Date Three: On the Run (Part One)
Posted on Thu Mar 23rd, 2023 @ 10:29pm by Daniel Martinez & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver
2,932 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Good Will Tour: Mountain Home [Part Two]
Location: Martinez C&C Hoteliers
Timeline: MD15: 1200 hours
Max had walked through the streets of the town of Golden Towers unrecognized. Of course, to the Romulans, he was just another Terran when he was out of uniform. Max walked until he came across this unmarked office was just on the outskirts of the main city, probably the best that even a family with as much money and power as Daniel’s father had, even he couldn’t buy close enough to the center of the city.
Max waited for the opening of a thick glass door with a silver door pull, clearly decorative. He entered what he assumed to be the reception room, black marble covered the floors, walls and dangled from the ceilings. A large black desk filled the space with naught but a vase of bright red roses as the only color.
“Good morning, sir. Have you an appointment today?” the Romulan asked. He was a Northern Romulan, so he appeared Vulcan except for his elongated ears. He was dressed in couture black, leather shoes, black slacks of the Mairain designer and black shirt and tie with a red rose tie pin made by the same expensive designer.
“I am Captain Maxwell Culver of the United Federation of Planets Starfleet Seabase Triton. I have an appointment with Mister Daniel Martinez this afternoon. In fairness, I am a bit early,” Max admitted.
“I’ will let Mister Martinez know of your early arrival, Captain Culver. Would you like water, coffee or tea?” The Romulan asked as if by rote.
Max held up his hand. “No, thank you,” Max answered. With nowhere to sit, Max moved to look out the front double doors. It was an odd building; no front windows, no guest seating, nothing to do for guests but look out the door, away from the all encompassing darkness of the black on black.
Dani stepped out with the Romulan receptionist. “It’s fine, Vaz’hen. I know Captain Culver well. He doesn’t present a threat.”
Dani dropped his voice to a whisper, “Subcommander, this doesn’t require any additional work on your part. His security has been cleared.”
Dani turned as the Subcommander righted himself, adjusted his shirt just enough to flash his expensive men’s satchel, the outline of a disruptor and a knife visible, both would otherwise be hidden at his waist. Max was certain those weren’t his only weapons on his person. Reaching the desk, this seemingly simple receptionist now presented himself as anything but simple. He gave Max a cold smile as he touched the unlock to Dani’s office.
Once through the doors, Dani gave Max a look, his eyes becoming extra wide and warning. Max could almost hear Dani’s voice.
Max had noticed the look and the way Dani had hidden it. They were being observed. Especially if that verbal warning was real or just his imagination connecting the dots. “Well, your receptionist does a good job, better than the empty waiting room with nothing but marble to absorb the quiet tongue,” Max responded, sounding all business.
“I am quite sorry, Captain Culver. As you’re aware, our company is a new arrival here on Ihhuein ei'krih. We’ve accepted this small building near Golden Towers, so of course, we are in the process of renovating. It won’t always be just black marble and a manned desk, or at least, I should say, our permanent headquarters will be much differently decorated.”
Max looked at Dani’s office, a smaller but equally dark marble on marble decor. “This would seem a good building for a remote security, an offsite bank vault, perhaps even observation of the gambling on your floor?” Max suggested.
“See, captain, your insights are already valuable, despite your concerns that you have no experience within the hotelier’s business. Anyway,” Dani said as he grabbed something’s from his desk. “Shall we go out to lunch? I hate spending time in the Temple of Doom.”
Max nodded. “Seems a fantastic idea. After you, Doctor Jones,” Max joked, a rebuttal to Dani’s ancient movie history. “I’m already getting seasonal depression from the end of times decor.
Dani laughed. “You get used to it when the end of times are all that seem to be coming your way.” Dani smiled at the camera above the door to his office. “Vah’zen, Captain Culver and I are going to lunch. There’s no additional business on the books for today, so close it up and enjoy your weekend.”
The scowl on Vaz’hen’s face could be heard even though Max wasn’t looking at his face. “Did you have a suggestion for lunch?” Max asked as he manually opened the door for the would-be business mogul.
“One of the locals was talking about this taco place north of here. We would have to get a taxi or a transport…” Dani let his words trail as they walked away. He gave Max a look, one that implied if he said one more thing, Dani would smack Max into last week. Max adopted a pleased smile, but said not another word until they were much farther from the building that belonged to Martinez C&C, though you’d be hard done by to find it labeled as such.
From his jacket pocket, Dani pulled a tricorder-like device. He ran it over himself and over Max. “Well, as hot as it is,” Dani paused and wiped the sweat from his forehead, “We should get a change of clothes before lunch.”
Max looked at Dani suspiciously. Adjusting his tricorder on his wrist, Max answered, “I’ve just thought of the perfect place to get lunch.”
Max took Dani’s hand and moved quickly through the crowd. The way Dani was acting, the scan, the conversation. They were bugged for sure. Followed, possibly. As they twisted and turned, the crowd swallowed them up. As the crowd swallowed them up, it spit them out at a transporter junction.
“Quick, get in it,” Max said, practically tossing Dani onto the platform. The pair shifted, shimmered in light and were gone.” One of their pursuers ran past, just barely missing them as the next people took their time getting in, a picture for the people back home, no doubt.
When they reappeared, Max held up his finger to his lips. Moving down the street, he found the building they were looking for. Activating the defenses using the tricorder at his wrist, Max and Dani rished in. A series of small electrical devices snapped, like those old side-walk, firework poppers you played with as kids.
Max pulled off Dani’s clothes and quickly followed with his own. He adjusted his tricorder and scanned them both again. He looked at Dani and shook his head. Scrabbling through the kitchen, he found paper and ink.
NOT CLEAR - Max wrote. SECURITY SHIELD HIDES US WHILE WE’RE QUIET. STAY QUIET
Max moved to the replicator. He touched in a series of commands. With a flash of light and a small sound, clearly a replicator, Max handed shorts, a t-shirt, flip flops and a pill. He brought the same for himself. He motioned for Dani to take the pill, demonstrating that it had to be chewed. Then they dressed.
Using his tricorder, Max could see three pursuers closing in on their position. He changed his position codes and scrambled them with a self-attenuating, password sealed, retinal scan override before getting the right destination set for a time delayed transportation scramble.
As the forced energy weapons, disruptors by the sound of them hittin the exterior shields, Max dragged Dani to a transporter and tossed him in alone. Once he was torn apart, one atom at a time, Max tossed himself onto the pad as soon as it was vacated. He could feel the lock just as a shiver ran up his spine…
And he arrived just long enough for Dani to have stumbled outside. He dragged Dani to the sink and let him dry heave there several times.
While Dani was at the sink, Max moved to power the house to appear unoccupied before he moved to a replicator, obtained a bag full to the top of stuff and took Dani by the hand. “No more running, Max.”
“If it ain’t worth running from together, it ain’t worth anything at all,” Max told him, squeezing his hand gently.
Dani nodded and squeezed Max’s hand in return. “Then we run, mi novio,”
One more time and the pair went out the door, closing it behind them. They took off across an expanse of concrete, then over a stone road and finally, between a building and a large fence that went as far as Dani could see.
Max pulled a bottle of water from the bag he carried and handed it to Dani. “It’ll help with the headache from the multi-transport,” Max explained. From the bag, he pulled a hypospray and pressed it against Dani’s neck. “This will help with general electrolyte disturbances, dysphoria and your nausea.”
“I’ve never been through the transporter that many times in a row,” Dani said as he slowly sipped the water and his stomach started to settle.
“Over a thousand transporter relays, yeah, I imagine not.”
“What’s this mean, a thousand transporter relays?” Dani nearly shouted as Max used another dose of drugs on himself and pulled out his own water bottle. He’d forgotten that what Dani had just done, Max had done the same, but also kept himself smart enough to obtain resources and medications while forcing Dani to their current resting place.
Max pulled off his shirt, now soaked in sweat. He threw it over the fence and laid his head on it for a little bit. Dani moved over to hold him around his waist and stroke his back. “I don’t think I agree with your father’s tracking methods. What he’s had you take, at some point in your life, was as bad for you then as it is getting it out, as in right now,” Max started.
“As for the relays, I set up a randomization program for you and me to transport through our transport systems, in orbit, a thousand times. That’s the other half of the reason you feel shit, mi novio.” Max stood up with a smile on full broadcast.
“So what?! You’re smart now and know Espagnol? Big man can translate to Federation Stand…”
“My boyfriend.” Max cut Dani’s rambling off. “You said I was worth running for,” Max’s smile went from wide and broadcasting to smug and self pleased. He used the hand lingering on his hip to pull Dani closer for a kiss.
“Aren’t you worried they’ll find us?” Dani asked once their kiss broke, not after some time.
“First, I’ve deactivated your father’s nasty tracking devices. Second, I’ve randomized our last transport so much, they can’t trace us. If your father and his people were smart enough to look for me where we are and in the least visited place on this planet, they might have a small chance of catching you.”
“So the where,” Dani said, a smug smile on his face as he looked at the Hart Stables sign that had recently been restored. “And whom?” He pointed at Max.
Feeling much better, Max knew that his “novio” was smart. As one ancient Terran comedy show once said, ‘You got some ‘splaining’ to do!’
Max took Dani’s hand and the walked calmly into the stables. Max’s two quarter horses held their heads high at the intrusion to their morning routine. It had been a few years since Max had been able to keep them near to him. Max held up his hand for Lela to sniff and for a moment she seemed unsure before shoving him back with her hose.
“Still a grumpy lady?” Max asked rhetorically. Horses weren’t sentient animals. She seemed put off by him altogether. Turning, Max held his hand out to Zapp, who sniffed and then nuzzled him, pulling Max in as close as he could with his muscled neck. Max returned the favor and gave Zapp a strong hug.
Turning to Dani, Max started to tell Dani not to bother trying to touch either of them, but Lela was already nuzzling him for hugs. He had been going to tell Dani that they both bit. “I pay for years of comfort and you let HIM hug you? You old nag. I must say, though, good taste.”
“Do you ride?” Max asked? His brows knit together in curious yet mischievous ways. His smile was all mischief.
“Am I a Spaniard,” Dani asked, as if offended by the very question. “Next, you will be asking if I can use a bullwhip, eh? The answer is also yes.”
Max tossed a heavy riding blanket at him. Looking him up and down, he grew another mischievous smile. “Tease…now, saddle ol’ Miss Lela up. Do her good to get her legs stretched.”
“And what about you?” Dani asked.
Max could already tell Dani was going to say something he thought was sexually teasing by the flush of red that covered his entire face, but especially his cheeks.
“I’ll be saddling up Zapp,” Max answered eventually.
“No,” Dani said, chuckling. “Don’t you think it would do you good to get your legs stretched?”
“Eww,” Max responded, throwing a handful of hay over the stalls and all over Dani. From where he was buckling up Zapp’s saddle, he could hear Dani laughing.
“You are going to pay for that, gringo,” Dani said as he led Lela out of the stables and tied her to the fence. He pulled off his shirt and shook off the hay, as much as he could, but it still found ways to stick and poke him.
Max rode out, watching Dani from on high now. He had just an old handkerchief tied around his neck. “There’s a fresher, just inside the house. In the mud room,” Max explained, go throw our stuff in the fresher real quick.” He threw his t-shirt to Dani.
Dani moved to run his hand up Max’s thigh. You can’t just ride him in underwear?”
Max leaned down, forcing Dani to move up, his fingers digging into Max’s thigh. Barely above a whisper, Max answered, “Who says I’m wearing any.”
“You are so…estúpido.” Dani took the shirts and ran them through the fresher.
Dani was just about to exit the house when he spotted someone approaching Max. He had no phaser, no way to get one, but he looked in through the kitchen and saw a butcher’s knife, so he moved through and grabbed it.
Meanwhile, Max was off Zapp and fixing his saddle a bit. “So who comes around without any invitation and saddles up not one, but both of my horses. Do you have any idea what they went through to get here?”
Max turned with his phaser drawn and pointed. When he saw who it was, he put the phaser away. “Mr. Hart,” Max said, moving to shake the other man’s hand.
“How quick we forget?! You should have riding gloves on, Maxwell. Not mention blue jeans, socks and a pair of boots. He was right, you really have become a gringo.”
“Dani! It’s okay! This is Mr. Hart. I’ve hired him to run the place,” Max shouted.
“Hired me? Hell, boy, you bought my farm from me. Sold it outright for profit and moved me halfway across the universe where you gave me all the profit you made off that old damned ranch. All so I could live pretty much alone, til my kids decide to stop gallivanting halfway around the Alpha Quadrant.”
Max smiled. “What ship is Josh running now?”
Daniel Hart looked down as he tried to dig that nugget out of his memory. “Well hell, last I remembered he was captain of one of them Luna classes, the USS Mond. That’s right…the Mond. She’s going in for refit this next week or two. That new, ugly Neo-Constitution.”
Dani came out of the door to the mud room with his shirt on. He gave the old man a suspicious look, tossing Max his shirt without looking away from Mr. Hart. “How do I know we can trust him?”
Max sighed as he pulled his shirt on. “Ask him about your dad. Go on!” Max insisted.
“How do I know you don’t work for my father, Mr. Hart?”
“Because the only one I work for is myself. Even Mister Max here has been nice enough to give me a place to live and a couple of horses to take care of. I look after him, he looks after me. He’s got a guest, well, there’s a spare room upstairs, but you’ll have to share it.”
“He doesn’t work for nobody,” Max said. “Just himself and these horses. He doesn’t mind me occasionally blowing by to check in on these rotten old mules.”
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