The Dangers Of Hysperia

Posted on Wed Feb 8th, 2023 @ 4:45pm by Jeassaho Kea (*) & Theodore Winslow (*) & Chief Helmsman Kalahaeia t'Leiya & Mykaia Kylo-Zahn

Mission: Mission 16: Hysperia
Location: Hysperia
Timeline: Second Day of Festival (MD06)
3867 words - 7.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Jeassaho was relieved that someone sensible wanted to come with her to explore and search out somewhere that a part for the still she was making could be purchased that Jeassaho was just not sure she could make well enough on the ship. She was an amazing engineer but it was something even she was sure would require more concentration than she had. “Have I said thank you for coming with me enough yet?” Jeassaho wondered to Kali as they stepped from the hustle of the main square to one of the side streets of the Hysperia’s more merchant quartet. Jeassaho was not at all wearing Hysperian clothing as she was literally planning to buy the part and then go back to the ship and fit it to the still and start a cleaning process.

"Maybe. But save me a cut of the first bottle, to be sure." Kali grinned. Unlike Jeassaho, she had gone in for the local attire somewhat, one of the velvet-y long high/low cut flowing tunics and leggings pairs she'd taken to; this one in royal blue with gold stitching that matched a pair of sapphire and gold earrings.

"Got to get there first." The Betazoid pointed out with a grin looping her arm through the woman not overly caring if the woman wanted the closeness or not. "We need this part then deep cleaning and sanitising, then hope we get the ingredients correct. It is not a simple thing but I am so looking forward to something different." She loved engineering but not being chief or having the opportunities to teach and train as she did in Starfleet left her with a hole in her self-worth. This was a chance to be something other than the Captain's wife.

Kali tensed at first at the unexpected contact; but relaxed again when nothing else came of it. "We should just grab ingredients from the farms here in bulk and keep them in stasis or deep-freeze in one of the empty cargo areas. Personally I'm thinking we can do some fruit-infused stuff. Where is this dude who supposedly might have this thing, anyways?" She eyed the alleyway they were in now somewhat skeptically.

Jeassaho nodded. “I believe that was the plan. It’s a heat valve and the map said it was two lefts and a right but this does not look right….” Jeassaho said turning a corner and stopped as she noticed four men stood along the street talking in hushed voices just under one of the tents that store unwanted equipment.

"Maybe we should..." Kali got the weird prickly feeling on the back of her neck that showed up sometimes, and moved to pull slightly back with her and Jeassaho's arms still linked, hoping to direct them elsewhere from whatever this was that felt odd to her; but it was too late, one of the men had noticed them and turned to stare right at them.

Jeassaho winced as the man turned to look at them and she did not need to be a telepath to know they had stumbled into something they should not have. “Now what do we have here?” The man who was staring at them asked as the other three finally took notice of them.

"None of your business." Kali said firmly, and started to more deliberately steer them away, but the part of her that had spent a few too many years hanging around dodgy gambling dens and the like was pretty sure this wasn't going to end well, and she was cursing herself inside her head for having forgone wearing a phaser holster under her shirt: All she had was her blade and her fists, and she had no idea what, if anything, Jeassaho had if this came to a fight. Or, for that matter, how fast the Betazoid could run.

"Oh pretty lady," The man closest said as he came closer. Jeassaho stared at the man and rolled her eyes at just how much the man oozed slimness. "Everything about you is my business when you are in my neck of the woods in my business."

For the most part, this section of the market had been described to Mykaia early on as an area more for the organisational and storage aspect of proceedings rather than containing anything of any particular interest to patrons. As such, it tended to be quieter and absent of crowds, which the Risian found particularly useful on a day where she was cutting it fine not being late for her tavern shift. Ducking between tents to create a short-cut through had seemed logical but the expectation of an empty space had not factored in stumbling into the midst of a group's exchange. The petite girl stopped suddenly, taken aback, and stepped nimbly over a tent peg in an attempt to abandon her plan and steer back towards the main drag. "Sorry, I only meant to cut through."

Kali had been debating whether to correct the man’s insulting and threatening comments and assumptions with an attempt at deflecting the situation or with a firmly planted foot to the groin when the newcomer cut through; and made a split-second adjustment to the plan on the fly, tugging on Jeassaho’s arm and beginning to shift their weight towards a swift movement back the way the Risian had entered from, figuring to take her with her. No sense in leaving anyone to these goons, whoever they were. “As did we. We will be going now, then.” She reprised the same firm tone as before to the man, and moved herself and Jeassaho a bit closer to Mykaia, catching the Risian’s eye with what she hoped was a decent signal for ‘and so should you’.

Jeassaho did not need to be a telepath to know the situation was turning bad even at the insistent tugging on her arm. “No one is going anywhere.” The leader said as he started to move closer again as the other three spread out to try and impose them.

"Yeah see, that's where you're wrong. We're leaving, and this is your last warning." Kali didn't see swords or bows on any of the men; meaning if they went in for local laws and local carry, at most they had daggers on them, like she did. But one person with a dagger - and possibly two with fists, if Jeassaho or the Risian were any good at that sort of thing - against four people potentially with them was not great odds. The only saving grace was that they all looked like humans, which...possibly made it at least in the realm of 'small chance' instead of 'freak chance'. Still. She recognized from too much time around various thugs the stances of the men as setting up to fight or grab them, and the subtle outline of what was probably a concealed weapon on at least one of them, and came rapidly to the conclusion that they probably didn't want to let the foursome finish setting up whatever they were bent on getting into position for, so Kali didn't bother to play human-style honor here: She didn't let the man react to her statement more than the barest beginning of a derisive laugh he got out as she launched herself at him out of the blue and struck hard, fast, and repeatedly, slamming him into the wall of the building, disorienting him long enough to mimic a version of the trick she'd done on a different man who'd been reaching for her years ago, the creep in the casino who'd gotten both his arms broken. This guy was larger, but his bones snapped just the same, and she gave him another shove towards the ground as she vaulted away from him, aware that one man was all you got the advantage of surprise on in a fight like this and frantically looking for where the other three were, what weapons they had or hadn't managed to draw, and where Jeassaho and the newcomer were, while one hand reached under her tunic to draw her blade.

Kaia, rather than demonstrate any natural instincts that might have proven useful, stood rooted to the ground wearing an expression of rounded shock. Everything had happened so fast, and without the earlier context for her to even understand which of the two sides were the established troublemakers, the fact that the small Romulan had been the first to strike didn't leave the Risian feeling overly confident that she was standing on the right side of this altercation. Her eyes darted from face to face, trying to get a read on what was happening. She'd met Romulans during her travels, and fewer back at home, but she'd never seen one fight before. Not this close, anyway. Why was this one attacking the locals? Taking several steps backwards towards the tent she'd squeezed past, Kaia's gaze settled on the face of one of the men. Wasn't he local law enforcement? They got called to the tavern often enough that it was hard to keep track of them.

Kali noted the Risian back up a bit and was somewhat relieved; the further away she could get from grabbing distance of the remaining men, the less potential hostages they had. Her eyes kept searching rapidly for Jeassaho and the other three and she kept her own back close to the same wall she’d made use of earlier.

Jeassaho was just as stunned as Mykaia as the Romulan had moved first which gave her no time to react or find something to fight with. She was just about to pick up a lid from one of the stacked containers when another figure came into the area and surveyed the scene. "Buzz off mate." One of the males said as he reached for Jeassaho as she hit him with the lid. Theodore Winslow took it all in and sighed.

"Yeah buzz off." The man said doubled over from Kalahaeia's attack. "We can handle these market thieves."

"I ain't no thief," Jeassaho commented as she used the lid to thump the man.

"Course you are not Mrs. Gregnol." Theodore said stepping into the light better.

"Me either." Kali recognized the human Ranger from the meeting before as the light hit him and gave him an appreciative nod. Since the odds appeared to have evened a bit, she slid the blade she'd just barely drawn back to where it had come from and just stuck with fists and feet for now, waiting now for the next strike attempt to come. "We were just passing through when these guys - " She glared in the general direction of one of the remaining men circling them " - decided to surround us, threaten us, and make it clear they meant to prevent us from continuing on."

Backed up against a tent with no immediate means to navigate the narrow squish of anchor-lines and pegs she'd slid through in the first place, Kaia's eyes continued to find it difficult to know where to focus, though they showed a propensity to slide back towards the Romulan with hesitant wariness. It wasn't as if it would do her much good to remain on guard, there was no way she moved faster than the woman. "I just work here," she eventually faltered. "Well, nearby. The Dragon's Flame Grill and Bar," she added, looking towards the man she felt she recognised.

“Good steak.” Was all he said in response to the woman saying where she worked. He heard the rumours that the SS Mary Rose crew got in trouble, but he had not believed it until that moment as he stared at the three men who were trying to size them up. “So there is four against three…two and a half.” He recalculated seeing the man practically lying on a crate.

"It started off as four against two but in the other direction, just because we had to gall to be passing nearby them, so don't feel too bad for them." Kali called out while keeping a careful eye on the two goons still standing, waiting for either of them to make a move, and a partial one on the man she'd stuck and the one Jeassaho had kaboshed with the lid, just in case either wasn't as out of the fight as they seemed to be.

“He isn’t feeling bad. He is trying to decide which one to take down first.” Jeassaho whispered seeing the almost clinical coldness to the Fenris rangers features as one of the men came towards him bored of waiting for something to happen. Theo just looked at him and kicked him hard as he attempted to strike him. His friends backed up a little seeing they had met their match.

"Great." Kali, rather than disturbed, seemed heartened as her sensitive hearing picked up Jeassaho's clarification of Theo's intentions as to their opponents, and once she saw he'd picked one, turned that much more of her own focus to watching the one of the still-fully-standing pair that he hadn't chosen to address first.

Her shoulders hunched and tense, every strike of violence causing her to wince to a jolt, Mykaia fought against her rising panic to dredge up scattered facets of a lifetime of negotiating with drunk patrons. "I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding. There's no need to make it..." She jumped again as Theo's boot made its final contact. "...worse."

“No I am not making it worse just ending it.” Theo commented watching as all the men shared a look and backed up a little.

“We were just having a little fun.” One of them finally decided to speak in a shaking voice. Between the little one who attacked them first and now the bigger man it was not worth it.

“Sure you were. I can see what is in your mind.” Jeassaho commented.

"You want to maybe reconsider just letting us mind our own damn business like we wanted to in the first place and leave?" Kali aggressively raised one eyebrow, glaring at the men. Her aunt and her parents would probably have something to say about leaving living enemies behind; but since barring a justifiable reason to use true deadly force she was just going to kick the hell out of them and leave them living (if rather worse for wear) anyways, it seemed like offering them the chance to turn tail and beat it - as the men had not allowed them to do - might save both time and trouble. "I'll point out that my friend here - " She jerked her thumb and chin towards Jeassaho " - will know if you plan to use the opportunity to attack us, so keep that in mind."

Jeassaho pointed at her eyes to prove the point of her telepathy before they all looked between them and backed off and disappeared further out of the tent and back down the street. It was not at all worth it. Theo turned to everyone and took them all in. "You all okay?" He asked quietly making sure that they were all okay and that the attackers had not hurt them before they got there.

"I don't even know what's going on," came the faint voice from the sidelines. Mykaia, far from willing to move yet, was staring in the direction the men had taken. She wasn't entirely convinced she hadn't just been deserted to deal with the actual problem alone.

“The short version is, we - ” Kali waved a hand at herself and Jeassaho “ - were minding our own business looking for a shop that had a part we need, when we turned into this alley and those goons were here. They made some creepy comments and decided they didn’t want to let us leave. We tried to talk them out of it but it didn’t work and they started to surround us to attack us, so I short-circuited that and attacked them first in self-defense right around when you came into the alley. Then our friend here showed up and the goons decided they’d picked a losing fight and beat it.” Kali smiled at Mykaia, and then at Theo. “Thanks for the assist, by the way.”

"I was wandering by..." He said with a shrug. It was simply, the right place, the right time and pure luck.

Still visibly uncertain, Mykaia swept her gaze from face to face, the flicker of her brow eventually turning into a deep pucker. "But..." She was far from willing to contradict a woman who had just demonstrated she could rip the Risian in half if she decided to. That being said, honesty and a genuine sense of confused curiosity made it difficult to just sit on her hesitation. "...one of those men was local law enforcement, I'm sure of it."

Kali's eyebrow went up again, this time in surprise at hearing this, before finally settling back down, then shrugging itself with her other eyebrow up-and-down in unison with her shoulders. "Wouldn't be the first time a colonial official has been corrupt, if so." She was, however, rather glad she had a telepath with her if that was true, just in case anything came of this later: Lots of people tended to doubt the word of a Romulan; but the word of a Betazoid (if both parties were willing, of course) was pretty easily verified with a check by another Betazoid; and while most Hysperians were human, not all of them were. Now that she was fairly certain the asshats weren't coming back (though she kept an eye out to be sure), though, Kali noticed the rather shaken vibe the young woman had. "...You OK?"

"I think so," Mykaia responded, finally willing to pick her way over tent pegs to approach the trio, though she maintained a polite distance that masqueraded as manners to hide her residual wariness. "More confused than anything. I've been here for about a month and crime has never seemed particularly rampant. The odd bar fight," she shrugged, well-aware that the indent on her forehead where her gem would usually sit still gave away how much of a non-deal that was for her.

"People do not like being caught," Jeassaho said simply with a shrug. She was not in the slightest surprised that one of the men was local law enforcement. They were sometimes the worst for that type of thing if the corruption got in.

"Though if those were also the guys with the heat valve we need, don't think they're going to be that interested in selling it to us." Kali joked.

Jeassaho frowned and pulled out the damaged pieces of the heat valve that she had in her pocket. “Well I am hope so too.” It had been such a simple task that had been blown off course.

"You're looking for replacement parts?" The pinball bounce of Mykaia's gaze between each of the faces continued until it finally settled on Kali's, even though there was something slightly off about the otherwise-natural assumption that the Romulan was in charge. "Are you from one of the ships docked in the shipyards then?" It was hard to keep track of people, and most of the crowd had only turned up for the festival, either by one of the many shuttles in and out of the system or on a personal carrier held over at the short-term bays. It probably wasn't unfeasible that one of them needed repairs but the Risian's more recent experience had given her an increased interest in those with longer-term objectives.

"Yeah, the really old Constitution class ship. My husband's ship." Jeassaho said holding out the piece that she had been setting about searching for when they had been distracted. Theo stayed quiet as he stood there looking around and around with his arms crossed. he did not think they would come back but you just never knew.

Kaia's eyes lit up with recognition. "Oh, Curtis' ship!" It was close enough to how her fellow Risian had described it, despite the fact that Mykaia had never really bought into the idea that he was being totally serious. The connection alone seemed to relax her. It certainly gave things a perspective that was a little better than Pissed-Off Romulan and Friends. "He showed me around, it's easily the largest ship I've ever been on."

"Oh, you know Curtis?" Kali smiled at Mykaia, though like Theo, she was keeping an eye on things around them, hoping the goons didn't come back. She wondered if the pair had some past connection, or if it was another case of 'same species noticing another of their ilk around and deciding to have lunch'...Though, somehow she suspected the Risian version would involve more actual lunch, and less subtle sussing out of threat potential, than what she and Theo's colleagues had done.

“Who is Curtis?” Theo asked.

“One of our crew mates. He is pretty unassuming. Nice chap.” The Betazoid spoke up grinning about it. It was not often she said someone was instantly nice.

Somehow, that single revelation seemed to have turned the Risian's uncertainty right around. It wasn't that she could guarantee anything but she'd been on the ship, had met a couple of the crew, and it honestly didn't seem likely that they were criminally-inclined ruffians out to cause trouble. Kaia nodded slowly to Kali's question. "I met him where I work, he took me on a tour of hi...your ship." Something Jeassaho had said suddenly registered and the young woman's gaze switched to regard the Betazoid earnestly. "Or your husband's ship, rather."

Jeassaho just smiled at her and nodded. “Curtis giving tours of Rosie is a new one though.” Jeassaho could not help but grin a little at the notion of the man trying to impress the girl by giving a tour. “Can we walk you somewhere?” Jeassaho offered wanting to keep the girl safe.

"Well," Kaia hesitated, looking from face to face. "I mean, I'm going to work, and that work is in a tavern, so if you want a drink, I could slip you something to say thank you for not throwing policemen at me." Her gaze finally came to rest on Kali's and the Risian smiled, albeit a little abashed. Romulans didn't venture to Risa very often, she had limited understanding of how to avoid offending them, but a great deal of motivation to learn very quickly.

“Sure; thanks.” Kali grinned, then tugged her Hysperian-style tunic down and smoothed it, and glanced over at Jeassaho. “Guess we’ll have to do more research on where to dig up a heat valve later.”

“After beer…” Jeassaho agreed and looped her arms through both women to drag them both out of the alleyway storage area leaving Theo to follow behind in his usual style.

Some things never changed for him.