Third Mission, Part I

Posted on Apr 12, 2018 @ 4:40pm by Chloe Nielsen
Edited on on Apr 12, 2018 @ 4:42pm

Mission: Section 31

“Third Mission, Part I”

Location: San Francisco, EARTH
SD: [2.18] 0411.2121
Scene: Section 31 HQ

As soon as Chloe set foot inside the Director’s office, the holographic projector became activated and an apparition of the Vulcan/Betazoid woman materialized in front of the desk. Not surprisingly, Selyara jumped straight to business without the usual pleasantries, which was fine with the blonde woman. The hologram opened her mouth and began speaking.

{{Okay, now that you’re here, let’s get down to business.}}

Chloe, standing a few feet from the hologram, nodded, waiting to hear about the details of her next mission. She was relieved to be having the mission briefing in the bright and sunny office rather than the cold, dark and dank subway car, where she was briefed for her last two assignments and that too at night in winter. It was now spring up in Toronto but still cold and chilly with little snow here and there – a much different weather from San Francisco.

She watched Selyara bend forward, the latter’s finger pressing something invisible and a holographic projection of a tall, humanoid woman appeared beside the Director. This individual had long, auburn hair, tied in a loose ponytail and was adorned in a pale grey lab coat over what looked to be a prison uniform. The difference between the two holograms was quite notable. While Selyara appeared real-time, the other hologram was just a 3D projection of the woman’s still image. Chloe’s eyes narrowed as she studied the facial features of the woman. Something was familiar about her, yet something different when she gazed into those cold, onyx eyes.

Apparently, it seemed like Selyara had read her mind. {{She seems familiar to you, Nielsen.}} At Chloe’s nod, the Vulcan added, {{Because she is, well sort of.}}

Suddenly, recognition dawned on the Canadian’s face. Now she knew why the woman was familiar. “I think I remember now.”

{{I expected you would.}} She paused for a moment, giving a sideways glance at something invisible before her gaze fixed on the blonde. {{This is Kate MacNeil, a doctor who crossed over from the parallel dimension, aka the Mirror Universe, in 2423 as part of a crew of pirates, which I’m sure you remember, caused trouble with the Gateway station.}}

“Yes.” Chloe nodded. “This pirate ship, from what I remember, was run by mostly doppelgangers of the Gateway senior staff and some notable Starfleet personnel. I heard they caused a lot of trouble during their brief time there before they were finally apprehended.”

Selyara arched a brow. {{You spent a lot of time at the Gateway during the war, right?}}

Chloe replied, her muscles tensing at the mention of the station, “Yes, but mostly used it as a base of operations like all the other intelligence officers, assigned to the quadrant. However, I was on a mission behind enemy lines, when that mess with the pirates went down, so missed the whole show.”

{{That I know.}} A thin smile formed across the hybrid’s lips. {{I understand one of those doppelgangers became an asset of yours a couple of years ago.}}

“Yes.”

{{Get in touch with her. You may need her for this mission.}} Selyara then continued, referring to the hologram, {{This woman, the doppelganger of Commander Kate MacNeil, was the head doctor of the BFOV SHIV. While she was still loose on the Gateway, she infected some patients in sickbay with a toxin that caused a rapid increase in calcification in the victims’ bodies. She did eventually provide an antidote on the condition she get to see her beloved dog before it passed away.}}

Nielsen frowned. She did hear about the illness in the station’s main sickbay from her sister, who served on the medical staff as a surgical nurse at the time. But the identity of the culprit was kept classified though most assumed it was the work of a Dominion spy. She couldn’t help wondering why Selyara was talking about Kate MacNeil, doppelgangers and an event that occurred a decade ago during the Second Dominion War. Maybe it had something to do with her upcoming mission.

{{Doctor MacNeil was sentenced for life at the penal colony for her crimes. However, three years into her sentence, she was recruited by the Neo-Essentialists and brought to a secret medical facility. The condition was that as long as she worked for them, she would stay out of prison. They kept her on a tight leash, not allowing her to ever leave the facility.}}

“Where’s she now? Back in prison?”

{{No.}} The Director shook her head. {{Following the Neo-Essentialists’ defeat, MacNeil managed to escape and her whereabouts were unknown until a few days ago.}} She brought up a projection of an M-class planet, similar to Earth. {{An asset of mine spotted her on the Gateway, boarding a Dosi transport. Upon further investigation by my contact, the transport was headed to the planet Numino. }}

Numino, the homeworld of the Nuimon race. If Chloe remembered correctly, Kate MacNeil, though a human of Scottish ancestry, was also half-Nuimon. The Nuimons resembled humans, except for one notable feature – the ability to change their eye colour. Numino, as it stood right now, was an independent world with no affiliation with any powerful entities.

{{Recently, we picked up a communique on a secure subspace network, accessible only to various criminal entities though intelligence agencies, including Starfleet, have managed to gain access to it.}}

“What does this communique contain?”

{{An invitation.}} Chloe raised an eyebrow, listening to the hybrid talk. {{The message contained an invitation, along with coordinates, and was traced back to Numino. The invitation was signed with the initials, KM.}}

“So Kate MacNeil sent out the invitation? How do we know it’s her?”

{{Those coordinates, she included in the letter, are locations, where she had samples of her work, placed. One of my assets managed to get hold of one of the samples. We compared it to the information regarding her work in our database and that is how we determined the message was sent by her.}}

Chloe asked, “To whom did she send the message to?”

{{Every group or individual in need of creating a bioweapon, out of her research including our allies and adversaries.}}

Nielsen inhaled a deep breath, absorbing the information. “What does she aim to accomplish?”

{{Unsure,}} the Director replied, {{But I do believe whoever gets their hands on her, will put the entire galaxy at risk. She was a rather notorious figure in her own home dimension, having created numerous biogenic weapons that resulted in the deaths of billions over there.}}

“So in other words, she is too dangerous to be allowed to roam free.”

Selyara nodded. {{This brings us to your mission, Nielsen. Your objective will be to find and retrieve Doctor MacNeil before anyone else gets to her. Once captured, she will be locked away in a much more secure location, inaccessible to others.}}

“Understood.” Chloe grabbed a PADD on the table beside her, containing information, pertaining to her mission. The PADD included the mirror Doctor MacNeil’s profile, along with other relevant information such as the Nuimons.

{{Getting to Numino will not be straightforward,}} Selyara added. {{You will go undercover as an operative of the Orion Syndicate. My source there tells me that the Syndicate is definitely interested in gaining the services of Doctor MacNeil.}}

Chloe frowned. Undercover as a Syndicate operative. Well, first she’d have to be a member of the Syndicate and membership into that organization had a steep price – either pay their enormous entry fee, which she doubt Section 31 had the funds for, or get a current member to vouch for her.

{{In order to gain entry into the Syndicate, you will first make contact with a high level operative, Eric Mwangi, the person in charge of Syndicate operations on Numino. You are to meet with Mwangi and get him to vouch for you to his superior, Klars, in order to become an operative.}}

That sounded easy, except it really wasn’t. But Chloe believed she was up for the challenge and ready to do what it took to accomplish mission objectives. She had dealt with the Syndicate on a number of missions during her time as a SFI officer but had never infiltrated the organization as its member.

{{As for how you will convince Mwangi, well there is some information in the PADD you’re holding.}}

Chloe scrolled down the contents of the PADD till she came upon the info and nodded. “Understood, Director.”

{{After you leave the office, you will report to the Quartermaster for your equipment.}}

“Yes, Director.” Chloe watched Selyara’s hologram vanish and turned around to leave the office.

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

On her way to R&D, Chloe was looking over the information on the PADD, particularly the profiles of Kate and Mirror Kate. A quick glance at their files showed a stark contrast in personalities between the two women – like night and day. The one attribute both Kates shared in common were their love for animals. The agent noted the list of pets, adopted by the Kate in this dimension and the number of fauna, many of which were genetically engineered, discovered in Mirror Kate’s lab on that pirate ship. Those creatures either perished, sent to science labs for further study or adopted, if healthy.

In this dimension, Kate MacNeil was a physician with the rank of full Commander at Starfleet Medical HQ and part-time instructor at the Academy. In the early part of her Starfleet career, she had served as Chief Medical Officer on a number of postings, which included the USS PROPHECY and the Gateway Station. During the Second Dominion war, she served on the Gateway as its chief of station operations and later ExO before taking command of the USS MERCY, a medical support vessel. At the end of the war, Kate and her wife, Grace Poe, also a doctor, transferred to Starfleet Medical to settle down and raise a family. While Kate was still stationed at fleet medical HQ, Grace resigned from Starfleet following the Neo-Essentialist crisis and took a senior research position at the Vulcan Medical Institute.
Now while Kate was considered a kind-hearted and caring woman, along with being an excellent physician, her doppelganger was quite a nasty piece of work. One had better not have a weak stomach if they wanted to read Mirror Kate’s files. Since the agent was used to bearing witness to terrible acts in her line of work, she was able to handle reading the doppelganger’s bio without the acids churning in her stomach. Mirror Kate was blessed with exceptional intelligence, her expertise in genetics. But she was an eccentric and cruel woman, who cared nothing for sentient lives, subjecting many to inhuman and unethical experiments, all in the name of scientific advancement. Though, Chloe couldn’t help wondering, how such an infamous figure in the galaxy, ended up amongst pirates.

The agent’s concentration was broken by sounds of crashing nearby. The blonde looked up at a young, humanoid male, bending forward, his mouth hung open and eyes widened, their gaze fixed on her. The man, with short, mousy brown hair and green eyes, gave her an apologetic look and stuttered, “Excuse…me…Agent…Nielsen.” His hands were shaking a little so the Canadian leaned forward to pick up a grey square box and handed it to him. As the technician attempted to take it from her hands, he dropped the item on the floor and once again, stammered an apology. “Sorry…”

“Max, stop being such an idiot,” came a loud female voice, laced with irritation. The Quartermaster, Gabriella Gonzalez, rolled her eyes, approaching her subordinate and chided him, “Oh you’re so clumsy, Max. That’s sensitive and expensive equipment you just dropped. Handle with care.”

“Sorry…” Max flushed with embarrassment, frantically collecting the items, all the while keeping his gaze on the agent.

Gabriella waved at Nielsen to follow her. The agent fell into step beside the shorter woman as they ventured further down the corridor, leaving Max to his own devices. Gonzales mentioned in a casual tone, despite sounding peeved, “Max got a crush on you that’s why he was so clumsy back there.”

Chloe sighed. Oh she wished the other woman didn’t reveal that little info to her. It didn’t surprise the blonde that many found her attractive…well that was if she was their type and in fact, Chloe used her physical attributes to her advantage on some occasions if it helped attain her mission goals. But otherwise, she was rather cool to others views of her looks and maintained some distance in professional settings. “So, Gabriella, what you got for me this time?”

“Oh you’re going to love this latest set of equipment I put together for you,” the Quartermaster remarked, beaming with pride.

“Can’t wait.” Chloe smiled. She had to admit, the equipment she was provided with, since her recruitment into Section 31, was quite impressive. But as far as she was concerned, it was most important that the tech enabled her to accomplish her missions.

Gabriella continued, her voice rising with excitement, “I met with the fashion team earlier and they got some really cool stuff.”

“Well, so long as they do the job for me. That’s what counts.”

“There is a feature for quantum signature added.” They were turning around a corner to the right.

“To determine whether the person is from this universe or not.” Chloe shrugged. “I don’t anticipate running into both Kate MacNeils but it never hurts to be prepared just in case.” The agent frowned, knowing it would not be good if the Kate in this universe showed up in Numino and hoped that wouldn’t happen.

--------------------------
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland, EARTH
Scene: Kate MacNeil’s residence

A tall humanoid woman stood up, a smile on her face as she pulled back a chunk of her long auburn hair behind. Her eyes, currently violet, glistened with excitement. Kate MacNeil reread the message on her screen. So the trip to Numino was going to happen after all – her superior at SF Medical had granted her permission to take a month off from her duties. She couldn’t wait to tell the family the good news but first she needed to send messages to two people before heading off to dinner.

As Kate was writing her message, she noticed at the corner of her eye, a paw over her hand. A warm smile graced her lips as the doctor’s gaze hovered over a small beagle. The brown, black and white dog whined, wagging its tail. “I know, William Wallace.” She sighed, petting the animal’s head. “It’s time for dinner and not to worry, lad, I’ll be done sending these messages in a minute.” William Wallace barked an acknowledgement and sat back down on the floor. Kate smiled at the beagle again – her constant companion. Although she loved all her pets, it was William Wallace who was dearest to her as the dog often accompanied her everywhere including her workplace.

“There. All done. Come lad…” She was interrupted by a squeal from a small child, making the Scottish woman groan. The squeals combined with meows, barks, squawks and other animal noises in the room down the hallway. Kate let out a sigh, eyeing William Wallace, standing beside her. “I really need to get dinner otherwise it will be chaos in there.” She moved quickly out of the study, down the corridor with William Wallace trotting alongside her and passed through an entryway.

As soon as Kate set foot in the dining room, the Nuimon hybrid was met with little chaos, standard in her home. Between her two small children and pets, there was rarely much time for peace and quiet in the house. She sighed, when a golden retriever puppy ran past her, chased by a little girl with light olive green skin and auburn curls. “Jo Jo,” Kate called out to her daughter, Josephine. “No running.” But the child just kept chasing the puppy around the table, screaming the word, Phoebe, the animal’s name.

When a young humanoid man entered the room, MacNeil breathed out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness, Horaciin.” She groaned, when her eyes fell on a rather large white ball of fur, struggling to break loose from her brother’s strong grip, releasing loud, angry meows. Horaciin released the white Persian cat and the feline attempted to turn around but was blocked by the Nuimon’s foot. The cat hissed at him, pushing at his leg with its paw.

“Mum,” called a little boy, spotted rushing inside the room, carrying a round glass bowl, where twin gold fishes swam inside it. The cat swiveled around, making a beeline for the new arrival. The boy yelled, lifting the bowl away from the feline’s reach, “Mum! She’s coming for Bo and Cho.”

Kate let out an exasperated sigh, turning her attention to the cat. “Crumpet, leave the fishes alone. They’re not food.” But to no avail, the feline ignored her as she attempted to reach out for the fish bowl. “Lass, there’s dinner waiting for you.” When Crumpet didn’t respond, Horaciin bent forward and grabbed the animal. As he walked away, the kitty meowed. Turning to her son, she said in a soft voice, “Hamish, put the bowl in your room and return back. Okay?”

“Okay…” The boy had short black hair and the same skin complexion as his sister.

As Kate watched her son leave the room, she glanced around, knowing it was going to take a couple of minutes to get everyone settled. She moved to stand next to her half-brother, who was helping a grey tabby to his bowl. Merlin wasn’t just a normal Terran cat but genetically engineered in a laboratory by her doppelganger in the mirror universe. He was a creation borne out of mixing cat and rabbit DNA. While most of his physical features were feline, Merlin had the fluffy white tail and the long, front tooth of a bunny. Kate eyed the animal with little sadness as it nibbled on a carrot– a miracle he survived this long.

“Horaciin,” Kate said, her eyes changing colour to hazel. “I got some good news that I cannot wait to share with everyone.”

Horaciin Alenvin, a handsome figure in his late twenties, was fit with a lean build and had short, brown hair. Unlike MacNeil, he was a full Nuimon and they shared the same mother. “You got permission from your superiors for the vacation?”

“Yes.” Her eyes lit up as she smiled. “And I know the wee ones will be thrilled.”

“What does Grace think?” He inquired, keeping an eye on the pets, some of them waiting in front of their bowls that were neatly arranged in a line from a round dining table, made of oak. Crumpet was seen pushing a kitten towards its bowl - a black, short haired Scottish fold. At the same time, some squealing noises alerted the siblings to a small, brown, furry creature bouncing around, wearing nothing but diapers embroidered with red and blue flower petals. Squawking from the green parrots were heard from across the room.

Kate replied, jogging over to the chimp and taking her hand, “I only just sent her a message." She frowned, thinking of her wife. Kate had been married to Grace Poe, an Orion woman for nine years. They first met on the Gateway Station in 2423 and got hitched on New Year’s Day in 2424. Their children, Hamish and Josephine, born after the war, were ages, eight and six respectively and were half-Orion, one quarter human and one quarter Nuimon hybrids.

Her brother sighed. “This trip will be good for the family if she comes as well.”

“I agree and I hope Grace does too.” The Scot furrowed her brow. It had been over a year since Poe took that position at the Vulcan Medical Institute and Kate understood, even supported the decision. Grace had undergone a harrowing experience during the Neo-Essentialist crisis, making Earth an unbearable place to stay, rife with so many terrible memories. Her wife became disillusioned with Starfleet, hence her resignation to accept a civilian research position. Kate chose to be patient, hoping in time, things would heal and the family would reunite. Even though they still kept in touch over subspace, Kate felt a distance growing between them in their recent conversations, which focused only on the kids. She was considering taking the children to Vulcan to visit Grace during the summer and her wife seemed open to the idea.

-----------------
TI: Half hour later

Dinner was nearly complete, the perfect time for Kate to make the announcement. “Hamish, Jo Jo,” she began, addressing the two children. While she got her son’s attention, her daughter was a little distracted with feeding scraps to her puppies, the golden retriever and a corgi, a new addition to the family. Kate adopted the corgi puppy for her daughter during the trip to Hawaii a few days ago. “I got a wee bit of good news for you.” Now that caught her daughter’s attention as Josephine turned to the half-Nuimon.

“We’re going on a holiday to Numino,” she informed, much to the delight of her little ones as both let out screams. Not wanting to be left out of the excitement, some of the pets joined in, leading to a chorus of barking, howling, squealing, squawking and meowing.

Josephine pulled her corgi puppy into a hug, “We get to see other granny.”

Kate smiled, glad the kids were taking the news with enthusiasm. Now she only hoped Grace would as well. They were going to visit MacNeil’s biological mother, Dahlis Alenvin and her family, whom she hadn’t seen in five years. The last time the family visited Numino was when the children were too young to remember. Such happy times until the Neo-Essentialists’ takeover. Kate was looking forward to the visit and realized how it had only been twelve years, since she first discovered her Nuimon heritage, including the identity of her birth mother and the existence of her half-siblings. MacNeil was raised an only child by her father and adopted mother – the grandmother, her kids were most familiar with and seen regularly. Kate’s parents often visited the farm as they lived in the city.

“When do we leave?” Hamish asked, pushing around some left over peas with his spoon. Behind him, the chimp began hopping onto the window sill, banana in hand.

Kate replied, “In a few weeks, which should give us time to make all the preparations.”

“We go in a ship?” The little girl asked, the puppy wiggling in her arms. When her mum nodded an affirmative, Jo Jo let out a squeal. “Hear that, Papu! Phoebe!” The puppies barked, wagging their tails. Papu, the name Josephine gave to the corgi, was named after the child’s favourite cartoon character – a popular holoprogram with kids of her age, starring a blue dog that flew around the galaxy in a tiny ship, cracking jokes, fighting villains and singing songs. Her daughter ran the program so many times that even she knew all the songs by heart. The lyrics, ‘Papu the wonder dog’ or ‘Papu the cuddly’, often played in MacNeil’s head, even during her shifts.

Kate spoke, when the squealing and the barking died down, “We’ll be travelling in the USS CAMELOT. Captain Spankryz has kindly offered to take us there.” A few days ago, she ran into Anaqueen at Starfleet Command and mentioned her plans about visiting the Nuimon homeworld, hoping for some insight from the Trill as to the options on travelling there.

Ana revealed that her ship was headed for a short mission to Numino and suggested taking Kate and her family there if they were willing to wait for a couple of weeks. Kate offered to take shifts in sickbay for the duration of the journey so that way she wouldn’t be a free loading passenger and Anaqueen seemed glad to accept her offer to help out. She knew, although Ana didn’t spell it out, the Trill wasn’t keen on taking extra persons unless they were useful, civilians related to the crew or individuals escorted under orders for a mission.

Before dinner, MacNeil sent a message to Spankryz, confirming her plans. She sighed, when her son inquired, “Mum, is the ship really big?”

“Yes, though not the biggest.”

Now her daughter posed a question that Kate had dreaded. “Will there be trees for Prudence Margaret to play?”

Kate smacked her forehead, noticing at the corner of her eye, Prudence Margaret entangled in the curtains. She sighed as the chimp tossed the banana skin to the ground. “Lassie,” she began in a soft voice, “Prudence Margaret will not be coming.” She sighed again, when disappointment washed over the little girl’s face.

“But why? You said the ship’s big and can fit everyone,” Josephine whined. “I thought we’d all be together. Me, Phoebe, Papu, William Wallace, Crumpet, Muffin and we’d all be playing in the garden and climb the trees with Prudence Margaret….”

“Josephine.” Kate cut her off, wondering how was she going to explain to her kid that Anaqueen insisted on limiting the number of pets for the trip. “Sorry, lass. But the ship only has room for some pets and Prudence Margaret cannot come with us.” She recalled Spankryz was very specific about not permitting wild or uncontrollable animals and a Terran chimp fitted the bill.

“What about Mama Bessy? She only needs grass? And what about my pony?”

The child was persistent and Kate bit her lip to prevent herself from screaming. “No, lass. A starship has no room for a cow and a pony.” Mama Bessy was their cow and the farm had stables that housed two ponies and a horse. She sighed, watching her daughter fold her arms and pout. “But Phoebe and Papu can still come.” Kate’s lips curled into a smile, hoping to cheer her up.

Hamish asked in a quiet voice, eyeing the cat nervously, “Mum, Crumpet isn’t coming with us?”

Kate gave him a reassuring smile. “Not if you don’t want to, lad and I know you want to bring Bo and Cho.”

“Thanks mum!” The boy turned around and threw some peas at the cat, which hissed back.

“I think we can bring Muffin,” Kate said, watching the white feline, tapping the kitten on her head with one paw. The black kitty meowed, not enjoying the older cat bullying her. “It’d be good for the wee one to be away from Crumpet for a while.” She watched with sadness at the cat/rabbit, lying down beside his bowl. “Merlin is too sick to travel and will remain behind.” She spotted William Wallace laying down beside her chair.

“Will she play with my puppies?” Josephine asked, smiling.

“Who?” Kate asked, glad to see the girl got over her disappointment quickly.

“Auntie.”

Horaciin raised an eyebrow. “Auntie?”

Jo Jo answered cheerfully, “Auntie runs the ship taking us to see other granny.”

Kate’s expression paled and shook her head. “No, Jo Jo. She want us to call her Captain, not auntie.” She could only imagine the embarrassment if the lass called Anaqueen, ‘auntie’ in front of others. Leaning forward, she said, “Alright, let’s finish up here. Hamish, eat the peas, please.”

-------------------------------
Location: Farius Prime
Scene: Open ground -> Inside Runabout
TI: Two days later

“You won’t get away with this,” a Trill woman warned through gritted teeth, her long silver hair, glistening in the moonlight. Adorned in purple leathers, she was of medium height and slender build. Her wrists were bound together in a titanium cuff. Beside the woman, a human white male with a stocky build and short black hair, dragged her across snow covered grounds towards his shuttlecraft – a modified Cardassian runabout, a very old one that was no longer used. The vessel was likely purchased or acquired from a scrapyard. Strong, cold winds from the east blew past them, carrying snow, ice and pollutants from the industrial complexes in the area.

“But I have.” The man’s voice was smooth, giving her a quick glance, his pale grey eyes glinting with mischief. “You’re a hard one to track, sweetie. Had to travel across three planets to find you. ” His outfit comprised of a mix of dark grey wool and leather clothing, plus a black armour vest over his chest. Around his waist, was a thick belt, carrying a holster that held his blaster. The hatch to the runabout was raised open and he pulled his captive inside.

The Trill snapped her head forward, biting the back of his hand. While the human let out a yell, he somehow managed to hold onto her and slapped her across the face with his other hand. “You’re a feisty one!” He grinned. “And you bite. I like that.” He chuckled, when the Trill released a low growl and kicked him on the shin. “Hey!”

He brought her towards an adult sized, steel grey coloured stasis chamber and tapped his thumb next to a tiny, rectangular glass slit on the top surface. The panel slid off sideways to reveal an empty compartment. He lifted the lithe woman and tossed her into the chamber, then tapped a button on the side and the panel slid over the Trill as she began shrieking and kicking. “I will kill you!”

“Yeah.” He chuckled, turning around, twisting his mouth into a smile. “How’d you plan to do that? You’re locked in there and I’m out here.” The man strode further inside the cockpit. Pulling out a chair, he plopped down, bending over a console. “Just sit or shall I say lie back, honey and enjoy the ride. It’s gonna be a couple of hours before we reach our destination.”

[[You bastard.]] The shout was followed by banging noises. [[You will regret this.]]

“Calm down, sweetheart.” The man’s tone was condescending. “There’s nothing you can do so I advise you to shut up and save your energy because you’ll need it when I hand you over to the warlord.” He danced his fingers along the console, turning the engines online. An excellent pay day for him, not bad for a bounty hunter with a low success rate. “This warlord must be so desperate to capture a wretched woman such as yourself to offer a reward of fifty bars of gold pressed latinum.” His response was a loud bang and shriek. “You know with all that latinum, I can just buy an island on a pleasure planet, get wasted with lots of pretty girls on the beach.” He whirled around in his chair, a huge smile plastered on his chiseled, clean shaven, handsome face. Then that smile faded.

“Who the hell are you? And how did you get on my ship?”

Chloe stood facing the bounty hunter, wearing a cool expression. She spoke in a calm voice, taking a step towards him, “The door was open.” Actually it wasn’t. The agent managed to gain access to the starport’s transporters and got herself sent here.

The bounty hunter demanded, his eyes blazing with fury, “What do you want?”
“You have something I want.” Nielsen folded her arms across her chest, giving him a fixed stare. She was dressed for the occasion – form fitting pants, jacket and gloves, all black and made of leather as well as ankle high boots of the same colour.

“And what would that be?”

“The Trill woman.” On cue, banging and screaming erupted again.

Shaking his head, the bounty hunter let out a derisive chuckle. “You can’t have her. I found her first. You know the saying, ‘Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers.’” His lips curled into a sneer. “And you, sweetheart are the loser.” He winked.

Chloe nearly rolled her eyes. What an idiot. She then gave him a cold smile. “Well, you leave me no choice but to take her by force.”

“Honey, you gotta be kidding.” The man roared in laughter. He pointed his finger at her and then at him. “You taking me on.” He lowered his arm, tapping on his holster and smirked. “See here. Move an inch closer and I’ll vaporize you before you know it. Face it, lady. Bounty hunting ain’t for the faint of heart so take your pretty little head and find another more suitable profession.”

The blonde maintained a cool gaze on him, her smile cold as ice. “I’m not leaving till you hand over your bounty and is she really worth losing your life over?”

“On second thought,” he said, stroking his chin and grinned at her. “There’s no need to fight. We can dump this chick on the warlord and split the reward. What’d you say?”

Chloe arched a brow, pretending to consider his offer.

“Hey, I’ll even give you a larger share if you sit on my lap.” The man’s gaze became lecherous. “I always enjoy a good lap dance but it’s nice not to throw around latinum slips for a change. And uh, we can screw, while I put the ship on auto pilot. It’ll be fun.” He drawled, leaning back in his chair. “Hey, are you into console banging because I dig that too.” He sported a smug smile.

How predictable, Chloe thought, rolling her eyes. This man sure seemed like such a charmer – no, more like smarmy. The agent decided she’d play along for a bit. She approached him, smiling and her right hand reached out to touch her left wrist, where a thick, black linen band encircled over it.

The bounty hunter’s smile widened, clearly thinking he was getting what he wanted. Then, his smile vanished and his face contorted to display sheer anguish. At blinding speed, Chloe pulled out a thin, monofilament blade and stabbed his right thigh – the one he laid out for her. The man released an ear piercing shriek, watching in horror as blood spurted out, forming a stain around the wound.

Chloe, using one hand, grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking his head back, while her other hand rested on the blade. “Alright, tell me how to open the chamber.”

“Over my dead body, bitch!” He snapped, his voice hoarse and nostrils flaring.

“Wrong answer.” Once again, quite predictable. The agent twisted the blade further. The man yelled. “Let’s try again. Tell me how to open the chamber.”

“With my thumb print.” He began panting, while giving the blonde a baleful stare.

The agent gave him a thin smile. “See that wasn’t so difficult.”

“Well, you’ll need my thumb to open it and the chamber is at the back.” He sniggered, when Chloe slammed his head forward on the console and pulled him back. “Ouch broke my nose, what was that for?” His nose started to bleed.

“Thought you dig console banging.” Chloe pulled out the blade from his lap and he bit his lip to avoid screaming. The agent held the thin knife over his throat. “You’ll open the chamber and let her out or else,” she said in a warning tone. The man, clutching his thigh to stop the bleeding, stood up and limped towards the stasis chamber with Chloe walking beside him, the blade held against his throat.

As the pair stopped by the chamber, the bounty hunter pressed his thumb near the glass slit and the panel slid open. The Trill woman shot up, hollering and throwing a double fisted punch to her captor’s jaw, forcing the latter to stagger backwards. She jumped out, roaring again and was prepared to strike again, when Chloe grabbed her arm.

“Don’t.” Chloe’s warning stare halted the Trill in her tracks. The silver haired woman relented when the blonde released her. The Canadian turned on her heel just as the bounty hunter was recovering to a standing position. Pulling out a phaser handheld, Chloe shot the man, the energy beam striking him in the chest. He fell to the floor on his back with a thud.

“Is he dead?” The Trill inquired, standing beside her.

Chloe replied, her eyes fixed on the body, “No, I just stunned him. He should be out for a couple of hours.”

The other woman gave the unconscious man a look of hatred. “I say we kill him and dump his body in the river with all the industrial waste.”

“No.” Nielsen turned around and began working on getting the cuff off the Trill’s wrists. “That bounty hunter is my ticket inside the Syndicate.” She removed the cuff and the silver haired woman flexed her wrists. “See, this guy stole something valuable from Mwangi, who sent people to track him down and bring him in.”

“Glad I could be of assistance in acting as bait for this loser,” the Trill said, sarcasm lacing her voice. “What next?”

“Clean up this mess and get ready for a very important meeting with a Syndicate member.” Chloe glanced at her asset – a spitting image of Captain Anaqueen Spankryz, yet the two women couldn’t be any more different in terms of personality. This Anaqueen, standing next to her, was an unjoined Trill from the mirror dimension.

*************************************************************************************

NRPG: Here’s the opener of Chloe’s Third Mission. A little different from the previous missions (and I don’t mean the numerous animals).

We also have some special guests, my two 1st ed. Characters, Kate MacNeil and Anaqueen Spankryz, along with their Mirror universe counterparts. The mirror versions, Kate’ and Anaqueen’, were introduced during a mission on the Gateway Station in 2008/2423, where their backgrounds were already established in previous posts but I will repeat some information in future installments.

The planet NUMINO, where the bulk of the story will take place and the Nuimon race is of my creation and was first introduced in 2006/2421 during a Gateway mission (also a pivotal time in Kate’s life).

While some other characters will occasionally have scenes from their POV, this is still primarily a Chloe Nielsen story, so most scenes will be from her POV.



~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Chloe Nielsen
Section 31 Agent