Miados stood, fuming, “I get out of here alive because you don’t want to invite the weight of an Excelsior II class starship down on you.”  She pointed at Captain Horat Rigilia, “You can’t possibly think to threaten me.”  Her symbiote was working overtime to figure out a way out of the situation.

Horat shrugged, “I don’t traffic in threats, Commander Miados.  I traffic in facts and action.  I’m amused they sent you and not someone we want.  They must think highly of you to send you here alone.”  He sneered the last line out, a dark smile filling his lips.

She returned a smile of her own, “Well, I’m not alone, Captain Rigilia.”  She walked to the door console and quickly tapped out an override code, which beeped affirmatively, and the door slid smoothly open.  “Miados was an engineer for sixty years.”  She walked through the door and down the hallway.

A sputtering Horat walked quickly after her, “Wait…you weren’t…where are you going?”

She shrugged as she rounded a corner into the main promenade, where the crowds were abundant.  She turned to him, “I don’t think Administrator Fields is off planet at all.  I think you’ve managed to trick some good people into thinking you’re someone else.”  She waved behind the Syndicate captain.  Two security officers soon joined her.  “This is Lieutenants Barzo and V’Luth.  They’ve been…how would you put it, Barzo?”

She smiled widely, “Skulking, sir.  We’ve been skulking.”

V’Luth disagreed, “Investigating, Commander.  We’ve been investigating.”

Barzo muttered, “I liked my version better.”

Miados felt a kinship with the Bajoran officer but pressed forward, “What have you found?”

The Vulcan security officer reported, “No one recalls Fields leaving the station in the last week or before.  The computer did not initially register the life sign of the administrator.  His signature had been programmed out three days ago.  The modifications made were crude and identified immediately.”

Barzo relayed the rest.  They had a lock on Fields and had dispatched a security team from the Mackenzie to retrieve him from where he was being held.  He looked past Miados, “And…there they come now.” Administrator Fields was a tall Klingon, broad-shouldered and severe-looking.  He was outpacing the security detail by several steps and barreled directly for Rigilia.

“This honorless Romulan tricked me into a false trade deal meeting.”  He leaned over the considerably shorter Horat, “I would rip you limb from limb…and beat your body into bloody entrails.  However…the cleanup and insurance paperwork would cost far too much.  And your life is not worth half of that.”  He huffed a deep bass growl that pushed everyone a few inches back, “I have entrusted these honorable officers with your fate.  Maybe they can afford to dismember you. Or toss you out of an airlock.”  He slightly bowed to the Starfleet officers and stalked away, shouting for his assistant.

Miados shook her head, “You don’t see that every day.  Barzo, V’luth – take him into custody and secure him in the brig.  Captain Walton will decide what to do with him.”

Walton sat on the couch, listening to the final parts of the report from Chief Miados.  It was curious that Patra had sent not one but two after her.  Both were now in custody.  She was left to wonder what the point of it all was.  She asked that question once her newest officer finished speaking.

Park sat just the couch from her, puzzlement on her face.  “Wren…I wonder if the plan was to get both of these guys on our ship and for them to do something.  Every single file I’ve read on Patra suggests he’s not a fool in his planning.  His goals were genocide and destruction on a system-wide scale.  It was too easy with Gregor…and it was far too easy with Riglia.”

Wren could see the argument her executive officer was constructing.  There was relief that Gregor was in Starfleet Security’s custody.  She returned to Miados, “Commander…you think it was too easy?”

The Trill felt her symbiote push.  “I don’t think Riglia knows his part in whatever Patra has planned.  He didn’t expect me to break out, and he didn’t expect our security officers to expose him as quickly as they did.  I think he thought he would get one of the crew he was looking for and that he would just…take them.”  She held a PADD, “We did covert scans on the transport ships orbiting the station.  Six in total. There are some unusual power readings on five of them and some cosmetic work that looks like they’re hiding a few things on the ships.

Park tapped at her PADD, “Riglia’s daughter is still a wild card – they usually work together.”

Walton could only shake her head.  It was a perfect storm of confusion and concern.  They’d have to clear the sector first.  Leaving the station with a possible threat hanging above them wasn’t acceptable to her.  They still needed a lead on Patra.  She stood, and Park did as well.  “Park, put Barzo and V’luth on the station case.  I wonder if more of the Syndicate is hiding in plain sight or just out of sight somewhere.  Chief – work with Thasaz on those ships.  Restrict crew from taking leave on the station…until I know where we stand, I need to keep our people safe.”