The “Milli-Cochrane Caper" 3.2

Posted on Wed 1st Sep, 2021 @ 6:16pm by Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Lieutenant Commander Andrew Eberstark & Lieutenant Commander Alora Baro & Renato Solis

1,343 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Waging Peace
Location: Brown Sector Zodiac
Timeline: MD 4, 1900

{Zodiac: 25-M}

Theophilus Boule was crouched, remaining hidden from the search teams who passed him by. The sensor blind he wore was paying off by the second as he remained invisible. Still, an eagle-eyed officer would detect even a curious absence of sensor information and track him down. Once he was alone the panel was opened, and there was an ODN line cable linkup inside. A moment of splicing cables and a small green pulsing box was mounted behind them. Its sinister hue was hidden within the colorful optical data networks. Silently, he darted away, having placed the last of his charges.

There was one set of eyes that saw him, and the boy ran as fast as he could. Two levels up, it took some time but he arrived at Miss Kya's place quickly enough. He had to jump to grab the door handle, but it wasn't locked. It never was. The smell of tomatoes was appetizing, but the sweets and money were all he wanted. Miss Kya wasn't in the Kitchen, but Jaka saw the lad in a proper state, flushed cheeks and all. At nearly eight feet tall, the towering thing could step on the brat, but manners and all dictated he ask it what it needed. So the pseudo-elephantine creature got to one knee, still towering over, but the effort had been made.

"What is it, little one?"

The child was wide eyed, "I... whoa... ugh I need ummm Miss Kya?"

Jaka was used to the bewilderment of the tiny people, "I can help you page her." He used a pocket device and pressed the stud. "Speak, child."

The boy was still wide-eyed, "Missy Kya? Renato told me to tell you or him if I saw that man...."

***
{Section 221 13-V}

When Renato got the news he felt a jolt pass through him, He called to Oksana, who hadn't nearly caught up to him yet. "We've got a sighting, section 25-M!"

Oksana didn't reply directly, as having to update the team would do it. She hit her badge, =0= Deputy Oksana reporting a sighting at 25-M..."

Oksana realized she was alone, and Renato had disappeared into the mess of hovels around them. He knew the path to 25-M instinctively, but to her it was a quagmire of reconstructed panels and corridors. She charged into it anyway, as she had been given responsibility for him.

{Zodiac}

Reon overheard the message to Kya, since he was still with her. Fortunately, it was his day off, because as humans were prone to say, the plot was thickening nicely in the pot. Or something like that. He wanted to see things to their end.

"I'm coming with you," he told Kya. "This could get dangerous. I don't have a phaser, but there's this." He lifted the edge of his sleeve to reveal a knife in a sheath strapped to the lower section of his arm. "It's better than nothing."

She looked at him with appreciation. Kya wasn't looking for a husband, but Reon had just entered the realm of possibility of something else with that wonderful gesture. Most men in her life had run away from trouble and left her holding the bag. Renato didn't, and now Reon didn't. She tried not to openly gush at having some help for once. People were getting mad, Renato had disappeared, the security meeting had been stressful and there was no respite at home. The rolling inspection was causing animosity, and frankly it had become too hard to track which way to go. The center was on lockdown so she could at least relax there.

"Reon, thank you, I pray we don't need that or this." She revealed her palm stunner; even while walking with the man who was stealing her heart it had been armed, a necessary lesson she had learned long ago. She hoped he was graceful enough to understand and not take it personally. Without further comment she started to plan.

"The kids are in the center, We need to find Renato, he just charged off... he doesn't care if he gets hurt... and if one of those things shows up..."

"The children should be safe there on lockdown. You have some people who are able to defend the place, should it come to that, I think. I agree, Renato is our priority ... for now. If we don't find him in a reasonable time, though, he is an adult and I believe we will have to let him choose his path, even if it's painful. The children are my priority ... and you," Reon looked at her intently. "Definitely you."

Kya blushed, "I haven't been a priority in some time. How sweet." She took his hand and charged towards 25-M.

---

{25-Ma- Theo's hidden chamber}

His sense had led him right into the maw of the beast. Theo was a supremely dangerous individual capable of murder, and Renato had expected to just walk in and what, arrest him? Lessons can be learned even while being chewed alive, sometimes the lessons you needed the most prior to getting captured. Just underneath 25-M, just above 24-M, nestled inside the cavity where the power trunk was diverted into a medley of machines stacked and bolted to every surface to make the most of the tiny room. The apparitions had all tried to come this way, and now he was following their path. His sense could hear echoes of the shouting, no words, but emotional intent resonating past death.

Looking over his shoulder, the myriad and winding path back to the station primary corridor seemed to close to him. What looked like the simple room to access the EPS grid was a portal to this freak show's den of horrors. Inside the room, the trunk was a singular feature, the large access door having shown recent signs of being opened. He had no clue how dangerous it was as he pulled the chamber door open. Inside, the sight of the materialization pad sent chills through his spine as he considered the apparatus surrounding it. His knowledge of transporters was limited, but he recognized the confinement beam assembly and the electrodes likely wired to the organic matrix which programmed the clone after transport. There was a smell to the air Renato recognized all too well. Death, Decay, Desperation, Despair.

Feeling very foolish Renato started to climb back out of the chamber, the yellow glow of the EPS bathing light so he couldn't see the shadows move against him. He had just climbed out of the chamber inside the power trunk before he fumbled for his comm lapel.

=/\=Renato to*

He never got to finish his sentence. The blunt force impact brought him to his knees. Blood openly flowed over his face and eyes as he considered the missteps to now. He had come alone. Never go alone, into dark places where enemies lurk. Too little, too late, he thought. Swirling memories took over as Kya searched for him just meters away on the other side of a closed door. Her presence was invigorating and he felt a surge for a moment,



It was a telepathic blast, weak and underwhelming. And that was all he had left in him before collapsing to the ground in a heap.

She heard the blast through the simple walls all right, it came to her like a whisper but took over all her senses. She could taste his words, and they were bitter, like roots. He was in trouble, and she knew time was limited.

"Reon! He is close, he needs help, oh god he is hurt!"

Velasquez pulled out the phaser he'd hidden behind his back and said, "This calls for more than the knife. What's the shortest way around, or should we work on blowing a hole in the wall?" He reached out to feel the bulkhead. "I don't know if this peashooter has the power, but I'm willing to try it." He was denigrating a perfectly good phaser, but he hoped to lighten the moment a little.

To be finished ....

 

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