Via Pacifica: Pavonian Sector
Starbase Elysium, 19:20 hours
Following the discovery of the Blue Sagittarian Striker on the planet Freya, the Odyssey Rangers had resumed their regular duties on their ship and enjoyed another week of relative peace and quiet. After a long day of work, the Rangers gathered in one of the common rec areas of the ship to relax and blow off some steam. At one table Aaron sat playing a card game with Rin, Sage, and Tiah. The game was called Kalah and was considered a version of poker that was played by the people of Mirinoi. At another table, Qua'lia and Geordi sat playing a quiet game of chess.
The Pink Ranger Qua'lia folded her hands and smiled after she took her turn. Growing up on her poor desert homeworld of Calidum, she had played a lot of chess with her mother and she liked to think that it helped her in some ways during her time in the Alliance fleet. The game had taught her about calculated risks and always trying to think ahead. It had been one of the reasons she had done well as a Petty Officer, by knowing when to follow her orders but also to anticipate the needs and plans of her own commanders. Many of the junior commissioned officers on board had often said they were a little jealous that she had come under Aaron's command and worked so well as his right hand woman in many ways.
Right now, it looked to be an evenly matched game and Geordi frowned as he stopped to ponder his next move on the chess board. While she waited, Qua'lia listened in to the banter coming from the neighboring table as Aaron laid his cards out on the table.
"All right ladies, I've lost the last eight hands to you, but I've finally got you now. Read em and weep!"
Tiah glanced at the hand and nodded, "Oh... you're right. That is a pretty strong hand, and normally you'd have won."
"Wait... what?"
Rin smirked and began to divide up the chips between the other three girls from Mirinoi, "You didn't announce Kalah at the end of your turn. You're supposed to do that on the ninth hand and every multiple of three after that."
Aaron sputtered in outrage as she took his chips from the pot, "No way! I call BS. You girls are just making up arbitrary rules now!"
"Hey, rules are rules Aaron. Like em or leave em," Sage giggled as she played along with an innocent look. It was true that all three girls from Mirinoi were just messing with him now and trying to take his money, but he didn't know he was getting hustled.
"If this keeps up, he might be walking out of here in nothing but his skivvies," Tiah laughed.
Before anyone could say another word, the Rangers heard their morphers chime and they listened as a transmission came in. It was Captain Raines. "Rangers? Sorry to disturb your R&R tonight, but I need you to come to my conference room as soon as possible."
"Yes sir. We're on our way," the Red Ranger answered as the others got up and headed out the door. Before she left the table, Qua'lia smiled and gently tipped Geordi's king piece over. It only would have been two turns until he found himself in checkmate anyway.
A short while later, the Rangers arrived at the bridge and gathered in the senior officers' conference room of the ship for an impromptu briefing. As it was evening hours and he was technically off-duty right now, Captain Dominic Raines was somewhat dressed down and wore his duty jacket open faced over a t-shirt. He stood up and paced over to a projector screen with a tired look. "Rangers... thanks for coming on such short notice. I know it's a little late and we should all be getting some rest, but I thought this might be of interest to you."
He activated the projector showing a populated planet located on the borders of Imperial space. He gestured to the screen, "Everyone, this is the planet Lucerin. It's one of the region's major commercial trade hubs and a playground for some of their rich. Some of the cities have some major casinos and gambling resorts."
"With the way Lieutenant Russo plays cards, let just hope he doesn't get roped into a game there," Rin teased him earning a round of laughter from the other Rangers.
Raines cleared his throat, "Our interest isn't so much in the casinos but rather what's going on around them. We've received some intel that there's going to be a major annual event held by one of the largest casinos in the planet's capital. What a lot of people don't know is that there's a black market auction that secretly goes on during it. One of the items that's up for sale is important to us."
The captain pulled up a digital photo display of a pink Arcadian Ranger artifact matching the other ones they had found. The other Rangers sat speechless for a minute before Raines continued, "We also have reason to believe that agents of the U'shan Empire will be present there and likely attempt to get at that artifact as well. That's why I'm authorizing your team to go there and recover the artifact first. I will go over a more detailed plan with Lt. Russo later but for now, I want you to start getting ready. This auction takes place in two days from now."
"Excuse me sir, but can I ask who exactly this source is?" Qua'lia asked, "Can we be sure it's reliable?"
Raines nodded, "Yes. This is coming from your own friend Miss Skyler Orion. She had gone on a trading run to the planet earlier in the week and came across news of this. She thought it would be important to us so she passed the news along."
"Can we really trust her?" Sage asked hesitantly.
"She might be a lot of things but I doubt she'd screw us over like that," Aaron answered, "She's benefiting quite a bit from her partnership with us, so I don't think she'd be willing to risk all that for a few credits more from the U'shan."
Qua'lia wrinkled her nose in mild displeasure. Although she had accepted Skyler as an erstwhile ally to the Rangers, she often felt a little uneasy about Skyler's reckless personalty as well as lack of discipline and self control. It was likely to put people in danger and in the military, that meant getting your own friends killed. She could not accept that happening to her own team who she cared about quite a bit. She gave look to Aaron as well as Captain Raines, "If you're both positive you can put faith in her intel... then I'll trust your judgment."
Raines nodded and stood straighter to address the team, "Very good. All of you go and get some rest. We'll deal more with this tomorrow and I'll have the Lieutenant give you a follow-up briefing at 1500 hours. Dismissed."
The next day, the Rangers reconvened in the conference room along with a few other familiar faces. As Qua'lia entered the room she was surprised to see Princess Sera, Skyler, and the large hulking form of Lt. Thor Julut of the security teams. She cast a curious look to her fellow Rangers before falling in line while Aaron called the meeting to order. "All right everyone listen up. I'm going to lay out the plans as they were given to me by Captain Raines. Some of our friends on the starbase have helped make arrangements for us to go to Lucerin and attend this auction. We're going undercover so we have to be discreet and try not to draw too much attention to ourselves."
"So that means we're not going to have to fight or take that artifact by force?" Thor asked with a mild frown.
"Not this time," Aaron replied, "With any luck, this might be the easiest mission we've had yet. I've been authorized a certain amount of credits to bid so hopefully it should be enough to get us what we need. If not, we have some contingencies in place."
"Pardon me sir, but what about the civilians here? The Princess and Miss Orion?" Qua'lia asked.
"The captain has a separate assignment for them and for you," the Red Ranger answered, "Qua'lia, you are to take Thor and Princess Sera along to deliver some cargo to a different site on Lucerin."
Qua'lia raised an eyebrow, "Lieutenant?"
"You'll be going on ahead of us to one of the capital's trading ports. Once there, you and Thor are to secure some important cargo that's coming back here... something in the way of specialized components that will be used to repair our ship."
"Cheer up, it'll give us some time to hang out more," Skyler winked at her, "A Pink Ranger, a princess, and a big hunky space marine. No complaints here."
Qua'lia gave her a thin smile while Thor regarded Skyler with an uncomfortable grimace. Aaron gave a nod and handed out some datapads with some other mission details, "All right then. If that's it, then you're all dismissed."
As the meeting adjourned and the room cleared out, Qua'lia remained and stood at attention, "Lt. Russo? Do you have a few minutes?"
"For you? Of course."
The Pink Ranger shifted slightly, "Sir, I don't understand. Are these really Captain Raines's orders?"
Aaron crossed his arms, "What are you getting at, Lia?
"I don't understand why I'm not going to be with the rest of the team on this one. You are asking me to babysit Princess Sera and some cargo... something I'm sure Lt. Julut can do just fine all by himself. You're also asking me to keep an eye on Skyler and you know how much trouble she can be."
"Listen, I know you feel uncomfortable around her, but this particular mission calls for it," Aaron explained patiently, "We're in the Alliance Navy. You know as well as I do that we have to put our personal feelings aside when there's a job to be done."
"Yes sir, but... at the risk of sounding too proud, you're asking me to do something that's really kind of insignificant and menial."
One of the things Qua'lia had always prided herself on was being reliable and useful to her commanders. She had wanted to prove herself not only as a very brave and capable woman in the Alliance military, but also as an example that her own Lacerian people could be just as strong and reliable to the rest of the Alliance. While she understood there were times that all sailors had to do lowly and unpleasant tasks, there was at least a purpose to everything.
Aaron frowned, "Qua'lia... I wouldn't have specifically selected you for this task if I didn't trust you and think you could do it. Your concerns are noted but this is still my decision."
"Sir..." Qua'lia protested.
"You have your orders Petty Officer," Aaron reminded her with a reproving frown and a sterner edge in his voice, "I won't hear any more argument. Is that understood?"
She composed herself and gave a reluctant salute doing everything she could to not show her annoyance and frustration. She and Aaron had served together for a while and she liked to think they had a fairly good working rapport. It was rare for him to get stern with her and even more rare when they would disagree on a course of action. Unfortunately, there was little she could do but accept the situation, "Aye sir."
"Very well. Dismissed."
The next day, The Crow made its way to the planet of Lucerin and Skyler steered her freighter toward a docking port in the bustling capital. The flight at warp speed had only been a few hours and they arrived in the early evening when the lights of the city were just beginning to come on. The planet had been given its name for the points of brilliant light that were cast from the cities into the night skies. From orbit, the arrangement of the the lights were stunning and beautiful bringing many curious visitors who would just hang in high orbit just to witness the spectacle. Of course, the rich cities and the bustling trade ports were also a major point of interest and a magnet for the planet's relative wealth.
"This is absolutely crazy," Qua'lia grumbled quietly as she and Thor helped to move a large crate down the ramp of the freighter's cargo hold. She, Thor, and Sera had eschewed their Alliance duty uniforms and wore plain brown clothes to make them look more like civilian cargo freighters. "We're wasting our time here."
Thor glanced around the busy loading docks of the spaceport and gave a sigh as he saw nothing even remotely out of the ordinary, "Part of me would have to agree. It seems we might not get a chance to crush any skulls."
He patted the inner side of his oversized jacket where he had concealed a blaster pistol. Like him, the other girls were concealing laser weapons as well. He turned when he saw Skyler march down the ramp eying the cargo and gesturing for Sera to help guide the anti-grav lift, "Hey come on now Princess. You've got to put some elbow grease into this job too. Move along, yeah?"
"Taking a little bit of a risk by ordering a princess around, don't you think?" Qua'lia commented dryly to Skyler as they walked a short ways.
"Not at all. You know as well as I do that when you're the captain of your own ship, you are the final authority," the rogue cargo pilot winked.
"You don't know exactly what this thing is, do you?" Sera asked as they came to the correct loading platform where two uniformed men waited to collect the cargo.
"Don't know. Don't care," Skyler shrugged as she showed the men a data slate with the processing information, "I'm getting paid well not to ask any questions so that's what I intend to do."
One of the uniformed porters took the cart while the other signed off on it. He gave Skyler an apologetic look, "I'm sorry Miss, but I'm afraid we're running a little late on our end of the exchange. You may be delayed for a few hours."
"Wonderful..." Qua'lia sighed unhappily as she checked her wristwatch. "I can only wonder how the rest of our team is doing. They should be taking care of business at any time now."
Meanwhile, across town visitors from several nearby star systems entered one of the largest casinos dressed in their best formal-wear. An opulent gala was going on which attracted quite a buzz from the surrounding blocks in the entertainment district of the capital city. The colorful ritzy casino itself boasted an aesthetic that was vaguely East Asian and had some modernized trappings of an ancient Chinese imperial court. Within the casino, the rest of the Odyssey Rangers made their way through the crowd of visitors who were mingling in the main hall over appetizers and drinks. Many other visitors were already playing games at some of the slots and tables which took some attention off the Rangers. They had dressed up in civilian formal wear themselves, albeit cheap replicated costumes if anyone looked too closely. Rin looked around in excitement as she smoothed out her green dress and took in the sights of the lavish party going on around her while she walked with Geordi, "Oh wow... this looks like a great party. It's too bad we can't stick around longer, don't you think?"
"We're here on business Miss Niall," Aaron reminded her as he offered his arm to Sage and escorted her along the floor. An allied contact quietly slipped in from the crowds and came up to the four Rangers. He spoke quietly, beckoning them toward a separate hallway leading away from the main floor, "Excuse me Sirs. Misses. If you'll follow me? The main event event should be underway soon."
The four followed into a much quieter and less populated area that looked to be a restricted hall. Colorful strings of ball lanterns hung along the balconies of the upper levels as it filtered into a small auditorium where a crowd of people waited. The allied contact handed them masquerade masks to cover their upper faces and they put them on when they saw the other people at this ritzy black market auction had done the same thing. While they got settled, they did not notice a group of U'shan agents who had mixed into the crowd and watched them. They were probably there for much the same reason.
After an initial introduction and bidding on a few other small illicit items that had value in the neighboring sectors, the primary auctioneer in a top hat and cape presented the Pink Arcadian gemstone disc on the stage, "And now Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you a rather rare and unusual piece that looks to be of ancient Arcadian craftsmanship. It was excavated from a nearby quarry but liberated from the hands of a curator who was preparing to place this within a public museum. You can own this exquisite gemstone piece for yourself and the bidding will start at five thousands standard credits."
"Six," Aaron called raising a finger.
The auctioneer turned and saw another offer coming from a well dressed officer in the U'shan military who was wearing a mask, "Twelve."
"The current bid is now twelve thousand credits," the auctioneer announced.
"Shit, that blue skin just doubled the price!" Rin growled quietly as Sage and Geordi gave uncertain looks.
Aaron remained calm, "Twenty."
The crowd began to murmur with interest and surprise as the bidding battle continued to escalate. By now, the masked U'shan officer looked over and matched the bid. A few more exchanges continued to raise the bid and Sage tugged on Aaron's arm, "Sir... are you sure you know what you're doing?"
Aaron ignored her and made another bid, "Fifty."
The crowd suddenly gasped as the U'shan officer called out a new figure, "One hundred!"
"One hundred thousand credits. Do I hear more?" the auctioneer asked curiously.
Before the Red Ranger could answer, he felt the barrel of a blaster pistol placed right in his back along with those of the other Rangers. The other U'shan agents who had also infiltrated the crowd had slipped in behind them and kept their weapons half concealed. One of them spoke quietly from behind Aaron, "That was really cute Ranger. You're costing the Empire a lot of money now... which is why you will not place another bid."
Aaron glanced quietly at the enemy agent and calmly smiled while remaining silent. The auctioneer called out again, "Are there any more bids? One hundred thousand credits, going once, twice, sold to the gentleman with the medals."
"A wise decision Ranger," the agent with the gun said nudging him in the back, "Now come on... you and your friends are coming with us and you'd better not make a scene here."
"And if we don't?" Sage asked with a growl.
"This room is filled with high ranking members of criminal syndicates and organizations. Do you really want to provoke them on their own turf?"
"Come on," Aaron said to his comrades, "He's right. It's best we do what they say."
As the auction continued, the Rangers were quietly led out of the room and Geordi sighed, "Great... it looks like Qua'lia really lucked out on her end of this assignment."
