Tracking Party: The Vault

Posted on Mon May 24th, 2021 @ 12:07pm by Indigo (*) & Madison Indri
Edited on on Sun May 30th, 2021 @ 7:49pm

Mission: Elsewhere
Location: The Vault, Freecloud
Timeline: August 2396
2652 words - 5.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Indigo looked around The Vault and smirked a little. She wore a long pale coloured top, leggings and high heels which stood out against her bright blue hair. It was so much fancier than what she normally wore but if she was in a fancy place she should at least make the effort. The Vault was always the best place outside of The Grand Hotel to get information or just to have a good time without the worry of being tracked as nothing was allowed in the main area, they were all kept in secure lockers where you could retrieve on your way out.

It was freeing for someone who felt like they were constantly connected to something that could communicate with everyone, let alone all the information that she felt like she was consuming all the time when she was on Freecloud. The planet's “neutral location” where business, diplomacy and espionage could be freely undertaken without risking war or running afoul of treaties made for an interesting night no matter your reason for being out on the town.

The blue haired woman was seated at a table all by herself despite several people enquiring if they could sit there but she was not in the mood for company at that moment, just the chance to have a night to herself and see where it took her.

Across the club from Indigo, beyond the rest of the seating, the milling crowd, the bar, and the dance floor, there was a hovering holographic platform which housed a performer known as the Rhythm Maestro, the androgynous figure within wearing a skintight sensory suit and moving in a low gravity field which lent weightless to the nameless, faceless form as the Maestro engaged with the systems that seemed an extension of their limbs, pushing and pulling in a strange dance to draw out various lines and tracks and beats and tones, not just in the form of sounds in ranges extending below and beyond average human hearing, but also operating a show of lights in harmony with the sound.

Below the extravagant holographic apparatus was a Reman woman, impossibly small and dwarfed by her overhead accompanist; she was short and almost goblinesque, in a loose sheen dress. She’d painted herself with bioluminescence, especially notable were the lenses she’d worn in her eyes, to a disturbing glowing effect that made her seem supernaturally attuned. She spoke-sang in her own native tongue and it had a sense of an inaccessible poem to which no one understood the words, rendering the performance more of an experience of sound, an additional instrumental that could be just as easily danced to or acclimated into the background of the evening.

At the next table from Indigo was a tall woman in a gem encrusted wrap top and dark striped pants with flared out legs. Her crazy curled pale red hair was pinned back haphazardly and she stared into a drink, looking like she was processing something internally as her lips moved just out of sync with the singer’s mysterious words, almost as if she were drawing an incantation from her untouched drink.

Three people overshadowed Indigo’s table briefly as they paused, conferring with one another. “It’s been five nights,” the biggest guy said in a Russian accent. “Again and again, no progress. How many times now can we keep up this, returning here?”

“Look, Bear. She’s doing her best,” the Orion woman in the trio put a hand on her hip, her dark purple dress having a galactic effect of color blending, dark where the neckline started on the shoulderless top, and graduating towards a milkier tone near the hem at her knees. Her encircling hover bracelets twinkled and resettled as her matching orbital neck ornaments rebalanced languidly responding to her defensive shift in posture. “It’s hard enough with all the technology usually available for translation work. She’s got nothing but her own head to crack this with.”

“We should have brought with us a telepath instead,” Bear said.

“As I was trying to explain to you, due to her particular genomical traits this Reman is impervious to telepaths.” The scrawnier, clean shaven man sounded well educated. “Apart from that approach being frankly immoral.”

“I wouldn’t want to rush anyone, Doctor,” Bear snapped back sarcastically as the trio continued on towards the bar. “Is not as if trail isn’t already colder than Siberian popsicle.”

The words that Indigo heard raised an eyebrow but she did not get a chance to listen in more when a woman plonked herself down at the table that Indigo was sat at. “Knew I would find you here, Blue.” Came the silky voice of Aisha No’bell. Indigo looked up at the woman and frowned. Why were the pretty ones always psychopathic?

“Aisha? What are you doing here?” Indigo murmured, drinking what was left in her drink knowing she was going to have to pack up and leave pretty quickly if she wanted to get out of there without any bloodshed. Aisha was not known for being stable, especially as she had flunked out of military service and then got kicked out her commune.

“Well word on the street is the dog has you out on the prowl and I wanted to see if it was for business or pleasure.” The Human looking woman almost cooed.

“None of your business if the Watchdog has sent me here or anywhere now is it? Excuse me, I can see my date at the bar. I would hate for him to get the wrong idea.” Indigo lied, with a nod she quickly got up to go to the bar. She did not want the hassle that night nor any night from a former flame, especially one who she was pretty sure was working for someone she did not want getting involved in her business.

Aisha followed the woman and grabbed her arm as she made a move into the crowd. “I was not finished talking to you.” She spat angrily.

“Oh! Hey! You made it!” The Orion with the hover jewelry burst in with something like a drunken swing of her hips, successfully crashing through and breaking the clearly un-invited arm grasp as she came between Indigo and Aisha, all the while sloshing a shot glass in either hand. “I thought I was going to have to drink yours too!” the Orion bubbled, then looked Aisha up and down with a disgusted, off-put glare. “Someone really needs to realign her aura. Ew.”

Indigo looked at the Orion and grinned, taking the shot downing it without comment. “Yeah sorry I got held up and missed you coming in. This is Aisha, someone I used to know.” Indigo introduced. It was barely an untruth as she did not know the woman anymore, they had been a lot of things to each other but now it was like looking at a shadow of her former lover. Aisha just glared at the pair and disappeared off. “Well… you have perfect timing.” Indigo started.

“Yeah well,” She downed her shot too, her eyes formed warning lasers tracing Aisha to make sure she was truly leaving and not just regrouping or getting back-up. The ditzy-drunk facade fell away completely. “I know unwanted attention when I see it. You alright?”

Indigo did not even acknowledge that Aisha had even left. She did not want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she had gotten to her. “Of course I am. So who might you?” She wondered.

“I’m Calliope.” She offered a handshake, “Calliope Zahn. Actually, we’re here on business. Starfleet business if you can believe it.” She motioned towards the two guys at the bar whom she’d been talking with earlier. “That’s Bear and Ryder. Security and medical, it’s obvious which one’s which. Not breaking any molds there.”

“I can believe you are Starfleet. You all look like Starfleet, especially those two.” Indigo laughed, taking in the two men. “Really Starfleet does keep you all in the molds.” She giggled holding out her hand. “Indigo.” She introduced herself.

“Indigo,” She repeated. The name suited. “It’s good to meet you. I’m not usually working this region of space, but we’re on a missing persons case that’s been leading us on a wild goose chase. I’ve hired a translator to try out an angle.” She motioned to the woman staring through her drink at the nearby table. “I’m grasping at straws, but the vocalist may have known our missing person. She won’t talk, in fact she’s mute besides her singing, so I’m hoping there’s something we can work with in her lyrics.” Calliope shook her head. Even she knew it was a scant chance, but it was hardly going to keep her from trying. “Are you from around here?”

Lahr left it up to the woman if she took it as a nickname or her actual name. It was something she had never revealed, not even to Kaylin, Taev or anyone for that matter since she had met the Fenris Rangers. “I am from around here.” Indigo pulled out something from her purse and held out her ID holo badge signifying her as an active member of the Freecloud Defense Network or Watchdog. She glanced to where the woman was sat watching intently. “Many people have tried to translate. How good is she?” The blue haired woman wondered bringing her attention back to Calliope.

Calliope hadn’t expected Indigo to be a member of any defense organizations and nodded, impressed. She took note of this new contact and decided it might actually pay to have met her. Unlike herself and her compatriots, Indigo blended in. “Dea is pretty amazing with a lot of the languages from Romulan space, actually. It’s the third job I’ve had her on. But she hasn’t had any breakthroughs yet. It’s difficult since she can’t record it for review and use computer assisted processing. It might take her months to crack. At this point I have to decide if I should book a longer stay, or if I should just get back to my post and wait for the results. We’ve exhausted all of our other leads so far.”

It made sense now why they were there of all places where there were such better places to get better information. “So two important questions. Who is this missing person? And any reason they might have gone missing voluntarily on Freecloud?” Indigo wondered thinking about all the things she would ask if it was her case.

Calliope walked them away from the general flow of people and lowered her voice. “Oh, he has reasons to be missing. But if we can get his help, he shouldn’t need to hide. He may have been exposed to a Syndicate director currently known only by an alias. I think he can put a face to the name for us.”

The younger woman allowed herself to be pulled into a quiet area without common but it did not stop her looking around at everyone. Indigo made a face at the mention of the syndicate. They did not operate openly on Freecloud but they were a menace for shifty operations even if they brought money to the planet. “So… how can I help?” Indigo ventured.

“You’re serious?” Calliope chuckled darkly. “Sorry, it’s just not every day I bump into someone willing to wade into investigations into the Syndicate. I’d have to get clearance first, but I can ask for permission to liaise with you on the case.”

“I have nothing better to do and if the Syndicate are causing issues on Freecloud someone needs to assist and look into it from our end.” She admitted with a shrug. She had alternative motives to helping them along Fenris Rangers lines but they did not need to know that just like the Watchdog did not need to know that. “Get your permission and introduce me to the Starfleet molds.” She grinned just a little indicating the two men.

Working with local enforcement was likely to make new inroads. This was probably going to be a very fortuitous situation. “I think you’ll like them. They’re like family to me.”

Indigo nodded. She had people like that in her life so it was familiar ground. “I am sure I will. We need a proper talk though and you need to bring me in a bit better once you have permission.” She had not forgotten that permission was needed to bring her in to assist.

Reflexively, Calliope reached where she would have normally tucked a combadge while out of uniform, but instead resolved the meaningless action with a smoothing of her waistline, remembering her communicator was in the locker. She’d have to contact the director of the search operation outside of The Vault. “Yeah, right, of course, c’mon.” She pressed through the crowd to get to Bear and Ryder, waiting for Indigo to thread through behind her before grinning at Ryder’s curious expression and Bear’s dubious one.

“Oh, don’t tell me,” Ryder said, “You made a new friend.”

“Better. A contact. Doctor Daniel Ryder, Lieutenant Levi Baranovski— Meet Indigo, she’s with the Watchdogs.”

Bear snorted. “You didn’t get memo. Everyone who is citizen on Freecloud is Watchdog. And what kind of name is this Indigo? Is color, I think. Purple?”

“I do believe it’s a deeper blue hue.” Ryder interjected.

Bear crossed his meaty arms. “No, is purple.”

“It is whatever colour you want it to be.” Indigo snorted with a laugh. Someone had been doing their research properly. She liked that about a person. “And that is correct to a degree about every citizen but unlike most people I am still active after my constriction to the watchdog.” She was not going to tell them why or what she stayed but it gave her access to some very handy information.

“She can help us with the investigation,” Calliope said.

“If Ehestri wanted us to get help from the Watchdogs, we could have submitted a formal request in the first place, Calliope, “ Ryder reminded her. “You know she doesn’t want this to blow up.”

“Indigo isn’t a formal channel,” Calliope countered. “Which means there won’t be a lot of noise.”

Bear and Ryder looked at each other. “She is not wrong,” Bear muttered, causing Ryder to drop his arms in exasperation.

“Look I do not want to cause discord. I can go get a drink and come back?” Indigo murmured pointing to a free spot at the bar.

“Sure, yeah. But don’t worry about it.” Calliope laughed as she talked about them both in front of them. Bear and Ryder knew the score that came with their ranks. She stage whispered. “Once I get clearance, it’s my call, not theirs. They don’t have to like it.”

Indigo shrugged and looked at the two men. She was military and knew the score as well. The young woman just did not want to upset people that she actually wanted to help. “Would you both like a drink?” She offered as a peace offering to them as they were going to be left once the woman left.

Bear looked agreeable to the prospect as he followed. “Is not everyday somebody buys me a drink.”

“I’ll just be a few minutes.” Calli told Ryder, leaning in to be heard over the music without raising her voice. “I have to get a secure channel. Keep your eyes on them both,” she crossed her arms at the wrists and pointed in the counter directions of Bear and Dea.

The doctor crossed his eyes in response and she laughed.