Gone Walkabout

Posted on Sun Dec 1st, 2019 @ 7:23pm by Skyplex Administration Scarlett Wilson & Plexie Natalya Petrovich & Gill Anderson

Mission: Opening Shop
Location: Deck 3: Donut Czar Us
Timeline: 10am

Stepping out on Deck Three, Scarlett could feel a change, the atmosphere was a bit more relaxed than the bustle of the shops, but ahead of her lay a multitude of restaurants, bars and stalls selling cuisine from across the verse. High brow pastries from Shinon, comfort cooking from the Rim worlds and an occasional hold over from Earth that Was, such as the brightly decorated establishment before her. Donut Czar Us had the best sugar filled goodness in the sector. It was also where Scarlett started her working life on the Skyplex. A long time and a lot of miles ago. She closed her eyes briefly preparing to walk into a piece of her past, a piece that never seemed to change. Even now she could see the young girl wearing the pink and white uniform behind the main counter, looking just as she had at age 14. Oh the stories she could tell of this place.

Scarlett walked up to the counter, already knowing the girl working there knew who she was. The young woman didn't seem too impressed, or interested. Plexies. Like this place they never changed. She gave the girl a broad smile. "I'd like a dozen assorted to go." she requested.

"Those things will rot your teeth." she turned to see Marshall Anderson standing just a few feet behind. He had his jacket slung over his shoulder leaving only the silver alliance issue badge and side arm fastened to his belt as a sign of his affiliation. He shunned the normal Marshall uniform and did not encourage it in his two deputies.

"They for the girls in the office, ...and Edgar I suppose." the DockMaster responded with a slight scowl at the end. She turned her attention back to the sitting on the stool twirling her hair. Pulling up her overly practiced smile she addressed Natalya again. "Ummm Hi, over here. I need a dozen assorted donuts please." waving as she spoke.

Another day. Another glorious, boring day. At least her in the doughnut shop. From her perch behind the counter, Natalya sat twirling a long dark strand of hair around her finger, blowing and popping bubble. She hated the job almost as much as she hated the gaudy pink and white shirt her father forced her to wear. Much like the way he had forced into working at the shop. It had started all talk about earning money, which Nat honestly liked when payday rolled around...not that it was enough to keep up with her steady supply of bubble gum and love of fashion. There had been some ‘blah, blah, blah’ chit chat that the young girl had tuned out and then it had ended with a sternly spoken demand, in his ‘I have spoken’ way and a dismissive hand wave.

Thankfully, her shift today was a short one, even if the hours were slowly trickling by. But at least she wasn’t expected to come in a bake. Or decorate. Natalya shuddered to even think about having to actually work. What she wanted was to be home sleeping, resting up for later, not sitting here pretending to work.

They annoying jingle over the door drew her attention as the Dockmaster entered. Natalya froze, khol lined blue eyeing the older woman as she approached the counter. Gorram customers. With a roll of her eyes, accentuated by a pop of her gum, Natalya detangled her finger from her hair and slid down from the stool. No one could ever say the teenager cared about customer service, especially since she took her time grabbing a folded box and filing it with a pair of tongs. She gave the second jingle of the bell an even fiercer roll of her eyes as she closed the box.

Natalya slid the box on the counter in the typical, unimpressed teenage fashion, “Is that all?” Just what she needed, the Marshall. Had she gotten caught on camera this time? He didn’t look like he was here on business, which for the Plexie would be good news.

"That should do for me. Get the Marshal a Coffee in addition to whatever he is getting." she said to the less than attentive young lady. Scarlett turned to the Marshal. "What brings you up to the less than exciting level of the Plex today?"

"Just been up to Lacy's. They have rats in the store room again taking five finger discounts."

Natalya snickered, nearly choking on her gum.


Scarlett turned her head towards Natalya and squinted her eyes. "Seems there are a lot of rats running loose these days."

"Might help if you lowered your rates and switched her security camera back on."

Natalya gave Scarlett her best innocent look, complete with wide blue eyes and slightly pouting lips.

Scarlett looked back at the Marshal. "Times are tough. Station got stripped over the last year. Merchants can't afford proper security measures. We are lucky to keep the water and heat on."

"Just the coffee please miss. Black and strong." Gill spoke to the serving girl before turning his attention back to Scarlett, "I hear ya, but the cams cost next to nothing to run and If I cant catch the rats and stop the thieving your customers will never be able to pay their bills... just good business."

She didn’t want to turn away from the rather informative conversation between the Dockmaster and the Marshall, neither of which seemed to realize just how much information they were giving a plexie. And she wasn’t about to stop them. Instead Nat set out pouring up Marshall Andersons’ coffee, complete with a lid and handed it off.

Gill reached over and took his coffee from the girl. He raised his hand as if to dip his hat and snatched it down. Alliance drew the line at him wearing a stetson on duty and damned if he could get used to it. He'd wore the thing since he was a kid, back then it had been too big and kept falling over his eyes. His sister used to tease him and... and it now sat in a drawer in his office. He realised his mind had been wandering, another bad habit he had carried since childhood. He raised the steaming cup,

"Much obliged." he murmured as he took a sip, "have a think about those cams. If you let rats get too brave they start biting."

Scarlett didn't take kindly to being lectured about things she had no control over. She stepped squarely in front of the Marshal, her cool blue eyes staring into his. "The cams sound like a great idea. Which one of your deputies are your electing to not get paid this month so we can get them installed? I think you are going to need every hand you can get with every ship in the sector descending on this station to buy up the supplies getting dropped this week. I expect you to keep this station safe and secure. We don't have the luxury of running a deficit like y'all do in the Core. Folks round here expect to get paid. Ask me more about this in a week when we may have enough tariffs in the coffers to make some improvements." she said speaking heavily with her hands using broad gestures to emphasize each point. Her face was becoming closer in tone with the flame locks of hair surrounding it.

Instead of resuming her perch back on her stool, Natalya settled for propping elbows on the counter and resting her head in her hands. This was good. Rich. Almost too good. Or was it something else? Were they trying to ferret out Plexies? Either way, cameras being out was a good thing. A real good thing.

Natayla wasn’t the least bit surprised when it happened and that flash of green darted out the door, the jingle of the bell seeming to shift the adults into motion.

Scarlett felt a sudden tug on her belt and a blur of green in her peripheral vision. Her hand dropped reflexively for her cortex. The bulky device was still hanging in its pouch. Scarlett quickly started patting down the tight jeans she was wearing. "Sonnuvabitch. Cào nǐ zǔzōng shíbā dài! That little sneak just grabbed my wallet!" She turned and set off after a figure in green high tailing it out of the shop.

Gill had just taken a breath to reply when the thief struck. For a moment he stood in stunned disbelief that the footpad would dare hit a mark only a few feet away from the stations only paid Marshall. His thoughts did not dwell, there was an insult buried in there somewhere. With a curse Scarlett was off after the thief, a blur of flame red hair tearing away into the crowd. Gill rolled his eyes and followed. This would not end well.

He quickly caught up with Scarlett and together they were gaining on her green clad assailant. The thief was short and wiry, probably just a kid. He or she glanced back, wide eyes visible under the shade of a hood. A passing trader made a grab for the criminal "Xiong Mao Niao" she snarled pushing him away, definitely a girls voice! She threw herself down a service alley between two shops and disappeared from sight.

Scarlett hit the wall at the alley corner hard with her shoulder as she tried to weave after the little thief. "I swear this was easier when I was a kid." she caught her breath for a moment, looking down the passage way before turning back to the Marshal "What? You arent going after them?"

Gill raised an eyebrow as he took a step past her and walked into the alley. He pulled a torch from his belt and began to search the immediate area for bolt holes or handy portals through which the thief could have escaped. She had not gone far in before making her escape or the sound of running feet would have given her away. He peered upwards towards the ventilation pipes and maintenance walkways and noticed a wire and hook swaying above his head. He continued the search for several minutes trying to make out any other clues that would tell him where she had gone.

"Ai ya jwai leh." his torch beam had fallen on a deactivated security cam. Shaking his head he turned and walked back to the alley mouth where Scarlett was waiting.

He gestured upwards towards the maintenance platforms. "Kid had a zip wire hooked up to the pipes up there, clever trick. She could be anywhere by now."

Scarlett looked up at the rig the Plexie had escaped with. Impressive. She had to give the kid props. Almost too good of a get away. "You could still try and head her off. She obviously went up, and there are only two decks above us."

"I'm a Marshall not a human spider. I'll have one of the boys put the feelers out for anyone bragging about mugging the station boss right under my nose, other than that." He shrugged, "It's just a pity the security cams up there are all deactivated. Might have been a different story."

Deactivated. One would almost think the Marshal had an obsession with surveillance equipment. This was almost too convenient. Merchant spaces had their share of security bills to play, the general station, she had those paid up. Scarlett looked up at the access way stretching upward. There were plenty of places for Plexies to move between floors and avoid detection. She had routed most of the ways herself in her teens. There was no need to take out security cams here, unless someone was being lazy, or was not from the Skyplex... She stared up at the passage running through possibilities in her mind.

"Swing by my office later and file a report." it suddenly dawned on him that he was missing his jacket. He must had dropped it in the chase, "Yeh su! You'll have to excuse me." and with that he was off, running back towards the doughnut store.

And like that the Marshal was gone. Typical. Just like the Alliance, offering keen insights of common knowledge and vanishing into their blessed utopia. She was going to have to solve this on her own. And unlike the Marshal and his deputies, she knew just where to look.