Morning hit like just any other for the first time Zen had been present on the planet, no hangover, no discussion, just peace. Apparently Amelia and Robert were at the range pretty late so they're kind of sleepy, and much to Zen's delight actually quiet. As he sipped his cup of coffee he already had his day planned out.
For his trap to work with the highest probability of success he needed help, and a lot of it too. And with no ensigns to call upon on this remote station he had no choice but to outsource. 'I should see if the governor wants to dip his pinkie in this pool, it shouldn't hurt his reputation.'
That was only one stop of his plan, the next required Amelia to step in with the X3 in case things got ugly, or if the suspects caught on and made a run for it. The X3 was a military ship, gunning down a civilian transport was a piece of cake for it, no matter its age.
Then if he could help it he needed reliable men on the inside, someone who'd be good in a firefight, just he and Robert wouldn't cut it. 'If I'm stopping by the governor anyway I should see if he wants to let me lend Ard and a couple men for the operation.'
'Jeez! An operation, who am I kidding? At best, these are mere opportunistic space farers, at worst, a merry band of bandits. But still, even if this turns out to be a few good men turned greedy I want to prove myself. Show them I'm not the stuck up center nerd they think I am!'
'Hell if they're bandits all the better!' Zen smirked eerily from behind his coffee, Amelia caught his expression and wanted to comment on it but remembered the blackmail he had on her.
'I'll kill him. I'm actually going to kill him.' Her thoughts showed pretty clearly on her face's expression as she stared Zen down like a guard dog does a passerby. Zen made a mental note to edit the file to upload in case of his death just to be sure. Postmortem and whatnot.
Apparently they had a smaller spacecraft stashed somewhere in the hangar belonging to the last investigative officer. The corrupt bastard coincidentally also hated flying in the X3 so he had a smaller single person craft delivered, it was small, sleek and above all practical. It wasn't that fast, with no weapons but was rated for atmospheric exit and above all it was easy to control. And perhaps the most important point, it allowed Zen to do the tasks he set for himself without dragging a murderous ape piloting a war machine with him everywhere he went.
So with a quick couple of instructions and a last minute check up from Effy, who gave the thumbs up he was all set. His first destination, the governor. His trip felt quite short mainly because adrenaline wasn't pumping through his veins. Landing in front of the main gate he could see the guards didn't mind the slower paced landing either.
As Zen slowly landed letting the onboard computer do the hard work, it touched the dirt with a soft thud. Zen climbed out and approached the guards, the procedure was way quicker than last time. He was also trusted alone through the massive building this time, finding himself standing once more in front of the beautiful carved wooden door.
He knocked politely, and to his surprise there was an actual response this time.
"Come in!" The governor, or Frank as he preferred it, called from the other side of the door.
Pushing the door open he saw the governor behind his desk reviewing some paperwork, he wore a pair of reading glasses which actually made him look the part of a governor. Frank looked up and immediately began to smile.
"Zen! My boy! What brings you all the way here?" The governor put away his glasses for a moment as he leaned back in his chair.
'When in Rome do as the Romans do I guess' Zen internally sighed, as he prepared years of undercover training to something that works everytime: Mirroring.
"Hey Frank! What? Can't I visit a friend once in a while?" Zen disliked acting buddy buddy, wasting time during work hours with small talk and talking with unserious people but the job required it. So might as well, Effy is going to be busy for quite a while with the black box so he had all the time.
"That's the spirit! What happened? Did you find yourself a girlfriend here? Finally accepted our way of doing things?" Frank threw weird hand signs while talking to further sell his point if there was even one.
'Never!' Zen thought
"I'm starting to see the benefits." Zen said with a smile as he let himself fall onto one of the comfortable sofas present. Zen engaged in some smalltalk with Frank having no particular interest in the conversation going on, but his investigative officer sense forced him to stay absorbed and suck up any useful information like a sponge. Which was to say that the sponge was still quite dry.
Zen saw an opening to escape this smalltalk purgatory as he quickly interjected Franks barrage of questions and anecdotes.
"Say Frank, I'm thinking of launching an operation soon, related to the derelict transport from yesterday. Think you could help a bit?"
Frank smiled at Zen mischievously.
"I was wondering when you'd come with the actual reason for your visit. So what do you need exactly?"
Zen explained what he needed from Frank and explained his plan. Frank listened all the way through the end without letting his attention waver as they both reached their end.
"Daring plan." Frank had to admit he was impressed.
"It was the only one I could think of with the least risk and greatest success." Zen had dropped his casualty as his cover had obviously been blown.
"Well?" Frank asked "I'll say it again. What do you need?"
Frank agreed to all requests Zen made, with the most important one being to release fake news saying that the black box, which Effy had yet to sift through was destroyed or not enough info could be extracted. Whatever Frank's friends in the press thought best.
His second request was that the operation gained official approval from a… well official which wasn't that hard to do but without it, Zen had way less freedom in the actions he could take while he attempted to arrest the culprits.
And third, Frank agreed that when the time was right he would send Ard and a few of his best to aid Zen in case the group was armed and dangerous. He wasn't sure of the fact, but he'd be damned if he was going to assume they weren't.
And with all the pieces taken care of or in process of, Zen decided to lay back at the one place he absolutely didn't want to be during working hours.
The bar.
Carol, the barkeepster, had almost immediately tried to send Zen out. But after hearing his plan she reluctantly agreed, also apparently Zen had received a weeks long ban from the place. Which he didn't remember receiving, but not remembering said enough of it self.
'Not doing that again.' He made Carol serve him some kind of artificial apple juice in beer glasses and spend the better half of the day in the bar, acting progressively drunk with each glass emptied. There was just one thing gnawing at his mind, he had forgotten something. Again.
'If I forgot about it, it's not important! at least that was what the caretaker used to say.' Zen was still in the bar being as obnoxious and annoying to anyone Carol didn't recognize as a regular, he needed rumors to spread that he was a drunk and a lousy investigative officer disinterested with the derelict transport case. Which was easier done than he had thought, as after some heavy shaking of the building the door burst open.
Robert appeared in the doorway like a grim reaper, he quickly scanned the bar and let his gaze fall on Zen. Who was still acting drunk, he could ill afford to drop his cover now. If anything this would only solidify the results he had hoped for, he could on the other hand only hope that Robert would be somewhat understanding.
"Zen!" Robert was pissed as he approached Zen, each and every step from him made the building shake. Robert grabbed Zen by the collar and hoisted him effortlessly. Zen barely had time to protest before he was tossed into the X3 like a sack of potatoes. Robert sat in the driver's seat, and without waiting for Zen to sit down and strap in, he sent it flying.
Zen bounced from one side to the other, he thanked the lord that he only pretended to drink else his stomach's content would surely count as some form of modern art.
"If you puke, you clean!" Robert shouted behind him.
'Ah, I remember. I forgot to inform the rest of the team that I was only acting getting drunk. Well. Doesn't that mean it worked? If Robert heard it than I can count my efforts as a succes. And with Robert picking me up from the bar in public I can stay holed up in the base. They'll think I've been arrested and placed in jail! Holy shit Robert! Thank you!' Zen was thrown to the side and hit his head on the ceiling almost at the same time.
It would appear Robert was landing. 'Never mind, screw you Robert!'
The X3 hit the landing pad with a subtle grace, Robert turned around slightly surprised.
'I flew a little rough on purpose, but the runt hasn't puked once. Also, is he smiling?'
Robert opened his mouth to speak but Zen beat him to it.
"Sorry Robert, I forgot to report that I would be at the bar. And don't worry, I've only been drinking apple juice. I was merely acting." Zen stood up and dusted himself off.
"Why?" Robert was still pissed, he heard from one of his contacts that his investigative officer was drinking himself to death at the bar and had to take the X3 to see what the twerp was doing for himself.
"Simple!—now I'm officially the station's laziest jackass, drinking himself into oblivion. If I had proven to be competent or worse an unknown factor, there would be a good chance my plan wouldn't work. Because who would loot a ship if they knew an investigative officer was hunting them?" Zen felt the last unintentional puzzle piece fall in place.
"And with you dragging me out, all we need to do is convince them I'm sitting out my temper in jail for a few weeks. And after that there will be little to no chance of them even remotely laying low." Zen couldn't help but puff out his chest a little, his plan had turned out a little better than he had planned.
"And if you're just going to stay inside for the next few weeks what are you going to do in the meantime, I'm not going to let you sit around doing fuck all" Robert's voice still had a sharp edge to it, but it was dulling by the minute.
Zen clenched his jaw, swallowing back the retort that threatened to slip out.
"I just picked up 20 years worth of files. I'll be just dandy."