07-08-2024, 10:23 PM
== Set after the following mission and Mara’s promotion.
Jalanda City, Bajor ==
The little cafe in the ‘old town’ part of Jalanda City had a few tables outside, where customers could sit and admire the distinctive Bajoran architecture and watch the people as they came and went along one of the main streets.
Sitting with her back to the cafe, Mara cradled a fresh cup of montiro in her hands. She’d been partial to the Bajoran coffee before. Since her elevation to Chief of Security over montiro and huli, it was safe to say both had found a new place in her heart.
There was a faint smile on the muscular woman’s lips as she enjoyed her drink and the scenery. She was dressed down as she normally was, a sleeveless olive tank top over black cargo pants and boots, with her phaser and blade holstered at her hip.
After a while Calleja laid the now-empty cup down on the table. She was weighing up getting another round when a shadow fell across the table, and then someone sat down opposite her.
“Miss Calleja.” The speaker was a human male, by Mara’s best guess mid to late 30s. He was in a business suit, and the shape of the jacket betrayed the presence of a gun in a holster.
Her dark eyes flicked left and right. There were 2 heavy-set figures sat on the table to her left, and a lithe-looking woman on the right. They were all openly watching her every move as she twisted her neck and drew a sharp crack from her joints.
“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Mara replied.
“I don’t believe it’s worth our time trying to impress you, Miss Calleja,” the man said. “But for what it’s worth, identifying you and finding you took a lot of the Syndicate’s resources.”
Syndicate? Oh yeah. It was their orbital we busted Sydesh out of. And there was me thinkin’ I’d heard the last of that.
“You think I’m hard to find? I musta killed more of your command structure than I thought,” she said evenly. She didn’t feel in any danger. Bajor was a highly secure Federation world, and the Amazonian Security officer was sufficiently dangerous in her own right that 4 on 1 still felt stacked in her favour.
“I can admit that you certainly made an impact on Graiark Orbital,” the man answered. His voice was curiously emotionless, his face almost impossible to read. “By the time my employers reasserted direct control, they had to replace nearly everyone of consequence on board. And then they wanted to know who was responsible for such an outrage. They are not used to being the subject of raids.”
He smiled thinly.
“Experts were brought in to study the tactics used by your team, which were reminiscent of Star Fleet special forces. And your accent is very distinctive, but given how few people ever leave Bandar IV, it was almost sheer dumb luck that we were able to identify it. But when we narrowed it down to a Bandaran female in Star Fleet, that was a mercifully short list. And so here we sit, Miss Calleja.”
Mara pulled her lips back in a feral smile.
“Here we are,” she said. “I’d offer you a drink but I’d rather you got to the fuckin’ point.”
The man bristled.
“The point, Miss Calleja, is that the Syndicate wishes to see justice done,” he said. “Word of what happened on Graiark has already spread. People need to see what happens next. Which means you need to come with us.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” Mara crossed one leg over the other and rested her hands in her lap. “We’re on Bajor, you oblivious fucknugget. Under Federation protection. You so much as raise a hand here, let alone try and take me out, this place will be crawlin' with armed personnel who got plenty to say about it. I’m not goin’ anywhere I don’t wanna go.”
One of the heavies had to put a restraining hand on his partner’s shoulder. The glares coming Mara’s way had intensified as she called their bluff.
“Oh really? Then perhaps…” The man in the suit reached into an inside pocket and pressed something. He seemed almost surprised to see they were still all exactly where they had been, and he pressed the button again.
“Bad call,” Mara said coldly. “We got wise to that trick. All major worlds are protected from unauthorised transports. And you almost certainly just set some alarms off.”
“Perhaps.” The man rallied. “But it would still be in your interest to co-operate. Well. Not yours, specifically. But certainly those of Doctor Sydesh, her family, and your family.”
“Oh really?” The smile returned to Mara’s lips. “You have at it. Beka is safely tucked away on a very tight knit crew. Her family are on a world that’s even safer than Bajor. And mine? Well, it only took one Bandaran to completely fuck over your station. And you want to go chargin’ into a place with a couple billion of us? Go for it. The locals would eat your teams alive and fence their guns before they’d so much as cased the district. You got no levers to pull on me.”
She looked around, weighed up her options, and then stood. Warning glares pinned the man’s back-up to their chairs and they looked to each other, unsure what to do. They were used to dealing with scared targets or ones that had just been beamed aboard a waiting ship. They had no idea what to do about Calleja, who seemed completely unimpressed by the whole situation as she laid a hand on the suited man’s shoulder.
“You tell your bosses that I’m to be left alone. You’ve had your shot, and I’m very scared.” The mocking tone in her voice made her a liar. “But if you come for me again, you don’t walk away from that. I’ll come after them and I’ll make sure I bring enough heat that they will really, really fuckin’ regret havin’ ever learned my name.”
Mara mussed up his hair and clapped him hard on the back.
“I hope for your sake you never see me again,” she said calmly, before turning her back and walking away down the street. A full squad of Bajoran militia pushed past her going the other way, and she heard them shouting instructions a few seconds later.
Well that was fun. Not.
Calleja had figured there was a chance of something like that happening when she’d agreed to lead the raid on Graiark. If everything had gone to plan then the odds of anyone even figuring out what had happened were slim, but things hadn’t gone to plan. She’d had to fight her way clear and that had given the Syndicate the chance to identify her.
Still, she wasn’t overly worried. Her advancement in Star Fleet had made her parents high-profile back home. That meant they had protection from the authorities, even assuming the Syndicate managed to find them within the sprawling metropolis of Bandar City. Anyone trying to get at Beka Sydesh had to go through Mara herself, and the rest of the Sydesh clan was safely sequestered away on Earth far beyond the Syndicate’s reach.
I just gotta be careful for a while leavin’ Federation space. Though that ain’t new. Cardies have probably got it in for anyone off Artemis, and they’re much more dangerous.
Mara drew in a deep breath, let it out, and then headed in the direction of the bazaar. She now had much larger quarters that needed some decoration, and it would let her put the Syndicate out of her mind completely.
== ETL ==
Jalanda City, Bajor ==
The little cafe in the ‘old town’ part of Jalanda City had a few tables outside, where customers could sit and admire the distinctive Bajoran architecture and watch the people as they came and went along one of the main streets.
Sitting with her back to the cafe, Mara cradled a fresh cup of montiro in her hands. She’d been partial to the Bajoran coffee before. Since her elevation to Chief of Security over montiro and huli, it was safe to say both had found a new place in her heart.
There was a faint smile on the muscular woman’s lips as she enjoyed her drink and the scenery. She was dressed down as she normally was, a sleeveless olive tank top over black cargo pants and boots, with her phaser and blade holstered at her hip.
After a while Calleja laid the now-empty cup down on the table. She was weighing up getting another round when a shadow fell across the table, and then someone sat down opposite her.
“Miss Calleja.” The speaker was a human male, by Mara’s best guess mid to late 30s. He was in a business suit, and the shape of the jacket betrayed the presence of a gun in a holster.
Her dark eyes flicked left and right. There were 2 heavy-set figures sat on the table to her left, and a lithe-looking woman on the right. They were all openly watching her every move as she twisted her neck and drew a sharp crack from her joints.
“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Mara replied.
“I don’t believe it’s worth our time trying to impress you, Miss Calleja,” the man said. “But for what it’s worth, identifying you and finding you took a lot of the Syndicate’s resources.”
Syndicate? Oh yeah. It was their orbital we busted Sydesh out of. And there was me thinkin’ I’d heard the last of that.
“You think I’m hard to find? I musta killed more of your command structure than I thought,” she said evenly. She didn’t feel in any danger. Bajor was a highly secure Federation world, and the Amazonian Security officer was sufficiently dangerous in her own right that 4 on 1 still felt stacked in her favour.
“I can admit that you certainly made an impact on Graiark Orbital,” the man answered. His voice was curiously emotionless, his face almost impossible to read. “By the time my employers reasserted direct control, they had to replace nearly everyone of consequence on board. And then they wanted to know who was responsible for such an outrage. They are not used to being the subject of raids.”
He smiled thinly.
“Experts were brought in to study the tactics used by your team, which were reminiscent of Star Fleet special forces. And your accent is very distinctive, but given how few people ever leave Bandar IV, it was almost sheer dumb luck that we were able to identify it. But when we narrowed it down to a Bandaran female in Star Fleet, that was a mercifully short list. And so here we sit, Miss Calleja.”
Mara pulled her lips back in a feral smile.
“Here we are,” she said. “I’d offer you a drink but I’d rather you got to the fuckin’ point.”
The man bristled.
“The point, Miss Calleja, is that the Syndicate wishes to see justice done,” he said. “Word of what happened on Graiark has already spread. People need to see what happens next. Which means you need to come with us.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.” Mara crossed one leg over the other and rested her hands in her lap. “We’re on Bajor, you oblivious fucknugget. Under Federation protection. You so much as raise a hand here, let alone try and take me out, this place will be crawlin' with armed personnel who got plenty to say about it. I’m not goin’ anywhere I don’t wanna go.”
One of the heavies had to put a restraining hand on his partner’s shoulder. The glares coming Mara’s way had intensified as she called their bluff.
“Oh really? Then perhaps…” The man in the suit reached into an inside pocket and pressed something. He seemed almost surprised to see they were still all exactly where they had been, and he pressed the button again.
“Bad call,” Mara said coldly. “We got wise to that trick. All major worlds are protected from unauthorised transports. And you almost certainly just set some alarms off.”
“Perhaps.” The man rallied. “But it would still be in your interest to co-operate. Well. Not yours, specifically. But certainly those of Doctor Sydesh, her family, and your family.”
“Oh really?” The smile returned to Mara’s lips. “You have at it. Beka is safely tucked away on a very tight knit crew. Her family are on a world that’s even safer than Bajor. And mine? Well, it only took one Bandaran to completely fuck over your station. And you want to go chargin’ into a place with a couple billion of us? Go for it. The locals would eat your teams alive and fence their guns before they’d so much as cased the district. You got no levers to pull on me.”
She looked around, weighed up her options, and then stood. Warning glares pinned the man’s back-up to their chairs and they looked to each other, unsure what to do. They were used to dealing with scared targets or ones that had just been beamed aboard a waiting ship. They had no idea what to do about Calleja, who seemed completely unimpressed by the whole situation as she laid a hand on the suited man’s shoulder.
“You tell your bosses that I’m to be left alone. You’ve had your shot, and I’m very scared.” The mocking tone in her voice made her a liar. “But if you come for me again, you don’t walk away from that. I’ll come after them and I’ll make sure I bring enough heat that they will really, really fuckin’ regret havin’ ever learned my name.”
Mara mussed up his hair and clapped him hard on the back.
“I hope for your sake you never see me again,” she said calmly, before turning her back and walking away down the street. A full squad of Bajoran militia pushed past her going the other way, and she heard them shouting instructions a few seconds later.
Well that was fun. Not.
Calleja had figured there was a chance of something like that happening when she’d agreed to lead the raid on Graiark. If everything had gone to plan then the odds of anyone even figuring out what had happened were slim, but things hadn’t gone to plan. She’d had to fight her way clear and that had given the Syndicate the chance to identify her.
Still, she wasn’t overly worried. Her advancement in Star Fleet had made her parents high-profile back home. That meant they had protection from the authorities, even assuming the Syndicate managed to find them within the sprawling metropolis of Bandar City. Anyone trying to get at Beka Sydesh had to go through Mara herself, and the rest of the Sydesh clan was safely sequestered away on Earth far beyond the Syndicate’s reach.
I just gotta be careful for a while leavin’ Federation space. Though that ain’t new. Cardies have probably got it in for anyone off Artemis, and they’re much more dangerous.
Mara drew in a deep breath, let it out, and then headed in the direction of the bazaar. She now had much larger quarters that needed some decoration, and it would let her put the Syndicate out of her mind completely.
== ETL ==