Chapter Nine
A Change in Priorities
“What do you mean you are pulling my team off the Mission?” Kreelin demanded as his hard-won calm evaporated in the heat of his pent-up anger, which flared across his face and sent his eye mass into a kaleidoscope of reds and blues. However, as angry as he was, as he stood there glaring at Vinmil, each breath he took filled his body with a heart slowing calm that chipped away at his mounting fury. He couldn’t help noticing that not only his file but those of his crew were on her desk while Grodge stood nearby doing an admirable job of looking calm while Supreme Director Branic had not removed his gaze from the office window he stood next to, intent on not being a part of the conversation yet.
Vinmil did not glance at him either for that matter. Instead, she stood at her office window and looked out to the plaza below. “Kreelin, I’m sorry but the Board of Regents and the Supreme Director himself has authorized this,” She waved an arm at the quiet back of Branic, who seemed not to have heard the comment. “You are to be taken off the Third Galaxy Mission to undertake one more suited to your abilities.”
He tried to control his voice but the words only came out choked. “But Sirs, with all due respect, all the time we have spent preparing, all the money that is going to be wasted! We have to continue with…”
“How many times does it have to be said, Kreelin?” Vinmil turned all her eyes to look directly at him. “No one is questioning you or your teams work, far from it. It is because of your reputation that you are being given this new assignment. The repairs to the Starhawk will continue; I fear that before this is over you will need her in the best shape possible.”
Kreelin’s eye mass shifted rapidly in noncommittal tones as his temper started to cool. “This isn’t right. Toli and Jimmy…”
“Kreelin, I don’t have time to pander to baltek hardheadedness. The orders are set in stone. No amount of wounded pride or fighting me is going to change it,” All of her eyes bored into him with a fierceness he had not seen in years. “Besides, you haven’t let me get to what your new assignment is. You may find that it is an assignment worth taking. So sit down, shut up and listen before you give yourself a heart attack.”
Kreelin had never known Vinmil to be so blunt or so agitated. She usually handled his moods with an even hand. But then, he’d not been this angry in a while either and he knew Vinmil well enough to know that she meant business right now. So reluctantly he sat and waited to hear whatever the board had in store for him, while he attempted to put a firm clamp on his emotions.
Vinmil watched him sit with unwavering intensity. Finally, she left Branic’s side, returned to her chair, and calmly stared back at Kreelin. There was an awkward pause, so she turned an eye back to the window and motioned for the still standing Grodge to sit next to Kreelin.
“Thank you, Director, but I prefer to stand.”
Her eyes blinked in unison. “As you wish,” She reached out and took a databoard from the corner of her desk. “How are the Starhawk repairs going?” She asked in a tone that had no hint of her raised voice from just moments before.
Kreelin grunted at the question. “I haven’t had time to go over the latest updates since returning from Sanctuary and the help you wanted me to get.”
There was another awkward silence that fell over the three as Vinmil did not rise to Kreelin’s last jab. Instead, she took the time to gather the last databoard she needed before proceeding. “This morning a representative of Genvitan Corporation along with local Ricanthis law enforcement approached our offices for assistance in last week’s bombing,” She waved a tentacle in Grodge’s direction.
Kreelin turned slightly and looked at Grodge who now moved to the chair next to him and sat very still, doing his best not to return Kreelin's gaze. Kreelin, finding her statement to be rather anticlimactic, turned his attention back to Vinmil. “So?”
One of Vinmil’s eyes squinted at the irritation in his tone. “So, I want you and your team to head up the investigation.”
“Out of the question,” Kreelin said flatly before she could cut him off. “Taking the Third Galaxy mission out of our discussion for a moment, it’s a simple matter. My team has not done any real investigative work in over five years, some of them longer. They are sorely out of practice and…”
“I have to admit," Branic abruptly stated from across the room, "that I made the very same arguments Captain. But Director Vinmil here has made a very persuasive case on your crew's behalf. So please calm down. You and your team have already been given this assignment. This meeting is not a request for your services, but a briefing before you get started.”
Kreelin started to say something but closed his mouth instead. He had never interacted with the Supreme Director before and he was troubled that Branic had chosen to take a personal interest in him and his crew. Reluctantly he waited for Vinmil or Branic to continue the meeting.
“Now, where was I? Oh, yes…Genvitan," Vinmil said at last. "The local authorities have been over the blast site and have come up with nothing. Genvitan has been having so much trouble keeping the press and treasure seekers out of the building that their security forces are being overrun,” Vinmil raised an arm and the room lights grew dark as well as the windows. A light appeared over her desk and a holographic image of the Genvitan building appeared.
“It seems the explosion that caused the most damage happened here, in the upper lab levels,” Vinmil reached out and pointed at the building as a series of flashes gradually engulfed the upper levels of the building in smoke and flames. “The explosions, while substantial, did not destroy as much of the building as once believed, though there has been considerable fire and smoke damage.”
“And several deaths and serious injuries,” Grodge said from Kreelin’s side.
Vinmil slid a databoard across her desk towards Kreelin, which he took and studied with such intensity that she thought he might break the databoard. Finally, he looked up at Vinmil as he placed the databoard back on her desk. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”
“What?!” Grodge exclaimed from the seat next to him. “Your own sister is in the hospital barely clinging to life because some nasty piece of work who should have been put away years ago decided to make a splash at Genvitan on the night of a big publicity event and you're going to do nothing?!.” Grodge got up and began pacing the room. “People have died Kreelin, died!!! You of all people should be able to understand that!! You used to be the best," he said in a desperate tone as he grabbed the back of his chair. "But that was years ago, wasn't it? Maybe you can’t do it; maybe you’re afraid you’ll fail as you did before. Maybe Toli is right and you do suffer from lack of a backbone!!!”
Kreelin shot so quickly to his feet that Vinmil thought that he had broken the chair or a bone from the loud crack that reverberated in the now still and emotionally charged air of her office.
Kreelin’s eye mass was now engulfed in sheets of orange and blue and his mouth held back a snarl that sounded ready for more than just a chance to beat the crap out of Grodge’s equally fury drenched face.
“STOP IT NOW!!!” yelled Vinmil as she stood to her full height which towered over the now crouching Kreelin and Grodge. “You both are behaving like children!!!” When it was clear that neither of them was listening, Vinmil withdrew her stunner from its holster, set it on its lowest level, took aim and tried to zap both out of their rage with howling yelps of surprise. Branic only smiled into the window.
A short time later, the two of them were seated across from Vinmil, each doing their best to ignore the other. “Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, the investigation has stalled and they are asking for our help. Your orders are to get yourself and your team over there and go over the scene with everything you can imagine and then do it again until you find something. Find out who’s responsible. Do what you do best.”
“Understood,” Kreelin said as he retrieved the databoard from her desk. “I’ll send Harvey, Raina, and Heevii over right away.”
Vinmil visibly relaxed as she tapped out something on her desk computer. “There is another seemingly unrelated development that has been reported to me today. One our teams from the black light district reported that they heard the Courier has been scaring the locals, add that to the rumors of Averaus Dorrn’s death and the sudden rise of his son Ral has spread and grown. I have been able to confirm the reports of his return to Ricanthis and he is now in seclusion recovering from some horrific injuries.”
“Dorrn?” Kreelin said with such a small voice it took Vinmil a moment to realize that he had spoken.
“Yes. Now you understand why I want you on this mission,” Vinmil said as she turned the lights back on and the windows became transparent once more. “My gut tells me these are not coincidences. And there is no one in StelCom with your experience. So, Doctor Elaine Maxwell is waiting for you at Genvitan and will answer any questions you need.”
Kreelin stood, his earlier stubbornness replaced by a cold mask of purpose. “I’ll do my best Sir,” He said with a tone of certainty Vinmil had not heard in a long, long time.
Branic finally turned from the window and smiled at Kreelin. “Good that is what we want to hear. And Kreelin, if-and I do mean if- the Dorrn’s are involved we want you to stop at nothing to bring them down once and for all.”
“I understand,” Kreelin turned from Vinmil, looked at Grodge, and finally at the still and unmoving silhouette of Branic. He sighed, nodded once and then left the room, databoard at his side.
Vinmil turned to Grodge and her spots darkened slightly. “Are you sure about this?”
Grodge stared at the now closed door for just a few moments more before returning Vinmil’s gaze with a dark and dangerous smile. “Absolutely.”
From across the room Branic's smile faded and his tone grew cold. “My sentiments exactly.”
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