On the fringe world of Diitov there was a secret one that only a few people knew about. Diitov was a world primarily covered by water and barely inhabited. The planet had one sole inhabitant and hidden underwater sit the sprawling hidden base.
The black corridors bathed in dark blue light and the hum of unknown systems were the main sites of this hidden base, but the base held more secrets than just ominous passages.
This base was the home of Michelle Oliver and the one place she went to after the disaster in the Praxis III system and Ryder’s bungling of the Klingon D’Ghor alliance. She was going to take care of that, but first, she needed to call in reinforcements.
Reinforcements that she had already been watching for a while. A Romulan in particular who she figured would be keen on helping. She had sent him the information to the base, but did not reveal her identity. One wrong turn and he wouldn’t live to talk about what he saw.
Ajis strolled through the ominous passages as he slowly headed for where the directions had told him to go. Before this, he had been on his personal ship, buried in conduits and chips, trying to restore a power grid when his communicator had gone off with a new message. Now he’s here, having taken one of the shuttles that was the only working one from the ship rather than taking the small transport he normally flies on jobs that he accepts. He felt this would be a much different job….
He eventually found himself at a junction of sorts and a room to his right. Pulling out the small hand PADD he had, rereading the instructions, and then shrugged one of his shoulders, believing he had found the correct place. He was wearing a long black leather jacket, nothing ominous about that… with a dark gray tank top, black pants with what looked like standard-issue Imperial Navy boots under the pant cuffs. What he also had that might stand out, if the left side of the jacket were to open more, was a Starfleet commbadge that was on his belt, upside down. He looked around some, wondering if he was the only one in the room….
Michelle had been watching Ajis as he wandered around her base. The thoughts going through his head were probably why he had been asked there. Michelle needed someone with a ship and a cloaked ship was even better. She had combed her database for information and had discovered Ajis was trying to get work. She had the perfect work for him, but it was only if he agreed to the nefarious plans she had. She waited until he was in the room and spoke.
“Angel increase lights to 50%” she spoke.
A voice replied “Lights increased Ma’am”
As the blue lights washed over the black interior Michelle appeared sitting in a seat with two Siberian Huskies on each side of her growling at the newcomer, as the lights revealed the Romulan.
“It’s ok boys, he’s not here to harm us.” She replied in a calm yet sharp voice.
She looked back at the newcomer and spoke up “Ajis I presume?”
Ajis blinked a little bit when the lights grew brighter, enough to reveal her and the two lovely animals. Though hearing them growl was really a typical response that he understood all too well. They were trained well, and he respected that.
Ajis folded his arms across his chest, not at all trying to look intimidating, just really felt like it. “Michelle Sue Oliver, spoiled child at start, only to rebel against her parents and joined Starfleet. Became one of the finest Officers in Starfleet Intelligence, rose through the ranks until the tragedy with your parents. My condolences by the way. If you’re wondering how I know, I learned to keep tabs on people who peaked the Romulan Navy Intelligence interests. But I will admit…” He looked around some more and then pointed up, generally at the entire compound. “This is impressive. I guess money does get you everything.”
Michelle smiled “It does not get you everything but it can help make hiding from the world useful. This base is much bigger than you think. I figured you would know who I was Ajis. You are just as interesting.”
She hit a button on the chair and a screen appeared on the wall in front of Ajis. “Angel display the Ajis record.”
Next to Michelle a holographic character appeared “As ordered Ma’am.”
“Ajis I am not one to mince words, but this assignment is not for the faint of heart. It will be difficult and I will end up with blood on my hands. I am suggesting murder of innocents or who most would call innocent.”
A weird fire burned in her eyes as she made the statement. She seemed nice, but she had many secrets hidden and they consumed her.
Ajis watched as a holographic character appeared, obviously named ‘Angel’ and then watched as his record appeared next to her. He chuckled and shrugged one of his shoulders. He expected it, they both used to work for intelligence in their government so why would either of them be surprised that either of them knew each other?
“It seems interesting that both our paths happen to have come together. You worked in Starfleet Intelligence. I worked in Romulan Imperial Intelligence. Your parents were falsely murdered. My parents were falsely murdered. You left your government. I left my government. Only thing different is, your family was wealthy, mine were patriots. You got this lovely base built from your own wealth. I found a relic of the past.” He took in a deep breath as he recollected what she said earlier about a job.
“All jobs are bloody, Miss Oliver. I did not have much planned to get back at the scum who killed my family. But you, however, seemed to have it all figured out on how to get back at the scum who killed yours.” He started to walk around in the room a bit, as his right hand went up to his chin as he began to contemplate, vocally. “Fact that you called for me leads me to believe I have something that you want. Something that would be incredibly useful for your plans.” He said as he continued his slow strides. “You already have the skills to carry out just about any job you want. Heck, you could probably afford a Klingon Negh’var with your wealth, and with this advanced AI, assuming she is AI after all, you could crew an entire starbase with holograms.” His stride soon stopped, right back where he began. “All I can think of is that we both have different sets of skills, maybe a few that are alike, but quite a bit of difference between us, so that would make us mutual partners in this relationship, or however you wish to call it.”
He appeared that he had just finished but then he snapped his fingers. “You want the relic that I found. My ship. Very clever.” He smirked before sighing.
Michelle quietly listened and pet the husky nearest her. Though he was correct in one sense he failed to see her big picture and that was ok with her. She never did like people to know everything.
“Well you are partially correct, but not completely regardless I have heard you’ve had some problems getting your ship restored. I am wanting to recruit your ship and you as a part of my team. The ship has a cloaking device and that is super useful to me.”
She stopped and stood motioning for him to follow her. The base looked different lit it was black but the bright blue lights and the screens down the corridor showed the true power that Michelle held in this base. She walked down each corridor knowing where she was headed, while the two dogs following her. She stopped in front of two massive double doors and input a code as well as a retinal scan before the doors slid open and the area revealed with a bright white light in an already white interior. This part of the base looked different and there was a reason for that. It was full of tools and parts, but not just any parts it was the exact parts Ajis needed.
“This should have all you need to repair your ship. As you can see there is a pad in the middle of the room. It rises up to the surface for quick departure and quick concealment. This base has many surprises, but that’s for another time. If you want to transfer your ship here it can be arranged. You also have access to these quarters.” She passed him a PADD “All your codes and information for the base is here.”
Michelle waited patiently for Ajis to process everything.
While Ajis was following her a moment ago, before all of this shiny reveal, he was going on about how the Cloaking Device was from the 23rd Century, and even with the modifications he made, it still was not as efficient and stable as the Cloaking Devices of the current century. Then he went to the power systems, how the main core was bone dry, hell he wasn’t even sure he could restore it, being that everything was built back in the 23rd century. But the moment he saw those doors and the interior of this massive room and the lift along with the explanation, he went from complaining about the likelihood of restoring the ship being nearly impossible to complete silence.
He looked at all the parts that were there, some that he could only get a glimpse from the distance until he was eyeing the PADD that she was handing to him. He took the PADD, looking at the codes, information, and even started to scroll through it, skimming the material before lowering the PADD and looking up at everything before looking right at her. “You got everything here. Even a medical plan, dental plan, pet insurance, villain secret underwater base insurance ….” He smirked, “I suppose there is a signup bonus as well.” He chuckled.
He took in a deep breath as he walked for a brief, looking at some of the parts. “Again…money really can buy everything.” He chuckled again then threw up his arms and dropped them to his side. “All right. You know me well.” He walked back to her while entering something onto the PADD before showing it to her. “These are the coordinates of the ship. The atmosphere is one of those…’ sometimes I like to hide things’ kind of thing. I only detected it when I crashed a shuttle onto that planet.” He pointed at another set of numbers. “Access code to deactivate the cloaking device. It isn’t perfect but, what or whoever you send, will likely still miss it if they can’t see it.”
To Be Continued….