Blood Trail

Posted on Tue May 5th, 2020 @ 4:47pm by Jeassaho Kea (*) & Anthony Cardel & Jinx Jorasco & Executive Officer Jake Ford

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: New Laurium - Outside Equinox Industries
Timeline: MD 02 1800
1815 words - 3.6 OF Standard Post Measure

It had been an hour or more since Jeassaho, Jinx, and Jake had separated from Liha and Quin and there had been no progress at all searching for Gregnol. Jeassaho stopped as the beast that seemed to be leading them on a wild goose chase across the colony stopped and looked down a dark entryway as if to say go that way. “Is he wanting us to go down there?” she wondered, not at all wanting to go somewhere even with two people and an animal.

“She,” Jinx said. “Zambi is a female.” The tiny woman crouched down next to the cat-sized raptor. “Got something, girl?” she said, rewarding her with a treat. They seemed to have some strange rapport as if they understood each other. “Yes, the captain’s scent is down this alley.”

“Are you able to get a more solid fix on his communicator?” Jeassaho wondered, looking at Jake as she tried to not think why her husband would go down there, of all places.

"I've not had a fix on it since you told us he was missing," Jake replied, his brow now more furrowed than it had been since he'd arrived on Rosie. "It's either completely switched off or he's someplace where it's completely masked."

“Excuse me, what is down there?” Jeassaho asked, seeing an older gentleman walking toward them that looked like he belonged in the colony.

Anthony shuffled through the darkened alley after his conversation with a local bartender. From what he could gather, the crew were spread across the city, and he was directed into the old New Laurium district. It felt and looked like what the colony must have been like before the reserves of minerals and the corporate capital had found its way into the colony. It was a good way to measure where the colony had been and where it was heading should the colony ever lose its precious mining facilities.

A voice called out and Anthony spun around, his hand disappearing into his jacket for a moment. His face softened as he noticed an odd pair, a Human male and a small humanoid female, or at least that's what he could make of her.

"Uh...this is the old district of the colony," Anthony said, sizing up the two before his eyes were lured down to a reptile of sorts. His finger still lingered in his pocket fingering a pale blue object, wondering what sort of creature it was.

"Oh, hey..." Jake remarked, snapping his fingers in recognition. "I think we bumped into each other earlier. Funny how these things happen. Anthony, right? You seemed to know a lot about this place earlier. We could really use some help looking for someone. The Captain, actually. You mentioned maybe meeting him at some point. This could be a way of doing just that."

"I remember you, Jake," Anthony said, forcing a slight smile. He walked closer to the group and spread his hands in apology. "I, however, have not made the pleasure of meeting your captain so far." He frowned slightly. "Your captain is missing?"

"Overdue and not answering comms," Jake explained. "Not exactly expected behaviour."

"You know each other?" Jeassaho wondered, looking between the man she knew and the man she did not, trying to gauge the new man. "Did you meet my... the captain?" she asked, not giving him a chance to answer her first question before the second one came in.

"We've briefly met in the local bar. I nudged him by accident and we shared a drink." Anthony said. "As for your captain, I do apologize. I don't know where he is." It was starting to feel like the crew were hiding something. Why would a cargo captain go missing on this colony? It wasn't exactly the safest, but missing people cases were rare in the Federation.

“I see,” was all Jeassaho said as she took a few steps closer to where the man had said the old district was. They had no choice but to go down there especially if Zambi could smell him down there. “Looks like we are heading down there either way.”

Jinx considered. “There any brothels down this way?” she asked the man. “Illegal gambling dens? Dive bars? Places someone might get into trouble, like? Or drugs?” She didn’t know the captain that well, but every man had his vices, even if he kept them in check most of the time.

Anthony's eyes shifted to the left down the darkened alley. Surely she could not be serious?

"This is an outpost and a refueling station for dozens of ships. Very few, if any, places provide...uh, entertainment closer than New Laurium," Anthony said, pointing to an odd couple, a portly man with a young blond who was hanging on his every word.

"We mustn't judge. Some earn a slip of latinum easier than another." The couple disappeared into a side door that appeared out of a large concrete building. He was rather surprised that a crew of cargo hauliers would be shocked at the prospect of illicit activities. Maybe this crew was a little too green for this region of space.

"My husband would not go to any of those types of things, thank you," Jeassaho said, a little indignant that it was even being suggested about him of all people. He had not been drinking recently, and he had never been the type to do any of the other things.

"I would never suggest the sort, my dear, but we must entertain the idea that maybe he fell into the wrong crowd." Anthony pointed at the street marked as Lisbon Way, which was a faded green sign that hung by a leaning pole.

"There are several establishments down the street that may know something about his whereabouts," Anthony said, smiling with a pained look in his eyes. He wasn't expecting a delay in leaving the planet, and already his latinum was running a little thin in his pocket.

Jake glanced at Jea and Jinx. "All right. Stay behind me, okay?" he urged. He wasn't carrying a weapon. Probably a mistake, all things considered, but it was frowned upon by the colony administration, and he didn't want to draw too much of the wrong attention. With that in mind, though, he felt a little unsettled to be heading into a seedy part of town without much in the way of backup. Apart from Zambi, that was. Plus he wasn't sure how well the two girls could handle themselves in a pinch.

Jeassaho frowned at the man thinking she was incapable of handling herself, but it was not the time or the place to start that argument as Zambi led them further into Lisbon Way. They passed several establishments who tried to tempt them inside before one stopped dead at the questioning.

"Yeah, I have seen him. He was with a woman," the man said, pointing further down as Jeassaho held up a padd with Gregnol’s image on it. "They went that way speaking. I recognise him, as he looked clean."

Jinx gave Jake a meaningful look. Spacers were the same, no matter the species. When in port, have your fun, blow your latinum, because it might be months before you get a little honey. “A woman? Human?” she asked. “What did she look like? Is she a...lady of this neighborhood? Does she work for one of the establishments?” she asked him.

Jeassaho wanted to kick Jinx, but she resisted the urge... just. She knew her husband, and that would not change. He had never been that type of man. The man looked at them all and shrugged. "She was blonde and going on about a spider. I lost track just after."

Jake's eyes widened. "A spider!?" He looked at Jea and Jinx. "That can't have been anyone but Eden. They must have been down here together." Together as in working on a task, most likely. Not the type of 'together' they'd assumed from a stranger. He reached for his communicator. "We should try calling Eden, see if she knows where he is."

Jeassaho frowned at the mention of a spider, coming to the same realization as Jake, but she did not feel any worry. Eden was not that type at all. "Do..." Jeassaho started when Zambi suddenly ran off as if she suddenly sensed something. "Where is she going?" Jeassaho wondered as the small raptor led them into another alley, but this time there was an unavoidable sense that something had happened as they were confronted by a pool of blood and a sign of a struggle.

Jake's mouth was dry and his hand was on his communicator immediately. "Eden. Eden! Tell me you're there. Tell me right now."

Silence.

Jake looked at Jea and Jinx. "They're both missing?" He frowned. "I need to find her. I have to...I have to find her." He started to step backwards, away from the alley.

Jeassaho frowned at the man. "We do not even know whose blood this is." The woman was worrying inside deeply, but she was not going to overreact right then and there, as the communicators were notoriously unreliable. "You know as well as I do those things are so old your grandfather used them as a boy," the engineer said.

"Maybe. But I've been in this line of work long enough to put the clues together and make an educated guess. Blood, missing persons, no comms." Not to mention the seedier nature of this colony. "Jinx, see if Zambi can track the blood back to its source. I'll get back on to Valiyi and make sure she talks to the administrator. It's about time we made it more of an official all-points call." He continued moving away from the scene. "Meanwhile, I'm going to see if I can find Eden myself."

Jinx knelt down beside Zambi. “Good girl,” she said, stroking the raptor’s back. She touched the blood and sniffed it, feeling how fresh it was, then let Zambi sniff it. “Find him, girl.”

As Zambi started to sniff around the area again, Jinx turned to survey the alley to see if she could see anything that might point to what happened. There was obviously a struggle. She got low to see if she could see anything that might have been knocked under anything in the alley.

Jeassaho frowned. She did not like this at all. The raptor had brought them there because she smelt Reuben, it had to be his blood. Jeassaho needed to stay strong, her husband needed them to find him. She just hoped it was just Reuben.

OFF::

Lieutenant Commander (LOA) Jeassaho Kea
Engineer
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Jake Ford
Chief Armoury Officer
SS Mary Rose

Anthony James Cardel
Passenger

Jinx Jorasco
Chief of Science
SS Mary Rose