The Iron Pit
Nuvia City, Risa
The plan was simple, if not especially solid.
T'Pol and Loya would stay in the truck and watch the street. Being Orion and Vulcan respectively, and each otherwise attractive enough to be quite memorable, it was best if they didn't enter the establishment. They'd be made right off.
Not to mention, Loya was still effectively wearing nothing but a tee shirt.
Malcolm likewise would remain in the truck with them, watching the street and waiting to intervene if that proved necessary. For the same reasons, as he didn't even have a shirt, still sported a cringe-worthy number of cuts and contusions just everywhere from the waist up…
…and, of course, being the famous 'British' that likely everyone in the establishment would instantly recognize and make a fuss about.
Travis would linger at the door inside, ready to signal out to the truck and provide immediate backup himself if it came to that.
Which left Trip and Hoshi to actually enter the place. They, of all of them, being most likely to blend in with the light skinned locals and not attract undo attention. They would carefully question whatever patrons and employees were found inside at this time of day, to discover the identity of the Risian who'd recruited Malcolm for the fights last night. Identify him and determine where he could be found.
Trip's charming and charismatic nature being put to best use interacting with the locals. Hoshi's skills at interpreting being available, as well as her natural talents reading reactions and body language.
It wasn't a bad plan, for something hastily thrown together on the move.
But the two of them didn't even make it to the front door of the building before the whole plan immediately fell apart.
One of the local prostitutes, apparently hitting the streets a little early to get a jump on the competition…instantly spotted Malcolm in the back seat of the truck.
"British!" She exclaimed, surprised and happy.
Of course, immediately recognizing a potential client who'd made quite a lot of money last night and who couldn't possibly have spent more than a fraction of it yet.
She was up on the sidestep of the truck in a flash, arms folded casually in the window. Peering in, grinning brightly, completely oblivious to the concept of personal space.
Loya was already out the door on the far side to come around before anyone even realized she'd left the truck.
"British!" The woman gushed. "Are you fighting again tonight? Oh, you can't, though! Look at you! Oh, lover! You're still so beat up! You need someone to take care of…"
She disappeared suddenly, with an awkward squawk.
That's when Malcolm and T'Pol realized Loya wasn't in the truck anymore.
Because she was out in the street dragging the prostitute around by the hair, cursing up a storm in Low Orion.
"Bollocks." Malcolm muttered, slinging open the door to jump out himself.
T'Pol exited a bit more casually, taking a good look at the situation before jumping right into it.
Trip and Hoshi, though…all this was suddenly happening right at their feet.
Trip tossed a yell at the front door of the Iron Pit.
"Travis!"
...before darting over to try to pull Loya off whoever that was she'd taken such a sudden dislike to.
Hoshi stumbled back a bit. Because that was quite a surprisingly lot of violence going on right in front of her all of a sudden. She still hadn't quite gotten used to that sort of thing appearing out of nowhere like it so often did.
Travis exited the building quickly, took in the situation rapidly and ran immediately to go help Trip and Malcolm pull Loya off…whoever that was.
And the doorman of the Iron Pit immediately recognized them all. So he quietly stepped inside the building to let his boss know what was going on outside and to snatch up a few bouncers to go deal with it.
That sort of thing was bad for business, after all.
It took a bit of wrangling before Trip, Malcolm and Travis were able to pull Loya loose from the woman's hair. And to hold her in place so she couldn't go back and yank at it some more.
T'Pol had assessed the situation well enough, though. So she was ready when the prostitute realized she was free and the crazy Orion that attacked her out of nowhere had three men holding her in check.
So when she flipped completely out and ran screaming at Loya, she was already in position to step forward and grab the nearest arm by one hand, to snatch her in place, and to pinch at the base of the neck and shoulder with the other hand.
The prostitute hit the street in a vaguely groaning heap right away. Never having had the occasion to get the first clue what the heck was going on around here so early in the day.
T'Pol waited patiently until Loya finished expressing her emotions. Cursing and yelling in a manner that made Hoshi wince more than once.
Waited patiently until she reached the huffing and heavy breathing phase of all that.
"Loya," She said, patiently. "We will have to discuss your impulsive behavior in regards to Malcolm…"
"He's mine!" Loya screamed. Along with another rapid stream of Orion curses.
"Malcolm is well aware of that." T'Pol said, once that wound down a bit. "All of us are. It seems the one who has yet to internalize this is you. I suggest you do so, before I am forced to leave you on the ship from here on, to avoid further incidents like this."
Loya glared back at her. But T'Pol could see that she'd at least been confronted by her behavior and what it suggested about her. That she was already well aware of the problem, in fact.
Then Loya remembered she was able enough to shake these men off her. And promptly did so, snatching herself lose to stand there, fists balled at her side. Still angry, but…
"Fine." She growled.
T'Pol nodded at that. Because that was good enough for now.
"Very well…"
"Uh…captain?" Hoshi said behind her.
And T'Pol turned to find her in the company of four local Risians and two Orions. The Orions dressed in garish silk jackets, suggesting nobility. The Risians just looking like local roughs.
Bouncers, obviously, considering two of them had Hoshi by her arms, to keep her in check. And the fact that they all stood directly in front of the main entrance to the Iron Pit, having just come from there.
T'Pol assessed the situation quickly, then moved to resolve it.
"That is a member of my crew…" She began.
"You shut up." The closest Orion said, before turning his attention to Malcolm. "British, do you have a reason for being here? Other than just wanting someone to break your legs for you?"
Malcolm straightened himself up a bit, reaching to tug his shirt properly into place. Before realizing he wasn't wearing one and wasn't looking at all proper at the moment.
"Well…" He said, uncertainly. "There's the matter of my winnings last night…"
"I thought you must have took one too many hits to the brain when I saw you out here." The Orion sneered. "Let me explain the situation, since you're too stupid to get it.
"You cost us a lot of money last night. But your winnings cover it nicely. It was a good night last night, thanks to you. So if you and your friends get on your little ship and never come back here again, we're happy to let that go. Especially since no one knows you tried to screw us over and no one needs to be made an example of."
Malcolm thought that over for a second.
"Well..." He started.
"If that's a problem," The Orion interrupted. "We can start with the Human girl here."
"That won't be necessary." T'Pol interjected, before things could escalate further. "We are satisfied with the current arrangement."
"Great." The man snorted. "Now get off my planet before my lunch gets cold and you all become worth the trouble."
"There is a small matter, however…" T'Pol suggested, carefully.
"I don't care. And my lunch is getting cold."
"You work for Du'kar, do you not?"
The Orion's eyes narrowed at that.
"What about him?" He asked, not answering the question.
"We have an arrangement with him as well." T'Pol said. "An exchange to make, later today."
"Then make it and get off…" The man snapped.
But he was interrupted by a subtle nudge from the Orion standing next to him. The big, nasty looking one, who T'Pol knew perfectly well was armed and standing there for no other purpose than to start shooting people if his boss lost patience with them all.
They conferred quietly for a moment.
Then the boss grinned, turning back to T'Pol.
"Maybe you'd better stick around after all." He said. "In fact, I'd suggest you go see Du'kar right now, if I didn't think it'd be a lot funnier if you didn't."
T'Pol arced an eyebrow, suddenly finding that very interesting.
"I assume…we attended the wedding reception last night?" She guessed.
"From what I hear, you were the night's entertainment." The man chuckled.
"I see. And would you…?"
"Not my problem." The man interrupted. "I don't care. What I do care about and what is my problem is your being out here disrupting business and wasting my time. So am I going back to my lunch or breaking people's legs out here? What's it going to be?"
"We will leave you to your lunch and your business." T'Pol agreed, readily.
"Good. Now disappear."
He nodded to the side and the men holding Hoshi thrust her forward a bit, to stumble back toward the rest of the group.
Which didn't make Travis happy at all. So he stepped forward to help her keep her feet, glaring at the men who'd thrown her around like that.
That caught the larger, uglier Orion's attention.
"Hey, you." He said, stepping up to present himself. "That's my jacket you're wearing."
This surprised Travis a little. But he was not in any mood conducive to being agreeable with these men.
"Well, it's mine now." He said, glaring.
Prompting the Orion to toss open the garishly colored silk jacket he wore now. Revealing the very intimidating, rapid fire plasma caster on his hip.
"Trade you for it." The man growled. "Where you want it? The face or the gut?"
"Give the man his jacket, Travis." T'Pol suggested, quickly.
And he did.
With discernible reluctance and further glaring, but nevertheless.
The last of the Iron Pit employees reentered the building then, leaving them in the street.
"Now what?" Travis grumbled.
T'Pol turned, considering the unconscious prostitute laying on the street beside her.
And she gestured there.
"Put her in the back of the truck." She said.
T'Lara Neros had been working the Iron Pit and the street directly outside for just over five years now.
It was dirty and hateful job, but her Night Train habit was up to two hundred credits a day now. How else was she supposed to make that kind of money? And the three or four times she'd tried to work some kind of regular job hadn't exactly worked out so well…
So she'd had occasion to wake up with some unusual and typically unpleasant things in her mouth over the course of five years.
Never a phase pistol, though. That was new.
Her eyes shot open a good bit wider when she realized…yes, that was a phase pistol in her mouth.
And, yes, she was propped up against the wall, on a crate or something, down a dirty alleyway where no one was going to see all this and maybe call the city guards…
And the blonde Human holding the pistol…well, everyone knew Humans were crazy…
So she kept still and let her eyes do the talking here. Limiting that entirely to, 'okay…I get it.'
The Human nodded when he saw that.
"Now," He said, "I'm going to take this phase pistol out of your mouth in a second. Before I do, I'm going to ask you a question. Depending on how you answer it, I'm either gonna put it right back in and pull the trigger…or turn you over to my friend here to play with for a while."
He tilted his head to the side slightly, to indicate…the crazy Orion girl her scalp was still crying about.
T'Lara moved her eyes there to recognize that situation waiting to happen. Then back to the Human. Otherwise not moving so much as a muscle.
"There's a Risian who recruited my friend, the British, to fight at the Iron Pit last night." The Human said. "Who is he and where can I find him?"
He took the pistol out of her mouth.
"Caros R'Lon. Room 24, Lover's Rest. Ecstasy Street."
The Human smiled and nodded.
"It's down the Silken Path, just two blocks from the Pit." She added.
He nodded again.
"Go right onto Ecstasy from there, down two blocks. It's the rundown hostel with the faded pink roof."
He stared.
"I had to sneak out of there a couple of times. The window onto the alley outside doesn't lock very well. You can get it open from the outside, but you'd have climb up…"
"Okay, thanks." The Human said. "That's…good enough."
"I can show you for ten credits."
"No, that's fine."
"You sure? For twenty I can get him out of the room. Get him naked in an alleyway for you, for fifty."
"No, that's…we'll take it from here, thanks."