[ Avi Moz, Mott Moz | Avi's workshop ]

"Mom, it's the fuzz!" A young Bolian boy was sitting in a cargo net hanging from the ceiling, like it was a hammock. It was Mott and he's just shown up one day about a week ago. Avi had yet to convince him to stop calling her 'mom'.

Avi came out from the back expecting to see gold shirt security but instead it was that FNN journalist. For no reason Avi could relate to, some people didn't like journalists. Those people tended to be the ones who had something to lose in the public esteem - not counted among Avi's worries. She liked her public esteem just fine where it was, like bog mist pooling around your boots.

"Fuzz is security," Avi told the boy and then with a little whistle, tossed up a roll of crackers. It helped it you fed them. "Fox is press."

"What do we call them?"

"I don't care. What'choo need, Fox?" Avi asked leaning over the counter. She gave Charlie her most yellow of winning customer service smiles.

Charlie Fox

"Kaya." Avi was not expecting that. Her smile faltered.

"Who's Kaya?" Mott piped up.

"Food in, voice off," Avi snapped her fingers without looking. Mott complied but kept his ears open.

She hadn't seen or heard from Kaya since Sigma 4. Shit, it had been awhile. [fn]Trust by Verify[/fn] Avi liked Kaya and had intended to reconnect. But after the Nyberrite Alliance, things were crazy and it had just never happened. Couldn't live with regrets.

Avi normally wouldn't have spoken to press behind someone's back, but Avi sensed Fox wasn't after a story.

"I haven't heard from her for six months," Avi supplied. She chewed on it a moment. "She left without telling anyone? Like, quit the 'fleet? Didn't think she had it in her."

Kaya wasn't typical Starfleet by Avi's evaluation, easily talking shit about the chain of command, stuffy career officers, how boring she was finding this posting. But just leave? Didn't seem like her.

She looked at the PADD. Kaya's name was on the passenger list for the Exodus. They were legitimate but she didn't know of any connection to Kaya.

Charlie Fox

[ Avi Moz, Mott Moz | Avi's workshop ]

Avi drummed her fingers on her chin. Probably better not to voice the absurd thought that Starfleet Intel ghoul Matthew Harmon had gotten to Kaya for some reason, disappeared her for some shifty purpose, the lousey skeeve. Didn't seem likely, though.

"We didn't talk about personal stuff," Avi admitted. They had a casual good time, not heart-to-hearts and that was kind of the point. How long had that relationship lasted, just a few months.

"I know the Exodus. They're above board. Alpha Centauri, I think." Avi wanted to be helpful, but not caring rather dampened her ability to answer questions.

"I rode on the Exodus," piped up a voice from above from a mouthful of crackers.

Avi's annoyance was covered over with perplexity.

"When?"

"When I was coming here." Crunch crunch crunch. "You know."

No, Avi did not know. Thus far, Mott had been secretive of how he'd come to be aboard the Station, how he'd tracked Avi down in the first place. This was news to Avi. And Mott had more to say, keen to have the attention of both adults, keen to brag, not even noticing he was embellishing the truth.

"It was so mega boring, though. Got on at Cait. Caitians are not as much fun as you'd think and they make me sneeze. But there were all these Klingons at the port." Mott was chattering now. "They have the best songs. No idea what they're about, but probably blood and guts and drinking. They let me try their beer and it didn't even affect me at all and I got to hold a bat'leth so they invited me to Klingon planet for a funeral battle or whatever. But my ship was leaving so I didn't go."

Crunch crunch crunch.

Avi just stared at him, confounded. She had no idea who the hell this kid was.

"What!" Mott asked with a shrug. He wasn't a little kid. When were people going to grasp this!


Charlie Fox

[ Avi Moz, Mott Moz | Avi's workshop ]

"Funny looking," Mott countered.

Avi raised her eyebrows at Kaya describing Qo'noS as a 'pleasure planet'. She was daring, but there was no way she'd be able to keep up with Klingons. She very nearly asked Charlie to keep her in the loop on the search, but something held her back. Maybe Avi didn't want to come face-to-face with the nagging feeling she was responsible. Attachments were a bitch.

Perhaps thankfully, Mott put a pin on the conversation so Avi didn't have to.

He called out, "bye, hack!"

// scene //

[Charlie Fox - ghoptu Fek'lhr, En Route to Qo'Nos]
2381.01.13

Charlie had almost laughed when the Caitian port authority had confirmed Kaya Som had passed through, bound for the Klingon pleasure planet. The engineer's categorisation, not hers. There'd been a sense of relief, some amusement, sure, but the overriding emotion had been concern. The journalist had discovered the next leg of her friend's impromptu, secret trip, but she worried over the choice. And the timing. Not to mention if it was merely another waypoint; if Kaya was bound for somewhere else completely. Somewhere less accessible.

What other choice had she but to pursue? 

She'd been to Cait only several months previously with Matthew Harmon. From there she'd managed to wrangle transport aboard a klingon merchant ship, which is where she currently finds herself, disheveled, more than a little hungover, with hair that hadn't seen a good brushing in days. In order to explain her sudden absence from work she'd pitched a hasty idea to Spil, her editor, and promised to get interviews with Caitian and Klingon alike regarding the shifting allegiances in the quadrant, and the movements of various forces. Nybbies, Tholians, Talorians... all the well-adjusted, happy folk that made their homes and fun out here in the Frontier.

She was in the middle of editing one such interview with the freighter's captain - the one who kept insisting he'd slain not one, but three Founders during the War - when the approach announcement was made. Some might consider what was to come the hardest part of the operation, but Charlie had a pretty decent idea that Kaya Som would stand out amongst the denizens of the First City.

[Charlie Fox - Traveler's hostel > Plaza, veng wa'DIch (First City, Qo'nos capitol city)]
2381.01.13

The captain of the ghoptu Fek'lhr had helpfully pointed her in the direction of the closest lodgings on foot, and had declared it popular with "her type". She wasn't sure if that meant humans, or journalists, or maybe even redheads in general, but she didn't much care, and she didn't want to run the risk of asking in case he launched into another of his longwinded stories. The hostel was indeed close to the port, however, and suited her needs well enough. She'd just secured some of her belongings in a special locker in the shared accommodation she'd bought for the night when she noticed two Orion tourists stumble inside.

Charlie whipped out her personal handheld and with a couple of strokes, was shining a holographic likeness of Kaya Som into the air above the device. "Hey, you two see this Trill around? At any of the happening, touristy spots?"

For a moment she thought they were going to ignore her, intent instead as they were on each other, but when one made a noise of soft surprise. "I have seen that one! Remember, last night? Or was it this morning?" She tittered, and her companion shrugged. "She was here... Bit uptight."

Charlie stared, eyes narrowing. Inside, she was more than a little shocked that it had been this easy, but she supposed there was a good reason she was directed here, and it made sense that outsiders congregated, even with Qo'nos being as cosmopolitan as it was. "Do you know where she is now?"

No answer. The two were back to staring at each other, fingers lightly stroking each other's exposed skin. With a sigh, she turned from the scene and made her way back outside, tapping on her own personal handheld as she moved. According to this, Kaya had been online very recently, but none of the messages Charlie had sent her seemed to be read. That was something, at least. Now that she knew she was on the same actual planet as the errant engineer, she could track her properly.

PLEASURE PLANET MY BACKSIDE, she typed out in a text message to Kaya, even though she was sure she wouldn't read it. Meanwhile, there was a tracer running in the device's background, searching the immediate 2km radius, trying to ping her friend's whereabouts. As Charlie walked, the signal grew stronger. She passed by a chemist shop of some description, eyes drawn at the sound of a cursing Klingon female, mid-tirade and sweeping up some smashed bottles. She kept her head forward and kept going until the path opened up to a plaza of sorts. That was when she was rewarded with a confident ding.

She smiled, a tad smug with triumph, and looked around for sight of the Trill. The plaza was busy, teeming with life and action, and Charlie likely wouldn't have stood a chance of finding Kaya had it not been for the fact that she'd been using her handheld. And there, there she was. Next to a food seller, looking... not lost. But not found, either.

Charlie stepped up to the vendor and held up her hand. "Zilm'kach. Two," she said, two fingers raised. Less than a minute later, she was handed rough slices of the fruit in a paper cone. It wasn't exactly sweet like the fruity desserts of Earth or other places, in fact the combination of bitter and tart tingled the human taste buds something fierce, but Charlie really liked it. Reminded her of apricots, if apricots tasted like raspberries. She moved toward the stairway and started to climb toward Kaya Som. When she was close enough, she wordlessly held out one of the fruit cones.

---

Tag: Kaya Som