In the middle of the alpha quadrant, somewhere.
"Hurry up," Selara prompted, alternating her observation between the hallway and T'par.
"I am expediting the process as effeciently as possible," came T'par's patient reply. The Vulcan was brilliant with compter and security systems, but impossibly Vulcan sometimes.
"The last thing I want is Jokro's entire security coming down on us."
"Perhaps you should have taken that into consideration before attempting this theft of information."
Selara snorted. "This is not an 'attempt.' You're going to make sure it's a success."
"Assuming you can also succeed in our safe extraction." Before Selara could retort, T'par said, "Downloading now."
An alarm sounded, and it seemed Selara could hear all the doors in the ship slamming shut. She hefted her large energy cannon and snarled, "Get that download finished!" as she ran to the door.
Looking down the cooridor, she saw two of her crew running towards her, firing behind them as they sprinted away from Jokro's guards.
"Delorsh's dead," Theo panted, "She held them off while we escaped. Damned woman; whoever knew a Raisan could be so..."
"Enough of that," Selara snapped, "We have to get out of here."
"Selara," T'par's voice said, "The download is finished. I suggest we take this opportunity to escape through the ventilation system."
The Venasian cast a vicious look at T'par, who already had the vent open and was hoisting herself up. Selara waved her head at Theo and Partann and they ran for the opening. A moment later, she followed.
***
It took several hours for Selara's best decryptor to break into Jokro's records, but eventually he did, and Selara was able to peruse Jokro's activities at leisure. Paging through a list of transactions, she idly noted that he was still one of the most disgusting - but smartest - in the business. He ran one of the most profitable businesses in slaves and drugs, with minor dabblings in arms and equipment. Selara was most interested in where his slave transactions were taking place.
A momentary blink caught Selara's eye. She could have sworn she just saw the word "Gorthos." Hm. Now Jokro was playing in imaginary places? Unlikely. Paging back, she accessed that record, and saw there were several related records. Jokro had apparently been buying parts and people from a place calling itself Gorthos. Whether that referred to the imaginary Gorthos or not, Selara was most interested to see that the parts he was selling looked suspiciously like Starfleet issue... most specifically, parts from a starship. Two starships, possibly. Now what would two starships be doing in an imaginary place, unless it was missing?
Selara loaded that information onto a data crystal and sent it on to Admiral Garibaldi, with a note saying, "I expect to be compensated well for this." It arrived at his office in due order, delivered by a sultry masseuse-assassin with red hair and swishing hips.
-Sera
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