Wildcard
This one's dedicated to my amazingly brave and supportive beta-reader Imzadi; a truer friend no-one could wish to have. Enjoy.
Takes place a year or so after Will Riker takes command of the USS: Titan
Introduction
Six months earlier
The tall human shifted uncomfortably in front of his computer terminal, trying to find a position that hurt less. He grimaced as his thoughts inevitably travelled back to his time spent in the oh-so-tender care of the Cardassians. Bastards, every one of them.
Making an effort to focus on the present, he scanned the information displayed on the monitor. As he studied the screen, he unconsciously stroked his beard, crystal blue eyes absorbing the information contained in his personal messages. He'd just finished a 6-month run on a freighter a few weeks ago, serving in an ops/tact capacity, and was looking for his next job. He wasn't a mercenary for hire, not exactly, but he sold his skills and experience to those with enough latinum to afford him. He'd managed to build quite a reputation for himself in the Beta quadrant over the last three years, slowly at first, but now it allowed him a choice of well-paid jobs instead of the starving deckhand that arrived in the sector just more than six years ago. Hell, maybe he would even schedule another appointment with one of the exclusive medical services to check him over again. They insisted that most of the pain he still felt was purely psychological, and during his most recent visit to one such institute they had informed him that they could only offer him medication. And polluting his body with chemicals to fog his mind did not feature in his plans.
One message in particular intrigued him – it was from a representative of the Kyattan home world, who wished to contract his consultation services with regards to some political unrest and terrorist attacks on their facilities. The faction which wished to contract him represented a minority of the world's population, but were the historical rulers of the planet. The Kyattan home world was being dragged kicking and screaming into an age of equality among its peoples, with the resulting political infighting and scrambling for power and equality, often used as an excuse to avenge past wrongs. One side of his mouth lifted in a humourless grin, he always routed for the underdog these days, but only insofar as it didn't interfere with his wellbeing or monetary gain. However, on Kyattan, the minority faction now feared for the planet's internal security, especially with regards to the negotiations taking place between the different factions. Apparently his reputation had reached the person contacting him, who believed he could provide his expertise to safeguard these negotiations.
He scanned through the other messages again, but for some reason his eyes kept straying back to the Kyattan one. With a sigh he decided to follow his instinct and at least meet with the representative. He pulled up the planet's location and description from the local database, studying it for background information. He also made a mental note to talk to a few traders and suchlike who had contact with Kyattan, to try and determine whether the public face the planet put forward was indeed the same in reality. During his life he'd learned to trust very little on face value, and no person. A little voice inside him gave a cynical laugh – once there had been someone he'd trusted. With his life, his love, and perhaps even his soul. But she was history, ancient history, and that's where she would stay. And him.
His thoughts were jerked back to the present as the door slid open behind him. He shifted to a more alert position on the edge of his seat, ready to drop or run.
"Hey lover, what ya up to?" A Nedjai female sauntered into the room.
"Oh, just checking my messages," he said, relaxing by the tiniest fraction even as he cleared the screen and logged off. It was Lailee's suite after all, and he had been staying with her for the past few weeks since he arrived at the trading station.
"Well, when you're done there, why don't you come over here and let's relax for a bit," Lailee shrugged out of her jacket with her top pair of arms while the second pair, located about halfway down her sides, tapped a final few commands on her personal pad. Her skin was covered in a light grey scale-like substance, but it was smooth and dry to the touch, almost silky, as he'd found out quite quickly. He grinned, knowing full well what she meant by 'relaxing'. The woman had an appetite even he found challenging, but then again, he had a few years worth of relaxing to make up for.
In the early hours of the following morning he started awake out of a nightmare. Lailee was still sleeping soundly as he quietly slipped out of bed, heading into the next room. Rubbing his tired eyes he breathed deeply, trying to calm his racing heart. His dream had placed him back in that Cardassian hell-hole, one of the snake-bastards leaning over him with one of their hellishly sharp playthings, asking questions he never had any answers for. It's was the third such nightmare in the past two nights, and it was taking its toll. And the dreams were becoming more complicated - they were in the background this time, looking on in what he distinctly felt a disappointed fashion. Sighing, he stretched, trying to relieve cramped muscles as he wondered at the increased occurrence of these dreams again. For some reason he felt his instincts were trying to tell him it was time to move on. He had a comfortable set-up going at the moment, but becoming too relaxed was a weakness that could lead to disaster.
Well then, it seemed it was time to leave again. He would check out the transports first thing tomorrow and head out as quickly as possible. Glancing back at the bedroom, a quick smile played over his features as his thoughts went to Lailee. She was a nice enough person, but he would regret leaving the comfortable living arrangements even more. Women came and went, as did jobs, but you only had one life … no strike that. You had nothing, no guarantees, no happily-ever-afters, just the cold hard reality of now, and whatever else you managed to force out of life.