Unwanted Questions

Posted on Tue May 18th, 2021 @ 4:13am by Black Market Jemison (Jemi) Ajayi & Civilian Cassandra "Cassie" Morrigan & Skyplex Administration Scarlett Wilson

Mission: This Week's Special
Location: Deck 3 Hub
Timeline: Immediately following Artist in residence

"All civilians will remain where they are pending the arrival of Alliance investigators. You will be released to your homes after completing interrogation." The voice rang out from the stations Public Address speakers. The deck was rapidly depopulating as folks ignored the announcement following the exit of the purple bellies that had accompanied the Minister and those that had apprehended security chief Shepard. As much as the Alliance enjoyed pushing their weight around on the station, they were dramatically understaffed for the levels of control they desired.

Swearing echoed around Jemi as her fellow onlookers scrambled to their feet and hurried away. She stuffed her camera into her backpack and hesitated. The broadcast said to stay put, and yet everyone was doing the opposite. One of those who wasn't following orders had something of a scowl on her face as she walked, standing out in attire that would've been considered good evening out clothes in the backwater. She stopped when she realized someone was still down and leaned over to offer a hand to the woman she was probably going to trip over.

Jemi focused first on the hand offered to her, then up at the pretty face of the hand's owner. She registered blond hair and mocking blue eyes, then took the hand, allowing herself to be pulled into a standing position by the woman's surprisingly strong grip. "I'm Jemison Ajayi. Jemi. Does this kind of thing happen often on the Skyplex?"

"Cassie." Came the response with a nod of greeting, "Someone's usually doing something stupid, but not typically to such a level the law is going to new heights of stupidity with gusto. Cryin' shame, too. Night's shot to hell and it didn't even get to start."

"I'm guessing the smart thing to do now is not wait around for Alliance investigators," said Jemi, as the announcement repeated. Her heart was beginning to slow to a normal pace. "I'm sorry your evening was ruined, I know I sure could use a drink. I was on my way up to my room when all this happened. Where were you headed?"

Cassie chuckled as she fished inside her shirt and pulled out a tin cigarette case.

"These idiots just carted off the only person who could find more than her shapely tuckus without being given nav coordinates, detailed instructions and a spotter." She flipped the case open and pulled one of the sticks out, "Best we get goin' one way or the other, where they'll put you up isn't worth the price."

Cassie put the cigarette between her lips and put the case away, "Now a drink sounds like a good idea, particularly since we got this comedy floor show." She gestured to one of the nearby bars which still was pretty chaotic, "This should get us good seats and hopefully they got somethin' other than the usual Xiong Mao Niao on tap."

Jemi briefly considered retreating to her room. But that would mean getting on the elevator, and with her luck all those Alliance soldiers were gathering in the same wing as the Petrovich suite.

"Can't argue with a solid recommendation like that. Lead the way." Jemi had to hurry to keep pace with the taller woman. Despite her striking appearance, Cassie blended right into her surroundings. No doubt Cassie had a much better sense of safety around here than Jemi. "Hope you don't mind me tagging along. This is my second day on the Skyplex and I'm still figuring my way around."

"Wouldn't mention it if I didn't want you along. Like I said, my night's shot to hell already and I didn't even get started." Cassie reached into a pocket and pulled out a lighter as she approached one of the bars looking at the gathering of Alliance Feds. Finding seats was easy enough but it also appeared that the bartender was gone too.

"This ain't the normal way things go on this cosmopolitan center of culture in the 'verse." Cassie said as she leaned over the bar, "Guess we're servin ourselves." She slapped a wad of credits down on the bar and reached behind pulling up a couple glasses and two bottles at random.

"So, you just here waitin' on your boat to get patched up or you lookin' to stick around a spell?" Cassie asked, looking at her new drinking companion. When she lit up, she made sure not to blow smoke in the other woman's face, as a subtle sign of that she was not looking to run Jemi off.

Jemi had opened her mouth to point out the obvious absence of a bartender, then closed it when Cassie served herself. Or rather, the two of them. Jemi wouldn't have thought of doing that herself. With a passing speculation as to the likelihood Cassie's payment would still be there when the bartender returned, Jemi grinned at her new instructor of frontier etiquette as they took seats at a table, and looked on curiously as the other woman lit her cigarette, a rare thing on her home planet.

"I'm looking to stay here at Greenleaf for a while. I'm from Londinium, and I told the immigration agent I'm here to start over, and that's true enough. For now I'm staying at the Tenzing Momo and learning my way around, until I can get residential quarters." From their vantage point Jemi and Cassie had a good view of the area around the hotel elevators where the commotion had just been. It was almost like a dinner theatre Jemi had attended in her home city. "I'm beginning to understand why Skyplex Administration hasn't answered my wave."

Jemi regarded the two bottles Cassie had taken from the bar. She was usually a light drinker, she'd need to be careful. "What about you, Cassie? Are you a temporary resident, or long term?"

"Plenty of folks lookin' to find a new start, at least here if it doesn't work out, you know where to look for the next ship to a new start." Cassie said, opening one of the bottles. Resting her cigarette in the ashtray for a moment, she took a swig from it. She turned and spat it out before looking for a label. There wasn't one.

"Zhe shi shenme lan dongxi...me and the proprietor are gonna have to go rounds about what they keep in stock. Must be the cheap stuff...I hope." She promptly tossed the bottle over her shoulder where it shattered on the floor behind them. The test swig from the other bottle seemed to meet with her approval and she poured two small shots.

"At any rate. Ain't much to say for me, 'cept that I didn't end up here by choice, but makin' the best of a bad situation has been a common theme in my life. But I seem to always find a card game to pay for my expenses, and I'm rarely bored. Not sayin' this kind of excitement always happens, like I said." Cassie glanced over her shoulder at the scene.

"...and I'd be lyin' if I didn't say this has my curiosity piqued." She commented.

Jemi jumped when the bottle hit the floor behind them, and sent a sympathetic thought to the poor bar worker who'd have to clean it up. She hadn't missed the other woman's side-step around her question as to her roots on the Skyplex. Maybe Jemi had committed some kind of frontier faux pas by oversharing. Or, more likely Cassie just didn't want to tell her straight.

"What do you expect to see happening?" Jemi took an experimental sip of the drink Cassie had poured her. It burned all the way down and she dissolved into a coughing fit. "Oh. cough That's strong. cough" Jemi swallowed a few times to get control of herself. "What is that?"

Cassie slammed back the shot, and her eyes shot open, "Whoohoohoo...yeah, that'll wake you up." She looked at the label, "It says it's whiskey, but I think reactor coolant might be more accurate. Thinkin' I picked the wrong place."

She picked up the cigarette and took a thoughtful drag, "I don't know what to expect, but either someone is making a play and didn't think it through or there's more goin' on than meets the eye."

"Unless," Cassie chuckled, "You were askin' what I see for myself. At which I would say I stopped askin' about that ages ago. Best to go day by day."

"So. Tenzing Momo huh? I've woken up there a few times. I think I punched out a bellboy though...I'm not sure, I paid some winnings with an apology letter just to be sure." Cassie said, "How's it finding you?"

She'd never met anyone like Cassie and Jemi was a bit overwhelmed and maybe a little bit smitten. "Well, I uh, haven't punched any bellboys. The young woman working immigration told me to drop her family name at the front desk. I did and they gave me a key chip to a room in the Petrovich family suite, complete with Uncle Zeno who is either a sweet old teddy bear of a man or ta ma duh dangerous, I'm not sure which."

"Then today when I was exploring the third level I overheard some gossip about why so many Alliance soldiers are on the station. I was planning to check the cortex for the official story when I got to my room, except there were crowds of young people wearing green hoodies, blocking the lift. The next thing I knew Alliance soldiers were shouting at me and others to get on the ground."

Jemi picked up her glass and attempted another sip, which went down burning but this time didn't result in another coughing fit. "Does that sound fairly typical for the Skyplex?"

Cassie refilled her glass, "I've heard both from just about everyone who talks about him. We've crossed paths a few times." She chuckled.

"I suppose there is that particular downside to my lifestyle, I don't often pick up on some of the word floating around. But youngin's in green blockin' the lifts...now isn't that somethin'." Cassie picked up her glass and took a contemplative pull, "Now our Chief of Security is on her way to the pokey, likely station security is goin' to be layin' down arms soon if they haven't already."

"Now that, my friend, tells us someone's gone and got some designs and they need the Administrator and Security out of the way, but the Purplebellies are in on it, willingly or otherwise." She took a drag from her cigarette and blew the smoke up, "You've got an eye for details, must be hell playing cards with you."

Jemi took a longer sip of her drink. This time it didn't burn so much on the way down, or maybe her throat was just numb. "Playing cards… you mean like for money?" She shook her head, and suddenly realized that of course that's what Cassie meant. Her cheeks went warm, although with her dark complexion hopefully it didn't show. "I'm not much of a gambler. I'm an artist, so I guess I do notice details. Especially when I'm drawing people."

She nodded to their view of the scene of the Security Chief's arrest. "Do you think it's safe, hanging around here?" Jemi thought about inviting her new friend to her room in the Petrovich suite. If Cassie knew Uncle Zeno, he wouldn't mind… right?

"An artist. Very cosmopolitan." Cassie nodded, before looking at the scene and back at Jemi and slammed back the drink, "The show's windin' down, I think. Plus, better they don't come askin' questions. I'm not in the mood for their questions. Oh, and I have a pair of '51 Navy Marshals on me. They ain't takin' kindly to Security bein' armed, well...let's just say they won't assume it's good sense or part of my mystique. They say I'm a gunslinger."

She laughed. "Ain't had to draw on no one since I got here though."

"I guess drawing is something we both do then," said Jemi with a laugh. "Navy Marshals… are those guns? I don't want you to get in trouble. Why don't you come to the Petrovich suite with me, Cassie?"

Oh, that probably sounded overly forward, thought Jemi, nervously. "That is, I could draw your portrait." Ah, hells, that sounded worse. "I mean, uh… I haven't checked the liquor cabinet, but there's a bar." Not getting any better. Jemi's cheeks were so hot that her blush probably showed right through her dark complexion. "If you want to, that is."

Cassie let her finish, stubbing out the cigarette.

"I'll interrupt before you invent anything else to dig that hole further." Cassie said and then cracked a smile, "I'm not going to decline. Firstly, yes, I'm armed. Secondly, you have been making accurate observations about the situation. Our boys and girls in purple gettin' a mite twitchy and Tenzing is a good place to hole up."

She stood up, "After you. Then we can see what we can get up to."

Jemi got to her feet and adjusted her backpack, grinning widely at Cassie. It had been a long day, and she was still dressed in the casual red long sleeved tee and blue jeans from that morning. Luckily her hoodie was blue and not green. "Let's go around to the hotel's back elevator. We'll come out close to the Petrovich suite - less wandering down halls and chances to get stopped."

She skirted the Tenzing Momo's main lobby, where on the minus side, she'd cowered on the floor, but on the plus side, she'd met Cassie. Jemi pushed the button to call the elevator. "This area was all blocked off earlier by young people in green hoodies. I sure hope none of them were hurt."

Cassie followed close behind, avoiding eye contact with the Feds as they walked. "...I'm still wonderin' if someone set it up to have them block it off. Hmm."

As the lift hummed while they waited, Cassie turned around to casually lean against the wall, but it was intentional, to make sure they weren't being followed. "Well. Tonight certainly got more interesting than I intended."

"I'm relieved to know it's not this interesting on the Skyplex every day." The lift doors opened, and they stepped in. "With a bit of luck the rest of the evening will be quiet and relaxing." Jemi pushed the button and leaned as casually as she could manage against the elevator wall. She'd never invited someone she'd just me to her room in a hotel before. "It wasn't all bad, I did get to meet you."

Cassie stepped inside but didn't relax until the doors had shut and the lift started moving. Then she gave a lopsided grin, "Well now that I will have to agree, likewise that we met. You stand out like I do, though not with my rather impeccable fashion sense. Rather, a sense of honesty that hasn't been watered down. You're not an open book, omission is something I suspect you and I are both doin' a lot of. But you're honest."

"Maybe there'll come that time, a sudden burst of feelin' a mite honest or enough whiskey, that we'll fill in those blanks. Maybe. But the way I see it, too many folks tryin' too hard to be someone else and actin' the fool the whole time. Ain't easy, too many here will take you for all you've got, take you for more and then leave your remains in a drain. Lord knows I've seen it." She chuckled, "And I ain't even drunk enough to get this philosophical."

Saying she was honest, that was a complement… at least, Jemi was pretty sure Cassie meant it that way. She knew it wasn't polite to argue with a compliment, but since it was about being honest, Jemi said, "It's been brought to my attention more than once that it'd be closer to accurate to call me naïve. Or an idealist." That's what Uncle Zeno had called her the night before. At the time she'd thought he was expressing approval, but maybe he was making a critical observation. "My lawyer, back on Londinium, said idealists are easy to exploit. Only sound piece of advice he gave me." The lift came to a stop and the doors opened. Jemi waited a moment, looking to Cassie who was clearly much better at this clandestine thing than she was.

"They are. But it's also a commodity in the 'verse that ain't in good supply, neither." Cassie said, her eyes glancing around as the doors opened, "And once that light goes out, it don't come back easy. Or ever. I ought to know better 'n anyone."

Jemi peeked out to see that the long hallway was empty, then hurried to the second door on the left, her key chip ready. The door opened just as easily as it had the first time, and Jemi stepped into the dark space of the suite and moved aside for Cassie.

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