[SE] LtCmdr Sky Blake, "Of Pirates and Liars." (Part 2)

[Deliera Jay]

((Pinator Bay))

::With instruction to stay in the shuttle, Sky left the pirate captain Rhys Pine behind as she tracked whomever flagged her search.

::In hindsight, tracking such a thing was foolish, because she knew she was right when she told Pine there could have been a thousand different reasons why another officer had flagged such a thing - why would it matter? Maybe they were looking for the same thing, having noted pieces of misinformation on the marshals part.

::When she pressed the chime on the door of this small cabin, she was greeted with an Andorian woman.::

Shei'saur: Can I help you?

Blake: I'm Lieutenant Commander Sky-

Shei'saur: Sky Blake. ::She interrupted.:: Yes, I know. Come in.

::The Andorian waved Sky into the cabin. Small, studio-esq and outfitted with temporary Starfleet equipment, typical of officers requiring somewhat of a base out here in the Shoals. When she looked at the woman again, Sky had realized that she'd failed to note the Starfleet jacket the other had been wearing.

::It had been months since she'd actually seen a uniform worn properly, let alone just loosely hanging off the shoulders of this Andorian stranger.::

Shei'saur: I'm Lieutenant Shei'saur - the intelligence officer based here on Shadow's Edge.

::Sky gave her a curious look.::

Blake: Nobody told me about you.

Shei'saur: I was posted here a week ago. As far as I know, they've sent word, but knowing the communications problem here, it'll probably be another few days before you get official word about it.

::Not only did the Shoals hinder warp travel, but it also slowed communications to a crawl - something Tristam Core was tasked with improving. Starfleet could send priority orders to someone here on Shadow's Edge, and they wouldn't receive them until it was three days too late. It was logical they'd post an intelligence officer out here, if only to try and boost communications between all officers instead of relying on the slow and unreliable communications through the distorted subspace of the Shoals.::

Blake: Welcome to pirate space. Now why'd you flag my search?

::Shei'saur seemed rather shocked at Sky's sudden change in subject, though was quickly back on track.::

Shei'saur: An honest mistake. I was tagging it to look at later. That, and I didn't know who you were at the time. Now I have an officer's manifest for those posted in this area and was able to grab more information on Pinator Bay. I got dropped off here to coordinate between everyone and everything and have been racing to catch up ever since.

Blake: An officer's manifest?

::Not even *Sky* knew who else was around Edge space, let alone on Shadow's Edge. This was the first she'd heard of another officer other then Shrmoa here.::

::But quickly picking up on Sky's train of thought, Shei'saur handed her a PADD with only a few categories and a short list of names in each tab.

::Or, rather, three categories, each with around one to two officers. Her name was, in fact, listed in *two* categories. Weird.::

Shei'saur: You're a Veritas officer, right? What's their FO doing out here?

Blake: Your records are way out of date. I'm with the Rangers now.

Shei'saur: They've got *two* of you people working out here? Last I heard, your kind didn't buddy up often - not that you can't work with each other, of course.

Blake: I'm replacing Cormac.

Shei'saur: Right. My apologies. I guess you're here about the Pinator Bay incident?

Blake:::nodding:: I have a . . . ship captain, who claims marshals may have sabotaged his vessel.

Shei'saur: He got proof?

Blake: Port's security tapes.

::There was silence for a few seconds as Shei'saur stared at Blake.::

Shei'saur: So what do you want from *me*?

Blake: Three suspects. ::She pulled a small PADD out from her jacket pocket, dropping it onto the desk.:: I need you to keep tabs on them.

Shei'saur: How do you expect me to do *that*? I'm not tapped into any surveillance systems - I'm not a technological wizard. That's not what I do here.

Blake: Find out who they are - the minute their faces pass through Marshal's border security, I want to know about it. Flight plans on their vessel, possible associates, anything that gives me an idea of who they are, who they're working for or with, and how much of a problem I need to consider them.

Shei'saur: Is this even in our jurisdiction?

::Sky sighed, rubbing her eyes.::

Blake: Yes. The case got handed to me.

::The Andorian gave her a suspicious glance before frowning, emitting a slight huff.::

Shei'saur: I'll have to coordinate with the Marshals-

Blake: Good. That's what we're here to do. In the meantime, I'll have my . . . witness work with the computer, come up with a sketch of the guy he dealt with. Maybe you'll be able to cross-reference it with someone or something.

((ECLM))

::Despite her initial distaste for traveling absurdly short amounts of time between Cakapunnual and Edira City by shuttle, she got used to it - the waste of resources aside, she was still not authorized for site to site transports as of yet. And it was handy that the Cakapunnual staff had decided to supply her with a more permanent shipping-container home, inadvertently helping her hide and accommodate the pirate captain Rhys Pine whilst he came up with some kind of portrait from memory.::

::She was having a good day, until Shei'saur found a Marshal tracker placed on her shuttle.::

::Blake didn't panic. She didn't bother moving Pine - because she knew for a fact that nobody knew he was there, that Sky had retrieved him. All of her tracks, save her going to Shei'saur, were of her usual destinations, if not a few kilometres away. But even if they thought she had him somewhere, panicking and smuggling him elsewhere would simply cause more suspicion.::

::No, instead she stormed into the Edira City local marshal's building and slammed the tracker she pulled off her ship onto Ranjoes' desk.::

Blake: You're *tracking me*?

::For once, Ranjoes looked genuinely surprised.::

Ranjoes: I beg your pardon?

Blake: I just pulled this off of my ship. I know you people struggle to trust Starfleet, but this takes this arrangement to a whole new low.

Ranjoes: I didn't authorize any such thing. If a marshal placed this onto your vessel, it wasn't anyone from here.

Blake: Then *find out who*. They just passed into Starfleet jurisdiction.

::These were Ranjoes' people. If the woman didn't know what was happening right under her own nose, then at least she'd been made aware of it.::

Ranjoes: You threatening me, Blake?

Blake: I'm drawing the line in the sand. Respect it. We're supposed to be working together.

Tbc. . .

LtCmdr Sky Blake

Ranger

USS Veritas.