To Market, To Market (part 1)

Posted on Wed Oct 14th, 2015 @ 2:46pm by Commodore Samantha York & 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Commander Jonathan Martin & Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & Captain Cameron Bourne & Lieutenant Illise Hale & Lieutenant JG Teenah Spartacus
Edited on on Wed Oct 14th, 2015 @ 3:03pm

1,088 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Of Gods and Men
Location: Gekkaro IV

ON

It was late morning when the cart and the group of "travelers" arrived at the edge of the rather large village. There were several other carts making their way along the well-traveled road.

Sam was fascinated to see that it looked like most of them were travelers from other villages as well. It would make it much easier for them to blend in with the crowds as they followed the others to the market in the center of town.

Spartacus was riding at the front of the cart; it was best if her exposure to the native populus was kept to a minimum; A tricorder would have been lovely but hse still had eyes and could observe those around her. Making special note of the way the people interacted, it was a method of determining the hierarchy? The social classes would also make themselves more clear the further they went nto the city. Spartacus held her head high as she looked around, not afraid to meet with other people eyes but not really having a desire to focus upon individuals other than logging their reactions to her glances. Right now she is formulating an over-all picture of the social structure with the Earth Grecian culture as a basis for comparison.

Cam was walking along side the cart, keeping an eye on everyone he could. He didn't know much about this period in earths history, but it looked like several colonies he had been to before. Flipping a knife back and forward in his hand, he tried to formulate a plan for every eventually.

Sam, who had been left to pull the cart, turned into the marketplace. She wasn't sure how trade was done here, but it wouldn't take much observation to figure it out. Thanks to their carefully-disguised combadges and their universal translators it was easy to understand the banter as they walked slowly down the dirt-packed aisles.

She eventually found a stall selling tapestries and nodded. "We bring tapestries from our village. What will you offer us for them?"

A man came out from behind the stall and began to look through the stack in the cart. "20 hirals for the lot."

Sam shook her head. "These are hand-woven by our finest craftsmen. They are worth 200."

The man crossed his arms over his chest. "50."

This was going to take a while, but Sam had nowhere to go and was curious to see exactly what she could get for her 'goods.'"

Kara, like a good servant, was at the back of the cart, ostensibly keeping an eye on the goods but also watching the natives as they wandered around doing business.

Spartacus was listening and observing the barter between Samantha and the merchant. It would be easy for her to make this more interesting. She climbed down from the cart with a demure grace as she sought to let the available light catch her eyes in that way that only her Orion Heritage would allow, he was a man afterall and humanoid enough. She had studied the life sign scans with the intent of knowing should she require' her 'Wilds' might come in handy. Besides these tapistries were worth more than this man could really evaluate; or so he let on. THe jump of thirty between offers showed that he could have double that offer easily but the prudent business man had wanted to buy cheap and sell for massive profit. The Ferengi would have a grand time using their rules to cheat and take advantage of these people.

Foot over foot in the cat walk of a model on a runway was her natural strides; her Orion blood was still the same color even if her skin was not. It would be a balancing act; she did not want to seem like a 'loose woman but then there were some fine fragrances that could help counteract her raw phermones she hoped. WHile Samantha would be trying to get the wares sold Spartacus would 'wonder close and get more of a feel for what prices were going for what products. Besides she wanted to saee the range of things that are in the market.

"I smell something lovely." She mentioned near the men of the Away team. "The scents close to Lilacs and Roses call." She started to saunter towards the perfumes and fragrances. "A girls needs proper scenting to get the job done right."

Illise watched Spartacus as she moved towards a perfume vendor, marveling for a moment at the woman's natural grace. Then reaching down into her bag she pulled out her 'notebook', ans flipped to the back page where her small tricorder was concealed. She briefly scanned the marketplace under the guise of taking notes. The interference they had encountered on the ship was still just as strong, and she could get little more than basic data. Sighing, she tucked the book back in her bag and followed Spartacus towards; perhaps she could sell her fragrances to a chatty vendor.

Arnon walked over to a vendor of medicinal herbs and struck up a discussion about herbal medicine which he hoped to lead to a sharing of gossip. Nearly everyone visited the local apothecary and the apothecary would know almost everyone of note.

"Excuse me, sir," Arnon said. "Do you have anything to ease aching feet? I have just walked a long way and my poor feet are in great pain."

"I have just the thing right here!" the apothecary replied. "Why I just sold some of this very elixir to a priest just the other day..."

Jonathan walked over to a mobile stall manned by a short plump male. In front of him his stall carried various items that looked like rings, brooches, seal rings, pendants, and various types of head jewelry. To the side small precious stones laid about what looked like carnelian, chalcedony, and feldspar in shape and color.

To some extent Jonathan was excited cause if this place was similar to Roman culture back home, this would be his first experience in person to anything as close as he could get to history. He was an avid reader of history and to him, he was in wonderland at the moment.

"May I assist in your browsing?" the plump man asked.

(To be continued...)

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Ensign Teenah Spartacus
Counselor

1nd Lieutenant Kara Melo
Alpha Platoon Leader

Captain Cameron Bourne
Marine CO

Lieutenant JG Illise Hale
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Arnon Barak
Chief Counselor

Commander Jonathan Martin
Mission Advisor

 

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