A Call to the Queen

Posted on Tue May 19th, 2020 @ 9:11am by Captain Gary Taylor

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Gary's Ready Room
Timeline: Before Entering the Void.
1470 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

After finishing his call with Marisol Lopez, Gary placed a call to the Queen. He wanted to know just what she was thinking. It was answered instantly by Rebecca. "Hello Rebecca, hope you've been well. Rebecca, I need to talk to the Queen."

"Got to say, kinda surprised it took you this long to call, Commander." Rebecca laughed, she'd been expecting a call from Taylor for quite a while now, "And I'll send your call in, she's in a.. shall we say, expansive mood, right now?"

Gary chuckled, "I'll do better next time Rebecca. Hope I didn't cause you to lose any money and thank you." He finished as he waited for his call to be routed to the Queen.

The next few seconds consisted of the emblem of the Diplomatic Corps replacing Rebecca Stafford before being replaced by Anje Zhukov, who was in a fine mood indeed, "Well, well, about time." She laughed, "And might I ask what brings you by?"

Gary couldn't help but feel the corners of his mouth pull upwards in a semblance of a grin. "As if you didn't know. Marisol Lopez? Really?"

"She's the expert on this.... thing." Zhukov replied, feeling a bit guilty for referring to Kerri's brother as a 'thing.' "It's always been my policy to use the best tool for every job, and in this case, she is the best weapon in our arsenal, besides you of course. All she has to do is track him, then you go into effect."

"Which I have already informed her of." Gary replied, "Which I'm sure you knew I would do." Gary answered, "You have that much faith in her?"

"She got him last time." Zhukov shrugged, "Hard to argue with results, even if I consider her books nothing more than low quality loo roll."

Now Gary did laugh, "I told her that as well or at least something similar. I hope she just wasn't lucky last time."

"Okay, so she's a fame whore." Zhukov shrugged and laughed, "And a prima donna who likes attention in bulk. Who else do we know like that? And now I feel so much better than I did this morning."

"Well, I am so glad you are. I certainly am not. Not that I mind taking Aubrey Tate out. I don't but I'd rather have Kerri than Lopez." Gary answered. "Kerri is solid. Lopez is a flake."

"Well, the fact is I put this monster in the best hands I know of, yours." The Queen replied, "You're the only person I know of that has both the skill and the will to make him a bad memory. Let's face it, Kerri's not going to help us kill her brother any more than she would kill Julie." The queen finished with a refence to Kerri's older, and some said prettier, sister, who had had more than a passing interest in the dashing Taylor, who had no interest in her; she wanted to say 'You remember, Julie.' though she knew he most likely didn't, having completely ignored the poor girl.

"Julie? Oh, Kerri's sister but Julie is nothing like Aubrey at least I don't think she is." Gary replied.

"She's broken a few hearts, but I don't know that any of those men ended up dead." The Admiral laughed, shocked that Gary had even noticed poor Julie enough to learn her name, so enraptured as he was then with Catlin, "Aubrey seems to prefer necks for his breakage needs."

"Aubrey is sick and his rein of terror is coming to an end. I promise you that." Gary told her, iron in his voice.

"So, your plan is to kill then, not take into custody?" Zhukov asked, though she already knew the answer, she knew it before she chose him, it was literally why she chose him, "Why I chose you over Kerri and would have even if she wasn't on Cortic with a hole in her, she wants to bring him in alive, thinks that treatment might fix him. You can't fix a monster, he's always going to be dangerous. Please, never forget that fact."

Gary shook his head grimly. "Custody was never an option. You can't fix Aubrey, I don't care how much or how long he received treatment. He's going to be eliminated with extreme prejudice. Trust me I won't."

"Good." The Ambassador smiled, knowing Taylor was good as his word, he was going there to destroy Aubrey Tate, not walk out with him in handcuffs, "Please don't let Kerri sway you. She's going to try, she'll do anything and everything to protect her family, as any of us would. Whatever she says, promises, threatens, or begs, don't let her change his fate. Aubrey must die this time. Even if it means going over, around, or through Kerri to do it."

Across subspace, the Grey Wolf spoke. "Nothing Kerri can say, or promise or even beg will stop me from killing Aubrey. I so promise." Then he added, "Even if it means losing Kerri's friendship in the process."

"Make it clear you're acting on my orders." Zhukov replied flatly, "Let her anger all fall on me." No word of it was untrue, she was calling the shots here, she had ordered the death of Aubrey Tate, her hand was the one directing all of this, she should and would carry any blame to come from it.

"No." Gary said flatly. "I'm the pulling the trigger, killing her brother. I won't take her anger at me away. She can at least have that and let the chips fall where they may."

"As you like it." Zhukov shrugged, knowing Kerri would be furious at both of them no matter who pulled the trigger or gave the order, "We'll figure it out once he's dead."

Gary nodded, "Sounds like a plan." Already he was preparing for the end of his friendship with Kerri and that thought hurt him. However this had to be done, friends or not.

"Well, on to some happy news." The admiral laughed, holding up a padd she'd received from Rebecca a few minutes before the call, "We're up over eight percent once news broke that Marisol Lopez was closing in on Aubrey Tate, eight point four percent to be exact, and gone from thirteenth amongst declared candidates to fifth. Only pulling four point seven this morning."

"That is good news." Gary agreed. "And when you break the news that Lopez killed Tate, you'll vault to first."

"Nobody would ever believe that shit." Zhukov said, laughing so hard her head went backwards, "Sorry, but that girl doesn't have the instinct, it's just not in her. She's too much like Little Anje, who I don't think would take a shot at Dukat."

"Now I'm curious. How are you going to announce Aubrey Tate is dead? Who gets the credit for taking him down? Can't be me. I don't exist."

"The credit will go to an ops team working in concert with Marshall Lopez." The Queen replied, it was all boilerplate basically, "Since nobody will ever believe that pretty little thing killed the Sandman with her own well manicured hands."

"Alright. Just keep them out of my way." Gary asked. "I don't want some dickweed screwing this up."

"The team will be of your own making, Gray Wolf." The Queen stated, she wanted no part of this operation outside of his capable hands, "Choose whoever you want and I'll rearrange the stars themselves to get them for you."

"Admiral, I don't care just keep them out of my way. They can babysit Kerri." Gary answered.

"So you intend to take this monster on one on one." Zhukov stated, carefully masking her displeasure with the idea of anyone, even the Gray Wolf, going head to head with Aubrey Tate like this was just another street fight.

"Yes. No gimmicks. No tricks. Me and him and my gun. I'm not completely stupid Admiral."

"You're in no way stupid, Gary." The Admiral smiled, "If I thought you were I would've handed this assignment to Taam or Nicholas, maybe even drawn Edwin out of retirement. No, you're the wolf for this job, I'll defer to your decisions."

Gary just nodded. No need for him to be touchy. The Queen selected him to take out Aubrey Tate. He would make sure she made the right choice.

"Okay, so that's all set now." Zhukov nodded, "Anything else we need to discuss?"

"I don't think so. I'll let Lopez coordinate and collect the op team members." Gary answered.

"Very good then." Zhukov nodded and smiled, more sure of her choice than ever, "I'll call you again when we've got something. Zhukov out."

"Very good Admiral. Keep climbing in the polls." Gary replied as he closed the link.

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Commander Gary Taylor
Executive Officer
USS Elysium