The Bulkheads Have Ears

Posted on Thu May 23rd, 2019 @ 5:41am by Captain Gary Taylor & Commander Liselle Qwyyn
Edited on on Mon Jun 3rd, 2019 @ 9:41am

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: UFP Embassy, Vulcan
Timeline: will add later
555 words - 1.1 OF Standard Post Measure

The suns had just set on Vulcan and night had fallen, this was the time of day where Anje Zhukov could find peace. Her career, the life she'd inherited from her mentor, had turned her into a creature of the night, she only felt truly safe in the darkness. She looked out on the Vulcan landscape, missing the long gone days when she was in command of Gallipoli, or even Enterprise-C later, when she could stare out into infinity and feel small and safe. She paused for a second, sipping her nightly vodka, remembering turning over command to Rachel Garret, then losing Rachel in Khitomer shortly after, ~That's the problem with Vulcan blood...~ She recalled, ~I'm going to live for a very, very long time, and the people I care about mostly won't.~

Col. Tate entered behind the Ambassador, watching her for a second as she gazed into the darkness, no doubt wearing that same maudlin expression she always wore when this time of day rolled around. Now she felt worse than ever to be dropping the bad news on the Ambassador, ~Well, shit, you've got to tell her Kerri...~

"What's on your mind, White Wolf?" The Ambassador asked, using Tate's codename, it took her back to old times.

Tate wondered for a second how the Ambassador knew she was there, but waved the question off; the Queen always knew, "Intel from Elysium, Ma'am." She began, "It seems that a shuttle from Elysium was captured."

"Damn." Zhukov sighed, looking at the glass of Stolichnaya vodka in her hand, such a desired treat minutes before might as well have been a glass of piss now, "Any idea who was aboard?"

"Only shuttle unaccounted for was taken by Capt. Lalor, passengers listed as Cdr. Liselle Qwyyn, Cdr. Aurelia Holmes.." Kerri stopped cold, this was the worst part, "along with Grey Wolf and Shadow Wolf."

"Son of a bitch." Zhukov swore loudly, draining her drink, as she heard that not just one, but two of her best ever were now in enemy hands, along with her niece's new love, "No doubt this is some sort of power play, but by who?"

"I'm cross-referencing their old missions, see if we can get an idea who we might be dealing with." Tate offered, "Or at least their motivations."

"Well, if you find one, you'll find the other by and by." Zhukov said, informing Tate of something she already knew, "Good work, White Wolf. Though, while you're doing that, I think we need to have a talk with some of my old contacts..."

A knock came on the old style wooden door of the Ambassador's Office, stealing Zhukov and Tate's collective attention. Tate, ever the Marine, barking, "IN!"

1st Lt. Rebecca Stafford, Little Anje's replacemeent, stepped through and came to attention, "Madam Ambassador, you've got an incoming call from Lt. Cdr. Brett and a Lt. Cdr.... Albright regarding some sort of diplomatic situation on Elysium."

"Thank you, Becca." Zhukov nodded, "Send it in here and we'll take care of it. Dismissed."

"Understood, Madam Ambassador." Stafford nodded, about facing and exiting the room.

"Now for the hard part." Zhukov sighed as the door closed behind the young Marine. The hard part, as she'd explained to Kerri, the woman she expected to one day succeed her, was pretending you didn't already know...

-Off