Breaking Protocol, part 1

[tygati]

*grin* Okay. So. This story is set in maderr's Kidnapped 'verse and there are several cameos by characters both from the main arc and the Bangkok side-stories, so be sure you've read those. ;)

Maderr also titled it for me. ^__^ And no, it's not yet finished, but I hit the 20 page limit for Livejournal so figured I'd post part one. ;)

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Combat Class Star Ship 19325208, The Scythe

"Captain, incoming transmission. Priority encoding."

Captain Lehennin frowned, sitting up straighter in his chair and adjusting his dark grey uniform to smooth out a few wrinkles. "Put it on the main screen."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later the screen flickered to life, revealing a handsome, middle-aged man with white-blond hair and pale blue eyes. He was clad in the silver-trimmed black formal uniform of the Infinitum Government. At the moment he seemed tense, knuckles nearly white as he gripped a crystal water glass.

The moment the image appeared the rest of the crew matched him in tenseness, for a call from the High Chancellor could only mean trouble. Sigma subtly studied the man as he stood just to the side of Captain Lehennin's chair, hands clasped calmly behind his back. He'd seen High Chancellor Kavalerov many times in news casts and transmissions, though this was the first time the man had ever contacted the Scythe directly, and he couldn't remember Kavalerov ever looking quite so... worried. Serious, yes. Authoritative, yes. But whatever the problem was, it had to be rather severe to ruffle the normally cool High Chancellor.

"High Chancellor," Captain Lehennin greeted neutrally.

"Captain Lehennin Grahan," Kavalerov returned, and Sigma almost frowned at the odd undercurrent to his voice. "You and your crew will proceed immediately to Bangkok."

Captain Lehennin blinked and Sigma didn't even need to see him to visualize the surprise on his face. "Bangkok?" he repeated. "But Bangkok is..."

"As I'm certain you're aware, the Infinitum Government has been having difficulties lately with a certain set of revolutionaries," Kavalerov continued tightly. "We have been unable to locate their stronghold, and negotiations for the return of the prisoners they've been taking have been slow. Still, things were not a serious problem until yesterday."

The High Chancellor frowned, glancing down at his desk briefly before looking back up at the screen. "An IG consultant vacationing on Bangkok has gone missing, and all evidence indicates that he may have been kidnapped by the revolutionaries as much as three weeks ago. It is extremely important that he be returned safely, and locating the place where he and the others are most likely being held would also be exceedingly beneficial." Kavalerov's pale eyes flashed. "We need to get him out of there before they figure out exactly who they're holding... or something worse happens." He grimaced, but didn't specify what that 'worse' might be.

Captain Lehennin nodded tersely, gesturing to his Nav officer to set the course. "I assume the trail goes cold at Bangkok?" he asked.

Kavalerov sighed. "Unfortunately. I'm sending all the data we have on the kidnappings, and everything seems to be confined to quadrant three, though that really isn't much help. Just do what you can. I'm redirecting as many ships your way as I can, but you're the closest. Hopefully you can find the revolutionaries and our missing consultant..." The High Chancellor added something beneath his breath before breaking the connection, but Sigma was certain he had to have heard the man wrong.

After all, "Preferably before something explodes" didn't sound at all reassuring.

He was still puzzling over the parting phrase when Lehennin swung around in his chair to look up at him, hands steepled together in a show of confidence that the set of his shoulders and the tightness of his eyes betrayed as a pretense. "Sigma."

"Captain."

Lehennin grimaced. "So, anything you picked up on?"

Sigma hesitated, then shrugged. "The High Chancellor is extremely difficult to read even under the most favorable circumstances... He's worried, but about what, I could not say." He frowned. "What I am curious about is two things. First, why did he not name or otherwise describe the man we are to be looking for, and second, what is an 'IG consultant'? I have never heard of such a thing before..."

Blinking, Lehennin shifted in his chair. "You know, I didn't even think of that... but I haven't either." He considered. "Need to know basis, perhaps. As for the man we're looking for, there's probably a file on him in the data the High Chancellor sent over. Why don't you go through it all and brief me in an hour. I'm going to have to contact Bangkok and make sure we don't step on any toes in our search and it'll probably take that long."

Nodding and giving a brief salute, Sigma left the bridge. He made his way down one deck and forward to the observation room, calling up all the screens and inputting his personal code to access the files the High Chancellor had sent. Most of them contained information he already knew, about the revolutionaries, their tactics, their demands, and such, with a few new bits added here and there, but it was the personal data file that made him sit back and frown.

It was either all classified, or the most bare-bones data file he'd ever seen. There was a flat image of a nondescript man in a stained jumpsuit, a listing of where he was last seen and the number of his rented suite on Bangkok, and his security classifications. Not even so much as a name.

The security classifications, though, those made Sigma take another look to make certain he hadn't been mistaken. All of a sudden he had a pretty good idea of why the High Chancellor was so desperate to get this man back. They weren't government codes, they were tech codes. Whoever this mysterious 'consultant' was, he had access to nearly every computer system used within the IG. Sigma suddenly understood High Chancellor Kavalerov's comment about getting him back before the revolutionaries figured out what they had.

The problem was, where to start? Bangkok, most likely, to see if the local government had any more information than the High Chancellor, and then...

He pulled up all the dates and locations of the known revolutionist kidnappings, setting up a plausible grid to work from. If Bangkok ended up with no useful information as he suspected it would, they were going to need to figure out how to get their path to cross with the revolutionaries' and live to make use of it.



Planet 2147151 (Bangkok), Blue Dragon Tower

"Impossible."

"If you really believed that, you wouldn't be meeting with me now," Sigma pointed out calmly, trying to figure out what was beneath the Warden of Bangkok's surface anger. Frustration, perhaps. This man took his job very seriously. Failure would be seen as something personal.

They were in a lavishly decorated room in what the locals knew as Blue Dragon Tower. Sigma had chosen to meet with the Warden alone while Captain Lehennin took a handful of men to investigate the room where their missing person had been staying. According to the data flashing across his in-lens as it was relayed to him from the Captain, the room had been rented out to one Nineteen Whales. Not remotely helpful.

"People don't just disappear from Bangkok," the Warden was saying, his pale brown eyes flashing in annoyance. "Our security is considerable."

Sigma shrugged. "It is a well-known fact that no matter how well you build something, someone will be able to find a way to break it. I have no doubt that your equipment is state of the art; at this point we are less interested in how the kidnappers managed the feat as we are in where they've taken our missing man."

The Warden crossed his dark arms across his chest as he regarded Sigma. Sigma gazed back calmly, making certain his expression was completely neutral. No need to antagonize the man when he was just doing his job, and Sigma was well aware that most independent planets preferred to have authorities on their planets as seldom as possible.

"Really, at this point, all I'm hoping for are security vids," Sigma continued, putting just enough of a smile in his voice to be friendly without seeming condescending.

"There's nothing unusual on them," the Warden returned with a shrug. "I checked them after your Captain contacted me."

"I understand that, but I was hoping to be able to check for patterns in traffic flow," Sigma returned. "Or disruptions, as the case may be."

The Warden's brows rose in mild surprise, but before he could reply there was a soft hiss as the doors slid open to reveal two identical, incredibly handsome men in matching suits and pearl chokers. One glanced immediately at the Warden while the other carefully looked over Sigma, then they crossed the room to join the conversation.

"Cade," one greeted.

The Warden's lips twitched up in a faint smile. "Baxter, Lucid."

Sigma had the odd thought that he knew what a mouse felt like when confronted with a panther as two pairs of aquamarine eyes fixed on him. The twin Lords of Bangkok eyed him appraisingly, one taking a chair while the other remained standing just behind him. It was uncanny, the way they moved exactly the same - he wondered if they practiced it, or it came naturally. Either way, this was going to be extremely disorienting.

"And you are Lieutenant-Commander Sigma Altair, second-in-command of the Scythe under Captain Lehennin Grahan," the standing twin stated mildly. "On Bangkok to investigate the apparent disappearance of an IG official of some sort about whom almost nothing has been released." Those twin gazes eyed him pointedly.

There was that mouse versus predator feeling again. Was it because there were two of them? Or because he was having almost as much trouble reading them as he did with the High Chancellor? There were little tiny differences, here and there, but they were gone before he had time to think about it. This really was unnerving. Captain Lehennin wouldn't be this unsettled... but Captain Lehennin also wouldn't be trying to pick up information from the smallest gestures either. That was Sigma's special ability.

"You most likely have as much information as I do," Sigma said deprecatingly, grimacing just slightly to try to create a feeling of empathy with the twin brothers. He knew he was doing something right as their brows rose almost in unison. "The High Chancellor didn't seem to think we would need more than a low-res image to search from."

Twin glances exchanged, then the one sitting leaned forward a bit as he frowned. "Are you certain this mystery person even exists, given what little information as has been provided?"

Sigma nodded confidently. "Yes. While it would make sense to some for the IG to send us in to deal with the revolutionaries, the timing is not correct. This has the feel of something put together hastily, with speed as the greatest priority." He smiled wryly. "Also, the IG prefers not to get involved with the affairs of Bangkok unless there is no other choice. If this mysterious consultant didn't really exist, I think any other planet in the quadrant would have been a more preferable choice for use in a ruse."

That startled a laugh out of both twins and Sigma was relieved to note the subtle relaxing of tension in their shoulders. Good. So he wasn't about to start a political Incident with one of the most powerful planets in the quadrant, if not the entire Infinitum Government.

"True. All right, so you need... what?" The seated twin glanced at the Warden.

"Security vids," Cade supplied.

The twin nodded. "Alright. Anything else?"

Sigma considered. "Not yet, but I'll probably need a few records once I've run through the vids. With any luck I'll be able to find a lead of some sort. If not..."

Both twins chuckled quietly. "We don't envy you this task at all, Lieutenant-Commander Altair."

Sigma smiled faintly. "I'm trying to look upon it as a challenge," he returned.



Planet 2147151 (Bangkok), Red Dragon Tower

"Anything?" Captain Lehennin asked, his own voice conveying nothing but frustration.

Sigma shrugged. "I have confirmed the presence of our missing consultant on Bangkok and narrowed the timeframe of his disappearance to somewhere between nineteen and twenty days ago, standard time. Also during that time there was a notable increase in foot traffic. I have cross-referenced guest lists with security footage from before and after the time of interest and singled out all persons with no obvious reason to be present. Ensign Rigel is still processing those, but so far we have had two definite matches with known revolutionaries."

"Great," Captain Lehennin said, running a hand through his dark, close-cropped hair. "So we've confirmed what we already knew. Anything else?"

Sigma allowed a faint smile to curl his lips. "Yes. I acquired security vids for the spaceport as well and ran through them for signs of either our missing consultant or the persons of interest from the lobby footage. There are exactly three ships that our kidnappers could have left upon, and the descriptions and registrations of each have been broadcast to all IG ships within range."

Captain Lehennin blinked slowly at him, then shook his head. "Do you ever sleep?" he asked.

Considering, Sigma shrugged again. "Sometimes."

The Captain raised an eyebrow. "When's the last time you rested?" He held up a hand to forestall Sigma and added, "Actual unconsciousness, not a break from working."

Making a slight face, Sigma forced himself to mentally set aside the details of the mission long enough to consider his captain's question. "Three or four days ago, I think."

Captain Lehennin sighed. "For how long?"

Sigma scowled and stared fixedly at a wall. "Three hours."

Sighing quietly, Captain Lehennin shook his head. "As soon as we get back to the Scythe, you're taking a nap," he ordered. "No objections. You've done enough, and we have a lead now, which is a lot better than we had."

Biting back on all the protests he could have made, Sigma merely saluted and tried his best to look professional even if he could feel in every fiber of his being just how nice a long nap would feel right now. He couldn't afford to be taking naps. They had a mission to complete, and it had very clearly been stated that time was of the utmost importance.

"I'm not kidding," Captain Lehennin added dryly. "I'm going to check up on you to make sure you comply, so don't try to get out of it by locking yourself in your quarters and going over mission notes."

Two years aboard the Scythe meant that Captain Lehennin knew him and his habits far too well. His lips thinned, prompting laughter from his captain, then Sigma turned and left the room to make his way back to the ship. If he had to take a nap, he might as well get it over with as soon as possible so he could go back to doing his proper duty.



Combat Class Star Ship 19325208, The Scythe

Something wasn't right... Sigma's eyelids felt heavy and his limbs leaden. There was a persistent buzzing noise coming from somewhere that was making his head ring and interfered considerably with forming coherent thoughts. The last thing he remembered was lying down to take the nap he'd been ordered to, and then...

Sigma sat up quickly and nearly fell off his bunk, biting back an oath. Captain Lehennin had drugged him again! There really needed to be something in IG code about drugging your junior officers to make them comply with pointless orders to sleep. He didn't need sleep. Sleep was a luxury they didn't have time for on important missions. All he needed was a small bottle of caf-tabs and he'd be just fine.

Unfortunately, he'd never quite been able to convince Captain Lehennin of that. Thus, the ongoing problem of waking up to find that - he checked the chrono - twelve and a half hours had passed. Twelve and a half hours! Think of all the work he could have accomplished if he'd been conscious for that length of time.

Standing up unsteadily, Sigma frowned as the buzzing noise resolved itself into the priority alarm blaring overhead. Something was seriously wrong; he was needed on the bridge. Yanking on the nearest clean uniform and grabbing his weapons from the various places he'd strapped them - under his pillow, above his bunk, to the side of his mini-wardrobe, and so forth - he punched the button to open the door and walked out of his cabin.

And into a firefight. He immediately ducked back into his room for cover, aiming around the open doorway and down the hall where he could see several men that were most definitely not IG officers engaged in open warfare with two junior crew members. He fired, trying to ignore the lingering dizzying effects of whatever Captain Lehennin had used on him this time, and stifled a curse as the shot was stopped by a brief iridescent flash.

Reflector shields. Personal reflector shields. Those were illegal, and the odds had just tipped in the invaders' favor. Sigma now had two options. He could try to hold out until the notoriously unstable reflector shields overloaded as he knew they would do eventually, or he could try to get close enough for physical combat. Both were risky, both had serious dangers, but the sight of one of his crewmates getting shot from close quarters decided him.

Sigma was down the hall and beneath the attackers' shields before they'd quite realized he was moving. The first one went down as Sigma swept his feet out from under him, a well-placed strike to the solar plexus rendering him unconscious a moment later. He ducked a shot from the other's stunner, wincing as the sudden motion sent his vision spinning again. Making note to have words with his captain over the issue of drugging him right before the ship was attacked, Sigma lashed out at where he was fairly certain his opponent had been standing.

He scored only a glancing blow; the man had moved while Sigma's head was filled with dancing stars and swirling colors. There was a sharp pain in his left shoulder, but it was physical rather than energy-based. Seizing the opportunity, Sigma grabbed onto whatever had hit him and pulled hard, sending the man flying over his shoulder and crashing into a wall. Two strikes later and the second attacker joined his companion in unconsciousness.

Standing up slowly and ignoring the way the room was spinning, Sigma gestured to the two Scythe officers still able to move. "Situation report," he snapped.

"Unknown," one responded. "We heard the alarm and responded, but got caught by the invaders before we could get any further information."

"Captain Lehennin?" Sigma demanded.

"Should still be on the bridge..."

"Get moving," Sigma barked. "If there are more of them they'll most likely have shielding as well, so physical attacks will be your only option. I'm heading up to the bridge."

Ignoring the fact that neither one of them saluted, Sigma made his way cautiously through the narrow corridors toward the lift. He knew they didn't respect him; he'd heard some of the things they said about him when they didn't think he was listening, but he didn't really care. As long as they followed orders appropriately, it didn't matter what people's opinions of 'singleminded Sigma' were. He did his job and he did it well. That was all that mattered.

He heard the shouts and cries of pain from the next altercation before he saw it, coming carefully around a bulkhead and assessing the situation. The three officers obviously hadn't yet figured out that their stunners were worthless, given that they kept shooting ineffectually at their attackers. Two went down before he could get there, and the third stared at him in disbelief as he cracked the invaders' skulls together with a handstand and quick snap of his feet.

There were two dull thuds as the bodies hit the deck and Sigma remained crouched for longer than strictly necessary as he willed his body to behave. Definitely going to have words with Captain Lehennin. It wouldn't have been such a problem if he'd only had to aim and fire, but martial combat worked considerably better when one knew which direction was up.

Sigma didn't bother giving orders this time. There was only a fifty-fifty chance he'd be obeyed even if he gave them, and he was having too much trouble staying upright to devote any of his concentration to pointless conversation. He spared a brief, annoyed thought that he should have taken a caf-tab before leaving his quarters, then resolutely forced his feet to start moving again.

The bridge. He needed to get to the bridge and assess the situation. They'd been boarded somehow. How? Where? He had no idea where they were in the sector, or the quadrant for that matter. Who would be foolish enough to attack an IG vessel in the first place?

His answer was suddenly looking him in the face as he emerged from the lift into the short hallway to the bridge. He knew the features looking back at him, though it took his drug-clouded mind a moment to place them. Revolutionary. Kidnapper. This was one of the men he'd seen on Bangkok while investigating the missing consultant.

The revolutionary recovered from his surprise first, bringing up his stunner and firing. Sigma managed to dodge both shots, much to the obvious consternation of the man, and got in two strikes of his own before something hit him hard in the back of the head. The last thing he saw before his vision went dark was a brief glimpse of Captain Lehennin lying unconscious and bloody on the floor of the bridge.



Holding Cell, Location Unknown, Quadrant Three

Sigma's head hurt. Actually, all of him hurt, but the throbbing in his head was mostly managing to overpower the rest of his aching body. He wasn't certain how much of it was left over side-effects of the sleeping drugs and how much was new from when he'd been knocked unconscious. He started to sit up to gauge the situation only to have the breath knocked out of him as someone's foot connected harshly with his stomach.

Well, that answered the question of "Who won?" Next up was "Where am I?" and "What happened to the rest of the crew?"

Cracking open his eyes, Sigma was treated to a sideways view of one of his shipmates - Orgel, Oreo, something like that - sitting awkwardly on the rough floor with his hands bound tightly behind him. A slight tilt of Sigma's head brought more of the room into view, and the crew count up to around twenty. All bound, most showing signs of bruising or more serious injuries, and no captain in sight.

Which left Sigma as the ranking officer. Perfect. Even if they could get free, the chances of the crew actually listening to him were questionable at best. Somehow they'd managed to completely botch their rescue mission in the worst way possible.

Actually, Sigma amended that thought as a new face stepped into view and began snapping things at Lieutenant Deneb. They had managed to find the revolutionaries... although their method needed a lot of work. So, all they had to do was get loose, figure out where they were, and defeat their captors.

Sigma repressed a snort. Unfortunately most of the Scythe's crew were like the rest of the IG Authorities. Skilled fighters while armed, but absolutely helpless when their weapons failed. So between the fact that their opponents had those blasted shields and they'd unquestionably been unarmed, their chances were practically nonexistent without serious backup. That meant somehow transmitting their location to other Authorities in the area without getting either themselves or the rest of the hostages killed.

This had suddenly turned into an even bigger Potential Incident than insulting the Lords of Bangkok would have been. The last report he'd seen has listed close to a thousand missing persons that were thought to have been taken by the revolutionaries, thus why the Infinitum Government had been proceeding so cautiously in their negotiations. One wrong word and lives would be lost.

There were people talking, but Sigma couldn't seem to understand a word of it around the ringing in his ears. It was incredibly frustrating to be in a situation where he desperately needed to gather and process information and be completely unable to do so because of a few minor setbacks. He made yet another note to wring Captain Lehennin's neck, if the man had survived the attack upon the Scythe.

One after another his shipmates were dragged out of the room, and then it was his turn. His inability to comprehend basic language earned him several more blows and corresponding bruises before his captors finally bored of their game and threw him into a small room with a handful of other people. Their faces swam in his vision as he struggled desperately to stay conscious, knowing even as he fell that it was a hopeless cause.



The next time he awoke Sigma was far more aware of the varying aches and pains of his body. He spared the inane thought that at least that meant his head must be feeling better before cautiously sitting up to take stock of his situation. He was in a small room with four other people, none of whom were one of his shipmates and all bedraggled enough to have most likely been here for a while. Three appeared human, one with the red skin coloration from quad one, and the last one some sort of fuzzy purple thing he wasn't really familiar with. It was the purple thing that noticed his stare and called out softly, "He's awake."

Muffled footsteps were audible somewhere behind him, then a pair of legs clothed in the sorriest excuse for a shipsuit he'd ever seen entered his field of view. Sigma looked up slowly, taking in the various tears and stains on the loose-fitting outfit, a tough, wide belt that was missing whatever normally hung from it, and... He blinked. Pale, mint-green skin and the most vivid violet eyes he'd ever seen in his life, surrounded by a fall of long, straight, horribly untidy black hair.

"Well well..." the green man drolled in amusement, "Look who's decided to join us." His ears were a good four or five inches long and gently pointed. Sigma had never seen anything like him before in his life.

Cautiously testing his tongue, Sigma managed to ask, "Who?"

The green-skinned man grinned. "Tau Ceti," he replied. "And you, to judge from what's left of your uniform, are with the Authorities."

Sigma grimaced, not liking the obvious amusement in Tau Ceti's voice. He was clearly a man who was accustomed to authority of some sort, to speak as confidently as he did, and he also seemed to have no problem subtly insulting an IG officer. Sigma frowned. The name sounded somewhat familiar, though he couldn't really place it, and he definitely couldn't place the face.

"I am Lieutenant-Commander Sigma Altair of the Scythe," he replied, slowly getting to his feet. He didn't much care for Tau Ceti smirking down at him. "We were on a rescue mission to retrieve a missing IG consultant when we were attacked..." He frowned. "None of you would happen to have seen him, by any chance?"

Tau Ceti chuckled, crossing his arms and leaning back against the wall casually. "You know," he pointed out, "You have no idea if any of us are revolutionary spies planted to find out what you know. Should you be telling us all your secret mission so openly?"

That smug confidence was starting to get on Sigma's nerves. "Obviously our mission wasn't as secret as we thought it was, if we were attacked while looking for this place," he snapped. "I'm just trying to make the best of things and hopefully complete my mission despite my current setback."

One of Tau Ceti's dark brows rose. "Alone, unarmed, with absolutely no idea where in the quadrant you are."

"Approximately twenty of the Scythe's crew are confirmed to be here as well," Sigma retorted, ignoring the fact that he'd already basically dismissed them as not overly helpful to his mission.

"Mmm-hmm," Tau Ceti mused, violet eyes gleaming as he regarded Sigma. "And they did so well against our captors last time they fought."

Quashing his rising irritation, Sigma crossed his own arms over his chest, ignoring the pain the motion caused. "Twenty trained Authorities are better than none at all," he pointed out.

"True," Tau Ceti agreed, surprising him. He'd been certain the man was going to continue baiting him until his temper snapped. "Twenty Authorities, hmm..." The green-skinned man looked curiously at Sigma, a faint gleam in his eyes betraying the fact that he was up to something. "Just one ship, to find this missing consultant of yours?"

"No," Sigma said with a slight head shake. "Others were on their way. We just happened to pick up the trail the fastest based on clues left behind on Bangkok."

Tau Ceti eyed him thoughtfully, the faintest hint of what might, in a normal man, be admiration flickering briefly across his face. "You followed them all the way from Bangkok? Perhaps you people aren't as useless as I thought..." He smirked again. "All right, then. If the IG is out there snooping around, then all we have to do is get their attention and then sit back and wait for the cavalry to arrive."

For some reason, Tau Ceti's statement sent a faint chill down Sigma's spine. He frowned at the smirking man, asking warily, "Just what are you planning to do to get their attention?"

White teeth flashed as Tau Ceti grinned, that irritating overconfidence rising to the forefront again. "Trust me, you really don't want to know," he promised cheerfully.

"I am the IG officer," Sigma pointed out, wondering internally why civilians always thought they had to interfere. They all needed to just step back and let the Authorities do their jobs.

"There are close to fifteen hundred people trapped here, some of whom have been here for months," Tau Ceti observed calmly, though there was a faint undercurrent in his voice that warned Sigma he was treading on thin ice. "If you have a plan on how to get them all free with minimal injuries, then I am more than willing to listen."

Sigma clenched his jaw tightly. The mission was to find and retrieve the missing IG consultant, not rescue the entire compliment of hostages. It would be considerably safer for a small compliment to escape, then relay the revolutionaries' coordinates once they rendezvoused with the rest of the IG ships. The kind of large-scale operation Tau Ceti was talking about was pure nonsense.

Tau Ceti took his silence for agreement and smirked again. "No? Didn't think so. Now then, just shut up and let me think, oh great IG officer." He paced slowly around the small room, contemplating Sigma and their other cell mates, the door, the walls, the lights overhead, and the bare floor. While Sigma would normally have been inclined to think the man was just glancing wherever, the fixed set of his eyes and the length of time he lingered on each seemingly innocuous object spoke otherwise. Tau Ceti was carefully studying everything within reach, but the purpose of it remained a mystery.

"All right," he announced suddenly, turning to look straight at Sigma. "The one thing we have to keep in mind above all else is the safety of the other prisoners. To that end, we have to keep our captors in the dark regarding our plans for as long as possible."

Without waiting for a reply from Sigma, Tau Ceti turned and strode over to the wall, prodding at a seam. He nodded thoughtfully to himself, then reached up behind one long ear to draw out a long slender object which he inserted into the seam on the wall, carefully prying off one of the panels. Beneath was a collection of circuitry and mechanics that the green man promptly set about disassembling.

Sigma blinked. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Tau Ceti seated himself on the floor, bits and pieces of the machinery strewn across his lap. He lifted his gaze to meet Sigma's eyes and smirked again. "Creating a diversion," he replied, tinkering with the electronic components in his lap with an intensity that almost burned. He approached his task with a focused single-mindedness that put Sigma's own eccentricities to shame, hands moving far more quickly over the delicate pieces than even the most skilled engineer Sigma had ever met.

He had no way to measure time, but when Tau Ceti announced "Done" and held up his creation, Sigma was certain he had to be joking. Disassembled basic transfer conduits and not even an hour's worth of time of work to make...

"What is it?"

Lips quirked upward as Tau Ceti's brilliant violet eyes regarded Sigma, his expression all but screaming that he knew Sigma wasn't going to believe him. "A holographic image inducer. I'm going to use it to take readings of us and then set up a simple program to have our images follow so that it's not immediately evident that we've escaped."

"Right," Sigma acknowledged wryly, shaking his head. So not only was Tau Ceti annoyingly overconfident, he was also a madman. Just what he needed to make this mission even more difficult.

Tau Ceti's little smile widened. "You don't believe me."

"You took apart a wall panel behind which was basic transfer circuitry and you're expecting me to believe that you've made a holograph projector out of it."

"No," Tau Ceti replied, allowing Sigma one brief moment of victory before he continued cheerfully, "It's an inducer, not a projector. Projectors can only show static images. I need ours to move or else it's not going to be a very convincing hologram."

It was the confidence that was most annoying, Sigma decided. Everything about Tau Ceti, from his face to his voice to the set of his body left absolutely no room for doubt. The man believed completely in what he was doing. It was as though he didn't know how to be wrong. Or was just plain insane.

"Here, I'll show you," Tau Ceti continued, walking to the lone door of their cell and setting his creation on the floor. He did something to it, then walked back to join the others. "Everyone please turn around in a complete circle so that the inducer can read you," he instructed.

The others obeyed him without question, getting up and turning around even as Tau Ceti followed his own instructions. The man looked at him rather pointedly as their cell mates sat back down again and, sighing, Sigma humored him. Tau Ceti walked back across the small space to pick up his toy, sitting back down and tinkering with it again.

Sigma began his own examination of the room, trying to discover a way out. The lock on the door seemed simple enough, or would be if he had his usual tools, but their captors had unarmed him rather efficiently. He was almost ready to ask Tau Ceti for that strange metal stick of his when the green man stood up and brandished his odd contraption.

"There," Tau Ceti announced. "That should keep our captors confused for a while. Everyone come over here near the door so I can give it a trial run."

The purple fuzzy thing got up first, followed by the three humans. They all shifted obediently over to stand around Sigma and Tau Ceti as the latter man set his holographic inducer down on the floor again and pressed something. An instant later completely lifelike reproductions of the six of them appeared, most sitting, Sigma standing and pacing, all moving in small ways that gave the impression that they were tired, bored, or just plain depressed.

Sigma stared. It wasn't possible, was it? He took a few tentative steps forward, reaching out and running a hand through the image of himself, encountering nothing. And yet it looked so very real...

A low chuckle behind him made him turn to meet Tau Ceti's obnoxiously smug gaze. "So, now do you believe me?"

"How... why..." Sigma shook his head. "Who or what are you, that you can... can do that?"

Tau Ceti laughed, an undercurrent of surprise in his rich voice. "I'm a Secret Weapon," he announced, eyes gleaming in amusement. There was something about that unexpected surprise that made Sigma go over the situation again in his mind. Once again, he had the odd feeling that there was something about the strange man that he should be recognizing, but he knew he'd never met Tau Ceti before in his life.

Before he could really start to analyze things, Tau Ceti turned and began fiddling with the door. That slender metal rod came out again to poke around, and three wires and two fingers later the door swished open to display an empty hallway.

"Now what?" Sigma asked, wincing inwardly when he realized he'd just accepted the fact that he was going to follow Tau Ceti's lead. But then, the man had just proven he wasn't a complete lunatic and he did apparently have a plan... All Sigma had to do was figure out how he was going to find the High Chancellor's missing consultant and keep them all alive in the process. Easy. In theory.

"Now," Tau Ceti replied, tracing a few fingers thoughtfully over the locking mechanism on the door frame, "I need to find a terminal I can access to get a map of the enclosure so I can figure out where they've stashed their communications equipment." He considered, then set off down the hallway at a brisk pace. The three humans and the purple thing immediately began following him, which left Sigma to bring up the rear.

It was odd, really, how the other four seemed to have absolutely no problem at all accepting Tau Ceti as their leader and following him without question. Granted, they'd likely known him for longer than Sigma had, but still. He was grimy, annoying, and arrogant, and for some reason Sigma absolutely could not maintain a serene demeanor around him. Totally vexing.

At the intersecting hallway Tau Ceti paused, running his hands along the walls again before resolutely turning right as though following some unknown path. He made a left at the next turn, only to have to quickly jump back as they abruptly encountered two revolutionaries. Feeling useful for the first time since he'd awoken, Sigma threaded his way past the frightened civilians and launched himself at the men, taking out all his frustration with Tau Ceti on their hapless forms.

He straightened as Tau Ceti approached, violet eyes slowly looking over the revolutionaries' prone bodies before drifting up to meet Sigma's gaze. For the first time, there was something that he could almost call respect in Tau Ceti's expression. Almost.

"Apparently you're useful for something after all," he commented, that familiar smirk flashing as the infuriating man knelt down to efficiently strip the two unconscious men of all their electronic gadgetry. He spent a moment tinkering with a pair of rather outdated in-specs, doing something to them via chrono parts and pieces of the second stunner - Sigma having claimed one stunner for himself. Humming in pleasure, Tau Ceti stood and donned his modified in-specs, grinning through them at Sigma.

"There we go. Linked into the system."

Sigma raised a brow. "You have your map?"

Tau Ceti smirked. "Of course." Without another word he brushed past Sigma, heading out down the empty hallway. With a muted curse Sigma set out after him, the three humans and the purple thing following.

Four hallways and corresponding turns later Tau Ceti walked straight through a door into what was very clearly a communications center - and also very clearly occupied. The green-skinned man seemed completely oblivious to the armed revolutionaries staring at him in his quest to reach the equipment and it was only Sigma's hasty tackling of him to the floor that saved his life as one of the revolutionaries fired at him.

Rolling off of Tau Ceti, Sigma launched himself from a crouched position at the nearest opponent, disabling him almost before the man knew what had hit him then turning to fire off a shot at one of the other two. Much to his surprise it hit, then he smiled as he realized that 'safe' in their compound, the revolutionaries had no reason to put up their reflective shields. The last one went down just as easily, hitting the floor just as Tau Ceti was getting to his feet.

"Was that really necessary?" he asked, rubbing his shoulder where it had impacted with the floor.

Sigma crossed his arms. "First rule of combat in enemy territory," he retorted. "Sweep the area first, then move in. What were you thinking?"

Tau Ceti stared at him. "It's all rules and regulations with you, isn't it? Do you have any idea how to think for yourself, or do you need a protocol to do that for you?"

"At least I don't walk right into a room full of armed soldiers," Sigma snapped back, a little more stung by the barb than he cared to admit. The regulations were there for a reason. It wasn't his fault that he seemed to be the only one that actually bothered to memorize and follow them all.

"I didn't know they were there!"

"Of course not! You were too fixated on the computers!"

"Well excuse me for wanting to get us out of here!"

"Getting killed would put a serious damper in your plans."

"Don't question me. If it wasn't for me you'd still be lounging around in that cell."

"You're not the only one who can rig a lock."

"You have been nothing but rude since you arrived, all high and mighty officer. Why don't you get down off your self-absorbed pedestal and-"

The rest of Tau Ceti's rant was cut off by the sliding open of the door again to admit five revolutionaries, their weapons out and trained dangerously upon the escapees. "Don't move!" the one in the middle demanded.

Sigma and Tau Ceti both rounded on the men, snapping out, "Shut up!" in nearly perfect unison then blinking and looking at one another in surprise. The moment passed as one of the new arrivals fired a warning shot over Sigma's head and Sigma launched himself at the man in retaliation.

Time always seemed to slow down when he was fighting. He'd always prided himself on noticing everything that went on around him, studying an analyzing what he saw, but it was never more obvious than when he was in the thick of combat. He could see his opponent's startled eyes, the beginnings of a jerk away - not fast enough. Sigma's boot connected squarely with the man's jaw, rocking his head backward even as he lost consciousness. Before the body had even hit the floor Sigma was up and turning toward the next nearest target.

None of his companions knew a thing about fighting. That much was obvious. There were already several injuries, fortunately minor, but there would be worse if Sigma couldn't take them down faster. He yanked one man away from Tau Ceti and flung him into the one menacing the purple thing, then delivered a sharp kick to a fourth man's knees while the other two were still sorting themselves out.

One more strike and the man was unconscious, but then Sigma had to dodge quickly to avoid a blast from the fifth man. This one seemed to have at least some physical training and it took far longer than it should have before Sigma spotted a weakness and moved in to fell the man. The delay, only seconds but still far too long, cost him. There was a searing pain in his shoulder and he stumbled as his vision momentarily greyed. Obviously the two he'd knocked into each other had recovered.

Trusting to where his peripheral vision had last placed them, Sigma lashed out, smiling tightly when his uninjured arm connected with the stiff polyfibre of the revolutionaries' uniforms. He brought a knee up, heard a pained grunt, then his vision cleared and he rapped the back of the man's head. Letting the man slump to the floor, the looked around to find the final attacker... and had to blink twice as he discovered the two red-skinned humans holding the man down while the purple thing and the pale human took turns punching him.

A quiet snicker sounded off to his left and he turned to meet Tau Ceti's amused gaze. "You should probably put him out of his misery," the green man observed, violet eyes sparkling with mirth that swiftly shifted to concern as he spotted the blood seeping from the wound on Sigma's shoulder. "What happened?"

"I made a mistake," Sigma replied calmly, ripping off part of one of the fallen revolutionaries' uniforms to make a makeshift bandage. It was hard to do one-handed, and Tau Ceti wasn't really much help. Those hands that could be so graceful and skilled when manipulating electronics were almost worthless when aiding in field dressing a wound.

By the time he was finished the last revolutionary had finally passed out and Sigma took a few moments to deal with the injuries the rest of them had sustained. When he looked up again, Tau Ceti was sporting a terse expression somewhere between rueful and furious.

"The equipment's been severely damaged," Tau Ceti announced flatly. "I could fix it, but it would take too long. We'd be caught for sure."

"Other options?" Sigma asked, feeling strangely calm.

Tau Ceti considered. "Their ships will have some sort of communications equipment," he mused. "I'm sure I can jury-rig one of those hunks of junk into transmitting on IG emergency frequencies."

It wasn't protocol. It wasn't even sane, really. Stealing a pirate ship to get a message off to let the Authorities know your whereabouts wasn't even hinted at in IG code. But for some strange reason Sigma didn't really care. "Lead the way," he said simply, relieving the guards of their stunners and passing them out amongst the little group.

Tau Ceti grinned at him. "Aren't you going to, how did you put it... sweep the area first?"

That actually surprised a chuckle out of Sigma, who made his way to the door and carefully inspected the hallway for dangers before straightening and flashing the green man a grin. "Clear."

Tau Ceti's grin widened, then he strode confidently out the door without the slightest check for himself, trusting that Sigma had been correct. As he followed with the others, Sigma contemplated the odd feeling he got from that. Any of his shipmates would have double - sometimes triple - checked him before proceeding. Tau Ceti either honestly didn't care if he got killed... or he trusted Sigma to make that call.

At the next intersection Sigma got his answer as Tau Ceti stopped several feet from the adjoining corridor and waited patiently for Sigma to clear it before moving on. He would have been inclined to think the man was just mocking him, except that absolutely nothing in Tau Ceti's demeanor gave that impression. He stopped, he waited for Sigma to do his job, then resumed the lead. Apparently he'd decided, just as Sigma had, that they both had wildly different strengths and skills that didn't appear to overlap at all.

And they'd also decided, at some point, without ever stopping to discuss it, that they were comfortable relying upon one another's strengths.

Sigma didn't think that had ever happened before in his life. No, scratch that, he was sure it hadn't. He'd always forced himself to be the very best, leaving no time for frivolous pursuits or hobbies like other men, but that level that he held himself to also meant that there was no one he could rely upon to back him up. He'd never been able to understand before what was so desirable about working as a 'team.'

Now, perhaps, he did.

In short order Tau Ceti stopped again, gesturing toward the wide double doors at the end of the hallway they were in. "The hangar bay."

Carefully, silently, Sigma crept up and inched one of the doors open just enough to get a good look, then quietly closed it again. He backed up until he was standing next to Tau Ceti, meeting the man's expectant gaze.

"Looks like between ten and fifteen guards present, spread out across the hangar. We're going to need some kind of distraction," Sigma announced.

Tau Ceti looked thoughtful. "Distraction, hmm? How good is your night vision?"

Sigma blinked. "Better than average. Why?"

Violet eyes sparkled deviously as Tau Ceti flashed a smirk. "Because I'm about to cut the power in the bay."

Sigma felt his own lips curl up into a smile. "That would be just perfect." He slid back to the doors, peering through them once more to make sure he knew approximately where all his targets were, then closed his eyes. Five seconds passed, ten, then he felt a feather-light touch on his shoulder.

"Now," Tau Ceti said.

Faint cries of surprise met his ears as Sigma slipped through the doors, heading through the darkness for the largest group of soldiers. Little things gave them away - the glint of metal on their uniforms, the faint glow of their power packs - but Sigma could have found them blindfolded just on the noise they made.

One after another they dropped with muffled sounds of pain as Sigma felled them, making as little noise as possible himself. Once the first group was down he moved on to the next, and the next, until the entire hangar was silent. Waiting several moments, listening for noises where there shouldn't be any, Sigma cautiously made his way back to the hall door and blinked to find Tau Ceti already inside and waiting for him.

"Lights up?" he asked quietly. Sigma nodded.

Only about half of the lights came on, but that was easier on his eyes than the full brightness would have been. Sigma spared a brief moment to admire Tau Ceti's foresight even as he scanned the area for any guards he might have missed. There were none.

"Have a preference of ships?" he asked as the rest of their little jailbreak group joined them.

Tau Ceti considered, then pointed. "That one."

It looked, to Sigma's eyes, like all the others, but he was more than willing to trust Tau Ceti's judgment on this. They made their way swiftly across the deckplates to the ship's hatch, Sigma's brows shooting up as a brief caress of Tau Ceti's hand across the hull opened the airlock and lowered the ramp. Magic, of some sort, though Sigma had never before heard of magic that could make electronics obey at a touch.

A brief chill went up his spine as it suddenly occurred to him just what Tau Ceti was capable of. There were encryption protocols designed specifically to keep intruders out of ships, and yet they hadn't even slowed the man down. Then there were the lights, and the hologram inducer... He was very, very glad that Tau Ceti was on their side. Or at least, appeared to be. Sigma was abruptly reminded of what Tau Ceti had said to him when they first met.

You have no idea if any of us are revolutionary spies.

He frowned and shook his head. He'd spent most of his life studying body language, learning how to read the tiniest clues, the smallest giveaways. If Tau Ceti had been preparing to betray them, he'd know about it. And yet... there were still a few little things that nagged at him. Small things, inconsequential, and yet... Tau Ceti was hiding something. The question was whether or not that something had a bearing on the mission.

If only he could remember where he'd heard the name 'Tau Ceti' before.

On the ship's bridge, Tau Ceti strapped himself into the pilot's seat and began powering things up. His movements were alternately hesitating and sure, as though he wasn't quite certain what he was doing.

Sigma slipped into the Nav chair and fastened his safety straps. "You have flown a ship before, right?" he asked.

Tau Ceti winced. "I know how it works in theory."

"Theory?" Sigma's brows shot up.

Tau Ceti shot him a heated glare. "Look, I can't work the weapons systems if they come after us, and you can't work them both at once. I just need a moment to interface with the system and I'll be fine." He looked back down at the console and added beneath his breath, "I build these things, I don't fly them..."

Putting the odd comment aside to study later, Sigma brought up all the defensive systems and checked their status. Some parts were obviously old and jury-rigged together while others were almost top of the line. Typical extremist mentality that the good systems were the primary weapons while the questionable systems were those meant for defense. Go out with a bang and take as many of your opponents with you as possible.

Stifling a snort, Sigma checked to make sure their four passengers were all strapped in before nodding to Tau Ceti. "Whenever you're ready."

The green-skinned man ran a hand briefly over the controls once more, then rapidly started pressing things. There was a muffled roar as the engines flared to life, a rather dizzying lurch as the external thrusters modified their position, then a sickening moment of acceleration disorientation as they took off far more rapidly than Sigma suspected the ship had been designed for.

The main screen showed their rapid ascent away from the planet - or more correctly, away from the small rocky moon orbiting a greenish-yellow gas giant planet. An insistent beeping drew his attention away from their location and back down to his own console and he let out a terse oath.

"They're after us already," Tau Ceti observed tensely.

"Not for long," Sigma muttered, hands flying over the weapons controls. They were sluggish, something he was going to have to account for, but at least they fired cleanly. His first two shots missed. By the third he'd gotten accustomed to the lagging system and the shot hit its target dead center. He smiled grimly and started firing off one shot after another, the pursuing ships scrambling to get out of the way.

Still, they were only one ship against many, and despite a few fancy evasive maneuvers that Sigma was certain should have been impossible, eventually they took too many hits for the shielding to withstand. Tau Ceti's hands flew over the controls, trying to stabilize things, then made a pained sound as another shot rocked the ship and only his safety straps kept him from flying across the bridge.

Sigma kept firing as long as he was able, determined to take out as many of the revolutionaries as possible before their hull was breached. They'd actually started to back off when the entire ship shuddered dramatically.

"What was that?" he demanded.

Tau Ceti's lips were a tightly pressed line. "Gravity."

Quickly Sigma called up the navigation systems, running through a list of curses in his head as he saw the enormous moon they were heading straight for. "Can you break loose?"

"That last shot wiped out our engines," Tau Ceti returned. "At this point, it will be a miracle if I can get us down in one piece."

Sigma stared briefly at the rapidly approaching bulk of the moon, then flashed a faint smile at Tau Ceti. "If anyone could pull off a miracle like that, you can."

Tau Ceti's violet eyes widened briefly in surprise, then a faint matching smile flashed across his face before he turned to his console with new determination. For a moment Sigma swore he could see electricity crackling in the narrow space between Tau Ceti's hands and the controls beneath them, then he couldn't do much but hang on tight as they started to spiral down.

Onward to Part Two!