Special Police DekaOps

15

A balding heavyset man was changing the papers of the birdcages in his pet shop when he looked out the glass door. From the look of things a young woman was trying to convince her blond male friend to enter. Based on the brief discussion it looked like she won, but she still had to drag him into the shop. He quickly hurried behind the counter as the bell over the door signaled their entry. “Hello,” he greeted them, “and how are you today?”

The young man put a hand over his nose, “You have got to be kidding me.”

“You promised,” the woman scolded him. The shopkeeper gave them a quick once over. Seeing how the guy was dressed he was definitely from money. The woman was obviously using him for that money if he had to guess.

“Alright chica, damn you’re pushy,” the man still sounded a bit annoyed.

“Are we looking for anything in particular?”, he asked trying to get the sale before they blew up.

“You’re going to have to ask her,” the man said. Then he was dragged over to the birdcages.

“It’s a very good time to buy a bird. The weather is still nice and you don’t have to hurry and get it home.” They ignored him as they went through the entire store.

“Same old, same old,” she sounded disappointed and walked toward the door.

“Sorry for wasting your time dude,” the man said following.

“Perhaps the lady is looking for something a little more exotic?” , he blurted out before they reached the door. Why did he say that? That could come back and bite him in the ass before he knew it, but he couldn’t let a sale get passed him that easy.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the guy said.

“Hush,” the woman said. “How exotic, because I’m not looking for a monkey.”

“How about… shall we say,” he spoke in a quieter tone, “out of this world.”

“How out of this world?”

“I shouldn’t do this but I like how the two of you look together.” Quickly going to the door he looked outside before flipping the sign to close. Nervously he went back to the couple and led them to the store room at the back of the store.

“Holy shit,” the guy said as it looked like his eyes were about to come out of their sockets. Various alien creatures were being held in cages. They looked on in wonder as they studied each one. “Wait,” the guy said suddenly, “are we safe? I mean I keep hearing about space germs and shit.”

“Perfectly safe I assure you,” he said. “Their immunized before they arrive.”

“How come you don’t keep them out front?”, the woman asked.

“Some pesky laws,” he answered honestly. “You know how it is.”

“You think they have something better to do,” the young man agreed.

“Baby look at this one,” the woman called him over. The cage she was in front of had a lizard type creature with blue fur and tiger like stripes. It looked at them, its eyes almost pleading with them. “It’s so adorable,” the woman looked liked she fell in love with the thing. If he read the couple right the sale had already been made.

“What,” the man waved a hand in front of his face, “is it?”

“Something called a Trillian tree hugger, it’s very hard to get one of these let me tell you.”

“And that sounds expensive,” the guy commented.

“Oh please baby, it’s so cute,” the woman pleaded. “I’ll let you do that thing you like to do in bed tonight.”

The guy rolled his eyes, but looked like he was giving in. “I have got to learn to say no to you,” he mumbled as he reached inside his jacket.

“Ah,” he stopped him, “I hope you understand, but for something like this you don’t want to leave a paper trail. If you get my drift.”

“Gotcha,” he said sounding like he understood. When he pulled his hand out he still had his wallet in it. The shopkeeper gawked as he flipped it open revealing a Springfield Police badge. “But I got another type of trail in mind.

“What… who…,” he sputtered.

“Let’s start with the trafficking of illegal animals,” he said sternly. “And top it off with trying to sell a highly intelligent species as a pet.”

“I am not…”

He cut him off, “You just tried to sell us one of them.”

“It can’t even talk,” the shopkeeper argued.

“It communicates with hand gestures.” Before he knew it the shopkeeper pushed him to the ground and ran out the back door.

The woman ran after him pulling a black SPD License out of her purse. “Ace, he’s running, heading… uh,” she took a quick look at the License read out, “west.”

“I see him,” she replied, “I’ll have Boomer head him off and pick him up, Ops5 out.”

She turned around and saw her partner get up, “An old fat man pushed me down, I am never going to live that one down.”

“They’re not going to hear about it from me Dan,” she assured him.

“Thanks Michelle,” Dan told her.

“Actually I’m saving that one for myself,” she teased.

Dan ignored her and pulled out his OpsLicense, “Rev, get in here.” He closed it and opened it again to show the caged being his SPD badge, “We’re here to get you out of here.” The creature stood on it’s hind legs and started gesturing wildly with his arms. “Sorry, I don’t read the language, but my friend a Zalmanian who studied on your planet.” The alien nodded in understanding. “Michelle, see if you can find the key to get this cage open.”

“I already found them.” As she tried each one she said, “My first undercover assignment, it was kinda exciting.”

“At least your pride’s still intact.”

“So, am I going to get a private performance review later?”, she said with a wicked grin.

Dan sighed, “We’re still on the clock.”

***

The Major watched Rev communicate with their visitor on the monitor. OpsBase interrogation room wasn’t definitely being put to a different use then he expected. If it wasn’t for the idea this ring was selling sentient beings they wouldn’t have gotten the report. “How is Rev keeping up with that?”, he heard Boomer ask. Seeing how fast their guest was communicating with his hands he had to agree.

“As long as he understands him, that’s all that counts Boomer.”

Dan put his OpsLicense back into it’s holder as he walked toward them. “D.E. just reported in,” he informed him. “He was able to listen in on the shopkeeper interrogation.”

“Guess it’s a good thing he still has friends in the department,” the Major commented.

Dan nodded, “The guy talked alright but he didn’t know much. We have a dock number and a very vague description of the seller. The person he deals with is human but I told D.E. to give the description to Michelle.”

“Have her check out the dock too,” The Major added. “See what type of vessels have been dropping off cargo there and where they came from.”

“You’re assuming she wasn’t going to do that anyway,” Dan said with a smirk. Major Pierce grunted in agreement. They watched as Rev read the little alien movements for a few more minutes. Before long he spoke to somebody off screen. A few minutes later Ace walked into the Command Room from the holding area looking a little stunned.

“So what’s the word Ace?”, Pierce asked.

“Well,” she started slowly, “If Rev understood him right one of his own put him in that cage.”

“Wait,” Dan interrupted her trying to understand, “somebody from his own race put him in that position?” She nodded.

“He must have pissed somebody off,” Boomer commented.

“Close,” Ace said. “He stumbled on the operation as they were loading the animals they captured onboard their ship. Instead of getting rid of him they decided to sell him.”

“That’s one way to keep him quiet,” The Major commented. “Did our visitor happen to say where they were keeping him once they got planetside?”

“All he remembers seeing is the cave and a jungle,” she told them.

“Well that really narrows it down,” Dan muttered as he turned away.

“Michelle will pinpoint the location,” The Major assured him. “But at the moment she’s having SPD command contact his home world to arrange transport home.”

“I’ll tell D.E. to head back then,” Dan said.

“And I’ll get the Shepard ready to launch in the mean time,” Ace added.

“Good,” Pierce nodded. Glancing back at the monitor he added, “Somebody see if our guest needs anything.”

***

Michelle was able to get into the shipping database and trail where the different ships came from and find out where they went with no problem. Using that information and what their guest was able to tell them she was able to narrow the search down to a few islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. She highlighted the ones that were known to be uninhabited and outside the usual shipping lanes as likely targets. Now if they only didn’t have five Islands to check out that were on top of the list. And international waters meant the job was theirs alone.

The first three islands turned out to be dead ends. The fourth didn’t seem like much as they approached. But they could see the mountains and the jungle foliage as they got closer. Then again so did the other three so none of them got their hopes up. After a few more moments something on D.E. console started to beep. “I’m getting an energy signature,” he announced. “It’s faint one, but I’m getting one.”

“Any ships or submarines in the area?”, Dan asked wanting to eliminate any possibility of a misread.

“I’m not getting any kind of chatter on the usual channels,” Boomer said.

“Rader and sensor say the area is clear,” Ace added. “Rev, D.E. I’m going to circle the island a couple of time. Run a full scan.”

“Rodger,” Rev replied.

“On it,” D.E. answered.

Dan pulled up the sensors reading on the monitor in front of him as they came in. The island itself was unremarkable, but there was an energy signature coming from it. If he had to guess he’d say it was a generator of some sort. Rev confirmed there were life signs. It read out as alien so chances were good they found their target. Dan plugged his License into the console beside him and downloaded a rough map of the island based on the sensor readings. Ace looked over the readings herself, “I’m not seeing an area big enough for a LZ.”

“And the foliage looks too dense for a hot drop,” Dan commented. “I don’t suppose this bird has any water landing capabilities that I missed when I went over the specs.”

“I heard there was there were plans to add them,” Ace told him. “But it involved a major redesign, and the Major didn’t think we had time to wait for a new jet.”

“Too bad he wasn’t a little more patient,” Dan muttered.

“The best I can do is hover over the small beach right there,” she pointed at the screen, “and let you guys off. While you guys check it out I can try to find a place to land.”

“Alright, “Dan agreed, “but keep an eye open for any kind of ship that enters the area.”

“Right,” she punched a code into her console. “D.E. I’m transferring weapon control to my station. I don’t have the aim he does but I can lay down some cover fire if I have too.” Ace had the Shepard hover until the ramp was a few feet off the ground. As the others jumped to the ground Dan gave her quick salute before joining them. She reactivated the cloak and took the jet back into the air. “Make it quick guys.”

***

The humidity was starting to make their uniform to stick to their bodies. Dan had them stick to the shadows as much as possible so their black uniforms wouldn’t stick out as much. Checking their location on the map he saw they were close to the energy reading. Then he felt it, something felt like it lightly brushed against his mind. Needles to say, that freaked him out a bit. D.E. felt it too as he grabbed his head “What the hell?”

“I do believe that was a psychic wave of some sort,” Rev answered.

Boomer quickly pulled out his SP-Shooter and looked around, “We’re we just made?”

“I believe so,” Rev told him, “but I am unsure by whom.” Slowly he started looking in a direction that led deeper into the jungle, “But it would explain why I have a sudden urge to head in this direction.”

“That’s the same direction as the energy source we detected,” Dan said eyeing the readings.

“Do you think it’s a trap Captain?”, Rev asked.

“That’s what my guts telling me at the moment.”

“Wouldn’t whoever doing that make your gut say something else?”, D.E pointed out.

“Something could be making you say that, “Boomer countered.

“And this is getting us no where,” Dan told them. “Either way we have to head in that direction” Drawing his SP-Shooter he headed off, “Keep you eyes open and try to ignore any sudden urges.”

They found a mouth of a cave nearby. Dan studied the ground leading into the cave, people were going in and out alright. Recently too from the looks of things. Another push grazed their minds, this one seemed clearer then the previous one for some reason. Dan suddenly found an image of a furry alien of some sort in his memory. “I recognize this species Captain,” Rev said. “They are called Marakins and are said to be telepathic.”

“Is this the one in charge?”

Rev answered almost as soon as he finished talking, “I do not believe so Captain.” He was silent for a few seconds, when he started talking again he sounded a little distant. “No she is not, she was captured by accident. The head of the operation knew he couldn’t sell her because of her abilities. So far she’s been able to convince her captors not to kill her but she is unsure how much longer she will be able to do so.”

“Can she tell us what to expect in there?”. Before he knew it an image of inside of the cave entered his mind. He felt the dusty air and how it smelled. He saw rows of cages standing on top of each other all containing various species from all over the universe. He also knew where the guards were at the moment and the circle of cages in the middle where the leader dwelled. Putting a hand to his temple he said, “That was freaky.”

“Captain,” Rev said calmly, “I recognized most of the creatures surrounding the leader. They are on the endangered species list in several galaxies.”

“So going in gun blazing is out of the question then?”, Boomer joked.

“Pretty decent strategy,” D.E. said, “surround yourself with targets more valuable than you are. So how are we going this one?”

Dan thought it over and opened one of the pockets on his pant leg. Taking his hand out he opened it revealing two devices that clipped on behind the ear. The others nodded and took out similar devices, except Rev who had to have a model that attached to the nubs on the side of his head. It was SPD tech from the planet Leslie they gotten a hold of a couple of months ago. As he was attaching them to his head Rev said, “She agrees that this is the wisest course of action.” He felt a bit annoyed at that so Rev added, “She apologizes for the intrusion.”

***

“Would you be careful,” said a robot as it translated the arm movements of the furry lizard in charge. “These animals are priceless/valuable. They cannot be damaged/hurt.”

“But boss…”, on oh the newer human workers said to the robot.

“Look at me,” the robot said as the lizard talked.  “I am who you address. Not this robot/machine.”

“Sorry,” his eyes darted back and forth between the two of them. “But they’re just a bunch of animals.”

“These animals/creatures are worth more than you.” He nodded his head toward a cage containing a bird with golden yellow feathers. “I can purchase/acquire a small planetoid for what it’s worth. I can buy and sell you…”, the robot stopped translating as the leader stopped moving. When he started talking again his movements where slow and cautious, “What is that noise?”  While the others were looking up around eye level four canisters rolled by their feet. When they stopped a gas quickly released that filled the room in moments. “It’s a…. translation unknown,” the robot said as the lizard fell asleep and humans fell to the ground.

Dan and the team came out of hiding, each wearing a mask that covered the lower half of their face. Boomer nudged one of the humans with his foot as he passed him.  D.E. looked at the sleeping animals before pulling out a set of handcuffs and headed for the closest human. After a few moments Dan checked the air and saw it was clear, hitting a button on one of the clips the mask retracted. Looking over the scene he went, “Rev…”

He was already waving a scanner around, “I am detecting no abnormal life signs. The gas had no ill effect that I can see.”

“Good, I didn’t want to hurt these guys by accident.”

Boomer kind of snorted and said, “This had to be the easiest assignment we ever had.”

“Warning,” the robot announced as it came back to life, “intruders detected, defensives online.” Two grenades launched from it’s shoulders forming a group of Anaroids

D.E. punched Boomer in the arm, “Ow! Nobody told you to hit me.”

“They were thinking it.”

They got in a circle with their backs to each other. “Change standby,” Dan ordered and they all reached for their License. “Emergency! DekaOps!” They charged foreword as a Digital covered them in their DekaSuits. Dan’s hand gripped the handle of the D-Colt, but he stopped. He didn’t want to worry about a stray shot hurting somebody. So he reached back into his backpack and pulled out his D-Rod. Activating the red energy field around it he started swinging away.

Rev had jumped up and landed on the chest of one of the Anaroids and made it crashed to the ground. He kicked another one away when an image grazed his mind. Stepping foreword and pivoting around he jammed his D-Knife into a Anaroid’s head, right under the chin. Taking a moment he looked at the just awaking Marakin, “Thank you.”

Boomer was stabbing away at anything that looked metal and mean. Seeing D.E. was having some trouble he rushed over and helped his friend, “You’re lucky I don’t hold a grudge.” Together they were able to clear a spot to get some breathing room. “Looks like you owe me one.”

Without warning D.E. shot past him at the Anaroid that was sneaking up on Boomer. Tilting his head a bit he snorted, “Not any more.”

“I would’ve saw him.”

Dan struck down the last Anaroid in his path, looked around for another target and found nothing. This part of the job was winding down, but he didn’t want to fight anything under these conditions unless he had too. The robot surveyed the area, “Primary defensive units have failed. Activating…”

“D.E.,” Dan said interrupting it. D.E. took quick aim and shot it in the head, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” he replied.

Looking around Dan noticed somebody was missing, “No you don’t.” A quick search found the Lizard trying to get out through a small hole in the cave wall. Grabbing him by the scruff of the next he picked him off the floor, “Got you.” The lizard started motioning fast and furious. “Same to you pal,” Dan told him. “The only reason why you are not being judge right now is because your government specifically requested you be sent back alive.” Boomer pointed something out to Rev and they brought foreword an empty cage. Behind his helmet Dan smiled, “I do believe they call this poetic justice.” Dan put him I the cage and Boomer locked the door. Deactivating their DekaSuits Dan said, “Come on, let’s find the sentients and let them out of their cages.  Start with the Marakin and ask her for help.” They nodded and spread out.

They contacted Ace and told her to get in touch with OpsBase to make travel arrangements as soon as possible. Rev was giving all the captured creatures a quick medical exam to make sure they were all right. Dan and the others, on the other hand, were trying hard to convince some of them that they were who they said they were. “Look see,” Dan said showing the badge on his chest to a brown turtle with a beak, “SPD, we’re part of the good guys. Granted it’s a color you never seen before, but we are the good guys.” Almost ready to give up he looked around, “Where’s that Marakin when you need her?”

“Hey!”, Boomer cried out as a green lizard in a brown robe took another swing at him. “He’s trying to stab me with a butter knife.”

“I believe the term they use is ‘doink’”, Rev commented.

“Yeah and I’m about to shove that doink right up his…”

“Easy Boomer,” Dan cut him off.

“Ah, Robert,” Rev said, “There is a saying in the universe. When one of his kinds is in your path, find another way to your destination.”

“It’s ok little fella,” D.E. said to an alien that looked like a blue hairless monkey. “You got nothing to worry about. Rev just wants to check you over.” Out of no where it wrapped it’s arms around his right leg and D.E. body stiffened as he got a mortified look on his face. “Could somebody get him off my leg please.”

Dan looked over from where he was standing, “I had a dog that used to do that.”

Boomer grinned ear to ear, “Looks like you made a friend.”

“Just get him off my leg,” D.E. said through his teeth.

“Ok you heard him, the honeymoon’s over,” Boomer reached for the alien who open it’s mouth revealing a set razor sharp teeth. It took a couple of bites at his hand. Boomer pulled it back clutching his fingers, “Whoa!”

“Boomer,” D.E. pleaded.

“Yeah, maybe when he’s finished.”

***

Michelle was already in the hanger as the Machine Shepard came in for a landing. The animals were already taken care of and those who were imprisoned against there will were staying at or currently heading to various SPD embassies awaiting transport home. Dan started down the ramp when he stepped aside to let D.E. fly past him. Everybody saw that his right pant was cut off, right above the knee. “D.E. what happened…,” she started to ask.

“Don’t ask,” he told her as he shot past. A few of the hanger crew started making a few cat calls in his direction. “Oh shut up,” he told them. As he exited a couple of female officers past him and whistled. Michelle looked at Dan and pointed at the door totally confused.

“You really don’t want to ask,” he told her. Without looking he pointed behind him right at Ace and Boomer and said sharply, “And you two really don’t want to say anything.”

“How does he do that?”, Boomer asked Ace who just shrugged and headed for her crew.

“Why do I get the feeling the Major in for an interesting report,” Michelle said dryly.

“That feeling would be right,” Dan told her. “Now if you will excuse me I need to get the smell of animal crap out of my nose.”

“Now there’s a lovely image.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, “You’re not on the clock now as far as I’m concern so don’t say anything. After you give the Major that report I’m taking you outside for some fresh air to get rid of that scent. And I’m not taking no for an answer ‘baby’.”

“Didn’t even know that was an option ‘chica’,” Dan said as he followed her out.

“Good thing D.E. and Boomer weren’t around to see that. We have a mess to pick up in here,” Ace told one of her crew. He nodded in agreement.