Tools of Conquest
Posted on Mar 16, 2015 @ 7:18pm by Commander Jacob Crichton
Edited on on Mar 18, 2015 @ 12:43pm
Mission: Limbo
= Tools of Conquest =
(cont'd from "Helping History")
LOCATION: Warehouse District - LIMBO
SCENE: Kalenda The Black's Lair
STARDATE: [2.15] 0316.1449
Jake and Russ followed Kalenda through the bulkhead and into a sparsely furnished office. A stone desk with a high-backed chair of carved, blackened wood dominated the center of the small room, with two smaller chairs placed in front of the desk. Kalenda gestured at the chairs, but she did not take a seat behind the desk. Instead, she leaned casually against a wall and crossed her arms.
"I don't suppose you want some refreshment," said Kalenda, sounding bored.
Jake and Russ both shook their heads.
"Good," Kalenda said, flashing them another toothy smile. "I hate all the foreplay. Why don't we start with who you are?"
"We're ex-Starfleet," Jake said.
"Fugitives," Kalenda said. "Or terrorists, maybe?"
"Fugitives," Jake assured her. "But we're looking to branch out."
"And for that, you need weapons."
"Tools of conquest," Russ nodded. "Like you said."
"And who will you kill with my weapons?" Kalenda asked. "Civilians, or soldiers?"
"We're not looking to kill anyone," Jake said. "I told you that."
"Then you should not buy weapons," Kalenda said, advancing on him suddenly. Jake flinched back reflexively, and Kalenda smiled down at him, her eyes light and full of menace. "Do not waste my time, duckling."
"We don't *want* to kill," Jake said slowly. "But we will if we have to."
"And there it is," Kalenda said, reaching out to cup Jake's chin gently. "What I was waiting for. Resolve."
"People won't listen if we don't make noise," Russ said. "It's easier to do that with explosives. Simple as that."
"Yes, yes, you're all hot and brimming with righteous fury," Kalenda said, releasing Jake's chin and moving around the desk to take a seat in the high-backed wooden chair. "The truth is I don't care what you do with my weapons. Turn around and use them on me, if you like. I'd be happy to kill you and take them back. I'd even thank you for the entertainment."
"We don't want any trouble with you," Jake said. "We've come because we believe you can help us."
"And I can," Kalenda said. "How will you pay?"
"We have credits--" Jake started.
"No," Kalenda said.
"Why not?" Russ asked, frowning out her.
"Too much trouble," Kalenda said. "I don't trust computers. I like things you can hold in your hand. You will pay with latinum."
"We haven't got any latinum," said Russ.
"Then you will find someone on the station who will sell it to you for credits," Kalenda said, waving this objection off as insignificant. "I can point you to someone, if you like."
"And they take something off the top, I suppose," Russ said.
"They charge for their services," Kalenda shrugged. "What business is it of mine?"
"We'll pay in latinum," Jake said. "If you have what we need."
"You are fools to have come here if you think I cannot," Kalenda said, smiling again at Jake. Her smiles each seemed to mean something different. Sometimes, it meant Kalenda the Black was pleased, that you had amused her or earned her favor. Sometimes, it meant she was thinking of what she might do to you if you didn't *continue* to amuse her. Now, her smile seemed to convey mild offense, along with a thrumming undercurrent of potential violence.
"I don't have a complete list," Jake said. "Your 'colleagues' dragged us here to see you before we could properly prepare one. But here's what I know we'll need: ten crates of disruptor rifles, any make, though we would prefer Romulan if you can get them. We'll need anti-personelle explosives, grenades, mines, remote charges, doesn't matter what kind so long as they're reliable, store easily, and make a big boom when I tell them to."
Kalenda was nodding, drumming her nails on the desk, looking bored. Jake exchanged a quick glance with Russ and continued.
"We're also going to need 250 photon torpedos," Jake said. "Multiphasic, if you can get them. I can modify them if you can't, but I want that reflected in the price."
This got Kalenda's attention. She sat up, fixing Jake with a cold stare.
"250 photon torpedos," she repeated, slowly.
Jake nodded.
"You're going to, what, blow up half of Starfleet?"
"Our business is our own," Jake said. "I can say that anything we do, it will be far away from here."
"You haven't got the money for 250 photon torpedos," Kalenda said. "And if you did, you have nowhere to store them."
"We'd be fools to come here if we couldn't pay," Jake said. "Can you do it or not?"
Kalenda regarded Jake and Russ for a long moment, still drumming her fingers on her stone desk, her fingernails making a series of little clicking sounds against the stone.
"I don't have that many," Kalenda said.
"What *do* you have?" asked Jake.
"I can get you 86 torpedos," Kalenda said. "But it will take time."
"Why?" Jake asked. "Isn't this your storehouse? We can start beaming them over as soon as you have our latinum."
"I don't keep munitions that dangerous on the station," Kalenda said, her eyes dropping. She looked momentarily humbled, something Jake hadn't seen in the short time he'd known her. "Tella Yavin wouldn't allow it."
"So what, you know a guy or something?" Jake asked. "Where are my torpedos?"
"They're nearby," Kalenda said. She looked up at Jake, and her face was composed once more. But still, there was something different about her. Jake realized it suddenly: Kalenda was being cagey. It wasn't something she was good at.
Jake looked at Russ, who was smiling. He'd seen the shift in her demeanor as well.
"You have a ship," he said. "You're keeping the weapons there."
Kalenda glanced at Russ and frowned, but nodded.
"It's cloaked," she said. "Tella Yavin doesn't know about it. I expect it to stay that way."
"I won't tell," Russ said. "If you knock 20% off the price."
"Or perhaps I should just kill you," Kalenda said, sighing theatrically as she drew her sidearm and pointed it casually at Russ from across the desk.
"15%?" Russ asked.
"You're not going to kill us," Jake said, rolling his eyes. "You want this deal."
"Why?" Kalenda asked. "Why do I want this deal, duckling? It sounds like nothing but trouble."
"Because it *excites* you," Jake said, smiling slyly at her. "I think it's been a long time since you've been excited, Kalenda. You're someone who knows her place in the galaxy, and you've gotten comfortable. No, you've gotten *bored*. No more battles to fight, no deeds to sing of, just... *business*."
Kalenda smiled, then moved her disruptor to aim at Jake's chest. Jake tried not to shrink away, tried not to stare at the weapon's muzzle. He kept his eyes fixed on Kalenda's.
"And then you hear us ask for all those photon torpedoes," said Jake. "And now you're wondering what we might try to do with an armament like that. Enough to light the flames of war, or change the fate of empire, maybe. Whatever it is, it's going to be big. And you want to see it. Because it's more interesting than anything you've got going around here."
Kalenda stared at Jake for a moment in silence, her expression never wavering.
"Oh," she said at last. "Are you finished?"
"Yeah," Jake said. "You're not going to shoot me now, are you?"
"I should," Kalenda said, seeming to genuinely give the matter some thought. "I'm old enough to know better. I really should kill you, and kill your friend here, and dump your bodies out into the vacuum of space. But...."
She set her disruptor on the desk.
"But you're right," she said, smiling again. "I am bored, little duck. And you've been *so* interesting so far."
Jake breathed out a sigh of relief. He glanced over to Russ, who nodded at him. He looked relieved too.
"Very well," Kalenda said, looking almost cheerful now. "You will get my money, I will get your weapons--"
"I need to see how you're storing them," Jake said quickly.
Kalenda's demeanor changed again- she was awfully changeable, this one- and she leaned across the table to scowl at Jake.
"You don't trust me, duckling?" she asked, her voice a low rumble.
"No disrespect," Jake said, putting his hands up, trying his best to look pathetic and harmless. "You don't know what I have in mind for these torpedoes. If they've been exposed to any kind of radiation, unusual energy fields, microbial life-forms, I might not be able to use them. I have to know how they're stored."
"So tell me what you need and *I* will check my merchandise."
"You might miss something," Jake said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, this is non-negotiable. I'm the expert here, this is too important for me to trust to an amatuer."
"Amateur," Kalenda repeated, her scowl deepening.
"No disrespect," Jake said again, quickly.
"You need to come aboard my ship," Kalenda said, slowly sitting back.
"You can blindfold me," Jake said. "Whatever. I don't need to know where your ship is, I just need to see the room they're kept in."
Kalenda eyed Jake suspiciously, then shifted her gaze to Russ. Her fingertips clicked rhythmically against the desktop again, for what seemed a very long moment. Then, she sat foreward, looking at Jake but pointing at Russ with her thumb.
"He stays behind," she said. "Gets me my money. You come with, and you stay on my ship until I get what I'm owed."
"No way," Russ said.
"It will be this way, or we have no agreement," Kalenda said, turning to Russ and almost hissing her anger at him. "You are becoming less amusing by the moment, little duck."
"Can we have a moment to talk about it?" Jake asked. Kalenda slowly rolled her eyes over to look at him, and slowly she nodded.
"Very well," Kalenda said. She stood. "Take your time."
She lumbered out of the room without looking back. Jake and Russ waited until she had gone before Russ turned to frown at Jake.
"No way," Russ said again, his voice a harsh whisper.
"This can work," Jake replied, also in a whisper.
"Jake, you're not going over there alone," Russ said. "If you haven't noticed, this Klingon is *crazy*, and I don't like the way she keeps looking at you."
"I have that effect on people," Jake smirked.
"I'm serious, Jake," Russ said. "You're not going in there by yourself."
"Russ, listen," Jake said. "I have a plan."
Russ listened.
=[/\]=
NRPG: Moving things along a little bit more. I'll probably wrap up Jake and Russ's business with Kalenda in my next post. I'm open for JP's if anyone is interested, just shoot me an email!
Shawn Putnam
a.k.a.
Jake Crichton
Chief Engineering Officer
USS PHOENIX