't just beautiful blue beaches and cocktails." Tora replied with a chuckle of her own, amber eyes gleaming. "I worked as a dabo girl for a while off Risa before applying to Starfleet Academy. I think you'll find my recommendation letter on record."

"But of course, I'm more than that. I just grew up there and picked up some of the local culture. That's all." She finished. "Is there something specific about that that you wanted to know about?"

"It mentions that you worked as a Dabo girl. Interesting jump from that to being a science officer. I was curious if you ever heard of a ship docking there called the Horizon?"

Tora seemed a little bit puzzled by her question. "I've met plenty of Starfleet officers while I lived on Risa. Not all of them told me where they were from, I'm afraid, or which ship they were assigned to." She said. "What about it in particular?"

"Oh, just curious. That was another lifetime ago." Silk brushed a hand down herself. "I got recruited to be on that ship. Anyway, got real good at gambling and still itch periodically to put my hand in. So." Silk made a small shrug. "Mind hanging out with me for a bit?"

Admittedly Tora was a bit taken back by the invitation. When she'd been called here being asked to hang out with the station commander was not one of the things she'd thought would happen - not that she minded at all. She was definitely curious to find out how a civilian had been placed in command of a Starfleet station, especially one so far out. This woman had stories to tell, surely, and she wanted to heard them.

"Of course! I'd like that." Tora said with a warm smile. "Will we be going somewhere else, or...?"

"We have a promenade and associated entertainment places here. We might be way out on the edge of nowhere, but beings of all kinds still need a place to unwind a little. Ready?"

"Ready." Tora smiled and allowed the older woman to lead the way out. She definitely knew her way around, having been here longer than her (hopefully!).

***

Silk lead the way on the promenade deck, passing bigger establishments. "I forgot to ask if you gambled. I presumed being a Dabo girl at one time, you had some familiarity with the games. Anyway, the reason I ask is that there is a place here that has a Dabo wheel, and a couple of customers seem to be winning an unusual amount. I thought maybe you could spot something or make sure things are legit. I have my ways, but they would boot me out of here and to a penal colony."

"I'm afraid I don't gamble, ma'am, but I do know the rules of the game itself fairly well." Tora replied. Needless to say she'd spent a lot of time around dabo wheels, watching them spin and whirl in a whirlwind of red, black and gray. The frustrated grunts and wails of customers who got either really unlucky or too distracted by her cleavage in their direct line of sight had always been amusing to her. "I'm sure I've got them memorized by now. Eidetic memory." She smiled and tapped the side of her head as they approached the establishment in question. A gregarious uproar that was a mix of disappointment and jubilation arose from the entrance - judging by the volume of it the place was absolutely packed. Tora had learned how to read that, too.

"I have my own methods." She said with a sly smile. "Don't worry, it doesn't involve me taking off any clothes or things like that. You see, when you have crowds of tired, hungry and usually quite horny single men wasting their money away the one thing they tend to do - a lot - is focus on the girl. All I'll need to do is hang round the wheels and get at the settings underneath while talking people's ears off." The look in Tora's amber eyes was downright mischievous as the two rounded the corner and stepped through the doors. Instantly eyes settled on them, most notably the young, buxom Cardassian woman. "Leave it to me." Tora smiled, and just like that she was absorbed into the crowd that thronged the wheel.

"I'll cruise around the periphery. I have my own methods."

"Dabo!" a woman called as the wheel came to a stop, her hands lifting to clap. Her long blonde hair was wavy and half loose as she leant in towards the table to claim her winnings. She wore what looked like leather trousers with a matching waistcoat with no shirt underneath, and one of her booted feet was up on a nearby chair in a show of confidence. A slim, black cigarello was balanced at the corner of her lips as one hand scooped her winnings in, and the other reached for the neat liquor beside her. She drank easily from the bottle before setting it down, tossing more money back on to the board. "Let's go again," she motioned to the table before sitting back casually. The kind of sprawl she took up suited the Captain of an 'independent' vessel, and Jessamine De Winter looked every bit at home.

Tora maneuvred through the crowd with practised ease, skilfully conversing with people along the way. Not one person noticed her tracing her fingers along the undersides of the wheels, feeing the setting dials below. Indeed, when spinning your money away the one thing you ought not to do was pay too much attention to the dabo girls and the attractive young Cardassian was just the distraction the doctor ordered. Not once did the alertness fade from her amber eyes as she watched the wheels spin in a whirl of black, white and gold.

"That's a lot of latinum. Lucky day?" Tora asked of the attractive blonde in the waistcoat and trousers. She wore an easy smile, eyes gleaming with inteligence, as she settled down next to her. "I can't say I've ever had a payout like that before, and I've been at this a while." Well, not on the end of someone whiling away her spare latinum, of course, but the statement held.

Jessamine laughed at the statement, nodding absently as she held a hand out to take a glass from a member of her crew without even looking at what was being pushed into her hand. "Well it's been a good day all round. We offloaded a mountain of crates, everyone's got paid, and we have a whole night of freedom before we do it all again."

Tora eyed the glass of suspiciously brightly colored amber liquid pressed into the woman's hand. Way too brightly colored to be anything she knew to be alcohol. Odd. "Ooh! A well-earned break, then! Those are always good. Life's far too short and too fast-paced to properly relax, don't you reckon? I'm sure they're all glad for the break." She sidled round the wheel to the captain's side of the table, placing her hand over the setting dial. So far, so good. Perhaps Jessamine really was simply lucky this morning... "So! Where've you been before coming here? It's a long journey out from Earth." She asked, looking the captain in the eyes.

"Someone has to keep the stock rolling in around here," Jessamine chuckled as she rolled the cigarello delicately between her thumb and middle finger. "And it's so far out, not many ships want to be on their own out here..." she looked to her crew members close by, laughing softly with them at the idea that they could be put off by that. "But that's what drives the price so high. And wherever there's a good profit, that's where you'll find the Liberty."

"The Liberty. I'm guessing that's the name of your ship." Tora said with a charming smile. "I'm sure she's seen plenty of action, as you and your crew have. I'd say she's a tough old ship, just like her captain. You, of course, aren't that old - you look really good, actually." The Cardassian didn't give Jessamine time to dwell on that thought before moving on. "I'm sure your crew must be quite happy with their winnings tonight, aren't they?"

Silk waited while Tora engaged the woman who was not focused and placed a small bet but on a high return. The wheel spun and flashed and slowed, and slowed and almost went one over, but not quite. Silk did not yell as loud as the woman. "Dabo." The dealer began to rack the chits over.
"I guess you were distracted. Well you know the old saying, or I hope you do."

"Ah come on..." Jessamine held an arm out with disbelief towards the table, knocking her drink back in one go. She narrowed her blue eyes, shaking her head as she draped back in her chair. "I didn't know things were so hard up around here that the command staff need to hustle the daytrippers..." her tongue touched her lower lip briefly, her gaze lingering intently on the pair as she set the dark cigarello between her lips. The easy air about her had dissipated even if her languid bodylanguage remained casual.

Silk only shrugged. "I've been wondering about this game for a bit, especially since your arrival. Could be a good streak of luck, but there have been those that try to cheat the game."

"They seem to just be lucky, ma'am. I've checked. No change in the settings of the wheel they've been using all this while." Tora piped up with her usual winning smile and gleam in her amber eyes.

A smile came back to Jessamine's lips at that and she held her arms out wide to the side. "Where's the thrill in the game if there's no chance of losing it all?" she said softly with an arched eyebrow.

Silk made a bit of a face. She pushed the winnings back across to the woman. "Then shall we ignore that last spin?"

"You'll get no argument from me..." Jessamine chuckled softly, motioning to a man standing somewhere behind her left shoulder to refill her glass for her. She knocked it back, savouring the burn before leaning forward to toss her bet on. "Luck can be a seductive mistress."

"Sometimes," Silk said smoothly. "Sometimes, she can be coerced a little. Very well, enjoy your winnings." She turned her attention to Tora. "I think I'll grab a drink before having to go back to the office. Want to join me or stay here, or you're free until your ship arrives."

"I think I'll stay, ma'am. I've yet to actually sample the bars here." The Cardassian smiled and trotted towards the bar counter. "I don't think there's actually any fraud or anything like that going on here - at least, not tonight. Seems like the good captain here and her crew are just lucky."

"Very well. Enjoy." Silk tossed off a sort of salute and turned to leave. To herself she mumbled. "Well there has, but no one caught it, and no harm done."

[OFF]

--

Yukime "Silk" Frost
Regula I Administrator
[PNPC Warraquim]

Jessamine De Winter
Civilian Ship Captain
[NPC Blake]

Ensign Tora Zalos
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

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