The Needle In The Haystack [Part Two]

Posted on Wed Jun 8th, 2022 @ 1:12am by Captain Elijah Rutherford & Lieutenant Hadir Prenar & Lieutenant JG S'anra Shalakar
Edited on on Thu Feb 8th, 2024 @ 11:54am

Mission: A New Beginning
Location: After Burner Bar
2400 words - 4.8 OF Standard Post Measure

The three people who followed after Rashad sidled up to the bar, the two women on either side of him and the man on his left. Rashad picked up the drink the bartender had given to him, sipped at his drink and winced just slightly.

"That woman certainly had a quite the slap." the man to his left commented. "How about our offer about being part of your crew."

Rashad took a deliberate look at the man, "I said I wasn't looking for a crew, right now. I'm on vacation." he responded, then picked up his glass to sip at it once more. The glass's progress was stopped by one of the women putting her hand over the top of it, she causing it to be lowered back down to the bar.

Rashad gave a sour look at her. "I was about to drink that."

"Not now you aren't. We still want to be a part of your crew and we heard rumors that you were looking, we need to leave as soon as possible." the dark haired woman who had hold of his drink said firmly. She squeezing his hand along with the glass.

"Obviously you are hard of hearing, I am not hiring and I am on vacation. Look can't you just let me finish my drink? I've got an appointment in my hotel room with a nice comfortable bed, since you messed up my chance to have a good old fashioned poker game." he looked down at her hand which still held his upon the glass. "I take it this is a proposal of marriage? In some cultures when a woman holds a man's hand like you are and getting ready to break a glass you are proposing marriage."

The woman immediately removed her hand. When she released his hand, Rashad smiled then looked like he was starting to get nauseous. "Excuse me.. I think I need to go use the head." Rashad moving to head in that direction but was stopped.

"If.. you don't want me to... "ulp he barely kept from heaving

The woman moved quickly and Rashad tried to hurry towards the restroom. The man followed...

Hadir had already ordered the kanar and paid what was requested. While he waited for the bottle he overheard the exchange between Rashad and the others. As that trio began to head for the restroom Hadir nodded to S'anra that they should follow. He rose from his barstool and took the bottle of kanar. Hadir made his way to the restroom as anyone would have, however, he made sure to keep two steps or so behind Rashad and company.

The bartender picked up the glass Rashad had abandoned, noting that there were fractures in the glass. He cast a glance towards S'anra and then moved the glass to where it could be taken care of. The two ladies had followed after the male who was with them. The bartender said quietly, "Rashad is in a bit of trouble it seems." he said quietly, "And none of his own doing." all said in Orion.

S'anra nodded and pulled a pair of gloves from her shoulder bag. She really didn't want to cause a scene to where security would be called and the gloves had limited charges, only two charges per glove before having to recharge, but it was nice to have a stunner on hand. She followed quietly behind the group and ready to grab at the two females from behind if need be. she watched and waited for the right time to strike.

Rashad dashed into the bathroom and the man followed after him, and there would be the sound of retching coming from one of the stalls.

"Here let me help you..." came the voice of the man who had followed after Rashad, reaching in towards Rashad... And ended up stumbling backwards, as a foot nailed him in the stomach.

"Thorton!" the women called out and headed towards the door of the bathroom. It looked like one of the women was drawing out a blade.

Rashad rose to his feet, and looked at Thorton, "are we going to actually be doing this? I suggest you leave before your teeth get knocked in." he growled.

Hadir stepped into the rest room with his bottle of kanar in hand. Once inside he evaluated the situation and decided that it would be best for him to assist Rashad. He would wait until he garnered any information that he could. Hadir leaned on the wall by the entrance and opened the bottle to take a sip. "I guess evening up the odds would be best...." He said with a smile as he took a swig of the kanar.

In the hallway S'anra grabbed the second woman's neck from behind and heard the faint buzzing sound of the stunner glove. The woman slumped and s'anra caught her and dragged her into the ladies room across the hall. She looked inside and saw no one in there, she dragged her into the stall and sat her on the toilet and checked the woman's purse for identification, which there was none. But she did find standard federation credits, gold pressed latnum, a romulan knife and disruptor. S'anra stood up and noticed that her dress had been ripped, She relieved the woman of her weapons and enough gold pressed latinum to replace the dress plus a few extra.

S'anra went back out to the bar and ordered a cheap whiskey from the bartender and gave him a smile. She leaned in and whispered . " Your problem has been dealt with quietly. " She went back to the ladies room and poured a tiny bit into the woman's mouth and the rest on her clothes to make her appear to be a sloppy drunk and stunned her once more for good measure. She closed and locked the stall door before leaving the ladies room and poked her head in to check on the boys. " are you boys having fun yet? She asked quietly and with a grin.

Hadir stood leaning on the wall and contemplated his next move. For a moment he thought to knock this Thornton out with the bottle of Kanar... "I would hate to waste a good bottle..." He mumbled aloud. In a whir of movement he executed a Vulcan neck pinch and subdued Thornton. "There nice and clean... and better yet I get to keep my kanar. Now I suggest we get a move on." He smiled to Rashad.

" Stash him in one of the stalls so he's not found so quickly. They'll just think he's some passed out drunk and won't bother with him for a bit. By the time they come to we'll be long gone. " She looked at Rashad. " Your bartender friend let me know you were in trouble, You've got a good friend there. Perhaps we should give your friend some credits to let them sleep for a bit. " She suggested.

The Cardassian did as was suggested. Once Thornton was stashed away. "I would agree with the giving of credits. Whatever we are going to do we need to do it quick and get to the Docking Bay."

" I'd say about fifty to a hundred credits should be good enough for a baby sitting fee. " S'anra suggested. " We just need to walk out of here like nothing has happened and not draw attention to ourselves. " She looked at Rashad. " You go first, We'll follow in about thirty seconds. Wait for us out of sight and we'll proceed from there. Andrew already scouted ahead to make sure the ship wasn't being watched. " She looked to the two males. " Well, shall we get started? "

Since Hadir had taken care of the man who had attacked him, Rashad was able to deal with the woman who was partnered with Thorton. He looked up from where the woman was crumpled upon the floor. He was glad he had that special ring just for this particular situation. "You put him in the stall and I'll just put her in there with him, and lock the door. Thank you for coming to my assistance." with a bit of a grunt, he maneuvered the woman into the same stall as Thorton and then arranged her to where she was on Thorton's lap, her arm around the man's neck. Then spilled some cheap drink over the both of them. He then scanned the individuals with a device then frowned. "We've got to get going." He moved to the door way of the restroom, looked out and then walked out as if nothing happened. He made his way to the bar tender. "Thanks" sliding a small bag to the man.

He then left the Afterburner and waited outside of the place allowing sometime for the two who had helped him out to make their way out a small time later. It didn't need to look like they had met at the bar.

S'anra walked next to Hadir and looked about as if she were enjoying a sight seeing tour of the station. " I guess we can just follow him back to the ship and talk to him there. Andrew went ahead to check on the ship. I hope everything is alright on his end. " As she looked in the direction of docking berth 42 with some concern showing on her face.

Hadir nodded in agreement and walked out with S'anar on his arm. "We tour the station as it were until we get to the docking area." He agreed.

They followed Rashad at a distance and acted like tourist along the way, even stopping quickly for a bag of sweets, that and keeping they're eyes peeled for anyone following or being suspicious. They arrived at the docking area and S'anra began looking around to see if she could see Andrew.

Rashad made an appearance just before they arrived at Docking Bay 42, "Well hello there." he remarked, with an impish smile, "Fancy meeting you both here." His half drunken demeanor quickly changed though, to someone who was rather alert and not drunk. "Your friend is probably talking with my quartermaster as we speak, Leo is his name." Rashad glanced around, nonchalantly, "Just wander around just a tad bit more then we'll get to where we need to go."

" Your friends back at the bar were an unsavory lot, one of them even managed to rip my dress and ruin it. I checked her purse and found some interesting items, any guesses to what I found? I'll tell you, A Romulan combat knife and disruptor with a mixed amount of gold pressed latnum and credits. Any idea who your friends are? " S'anra looked about and smiled . " Perfect. There's a dress store right there, Time for me to replace this ruined rag. I'll be back shortly unless you want to join me and sit and wait while I try on a few dresses. "

"You go right a head lovely one, I'll stay here with your friend, besides I don't think he'd want me to cast my gaze upon your beauty, he strikes me as a possessive one." giving her a wink then when she left he turned his gaze to the Cardassian.

There was a fleeting moment when Hadir rather liked the idea of watching the Orion woman try on some clothes. However, that would have to wait. "Captain Rashad I too would like to know who those people were. If I am going to go into business with someone I tend to want to know who his associates are."

Rashad frowned slightly, at hearing the Orion woman's findings. "I knew something was off about them right from the start, hence my actions. I did not want you to be connected just in case they decided to follow me. And.. just a moment please, would you take this and run a scan." handing the Cardassian a tricorder. "Just need to check for tracers. And this is something I do routinely on my whole crew."

There would be a small beep which would indicate that a tracking device had been placed. Rashad chuckled, "Ah yes, they were successful." shaking his head.

Hadir took the tricorder and scanned as requested. He made sure to keep his face dour as he continued to play the upset party. There was definitely something not right about this Captain Rashad. Why would these people come out of the blue to attack him. It just did not add up for the Cardassian. However, he knew that all answers would come in due time. "Well it seems that all is clear..."

"Hadir, scan my purse." She said softly. I have a combat knife and disruptor in there. I certainly wasn't going to leave it there for them to use against us. I don't know why they'd put a tracker on their own weapons... But just in case, we don't want to make things to easy for them. " S'anra thought a moment. " And scan my dress as well, since she did grab it and rip it. "

Rashad took a look at S'anra, "Get a new outfit, and also get rid of the weapons. " he remarked then headed into the shop to where he got himself a new outfit and got rid of his other clothing. "Lets get going, times is wasting. And your friend is waiting." he could see the suspicion on the Cardassian's face and that was okay by him. He'll talk to them once they were away from the station. The two bought them enough time to leave.

Hadir drew his own weapon and destroyed the knife and disruptor that had been in S'anra's purse. He then waited for her to get changed after purchasing a new outfit. His patience wore thin as he waited for the explanation.

S'anra jogged over to the dress shop and was back in about fifteen minutes and came back wearing a simple white sun dress and matching white roman sandal shoes and a gold chain accent belt around her waist. " Not what I normally wear, but it's cute and comfortable, so let's go. "She said as she walked towards the ship. " And don't worry about the dress, I dropped it into the recycler so it can be replicated as something else, tracker included. Now we're aboard your ship let's tallk some, shall we ?"

Rashad gave a nod. "Lets get going." and led the way...