Commander Jo Marshall - In the Cracks and Crevices
Jo Marshall
((Burrows District, Adamas))
Exploring the fabled underbelly of Adamas, Jo ran into Vesala Pace from the Gorkon, both of them trying to find a quiet moment among the chaos of the skyscrapers up above. Down below felt more familiar, radiating through Jo's bones like a place she'd been before, even if the neon lights glared, the smells overwhelmed, and the mixture of dialects wired her brain like a cooked egg. Sounds of the flying vehicles above echoed down the tall buildings, sounding like a jet engine had been set alight far away.
Marshall: I'll follow your lead. I lost the thread of these streets about four turns back. ::As they started walking again, Jo ventured the question.:: So, how've you been after being Gateside? Heard you had it pretty rough,
Pace: Oh, uh, I’m okay! All in all, I think Ensign Fenn had it the worst. How are you, though? That dimension wasn’t easy for any of us I think.
Jo exhaled a breath and nodded in agreement. Maezel had copped the worst of it; on her first outing as well. Not only had she seen what the wider dimensional galactic space-time continuum offered, she'd been invaded like the Pah-wraiths descending on the believers. Even though Fenn was Bolian, it struck a discord in Jo that the thing calling itself a Reaper could have a foot in many species' mythologies.
And coming face to face with it had—not to put too fine a point on it—been bloody terrifying.
Marshall: Fenn did. She's recovering now. Her mother's taken charge of her care, and when a mother intervenes, the better part of valour is to take a large step back. We've got one of the best Counselors on the Gorkon so she'll be in good hands, no matter where she turns.
As the pair turned left down a wider alleyway, the neon lights lessened somehow, casting the radiating light behind them in shadows and puddles.
Pace: I’m glad we all made it out honestly. And we were able to recover one civilian. While I was hoping for more… at least we got one.
Marshall: We were lucky we got that many. ::She shook her head, tucking her hands a little further into her jacket pockets.:: I'd ask myself what they were thinking, but scientists are a law unto themselves.
Certainly her team hadn't been so lucky, coming across one already possessed by the thing they'd let out of its confinement cell, and the other having borne the brunt of its wrath before the team had arrived. They were able to bring the deceased Kobliad scientist home though. Maybe that meant something to the scientists, and maybe it didn't.
They reached the end of the alley, bathed in relative darkness from the dimmed streetlights emanating from overhead and embedded into the pavement. For a split second, Jo wondered if they'd come the right way, or the advertisement Vesala had seen had been an invitation to lose some organs on the black market. Not for the first time, she had to remind herself this wasn't Nassau.
Pace: Aha! Here we are, ready Jo?
Directing her to a curtain, Vesala pulled it back, revealing what lay beyond away from the bustling underbelly nightlife.
Pace: Oh, wow…
Her sentiments exactly. Beyond the barrier the curtain provided was a dimly lit restaurant, with small bistro-style tables arranged about the floor, and the establishment seemed to forgo seats, instead scattering cushions aplenty. Smells radiated from the back rooms where the kitchen must be, and Jo found herself taking it in as the curtain draped closed behind them.
Patrons paid them little notice, glancing up only as they moved inwards, and even then their attention returned right back to their conversations. Vines and plants, verdant and lush, climbed up the walls and stretched across the ceiling, having made their home in the cracks and crevices of the stone. Soft but somewhat lively music played from somewhere, sounding like a Vulcan ka'athyra and a Trill li'dswed were having a conversation back and forth.
Marshall: Well, this is a good find. Where did you hear about it, again?
Pace: Response
The chef, presumably, entered through a door in the back, and gestured with a smile to one of the open tables, already laden with flat torn bread and broad leaves in a copper-looking dish. Said chef took a small set of shears from the side table and snipped off a small handful of shoots from the wall, before heading back into the kitchen.
Elbowing Vesala, Jo headed for the table the chef had pointed to, shed her jacket, and dropped down onto one of the cushions.
Marshall: Now that's something you don't see every day. ::She reached for a broad leaf from the bowl and sniffed it.:: Smells peppery.
Pace: Response
Marshall: I'd bet a year's salary this place is going to get on the ship grapevine quickly. ::Chuckling, she rolled the leaf up and took a bite.:: How are you doing? I've read through the reports from Meru, the Vineknot sounds like it wasn't the best time.
Pace: Response
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