1
Episode 02: Cosmic Imperative / Re: Chapter 5 S [D02 | 0740 hrs.] We The Disgruntled
Last post by Dumedion -[Show/Hide]
Blue eyes, one brighter than the other, traced up along the contoured edges and curved high-rise buildings. The tallest ones, near the tight-packed city center, stood half-obscured by the misty clouds and gray rain, but patches of veiled blue shone through the soft deluge; a promise of better weather to come. The non-com’s features softened then, her gaze locked heavenward. The fact of the matter was, she didn’t want to be on Romulus. Kino wanted to be out there, with Reika; to know she was okay.
Be safe, her lips moved silently, almost imperceptibly. Distant thunder shook her back to the present with a blink. Focus, the Trill chided herself as a brow twitched at the Vulcan’s suggestion for the group to split up. The non-com considered it as their tech expert worked. If they were all familiar with the cities layout, they could cover more ground and potentially avoid unwanted attention. However, after weighing the cons, Kino shook her head subtly, uncomfortable with the risks. Her eyes narrowed at Ravenholm’s quip and suppressed the instinctive reaction to check her ears. Jeen bit back the snappy retort on the tip of her tongue and re-focused her attention on their surroundings instead.
“I’d advise against it, for now. Best we stay together until we find a base of operations, transport, get the lay of the land,” the non-com murmured without looking at any of them, her voice barely audible over the rain. “Worst case scenario; we split and scatter only under duress,” her head nodded to the speaker square. “Rendezvous back there if we can, bug out to the Allegiant if we can’t.”
When Ravenholm announced she was finished, Kino kicked off the wall she’d been leaning on to casually walk out into the rain, her eyes constantly in motion. “Shouldn’t linger then. Let’s take a walk, stay casual, keep our ears open,” she shrugged. “Not much of a crowd around the speakers, but we can try there, or hit the market?”
The rain decided to let up then, as bright beams of sunlight glittered in the air. Kino waited for someone in the group to make a call, while she slowly turned in casual vigilance. The rain-slick structures around them took on new shifts of color in the sunlight; subtle at first, then brightly shimmered in various hues of green. It was beautiful, in a way, but also bleak and dark as only densely packed centers of civilizations tended to be.
Towers rose above lesser kindred, which squatted atop mounds of their lesser kin, which in turn were crushed into a labrynth of massed habitation towers, industrial complexes, trade centers; all built atop the other, linked and threaded with endless avenues, alley-ways…
Movement caught her attention, in the shadows of one.
The Trill’s eyes met those of a Reman, blinked, then turned back to the group with a forced smile.
“Que the creepy attention we didn't want," Kino drawled sarcastically. "We’ve been noticed. Let’s move.”
“Havrannssu abhor daylight,” the pilot, Lillie, Kino reminded herself, whispered after she drew near - having also noticed the Reman, apparently. “This is known. Being there, at this hour...its odd. He looked wounded, too - perhaps..." the Romulan's voice trailed off. Kino couldn't read the look in her eyes to be sure, but it sounded as if the pilot was suggesting they try to help him somehow.
The Trill shook her head and gently pulled the pilot into step alongside. “Yeah, I saw. Looked like someone did a number on ‘em, but that doesn’t mean squat – Lorad’s lived through shit that would kill you and me ten times over,” Kino muttered as they walked, making their way towards the throng of people in and around a multi-street marketplace, lined with stalls of merchants flogging their wares. “Could be nothin’,” the Trill shrugged, “could be trouble we don’t want. Either way, we should be able to lose him in the crowd,” Kino guessed, with a glance to Lillie and the others.
[Meanwhile, a few minutes earlier...]
The blood in Tiramek's throat gurgled as he struggled to gasp in much needed air. The bastards had thought they'd ended him, but Remans were notoriously difficult to kill. There had been no official insignia on their clothes, nothing to connect them to either Donatra or Tal'Aura, but Tiramek knew the thugs had to have been working for either one of those bitches.
With a taloned hand clutched over the wound in his side, Tiramek used the other to brace against the alley wall, pulling his weakened body back to its feet. If they'd managed to determine his role in the reunification movement enough to get a hit on him, then it was likely the movement itself had a mole. Which made it equally likely that the very head of their movement, the senator himself, could be a target.
Tiramek groaned, spitting out blood and bits of his own cheek he'd bitten during the assassination attempt. He had the advantage here. They thought he was dead, meaning they wouldn't be watching their backs before reporting back to their handler. Glancing at his chronometer, Tiramek swore. He'd been out for twenty minutes. While his injuries subdued his normally heightened senses allowing for superior tracking, Tiramek took comfort in knowing he'd managed to plant a tracker on the ankle on one of his attacker's during the ordeal, and wounded the other with a slice across the face before going down.
Not knowing who in their own movement was the mole meant he would have to attempt this counter measure alone. Tiramek groaned again, feeling another rush of blood seep at the edges of his side wound. First, he'd need to get patched up, then...
Tiramek narrowed his gaze, staring at the small group mingling at the end of the narrow alley. Standing in the shadows, it'd be easy to miss Tiramek, just as it'd be easy to miss the alley itself. However, as the rains subsided, finally, to give way with the bright sun, he could easily see them and in the next few moments a strange smile cracked the serious lines of his face as he realized this group could prove most useful.
Having friends in high places meant he was never without means of bribery. Not wanting to draw more attention to himself, Tiramek managed to convince a young shop girl to be his tail on the group with the intention of telling them where to meet him. It'd taken some convincing that his ominous "or else you've been had" was meant for the group and not for the girl and under any other circumstances it may have been comical how their discourse turned sideways but soon enough she understood and trotted off after the group.
Tiramex turned away and still using the alley wall to bolster his weight, fairly slid back down the length of it, further into the shadows of the shanty side of the city where he knew he could find resources and rest. At least until his next move…
[Meanwhile, near tertiary entrance to vh’Jann Trade District]
As for the girl, she was delighted to have made a decent amount for acting as courier and was looking forward to the sweet steamed bun reward she promised herself once she delivered the message. Eagerness emboldened her as she weaved in and around the crowd, in dutiful pursuit. They moved like tourists; at weird times, at an odd pace, like they were utterly lost or didn’t care where they were going. Once close enough, she tugged on the hem of the blonde woman, the most normal looking in her eyes, but drew the attention of all four nearly instantly; she wasted no time and delivered her message in a rapid spill – without a care for its comprehension – then darted away, faster and lither than most would expect upon seeing her.
Kino arched a brow as she drew close to Lillie. “Uh, the hell was that about,” the Trill asked, somehow blending concern with amusement. The only true Romulan among them frowned as she met each of their eyes in a glance that could have meant anything, but to Kino, it looked a lot like fear.
"Roughly translated, the girl said: ‘there's a bar in the shanty town called Tholob. If you want support for your work and protection from the watchers, you should go there within the hour. We may have similar interests to support one another. If you aren't there, you've been had.’ Which means, well, we might be already."
Kino grunted a curse under her breath then quickly reigned her attitude in – it wasn’t helping. They were all on edge, and now wasn’t the time to fly off the handle. “Could be a trap; certainly sounds like a trap – perfect bait, and all,” Kino offered neutrally, then returned her attention to the crowd to watch and wait for them to decide how to proceed.
OOC: Our new (maybe?) friend, Tiramek, written by @Ellen Fitz - thanks for the collab and inspiration, as always