Chapter 53: Shopping

Returning to my suite at the palace, Paso greeted me.

“Welcome sir, was your walk in the garden enjoyable?” he asked.

“Yes, Paso. I met with Her Imperial Majesty. The meeting went well,” I replied.

“That is great news, sir,” he said.

“I am to meet with her this evening for dinner,” I added.

“Oh most excellent, sir. I shall arrange a suitable outfit for you,” he said.

“Thank you. I have free time until this evening. Perhaps you can organize a tour of the palace for me?” I asked.

“A splendid idea, sir. I will go make the arrangements,” he replied. Paso turned and left.

A few minutes later, Paso returned with four armed guards.

“These are your escort, sir. They will show you around the Imperial Palace to areas of interest,” he said.

“Thank you Paso, I take it they will return me here in time to get ready for this evening?” I asked.

“Most definitely, sir. Failure to arrive on time for your dinner appointment is not an option,” he replied with a smile.

And that was it. I left my suite with my escort to tour the Imperial Palace.

The being following the Baglogi crew watched two of them enter a store, leaving just one outside, alone.

Swiftly approaching his target, he drew his weapon and pointed it at her. The bazaar outlawed weapons in most parts, but he had a way to get them past the security checkpoints.

The Baglogi female was alert and turned to face his approach. She had panic in her eyes as she looked at the weapon pointed at her.

He fired at close range, expecting an easy kill.

What he didn’t expect was a blip as a shield popped into existence around Jem. The lethal blast from the weapon reflected at the assassin. He was dead before his body hit the ground!

Moments later, an alarm sounded. Jem stood there in shock. Laine rushed out of the store to her side.

“He tried to shoot me,” murmured Jem.

“Good job you had the away team uniform on,” said Laine.

By now, Gober security forces had arrived on the scene. They struggled to gain control of the crowd. Jem remained motionless. Laine held her hand and waited with her.

“What happened?” asked the security officer.

“That being tried to kill me,” replied Jem.

“And you shot him first?” he accused.

“She is unarmed. I think his weapon malfunctioned,” said Laine.

He glared at Laine, then focused on Jem. “Is that what happened?”

“Yes,” replied Jem.

By now, the owner of the store made it to the group in front of her store. “Officer, I saw it from my store. That being tried to kill her, but something went wrong with his weapon,” she said.

Mina returned from the store and saw the chaos in the street. “What did I miss?”

Then she saw the corpse and the security officers. “They tried again?”

Laine nodded. “But their weapon ‘malfunctioned’,” she said, hoping Mina took the hint.

Mina turned to the security officer. “May we talk with the officer in charge?”

The security officer nodded and left.

Another security officer came over, and she had more markings on her uniform.

“You asked to speak to the officer in charge? I’m chief inspector Nowlan,” she asked.

“Yes. Do you recognize who we are?” asked Mina.

Nowlan took out a scanner and scanned the ID chip for each of them.

“You’re from the Baglogi vessel. You are the crewmates of Commander Brian!” she stated aloud. Her face showed panic.

“Correct. Last night there was an explosion. It was at the same airlock our shuttle was at earlier. Now today an assassin tried to kill our Commodore in the street. I believe we are being targeted,” said Mina.

“We were fortunate that his weapon malfunctioned,” added Laine.

Nowlan considered their response. “Where is your security detail? We normally provide them for VIP visitors to the bazaar,” she asked.

“When we arrived today, they did not assign one to us,” said Mina.

“That is strange,” she said. She talked into a communicator for a few minutes.

“I just confirmed. Someone erased your VIP status on our system, that should not happen. I have ordered a security detail to meet us here. I will remain with you until they arrive. We failed you and I am sorry,” she said.

Laine noticed Jem looked pale. “Is there somewhere she can sit while we wait for the security detail to arrive?”

They moved to a nearby store, including Nowlan.

“Let me get us something to drink. Mina, can you look after the Commodore, she is in shock?” said Laine. Mina nodded.

Laine wandered over and talked to a server. A few minutes later she returned with a tray of mugs of hot coffee.

Jem took a sip. “Laine, how did you get coffee here?”

“I convinced them to let me access their replicator. I programmed it to make coffee. The owner is now the exclusive coffee vendor in this bazaar,” replied Laine.

“Oh wow, this drink is amazing!” said Nowlan.

“Depending on your physiology, it works as a mild stimulant. We drink it often aboard our vessel,” said Jem. The coffee was having the effect Laine hoped.

“Welcome back Commodore,” said Mina.

“I didn’t expect he’d pull a weapon on me. It was pointed right at me,” said Jem.

“You were very lucky it misfired,” said Nowlan. Laine nodded.

Four armed Gober security arrived.

“These are your security detail for your visit,” said Nowlan. “I restored your VIP status and I’ve started an investigation into who erased it.”

“Thank you. Please keep us informed. You can reach us via our vessel,” said Jem.

Nowlan left to check on the crime scene. By now, a clean-up crew had removed the body of the assassin and they were finishing interviewing witnesses.

“Did you recognize what race the assassin was?” asked Laine.

“He was Gober,” replied Jem quietly.

Jem, Laine, and Mina walked the streets of the bazaar. Their security detail surrounded them and scanned nearby shoppers for potential threats.

“Mina, how are we doing with the shopping?” asked Jem.

“I ordered lots of supplies so we can prepare our own food and not depend on the food dispenser too much,” replied Mina.

“Do we have enough? Are there more vendors you wish to visit?” asked Jem.

“I’d like to visit the vendor up ahead. I understand they carry a range of spices that can enhance our cooking,” said Laine.

Jem nodded. She wished she could call Brian and discuss what happened, but it wasn’t a secure connection. She didn’t know who was involved.

“Once you have all you need, I’d like to return to the shuttle. We need to scan everything before we leave,” said Jem.

“Understood Commodore,” replied Laine.

At the store, Laine and Mina went inside to buy spices. Jem stayed outside, this time surrounded by their security detail.

“Excuse me, do you speak Ori?” Jem asked the security detail.

One of them turned to her. “I speak Ori,” he said.

“Are you aware of the explosion last night in the shuttle bay?” asked Jem.

“Yes, we are all aware of that,” he replied.

“I believe someone is trying to kill us. They might try to put a bomb in our purchases. If they succeed, I will be dead. You might be in trouble, when they learn I warned you,” said Jem.

He thought for a minute. “Which airlock is your shuttle docked at?”

“Our shuttle is at airlock thirty four,” replied Jem.

The security officer pulled out a communicator and spoke to someone in Gober. Then he turned to Jem.

“Commodore, I just spoke to chief inspector Nowlan. They are scanning deliveries to airlock thirty four, and reviewing security videos of your purchases in transit,” he said.

“Thank you. Last night’s explosion and today’s assassination attempt suggest someone is trying their best to kill us. They have connections to get weapons and explosives past checkpoints. They also erased our VIP status, which suggests someone with access to your systems. I’m very concerned,” said Jem.

“We are also concerned. Chief inspector Nowlan is leading an investigation to uncover who is behind it,” he said. Jem nodded.

Soon, Laine and Mina returned.

“The vendor is sending our purchased spices right away. It will be at our shuttle before we are,” said Laine.

“Good. Let’s return to the shuttle,” replied Jem.

Their security detail escorted them back to the shuttle bay.

At the immigration checkpoint, an officer scanned their ID chips and waved them through, followed by their security detail.

At the airlock to their shuttle were several Gober security officers searching through their purchases.

Chief inspector Nowlan greeted them with a smile.

“Hello again,” said Nowlan. “I had my team go through everything carefully. We found no explosives.”

“Did you check for a false bottom in the containers?” asked Laine.

Nowlan looked at Laine for a moment. Then she turned and gave orders to her officers. They started examining the containers for hidden compartments or false bottoms.

A few minutes later, the officers all shook their heads.

“Your purchases are free from explosives. Do you want to double check?” asked Nowlan.

“Laine, go in the shuttle and fetch your scanner,” said Jem.

Laine entered the airlock and returned with a handheld scanner. She went over each package. Nothing.

“I hope you don’t mind all this. I learned from Brian to have a healthy dose of paranoia,” said Jem.

“No problem,” said Nowlan. “I’m using this as a training drill for my team.”

“I still feel something is wrong. I just can’t figure out what,” said Jem.