Jones woke up to bright daylight and a throbbing pain at the site of his wound. He was in a hospital somewhere, but exactly where he was unsure. This unit did not look anything like the hospitals in Orion City. Still groggy, he attempted to gather his wits. Near him was a young, attractive Human nurse who was busy doing some sort of medical related job… what he did not know. At the door was an armed Human guard. That was a surprise. Jones slowly sat up, startling the young nurse who immediately left. The guard remained and refused to respond to Jones, though in truth Jones was not sure how coherent he sounded. After a few minutes of pain, he fell back unconscious only to be awoken at some point later by the sound of voices.
Opening his eyes this time, he slowly surveyed the room. The guard remained, though now several individuals were seated at a small round table a few feet from his bed. “He’s awake again,” came a soft female voice. “This will help with the pain.” Jones slowly turned to see the young nurse beside him, administering some sort of drug into an IV tube. Whatever the drug was, its effect was quick. The throbbing pain was already starting to dull. Mentally, he was quickly getting his bearings, though physical movement was much more slow and painful. This was beneficial. He had no idea where he was, how he got there, or why he was moved. Standard protocol would have put him under guard at the Orion City Medical Center. He was not there.
Jones thought back to his last memories, but they were few. Culso, or perhaps a Darlok in disguise, had helped him out of his apartment, but he did not remember making it out of the building. He must have passed out. “Where am I?” Jones feebly asked. The men at the table had stopped speaking and were now paying attention.
“You’re quite the sensation right now,” came a familiar voice though Jones could not see the man’s face as he still had his back to him. “You’re the only Human on record to have killed a Darlok spy, and now you’ve killed a second,” the man continued. Jones was going to use his condition to his fullest advantage feigning grogginess while his mind was working at the speed of light. He did not kill the Darlok in his apartment, but clearly these people thought he had. This was fine, Darloks and Humans were at war. Jones attempted to force a smile, but the pain made that difficult. “My niece,” the voice continued, “has spoken rather highly of you. Setting that aside for a moment, can you explain this data stick?” Jones paused for a long time. It was not his, at least not that he could remember. Perhaps the Darloks slipped it into his possessions. He remembered nothing after the attack. For all he knew, this could be a ploy. Fortunately, the man continued interrupting the rather uncomfortable pause. “It has some fairly damning information, much of which corroborates the official Darlok position. Where did you get this information?”
“My investigation of these events is not complete yet,” Jones stumbled. “And you know I cannot let you know my sources” Jones feebly replied.
“Not even to me?” The man turned and Jones instantly recognized why the voice was familiar. It was none other than Chancellor Collins himself sitting at the foot of his bed.
“You and I both know that revealing sources, even to you, is the surest way to get them killed,” Jones replied. Perhaps he was a bit too unfazed, but the terse response was a rather unexpected reply to a man used to getting his way. The Chancellor paused for a second before cracking a faint smile. “I can see why she likes you. You have wit, something Andrea values. I had Ms. Schnell assigned to you in part to keep her out of danger, yet somehow, she finds it anyways. Truthfully though, you’ve done well in giving her some real work that she can find useful to carve out a career of her own.” Jones was a bit surprised too, and his lack of response caused Chancellor Collins to continue. “She was the only good thing that came out of my first marriage. My wife’s sister’s daughter. She’s smart and very dedicated. She’s also convinced that we are on the wrong side of this war, and she got many of those doubts from you,” the Chancellor stated somewhat accusingly.
“I have my doubts, but those remain un-validated” Jones replied in as feeble of a manner as he could. He did not dare state much more. This was dangerous ground, especially not knowing what was on that data stick. It could be just as much true as it could be a complete fabrication. The Chancellor was an interesting character to say the least. His first marriage and divorce had been well publicized during his time in the Human Senate. That included several rumored dalliances with romantic paramours. Perhaps “niece” was code for “daughter.” That, though, would have to wait for another day, and it was not worth the political suicide that Jones would risk pressing that subject.
“You’re fortunate that Andrea called me,” the Chancellor continued. “Following protocol might have insured your death, if what is on this data stick is true. You’re safe in my home while its contents can be investigated.”
Not remembering any of the journey, Jones felt it best to change the subject. “I remember nothing except the attack. How long have I been out?”
“It has been over a week,” came the reply from the nurse standing next to him. Jones had forgotten about her and was startled slightly by her reply. The Chancellor continued… “A lot has changed. My own Vice-Chancellor is currently under investigation based on your data, along with several key military advisors, but you should know that already. The Bulrathi have made peace with the Darloks just yesterday. It was costly for them, surrendering some key choke point systems near the Mrrshan boarder along with 20 cycles of costly war reparations, but losing half of your fleet will do that. The Mrrshan picked up an entire Bulrathi system in the conflict as well, and the only thing protecting them from more incursion is their fight with the Silicoids and the fact that the Bulrathi surrendered those systems to Nazin knowing the Mrrshan wouldn’t risk a war crossing them. But what I want to know is how you, doing counter-espionage, managed to get so much information on this Antaran plot.”
“I still have ears around the galaxy,” Jones carefully replied, “but as I said before, much of the information I had has not been confirmed. If it had, I would have acted, but I hear whispers all the time, most of which are false, and that is even more true when you’re at war with the Darloks.” Jones was sure now the data was a Darlok plant. He did not want to own it, whether it was true or not. Last he needed was to be responsible for some Darlok lie.
“We’ve confirmed much of it,” the Chancellor continued. “Mentar announced recently that the individuals named in your reports have been arrested for treason, as has Nazin and Fierras. The Silicoids have confirmed that Antares has incurred on some of their remote planets, as have the Meklar and Klackon. Antares has been moving quietly taking remote planets that are hard to defend, all of which are near black holes. The Silicoids have stated that Antares is actively recruiting Silicoid workers for a ‘better life’ on Saak III. Apparently, instead of inhabiting that volcano, they are relocating Silicoid civilians to this planet, which is some sort of utopia to their species… all to build ships. Everything that can be validated has been so far. Your work has been impressive.”
Jones was taken back by the statement. The Darloks must have had quite the collection of information, and given their war with Humans, it made sense to plant it. The Chancellor had fallen into the trap assuming the information was legitimate. Jones had the perfect cover if it was not. Regardless, there was little he could now to change the course of history, though for once he heard the Chancellor say something requiring a new action.
“The real war is with Antares,” the Chancellor stated. “As luck would have it, the Psilons told the Senate today that they had a means to attack them, and they were willing to freely give the technology to any race that would join them.”