Starfleet Chronicles - Issue 2 - "Infiltration And Answers"

Infiltration And Answers
Written by Annabelle Robin Lewis

Synopsis
Admiral Ugly goes undercover to infiltrate a criminal hideout and capture the space pirate captain responsible for Nyssa's trauma, but finds more than he bargained for.

Chapter 1 - Arrival
After many delays, setbacks, and trials, Admiral Ugly's small spaceship - not much larger than a shuttle - had made it deep into Orion space and his destination was in sight. He engaged the ship's auto-docking procedure and climbed to the rear of the ship, where he took a silver mask and put it on. He produced a comb from a nearby compartment and combed his hair back.

The sixty-deck station grew closer and the ship began to slow itself down. Ugly took out the Xe-54 Flatline pistol that Bunny had given him before he left, configured it to his red and black preference, and checked it was loaded and ready to fire before the ship docked. It had docked into the shuttle bay on deck 60, and unfortunately Ugly had very little information to go off, but he knew he had to find the right deck, and do so without blowing his cover.

A humanoid squid-like alien appeared to be cleaning the deck, and so Ugly walked over to them, trying to look as imposing as possible. He had to choose his approach carefully as to not be made, but subtlety was not his strong suit.

"You! What deck would I find a pirate captain?! Tell me or I will end you!"

The alien looked at him for a second and then started blathering in tears, making very little sense and swinging their broom around wailing. After a few attempts to communicate, Ugly managed to gather that deck 10 was where most of the dealing was done, and so a disgruntled Admiral Ugly headed for the nearest lift and hit the button for deck 10. As the doors closed, he could see the alien still sobbing. "I wasn't even that harsh. Pathetic." Ugly muttered to himself.

Chapter 2 - The Hub
As the lift's doors opened, Ugly was greeted by a room as rowdy as a tavern and an auction house combined into one. The door opened into a short corridor lit by orange glowing vertical strips on the walls, opening up into a large circular room, in the middle of which was a huge tube full of Orange Matter from the floor to the ceiling, encircled by chairs. Around the room were circular tables, each table had either 4 or 8 chairs around it, two orange glowing circles in the middle, and projected a number from 1 to 6 above it. The room was crowded, with nearly every seat taken and many more people standing, the crowd was an odd smorgasbord of different species from different walks of life, but everyone in there was involved in something shady. Around the room were 10 smaller rooms and a corridor on the opposite side to where Ugly entered, the rooms were two storage bays and two observatories, as well as six rooms with desks for more private meetings, the rooms were each separated from the main room by soundproof fields which glowed a slight yellow.

As Ugly made his way into the room, he looked around at the people surrounding him. They ranged from bounty hunters, to slave traders, to space pirates, to terrorists, to weapons dealers, and many more unscrupulous types. Ugly couldn't see anyone who matched the pirate captain's picture, but saw another familiar face.

A woman with black hair, a wide-brimmed western hat with green goggles strapped to it, and a long black coat was sat at one of the tables. Jintaria Starburner, an infamous time-travelling, dimension-hopping bounty hunter and gunslinger who had once completely outclassed the USS Victory's crew by taking complete control of their ship and using gravity bombs, a jetpack, and a laser SMG when the crew had tried to capture her target. If anyone would know how to find a pirate captain with a bounty on him, it was her. Ugly approached her and sat down at an open seat opposite her. Before he could even open his mouth, Starburner turned to him and said:

"I have a bounty on you, ya know. I let you go once, now you turn up here?"

Ugly was wearing a disguise, there was surely no way she could have made him that fast? "You have no idea who I am." he responded.

"Well sure I do, Eugine Ug-Lee. I told ya, I got a bounty on ya. But I get the feelin' you ain't here to turn yourself in. And I wouldn't want to start a scene in here, everybody's got bounties, bounty hunter can't just come in and start collectin'." Starburner gestured around the room.

Ugly harrumphed. "I'm here looking for this pirate captain." Ugly showed a picture of the captain "I can't find him here and I think you know where to find him."

Chapter 3 - Negotiation
"Let's talk in one of the meeting rooms." she said as he tugged him by the arm into one of them, sitting down behind the desk and gesturing for Ugly to have a seat on the other side. "So what do you have to offer me for the information? I already let you get away once in exchange for my quarry, I ain't giving you information for free, especially since I got a bounty on who you're after too."

"So you do know where he is. You will tell me, or I'll make you." Ugly threatened.

Starburner rolled her eyes and sighed "Threatenin' me won't work, I've taken on worse than you. 'Less you got somethin' to give me, you aren't getting anything."

"DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I'M ADMIRAL UGLY!"

"And you'll calm down unless you want everyone here to know that. How many of these fine folk would like to get a piece of you?" Starburner gestured to the other side of the field.

Ugly slammed his robotic hand down into the desk, knowing he didn't have much of a choice. He thought for a few seconds before opening his mouth this time. "I'll hand him over to you when I'm done with him."

"I need him alive." Starburner said, expecting a response. "Fine. I can't promise he won't be hurt though." Ugly compromised.

Starburner hesitated for a moment, before handing over a small drive. "We have a deal."

Chapter 4 - An Expected Guest
As Ugly left the meeting room, a young girl with a ginger ponytail, freckles, a toolbelt, and yellow bracers - one of which had a screen on it - was waiting outside for him. She spoke quickly in an incredibly thick Irish accent that Ugly could hardly believe was real. "Howya, s'yer this Ugly fella? Aye, yer face does look right gammy, they don't lie, do the? Right well ah got someone who's been hankering te meet ya fer donkey's years so come on, foller me."

"What's your problem?!" Ugly snapped.

"Mah, problem? Nah, you're te one who ain't the full shilling. Aya comin' or not? Ah mean, not ain't really an option but howay, be a chancer." She started leading Ugly down towards the other corridor. It looked a lot like the one Ugly came in through, but the lights were white and there was a familiar logo of an eye with an "e" in on either wall. The door at the end of that corridor led into a larger, brighter corridor with tubes on either side of the walkway. The first two contained transparent dummies with cybernetics from both Bunny and the Xeronqyu known as Xenon. The second pair featured a small device that looked like a very glowy clock and a folded up scythe prototype. The third and forth pairs contained Blue, Orange, Purple, and Red Matter, and these were no small tanks. The final two remained empty. Another door lie at the end of the corridor.