by David Smith
Perfectly on cue, Skid leapt out of the tank, caught the fish and executed one perfect somersault, spraying a graceful arc of water droplets across the tank, all sparkling and glinting like diamonds as they were caught by the bright lights behind the tank.
Lyndsey breathed a sigh of relief and drummed the tank with her fingers, before standing up and throwing a fish high in the air. Skid burst out of the water, spinning as he went and spraying a cork-screw of water droplets across the tank, before grabbing the fish and executing a perfect splashless re-entry.
Lyndsey smiled as a common gasp of delight from the audience was followed by loud applause.
A double back-somersault from Skid drew even more applause, and as a killer finale, Lyndsey knelt down beside the tank with the last of the fish gripped between her teeth.
On cue, Skid drifted to the surface, slowly approached Lyndsey and gently took the fish.
The audience all said ‘Aww!’ and the head judge hit the golden buzzer that sent Lyndsey into the Grand Final of ‘Tana Have Talent.’
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Jane Doe had topped the leader board in the previous three weeks of the ‘Dance Like You Like It’ competition. She was tall, slim and graceful, and in truth far more talented than most of the so-called professional Tana ball-room dancers. This, coupled with her back-story of having overcome being raised on an austere low-gravity world (hence her exceptional height), had seemed to resonate with the audience, exactly as hoped.
News sites were full of pictures and stories about Jane, and Tiger’s hackers had found that she was routinely winning 80% of all votes cast.
Now in week four, the remaining competitors were to open the show as a group, doing a dance that Decarvalho had likened to a cross between the waltz and the Can-can.
He’d helped to choreograph Jane and hoped to impress the audience with a series of kicks, spins and lifts, which Jane excelled at. The music for the show began, and after a brief pause the spotlights came on to reveal the remaining four contestants and their respective partners.
Jane started near the back, and after the opening stanzas of music, worked her way forward to take centre stage for the most complicated part of the routine.
Everything was going swimmingly until Jane moved forward between two other dancing couples. One pair mistimed things badly, and an errant high-kick caught Jane a glancing blow to the side of her head.
There was a gasp from the audience followed by a sigh of collective relief as Jane carried on, apparently unaffected.
She reached the front of the stage, but seemed clearly distracted. The music reached a peak and her partner tried to lift her and spin her around.
To his visible surprise, she grabbed his arm, span him around and placing one hand on each of his hips, grabbed hold and physically lifted him up over her head. The look of shock on his face didn’t last long as Jane arched backward smashing him face first into the floor with a visceral crunch.
She performed a neat backward hand-spring over his inert body, landing lightly on her feet and spinning and kicking out lazily with one long and elegant leg to artistically break another competitors jaw. She then grabbed that woman’s astonished partner, pulled him in close to her and began to waltz lightly across the floor. As they approached another couple, Jane took her partners arm and span him away from herself, casually dislocating his shoulder as she did.
She twirled elegantly away and approached the next couple, reaching out to them and calmly smashing their heads together with a bone-crunching thud.
The last couple had become aware of the carnage unfolding around them and made a break for it, but Jane was far too fast. She caught the woman by her hand, span her around, and in the same smooth movement kicked upwards, smashing her jaw to pieces. Allowing the momentum of her leg to carry on over her head, she arched backwards and began a series of breath-takingly fast flick-flacks that carried her towards her last terrified victim.
As she reached him, she put extra effort into her leg-spring and sailed high into the air. As she rose, she span in mid-air and landed with one thigh planted over each of his shoulders, her crotch against his face. Her feet locked together and her thighs squeezed his head in a vice-like grip.
Again, her momentum carried her forward, toppling the little Tana backwards. As her hands touched the floor, she curved her legs and back, digging her heels into the small of his back and carrying the unfortunate Tana right over her in an upside down Karate throw. He land face first, and to add insult to injury, Jane landed sitting on top of him, cracking several of his ribs in the process.
The music had stopped long ago, but Jane struck her finishing pose, before calmly standing up and leaving the dance floor in absolute silence.
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‘So we’re down to one chance?’
‘I’m afraid so, Commander.’
‘And it was Jane Doe who went out?’
‘Indeed, sir.’
Dave didn’t need to be told what had happened. ‘Were there many injuries?’
‘Only to the people on the dance floor with her sir. And they’ll all make a full recovery. Eventually. Might not dance again though’ admitted the Steward.
Dave slumped in his chair. He’d seen Lyndsey Stiles trying to train Biff the dog and the results were patchy at best. If something took Biff’s fancy, nothing was going to keep him interested in performing. Or more specifically, performing in the way they planned. It was all in the lap of the gods now.
Chapter 17
Higgs hung in space as the big Sha T’Al heavy cruiser swung low over Dau Ranhal.
Devon was very aware that Sha T’Al technology was at least on par with the best the Federation could offer, and their best chance of remaining undetected had always been to sit in place and let the Sha T’Al come to them.
They’d got to the arranged meeting point well in advance and placed their team on the ground ready to go. The team had been waiting for two days until now, when the First Minister and his entourage had finally arrived.
Elder Tre Hal had been busy setting out a meeting place but had given as much help as he could to the humans. He selected a site where an underground cave could hide the away team and selected a spot where that team could easily break-out of the cave within the defensive perimeter of the temporary accommodation structure. He’d given them layout details and security codes for everything that he was arranging, but they’d still have to defeat the First Ministers personal security arrangements the hard way.
They could only communicate for a few hours a day, but before the last window had closed, she’d instructed the team to get ready as Tre Hal had told her that the First Minister’s arrival was imminent.
They’d planned for this and would let the First Minister begin negotiations and settle in before making their move later in the night.
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In the cave under the meeting place, Marianne Delgado ran through the plan with her team. They were huddled together in a small natural cave that was shielded from detection by some very sophisticated anti-scanning equipment.
Rather than being in uniform, they were all wearing plain black anonymous mission jumpsuits of dubious origin that Chief Money had produced from the deepest, darkest depths of his stores.
‘Ok team, it’s show time. The First Minister will be heading to his chambers for the night shortly. We don’t know the precise details of the accommodation arrangements, but it seems that the First Minister’s entourage have allocated their accommodation in a fashion similar to how we’ve seen Tre Hal’s people act. That puts the most senior persons furthest from the entrance. Tre Hal managed to get a sketch of their security arrangements down to us an hour ago.’
She projected an image from her PAD onto the side of one of the storage containers they’d transported down from Higgs.
‘It’s looking tricky. There’s an outer guard perimeter which is outside our current position, but there’s also an inner perimeter being
set up between us and the accommodation buildings. When we break through the surface, the Security team will have to disable the guards on the inner perimeter.’
‘The Harvazh and Harvazh Too will take their places and stand watch with Ma’Gat Gon while the rest of the team infiltrate the accommodation.’
Crewman Lana Modric spoke up. ‘I took the chance to examine Tre Hal’s buildings while they were being assembled. The outer shell is a really tough composite structure. It’ll be easier to bypass the security systems and go through the doors than it will to try to cut through the walls.’
Delgado nodded. ‘That’s what we’ve always assumed. Tre Hal has provided the lay-out of the encampment but hasn’t got detail of who’s sleeping where.’
She pointed to a large room at the centre of the structure. ‘It’s reasonable to assume the First Minister will have the largest and most secure suite, so I’ll lead the extraction team straight there, while Ensign Ben-David and the Security team disable any other Sha T’Al within the building. Modric, IPAD and Nowacki will continue working to disable the internal security systems, screens, transport inhibitors and also wipe any security recordings of our presence. While they’re doing that Moss, Kostova, Kwok and I will go to pick up the First Minister. I don’t intend to take risks. We’ll stun him and get him back up to Higgs as soon as possible.’
The team seemed to relax then, but Delgado continued. ‘We’re not home and dry, even at that point. The outer perimeter guards will still be wandering around and we don’t know if there’s any kind of change-over between watches. To maximise our chances of a clean getaway, once the First Minister is secured, we’ll transport in order, outermost first. Ma’Gat Gon, the Harvazh and Harvazh will go first, and once they’re gone, Modric can reset the external security systems to slow down any Sha T’Al that catch on.’
‘Security team will go next, then Ensign Ben David, Modric, IPAD and Nowacki. My team will be in the most secure location, so we’ll go last.’
PO Jeb Hogan, leader of the security team looked concerned. ’You’re leaving yourself exposed, Lieutenant. I suggest I stay behind in case the Sha T’Al get into the First Minister’s suite quicker than anticipated. I can cover your retreat if necessary.’
Delgado shook her head. ‘That shouldn’t be necessary. If Hollins and O’Mara get their end of the mission right, the First Minister will be transported down outside the complex pretty much as soon as we extract him.’
Jeb nodded sagely. ‘In that case I volunteer to stay behind and secure the landing zone until his arrival.’
His team were nodding and almost as one agreed to stay behind with their leader.
Delgado had been warned this might happen, and already had an answer. ‘No-one stays behind. The last thing we want is a load of dead bodies in a Starfleet uniform lying around after the First Minister goes missing. Thank you for volunteering but that decision is final and absolute. If anything in this mission goes south, we have to leave as little evidence as possible that we’ve been here, or that anyone from the Federation has been involved.’
This seemed to quieten the Security team, if not please them.
Delgado checked her watch. ‘It’s 1938 local time. Tre Hal suggested that they’ll meet and dine together before resuming negotiations tomorrow. We’ll give them time to settle down and relax before we move. We break-ground at 0200 hours, so I suggest everyone gets a few hours sleep: I want everybody sharp and frosty when we move.’
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Jeb Hogan pushed the optical sensor up through the hole in the hatch and rotated it slowly, watching the display on his PAD.
‘We’re good’ he said quietly, and pushed up the hatch of the access shaft.
There was a sprinkle of loose dirt, but Hogan was out before it had settled on the floor below him, and his team followed in quick order. From inside the shaft, Delgado heard a muffled groan, but had no time to consider it before she too climbed out.
Hogan was already gone, and members of his team were dragging two unconscious Sha T’Al guards into cover.
The Harvazh and Harvazh Too looked on and shimmered and rippled as they assumed the appearance of the downed guards while Ma’Gat Gon calmly stripped her jumpsuit off and literally disappeared. She’d go further out and watch the outer perimeter to act as their first level of warning.
Lana Modric was already working to open the outer door of the building. As soon as the door opened the Harvazh calmly walked through. There were soft hisses as dart guns were employed, using a fast acting neuro-blocking chemical to disable and silence the two Sha T’Al guards posted inside the building almost instantaneously.
The Harvazh and Harvazh Too took up their positions outside the main door and Delgado and the rest of the team entered the building and closed the door behind themselves.
The building had a curiously inconsistent nature to it. Although it was clearly a temporary structure, with cables and piping running in plain sight, it had all been installed impossibly neatly, and everything seemed to be carefully colour co-ordinated.
One of the Security team guarded the door, whilst the others spread out. The building was a quadrangle in plan and from the side with the main entrance a corridor ran perpendicularly to the centre of the structure.
Here, a larger block of deeper plan had been constructed, and this housed the main conference room and the First Minister’s quarters.
The outer rim of the quadrangle was mostly functional, with dining spaces, galleys, wash-rooms and accommodation. One by one the security team checked each room, disabling any Sha T’Al they found with dart guns.
Eventually they came to the area they were looking for, a security room from where the automatic defences were controlled.
Modric set to work, disabling the security locks and transport inhibitors, while IPAD found the recording system, hacked in, stopped all recording processes and wiped the records for the day.
Once they were working, Delgado signalled to Kostova, Kwok and Moss and they headed into the centre of the building. The doors opened with a single push and they quickly found the private suite of the First Minister.
Delgado was focussed on their mission and didn’t notice that both Moss and Kwok were distinctly uneasy. She also didn’t notice that both were now resting their hands on phasers that they’d smuggled down, rather than their dart guns.
They knew from Tre Hal’s floor plan that the main part of the suite was a conference room and beyond this were a private study, bathroom and his bedroom.
They passed through the conference room and beyond this entered a small lobby between the other three rooms. Delgado approached the door at the rear of the lobby, and silently motioned to the others to be prepared.
She signalled Modric, who over-rode the locking mechanism on the door and it slid aside. As she led them in, the lights came on automatically. The First Minister stirred and they registered the shock on his face before Delgado calmly shot him with a tranq dart. As arranged, Kostova lay down on the bed next to the unconscious Sha T’Al.
Delgado pulled her communicator out and risked a short call to Higgs: ‘Package is in the bag, Kostova is the bag-boy.’
The bedroom was illuminated by the beam of a transporter and Kostova and the First Minister disappeared in the jangling, tingling lights.
The room went dark, and Delgado turned and saw two blurs of motion as Kwok and Moss both moved faster than she would have thought humanly possible.
She found a phaser pointed at her face.
The rational part of her mind noted that this was wrong on several levels: firstly, the supplementary personnel they’d brought along for the mission weren’t supposed to be carrying phasers, only dart guns and tasers. Secondly, the phaser was close enough that she could see it was set to disintegrate, when everybody had strict instructions that such weapons were to be set to stun only. Thirdly, and most worryingly, it was pointed at her face.
Weirdly, while Kwok had a phaser pointed at her, Mo
ss, stood a few feet away had pulled a phaser on Kwok.
The less rational part of Delgado’s brain was feeling slightly left out. She held her finger up in ‘wait-a-moment’ gesture as she pulled out her phaser and for lack of better ideas pointed it at Moss. As an afterthought, she lowered it and set hers for disintegrate too before taking aim at Moss again.
There was an awkward silence that seemed to last an eternity.
Moss eventually broke it. There was actually a smile on his face as he said ‘Well, well, well. A Mexican stand-off. How ironic.’
Delgado fought to keep her hand and her voice steady. ‘What the hell is going on??’
She was very aware that by now, Chief Carstairs would be transporting the Harvazh, Harvazh Too and Ma’Gat Gon back to Higgs.
Nobody answered her question but she thought she detected the slightest hint of uncertainty behind the ice-cool poker-faces both Moss and Kwok wore.
Delgado rolled her eyes. ‘Ok. I’ll start. My name is Marianne and I’m an alcoholic . . . ‘
No response. Obviously not while they were here. She searched her memory, trying to find the link between these two non-trained personnel who scored such high marks on the shooting gallery, but had no background in the armed forces. Two people from very different backgrounds, both of whom had astonishingly quick reactions. Outside of the Security team, she hadn’t seen reactions like that since . . .
Since Mexico.
She tried again. ‘Ok. Let me guess. Sinaloa cartel? Los Zetas? FLEA? Tai Huen Chai Triad?’
There was the faintest of twitches from Kwok at the mention of the Chai Triad, and Delgado instantly knew why Kwok’s phaser was pointed at her.
In her younger days, a gorgeous but useless boyfriend, Marco, had landed them in a whole world of trouble trying to smuggle twenty kilos of cocaine from Mexico to Brazil on his yacht.
They’d been caught, and although she didn’t know anything about the drugs, no-one believed her. She went down with Marco. She spent six months in a hell-hole prison before the Brazilian Police and US Drug Enforcement Agency offered her and her now ex-boyfriend a way out.
