ILLUMINARRPG: (2 - 1650, 1657) Civilian Margriet Mackenzie and ACONN Alexander Dyson

[Ruben Hilbers]

Mission:  An End and a Beginning
Day: 2
Stardate:  2446.03.17

NRPG: I could have done this call from Dyson’s point-of-view, but that would be boring. It might also seem like there is some set-up missing, but that is on it’s way. *Winks at Al and Tim.* RPG:

(Ferenginar, Town 7 – Town Cafeteria, Main Hall – Civilian Margriet Mackenzie – 1650)

Maggie Mackenzie was tapping her fingers on the table that was home to communications unit. At 125, she wasn’t getting any younger and she had precious little time to spare. Her husband, Samuel, shook his head with disapproval. ~Well, technically, he’s husband number two.~ She and her first husband, Frederick, had gotten married when they were both twenty years old. Maggie had been a novelist and Fred a painter. For seventy-three years, they had been together and it had been wonderful. ~Seven kids and plenty of grandchildren.~

Then Fred has passed away peacefully in his sleep. Losing him had plunged her into a depression. Fortunately, she had the most stubborn grandchildren in the universe. They had hounded her into joining a bereavement aide group. It had saved her life, because it was there that she had met Samuel.

Samuel had married at age twenty-seven to Denise. Like Fred and Maggie, they had been married for over seventy years. And in their case, it had been Denise who had passed away in her sleep. Samuel had been a Starfleet marine and Denise had been a poet. They had not been able to have any children. But they had adopted no less than eleven sprouts over the years. These children had created a whole cluster of grandchildren for the pair.

So when Maggie and Sam had announced their intention to get married after two years of dating, there had been no shortage of opinions. But they had made their decision. So they had gone to Las Vegas and tied the knot. After a couple of years on Bajor, they had decided to spend their happily ever after on Ferenginar. And flying the ship that was getting them there, had been Alex Dyson. It was been a long trip, which had allowed them to befriend plenty of the crew. Including Alex.

“Stop being so inpatient, Maggie,” Samuel began. “Christina is working on it.”

Christina Ywan was Chief Petty Officer in Operations aboard the USS Illuminar. For technical reasons, she had been one who had answered Maggie’s original communication.

“How do you know she knows what she is doing ?”

“Because Starfleet doesn’t hire idiots. Well, except Starfleet Intelligence, who are all idiots. That’s why we Marines called Starfleet Intelligence an oxymoron. Because everybody working there is a…”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it, Mister Big Tough Marine,” Maggie said and followed it up with a sigh.

As she waited, Maggie looked around herself. They had needed a place to life on Ferenginar. They had ended up buy an abandoned mining town, which had been one funeral away from becoming a ghost town. ~Companies and their creative town names.~ She chuckled at that. Now, several years later, Town 7 was filled to the brim with people.

~Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.~ Some were former vagrants, rescued from their addictions. Others were scavengers, who used the town as their base while dismantling the other nearby towns for resources they could sell. And the list went on. ~Come on, Alex.~ As if on cue, there was a beep and then Alex Dyson finally appeared on the screen of her communications unit.

=^=Sorry, Maggie, I was nowhere near my quarters.=^= He paused. =^=Now, something tells me that this is not a social call.=^=

“You always were a sharp cookie, Alex,” Maggie said with a smile. “But you are right. There’s been a development, a big one.”

=^=Maggie ?=^=

“Zor noticed activity on your account. There was a withdraw using Yenna’s access code, Alex.”

A popular tactic used by Ferengi companies was to pay their employees wages, then renting them a housing unit for nearly their entire paycheck. Zor and others had escaped from that trap by moving to Town 7. But none of that mattered right now, because she had to tell Alex what she had found. He was leaning forward now.

=^=Maggie, tell me what you found !=^=

“We weren’t able to identify the town where she lives, but Yenna is on New Romulus. She withdrew enough money to pay for a ticket from Farius Prime to New Romulus. And we know that, because she transferred the money to an account on Farius Prime. The person who received the money then bought a ticket from Farius Prime to New Romulus.”

=^=I need more, Maggie.=^=

“I’d love to give you more, Alex. But it took every string I had to get you this much.”

=^=I’m sorry.=^= Alex sighed. =^=Thank you for the information.=^=

“Take care, Alex. Maggie out.”

She closed the channel and walked out of the cafeteria. Town 7 was bustling with all sort of activity. ~Let’s see what today has to offer.~ Maggie smiled and joined in the fracas.

(USS Illuminar – Deck 3, Alex Dyson’s Quarters – ACONN Ensign Alexander Dyson – 1657)

Alex stared at the blank screen of his communications unit. Margriet had dropped quite the bombshell and she had known it. He had a hunch who Yenna had transferred the money to. But at the same time, it made very little sense. Not only was his one-night stand K’Nera way too much of a workaholic to take any time off. ~When she wasn’t hopelessly drunk.~ She had a paycheck of her own. So she would not need Yenna to transfer anything.

Maggie had send him the data she had dug up. The amount taken was not enough to buy a high-speed ticket. ~So, somebody who is not in a hurry and does not worry about getting back to work.~ It was giving him a tingle in the back of his head. But he and K’Nera was were not on speaking terms, so calling her was not an option.

~Not to mention the fact that the trip between Farius Prime and New Romulus will take weeks.~ Complicating things was the fact that he didn’t know the name of the ship. There was only enough information to figure out the kind of ticket. ~Something tells me that my life is about to get a lot more complicated.~ For now, however, he had other things to worry about. So, he got up and walked back out of his quarters.

(Reply any)
(Posted by Ruben)