Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Nikki Brako (Chief of Operations) in Side Sim - To ask… but to receive? (attn Brako)

Posted by Civilian Char’kat Morden (First Officer of the I.K.S. Khazad’hea) in Side Sim - To ask… but to receive? (attn Brako)

Posted by Civilian Char’kat Morden (First Officer of the I.K.S. Khazad’hea) in Side Sim - To ask… but to receive? (attn Brako)

He was gone. Khain had left in the middle of the day while Char was asking about the missing cargo. The only message left for her was to keep going and he would return. Something had been bothering him for days and she had the feeling their growing closeness had been part of that unease. They had been fine together when she was his security detail leader. But when she vied for, and won, the XO position, he had started to grow distant. Now she wondered if perhaps he feared for his own position on the ship. She knew his weakness, and he didn’t like that.

So here she was, a small crate of personal affects and clothing left behind by her, now, ex lover, and no where to go. It had taken her a couple days to find appropriate lodging. And she had a temporary position at one of the lower level drinking establishments as a bouncer and ‘deterrer of chaos’ in swap for the room. But she wanted to find something better suited to her abilities.

Not sure where to start, she decided that someone familiar was the best place. So it was that the half-Klingon found herself outside the office of the Chief of Operations, pressing the chime to be admitted in. In her hand was a PaDD with her own service record and abilities. She would vie for a place on the station in hopes of making herself useful as well as, perhaps, find a place to fit in.

Char’kat Morden
The Wanderer

Nikki was unaware of all these changes. He knew that Khain’s ship had left but then there were ships in and out of there all the time and this was a type of ‘port o call’ for the shiny Klingon ship. But that was really of no never mind. He had other things to think of. The women around him were driving him batty; whose idea was it to leave him with ‘all’ senior engineers who were women who had something against him. There was nothing wrong with him, but they were stuck with him. He sensed that they had wanted the job, but which one would have risen to that spot? They seemed to dislike each other as much as him, but he was the focus of their ire. He had been reading up on Earth mythology; he was rather fond of the fickle and capricious gods of the Greeks and Norse mythologies. He could see qualities in those dames similar to those fickle goddesses.

He expected the chime to be one of them to complain about something he was or was not doing or about him in general. He pressed the door tab to turn the entry light to green and give the ‘come on in’ return chime, then steeled hjmself for the latest barrage of feminine ire.
Nikki

It wasn’t some simpering female human, but a stoic half Klingon who came through the door. “Officer Brako. I have come to ask for a position on the Outpost. Captain Khain has left and I have no idea when he’ll come back. I want to earn my keep.” She stood before him, some semblance of ‘attention’ in her stance as she stood staring straight over his head as if she were speaking to her Commanding Officer. She leaned over just enough to place the PaDD on his desk within easy reach of his hand.

Char’kat
Wanderer

To suggest that this was the last person Nikki expected to darken his door would be a stretch. There were three at least who had that dubious honor. However to see the Klingon dame in was close to that. Still it was a dame and Nikki did have a glut of them about. Did she go on a bender and miss the ‘boat’ .. literally? As Nikki looked at he and recalled the brief meeting from before he could only conclude that seeing this dame on a bender was highly unlikely. Earn her keep. Slowly reaching up and taking the cigar out of his mouth he rested his elbow on the arm of the chair. Finally he said, “Relax. Have a seat. Take a load off.”

He looked at the PaDD on the table and winced inwardly. Looking at an ‘application’ was like trying to sleep on a bed of nails. “You were what? Enforcer on Khain’s ship?” By that he implied that she made sure things got done. He had no doubt that she had a variety of skills and had her hands in a lot of different places. “What can ye bring te the job?”
- Nikki, COO

Char realized this man was either not fond of women or not fond of Klingons. Since he hadn’t seemed to have a problem with Khain, she guessed it was her gender that bothered him. Many humans were that way, she noticed. Men thought the women weak and useless, or mindless. And the women thought the men were useless brutes.

Taking the seat, she looked at him. “I was his Executive Officer. Before that I was the head of his protection detail and the investigator for our ship. I have been trained in investigative practices, security, and protection, both physical as well as on the computers.” She nodded to his console. “And I am sure you know from my Cap… from Khain, that I am more than capable in those areas. As to what I can bring to the job, I am also a fast learner. I can turn a wrench, operate a pallet jack, as well as keep track of incoming and outgoing shipments.” She managed a slight smile but her mood kept it from lighting up her eyes. “To be honest, Mr. Brako, I am capable of nearly anything you desire short of cooking. I fear it’s a skill I greatly lack.”

She was half Klingon, but didn’t look it. It had its advantages and its disadvantages. She wondered, as she watched his hesitant posture, if this had been a bad idea.

Char
Wanderer

“Two of my three ex-wives couldn’t cook either,” he said. “But workin a cruise ship that wasn’t a problem te find good food. Not lookin fer a cook,” he said, looking her over. He tapped at the desk with a meaty finger as he looked at her. “Ye know, I’m not needin another engineer, but gods knows that this place could do with more te keep the place from splittin apart at the seams.” He paused and the tapping stopped. “But, every gang needs a good bit o .. ” he paused then smiled. “muscle te see that things get done and look into things. This ain’t a ship but a station. And a station is more like a small city. A ship doesn’t have gangs but a station does, if ye get me drift.”
- Nikki

For the first time, he would see the edge of her lips curl up in a small smile as she inclined her head ever so slightly. “I believe I do. I believe you call them ‘foremen’. The ones who look after the crews that work. I’m guessing you need me to more the nudging kind rather than the encouraging kind. Is that what you are asking of me, Mr Braco?” The glint in her eyes said this was something up her alley that she was more than open to being.

Finally a dame that didn’t mind getting her hands dirty. A thought came to him at that moment on whether she was a plant from the Feds to laterally coax out of him all that they couldn’t do when he was in the stockade. It was possible; her entrance on the station seemed questionable. If she was as capable as she was why did Khain leave her behind? But that said, she was what he needed, which again was something which was coincidentally at the right time. Nikki didn’t believe in coincidences. But he believed in the power of gangs and what a good one could do.

After all, keeping things going was what she was always doing on the Khaza’. Here would be no different. Well, except for not being able to bump heads together to persuade folks to do things.

Char
Wanderer

Leaning forward he looked Char in the eyes. “Te me, lass, a nudge is encouragement. There are some who ye need to play with kid gloves.” He shrugged. These were Fleeters; they all needed kid gloves lest they be offended. “But some here who we need te be, shall we say, more in yer face and knockin some heads.”
- Nikki

She’d never been called a lass before, but somehow, Nikki made it seem less an insult and more a mere comment. Leaning slightly to mirror his posture, she smiled. To anyone suddenly looking at the pair, it would be hard to tell if Char was giving him a flirty smile or warning glare. “To me, Mr Brako, heads are heads. You start slow and knock then senseless in the end. If they take slow well, then all the better. If they need to have their knees shake from their heads spinning, then so be it. As to who gets what treatment, I’ll defer to you on that to begin with.” She raised an eyebrow teasing him. “The question is, do I treat your, lasses is it, out there with the same gloves? Or are they more fragile and need less forcing?” She wasn’t sure how e differentiated with his people. On Klingon ships, women were expected to be knocked around as much as the men. In a society where a slap in the face, or a knife at your throat when you’re on your back could be considered foreplay, Klingons weren’t known to be gentle to much of anyone. In bed or in the field.

Char
Wanderer

bump 11.16.20 to keep on boards
OOC: Thankies
IC:

When Char leaned over his first thought that flashed through his mind was a disappointment that she wasn’t in something less akin to battle armor. Mentally shrugging this off, he pondered her inquiry even as he tried to fathom what her expression was telling him. How far down the rabbit hole did he want to take her was the question. His immediate consideration was that a nice roughhousing would be nice to see but that would be like setting a cougar among the kittens. But oh how that was tempting!! Really, any small issues should be dealt with by himself, as odious as some of them were. “I have a different couple of people for ye te have a look see on first.”

Swinging the monitor around he brought up the image of two people, a man and a woman. “Let’s start ‘off’ the record which means whatever claws you want to bare can come out. Solvin one problem might solve another if word gets about.” The pair in question didn’t look standard ‘Starfleet’ fare but rather like denizens of a seedy bar.
Nikki

Char’s eyebrows rose at the look he gave her. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to knock her around or send her packing. As to the latter, she wondered if she was offering to be too nice and it galled him a Klingon would stoop to that for work. If it was the former, then she wondered if it was his intention to get her on her back, or not. Keeping her own thoughts kicked to the back of her head, she glanced at the monitor as he swung it around. After looking at them a moment, she frowned. “If fighting, all out, then treat equally. Knock ‘em down and send ‘em packing from whatever location they were in. If one’s getting an upper hand, then knock ‘em apart and send ‘em packing. If one is in serious trouble…,” she thought for a moment. “I guess I would make them depart in different directions and make sure one didn’t follow the other. Honestly, Brako, I’m not gonna coddle anyone on the station. You want coddling, hire a Betazoid. Whether I’m in plain clothes like now or battle armor, which I can be if you want,” she gave a small snort of a laugh, “I am certainly not one to hold a woman’s hand or patch up some male’s bloody nose.” She knew it was a fine line and she had probably blown her chances, but he deserved to know.

“Either way, I plan to keep looking into the missing items and find out where they are going. I need access to the hanger and some of the seedier places on the Outpost. Working for you gives me a valid reason for being there and I’d rather work for you than some mob boss I find in a bar tomorrow, if it’s all the same to you.” She had leaned on the desk to look at the screen and now was fairly close to invading his personal space. If he managed to inhale a bit, he would smell leather and sandlewood. Not the kind of scents that made one think of a woman running in the woods for pleasure. But more like one running in the woods on the hunt.

Char
Wanderer