Sh’ill and lot stepped onto the station ground, and looked around the outpost, but saw no species that they could immediately recognise. They were all Delta Quadrant species, making deals, having meet-ups, eating strange foods.

The Caitian Lieutenant Commander looked over the area, and turned to his crew.“Delvok, you’re with Jatia. I’m taking the Ensign. Now, Jatia’s team, I want you to find a proper map of the region. While we, Ensign, are going to search for info on where we could find that dilithium, and more so, if anyone needs our help.”

Erti nodded, and looked around. “We’ll do our best, Captain. Let’s go, Lieutenant..” She said, and waved Delvok over.

Sh’ill looked over at Bok, and looked him up and down.“Make sure to not touch or look directly at anyone, we don’t know how they could perceive that. Now, let’s move, Ensign.” Sh’ill split off in the other direction from Jatia’s team, and Xasin followed along in suite.

Walking through the busy hallways of the outpost made Ryoko miss her ship a bit more. She was instead moving, then stuck at a station. But this operation was essential for the improvement and well-being of all Starfleet officers operating in the Delta Quadrant. Ryoko noticed Sh’ill and smiled softly, “Captain Sh’ill, do you have a moment for me?”  

Sh’ill looked over at Ryoko, and immediately took a subtle, yet respectful stance.“Yes, ma’am. I’m here, looking for Starfleet officers who also have been ordered here, a map of the region… if you have any of that, please tell us, we’d appreciate it.”While talking to Takato, Sh’ill quickly put his hands behind his back, and began, rather foolishly as we shall soon find out, trying to signal to the Bolian Ensign to get in line with him, and to not just stand there, looking looking like an idiot.

Waving her hands downwards, “Calm down, Captain, my name is Captain Takato. I am the Starfleet Liaison for TF86 here. Seeing our Task Force CO is busy at the other side, it is only logical for the XO to step in. I believe you are part of that TF. So you are at the right address” Ryoko looked around noticing a bit the crowded space and then looked back at Sh’ill “I am here to give you your orders and the map”  

Sh’ill, still not calming down, slowly responded.“Mhm… and what, in that case, are our orders, madam? Also, if I may…” Sh’ill quickly grabbed his PADD from behind his back, and sent a quick message to Jatia.“Excuse the interruption, ma’am. Yes, what are our orders?”

“Right, in the north, just past Hazari space, there is a system named Droth 2V5. The anomaly hit it. Long-range scanners have detected the ice planet in the system to have blood dilithium growing on its surface. I want your ship to travel there and investigate it. But be on your guard. The area is plagued by other mining hunters.” Ryoko warned him as she warned Captain Praugol “If you have some crew members that are telepathic sensitive. Leave them here for their and your safety. Questions?”

Sh’ill looked at Ryoko for a moment, and responded. “Ma’am, I do have a crew member that is telepathic, however.. he is my only security officer, and my CSO. If I leave him here, my helmsman will have to both shoot and fly the Liris. If I take him with, well… I was hoping to bring some of the dilithium on-board, perhaps study more in depth why exactly it causes these.. effects on telepaths, and perhaps find out why it is crimson. If you order me, I’ll leave Delvok here, but I would rather not, ma’am.”

Her facial expression became more concerned and cold, but eventually, she sighted, “Just be careful and place a minimum of level 3 containment field around the dilithium. Or you will have a field day with a very aggressive CSO” Ryoko was not pleased about it, but this mission was not so much in close range of any Devore. So it was the Captain’s responsibility to take care of the crew. 

“Ah, so we have found something that can block the dilithium’s effect on telepaths?” Sh’ill responded.“Well, I am hoping to develop a cure of sorts for the dilithium’s effects, and I’m also hoping to find a way to purify it, and get rid of the blood in it, so as to make it usable on ships.”Sh’ill quickly took out his PADD, and noted down the planet info, including the fact that it was an ice planet, which Sh’ill did not like one bit.

“Well its not a solid solution, but you can do your work” Ryoko stated “Well you got your mission good luck on your journey and stay safe” She gave a soft smile at him and nods briefly before leaving

After talking with Takato and acquiring some really quite valuable info, Sh’ill turned to look and see what his companion, Ensign Xasin had been doing during the conversation.

He saw that the Ensign was standing at the corner of the corridor, looking over at a cafe across the hall. Sh’ill walked over, and looked over the Ensign’s shoulder to see what had captivated him so thoroughly that he hadn’t even moved when the Caitian looked over his shoulder.

Sh’ill saw a serene, truly beautiful woman sitting and reading from a PADD. Sh’ill instantly knew why the Ensign was frozen in place, and so he grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around.

“Ensign… you are on duty, so act like it. If you want to look at women, you are welcome to do so, but do that when you’re off duty. Now then, let’s go, before there’s another one, and that one lays eggs in you. Not a pleasent procedure to remove them.”

Bok was looking around, not able to focus on one single thing, but Sh’ill shook him a bit, and looked him in the eyes, and that seemed to calm him down for a bit.

“Y.. yes, sir. I’ll try.” The Ensign slowly nodded as he spoke, and once he had been released from his Captain’s tight grip, he took a slow breath in, and looked at the ground. “I should have been paying attention. I apologise, it won’t happen again, sir.”

Sh’ill walked in front of him, and indicated for him to follow.“Make sure of that. Now then, let’s see what else we can find here.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the outpost, Jatia and Delvok had come across a shop selling various specialty items, which included maps. The shop’s owner, a friendly Talaxian, had a tendency to try and sell as much as he could to customers, to varying degrees of success.

Delvok had found what they both had been looking for on the messy shelves, a more complete map of the Gradin Belt, and he brought it over to Jatia for inspection. She had a quick look at the starchart, and compared it to what was in the cartography database, and she had found it to be more accurate than what they had.

She brought it over to the shopfront, and sat it down, and looked over at the Talaxian, who was already moving his fingers almost like a Ferengi would, and walked over from the back, to see what had been set down.“Ah yes, the map of the Belt. I assure you, it is accurate, I have used it myself. Could I also interest you in a map of the wider region, or perhaps the illustrated map of Voyager’s journey home, together with a story book for children?”

Erti looked over him, and responded.“I know what you’re trying to pull, and it’s not working. Besides, do I look like I have children? Alright, how much for the map? We have a lot of spare supplies, you can have a look at our cargo manifest.” With that, she handed the Talaxian a PADD, while she herself was still looking down upon the map, seeing where corrections in the Starfleet map could be made.

The Talaxian quickly grabbed the PADD, and quickly scrolled through its contents, noting down various items that could sell for a lot.“You do have quite a lot of stuff. Could I interest you, perhaps, in a cargo itemiser which would make making cargo manifests much easier?”

Jatia just looked at him, trying to find out whether he was joking or not, and responded.“No, thanks, I’ll pass. Now then, what do you want…”Erti’s PADD beeped, indicating that there was something interesting for her on the PADD.A message, that was what had caused the beep, and from her Captain: “Lieutenant, we no longer require a map, I just got one from the Starfleet liaison here. We don’t need the Gradin belt map, but if you can find one of what’s north of Hazari space, get it.”

Jatia looked at the message for a few seconds, and then turned to the shopkeeper once more.“Right, we don’t need the Gradin map any more. Do you have one of what’s north of Hazari space, preferably something accurate?”

The Talaxian was caught a bit off-guard by the sudden change in requests, but quickly replied as if nothing had happened.“Yes, yes I do have a map of that. Let me just find it…”The Talaxian swiftly turned around, and began searching through the shelves behind him, with a few PADDs falling to the ground, but he paid no attention to that.

After about a minute and a half of the Talaxian searching through the shelves, he finally found something.“Ah yes, here it is. Hazari north map.” He brought over a PADD to the shopfront, and set it down.“For that map, I’ll take some of those spare medical supplies you have. I’m especially interested in that crate of cordrazine.”

Jatia looked into the shopkeeper’s eyes for a moment, trying to discern whether the offer was genuine, or he was pulling some trick.“Of course… I’ll have to talk to my Captain about that, he does all the inventories.” Jatia tapped her combadge, and quickly walked to the side of the shop, where the Talaxian couldn’t hear her.

Sh’ill was on the other side of the station, looking into shop windows, looking for anything that might be useful in their expedition, and right as his combadge beeped, he had been looking into a shop window selling impulse capacitators.“This is Sh’ill. How is your search for the map going?”

Jatia thought about her response for a moment, and responded.“Well, we have found the map, sir, and we have been offered a price of one crate of cordrazine for the map.”

The part of Sh’ill that was responsible for knowing what all the pharmaceuticals that he used did immediately fired off, and shot back on its own, without Sh’ill’s conscious mind even filtering what it was saying.“Lieutenant, my medical supplies are off limits when dealing with that merchant, and especially him. Cordrazine is a very powerful stimulant, and could be used to kill an entire ship or station in moments. Under no circumstances are you to give that merchant even a whiff of that cordrazine. Is that understood, Lieutenant? The most you will give them is a few holodeck waste removal units, we have plenty of those. Are there any questions?”Sh’ill had barked all this out in a few seconds, no more. He wanted to make sure that his point was driven home well.

Jatia quite audibly gulped at the sudden outburst of her Captain, and quickly and concisely answered.“Yes, sir. No questions. I’ll… offer those units.”

Sh’ill calmed himself down a bit, and responded.“Good. Sh’ill out.”

Jatia now quickly ran back to the shop front, and looked the merchant deep in the eyes.“The cordrazine and any medical supplies are off the table. My Captain has offered 3 holodeck waste reclamation units.”

The Talaxian smiled a bit, he knew that the jig was up, but he would still pretend to be a fool.“Alrighty then. I’ll take four of those units, if you’re not giving me the cordrazine.”

Jatia’s bargaining sense kicked in, but quickly shut itself off once more, she knew that there wasn’t much to bargain on.“Alright. They’ll be here by the end of the day. Send the transporter coordinates to the Liris.”

The Talaxian merchant gruffed a bit at his unsuccesful attempt to get away with some powerful drugs, but generally kept a controlled and happy outwards appearence, so as not to cause any more trouble for himself.“Alright. They shall be sent promptly. Thank you for shopping at Jamix’s Maps and Navigation.”

Jatia raised her eyebrow for a moment, but then turned to face Delvok, who had been standing in the corner of the shop, examining some trinkets that he had some interest in for some reason.“Let’s get out of here, Lieutenant.”

Sh’ill, meanwhile, had been window shopping with Ensign Xasin, just walking around the station, looking at all the different species that were here that neither of them had ever seen before.

Bok was quite excited to be just casually walking around with his commanding officer, and so was, very characteristically, practially jumping from all the dopamine that was flooding his brain.Sh’ill, meanwhile, was doing his best to ignore all of Bok’s antics, and was simply prancing around and keeping his thoughts and emotions to himself.

This is how all 4 of them spent the better part of 2 hours, one of the pair walking around and almost flying from the joy of being somewhere new, and the part of the pair simply walking around, looking at what the other was doing, and keeping to themselves.

Eventually, the four of them met up at the ship at the prearranged time, and entered into it, leaving the Markonian Outpost behind for today.