Mission to Bajor

Posted on Fri May 1, 2020 @ 10:40pm by Civilian 'Key Holder' Dorian Gabriel & Commander Caleb Ryan

2,676 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Things Past
Location: Bajor/Capital
Timeline: 2376
Tags: Dorian, undercover, Bajor, Pierce

Pret Natal got out of the transport and looked wide-eyed at the city around them. “Oh, Dor! Isn’t it amazing?” she asked with astonishment as she looked at the Freedom Hotel that soared above them. Then her blue eyes went to the constabulary across the square from the hotel. “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” she said, kissing her new husband deeply.

One of the doormen came down the steps with a smile. “Can I take your luggage?” he offered. “First time in the city?”

“Oh, yes!” Pret Natal gushed. “We just got married!” She showed her new dangling earring.

“Congratulations!” the doorman said with a bright smile. “The honeymoon suite?”

“Oh, no! I’m sure we couldn’t afford that!” Natal said, clinging to her husband.

“Mention it at the desk. I’m sure they will see what they can do,” the doorman said with a wink, picking up their suitcases.

Dor smiled to the doorman and slipped him a credit with a grateful nod. "I appreciate it!" he said as he proceeded into the grand foyer with his new bride. Beneath the grin, Dorian was rather uncomfortable with the charade, considering he still was not fully briefed on what significance their target had. He shook his head and tried to focus on the mission at hand and try to piece-together enough details as he went along.

As he walked up to the desk, he was greeted by a cheerful young woman. As she asked for his contact information, she was able to pull up the reservation into their system. Evidently, Pierce's network was able to secure the reservation without arousing suspicion despite the complete lack of any matrimonial services.

"So I hear this place has a pretty nice...uh....honeymoon suite?" he said, trying to play coy for the benefit of the role.

“Oh, yes!” the young woman said enthusiastically. “Oh! Are you two newlyweds?” she asked.

“Yes!” Natal said excitedly, showing her new earring. “Is the honeymoon suite available?” she asked.

“Yes,” the clerk said. “Congratulations! If you’d like it, I can upgrade you.”

“We saved enough, didn’t we, honey?” Natal asked, eyes wide and innocent, long lashes batting at Dor.

Dorian was slightly caught off-guard by the level of enthusiasm the co-intelligence officer had brought to her role as a Bajoran newlywed. Perhaps she saw this as an opportunity to finally enjoy the comforts of being married and having someone close enough to trust and depend on.

"Well...uh..." Dorian said, rubbing the back of his neck, and he sheepishly turned back towards the young woman behind the desk. "We're farmers and...uh...this is our first time in the city...and...well..." He began, try to create the appearance of embarrassment and humility, two traits that he personally found to be utterly useless in his real life. He continued to fumble through his words as he waited for the woman to show mercy and pick up on what he desired.

“It’s the off season, and the suite is empty, so I think we can work something out,” the concierge said, smiling brightly. She quoted them a price half off.

“We’ll take it!” Natal said excitedly. She dug out a cred chip to hand over and reserve the room.

“Wonderful.” As the concierge processed the reservation, she motioned for a bellhop to come over. “And there you go.” She handed over the room keys. “If you will just follow Pret, he will take you up to your suite.”

“Oh, thank you!” Natal told the hotel clerk. “And thank you, honey!” She gave Dorian a deep, newlywed kiss.

Dorian played into the kiss for the sake of appearances and helped his elated bride toward their upgraded suite. As the bellhop led the two through the resort, Dorian took the opportunity to familiarize himself with the layout of the facility. He noticed that just about every window had a clear and unobstructed view to the Bajor city which hosted the Freedom Hotel. The sky was clear and blue and filled with the occasional transport zipping back and forth through the area.

Dorian shifted his attention back toward the bellhop as the two arrived at the door to their room. The bellhop opened the door and led the couple's luggage into the suite as they slowly followed behind.

"Well, sweetie, here we are!" Dorian said in an upbeat, but artificial tone.

Natal giggled and tipped the bellhop. “Thank you very much,” she said, hanging out the Do Not Disturb sign with a wink.

The bellhop grinned. “Enjoy your stay,” he told them, leaving them to enjoy their honeymoon.

Natal shut the door, locked it, and turned back to Dorian.

"Convincing," Dorian said in a nonplussed tone as he began to examine the suite. He was almost certain that it was free of monitoring devices. He still wanted to set himself at ease before he began to discuss anything operationally sensitive.

"I'll go ahead and pull out the sofa-mattress. I'm sure you'll want to enjoy the luxury of the bed," he said, gesturing to the massive bed that took up a sizeable portion of the bedroom.

"Where do you want to get started on finding our target?" he asked.

“You’re not sleeping on the sofa on our honeymoon,” Natalya said. “We know where Nalis Pym is. She’s in the penthouse. And we have her public schedule. The problem will be getting to her, and getting her alone for the interrogation.”

Natalya walked over to Dorian and slipped her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his. “Now, are you committed to this role?” she asked him suggestively. “Because anyone paying attention to us is going to expect certain things to be happening.”

Dorian could smell the striking perfume on the fellow intelligence officer as she closed the gap between them. He naturally responded, as any man would, but he stopped himself. It had been less than a year since the brutal death of his fiance, Dr. Latrice Redding, at the hands of that conniving bastard of a Romulan. The Romulan doctor was subsequently found murdered alone with his Nausicaan bodyguard. Dorian was immediately arrested for the murder, but no charges were ever brought due to lack of evidence.

The emotional wounds were fresh for Dorian. Too fresh for him to allow himself to engage himself, at least physically, with anyone else. No matter how alluring they were.

"Assuming that anyone is paying attention that closely, they'll know that we're traditionalists who wish to observe the Bajoran practice of matrimonial abstinence for the traditional period," he said as he deftly slipped out from under her arms and moved to a nearby console. "Besides...I'm sure Captain Pierce is expecting our status update by now," he said.

Natalya shrugged. “Very few couples follow the rules like that anymore,” she pointed out. “But fine. Contact Pierce. I’m going to do a walk-by of the target’s suite,” she said. “See what kind of security set up she has.” Natalya tucked a small, concealed scanner node into the bodice of her dress. It would send the images to the small civilian padd and comm device she carried.

Dorian merely nodded as she proceeded to exit the room. He sighed with relief once the door was closed. He wanted to focus on the mission and not on having to be concerned about another person. He had thought about opening himself up to Voria; however, the needs of the mission came first. Moreover, there was no telling how she would have responded if he had revealed himself to be a Starfleet Intelligence plant, looking to lock up the spoonhead she was working with.

No, Dorian decided it was best to simply focus on his mission at hand and not allow any distractions to take him away from it. He rerouted his broadcast signal through a series of virtual subspace portals that would establish a connection with Captain Pierce without arousing the suspicions of Bajoran planetary security monitors.

Once the connection was made, he knew that he would have to wait for Pierce to establish a secure line and respond. However, he was never certain how long such a task would take, since Pierce couldn't exactly respond to the call while on the bridge.

It didn’t take too long before Artemis Pierce appeared on the screen. “How are you enjoying your honeymoon?” he asked with a smile.

Dorian sighed irritably, but withheld giving an honest response to the superior officer. "Yes, sir. We've arrived on location and have obtained a fairly suitable room to carry out the operation," the lieutenant said. "Lieutenant Ivanovna has left to perform surveillance on the target and to evaluate the strength of her security compliment," he reported.

"Is there anything in particular we should be expecting in regards to the target's capabilities?" Dorian asked, still probing Captain Pierce for more direct answers as to what made this target so damned important.

“Standard security detail, most likely,” Pierce reported. “Nalis Pym led a resistance cell during the Occupation, though they kept low key. No notably high value targets or actions. Most of her success came from her ability to leverage the fact of her resistance after the Occupation. But the intel suggests she knows where Myru Jera is being held. They had a rather...public falling out shortly before the shuttle accident that supposedly killed Minister Myru.”

"So you're saying that Nalis helped cover up Minister Myru's supposed death?" Dorian asked. "What would she stand to gain from that, unless she's holding the Minister hostage for some kind of value," he added.

"What was this falling out over anyhow?" he continued.

“Bajor’s response to the Dominion threat,” Pierce said. “Myru didn’t feel Bajor was up for another war -- and likely reoccupation by the Cardassians. She pushed for neutrality, at the very least, in the conflict -- the view which ultimately prevailed,” Pierce admitted. “Minister Nalis wanted to remain allied with the Federation in opposing the Cardassians and Dominion.”

Dorian nodded as he looked out the window to see the ocean view from the suite. "What about the remnants of Nalis' resistance cell? Wouldn't they have information on Myru Jera's whereabouts?" Dorian asked, as he turned back towards the screen. "I can't imagine that Nalis would keep such a secret from her cell mates," the intelligence officer asked.

“Our interviews with them are the reason we even have rumors Minister Myru might still be alive,” Pierce said. “That’s why we think there is a black site in the Ministry building somewhere.”

"I suggest we make contact and secure Minister Nalis within the next twelve hours. The sooner we move, the better chance we'll have to get the information we'll need without having to resort to more...enhanced techniques," he said. "From the research I've done, I don't expect her security staff to be very sophisticated. I'm awaiting Lieutenant Ivanova to report back from her reconnaissance of the Minister's suite. From there we'll began to put together our plan," he said evenly.

"What do we do with her once we retrieve the information we need?" Dorian asked the captain intently.

“Leave her where someone will find her eventually,” he said. “You won’t be identified. We’ll scrub your identities when this is completed, so unless you leave DNA evidence, you’ll be clean. I’ll deal with anything else that might arise. Once we have Myru Jera, Minister Nalis is unnecessary to us.”

The door to the suite opened, and Natalya returned with a filled ice bucket from her tour of the hotel.

"I understand," Dorian replied, as he heard the suite doors open. He looked up and saw the Intelligence Officer returned with an object in her hand. "What did you learn?" Dorian asked, preferring to get straight to the point.

“Minimal security, as expected,” Natalya said, putting the ice bucket down. “Two in the hallway outside her suite. Two way down in the lobby.” She plunged her hand into the bucket and pulled out an electronic device. “I cloned their comm system,” she said. “Sounds like they rotate out regularly. Four hours outside the suite, four in the lobby, then off for sixteen as another team rotates in.”

Dorian nodded as he began to think about the strategy. "How long of a window does that leave us to extract her? I'd prefer not having to kill her staff unless it becomes necessary," he said.

“We’ll likely have to at least deal with the two outside her door regardless,” Natalie said. “If we keep this in the hotel, we likely won’t need to deal with the lobby team. If we do it right after rotation, that gives us four hours to extract the information. Stunning the security team should be sufficient, and if we need to, we’ll have their uniforms and comms.”

Dorian nodded. They had cloned their comm system so they would be able to tap into their communication system. However, any use of force would be complicated, because after four hours, the next team would arrive and recognize what had happened and alert planet security, thus making their escape off the planet impossible.

"We need to find a way to get some alone time with the Minister in order to extract the information without alerting her security detail. If we go in by force, then we'll have Bajoran Security searching for us before we can make it to our extraction point," he said, turning his attention back to Natalya.

"How can we separate her from the two security guards outside her door without arousing suspicion?" he thought aloud. "We need to find some way to mimic or duplicate her voice and have her order the guards to perform some task that will get them away from her door for an extended period of time," he said. "Any suggestions?"

Natalya considered. “She’s a politician,” she said. “Getting her voice shouldn’t be a problem. There should be plenty of public recordings of that. If we had a ship, we could beam her out in the middle of the night,” she said with a frown. “What if we got invited in somehow?” she mused, throwing out ideas.

"Invited...to her suite?" Dorian thought. "It would give us direct access past the guards," he said, thinking aloud. "What will be our justification for being invited into a politician's quarters? We're just simple Bajoran farmers, remember?" he asked.

“Yes,” Natalya mused. “”Nalis is known to be a bit of a hedonist, however. She is often less than discreet about it. Our identities are from her district. Perhaps if one of us caught her wandering eye we could get an invitation. Think you can turn on the charm and get an indecent proposal?” She ran her fingers through her blonde hair..

"So I'm to whore myself out for the sake of the mission?" Dorian asked, not too pleased at the prospect. "Fine, it will allow me to get close enough to capture a sample of her voice that you will use to get her guards away from her so we can extract the information we need." Dorian said. "Where would she be located at this time of day?" he said, looking out the window towards the cascading water and beach.

“Well, I’m willing to whore myself, if that’s what she wants,” Natalya sniffed at Dorian. “And you have the right idea. On the beach. Shall we change and take a walk?” she suggested. “We might as well enjoy ourselves a little while we’re on our honeymoon.”

Dorian sighed in a measured tone. "Fine, let's get out there before the crowd picks up. I figure she chooses to enjoy early morning strolls," he said as he stood and made his way to the closet.

FIN

Lt. Natalya Dubrovna/Pret Natal
Starfleet Intelligence (Section 31)/Bajoran newlywed
NPC Caleb Ryan

Lt. Dorian Gabriel/Pret Dor
Starfleet Intelligence/Bajoran newlywed

 

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