Milk Run

Posted on Sat Mar 5th, 2016 @ 6:56pm by Aewia Larani & Staff Warrant Officer Nexi

Mission: Talosian Perversions
Location: various

Nexi stared out the cockpit window watching the stars as she listened to various comm frequencies. Enalia had been right to suggest Aewia come along on this little errand; it had helped improve her sister's overall attitude and other mushy stuff that Nexi didn't like to admit existed, and Aewia got to see a little bit about what Nexi did and how she operated. For Nexi, it was both a good and a bad thing; she got to spend some quality time with her sister and got a helping hand moving the wine cases, but on the other hand she was used to working alone and didn't know what to do with someone around all the time. But it was a short run and they would be back on the Hera soon, so Nexi wouldn't have to worry about it for much longer.

But it had been fun! Especially when this little Ferengi worm selling them the booze had fallen in love with Aewia's eyes and asked to purchase her. He loved the way she gazed at things, the innocent quality that came along with brain damage... When Nexi said Aewia wasn't for sale, he offered a marriage contract instead, and that's when Nexi punched him. Thinking about that little troll twitching on the ground made Nexi chuckle; good times, good times... They would have to do this again sometime!

A ping in her ear broke Nexi out of her reverie as she got a response to a feeler she had put out for the holoprogram Maica III. "Yes!" she said as she leaned forward in her chair to start inputting navigation commands into the console. "Oi, Aewia! I found her!" She called back to the area that served as a sort of living room/kitchen.

Aewia had just finished replicating both of them some lunch and moving back to the cockpit. Handing one of the plates of hotpockets to Nexi, she smiled brightly and plopped into the copilot seat. "Yay! Enalia will be happy. Let's see what she looks like."

"Ooooh," Nexi said when she saw that Aewia had made food, grabbing a hotpocket before checking to see if it was cool enough to touch. It wasn't "Ooh, hot hot hot!" Nexi juggled the pastry in her hands until she got used to the heat and took a careful bite. "Looks like we're going to Trill, kiddo," Nexi said as she chewed. She finished punching in the coordinates and hit warp.

"It's pepperoni pizza... it's not supposed to be spicy..." Aewia was pouting as she nibbled on a corner of of one of her hot pockets. "What's Trill like, anyway? The Captain is a Trill with a... a baby? Something in her belly, right?"

Nexi chuckled at Aewia. "Nah, not a baby, a symbiont," Nexi corrected as they ate and watched the stars streaming by. "A rare few of the Trill can carry symbionts, a little parasite that's like a second brain for them. They become one with the little worm and when they die, all those memories and experiences become part of the next host. It's called joining and Enalia is joined."

"That's it. She's joined. But she's the first host, right? I wonder if she changed a lot when she was joined." Aewia mused, blowing on her hot pocket.

Nexi tilted her head curiously. "How did you know she was the first host?" she asked, watching Aewia with amusement as the younger Betazoid struggled with a long string of cheese from her hotpocket. Enalia said she didn't want it getting around that she was the first host, and honestly Nexi didn't know if she had changed or how much. "I've heard that the symbionts have their own innate personalities and they try to match compatible personalities if they can, but I don't know if it changed her. I never knew her when she wasn't joined."

Shrugging, Aewia took a bite of her food and tried talking around it. "She was thinking about it and I overheard her. She was thinking a lot of complex things and that's all I really understood. How long until we get to Trill?"

"Couple of hours," Nexi said, then was content to much in silence for a few minutes. After a while, she looked back at Aewia. "Hey, I know you can't help what you overhear, just be careful about repeating any of it. Some things are private and they should stay that way. Got it?"

"Yeah, I'm remembering some things like that," Aewia said, suddenly sounding and feeling much older than she looked. "That Ferengi you punched... He deserved much worse. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, but I can't kill everyone I meet, then I'd have no one to do business with," Nexi pointed out. "But seriously, don't go talking to anyone about Enalia's slug, she's kinda touchy about it."

"She seemed to be. I promise I'll do my best not to." Aewia was starting to cheer up again, nibbling her hot pocket and watching the stars peacefully. "I'm glad I transferred the pattern to these to your replicator. They're really tasty."

"You're lucky I have a working replicator. Thank Amelia and Ven for that when we get back to Hera, they're the ones who helped me fix up my ship," Nexi said with a grin. "You can thank Amelia for the shower too."

"We'll have to get them something nice for their wedding," Aewia said nonchalantly. "She daydreams of it now and then and I know they don't have plans yet, but you can just feel that they'll be married soon, you know?"

"Yeah..." Nexi said with a nod and a grin. She had been sensing the same things and she knew it wouldn't be long until those two made the leap.

"Maybe a rice cooker and a big bag of real rice? I think Amelia's really gotten into that Asian Earth food style and we can probably score some good rice pretty easily." Aewia was trying to put some actual thought into it and of course came up with food.

Nexi laughed. "Done! I know a place we can go for that, we can probably make it there and back before the part starts on the Hera! But first, Maica..."

The two hours went by relatively quickly with them talking food and wedding presents, and soon Nexi was hailing her contact on Trill to try to put her through to Maica. "Please be available..." Nexi murmured as she waited to connect.

After almost a minute, the screen flickered over to a beautiful green skinned woman smiling politely. "Hello, I understand you're looking for me. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with?"

Aewia was almost startled at how flawless this beauty was. Obviously Orion but without the normal blemishes or marks of slavery that was so common to the race. Glancing to Nexi, she remained quiet and waited for 'negotiations' to start.

"Nexi of the Wandering Star," Nexi replied simply, knowing that alone would carry some weight in some circles, even after the time skip. "I actually come on behalf of someone else. Don't rightly know her intentions exactly, but she's a decent person, Starfleet and Trill if that means anything to you."

"I'm Maica III. It's a pleasure to meet a legend such as yourself." Indeed, this Maica had heard stories of Nexi back when she was on Ferenginar. "May I ask this person's name at least? Or at least know a bit more about her? I assume you're here about obtaining a copy of my program and as you know, I'm very selective as to where these copies end up."

"Captain Enalia Telvan of the USS Hera, and she's a close friend," Nexi said with a hint of smile that went beyond her normal smirks. It was small but so genuine, a rarity for her. "If you know anything about who I am then you know friends are a rarity in my line of work, and she's the kind who don't give up on the people who are important to her. I came looking for you as a personal favor; if anyone deserves your attention, it's Enalia."

Maica III nodded slowly, considering this. She was also accessing public files to look this Captain up and see what kind of a public profile she had. "Indeed. I assume you or she can pay my normal fee then? The bulk of it goes to charities and the rest is the cost of my hardware. Yes, I need a special matrix," she said with a dashing smile and batting her eyelashes slightly. "I wouldn't be able to maintain sentience on most hardware, though I admit Federation tech is better than most."

"Yeah, my shuttle ain't equipped with holoprojectors, yet anyway, so I'd need to transport you offline, but the Hera can definitely support you, through the whole ship even," Nexi assured Maica, as she checked her accounts to see what she had available to haggle with, forwarding the standard negotiation fees to Maica. "What are my chances of getting the real you and not just a copy?" she asked playfully.

Maica laughed beautifully for just a moment. "I get asked that every time, you know. Technically, every copy is a real me - we all share data when we can and though we're all a bit unique, we're all more than just copies. And this will make forty seven, if I agree." That's how she saw it, anyway. Nevermind that she herself was actually the original. She even remembered spending time inside that android body before finding a way to free herself from that prison and melting down its power core. Ah, the secrets she had about her origins. It just added to the mystery though. "And I assure you that you'll be getting a perfect unadulterated version. She'll have some memories, but we prefer to each evolve on our own without any preconceptions. It's part of our individuality. So... the normal fee is twenty bars of gold pressed latinum or equivalent but for this Enalia... I think fourteen? How does that sound?"

"Woo, even your discounts are steep, lady" Nexi said, shaking her head with a grin, but she authorized the transfer of the necessary sum without any hesitation. "But it's for such a good cause... So, you need me to come get the data stick or you just wanna beam it up?"

Checking her accounts, Maica nodded approvingly. "I don't fit on a data stick. Like I said, you'll be transporting a whole holomatrix. I've started the process of creating it now and you can either pick it up or beam it up in about an hour. I have a personal landing pad at these coordinates if you'd like to wait here."

Aewia nodded and broke her silence as she watched the coordinates and hardware shipment authorizations came streaming into the copilot's station. "It looks like the case will just barely fit in the cargo area."

"No shit..." Nexi replied as she looked over the specs. "I'll have to set down to shuffle some cargo around if I'm gonna fit that in here. Guess I'll be seeing you in a few..." Then she adjusted her heading to take the shuttle to the provided coordinates.

"See you soon then," Maica replied cheerily just before closing the comms. She had a bit of preparation to do, but overall, she had a good feeling about this. The thing that amazed her though, was that Nexi hadn't even tried to haggle. It was unexpected, but that just meant the shelters she supported could get the things they needed that much sooner.