Wildcard In The Mix

Posted on Fri Sep 19th, 2014 @ 2:28pm by James Holbridge & Marine Captain Quentin Harrison & Sam Elliott III & Major David Lorenz & Matt Collins

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Talaxian Trading Station Xamotif

The NGSS Operations team had settled into their rooms for some much-needed downtime after a grueling 12-hour flight to the first checkpoint along Commander Nalas' route to Peneschal II. Quentin had informed Jim Holbridge that Lilw's life would be cut short if the little man complained about one more item, so Jim wisely paired the big, short-tempered Scot with Hanley Woodard as a roommate. Both men were in their room, snoring soundly.

Amanda Fulton, the team's Xenexian sniper and only female member of Alpha Team, was paired with Princess Alradel and the pair were sitting calmly on their room's only sofa, discussing men and their foibles. "...some men on Archadia Prime expected me to chase them, but my foster mother politely informed me that I didn't have to abide by Archadian custom. Kind of silly to me, but men are men!"

Amanda just nodded quietly, thinking back to her time as a prostitute on Xenex before her benefactor rescued her from that horrific life. This young monarch reminded Amanda of what she was like before the death of her mother. "Sweetie, in my experience, men can be controlled if you know how to manipulate them. every male I have ever encountered has three weak points, their heads, their genitals, and their asses! In men's case all three are easily kicked!" Both women had a good laugh.

Jim Holbridge and Dave Lorenz were in a room. Jim was lying on his bunk while David was poring over plans. "The fighter escorts are working out just great, Jim. Nobody even guessed it was Eddie remotely flying them. I'm a little iffy on putting Alradel in a fighter by herself."

"She is going to lead a planetary population so a little thing like riding solo in a space fighter should be a piece of cake. Besides she already signed off on the idea." Jim replied, his eyes closed.

Dave looked up from the pile of pads on the table. "No shit?"

"She's been pestering me to let me fly solo with Eddie helping her. I'm not sold on the idea." Jim answered.

=/\=Elliott to Holbridge, six Nausicaans have just disembarked from a transport. They hit a bar and have stayed together for the past couple hours talking quietly.=/\=

"And I care why?" Jim replied, trying to sound cranky.

"One of them has a picture of our clients, plus I overheard the Nausicaan word for 'terminate'."

That got Holbridge's attention. "Okay, Sam, stay put and keep 'em under observation. We'll be to your location in five minutes." Jim got off his bed and put on his gunbelt and 3p. "Dave, let's go pick a fight with some bad-tempered Nausicaans!"

"Let's wake Q up and tell him they insulted his mother!" Lorenz suggested as they left their room.

"Good idea!"

STATION BAR
TWENTY-FIVE MINUTES LATER

The Black Hole Sun bar was one of the friendliest dives in the Delta Quadrant, except when you are a Nausicaan hit team sent to kill two political opponents by a coward who is afraid to get his hands dirty.

Quentin Harrison stepped over the bodies of the Nausicaans he had personally pounded into the deck and hauled a half-conscious male to his feet. "Alright, cutie; spill yer guts before I puke from the smell of your breath! Who sent ye to take out the princess and the wimp?"

The half-conscious Nausicaan muttered something unintelligible.

"Can't hear ye, laddie, what with me being deef and all! SPEAK UP!"

"Paid....by....... Vestif!" the Nausicaan croaked, then passed out, his head lolling to one side.

Jim surveyed the damage, which was considerable, then nodded to Quentin. "Drop him."

Quentin simply let go of the being and his head promptly bounced off the deck plates twice before remaining still.

"Classy!" snorted Fulton, with Alradel in tow.

"Bitch!" snorted Quentin as he began to pick up the pieces of the tables he had used to beat the Nausicaan hit team into surrender.

The owner of the bar, a little Talaxian male called Tellix, approached Holbridge. "I want you and your people off my station when your time in the rooms is up! I am going to..." Tellix broke off as Dave Lorenz handed the man a couple strips of gold-pressed latinum. "You know something, I have been meaning to redecorate! stay as long as you like!"

"I see," Dave nodded. "If you have any decorating tips or hints, we will gladly listen!"

Tellix smiled. "The Nausicaan fellers come from the Alpha Quadrant, ya know. They was looking for the young miss there and they was gonna take her back to her home world where she was gonna be killed in public."

"Thanks. We'll look this over then be on our way."

Lilw came into the room, accompanied by Shelton. "What happened here?"

"A hit team from your home planet was just beaten to a pulp!" Quentin replied non-chalantly as he picked up a table. "Vestif hired 'em to kidnap the lass."

"You did well, all of you!"

Jim shook his head. "Quentin did the hard part, that's his specialty! Dom, take him back to his quarters and keep him there. Amanda, get Alradel to Bravo and keep her there." Jim looked at Dave and nodded. Plan A was a loser, so it was time to integrate Plan B. The only problem was that Jim had no idea what Plan B was, so he would do what he always did in these situations, wing it and hope for the best. "Okay, team, let's secure our gear and board up! Fighters will RTB and Lilw will fly on board the gunabout with us."

Lilw turned suddenly and left the room. Jim nodded to Amanda who left to follow the diplomat. When she was gone, Jim turned to the others and his voice was grim. "Boys, someone doesn't want the princess to get home and bring peace to her planet. Sam, what did you find?"

"It seems our friend Lilw is one of the principal shareholders ina weapons manufacturing facility about 6 million kilometers away on a deserted moon. My source tells me the facility is automated, but has regularly scheduled pick-up of the finished weapons. Bet you can't guess where they are shipped to!" Sam handed the padd to Jim.

"I dinnae like the way this is smellin', Jimmy-Boy!" Quentin added.

"None of us do." Jim replied. "Let's get the princess to her home and get the hell out of this mess!"

"Jim, I agree 100% with that sentiment. We contracted with her and her people to keep the princess safe and she has been attacked twice! Now we have evidence connecting Lilw to the attacks and proof he has ownership of a weapons complex...." Collins began, only to be cut off by Lorenz.

"I know what you are gonna say, kid. The problem is those facts aren't enough. We would need someone who knows that Lilw is involved with the conspiracy to keep the war going."

"What about the hit team Quentin took out?" Matt asked.

"The got paid via wire transfer." Sam replied. "The sender used a ghost account from a floating server."

Matt snapped his fingers. "The origination sequence on that server will tell us who sent it..."

"Wiped," Sam interjected.

"At what level? User or admin?" Matt persisted.

Sam looked at his padd. "Admin."

Matt smiled. "That narrows the field down a bit. I would imagine only a select few would have administrative access to fund transfers. I can run that down from the ship!"

Jim nodded. "Good, you do that. Quentin, I wanna see specs on this weapons manufacturing facility, including any orbital defenses, pass codes, landing zones, security, everything. Dave, you and the rest of the team will keep eyes on Lilw and Alradel...just tell them we are transferring operations to the new and improved Ghost...aka Bravo!"

"Lilw is gonna howl about that!" Woodard said, amusement in his voice.

"He is the one trying to kill his own sister, so I don't give a damn. Sam, get on the line to Starbase 900 and let em know what we are doing. This is probably gonna blow up in our faces and I think the admiral might be interested to know of that weapons plant so close to Archadia Prime."

ABOARD THE GHOST

Jim was on the bridge of the new Ghost. the previous vessel to bear the name had been very old and it was time for a change. Eddie's operating protocols and subsystems had taken a long time to fully transfer to the new ship. Once Eddie was fully integrated into the ship's main computer system, the bioneural gelpack circuitry made him able to operate at an astonishing 96% efficiency level. Eddie was the heart and soul of the ship, and he was self-aware. "Why are we not taking Lilw back to base for rigourous interrogation, sir?" Eddie asked in annoyance.

"We need more proof of a conspiracy, Ed," Jim replied. "We have the starbase monitoring the weapons station near Archadia Prime and we also have the events of today. We will submit those events and evidence we have to Penescal's judiciary and let them deal with it. We are security, nothing more."

"Sir, were I not a machine I would still say you were lying like a tiger-skin rug!" Eddie's voice spoke the words, and the meaning behind them was clear thanks to his human interaction library. "We have evidence of a crime..."

"What we have is situational and circumstantial evidence. We need a witness and proof!"

"Might I suggest that you attempt to apprehend a freighter captain who is to deliver said weapons to Peneschal?" Eddie offered. "There is a freighter on long-range scanners on a course for the facility."

Jim snapped his fingers. "Eddie, you are a genius. Attack crew to the hangar on the double!"

____________________

A post by

Nebula Gold Security Service, LLC
On The Trail Of A Conspiracy