A Friend Indeed

Posted on Wed 2nd Nov, 2022 @ 12:40am by

1,652 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A Fresh Perspective
Location: SB109, Perry Gardens and WV Nomad
Timeline: MD 1, 0530

Verrana stepped from the dock and took a deep breath to take in the air, the air of business, which she planned to make an opportunity out of nothing here. She knew if Isabella, of all people, were calling her here to the Starbase to ask for a favor, the situation was dire. Although she genuinely thought of Isabella as a friend, perhaps her only friend in the known universe, she couldn't let the chance pass her by to make as much latinum as she could from this.

However, she didn't quite know what to make of that Riko McCord. What was her story? Verrana had done her homework on McCord. She knew the basic Starfleet write-up on Riko that any second-rate spy could get, but what interested her was Riko's last mission aboard U.S.S. Samurai. It cost her a pretty penny to get her hands on the classified information, but what was in the file was priceless. Verrana was tucking that bit of information away for a rainy day.

Isabella's first officer had struggled with her assignment to find a place for the Romulan to stay. It wasn't because there weren't plenty available, but because Riko was already having trouble trusting, let alone liking the woman enough to care if she lived with rats and roaches or in a fastidiously clean, amicable environment. However, her beliefs in the Church of Elvis emphasized being kind and dreaming of a better world.

There must be lights burning brighter somewhere,
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue.
If I can dream of a better land, where all my brothers walk hand in hand,
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true?

So, yes, she tried her best to be her best, to live the dream of Elvis. The housing for Verrana Nemis could be no different. Finally, she settled on a two-bedroom in an apartment block on deck 1558. It wasn't rich, and it wasn't poor. It was neat, perhaps a little impersonal, but there were lovely gardens, as befit the name of that section of SB109, Perry Gardens. She thought it also fit Isabella's description of nice, but "not high-on-the-hog". She made the appropriate financial arrangements and headed back toward Nomad.

"Riko, wait up!" Isabella said as she jogged down the Starbase corridor. "How's the apartment hunting going?"

"Oh, I was just on my way back to tell you. I found a nice 2-bedroom apartment that's in a one story building, sort of in the center of planned Gardens. In fact, the area is called Perry Gardens. Do you know of it?" Riko asked. "It has its own shopping and restaurants and wasn't really expensive, but it's nice.

"Wow! Perry Gardens? Are you kidding me? Did they name it after Henry? " Isabella responded. "Verrana will get a kick out of that I am sure. You ready to meet her?"

"I don't know how they picked the name," McCord shrugged, "but I'm definitely ready to meet this woman, see what she's like in person. I'll try not to be too annoyed by her attitude."

"She grows on you Riko, I promise. Just don't let her goad you. Wait, there she is." Isabella threw her hand up in the air and waved to get attention of Verrana.

Verrana spied Isabella and made her way toward the two Starfleet officers. As Verrana approached, she smiled as she saw Riko standing by Isabella's side.

"Well hello to my lovely wife!" Verrana said very loudly, turning the heads of the dozens of patrons in the area. Isabella was chagrined but went in for a hug from her friend and technical wife. "Hello, Verrana, you look well. I see you have been taking care of yourself," Isabella said as she took in the visage of Verrana. Verrana looked stronger than ever in the eyes of the spy, and she could tell that she had been taking care of herself since the last time they laid eyes on one another.

Verrana looked over to McCord and gave a coy smile. "And who do we have here?" The Romulan asked. "Is this the infamous Commander Riko McCord of Broken Drive? My, you are shorter in person!"

Riko kept her face bland as she replied. "Same height I've been for the last, oh, twenty years or so. Did you have a pleasant trip?"

"Pleasant enough I guess." Verrana nodded towards the transport she arrived. "Commander McCord, please have someone retrieve my bags from the transport and have them taken to my quarters. I trust they will be up to my standards?"

"Depends on what your standards are," Riko said shortly. "If you're a prima dona or princess, probably not." She wasn't used to being ordered around by anyone, especially someone she didn't think she'd ever feel comfortable around. She was tempted to tell the woman to get her own bags, but she glanced at Isabella and saw a minuscule shake of her head, so instead, she said. "Aye, Aye, Ma'am, I'll get right on that. I'm sure there's someone around here ... somewhere."

Verrana pulled on Isabella to guide her further down the corridor, but Isabella stayed in place. "Verrana, stop it. You are acting like a spoiled brat. You will treat Riko with the dignity and respect that she deserves. Am I understood?"

"Riko, Verrana can arrange for her own bags to make it to her quarters. Now, let us go somewhere private and talk."

McCord just nodded, and figuratively soothed her ruffled feathers. "There's probably nowhere more private than the ship. Podkayne is the only one there, and she won't come in. She's running flight simulations to become comfortable with piloting the larger ship."

Verrana looked at Isabella with a deadpan look. "Well, still looks like you live with a stick up your butt." She looked over to Riko. "How do you deal with her? She is no fun sometimes!"

"Oh, I don't know," Riko replied. "She has her moments ... and I trust her. I've served with her brother, and I trust him. Maybe I'll learn to trust you, too ... someday"

"Oh I can be very trustworthy, but what about you Commander McCord? Are you trust worthy?" But before anyone could respond to Verrana's last comment, she quickly changed the subject. "What's this ship you speak of. huh? What are you not telling me. loving wife?"

"Oh trust me, there is a lot you don't know, but this is your chance to be a part of something. Something bigger than you." Isabella put her arm around Verrana. "Remember, I know who you truly are, underneath that rough and crude and mean Romulan exterior. I know who you are and what you are made of."

Verrana listened to Isabella and was instantly uncomfortable. She knew Isabella was right, but the words cut really deep to her core, but she couldn't let Isabella and Riko know.

"The only thing I want to be a part of is making Latinum. A girl's got to eat you know. And I mean eat well."

"You'll eat well with us," McCord promised. "The rest, Isabella will tell you." She looked around the dock area and saw two or three roustabouts who were looking for work. Motioning one over, she said to Nemis, "Here's the someone you need for your bags. You tell him where they are, and I'll even pay him for you." It would all come out of ship's expenses anyway, and it was a compromise on being ordered around.

Within a few minutes, they were walking toward Nomad's berthing, followed by a man guiding an anti-grav unit with more bags than Riko had expected. Was this woman a clothes princess, or did she carry everything she owned everywhere she went? It amused Riko to mentally compare her to a large Galápagos tortoise, such as they had brought with them to Broken Drive. They were originally embryos, of course, but now there were quite a few of them housed quite happily in some of the habitats, of which Riko's home growing up had been one. Lots of sunlight, a few mudholes, a small lake, and plenty of grasses, fruits, and vines kept them happy and well. Still, there was that whole carry-your-house-on-your-back thing. She smiled slightly as she mentally dubbed Verrana 'the tortoise'.

As they approached Nomad's berth, Isabella looked at Riko. "Give the porter the location of Verrana's quarters, and then let's head inside. Verrana, what you are about to hear is classified information, hence the NDA forms you will have to fill out. And, to help sweeten the pot, I am going to give you a consulting fee for showing up for this meeting. The fee is yours no matter your decision. How's that sound to you?"

Verrana's pointed ears perked higher when the words consulting fee came out of Isabella's mouth. She sure knows how to tempt a Romulan, she thought to herself as the airlock door to the Nomad opened and the women entered.

The Romulan defector was shocked at the interior of the starship. Immediately, she recognized that there were four different alien technologies running through the first part of the vessel she entered. "You certainly know how to make a hodgepodge of things, don't you?"

"Not us," Riko denied. "Some was the last owner, and the rest was ... someone we know." She wasn't sure if Verrana knew Henry, or if Isabella wanted her to know anything concrete. Who knew what the woman could turn to her advantage.

Isabella chuckled under her breath. "Trust me, you may think it looks like a hodgepodge, but my brother put this together for us. Meaning, it works better than some of the Federation ships in the fleet. Let's go up to the bridge and talk."

Well, that answers that, Riko thought, following the other two to the bridge.

 

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