alt.starfleet.rpg

TASK FORCE SIERRA

----------------
Old Habits
Post by Alan M Rogers (CDR Alric St Clair)
----------------
MD: 8.1705
SCENE: planetside
----------------

Alric took a step away from Katrina as she chatted
with Ning in an admirably casual way.  He stared
across the street, and the other man stared back at
him.

Reid gave him a mock bow and smiled.  Neither looked
away.

He felt Katrina come up behind him.  "Who you staring
at, lover?"

Half his mouth curled into a mirthless smile.  "We may
have just been made.  That man knows me."

Casually, he reached into his black leather trenchcoat
and pulled out a cigar.  With a deft gesture with his
other hand, he produced a slender razor and cut it.
Another flick of the same hand produced a small
lighter.

He puffed the cigar to life and unobtrusively took
Katrina's hand to lead her away.

"Come on gorgeous.  We've got an appointment to keep."

Katrina grinned.  "Gorgeous, is it, now?"

Alric shrugged as he breathing out smoke.  "Thought it
was better than, 'kitten'."

Katrina's blue eyes narrowed sharply.  "Oh yeah.  Much
better.  You're a smart man, St Clair."

"So they tell me."  He glanced around as they walked.
"I shouldn't be surprised this backwater shithole
would attract his caliber, but it certainly seems
everyone and their grandmother wants the chance to
prowl around the back alleys of such a lovely cosmic
latrine."

Primus shook her head and leaned her head against his
arm; no need to give up the pretense just yet.  "Such
colorful language for an educated man.  Now, expand on
this 'we may have been made' comment you so casually
dropped."

Katrina was getting the feeling St Clair was a master
of the fine art of casual understatement.

"For one, he's a very unhygenic person with atrocious
eating habits and horrible taste in women."

Katrina rolled her eyes.  "And?"

Alric dropped the rakish act.  "He's a cannibal who
bathes in blood and likes his women substantially
younger than most people consider properly nubile.
His is one of the few cults I wasn't ever able to
bring down...they follow a warped version of old Earth
Nazi occultism and Asatru -- Norse -- religious
practices."  Alric savored the cigar for a moment.
"He knows me as a SECIS agent...and he knows me well
enough to know I'm probably not here for my health.
Personally, Reid is a tracer, like I technically am.
We're competitors on top of everything else."

"I see."  Katrina said.  "Who does he work for?"

Alric looked back at her.  "Usually?  The Tal'shiar."

"That's great news.  Could he be here on his own?"

Alric shook his head.  "Doubtful.  He's not the type.
He's been hired by someone...and he probably likes how
easy it is to make people dissapear around here."

She sighed.  "You realize we can't report this?  Ning
just told me we're being monitored somehow."

Alric sighed.  "This just gets better and better,
doesn't it?"

"What's your plan?"

Alric grinned.  "Ever played cat and mouse?"

----------------

Respectfully submitted,

~alan m rogers
masterofwords@...
CDR Alric St Clair
XO TASK FORCE SIERRA
GOLD fleet

8.1703
Eastern Section of City
Alleyway
----------

" Turn around nice and easy," Cherenkov muttered to
the man he held at phaser point.

" Ah come on now why we gotta go through this crap
huh? I'm just a K'tarian trying to live my life."
The man turned towards Cherenkov and grinned, he could
tell that at one point in his life the man had
attractive but years of hard drug usage had made his
looks fade away.

Cherenkov slowly lowered the phaser, keeping it out of
sight, but not out of reach. "Do you have a death
wish? It's not wise to follow somebody in a place like
this."

Shortly afterwards, Prince came around the corner to
see Cherenkov and his mystery guest talking in the
recessed doorway.

" Problem?" JP asked curiously, his two phasers raised
ready.

"No problem. At least, not yet.  Now keep your wits
about you, kid. Cover up them firesticks." The gunny
quietly but firmly barked at the young man.

*Kid came in a little too strong there." Cherenkov
thought to himself. Taking another puff of his
cigarette, Cherenkov quickly motioned their new friend
over towards an alleyway. "Now, why would you have
been following me, friend?" He said.

" Don't know what your talking about." The K'tarian
smirked. Prince moved quickly over to the K'tarian and
smashed the phaser into his gut, dropping the K'tarian
to his knees.

Coughing violently the K'tarian waved his arms in
surrender. " Get your friend away from me."

He gasped," Keep that crazy terran away from me I'll
talk."

Grabbing the K'tarian by the scruff of his coat,
Cherenkov lifted him off of his feet. The muscles in
his arms tightened, hinting at the fact that he came
from a higher-gravity world than earth. "I think you
have it wrong. He's the good cop, I'm the bad cop. I
can keep him away from you if you want, but I'm a
little meaner, but a little more subtle at it too."

Cherenkov watched the K'tarian's eyes grow wide with a
brief hint of fear, realizing his mistake. As Pietro
shoved him up against the wall, a little rougher than
JP had thought possible, he heard a burst of air
escape from his lips.

"Now, what is it that you were going to say?"
Cherenkov said with an evil grin in his eyes as he
looked down at the slumped form of the K'tarian. JP
had taken up a slightly casual stance, keeping his eye
on the pair, and also down to the end of the alleyway.

" Sh*t, that had to hurt." Prince laughed. He leaned
against the wall to get a better view of the show
" Start talking...that's a big mutha to piss off."
John smirked clearly entertained with the events
taking place.

" I don't know anything.",The K'tarian gasped.

" Dumb answer. Gunny..." Prince nodded his head giving
Cherenkov the go ahead to do with the man as he deemed
fit to motivate him to talk.

Kneeling down to look the K'tarian in the eye,
Cherenkov grinned. "You want to know why they call me
gunny? It's because these fists are registered as
dangerous weapons." Grabbing the man's waistband, he
lifted him back up off the ground again. "Somehow, I
don't exactly doubt it." The K'tarian answered.

John snickered to himself.

The K'tarian looked down on the pair again. "Okay...
Okay... Okay... I'll talk.. this time for real." He
said.

Cherenkov unceremoniously dropped the man on the
ground. "This time you had better be for real.
Otherwise, you might make me angry. And, you won't
like me when I'm angry." Cherenkov said, snorting out
the last words.

John laughed to himself, he couldn't help but think that it was
rather comedic. He was going to enjoy working with Cherenkov, he was
big mean and full of bad movie quotes.

" You won't like me when I'm angry." He laughed to himself.


JP by-

JP Balzen
Cherenkov

and

R. McKamie
Prince

TASK FORCE SIERRA: The Tangled Web
by Chris Hatch

<<<nrpg - this post is relevant to what will come in the future, please read
further nrpg's at end!>>>

MD 09.1300
Location: Daltak Building, Koorad IV

     "He sacked me," exclaimed former Prime Minister Kosyan.  "He sacked all
of us!"

     The gathered ensemble nodded collectively.  "Yes, yes he did that."
"Dreadful."  "Shocking, it's an outrage."  "How could he," were some of the
myriad of replies.

     "And appointing Khatenk, well the mans a fool.  A imbecile, how he ever
rose to the position he was in is a mystery, but to be Prime Minister.
Bah!"

     The ensemble shook their heads in collective agreement.  Khatenk was no
Kosyan that was for sure.  Whatever Premier Damar Putan had been thinking
when he had decided to sack his entire government, live on a holo show, was
a mystery to all the people gathered in this room.

     It was not however a mystery to some people in a different room.



Location: Office of the Premier of Koorad

     The Koorad system was made up of seven planets orbiting a single star.
Three of the planets were capable of supporting life, Koorad III, IV and V.
Koorad III was a pleasure planet used mainly as a resort.  It maintained a
toasty thirty five to forty degree temperature throughout the year.  The
downside was it had problems supporting itself, a lack of naturally
occurring water meant that all its supplies had to be shipped in from Koorad
V.

     Koorad V was the poor relation of the system.  Further from the sun it
was left cool, dark and wet for most of the year.  Only for a period of 50
days each cycle did it get near enough to the sun to have anything
approaching a summer.

     That left Koorad VI as the most habitable planet.  The temperature was
pleasant, the climate balanced and the people agreeable.

     Damar Putan was the Premier of all the Koorad system and he had been
elected three cycles ago.  This according to the Koorad constitution meant
he was up for re-election.  He had been elected as a reformist, and reform
he had.  The old state laws had been brushed aside, he had given his people
freedoms that had been denied by previous administrations and the people
were happy.  There was no doubt in any ones mind that he would win this
election.  There was no doubt that it would be a landslide.

     "I did the right thing," Putan affirmed hoping that if he said it enough
times he would fully believe it.

     Acting Prime Minister Khatenk attempted to give a reassuring smile.
"Yes Sir, based on what you've told me you had no choice."

     "But, should I tell the people?  They have a right to know," asked
Putan.  "And how about the Baraknor government, I should tell them."

     "No, no Sir you shouldn't."  This answer came from a small spectacled
man standing near the corner of the room.  "You should not tell any of those
people anything.  The information needs to stay within this office and the
security agencies."

     "You know Giellun, I think your right.  Hell you're always right.  I'm
one lucky guy to have you as my Chief of Staff."

     Giellun Barel gave a gracious smile.  "Thank you, Sir.  It's my pleasure
to serve you in this, and your next, term.  With Kosyan out of office he is
going to find it harder to carry out his illicit business without the
protection of his position."

     "The Romulans won't be liking that then."

     Baral nodded.  "No Sir, none of the people involved will like it.  And
if our sources are correct he has become the middleman between people you
would rather avoid."



MD 09.1630
Location: Daltak Building, Koorad IV

     [I hear there has been a change in your situation.]

     Kosyan took a step closer to the viewscreen.  "Yes there has.  I'm no
longer the Prime Minister or part of the government.  However I am still a
political representative of the people, so I can guarantee to you that our
business relationship will carry on unaffected."

     [I am glad to hear that,] replied the Romulan on the viewscreen.  [It
would have been unfortunate for you if it was otherwise.  I have details of
a shipment, they are being uploaded now.]

     "I see," Kosyan tapped away at a console.  "That should be no problem.
Inform your people to make the delivery to these coordinates.  Do you have
details of the collection as well?"

     [Ernie will contact you.  You will receive a coded transmission from him
where he will specify the pickup details.  As always you will receive half
the latinium on delivery and the rest after a successful collection.]

     "Fine, until next time," he closed the channel.  But how many more times
could there be.  Without the power to control the security forces he could
not guarantee success any longer.

     Perhaps it was time to get out.  If only there was a way.


Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard S Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra

<<<<nrpg>>>>
I'm sure you can all put together how the weapons are getting to Baraknor
III!

Now would anyone like to do a JP, I'm in the mood for one or two and it
would be a good chance to get this mission rocking.  Drop me a line if you
are.

Cheers,
Chris

TASK FORCE SIERRA: Watchers Watching, Finders Finding
by Chris Hatch

MD 08.1900

<<<<view 1>>>>

     "Are you sure?"

     "Absolutely, it's him.  Look over there, in that cafe," the Roumulan
nodded in the direction of the cafe Kutis.  It was well known as a popular
venue for the middle classes of Yadalla Prime.  The food was hot and spicy,
the service was prompt and the whole place had a trendy image.

     "Are you sure th'Taln?" the other Romulan was uncertain.  "Shouldn't he
be like, hiding?"

     "Hey, it's not our fault he's stupid.  Perhaps he got bored with ration
packs and wanted a nice Pathia," replied th'Taln.  "The th's do it again eh.
th'Taln and th'Hakn find their man."

     th'Hakn gave his collegue a sideways look.  "Yeah, whatever."

     "Don't be so dismissive.  sh'Uleart will be well impressed with us when
we bring this guy in.  This could be our ticket to bigger things!"

     "Shall we call it in then, get the squad in to secure the area?"

     th'Taln shook his head.  "Let's watch him first, see what he's up to, we
may be able to get him in on our own," he replied beginning to grin.  The
future looked pretty rosy from th'Talns point of view.



<<<<view 2>>>>

     "Well bugger me, Romulans," muttered Welch.

     The Tellerite scratched his nose.  It always seemed to itch when there
was trouble around and he could tell that these two Romulans were out to
cause him some.  It was the way they stood there, glancing nervously across
the square and then talked in quick sentences.  If only he could get closer
and see what they were so interested in.

     After Katrina had taken him aside in the street he had asked around some
of the less swanky bars that the city had to offer.  No one had actually
seen any of the men themselves but some people did have interesting
information.

     They had seen the pictures before.  This initially had almost upset
Welch, that Katrina would ask the help of other low lives before him.  But
then they had explained that it had been Romulans asking about them and he
began to realise the situation he was in.  If he was treading in the same
steps as Romulans he would have to be very careful they didn't bump into one
another.

     He began to move towards the square.  There was a small stall a few
meters from the Romulans selling the latest holovids, pirate copies
naturally, and once Welch reached it he studies the titles before looking at
either the Romulans or what they were looking at.

     'Debbie does Dalinda III' and 'Vulcan neuro-pressure passions' were just
two of the interactive titles they had available and Welch made a mental
note to come back when he had more time as the prices seemed quite
reasonable.

         Now what were the Romulans up to...



<<<<view 3>>>>

     "I'll have the Pathia thanks," asked Richard as the waiter hovered
nearby.

     The waiter took a note on his padd.  "Yes Sir, anything else?"

     "No," replied Richard, "not just at the minute."

     He had spent most of the day reviewing the data he had collected.  He
still didn't have the full story but from what he now knew the terrorist
situation that Baraknor III was suffering from was more than it seemed.
Whether or not the BSM knew it they were being played.  He just was not
quite sure why.  He did however know where the weapons were coming from, and
he knew at least a part of the journey they made to get there.  The rest he
would find out in due time.

     "Thanks."  The food had turned up.  It was good, the delicate
combination of spices made for a pleasant meal.  He was beginning to enjoy
this life.

     He paused eating.  Suddenly he could tell he was being watched.  Quickly
glancing across the square he could see him.  A Tellerite stood across the
square, looking directly at him.

     "What do we have here?" he commentated to himself.



Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard S Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra

MD 8.1705
SS FORTUNE

Cordell and Ning had spoken for some time about how to
warn the rest of the Task force.  Prior to Ning’s
arrival the group hadn’t agreed on any specific code
words, it hadn’t seemed necessary.  In fact it wasn’t
until Cordell’s discovery that anyone had a real idea
of the scale of what was happening.  It looked like it
was bigger than anyone had feared.  If the Tal Shiar
were expending resources in monitoring planet wide
communications, they must be pretty desperate to
locate Trewidden, what was it he knew?

Finally they decided that Ning would contact Katrina,
Ning’s specialization during his training had been
counter-intelligence, plus he had spoken with Katrina
on planet not so long ago.  If necessary he could use
that conversation to verify both her, and his
identity.

To Ning’s surprise he actually found Burreson to be
quite pleasant to work with, even if he wasn’t all
that pleasant to look at, a career of brawling leaving
their own tales for all to see.  Once the somewhat
cranky Chief had something to focus on, he became
remarkably business-like, even personable.  Of course,
the fact that both of them were of similar ages gave
them a common frame of reference, even if their
careers had followed wildly different paths.  Although
technically speaking Ning’s superior within the Task
Force, both worked together with relative ease, a
lifetime of functioning as part of the Navy ingrained
in their behaviour without either of them being fully
aware of it.

On his part, Cordell had been expecting a stuffy aging
doctor with a corn cob up his ass having reached
Captain in the Navy before being honourably discharged
from the fleet.  Of course, Cordell knew a lot more
about the good doctor having hacked into his personnel
file.  Burreson had yet to meet anyone who acted less
like a Captain than the man sat next to him.  Having
got to know him a little, Ning had confessed that he
had been given a nickname as a child, “mouse”,
something that somehow seemed to fit.

To Cordell’s slight boredom it took him virtually no
time at all to hack into the planets communications
web and to bounce their signal all over the place
before finally making contact with Katrina.  Even if
the Tal Shiar managed to follow the signal, as long as
they moved the SS FORTUNE into a different orbit there
was no risk of discovery.  Unless of course they
managed to isolate the signal within minutes,
something which, given the amount of communications
traffic fell into the “as good as mathematically
impossible” category.  That is of course, unless he or
Ning screwed up.  Cordell had read what Ning intended
to say, he could see nothing which a searching
computer programme might identify as a buzz word.
Words such as SECIS, Trewidden etc.

Finally, the communications web made the necessary
connections and Cordell nodded at Ning, who took a
deep breath and nodded back.

On planet, Katrina Primus walked casually, Alric by
her side.  They were heading towards the next safe
house on the list, but were taking extra precautions
to make sure they were not being followed.  If for any
reason the Tal Shiar had managed to get a list of the
SECIS safe houses, they were all walking dead.
Katrina knew she was taking a bit of a risk trusting
Welch, but her instincts were telling her that
Trewidden needed out, and fast.  Welch had survived on
the streets for years, and had connections to
everyone.  If he had to, he could avoid the Tal Shiar.
  Problem was of course, if they did find him nosing
around, he’d lead them straight to her and Alric.  But
what was life without risks?

Her communicator began to vibrate softly, but with an
intermittent pulse, which indicated it was someone not
using SECIS channels.  She hadn’t given Welch any
contact details, and she had only spoken to him less
than an hour ago so who could it be?

She looked at Alric with a slightly quizzical
expression.  “Unexpected call honey” she said, keeping
the pretense up just in case someone was watching for
a specific reaction.

Alric frowned for a moment and replied “better answer
it and see what they want”

For a moment it crossed her mind that it could be the
Romulans, trying to triangulate her communications
signal, but if that was the case then the whole
operation was wide open.  Her stomach felt suddenly
hollow at the thought of having to scramble off planet
and flee.

She was relieved, yet still a little surprised when
she heard Ning’s voice.

“Hello Kat, don’t speak I haven’t got the time.  Look,
I really enjoyed meeting you and your friends,
especially the kiss we shared, but I think that my
wife my have hired someone to watch me. I think she
may even be monitoring my communications.  Whatever
you do, don’t call me on my normal number.  I am sure
that this is obvious, but don’t come round to my house
or my work.”

Ning paused for a moment.

“I need you to let your friends know as well.  Cordy
is working on a way for us to talk without my wife
interfering and as soon as I have something I’ll let
you know.”

“If I need to speak to you in the meantime I’ll meet
you or your friends same time, same place as last
time, so you’ll need to go there everyday.  At least
you will if you truly love me.  You understand how
important this is to me don’t you?”

“Yes, I do.  I should mention that I think that Clair
and Cordy aren’t going to get on.  Could be a
recurring theme.”

“Yeah, I follow you.  And I’ll remember that for
future reference.”

On the SS FORTUNE, Ning slumped in his seat.

“It was definitely Katrina, I hope I convinced her
that it was me.”

   Ning remained where he was for a moment.

“There's nothing else we can do for the moment other
than to move into another orbit and continue as we
were, I'll be in the MNed Centre if you need me. Oh,
and one of us will have to go to the Hell Whole at
1445 every day”

He got to his feet and walked towards the door.

“You’re more capable than I at looking after yourself,
and besides, your face fits better than mine.”

Wisely, Dr Luong was already in the corridor when he
uttered the last sentence.

Respectfully submitted

Lee Foley
lsfoley@y...
Dr Ning Luong
Medical Specialist
Task Force Sierra




=====
Lee





___________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping"
your friends today! Download Messenger Now
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MD:  8.1630
Scene:  Planetside "the bad part of town"

Katrina and Alric walked quietly through the streets on the west side of
town.  If you called this area "the bad part of town", you wouldn't even be
close.  St. Clair and Primus had been walking for about fifteen minutes
through the rank, dirty streets.  During that time, three people had tried
to mug them, they had seen two stabbings, and an uncountable number of
prostitutes; and this was still in the daylight.  Finally, Katrina was
forced to adjust the over shirt she was wearing so the butt of the Klingon
disruptor she was wearing was visible.  Funny how when the disruptor was
partially visible, no one seemed to bother them any more.

Finally getting to the area of the safe house, Alric and Katrina moved into
a position that allowed them to watch the area without being readily visible
themselves.  The safe house was on the second floor of a ran down apartment
building.  The building itself should have been condemned ten years ago and
the rooms inside were even worse.  It was going to be a toss up whether
there were more rats inside the building or cockroaches.

The two spies watched the building for two hours before they ever moved.
They watched as people came and went.  They watched as the prostitutes went
through their shift change.  The dope dealers continued on with their
business.  No one feared the police in this area.  Police just didn't come
into this area anymore, rather they worked to contain the area rather then
police it.

"I think its clear, Katrina," Alric whispered in her ear.

Quickly, Katrina adjusted her clothing, opening the top of her shirt two
more buttons and lowering her skin tight pants to reveal the top three
inches of the thong she was wearing.  With a quick shake of her head, she
flipped her hair into a more, 'wind blown' style and finished her
transformation into just another prostitute.

Sliding up to St. Clair, Katrina pressed her shapely body against him and
slid her arm around his waist.  Their new cover in place, the two walked
boldly out of the darkness, towards the run down building.  Giggling,
Katrina pressed a quick kiss against St. Clair's cheek and laid her head
against his shoulder as they walked over to "get a room".

Entering the building, they moved over to the front desk so they could pay
for the room they wanted.  After a quick bit a haggling, St.Clair convinced
the manager to let them rent the room used for the safe house.

Walking into the room, St. Clair and Primus started searching the room for
anything that could be a clue.  As they searched, Katrina played a
pre-recorded tape that she had made to provide the required, "sound
effects".  Every once and a while, one of them would knock the filthy bed
into the wall to give that little extra bit of realism.  The room wasn't big
so it didn't take long to look around, no more then fifteen minutes.
Unfortunately, there really wasn't anything there that led them to their
goal.

"Another dead end," Katrina sighed.

"It looks like it," St. Clair concluded.

Smiling, Katrina reached over and mussed St. Clair's hair.  With just a
twinkle of mischievousness in her eyes, Katrina kissed St. Clair and
intentionally smeared her lipstick across his mouth.

"We have to keep up appearances," Katrina said.

Once outside, Katrina and Alric continued the charade as they walked back
across the street towards their darkened observation point.  Just before
they reached the relative safety of the darkness, Katrina saw an old friend.

"Alric, I've got an idea, you have to trust me with this though and keep
quiet, these people can smell outsiders," Katrina said as she turned and
walked towards her target.

In a flash, her hand shot out and grabbed the Tellerite by the gold ring he
had through his nose.  Squealing, Katrina drug the drug dealer into the
shadows of one of the many alleys only to slam him against the wall.

Instantly the Tellerite's hand went for the short bladed knife that he kept
concealed in the belt wrapped around his round belly.  Just has his hand
closed around the blade, Katrina's hand closed around his.

"Come on now Welch, you should know better then that, the last time you
pulled that knife on me I gave you a scar to remember me by," Katrina said
with fire dancing behind her eyes.

"Pra...Primus? Is that you?  I heard that you got caught and hauled off back
to Trill."

"Come now Welch, you should know that no one can hold the Dread Pirate
Primus."

"I see you've changed bodies, honestly I like this one a lot better then
that other one you had."

"Bodies change but I don't, and I don't forget Welch.  I need your help."

"Anything for you my pretty pretty Primus, what ever do you need from a
humble street worker such as myself."

"First Welch, you can quit shoveling the sh*t around me.  Second, have you
seen these three men," Katrina said as she showed him a picture of the
missing operatives.

"Well it all depends on how much its worth to you if I have."

"Welch, I am in no mood for your jokes right now.  I have to find these
three men and I have to do it quietly.  They are friends of mine and the law
wants them too.  If you know where they are, I'll be...pleased."

"Well Captain Primus, I don't know where they are right now but I'll have
some of my friends look for them.  Can I still get a hold of you like in the
old days?"

"Ya, if you find something worth my time you can call me.  Otherwise, it's
been good to see you again Welch."  Katrina handed Welch the picture with
the cover names and descriptions of the three agents on the back.

"Hey Primus, who's the new guy with you?"

"Come on Welch, he's my new flavor of the day, you should remember my
tastes."

"That's one thing I will never get over with you Trill, change bodies and
you swing the other way."

"Why just limit yourself to just one taste when you can taste them all,"
Katrina answered with a look that could have gotten a eunuch interested.

Turning, Katrina led St. Clair out of the alley and out of the more
dangerous parts of town.  It was several minutes before they said a word to
each other.

"Do you really think it was safe bringing someone else in on this," St.
Clair asked.

"I've known Welch for several years and he has no love for the Romulans.
He's also wanted by at least four other star systems and three criminal
organizations.  For being a louse and a drug dealer there is one thing I can
say about him, he's well connected.  If anyone can find our missing people,
Welch can."

Submitted,
Bruce Summa
Katrina Primus

MD 8.1540

"Ning, I was calling you to ask if this is as bad as it looked to me,"
said the Senior Chief, "sounding uncharacteristically out of sorts.  But
while I was waiting I put a few other programs into the planetary net and
I found even more evidence."

The doctor frowned, he didn't know what to make of the supremely
confident, even arrogant, petty officer acting uncertain.  "What's the
problem?" asked the doctor even as he picked up the PADD himself.  He
scanned the very technical hacking data.  And, being honest with himself,
wasn't quite sure what the chief was having him look at without more
context.

"Damn it, I hoped that it was just a leftover or a mistake or something,
but I have a conclusion that I just can't avoid."

"Chief."

"I wish that I had a damned battlecruiser in orbit.  That would make me
feel a whole hell of a lot better than sitting in an glorified shuttle
with most of its crew on that God-forsaken rock under us."

"Burreson," said the doctor more sternly, "what did you find?"

"Romulans.  There is a Tal Shiar team on the surface and by all of the
traces that I found in the computer systems, they are looking for us."
Cordell hit a number of keys on his console.  "Well, not specifically for
us.  I've checked the orbits for anything out of place and there is not
ship in orbit that looks out of place.  But the search programs that I've
found are all modifications of the latest canned Tal Shiar routines and
they are basically looking for the same things that my search programs are
looking for."

"So you're telling me that there is a Tal Shiar covert operations team on
the planet currently searching for Trewidden's tracks and we're got people
on the ground searching the same places that the Romulans are likely to be
searching."

"That," replied Burreson, "is about the size of it.  At least it doesn't
look like their computer tech is as good as I am.  I think that I found
them without them finding me.  And now that I know what to watch out for,
I should be able to keep them from finding us while keeping tabs on out
search."

"There are a few more qualifiers in that statement that I like."

"Yup."  Burreson sighed, "And it gets worse.  If we signal out people we
could very well alert the Tal Shiar to their presence and the presence of
this ship in orbit.  And if I were the Tal Shiar, I would be monitoring
communications frequencies...even the odd wide range ones that SECIS and
OSFI tend to use, particularly if I was hunting a SECIS agent on the
surface.  I'd also have set up a way to take down an extraction craft if I
needed to do so."

"Which means," said Ning reaching the same conclusion that must have made
the Senior Chief nervous, "that the next time our team signals us either
to report in or to call for pick-up we could be in read trouble."

"Bingo."

"Damn.  How long until the next scheduled check-in?"

"We're in luck there.  The teams should not be checking in for another
couple of hours.  But if they find Trewidden, they could signal at any
time.  So what do we do, Doc?"

---
Respectfully?

EMCS Cordell Burreson
Engineering/Computers
Task Force Sierra

NRPG:

MD 8.1540  Burreson informs Ning of the evidence that he has that there
            is a Tal Shiar team on the planet.

---
Jeffrey J. Jenkins             --  (c) copyright 2004
jeffj@...
"Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it, and right is right even if
nobody is doing it." --St. Augustine

MD 8.1530
SS FORTUNE, Med Centre

The small room was bathed in powerful light.  A
sterlising unit hummed somewhere in the roofspace and
to anyone other than a career doctor, the powerful
disinfectant could virtually be tasted floating in the
non existent breeze.  Ning stood, hunched over the
body of Special Agent Richards.  The body was
discoloured and bloated and had an unpleasant smell
about it not unusual in bodies that had not been
properly preserved near the time of death.  He had
given the lifeless body a cursory examination and, at
first glance it appeared obvious that Richards had
died from a single disrupter blast to his upper back.
Of course, the fact that he had been in the river for
a while hadn’t made things any easier.  That said,
Ning was fully aware that misdirection was part of the
game he had transferred into so he had already decided
to perform a full autopsy just in case.  Before
progressing any further Ning stood and with a strange
solemness uttered

"Hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae"

The man who had been nicknamed “Mouse” as a child also
took hair samples and made a mental note to take a
swab from the mouth and stomach.  He also added a note
to his checklist to conduct an analysis the fine
alveoli within Richards’ lungs.  Dependant on local
conditions, they may hold clues as to his geographical
movements.  Last but not least he would conduct a full
chemical analysis of Agent Richards' stomach.  Again
if Task Force Sierra was lucky, then some food may
possess a unique signature that might enable him to
track the area down where the victim had been living
prior to his death.  Though normally serious, Ning
couldn’t help but grin at the mental picture of
Richards eating an old style hot dog next to the only
asbestos production plant on Yadalla Prime.

Now his checklist was completed Ning went to work,
examining the body in detail, recording any
significant marks and recording his observations as he
went.  Though modern technology precluded the use of
cutting tools for a “normal” autopsy, Ning did not
believe that any autopsy undertaken as part of his
SECIS duties would ever be routine.  Therefore he had
been studying the more recent advances in pathological
medicine with Professor Rankin and had reached a
standard that both Ning and Gerald Rankin were happy
with.  Rankin, though a little younger than Ning was a
career Pathologist.  Ning also found him to be
frustratingly traditional, espousing the benefits of
actually opening up the body physically rather than
conducting detailed scans.  Despite himself, Rankin’s
penchant for the scalpel had transmitted itself to his
student, and now Ning carried a personalized scalpel,
a gift from Prof Rankin upon what he had termed ‘a
successful graduation’.

He was in the middle of examining the disrupter wound
on Richards’ back when Burresons’ voice came over the
intercom

[Ning, could you come in here.]

”I'm a little busy.” Ning replied, a medical probe in
hand ready to examine the wound in more detail.  The
final piece of work he intended to complete before
opening the body up.

[Well I need another set of human eyes on this and
everyone else is on the planet. Get in here as soon as
you can. I think that we have a problem.]

Burreson didn’t strike Ning as a man subject to
flights of fancy or over reaction, so for some reason
when Cordell said ‘I think we have a problem’ it
suggested something more than a slight hiccup.
Besides, Richards wasn’t going anywhere.

“I'll be there in a few minutes. Ning out.”

Ning set a medical tricorder to conduct a full bio
scan on the deceased SECIS man, something which, a few
short minutes ago he was not going to do.  He also
placed the hair samples into the analysis tray, hoping
that the computer would do some of his work for him.

Finally he removed his gloves and threw them away.

The briefing he had received indicated that Chief
Burreson was something of a computer genius.  Ning
would freely admit that he was nowhere near that kind
of level, however having an engineering father who
specialized in computers and communications systems
gave him a lifetime of practical experience, hopefully
he wouldn’t embarrass himself in front of the Chief.
After all early impressions were that the Chief wasn’t
willing to suffer what he thought of as fools.  And if
he was willing to go head to head with the XO what
would he do to the bottom of the pile?  Irony, Ning
reflected is an ex Naval Captain is going to have to
take orders from a career mischief maker with an
attitude.

With that in mind, Ning decided he was going to enjoy
the challenges in Task Force Sierra.  Especially if
his welcome by Katrina Primus was anything to go by.
Besides, Cordell wasn’t going to give him grief,
no-one ever gave medical personnel grief, you never
knew when your life might depend on them.

As Ning entered the Command Centre Burreson swiveled
to face him and wondered at how a man who had just
been cutting up a dead body could look so damn pleased
with himself.

Summary

MD 08.1530 Ning creates an autopsy checklist, begins a
prelim examination and answers Cordells' summons.

Respectfully submitted

Lee Foley
lsfoley@y...
Dr Ning Luong
Medical Specialist
Task Force Sierra






___________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping"
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TASK FORCE SIERRA: The TB&K News
by Chris Hatch

Good Evening.  This is the Taralak, Baraknor and Koorad Tri System News with
Ulla Kiia

And sv'Taak n'Ddol.  These are you headlines tonight.

Koorad IV Premier sacks his entire government.

Baraknor III terrorist situation worsens.  Explosions in Capital see three
hundred dead and another five hundred injured.

Prime Minister Traval vows that those responsible will be brought to
justice.

And in the sport, Taralak soccer league throws up a surprise as we near the
climax of the season.

But first out main story, that of the current situation on Koorad IV.
Earlier today the Premier, Damar Putan sacked his entire government in a
live holo broadcast.  The surprise move comes a few days before a
presidential election which Mr Putan is expected to win by a landslide.
Deputy Prime Minister Khatenk has been named as temporary replacement for
Prime Minister  Kosyan.  Mr Kosyan was known to be unpopular with Mr Putan,
but his future had been expected to be secure until after the election.

He also had links with the Romulan government which has fallen out of favour
since Mr Putan's election.
The announcement on state-run holovision was trailed simply as a statement.

A series of explosions on Baraknor III earlier today left over three hundred
dead and many more injured.  This act of terrorism was suspected to be the
work of the Baraknid Separatist Movement who have been known to perform such
acts of terrorism in the past.

Near simultaneous blasts hit across the Baraknor capital. No group has
admitted responsibility but Baraknor's government blames BSM for the
attacks.   "There is no doubt the BSM is responsible," said Baraknor's
interior minister.

"Unfortunately, today it achieved its goal," he told a news conference,
saying the security services were certain BSM was behind the blasts. There
was no warning ahead of the attacks. In total there were ten blasts, Mr
Traval said, and security forces had defused three other devices.  "People
started to scream and run, some bumping into each other," nr'Doval, an
engineer working near one of the blasts said.

Finally sport.  And the Taralak soccer league is coming to a climax with
some key games this weekend.  Prawn Sarnie United have a top of the table
clash against the Old Gummer's.  Whoever wins this clash is almost certain
to win the title, although there has been controversy about the drug habits
of some of the Sarnie team.

Clio Murderland of Prawn Sarnie was recently banned for failing to attend a
drug test.  In his appeal he claimed that he had not attended because he had
been taking drugs the day before and didn't want to be found positive.  His
defence argued the ban for not attending the test should be far shorter than
the possible ban for being found positive.

The TFA however disagreed with this and upheld the ban.  The Prawn Sarnie
manager commentated afterwards, "Don't they know who we bloody well are.
We're the Prawns."

And that's it for tonight.  We'll see you tomorrow.

Good night.

Good night.




Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard S Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra

TASK FORCE SIERRA: The Other Side
by Chris Hatch

     The nr'Rdok Tal Shiar base sat about a hundred kilometres from the city.
It was big.  There was no fence surrounding it, no phaser cannons defending
it and no sentry drones patrolling it.

     There was no reason because nobody would approach it.  Nobody would be
so stupid.  There were some signs that told you to go back and those people
stupid enough to get near enough to read them turned around and went back.

     The Tal Shiar were not keen on visitors.  Not keen at all.

     And nobody was particularly eager to visit them.

     Except maybe one person...




MD 08.1142
Location: nr'Rdok Base

     sh'Uleart slammed her hand against the desk, stood up, picked up a padd
and threw it towards the Lieutenant before her.  He ducked in time which was
lucky for himself but unlucky for the Centurion behind him.

     "Four days and he's eluded all your teams?"

     "Yes Sub-Commander, we've been performing sensor sweeps but as I am sure
you know it is a very densely populated city," he replied, mentally
flinching incase another padd flew his way.

     The Centurion behind him just rubbed his forehead, still slightly dazed.

     "I know many things Lieutenant, I can read the future.  I see a very
bleak future for you unless you find Commander Trewidden and have him in my
custody."

     The Lieutenant knew when to keep quiet.  He could have pointed out that
it was hardly his fault that the Starfleet officer had escaped.  It wasn't
his fault that sh'Uleart had failed to ensure that a transporter dampener
hadn't been set up around the custody room.  And it wasn't his fault that
this Trewidden was skilled at hiding.

     "Yes Sub-Commander.  My teams are continuing their search."

     "Dismissed," sh'Uleart waved her hand and the Lieutenant and Centurion
promptly left.

     "And what do you have to say?" asked sh'Uleart to one of the dark
corners of the room.

     A figure stepped forward.  "Nothing Sub-Commander.  Nothing."

     sh'Uleart stood and walked over to an internal window.  Through it she
could watch the work taking place in the giant hanger.  Engineering crews
working on a range of systems and the various small craft that were being
fitted.  The place was a hive of activity.

     "Have we had any luck tracing the weapons?"

     "No, not yet.  They we're sold to the Baraknor terrorists by some human
dealers."

     "The worm?"

     "Nothing.  We still don't know how they got the weapons out of here or
off the planet."

     sh'Uleart turned away from the window and faced him.

     "Well, we need to find out.  We need to know, who could have this and
how they managed to steal Romulan weaponry from this base without being
discovered."

     "Yes.  Yes we do."


Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard S Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra

MD: 8.1530
Location: SS FORTUNE, Command Center

There was no doubt about it, Cordell Burreson had been grounded for daring
to piss of the acting CO.  Cordell knew better than to get into a pissing
contest with someone standing on higher ground that he was, but something
about St. Clair rubbed him the wrong way.  So, while Ning was in the back
cutting into the corpse of Special Agent Richards and Cherenkox, Prince,
Primus, and St. Clair were on the surface, Burrson was stuck in space
sitting behind a computer panel trying to hack into evey computer system
on the planet.

'Of course,' though Burreson as he looked around the small command center
of the little starship FORTUNE, which was little more than an over-sized
runabout, 'I am currently master of all that I survey and I'm not just
hacking for the fun of it or for profit.  I've been ordered to actually
break into every computer system on the planet which means no prosecution
for doing so.'  In truth, Cordell Burreson was as happy as Montgomery
Scott would once have been to be confined to his quarters with his
technical manuals.

A subscreen flashed yellow and then red and Burreson his a cutout switch.
'What the hell?' he thought.  He tapped through the logs.  There was
another worm in the system.  It didn't seem to be hunting his
specifically, but it was definitely looking over some very similar search
parameters.  He didn't think that it had spotted his code before he hit
the cutout that had his worm eat itself to prevent detection and tracing.
But he'd managed to get a code segment out of the other worm...maybe not
enough to definitively determine anything, but it would give him someplace
to start.

Burreson added an auto-kill subroutine to his worm and reinserted it into
the next system down the search path that he'd randomly generated at the
start of the search.  If he ran into the other worm again, then his worm
would kill itself even if Cordell did not react in time.  He set to work
on the segment of the other worm that he had captured.  Within a few
minutes he was certain that he had something.  He hit the intercom switch,
"Ning, could you come in here."

[I'm a little busy.]

"Well I need another set of human eyes on this and everyone else is on the
planet.  Get in here as soon as you can.  I think that we have a problem."

[I'll be there in a few minutes.  Ning out.]

Burreson was glad when someone on the other side was sloppy and used a
modified template program.  The template program was good and it was
fairly new so maybe they thought that the Federation didn't have enough of
it to recognize, yet.  But still it was sloppy.  Burreson liked to code
his own worms and seakers.  It took longer and probably left a very
specific fingerprint signature for someone looking for Burreson himself if
they got a good look at the code, but he was pretty good at limiting the
exposure and building in cut-out programs and fake leads that emulated
code segments used by half a dozen different star nation's intel services.
But Burreson was pretty sure about what he was looking at.  He could have
gotten a similar distractor segment, but he thought that what he had
caught was part of a Tal Shiar worm.

Now all that he needed to figure out was what the Tal Shiar were doing on
Yadalla Prime and if it had anything to do with the black hole that this
backwater little planet had become for SECIS teams.

---
Respectfully?

EMCS Cordell Burreson
TF SIERRA

---
Jeffrey J. Jenkins             --  (c) copyright 2004
jeffj@...
"Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it, and right is right even if
nobody is doing it." --St. Augustine

TASK FORCE SIERRA: Movements
by Chris Hatch

MD 8.1520
Location: SS FORTUNE, Medical

     Ning and St. Clair looked around the cramped room.  Even though St.
Clair had been on board the ship a few days he had not up to this point
studied the medical facilities and of course for Ning it was the first
opportunity to see what he had to play with.

     "It's compact," commentated Ning.  "But well equipped."

     St. Clair nodded.  "Yes, SECIS doesn't hold back, this is a high
priority mission, what we want we get.  All the best toys.  You wait until
we get back to ROYAL FORTUNE, you'll love the medical facilities on that
ship."

     "I hope I'll see it soon."

     St.Clair clicked open a comm. channel.  "Chief are you ready?"

     [Sure am, I was waiting for you.]

     "Energise then," grimaced St. Clair.

     Before them the body of Special Agent Richards materialised.

     "Let me know when you've got something," St. Clair asked as he left the
room.


MD 8.1527

     The team, with the exception of Ning, sat around a relatively small
table that was stacked with padds.  St. Clair and Burreson opposite each
other, Primus, Cherenkov and Prince filled the gaps keeping the two a
respectful distance apart.

     "Our next move is to try to find some clues as to Trewiddens teams
movements," St. Clair had taken the lead and for the time being Burreson
seemed content not to butt in.  "We need to start a scan of the medical
facilities to see if anyone has been admitted matching either Trewidden,
Noice or Mallory's description.  We've got three guys on the surface and
they all must be somewhere.

     "Senior Chief, I'm sure you've already started, but I want you to hack
into every system you can find down there until you find some record about
any of them.

     "Cherenkov and Prince, you two are going to beam down to the Eastern
side of the City and begin a visual only search of the safe houses.  Look
for signs that they may have been used but do not enter unless you're sure.
Any questionable ones mark as interesting and we'll take a closer look.

     "Primus, you're with me.  We'll take a look at the Western side.  Report
back to the FORTUNE every half hour with an update, any problems then find a
safe spot and beam out immediately.  This place has been a bit of a black
hole for SECIS teams, we don't want to lose any more.

     "Any questions?"


Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard S Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra


<<<<nrpg>>>>
Okay guys, you've got some stuff to be doing :)

Chris

TASK FORCE SIERRA: Time Flies
by Chris Hatch

MD 06.1020

     Since entering the data storage room Richard had tried his best to look
inconspicuous at the same time as frantically accessing data.  He wanted to
find out what Noice had discovered.

     The key search he was performing was Baraknor III, Tal Shiar and nr'Rdok
whilst looking for evidence of weapon trading.  But it was taking time.

     He had already been in the building for ten minutes and in his opinion
this had been long enough.  The pass he had used to get in may arouse
suspicions and, as an already hunted man, he did not need the attention of
having to escape from this building.

     "Come on," he muttered as he glanced at the tricorder that had set up a
direct data link in order to download any worthwhile files.  The tricorder
for it's part continued to flash that it was still receiving useful data.

     A noise from the far end of the corridor made Richard look up in time to
see two security officers enter the room.  They themselves seemed to be
consulting some sort of padd before stopping to talk to one of the office
staff at that end.

     The conversation that they had ended with one of them seemingly pointing
in the direction of Richard.

     He took it as his cue.  Clicking the tricorder shut he hustled towards
the rear exit, not pausing to look back.


MD 06.1340

     "Very nice, thank you," Richard graciously thanked the waiter.  There
was no reason to hide away in some areas, it was a big city and he felt
fairly safe in the business district having lunch with the corporate types.

     He had barely had chance to analyse the data yet.  Overnight and the
following day he would see what he had collected.  It seemed promising,
there were references to Braknor III and arms trading.

     What he needed now however was resources.  They needed to explore the
trail.  And he couldn't do it alone.


MD 08.1340

     "I'll try the spiezzle," he requested.  Different restaurant, different
menu.

     He had spent much of the previous forty eight hours reviewing the data.
He now knew where he needed to go.

     But first he needed to be rescued.

     Oh when would he be rescued.


Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard S Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra


<<<<nrpg>>>>
As I wrote earlier, sorry for the delay.  This post catches Trewidden up
with the rest of you which should make life far easier.

Now if you could begin your search...

Chris

MD: 8.1511
Scene: Command Center, SS FORTUNE

Katrina stood in virtual silence as the men "pounded their chests".  As she
watched Burreson square off with St Clair, she wondered just what the hell
she had gotten herself into.  She thought she would be joining an elite
group of professionals all working together to solve problems.  Instead it
looked like she was in the middle of one herself.

"This isn't the first time you've worked with male egos on overdoses of
testosterone," Katrina thought to herself.

The part that kind of made her snicker was their continual references to
age.  Humans at least, always put so much importance on age, equating age to
wisdom.  If they really thought about it, Katrina, with her bonded symbiont
was older then most of the others combined.  She was Primus' forth host
which meant that she had the experiences and memories of three other
complete lifetimes.

"Gentlemen, I have a couple of ideas as well," Katrina began.  "If we assume
that Mr. Trewidden is alive and free then we have to assume that he is
trying to find us as well.  I think it we might be a good idea if we do
check on the safe houses.  If he is mobile, then he should assume that we
are going to be looking for him and since we know where the safe houses are,
then he may try leaving a message there.  If we assume that he is free but
injured then we need to check on 'John Doe's' at all the local hospitals and
clinics.  I also think that we need to check on some of the contacts that
the team used.  They may have a lead and if not we can at least see if the
opposition has been in contact with them."

Katrina looked around the room and waited.  So far she was met with just
blank stares.  Perhaps they didn't expect the pretty face, the token woman,
to have anything between her ears, or on the other hand, perhaps they just
preferred to ignore her.

Submitted,
Bruce Summa
Katrina Primus

NRPG:  Short but at least I have something done.  Boy I have a bunch of
stuff to catch up on.

MD: 8.1513

> Ning paused for a moment and smiled.  "Grandmother, I
> assume you've anticipated my request for our deceased
> comrade's medical records as well as details of the
> autopsy performed on him on planet?"
>
> Without pausing he extended his hand out to the Senior
> Chief and waited for a PADD.
>
> Ning secretly hoped he was going to be a part of this
> team, rather than being on the outside looking in,
> like the last team he worked with.

The senior chief chuckled, his previous growl forgotten.  He tapped a few
keys on the antiquated keyboard of the mini-computer that he seemed to
prefer and downloaded the information into a PADD.  "You'll be happy to
know that the SECIS personnel computer is even more user friendly that the
BuPERS computer and I was able to download the files.  And, Doc, you'll
actually be the first to cut into the corpse.  It is in stasis awaiting
autopsy.  Apparently the district medical examiner has not gotten to the
city in some time.  He's not actually expected for another day.  That
can't make the local constabulary very happy, but there hasn't been any
formal autopsy, yet.  Just the attached medical scans of the body.  You
can tell better than I how good their medical sensors are, but it doesn't
look like they are much to write home about."

"As for the medical facilities... well," said Cordell looked across the
small table at the exec, "the scanners are good.  The room that they are
shoehorned into...."

"This way, Doctor," said St. Clair, ignoring the chief's barb.

As the pair left the room, the Gunney took the two steps needed to
cross the room, "Senior Chief, what's a shoehorn?" asked Cherenkov.  "And
you do realize that you're going to push St. Clair too far if you keep
this up."

"Yeah," replied Burreson, "but it's better that I learn how far I can push
him now and how steady his temper is before I'm on the ground with him in
command."

"You're playing a dangerous game."

"We're in a dangerous occupation."

---
Respectfully?

EMCS Cordell Burreson
Task Force Sierra, Gold Fleet

---
Jeffrey J. Jenkins             --  (c) copyright 2004
jeffj@...
"Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it, and right is right even if
nobody is doing it." --St. Augustine

MD: 8.1512
Scene: Command Center, SS FORTUNE

Ning could only watch with a mix of amusement and
dismay at the actions of Burreson.  Ning may only have
looked in his late 30’s, but he was actually in his
late 70's and he’d been serving Star Fleet for over 25
years in one capacity or another, including an all too
brief Captaincy.  He’d seen people like Cordell
Burreson all too often.  The difference was they were
usually a lot younger and either grew out of it or
grew out of Star Fleet.  That meant Burreson was good,
very good or he had very powerful friends.  Besides,
Ning had never cared for rank one way or another, it
was all a means to an end.  Perhaps that would protect
him from the Chief’s ire.  Ironically the good doctor
reflected that he was probably at the bottom of the
chain of command anyway.

Ning could taste the tension, it wouldn’t be long
before Cordell and Alric sorted out their differences
one way or another.  Perhaps the very fact that the
other team members seemed amused by the whole thing
indicated this was part of the normal interaction
between the 2 men.  Considering their body language,
perhaps not.  Deciding, at least for the time being to
play peacemaker, he turned to face the XO.

“Perhaps you could show me the medical facilities
Commander?  Assuming the body is in a fit state I’ll
perform my own autopsy, these young doctors today have
no sense of pride in their work.”

“A pleasure to meet you all, if any of you have any
medical details in need to know urgently such as
allergies you know where to find me.  I haven’t as yet
had a chance to examine your files.”

Ning paused for a moment and smiled.  “Grandmother, I
assume you’ve anticipated my request for our deceased
comrade’s medical records as well as details of the
autopsy performed on him on planet?”

Without pausing he extended his hand out to the Senior
Chief and waited for a PADD.

Ning secretly hoped he was going to be a part of this
team, rather than being on the outside looking in,
like the last team he worked with.

Respectfully submitted by

Lee Foley
lsfoley@y...
Dr Ning Luong
Medical Specialist
Task Force Sierra








___________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping"
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MD: 8.1511
Scene: Command Center, SS FORTUNE

> "We're going to need an encrypted transport beacon to bring the body
> back to the ship. And, to gain access, I'm going to need some of the
> Senior Chief's specializations." Cherenkov smiled slightly to Burreson.
>
> "Like what, exactly?" Burreson inquired.
>
> "Well, first off, a computer worm, to try and remove any traces of
> Richard's on the planetary computer network. And, a couple of all access
> passes through the security systems. If you think you can handle that."
> Cherenkov chided the man.

"Oh," added the chief, sliding a PADD across the table.  "You mean like
these?"  Burreson might not have been in intelligence, but he still
felt that he was more intelligent than most of the crowd gathered around
him.

Cherenkov looked at the PADD to see both the requested worm and the data
files for the security passes as well.

"Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs."  He'd been poking
around computers, and hacked into his first system, before virtually
everyone else on the ship had been born.  "I'll have your transponder
and the ID passes encoded and ready for you in a few moments."  The senior
chief pulled his PADD back, added the programming for the transponder from
the /usr/lib/spookstuff, and sent them to the replicator.

---
Respectfully?

EMCS Cordell Burreson
TF Sierra

NRPG:  I couldn't resist one more barb. <EG>

Jeff.

---
Jeffrey J. Jenkins             --  (c) copyright 2004
jeffj@...
"Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it, and right is right even if
nobody is doing it." --St. Augustine

MD: 8.1505
Location: SS FORTUNE
Scene:  Command center
(Ning has just been beamed to FORTUNE a few minutes ago.)

"So that is what I have been able to get the local planetary government
files to tell us," concluded Burreson.

"That's all that we have to go on?  A few phaser shots five days ago?"
asked Commander St. Clair.

"That and one body found in the river that matches the description of
Special Agent Richards, one of Trewidden's team members.  There is nothing
in the planetary database matching Noice, Trewidden, or Mallory."

"That you can find," said Alric St. Clair, frustration adding a sharp edge
to his voice.

"If I can't find it, Sir, it... is... not... there," growled the much
older senior chief, bordering on insubordination and daring the commander
to push him.

Katrina cleared her throat to interrupt the building tension.  It was
already clear that the senior chief had the potential to be a real
asshole, but that he also generally seemed to know what he was doing
around computers.  Of course that he was regular Navy didn't give any of
her fellow spooks any more confidence in him than it was already clear
that he felt in them.  "May I introduce Doctor Ning Luong."

From the doctors perspective, the seated older man and standing jade-eyed,
olive-skinned shorter man turned toward him, both staring daggers
at him and Katrina.  The younger man at the navigator's station and a
short man built like a main battle tank turned to look at the newcomer,
their expressions trying to hide bemusement at the pissing contest between
the other two.

"Please to meet you.  Now would someone tell me what is going on?"  Ning
couldn't help but have a wry grin at the situation.

"I'm Senior Chief Cordell Burreson.  The ingrate is Commander Alric St.
Clair," continued the Senior Chief as the man who was two decades his
junior and a commisioned officer turned an interesting shade of purple.
"Our pilot is Lieutenant John Prince.  And the walking barrel is Gunney
Pietro Cherenkov," concluded Burreson, ignoring the commander and giving
the gunnery sergeant a nod and grin at his little joke, which he seemed to
think was more clever than the Cherenkov did.  "You've already met Special
Agent Katrina Primus.  You're our new sawbones."

Everyone in the small command center of the SS FORTUNE, with the exception
of the senior chief, was far younger than the doctor.  That was only
emphasized by the fact that everyone, save the chief, had clearly been the
recipient of second or even third generation life extension treatments
which slowed their aging at a younger age than the first generation
treatment of the chief and Ning's own engineered metabolism had done for
either of the older men.

If it were not for his excellent memory, the doctor might have had a
problem following the introductions without a program and without the aid
of any uniforms on the individuals.  It struck him almost immediately that
the crew was an odd mix, particularly since he made for the second SECIS
special agent aboard the small, and rather unusual, craft that was SS
FORTUNE.

"So this must be the Task Force SIERRA team?"

"Yes, it is," said St. Clair sharply, not giving Burreson the chance to
step in again.  "Welcome aboard, Doctor."

"We'd introduce you to the CO," added Burreson, "but he's currently
missing in action and our first task is to find him."

---
Respectfully?

EMCS Cordell Burreson
Task Force SIERRA
Gold Fleet

NRPG:  Ooh, I love character development.  Plus we've established one
thing that we can do...examine SA Richards' body... once we get access to
it.

Alan, feel free to build on the friction that I established.  In the end,
Burreson can't win going head-to-head with an officer unless that officer
lets him.  But that doesn't mean he's not going to push things as far as
he can.  Cordell has issues with authority. ;)

Lee, as the two oldest characters, I decided to put the hook to that angle
into play early as a possible connection between Burreson and Luong.

JP, even if Burreson can be a bit obnoxious, at least Cherenkov and he are
both enlisted.  So that's another possible opening for an RP connection.

---
Jeffrey J. Jenkins             --  (c) copyright 2004
jeffj@...
"Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it, and right is right even if
nobody is doing it." --St. Augustine

TASK FORCE SIERRA: Searching for the Searchers
by Chris Hatch

MD 04.1255
Location: SECIS Command, San Francisco, Earth

     "Sir," shouted Special Agent James F Kellaway as he rushed down the long
central corridor that bisected the SECIS administration building.

     "Yes James," replied the attractive female figure of Director Janet
McLeavy as she paused to let the agent catch up.

     James waited first to catch his breath.  "It's about our operation on
Yadalla Prime, we've lost contact with Trewidden's team."

     Janet gave him a long stare as if this information was actually his
fault.  "You're joking, we've lost communication with the team we sent in to
recover an agent we lost contact with?"

     "Erm, yes Sir."

     "And of all people, Trewidden.  Just after he's been assigned to Task
Force Sierra.  When was the last communication?"

     "Eighteen hours ago, we've tried the emergency channels, no luck."

     Janet leant back against the wall and tutted.  "There's only one choice
then, inform Commander St. Clair to prepare his team.  They've got their
first mission.  To can go and find their CO."


MD 05.1842

     Richard had returned, pass in hand, to his safe room.  Tomorrow he would
take a trip to the Regulatory Trade building and see what was going on.  It
would involve risk of course but his only other choice was to sit in this
room and hope he'd be found.

     And there was no guarantee that he would be.  In order to prevent the
Romulans from tracking he had already deactivate his implanted communicator.
There were too many humans on the planet to scan effectively for one in
particular and the rescue itself would have to be low key itself.  With two
teams already lost the third would be ultra careful.

     His best hope is that they would begin a search of the known safe
locations.  Eight had been set up at various points around the locality and
they would easily be able to tell that he had been to this one.  With any
luck they would find it and he would either be here or they would wait for
them.

     Things could be that simple.

     Unlikely...


MD 06.1010

     'Welcome to the Regulatory Trade Department.  Please insert your
security pass.'

     Richard entered the pass.  He had his backpack, he had his weapon and he
was ready to run.  The pass popped out again and he grabbed it.

     'Thank you Alun ta'Val.  You have been cleared,' the computer informed
him before opening a gate that allowed him to access beyond the main lobby.
Richard paused to check the level display of the building.

     Date Storage, level B2, elevator 2.

     That was to be his next stop.



Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard S Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra


<<<<nrpg>>>>
Ok guys, just a short one here but it give you some guidance on the teams
next move.

Once they arrive on MD 8 they will begin a search of the known safe houses.
There could be all sorts of things going on there, some may be compromised,
some may be...  well use your imagination!

By the time you find him he will have made progress on the investigation.
MD6 he's entering the Trade building so he's got plenty of time to mooch
around.

Questions?  Let me know.


Chris

MD:  Just prior to "What the hell am I doing here?"
Scene:  "The Hell Whole" drug bar

Katrina double checked the chemical filters that she had forced up her nose
and opened the door to The Hell Whole.  Immediately the stench of too many
bodies in too little room hit her in the face and stuck to her body like a
fine layer of mildew.  As she moved into the room she had to force her way
through the crowd of narc-ed up people and with each touch she could almost
feel the narcotics.

Katrina scanned the room searching for the face of the man she had been sent
to recall.  The hard part was scanning the room without looking like she was
scanning the room.  Instead of just looking once, Katrina scanned the room
in small sections as she forced her way through the room to the bar.  As she
made it to the bar, which for a place that sold alcohol didn't seem to be
all that heavily used, she saw a man in the corner that looked like the one
she was looking for.  No, instead of alcohol sales, this establishment
seemed to have another source of income.

After she ordered a drink, which seemed to surprise the bar tender, Katrina
nursed the drink as she tried to 'feel' the room.  She believed that any
time people were in a room, the room sort of reflected the overall emotions
of the people in the room.  If you walked into a room of people that wanted
to kick your butt, you always knew it before anyone ever said a word.
Katrina had learned this secret a long time back, well at least half of her
had learned this.  This time though, all that Katrina and Primus could feel
was an over all sense of 'duh'.

After waiting about fifteen minutes, Katrina decided to make her move.
Slowly Katrina moved towards a rather uninteresting man leaning against a
wall near her target.  When she got close enough, Katrina started making
some minor small talk, just enough to look like she was trying to hit on
him.  After a few minutes Katrina slapped the intoxicated man and moved away
towards Ning.

"Hello, I know this is going to sound like a line but would you mind buying
my a drink," Katrina purred as Ning puffed on his pipe.

"Well I would but I'm kind of waiting on someone," Ning said.

"Oh I know gorgeous, you look like a man that all kinds of people would
want," Katrina said as she slid up to Ning on the small couch.

"Do you mind if I do something completely on impulse," Katrina smiled as she
stared deeply into Ning's partially hooded eyes.

"Well....,"

Katrina cut Ning's answer off in mid sentence as she leaned in close and
kissed him deeply.  Hidden from everyone's view, Katrina slid the tiny
transporter transponder from the inside of her cheek into Ning's mouth.  She
held the kiss for a few moments more and then slowly, passionately pulled
away from Ning.

"Hmmm, I'm glad I go with my impulses."

Smoothly, Katrina slid up from the couch and pulled out a piece of paper.
Quickly she scribbled an address on the paper and slid it to Ning.

"If you would like to continue where we left off, I'll be at this address."

With that Katrina stepped backwards and disappeared back into the crowd.
The paper, which actually contained a correct address, was just the cover
that she needed in case someone was actually paying attention to what was
going on.  The real delivery was still in Ning's mouth.

Katrina made her way around the room and continued to flirt with various men
as she slowly made her way to the door.  She stayed long enough to make her
apparent cover, a low class call girl, seem legit and then made her way out
the door.  Back in the cover of darkness, Katrina glided down the street
continuing to ply her apparent trade.  She had already had to turn down six
offers and she began to worry that if she didn't at least make the motions
of finding a 'trick' that anyone watching would begin to wonder.  At her
earliest opportunity, Katrina slid into a darkened alley and activated the
tiny transponder that she was also carrying.  Immediately a transporter
effect took hold and Katrina faded from view only to reappear onboard the
small freighter in orbit.

Katrina waited a few minutes more until the freighters transporter again
hummed into life.  Seconds later, Dr. Ning Luong appeared on the same pad
that she had just stepped down from.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Luong, I know we didn't get a formal introduction but
I'm Katrina Primus, Security Operations," Katrina said as she smiled and
took the good doctor's hand.  "Welcome aboard the SS Fortune."

Submitted,
Bruce Summa
SA Katrina Primus

NRPG:
I hadn't gotten the chance to post anything yet so I thought I would jump in
here.  With so many different story lines running right now I didn't want to
screw anything up in the timeline.  I'm looking forward to this taking off,
this idea has some serious potential.

The bar was loud and very crowded.  Ning could smell
several different narcotics as the denizens of “The
Hell Whole” partied their way into a drink and drug
fuelled blissful state of mind.  The bar was the most
diverse population you could possibly imagine,
corporate high fliers rubbed shoulders with students
and scavengers.  Social class meant nothing here, all
that mattered was Bliz.  Bliz was a new narcotic,
physically non addictive with few side effects.  By
its very nature it encouraged psychological addiction.
  Somebody, somewhere had been very clever.  The bar
extended to a cellar beneath, most of the serious
dealing went on down there, indeed that was where
Tr’makitar, an alien unfamiliar to Ning had first
discussed employment opportunities.  The bar did have
music, however the drug din was much louder, and only
when the patrons stopped collectively to take a deep
breath of whatever lung rot they’d chosen did the
music became even vaguely audible.  Fights in this
place were rare, normally everyone was too damn
pleased with the false nirvana to care about anything
or anyone else.  However, on occasion someone suffered
a dipper and went absolutely psychotic, hence the
reason for the 4 enforcers who prowled the floors.
Whilst Ning certainly didn’t like the excess’ he saw
here, there were other, worse places he could be.
What Ning did not understand was why the message had
told him to wait here.  The last few months had been
extremely trying.  He’d lost over 10kgs in weight,
which was no bad thing and his face looked a little
more lined than it did when he started this whole deal
with SECIS.

Somebody somewhere finally succumbed and crashed to
the floor, much to the amusement of the onlookers.  As
ordered by HQ he had laid low whilst a separate SECIS
team had covertly investigated the murder of “The
Team”.  What they found sickened Ning to the bone.  A
small gang of petty criminals wanted to move up the
food chain, and, in an attempt to impress those above
and frighten those below they made a statement.  The
attack on the unknown syndicate was just that.  A
bunch a small time hoods trying to show a larger fish
it meant business.  That choice had cost the
Federation a team of agents.  Pure chance, pure,
twisted, sickening fate.  Karma, kismet, whatever you
wanted to call it.  The waste was the most upsetting
element.  4 good people, gone.  Ning never fooled
himself that he was part of The Team, he wasn’t even
friends with any of them.  But still, they’d devoted
themselves to something greater than the sum of its
parts, and paid a high price for the moral standards.

Every cloud, he mused, even the darkest cloud has a
silver lining.  The lining here was that his Edward Qi
persona was now accepted as the sole survivor of a
small group of smugglers.  Whilst on planet he had (at
the behest of his superiors) undertaken various
freelance scientific work.  More specifically, several
of the lower forms of Putik Larvae had paid him to
synthesize new drugs or analyse existing ones.  He had
measured his approach, giving them just enough
information to keep them interested, but not enough to
do anything with.  He couldn’t keep that up much
longer.

Which was why, to his relief he had received a message
confirming his reassignment.  He had been officially
moved within Task Force Sierra.  Great, now all he
needed to find out was what they did and who he
reported to.  His orders said to be in this bar and
someone would make contact.

Ning moved to sit a little further out of the way,
somewhere he could speak to someone in private if
needs be.  As he collapsed into the old couch crammed
into an alcove, he pulled out a tarnished silver
looking pipe.  Sprinkling some orange dust into the
filter he activated the heater unit located in the
bowl at the end of the dubi-pipe.  Anyone else
inhaling this shit would be as high as a kite within
minutes.  However, Ning’s fairly unique physiology,
plus a compound of his own design enabled him to keep
a clear head.  Plus of course, it helped with his
cover.  Dr Ning Luong, MD became Edward Qi, disgraced
former doctor and narc head within a few minutes.
Ning affected a heavy lidded expression of sleepy
contentment and waited.

A narc headed prostitute decided to sit with him for a
while, but when he failed to responded to any of her
thinly veiled suggestions she merely relieved him of
his drugs pouch and moved on.  Whenever that happened
Ning found it hard to keep the smile from his face.
Whoever inhaled that dust would wake up feeling like
death itself was dancing a two step between their
ears.  Perhaps that would put the user off trying narc
again.  He doubted it, but it was the best he could do
to salve his conscience without giving his cover away.

Stifling a yawn he swung his feet up onto the couch
and decided to try and catch a bit of sleep.  He might
have looked in his late 30’s, but he was rapidly
approaching 80 and quite frankly the kind of drug
fuelled inane behavior bored him silly.  Ever since
his time at medical school he’d retained the ability
to nap no matter where he was and what was going on
around him.  He feared that talent was going to become
extremely useful in the years ahead.

Respectfully submitted by

Lee Foley
lsfoley@y...
Dr Ning Luong
Medical Specialist
Task Force Sierra

NRPG: Whether it is Trewidden, or another of the team
who makes contact I’ll leave up to any one who wants
to write a follow up post.







___________________________________________________________
BT Yahoo! Broadband - Free modem offer, sign up online today and save £80
http://btyahoo.yahoo.co.uk

SD 160212
MD 1.0245
Scene Unknown Freighter

Pietro looked nervously around him. This wasn't part of the mission he had
been given, but then again, having spent numerous years with the SFMC Force
Recon Teams, he knew that adaptability is what kept you alive. His mission
was to infiltrate a weapons smuggling ring, in order to allow a SECIS unit
to gather enough information for prosecution.

Things had been going well up until two days ago. His insertion had been
relatively quiet, calling no undue attention to himself or the hired crew
that dropped him off in the Tybiiran Complex. He was to attempt to make
contact with a Ferengi named Gruk, who had claimed to have access to a
hidden cache of Starfleet-grade weaponry and defensive systems.

He was to attempt to strike some form of deal with Gruk, in an attempt to
determine the validity of his claim, and the location of the cache. The
first meeting with Gruk had gone almost as planned. The Ferengi trusted
nobody, not even his or her own family, therefore Gunnery Sergeant Pietro
Cherenkov, SFMC, knew he had his work cut out for him. Posing as an
interested buyer, Cherenkov had access to a rather large amount of credits,
more than he would ever see in 10 lifetimes.

In the end, it was the Ferengi's greed that got the better of him. It had
cost Pietro a lot of credits to get anywhere near the supposed location of
the cache, but it turned out to be worth it. What he found hidden in that
asteroid field made him very nervous. Type III Phaser rifles, Marine Body
Armor, Type V Mounted Phaser, and Type Xa Ship-Mounted Phasers. Also, he had
a couple of barely working Phase Cloaks, along with components that would
match the Scimitar Sensor system. Not to mention the pieces that he hadn't
even been able to identify.

Taking a moment to reflect, Cherenkov realized at that point he was in above
his head. However, Gruk had whisked him away rather quickly from the weapons
cache, in order to discuss delivery of the purchased goods, and transfer the
credits, although the credits would do him no good. As soon as the credits
were converted to hard currency, the SECIS teams would be moving in.
Cherenkov simply had to live long enough for that to happen.

That is how he found himself, partially blindfolded, and stuffed into a very
small compartment on the Ferengi's ship. {I suppose I should count myself
lucky that he didn't stun me, or put me in some form of stasis
field.}Cherenkov thought to himself.

Despite the amount of hardware he had to sell, Gruk was actually a very
small player in a much larger operation. That's why Cherenkov had demanded
to meet the supplier. Most of what he had seen in the cache was relatively
fresh, not the salvage that most dealers attempted to sell out on the edge
of the Federation's border.

After what he believed to be a rather short warp-jump, a precaution to try
and throw anyone off of Gruk's trail, Cherenkov felt the warp-drive
disengage. He kept his mouth shut for the time being, not wanting Gruk to
begin thinking about anything but his percentage of the small fortune about
to be made.

Cherenkov felt Gruk's grubby little hands attempt to hoist him up by the
elbow. Considering his physical stature was much more imposing than the
ferengi's, he helped himself up. Gruk removed the blindfold, and pointed to
the exit. "Now, hew-mon, we go to meet with the boss."

"I told you before. Call me Hazard."; Cherenkov replied. Gruk responded with
a snort of indifference.

The hatch to Gruk's shuttle had opened, allowing the air from outside to
rush in. Cherenkov could already tell they were on a world that could barely
be classified as Class-M. The oxygen content was slightly normal than
Earth's, but not too much different than his home world of New Mars. The
gravity was a bit lower also, which made Cherenkov take a second to balance
himself. New Mars was a colony on a higher-gravity world, and after a few
generations, most of the descendants of the original colonists had adjusted
quite well to a heavy-g environment. Even though he had spent plenty of time
on earth, sometimes the lower gravity worlds still made him pause to get his
balance.

Not too far off in the distance stood a small building. Gruk motioned that
as their destination, and started heading off. Prior to entering the weapon
cache, Gruk had already scanned Cherenkov for weapons.

As they walked along the path leading to the building, Cherenkov was able to
make out a few weapons spots, and a couple of hidden watchtowers It wasn't
completely secure, but then again, not much was really secure nowadays.

The door to the building opened for them automatically, and the smell of
recycled air hit Cherenkov like a wall. Whoever was here, they decidedly
weren't as accustomed to the environment around them.

Inside, it was still rather dark. Cherenkov almost bumped into a couple of
pieces of furniture, muttering to himself quietly. The ferengi snickered at
him.

"Hzard, I present you to Lady Trinity."

---------------------------------------------
NRPG : More to come. Reg should recognize the name of Trinity (unless I got
it wrong from a Daedalus post a while back... LOL).

- JP Balzen
GSGT Pietro Cherenkov, Marine NCO
Task Force Sierra
balzen@...

TASK FORCE SIERRA: Following the breadcrumbs
by Chris Hatch

MD 04.0422

     The small alley was dark, narrow and very dirty.  As he moved the litter
rustled under foot and the sound of small animals could be heard scuttling
for cover until the intruder to their domain had passed.

     At the end a small light flickered as if it was unsure whether to
continue or give in to and join the darkness all around it.  Some moth like
creatures were also doing their best to put it out of it's misery by bashing
it at regular intervals.

     Richard pushed open the battered wooden door near the light and ducked
into the room.  He was fairly sure that this store was unknown to anyone who
may had been searching for him.  It had been set up three months earlier,
well before he had set foot on this planet, and no one had been near it
since.

     He would be safe here for a while he had no doubt that the Romulans
would begin an intensive search for him.  sh'Uleart did not like unfinished
business and his transporter trick would not have gone down well with her or
her superiors.

     Near the back of the room boxes were piled high.  Richard began moving
the top ones to one side, they contained noting of interest mainly self
sealing stem bolts, but the bottom one was much more useful.  From it he
removed a tatty looking backpack which he opened.  It's tattyness of course
was by design as the inner material was the latest antiscan material, indeed
any one that did choose to scan the bag would quickly decide that it
contained little more than some fresh fruit and a data pad.  Instead it
actually contained a Bajorian designed phaser, a heavily modified tricorder,
some ration packs and a medical kit.  All of the equipment was non-Starfleet
issue.  He first helped himself to a ration pack.  It had been a while since
he had eaten and a crippling hunger would not help in the days ahead.

     As he ate Richard considered his next moves.  Rescue would come
eventually.  He had already missed one check in window, and when another had
passed by the monitoring station that was receiving his reports would inform
SECIS Command, they in turn would send another mission, to find the unit
that had been sent to find the missing operative.  Richard could only hope
that they would be more successful than him.  In the meantime however he
still had a case to work, just now it was much more difficult.  He still
wanted to track down Agent Noice and find out what he had discovered.

     And the place to start that was back at the flat, this time however he
would have to be much more careful.  First however he would get some rest
and lie low for at least a day, then he would begin.


MD 05.1234

     The twin suns shone brightly casting their dual shadows over the street.
Richard had taken up a similar position to the previous evening overlooking
the apartment that all their troubles had started in.  He had already
preformed a myriad of scans looking for Romulan life signs, weapon
signatures and any power fluxations that could signify cloaking devices
working in the area.  Nothing was being recorded.  Neither could he find any
evidence of transmissions suggesting that the area or flat was being
monitored.

     Confident, he strode across the street and up the steps, pausing for one
final scan before entering the apartment.

     The room had changed from the previous evening.  It looked neat and tidy
and even the walls had been painted.

     'It is a waste of time being here' thought Richard.  It was clear that
even if Noice had found something out he would still be hear.  The Romulans
would have been through the place with a fine toothed comb.  Nevertheless he
was here now so he may as well look.

     Luckily the flat was small, essentially only three rooms.  The one he
was in was a living and cooking space, to the left was a sleeping area and
the right was a bathroom.  Richard decided to start to the left.

     It was a small and nondescript containing just a bed and a small empty
chest.  The Romulans had indeed did a splendid cleaning job, in fact they
could set up a good maid business.  The bathroom equally sparkled, empty
cabinets were all he could find.

     "Damnation," he muttered as he sat heavily on the bed.  He had no
further clues.

     Then he saw it, just from the corner of his eye to start, something
blue.  Kneeling down Richard reached under the chest and knocked the object
out.  It was a small card, a pass card.  The photo was slightly blurred and
could have been almost any human, but Richard recognised it as Agent Noice.
And the pass, well it was most useful.

     Because if he used it right Richard now had access to the data storage
departments of the Regulatory Trade Building in nr'Kobbi.

     His first clue...

Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra

Location:  SS FORTUNE, under warp drive, and approaching the planet
            Yadalla Prime
Scene:  Command Center of SS FORTUNE

'What the hell am I doing here?'

That was the simple question than ran through the mind of Senior Chief
Petty Officer Cordell Burreson.  He was rated as an electrician's mate,
though he had spent years refining his proficiency in computers and
communication in a manner so as to earn him a more comfortable standard of
living than could be afforded by the average senior chief.

That was until a little less than a decade ago when meeting one young
officer with a fresh face and a naive faith in his fellow man had somehow
broken through the calloused exterior and struck a chord with Burreson.
That the officer in question was something of a legendary disaster waiting
to happen.  But his service on USS PROMETHEUS in Indigo Fleet had brought
him to the attention of the living legend, Admiral John Brooks, then
CINCINDIGO.  Six years later, John Brooks called upon the reformed senior
chief to become his chief dog robber.  Any job that Brooks needed, and
that Brigadier Sorill's special talent just would not suffice, fell to the
senior chief.

This was one more of them.

The senior chief stretch his stiff neck.  He also massaged the fine
stubble on his jaw and clicked his jaw in irritation.  The doctor had
*claimed* that there was no possible way that he could actually feel the
transponder which had been implanted, but he knew otherwise.

Burreson looked at the other people with him in the small ship and stifled
a frown.  He didn't like spooks.  And this was a definitively spook-heavy
assignment.  The commander seemed OK, at least for a birdwatcher.  Alric
St. Clair.  He wondered how the spy master would react if he knew that the
senior chief had hacked into his personnel jacket.  The OSFI Commander
would probably be *almost* as pissed off as Brigadier Sorill, whose ID
codes he had used to hack the file before they left Starbase BETA.

Actually Cordell was pretty sure that the Brigadier had wanted him to see
the files that he had looked up first upon hacking the system.  It was too
easy for him to get hold of the codes and use them to access those files.
No on with as much experience as an enlisted marine, turned spook, turned
officer, turned Chief of Staff for John Brooks, was going to be that
sloppy by accident.

What he frond out about the commander was unusual to say the least.  He
wasn't at all sure how he felt about having an over-educated counselor
turned spook in charge of things.  But Cordell, being Cordell, was, as
usual, erring on the side of pessimism and counting on very little.

But, the senior chief genuinely doubted that anyone expected him to hack
the BuPers system and get the full personnel record files for everyone on
the ship and that they were supposed to be picking up from the planet.
Burreson continued to study his other shipmates, comparing what he saw
with his eyes to his mental records of their BuPers files.

And then there was the pilot.  Lieutenant John Prince.  What a piece of
work that kid was, at least according to his file.  It looked like he'd
grown up a bit, and the diplomatic work to which he had recently been
assigned spoke to greater depths than were readily apparent on the
surface.  Moreover, he was certainly a hotshot pilot.  Cordell hoped that
they would not have much need of his skills, but he doubted that they
would be that fortunate.

And then, there was the Gunny.  Pietro Cherenkov was a classic marine's
marine.  Then he turned spook.  If there was one thing that Cordell had
never been able to see walk past him during his early career without
picking a fight, it was a force recon marine.  What was far worse was a
true green marine gone to the grey of intelligence.  That the runt was
build like a brick wall and looked like he could hold his own in a fight
made the senior chief wish, for a moment, that he had not reformed from
his skull-breaking days.

At least, Cordell thought, all of those personnel were military.  That
wasn't true of Special Agent Katrina Primus.  The joined Trill was, one
one hand, half his age and, on the other, much older.  It was certain that
Primus' knowledge of their area of operations would be valuable, but the
psychological trauma that the symbiot had experienced bothered Burreson.
She'd attended Star Fleet Academy at a somewhat older age than most, after
a seven-year career as a cop.  That background didn't endear the host to
the senior chief.  He had a well-trained dislike for the fuzz which was
almost as much a reflex as the disdain of a snipe for a jarhead.  That
she'd taken a general discharge to sign up with Star Fleet intelligence
made everything so much worse.  Zero to special agent.  That didn't bode
well for the senior chief.

And they were bound to pick up two more "special" agents when they reached
the planet.  Burreson wondered if the mission was doomed from the outset.
After all, there had been no contact with the planetside operatives in
four days and that included the nominal commander of the Task Force.
They were not even sure that he had received the orders assigning him to
SIERRA from his previous assignment.

At least FORTUNE showed promise.  And the little ship's name seemed
appropriate.  Because, despite all appearances, she had cost a not
insignificant fortune to construct.  On the outside, she appeared to be
little more than an old, small Andorian-built tramp freighter.  Much of
the inside looked the same way, but looks could be very deceiving, a fact
to which the state-of-the art, if cramped, command center could attest.
She was a state of the art Q-ship writ very small.  While not their main
mission ship, she was less likely to draw attention that the
superfreighter, ROYAL FORTUNE, that served as their baseship.  His
computer systems and communication gear were the best the Federation had
to offer, and actually several steps ahead of anything that should be able
to be shoehorned into the little ship.

Two of five wasn't bad.  Cordell knew that he could rely on the ship and
himself.  And, showing a rare bit of optimism, his mind added maybe one of
the special agents that they were supposed to retrieve to join Task Force
SIERRA wouldn't be so bad.  But the senior chief wasn't counting on it.

Burreson had finally established contact through the emergency network
with one of the two operations on the planet in which they were
interested.  Commander turned Special Agent Ning Leong, aka Edward Ni, was
on the same world as Special Agent Richard Trewidden.  Their operations
were not directly connected, but Leong, who was scheduled to join TF
SIERRA as a medical specialist, was in contact and Trewidden's team was
completely silent.

---
Respectfully?

Senior Chief Electrician's Mate Cordell Burreson
Task Force Sierra

NRPG:  Well, that's Cordell Burreson for you.  Count on him to find the
cloud with every silver lining.  After all, if you expect the worst, you
can't help but be happy with anything that goes your way.  <EG>

This post sets the scene under which we are beginning.

At this point, everyone but Trewidden is in contact and knows about their
assignment to the team.  FORTUNE is one of several ships available to the
team.  It is, in fact, one of the smallest of their vessels.  Because of
ROYAL FORTUNE's modified cargo bays, it will actually be possible to dock
the smaller FORTUNE inside the massive super-freighter.

The way I see things, an intelligence field team's members will generally
have different specialties and areas of expertise.  And they will each be
in charge of various aspects of the mission.  There will still be
deference and division based on seniority, but they probably aren't quite
as clear cut as in a normal naval or marine unit.  The roster, with areas
of specialization, looks something like:

SA Richard Trewidden - CO - Tactical Operations, Infiltration
CDR Alric St. Clair - XO - Psychological Operations (PsyOps), Linguistics
LT John Ramses Prince - Piloting, Diplomacy
SA Katrina Primus - Police Operations, Cover Operations
SA Ning Luong, MD - Surgeon, Toxicology, Surveillance, Engineering
EMCS Cordell Burreson - Computers, Communications, Engineering
MSGT Pietro Cherenkov - Small Unit Tactics, Counterintelligence

Written like that, this is a pretty good mix of skills.  Now let's go save
our CO so that he can take command before the Romulans kill him!

Jeff.

---
Jeffrey J. Jenkins             --  (c) copyright 2004
jeffj@...
"Wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it, and right is right even if
nobody is doing it." --St. Augustine

3 months earlier than "Beginnings"

Ning sat on a comfy armchair which he had pulled
closer to the window.  Light rain teased at the glass
causing the moonlight streaming into the low class
hotel room to refract and cast hypnotic shadows.  They
made a light sound as they assaulted the metal fire
escape outside of the 3rd floor window.  In his hands
Ning held a set of recording binoculars, however for
the time being they were not needed so he set them
down on the coffee table nearby, next to the open bag
of sweets.  The small room had a bed, an armchair and
a coffee table.  All were in less than prime
condition.  To make things worse the room had a
slightly unpleasant smell, as if it hadn’t been
cleaned since the last person had been here.

He’d been in on this operation for the past 2 months.
Sent to a far corner of the Federation to cut his
teeth in his new profession.  A SECIS team had been
investigating a narcotics ring.  The syndicate (and
they still didn’t know who they were, or even the
identities of any of the main players) ran the whole
operation, from production to transportation to sales.
  The Team had finally begun to make headway and the
CO, Leo Holvacs had requested a pharmaceutical expert
to try and add credence to his claim that he led a
small syndicate of like minded individuals.  Following
an easily applied disguise, he had become Edward Qi, a
doctor who had been struck off the register for
malpractice, who supported his expensive lifestyle by
manufacturing designer drugs.  He wasn’t formally
qualified as a pharmacist, but after over 50 years in
the medical profession, he knew enough to get by.
Holvacs had commented how he was an integral part of
the operation.  Still, despite his involvement he
didn’t feel a part of The Team.  He was The Outsider.
His assignment officer had explained it was a low risk
assignment, perfect for him to cut his teeth on and
gain valuable experience.  He had certainly sharpened
up his surveillance skills, as, apart from occasional
appearances as the good Mr. Qi, his main task was to
shadow what limited contacts they had made so far.

His communicator clicked twice, The Team were now only
a few minutes away.  The window looked over a group of
small warehouses situated at the very edge of the
Shuttle Port.  A wire mesh fence some 15’ high
surrounded the shuttle port, running parallel to the
ring road that also made a circuit of the port.  A
recent meeting with another intermediary had finally
borne fruit, and The Team now had a rendezvous with
one of the Lieutenants of the Syndicate in order to
discuss the terms of joining the nefarious business.
Ning had been watching for the last 6 hours, and apart
from the Syndicate members arriving a full hour early
in a wheeled van, nothing had happened.  The 3 men had
entered the warehouse and he hadn’t seen them since.
Ning had reported it as his training dictated.
Holvacs was dismissive, explaining that the Syndicate
were just being cautious.  In the background he could
hear the bitch queen Altamis laughing, no doubt she
was making some comment about his intelligence
inexperience.  Next time he made her a drink he
decided to drop a laxative in it.  She how much she
laughed then.

His communicator clicked again.  Ning picked up the
binoculars, switching on the starlight function to
improve what he could see.  Once he saw the 4 members
of The Team he clicked his communicator, once for each
member.  They walked over towards the warehouse,
quietly chatting, calm, relaxed.  To Ning it was
obvious they had worked together for a long time.  He
had lead a team like that back at St George Hospital.

Holvacs had told him that his job was to follow the
Syndicate members once they left.  To this end a
Hoverbike was parked next to the fire escape. There
was an exit from the Shuttle Port some 500 metres up
the round and it was expect that the van would exit
there.  Several time Holvacs had stressed that if he
could follow the van and find out where they went it
was a bonus, but he was to take no risks, nothing to
jeopardize the cover they had all worked so hard for.

The four members of The Team walked past the van and
stopped near the huge loading doors some 2 metres
further on.  Still slightly bored, Ning stretched out
a hand, trying to locate the bag of sweets.  Grabbing
a random piece of candy he brought it to his mouth.

The forgotten piece of candy tumbled to the threadbare
carpet as the van vanished in a bright white and red
explosion.  Instinctively Ning tumbled to the floor.

“What the……..”

Peering out of the window and waiting for his eyesight
to clear, Dr Luong viewed the devastation.  The
warehouse had been leveled.  The Doctor in him
screamed for him to go down and find The Team.
However, nothing and no-one could have survived such a
blast.  The Team were only a couple of metres from it.
  He shook his head, not wanting to believe what he had
seen.  Ning wasn’t sure how much time passed as he
stared at the fire.  Not long, but too long.  His
shocked mind realized, if they knew about the
intelligence team, that meant they knew about him.  If
he’d been tailed, syndicate heavies would be bearing
down on this rat hole even now.  Another few seconds
passed as Dr Luong considered his options.  Then
without further pause he stuffed the binoculars into
their case and stuffed the bag of sweets into a
pocket.  Then, he opened a window and descended the
slippery fire escape.  By the time he got to the
bottom he was soaked to the skin.  Panicking slightly
now, Ning ignored the helmet on the bike and fired it
up.  He roared off deciding speed rather than stealth
was his best chance of survival and headed towards the
emergency rendezvous point.  Once there he would
request extraction.

Some introduction to intelligence work, he relected.
Ning fervently hoped he was somewhat luckier in his
next assignment.

Respectfully submitted by

Lee Foley
lsfoley@...
Dr Ning Luong
destined to join Task Force Sierra






___________________________________________________________
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TASK FORCE SIERRA: Beginnings (Part 2)
by Chris Hatch

MD 03.2035

     "Trewidden to Mallory, status?"

     Rather than using the traditional communicator the team were all fitted
with inner ear receivers.

     [He's entering the building now, he appears to be alone.]

     "Richards?"

     [Copy that, I'm performing a sweep of the building, only one bio sign
and it's a human.]

     Richard looked around the near deserted street.  The few people that
were around were far to busy minding their own business to care what anyone
else was up to.  It was that sort of area.

     "Okay guys, Richards cover the back, Mallory meet me at the front."

     [Sir.]

     Richard ran across to the front of the building then waited just on the
corner.  Glancing across he could see Mallory waiting for the signal.
Raising his hand Richard pointed at the door they were to enter and waited
until Mallory nodded.  Then as he dropped his hand they both moved stealthy
to the door.

     Pulling out a tricorder Mallory scanned the locking mechanism.  "Three
seconds," he whispered.

     Then they heard the distinct click of the door unlocking.

     "Ready?"

     With phasers drawn they pushed open the door and quickly swept the room.

     "Clear," Mallory began to whisper as the door to his left was suddenly
kicked open knocking him to the ground.

     Suddenly before Richard could even begin to take action two Romulans
appeared from nowhere.

     "Damn," muttered Richard throwing himself behind a large sofa.
"Richards, there are Romulans in here, they had personal cloaks on," he
muttered into his communicator.

     A couple of phaser shots tore into the sofa and went straight through
just missing Trewidden's body.  Reaching over the top he fired a few shots
back.  Using a random dispersal pattern he heard various sizzles as the
beams hit home.

     He bent down and looked through the gap under sofa.  He could see
Mallory lying in the corner of the room, blood was seeping down his chest
but he still appeared to be alive.  The two Romulans had taken a defensive
position near the other side of the room behind what appeared to be a potted
plant of some description.

     Adjusting the phaser he sent another random blast out, just to keep them
where they were.  The phaser had been set not to target human lifeforms so
Mallory was safe enough from him.  But Romulans, what were they doing here,
the Tal Shiar had nothing to do with the situation on Baraknor III.  At
least that was what the last intelligence reports had suggested.

     Equally puzzling was the problem of where was Special Agent Noice, who
they had seen just moments before entering this very flat.

     [Richards to Trewidden,] came a sudden voice in his ear.

     "Go ahead," replied Richard as another barrage of Romulan fire burst
into his sofa forcing Richard to send a couple more bursts out himself to
keep everyone where they were.

     [Sir, I've managed to get myself round to your six Sir.]

     "Okay, lay down some covering fire, I'm going to move left and try to
get a clear shot and flush them out."

     [Acknowledged,] came the response followed immediately by a barrage of
phaser fire.

     Richard moved quickly and carefully.  Despite the fact that the phaser
wouldn't target him, he could if not careful walk into a blast.  The
Romulans he could see were ducking down and trying to turn their attention
to where the fire was originating.  Kneeling, Richard let off a quick blast,
catching the first Romulan straight in the back.  The second, shocked,
turned and raised himself to return fire at Trewidden but fell himself as
the final shot from Agent Richards phaser hit home.

     "Sir," called out Richards moving away from his position.

     "Clear over here," replied Trewidden, turning as he heard a sizzle thud
sound behind him, just in time to see Richards fall to the floor.

     "Well Commander, it seems we meet again.  Hey, long time, how you
doing?"

     "sh'Uleart, what the hell are you doing here?"

     "I was just out for a walk, thought I'd drop by and see an old friend.
You look well, given last time I saw you, you had just died and thwarting my
evil plan to take over DS4," she replied.  "Any way we'll have time to catch
up.  You're my prisoner you see."

     "I could just kill you and run."

     "Not your style is it.  I bet you just stunned those two guys down
there.  But even if you did, there's twenty weapons trained on the exits of
this building.  You walk out without me and..."

     "Ah, what about my men?"

     "Well this ones dead," replied sh'Uleart giving Richards a quick kick in
the ribs.  "We may take that one in the corner and as for your friend Noice,
well he's already been most cooperative."

     "You won't get away with this," threatened Trewidden dropping his phaser
to the ground.

     "With what?  You don't even know what we're doing.  Now come on, be a
good boy."


MD 04.0258

     Richard studied the room carefully.  It was very empty, and very green.
What exactly was it the Romulans had with the colour green, everything was a
distinct shade of it.

     Anyway, those thoughts could wait.  The room was a more pressing
concern, or more accurately the three objects it contained.  Himself, the
slightly green chair he was strapped to and the Romulan Sub-Commander
standing just before him.

     "Well isn't this interesting Mr. Trewidden," leered the Romulan.

     Richard gave a small grimace as he considered his options.  None came to
mind just yet.  "What do you want?  Do you expect me to talk?"

     "No Commander, I expect you to die," came sh'Uleart's evil reply.

     "Again, come off it, haven't I done that enough."

     sh'Uleart leant forward.  "Come on we can be friends again."

     "Hang on a second ago you said you wanted me to die."

     "Hey, I've got relationship issues here, it's hard seeing you ex after
all this time."

     "You're only my ex because you brainwashed me into loving you, and then
you used that to make me betray the Federation," replied Richard.

     "Now there's more to it than that, but we'll talk about it later, after
we've transferred you to nr'Rdok."

     Richard inwardly processed the information.  nr'Rdok was know to him as
a Tal Shiar outpost about a hundred kilometres North East of the city.  It
was somewhere he really didn't plan on going this evening.

     "Well actually, I think you should talk about it now."

     sh'Uleart frowned.  "Why?"

     "You see I have a back up plan."

     "Really?"

     "Yes, a cunning backup plan."

     "What's the plan?"

     Richard smiled.  "I say bye," he concluded as a blue haze transported
from her evil clutches.


MD 04.0300

     Richard quickly flicked the power off on the site to site transport
unit, preventing any chance of being traced.

     "Well, well," muttered Richard.  "It worked, who'd believe it."

     For the last few missions he had come up with this 'get out of gaol'
system.  Once he had the communicator implanted he had realised that it
would give him an instant transporter lock.  Five hours after the mission
was due to end, if he had not reported in to the device, the site to site
transporter took him back to a safe house.  This was the first, and now the
Romulans knew about it, probably the last time he would get to use it.

     It was fortunate that the Romulans had no had time to transfer him to a
totally secure area like nr'Rdok, otherwise some pesky shielding would have
got in the way.

     But all it did was transfer him to a different problem.  He was stuck on
this planet.  Seemingly alone.  With no way off.  And with the Tal Shiar
looking for him.

     As well as an evil ex-lover.

     'Bugger, bugger, bugger,' were his only thoughts.




Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra

All,

I just wanted to say "Bravo" to Chris and the rest of Task Force Sierra.
Congratulations all- your first official post as a unit is always special.

Great work one and all, and I look forward to your future adventures!

-Scott Lusby
CINCSF

TASK FORCE SIERRA: Beginnings (Part 1)
by Chris Hatch

SD 160209
MD 4.0258

     Richard studied the room carefully.  It was very empty, and very green.
What exactly was it the Romulans had with the colour green, everything was a
distinct shade of it.

     Anyway, those thoughts could wait.  The room was a more pressing
concern, or more accurately the three objects it contained.  Himself, the
slightly green chair he was strapped to and the Romulan Sub-Commander
standing just before him.

     "Well isn't this interesting Mr. Trewidden," leered the Romulan.

     Richard gave a small grimace as he considered his options.  None came to
mind just yet.  "What do you want?  Do you expect me to talk?"

     "No Commander, I expect you to die," came the evil reply.



Two years earlier...

SD 140608
<snip from DS4 post 'The End'>

     Richard fell heavily against the control of the I-Ocean and studied
them. Around him the fire fight continued as the Federation crew pressed
the Romulans back.

     "Can you disable it?" asked Harley.

     [Thirty seconds to activation,] responded the computer as if to suggest
'no' as an answer.

     Richard gave a grimace as he tried to stand, the pain from the wound
and the loss of blood making it difficult to focus. "There should be a way,
yes. I read most of the padds on this device whilst I was with sh'Uleart.
I just need a bit of time."

     "You've got about twenty eight seconds of it then," responded Harley as
he moved away.

     Richard set to work. The task was simple change the loop so the power
surge fed straight into the console and not the actual field generator.
Easy.

     He tapped.

     [Twenty seconds to activation.]

     The first few commands were easy and the computer showed the switching
taking place. If only they had decided to have put an 'off' button on this
device he mused to himself, it would have made this task so much easier.

     [Ten seconds to activation.]

     Done. Richard smiled weakly, the pain in his side was almost
unbearable but he had succeeded, once the device activated the power would
feed back on itself destroying the I-Ocean once and for ever. He pushed
himself upright but the pain was too much.

     [Five seconds to activation.]

     He collapsed to the floor almost unable to move. Slowly he began to
pull himself away from the console that was about to explode with a massive
power feedback.

     'Bugger'. He mumbled





     Harley turned as he heard the countdown near zero to see Trewidden hit
the floor. "Commander," he shouted as he began to run back towards him.

     A run that was stopped as the console exploded in a flash of light.
The explosion itself caused part of the deck above to crash down onto the
floor covering the whole area in flaming debris.

     The fire suppression units quickly cut in and Harley continued to make
his way to where he could see the body of Trewidden lying amongst the
rubble.

     "Commander," he shouted again.

     He bent down on his knees next to Richard. "Commander?"

     Richards eye's moved up in his burnt and bloody face. His mouth hardly
moved as he whispered.

     "th'Tellan, tell him I'm sorry.... tell them all....."

     He closed his eyes for the last time and his head dropped.

<End Snip>

     Harley turned away desperately searching for a medical team, for any
help at all.  But all he could see was chaos.

     He failed to notice the blue shimmer behind him and the slight change in
the position of the body.



SD 160206
MD 1.1500

     The meeting place was carefully chosen to be discrete, in the open and
defendable should the need arise.  Of course it would have been better not
to meet at all but the needs of the mission demanded it.

     "Have we located him yet?" asked Special Agent Richard S Trewidden to
the two other men before him.  All three of them wore hooded cloaks and the
whole image was one of a group of monks on a works party out.

     Agent Malloy nodded.  "Yes, there's been one positive sighting coming
out of the Regulatory Trade Building in nr'Kobbi.

     "Did we manage to contact him?"

     "Not yet," the third 'monk' replied.  "We've been monitoring his
quarters and as soon as we have him alone we will move in."

     "Fine, let me know when, I think we should all be there."

     "Yes, of course Sir. Have you discovered any reason why he stopped
filing his reports?"

     "Not yet, no.  As you know the last one he sent over three weeks ago
suggested he was close to finding the source of the arms that were used in
the terrorist attack on Baraknor III but nothing since.  We've got to find
out what happened," replied Richard.  "So guys, let's get to it."

     "Aye Sir."



Two years earlier...
SD 140608

     "Do we have him?" asked the neatly dressed woman sitting in the corner
of the small office type room.

     "Yes Sir, he's in medical now, he's in a bad way."

     "Any clue as to when he will be fit to talk?"

     "The Doctor thinks he'll need some time, at least a day.  The Commander
was essentially dead when we brought him on board."

     The woman turned to look out of the port window.  "Fine, time is on our
side.  For once."



SD 140612

     "So Commander.  How are you doing?"

     Richard studied the woman carefully before answering.  She was in her
mid forties, blonde hair with a body that was still holding it's own against
time.

     "I'm improving.  I'm just puzzled as to why I'm no longer on DS4 and why
no one will tell me where I am," replied Richard.

     "Ah, well you see," the woman paused, "I don't know how to break this to
you, you're dead."

     "Oh right.  I see.  The afterlife is a Federation Sickbay complete with
three meals a day and a nifty supply of holovids."

     The woman smiled.  Richard found it quite endearing.  "No Commander,
you're right of course.  I just meant as far as Starfleet is concerned
you're dead.  We'll tell them later what's really going on."

     "Which is?  Look I'm fed up with being kidnapped by different
governments and brainwashed.  Even if it is my own for a change."

     "You have not been kidnapped.  You have not been brainwashed, indeed the
exact opposite, we've been removing the last vestiges of Romulan programming
inside your head."

     "Yes and you are?"

     "Oh my.  Sorry.  I'm Director Janet McLeavy, from SECIS.  We're
recruiting you."

     "Right?"

     "Now don't look so surprised, after all you must have known that your
Starfleet career was pretty much over.  Even if JAG did clear you from the
charges because of the brainwashing you would never get another posting in
any form of Command position.  You'd be demoted to Ensign and assigned as
FCO on some long range survey ship for the rest of your career.

     "This way however you get a fresh start.  Yes Commander you are going to
join the dedicated ranks of SECIS operatives and work for us.  Bit of
retraining and away you go."

     Richard stared forward with a surprised look etched on his face.  "I'll
need time to think about this."

     "Of course, I'll be back to see you later," concluded Janet.

     In reality however there was little for him to consider.  He already
knew that his days as a Commander were over, he had no family and no other
job to turn to.  His only choice was to roll with it and discover what SECIS
had to offer.



SD 1600208
MD 3.2035

     "Trewidden to Mallory, status?"

     Rather than using the traditional communicator the team were all fitted
with inner ear receivers.

     [He's entering the building now, he appears to be alone.]

     "Richards?"

     [Copy that, I'm performing a sweep of the building, only one bio sign
and it's a human.]

     Richard looked around the near deserted street.  The few people that
were around were far to busy minding their own business to care what anyone
else was up to.  It was that sort of area.

     "Okay guys, Richards cover the back, Mallory meet me at the front."

     [Sir.]

     Richard ran across to the front of the building then waited just on the
corner.  Glancing across he could see Mallory waiting for the signal.
Raising his hand Richard pointed at the door they were to enter and waited
until Mallory nodded.  Then as he dropped his hand they both moved stealthy
to the door.

     Pulling out a tricorder Mallory scanned the locking mechanism.  "Three
seconds," he whispered.

     Then they heard the distinct click of the door unlocking.

     "Ready?"

     With phasers drawn they pushed open the door and quickly swept the room.

     "Clear," Mallory began to whisper as the door to his left was suddenly
kicked open knocking him to the ground.





     From outside the windows of the apartment began to flash shades of green
and red.




Respectfully submitted,
Chris Hatch
Special Agent Richard Trewidden
CO, Task Force Sierra



<<<<nrpg>>>>
Watch out for part 2, coming soon...