Friends in Low Places

[Crash Calestorm 0]

The establishment was like any other space bar in any other quadrant: A place to get lost among the crowd, enjoy the music and the food and drink, or a wretched hive of scum and villainy. The opinion depended on who you talked to.

 

Crash Calestorm was no stranger to these places since the middle-aged officer had spent a good portion of her adult life within their confines gathering information or seeking out contacts and criminals.

 

...she wasn’t totally sure if this familiarity was a good or a bad thing.

 

The Andorian band played a new age jazz number while the wait staff circulated among the patrons. An attractive female Human with purple and red dyed hair sidled easily up to the table Cale was ensconced at.

 

“Long time, Captain.”

 

“Yep, Anybody been looking for me?”

 

“Well, I have but what’s the use! What’ll it be?”

 

“Andorian Ice Rum.”

 

“The usual poison, got it.” She winked seductively at the older woman and then flitted off to enter the drink order at the main bar.

 

After thirty minutes had passed and Cale was nursing the drink, a large male alien approached her table and spread his arms. “To your planet, welcome.”

 

The Chief of Starfleet Border Operations eyed the feathery eyebrowed male appraisingly. “I think that's my line, stranger.”

 

The alien - Cale couldn’t name his species off the top of her head - settled into the chair opposite her. He glanced furtively around the area as he spoke in his disjointed vernacular. “Oh, forgive. I here am new. But you are known as being Calestorm from Comanche Creek.”

 

“Formerly of the Comanche Creek. And you have me at a disadvantage, sir. You are?”

 

“Oh, I name not important. You seek I. Message received. Available ship stands by.”

 

She leaned forward slightly, now very much interested. “How much and how soon?

 

“How soon is now. How much is, where?”

 

“Somewhere in the Outer Sectors.”

 

“Oh, Outer restricted! Take permits many; money more.”

 

Crash’s patience had worn out months earlier on this subject matter. Starfleet Command, the Border Patrol, Colonial Operations, Hell, even the Klingons had avoided crossing into the patrol territories claimed under the Nova Corps. In the meantime, Yondu was at large and free to deal in various narcotics.

 

“There aren't gonna be any damned permits! How can you get a permit to do a damned illegal thing? Look, price you name, money I got.”

 

“Place *you* name, money *I* name, otherwise bargain, no.”

 

“Alright, damn it! It's MORAG! The name of the place we're going is Morag!”

 

“Morag?!”

 

“Yes, Morag! How can you be freakin’ deaf with ears like that?”

 

“Morag allowed is not! Is planet forbidden!”

 

The rotund alien bolted up from his chair and was stopped by Crash with a death grip on the lapels of his jacket.

 

The abandoned planet - known as Morag - was on a strange rotation, only accessible by a few times during a solar year cycle by short range landing craft. No longer inhabited, it was generally a haven for junkers looking for scrap or outlaws looking to lay low during the visibility cycle. Starfleet had adopted an official hands-off policy for any official operations.

 

The key word there being ‘official’.

 

The silver-haired officer growled low in her throat, the animal sound a lingering byproduct of the narcotic the pirate Yondu had pumped her with. He wasn’t going to remain at large to cause more mayhem if she had anything to say about it.

 

“You listen to me, my backward friend. Genesis may be planet forbidden, but I’m damn well gonna-hmmph!”

 

A strong hand clamped on her shoulder. Painfully.

 

“Your voice is carrying, Ma’am. I don’t think this is a conversation you want to be having in public.”

 

The young man was surprised when Crash swiftly and quietly applied a choke hold. She whispered not-so-sweet-nothings in his ear. “You listen close, Sonny. I’m off duty and on my own dime. Back off before you get hurt, you hear me now?”

 

She let go of the man and slipped out a side entrance as more Security types entered the club.

 

= = = =

*Some dialogue appears courtesy of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

*The character Yondu, the Nova Corp, and the planet Morag appear courtesy of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)