<USS Avalon> "Intelligence" by Ensign Cate
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 29 May 2004 21:00:13 -0700 (PDT)
"Intelligence"
Written by Ensign Cate
Lyryn and James quietly followed the Intelligence officers to their awaiting
craft. The officers walked quickly and vigilantly, seeming to be quite rushed
to take their charges somewhere safe. Lyryn and James both knew better than to
speak. They, instead, listened to snippets of conversations passing between
the officers and others unseen on their communication devices.
"Sector Four, yes."
"Diverting."
"Copy that. Tal Shair spotted."
James looked around wide-eyed, but spotted Lyryn sitting as calmly as ever and
took a measure of strength from her. It seemed as though they were seated in
the craft for a very tense few hours, but in reality only one had passed
according to James' wrist chronometer. He glanced at Lyryn to communicate the
time and she had her eyes closed! James knew she wasn't asleep, of course,
being always alert and ever defensive, but she could at least keep her eyes
open to know where they were! The woman was an enigma to him.
The craft stopped abruptly and James and Lyryn were quickly ushered into a very
non-descript building. No commemorative landmarks could be seen in such a
short jaunt to the door. Their "captors" still had not spoken to them.
Led through a labyrinth of doors and corridoors, James was effectively lost.
Lyryn knew exactly how to evacuate the building. And where their security was
lacking or easily bypassed. They were seated in a barren room, save a table
and chairs, and left alone. Still no one spoke.
Typical interrogation type room, thought James.
Wonder why they want us to feel uncomfortable, Lyryn thought.
It was not long before a tall silvered hair man entered the room. The luster
of his hair contrasted nicely with his chocolate brown skin and made him look
very distinguished. He carried himself with years of confidence gained. And
he smiled.
"Ms. Cate, Mr. Maturin, I do apologise for the discourtesy of interuppting your
dinner. Please allow me to explain." With a nod from Cate and Maturin, he
continued, "First off, my name is Admiral Mordecai Pew. I was just recently
briefed upon your...shall we say, situation. I want you first and foremost to
understand that Starfleet poses no threat to the two of you and we'd like you
to think of yourselves as guests and not prisoners, despite your haphazard
arrival. You see, we have a mole amongst us."
At this Lyryn raised her eyebrows with a deliberate question. Before she could
speak however, Admiral Pew, continued, "I know, I know," he smiled, "why am I
telling you this?" He paused to give Lyryn a chance to nod again. "Because I
want you to understand a) the situation we're in, the fact that b) we're trying
to help you, and c) if things go as I plan, you won't remember this
conversation at all."
"Now just a moment, please," James began, but Lyryn silenced him with the soft
placement of her hand atop his. She nodded at the Admiral once more to
continue.
"Thank you, Lt. I mean, Ms. Cate. I'm sorry, most of your records have you
recorded as Lt."
"I know. I still think of myself as Lt., so of course when I told Skyler all
about my service records and such...well, you know."
Admiral Pew smiled. He was glad this girl understood where he was coming from.
He recognised a professional when he saw it and knew that she had a very
promising career in front of her...perhaps as Intell as well.
"We have recently discovered the identity of our spy, but it was not in time to
keep the information about the two of you from leaking to the Tal Shair and
several other non-reputable groups. We were, of course, shadowing you today,
as were two Tal Shair agents. Their movements were becoming a bit more
threatening and we had reason to believe that they would act in a violent way
against you and your company."
"Two Romulans, one taller than the other, both had the same mark upon their
necks."
Blinking in surprise, the Admiral had a hard time finding his voice, "Very
astute, Ms.Cate. You knew they were there?"
"They were outside the restaurant - each side street corner. And I believe
that they had comrades I had yet to see, for they signaled, but not to each
other."
James just looked at her, disbelievingly. He knew that she was quick and
missed very little, but...
"Why didn't you say something?" James sputtered out.
"What good would it have done? I didn't know they were particularly a threat.
I kept my eye on them. They could've been Starfleet Intelligence for all I
knew." Then turning to the Admiral she commented, "Your Agents are highly
efficient, by the way. It was well into the afternoon before I knew they were
following me. At first I was stunned by how much attention they drew to us in
the restaurant, but after assessing the situation, I can understand now why
they moved when they did."
"Why?" James queried.
"Because it's a lot harder for the Tal Shair to make a move when there are a
lot of witnesses and if they had waited any longer, the Romulans may have dared
to harm us. Though I'd suspect they'd want us alive, they'd have no qualms for
hurting Skyler or Mehdi."
"You are most correct, Ms.Cate. I am delightfully impressed with your logic
and rationale," the Admiral complimented.
"Thank you, Admiral. I must warn you though, to re-check your security in the
third corridoor green zone. There is a cut wire to one of your security
cameras."
It was both the gentlemen's turn to be surprised. Lyryn just shrugged.
"I don't know how I do it. It's like it just screams at me 'something's wrong'
and then I have to figure it out. That's all I can tell you." She sighed.
"It has been a long day for the both of you. I shall send a message to Captain
Flubb informing him of your whereabouts. In the meantime, you shall be led to
comfortable quarters for the evening and we will talk more tomorrow."
"Captain Flubb?" Lyryn and James questioned in unison.
"What happened to Captain Ketchum?" James inquired.
"Promotion," was all the Admiral said before the door swished closed behind him.
Lyryn and James looked at each other. "Flubb?" they asked.
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