Lions in Dens

Posted on Sat Jul 25th, 2020 @ 6:16pm by Security Johannah "Mack" Shepard & Plexie El Plexuco

Mission: This Week's Special
Location: Donuts Czar Us
Timeline: Current (afternoon, before Mack's "date" with Oskanna)

At the appointed time for her meeting with Sasha Petrovich, Mack entered Donuts Czar Us. She glanced at the counter. She didn't see Natalya, the Czarina. Maybe she was on a break? When Mack made eye contact with the person manning the counter, they gestured with his eyes back towards the kitchen. Mack looked in that direction to find a round middle aged man in a long white apron, flour covering his hands. Despite his somewhat rotund body shape the man had deep angular cheek bones of distinctly slavic origin. By general process of elimination, Mack could see this was Sasha Petrovich, patriarch of the Petrovich family. When she was sure he'd seen her and recognized her, Mack walked back behind the counter to the small cooking area just out of sight to the customers. The man's thick hands rolled dough and pulled it apart,, stretching it into long bands.

"Sasha Alexeyovich," Mack said, using the given name/patronymic combination as a sign of respect. "Thank you for meeting with me. May I speak with you?"

The man looked up at Mack, gave her a once over and continued with his dough bands. "Ah, Chief Shepard, I presume. Please come in. I do apologize, my little enterprises need constant attention." He smacked the dough bands down hard onto the plastic rolling surface with a loud thud. "My daughter mentioned you would be stopping by. How may I help you today officer?"

Mack watched Petrovich work for a moment while she thought about what to say. "I like this place," Mack said. "The Plex. So far, that is. It's been a long time since I've really settled anywhere for any real stretch of time. I wanna do that here. To do that, I need to know I can do my job, that doing my job won't put my family, my sister, at risk. That means you and I, we need to have some kind of understanding, a mutual respect. Miss Wilson tells me you're tied into everything here, including import/export. She says that you have the best interests of the Plex at heart. If that's the case, and if we can agree to communicate with each other, find a way for you to run your business concerns and me to keep the peace, I think that would be best. I won't blatantly break the law for you. I've worked too hard to get on the right side of it since the war. I'm friendly with the current Marshal, but any beef you have with the Feds you'll have to take up with him. But as for local issues... If you're the decent guy Miss Wilson says you are, there will be more than a few instances where we can find some common ground. At least I hope we can."

The dough hit the table with another loud smack. Petrovich gave Mack a look that was borderline scary looking. "This is good. You come to talk. There is much misunderstanding of my family. Three generations we have lived on the Plex. My father he opened this donut shop. I took it over from him and god willing my son over there may someday take it over from me. He has much to learn still." He said with a sideways glance towards the mid thirties man at the front.

He picked up the dough again, stretching it and folding then stretching it again. "We Petrovichs, the Plex is in out blood. It has been good for my family, and my family looks out for it. We keep our community united. We have defended it against those that look for nothing but their self interests." He pulled the dough and held it in what clearly resembled a garotte. Deftly he flipped the band of dough into the air twisting it as it fell. The strands formed interlocking braids with a long loop at the end reminiscent of a hangman's noose.

"Miss Wilson is a sweet girl, her father was a good man, she takes after him. You seem to have a broad view of your role on the station. That is good. You, the merchants, my family, we all work together for the good of the station, and we make a little to raise our children and make our mark on the Verse." He eyed the long blade in Mack's boot. "Might I borrow that momentarily?"

Mack cautiously drew the hagibis from her right boot and handed it to Petrovich, handle first. Then she casually dropped her right hand to the butt of her Shanxi. She didn't bother unsnapping the holster. She'd gotten so fast over the years that she could unsnap her holster and with economy of motion.

Sasha lifted the hagibis looking the weapon over carefully, turning it in his hand. "It is a good blade, no. Sharp. Strong, Reliable. Much like its owner I think." he whacked the long knife down on the dough noose on the preparation table lopping it in half. He gave Mack a sideways smile, lifting the blade and dropping it again and again. When he had divided the strands into small pieces he wiped the blade off with his apron. He handed the knife back to Mack, handle first. "Yes a good blade." He scraped the individual pieces of dough into a basket and dropped them in the fryer. "Pretzel bites. The kids love them. You see, you have resources I do not. I have resources you do not. Together we make something for everyone to love."

Mack took the offered blade and slid it back into her boot. "I'm glad to here that," Mack said. "I'm new here. I could use a little help getting the lay of the land. For example, I got this job breaking up what appears to have been an attempted abduction the other day. Can you shed any light on what that might have been about?"

Sasha looked at the pretzel bites floating in the boiling oil. He picked them out with a metal strainer and dropped them in a waiting bin. "I heard about that. Stirred up quite a hornet's nest. Their are representatives of our community that are very upset their primary store front was forced to close. Understandable of course, but who ever they are gained some enemies that are not known for leaving their opponents in one piece. Not the way I would would handle it, but our axe friends, they are a jumpy bunch you know. Whoever did it seriously messed up.I hear rumor of Azure Coast. They are a small outfit, but I hear they are well connected in the Core. I don't much care for how they do business and Im would be fine to keep them off the Plex. "

Mack nodded. "I agree," she said. "Marshal LeMat thinks an old acquaintance of his that folks call Madman Connors might be setting up on Deck 14. He doesn't sound like someone people like you and me, who have the safety and security of the Plex at the forefront of our minds, would want here. You could try and push him out, but he's not known for playing by the rules, so that could get messy. Messy enough to maybe put you on the Feds' radar. On the other hand, if Alice LeMat and I could get what we need to build a solid case against him, we could shut him down and the Feds could take him away. You willing to help with that?"

"We are all just honest business people trying to keep our way of life safe. This Connors you speak of... I could have someone talk to him about the wisdom of pulling up stakes and leaving. I find Federal authorities are often not that interested in the welfare of merchants and citizens. There may be a faster way, messy perhaps, but a permanent solution. I could just let you know when this Gonnors is gone. Sometimes problems just float away. " Sasha said with as pleasant a voice as one could ever imagine. Possibly where Oksanna got it from.


"I don't think we're there yet," Mack said. "If you're willing to trust me, I can work with Marshal LeMat to get him off the station. I just need some information. Could he be here to work with Nikolai Udinov? I've only heard a few rumors about Udinov. What can you tell me about him? Is there a chance Connors is here at Udinov's request?"

Sasha shook his head. "Nikolai is a brother. I love him like a brother, which means I often think he is an idiot and I want to kill him, but only I get to kill him. His interests are not my interests. We have a working relationship that protects both our interests. If he has brought this Conners onto the station, it is his business and his neck to dangle. I can certainly make inquires. Nikolai knows many people of shady reputation. He may know why this Conners is here. He may want him gone as well. If true, we can make this work out very easily.

You and I, I believe we have an understanding. I can work with you if you work with me. Together, who knows, we retire and cut heads on the beach. Not so bad eh."

Mack nodded. "To be clear," she said. "This isn't a free pass to run rough shod over me, my staff. My officers work for me, I work for Scarlett Wilson... as long as I feel I can trust her to do the right thing. With that said, and for as long as we're both looking out for the health and well-being of the people on the Plex... yes, I do believe that we have an understanding."

Petrovich seemed nice enough to Mack, honestly, but the whole conversation, that she even had to pay deference to yet another crook just to make things run smoothly, it all filled her with disgust. The less time she had to spend with the man, the better. The thinly veiled threats made her want to put a bullet in Sasha Petrovich's head and be done with it.

Sasha pulled the preztel bites from the fryer, tossed them with cinnamon and sugar and set them in the warming rack. He wiped his big fingers off on his apron and gathered a few of the fried pasteries into a small paper sack and handed them to Mack. "You do your work, I will do mine. All is good. I will check in with Nikolai about this Conners and let you know if there is anything interesting to tell." He stopped looked Mack up and down. "I like you security chief. You come in you get coffee on the house. you tell your friends, Petrovich has best donuts and coffee on Skyplex."

Mack chuckled. She revised her previous judgement a bit. She decided to give Petrovich a chance to prove he wasn't just another crime boss. You do what you got to do to get by in the Verse. I'm no saint myself. She thought to herself. "Spasibo, Sasha Alexeyovich," she said out loud. "We'll talk soon."