Growing Pains - Conclusion

Posted on Sat Jun 11th, 2016 @ 11:27pm by Lieutenant Commander Nicolao & Lieutenant Commander Gilroy & Seyla & Senior Chief Petty Officer Edana & Crewman Apprentice Xavier Slandala

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Archadia / The Cherry Pit / Security

* Elsewhere *

Not far from where Nico and Xavier were arguing with Simon, the Orion they were discussing opened her eyes and groaned as she shifted and woke slowly. She looked around her: a dirt floor, four walls and a roof and an open door. She wasn’t bound to or by anything. Making sure all her parts were attached and healthy, Ed shifted and stood. Cautiously, she peered around the door jamb then stepped out.

The sun hurt her eyes and she reached up to shield her eyes. The throb in her head was explained when her fingers brushed a good-sized lump on her forehead and she groaned once more. She stood at the end of an alley that seemed to open into another alley up ahead. She started forward, then stopped, hearing voices coming her direction. Instinct told her to get out of sight and she slipped back into the doorway.

“I really hate it when people lie to me,” Nico growled as he and Xavier moved along the alley. “I guess he wasn’t familiar with my kind and didn’t have the sense to know I could just pull it out of his head.”

“It’s not like your kind come with some sort of warning label,” the security officer mumbled. He advanced down the alley a little further. “So they just dumped her out here? How could they have confused Edana, with black hair, with Seyla, who has red hair?” He shook his head, bemused.

“That’s what happens when you send idiots to do your dirty work,” Nico answered. “Once Ed’s back in our hands, take her to sickbay. I need to get to Seyla. If they though Ed was her, that means Seyla’s in a dangerous place.”

“Okay,” he nodded and jumped as a shadow moved. He brought his phaser to bear on the movement and demanded, “Whoever you are, come into the light!”

As the voices got closer, Edana recognized Nico. At Xavier’s order, she stepped slowly out into the alley.

“Howdy boys.” A wave of dizziness hit suddenly and she reached out, supporting herself against the building. “Little late to the party aren’t ya?”

“Chief!” Xavier holstered his weapon quickly and stepped forward to put a shoulder under her arm. “Permission to beam her to Sickbay, sir?”

Nico nodded and pulled his comm badge out. He ordered the transport for them to Sickbay. “I’ll check with you once I’ve seen Seyla.”

Edana winked as the transporter beam picked them up.

* Seyla’s *

Nico found nothing helpful in the room where Edana had awakened and soon he was back on the station. Still out of uniform, he exited the lift and hurried along the corridor towards Seyla’s. As he got closer, he could hear a hysterical voice but the words were unintelligible. He picked up his pace and saw Seyla’s doors open.

A distraught Bella met him at the door, obviously on her way out of the quarters, crying, “Jonah! Jo-- oh, Niro... no... you’re in prison.” She stepped back.

“Nico,” he answered. He stepped in after her. “What’s wrong? Where is Seyla?” She seemed a little hysterical and he took her arm, guiding her over to the sofa.

“No! Jonah!”, she yelled for Seyla’s top security guy. He appeared in the doorway behind Nico and glanced around the apartment’s interior. “Jonah, they took her! Beamed in and... then they were gone!”

“Who took her?” Jonah and Nico asked at the same time. “Look Bella, this is important,” Nico continued. “What did they look like? How many?” He muttered a curse that he’d arrived too late.

“Two, just two. Male. I don’t know who..., Jonah?” She held her arms out to him and he picked her up, coddling her like a pet. He shushed her but she kept on: “I didn’t know them. They just... they appeared from nowhere and grabbed her. They were gone before she could say anything.”

This time Nico’s curse was in Enaran and so rapid it wasn’t translated. “This is what I was afraid of and was hoping to get here in time to prevent,” he said to Jonah. “Alright, I have to go.”

The big man put a hand on Nico’s shoulder. “Where are you going? How are you going to find her?”

“She’ll be somewhere down on Archadia and I have a rough idea of the area. Then I’ll ‘listen’ for her.” He tapped his temple. He decided not to mention that his nose would help too, given his recent dose of pheromones.

“They should have sent females. Few minutes with her and most males are willing to lick her toes clean after she’s kicked their asses,” Jonah said, still holding Bella and rubbing her back.

“Unless they are prepared to resist, then it wouldn’t matter.” Nico turned and moved back to the door. “I’ll let you know when we find something.” He hurried out, already opening a channel to Gilroy.

* Security Offices *

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Gilroy paused before answering Nico’s call. He glanced at Ganesh, idly noted that the Bolian’s uniform was straining around his midsection and grumbled, “I have the feeling this is bad news.”

“Most likely, yes,” Ganesh agreed. “Oz takes over the station and things go to hell very quickly.”

Gilroy laughed and said, “I’ll make sure to tell her you said that,” before opening the channel. “Nico, if it’s bad news, call someone else.”

=^=We need to get back down to Archadia and send someone down to talk to Bella. Two men appeared at the door, she said, and transported out taking Seyla with them. On a side note, we found Ed and she’s in Sickbay. =^=

“All of that is great news!”, Gilroy said, mostly serious. He looked at Ganesh and ordered, “Go, get a partner and get to Seyla’s.” Ganesh nodded and left the office as Gilroy turned back to Nico. “That is great news about Edana. I’ll send a message to Darwin and Zeferino. Any idea where Seyla was taken? I’m assuming you mean she was taken without her consent?”

=^= Based on Bella’s hysterics, yes. She said they came in and grabbed her and all were gone immediately. It all has to be tied to Dae and the missing money. Meet me at their Main House?=^=

“Just me or do you want a team?”

=^= You are a team Gil. See you there. =^=

“Right,” Gilroy closed the channel then set about making sure his crew knew where he was and who was in charge. He then beamed to Seyla’s main house on Archadia.

* Archadia *

Nico was waiting outside when Gilroy arrived. “That building where you found Marla….is it enclosed or is there a back way out of it that goes elsewhere?”

“We got to the building by following a small passageway in the house that led to a cellar and then a tunnel to the warehouse where Marla was,” Gilroy explained. “So, yes, there’s a back way out.”

“Good enough place to start,” Nico answered. “There has to be something there….I think you and Ray got too close and they may be making a panicked effort to hide their tracks. Meaning, they will be where those tracks are.”

“‘kay, then I’ll lead the way,” Gilroy said as he stepped into the house. “You do want to go through the tunnel, right? The passageway on this side is cramped.”

“Whatever gets us there the fastest. Lead on.” Nico patted all his pockets, then pulled out a phaser out of one and checked it. “Ready.”

They went past the bar and up the stairs. At the top, he turned down the hallway and found the panel to the passageway. When it opened, he gestured to the tiny space and said, “Feel like being the web-breaker?”

“Why not?” Nico stepped into the passage and began to move forward. Several metres in, he pulled out a light, attached it to his wrist and turned it on. “Good thing I’m not claustrophobic.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than a vision of the cramped closet where he’d been hidden before being exposed to the Cardassians jumped to mind. He muttered a curse and kept going.

“Good thing I’m only half-Klingon,” Gilroy muttered, again crouching and turning sideways to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling or scraping his shoulders along the walls. They kept on, retracing the path Gilroy and Ray had followed before. At the end of it, they stepped into the hidden cellar, still filled with boxes.

The smell of the explosion was still heavy in the air and they could see daylight at the far end as it showed through the massive hole in the wall.

“Someone wanted to make a point,” Nico mused. He pulled out a tricorder and turned in a slow circle. “No life signs in the immediate area. Where does this go?”

“Up to that warehouse, near the harbor,” GIlroy said. “It’s a convenient spot for smugglers, being so close. They could have the crates hidden in this cellar before the customs officers saw them.” He walked towards the daylight.

Nico followed, puzzling over that. “So what’s this got to do with the missing money and why Dae? Why Seyla now? Have you looked into the crates yet?”

“No. Dae was shadowing Marla who was looking into the missing money. Taking Seyla might be their way of negotiating with her,” Gilroy moved over to a crate and considered the writing on the side; it was in Archadian. He scanned it with the tricorder then said, “Supposedly this is just linens. Makes sense for a brothel to need a ton of sheets.” He pressed on the crate’s clasp but it beeped, indicating it was sealed.

“Interesting. Why seal up sheets?” He swept his tricorder over it and frowned.

“Exactly. These aren’t sheets,” Gilroy pulled a small disk from his pocket and pressed it to the crate’s side, near the keypad. After a moment the crate popped open. He glanced at Nico, “Let’s see what’s so important.” He opened the crate then pulled up a layer of padding. Underneath were packets of sheets, all labeled “1000 thread count”. He pushed them aside, revealing dozens of small vials. He pulled one out. “Macrospental?”

Nico took hold of the small labeled vial and twisted off the top. Pressing his finger to it, he turned it just enough to wet his fingertip and tasted it. Instantly, he made a sour face. “The label is true, it is. What the hell is this stuff doing on Archadia? I can’t see the female soldiers using it and last I checked, something like this is highly illegal down here.”

“The women like their men the way they are: slight, lanky, soft,” Gilroy said, agreeing. “I bet this goes for a high price here.” He paused, thinking through the puzzle. “Someone is using Seyla’s and Suresh’s houses as a cover to distribute this.”

Nico nodded. “Having the males augment themselves with this would cause huge problems with the status quo, which may be the whole idea.” A sudden thought occurred to Nico. “Is Doc Harding down here right now?”

“I’d have to check,” Gilroy answered. “Why?”

“We could have him double check these vials, just to be sure. That likely would, however, alert the Prime Minister but she should be aware of what’s polluting this city and probably other areas as well.”

“Feel like walking over to the Palace?” Gilroy picked up another vial.

“What about Seyla?” Nico sniffed the air, frowned, then moved away from Gilroy and sniffed again. “She’s been here.”

“Seyla, right.” Frowning, he looked around. “Would they bring her here? Why?” He turned towards Nico. “What if Seyla’s missing money was used to buy these drugs? She wouldn’t have raised a stink if she and Suresh were a part of this.”

“No, she wouldn’t. It would explain why they tried to kill Marla to stop the investigation, and why they wanted Dae and Seyla out of the way. She’s been here but isn’t here now. We do have a lead anyway. Maybe the local police can start looking in places we can’t go.”

“This has now become an Archadian issue, Nico. I’m going to turn it over to the local authorities,” Gilroy said. “We’ll continue on Dae’s case because he’s Starfleet.”

“Then we should get to the Palace and tell them what we have. They will likely have an easier time searching for her than we will.” Nico turned towards the opening in the wall. “I’ve never met the PM. What’s she like?”

“Demanding,” Gilroy said.

******************
Lt. Commander Nicolao
Crewman Xavier Slandala
SCPO Edana
Bella
Johan
Lt. Commander Gilroy