The Morning After The Morning After

Posted on May 26, 2014 @ 8:26pm by Commander Jacob Crichton & Raxl Dreyton
Edited on on Jun 05, 2014 @ 8:46am

Mission: http://thefrpg.com/sim/missions/id/9
Location: Various
Tags: Jake, Xana, Cindy, Raxl

= The Morning After The Morning After =

(cont'd from "The Time Is Now")


LOCATION: USS DISCOVERY
SCENE: Main Engineering
STARDATE: [2.14] 0506.1500

Jake’s initial bad feeling about the mission had still been there when he’d assembled to meet the DISCOVERY’s new CO. That had been typical Starfleet pageantry, something Jake was certainly used to but never had enjoyed very much, and going through the motions of Captain Kane officially taking command and giving his officers a once-over had left Jake with a lot of time to dwell on everything- and everyone- he was leaving behind on EARTH. The mission brief had answered some of Jake’s questions about where they were going and why, but everything else Jake had only been half-listening to. He was thinking about Xana, and Dahlia, and Ben. He was thinking of how he’d promised Dee he’d tell her more stories about his time in the fleet, a promise that his duty had forced him to break. Dee was a tough, smart girl, and often wiser than her years, but Jake felt bad for disappointing her, even if it wasn’t strictly his fault.

And then there was Ben, Jake’s son, who couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him. It reminded Jake too much of his relationship with his own father. He wanted Ben to be able to trust him, but popping over for dinner one night before disappearing into the sky once again wasn’t going to help with that.

And of course, Jake thought of Xana.

But later, when Jake had finally made it to Engineering, all his doubts and misgivings were at least moved to the back of his mind. There was work to be done, problems to solve, and Jake gladly took the opportunity to focus on something he could fix with his hands.

When he first arrived, Jake was impressed by how well-maintained everything in Main Engineering was. Some of that could be attributed to the DISCOVERY’s refit, but the signs of tender, loving care were there for the experienced eye to see. The DISCOVERY had had engineers who had loved her, who had spent time crawling through her guts and making sure everything would always run smoothly. It was little touches: custom diagnostic programs stored in the ship’s computer, nonstandard equipment retrofitted in with Starfleet tech, and a comforting “lived-in” feel that Jake instinctively recognized as a result of years of service by loyal officers.

Jake had always been a “lead from the front” kind of commanding officer, and after meeting with staff and getting together a list of things to check and re-check in time of Captain Kane’s inspection, Jake immediately gone to work. None of the systems needed much in the way of maintenance, but if Jake was going to be running this engine room, he wanted to make sure things were up to his standards, not Starfleet’s. Jake was pleased that his crew seemed to be on the same page, and it didn’t take long before the Main Engineering began to feel like home.

“Well kids, I think she’s as pretty as she’s going to get,” Jake said, leaning against a console and smiling with approval at the warp core. “All systems in the green?”

“Power transfer systems operating at maximum efficiency,” said Lt. Cindy Rochemonte, the young French officer that was Jake’s assistant CEO. Her red hair was a little messy from crawling around the Jefferies tubes for the last hour. “I even managed to boost the exchange rate by 15% above the standard.”

“Well done, Specs,” Jake said, nodding at the eyeglasses that Rochemonte was wearing. “You might want to wipe those lenses down before the boss comes in. They’re looking a little cloudy.”

“From all the hard work, sir,” Rochemonte said.

“No complaints here,” Jake said. “But you know those command types. They want everything to run nice and smooth, and they want everyone to look good while doing it. They never want to see how the sausage gets made.”

“Aye sir,” Rochemonte said, taking off her glasses and wiping the lenses with the front of her uniform.

“Alright,” Jake said to the rest of the assembled staff. “The captain should be down here in twenty minutes. You got just enough time for a bathroom break and maybe a cup of coffee, but you all be sure to be looking busy when he comes in, okay? Time to lean, time to clean, you know the drill.”

The staff murmured their understanding and began to disperse. Jake grabbed a fusion torch, gripped it in his teeth, and made his way toward a nearby ladder.

“Where are you going, commander?” Rochemonte asked.

“One last thing before she’s ready to fly,” Jake said from around the torch. “Call it a good luck charm.”

“Sir?”

“Take a break, Specs,” Jake said as he started to climb. “You earned it.”

Jake climbed up the ladder to the highest catwalk. He had a good view of Engineering from up here as he made his way along the catwalk to a maintenance hatch on the opposite side of the warp core. It was an out-of-the-way area, seldom used even by engineering staff, and Jake had never in his career seen a CO bother to climb all this way to inspect it. Jake removed the maintenance hatch and reversed it, so that the interior end of the hatch was facing him. Jake activated the torch and, brows furrowed in concentration, etched a simple message into the smooth, gray metal:

CRICHTON WAS HERE

Jake sat back and admired his work. Now, the DISCOVERY was really ready to fly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOCATION: BAD WOLF
SCENE: Cockpit

Getting off of VASTER II had been easy. It was getting back to his ship in the first place that had been the tricky part.

After his spill out the window of The Latinum Lady Hotel, Raxl Dreyton had found himself in a dumpster, laying on what felt like a bunch of discarded food-scraps and soiled laundry. The window of the room he had formerly occupied hung open above him, and Rax was pleased to note that he’d only been staying on the third floor; any higher and his fall might have been disastrous instead of incredibly lucky. Even though he’d managed to stick the landing, he could feel the pain in his hips and lower back, and he’d managed to pull himself out of the dumpster with a grunt of effort. He quickly hobbled his way up the alley and onto the main street, and easily disappeared into the morning traffic.

Some of Riss’s men had been waiting at the starport, stationed around Raxl’s ship BAD WOLF armed with nasty looking rifles of Cardassian-make. Rax was unarmed, and didn’t want to get into a shooting match in any case, not with his hangover still pounding steadily at his head. He’d finally managed to distract them by starting a teensy fire at the opposite end of the starport… which, unfortunately and in a total surprise to Rax, had spread to a nearby fuel station and turned into something more like a raging inferno. The fire suppression systems would have taken care of the blaze in a few seconds if they hadn’t been one of the many areas where Riss and his confederates had been cutting corners, and Rax had used the commotion to bushwhack the only guard who hadn’t abandoned his post and sneak aboard his ship.

Once aboard, the ship’s defenses (with a touch of desperate flying from Rax) had managed to punch through VASTER II’s anti-aircraft defense matrix, and Raxl Dreyton had gone to warp as soon as he’d escape the small moon’s atmosphere. He imagined he could hear Riss’s frustrated screams as he blasted away, and the thought was pleasant enough that it made Rax feel a little better about his headache and the growing pain in his back.

“You’re getting too old for this, Rax,” he said to himself as he slowly rose from the pilot’s chair and hobbled to the rear of his ship. He opened a panel and took out a small hypospray, and injected himself in the arm. The painkillers went to work fast, and after a few minutes Rax’s headache and body pains had been replaced by a kind of floating sensation and a wave of giddiness.

Two bounties brought in, some credits to spare, and a night with a beautiful woman (even though Rax still couldn’t remember most of it, he still decided to take the credit). All in all, it hadn’t been the worst of Rax’s diversions of late.

Rax’s comm-console beeped. He turned, examined the readout, and shook his head. He flipped the switch and the image of a surly, weasel-faced Ferengi appeared on the screen; not Riss, but another Ferengi that Rax knew well. The Ferengi didn’t even wait to say “hello”.

{{What the *hell* were you thinking, Dreyton?}}

“Brak,” Raxl said. “Not so loud, huh? I just got the edge of this headache.”

{{Sleeping with Riss’s fiancé is one thing,}} Brak said. {{But that fire you started spread, Dreyton! They’re still working on getting it contained!}}

“Maybe next time they’ll pay their water bill.”

{{You’ve already cost Riss two of his shuttles,}} Brak continued, as if he hadn’t heard. {{Their holds were fully stocked before the fire! Your little stunt just cost him an entire shipment of spice!}}

“So the junkies won’t get their fix this week,” Rax shrugged. “Maybe they’ll go to rehab instead, huh? I might have just saved some lives.”

{{The entire network is buzzing with activity,}} Brak said. {{Every member of the Organization just got a priority-one message that you’re to be captured and brought back to VASTER II!}}

“Big deal,” Raxl said, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes. “The galaxy’s a big place, Brak, and they’re hardly the only goons who want a piece of me.”

{{I *vouched* for you, you idiot!}} Brak thundered.

“You vouched for me as a bounty hunter,” Rax said, putting up a single finger to clarify. “I did my job to the letter. Even got a nice bonus.”

{{And then humiliated a crime boss in his own hotel, and then set fire to one of his shipping centers,}} Brak said.

“Yeah, but that was after,” Rax shrugged. “They shouldn’t have bought me that fourth drink.”

{{You’re a menace,}} Brak said. {{You can’t touch anything without it bursting into flames and exploding.}}

“That include your mother?” Rax asked, opening one eye and grinning at Brak. “I’m speaking metaphorically, of course.”

{{Yes, you joke,}} Brak said. {{You have a good laugh. Ruin a marriage, start a few fires, then off you fly while someone else cleans up your mess. But at least you get a nice punchline out of the deal.}}

“You’re being a little dramatic,” Rax said. “You’re not a member of the Organization, you weren’t involved in what happened back there, so Riss and his people aren’t going to waste time coming after you.”

{{But they’ll also never pass a job my way ever again,}} Brak said. {{My reputation with them is destroyed!}}

“Well,” Rax said, closing his eyes again. “Like I said, the galaxy’s a big place. You’ll find another golden goose.”

{{Yes,}} Brak said. {{I will. And you can bet I won’t be bringing you in on a job ever again! You hear me, Dreyton? I’m officially cutting business ties with you, as of now!}}

“Right,” Rax said. “You’ll forgo the nice little finder’s fee you get for bringing me to their attention, just because you want to throw a temper tantrum. You haven’t brought in a bounty on your own in over a year, Brak, but it sure seems like I’ve been keeping you in the manner to which you’re accustomed.”

Brak seemed to consider this for a moment.

{{You’re a liability.}}

“I’m also an easy payday, as far as you’re concerned,” Rax said. “You hear about a job, you bring up my name, I do the job, we both get paid. What I do off-duty is between me and whoever I do it with. Or to.”

{{And sometimes, you burn down a city,}} Brak said.

“Rarely,” Rax said.

{{Hmph,}} Brak said. {{Alright, Dreyton. For what it’s worth, I’m glad you got out of there when you did. Riss isn’t known for being merciful.}}

“Your concern is touching, Brak.”

{{It’s my bank account I’m worried about, not your sorry skin,}} Brak said.

“There’s that Ferengi I know and love,” Rax chuckled. “Say, what’s the word on that girl I was with? I never did catch her name-”

{{She’s dead, Dreyton.}}

Rax opened his eyes. “Come again?”

{{You left her in your bed with a pissed-off crimelord melting his way through the door,}} Brak said. {{What exactly did you think he was going to do to her?}}

“She’s dead?” Rax repeated. He felt sick, and he didn’t think it was the hangover.

{{It was fast, so I hear,}} Brak said. {{Riss shot her with a disruptor right there in the room. Nasty way to go, but not as bad as what Riss usually does to people who cross him.}}

“It wasn’t her fault,” Rax said quietly.

{{What’s the human expression?}} Brak asked. {{It takes two to tango, yes?}}

“Yeah,” Rax said. “Yeah, that’s the expression.”

{{You’re not thinking of revenge, are you?}} Brak asked.

“It might have crossed my mind.”

{{Now who’s being dramatic?}} Brak said. {{You’d be intercepted by Riss’s security ships the second you re-entered the system. They’d either blast you out of the sky or, more likely, just cripple your ship and take you alive.}}

“It wasn’t her fault, Brak,” Rax said. “Riss wanted *me*.”

{{She was easier to catch than you were,}} Brak shrugged. {{She knew what she was doing, Dreyton. She knew the kind of people she associated with. She agreed to marry Riss.}}

“Maybe she thought that would buy her some special consideration.”

{{Then she was an idiot,}} Brak said. {{Feel guilty about it all you want, Dreyton. You should feel guilty, you know. But if you turn around to go back there, you’re an even bigger idiot than she was.}}

Rax knew the Ferengi was right. Brak wasn’t the nicest person in the galaxy, and had sold Raxl out on more than one occasion, but Raxl knew that somewhere deep inside that big-eared, shallow, money-hungry exterior, Brak had at least a modicum of respect for him. And while Brak wasn’t always the brightest star in the cluster, he had always been good at picking his battles.

{{You couldn’t win,}} Brak said. {{Riss is a scumbag, but you knew that when you took the job. I don’t like this thing with the girl any more than you, but it’s probably not even the worst thing that Riss has done all week. It’s not right, but there’s nothing you can do about it now.}}

“Yeah,” Rax said. He didn’t feel much better.

{{So where will you go now?}}

“I’m not sure,” Raxl said. “Gotta get as far away from the Organization as I can. I guess that means Exchange-controlled space. Riss and his mooks wouldn’t follow me there.”

{{You’re not exactly the Exchange’s favorite son right now either,}} Brak pointed out.

“But they’re not actively looking for me, either,” Rax said. “I figure I can lay-low until I figure out my next move.”

{{Same as it ever was,}} Brak said. {{You know, Dreyton, one of these days you’re going to run out of holes to hide in.}}

Rax was about to respond, but Brak cut the transmission. Then it was just Raxl Dreyton, the hum of the BAD WOLF’s warp core, and all the time in the world to think about a poor Orion girl who’s name Rax would never know.

======================================================

NRPG: Little bit of Crichton settling in, and finishing up the reintroduction of Raxl Dreyton. A lot of awesome posts this week, guys, they were a pleasure to read!


Shawn Putnam

a.k.a.

Jake Crichton, Commander

Chief Engineering Officer

USS DISCOVERY