The Vision Quest

Posted on Thu 10th Sep, 2020 @ 9:38pm by Yuliette Marayan Dr. & Sorra Yarime (Yari)
Edited on on Wed 7th Oct, 2020 @ 3:08am

1,661 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Yuliette's Apartment
Timeline: MD: 14 About 0700 hours

Yari rested through the night thanks to the concoction that the Cardassian Doctor gave him. She had mentioned Vision Quests and thanks to the medicine he was sent on his own vision quest. He dreamt of a star chart that showed a system, Varex. Bits and pieces appeared in his mind, flashes really. Feeding him clues, or was it the drug just fabricating something in his mind for amusement. Then they came to him and started talking.

"You have been chosen." One of them said.

He stood there and looked around at them in confusion, "What?"

"You have been chosen." It was his Romulan bodyguard, Jaeih speaking to him.

Then his other bodyguard, the Andorian Vani spoke, "You must find The Orb of Khu'laa."

"What, what?" Yari said in confusion. He didn't quite understand what was going on. "Who are you and what's going on?"

"We are what exist without linear time." Yari's uncle said to him. "The Bejora call us the Prophets. You have been tasked with finding The Orb of Khu'laa, it is your destiny."

"Find the Orb," Vani said.

"Yes, find the orb," Jaeih added.

Then their images faded to nothing and Yari envisioned a waterfall that dropped from a river and formed a large pool of water. The images were becoming weaker and fleeing his mind until he woke. Yari sat upright quickly wondering what had happened and grabbed his side as the pain came rushing in like a tidal wave. He groaned at the pain and then the realization of the night before came back to him.

At the side of the make-shift bed of cushions Yari was on, a woman keeping watch sat cross-legged, reading a book. She closed it and shuffled around, taking up a bottle of water into which she poked a straw. "Easy, not so fast." She caught him behind his back to support him and held up the water for him. If she had resources, he would have been on IV fluids.

Yari slowly took several small sips of water. "Where am I?" he asked with a still weak and raspy voice.

"I'm asking myself the same question every day now." She said sarcastically and then explained a little less cryptically. "The Zodiac. In my apartment, on the Centaur Arm of the Drift. You had a stab wound and your friend and I brought you up here. She didn't think you wanted to be seen at a clinic." Yuliette shrugged. "I can't work in a clinic either, so who am I to judge? I sewed you up here instead."

Yari chuckled but it hurt. He cringed when he did. "I do appreciate you patching me up after last night brawl. I had the mishap of slipping on something wet on the floor and it gave a goon the opportunity he needed. As long as the girl is safe, that's all that matters." Yari looked at the window and could that the artificial light indicated that it was day time. "Do you have the time?" He asked and then took another sip of water since she was still holding up the bottle.

She looked at an old time piece in the pocket of her bag on the floor beside her. "About 6:30 am Station Standard. Why? Do you have somewhere to be?"

Yari shook his read, "Not yet, but in a few hours I will be missed and my friends will come looking for me and they won't be in the best of moods." Yari tried to get up but there was a lot of pain, "I might have to wait a while before I leave."

"Take your time. Sorry about the place. I have some peppermint oil if the smell is too much." She offered some of her balm to mask the smell. "You must have plans for Peldor Joi. It seems like it's a big deal around here."

"Not to be ungrateful, but how can you stand to live in a place like this? It's far below any type of standard." Yari said. The stench was pretty bad, but he could endure it for a little while longer, he just couldn't see anyone living in a place like this.

Radak had put it in perspective for her and she was trying to see it through his eyes, so to speak. "I guess mostly by thinking it could be worse, and that it's only temporary."

Yari nodded, "I see." Then he added, "I'm the owner of the Gemini, it's a hotel and casino. Dinner is always on me there if you ever get hungry or just tired of cooking. If you want to get away from here for a few days, I can put you up in a room. We have a few long term suites/apartments, but they aren't all that cheap, but they are pretty nice." Yari paused for a moment as he thought about something, "And why can't you work in a clinic? You seem to know your way around wounds."

"That's very generous of you." She said genuinely. She'd seen the luxury through the entrance on the Rotunda. Instead of answering his question, she posed one back to him. "Why is a luxury casino owner dressing in black and roaming the bowels of the Zodiac at night?"

"I was out getting my exercise in by walking. I'm too busy in the day time and at night it's quieter." He lied, he had to, to protect his what he was doing. "Then I saw a young lady in trouble so I helped her out." Part of the last sentence was true, but he couldn't tell a stranger what he was doing even though she saved his life. "I assume that you are not comfortable discussing various subjects. Perhaps we can have dinner together sometime and discuss your situation." He paused for a moment, "My invitation still stands though, I am grateful."

She wasn't sure. He wanted to keep his secrets, so maybe she should be a little more guarded with her own. She took out her pocket knife and went to her bucket of ice to pick out a fruit for him. As she carved it, she said, "Dinner, huh? I guess you're not one of the Bajorans around here that don't want to be associating in public with Cardassians, then."

"A Bajoran stabbed me, not a Cardassian. There are good and bad people in every species and not everyone should be judged by what species they are, but by their actions." Yari paused for a moment, "Of course there was the time when my uncle and I were leaving Bajor with the love of my life and a certain Cardassian kept her for himself. I would gladly kill him if I ever see him again." There was a certain air about Yari when he talked about the Cardassian.

That was fairly bald as confessions went. "Sounds like there's a lot more to that story." The summary of it only left Yuliette with more questions and concerns, but she wasn't sure what the use of asking would be. Raw as it clearly was for him, it might have been a long time in the past, if he had since established himself in the Zodiac. Yuliette wrapped the fruit she had pared into a napkin and passed it to her patient. "Try to eat. For the blood sugar."

Yari took the napkin that held the fruit and unwrapped it, "I apologize, I'm not like that and I don't like killing and I never have. I guess after all this time, the thought of what happened still bothers me." Yari took a bite from the peeled fruit, "That tastes pretty good, thank you."

"You're welcome." She sat down on the crate and ate one of the fruits whole. "I got them up in 2245 from a local farm. I never would have thought there would be farms on a starbase."

Yari nodded, "They can grow just about any fruit or any vegetable you can think of here on the station and anything that you can not find, I can probably get it for you."

"You've got connections, can source anything you want, more or less, but you can't get healthcare..." She shook her head. "You're an enigma, aren't you?"

Yari chuckled then grabbed the side that hurt, "I can get Healthcare, it's just this situation last night would have been rather embarrassing and even costly to me." He paused for a moment, "I should really be going before I am missed."

"Go easy on it," she advised, helping him up from the floor. "You probably want to find someone with a tissue regenerator."

Yari grinned, "I have one or two." Yari began to walk towards the door slowly testing out the pain level. He turned around slowly and smiled, "If you need....anything, come see me and I'll see what I can do for you. I can open you up a line of credit since you saved my life."

Her gears were turning. Maybe this was an opportunity to fund her little lotions and remedies idea. Yuliette moved to get the door for him. "Sorry, it sticks. Allow me." She threw her weight into it to get it open. As he shuffled carefully on his way out she asked, "Who do I ask for, at the Gemini, I mean? If I want to take you up on any of that?"

Yari smiled, "You can ask for me at the Gemini, Yarime, or Yari for short. I have a small store called the Libra, you can find just about anything you want there used and sometimes new, ask for Franklin, he'll know what to do." Yari stopped outside and then turned halfway back, "You should get that door fixed, its a death trap." He turned and continued walking away and down the ramp.

"Death trap.... Is it that... bad?" She mused to her self, yanking it back closed again with an unintentional slam.

 

RSS Feed