Worst Nightmare

Posted on Mon Sep 3rd, 2018 @ 5:23pm by Lieutenant Commander Sarah Dufrai

2,136 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: The Return to Faltan
Location: Atuginia - Market District
Timeline: MD07 - 1655

Atuginia city, a city with a lower population than the rest of the Faltan cities. It is considered as one of the lesser common towns for trading and such, but still bigger than Jaifnard. This is mainly due to their production of food with farming, cattle, and fishing. The main river at the side of Atuginia leads directly towards the ocean. Due to this, the land is green and healthy, clean skies however same as Ensign Rona, the arrival was more grim then welcoming. The streets was having a depressing feeling. Sick people at the side of the road and traders looking sad while Red Guards marching through the city as if nothing was going on. Lieutenant Gregory had the work cut out for her, plus there was no sign of Ensign Rona that went ahead and should have arrived early this afternoon.

The city made Charlotte's heart drop. So many sick, so many despondent people here. Worse still, she couldn't see Spider anywhere. 'Where is she?' she thought, carefully driving her wagon up the road, looking for a place she could pull off and set up shop.

A sick woman crawls to the side of Charlotte's wagon "Please help me...I need medicine, do you have any?" Her face had black markings and pale skin as she coughs a few times seeing how weak she was. A Red Guard, however, approached the wagon and with the lower side of the wagon hits the woman in the stomach and pushed her away "Stay away from the wagons you filfth!" The woman crawls crying away as the man looked at Charlotte "You a trader?"

Charlotte frowned when the guard hit the woman and nodded, "I am sir," she smiled at him. "May I set up shop here? I only have a few wares, but I've traveled long today, I need a rest," she gave him a tired, weary look, hoping he fell for her ruse.

Narrowing his eyes at Charlotte and points at the district area with guards at it "That is the safe zone where traders may set their wagon. Have your papers ready for the checkup or you might not enter the area" He looked back at her "Please move along, I got others to deal with" The guard stated a bit irritated as he moved towards the next wagon behind her.

Charlotte didn't respond to the man at all, instead she leaned back a bit and grabbed her papers, then moved her wagon forward to the check point. She held her papers out, giving the guard a brilliant smile. "Hello ma'am, I am a trader, looking to set up shop here for today, if I may."

The female guard took the papers and checked it "Miss Talbot of Crystal Fruits?" She looked at Charlotte a bit skeptical "Never heard of Crystal Fruits before, new business or off-world business?"

"Off-world, ma'am," Charlotte continued to smile. "We travel around selling wares where we can," she explained, but then stopped. She didn't know how much to say to this woman, or what the others would say.

The woman was looking at Charlotte and hums a bit "It's okay! There was another of Crystal Fruits earlier this afternoon" A male guard stated as he checked another trader. The woman looked at her partner and nodded giving the papers back "Park the wagon where you want but within the zone and set up your shop"

"Thank you very much sir, ma'am," she said feeling a wave of relief. Spider had been there, but where was she? Charlotte moved into the designated zone and looked around. She didn't see Spider's wagon anywhere, but she could have parked it off to the side and set up a smaller table somewhere. Hearing a sound of annoyance from behind her, she quickly chose a spot near a wall and parked her wagon. Slowly, she began setting up her shop while keeping an eye on her surroundings.

The area was crowded into the direction of deeper in the safety zone. People were gloomy but still selling their products as if nothing was going on. Thought music was heard from the crowded direction, ahh yes the Festival was still going since this morning. Red Guards, however, were more on edge and patrolling the area.

Charlotte finished setting up her stall and gave a triumphant look at her paltry offerings. She had more but decided it would look better on these people if she had only small trinkets and essentials for sale. She looked to her neighboring stall and gave a small wave. "Hello," she said to the person wearily eyeing her. "What's the music from?" she asked, playing dumb for the umpteenth time in her life.

The man looked back at Charlotte and blinks a bit stunned by the question "Its the Red Moon Festival?" He answers "You are not from around here?"

"No," Charlotte shook her head, making her blonde hair fall about her shoulders. "I'm new," she giggled. "The music is nice, I like to dance," she demonstrated by doing a pirouette. "I just keep traveling around with my company, sometimes I dance, sometimes I sell wares. Today is wares, but I still dance when I can."

"Really..." The man was not really interested in Charlotte dancing as he looked at the customer and gave the item to him "The city might have a festival, but its certainly not a place to party at this current moment with the plague going on and those priests make it not better" The man replied and shrugs at that and let a deep breath go "People are going to die miss, so keep yourself refrain from dancing" He looked at Charlotte.

Charlotte frowned and sat down on her stool. "Sorry, sir, I... I didn't know," she sighed heavily. "Why are the people not getting the medical care they need?"

Looking again at Charlotte "Because this disease is unknown and the Faltan Government is doing what they can to find a cure. These activities are going to help in morale boost or so they say" Selling another item from his stand "Tension is big around here, priest are announced sacrifice will be made tonight for the gods to stop this plague"

"A sacrifice? Wh...what are they going to sacrifice?" Charlotte asked, smiling at a customer come to hesitantly look at her wares. She showed the woman how one of the storage containers worked and bowed slightly when the woman handed her a few coins for the item.

"Five people that were affected by the plague, the first actual," That man said in a bitter tone as he continues his selling "They must please the gods to get a restraint in the disease itself," He said looking at his side towards Charlotte.

Charlotte gasped. "Th...they're...sacrificing... people... how..." she stopped herself from actually saying 'barbaric', not wanting to cause any more offense than she actually had. She started to root around in her wagon, as though looking for another item to set out in place of the storage container. Quickly, she pressed her thumb against her encrypted comm device and typed in "Sacrifice tonight. First 5 plague victims. No cure for plague, supposedly.", chose Dufrai as the recipient and hit send. She then locked out the comm and resurfaced with another storage container. "When is that happening?"

The device gave, however, a soft beep of failure to send the information due some kind of interference in the area "Tonight, it is part of the festival and there is little we can do about it" The man said a bit grim as he gave another bag away while receiving the coins for it "So what brings you here to this place?"

"Travelling through with my company, Crystal Fruits," Charlotte sold the other storage container and sighed heavily. "Our ship needs repairs and we didn't have enough money to buy the parts, so we're selling what we can to hopefully buy them. Then we'll go off in search of other goods. Probably come back to Faltan, the people are so nice here," she smiled broadly.

The man signed with the name "Crystal Fruits?" He looked worried now at Charlotte "Did you by any chance have the other worker send to this place?"

"Yes, one of my friends left the previous location early," she noted the worried look. "Why?"

Scratching the back of his head he looked towards the street seeing a lot of guards walking around "A certain miss Shena has been put into chains for opposing the high priest in the announcement. She is at the Red Guards HQ, she will be put to death tomorrow evening with the remaining people" He shrugs.

"WHAT?" Charlotte dropped the item she was holding and looked at the man, slack-jawed. "Oh no! I have to tell my boss!" She quickly packed up her things, locked her wagon, noted the comm's failure to send the message, and set her defensive system. 'Damn and blast,' she said a few more swear words in her head, then looked around for Dufrai. "Sorry," she said to the man, taking off, hoping she would find Dufrai quickly.

"Wait!" The man said seeing how Charlotte tried to get away as fast as she could "You could try and get an audience with Commandant Sesl, he is the Red Guard leader in this area..." The man said seeing the wagon stop.

"I... I think I met him..." Charlotte walked over to the man. "Can you tell me where I can go to get a meeting with him?"

The calmness made the man on the edge and shrugs a bit "Well.. he is down the street at the large dark yellow building with red flags outside. But so far I know, the girl is in the prison where that ...." He carefully looked around and shrugs as he leans forward to her "Where that bodyguard is..."

Charlotte gulped. "Ooooh... this is not good," she whimpered and made tears form in her eyes. "Not good at all..." she fretted with her hair a moment. "Maybe I can talk to the Commandant... oooh, I hope Shena's ok..." she muttered and looked around. "Uhmm.. thank you, sir, for your help..." She wiped her face and took a deep breath. "I must go now though, I have to talk to that Commandant..." And without another word, she rushed back to the front of her wagon and took off for the yellow building with red flags.

When she saw the building, she parked her wagon a little bit down the road. She wanted it in plain sight for Dufrai, but not for Sesl to see. Then, she went into her wagon and changed her outfit, putting on a plain brown skirt and a thin, silky, pale pink blouse. 'This ought to get his attention,' she thought, leaving the top few buttons undone so the taller man could see down. Then she walked quickly up to the building, putting a distraught look on her face. "Excuse me... guard... can.. can I please talk to the Commandant..." she sniffled and wiped tears from her face. "Please... tell him the Gypsy from The Garden needs to talk to him, urgently!"

The guard looked at her "The Commandant is not taking any audience today" The charms did not work on the guard as he stood there at attention. Time was running out as drums were heard in the distance. At the end of the street at Charlotte right, Red Guards marching at each side and in the middle five chained up and sick looking people were walking in her direction. One of them a mere young girl.

"Please!" Charlotte wailed. "I will stand here and scream if I must," she cried. "Please ask him if he'll see me!" She fretted with her hair, dropping her hand and letting it catch the buttons of her blouse and causing them to pop open to reveal her bra as she did. She let out a squeak of surprise and hurriedly tried to fix her buttons, fumbling and causing her cleavage to become slightly more pronounced. When she finally got the buttons done back up. She looked up to the guards, worry and fear etched on her face, then opened her mouth and took a deep breath as though preparing to scream her lungs out.

The guard shrugs as he leans forward to Charlotte "Ehh...please calm down...I know you are trying to use your female charms here but ma'am I ..."He shrugs "Swing a different way...so don't scream? I will see to it that you get heard. Just ....close that shirt of yours. Its embarrassing, have some dignity" He mutters as he walks inside the building shaking his head.

 

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