Deleted
Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2006 1:25:37 GMT
“Where the hell have you been?” Harrias challenged. “Never mind tell me in a minute…we can’t lose him now, it looks likes he's heading back into the city...”
Melain gave Lex a lope sided smile and rolled her eyes, the Captain made it sound like they’d been out shoe shopping instead of fleeing for their lives. She slipped the dermal regenerator she was hiding behind her back into her boot and followed the Trill into the dark. She had not taken her entire bag with her, but kept a few supplies she could not bare to go without. Of course, she had never ended up needing the dermal regenerator, Alexis had healed on her own.
She faintly recalled reading the redhead's medical record and coming across the mention of Namtar DNA in her system. She had meant to explore the possibilities behind such a trait before, but naturally things had gotten hectic. Imagine the possibilities of such a trait, granted it was walking a fine line when it came to the genetic laws, but the lives it would save... Of course then Melain might be out of work and besides if Frek could heal on his own, how often would he have visited her?
Before she could finish her step Frek was beside her grasping her hand. Melain assured him she was fine, which was mostly true. Still, it was not every day you got chased by goons and shot at by primitive weaponry. At least that was what Melain was hoping it was. She promised herself she would keep a close eye on Loki, that dart concerned her. “Doctor, examine that dart when you get the chance,”
“I will.” Melain promised, did he really think she would forget, how distracted did he think she was? As if trying to prove she was still and always would be a focused officer Melain let go of Frek’s hand and took a step ahead of him. Part of her screamed to go back and regain the connection, but it was counteracted by whatever logic she had retained. They may not be on duty, but what they where doing was too important to be given split focus. She stopped herself from looking back at the Andorian, and stared strait ahead biting her lip.
“Anyone in for a coffee?” Jira asked, interrupting Melain’s sightless gaze in Smith’s connection. She was getting tired again, that coffee would come in handy for more then one reason.
They picked a table on the patio, far enough from Smith to not look too suspicious, but close enough they could keep a subtle eye on him. As Melain sat down she could swear she saw him glance in their direction, a bitter look on his face. The barista arrived and took their orders, she seemed startled at her sudden influx of customers.
Realising it would look rather odd for the four of them to be sitting without conversing, Melain struck up a conversation she was certain would keep them going for awhile. “So, did any of you guys remember to vote in the election? If you ask me, they don’t advertise it enough. When I went to the polls I only knew three of the candidates platforms, and there was a lot more then three names on that ballot.”
Frek gave her an odd look before clueing in. Of course none of the Nevada crew had voted, when the election was held they where breaking the Prime Directive on a backwater planet, shipless and scattered. “I did what I always do, picked a name at random.” Frek replied.
Melain could see Smith grimace in the reflection of the cafe window, so he was listening to them and apparently had an interest in politics.
They continued to discuss the latest election results when a sixth patron entered the patio. A Bolian female with a fierce glint in her eyes. She glanced over at the Nevada crew with a look of annoyance, and made her way over to Smith’s table. He stood up, gave her a big embrace and a kiss anyone within a fifty meter radius could tell was a fraud. This was his contact. Melain continued to watch them through the reflection in the mirror. Smith slid a wrapped package across the table. The Bolian (to her credit) looked excited like any girl friend would, but instead of opening a package she slipped it into her pocket. That was no gift, that was a payment.
Melain recognised that women, her purple-blue skin was a shade not entirely common in Bolians, in fact Melain could only recall one Bolian with that particular hue. Yenna Glet, journalist for the ‘Federation Gazette’. She had interviewed Melain’s Uncle ages ago when StarFleet was planning on re-landscaping and had a knack for digging in deeper then necessary for her article. The duo talked in low tones, faces close like lovers whispering sweet nothings. Melain suspected nothing about their speech was sweet, or about nothing.
The barista arrived back with the drinks and the bill. “That’s 10 credits even.” she explained, holding out the scanner attached to her belt, waiting for one of the table’s occupants to wipe out a card. In a start Melain realised none of them actually had credits.
(107239/16100)
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hannah
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by hannah on Dec 3, 2006 20:04:40 GMT
“Help yourself to something from the replicator, if you get hungry,” she called. Hannah guessed she wasn’t the kind of women who made tea and biscuits for her guests.
Hannah stood up and moved over the replicator ordering herself a coffee and a piece of chocolate cake. Her diet had become really bad while they’d been on the run, rarely eating proper meals and snacking whenever she had chance.
The food materialized in the slot below the replicator. She picked up the cup and plate and sat down the sofa placing the meal on the coffee table. She sat a bit uncomfortable next to Lucy unsure what to say to her. Steve and David were chatting next to the window.
She looked around the room; there were very few photos and none that appeared to be of any kind of family. The room looked fairly modern as had the entire building come think it. It had all the latest modern devices but was very sparely decorated.
Hannah turned to Lucy deciding to break the silence.
“So how did you get involved in all this?” Hannah asked. Lucy explained from start to finish. They spoke for the next couple of hours with David and Steve joining the conversation after a short while.
The women returned back into the room. And walked over to Steve handing him, the id cards.
“I would say we are even now,” she said with a smile. Steve nodded.
“It was good to see you again,” she continued as she showed them out. Once they had exited the flat and where back in the hallway. Steve found the ids for each of them and handed them to the relevant people in the group.
They headed back down the stairs and back onto the streets. The moon was now up in the sky and the stars were out. They wandered down the street a bit finding somewhere quiet they could talk a few moments.
“We now need to find out what exactly we were doing six months ago?” Hannah said, “Any ideas?”
“It may have been deleted from public records, but there has got to be something in the starfleet database, it would look a bit odd if they deleted that, but it will have probably been altered,” Steve said.
“Even if it has been altered it should jog my memory and also Frek, Lorre’s and the captain so we can remember what really happened,” Hannah said.
“But how are we going to get into the starfleet database, our access code have been revoked,” David pointed out. There attention all turned to Lucy.
“Your access code still works and even if the data is classified you did say you were a good hacker,” Hannah said. Lucy nodded in agreement.
“We just need to find a quiet computer access terminal,” Hannah commented starting to make her way back down the street followed by the others.
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fthelev
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by fthelev on Dec 6, 2006 2:10:06 GMT
Impatiently the waitress drummed on the tray she was holding with her fingers. Looking a bit sheepishly the four them sat there. Not one of them had even thought of this before hand. “Heh.” Frek looked at the woman. She was of the large kind that could probably turn that tray into collar by smashing it unto your head. With one hand in all likelihood.
Apart from the imminent pain that action would cause, a twenty-five percent chance it would be him, it would also attract the very much unwanted attention. Either way, neither was desirable. “Just put it on the bill please,” Jira said casually, “We’ll be here for a while and probably want seconds.” He displayed his most dashing smile. It was the sort of smile that might work with a certain ladies but it was not unlikely it would make some other persons nauseous. Frek decided he looked like a choirboy on dope. But sometimes a little luck is required.
The barista seemed to warm up a bit and unleashed an equal smile to the world, and more specifically to the Captain Harrias Jira on this world. “Sure,” she beamed. It was almost scary. “Won’t be a problem.” She turned and walked away with swaying child-bearing hips. With a last glance at Jira she disappeared between the increasingly occupied tables. “Well…” Frek said turning to the Captain. Three of them sported wide grins on their faces. “One word…” Jira warned, being the fourth and not specifically smiling.
For now at least that problem was avoided. That still left them with Smith, if that was even his real name, and his mysterious contact. “What do we do if they leave?” Melain thought was wise to know. “We’ll still have to pay.” “We could make a dash for it,” Frek suggested, already plotting the fasted way to the exit. His eye fell on the waitress standing in the door post. It was a good thing they were already outside on the terrace. “Or offer her a date with, Cap… eh, Jira as compensation.” There was nothing choirboy-like in his expression right then. “We’ll make dash,” he said sourly and quite determined.
Several tables further the Bolian woman and Smith were still talking animatedly, both leaning on the table their heads close together. Smith was making a gesture with his hand, it looked he was putting more emphasis on the importance on what he was saying. Their position, the distance and the muttered voices made it impossible to make out what they were talking about. But it evidently was something of some substance. And it didn’t seem likely it was about the next season’s most popular ground fertilizer.
As they continued to observe them Frek to a sip of his coffee. He almost shot straight up as did indeed his antennae. His face turned to a darker shade, and with difficulty he swallowed the coffee. “You okay?” Melain was already at the point of half jumping out of her chair. Another poisoned dart? Frek frantically pointed at the cup that miraculously returned safely on the matching saucer. It was standing in a shallow puddle of some spilled coffee. At least he managed not to pour it over himself. “Ids hôd,” he finally mentioned sticking his tongue out trying to get some cold air to run past it. “Oh, it’s hot,” Loki finally translated into something they could all understand, and added rather matter-of-factly, “That’s what you get with hot coffee, unless you order ice-coffee.” The look Frek shot her was chilling enough to have instantly frozen the steaming drink.
“If we only knew who she is and what they are talking about,” Jira said when the commotion settled down a few seconds later. A slight sense of frustration was portrayed on his face. Melain made a hardly perceptible gesture towards the woman. “I know who she is,” she said calmly much to anyone’s surprise. “Yenna Glet, works for the Federation Gazette.” She quickly set out how she knew. “The media?” Frek stared at Melain and then glanced past her at the reporter. It was a surprising development, and it glimmered through in his voice. “How does that fit in?” Jira looked serious. “I can think of a thing or two,” he said, and bent a little forward to explain. “To start with, the press has easy access to a lot of events. Wave your press-card and there you are.” “You think she’s the assassin?” The tone in Melain’s voice betrayed she could hardly believe that. Jira raised his shoulders slightly. “Perhaps not,” he admitted, “But look at it this way. Someone gets it, and whatever the motive of it all is, the right sort of media coverage could work very well towards their advantage and their endgame.” He leant back a bit and unobtrusively scanned the area. No one was paying attention to them. Most guests were too involved in their own conversation to actually care what someone else was talking about. “Imagine this. You’re a journalist, you’re there. And then, bang! Someone gets killed. While her colleagues are trying to get their senses together and trying to comprehend what just happened she can already be broadcasting. Knowing upfront what’s going to happen.” Jira stopped.
He had been talking in one breath. Perhaps he paused for the effect, but the more probable reason was that he simply needed some air. A little bit longer without it and he would have turned blue. The lack of oxygen making him resemble Frek’s hue, or the Bolian’s for that matter. Jira sank back into his chair, as already were the others. Casual and seemingly relaxed like so many of the other visitors. “Broadcasting her version of the events,” Loki said thoughtfully, “The media can be a powerful tool and can reach a lot of people.” Melain didn’t seem wholly convinced. “But what if she simply uncovered something and is just being paid off?” Melain questioned. It was a plausible alternative. Jira let out a bitter laugh. “Paid off?” he asked, “With what, gold pressed latinum bars? The package didn’t seem heavy enough for that. Federation credits don’t come in physical form, they’re just digits transferred by a finger print.” “If she uncovered something they’d have taken care of her,” Loki muttered stroking over her arm where the dart had hit her, “They tried to kill Ramsey, and they didn’t seem to think much about sending us on a permanent leave.” “Yeah, a permanent leave from life,” Frek mumbled.
The Bajoran young woman looked and sounded far more hesitant now. “She could have covered herself in,” she insisted. But considering all this mystifying organisation seemed to be able to pull off, things looked bleak in that direction. Frek was thinking about the package. “So what was handed over just then?” he asked, the question not really addressed to anyone in particular. “Well, it could…” Jira suddenly stopped. “Frek! Could you please finally keep your feet to yourself? These are my legs. Not Melain’s!” “Oh…eh, uhm…” Frek changed colour in a way that would make an experienced chameleon jealous and seemed to develop a rapid interest in coffee cup construction. Jira sighed and muttered something under his breath that seemed to approach something in the direction of ‘being on a camping trip with horny teenagers’. “Back to the point,” Jira continued, “I’d say it’s information. Perhaps he wants her to relay it, or come up with data. Could be plans for her role in this. Whatever…” The cup would have to do without Frek’s attention who seemed to have lost interest in it. “Information to sensitive or valuable to send over on a network,” Frek said, careful to avoid Loki’s mocking glance and peered at Melain. “Exactly.”
Their conversation seemingly ended almost simultaneously with Smith and Glet’s. “She’s leaving,” Melain hissed following the Bolian journalist’s actions through the window reflection. Smith didn’t seem to make any preparations to follow her and leave as well. “Do we follow her?” Frek asked. “And what about Smith?” Loki added. Jira mind seemed to race. “The three of you follow that…, that Glet woman. I can manage with Smith.” The large barista appeared with a tray of drinks for one of the tables and gave Jira a luscious look that was probably meant to be seductive. It failed horribly. A bit in the same way as one would fail trying to make friends with the Borg by offering them a pink teddy-bear. The Trill swallowed as he caught the grimace the woman was making. “I take care of Smith,” he repeated, the next part sounding less sure. “And her.”
Yenna glet was already heading out of the entrance, or exit as it was called when you travel through it in opposite direction, when the three officers got up. “Do we try to get the package?” Frek wanted to know before setting off. Jira shook his head. “No!” he said resolutely, “If she’s relaying information I want to know to whom.” He thought about that for a split second. “But if you get a chance to take a peek at the contents without getting seen or caught…” He didn’t finish the sentence, and he didn’t have too. “You know the meeting point. Go there when you’re done.” The two teams or at least a representative would brush past each other later that night to pass on the newly obtained ID’s and financial means if Steve had been successful. That would at least allow them to book a hotel for the night. One with a real bed. Loki, Melain and Frek set off, leaving Jira behind.
[20561/138988]
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davidramsey
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by davidramsey on Dec 6, 2006 21:40:57 GMT
David nodded as they walked along. Suddenly he was gripped by another wave of strange fear. He grabbed Hannah by the arm and stopped Steve and Lucy by spreading his arm.
"We need to get off this path," he said with a very definite tone, "There, those bushes ... we need to get under some cover."
The two senior officers looked at him for a moment, but didn't have a chance to object. David tugged them off the trail. No sooner were they at the bushes than they heard a group of people approaching along the very same trail they had been walking. As one unit the quartet ducked behind the bushes and saw three very serious looking individuals making their way in the opposite direction.
"Lest mine eyes decieve me, but aren't those starfleet intelligence uniforms?" David whispered as the three passed them by.
Steve turned to them with a look of confusion, "Yes, they definitely were intel uniforms."
David watched them for a moment and still gripped by his own feelings of imminent danger he broke off from the group and started to slip along the bush line.
"Where the hell are you going, Lieutenant?" Hannah hissed at him as she reached after him and missed.
Steve suddenly decided to join David he hustled up next to the OPS officer and turned back to Hannah and waved her off. She flashed them both a look of sheer fury, but let them go.
The two men then proceeded to follow the three Intel officers right back to the flat they had just vacated. Careful to stay well out of sight, they trailed the three along the bushes. They rang the bell and the door opened, flooding the faces of the Intel officers with light. They were the same three mysterious tourists that had approached them in the park. David jumped at the sight, but Steve held him steady. Mari stepped out into the light and smiled pleasantly at the three officers.
David flashed a worried glance at Steve, but he raised his hand and shook his head and whispered, "They won't get anything out of Mari, trust me, the Cardassians, the Romulans, and the Dominion have all tried and failed."
One of the officers at the back turned around and looked almost exactly at the bush they were hiding behind, but he said nothing and turned back to watch Mari's smiling face.
"Hello, Madame Hata," the lead officer, the female from the park said with an equally genuine smile, "My name is Kasha Couler, from Starfleet Intelligence."
"Yes, how may I help you?" Mari replied, still smiling.
"We are here looking for several fugitives, one of them a murder suspect, and our information seems to indicate that one of them might have come to you for help. Steven ..., a former Intelligence agent you worked with on Bajor some years ago? Have you interacted with him or any of his fellows recently?"
"I know of Steven, yes, but I haven't seen him since our last encounter on Deep Space 9 nearly five years ago. What is this about murder? Steven would never do such a thing ... unless ordered ... and I daresay that is not murder as I suspect you know, being an operative yourself."
Kasha's smile grew, "Yes, of course. However, it is not him that we fear to be a murderer one of his shipmates that we held in custody escaped and we believe that Steven may be aiding him."
"What exactly is the charge?"
"We believe that one David Ramsey may have had a hand in the murder of his commanding officer, Harrias Jira, a commodore we found dead a few days ago in his quarters ..."
David heard nothing after that, he fell back against Steve, who was staring at the Intel Officer like he was tempted to run out and strangle her. David turned and looked at him.
"Do you ... is he dead?" David asked wide eyed and slightly frantic.
"I ... I don't know," Steve replied unsteadily, "We need to get back to Hannah and Lucy ..."
With that the two somewhat shaken men made their way back to where the two women were hiding.
"What happened?" Hannah asked almost immediately.
"They were the three people from the park," David replied as he settled down next to Lucy, still very shaken up.
"Hannah, I think they are planning on or have already killed the commodore and they are trying to frame David for it. More bad news, they knew about my service with Mari on Bajor ... and that stuff is highly classified ... which means ..."
"They have real access to Starfleet Intelligence, which means ... the database," Hannah answered for him, "But why David? He's not exactly one that would be likely to kill Jira ... he's barely even met him? David, are you sure there is no reason why these people would want you?"
They all looked at David and he looked back frightened, "I have no idea ... I really ... I can't fathom why they would want me at all."
The four considered the recent developments, but said nothing.
(OOC: For the record, I'm not trying to kill off Jira, just create suspense ... so ... uh ... don't get mad at me, please.)
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loki
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by loki on Dec 7, 2006 22:30:14 GMT
It didn’t feel right, leaving Jira behind, and not just because of the scarily rotund woman back at the coffee bar. Lex was sure that given the present circumstances it was unwise for any of them to be wondering off alone. Although, how many times had she been told that before and blatantly ignored the warnings…Jira was a big boy, he could look after himself. She scurried along in the wake of Frek and Melain, who were walking so closely together that they kept bumping into one another. Lex rolled her eyes Why do I get stuck with the lovebirds…at this rate I’ll end up vomiting all over the lovely Yenna… She cleared her throat loudly and barged her way between them quite forcefully - there was a time and a place and right now they had things to do that didn’t involve, whatever they were thinking about.
They trailed after the journalist, who walked at quite a pace in her high-heeled shoes. Loki’s plan hadn’t worked out so well: Frek kept bumping into her now instead of Melain. Even though her arm had healed back at the clubhouse it was still sore, and an andorian bashing into it every few minutes wasn’t making things any better. She still couldn’t believe they had gotten out of there alive, if he had hit Melain instead of her they might not have had time to fix it before…She gave a small sigh. She would give anything not to have to go through the experience of the DNA manipulation that had she had been subjected to back on the Namtar homeworld: she could not think of anything more painfully hideous than her own body beginning to morph into some hybrid version of a human/namtar. Nonetheless, the healing traits that remained within her genetic coding did have their uses…
“She’s headed into that apartment block…” Frek whispered, as the woman’s footsteps disappeared between a pillared gateway. The trio swung round after her and found themselves in a massive courtyard, surrounded on all three sides with high rise, red bricked buildings. Lights that had been set into the paving were beginning to flicker gently, as night was definitely setting in. Between the courtyard and the buildings there ran a three foot wide strip of tall foliage
Yenna crossed the courtyard diagonally, and glanced over her shoulder quickly before slipping through the double doors to the foyer. The three followed quickly, afraid of losing her within the building. Frek pushed on the door but it gave an unhelpful click and refused to open.
“Damn, needs an identicard…” Lex cursed.
“Well, we have to get in somehow…” Frek said, peering through the glass fronted doors trying to track her progress within the building. He started when a much taller and somewhat more muscular porter appeared on the other side of the glass. He pulled the door open so quickly that Frek, who had been leaning on it, nearly fell onto his knees at the mans feet.
“Can I help you?” He asked, not sounding sincere. Lex thought he looked more like he would help her into a coma than into the apartment.
“We were…uh…we wondered if you had any…rooms…uhm…” Frek started a loss leader, and stopped himself before it became too difficult. The man looked down at the top of his antenna.
“We are not a hotel, sir. Perhaps you might try the Claycroft round the corner, would you like me to escort you there?” He added menacingly, baring his teeth so that his words came out very sharply.
“No thank you, we can manage.” Melain said pleasantly, adding a big smile and taking Frek by the arm. They quickly turned on their heel and followed the contours of the building towards the exit. They could feel the eyes of the porter on their backs as they walked, and Lex was determined not to look back. Melain shot her a meaningful look and nodded her head towards the corner of the building. They whipped around and out of sight, jogging slightly along the side of the building.
“There must be a way to get in around the back…” Frek decided, determined not to give up so easily. It was obviously dark now, and they found it easy to stay in the shadow of the building without being seen. They scurried along at a slight crouch until Frek stopped so suddenly that both the girls ran into the back of him.
He didn’t seem to mind. “Look” he said, pointing up to one of the first floor balconies about three flats along from them. “Is that her?” Lex cocked her head to one side and squinted a little. There was a woman leaning over the front of the balcony with something in her hands, it was impossible to tell what. She was wearing a black jacket and what might have been a skirt like the one Yenna had had on. It looked a little bit like the journalist if Lex closed one eye and tipped her head to a right angle.
“Lets get a bit closer…” Melain suggested. They snuck along as stealthily as possible, counting the balconies until there were under the correct one. They could distantly hear two voices now, a mans and a woman’s, but they were over twenty feet above them. Frek tilted his head to one side.
“I think she just said oranges…” He whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
Loki nodded briefly before checking herself. “ORANGES?” she hissed loudly, “Why the hell would they be talking about oranges?” she scolded, screwing up her face at the idea.
“It sounded like oranges…” Frek was adamant.
“Well I thought it sounded more like fringes to me…” Lex countered.
“Shush you two.” Lorre interrupted, straining her ears to hear the rest of the conversation. Lex frowned at the both of them. At least fringes made more sense than oranges – just. She frowned as they continued to pick out more words.
“The conglomerate?” she frowned, having just picked up the term. Which conglomerate?
“She’s said that a few times…hang on…” Lorre insisted, still listening. The man started talking now. This time Lex picked up the words ‘Shadow Conglomerate’. She hadn’t heard of that before…whatever it was.
Yenna’s reply came to them in fragments “…plan…booked at…Paris…” and then there was silence. Lex thought she heard a door slide shut, but it might have just been the wind. They three of them stood in silence for a while. Eventually Frek crept out from under the balcony in a tentative manner, and glanced up to where Yenna and the man had been. He looked back to the others and shook his head. They had gone back inside. Frek beckoned them out and they walked around the back of the building in silence. They cut through a walkway that lead onto a dark road behind the apartments and headed east until they were back on the road they recognized.
The plan was to walk back round to the front of the complex and wait until the Yenna reemerged. That would probably not be until morning, but hopefully they would at least get a visual on her male companion – yet another piece of the puzzle. Lex walked a little way behind the other two, who had resumed their siamese-twin stance, and pondered about what they had overhead. It didn’t make much sense really, there were too many bits missing for her to fashion any theory out of it. She was just about to jog to catch up with the others when she heard footsteps from behind. She hesitated and felt a strong hand pressed over her mouth and nose. The owner crushed her face so forcefully that she didn’t think she would have been able to call out even if she could have breathed.
He placed a strong hand on her shoulder and dragged her down an skinny alleyway. He backed against the wall, and very slowly realeased his grip on her mouth. She didn’t think there was much point in running. If he was professional, he probably had a weapon of some kind. She felt his hand (she had assumed it was a man due to his superior strength) reach for her own, and he slid his palm into hers, pressing something into her grip. She clasped her fingers round it and turned it over carefully. Her eyes widened. Credit chips.
She frowned, and whipped around to face him. “Danny!” she exclaimed in both shock and relief. She tried to form more words but couldn’t quite manage it. He was grinning.
“It’s not much, barely enough for one day, but it’s all I could get in a hurry…” He told her, nodding to the gift. She shook her head.
“How did you find…” she began asking, but stopped as he grabbed her round the waist, shoved her backwards against the wall and kissed her hard.
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lucykanz
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by lucykanz on Dec 7, 2006 23:19:58 GMT
Lucy's face visibly paled at the suggestion for gaining computer access. She was going to have to break the promise she made to herself not to hack. In fact she would have to do more damage than Hnnah and the others could have realised.
The simple matter of entering an access code wasn't so simple. She didn't have one. Her civilian status meant that she had been given temporary codes when needed in the past. And she wasn't due to receive her actual ID for work until she started.
However after a short time thinking a smile appeared on her face as she thought of a way to get around the problem. It would require a little creativity, but all the best plans do.
The news retrieved from the walk unsettled Lucy a little. She hardly knew the people she was with and yet she was risking her whole future for them. And worrying about what was going on. But at the same time she knew that it gave her a unique perspective. "We're going to have to keep moving. Whether anything's happened or not we still need to see what's in the files."
*Okay, you can do this* she thought to herself. Lucy looked down at the screen in front of her. The first thing she had to do was distort the voice recognition. Carefully she entered the appropriate commands.
"What are you doing there?" Hannah asked, clearly wanting to be kept up-to-date.
There was a nervous giggle in reply, "Being thankful I'm too old to be grounded for doing this..." She knew it was vague but it was hard to explain exactly what was going on. That and some of the techniques she was using hadn't been developed yet.
She smiled as a beep confirmed she had been successful. "Computer, requesting access to this terminal. Access code..." Lucy rattled off the number she had heard and memorised when she was younger.
"Strange accent" Steve commented. Lucy nodded. It had to be.
The distortion meant that the computer took a little longer to respond than usual, but respond it did. "Authorisation confirmed. Access granted to Commander L'Ola Kanz."
The others looked at her and she shrugged her shoulders, "Well I got in this far didn't I? Not telling you what I did though. When Starfleet imprison me for the rest of my life for hacking you don't need to be taken in too."
She turned back to the terminal to get back to work before they could respond.
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2006 20:08:20 GMT
Melain walked close to Frek, enjoying the silent company. They had learned something listening to Glet on the balcony, she just had no idea what that was. She slowly slipped her hand in his, expecting some form of disapproval from behind, but Lex seemed to have given up making guttural noises at Melain and Frek’s dispense.
‘I think this is a good spot.” Melain commented as they found a small sitting area, she could see the front entrance reflected in a nearby window. “Hopefully that porter won’t show up. Speaking of, Frek I want to look at that bump on your head, the swelling hasn’t gone down much.” She sat Frek down on one of the benches and examined his latest ‘wound’. It was minor, but Melain would keep an eye on it anyway. She gave him a friendly pat on the head, Frek winced even though Melain was inches away from the bump. “You’ll survive, but barely.” Melain smiled, settling herself down on his lap.
Where was Lex?
“Did she tell you she was going somewhere?” Melain asked, standing up. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Lex since they started walking again.
“No.” Frek replied as he picked himself off the bench as well. “Harrias is going to kill us.” He added, almost like an after thought.
Melain heart jumped into her throat, this was exactly what Jira warned them about. ‘Okay, Okay, Okay.” she repeated again and again, trying to clear her mind. “She can’t have gone far, we’ve travelled what, 200 meters at most?” She paused, but continued before Frek could reply. “We need to retrace our steps, Oh by the Prophets this is not good.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” Frek added. “Why did she have to walk behind us!?”
“I don’t know, I don’t....What if that Porter got her?” Melain wondered aloud, speeding up her pace.
“Or worse, one of those people from the club.” Frek added. ‘Slow down, I don’t want to lose you.”
Melain reduced her pace slightly, Oh Jira would have their heads for this, of that she was certain. They had travelled more then halfway back when Melain heard a noise coming from a narrow alley off to the side. She stopped and looked over at Frek. They exchanged meaningful glances. “We go in together, and fast.” Melain whispered, pulling the hypospray out of her boot. She programmed it with enough sedative to severely daze a Naussican or knock out the average humanoid. Holding it defensibly she gave a curt nod and the couple leapt into the alley.
Melain could see the back of what she suspected was a human male pressing Loki against the wall, in a single motion she brought the hypospray to his neck. He dropped like a felled tree and Frek was immediately above him looking comical wielding a unassuming branch in one hand.
Melain turned to see to Loki “Are you...”
“Danny!!” Lex exclaimed, sorting herself out “Put that stick down, he’s a friend!”
“But he was....” Frek replied weakly, dropping the stick which landed conveniently on this ‘Danny” fellow. “Hey, isn’t he your...”
“Yes.” Lex replied roughly, pushing past Frek. “What did you give him?”
“Just a mild sedative, he should be up again in about an hour.” Melain explained, she felt rather stupid.
“Can you wake him up now?” Lex asked, her voice betrayed a fair bit of frustration. Melain did not see why she was upset, if she had been under attack their actions would have been heroic.
“I’d rather.... Yes just a moment.” Melain programmed a stimulant into her hypospray and injected it into the human male’s neck.
“What the..” he mumbled as his eyes fluttered open. “why am I?...” he rubbed the side of his neck. “Lex?”
“Sorry Danny, they are friends who got a little... carried away.” Lex explained. “Melain this is Danny, he is an old friend of mine, Frek met him yesterday. At least I think it was yesterday. We haven’t had a decent sleep in almost four days.” she explained.
“Can you walk? We should get back to the cafe.” Melain suggested, she suspected that Loki would want to keep Danny with them. “Glet will not be coming out again till morning anyway.”
”I think I can, Lex can you give me a hand?” Danny asked. Now it was Melain’s turn to make vomiting noises. --------------------------------------------------
The cafe was now closed, despite the fact it was not even sundown. The Barista was gone, and so was Harrias.
“What did she do with him?” Frek wondered aloud.
“Frek!” Melain replied, stifling a giggle. “He could still be after Smith. Let’s spread out and look around.”
As they talked a nearby shop owner had left the confines of his produce and headed their way “Ah, there you are!” he exclaimed, holding out a PaDD. “Your friend asked me to give you this. Nice fellow by the way, tell him he can come back anytime and I will give him apples for cheap.”
“Thank you, we will.” Melain replied, taking the PaDD. She ushered the group down the block before reading the contents. “Gone to meet Steve for the stuff, meet me at the Hotel Verdi down the block, reservations under Laurie Harris.”
“A hotel!” Melain exclaimed.
“A real bed!” Lex added.
“Food!” Frek grinned.
“and a shower.” Danny added, giving Lex a playful smile.
Their concerns about Harrias subsided and their eagerness to enjoy some luxury over came them. -----------------------------------------------------------
Harrias had reserved two rooms, Loki and Danny immediately too over one, leaving Melain and Frek in the second, to share with the Commodore. Needless to say neither of them where impressed.
“I’m going to have a shower.” Melain declared. “and see if can get some of this makeup off. I don’t mind the hair, but I am tired of looking old.”
“I’m getting something to eat.” Frek decided.
“Don’t order too much off the room service menu, that stuff is expensive.” Melain cautioned through the door of the bathroom. The door chimed. “Can you get that, I’m indecent?” Melain asked. She could hear some voices, then the door closed again.
“It’s food..... no wait. It’s just the IDs and Credits.” Frek explained. “I wonder why Harrias did not bring them himself...wait there is note.” He paused, and began to read. “Harrias did not come, I saw you guys enter the hotel and sent these up. S”
“Hmm, I guess he must have really got his charms on with that Coffee lady.” Melain replied. “If he’s not back by morning I’ll worry.”
“Yeah,” Frek added. “how does a couple of steaks sound?”
(108433/17294)
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loki
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by loki on Dec 9, 2006 22:55:55 GMT
“Ugh…” Lex unpeeled her stuck eyelids and flinched as the light flickered between them. It took her a moment to remember where she was. The hotel room that she presently inhabited with Danny was overly large. It had a massive double bed in the middle opposite the door, and a three drawer high chest on either side each with a lamp and one with a chronometer. There was a desk spanning the left hand corner with computer and communications facilities. She hadn’t seen the bathroom yet, and wondered fleetingly if there was a real hot water shower. With her eyes open now she pushed herself up with her hands and propped herself up on her elbows. She had been lying spread-eagled on the bed diagonally, taking up the entire thing by herself. She was still fully clothed, and had apparently fallen asleep with her head at the wrong end and her feet shoved between the pillows.
“How long have I been asleep?” She asked. She didn’t even remember falling asleep, she hadnt been that tired.
Danny swiveled in the chair he had taken at the desk, when there had been no room left on the bed. Although not a particularly small man, he had managed to fold himself up so that he sat cross-legged on top of it, one of his knees sticking out from underneath the arm. He grinned.
“Only a couple of hours…” he sniggered. Lex didn’t have the energy to scold him. She was still getting used to the idea that he was with them now. She would really have thought that Frek and Lorre would have sent him packing, but for some reason they hadn’t minded him tagging along. She didn’t think that had been his intention, but it had never stopped him following her into trouble in the past.
“You want something from room service?” he asked, his card poised over the slot on the console. Even though she was groggy Lex shot up sharply to stop him.
“No, don’t use your card, they know your connected with me…” she said, and thought she might have sounded as though had been drinking. She tried to shake her head to clear it, but the fug that had settled there only seemed to get thicker.
“Its ok, I’m using yours.” He explained with a twinkle in his eye. “Frek dropped it in about an hour ago. So what do you want?”
Lex shook her head ever so slightly. He had changed subject quite quickly. Frek must have got the ID cards and credits that Steve was trying to secure. Did that mean that Harrias had turned up? She remembered being worried about him as they made their way to the hotel, but had been distracted as Danny had filled them in on what had happened since they had left his house the previous day. It turned out the Starfleet intelligence officers hadnt got anything out of him that could help them. He must have had an honest face, because they had believed him when he said he had no idea they were on the run. It was a little far fetched, but she supposed it could have been possible…
He continued to look at her expectantly. “Oh, sorry…” She muttered, “Uhm, can we have chocolate? Or, one of those chewy bar things with chocolate chips in? Do they do those…?” She asked, slightly more cheerful at the thought of chocolate.
He looked a little skeptical. “I’ll ask.” And he proceeded to insert the new ID card and trail through the options on the screen. Lex flumped back down onto the bed, this time curling into a ball and utilizing the pillows in the proper fashion.
“Oi, no sleeping.” Danny threw something at her.
“Umph.” She threw her arm onto the other side of her body and groped around on the bed to find whatever he had chucked at her. She gave up when she couldn’t locate it, and instead grabbed a pillow and lobbed it in his direction.
Just then the doorbell chimed. Danny jumped up to get it, and returned to her with a wrapped chewy bar on a silver tray. Her eyes lit up. “Cool.” She said, and snatched it up with a grin.
“I dunno why you like those things…” He muttered, tucking into his own sandwich.
“I lived on vem at uni…fink I just became dependant…” She said through a large mouthful of sticky oats. It was a credit to their friendship that he didn’t laugh while she stuffed the bar hungrily into her mouth. Although, it might just be that he had seen her do similar things countless times, and had just gotten used to it. Whichever it was, Lex was certainly glad to see him again, it must have been about four years since the Al-Iksandrya mission, after which they had gone their separate ways. Both of them had been busy in the aftermath with new jobs and assignments, and their contact had been brief, but it was still there…as always. Lex was a very independent woman, and he knew that, but he was always there, at the back of her mind, waiting for her to come back. He had proved that tonight.
“Shall we go and see the others?” she asked suddenly, “I want to know if Jira got back, did Frek say anything about that?”
Danny shook his head. “No, he just dropped those off then disappeared. He looked quite excited about something…”
Lex rolled her eyes. Probably dinner… she thought coyly. But then she remembered who he was sharing a room with…NO she told herself firmly, Not with Jira there…they wouldn’t… She hauled herself up off the bed and stumbled over to the door. She hoped the others didn’t have too much planned for tomorrow, she was exhausted. That was another thing she loved about Danny, he didn’t fuss over her. Noone had ever really fussed over her, but she didn’t want them to start either. She was well aware that she needed some sleep, but also knew she would react adversely to anyone telling her so.
They made their way out into the hallway and slapped the chime of the room next door. Lex thought maybe she should have checked the time before calling on the neighbours, but it was a bit late now. It took a long time for Frek to answer the door. Lex thought that maybe they had been sleeping, but he looked a little flustered, perhaps they had been doing something else…
They entered the room. The light was off. Frek barked an order at the computer and it brought the lights up to a dim glow. Lex stared around the room expectantly.
“Where’s Jira?” She asked. The bed was empty, but the covers rumpled. Lorre was slumped in the desk chair, looking as tired as Lex. Frek dropped onto the end of the bed and Danny onto the middle.
“He didn’t make it.” Lorre said solemnly. Lex frowned. “Steve sent the ID’s up with a note saying he never turned up.” Lorre continued, looking worried.
“What? Where are Steve and the others?” Lex asked quickly.
“We don’t know. Its probably better that way. We’ll meet them as planned tomorrow and hope that Harrias has just been delayed….” Lex’s frown deepened in the silence that followed. She could see that Lorre was worried, and it made everything worse somehow. The science officer tended to wear her heart on her sleeve and reacted emotionally at every opportunity, but she had always thought of Lorre as being more reserved with her feelings. She couldn’t think of any good reasons for Jira’s disappearance, other than not being able to stand the night in a room with Frek and Lorre…
“So, uh, what are we doing tomorrow then?” She asked finally, hoping it might involve both a lie-in and searching for their missing Captain…
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fthelev
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by fthelev on Dec 11, 2006 17:25:34 GMT
A cloud of vapour appeared from the door leading to the bathroom as it was opened. Melain appeared wearing one of the robes provided by the hotel, towelling dry her wet hair. “Steak’s sound fine too me,” she said. She looked better, her cheeks slightly flushed from the steamy shower. Frek nodded. “Okay, I’ll take a quick shower myself and order dinner.” It wouldn’t hurt anybody if he freshened up a bit. One more day like this and even the occasional fly crossing paths would faint and drop from the sky, plummeting towards its fateful death. Not that Frek held a particular love for flies, but still. Ten minutes later he felt as if the stream of water had made all the difference. When he went in and looked the mirror a sloppy looking Andorian had returned the stare, now an Andorian that actually had some resemblance to himself looked back. The bump on his head seemed to be increasing to the size of the Mount Everest though, he thought remembering the planet’s highest feature correctly. With a content smile he shot into the extra set of clothing Lucy managed to get them earlier and bagged his other set for the overnight laundry service.
Melain was sitting at the small table positioned against the wall examining the ID’s that had just been sent up. “Lex’s is here as well,” she said waving the object of discussion on her hand. “They all look quite good.” “I’ll take them next door,” he said, somewhat reluctant to leave the room. He held up the laundry bag. “Put your clothes in as well. I’ll drop this at the reception and order dinner while I’m there as well.”
Three impatient knocks later Danny opened the door of the room he and Loki had confiscated for themselves, by the looks of it, it was identical to theirs. Loki’s friend expressed an inquiring look which probably indicated he wanted to know what Frek came to do. “Just came to drop these off,” Frek said pushing the objects in the young man’s hands. “What is it?” he asked slightly bewildered. “Fake ID and matching credit account,” Frek answered hastily. He peered past Danny in the room and noticed Loki taking up the entire bed, sleeping. “She’ll know what it is,” he added cutting of further questions. “Got to go now, bye.” Danny would have to do with that. With those last words he left him behind, heading for the staircase, down towards the lobby. Like he noticed when he came in, it had a sense of faded luxury about it. It was wide and spacious, and though it perhaps lost its grandeur over they years it still made one wonder why Captain Jira had picked this hotel. All in all, this may not have been the most expensive in the city, it certainly wasn’t the cheapest. Frek headed to the reception desk, manned by a spotty youth. Obviously a student of some sort. The spotty youth didn’t react to Frek’s presence, seemingly lost in a PADD or else choose to ignore him. “Yes?” When Spotty finally looked up with an annoyed sigh it was clear it was the latter. You didn’t have to be an expert on body language or a telepath to figure out he wasn’t exactly thrilled having to deal with a costumer. “I wanted order some room service.” Frek indicated his desire undaunted by Spotty’s lack of enthusiasm. “You can do that by using the computer in your room,” the clerk said evidently considering him a source of vexation. “I also have some laundry,” Frek added. “You can do that by using the computer in your room,” Spotty repeated himself, “It can be picked up you know.” “I wanted the exercise,” Frek replied wondering if it really would be called harassment if he stuffed his head in the bag with clothes that desperately needed washing. “You can do that by using the com…” He stopped realizing it wouldn’t be a fitting reply. “The fitness area is in the basement,” he informed with about the same keenness portrayed by a Vulcan monk forced to go to a cocktail party. Frek bend over the counter, giving the spotty kid a menacing look. “Now yo…” he started. “Okay, okay, okay,” Spotty said slightly irritated, raising his hands in faked innocence. “Relax, no need to get excited. What is your room number…sir?” The last part was added with clear sarcastic undertone. “Room three-fourteen,” Frek said resisting the urge to see how aerodynamic spotty kids actually were, and placed his order. The kid tapped some commands on the computer. “Anything else?” he asked reluctantly. Frek thought about that for a second. “Yes, I’d also like some wine,” he added to the order. “You can…” “Yes, I know! I can order that with the computer, but I’m asking you!” Frek sincerely started to wonder how many teachers this kid drove into early retirement. “You can order that at the hotel bar,” Spotty continued evenly, “Over there. Dinner will be up in ten minutes, laundry tomorrow morning between nine and ten. Goodbye.”
As he made his way to the hotel bar Frek was beginning to see why Jira picked this place. With someone like that at the reception someone would already have a hard finding out if this place really was a hotel from him. He seemed to hold as much interest in the costumers and the rest of his job as your typical high flyin’ bird would have in world politics.
“I was almost getting used to you looking old,” Frek said taking a bite of his steak as he stared past the candle and the slim vase with the rose in it he stole from the hotel bar when the barman was looking away. It wasn’t much of a setting and it sure couldn’t compare with a picturesque café in Montmartre, Paris, overlooking the city from its high position on an early spring evening and the domes of the Sacre Coeur on the other side with the scent of blossom floating in the air. To hold her in his arms, dimmed by scarlet morning red. But it was the best he could do given the situation. Melain in an automatic gesture brought her hand up to her face that had sported the disguise earlier. She smiled. “I for one am glad being back to my normal age,” she said, her eyes went down to the standard little heap of conserved vegetables on his plate he had carefully directed to the side. “Me too,” Frek admitted, it was nice to see her smile. “You looked a bit freaky you know.” “Well thanks,” Melain said with feigned perturb. “Eh? No, I mean, I’m sure you age gracefully,” he tried, “But for the moment I prefer you just the way you are.”
Frek finished his glass of red wine and looked over to the young woman across the table. She was holding her fork in one hand, resting it on the side of her plate, while the other crept over the small table towards his. Apart from the cellar with the very dead old lady they hadn’t been alone for a long time. Who could’ve foreseen this when they met two years before? Regular sickbay visits, well, perhaps that was something no one was surprised about. They had come a long way, and he wouldn’t have wanted it to end differently, other than them being together. Their hands met halfway and she let hers slip into his. Frek slowly got up from behind the table and gently pulled her to her feet, their fingers entwining and he closed his arm around her. For a while they just stood there, resting their foreheads against each other. Neither of them spoke, and they didn’t have too. There was a pleasant tension between the two of them none was willing to break. He stared in her deep blue eyes and the familiar tingling sensation returned to his stomach. It spread through the rest of his body, giving him the feeling of virtually weightlessness, as if he could be caught like a feather floating on a light breeze. When Melain finally moved it was slow and deliberate, her lips parting and placing them over his. When she pulled back he could feel his heart pounding, his breathing slow and deep. When he kissed her back it was with the fervour and passion of someone putting in all his feelings and love for her. It was a moment where time lost all meaning, where all that mattered was them, her and him. Where all that mattered was what they meant for each other. Melain’s robe slit to the carpeted floor as they started to explore each other with their hands and finally slit under the cool sheets of the bed.
***************** *****************
Cuddled in each others arms, they rested comfortably when the bell disturbed their moment of peace. A muttered curse escaped under his breath. Who the hell would be ringing doors in the middle of the night? “You think that’s Harrias?” Melain asked with a shimmer of hope and at the same time, feeling a bit guilty about it, hoped it wasn’t. “Dunno,” Frek groaned, “But if it is he can have the bath again. Should be used to it.” “Bath?” “I’ll explain later.” It occurred to him that Jira had no idea Danny was with them. He obviously wouldn’t have taken that into account when he booked the rooms. He put on one of the robes, and opened the door. “Oh, it’s you,” he said sourly as he saw who were coming in as the lights went on.
Quietly he listened to Loki’s questions and Melain’s replies. He could see Loki’s concern, but there was nothing really they could do about it. And disturbing a nights rests, which could be the last decent one for days to come wasn’t exactly much helping either. “Laundry doesn’t arrive till ten tomorrow morning,” he said in reply to Loki’s question. “Not much use getting started before that.”
A decision had to be made on what to do the next day. It was a valid question. “We need to follow up on what we learned from that Glet woman and see what we can learn about her,” Frek said. “Through the paper?” Melain suggested. Frek nodded. “That seems a good place to start.” Lex was keeping awfully quiet. “And Jira?” It was difficult, but at this point there wasn’t much to say about it. For all they knew he was following up on a lead on his, and they would spend precious time looking for someone who didn’t need to be looked for. On the other hand, if he was caught… “I think it’s best to wait until the scheduled meeting with Stevenson and her team,” Frek said, “If he doesn’t show up there we can assume something has happened and comprise a plan what to do about it.”
Loki didn’t seem entirely happy about it, something that didn’t go entirely unnoticed by Danny. “One or two of us can always ask some questions around?” he suggested. “We don’t need to all go to that paper do we?” Frek shook his head. “No, we don’t,” he said, he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to let them go. He stood up. “If you want to, have a go,” he said reluctantly, “But think it through.” Politely Frek ushered them to the door. “I’ll sleep on it,” Lex replied quietly. With a swift ‘goodnight’ Frek closed the door behind them, finally being alone again. [22494/140921]
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2006 5:32:50 GMT
As the door slid closed behind Alexis Melain let the stream of breath she had been holding back and looked over at Frek. “He’s fine, if anyone had be split off from the rest of the group it should be Jira.” she said, reassuring herself more then him. To be honest, she was feeling a little guilty. Having the hotel room to themselves was much more pleasant then sharing it with the same Trill who had berated them for showing any signs of affection what so ever.
Melain had to laugh at herself, when she had first met Frek on the USS Hanson they had been two eager and nervous cadets. The first time she saw him he had been sitting at the Hanson Helm, looking as though a faint breeze would knock him over, of course she hadn’t been much better. She remembered the oasis on Jesin where they and their instructors had sought refuge after being abandoned by their guides. Her first encounter with Frek’s accident prone nature; a local duck. It had been Melain’s fault, she was the one who disturbed the nest in the first place. In fact if she recalled correctly Frek had not been hurt by the insane bird, she was was attacked. Despite the danger they had been it at the time, Melain remembered the mission fondly. She supposed the spark that ignited between them began there, on the bank of that grubby water, munching on half cooked omelettes.
When they where given their first assignment Melain had been elated that both her and Frek had been assigned to the Nevada, she saw him as a good friend then, a contrast to Danara whom Melain supposed was a different kind of friend. The Cardassian was the type of friend you loved to hate, she provided the challenge, Frek provided the leaning shoulder and of course the laughter. They had gone to Bajor after graduation, Melain was impressed that Frek allowed her to haul him along, and he never complained when she spent the entire trip in the archives. Of course he had other things to do, bones to break, hair to dye horrible colours....
“Melain.” Frek interrupted, placing one hand on her shoulder.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about our training mission.” Melain replied. They had gone so far in just two years, she never expected this, although looking back she was not surprised.
“The one with the duck?”
“Yeah, seems like ages ago doesn’t it?” Melain smiled, and let out a yawn. She was tired, neither of them had slept much.
“Yeah,” Frek replied, he began to massage her shoulders. He was not very good, but the offer was a sweet one so Melain let him. Any damage he did she could fix later.
“What do you think about the Glet women?”
‘She gives me the creeps.” Melain replied. “Did I mention she interviewed my uncle once. It was right before I left for the Hanson. She seemed so desperate for a wild story, every question she asked him had some alternate motive. She wanted to make a scandal out of a small column about the academy's new landscaping. My uncle figures she was just desperate to save her sinking career. Little lower Frek, that’s where the arrow hit me.” she directed, flinching faintly.
“Sorry.” Frek moved his hands further down Melain’s back. “Have you ever been to Paris?”
“To be honest, no. My High School class went on a trip once, but it corresponded to the Bajoran holy month.” Melain explained. “Do you think that’s where this is all going to go down?”
“Possibly, that Glet women is heading there, and it did not sound like she was going to go sight seeing. Paris is a hotbed of important people. Have you ever heard of this Shadow Conglomerate?”
“No, I doubt many people have. It sounds ominous though. This is getting deeper then I expected.” Melain sighed. “We need a break Frek. It’s just been one thing after another.”
“We did have a break a year ago on Beta XXIA.” Frek explained.
“Some break that turned out to be, I spent the entire time locked up in a cellar while you flirted with a terrorist in disguise.” Melain accused, pulling away playfully.
“I did not flirt with her, I mean I did a little... I thought she was you, everyone did.” Frek defended.
“And then after that it was Borg, zombies, the Tammeron Mob and then... O’Ryan.” Melain’s voice drifted off. She bit her lip, a bad old habit she’d had for ages. She had been so busy over the last few days she hadn’t given any thought to the events on that warring planet.
“None of that was your fault Melain, You made the same choices I would have made, the same choices any Star Fleet officer would have. Those JAG guys have never been there, they just sit there with their high morals, their policies and directives that do not always apply. Besides, we know that the panel was slanted.” Frek assured her, resuming his pathetic attempt at a back rub. “It’s still pretty early, let’s try to get some sleep.”
Melain nodded, there was no one she would have rather have been with at that moment then Frek Thelev.
(18169/109308)
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fthelev
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by fthelev on Dec 14, 2006 15:51:17 GMT
With his hands still on her shoulders he guided her back to the bed, and followed her under the white fluffy covers. She looked tired. Loki’s short visit had meant a quick and immediate return to reality, something they had managed to forget for a while the moments before. Frek hoped his little massage had relaxed her a bit. The last time he gave someone one the person in question had to go to a physiotherapist for about half a year on weekly basis. Though it has to be said it was never proven that it was actually his fault. But so far Melain hadn’t complained, and she still appeared able to walk so, it was probably alright.
Melain uttered a little sigh as he made her self comfortable under the blankets and stared at him through sleepy eyes. “What are you thinking off?” she whispered.
It was odd wasn’t it? There was this mixed array of feelings and emotions, one the one hand he felt comfortable, happy as if there wasn’t a care in the world. He was with her. On the other hand, mixed through it, a feeling of worry and fear for what could come tomorrow crept through him as well. She was right; they could do with a break. His thoughts went back to her mention of Paris. Paris. He would love to take a stroll with her through the gardens of Versailles. Past its many ponds, endless amount of statues, the small pleasure grounds hidden in the green and colourful beds of flowers which at first from all over the world, and now from all over the Federation and likely beyond.
A wave of affection flowed through him like a crystal clear mountain brook meandering down lush green hills, sparkling and gurgling softly. The mountain stream that is, not Frek himself. He moved a bit closer to her, extending his arm to brush over her bare shoulder, caressing her cheek with the soft touch of his fingers, to stroke through her hair. For him she would always be a precious flower, a flower you wouldn’t be able to find in any garden. Not in those of Versailles or any other.
“I was thinking you’re right,” he finally replied. “About what?” Melain inquired. He gently stroked away a bit of hair that had fallen before her eyes. “That we need a break. A real one.” “I told you that,” she said. Frek nodded. “Yeah, a real one.” He spoke softly. “Perhaps we can get away for a while, take a leave.” “If we’re still in Starfleet,” Melain added, somewhat gloomily. Or be alive for that matter. “A week, or two, in a nice resort on Riga,” he continued ignoring the remark, “Nothing to worry about, just enjoying the luxury, the nice weather and not to mention the food.” He could almost see it before his eyes. “Mmm,” Melain groaned dreamily, “That would be nice.” Frek couldn’t agree more. “Evening walks along the most beautiful beaches under the moonlight,” he continued, “Seeing the sun set, a midnight dip in the ocean and…”
It suddenly reminded him of the last time he was in a sort like situation. Okay, almost sort like, lose the nice romantic touches and you get the idea. It was more of a wild party on a beach. There was a midnight dip though, and the memory of that is what caused the sudden pause. You know how that goes; someone comes up with the bright idea to take a little swim in the sea. And you think, ‘Yeah, nice!’ Five minutes later you’re running over the beach wholly jellyfish-stricken. It shouldn’t be too hard to envision that is no laughing matter. Well, it was to the others, but definitely not for him.
“What’s wrong?” Melain asked noticing the painful expression on his face. “Nothing.” Frek shook off the memory, “We just need to pick a beach with no jellyfish anywhere near.” “Oh.” Melain didn’t ask, but probably had some sort idea what it was about. “We’ll take that into account,” she promised with a smile on her lips. Her voice trailed off as she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Slowly they closed as she drifted off. Huddled together in each others arms, comforted by their warmth, she fell asleep followed a minute or so later by Frek.
When he woke next morning, a little before eight, he felled refreshed and good. How long had been since he slept like that, and there was more than that. First thing he saw when his eyes drifted open, was Melain lying next to him. “Hey,” she said softly. Apparently she was already awake. “Hey,” he replied.
[23274/141701]
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davidramsey
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by davidramsey on Dec 16, 2006 8:11:18 GMT
When Lucy returned to the huddle with a grin on her face, David finally started to feel a bit confident. Maybe they wouldn't die after all ... he grimaced at the thought, but brightened up at the residual grin still shimmering on Lucy's face.
"Ok, we have IDs, we have credits, and we have access codes," he said to the group in general, "so … now what?"
"Now ... Starfleet Headquarters ... we have got to have a look at that database," Hannah replied with the kind of ferocity that reminded David that she was the first officer and the commander of this outfit, "Though something about those Intelligence officers makes me think that some dirty hands have already rifled through that database, we still need to see just what it says and hope we can uncover a clue that's worth a damn."
Steve shook his head slowly, but didn't argue, "So, what's the plan?"
Hannah screwed up her face in concentration and then sighed, "Well ... what is the one kind of person that can go in and out of Headquarters without anyone so much as blowing their nose? Those are the kind of people we need to be ...”
“What kind of people can just walk right past the guards and into the database mainframe?" David replied looking at Lucy, then Steve and then finally Hannah once more.
As one voice, all four of them replied, "Cadets."
***********************************
The anxiety was horrible ... and so were the uniforms. It had been a while since David had worn a cadet's uniform and they weren't much different from those worn by officers ... that is, if you manage to get the right size. The little group had been forced to raid a supply locker off the main campus and unfortunately, David had been forced to choose between too short or too thin. He'd accepted the thin one and had trouble breathing ever since. Of course, Hannah, Steve, and Lucy had bigger problems: David got the thin one, Steve got the short one ... and there were no female uniforms. Hannah and Lucy had been forced to improvise and two rather wide uniforms had found themselves fastened tighter than they had ever expected they would be. Yet apparently, the mismatched uniforms gave them the general feel of awkwardness required to be cadets because not a single person questioned them ... they flashed them looks of disapproval, but no one stopped them. That is, until they reached the mainframe itself, right around breakfast time.
"You, who are you and what are you doing here?" a guard barked at Lucy, who happened to have a fourth years pips on her collar, while gesturing to the other three cadets, "The academy hasn't cleared a group for today ... who's your professor?"
Lucy's face went a ghostly white as she looked the guard square in the eye and stuttered aimlessly.
"Professor Ramsey," David squeaked out as the guard started to move a bit too close to Lucy, "We're in Professor Ramsey's Transwarp Introduction class. He told us to come by whenever we found the time to research some models in the database and our system connectivity was down."
"So ... the four of you: a fourth year, two first years and a second year ... you're all in an introductory class and all four of you lost system connectivity at the same time?" the guard replied with the most earnestly unbelieving expression possible, "and I'm supposed to believe that?"
"We're a study group, sir," Hannah said, charging in to the rescue, "We were together when the system blinked out on us; we thought it wouldn't be a problem to come and browse the files ... especially during this time of day."
The guard considered and after one moment, one moment chocked full of nervous, gut clenching anxiety ... waved them into the mainframe room.
"Alright, you've got one hour and if there is even one solitary indication of hacking or tampering I will personally come in there and brain all four of you, understood?" he huffed, fingering his baton menacingly.
"Yes, sir," David replied as he waved underhandedly for Lucy to take the lead.
She grudgingly did so and the three others followed in her wake.
Without a word all four of them converged on the mainframe access console. It was a simple set up, designed to be accessed by students, teachers, and visiting diplomats. Lucy quickly sat down and started clicking away.
“Be careful,” David whispered hoarsely, “you heard what the man said about hacking and tampering … if he thinks that’s what we’re doing he’ll .. “
“Brain us?” Lucy interjected with a smirk, “don’t worry, I have legitimate access codes … which means it’s not technically hacking. Here we are … the Nevada’s general logs.”
"Six months prior to the current date," Hannah said patiently as they all huddled over Lucy to see the small view screen.
Lucy brought up the records and found ... nothing ... it was just surveys of some simple gaseous anomalies, an M class planet, and some subspace transmissions that had been filed. In one breathe the whole group sighed in exhaustion and probably because only one of them, Steve, could actually breathe normally. The young hacker filed over the transmissions aimlessly, they were all regarding someone's promotion, or a birthday, or a death in the family, or holiday greetings ... some just included text, some included text and pictures, video those sorts of things.
"There's nothing here," David said sitting back from the screen and taking a deep well deserved breath, "What do we do now?"
Lucy kept going through the transmissions but neither she nor really anyone else was paying any attention to them ... except for Steve.
"Stop," he ordered, "go back two."
Lucy looked at him for a moment and then went two transmissions back in the log.
"What?" she asked as the rest of the group turned to Steve with interest.
"Didn't you see it? There's one missing," he replied pointing to the transmission tracking numbers, "14.378 to 14.380 ... where's 14.379?"
All four of them stared at the screen as though it would spontaneously produce the answer all on its own. Hannah stood up straight and sucked in some air.
"Well, we had better get out of here, our hour is almost up and I don't fancy being brained by a burly SFP," she said plainly, "and the longer we stay the better the chances of them discovering who we really are. We'll regroup once we're outside, agreed?"
"Aye," David replied, though the idea of "regrouping" bothered him, usually that meant they were about to be scattered by some dastardly enemy force.
Steve nodded and Lucy gulped audibly and all four of them exited the mainframe with not nearly as much trouble as they had expected. The guard eyed them as they steadily walked away from him, but nothing overtly aggressive.
Once outside they all let out a collective sigh of relief and then darted for the bushes in which they'd hidden their clothes that fit.
Lucy looked around and wondered aloud, "So ... what's our next death defying stunt going to be?"
David shrugged, but Hannah was looking thoughtful.
"How do we find that transmission? That's what all this mess is centered on, I can feel it in my water ... but where do we find it?" she asked, then suddenly David was certain he saw a light bulb click on over her head, "The annex! There is a database annex site that is off the base. They keep essential information, like starship transmission logs, there in case the database mainframe goes down. It's not exactly easy to overlook, but there is a chance our enemies may not have gotten to it yet!"
“Then perhaps we should get to it now,” David said tugging his shirt into place with a grimace, “where is it?”
Steve and Hannah looked at each other, then at David and Lucy before they both replied, “STOC.”
David felt all the saliva in his mouth dry up.
“Starfleet Tactical Operations Command?!” he squeaked in a muted fury, “Its the most well guarded piece of real estate on the planet and you want us … the four bloody musketeers … to pry our way in there without being caught and killed on the spot?! You do know that they have authorized the use of deadly force for twenty meters all the way around that command center, right?!”
“Calm down, lieutenant,” Hannah replied sharply, “That’s an order.”
She waited for David to turn back to his regular shade of pale, tragic death before carrying on, “There is a way in, it’s risky, but it does exist. We just need to plan this out and do our best to wing it. Steve, do you still remember the layout of the place?”
“Pretty much, but things may have changed since I was working there,” Steve replied with the slightest hint of a grunt, “but I doubt the security systems have changed.”
“That’s some good news,” Hannah continued with a grimace, “as deadly as ever.”
Lucy said nothing; she just sat there looking from one commander to the other, visibly growing more and more nervous as the conversation progressed.
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2006 6:01:26 GMT
The faint sunlight peaked in through the hotel window, streaking across the bed and highlighting Frek’s antenna which twitched lazily. He smiled softly, a gesture which Melain echoed. “What time is it?” He asked, reaching out one hand to brush back a stray wisp of hair from her face.
”Nine Thirty” Melain yawned “I let you sleep in.”
“Why thank you.” he grinned. “When did you wake up?” he asked, sitting up slowly.
“Fifteen minutes ago, maybe. I wasn’t keeping track.”
“Did you sleep well?”
“Like a baby.” Melain replied, slipping out from under the covers.
“You mean you woke up every hour and hollered for your mother?” Frek asked, his face screwed up like a fourth grader contemplating advanced algebra.
“No silly, it’s an old earth expression.” Melain laughed. “Although I’ll admit It doesn’t make much sense. What time does the laundry arrive?”
“Ten, there is a complementary breakfast downstairs, I saw the sign when I dropped off the bags.” Frek replied.
”I for one would like another shower, I still have dirt and grime on me the first on missed.” Melain declared as she straitened out the sheets.
“What are you doing? There are maids to do that kind of thing.” Frek exclaimed, he was standing by the bathroom door as if trying to decide if he should wash up, or go back to bed.
Melain rolled her eyes. “It’s my habit to make my bed in the morning, besides it’s only nice to tidy up the room a little bit. Those poor maids are probably immigrants from some back wash planet getting paid next to nothing to clean up other people’s filth.”
“Yeah, but if you make it too tidy then they won’t know anyone was in here, the room would not get cleaned.” Frek argued.
“I’m not that good of a house keeper.” Melain countered, finishing the final touches on the bed. “All done. Do whatever you have to do in there, or wait for me to finish, your choice.”
“I’ll wait.” Frek replied, moving back to the bed. He looked down at it for a moment “you’re right, you’re not a good house....” He was cut off by the whump of a hotel pillow hitting an antenna bearing head. -------------------------
After cleaning up the feathers, and showering there was a short debate on whether they should wait for the laundry, or go to breakfast in their bathrobes. The debate was settled when the door chime sounded, the clothes had arrived. Melain pulled hers on gratefully, enjoying the pine sent of whatever laundry soap the hotel had in stock. Frek held his up with a mournful look on his face.
“Your uncle is going to kill me.” He exclaimed. Melain had almost forgotten that Frek was wearing Benjel’s clothes, his own had been ripped up by the rose bush several days back. The shirt had shrunk both ways, and the pants only length wise. “Well I guess they might fit me better now.”
“We need to get you some real clothes, remind me later when we are near some sort of department store.” Melain replied. “I don’t suppose the hotel sent a note of apology with that did they?”
Frek shook out the bag. “No, do you think it is worth our time to complain?”
Melain shook her head. “If what you said about the guy at the reception desk is true, we would have better luck trying to pull a Nausican’s teeth. Those are not my uncle’s good clothes, he’ll forgive you eventually.... I think.”
The door chimed again, and this time it was Lex, looking more chipper then she had before, Danny stood behind her, both where dressed. Melain had never made Danny’s presence an issue, Lex seemed to trust him, and he already knew almost as much as they did. Besides his presence kept the science officer from making vomiting noises every time Melain and Frek made contact. “You guys ready to go?” she asked.
“Not without Breakfast.” Frek insisted. “Besides, we still need to decide where we are going.”
---------------------------------------
The breakfast was on odd sort of buffet thing with cereal, a “make your own waffles” station that smelled more of smoke then anything else, and a bowl of fruit that looked like it came from the 20th century. For a relatively extravagant hotel, the complementary breakfast was, well, not entitled to complements.
They found a table near the back, each nursing a beverage and a bowl of cereal, except Frek who decided to try the waffle maker.
“I think I left half my waffle in that thing, it just sort of fell apart. “ he groaned, as he drowned his plate in syrup.
“Then have a bowl of cereal too, it’s actually not that bad.” Melain replied. “Okay, so to business. I think we should check out the Gazette, see what Mrs Glet has been up to.”
“What about Jira?” Lex asked, stirring her coffee mindlessly.
Melain sighed. “I’m not sure. The way I see it no news is good news, he might be tracking that Smith guy still. If he was captured it would be on the news, Star Fleet security would want to advertise that they got one of us.”
“Did you say the Gazette?” Danny asked. “The Federation Gazette?”
“Yeah.”
“I am working there right now, temporarily..” He explained.
“You didn’t tell me this.” Lex interjected.
“It didn’t seem important.” Danny replied. “They hired me on for a series of articles on what is believed to be Iconian ruins on one of the colonies. I’m not doing any of the real writing, just helping the journalist who is get his facts and lingo right.”
“Could you get us in?”
Danny nodded. “Sure I’ll just say you are some colleagues of mine. Security is relatively low around there as long as you are with someone.”
(19142/110281)
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loki
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by loki on Dec 22, 2006 22:21:01 GMT
The hotel room held an odd blue-grey tinge of light as Lex lay on her back starting up at the ceiling. That was one big difference between living on a starship and living on Earth. She could make her starship room nice and dark. She decided the light was the reason that she couldn’t sleep, but that was probably only one of the many reasons for her insomnia. Danny was lying on his side, apparently asleep, facing the opposite wall so that she couldn’t see his face. Despite her outward contempt for the physical relationship developing between Frek and Melain, she felt rather hypocritical having just slept with her old friend. It was always going to happen, no matter what she told herself: whenever she was back on Earth it always did happen. Nevertheless, she was confident she would feel her crewmates flack in the morning.
Feeling as though sleep was one of those things about as far away Betazed was right now, the science officer slid out of bed and dragged on some crumpled clothes. She took a brief look at Danny as she made her way over to the desk and dropped into the seat. It had greatly surprised her when he had turned up in that alleyway unannounced only hours before. She would be eternally grateful for the help he had given them in locating the elusive Mr. Smith, but had never expected him to come after her. This time it was different than before, he knew what was at stake, but still he came. Was that love? Or stupidity…She couldn’t decide. She had never really known what ‘love’ was. She and Danny had rarely gone longer than a week without corresponding in some manner. These days it usually came down to typed messages, but the sentiment remained the same. She decided that didn’t make it love, although she didn’t know what would.
For as long as she could remember he had been her friend and companion, charging into trouble alongside her every step of the way. She supposed this was no different. And yet only yesterday she had been cursing herself for paying excess attention to Steve. Could she change her mind so quickly?
With a sigh she bent down and began rifling through the small backpack Danny had brought along with him. He had obviously been prepared to leave everything to be with her. “Moron.” She whispered, unzipping the front pocket and removing his flick knife. It was so ancient that most of the markings had rubbed off through years of use, leaving only the tiny white letters ‘ick’ visible on the handle. Lex smiled. This little knife had gotten them out of some situations in the past. These days it was all phasers and torpedoes. She suddenly felt old, reminiscing about her academy days…
With a stifled yawn the lieutenant rolled up her sleeve and pierced her forearm with the point of the blade. Very slowly she drew it backwards towards her elbow, scratching a bleeding line through her skin. Almost as quickly as she had made it the tear sealed itself, her bodies healing ability kicking into action. She repeated the action several times, and afterwards observed the perfectly healed skin. After the Namtar mission, Starfleet medical had spent hours doing similar tests, recreating and synthesising her genetic compliment to try and harness the innate ability. So far they had been unsuccessful. All of their genetic trials had been a failure. She knew what had happened earlier that day had interested Melain greatly, and also that the doctor would probably chop off her hand if she knew what she was doing right now. It had reminded her how much she took it for granted these days.
“Oi, wake up.” Lex felt something sharp digging into her ribs, and something equally as solid pressing into her forhead. She fleetingly pushed Danny’s hand away as he prodded her, and opened her eyes to look sideways at the computer console upon which she had fallen asleep. Several of the keys were bleating pathetically as her face was pressed against them, but the noise stopped as she peeled her cheek off the keypad.
“Ooh.” The lights were on. She squinted as though she was allergic to them.
“Come on, time to go.” Danny said brightly, looking up at her through his deep brown eyes. She suspected the affection was more devoted to the thought of food than towards her, but it was still nice to see. Lex grunted and shook her head, first heading for the shower. A rather quick ten minutes later the pair of them were wrapping on the door next to their own, feeling somewhat cleaner but wearing increasingly reused clothing. Lex now had on one of Danny’s shirts, which was several sizes too large and not really designed for women.
“You guys ready to go?” she asked when Frek answered the door and looked for her underneath the swimming shirt.
“Not without Breakfast.” He reminded her. “Besides, we still need to decide where we are going.” Reluctantly Lex made her way downstairs with the others, still wondering why on earth people put so much stand by breakfast. Personally, she found that it got in the way of a good half-hour of extra sleep. It was one of those things she would never understand, and frequently forgot to accommodate for with other people. It simply wasn’t one of those things that featured on her rota. Ever. She settled herself with a small bowl of cereal and some black coffee, thinking it best to make the most of breakfast if she had to have it, and joined in with the conversation sleepily.
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davidramsey
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by davidramsey on Dec 27, 2006 8:45:50 GMT
David stared at the STOC compound from his relatively safe post ... entrenched inside a huge bush just outside the security field. Hannah and the other crew members were whispering fiercely behind him and he found himself staring at the nearest guard's rather large weapon and rather thick armor.
"Lieutenant!" Hannah hissed in his general direction, "Get over here and listen to these instructions before we go in there and you get us killed!"
David rolled around in the bush and carefully plodded over to where Hannah, Lucy, and Steve were equally uncomfortable. They were all clustered together inside one bush ... comfort was obviously not going to be required for this masterplan.
"Ok, here's how this is going to go," Hannah began, "Steve is going to lead us through that hedge over there ... it's the one obstruction in the shield ... "
"Then we wiggle into the main building, Steve leads us to the mainframe, we download the missing transmission, then we wiggle out ... ya?" David interjected with a nervous smile.
"We are going to do the job in front of us first, David," Hannah replied sternly, "And the first job we need to tackle is getting inside that force field. Steve, any comments before we get started?"
"Just one," Steve replied as he shuffled his way toward the edge of the bush, "Stay with me ... and I mean on me! Let's go, ladies and gentleman."
David barely had the time to think up a sarcastic reply before Steve was bolting across the yard toward the other huge bush in question with the whole crew in tow. David wedged himself under a branch and looked over at Hannah as she tried very hard not to fall on Steve while still keeping herself concealed in the bush.
"Ok, so how does this work ... " Lucy asked quietly trying desperately to remove a persistent branch from under her arm that just kept slapping back at her, "we just waltz through?"
"No," Steve replied as he looked around inside the bush, he shuffled over to where two thick branches created a V-wedge, he looked at the branches from every angle and then found what he was looking for, "See that scorch mark there? That's what we are lucky to find ... See ... only the individuals involved in designing the security system ... individuals such as myself ... know that the force field doesn't go all the way around. It's blocked by these two branches ... and if one knows where to go, one can get around the force field with no problems."
With that, Steve hopped through the "V" and paused a moment before turning back to Hannah and the rest of the crew. He waved for them to follow him and in no time at all, all four of them were literally on Steve, much to his discomfort.
"Ok, when that guard walks that way ... like he is ... like he is doing right now," Steve said nervously as he wiggled his way free of his crewmates, "We ... we RUN!"
With that he bolted across the yard toward the main building leaving David and the rest in a panic of confusion, distortion, and a general lack of locomotion. With a curse Hannah and the still entangled "Davucy" managed to somehow catch up with him before they were all caught ... and slaughtered without a thought.
Steve motioned for them all to squat down as he crouched and slide around the wall with his back flat against the wall. They each followed in a fashion of their own devising, David nearly standing but mostly crouching, and Lucy on her knees because she found it hard to keep her balance and Hannah standing and trying not to stand out against the slate granite wall.
Steve came up the large square entrance at the back of the facility and he stood up and tapped in his security codes before crouching next to David. He was visibly worried about those codes ... and nearly jumped and yelped for joy when the little light went green and the huge door popped open. All four of them were required to shove and tug and pull the mammoth door open so all of them could wiggle inside. David and Hannah worked to close the damned thing while Steve and Lucy scoped out the interior.
"Ok, now what?" David whispered at Steve's back.
"Follow me close, we have to get around the sensor nets and the legion of armed guards playing poker over there ..."
David jerked his head to the right and saw a group of Marines jovially enjoying a poker game and joking amongst themselves less than two meters away. He froze.
Luckily, they were so rambunctious and loud that they didn't even notice the four fugitives almost directly behind them. David was fairly certain this was due to alcohol consumption and he immediately issued a thank you to his almighty before Steve tugged him along down a long corridor. He stopped abruptly in the middle of the hallway and popped open what looked like a Jefferies tube. He motioned for Hannah to slip inside, then Lucy, then David before he crawled in himself and popped the Mees panel back into place.
On their stomachs the four fugitives elbowed and slithered their way around flashing lights and cord clusters as well as a few nasty force fields. It seemed like they were in that stupid tunnel ... thing forever. However, in retrospect, David guessed it was probably only ten minutes or so before Steve indicated that they'd come to their intended exit. Steve climbed out first and after making sure the coast was clear, he had them all clustered out on the cold, blue, marble floor.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2006 23:22:41 GMT
The trio of Star Fleet officers followed Danny out of the hotel and into the morning light. It was much busier now then it had been the previous few days, some Melain noted, then immediately stopped noticing. There was a department store right across the street, she had not noticed this before. “When’s the next metro coming?”
Lex looked up at the digital sign, courtesy of the local transportation department “We want the southeast bound.... next one is due at 12:00, we just missed the last one.” The other three let out a collective groan, while Melain almost whooped in joy.
“Come on Frek, time to get you some real clothes!” She declared, grabbing him by the arm. “We’ll meet you back here for the bus, this should not take too long.” She led him throughout the throng of pedestrians and up the steps of the store, obvlivouse to his obvious reluctance. “Won’t this be fun?” she asked rhetorically.
“Women.” he muttered in reply.
The men’s clothing section (which was about 1/4 the size of the women’s) was in the far corner of the store. “What size are you?” Melain asked.
“Large.” Frek replied grudgingly.
Melain almost laughed and pulled a medium off the shelf. ‘Maybe a year ago. Go into the change room and try this on, I’ll pass in whatever else I find.”
‘It’s blue.” Frek replied, holding out the shirt disdainfully. “I don’t look good in blue.”
“But you are blue?”
“would you wear something pink?” Frek replied.
“Sure, besides I’m not exactly pink, more of a pale orange and.... just try it on.” Melain ordered shoving him into the change room.
“Are you guys finding everything you are looking for?” an over-make upped employee interrupted. The question sounded more obligatory then genuine. Melain nodded in response and the women plodded off.
“It’s itchy.” Frek moaned through the closed door.
-----------------------------------------------------
Steve raised one finger to shush the others. “The room beside here is the barracks.” he cautioned, not needing to say anymore. “These are the transmission archives, Lucy you will need to use that consul there. Hannah keep an eye on the door, David you know what we are looking for.”
The younger man nodded and the rest of the crew and lone civilian got to work. Steve was impressed by the young hybred girl, for someone still so young she handled herself well. She would make a fine officer some day, if she decided to join the Academy.
“There, I think that’s it.” David pointed. Lucy stopped frantically typing. “No, No the last digit is wrong.” They resumed. It was a slow and painful process and all the while Steve could hear phantom voices and foot steps growing nearer and nearer.
“There, there it is!” David whooped
“Shhhhh!” the other three replied. “Just download it into a PaDD so we can get out of here.” Hannah hissed.
They had got in, they had found the transmission, now they just had to get out again. Hopefully the poker game was still under way. One by one they got back into the Jeffries tube and made the long trip back out.
Steve led the way, and soon found himself forced to stop. Something was in the tube that had not been there before, or more specifically someone. Steve reached for his phaser, but found the tube far too crowded to get it out of the holster. The obstacle did the same.
“Either of us shoots and the poker game will come to an abrupt close.” The man hissed. “I know who you are, just hand my the PaDD and everything will be fine. Don’t even think about going back, we have you trapped in.”
The gears in Steve’s head turned rapidly, and he was hoping desperately that David knew what was going on, and was reading the PaDD.
“Steve, what’s going on?” Hannah asked. “Why are we not moving?”
“There’s been a change of plans, hand me the PaDD.” Steve instructed reaching his hand back
”But...”
“Do it.” he ordered and a moment later he felt the PaDD slip into his hand. “Wait, how do I know you won’t just kill me after I give it to you?”
”Because, you’d make noise and we would all be dead.” The man replied, taking the PaDD. “Do it.” he added, and a moment later a flash of light burst through the tunnel illuminating the man’s face. “You are in a race against time my friend, just three more days untill the trigger is pulled and you know so little...”
Steve never had a chance to reply, as the light left so did his strength. ---------------------------
He awoke and found himself still the the Jeffries tube, the mysterious man was done and so was the PaDD. He could not longer hear the poker game going on and felt movement behind him. The others where stirring.
What?” David groaned.
“They needed a diversion, probably hoped that would alert the guards, luckily for us it did not.”
“Who?” Hannah asked. “And what did you do with the PaDD?”
“I gave it to them to save our skins, David did you get a chance to look at it?”
“No.” David replied. “Now we know nothing, we are back to square one. We should go back and see if we can find it again.”
“Too risky, they would have erased it now.”
”We know plenty.” Hannah corrected. “It was a multi directional signal, and hidden in static. Besides I managed to see a few lines before handing it over. We know that 3 days from now is when this is all going down, that transmission was a countdown.”
(22086/111225)
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fthelev
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by fthelev on Dec 28, 2006 16:29:01 GMT
For some obscure reason Frek had a distinct feeling that women held a slightly different version of the definition for ‘fun’, as Melain called it, than most men in this universe. At the very least this quadrant. Perhaps not on all matters, in his mind he went back to this morning when he awoke. When she put a hand on the back of his head and ushered it closer to hers until their lips touched, locked into a kiss. When she pulled him closer on to her, their bodies tuning to the same rhythm. How they dozed off again for another hour afterwards, close together, close enough to feel her chest rise and fall with every breath she took.
A nasty itch on a place he could not reach brought him back to reality. Yeah, perhaps not on all matters, but most definitely some. “I’m sure it’s just your imagination or some loose thread,” Melain replied impatiently as he complained about it. “Just scratch.” “But I can’t reach it,” Frek said with such an aggrieved tone in his voice Melain had hold herself not to burst into laughter.
She pushed open the door to take a look at him and plucked at the shirt in that particular way mothers and girlfriends seem to do when they want their men to look good. You know what it’s like, straighten a bit here, smooth down a bit there, stroke over the sleeves and then a step back to admire the results. Another thing that appeared to be universally feminine.
“See,” she said after she took the obligatory step back. She examined him with her head slightly tilted. “Don’t you look like a hansom Andorian now?” “Now?” Frek repeated semi-quasi-shocked, emphasizing the word. He sighed. “I look like an albino Bolian under a black-light. I’ll stand out like a fluorescent neon sign in a Vulcan monastery.” Melain pushed a pair of pants in his hands and successively him back into the change room. “Nonsense,” she said firmly, really rather sounding like his mother now, “It’s dark blue, it goes perfectly with your complexion. Now put these on as well.”
There was no escaping from this. He would have to suffer through this and face the mental implications and traumas later. If only Counsellor Mitchell would still be around. Of course, she was a woman too, so it still remains a question if she could have been any help on these delicate matters. “It still itches,” Frek complained weakly. Melain sighed. “Where?” she wanted to know. Frek put on a tormented expression. “My back,” he replied, “Can’t reach it with hands or antenna.” “Let me take a look,” she said stepping in closer, “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
She was standing in front of him and slipped her hand under the shirt, running it in an investigative manner over his back. “It tickles,” Frek giggled. “Hey!”
The salesgirl/woman/something had returned. As they noted before she had a layer of paint on her face and you didn’t have to be very observant to understand it covered the essential filler and the fundamental coating of a primer of some kind. It was the kind of applied makeup that could go two ways. It was either bullet-proof or it would crack open like the San Andreas Fault in 1906 and 2299. She lifted a finger with an overly coloured and polished fingernail attached to it that would either shatter on impact on whatever object or slice trough it.
“Hey!” she said again wiggling the aforementioned finger like a pendulum. “No hanky-panky in the fitting rooms.” “But…” Frek started. The woman had stormed by before he could even think of hanky-pank Melain in there. The finger was still moving from left to right and back again, it was almost working hypnotically. “Eh!” Finger stopped for second standing erect halfway through its movement before continuing. “We don’t go for that in here,” she said warningly. “Any stains on those clothes and you buy them!” Then she smiled cloyingly sweet. “Can I help you with anything else?”
When they made their way back to the metro station Frek was holding a bag with the old clothes in one hand, and Melain’s hand in the other. She appeared to be quite happily and satisfied with his new attire, assuring him he looked ‘just great’. Frek on the other was still trembling from the experience and it wasn’t excitement. Okay, perhaps he was not trembling physically, but the idea is clear. Lex and Danny were already waiting. The latter giving him an understanding look.
**************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************
It wouldn’t be fair to say it was on the other side of the city since Lex, Melain, Danny and Frek could be found in the centre, but it wasn’t exactly a stone drop away. Some considerable distance away the words of First Officer Hannah Stevenson caused all the stirring in the tunnel to cease. “Whaaat?” Steve brought out with some effort. “What sort of countdown?” Hannah tried to shrug but miserably failed in their cramped confines. You don’t have claustrophobia? You will after spending sometime in there.
“I didn’t got the chance to read that far,” she replied, “A countdown that ends in three days and some sort of activation signal.” “What kind of activation signal?” David wanted to be informed of. Again there wasn’t much she could say. The look on her face, visible to the others of her team in the dim light said enough. “We need to get out of here,” Steve suggested, demonstrating a more practical way of thinking.
Their rendez-vous with Jira and his team would be later that day, in the evening. If they just could fit in what they learned with their colleague’s findings, perhaps they would finally get a clue of what was going on here. What the hell was going to happen in three days? The assassination? That information had been rather vague, but still. How would that fit in with this? That little piece of data, the countdown, it was important enough for them to go to this length to make sure the Nevada crew or anyone else would never lay eyes on it. But what was it doing there so far out into space? What…
“No one’s here,” Steve hissed back as he climbed out the tunnel. He had still been upfront, which was not that remarkable since this could hardly be regarded as a two way passage. “What now?” Lucy whispered in a small voice. She had been through her share of adventures. But this was something in a different category.
“There they are!” an aggressive voice suddenly shouted. The team seemed to freeze on the spot. Was it all over now? There was the distinct sound of weapons discharge. The more pitched sounds of the standard Starfleet issue phasers and more dampened burst of some kind of disruptor or pulse phaser. “It’s not us!” David forcefully whispered in excitement. “They must be talking about them.” Stevenson thought fast. “We have to take advantage of this,” she told the others. “We make use of this confusion to get out, hurry.”
Quickly and in line they started to make their way out through the scattered buildings on the terrain. “I thought you said you took care of them!” someone suddenly yelled not very far away. A few shots fired in their direction. It effectively halted their progress. “I did,” the familiar voice from the tunnel hissed back. “Obviously something didn’t work out.”
The Starfleet officers threw themselves behind a low wall to take cover. “They’ve seen us,” Steve said rather unnecessary. You didn’t have to be an intelligence officer to come to that conclusion.
“Alert the others on the comm.,” the same voice ordered loudly topping the sounds of the ongoing fight. “They have priority, we can’t have them walk out of here!” “And the security forces?” The question was accentuated by a phaser beam nearly missing him. There was a short lag. “If we get caught or killed so be it, you know what’s…” The rest of the words got lost in a couple of blasts.
Phaser beams shot overhead. “What now? We’re trapped between fires?” Lucy asked. It was clear she wasn’t overjoyed. Scared would be more appropriate. This was not good. The people or organisation they were up against would kill them on sight, especially after this. Starfleet security didn’t know any better they were part of this and would should them as well, mostly likely not dead, just stunned, but at this time that would be almost equally bad. Trying to explain themselves to them would be as useful as trying a Jem’Hadar and a Ferengi to get married. In their eyes they were fugitives, and in the technical sense they were. Even if they would be believed, it would be at a moment when it was too late. They would have to find a way out of there. Alive, if possible.
[24763/143190/6]
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davidramsey
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by davidramsey on Dec 31, 2006 11:29:13 GMT
They were wedged between two very short, very hard walls, with their heads tucked down and legs wrapped underneath them in the most unnatural ways, but none of them had been shot. So David decided they had been blessed.
He wiggled his head up and toward Hannah and a phaser blast landed so close to his ear, David was certain he had been shot.
"Oi, oi, hot ear, hot ear!" he shouted tucking his head right back down again, "Peoples, we are in some deep sh-"
"Don't be so negative, Lieutenant," Hannah interjected with a grimace.
"Well," David replied, gingerly rubbing his injured ear, "We are a bunch of fugitives, wedged in between two cement barriers, with two different armed forces aiming for our heads ... what's there to be negative about?"
Hannah huffed at him and then motioned for Lucy to move to the side. She then leaned in toward David and Steve.
"Steve, where are we in reference to that bush?" she asked as phaser fire backlighted her frame in an almost ethereal way.
Steve considered and then when there was a break in the fire fight, popped his head up and glanced from one side to the other.
"We're on the opposite side of the compound," he replied with a grimace, "We need to get down this entrenchment to that building over there. We could use it as some shelter as we get around to the far side over there. I doubt anyone knows about the bush in question."
"Ok, so ... we do what?" Lucy asked with what could only be described as a nervous twitch of epic proportions.
"We get into a single file line and crawl down to the end of this trench and see how far down it goes ... " Steve replied pushing David in a direction that his body just wasn't meant to be pushed, "Our first hurdle is going to be getting in a single file line on our hands and knees without getting our heads shot off."
David finally managed to twist himself out of Steve's way and after popping his spine back into place he found himself on his stomach with Steve ahead of him, Lucy behind him, and Hannah in the lead.
"Alright," David muttered to himself, "Let's get this little train shuffling out of the station ... "
He found himself smiling incessantly when he heard a muted, "Choo, choo ... " behind him and the shuffling commenced.
<Tag anyone ... lol>
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 1, 2007 19:05:44 GMT
“Much better right?” Melain asked Lex as the group pilled onto the Metro.
“I take it you mean Frek...” Lex paused. “I suppose so, although I don’t exactly spend a lot of time looking at him.”
Melain shrugged off the science officer’s last comment and looked around for a seat. There was one, in the entire car, sandwiched between a Tellarite that looked as though he had not slept for days and an elderly lady that looked ready to talk the ear off any living thing that dared take said seat. “Standing it is.” she declared, grabbing the nearest handle moments before the train started causing Frek to lose his balance. “Don’t fall, the floor is dirty and we just bought those.” Melain warned.
The trip was far longer, in Melain’s opinion, then it needed to be. Thankfully the rest of the car’s occupants where loud enough that the Star Fleet officers (and Danny) could talk about what was to come without worrying about being over heard. Of course to even hear each other they needed to stand unnervingly close. Something Melain minded less about some then others.
“So Lex is another archaeologist, Frek is an Iconian expert and I am what again?” Melain asked, trying to confirm what Danny had decided.
“Someone from the colony were the ruins are.” He replied. “Your brother in law found them.”
Melain bit her lip. “Lex as an archaeologist I can understand, but, no offence hon, how much could Frek possibly know about the Iconians?”
“It does not really matter, if you are questioned at all I will be very very surprised.” Danny explained. “Next stop, let’s make our way to the doors.
This was easier said then done, since they boarded the train had made many stops, picking up far more passengers then it had dropped off. Getting to the doors was reminiscent of earth salmon swimming up stream to spawn, except less slippery.
Melain, being rather small, made it to the door’s first, Lex followed after and then Danny. Frek arrived just before the metro stopped muttering something about inconsiderate youths and knapsacks. They disembarked more like the cork of a well shaken bottle of champaign then anything else.
“There it is. The main entrance is on the far side.” Danny pointed to a building less then a block away. “They renovated just this past summer, apparently it did not stand out enough.”
The renovations where successful. The building was a bright orange colour and resembled a glistening block of cheese. It was the definition of ugly. A huge sign bearing “Federation Gazette” graced the side of the building, while a much smaller sign, banished to a shadowed corner, read ‘San Francisco Examiner.” This was a weekly paper that employed the talentless and reported on local “feel good” stories.
The group clamoured up the steps and into the main entrance doing their best to look official. “Hey Mak.” Danny greeted and waved at the Bolian security guard. “Your wife home yet?”
“Nope, two more days of freedom.” The guard grinned. “They with you?” He asked, pointing to Lex, Frek and Melain.
“Yeah, Chantel asked me to bring in some more interviews, I’m starting to think that’s all this article is going to be, just quotes and more quotes.” Danny laughed.
“I’ve read Chantel’s stuff and that seems to sum it up.” Mak said as he waved the group through. “Have yourself a good day.”
“That was easy.” Frek commented as soon as they where out of ear shot.
“Mak is more like a greeter then a guard, I was hoping he would be on duty this morning.” Danny explained. “This is my cubicle, I should stay here. Glet’s is in the next room by the window... I think.”
The newsroom was a mess of desks, people and fake walls. Most offices had found ways to abandon the “rat maze” look of fabric barriers, newspaper’s seemed to find the look beneficent to a good story. The officer’s worked their way around the mess and into the next room. There they met a barrier. Glet was sitting at her desk busily typing at her computer. They had not thought of this. Why had they not thought of this.
“Oh.” Melain paused. “Where to now?”
“The archives.” Lex suggested. ‘We want to know what she has been up to right, why not look at what she has reported on?”
They flagged down an office boy and asked him to direct them to the newspaper’s archives. He pointed down the hall and explained rapidly that they needed to take a right, up the stairs, down the hall, left, then second left then another right. Melain stared at him blankly. He ran it by them again. Then again. By this point Melain was fairly confident she had it, and if she did not that one of the others would remember what she did not.
They made it into the archives after only two wrong turns. It was a dark room and seemed to be longing for visitors. There was an older man sleeping in a chair by the door. As they walked in he awoke, looked up and gave them a dry look. “I don’t mind if you come in here, I’m just not answering any questions.” With that he closed his eyes and began to snore.
“So we search for Glet and hope it does not come up with too much then.” Lex explained, plopping herself down in front of a computer. “I’ll take the first 10 results, then Melain takes the ten after that and then Frek takes the next ten, and so on.”
The search came up with 306 results. 200 written, 106 live on-the-scene holorecords. A collective sigh went up from the trio. This was going to take some time. “Just skim the articles.” Melain suggested. The room became silent as they all began to read.
“Hmmm.” Melain commented as she closed her eleventh article. “These just get more and more trivial as I get closer to today.”
“Mine too.” Lex replied. “Frek?”
“What?”
“Your articles... did you hear what we just said?”
“Ummm. I fell asleep after the fifth.” He confessed sheepishly. “She’s a really bad writer if you ask me.” ----------------------
After two hours Melain did not want to read another word, or hear the Bolian’s women’s voice. This was okay since they where done. Of course this was not good because they had not found a single thing that connected Glet to anything suspicious or remotely secretive. Feeling rather disheartened they left the archives to search of Danny.
“Can I get you anything loves? Tea, coffee, latte?” This question came from what seemed to be a self-propelled table bearing many cups, several pots and a handful of coffee urns. Closer inspection revealed that the invitation did in fact come from a very short, white haired, and beaming Ktarian women in a bright red apron.
“Well, I am not really very....” Alexis began.
“We’ll have three earl grey teas.” Melain interrupted, often the coffee lady knew more then the archives. She was not sure how she knew this, but suspected it had something to do with a bajoran proverb her mother told her. “We were just looking for a replicator, you sure know when you are needed.”
“I should hope so, I’ve been working here since I was a young thing. You want some cream with those? Oh no, not her again.” The Ktarian paused, pot in mid air, as Glet approached bearing an empty cup>
“Fill.” Glet grunted, thrusting the cup in the women’s face. “You know how I like it.”
The coffee lady began, with veiled annoyance, to refill the Bolian journalists cup with a foaming latte. Glet left without a word and the Ktarian finished pouring the tea.
“That was rude.” Melain commented. “I can’t believe someone could be so rude.”
“She’s been like that ever since she got the big assignment, thinks she is better then everyone else. I don’t know how she got it, she’s the worst writer here. Last time she was like this was when she was doing that article on some sort of ‘conglomerate’ she kept going around saying how big this was, how it would ‘take her to the top.’
“Did it?” Melain asked as she took a sip of the tea, they where making far more progress here then they had in the archives.
“No, she cancelled the article, erased it, deleted it, just like that. I never asked her why, and she did not seem really upset about it either. Strange women.” The Ktarian shook her head “Those are free by the way.”
“What... What is this big assignment she got?” Lex asked.
“Humph.” The women grunted. “I thought you looked new. She’s covering President Zahada’s first address.”
(21554/112693)
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davidramsey
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by davidramsey on Jan 3, 2007 16:50:55 GMT
David just couldn't move. Steve, Hannah, and Lucy were waving fiercely at him to join them on the far side of the building. They were pressed against the wall, just barely keeping out of the range of the phaser fire. David was still on his hands and knees occassionally ducking as a phaser blast grazed past his forehead. All he had to do was jump to his feet and run for it ... however, this was easier said than done.
"David, come on!" Hannah shouted, "That's an order!!!"
David cursed at the dirt and glared up at Hannah.
He took a deep breath and when he heard a break in the firing, he shoved himself away from the ground and was amazed when he actually found himself on his feet and running as fast as his legs would carry him. Unfortunately, that just wasn't fast enough. A deflected low grade disrupter blast slammed into his thigh as the lieutenant launched himself at the slightly curved wall.
Hannah and Steve grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him around the wall.
"Damnit!" David hissed as Hannah made to check out his leg, David waved her off, "Forget it, we don't have time ... let's go, I'll keep up."
Hannah didn't argue and she pushed Lucy away and Steve turned and helped David to his feet, David pushed him away and started limping along behind the group. They all slid around the building, leaving the phaser fire far behind. The bush was now in sight and Steve started waving all of them into the bush one by one. They all piled up inside the huge shrub once more and finally rolled out at odd intervals on the other side of the forcefield.
Hannah tried her damnedest to get a look at David's leg once again, but David swatted her hand away and started off away from the STOC compound at a very steady gait with a face as white as a ghost. The rest of the crew fell in hobble after him.
"We need to get away from here, people," he said trying very hard not to let anyone see his face, "Come on!"
Lucy looked at Hannah, who in turn, looked at Steve who shrugged. The former Intel officer ran up to him and touched his shoulder. "Hey, we need to stop so we can atleast do something about your pants, that'll kinda draw some attention," he said.
David slowed and looked at Steve for a moment. He considered for a moment, but he kept moving.
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fthelev
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by fthelev on Jan 4, 2007 20:34:27 GMT
President Zahada’s first address. The words lingered in the air like some of those glass things on a string some people insist on hanging in front of their windows and start tingling when someone walks by. Conglomerate, that’s what the lady just said. Was this the Shadow Conglomerate Glet was talking about last evening? Was Smith part of this or Glet for that matter? Slowly pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming together. Smith, an assassination, the new president’s address, Glet, it was still slightly unclear on how the Shadow Conglomerate fitted into all this. Were they behind it and with what motive? But was kept Frek most busy was what they had to do with it. What got them involved, true, with their search to prove their own innocence they got themselves into something worse. Something that certainly would fit the in the bad things category.
But now they knew there was no going back. They all knew where this would lead them to. It fitted with what they heard. Paris. “And whe…where is this going to take place,” Frek asked carefully. His mouth was suddenly dry and he glimpsed sideways to Melain. Her lips were a tight colourless line and she looked tense. “I say, you’re really not from this planet are you?” the coffee lady looked at him as if he had just dropped out off a tree. Clearly holding the opinion this was something trivial everyone should now. Frek looked at his blue hands sticking out of sleeves of the same colour only in a darker shade and wiggled his antennas. Obviously you didn’t need to be a journalist to come to that conclusion. Not wanting to get into a discussion Frek just shook his head. “Well,” the lady said tilting her head and giving him a peculiar look, “Paris of course. If you went to school young man, you would have known that.”
She turned her attention to Melain who had been standing next to him. “As has been the tradition for many years the address will be made in the Chamber of Federation representatives. There’s a cocktail party afterwards in Versailles.” Lex, Melain and Frek exchanged glances. Paris. They had all suspected that. Two possible locations and too much possible targets. It would be crowded with Federation dignitaries, representatives and who knows who else. “And this is going to be in…?” Lex started. “Three days,” the lady filled in doing the same with some cups. “I think this might be why that Glet-woman is so stuck-up. Only a few reporters have been granted admission to the cocktail party.”
The trio stared after the Ktarian woman disappearing down the aisle created by two rows of desks handing out mugs of coffee, tea or whatever beverage people were drinking. Frek had placed himself behind Melain and moulded her shoulders softly. There was a moment of silence. It was a fair bet no-one had expected to uncover this much, and as it seemed for minutes nobody even dared to breathe. Frek was pretty sure he wasn’t the only one with the uneasy sense of upcoming disaster in his gut.
“We need to get to Paris,” Melain finally said coming to her senses. Frek could feel she was breathing slow and heavily. Trying to comprehend what was going on. A murder on a head of state of one the Federation worlds or another high-placed official, perhaps even the newly elected Federation president herself. “And Jira?” It was Lex who asked, it was clear she didn’t feel much like leaving her CO, or at least former CO behind and on his own. Where ever he was.
Frek stared over Melain’s head to Loki. “If they even suspect we know only a fraction of what we know,” he said slowly and deliberate, “They’ll do anything to get us out of the way. And I don’t think they really care whether that is going to be permanent or not. We need to stop this.” “Three days,” Alexis said gloomily, “What if we don’t have the time?” “If we don’t,” Melain replied, “Someone will die, with who knows what consequences and our days will be done for. Hell, for all I know they’re blaming this on us.”
Frek looked down on Melain and surge of emotions shot through his body. There were still so many things he wanted to tell her, to do with her. It would definitely be a shame if their relationship would end prematurely due to something unfortunate like this. I mean, let’s be fair. Being killed or imprisoned for life positively puts a bit of a damper on any relationship, doesn’t it? And on dear life as well for that matter. Perhaps they should put that in the Starfleet Officer’s manual. ‘Death; rather to be avoided if possible…’ But then again, you could also claim that would fall under common sense.
For second his fingers tightened around her shoulders, as if he was afraid to let her go. A deep breath and he relaxed, taking his hands away. He puffed and ran a hand through his hair and quickly scratched the base of his left antenna. “When’s the rendez-vous?” he said, “We need to meet with others and fill them in, whatever they’ve got, it can’t possibly make things any worse. Heh, we need to get to Paris and figure out who’s going to be killed and where and how.” “Within three days,” Loki added sullenly. “There’s the high-speed intercontinental train, a shuttle service and several boat lines to Europe,” Danny said rejoining them and catching the last bit. He glanced at them, finally resting his eyes on Lex. There was a glimmer of affection in them. “You discovered something?” he asked noting the expression on their faces. Loki grabbed her friend by the hand and dragged him towards the exit. “Come on,” she said briefly, “We’ll fill you in on the way.”
As they made their way back to the metro to get to their meeting point Frek for one could not help wondering how the other team had fared. And of course there was always Harrias Jira. Frek stepped up a bit until he was at Melain’s side and let his hand slip over hers. It wasn’t much, but it felt reassuring, something reassuring in a situation where nothing was sure. And least of all their lives.
[25824/144251/1]
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davidramsey
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by davidramsey on Jan 8, 2007 3:47:27 GMT
Two hours later, David had a new pair of pants that Steve had swiped form a laundry bin and the little group was now in the relative safety of a cemetary near the tomb they'd sheltered in previously.
David was still gingerly touching his leg, Lucy was trying not to fall asleep, Steve was doing ... something involving his thumbs, and Hannah was damn near unconscious on the ground. They were all exhausted, but David was still hyped up on adrenaline and Steve ... well, Steve was used to this sort of thing. He'd offered to stand watch while the rest of the group rested. They were now just waiting for the rest of the team to come around and despite Hannah's misgivings about staying in the open, they all agreed that the tomb was less comfortable than, say, the lush green grasses of the cemetary.
David sidled over to Steve with a sigh, "So ... what do we do now? I mean, we didn't get anything ... all that danger and no pay-off ..."
Steve looked up at him with a thoughtful expression.
"Well, I don't know ... we found out something," he replied.
"What?"
"Someone on the Nevada was recieving encoded messages ... most likely from the group that's trying to catch and/or kill us," the Intelligence officer replied, "That is something of interest to me."
"I guess you're right, but I would have loved to have gotten that transmission," David continued.
"I know," Steve replied as he returned to twiddling his thumbs, "but you can't win every time you play the game."
Suddenly, there was a commotion in the bushes and David lept up ... and stepped on Hannah, who squealed and then slammed her fist into David's calf which in turn made him cry out and fall over. This, of course, woke Lucy up just enough to step on Hannah's hair. It was all rather amusing, until you realized that someone else was approaching and they were all wanted fugitives. Steve slammed his hand over the mouths of both a protesting Hannah and apologetic Lucy and listened.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2007 5:04:01 GMT
The three officers, and now the additional civilian, hopped onto the Metro heading back towards the hotel. At this time of the day the compartment was less crowded then before allowing each of them to take a seat of their own, but stifling any secret conversations they wished to have. There was a quick whispered debate about whether they should continue riding the metro to the cemetery or stop at the hotel first. A glance at Danny’s chronometer revealed that they had no time for a detour and where running somewhat late as it was. Since the cemetery was on the outskirts of the far side of town they where going to be even later. Melain prayed that the others would not get up and leave. She also prayed that Harrias would be there with them. She felt a sudden pang of guilt at having neglected to search into his absence.
“Something bothering you?” Frek asked from where he had settled in next to her, so close in fact Melain was finding herself crammed against the window. “You’ve scrunched your nose up so much I would not be surprised if it stayed that way.”
“I was just thinking about Harrias, it’s not like you to run off like this is it?” Melain asked, not that Frek would have a better idea then her, they had been assigned to the Nevada at the same time.
“Well... ah.... I really haven’t a clue. He’s probably just on to something.” Frek replied awkwardly. “No news is good news.”
His answer was good enough for Melain, who relaxed into his shoulder and ignored the unreadable glances from Lex who had adopted a similar position on Danny.
-------------------------------
After what seemed like an hour, but was probably more like fifteen minutes, the four of them stepped off the Metro and onto the platform. It was already growing dark, and odd thing, Melain thought, for a city so close to the equator, but it seemed that a large cloud front was to blame more then anything else. She did not like the idea of going back to that cemetery in the dark, but Lex and Danny strove on fearlessly.
The road to the cemetery had not been repaired in decades, and since the burial space was rarely used (and apparently there was no one buried there worth visiting) the traffic on the road seemed to consist only of teenage hooligans out joy riding. Melain suspected the human holiday of “Halloween” boosted the road’s company by ten fold. There where deep cracks with various form of vegetation growing out of them, the trees on either side of the road seemed to have taken on a mind of their own, and the lights refused to work. It all seemed far more ominous then the first time they had made this trip, of course then Melain had not known where they where going and what it was they had got themselves into. She clasped Frek’s hand’s firmer only to find it rather clammy. Here they where, Star Fleet officer who had gone against the borg and they where feeling shaky about an old cemetery.
“Only a few more minutes!” Lex called back, her voice was instantly swallowed up by the dank, closed in air.
Desperate to get her mind on something else Melain started to talk. “So Glet is covering the new president’s address. I have to admit I had a hard time following federation politics these past months, who exactly is this Zahada, she’s a Zakdorn isn’t she?”
“Not sure really, I never bother much with that type of thing and playing secret agent, getting thrown in a Tammeron prison, and getting sick on some medieval rock with some medieval virus kind of made me less interested.” Frek replied. “Then of course all this.”
Melain moved her hand from his and gave him a half hug as they continued walking. “Things will get better, after all they can’t get much...”
“SHHhhhhh.” Lex cautioned, beckoning them to get down.
“Wha...” Frek began, then got the idea and settled down in his stomach. Lex was staring back at them while Danny was peering through the narrow line of bushes that separated them from the cemetery. Melain wiggled her way over to the Science officer with Frek following awkwardly behind.
“There is someone there.” Lex explained so quietly that melain almost had to lip read, something that never worked well with the Universal Translator.
“The others?” Frek offered helpfully.
“Not sure.... no I don’t think so. They where meeting us back in the crypt.” Lex replied, peaking over Danny’s shoulder.
“Probably some cult thing, do they have a dead cat?” Frek offered as he attempted to peak over Danny’s shoulder as well.
“That’s awful.” Melain hissed. “What about black robes?”
“I can’t tell if you guys keep pushing me down.” Danny growled as he struggled to sit up again. This of course caused Lex to lose balance, causing her to fall backwards and land on Melain. This would not have been so problematic except that Danny’s move had bashed Frek’s brow against a tree branch. The Andorian let out an involuntary yelp, Melain groaned and Lex cursed. Danny rushed to Lex’s aid, leaving Melain to pick herself up and Frek to clasp the bump on his head which seemed to be getting an unfair level of attention.
“They heard us.” Lex hissed. Melain looked through the branches to see the mysterious group in a fervour of movement. They stopped and Melain could feel their eyes searching the bushes.
Before Melain could offer any suggestion as to their next move Danny was bounding over tombstones toward the enemy, Lex in close pursuit. Neither of them where armed, of course the strange opponents did not realise that. With a shrug Melain followed after at a more cautious pace with Frek stumbling after.
When they arrived close enough for Melain to get a decent view of things Danny was pinned on the ground by the largest of the strangers while Lex looked on; a shocked look plastered on her face. The strange two women, who Melain realised looked very familiar were untangling themselves while a second man, also very familiar, was seated uncomfortably on a thicker headstone holding his leg tenderly. It was David Ramsey, and his leg was very broken. By the looks of things Steve was planning on delivering a similar fate to Danny.
(22625/113764)
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davidramsey
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Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by davidramsey on Jan 11, 2007 14:08:53 GMT
As the "attackers" moved a bit closer and Steve finished trying to strangle .... someone that apparently wasn't attacking them ... David screwed up his eyes trying to figure out who these unarmed individuals were. He soon recognized one of them as what was probably Alexis Loki ... he flashed her a haphazard smile and waved like a preschooler.
"Welcome to the winter of our discontent," he said playfully before motioning toward Steve and the unfortunate person that was underneath him, "Care to join the battle royale?"
Hannah finally stood up and flashed David a distasteful look.
"Where is Harrias?" she asked, and the world stood still.
David suddenly remembered what they were charging him with and his smile vanished. Now was their chance to find out if it was true ... had they killed the commodore or was it all just a ruse to help find the Nevada's crew?
<Tag Anyone that can answer the question>
It wasn't exactly good news, but it wasn't a definite answer either way ... which meant there was hope. David finally got up and helped Steve stand up without crushing the stranger's rib cage and they both helped the guy to his feet.
"Ok, boys, make nice ... " David said turning back to his headstone seat as Steve and the other man, Danny, introduced themselves.
As the doctor closed on them, David waved again ...
"Yes, yes, I have hurt myself again ... I apologize," he said plainly, "Please ... make the pain stop ... I don't care if you cut it off ... just no more pain, please."
<Tag Lorre>
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lucykanz
Guest
Registered: Apr 27, 2024 0:51:06 GMT
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Post by lucykanz on Jan 15, 2007 22:47:48 GMT
So they were all back together. Lucy looked round at the now familiar faces. She hadn't, couldn't have, expected that her second (unplanned) visit to Earth would turn out like this. Hiding out with people she didn't know, testing an already dodgy relationship with starfleet security, and of course breaking her no hacking pact.
All in all it didn't sound that good. And yet working as part of a team, feeling like she was actually doing something useful, she was loving every minute. Even the scary ones.
As Lorre started to do what she could to stop David's pain, Lucy thought more about the immediate future. She was trying to only think a few days ahead at a time though, wondering how starfleet security would react to her adventures only stressed her out.
"We've got just under 3 days then" she thought aloud.
Hannah nodded, "Yes, but to do what?"
"Get to Paris" Lorre replied without looking up.
Lucy thought for a second before speaking again, "Umm, how long does it take to get there? I've only been to Earth once before so..."
"Not long at all. But travel time isn't the issue. It's travelling undetected."
"And then working out what to do when we get there."
The group temporarily fell silent again. It looked like another set of plans would have to be made.
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