Now Where Did We Put That Jag Officer?
Posted on Tue May 5th, 2015 @ 9:46pm by Commander Dae Nalas & Lieutenant Commander Solis & Lieutenant Bajun Julisa
Mission:
Breaking New Ground
Location: Betazed
* * * Betazed * * *
Dae, Julisa, and Solis departed the tram and went the rest of the way through the village on foot. Several minutes later, they arrived at a small house down an alley. With a quick look around, Dae pulled out a small device, neutralized the lock, then opened the door for them.
“After you.”
Julisa slipped into the house ahead of the two then looked around. "Quaint."
Solis followed her and Dae inside and locked the door behind them. He took a look around, sizing up the place. There was a crowded living room, small kitchen, and a bedroom.
“Well, if we each take a room this won’t take long at all,” he commented.
“Well not like the guy will be coming home, though his associates might,” Dae commented. “Let’s get going.” He hurried off to the bedroom and began a rapid and methodical search.
Julisa went into the kitchen to do the same. It was where she liked to store her important papers and information. Of course, she wasn't much of a cook, so the kitchen wasn't often utilized as a kitchen. Mostly just for a replicator. This kitchen, however, didn't even have a replicator. She stood looking in the fridge for a moment, amazed by the sheer lack of anything nutritious.
Solis started in the living room with the obvious place - the desk. He didn’t expect to find anything there and he wasn’t proven wrong. Next he moved to the bookcase and began by running his hand along the spines. when nothing happened, he began checking the books, looking for false ones that might have something hidden inside.
“Anything yet, Jules?” he called to her.
"Just some nixols," she said, dropping the Betazed equivalent of twinkies back into the drawer she was rifling through. "Ouch...," she grumbled and stuck her finger in her mouth. "And a sharp little knife."
“Here.” Solis tossed her the small dermal regenerator he’d brought from the ship. “And be careful, love. Nothing out here yet either but I don’t expect it to just be sitting here with a sign pointing to it. Check the freezer. That’s where my grandmother kept her secret stuff.”
"I looked there. Bunch of Popsicles and frozen meals, but no papers, no chips." She opened a cabinet and three bags of chips fell out, tumbling to the floor. "Jeez...," she muttered then spied something in the cabinet: an open box of kale and seaweed chips. Awfully healthy for this kitchen. She pulled it out and shook it. Definitely not chips. "Hey, Dae?"
“What is it?” Dae stepped out of the bedroom, a small black case in his hand.
She pulled a set of credentials from the box. "Seaweed chips?"
Both Solis and Dae converged on the kitchen and Dae took them, examining them closely. When he looked up, his eyes had widened. “Take a look Julisa.”
"Hey, that's not Onno," Julisa commented about the identification Dae was holding. "Is that language Romulan?"
“Cardassian." He frowned as he shuffled through the pages. He pulled one out and handed to her. It contained what appeared to be an access code. “That may work for one of these.” He opened the bag and Solis peered in.
“Well, well,” Solis commented. He reached in and pulled out several isolinear chips. “A little bedtime reading for us?”
"Fun." Julisa eyed the chip Solis was holding. "How many are in the bag?"
“Ten,” Dae answered. “And I found them under the mattress. Really? I guess he wasn’t expecting to lose that gunfight. Everyone always checks under the mattress.”
"Ick. For all we know, then, these are bedroom flicks, not state secrets," Julisa looked disgusted.
“I might agree if it wasn’t for these ‘kale’ chips,” Solis replied. Ten credits says we --” He stopped mid-sentence as a noise came from outside. As if they were one, Solis and Dae drew phasers.
“Stay here,” Dae ordered, then he and Solis slipped through the back door.
Rifling through the papers, Julisa tried not to think about the sight of Solis with a phaser in hand. The earlier shooting had unnerved her and now this. She risked looking out the kitchen window but saw no one. She paced and lost track of how long Solis and Dae had been gone.
Her comm chirped and alerted her that Ray was trying to contact her. It was a call she could take only from the ship. She looked out the kitchen window again: no one there. She jotted a cryptic note then set out for the ship, taking the chips and credentials with her. She left the seaweed and kale, though.
* * * USS Inaba * * *
When Julisa entered the ship, the comm panel was beeping, the red light showing it was an encrypted channel from 900. Whoever it was has been waiting for an answer and it appeared they were still there.
She tapped the button, opening the channel. "Bajun here."
Ray’s face appeared, his mouth tight and his brows drawn down. “Hey Julisa. Tell me everyone there is alright?” Tension fairly prickled through the screen.
She thought about telling him the whole truth - the one that involved them getting shot at - and decided against it. "Yeah, we're all fine here." A technical truth: no one from SB900 had been killed. "Solis and Dae went chasing after someone, so it's just me here at the moment. We located a number of isochips that we need to review."
Ray paused a second, then lowered his voice. “I ask because there has been a ‘development’ here. One of our residents was an operative in the area in question and was one of those sold out to the Cardassians. You know the one...who’s here on psych leave? Admiral Azoulay did a number on him and he melted down. She thinks there’s something in his head that’s just buried right now. He’s camping out in a nice white room and Counselor Swift discovered he’d been drugged earlier in the day.”
"The Admiral did that?" Julisa was shocked. "Have you considered filing charges?"
“Complaint done and done,” Ray answered. “We’ll see what comes of it. I also had the great pleasure of chewing her a new asshole and putting her on notice. In the meantime, Nico’s in isolation and no one has access but medical and counseling. Which brings me to you. If someone’s drugging witnesses, I don’t like the idea of y’all out there alone. Have you seen anything strange?”
She nearly asked him to define strange. "Not so much strange, Ray. Our local informant was shot to death." Right in front of me, she shrugged. "Dae was on it. We went to his residence and found credentials written in Cardassian and those isochips I mentioned."
“SHOT?” Ray yelled at the screen, then forced himself to calm down. “Sorry for your eardrums. What the fuck is going on….and don’t try to answer that, it was rhetorical. Look, Julisa, hide those credentials, read the chips and send that information on to me if it looks relevant. What would a Bajoran be doing with Cardassian papers and shooting at any of you unless they don’t want something found?”
"I've been asking myself the same questions," she said, nodding. Her commbadge chirped and she said to Ray, "That's Solis or Dae. I'll update you as soon as we get these read, okay?"
“Good. It’s going to be a late night, Julisa so call anytime. Ray out.” The channel closed and his image vanished.
With the comm closed, Julisa checked her commbadge. There wasn't a live transmission, just a garbled message from Solis, "Jules! Come meet us at Bar Nine." Hurriedly, she stuffed the credentials under the captain's chair and the isochips in Dae's bunk then headed for Bar Nine.
“How in the hell did he get gone so fast?” It was Solis speaking as he and Dae opened the hatch and entered the small ship.
“That’s what I want to know too. I suspect a hidden door, unless he beamed out but he didn’t have time.I want to get at those chips and then get us the hell out of here,” Dae answered.
Solis nodded. “Me too. Jules? Where are you?”
When no answer came, he hurried off to check the other decks. Dae began moving through the main deck, then checked the comm. There was a record of a call from Lt. Benson, ended just a few minutes earlier, but nothing else. He reached out with his thoughts and could tell - she was not here.
“Solis! She’s gone!” He called out.
Bar Nine hadn't been easy to find, but Julisa had finally located it. Entering the place, a dive of what couldn't be good repute, she wondered why Solis and Dae would choose such a smelly, sticky place to meet. Sticky all right: she cringed at the sound of her boots lifting off the floor; the few others in the bar turned to look at her. No one tried thinking at her, though, fortunately. She made her way to the back of the bar. No Solis, no Dae.
“Ran into a bit of trouble did you?” A rough voice spoke behind her. A tall man was there, bearded with the usual black eyes. He was silent a moment as he studied her, then laughed. “Well, aren’t you an odd mix.”
"I suppose," she looked him over and took a step back. "I didn't run into any trouble, though. I was just ... my companions, they said they'd be here. I'm good. They'll be along shortly."
“No they won’t, not unless I call them,” the man answered, then smiled. “Your companions are interesting too. A local and a ...Vulcan? With earrings? Where’d you find him?”
She almost answered him, but realized what he'd said. "Unless ... You... Oh. I've just run into trouble, haven't I?" She bolted for the door and made it a full two steps before finding herself cheekside with that awful, sticky floor. That was okay because she was quickly out like a light.
*********************
Lt. Bajun Julisa
Ms. Sticky Cheek
Lt. Commander Dae Nalas
Lt. Solis
Looking For Julisa In All The Wrong Places
