An Intelligence Consultation

Posted on Sun 9th Dec, 2018 @ 1:27am by Lieutenant Damion Ildaran
Edited on on Tue 11th Dec, 2018 @ 4:29am

2,067 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Orchids and Jazz
Timeline: MD 18, 1500

Damion Ildaran's office in the Intelligence Department looked only slightly lived-in, which was an accurate description of it. A blue sweater hung over the back of his chair; no one but Damion knew that he had knitted it himself, though Elizabeth Anderson would have surmised the truth if she had seen his office. He hadn't shown it to her yet because there was so little to see--just a desk that boasted his computer, a coffee mug, and a pile of PADDs, the sweater, and a picture of a starfield with the caption, "Astra inclinant, sed non obligant."

He glanced at his wall clock. Almost time for his guest. Damion still didn't know what had possessed him to consult with Jade Lantz, of all people, instead of someone in his department. He'd have talked to Ensign Brennen, but she was needed at the shop. Besides, the Ring Lady had reminded him of Jade, not Ensign Brennen.

Without any idea what kind of consultation Ildaran wanted, Jade had chosen to dress in a conservative dark green silk dress, fitted but not tight, with a v-neck and elbow length sleeves. The color brought the green of her eyes to a startling brightness, and her long hair was worn down, cushioning her dangling gold and jade earrings. The knee-length garment gave her freedom to move and she moved with confidence.

Seeing his name plate outside an open door in the Intelligence corridor, she knocked on the wall next to it, rather than barge in unannounced. "Lieutenant?" she asked. "Are you ready for our appointment?"

Damion got up from his desk and went to greet her. "Miss Lantz, thank you for coming," he said in an accent reminiscent of Scotland on Old Earth. "I appreciate you taking the time. Would you like something to drink before we get started?" Her dress was a startling contrast to the usual black and gray apparel that everyone wore in his section. "You add a nice bit of color in here," he said.

She smiled at his compliment. "Thank you, and a cup of mint tea would be nice." She might be here longer than she had expected if he were offering her refreshment. "I'm not sure how I can help you, but I'm happy to try. Actually, it's very nice to have something to take my mind off the inspector who has come to check on my staff. He's somewhat, hmmm, confrontational, I suppose would describe it."

"Oh, is your restaurant having a health inspection?" Damion asked. "If your kitchen staff are as good as your waitstaff, I'd think you have nothing to worry about. Why is he being confrontational? Just the sort who has to find fault, no matter what?"

As he handed her the mint tea she'd asked for, Jade sat in the chair and placed the cup on his desk. "No, it's the humaniforms inspector, a total waste of time and a puffball of self-importance." She made a shooing motion, as if to brush Yorick Fuller away.

"But that's not a problem for you. So how can I help you and the Intelligence section?"

Damion closed his office door and set it to 'Busy' so they wouldn't be disturbed. "Normally, I wouldn't ask the help of someone outside the section at all, and even less a civilian who isn't a Counselor of some kind," he said, "but my read of you is that you're very perceptive and that you've seen a lot. The times I've come to Orchids and Jazz for lunch, I've noticed that you like to hear your guests' stories; I've told you a couple of mine. So I wondered if you might recall this woman coming into Orchids and Jazz and, if you do, did she happen to tell you a story?" He touched a control on his desk, and a three-dimensional image of a woman's face took form.

Jade took her time looking at the hologram. "Can you make it turn slowly?" she asked. "Or walk? There's something vaguely familiar about her. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but often people disguise their faces, hair, even voice, but don't think about the way they move or little familiar habits they have, such as pulling on an ear."

Damion nodded, took out a PADD, and began tapping and sliding his fingers across its surface. "We had the devil of a time finding her; had to resort to facial recognition software on security footage because, as you mentioned, she did use disguises. Here you go."

The holo-image lengthened from being that of just a woman's face to being her whole body, clad in a long, beige dress with bell sleeves and earth-toned scarves that flowed around her as she walked. The woman had evidently kept to crowds, given how the ripple of her garments in the air was sometimes prevented from full movement. "She didn't make it easy to catch her gait, but her clothing might be unusual enough to have attracted notice."

Jade nodded. "Oh, I remember her now that I see her clothing. It was more remarkable than her face, honestly. She moved with grace, as you can see by watching her, and she came into the club as if she owned the world and everything in it. Let me think a minute, and I'll have her name for you." She smiled at him and said, "This is when I could almost wish I had Dr. Anderson's memory capabilities."

Closing her eyes to think, Lantz ran back over her encounter with the woman. "Zelda," she said. "That was the first name she gave." After another half minute, she opened her eyes. "Alegari. Zelda Alegari. She mentioned she was from a colony world, but not which one, or even whether it was Federation or some other galactic association. She dispensed bits of information sparingly, and the exact colony world wasn't mentioned." The El-Aurian looked thoughtful.

"I believe she said she was here on a buying trip, but she also didn't mention what she was buying. I don't pry into my customers' lives, but people typically like to talk about themselves." She shook her head and added, "This one didn't, only what she felt might make her less an object of interest, only enough to satisfy a normal person's curiosity and then turn her loose as being of no particular interest."

The hologram was still going, repeating the same footage. At one point, the woman stopped and looked around, as if she were checking to see if she were being followed. Jade leaned forward. "Wait, could you go back to just before this? There's something else, just a flash of familiarity I caught. I think I may have seen her before, not here on the station, but somewhere in the past."

One of Damion's eyebrows flickered, but he immediately reversed the display as asked and replayed it again. "Do you want it at the normal speed or slower?" he asked.

"One more time, slower, please. It's such a quick flash ... there! Stop and back up a slow count of two and freeze it, please?" Jade watched the movement and then the freeze frame. "Yes, I'm sure of it. I saw her, oh maybe ten years ago now, maybe a little longer. She was younger, of course, but there's a way she has of quirking her mouth and raising her eyebrow ... look for it, and you'll see it, too." Lantz leaned back in the chair and thought about the past.

"I was with someone," she said slowly, "a native of the San Francisco area, actually. He noticed the woman because of her hair. Not like this," Jade flicked her finger at the hologram. "It was quite short, spiky, and, of all things, she'd dyed it in green and orange stripes. I remember my companion wondering if she were Irish. That's probably the only reason I remember it. He taught me a little history of the disagreements the Irish have had with each other. She and her hair are sort of the trigger for that memory. It probably isn't very helpful, unfortunately."

"I lived in Edinburgh, Scotland for a while, so I have some idea of what you're talking about," Damion said. He thought a moment. "That kind of hairstyle speaks of a rebellious, passionate nature--presuming it wasn't all an act, of course. When you saw her again in Orchids and Jazz, did her manner--her air of 'owning the world and everything in it' seem to be her true personality, or just an act?"

"That's an excellent question. I have to say I don't think it's an act. There was a degree of it the first time I saw her, and it's more marked now. That might be additional experience or it could be extended through acting," Lantz said. "I really think it's a part of her."

She watched the image going through its loop again. Looking up at Ildaron, she said, "I wonder if you'll ever really know her. Do you have experience in breaking someone down to his natural state? That's probably not what you call it, but it's what it seems to me has to be done to find out who she actually is. Not a pleasant job, either, I'd imagine."

"No, it's not," Damion said with a grimace. "I've had to do a lot of hard things to survive, but those have primarily meant dealing with situations as they arose--thinking on my feet. Breaking someone like you describe is a deliberate process that takes planning, time, patience, and a secure place to do it in. I've rarely had those luxuries. I have done what you describe, but I didn't like the person I had to be while I was doing it. Lt. Miller would have been much better at that, and I hoped he'd do it, but he was to be transferred, so he assigned it to me."

Jade leaned back in her chair and sipped her mint tea while she considered what he'd said. Setting her cup back down on the desk, she nodded her head as she looked at him. "I would imagine it would be difficult to stray that far from your natural instincts. So. If you don't break her down, then you must convince her to cooperate with you of her own free will, and you can never completely trust her. I don't envy you your job, Lieutenant."

"From the reports I've read, no, I would have to verify everything she tells us--if she agrees to cooperate at all. At the moment, I think our best bet is flattery--honest flattery, though, or she'll dismiss us out of hand. Did you happen to compliment her at all while she was in your restaurant? If you did, how did she react? Was she startled and pleased, or did she take it as her due? Or react in some other way?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't. I spoke to her for a few moments, as I mentioned, and about music. She complimented my band. She made enough of an impression for me to remember her ... which would probably not make her happy, but I think remembering had more to do with who I am than who she is. I keep six months of my security vids, if you think it would be helpful to watch her. That's the only time I know she was in, but that doesn't mean she wasn't there another time. You might not pick up anything new, but I'll give you the access code, if you like, and you can take a look."

"Hm...Do you recall if she paid in latinum or with a credit deduction?" Damion asked.

"I don't, but we can look to see. I didn't check her out. The next time I went by the table, she was gone and it was cleared. I thought no more about her until today. I'll look into it as soon as I return and send the information and my access code by courier," Jade smiled, "one of my cleaning crew."

"I would appreciate that very much. Thank you for your help, Ms. Lantz," Damion said with a nod. "As for your courier, that will be an interesting conversation and likely one that is overdue," he added. "I do like them, you know."

The woman shook his hand and said, "I thought you might."

 

RSS Feed