Diamond in the Rough

Posted on 15 May 2014 @ 4:04pm by Taurus & Reyn Trell

1,719 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: Lyshan III - Upper Mining Facility, Access Corridor
Timeline: MD 02 - 19:00 local

ON:

Moving down the dim, metallic corridor, Taurus felt at home in this part of the hive. It was dark and practical, as it should be. As he felt at home with. The Cardassian's hands were clasped behind his back and his head lifted as he walked, his bright blue eyes taking everything in.

Reyn Trell was carrying a box with him as he walked, frowning. He was a miner and as such sometimes came across smaller things that had great value. Crystals, diamonds...that sort. And they had been instructed to take them upstairs. Even if Trell was realistic. A lot of them got stolen.

"Where are you going?" Taurus asked with a slight frown as he saw the human approaching along the access tunnel.

"To the office," Reyn said and met his eyes, holding them before smiling. "Got some crystals to hand in. That we found when diggin'..."

He leant to look, a small smile pulling at his lips as he reached out to touch one. "And if I were to look in your pocket, there wouldn't be any?"

Reyn chuckled as he watched him, shaking his head. "You'd know better than to expect any in my pockets..." he said smoothly. "Although you'd be surprised what else you'd find."

"Do I have to put my hand in to find out?" Taurus replied lightly, his blue eyes dancing.

Reyn grinned, nodding as he watched him for a moment. "But those games can be very, very dangerous, Mr Taurus..." he named him, knowing full well who he was.

The Cardassian tilted his head, his blue eyes intense even with the small curl of a smile on his lips, hands clasped neatly behind his back. "Perhaps dangerous games are the only ones worth playing."

"They tend to be," he said and chuckled softly, offering the case over to him. "You might enjoy these...or if not, pass them over to whoever deals with them usually..."

"Carry them. Walk with me," he motioned with his head, turning the other way than he'd been walking to lead him to his office.

Reyn followed, his eyes on the Cardassian. He knew he was high up. He didn't quite know what he did though, but Reyn was just a miner so it wasn't a concern for him. He knew there were a lot more Cardassians up here than anywhere else, in comparison with other species. "So I hear Starfleet are about to dig around?"

Taurus was usually good at masking his emotions, but couldn't stop his jaw tensing at the mention. "To find these so called ghosts."

He frowned at that before letting out a breath. "The miners are scared. It is the echoes...they ring through the mine."

"That is all it is," Taurus said firmly, shaking his head with a frown. "Echoes. Humans scare too easily."

He watched him for a moment before shaking his head. "God help me, but you Cardassians might act tough, but down there you are as scared as Humans are. It's not a species thing. We all have...aspects of it in our superstition."

"There are no such things as ghosts," Taurus replied firmly, frowning. "Only here and now."

"How do you know?" Trell said with a small smile. "Do you have scientific proof? No one has. It can't be proven...doesn't mean it hasn't been disproved."

He shook his head with a small smile of amusement as he looked across to him. "Do you believe in miracles too then?"

Reyn met his eyes before taking a deeper breath. "A part of me does," he admitted. "The same way I believe in luck."

"Luck is also a myth. People make their own destiny, or not as the case may be," Taurus said with the kind of tired voice that came from having to say it often. He opened the door to his office, letting him in.

Trell walked in, turning to look at him. "I don't know, destiny is...a path you are on. It's how you get to the end that matters, right?"

"I like to know I'm going somewhere worthwhile too," he replied, but with a hint of a smile as he nodded to his desk. "Set it down, let's have a look at what you found," he said as he moved to pour them a drink.

He nodded as he set it down and opened it before taking a seat. He glanced at his own hands. He had scrubbed them and his face before going up here, yet his hands still seemed slightly dirty to him. And rough. Working the mines was not easy work.

Taurus sat with him, offering a glass over without bothering to ask if he wanted it or not. He worked hard, he'd want it. He peered inside, his grey fingers brushing over the little bits and pieces. "You collect them?"

"I made sure everyone handed any finds in," he said as he took the glass, taking a large gulp of it and moaning at the burn. "Thought you might find them...useful."

"Valuable, you mean," he chuckled, lifting a red stone to see how the light shone through it.

"Yes," Trell said bluntly, looking into the glass for a moment. "Everything has value. And besides, we have to make our fortune here and work together towards it."

"I like your attitude," he said with a small smile, studying the bits and pieces. He picked out a crystal, seeing how it shimmered into a different colour. "See that?"

Reyn grinned as he leant forward, watching it. "Aye, I noticed that. In sunlight it would be even brighter you know."

"A little piece of magic from the mine?" he chuckled, holding it in his palm before opening it up to show the crystal was a deeper colour from it.

He smiled as he nodded, leaning closer to look at it. "Yes...a piece of magic. Or luck..." he lifted his eyes, meeting the Cardassian's with a small smile. "You should keep it, Mr Taurus. For luck."

Taurus gave a half smile as he held his eyes. "There is no such thing as luck," he asserted. "The colour changes? It is a reaction between your body heat and the crystal, that is all. Perhaps you should keep it, to remind you when you are down in the mines and hearing voices, that there is a rational explanation for everything."

He shook his head, watching him for a moment. "When I am down the mines, all I hear is the sound of the work and the stones..." he said quietly. "It's what I do. I work. No. You keep it. It would only get lost with me."

Taurus threw it up in the air, catching it neatly as he considered it. He put it in his pocket before taking the bottle to refil the glass. "Tell me. How bad is it?" he asked, knowing the best way with Trell was the direct approach.

"Depends what you are after, morale or the retrieval of resources," Reyn said and took another sip of the drink. It warmed his belly, made his muscles relax a bit.

"This spirits nonsense," he shook his head with a frown. "We have actually had threats of widespread strikes."

"People are scared," he said bluntly, shrugging. "And overworked as well, but I have raised that as a concern before."

"And you know that we have quotas to meet," he said firmly with a frown, sitting back, not liking the attack.

Reyn met his eyes before nodding. "Yes. And we can reach them. But they need to take a break as well. We should also..." he stopped and looked down. He wasn't a foreman. He was just a miner. "Sorry. Not my place."

"What?" he asked gruffly. "You have started now. You might as well finish."

"Mix the working teams up more rather than separating the Cardassians from humans. We are all here meant to work together," he said as he met Taurus' eyes.

He took a deep breath, sitting back as he watched him for a long moment. "I thought it was mixed," he said lightly. Perhaps that meant it wasn't enough.

"Some shifts are. Depends on the foreman. Mostly, though...you will have the Cardassian teams and the human teams and the mixed teams. And usually, the human teams will work harder to show they are as good as the Cardassian ones," Reyn frowned as he shook his head. "The Foremen get to make the rotas. Maybe it would be best if it was done in management."

Taurus tilted his head, watching him for a long moment, nodding. He was silent for a good thirty seconds at least, just thinking, nodding slowly. "We can try it."

He met his eyes with surprise before taking a breath. "If it doesn't work, we can go back to the old ones..."

"We could at least try it on a few shifts. Compare the mining rate between the two types," he nodded, holding his eyes.

Trell watched him before giving a small nod. "I can keep a tally if you'll allow it," he said softly.

"You are volunteering for extra tasks?" he replied with an arched eyebrow, curiosity in his eyes as to his motives.

"Hey, let's face it...I am here to stay anyway, might as well try and climb the ladder," Reyn said easily, with a small smile to the Cardassian.

He nodded, a smile coming back to him. He could both understand and respect that. "Then you do it."

"Yes sir..." he smiled as he sipped the drink, closing his eyes for a moment. "This is good stuff."

"Of course it is. It's Cardassian," Taurus replied, but there was wry humour shining in his blue eyes.

He smiled at that, his eyes shining. "The Devil's drink, it is..." he knocked the last of it back. "But then again, I was never on the side of angels."

"Perhaps that is why you do so well here. In the dark," Taurus said lightly, lifting a hand to gesture around them.

Trell watched him for a moment before smiling to him, his eyes studying the Cardassian. He had to admit, he was one charismatic Devil if he was that. "Perhaps..."

OFF:

Taurus
Administrator
Lyshan III
(PNPC Blake)

Reyn Trell
Miner
Lyshan III
(PNPC Markos)

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