The Game is Flushed

Posted on Thu 1st Feb, 2018 @ 11:22pm by Colonel Horatio Drake & Commander Mikaela Locke & Lieutenant Colonel Brooklyn Wellington & Lieutenant JG Kellian Michaels

1,558 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: Ops, CO's Ready Room
Timeline: 0800 hours

Colonel Horatio Drake rode the lift with a headache, a skeleton, and an erection. The first, he attributed to a hangover. He'd been haunted lately, and found that alcohol was the only way to quiet the hallucinations (and he dearly, deeply hoped that they were hallucinations) and let him get some sleep. The second... well, see hauntings and hallucinations. It was best if he didn't pay attention to them. This one was wearing the uniform of an enlisted UFP Marine, and was just standing there. The third... well, he very much hoped it wasn't because of the skeleton. That would say things about him he didn't want to know.

The lift doors opened, and Drake stepped out into ops. The lights were kept at a low level in here, to create better viewing conditions for the specialist crews monitoring all the monitors. At the local space control holography sphere in the center of the deck, a woman in a rust-red tunic stood with her back to him. Then she turned, and he started. Her skin was the gray of a long-dead corpse, her jaw locked open in the rictus of time-constricted muscles. "Good morning, Sir," she greeted him. Skin flaked off her cheeks as her jaw moved.

Drake closed his eyes. "Lieutenant. Anything new and interesting?"

"USS Samurai has signaled an emergent arrival, sir. They have severe battle damage, and request access to the inner harbor for yard availability, refit, and resupply." The corpse's voice sounded perfectly normal. It probably wasn't actually a corpse.

Drake wondered why he hadn't been notified when the transmission came in, then remembered he'd amended the station's standing orders to only wake him if something directly threatened the station. "Do they require assistance?"

"Negative, sir. They say they'll arrive in about forty-eight hours."

Drake nodded, and cracked one eye open. The officer of the deck still looked like a corpse. He opened the other eye, rubbed his forehead, blocking his view of her. "Anything else?"

"Lieutenants Michaels and Perry are waiting in your office, Sir."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Drake said, and turned that way. A few steps, and the door opened in front of him, admitting him to the comfortable office. "Wait," he instructed the pair of lieutenants, as he stepped to the replicator. "Jeeves Number One," he instructed, and winced at the light of the annular containment field. He picked up the glass which appeared, held his nose, and drank the disgusting concoction as quickly as he could. He made the "Oh, that's disgusting" face, put the glass down, and said, "Coffee, 1 liter mug, black, hot."

Picking up the resulting mug he crossed the office, sat in his chair, and took a long chug of the coffee. "Alright," he said with a sigh, lowering the mug. "What do you have?"

Had he really seen the CO drink a hangover cure, Kellian wondered? It sure looked like it, but best not to ask. He glanced at Lt. Perry and stepped back a pace. As Security Chief, this was her show.

Isabella looked at the Colonel and could see that something wasn't quite right with him. Knowing that she was new, she didn't quite know whether or not to ask if he was ok. She decided to let it go for the time being. "Sir." The Security Chief said clearly, "I think we have found the individual we are looking for. Take a look a this." Isabella handed a PADD with surveillance footage already cued up to a certain part. The footage showed a lone figure walking onto a transport shuttle.

"I think this is the person we are looking for, sir." She stated while still trying to assess the Colonel.

"One sir a day is enough," Drake said, distractedly. He examined the footage. It was from a dockside camera, and the details weren't entirely clear. The hair... yes, it seemed to be the color he remembered from that night at the Addams' house. It was drawn back, and she was wearing some sort of hair ornament with dangly bits. Some of the dangly bits fell over her shoulder, and yes... she was voluptuous, bordering on zaftig.

Drake touched a control on his desk. "Commander Locke, join us in my office, please?"

It was took less than a minute for Mikaela Locke to make the short journey from her station in the Operations Centre to Drake's office - it was another minute for Perry and Michaels to bring her up to speed with their investigation. "Where's that transport heading?" she asked, indicating towards the frozen image on the PADD in Perry's hand.

"Well, from what I have gathered from informants and researching the transport itself, I think they are heading for the Lurentian system." Isabella walked over to the viewscreen on the wall of the office and entered her command code. She then brought up a star chart with Vanguard on one end, and a plotted course leading directly to the Lurentian system, so that Drake could visually see the distance.

Looking over at the Colonel, Isabella could see the man examining the video she supplied for him and not even looking at the map. "You know this person don't you, sir?" She asked her commanding officer.

Kellian gave Isabella a surprised look that turned thoughtful as he glanced at Drake. Did the CO actually know the killer, or did he just recognize her from what he'd seen at the seance?

Drake heard the question, but ignored it. "Observational skills, Lieutenant Perry. How many people are in this room?"

Perry looked over to Keillian for some type of help or guidance, but didn't stare too long. Not regretting her questions to Drake, she wished she had used a little more tact while asking. "Four people, Colonel. Lt. Michaels, Commander Locke, you and myself sir." Not being able to read the Colonel bothered Isabella. She didn't have enough information or interaction with the Colonel determine if he was angry with her.

Drake nodded, his eyes flicking to the three people she'd named; ignoring the two lounging by the door whom she hadn't -- Special Agent Solo and Patrick. "Lurentia, you say?" He glanced at the projected map. "Lurentia is in the Triangle. Most transports are limited to warp 3." He tapped his combadge. "Captain Wellington. I need a transport ship halted before they cross the Federation border into the Triangle." He paused, read the ship's name off the looping vid. "Warp Vessel Constantine Imperator. Tell them to heave to and prepare to be boarded for health and safety inspection."

Wellington was in her office when she received the message from the Colonel and tapped in several commands bringing the Triangle sctor up on her terminal. She would have to push the Valyries' engines to the limit to make that intercept. "Acknowledged, Colonel. I'll be space borne in three minutes. Wellington, out." Wellington grabbed her flight gear out of her locker behind her ad began donning it as she rushed out and toward the fighter bay.

Mikaela glanced at Perry slightly nervously, before drawing her focus back to Drake. Surely no one was going to believe that the Federation would send a squadron of fighters out just for routine health and safety inspection. She had been aware that something was off with Drake, but there hadn't been an opportune moment to ask about it. Either that or she hadn't worked out how best to bring it up. Either way, she knew that contradicting him in front of the security officers wasn't a good idea, but if she had some more detail, she might be able to steer him into a better course of action.

"A health and safety inspection?" she repeated questioningly. "What's your plan, sir?"

"My plan, Commander, is to catch a murderess." Drake tapped at his desk for a second, checking which runabouts were serviced and ready to go, then tapped his combadge again. "Captain Gunnar," he called, and waited for the chirp of an open circuit before going on, "get a platoon together, gear up for a boarding action. Meet me at docking port 198-Oscar; we'll be taking Marine Runabout Gaius Marius to our destination."

The Marine captain's voice came back immediately, "Aye-aye Colonel. We'll be there in twenty."

Isabella felt the need to say something to the Colonel, but didn't know how open he was to thoughts from his subordinates. She decided to take a chance. "Sir, if I may. A health and safety inspection is a little thin for a transport just leaving a starbase." Perry walked back over to her PAAD and pulled up the shuttle registry. "This transport Constantine Imperator, the Captain, Avar Vick is a..." She paused for a moment thinking of the right word to use. "Informant of mine. I think I could convince him to either turn around or alter his course to a location of our choosing."

"We can't let that vessel over the border," Drake said, shaking his head, "and we can't give our perp too much warning. Apprehending a murder suspect is in fact a safety issue, which makes the Rules of Engagement inherent in a health and safety inspection the appropriate ones." He moved on from the new security officer, looking at Locke. "Commander, you're in charge while I'm away. Try not to blow up the station?"

 

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