Finding Trouble

Posted on Thu Sep 19th, 2024 @ 3:47pm by Captain Nycolas Temple & Raven Mattel & Ignatius

Mission: The Only Thing Left Was Hope
Location: Risa
Timeline: Before Urgent Reunions

ON:

It was the morning after Ignatius and Raven had made it to Risa and managed to find Mindo. The trio had managed to kick up their heels in style - as usual - just like old times. The sun was rising again over the bay when the designer and the model had managed to straggle back to their hotel and into bed.

Several hours later, with the light streaming through a lazily half-closed curtain, Raven struggled to open her eyes. She squinted as the light blinded her momentarily and she was acutely aware of how dehydrated she felt.

"My god." She croaked. "What time is it?"

"Too early." Ignatius mumbled. He had collapsed half-naked in a pile of his own clothes, which he had decided to pile up on the floor for some reason before promptly falling asleep on top of the pile. He had woken before Raven but hadn't yet found the energy to move.

"I hope Mindo got home alright." Raven said as she looked around the room for the replicator. "We should arrange a dinner or something."

As Raven struggled to her feet, eyes still only open a sliver, she pulled her bright green dress around her in a half-hearted attempt to cover herself. Her bra had long been discarded somewhere and the dress was being worn more as a wrap-around that wasn't quite wrapping around. She stomped over to the corner of the room and in the process stepped on Ignatius' foot while trying to navigate past all of his clothes.

"Hey!" He cried out. "I'm under here."

Raven paused and dared to open her eyes a little more, "I'm sorry darling! I'm positively parched."

Ignatius began to untangle himself from his clothes, finding trousers and shirts were constricting around him like snakes squeezing their prey. He was ensnarled in their fabric embrace. "Get me one too, would you? My throat is far too dry." He asked as he tried to unwrap himself.

Raven dragged herself towards a small black screen on the wall, believing this to be a replicator. As she approached, it lit up with a message. If she had been looking properly, she would have seen that it was actually a subspace message on the comms console. But Raven was far too hung over to see exactly what she was doing as she pressed hastily on the screen.

Before her suddenly appeared Captain Temple sitting in a transport shuttle. Temple blinked as he saw the half-dressed Raven with Ignatius on the floor furiously pulling clothes off himself. After a moment of confusion, he smirked.

"Bad time?" Nyx asked.

Raven stared back at the screen for a moment, wondering why Captain Temple was appearing on the replicator. Then she screamed and hit the floor, trying to cover up her half-exposed body. "CAPTAIN!"

"Captain?" Ignatius frowned as he looked over. Seeing his old friend, Ignatius cheered, "Oh! Hello!"

"I... don't know what to say." Nyx replied, truly flummoxed at the sight. "But I assume you've been enjoying Risa."

Raven popped her head back up in view - just enough of her head. "I'm sorry, sir. I thought you were water. I mean, I needed water, and I thought this was a replicator screen but it's not, it's you. Why is it you?" She frowned, "Sorry that sounded harsh. What do you want?"

"What she means is, what can we do for you?" Ignatius sighed as Raven sunk back down below view.

"I heard you had been visited by our man in black." Temple began, with a raised eyebrow as he tried to regain his composure. "He's visited more of the Pandora crew, telling us to get back to the ship."

"Yes, Nyx, we were visited in New York, in my workshop." Ignatius replied, "I checked all security footage and have no idea how he got in or out."

"Advanced tech by the looks of it," Nyx nodded, "And what was his message to you?"

"He said he was a friend of the Pandora." Raven spoke up from her crouched position as she fumbled with her dress, "And that we had to go back."

"Friend?" Nyx frowned, "Well that is new. And what made you go to Risa?" Nyx had his intel; he knew the civilians had travelled already.

"Mindo." Ignatius said with a hopeful look, "We found him last night."

Nyx's eyes widened with the news, "You did? Where?"

"A bar here in the city, Destiny." Raven said. "We got an invite off of someone here at the hotel." She had managed to wriggle herself back into her dress properly and now that she fully attired, she was able to stand. "I'm sure the invite is here somewhere. It's very exclusive, you need the invite to even find the place."

"How was he?" Nyx pressed, wanting to know all that he could.

"He's... well, he's... a um..." Ignatius searched for the words to say tactfully.

"An entertainer." Raven quickly added, "And he doesn't seem too upset about not being in Starfleet anymore." She bit her lip, "Sorry to say."

Nyx nodded solemnly as he took in the news, "I hope he's happy, at least. Did he say if he had been visited by our mystery friend?"

Both Ignatius and Raven searched their foggy memories, trying to remember through the dancing, drinking, singing, crashing of glasses, the lights. Finally, they looked to each other and shook their heads, "No." They both confirmed.

"But he wasn't really looking to talk about the Pandora." Ignatius added gently, "Nyx, he said he's happier now."

The Captain sat back in his chair and sighed. The joy of hearing they had made contact with Mindo was quickly beginning to fade; he began to wonder if they were about to have a confrontation instead of a reunion.

"This bar, you said he was there?" Nyx asked after a moment.

"Yeah, Destiny." Raven nodded, "Oh it's an amazing place, sir! It's made up of all different rooms and you transport to a random one each time. We happened to run into Mindo in this barcade room that reminded us of his bar on the ship. It was so cool. I mean, we did almost get ourselves banned but I managed to convince the staff to let us back in."

Nyx thought about it for a moment before asking, "And how did you know to go there? Out of all the bars in Risa? In that room?"

"We didn't." Ignatius admitted, "It's just that we were given the invite from the porter, or valet, or whatever he was. You seemed to remember him, Raven?"

"Yes, I'd seen him before." Raven spoke up, again searching her memories, "I don't think from when I was last here. He was only mid-twenties. Ginger hair. Nice build. But I definitely have seen him before last night."

Nyx put his hand to his chin, "See if you can find him and get some more information. Pass on what you find to me. I don't believe in coincidences and this stranger giving you the invite to the very place on Risa where Mindo happened to be that night is no exception."

"We will." Ignatius said firmly, "Whatever we can do to help, Nyx."

"You think he's connected?" Raven asked, a small chill running down her spine as she realized how easily she had accepted his invite. It could have been a trap, now that she thought about it.

"Maybe." Nyx shrugged, "I'm not leaving anything to chance. And can you find that card for me, the invite? I actually need a venue that I could use to host a reunion of the crew. If you're back on good terms there, and they already know Mindo, they might be able to work with me discretely."

They both nodded in unison.

"Just be careful, okay?" Nyx asked, "I know this is outside of your usual roles on the ship but - "

"We want to help." Ignatius stepped in, "You and the crew. Whatever it may be. We have a tendency to find trouble wherever we go. Or maybe it finds us?" He looked to Raven with a nod, "But we want to help."

"Agreed." Raven added immediately, with a smile on her face. "I'll be your Jane Bond."

Nyx smiled in return, "Thank you. I'll leave you both to... dress and I'll see you when I arrive there later today."

After saying their goodbyes, the screen went blank again and Nyx was gone. Raven and Ignatius stared at each other seriously for a moment.

"The captain saw my ten forwards." Raven said with a groan as she buried her head in her hands. This caused Ignatius to laugh out loud, which he immediately regretted.

OFF