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Reconnections and Involuntary Opportunities

Posted March 27, 2023, 8:49 p.m. by Civilian Thyr Th'arialat (Resident) (Lucas Foxley)

Posted by Civilian Eryn Romanov (Colonial Intelligence Agent) in Reconnections and Involuntary Opportunities

Posted by Lieutenant Tandra Mika (Counselor) in Reconnections and Involuntary Opportunities

Posted by Civilian Eryn Romanov (Colonial Intelligence Agent) in Reconnections and Involuntary Opportunities
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It was the day after he and Jezem had that long feels chat. He didn’t know where that came from, and he sort of hoped it never happened again. It brought up a lot of uncomfortable questions Shivan had no answers for and really didn’t want to think about. Yet, they wouldn’t get out of his head. He’d needed a break from that obnoxiously large house and his obnoxiously colorful room and he’d needed a bit of a break from Jezem too, so he was out on the town.

He had strict orders to stay out of trouble. That wouldn’t be a problem. His injury was still decently fresh, though he could move around alright now, with rests. Dressed in the garments of Orion dancers, the stitched-up wound was visible, still discolored from his brawl with Jezem. The wrapped cloths covered little more than what they needed to. They came up, across his chest, over his shoulders, and down his back, with a cloth covering his more sensitive areas. It was stylish dress, for an Orion. It was comfortable and easy for Shivan to put on. And he liked that, like Jezem had said the day before, it appeared to be distracting. No one looked at his face. No one cared who he was. Gave hiding in plain sight a new meaning.

Taking a seat on a short wall in front of some building, he gave a soft sigh. Jezem had given him a few days’ break from finding a job, to consider all that ‘find yourself and love yourself’ crap. Shivan didn’t know what to do with the free time. Still aware there were those looking for him, he kept a careful eye out around himself. He tried to remind himself, like Jezem had said, no one would be out this far. He needed to keep from looking suspicious.

~ Thyr Th’arialat

People moved in and out and around. They were busy and had their own lives to deal with. They didn’t notice much else. Even those that noticed Shivan forgot him soon after. It wasn’t the general populace that he had to worry about.

Eryn had felt familiar presences in passing yesterday and that had pulled her out into the people today. It was hard to miss her quarry. She moved silently behind him and sat on the wall three feet away. “An Andorian in Orion clothing. Now I have zeen it all. I see Jezem has,” her eyes traveled over him and landing on the stitched and bruised wound, “finally rubbed off more zhan blood and skin from you.”

Eryn

Shivan jumped three feet into the air at the sound of a familiar voice. What was with this place?! He glanced at Eryn with a groan, “What the hell are you doing here?” He shrugged, “Jezem isn’t the one who stabbed me. This time. The clothes are an effective camouflage… Or so I thought.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “No one looks at my face, notices anything about me besides what I’m wearing.”

Eryn grinned like a wolf. “Here? On zhis vall? Talking to you. Here on Oed. Zhis is my home, and you know how I feel about my home.” Eryn nodded, “Oh yes, zhis…” she waived at the scraps of fabric, “is quite effective for drawing zhe eye. However you vill be remembered, not your face, but you vill. Andorians do not usually vear such trappings.” Eryn shrugged as if that didn’t matter much.

“Exactly. Not my face. That’s the goal. They might remember the Andorian in the Orion clothes but if asked, they couldn’t saw what I looked like.” He shrugged, “Besides that, they are surprisingly comfortable.”

Then he paused and gave her a critical look, “Whoever asks, you didn’t see me. You haven’t seen me anytime recently. You don’t even know whether I’m alive. Understand?” Or was he going to have to very swiftly find a way off this rock? Eryn could turn him into the Federation… or the Syndicate. Either way, he’d end up dead.

~ Thyr

Eryn shrugged again. “I have no reason to tell anyone about you.” She gave him a hard look. “And you do remember zhe last person to try and force information from me? Yes? You and your vell being are safe vith me.” She leaned back on her hands, stretched her legs out and crossed them at the ankles - completely at ease. “I am more interested in vhy you are here. On your own or has zhat gods-forsaken syndicate ship come vith you?”

Romanov

Shivan nodded. “It can’t be forced from you, that I’m sure of. What I’m more worried about is your being compelled to turn me in, for whatever reason.” He shook his head. “On my own. Pavlajia is gone. I haven’t heard from Jezem in over a year and the others are scattered around Federation space.” Unsure how trustworthy she was, he wasn’t going to tell her about Jezem. If she had any dealings with the Syndicate, she’d likely know about the price on his head. But on the off chance she didn’t, he wasn’t going to give that information up. Nor that he was also wanted by the Federation.

~ Thyr

Eryn decided not to call his bluff about Jezem right at that moment. “Turning you in depends on a few zhings. Zhe First being vhy you are here on Oed. Oed is zhe place for zhose vanting to start over, Thyr.” Oh yes she had checked on him. “Some use it as an out of zhe vay layover until zhey can move on. And other arrangements stupid and zhink zhey can use Oed for zheir own illegal business. Ve vill not tolerate such activity. If your reason is Zhe first two perhaps ve can help each other. If it is Zhe last, then you can leave. If you do not zhen ve have a problem.”

Romanov

Shivan looked at her with a look of surprise touched with fear. She had already looked into him, obviously. “If you know about the identity I procured in order to legally enter this planet, then you must also know why I am in hiding. Getting my hands into illegal business while I’m trying to keep my head down would be… Ill advised.”

He sighed and leaned back slightly. “I was going to use it to hide for a little while and move on. It’s only a matter of time before my pursuers figure out where I went. But,” he gestured to the wound, “one of the less serious pursuers happened to be here. She recognized me and attacked me. I need more time to heal. I can’t leave. Even if I could, I’d have to pull something majorly illegal to do it.”

He looked at her, “If you turn me in, regardless of who you turn me in to, it’ll mean a painful death for me. I suppose that leaves us with one question: In what way might we help each other?”

~ Thyr

Eryn sat forward. “Well zhe first zhing I can do is take cate of Shivan’s problem. Ve kill him and let his creditors discover a secret account that vill almost pay zhem all back. Zhe can squabble over it. You paid very vell for zhis identity and it stands up to scrutiny. I have an edge. I can make sure anyone else vith zhat edge can’t use it.”

“You are a very observant person Thyr. Reports of detailed observations are vorth a great deal to me. Vorth providing vork and security to zhose zhat provide it. If you vish to stay on Oed, I can even set you up vith a job and a place to live in exchange for zhose observations and you stay legitimate.”

Romanov

“What will I have to do?” Shivan asked suspiciously. “I spent all of my money on that iron-clad identity. I can’t pay you.” If it sounded too good to be true… Well, it always was. And a job, a place to live besides Jezem’s, along with an attempt to conceal him from the Syndicate and his debtors, was impossibly good. Either he was going to have to sell his soul or the price of such help would be too high to pay. “The Syndicate may buy my death, and that will protect me for longer, but unless you happen to be obscenely rich, I doubt you could put enough money in that account to pay the price on my head.”

~ Thyr

Eryn laughed, “No I can’t buy you out of the syndicate, but I can pay off your other depts. That will give you breathing room. Then you will pay me back in installments. You will be able to do this because you will have a job and be making a steady income. In exchange you will provide me with information. You are very good at spotting people who are suspicious or don’t quite belong. You don’t have to talk to them or do anything other than tell me where you saw them, what they were doing, and a description. I will do the rest. Oh and also if something should go wrong, you will tell me immediately, you will not hide it.”

Romanov

“You want me to snitch.” Shivan looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Snitch on exactly the sort of people I do business with.” He frowned, “Or… used to.” He didn’t like that idea. Hated it, really. To snitch on people in his own world for his own protection? Unthinkable. His reputation was that he kept his word when it came to those he worked with. He was no backstabber. But then… It came with protection from the Syndicate and the payment of his other debts. That would loosen the pressure on him considerably. “What if I don’t? Or what if I did hide something? What then?”

~ Thyr


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