JPL | Ens Barnes & Mr Marsten | "You Share the same Sentiment"

Posted on Fri May 29th, 2015 @ 6:32am by

1,514 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Agua Mala
Location: Various locations

Looking around the spartan quarters which was being very generous to the word sighing, "the lengths I go to for a payday." He muttered setting his two very nice looking brown leather traveling bags. The funny thing was with his cover the ministry actually wanted him to track down some paintings. Paintings from what he has understood have been lost for decades but then again nothing was actually lost at least in the art world. They were either just destroyed or expertly hidden.

Luckily for him he had a couple of bottles of Drylaxian whiskey but he decided that a visit to the ships lounge was in order. Grabbing his jacket he headed out but stopped and pulled up a map of the ship after a quick glance he found the nearest turbo lift and what deck the lounge was on. And within a few minutes walked in it wasn't busy but it also wasn't empty it was a happy middle just how Marsten liked it. "Dirty martini three olives." Marsten said as he leaned against the bar allowing him to scan the lounge.

Once she was off duty, Rocky put on a pair of loose fitting silverish pants, a purple sleeveless top that showed off her midriff, and a pair of comfortable shoes. Leaving her hair down, she headed to the lounge to get some downtime and maybe meet a few more people on the crew that didn't treat her like a spook or act like she was going to steal their souls or something. Shaking her head, she entered the lounge and looked around.

Going up to the bar, she ordered a Chocolate Dalmatian and sat back with a sigh, enjoying the white chocolate mocha. Turning her head in the direction of the man, she gave him a friendly nod and watched to see if he would judge her from the word go or treat her as just another person on the ship with him.

Marsten was a flirt always has been and most likely it'll be the thing that'll kill him returning the nod he added a small smile. Giving a once more over the room and not seeing anything of interest he walked over to the young women, "evenin'. What exactly is a Chocolate Dalmatian?"

Rocky took another sip, getting a bit on her upper lip which she cleaned off with the tip of her tongue. "It's white chocolate mocha coffee. It's really good for when you want something sweet to go with your coffee. What's your poison?"

Just as the women said that his drink arrived, "martini's three olives the dirtier the better." He said raising his drink in a toast before taking a sip, "perfect!" He said nodding to the bartender.

"Ah, a little dinner with your martini, huh?" Rocky asked, taking another relaxing sip of her Chocolate Dalmatian. "I'm kidding, though. I've never had a martini. I prefer rums and slivovitz."

"Rums are nice can't stand slivovitz's." Marsten said with a grin sliding onto the barstool.

Taking note of his unusual dull yellowish eyes and his large knuckles, Rocky idly wondered what species he was. She had never encountered one like him before, but she wasn't rude and had no plans to pry; off duty, she was off duty and that's all there was to it. "It's an acquired taste for some," she admitted, taking another drink of her coffee. "So what brought you to Vindicator?"

"I'm a art collector freelancing for the Federation ministry of the interior to bring more art to Federation museums to return art to it's rightful owners. And the ministry thought having me aboard an exploration vessel might help in endeavor and maybe even help rebuild the Federation's reputation after the Triad wars and the Civil war." Marsten said, "Karl Marsten but everyone calls me Marsten." He added holding out his hand.

Rocky frowned, covering it with a sip of her coffee. "Right now, I would hardly think that art had a very high priority to the Federation," she said. "We have far more important things to worry about to go hunting down pieces of art. I seriously doubt that we'll do much side tracking any time soon, either. Then again, I'm just an Ensign, so I could be wrong." She took his hand in a firm grip and shook it. "Catalina Barnes, but I go by Rocky."

"You share the same sentiment as your dear commodore, Rocky." Marsten said, "but you both underestimate the power of art and getting art back to it's rightful owners that see it as sentimental rather than something that could make them rich. And in both the Triad and Civil wars much art was destroyed, stolen or hidden."

"Oh, I don't underestimate it at all, Marsten," she said. "However, we are on a diplomatic mission right now and I just doubt that we'll have much time for much else. If the Ministry wanted to do it so bad, why didn't they get another ship to have you catch a ride on that could dedicate the time required to hit a dozen planets so you could hunt for some lost artwork?"

"The Vindicator was the only one in the region and only one that had someone that is as good as I am at tracking down art." Marsten said with a smile sipping on his martini, "and I can actually do a lot of work over ship communication and the more powerful it is like it is on the Vindicator the better."

"Oh?" Rocky raised an eyebrow. "As for ship communications, the Federation's subspace network reaches from pretty much one end of the galaxy to the next wherever we have a starbase or a ship to relay the signal. I wasn't aware that we had any trackers on the Vindicator. Who might that be?"

"Cold Station Theta is on the subspace relays but their communication center is a antique I'm surprised it receives anything or able to send anything out. As for the other tracker well I gotta keep some things private." Marsten said with a nod.

"I find that really hard to believe, Marsten," Rocky said. "Especially with Admiral Red on Cold Station Theta. As for keeping things private, there are ways of finding this information out. Not that I plan on obstructing your job, but I was just curious. It's really a matter of me pulling up the roster and doing a quick search from my department."

Marsten just shrugged, "Do what you must to find out the truth on something that shouldn't be a concern for security or intelligence." Marsten said making a guess on her department, "and as for communications the hint of why it worked for this Red person is in her rank, title and position." Marsten said, "like everything there is first and second class even in your precious Starfleet."

"I don't believe that either," Rocky said, neither confirming nor denying her department. "We're all equals in the Federation. It's not like you have a hidden agenda where you have to make some clandestine meeting in a Jeffries Tube with your mysterious tracker that's already on board." She gave a laugh and finished her coffee. "Right?"

"Correct," he said speaking of the clandestine meetings, "though I've done plenty of meetings in.....dark alleys." He said with a wink, "and you're seriously telling me that you truly believe everyone in the Federation are equals?" Marsten said trying to keep himself from laughing.

"Yes, I am," Rocky said. "The entire principle of the Federation is open to all who embrace the same concepts. Are you saying that you have proof that this isn't the case?"

"Yes. Look at all the colonies of the Federation outside of the core worlds especially the ones along the DMZ or borders like the DMZ. Those colonies are second class colonies. Hell look at Alpha Centauri that's proof right there."

"They are still Federation colonies and they receive the same support as any other world," she said. "We do not treat any of them any differently than we would for any other world, in or out of the Federation, as long as they're peaceful and request our assistance. Look, do you have a point to this other than to argue a moot point?"

"I would go back and look at the Dominion War and tell me that all Federation colonies were being treated the same. And yes I think your view of the Federation and the universe is a bit too idealistic even for a Starfleet officer." Marsten said with a smile looking at the young women enjoying this little argument.

"At least I'm not a freelance art collector who needs to hitch rides," she said, coming to her feet. "I wish you the best, but I really think you're not going to have much of a chance to find what you're looking for."

"Pleasure meeting you as well." Marsten said smiling if only she knew the real reason.

Karl Marsten
Art Collector (NPC by Aza)
USS Vindicator

Ensign Catalina "Rocky" Barnes
Encryption Specialist
USS Vindicator

 

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