Information for 500 Please Alex

Posted on Mon Mar 28th, 2011 @ 4:28pm by Lieutenant Colonel Anastasia DeVries & Lieutenant Commander Aiden Roberts (KIA)

Mission: Renegades
Location: Operations Hub - Arizona
Timeline: Following 'Meeting of the Minds'

Having concluded her business with the Captain in regards to the sudden appearance of the Section 31 agents Stace turned her attention back to her previous investigation concerning the mysterious raids being conducted within the Gavarian Corridor. There were a number of things about the situation that bothered her and she was hoping Play Boy would be able to aid her. Aider Aiden. It almost had a nice ring to it.

Tracking him down in the operations department Stace sauntered pass the other individuals in the room and halted just short of the console he was manning. "Lieutenant," she quipped. "Have you had time to browse the reports I forwarded?"

"Actually Major, I have some questions first..." Deliberately avoiding the question, Aiden crooked his head to the side motioning towards his rarely used office. He signed off his console, where moments before he was approving departmental requisitions for supplies. The Old Man's 'off the beaten path' pep talk earlier in the staff meeting seemed to have spurred a sense of urgency amongst his peers. Everyone wanted something either replicated or put on order before their next stop on the highway to nowhere.

The Lieutenant walked into the office and moved behind the desk. Instead of sitting down, he instead leaned casually on the wall behind it, his hand on the panel waiting to close the door.

"And just what type of questions might you have?" Stace inquired as she followed behind him into the room.

"Well, maybe just one question in particular. I was wondering why such reports would find their way across my desk and I guess I just wanna know who let the Ktarian out of the bag, Major.." Aiden said coolly just after the doors shut.

The Major cocked her head to the side and eyed him curiously. "I apologize if my intentions were not clear. After reviewing your service record I felt you were the best suitable option for aiding me in researching the mishaps going on within this area of space. Considering most of these incidents include some sort of theft I thought with your supply background you might be able to help pin point just what type of cargo they might have been carrying."

"God we need to play poker together sometime, Major." Aiden chuckled to himself, knowing a bluff when heard one. "Don't try and bull shit an expert bull shitter.."

Stace felt her eyebrow twitch almost instantly at the comment and crossed her arms against her chest. "As much as I'm sure you enjoy shit of all kinds... I'm afraid to disappoint you by saying that was and is my intention. The Captain is expecting us to come up with some results and if you feel you aren't up for the task then I will simply find somebody else. How's that?"

"Fine. Go. I'll just take my findings on the Ninth Order's unusual border activities and go home..." He said as he once again pressed the panel on his desk, opening the office door.

The Major snickered a bit at the mention of those idiotic Cardassians. "Interesting... considering my findings indicate more of a threat along Romulan territory. Shall we toss a coin then?"

"Play ball with me Major, and I'll be more than happy to share..I'm sure there is some truth in both our findings..." Aiden didn't like people digging into his past - plain and simple. It wasn't so much that someone cracked his fairly nonchalant 'I don't give a damn' act. Aiden enjoyed playing dumb, and sometimes he wasn't really playing to be honest. But he was curious as to why the Major would come to him with a problem outside of his field.

Taking a moment to mull his words over Stace eventually crossed the short distance between them. "I'm all for playing ball Lieutenant. It was the reason I recruited you to this little project in the first place. You make it seem as if I have you lined up for the firing squad."

His patience running a little more thin than usual, Aiden jammed his finger back down on the door panel. "Fuck it, I was warned about you and for once not in it for the mind games, your gender has given me too many migraines lately and I'm not even interested in you..." Paused, realizing he should consider using some bit of decorum. ".. Ma'am."

"You flatter yourself Lieutenant. You may have some of these women running around this ship like a dog in heat but I am hardly one of them. Furthermore if someone did happen to warn you about me then perhaps they were right in doing so. I see I was mistaken in assuming you had more to offer than what you already are," Stace retorted sharply as closed in on his desk. "Your intelligence and your record spoke volumes and I was willing to go to bat for you on that... and instead this is what I get?"

"Eh, maybe I enjoy just coasting by..." Aiden started, not really in the mood for a debate. He finally sat down at the desk, pressing the point between his eyes at the top of his nose. "The Cardassians have been reported to be extremely active outside of their borders. Missing cargo ships and haulers traveling alone seem to be concentrated in areas where the Ninth Order has been the busiest. Any damaged vessel or remains of those that Starfleet has been lucky enough to locate due to the sensor interference in this area show traces of weapons fire consistent with weapons most commonly found of Keldon-Class warships. However, my source, who conveniently happens to be in the area along the border of Cardassian space, hasn't detected a single ship to have crossed past their red line. And that is what you get, so ease up off my back while I enjoy flying under the sensor grid."

The Lieutenant settled back in his chair, opening his eyes to meet those of the woman across from him. "It's the missing ships you don't seem to hear about that worries me. Someone is out there crying wolf about the Cardassians who conveniently are still licking their wounds from picking the wrong side - again. So Major, who and why would someone wanna point fingers and bring attention of a region of space that is in the middle of nowhere?"

"Leverage," the woman explained with a thoughtful look. "We both know the Cardassion Union is hardly the empire it was once... they're constantly struggling for power even within their own territories. On the flip side we have the Romulans who haven't been the same since Shinzon went ballistic. Who, at this point, is the more desperate of the two? I'm not so sure."

"For once since you walked in and ruined my day Major, we agree. Riddle me this, when you go and blow something out of space would you not expect to find tiny fragments of debris floating in the area?" Aiden questioned, rhetorically nonetheless.

Stace struggled not to allow her eyes to roll into the back of her head. "Depends on how big my gun is. With enough fire power it's safe to assume any potential debris could be vaporized but in order to have that type of weaponry in this area of space would take a great amount of pull and a lot of latinum."

"My thoughts exactly. My friend had a chance to recover one of the destroyed vessels reported missing a few weeks back. His route of patrol isn't exactly officially filed, so when he noticed a ship adrift that wasn't there hours before, without detecting a distress call or any noticeable weapons residuals he was mildly skeptical. Someone's towing this shit away from where they hit them, and then leaving it where we just happen to find it, light years away. Convenient huh? All the goods and spoils of piracy, but foot the cleaning bill to someone else..." Aiden started sifting over his desk for a PADD, one which contained a map of the Corridor. "If I were a betting man, and oh god am I. I would say this little slice of heaven here along the Romulan border would be a lovely place to start a patrol. Absolutely no action there. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero."

The Major nodded her head in agreement. It seemed perfectly logical for the culprits to be disposing of their 'bodies' in locations far enough away to displace the attention. In fact she would almost be upset if they didn't. There was nothing worse than a stupid bad guy. "I have suspicion that once the Arizona crosses into the corridor things could become sketchy at best. These renegades know this area is normally unsupervised and they will not so easily bow down to our authority. Extra precautions will definitely be warranted."

"Oh our arrival is already been well announced. The area is riddled with surveillance drones. They are just hard to spot, again with the interference. We'll be like a predator walking through the forest, and dead quiet will be a warning to all the other small predators. I just hope we're at the top of the food chain. To quote my source, we should do as one of the historical leaders in Earth's history. 'Walk quietly, and carry a big stick..' or something of that nature. Harper always has a weird way of phrasing shit these days.."

Harper. It was a name the Major had not heard in a very long time. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about ol' Jake eh? Ohhh... what a character that young man was. Jake and the Drake. Loved that ship I tell you."

"Said the same about you actually. He's been working with a team in the Corridor for sometime. They've got a converted freighter with a squadron of fighters hidden on board. Anti-piracy operations along the Cardassian boarder. Pity the poor bastards who try and jump that ship..." Aiden stopped for a moment, reminiscing about his past where he served with his old friend and mentor.

"Was there anything else, Major?" Aiden finally said.

Stace shook her head slowly as she eyed him. "I suppose not Lieutenant. I thank you for your assistance... perhaps next time things will go a bit smoother between us. If you come across anything unusual you know where my office is."

And for once there seemed to be peace.