Trolls & Treachery

Posted on Sat Jan 4th, 2014 @ 8:56pm by Ensign Corrine Steiner
Edited on on Sat Jan 4th, 2014 @ 10:16pm

Mission: Manhunt
Location: Starbase 332, Civilian sector
Timeline: Current

ON:

As long as Corrie stayed within the neutrality of space port, there would be no public cameras tagging her by facial recognition. By mid-morning, she had linked up with a Ferengi merchant. Per their discrete business arrangement, the exchange was made of latinum for merchandise.

Corrie wasted no time. She opened a small container and pulled out the contents with her finger tips. It stretched out easily, like a taffy or a child's blob of play-slime. The little orange man scratched his head, "What on Ferenginar are you going to do with that protein slime?"

Corrie had no intention of explaining to a delivery man. "I'm hungry." First, she sprayed a small aerosol into her mouth to suppress gag reflex. Then, she set about swallowing the blob. Upon success, she placed her hand over her chest and closed her eyes, "Eww." She then held out her arm and gestured for the next item. "This has the the circuits that I asked for?"

The little merchant rolled a device atop the table up to her arm, "Yeah. The merchant said he wired it just as you asked. You do realize that once this solidifies, you won't be able to take it off again?"

"Someone else will be cutting it off soon enough."

"You sure do have strange tastes in fashion." Activating the synthesizer, a prison tech-bracelet began fusing around her wrist. After it was in place, she held up her wrist to examine it. She hoped that it would serve as a good decoy. She sighed, "Give me the rest of it."

The little man looked around nervously before handing her a capsule and a hypo. "I understand this one, but what's with that virus? You're not some kind of terrorist, are you?"

Popping off the seal with her thumb, she gave a wry smile, "No. This is for me." She stuck herself hard in the upper arm.

"Are you NUTS! You just infected yourself!"

She handed him the spent hypo. "Here. Please get rid of this for me." She tucked the capsule into a pocket.

"You hoomans are crazy!"

She took a deep, relaxing breath. "Okay. How do I get to the ship that's going to smuggle me off starbase?"

"This way." He led her down the market streets. When they came close to the civilian docks, he pointed. "Look, I'd just as soon not be seen putting you aboard. Just go straight down to that portal and ask for Captain Golid."

"I will. Thank you for your help."

He smiled, patting his latinum pouch, "Oh! Thank YOU!"

Staying close to the buildings, Corrie briskly walked towards the portal. The Ferengi stepped around a corner, then peeked out at her progress. He pulled a small communicator and set it to bounce signals through an anonymizer relay. "Hello?... Yes, well..." He peeked again, "Actually, I'm calling because I might be able to help you. I hear you're looking for a hooman female on the run. How much would you pay me for information leading to her capture?"

At that moment, Corrie was thinking, "This looks too good to be true." For a few moments, It actually felt like she might escape. But she glanced back over her shoulder quickly enough to see wide, guilty Ferengi eyes duck back out of sight. With a sigh of resignation, she slowed her pace. Tears filled her eyes.

OFF:

Ensign Corrie Steiner
Operations Officer
Starbase 332
Pegasus Fleet