Sacred Mark
Corner of Silken Path and Ecstasy Street
Nuvia City, Risa

Hoshi was getting frustrated.

She'd seen the shop as they passed by and…it all just came back to her.

Came out of nowhere and just smacked her right in the face.

She couldn't remember everything perfectly. It was all really hazy…like an old memory of an old memory. Like…something you did being so remarkable that it became a story your friends told all the time…even years after you couldn't really remember doing it. So that the details all got mixed up and lost and glossed over. You couldn't tell what you were actually remembering and what you were just remembering being remembered.

But…yeah.

She'd taught Loya how to lap dance. And a bunch of strippers at the Pink Cloud. Because…well, she didn't really know why the heck she'd thought that was such a good idea at the time.

But she had. She'd thought it was the best idea ever…and so she just did it.

Just like…oh, God. Making out with Travis in the bathroom.

Or…okay, fine! She went all the way with Travis in the bathroom. She'd never done anything like that in her life! Ever! She would have never even thought of doing that!

In a bathroom! A bathroom in some kind of…pit fighting club?!

What the hell had she been thinking?!

And then a tattoo?! On her…lower stomach? Good grief, what kind of weird nerve toxin thing was this stuff they'd drank? Who invented something like that and thought it was a great idea?

Right now would be a really great time to have a universal translator. She sort of followed along a little…but her grasp of Low Orion maybe wasn't all that solid. And the Orion tattoo artist barely understood English Standard herself.

Loya listened patiently to the tattoo girl. Then nodded.

"It is…organic." Loya said, turning to Hoshi. "Organics with…electronic display on the top? You put it under the skin and then eventually the organic part is…the body eats it? You know? That leaves the electronic parts there, along the skin."

Hoshi huffed, frustrated.

"Okay, but what does it mean?"

Loya asked the tattoo girl.

The tattoo girl answered. "Belong for avarice." She said.

"Belonging to avarice." Loya corrected.

The tattoo girl nodded. "Yes, that. Belonging for the…to the avarice."

"Slave to greed, you mean." Hoshi frowned. "Why did I get that on my…stomach?"

"That is not your stomach…" Loya argued.

"Whatever! Why did I have 'slave to greed' tattooed on me?!"

Loya asked, the girl answered. "That what you say."

She shrugged.

Hoshi was already gritting her teeth.

So T'Pol took the opportunity to break in, wanting to be certain she wasn't wasting her time with all this.

"Was I here for this?" She asked.

Loya asked the tattoo girl, listened to her response in Orion. Then nodded.

"She says you came in and made the Humans leave with you."

"Was I wearing my jacket at the time?"

Hoshi growled.

"Captain…"

"I only want to know if I was wearing my jacket after we departed the pit fighting establishment."

"Yes." Loya said. "She saw you for only a moment, but you were wearing a Vulcan jacket. Military, with Vulcan words? On the shoulders."

"Okay!" Hoshi exclaimed, reaching the limits of her patience. "Now why did I have that tattooed on my stomach! What does it mean?"

Loya asked, listened, answered.

"She doesn't know." She said. "She wants to know if you are a prostitute. That would make sense."

Hoshi tossed her hands down. And stomped one foot, because she couldn't figure out any other way to express her frustration here…

Except maybe digging into her very impressive collection of multilingual curses. She rarely had a good opportunity use them.

This certainly seemed like one…

"Wait." T'Pol said…because she suddenly had an idea.

Everyone looked at her.

"You said…you engaged with sexual relations with Travis immediately prior to this?"

Hoshi blushed a little but…

"I'm…pretty sure. But that's not exactly what I'd call greedy. At least, that's not the first adjective that comes to mind…"

"Not greedy. Avarice." Loya insisted. "The same but the differences are…sneaky, I think?"

"Subtle. And it's 'slave to greed'." Hoshi argued. "'Belonging to avarice' doesn't make any sense."

"No." T'Pol said.

Because she was Vulcan. And she suddenly understood exactly what Hoshi had been trying to accomplish here.

What she'd said to the Orion tattoo girl who barely understood English Standard.

It actually wasn't a bad idea, in fact. If she and Trip ever managed to physically consummate their bond, she might have the same procedure done herself. That would be…quite romantically symbolic, at least by Vulcan standards.

"Not slave to greed." T'Pol said. "Nor belonging to avarice. Property of Travis."

It took a moment for Hoshi to absorb that.

Then her jaw dropped.

"Wha…?"

"She misinterpreted 'Travis' as the English Standard word 'avarice'. Then translated that to Orion, assuming that is what you wished."

"Wha…buh…?"

"A symbolic affirmation of his possession of your genitalia." T'Pol explained. "And your possession of his, although I would have recommended having him marked in the same manner…"

Hoshi stared, wide-eyed.

"That was quite romantic, Hoshi." T'Pol observed. "You should inform him of this immediately."

Hoshi sputtered helplessly.

"Perhaps he can take the opportunity to have the same done here. In fact, that would be most appropriate."

It cost almost two hundred credits but they finally haggled an interface module out of the tattoo girl.

And discovered that's where she made her real business. The tattoo implants themselves were cheap but half of her clients were drunk. And they came back days or week later to buy interfaces to change the display, or turn it on and off.

That's when she gouged them mercilessly. As she did Hoshi now.

Hoshi just turned it off for now, shoving the interface firmly down in one pocket. And swore T'Pol and Loya to secrecy on pain of violent death.

Travis didn't even seem to remember them doing it. And she'd take that secret right to her grave, if she possibly could.

She liked Travis. A lot. Maybe…more than liked a lot, to be perfectly honest.

No way their first time was going to be in a public restroom.

Because, no. That never happened.

It didn't happen.

Never. Happened.

They left the shop then, to face the guys outside. And they'd long since grown irritable at being left out in the street and not told what the heck was going on here.

They parked the truck across the street from the Lover's Rest. And they staked the place out for about an hour, to be sure they wouldn't be walking into any trouble.

Which might have worked out perfectly, since one of the regularly scheduled fal-menya happened down the street by then. Something of a cross between a street fair and a parade. And, like your typical parade, there was a very loud sort of marching band involved. One that kicked off every time the fal-menya moved a block down the street to stop and hawk their trinkets and gaming booths.

Perfect cover for any noisy interaction that Caros might require to get information out of him. Or for just kicking in the door. Or whatever.

It also illustrated one of those occasions where T'Pol's tendency to be overcautious about certain things might have worked against them, though.

Because they staked the place out for an hour. And that gave J'Mar and his gang of Risians time to show up suddenly, before they could decide to take advantage of the noise. And they entered the hostel, obviously looking for Caros. Because Caros was the guy to go to if you were looking for 'the British'.

"Well, that's just great." Trip grumped, looking out the window from the front seat. "Now what?"

"I said we should have killed them." Loya pointed out. "Now they're trouble again."

"Captain," Hoshi said. "Any chance we can just go ahead and call the client…?"

"No." T'Pol said firmly. "I was still in possession of my jacket when we left the Iron Pit and the Sacred Mark. And there is a distinct possibility that we mentioned to Caros where we intended to go next."

"It's just a jacket…"

"It is not merely a jacket, Hoshi."

"If the captain wants her jacket back," Trip said, as firmly. "Then we're getting her jacket back."

"Are we going to kill them this time?" Loya asked.

"Only if that is necessary." T'Pol said.

"It already was necessary. Does that count?"

"No."

Malcolm realized he was the only one who hadn't voiced his opinion here…

But he already understood why the jacket was important to T'Pol. Just as he suspected Trip had. It was the only thing she took with her when she left Vulcan behind. And she'd left Vulcan behind in more ways than one.

So he didn't offer his opinion here. He offered his help instead.

"We need a plan, then." He said. "If just busting in the room and shooting them all is off the table, that is…"

Trip suddenly chuckled.

"Hey, I've got an idea." He said, grinning. "Anyone ever see 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'?"

"What that is?" Loya frowned.

"A movie. A Human movie. A real classic, in fact."

"I think I might have." Malcolm said, searching his memory. "What about it?"

"There are two kinds of spurs, my friend." Trip said. "Those that come in by the door; those that come in by the window."

Loya contemplated that for a moment.

"What that means?" She asked.