Falco_Tauvits
Junior Member
BlueMan
Posts: 95
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OFF: Just a little warning. Tauvits is here as a civilian. He dresses in civilian clothing, wears no rank insignia or comm badge, and according to absolutely everyone is a former Admiral who suffered a dishonourable discharge and has last been seen lurking on his own Klingon BoP and making contact with some rather disreputable individuals. Although he hasn't committed any crimes yet, he's not a shiny Admiral. Those who know about the truth of his mission - well, you know if you know, because I'll have told you. I'm just stating this here, nice and early, because I'm sure somebody will describe him as a man with blue skin wearing an admiral's uniform at some point in the tournament, and I'd like to avoid that. Tauvits = suspicious mercenary, as far as you are all concerned.
Thank you. Now, on with the show.
ON:
<SS Starlit Venture>
Tauvits stepped through the shuddering doors of the heavy old freighter and in to the thingypit, fairly oblivious to the dim lighting, grungy surfaces and faint, musty smell of sweat and time and all manner of cargo being hauled across the galaxy for the fifty years this ancient hauler had to have seen service. Once upon a time he would have turned up his nose at such a surroundings, but after nearly six months of dealing with the Theseus, he was quite used to a life far away from shiny starships and clean conditions. In fact, as he eased himself into the empty co-pilot's chair, he was quite pleased to find the padding much more intact than that on the Theseus herself, having not seen quite so much wear and tear over the ages, not with this ship being helmed by the independent operator now seated at the controls.
Jal Havik was a tall, lean man well known in his particular circles as being one of the finest smugglers this side of the Sol system. All records on him had stated that he operated independently, doing whatever work suited him for whatever price, and yet when Cyrus Doyle had arranged Tauvits transport to Xavier Fleet Yards, Havik had been the first one he'd called. There were many people in Starfleet Security who would be most interested to know Havik's true allegiance lay with the crime lord rather than purely himself, but Tauvits was loath to feed that little morsel of information back to his contacts in the Fleet. After all, that would only bring down Havik himself, ultimately, and then questions would be asked as to who leaked certain facts. Tauvits' cover was far too important to be risked on a lowly smuggler.
Especially, he reasoned, one as generally harmless as Jal Havik. Tauvits had learnt a long time ago that there were degrees of criminality. Havik wasn't in the same league as Head of the Dark Sun Coalition Cyrus Doyle, not by a long shot. He didn't give Tauvits the creeps quite in that way which left his skin crawling, and the two of them had in fact enjoyed each others' company on the long haul to Xavier from Jaressi Centre. Once upon a time, Tauvits might have felt guilty for enjoying the company of a wanted man, but in his current circumstances there wasn't room enough for guilt over such minor issues.
"We should be there in a few minutes. Got enough beaty sleep, did you?" Havik gave Tauvits a wry sideways glance as the blue-skinned man rubbed his eyes wearily.
"Hardly. The bunks on this piece of junk are worse than Klingon sleeping pads," Tauvits replied quickly, wearing his own smirk. Such sniping at the Starlit Venture had been par for the course the entire journey, and just because they were approaching Xavier didn't mean it would stop there.
"Well, you can enjoy a comfy little Federation bed for the next few days, can't ya." Havik gave him a lop-sided grin. "Get all soft on us before you return to the triangle and you'll have to learn all over again just how to stop being a Starfleet softie."
Tauvits' smile faded a little as he stared through the viewport. "I forgot that one a long time ago. It'll take more than a few days for it to come back to me." He gave a faint sigh.
Havik shrugged. "You got everything? Clothes, gear, pointy-stick?"
"It's in the back." Tauvits jerked his head towards the door. "I'm assuming the cargo Doyle wanted you to bring here isn't illegal, because it won't look good if I'm brought in on a freighter full of contraband."
"Nah, it's fine. Well, at least, I assume it's fine. And it's not for Doyle's sake, it's for some science-type on the station." Havik leaned back, resting his hands behind his head and sticking his feet up on the console as he waited. His eyes half-closed, yet they still attentively regarded the lights and reports behind the facade of relaxation. "Nothing for you to worry about."
"I'm here for suspicious enough reasons without drawing attention." Tauvits gave another faint sigh. "I sort of wish this were just a little holiday, like I'm claiming."
"Well, don't. You got a job to do, Blue, so you might as well stop dreaming." The edge in Havik's voice reminded him, as he'd occasionally needed to be reminded before, that the expert smuggler was indeed Cyrus Doyle's man. "You're only going to be needing two things on this job. Your weapon, and that datapad."
"I've got rid of that precious PADD already," Tauvits grumbled. "I'm not some rookie, Havik. Give me a little credit. I'm not walking into my location carrying PADDs with information on someone I'm meant to take down. That's just all kinds of suspicious."
"Just testin' ya." Havik grinned, looking casual again. "Mister Doyle expects Forrest to no longer be an issue by the time this little gig is over. He won't be pleased if the man's still up and about."
"I'd have thought he'd be trying to get Forrest to feed him information, not sending a hitman," Tauvits commented.
"Forrest's allegiance was to Doyle junior. Pretty exclusively." Havik paused, straightening up and checking consoles. "Cyrus Doyle did approach the fella, but he declined."
"Enter me, someone who won't immediately set off the alarms as a potential threat," Tauvits recapped blandly.
"Especially seing as Forrest don't know you be knowing about his links to Marcus Doyle and the Kahless Blades," Havik said, nodding.
"Yes. Those connections. Commander Forrest and I will have to be chatting about those rather soon, I believe." Tauvits' expression darkened as he gazed out of the viewport.
The Starlit Venture dropped out of warp, finally, landing them in a sea of traffic around the massive expanse which was the Xavier Fleet Yards complex. The Starfleet vessels, coming in all manner of sizes, set off pangs of nostalgia and yet a little fear in Tauvits' heart. He remembered when he could look at a fleet of the Federation's finest with pride, and yet it was now becoming instinctive for him to flee at the sign of Starfleet authority. No pirate was he truly, but his undercover was deep enough that he couldn't exactly wave away an errant patrol that could still spell at least the end of his operation.
Havik directed the Venture over towards the much slower line of civilian traffic, and leaned back again, his feet returning to their place on the console. "Don't talk. Just cap the bastard. Vengeance don't need to be so chatty."
"I suppose you're right."
Tauvits had no intention of listening to him. After he'd found himself and his crew indebted to Cyrus Doyle - by his own foolish mistake, no less - the Theseus had been sent off for a little job to Starbase 316, an interesting escapade which would lead to prices being placed on their heads by the Federation and possibly the Klingons, confirming to the world their criminal intentions. But Doyle had found a slightly different job for Tauvits.
The 'Thunderchild Incident', as the catastrophe of a year ago had been called, was mired in secrets of many levels. It was not, as Tauvits had originally thought, pure dumb pirate luck and cunning planning killing a good crew. The Kahless Blades had been good, but not quite that good. Not good enough to jump a Starfleet vessel approaching a location it itself had hardly known. Chris Sanders had told him of whisperings in the echelons of Security of leaks and traitors, and Doyle had leant credence to these rumours. So Adrian Forrest had entered the picture, a Commander in Starfleet, aiding criminal elements that neither the Federation nor Cyrus Doyle had wanted to see aiding, the former perceiving them as foes, the latter as rivals. Doyle wanted the man gone, which was hard when the fact that Forrest was a Commander with often a lot of security surrounding him was taken into account.
But he was also going to be at the famed Annual betleH Tournament. And Doyle had just had a skilled man fall into his hands who had both a reason to be in the same place at the same time as Forrest... and motivation to eliminate the threat he posed.
Tauvits' job demanded he assassinate Forrest. His anger demanded he kill the man bloodily and brutally. But his duty demanded he discover the truth, and his morality - that slippery, rapidly escaping concent - demanded he at least contemplate matters before charging forward. He didn't know what he was going to do about Forrest, but he also knew that to let the man walk away from the Tournament unscathed could mean the end of the Theseus' connections to Cyrus Doyle, which could spell the death of the entire project.
He'd made himself no promises either way. Only that he'd find out the truth, and go from there.
He wasn't sure he trusted himself to not murder Forrest with his own bare hands if it turned out the man had leaked the date on the Thunderchild to the Kahless Blades pirates. Would he ever truly avenge his crew? Or would he be doomed to chase shadow after shadow for his vengeance?
Then, after all, there was the fact that he did get to return to the betleH tournament in the deal. Last year, he'd come as an empty shell of a man searching for reason. This year, he had too many reasons, all conflicting with each other. And although he was here to do a job, and a rather gruesome one at that, he never underestimated just how important it was to allow himself to step away from the grim oppression of his everyday life and escape to brighter moments where his brain and heart could breathe freely.
A handful of days was all he had, but it would be enough for him to get back on track. Unless this business with Forrest doomed him.
The comm systems squawked to life, and Havik lazily knocked them active with a tap of his boot, not shifting from his relaxed posture.
"Unknown Freighter, this is Xavier Fleet Yards control. Please state your name and purpose." As far back in the queue of ships as they were, it seemed there was still efficiency on the station.
Havik sighed slightly. "Xavier, this is the Freighter Starlit Venture, requesting docking permission to unload cargo and a passenger for the bat'leth" - he pronounced the name of the Klingon weapon with a heavily Federationised accent - "competition. Strictly business, luv."
Tauvits had never been to Xavier Fleet Yards before, though he was impressed by the size of the place. It might be more pleasant than Klach D'kel Brakt of last year.
Last year. When he'd arrived with one Major Wood in tow. Wood, who not a week ago he'd seen dead for a treachery he'd never understood. Had Robert Wood been a cohort of Adrian Forrest's? Had he been lost to them, even that long ago? Was he another name on the list of those slain in the quest to avenge a dead crew? Tauvits tried to shove such morbid thoughts from his mind, and concentrated on the comm banter between Havik and XFY control.
"Just a berth big enough for this lady would be good enough, luv. Not asking for anything too luxurious. I'm sure you can spare the room. I know it's busy days, but it'll only be a coupla hours, I swear." Havik was now sitting up, manoeuvering the Starlit Venture through the civilian traffic in the area, towards the station.
There was a pause, and the female voice of XFY control sounded rather irked when it returned. "Venture, you are clear to dock at Xavier Fleet Yards. Transmitting co-ordinates and docking information right now. Stand by."
A few bleeps rattled around the ancient cockpit, and Havik grinned after checking the console. "That there's splendid. Thanks, luvvie."
"You're welcome. Xavier out." There was no warmth in the acceptance of thanks, and the comm system died immediately after.
"You do have a way with women, don't you, Havik," Tauvits murmured wryly, leaning back in his own chair. "Why, it's amazing you still fly this bucket of bolts solo."
"The only lady in my life's the Venture herself, Blue." Havik chuckled as he urged the aged freighter forwards, the ship moving more nimbly than would have been expected.
"That, I suppose I can relate to," Tauvits responded wryly.
"I thought you were bedding that doc of yours?"
He bristled a little, but succeeded at hiding it. "No. No, I'm not."
"Ah. Touchy subject." Havik turned his attention back to the docking at hand. "You might want to go and gather your kit. I want you off this ship the moment we land so I can deal with the cargo. And don't annoy me, or I might just have to push you out of the airlock just before we're quite there."
Tauvits chuckled, standing and heading towards the back, which led to the small sleeping and living areas and then the plethora of tubes giving access to the cargo space and various areas of the ship's systems for repair work. "You're a bastard, Havik," he said, still grinning as he stepped out.
"Love you too, Blue."
No, Havik might annoy him occasionally, and Tauvits might have been here to do a job that meant bringing down criminal groups which kept the smuggler in business, but for all of his arguments about not wasting leads on small-fry like the skipper of the Starlit Venture, he wasn't going to turn the man in because he genuinely liked him.
A rather dangerous act of mercy, potentially, considering his work. He'd just have to remember to not be quite so merciful when dealing with one Adrian Forrest. Should he be guilty.
No, Tauvits had much more on his mind than a betleH competition these few days. Not that he intended to sell himself short on that matter, either. Little cleared his mind better than fencing, and his was a mind which needed a lot of clearing.
OFF:
Edit: Oh, hell. By the time I finish writing this bloody post, there's a whole new section open for the posts...
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Arrival: Tauvits (Read 441 times)
