In the Wind

Posted on Sun Jun 23rd, 2019 @ 6:45am by Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: En Route to Rura Penthe-Vulcan-Unknown
Timeline: Present -5 Days to Present
6135 words - 12.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Chief Warrant Officer Eugene Nobles, a veteran of thirty eight years service almost exclusively in the military corrections branch, had never been on a transport like this before, ~A fourteen man ops team for one man, never seen the like.~ He thought as two men from the brig of the USS Rostov, a Constellation class transport, brought the prisoner, a heavily chained man of some seven plus feet in height, his long hair concealing his face completely, to the shuttle bay. Looking him over, Nobles felt a twinge of, could it be fear? He stepped to the Petty Officer Second Class who seemed to be leading the detail, "This him?"

"Yeah, this is him, Mr. Nobles." Petty Officer Hill answered, "Aubrey Tate, killer of over three hundred people."

"Watch him, Mr. Nobles." Crewman Bullock interjected, "Son of a bitch almost wrecked the cell we had him in, took ten guys to take him down."

"Twelve." Aubrey said from beneath the curtain of hair.

"What was that?" Nobles said, stepping closer, but not too close to the the prisoner.

"It took twelve of them." The hulking killer stated, jerking his thumb towards Bullock, "That yellow bastard had to shoot me in the back."

"Wish I could've had it on kill, you fuckin' psycho." Bullock snarled, feeling sufficiently tougher with Tate restrained.

"Okay, that'll do fine, Crewman." Nobles said, he wasn't in the mood for foolishness, much less some eighteen year old kid starting fights and making his simple job hard, "You're both dismissed, he's in my custody now."

"Fine by me." Hill said, getting Nobles to put his thumbprint on his padd, officially transferring custody of Aubrey Tate to Nobles and his team.

As the others left, Nobles stepped to his prisoner, "I apologize for that, Mr. Tate, seems that young man has some growing up to do yet." He began, following with, "I know your sister, actually. We briefly served together in an ad hoc strike team during the Dominion War. She's one hell of an officer, you should be very proud."

Aubrey didn't respond aside from nodding his head, knowing the guy was just trying to get on his good side. He could feel the older man's fear, as though he'd been given the keys to Hell and asked to lock the devil himself away. He looked from side to side, taking in the full picture: over a dozen heavily armed guards, body armor, rifles, the works. It seemed they really wanted to make sure he didn't get away, ~Not like I'm trying.~

Under a helmet in the back, a woman with short brown hair and a wicked smile waited for her chance. Her man wanted Little Brother free, and she intended to make it happen. She stood there thinking about how nice it was of Starfleet to add a woman to the team, and one who looked enough like her for the switch to have gone unnoticed, no less. She'd remembered meeting her semi-double on Risa, plying her with drinks, taking her home, making love to her... She also remembered the girl on her knees hours later, begging for her life to no avail, just a beautiful egg cracked to make this omelette.

"Okay, people, let's move out." Nobles ordered, the team falling in to the left, right, and rear of the prisoner, maintaining perfect zones of control; even the new girl is working out perfectly, Nobles noticed, he'd have to thank Master Chief Rose for getting her for them when Hanks got accepted to OCS and had to leave. The rear hatch on the shuttle dropped in front of them, allowing the pilots to be seen, their discomfort obvious to anyone, it seemed to grow as the prisoner approached, "Ensign Yanami, why don't you get the stasis chamber ready for us, Sir?"

"Uh, yeah, good idea Mr. Nobles." Yanami, a Bolian female, replied, trying to hide her terror at what approached. She'd been added to the team because she could fly a shuttle, or at least be co-pilot, and could monitor the medical stasis chamber that Tate would be transported to Rura Penthe in, ~Why the Hell are they handing him to the Klingons? And why take him off of the Rostov? This can't be good.~

Aubrey looked ahead, seeing everything though he looked at nothing. Nobles was nervous, so was his entire team, but the ones on the shuttle looked like they were about to shit their pants, especially the Bolian girl, ~Wasn't one of Kerri's friends in boot camp a Bolian?~ He tried to remember; yeah, she was Bolian, though he didn't remember her name. She'd come with Kerri once to see him on Mars when he was being treated by Dr. Lee, he thought she and Kerri might have been dating at the time but couldn't be sure. One way or another, she never came back, ~I wonder how many women I've cost Kerri at this point. She'd be better off if I was dead, or at least gone. Her and Jewels both deserve better than being the boogeyman's sister...~

When the prisoner stepped onto the deck of the shuttle, it creaked, causing Lt. JG T.R. Hunter to turn and make eye contact with... it, no way she could consider that monster a human being. She hadn't done anything like this before, but when Uncle Eugene told her they needed a pilot, she volunteered readily, a decision she now questioned, ~Might be the dumbest thing I've ever done.~

"Okay, you guys get him moving into that chamber." Nobles ordered, "It's six hours to Rura Penthe, I want this to go as smoothly as possible." He turned and focused on Tate as he stepped into the stasis tube, "Pleasant dreams, Mr. Tate."

Aubrey again said nothing, nodding in Nobles' direction and walking into the tube without incident, seconds later he was in suspended animation and a threat to nobody.

"See, Teresa, I told you it would be fine." Nobles whispered to Hunter, "Everything's going off without a hitch."

"I know, Uncle Eugene." She replied in a hushed tone, "He just gives me the willies..."

"Just a man, same as any other." He reminded her, patting her shoulder before getting up to return to his team.

The imposter, her helmet still on with the visor down, had taken position on the right of the stasis chamber, another guard posted on the left while that Bolian woman checked the readings, "He out?" She asked, making conversation to avoid arousing suspicion.

"Like a light." Yanami replied, not noticing or maybe not caring about the breach of etiquette the Petty Officer had just committed, ~Be so glad when this is over with.~

The imposter, Angel, watched as the Bolian walked out of the area, she needed to make her move now. Removing her helmet, she reached into her pocket, offering her partner a sugar free mint, "Have one?"

"Sure." Crewman Ryan Reed smiled, taking the offered mint and popping it into his mouth, "Thanks."

"Sorry, they're sugarless." She shrugged, "Diabetic."

"That's okay, Vale, just nice to be thought of." Reed answered sympathetically.

"What are partners for?" She smiled to him, in a few seconds he'd be dead.

As the mint dissolved in his mouth, Reed noticed something was... off about it, and his partner. Vale was supposed to be twenty four, this woman was thirty easily, ~And why does this mint taste so....~ He never finished the thought, Ryan Reed fell dead, four days shy of his twenty first birthday and six months shy of the end of his hitch.

The sounds of the medical equipment muffled the sound of the six foot man hitting the deck, allowing Angel to override the stasis chamber, ~Aubrey will be awake in a few minutes, time to start the show.~ Mustering fake panicked tears, she ran into the main cabin area, "Mister Nobles, something's wrong with Reed!"

Nobles jumped from his chair, motioning for Yanami and two crewman to come with him. Dashing into the stasis room, Nobles found Reed cold and foaming at the mouth, "Yanami, we need you."

Yanami, a nurse by her main mos, dropped to her knees beside Reed, placing a gloved hand against the crewman's carotid artery. A few seconds later, she shook her head, "No."

"Damn." Nobles swore, one of his guys had just died on the mission, and he didn't know why. Stepping back to Hunter, he instructed, "Alert the Rostov, tell them one of our men has died under undetermined circumstances and we're returning immediately."

"What about the prisoner?" She asked, her voice trembling.

"The Klingons can have him later." Nobles sighed, the safety of his team was now paramount, "Until Rostov can get some medical people to us, we're going to have to consider ourselves quarantined, ladies and gentlemen."

Yanami readily agreed with Nobles' decision; even though she and Hunter both outranked him, he was detail commander by orders straight from Paris. Besides that, he was right, ~Maybe that damn prisoner brought us the plague....~ She grumbled to herself, getting ready to go to the cabin again when she realized something was horribly wrong, ~That chamber isn't running...~

Aubrey's eyes opened, he was supposed to be sleeping all the way to Rura Penthe, but he wasn't. His eyes locked on the Bolian woman and he became enraged instantaneously, he couldn't control it. Before he even knew what was happening, he'd picked her up by the back of her neck and slung her into the main cabin area as he emerged from the stasis that wasn't.

The Bolian woman skidded to a stop in front of Angel, her shoulder broken and sticking through the skin. ~Well, looks like Aubrey is up, time to bail.~ Entering a code into her padd, she dropped back as if to grab her weapon and follow the team in to the holding area, though she really had something entirely different planned.

"Something's wrong, everybody form up on me." Nobles ordered, pulling his phaser pistol from his belt and leading the guards into the holding area.

Hunter, focused as she was on her Uncle's team storming into the holding area, didn't notice the shuttle's shields going down. Standing from her seat, she craned her neck to see what was going on, oblivious to the fact that that pretty guard who had posted up with the prisoner was now moving towards the transporters.

Aubrey stepped fully into view, stopping and standing in front of Nobles, having decided it was time to leave or time to die and he no longer gave a damn which.

"Mr. Tate," Nobles began, trying to keep the situation calm, "I need you to return to the stasis chamber immediately."

Aubrey simply stared at him, cocking his head to the right as though to look into the cockpit area.

~My God, he's looking at Teresa.~ Nobles realized, his entire being now filled with terror for his niece's safety, "Mr. Tate, that's an order. These men will fire if you force us to. I've no desire to see you die, Mr. Tate."

Aubrey still silently stared, waiting for them to either fire or move out of his way.

"Alright, men, take your aim." Nobles ordered, "Mr. Tate, per Starfleet Correctional regulations I'm required to give you three verbal commands, and this makes two, return to your stasis chamber."

Angel wanted to laugh, this bordered somewhere between asinine and positively precious, but it was time to go. It was, she reminded herself, also time for the transport team to go. Inputting another set of commands into her padd, she activated the micro transporters on the guards' body armor, beaming them all into the void and herself to her lover's cloaked, waiting ship.

The sounds of a beam out are unmistakable to a veteran of Starfleet, and Nobles instantly recognized it. He turned his head to watch his entire team vanish from the shuttle, "My God..."

The old man had turned his head, that was all Aubrey needed. He slammed his forearm into Nobles' ribs from behind, hearing a sickeningly satisfying crack as a few broke. He got the old man by the collar of his uniform and walked him into the main cabin, slamming his head into the bulkheads several times before dropping him, unconscious or dead, and not caring which.

"Uncle Eugene..." Hunter gasped, sure she had just watched Aubrey Tate murder the uncle who had been like a father to her. Her eyes welled with tears of grief and fright as Tate bore down on her, "Please.... no...." She pled, not realizing she was urinating on herself.

Aubrey stopped for a second, cocking his head first to the left, then the right, before snatching the pilot by her long, red hair and leading her to....

~The escape pod?~ Hunter thought, shock overwhelming her, ~Why would he be taking me here???~ Her head impacted against the back bulkhead knocking her unconscious as she slumped against the pod deck.

Turning from the unconscious pilot he turned his attention back to Nobles, the old man was still breathing, ~Good.~ He thought, lifting him from the floor and depositing him in the pod beside the pilot, returning to lift the Bolian woman by her good shoulder and lead her into the pod beside them.

"Why are you doing this?" Yanami gasped, sweat mixing with blood pouring like a river down the bifurcation of her bald head.

"Tell them I've gone away." He said calmly, "Tell them not to come."

"Tell who?" She pressed, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know and was sure he didn't really want to keep talking.

"Tell my sisters I'm sorry." Aubrey replied, closing the pod door and pressing the launch button, blasting the survivors into space.

He walked to the cockpit, looking it over. He didn't know how to fly, but he knew he could reset the autopilot, let it take him somewhere far from there. The tracker underneath the pilot's main instrument panel would have to go. He reached under the panel and tore it from it's frame, crushing it in his bare hands, doing the same to the override they called the kill switch; he was leaving now, and nothing would stop him.

[Independent Smuggling Vessel Vengeance]

The Ghost, Angel in his lap, watched with great amusement as the thirteen bodies of Nobles' team floated by in the void. He turned to his conn officer, "Beam Miss Vale out there with her teammates, Jax." He commanded, kissing Angel's neck right below the hairline.

Angel, stripped of Vale's uniform and in her bra and panties, giggled a bit as her lover's kiss tingled her neck, "It went perfectly, baby."

"Indeed. You did an excellent job." He congratulated, "Now to bring Little Brother in. Jax, lock the tractor beam onto..."

Before he could finish the command, the shuttle blasted away into warp, destination unknown.

"What the Hell?" Angel shrieked, wondering if she had really gone through all of this for nothing.

"Well, damn." The Ghost swore softly, this was an unexpected complication.

"Baby, what are we gonna..." Angel began, his finger on her lips stopping her.

"We'll find him later." He soothed her, "Just because they can't track him doesn't mean I can't. Remember, Little Brother may be the strongest, but I'm the smartest."

"Okay, baby." Angel sighed, knowing now that her man had a plan in place to retrieve Aubrey, even if he hadn't seen fit to tell her what it was, "But your siblings are becomin' a real pain in the ass."

"Becoming?" He laughed, "Oh, that's right, you're rather new to this family drama." He turned back to the conn officer, "Okay, Jax, on to our next rendevous."

"You got it, boss." Jax replied, thrilled beyond his capacity for reason that his boss hadn't taken Little Brother's joyride out on him.

[Trimbir, Andoria]

Marisol Lopez was on vacation, visiting her cousins and Dola, enjoying time with her 'Andorian Family.' She was lost in a pleasant dream, her head on Saris' shoulder, when her comm rang. She tried to ignore it, wanting to finish this dream about their old place on Arcadia, Still bullshit the way they fired me... The comm kept ringing, whoever it was wasn't going to give up. She sat up and ran her hand through her stylishly short pixie cut, a three thousand credit makeover before they left from Paris, a treat after the 'Marisol Lopez Mysteries' were optioned for a holoseries, as she stumbled to the comm, "This is Lopez..." She answered through a thick fog of exhaustion.

"Marshall Lopez, this is Ramsey..." Agent Ken Ramsey of the Federation Investigative Service said, "I'm sorry to wake you, ma'am, but he's loose."

"He's loose? Who's loose?" Marisol asked, her semi-conscious mind still not fully comprehending what Ramsey was telling her. Then the realization hit her, "You mean Tate? Tate's loose?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Ramsey replied, "Apparently he busted out of stasis during transport..."

"Transport? Why were they transporting him?" She asked, "And beyond that where?"

"They took him from New Zealand a month ago without telling anyone, put him on the Rostov to take him to Rura Penthe." Ramsey informed, "Something happened on Rostov so they sent the Jailbird to pick him up and take him the rest of the way. Marisol, there's fourteen dead and he stole the Jailbird..."

Stole the Jailbird? He doesn't know how to fly. "Okay, I'm on my way to the Rura Penthe region, we'll start tracking him from there..." Marisol began, cut off quickly by Ramsey.

"No, your orders are to go to Vulcan to interview Col. Kerri Tate." Ramsey interjected.

"Why the Hell would I be interviewing Kerri, Ken?" Marisol asked. Since she'd left FIS for the Marshall's service she didn't do investigations anymore, only skip tracking, something she'd mastered with the help of her beloved Saris.

"I only know the orders came from the office of the President." He shrugged, the whole thing seemed ludicrous to him as well, especially with them having literally the entire FIS Behavorial Analysis Team ready to go, "They only want you, Marisol, you need to leave for Vulcan asap."

"Understood." She nodded, though she smelled bullshit here, "Lopez out."

As the FIS logo vanished from the screen, Marisol turned her attention back to Saris, "Saris, mi amor, I need you to wake up." She sighed, "We've got to go."

"I heard", Saris said, sitting up and stretching. "I swear, if I get a shot on him this time, I will shoot to kill." She was beyond the point of caring what it was that made Aubrey Tate so dangerous, why he seemed to enjoy killing so much. And, of course, she didn't know it hadn't actually been his doing this time. The tall Andorian got to her feet and pulled Marisol along. "Time for a decent shower and breakfast before we have to beam out of here, at least?"

"Of course." She replied, taking Saris' hand as they headed for the shower, "Baby, none of this seems right. Every element of this is wrong somehow."

"I agree", Saris said. "Kerri can't help us. We're going the wrong way."

"No." Marisol shook her head, stating with unwavering conviction, "We're being sent the wrong way. Deliberately. The questions now are who and why."

"I foresee days of travelling where we're doing nothing but crawling through databases", Saris sighed.

"Well, not nothing but crawling through databases." Marisol said with a naughty wink, "All work and no play makes Saris a dull girl, after all."

[Shuttle Tolliver aka The Jailbird]

After eight hours at high warp, Aubrey disengaged the drive and brought the shuttle to a stop. He had no idea where he was, nor how far he had gone from the place he left, much less where he was going. Wherever he was going, he'd decided, he was going to have a new life, away from everybody, somewhere even Marisol Lopez would never think to look for him.

While his incarceration and the circumstances of his upbringing had denied him much formal education, Aubrey was not a dummy by an stretch, and he could definitely read a chart. Bringing up stellar cartography he scrolled through systems he could reach before his supply of fresh food ran out, from the looks of things about a month and a half from that moment. He spent the next several hours looking over various planets, looking for his new home but they all seemed to not work for some reason or other: some were too populated, some had the wrong atmosphere, some were too inhospitable, some he couldn't reach before his supplies ran out.

Sipping a bottle of water and eating a banana, he continued looking over the charts until his eye landed on a familiar name, ~I've heard of this place.~ He remembered, though nothing he had heard had been anything good, ~Out of Federation jurisdiction, I can reach it in twenty four days.~ He called up historical data on the planet, though it was many decades out of date, finding some large swathes of deserted scrub land that might suit his needs, ~Convert this shuttle into a house basically, live out the rest of my life in peace. Yeah, the place is pretty much Hell, but I'm the boogeyman, it's perfect. Nobody will ever think to look for me there, and they can't come there even if they wanted to.~

He finished his banana and found something more substantial to eat, setting the autopilot for his new destination. After having a meal and showering he settled down in the crew area, watching a holo-vid and thankful he had so many of them available, twenty four days was a long ride, but worth it for a new home.

[Four days later, Vulcan]

Marisol Lopez walked into the foyer of the Federation Embassy, fulfilling her orders to speak to Kerri Tate, stopped just after entry by the Ambassador's aide, "Miss, I'm going to need you to step aside, I'm here on business from the Marshall's Service." Marisol began, presenting the padd with orders from Paris to question Colonel Tate to her, "Everything is in order..."

"Marshall Lopez, hi, Lt. Stafford." Rebecca began, trying hard not to act star struck or say something stupid like 'You're even more beautiful in person' or, triad forbid, ask for an autograph, ~Ambassador Zhukov would kill me~ "Ma'am, with all due respect, the Ambassador has asked me to inform you that until such time as Embassy legal has reviewed your request and our injunctions have been filed and ruled upon you will not be admitted to speak to Col. Tate."

"Really?" Marisol laughed, "She said that? In those words?"

"Actually, Marshall Lopez, she said, and this is a direct quote, 'Tell that sleaze mongering bitch that she'll be sun bathing on Rura Penthe before she'll let you railroad Col. Tate or make any more dirty money off of her family's tragedy." Rebecca quoted, "She also told me to tell you to piss off, ma'am."

Marisol laughed and turned to Saris, "Looks like the Ambassador is finally warming up to me." She laughed, turning back to Stafford, "That wasn't even as caustic as her opinion of my last book; that was a roast for the ages." She stopped and sighed, it did bother her that Ambassador Zhukov, who she admired so much, thought of her as basically the literary equivalent of a vole, but she wasn't going to let it show, "You know, it is funny that she mentioned Rura Penthe though. Makes you wonder if she knew that Kerri's brother was being moved there."

"Ma'am?" Rebecca stopped dead, there was no way she'd heard that correctly, ~Why would they be moving a Federation citizen to a Klingon prison planet? No matter what he did...~ "One moment, please, Marshall Lopez."

Marisol watched as the younger woman scurried off, no doubt to talk to Kerri and Zhukov, turning to Saris, "And now we wait." She shrugged, knowing Zhukov would keep her waiting for as long as she felt she could, "And no looking at her ass, Saris, even if it is way better than mine." She added with a chuckle.

"I doubt that", Saris replied, her remark as dry as the world they had been sent to on that wild goose chase. Saris did not like to be on Vulcan, and it showed. "We're wasting our time here, and I haven't got several centuries, like those Vulcans do."

Kerri Tate stepped through the double doors, Stafford right behind her, "Well, hello Marisol." She said as she embraced her former nemesis warmly, even if she couldn't get the Queen to believe that she and the detective were actually friends now, ~No.~ Kerri reminded herself, ~Family.~ Ever since the day Juan and Amanda married, though their past animosities had been buried long beforehand, "Nice new cut, princess." She turned to Stafford, "You should've seen her when we met, Rebecca, hiding her face behind a curtain of butt length hair. I think she just liked to pile it on her head to appear taller, to be honest."

"Then should we maybe suggest that tactic to the Ambassador's niece, Colonel?" Rebecca laughed, remembering having to adjust Lt. Cdr. Brett's chair to fit her when she took over the job, ~It was almost over the desktop.~

"Not enough hair to help that dwarf." Kerri laughed, "Saris, you're looking great. But, I guess we're not here to catch up on old times are we?" ~Nope, they sent her here from Andoria, this is bad.~

"As much as I'd enjoy meeting you under better circumstances", Saris started, "our situation is this." And she briefly narrated what they knew. She left nothing out, and included her misgivings about being made to travel to Vulcan, instead of where they needed to go.

"He killed all those heavily armed and armored guards by himself?" Kerri asked, that didn't seem right. Yes, Aubrey was probably the strongest man she'd ever seen, capable of snapping even a Klingon's powerful neck like a twig, but when he was swarmed, he was definitely vulnerable, she remembered how much he struggled against Vasquez and Dola chi-Trei during her rescue... "And somehow stole a shuttle?" ~When the hell did my brother learn to fly? And, more importantly, where?~

"That's just one of the many things that don't add up." Marisol shook her head, "And the fact that they won't let me talk to any of the survivors is setting off all sorts of klaxons."

"How many survivors was it again?" Kerri asked, wanting to be sure on the numbers.

"Three: Lt. JG Teresa Hunter, Ens. Yanami, and Master Chief Warrant Officer Eugene Nobles." Marisol answered, seeing Kerri's expression change, "You know someone there?"

"Gene Nobles, he was my CO during the War..." She remembered, thinking back to the day when Corporal, acting Sergeant, Tate was assigned to Special Operations Section 14-Hotel under Chief Warrant Officer Nobles, "Haven't seen him in years. Why didn't Aubrey take him out?" ~With his skills Gene would even be a huge threat to Aubrey...~

"The only thing I know is that someone wants to keep us away from the investigation, and has sent us here so we'd be useless", Saris said. "To what end, I cannot say. And while the trip here was pleasant, we're not making any progress."

Suddenly a clatter arose outside, sending Stafford and Marisol to the windows to look down on the assemblage of reporters below, "Oh, God damn it!" Stafford cursed, this could not possibly be good.

Marisol looked at Kerri, stunned, "I don't... did you?" She couldn't even form a cogent question at that moment, but she hoped her friend could translate.

"No, she didn't." Zhukov said as she strode into the room, turning to Marisol, "And I don't think you did, either. No..." She shook her head, then recapped, "Orders from Paris sending you four days at maximum warp in the wrong direction followed by hundreds of reporters to chronicle your arrival, no. I smell Grogan..."

Outside the Embassy gates, a tidal wave of yellow journalism had crashed on it's once quiet shores, as quiet literally hundreds of reporters, nearly three hundred, from various news organizations, had come to see the latest installment of one of the most captivating stories of the last three decades. "Analise Evans, FNN, here at the Embassy of..." began one, "Craig Billoit, Inside Edition, and I have just arrived at the Vulcan Embassy where Federation Marshall and former captor of Aubrey Tate, Marisol..." another continued, "Lopez is believed to be here to place Col. Kerri Tate, the brother of serial killer Aubrey Tate under arrest for aiding..." a third spewed, "Escape, during which Tate murdered fourteen Starfleet security personnel and stole their transport..."

"Rebecca, go handle that." Zhukov shook her head, the stench of Grogan was becoming overpowering, ~I will get that son of a bitch for this. Might have to rely on Patricia Cornball over there for help though.~ "Actually, no, Rebecca, go down there with the Marshalls as security and representation of the Embassy but, if you don't mind, I would prefer Marshall Lopez to do the talking. She can dispel this bullshit faster than anything we can do, couldn't you, dear?"

Marisol, also no fool, knew the old woman was hustling her, but she was more than willing to help, in this case not only did she agree, but they seemed to have a mutual enemy, someone who had wasted four days of her life for some three ring shit show and she was just flat out pissed. "The enemy of my enemy." Marisol nodded, motioning for Saris and Stafford to come with her.

[Fifteen Minutes Later]

Marisol stood in front of a crushing mass of reporters, wishing she was literally anywhere else, but ready to do her duty, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'll deliver a short statement and answer a few questions at this time." Marisol began, "I'm Chief Deputy Federation Marshall for Fugitive Recovery Marisol Lopez, and..."

"Craig Billoit, Inside Edition," A reporter with hair that looked like it could deflect a photon torpedo interjected, "Have you already placed Colonel Tate under arrest, Marshall Lopez?"

"No, Mr. Billoit, I've not arrested anybody...." Marisol began, cut off by Billoit again.

"Is Ambassador Zhukov interfering in your attempts to bring Col. Tate into custody?" He pressed.

"No, there has been no attempt to interfere with my duties and Amb. Zhuk..." She found the pushy reporter cutting her off again.

"Why have you not effected an arrest, Marshall Lopez?" He threw in quickly, "Do you plan on arresting Eugene Nobles as well?"

"We don't arrest victims, Mr. Billoit." Marisol replied tersely, attempting to move to someone else, "Mr. Chang..."

"Scoop Chang, Beijing Bugle, thank you, Marshall Lopez." He began, he'd always been very friendly towards Marisol; she was a nice person and she always made for a good story, no reason to make a pate out of the goose that laid the golden eggs, "Do you have any idea where Aubrey Tate will go?"

"No." She shook her head in frustration, knowing she was a damn near a week in the wrong direction, "Though I have requested the Marshalls send a Fugitive Recovery Team to the former Federation colony of Toriachade where he grew up."

"Oona, Ferenginar Galactic and Trader, Why aren't you or Marshall ne-Tron heading to Toriachade with the FRT, Marshall Lopez?" A Ferengi woman queried.

"We were ordered here by the President and the Chief Federation Marshall." Marisol answered, "My job isn't to question my orders, it's to follow them. Next question."

"Cara Starfire, Style Weekly, that's a very hot new cut, Marisol, who's responsible?" The woman, who looked to be all of eighteen and worked for some vapid fashion mag asked.

"Are you serious?" Marisol groaned, "I'll send you her card, she's a miracle worker."

"Hey, I'm not doing her hair", Saris interjected, which drew some laughter from the crowd and briefly lightened the mood.

"Much like the miracle where a serial killer's is somehow being transferred by his sister's, a suspect in his previous escape's, former war buddy leading the transport team and he somehow breaks out of stasis, Marshall?" Billoit again, making everyone stop and focus on him.

"Mr. Billoit, I would advise you not to be throwing around such... baseless conspiracy theories without proof." Marisol shook her head, she'd rather be answering follow up questions about conditioner for Cara Starfire than listen to this guy for another second.

"Marshall Lopez, you can not deny any of these facts, and you can't shut your eyes to the fact that Ambassador Zhukov is harboring the mastermind of The Sandman's escape in that embassy behind you." Billoit hurled another accusation, hoping he could get Lopez angry enough to lose it on film, it would make for great footage, "Have you searched for Aubrey Tate in the Embassy, Marshall Lopez?"

Marisol looked to the side, seeing that cute Lieutenant about to go knock Billoit on his pompous ass, and, though she wanted to let her since he really had it coming, she motioned for Rebecca to stop, "Mr. Billoit, that is ridiculous and I won't even honor it with a reply."

"Does Zhukov know?" Billoit fired again, "Or has age and mental infirmity rendered her easily manipulated?"

Marisol didn't reply, though she had now taken Rebecca Stafford's hand to save her career, whispering "NO!" emphatically to the angry Marine, then wondering if Saris was about to lose her shit over there, too?

"Do you actually even want to capture Aubrey Tate, Marshall Lopez?" Billoit called her attention back to him, "Or does the spike in book sales caused by him being on the loose motivate you to drag your feet on his recapture?"

Saris raised her voice, something that came natural to an Andorian in many circumstances, and as such she had the presence to make herself heard. "We are here to answer serious questions about the case, we are not willing to entertain suggestions of breaking the law by searching an embassy, arresting ambassadorial staff without proof or listen to a reporter who hasn't done his homework accuse Federation dignitaries of the same shortcomings he feels deep within his own troubled mind. I call this press conference to order, or I shall call it off. Your choice."

Inside the Embassy, Zhukov, watching the press conference on FNN, turned to one of her many communications staff, "Janet, be a lamb and pull that jackass's credentials for the Embassy, dear."

"Happily, ma'am." Janet replied, carrying out the order from her padd, ~He's ripping Marshall Lopez apart out there, maybe letting her speak was a bad idea.~

Back outside Marisol had begun once again to make her planned statement, "We were sent to assist FIS by interviewing Colonel Tate, not to arrest her as she is not a suspect..."

"How is she not a suspect?" Billoit interjected again, "You yourself were so convinced she aided his last escape that you sacrificed two Bajoran deputies in an attempt to arrest her for it."

"This press conference is over." Marisol sighed, she was done dancing for this jackass.

"So are you a fraud or merely incompetent, Marshall Lopez?" Billoit yelled over the sounds of the others as Marisol walked away, "How much are you making from Aubrey Tate, Marshall? If you let him run long enough you might be able to write another book..."

Saris stayed a moment longer. "Mr Billoit, it is your tabloid journalism that gives the press a bad name in some circles. At least her books contain the truth. Hold yourself to the same standard, we'll talk again." She looked at the others and shrugged. "Sorry, we'd love to tell you more, maybe if you can convince your colleague to play by the rules?" She didn't expect them to come together and bring him into line, but they might come together without him at least.

"Damn." Zhukov said as she watched Marisol, Saris, and Rebecca walking back into the embassy; that Billoit hadn't torn her to shreds like he was trying, but he definitely had created enough suspicion of an ongoing criminal conspiracy to ensure it would be the top headline on the news everywhere tonight.

Kerri stepped forward and presented the Ambassador with a padd, "Madam Ambassador, this is for you."

"What is it?" Zhukov sighed, not sure if she was able to deal with another problem at that moment.

"It's my resignation, ma'am." Kerri replied, "Both of my commission and my position here, effective immediately..."

-OFF

 

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