Best Laid Plans - 10/08/09

I fussed with my hair a bit in the mirror before washing my face and doing it again. Sure, I was a miner, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t at least try to look my best. Especially now that she was hanging around.

“Michaela?”

I spun around at the sound of my brother’s voice. “Yeah?”

He had stuck his head in and was now smiling at me. “You look nice. Think he’s going to notice today?”

I stuck out my lower lip. “I hope so. He’s so blind.”

Gabriel laughed. “Yeah, but he’s a good guy.”

I nodded in agreement and went back to finishing up before starting my shift.

Raphael gave another one of his short addresses to the crew before the beginning of the shift. He was one of the few who worked all three shifts, but he never seemed any worse for the wear. I smiled warmly every time his eyes passed me they swept across the crowd, but they always kept on going. I couldn’t seem to get them to stop, to linger.

The shift passed by quick enough, the tedious work on the barge improved by lively conversation with the other crew. Raphael had used to come visit me when we worked together, stopping by for some quick chats, but he hadn’t in a while now. He had stopped once his father had forced him into an engagement. I’d run through it all everyday while working, and the tedium was forgotten in my deep thought.

After the shift was over and we were back in the hangar, the ‘usuals’ went with Raphael as he got something to eat between shifts. I was one too, though. It was a close-knit group of us who had grown up together on the station, and we had all known each other since we were kids. Some us of longer than others, however.

As we sat down to eat, somebody asked Raphael if he was working all three shifts again.

“No, not today. I’ve got a date with Nephanie later, so I won’t be on third shift. Should be a nice break.” He smiled.

Ramiel smiled and raised both his brows. “Should be nice indeed.” He followed this statement with a snicker, and I shot him a dirty look.

My time was running out. I could tell that Raphael was beginning to have strong feelings towards Nephanie. If I didn’t act soon, I’d lose all chance. I began to think of a plan. When Raphael returned, he would most likely get a drink with Ramiel and Gabriel, his left and right hands. I needed to distract the oaf and my brother, and take Raphael’s time for myself. After the drink, he’d go to the crew quarters where he slept. It was shared with 5 other crew. They would need to be taken care of as well.

After Raphael left for his date, I set my plan in motion. First up was to distract the roommates. I didn’t really know any of them because we had never shared a shift, even though I occasionally pulled double shifts. Going after each one of them individually was going to be too hard, so I had to get them as a group. They were a bunch of Udorians, employed by Caspar Saint to foster better relations with a nearby branch of the Tash-Murkon family to whom they were related, and Raphael shared a room to help his father establish connections while making some of his own.

It had taken me a long time to come up with a way to remove them from the scene. Knowing next to nothing about them gave me very little information on what I could use to lure them away, so I decided to just play on one of their base desires. Finding them sharing a single bottle of wine together, I plopped myself down at their table and turned on the charm.

I flirted with all of them, all the while encouraging them to drink more, and had more wine bottles brought over to the table. As they got drunker they grew more bold, but I wouldn’t have any of that. One of them decided to get a little feely, and I cracked him over the head with one of the wine bottles, earning me cheers from the rest of them. I pretended to drink along with them, giving them hope that I would ‘play,’ but even an Ammatar has standards.

They were all too sauced to think clearly, and it showed. I enjoyed it as the made fools of themselves trying to impress me, flexing like idiots and yammering about how great they were. I laughed genuinely when one of them tried to do a flip, but in his drunken state only manage to fling himself onto the rest of them, causing the table to crack and sunder, spilling most of the wine onto the floor.

When I had them blue enough in the gills, they passed out. I Smiled at my good work in removing them, but it had taken a large amount of time to get them all drunk enough to pass out, and if I was lucky, none of them would remember a thing. Before I left, however, I took the time to take the hand of Mr. Grabby and place it on one of his friend’s behinds so that he could wake up and immediately worry about just how close he and his friend were when drunk.

Next was Ramiel. He was in idiot, so I knew it wouldn’t be too hard to keep him occupied for the night. All I had to do was find him a children’s jumble. That would keep him fixed for hours. I thought for a moment of how best to get him, and then the idea struck me. I wasn’t going to just get him out of the way for the evening; I was going to get him back for teasing me. He was always teasing me, and it was time for a little payback.

I tracked him down to his office. I knew where he was; now I needed a trap. I made a quick trip to storage and retrieved a small can. I went back up to his office and made covertly set up my trap nearby. I had his location and a trap, so all I needed to do now was lure him into it. Peeking inside through the small window in the door however, I saw that he was no longer in his office. He had left everything on though, signaling that he was merely away for a short while. Unfortunately I didn’t know how long he was going to be gone. I needed to finish this up, so I went looking for him again.

If he was only gone for a short while, he couldn’t have gone too far. Guessing that he might only be going to the bathroom, I crept over to the nearby men’s room. Quietly sticking my head inside, I saw that he was indeed relieving himself. A smile spread across my face as I thought of the perfect bait. Ramiel was a proud man, and I knew there was no way he was going to let this go, so I stealthily entered the restroom and tip-toed over to him. I peered over his shoulder.

“Well that’s not impressive in the slightest.” I said flatly.

He jumped a bit at the sudden intrusion and quickly zipped himself up and wheeled around. I snickered as I saw that he had been in such a hurry that he wet himself a bit. The combination of my presence, insult, and sly smile must have really ticked him off.

“What the hell are you doing in here!?!” He said, his voice a combination of anger and confusion.

“The girls and I were just talking about some of the guys, and drew straws to see who had to peek at who.” I shrugged. “But how disappointing, drawing the short straw.”

He frowned at me. “Hey!”

“Oh don’t worry, I only got a tiny peek.” I sneered.
He reached to stop me, but I took a quick step back and wagged my finger. “Nuh uh! I’ve got a small package of information I have to deliver to the rest of the girls!”

I quickly spun around and dashed out of the bathroom, and could hear him following only a few steps behind me.

“Hey, wait!” His voice now was slightly desperate, and I snickered.

“Sorry, Ramiel, I've got little time!” I continued.

I teased him the whole way back to his office, luring him to the trap I had set for him. Rounding a corner I immediately jumped over a pool of Machine Oil I had poured on the floor. I ran a few more steps before I heard him slip on it, not knowing it was there. I turned to look at him. He was trying to get back up, but only continued to slip on the substance until he was completely covered in it. I smiled, knowing that it was going to take a whole shift for him to clean it off; it stuck to skin like glue. I walked off, gathering my thoughts for the next phase of the plan.

At last I was facing the final boss, my brother. Gabriel was a focused man, and it would be hard to find something that would keep his attention for the rest of the night. I couldn’t just ask him, either, even though I knew he was rooting for me. He still wouldn’t like the thought of his little sister taking a roll in the hay.

My brother was an intelligent, religious person, and I knew it wouldn’t be easy to find a way to distract him. In fact, I hadn’t been able to come with anything so far, and it looked like I was going to have to wing it. I found him in a quiet room he often came to, and entered, pretending I was sad about something.

“Hey Gabe.”

He looked up from his copy of the Pax Amarria. “What’s wrong, Michaela?”

“Oh nothing,” I replied, keeping my eyes glued to the floor as I took a seat on a bench.

He closed his book and walked over to me, putting his arm around me as he sat down next to where I was sitting. “C’mon, you know you can talk to me. Is it about Raphael? Are you sad that he’s out with Nephanie?”

Ah, crap. Now I was starting to feel sad. I wasn’t really too worried about those two because I was certain that my plan was going to work out, but in order to do so, I needed to distract Gabriel, and he had shown genuine concern for me. Well, he was my brother after all.

“Sorta. I mean, she’s a true Amarrian, while I’m just an Ammatar, no better than slaves in the eyes of most.” I began to feel down as I started admitting all these things to myself, and grew a little less confident.

“I don’t think Raphael really cares. He’s known you ever since you were born, and he has shown interest in you.” Gabriel’s voice was soft, soothing.

“Yeah, ‘has.’ He hasn’t shown any since he met Nephanie. Plus, his father planned this out. Mr. Saint would never allow for Raphael and I to be together, even if Raphael did want to. All he cares about is business.” The reality hit me that even if my plan did work, there wasn’t a future. A tear rolled down my cheek, and Gabriel didn’t miss it.

“Aw, don’t worry Michaela. I’m sure things will work out for you, and if they don’t we’ll make them.” He turned and reached over with his other arm to give me a hug.

I stared a bit blankly at him. “Make them…? Are you saying….”

He nodded. “Yes. I’ll help you win Raphael over. I’ll talk to him tonight about it.”

I frowned. That wouldn’t do. I had done too much work already to just have Gabriel take up all of Raphael’s time tonight, even if it was for my sake. I needed to think fast. I couldn’t hurt him, he was my brother and I cared deeply for him. I didn’t have anything on hand to distract him with either. I sat there trying to think of something quickly when God came to my aid.
“Ah, there you are, Mr. Zakros.” A voice called out.

Both of us turned to see who it belonged to, and found one of the mining crew standing in the doorway.

“It’s a mess, Sir. The Udorians are passed out in the cafeteria, stinking of wine and lying on the ruins of a table, and there’s a big trail of machine oil leading from Foreman Seraf’s office to the locker room. It’s all over the place.” The miner seemed a bit exasperated, as if there had been quite a stir.

Gabriel stood up and sighed. “With the Chief Crew gone for third shift, I guess it’s up to me. I don’t want to bother Raphael with it when he gets back. He’s got to get up early for tomorrow.” He looked back down at me and smiled weakly. “I guess I’ll have to talk to Raphael later, sorry.”

I stared at him for a few seconds before shaking my head. “No problem.”

I couldn’t believe my luck as Gabriel followed the miner out of the room. It seemed like the third part had taken care of itself. I said a quick prayer to God thanking him for letting it all come together. Now it was game time, the home stretch. I couldn’t mess this part up, not with all the time and effort spent allowing for the chance.

I went back to my room to change. I needed something that would catch his eye. I looked over everything I had, but nothing fit the situation. Nothing said ‘Hey, remember me?’ I grew more and more frustrated as I tore though the small collection of outfits I had, until all that was left was an Aegis uniform and the undersuit for the mining gear. The uniform wouldn’t do, but the undersuit…

I quickly slipped it on. It was skin tight and left nothing to the imagination. That was good. I couldn’t rely on Raphael’s imagination any longer. I needed to hit him over the head with my feminity. I crept out of my room and slinked down the halls, trying to avoid anyone seeing me with everything on display. Quickly enough I made it to the bunk room where Raphael slept. I snuck inside and found it empty; just like I planned.

I sat on the bunk, wondering when it would be that he would get back. With Ramiel tied up washing himself and Gabriel stuck cleaning up my mess, Raphael would come straight here to get some much needed sleep. He wouldn’t get it, however. Not if I did things right. The door suddenly slid open, and looking up, I saw him standing in the doorway. I flashed him my best smile.

“Hey Raph, where were you?”

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This is the second story in the "Pursuit of a Good Quarry" series, which originally had it's own blog, but I honestly didn't have a need to keep so many. There's only 3 blogs pertaining to Saint now, this one included. This is Michaela's view of one of the events in Ghosts, one of the original Miner Inconvienences stories before that name came to represent the blog it now adorns. The ending line has a little bit more meaning when cross-referenced with the Ghosts post.