1045: Corrosion: Two

By Captain William Lindsay
100218.01
Following Part One

-=Headquarters of Temporal Investigations: Earth=-

Seated in his office, Tucker Brody sat still as a statue in the chair at his desk. His expression was cold and unemotional, apparently completely unresponsive to the threat to his own safety he’d just overheard.

The voices had been as familiar as they were clear but as he heard the sound of the door finally closing as the three finally left the room he realised he’d not be hearing anything more useful than that foolish barkeeper clearing up the mess they’d made.

Finally he reached onto his desk and deactivated the receiver, then leant back to stop and think, ignoring all of the chaos around him.

That chaos came from the two other men who were seated across from him. They, like him, had come here to listen to the feed from equipment hidden in the bar where they’d learned Lindsay would be but that was where the similarities ended.

One of these men was Lieutenant Commander Mitchell. He was the second in command of security, not that position or rank had a whole lot of meaning in this situation now.

Brody could sum up Mitchell’s psychology pretty easily; he was a weak man who wanted too much. At least, Brody thought, Mitchell was smart enough to know that he’d never achieve now the position he’d hoped for starting out.

With the apparently infallible Paul Andrews above him and with the rate at which his once muscular chest had fallen to a now far from muscular stomach, Mitchell would be asked to retire long before he gained another promotion. So he’d let himself be swayed by promises of advantages he could gain here that he couldn’t through the official channels. In short he was simply a man on the decline and he’d let himself run out of options. Brody considered it pathetic.

“I knew Jamieson was a mistake,” Mitchell protested in a panic, sweat beginning to disgustingly drench his brow as he muttered to himself like a fool thinking anyone cared to listen. “God, why didn’t I just retire? I should have retired…”

“I think you were a mistake,” the third man spat, making no secret that he shared Brody’s distaste for Mitchell. At least he would if he could really understand it.

This third man was Lieutenant Peterson, yet to even reach thirty but with cockiness far beyond what he could have earned in his years as a jumper pilot, and with no patience for old men or their worries. In fact, everything about him screamed of how little time he felt he had to spare from the way he’d anxiously crossed his arms and legs throughout the meeting from how his hair was gelled down because he just couldn’t care to try to force it into place in the mornings. He was a man who got things done whatever way was the quickest.

These were not the best of qualities for an ally but for someone you could control without them realising it, they really couldn’t be beaten.

Of course, he had his own reasons for why he thought he’d decided to be part of this even though the decision was made far above his station. He was determined he would never end up like Mitchell and as little respect as he had for the man, or indeed any other, he accepted that as long as Jonas Vox was out it was better to be with Brody; at least through Brody his voice could be heard. Little did he know how much more often it was Brody telling him what to say in the first place.

“I should have retired,” Mitchell still continued to protest at a mumble until eventually Peterson snapped at him.

“Just let me think!” He shouted with his arms in the air in frustration and then Mitchell turned quiet.

It was easy to read that he momentarily thought of fighting back but he had no fight left in him. Once someone of Peterson’s rank would never have dared speak to him like that and he’d never have let him but as their numbers had grown the meaning of his rank in the official channels had shrunk to be replaced with the power he held here.

He held no real power, though, and so often he longed for the simpler times when he was just a little bit of a failure. He’d had his family and his small circle of friends and nothing else to really worry about. He’d had no idea back then what he had. Still, Brody really didn’t care about his suffering.

Brody really couldn’t for that matter have cared at all what the other two men were doing. They may have been relatively influential but there were many more involved who could replace them.

Brody had his priorities: namely Zanh Liis and getting rid of Lindsay’s evidence, though at the moment not in that order. In fact he seemed completely lost in thought, unable to even hear the others’ irritating words, until Mitchell again suggested something.

“I don’t care what she said. We need to contact her. She’ll know what to do.”

Now Brody snapped back to attention, infuriated by the fact that Mitchell even thought it.

“No, we don’t,” he coldly insisted, his calm finally penetrated by a hint of disgust as his face turned to a scowl. “We didn’t need Vox, we certainly don’t need her.”

“Yeah, then what do we need?” Peterson snorted, simply angry in general and lacking the ability to recognise at what.

“Everything Lindsay has relies on Jamieson. We need get to get to him before he can give them anything more,” Brody replied, as he considered how this could be done.

Then a slightly proud smile formed upon on his face as he recalled a precaution he’d taken by having tracking devices included in Abberton and Frawley’s weapons, which according to the readings on the computer terminal before him hadn’t been beamed with them onto the Serendipity.

-=/\=-

Having gotten far enough away from the bar, Will gave Liis the location and soon they rematerialised to find themselves between unfamiliar walls. They were once again technically on TI property. It wasn’t the most glamorous or the most well known area under their influence but it was one that once upon a time most agents had at least seen before.

It was not part of the actual main building but from a global perspective it was something between the garage and the basement of Temporal Investigations. Much of the actual bulk of TI’s operations were based beneath the ground of the official building but, even though on a different site outside the city, this was based below all the rest.

It was a huge open space that stretched as far as the eye could see but it was far from the opulence of most of headquarters. The cold, uncarpeted floor created loud, echoing thumps with the initial strike of their boots as they each took a single tentative step forward. The far apart lights overhead seemed just too pitifully diluted by the sheer size of this room; mixed with a cavernous emptiness that could be so overpowering it gave the feeling of a giant, twentieth century parking garage long since abandoned.

Once this was the heart of new technological developments in TI. They’d build entire ships here then they’d cloak them and take them out from the grounds far outside of the city. However over time as the department had grown in power and influence they’d moved almost all ship construction either off planet or at the very least somewhere less likely to offend an Admiral’s eyes.

The last noteworthy ship constructed here was the USS Poseidon, a failed attempt at building a jump ship to support a crew of over a hundred; a feat according to many still far ahead of its time and that was over thirty years ago now.

According to the records it was still down here. It seemed no one even cared to look here anymore though as those who’d so master time cared little for history; even or perhaps especially their own.

The majority of the equipment had been stripped away as had the entire staff save those to monitor it for security. Most people could barely even remember this place any longer and with all of the developments recently it had seemed less and less significant.

It was now little more than an elephant graveyard for old abandoned projects that it’d been decided were still too dangerous to risk leaving where someone could see them and not worth destroying. Though those ships were relatively few, to see them in various states of assembly, littering the ground like this was still enough to make this place feel like it was somewhere things came to die; even things that had never truly had a chance to live.

It was not however dead as was signaled by the fact that immediately upon their intrusion a deafening alarm began and all the lighting in this huge space started flashing in protest.

“Recognise Lindsay, 6-2-5-Gamma-Delta-Beta.” Will announced, identifying himself to the room to make it forgive their unscheduled transport, and finally the lights returned to normal and the room faded back to silence. This was a large part of why he’d selected this particular location because no one ever scheduled transport down here and since anyone without a good reason to come here wouldn’t want to give their authorisation which the turbolifts from the structure above also required it was a fairly safe place to be. It was by no means perfect, people with the right skills could override these things and come here unseen, but it was better than nothing.

Satisfied that things were as they should be, or at least as close as they could be at a time like this, Will indicated a nearby door built into the massive wall behind them.

“This way. Used to be the office of the man in charge here, though is now unmanned most of the time. If he’s decided ta behave Jamieson should be in here.”

“I’ll go first, yeah?” Keiran asked, as the look in Liis’ eye said that being shot at and discovering their association with Brody had done nothing to reduce her thirst to inflict serious injury on any given member of this conspiracy.

Will nodded his agreement.

Liis did not.

“I’m coming with you,” she announced. It was clearly not a request.

“Liis,” Keiran started to object but he realised it was utterly pointless.

With everything she knew and all that had already happened there was simply no way she was going to be willing to stand back now. Keiran knew her better than to ask again.

“In that case we’d best all go together,” Will suggested, cutting in. “I need ta make sure ya don’t do too much damage ta meh major asset.”

He was only half joking, and Liis knew him well enough now to recognise it. She also knew herself well enough now to recognise that when she knew how many people had been hurt already and that this man was somehow involved, even if only through just standing by and doing nothing, Will was right to be worried.

Accepting what he’d said, Liis then began to approach the door. Before she arrived it suddenly burst open to reveal they were yet again staring down the barrel of a phaser. This time however the phaser was gripped awkwardly and much tighter by a man who looked terrified just to hold it.

His hands were shaking and his eyes were wide as he desperately tried to decide whether Liis or Keiran was the better target. With the anxious heaving of his chest they could well have decided just to do nothing and to wait until he collapsed before them.

None of them however were in quite the mood to do nothing.

“Damn it, Jamieson, put that down,” Will growled at him, never one to mind a life and death situation when it was just him but having little patience for people who put his friends in danger even if just that of a shaky trigger finger.

“Who the hell are they?” Jamieson asked referring to Will’s two companions, shifting the weapon back so quickly it barely had a chance to focus on either of them.

“They’re…” Will started to explain but Liis really wasn’t in the mood for putting up with this man’s paranoia. Angrily she launched herself towards him before he had a chance to react and in one quick motion she yanked his arm behind his back, spinning him around and slamming him face first into the wall.

“We’re the people you really don’t want to make enemies of,” Liis advised as she prevented him from moving, twisting his arm until his hand finally let the weapon fall to the ground. “We’re also the ones you’re going to help out by telling us everything you know.” At the first opportunity she kicked Jamieson’s weapon away.

“I’d advise ya to listen to this one,” Keiran calmly warned him. “Ya really shouldn’a made her angry.”

A small yelp of pain emanated from Jamieson, who in spite of being able to rival Keiran in height with his lanky frame and lack of training had absolutely no chance of forcing his way out of this position.

“I can’t. There are some names only I’d have. They’ll kill me if they find out it was me who’s been helping you,” He cried, but his pleas did absolutely nothing for Liis’ patience.

“They already know,” Will hurriedly informed him and now Jamieson really started to panic, desperately trying to squirm his way from Liis’ grip as if he had anywhere to run.

“How the hell could they know?” He continued to resist as much as he could with his cheek still forced against the wall.

“I really don’ think that matters,” Will replied, though in truth he just didn’t want to tell him he’d accidentally given that information away. “The point is that we’re now yer only chance of makin’ it out of this with all yer parts still attached.”

Jamieson continued to struggle both on the outside and in, as his breaths became more rapid and he still fought with utter futility to get away. Finally though he realised that he had no more choices here.

“Alright!” He screamed, hoping just to get this done with. “I knew this day might come. There’s a PADD in the office. It’s on the desk.”

Jamieson did his best to gesture inside.

Slowly and cautiously, Keiran stepped around him and into the depressingly cramped and poorly lit space that could still be technically called an office to find there was indeed a PADD where Jamieson had said it’d be. He picked it up and started to look through it.

“Nothin’ here,” Keiran observed as he returned with the item on hand, leading Liis to twist Jamieson’s arm that much more painfully.

“There is!” Jamieson loudly whined. “There’s information on there about every major player, not just Brody. It’s just encrypted. In a couple of months you could probably crack it but there’s no need. All you need is the password.”

“That so? And what’s it gonna take fer you to give us that?” Will asked impatiently, knowing in the past Jamieson had rarely made this easy.

“Just keep me alive!” Jamieson rasped between panicked breaths, his wide eyes showing this was really all he cared for now.

Finding his terms acceptable Liis finally released him, turning him around, and quietly but strongly advising “Don’t ever pull a weapon on me again.”

Slowly rubbing his sore jaw, Jamieson shook his head that he wouldn’t, feeling he was probably a hell of a lot safer now he had Liis on his side all things considered.

Little did he know that the short range tracking devices unintentionally carried into this place had just finally been located again.

“This better contain the name of the man in charge,” Will advised Jamieson as Keiran handed the PADD to him. “Otherwise…”

Before he could finish Will was suddenly interrupted by a screaming alarm as every light in the structure again started flashing. Instinctively he turned to see who it was that had intruded, but then rapidly he turned back to find Jamieson starting to dematerialise. He was fighting against it in agony in a way some with the correct training and strength could but Jamieson clearly wasn’t one of them.

“It’s not a…!” he managed in his desperation to scream, before he disappeared completely.

Looking at an empty wall where his one final lead had been and suddenly putting pieces he’d missed before together, now Will was really getting angry and was almost ready to punch a hole through the wall where the man had been. Rapidly and heavily he exhaled as he realised this utter betrayal.

“Damn!” He swore but instead of punching anything he decided to channel it into a sudden determination.

By the end of this day, this corruption was coming to an end.

Captain William Lindsay
Interim Director
Temporal Investigations