These things just happen...

Posted on Thu Jun 30th, 2011 @ 5:18am by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant Commander Aral Aix & Lieutenant Xylia Lischka & Lieutenant Xishaal Idrani & Petty Officer 2nd Class Eldon Solus

Mission: Too Close for Comfort...
Location: Various
Timeline: Two hours after 'Planet Fall'

The teams had, after going their own way, managed to meet up once more at the building that had been set aside for them. Unless Nathan had missed something, no one had bothered to go inside. Whether that was a good or bad thing seemed fairly irrelevant at the moment since they had all only just gathered together again. Be it chance or design, Commodore Nathan hadn't even opened his mouth when the Chief of External Affairs rounded a corner and approached the group.

"If you are ready, Commodore, I will take you to the Ministry," the man said flatly and emotionless.

"Hell, we were waiting on you, boy. Was just asking the folks here if they'd seen you lurking around. Schedules and all that..." Nathan rambled on mostly for himself.

"Indeed..." the Archadian remarked dryly and continued back the way he'd come from, this time with a gaggle in tow. The group was taken down the path that Commodore Cowell and Lt. Commander Aix had traveled along to get to their first stop. The two even went so far as to exchange looks for a moment but they otherwise said nothing about their trip. The building they were led to was a rather tall spire-like complex, befitting a seat of power. Unlike most places, the fanfare and ceremony that normally accompanied meetings like the one they were about engage in was surprisingly vacant. The hairs on the back of the old man's neck began to stand up as he took notice of just how nonchalant everyone was being.

"Quite the welcome wagon..." Nathan muttered loud enough for only the people in his group to hear.

Xishaal's antennae began to undulate back and forth as she picked up on the change in the air. Walking over to the commodore she leaned just close enough to whisper in his ear, "...I can stay back on the Phoenix should we need to... be somewhere else rather quickly," she smiled, straightening up to regard the tall building, "Such a tall building...it would be a long way down..."

"I don't mind... hell, go ahead and toddle off. I'll make up an excuse... cramps or something. Keep a combadge open though... Shrek's... monitor his. If we get in some shit, beam us out. That's a good girl," Nathan nodded in agreement.

Aral felt into step with the Ensign Schenk. "I've seen happier people at a Vulcan funeral. Did you see anything earlier?"

Xylia hung toward the back of the group, keeping her eyes on the Archadian who came to take them to the Ministry. Something about this just wasn't sitting well with the woman, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe it was the new faces she had yet to acquaint herself with, or perhaps it was the fact that she was on unfamiliar territory. She was betting on both, but the latter stuck out like a sore thumb. Things could go from good to horribly bad at the drop of a hat, and at least she could say she was prepared for it. There was on thing she was sure of, though. Things would be interesting.

After the rather mundane 'tour' of the city that only showed that high society never even seemed to notice that things had gone wrong, Marc could only surmise that maybe these people had simply 'gotten it right' unlike so many other species. He didn't know what 'right' was in this case, but he knew that something had to be wrong. You didn't just work out a version of bliss by dropping contact with your main protector. When Commander Aix stepped up beside of him, it took the Ensign a minute to realize that he was being talking to. "Eh? Oh. No. Not anything useful. How about you?"

"Enough to suggest we should be careful." Aral gestured discreetly towards the alien walking ahead and hoped Schenk would pick up the hint that he'd tell all later. The party continued walking until they were halted at the entrance to an imposing building.

Marc nodded, already on the look-out; as for the functionary who led them into the building, Marc suspected that the 'fun' had been taken out of him some years before and there was no danger in that direction. In this instance, it seemed that the lack of danger only indicated more danger, though. "Always."

Commodore Cowell and the rest of the group, now missing their Operations Chief, headed to the large reception area where the First Minister was waiting for them. The Archadian woman was reclined in her chair and made no effort to get up. Nathan could respect that, it was her planet. He'd have had the same apathy for visitors on his ship... and hell, often did have that very same apathy for them. Being a master of one's domain normally came with that privilege, and who was the old man to take that away from anyone?

"So, Commodore, what brings the Federation here? It was only yesterday that I spoke with one of your representatives about a trade contract we wished to renegotiate. Don't tell me you found it so important that a personal visit was warranted," Kala'Shen began.

Already Nathan wasn't liking where this was going...

"I'm sorry, I'm getting a bit on the old and forgetful side... which trade agreement are we talking about?" the Commodore inquired in the usual feign to be old and stupid way that got him everywhere with people who didn't know better.

"Of course... Sela'Nen, would you kindly recount the contract in question?" the First Minister turned to her Trade Commissioner. The woman stood respectfully to her full height, and other than the fact that she might have rivaled most body builders back in the day in terms of physical prowess, she was rather a lovely young woman, at least to Nathan's estimation.

"The contract we wish to discuss is one dealing with the mineral rights to our dilithium deposits in our asteroid field. Mining operations have hit a bit of a stall with recent shortages in supplies thanks to poor harvests. We would like to petition the Federation under the guidelines of the Protectorate treaty with you to send us food stocks to help offset our poor agricultural season," the Trade Commissioner recounted.

"Oh, is that all? Yeah, I'll relay that back to higher headquarters and we'll have them ship you over more food than you'll know what to do with," Nathan said dismissively, "Anything else on the agenda I need to know about? I don't know who you're going through, but they give one hell of a shitty pass-down..."

Kala'Shen smiled slightly, "It would seem so, if they pulled someone so far up their own chain to meet with me about such things. I believe the man's name was... Sean... or Sven... no... that isn't right..."

"Lynch," the Minister of Military Affairs piped up, "Though I'm not sure if that was his first or last name..."

"I see..." Nathan said casually, "Are you sure about that?"

"No... but that is as close as I can recall. Human names are rather peculiar," the woman who had offered up the name remarked.

"Well... I will have to hunt this Lynch person down when I get home... Any other matters we need to be made aware of?" Nathan commented nonchalantly.

"Nothing so pressing I can't forward it to the usual contacts. If you wish, you are welcome to stay here as our guests for a while, get a feel for our people and our planet. I'm sure you will find everyone most hospitable," Kala'Shen offered.

"I think we'll do that..." Nathan said, motioning for everyone to retreat the way they had come in. No one on their way out seemed at all bothered by their brief visit, and fewer still gave them much more than a passing glance. Everything was just... off... Once outside, Nathan herded the group away from the area and into a small cafe that had a nice vantage of the Ministry building without being near it or any idle ears.

"So, does anyone else get that funny feeling that we've just been bamboozled?" Nathan asked when everyone was seated.

"It's obvious." Replied Aix, "But I wonder who the First Minister was referring to when she mentioned the usual contacts; they seem to struggle to tell us, well humans, apart - could they be now dealing with an imposter of some sorts?" Aral's mind had been whirring since the Commodore had enlightened him as to what lurked in the shadows, if Section 31 were here they would certainly be able to pull off a switcheroo. "I wonder if we should pay these usual contacts a visit."

"I second that," Marc said after making a few notes in his PADD. "It seems to me that someone is trying to take the Archadian System away from the Federation and from within the Federation. Who would have the reason and motive to do such a thing?" He looked at the Science officer. "Lieutenant Commander Aix... what do you think about getting samples of their harvest regions to determine why a bad harvest would occur enough to make them rely on an alternate source?

"It's worth a try..." began Aral, his fingers forming into a steeple on his lap as he spoke, "we'd need samples from several sites and probably Science Lab Two on the Arizona. Even then, we'd be looking for a needle in a haystack given how little we know about this planet's ecosystem and level of biodiversity. Do we have enough time for that Commodore?"

Commodore Cowell frowned, "That can wait for the Arizona to arrive. What we need to do right now is figure out a..."

A loud thunder filled the air, followed swiftly by the ground beneath their feet heaving upward as if it had been pulled suddenly by some unseen hands. A second clap of what might have been thunder... and then another filled the air and drew the team's attention to the building they'd just come from. Explosions began to cascade upward, rending the material from its place, scattering it to the four winds only to have it rain down on frozen onlookers. Nathan counted seven separate explosions before he couldn't distinguish them anymore. In the span of maybe thirty seconds, the building was reduced to little more than a shell, the streets flooded with injured and debris.

"Fucking hell..." Nathan breathed in shock before it dawned on him that they were smack dab in the middle of it, "Get your shit and move your asses!"

The Commodore slapped his combadge as he herded everyone out of the cafe, "Cowell to Idrani, get your blue ass over here and beam us the fuck off this rock!"

The silence that greeted Nathan produced a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Had she already been captured? And who would have done it so quickly? Something was really rotten in Bismarck...

"Change of plans, Aix, get us back to the Shala Quadrant, maybe we can hide out there..." Nathan demanded after plan A had been foiled.

Aral, running to keep up with the spritely Commodore, whipped his tricorder out, thumping a couple of commands with his shaking thumb. "This way," he pointed up the street, grabbing the wrist of whichever team member was closest. The team set off following the Trill at pace. Aral looked up, checking for incoming debris; the sky that moments earlier had been an uninterrupted sheet of infinite cerulean was now darkened by expanding plumes of black. The team ran on for a couple of minutes, dodging incoming bricks, stones and bits of furniture, Aix leading them around a couple of corners. The ramshackle serenity of Shala Quadrant was now in sight.

As Aral approached it, he turned back to check on the team and once more survey the sky. It was then that he was cut down in mid step. He hit the deck and only saw blackness. As he came around the first thing he saw was a jackboot drive itself into his abdomen. He groaned in pain as his eyes welled up with tears. A calm but sneering voice then spoke, "Offworlders, you are under arrest on suspicion of terrorism and related charges." Aral, recovering from his blow to the abdomen, was able to twist around, his crew mates had each been accosted by one or more female police officers. The women were at least 6'6" and dressed in black riot gear, they sported rifles and intimidating looking batons. Ensign Schenk was also on the deck as a female officer stood over him, his head caught between the solid earth and the sole of her massive boot.

"Well... you'll have that..." the Commodore sighed, as if he had been expecting the outcome all along. Out of the group, Nathan was the only one left unmolested... either out of respect or because of his aged appearance. Either way, regardless of how injured anyone might have been, resisting arrest was futile...