Personal Log - Dani Atarah - All Grown Up - Earth, Pt IV

Posted on Fri Aug 29th, 2014 @ 3:06am by Danielle Atarah

2,986 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: In the Dark

"Holy bombastic flying marinara, Kal, what the-- ow! -- who the hell gave you -- ah! shit -- who the hell gave you a pilot's license!"

Dani held onto the seat, her face so pale it almost turned green, her muscles taught, and her fingers clawing at the armrests like a panicked cat. Smith, the grumpy badass-wannabe that greeted her outside the crate sat casually in the back, holding on to the equipment. He laughed.

"Is that what they teach you in Starfleet? Only fly in clear weather?"

"This," Dani grunted, trying to point out the window but electing for the continued safety of clutching the chair with white knuckles, "is no damn rain. What the hell."

"Oh just relax," Zett smirked, working the controls. "We are not really flying in with a flight plan and a control tower. We had to --" she paused a moment as the shuttle rocked and tapped a button, "-- fly in through the pole," she continued as if nothing happened. "Rapid descent through the upper atmosphere is usually," the ship rocked, "shaky."

"Uh. Aren't you supposed to have legit papers? Don't tell me that's how you go back and -- eh -- forth every time."

"We do," Smith piped in, enjoying the situation way too much, "but we seem to have a unique cargo on our hands this time," he glared at Dani through his grin, his eyes cold.

"Glad to be of service," Dani muttered and waited for the ride to be over.

* * *

The shuttle was only half the ride. After landing -- safely -- in the northern reaches of Siberia, Smith, Zett and Dani made their way east, And Dani felt more and more like she was transported back into the past, before space shuttles and transporter beams.

She usually loved doing these things; hiking, biking, riding different transportation methods and experiencing travel the way humans were meant to on Earth, getting to know the land.

But sitting on the half frozen seat of a float-bike, driving through snow flurries, her body shivering despite being stuffed into a temp-stabilizing suit, Dani had second thoughts.

They stopped at a town to change their bikes and contact Cardello's men for the randez-vous point at the edge of the Berring Sea, where, finally, they'll be able to hitch a ride on a commercial shuttle to San Francisco bay. Dani insisted on getting a warm cup of hot chocolate, but they settled for holding a steaming cup of stale coffee.

By the end of the trip, having a nose that froze almost solid, feet that were wet and cold even inside the insulated boots and fingers with barely any feeling left, Dani had to rethink her affection to 'down to earth' travel.

* * *

"You're late. He's waiting."

Three large thugs greeted the three road-trippers after arriving, finally, to one of Cardello's offices, a tall bright building that housed one of his many "legal" establishments; if being a front to an underground crime syndicate was at all "legal".

Dani followed the three guards to the lift without a word, carrying her duffel on a shoulder that finally started to thaw. It was just like Cardello to send his most thuggish thugs to bring them up. Dani wondered if they were in a 20th century Mob movie, or if Cardello developed impaired speech by stuffing paper in his cheeks.

The lift stopped, and the doors opened into a luxurious loft, and Dani, once again, was not surprised. Cardello was always a man of symbolisms. "I have the power you little grunt" was his meaning here. But with their history, and with the amount of deals she had to make to get this far (most of which were going to be huge benefit to the man) she refused to take it to heart.

"It's about time, Zett," Tom Cardello rose from a hefty chair at the edge of the room and gestured at the trio. "I thought you screwed up the paperwork and got yourselves caught."

Zett shrugged, and smiled. "We had a close call near Novosibirsk, but I think even the guards were too cold to do a proper background check."

"Good. We've got your names in the system officially, but it took a while to sync the network," he walked around the table and looked at Dani.

"Danielle. It's good to see you again." He stopped in front of her to put both his arms on her shoulders, an attempt at a fatherly gesture.

"Mr. C," Dani nodded with a small courteous smile, not bothering to mask her dislike of him. He grinned at her, but his eyes shone dangerously, sharing the understanding between them.

"Well," he let go of her and nodded at Smith, who seemed to have anticipated being in the background. Then, he walked around the table and sat back down, looking at Dani with an interested smile.

"Did you bring me presents, Danielle?"

Dani stared back and him and nodded. "Of course I did." She lifted her duffel up to the table and the two guards tensed. Cardello waved at them in dismissal, and she shook her head again and opened the bag. Zett and Smith exchanged curious looks silently.

Dani plucked three small pieces of jewelry from the bag and placed hem in a neat row on the table, pointing at each in turn.

"The watch is from the landing spot, that weird silent guy that insisted on searching Smith here for a hidden weapon and looked in all the wrong places," Smith snorted in annoyance and looked at the watch with some delighted surprise.

"This is from that Bike shop in Yekaterinburg. The attendant is going to have to find another ring to propose with." Cardello's face twitched with a small smile.

"And that's from the rest stop at Novosibirsk." she pointed at a small watch, "from one of those guards Zett thought were being lazy." She gestured.

"You little brat," Zett chuckled softly, and Cardello's smile grew, but his eyes were fixed on Dani intently.

"I asked for a souvenir from each of your stops. You are missing a few."

Dani shook her head impatiently, as if this whole drill was a waste of her time. It was, really. Cardello should have known; it's not like they weren't in touch for the last 10 years.

She pulled a triangular belt buckle and placed it on the table. "I don't remember his name, but I sure remember his face, since that was the last thing I saw before I got into that stupid barrel you had me travel in.

"You're still missing one," Cardello noted, and Zett shifted uncomfortably. Dani had to hold herself from reacting to her nervousness. The last piece was from the Bristol. Zett's ship. She could feel the woman's growing apprehension at what she'll see being pulled out of the bag.

But Dani, test or no test, could not bring herself to steal anything from Kalina Zett. Not now, not again, not anymore. Instead, she shrugged and took a breath, reaching into the duffel for the last item. She could hear Zett grinding her teeth, and pulled out a small folded knife with one bright emerald at the top of the grip.

Zett looked momentarily baffled. Smith paled, then jumped angrily, tapping pant pocket in rage. "You little bitch, that's mine!"

"That's from the Bristol's second in command." Dani had to hold herself from a full on smile. Smith charged at her, but Zett stood in his way, and the two thugs came close, ready to restrain. He glared at Dani, giving her a purely furious expression, but stood still, barely.

Cardello looked up and smiled in approval. "Nicely done, little Danielle. I see you haven't lost your touch. That's good." He inspected her for a moment, then gestured at the sofa and nodded at the door. "Will you leave Danielle and I alone, please? We have some business to discuss. Please, Danielle. Sit."

Zett was going to protest, but thought better of it. Smith looked like he was ready to reclaim his knife so he could cut Dani's throat right there and then, but no one says no to Tom Cardello. Reluctantly, Smith turned and walked out the door. Zett squeezed Dani's shoulder encouragingly and followed her second in command. One of the thugs closed the doors behind them, leaving only one more guard in the room with Cardello and Dani. She sat in the chair and leaned back, looking at the bigger man across the desk.

"Impressive," Cardello gestured at the loot on the table.

"No it isn't. You know what I can do, and you know I kept my skills up to par, despite the change in scenery for the past ten years."

Cardello smiled. "I guess I do. Still, I wanted to make sure you didn't... well," he looked at her, "that you didn't turn soft. Starfleet has a way of doing that to people."

Dani snorted sarcastically and shook her head. "You should know. You put me there."

Cardello looked at her silently.

"You didn't really think I didn't know, did you? I had ten years to think about it. To mull this over, to figure it out. They had nothing on me, nothing, and then all of a sudden, poof -- Zett and I are busted, and they point to things no one could have ever known." She shook her head slightly. "What was was it, eventually? The job in Manchester? It was the gun shipment, wasn't it?"

He continued looking at her for a moment, and then smiled, knowingly, fatherly.

"You were always the insolent one. Too smart for your and everyone else's own good. When you started questioning jobs, Danielle, that was becoming a problem."

Dani nodded, "So you ratted me out to the Fed, and let the Fleet take me away. That's classy. That's... well, that's pretty damn brilliant."

He nodded, his eyes cold, apparently electing to stop playing the "I didn't do it" game. "You were starting to get insolent, and you were getting the others to follow. You left me no choice, really."

"Didn't I?" Dani feigned surprise, "Really? The big and mighty Tom Cardello, left with no options but to betray one of his... how did you call us back then, Mr. C? Your children?"

"Watch your tone, Danielle. You are in my house now," he chastised in the same icy tone. "I could have had you killed."

"Why didn't you?"

He didn't answer.

"I know why," she smiled without humor. "You wouldn't have had a little contact to help you 'procure' things if you had me killed. That wouldn't have been... profitable."

"We both profited, if I remember correctly."

"What, the money?" she laughed. "Please. What the hell could I do with money in a Starfleet ship? Buy myself a ticket home?"

He didn't respond, but his eyes narrowed slightly, as if sensing the shift in attitude in the girl he used to know. Or was it the same attitude, only more of it, now?

"You know, Mr. C, something happens when you take one of your own, destroy her entire reality and ships her far far away from everything she knows. I found something."

His eyebrow lifted, imperceptive, while he patiently waited for her to continue.

"Me." She looked at him, and then grinned, letting her anger rush through her. "I found me, Mr. C. See, in between all those strict routines and ceremonies and ranks and hierarchical command structures, there are, in fact, people." She leaned back in the seat again, shaking her head. "There are people from everywhere in the galaxy, all of them talking and experiencing and exchanging ideas. They are all there to do what's right, even if they don't notice that the system they're in is broken. They care, they bond, they become family." She paused to look at him seriously for a moment, almost tenderly, then shook her head, her eyes firmly on his. "You might know who I was when I left, when you sent me away," she shook her head defiantly, victoriously, "but I am not the same person I used to be. I am not the little girl you sent away for speaking up."

He clenched his teeth and put his palms on the table. "Aren't you?" his tone was so sarcastic, Dani was more surprised that there was an evident emotion at all in there rather than the sentiment itself.

"I grew up." She declared, angrily, looking him straight in the eye.

He stared back at her, seemingly calm, but his eyes cooled significantly, a contrast to his reddening cheeks.

"I gained experience, the kind of experience I could only get outside of your contorl. And I gained friends. I learned the meaning of friendship and loyalty," she glared at him, "true loyalty," 'You bastard', she would have added, but there were things even she -- and even in her current anger -- knew not to say.

"Yes," he nodded at her, his voice menacingly icy, "I know all about your friends, little girl."

She stared at him defiantly for a moment, then took a breath through clenched teeth. "I am not a little girl anymore. And you and I, we need to make another deal right now," she said firmly, and he continued looking at her.

"I have connections too, now, Mr. C" she spat that name at him angrily, "connections you won't be too thrilled to deal with. People who have a vested interest in my staying alive -- and happy." She paused only for a second, letting him absorb the defiance in her voice. It was clear he was taken aback, not used to being talked to this way, but she couldn't worry about that anymore. "And just imagine what wold happen if I start telling people how well you treat your own family. If I tell Zett what you did back then, how you stabbed me -- and her -- in the back, for a stupid gun deal. For money, Cardello." That, she knew, was not something he would like be made public. His organizational loyalty was based on family, and family sticks together. If his people knew they were only grunts, that he didn't care about their safety or lives, that he'd throw them out like cheap trinkets without thinking, he will have problems. Maybe even a mutiny. That will be a problem, indeed, even if he may be able to get out of it.

"The debt I owe you is mine to pay and no one else's," she continued, "Not my friends, not my family's, and definitely not Zett's. You will leave them out of it. All of them."

"You want me to leave Zett alone? I'm not sure she will be very happy about that."

"I want you to not play games. I want you to keep your word. We made a deal, and I will fulfill my end of it as you did yours. I will get you everything you asked for, and I will work for you until my debt is paid -- and not a moment more."

He nodded at her. "And it is a considerable debt. Keeping those people alive was costly. Especially that Starfleet officers of yours. Keeping her alive from inside Starfleet Headquarters itself took a lot of resources."

"And you know you will get those back with interest with the deal we have right now," Dani didn't flinch. "I am back, and I will be working for you, but you don't own me or my friends. And, Cardello..."

He stared at her, his cheeks reddening, miraculously managing to raise an eyebrow.

"You don't own Zett either. Do you understand? If anything happens to her, you will find out what the past 10 years of going independent won me."

His eyes were so intense on hers, she thought for a moment his head might explode, but he controlled his temper, however fragile, clenched his teeth and took a careful breath.

"Danielle Atarah," he finally managed, leaning back in his seat, playing with his knuckles in anger, "you are playing with fire."

"I guess we'll have to see who gets burned," she fired back, "Mr. C."

They sat, in front of one another, for a long stretched-out moment, staring into each other's furious expressions, each refusing to flinch or look away, each holding cards of their own, power over the other. It was a stalemate, Dani knew, but a stalemate with Cardello was better than him having all the power.

A small smile slowly appeared, growing steadily, on the corner of his mouth, and his features relaxed, finally, allowing the expression to bloom and take hold of his face. Even his eyes smiled this time, bringing Dani back to the past, to a time where he, as rough and relentless, but also gentle and caring; a time when he was her almost like an adopted father.

"You grew up, indeed, little girl," he said and raised his palms up with a smile, "yes, yes, I know. You're not a little girl anymore. I can see that, but you used to be, to me. To all of us. Grown up or not, you are still as insolent as you were back then. I didn't have the heart to kill you then, and I won't kill you now. Your friends will be safe, you have my word. We have a deal," he nodded, took a moment to appraise her, and extended his hand across the table.

Dani inspected him again, then nodded, leaned forward to reach across the table, and shook the offered hand.

"You have a deal."

* * *

Danielle Atarah
Grifter / Thief
Earth

Tom Cardello
Head
The Cardello Syndicate, Earth

Kalina Zett
Captain
Bristol Supply ship
The Cardello Syndicate

Smith
Executive Officer
Bristol Supply ship
The Cardello Syndicate

* All NPCs played by Mooey

 

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