But In Hope, I Breathe
Posted on Tue Aug 6th, 2024 @ 11:32pm by Lieutenant Zharra Neerassi & Staff Warrant Officer Taline Anyx
3,228 words; about a 16 minute read
Mission:
S1E6: Where Skies End
Location: Luna, New Berlin
Timeline: MD 7
It was a dark and stormy night when she finally set foot in Wyndham Court in New Berlin. A middle class side of town, as they'd call it back home. Modernized enough, but with that Old Earth charm that would make rich people nostalgic for the old times.
Most working class people would call it dull and grey, but with damn fine architecture. Perfect to stir the imagination of mystery and intrigue. Otherwise bloody dull...did that make her working class?
There were a lot of temporary lodgings, usually used by Fleeters when serving or visiting the temporary Starfleet HQ, until the one in San Francisco on Earth was rebuilt and brought back into operation. The original colonist designs were under heritage protection so even if they wanted to fully modernize it, they couldn't by law. Not that it seemed like the locals wanted to change anything.
Not even the dirt and grime accumulated through the centuries, giving the buildings an older look than it's true age. She couldn't help but wonder at humans sometime. Even the street lights looked more archaic than they were, the light a dimmed, dulled orange rather than bright, shining yellow.
Number 9, was just ahead and to the left of her. The air was getting cold and thick with fog and wet with rain. Thankfully the latter was not looking like it would get worse.
Breath was visible as she traversed the Court. The fog was beginning to set in, making the place look even more dreadful and mysterious. Dangerous too, which in itself was odd given the nature and purpose of the housing units.
The green skinned woman looked down at the tricorder in her gloved hand. It was a Driaan-type one, rather than the standard Federation edition. It read many life signs in the neighborhood, three Orions at least. Plus her. Three people in the street, including herself.
Zharra kept her slow pace as she continued past number 9, checking her surroundings, checking for eyes, before she veered back to number 9 and entered the premises to do a welfare check. Her other hand carried a ready standard issue TT-426 pistol, one of the most common civilian weapons across the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Non descript and hard to pinpoint ownership.
Just like he'd instructed.
Time to see if the right Orion was home.
"Go away," called out a droll voice in a deadpan tone. "Nobody's home. Not buying and nobody's home."
It was female, that much was certain. Whatever else remained to be seen. The door didn't budge an inch.
Zharra glanced down at the open tricorder in her hand - Orion pureblood it read and Tucanan, interesting. Then she put it away before fishing out her warrant card and flipping it at the direction of the voice and then putting it away again.
"Sorry, love, I'm here on business. What's your name then?" Zharra said in an amiable tone, with a smile. Her other hand relaxed enough to be able to adjust her aim should she need it, but also not flashing the weapon in direct eyesight, so as not to raise any heckles.
"Don't give my name out for free," she called through the door. "Now go away or—"
Suddenly the door opened and a Ferengi energy whip sang out through the empty space. Zharra was snagged around the middle and pulled inside. The door slid closed behind her with a click of the lock.
"I said nobody's buying." The female Orion was about the same height as Zharra but without any of the curves. It made the hands on her hips look almost childlike. "What are you pushing that I don't want to buy?"
The energy whip was held by a bipedal lifeform that resembled an emu. It glared at Zharra with a big, black side eye with a narrow brown iris. When she resisted, it squawked and gave the energy whip a firm tug.
"Did you catch that?" the little Orion asked Zharra with a plain expression that was only betrayed by the twist of a smirk at the corners of her mouth. "Ixsåμ says talk or you sleep wit' da fishes!"
A quick glance of the surroundings showed no sign of disturbance. Also interesting. Then she refocused on the Orion and Tucanan. Clearly she wasn't Laena Cavitts, physical descriptions aside. But was she part of the clean up crew or the wetwork team? Or was she the other one?
Zharra shook her head, "actually I do believe he said 'help, she's making me do this', you see the east Tucanan dialect is very similar to the northern one, an easy confusion. I don't blame you for making this very classic mistake. Our brains have issues making this distinction with avian linguistics." Her own driaanese accent showed clearly as she spoke. "But I have to say, bloody clever idea. Was that enough talk?" She looked between the two, "no? Okay then!"
As she talked the hand that didn't hold the gun, the wrist closed in on itself, the slender fingers reaching the wrist, and a small device attached to it. She pressed the small button and the light of the whip went out and released from around her.
Zhara took a quick step back and around the small table in the living room and trained the gun on the orion woman. "Let's try this again, love. What are you doing in an apartment that doesn't belong to you?"
The other Orion shot a crooked glance at the Tucanan. "Did you say that, Ixsåμ?" After a cluck in reply, she looked back to Zharra. "I don't actually know what the hell he's saying. Just always been a good guesser. But I ask the questions here. Why are you coming into an apartment that isn't yours? Maybe you won't end up crucified in the public square because it's a Federation world, you still might get killed. Do you have a death wish or something?"
"Nah mate, I'm just on a job. Like I showed you before, I'm Fed Sec, I'm on a welfare check." Zharra's eyes narrowed at the woman. The sudden change in countenance suggested that this woman wasn't quite sure why she was here. "You know, you remind me of the Wicked Witch of the West, but then again, I look like one too...maybe I can be the Wicked Witch of the East? Divide and conquer."
If his instructions were correct, if this woman was indeed the other asset, she'd know the counter code word. If not, this one could indeed be the culprit, or the cleanup crew. Either way, Zharra had stumbled onto something.
"There's no place like home," said the other Orion with a dejected tone that bordered on whining. "You can go now." She waved away the Tucanan with her phaser. The confused avian creature gave a final squawk before shuffling out the door that Zharra had entered.
"Master Warrant Taline Anyx, Starfleet Intelligence Special Operations." The name and rank were rattled off by rote in the exact way one would tell a law enforcement officer. As she spoke, she deactivated the energy whip. "What were they thinking sending another Orion? Hard enough to go anywhere without being watched. Two of us together are halfway to a porno, at least in the minds of the perverts I'm usually chasing. Is it too late to send you back and get a new one that's not..." Taline ran her eyes up and down Zharra's curves with obvious disdain for them. "...you?"
Zharra caught the look and grinned, "humans can't tell us apart anyway, we're just looking for our sister, even if she's just a halfie. Have you two found anything?" She pulled out her tricorder and scanned around the room. "She's definitely lived here, but something's off."
"Yeah, this wasn't her actual residence is why," Taline said. "It's registered to her name but it was set up by a pro. The source bounces around a web of subspace comm buoys and even a few listening stations that are technically decommissioned. Somebody went through a fuck ton of effort to make it seem like the principal lived here when it's actually set up as a fallback point." She folded her arms over her chest. "So far the scene is clean. Can't even find evidence she was here at all, so if she was, she didn't stay long."
Zharra nodded, looking at the readouts herself. "Even if she was here temporarily, we'd find DNA traces. I'm reading nothing of human/orion DNA, but not even anything else. Someone's wiped this place clean. Did he tell you anything else? Her routine? Where she worked?"
"She was a cadet at the Academy," Taline said, "which is stupid since the Academy is being rebuilt. Cadets are being given crash courses all over the quadrant while Earth is rebuilt. Wherever she was doing her correspondence courses, it wasn't here. So what gives? Where did she actually go missing?"
Zharra ran a finger along the wall console upper edge. "Nothing..." she thought to herself as she looked at her fingers. "Not even dust." Then she registered Taline's questions, "we need to look at recordings from nearby buildings. See her movements, see if she had any company. Something definitely happened here too..." she showed Taline her fingers, "not a lick of dust. Did he give you the girlfriend's address? Let's see if her place is as 'clean' as this one and we'll compare recordings, see if we can see a pattern."
"Yeah, that one was just a boarding room at a hole in the wall short-term rental facility. There's already a new resident." Taline pulled a PADD out from behind her back where she'd kept it tucked into his waistband and tossed it to Zharra. "I installed a moleworm before coming here though. It should have parsed their camera feed by now."
"Good work, kid." Zharra grinned and tapped a few commands in, letting the holo-image load up for them.
The video feed zoomed in on a young woman of Indian descent curled up inside a disposable sack that appeared to also double as a travel bag. Her petite frame allowed her to utilize it as a bedroll. Without warning, a man beamed inside the dark room and made to grab the young lady. She accessed a hidden phaser and pointed it at his face. A nadion pulse overexposed the night vision filter. When the feed adjusted, the man was on the ground. Two more beamed in next, quickly subduing the woman before she could react. All four were tagged for transporter locks and beamed away with her travel bag in tow, leaving no visible trace behind.
"Looks like the proprietor was a first class pervert," Taline mused aloud as they watched. "This feed is super off the books. At least the bag'n'snatchers didn't know to scrub it."
"Mhm....ooh, what are you up to, sheila!" Zharra's eyes were focused on the bed. "Look here," green hand tapped against the holo-image for a moment and rewound it to the moment of entry of the second pair of men and paused. "Look. She's not firing." Zharra set the image to move at a slow pace, "she's reaching into the bag," a few more images pass, "looks like an iso-chip? And she stuffs it into the bed. Looks like they didn't notice." Zharra added as the recording replayed itself at a slower pace. "You clever girl."
"Well, pickle my dickle, I do think you're right." Taline clicked her tongue in reluctant admiration. "Guess she left behind a trace after all."
"We need to get there ASAP. Did he give you an address?" said the security Orion.
"Chhhyeah," Taline said with a scoff. "Follow the trace. It'll lead us right there."
Zharra nodded. "Alright, let's set up a feed in here first if we can, just in case this place gets another visitor and let's go. I'll tick off an all-clear on the check with base and then get on private-time. Meet you in the corner of Wyndham and High Street in ten."
With that said, the curvier orion turned on her heel and stepped out of the dark apartment and headed downstairs. She stepped outside into the cold and foggy night. Zharra pulled out an earpiece out of her pocket and inserted it into her ear as she stepped across the road.
She then pulled out her tricorder and tapped a few commands. "Agent Neerassi, welfare-check case 5519, Code 4. Neerassi signing off, taking private-time until tomorrow morning, I have enough hours racked up."
Code 4 was a signal that everything was all right, the premises had been checked and subjects confirmed in good condition.
"SSA Neerassi, SSA Feldwyn. Acknowledged. I'll brief you on the morning on the new cases. Feldwyn out." Came a reply into her ear as the communication cut out.
Zharra sighed, hoping that that would be enough time for her and Taline to gather the information needed before people started wondering where she was and sent more Agents to look for her.
By the time Zharra made her way to the second site, Taline was already doing a number on the desk clerk. "Listen up, pal, this ain't no run-of-the-mill gig, see?" She was talking at lightning speed, one hand on her hip, jutting out in an exaggerated manner. "Time is dough and we ain't got dough to burn, capisce? Maybe yous Feds ain't sweatin' the green, but us workin' dames gotta hustle. So, you gonna let me in or what?"
The rental manager saw Zharra coming toward the desk and clenched his jaw. "You with her?" he asked, agitation clear in his voice. The machine gun speech used by Taline was clearly off-putting.
"Yeah, she's one of my girls." Zharra slipped into the play easily. She'd heard some of the conversation as she walked in and assumed the rest. "The punter is upstairs apartment three. She's a sheila who likes our kind, but her family are such clams they don't like their bub liking sheilas, especially not green sheilas. So she goes out of her way to be subtle. I run a discrete business so we try to make it look like a family visit." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a credit chit. "I'm happy to pay for your discretion." She said with a pearly smile, clicking the chit against the counter.
"This would've been smoother if you hadn't said all that," the clerk said, "so I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear a word either of you just said. Get on out of here before anyone sees you. Just try not to leave a mess. I don't need any more trouble."
"Whaddya mean 'more trouble'?" Taline asked, hand on her hip and still in character. "Speak up now, unbutton yer lip, flap the gums, shoot the shit." Leaning forward over the counter, she said, "Teeeeelllll meeeee!"
"Eedera, sweetie, let's take the hint and go visit her." Zharra wrapped one arm around Taline's waist, and the other she placed on her forearm. "We're on the clock, remember?" She loudly whispered in her ear. "He's just doing his job, don't begrudge the poor sod for it. Hmmm?" Zharra said to Taline sweetly.
"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure," Taline said hurriedly as she sauntered away. "Keep the coppers away and I'll blow you later, alright?"
The poor clerk broke eye contact and did his best to pretend they were never there.
"That was fun," Taline said with a deadpan smirk once they were on the next floor. "I should hire an Orion hooker to pay him a visit tomorrow and see if he can tell the difference."
Zharra chuckled, "whatever floats your seraath, ferith." She said as the two went up the stairs. (Whatever floats your boat, sister.)
"So what do you wanna bet she's got something on the door to track who's been in and out?" Taline asked, totally ignoring Zharra's remarks. "This one seems smarter than her friend. A latinum strip in my pocket says we find more than her iso chip."
Zharra nodded as she took out her tricorder and tapped a few commands on it. "There," she pointed to a small crack to the right, above the door. "Body count and DNA scanner? Oh you clever bitch. No wonder he's head over heels for you," the Security Orion commented, before she could herself. Her friend's lover was missing. Kidnapped, potentially or dead. Poor sod. "I'm downloading the data and bypassing the scan so we don't get picked up, we should loop the feed in to a dead drop and keep an eye out if anyone else who's sus comes in after we've had a look eh?" Neerassi looked over at Taline.
"Fine, whatever," Taline said dispassionately. "You owe me a latinum strip." Priorities being what they were, of course. "The bodybaggers were smart enough to beam in and out, but I bet the cleaners afterward were not. Something extra for the analysts to go over." After flipping her tricorder closed with everything installed as necessary, Taline shoved it down her bra. "Think we're done here, moms. I'll send the report up the chain and pass it on to the next sorry sack to get this shit detail."
"He will need a copy. OSI superceeds our CO's on this. I'll send my own copy up as well." Zharra said as she walked in. "Do you not want to see what she shoved under the mattress?" She looked over at Taline, putting her tricorder away, "and don't fuckin' call me moms, bub!"
Taline scoffed. "You didn't grab that already? Pick up the pace, moms. Time is latinum. Speaking of latinum..." She stuck out her palm and waggled her fingers. "Pay up."
Zharra chuckled and extended her arm towards Taline, fist clenched, save for the middle finger which was extended upward. "Now, what else are you hiding under there..." She lifted the mattress and stuck her hand underneath, and pulled out what looked to be a pair of men's underwear. "The shit?"
Not what she expected to find under the mattress. She looked over at Taline then at the pair of underwear in her hand.
"Home girl is either a cross-dresser or gets off on Cal's undies. I don't know which is worse." Zharra chuckled, and then her green fingers felt something solid in the cloth. "Oh here we go..." She opened up the bundle and fished out an iso chip, gingerly, with barely the tips of her fingers touching it. She still didn't trust that that underwear was clean.
"Don't know who Cal is but that's fucking gross," Taline said. She reached into her back pocket and removed an evidence bag with a tamper-proof hermetic seal. "Toss it in there and let's get the hell out of here."
Zharra nodded, casually mentioning Cal's callsign as she put the chip into the tamper-proof bag. "Alright, let's go. We'll check the feeds in a couple of days," She said as she stepped outside.
"I'm passing this on up the chain and forgetting I was ever here," Taline said. "My job is done, so that's how it works." She spared a glance at Zharra. "Good luck, moms."
"You too, kid!" Came Zharra's over the shoulder reply as she too turned and then left the premises afterwards.
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