Chapter 51 —


"Captain Tucker," said the Uzh Palik's Comm officer, "you have a call from the firm of Sultek & Tessen."

"Make the connection, please," said Trip, for Sultek & Tessen was the name of the full service realty firm which Soval had recommended.

"Captain Tucker," said a young Vulcan, Ellet, whom Trip had met a few days earlier. "I have the pleasure to notify you that your offer on the property you have chosen was accepted earlier today, and per your instructions, we have rendered payment in full. That property is now yours."

"Excellent," said Trip, quite pleased.

"Due to the security restrictions in place aboard the Uzh Palik, I can not board the station in order to deliver your key-cards and such, but I have transmitted the proper electronic documents to your user account, and I will make myself available at your convenience, to make certain that everything passes to you properly, Captain."

"I'll make it easy for you, Ellet. I'll come down to your offices now, in order keep things tidy," said Trip.

"I will be waiting for you, Captain Tucker," said Ellet. "Oh, and by the way, we have communicated with T'Casla, and she has agreed to accept your commission. I have her contact information. If it pleases you, I will take her by her studio and make an introduction, or you may contact T'Casla at your convenience."

Ellet was speaking of a talent interior designer whose work had drawn Trip's eye when he'd viewed her previous projects done on behalf of Sultek & Tessen's portfolio.

"Great," said Trip. "I'll take the intro, Ellet. I'm on my way."

True to his word, once their end of it all was tidied up, Ellet took Trip to T'Casla's studio, and made introduction between Trip & T'Calsa.

"Here's is the key-card to the property," said Trip, sliding the card towards T'Calsa. "I'd love to see what you come up with, T'Calsa."

They'd had a two hour consultation, viewing T'Calsa's previous projects, discussing Trip's likes and dislikes, and to T'Calsa's delight, the man seemed to have a cohesive design philosophy for his new residence which was easy to accommodate: he was looking for a relatively uncluttered environment populated by high quality furniture which was elegant, functional and comfortable, and a color palette which fit well with the rust colored cliffs, and sea green waters of the Voroth sea, though still allowed for the inclusion of some Art Deco items which her Human client intended to ship here from Earth… that was no problem, for she'd seen images of those items, and their colors of gray and silver, midnight blue and black, would fit in well with her designs, and perhaps she could mirror those colors in her designs as well, to some degree. All in all, T'Calsa was quite eager to tackle this coming project for Captain Tucker.


Harris walked into the A La Rocca Seafood restaurant located on Fisherman's Wharf, and he was shown to a booth where Sek was already waiting for him.

Sek nodded in greeting to Harris as the Human took a seat, and then the two got down to business.

"Your team is in place?" said Harris.

"Yes," said Sek. "They are ready to act, unless you call things off right now."

"No," said Harris. "It's a go. I gave Paxton a chance to back off, but he's either too dumb or too committed, to take heed. Fuck him. In any case, the cops are going to have their hands full with a little protest we've sponsored and I've made sure that the military response units are lured elsewhere."

"Good," said Sek.

"You know if your people screw it up, they're on their own, right?" said Harris.

"Yes," said Sek, "and they know it too. These are V'Shar operatives, and they understand the meaning of self-sacrifice."

Harris nodded, but said nothing in response.

"I've heard the seafood's quite good here," said Sek. "Eat up, while we wait to hear the outcome of the raid. I will pick up the tab."

"I could eat," said Harris, and began scanning the menu.


The Romulan consul, R'Hienn, was due to brief the Senate on the state of preparations for the planned invasion of the Alpha Quadrant later this day, for although he yielded a great deal of power during his tenure, his term as Consul would end later this year, and so the support of the Senate would ensure an orderly transition of power, even during a campaign of conquest.

R'Hienn was just about to begin memorizing his speech when a young tribune of the Tal'Shiar entered the room, and the consul gave the woman a cold stare… though necessity dictated that he must tolerate these snakes, R'Hienn had served his time in the military attached to a heavy infantry unit, and he had a soldier's disdain for the underhanded ways of the Tal'Shiar.

"Consul," said the tribune, "I have reports from the northern border."

"So report, Tribune."

"Yes, Consul. Cloaked ships report that the Klingons are beginning their pullback from the border, in accordance with our agreement, and random scans appear to show that everything is in order - troop carriers are indeed full of men as they leave the border, battle cruisers are pulling back. So far, we detect no treachery."

"Good," said R'Hienn. "How long before they've all pulled back to Khitomer?"

"That is uncertain, Consul," said the tribune. "The Klingons are fairly efficient, but not up to our standards."

"Keep me apprised of the situation."

"Yes, Consul."


John Paxton was on the move now. He had a meeting with Congressman Osbourne over the next series of moves they needed to make in order to take Terra Prime into the public eye… so far they'd had some limited success, but people just weren't responding as expected to Terra Prime's message. Oh, sure some fifty or sixty million people had attended rallies carrying Terra Prime banners, all over the world, but those numbers were not sufficient to drive political change. They'd have to do better and recruit more people, in order to really shake the halls of power, make some serious changes.

"Let's go," said Paxton, and his new bodyguard detail closed in around him.

These bodyguards were a recent addition to Paxton's life, added just after Harris' barely veiled threat. Paxton had done what he could. These people came well recommended, and they were competent, and so Paxton felt as safe as it was possible to feel. Some nasty threats would not stop him from achieving his goals, and so Paxton and his detail moved as a unit for the elevator banks, every man in that unit keeping a wary eye out for trouble, and once there Paxton's comm unit buzzed while they waited for the elevators.

"Hold this, please," said Paxton, moving to hand his briefcase to one of the guards.

"Put it on the ground, sir," said the guard. "I need my hands free."

Paxton suppressed a wave of irritation at the man, but these were the best, and the man's words made sense, so Paxton set down his briefcase and checked his comm, reading a brief text message from a personal assistant.

Just then, the elevator reached Paxton's floor, and Paxton and his three guards entered the elevator, heading down for the parking garage, where two more men waited with the car.

Within moments, Paxton's car headed for the Battery St. Exit, right behind a brown UPS truck, and it was there that Paxton met his end, for just before the truck reached Battery street, the back door popped open.

"Shit!" said the driver, knowing they were screwed.

Even as the guard in the passenger's seat began to give warning, a heavy, crew served phaser opened up on Paxton's car from eight feet away, the five foot long phaser mounted on a steel tripod and pouring a stream of heavy weapons fire into Paxton's limo, practically cutting the car in half, and all this witnessed by a dozen stunned Humans.

Once the heavy phaser fire stopped, four Romulans approached the car, verified that Paxton was dead and then climbed back into the UPS van, which peeled off in a northern direction.


"How's it going, Velmek?" said Trip, back on the Uzh Palik now.

Velmek was this bay's lead engineer for this shift, and his men were working on the Tek'Surron, the light combat cruiser given Trip as a rehabilitation project.

"It goes well, Captain," said Velmek. "We are keeping pace with your schedule. We just wedged the secondary warp engine in place, though it will take the next two shifts to secure it properly in place."

"Sure," said Trip. "Good work."

"This ship will be the fastest thing in the Navy," said Velmek, for he was enjoying this project immensely.

"Wouldn't surprise me a bit. All right, keep it up," said Trip, and though he'd have loved nothing more to be a part of this crew of engineers working on the ship, that wasn't an option now.

"Right, Captain," said Velmek.


Sek's comm unit buzzed and the Vulcan answered the call, as Harris watched the Vulcan closely.

"Sek here."

"Do you recognize my voice?"

"Yes," said Sek.

"Your friend John slipped and fell down a flight of stairs."

"You are certain?" said Sek.

"Yes, of course I am certain," said the anonymous caller, and with that the 'Romulan' strike team leader, in truth one of the V'Shar's black ops troopers, hung up on Sek, tossed the comm unit on the ground and stomped it into rubbish, and then kicked that rubbish into a gutter.

"So?" said Harris.

"It's done," said Sek. "But you know that Terra Prime will not end with Paxton's death."

"I know," said Harris, "but they won't go as far or as fast, with Paxton's money out of the picture, and we'll keep an eye on them."

"Have you taken care of your part?" said Sek.

"Happening now," said Harris.


"Hey, TF," said Trip, as T'Fel entered his quarters with two covered lunch trays, one stacked atop the other. "May I call you TF?"

"No," said T'Fel setting the trays atop the four seat dining table, then turning to face Trip.

"Oh, come on," said Trip, after tasting T'Fel's lips.

"I said no! Now, you must be hungry after runnin—" said T'Fel, brought up short, as her lover stepped behind her.

"I am hungry," said Trip, kissing T'Fel's neck, "but not for food. You're what you need right now."

"That can not be true, or you'd be kissing my neck here," said T'Fel, touching her neck. "And here."

Trip kissed T'Fel's neck, his lips tracing the passage of the Vulcan's hand, even as his hands roamed the front of T'Fel's body, and when T'Fel sighed, Trip lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bedroom, where he tossed her on the bed.

"Stop it!" said T'Fel, scrambling to a seated position on the bed. "Let me take my boots off! I'm not an animal!"

Trip laughed, watching as T'Fel stripped eagerly, even as he began slipping out of his own clothes, but T'Fel beat him to the punch, stripped nude first.

"You've been quite scrappy today," said Trip. "Any further demands?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," said T'Fel, her busy hands grasping Trip in a most intimate way, and tugging gently with her greedy fingers. "I want to taste something. With my mouth."

Trip laughed, and said, "Ok, genius, what else would you taste with, other than your mouth?"

Trip's laugh didn't last long though, for T'Fel applied herself to her taste test with a vengeance as Trip groaned with pleasure, and when she took a brief break to make eye contact with him, and give a slight smile, even as her hands kept working, and Trip was putty in her hands.

At the end of it all, they'd spent five minutes undressing, forty minutes sexing each other up, another five minutes dressing, and ten minutes cramming what food they could in their mouths, as they groaned, moaned and rolled their eyes to signify their appreciation of the fine cuisine served aboard the Uzh Palik, after which they traded hurried kisses, and ran off to their respective appointments: all in all, it was a great lunch.


"…and so," said the voice of the newscaster, "industrialist John Paxton was killed today by a Romulan strike team, and he will surely be missed, although, given the importance his mining colony, contingency plans to smoothly operate the business no matter what have long been in place and so Paxton's minding colony will continue producing the raw materials so crucial to our war efforts without missing a beat. Although the Romulans have killed Mr. Paxton, his work will go on."

Congressman Osbourne sighed, for with Paxton gone, or rather with Paxton's money gone, Osbourne would feel the pinch soon enough, unless he could bring all of Paxton's financial backers in under his leadership. Terra Prime had taken a serious blow today, but it didn't have to be the end of the road for that organization, or for Obsourne's rise to power.

Osbourne's secretary came in just then with a small package, and said, "Special delivery, sir. Looks like your cigars."

Osbourne grunted as his secretary left the room, and then began opening the package, knowing that all the mail delivered here had been scanned for any noxious or dangerous elements, and it was to Osbourne's fatal surprise that opening the package also triggered what was essentially a powerful shrapnel grenade, killing the man instantly, and with this second death, Terra Prime became an incoherent movement for the rest of the Romulan war, for without Paxton's money and Osbourne's presence in Congress, the financial backers of the movement got the message and withdrew their funding, and moreso, the fledgling Terra Prime leaders developed the bad habit of suffering from accidental deaths going forward from this point... apparently someone believed that this war with the Romulans was too serious a business, to allow for any distractions.