Intruder Alert
Posted on 18 Feb 2024 @ 8:00am by Aiden Dhow & Brek - Timeless Treasures Art Gallery
Mission:
M4 - Falling Out
Location: Kalara City
Timeline: MD05 - 0900
3122 words - 6.2 OF Standard Post Measure
So this was Kalara City... T’Sheng, who for the occasion had donned Loose-fitting linen clothes, observed the dwellings around her. Some were residential, a rare few even displayed a certain refinement that she found pleasing to the eye. Alas too many of them exhibited colourful wares without restriction. Those were owned by merchants who seemed to think that the more they shouted to describe their goods, the more profitable their day would be.
With her marked preference for quiet and calm venues she avoided those crude retailers and stopped by a tranquil store selling jewellery. On closer inspection she discovered that those were not mass-produced items crafted from non-precious materials, and usually put on the market by reckless Ferengi. No, those were beautiful, unique and handcrafted. They possessed a translucent quality and an interesting honey-like colour. The merchant, a young man wearing dark red clothes, had a talent for appearing both focused on a PaDD whilst at the same he never missed any of her moves.
She was about to ask him the price of a bee-shaped brooch, when she noticed, not far from where she stood, a familiar figure: The rather mysterious Lt Cmdr Van Der Laar from Starfleet Intelligence, who had had the audacity to leave Admiral Harshman's group the previous day. Why would he be here, on Obsidian? Or, perhaps, more to the point, how many hidden agendas might an intel officer have?
She abandoned the store and approached the officer. “It is curious that we should meet here,” she remarqued, as austere as ever, her voice a mere whisper. “It feels like we both had the same idea, and thought that Obsidian Planet might afford us the leisure of a quiet evening in an exotic setting. It is certainly far superior to a holodeck program.”
Stifling his immediate reaction to startle, Oly adopted a comfortable half-smile as he addressed the Vulcan woman. “I always found deck programs a touch too stifling for casual purposes. If you’re on a ship with no other recourse, that’s fine. But this …” he waved a hand around them. “They can’t properly replicate this in any form.”
“You are not wrong. Nothing can replace a real site. Here, for instance, there is so much...” One of her eyebrows shot up. There were many details that displeased her. The incessant noise all around them, but also the apparent idleness of the population, the lack of order. “... diversity in this town. Are you here to explore historical sites and architectural wonders? If so, I would not mind accompanying you.”
Oly was torn between just walking away and entertaining her offer. He had spent much of the previous night going over his notes to try and find some form of cohesion between what he thought he knew and what was actually going on around him. He knew the woman reported to Harshman, and anything he told her could just as likely pass through the Diplomatic Admiral to Sharpton, but something about T’Sheng tugged at Oly, suggesting just maybe he could find an ally in the Vulcan woman if he played his cards right. “We can walk if you’d like. I suppose you could say I came down here to clear my head and get a better angle of thought on some pressing matters.”
“The same pressing matters that pushed you to leave Admiral Harshman’s discussion group?” She remarked with a slight smile, figuring that the Cmdr had little to no appetite for diplomatic consultations. “Do not worry, I’m not on duty, and what happens on my down time remains there. Besides, I’m here to attempt what may prove unattainable for me: to relax for a few hours. So... Where should we go? Are you familiar with this town?”
“I’d like to be, honestly. I love the atmosphere down here.” Oly started down the street, adjusting the hood of his burnoose as they moved along. “As to my reasons … No offense to you or the Admiral, but my presence there was supposed to be a vehicle to get me into the field for a mission here on the planet, but there has been some … I suppose you could say conflict of interest among the department that I’m trying to work my head around.” He exhaled, head shaking even as his eyes combed the periphery around them.
T’Sheng followed the LCDR with a sense of curiosity, which she defended as a healthy eagerness for knowledge. This had nothing to do with vile nosiness. She was genuinely intrigued by the Human’s secretive attitude. “There is a lack of integrity among your colleagues. Is this what you are saying?"
Oly pursed his lips in thought at the question. “Intel operates along a variety of shades. Gray is the most typical - it doesn’t pay to approach any problem directly and expect results. That said, not everyone feels the need to adhere all that close to Federation ideals. They’ll take the mark in any way they see fit and call it a win.”
"True. Even in diplomacy, one can find darkness. So I suspect you are trying to figure an ingenious way to stop this conflict of interest that you have noticed. The best way to achieve this would be to...” She stopped, hit by a sudden realisation. “Do you figure you might be in danger? I have never been in danger,” she revealed, only vaguely aware that her words were incongruous.
He regarded her in mild curiosity. “It’s part of the job description, Commander. As to the Admiral; I know you take your duty to your calling and your command to heart, but what if someone suggested to you that Harshman might not be following that same calling? I’m not saying she’s anything but legit, but … if you found out she might be doing something wrong, would you be able to speak out against her?”
The Vulcan woman almost came to a halt. “You are talking of something that cannot be. It is impossible for Admiral Harshman to be misguided. Her integrity is irreproachable. Due to this I will never find myself wondering whether I ought to speak against her.” She made a slight pause, giving herself the time to consider Van Der Laar’s question further. “However, should I find a corrupt officer, I would of course expose them. If I may be so bold, in this conflict of interest that you mentioned, who are your suspects?”
Oly truly hoped she was never proven wrong; Harshman seemed too self-absorbed to cash in on an easy deal, but she also was the sort who could easily be taken in by the right persuasion. Play just right into her self-proclaimed integrity … “Too far up the food chain for me to be making accusations without the right proof.” He offered. “I had a good lead once, but the mission went sideways and …” Oly’s brow furrowed at a remembered pain. It wasn’t as sharp now as it had been a few years ago, though it did flare up from time to time, among with other quirks. He exhaled, meaning to add more when a device on his belt began pulsing. “What?”
“Have you received important news?” T’Sheng asked, matter-of-factly. Within the Fleet, sudden developments in the form of new instructions or documents were a common and positive occurrence. She always looked forward to those as they were a great way to curb boredom.
Reaching down to grab the transponder, Oly swore under his breath. “Someone’s breaking in to my place.”
T’Sheng’s mind tried to get a picture of the situation. It looked like the door had not been secured properly. From this fact, she assumed that there would be no camera at this place, or if there were, they would be disabled. There was also the possibility that, being with Intel, this intrusion had been allowed, to encourage his opponents to take action. Only Van Der Laar’s reaction said differently. He looked genuinely shocked. “Your place? In this city? Should we not go there and catch the intruders before it is too late?”
Oly seemed frozen in the moment, only to shake himself at her question. He was already setting a rapid pace, just shy of outright jogging, before calling out over his shoulder. “You should stay here.” He had the feeling he would be too late anyway, but if someone had managed to get past the security net he erected over his rented door, then they would likely prove a threat to someone outside of his realm.
T’Sheng followed the intel officer and caught up with him in no time. “I do not think this is a good idea. Let me at least accompany you to your lodgings. I may be able to notice things that might escape your attention. For, although I do not have your skills, very little can escape the vigilance of a Vulcan.”
He didn’t register what she said, focused on arriving to his lodgings as quickly as possible even as the crowd buffeted him from the wrong direction. Something about the sensor pinged his memory, but Oly couldn’t put it to anything sensible as he rounded the corner and came upon Faruz’s shop. The proprietor was no where in sight, but his shop door was open and customers shifting in and out. Shifting past them, Oly rounded the corner, aiming for the enclosed stair leading down to the apartment. He missed the shifting of light seconds before a body barreled into him, knocking him back and to the ground before disappearing into the crowd.
T’Sheng, who firmly believed that being stubborn was one of her greatest assets, followed the intel officer. At first it was an easy enough task, aided by the fact that Van Der Laar was quite tall and so easy to trace. However the crowd - a sea of faces, mostly characterised by annoyance - worked against her, seemingly making sure that whatever progress she made, it was insignificant. She considered raising her voice to make demands, but the cacophony around her was so intense, people coughing, chatting, shouting, that her efforts would have been futile.
When she saw what appeared to be Oly’s lodgings, she was more than a little flustered. She had noticed a rather heavy silhouette running away from the lodging, but she was unable to stop them. Pure incompetence. This is what she had displayed.
“What happened?” She asked when, upon approaching the lodgings, she found Oly on the ground.
Oly had managed to drag himself upright to lean against the side of the building. His chest spasmed, struggling to drag in air past a burning pain in his ribs. The impact had not been enough to break bone, he was sure, but he would not be surprised to find bruises come tomorrow. He glanced up as T'Sheng approached, grimacing as he realized the woman had outright ignored him. Oh well; she did not seem harmed, so perchance she had missed whatever force had bowled him over. "Help me up," he rasped, sticking up a hand in her direction.
T’Sheng hesitated only a fraction of a second and then she helped him. Wouldn’t it be wiser to call O.C. and ask them to send a nurse? Looking at Van Der Laar, though, she felt sure he would find her action unnecessary and most certainly overly dramatic. Humans...
"I didn't catch his face." Disregarding her question, Oly grabbed the proffered hand and used it as a fulcrum as he pushed up off of the wall behind him. "I need to get down and see what he found." He knew there hadn't been much time, minutes at most, but it was still enough time to do damage if one was of a mind to do so.
“I couldn't see his face either. Do you keep valuable items in your room?” She asked, her tone rather disapproving. “This is not what I could call wise."
He swayed slightly, his equilibrium protesting the recent attack, but Oly bit the inside of his cheek to quell the groan as he shook his head. “Define valuable.” Turning carefully, Oly started for the stone passage leading down to his temporary quarters. “Besides, if it’s who I think, he’ll make what he wants of whatever he finds.”
"Well, we now know that your enemies are very close. Are you sure you don’t need medical attention?”
He probably did, but right now Oly didn’t know who to trust. The simple fact that T’Sheng had been present and as taken aback as he was her sole redeeming factor for the time being. A thought came to mind as he staggered slightly at the base, leaning on the wall as he checked the door for traps. It was slightly ajar, swinging on the hinges as one would after being thrown abruptly open. All the same, he gently pushed it open, leaning back as far as he could manage and then checking the ground again before stepping inside.
“Do you expect more.... trouble?” the Vulcan woman whispered, remaining prudently behind the intel officer. What sort of world did he live in? His precautions gave the impression that his enemies wanted to do away with him. In her own world, at best - or worst - depending on your point of view, you destroyed your opponent’s career. This infallibly brought hours of contentment: the satisfaction of a good job well done.
“It’s safe,” he assured her. “But … just don’t step inside too fast. He didn’t have time to Jerry-rig something for the door, but he could have brought something with him.” Inside the room had been liberally tossed. The sheets were slashed and torn asunder, boxes thrown on the ground with contents spilled across the brushed sand. “Well, crap.”
“Oh, you can be assured of one thing: I never go too fast.” T’Sheng said as she followed Oly, step by step. This was meant more as a warning than a simple banter. She had more in store, but the view in front of her silenced her. The room had been wrecked. Whoever had been here had searched, thoroughly but without method, for ‘something’. Not what one would call a discreet operation. She glanced at the intel officer. “You have serious enemies. Perhaps you want to check if your intruder found what he wanted? If you prefer, I’ll wait by the door, to give you some privacy.”
“It’s fine,” Oly made his way over to the bed and sat down on the edge. “I just need to think.” He ran a hand through his hair, wincing as his fingers ran over the abrasion at the crown. The damage was focused predominately around the console area he had set up. While the bed was worked over, it was more cosmetic than any effort to genuinely search for anything. Leaning forward, Oly braced an arm across his knees before reaching under the ledge to recover the slim data-strip he’d stashed there. As he had hoped, it was resting just where he anticipated. “Th’ good news is I think I know who did this. ‘Course … that means I’m more or less on my own until I figure this out.”
T’Sheng contemplated Oly for a few seconds. He was injured, this much was certain. He refused to admit it, of course. Logic was often difficult to maintain when problems arose. She was not immune to that sort of behaviour either. “Your opponent was not clever enough to outsmart you, I see. This is excellent."
“Let’s say he’s operating from an outdated resource base.” Granted, even had the slip been taken, Oly doubted it would have made much sense to the thief.
"You are not alone, though, since I’m here. Perhaps that I could be of assistance? It is after all unlikely that whoever did this to your room is familiar with my face. If you really know who did this, maybe I should observe them for a while, and report back to you?”
She stood there, looking, impassive, at Oly. Despite what she had seen so far, after the laborious diplomatic conferences on the Station, she needed a change of pace.
“That …” Oly grimaced as he pushed himself back up to standing. “I’m afraid that would be asking you to do too much, Commander. For one, I don’t want to see you get hurt. This … “ Bruised ribs protested the motion and his head spun lightly. “He knew I was coming, and was focused more on vacating the spot than actually trying to hurt me. For another, you stick out like a sore thumb around here with that pale skin and those ears.”
There was a flicker of surprise in T’Sheng’s eyes. “Yes, I suppose that I do stand out. Would it be important for your mission to find out who this intruder was? He may have left fingerprints or footprints behind. Unless you think that this intrusion was perpetrated by an underling of no significance? If it so, I suggest you see a physician. You are in no state to go running after foes.”
“If I go to medical, he’ll know for sure it was me he hit up. Better to keep him guessing.” He didn’t know how to explain that dusting for fingerprints would be a waste; how did you convince a logical being that the individual in question was not wearing his own skin? “Besides, he most likely had gloves on. I think the best thing now is to follow up on my own lead and see if he’s sniffing around the same area.” Of course, that was providing his lead was any good; Oly needed a new console to work from, what with the unit destroyed beyond repair. Something that wouldn’t immediately flag Intel the moment he logged in.
“Indeed, it would have been illogical not to wear gloves,” T’Sheng agreed as she pondered over what it meant to be an intelligence officer. It seemed to impose a life where one had to second-guess everything. A life where one was forever in the shadow, trying to collect information, misinform the enemy and, hopefully, keep a solid moral compass. It was, truly, fascinating: so much like diplomacy and yet so different.
“How do you feel about joining me for a tour of the Itonian colony?”
“This is a sound idea. I may query you further about your priorities, though. You have been warned.”
