“Tell me what you know!” Pain shot through the man’s body as a gloved fist connected to his gut. Blood dripped from his already busted lip, and there were at least two broken ribs that he could count. The man spit blood on the floor, letting his body hang from where his hands where shackled, and laughed. “You want to know what I know?” the man asked. “That is why we’re having this, how do you humans say… Quaint little discussion?” the interrogator responded. “Let’s start with your name.” “Nah, I’ll skip to the juicy stuff,” he said smugly. “What I know is… you need a breath mint.” “You’re trying my patience.” “Yeah well, I have enough to spare,” the man retorted just before his body was wracked with pain again. [2 Weeks Prior] The orders came, as usual, unmarked. In this age where everything was a computer, and every computer was connected, the agency felt a paper trail was most secure. Barret just thought it was a nuisance. Still, he thought as he looked over the new orders, Security is important. It wasn’t an easy life, working for the people he did, but it rarely had its dull moments. Sometimes he wished it had a few more dull moments. After reading the orders, Barret then destroyed them. As was standard operating procedure. Soon he would be on a civilian transport on its way to… Well, that was the big question. The details on this assignment were sketchy at best. Boarding documents had come with the orders, and they detailed that everything he would need would come into his possession en route. Still, that had never stopped him from bringing a few things of his own. 3 hours after destroying the orders, Agent Barret was on his way to a Romulan colony world. He spent the time going over the local customs in his head, getting into his character. He also reminded himself to speak to the higher ups about better cover IDs. Two days later Agent Barret was no longer on that ship. The man who stepped off was Havraha s'Radaik, a farmer from Samnethe, a planet within the same star system as his destination; Erivin. He was a simple man with no connection to the Romulan military, let alone anything relating to Starfleet Covert Intelligence. Havraha made his way through the local market, getting his bearings. He took great care not to react to any of the information being displayed to him via his ocular implant, which gave him translations of signs, and any details on the people he met. “shaoi dan,” he said as he approached a merchant. “I am Havraha s’Radaik; I’m here to buy crop seed.” “shaoi dan, what kind of seed are you looking for?” the merchant replied. “ihor Berries.” The merchant looked around slowly, than leaned closer. “I am sorry s’Radaik, but I’m afraid I don’t have any at the moment.” “Odd, I was told you just received some from Lavaeri V.” “Perhaps I do, care to help me look?” the merchant asked as he gestured to the back room of the shop. Once in the back the merchant locked the door and pulled out a scanner to make sure the room was still clean. Havraha briefly wondered how many times the merchant did that every day. “By the Elements, don’t you know how to update your star charts?” he asked franticly. “Lavaeri V was destroyed years ago, and even then it wasn’t even habited.” “I’ll add it to the list of things to bring up, do you have the information?” “Yes, yes of course,” the merchant moved to a console and brought up a map of the city and surrounding area. “There’s a Tal Shiar compound here. My sources tell me they are researching something… something very dangerous.” “Like what?” Havraha asked as he looked at the map. “Only the Elements know. All I’ve been able to gather is that it’s psionic in nature, and something to do with our origins.” “Origin? What? You… you mean the Vulcan’s?” “Shh…not so loud. I may have secured the area but the walls still have ears.” Havraha got close and started to whisper. He had an urge to get this job over with. “How do I get into the compound?” he asked as he looked at the map. “There are maintenance shafts here,” the merchant replied as he pointed at the map. “Here and here. They aren’t heavily guarded, but there are security measures in place.” “You let me worry about that,” Havraha said as he turned to leave. “You take care of yourself old friend.” “May the Elements watch over you Havraha.” Havraha made his way to the edge of the security perimeter and found a secluded spot to prepare. He drew his pistol, one of the personal tools he brought along with him, and loaded the tranquilizer rounds into it. The weapon itself was made with Klingon materials, the rounds with Breen design, and the chemical propellant was of Romulan origin. All this was to make sure it wasn’t traced back to Starfleet. Plus, most sensors aren’t set to pick up chemical propelled weapons. The next item he pulled out of his satchel was a small arm band, something they had procured from a previous mission into Romulan space. These personal cloaking fields proved invaluable to the trade, but Havraha still thought they lacked flair. Once the cloak was on he made his way to the maintenance shaft nearby. He found two guards patrolling the area, Remans in fact, looking their usual tall dark and ugly. Havraha fired two quick shots, dropping both guards to the ground as he moved closer. They would be fine of course, but in a few hours they would wake up with the worst headache of their lives. As Havraha moved around inside the compound, he couldn’t help but feel it was too easy. Maybe it was his years in this job making him paranoid, but he should have seen more people around then this. Focus on the job, he thought to himself as he shook his head. Havraha made his way to the computer core and quickly tapped into the mainframe. As he did so his paranoia started to rise again. He practically walked right into an open door. Now, he just wanted to get the data and get the hell out of there. He set up and began the data transfer, and then waited. It was all he could do for the moment as he watched the progress of the transfer. His paranoia got worse as he watched the transfer, and then the worst thing possible happened. Every monitor in the core went dark. At the same time he heard the doors seal and the vents begin to pump something into the room. “Well, this is a problem,” he said just before he lost consciousness. [Now] “It took some digging,” the now familiar female voice said in that cold Romulan tone. “But at least we now have your name, Agent Samuel Barret.” “See, just when I thought we weren’t getting to know each other,” Barret said with a grin. “I do not believe you fully appreciate your situation yet Mr. Barret,” the interrogator replied. “Now, I want to know who sent you, and why?” “I came to meet someone,” he said casually, as though it didn’t matter. “Who?” “Well, it’s someone you know very well. In fact, I’d have to say you’ve known her all your life.” “I want a name, now.” “It was your mother.” The interrogator took a deep breath, obviously trying to keep her temper in check. “I see conventional means of questioning will not work on you. Perhaps we should try something else.” “There’s an idea, how about a nice stroll along the beach? I’m actually a very open person in the right environment.” “I had something else in mind,” she replied as she reached for a box that was sitting on the table. “We’ve been working on something rather… special here. Something from our long forgotten past. I think you’ll find it rather interesting.” She pulled a device out of the box, setting it on the table. It was hand held, and to his shock he recognized the design. But it seemed far newer then the images he had seen of one in the past. “That’s not possible,” he stated in amazement. “The only one left was destroyed.” “Yes, but thanks to our meticulous cousins it was scanned and catalogued. It wasn’t difficult to retrieve the data.” She held up the device so he could see it. “We’ve made some modifications to the design,” she explained. “It’s much more powerful. Oh, and that one little drawback the original had is no longer an issue.” She raised the device and pointed it towards him, driving him to the darkest recesses of his mind. The pain was worse than anything he had been prepared for, and he was sure that when it was over, he would be too. When Barret awoke again he was in a cell. His head felt like a shuttle craft landed on it, and his chest felt heavy. Barret had no idea how long he’d been in the cell, but he had to guess at least a day or two. His handler certainly wouldn’t be happy about this. He looked around for anything useful, anything that might help him escape. Unfortunately there weren’t many options in a cell that only had a cot. He’d have to come up with a somewhat old fashioned plan. Barret walked over to the door of the cell and started banging on it. “Guard!” he yelled. “Guard, I need help!” “What do you want Human,” the guard said as he walked up to the cell door. “I need a doctor, I think I’m gonna be sick,” Barret replied as he stooped over and held his gut. The guard watched for a moment, then opened the door to see if he was telling the truth. Once inside, that was when Barret acted. He tackled the guard, slamming him into the wall and grabbing for his weapon. A moment later the guard slumped to the floor with a disruptor wound in his chest. “Sorry bud, but I’m not sticking around for the encore,” Barret said as he searched the guard for anything useful. He peaked out the doorway into the corridor, making sure it was clear before stepping out into it. First things first, he had to get his tools. And he knew he had little time to do it, it wouldn’t be long before another guard was sent to check on his fallen comrade. He tapped is index finger and thumb together to re-activate his ocular implant, which had been deactivated when he first lost consciousness to avoid being detected. Instantly, he could see the full layout of the compound, where the personnel were, and the short range locator beacon on his tools. This time he was pulling out all the stops to make sure he got out of here. Barret carefully made his way to where his tools were located, taking out only as many guards as absolutely necessary to avoid suspicion. As he collected his things he started to relax a little, and then the alarms went off. The bodies he had left along the way had finally been found and the compound was now on full alert. Wonderful, he thought to himself. The party has started and I don’t have my Dress uniform. He moved quickly, which was easier now that he had his personal cloak again. He had one last objective he had to carry out. It was not spelled out in his orders, but then he couldn’t exactly call home at the moment to ask permission. All he knew was that the device, and everything about, it had to be destroyed. And there was only one way to be sure that happened. Romulan military structure was very compartmentalized compared to how Starfleet operated. To Barrets relief this meant that at any given time he only had four or so guards he had to deal with in each section on his way to the power core. From there it would be a short stroll to the landing bay, borrow a ship, and get the hell out of dodge before the fireworks started. Once he arrived at the power core he pulled an isolinear chip out of his satchel and interfaced it with the Romulan computer system, then proceeded to disable every safety on the power systems. Before too long the core would begin to build towards a catastrophic failure, and the virus on the chip would make it impossible for the Romulans to stop it. Just to add a bigger safety net for his plan, he set the Romulan disrupter on overload, placing it near one of the coolant tanks. Tick tock Barret, he thought to himself as he dashed out of the room. Time flies when you’re having fun. Soon he was just around the corner from the landing bay, finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel when something caused the personal cloak to fail. At the far end of the corridor 3 guards saw him appear out of nowhere, and where visibly taken by surprise. To their despair this gave Barret just enough time to act, reaching for a small explosive device in his satchel and tossing it at their feet while he ducked into a side corridor. Five seconds later, there were no more guards as Barret entered the landing bay. On the journey home, Barret took the time to think about this latest mission. He had come close to dying, and part of him wondered if that was worth it. When he returned to his residence, Fawkes was already waiting for him. Most of the time he enjoyed these little debriefings; she got to study his mission report, and he got to study her long, slender legs. In another life he might…. Well, no sense dwelling on ‘what might have beens’ “You did a good job Agent Barret,” Fawkes said as she looked over the details. “There was collateral damage, but from what I can tell it was worth it.” “You’ve been my handler for 12 years Mary, call me Sam.” She simply looked at him with those deep green eyes that made him sure there was more there then what she showed, then back to his report. “This psionic device could have been a major problem for the Federation,” she continued. “You deserve a commendation Mr. Barret.” “We both know I’ll never receive one.” “Well, be that as it may, I have new orders for you.” “New orders?!” Barret looked at her shocked. “I just got back from a mission.” “Our enemies never sleep,” she said coldly, handing him an envelope. “Neither can we.” Barret sighed as he held the glass of scotch to his forehead. The chilled glass felt wonderful against the throbbing headache he still had. “Yeah… ok…” he finally said as he turned his attention back to her and took the envelope. “Where to next?”
Don't worry...it'll all be compiled from the links in the main contest thread. You did link this there, right?
Yeah, I did. Just still kinda like the idea of all the entries for the month being up front. Dunno why.