Seeing Red

Posted on May 27, 2017 @ 1:42am by Chloe Nielsen
Edited on on May 27, 2017 @ 1:42am

Mission: Section 31

“Seeing Red”

Location: Toronto, Canada, EARTH
SD: [2.17] 0527.0011
Scene: Street, Downtown

A cold, chilly night at temperatures below 0 o C and light snow, sprinkling the streets of one of the world’s busiest cities and spring was right around the corner, waiting to bloom, paving the way for dawn after a long, cold, dark night. On that night, the street was packed with people, many of whom were heading for the various pubs and restaurants with large viewscreens or holographic projectors as well as the giant dome shaped building at the far end of the road. The CN Tower, the city’s famous landmark that stood for centuries, loomed in the distance, its gaze on the mere mortals walking the streets.

“Good, Michela is at her friend’s,” a human woman with short blonde hair, snug under a blue toque or knitted hat with a white pom on top. She was glancing at a thin, miniature device, no longer than her index finger.

“Sis, you don’t have to check your child tracker every five minutes,” Chloe said, laying a gentle hand on her slightly taller but younger sister’s shoulder. “Besides, I set up a warning signal in the tracker, so if Michela goes somewhere that is not part of the list of locations that you entered, the device will send us an alert.”

Sofia Nielsen-Ruiz sighed, steering her hand away from her purse. “You’re right. It’s just I can’t help worrying for my only child.”

“We’re here,” Chloe announced as the siblings stopped a few feet from a rather long, line, which she noted, extended about four blocks. “The line starts from the restaurant, goes all the way to the Ferengi Bazaar alley.”

“I’m not surprised. It is a big game after all and this restaurant does have the giant holographic projector, which would give us a 3D view of the game as if we are actually in the stadium itself.” Her pale blue eyes twinkling. “Great thing, I won the two VIP passes from the annual pool at the hospital over a month ago so we don’t have to stand in the line and end up missing most of the game.”

Chloe grinned at her sister. “You know we’re not really here for the game itself.” She stepped aside, when a group of non-humans, comprising of two Bolian males, an Andorian female and a Caitian male passed her by, wearing blue jerseys, the colours of the home team. Neither Chloe nor her sister were really avid ice hockey fans and rarely ever attended the matches unless it was a major game in playoffs. And this was a playoff game – winner off to the finals. A huge deal for the supporters of the home team. At the hospital wing, Sofia worked in, almost everyone from the orderly to the head surgeon planned on attending the game that they considered the ‘big event’, even those who weren’t fans of hockey. So it was important for her sister to attend as to not be the odd one out at her workplace. Chloe, on the other hand, was just there to spend time with her and didn’t really care for the game.

-------------
Scene: Restaurant
TI: An hour later
“10 minutes to go and the game is still tied at 3-3,” Sofia commented, lifting her glass to take a sip of white wine. A waiter arrived and collected their empty plates. “If we lose, the streets aren’t going to be safe tonight.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, taking a sip of wine. “All this rioting for a game.” She put her glass back down. “Although, it is more likely we could have another humans and aliens riot again, which has been happening more frequently in the city and chances are higher with alcohol involved.” A thud, followed by banging on tables and glasses breaking made the agent glance behind her shoulder. Two Starfleet security officers, a Klingon man and a Vulcan woman appeared, heading to the scene of commotion. The game wasn’t over yet. “We should get more wine.”

Her sister nodded, smiling. “Glad to see you’re drinking wine again…well the real sort and not that synthehol stuff, you’ve been having for the last four or five years.”

“I see no reason not to avoid wine again,” Chloe said, returning the smile. In truth, the agent stopped drinking alcoholic beverages, a few days after she got addicted to the drug. She learnt the hard way - the drug and alcohol did not mix well together. It was during training in the holodeck, where she a black belt in Tae kwon do and Aikido, was having trouble defeating lower belt holographic opponents and was even getting thrown across the room, when normally she defeated them with ease. It was then she knew something was wrong and didn’t take long for her to figure out the dangerous combination of the drug and alcohol, which numbed her reflexes, thus slowing her movements. On the night before training, she had a few glasses of wine and the drug and in the morning before training, she had the drug again. So Chloe dropped alcohol and noticed her reflexes returned to normal. It could have been worse and she was lucky this problem didn’t happen during a mission.

There were shouts erupting, cries, boos, jeers. “The other team is leading by two,” Sofia said, her eyes widening. “Those were two fast goals in power play. Still seven minutes to go.” Boos were growing louder – the home team fans were mad. The waiter returned with a bottle of white wine and two fresh glasses.

“Alright, with home team losing,” Chloe said, grinning. “We should drink up.” The waiter showed up again and from the tray, he put down a large paper cup with a lid and a straw sticking out and a box of fries in front of the agent. Nielsen raised an eyebrow. “We didn’t order these.”

The waiter said, “I know. Chef received a call from a lady, who ordered them for you. So enjoy.” He gave them a wide smile and jogged to the next table.

Sofia eyed the fries and drink with a confused expression. “Okay, who’d order for us?”

Chloe shrugged, lifting the lid a little for a peek inside and frowned. The drink was sludge, giving off a strange fruit smell, which disgusted the agent. “Well, I doubt it’s someone we know, because if it is, they’d know I don’t like unhealthy, sugary sludges.” She stirred the drink with the straw but then wore a puzzled expression as the straw tapped on a slight bump on the wall of the cup. This aroused her suspicion, prompting her to stand up. “I need to head for the ladies room.” Grabbing the cup, she left her seat.

“Hey, we can at least have the fries,” her sister said, smiling as she picked up a fry, when cheers erupted. Home team scored a goal to be down one and only three minutes to go. Then a foul by the other team, which meant power play and chance to even the score.

The Canadian walked up the steps in the stadium style seating to the top level and entered a quiet corridor, making her way to the ladies room. She dumped the drink into the wash basin, then washed the cup under running water to remove stains. The agent held the clean cup in her hand and examined the bump on its wall. Using a hairpin, she pulled out from her purse, Chloe cut out a square around the bump. After tearing away the thin piece of cardboard, she spotted a miniaturized cube shaped ear piece with a note attached to it, stating ‘Put this over your ear’.

Chloe did as the note instructed. As soon as the tiny device touched her skin, a message started playing. The Canadian realized it was a recording, recognizing the voice to belong to Georgia Campbell.

[[Screech Owl, Please report to the lair at 2300hrs.]]

2300hrs. Game should be long over by then, giving Chloe enough time to walk with her sister back to the latter’s home, stay for a while and then head for the lair – aka the abandoned subway car at the Bloor and Yonge intersection. She wondered with mild irritation if administration could have picked a meeting spot that wasn’t underground. Maybe an empty cabin in the woods would have been better. The agent sighed, turned on her heel and left the room to return back to her table. When she entered the seating area, loud cheers were erupting again – the game was heading for overtime as home team evened the score with just twenty seconds left in the third period.

----------------
Scene: Street
TI: Later in the night

“It’s a good thing, the short cut to the transporter centre is through a quiet part of the city,” Sofia commented, the siblings walking down a quiet and empty street, which made sense as it was mostly a residential area with a few shops and restaurants here and there, all closed at night. They walked past the Bank of Bolarus branch, which was of course, also closed, only to reopen the next morning.

“99th Hell Street is a short one,” Chloe said, nearly reaching the end of the road. 99th Hell Street, named because mostly Bolians settled there and the area used to be a part of Chinatown, still thriving even after many centuries. For nearly four hundred years, Toronto, already a multicultural city, even in the 21st century, was occupied by species from different Federation worlds, making the Canadian city their home. Along with Earth’s ethnic communities, the different non-human races formed their own pockets in various parts of the city so it wasn’t unusual for a visitor to end up in Little Tellar, Vulcan town or Nausicaan Alley.

“Hey sis,” the younger blonde spoke, briefly glancing up from her comm. device, “Can we stop by the hospital? Got a message from Dr. Colessa about something urgent.”

The agent raised an eyebrow. “At this hour?”

“Oh Dr. Colessa often works late and has called me in at nights for emergencies because one of the other surgical nurses weren’t available.” Sofia’s tone was nonchalant.

Chloe nodded. “Alright, I guess a detour before we head home.”

----------------
Scene: Terrace of a tall building

Chloe inquired, sporting a quizzical expression as the siblings got off the turbo lift, “Does Dr. Colessa always call you to meet her at the terrace?”

“No,” Sofia said slowly, a confused look in her eyes. “This is rather unusual. Dr. Colessa never visits the terrace as she’s afraid of heights.” She felt her sister’s hand on her arm. Suddenly the temperature seemed to have dropped further, well it was already chilly up there with the cold winds blowing against them.

The agent’s expression hardened. She was having a bad feeling, something that usually happened during missions, except she was not on one. However, she did know they needed to leave now before….well too late. She felt something whiff past her, missing her by a thread and then froze upon hearing a yelp from behind. Chloe immediately turned around and found her sister, kneeling on the ground. Her eyes moved to the younger woman’s neck and found a pin sticking out. The agent reached out for her sister’s shoulders and held them. With one hand, she pulled out the pin and threw it aside.

“I can’t move,” Sofia whispered, a look of horror in her eyes. “What’s happening?”

“Don’t worry,” a female spoke, alerting the agent of another’s presence – the attacker. “She is only paralyzed but the drug will wear off after a couple of minutes. I just need her out of the way.” The accent was English, more specifically what was known as the RP (Received Pronunciation) or standard British English dialect.

Chloe turned around, her expression darkened as she stood face to face with a humanoid woman, who stood atop the ledge, her long flaming red hair, tied up in a loose ponytail, swaying with the wind. She had a pale complexion and looked to be in her thirties if she was human. Adorned in a form fitting burgundy leather jacket and pants over her slim figure, the mystery woman jumped down from the ledge, a few feet from the agent. In addition to the outfit, Nielsen noticed the woman wore eyewear, a ruby red frame with lenses tinted with a maroon shade over her eyes and ankle high boots, the same colour as her outfit. She sure did love red or at least shades of red.

“Out of the way for what?” Nielsen questioned, her voice devoid of emotion. “Why did you attack us?” The agent took on a more combative stance, her gaze not leaving the woman. “Who are you?”

“Like I said, she will be fine as long as you keep her out of the way.” The new arrival began approaching the siblings.

Chloe let out an exasperated sigh, lifting both her sister’s arms, dragging her back before leaning her against the wall, next to the lift doors. The agent removed her black coat, folded it and placed it behind her sibling’s head.

“Chloe…” Sofia whispered, fear shone in her eyes.

The agent bent forward, her hand on the other blonde’s shoulder. “Don’t talk. Just stay safe. It will all be okay once I take care of this person.” Her voice took on a mix of reassurance and confidence. She returned to a standing position and turned around – the mystery woman stood there in the middle of the terrace. Chloe narrowed her eyes as she strode towards her. As they stood a feet apart, the Canadian noticed the other woman was close to the same height as her.

“I’m glad you got your sister out of the way,” the red haired woman spoke, her voice cold as ice. “I don’t like seeing any innocent harmed and I only came for you.”

“Okay, so what do you want me for?” The agent took on a more warning tone. “You better start talking before I send you flying off this building.” But the other woman showed no fear and instead her lips curled into a tiny smile.

In a low voice, containing menacing undertones, the red haired woman said, “Oh don’t think it will be that easy getting rid of me.” She took a step forward. “After all, perhaps it will be you who will be sent flying off this building.”

“Is that a challenge?” Chloe frowned, the woman was itching for a fight that the blonde wasn’t willing to give. After all, she had an appointment to keep with the Director of Section 31 and make sure her younger sister was safely home. The agent only really fought when she needed to and that was mostly during training or a mission. Thought at times, when off duty, and to her annoyance, there were always idiots or brash individuals, who never usually think through their actions, threatened her with violence. So in those situations, she was left with no choice and deal with them swiftly with minimal damage as much as possible.

“Isn’t that why I lured you here?”

“I should have known,” Chloe said, shooting the other woman a cold stare. “You pretended to be Dr. Colosses and got my sister to bring us here.”

“Correct.”

“Look.” Nielsen’s tone was calm, her eyes still fixed on the other woman. “If you’re itching for a fight with me, then you’re out of luck, since I’m not interested and I have somewhere else to go.”

In a deadly voice, the red haired woman said, “You can’t leave just yet, Agent Nielsen or Lt. Cmdr. Nielsen or just plain Chloe Nielsen.” A sly smile formed across her lips. “Rumour has it, you are no longer part of intelligence.”

Chloe froze – this was anything but good. “Who are you?” Her voice took on a defiant tone. “Why the disguise? Worried you may be someone I’ve met before?” The big question was how this strange woman knew her name and profession, unless they had met before. But with the red eyewear, it was impossible for the agent to identify the woman. Her voice though on the other hand…was familiar.

“Oh I’m not worried.” The red haired woman put one foot back and raised her hands to her chest, getting into a fighting stance. With a blood curdling scream, she leapt forward, swinging a punch, aimed for Chloe’s face.

The Section 31 agent’s martial arts training kicked in, when she deflected the punch away with a block. Without hesitation, Nielsen responded with a roundhouse kick to her opponent’s abdomen, quickly followed by a back kick but the other woman managed to move outside of her, missing the blow by a hair and immediately jumped in the air, her foot snapping into a sidekick for the agent’s head.

Chloe was ready, anticipating the move as she slid backwards, only to whirl around to send a crescent kick, shooting for the neck. Not only the redhead ducked backward, allowing the heel of the foot to hit the air, she then dove inside of the Canadian woman, her feet sliding across. She reached for Chloe’s top and grabbed it with both hands, likely preparing for a low knee attack or a head butt. The Section 31 agent was faster than her by slamming both her hands on the back of the red head’s wrists and pushed down on them. Using her thumbs to press hard on the pressure point on the wrists, Chloe twisted her opponent’s arms outward and managed to free herself from the other woman’s grip. The blonde then pulled her forward, her hands firmly placed on the other woman’s forearms, bringing them over her shoulder and then with her full body weight, the agent threw her opponent over in a neat arc.

However, the red haired woman, not to be outdone, stuck out her leg at lightning speed, just before she hit the ground, and slammed it into the back of the agent’s legs, forcing the blonde to fall backwards to the floor. The two didn’t lay down much longer as they both simultaneously leapt up to a standing position, their eyes fixed on each other.

“Ready to give up,” the redhead taunted with a sneer. “I mean, you are way over your league here.”

“Not on your life.” The agent’s reply was succinct as she took a step forward.

“Oh well, if that’s what you want.” The other woman immediately charged forward with a front kick, followed by whirling around to deal a kick, arcing toward the blonde’s face. But Chloe caught her leg in time, forcing it to arc away from her to the ground. The agent then fired a roundhouse kick to the abdomen, making contact, a spinning back kick to the same area, forcing the other woman back and a side kick to the chest, all in rapid succession. The blonde looked ahead, noticed she had her opponent backed against the ledge. Well, it was premature to expect the agent to give up, not when she had the upper hand now. All she needed was one powerful kick to deal a final blow that would either knock her unconscious or send her tumbling off the ledge.

Unfortunately, the fight was not yet over. To Chloe’s surprise, the flame haired woman jumped onto the ledge, her feet teetering on the edge. Her next move was totally unexpected to the Canadian, when the red head jumped forward, flipping her body over in mid-air as she passed the agent above and her feet hit the ground behind the blonde woman. The agent turned around quickly, only to find her opponent standing, a smug smile gracing her lips, which by the way, were a rose pink. The redhead’s smile vanished, when she in quick succession, swung a back fist and then a forward punch. The back fist struck the agent, just below her eye but Chloe managed to grab her hand during the second strike.

Struggling with the intense pain below her eye, the agent grit her teeth as she at top speed, twisted her opponent’s arm around and bent her elbow. Chloe pulled the red haired woman’s bent elbow back over the latter’s shoulder, forcing her opponent’s upper body to arch backwards, her knees bending. Her other hand was pushing on the other woman’s chest for more force. But the red head wasn’t willing to just sit by and fall so with her free hand, she jammed her forefinger and middle finger on the area of Chloe’s forearm above her elbow. The agent, from the sudden pain in her elbow, was forced to release her grip on the redhead’s elbow and chest and stumbled back a step.

Before the agent could recover, the other woman wasted no time, when she leapt in the air, her foot snapping out into a front kick, striking below her jaw. Chloe staggered to the side but before the mysterious redhead made her next move, the blonde pushed her back with a jumping side kick to the chest. As her opponent was stunned, Chloe knew it was now or never to deal the blow that ended this fight, otherwise it could go on forever and her sister needed help. So in a single, swift move, the agent jumped and spun around to deliver a kick where the heel struck the side of her head with such immense force that it knocked her to the side and then forward towards the ground.

There was a common Earth saying, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and that applied in this particular fight. As Chloe watched the red haired woman fall, she felt an uncomfortable sensation as if holes were punctured into her neck. Then, the blonde felt her knees buckle, her vision starting to blur, where she glimpsed with helplessness at the silhouette of her opponent rising up and then it all went dark.

-----------------------
Scene: Starfleet Medical Facility
TI: Next morning

“Hey sis, so glad you’re awake.” Sofia walked inside the room, a concerned expression on her face. The agent got off the bed and was standing beside it. “Chloe, I don’t think you should be up.”

Chloe sighed, having woken up an hour ago and was now dressed, eager to leave the hospital. “I’ve just been discharged. The doctor says I’m fine.” She watched her younger sibling let out a sigh of relief.

“Glad to hear.” Sofia frowned. “I don’t ever want to experience something like last night, watching you get nearly killed by that horrible woman.”

“I hope you don’t repeat last night’s experience again.” She held the slightly taller woman’s shoulders, pulling her close.

“I had the impression now that you are out of intelligence, we wouldn’t be dealing with trouble like this,” the younger blonde bemoaned. “I thought you will now be able to live a stable life without having to face enemy agents, organized crime lords or whatever. I know now with your assignment in Starfleet Operations, you can finally get the chance to settle down and find someone nice” She grinned. “Now that you’re life as a spy is behind you, nothing is stopping you from sharing a life with another person.”

Chloe sighed, staying silent as she let her sister talk. Her life as a spy wasn’t over, it just changed bosses and unlike her time as a SFI officer, she was flying solo, which took a little bit getting used to. During her time at SFI, she was often part of a unit and rarely ever went on solo missions. The bright side of being a Section 31 operative was she didn’t’ have to worry about losing a fellow agent during an operation. As far as the other thing, well Chloe had no room in her life for a long-term relationship for as long as she was in the intelligence business – with her constant travelling on missions that would put any relationship at stress, not to mention the risks involved for the significant other.

“Hey, you know what,” Sofia suggested, a twinkle in her blue eyes. “I know someone who would be perfect for you. There is this Starfleet Engineer, who works at the Daystrom Institute. A nice guy with a stable life and yeah, he can be a bit of a nerd. But I heard he is really sweet. And really your last relationship was with someone like him but that was like when you were at the Academy. I think you’re long overdue.”

Chloe began shaking her head in mild exasperation. Ever since she was fired from SFI, Sofia had been on her back about finding a nice guy to date, later marry and procreate. While the agent was tempted to remind her sister about her own husband, who was hardly around for her and Michela because of his job in Starfleet, every time Sofia talked about her settling down, she held her tongue. Sofia’s husband was a Starfleet doctor, an adrenaline junkie, always seeking out a disaster or an emergency that required persons with medical expertise. He never stayed in one place, often away on relief missions.

“Sofia,” the agent said, grinning. “George wasn’t my last relationship.”

“He was the last stable and long-term relationship and it bothered me over how you just dumped him, especially after he proposed, right after your graduation,” Sofia chided. “Besides, I don’t think your short-term affairs or fake relationships with targets, counts.”

She smiled, pulling her sibling into a quick embrace. “Anyway, I have to get to work. My duty shift started an hour ago. I’ll see you later.”

“You too.”

---------------------
Scene: Abandoned Subway car

“Now I know why that voice was so familiar, though I remembered a different accent,” Chloe remarked, her gaze fixed on the image of the red haired woman, except she didn’t have red shades over her piercing blue eyes and was wearing a Starfleet uniform. The flaming red hair was all neatly tied up in a bun. “But she died in that shuttle explosion just after it left Trill’s orbit and that was eleven years ago. According to official reports, it was due to a warp drive overload.” Well, official reports as far as the public was concerned. Within the Starfleet Intelligence community, however, it was a different story, one that shocked majority of the officers, including herself.

The woman in question, Minerva Evans, a Lieutenant Commander by rank, went by the code name, ‘Red Mistress’. Evans, a human woman, was also one-quarter Romulan through her paternal grandmother, who was once a Tal Shiar agent. The Romulan heritage was kept secret from everyone except a chosen few in SFI to prevent any discrimination or suspicion against her. She was declared a traitor and KIA in 2421, but from last night, it seemed she didn’t die in that explosion, which raised doubts in Chloe’s mind. “Has it been confirmed that the woman who fought me was Minerva Evans?”

Selyara, the holographic version of the Director, answered, “Yes. A few days ago, one of my assets spotted her in a meeting with a well-known Ktarian pirate on RISA and she was making a trade with him for information. My asset captured a holo of her and sent it back to us and that was when we were able to verify her identity.”

Chloe sighed. From what she recalled, the powers that be at SFI, sent reports to all agents, claiming that Evans, a decorated intelligence officer, also a controversial figure with questionable methods used in missions, murdered her CO, Commander Santiago Wolfe for discovering her role as double agent of the Romulans. She remembered how much the news shocked a lot of agents as the Red Mistress was known to be a huge defender of the Federation and its ideals – she would even give her life to protect the Federation from its enemies. Unless, of course, the story was manufactured, which was no surprise to Nielsen, considering the Neo-Essentialist corruption of SFI.

“Hmph,” came a snort from Georgia Campbell, who was also on the line, her visage taking up half of Chloe’s screen. “Damn messy. Seriously, a Klingon ceremonial dagger with all that blood spilling. Boy, she sure does love sharp things.”

Ignoring her administrator’s comments, the Vulcan/Betazoid hybrid said, “Actually, Evans only led the Romulans to believe she was their double agent so she could gather intelligence from them. In reality, she was spying for us.”

So she was framed. Chloe narrowed her eyes. What a surprise. Bet it was to cover up a conspiracy that Evans happened to tumble upon and the culprits decided she needed to be silenced. Too bad for them, it looked like the Red Mistress outsmarted them and was alive today. The blonde would have almost admired her if it wasn’t for the misery the latter put the agent and her sister through, the previous night and that wasn’t something she was going to easily forget.

“Red Mistress did kill Commander Wolfe. That part was true,” the Director continued. “After doing some digging through the old Section 31 files, I found an off-book operation, conducted by her and that investigation uncovered Wolfe to be a Romulan double agent. Unfortunately, what she didn’t know was he was also a senior Section 31 operative. So he knew about the investigation and to prevent her from exposing him, he accused her of being a Romulan spy by creating false evidence. So with both Section 31 and SFI units on the hunt for her with different orders - the former a straightforward clean order and the latter to apprehend her, preferably alive. She had no choice but to confront him. When he threatened to kill her, she then just simply slit his throat.”

Georgia informed in a brisk tone, gazing at Chloe, “You will be glad to know that I managed to get one of our techs to delete security footage of your fight with Evans. So as far as security is concerned, there will be no further investigation into the matter.”

Chloe sighed, Sofia wasn’t going to be happy about that. But she was relieved to hear security would not be nosing into her business. After reviewing the footage herself, it was then the blonde saw how Minerva managed to knock her out after being dealt a rather forceful blow. Tranquilizer darts that jutted out of a metallic red band, wrapped around Evans’ knuckles. There might have been some automatic trigger to release the darts. “The only question I have is why did she return after all these years? If SFI finds her to be alive, they will attempt to capture her.” She inhaled deeply. “And the bigger question, what does she want with me?”

“Well, I understand your frustration,” Selyara began in a quieter voice. “It is something that puzzled me too and made me wonder about her confrontation with you.” Her lips slightly curled, showing a hint of a smile. “But I do believe she had no intention to kill you because if she did, she’d have brought in the knives and it’d have been a fight to the death.”

It was common knowledge in the intelligence community that Minerva was an expert at anything with a blade from butter knives to sabres, coupled that with martial arts made her quite deadly. Since Chloe was off-duty that night, she was sort of caught off-guard by Evans and the fight might have turned out differently if the redhead brought knives – though the blonde was quite an expert at defense against blade attacks and adept at using sharp, pointy weapons herself. So if Chloe were to encounter Minerva again, then the agent had to be well- prepared to have the fight of her life.

“I did check your files, searching for any past history between you and Evans to help get a better understanding of the encounter between you two,” the Vulcan hybrid brought up. “The search didn’t come up with much information, other than you coordinated with her once on a mission.”

“Yes.” The Canadian nodded. “It was an op back when I was an analyst around twelve years ago, three months before I was reassigned as a field agent and that was the extent of our relationship.”

“You must have made quite an impression on her,” quipped Georgia, the ebony skinned woman’s gaze fixed on the blonde, her expression stony.

“For some unknown reason, she seems interested in you and we should use that to our advantage.” Selyara nodded at the Canadian woman. “When you encounter her again, try to bring her in, alive. We need information on her whereabouts in the last decade and her reason for resurfacing only now. Something is going on and we need to get the details regarding her sudden reappearance.” She paused for a moment. “It is important we find her first before our enemies get a wind of her even being alive.”

“Understood.” Chloe sighed.

“In the meantime,” the dark haired woman informed calmly, her fingers seen to be dancing around over something, assumed to be a console, “we received news of a break in at the Daystrom Research Institute five days ago. One of the labs report an item stolen – an artifact, recently brought from an archaeological excavation site on an abandoned planet in the Beta quadrant by the expedition’s Lead Archaeologist.” She was seen pressing something, leading to another holographic emitter to display a map of the Beta Quadrant. “Last night, I received information from one of our assets that the artifact was last spotted here on this planet.” A view of the aforementioned planet was enlarged on the display. “Designated Beta-525 and no official name because the planet doesn’t have a single government ruling over its populace, though that situation could change in the near future as eighty percent of that world is currently under the control of the Orion Syndicate.”

A world with a volatile political situation and the Orion Syndicate controlling most of the planet. A dangerous treacherous region of space. Although the planet was located near the Federation border, it was unfortunately in The Triangle. Chloe sighed, wondering whether the artifact was taken to an area under the Syndicate’s control and if that was the case, it would make the mission all the more challenging for her.

Turning around to face the Canadian woman, the Vulcan/Betazoid informed, “Your mission is to head to Beta-525, locate and retrieve the artifact. It is vital you obtain it before the Syndicate or any of the other powers get it. Georgia will send you an information packet on everything you need for the mission.”

“Understood.” The blonde woman processed in the information on her new mission. “What does the artifact do?”

“The scientific team, studying it, have yet to determine its purpose, other than knowing it was created by an advanced civilization that is now extinct,” Selyara answered. “However, we can’t take any chances, in case the artifact is a weapon.”

Chloe inquired, “Regarding Red Mistress, what does she got to do with this mission?”

“Probably nothing,” replied Selyara. “However, she was last spotted, boarding a Ferengi trading vessel at Spacedock early this morning. This vessel’s regular trade route includes the Triangle to conduct its illegal smuggling operations. So it may be possible for Evans to head that way. Then again, she might not be.”

“I’ll keep a look out for her.” Chloe narrowed her eyes, her mind filled with the mission and Evans. “Not going to be hard to pick out a person so fond of the colour red.”

“And remember our motto,” Selyara said with a tone of finality. “Do it whatever it takes, use any means necessary to get the job done.”

*************************************************************************************
NRPG: And Chloe is off on her second mission. The agent, Red Mistress will be a reoccurring presence in Chloe’s missions as maybe an adversary, ally or perhaps a frenemy.

~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Chloe Nielsen
Section 31 Agent