The Curtain Falls

Posted on 20 May 2026 @ 2:31pm by Lieutenant Ryan Collingway
Edited on on 20 May 2026 @ 2:38pm

477 words; about a 2 minute read

///Carnival///

Gaila knew her time was short when station security had placed the vendor's resupplies under greater scrutiny. It wasn't too obvious of course. But vendors loved to gossip, and grumble. And the current mood was 'things are suddenly taken forever to reach them when it didn't before'. Which is exactly when Gaila knew it was time to pack her bags. The Carnival was nearly finished, anyway.

She honestly loved playing the role of a fortune teller. It was something her great-grandmother did, to swindle the local population while influencing the government to work in her favor. A paranoid prediction of the mayor's future, and suddenly a rival competitor was banned from the planet. Gaila chuckled at the thought.

Times had changed, though, and so did the game. The true money had been in the drug runs, of course. The enhancement tokens that got passed around late at night. The drinking from the 'Waters of Boreth' had been a calculated risk. Sure, some Starfleet officers had left her tent screaming about illusions they couldn't see. That attracted attention.

But a few...a select few...had come back looking for more. And that was worth any risk. Teaching young Starfleet officers they weren't as incorruptible as they thought, while setting up potential more clients for the future.

At the same time though, it was definitely time to leave. She had packed her bags and gotten her young helpers to dump the rest of the cauldrons waters into the same drain where everyone threw out their discarded drinks. There was some contraband that she couldn't easily get rid of though. With a shrug she had given it to some Starfleet Officer from the Arawyn to take back to his ship. By the time they investigated and traced it back to her, she would be long gone.

The tent was emptied quickly. With a quick zip of her bags, Gaila attempted to leave the tent. It had been a good haul this time around. Maybe next year it would be better, with a few adjustments to her drug supply. She opened the flap and went outside.

A Starfleet constable with two security officers was waiting. "Hello, Gaila," he greeted. "May we have a word?"

Gaila silently cursed. None of that showed on her expression, however. "I'm sorry, constable. But if you're looking for your future, I'm done for the day."

"I'd rather talk about your future, for the moment," the constable said neutrally. He nodded at the Security officers.

"You wouldn't manhandle an old woman, now would you?" Gaila wailed.

One of the guards hesitated, and touched a wrinkle on her face. The makeup smered away, revealing that she was far younger than she appeared to be.

"Take her to detention," the constable said. "And alert the Admiral that we have our suspected supplier."

Gaila
Fortune Teller/Drug supplier
Starbase 369

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