University of Criminology: Pirate Narcotics

[Rue Wydown 0]

SS Excalibur NCC-2004 C

University of Criminology: Pirate Narcotics

 

Written By: Doctor Rue the Specter, Chief Medial Officer, and Midshipman Kansas JoNs, Junior Security Officer

 

Midshipman Kansas JoNs was attempting to right a wrong.

 

Taking the medical supplies from the storage crates in the main cargo bay had seemed like a good idea at the time. Grab some of the higher grade medicines, sell 'em to prospective buyers among the crew, make a profit.

 

Honestly though, the young girl hadn't counted on how deep and dark the narcotics business could go, and she had decided to pull back after both lying to Doctor Rue about her role in the missing medical supplies as well as engaging in at least one sale of the stolen items.

The young Caitian feline dangled over the same cargo crates that she had stolen from, one paw gripped the access ladder to the air vent, and the battered black duffel bag that contained what remained of her loot was clutched tightly to her chest; she easily dropped down onto the gray steel decking with little effort, her wiry body perfectly suited for the acrobatics.

 

The cargo bay was darkened, and despite her golden fur, the felinoid was able to blend in with the shadows thanks to the black jacket and trousers that she wore. She caught several strange whiffs from the interior of the cargo bay when she hit the decking, but dismissed the smells; there had been so many guards and other personnel traipsing through the bay that it was impossible to discern all the scents.

 

The would be thief rummaged through a small silver colored travel pouch that she had strapped to her utility belt, grabbing the items contained inside the pouch that she would need in order to re-access the cargo storage crates. She re-picked the access locks using an old style lock pick and a small stripped down tricorder that had been specifically tuned for bypassing the brand of locks used on the container crates. Taught well in her craft for one so young by her mercenary family connections, she was also sure to bypass any chemical print identifiers on the locks by smearing a special evaporating substance on her paws that would hide her prints and DNA marker for a bit.

 

She slowly and methodically re-opened each and every case that she had broken into the first time and began to return the remaining hypo medicines and the Sorph pain killer meds that she had in her illegal possession.

 

The four Morphine packets had already been sold, but the Kitten maintained the credit balance from the sales and she would forward either the digital balance access to Rue's personal terminal or an actual credit stick to Rue somehow – anonymously of course.

 

Suddenly, a hand held luminary light is clicked on and shown in the face of the sneaky feline thief.

 

"Ahoy there, matey." A flat, almost sarcastic, tone from the female coming from the darkness.

 

Kansas froze in mid action, one paw still holding one of the hypos, and she suddenly realized that at least one scent out of all the smells floating about the recycled air had belonged to Rue. " ... Oh dear ... "

 

A male voice this time called out, his tone was smug. "Computer lights."

 

The cargo bay lights snapped on, bathing the entire area in bright light. The sixteen year old felinoid spotted the tall male that she didn't recognize, as well as her cousin Left Ear who emerged from her hiding spot in between a section of the cargo crates. " .... Oh this is not good ..." She backed up one step and managed to sputter out, "I don't suppose it would help if I pointed out that I was returning the items that I c-could?"

 

"Oh look what the Cait dragged in," Mason Rhomer leisurely re-crossed his ankles from his reclining position against one of the storage crates. "I've always wanted to say that." After tossing the hand-held luminary onto this lap, he dipped his hand dipped into a bowl of peanuts then tossed a few into his mouth. His gaze bounced from Rue's frigid face and Kansas' nervous expression. It was like watching a perverse form of live performance theater. He couldn't wait to catch the next act.

 

There were two warning signs that Rue was upset. Yellow alert was activated when the Doctor's voice dropped its regional inflictions to a smooth universally neutral tone. Red alert was "the look" - that stony look that could put the fear in any scalawag.

 

The ships Ex Oh was as well not very happy with the general situation, but oddly enough, other then the looks of death that she kept shooting at her errant cousin, her main focus was more on the ships chief medical officer. "Doctor ...."

 

There was a long pause before Rue answered. "So...." She growled a bit, and then answered. "Permission to take care of this little.........problem?"

 

Kansas had by now set her battered duffel bag down on the decking and backed up against a cargo crate, at least attempting to put some distance between herself and the others. Her ears had gone flat, but from a combination of embarrassment and fear. The only being in the room who seemed the least bit amused was the Tall Human Guy with the accent that she couldn't place.

 

Left Ear answered Rue promptly, "Aye. You have my permission and the full authority to handle this and her. All I ask it that you keep it off the record, and I will make it worth your while Doctor."

 

The older Caitians ears were flat from anger, and she only managed from long practice to keep the angered tone at a low key in her vocal tone.

 

"Oh, this ought to be good." Mason grinned, taking a swig from his bottle at his side.

 

"Swan off, Mace."

 

Mason pouted, "Awh, c'mon Doll. I wanna watch."

 

"Go." Rue's tone was a sharp as the daggers she was throwing Kansas with her eyes.

 

The younger golden furred feline opened muzzle and inserted paw with a comment she shot off a comment at the Tall Guy. "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying this."

 

Commander JoNs hissed at Midshipman JoNs, which was full on feline to "shut up". Kansas dropped to all fours in response to the non spoken verbal discipline, and her ears flattened even more against her head.

 

"Why, yes, yes I am." Mason pulled himself up off the floor, taking his time to gather his equipment and foodstuffs. "Just a hint, kid. You're in it deep now." Mason smirked, pantomiming suspenders as he ambled through the cargo bay to the door. "Good luck!" He laughed as the cargo bay doors burped him out into the corridor.

 

After a final displeased look directed at her cousin, Left Ear turned her attention back to Rue. "Doctor Rue, I'll show myself out with Mister Mason." And with that, the brown furred panther quietly exited the cargo bay, leaving her young charge and cousin alone with the none too happy ships chief medico.

 

Without turning to watch what she knew Mason was doing, Rue listened to him tease Kansas and barely managed an eye roll in disgust. There was another long pause and deep breath before Rue spoke again, "Blimey. Whot were ye thinkin', Kansas?"

 

Determined to at least try and comport herself with some sort of dignity, the teenager stood upright again and offered a tentative purred answer. " ... I ... just wanted to make some extra credits. Look, a lot of crew make some extra on the side ... but I didn't know that you had already picked this stash for your own use ... I'm sorry."

 

"I couldn't get it all back here. I already sold the Morphine packets...I have the credit sale for you though ..." The Cait trailed off, unsure.

 

Rue sank back to lean against one of the cargo containers. "Oh luv. Do ye have any idea whot you've done?"

 

She shifted from hind paw to hind paw, and though her clothing was of the typical pirate military style cut with the black merchant marine jacket and trousers and red waist sash - the young feline looked very young and un-pirate like at that moment. " I...um... no. I messed up some sorta deal didn't I?"

 

Kansas took a couple of steps towards the chief medical officer. "But, I brought back all the supplies, and I have the credits for the sold packets ... that'll help, right Doctor?"

 

"Who'd ye sell to?" Rue dragged her hand through her hair. She'd known about one of the potential sale contacts as the deal had been set up and confirmed to one of Rue's old aliases. Kansas, had had no idea that Rue was behind the digital alias, had contacted her regarding the narcotic drugs that she had been selling. But, who the rest of the buyers were was a concern to the medical officer, considering the potency of the Morphine packets.

" ... three crewmembers. A woman in Science, Jorantos. Trill. I'm pretty sure she's planning on selling it. And the other three packets went to a Security guard by the name of Carson, Human, and two Engineers split the last item, both Bajoran, Mikas and Galtor ... I'm pretty sure the last three are all junkies..."

 

The felionid huffed out of her nose. "I didn't know about the habits until after the sales ...."

 

"Well, that's the danger of selling to your mateys, luv. Especially narcotics." She looked at the ceiling then looked back down, still processing how she was going to deal with the teen. She couldn't do much until she knew the facts. "How much did ye get for the lot? Or was supposed to get?"

 

" ... that's why I pretty much brought back the rest of the stuff ... it's just too much to deal with and sorta dark ....I got two hundred latinum credits total for the confirmed sales that I made." The teen's bright green eyes kept shifting around, as her instincts nagged at her to bolt for a way out.

 

"Fire sale prices, eh?" For the first time Rue's lips curled ever so slight.

 

The young feline reached a big golden paw that seemed too big for her body into an inner jacket pocket and pulled out an isolinear data chip. She walked a bit closer to the medical woman and offered the credit stick. "There ya go Doc. It's the account information and access codes to the moola. It's all yours."

 

Rue stood up and took a few steps closer. She suddenly slapped the stick out of her paw, sending it skidding across the floor. It was the first time in a long while that the Doctor had exhibited any sort of temper. "You daft twit. Do you have a death wish? You really have no clue how bloody lucky you are, do you? I shoulda let Mason shoot ye. Perhaps then ye'd get a clue." The Doctor started pacing, trying to get her thoughts together when she really wanted to scream.

 

Kansas mrrowled a bit at the slap to her paw and quickly pulled it back. She didn't make an effort to grab at the data chip as it flew through the air, instead choosing to leave it where it landed and skid across the scuffed decking plates. When she finally did speak, her purred tone was low. "Left Ear always told me to be work smarter, not harder, and be careful with any plans I set into motion ...guess it didn't work this time ..."

 

"It wasn't smart. It certainly wasn't careful. It was...." Rue paused, trying to find the right words. "...stupidity. You steal from designated caches and sell to any bloody git that has two coins to rub together. You have no idea what the product is worth. You have no idea if you're walking into a trap 'cause you did no research on who you're sellin' to. And to make matters worse, your profit margin just plain sucks."

 

Kansas had heard all of this from Left Ear before, over and over again. "Well, yeah, but sometimes ya just gotta jump in there and go for it too!" Her old bravado came out then, and she puffed her chest out and held her chin at a defiant angle.

 

"Stow the ego, kid." She scowled at Kansas. "So what your plan when Ms Dahl turns you into the Captain?"

 

Kansas flipped an ear back. "So you were that Dahl contact? Probably the same thing'll that prevent you from really doing anything official like that - some sort of paper trail can be traced back to you too ya know." It sounded a bit blunt coming from the sixteen year old, but it was true, and the young JoNs spoke quite matter of factly about it, with no rancor.

 

".... and like Lefty said, off the record seems to be the best choice all around now ... Look Doc, I'm sorry, I didn't intentionally mean to muck up any of your business plans ... the whole narcotics scene is a bit heavier then I intended, and I don't really wanna mess with it again right now ... "

 

"Child, half this crew knows that's one of my aliases. Why didn't you? Where's your brain?" She shook her head. "Glad to know you've got some senses. Really wish you'd use more of it. That group is well way over your head. Too unpredictable. Bunch of frell idjits too. Can't keep their mouths shut to save their skin. You need to stick with smaller trinkets until ye learn the trade."

 

Kansas fiddled with her red waist sash, not meeting Rues eyes.

 

"Uh huh. You were out trying to prove you're hot stuff. Lemme tell you. You're damned lucky I caught ye and not some other nutter."

 

The young leonine Cait still wouldn't meet her eyes, but she acknowledged that fact with an agreeable shake of her head and a muttered, "Mm Hm."

 

"So what do we do now, mate?"

 

Young JoNs made tentative eye contact. " ... I haven't suffered enough have I? No? I didn't think so."

 

"Well, like Mason said earlier, you're in it deep." She smirked. The kid was all teen and mouthy as hell – but she had potential. The question was, could she be taught?

 

Well, she wasn't leering or anything, and her expression wasn't evil. Still, the young pirate midshipman officer took a step back.

 

Rue ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek. "How about this. Check with me or your Guardian before you start another enterprising business. We'll make sure you do it right. In the meantime, you owe me twenty-four hours of cataloguing time."

 

The junior pirate officer relaxed marginally, and for the first time since this little situation had blown out in the cargo bay, her tail started to swish happily. "Cataloging? Um, sure! You mean ... you're not gonna hit me or anything?" She looked down, embarrassed, "My cousin has never hurt me or anything either, but I know on other ships the Middies aren't treated real nice ... I just assumed... you know..."

 

"I've been on the receiving end of that too. But I find that some people related better with positive reinforcement. Just....don't make me regret it." Rue shook her head, and then turned to head towards the door. "See me tomorrow night and we'll get you started. I gotta go find Mace, see if he can get back the stuff before those dope heads do anything dumb."

 

Rue scooped up the data chip as she walked towards the door, flipping it end to end as she thought about her next move. And Midshipman JoNs happily purred and scampered off with Rue, walking again on all four paws as she excitedly jabbered at the medical doctor and walked around the Human medical doctor in excited circles.