Briefing with the Captain

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(Steve slips me some 'tween-game intel. Thanks, Steve!--Maer)



Monday, 11 Nov 2520
Longbow Class, PDF Decatur
In Orbit, Meridian
Blue Sun (Qing Long) system
1900hrs, ship’s time


As I’d hoped, after the dust settled and the mopping up was mostly done, Decatur’s crew treated us to dinner on board. We were guests at the Officer’s Table and I tried not to stare overmuch at everything. My stint in the Alliance Navy hadn’t included being on a ship this huge and now that all the excitement was over, I studied as much of her as I could. My last visit on Decatur had been relatively brief, my movement on her curtailed, and there had been no time to get much of a sense of her. In addition, standing on a Longbow’s deck without worrying about getting yanked and shot by firing squad was something I wanted to savor.

Needless to say, what they served us for dinner didn’t make much of an impression on me. Other than it was hot, fairly generous, and had some of the fresh fruit that had arrived with the Blue Sun hit team, I couldn’t tell you what I had that night. I simply ate it, polished off my plate with a roll, and observed what I could.

One observation that bothered me was Joshua’s noticeable absence. I knew he’d gone off to find some peace and quiet after the events of the day… but I also caught the distinct vibe of upset coming off his disappearance. I didn’t think it was the prospect of combat that bothered him—he’d been in the rough and tumble on Trafalgar and had acquitted himself well. If he’d been worried for my welfare, he needn’t have. The combat never came near me, thanks Rick’s quick thinking and reflexes in the missile bay. So what was it? Dessert and coffee came and went and I was no closer to an answer, though I did have my suspicions.

After Shyla rose from her coffee and bid everyone else to take their ease, she pinned me with a look—see me—and I reckoned one of my suspicions was about to be verified. Ever since Tanner had shown me that snapshot off the camera feed, I had expected to get more news of Mike. It was like that with him: he’d pull a fade and show up somewhere, do his thing, and fade out again, leaving nothing but a clue here or there. Assuming he’d left anything at all.

I waited until she’d exited the mess hall and left a beat later with an excuse about finding the head. I saw her waiting for me at the intersection of corridors aft and followed her to her office. I stepped inside and saw it was a rather nice set-up. Smart desk, good chair. Status boards and screens. And a window with a view. Dirtside or spaceside, a window with a view was always a plus. As I’d come to expect from our time together on Miranda, once the door was shut and we were assured of our privacy, Shyla Kramer sat down and cut to the chase.


"I've got some information about your friend Mike Carter. My question is, do you want to know any of it?"


At her query, my gut gave me a knock and I took a deep breath to settle it. I put my hands behind my back at parade rest and kept my chin up.

“Yes.”


She looked a little disappointed and pulled out a datapad, and pushed it over to me.

"I'll summarize. It is a 'be on the lookout' notice sent to all PDF vessels. It says that he broke into PDF command on Highgate, may have gotten some information, or tampered with files there, was captured, and escaped. Quite a busy trip.”


At 'captured', I froze. At 'escaped', I melted. I wasn't doing a good job of hiding anything here, but this was Shyla Kramer. She knew the score. What the hell are you up to, Mike? When I could trust my voice again, I asked, "Thoughts?"


"Carter is a bit of a pariah now. Our information network was dealt a pretty serious blow when his intel got leaked. That said, I know how it happened. So I hold no grudge. But it is hard to blame those who lost friends and compatriots, and maybe those that don't know how it happened. Carter was often in so deep lots of people were never sure whose side he was on. Does that make sense? This just cemented the view that maybe he wasn't one of them, one of us."


I picked up the datapad and looked at the screen. Where was he captured? By whom? How and when did he escape? The wheels in my head were spinning in overdrive and I scanned the data hoping to find the brakes. The report was both informative and vague, but it was enough to convince me that Mike indeed was the cause of it. The details were few: It was at the very base on Highgate. Security got him, though it didn't say how. Mike apparently escaped by feigning death. Going by the date in the report, Mike’s capture and escape occurred forty- five days ago. Doing the math in my head, I reckoned that would have put him on Highgate in the last week of September, when we were en route to Pericles Station. I read the report again, fixing as much in my memory as I could, and gave the datapad back with a twinge of regret.

"Shyla, I....why are you telling me this? It's a security risk to let me know anything."


“You asked. You're a friend. And... there is something else. His name came up recently. But not in the context of the PDF. I was speaking with Ge You. He asked if I had heard of him. I was vague, mentioned what we all know… and You said something odd. 'A man like that is probably in need of a friend wouldn't you think?' I don't remember what I said. We moved on to other business. When I left the meeting he asked me to keep an eye out for Carter and let him, You, know if he showed up. I thought that very odd."


My head immediately started down the twisty paranoid paths it knew so well. What was You's game? Was the offer genuine or was he secretly working for the opposition? A man like You would have resources either side would covet, if for different reasons.

I fast forwarded to our recent interrogation by Major Tanner. Specifically, the camera feed Tanner showed us. Mike was seen in You-Go coveralls in that camera feed. It might mean that You helped Mike with the Highgate job. The intel that Tanner showed us…was that from the same job? Did Tanner even know about it? If not, was what Tanner showed us from a different case altogether?

Stop. You're reading too much into this. Verify the facts, then proceed.

"When was this conversation with You? Before or after the Highgate job?" I pointed at the datapad on her desk. In this arena, timing was important. In this case, crucial. If only for my own peace of mind.


"Before... and I can't help wonder if he had some help. There is no love lost between Nguyen and You. They both resent the power the other has. Nguyen's military, You's wealth."


“Saw that one coming,” I said and nodded, my eyes not really seeing the office or the woman sitting in it as I ran through the possibilities. "Blue Sun doesn't have a centralized government and governments always had to struggle between civilian and military influence. Personally, I wouldn't want to live under a military dictatorship. They tend to be bloody and having done a job for Nguyen once, I'm pretty sure what his style his dictatorship will take." I frowned at the deck. "I don’t know enough about You to make an assessment. What do you think, Shyla? Was his offer to help genuine? Or is he angling for something, maybe trying for a prize to hand over to the Feds for concessions later, or even leverage against Nguyen?"


"You has been investing much effort in to preventing a strong centralized command,” Shyla said. “That is a situation I find advantageous. I am sure he is doing it to prevent what you are suggesting. Intel is the Alliance Navy has something of that in the Core Systems now. Trustworthy. Hell, I doubt it, but there ain't much selection out here if you know what I mean. This so-called democracy is a farce. The power is with You and Nguyen."

Shyla Kramer sighed and narrowed her eyes.

"I think his insinuation that Carter could use a friend was not a social thing. More that a talented person such as Mike with all he knows might still be a valuable ally, and a good check on Nguyen. That seems to ring true. From what I understand," she said and looked me over appraisingly, "Carter still has some influence over the Independently-minded people... We've been noticing the change in some radio chatter for months, calling for cleansing of space in the Burnham Quadrant."


I suppressed the eyeroll at Shyla's 'social thing' comment. Of course, I'd known what she'd meant. With Mike, it was always about the job and it was in that vein I took the comment to mean. I started connecting the dots. Mike + You = Trouble for Nguyen. Trustworthy + You = Not too likely. As usual, Mike was walking into a lion's den and I couldn't stand beside him and pass the ammunition. That being nothing I could fix, I turned my attention to the latter half of Shyla's statement.

Burnham Quadrant? Seriously?

"You've tossed me a pretty big grenade already, Shyla, and so I'm off my game, but--are you suggesting you need us to check out Burnham Quadrant?"


"No.” She shook her head. You dork, I could hear the action say, even though the woman herself was politeness personified. “In fact I'd recommend against it. Reaver activity has not dissipated as some hoped it would. We've heard many distress calls from ships hoping to loot Miranda and getting suckered into a Reaver trap. They're still out there, and they are not going away. The point is that with the Long Silence and us now here, people are starting to see Blue Sun as a possible home. People from the Rim and Border, even people from the Core. Those who imagine replaying the war are already calculating what they need in terms of strategy, and Burnham is a front they'd like clear before anything else happens. I think the Alliance Navy knows damn well with the Reavers here we'll never be able to raise much of a fuss.”

Shyla paused and continued.

“I think You might see Mike as a way of connecting with those other Browncoats that are not with Nguyen."


I stood a moment, trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. Ge You was getting in bed with the splintered Browncoat factions scattered far and wide? Trying to get Mike to act as his go-between, his emissary? Why Mike? Everyone in the clandestine community already knew Mike was burned and therefore couldn’t be trusted. It didn’t make sense. As for the Browncoats at large, what did You want with them? Was he gathering his own personal army to fight a war against Nguyen? Or was he trying to deprive the General of a recruiting pool for his own army? I had to leave off speculating when I realized that Shyla was waiting for me to respond.

"Just to be clear,” I asked, hoping for more intel. “Are the Feds keeping their ships in Burnham Quadrant?"


"No,” she said flatly. “Burnham is full of Reavers "


Privately I thought that it was in the Feds' best interest to keep the Reavers around as a method of culling the malcontents and the troublemakers from the populace as they flung themselves at the lure of Miranda. But I kept that behind my teeth and merely said, "Good to know. Do you have anything else you can tell me?" Not want. Can. "Is there anything you want me to pass on to the crew?" Including what you've just told me.


Shyla Kramer straightened in her chair.

"I've got no way to contact Carter. If he contacts you, he might be interested in what I told you. I've got some other matters to discuss with Nika, but this was for you."


"Thank you," I said quietly, feeling the words inadequate acknowledgment of the gift Shyla had given me but the wheels in my head were spinning too fast to manage anything more. And just for an instant, I glimpsed the woman I’d come to know while stranded on Miranda. Then the shuttered expression she wore as Decatur’s Captain closed down again and I knew I’d been dismissed.

So I nodded and left to find Nika, to tell her that her Captain wanted to speak to her.



Since this season turned out to be RP heavy, it's only fair to include the link to everyone's efforts.

Go back to Interrupted | Skip to Reckoning.
Go to Peripatetica - Rina's Journal entry and RP log
Go to Rina's Russian Glossary
Go to Rina's Crew Page
Go to EPISODES or TIMELINE