Slow Nights

Posted on Fri 29th Sep, 2017 @ 4:47am by

679 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Orchids & Jazz, Deck 600
Timeline: MD 4, 2100

It was a relatively quiet night at Orchids & Jazz. Velasquez liked nights like this. He could listen to the music and think his own thoughts, with few interruptions. The jazz lounge had a reputation as a good meeting place for those who had private business, liked good food and was quietly refined. That meant that Reon's function was more doorman and less bouncer, though his intimidating presence was usually enough to deter most trouble-makers.

Not like it was in the beginning, the man thought, as his eyes moved over tonight's clientele, never stopping in one place long. No, in the beginning, before Jade Lantz owned her own jazz lounge, he'd been mostly a bouncer. They'd met ... how long had it been now? Her first Orchids & Jazz had been almost ten years in the past, which meant he'd met her in the Martian Colonies about thirteen years ago.

The man let his mind tiptoe cautiously through a few of those early memories. He'd been little more than a punk kid of 17. He still didn't know what Ms. Lantz had seen in that kid, but whatever it was, she'd saved him from an early death, at the very least, and slavery at the worst. He'd always been big and bulky. Martian colonists tended that way, something to do with larger lung capacity which developed in the thinner atmosphere.

Reon's eyes rested for a moment on a particularly attractive Ensign wearing Science blues. Her dark red hair caught his attention, but after a moment his attention moved on, and his thoughts returned to their previous ground. Even as a Martian trouble-maker, he'd been attracted to music, and wherever his El Aurian boss was, there was bound to be music.

That's what had pulled him into Jade's sphere of influence. She had caught him hiding in the attic above a club she managed in Mars Colony 3. He was hiding from enemies, of course, but he could have done that in many places. He'd chosen that place because of the music. She'd given him a job, given him responsibility, given him her trust, and it still puzzled him.

A bit of Red Sails in the Sunset drifted his way from the stage. It was one of his favorite pieces. He knew it was an Earth sunset making the sails of the boat red, but in his mind, he always saw the red skies of Mars behind the sails of a ship. Even after terraforming, bodies of water on the surface that were large enough for sailing ships were few, but it's what his mind imagined anyway.

Someone came through the door and Reon stepped forward. "Good evening. Welcome to Orchids & Jazz. Would you like a table?" It was a party of five men in civilian clothing, and the races ranged from Vulcan to Human, with one Andorian in the group.

A human took the lead. "Yes, please. Close enough to hear the music, but not to have conversation be impossible."

Reon signaled to Serena, using hand signs they'd developed in their years together with Jade. She came forward and smoothly led the group to the type of table that was perfect for conversation with a background of soft jazz. It never crossed the doorman's mind to wonder about the group, to speculate on why they were together or who they were. His mind simply didn't function in that way. Jenna often teased him about missing the curiosity gene most humans had. It wasn't really that he had no curiosity. He merely didn't care about strangers or their business. It made him ideal for his job.

Again, his mind returned to it's former thoughts, while his eyes roamed. For whatever reason, Jade's confidence and trust had changed him. Even today, he could think of multiple ways to swindle and cheat others, but because of his employer, he never followed through on those thoughts. It was nothing more than mental exercise for him now. Still, even after more than a decade, Reon's mind worried at the problem once again. Why had she trusted him?

 

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