Understanding

Posted on 24 Apr 2013 @ 9:47pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Lieutenant Lucas Drake

1,611 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M10: Divine Intervention
Location: Cargo Bay 5, Deck 7 - Ready room
Timeline: MD 1: 1 hour until Departure

Lucas Drake was located in cargo bay five running through a checklist alongside a petty officer as he directed the last of his arriving personal belongings and equipment to be taken to his quarters on deck three. He hadn’t seen his quarters yet but that could wait until after he had been briefed by the Admiral.

Handing the checklist to the crewman he added “Be careful with the small container. Its contents are precious to me”.

It was obvious to Lucas that the petty officer has been told how to do her job often enough before that she had learned to hide her offense at the request and had a practiced smile to offer to those who would assume she would not be careful and diligent without their instruction. “Of course sir” she replied.

“I’m sorry; you didn’t need me to tell you what to do. Let me get out of your way”.

“Thank you Lieutenant” she sounded relieved at the prospect of no longer having someone looking over her shoulder.
As the doors to the bay were closing behind him Lucas turned and called out a loud thank you to the petty officer.

[Deck One - Ready Room]

Lucas ignored the commotion of the bridge as he exited the turbolift and walked directly to the Admirals ready room. With a touch of the control panel he signaled his arrival and patiently waited for a response.


Da`nal sat at his desk across from a very nervous security crewman. "...she was in my quarters?"

"Yes sir. She claimed she heard something and demanded entry."

"What did she think she heard?"

The crewman swallowed hard. "A bomb."

"A bomb?!"

"Yes sir. She demanded entry, made me stay outside and then came out saying she hadn't found anything. I hadn't reported it initially, thinking better safe than sorry and all that but the more I thought about the incident the more things just didn't seem right."

This was not helping his distrust of the intelligence community. First his "abduction", now his infiltration specialist was breaking into his quarters...~hhmmm~. "Who have you mentioned this to?"

"My roommate; he told me I should take this to you right away."

The door chimed but Da`nal continued. "Get your roommate and any else that knows to here now. Is that clear?"

"Aye sir!"

"Dismissed. Enter!"

As Lucas entered the ready room he crossed paths with the crewman and it didn’t take training in applied psychology to see that he was panicked. The crewman refused to make eye contact with Lucas and that was not an encouraging sign.

Lucas stood at attention opposite the desk from Da’nal.

“Reporting as ordered Admiral” he stated.

A uniform with grey trim was not what he needed right now but the lieutenant was correct...he was following orders. Perhaps it was time to use a bit of counter intelligence. "Have a seat Lieutenant, we have much to discuss."

A polite nod and smile served as an acknowledgement to the invitation to take a seat; an invitation he accepted. This meeting marked the first occasion that Lucas had been in a meeting one-to-one with a flag officer of the fleet. Leaning forward slightly he spoke “I appreciate you briefing me on the mission personally Sir. My department and I are ready to get underway and stand ready to do our duty”.

Shaking his head slightly; "You misunderstand; this briefing doesn't concern the current mission. I originally intended to have you monitor the Kzinti Civil War, but instead I have a personal mission for you that has everything to do with the crewmember that just left."

Lucas’s eyebrows arched as he leant back in the chair; eyes wondering to the exit then back to the Admiral. “A personal mission?” he asked with an uncertain tone.

"Earlier in my career I was bonded to a human whose father had a highly secretive career. I won't bore you with the details but I will tell you I was recently abducted by, what I can only assume were Section 31 operatives. And now Ens. Valentine has taken it upon herself to talk her way past a security guard to force her way into my quarters."

The intelligence officer’s eyes drifted down and to the right as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. A short pause followed. “I have only briefly met Ensign Valentine and her records mark her out as an exemplary and reliable field agent. With respect sir… permission to speak freely?” he asked.

Da`nal nodded slightly. ''Granted."

“Section thirty-one is a black stain on the intelligence community; sanctioned to flaunt the very principles they have sworn to defend and operating without constraint or accountability. They are reckless and above all else dangerous.

The Lieutenants posture had become assertive; a look of disdain crossing his face. Lucas cleared his throat as he regained his composure.

“But they are not stupid. If I needed to get someone close to you then, given the current circumstances, she would be my first choice. But what possible reason would they want to keep eyes on you, sir?”

Even with his distrust of the Intelligence community, his senses told him that this man was not trying to deceive him. Perhaps it was the Vulcan heritage in him? For whatever reason he began to explain. "While I was the Security Chief aboard the USS Tempest I had reason to question the intentions of my mate’s father and the official story she had been to explain his condition at that time. I examined his record and after some addition digging my search was interrupted. Needless to say I was warned off. I downloaded all the data I had managed to acquire and storing it in a device that wasn't linked to any network. Right now it the only known copy of his records and the only evidence that he even exists. And now they know I have it.

"I think they are using her to do their dirty work."

The intelligence officer rose from his seat and walked over to a view port; gazing out into the darkness.

“To be moving openly against a flag officer they must either be sanctioned at the highest levels of the organization or acting out of desperation. Either way they must be scared of what you could do with the information you possess and they will stop at nothing until they have completed their objective.”

Lieutenant Drake turned and faced Da’nal.

“I know you have no reason to trust me but the more I know the more I will be able to help you. Is there anything you are able to share with me about the contents of the personnel file that would help me understand their intentions? Why do they want to hide him?”

Da`nal decided to keep some things close to the vest, "I can only assume there is something or someone in his past they don't want to come to light. What I want to do is this, my distrust of Intel is no secret so I want you to be a thorn in my side, play the antagonist. Push the limits of protocol and even act more and more defiant. Question my loyalty; mention how I must have blackmailed someone to get promoted so quickly. Gain her trust...see if she will take you into her confidence and see if they are using her. First though I want detection devices placed in my quarters and ready room that even an infiltration specialist will miss."

“I can get the monitoring equipment in place within a couple of hours but there is something else I would like you to consider sir. Their objective will be to take the information out of your possession by any means necessary and since they undoubtedly already know its contents we can assume that they will not care if the data is captured or destroyed. We can also assume that they would have ordered their field agent not to access the information and I doubt they would risk streaming the contents of the file through subspace. The exchange would take place in person; perhaps through a middle party.”

Lucas returned to the admiral’s desk and he leant against it.

“I would like to fabricate a replica of the storage device, it doesn’t matter what it contains so long as it is heavily encrypted and irrelevant data. Combine that with a tamper detecting electro-magnetic-charge and it will take months for even a highly trained cryptologist to realize it is a fake. Add in the final piece; the latest in tracking technology and if your suspicions are correct we can get one step closer to the ‘puppeteer’, with or without knowing cooperation from Ensign Valentine."

Da`nal considered the proposal. Rising, he moved to the replicator. "Computer, I need 5 data padds of a model used around...stardate 60820, all with a worn appearance." Removing the padds from the replicator. I will retrieve the original and duplicate the records, just in case, and so you can set them up as needed. I will contact you as to where you can find them. In the mean time...GET YOUR DISHONORABLE HIDE OUT OF MY READYROOM!! I WILL DEAL WITH YOUR INSUBORDINATE ACTIONS AFTER WE ARE UNDERWAY...NOW GET OUT!!"

Scowling Lucas looked upon the Admiral with disgust and in a defiant tone he informed the admiral: “Whatever. I’m done here” and immediately exited the ready room. As he stepped onto the bridge he felt the presence of a few unwelcome gazes.


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Rear-Admiral Da`nal
CO

Lieutenant Lucas Drake
CIO

 

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