Build Your Wings on the Way Down, Part 1

Posted on Thu 31st May, 2018 @ 12:35pm by Lieutenant Damion Ildaran
Edited on on Thu 31st May, 2018 @ 10:23pm

1,320 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Starbase 109, Chamber of Commerce Offices
Timeline: MD 15, Morning

Damion looked at himself in the tiny mirror of his sleeping pod and shook his head. Even with his hair, new beard, and mustache dyed brown, there was no way to hide his true identity from people who knew him. And, honestly, changing one's appearance only slightly was much better for intelligence work than using elaborate make-up or prostheses that any observant person could tell at a glance were fake.

The messy, avant-garde hair style that he'd considered for Durant wouldn't do for meeting Chamber of Commerce people, and even someone with the personality that he'd created for Durant would know that. So, when his meeting with them was scheduled, Damion selected a decent but plain business suit from the pod hotel's replicator to wear as Durant, braided his hair into a short queue that he tucked inside his collar, and headed to the Chamber of Commerce offices.

Entering the Chamber's conference room, Jade set a tray on the sideboard. It contained a variety of sweet snacks, because she'd found that most people weren't interested in anything particularly healthy. Modern medicine made it less important. She didn't bring drinks, because everyone would get what they wanted from the pre-programmed replicator, and the Chamber of Commerce collected enough fees to pay to keep it stocked with materials.

She sat on one broad side of the oval table, her turquoise sheath dress rustling slightly as she did so, and pulled up the day's agenda on her CoC PADD. She didn't like mixing the jazz club business with Chamber business, and kept them separate at all times. Before she could read far, both of the other two in the triumvirate entered.

"No, I don't think that's how it happened, but does anyone ever tell us the truth?" said the tall light-haired woman. Kirvana Lewis was wearing a red business suit that left a little to the imagination, but only because of the jacket. Her long hair hung straight down her back, almost to her waist. In spite of being over 2 meters tall, she wore heels that were at least 6 centimeters high. Jade had often speculated on why the woman didn't fall flat on her face when she stepped forward.

"Why don't we ask Miss Lantz?" asked her companion, a shorter, dark-haired swarthy-skinned man. He ran the Promenade's only holographic game shop, named Safari John's, though his own name was Harlan Castiglione. He was dressed in more conservative business attire, black trousers and a long black tunic.

"Ask Miss Lantz what?" queried Jade, when they looked at her without speaking.

"Sorry," Castiglione apologized. "I forgot you weren't part of the conversation all the way down the corridor." He rolled his eyes, indicating that the topic was already overly deliberated, so far as he was concerned. "Rumors are flying thick and fast about pirates attacking the base. What do you know about it?"

Deciding it was better not to add to the spread of rumors, Jade said, "Pirates attacked a ship which is now docked here. That attack took place far from our base. Now, if you'll be seated, we can get to the items on the agenda. In about 2 minutes a man is going to walk through that door, present his case to us, and want us to make a decision in his favor. Are you ready?"

The other two took chairs on either side of Jade, nodding their heads as they did so. "One thing I tell everyone about you, Lantz. You are all business," Lewis sneered slightly.

Outside in the waiting room, Damion ran through the possibilities. The best, of course, was that Jade Lantz would not be present. It was possible; she ran a busy restaurant. Surely she didn't meet with every penny-ante businessman who wanted to set up shop on Vanguard? But, being the best possibility, he considered it only briefly and went on to the more likely and worse ones. If Lantz was present and immediately pegged him, addressed him by his true name in front of others, and called station security on him, he would have to submit to them politely, identify himself, and explain things to Isabella Perry--who had seen him in uniform before. Inconvenient, but possibly his cover might be salvageable as long as word didn't get out. He didn't like the idea, though.

He was proceeding to other possible ways of handling other situations when the door opened, and a man in a dark business suit glanced at him. "Mr. Durant--of Durant Repair Services? I'm Harlan Castiglione. If you'll come to the back with me, we can get started."

"Thank you," Damion said. He stood and followed Castiglione through the doorway, PADD in hand. Castiglione led him into a conference room with a polished oval table that Damion would swear was made of real wood. Two women were seated along one side of the table, with an empty seat clearly meant for Mr. Castiglione. Jade Lantz sat right in the middle. Damion suppressed a sigh and mentally rehearsed the elements of his business proposal.

"Mr. Durant, have a seat," Harlan waved toward the side of the table opposite the one where he re-seated himself. "We've read your application and would like to hear you present an argument for why you want a business license for Starbase 109."

"I'm glad to meet you all," Damion said in the speaking voice he'd grown up using. It would greatly surprise him if any of these business-people had ever been to Turkana IV. He shook hands with the three Chamber officers and sat down at the conference table with them. Aside from Jade Lantz and Harlan Castiglione, there was a knock-out blonde named Kirvana Lewis in a red business suit. When she stood to greet Damion she towered over him in her heels, and he wasn't a short man. Everything about her appearance said "overkill" to him. Oddly, she didn't attract him at all after the first couple of moments.

Jade finished taking notes and had a few questions, but Castiglione's opening was as good as any. She looked up at the man across the table. She first noticed his body language, a little tense, which was normal enough. His aura seemed familiar, but that didn't really mean anything, either. She looked at his face as she listened to him talk, and couldn't seem to vanquish the sense that she knew him from somewhere. 160-plus years, she could have run into him anywhere. If he were memorable, it would come to her.

"And perhaps, in what location you are hoping to open a ... " Lantz glanced down, "a repair shop. It isn't exactly a Promenade sort of business, is it?"

"No, Ma'am, it isn't," Damion agreed. "I see my business as being the sort that makes many of those businesses possible, and not as a competitor against them. You already have several repair places on this station; I visited Thurmond Technical Repair the other day. They're the best of the ones I saw. They have an impressive set-up--large, efficient operation, 24/7 convenience, good customer reviews. But they have high overhead, and their services are expensive. I wouldn't pay their prices unless I had no other choice. I think this station has a need for a low-overhead business like mine, that is affordable, mobile, and offers higher quality than I see from customer reviews of Thurmond's current competitors.

"I realize I'll have to hire more people to be successful in the long run. Appliances break down at all hours of the day, and I have to sleep and take days off once in a while. One person can't do it all for an extended time. Once I can hire more people, I still plan to keep the size of my workshop small and send people out to do in-home or in-business repairs as much as possible, rather than base my staff out of a large workshop, the way Thurmond does."

To be continued ...

 

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