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Post by Amy81 on Mar 3, 2005 6:43:59 GMT -6
"Captain Suttir, huh?" Abby asked, nodding again at the guard. "Sure. Why not? Life goes on, right?" She made the effort to add a laugh, but not much came of it.
The guard spoke in a low voice into his comm, then pointed toward the door. "This way, m'am".
"What was that all about?" Abby asked.
"Just letting security know we are on the move, and where we are headed."
"Oh" Abby said in reply. As they left medlab out one door, she caught a glimpse of Colonel Charybdis heading out a different door. When the time came, she hoped he'd understand the decision she'd have to make. The only one she could make regarding Amy...
Her train of thought was disrupted by the guard, who'd brought her back to the security office. She wondered if Urdea might be here, but she didn't see him as she was led to a different room.
"For reasons of security" the guard said, "we'll be monitoring your conversation. Making sure it's not being tapped, that sort of thing."
"I understand" Abby said with a sigh. She sat down at a desk, and in microns was connected to the Agro ship.
The conversation was as brief as Abby could make it. She accepted the Captain's regrets on the loss of her family, and then it was her turn to calm Captain Suttir down, give him instructions, and assure him that everything would be fine.
She ended the conversation, and sat back, rubbing her temples. "I have one hades of a headache" she said. She turned toward the guard. "And to think, I was going to give up farming. Now I'm stuck having to run the whole fracking thing..." She shook her head slowly and closed her eyes. "I don't know" she said softly, "I just don't know anymore..."
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Post by Amy81 on Mar 3, 2005 10:22:51 GMT -6
Abby sat in silence for a few microns before looking up at the guard. He'd tried to look away, but Abby knew he'd been looking at her. Probably just feels awkward, Abby thought. Well, I feel awkward too.
"Is there a turboflush around here?" she asked. "I need to use the little girl's room."
The guard reacted slightly before trying to cover it up. He spoke again quietly into his comm, listened to the reply, then spoke again. What was being said was beyond Abby's hearing range.
"Must we issue a fleet wide alert for me to use a little girl's room?" Abby asked. She stood up, and got close enough to hear the guards conversation.
"Maybe send a female guard then" the voice from the comm cackled through the device, "considering what happened to..."
"Yes" the guard said, cutting the voice off.
"What is going on?" Abby asked, her voice slightly angry. "I don't need a companion in a turboflush. And I can find it myself, thank you." With that, she walked past the guard and out of the room.
The guard scurried after her as she walked down the hall, and he still was whispering into his comm when Abby reached the turboflush door marked 'women' and entered, the door shutting on the guard just as he reached it.
Inside, Abby leaned back against the closed door, enjoying the silence. Enjoying the solitude. She glanced around the room, at the sink, the stalls, the bleak lighting, and her reflection in the mirror opposite her. The silence seemed comforting at first, but then it started to surround her, closing in.
She started thinking. Of Elmer. Of Amy. Urdea. Lost dreams, broken dreams, things that never were and things that never would be.
And it all came pouring out, a physical jolt that weakened Abby's legs and forced her to cry out as she sagged to her knees. And she knelt there alone, crying so hard she felt the pain as it rose to the surface....
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Post by Amy81 on Mar 5, 2005 22:26:11 GMT -6
As part of their search for Major Brie, Boleman, Jared and Enoch entered medlab, with Boleman heading to the receptionist's desk. After a moment, he turned and pointed to which room Amy's was. Then he turned back around to talk to the nurse.
Jared and Enoch fanned out, approaching Amy's room with caution. They stopped at either side of the doorway, then entered slowly. It took only a moment to see that nobody was in the room other than Amy.
"Brie's not here" Jared said.
Enoch didn't reply, but walked over to the life support unit. "So this is the little tease everybody gets their shorts in a knot over."
Jared walked over and peered in. "Guess so."
"Not that I'd kick her out or anything" Enoch continued, reaching down to touch her hair, "but I've seen better."
Jared grabbed his arm. "Don't do that."
Enoch laughed a little. "She's not going to feel it. She's dead anyway. All that's left to do is pull the plug."
"Still, leave her alone."
Enoch looked at Jared closer. "Somebody getting his shorts in a knot?" He laughed, then shook his head. "Jeez, it's not like I felt her up or anything."
"No one has been here" came a voice from behind them.
They both stood up, spinning around as if caught doing something they shouldn't. Boleman looked at both of them suspiciously. "Keep an eye on the room" he said. "From OUTSIDE the room. Stay out of sight. In case Brie tries to get in there, we'll have her trapped."
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Post by LucianG on Mar 8, 2005 6:17:14 GMT -6
“He was somewhat…zealous…wasn’t he?” said Urdea. “Just in case, we probably ought to contact Lt. Colonel Rees about this. He may want to send some extra security officers to the Agro Ship until we get this resolved.”
“Do you really want to bring him in about this?” asked Proteus with a scowl. “He’s been much more agreeable since being promoted to fleet-wide head of Fleet Security, but many of us remember how he used to be, and rumor has it that he still has it in for Colonel Starbuck and some of the other Warriors.”
At that moment, the ship-wide alert for former Major Brie was sounded. Urdea checked his chrono as he activated all Security Officers not on current active assignments. Then, he contacted Lt. Colonel Rees….
* * *
A short time after the initial message was sent, a reply was received. To the casual reader, it was an innocuous message from a friend. The real message was decipherable only with the one time use cipher that he quickly applied. To Number One, that message spelled trouble. The bosses of The Organization, the umbrella group for the individual underworld and black market groups that made life near bearable in the Fleet, or near unbearable, depending on one’s perspective, had actually approved Number Two’s plan, with a provision. It was to be a singular operation, instituted if, in the opinion of the operative, there was a chance of success. If it failed, Number Two was to be permanently released from service...any service. Number One was silent as he sent
In addition, there was also mention of another operation by an unaffiliated group. Unfortunately, there were no significant details, so it was unknown if this group’s purposes coincided with or conflicted with those of The Organization. Therefore, The Organization’s operatives were ordered not to interfere at that time, but not to assist either.
* * *
Lieutenant Atropas was tired and on an active assignment, but she wanted to know what was happening, so she made her way to the Bridge for the assignment. Since she had been supervising Lieutenant Wheran in the lab, she made him shut down the investigation work, and he went along with her.
“We’re going for this meeting, but keep your eyes open. We most likely have a murderer running around on the Callisto right now, and anything we overlook might allow him or her to get away,” said Atropas as they walked together. “If that happens, I’m going to be really ticked.”
“Me, too,” said Wheran, hoping they’d be able to find and nail the perpetrator of the bloody crime.
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Post by LucianG on Mar 8, 2005 11:40:05 GMT -6
The crowd was far too large for the Commander’s Ready Room, so some of the Warriors and Security Officers milled around on the Bridge while the order to search for Brie was given. As the crowd began to thin out, Atropas said to Wheran, “While we’re here, I’m going to see if there are any clues around here. While I’m checking with the staff, why don’t you look around. Don’t forget to check the trash and recycle receptacles, too.”
Atropas moved off to speak with Captain Swensson, while Wheran started looking around….
* * *
A little later, Atropas returned as Wheran was going through yet another group of receptacles, this one near the Command Station. “Any luck?” she asked.
At that moment, Wheran looked up with a grin. “Got it! Lieutenant Atropas, tell me, why would this be in there?” he asked, holding up a laser combo blade screen with the large tweezers in his gloved hands. He lowered his voice as he said to her, “Can anyone say, goodbye and good riddance, Colonel?” He dropped the screen into a plastic bag and sealed it.
Atropas gave a thin smile and said, “We’d better go see the Captain….”
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Post by LucianG on Mar 10, 2005 6:58:54 GMT -6
Urdea sat in silence for a full centon after listening to Wheran’s description of the discovery of the screen. Fingerprint analysis had found Elmer’s prints on the screen, as well as a smudged print of someone else. By extrapolative rotation, Wheran had shown the smudged print to be that of Colonel Charybdis. Wheran was grinning broadly at the prospect of making the biggest arrest of his career.
“Sir, do you want me to bring him in for questioning?” asked Wheran.
“No, not yet. Let me look over everything before we do. I’ve got a few concerns that need to be resolved before we make any accusations,” replied the Captain thoughtfully, who had just learned that two of his officers were also missing in addition to the disappearance of former Major Brie. “Get some rest, Lieutenant Wheran. I’ll speak with you at the beginning of the next shift.”
As Wheran left his office, Urdea checked on the search effort, and found that all three people were still missing. With the search effort coordinated as much as possible, the nagging in his mind returned. He picked up the photos of Elmer's death scene and looked through them, picture by picture, once more. About a third of the way through the stack, he stopped. Flipping back and forth over a series of several photos, he paused again, and then turned to his computer monitor. Moments later, the photos began to appear on his screen.
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Post by Amy81 on Mar 10, 2005 10:08:09 GMT -6
Abby knelt on the turboflush floor, her body leaning forward so far that her head nearly touched the floor. She took in raspy, heaving breaths, having exhausted herself as she'd let all her grief come rushing out. She'd thrown up, and the smell of it mixed with other faint turboflush odors made her almost want to do it again. The taste in her mouth didn't help.
The security guard on the other side of the door had kept knocking, kept asking if she was okay, but she'd kept the door blocked with her body and had screamed some pretty awful replies to him when she had the breath too. She knew he'd done nothing wrong, and was probably torn between trying to respect her privacy and his duty to keep her from harm. After a while, he'd just stop asking, but she could hear that he was still there.
"M'am? Are you okay in there?" A new voice this time. A womans voice.
Abby sat up, brushed back her hair with both hands, and stared up at the ceiling. "Please, leave me alone" she replied. Her voice sounded tired and strange to her.
"M'am", the woman replied through the door, "I'm sorry but I can't do that. I need to see that you are okay." She tried the door but Abby still had it blocked. "Please move away from the door?"
Abby sighed, lowering her head back down, her arms across her stomach. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the gentle bumping of the door as the guard tried again to open it...
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