004 : Counterplay

[Carl Torek]

"They're not after it ... Not bidding for it whatsoever ?" Gheskori said unable to believe it.

"Unless they're bluffing, making us think we have little or no competition ... ?" Torek said, "Then they'd expect us to put in a modest bid while they bid high. Surely if they even want to begin their conquest against the Empire they're going to want this technology. Either way, at this point we have no other options open to us. We will head for the Dol ....."

"Alas, I must inform you that our further participation in your exploits will not be forthcoming." Nor'am interrupted, "We are first and foremost 'Traders' we do not involve ourselves in subterfuge."

"You have no option." Elena informed the man darkly.

"Ah, but we do My Lady, we do indeed. While we do supply information to the Federation at times, our agreement does not go further than supply of information, should you attempt to 'bully' us into complying, then we will not take kindly, and any further assistance will alas, cease. This vessel is taking you nowhere." Elena stepped forward until she was less than a meter from the Purezi Captain, surprisingly, none of the other Purezi were seemingly concerned at her actions, in fact, they were apparently ignoring the proceedings, which worried both Carl and Gheskori !

"You will take us to the Dolar Transwa ...."

"No ... We will not." Nor'am said quietly.

"With all due respect Captain ...." Carl said, gently moving the Intelligence Officer aside so he could address the man, "We need to get to the Dolar Transwarp Relay, and as you can see, you have the only vessel capable of allowing us to achieve that before the Klingon's turn up and snatch the Omnis Device anyway. So you see out conundrum."

"I do indeed Admiral, but this vessel is nevertheless unable to be of further use to you. I do, however, have an alternate means of transport available to you, supplied by your Star Fleet, for just such an eventuality." Nor'am said, obviously pleased to have the apparent upper hand, and the Federation Officers at his beck and call for the moment, "..... Prior to our arrival, we made a pre-arranged rendezvous with one USS San Diego ... They supplied us with a Type Nine Shuttle-craft to be placed at your disposal. I was asked to inform you that the shuttle has been greatly modified, to allow extra range and speed. It has also been equipped with superior weaponry than standard. There is a record of it's disappearance, along with a rather dubious report of having been purchased illegally ... Finally, the transponder has been disengaged, whether that is a good thing from your point of view, doesn't concern me in the slightest."

"... and you couldn't tell us this earlier !" Elena said, her annoyance building with the smug Purezi yet again.

"My Lady, please, you must allow me my simple pleasures." Nor'am said, then changed his attitude instantly, "You have five minutes to depart our cargo-bay, or both you and the shuttle, will find yourselves, most independently, adrift." he turned away and addressed one of his men, telling him to conduct the Officer's to the cargo-bay with all due haste. Apparently, the Purezi, obviously loosing interest in helping the Federation further, had other places to be ......


~~~~~~~~~~


The Type Nine Shuttle-craft backed out of the cramped cargo bay, falling behind the Purezi vessel, which jumped to warp the second the shuttle was clear of the forming warp-field.

"Might have burned our bridges there unfortunately." Elena said from the Ops seat.

"Well, you 'could' have been more pleasant to the man." Carl said with a wry grin as Gheskori entered the co-ordinates of Dolar Transwarp Relay XC-Zeta-24 ..........

[Elena de Luca]

"Well, you 'could' have been more pleasant to the man." Carl said as the shuttle jumped to warp.

"He was beginning to get on my very last nerve there Admiral." she replied with a grin.

"How long to the Relay station Ghes ?"

"Eight hours. May as well get some rest while we can." ........


~~~~~~~~~~


Dropping from warp the scanned the sector containing the Transwarp Relay. They had been warned not to go in there unannounced and that was verified when an automated recording began to inform them that the Relay was currently out of commission and the area restricted until further notice. After a few moments of discussion the shuttle approached the nearest warning buoy ...


* Approach to Dolar Transwarp Relay XC-Zeta-24 restricted .. .. .. Approach to Dolar Transwarp Relay XC-Zeta-24 .. .. .. Approach to Dol ..... *


Carl cut the automated signal off and sat back. Then after a moment the Comm chirped to life:

=^= Unidentified shuttle .. You are attempting to enter a restricted area .. Come about and exit region or be fired upon .. You have thirty seconds to comply .. .. =^=

"Certainly the over-friendly types these Dolar." Carl said.

"Sir, I think I should be the one making contact. My legend is much more secure than either of yours, and given the Dolar's penchant for womanizing I have the feeling they are more likely to respond to me than, either of you." Elena said. both Admiral's shrugged and moved out of the pilot's area to allow her to take one of the seats.

=^= Dolar Station .. My name is Rai .. I am seeking informa .. .. .. =^=

=^= You now have twenty seconds =^= Carl pointed to one of the panels, it was clearly showing that their shuttle had been scanned and was now the subject of an unknown weapons lock. He glanced at Elena who turned back to the panel:

=^= We were instructed to contact you directly regarding information on a contact prior to a substantial purchase .. .. .. =^=

=^= Ten seconds =^=

=^= It seems that you are not as honorable or forthcoming with information as I was led to believe .. I shall seek out Captain Nor'am and reclaim my goods .. I do not appreciate being taken for a fool =^=

She immediately turned the shuttle away from the buoy and engaged warp drive.

"Well that was a compl ......" Gheskori began as the Comm chirped back to life:

=^= Unknown shuttle .. .. Drop from warp and return to your previous position .. .. Failure to comply will result in your immediate demise =^= the comm snapped off and she turned to the others, a wry grin on her face.

"These two 'ARE' Scientists, right ?" Gheskori said, exasperation oozing from every syllable.

"They 'still' have a positive weapons lock on us." Carl said as the shuttle once again dropped out of warp and made a lazy turn, "Maybe they couldn't resist your homely charms after all." as they came to a complete stop less than five hundred meters from the buoy, they couldn't help notice that it realigned itself and was now, somewhat ominously, pointing directly at the shuttle. Carl wanted to contact the Relay Station but Elena, given her extensive experience in covert operations, knew better, she advised they wait out the Dolar, who obviously knew they had the proverbial 'upper hand' in this situation. Suddenly the navigation computer pinged and displayed a set of coordinates deep into the restricted Sector. Shrugging she acknowledged the transmission and, passing the ever-watching buoy, entered the restricted area en-route to their meeting with the two Dolar Scientists .... After ten minutes a second set of coordinates appeared and Elena made the appropriate adjustments. Finally they reached their goal but there was nothing to be seen. No Transwarp Relay, no Station, no Research Facility that was supposedly housing the two Scientists.

"This is beginning to get annoying." Carl said as the Comm once again chirped to life:

=^= You said that Captain Nor'am sent you to us .. .. If this is so then we may well have the information you desire .. .. Please stand by for transport =^=

=^= Whoa .. Hold on .. .. We are 'NOT' transporting anywh .. .. .. =^= Elena began as the tell-tale hum of the transport began. Seconds later the three reappeared on the Relay Station, or rather, some obviously clandestine area of said Station. The first thing the three noticed was the obvious frail build of the two Scientist's and the way they looked at Elena like a prize. Carl estimated that the gravity was less than Earth normal, maybe point eight Gee. The first Scientist, presumably the one who had spoken to them, approached Elena and tentatively ran his fingers threw her hair. Carl could see she was fighting the impulse to snap the man in two.

"You're vessel ..... Interesting .... Very interesting indeed. What is your name again my dear ?" the man said, his eyes never leaving Elena's. She reached up and gently moved his hand from her hair then smiled.

"Rai ..... We were told you could provide contact information for an, item, we are hoping to acquire."

"What item would that be. Rai ?" the second Scientist asked, approaching Elena, but her look made him hesitate.

"We wish to bid for the technology known as the Omnis Device." she said.

"Indeed." the first asked, looking Torek and Gheskori up and down as if speculating on how much they would get at the local market for the pair, ".... and who would these two, large gentlemen be may I ask ?"

"Hired help." Elena said dismissively, "Now, the information, do you have it or do I go elsewhere ?"

"For a modest fee, yes." the second said, still inching his way towards Elena.

"How much ?" Carl asked. Unfortunately, his question wasn't taken lightly as the second spun to face him:

"Heed my warning 'helper' ... Speak when spoken to !"

"Price ?" Elena asked, stepping diplomatically between the two men.

"One thousand bars of gold-pressed latinum."

"OK." she said, realizing her mistake instantly as the two Dolar Scientist's stepped back ... 'Too bloody quick' she chastised herself inwardly as the Dolar conferred, eyeing the three suspiciously, "You know what, forget it. I was told that you two would willingly supply the information I required. I didn't expect to be pawed like some prospective 'PET' nor did I think the Dolar would try to elicit reward for their assistance. I will depart and seek out Nor'am to get what I need. Take note Dolar, your actions here today will not go unforgotten." she turned her back on the two as if the meeting were irrevocably over.

"Oh, you will not be leaving until we allow it." the first said defiantly, but stopped talking as Elena took a small device from her tunic and tapped in a numeric code before raising her eyebrows at the two Scientists:

"I assume you know what this is ? ......." she asked, allowing the two to look at the device in her hand. Carl and Gheskori too looked and worked hard at hiding their surprise, "A little something I acquired from the Dolar some time ago. Very effective in making a point I find. So, Let's cut to the chase here. I would like to know 'who' I need to contact to purchase the Omnis Device. I would like to know now, or 'YOU' will face the consequences. How does that sound ?" she waited patiently as the two decided they had no option but to comply with her request.

"You should go to the Ronnol Sector where we store our completed projects ..." the first said, continuing as the second nudged him, "You will speak with Grlza, one of our more, forthcoming Developers."

"Coordinates ?" Elena demanded, watching the first closely as he put the data on a bio-chip and handed it to her. For clarification she replaced the 'chip and read the information it contained, her finger hovering over the activation pad on the device she held. Satisfied she retrieved the 'chip and thanked the two Scientists. Moving to the transporter console she grinned.

"We'll be leaving now. I'm going to leave this here ..." she said, placing the handheld device on the table before them, the active indicator blinking, Should you attempt to interfere with this device in any way, you know the result. Should you attempt to prevent our departure in any way, well, you know the rest ...." she said, activating the transporter. A second later they were back on the shuttle .....

Elena quickly entered the coordinates given to her and jumped to warp eight.

"Are we in a hurry ?" Carl asked.

"Well, to be honest, I'd really rather not be in range of their weapon when they find out the device I left them terrified of was well, a fake." ...


On the Dolar Transwarp Relay XC-Zeta-24 ::


"You failed to inform them of the Klingon's." the second stated.

"They did not ask." the first said, as both of them watched the blinking light on the device before them ..........

[Gheskori]

"Well, that was an unnerving experience," Ghes said, entering from the aft compartment into the cockpit of the shuttle where Carl and Elena sat at the controls, the vastness of space like a jewelled cloak spread out before them through the viewports. He sat down grumpily at the tertiary console, "We could've at least acquired the San Diego. It would've made us seem more impressive as traders, mercenaries."

He stayed his tongue and went to the replicator. He knew that the agreement had been made between the Purezi and the Federation, and he could take his frustration out on the former but not of course the latter. He turned back to the cockpit and the stars that shot by with a mug of Aldebaran coffee, added cinnamon and Hina'blui (third moon of Denobula) spices.

"How far out are we from Ronnor sector?" he asked, sitting back and stirring the drink.

"16.1 lightyears. The information on the chip indicates Grlza is to be found in the Beta Emphis system, at a distance of 25.9 lightyears."

"You know, I wonder if the Klingons can really be trusted," Ghes said. "As fellow competitors in the bidding for the Omnis - assuming they're bluffing about not wanting to be involved - they could easily have misled us into coming here, with the connivance of the Dolar scientists."

If that was the case, with the shuttle's modifications they had adequate defensive systems for combating any small Klingon ships they came across or the Dolar, who - in contrast with their energetic development of weapons and technology on their planets, products available to the highest bidder - had as their fleet a rather motley collection of ships of which only a few were combat-oriented.

* * *

5 hours later

The shuttle had dropped out of warp on the edge of Beta Amphis system and had, for the last hour, been hailing every inhabited planet in the system for a Dolar named Grlza. So far they had been met with bureaucratic brick walls, grey skinned and slim Dolar dismissing them curtly or redirecting them to their able colleagues in the External Enquiries offices on 2 km Kepler Belt-type, frozen lumps of rock in the outer system.

An alert came from the sensor display; Ghes slid over in his chair, "Reading eight vessels at 302.6 by 47.2 degrees near the third planet, all unmanned." He frowned, further results coming through, "I'd say they were the subject of Dolar tests. All are small merchant craft, none longer than 100 m, making wide and consistent circles and firing on one another."

"They're running the Omnis...?"

"It's possible." As he spoke three pinpricks of light off to port expanded, hovered at a certain size for an instant before winking out of existence; spirals of white matter scattered away into the vacuum. He checked his display, "Three of the vessels have been destroyed but not from damage. It seems their self-destruct sequences were started automatically. Interesting... Test successful I would say."

As the last of the explosions faded out the comm indicator burst to life and an audio only transmission came, "Received, John Anders. I am Grlza. I have been expecting you. Proceed towards the orbit of the third planet but make no attempt to approach the planet itself. Your craft risks being caught in blast waves from our tests. Five ships are designated for destruction in accordance with Dolar Experimental Weaponry Test S-9 Alpha, 42 Bravo. Repeat! Do not approach the third planet; keep, your, distance." The channel closed.

"Terse fellow," Ghes said, tapping at the sensor array controls as the shuttle was taken towards the orbital path of the third planet around Beta Emphis. "Presumably he'll want us to beam over there."

They slipped into the third planet's orbit, following the planet and matching its speed such that it was always out of sight the other side of Beta Emphis. It was another five minutes before they received another communication from the Dolar, this time visual: a man in all turquoise overalls, a matching mask and hat appeared, calling himself Hebes. Evidently he had come straight from a sterilised laboratory. Without removing his mask, "The Omnis is a small device for its purpose, consisting of a central processing unit measuring 30.4 by 11.2 by 9.9 centimetres with the capacity to handle 57 teraquads of data per second. Attached to the central unit, two hyperdiamond antennae, extendable to cover the diameter of most ship-mounted computer cores should hardwiring be desired. Especially noteworthy, you will find on our latest model a portable Heisenberg compensator allowing Omnis to be beamed directly into the computer core housing of another starship..."

Ghes blew out his cheeks and tapped absently at his console. As Hebes droned on, stating every so often that Grlza would be along shortly, the Denobulan began to think that the delay was intentional. Did the Dolar not trust them? The three had identified themselves as mercenaries who at a glance the Dolar would find had stolen a Federation shuttlecraft, but then again, perhaps the Dolar, who seemed as much scientists as they were businessmen, didn't have the same moral laxity as was possessed by their counterparts in other cultures.

He was shaken out of his reverie by a reading on long range sensors, "Picking up a vessel approaching at high warp. It's almost on top of us!"

Hebes had closed the channel at the same time. Shooting out of warp and coming to a full stop in front of them was a Negh'Var class battleship. It was hailing. Ghes sat agape while Torek tentatively had a channel opened.

A Klingon in robes bedecked with medals appeared, rising from his command chair and appraising each of the shuttle's occupants, before giving a toothy smile and breathing hoarsely, "You three aren't escaping alive. I have expressed my gratitude to Grlza for holding you until my arrival. He didn't take to it kindly... I am Councillor Kitroqk of the Klingon High Council, and you have been working for the House of D'orn, acquiring weaponry on their behalf! Pitiful though their House is, forced to band together with mercenaries close to the Federation border, I cannot allow them to acquire this weapon."

"Evan Sorne, Councillor," Ghes said, hoping that the Klingon didn't recognise him as a Starfleet officer, "There is a threat from the House of D'orn... To your own government. They intend to use this weapon not in petty border disputes or the like, but on the ruling House itself." He watched as Carl raised shields before continuing,"Why would we be telling you this if we were employed by them?"

[Carl Torek]

Carl sat listening to the no-nonsense sales pitch from the man on the screen. Truth be told he was actually interested in what the device, if used correctly, could do, and more importantly, what it could do when used incorrectly ! ....

=^= .. .. two hyper-diamond antennae .. Extendable to cover the diameter of most ship-mounted computer cores should hard-wiring be desired .. Especially noteworthy you will find on our latest model a portable Heisenberg compensator allowing Omnis to be beamed directly into the computer core housing of another star ship .. .. .. =^= Ghekori suddenly sat bolt upright, hands attacking the plexi-glass screen of his console:

They had no time to react to the new arrival, and Carl, like the other's obviously suspected they had been 'detained' on orders from this Klingon vessel.

=^= I am Councillor Kitroqk of the Klingon High Council and you have been working for the House of D'orn .. Acquiring weaponry on their behalf .. Pitiful though their House is .. Forced to band together with mercenaries close to the Federation border .. I cannot allow them to acquire this weapon =^=

=^= Evan Sorne .. .. Councillor .. There is a threat from the House of D'orn .. .. To your own government .. They intend to use this weapon not in petty border disputes or the like but on the ruling House itself .. .. .. Why would we be telling you this if we were employed by them ? =^=

Kitroqk conferred with someone out of sight for a moment, then turned to face the three of them:

=^= Prepare to transport to this vessel .. You will be interrogated to ascertain what if anything you have told me is based in truth =^=

=^= Oh I think not Councillor .. .. .. =^= Carl said, making sure the man was looking directly at him before he continued, =^= Do not underestimate our shuttle Councillor .. for all your size and superior weaponry we can still bite ! =^=

=^= You .. 'A TRADER' .. Dare to threaten a Klingon high Councillor .. In 'THAT' ! =^= Kitroqk spat, seething as he glared at the three traders.

=^= You know full well that you believe or have your own suspicions regarding the House of D'orn .. Otherwise you would have ordered us destroyed already .. So why don't we try to put aside our 'opinions' of each other and work to resolve this problem .. If the House of D'orn acquire the Omnis Device you can say goodbye to any thoughts of defeating them in the near future .. They 'WILL' sit as Head's of the Ruling Council and simply eradicate anyone who dares challenge their position .. We on the other hand .. .. Have been retained to purchase the device on behalf of a party with zero interest in the petty politics of the Klingon's or anyone else in the Federation for that matter .. .. So what is it to be Councillor .. An amicable meeting between our two interested parties .. Or our mutual demise here and now ? =^=

Unsurprisingly, the Comm closed as he finished finished his speech. He sat back, one had resting casually on the panel before him ... He knew he was taking a massive risk defying the Klingon's let alone challenging them to open fire ... If Kitroqk was one of the old school diplomats, he should about now be doing everything in his power to restrain the vessel's Captain, who would have already ordered their deaths. In turn, the Klingon Captain would be fighting his desire to fight, with his desire to remain a Commanding Officer rather than a lowly worker in the Klingon mines. Carl was hoping that Kitroqk would make a decision before pure hatred and the need to fight got the better of the Captain. Finally, the screen sprang to life once again:

=^= One of you will transport to my vessel .. If we find you are lying you will not be returned and your 'craft' will be destroyed .. Make your choice .. NOW ! =^=

=^= No .. .. 'YOU' .. Councillor .. Will instruct your Captain to take all weapons off-line and drop your shields .. We will transport to you our shuttle and move to a safe distance .. Once convinced that your ship is not attempting to come after us we will halt and we can talk to your hearts content .. .. .. Bare in mind Councillor .. The D'orn Family 'WILL' be coming here to attempt to complete their purchase of the Omnis Device .. You can fire or talk .. The option is yours =^= Carl closed the Comm this time and waited.

"Bloody Hell, this isn't a Friday night poker game Admiral." Elena said, watching the massive Klingon vessel hanging ominously above them.

"Can you get a lock on the Councillor through their shields ?" Carl asked as Gheskori monitored the Klingon ship, but Elena said it was impossible, "Gheskori, raise a level six force field around the inner cockpit, keep our shields in place. Once their shields drop how long to drop ours and snatch the Councillor ?"

"Three seconds." Elena confirmed as Gheskori did as he was asked, admittedly puzzled as the comm yet again chirped to life:

=^= Despite advice .. I have agreed to transport to your 'requests' .. .. Drop your shields and prepare to receive me .. .. .. =^=

Carl sat motionless, eyebrows raised. Finally the Klingon spat a stream of orders. Ghes confirmed their weapons were off-line and shields dropped. Without turning his gaze from the Klingon, he uttered one word:

"Now." ....

As the shuttle dropped her shields, Elena was already establishing a lock on Kitroqk. as he materialized Carl punched the shuttle to warp nine and vanished. The Councillor had come prepared, but his phaser had been rendered inoperative during transport. he threw the ineffective weapon to the ground in disgust before glaring at the three traders:

"You will 'DIE' a very slow death for this act !" he screamed.

"Oh, Not today Councillor." Carl said, standing and approaching the point where he knew the force field to be. it was all the goading Kitroqk needed ... He flung himself at the Human, only to be thrown unceremoniously to the back of the shuttle, disheveled and furious, he got to his feet and repeated the fruitless attack. Carl simply stood, waiting for the man to calm himself.

"We asked for a meeting in good faith." he began as the Klingon finally realized he wasn't going to win against the energy barrier between them, "You were never going to honor that, as proven by the weapon we had to disarm, and you're apparent annoyance at your current situation. I am more than willing to begin again, if you can give me your word that you will not attempt anything against any of us, or this craft ?"

"My ship will be in pursuit. You cannot escape our wrath."

"Fair enough." Carl turned away and instructed Elena to lock onto the Klingon and be ready to beam him into space, "Any last words, anything you'd like me to pass on to your Family regarding your death ?"

Kitroqk was no warrior, he was a diplomat, and while the thought of dying in glory and arriving at Sto-vo-kor a honored Klingon was something all Klingon's craved, he decided that it was not going to be today ... He sat down at the back of the shuttle, defiantly glaring at the three Federation Officers as if it had been 'his' choice and his alone.

"We shall speak." he said.

"First. Contact your vessel. It is to come to a complete halt ... We can see it gaining on us, they must be really stretching their warp engines to get you back. Just to make things perfectly clear, 'ANY' attempt to come into range will result in two things happening simultaneously. We jump to warp and vanish, while you ....." Carl didn't finish the sentence.

"I need access to your Communications." the Klingon said finally. Carl opened a Comm and waited while Gheskori confirmed their pursuer had in fact dropped from warp and was now relatively stationary. Elena dropped them from warp and brought the shuttle to a complete stop. They had more than enough speed and leeway to escape should the need arise. Carl dropped the force field and waited ..........

[Gheskori]

Ghes grinned, tapping at the tactical display and regarding the view of the Negh'var class through the transparent aluminium, while keeping a wary eye on Kitroqk who worked beside him at the communications panel. It took some panache to face down a member of the Klingon High Council like Carl had. Now they had the Councillor at their beck and call, as he endeavoured - presumably - to make contact with his ship.

"Their disruptors are reading as offline," Ghes confirmed. "They're hailing."

"Put them on," Kitroqk cut in abruptly, before jutting out his chin and folding his arms. The bridge of the Negh'var appeared on the viewscreen, a KDF Captain rising from the command chair and stepping towards the display. Kitroqk barked, "Captain, I have... agreed to negotiate with the traders."

"They have coerced you," the Klingon Captain replied.

"No, they have... persuaded me," Kitroqk continued with some consternation, "... That this was the best option for both parties. Now, traders," he turned to the three of them, "Now all witness to our negotiations, let me tell you why I am in the Ronnor sector, and not merely Captain Tazrak and his vessel," he gestured at the viewscreen to the aforenamed Tazrak. "The House of D'orn are more a threat to the Empire than I wished to have you believe during our first exchange."

"Big surprise," Ghes rolled his eyes as Kitroqk continued. The Denobulan glanced at the viewscreen then noticed an alert signal flashing on his console. His eyes widened as he read it, pressed his finger against the flashing red button lightly, not making the gesture too obvious. The barely audible alert sound - amplified in the ears of Denobulans due to their sensitive hearing - was silenced and the alarm went unnoticed.

"K'lasq's rise, pithy though his House is or was, has given the High Council great cause for concern, has sent shockwaves through the Klingon Empire," Kitroqk was saying. "With the assistance of Gorn defectors, he and his sister's fleet attacked and destroyed one of our science stations in the system adjacent to the heart of the Empire two days ago. Unknown to the Klingon people..." Ghes turned around and signalled silently to Torek, 'They're loading torpedoes'.

"Unknown to the masses of our people, the D'orn House is on the brink of a strategic breakthrough; they are one, perhaps two steps away from being able to assault Qo'nos itself and force the the High Council into submission. We believe they have identified the Omnis Device as their key to victory; with its procurement, they will be ready to take the final step of descending on Qo'nos and reigning in a new dynasty. Now -"

"Cut the channel," Carl ordered. Ghes tapped the button and the implacable Captain Tazrak disappeared from view. Kitroqk turned on the traders in fury. "Your ship is getting ready to fire on us," Carl rebuked, standing nose to nose with Kitroqk, who blustered in disbelief.

"They've armed torpedoes," Ghes nodded, "I suggest we -"

"Warp 9. Corkscrew pattern, then random course changes. You have some explaining to do, Councillor. What did you tell the Captain of the Negh'var?"

The shuttle jumped to warp, heading above the plane of the Beta Emphis-third planet ecliptic that they'd been holding to, rising and making wide circles before after a quarter of a parsec setting a heading back towards the sector holding the two Dolar scientists and their transwarp relay; then inputting another random set of coords, a heading towards Klingon space.

"I told him to take weapons offline!" Kitroqk shook himself loose of Torek and bashed a fist against a console, screaming, "Tazrak! His heart has always been fiery but I thought he would show some restraint, some honour not to make such a cowardly attack during negotiations. And he would have killed me. Traitor!"

"Calm yourself, Councillor," Ghes said, "That was never going to happen... While we're clear of your rebellious Captain, how do you intend to go about preventing the House of D'orn from acquiring the weapon? Putting in a rival bid? Hmm, it could upset the balance of power in the quadrant..."

"Why would you care?" Kitroqk spat, "Your interest lies in the next deal, the next meagre profit whereafter you can revel in your ill-gotten gains."

Ghes realised he'd risked his cover; though the infraction he thought was reasonably minor, it was almost criminal for a temp Intelligence Officer. He recovered swiftly, "We have certain business partners that may be put at a disadvantage if the Klingon Empire were to become substantially more powerful..."

Kitroqk sighed, sitting in the co-pilot's chair and seeming spent, "As my ship has abandoned me, I must give myself to you, for our causes 'are' similar, or so it would seem. If I do find out you are working for the D'orn House, know that vengeance shall be swift.

"Tazrak's ship is part of a larger task force that was en route to the Dolar homeworld to force them to halt development and production of the Omnis and related technologies. Further to this, we had two options. The first, through the threat of use of arms, we were to have the Dolar destroy all Omnises currently in issue, by remote or otherwise. The second option - the reason for my presence - was we would seek a diplomatic solution allowing the Dolar to protect their technology while guaranteeing our safety from the House of D'orn by disabling Omnis. Now I fear..." the Klingon looked at the starfield searchingly, "... That Captain Tazrak intends to annihilate the Dolar homeworld, with the help of the rest of the task force." He turned to Ghes, Carl and Elena, "Let me make contact with him. I know that I can persuade him to return to us."

[Carl Torek]

Kitroqk sighed, sitting in the co-pilot's chair and seeming spent.

"As my ship has abandoned me, I must give myself to you, for our causes 'are' similar, or so it would seem. If I do find out you are working for the D'orn House, know that vengeance shall be swift." They listened as the Councillor spoke of what Tarzak and his ships intended to do. Removing the Dolar and their technological expertise, would, to some small extent, stabilize the Klingon High Council, allowing them to return to whatever nefarious activities were occupying their time at the moment. Even though the treaty between the Federation and the Klingon's was firm, they still had enemies, enemies they intended to irradiate if the opportunity arose !

"Set course for the Dolar Home-world ... Open a sub-space channel and contact them, they need to be aware of the 'guests' they are about to have." Carl said, eyeing the Klingon warily.

"... and him ?" Elena said, remaining in character.

"Move him to the back of the shuttle out of harms way." Carl ordered.


~~~~~~~~~~


Six hours had passed since they set out for the Dolar Home-world. As yet, they had refused any attempt at contact, going only so far as to warn the shuttle not to enter their space without permission.

Finally Carl had to concede that they were out of their depth. One shuttle, regardless of modifications, couldn't defend a world against numerous Klingon Warships. He had to allow the Councillor to contact the Klingon Captain. He turned to look at Kitroqk, slightly perturbed to see the man was already looking directly at 'him' ! ....

"We are going to let you speak to Tazrak."

"I have the feeling you are something 'more' than just traders out for profit." Kitroqk said, suddenly gaining confidence as he realized he may have stumbled on something, "Yes, I will speak with the Captain. but first, I think we need to discuss our 'situation' and my status among you ... Who do you work for, the D'orn House ? ... No, I think not, or you would have contacted them by now to ensure their escape, so, the Dolar, there too I have problems ...... For traders you seem to have acquired this vessel at little or no cost. As for your knowledge of shall we say, current affairs, for traders you seem to know much more than you need to barter for trinkets."

"I don't know what you are talking about Kitroqk." Carl said, "We're traders who can see a profit going right out of the window if your Klingon friends start to bombard the Dolar Home-world." But Kitroqk was having none of what the so-called 'trader' was telling him. There was something much larger going on, and he was in an ideal position to exploit it. One way or another he was going to get the information he needed, or he would sit back and allow the Dolar race to be eradicated from existence. Then, he would barter the information he still held, in trade for his life.

"Rai. Lock onto him." Carl ordered, his face expressionless as Elena did as ordered.

"It is a baseless threat, and you know it." the Klingon said, sitting himself down defiantly. Carl had no option, beaming the Klingon into space removed any chance they had of stopping the attack on the Dolar. He waved to Elena, who deactivated the transporter, "Now ... Shall we discuss our situation, and that of the Dolar ?" The three Federation Officers looked at each other.

"You are wrong Councillor." Carl said, still hoping to regain the upper hand they had obviously lost, "Yes, we have this shuttle, yes we 'acquired' it through some less reputable means, and yes, we do have what seems to be more than a passing interest in these current affairs as you called them. We are wealthy because of those facts. Regardless of what you may think Councillor, we 'WILL' eject you if you refuse to speak to the Klingon Commander. Hell, what do we have to loose precisely, this shuttle, no, I think not. Our 'reputation' maybe .... Nope, not that either. We are simply trying to maintain the status quo. So, I would drop any thoughts of non-cooperation and get on the Comm." he finished, eyes locked on the Klingon's in one of the biggest bluff double-bluff scenario's he had faced in a very long time ....

Gheskori, checking long-range sensors turned to face the immobile duo and spoke to Carl:

"Anders. I'm picking up the Klingon's .... Seven point eight two light years on a heading of two two zero mark one zero."

"What are they doing ?" Carl asked, eyes never leaving the Klingon's.

"They're, sitting out there. As near as I can tell, they are on the outer edge of the Dolar System. I doubt they have spotted us yet." Carl could see Kitroqk move slightly, but still held Torek's gaze.

"Drop from warp. All stop." Carl said, deciding to call the mans bluff, "Now's the time Councillor. You contact Tazrak and call him off, or you go outside." The Klingon smiled ... It was a mistake to do so. Turning to the transporter console, Carl locked onto the Klingon and activated the transport sequence. As the tell-tale hum and feather-light grip engulfed Kitroqk his eyes widened in defiance, then fear. He began to raise his hands but vanished from sight before he could complete the action. Carl turned to look out at the stars seemingly unconcerned.

"Where is he ?" Elena asked. Carl pointed out of the window and the others followed his line of sight .... There, being held in an eighty percent complete transport sequence, was the Klingon. Eyes wide, he would be able to see the shuttle, and know that once the transport was complete he would perish. A cowards death, and one that would most surely bar his passage into Sto-vo-kor !

"You 'know' he is going to be severely traumatized once you bring him back in." Elena said, grinning at Carl's ingenuity ..........

[Elena de Luca]

Sat watching the Klingon, suspended outside the shuttle, she wondered where they were going to go from here ... Something occurred to her and she turned to the sensor array panel:

"Anyone else wondering why the Klingon's haven't entered the Dolar System yet ?" she said, trying not to glace at Kitroqk.

"Waiting to the rest of his ships maybe ?" Carl replied, checking the transporter buffer was still holding steady.

"Can we at least bring him back in now, it's damn distracting having him hanging there like some spectre." Carl shrugged, raising a force field to keep the man at the rear of the shuttle, he reversed the transport. Kitroqk reappeared, visibly shaken by his ordeal. He slumped to the floor looking as if he was muttering some Klingon prayer of thankfulness. The other three ignored him.

"I think something is preventing them from moving into the System." Elena commented, working at the long-range sensors, "Going off their warp trails, they were traveling at high warp until they reached their current position, then seemingly stopped dead in their tracks."

It was agreed that they would slowly move closer to the group of Klingon vessels, hopefully without attracting their attention. Again they tried contacting the Dolar, and were again warned that any attempt to enter the System without permission would result in, unfortunate consequences ... So, they had little option but to attempt to close on the Klingon's and somehow try to prevent the attack. When they were on the edge of the Klingon vessel's sensor range, Elena suddenly began to see anomalous readings from the sensors. Whatever it was was clearly targeting the Klingon's while leaving the shuttle unaffected. As they discussed the situation Gheskori suddenly noticed movement:

"The lead Klingon ship has broke formation. It's the Negh'Var. They are heading directly for us ... Persistent little bugger isn't he." he confirmed, looking back at the still visibly shaken Kitroqk. He brought weapons and the warp engines on-line. Setting a random evasion course away from their location, he sat back, hand millimeters from the flashing control.

The massive Negh'Var Warship dwarfed the Shuttle as it came to a complete stop only one hundred meters away. Carl had to admire their piloting skills ... The comm crackled to life:

=^= You Humans never fail to amaze me with your stupidity =^= a Female Officer they had not seen before said, receiving approving grunts from the Bridge crew. Carl nodded to Elena to take the lead:

=^= We have no wish to fight you .. But make no mistake .. If you arm weapons we 'WILL' fire on you .. .. .. Now .. I would like you to power down all systems other than life support and gravity .. You can keep your inertial dampers on-line too .. I'd hate you to drift right over the top of us while we're getting on so well =^= she said, a wry grin forming as she looked at the Klingon Woman and waited. She in turn seemed to be listening to someone out of sight before returning her gaze to the screen.

=^= No .. .. You will have the barrier preventing our passage into the Dolar System removed .. Or suffer the consequences .. .. Also .. You will return Councillor Kitriqk immediately =^=

=^= The Councillor is a little worse for ware at present .. .. As for our removing whatever is holding your ships .. Thankfully we can do nothing about it .. .. But it does give us time to speak with each other =^=

=^= We have nothing to discuss .. Remove the barrier .. .. NOW ! =^=

=^= Where .. May I ask .. Is your Captain ? =^=

=^= That is concern of yours .. Human =^=

=^= You have scanned this craft .. .. .. You are fully aware of our capability .. If you are not willing to talk I suggest you depart before lives are lost =^= Elena could see Carl gesturing and reached forward to mute the Comm as the Klingon woman unleashed a stream of incoherent threats.

"She's stalling." Carl said quickly, "They have no idea what is holding them, and think we do. Offer a trade ..." Elena looked at the Admiral for a moment, wondering if he had lost his mind. Their only ace was holding the Councillor, though given he was now wanted by his own people, maybe trading for someone more useful would be a viable option. She un-muted the Comm as the woman was finishing speaking.

=^= We wish to bid for the Omnis Device =^= she said, making both Torek and Gheskori take a breath.

=^= Omnis Device ? =^= the Klingon woman said, but outright lying was something Elena couldn't tolerate.

=^= Don't play me for a fool Klingon .. You want to prevent the House of D'orn from acquiring the device .. Likewise .. We do not want it falling into their hands .. Of course should 'we' be allowed to purchase the devise we could in turn allow som .. .. =^= While she was talking the tell-tale hum of a transport was heard, all three turned, expecting Kitroqk to be whisked away, but they were wrong !

She finished her sentence, but not on the shuttle ! .....

"... eone to buy it from us ... Couldn't manage to whisk the Councillor away from us, so you took second best .... I'm flattered." Elena said,looking around the Bridge of the Negh'Var, and the numerous disruptors that were aimed at her, before turning her attention to the woman sat in the Command seat, "I wouldn't take too long over whatever you're thinking of doing, because about now my friends are targeting your warp core, and no doubt pondering how much they will both make after spitting my share."

The woman laughed, appreciating her prisoners' humor, but Elena wasn't laughing, she held the woman's gaze until she fell silent.

"Like we told your Captain, you shouldn't under-estimate ... That little shuttle may well be small, but it packs a punch. Our phasers will cut through you ship like a hot knife through butter. You core will be critical before you bring your weapons fully on-line. Now, how about getting your Captain, I'd much prefer to speak to someone in charge, no offence."

The Klingon glanced at the shuttle for a moment, wondering if what this woman said held any truth.

"What is it you Human's say 'none taken' is it, yes, well, you 'ARE' speaking to someone in charge. Let us say the former Commander of this vessel was, relieved of duty. My name is Commander K'lun, and you, are Rai, unusual name for a Human. Orphaned when a child, took up your current 'profession' some twelve years ago, and have apparently amassed a not small fortune." the Klingon said, obviously pleased with her intelligence, while in turn, Elena was much more pleased that her legend was solid, it meant that with luck those invented for Torek and Gheskori would also hold up to scrutiny, "You see, we too have access to records if they serve our purpose, just like you."

"Well, I've never heard of you." Elena said with a shrug.

"My crew ...." K'lun began waving to encompass the Bridge, "Seem to think that wasting time in 'idle chatter' is tantamount to neglect, but fortunately for you, it is I who makes the decisions now. But heed my words Rai, should you make any further threats against me or this vessel, I will allow them to send you back to your colleagues, via the nearest air-lock !" Elena was about to comment when one of the Klingon's spun to face K'lun:

"The shuttle has locked weapons on us Commander !" K'lun couldn't believe what she was hearing, this craft, the size of a Tashmanian Spider, was threatening her ship. She glared at the Human woman, who was watching events impassively.

"Raise our shields."

"Commander. The Earth vessel is inside our shields. Should it fire while we have them rais ......"

"SILENCE !" K'lun spat, watching the small craft which had decreased the distance between them both by half, "Kill her, fire on the Human shuttle."

"My Lady, we cannot ....." her Second in Command informed her nervously, continuing as she spun on him dangerously, "They are within our shields, and have positioned themselves where we cannot direct fire without destroying vital systems of our ship."

"They would truly sacrifice themselves to have you returned ?" K'lun asked, almost surprised. Elena merely shrugged .........

[Carl Torek]

Both men had been scanning the Klingon vessel constantly during the conversation. It was a given that they would make another attempt to regain their Councillor, it was just a matter of time ... Carl was beginning to wonder where the conversation was going, he got Elena's attention:

"She's stalling." Carl said quickly, "They have no idea what is holding them, and think we do. Offer a trade ..."

=^= Don't play me for a fool Klingon .. You want to prevent the House of D'orn from acquiring the device .. Likewise .. We do not want it falling into their hands .. Of course should 'we' be allowed to purchase the devise we could in turn allow som .. .. =^= Gheskori and Torek both reacted instantly as Elena was beamed away. Slamming the shields up they tried in vein to contact the Negh'Var.

"Any idea's ?" Gheskori asked, frustrated at allowed the transport to happen.

"Several. but I seriously doubt we'll get time to carry any of them out." Carl replied, bringing the maneuvering thrusters on-line then gingerly began to inch the shuttle closer to the Klingon behemoth, until they were directly below the extended Bridge Section with less than ten meters between them, "Scan the area directly ahead, along the underside. With luck we should be able to penetrate their hull sufficiently to rupture their matter antimatter containment."

"I assume you have a plan to get us our of here before that actually happens ?" Ghes said, scanning as he spoke. Carl simply watched the ship outside, "I've located Elena .... She's on their Bridge. No way of getting a transporter lock on her."

"Then I guess we need to up the ante a little." Torek said, bringing the shuttle's weapons on-line and locking onto the closest section that would allow their core to be hit. Suddenly it seemed that all hell broke loose on the Negh'Var, Ghes reported bulkheads closing, containment fields being erected, "It won't make any difference, without their shields, these phasers will cut through that ship like butter, there is no way they could fire on us at this range without sustaining damage of their own, possibly fatal damage. No doubt they'd love that though, dying in the heat of battle and all that 'Sto-vo-kor' stuff they talk about. Let's just hope they choose to live another day, or so."

Suddenly the Comm crackled to life. Gheskori reached out to open the link but Carl held up a hand, holding a finger to his lips to signify they remain silent ... The Comm repeated a second time, then a third, finally Carl nodded and Gheskori opened the link. A seriously irate-looking Klingon woman glared at them as if wishing to inflict their agonizing deaths by will alone. Carl spoke first, hopefully throwing the woman off guard:

=^= You have our partner .. If you want to return to your little Fleet then you will transport her back .. Unharmed .. Immediately =^=

It was obvious to Torek and Gheskori that K'lun was having trouble with the situation. It was imperative that she showed her crew she was worthy of holding Command, but at the same time they knew she needed the information that would allow her to enter the Dolar System, or acquire the Omnis Device for her own House, so her ordering their destruction and rushing headlong towards Sto-vo-kor was impractical at best. Carl could see Elena, she was stood to one side, a seemingly trigger-happy Klingon underling eager to kill the Human to gain favor.

=^= I find myself admiring your courage Human .. .. Any other race faced with this situation would be pleading for their lives .. We in turn .. .. .. =^=

He had her ! ... She was about to tell him that they would have destroyed the shuttle on a whim, but that would have effectively signed her death warrant, and they would be continuing this conversation with someone less, patient.

=^= It appears that you have us at a disadvantage .. While a glorious death for my crew is something we crave there are unfortunately 'other' issues that demand our attention .. .. .. I must admit .. We have come across traders on other occasions yet not one has presumed they could better us in battle .. Let alone actually attempt something so futile .. Yes .. I think impressed is the word I would use .. But please do not try my patience for too long or we may both be walking the long walk to Sto-vo-kor together .. Now .. Shall we speak in person ? =^=

=^= We're doing so right now =^= Carl said.

=^= We require the return of our Council member .. In return .. We shall return your Colleague .. Unharmed =^=

=^= Rai .. .. How you doing over there ? =^= Carl said, intentionally ignoring the Klingon Commander.

=^= The air could be better .. The Dolar are holding them back .. No idea how at this range but they can't get past the barrier or whatev .. .. =^= The edgy Klingon slammed his fist into Elena's neck, dropping her like a stone. K'lun spun, enraged and slammed the blade of her D'k tahg into the mans chest. He fell next to Elena, dead. she ordered the Human raised off the deck and placed in the Command seat before turning to the screen:

=^= Remove that ! .. .. .. .. I must apologize for the actions of that p'taqh =^=

=^= Beam our partner back to our shuttle now or this conversation is over =^= Carl said, leaving everyone in no doubt of the consequences should his request be ignored !

=^= I have a counter-proposal for you .. Human .. 'I' will transport to your vessel .. We shall join my vessels at the outer edge of the Dolar barrier .. Once there you shall persuade the Dolar to allow you to bid for the Omnis Device .. .. When your bid is accepted you will enter the System to take possession of the weapon .. Once we are clear of the Dolar you will transfer it to my Flagship .. At that point your partner and I will exchange places and you will be allowed to go on you way .. My patience in this is growing thin Human so make a decision .. Quickly =^=

=^= I think my partner and I need a chat .. We will contact you in five minutes .. 'ANY' attempt on our shuttle in the interim will result in our mutual demise .. Oh and if Rai is harmed in any way our deal is null and void =^=

Carl closed the Comm before K'lun could reply. He turned his seat to face Gheskori.

"I don't honestly think we have much choice, but if you have any other options ?" he asked ..........

[Gheskori]

Ghes thought over the options, staring at the viewscreen at the looming Negh'var vessel, the shuttle being so close it filled the entire screen. Within the battleship's weapons' arc and close to a point where they might fire and send its core critical, they had a very short time to get out of there should they wish to go that route.

He looked around the pilot and co-pilot's consoles, glanced back at a locker containing some medical equipment, and furrowing his brow, made a few command inputs at the co-pilot's chair. He turned to Carl, "I do as a matter of fact."

He opened the locker and took out two hyposprays, checked through the vials available and located two of the appropriate anaesthetic. He took a third, this one a true sedative, and injected Kitroqk's barely conscious form with it, "That should last two minutes," he said, before turning and handing Carl the other two vials, "We'll inject ourselves with these." Torek looked at the Denobulan, wondering what planet he'd transported down to. "It's not a real anaesthetic, but it'll simulate unconsciousness from the point of view of an outside observer, we just have to lie still. I've reconfigured the consoles to give the impression they've recently given off an electrical discharge - arcing electricity that to the untrained eye would seem to have struck us."

Carl glanced at Kitroqk, then back at Gheskori, "Do you really think he's going to fall for that?"

"For a short time at least," Ghes responded, "Enough I think so that he will hail K'lun and tell her what seems to have happened. I'd say he's so desperate to get off this shuttle by now that presented with the first glimpse of freedom he'd leap at the opportunity."

"And then what, once he's told K'lun?"

Gheskori smiled, explained and took the disruptors that they'd acquired on Zala's freighter. Instructing Carl that they should hide the weapons under their bodies when they fell, he injected himself with the hypospray, returned it to the locker and walked to the pilot's console, where he lay down in a contorted position - Carl did likewise. It was faintly ridiculous he realised, but it was the only way they might recover de Luca and be on their way, and would hopefully be allowed to transgress the Dolar borderline. The Klingons couldn't be allowed to acquire the Omnis, whether that was the House of D'orn, or the House of... whatever House K'lun belonged to. Alternatively, if she was wishing to capture it for the Klingon High Council, such a weapon still had the potential to upset the balance of power in the Quadrant, and that was not an acceptable outcome.

A minute later Kitroqk woke up, saw the prone forms of his seeming captors and stumbled towards the pilot's console confused. He worked the display with one hand, finding that something had happened to the console in the time he'd been unconscious - perhaps why he had fallen unconscious. There were irregular gaps in the log, as if an EM surge had passed through the console and destroyed some data. He collapsed in the seat dazed, unable to believe his luck, and opened a channel to the Negh'var.

=/\= Commander. It seems my captors have been incapacitated by a fault in the shuttle's electrics. It should be expected; this craft is vastly overpowered, the systems are coursing with energy. I am lowering shields... prepare to have me beamed directly to your bridge. =/\=

=/\= Acknowledged =/\= K'lun said, surprised yet also suspicious, but the implications this had for her proposal to the two traders overrode any other thought. She wondered vaguely if she should beam over now, with a boarding party for protection, and force the traders to accept her demands at gunpoint. She held off for now, signalling with a chop of the hand to have the Councillor beamed back aboard.

On her ship's viewscreen, just as Kitroqk began dematerialising, the two traders jumped up from the floor, grabbing hold of the Councillor's arms, and they dematerialised together! K'lun was on her feet, glaring at the viewscreen and the sight of the empty shuttle, "baQa'!" She twisted to look at where Kitroqk would appear, and the three forms started fizzling into place, amber and gold tendrils of the transporter effect fading.

"Weapons on the floor, now," Gheskori said, disruptor jammed at Kitroqk's neck, Carl's disruptor on the other side. The Councillor was frozen in shock, mouth open as if petrified and quite unable to move. K'lun was seething, all around her Klingons were levelling disruptors at the two men who held the Councillor. Ghes hoped their charge wasn't out of favour with the High Council in any way...

One of the Klingons fired. The green bolt shot into Kitroqk's midriff, he went down with a groan, the sizzling of seared flesh filling the bridge with an unpleasant aroma. K'lun was immediately screaming obscenities at the stunned Klingon whose disruptor fell loose at his side, while Carl grabbed de Luca and the trio made a run off the bridge, firing as they went. Thirty seconds later, in the corridor that led away from the bridge in a straight line, back along the neck of the warship, they looked for directions to a transporter room.

Meanwhile, the intruder alert was blaring, the door to the bridge open again at last and Klingons pursuing them down the corridor. Ghes held them off - wincing as he fired, not wishing to think what this might do for Federation-Klingon relations if the Empire ever found out - as they made their way to one of the transporter rooms approximately 50 metres away. "It's overheating..." he murmured, looking at the weapon then dropping it as it began to glow red. Charging into the transporter room, they programmed coordinates for the interior of the shuttle and ran to the pad.

"What barrier could be holding them in place?" he asked, near rhetorically, "Could it be Omnis? Linked to their computer core, allowing the Dolar remote control of the vessel's helm?"

[Carl Torek]

As the three of them ran through the Klingon Warship, firing on any surprised personnel that appeared in the path, Gheskori suddenly realized that his weapon was beginning to overheat.

"Transporter room should be along here on the right." Elena informed them as Gheskori threw his disruptor back along the passage the way they had come. With luck it would surprise and hopefully delay any pursuit. Diving through the doors Carl fired on the panel, effectively sealing them in, temporarily he hoped as Ghes' set the co-ordinates. Jumping onto the pad they could see the door beginning to glow red as the Klingon's concentrated their fire. Thankfully they materialized on the shuttle and immediately jumped into the pilot's seats, Elena dropping into one of the auxiliary seats ... Now came the hard part !

"What barrier could be holding them in place." Gheskori asked rhetorically, "Could it be the Omnis Device, linked to their computer core, allowing the Dolar remote control of the vessel's helm ?" Carl, who was about to warp them away from the infuriated K'lun and the Negh'Var, still hovering above them, when he paused. Technically, they were safer where they were in the Klingon weapons' blind spot.

"Using their own device against the intruders. I didn't see that one coming." Elena said, attempting to scan the area where K'lun's ships were seemingly hanging in space, "I'm pretty sure we're being scanned." she said, frowning at her screen. She made several alterations then nodded. Switching her readings to both pilot screens so Torek and Gheskori could double-check. They confirmed her suspicions, the shuttle, and by definition, the Negh'Var, were being scanned from somewhere. Another couple of seconds and she had the co-ordinates. All three were almost dumb-struck !

"The Dolar are watching what's going on !" Torek said, frustration building again as the adrenaline build-up began to subside, "They must have seen everything yet are doing nothing."

"They are a neutral race Carl, you can't honestly expect them to suddenly begin to take sides." Gheskori said, looking at the readings on-screen, "Whatever they are using is much more sophisticated than we have at present."

"Hardly surprising." Elena commented with a shrug, "We can't stay here Gentlemen, it's only a matter of time before impatience and worry that her crew will see a weakness in K'lun, before she decides to act. If she jumps to warp before we do we'll be sitting ducks. In fact, I'm more than surprised she hasn't ordered one of those other ships to come to her aid."

"If what we suspect regarding the Dolar is correct, there would be now way her ships could move even if they wanted to assist her." Carl said, making a decision, "Stand by, we'll target their drive systems and jump immediately to warp. It should give us some breathing space before she decides to come after us. We'll head away then double back towards the Dolar System. Hopefully, they will allow us access while stopping K'lun at the outer edge." making several inputs on his panel to target the Negh'Var's engines, Gheskori set their course and speed then waited for word. Elena informed them that the ship above them was beginning to power up their own weapons. Carl didn't need any more incentive, he fired !

As two beams of almost pure energy lanced from one vessel to the other, the shuttle jumped to warp, barely escaping the blast from beneath the Klingon ship. Elena confirmed they were not following and Ghes made a wide arc turn, increasing the distance between them and the still motionless Negh'Var by almost two million kilometers, until they were once again heading towards their goal. He slowed to warp one as they tensed for the possible emergency stop the Dolar could command the shuttle to execute. With five seconds to go all three tensed themselves, two seconds, one, then they were through .....

Gheskori instantly dropped them to impulse power and set co-ordinates for the Dolar Home-world ..... The collective sigh of relief lasted less than ten seconds:

"We have company." Elena informed them and pointed to the screen. There, closing the distance to the shuttle, was the Negh'Var. Torek attempted to lock phasers but his weapons were apparently off-line, likewise drive systems save for impulse and maneuvering thrusters. The Klingon vessel fell into formation off their Aft Port quarter making no attempt to fire on their prey. It seemed that the Dolar were taking the initiative from both parties. They had no other option but to sit back and wait ......


~~~~~~~~~~


As the two vessels approached the Dolar Home-world, numerous other vessels could be seen on orbit, some recognizable, some unknown ... As they neared orbit the two vessels began to slow, the Dolar obviously 'parking' them where they could do little or no damage to any other ships should they somehow regain control. Elena was the first to see it:

"There's another Klingon ship in orbit." she said, pointing ahead. the other two looked, "It's a Bird of Prey ..." she confirmed.

"Who's ?" Carl asked, feeling he already knew the answer.

"It has to be K'lasq and her Brother Ktala ?" Elena speculated as their ships fell into formation as they established orbit ....

With little to do but wait, they sat watching the stars, suddenly, almost making the three jump, the Comm burst to life:

=^= Your three vessels .. Along with those being held at the outer rim of our System have all been rendered totally inoperative .. Save for those systems to sustain life and hold your respective vessels in stable orbit .. .. As the former Federation Shuttle holds three occupants .. Both Klingon vessels will nominate no more then three people for the duration of you presence in our space .. .. You will be brought to the surface where bidding will commence for the 'Omnis Device' and various other technology you may with to acquire .. .. Be aware .. .. 'ANY' attempt to deviate from these instructions by any party will be punished with the immediate forfeit of their respective vessel .. You have one hour to prepare your bids .. Communication between your vessels is permitted but you may not attempt to contact any other parties =^=

The Comm snapped off, Carl, Gheskori, and Elena looked at each other ..........

[Gheskori]

So, Ghes thought, what method of payment would they desire, what currency? There was latinum, all manner of counterfeit credits, Klingon currency, but none of which they could bring to bear in the coming negotiations and bidding. Ghes thought it likely that all parties would be making it clear they would pay afterwards, with the bids registered electronically and the bidders being binded to their agreement of purchase should they win.

What was a reasonable price for the Omnis? What was a high bid? They spent the next hour debating what their initial bid would be, consulting the LCARS database for the Omnis Device's technical characteristics or what was known of them, and Starfleet Intelligence reports on what kind of offer would be deemed acceptable. Intel could certainly fund the purchase; the objective was obviously to win.

Deciding on a moderate to high bid - or what they thought was one - to begin with, they turned their thoughts to who the Klingon parties would send as their representatives, and, if the Bird of Prey did belong to K'lasq and K'tala, if the brother and sister would be two of their representatives. If they weren't the House of D'orn, then... well what?

"Evan Sorne to Bird of Prey, please identify yourselves."

"Federation shuttle, we are of the House of D'orn. I assume you are not Starfleet officers?" came the reply, the voice crackling over the comm, "Sorne... I know that name." It was a female voice, the D'orn sister. "Sorne. So you got this far... What do I hear from our friends in the High Council on their battleship? You claimed to work for us?" the cackling was unpleasant and Ghes turned the comm volume down, apologising to Carl and Elena who nodded, wincing at the distortion-ridden sound coming over the comm.

"Not at all." Ghes replied, "Commander K'lun has lied to you. She accused us of working for you... We categorically denied it."

"That petaQ! She will pay with her life once I get my hands on her..."

Gheskori was about to speak, to say that she should perhaps wait 'til the bidding was concluded, but the comm burst to life again. The Dolar. "We assume you have now selected your three representatives and have prepared your bids. Prepare to be transported to the surface."

More time would have been appreciated - it'd certainly seemed like a quick hour, yet there was little other choice, as Ghes said, shrugging and stepping towards the transporter pad at the aft. He looked at the disruptors they were carrying on their belts, "Should we go armed?" he asked, but it was too late as they were taken by the wash of cerulean light.

They materialised in a grey-chrome internal structure, a large glowing-white table situated near its centre and glass panels as high as the room itself covering three of the walls, across which Dolar were transported on small lifts, headsets beaming light at the panels as they read off scrolls of information, relaying them to controllers below. The information was figures, copious amounts of figures, streaming down the screen and collecting at the bottom like numbers in liquid to be propelled up behind the glass panel to resume the slide down from the top again.

"A stock exchange," Ghes said, looking round the place, "Or something like it. Private enterprises, 'floated' on market exchange systems, gaining and depreciating in value in accordance with the speculations of people in the... business. Old world economics of your species," he turned to Carl and Elena.

A quartet of Dolar approached, taking from them their weapons and directing them towards the shining white table on its raised platform. A glass panel, except this one was holographic, levitated over the table, figures streaming down it. "This is a record of bids for our technology this day," one of the Dolar explained, in their slimy and creepy kind of way. "From the three sides of this table each of the parties will confer amongst themselves and submit their initial bid."

Ghes found himself more interested in the approaching Klingon companies. The House of D'orn came first, recognisable as such because K'lasq and K'tala were with them, the third being a brutish warrior who Ghes thought must be nearly 7 foot tall. In the other group, taking up their position at the table on Ghes, Carl and Elena's left, were Commander K'lun and two unknown Klingons, one not in standard uniform, who suddenly spoke, "This is your financial centre?" he demanded of the bemused Dolar, then shook his head. "Antiquated means of displaying stock information. And real... papyrus! Barbaric..." He whispered in K'lun's ear who listened attentively, nodding every so often.

"Mr Economist over there," Ghes said quietly to Carl.

[Carl Torek]

Watching as the Klingon's entered the chamber, he had the distinct feeling he was about to watch a three'a'side battle to the death ... Each in turn had some derogatory comment to make aimed solely at the Dolar, who appeared to be taking the insults in their stride as they waited for the groups to be seated, a feat that took much longer than expected. Gheskori leaned over and made a comment following the unknown Klingon's comment:

"Mister economist over there." unfortunately, the large Klingon heard him and slammed his palms on the glass-like table, almost shattering it in the process.

"DO NOT SPEAK .... Human !"

"He will speak as and when he chooses .... Klingon !" Elena said, standing to her full height, which was still dwarfed by the towering Male opposite. Carl wondered how far the Dolar would let this go. Would they allow someone to be injured, even killed, all for the sake of a sale ? ... He doubted it, but the Klingon leaned forward, still maybe four meters away from Elena but it 'felt' a lot closer. He glared at her then laughed, a deep, almost roaring guffaw. He was sure that if the large table hadn't been between them he would have thrown his arms around her, possibly killing her in the process had she not known numerous ways to incapacitate him instantly. The Klingon's respected courage in whatever package it appeared.

"I can see you and I having a fruitful relationship."

"I doubt that." Elena said, "I much prefer my partnerships with less 'animal' instinct." she finished the insult, sitting herself back down. All the Klingon could do was laugh even more.

"One of you should take this woman as your mate." he said, dropping into his own chair grinning at his fellow Klingon's, who seemed clearly divided on his performance.

"Bidders ..... Currencies ..... We will of course accept all forms of legitimate currency, but for the sake of comparison regarding individual preferences, all bids will be converted to Gold Pressed Latinum, given both races deal on occasion in this currency. Should there be less than one thousand bars difference in two or more bids, a second round will begin, allowing all involved parties to increase their original bid" the Dolar representative said, apparently bringing the meeting to order without waiting for anyone to fall silent, "You have three of your hours to confer, replicators and amenities are available for your use should you require them ... Please note, they provide nourishment only ... At the conclusion of the time limit you will be asked to submit your bid on the panel provided. Once the bid is accepted, the successful party will be informed of how to acquire their technology along with any and all working devices, prototypes, and development data. The unsuccessful candidates will be returned to their vessels and will leave the Dolar System immediately. Are these regulations acceptable to all parties present ? ... Please signify approval by means of placing your thumb on the bio-metrics reader provided."

Each of the lead 'bidders' did as requested then sat back. It occurred to Carl that should they be discussing their bid, the other two parties could simply 'listen in' but apparently that was not the case because as the last bio-metric signature was inputted, each section of the table was segregated by some form of Dolar dampening field. He could shout all the insults he liked, but no-one but his own party, and presumably the Dolar, could hear a word.

"Are we allowed to, interact ?" The arge Klingon asked as the Dolar began to leave.

"The dampening field merely deadens audio and distorts the view of the adjoining segment to prevent any methods of information acquirement, as for moving between segments, you are of course free to do so, though I find it strange you would need to ... Nevertheless ......" he shrugged and walked out.

"We need a realistic bid." Elena said, conscious of the large Klingon eyeing her across the table.

"We need to mingle." Carl said, grinning as the other two looked at him, speechless, "Hey, we can sit here and play 'guess the bid' or we can go fishing for information. That lot are not going to give us their bid, so we can simply add twenty, maybe thirty percent to whatever they are going to 'let slip' for our benefit."

Suddenly, one of the Klingon party headed by K'lun, marched across to the House of D'orn and snatched hold of the large Klingon. Had they been armed with their traditional array of weapons, Carl had no doubt that one or both would have perished, alas, all they had was brute strength, and that they had in droves .... Eventually, the large Klingon from the House of D'orn got the upper hand and began to choke his opponent to death. It was evident that none of the other Klingon's were about to intervene, so Elena walked around the table and stood over the two combatants:

"Personally, I'd be more than happy to see you all kill each other. That way we win by default But how about making a fight of it ? ... No pun intended of course. Let's face it, all this 'Family Honor' is fine, but we're around a table ?" she said, hands on hips, eyebrows raised as if chastising two unruly children. As both men swore on their Family they would pursue each other until one was dead, they glared at Elena before returning to their respective parties ..... Bidding commenced .....

Elena returned to their segment of the table and sat down. Eyeing the, on this occasion, stronger Klingon, she grinned then entered a bid then sat back and waited for Admiral Torek to approve or delete it.

Carl and Gheskori both looked at the figure, astonished she had gone so high. Carl hoped, should they actually win, that the Federation Council would actually honor the debt ..........

[Gheskori]

Gheskori eyed the others round the table - or what he could see of them through the opaque glass that'd been set about them - curious at what bids they were preparing. If the Klingons didn't try to outdo each other in physical combat then they'd certainly channel their aggressions by furiously attempting to outbid each other, starting high and going exorbitant - which meant the three Starfleeters (and SF Intel) would be in trouble if they wanted both to win and keep the price as low as possible - though Ghes suspected that the more business-inclined representative on K'lun's side would hold her back from any outlandish bid, even if the House of D'orn were - as she'd claimed - threatening the very fabric of the Klingon Empire.

He looked down at the panel, noticing that Carl had approved Elena's initial bid, as high as it was. He looked across the turquoise and white lit room, his eyes drawn to the entrance. A man stood there, clearly not a Dolar, nor a Klingon... He appeared human, though that was no guarantee considering the proliferation of human-identical species in the quadrant, in the galaxy in fact.

"Bids have been received from all parties," the Dolar charged with presiding over the negotiations pronounced, hushing the three parties. "I can inform you that there has been an occurrence of two bids falling within the difference of a thousand bars of latinum. You will now, I am delighted to say..." Ghes wasn't sure if he detected sarcasm in the Dolar's voice, "... Pass through to a second round, where all of you may bid again."

"Aren't they going to tell us who was the highest bidder?" Ghes muttered, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

He once again caught sight of the human-looking man near the doorway, and thus being distracted, he was taken off guard when the holographic display between the three parties suddenly failed. Through the opaque glass he could see shadowy figures moving, angular looming and threatening figures - Klingons - moving towards the panel where the Dolar sat off to the side of the three-sided table.

From around the panel the first Klingon emerged - it was K'tala's seven footer, who struck the leading Dolar across the face and sent him toppling backwards and crashing to the floor. The Klingon turned to K'tala, a devillish grin on his face, "Now!!"

A muffled sound - like an old-fashioned projectile rifle fired from the other room - sounded from afar off. Dolar were milling about in an orderly muted panic, checking consoles, spidery fingers working their displays. Ghes didn't need their report; he'd recognised immediately there had been an explosion in another area of the building. The D'orn House had set them up. Somehow, they'd been set up.

K'lasq of the House of D'orn stood still, back to a wall, regarding the enclosing, weapon-brandishing Dolar with a toothy grin and holding hands in the air. K'tala and the giant associate of their House were now nowhere to be found. Somehow they - or members of their crew - must be in that other section of the building, having broken in by force.

Ghes was beside one of the Dolar, who was pounding her console and shaking her head, "It's not possible... They've broken the firewalls of the computer mainframe for the Omnis's protection network... They will have access to the chamber the prototype technology is stored in under forty seconds if we can't shut it down."

"Shut what down? A computer virus?" he asked.

She nodded. "It is spreading through all of our informational and technological security systems."

Ghes took over, smirking at the sight of the firewall graphic and the signifiers breaking through each layer to reach the security system computer mainframe. The D'orn infiltrators had forced their way in (or just K'tala and her 7 foot bodyguard) and were now hacking systems to get at the Omnis. "It's a Breen virus," he said, "An outdated version circa 2375; it was common practice during the Dominion War for Klingon ships when they captured Breen vessels to strip them of all technology, including their invasive computer programming protocols. Unfortunately the Federation lack -" he stopped himself; it wouldn't do to reveal himself as a Starfleet officer now, besides he had no means to stop the infiltration anyway, "Unfortunately I don't have the means to stop it."

The Dolar replied, pointing out ways they might be able to at least arrest the speed of the breaking down of firewalls, but soon realised Ghes wasn't paying much attention. "Are you listening to me?" she asked.

He was seeing lights in his peripheral vision, was somehow aware that someone was trying to get his attention. He twisted, and saw the man standing in the same spot by the entrance to the room. He'd been flashing an ultra-coherent laser at the back of Ghes's head, and was now beckoning Ghes towards him.

[Carl Torek]

"It is not possible ... They have broken the firewalls of the computer mainframe for the Omnis' protection network ... They will have access to the chamber the prototype technology is stored in under forty seconds if we cannot shut it down."

"Shut what down. A computer virus ?" Gheskori was asking as Elena and Carl watched the scene unfolding. The Dolar, frantically trying to prevent their technology from being stolen confirmed his query.

"It is spreading through all of our informational and technological security systems." she said, seeming to slow her efforts considerably for a few seconds. Her eyes hardened as Carl watched, he could see Gheskori walking toward an unknown person but he had no time to question what the Admiral was working on, he was more concerned with the Dolar woman. Attracting Elena's attention, he walked to the woman while she watched Gheskori, but he had passed through a door which sealed itself before she could reach it. Frustrated she turned to find Torek, who was standing before the Dolar woman trying to get her to speak. As she approached the pair she could hear her speaking in a quiet, almost threatening tone:

"..... icult circumstances. We are not fools to be toyed with. You will all be held responsible for your actions in this, mark my words." she said, entering a code on her panel.

The room fell into darkness ... Consoles, lighting, air conditioning, everything requiring any form of power suddenly fell silent. There was pandemonium as everyone began shouting, hurling obscenities, threats, accusations ... The Dolar woman stepped away from her console and appeared to pas through the wall directly behind her, leaving the room occupied with two Humans, and six obviously irate Klingon's ! ... After several seconds emergency lighting snapped into existence and the voice of one of the Dolar came through the Comms system:

=^= Your actions have been thwarted .. Do you think the Dolar incapable of protecting the very files you wish to procure ? .. .. This section of the facility .. Along with all means of external communication .. Has been segregated from the main complex .. All bidding is now halted and any funds designated will be transferred to Dolar Finance .. You are hereby confined to this facility until whoever attempted to infiltrate our computer systems is identified .. Should no offender be brought forth all members of that bidding party will be removed and will take no further part in proceedings .. Should no-one come forth .. ALL parties will suffer the consequences .. The Dolar are a technological race offering their designs to those who feel they could benefit from said technology .. You have thirty minutes in which to provide us with the instigator of the attempted incursion on our systems =^=

The Comm snapped off and for all of three seconds no-one moved, alas that was not to continue as the Klingon's faced off. Carl and Elena, now at the opposite side of the table, were more concerned with where Gheskori had gone, and with whom.

As the Klingon's approached each other, both sides spitting obscenities, Elena looked at Carl, who reluctantly shrugged, then stepping into the obviously too small gap between them:

"THIS STOPS HERE !" he shouted. forcing both parties to glare at him. The room lighting came back up but the consoles were dead, as was the door activation, "You can kill each other here and now, or you can sit the hell down and give the Dolar what they want .... Quickly !"

He glanced at Elena, who seemed as worried as he was at the whereabouts of Gheskori as he waited for one or more of the Klingon's to reply ..........

[Gheskori]

OOC: Sorry for length :/

"Where are you taking me?" Ghes asked, following the dark-uniformed character down the metal-surfaced corridor, the grille under their feet clashing as they moved - evidently this was some maintenance passage, cut off from the main chambers of the Dolar's 'stock exchange' and tech bidding room, perhaps connecting to the place where the perpetrators had tried with their outdated Breen virus to hack into the security systems protecting the Omnis.

They reached the end of the passage, the man ahead of him completely silent, and unrecognisable - Ghes had an instinct or gut feeling as humans tended to call it, that he knew who the person was, though he'd been shown to be quite wrong. At the doorway, the black-garbed man slotted an electronic pass through an old-fashioned identity recognition slot and turned round to look at Ghes, the door hissing and coming ajar behind him.

Ghes found himself looking over the man's shoulder, at the blindingly white room beyond - all surfaces seeming to emit light of their own - some sort of research lab possibly. "Admiral Gheskori, sir. I'm from Starfleet Intelligence." Ghes blinked, his attention drawn back to the man. "Lieutenant Commander Richard Beron. I've been assigned personally by Admiral Tetsutaro; I have since, upon arrival here on Dolar, been posing as a Mordanite - luckily not requiring any cosmetic surgery - wishing to procure transphasic computer core tech, something designed to work in tandem with the Omnis, to an even greater effect when utilised together."

"I see... Well, lead the way, Commander..."

"Pleskon, sir. My assumed name." They stepped into the sterile chamber. Ghes cast about. "This is where the Dolar have been manufacturing the packaging for the Omnis," Beron explained, "A delicate procedure I can tell you. The nature of the tech means that each part of the packaging has to be precisely shaped to the Omnis's form while also having its own inbuilt circuitry to -"

"Yes, as much as it pleases me to hear of the particulars of the Dolar's manufacturing processes, Commander, I very much need to return to my fellow infiltrators now."

Beron sighed, looking at him with sympathy, "I'm sorry, sir. The Dolar locked down their bidding room as soon as the attempted hack took place. There's no way I can get you back in there. I've been studying their movements, their practices in dealing with clients, scouting out this facility over the last two months. They'll now be demanding of the three parties which one was responsible."

"But I know who it was. K'tala. The House of D'orn's giant warrior hit the Dolar presiding over the bidding, then shouted to his Commander K'tala, 'Now!' Then... 'all hell broke loose' as you humans are fond of saying."

Beron scratched his chin, "It was K'tala... I'm surprised at that. The House of D'orn, if they really want to overthrow the Empire, wouldn't make such a rash move in the presence of those who represent the Ruling Council... Perhaps there's something else pressing on their time, something off the planet perhaps which has reduced them to this level of desperation."

Ghes was obstinate. "I need to get back into that room, Commander."

"Well. There is one way... Though you're not going to like it." He accessed the console behind him, looking up the 'special requests' directory.

---

The door burst open into the bidding room, behind the Dolar's panel of five, which lay between the now-open door and the triangular table with its holographic display hovering over it, about which sat the three parties: Carl and Elena, whose eyes suddenly turned to the entrance in interest; the Klingon groups, who sat back, arms crossed and obstinate in their silence.

"Your honour!" Pleskon burst forward, dragging with him a similarly black-garbed Starfleet Intel agent (Ghes) - though all except three present weren't to know that - and holding a disruptor pistol to his temple.

The head Dolar twisted - a black eye from the Klingon's strike decorating his features - to see the newcomers; his face twisted in rage, "I thought I ordered this chamber locked -"

"I've found an interloper, your honour. Someone messing with the computer protocols in your packaging manufacturing room. And no, before you say, it wasn't him that was tampering with the security systems. It's one of these eight." He signalled with his other hand at Carl, Elena and the six Klingons.

The Dolar straightened his collar, turning back to face the table, "As always, your assistance is appreciated, Pleskon. Please, return to your business and leave us in peace. Let the interloper, Mr Sorne, return to his table..."

Ghes took his seat, then pointed to the House of D'orn. "If you don't know who was responsible, it was K'tala." There was sudden uproar; outrage from the Dor'n representatives, and triumphant looks and calls of cowardice from K'lun's people. Ghes hastened to add, "I know, that in all the confusion it was hard for us to work out exactly who had hit who, though I saw quite clearly K'tala, head of the House of D'orn being given the instruction to start an infiltration process," he turned to the Dolar, "Once their gulliver here knocked you off your seat, your honour."

The head Dolar nodded to guards who stepped forward towards K'tala, taking the warrior under the arms and dragging the screaming, cursing Klingon out of the chamber. The rest of the House of D'orn - K'lasq, and their brutish 7 foot friend - were led away under heavy guard.

"So," the Dolar spoke, "The second round of bidding may commence. And I will say, now that we're out of the presence of the offending party, that the two bids that fell within the difference of a thousand bars of latinum were the highest, and came from the Klingon High Council, and from your own party, Mr Anders." Carl perked up in surprise, looking at Elena. She'd not been wrong in submitting such a high initial bid.

They were left to their own devices for preparation of their second bids during the next allotted period of three hours, and Ghes couldn't help looking across the table - despite the obtrusion of the opaque glass - at the remaining opposing party, the representatives of the Ruling Council of the Klingon Empire from the Negh'var: Commander K'lun, Mr Economist and an anonymous warrior.

The stakes had very much been lessened with the House of D'orn now - hopefully - no longer in a position to obtain the Omnis, at least by legitimate means. However, to let the Omnis fall into the hands of the ruling Klingons - despite the alliance between the Empire and the Federation - had the potential to upset the balance of power in the quadrant; threats could be made to the Romulans, the Klingons would feel they had more presence, in terms of military might and in other areas, in negotiations and diplomatic issues with any of the major factions.

Obtaining the Omnis for SF Intel, to not only dispose of it, but to remove the possibility that the Dolar could ever construct such a weapon again, remained of paramount importance.

[Elena de Luca]

She watched in silence as Admiral Gheskori, Sorne, was brought into the bidding room, at first she felt relief at the fact he was safe and well, but that was tempered the instant she saw 'who' was accompanying him !

"I found this interloper, your honor. Someone messing with the computer protocols in your packaging manufacturing room. Though it is clear that it wasn't him tampering with the security systems. It is one of these eight." the newcomer motioned with his other hand to encompass Carl, Elena and the six Klingon's.

"As always, your assistance is appreciated, Pleskon. Please, return to your business and leave us in peace. Let the interloper, Mr Sorne, return to his table ..." the Dolar said as Carl realized Elena had gone very quiet, eyeing the man Plaxton with obvious annoyance.

As the Dolar adjudicator continued to inform those present of the rules of the next round of bidding, Carl leaned towards her and asked if she had something on her mind.

"..... The second round of bidding may commence. I will inform you, now that we are out of the presence of the offending party, that the two highest bids, falling within the difference pre-specified difference of one thousand bars of latinum, came from the House of D'orn, and from your own party, Mr Anders." Carl was surprised they were still in the bidding as Elena whispered in his ear:

"Plaxton ... Real name, Richard Beron, Lieutenant Commander ... He will no doubt have informed Admiral Gheskori that he was in fact Starfleet Intelligence." she began, as the man left the bidding chamber seemingly without recognizing her, "He was under investigation following some, inconsistencies in his last assignment report. It was suspected that he had found in favor of the faction he was sent to investigate, the resulting destabilization of the region, and over seventeen thousand lives lost in the resulting battles, was ultimately blamed on several serious errors of judgement on his part, and he was placed on suspension pending a full inquiry ... He was instructed to remain on Star Base Two One Eight in the Bellzor System, but days two later he vanished without trace. It was suspected he had gone back to the Regglan System to rejoin the faction he had supported previously."

"So what's he doing here ?" Carl asked, eyes on the PADD as Elena entered their second round bid. He tried not to physically swallow as he read the figure.

"I have no idea, he's been missing for the last eight months. Intelligence assumed he had quit. Which makes me wonder why he revealed himself and brought the Admiral back. It certainly wasn't out of concern for Gheskori's well-being, that I can be sure of."

He had thought that the possible expulsion of the House of D'orn from the bidding, although he did have the feeling that they would make a bid regardless, if by some less than 'legal' means, could make things easier for them. And now the unknown quantity of a former Intelligence Officer suddenly appearing out of the proverbial blue, had him worried .... After the thirty minute period, the Dolar entered the room and manually cleared all screens before informing the parties that refreshments had been provided in the adjacent room. There would be a one hour recess after which the successful bid, if any, would be announced. Stretching, she got up and followed Torek and Gheskori. Picking up plates, the two bidding parties stood apart until one of the Council members approached the Federation party:

"I must express my surprise at your bid competing with our own, we had thought the House of D'orn would have bid similar to our own, but alas, they are no longer, relevant I fear."

"Out of curiosity ...." Elena said to the Klingon, "With the possibility of getting the D'orn House out of the way, how far would you go to acquire the Omnis Technology ?"

"You misunderstand, Madam." the man said feigning hurt, "..... 'WE' ..... Unlike those uncouth Targ's, plan to win the bidding and leave with the technology legitimately. We of the Council are not prone to, deception, to gain what we wish to possess." Elena spat her drink all over the man as she laughed uncontrollably, vaguely apologizing as she attempted to wipe the wine from his tunic. The Klingon, rather than spew a torrent of abuse at the woman, chose to step back, wiping the wine away himself. He bowed slightly, then returned to his group. It didn't go un-noticed that he glared at the D'orn House representatives as he passed.

"That didn't seem quite as 'accidental' as it appeared Elena." Carl said, raising an eyebrow to punctuate his question.

"He had it coming, the pompous [word deleted]." she said, turning to one side before placing something almost invisible in her ear, "They are discussing our possible bit amount next round." she said, smiling innocently as she handed both men their earpiece.

Both Gheskori and Torek couldn't help admire her gall as they inserted them, they couldn't help worry about the consequences, to all of them, should the covert listening device be discovered. While holding a conversation to make it seem they too might be concerned about the bids, they listened i to the Klingon's conversation with interest.

"You should have killed that 'Female' for her actions ... It was plain that she intended to dishonor you by her actions."

"You are too impatient my Friend." the Councillor said darkly, "We shall have the Omnis Device, then we shall see who dares oppose the Klingon Empire. We have lived too long under the rod imposed by the Federation, their countless rules, regulations, but that, will change !"

"Are the ships ready ?"

"They are in the Coreus Nebula awaiting your order to attack. My Lord. The House of D'orn will have little or no warning of our intentions, and by the time those targ's realize, their fate will be sealed."

"We shall let them enjoy their bidding, then once we are successful, they will perish."

The three Klingon's of the High Council slammed their goblets together loudly, making everyone look in their direction. Kitroqk locked eyes with Ktala of the House of D'orn for a long moment, almost goading him into taking offence, but somehow his sister, K'lasq, held her volatile brother in check, forcing him to look away. The Council members laughed at the weakness of their opponent before refilling their glasses and downing more of the blood wine provided by the Dolar.

"Is it possible that Plaxton, or Beron, is in fact working for the D'orn, or even the High Council ?" Carl asked, not wanting to believe it possible, but there was no point in ruling it out.

"He's capable, that's for sure." Elena said, helping herself to another whiskey, seeing as the Dolar had decided on not having non-alcoholic beverages for their pleasure, "He could be working both sides for all I know, but my concern is his apparently being on the Dolar payroll. The adjudicator thanked his as if they had worked together for some time, and that it wasn't the first time Plaxton had been of help."

"I don't suppose you could do the 'spilling your drink' trick on the D'orn Hose is there ?" Gheskori asked, "Having knowledge of what both Klingon parties were about to bid next time round could cut this short, and in our favor." but Elena shook her head before realizing that the suggestion was made in jest rather than a serious query.

The Dolar entered the room, requesting they return to the chamber to hear the latest bids ..... Placing their glasses on the tables, they returned to their seats and waited. having conferred with a colleague, the Adjudicator began:

"The bidding was close for two of the three parties." he said, looking at the them all in turn. While we fully intend to take the highest bid, that is reliant on said bid being genuine. There is fourteen 'thousand' bars of gold-pressed Latinum difference between the highest and lowest bids, but under the circumstances, we feel that all three parties should be allowed to bid again rather than excluding the lowest bidder."

The Klingon's were in uproar, demanding to know who had the lowest bid, and why the Dolar were allowing them to remain in the process. The Adjudicator, far from being intimidated by the aggressive Klingon's, merely stood patiently waiting for them to cease their screaming. At which time he reminded 'all' parties that the rules governing the bidding process were agreed upon at the commencement of proceedings, and that any changes as new information for example, came to light, or others wished to be included in the bidding, were for the Dolar, and the Dolar alone, to make ... Disclosing the bid values was not a requirement, but if all three parties agreed, they would be released. Both Klingon parties spun to face the Humans. Carl shrugged, knowing they were likely to have one of the highest bids, given the amount Elena had bid.

"Very well." the Adjudicator said, looking at his screen, "The highest bid was submitted by, the Klingon Council ...... While the lowest, was submitted by the Traders."

It was all the fuel both Klingon parties needed, the Humans had been extensively out-bid and as a result should be removed from the process. They both demanded to know why they were being allowed to remain, while Elena, Carl, and Gheskori all sat in silence, wondering how their bid could have been beaten by such a large amount. If nothing else, it was obvious that they needed to re-think their tactics ..........

[Gheskori]

Ghes sat back in his seat, projecting an aura of calm indifference, though inside he felt somewhat embarrassed that they'd been so comprehensively beaten in the bidding.

The Dolar allowing them to remain for a third round however was intriguing; perhaps, the obvious explanation, their inclusion was due to the House of D'orn's attempt to subvert the process and their thenceforth likely illegal bidding - following their readmission to the bidding room in this second round.

Murmuring gathered in the chamber as the three parties - all still able to take part - began discussing their bids and the far from smooth transitions that'd taken place round to round so far: the attempted hack of the security systems by the D'orn House, and the bursting into the room of Pleskon accompanied by Ghes with a disruptor at his temple. The Denobulan perhaps should've known, should've realised that it was strange for two intel agents to be assigned the same mission - especially as de Luca hadn't mentioned another agent working on the Dolar case during their transit here. He was grateful, in a way, that Beron had led him back to the bidding room as requested, though not having known the man was a rogue gnawed at Ghes now.

"What if Beron wants us to win, has persuaded the Dolar to leave us in if we're the lowest bidders after two, or three rounds?" he asked Carl and Elena. "If he is playing the High Council and the House of D'orn against each other, having a third party winning the tech is going to outrage both factions, and with nothing else to turn their aggression towards, they'll attack each other."

Carl and Elena in the middle of their replies were disrupted by one of the Dolar's adjutants turning to the doorway, where Beron had reappeared. They turned their eyes surreptitiously towards the pair. "Does Beron know your true identity?" he asked de Luca.

She shook her head, "We've never met; though he may have come across my record somewhere."

"Intel agents aren't always supposed to recognise each other," Ghes nodded in understanding, smiling as they watched the exchange.

"Pleskon, what would you advise?" the adjutant was asking the rogue agent, well out of earshot of Ghes, Carl and Elena.

"The traders aren't to be trusted. Evan Sorne, the man who was poking about in the manufacturing room trying to gain access to your computers is evidence enough for that," Beron said in a low confident voice, used to having the ear of these Dolar, his name carrying authority in these parts even though obstensibly he was here to acquire the transphasic tech that was to work together with the Omnis - put together, to create a superweapon of sorts, capable of controlling a small fleet of starships, whereby the ships could be turned against one another or in cooperation used to annihilate a moon or turn the surface of a planet into molten rock.

"If they beat both Klingon parties, find some evidence of their tampering with the bidding process."

"And if there is none, Pleskon?"

He looked irritated but reined that in, maintaining his calm like a good mild-mannered Mordanite, "Did I say the evidence had to be real? Fabricate it if necessary." She was about to object when he held up a hand, smiling, "And don't worry, I have already consulted the Adjudicator. Please, start your 'research' into how they've subverted the bidding process to remain for this third round; if they win, as I said, I want something to bring against them immediately." He would have to find a way to get a private word with Admiral Gheskori, assure him that the evidence to be put against him and his fellows was part of his plan to let them go free with the Omnis.

She nodded and departed through the doorway through which Ghes and Pleskon had entered about two hours ago. Ghes turned to the others, "Well," he said, "What did you make of that?"

"It seems he's got them wrapped around his little finger..." Carl commented.

"When he 'kidnapped' me, he mentioned... something about an addition to the Omnis that he, in his undercover guise, is attempting to purchase, and has been since his arrival here two months ago," Ghes said, "What if he's trying to acquire it for one of the two Klingon Houses? That would tilt the balance of power within the Empire in whichever one's favour."

Putting aside the issue of the rogue agent in their midst for the moment, they decided how to go about the bidding... They were 14,000 bars behind, thus they'd have to raise by - Ghes reckoned - at least twice that amount to be in with a chance. Given, however, that the D'orn House and the High Council would be wanting to bid each other through the floor, the price they may have to pay to acquire the Omnis would be as the old-fashioned expression - when man had still been confined to his lonely homeworld - went... astronomical. And, Ghes imagined, Starfleet Intelligence wouldn't be best pleased; they could be put at the beck and call of Command of course, though considering Intel operated - as often as not - outside the boundaries of the SF Command hierarchy, they likely had a freer hand in how much credit they were prepared to fork out. Speaking of how much parties were willing to pay... What were K'tala's resources? To what level were the House of D'orn willing, or rather capable, of going?

Returning to the table the adjutant whispered in the Adjudicator's ear. The Dolar nodded - steepled fingers, brow furrowed, asking questions - then stood, approaching the holographic display and poking, smiling at an array of three dots on it almost as if they were pets for him to play with... "Parties, your bids are due in five of your minutes."


* * *

Beron walked the corridor back down to the manufacturing room, nodding at the Dolar working there, and darted through a second doorway into the chamber that housed the prototype Transphasic Computer Core Unit (TCCU); all was sterile white, chrome and burnished silver appendages and pieces of technology protruding from the wall around the main housing - threatening sceptres held by technological deities. He nodded to the Dolar at the controls at the rear wall opposite the main housing.

The Dolar nodded, his grey skin cracking into a sickly smile, "Inspecting the product again, Pleskon, sir? We assure you it's the best in the range. You won't find anything else like it in the quadrant."

"When I'm not working for your Adjudicator," Beron smiled, waiting as the housing's segments parted, "I like to survey my intended purchase." The technology - a computer processing unit with the ability to latch onto any, via its multiple docking systems applying to each of the major quadrant powers', main computer core - slid forward, propelled by silent hydraulics. He stepped forward, on the pretence of studying a particular connector mechanism, and let slip from his sleeve an isolinear tag, expertly letting it drop across his hand and attach itself to the TCCU.

He exited the chamber and found a quiet spot, withdrawing an antiquated Klingon communicator and speaking in hushed tones. If they were to lose the bidding, there were others way to capture what was rightfully theirs, or rather he thought, rightfully hers!

[Carl Torek]

"Parties, your bids are due in five of your minutes." the Adjudicator said before leaving the room .....

Elena immediately entered a figure and sat back, frowning as she watched the door Beron had exited through moments earlier. Gheskori, seeing the figure nudged Torek and pointed. Had Carl been supplementing the bid he would have likely had a heart attack, but given it was the Federation's latinum, he merely felt a tightening in his chest for a second as he read, then reread the six-figure sum she had bid. He glanced at the opaque screens, needlessly hoping neither of the Klingon factions could see his reaction before he turned to Elena:

"Really !" he asked, shocked.

"Something has been on my mind ...." Elena said by way of completely ignoring the Admiral's obvious consternation at the bid value, "While it is likely Beron wouldn't know me, I find it a little curious, either didn't recognize two of the highest-ranking Flag Officers in the Federation on sight, or he is one 'HELL' of an actor having realized who was sat at the table and is not letting on to anyone know who you are." Carl felt a cold shiver pass along his spine at the thought. It had never occurred to him that Beron / Plaxton would have the slightest notion of their real identities, but if Elena was right, then they were in serious trouble !

Beron was obviously coaching the Dolar, or at the very least they were for some reason listening, and acting upon, his council ... How he was managing to do so was impossible to derive, but he either had something they wanted: Unlikely given they were the ones doing the selling, or, he was in the employ of one of the Klingon factions bidding here and had been placed in a position of trust somehow. The annoyance Carl was feeling was beginning to grate on every nerve as he tried to piece together their situation. One thing was certain, he decided, they had to speak to Beron. How to accomplish that without going right up to him and saying "Guess Who !" was something he needed to think hard on. because the only other options were to stay well away and hope their cover held, or ....

"We should remove Beron from the equation." Elena said, almost reading his mind.

"By 'remove' I assume you mean kill ?" Gheskori said quietly, still looking at the figure on screen.

"With all due respect, Sirs ..... I am the lead Investigator here." Elena said, not for a second flinching at the ranks she was addressing, "On an assignment such as this my authority supersedes rank, even Flag Ranked Admirals. But I am more than willing to step aside if you feel you have more insight than my own 'practical' knowledge of such assignments." she finished, the tiniest raising of her eyebrows signifying her expectation that they would decline her offer. Ghes and Torek looked at each other for a fraction of a second then turned back to the young woman before them.

"One hundred and eighty bars ..... Really !" was all Gheskori could come up with in their defense, "Do we even have access to that kind of funds ?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised." Carl said, trying not to glance at Gheskori, "So what's our plan of action ?"

"Well, given our bid, I think we have a good chance of winning, unless of course the Dolar are manipulating the figures to keep up raising the ante, though I seriously doubt they would do something like that consciously, so maybe that's where Beron comes in. Convince them they can get more and more if they 'tweak' the results of the bids."

"Whoa, all the bids are sealed until opened for scrutiny, at which point they are logged, so how can they manipulate the biddi .....Oh, I see, 'THEY' can change anything they like if need be. But why risk their reputation for this and not the last thing they auctioned, or the first for that matter. No, I think we're barking up the wrong tree here. The Dolar wouldn't consciously cheat. Hasn't it struck you that the fighting between the two Klingon factions has been somewhat less than, realistic, even to the poi ..... ?"

"Yes, but given the obvious gains to either the High Council, or the House of D'orn should they acquire the Omnis Device." Elena interjected, "I seriously doubt they would be working together to the point that neither side would fight to the death if dishonored, and let'd face it, there has been a serious amount of 'dishonoring' thrown around this gathering thus far."

"Gheskori." Carl said, "You have obviously had some interaction with Beron, what would you think of trying to get on his 'better' side ?"

"To what end ?" the Denobulan asked.

"We need to know if he knows who you two are." Elena pointed out needlessly, "If he's playing us against the Klingon's them he has a reason to do so, and I doubt that if his side, whichever that may be, wins the device, he'll be content to see it go out of his reach without sufficient compensation."


< tag : Gheskori >


The opaque screens raised once again and the dampening fields deactivated. The three groups eyed each other with an air of success, tempered with resentment, all three hoped their bid was the winning bid. Records have one auction going through no less than twenty seven bids before one party finally killed the other bidder. Carl hoped they wouldn't need to go to that extreme.

"Bidders ... Your latest option has been logged and will be checked beside the other bids ... Due to the lateness of the hour, you now have twelve hours before we reconvene ... Apartments have been assigned for your rest and relaxation. Should you require anything outside your apartment, please use the Communication device. For Security reasons, your movements will be restricted, please do not take this as a sign of mistrust, but a genuine concern on our part that all bidders remain safe and well during the relaxation period. We will reconvene at zero nine hundred hours Federation-time ... Good evening."

Three doors, behind each of the bidding segments, slid silently open as the Adjudicator left. It seemed they had little option but to go through the the suite of rooms and rest ..........

[Gheskori]

"He knows who we are," Ghes nodded, "He called himself Beron when he introduced himself, called me by my right name and rank and stated he'd been undercover here for two months posing as a Mordanite trader. I don't think he'll know you, Elena, though he may be taking covert action against all of us, we can't know. If he does know you..." Ghes mulled it over, "He can't reveal his identity before the Dolar, however he tries to stop us, though he knows he must take some form of action to prevent the Omnis from falling into Federation hands."

Ghes knew they were assuming an awful lot, that Beron was wishing to influence the bidding in one way or another because he was working for one of the other parties. It was obvious from what he'd told Ghes regarding the other technology he was here to purchase - something that worked in tandem with the Omnis to greater effect - and the subsequent revelation of his rogue status, that he wanted the Omnis eventually, presumably for himself though if not then, for whom? Perhaps he intended to acquire the other tech, but have the Omnis collected by someone else, once he'd ensured the Federation faction had been knocked out of the bidding.


With the Federation spies and the actual trader they'd somewhat amusingly managed to strike up with (to her misfortune) - probably to make themselves seem more legitimate - locked firmly in their quarters, Beron felt more at ease to roam the complex. He still had to talk to Admiral Gheskori, let him, Admiral Torek and the innocent one, Rai, know he had their best interests at heart and was doing all he could to deliver the Omnis into their hands (ha!), though that would come later.

Here he had the ear of the Adjudicator, the complex's administrator, the security chief with his access codes for the Omnis and the TCCU... Though he was only a lowly Mordanite trader who - through favours to the Command hierarchy of the Dolar state and their Defence Force Command, had secured himself a favourable position in the bidding complex alongside the Chief Adjudicator - was nevertheless bound by the terms of his agreement to purchase the TCCU alone. Thus, there was no chance that he could gain access to the Omnis's chamber, attach an isolinear tag, and have it beamed away at the same time as the TCCU onto the ship in question...

The Son'a had been generous to a fault - only they possessed the requisite technology to manufacture isolinear tags of this particular model, and having one of their ships in orbit - equipped with a Klingon cloaking device - was insurance against any retaliation made by Dolar planetary defences after the two devices had been stolen...


"Well, this is certainly pleasant," Ghes said, smiling and settling back on the top bunk of one of the two bunk-beds, hands behind his head resting on the pillow. He was sure the Dolar had thought it funny to put them in the same room during the relaxation period. Something occurred to him, "What do you think the House of D'orn have bid, compared to our, 180,000 bars of latinum was it? Surely they - being a relatively minor House - don't have the resources to come up with roughly 200,000... They may well quit altogether."

"I have a feeling that the High Council will want to make sure," Carl said. "If you're right they'll outbid the House of D'orn by quite some margin."

Ghes stared at the light fixing above him. "In which case, we could also be defeated."


Just in case, he walked to the Adjudicator's office, the Dolar glancing up from his paperwork briefly, "Pleskon, as good as it is to see you this isn't the time. I have the latest round of bids to announce and need to supervise the data transfer to the bidders' holographic screen -"

"Just a moment, Adjudicator, I promise," he sat before the man; the Dolar sighed, leaning forward with fingers linked.

"As always, Pleskon, you manage through your endless charisma to persuade me I have need of your counsel, when even my chief advisor is not permitted the luxury. What is it?"

"Someone has been tampering with the bids. When I was in the chamber earlier, speaking to one of your adjutants, I heard from the nearby Klingon group a sudden outburst; they were furious. From what I could gather, their bid had been artificially lowered, beyond their control, on their screen. At the end of the bidding, they cursed endlessly and were contemptuous of your adjutants, and of your security officers as they were being led away to quarters."

"Why didn't they object to me immediately, in the chamber?" the Adjudicator asked.

"I don't know. Perhaps they didn't want to come across as being victimised, lest they were scorned by the other parties, or perhaps they didn't want to reveal anything that would give the others a clue regarding how much they'd wanted to bid."

The Adjudicator was peering at his papers, "Now that I look at it... Compared to the others their bid does seem rather modest."

"I know by what figure it was reduced," Beron stated, the Adjudicator glaring up at him suddenly. "It would be your duty, to the administrator, and to the Command hierarchy, to rectify the bid to its previous value even if you do not determine who was responsible for the tampering." Of course, he thought, if the Dolar discovered that all this was a lie, a ploy to increase the Klingons' bid to make their victory certain, then the Adjudicator would be coming back to see Pleskon, probably with security officers. However he felt he was sufficiently safeguarded, courtesy of the 'close attentions' in recent weeks of the female adjutant he'd been speaking to earlier.

The Adjudicator said, "Pleskon. Thank you for bringing this to my attention; I shall have my people investigate. Now please, write down the Klingon party in question and how much their bid should be increased by on this paper," he slid a sheet towards him, "And back to me, blank side up." Beron did as directed and stood, nodding to the Adjudicator and looking surreptitiously at one of the other bids inscribed in the paper on the Dolar's desk. He smirked as he left the office - no chance!

***

"Evan Sorne? John Anders? Ms Rai? It is I, Pleskon, who brought one of you back to the chamber after I caught you in the manufacturing room." He waited with his armed Dolar guards, the ridiculousness of maintaining this charade of being Pleskon becoming all the more real. "Do you remember...? Mr Sorne?"

The door inched open. "Wait outside," he ordered the four rifle-bearing guards, who nodded and stepped back.

"It is I, Pleskon, I've come to talk with you." Once he got over the room's boundary he could drop this facade and talk to the Admirals. He entered and nodded at them, made sure the door was sealed, then turned to face the trio who stood looking curiously nonplussed. Surely Gheskori would've told Admiral Torek about his true identity? He was about to open his mouth, to greet Fleet Admiral Torek, explain who he was and state his (false) intentions, but the presence of the trader Rai gave him pause. He said quietly to Gheskori and Torek, "Must we have her conscious? I don't know if I can trust her to keep secret what we speak of here... Where did you find her by the way?"

[Elena de Luca]

"Well, this is certainly pleasant," Ghes said, smiling and settling back on the top bunk of one of the two bunk-beds, hands behind his head resting on the pillow. He was sure the Dolar had thought it funny to put them in the same room during the relaxation period. Something occurred to him, "What do you think the House of D'orn have bid, compared to our, 180,000 bars of latinum was it? Surely they, being a relatively minor House, don't have the resources to come up with roughly 200,000 ... They may well quit altogether."

"I have a feeling that the High Council will want to make sure," Carl said. "If you're right they'll outbid the House of D'orn by quite some margin."

"In which case, we could also be defeated."

Elena was sat at the small table, a computer terminal before her, rather nice of the Dolar to allow us access, albeit moderately and nothing they consider on the 'Confidential' list, she was idly scanning through random pages when there was a light tap on the door and a muffled voice spoke:

"Evan Sorne. John Anders. Ms Rai ... It is I, Plexton, who brought one of you back to the chamber after I caught you in the manufacturing room. Do you remember ... Mr Sorne ?"

Gheskori opened the door wide enough to see if it actually was Beron. He raised his eyebrows waiting as Carl and Elena looked at him.

"I have come to talk with you." Beron whispered, waiting nervously until Ghes stood back and allowed him to enter, "Must we have her conscious. I don't know if I can trust her to keep secret what we speak of here. Where did you find her by the way ?"

"I have a tongue in my head, Plexton !" Elena said, standing. They all noticed the unconscious pace backward from Beron, "If you have anything to say then you say it to all of us. We don't keep secrets."

"I have come to inform you that one of the Klingon groups have been tampering with the bidding process." Beron said, eyeing Elena.

"..... And why would you be suddenly so willing to give us this information may I ask ?" Beron looked at Gheskori, suddenly convinced that the man hadn't informed his colleague, nor the woman, of his real identity, but why ? ..... He sat down, wondering where to go from here. If he said something that could jeopardize his own position, something the Federation Intelligence Officers could use against him, everything could be lost. Elena stood over him, leaning down to speak quietly:

"I need you to give me access to the Dolar computer system." Beron looked at her flabbergasted at what she was requesting, so much so that he thought for a few seconds that she was actually joking, but her expression confirmed her complete seriousness. He explained that the terminal's in these quarters were highly restricted, for obvious reasons, and it would be impossible for him to do anything without risk of discovery. 'Of course, I could always claim the Traders were making a second attempt to corrupt the bidding in order to with the Omnis Device' he thought to himself, feeling a little more in control of the situation suddenly, alas, that confidence was short-lived:

"But 'you' have access ....." Elena said. He suddenly realized that whatever scheme he had been planning was out of the window, the Federation Officers had somehow turned the tables and he was in trouble. He stood up making for the door, but Carl beat him to it, he said that all it would take was one call from him and the guards would force their way in here if necessary. Carl called his bluff and told him to shout for help. Beron slumped back from the door, looking at Gheskori for help, none was forthcoming as Elena continued, "I'm assuming that if the Dolar consider you trustworthy enough to advise them, they would obviously allow you certain other, privileges .... We need to go to your quarters .... Now."

"But !" Beron said, wide-eyed with shock.

"Someone .... Be it the Klingon High Council representative, or someone connected to the House of D'orn, is trying their damnedest to mess with the bidding. It can 'only' be to ensure one party or the other wins. Believe me Beron, if either Klingon group wins the device, you can be assured there will either be a Civil War among the Klingon's or the House of D'orn and all those associated with it, will be wiped out, and where do you think they will turn next ?" Elena said, linking the mans arm with hers as she coaxed him toward the door, "You will tell the guards that we have decided on a little 'recreation' of our own while waiting on the results of the latest bids." Gheskori sat at the table in full view of whoever was on the other side of the door, Carl stood to one side, ready to slam the door shut if the need arose as Elena opened it, placing her head on Beron's shoulder and her free hand on his chest. She could feel his heart racing and wondered if he would be able to go through with the deception without giving anything away ...

"The lady and I are going to my quarters, you will remain here." Plexton said to the guards.

"This is highly irregular. All bidding parties are to remain in their assigned quarters for the duration of the proceedings."

"You are questioning my instruction ? .... I am sure that the Adjudicator would take issue with his trusted advisor being questioned, shall we find out ?" he said, reaching for the communicator on the wall, but the guard stepped back, apologizing for his actions. Beron and Elena walked away. Five minutes later they entered his quarters ...

Moving to the table she sat, turning the computer screen to him. He entered his access code then dropped into the chair.

"What are you looking for ?" he asked.

"Can you access the sealed bids and make any alterations 'before' they reach the adjudicator ?"

"Yes, but why would I ne ......."

"Open the bids." she said, eyes locked on his. Reluctantly, he began to find the correct files, Elena heard something outside his room and quickly leaned forward to kiss him as the door burst open !

"What is the meaning of this !" the Adjudicator said, glaring at the two seated, "I was informed that despite instructions t the contrary, you brought this woman here .... This is the second breach of security in as many hours Plexton, somewhat of a coincidence, or by prior agreement ...."

"I assure you Adjudicator." Beron said, quickly standing and stepping away from Rai as if burnt, while she adopted a look of disappointment at the interruption, "This, this, was purely unexpected, this woma ....."

"Enough. Guards, return Ms Rai to her assigned quarters, Mister Plexton and I must have a 'talk' before we continue with the bidding." the Adjudicator said, waiting until they were alone before continuing, "I find my trust of your council wavering slightly Plexton, this is not a good feeling. I fear we may need to terminate our association if there are any further issued." the meaning was as clear as the morning sun to Beron, who could only nod at the thinly veiled threat.

Torek and Gheskori were surprised to see their colleague returning so quickly, and under guard. She dropped into a chair and slammed a fist onto the table top.

"I take it you didn't have time to discover anything ?" Carl asked.

"No, the guard was obviously suspicious by the way Beron was acting. He must have waited for us to get out of sight then informed the Adjudicator. So we're still no closer to finding out who is trying to manipulate the bidding in their favor. Damn, another thirty seconds and I would have had it." she said, the frustration obvious, but before they could continue the door opened and the guard stepped into the room, eyeing Elena like something clearly beneath him:

"You are required to return to the Bidding Chamber." he said, stepping aside to allow the Traders to pass ..........

[Carl Torek]

Adjudicator Za'f ::

"You are required to return to the Bidding Chamber." The Traders eyed the man as he glared at Elena, then they filed out and back to the next round of bids.

Za'f followed them up to the door at which point he turned away. Moving further down the corridor he slowed as he approached a door, then glancing left and right he quickly stepped into the darkened room sealing the door behind him. moving to the far wall he watched the images ... The 'wall' far from being solid, was in fact a large view screen on which all three sections of the table could be viewed side by side. He watched as the Traders took their seats, speaking in hushed tones as they decided on the value of their next bid. The second segment showed the Klingon High Council representative's while the third showed the House of D'orn. Za'f sat at the console:

"My superiors are beginning to suspect something is amiss. It is highly unusual for the bidding process to go to a third round, a fourth would be unheard of and will bring questions." he said to the hidden figure beside him.

"We require more time, you will manipulate the bidding as we desire. Failure would bring unfortunate, repercussions."

"I will be removed from the process should the Master Adjudicator feel there has been interference. Then i will be of no use to you at all."

"Then if that were to happen, I would be compelled to relieve you of your life." the other said, menace in every word, "Do not overly concern yourself Za'f, my vessels are close and we shall be in position in due course. Continue your work and you will be rewarded, continue to give me cause for concern, and our 'agreement' will be terminated."

"I should never have allowed myself to be coerced." the Adjudicator said ruefully.

The Romulan simply grinned .....

Bidding chamber ::


As they sat down, Carl had the distinct feeling they were not going to win. It seemed that no matter how many times they were brought into this room, the bidding always resulted in a stalemate. From what he had heard of the Dolar, they were assumed to be incorruptible in their dealings with other races. As long as they received a far price for their technology, along with the unwritten agreement that nothing they designed would be used for harm, then they would sell to the highest bidder. So he had to ask himself the question again: Why were they allowing the lowest bidder last time the Federation Officers themselves, to remain in the process ?

"Something is definitely wrong here." he said to the others, who simply nodded in agreement as Elena entered a new figure for the next round of bids. She turned the screen to Carl and Gheskori, neither reacted.

"Has it occurred to anyone that the Dolar may well suspect that the Klingon's are hardly likely to adhere to the terms and conditions set out for a successful bid ?" Elena asked.

"Well, we've tried getting information the wrong way, I don't suppose the Dolar are going to be willing to volunteer information to three Traders, that's a certainty." Gheskori said, still eyeing the bid. Carl leaned over to the console and added a zero to the extortionate amount Elena had already put up, then shrugged:

"Let's make this interesting." he said, sitting back in his seat as if completely satisfied with his action, "Besides, we know what both Klingon factions had bid thus far, if either one get's even close to that figure, we'll have our answer regarding bid manipulation, won't we ?" he said, a wry grin forming.

"I don't suppose you actually 'HAVE' two point one 'million' bars of latinum handy ?" Elena asked, Carl shrugged, "Thought not." she said.

"I'm betting, pardon the pun, that one or both of those two get close. We're being kept here, for whatever reason, but from everything we know about the Dolar, this isn't how they do business. I think it's about time we got some answers."

"I think it could be the wrong move to reveal our identities." Elena warned, both men nodded realizing they were helpless to act at this point. Carl dropped his head to the table after clutching his stomach, Ghes and de Luca looked on as he leaned to one side and fell to the floor groaning and in obvious pain. Elena hit the Comm button calling for help as Gheskori leaned in close to help his friend. He could see Torek grimace, then look directly at him for a second, before the fabricated pain returned. Seconds later the door at the rear of the room opened and two Dolar entered with a mag-lev stretcher. Picking the Trader off the floor they placed him on the bed and quickly began to leave, Elena began to follow but the Dolar told her to remain, they would come for the Traders once their companions' situation had been assessed and treated.

Gheskori and Elena stood back allowing Torek to be removed, the frosted glass partition raised allowing all three parties to see each other.

"Bidding has been suspended .... You will remain here for the time being before being returned to your designated rooms." the Adjudicator said over the Comm system. The two Klingon factions eyed each other with suspicion, each glancing at the depleted Trader group before returning their attentions to each other.

"That was pretty convincing." Gheskori said quietly, "I actually thought he was ill there for a moment. He must have taken something, because that vomiting I just heard certainly wasn't faked."

Thirty minutes later one of the Dolar entered and asked them to accompany him. They went through several long corridors until coming to a set of double doors. Entering they could see Torek, asken-faced and looking extremely ill ...

"It appears ...." the Doctor said, somewhat mysteriously, "That your friend has had a somewhat adverse affect to one or more of our foodstuffs or beverages. He is stable now but will require twenty four hours to recover before he can be allowed to leave. You may sit with him until he succumbs to the sleep inducement we have administered, at which point you will be returned to your rooms."

"We need to have our, friend, well, we are currently enga ....."

"I have no interest in your reasons for being here Madam." he interrupted, "My concern is his health." the Doctor said before turning away and instructing the two Dolar to remain outside the room.

Watching the scene unfold, the Romulan leaned forward, trying to establish if the Human was acting out his illness, or if he had actually fallen ill. It mattered not as far as he was concerned, he would simply instruct Z'af to delay proceedings. He couldn't argue given the circumstances, and if he did it made no difference, he would do as ordered, simple ! ..........

[Gheskori]

The doctor, with his back turned, prepared the hypospray; in his peripheral vision he could see the duo standing over the bed of their stricken friend. With a swish of his physician's robes he closed on them, rapidly applying the hypospray to their necks in turn.

Gheskori felt the freeze spread across his neck, his muscles spasming, a state of paralysis taking effect, "What's the meaning of this?" he murmured, dropping to the floor. The doctor stood over both him and Rai who'd collapsed also, and was watching the third patient on the biobed with satisfaction as he (John Anders, the doctor believed he was called) tried to keep himself conscious; the man's protests became more and more muted as the sedative administered minutes ago finally took effect. The doctor had deduced that this man was the chief of the three... it wouldn't do to keep him awake.

"Let the questioning begin."

In the main bidding chamber the two Klingon parties were becoming increasingly restless. What insults they didn't throw at each other they hurled at Adjudicator Za'f, who was remarkably patient throughout, the only sound he ever made was that of a mild cough as a missile struck his temple; that was enough for security to realise that Za'f would like to have the offending Klingon party warned.

The figure looked to the next screen on the wall display.

The Mordanite trader was pacing up and down his quarters, scratching his chin and every so often darting towards his personal console, running through the stats he had been earlier when he'd brought the female trader to his quarters. It was a shame for the Romulan that there'd not been, and still wasn't an audio link to Pleskon's quarters. Visual would have to do; he would speak to the Master Adjudicator about his security measures over the coming day.

Beron stabbed away at the terminal - if he had to read the message 'Access Denied' once more... the dialog box opened, red letters flashing. His face darkened... who had taken away his security clearance?! Really it could only be Za'f, but the Adjudicator had warned him, not severed ties, thus surely he wouldn't have taken this step, without at least consulting him?

And why had Gheskori not told the others? Either way, they did have something over Beron, something that gave them reason to trust him less than any other member of an unaligned species such as the Mordanites. It stood to reason - despite the shenanigans that'd taken place in the last couple of hours - that Gheskori would've at least told Admiral Torek if not also Rai, of Pleskon's true identity; if that was the case, then their action against him could only be explained if they also knew that he was a rogue! But who amongst them would have such knowledge? Not Gheskori, unless he'd played a remarkable poker game during their first encounter. The key then would lie with either Torek or Rai... He couldn't think that Torek would know any more or less than Gheskori, and as for the trader, well...

Ah! he had it! He was assuming a lot, he knew, but this house of cards was the only explanation... He accessed Starfleet Intel's public list of field operatives - that is, publicly available only to intelligence officers; there was another, secret list whose members he wasn't privy to - and began a facial recognition program, using surveillance footage of Rai and attempting a match to everyone on the list... fifteen minutes later he had his result.

Frustrated at the Mordanite Pleskon for having his terminal's screen out of view of the surveillance device, the shadowy figure turned back to the interrogation chamber. His Uhlan would surely have the information by now; the new Reman truth serum had delivered very promising results...

Gheskori managed to keep himself upright against the wall, near to Carl's biobed - he was trying to get close enough to press the button that would deliver a stimulant into the sleeping Admiral's bloodstream, though Ghes's incapacitated body made movement near impossible; he also slurred his words in response to the mad Dolar doctor's questions.

"Our purpose, on this planet," he stuttered in reply, "Is to purchase the Omnis Device. Anything else, is outside our..."

"You're lying," the doctor said (this Reman test project wasn't so good after all, he thought, unlike what the Commander had said). He had his knee pressed upon Ghes's thorax, his expression sinister and decidedly un-Dolar-like in the lowered lights of the secured medbay. "But humour me, for what reason would you wish to purchase the Omnis?"

Ghes answered slowly, "To secure... the quadrant, and the... Fffffff..."

"The Ffff?" the doctor looked on quizzically. "You mean the Federation?"

Ghes's eyes widened; his pupils wide in the darkness, stinging, his tear ducts opened and liquid flowed down his face as he tried to hold the words back. He squinted, his head wracked with mental torment... all the oaths to Starfleet - though giving up information under such duress and under such artificial persuasion would surely be forgiven, wouldn't it?

"Which..." he managed, hissing out the rest of the word, then coughing, "Feder... ation? We came here... to purchase... the Omnis, to maintain the balance of power, and stop the Kling -"

"Gheskori!" Elena shouted in warning, managing to break through the soporific and mentally altering effect of the serum, if only to deliver a semblance of truth to the disguised Romulan's disguised ears.

The 'doctor' raised an eyebrow, smirking, "Gheskori. So not... Mr Evan Sorne? Or you... Ms Rai, and," he looked at the biobed, "Mr John Anders." The Romulan stood, "You're Federation spies," he concluded, turned and looked up at an unremarkable point on the ceiling, was seen to smile at it by de Luca, and walked out of the medbay, securing it behind him and having two Dolar guards posted there. "For their own protection," he explained, sighing, "Mr Anders went into hysterics; the other two," he shook his head, "They seem to have had a similar reaction to our nutrients, only with delayed effect. I will return." The guards nodded and took their positions.

The mysterious figure sat back, watching the scene in the medbay with some satisfaction, then looking over to the bidding chamber's. The Klingon party in question would of course match the exorbitant bid of the traders, but now the meddlesome fools were out of the way - by their own artifice, but which had been turned on their heads nevertheless - there was nothing to prevent the eventuality where the Klingons would 'believe' they had carried the day.

[Carl Torek]

Although still suffering from the severe cramps, Carl lay completely still on the bio-bed as the Doctor, or whom they believed to be the Doctor, interrogated the other two:

"Which ..." Gheskori managed, hissing out the rest of the word, then coughing, "Feder ... ation We came here ... to purchase ... the Omnis, to maintain the balance of power, and stop the Kling ....."

"Gheskori !" Elena shouted in warning, managing to break through the soporific and mentally altering effect of the serum, if only to deliver a semblance of truth to the disguised Romulan's disguised ears. The 'Doctor' raised an eyebrow, smirking.

"Gheskori. So not ... Mr Evan Sorne ? .... Or you ... Ms Rai, and ...." he looked at the bio-bed, "Mr John Anders." The doctor stood, "You are Federation spies !" he said, storming from the room.

"Well that could have gone somewhat better." Elena said, more disappointed in her revealing their true identity, though truth be told, Gheskori, under the influence of the drug he had received was about to tell them everything anyway. At least this way they could only 'suspect' that the three were working on behalf of the Federation, they had no concrete proof, at least not yet.

"YOU FOOL !" the Romulan spat as the Doctor entered the room, forcing him back against the wall in fear, "You were assigned one simple task, to sedate the Traders and ask a set of carefully thought-out questions. Could you fulfill the role given to you .... NO ! ... And now they will suspect you as a fraud no doubt. You can always count on a Human to suspect anything and everything while believing they themselves superior." the Romulan said, seething.

"But I exposed them !" the Doctor said, trying to stand up to the man before him and failing miserably.

"Exposed them, exposed them as what ... 'FEDERATION SPIES !' ... 'YOU' yourself accused them of that, they did not volunteer it."

"But it is obvious, they want the Omnis Device for the Federation in order to overco ....."

"..... And just 'how' do you come to these conclusions ... Doctor ?" the Romulan asked darkly, before spitting a Romulan oath in frustration and turning to the console, "The Klingon's are at each others' throats, all well and good there, but if we detain the 'SPIES' as your suddenly superior intuition believes them to be, much longer, they may be excluded from the bidding process ....."

"We cannot return them for this round. The Adjudicators will suspect interference. Maybe I should ask if it would be possible to, delay ?" the Doctor suggested, unable to look his opposite in the eye. The Romulan thought about it and came to a decision:

"Go to the Adjudicator. You will convince him that it is indeed something in their food that disagreed with Human metabolism, and excluding the Traders would show bad faith to anyone wishing for honest, open trade with the Dolar." The 'Doctor' bowed his head, some niggling thought in the back of his head hoping it was still attached when he lifted it. Somewhat relieved, he left the Romulan alone and headed for the Adjudicator's Office .....

"Can you move yet ?" Elena asked Gheskori, who was trying his best to raise himself enough to get a look at the still silent Torek.

"He could have stood up five minutes ago." Carl commented quietly, glancing at the closed door before easing himself to a seated position. He grinned, it was good to see he could still surprise people at times.

"How long have you been awake ?" Gheskori asked, tentatively shuffling to a kneeling position as Elena followed suit.

"Long enough to know somethings not quite right." Carl said, dropping to the floor and slowly approaching the door, careful not to activate the sensor he leaned against the wall and listened.

"You don't say !" Elena said, a wry grin forming, "With that kind of logic I'm shocked you haven't made Federation President before now."

"The office isn't facing the right way for me." Carl said, moving to the cabinets and opening draws, finally throwing a hypo-spray to Elena, who looked at the device and realized it's purpose. She administered to herself then Ghes.

"Lost something ?" Gheskori asked, puzzled by his behavior.

"My patience if you two don't get off your actual [word deleted]'es and get to work before our 'Doctor' returns with more queries." Torek said, kneeling and placing a hand at the junction of the wall and the floor. He looked at the other two, who dropped to their knees and placed their hands on the floor, "Feel that ?" he asked, both shrugged, shaking their heads, Carl stood up. Again the other two followed his lead and stood, watching him closely as he seemingly prowled around the Medical facility.

"No windows." he muttered.

"Nothing unusual in that." Elena commented as he moved to one side of the door, motioning for Gheskori to do likewise. Once in place he looked at Elena, raising his eyebrows as if she was late on her cue. Realizing what he wanted she approached the door and banged, hard, shouting for help ! ... The door opened inwards and the two Dolar guards entered the room. Unsure of what to expect they had drawn their weapons, but seeing the prone Elena one dropped to her side while the other, realizing the other two formally unconscious men were nowhere to be sen, was about to call out when Gheskori slammed a fist into his neck, dropping him to the floor out cold. The other, realizing something was seriously amiss, turned, and began to bring his weapon to bare on Ghes, but Elena slammed a knee into his midriff before Carl landed a well-aimed kick to the side of the mans head ...... After binding both Dolar and ensuring they couldn't raise the alarm, they needed to make a decision:

"I think we should go to the Dolar and identify ourselves." Carl suggested.

"To what end ?" Elena asked as Gheskori watched the door, "In my opinion they will simply exclude us from the bidding and carry on, why wouldn't they."

"Why would that Doctor, who I think may not be 'Dolar' by the way, try to interrogate us ?, that's what I can't understand." Gheskori said from the door.

"We're leaving." Carl said, making the decision for them all, We'll find the Adjudicator's and inform them we have been taken against our will. with both Klingon Faction's being in the Bidding Room, they would have to accept that others are playing our game along with us .... But first, I want to check something out. We'll leave this room and head, what I hope is East. It's late evening or close to, so the Dolar Sun should be setting, we need to orientate ourselves, but I have the feeling we;ll struggle." Saying nothing more her tentatively opened the door, the corridor beyond was empty so he stepped out, Gheskori and de Luca close behind. They moved along the corridor and came to a crossroads, choosing to continue forward they pressed on ... After another hundred meters they could see their progress was halted. They approached a ninety degree turn to the left and Carl pointed at the wall opposite:

"Maybe this is a part of the facility still under construction." Elena offered, unconvinced in her own comment instantly. Carl approached the wall opposite and tapped on it. Turning left, they continued on until they suddenly came upon a 'window' .... Somewhat relieved, they approached and all stood in stunned silence ... It was Elena who finally voiced the obvious:

"We are on a ship ! .... But HOW ! .... I don't even recognize the Star Systems. Surely the Dolar couldn't be tryi ....."

"I doubt they even know." Carl said, wondering who had the resources and technology to commission a vessel big enough to hold practically a whole surface-borne facility, then it hit him ....





Holo-ship ! ..........

[Gheskori]

Beron stood, heading to the sink and washing water over his face, regarding himself in the mirror and wondering not for the first time why or how he had ended up in this situation. He felt that things were slipping through his fingers; some insidious pressure was present, something unseen manipulating the players of its game inside this chaotic architecture, this impossible maze of a building.

He was used to it being the other way round. The more it reflected in his mind as a confused string of thoughts the more that state of things was projected into reality.

Without realising it during these warped musings, Richard's eye had been drawn to something in motion at the top of the mirror, perhaps some insect; he swatted at it, receiving instead of the light touch of an airborne insect a mild static discharge into his fingers. "What..." he felt at the anomalous section at the edge of the mirror, feeling inside it and experiencing a sense of dread.

Dreadful, he loped to the other side of his quarters, picking up the knife he'd taken with him from his last assignment working for the House of Mor'oth. In his actions as puppeteer of that gullible nation of vengeful saints, he'd helped them rob the unstable House of D'orn of another squadron of Birds of Prey and an upgraded Vor'cha attack cruiser; now the knife would be turned to less domineering purposes, rather a revealer of the truth. He stabbed at the mirror, it shattering and falling slow motion into his sink. He turned on the tap and glared ahead at the wall, the grid of a Romulan holodeck. To his left was the window that looked out on the surrounding precinct of the Dolar capital; he stabbed at that too with his diamond-tipped knife, the glass shattering; kicking it through, he saw more of the same hologrid.

The mysterious figure in his chair in the dark room bolted upright, finding purchase on the board of controls in front of him and tapping continuously at a button. The alert would be heard in one of the Dolar's security rooms and they would rush to the Mordanite trader Pleskon's quarters, lock it down and make sure he couldn't leave. The grid wasn't perfect; the Mordanite had discovered the nature of the place in which he was kept; no one else must know.

* * *

The revelation pounded through Ghes's mind but somehow wasn't given expression in his bodily action, perhaps due to his habitual calmness when confronted with danger. If Carl was right that the Dolar didn't know they were on a holoship - or perhaps it was even a full starship - then it followed that they were not masters of their situation, that someone beyond and above the Dolar Adjudicators was dictating how things played out here in the Dolar facility, perhaps even pertaining to the bidding on the Omnis itself.

"It connects to the doctor... He definitely wasn't a Dolar I can say that for sure," he said, "Not just the facial movements, inflections of speech and the way he moved, but the imperfect cosmetic surgery. Which race he does belong to, however... I can't quite put my finger on," he laughed, "As you humans would put it."

"Could he be a Klingon?" Elena asked.

"Adjudicator Za'f to all parties trading for the Omnis Device. Please reconvene immediately in the bidding chamber for the conclusion and announcement of your bids."

Ghes glanced at Carl, leading he and Elena down the corridor, "They must've found out that you were back on your feet. The Klingons must've dispersed, or been dispersed, in the meantime. I wonder what the House of D'orn will have bidded this -"

"Yes, Gheskori. More to the point, what are we going to tell the Adjudicator? He must be made aware that he's not in a bidding chamber, nor in a building, nor in the capital of his homeworld. But on a ship in orbit!"

The Denobulan paused upon entrance to the chamber, "Yes... That must be considered."

In the cerulean-illuminated space of the chamber, Za'f, on his pedestal had caught sight of them. "Trading party," he hailed them sternly, "Come forward. You must finalise your bid and hear the announcement of the winner -" he broke off coughing, alert with eyes wide for a second and seeming to nod rapidly, as if brushing off the comments of some unseen director, "The announcement of whether there will be a winner, and if a next, unprecedented fourth round of bidding will be required... of course."

It was clear to them now that Za'f did know something; what exactly, and from whom he had received an obvious warning, they didn't know. Ghes briefly entertained the idea that it might be Beron (pulling all the strings), but given the last meeting of the rogue agent and Za'f, he didn't think that likely.

They took their seats, looking expectantly at Za'f - for they all knew that whatever bid they had come up with it would be equalled or bettered by at least one of the Klingon parties, and if they tried to amend what they'd already input it would make no difference. The Klingon groups reluctantly took their seats, disgruntled and avoiding the eyes of the other group - clearly there'd been some altercation between the Ruling House and the House of D'orn in the recess while Torek was being treated, which had been broken up by Dolar security - now they glared at the Adjudicator.

Ghes looked back and forth from Za'f to the Klingons, having trouble believing that their own party was carrying on with this charade, "So are we going to sit here and let the Omnis be delivered into either one of theirs hands?" he whispered breathlessly, "If this is a Klingon vessel, all the Ruling House or House of D'orn need to do is finalise their purchase officially and then be on their way, the Dolar returned to their planet none-the-wiser, or perhaps even kidnapped for all we know. We at least need to tell Za'f what we know; if he knows already, it'll be letting him know that he's exposed; if he doesn't, he and the Dolar will presumably do everything in their power to wrest back control of the situation, and potentially bring out who is responsible."

"We can't know that for sure," Elena insisted, "Perhaps Za'f and his superiors are as much under the thumb of whoever owns this holoship as all the Dolar."

"Well the non-Dolar doctor knows my name," Ghes said, "Presumably he's reported to his non-Dolar commander what he thinks he's found out about us, you know, about us being Federation spies? I can't see what else we've got to lose."

"The bids are finalised," Za'f announced, getting their attention and eyeing each party in turn as if they were bands of unruly schoolchildren, "I notice that not one of you submitted a further bid after the unexpected recess following our traders' stomach upset..." Za'f shook his head, tutting as he scanned through his padd, "The results are as follows. It's to my astonishment and pleasure, that I announce to you in an event unprecedented, made all the more remarkable by the fact the two parties in question have submitted bids within a mere 50 bars of latinum of each other, that the bidding will progress to a fourth round. Unfortunately, at this stage, the third party that lagged well behind the two rival bidders, will be ejected. If the following would please stand and depart the chamber, you will be escorted to the transportation room and returned to your ship: the party of -"

An almighty vibration - sounding like a distant explosion (very much, Ghes thought, like the impact of a beam weapon on a starship's hull) - rattled through the chamber, plunging it into darkness as main power was temporarily cut, and, much to the confusion of the Klingon parties and the Dolar, the holoprogram momentarily lost stability - a crackling static and blurring of the surfaces and the 'holographic' screen in the middle of the triangular table.

"What is the meaning of this?!" a drowned-out voice was heard, before all was restored to normality and lighting was restored. Ghes sat in stunned silence, looking at the now empty pedestal where Za'f had just been - the Dolar had fallen to the floor; but more notable was that during the temporary failure of the holodeck, it hadn't just been the surfaces, the walls, all the inanimate objects that'd blurred and lost their holographic cohesion - but Za'f and the Dolar security had too!

"What was that?" the Klingon parties were on their feet - the person who'd spoke was Mr Economist from the Ruling House.

Hologram Za'f was scrambling back to his feet, "Nothing to be concerned about... Earth tremors, quakes if you like, occasionally cause problems for us here in the capital city..." Another one of the 'tremors' hit, sending them to the floor again.

Ghes rose and walked towards Za'f grabbing him by the arm; he wasn't real, he wouldn't know to warn anybody that his 'cover' had been blown, but perhaps he had been programmed to at least report to his leader in such a circumstance. "This ship's under attack!" Gheskori whispered, "Do you understand me! If your programming extends to knowledge of things beyond your universe, which Klingon party is having their bids changed? Which party is trying to steal..." Another impact from the assailing vessel, "... The Omnis Device!"

[Carl Torek]

It was obvious that their situation was rapidly spiraling out of their control .....

Having discovered they were actually on a holo-vessel, the obvious question arose: Had they been brought here recently, or had they been on the ship all along ? ... At this point they had no way of knowing either way, so all they could do was attempt to find out which party was rigging the bids for the Omnis Device. If they could establish beyond doubt who was tampering, and obviously 'why' they were doing so, they may have a chance. The bidding had gone awry, with the normal procedure being overlooked in favor of keeping all parties, but at some point that would need to change. They were called to the Bidding chamber once again, the Dolar still seemingly unaware of their position in the scheme of things.

"The results are as follows. It's to my astonishment and pleasure, that I announce to you in an event unprecedented, made all the more remarkable by the fact the two parties in question have submitted bids within a mere fifty bars of latinum of each other, that the bidding will progress to a fourth round. Unfortunately, at this stage, the third party that lagged well behind the two rival bidders, will be ejected. If the following would please stand and depart the chamber, you will be escorted to the transportation room and returned to your ship: the party of ....." The Dolar Adjudicator was in the process of informing them of the results when all hell broke loose !

Z'af, the holographic Adjudicator seemed blissfully unaware of the situation, citing tectonic tremors for the disruption, but Gheskori grabbed him by the arm speaking quickly:

"This ship is under attack. Do you understand me ! ... If your programming extends to knowledge of things beyond your universe, which Klingon party is having their bids changed. Which party is trying to steal ..." Another impact from the assailing vessel, "..... The Omnis Device !"

"I am sorry Mister Sorne, but it would be best if you were to return to your seat and allow me to conclu ...." Ghes pushed the man aside, frustration and annoyance almost making him scream out.

"We need to get out of here." Elena said, quickly grabbing something to steady herself as the holo-vessel was hit yet again. Torek agreed, it was a given that the Omnis information was going to be aboard this ship, or it would need to be close-by. He couldn't imagine that it was still on the Dolar Home-world. So whoever was attacking them had likely lost patience with allowing the bidding facade continue. There was always the possibility they had gleamed information from the Mordanite Trader, and supposed Starfleet Intelligence operative Plexton, or Beron, or whatever he wanted to be known by.

He eyed both Klingon factions, still throwing accusations across the table at each other and decidedly ignoring the Traders. Either both knew nothing, or one of them were exceptional actors !

"Let's see if we can move about outside this chamber. If the other Dolar are programmed the same as Z'af then they will attempt to keep us confined." Carl said with a last glance at the Klingon's before moving towards the door, "We need to find the holographic control center, I'd assume there will be relay stations throughout the ship, so make that our first priority. If we can shut this place down we'll have a damn-sight better chance of getting out of here alive." he said as the ship was rocked yet again.


~~~~~


"If you could please retu ....." Gheskori slammed a fist into the Dolar, who dropped to the floor unconscious.

"This ship is more advanced than I thought." Carl said, eyeing the fallen Dolar, "It has to be utilizing Isomorphic projectors to keep the Dolar solid ... This way ..." he said, moving off.

Within minutes they came across what seemed to be an auxiliary control center. Gravity, life support, environmental controls, but nothing they could find to disable or deactivate the holographic Dolar or show them the ship in it's original design. One thing was certain, it either didn't have weaponry or was remaining in one piece by extremely powerful shields, but whoever was bombarding them would eventually begin to weaken any shielding and be able to board. He knew that they would need to find a way to prevent that, and quickly !

"Look at this." Elena said from across the room, the other two turned and joined her.

"Romulan's maybe ?" Carl asked as he watched the unknown vessel on the small screen showing the exterior of the holo-ship.

"I don't recognize the configuration. It looks a little like one of their Vor'cha Class, but highly modified, hell, that thing could give the Raven a run for her money I think. It's obvious they are not trying to destroy the ship, so they either want us, the Klingon's, or more likely they believe the Omnis Device and related information is aboard. The shields are holding at ninety six percent, despite the battering they are getting, I would love to get hold of that little piece of technology for the Federation." she commented.

"Alas, we're not here on a bargain hunt Elena." Carl said wryly.

"Couldn't hurt to get a copy, you know, if we happen to come across it in the database ?" she replied, the picture of innocence.

"..... And you wonder why people are wary of Intelligence personnel." Gheskori said with a disapproving grin.

"Is there any way we can find out where we are ?" Torek said, looking at the panel Elena was working at, "Can you find out where we are in relation to the Dolar Home-world ?"

"It's not close, that's for sure." she said, adjusting settings as she spoke, "I can only access the short-range sensors ... No planet, in fact nothing I can recognize, apart from our persistent friends out there of course."

"Great." Carl said.

"That's the least of our worries." Elena said, pointing at one of the readings on her panel. It showed that shield strength had dropped to sixty four percent and was dropping by a fraction of a percentile following each volley. The Romulan's, or whoever was on that modified vessel, were getting closer to boarding, and he didn't like their chances if that happened ..........