Calling in Reinforcements, part 1

Posted on Sat Mar 6th, 2010 @ 10:33am by Commander Raven Adams & Khiy Tal'ehrihn

1,266 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Tiberius V, Ecosystem
Location: Trans Galactic Trading
Timeline: current

ON

First thing the next morning, Raven entered the office of Trans Galactic Trading. She had to admit that Khiy had done an impressive job. The office was impressive.

She walked up to the young lady behind a counter near the door. "Hello. My name is Raven Adams. I would like to speak to the owner, please."

The girl stood up and brandished a large smile as she walked around her desk and offered her hand to Raven. "Good morning. My name Aliana, I am more than qualified to help you with any of your shipping or cargo security needs."

"I'm sure you are," Raven replied, returning the smile, although with Raven it wasn't quite as bubbly as the girl's, "But I'm not here for shipping help. I need to talk to Khiy. Can you let him know I'm here and ask him if he'll see me?" Raven knew she could pull rank, but she had no wish to offend the young lady who was obviously doing her job.

"Okay," She said still smiling "I'll see if he is available." She quickly spun around and returned to her desk. She pushed a button on a panel located on the far side of her workspace and spoke quietly indicating that there was a guest waiting for him, an officer from Starfleet. Clearly an electronic device was placed in her ear as the response from her call could only be heard by her. With a nod to no one, she looked back up at Raven. "He will see you now." She indicated down a corridor of rooms. "It's the last office on your right. You may walk right in."

"Thank you," Raven said politely as she passed the girl and walked down the hall to Khiy's office. As per instructions, she walked in and paused just inside the room to have a good look at his office.

"Hello, Khiy," she said with a smile, this time genuine. "I have some information for you -- and possibly another request for help."

Khiy returned the smile as he waved her in from his seat. He kicked his feet off the desk in front of him and he stood up from his chair. "Information, huh?" He pointed to a pair of sofas in a nook near his desk. "Have a seat. Can I get you a drink?"

"Chocolate milk, please," she said as she walked over to a sofa and sat down. "Have you heard about someone who goes by Ender?"

Khiy ordered the drink from the replicator and retrieved it once it had finished materialising in front of him. "Just 'Ender'?" He said shaking his head as he walked the drink back to Raven. "I don't think so. What's Ender involved in? Smuggling?"

Raven took her drink with a smile of thanks. "Yes. And he purchased three Romulan mines. Possibly the one that was hit near here. There are at least a dozen that have been seen. I don't know if he is responsible for the rest or not." She pulled a PADD out of her pocket and handed it to Khiy. "This is what I have found so far. After he bought the mines he went silent. I wonder if he's working in the area?"

Khiy took the pad and sat down heavily on the sofa opposite Raven. He thumbed down through the information on the data device, frowning as he scrutinised the information. "Huh," he said after a moment. "Well, none of these other purchases say much about 'him' other than he likes to operate in a way that 'he' wants to make a name for himself."

He stood up after the thought and walked over to a very ornate wooden cabinet in the corner of the office. After opening up its two leaved doors, he rummaged around inside for a moment until he relinquished from its interior a clear glass bottle with an ice blue liquid inside along with two crystal glasses. He returned to the sofa and sat down while unclasping the bottle's lid. He poured a glass of its contents. "My bet would be that this guy is a professional 'go to' guy, well, he is trying to be anyways." He then held out the glass to Raven "Drink?"

"Sure," Raven said, placing her empty glass of milk on the table so she could take the proffered glass. "That does fit his behavior. A wannabe player. So, what do you make of our friend. Do you think he went to ground or did someone object to him and remove him from the field?"

He shook his head before taking a sip of the strong beverage. The liquid burned satisfyingly down his throat and he had to bite back a cough. He exhaled slowly before speaking. "Everything we know of this guy indicates that he is taking profile jobs to get known. He wouldn't go underground this soon after starting, especially after the activity we are seeing here." He pointed to the PADD resting on the coffee table in front of him. "I think he attracted some big players that used him as a blind and then put him away, as you mentioned. Everyone would be burning resources looking for a dead guy. If anything, that's a neat piece of evidence to show that the mines that took out your pilot were not part of a Romulan plot." Then in a much lower voice "Not that any intelligent person would think it was to begin with." He was on the verge of slipping into a rant, but held his tongue and flushed the thoughts from his head in an attempt to be 'silent' to Raven as well. He knew a few thoughts may have slipped through.

Raven took a small sip of her drink to see how strong it was. She wasn't unfamiliar with the ale, but she wasn't sure how old it was, either. Or how potent. It was pretty strong. She smiled as it burned its way down her throat. "I never thought the Romulans were involved. It was too clumsy and too obvious for them." She took another sip. "I think you're right about Ender being a blind. It makes perfect sense to take him out and let Starfleet search for a corpse. The question is, who took him out and does it relate to OreCo?"

"OreCo?" He asked with a confused look on his face "What makes you bring them up?" He took down another sip.

"They seem to have acquired the rights to mine Tiberius IV without any official announcement being made or bids being requested. A cargo ship disappeared on the planet a week ago. That has caused an investigation. The USS Orion is on its way there now. The timing of that and the Romulan mine makes me wonder if there's a connection." She paused to take another sip. "Add that to the 20% and you have a lot of questions with very few answers. I wonder if the timing of the mine is to divert us from looking too closely at OreCo."

Khiy nodded slowly "Might very well be so. If that's the case, then they have to be thinking that they are being watched." He leaned forward and shook is head "You aren't going to like a theory I have."

Raven leaned forward as well. "There are a lot of things I don't like. That doesn't mean I don't want to hear them. What is your theory?"

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Commander Raven Adams
Chief Intelligence Officer
Starbase Typhon

Khiy Tal'ehrihn
Trans Galactic Trading
Starbase Typhon

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