Rally grimaced as she came to the grudging realization that there didn't seem to be many members of the educational profession on the station. It was rational, most of the people there were laborers, merchants and military personnel, most of whom had family back on Earth or various colonies.
It wasn't a colony, it was a station.
She wouldn't expect to find schools or teachers at a mining facility either.
There were only a handful of children of various ages and species, probably less than a hundred overall. At the moment, she had them on correspondence courses set up so that she could go online and monitor their progress on various subjects.
It was considered a viable alternative to school for those that lived out in space away from established and stable colonies. However, Rally would prefer that they had someone to talk to other than her about subjects.
"Excuse me," a voice asked from the doorway to Rally's little office. "Are you the investigator?"
Rally looked up from her papers and smiled in a friendly manner as she stood up and walked to her counter to look at this potential customer. The man, a Brakiri, looked a bit nervous and fidgety, probably the first time that he'd ever thought to need a private investigator.
"That's me," she said, gesturing for the man to come forward. "How can I help you?"
"I need you to find some...something," he said, looking around.
"All right," Rally said, her thoughts running toward hidden motives. "What would that be?"
He looked at her curiously for a moment, as if trying to decide what to think of her.
"You have experience at this sort of thing?" he asked.
"I can assure you that I've been an investigator and bounty hunter for close to twenty years," Rally said. "Barring the years of the Earth-Minbari war, during which I was a front line soldier."
The man blinked in surprise at that and Rally resisted a smirk. The Brakiri had been male dominated for generations and only relatively recent developments had changed that. Some of them still had a little bit of trouble accepting females as equals.
"I see," he said, coughing self-consciously. "You will of course keep this confidential."
"Barring a court order, yes," Rally said.
The Brakiri nodded and looked back over his shoulder.
"There's nothing illegal," he said. "Just...a bit embarrassing."
"All right," Rally said. "What's the issue?"
"I was...accosted while returning to my living quarters from work yesterday," he said.
"Have you reported this to station security?" Rally asked, frowning.
"No, no need for that," the Brakiri said. "I'd rather keep this situation...out of the public view. The criminals got away with a petty amount of cash and some jewelry, but they also took a data crystal."
"Uh huh," Rally said. "And do you want that data crystal returned or destroyed?"
"Returned," the man said quickly. "I have a business meeting soon for which that crystal is vital. Without it, I'll lose a profitable deal."
"Is it of use to anybody else?" Rally asked.
"No, my biometrics are the key to decrypt the information," he said. "It is basically show of trust and identity. Without me, the information is unobtainable, but if I lose the data crystal, then I'm obviously not a trustworthy business contact."
"So you want me to get the crystal back without anybody realizing that you've lost it," Rally reasoned.
"That's right," he said. "I don't have time to get someone from off station and you seem to be the only investigator on the station that is not one of the station security."
"Okay," Rally said. "What can you tell me about the guy who mugged you."
She took the man's name and wrote down the information. There were two thugs involved and one had used the other's name, at least a street name, "Grip".
That should be somewhat easy to track down.
She said good bye to her new client and turned to the little phone she carried to contact her girls.
It was only a pair of rings before Shanti answered the phone.
"Heya, Rally," she called happily and Rally looked to the background of the view and saw that she had gone back to arcade pretty much as soon as she was allowed out of the quarters.
"Kitten, I need you and your sister to watch the store for a bit," she said casually.
"Both of us?" Shanti asked.
"Both of you," Rally confirmed. "And, remember, messages, information..."
"Don't take orders, don't do any work," Shanti repeated with a sigh. "I know, I know."
"Good, Mr. Garibaldi's gun is ready and he might be over in the next little while," Rally said. "So I'll show the both of you where it is when you get here."
"There have been some rumors circulating around the Minbari on station," Na'Toth said.
"A Minbari rumor?" G'Kar said leaning forward curiously. "That's most unusual, they're usually a very tight-lipped people. What are they talking about then?"
"The rumor is about an Earth-Minbari war veteran," his aide said, handing over a data crystal for him to look over.
"Ah, that would be Sheridan," the ambassador said, waving the concern aside. "Everyone is well aware of their rather intense dislike for the fellow. This is nothing new."
"Actually, the person they're talking about is a Rally Vincent," Na'Toth explained.
G'Kar blinked and looked up toward his aide casually.
"Really, I've met the woman, what has she done to bring whispers against her?" he asked.
"They say that she's an Earthforce assassin," the ever pragmatic aide noted. "I looked into it."
"And what did you find?" G'Kar asked as he pulled up the information on the crystal. "Hmm, I might have to look into shopping today."
"Uh, Londo," Vir said nervously.
"What is it, Vir?" Londo asked, sighing as if facing a heavy frustration. "I'm busy. The Abbai are proving troublesome over one of our trade routes that apparently somewhat brushes past their territory. They apparently want us to pay fees or go around for merely skipping over a corner."
"Of course, sir," he said. "I just thought you might like to know that I think I've identified that human girl you mentioned."
"The what?" Londo asked.
"The human girl who you said interested the technomages?" Vir noted.
"Oh, yes, her," Londo noted with a nod. "Well, it is good to see that you are able to follow through on such minor, curiosity driven requests while I am trying to escape paying these amphibian vultures their little bribe."
"If you please, Londo," Vir said nervously. "I gave you a report on the Abbai situation already, the report is in your computer under the treaty files and I think you'll find that we are currently passing through Abbai space for three whole d..."
"Yes, Vir," the older centauri said irritably. "I'm aware of the numbers, why did you feel the need to put it into a report?"
"Because, that's what reports are for, to note down the facts," the ambassadorial aide noted.
"Vir, Vir, you always amaze me with your naivete," Londo said. "Facts are the last thing you want to place in a report. If you place a fact in a report, there's no way to deny it later."
"But what do you put in a report?" Vir asked.
"Nevermind, Vir, just tell me this information you found," the bombastic amabassador said. "Perhaps it might be an amusing diversion for a little bit."
"Well, her name is apparently Vivian Vincent," Vir said, opening his mouth to continue before Londo interrupted him.
"Oh great Maker what an unfortunate name," Londo said. "It sounds like someone stuttered as they were naming her."
"Maybe so," Vir said. "But her mother apparently runs a weapons shop in Red Sector, Gunsmith Cats. She's supposed to also be some sort of private investigator."
"Ah, yes," Londo said. "I know of this profession. They're basically licensed, freelance spies. It seems to be a tradition of the humans to use such agents to peek at their husbands and wives being unfaithful. Is there anything else? Anything that might explain what makes her unusual?"
"Not that I could..."
"Nevermind, Vir," Londo said standing up and grabbing his coat. "I think I'll shall pay a visit myself."
"But the Abbai..." Vir said.
"Just make sure we lose neither time nor money on the matter and you can handle it as you want," Londo said dismissively as he left the room.
Vir's mouth held open for several seconds after he was left alone.
"How do I..." Vir wondered before shaking his head. "Nevermind, I'll think of something."
Rally had left the Red Sector thirty five minutes ago, the people there still buzzing over the arrival of the Cortez. Probably the only explorer ship many of them would ever see. She had to see about giving the girls a chance to see it.
Something to tell their children about.
For the moment, however, as she entered the deeper parts of down below in search of this "Grip" and his partner, she was more concerned with her immediate surroundings than events of historical significance.
Until she found what she was looking for.
"Hello again," she said idly.
"Oh God," the thug said turning around to face her. "You're here again?"
"Yeah, I need directions," the bounty hunter noted, bringing out a credit chip. "Where can I find someone named 'Grip'?"
Finding Grip was a lot easier than she expected, the man was making no attempt at hiding. In fact, it seemed like he'd made a big deal of being something of headache for half the lurkers of Down Below. Nobody seemed to care too much about whether or not he got pinched or killed.
She'd been on easier jobs, but until the job was over, she was always more cautious when things got too easy.
The bounty hunter turned a corner and glanced over her shoulder towards the clattering of a sound. She waited momentarily and frowned as she waited for more to develop out of that sound before continuing onward.
Slowly the sound of a laughing, drunken voice singing wondered up through the halls and she started to track in on it until she came to see a weaving human sitting at a table with a scattering of items of miscellaneous variety including a gun case, several data crystals and assorted jewelry and credit chips.
Walking over cautiously, Rally pulled the gun case away from the insensate man and stopped as she recognized an engraving on one corner of the case. With narrowed eyes, she opened it to see a familiar weapon within.
Her CZ 75, a weapon nearly three hundred years old with only a few replacement parts and kept in religiously good working order. She'd left it behind on Mars so that Vivian wouldn't accidentally get her hands on it and see such things as Goldie in all her psychotic fury.
"Where'd you get this?" Rally demanded the dazed thug as she took it and checked it over quickly enough before sliding the fully loaded clip into its stock.
"Huh? It? Get this?" the man asked. "I get it good. I get it fine. Get it all the time."
Rally put the gun in the back of her pants and snatched the visible data crystals before turning and grabbing the drugged out thug by the collar.
"Where'd you get the gun?" she demanded looking around cautiously.
"Get the gun, hold the gun, keep the gun," the man muttered chuckling without any apparent concern up until the energy burst destroyed his face.
Rally rolled out of the way and into cover as she dropped the corpse and directed her gun towards the direction the blast had come from, hearing a stream of cursing Minbari as she did so.
She looked about her surroundings quickly muttering to herself as well, cursing herself with a muttered "this sucks."
"Was that shot meant for me?" she asked out loud.
"Don't paint me with your brush, assassin," the other person called out. "I am not part of your dirty profession, I am merely here to see honor done."
The Minbari she heard couldn't be the shooter, his voice was in entirely the wrong direction. That meant he was trying to distract her for his friend or friends.
Well, she could handle that.
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(Posted Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:33)
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