Continued from A Friendship Betrayed, Part I - Lansine & Neyes
Chapter 4, Old Friends
Starbase 22, Hangar Bay
Daeryx checked the console that monitored his small craft. He'd spent more than enough time away from home, but it was worth it. Seeing Landon again was difficult, and he'd been sure that it would have gone far worse than it actually did. Everything turned out alright. He was disappointed that Neyes was less than excited to see him, but the flows of their relationship were always a little rough. Perhaps the most irritating thing, however, was the person that had followed him from the airlock down 20 decks to the hanger bay. Neyes may have been too upset to notice, but Daeryx was always a little more on his feet than Neyes ever was.
Daeryx turned in his follower's direction and hissed a little. "Come out come out where ever you are."
Rob had been hiding behind a support column a few meters behind Daeryx when his cover was blown. Daeryx had spotted him twice on their journey to the hanger bay; Rob, now nearly two meters tall, no longer could rely on the cover of his youth when following subjects. "You've got information I need." Rob said abruptly as he stepped out from behind the column.
"Everyone needs something." Daeryx turned back around and continued to ready his ship for the trip home.
"Indeed they do; but I require information on your pal Landon Neyes." The Trill's nonchalant attitude annoyed Rob; if this man couldn't help him then he would have wasted valuable time.
Daeryx scoffed smugly. "You follow me across a starbase, and then ask me about that? You should have asked me 15 decks ago and saved yourself the effort. No." Daeryx was obvious in his displeasure of Landon's connection being refferred to as 'pal'. There were very few times when he liked to discuss him and Neyes.
"What I ask from you is simple--in fact it would only take a few minutes of your time." Rob responded, now more annoyed than before; extracting anything from this man would prove difficult. "What's your name?"
"Is that what you came here to ask me?" Daeryx finally turned around and glared at the man. It was reasonable to assume he wasn't going to leave until he got what he wanted, and there wasn't a lot of time sitting in his schedule for bribery or criminal activity.
"Among other things, yes." He stared into the man's eyes trying to get a glimpse into his personality; all he saw was the man's intensity towards Rob.
Daeryx had had enough. All 6 feet two inches and 240 pound of him rushed towards Rob and pinned him against the bulkhead that was closest. Every inch of him pushed in towards the little man and expressed his short temper.
"I haven't spoken to Neyes in 70-some years and you're here to ask me about him less than a few hours later?! I'm not an idiot. Neyes hasn't spoken about his experiences since Landon's family was killed years ago, before his first assignment in Starfleet. Do you have something *I* would like to know?!"
"Don't make this harder than it needs to be-- I'm sure we can come to an agreement." Rob coughed as the wind was knocked out of him. "I'm sure there's something worth telling--he is Trill like you after all." His voice was pressed a bit higher as Daeryx pushed him harder against the bulkhead.
"Oh really?!" Daeryx huffed and tossed Rob across the floor. He was losing patience. His voice boomed as he slowly made his way back over to Rob, half laughing as he spoke.
"You think Neyes is old? I've been around for a very long time, and Trill tend to hide their experience. It keeps us alive. I've killed far more people than you and so has Neyes. You have about 10 seconds before I ... well, do something bad." Grabbing Rob by the collar, he grinned and whispered the last part in Rob's ear, before tossing him aside once again.
"I believe you," Rob wiped a bit of blood from his lip as he picked himself of the deck. "There's no need to get violent." Rob retorted as he dusted himself off. "In fact, in light of your violent nature I'd best be leaving. We wouldn't want things to get out of hand." He looked around the bay; several people were watching them, most looked more confused than anything else. Fights must have been a rarity to these people.
Rob subtly moved his right hand into his pocket. "I doubt you know much it about anyways. He did run off in quite a hurry there after..." Rob paused before punctuating the next phrase, "your exchange." He created a fist inside his pocket. Daeryx's eyes faded. The memory crept forward and his mind got lost for a slight moment. The kiss was something he would probably never get to do again. The pain wasn't getting any easier and the questions weren't helping. The pathetic attempt to bait him was as transparent as the man's hand motions. He stood a few feet from Lansine, bringing back the disregarding attitude.
"Whatever you're holding, know I could snap your wrist in a second. You couldn't store what I know about Neyes in your ship's computer. His moods. His memories. His pains. The things that make him laugh. You know Trill's spots change after their joined? They mimick the pattern brought on by the symbiont. I can count every spot on Landon's body from his toes to the top of his head." He chuckled a moment at the thought, easing slightly.
"Landon's problems begin and end with his family. They were killed just off of Cesparia, where his transportation business was located, and where he grew up. Something about a competitor trying to get some part of the shares held there. Didn't work, since Landon wasn't on board. His brother Tristan kept the records after Landon left however, and he's dead," he narrowed his eyes, "and as far as our 'exchange'. Landon's personal accounts are none of your business. Our discussions, which you have clearly monitored at least one, are our business as well. Have I made myself entirely clear?"
Rob smiled. In his rage the other man had given up exactly what Rob was looking for, "Crystal." Rob then quickly took his hand out from his pocket.
Daeryx immediately snatched Rob's right hand by the wrist. There was nothing in it, however.
"Thought you'd do that," Rob said slyly in the face of Daeryx. Rob then grabbed a small hypospray from his left pocket and injected the contents into the Trill's neck. On they're journey through the starbase he had quick stopped at a local merchant's shoppe when Daeryx had stopped to talk to a group of Bolians.
"You certainly made this more difficult on yourself."
Daeryx slumped to the floor. He smiled a little bit, "Good show you little bastard," a couple seconds passed and he whispered out the next couple words, "you'll get yours."
Chapter 5, Discovery
Starbase 22 - Hanger Bay
The conflict with Landon’s Trill associate was over. The man now lay slumped over a control panel in his small spacecraft. It’d be a few hours until he regained consciousness. Rob hadn’t gone into the day thinking he’d need a medical sedative so he improvised by acquiring one from a local merchant one board the station. That being so he wasn’t quite sure of the dosage.
As Rob finished locking Landon’s friend in his vessel he did a quick look around of the hanger bay. While some passerbys had noticed their argument Rob was pretty sure no one had witnessed Rob sedating the man. Even if they had there was little anyone could do to implicate him. He’d purposely dressed in civilian clothes before coming aboard the station and left any trace of his Starfleet affiliation onboard the Intrepid. Better yet Rob had reviewed the station’s internal sensor and security systems before coming onboard; if indeed someone had seen him he was confident any evidence gathered on the altercation would prove inconclusive.
But that wasn’t what troubled him. The information he’d gathered from Landon’s associate was puzzling. He’d managed to record most of the conversation with the same device he’d monitored them with earlier and had already replayed its contents multiple times:
“...They were killed just off of Cesparia, where his transportation business was located, and where he grew up. Something about a competitor trying to get some part of the shares held there... His brother Tristan kept the records after Landon left however, and he's dead...”
Rob was now beginning to understand why Landon was the target of Walz’ employers, but the question of who they were still remained. The driving force behind gathering information on Neyes seemed to have a monetary nature. None of this surprised Rob. While growing up with his father on Orion IV he’d seen plenty of greed. It could motivate people to do terrible things; he knew that all to well.
What he needed now was information on Landon’s previous enterprises. There certainly would be information regarding the death of Landon’s family; such a horrific event generally garnered much media coverage. The FNN’s archive should hold the information he need to proceed and conviently for Rob the starbase, like most other Starfleet stations, housed such an archive.
Starbase 22 - Department of Civilian Affairs - Federation News Network Archive
It’d been about an hour since Rob had left the Trill sedated in his craft and he come across a few articles pertaining to Landon’s family. It wasn’t until he’d reached the fourth article something his eye:
Local Family Dies in Tragic Crash: Was it an Accident?
Rob’s interest grew as he continued reading through the article. The writer had interviewed technicians who described the nature of the family’s shuttle’s failure. The evidence pointed to sabotage. As Rob continued to scroll though more articles the same deduction become clear: Landon’s family had been murdered.
Rob took a moment and laid the PADD down, “What the hell have I got myself into?” he thought a loud whilst closing his eyes and pinching his noise.
He looked back down at the PADD and continued reading. The other articles went on to implicate a group of Ferengi extremists who had a rival interest in Landon’s family’s industry. Surprisingly, the article lacked any information regarding the apprehension or prosecution of the implicated Ferengi. It was then Rob connected the dots.
“He has me working for Ferengi.” Rob muttered, thinking aloud again. “That son of a bitch.”
Walz knew all to well Rob’s disdain towards Ferengi. His dealings with the greedy race while on Orion IV had been less than friendly. He’d had more than one bad run in with the large-eared and cold hearted species; every time Rob had ended up ripped off or some how squandered.
Rob picked the PADDs into a small bag and got up from the station. He needed to talk to Walz; the terms of their agreement had changed.
Chapter 6, Quid Quo Pro
Starbase 22 - Walz’ Pub
The bar was bustling with patrons when Rob walked in; he had to make his way through a crowd of people to make it to the bar. Walz was cleaning the inside of a mug when he spotted Rob sitting at the bar. He causally walked over to Rob’s seat and the bar and leaned in. “Back so soon?” He said smiling as he laid the mug down in front of Rob. “What can I get you?”
Rob rolled his eyes, “Clarification. Ferengi? Really Walz?” Rob said. “I didn’t think you dealt with--their kind.”
“Keep your voice down.” Walz snapped, he quickly looked around him. “This isn’t the time nor the place to be discussing this. Come back after hours.”
“No.” Rob replied bluntly. “You promised ‘specifics’ and ‘details’ and I’ve gotten none. Everything I’ve got so far is by my own doing; you and your Ferengi friends haven’t done jack shit.” Rob pulled out a PADD and slid it across the bar to Walz. “And who the hell is this?” The screen showed Landon and the man Rob had just drugged from their earlier conversation in the airlock.
Walz took a deep breath and looked Rob in the eye. “In the back, now.” He grabbed the PADD and motioned for Rob to follow him behind the bar. “You, cover those seats over there.” Walz pointed to an employee and then pointed to where Rob had been sitting.
Once the two had reached back room Walz let go. “Don’t you dare come into my establishment and dictate your terms boy!” He threw the PADD to the ground. “Do you understand?”
Rob had had it with this windbag. He’d spent too much of his life scurrying around tying up loose ends for this scab. “No, Walz I don’t think you understand.” Rob pulled a phaser out from his pocket. “I’m not some puppet of yours; I’m not a dog for you and your Feregni handlers.” He pointed the gun at Walz, who’d stepped back arms raised, against the wall.
“This isn’t game Robbie.” Walz sneered. “You won’t get what you want by killing me. Do you really think I didn’t expect you to turn violent? Hell, I heard what you did to those crewman onboard the Intrepid...” Rob smacked Walz over the face with the blunt side of the weapon.
“Shut up Walz. I’m growing tired of your tactless remarks.” Rob yelled. “If you want your job done properly you’re going to have to tell me more.” Rob grabbed a near by chair and slid it under Walz and pulled him down to sit on it. “Who are these Ferengi?”
Walz laughed a bit as he dabbed the gash on cheek. “Isn’t it obvious? The same Feregni that wanted Landon and his family dead three years ago needs the information on his family’s old business. Apparently there’s quite a profit involved; and we both know how much those little guys enjoy that.”
“So the information that man...” Rob began.
“Daeryx, the man you drugged and threw in his shuttle? Yes, I know Robbie. You didn’t think I’d put a tail on you? Come on boy, you’ve lost your touch.” Walz said, shaking his head in a show of disgust. “Daeryx, was transferring the last of the account information to Landon. And now that you’ve conveniently destroyed any chance of getting it from Daeryx it looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you getting it from Landon.”
“He wouldn’t have given it up anyways. He was quite adamant about it.” Rob remembered back to Daeryx’s belligerent attitude.
“Ah yes, I do believe they used to be in a relationship; but I’ve never been one for following Trill’s mating patterns. Odd creatures those symbiotes are.” Walz quipped. “That’s all irrelevant now anyways. Your task is quite straightforward now, no?” Walz continued to tend to the wound on his face.
“Now.” Rob looked around the room and shook his head. “It would have been easier had you just told me this to start with.” He disarmed the phaser and slid it back into his pocket.
“Ah, but the customer is always right my friend.” Walz popped up from the chair smiling. “My Ferengi associates wished to keep you in the dark as long as possible; that didn’t last that long. Maybe you’ve still got something Robbie.” Walz reached to slap Lansine on shoulder but Rob avoided the man’s touch.
“We’re not pals Walz; get that straight.” Rob snapped. “I’m here because you have something I need; nothing else, alright?”
“Oh I understand Robbie.” Walz smiled one of his eccentric grins. “We all have our motives.”
The man had always puzzled Rob. Walz’ personality lacked the cohesion most people had. His temperament had always been volatile; Walz could be yelling one moment and smiling the next. If there was one person he could never truly get to know it would be Walz.
“So all’s in order then; I don’t want to keep your waiting.” Walz motioned towards the back exit. “It’s been a pleasure old friend.” Walz stuck out his hand.
Rob looked at Walz’ extended hand. “I’d like to say it was mutual, but I can’t.”
Rob then turned his back to Walz and exited through the employee’s entrance of the bar.
“What a little prick.” Walz muttered, walking back around the far wall and back to the bar. Once he’d made his way back to the bustling pub Walz pressed a small console on the wall. “He’s back on course. It won’t be too much longer now.”
Continued in A Friendship Betrayed, Part III - Lansine & Neyes