Extracurricular Activites

Posted on Mon Dec 31, 2018 @ 3:36am by Civilian Melvyn Raddon & Lieutenant Jason Haines
Edited on on Fri Jan 18, 2019 @ 4:02pm

1,352 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Docking Bay 26-E
Timeline: MD 05 1700

[ON]

"Okay, use the emitter to bring the cargo from the Vesipian Freighter over here, I'll have Crewman Jucc'sah unload it later. If I don't get this ship unloaded and cleared in the next hour, the Chief is gonna have my ass in a warp-sling." Chief Petty Officer Ruvan said he directed his docking bay crew. His section was a buzz of activity as several civilian ships had arrived and were seeking to have their cargo unloaded so they could depart on schedule.

All of this would have been fine if it didn't happen to coincide with the arrival of a Nyberrite Alliance freighter. All of this would have been fine, except the Docking Chief had given explicit instructions to allow the technicians from Raddon Corp handle the unloading of anything from this particular Nyberrite vessel. He wasn't sure what the hell was in it, but it was clearly above his pay-grade.

Jason was quite tired. He and his crew were doing a lot more than information analysis. Captain Phralan had been right. This 'little' assignment that came with his promotion, was a lot more than it appeared. Between meetings, investigations, data analysis, and reading logs, Jason had, had about two minutes for breathing and eating each day.

CPO Ruvan looked up as he saw the superior officer enter the area. It wasn't everyday that a non-grunt came down to this particular bay. CPO Ruvan signaled for Crewman Tuffan to take over for him as he went over to greet the officer. "Eh, welcome to our humble abode, sir. How can i help you?"

"Hi Chief", Jason said. "I'm Lieutenant Haines. I'm the new Chief of Intel. I am just making my way around the station, checking in on stations, seeing if there is anything I should know about. I imagine there are a lot of things that come through here that would be interesting to know about for various parties."

"Yeah, everything seems to be going fine." CPO Ruvan said as he wiped his hands on his uniform sleeve. "We just got a packed house today because a number of ships arrived and they all expect us to work magic to unload and send'em on their way." The non-commission officer grumbled. He was about to continue when he was stopped by the arrival of two non-descript individuals wearing the standard uniform of the Raddon Corporation. The taller of the two, a red-headed female, nodded briefly to CPO Ruvan as she went over to a nearby console and began to direct the other employee to the docking port designated for the Nyberrite Alliance freighter.

Jason watched Ruvan deal with the Raddon employees. When he came back he asked, "What's that all about?"

"Eh. . .oh yeah, then there's that Nyberrite vessel that arrived today as well. No telling what they're hauling. The two spooks from the Raddon Corp always come to unload the vessel." CPO Ruvan said, shaking his head in frustration.

"They don't seem to sit well with you", Jason said pointing away from the Raddon duo to make it seem he wasn't paying attention to them. "What's the deal with them? You didn't review their manifest."

"Yeah, I checked it before, three times actually." CPO Ruvan responded. "Every single time all it says is, 'Research & Development'. Which is odd, because why would a Federation company use the Nyberrite Alliance to transport their stuff?" The Bolian asked rhetorically. "I brought it up to Lieutenant Trellis over in Security and he said he'd get back to me, but then the Embassy bombings took place. I guess that takes priority over the concerns of a dockhand, huh?" CPO Ruvan said with a shrug.

"Yes", Jason said with a grin. "that said, it wouldn't hurt if we could get a peek."

He turned and walked to the red-haired female, who was the one Ruvan talking to.

"Excuse me", Jason said. "I hate to be a pain, but I need to do a spot check on a couple of your containers. Seems like some stolen goods from a couple of planets might be making its way here. I can understand the sensitive needs of Raddon Corp not wanting to be under suspect, given its positive reputation, so I will try to be as quick and discrete as possible."

The red-head looked up from the console and examined the Starfleet Officer briefly before looking in the general direction of her co-worker. "Valen..." She said in an irritated tone as she continued to work at the console.

"That won't be necessary. We're confident that our shipment does not include any form of contraband." Valen, the Security consultant said as he stepped from around the console and approached the gold-tunic Officer. "Thank you for your concern, though." He said dismissively.

"That's what I told my superiors at Intel", Jason said. "Raddon's too well known and in the public eye to do something like this, but still they insisted, so I need to insist."

Jason gave Valen a sympathetic shrug.

"I can try to get them online, as this is higher than a local level", Jason said. "but then we would have to go through a full lockdown until the comm. goes through, which I don't want to do and I am sure as heck that you and your bosses don't want to go through that. Sometimes the comm. channels this far out don't connect for a few hours going all the way back to Earth."

Valen's smile remained visible, but it had obviously become less sincere. "I don't think you understood me the first time." He said as he stepped between the Officer and the console. "This is private property of the Raddon Corporation. All you need to know is that we are taking it off of that ship and delivering it to our Research & Development Complex on the lower promenade." He informed.

As the two spoke to one another the rear cargo hatch for the Nyberrite freighter lowered and the freighter's crew began to unload the large cargo containers from the ship and onto the docking bay deck. The 4 containers were roughly 5 feet tall and were surrounded by low-level forcefields to prevent accidental damage during transit. On the side of each container was the insignia for the R&D division of the Raddon Corporation.

"Now, unless you have a warrant, I'll politely instruct you to move on." Valen said, all signs of cooperation absent from his tone.

Jason smiled. He had all he had truly wanted; a 'confirmation' of his gut feeling. From all the reports he had read, Raddon was a player to keep a close eye. He wanted to see if it was true. His gut had told him yes and now this interaction sealed it for him.

"Sure thing", Jason said, starting to walk back towards Ruvan. He paused and then turned and looked back at Valen.

"Ya know, once you leave your dock and are on the way to the promenade", Jason said. "If security detected something odd from the shipment, they would be able to search it with a public safety probable cause justification. I would hate for a sensor malfunction to delay your shipment. Just saying. Have a great day and thank you for your cooperation."

He turned and continued walking.

". . .yeah, I'd hate for life support systems to suddenly fail in your quarters in the middle of the night, too." Valen said as the doors hissed shut behind the Officer.

"Who the hell is that asshole to come in here and question us?" He asked as he walked back towards the woman behind the console.

"It doesn't matter," She replied as the containers were added to anti-grav lifts. "We need to get the biological samples to the facility before they degrade." She said as the containers were loaded and were pushed out of the cargo bay.

"Yeah...I'm sure Raddon is gonna love hearing about this." Valen said as the two followed the containers out of the bay.

[OFF]

Hurzen Ruvan
Chief Petty Officer
DS5

Mikel Valen
Security Consultant
Raddon Corporation

Lt.(jg) Jason Haines
Chief of Intelligence
DS5

 

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