Season 2 Episode 2: Under Cover and Out of Uniform

[Michael J. Tritter]

[Location: Command Deck, Starbase Columbus]

Tritter had been left in charge of the Columbus, sitting in the Center Chair of the Command Deck. The center chair was obviously designed for a smaller man than he, so it was something he found more than slightly uncomfortable, he didn't show such a thing, but he looked like a whale jammed into a sardine can. He had made a mental note to requisition something more... fitting. The center chair was a position he was slightly unused to at this time. The Captain had taken some personal time, as he needed some after their last mission. He could respect that the man had intense faith and the supernatural occurrences had taken a lot out of them, and they needed to replenish that. The Executive Officer was taking care of the goings on of the Command Deck fairly easily, there was nothing out of the ordinary occurring at this time.

He also had thoughts about his family, his Husband had left for earth and to return to work. He missed them terribly, and he was kind of tired of their separations, but he would make do. Soon enough, such would not be necessary. But he returned his focus to the task at hand. They had received a docking request from a vessel that seemed to raise the Executive Officer's "spidey senses" if you will. He had ordered that the Vessel be placed into holding for Security to investigate and clear the vessel.

He seemed oddly relaxed and comfortable taking over the "Chair" if you will. There were a few blips within some readings and some strange activity, which were ordered to be investigated and taken care of. He was a clear and laser focused leader, who gave directions and they were executed promptly. He was pleased with the crew, they were well trained and did their jobs, even though he seemed like a royal grump, even his features hinted at that. But he had his own ways of indicating his approval of a job properly done.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[CO's Office]

Adeyemi sat at his desk, tapping a PADD, trying to focus. A cup of tea was by his elbow, long cold. He had not been able to move past the current status report for a long while now. The source of his distraction was currently seated at the corner of his desk.

"Pew PEW PEW!" Analyn sang out delightedly. Her long brown hair had fallen into her hazel eyes as she concentrated, mustering all the focus that Adeymei could not. She had seized the collection of starship models he kept on his desk, and was having a mock battle with all of them. So far, the little gold Akira class was her favorite. The little girl made the torpedo gunboat executive a barrel roll and unloaded an imaginary salvo of ordinance at an Excelsior class, apparently destroying it for good, causing it to explode. "PSSSSHHHH!"

"Analyn, I have to do some work, do you think you coul--"

"Macca cheese!" The little girl said in response. In the far corner of the room the replicator obediently swirled a steaming bowl of noodles into existence. Analyn skipped over to it and ate.

Adeyemi sighed, pushed his report away. He simply was not going to get anything done today. The little girl had grown so attached to him that any attempt to extricate himself from her resulted in a meltdown. He could deal with a real toddler meltdown, but one involving a sentient AI was something else entirely.

"Cap'n, macca cheese?" She asked, holding up a spoon oozing with saliva and yellowish cheese.

"No," He said, cringing. Instead, he picked up a Steamrummer class model, made it fly at her face and booped its bow off of Analyn's nose. The little girl squealed in delight and reached for a model of her own.

The door chime sounded, and Adeyemi flung his model down hurriedly.

"Enter."

"Good morning, captain." Dr. Patel said as he entered, shuffling a handful of PADDs in his hands, barely glancing up. When he saw Analyn, however, he smiled. "Hiya!"

"Eh, what's up, Doc?" Analyn said in her best Bugs Bunny impression, and munched on her spoon like a carrot, causing both her and Patel to laugh.

"Did you get access to the Federation's cultural database, my dear?" Patel asked the little girl delightedly.

Analyn proudly nodded, spoon still in mouth, sucking air and cheese into her mouth noisily.

"Can I presume you came by for a reason, doctor?" Adeyemi asked pointedly.

"Oh, yes, sir." Dr. Patel handed a PADD to the captain. "Thought you might want to see this."

"Autopsy report?" The captain said aloud as he read. "This is for Fidelio's wife?"

"That's right, captain. After the events last month Security wanted us to recheck everything that had to do with him." Patel said. "You can see why he was targeting who he was."

"Certainly." Adeyemi stood, and noted with approval that Analyn had placed her bowl back on to the replicator to recycle. One of the conditions of having her in his office was that she do that. She was even wiping her hands most of the time nowadays. In any case, she'd certainly keep in his office for a bit.

"Let's go," He said to Patel, walking towards the door. "We need to do some digging."

[Leanna Mazal]

[Puzzles - Leanna's Office]

Leanna was sat at her desk, raktajino in one hand blowing on it gently to cool the hot liquid down as she perused the plans she had drawn up to remodel the bar. It wasn't a decision taken lightly to make improvements and changes but after the run of bad luck they had experienced lately with the secondary supply room, Leanna had felt that these needed to be made in order to try and forget what had happened.

Taking a moment to distance herself from the diagrams in front of her and sipped her hot drink, exhaling a breath of calmness despite the residual memories of not only the body that had been discovered but also the brush with the supernatural and how it had knocked her mentally especially the way the entity had used Matthias to spook her.

Even though she had divorced him after he had tried to kill her and was subsequently sent to prison for the attempted murder and his other heinous crimes committed through his double life as a member of a crime syndicate, the fear had never really left her that he could somehow still get to her and hearing the voices had left her shaken just as it had when the body was found. Yet she had to be strong for everyone including her daughter.

So getting rid of the supply room and coming up with a new way of storing their excess stock and equipment had been relatively easy considering and had requested a meeting with Commander Howell, the stations Chief Engineer to discuss the work and if she needed to close the bar whilst it was carried out. Her priority was her staff and customers so if she did have to knew it was going to be worth it in the long run.

For now she continued drinking her coffee, trying to clear her mind so she could focus on the task at hand and returned to the plans, until her eye caught the piece of paper left by Maggie with the details of a medium who could rid the bar of any negative energy and smiled, thinking she might take her up on the offer once everything was sorted.

[Auzual Knox]

[SO's Office]

Knox sipped from her earl grey tea as she focused on the many PADDs on her desk. StarFleet were increasing their efforts to 'restrict and prevent' illegal activities on their doorstep. With so many high level security clearances necessary, Knox wondered if the information could ever get to the 'right' kind of people.

The issues faced on a Station are different to those on a star ship. They just are. Following orders to the letter is just one of those things that has to be sometimes has to be bent in order to be effective.

Knox has learnt long ago that there was no point arguing with the Federation. They had their intelligence and that was that. Darker aspects of deep space Stations were going to have to be dealt with, though Knox had no idea to the how exactly. Though she was not ignorant, nor surprised by the reports. Only with the order to report exactly all the illegal goings on preventative measure to be taken.

But, how?

[Daniel Howell]

[Puzzles - Leanna's Office]

Leanna was sat at her desk, raktajino in one hand blowing on it gently to cool the hot liquid down as she perused the plans she had drawn up to remodel the bar. It wasn't a decision taken lightly to make improvements and changes but after the run of bad luck they had experienced lately with the secondary supply room, Leanna had felt that these needed to be made in order to try and forget what had happened.

Taking a moment to distance herself from the diagrams in front of her and sipped her hot drink, exhaling a breath of calmness despite the residual memories of not only the body that had been discovered but also the brush with the supernatural and how it had knocked her mentally especially the way the entity had used Matthias to spook her.

Even though she had divorced him after he had tried to kill her and was subsequently sent to prison for the attempted murder and his other heinous crimes committed through his double life as a member of a crime syndicate, the fear had never really left her that he could somehow still get to her and hearing the voices had left her shaken just as it had when the body was found. Yet she had to be strong for everyone including her daughter.

So getting rid of the supply room and coming up with a new way of storing their excess stock and equipment had been relatively easy considering and had requested a meeting with Commander Howell, the stations Chief Engineer to discuss the work and if she needed to close the bar whilst it was carried out. Her priority was her staff and customers so if she did have to knew it was going to be worth it in the long run.

For now she continued drinking her coffee, trying to clear her mind so she could focus on the task at hand and returned to the plans, until her eye caught the piece of paper left by Maggie with the details of a medium who could rid the bar of any negative energy and smiled, thinking she might take her up on the offer once everything was sorted.

CEO's Office
Howell was in his office catching up with some reports he had to. There was a slight understatement on the word some as he glanced across to see about 15 PADDs all waiting to be filled out and signed off. It had thankfully been a rather quiet morning in engineering with the last of the repairs being wrapped up following the latest fiasco on the base. He drank a sip of coffee, looking out the office window to see all the engineers on duty hard at work. He was proud at what the engineering staff had achievement in the last few missions, especially considering the nature of the missions and that was something he intended to make quite clear in his monthly report. He suddenly remembered he had a meeting with Leanna to discuss some changes she wanted to make to puzzles so finished the last of his coffee and headed off.

Promenade
He arrived at the Promenade, a place which had quite a story to tell over the last few weeks on the base, it was busy as ever, something Dan had grown accustomed to. He reminded himself the trouble he had settling in on somewhere like a Starbase when he first arrived and how now it really didn't bother him. He nodded and said hello to a few officers that passed him as well as some civilians that had obviously stopped at the base.

Puzzles - outside Leanna's office
He arrived at puzzles a few moments later and rubbing his eyes quickly, then pressed the chime to her office and waited her response before entering.

[Leanna Mazal]

[Puzzles - Leanna's Office]

The door chime sounding caught Leanna off guard slightly and she almost spilled the remaining dregs of her drink down her front but managed to put it down when she realised it couldn't be a member of her staff and that it must be Commander Howell. She hadn't much chance to speak to the Chief Engineer since arriving at the base and hoped that would change now that she had asked him for help regarding the Bar.

Composing herself and making sure everything was place, got up from her desk and walked the short distance to the door and pressed the release mechanism. Once it slid back she smiled at the officer standing there. " Commander Howell, it's good to finally meet you properly, please come in and have a seat " she said politely, gesturing towards the sofa and chair just off to the side of her office.

[James A. Hawke]

Captain's Log Supplemental:
A couple of Months ago, we encountered a Romulan defector with critical intelligence.  The Intelligence suggested that for Months part of the Federation higher-ups might be under the influence of the Tal'Shiar.  I don't know whom I can trust right now.  We are currently working on decoding the rest of the message with any luck we might be able to discover details of their plan.

I have been looking into the intelligence of mind controlling and mind-altering substances.  I have received reports that Starbase Columbus might have said substances.  Given the sensitive nature of the intelligence, I plan on arriving at the Columbus personally.  I am sure my arrival without prior notification might be perceived as unusual.  But it has to be done.   Log out

James scratched his eyes as he was fatigued from the long journey.  He opted to take the Captain's Yacht instead of the Shran.  He figured that the Yacht might be inconspicuous than mobilizing on the biggest ships in the Federation.  He was a little tired, but he pushed on.  He could have easily delegated this mission to someone else, but Hawke always wanted to be in the center of the action.

He pressed his console as the ETA showed.  He was pleasantly surprised to see that he has arrived at his destination.  As he saw the sight of the Starbase Columbus, James was reminded how big the Starbase was in relation on the Shran.

"Well you look at that,"  He said to himself as he continued his approach to the Starbase.

As he approached, he began the proper protocol.

This is the Captain's Yacht, Avalon to Starbase Columbus.  This is Captain James Hawke of the U.S.S. Shran requesting landing clearance and permission to come on board

James waited for the Starbase to respond and then continued

I know this is against the norm to come in unexpected.  But I need to meet with Captain Adeyemi in person.  It's important. 

[Michael J. Tritter]

Captain's Log Supplemental:
A couple of Months ago, we encountered a Romulan defector with critical intelligence.  The Intelligence suggested that for Months part of the Federation higher-ups might be under the influence of the Tal'Shiar.  I don't know whom I can trust right now.  We are currently working on decoding the rest of the message with any luck we might be able to discover details of their plan.

I have been looking into the intelligence of mind controlling and mind-altering substances.  I have received reports that Starbase Columbus might have said substances.  Given the sensitive nature of the intelligence, I plan on arriving at the Columbus personally.  I am sure my arrival without prior notification might be perceived as unusual.  But it has to be done.   Log out

James scratched his eyes as he was fatigued from the long journey.  He opted to take the Captain's Yacht instead of the Shran.  He figured that the Yacht might be inconspicuous than mobilizing on the biggest ships in the Federation.  He was a little tired, but he pushed on.  He could have easily delegated this mission to someone else, but Hawke always wanted to be in the center of the action.

He pressed his console as the ETA showed.  He was pleasantly surprised to see that he has arrived at his destination.  As he saw the sight of the Starbase Columbus, James was reminded how big the Starbase was in relation on the Shran.

"Well you look at that,"  He said to himself as he continued his approach to the Starbase.

As he approached, he began the proper protocol.

This is the Captain's Yacht, Avalon to Starbase Columbus.  This is Captain James Hawke of the U.S.S. Shran requesting landing clearance and permission to come on board

James waited for the Starbase to respond and then continued

I know this is against the norm to come in unexpected.  But I need to meet with Captain Adeyemi in person.  It's important. 

[Location: Command Deck, USS Columbus]

Tritter had remained stationed in the Command Chair of the Columbus. He was focused on handling the various reports and other goings on of the Columbus. A Base of that size was a management time sink if you will. He was than interrupted by the Operations Officer, the female than said "Sir, theres a message from Captain Hawke of the Shran" Tritter than stated "On Screen Lieutenant" His tone was confident and firm as he addressed her.

He than saw the face of the Captain on the main screen. He listened carefully to the Captain, he than waited a moment and than spoke after they had finished their second statement "Granted, proceed to Docking Bay twelve. Captain, I will arrange for you to speak with him. Tritter out" Tritter's appearance was strong and confident as he addressed Captain Hawke, he didn't feel out of water when he addressed the Captain. Tritter knew that he was in charge of the Columbus at this time and the outsider was not going to step on his toes.

Once the communication ended, he than tapped his comm badge "Commander Tritter to Captain Ayedemi, when you are available, Captain Hawke would like to meet with you" He left it there, but he let the Captain decide a when and a where.

[Jenna McKinson]

[ Holosuite ]

The clear water waves crashed against the white sands. The day was beyond perfect. There was a light breeze to cool things off just enough to stave off any heat. Jenna and Molly were dressed in their workout clothes. Jenna had just narrowly dodged Molly's attempt to kick her in the head. "No Fair! We said no leg shots to the head," Jenna said. Molly had said no words and she protected her face and began to try to land a few punches on Jenna.

It had been a while since they could work out together. It was Jenna who let the yoga session before they decided to do a bit of sparing. Despite her size, Jenna kept her own against her tall girlfriend. She wanted to teach Molly to protect herself. She told Molly bits and pieces of her past, but not everything. Jenna could remember back to a few evening where she had to slam a few men to the ground for being a bit touchy with a fellow worker at the bar. Though there were bouncers, she wanted to make sure that she protected herself. Chasing after Caleb took her to amazing places, but she quickly had to learn to protect herself.

Molly and Jenna exchanged jabs, but blocked one another enough not to cause too much damage. They both sighed as their time in the suite was nearing an end. They grabbed their effects and walked out. They knew if they rushed, they could grab a bite to eat and then head into work.

[James A. Hawke]

[Avalon]

James sat in the pilot's chair as he waited for a reponse.  The image of a big bulky man appeared to be in the Command chair of the Station.  The figured gave him the instructions.

"Granted, proceed to Docking Bay twelve. Captain, I will arrange for you to speak with him. Tritter out"

James spoke to the man and said "Acknowledged, Hawke out"

As he made sure the channels were closed and they could not hear him.  James said to himself "But when?"

As he ranted "Thank god, I said it was important.  Next time I should say "Hey it's about the fate of the Federation"  and the guys of the Starbase will be like...."Yeah we will ge on  it...trust us".

As James finished he landed on the Starbase

[Docking Bay 12]

As James landed he exited the shuttle.  He looked around and noticed that there was no one there to greet him.  "Well, we are off to a great start.  I don't know when I am going to meet the Captain and now I have to figure out where to go next"  He said to himself.

As he remained standing in the Docking Bay 12 thinking of his next move.

[Michael J. Tritter]

[Avalon]

James sat in the pilot's chair as he waited for a reponse.  The image of a big bulky man appeared to be in the Command chair of the Station.  The figured gave him the instructions.

James spoke to the man and said "Acknowledged, Hawke out"

As he made sure the channels were closed and they could not hear him.  James said to himself "But when?"

As he ranted "Thank god, I said it was important.  Next time I should say "Hey it's about the fate of the Federation"  and the guys of the Starbase will be like...."Yeah we will ge on  it...trust us".

As James finished he landed on the Starbase

[Docking Bay 12]

As James landed he exited the shuttle.  He looked around and noticed that there was no one there to greet him.  "Well, we are off to a great start.  I don't know when I am going to meet the Captain and now I have to figure out where to go next"  He said to himself.

As he remained standing in the Docking Bay 12 thinking of his next move.

[Locations: Columbus Command Deck, Docking Bay 12]

Tritter had been focused on taking care of something when he heard his comm badge go off. He than heard the following "Captain Ayedemi to Commander Tritter, take care of Captain Hawke" The message was vague, which was not surprising to the Commander, he had known them to not give more details than absolutely necessary. Tritter however tapped his comm badge and replied with "Aye Sir" He than tapped his comm badge "Commander Tritter to Lieutenant Knox, please report to the Command Deck" He would than wait for her reply, followed by her arrival within a reasonable time frame there after.

He would than rise to his feet and address her with "Captain Ayedemi has asked me to greet our new visitor, therefore, as Second Officer, the chair is yours" He waited a moment to make sure she was good to go before he headed out. He would than make his way to Docking Bay 12. The man knew the Columbus like the back of his hand, making his way through the decks and turbolifts easily. Once he arrived, he proceeded to scan the area. He than located the Avalon, with a, to him anyways, short man standing nearby. He surmised that such must be Captain Hawke.

He would than approach the man, he studied them as he approached, he carried himself with an innate confidence. He than would greet the Captain with, "Captain, I am Commander Michael Tritter, Executive Officer, Starbase Columbus. Captain Ayedemi has instructed me to greet you and get you situated on the Columbus. He will be meeting with you as soon as he is able. He has been appraised of your presence" He than kept his gaze focused on the Captain as he waited for their reply.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Operations]

"Captain in Ops!" Called out the armed security officer by the turbolift.

Adeyemi caught the few glances upwards and nodded slightly to the crew. Dr. Patel was at his side.

"This compound," The captain said quietly, indicating the PADD to the doctor. "I'm no physician or chemist, but this substance found in her blood stream does not look natural."

"That's because it's not," Dr. Patel confirmed. "It's a highly synthesized narcotic cocktail. Very addictive."

"Substance abuse?"

"Looks like it, sir."

The Starbase Columbus was unique in that it had a small but highly visible drug problem among its civilian inhabitants. The majority of the Station's fifty thousand people were not under Starfleet command. Besides protecting them and offering what help and services they could Adeyemi had no sway over them. So long as they followed Federation law and the commerce flowed they were largely free to do as they please. Narcotics were, of course, illegal, but his framework to investigate officially or treat any drug epidemic was largely curbed.

Just then, the hails indicating that a visiting commanding officer came through. Adeyemi tapped out a brief acknowledgement, and gestured at Lieutenant Commander Daorn, the current ranking officer present.

"Commander, you have Ops. Analyn is in my room, can you please see that she..."

"I'll peek in on her, captain," Daorn said in a resounding Tellarite basso. "Don't worry."

" Adeyemi to Lachlyn. Cadet, meet me in Docking Bay 12. " He said. He turned to Patel. "Doctor, thank you. Please begin analyzing this compound and report back to me."

"Understood, sir." Patel replied.

The captain entered the turbolift and bade it to take him to the docking bay. Drugs had always been on the Station; with so much cargo and people coming and going it was simply a fact of starbase life. That did not mean he had to live with it, however. 50,000 people. How many of them are children? The thought unsettled him. What if Analyn or some other child got their hands on drugs? It didn't occur to him as he worried that Analyn was not a human child at all.

[James A. Hawke]

[Columbus Command Deck, Docking Bay 12]

Hawke continued walking for a couple of minutes mindlessly in Docking Bay 12.  It was a little unusual for him not to know the Ship or have people greeting him.  He found it a little refreshing.  James figured the violated proper protocol by not sending proper notification.  Therefore, it stood to reason that they were not prepared for his arrival.  As much as he hated, putting the crew in a difficult spot it could not be avoided.  Giving them prior noticed might have tipped off the Tal'shiar or worse someone in the list might want to kill him and stop his investigation.
James heard the doors swoosh open and noticed the same man in the view screen coming into to see him.  Hawke noticed that the man was unusually tall and strong.  I don't want to get into a wrestling match with that man James thought.  He looked at the man and noticed he was wearing a red uniform with 3 gold pips.  He was a Commander.

The man approached him and introduced himself.  He said

"Captain, I am Commander Michael Tritter, Executive Officer, Starbase Columbus. Captain Ayedemi has instructed me to greet you and get you situated on the Columbus. He will be meeting with you as soon as he is able. He has been appraised of your presence"

James extended his hand to Commander Tritter trying to give the man a handshake.  He gave his customary smile and replied "Thank you, Commander.  Captain James Hawke of the Shran.  It's great to meet you in person.  You don't need to worry and set up long-term accommodations, Commander.  Something simple would be great.  I plan on doing my job and get out of your hair as soon as possible."

He pointed at the exit door and James said "Commander, I would appreciate it if we kept my arrival in the Station as a need to know basis, for the moment.  I do need to talk to the Captain as soon as possible and explain my arrival and the reason why I broke protocol."

As he began walking with little explanation, James asked: "Commander, how many strip clubs do you have on the Station?"  The question was serious, but he wondered how the Commander would take the question.   James knew that some people thought that he was a bit of a playboy Captain.

[Michael J. Tritter]

[Columbus Command Deck, Docking Bay 12]

Hawke continued walking for a couple of minutes mindlessly in Docking Bay 12.  It was a little unusual for him not to know the Ship or have people greeting him.  He found it a little refreshing.  James figured the violated proper protocol by not sending proper notification.  Therefore, it stood to reason that they were not prepared for his arrival.  As much as he hated, putting the crew in a difficult spot it could not be avoided.  Giving them prior noticed might have tipped off the Tal'shiar or worse someone in the list might want to kill him and stop his investigation.
James heard the doors swoosh open and noticed the same man in the view screen coming into to see him.  Hawke noticed that the man was unusually tall and strong.  I don't want to get into a wrestling match with that man James thought.  He looked at the man and noticed he was wearing a red uniform with 3 gold pips.  He was a Commander.

The man approached him and introduced himself.  He said

James extended his hand to Commander Tritter trying to give the man a handshake.  He gave his customary smile and replied "Thank you, Commander.  Captain James Hawke of the Shran.  It's great to meet you in person.  You don't need to worry and set up long-term accommodations, Commander.  Something simple would be great.  I plan on doing my job and get out of your hair as soon as possible."

He pointed at the exit door and James said "Commander, I would appreciate it if we kept my arrival in the Station as a need to know basis, for the moment.  I do need to talk to the Captain as soon as possible and explain my arrival and the reason why I broke protocol."

As he began walking with little explanation, James asked: "Commander, how many strip clubs do you have on the Station?"  The question was serious, but he wondered how the Commander would take the question.   James knew that some people thought that he was a bit of a playboy Captain.

[Location: Docking Bay 12]

Tritter than looked towards the other man's outstretched hand, he extended his right hand and shook hands with the Captain. He had a firm and strong handshake, he was not a "soft hand" if you will, he than let go of their hand roughly ten seconds later. Tritter than nodded to their statement, he than stated "If that will work, we have an opening in the Senior Officer's quarters, it is my former office from when I was the Security and Tactical Department Head, it's not fancy, but it's quiet and you can get your work done. He than pondered over the other man's second comment, to which he replied "That is between you and Captain Ayedemi. He is aware of your presence and he will meet with you"

Tritter seemed... a bit thrown off by their next comment, the large man than replied with, "Theres one, located on the lower decks. Landing Strip or something idiotic like that. It's a hot bed for criminal activity, always has been. Plucked more than a few criminals out of that place. Their dancers look like something from the backwoods if you catch my drift. Not my kind of place, their not my type and even if I wasn't married, I'd rather not." His tone was very serious, his heavy German accent laced within his speech, although if you knew him well, this was typical of his sense of humor, which often befuddled most.

[Thomas Jett]

[Relay Station #15- Cargo Bay]

Jett was 20 lightyears from the Columbus, he was working on a delivery job in the infamous Relay Station 15.  It was a Relay Station that was primarily used by smugglers since it was under the control of the Ferengi.  Unlike, Starfleet you can pay the Ferengi to look at the other way.  But it always had a price.  If there were a place to track illegal shipments and drugs, it would be this Station.

For the last month, Jett has noticed that a larger than normal amount of smugglers were coming into the Station.  He found the issue a little concerning.  He was used to knowing who was smuggling what into the Station.  Now he was at a loss again.  Using his contacts, he was going to purchase some information.  Whoever was in charge of this operation; this person had resources to cover their tracks. It would be likely that the Security of the Station had no idea was going on until it was too late.

Jett entered an empty cargo bay waiting for his meeting with a contact.

He looked around and noticed that there was no one around.  Jett placed his hand near his pistol as he prepared for the arrival of his contact. He was somewhat concerned that there was no one in the cargo bay.  After all, he knew the phrase "No honor among thieves."

Within seconds of his arrival, he heard several people entering from the second floor of the Cargo Bay.  Jett was instructed to come to the first floor.  He instantly knew he was set up.    He looked around in the second floor as four individuals with rifles pointed at him.  They had the high ground, and he was ambushed.

Another individual came in from the Shadows on the first floor.  The person that came in from the Shadow just clapped slowly and loudly.  The man had a British accent and began speaking "Today is the day that I get rid of Thomas Jett"

Jett looked around and took a mental note of the four individuals and their locations. "I guess I am starting to get sloppy"  Jett answer

"Maybe, ohh Jett, Months ago, you were hard to figure out.  You just looked after yourself"  The man said and now he continued "But now, you are sad, pathetic.  You have grown soft.  You are weak, and that's why you are going to die today."

Jett then realizing that it might be over he looked at the man and asked "So I take it you have the information that I requested?"

The man smiled and said "I do, but that person wants you dead.  Moreover, I would do it for free, but it soo much sweeter when you get paid to kill someone you freaking hate.  Do you know how much business I have lost because of you and that stupid station?  "

Jett shook his head and replied "No, and I don't care.  Are we going to follow the Supervillain Rules?"

The man looked confused "The Supervillain Rules?"

Jett nodded in the affirmative "Yeah, it's an old Earth Custom, in cartoons.  And you should follow it for the sake of tradition."

Jett tried to explain "The idea is the following since you are going to kill me and you are spending time gloating about it.  Which is within your right, I mean you kind of have me by the balls right now.  But you also tell me what I want before you kill me.  It's traditionion."

The man shook his head and said "Jett, y'know that doesn't make any sense.  Why would I do that?"

Jett "It's Tradition...you should follow supervillain conducts..  Ask your goons"

The man looked confused and said to the snipers above him "Is it me or that Earth Tradition is stupid?"

One sniper said "Dude that makes no sense..  So if by some miracle.  You escape, then it can totally backfire on us"

Another Sniper responded, "But what do we have to lose it's kind of this last request."

A third sniper broke his aim and added to the conversation.  "Yeah,  but we ARE CRIMINALS.  We kind break rules by definition, criminals following code is an oxymoron."

The man in the middle of the first floor "Guys...Guys we need to focus.  Let's not get distracted."

The first sniper said "I swear some of the criminals today.  They have gone soft.  Back in my day, we just killed people without mercy. We did not debate about it"

The fourth sniper "Man!  Take that back, don't go all generational B.S.  I am young, and I am cutthroat!   Just because I am from Gen. F and you are from Gen. E doesn't mean us Gen. F's people suck.  Gen. F people can be just as good criminals and Gen E people"

The snipers took their aim off Jett and listen to them argue about what they should do.  The discussion gave Jett enough time to find the structural weakness on the placed that they were standing.

Jett then said, "Hey can I add something to the conversation?"

The Snipers responded in unison "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Jett then pulled his gun and placed the shot in a perfect location.  After four shots, he noticed the raffle in which the Snipers were standing fall from their place.  Quickly Jett then fired another shot in the direction of the man on the first floor.   He was holding a phaser and knocked it off.
"All right, I am done with this crap"  Jett said as he pointed pistol to the man

"You don't have what it take to kill me"  The man said

"I don't have to kill you.  You see the way I look at it, you failed your mission.  All I have to do is tie you up and let the name to kill you for failing.  I will send a message to Columbus saying that I have the name but I can't transmit it dut to sensitive nature"  Jett said

He walked closer and said "The way I look at it, your best chance of survival is to give me the name and all the information and I will let you go.  Take advantage of the head start and get away from here as fast as possible."

The man said "I don't have have a lot of info.  I only have a name"

Jett asked, "What's the name?"

The man said "Asmodeus"

"All right you can leave and take your goons with you,"  Jett said

Jett left the cargo bay in a hurry running towards his ship.  The threat to the Station was real.