In an office chair on M'Raa...

[KAT MRess]

It was several minutes before LeRoy was able to stand. M’ress liberally applied more water just to make sure.

M’ress was keeping an eye on the guards in front of the door to the backstage wondering how they would get through them when he noticed another Gorn appear from the back and whisper to the guards. It was barely noticeable, but he caught the quick glance in his direction. What was that for? Were they cornered? Were the guards waiting for them to make a move? Whatever it was he couldn’t wait too long after the signal. He leaned over to Steel Claw and said,

“Stand ready, I’m going in, but somethings up.”

Steel Claw nodded and looked at the others who caught the motion. All were ready.
By this time Leroy was moving much better, so M’ress gave a tug on the leash and they rose and headed to the door leading back stage. He whispered to LeRoy,

“Get ready for anything, the guards are waiting for us.” LeRoy nodded.

As they approached the door M’ress braced himself. The first guard looked at him,

“Ah Yesss, the eveningsss entertainment. You are exssspected.” And they parted.

M’ress moved right on through with a slight tug for the obviously surprised LeRoy.

[Soreyes]

  ............................ 

[KAT MRess]

That was too easy thought M’Ress.

As they walked down the hallway his senses were on full alert. He fully expected to be ambushed, that would explain why they were let in so easy. But something wasn’t right and he couldn’t put his finger on it yet. He turned to LeRoy after they had rounded a corner and started to remove the collar.

“Be alert. Those guards let us by, way too easy.”

“Why do you say that?”

“We should have been questioned. Not many Kzin associate with humans freely like this, even if they are dinner.”

“Did it ever occur to you that they recognized us and were instructed to let us in?”

Apparently LeRoy had seen the messenger too. Now it was M’Ress’s turn to question,

“How do you figure that?”

LeRoy gestured at his collar and closed one eye,

“How many one-eyed Patriarchs do you know that associate with humans, even for dinner.”

M’Ress looked agape at LeRoy as realization dawned that LeRoy really wasn’t as naïve as he thought. Still something was amiss. He drew a deep breath when it struck him what was out of place.

[KAT MRess]

“There’s something wrong in this hallway.”

LeRoy stiffened. He’d heard about Kzin senses and that Bar fight was proof enough of the rumors. He quickly looked around.

“Somebody’s been here before us.”

“Yeah, Kroma,” he said “She.. he… it worked up quite a sweat out there.” He shuddered “Even I can smell that.”

“No past that, underneath the obvious smells.” M’Ress was turning his head, testing the air with smell breaths. “More than one non-Gorn.” LeRoy was surprised at that.

“Non-Gorn?” he looked up and down the hallway “Like who?”

“Shhh, let me concentrate. They’re hard to sort out.”

M’Ress closed his eyes and drew in a long slow breath to separate the scents. The dull salty scent of another human, the sharp pungent leather smell of a Klingon (ugh! Do they ever groom?), the sweet mixed scent of an Orion…

“So far I can make out another human, a Klingon and an Orion.”

“All of which are here at the bar. Can you recognize any?”

“No, the scent of Gorn and smoke is too strong to discern specific individuals.”

“Well, your hearing and smell is much better than mine, let me know if it changes.”

M’Ress nodded and continued. There was one thing he didn’t mention, a fourth scent. One that was maddeningly familiar and yet he could not place it. He sniffed the air as they moved through the hallways, in order to fix the memory of the scent in place.

[KAT MRess]

The last hallway was lined with several doors, all with control panels, but there were no labels to denote what was behind each. LeRoy looked at the closest panel.

“Nothing. No titles, names, nothing.”

 M’ress wasn’t paying attention anymore. He was listening. His paranoia was starting to rise again at this unexpected delay. So his senses were attuning again. This time he was listening. He could hear several voices in the hallway. He turned his head slowly to close in on them.

“What are you doing now?” LeRoy asked.

“Shhhh. Listening. I can hear who on the other side of these doors. But breathe softly. I could shoot you in the dark.”

He moved slowly and silently down the hallway, turning his head from side to side taking in the sounds. The hum of a heat lamp, the hiss of an aerator (methane), conversation between two Lyrans – one male and one female, the snore of a Klingon female, total silence (must be a Romulan), the bubble of a humidifier…

He was nearing the end of the hallway when he finally heard what he was listening for. A lone voice was singing in common but with the lisping and guttural accent typical of a Gorn. He tuned in on the voice. It was behind the last door of the hallway, and he could now make out the words.

I feel pretty… Ohhhh sssso pretty…
I feel Pretty and witty..
And I pity
Any girl who isssn’t me today…

[KAT MRess]

“This is the one.”

“How do you know?”

“I can hear Kroma singing.” LeRoy looked at M’ress with a very dubious expression, but shuddered anyway.

“How can you be sure?”

“I recognize the voice.” LeRoy still didn’t look convinced. “Well that and the pink panel.” and he pointed to the door control.

There is was, neon pink in the dim hallway. Not much doubt there as the rest of the panels were mild orange or yellow. LeRoy drew a slow deep breath.

“I guess this is it.”

“Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” And he stood in front of the door.

M’ress tapped the panel and a chime sounded. A voice sounded from inside, a voice as sexy as a Gorn voice could ever be.

“Who is it?” as the door hissed open.

“Cabin Boy!” said M’ress and shoved LeRoy in, closing the door behind him.

[KAT MRess]

At first the room was dark. So dark that LeRoy could not even see his hand in front of his face. He felt the panic rise up within him and he fought to keep it down. Breathing as deep as he could to maintain control, he drew in a lungful of air tainted with the dry acidic smell of a Gorn. He coughed lightly.

A pink glow appeared, very faint on the other side of the room. At first there was no shape or form to it but it soon coalesced into a shadow. As the glow grew in intensity it became apparent that there was no shadow. It was an outline. He could make out the pink lace and dry skin. The head came into view and it was unmistakeable. The mouth opened and drew in a long lingering breath…

“You must be the big bad spy come to rid me of my precious,” the thin voice drew in a deep breath, “…treasures.”

LeRoy froze.

Wrong move. With great speed, belied by her size she sprang from the bed and…



EDITED FOR CONTENT.





         

[Soreyes]

 

[SSCF-LeRoy]

[KAT MRess]

M’Ress stood in the hallway awaiting the results. He could hear the… vigorous… activity within the room.

The panting.
The thumping.
The crashing.
The yelling.

He looked around the hallway for something, anything, to take his mind off the possibilities behind the door. A gleam caught his eye. Down on the floor just outside the other side of the door there was something metallic on the floor. He bent over to pick it up. It was an earring. A small gold earring. As he looked at it he had the distinct feeling he had seen it before. He thought of everyone at the bar.

Lyrans? No. None of them had any.
Dancers, maybe. There were several he didn’t get a good look at.
Kroma? She could have been wearing a crown that he didn’t notice because of the sunglasses.

He didn’t have chance to ponder it for long when the activity inside slowed and quieted out. The silence that followed was more unnerving than the activity. He tucked the ring into his pocket for future consideration. Slowly time ticked by and seemed to draw out longer than he had ever known it. He could just pick up traces of movement through the door. With no idea of who it could be, the paranoia started again. Just as the feeling was getting too strong to bear, the door opened.

LeRoy stepped out, unscathed.

M’ress looked at him with obvious surprise. LeRoy glared back, was that murder in his eyes?

“You’re alright?” M’ress said.

“No thanks to you.” Yes, he was upset.

“How’d it go?”

“She was… energetic.”

M’ress was left speechless at that comment.

“Good thing for you that I can run faster with fear in my heart than she can with lust in her pants.” he drew real close and hissed the next statement, “Kzin or not, you would pay for that.”

[KAT MRess]

M’ress winced. He kinda deserved that. But desperate to change the subject and leave he said,

“But did you get it?”

Leroy bored into M’ress with his stare before he held up his hand to reveal a data disk. M’ress smiled and held up his hand. Leroy pulled his hand back. M’ress said in a stern voice.

“A deal is a deal. I got you in.”

Leroy paused, his point made he handed the disk to M’ress.

“Excellent,” M’Ress said “Now we can get out of here.”

“Not so fast.” Leroy countered “I would like to check out more of this station, if you don’t mind. With the declaration of Admiral Die Hard that Feds are not allowed, you’ll understand that I want to take full advantage of the opportunity.”

M’ress sized up the human. Defintately not one to be underestimated in the future. But it did present him with a solution to his immediate problem. How to get back out with a “live” human. He eyed LeRoy.

“Very well. I’m sure there is a back door to this place.”

Leroy glared one last time at M’Ress and turned to leave.

When M’Ress got back out to the table, K’arbin looked around and loudly asked,

“How’s the prisoner?”

To which M’Ress let out a loud belch and said,

“Delicious!”

[KAT MRess]

Back on M’raa, M’ress was in a good mood. He entered the hallway to his office with a light step, if he could whistle like a human he would have. As he got to the door it opened to reveal Miss Throat sitting at her desk, organizing the day’s business on her terminal.

As he approached he was struck by something about her. As he was in such a good mood, instead of walking by with a “Good Morning” he stopped and sat on the corner of the desk.

“And how are you this morning?” he asked looking her up and down.

She looked at him a little shocked and replied,

“I’m fine. How are you?”

He drew in deep breath while stretching out his arms.

“In a really good mood today. Can you request Patriarch Green to come to my office please?”

“Very well.”

He entered his office and without sitting, paused by the desk, dropping the dossier in the center of it. The stretch had been a cover for the breath he took. But it had told him what he wanted to know, where he had detected that scent before. He pulled something out of his pocket to make sure. Then he turned and headed back out the door to her desk. She had just completed the summons to Green when he leaned over beside her.

“I have something for you.” He said. She looked at him more than a little surprised as he took hold of her hand and turned it over, palm up. That surprise changed to shock when he dropped the earring from the bar into her hand.

The earring that exactly matched the ones she wore.

Before she could react further, he seized her by the front of her tunic and lifted her out of the chair and hard against the wall.

He held his face close to hers and hissed…

“You’re fired.”

[KAT MRess]

“And here is what all this trouble was for,” M’ress was saying to Green “I figured we could analyse this together.”

M”Ress placed the disk on a reader and tapped the play command.

After several minutes of playback Green turned to M’ress and said,

“Just who is Sponge Bob Squarepants?”


OHHHHHHH  Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Absorbent and yellow and pourous is he!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
If nautical nonsense be something you wish!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!
SpongeBob SquarePants!


*****


Some time later, LeRoy entered Admirals Rollings office with a very self satisfying smirk. Not only had he managed to fool M’ress with the fake disk, but he had also completed another mission in the meantime. The data he had gathered would be invaluable to the Federation.

“Is that it?” she asked as he pulled the disk from his pocket.

“Yes ma’am.” He moved to a playback terminal and inserted the disk, and they watched in silence. When it was done she turned to Leroy and asked,

“Who in the hell is Howdy Doody?”


Say kids, what time is it?
It's Howdy Doody Time!

It's Howdy Doody Time.
It's Howdy Doody Time.
Bob Smith and Howdy Do
Say Howdy Do to you.
Let's give a rousing cheer,
Cause Howdy Doody's here,
It's time to start the show,
So kids let's go!

[KAT MRess]

Kroma was lounging in her room, feeling quite pleased with herself. It had been the performance of her career. She was particularly proud of the faint at the end to entice the young Fed into “stealing” her data. She would be able to make better use of this than selling it to the Feds or Kzin.

“Yesssss, my precioussssss. You sssshall go to the hightessst bidder.” She mused to herself while twirling the case between her fingers. She was so content with herself that she clumsily dropped the case.

However, when she leaned over to pick it up she noticed that it had popped open. And worse…

the case was empty.

The howl of rage could be heard above the music in the bar.


*****


Somewhere on a Klingon C7, dextrous fingers spun the datadisk on the end of a claw. A long Cuban cigar held in the same hand as a brandy snifter rose to the mouth which dragged off the cigar long and slow. Blue smoke was streamed into the air, while the white furry paw spun the disk.

“Amateurs.” He said quietly before sipping the cognac.

[Soreyes]

Yes we are all Amateurs compaired to the Lord Of Chaos 

[KAT MRess]

With that now retold, this thread has now passed the 10,000 mark, which moves this into 5th overall in the "Most popular thread" category.
Thank you once again for your continued interest.

And now, back to the current story...




Tr’rin stared at M’ress for a minute, digesting all she had been told. While being fascinated with the story, she wasn’t entirely sure how it was relevant to their current position. She took another sip of the drink to buy some time and realized she was still clutching the towel. She toyed with the towel as she contemplated everything, realizing quickly that the throb in her head had indeed died down to a dull ache that could be ignored.

M’Ress watched her. He could almost see the thoughts running across her face. Everything was explained, and things were falling into place in her mind.

Except for one thing…

“So what was on the data disk?” she asked and after a brief pause… “And where did it go?”

Inside M’Ress smiled. Not only had she put it together and figured out the “Why” for the mission, she had also hit upon the “What” of the situation. He was now thoroughly convinced that hiring her was a good choice.

“We’re not sure,” He answered truthfully “And J’inn isn’t talking. Which is his prerogative as Minister of Intelligence during peace time.” (that was a lie) “However, given the currently political atmosphere, we need to know now… more than ever.”

Again she paused. Her eyebrows pulling together in thought. She was a lot more relaxed now sitting cross legged and leaning back against the wall. The towel was now forgotten spread across her lap and the drink was in one hand while she gestured with the other.

“So that’s where we’re really headed.” She reasoned “Someone in your position does not normally lead supply missions…” the thought finished up and she spoke it out loud. “You’re going back to try and get that disk.”

[KAT MRess]

Tr’rin’s career as a High Ranking Military Personal Assistant had gotten off to a shaky start. But now her total Net worth just skyrocketed. Not only had she stayed her ground during a battle (with minimal injury and not collapsing in fear), but now she had pieced together the true purpose of the mission with minimal prompting.

He smiled at her.

“Not bad.”

He sat back and looked at her appraisingly. She was still looking elsewhere as the thoughts concluded. Even though he had deliberately put out the evidence for her to see, it was still something else to actually take the pieces and put them together. And she had nailed it right on the head.

“And I’m the cover story.” She continued, “A younger female... or discreet ‘Diversion’ for a divorced high ranking ‘tosh.”

He glared at her. “Now THAT… is presumptuous and insulting.”

…and 100% true. he thought trying hard to not move a muscle in his face.

“But... ” she continued deliberately, “How else could you explain your second supply run during a war?  What better way than with your CIVILIAN secretary?”

Correction. Put the pieces together, drawn the correct conclusion AND determined the intended course of action.

Not bad at all.

[KAT MRess]

The crowd was in a good mood tonight. They weren’t rowdy or spoiling for a fight, mainly because there were not a lot of Klingons, but they were very vocal and loose with their money. The pocket and purses opened freely and frequently.

In what was becoming a frequent routine she was dancing on stage right before the feature headliner, who was always the same, the lizard that owned the place. She never could figure out if it was male or female. No one ever got close enough and Pk’zyy had no desire to find out for herself. Being on stage right before the Diva was as close as she wanted to get.

Up onstage the crowd was cheering, especially the Lyran section when she appeared. It seemed that several Lyran Patrol ships made their way past the Stars End Bar on a regular basis. This provided her with a regular crowd and steady income from the tips they would lavish on her. It was this income that accelerated her savings that would enable her to get back home.

So she did what she always did, played up to the Lyran section, allowing several of the Soldiers to place the tips into edges of her costume. It took a little practise, but the unwanted advances of these customers were now handled easily in such a way they always came back even though they were turned down flat.

It may have been demeaning, but at least she wasn’t selling herself completely. And she was making money faster than before.

[KAT MRess]

Three weeks!

That’s how long it would take to get to their destination at sublight.

Repairs were complete as they could get with the limited onboard resources and despite the large amount of re-enforcement, the Nacelle pylon was simply too unstable to handle Warp speeds. M’Ress had contacted Star’s End bar to inquire about additional parts that could be sent back on one of the other ships, but they informed him they didn’t carry spares for warships, something about not becoming a hostile center of activity.

So in the end one of the other escorts would warp back to M’Raa and get the parts but there would be delays in that. 3 more days to Star’s end while escorting the transport. 2 days to unload. 5 more days to return (damn those sublight engines), another 2 to re-load, and 3 more days to return to him.

Either way it was a long wait.

Boredom started to rear it’s ugly head again.