Galactic Intelligence Agency (IC)

[The Jeffinator]

ORBITAL SATELLITE STATION-1
Earth Low-Orbit
Monday, June 26th 2604CE (Current Era)
0800 hours


Senior Special Agent John Morgan gazed out the window of the transport shuttle as it passed over the Rocky Mountains and ascended through the atmosphere. Soon it was entering orbit and docking with OSS-1. Passenger shuttles like these were always coming and going between the surface an the Station, whether it be civilians or military. All travel between Earth and other worlds was funneled through the Station so the Federation could monitor the traffic.

After checking in at the receiving counter in Docking Bay 37 and grabbing his suitcases from baggage claim, he piled them on a hovercart and made his way through the enormous central Atrium. Thousands of travelers were walking back and forth through the Station, both human and alien. Morgan continued past them to a row of elevators, choosing the one in the very back marked "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY."

A security guard stood at a console near this elevator, verifying Morgan's credentials before admitting him access. Once permitted, he ascended to the Station's higher levels, finding his way to the Military Operations Center. This floor had a number of offices and conference rooms and was the central command post for all military and government-related travel between Earth and other destinations. It also had its own smaller Atrium that included a food court with a dozen or so different vendors at the counters and a large dining area in the center.

Beyond the food court were the bathrooms, an expansive waiting area with benches and artificial gardens, and the Nebula Lounge, a favorite hang-out of soldiers, politicians, and other officials since only those with the proper security clearance could access the floor.

"What'll it be?" the android bartender asked Morgan as he plopped down at the counter in the Lounge.

"I want whiskey," he started with a smile, "but I have a meeting, so I'll just go with Coke for now." He wirelessly paid for his drink by interfacing with the payment console via his implant and transferred Federations Credits from his bank account. He sipped at his Coke for a while, watching the news on the holographic screens in the bar.

After a few minutes, Morgan's visual HUD alerted him that his meeting was about to start, so he thanked the bardroid and made his way to the conference rooms. He shook hands with a Navy Admiral and Associate Director Kovar of the Special Activities Division, who were both already sitting at the meeting table. The S.A.D. was the covert operations branch of the G.I.A., and Kovar answered directly to the Deputy Director of Operations, who in turn answered to the Director of Operations.

The Director of Operations, Director of Administration, Director of Intelligence, and Director of Science & Technology all reported the Executive Director, the senior officer in charge of the day-to-day operations of the G.I.A. Above this position were only two others -- The Director and Deputy Director of Galactic Intelligence.

The Director of Galactic Intelligence was the highest-ranking officer in the G.I.A., and a prominent leading member of the Federation Security Council. This position was staffed by the President of the Federation's nominee and confirmed by Congress. Morgan aspired to one day rise to the top of the agency, but he put those thoughts to the back of his head for the time being.

"Morgan, this is Rear Admiral Haim Qhouslir," Kovar explained. "He commands the 17th Border Defense Fleet, which is headquartered at Phoenix Station. That facility is at the very edge of Federation space, and happens to be the closest military base to the Ligerdine Syndicate."

"The Ligerdine Syndicate?" Morgan raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing the mission you're about to propose is no walk in the park..."

"Definitely not," Kovar responded. "You will be working deep undercover for an unknown amount of time, and until the mission is either completed or deemed inactive, Qhouslir will be your only contact within the Federation. You will communicate with him through triple-encrypted audio recordings using voice distorters on both sides and sent in fragments across multiple different secured private subspace networks to ensure maximum security. I will go into more detail once everyone has arrived."

"So a new team, eh?" said Morgan with a smirk.

"Yes," confirmed Kovar. "But due to the nature of this mission, every single member of your team must have Level Six Security Clearance. Some are fellow operatives, others are mechanics, engineers, medics, etc. Regardless of their origin, they all earned their Level Six, either directly with the G.I.A. or a sister agency. They should be arriving soon."

Morgan sat back and awaited the rest of the team to arrive at the conference room so they could begin the debriefing.

 

[BRIGHTWELL]

ORBITAL SATELLITE STATION-1 Level 6

Sam rubs his eyes. The smoke was as thick as a teak wood fire. The aroma is not all that bad. Southern julip tobacco filled the air. Sam figured the Marine from the 16th fighter squadron has three of the four kings he is looking for. Sam is holding a full house Queens and eights. He looks at the space jockey and smiles.

"OK JIREEN Whats' you got?" Sam drops his cards on the green felt top table. "Read'm and weep, Ladies and Eights!"

The Marine Captain purses his lips" Well that is right nice hand. It beats my three kings." He pause and smiles. " But it doesn't beat the two Aces that go with them!" The marine picks up the credit markers on the table. "Bein real nice of you guys feed'n me all yeah credits, I can afford a real meal at the O club ta night." The Marine stands up and waves as he leaves the table area. Sam shakes his head. " I figured on the Kings, but I'll be damned if I knew here he got them Aces."

The construction foreman in his orange jumper leans back in his chair. " That's a good one. I was watch'n for the Aces myself." He drops his cards. Two Aces a black nine and a pair of fives. "I think we been played. The other two players had folded earlier in the hand, both nodded. Sam looks at his watch. One of the players stares at his watch and whistles." Lordy will you look at that, its gotta be 500 years old."

Sam stands up " Older then that mate, its a Rolex from 1980's Its what's called a Submariner. You can only get parts for it on Space Port Morrison. They stopped making them after the Clone Wars.

"The Clone wars?" The construction foreman chokes. " That was 300 years ago!" Sam smiles as he walks away from the table. "Yeah I know."

Sam walks over to the bank of elevators. This shift has humans guarding the elevator. Sam recognized the guard." How they hang'n Klomblinski?" Sam flashes his ID and his Republic bounty hunter badge. I gotta level 6 meet'n in tha tower."

The guard presses the button and the door slides open. He watches at Sam as he walks into the elevator. "That girl you introduced me to. The one with the red hair." The door starts to close. "She gave me a case of class four crabs. I had the blue jollies treatment for four days!" The door close as Sam does his best to hold in his laughter.

The elevator takes him up to the top floor. He finds the conference room and looks around. He sees an old friend. He walks up to Rear Admiral Haim Qhouslir. " Sir, Good to see you again!"

The Admiral turns and smiles. "TWO Gun! What slave market did you slide out of?"
Sam smiles broadly. "Really Admiral. you know about that?" Sam winks at him. "Marrakesh, a Libyan girl wit blue eyes. " The Admiral turn to the man next to him. "This is Sam " two gun" Williams, I was a his group commander during the Walbus Border War. " The man nods " Williams!"
The Admiral points over to the man in the black body armor near the wall. "That's your boss go over and say hello."

Sam turns and walks over and flips out his hand" Sam Williams most folks call me two gun."

 

[El_Olvidadizo]

Silence. It was precious, something that was treasured when and where it existed on the bustling ship. A tiny ember flared at the end of a cigarette held up to a pair of rosy lips, smoke escaping from that mouth when those lips parted. Nicotine was a bad habit, Dr. Nisei knew this. And what was worse was advising others against smoking when he was a veteran smoker at age twenty-five. For the last ten years, this "waruikuse", or bad habit, had been and integral part of the doctor's daily routine. What was a smoke before leaving out for school, was now a smoke before reporting to work.

Leaning to his left, he tapped the ashes that clouded the little ember into an astray set upon his desk. It was a shallow glass dish of a deep red hue. Printed on it in thick blue letters was the statement: 「息災を引き取りましょう‼喫煙をやめる‼ ❲Let's claim good health!! You can quit smoking!!❳」Next to the little blurb was the logo for the Japanese Cancer Association and a phone number, presumably a number to dial for resources on smoking cessation.

Now that his cigarette was down to the butt, Dr. Nisei snuffed it out and exhaled the last of the smoke floating in his lungs. On the flat screen monitor on his desk, a pop-up window appeared. A robotic, vaguely feminine voice transposed the text on the pop-up window into sound, reading off what it was.

「注意喚起:

9時に会議が会議場において今朝です。

【応ずる】　　　　　【断る】

❲Reminder: Meeting in the conference room at 9AM.❳」

With a slender finger, Dr. Nisei touched the "【応ずる】" or "accept" button on the screen, and stood up from his seat. Grabbing his white coat from the hook on his office door, he put it on and then exited the room.

He made his way to a narrow hallway that was speckled with people carrying out their daily tasks in the medical unit. Many of them stopped to acknowledge the medic, who was well-respected for his expertise in the field of combat medicine. Nisei himself did little more than nod in the general direction of his greeters with an expression on his face with his mouth turned down slightly. He could feel the hangover from his date with a bottle of whisky last night take hold, the cigarette​ that he just had was just a distraction from it. The other medics, who had long assumed that being blown off in such a fashion was just a part of Dr. Nisei's somewhat reserved demeanor towards them, were unfazed.

Tapping his ID worn around his neck on the touchpad at the double doors at the end of the hallway opened two double doors of solid steel to allow him to exit the medical unit. Proceeding forward, he came to a pair of elevators.

Nisei keyed in the code to open them, and stepped inside. It was a short ride upwards to get to the lobby on the main floor. The doors opened once again, and he stepped out of the confined space, and into the open air of the lobby. It wasn't much longer before he found himself at the door of the conference room. Deliberately, he forced himself to stand up anlittle straighter. He was a professional after all, and didn't want to present himself as a sloppy, hungover mess, even if that was what he actually was.

Kenzou, or Ken, as Dr. Nisei called himself in casual situations, faked his way though his greeting of the Kovar and Admiral. He plastered on a fake smile, and added a note of chipperness to his voice that wasn't normally present. "Pleased to see the both of you again!" He said, as he shook both of their hands. It was quite the lie, as he'd rather be popping pills in his office to combat his pounding headache right now. With a quick bow, he dis missed himself to address who he assumed was Morgan-San and some other man.

His forcibly straight posture and grinning countenance remained as he stopped and bowed to both Jonathan and Sam. "Good morning! I am Kenzou Nisei, combat medic. Please, call me Ken." He greeted them.

 

[Aliceinchains36]

"Oh come on!" Cried Maggie, trying yet again to push past the guard. He effortlessly pushed her back, sending her flat on her ass. "Alright Laye, that's it. I've had enough. You've been trying this shit for an hour! You. Can. Not. Go. In." The annoyed guard said, looking down at the scruffy mechanic. "But I was the one who built her! It's not fair! If you just gave my five minutes I could tweak the flux capacitor and increase engine efficiency by point three percent!" Maggie begged, trying once again to push past the guard and onto the USS Shadowhawk. The guard easily pushed her away again, before drawing his stun baton. "Last warning Laye. Try again and I'll detain you." He said, holding the weapon at his side. "Fine. You big meanie. I'll go..." She said, holding back tears. With a slumped posture, she slowly trudged out of the hanger bay towards the lift.

Maggie rode the elevator to the Operations Center, still feeling glum by her defeat. "Well food always helps," Maggie thought wandering over to the Food Master restaurant kiosk. "Greetings potential patron. What would you like in your mouth today?" Asked the flat emotionless voice of the robotic server. "Um... Give me a double kepsie burger with extra mustard, onions, and yurocks. Oh and extra melth sauce too. And a side of talo chunks. And a strawberry shake to drink," She said, typing her PIN into the payment screen. "This unit will be happy to fill your face, one moment please," the droid said, once her payment went through. She waited a minute for her food, before grabbing the greasy sack and heading over to a table. Maggie ripped open her bag, and pulled out her burger. She pulled the paper free and began to devour the burger. "I don't know how anyone likes cow better than this," She thought to herself, as she happily chewed the dark reddish-purple meat.

Maggie finished the burger surprisingly quickly for someone of her tiny size, before moving on to the talo chunks. She popped one of the multicolored veggie bits into her mouth before causally checking her watch. "Oh shit!" She exclaimed, when she saw it was 9:07. She quickly stood up from her place at the table, causing her shake to explode all over her chest, soaking her last clean shirt in pink liquid. "GODDAMMIT!" She shrieked, causing a few eyes to turn towards her from other tables. "I don't have time for this!" She groaned, trying her best to clean the pink spot off of her chest. She finally gave up and abandoned her cleaning effort. She ran out of the food court, and took the elevator to the floor her meeting was being held.

Maggie burst into the conference room seventeen minutes late, covered in strawberry milkshake, and looking quite disheveled. "Um... Sorry I'm late. Shake issues. I'll just um..." All eyes were on her, and Maggie felt her face turn scarlet. She quietly sat down in her vacant seat, and sank as low into as she could, wishing she was invisible.

 

[The Jeffinator]

Morgan greeted each person as they arrived -- nine others total, making his new team a ten-member crew, including the mechanic who burst into the room quite late. He thought she looked quite cute despite being so disheveled, and couldn't help but smirk as she attempted to explain her tardiness.

"Oh, good," remarked Kovar with a disapproving glance towards Maggie, "You're only slightly late today. I suppose it's better than moderately late."

"Um... Sorry I'm late. Shake issues. I'll just um..." she started, but Kovar held up a hand.

"Forget about it," he replied. "You're forgiven. Let's just get the debriefing started."

Morgan smirked and winked at her as Kovar began.

"This mission is very important, but also very secret. Only a handful of people within the Federation know what I am about to tell you. You will be setting out shortly on the USS Shadowhawk, which to the external observer, is nothing more than a cargo ship. But hidden within are numerous battleship capabilities, thanks to Miss Laye here. She has many talents, unfortunately arriving on time is not one of them."

The room laughed and Kovar smirked before continuing. "The ship's name has a double meaning. Not only can it hide like a shadow in plain sight due to its concealed combat nature, it is also equipped with state-of-the-art cloaking technology and can shift from a clunky cargo vessel into a sleek and swift starfighter. This is the result of a special metallic alloy augmented with nanites on the outer hull that allows it to change shape without effecting the inner chambers. It can shift between solid and liquid using the command consoles on the Bridge."

"So is there any change at all to the inner chambers when this shifting occurs?" asked Morgan.

"Not when you're in the crew quarters, recreation areas, Sick Bay, the Bridge, or any of the other chambers along the center of the ship," Kovar replied. "Just make sure you're not near the red Storage Tubes in the rear Cargo Bay during an active shift as that's where the excess mass is stored when changing shape. During this process the air seal is broken in that chamber as the mass is diverted into the Tubes for a few seconds. If you are inside when it happens you will probably lose consciousness."

"Good to know," Morgan replied. "What kind of situations will we find ourselves in where this shift will be necessary?"

"Maybe none at all," he explained. "But it's there if you need it. Primarily you will maintain the cargo ship appearance, but should your cover be blown and you need to make a quick escape, the shift to a sleeker form coupled with the cloaking technology will be of prominent benefit. Which leads us to the actual mission."

Kovar took a moment to catch his breath and then continued. "You will be going deep undercover to investigate the Ligerdine Syndicate in the Khazion Verge, a region of space on the outskirts of the galaxy and beyond Federation control. Cornelius Ligerdine is the head of a massive network of drug lords, slavers, and murderers, and he controls his own personal security force. The Syndicate is practically its own nation, and holds power over dozens of systems in the Verge."

"So what exactly are we investigating?" asked Morgan. "I'm sure the G.I.A. has more important things to tackle than organized crime."

"It goes far deeper than that, John," replied Kovar. "Ligerdine is suspected of influencing political affairs within the Federation. Last month the N.E.A. raided the third slaver ring this year, after decades of none. In each of those cases, the ring was allowed to exist due to security slip-ups orchestrated by high-ranking local politicians. When interrogated, each suspect claimed they were following Ligerdine's orders under death threats. Maybe they are just excuses. But maybe they are not."

"So you want us to separate fact from fiction," said Morgan.

"Yes," Kovar confirmed. "I want you to pose as smugglers and work your way into Ligerdine's inner circle. This may take weeks, months, or even years, but you must succeed. Find out if there is any truth to these rumors, and if so, try and get names of any high-ranking Federation officials he may still be in contact with. If this is true, we don't know how deep it goes, which is why the secrecy in this mission is so paramount. We don't want to potentially tip off anyone with loyalties to the Syndicate."

"If we are to be convincing criminals in Ligerdine's calculating eyes," began Morgan, "we will need to play the part well. That means breaking a whole slew of Federation laws."

"You are authorized to do so," replied Kovar. "Consider yourselves immune from persecution for any crimes you commit while working undercover. You will have to lie, cheat, steal, and kill to earn Ligerdine's trust. Savage as it may be, it is for the greater good. If we are able to secure evidence that the Syndicate is dabbling in Federation affairs, we can leak it to the media and then the public will demand action. This will be the first step to waging war on Ligerdine and ending his criminal empire for good. He may operate outside our immediate control, but he is still a Federation citizen and is bound by our laws."

"Ligerdine is a citizen?" Morgan asked, appalled.

"He hasn't resided here in many years," replied Kovar, "but he was born in Germany on Earth. Since he has never officially been charged with a crime in a Federation court, there is no justification to start a war against his private army, at least from a government standpoint. Hopefully your mission will change that. Any questions before you depart?"

 

[El_Olvidadizo]

くそ、頭がずきずきしてるよ。〔Shit, my head is pounding!❳

It wasn't said aloud, but Ken thought it. Just moments ago, he was confident that he'd survive the meeting with a nagging headache, but as a short time elapsed and those throbs of pain in his head became deeper and less localized, he began to doubt his previous assessment of his abilities. He seated himself after being greeted, and was now waiting for the debriefing to start. The time displayed on his watch was 9時 or 9:00am sharp.

The medic looked around the room, and saw that more people had entered. With that came chit chat as everyone waited for the meeting to start, and a higher volume of noise in the room. It agitated the doctor's condition yet, he forced himself to remain stoic in his facial expression.

9時2分...
9時7分...
9時10分...
9時15分...

Time ticked by. Dr. Nisei was told that the meeting would start at 9am, yet, at 15 minutes past 9, the debriefing had not yet started. What was going on? For a moment his outer display of "I'm okay" relented, and he rubbed his forehead with a subtle grimace on his mouth.

A pair of minute passed before a woman with a large, pink spot on her shirt came bursting through the conference room doors. The pink on her shirt was uneven in its general shape, and Ken wondered why anyone would wear such a travesty of fashion before the spot was defined as being a "shake issue". He snorted, finding some amusement in the girl's plight, before surrendering to his miserable hangover once again. The woman's face "akaranda", or turned red before she lowered her position in her seat. Rubbing his forehead with his hand once more, Ken turned toward the kovar as he began to speak. Finally, the meeting would begin.

Ken could not keep up appearances enough to laugh at the kovar's joke. He barely followed what the debriefing was about. There was acknowledgement that not exactly knowing what was going on could be injurious to himself or others in some way, but it was fleeting as regret about not having a morning drink to combat his sickness took over.

The kovar finished speaking, and now the meeting was open for questions. Ken obviously wouldn't have thought of any, but the short period silence in the room was broken by a loud buzz and a twinkly chime- a new message sent to Ken's communication device. It was ignored, but the phone buzzed and chimed again. Nisei ignored it, and reached down into the left pocket of his slacks to press and hold the "volume down" button. He couldn't be bothered to engage his colleagues and their frivolous bullshit right now.