May 2006 - Post Selection
ON: Shadow Boxing
Date: 238202.23 - Time: 11.00
Scene: Mercenia Tal, Administration Building
Hadley kept his face carefully neutral until they had exited the meeting room, leaving Councilor Jiril (npc) behind. Out in the hallway, he let some of his exasperation leak back into his face, although he kept his mouth shut. His tricorder wasn’t picking up any bugs or other listening devices, but that didn’t mean a Security Officer was supposed to start babbling the minute it looked like you were in the clear.
He and the Captain took a leisurely stroll through the Administration building, heading for the exit but not in any particular rush to do so. The Captain seemed to be deep in thought. All Hadley could think was that he wanted to go grab that aide and find out what she had told Jiril to actually fluster one of these expressionless Prallem.
The Captain came to a halt, looking out a large window at the beautiful view of the ocean outside. “Mr. Hadley, did anything about that seem odd to you?”
Hadley grimaced and took the opportunity to peer both ways down the corridor. No one in sight. “I’d say so, sir. Just about all of it.”
Persson smiled and started moving down the hall again. “A fair answer. For my own peace of mind, what bothered you the most?”
Robert sped up his own pace to match the Captain’s. “The Prallem have, what, 14 ships in their fleet and another one in dry dock? And they can’t be bothered to investigate a crash on their own moon? And don’t tell me that many merchants make a habit of trying to mask their engine trails.”
The Captain nodded. “I wonder why the Councilor lied to us.”
Hadley shrugged. “Couldn’t say, sir.”
They had reached the exit. The beam down point was out in the plaza surrounding the entrance to the Administration Building. They could have simply given the transporter chief the coordinates from inside the building and saved themselves a walk, but it was a beautiful day and it made the transporter operator’s life a little easier if they went back to the same place he had already beamed them down to.
Persson waited patiently as Hadley stuck his head out the door of the building and looked around, hand hovering over his phaser. There were a couple of Prallem walking across the very far side of the plaza, but even as Hadley watched, they disappeared down the street. It was the middle of the working day, and the streets were largely empty. Just to Robert’s liking.
There were a series of large, decorative pillars lining the sides of the plaza. Hadley unconsciously steered them a little closer to the pillars so that he could see behind them to make sure nobody was waiting in ambush. Beyond the pillars, cutting in between the Administration complex and the neighboring buildings bordering the plaza, were a series of narrow, dark alley ways. Hadley eyed them with particular suspicion.
If Persson noted his antics, he ignored them. “It seems we can never have a mission without intrigue of some kind. If the Balannti did crash a ship into that moon, why would the Prallem hide that from us? And where did the crew go? If this is a Prallem ruse in order to secure more Federation support, why would they attempt to hide what happened?”
Hadley opened his mouth to speak when he was interrupted.
“Are you from the ship of the Federation?” The voice was so low it was almost a hiss. It came from the alleyway on their right, sandwiched between an office building and part of the Administration center.
Hadley turned immediately to face the alley, his hand on the butt of his phaser but not drawing it yet. All he could see in the shadows was the outline of a figure, and even that was hard to see. The sun this planet orbited had moved behind one of the buildings. Whoever it was might have even been using black camouflage paint. He, or she, looked like another one of the shadows.
Persson, clearly visible, raised his hands to show he was holding no weapons. “Yes, we are. I am Captain Lars Persson. Can we be of assistance?”
The figure crouched in the alley seemed… shorter than most of the Prallem Hadley had seen. Balannti? Here? He couldn’t be sure of the skin color in the dark, but if it was a Balannti, what was it doing here?
The person in the alley stood up a little straighter, but then crouched down again, as if wanting to come forward but afraid of the consequences. There was something clasped in the creature’s hand, but he or she was treating it more like a treasure than a weapon. Even so…
Hadley stepped forward, hand on the butt of his phaser, politely but firmly placing himself between the Captain and the fidgeting figure. They could have their conversation around him if they needed to. This whole set up was making him twitchy.
Before Robert had even completed his step, he felt something slam into his stomach and, a split second later, heard the sharp retort. Hadley’s breath left him in a sudden gasp, but he somehow stayed on his feet. Time seemed to stop around him, and Robert felt his movements slow while, ironically, his brain leapt forward at lightning speed.
A projectile weapon? How quaint. It couldn’t have been the smaller fellow in the alley, Hadley had been looking at him the whole time.
Speaking of which, off he went, retreating into the deeper shadows. So much for finding out if he was Balannti or not. Likely scared away by the blast.
Hadley didn’t let himself look down. He could already tell a lot about the wound without looking, and the sight of the damage would just distract him. He’d only been shot by a bullet once before, and it had been a small wound on the arm. This felt a lot more serious. Definitely in the gut and he could feel the blood seeping through his uniform front. That confirmed the projectile hypothesis. A phaser or a disrupter cauterized the wound even as it made it. This was a good old-fashioned ‘firearm’.
And, as Hadley recalled, the nasty thing about firearms was the exit wound. It’d leave a pinprick-sized entry, but it’d tear a hole in your back as it left. You could jump in front of a bullet and it would go through you and hit the person standing behind you anyway.
Behind? Damnit, the Captain!
Hadley’s brain screamed back into the present only to find that his body, several steps ahead, had already began to spin round. His hand was out of its own accord, pushing the Captain back behind one of the aesthetically pleasing pillars that adorned the plaza. Persson looked unharmed. Had the bullet hit a rib? Or had the exit wound simply been at the wrong angle to hit him?
Hadley heard a second retort and saw the puff of dust on the plaza’s surface about five meters to the left. Robert grinned even as he drew his phaser. Not only had the idiot taken a second shot, the would-be assassin was obviously panicking and not bothering to take proper aim anymore. An amateur.
Although, if their arm was that bad, had they been aiming for the Captain, or for the creature in the shadows? Could they even see that far?
There was no one else in the plaza that Hadley could see, and the length of time between the shot and the retort told him that the shooter was a fairly long distance away. Maybe from one of those windows on the far side of the plaza? It would have to be near the ground floor for the angle to be right…
There was noise in the distance. Someone else had heard the shot then. Bloody well better have. The sniper certainly wasn’t using a quiet gun. Hadley stepped back behind the pillar, stumbling and bumping into the Captain.
Robert looked down in shock at the blood on the Captain’s sleeve before realizing, with somewhat irrational satisfaction, that Captain Persson wasn’t actually wounded. That was just more of Hadley’s blood. Thank goodness for that.
Hadley felt his knees sag and had to catch himself on the pillar. There hadn’t been any more shots. The shooter would be trying to make a get away. If Hadley got a few people down on the ground right now… he could get the Captain beamed back up to the ship, and then he could push up towards the building through the plaza and beam in a squad on the street opposite. They’d have to be quick but…
Robert didn’t really recall how he ended up on the ground. His eyes fluttered open a few seconds later and he had a wonderful view of the sky up above. He was on his back. Persson was standing over him, still crouched behind the pillar, holding Hadley’s dropped phaser and tapping his comm badge.
Hadley swore silently. Passing out at a time like this old man? It’s just one bullet. As he shifted his weight to try and crawl back to his feet, Robert felt a sharp pain in his back. It took him a moment to realize that it was the spare phaser for the Captain that he’d slapped onto the small of his back with that adhesive back onboard the ship.
Robert reached back and felt blood all down his back, but couldn’t find a tear in the uniform. Where was the hole? He reached under the shirt and felt the phaser. It was slick with blood, but any weapon was better than none. He pulled it out, the adhesive coming loose after one admittedly weak tug.
Laughing hurt his stomach, but Hadley had to chuckle as he looked down at the smashed hand phaser. The casing had been shattered and a hole was drilled in the side of the weapon just above the power pack.
At least they had the bullet. It would be valuable forenns… forest… forensic evidence. Hadley blinked the sleep out of his eyes. The Security Chief couldn’t stop the bullet, but the phaser could. How funny.
Robert heard someone that he thought was the Captain yell ‘emergency transport’. He was unconscious before he even felt the transporter take hold.
OFF:
Lieutenant Commander Robert Hadley
Chief of Security
USS Dark Matter
Date: 238202.23 - Time: 11.00
Scene: Mercenia Tal, Administration Building
Hadley kept his face carefully neutral until they had exited the meeting room, leaving Councilor Jiril (npc) behind. Out in the hallway, he let some of his exasperation leak back into his face, although he kept his mouth shut. His tricorder wasn’t picking up any bugs or other listening devices, but that didn’t mean a Security Officer was supposed to start babbling the minute it looked like you were in the clear.
He and the Captain took a leisurely stroll through the Administration building, heading for the exit but not in any particular rush to do so. The Captain seemed to be deep in thought. All Hadley could think was that he wanted to go grab that aide and find out what she had told Jiril to actually fluster one of these expressionless Prallem.
The Captain came to a halt, looking out a large window at the beautiful view of the ocean outside. “Mr. Hadley, did anything about that seem odd to you?”
Hadley grimaced and took the opportunity to peer both ways down the corridor. No one in sight. “I’d say so, sir. Just about all of it.”
Persson smiled and started moving down the hall again. “A fair answer. For my own peace of mind, what bothered you the most?”
Robert sped up his own pace to match the Captain’s. “The Prallem have, what, 14 ships in their fleet and another one in dry dock? And they can’t be bothered to investigate a crash on their own moon? And don’t tell me that many merchants make a habit of trying to mask their engine trails.”
The Captain nodded. “I wonder why the Councilor lied to us.”
Hadley shrugged. “Couldn’t say, sir.”
They had reached the exit. The beam down point was out in the plaza surrounding the entrance to the Administration Building. They could have simply given the transporter chief the coordinates from inside the building and saved themselves a walk, but it was a beautiful day and it made the transporter operator’s life a little easier if they went back to the same place he had already beamed them down to.
Persson waited patiently as Hadley stuck his head out the door of the building and looked around, hand hovering over his phaser. There were a couple of Prallem walking across the very far side of the plaza, but even as Hadley watched, they disappeared down the street. It was the middle of the working day, and the streets were largely empty. Just to Robert’s liking.
There were a series of large, decorative pillars lining the sides of the plaza. Hadley unconsciously steered them a little closer to the pillars so that he could see behind them to make sure nobody was waiting in ambush. Beyond the pillars, cutting in between the Administration complex and the neighboring buildings bordering the plaza, were a series of narrow, dark alley ways. Hadley eyed them with particular suspicion.
If Persson noted his antics, he ignored them. “It seems we can never have a mission without intrigue of some kind. If the Balannti did crash a ship into that moon, why would the Prallem hide that from us? And where did the crew go? If this is a Prallem ruse in order to secure more Federation support, why would they attempt to hide what happened?”
Hadley opened his mouth to speak when he was interrupted.
“Are you from the ship of the Federation?” The voice was so low it was almost a hiss. It came from the alleyway on their right, sandwiched between an office building and part of the Administration center.
Hadley turned immediately to face the alley, his hand on the butt of his phaser but not drawing it yet. All he could see in the shadows was the outline of a figure, and even that was hard to see. The sun this planet orbited had moved behind one of the buildings. Whoever it was might have even been using black camouflage paint. He, or she, looked like another one of the shadows.
Persson, clearly visible, raised his hands to show he was holding no weapons. “Yes, we are. I am Captain Lars Persson. Can we be of assistance?”
The figure crouched in the alley seemed… shorter than most of the Prallem Hadley had seen. Balannti? Here? He couldn’t be sure of the skin color in the dark, but if it was a Balannti, what was it doing here?
The person in the alley stood up a little straighter, but then crouched down again, as if wanting to come forward but afraid of the consequences. There was something clasped in the creature’s hand, but he or she was treating it more like a treasure than a weapon. Even so…
Hadley stepped forward, hand on the butt of his phaser, politely but firmly placing himself between the Captain and the fidgeting figure. They could have their conversation around him if they needed to. This whole set up was making him twitchy.
Before Robert had even completed his step, he felt something slam into his stomach and, a split second later, heard the sharp retort. Hadley’s breath left him in a sudden gasp, but he somehow stayed on his feet. Time seemed to stop around him, and Robert felt his movements slow while, ironically, his brain leapt forward at lightning speed.
A projectile weapon? How quaint. It couldn’t have been the smaller fellow in the alley, Hadley had been looking at him the whole time.
Speaking of which, off he went, retreating into the deeper shadows. So much for finding out if he was Balannti or not. Likely scared away by the blast.
Hadley didn’t let himself look down. He could already tell a lot about the wound without looking, and the sight of the damage would just distract him. He’d only been shot by a bullet once before, and it had been a small wound on the arm. This felt a lot more serious. Definitely in the gut and he could feel the blood seeping through his uniform front. That confirmed the projectile hypothesis. A phaser or a disrupter cauterized the wound even as it made it. This was a good old-fashioned ‘firearm’.
And, as Hadley recalled, the nasty thing about firearms was the exit wound. It’d leave a pinprick-sized entry, but it’d tear a hole in your back as it left. You could jump in front of a bullet and it would go through you and hit the person standing behind you anyway.
Behind? Damnit, the Captain!
Hadley’s brain screamed back into the present only to find that his body, several steps ahead, had already began to spin round. His hand was out of its own accord, pushing the Captain back behind one of the aesthetically pleasing pillars that adorned the plaza. Persson looked unharmed. Had the bullet hit a rib? Or had the exit wound simply been at the wrong angle to hit him?
Hadley heard a second retort and saw the puff of dust on the plaza’s surface about five meters to the left. Robert grinned even as he drew his phaser. Not only had the idiot taken a second shot, the would-be assassin was obviously panicking and not bothering to take proper aim anymore. An amateur.
Although, if their arm was that bad, had they been aiming for the Captain, or for the creature in the shadows? Could they even see that far?
There was no one else in the plaza that Hadley could see, and the length of time between the shot and the retort told him that the shooter was a fairly long distance away. Maybe from one of those windows on the far side of the plaza? It would have to be near the ground floor for the angle to be right…
There was noise in the distance. Someone else had heard the shot then. Bloody well better have. The sniper certainly wasn’t using a quiet gun. Hadley stepped back behind the pillar, stumbling and bumping into the Captain.
Robert looked down in shock at the blood on the Captain’s sleeve before realizing, with somewhat irrational satisfaction, that Captain Persson wasn’t actually wounded. That was just more of Hadley’s blood. Thank goodness for that.
Hadley felt his knees sag and had to catch himself on the pillar. There hadn’t been any more shots. The shooter would be trying to make a get away. If Hadley got a few people down on the ground right now… he could get the Captain beamed back up to the ship, and then he could push up towards the building through the plaza and beam in a squad on the street opposite. They’d have to be quick but…
Robert didn’t really recall how he ended up on the ground. His eyes fluttered open a few seconds later and he had a wonderful view of the sky up above. He was on his back. Persson was standing over him, still crouched behind the pillar, holding Hadley’s dropped phaser and tapping his comm badge.
Hadley swore silently. Passing out at a time like this old man? It’s just one bullet. As he shifted his weight to try and crawl back to his feet, Robert felt a sharp pain in his back. It took him a moment to realize that it was the spare phaser for the Captain that he’d slapped onto the small of his back with that adhesive back onboard the ship.
Robert reached back and felt blood all down his back, but couldn’t find a tear in the uniform. Where was the hole? He reached under the shirt and felt the phaser. It was slick with blood, but any weapon was better than none. He pulled it out, the adhesive coming loose after one admittedly weak tug.
Laughing hurt his stomach, but Hadley had to chuckle as he looked down at the smashed hand phaser. The casing had been shattered and a hole was drilled in the side of the weapon just above the power pack.
At least they had the bullet. It would be valuable forenns… forest… forensic evidence. Hadley blinked the sleep out of his eyes. The Security Chief couldn’t stop the bullet, but the phaser could. How funny.
Robert heard someone that he thought was the Captain yell ‘emergency transport’. He was unconscious before he even felt the transporter take hold.
OFF:
Lieutenant Commander Robert Hadley
Chief of Security
USS Dark Matter