An Adventurer in Plain Clothes
Posted on Thu 12th Aug, 2021 @ 6:32am by Chief Petty Officer Larry Kersenboom (Ret.) & Renato Solis
1,043 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Waging Peace
Location: Brown Sector Community Center
Timeline: MD-2, 0910 hours
Previously, on Starbase 109...
Larry grinned. "I throw dice, too. They usually have six, ten, or twenty sides to them. You ever hear of an Earth role-playing game called Dungeons and Dragons? I play a homemade variant of it that a friend of mine designed. She created a world, and the rest of our group fleshed it out over a lot of years. Kind of scary to think we've been doing this together for over forty years now."
There was a hint of deep sadness connected with mention of the group.
The beat which passed allowed them to mourn the lost. "Any group of people together for so long is a beautiful thing. This game must have provided a special bond, I would enjoy the chance to participate." The tinge of sadness was endearing to Renato, who took strides to mend painful memories. His own therapy on reshaping his life after the losses endured had showed him life was capable of great changes and pains.
"You would?" Larry gave Renato an interested look. "I'll talk to Karen, our DM. We meet at The Hangman's Noose Pub three nights a week. We could go for a new player. At the Noose space is no object, you just pull up another chair."
The moment of sadness didn't last long, as Larry promptly returned to the matter at hand. "So, what kind of work would people want me to do down here?" he asked Renato Solis as they sat in the Community Center. "I was an NCO in Starfleet, in charge of repairing a lot of things or seeing that they got repaired. Most Starfleet things that break down are a lot higher tech than what I've seen here, which is good, because the lower-tech stuff doesn't change as fast as the higher-tech stuff does. If this deck were cutting-edge Starfleet, I'd need new repair manuals every couple of years. What's down here, I can handle."
Nodding, and listening Renato took the offer as the miracle it was. "To tell you the truth, Jonko the Tellarite pawnbroker is the closest thing we have to a handyman which will work for barter. People down here have little by way of cash or credit. The exchange down here is uneven, and the lack of economic security provides opportunity for exploitations. If you set up a booth, I could get you starting tools and help you build it up, but I want to know if you intend to charge for services or what your goal is?"
"No need to get me tools; I've got plenty of them. My goal is to not be bored stiff when I'm not gaming. I'm just looking for useful things to do, now that I'm retired and don't have a lawn to mow or a house to maintain," Larry said. "Durant told me that there's a need down here, but Brown Sector folks never visited his shop because they couldn't afford his prices--and frankly, his prices were lower than I'd have charged. I don't see how he made any money. If this Jonko guy is earning an income from being a handyman, I don't want to take his work away from him by doing things for free. But one thing I've learned about people who have less money is, they still have their pride and don't want to take charity. So they're likely to want to barter. Thing is, there's nothing I need. I planned for my retirement; I'm financially sound. So I'm not sure what I could barter my services for, and I don't want to clutter my home up with things I don't need. Do you have any suggestions? Maybe a service for a service? Will Work for Tea?"
Renato loved this about Starfleet types, especially Humans. Anywhere else in the whole wide galaxy you would hear this and know it was a lie.
"Mr. Larry Kersenboom? You are a fantastic individual, and I enjoy your company greatly. The greatest I will ever ask of you is your very best. We need everything you can see to do. Jonko fixes things in a creative way but charges for these "fixes" the same as anywhere else. We go to him because he takes credit and performs exchanges outside the view of any Sector supervisors from time to time. You just do exactly what you said, help these folks and I'll help you knock on doors. It will not be a competition to him, maybe it will make him improve his service, who knows? But like you say, if you're prepared for a world of work and creative ways of paying you for it, here is the list."
The Community Center had a digital forum for messaging, and community administration. He had compiled the top items discussed, leading off with,"Heat is unbearable in lower decks. Vents are old, clogged, at 31% efficiency, but can't be cleaned with energy based emollients due to proximity to power core. they gotta remove this with a whole team of people apparently!"
Renato explained. "Much of the space down here was converted from storage, so it's barely up to specs for modular environs. Some of the lesser used ventilation shafts down here take the brunt of the station's filtration by design, but installing new vents would mean clearing out the level for construction, so that's not in favor. As such, residents of 19-F are sticking it out and using whatever means of cooling themselves they can. It's steamy down there, but they don't want Starfleet to come in, they'd rather sweat. If it gets too hot the engineers come in anyway; there's only so much leeway Environmental will allow us. So that's an option for you. They'll help you, if you need to clean the vents somehow and you'll have a whole block naming their kids after you. That's something Jonko hasn't touched in the six months since it became a problem."
Larry's eyes lit up. "Oh, something meaty! Twist my arm, Br'er Bear! You got a deal, Renato. I'll need a day or two to look over the specs and check the manual. Then I'll get my tools and some parts together and get to work. Any way I could go have a look-see?"
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