---    Inquiry


Dro's shuttle had cleared the atmosphere and was not yet half way to the planetary ring, when his destination became visible to the naked eye.  The Nyth Tylluan had parked itself half way between the ring and the local gate.  It's presence was causing a great deal of chatter on the inter-ship comms with much conjecture and supposition about its owner, whose faction it belonged to, and its reason for being there.

'How soon they forget', thought the dragon.  While at the same time realizing that the vast majority of the chatter was being made by children whose grand parents had not been born, when a ship like this was last stationed near Maramus.  Though its size, smooth contours, and blue metallic sheen should have been enough for anyone who had read anything about the great war to recognize its owner.

This ship had once belonged to the Neutrality.  A wholly non-partisan group, who had taken up arms to defend themselves, rather than side with the Confederation or the Imperium.  After the war, the Neutrality remained in spirit, if not in name, and became the universal arbitrators for everything within the newly founded Federated Worlds.  A centralized police force, consisting of members from all three factions, with nearly unlimited scope and purview.  It quickly became apparent that such a system was rife for potential abuse, and there would be a need for internal oversight.  Thus, Internal Security was created to be an elite police force, within the police.  

This mobile headquarters allowed them unfettered access to any system which required special attention, and prevented favoritism to any one location that they might have otherwise chosen as home.

---

After docking with the city-sized ship, Dro made his way to the central office.  "Is it still in the same place, Celine?" he asked aloud to the corridor he was in.

"It is," replied the ship's resident AI.  "Good to have you back, sir."

"Wish I could say it was good to be back," replied Dro. "But it is always good to hear your voice."

"Thank you, sir," she replied.

At the doors to the central office, the dragon passed through a series of security arches, surrendered his side arm, and was escorted to the appropriate room.

Upon entering the council chamber, Dro found himself at the end of a long wooden table.  Three council members of various species, sat on either side along its length, conversing with unseen individuals through their data pads while they waited for the inquiry to begin.  They all wore formal dress uniforms, with full rank insignia and award pins, which made Dro in his standard issue coat and vest seem like peasants clothes.

'At least I am comfortable', he thought to himself, as he scanned the room.

At the far end of the table, sat the chairman.  A blue and white draconian in plain dress whites, shuffling through a stack of data pads and print outs arrayed on the desk before him.  Glancing up, he nodded to Dro, then gestured for him to sit, before returning to the amassed data.

To his right stood a metallic shaft, topped with a metal hoop, which had been wrapped with rope.  Perched atop the hoop with its talons tight on the rope wrappings sat a large owl.  It swiveled its head about, surveying the people in the room, and periodically preening the feathers on its chest.

Eventually the chatter in the room subsided, as one by one the members of the council closed their connections to the outside.  The main doors closed and the border around it glowed red to indicate that the room was now secure.  One of the councilmen was caught short, as the feed he was monitoring suddenly went dead.  When he looked up and saw the rest of the room watching him, he casually placed the pad on the table face down and folded his arms.

Everyone in the room stood when the chairman rose from his chair.

"Agent Crwydro Amddifad, this is a formal inquiry into recent events involving field agent Shannon Oroyo as it pertains to the use and abuse of Internal Security resources, and by extension, your involvement in them," said the chairman.  "Chairman Geraldis Wurdge presiding.  Is Agent Oroyo not joining us today?"

Dro glanced at the pair of empty chairs in front of him.  He truly hoped Shannon had only been delayed and that her earlier comment about ignoring the summons had only been in jest.  "Agent Oroyo is not my pet.  I do not keep her on a leash," he replied.

"Quite," replied the Chairman. "Be seated."

The council members returned to their chairs, and slid themselves up to the table.  The chairman simply settled down carefully where he stood, and slid the owl's perch closer to the table.  Dro looked at the provided chair, flipped it over onto its face, and perched upon the bottom side, his tail snaking through the upturned legs to give him some added support.

"Proceed," said Chairman Wurdge.

The councilman seated closest to the chairman's right hand, slid the chair he had just sat down in back out and stood.  He was a heavy set Raccan with exceptionally well groomed fur.  When he spoke, his voice was much higher pitched than one would expect from someone of his girth.

"The following charges have been filed against Agent Shannon Oroyo, in regards to the events which took place on the mining colony located at.. blah blah blah," he began, waving his hand as he skipped over the trivial details.  

"Excuse me," interrupted Dro.

The Raccan paused and turned his head, "Yes?"

"Please do not 'blah blah blah' through the details.  This is an official inquiry after all, and I would like the facts fully recorded."  'It will also give Shannon more time to get here,' he thought to himself.

This flustered the Raccan, who was unaccustomed to being corrected in this manner.  In dismay, he turned to the Chairman for help, but received only a nod. "Please continue," said the blue dragon.

The Raccan started again, reading through his prepared introduction word for word, including dates and spatial coordinates for the mining colony.

Dro smiled to himself.

---

"Charge number one.  Agent Oroyo stole two unformatted ident cards directly from the Federation Security center.  Can you confirm?" asked the raccoon.

"I know nothing concerning the possible theft of said cards, but I am certain that they are currently active and safe in good hands," replied Dro.

"Whose?"

"That, I cannot tell you," replied Dro.

"Cannot, or will not?" challenged the councilman.

"Both," he replied. "Shannon had well founded reasons for being covert during this event, serious enough that she did not share with me any of the details until after it was over.  

"It has long been rumored that the Oroyo has people loyal to them inside Internal Security.  Some may be in this very room," he added looking around at the various council members.  "She took steps to insure that even she did not know the identities eventually placed on those cards.

"So neither she nor I can tell you who they are assigned to, or where they are at this moment," he continued.  "And until her investigation is concluded, I would not divulge that information even if I knew it."

The Raccan grimaced, as the other councilmen made notes and muttered to each other about impropriety and insubordination.

---

"Charge number two," the Raccan continued.  "Agent Oroyo falsified documents and stole fifty thousand credits in untraceable Federation coinage, from the treasury."

"Those coins were not stolen, those were withdrawn from my personal account," said Dro.

"She illegally accessed your account and used your passkey," said the lead council, poking the display on his pad.

"Oh dear.  I really should get that changed," replied Dro in exaggerated shock.  "Regardless, I shall press no charges or complaints against her.  Consider it, retroactive permission."

"Retroactive permission?" sputtered the Raccan.

"Many years ago, I told Shannon that she could have anything of mine that she needed, for any reason.  I trusted her choices then, and see no reason to change that decision now."

The Raccan huffed, and flipped through several pages of prepared evidence which would now be irrelevant and inadmissible.

--

"Charge number three," he finally said, a grin appearing on his face. "Agent Oroyo acquired restricted military grade explosives and detonated them, resulting in the deaths of nine civilians," said the councilman. "I don't suppose the anti-tank mine she used was also yours?  From some personal arsenal you may have?"

"No, she did not get that from me.  I don't personally own anything that small," said the dragon with a completely straight face. "And if you check the incident report from the local constabulary, you will find that those 'civilians' were not bystander casualties, they were heavily armed and armored Ursids.  An Oroyo hit squad, acting as bodyguards, traveling with one, Weston Emorye, who is.. or was.. rather high on our list of shady characters in the ongoing Oroyo investigation."

"An investigation which her actions have brought into serious jeopardy."

"In what way?" asked Dro plainly.  "Weston put together a team of seven heavily armed guards, to visit a tiny mining town, on the fringe of federated space.  It sounds like he was expecting to run into trouble of some kind.  How was it a surprise to the Oroyo when he found some?"

"Weston Emorye was very close to the Matriarch, and was suspected to be the link to the slave trade in the outer fringe," said the Raccan.  "His death has made proving those links nearly impossible now."

"Weston has been under Internal Security's watchful eye for over thirty years.  He either had no connection to the slave trade, or the evidence was kept hidden by someone within our walls," said Dro.

"That is not your assumption to make," said the councilman.

"No, it is not.  It belongs to my superior officers and this council.  All of whom have remained remarkably quiet about it, all this time," countered Dro.  "Funny that, don't you think?"

The muttering between members of the council came to an abrupt halt when they realized the implication, that some of them may be complicit in this case.

"Chairman Wurdge, I would like it noted for the record that Agent Amddifad is acting in a contemptuous manner, and not respecting the authority of this council."

"Guilty," said Dro proudly before the chairman could respond. "Truthfully, I am rather embarrassed that you were so ill prepared for this inquiry."

The chairman fixed Dro with a look, and said, "Agent Amddifad, please respect the authority of this council, and its members, no matter how woefully incompetent they may seem."

"Thank you, chairman," said the Raccan before the words sank in, and forced him to do a double-take, as he took his seat.

---

Another council member from the opposite side of the table then rose to resume the questioning.  The gray and white wolf scrolled through the notes on his data pad.

"Agent Amddifad, perhaps you can clarify the reason Agent Oroyo no longer resides in her agency registered body?" he asked, while adjusting his glasses.

"I believe it was due to her proximity to the explosives she detonated," replied Dro.

"And her original body is currently located where?" asked the wolf without looking up from his pad.

Dro debated on detailing exactly where Shannon's 'original' fourteen year old genetically crippled body was buried, but ultimately decided to play nice instead.  "Shannon's registered body is currently interred at the mining homestead where the explosives were detonated."

"You buried her there yourself, after the removal of her AI core?" asked the wolf, still not looking up.

"That is correct," replied the dragon.

"And now her core resides in the body of an underage pleasure doll?"

"The body is not underage, I have the receipts with her tank date," Dro replied.

"But you did place her in a pleasure doll?" asked the wolf, finally glancing up at the dragon over the rim of his glasses.

"A temporary biologic body was required, and quickly.  A new replacement can take up to a year to be regrown, so the doll was the quickest choice," replied the dragon.  "I did submit the proper paperwork for a permanent replacement at the time.  A request, which I will point out, is still pending approval in some committee.

"I am seriously starting to doubt whether anyone actually reads my reports, as the vast majority of this inquiry so far is covered in them," added Dro, testily.

"So noted," replied the chairman.

"It is just that there are some within security who are concerned about your relationship with Agent Oroyo.  That you have grown too close to her, and it is clouding your judgment where her safety and Internal Security's interests are at odds.  And placing her in a pleasure doll, well...," the wolf trailed off, letting the implication hang in the air.

"I would invite any of these concerned individuals to cite any case where my decisions resulted in negative results, as far as Internal Security's interests were concerned.  Also, as a field agent, I believe Shannon's safety is in itself an Internal Security interest, would you not agree?" asked Dro, showing considerable restraint.  

"We are only asking you to stop interfering and covering for her actions outside of Internal Security," said the wolf.

"You are asking me to stop being her friend.  What she or I do in our free time is none of this councils concern," said Dro.

"When it involves or interferes with Security matters, it does," interjected the Raccan from across the table.  "How long do you think that you can continue to bend the rules around Agent Oroyo, and to what end?  Justice?"

"As long as I am physically able to, and only because the 'rules' as you put it, have been so heavily bent against her, for her entire life," replied Dro.

"So you have decided to take it upon yourself, to make sure the universe plays fair by her?" asked the wolf.

"That would imply that the universe cares.  I have never believed in the 'intelligent universe' theory.  In my experience, there is no fair or unfair in the universe, the universe simply is.  It does not play favorites," explained Dro.  "The physics behind the universe is the only true set of rules.  It takes people exercising free will to invent imaginary societal concepts like fairness, morality, and justice.

"When someone does something truly horrific for petty personal reasons, my faith in the universe is not shaken.  If anything it is strengthened, and it is my faith in people that is diminished," he continued.  "As Shannon's friend, I feel that it is my obligation to ensure that those who wish her ill, receive the sharp end of my displeasure.  Not because of fairness, or justice, but because as a sapient individual with free will and choice, I choose vengeance.  Within societal legal bounds, of course.

"And if by some chance, it turns out that there is a vast omnipresent intelligence running the universe, it should have realized by now that if it keeps messing with Shannon, I am going to mess with it in return," said Dro, stabbing the table with a taloned finger as he finished.

The council members all glanced at each other, then at the dragon.  Dro looked ready to chew the plastiglass cup he had been drinking from.  As a group they decided to quit while they still could.  Each in turn placed their data pad on the table, and folded their hands atop it before turning to the chairman.

---

Chairman Wurdge glanced up at the owl to his right, then back to the assembled council members.

"As she is not here to answer or refute any of these charges herself, Agent Shannon Oroyo's employment with Internal Security is hereby terminated, with all access privileges revoked until further notice," stated the Chairman.  "Agent Amddifad, as her partner, you are charged with bringing her in for immediate debriefing and deactivation."

"Deactivation?" Dro snarled, his claws biting into the desk.

"Only her remote access capabilities, though I will tell you that there was discussion of having her archived," said Wurdge. "But considering the nature of her origin, this was ultimately deemed unacceptable."

"It should be considered unacceptable for any sentient, regardless of origin," Dro growled indignantly.

The council had all turned to face Dro, as if challenging him to refuse the order to bring Shannon in.

"I will accept the councils decision in this matter and bring Shannon in, provided it is made clear in the record that my only infraction was being her friend, and acting accordingly."

The council members murmured amongst themselves, confusedly.

"Please, clarify," said the Chairman.

"If my record is to be tarnished by the decision of this council, I want it to be for something I am truly guilty of," said Dro bluntly.  "Otherwise, you can have my resignation immediately, and I will wish you luck bringing Shannon in against her will, because even I would consider that a challenge."

Some of the council members looked as though they would like nothing better, then to have Dro resign and be rid of him.  Others looked shocked that he was showing this much camaraderie toward a member of another species.

"So be it.  This inquiry is officially concluded.  Council is dismissed," said the Chairman, before any of the council could voice a dissenting opinion.

---

As Dro was righting his chair and preparing to leave, the owl suddenly landed on his shoulder, its talons gripping tightly, but doing very little to his scaly hide.

"Please stay," said the owl, in a flat monotone that was neither command nor request.

Dro turned to the chairman at the head of the table, who only shrugged and continued gathering up the stack of data pads.  Before leaving the room, the chairman used his tail to flip the chair he had been perched on back to its upright position, then joined the others.  When only Dro remained, the owl flew back to its perch at the head of the table.

As he made his way around the table toward the owl, the rear wall of the chamber divided down its center and began to part slowly.  Its many layers separating in sequence, starting with the ornate wooden facing of the council chamber, then thermal, acoustic, and electro-magnetic dampening layers, and finally a very thick layer of a dark metallic material.  As this last layer parted, a wave of hot humid air poured into the room, flustering the owl.  Dro could see no detail within, only a black empty void.

When the panels had opened fully, the owl flew into the darkness beyond and vanished.  Only when it turned its head to look back at him, and light reflected from its eyes, was it apparent that it had perched on something unseen.

"Step closer," came the owls distant voice.

Dro had started toward the owl, when the air in the room suddenly changed directions, pulling the tails of his coat forward.  The breeze slowed, then reversed direction again, blowing against his advancement.  Hot humid air carrying the acrid smell of hot metal and smoke from some ancient furnace.  As the air slowed and reversed yet again, two large glowing orbs appeared under the owl, each larger than Dro's head.  The orbs swiveled about, unseeing, a glow from within illuminating the milky surface of the ancient eyeballs and the muzzle before it.

Dro stopped, only a few meters from the massive nostrils, as they inhaled and exhaled in their slow even pattern.  He bowed and knelt before the enormous creature.  A true dragon.  The original species from which the draconians had been derived.

"You smell like one of Boulava's children," said the owl.

"I do not know my progenitor, Lord Perenael," he replied reverently.

The enormous unseeing eyes blinked. "No need to bow, and no one has called me Lord since before the great war," said the owl.  "Besides, there aren't enough of us left for those titles to mean anything anymore.  If you insist on using titles, Director will be sufficient."

"Apologies, Director."

"No need for apologies either, and no one is asking for your resignation," stated the owl.

"Could have fooled me," replied Dro.

"You are right to be concerned.  Shannon's suspicions about moles within Security are well founded.  Six agents have already been identified, and removed from service."

"That would have been good to know, before the inquiry."

"The council is not privy to that information," replied the owl.

"But I am?" asked Dro, confused.

"I trust you," said the owl. "Your's and Shannon's actions have proven that you are working against threats of that order.  I cannot say the same for any of the others who were sitting with you at that table."

Dro nodded, "I understand."

"Now can you extend to me an equal amount of trust?" asked the owl.

"You want to know what Shannon was up to," stated Dro.

The owl did not answer, but a deep "MMmmph." came from the huge dragon.

"I do not know all of the details, but it is my understanding that Shannon had located her estranged half brother and his family, and took steps to ensure the Oroyo would not find them," said Dro. "Obviously, it did not all go according to plan."

A deep vibrating rumble came from the dragon. "Family matters," stated the owl, as it shifted on its perch.

Dro nodded in agreement, and said "I must thank you, for assigning the task of retrieving Shannon to me."

"I was only considering the safety of our other agents, in that decision," said the owl.

Dro smiled.  "If I may, I would like to request another favor in regards to Shannon's unemployment."

"Such as?" asked the owl.

"I would like to be the one to disable her network access," said Dro, suddenly very serious.  "I have serious concerns about letting anyone else have that level of access inside her head."  

"Mrrmph." said the dragon, accompanied by "Granted," from the owl.

Dro bowed. "Thank you, Director.  So how much of a head start should I give Shannon, before I begin looking for her?"

"Sadly, you should begin immediately," replied the owl.  "Our records show that Shannon went dark, just before the request for this inquiry was sent out, which is likely why she did not appear today.  Any idea why she would have switched off?"

"None.  She was in her apartment, preparing to sleep when we last spoke.  That was only hours ago," replied Dro with some concern.

"It is possible that someone did not want Agent Oroyo to appear at this inquiry," said the owl.  "Though given how you handled the council, perhaps they chose the wrong target to restrain."  At this the huge dragon's muzzle parted slightly, displaying what remained of its dagger length teeth.

Dro recognized the gesture as a smile, while most people probably would have seen it as a threat.  "Thank you, Director.  Poking bureaucrats with sharp sticks is a hobby of mine."

"Ha ha ha.  Ha ha ha ha." said the owl, in the same emotionless monotone.  While a deep cyclic chuffing, which could only have been laughter, emanated from the dragon.

The owl suddenly flustered, and swiveled its head about rapidly as though confused, then snapped its attention on Dro.  "I have just been informed that shortly before the inquiry ended, we received a report of a distress call from the Matriarch's flag ship," said the owl, nervously preening its wing.  "It may only be a coincidence, but considering recent events, and the decision of the council, I would suggest.."

A loud bang stopped the owl in mid sentence, its head swiveling about to see the main doors to the council chamber swinging freely, then closing.  Dro was already gone.

"..that you not do anything rash," finished the owl, as the massive dragon exhaled a sad sounding sigh, and closed its eyes.