A Curse Upon Your Station

Posted on Thu Jun 11th, 2020 @ 7:59pm by The Narrator & Bar'soon'fo'da'gree'nars & Lieutenant Commander Meilin Jiang & Senior Chief Petty Officer Sharona Deluna

Mission: S2:2: Best Laid Plans
Location: Medina Level, Canopus Station
Timeline: MD1: 17.00

Bar'soon rose up, the air rushing through his apron strings. The divine hand of a thousand generations of his kin pulsed through his veins, emboldening his attack as glittering energy gathered around his immaculately pedicured fingernails. This was retribution, revenge, avengeance and arevenge all rolled into one glorious feeling of victory. He rocketed down, the air crackling around him as-

His hand slapped weakly against Kar'kaan cheek. "You treacherous little loin spawn!"

Kar'kaan staggered back, the force of the blow rupturing the station's walls and sending a shockwave of sound running down the Medina. She turned on one ankle, muttering the scared incantations of power that only her lineage, noble though it was, were entrusted with. Her foot swung around, missing the buffoon of a was-a-prince and sending one of her high-heeled shoes spinning off to impale some luckless pleasant. But it was all the distraction she needed to treat Bar'soon's face to ALL FIVE RINGS OF POWER-

Her hand slapped Bar'soon hard against the face, the jewel-encrusted fingers adding a hefty weight to it. "Incompetent matricidal failure!"

What followed was a fight of the ages, an epic confrontation against good and evil, where both sides could and did decry the other as the lesser of the two moral choices. The fury of their blows brought about a heavy, static laced tinge to the air, scenting it with ozone as energy crackled off the two ennobled combatants. The station would be lucky to survive such a brawl-

"They are just...slapping each other," Trivane said after a moment, as the flailing hands of the two Shishimi turned into a blur of ineffectual slapping. It sounded for all the world like a pack of Andorian ice seals applauding a circus act.

"OW! You slapped my ear!"
"You raked my cheek with your rings!"
"At least my rings are worth something!"
"Stolen off the corpse!"
"At least I made it myself!"
"GASP! You dirtied your hand with commoners work!"
"At least I can claim to have worked a day in my life!"

Sharona came around a corner, moving slower than she had been when she left Administration and the meeting with Haztor and friends. Of course, she had only been carrying a PADD when she left the office and now she had no less than two Type III phaser rifles over her shoulders, a Type II phaser in each hand, several concussion grenades around her waist, a knife from the Mess as well as a spatula - she hoped it would give him flashbacks at the very least - and a tomato. Why she had gotten the tomato, she didn't know but hoped he was allergic to it.

"Stop, right now!" she bellowed at the two aliens slapping each other.

"Sharon-OW!" Bar'soon let out, cupping a hand to his cheek as Kar'kaan continued to try and undo his face. "Will you stop-WILL YOU STOP!...There. But look! Sharona! My Sharona! She has come to defend my honour and make light the work of the evil spawn of my mother's (may her bones burn green in the fires for eternity) sisters blossom!"

"I am not your Sharona!" Sharona declared before she brought the two phasers up and fired at each of them. Unfortunately, the settings were only at one each and your average human could shake that off in a few minutes.

The two Shishimi staggered back, falling into a boneless pile of enfolded limbs.

"Whats did shat hamale dough toe us?" Kar'kaan said through lips now numbed with phased energy.

"Shee! SHEE! Iz zed shes loaved maai!!" Bar'soon sang drunkenly.

Aimee stood motionless as she watched the two Shishimi fighting it out while continuing to wait for security to finally arrive. She had remained right next to Doctor Murray during the entire exchange when along came Sharona, "Oh boy," She muttered through gritted teeth as she continued to watch them. Things went from really strange to really bizarre almost immediately too because now Bar'soon was once more professing his undying love.

She wanted to cry out that Sharona should try to Knack them both, but then she remembered what happened the last time and chose better than to make such a suggestion. "What is taking security so long to get here?" She asked Doctor Murray.

With a definite quiet amusement colouring both his stance and expression, Murray took in the unexpected show. Now, this, this was something you didn't normally associate with Starfleet and their territories. No, this was... fantastic. He kept a wary eye on the fight, and an overt and unashamed stare on the path of the inbound gun-wielding Selevian. Daaaaamn, now there was a figure that would haunt his finest dreams....

But Dr Paulsen Jr's voice cut through that magical moment and, with effort, he refocused on the kid-counsellor beside him. "I don't know," he answered, coolly disinterested in that fact and far more in another. His tone implied far more happy entertainment than any form of shocked disapproval as he continued. "But... you can really just shoot people here? I mean, I get that these Shishimi regenerate, but still - can she do that? Walk right up to them, no warning and open fire?"

"I...want...to speak....to...A MANAGER!!!" Kar'kaan screamed in a pitch so high it made a nearby glass pane shatter.

"I said stop, didn't I?" Sharona asked the man who questioned her about warning them, then looked back at the screaming banshee, put one of the phasers away and took the tomato. With a smile, she shoved it in Kar'Kaan's mouth. "There you go."

The two nervous system deprived Shishimi on the floor made noises of agreement, as there was no questioning Sharona's logic.

Aimee had to admit that sometimes she admired Sharona's response to certain situations. She didn't say anything having already walked up to the others with a shrug. "Why didn't you use the tomato instead of The Knack when you were dealing with Bar'soon the last time?" She asked rhetorically while looking between the two Shishimi things. "It seems to be more effective without the added side effect of them chasing you all over the station professing your undying love."

"I didn't have one at the time," the Selelvian responded simply.

This was beyond unusual, Meilin told herself, but it was why she joined Starfleet. "Jiang to Ops," she said into her combadge. "I need a pallet of tomatoes brought to the Medina immediately."

"You did," Murray admitted. "Say stop." He stood, both amused and intrigued by Sharona's utilisation of said little red fruit and Commander Jiang's swift resupply plan, but... What was of far more interest to the Rish medic as Dr Paulsen Jr spoke up, was that combination of two words with an implied capitalisation. "What," Murray asked, head canted in a visible representation of his curiosity. "Is The Knack?"

“OW! Ow shoot her again!!” Bar’soon screamed as a contorted Kar’kaan forearm began to slap ineffectually at his face from where it was curled up under him. “Stop that! Oh you ruin everything you touch!”

“Like that stupid statue of yours!” Kar’kaan spat out the remains of the tomato.

“GASP! You said that was rebels of the Maroon Jersey who defaced my sixty foot rocky personage!” Bar’soon wept.

“I. LIED!” Kar’kaan cackled.

"Maybe I should give them the phasers and let them sort it out," Sharona mused as she watched.

Aimee looked at Sharona and shook her head, "No I don't think that'll solve this." She took a few steps forward, "Hey," She said somewhat loudly and put her hands out in front of her. "Let's solve this like..." She thought about the word for a moment, "Like adult Shishimi and sit down. Then you two can sort out your differences verbally instead of with whatever this is?" She questioned while continuing the gesturing.

"You know...cousin...thatsnot a terribly bad idea," Bar'soon said after a moment.

"I detest agreeing with you, but the small humanoid makes a point," kar'kaan sighed.

"WE DEMAND A TRIAL BY COMBAT!!"

"Earn them," Sharona said as she took the second Type II phaser back in her hand. "Take them from me before I can fire again."

The pallet of tomatoes was taking too long. "Jiang to Ops. Belay my last order. Obtain a transporter lock on the male Shishimi in the Medina and transport him to Storage Bay 3, designated Em-bar-see."

"But my revvveeeeennnngg..." Bar'soon screamed as he was whisked into a trillion spoilt atoms and transported somewhere else.

"You...you vaporised him!" Kar'kaan said, standing up, wobbling from the after-effects of the phaser. "If I had access to my accounts I would pay you handsomely for the feat. Instead, I will endeavour to convince Haztor to give you a gift."

Meilin kept a perfectly straight and neutral expression on her face. "That is acceptable," she said. "Perhaps we should return to him now."

Aimee raised a brow, but said nothing about it actually just being a transporter beam. She turned around, "Thank you Commander," And shot a very guarded look at Sharona. "Senior Chief Deluna, you have a psychological evaluation in three days." She said nothing further on the matter and walked until she was once more standing next to Doctor Murray.

He remained a passive spectator throughout this beautifully crazy theatre, internally highly amused but maintaining an outward expression of calm, mock horror at the display. That impish glint in Murray's eyes was likely missed by the others, given the magnitude of the crazy going on before them. But, to his immense satisfaction, the stunning Selevian handled it magnificently and with an inherent talent for acceptable violence it seemed.

Then I may as well make it worth it, Sharona thought and turned her phasers on Kar'kaan. "What will you give to not be vaporized as well?" she asked.

"The fact the Myriad Haztor will not vaporise your station in return. I am his consort...I travel under his aegis. So, you see..." Kar'kaan stood up slowly. "I will give you this: I will not tell Haztor that you have a Shishimi noble hiding on your station!"

"You mean the one that got vaporized?" Sharona asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The one. You. Stole!" Kar'kaan said, taking a step with each pronouncement until she was before Deluna with a smile as cold as vacuum welded steel. "You see, we don't travel any other way than via Myriad. We leave the petty foibles of ship working to those best suited to it. We Shishimi have elevated ourselves to a higher plane of existence."

One with VIP seating and air conditioning, no doubt.

"So you have one..." she flicked her eyes to spot on the deck where Bar'soon had been. "Had one. But you still had something that was not yours by right. And the Myriad would not react well to such a statement. And if you were to vaporise me, well, then what would happen to your pretty little tin can? I mean, you don't even have a padded sofa within easy strut distance. You work and live in a hovel."

Meilin closed her eyes and reached for her quiet place. Calm. Serene calm. Breathe... "It is agreed. No more... vaporization. Let us conclude the tour on that note and return you to your ship and its properly padded sofas."

Stole? Now that was interesting. Murray's internal notes updated swiftly with regards to the underlying intelligence of the female Shishimi. Slave, perhaps to the Myriad master then, but not unwillingly. They appeared to have traded comfort and protection for their freedom and discovered an accord and a place where they could exist luxuriously, this leisurely existence apparently leaving plenty of time for malicious manoeuvring. While captivity was abhorrent to the Rish medic, he was proud of Kar'Kann for that at least. Murray gifted Dr Paulsen Jr a flash of a smile as Meilin suggested the tour continued.

"A higher plane of existence?" He asked Kar'kann with genuine interest. "I'm intrigued... So the Myriad take care of your welfare and... security... but you rise above this somehow elevated by your captivity?"

"It has allowed our entire society to focus on the finer things in life. Art, culture, pleasure and cuisine are the exports we provide to the universe at large, with the myriad as our agents of trade." Kar'kaan said, flipping her braided ear lobes back over one shoulder. "We don't waste our time on the frivolous high octane rush of space exploration. What more could we possibly need to know?"

Murray braced himself at the question, simply because his people's sole reason for being was exploration, to move freely, to discover and to wander. The thought of giving that gift and divine right away and submitting to servitude by another race was by far the worst fate he could imagine, and he'd entertained a few over the years. "I can certainly appreciate the fine elements of your existence," he conceded, though truly art was more a means to entertain than a lifestyle choice and - beyond that utilised in their clothing and ship design - mere baggage his kind didn't need. "But honestly, from my point of view, pleasure and cuisine can be enjoyed just as deeply, if not more so, by that ever changing travel, and discovery of new worlds and cultures."

Aimee didn't really know what her opinion was beyond that the enslavement of any species was appalling to her. Just the very thought of such things was quite appalling indeed. "Is that truly what you believe or is that what you've been led to believe Kar'kann?" The question was somewhat subtle.

"I mean," Aimee continued onward in her thought process, "Bar'soon seems to believe otherwise. That the Shishimi should not be imprisoned as such and allowed to roam the region of space freely... Or, at least that's how I've come to understand him." In truth Aimee had come to understand very little about their species because she had little desire to do so, however, for the good of her career and being a Counselor it was her sworn duty to understand other cultures better than most.

"Of course," Aimee said next, "Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken about Bar'soon and his intentions. You two clearly do not get along very well and I'm beginning to wonder if that is not true of most of the Shishimi... That it's a constant power struggle among you."

"Bar'soon was overthrown by rebels who sought out a new ruler for his domain due to his poor statesmanship. In truth, he did well as a ruler. But when one has a stockpile of plasma muskeets and a market of discontents to fleece, it only makes the best sort of business sense," Kar'kaan said with a shrug. "Besides, the rebels were from the south. And you know what they say about Southerns...they have spikes on their backs. Savages."

She sniffed imperiously.

"I desire...refreshment," she said and clicked her ringed fingers.

At that moment, a grav sled came up to them ferrying a crate full of ripe tomatoes freshly picked from the Ag Dome. Meilin palmed her own face. "I belayed that order," she said tersely to the grav sled operator.

The Xilosian shrugged, the illuminated fronds atop their obsdian head glowing a dull orange. "Never heard about it."

All she wanted to do was have a quiet conversation with a kindred scholar of the universe and see what she could glean from Trivane, but the Tao afforded her no escape from this utter fiasco. Or did it...

"Your Ladyship," Meilin said to Kar'kann with an inviting wave of her hand toward the open crate of tomatoes. "Your refreshments await."

"Just needs vodka, ice and Worcestershire sauce..." noted Dr Jacobs with a wry smile and a raised eyebrow of inquiry aimed at the Xilosian.