Shady Young Lady (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 09 Jun 2017 @ 6:03pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant JG Kyle Roberts & Lieutenant JG Cameron

2,322 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Starbase 001 - Deck 429, Promenade
Timeline: MD -41, 1458 hrs

[ON]

It was just a few minutes past the lunch rush in Starbase 001's main promenade which meant the hordes of Starfleet and civilian crew were slowly clearing out from the various shops and restaurants as they prepared to return to their daily duties. Large crowds of people from all genders and species chatted with each other in their various native tongues, which added a vibrant and boisterous atmosphere to the lingering smells of the fresh food that had just been consumed.

For Yuhia, it'd been a very profitable afternoon so far. The young adolescent Nausicaan had managed to casually wind her way through the crowds and restaurants while 'collecting' numerous slips of latinum and personal items from unsuspecting patrons. The fact that she was only eleven years old -- and short for one of her species -- meant her presence often slipped under the sensors of the adults. She pushed some of her long hair back behind her ears then happily looked down into the small sack hidden in her belt beneath her shirt. Two strips and seven slips of gold-pressed currency. Enough for her to buy a new dress and feed herself for the next several days. Maybe even have a couple spins of the dabo wheel if she was lucky.

Yuhia began to enthusiastically skip along the promenade on the way back to her makeshift lair in order to deposit her new tiny fortune. Hopefully the dinner rush between 1730 and 1900 would be just as fruitful, but she didn't want to get too far ahead of herself. As she rounded one of the corners in the promenade, she suddenly spotted one of the gold-collared menaces -- a security guard who appeared to be on the prowl.

Kyle had finished lunch early and stated on a patrol. He figured he might as well get some actual work done while waiting and had gotten approval from Station Security. So now he was on a standard patrol route in the promenade. It wasn't all that busy at the moment, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It allowed him to ease into the particulars of Starbase 001. Plus he'd already had a chance to observe the area from above when he talked with Axel.

Kyle saw the young Nausicaan girl skipping around the corner. He smiled and approached, wondering where her parents were at first. "Hi there," he said. "Did you lose someone?"

She'd seen the Human coming but in the time it took to run through a plan of escape in her head, he was already approaching. And now he'd just talked to her. So much for a discrete exit, and now her heart began to beat quickly in her chest. Yuhia froze while her dark eyes shifted to the left and then to the right in order to find an exit route. She wanted to run and knew she should have, but now she wondered if there was another way out. She'd never been good at talking but she was well aware that people seemed to give her the benefit of the doubt just because she was young.

She bit the bottom of her lip in an attempt to look innocent which pulled her two small side teeth together into the middle of her mouth. Then she nodded shyly while one of her hands instinctively reached down to protect her hidden stash.

Kyle, being the trained Starfleet Security officer that he was, noticed that she seemed a little nervous right after he'd asked his question. Odd, he thought to himself. Not letting his curiosity show, he continued. "Well, maybe they're back in the restaurant dining area," he said. "Come on, let's check. I bet they're looking for you right now."

Yuhia took a step back and adamantly shook her head. There was no way she was going back to the place that she'd just stolen from, especially if someone there would recognize her face. Instead, she reached out with her hand and pointed in the other direction, behind the tall security officer. "...I think they went that way..." she finally spoke in a timid voice.

Kyle turned to look behind him. "Well, then let's head that way." When he turned back around, though...

The place where the young Nausicaan had been standing was now empty. She'd taken off in a dead sprint the minute the police man had looked away from her, and her dark wavy hair now bounced across the tops of her short shoulders with every hurried step she took. Yuhia knew he'd eventually see her running sooner rather than later, and so she found the nearest crowd of Starfleet personnel and began to weave her way through them in an attempt to conceal herself.

"...Excuse me... Sorry... Please let me through...!" she said to the adults towering over her as she tried to make her way to her next mental checkpoint. She didn't dare cast a look over her shoulder for fear of slowing herself down and losing everything she'd worked for throughout the day.

"Hey! What the hell?!" Kyle took off running after her when he saw that she was gone. The group of personnel slowed him down a bit and he lost her...momentarily. The Security officer paused and observed the crowd. To his right, a few meters ahead, people were looking down and stepping back a little. He grinned and began to push his way through the multitude, following the line of people kept looking towards the floor.

Yuhia weaseled her way through the remainder of the first crowd then turned the corner on the promenade and continued to run -- straight into the nearest casino lounge and towards the kitchen area where fresh food was being cooked. She collided with one of the chefs which sent both of them sprawling on their backs and a newly-plated casserole splattering over the floor. "...Sorry...!" the young Nausicaan cried out as she scrambled back to her feet and looked around. In the far corner she could see a small recycling chute as well as a maintenance shaft near the ceiling. She quickly began to think about which one would be best while trying to recall the internal layout of the deck that she'd memorized earlier in the week.

Kyle continued to follow her and wondered how long she'd been doing this, whatever it was was that was doing. She know the layout of the station exceedingly well. And that was one thing she had on him. It was all still fairly unfamiliar to Kyle. But then he heard the sound of breaking and clanging dishes. The Security officer grinned and headed for the kitchen. When he entered, he put his hand up and shook his head, indicating quiet. He saw the splattered mess of food on the floor and walked towards the chef. Kneeling down next to him where he was cleaning the mess, he quietly asked, "Where?" Kyle nodded and stood when the chef pointed in a general direction. He came around the corner of a large cooking surface that was sizzling with food on it. The sound, in addition to the normal ones in the kitchen, muffled the footfalls of his Starfleet issue boots as he approached the girl.

"Can't decide, huh. I'd recommend the chute. You might come out smelling like garbage, but it's faster than climbing a shaft," said Kyle.

Startled to hear the authoritative voice behind her, Yuhia spun around wide-eyed like a Denobulan lemur caught in flood lights. No way! she yelled back in her head. Her eyes shifted to see if there was anything she could use to prop herself up or maybe cause a diversion with. The half-eaten carrot cake on the counter next to her looked like it would do the trick, and with youthful quickness, she snatched up the large circular plate and heaved it with her full might at the policeman's face.

Unexpected. That was all that Kyle could think of in that split second. Well, that and a few other things ran through his mind. He immediately started wiping the cake from his eyes and looked around. He grabbed up the nearest towel and cleaned the rest of his face off. Once finished he spun around looking for the young Nausicaan girl.

The brown sole of Yuhia's left shoe was suddenly all that could be seen in the kitchen. It quickly disappeared into the now-open Jeffries tube hatch along with the rest of her body after she'd quickly jumped up on a table and entered her stolen maintenance codes into the locking device to allow herself entry. Her heart pounded in her chest and ears while she crawled with uncanny speed and litheness through the dark, tight, and confined spaces of the starbase's inner network. From here, she knew she could out-maneuver any grown adult who tried to follow her. She also knew from her mental map of the junctions where to go to evade any pursuers.

Kyle didn't see a sign of her anywhere. But to have disappeared like that in a crowd like this without any signs...that was more than odd. He tapped his combade and spoke, "Lieutenant Roberts to Ops. I have a situation. I was patrol and offered to help a lost Nausicaan female adolescent. Or, so I thought. She took off running and I lost her in the kitchen. There aren't very many exits in here. I'm requesting assistance in tracking her down."

In Ops, a Vulcan-Xenexian hybrid raised one eyebrow at the call. Cameron had been running a level three diagnostics of decks 21 through 38 after volunteering for station duty while he waited for new orders. Being idle wasn't something he particularly enjoyed, and if he could be useful somewhere else... it made sense to make himself available.

Transitioning from one nearby console to another so as to not interfere with the diagnostics, Cameron drew up the internal sensors. Rather than inquire on what level Roberts was on, Cameron merely touched a few commands until he successfully isolated Robert's commbadge. Locating the child-Nausican, a species that didn't have much of a presence on the station, required even less effort.

After a second, Cameron tapped the comm-link on his console. "Lieutenant, this is Lieutenant Cameron at Operations," Cameron began in a very stoic and professional tone. "The Nausican female is approximately 200 meters from you, moving towards sub-junction fifteen-alpha, towards the promenade." A brow rose from Cameron's forehead. "Would you like me to initiate a force field to contain her?" It seemed like overkill, and would undoubtedly cause inconvenience to anyone who happened to be nearby. But without knowing more about what was going on, Cameron started to treat this seriously.

"Acknowledged," Kyle said. "Negative on the forcefield...for the moment. Let's see where she ends up first. If she's heading back towards the Promenade, it'll be easier to catch her in there. Unless she stays in the Jeffries Tubes." That's the only place she could have gotten into so quickly and be near sub-junction fifteen-alpha. But that raised another question, how in the world does an adolescent Nausicaan girl get those code? Kyle smirked. Little one has some skill, he thought to himself. Wonder how long she's been at it? He tapped his combadge again, "Lieutenant Roberts to Lieutenant Cameron, I'm en route back to the Promenade. Has she exited anywhere in there yet?"

From what Cameron could discern, there were more than a thousand people on that level. Thankfully, Nausicaan life signs were unique and easy to distinguish from the sea of life forms that internal sensors were picking up on. He watched the tiny signal beep in and out of existence while sensors continued to track her movements. He drew up a larger image on his monitor, complete with a legend. "As long as she remains on her present course, the adolescent Nausicaan will emerge near Kett's Clothing and Supplies."

Like a mouse scurrying through a maze in search of a cheese curd, the young Nausicaan was short enough to be able to crouch and sprint her way through the confined maintenance corridor. One of her hideouts -- where she liked to stash most of her possessions -- wasn't too far away, just down the main shaft another twenty meters and then a left at the junction. She made the turn then climbed down one of the ladders which would lead her to one of the back rooms in Kett's shop. From there, all she had to do was open up a ventilation shaft and she would be home free.

Back in Ops, Cameron pursed his lips as the Nausicaan's signals seemed to pass through what schematics said was a perfectly solid wall. "There seems to be an anomaly in the deck plan, Lieutenant," he tapped several more buttons, negating the station's plans with a more refined report from internal sensors. "The Nausicaan is now in a ventilation shaft." Cameron reached for another console, struck several commands before verifying his coordinates. A final finger to the console brought up confirmed reports of a force field generation directly in front of where she was headed.

"I have erected a force field in front of her," Cameron reported, watching as Roberts's own signature from his comm-badge approached the shop. "She has nowhere to go except through you. Shall I call security?" He inquired.

"I am security," Roberts said. "Better let them know I'll be bringing in a minor. We'll need all the various agencies present for that." He looked around, saw Kett's and jogged towards it. "Once I'm, in you can screen the store front though. I've had enough of running round the promenade like a chicken with my head cut off."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Yuhia
Vagabond Child
SB-001
[NPC Saalm]

Lietenant JG Kyle Roberts
Security Officer
SB-001
[NPC by Derani]

LTJG Cameron
Operations Officer
Starbase 001

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