Steiner: Every breath you take

Posted on 13 Apr 2022 @ 12:10pm by An-Hank-Atha - Hanks Casino
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 10:42pm

Mission: M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Hank's Casino
Timeline: M3 D03 0315 hrs
1309 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

The Casino closed at two in the morning, after clearing out the last of the customers, tidying up and preparing the place for the morning the staff were ready to leave.

The Aunt’s did a final check around and locked up, An-Hank-Atha saw them out last and secured the front door.

She crossed the gaming floor, tapped a panel at the bottom of the stairs, turning off the lights, tables and slot machines then went upstairs, turning off the upper-level lights before returning to her office.

Sitting at her desk she kicked off her shoes, stretching out her feet and scrunching her toes into the thick rug. She activated her entertainment panel, selecting some old Wadi romantic songs.

Opening a dark inlayed wooden box on the desk she withdrew a light blue tube, she raised it to her lips, then took a small silver contraption from the box, clicked it and lit the cocktail cigarette.

Taking a long pull on it, she sat back in the chair, holding the smoke for a moment before letting it slowly escape through her nose and lips. It was Human habit she’d picked up in the early days on the travelling casino.

She’d heard that once cigarettes had contained addictive toxic carcinogens that caused terminal cancers. Now they were harmless and just provided a mild buzz, which she enjoyed after a long day.

Leaning forward she tapped her desk top panel, brought up the accounts summary and reviewed the take. It had been a good night, even with the fracas and deducting the free drinks and ruined deserts, there was still a healthy profit on the evening.

Satisfied, she closed down her accounting system and got up, picking up her shoes she started for the door that led to her apartment. She had nearly reached the door when there was a buzzing from her desk top communication panel.

She was about to ignore it, but instead, tossing her shoes onto a chair, she padded back to her desk and looked down at the panel, her finger hovering over the accept button. A coldness enfolded her as she recognized the signal carrier, it was one she had not seen in several years. One she had hoped never to see again, but one she knew would always call at some point.

Her finger hung in the air, poised over the accept, she knew she could not ignore it, though the need to do just that was great. But it would only make things worse if she did. She crushed out the cigarette in an ornate ashtray, sat down, took a deep breath and composed herself as best she could, despite the rising trepidation that gripped her.

She tapped the accept button, a small screen flickered to life in the desktop. As expected, there was no image of the caller, just a black screen with a slowly revolving line drawing of a multifaceted gemstone, in a complex Asscher cut style. Nothing else of the caller, but she knew the caller would be receiving images of her.

“I am here” She said quietly

There was a pause “Of course you are”

The voice was male, but light, it spoke with deliberation, a slower cadence, each word carefully pronounced, almost meticulously so. A voice that knew the power of words.

It was a voice that could profess the deepest love and pronounce the most unbearable pain in the same tone. She could still feel the power of it, a voice that had once, and perhaps still, possessed her totally.

“You had a visitor tonight. A lawman” It was not a question, the voice seldom asked questions it did not already know the answer to. Although sometimes it liked to ask questions to which there were never acceptable answers.

“Yes” She replied, not wanting to say the rest of the words, those that were expected, those that were required. Those she knew she would have to say, but not yet. She could delay for a little longer.

“Yes what?”

“Yes, there was a lawman here” She sidestepped the required response, putting off the words, those words, once again.

A pause “Yes what?” Repeated in the same tone, no hint of annoyance. The voice had patience, time and suffering meant little, it knew she would say what was required, as much as she did.

“Yes Master” she said the words, most of them. Unsure now why she had not immediately complied as she inevitably did. Why did she play this game, that was not a game, as she had already lost.

“You are being defiant” A statement again, not an accusation. The voice did not need to accuse, it had the patience to wait for the confession that would always come.

“Yes…” Now she would say the words, pausing to set her tone to the right level, one that would be acceptable.

“Yes .My Master” They were but words, once she had spoken them joyfully, believing them true.

Now they were still true but bitter in her mouth and sounded hollow to her own ears despite her attempts to be sincere. Attempts the voice did not challenge, it did not need to., it knew her soul.

“That is better” The voice said. She felt the old relief, and hated herself for it, even knowing what would follow.

“… but not acceptable. Let us try that again. Take position”

She was moving before she realized, the old responses still so deeply ingrained she could not help herself.

Sliding out of her chair she dropped to her knees, bringing them together, her hands placed on the tops of her thighs and her head bent forward, gaze focused downward, on a spot on the floor a foot ahead of her knees; holding the position, as was required.

The voice left her there for a while, then said “You may answer”

“Yes My Master. There was a lawman here. A Federation Marshal, Steiner, he is the new Assistant Chief of Security for the station” she said, accepting, now that she was on her knees, in position, that compliance was the only acceptable response and hating herself more for not having the courage to disobey

“You will explain what occurred” The voice instructed “In detail”

She did so, aware that everything she recounted was probably already known, it was test, as it always was. A test that could be failed even if passed.

“When your two pets removed the Markalians, did they injure them?”

“No, My Master. They were hurt in the fight with Steiner” Fear now for Doris and Edith, fear they would be taken from her as once others had been taken before. She felt the memories of horrors stir.

No, she would not think of that now. Not now, but later the tears would be there again.

“That is fortunate. The Markalians are employed by an associate of mine. You will recall that some of my associates are not as forgiving of transgressions as I am.

You do recall some of my associates don’t you?

Some of them still ask after you. They wonder if you will come to play again. Would you like that?”

The test continued “As you chose My Master” The answer, the only answer, was easy; the consequences would not be.

“Of course. We shall see…

For now, my associates have a certain interest in this lawman. You will continue as before, until I have further instructions for you”

“Yes, My Master” As in the past, there was no other answer.

“Good. I have missed you. I will be watching” As he always was.

There was a hiss as the connection dropped.

She remained where she was, kneeling on the floor, not moving. The tears came, slowly at first, then more, she started to shake, rolling on to her side, curling up, sobbing.