It was early evening. Shara was off her duty-shift. She wasn't tired at all, requiring only 4 hours of sleep at night. But what she wanted was a good, stiff drink. She was wandering around a not so fantastic part of town. It was a bit rough, but nothing she couldn't handle. She also saw several people heading in a general direction, most with the same thing as her on their minds; wanting to relax after work with a good drink. She decided to follow.
As she turned a corner, she saw a sign hanging off a building. It said Starlight Inn. She smiled. It looked intriguing; she thought as the people she'd been following opened the door and went inside. Without hesitation, she opened the door and followed.
Tyran was inside, taking orders and cleaning up tables. It was rather busy at this hour.
Shara found a spot at the bar and settled herself down. She smiled as she watched the busy commotion of the bar. The sounds of conversations drifted to her, as well as the sounds of the games people were playing - like Pool and Dabo. She could have sworn she even saw a card game going on in a corner.
"Good evening, can I take your order please?" Danayal asked her, he was helping Tyran on this busy night.
"How about a Rigelian Iced Tea," she smiled. It was much like the Long Island Iced Teas from Earth, but with a bit more of a kick.
"Coming up." He took the orders of the two people next to her and soon the glasses were sliding over the bar.
She took a sip and smiled, her brown eyes meeting his. "Pretty good!" she said. "Is it always this busy here?"
"Only on Friday, and Saturday, ma'am." He said grinning and hurried off to his next clients.
She continued to sip on her drink, watching everything going on.
Suddenly, a chair flipped over and she could sense a flood of tension in the air. She could also pick up anger verging on fury. She put her drink back onto the bar and watched where the feelings had been emanating; the table in the corner where the card game was being held.
"I won it fair and square! I ain't a cheater!" a big burly man yelled at the others at the table. His arms flexed menacingly as if he were getting ready to strike.
Shara stealthily got off the stool and weaved her way into the crowd.
"You did cheat!" another man at the table replied, also getting to his feet. "I saw the other card up your sleeve!"
"Where?!" the burly man replied as he pushed up his sleeves, but as he moved the sleeves back down, sure enough a card fell. It was the card he had exchanged with the card that had won him the game.
"Cheater!" the other man cried.
Suddenly, the burly man launched himself at the other, ready to beat him to a pulp.
But before he barely landed a punch, Shara was behind the burly brute. She grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back as she tripped him to the ground. The man could feel the pressure in his arm.
"Don't break it! Please don't break it!" the man cried out like a frightened child.
"Are you going to be a good boy, if I let you up? Are you gonna play nice with the other kids?"
"Yeah! Yeah! Anything you say, lady! Just don't break my arm!" he replied.
Sensing his deception, she let him up anyway. Almost immediately, once he got to his feet, he tried to swing at her.
"Big mistake," she replied, grabbing his fist as he tried striking her again. With it, she flung him toward the door, knocking over some tables along the way. But finally, she took him to the door and tossed him out easily as if he'd weighed no more than a sack of potatoes. He lay on the ground for a moment dumb-founded.
As he got to his feet, he met her gaze.
"Care for another go round?" she asked.
The man said nothing as he got up to his feet and began limping away. His pride hurt more than his body. He had been beaten up by a woman. He'd never live that down.
"What is going on here?" Tyran asked angrily. He had forbidden bar fights. "Well?"
"I just stopped that idiot from beating some of your customers up," she replied, her dark eyes gazing at him, as if in a silent challenge of questioning her motives. "Sorry about the tables and chairs getting knocked over."
"I forbade it for whatever reason. I do not care if you fight, as long as it's done outside, lady."
"Well, I was trying to get him outside," she replied. "And I finally did manage to." She went to the bar and grabbed her drink. "If you think I acted inappropriately, you can always contact my superiors."
"I will, name, rank, and where are you stationed?" Tyran was not happy.
"I'm Lt. Shara Mikori," she replied. "I'm stationed here on Serenity. Starfleet Security."
"You know, she did stop Bryce," came the voice of the other man from the table. "I caught him cheating. He was about to throw a punch at me when she stepped in. And you know Bryce..." the man said.
"Did you say Bryce? And didn't I tell him I don't want to see him here anymore? How did he get in here? DANAYAL!! Did you let Bryce in?"
The young man nodded. "I'm scared of him. He threatened to kill me if I told you he was here."
"So I take it that guy is a regular troublemaker?" Shara asked.
"Yes, one that I warned I would have him arrested if he ever came back here again."
"Too bad he's not in Starfleet," she replied. "I could haul him off, myself, and get him out of your hair for awhile," she replied as she took a gulp from her drink, downing almost all of it.
"He actually is in Starfleet. He works as a tech at the shuttle port. At least he was working there yesterday. I saw him," one of the clients suddenly said.
"Really?" Shara smiled, relishing the thought of getting a troublemaker out of commission for awhile. "Then I might be able to do something about him. What's his last name?"
"Porter," the man from the card game replied. "Bryce Porter."
"Then I'll have to pay Mr. Porter a little visit. How often has he caused problems here?"
"How many times, Dan?" Tyran asked while he pointed at a black book on the counter.
"Porter, Bryce Julian... around 7 times."
"In what time frame?" she asked, looking back and forth between Danayal and Tyran.
"6 months, that's when he got here to Serenity if I remember correct. He lives on 1223 Bayside Ave, apt. 2340."
Shara quickly committed all the information to memory. "Got it... I'll write up a report for his activities tonight. But would you be willing to give a statement about Mr. Porter's actions over the last 6 months?"
Tyran handed her the book. In it was a list of things Bryce had been caught at -- cheating at the Dabo table, bar fights or starting them, being totally drunk and not willing to go home while insulting other customers... all with dates and times.
"Perfect, can I get a copy of this with your signature?" she asked.
"Of course." He tore the pages out and signed them. "Here you go. His address and such are on this as well."
"Thanks, it'll make my job that much easier," she smiled. "And I imagine it means better business for you too."
"Oh, yeah. If you can make sure he's not allowed to go near my establishment anymore, I would be thankful."
"I'll see what I can do," she replied. "He may end up in the brig or at the bare minimum, not allowed to leave Starfleet's sector of Serenity." She paused for a moment as she looked around again. "You know, all in all, this is a really nice place you have here."
"Thank you." He smiled.
She paid her tab. "Maybe I'll come back again, but for now, duty seems to call." Her smile was warm as she got back up off the stool.
"Good luck." Danayal smiled at her, and went back to his work, cleaning tables and clearing away the knocked over furniture.
"It's better than luck," she smiled. "It's a talent I was born with." With that, she winked and headed toward the door.
"Getting your eyes on her?" Tyran grinned when he saw Danayal stare at the door for five minutes after Shara had left.
"Well, she is a piece of work," the other man from the table said as he sipped at his ale. "It's hard not to look at her. Right, Danayal?"
"Yeah," Danayal blushed.
The other man laughed. "Yeah, she's quite a woman... Her name was Shara?"
"Yeah, that's what she said." Tyran placed the last chair at the table.
The man nodded to himself and went back to the table with the game of cards. He sat back down with his ale as another man joined the game. This time, the game was much more quiet and friendly... even filled with some laughs along the way.
Danayal and Tyran resumed their work, and the incident was soon forgotten.
But not the woman...
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