Hit The Ground Running, Part Five

Posted on 29 Mar 2016 @ 4:54pm by Lieutenant Benice Gyce Ph.D.

1,123 words; about a 6 minute read

Location: Free Port, Hodorus (Ferenginar-Owned Colony)
Date: June 22nd 2380
Time: 0910 Hours

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"Do you have eyes on the target?"

Gyce was wearing a bio dampener while laying atop the flat rooftop of Free Port with her sniper rifle, when Avok's call came in. The Bajoran had to check her holographic projector for Jokk's profile, as many Ferengi matched his profile.

"Negative," Gyce told him through their tac-comm earpiece. "Exo-scanner isn't spotting him in the casino. Nor is he headed this way. If he's here, he's gotta be in the port itself."

"Adjust your exo-scanner's frequency by two-point-seven," Avok told her as he casually navigated the walkway between the casino and the port in his garbage hauler attire. "The allocators have yet to spot him. So logically, his next likely spot to be, is the casino."

Gyce not only reset her eyepiece, but she calibrated her pulse-based sniper rifle. The XR-23. A private company, Xandar Research Group was. But they made great arms for those that could afford them. And her former resistance cell was one such lucky group to receive their donations.

When Gyce's exo-scanner was fully calibrated, her combadge went off. She had to reach inside her trench coat's inner pocket to open her end. "Benice here."

"This is Director Landy, Ensign," came the rough CO's voice. Gyce could tell with the small amount of static, that it was stretching it, to reach her this far from a Federation base. "We've just received a kill-on-sight order on this Jokk character."

"Sir?" Gyce was instantly skeptic but bit her tongue.

"We think he might be the actual person of interest and he very well could be holding a dead-man's switch to the protomatter warhead. So I need you to remove him before he has a chance to arm it," Landy spoke with severity.

There were so many moving parts to the investigation, that Gyce did not feel entirely sure about this order. Starfleet did not just kill someone. They had stun settings for disabling and preserving prisoners so they could face justice. That being said, the other detectives assigned to the case probably shared things with her boss she was unaware of.

"Are you going to carry-out the order, Ensign?" Landy pressed irritably on her line, when Gyce was silent for far too long to his liking.

Gyce continued to hesitate. Something just did not feel right here, even with Director Landy's explanation. Having no real grounds to refuse the order, however, she had to reluctantly follow the order.

"...Yes, Sir. I'm at a good vantage point now. If Jokk shows up I'll-" Gyce stopped herself as her intended target had just walked out the casino complex looking smug. "Avok, he's here. But he's three-hundred yards from me and too many people as possible collateral to make a clean shot."

"Readjust and make the shot," Landy ordered from the other line. Gyce had forgotten to mute her badge.

Gyce saw Avok moving in on the target, via her tactical display on her tricorder. Jokk was a young Ferengi with average-looking teeth for his people. But he also wore a long coat and black tactical clothing.

The Bajoran wasted no time in crawling across the rooftop with her rifle shouldered across her. She winced in pain and fought hard against it in order to prove to her CO that she could do dangerous fieldwork too.

Now she had a semi-side view. When she looked through the targeting scope of her rifle, she saw Avok almost in position.

"Do you have a clear shot, Ensign?" Director Landy pressed over her comms once more.

"Negative Sir. There're still civvies passing in front him," Gyce spoke nervously. If she fired at the wrong moment, someone else would die.

In the Occupation, you did not care about collateral damage. You took a Cardassian officer out no matter the cost. But now, in Starfleet? Gyce's palms were so sweaty, she could not get a good grip on her weapon.

As she began to wipe her palms off, Landy gave his finale order, "I don't care what happens, Ensign. Take the shot, now!"

Gyce took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried to visualize the shot in her head. When she looked through her scope once more, she saw Avok in striking distance. Jokk's insane hearing, however, must of tipped the Ferengi off.

The Ferengi abruptly turned to face Avok and Gyce knew she had to be quick, for her partner had just been the distraction. Landy was yelling on the comms again, but she ignored him.

The next thing Gyce focused on, was the timing of the people walking in front of Avok and Jokk. Most of them walked as one steady flow while others plowed through the masses, in a hurry to get to and fro.

"Prophets be with me," Gyce prayed to herself before she fired. The high-pitched wine of a phased round being ejected from the barrel.

The sonic echo was enough to cause everyone to disperse and run for cover. Avok however, had taken hold of young Jokk, in a neck-lock and allowed the round to hit its mark. The Ferengi male let out an agonized scream for only an instant and dropped something from his pocket - a kill-swtich, Gyce assumed.

"Target down," Gyce spoke stoically over her comms to Landy. She saw the young man hit the ground with a loud thunk. A smoldering hole had gone almost clean through his chest.

Avok then got on the comms to say, "I found the command overrides to his ship. Decloaking now."

"CSI teams are en route," Landy acknowledged. "The Allocators are coming in to close off the area. I want you two back at HQ ASAP, along with your case reports."

Gyce vaguely heard his order. She was looking through her scope. Soo many people could have been hit. And Jokk was barely a man. Was it really necessary for him to die? What if it turned out Jokk was not the true mastermind? What if he was a pawn?

I just killed someone my boss said needed to die, Gyce thought to herself with heavy burden.

The case was closed in a matter of days, all the same. The warhead was found on Kod's ship, by the CSI teams. The warhead's intended purpose, still unknown - he left no notes of his intentions and his father Kod had apparently died of old age, about a year earlier.

Despite the outcome, this case did not feel like a win to Gyce. It was a nightmare, a nightmare that would plague her dreams for a long, long time.

 

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