Chapter Two: Any Means Necessary
Faststar Eurylade
"SV Valeriu, this is Colonial warship Eurylade. You are ordered to stop your engines and prepare to be boarded," Chad Teuton said through the receiver at the Communications Station in the CIC of the Faststar Eurylade.
"A response yet Mr. Teuton?" Lt. Carlos Gravina, the second officer of the Euryale and currently Officer of the Watch, asked the former Petty Officer of the Colonial Fleet.
"Not yet sir, so far no response."
"Mr. Furse, ready a warning shot two hundred yards ahead of the forward bow," Gravina ordered Lt. John Furse, the on-duty Tactical Officer, in an attempt to get the freighter to slow down.
"Ready!" announced Furse after having trained the forward guns to a point ahead of the Valeriu.
"One second burst, engage!"
A moment later the guns of the Faststar came to life spewing four high energy shells across the forward bow of the freighter. Just one hit would have been enough to puncture the unarmored hull of the freighter but that was not the intention. Gravina waited to see if it would be enough, in not then more drastic action would be required to bring the Valeriu to a stop.
"Sir, Valeriu is coming to a stop," Furse announced.
"I am receiving word from the Valeriu, they have agreed to be boarded," Teuton said.
Gravina walked over to Communications and took the receiver from Teuton. Teuton had already patched him through to whom he wanted to speak and a few seconds later the voice came over the line.
"Malka!" announced the voice over the line.
"Major, the Valeriu has come to a stop and is ready to be boarded," Gravina said with his clipped efficiency.
"Thank you Mr. Gravina, stand by and I will alert you in case your assistance is needed," Malka said before the line went dead.
"Alright team," she began addressing her small group, "Barron and I will head to the CIC. Cassani, Chertavian, and Balaconis are going to be in charge of securing Engineering. Marshall, McElwain, and Alistair are responsible for securing the berthing sections as well as the cargo holds. The plan is to execute Case Maroon, which should allow us to secure the vessel without having to fire a shot. Make sure your life support masks are in place and do not remove them for any reason. If you are fired upon you have authorization to use lethal force, do not hesitate to use it. Am I clear?"
"Aye aye, ma'am!" the Marines shouted in unison.
Malka and her Marines waited for the airlock to pressurize and open, allowing access to the freighter. Entering first, Malka had her weapon raised in anticipation of finding resistance. Instead there was nobody waiting there for them, something she found odd. A search of the immediate area by her and Barron turned up none of the crew members nearby.
SV Valeriu
"It's clear Major," Barron said as he brought up a display on the right arm of his combat suit. One of the advantages of the MoI was the experimental technology being developed secret laboratories spread out among the Cyrannus System. A moment later a schematic of the Valeriu appeared on the small LCD screen, which Barron arranged to have sent to the other members of the team.
"Good work Keene," Malka said with an approving look at her friend and most trusted lieutenant, "everyone to your assigned area. Stay in constant wireless contact with each other and at the first sign of trouble don't hesitate to act."
Malka and Barron navigated the ladders and corridors until they reached the Control Center of the Valeriu. There was a spartan look to the room; Malka noted a set of doors that according to the plans of the ship led to the pilothouse.
"Who's in charge here?" Malka asked the men and women of the crew assembled in the room.
"That'd be me," a large barrel chested man said as he stepped forward, "Captain Taylor Baines, what can I do for you?"
"Major, we have reached Engineering and are rounding up the crew. Some are putting up resistance but we have the situation under control," Louis Cassani reported.
"Yes Mr. Baines, I'd like to clarify something. We received a report that this vessel was carrying weapons destined for the hands of the Basileus, care to explain that to me?" Malka said as she walked closer to Baines.
"That report is rubbish. We're carrying medical supplies for an outbreak of Persephone Fever in Iopolis."
A report came in from Paula McElwain, 'Weapons found in Cargo Bay Three.'
"Everything alright?" Baines asked.
Malka simply smiled at him and made sure her helmet was secure and airtight, it would have to be to execute Case Maroon. She quickly typed a message to McElwain and nodded to Barron.
A few seconds later came the hiss of air escaping the room; Case Maroon was being put into effect. Malka had decided that instead of risking the lives of her people in a needless firefight she would simply bleed the atmosphere out of the Valeriu until its crew was dead.
It did not take the crew long to realize what was happening. Baines looked around searching for the origin of the hissing before turning to Malka. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice gripped with the kind of desperate terror only a man in his last few seconds of life knows. He surged towards Malka and caught hold of her arms desperately pleading for his life.
Malka wriggled out of his grasp and punched him in the face. Baines fell to the floor with a thump but he nevertheless persisted and began to crawl back towards her tugging on the bottom of her trousers in a pitiful manner. Rather calmly, Malka aimed her rifle at Baines's head and fired. The bullet punctured his skull and his head fell limply on the deck as blood poured from the wound. Malka just watched as the rest of the crew suffocated in terror.
She put herself into a frame of mind that these were not people but targets to be destroyed. It used to work for her but these days she had simply become accustomed to death. Death that she had caused. Nevertheless it made her sick to think of what she had become. She had always been considered a weapon by her superiors but she had evolved beyond that. She was now a tool of Hades sent forth to the Twelve Worlds to vent his fury upon the wicked.
If only it was that neat and tidy.
Amarna, Canceron:
The car weaved in and out of traffic on Blackwell Avenue, speeding enough that there was a chance a police office might pull them over.
"You sure you know where we're going?" J.D. Livingston asked Lacey Tolan.
"For the fifth time, I know exactly where I'm going!" Lacey said as she tried to hide her growing irritation with the man from having been asked the same question several times during the course of the journey thus far.
"It's just that I'm worried about her," Livingston said in reference to Melissa Saunders, the now unconscious young woman laying on the backseat of Scott Tolan's red and black Dorado sports car.
"I understand that, but this conversation got old the first time we had it," Lacey said as she moved the car over into the left lane in order to move into an upcoming turn lane.
"Sorry, I just want her to be ok."
"Ah….she's your girlfriend?" Lacey asked.
"Not officially, but I'd like to think she's interested in the job," Livingston said as he looked back again at the unconscious Melissa Saunders.
"The way you worded that shows how much of romantic you are," Lacey deadpanned.
"I guess so. I still think we should have called an ambulance rather than take her ourselves."
"In the time it would take to get here we'd already be at the hospital. This isn't Caprica you know."
Olwin Beach, Canceron:
Scott Tolan left the group and walked to the 'Absolute Andy's' clothing store. After having floated around the store for up to a quarter of an hour he picked up a new outfit, one that just barely piqued his interest, and tried it on in the dressing room.
'I look like a damn tourist,' he thought to himself as he looked in the dressing room's mirror. Lacey had his car, and he did not keep any sort of beachfront residence here or in the area around Amarna so there was only one course of action he could think of. He took his vomit-covered clothes, stuffed them into the plastic bag, and tied the bag shut so he could throw it away.
"Are the clothes to your liking?" the young woman behind the counter asked.
"Yes they are…" he looked at her name tag, "Desiree, thank you for helping me pick them out. I need a favor from you though."
Desiree looked at him, "What would that be?"
"I need to dispose of these clothes, mind if I put them in your trash bag?"
"Well…" she began, "we're really not supposed to do things like that."
"I'd appreciate it," said Scott piling on the charm offensive, "and I'd make it worth your while."
She wavered before finally nodding her head. Tolan handed her the bag and few minutes later she came back from the dumpster. He was waiting there for her holding four hundred cubit notes.
"Thank you so much Mr. Tolan!" she exclaimed as she took the money from him.
"My pleasure Desiree, thank you for providing such great service."
"My pleasure," replied the flustered young woman. "Y'know this is a lot of money. How about I use some of it to buy you a drink? I finish in an hour."
Tolan smirked. "Perhaps another time, I'm afraid I have some pressing business to take care of."
Tolan walked out and immediately realized that the six people he had told to wait for him had not listened to him very well. He walked to the edge of the boardwalk and scanned the area as far as he could, but still nothing.
'Those idiots!' he screamed to himself, the warnings they had been given from both him and Lacey were for a reason. The Basileus ran operations at night from this beach; Amarna had become the new headquarters for the crime syndicate since his Aunt Lydia had officially taken control following the death of his grandfather, Carl Tolan. Lydia Zeresi had said that Amarna was a 'lucky city' and that it was better to be based out of it than the city of Iopolis.
A part of his mind told him that he should just leave them to learn his lesson the hard way, but the Colonial officer in him said otherwise. His instincts told him that he needed to do something, and here in Amarna that meant one thing. He needed to go visit Aunt Lydia to see what could be done about this situation.
Olwin Beach Transport Hub:
"This is your personal shuttle?" Helen Octavia asked as the group followed their two new friends to a shuttle that looked like it could seat ten easily.
"Yeah, our family has quite a bit of cubits for us to play with and this is one of the presents my aunt got for me," David Mattson said as he put his arm around Alice Rosana and pulled her close to him.
"How'd the two of your meet?" Megan Jordan asked after she was done giving Garrison Brown a kiss.
This time it was Rosana who spoke, "We were both attending college at Carrington University over in Hades, the capital of Canceron, and the rest is history. My family runs a shipping business here on the colony and David's family has a multitude of business interests and they're all successful."
"That's impressive, how do you stay on the good side of the Basileus?" Megan asked.
There was a long pause before Mattson spoke, "Let's just say we have a way of making it work. The Basileus are the least of the problems we have with running a business. I fear the bureaucratic red tape of the customs agency more than I do the Basileus."
"We met two people who said they were Tolans," Helen said, wanting to find a way back into the conversation.
"Is that right, what were their names?" Rosana asked as her left eyebrow shot up in interest.
"Scott and Lacey Tolan," Megan said. She saw the two of them exchange a look, but it was hard to put a finger on what their reaction was. Perhaps there was something to this that was not so obvious to the naked eye. Before she could follow up on her hunch Jessi Payton jumped into the conversation.
"Would the two of you know them?" Jessi asked, drawing a look from Raymond Sharp.
"Like most people on Canceron we've heard the names, but no…I can't say we know them personally," Mattson quickly said.
"Enough about those two idiots, let's get up into space and do some spacewalking," Jarell Cashmere said in an attempt to move the conversation away from the man he almost came to blows with on the boardwalk not too long ago.
"Couldn't agree with you more," Rosana said as her and Mattson reached the shuttle and opened the hatch so everyone could get into the vehicle.
Cygnus Medical Center
The sports car, stopped suddenly in front of the entrance to the emergency room of the Cygnus Medical Center. Both Livingston and her helped Melissa Saunders out of the car, and started carrying her up the stairs to the entrance doors.
"Miss, you can't park that here!" a security guard called out from nearby.
"In that case get a valet to park that for us!" Lacey called out to the guard who was nervously waiting as to what to do. He quickly nodded and got on his wireless to get someone to move the car out of the way.
The two walked in through the automatic doors dragging the semi-conscious Melissa with them and made their way up to the front desk.
"My cousin, Scott Tolan, called here about twenty minutes ago," Lacey said to the woman, who's demeanor changed when we saw how bad off Melissa looked.
A few clicks on her computer and then she said, "Dr. Reiss will be here to take your friend to the back."
A minute later one of the sets of doors opened and an attendant with a gurney came out followed by a doctor who looked to be in his late-twenties or early-thirties, "Is this the girl Admiral Tolan called about?"
"Yes sir, she started throwing up at the beach," Lacey said before wondering if this man was former military, he certainly had the posture of a soldier.
"Right, we'll take her back and have a look at her. Dr. Wilhelm Reiss, I'm the physician on duty here today," Reiss said as he held out his hand.
"Lacey Tolan, and this here is…" she tried to remember his name but it escaped her at the moment.
"James Livingston, I'm a friend of Lacey and Melissa's," Livingston shook Reiss' hand `
"Help her onto the gurney and we'll take her back," Reiss said to the attendant, who motioned for another member of the staff to help Melissa onto the gurney. With that done they began wheeling her back.
"Listen; there is a cafeteria on the floor fourth floor. The two of you go up there and get something to drink and eat. As soon as I know something I'll have you paged back down here," With that said, Reiss turned and left the two standing there.
"We're friends now?" Lacey said to Livingston with a look that screamed 'Oh really!'
"He seems to know who your cousin was, might not hurt to claim a connection to your family."
"Be glad I'm not so easily offended," Lacey thought for a moment before finally saying, "alright until Melissa is out of the hospital we're friends."
Livingston smiled at her, "Sounds good to me babe."
"Call me Lace and leave it at that, we're not dating." Lacey gave Livingston a look that left no room for argument on that one. Perhaps her year at the Fleet Academy was rubbing off on her after all.
The cafeteria of the Cygnus Medical Center had undergone a major renovation two years before, replacing the cold sterile confines with a more warm appearance. Lacey Tolan and J.D. Livingston sat in one of the corner booths; he sat facing the wall while she sat facing the entrance to the cafeteria.
There was a wall-mounted television broadcasting the Marney News Network based out of Caprica, an interesting choice seeing as how they were on Canceron. Lacey thought about it and decided that it was not her place to decide what should or should not be broadcast in the hospital cafeteria. She did note that the anchorwoman was mentioning a story involving Arthur Saunders, a wealthy banker on Caprica, and a financial scandal involving the bank he ran. A snapshot of the Saunders family was displayed on the screen and Lacey immediately recognized the young woman in the photograph.
"J.D., why is the daughter of a Caprican banker visiting this particular beach?" she asked.
"Canceron is known for the beaches, and we thought it'd be adventurous to hook up on this colony," Livingston paused before adding, "Helen was the one with the idea, she knew I had an interest in Melissa and a surprise might help to speed things along with us."
"Listen, I tried to tell them it's a bad idea to be on this beach at night time. During the day it's fine, but at night that's when you have to stay on guard."
Livingston laughed, "Lace you might be a part of the crime family but could it be that perhaps all this talk about the Basileus is just that…talk?"
Lacey saw another news story now, this one dealt with the disappearance of Azura Balfour. The socialite was on break from college when she disappeared following a trip to Scythia Beach. She just shook her head both in frustration at the fact that she was sure her family was behind it somehow and the stupidity shown by the tourists who did not seem to fully comprehend just how dangerous the Basileus really were.
"At night is when the kidnappers, human traffickers, and other predators from the Basileus come out to ply their trade. Undertaking abduction at say, Scythia Beach, is more difficult but it can be done. Here in Amarna it's different because this is the city that the Basileus is headquartered in. This is where the Tolans like to come out and play when the stars are out," she kept her eyes focused on Livingston as if she were daring him to dismiss what she was telling them.
"What does that mean about my friends?" he finally asked her.
"If they're with Scott then they have nothing to worry about, if they're not then they had best make sure to be on their guard if they're going to do something stupid like stay out on the beach at night."
"Why is Scott so important a person to the family? He doesn't strike me as being a small part of the organization," Livingston said as he picked at his food with his fork.
"There is a tradition among the Canceron people concerning the eldest children. In this case my Uncle Henry, Scott's father, was the eldest son of my grandfather. He wanted Henry to take over the Basileus, and when he died two years after the Cylon War it fell to my cousin Andrew to take over. Andrew died when he was fourteen, and that meant that the responsibility of taking my grandfather's place as head of the Basileus fell to Scott. To make a long story short, Scott wanted nothing to do with the family business and was more than willing to renounce his claim to the leadership. That is why Lydia Zeresi is in charge, she's the eldest surviving child of Carl Tolan and when Scott renounced his claim she was more than willing to take over," Lacey said while hoping she was making sense.
"Tell me then, why does that give Scott some kind of protection?" Livingston asked with genuine intrigue.
"Two reasons, first is that he is a powerful man in his own right. He is a Rear Admiral, a flag officer in the Colonial Fleet, and that gets him a large degree of respect among the Basileus. The other is that Aunt Lydia owes him her position and appreciates the fact that he has never once tried to assert what is probably his rightful claim to the leadership of the Basileus. Those in the organization know, you mess with Scott Tolan and you will not be long for this life."
"That means that Jerelle was about to do something really stupid at the beach earlier?"
Lacey smiled at him, "You have such a gift for understating."
"I'm going to try to change the subject now, where do you go to school at?"
Lacey decided to let him take their conversation down a different track, "I'm a cadet at the Fleet Academy on Picon. It was one of my two choices, but President Adar made my decision easy."
"Really? How so and what was your other choice?" Livingston tried to imagine the petite blonde sitting across from him as a cadet at a military academy but was having a hard time. 'She must be tougher than she looks,' he thought to himself.
"My other choice was Abry Military Academy where my Uncle Artimus attended. It seems that President Adar secured me an appointment to the Fleet Academy, which was surprising to me since I had never met the man before. I asked Scott about it and he told me that my grades in school must have done the job of convincing him to give me one of the slots at the Academy."
"So because of Adar you're now on Picon instead of Caprica, you might want to have told him 'Thanks but no thanks,'" Livingston laughed more at the thought of being stuck on Picon than anything else.
"Picon has its good points," she protested. "But anyway what about you?"
"My dad is Brent Livingston, the founder of Alcaeus Industries back on Caprica. My mom's name is Elizabeth and she is a corporate lawyer with the Jackson & Prince law firm. I'm an only child; I suppose you're thinking that means I was spoiled rotten by my rich parents."
"Perhaps I was," Lacey said.
"You'd be absolutely right; I was spoiled rotten by them. If they stopped I'd be lost!" Livingston said with a straight face before finally giving in and laughing.
Lacey could not help it and joined in, "That was horrible, but funny at the same time."
Livingston pointed a finger at her, "I knew there was something beneath that cool exterior of yours. I just had to use my charm to get it out of you."
"You got a laugh out of me sweetie and there's no guarantee you'll be able to pull that one off again," Lacey said as she took a sip of water from her glass.
"In that case, let's enjoy our food. Why'd you get the salad again?" Livingston figured he might be able to get a rise out of her.
"Unlike most places, the Fleet Academy has a grueling Physical Training regime. Even though I'm on break right now, I want to make sure I'm in shape for what lies ahead for me Sophomore year. "
He had to admit, he was enjoying the company of Lacey Tolan. It helped that it got his mind off of what was going on with Melissa Saunders and kept him from worrying about her or letting that worry show. He could be the same carefree guy he had always been.
The two had dinner in what would be described as an amicable silence, the events of today had played a part in making their appetites the way they were. It was not long after they had started up a conversation about her cousin and two honorary uncles, Artimus Bowman and Tyrone Carter that they heard their names being paged over the hospital intercom to report to the front desk of the emergency room.
Asterion Station, in orbit of Canceron:
"Score one goal for the C-Bucs!"Jarell Cashmere exclaimed as he maneuvered around Garrison Brown to slam the ball into the goal.
"Lucky shot!" Raymond Sharp shouted through the communications frequency of his helmet.
"You're going down next time," Jessi Payton said as she maneuvered her space suit to where she was side-by-side with Sharp. She made it a point to slap him on the butt, which would have made him travel if not for the thrusters on the space-walking suit.
"Well baby, I promised you the chance to whoop some Picon Panther ass now didn't I?" Helen Octavia said as she put her helmet up to Cashmere's in an attempt to kiss her suit to his.
"By the time this is done baby, I'm going to do some private celebrating with you!" Cashmere pulled Helen to him and the two would have done their own personal victory dance if Megan Jordan had not thrown a pyramid ball that slammed into the side of Cashmere's helmet before floating away into infinity.
"You two ready to stop making out and play Round Two?"
"Sorry guys, I just received word from the station, our time in space is up. Let's head back to the planet and get some paintball in," David Mattson said from the small area of the station the group of friends had ventured into space from once they were in their suits. For the past three hours they had played a regulation space pyramid game, simulating yet another intense game between the Caprica Buccaneers and their hated rivals the Picon Panthers.
"Well in that case let me down there so I can nail Megan," Brown said before quickly adding, "with a paintball of course."
Aurelius, Restaurant in Old Town Amarna:
With the bombing of the Iasos Restaurant in the New Town section of Amarna, Lydia Zeresi decided to move her base of operations to the Old Town section. The result of this move was the restaurant named Aurelius. The building that housed the new operation was an old two-story warehouse that had been converted into the restaurant that was there today. Being that it was the Basileus running things, there were hidden areas for Lydia Zeresi's personal guard to come out and deal with any disturbances that would cause grief to the queen of the crime family.
Scott Tolan stood there outside as employees made their way inside to prepare for the dinner crowd that was sure to come in. When the last of the employees seemed to have entered, Tolan followed in through the door. The walls still had the red brick interior, and the wooden floors looked as though they were the ones when the structure was originally built. He had to admit that whoever had redesigned this warehouse into a restaurant knew what had to be done to make it work.
"Can I help you?" a large muscular man with a perpetual scowl asked as he sized up the unfamiliar face in the restaurant.
"I'm here to see Lydia Zeresi," Tolan stated.
The man cocked his head to one side, "I'm sure you do, but Ms. Zeresi is in no mood to be disturbed by anyone. Who do you think you are to come in here and request an audience?"
"I'm her nephew, Scott Tolan that should be enough to get me an audience with my Aunt Lydia."
"In that case, you wouldn't be opposed to my asking you for some identification. I'd hate to think you were some Ministry of Intelligence plant here to cause trouble."
Tolan was not in a mood to argue so he reached behind him and put his hand in his wallet. The movement caused the man to reach inside his tuxedo jacket, "Easy there big fella, I'm just getting my wallet out to show you my id."
"Nice and slow," the man said as he kept his hand inside his jacket on what Tolan was sure was a gun.
"Check it out, Rear Admiral Scott Tolan of the Colonial Fleet. Does that satisfy you, champ?"
The man's demeanor seemed to change when he realize that the man in front of him was in fact a Tolan, "Yes sir, if you'd be kind enough to wait there I'll let Ms. Zeresi know that you're here."
Tolan took a seat that faced one of the windows, outside the people of Canceron were going about their business without a care at all. At least that was what he thought when he let himself forget that his family had a grip on the people and their lives in some way.
He was going to have to once again have a chat about family business with Lydia Zeresi, this time it was to see just how safe Olwin Beach would be tonight and perhaps for the rest of the week. He was not sure why he was taking an interest in the group of people he had encountered but something told him that if he had a chance to save at least one person from the clutches of his family's business interests it would be worth it.
A young woman came down the stairs leading to the upper floor, a mix of private dining suites and Basileus offices. Tolan had met this woman before, her name was Armida Tasso, and she was the secretary for Ms. Zeresi.
"Admiral Tolan it is always a pleasure to see you," Tasso said as her and Tolan exchanged kisses on the cheek.
"You as well Armida, how is my aunt?" Tolan asked as the two walked towards the stairway.
"She's been better; you know these past few years have been rough on her."
Tolan nodded his head, "I know she hasn't had a good run of luck, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."
Tasso shook her head, "She said she is always glad to see you, and she asked where Lacey was."
Tolan chuckled, "My Aunt Lydia, always finding a way to keep tabs on me."
"I can't say I blame her, you're someone I'd like to have my eyes on all the time."
Tolan and Tasso had enjoyed a playful flirtatious repartee with each other.
"A pity I'm married then," Tolan said which got Tasso to look back at him with an amused glance.
"I suppose Emily did see you first, I'll be a gracious loser this one time," she said as she turned her back around as they arrived at the door to Lydia Zeresi's private office and suite.
"She's waiting for you Scott, I'll see you when you're done," Tasso said as she walked away.
Tolan stood there for a moment to get his thoughts in order before opening the door and stepping inside.
Tasso walked away once again feeling like her mission was going perfectly. She had managed to infiltrate the Basileus and work her way into the confidences of not only Lydia Zeresi but Scott Tolan as well. For the upcoming plan it was important to use the Colonial Fleet officer to see just what information about the Fleet's activities he might let slip.
Tasso was actually a Number Six Cylon model; however she had undergone cosmetic surgery to ensure she looked only vaguely similar to her sister Cylons. This had to do with the mission she had been given, to use the smuggling operations of the Basileus to get more Cylon models into the Twelve Colonies to infiltrate the society to help pave the way for the nuclear holocaust that was to come.
In some ways it was a pity, there was a part of her that liked Scott Tolan and thought it was a shame that he had to die along with the rest of humanity but it was something that had to be done in order to complete God's will.
Cygnus Medical Center
Lacey Tolan and J.D. Livingston were standing outside the doors to the Isolation Ward waiting for the doctor who had paged them to show up. The double doors opened and out walked Dr. Reiss.
"Thank you for showing up so quickly, we discovered what was wrong with your friend," Reiss said as he held up a clipboard with the lab findings.
"What happened to her?" Lacey asked before Livingston could do the same.
"I'm afraid she's come down with the Degler Influenza," Reiss said as he studied the notes once again.
"How did she come across that?" Livingston asked as he tried to think of where she could have been at to catch such a disease.
"It's native to Scorpia, mostly in the Degler area of the Demter Jungle. Has she been to Scorpia recently?" Reiss asked.
"Last month she went on a hike through the Demeter Jungle. How could she have gotten it from there?" Livingston asked.
"She could have either been bitten by an insect carrying the virus or she could have consumed food or drink that had been contaminated. Unlike most viruses its gestational period is quite long hence why only now her symptoms have appeared. As a precaution I am recommending that you be innoculated since you have come into close contact with her," Reiss decided to put their fears at ease, "She's going to be fine, we're pumping her full of meds to help take the edge off of her pain and she's getting plenty of intravenous fluids. We've also contacted her parents and they should be here in the next hour or so."
"That's a relief, I know they have to be worried sick about her," Lacey said.
"I told them about you getting her here so quickly, if you hadn't have acted the way you did it might have been worse for her. She's lucky to have friends like the two of you. When we find that she's no longer contagious she'll be moved to Room 780, I told Mr. and Mrs. Saunders that you'd both be waiting for them there. If you'll excuse me, I have to go back to the ER. Dr. Gordon Wales, will be the one taking care of Miss Saunders from this point forward," Reiss said as he handed the clipboard to a nearby nurse with instructions to hand it over to Dr. Wales before excusing himself to go back to the ER.
"Well it's good to know that she's going to be alright," Livingston said as he turned to walk towards the nearby elevator.
"You can wait for her up there, really there's no need for me to be up there as well," Lacey said as she tried to excuse herself.
"No way Lace, you got her here and probably saved her life so you should be up there with me when Melissa's parents arrive."
"They don't have to thank me, I was doing what any person would have done," Lacey said as she walked up to where Livingston was standing before people would think the two were having some sort of spat.
"Considering the way my friends were acting towards you and your cousin, you had every reason to tell us to get frakked but instead you used your considerable influence to help someone when they were in need. I could try to take all the credit, but I want her parents to know that you deserve most of it. I may take a small part for the trouble I've dealt with."
Lacey gave him a quizzical look, "Just what trouble have you had to deal with?"
"I've been trapped with the niece of the most powerful crime lord on Canceron, for all I know you'd have probably shot me several times in your mind," Livingston said knowing he was going to irritate Lacey more.
"You deserve this one," Lacey said as she punched him in the arm.
"Now I need to go the ER and get one of these cute nurses to look after me," Livingston said as he dramatically rubbed his bicep where he had been punched.
"Just for that comment I'll make sure you get the oldest, meanest, most ill-tempered nurse they have here and don't think I won't do it," Lacey arched an eyebrow at him as though she was daring him to continue.
"You win Lace, however you are still going up there with me."
Lacey sighed, "Fine, I'll go up there and get my 'Thank you' from the Saunders family. You know I'm doing this to shut you up."
"At least you're honest about it, besides you've done your part to help me too."
"Right, what purpose could I have served for you?"
"You've helped me to keep my mind from dwelling on Melissa for too long," Livingston said as he hit the button to summon the elevator.
SV Valeriu
Malka had sent for additional crew members and now seven new people had joined her from the Eurylade.
Andrew Sterett, James Jarvis, Stephen Cassin, and Rae Arison lent additional firepower to the team. David Crawford III was a native of Canceron and an intelligence asset Malka used whenever she was on the colony, not to mention that on the Eurylade he served as the ship's chef due to his experience working in the culinary field while he attended college at Truxtun University in Iopolis. Duke Lorentson was her explosives expert who was able to effectively plant and diffuse almost any type of bomb known to the MoI and had created a few new ones of his own. The last person on the team was Dr. Monica Astrid, the Chief Medical Officer of the Eurylade. Taking her place on the ship was the only nurse aboard, Christy Riley.
Malka paced the bridge of the freighter; the auto pilot had been engaged and was leading them back towards Canceron. Once they were in orbit, the team would board two small transport shuttles and land on the ship in the Marius Sea that was waiting to transport the weapons to the docks at Olwin Beach. Her teams would kill the crew and deliver the weapons themselves, a clever trap to eliminate Drake and Caelie Tolan and bring an end to two more members of the Tolan crime family. She allowed herself a slight smile at the thought of the damage she might inflict on the Basileus.
Olwin Beach, Warehouse Docks
Once they were back on the colony's surface, the group followed Mattson and Rosana to the warehouse that contained the paintball set that was promised to provide thrills the likes of which they had never expected before.
There had been a ticket house added to the front of the building and a lone man was sitting there looking as though he was bored.
"We're closed," he said as they walked up to the building.
"We have some friends here who came all the way from Caprica for a little fun, sure you can't just let us in before the place opens?" Mattson asked.
"The boss would have my head if I did that, at least if he was here to see it that is," the man said in an attempt to further discourage them.
"Perhaps this can help you change your mind," Rosana said as she slid several cubit notes through the slot in the window.
The man looked to be seriously mulling the generous offer when he finally nodded his head, "Alright, get in there and have some fun but remember this never happened."
"Fair enough," Mattson said as they were buzzed in through the door.
"Well the men's locker room is to the left and women's locker room is to the right. The uniforms you'll be wearing should already be in there waiting for you. Split up and get ready and we'll meet you back here in the lobby," Mattson said.
"Shouldn't the two of you come with us and get ready?" Cashmere asked.
"We will, but first we need to get everything set up for our big game," Rosana said.
"Fine, we'll be back soon," Megan said as she began to walk towards the women's locker room.
The three women entered their locker room and looked around for the promised uniforms but found that none were there.
"That's a bit odd," Jessi said as she opened lockers only to find that they were empty.
"Yeah, that is strange," Helen commented as she was doing the same.
"Let me go out and ask where they are," Megan said as she walked towards the door. She pulled on it and found that it was locked and not budging at all, "Hey Alice, the lock must have engaged and we can't get out!"
"What the frak?" Helen asked when she heard what Megan had said.
"You can't be serious?" Jessi added.
"I'm not joking, this door is not moving!" Megan exclaimed, her fear rising as she jerked harder to make the door open but found it to be an exercise in futility.
"Welcome humble guests, please make yourselves comfortable. You're going to be here a while," a woman's voice said over the intercom.
"That's Alice," Megan realized and she walked over to the intercom and pressed the 'Talk' button, " Hey Alice, we're trapped in here and can't get out!"
There was a laugh, a decidedly unfriendly laugh, "That's the point of that room. When you entered a lock was engaged, and you became our prisoners. You're not getting out of there until we say you can."
"Alice if this is your and Dave's idea of a joke it's not very funny," Helen said.
Another round of laughter, "Oh you can stop calling us by those names. My real name is Caelie Tolan, and the man you met is my husband Drake. Your boyfriends are finding this little bit information out even as we speak. Like I said before make yourselves comfortable, the six of you are going to make my husband and I a nice amount of money."
"That bitch," Jessi screamed as she began banging on the door before sliding down to the floor in tears. "Let us out of here! Please!"
There was a commotion from a corner and a woman stepped out and walked towards them. She looked to be young like they were, only she looked like she had not had a decent sleep any time in the recent past and her eyes betrayed the fear she was feeling. There was no telling what the Tolans had put her through.
"Who are you?" Megan asked.
"My name is Azura Balfour, and you've just entered hell," Azura Balfour had been here since her recent abduction, and she stared at the three scared young women who had been sent here to join her for whatever plans the Tolans had in store for them.