Hecate Station lays at the passage of the Grim Wall. A natural phenomenon of a planet collision that formed a dense line of asteroids stretching downwards making a natural border between Federation and Klingon space. Its a strategic location both in trading, defense and border control.

The transition into the new station was anything but smooth. Both the crew of the Mariner and remnants of the Tokyo arrived at Hecate Station and be welcomed in a warm blanket of kindness. But nothing was further away from the truth than what they had to endure. Logistics were a disaster, from assignments of personnel to resources allocated to unknown places. The previous commander had a tight grip on Starfleet personnel and its resources after the events of Frontier Day made him, to say it lightly, paranoid.

Sazra and Silina, the two captains of the newly formed Hecate Squadron, have had a brief taste of the bitter working environment that they now have to call home. K’Nala and Domam are making their patrol to get familiar with the station, the two have only worked briefly with each other on the previous two missions at Mariner.

Taking a deep breath, K’ Nala looked around the shopping district and see led lights, advertisements and deals being made on the path. “It is much morrre worrrse then I presumed.”  She kept her voice a bit quiet, her newly assigned position as First Officer was the biggest honor one could receive. However the weight of this place was getting heavier on her shoulders by the second.

“Indeed it is…” Domam said seeing some sick people at some darker places where they would be left alone. “Captain Kobahl was not joking about the condition of this base. The previous Commanding Officer seemed to put his priories in micromanaging everything”  They continued walking down the path and while Domam instinct wanted to stop some open dealing, he knew he would be quickly outnumbered and a proper approach of this problem.

Shaking her head “No, the previous commanderrr was morrre focus on its own forces and resourrrces then carrre forrr the people around them. It is the whole reason that the station is even in this condition right now” K’Nala pointed out while they walked as her Caitian sense spiked and out of reflection she grabbed something at her side and looked at it seeing a child pulling.

“Let go of me!”

K’Nala blinked and noticed something in his hand and with a soft pinch of her hand she opens it seeing her lucky trinket in the childs hand “I believe that is mine”  She takes it back calmly and let’s go of the child “You know that stealing is not going to help you?”

The child rubbed his hand and took a step back, “Who will help us then? Starfleet? You only think what is in your own concerns and disregards anyone else needs” The child rushes away into the thick crowd, disappearing from the two officer’s view.

“Seems that the root of the problem is settled deeper then we thought” Domam spoke with a sigh while crossing his arms. “But the problem is more, where the heck do we even start? With the people here, or our own?” Domam resumed the walking as he noticed K’Nala standing there, he briefly stopped and looked at her “Lieutenant? We can’t help the child right now, not in the current condition that we are currently in” it might sound direct and harsh, but it was the grim reality of their situation right now.

K’Nala stood there looking into the crowd, wondering why a child of such a young age was forced to do these acts, to steal and from his eyes it was filled with hatred, resenting her presents. She blinked and shook her head knowing that the resentment was not to her, but to her uniform. What could she do to fix this problem, how many cases of these children are there on this station. When she heard Domam voice she broke off her focus and nodded slowly turning to Domam and starting to follow, “Captain Kobahl spoke about these childrrren being a part of the problem, we need to investigate these kids as well. But you arrre right, we need to prioritize and go layerrr by layerrr”

“That means we have to look internal first” Domam pointed out, “I will discuss it with Lieutenant Crim to divide the tasks. Crim is specialized in crowd control and noticing any dangers. I might have to face to music of dealing with the corruption within the departments” Domam kept walking and stopped briefly looking at the side seeing a merchant in panic as an Orion and two thugs try to intimidate him. “Give me a second”

A thug slams the metal frame “Come on its payday”

“I don’t have the money…” The merchant stated with a shaky voice.

” Olar, Olar my dear, dear Olar” The young well-dressed Orion spoke with a soft smile “You know how it works on Hecate, you want to do business, you pay us your license fee. We provide protection and beneficial support if you need it. But you got to pay your monthly due, or we can’t assure your safety on this base”

The merchant wanted to respond, but a voice interrupted “Last time I checked the security matter is handled by Starfleet” The group looked at the direction of the voice seeing Damem standing there “Additionally, I don’t believe Starfleet or the Federation requires shop owners or in this case pop-up merchants to have a license” He had his arms crossed over each other as the group looked a bit surprised at him.

A burst of laughing came from the Orion as he snickers a tear away, “That is a real good joke Starfleet, but last time I checked you guys don’t care much about that.”  He turned his attention to Domam “But I don’t seem to recognize you, let me introduce myself, Razid is the name, we are the collectors of this region. Now I think you are new, seeing your fancy badge, clean clothing and confident smile”

Razid put his jacket straight and gets closer to Domam “So I will be kind and explain to you how things work here, we run this station promenade and cargo holds. We take care of the people that are not wearing…” He wipes a dust off from his uniform, “…this wonderful uniform. So I would advise you to talk with your chief or even your captain and know your playfield”

Something ticked off in Domam as if he was being belittled by this Orion, but before he could respond the merchant shuffled a bag to the thugs “Starfleet has nothing to do with my business, I am not linked to them Razid I swear….here is my payment and I put in some extra slips for your honest work” The merchant stated in fear and didn’t dare to look at Domam who just stood up for him.

“See, this is a man with some common sense and knows his place in this wonderful place. Welcome to Hecate station…” Razid looked at Domam collar and back with a smile “Lieutenant. Now don’t let the shadow monsters get you” He laughed as he moved away as Domam felt a hand on his shoulder that stopped him from reacting to the mockery.

The thugs laughed, following Razid as K’Nala gave a brief nod to the merchant who hurried back into his store complaining in a quiet voice. K’Nala pulled Domam away from the pop-up store and continued their walk “It is betterrr to rememberrr and strike a different day. Because this shows how rotten the corrre truly is” K’Nala was showing rather calm, but her inner feelings were ignited as a star that was about to explode. Yet thanks to the teaching of Sazra and Silina she was able to remain calm, showing a poker face and yet her claws slowly retracted as her body responded slightly to her inner fire.

Calmly breathing, “I know, Lieutenant, and I understand now what Captain Kobahl means to take this situation with a soft and delicate hand. People live in fear, pain and high criminality. While security is bribed to look the other way. I will cut out this ill rotted roots one by one” He whispers as he saw an acknowledgement nod of support from K’Nala. He needs to start with gathering intelligence and form allies to fight this corruption off.