Silent Knight
Posted on 01/01/2023 @ 6:27pm by Commander Aer Feshau-Patton
1,309 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Mini Mission: Lighting Up Shadows
Location: Intelligence Suite, Aer's Office, Poseidon Station
Timeline: After 'When The Cat's Away' Mission
Since the Klingon incident in the cargo bay Aer had been blaming herself not only for her own injury but for letting them get away with Starfleet weaponry and no knowledge or evidence to point the direction of where they went.
The Breen attack had kept everyone’s attention quite rightly on them and they were still playing catch up with repairs. Aer remembered entering her office and wiping some dust from her chair that had taken up residence from the shifting of room parts. Fortunately the damage to her department was minimal.
Personnel casualties were light. No fatalities, which were always a good thing, and her away team of operatives had returned with cuts and bruises. Seeing them return with a mission accomplished sticker gave her great satisfaction and the fact they were all alive and well made her happy… even more so that Stefan, who had become a good friend, had returned to her.
Now her attention had turned back to the reason she still felt discomfort, the Klingon party that boarded the station.
It was strange, she still felt the pain sometimes even though she had fully healed from it. Her hands would sometimes still go to the area where the blade pierced skin. The physical scar was gone, but the mental one still remained.
“Computer, initiate Unseen program on the main wall please.” she called out.
Aer had moved to her ‘action board’. It was a holo-board on the wall of her office that she’d placed images and incidents on (think Minority Report).
She began to wave her hands and moved some images into a larger focus. Known Klingon arms dealers in the area, those with ties to the Black Markets and others of interest.
–
Astaz Bolmerk, son of Bahl Bolmerk - Merchant of some renown and has been known to visit Poseidon Station on a regular basis. Interest level 5/10 due to connection to other merchants, potential interest due to black market contacts.
Storkuth Vork, son of W’stal Vork - Former KDF Captain turned rogue. Has a reputation of someone that is not satisfied with current Klingon leadership and left his position in the KDF in protest of this. Interest level 7/10 due to current views towards Federation and other species.
Hatbam Woss, daughter of Thoj Woss - Politician on Klingon homeworld with a sympathetic ear to warmongers and believes in the old values of Klingons being warriors at heart. Ironic given her chosen profession. Interest level 4/10 with a possible shift to higher given her links to off world connections and level of access within government.
Krax Hactizh, son of Asorf Hacitzh - Crimelord and known arms dealer. Interest level 9/10 given his current choice of profession and reputation for dealing in weaponry from all corners of the galaxy.
–
It was Aer’s belief at this time that Krax was one of extreme interest and that he was a Knight of the Unseen.
She enlarged his picture. He had greying hair, an eyepatch with a Klingon skull on it and a scar going across the edges of the patch. There was also some burn scarring around that same left side of his face. He was a hard man to forget and she had intercepted some communication linking him to an ‘unknown’ investor. Several variations of the word ‘Knight’ used in different languages all pointing to the same thing.
Sadly speculation and hearsay were not enough to get Starfleet approval to place covert listening devices on his ‘businesses’, or his people's communication devices. Nor was it enough to even pay the man a visit… officially.
Thankfully Aer worked in a rather grey area of Starfleet and often ran her operations with little oversight from anyone outside of the intelligence community. Of course if anything went wrong it would be her head and any higher ups would deny knowledge of any such action she may or may not have taken and she accepted as such. She’d worked this game long enough now to know the expectations, the realities and pitfalls of what she did.
She pushed Krax’s image back onto the wall and huffed. “What do you think?” she turned to her holo-advisor, Phillipa Georgiou, the well respected and admired former Starfleet Captain of the USS Shenzhou. Aer had always considered her a role model and had greeted admiration for her personally.
Georgiou wore the old uniform of the 2250’s, Aer wanted to keep it authentic, and even as a hologram she carried herself with such grace and wisdom. “He definitely seems to fit, but remember just because he looks the part doesn’t mean he is who you are looking for.” she commented.
“I know.” Aer huffed.
“Misdirection and misinformation are popular amongst criminal types and the Klingons got the upperhand on you once before.” Phillipa paused as she saw Aer tense. “And I’d hate to see anything happen to you again.”
“My gut tells me it is him, but we need to press him by other means.” Aer spoke. “I know he is in contact with Astaz…” she moved his image and linked him to Krax. “He has send encoded messages to Hatbam that even the High Council don’t know about.” she then linked their images. “And now I have reports that Storkuth has been moving his support and forces near Krax’s borders and that he is either moving in on his territory, which I believe to be unlikely, or Krax has bought him for protection or to move his products… or both.” Aer laid it out for herself more than anyone.
“All sound theories, Aer.” Phillipa spoke softly and moved beside her and placed her hand on her shoulder. “You remind me of an old first officer I once had. She too went with her gut more than anyone else I have ever known, but sometimes it is wiser to know when to step back and look at the bigger picture before jumping in head first and starting a war you can avoid.”
Her words rang truer than she probably knew. Yes, she had access to all the latest data but her personality profile didn’t develop beyond the death of the original Captain Georgiou.
“If we start with the merchant, maybe we can squeeze him into giving some information up with the right ‘incentives’.” Aer emphasised that last word. “We may find information we can use to link to the others. If we can get something on Hatbam, anything, then we could leverage that against her career, push her in the right direction for our interests.” Aer smirked as that devilish thought ran through her mind.
“A wise starting point.” Phillipa smiled. “Now, don’t you have someone waiting on you at home.” she chided.
Aer frowned like a child being reminded of homework and pressed a button near her to close the wall menu down. “Yes, yes I do.” she said moving back behind her desk. “I’ll go and see Jack once I make some arrangements to stop Astaz when he comes to the station. I think he’s due in at the end of the week. Once I’ve done that I’ll go home and play future wife.”
Phillipa nodded. “It is good you make time for a life outside the uniform. It makes me as happy as my program will allow.” she smiled.
“Thank you, Phillipa. For reminding me that life doesn’t revolve around the badge. Catching bad people is rewarding, but means nothing if I don’t have people in my life that make me feel loved and needed. We’ll continue this next time.” she implied the conversation was over.
“Very well, Aer. Have a pleasant evening.” Phillipa said before shutting down.
“Astaz, I hope you like ship inspections…” she smirked.
Commander Aer Feshau
Chief Intelligence Officer
Poseidon Station
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