Chapter 1 World of Karrat
Krivoy Arms
Jonathan Mallinson, President of Krivoy Arms
“Galactic Empire Bureau of Investigation,” Jenny said, answering the vistaview unit. “May I help you?”
“My name is Jonathan Mallinson. I‘m President of Krivoy Arms. May I speak with Director Major Justice?”
“You’re with what organization again?” Jenny inquired.
“The Krivoy Arms Manufacturing Corporation. We’re located on the world of Karrat,” Mallinson replied.
“One monument please,” Jenny replied. Then using the office intercom system, said, “Major, a Mr. Jonathan Mallinson wishes to speak with you.”
Answering, Major said, “Did he say what this is about?”
“He said he was President of Krivoy Arms located on the world of Karrat,” Jenny replied.
“Okay, put him through,” Major replied.
“Sir, Director Justice,” Jenny said, connecting Mallinson.
“This is Director Justice, Mr. Mallinson. How may I help You?”
“Director, some time back we received a directive from the Galactic Empire Bureau of Investigation requesting arms manufactures to notify you if any weapons shipments came up missing,” Mallinson said. “That directive was signed by you.”
“Yes, Mr. Mallinson. You have a shipment of weapons that came up missing,” Major asked without preamble.
“Yes, two shipments in fact, Director” Mallinson replied.
“Two? Where were these two shipments destined to?” Major asked.
“The world of Banner 5. They were military shipments,” Mallinson replied.
“What kind of weapons are we talking about. And how many in each shipments?” Major inquired.
“The second shipment was a duplicate of the first. Each shipment included fifty cases of the SK-1, 9mm, hand blasters; two cases of the SK-2, 40mm hand blasters; ten cases of the 7mm rifle blasters and ten cases of the RPGs or rocket-propelled grenade launchers,” Mallinson told Major.
“These SK-1, 9mm hand blasters, are they…?” Major started to ask.
Interrupting, Mallinson said, “The SK-1, 9mm hand blasters are similar to the standard military version 9mm hand blaster. The only difference being that the barrel is approximately one and a half centimeters longer than the standard 9mm hand blaster. It uses the same 9mm projectile,” Mallinson explained.
“And the 7mm rifle blasters?” Major asked.
“Similar to the 6.5mm and 7.3mm rifle blasters other arms manufacturers produce,” Mallinson replied. “They are produced with or without the build in silencers or the grenade launchers,” Mallinson explained.
“And these SK-1, 9mm hand blasters; they’re packed twenty-five to a case?” Major inquired.
“Yes, and the 7mm rifle blasters, they’re packed twenty to a case and the RPGs, ten to a case,” Mallinson added..
“How did you ship these weapons? That is, what transport company did you use?” Major asked.
The first shipment was shipped vie Olympic Transport. The second shipment, we used Oxnard Transport,” Mallinson told Major.
“I’m familiar with Olympic Transport. They’re a reputable transport company. But I do not recall ever hearing of Oxnard Transport,” Major said.
“Oxnard Transport is located on the world of Oxnard. We have used them before,” Mallinson replied. Then added, “But if you‘re questioning whether the transport companies are somehow involved, they‘re not. It’s our policy to follow up and confirm delivery. The military on the world of Banner 5 acknowledged the shipments arrived. Then the shipments disappeared after they were unload.”
“Wasn’t the military there to pick up the shipments when they arrived?” Major asked. “I thought that was standard procedure? The military be notified of the arrival date so they could be at the spaceport to pick them up.”
“Evidentially not,” Mallinson replied. “The man I spoke with told me that the military had not been informed of the arrival date and time until after the shipments had been unloaded.”
“Who did you speak with, Mr. Mallinson?” Major asked.
“A Colonel Edwins was the procurement officer. He acknowledged that the arms shipments had arrived. After the shipments came up missing, Colonel Edwins referred me to a General Claxton; General Hoye Claxton. I think Claxton is with military intelligence or some security organization,” Mallinson replied.
“What did this General Claxton have to say?” Major asked.
“Not much more than they were investigating the matter,” Mallinson replied.
“So you’re out what? Three or four million credits?” Major remarked.
“Oh no. The shipments were prepaid,” Mallinson replied.
“Prepaid?” Major repeated as he gave Director Maria Santos a perplexing look. Then said, “I’m surprised you called if you not out the payment.”
“Director Justice, these are military grade weapons. I don’t like to know military grade weapons -- specifically weapons we produced -- are out there floating around where the civilian population can acquire them. Or where they could end up in the hands of the wrong people,” Mallinson replied.
“You’ll get no argument from me on that point Mr. Mallinson,” Major replied.
“So you’ll look into the matter?” Mallinson asked.
“We’ll differently look into the matter,” Major replied.
“I would appreciate if you would keep me advised. I’ll sleep better knowing these weapons have not fallen into the hands of the wrong people,” Mallinson said.
“I’ll let you know when we recovery the weapons,” Major replied.
“Oh, something else. That General did said something about this being four shipments of weapons that disappeared,” Mallinson said.
“I thought you said you only shipped two shipments?” Major said.
“We did. They must have procured the others from some other arms manufacture,” Mallinson replied.
“Okay, thanks for informing us about the missing shipments. We’ll look into the matter,” Major replied and severed the call.
Major’s vistaview unit had been on the speaker and Director Maria Santos had heard the conversation Major had had with Jonathan Mallinson and she now said, “Are you going to send Quinton Irons and Garland Gooch to investigate?” (Quinton Irons and Garland Gooch were the two investigators assigned to Director Justice.)
Major laced his fingers together behind his head and leaned back in his chair. He appeared as if he was deep in thought. Finally he said to Maria, “Quinton and Garland are good investigators. But I’m afraid this may be above their skill level. There’s the matter of dealing with the military. And the military can be very touchy, not to mention others they may have to confront.”
“So you’re going to ask Doug and his team to handle it? Maria asked.
Doug was Investigator Douglas T. Kincaid with the Galactic Empire Bureau of Investigation. Doug was born (Earth-born, as some referred to it) on the eighty-fourth day in the year 4104 in a mountainous region in what was once known as the state of West Virginia on the North American continent. Doug is a stone-cold killer. He has no reservations about terminating those that do harm to others. He is also a very compassionate person. He will not hesitate to come to the aid of the innocent -- to protect the innocent even at the risk of his own life. To help those that cannot help or defend themselves. Doug is not a large man. He weighs around 86 kilograms and stands 180 centimeters tall. He is highly proficient with weapons and combat-style fighting. He is also an enigma. Little is known about his past.
He was born -- some say, with a birth defect. He has the mental ability to analyze the brain waves of other individuals. That is, he has the ability to determine if the individual is happy, sad, or a threat to himself or others. He cannot read a person’s mind and know what the person is thinking. He can mentally paralyze an individual’s nerve system preventing them from moving. Few people are aware of his mental ability.
Doug’s team consist of R. Javelle Jovok. Javelle is Investigator R. Javelle Jovok. He’s a humaniform robot. For all practical purposes, you could not distinguish Javelle from a living human bring because he processes all the qualities or attributes of a human bring. In other words, he is anatomically complete in every aspect. And like Doug, has the mental ability to detect and analyze individual’s brain waves.
The third member of his team is Lynda Ryan, also an investigator with the Galactic Empire Bureau of Investigation. . She was born on the world of Beckley. She is / was married and has a daughter named Cassanda. And two younger sisters -- Karen and Pamela. And a younger brother Adam.
When her two younger sisters were abducted and taken to the world of Dwyer, she followed hoping to rescue them. Instead, she was abducted herself by the crime boss Michael D’Angelo and forced into prostitution.
George ‘Speedy’ Gonzales, another investigator with the Galactic Empire Bureau of Investigation was on the world of Dwyer when Ryan had been abducted and forced into prostitution. But D’Angelo had Gonzales murdered.
Doug had accepted the mission to revenge Gonzales’ murder. (The midnight run, as it had become know, was a metaphor for ’terminate with extreme prejudice.’ ) Along with Javelle, they traveled to the world of Dwyer. After making contact with Ryan at the nightclub she was forced to work at, Doug promised to rescue all the women that had been abducted and forced to work there.
The fourth member of his team is Issie Divjak. She serves as coordinator for Doug’s team. Issie has a genius level intelligence quotient or simply IQ as it is commonly referred to. She earned a PhD in computer operating systems and another PhD in communication systems. When Doug needs information or some system hacked into, he calls on Issie. When he needs communications, he calls on Issie.
She is unconventional, particularly in the way she dresses. Her usually attire is a pair of cut-off jeans and a long-sleeve man’s work shirt. To meet her on the street one may think she was a high school dropout or simply a street urchin.
Doug is former military; special forces. He still retains his military rank of colonel. He can talk the talk and will have no problem dealing with any military types he encounters. And Doug doesn’t let frivolous things like search warrants and arrest warrants get in his way. And once Doug gets the scent nothing and no one had better get in his way,” Major remarked.
Maria started laughing and Major asked her, “What’s so funny?”
“When Doug gets the scent? That reminded me of that story Doug once told us. Something about some animal -- a bear, I think it was -- that was killing their livestock. And when the dogs got the scent of the bear they had to follow the bear for three days,” Maria told Major.
“Yeah, I remember that story,” Major replied, grinning.
After a few moments Maria asked, “Do you think that was true?”
Shaking his head and grinning, Major replied, “I don‘t know about the dogs. It sounded more like something Doug would do.” After a few moments Major said, “I had better have Issie check this information.”
“Issie is not here today. She’s taking a personal day,” Maria told Major.
“Karen is here. I’ll ask her to verify the information Mallinson gave me,” Major replied.
Major saw Raquel busy on her computer when he entered her office. (Raquel was Doctor Raquel Creed, Chief Director of the Galactic Empire Bureau of Investigation.) Raquel glanced around and said “Hi Major.”
Raquel, after a moment, completed what she was doing on the computer, turned around and said, “You need to discuss something with me?
Major proceeded to tell Raquel about the call he had received from Jonathan Mallinson, President of Krivoy Arms and the missing arms shipments.
“Nice of him to call and report the missing arms shipments considering he was paid,” Raquel said.
“Yeah, said he didn’t want those weapons falling into the wrong hands,” Major said.
“We can agree on that point,” Raquel said.
“We need to send someone to find those missing arms shipments. But I don’t think Quinton and Garland can handle an investigation like this,” Major said.
“And the last time you sent them to investigate missing weapons, they were almost terminated,” Raquel said.
“Yeah, and we had to detour Doug, on his way home, to that world to rescue them. That’s why I thought it would probably be better if we sent Doug this time, without you were going to send him on another off-world assignment,” Major said.
“I have no pending mission for Doug. And I agree that Doug -- and of course he’ll take his team, as he refers to them -- can better handle something like this,” Raquel replied.
Major nodded his acknowledgement.
And Raquel continued, “Doug and Ryan have went to… I forgot the name… some city to conduct a two-day training session for their security force.”
“I have asked Karen to do some follow up research. Mallinson said one shipment was transported by Olympic Transport. I’m familiar with Olympic Transport. They’re a reputable transport company. But the second shipment was carried by Oxnard Transport. I do not recall ever hearing of Oxnard Transport. I asked Karen to check Oxnard Transport and see it their a commercial carrier and if they‘re a reputable company,” Major said.
“You think Oxnard Transport is an independent carrier?” Raquel asked.
Mallinson said they had used Oxnard Transport to ship weapons before. But I don’t recall ever hearing of Oxnard Transport,” Major replied.
“We need a list of intergalactic transport companies. I’ll ask Issie and Karen to compel a list for us,” Raquel said.
“There must be a few hundred transport companies plus those independent haulers,” Major said.
“What else will you need, Major?” Raquel asked.
“I also asked Karen to find a vistaview number for that General Hoye Claxton. I’ll call him and see what progress military intelligence has made, assuming he’s with military intelligence,” Major replied.
“Are you going to tell him you’re going to send someone to investigate?” Raquel asked.
“I don’t know. These military types don’t like having civilians mingle in their business. That’s another reason I figured, if they have not recovered the weapons, it would be best to send Doug. He still retains his military rank and can talk the talk,” Major replied..
“I agree. I just hope Doug will be diplomatic this time rather than offending everyone by kicking their door in,” Raquel remarked.
Major laughed and said, “Yeah, he does have a way of upsetting everyone. You may not like his methods but he gets the job done.”
