A Toss of a Coin Part IV
Posted on Fri Jun 7th, 2024 @ 12:11am by Lieutenant Vincent 'Ghost' Zandrell & Lieutenant Loktor & Pepper
Edited on on Sat Jun 8th, 2024 @ 8:26pm
0 words; about a 1 minute read
Mission:
The Sins of History
Location: Side Bar Lounge - Deck 5 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD007 0000 hrs
Pepper searched Vincent's eyes for a moment, then sighed. He was right, she had pushed a button she wasn't aware of. She nodded before sitting down. "I grew up on a world that had no Ferengi. It had no Federation, either, until I was an adult. That's when I finally left. I've spent more time on a starbase in the middle of nowhere than anywhere else since leaving. That's where I saw Loktor and where I learned to be a PI." Memories of her childhood on the streets flashed through her mind before she remembered to raise her mental shields. She was still earning that, too, as telepaths were few and far between growing up. "I apologize."
"I don't blame you for wanting to leave the moment you got the chance. Growing up on Ferenginar, wasn't that bad. You get used to the rain and the people constantly haggling over prices. I was raised in that and it was home. I even miss it sometimes. But... at some point, I got fed up with it. The constant betrayals and how easy it was to gain a friend only to have them turn on you at the drop of a simple strip of latinum. Money was too important, so to me, it became nothing but another material to own and throw away." He shook his head and smirked slightly, looking over to Pepper, before adding. "You know, the only joys I get are when I do something to help someone else or when I am spending time with my niece." He motioned to Vincent. "His daughter."
"I don't blame you for wanting to leave the moment you got the chance. Growing up on Ferenginar, wasn't that bad. You get used to the rain and the people constantly haggling over prices. I was raised in that and it was home. I even miss it sometimes. But... at some point, I got fed up with it. The constant betrayals and how easy it was to gain a friend only to have them turn on you at the drop of a simple strip of latinum. Money was too important, so to me, it became nothing but another material to own and throw away." He shook his head and smirked slightly, looking over to Pepper, before adding. "You know, the only joys I get are when I do something to help someone else or when I am spending time with my niece." He motioned to Vincent. "His daughter."
"I'm glad you have your niece. Family is important." His world sounded terrible. She empathized with him for having to live in that environment. She was also glad Vincent had his daughter.
Vincent looked over to Pepper, immediately sensing her empathy for Loktor, before asking. "Whatever were you doing on the station? The one where you ran into her? I don't think I've heard this story."
Loktor looked over to Pepper, chuckled slightly, then looking back to Vincent with a smile. "No... I don't think I have told you this story." He shrugged his shoulders a bit and began. "It was one of the series of missions I was given by Covert Intelligence. There was a growing concern over weapons trade and who was supplying who. My job was to step in as a weapons dealer and poke around. Ask around who has what product and how soon could it be provided. I... believe... that was the first time Mokar was starting to make tractions in the network."
"Ahh... Mokar." Vincent chuckled slightly, looking over to Pepper with a smile. "Mokar is one of his Intelligence aliases that he built through Starfleet Covert Ops. Marauder Mokar."
"Marauder Mokar." Loktor repeated with a smile. "I still have the coat, you know. They let me keep it."
"Ah.. Yes!" Vincent replied with a laughed. "The trademark coat." He turned his focus back to Pepper. "He wore this coat, fur and buckles, just... just horrible. Crime against fashion I tell you."
"Hey." Loktor countered, smiling a bit as he continued. "I like that coat, I'll have you know."
Vincent smiled again as he continued. "Anyway... Marauder Mokar was named after Marauder Mo, which is a comic book and hero on Ferenginar. He grew up with this comic and insisted, as he tells it, if he was to be a Marauder there had to be a Mo in his name. As well as... An ugly looking coat because.. Marauder Mo had a coat."
"That and his energy whip were his trademarks." Loktor added with a smile. "Anyway.. whose telling the story here?"
"You are, of course." Vincent replied as he leaned back in his seat. "Just providing necessary context on you and your ridiculous coat."
Loktor laughed softly as he countered with. "You laugh... but you should see the coat Cassie likes to wear when we go on our Marauder adventures."
"I knew letting you introduce her to Marauder Mo would come back to bite me." Vincent joked back.
"Yeah... keep talking and I'll replicate the coat and give it to her so she can wear it around your quarters." Loktor replied with a smile.
"I would kill you." Vincent replied before adding. "If not me then my mother would and you know it."
Loktor nodded his head, laughing a bit, before holding his hands up. "Alright, alright. Enough about the coat. Back to the story." He said, a quick chuckle escaped his mouth, before he continued. "Alright, so where was I? Oh yeah. I went undercover as Marauder Mokar and needed to poke around at the other buyers to get a feel for whose specialty was what. It was a soup bowl of species. Romulan. Cardassian. Orion Syndicate. The Breen. Even some Maqui and a small group that said they were still Starfleet, but I wasn't 100% sure on that. So, I believe..." He pointed to Pepper. "When you spotted me I was either in the Cargo Bay or making my way towards there. If I am not mistaken."
Pepper nodded. She was enjoying their banter back and forth and the friendship behind it. "You had the air of someone who was definitely up to no good. Most people I meet try and act casual, but you definitely stood out. That coat didn't help."
"See?" Vincent added with a smile. "That coat is going to get you every time."
"Fine... I'll change the coat!" Loktor chuckled. "Can I continue please?"
Vincent chuckled back, looking over to Pepper briefly to give her a trusting wink, before looking back to Loktor. "Alright... Alright. Continue."
"Thank you." Loktor replied with a smirk. "Bunch of coat haters." He let out a quick laugh before continuing with his story. "So... I was on my way to the cargo bay to meet this seller to get information and I catch the same person over my shoulder." He motioned to Pepper. "This one over here. She isn't wearing a uniform and she doesn't look like a weapons dealer, but I can't be sure, so I continue on. Only, as I walk into the cargo bay for my meeting, I place a device they gave me which takes holographic photos. I set it to trigger on motion and I hide it by the door. I have my meeting, make my questions, share a few threats, and move on my way. As I leave, I grabbed the device and head back to my quarters. On the way, I don't catch her following me, so I assume she has no connection to the people I met and decided Intel will get me more. I tossed the image of hers into the computer and sent it to my handler at the time."
"You thought she was going to kill you?" Vincent asked.
"I didn't know what she was up to. All I knew was someone was following me and I needed to know if this person." He motioned to Pepper. "Her... would do something to compromised my mission. One split, no matter how small, could mean that Mokar is burned and no longer usable. Which, in the long run, puts me at a disadvantage because Mokar is tied to this face." He said as he waved his hand around his face. "This beautiful and uncompromised face."
"Let’s not oversell it." Vincent countered.
"Point being... I needed to find out who she was. To not only protect me, but her as well. I'm dealing with some bad people here and if she is caught by one of them, following me around, they could grab her and interrogate her. Want to find out who she is and what she knows. More importantly, why she was following me, which could either bring suspicion on me and, in turn, for them to put me in a position to deal with her to show I am who I say I am." He looked over to Pepper and smiled a bit before turning back to Vincent. "And... I don't kill. That's why I prefer my energy whip. It's a tool to stun and not kill. I trained enough with it so I wouldn't have to resort to killing. It's not just because Marauder Mo used it, although it’s part of that, it’s because it’s not a killing weapon."
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Vincent Zandrell
Tactical Officer, USS Artemis
Executive Officer, Emergency Services Unit
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Loktor
Criminal Investigations Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Pepper
Private Investigator, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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