Spy Games

Posted on Thu Sep 19th, 2024 @ 9:36am by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard

Mission: The Gambit

As they sat at the table considering who to attempt to speak with regarding gaining information, Deanna began to sense great fear, and something else. It was building to a crescendo and it felt like it was moving closer as well. "Get down" she screamed as disruptor fire hit the table multiple times, missing them narrowly.

Deanna peaked out with her phaser drawn, but the shooter was gone. The other patrons were generally in a state of shock, except for the Nausicans who thought the situation to be humorous. Deanna looked to Jon and Sam, "Are you alright?"

Sam squeaked as she hit the deck and came up with her weapon in her hand, flipping the table over for better cover. "I guess that answers the question as to 'are we being watched" she retorted.

Jon had hit the floor when the first shots rang out. His phaser in his hand, he was already rising to his feet. "I'm fine." He answered, "What about you Deanna? Sam? You both okay?" He asked as his eyes scanned the bar for the shooter but came up empty.

"We may not have been looking for trouble, but it seems we found some nonetheless. I'd say this doesn't bode well for us" Deanna replied.

"I disagree Deanna. I think this confirms our guess that something suspicious happened to Shran and we were right in coming here, We need to stay on this." Jon replied crisply.

"I agree with you on that one Jon" Sam stood and dusted debris from her uniform. "I suggest we ditch the uniforms and try and more covert approach."

Deanna marched over to Devani and pulled at PaDD out with Shran's picture on. "We are looking for this man. Seeing as people are now shooting at me, you can imagine I am not in the mood to play games. You may not want to tell me anything, but I'll rip it from you mind if I have to. Tell me what you know, now."

Devani was not used to having StarFleet officers in this way towards him. He was positive that she meant ever word she said. "The Andorian, he was here. A couple Cardassians spoke with him, hired him as a mercenary for a job. They left last night. The starport manager, he'd be able to give you details on the ship. We don't get Cardassians around here often, and those were to only Cardassians around here in months."

Deanna looked at him. "We'll check with the starport manager. For your sake, he better confirm what you said." Deanna walked over to Jon and Sam, "Now we can go. No need for us to get out of uniform."

Jon watched as Deanna read the Devani the riot act and he knew he wouldn't want to be the object of Deanna's temper. "Let's go." he told Deanna and Sam. "We're done here.... for now."

They exited the entertainment facility and were back on the streets. A pair of colony security officers were racing down the road. Deanna looked at Jon, "Shall we talk with colony security or evade?"

"Evade. We don't know if they had something to do with Shran's disappearance or not and until we know more, we trust ourselves and the crew." Jon answered decisively.

Sam followed Deanna and Jon, hoping that they had a plan. Getting shot at within the first 5 minutes of being planetside didn't bode well for their mission to find Shran. "Those two guys look to be heading to a building on the next corner. There's some kind of disturbance there." Sam consulted her tricorder. "That's the quartermaster's office, everything that goes in or out of here has to go through there. Looks like there's a fire"

"What did you say Sam? A fire in the quartermaster's office? A fire could destroy records, that might have something to do with Shran's presence here."

"A rather inefficient way to destroy records on a Federation colony" Deanna thought aloud. "It might be a ruse to keep us from checking out the starport. Only way to know for certain is to check both out at the same time."

Jon shook his head, "No, we'll go to the starport. Check it out." He tapped his commbadge, Grayson to Washington."

"Chief Harris here sir."

"Harris, lock on to the inside of the quartermaster's office and beam it to cargo bay three. If you are questioned, you tell them to see me."

"Um, aye sir. transporting now." An instant later Jon, Deanna and Sam could hear the familiar sound of a Federation transporter in operation, then Harris's voice came back. "Contents are in cargo bay three sir."

Good work." Jon tapped his badge again. "Ayana, put a security detail around cargo bay three. No one in without my authorization or Deanna's. I'll explain when we're back on board."

"Ah Sir, we have three persons who came up with the quartermaster's office. A Federation officer, deceased, and two Orions with burns." Came another voice over the com signal.

=^=Send the deceased to autopsy and get those Orions in the brig. =^= Deanna ordered swiftly. A thought came to mind, =^= Ayana, are the Orions male or female? =^=

=^=Female. Why do you ask? =^= Ayana replied.

=^= Only female guards around them and notify Imik about them. Male personnel are to keep a wide berth from them. We'll deal with them ourselves when we get back. Keep an eye out for any vessels that may show up, and don't let any vessel leave orbit until we get back. Celes out. =^= Deanna looked at Jon and Sam, female Orions are not slavers, but they do make excellent operatives. Some Orion females prefer to play to the older ways of their culture, before they became, some would say, tamer. Cardassians have been known to indulge their passions, and it is believed they at times employed them with minor tasks through the Obsidian Order. Let's check the starport out and then get back to the ship."

Jon nodded in approval at Deanna's orders to Ayana. "Good job Deanna. Ayana can handle things on the ship until we get back. Right now, we have a date at the starport, so let's get to it and see if we get closer to finding Shran."

They made their way into the starport, and after dealing with a couple low level functionaries, were directed to the office of Harry Callahan. He was a tall, lanky middle-aged human that looked like he didn't care for people that might want to slide things past him. Deanna gave a cursory scan of his surface thoughts and knew this guy would be a straight shooter with them.

"Mr. Callahan, we're hoping you can help us. We're looking for an Andorian, he was reported being seen here a week ago maybe eight days. He was in the company of two Cardassians." Jon said getting right down to business.

Callahan looked up from his computer console, "StarFleet. Marvelous." He walked over and gave them a once over. "Andorian, Cardassians, don't see either around here often. But yes, we had an Andorian pass through here. At least he landed here, his shuttle is still docked. I believe he left with the Cardassians you mentioned, maybe two days ago. I'm sure I've got flight plans for them if you need."

Jon exchanged looks with Deanna and Sam. "We would appreciate them Mr. Callahan. In addition, do you mind if we take a look at the shuttle he landed in?" Keeping his tone neutral and even. Yet inwardly he was thinking. this might be the break they needed to find Shran.

"When he left Mr Callahan, did the Andorian appear well and willing? Or did he appear to be injured or a prisoner?" Sam asked, hoping that she wasn't being too forthright.


"Yeah, you can look at the shuttle. It's a StarFleet runabout, sitting in shuttle berth 7. Figured some StarFleet type would come looking for it soon enough." He walked over to his computer and pulled up the information requested. "As far as that Andorian and the Cardassians, they left together. Cardassian shuttle Tain, here is the flight plan they filed. Looks like they were going to Veloz Prime." He looked at Sam, "And to answer your question, they appeared chummy to me, or as chummy as you can look with Cardassians. I don't mind interacting with different races, but Cardassians push me to my limit, and a man has to know his limitations."

"We appreciate the information sir. You have assisted us a great deal" Deanna noted. She made her way towards the shuttles, wanting to take a look at Shran's shuttle for additional information. As they made their way to the runabout Deanna mused aloud, "We know where they were headed. We would do well to take the rubabout back up to the Washington and search it while on the way to Veloz Prime."

"Thank you for the information, Mr. Callahan and yes a man needs to know his limitations." Jon replied and looked to Deanna and Sam. "Let's go take a look at the runabout. Thank you again for your assistance Mr. Callahan." As they left the office heading for docking berth 7, Jon spoke to his companions. "We'll take the runabout back to the Washington while we go over it with a fine-tooth comb all on our way to Velez Prime. Good idea by the way Deanna."

"We'll want to contact Cmdr Kira on DS9. They are the closest Federation outpost to the old Cardassian DMZ. Velez Prime was a Cardassian colony before the Maquis poisoned it and took it over, but my understanding is it has been deserted since the war, considered a ghost planet due to the mass slaughter the Jem'Hadar did to the Maquis. I'm interested in why the captain would go there with Cardassians as the atmosphere is toxic to them for another four decades" Deanna replied.

Entering the runabout Deanna looked for any traps set. Everything appeared clean. She started up the computers, "Everything looks safe commander. You should be clear to take us back to the Washington. I'll start sifting through the database. Sam, can you go check the rear compartments and see if the captain left anything lying about?"

Jon slid into the pilots' seat and quickly went through the preflight checklist. In a few moments the preflight was done. "Deanna slide into the co-pilot's seat..." He yelled to Sam. "Sam find a seat. We are leaving and heading back to the Washington." He looked over at Deanna, "We'll contact DS9 when we're back onboard."

"Understood" Deanna replied as she continued to look through the database. Suddenly she spotted something. It was something only five people in all the universe knew. She clicked on the file heading and was prompted to enter a code. She did so and was granted access. A single message was filed. She read the message and looked to Jon, "Get us back to the ship quickly. The people the captain is with are even more dangerous than we thought. I'm sure of his mission entirely, but I understand why the secrecy."

Jon didn't waste time asking questions he accelerated quickly getting the runabout back to the Washington and into the shuttle bay. "I'll have Kate and her team go over the runabout as well. "Now what did you discover?" He asked as they prepared to leave the runabout.

"The captain's ready room Jon. It'll be safer to speak there" Deanna replied cryptically.