A Bazaar Encounter

Posted on Sat Jul 17th, 2021 @ 7:14pm by Colonel Sehan t'Varis & Ensign Skylar Southgate

1,667 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Chapter IV: Unravelling the Mystery
Location: Bazaar
Timeline: 238702.20

With Daisy, Azalea and Ian now back at the shuttle, Skylar had decided to return to the bazaar to have a look around for some supplies she wished to acquire for herself. Some were random bits and bobs for her quarters and library, others ingredients and apparatus the synth required for her list of planned scientific experiments. The tall woman paused at a stall which she frequented during her visits to Drozana, owned by a Suliban gentleman who always seemed to have what Skylar was looking for. Some of the ingredients on her wish list were both valuable and hard to obtain, so these exchanges were generally done in the back room of the man's premises, away from prying eyes.

Skylar passed a PADD with her list of required ingredients to the man, who took a glance at it for a few moments. He then gestured with his head for Skylar to follow him into the back room, which she did.

"I assume they're all available?" Skylar asked.

The man nodded. "They are, just"

"Good, I'll take whatever you have left" Skylar responded.

The man again nodded, and began to compile Skylar's order. As he was doing so, he informed her the apparatus she'd asked for could be found in a cupboard on the other side of the room. Once her order had been compiled and handed over to Skylar, she placed it in her backpack.

"Thank you, how much do I owe you?" Skylar asked.

The man replied. "Just the usual, even with the amount of unobtanium you've relieved me of you're one of my more...trusted...customers. I don't care what people do with the merchandise, but I appreciate dealing with people who are capable of keeping their mouth shut about where they've got it from"

Skylar nodded and handed the man some more rock samples collected from the caves near to the synths' compound, including very precious stones which he had yet to find anywhere else. The man examined them, nodded and placed them under lock and key for safekeeping.

"Thank you for those. Same time next month?" the man asked.

Skylar nodded. "My pleasure, and yes. If you could sort out a repeat order for me before then I'd appreciate it"

With the transaction concluded, Skylar left the man's premises and made her way towards her favoured bric-a-brac stall in the market, hopeful of finding some books which she'd not yet managed to find for her library. After arriving at the stall, she began to browse through the various piles of random tat the stall owned had on display. This stall was owned by a cheerful Bolian, who was always happy to help or try to obtain items for customers by request.

Meanwhile, following her meeting with the Trill, Raven had decided to head to the bazaar herself. She wasn't looking for anything in particular, but the hustle and bustle of activity along with the variety of wares on offer provided a welcome distraction from the stress of her work, and she had no intention of returning to the ship just yet. After a few minutes of wandering around the stalls, she had located a stall that sold all sorts of pet supplies, and ended up purchasing a little white leather collar for Eavy, adorned with a small ice crystal that the vendor had assured her was a genuine crystal of eternal ice from some unpronouncable world on the edge of the Delta Quadrant. Whether or not that claim held any truth wasn't of much interest to Raven, who simply thought the thing was pretty.

As she stored her purchase in one of the pouches on her belt, she spotted another stall with a wide variety of goods, run by a friendly-looking Bolian. In particular, what looked like a Klingon-made leather eyepatch caught her attention, so she wandered over to examine it more closely. Just as she picked up the patch to try it on, she noticed a vaguely familiar woman also browsing the wares on offer. She frowned, unable to quite place where she had seen her before, and finally shrugged. She had not come here to solve a mystery, she had come here for some shopping. Satisfied that the strap on the eyepatch was the right size, she waved over the Bolian.

The portly Bolian, named Borek, spotted Raven attracting his attention. He excused himself from a customer he'd just finished serving, walked over to Raven and greeted her jovially.

"Good afternoon, what can I do for you today? If I haven't got it now, I'm sure I can find it somewhere!" Borek said enthusiastically.

Raven smiled and held up the leather eyepatch, a plain black design similar to the one she was wearing, but of much higher quality. "Ah, my good sir, I already found what I was looking for. What can you tell me about this lovely piece? Klingon-made, I would assume?"

"You assume correctly, in fact I'm led to believe it belonged to a very highly decorated Klingon officer before coming into my possession. If you don't mind me saying, I think it suits you rather well" Borek said.

"Thank you. How much?" The two began haggling, and before long arrived at a price that was to both of their agreement. Raven handed the Bolian some latinum, and pocketed her purchase. A thought struck her. "Tell me, you wouldn't know anyone who could supply me with a few scientific tricorders? Specifically, ones that detect various types of radiation?"

The Bolian placed the latinum in a brown leather pouch hooked onto the front of his belt.

"I'm afraid I don't, but if you're after a scientist then one of my regular customers is one of the best. If she can't help you then quite frankly, nobody can" Borek responded, gesturing towards the tall synth woman stood at the counter waiting for the Bolian.

Raven thanked the Bolian, and approaced the woman. "Excuse me, the Bolian tells me you might be able to help me. I am looking for a few scientific tricorders that can be calibrated to detect more exotic flavours of radiation."

The Bolian followed, walking behind the counter to serve Skylar, who had decided to purchase five books and two ornaments. Although she didn't usually purchase ornaments of naked women, or ornaments at all for that matter, Skylar considered them aesthetically pleasing. She watched as Borek wrapped them up before placing them into a sturdy box for safekeeping.

Skylar replied. "If you can supply the tricorders and hand over enough latinum, I can reprogramme them to do exactly what you want them to do"

"Oh, sorry, you misunderstand," Raven replied. "Calibrating the tricorders is not the issue, I have a scientist on my crew who is well capable of that. I was wondering if you knew a good place to acquire the tricorders themselves, at a reasonable price." She frowned, once again finding the woman's face familiar but struggling to place it. "Wait, have we met?"

"I don't believe we have met, but I can acquire what you want. Like my services, they're not going to cheap" Skylar said, her eyesight still focused on Borek as he calculated how much the synth owed for the merchandise she wished to purchase.

Raven shook her head. "Unfortunately, the budget is somewhat limited." Suddenly, she remembered something Daisy said to her earlier. "Maybe I could just ask Dais- a friend. She said she had contacts."

"If your budget is limited, then I suggest you hire the scientist" Skylar said, handing Borek the agreed amount of latinum for the merchandise, which she then carefully placed into her backpack.

Borek smiled after placing the latinum in his pouch. "Thank you, Skylar"

"My pleasure. See you next month, my Bolian friend" Skylar responded, smiling at the man and then making her way out of the store.

Skylar? Finally, Raven realised where she had seen the woman before, and hurried behind her. "We have met, actually. Just earlier today. You were picking up my friend Daisy and her sister from the bar."

Skylar paused just outside the store, looking down at Raven. She then crouched down on the floor before responding.

"Oh, it's you. Like I said, I can get you what you need but it's going to cost you. My brother can make the tricorders and I can programme them for your specific needs. If the budget is that tight then I'd suggest you hire me to help you do whatever you need to do, but I can't say I find the idea of travelling around space on a Romulan warbird with a bunch of mercenaries particularly exciting. Of course if you make it worth my while, then I'll be willing to reconsider for...a short amount of time" Skylar responded.

Raven thought for a moment, before replying. "How long are you going to be on Drozana? Our chief scientist is due to arrive back tomorrow, she's currently on a separate mission with a few other members of my crew. I would like to consult with her before making a decision, since she is better suited to tell you what we actually know."

"Well, we're due to leave within the hour, but I can delay our departure if it's going to be worth our while. As you're a friend of Daisy's, I'll speak with my brother when I get back to the shuttle and see what we can do about these tricorders. If your budget is as tight as you say it is, then perhaps we can agree on some sort of arrangement, a loan perhaps" Skylar responded, eager to get back to the shuttle.

After a moment's thought, Raven nodded. "Very well. Daisy has my contact info. Thank you in advance for any assistance. I can't tell you what we need the scanners for, but it is a worthwile cause."

Skylar nodded. "I shall be in touch, Colonel"

The synth then stood up, turned and headed back to the shuttle.

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