Chapter 9: Drone in a Box
Officer James Wolford looked at his phone as it beeped at him with a new message. He gave it a quick glance before addressing Dahlia Fangmeyer, who was currently occupied with driving the police cruiser they were both currently sitting in. "Agent Winters has just arrived at the dockyard and will be waiting for us," he informed the tiger, "they are saying that the suspicious shipping container has been isolated and is surrounded by dock guards. So we don't need to hurry." He looked at the dash of the car where a map was leading them to their destination. While Bogo made sure that all of officers knew by heart the location of most of Zootopia's main landmarks, today they were not driving to the main entrance of the docs but a smaller side street in, hence the guided map. An added benefit was that it also gave an estimated time of arrival. "Should be there in less than five minutes anyways," the wolf commented, "not like we'll save much time by driving faster."
Fangmeyer simply hummed in approval, keeping her eyes on the road as she drove.
Wolford let her concentrate on finding their way, especially as the familiar route to the docs changed with a quick turn away from the main entrance. The wolf watched as towers of shipping containers passed his window, wondering what the two officers can expect to do over here. Unfortunately, they weren't given much information in the bullpen. Just that they were to meet up with a ZIA agent Winters.
When the tiger made the last turn off the street and into the docs proper, Wolford got his first glimpse of said agent. They were wearing a dark suit, but there was no hiding the white fur or the general size and shape of the agent. "Oh, hey, check it out, Dahlia," Wolford commented upon spotting Winters, waving at them to drive over, "a snow fox. Not someone you see every day."
Fangmeyer grinned as she parked the car. "What's the matter, James?" she asked, her tone teasing with amusement, "expecting someone taller?"
Wolford blinked. "I- I don't really know what I was expecting," he admitted, "just not a fox. Because well, you know, the whole… never mind. Actually, I'm sure Wilde wouldn't mind hearing about this. Another fox? And in the ZIA on top of that?" He trailed off as Fangmeyer finished parking and killed the engine.
Agent Winters was already waiting for the two officers as they exited the cruiser. "Officers," she greeted, "I'm agent Skye Winters. You can call me Agent Winters. Or, if you prefer, just Skye even, which I actually prefer." She reached out with a paw, offering it to shake with the two ZPD officers.
Fangmeyer was the first to shake paws with the fox, giving her a curious look-over. "Officer Dahlia Fangmeyer," the tiger said with a formal smile. "But with all do respect, why the lack of formality with names?"
Skye grinned and winked at Fangmeyer. "Because no one expects it," she replied, then offered her paw to Wolford. The wolf shook her paw and introduced himself, after which she gave an excited clap. "Excellent, let's get to it!" Taking the lead, she began to walk towards the towers and walls of colorful storage containers, the two officers staying close behind her. "While we walk over to the ISO box we are interested in, any questions before we get there?" she asked, looking over her shoulder.
From behind, Fangmeyer noted how even though Skye wasn't using a map of any sort, she seemed to know the way to wherever they were going through the maze of containers. "Actually, I do have a question, Age- err, Skye," she said, stumbling for a moment over the use of the informal first name, "why us? Doesn't the ZIA have more agents they can send out with you? We are just ZPD officers, after all. We don't normally deal with these types of issues. What I mean is, something like this is a bit out of our jurisdiction, isn't it?"
"Yes it is, and yes, normally they would provide more help," Skye answered back, "including my partner. You've met my partner, right? Jack Savage."
"We did briefly." Fangmeyer replied. "Only once, for that matter. Where is he anyways?" As she asked, the tiger was starting to develop a feeling of, while perhaps not dread, but a certain type of wariness that was telling her that this was all going to be related to those two pilots, Count and Trigger.
"Jack's out of the country," Skye answered casually. "Tracking down some answers to some questions we have, that's all."
As she thought about it some more, Fangmeyer had to conclude that her feeling about how all of this was all related was not so much a feeling as much as the logical conclusion of what information she had available. "But that didn't really answer my question. Why are we needed here?"
Skye walked around a corner and pointed at an isolated shipping container. "See that?" It was hard not to notice it – along with being the only container to be sitting on the ground and alone, it was also already surrounded by a few dock workers, no doubt keeping an eye out and protecting it. "It was supposed to stay on the ship, but got unloaded to here by accident along with some cargo that was destined for here. And get this: that's a Urusian container."
From behind, Wolford snorted in disbelief. "Oh, come on now, that doesn't make any sense!" he complained loudly, "those two countries are at war! Am I really supposed to think that Ocelotia is simply going to allow Urusia to send in cargo despite what's going on?"
The fox shrugged with a grin. "Things are bad if the news are to be believed, but I don't think the two countries are quite at the total war stage of conflict yet. So until they do more than attack one another with air or naval forces, I think there are merchants on both sides who would rather do business instead. Make profit, not war and all that."
"That's just stupid!" Wolford grunted. "They are quite literally killing each other, but others just want to carry on with… business as usual?" As he spoke, a low growl started to emanate from his throat.
Fangmeyer cast a raised eyebrow at her partner, noting how agitated he was getting at this information. "James, relax. We don't know what's going on here yet."
"But-!"
"But nothing!" Wolford instantly fell quiet when Fangmeyer raised her voice at him. "Unless you are suddenly an expert on international trade, I would appreciate you focusing on our job instead." The tiger returned her attention to Skye, who remained silent through this little argument. "You were saying, Agent Winters?"
"Wolford has a point," Skye replied instead, "even if you are selling regular goods, shipping them in from a county yours is currently at war with doesn't make for good publicity. Most companies would simply halt the selling of whatever they have that requires the trading and wait the war out before starting again. But that's not the important issue." She pointed at the container again, or more specifically, now that they were closer to it, to a logo on the side. "If this was just a regular shipping container misplaced by mistake, the port's duty would be to simply put it back. Simply put, as long as the ship isn't doing anything illegal, which it currently isn't, Animalia can't touch it, or whatever part of its cargo that isn't destined for Animalian receiving. Unless that cargo falls under a very strict list of contraband and inspection requirements."
Fangmeyer looked at the logo. Gründer Industries. "That name doesn't sound Urusian," she commented.
Skye nodded. "That's because it isn't. It's Belkan. Or German, if you want, since they used to be part of the same country until after the Second World War, but still a distance away from both Urusia and Ocelotia. But..." she raised a finger, "a well known arms dealer for counties world wide. On the level, for the most part. Even Animalia, while we don't out-right buy Gründer's fighter aircraft, we do cooperate time to time in developing specific components. But you can guess where this is going. I was called into here when the dock discovered a Gründer shipping container on an Urusian ship, bound for Ocelotia. Sounds suspicious, doesn't it?"
Wolford sighed. "I still don't get how Ocelotia would be simply okay with this."
Skye shrugged. "Perhaps they simply don't know. Didn't we get surprised when an Ocelotian airliner that went down over this city turned out to be a military cargo plane?" She cast a wink at the two officers, "as the two of you are more than aware. Speaking of which," she pointed at them and then at the ground, a stern expression on her muzzle. "I hope I don't have to explain myself, but not a word to anyone here about that."
Fangmeyer smiled and nodded. "Don't worry. Officer Wolford and I are more than capable of not saying anything, Agent," she reassured. Next to her, James nodded in agreement.
The white fox let out a sigh. "While we are on the subject, and still out of earshot..." She looked around to confirm that they were still far enough away not to be overheard, stopping her walk just to make sure. "This is why I asked for you two to be here. Not for extra muscle, I doubt that will be needed. But observe everything you can, try to remember everything, but at least for now, no recording. Not even written notes. I'll explain later." Resuming their walk over to the container, it didn't take too long for them to get close enough for one of the doc workers to run over to greet them.
"You must be the government assistance we called for," the beaver commented to Skye, "container's secured and isolated, but we didn't open it or even scan it with the external X-ray, ma'am. But it's ready for whatever you want to be done to it." He glanced at the two ZPD officers with a nervous expression, a large canvas bag clutched tightly in his paws. "If I may, but is there a reason for cops to be here? Might make some of the guys nervous." He gulped before adding quickly, "not that we are doing anything illegal, but with this container here, well, I hope we didn't accidentally break any laws. It was all an accident, you know!"
Skye chuckled before waving him off. "If you only did what we asked you to, then there is nothing to worry about. Don't worry, Officers Fangmeyer and Wolford are here to assist me personally, and not to arrest any of you." She grinned at the beaver. "Unless you give them a reason to, of course."
The beaver gulped again. "I uh, we'll keep that in mind," he said. "So where would you like to start?"
Skye looked at the shipping container. "Keep it as it is for now," she replied, "I want to first talk to the captain of the ship if I can. And the dock manager as well."
The dock worker nodded. "They're both up at the boss's office. Let me take you there." He reached down into his bag and, after a bit of rummaging, pulled out three hardhats that were sized for the two officers and agents. "Glad I was able to guess the right sizes from a distance," he admitted, "safety regulations require everyone on the dockside to wear these." Closing up the now empty bag, he let out a slight grin. "No exceptions. Sorry."
He waited until he was certain that everyone had their hardhats on properly before leading them past the storage containers, occasionally shouting orders at another worker as they walked. The beaver took them over to one of the few permanent buildings on the dock and up a flight of stairs to a set of closed metal doors. Knocking a couple of times to announce their presence, the group didn't have to wait for very long before a voice form inside told them that they can enter. The beaver motioned them inside. "Just follow the hallway, it's impossible to get lost," he explained, "but I have to return to work, so this is where I split from you guys." He turned to leave, but stopped suddenly. "Oh, and I almost forgot, but the boss… try not to let him get on your nerves. He knows his stuff, but he also has some very strong opinions about… uh," he glanced nervously between the three mammals he was just leading, "p-predators. He doesn't like you guys," the beaver finally admitted sheepishly. "So if he starts talking funny, just ignore him." He shrugged. "Just though you might want to know. Well, I have things I need to get to, so, good day everyone." The beaver turned and hurried down the stairs, looking like he was very glad to be leaving the embarrassing situation.
Skye watched the worker hurry off before returning her attention to the door. "Well, let's not keep them waiting," she muttered, and opened the doors, motioning for the two ZPD officers to get inside.
Inside they were greeted by a burly cape buffalo, wearing greasy plain coveralls, who glared at the three with obvious disdain. "When I called for extra help on this matter, I didn't think they would dump on me two pred coppers," he muttered coldly, glaring at the two ZPD officers before noticing the smaller fox in front of them. "You are with the ZIA I was told to expect? Didn't think they would ever be desperate enough to hire a fox." He snorted in mild amusement. "But then again, this domestic stuff is no doubt the worst you can handle, so it allows real mammals the freedom to do real work. No wonder the ZIA's been getting such terrible press lately."
With a carefree grin that would look right at home when being worn by Wilde, Skye ignored the buffalo's bad attitude and extended a paw to shake. "Skye Winters, ZIA." She didn't even blink when he refused to return the gesture, and simply let her paw fall back to her side. "Let me cut to the chase: I'm sure you are a very busy mammal, and I'm also sure that we are wasting your time here. So if you can help us get this thing over with, the sooner we will be out from under your nose and let you get back to your… real work." Her grin didn't falter when her comment earned her an angry snort from the much larger mammal.
"You're right," the buffalo replied almost as an after thought, "you are wasting my time. Let's get this thing over with. This way." Turning around to face the interior of the building, the buffalo walked off without even waiting to see that he was being followed.
The interior was rather a rather bare industrial prefabricated affair, only occasionally being broken up by a picture hanging on the wall. Most of the pictures were of ships or aerial shots of the docks, though a few even showed pictures of the workers who worked at the site.
As they walked, Wolford leaned over so that he can whisper to Fangmeyer without the buffalo overhearing him. "Wonder if he's any relation of Bogo's."
Fangmeyer had to cover her mouth to suppress a chuckle before successfully sending her wolf partner a quick glare to get him to focus back on the task at hand. He gave her a slight shrug, but didn't press the matter further.
The corridor gave way room that looked like a mix between a conference center and a dining area. Sitting on a chair with lots of papers strewn out in front of him was a marmot, wearing a woolen sweater that immediately gave him away as a sailor.
"This is the captain of the ship that brought over the cargo," the buffalo said in a bored expression, "I had him bring all the paperwork relating to the container we found. There isn't much."
Skye eyed the mess of papers on the table as the captain barely acknowledged the newcomers in the room. "That doesn't look like 'isn't much'," she commented.
The marmot spoke up, attention still focused on the few papers he had clutched in his paws. "Is paperwork for all cargo," he explained in a rather thick accent, "I try to explain to buffalo: Crew and I are only simple seafarers. Don't choose cargo or destination. Job only to transport containers, not check what inside. We did nothing wrong."
With a sigh, Skye grabbed a chair and sat down next to the marmot. "I'll be deciding on that. Here, let me see what you have specifically on that container out there." To his credit, despite the mess, the captain was able to hand her over the papers right away, which she began to read, muttering comments to herself as she went along. "Says cargo inside the container is high-tech industrial equipment. Supplier is..." She squinted and read over a line once more. "No, that can't be right. Says the company of origin is North Ocelotia Industries. But that's just another name for Gründer Industries. What are they doing selling to Urusia just to send it all back to Ocelotia?" Setting the paper down, she glanced over to the buffalo. "How quickly can you scan the container?"
The dock manager grunted. "Five, ten minutes. Just need to drive the equipment over."
Skye nodded. "Do it. I want to see what's inside right away."
As the buffalo gave the appropriate commands through his radio to the crew outside, the ship captain looked offended at being excluded from the conversation. "Please, we have tight schedule. Surely you can not let us load container back to ship and we then set sail?"
"Captain," With one word, Skye was now using a tone that eased with authority and power. Even the buffalo blinked in surprise at how easily she was able to rein in control of the entire room. "If the scan comes up clean, then we will mark this all down as a simple mistake." She glanced down at the paper, drawing everyone else's attention to it as well. "But I suspect that there is something amiss here. If that will be the case, we will deal with that when we will see what it will be. Either way, a little bit of patience will go a long way, no?"
The captain glanced at the two ZPD officers, clearly nervous, and gulped before steadying his voice. "Very well. We scan the cargo."
"Good." Reaching across the table for some more tables, Skye proceeded to wait the time by reading up more about the ship and its cargo.
The marmot helped her out as much as he could, mostly by providing her with whatever she was looking for, or even occasionally, translating the odd bit of Urusian text. The buffalo watched the entire group with barely hidden contempt, while Wolford and Fangmeyer simply stood to the side and waited in silence. It was fine, they were used to waiting when the situation required it.
Then suddenly, the buffalo's radio crackled with the news they were waiting for. "Container's ready for scanning, boss. Can we proceed?"
Agent Winters looked up from the paperwork. "Do it," she ordered.
With a grunt, the buffalo answered the call. "Proceed with scan." Returning the radio to his side, he pointed down another hallway leading away from the room. "This way, we will see the results updating in real time." Barely waiting for the others to get up from the table, he walked down the hall and turned into a rather small room filled with computers and screens.
One of the larger screens was displaying a pre-rendered outline of a standard shipping container, and a line scrawled slowly across it horizontally, revealing the contents of their mystery ISO box.
Wolford watched the screen, not recognizing what was being revealed to them. Trying to get a better idea, he glanced at the others in the room, trying to read their reactions. He didn't like it.
Sky was frowning with clear anger. Next to her, the ships captain muttered a curse underneath his breath, crossing himself several times as he did so. The buffalo dock manager was shaking his head, hoofs covering his eyes.
Not wanting to feel like the fool one out, Wolford chose to remain silent and hoped that the others would explain what the scan was showing. He didn't have to wait for long.
"...Captain..." Skye's voice was strained as she spoke, fighting to keep her emotions in check. "Can you or anyone here care to explain to me how this container filled with 'high tech industrial equipment'…" She let out a long sigh to steady her nerves. "Can anyone tell me why we are looking at a armed combat drone?" She let out another frustrated sigh. "...Anyone?"
Wolford looked over at the scan again, and now that he knew what he was looking at, started to see the parts that his eyes failed to recognize before. As a ZPD officer, he wasn't unfamiliar with drones, but his dealings with them was far more involved with giving stern lectures to nervous teenagers and their careless use of cameras-on-flying-buzz-saws of death. What he was looking at now was much more of a regular piloted machine, if he can call it that. The scans were showing a very angular drone, one barely able to fit inside the container it was in. The wings had to be folded over, but there was no mistaking what the long cylinders were. He played enough games as a pup and saw enough movies to recognize those anywhere. The wolf felt a pang of fear hit him when he saw the missiles -numerous and fearsome looking, compounded by the knowledge that he was standing not too far away from them. "That's- There's no way that's legal, is there?" he asked. Well, good that part of his cop brain was still working as the rest was still trying to decipher the rest of the scans.
"No," came Skye's cold reply. "That right there is a clear violation of countless of international laws at least. I can't even begin to explain how illegal that there is." She let out yet another sigh. "But I don't want to bring in a lawyer just to spend several days being told exactly which laws are broken, how, and how many of them. But what I do want… I know what I want. Follow me."
Turning quickly, she left the room and lead the group back to the main room where the papers still lay scattered on the table. Grabbing them all, she quickly started shuffling though them, pen in paw, and marking down notes across several of the pages. "Captain, listen closely," she spoke as she continued to flip through the pages, "this right here is going to put you into serious trouble. Your best bet in getting out of this in any shape or form is to cooperate with us. Starting now."
The marmot barely blinked. "But… I did not know," he replied back, voice barely above a whisper. "We just a cargo vessel… Not involved in war. We did not know... Did not mean to cause trouble..."
Skye only looked at him briefly before holding out several of the pages she marked. "That is not up to me to decide. I am going to repeat myself: you want to look good in the eyes of Animalia, you will need to cooperate with us. Starting with this." She showed him her marks on the papers. "These are all boxes I am suspicious of. They are to be unloaded, scanned, and if found not to contain any contraband, will be returned to the ship. But anything we find wrong, we will be confiscating. That includes that container out there that was just scanned. Do I make myself clear?"
The captain was able to get himself to take a look at the marks. "These lists… Will take days to unload. Cargo scattered across entire ship!" he protested. "We supposed to leave today!"
"Captain," Skye warned, "your schedule became null and void the moment that scan started. The question now is not when you will leave, but are you going to help us or not?"
The marmot looked at the agent, eyes wide with fear. "We help! We will help!" he stammered.
"Good." Skye got up and began to start walking towards the exit of the building. "Excuse me, I need to make some very important phone calls. Shouldn't take too long, I hope." She was about to turn and leave before she quickly added, "as for all of you… just stay here for now. Officers Fangmeyer and Wolford, make sure that no one here tries to make any calls of their own. Until I come back, no one is to talk to anyone outside in any manner. Am I understood?" This time, she did turn and leave, walking quickly out of the room.
Fangmeyer took the initiative. "You heard her. No phones," she glanced over at the buffalo, "and no radios either. So lets all sit down and wait patiently, and no, that's not a request." She looked over at the buffalo, the only one in the room who wasn't doing as told. "Is there something wrong with what I said?" she asked, staring down at the manager despite being the smaller of the two mammals.
The buffalo glared back at the officer. "This is my dock, chomper," he hissed back, "I don't have to listen to you or your mutt friend."
Despite his harsh tone and even worse language, Fangmeyer wasn't in the ZPD for nothing, her expression unchanging despite his hostility towards her. In their silent battle of wills, it was the buffalo who was the first to relent. With an angry grunt, he sat down at the table, glaring at Fangmeyer and Wolford as he fumed at being ordered about in his own workplace by simple cops.
The marmot captain, for his part, looked like he was in the middle of a nervous breakdown, eyes wide and gazing at the papers in front of him. Wolford eyed the large rodent with a feeling of guilt and sympathy – his years on the force taught him a lot about reading mammals, and he had the strongest of suspicions that this captain genuinely had no idea about the dangerous cargo he was carrying aboard his ship.
Several minutes later, Agent Skye Winters returned. "Captain," she announced, "it has been decided. The ship and its cargo are being impounded by Animalia for breach of international law. We will be working together with representatives from both Ocelotia and Urusia, but until then, the ship will not be leaving port. Any attempt to leave will be designated as an act of violence and dealt with accordingly."
The captain didn't say anything for a while. "What of the crew?" he eventually asked.
Skye crossed her arms. "They will be kept on board the ship under armed guard, helping us with dealing with the contraband cargo. If they are to be found innocent of wrongdoing, they might even be allowed ashore and into the city of Zootopia, but I can't guarantee it. And again, I have to strongly emphasize: that is only if you and your crew will be determined to be not guilty of any international law violations. This decision, I can tell you right away, is not going to be up to me. In a few minutes, this whole dock will be crawling with loads of mammals whose job is going to be to clean this whole mess up. That is also where my direct involvement here will end, so whatever you will want to say, I recommend you save it for my replacement when they will show up."
She was about to say something else when her phone beeped at her. Glancing at the device, she let out an annoyed groan. "This is important. Stay here." Just like that, she was gone again.
Wolford took the silence in the room to try and clear his mind out by going through all of the information he had just only barely glimpsed at. Sure, he was seeing why Agent Winters wanted him and Fangmeyer here with her, but as a ZPD cop, he was also feeling completely out of his league. To use Hopps' own words, his job was to make "the world a better place", even if it was only restricted to the areas of Zootopia that were under the jurisdiction of Precinct One. But this stuff? Combat drones in shipping containers? He knew something was wrong, but he would be darned to know where to even start with pointing out what. Hopefully, as long as Skye won't ask him to help out in that department, then he should be fine.
His thoughts were interrupted by the return of the white fox, a large moose behind her, dressed in a similar dark suit as her. "Everyone, this is Agent Mooseport. He will be taking over running operations on the dock regarding all matters with this case. As of now, you will answer to him or anyone else under his command. Am I understood?" The others in the room quietly acknowledged the news, after which Skye flashed a grin. "Splendid! Mooseport, the buffalo here is the dock manager in charge. The marmot here is the captain I was briefing you on. I'll let you take over from here. Officers Fangmeyer, Wolford, with me."
The two cops hurried to keep up with Skye as she briskly walked down the hall back outside. "I can't say for certain, but I am fearing that this whole thing will blow up around us to be much bigger than it seems to be even already," she told them as they walked. "These drones… We suspected for a while that something like this might have been going on, but we never had any proof until now. Regulations on inspections are different when the ship doesn't unload the cargo before sailing off to a different destination. But as for what you saw today, consider this conversation a strict verbal NDA. If Bogo asks, you can tell him because he is your direct superior, but not a word to anyone else." Even as they exited the building and donning back on their hard-hats, she lead them past the storage container rather than towards it. Sure enough, there were plenty of mammals now rigging it up for transport, who knows where to. Skye had to talk louder now to be heard over the noise. "Because of the incident with the transport crash, you can be sure that we at the ZIA will be in contact with the ZPD. Because of that, I will need you to be my contacts there. And yes, I did clear this with Chief Bogo first. He also cleared Hopps and Wilde to help out if they will also be needed."
Skye stopped and looked around to make sure that the three of them were all alone. When she was certain that they weren't going to be overheard, she resumed talking, thought now at a much lower volume. "This new problem for now is separate. As far as Count and Trigger are concerned, don't deal with them any differently than as you did before. But as long as we have them around, let's use them. You can expect an email from me later today, it will contain questions I want you to ask them, as well as other instructions. For what it's worth, try to treat this just like any other case you work on. With any luck, you won't even have to deal with press or politicians any more than you would normally. Sound good?"
Fangmeyer answered for the both of them. "Sure, I guess. I don't see any problems with it as long as Bogo's fine with it." Next to her, Wolford nodded in agreement.
The fox grinned back. "Great! On other, less serious topics, what did you think about that dock manager? Never gave us his name, even. Does have a mouth on him."
Wolford glared at the ground. "Why do I get the feeling that he would vote for Bellweather again if he had the chance to?"
Fangmeyer grinned at her partner. "Because he's a specieist jerk?"
Skye nodded. "Yep. He sure is." She took her phone out, but this time it was simply to take a look at the time. "Gee, it's getting rather late. Who's hungry?"
