"You Have Mail"

[Kansas 0]

Please Note: Mild mature content

 

09.14.08

ISS Agincourt ICC-81762

“You Have Mail”

 

It had been a long and hard but satisfying day. Much had been accomplished in the way of ships business, and Commander Kansas JoNs had begun to settle quite smoothly into her new role as executive officer on the Imperial warship ISS Agincourt.

 

The leonine Caitian had retired to her quarters for the night, where her lover awaited her. Once they had both taken care of the more primal of their urges in a downright jaunty romp of sex, each of them fell into a deep sleep beside one another on the bed.

 

It was now pre-dawn ships time, and Lieutenant Conrad Zimm had ducked into the sonic alcove for a shower while Kansas had slipped into a deep green kimono with a subtle golden lily pattern and settled in behind her desk to check the new messages that had graced her inbox throughout the previous night.

 

Now, her jaw dropped to reveal deadly pointed fangs, and JoNs had encountered one of those things that you totally needed to share with someone else.

 

“Conrad! Come here, you have to see this!”

 

Zimm, long accustomed to the feline commander’s tonal range of purrs and meows, recognized that her summons was urgent. Quickly wrapping a towel around his lower body, the muscular and light skinned armory officer re-entered the outer quarters and made his way over to where the golden furred cat sat at the desk. He leaned with casual familiarity on the arm rest of the desk chair that the feline reclined in. The look on his face was curious.

 

“What’s up Mrrett? You catch those two kids from the marine battalion bonking each other in the cargo bay on the aft security camera again? I think you should just arrest them and have them spend the night in the brig for indecent exposure or something.”

 

“Oh, I really wish it was that simple Conrad. Check this message out.” A wide golden paw deftly entered the commands into the keyboard inset into the desktop to replay the visual recording. Within seconds, the image of a dark haired woman that they both knew quite well and wished they hadn’t appeared on the desktop viewer.

 

As the recording came on, the image was of Kairi in her usual black leather outfit. She was sitting in front of a neutral backdrop, making it unclear where she was.

 

= = = =

“Hello Kitten. Congratulations on becoming Commander. That must be a big step for you. I hope this doesn’t detract from you trying to find me.” She gave a playful pout. “I really miss seeing that cute tail of yours…”

 

“Anyways, by now you have no doubt figured out I was responsible for the string of murders on Rigel III. Honestly, I have no regrets. The three I killed, were a part of a big genetic testing program, using Romulan slaves as the test subjects. Well, actually two of them were. Stenson’s Aide was a big jerk to his ex-girlfriend, so I had to kill him. Someone had to stick up for her…” She sat back in her seat. “Well, I lied a little bit. I did feel a little bit of regret for Chase. He had a really cute butt. And I bet if he had known it would be his last time, the sex would have been a hundred times better…” Kairi gave a big grin. “Not that it wasn’t already great.”

 

“Oh I did forget someone. There were actually four…Forgot about the bartender. I paid him tons of latinum to drop the poison into Chase’s drink. His death was strictly logical. Eliminate all witnesses…”

 

“Well I better go Kitten; a Rebel’s job never ends. I hope to see you again soon. Maybe sooner than you think…” The last image was of Kairi reaching up to press something, before the screen went blank.

= = = =

 

Zimm stared at the blank screen for a moment, his eyebrows knitted together in silent consternation. Finally, his gaze went back to JoNs, and all his unspoken questions were in his blue eyes.

 

Kansas just sighed. “It’s all explained in the text mail I got from Imperial Command. That Imperial Admiral that was killed a few days ago? Stenson? That recording was found on a data chip shoved inside his mouth. The boys at command couldn’t crack the data chip, but as they kept digging deeper on the isolinier levels, it was discovered that the embedded encryption was tuned to my command codes.”

 

“…so that little bitch just dragged you into a quadruple murder investigation, and she knows about your promotion to make matters even more complicated.”

 

“Nice of her to drag me smack into an investigation, right? And we don’t need to worry about a leak coming from the Agincourt, as I’m sure she got the information from the news feeds or what have you.” Kansas suddenly got quiet, her gaze not going worried, but her green eyes focusing on something that only she could see.

 

Zimm spoke quietly into the semi darkness of the quarters. “What are you thinking?”

 

“Besides that I’m screwed? …. I know the Imperial Fleet is no collective angel. It is the seat of Terran power. They torture test subjects. Rebellions are ruthlessly crushed. No quarter given to enemies or any who oppose the Imperial order. It really is not the nicest of organizations, no it is not.”

 

“… I’m sensing a ‘but’ here.”

 

“I’m trying to say that assassination is a whole other aspect to the fragging equation. Stealing supplies, taking out communications relays, monitoring Imperial fleet movements … this is all the normal workings of a Rebel faction. I know they can dabble in contract killings, but overall this is not the norm. This one,” a claw pointed to the frozen image of Kairi on the console monitor, “has obviously grown to enjoy the assassination, and has branched off on her own shall we say.”

 

“Well sure, but I’d have ten credits that says she is attached to a cell.”

 

“Oh, I’m sure she is. But I bet it’s been a long time since she checked in with another contact from the cell. I think little Miss Kairi has gone independent contract killer. I could really be wrong, but she probably doesn’t even remember the Rebellion concept that she’s supposedly fighting for anymore …. The priority is that next big kill or the next big sex jolt that she can get.”

 

Zimm shifted so he could lean on the desk and face Mrrett. A gentle smirk graced his rugged features. “You’ve never been a fan of contract killers have you?”

 

“Hell no. It’s an ideal way to lose your soul. I was raised a mercenary, not an assassin.”

 

“So, what are you going to do about this little message my Commander Kitten?”

 

“For right now? Nothing. She’s baiting me, I refuse to take the bait and it’s a good way to get killed besides. I’d rather go to her on my own terms.”

 

The feline paused for a moment, her security training and experience taking over automatically as she replayed the visual recording mentally. “Miss Low Rent Assassin reached up to turn off the data feed recording, so she was probably on a personal shuttle or an inter-planetary atmo hopper. I doubt she has access to a larger Runabout or something, at least not without accessing the purchasing channels that would leave a paper trail. So at this point in time, she could be anywhere in a ten square sector radius by now.”

 

The leonine officer let loose with a purred snort before continuing. “Besides, Kairi will keep; I mean she really isn’t that important in the grand scheme of all things rebel, not with the hundreds of Rebels that occupy the cell network. All we have to do is wait for the next spate of murders to hit the Imperial Net, and the more she kills, the cockier she’ll get and the more intoxicated she’ll feel with the power of the kills. Mistakes are meant to be made don’t you know, and I have contacts I can always draw on to pick up a blood trail. ”

 

Kansas smoothly got up from her chair and began to walk over towards the direction of her bed, stripping off her silk kimono as she did so; her athletic feline body was backlit by the light emanating from the sonic shower room, and her light green eyes glistened playfully, but contained a dangerous edge in their depths. Her tail swished idly. “I mean, an XO can’t exactly go jaunting off when they feel like it, at least not as much as I once did. I have to pick and choose my disappearing acts now, and this one isn’t worth it … not right now.”

 

A slow smile spread across Zimms features. “Good. No shuttle rides to visit a so called sick family member?”

 

The feline winked at her human lover. “Not this time. But, my plan is this: a shower, as I don’t think my commanding officer would appreciate the smell of stale sex on a feline, then I take the data recording to the Colonel Harper, and we go from there. I also need to contact the investigative division of Imperial Command to let the headhunters know the recording was received. But Harper always takes top priority, so I go to her first.”

 

She has learned well and come a long way as an officer. I knew my instincts to hook up with her was the right choice. The shared mercenary blood code has never been wrong. “I’m sure our commander will be pleased. Not necessarily with the content of said message, but with the events that brought the information to her … two years ago you would have kept this from her and gone off half cocked on some cockamamie search.” Lieutenant Zimm cocked his head to one side and smirked. “You really do have a cute tail by the way.”

 

Kansas lashed said tail playfully at her lover before slinking off into the shower.

 

* Log concept credit and recording excerpt credit goes to Kairi.

Edited September 15, 2008 by Kansas