[backsim] Mikali sh'Shar - Andorian Blues: The Boxes, Part II

[David Adams]

(( Remote hut, 100km out of Yaristia, Palanon ))

Mikali didn't so much sleep as fall into the foldable cot in her hut, pass out, and wake up sometime later around sunset. Her arms were stiff and sore, her antenna drooping, eyes dry and annoyed from being open for too long yesterday.

Who knew that working through the night bashing things would make you sore the next morning.

Groaning softly she slid out of her cot, had a quick shower — a real one, not sonic, with freezing cold rainwater — and then she was ready for the second day's task. Even though it was getting close to evening again.

Another meal of hasperat. A change of clothes. Ignoring the ache in her muscles she unzipped the duffel bag, taking out what she would need for her second round of crafting.

A spool of 20-gauge wire, two pairs of needle-nose pliers, a wooden dowel about the thickness of her prosthetic blue-y finger, a clasp, wire snippers, a blowtorch, a small pouch of silver powder, a length of thin titanium chains, and the star of the show: the sliver of metal from the Independence-A's helmsman console, suspended in a narrow vial of water. The last piece of a noble ship lost to oblivion, a hitchhiker inside Mikali's skull for the last eight years. The cause of her recent embarrassing incident.

So much trouble caused by such a tiny piece of metal. Time to turn it to good.

This crafting was much finer work, unlike the rough hammer work of the day before. Mikali drew wire from the spool, winding it slowly around the dowel, bending it into a shape like a spring. Around and around and around. She withdrew the dowel and checked that the vial would fit inside the metal spring. It did.

Mikali laid the metal spring on the anvil and ignited the blowtorch, passing it over the metal until the rings fused together, careful to control the heat so that the spring didn't sag. Satisfied, she turned off the heat.

Then she let the metal cool, having a tall glass of ice water to help keep her focus. Unlike the forging of the Ushaan-tor, for this one, she would need her patience, her discipline. Whatever scraps she had of that, anyway.

Soon the spring was cool and she resumed work. Using the wire snippers, she began cutting back parts of the spring, leaving a wide window in the side. She cut away less than half, inserting the vial again to make sure its contents were clearly visible.

Satisfied, she bent the ends of the wire across the top, locking the vial in place and making sure it wouldn't fall out. She hooked another length of wire around the top, enough to thread a chain through.

Then came the hard part.

Mikali grabbed the bottom end of the wire with the pair of pliers, threading it out and carefully bending the thread, shaping it into a series of loops. Each loop was squeezed out to form a finger-like feather, bunched together to form wings. Dove's wings. One extending from above and to the left, one from below and to the right. A pair of wings cradling the vial in the centre, framing it and drawing the eye in. Which was easy as she only had one.

Shaping the wings took the better part of a day, and it was frustrating, painstaking work best suited for computers, but Mikali completed it manually using two pairs of pliers and a rough image displayed on a PADD.

Fatigue began to set in once more, but Mikali (as she often did) wisely and sagely ignored the ache in her fingers, working on as the sun once more crested over the distant hills, stealing away the night and bringing with it the unwelcome dawn.

Forging the Ushaan-tor had been physically draining, and the fine metalwork, twisting and bending using simple tools, was mentally draining. There were no satisfying clangs, no furious beating of the metal. No relief from the dark thoughts in her head, no succour from the past day's success.

Her mind drifted back to her arrest. The most recent one, on Andoria.

It sucked that she had to be specific about which one she was thinking about.

(( FLASHBACK: Shen's Bathroom, "Ugly Mary's Bar", Andoria, Six Years Ago ))

Mikali put the inhaler to her lips, depressed the plunger and drew in a deep breath, sucking down a lungful of powdered white joy.

The Ketracel dust flooded her lungs, filling it with their sweet, minty goodness. Her bloodstream thirstily drank up the chemical, soaking in through the thin membranes of the avoili and transporting it to her brain. The process beginning to work almost instantly. By the time she had replaced her inhaler into her purse — tucked down right at the bottom, hidden under random junk — her mood had perked right up, the lingering withdrawal headache beating in the back of her mind evaporated, and her smile was a mile wide.

sh'Shar: Mmm-f.

She smoothed down her dress and shook her head, neurons firing faster in her mind. Humming a pitched tune, she practically skipped out of the shen's bathrooms, back into the noise and hubbub of the bar. Ugly Mary's was a disreputable venue tucked into a stalagmite in one of the many ice cities on Andoria, but it was cheap and violent, just like she liked it.

Just like herself.

The Ketracel pumping through her brain made her neurons dance like they were at a rave. The sound of her own heart pumping in her chest synced up with the music. Everything was so bright and so cheerful. These were the moments that made life worth living.

Sliding up to the bar, she cheekily propped her chin into her hands, beaming at the bartender, Krezzen. An Orion, mousy little guy, small and weedy but cute as a button. Her antenna drifted his way, waving like stalks in the breeze.

sh'Shar: Hey.

He ignored her, polishing a glass as though he was trying to wear through the bottom of it.

sh'Shar: Hey. Hey! ::She snapped her fingers a few times.:: Krezzen! I'm talking to you, man! Who's a girl gotta groin-kick to get a drink around here, huh?

Unable to ignore the yelling, Krezzen stepped over to her.

Krezzen: Hey. I talked to the owner, Mikali. You can't be coming around here anymore. Go on. Get.

sh'Shar snorted dismissively, blowing out a tiny puff of white gas from her nose like a silly blue dragon.

sh'Shar: And why's that? Don't worry, I'll settle up my tab! I've got heaps of latinum these days. Still on leave, baby! Until they get the Avandar's problems sorted out, and they will, and then they'll be begging me to come back and pilot that thing straight into the sun!

She made a 'zooming' motion with her hand and mimicked the sound of a warp engine at high warp, spluttering as something malfunctioned and the 'ship' slamming into the table, fingers splayed, mimicking the Avandar bursting into a million pieces.

sh'Shar: Boom! Oooh no, poor little Captain Della's ship went bye-bye! Luna-class? More like loser-class!

A stern look crossed his otherwise youthful and un-intimidating features. Krezzen didn't seem impressed by her display.

Krezzen: Be that as it may, it's been decided. ::He nodded down to her purse.:: Can't bring drugs in here. I've told you before. You won't stop. So we're stopping you.

Mikali groaned and rolled her eyes, antenna rolling with them.

sh'Shar: Oh please. Half the people in this vole-infested dump are on something. Why do you think we come here?

Krezzen: This is about you. Not them. The boss was firm. You gotta go.

Mikali just laughed right in the guy's face. She snatched the glass out of his hand.

sh'Shar: Whatever. And I'm keeping this.

Shocked, he seemed like he was about to call a bouncer over, but then his shoulders just slumped and he waved dismissively, shooing her out.

Krezzen: ::Wearily,:: Just go, okay?

sh'Shar: Fine. Whatever. Plenty of crap bars on this crappy little moon! ::She slid off her stool, grinning like a jackal. She raised her voice so everyone in the bar could hear, shouting over her shoulder.:: Guess they're kicking out the finest piece o' ass in the entire quadrant! See you never, losers!

Patron: Good, get out of here, you bum!

Laughing gaily, her mood indomitable and fortified by the chemical cocktail surging through her brain, Mikali sauntered boldly toward the exit, slamming open the door with a fist and stumbling out into the daylight.

Daylight. Crap. She'd been in the bar so long that the sun had risen. The gas giant Andor filled half the sky. The glass turned over in her hand.

Damnit. She'd stayed too late. A glance at her chronometer told her it was getting close to time to walk Benna to school. At least she hadn't missed that.

Every day it was something. "Take me to school, I need new clothes, teach me how to use a soldering iron, I need new books because I read all these already, pick me up from school, how do computers work." Basically every day!

She loved Benna so much, and of course the kid had never missed a meal and never been late to school even once, and Mikali poured as much time as she could into trying to help Benna learn and grow, but at the same time... god damn the kid was exhausting.

Groaning to herself, Mikali turned and marched off toward her home, and walked head-first straight into a policeman. A tall chan with a broad chest.

Mikali nearly dropped her stolen glass.

Chan Officer: Oof! Ahh, sorry ma'am.

That should have been the end of it. Really. Such a tiny thing. Mikali should have just apologized and moved on. Even in her state, she understood that nothing good came from deliberately antagonizing the police, but she was frustrated at how late she'd stayed and was right at the peak of her high.

sh'Shar: Hey! Excuse you, pig! Watch where you're walking!

The officer's partner stepped up, a zhen, her hands on her hips.

Zhen Officer: Everything okay here, ma'am?

Mikali mimicked the Zhen's gesture, putting her hands on her hips too, puffing her chest out indignantly.

sh'Shar: ::High pitched, mocking voice,:: Everything okay here, ma'am? Everything okay here, ma'am? ::Normal voice,:: No! It's not! Your clumsy-arse partner walked right into me. You can't treat me like this! I'm a veteran, you know! Star-fleet. ::Growling angrily, Mikali bent forward, hooking her thumb under her nose and lifting the tip.:: Pigs! Oink oink oink oink oink!

The chan took the abuse with stoicism, shaking his head dismissively. The zhen, however, was having none of it. She stepped in front of her partner.

Zhen Officer: Ma'am, you need to calm down.

Once more, Mikali was given a chance to de-escalate the situation and back down, but she was having none of it. She threw the glass onto the ground, the fragile thing smashing into a million sharp pieces.

sh'Shar: Oh yeah? I'll show you calm! ::She flashed a two-handed obscene gesture toward the two of them.:: Yeah! You like that, huh? You like that?

They clearly didn't. Both sets of police antenna jerked upward, their faces hardening.

Chan Officer: What's your name?

Mikali laughed like a brain-addled hyena, turned around and hiked up her skirt, dropping her underwear and flipping her skirt up over her back, mooning the pair of officers.

sh'Shar: My name is Jhen Thelev! You can write that down in your reports! J-H-E-N, space, T-...

Both officers averted their gaze, frustrations mounting.

Chan Officer: Aiya chen. Okay, Mrs Thelev. You're being detained.

Mikali waggled her tush. She knew exactly how to turn the tables back on police officers.

sh'Shar: I know you are, you said you are, but what am I?

Zhen Officer: He said, you're under arrest!

The zhen and chan went for their stunners. Mikali cackled and yanked up her knickers, breaking into a wild sprint.

sh'Shar: Only if you can catch me, Jhen Thelev, criminal mastermind! Oink oink oink! Hah-hah!

Pushing through the crowd of gawkers, Mikali laughed hysterically, her antenna turned around on her head, tracking the puffing and panting of the two officers as they gave chase. She weaved around people, including a huge Klingon who provided her with ample cover, and then ducked into an alley littered with boxes ready for reclamation by the city's industrial waste management system. She slipped into a hot spot, knowing her pursuers antenna would struggle to pick her out from the heat.

Her elation at her escape was short-lived. The two officers appeared at the head of the alley, stunners in hand, their bodies blocking out the light. They both looked right at her.

Zhen Officer: Come out, we have your facial ID! It's pointless to hide!

Yeah? Well, she'd see to that. Mikali leapt out of the hotspot, jumping up on a plastic crate.

sh'Shar: Come up here and you're going to get stomped on!

She wobbled unsteadily, the plastic crate creaking, clearly not engineered with the weight of a sky-high Andorian shen in high heels in mind. 

The two officers cautiously advanced on her. Mikali kicked out wildly at the chan, and as she did so, the crate slipped out from under her and she went flying.

The side of Mikali's head hit the ground. Something cracked within her skull, something electronic and delicate, and the vision in her prosthetic eye flickered briefly as though she had somehow damaged it, cracked the internal casing. Dislodged something. Broke something.

She'd deal with that later.

No time to ponder the implications. The two officers piled on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

Chan Officer: Ma'am, you are under arrest for littering, public indecency, public intoxication and abusive language toward police officers. 

sh'Shar: ::Wiggling and thrashing,:: Hey, that's not fair! Let me go! Ow!

The chan's grip was like iron.

Chan Officer: You do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so. However, anything you do say, can and will be used against you in a court of law—

sh'Shar: I wanna say this, and I want you to use it against me! "Oink oink, oink oink, piglets!" You got that? You got my statement?

Chan Officer: Everything is recorded, ma'am. You have the right to an attorney. You may select one, or be allocated one by the local Provincial Government. You have the right to personal combat under Andorian law. You have the right to a Federation hearing on another Federation world at your request.

As Mikali kicked and struggled, the zhen officer picked up Mikali's purse and upended its contents onto the ground.

sh'Shar: Hey, that's my stuff!

Zhen Officer: Oh, it is, is it? ::She picked up the inhaler.:: This is yours, too?

Mikali suddenly realised she was in a world of shit. Ketracel was a strictly controlled substance.

sh'Shar: Uh ... ... ... ... ... no-ooo?

Zhen Officer: You just said that was your stuff. It came from your purse.

sh'Shar: Not that, obviously! And anyway, there's nothing bad in there!

Chan Officer: How could you possibly know what is, or isn't, inside if it's not yours? ::His antenna twitched, waving toward the other officer.:: Bag it and test it, we'll find out soon enough.

Mikali's temper flared, her face flushed cyan, antenna gyrating on her head.

sh'Shar: You can't do this to me! I demand to speak to your manager immediately! I am a Starfleet officer, I'm a pilot, and—hey, you big lunk, careful with the goods!—the Federation won't stand for this! ::Her voice rose up to a half-angry, half-panicked shriek.:: You won't get away with this! You'll both be sweeping these streets by the end of the month! I'll see you in court, both of you, mark my words!

The zhen slipped her inhaler into a plastic bag and then scanned it with a small handheld device. The scanner chirped angrily and buzzed, flashing a series of red lights.

Zhen Officer: Actually, I believe you on that last part. ::To her partner,:: Looks like it's White.

Mikali squirmed and wiggled, trying to get free, but she just couldn't. She just yelled and cried as her possessions were each bagged, tested, confirmed to have trace amounts of the drug.

And sure enough, within the month she was facing the two officers in a courtroom, although things went very differently than how she imagined.

Strange, that.

(( Present ))

It was a lot harder to concentrate and work for long hours without a satisfying beating to keep her mind off things. Memories of her behaviour, outrageous even for her, burned her cheeks and made her antenna twitch and jerk on top of her head, yet she pushed on regardless until the intricate, detailed work was complete, hundreds of feathers of different sizes modelled from a single strand of wire, coming together to form two distinct wings, protectively shielding and encompassing the vial within.

She snipped off the wire, ground down the pointy bit sticking out, and made sure it was safe to wear. Then it was time to colour.

A pass from the blowtorch burned the wing to the right, while silver powder was rubbed into the one on the left. Dark and light, swirling around each other, centred on a humble piece of metal.

She threaded a silver chain through the loop at the top, attached a clasp, and then the necklace was complete.

Mikali examined her work in the growing daylight, finding it to her liking. There was one other thing she needed to do, however. A final touch to make it complete.

She fished a laser engraver out of her toolkits, turned the device over on her anvil, and wrote on the back in what she hoped was passible Bajoran.

Our fortunes are the sum of

our circumstances,

our abilities,

and our choices.

Then the second piece was finished too, and into a box it went. The fist-sized one. Perfect for a piece of jewellery. Not a moment too soon, either, as her fingers were getting too sore to hold anything.

The second box was placed on top of the first. And then Mikali threw off her clothes and curled up on the floor, asleep within seconds.

Two done.

--

Lieutenant (j.g.) (ret) Mikali sh'Shar

Civilian

ReachOut Project

simmed by

Ensign Serren Tan

Security/Tactical

USS Gorkon

O238704AT0