Tracking Party: Catch Up

Posted on 04 Jun 2021 @ 9:10am by Commander Calliope Zahn & Lieutenant Theodore Winslow

Mission: M2 - Sanctuary
Location: Stardust City, Freecloud
Timeline: BACKSTORY ~four months before the recovery of OC Immediately Following Tracking Party: Background Check
1105 words - 2.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Indigo stayed silent as she drove the hover car through the busy tourist trap that was Stardust City. Even at the time of night it was still really busy with people coming and going through entertainment venues and would be for several more hours. She was listening in detail and taking it all in but her mind was already thinking a few steps ahead trying to think of avenues to assist them.

“So this Messier was on Shore leave on the planet Daucina? Water world, very nice seafood.” Indigo mused going back through the details to make sure she understood. It was almost as great a shoreleave spot as Freecloud… almost.

“That’s right,” Calliope confirmed. “He was living it up, too. His crew mates said he hooked up with a local woman, they only knew her as Brinn. They said she was a waitress, but when we questioned the staff at the place they pointed out, no one there knew anything about her. I guess she gave Messier’s crew mates a pretty bad impression because they tried to tell him he was being played. They just weren’t sure what the game was. He told them off as jealous and they didn’t see each other after that. They reported back for duty at week’s end, but Messier didn’t.” Calliope produced one semi-irresolute photo of the friends, with Messier and ‘Brinn’ in the background. She waited for a moment where Indigo had to slow down at an intersection and handed her the print. “That’s the only image they had of her.”

Brinn had the aquatic features of the Daucinians and not much more clothes than a mermaid. She was sporting a trail of tattoos up the sides of her shapely legs.

“The place of Brinn’s supposed work has been under some investigation for some suspected Syndicate activity. Daunica’s investigation services has it under surveillance. They placed him there coinciding with some energy readings that they think might have been a concealed transporter beam. He very well may have witnessed something, because he came out a side door looking shaken. The agency picked Messier up, but shortly after calling up Starfleet and starting to process him, he vanished right out of their custody.”

“Your boy seems resourceful to say the least to just escape custody.” Indigo wanted to ask what department he was but that could be a question for later. It would be bad form to comment on how someone just escaped custody from one planet protection agency to another.

“My suspicion is corruption inside the Daucinian Investigation Agency. Someone on the inside may have tried to make him disappear. But that’s above my paygrade at the moment. In any case, Messier beat the odds, maybe had some help, and ended up in the spaceport. He was last sighted by security sensors, near a board listing flight times for Freecloud destinations.”

“No agency is incorruptible. Credits talk for a certain type of person.” Indigo commented with a small sigh. Not the Watchdog nor Starfleet. It was a sad fact but one that she would dwell on that fact. “Freecloud is a good place to hide. We do not ask many questions and accept everyone on merit. So what brought you here if that was your last sighting?” The blue haired woman wondered as she turned left into a quiet road.

“We pulled fleet resources to sift through registered passengers on all those flights and didn’t turn up with anything on Messier. That would have been too easy. He found some way to board undetected, or got an unlisted flight. Either way, we figured he’d be on Freecloud, anyway. And if we traced him here, it’s only a matter of time before this suspected Syndicate branch gets to him.”

“Pretty easy to get a flight here unlisted. He looks like the type to make someone feel sorry for them.” Indigo could not help but feel sorry for the man herself as they pulled over. She turned in the seat to take in all three of them to gauge them all. “And the Reman?”

Ryder rolled his eyes. He felt a little crowded in the back with the Security officer who was spreading his limbs out loosely and leaning his head back to nap. Bear could catch a power nap just about anywhere. “That was not my idea,” Ryder said, resettling a satchel serving as his undercover med kit. “A stretch at best.”

Indigo chuckled just a little at the man’s demeanour. It felt like he was the worn out parent trying to keep his kids on the right track. Failing miserably but good attempts so far.

“Hey, I never said it was a *good* lead." calliope defended. "She just had some loose connections to a suspected Daucinian crime family and she’s rumored to have helped start an underground from Romulan space into unclaimed territories out here in the Alpha Quadrant. It was a stretch but my hunch was maybe she’s using something about her performances to signal escape movements, which may or may not correspond to where Messier is at, if he is getting help.”

“There, over there,” Doctor Ryder extended an arm between the two women to motion ahead of them. “That was the location of the last *solid* lead we had.”

Indigo raised an eyebrow at the mention of the romulan underground. That something that she really could help with seeing she ran some of it, that was the most promising thing that had been said so far. “Wake up sleeping beauty. I’ll treat you to noodles.” She muttered, already getting out of the car.

Bear snorted and scratched his belly. “Could go for some noodles,” he said in agreement, stretching as he poured out of the car door, the doctor sliding out behind him. “Wait. We were here before, no? This is where crewman try buying noodles with Daucinian casino chips for money, no?”

“Yeah, same place,” Calliope confirmed. “We had some vague reports about our guy that ended up here. But that was our last successful find.”

“Everyone wants something right?” Indigo asked, hinting that they did want it as she spoke and started towards the noodles stand. As she moved she undone her hair from the knot and pulled her dress down a little to attempt something that never failed to work for her.

“Whoa whoa,” Bear said, half shielding his face in mocking deference to modesty, “Zahnie, do noodles mean something different on Freecloud?”

Calliope shrugged. “I guess we’re about to find out.”