No Reply (Closed)

[Kali Reyes]

[Ten Years Ago - Reyes Corporate Building - Tharsis City, Mars]

The windows behind her stretched on and on, showcasing the empty red landscape of Mars' sunset. Kali shifted about, the seat too small and too uncomfortable, just so she could turn and bump her forehead against the glass and watch the two moons dance about in a haze of pinks and purples. Despite the endless chatter of business calls and foot traffic of the building, her hearing zeroed in on nothing.

Mars kind of looked like the pictures of Vulcan she once saw in her history texts. She never saw the real thing - her father actively avoided anything that belonged to her mother - which grew difficult now because Kali was fifteen and reaching that point in her life where she wanted answers of everything and anything. She was impatient, irritable, and downright hormonal at anything that so much as smiled at her.

The only thing she liked about the colonial affairs building was the floor-to-ceiling windows and the melancholy bebop music from the reception desk. Her school bag sat forgotten on the floor as she waited and waited.

It was like this every day. After school, she was escorted back to Reyes Colonial Headquarters and wait for her father to come out of his lavish office to take her to their new home here on Mars. Risa wasn't safe, because her father's overzealous expansion real near the neutral border really pissed off the Romulans; and Earth was much too heavily bound in red tape for her father's liking.

It was now 1930 hours and like clockwork, Kali's stomach started to growl. As if summoned, the secretary clacked her heels in the teen's direction and gave her a polite business smile. Her name was Susan and Kali had a hankering suspicion that her father only hired her because she was drop dead gorgeous. Her gold hair was brighter than the artificial light.

"I'm sorry Ms. Reyes, but your father's in the middle of a conference call. Would you like me to escort you to the commerce and activate a replicator?"

Kali let the landscape distort and blur behind her eyes as she remained silent. She blinked out of her stupor when the secretary cleared her throat. For some reason, the way she did it made Kali extremely annoyed.

"Piss off."

Maybe she angered the secretary, or maybe the secretary pitied her. Either way, Kali heard those heels click off into the distance and idly enjoyed the sound. The only time anyone noticed she was alive was when she did something outrageous. Maybe if she invested in a pair of expensive high heels too, someone was bound to pay attention to her.

[Kali Reyes]

[Present Day - USS Discovery - Coordinates Redacted]

The personal officers quarters opened with a soft slide. Kali stretched as she made her way across the room. She stumbled a bit, laughed at her clumsiness, and flopped on her bed to struggle and unstrap her bright red heels. Her slinky dress wrinkled as she twisted about.

As she kicked off her heels and unpinned her hair, something beeped mutely from her console, but she was too tired to bother with it. Her feet ached from dancing all night long. She sighed and flopped back, letting the A/C wash over her heated skin.

Her monitor continued to beep. After she tried to stuff a pillow over her head and flip around to avoid it, she gave up and said to the ceiling, "Computer, open all unread messages."

BAMBI's voice chirped. "You have one unread message. Priority one. Location: Tharsis City."

Kali's eyes fell open. She turned her head toward the monitor, the screen bright and ominous in the low light. "Mars...?"

She climbed off the bed and reached for the chair. Interest overtaking exhaustion, she leaned forward to squint at the screen.

"Let's see... hmmm. Phobos and Deimos will dance. The dream is going to end. But will I be there to wake from it? I see... Do you understand?" Kali looked up, mildly irritated. "It's way too late for ridiculous riddles. What ever happened to simple messages like, 'how are you?'"

Just as she was about to turn off the monitor, the computer chimed again. She sat back with mild curiosity as the second message was now a mess of codes, but a simple glance over revealed a matrix of coordinates followed by an end message:

His blue eyes will wake me from this dream.

Kali's eyes widened, followed by a delighted gasp. "BAMBI, compile a message to Captain Tekin."

"Recording."

"When you get this message, I'll be halfway to Mars," she said recited, "Don't wait up! Just keep the engine hot."

[Kali Reyes]

[Ten Years Ago - Reyes Corporate Building - Tharsis City, Mars]

Another day of waiting. Kali curled up on the chair to fight the A/C. The warm colors of Mars' terrain from behind was enticing her to escape outside. The clientele was thinning from the ground floor up to the fourth loft where the windows ended its reach. But just as the sun was nothing more than a sliver in the horizon, a woman clad in science blues took a seat next to her.

Like the assistant, Kali ignored her too, until...

"We don't see many kids here."

Kali scrunched her nose adorably. "I'm not a kid."

"Of course you're not," the woman said apologetically. "But the way you have your legs up like that reminds me of when I was your age."

That made Kali unfurl her legs off the chair and properly lock eyes with the woman. She looked young and pretty, but had lovely brown curls in an old fashioned kind of way that framed her shoulders. What was really stunning was the bright shiny lip gloss that accentuated her dark complexion.

And she was smiling. She had Vulcan ears but she was smiling. Kali had never met a Vulcan who smiled before.

"Do they let you do your own makeup in Starfleet?" Kali asked callously.

"I beg your pardon?"

She sat up fully now, her attention ensorcelled. "You look more like a debutante than any science officer I've seen."

The woman laughed, but not in a deprecating way. It was a ringing, genuine laugh of a woman that spoke of confidence.

"Beauty isn't a sin," she answered, still smiling. "Everyone should try to be as beautiful on the outside as much as they are on they are on the inside."

Feeling a bit self-conscious, Kali soberly asked, "What if you're ugly on the inside?"

The woman paused so she could scrutinize the teenage girl. "Do you think you're ugly?"

"I don't know what I am."

She didn't even know the woman's name. It kind of bothered Kali that she was engaging in this weird conversation with some random scientist that could have been just another face in the crowd. But the way the woman watched her with such earnest made the sunset feel special.

"You should let your hair down," the woman said suddenly. "And your eyes are exceptionally pretty. Such a lovely shade of brown. Eyeliner will make them pop out." When Kali made a confused face, she elaborated. "You don't know what you are. That's what you said, right? You said you're ugly on the inside. Don't let anyone see that. In fact, you should make yourself as pretty as possible. That way, no one can call you ugly."

Her words made Kali's eyes widen. It was the first bit of advice she took seriously from then on. The minutes trickled on as they both fell silent, but eventually Kali learned of this woman's name, and then the days after that they always met in the same place, at the same time.

[Kali Reyes]

[Present Day - Tharsis City, Mars]

The shuttle was cramped and filled to the max of occupants, but Kali made it work by carrying a pair of headphones and sitting as close as possible to her window seat. She drifted off for most of the ride with the cool press of the window against her temple. The soft technobop protected her from the old lady who kept rattling on about her grandchildrens' accomplishments without realizing that Kali had headphones on.

The Captain's PA system opened her eyes.

"We are now approaching Mars' upper atmosphere. ETA to Tharsis City is ten minutes. All passengers and personnel please strap in for descent."

Kali just barely caught the second space gave way to Mars' terraformed atmosphere; flames licked past her window as the shuttle started to shake. He last time she had stepped foot on Mars was ten years ago. It was kind of daunting.

"I'm entering a dream I can't wake up from," she murmured absently.

The old lady next to her replied, "I've got a hypo for that, honey!"

Kali made a face at her for the rest of the ride. It was almost stuck permanently long after they landed, but her expression lit up when she found a middle-aged woman waiting near the departure gate beside a man holding a sign that said Reyes Colonial.

"I was hoping to go off the grid during my visit," Kali said by way of greeting. The man squinted at her and then scrambled to attention. She dragged her gaze over to the well-dressed woman. "Wow, you're still alive?"

"Charming as ever," Susan replied dourly. She still had her golden hair up in a tight bun, though it was now tinged with grey. She used to be her father's PA, but now she was reluctantly Kali's. "I take it you're finally taking your chairwoman status seriously?"

Kali threw her bag at the guy and headed for the ground shuttles. "Not a chance."

The personal shuttle's interior was temperature assisted leather. It was way better than public transport. People occasionally tried to peer through the tinted windows as they weaved through traffic.

Susan primly sat opposite of Kali, her attire much more appropriate on the expensive seats than Kali's civilian jeans. "If you're not here to run the company, why did you come back?"

"My past has finally caught up with me," Kali replied wryly. "Call me nostalgic, but I want find out how it ends."

The chauffeur raised an eyebrow at her over the rear viewfinder.

[Kali Reyes]

[Ten Years Ago - Reyes Corporate Building - Tharsis City, Mars]

"So, if you're a science officer on the Tupsimati, why are you here?" Kali had asked several days later. This time there was a tray of take out pizza on the glass table because she was sick of eating in the windowless commerce, and the Mars skyline was always comforting.

The woman wiped her hands with a napkin. "Your father owes me a favor. I'm taking advantage of that."

"And what's that?"

"There was an accident," she said quietly. The way she held herself still was something Kali desperately wanted to emulate. She was just simply the perfect woman. "Someone I care about was in the middle of it. Your father offered his R&D lab to store his cryogenic pod until he got better."

"You could've just have gone to any major hospital for that," Kali pointed out. "There's dozens of cryogenic labs on this hemisphere alone."

Her smile turned sad. "His injuries are too extensive. The Captain said he was better off fitted for a pine box than a cryopod. So I left the Tupsimati and took him with me."

"You threw your career away just for one guy?" Kali shook her head in disbelief. "And you're just going to sit by his bedside for God knows how long?"

She nodded and glanced over at the windows. "I know. It's strange. But, I can't explain. His life, everything he is, is more precious than anything else I've done. He's just... a beautiful man. Inside and out."

Kali could only watch with rapt interest as the woman fell into a deep trance recalling this man - who was no more than a slab of meat in a fancy pod.

"And his eyes. They were so blue. It was like my life was nothing more than a dream before I've looked into them. Cool, clear water. I'm awake from an endless sleep. There was nothing like it."

The imagery of her words and the soft awe was almost too much for Kali. She couldn't process any explanation for it except: "Sounds like a fairy tale."

"I suppose it does," she laughed. It was very melodic, soothing. "He is a fairy tale. A true sleeping prince."

Kali's heart ached. "Is it love?"

She stopped staring off to smile at Kali. "It was... something. I'm not sure. In that moment - I was alive. Everything was alive." She leaned back in her seat. "That's why I take care of him everyday. And when he's ready to wake, I'll place a tender kiss upon his lips and the first thing his eyes will find are mine. Do you understand, Kali? Do you?"

"That sounds so sappy," Kali laughed. "But I bet he'll enjoy that!"

[Kali Reyes]

[Present Day - Reyes Corporate Building]

"Hello Nathan."

Kali's exotic complexion was mirrored in blue. Beyond the glass, she peered at the man slumbering peacefully in the cryopod. Ten years had passed and he hadn't aged a day. She spent a good half hour convincing with the physician in charge, Dr. Heinrich, just to see the pod and its current condition.

"He looks better than the last time I saw him," Kali mused, sliding a palm down the glass. "He was nothing more than pieces of meat."

"Medical science has improved since," Dr. Heinrich replied, his accent hampered by his outrageous mustache. "Rapid regeneration stims, atom stabilizers, neural construction energizers..."

Kali rubbed the back of her neck and sighed happily. "I wonder if he's ready to wake up yet."

"Whether he's ready or not, the board will turn off the pod in four days," Susan said, showing her the PADD. "They decided that the agreement between Dr. Amele Lester and your father is not RCI's monetary responsibility with his passing."

Kali read the fancy words with pure dispassion. "Latinum-pinching bastards." She lowered the tablet, then stopped. "Wait, this agreement was implemented four years ago. That's pretty generous."

Dr. Heinrich shared a look with Susan before replying, "Generous? It's a downright travesty!"

Kali pinched her eyebrows together, so Susan added, "Dr. Lester has been paying for the pod's continued care for the last few years. But she missed the last few months so the board is pushing for the pod's suspension."

On what salary? Kali wondered. Amele was full time obsessed with Nathan's recovery, sometimes without a wink of sleep. Her devotion was something that endeared and horrified Kali. "So where is she?"

Heinrich shrugged. "0400 hours she would come down and leave by 2300. No breaks, no reprieve. One day she did not come. Not the day after that, nor the next."

"We contacted Tharsis PD after the third day," Susan added grimly. "Her guest quarters were untouched. The police had no leads. She was just... gone."

Kali absorbed the information while looking at the pod. "Will he be able to live outside the pod?"

Dr. Heinrich joined her, rubbing his jaw in thought. "Perhaps. His vitals are consistently stable. I give it an 95% chance so long as we don't do anything unnecessary. He's missing the last regenerative serum strain. Dr. Lester was the only one to administer it. If you find her, we can successfully wake him up."

Kali bodily stretched like this was a minor inconvenience. "Okie-dokie."

"Okie-dokie?" Susan repeated in disbelief.

She winked at her. "Mhmmm. Sleeping Handsome is going to wake up soon. Can't have a fairytale ending without Princess Charming's true love's kiss."

Susan was hot on her heels for the door. "You think you can find Dr. Lester? We've exhausted every avenue at our disposal!"

Kali stepped into the turbolift and turned around for a final parting. "I've got a trick or two up my sleeve. I'll call you if I ever need something fancy to pick me up."

"Ms. Reyes-"

The doors slid shut on Susan. Kali folded her arms and leaned against the wall as the lift descended and she contemplated the overhead lights.

She wondered about Amele and how she felt the second the shareholders board came down on her head. But Amele was nothing if not determined. And since Kali had spent a decade trying to be like Amele, she thought she had an edge in her disappearance.

Desperately broke and under a time limit, what would Kali do for love?

She audibly scoffed and exited the turbolift. "As if." Everyone she loved just left her. No, this was curiosity. A conclusion ten years in the making.

"I wonder if you'll finally wake up from this dream, Dr. Lester," Kali mused. "I guess there's only one way to find out."

[Kali Reyes]

[Tharsis City - Luxscious Condominiums]

After scaring the hell out of the Andorian butler, Kali was lounged comfortably on her large, sprawling childhood bed and surrounded by deconstructed toys and ship part schematics of her own design. Her dad ignored all of it, so she simply stopped inventing and traded her wrench for a bottle of Romulan ale.

Kali suckled on a slice of Talaxian fruit while the computer on her lap finished compiling Tharsis PD's missing person reports. There was over a hundred thousand to go through. Mars may be the industry capital of the Sol System, but it also attracted a lot of bad eggs. It was an endless desert; that meant a lot of holes to dig.

She hummed in approval at the endless beeps that filled the room; windows soon popped all over her screen. "The police did jack with this investigation. As usual." It was only one page long and no interviews. "Wow, this is like incompetently bare. Almost as if they had to."

She started to play with her fingers in thought. "BAMBI, see if you can compile any mention of Amele Lester on the bounty head channels too. Username: Com08per111, Password: w72hju2992ndh."

"Accessing."

"Ah-ha!" More windows popped up. With a mouthful of fruit, she leaned forward. "BAMBI, pop quiz. What do you think is happening here?"

"Concurrent bounties on Dr. Amele Lester ranging from 500k to 750k in latinum."

Kali tapped at the screen. "And issued by three independent loan sharks. Cryse Planitia Consortium, Zephiria Sons Mining Concern, and Syrtis Teamsters."

BAMBI's icon bounced around the screen. "All organizations are geographically separate from each other."

"Well, if I needed to get an entire bank full of latinum, I'd pinch a bit here and there all over Mars too," Kali replied, rubbing her chin. "And they can't collect their funds if the PD has her, so they leaned on the officers to get them to back off. Leave the cops incompetent and let the underground deal with her."

That explained how Amele managed to pay off the cryopod's fees the last few years. "But she's in the city at least," Kali resolved, remembering the messages prior. "And that's a good place to start."

"Boss?"

Kali climbed off her bed and approached the bedroom windows. Tharsis City's skyscrapers blinked prettily against the night sky. Phobos and Deimos hung just beyond the large Federation landmark that towered above all else.

"Phobos and Deimos will dance," she recalled irritably. "You always did have an annoying flair for drama."

[Kali Reyes]

[Ten Years Ago - Reyes Corporate Building]

"Kali, I'd like you to meet Nathan." Amele gestured to the cryopod. "Nathan, this is Kali. The one I've been telling you about."

Nathan said nothing back. He slumbered on in stasis, completely dead to the world. The pod was located in one of the miscellaneous back rooms in R&D, purposefully hidden from prying eyes. Kali walked over, stood on her tiptoes, and surveyed the viewport where only his head could be seen.

Half of his face looked like it was blown off.

"I can see why your Captain wanted him in a pine box instead," Kali teased lightly, then smiled shyly into the window. "Hello Nathan."

She could feel Amele beam happily from behind.

"He's beautiful, isn't he?" she asked dreamily.

Kali squinched her face in disagreement, but to be fair, the other side of his face looked reasonably handsome. And as the tissue regeneration regimen slowly and surely worked its way through him, it was only a matter of time before he was ready to pop out all good as new.

"He used to be a security officer," Amele continued, uncaring of Kali's silence. "He could cut through a mob like butter. There was no engagement he couldn't handle. He was Starfleet's elite back in the day."

"Ten bars of latinum that he was in special forces. SEALs?"

Amele beamed at her. "Rapid Response Team. He valued rescuing life over inviting death. His younger brother was Special Ops."

"And you?"

She didn't even try to play dumb. "Maybe I dabbled in a bit of secret research... only the best were invited to these special groups."

"Not surprised. You Starfleet types keep butting into this office like you own the place. Which you don't," Kali sniffed.

"That's because your father welcomes them."

And it was true. Caleb Reyes was Starfleet's darling benefactor. He always went to officer galas or roped in as a consultant for starbase projects. Kali had a burning hatred for Starfleet. Her father had no problem trading her off for a Starfleet pillow fight when he had a chance.

Sometimes when her father pushed for overtime, Kali would find herself in the cryo room with Amele and listen to stories about Mr. Comatose. Like how he was kind and gentlemanly, but start swearing like a Brooklyn sailor during baseball games. Or how he had a collection of antique baseball caps in his quarters and fervently believed hot dogs was a perfectly good substitute for breakfast.

Sometimes it felt like she was on some weird date with Nathan's cold corpse looming behind while Amele played translator. Kali never realized it until much later in her life, but Amele always talked about Nathan. She never said anything personal about herself. Her life just seemed so intertwined with Nathan's that Kali simply never questioned it.

When most of her day was spent with Amele, she sometimes dreamed of Nathan finally opening his eyes, but every time she tried to get a close look at the shade of blue she would wake up in her bedroom disappointed.

[Kali Reyes]

[Present Day - Alien Spittoon and Bar]

There was an old quick stop on the outskirts of Tharsis City that doubled as a makeshift bar. Tourists tend to avoid it because it was always filled with unsavory characters, convicted felons snubbed out of jobs, and seedy drunkards alike. They also skimmed the surface of the corruption beneath the shiny buildings of the city, like initiated small fish and corrupted police informants looking for a bit of extra dough.

In this case, Kali was looking for bounty hunters. There was no telltale cat whistle when she entered the decadent bar, just annoyed looks and maybe the occasional leer. She ignored the sudden drop in temperature and made a beeline for the bar.

The bartender looked her up and down, but continued to clean his glass. "We don't usually see women around these parts."

Kali slid into a seat and lazily draped herself over the counter. "Aren't I a lucky one?"

"Not even the ones working corners will come in here," he added, dropping hints. "Everyone here's broke, hun."

"What a shame. Fortunately, I'm not looking for clients."

"Oh." The man looked around for a moment, then dropped his voice into a whisper. "Looking to drop your husband the old fashioned way?"

"Might be easier, but no," she whispered back, smiling. "I'm dipping my toes into bounty hunting, actually."

"Is that so?" he raised an eyebrow. "Afraid that kind of business is pretty tight lipped, darling. No respectable hunter's going to tell you any information on heads. If you're going to mess around, you'll need to find an informant."

Kali feigned innocence. "Where can I find one?"

He smiled and said nothing, so she ordered a beer and it was expensive enough that it got him talking again. "See that guy in the back? He's an undercover cop, but give him the right credits and he'll drop a hint or two."

She thanked him and ordered another beer. Dozens of eyes watched her every move as she approached the man from behind. "Hey there." The cop looked up at her greeting. She wiggled a full bottle at him. "Want some company?"

A light rain started up outside which scared off a few patrons. That left Kali relatively alone with Officer Dreinek, who was stout and middle-aged with an impressive beard. The bar light danced above his head as the monorail noisily passed by above them.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

She took the empty seat in their tiny table. "Someone said you're the guy I can talk to about bounty heads."

Dreinek looked unimpressed. "And you think some Starfleet bint can waltz in here and play bounty hunter?" He grew smug at her incredulous expression. "Think I couldn't peg you for Starfleet, girl? Just because you don't have the uniform on doesn't mean you can wash the stink of arrogance off of you."

Kali's eye twitched. "Are you some kind of hog who can sniff out Starfleet truffles?"

"I've been called a pig many times. Rightfully so, even," he replied gruffly. "You Starfleet types have a superior air about you. The best of the Federation tasked with exploring the cosmos and sucker more aliens under the banner. Although..." As he took the offered beer, he caught one of her hands in his. "You've done some frontier work."

"How'd you know that?"

That was when she realized how dark his eyes were. "I can feel the fear here. The blood on fertile land."

Kali snatched her hand back. "Y-you're a Betazed!"

He drank the beer, uncaring of the invasion of privacy. "Makes my job more easy, don't you think? Now..." His gaze was piercing. "What do you want?"

She slid a picture across the table. "I need information on this bounty. Her name's Dr. Amele Lester."

Something fearful flickered in his eyes at the mention of her name. Nonetheless, Dreinek absorbed the picture for a long moment. "She's quite stunning. A real, classic lady."

"One that you would find in old vids," she agreed. "She went missing two weeks after the bounty was issued, but Tharsis PD didn't do much investigating in the matter."

"If her bounty was up prior to her disappearance, I'm not surprised. The police would get paid a lot more turning her in themselves."

Kali leaned forward. "But the bounty is still up. Which means no one has found her. And she's worth nothing if she's dead."

Dreinek pulled out a cigarette and lit up, inhaling deeply. "There are smaller fries for you to sink your teeth in, Ms. Novice Hunter. Why push for her?"

"It's personal."

He exhaled over her head. "It always is." After another beat, he added. "I may have some information. It'll cost you though."

"How much?"

"A night of your time."

Kali seriously checked her watch. "I don't have time for that. Can't you just beg for latinum like a good boy?"

"It's not every day a woman asks for my brand of information."

"I don't think your wife would agree with that sentiment," she said smugly, watching the Betazed startle for once.

"How are you...?"

"You can piss about in a seedy bar all day, but there's nothing in this quadrant that can mask cheap housewife perfume," she grinned. "I guess we just have our own brand of truffles that we look out for."

Unbeknownst to them, there was a reason why most of the savvy patrons quickly dispersed. Outside the bar and into the rain stepped a group of men covered in black hoods. They took point around the area and loaded their weapons.

Just as Kali slid over a card filled with a thousand bars of latinum across the table, Dreinek suddenly raised his head and stared at the door like some kind of prey on alert.

Kali blinked at him and then followed his gaze. Even the bartender was nowhere to be found. "Hey, who shooed out the clowns?" She made a sound of surprise as Dreinek suddenly surged forward and pulled her over the table he kicked out for cover.

"GET DOWN!"

A split second later, the bar was alight with strange shots. Glasses were being shattered left and right and the wood splintered from the spray of bullets without rhyme or reason to it. Dreinek had her almost pressed straight into the floor with only a crappy wood table to protect them from the gunfire.

"What the hell is going on?!" Kali shouted over the firefight, covering her head.

Dreinek pulled out a phaser and began shooting at the windows. "You asked the wrong questions!"

Kali swore loudly, but didn't have time to fish out her own phaser. Dreinek grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her over the bar to make a break for the backroom. They bypassed the bartender, who was already pulling the trapdoor over his head to avoid confrontation.

The gunshots muted as they tripped over garbage cans in the back alley, but they weren't out of danger yet. He pulled her northwards towards a docking area where old fashioned fishing ships were swaying against the artificial sea.

Just as the pursuing men could be heard crashing about the cans in the alleyway, Dreinek pulled her hard around the corner just in time for a bullet to whiz past her head.

"What are they shooting at us with?!" Kali complained.

"Kinetic bullets from the 21st century!" Dreinek huffed. "Try not to get hit with one! Can you swim?"

Kali sputtered. "What kind of stupid question is - AAAHHHH!"

She never got hit with one, but the second he tossed them both over the dock, Dreinek made a strangled sound of pain before they were submerged in nasty Martian water.

Their pursuers stopped short on the pier but they wasted no time unloading their magazines into the bubbles. They finally stopped when a fancy vehicle drifted from behind. The chauffeur opened the door and a male stepped out, his clothing a mix of Martian and traditional Vulcan design.

His words were clinical. "Are the targets destroyed?"

One man sputtered for an answer, but his leader ignored him. Upon close inspection, the man had pointed ears and sharp eyebrows. He stepped near the edge of the pier and peered over into the water where the bubbles finally ceased.

"Recover the bodies," he said at last, turning away for his car. "Leave nothing behind."

It was night and it was raining. There was no light beneath the surface save for the occasional submersible pod piloted by junk scientists. While Kali didn't have a chance to properly hold her breath when they jumped off port, she was a natural dealing with violent Risian tides and the waters right now barely did little to push her about.

She drifted a bit before realizing she was alone. Panicking, she searched about for Dreinek who may have been injured on the way down. That was when more of those strange bullets started zooming past her, causing bubbles as they glided through the water. As if in slow motion and one hell of a blind luck, one of the submersible lights gleamed off one of the copper bullets.

The light also showed Dreinek sinking just below her until he bumped delicately on the floor, which thankfully wasn't as deep as she thought. With what little air she had left, she kicked off, pulled him up by the armpits, and swam as desperately as she could for the surface.

[Kali Reyes]

[Ten Years Ago - Tharsis City Skyway]

Puzzled and a bit frustrated, Kali held up the glass ball of water to the light, which fit snugly in her palm. Inside was a tiny model of a very familiar city. Glowing bits swam around it whenever she shook the ball. "This sucks."

Her father sat across from her as they were driving through one of the traffic tunnels across downtown. He pinched his lips, but never looked her in the eye. His PADD was always more interesting to him than his own daughter. Kali was sure of it.

They were dressed to impress today in his snazzy, expensive suit and her prim and proper dress. They were going to another Starfleet symposium that Kali begged and screamed to join in on. It wasn't any old symposium - it was the Engineering of Tomorrow - and that meant every prototype and top-of-the-line ideas were going to be showcased.

Caleb almost refused, but her godfather had the final word about it. Grey smirked beside her under the tunnel lights. "Don't make fun of your dad's present."

"He got me a snowglobe," she whined. "And it's not even an interesting snowglobe - it's freaking Tharsis City! We LIVE in Tharsis City!"

"I'm right here, you know," Caleb said dryly over the stock numbers. "It's simple and elegant and you can't take it apart without destroying it. Hopefully it'll last longer than the other things I bought you."

Kali huffed and stretched her legs out across the car until her heels could kick at the cushion next to him. He quickly nudged her pumps off.

"I bet you just grabbed the first thing you saw at a gift store," she accused.

Grey pretended that the tunnel lights blinking out of the window was of great interest to him. "Looks like it might rain today," he said casually.

The argument nipped in the bud quickly as both Caleb and his daughter started to gripe about the rain messing up their outfits that made Grey genuinely smile.

"Nathan loves the rain," Kali said randomly, almost subconsciously, which made both men still. "Sometimes he'll just go for his daily job without an umbrella and come back looking like a drowned rat."

Caleb lowered his PADD at last, the conversation taking a sudden dip in temperature. "Nathan?"

"The guy in the fridge?" she replied with a shrug. "Amele always talks about him. You know, that Starfleet officer in R&D you let her rent."

To her confusion, both men looked at each other. Even Grey's smile slipped away. That usually meant serious business. "You've met Dr. Lester?" Grey asked carefully.

Kali's shoulders raised up in defense. She was not enjoying the sudden interrogation. "So what?"

But Grey addressed her father instead. "I'll have a talk with her."

"What's wrong with that?" she demanded. "Hey! Don't you do that thing!" Whenever Caleb and Grey spoke with this air of tension, no one else in the vicinity mattered. Her words met nothing but empty space.

But then her father completely looked at her, catching her off-guard. "I know you're incapable of listening to a damn thing I say, so I'm just going to skip to the end. It's best if we have you finish your studies in Memory Alpha."

Kali wasn't sure what the hell just happened, so she could only gape like a fish at him. "W-what?"

"We were planning this for some time," Grey added gravely. "You've already outclassed your peers here on Mars. Memory Alpha is already interested in your paper on anti-personnel polaron cannons."

"But what does this have to do with Amele?" Kali asked desperately. "What did I do wrong?"

Caleb cut in. "You're already a distraction on her work if she's telling stories. I suggest you forget about Dr. Lester and start packing after the symposium."

Kali clutched the snowglobe hard in her hands, threatening the structure's integrity in the process. "You want me out of the way," she asked quietly as the car rolled to a stop. "Fine. It's no different than the all-girls school. Or the private school halfway around Mars."

"Kali..." Grey began gently.

"I'm just a pest you're stuck with," she continued brokenly. The glass was starting to crack between her fingers. "No matter what I do, you always need a reason to ship me off somewhere. And once I hit eighteen putzing about Memory Alpha you'll just change the locks on everything and pray I'm not stupid enough to come back."

Grey sharply glanced at Caleb, demanding him to say something. But Caleb did nothing but tighten his jaw and stare at the window behind his daughter's head as if that would get his point across.

"You're both ridiculous," Grey said at last. "And your father doesn't hate you, Kali. We're doing what's best for you."

Kali scoffed at Caleb. "You don't hate me, dad? You should. Because I hate you." She tossed the snowglobe at him. "I hate you so much!"

Before the door could even finish opening, Kali bolted out of the car and sprinted up the steps to the symposium.

"Kali!" Grey shouted after her. He was halfway out of the car before he glanced over his shoulder. Caleb remained seated, the cracked snowglobe limp in his hands. "Say something to her!" he snarled.

Caleb said nothing, his jaw as tight as a steel trap.

"Oh, for God's sake!" Grey spat out in exasperation and climbed out.

Water slowly dripped from between Caleb's fingers and onto the expensive carpet.

[Kali Reyes]

[Present Day - Tharsis Pier]

Dreinek stopped breathing twice while she administered CPR a half mile off from where they jumped. Once he coughed up sea water and she hoisted him on the side, Kali picked apart the seaweed from her water-logged communicator and called Susan.

"Susan Biel," said a sleepy voice.

Kali idly sat back and watched a sliver of violet light break out past the horizon. "Remember when I said I'd call for a pickup?"

"God help me."

A passing boat honked loud as it drifted past. "Is that a boat?" Susan asked incredulously.

"You make for one hell of a gumshoe, Susan," Kali replied smugly. Then as an afterthought added, "And can you wrestle Dr. Heimlich out of the gurney too while you're at it?"

Twenty minutes later, Susan arrived in tow with Dr. Heimlich, who was nursing a giant cup of coffee when they found Kali sitting next to an elderly fisherman and another man who was passed out on a bundle of netting. "I don't have to ask, do I?" Susan greeted meekly.

The fisherman turned and pulled his hat up in welcome. "Don't see many people up at this hour. Don't expect me to entertain you young whippersnappers - my granddaughter here is chatty enough."

"You took too long," Kali accused her. "The old bastard adopted me."

Dr. Heimlich was more interested in the unconscious man nearby. He nudged the body with his boot. "I guess this one is mine?"

Kali raised her 'grandpa's' flask of prune juice. "He's got information, so he's coming with us. Just don't let him bleed out on the upholstery."

She blinked in surprise when Susan draped a coat over her damp, cold shoulders.

[Kali Reyes]

[Reyes Corporate Building - R&D]

Once she was washed and dressed in clean clothes, Kali spent a good hour sitting in the lotus position atop of Nathan's cryopod which was now horizontal in preparation for release. Things were taking a turn for the strange. Why would they be shot at for discussing a simple bounty head? Where was Amele and why now? If she was neck deep in loan sharks, why did she try to contact Kali now instead of earlier when she could have helped pay back the interest?

Earlier in the morning, Kali managed to nab a conference call with the rest of the board to negotiate keeping Nathan's pod alive for a little longer. She nearly fell through the floor in horror when they stipulated that not only would she have to pay the expenses needed to keep the pod going, but also the accumulated interest they kept off of Amele's account out of good faith. And if Kali were to actually pay it, it wasn't coming out of the company's account. It would have to come straight out of her tiny Chief of the Boat pay.

Not even a fleet admiral had the pay grade for such an exorbitant amount of money.

"You're girlfriend's gone AWOL and I'm hitting a wall here," she told Nathan, folding her arms. "Do you have any idea where she is?"

He just slumbered on without a care in the world.

While Dr. Heimlich bumbled and bickered that he had a PhD in cryogeny and not actual medicine, Susan visited with a tray of hot soup and set it on the table.

"You remind me of him."

Kali stopped glaring at the pod. "What?"

"Your father. When you tense up your jaw like that it reminds me of him," Susan said primly. "He was a man of action too. And a wiseass. He always wanted the last word. Does that sound familiar?"

Her expression soured quick. "If this is your way of being nice, I'd hate to see what you do to your enemies."

Susan shook her head. "Are you hungry, Ms. Reyes?"

"It's funny. After a brush with death, I don't have much of an appetite." Kali turned her attention back to the pod. "I'm ravenous for answers, though. How's my unlucky informant?"

"Dr. Heimlich fished what he called a 'bullet' out of your guy's shoulder," Susan replied. "It's all bent up from the impact, so we can't read where it's from. He's stable for now, which is nice. The press would have a field day if they found out a PD officer flat lined on the premises."

"Is he awake?"

"Not yet."

Kali exhaled out her nose and tapped her forearm. "I remember dad being so uppity when I talked about Amele," she recalled softly and unfolded her legs. "I wonder if he's hiding something."

Susan took a step back so Kali can hop off the pod. "You're going to rummage through his office?"

"I'm sure he won't mind. Or he would. He'll have to crawl out of his grave to stop me." Sure enough, Susan quickly followed after her, her steps more frantic than usual. Maybe to stop Kali from desecrating a dead man's personal belongings? She didn't care.

Upon the top floor which could only be accessed by a key card, they found themselves on plush carpet and a grand office that was probably bigger than the engine room aboard the Discovery. Kali had only visited the place once when she was thirteen and everything was newly installed. Now it was all dusty and foreboding.

Sitting on the mantelpiece above the fireplace was a cracked snowglobe of Tharsis City. Kali looked at it longer than necessary, her expression uncharacteristically closed.

Susan glanced at it once and continued walking. "Never knew why he never wanted it fixed. Must be an eccentric genius thing."

"Yeah..." Kali replied slowly, turning away. "Guess so."

Rummaging through the rest of the study for a good part of the hour didn't yield much for them. Kali spent another half hour triggering the lock open in the safe behind a reproduced painting of Alphonse Mucha's Evening Reverie while Susan fretted over it.

Bam! The safe swung open in defeat, revealing every thief's worst nightmare - junk. Susan reached in and pulled out an old communicator that looked mangled with extra parts like some kind of Frankenstein's monster.

Kali plucked it out of her hands and examined it. "I modified this when I was five! The old bastard hoarded all of my inventions and probably didn't credit me for it!"

Susan pinched her lips. "I don't think that's what he did." There were things in the safe that seemed worthless to anyone else, but the more Kali pulled out object after object, the more annoyed she got, which Susan was baffled by.

"Is it really impossible to believe that a father would keep things his child made?"

"Absolutely," Kali said. "My old man wasn't sentimental, Susan. He didn't have time for it. And he didn't have time for..." The sentence hung to oblivion, but Susan gandered the rest from the flash of anguish in Kali's eyes. She tossed the knickknack back into the safe. "I don't have time to examine trash."

There was a thick folder of some sort underneath the inventions. Kali busied herself by grabbing it and crashing on the giant plush chair at his desk, kicking up a bit of dust in the process. Susan organized the rest of the safe with strange reverence before closing the painting back over it.

What Kali found took her breath away. All of it was just pictures made the old-fashioned way and not all of it were professionally done. There was a picture of Grey wrapped up in tactical desert gear and pressed back against what looked like a foxhole, his mouth a thin-lipped smile. He looked very young and very handsome despite the mud caked on his cheek and temple.

Another picture was of Grey and her father shaking hands, and many other pictures of people that Kali didn't recognize at all. Halfway through the album, she found a group picture of her father and a gaggle of scientists in front of what looked like an ancient transwarp collider. Amele stood at the far left, almost out of the shot completely, unsmiling. Nathan smiled for her it seemed, as he had a hand on her shoulder as if to keep her from walking off.

It was a pretty bizarre.

"Hmm..." Susan said, peering over her shoulder. "She looks like a typical Vulcan here, doesn't she?"

"She was never like that when I knew her," Kali recounted. "She never stopped smiling."

Susan hummed again. "Maybe this was before she fell in love with Nathan? I'd never stop smiling either with a catch like that."

Kali wished the picture wasn't in black and white. She wanted to see if the blueness of his eyes was truly remarkable. Just as she started to fold the picture into quarters to put away, there was handwritten text on the back.

Callisto Station - Stardate 47828.62

"Jackpot!"

[Kali Reyes]

[R&D, Cont.]

"Callisto Station used to be a port for the transfer of superconductive aluminum in the 2200's," Susan recited behind her laptop, wincing as she sipped cooled tea. "They stripped the facility in 2375 after the mines were depleted."

"What a load of crock," Kali replied, though most of her attention was focused on poking at Dreinek with a tongue depressor just for kicks. He groaned weakly and tried to wave her away. "That thing had a collider in the photo. You don't need that kind of heavy tech in a mining port."

Susan closed her laptop. "Alright, smarty pants, what do you think it was?"

"Something big," she said, staring thoughtfully at the wall past Dreinek. "Something no one was supposed to know."

Dreinek started to twitch and steal everyone's attention. "Where am I?" he groused.

"Reyes Industries R&D," Kali answered. "You owe me, by the way. I could've let you drown with the Martian Snappers."

"We're already dead," he coughed. "There's only one syndicate that uses cowboy bullets like that."

Kali showed him the bent bullet. "Yeah. I already know." As he gaped at her, she continued. "Saw one of the bullets underwater. GH-25 right on the belly. It's traced back to a tiny antique shop that specializes in old firearms. A little cross referencing here and there and bulks of this stuff is sold monthly to Pohshautra Unlimited; a Vulcan-owned corporation locked in a gentrifying turf war with the Jackals. And if you read your standard tourist pamphlets, there's only one gang the Jackals are losing ground to."

Dreinek chuckled before devolving into a harsh cough. "The Metus Corvus Syndicate. I underestimated you."

"Don't give me too much credit. Did a little digging with your access pass, I hope you don't mind." That made Dreinek fall into another painful fit of laughter. She pulled his oxygen mask off. "Pohshautra's been killing off any hunters who ask about Dr. Lester. I need to know why."

He sighed. "You can pay me a hundred thousand bars, but I ain't got an answer for that. A few regulars just disappeared a few days after the bounties went out. The rest got spooked after that. Sayin' that name is inviting the boogeyman as far as I'm concerned."

"You were pretty eager when I gave you enough to splurge on the misses - or a cargo crate full of hooch," Kali said wryly. "Why change your mind now and risk invoking the so-called boogeyman?"

Dreinek smiled bitterly. "You said it was personal. I'm obnoxiously curious. Probably why I'm more of an informant than a cop. Tharsis City is a slum hole if you go as much as ten feet below the skyscrapers. All the glitz and glamour above is held up by the hands of the working man. And from the working man comes the poverty and crime."

"I don't have the time to hear your cheap noir dialogue old man," Kali said brusquely. "I've got a frozen officer in the next room. And the first thing he's going to see is the lady who saved his life. If you've got nothing to help me find Dr. Lester, I'm having Susan chuck you out the nearest rat hole."

He exhaled out of his nose. "The only thing I can give you is Tharsis PD's side of this whole mess. Pohshautra's chairman personally paid off the Sergeant in charge of the investigation with enough latinum to retire in comfort. Then it trickled down from the detectives all the way to the intern in forensics. Whatever happened to your woman, that Vulcan bastard cleaned up shop really well."

Kali rubbed her palms nervously on her jeans and stood up. "Thanks."

"Were you really going to make me trash him?" Susan asked as they left the room.

"You heard the guy. We're as good as dead," Kali said calmly. "The Corvus punks are going to come up empty of bodies dragging out the sea. Nothing but seaweed and a toilet seat. Might as well save the gas and have him keep Mr. Heinrich company."

Susan pinched her lips. "You could be a bit nicer. The poor guy's injured."

"I need you to book a lunch date for me," Kali replied, ignoring her. "Invite the majority shareholder of Pohshautra Unlimited."

"You can't be serious," Susan complained. "After he tried to kill you last night?! He'll finish the job right then and there!"

Kali wandered over to the tall windows overlooking the Martian horizon, her hands on her hips. She started to gnaw at the inside of her cheek. "You heard Dreinek. Tharsis City is a shiny  garnish on top of a dinner course of slop. If you don't want to upset your customers, you never give the garnish away. That's the secret."

"I'm definitely not following you here," she replied with flat confusion.

"Sekret isn't going to shake the boat," Kali clarified. "If he shoots me between the eyes, well, he'll have the entire Federation glancing twice on Mars. And no one up top wants that."

"You're really banking your life on a hunch?"

Kali placed her hands consolingly on Susan's shoulders. "Honey, I'm a Starfleet officer. Existential threats usually happens after breakfast!"

[Kali Reyes]

[Lunae Discordia]

A beautiful piano played softly through the establishment, which was built single-handedly by an artist who dreamed and made it a reality. It was an eye-catching white marble skyscraper, mirror shine floors, and the ceiling lit up in fairy lights crafted by Deltan artisans. And like proper Martian architecture, the windows stretched from the floor to the ceiling, revealing Tharsis City's enriched financial district and the lavish artificial parks floating nearby.

Grey took her here once for her fourteenth birthday. It was the first time she ever felt like a proper princess.

"What a damn shame a Vulcan mobster has to ruin this memory," Kali sighed as she ascended up the lift alone. Her sparkling red dress flowed like water each time the lift stopped on a floor and she had to accommodate other passengers on the way up to the top. By the time the last elderly couple left, she thought the rest of ascension would be comfortably lonely.

Before the doors could properly shut, a hand jutted out and the doors reluctantly gave way. Kali's heart stilled and then rebooted hard in her chest until she was sure a stroke was imminent.

Pohshautra's majority chairman and financial backer of the Metus Corvus Syndicate; the guy who tried to shoot her down in a seedy bar last night: Sekret. Cold dark eyes quickly sucked her in and made it hard to properly breathe.

"Kaliandra Reyes," he greeted, his voice rough and too emotionless even for a Vulcan. "We are both late to our lunch date."

Kali tried to mentally smack herself into a cooldown. If she wasn't on her game today, nothing was going to help her recover. Her smile was shaky, but her best tactic was to just let her infamous mouth do the talking. "You're intimidating."

"Indeed." He crossed the threshold to join her on the way up. "Your invitation is welcomed, but unexpected. The board is not sure why a colonial mogul like Reyes Industries is suddenly interested in urban development."

"I think we should cut the crap," Kali blurted out tightly, her gaze focused on the doors. "We both know why I'm here."

"You have the eloquence of a Tellarite," Sekret observed.

"Why did you try to kill me?"

Any kind of answer was hampered when the lift let out a whimsical ding and the doors opened to reveal the opulate restaurant. Sekret simply offered his arm to her and she had no choice but to take it. They were on the high society playing field now and all eyes were on them.

The maitre d' led them to one of the best views in the house and helped Kali into a chair where a small table and polished silver greeted her. Sekret shook his head at the wine being offered, much to Kali's confusion.

The waiter nodded and meandered over to another table. One of their nouveau riche patrons was quietly urged to take off his baseball hat.

"You no longer touch alcoholic beverages," Sekret reminded, pulling her back. "You haven't for the past six months."

Kali's hands started to shake under the table. "How did you know that?"

"Starfleet personal logs," he answered, folding his hands. "The best unkept secret in the galaxy."

"That's such a cheat," she snipped back. "I was hoping for something more creative like a camera. Or a Starfleet informant."

Sekret exhaled in a way that definitely sounded like a snort. "My time is wasted on such costly endeavors. Not to mention an informant that would take weeks on end to properly send back old intel."

The waiter drifted by to offer them menus and water in crystal clear flutes. Sekret lowered his menu. "Are you cold?"

"No."

"Then why are you shaking?"

Kali stopped grinding her teeth once she realized what she was doing. Her body trembled ever so slightly enough for astute Vulcan eyes to catch. "Maybe because you have that fancy antique firearm aimed at my belly?"

Something akin to amusement flickered quick in his eyes. "You were better off shopping in the Viridian District like a good rich little girl." A subtle bit of movement made him take a drink of his water. "Touche."

Kali's phaser was pointed at his crotch under the table now. "Where are you hiding her?"

"It is impossible to hide that which doesn't exist, Ms. Reyes."

"Please don't give me that bull. If you wanted to blow my mind, you should have done it while I was drunk six months ago."

"Vulcans do not lie," Sekret said simply. "There is no bounty to collect. There is no heartfelt reunion to fight for. All you have done was sign your death warrant."

Kali feigned haughtiness. "You wouldn't dare try anything here!"

That was when Sekret smiled in such an unsettling way that she visibly flinched. "This is not Vulcan, Reyes. We do not have to play by their rules."

Now the guy in the baseball hat was complaining about the stuffy repertoire of the staff. He boisterously stumbled out of his seat and then all of a sudden drew out a phaser from his jacket and aimed it at Kali's head.

For one slow moment, she thought this was it. Sekret's assassin was going to do her in and take the blame in tomorrow's headlines. But the human male's gaze fixated on Sekret instead and he fired.

Sekret threw himself out of his chair and fired back. The whole restaurant exploded in madness as staff and patrons alike vacated the hell out of the way. Kali yelped and fell out of her seat as the table came down on her, silverware and glass shattering on the shiny floor.

The human bodily tackled Sekret and they were off in a vicious struggle for the gun. It fired a few times and a couple of patrons went down as a result. A few more pelted the window closest to them and cracked it, but not enough to completely shatter.

It wasn't long before Sekret pressed the panic button on his watch and the lift was suddenly inoperable thanks to the Corvus men commandeering their way to the top. The human managed to kick the gun out of Sekret's reach just as the lift doors opened and more bullets peeled through Lunae Discordia.

Kali fired a scatter shot set to stun which hit some of the men, but it didn't stop the onslaught. She dived out of the way, then yelped as something sharp hit her right in the ribcage. She pushed her hand against it and came up with blood.

The faux cheery music just kept playing in the background, raising the chorus of women sobbing and horrified screams tempered with the emergency alarms.

Her last thought was that antique guns were horribly barbaric. And then her world shifted along with the harsh sound of shattering glass. The last thing she saw was falling out of the window and the now sullied restaurant of her childhood becoming more and more distant.

[Kali Reyes]

[Ten Years Ago - Lunae Discordia]

"So pretty!" Kali cooed, her hands pressed against the window. She could see all of Tharsis City in its rich splendor and it made her heart flutter.

Grey approached casually from behind to admire the view too. "Did I do good?"

She beamed at him over her shoulder. "You never disappoint! You're the opposite of dad. The best kind of opposite."

"Let's not ruin your birthday with trash talk, babydoll." He grinned and took the offered seat while Kali bounced after him in her swishy white dress. "Do you know you look like a proper lady when you're not elbow deep in starship coolant?"

She pretended to huff. "Well, that's the last time I ever fix your runabout!" That made him chuckle.

"I'll survive."

Their lunch was relatively simple because Grey had other plans in mind. Kali's eyes widened almost impossibly the moment three waiters arrived with trays on trays of sweets, all lovingly delicious and pleasing to the eye. "Oh my God."

He appraised the pastries, a bit unsettled. "This is a lot of dessert."

"Oh. My. God."

The waiter smiled and shrugged. "You asked for the entire dessert menu, Mr. Ryder. This is all that Lunae Discordia has to offer for the lady on her big day. Well, except for one."

"There's more?" Grey said weakly.

Kali could not stop gaping once they brought out a chocolate cake shaped like Olympus Mons (and probably the approximate size to boot). "OH. MY. GOD."

Grey pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't think even a Klingon could finish this."

But Kali, bless her little heart, took the challenge with the same ferocity as her midterms. She scarfed down the truffles and the endless samples of cakes and then armed herself with the biggest spoon she had to tackle Olympus Mons.

"This is definitely not ladylike," Grey observed. "You're going to balloon tomorrow, I'm sure of it."

She paused with a mouthful of cake. "Mfh-you'll still love me in the mfmorning, right?"

Grey's gentle smile would haunt her thoughts for days. "Always."