Nicole left the barracks dressed in a pair of skin tight black leather pants, knee high boots with heels, and a top that was more holes then substance. Her hair was ratted to an inch of its life and framed her face like an old Earth's lion's mane. She'd applied face paint, pocketed the commbadge in her front pocket, she had a brand new credit chit for what would buy a shuttle and was headed out to the "Rigger."
Inside the "Rigger", she walked in like she owned the joint. Nicole had heard that several of the female dock crews had purchased dust from this bar.
Nicole walked up to the bar and caught the servers eye..."Jasmine Wine." She took the tall glass of amber fizzy wine from the barkeep and handed over her chit to pay, I'll be at that table," she pointed, "Keep the drinks coming. Taking her chit back she pocketed it and moved around to take a seat. She sat in the bar and brought her right knee up and made herself comfortable and very open and relaxed looking.
She watched and drank. The first three drinks went down fast and smooth. She then started slowing down as she spotted several women from the docks arrive and mingle. Finally a young tattooed docker in skin pants and no top arrived at her table.
"I've been watching you...would you care to dance?" He asked reaching a hand down for hers... Nicole set her glass aside and took his hand and joined him and in the middle of the floor danced several pieces and was very friendly with the blonde in skin pants a and several others who were out dancing. She caught many dirty looks from those women dancing with the other men she came into contact. She brushed off the blonde and danced her way back to her table and downed another wine in several gulps. It wasn't five minutes and two more drinks when the blond was back and slid into the seat next to her forcing her further into the booth way from view and from escape...which wasn't her plan. "I lost you in the crowd and thought you'd find me here."
He took her hand and leaned in to kiss her and she looked over his shoulder and saw the docker she knew to be dealing... and blew off his kiss, "looks like we have company."
He looked over his shoulder... "Nah, just friends of mine."
"Really?"
"You want to have a good time?
"I thought we were?" She pouted and downed the rest of another new drink. She watched as the others moved and sat at the booth. "I think, I want to dance some more."
"Have you ever tried this..." The guy opened a small packet of light purple powder.
"No. What is it?" She asked.
"Dust." He leaned in and kissed her and then said to her ear, "It's much more fun then Jasmine Wine."
Nikki leaned in and kissed the blonde again. As she pulled way the packet had made it around the rest of the group to dip a damn finger into the powder and taste. She took the packet and looked up and dampened the tip of her finger, and was about to raise her finger to her mouth—was interrupted as three women all appeared to be loaded on something. They arrived at the table and several of the group stood and started trying to distract the new arrivals... one of the women reached over and grabbed one of the brews and splashed it all over the blonde guy who was entertaining Nikki. Everyone stood and started yelling and Nicole wiped that hand on her pants and picked up her drink and tried to move away from the guy and the very pissed off woman.
She tossed off the rest of the bottle of wine. The thin woman who obviously had some connection to the guy Nicole was partying with grabbed Nicole's arm and practically pulled her over the top of the table.
Nicole was hot, and the wine was hitting harder then it had ever hit before but she'd been hitting it really hard. She started pushing at the bitch and yelling. "Hey, someone help... get this bitch off me, Nicole yelled over the music."
Tara was walking with Jayson through the Promenade on one of their patrols when she sensed something was happened. She felt Nicole in distress. Suddenly her commbadge chirped.
"Ens. Bachman to Chief Carmichael, we have a disturbance at the Rigger," the young man reported. "Actually... the bartender is classifying it as a... catfight."
Tara tapped her badge. "Acknowledged. We're on our way. Dispatch a team to meet us."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied.
Tara looked at Jayson. "It's Nicole," she replied. Quickly they hurried to the nearest turbolift and headed toward the docks and to where the Rigger was. They were met by a team from Security. Though they probably weren't needed, it was hard to tell if the catfight might have escalated into a full-fledged brawl among the patrons. As they entered, they saw two woman throwing each other about, hitting, throwing things and causing a fair amount of damage. Most of the patrons were standing out of the way watching and moving when the action got too close, but laughing and egging the women on. Immediately, security jumped into the fray. Jayson grabbed the other woman while Tara grabbed Nicole who resisted.
"Come quietly or you'll spend the night in the brig!" she said.
Nicole saw the other women break from the security officer. Nicole shrugged off Tara's hand and when the woman was close enough she threw a reverse punch that connected with the other woman and dropped her to the deck, unconscious. The rest of the group was edging their way out of the bar. The room was hot and fuzzy and she couldn't get enough air... then she realized that Jayson had moved in after she'd decked the chick. He moved in quickly taking Nicole to the ground his knee in her back, and with the help of another officer they secured her hands behind her back. Nicole screamed and fought having her hands restrained.
"Just relax. A night in a cell and you'll be fine..." he said calmly. He began patting her down for concealed weapons. He didn't find any, but he did find something else. As he pulled the small bag of dust out of one of Nicole's pockets he showed it to Tara. She arched her eyebrow. "Looks like things might have just gotten a little more complicated for you, Miss..."
Nicole looked over her shoulder and saw the little envelope with the purple dusk. She said nothing just rested her cheek against the cold floor. She'd drank pretty hard but... and she had on a sober up patch... could it have been defective? God, she felt sick... Both security officers grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to her knees and then to a standing position between them. Jayson and Tara handed her off to two other security officers, "Take her and lock her in a cell."
Tara shook her head and walked over to the bar to start taking statements.
It had been awhile since Nicole had been taken to security and placed in a cell. Under Tara's orders she was also given a sober pill and plenty of water to drink. As she finally entered to 'interrogate' Nicole, she dismissed the one guard. There were no other filled cells, so they were alone.
"How are you doing, Nicole? Any better?" she smiled gently.
Nicole sat on the narrow bed, back against the wall, knees drawn up. Her head was resting on her knees, she turned her head and saw CWO Carmichael enter the cell. She was still nauseated, and numb...even with the sober up pills and water.
"Feel like hell." She said. Nicole rested her head back against the wall as Tara sat on the end of the bed. Nicole swallowed, and said, "I got the sample, and have probably either made my association with the group... or made many enemies."
"Well, I have a suspicion you made it in," Tara replied as she looked at the woman. "You've proven you can party hard and that you're a hard hitter and you don't go down easily..." Tara replied. "I hope Jayson wasn't too rough when he restrained you, but then it had to look authentic," she smirked softly.
Nicole thought and looked at her wrists... "I don't remember being restrained, although there are some bruises and a scrape on my wrist."She looked up at Tara, and added, "you had to do what you had to do. "
"What happened to the woman I decked? and is the bar pressing charges for the damages?"
"The woman is fine, though I doubt she's going to tangle with you again," Tara replied. "As for the bar, they've agreed to drop the charges. Apparently, they don't want any part of an investigation going on in their establishment. I wonder why?" Tara said with almost a laugh in her voice.
Nicole shook her head and laughed. "I bet they don't!"
A moment later in all seriousness Nicole looked at Tara, and asked, "do you have anymore of those sober up pills and water?"
"Absolutely!" Tara replied. "You're still not feeling well, are you?" Tara looked over Nicole's appearance carefully. "Perhaps after we release you, after you 'pay your fine' you should go the sickbay... Make sure you're all right." Tara tapped her commbadge and placed the request.
"I'm fine... still just a little hungover feeling." Nicole watched as an officer brought more water and a small packet. Nicole took the two tabs and drank the liter of water down."I'll just go to barracks and sleep this off... no need to bother sickbay." Nicole rested her head back on her knees and closed her eyes and concentrated on her breathing."
"So, is there anything you can tell me yet, or that this is merely the beginning and there isn't much to tell?" Tara asked, observing her carefully, making sure she wasn't pushing too hard. She didn't want to make Nicole's condition worse.
"I've heard crews talking about the Rigger as the place to go and have a good time... even though it borders on a dump."
"I decided that I needed to go there and party, and see what I could learn..." Nicole paused then said, "didn't learn much but have ruined my 'good girl reputation'. She said with chuckle. "Think I am going to have to sleep with my knife... that gal didn't seem to want to party with me?" said with a smile.
Tara nodded. "She wasn't too happy. But on the other hand, I don't think she wants to tangle with you anytime soon..."
Tara thought for a moment. Enough time had passed, she had surmised and she had already processed the paperwork through. "Sure, you're free to go," she said, her soft British accent filling the small cell. She smiled as she stood up. "Good work, Nicole."
Nicole stood and followed Tara out of the cell and into the main processing area, where her belongings were returned to her. Nicole handed over the debit card and watched, as the officer deducted the fees she owed. She took her card back and fought off another wave of nausea. "Thanks." She pocketed everthing, turned to leave to find Tara and Jayson standing blocking the way. She swallowed and said, "Thanks for arriving when you did." Nicole went to take a step but the two stood their ground. "What?"
"Try not to get into trouble again, Miss Shea," Tara replied. "You've had a pretty clean record up until now. Do you really want to go down this road?"
This, of course, was just a public spectacle for the benefit of the few others just being released or brought in that might be part of the group Nicole was infiltrating.
"This about what this can do to your future?" Jayson added.
"Thanks for your concern 'Officers'!" Nicole shouldered her way between them and walked out into the corridor, to the lift and then back to the docks where she returned to her barracks, showered, and crawled into her rack so she could get a few hours rest before her next flight.