"Romeo and Juliet: On The Loose"

[Kansas_Jones 0]

12.15.07

ISS Agincourt ICC-81762

"Romeo and Juliet: On The Loose"

Kansas JoNs quickly stalked down the entry ramp of the shuttlecraft, her pilot and personal guard Lieutenant Thaylienne Mical following close behind the snarked off feline. JoNs had managed to clean up and change into a fresh uniform on the shuttle while en route back to the 'Court, but the feline officer still sported various bandages from her encounter with rebels Prell and Kairi on the starbase; a small orange data disk of the whole messy afternoon and encounter was gripped in one paw.

 

Colonel Harper strolled into the bay, accompanied by her bodyguards, and stopped dead. The slight smile she had been wearing dropped away as she took in the cat's appearance. "What happened, Commander?"

 

After offering a stiff salute - it was obvious the feline was sore as hell - the younger officer offered the round optical disk to her mentor. "Is-sues sir. That data disk contains all the audio and visual feeds from my detachment assignment. The short version is Prell and Kassem showed up at the starbase medical convention. Chaos ensued. Not. A Happy. Feline."

 

Harper took the disk with two fingers, automatically, but her mind was back on the Caitian's earlier statement. "Prell and Kassem? Those traitors dared to show their faces?"

 

"Aye. To be more precise, Kassem dared to show her face. She was contracted - I assume - to knock off Westler. By the way Colonel, he is such a pain in the ass, but anyway...myself and base security nipped that little plot in the bud. During Kassem’s interrogation however, Worm Boy came in, disruptor blazing of course, to rescue her."

 

Her fists clenched, making the data disk creak in protest. "And the security forces were doing what when this happened?"

 

"Well, I know I don't really have to explain starbase security personnel to you ma'am; they aren't the same stripe as starship redshirts, typically. Mister Prell altered the security systems to show shadows and ghost alarms, causing the various patrol teams to scatter and investigate the false alarms."

 

"Idiots," Harper snarled. She eyed the bandages again. "I see you at least did your job."

 

The lieutenant commander looked at her mentor for a long moment before deciding on her next course of action. "Aye ma'am, I did perform my duties - although some might argue only to a point..." She hesitated, and then continued. "....you will find out anyway once you view the op disk. One of the base grunts - Seltman, lovely chap - was bloodthirsty, even by our standards. I kept him on a short leash during Kassem’s interrogation, and I only had the Booth at forty percent power."

 

Harper's brows arched expressively. "Well, I suppose it's no use if she'd died before talking," she said neutrally. "On the other hand, if she'd died, she wouldn't have escaped."

 

JoNs broke her relaxed parade rest and rubbed a paw at her bruised neck where Prell had clocked her one with his weapon. "Aye, and I probably also would not have gotten my ass kicked by Romeo and Juliet. The base sensors did snag a partial transponder code from a runabout craft - quite possibly the escape vehicle for the two rebels.”

 

"Can it be traced?" Harper demanded intently.

 

"The vessel can be traced most definitely, if I get my people and the engineering people cracking on it. Each runabout - whether it is a civilian or fleet issue - has a tracking code. It’s only a matter of time before we find a match for that partial transponder code."

 

"Good." There was something of the cat about Harper then, too -- a large, satisfied cat. "Get on it."

 

An ear flipped back - JoNs's, not Harper's - then, and the golden furred Caitian favored her marine commander with a fanged smile. "Aye. It's time to tie up some loose ends, isn't it Sponsor?"

 

"Literally.” She answered the smile with a feral grin.