> > Inside the dark docks of Gortos were the USS Athens and the USS Sparta, > both Intrepid class ships (think Voyager) lost some years ago. Three years > for the Sparta, and five years for the Athens. Their crews were still > there, but many had not survived the imprisionment. There was more than > just a pair of Federation Starships, an admiral or three, several captains, > and the odd commander. > > > > ***** > > > > Starfleet's great intelligence and specail operations organizations knew > of Gorthos, but not as fact rather as a myth. The few, and I mean seriously > few, that thought that the place actually existed were shunned and ignored. > However, with no other hard leads.... > There were several reasons why Tela, resident massage therapist at Bran'na's Spa and one of Selara's top-level assassins, hadn't yet been killed herself by one of Selara's competitors. One, she was quite skillful at protecting herself. Two, she was close to Selara and many people were, quite frankly, scared of the retaliation. And three, she was mouth-wateringly sexy. With her dark auburn hair, milky skin, and swaying hips, there were rumors she was at least part-Raisan, but in fact she was full-blooded human. Oh, several had tried killing her when she was lower on the assassins' totem pole, but she had, in rapid succession, killed three, seduced two who were more interesting to her, and chased off a few others by revealing an intimidating arsenal of weaponry and skin. She remained steadfastly single, as all top-level assassins did, and lived for the game.
Which is why Drake Townsend's appearance at Bran'na's Spa intrigued her. Drake wasn't an assassin so much as a gun-runner and overall rogue. Raised in the border territories, he grew up on a commercial freighter that was taken over by pirates. That was about all Tela knew of his history, other than that he sometimes ran intelligence for Selara - for a price - and was aloof and self-reliant as those border colonists tended to be. They'd met many times in the past, and broken each others hearts as many times, and now seemed to have come to a precarious, heady balance in their relationship, hinged on the knowledge that each played with fire that was highly dangerous to handle. After a couple hours of intense sex in Tela's quarters, Drake finally came to the point of his visit. He told Tela that he thought he had found Gorthos, the secret Kalisara fortress, and whatmore, he thought there were humans being held captive there. "So what's your price for the information?" she asked, brushing back his damp, dark hair from his forehead. "I was already on a paid mission for Selara," he replied, nuzzling her neck gently. "This was just a lucky break. Besides," he grinned, "I already got a nice profit from the stuff I stole from there. And just because I didn't grow up on Earth doesn't mean I don't feel patriotic. No humans should be in that place. But, I don't exactly have the manpower to break into that bunker to rescue them." "So you thought I would pass the info on to Selara and let her deal with it, so you don't have to?" "Something like that. I've got another job, this time near Vulcan, so I don't have the time to spare." "Selara doesn't have the manpower either. But Starfleet does..." (later) Cela walked boldly into Admiral Garibaldi's office, and asked the receptionist if she could speak with him. (response) -S _______________________________________________ Spacedock mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scifi-rpgs.com/mailman/listinfo/spacedock_scifi-rpgs.com
