I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots & Your Delta Flyer

Posted on Sat Jul 23rd, 2011 @ 11:54am by Captain Alexander Gunning & James Wilson LLB PI [P: Ratchford]

Mission: A New Beginning
Location: "Warp 12"
Timeline: SL D04 - 1323hrs

[ON]

Gunning stretched out at the table. This was his first hour that he had given himself in almost thirty six hours. The amount of paperwork that Temporal Investigations were making him wade through would be enough to drown a less-steadfast officer. Gunning was so sure that they had done nothing wrong that he would float to Earth in an escape pod just to put his point across. Still, things hadn't been helped by the reassignment of Lieutenant Matsumoto who had decided he was unable to work with him and the way he made decisions.

It wasn't a great loss. He was a talented officer but too fresh to the region to be considered a 'must-keep' for him. It was more important to ensure that the internal investigation was carried out well. The Private Investigator, Wilson was on the trail of a Ritorian agent operating on the station. A Ritorian agent that the Commodore didn't know anything about. It would be easy enough for a Ritorian agent to walk the halls of the base. There were Ritorian merchants and dignitaries from their civilian corps that passed through the station almost every day, part of Starfleet's ongoing desire to appease the less unreasonable aspects of the Ritorian Confederacy's needs.

"I am assuming that something is on your mind, Commodore?" The light-hearted question came from a corner of the room, where the shadows were slightly darker. Wilson was sitting there, his feet up on the table, and his chair tilted back as he tossed an apple up in the air repetitively.

"Bloody hell, Wilson." Gunning said, recovering from the shock of finding him there. "You've really got to stop that. To what do I owe the intrusion?"

"I need to borrow a runabout," the man said simply and matter-of-factly, as though such an action were as routine as borrowing a sauce bottle from the table next to you at a restaurant.

"Right." Gunning said, looking through the PADD in front of him, he placed it down and pressed his commbadge. "Docking Control, this is Gunning. Prepare a Delta Flyer runabout for launch within the next hour. Make it top priority."

The Commodore knew better than to ask what Wilson needed the runabout for so decided not to waste his time. "You'll be needing a pilot, I assume?"

"I'm a rather capable pilot myself," the detective informed the Commodore. "Another body would just get in my way." In truth, he had expected it to be much harder to convince the Commodore to let him take a runabout, just like that.

"Well, regardless of that, you're getting one." Gunning replied, matching the nonchalant tone of the Investigator. He pressed the centre of the badge again. "Gunning to Lieutenant Tyrrell. I need one of your cadets assigned to a transport mission."

The voice of Lieutenant Donovan Tyrell, the Auxiliary Craft instructor from the Archanis Flight Training Centre came through. "Affirmative, Commodore. Are there any more specific orders?"

"Not at this moment, Lieutenant. Just be sure to assign one of your best cadets."

"A cadet?" the man asked, looking incredulously at the station commander for a moment. Seeing the steel expression on his face, he knew that this was the condition on which he'd get the shuttle. He didn't really have much choice, however; if he tried to book passage on another ship, then by the time he reached his destination, the trail might be extremely difficult to pick back up again. Not impossible, mind you. Nothing is impossible. "Fine," he said, turning back to tossing his apple again. "Just make sure it's one that doesn't talk."

"You'll get who Lieutenant Tyrrell sees fit to give you, Wilson." Gunning replied before adding sarcastically. "Is there anything else you need of me? An advance on your expenses perhaps?"

"The cadet's pay check will do us fine," the man responded, before swinging his feet off the table and walked out of the establishment without another word.

The Commodore stared blankly at the space which Wilson had been inhabiting. He tapped his comm badge. "Lieutenant Tyrrell. Make sure the cadet you assign isn't a 'strong, silent type', will you?"

[OFF]

Commodore Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer
Starbase 332

James Wilson LLB PI
Private Investigator