Counter Intelligence

Posted on 21 Jan 2015 @ 8:13am by Lieutenant Commander Jessica Gibbs & Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal

1,676 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M13-A: From the Old to the New
Location: Earth

[Starfleet HQ]

The announcement of the Achilles mission had been made and with that he knew the diplomatic community was already clawing at the Federation with protests and accusations. The Klingon and Romulan Empires, to include Cardassia and the Ferengi had already accused the Federation of Expansionism. To counter the objection of the major powers they were allowed to have ambassadorial representation, the rest were basically ignored.

Despite all that Da`nal knew there would be diplomatic issues and that foreign intelligence operative that would either attempt or even make it onto his ship. What he needed was an experienced intel officer that knew both the operative and diplomatic side of things. He had already spoken with the head of Starfleet intelligence and had been given a few recommendations, after making his selection he had beamed down to personally speak with and see if he could convince the officer to leave everything behind and join him on long journey ahead.

Jessica was sitting at a table on the patio in her old cafe The Aurian just off of Starfleet campus in San Francisco. Though technically it was no longer her cafe in the fact she didnt run it anymore, she was still the owner and tended very publicize officers of late, especially within the Intelligence Community. As he made his way through the crowd, Jess watched as Commodore Da'nal approached her cafe.

As he approached, Jess took him in. He was tall, easily towering over much of the crowd that he walked with. He had the typical broad, well built Klingon warrior body she had seen many times over the past decades. He was a warrior through and through, that she was sure of. By the time he had reached the Cafe, Jess had hazarded a guess he as here for her, since the cafe was filled with mainly cadets at the moment, and she had never seen him here before. Raising a hand, Jessica called out, "Commodore, over here!"

Hearing his name and seeing a hand rise from the crowd he made his way around to the table. The woman waving him over appeared to to young to be a senior officer; perhaps the El-Aurian heritage had something to do with that. "Lt. Commander Gibbs?"

"Yes sir." Jess replied as she waved a hand over at the seat opposite her at the small table. "Please, take a seat sir." She finished with a smile.

Pulling out the chair. "Thank you..." As he took his seat a waiter came over and Da`nal indicated, with a wave, that he was not needing anything at the moment. "...I must say I was surprised at your request to meet here and not at Headquarters."

"I've spent many years in those halls, so many infact I'm fairly sure I could walk them with my eyes closed. I even know which doors are slow to open at this point. It's become predictable." Jess replied with a shrug as she stared out at the crowd and took a sip of her coffee. "Any chance I get to leave the place I take it. One of the best ways to judge someone is to see them in a environment that changes, not one that is stagnant."

"It does help that food and drink here is on the house for me." Jess added with a chuckle. "You as well if you decide to get anything sir. For now though, I feel like you have something you'd like to discuss?"

Leaning back in the chair, his lip curled in a knowing grin. "As a matter of fact I do. It's also odd that you mention a desire to get out of those halls."

He paused only slightly. "You have know doubt heard of the mission my ship is prepping for; and that in order to quiet the diplomatic decent both the Romulan and Klingon governments will be allowed representation. Despite that I have no doubt that there will be intelligence services for throughout the region that are either going to try to get aboard or will be operating on my ship. An ordinary mission of exploration would usually not staff intel officers but this is not ordinary mission.

"What I need is someone to perform counter-intelligence operations during the mission and I want you to oversee those operations. "

Jessica nodded slowly as she thought over his words. She had indeed heard about the Commodore's mission, infact she had heard about it a few days before it had been officially announced. Intelligence had been clamoring to prepare for the inevitable influx of people trying to figure out what was going on or trying to get on the ship however they could. Truthfully though, she had never expected for herself to be offered a position on the ship.

"Well, I will admit I did not see this offer coming." She said as she leaned back in her chair. "Though what I was expecting from this meeting I'm still not entirely sure....." Jess trailed off.

"You're expecting the Cardassians and Ferengi to try and get on I'm sure. Possibly even the Breen though it'd have to be a turncoat for that possibility. Maybe even the Dominion, I'm sure they've heard about it by now and are interested. That's alot of very power people who will want to get on that ship Commodore. The first year or so will be the toughest, we'll still be in easily accessible range for most of them."

He which his head, but only slightly. "I'm not discounting anyone at this point, be they Romulan, Cardassian, Klingon, Ferengi, Orion, or even civilian corporations. Friend or foe, there is a lot to be gained from knowing what is out there...and with the potential development of the QSD the galaxy could become a much smaller place.

"My concern isn't so much as keeping anyone from knowing what is out there but having our mission undermined or even sabotaged."

Jess nodded, "Understandable I guess. A fair amount of our allies and enemies are probably scared we will discover some sort of technology that could upset the balance of power and obviously not share." She could do it, it wouldn't be too hard, she was good at her job.

Jess finished off her coffee before running a hand through her hair. "So... Seventy years... that's a pretty long time. You realize I'll probably look exactly the same today as I will the day this thing ends right? It can tend to creep some people out." Jess commented as she contemplated all the work she'd be doing. In the end it actually wasnt that much, after the first little while it would calm down. It might be interesting actually, 70 years was a drop in the bucket for her, it might be interesting to explore the galaxy where no one else had before.

"The fact that you are El-Aurian is one of the reasons I wanted you for the position. Besides...not all species age the same now do they? I will only be middle aged when we return."

"Touche." Jessica replied with a nod. "Well Commodore, I do think you have yourself a deal then. I can't promise that everything will go perfect, but I will certainly do my best."

Da`nal was now sitting up to the table and waved for someone from the cafe to come over. "Excellent!...and how often do things tend to go perfectly", he asked rhetorically.

The server came up to the table and he looked to his new intelligence officer. "Now what do you recommend?"

Jess smiled, "The Lasanga with a Vulcan twist is pretty popular at the moment, with a nice wine of course. They should have some Blood Wine on reserve if you'd like."

Personally, Jess ordered herself a plate of Spaghetti with meat sauce and a red wine. "I may have to bring some barrels of wine with me though, replicated wine, Klingon or Human doesn't taste the same."

Nodding to the server, "I will take the Lasanga."

Turning his gaze back Jessica, "My House has their own vintage, though others are always welcome...", he added smiling. "...you should have seen the collection of beverages I had managed to collect. There was a Ferengi on SB 47 that I beat at his own game. As a result of the wager he stocked my ship extremely well."

Arching an eyebrow Jess chuckled, "Now that would have been entertaining to see. I shouldn't be too hard to start up a new collection, I have a few doubles of some great vintages I could donate. One plus to having lived through some of them is I got them at the source for cheap."

"Excellent. Though storing 70 years of alcohol would be a bit unrealistic, however a good supply for special occasions can be easily arranged. Perhaps I should authorize a microbrewery aboard in order to stem any homemade stills." Leaning back as their food was delivered and he inhaled the aroma.

When it came to Terran foods he preferred authentic Asian dishes and had lately been introduced to some time honored foods of the Faroe Islands. However he had learned long ago to enjoy the vast differences when it came to human foods. Humans tended to be too...neat, when it came to there eating, at least there was a loaf of bread he could use his hands on something. Taking a healthy bite, he chewed the dish, the vulcan seasoning gave it a pleasant 'bite' but it was too soft for his liking. Texture aside it had a good flavor.

"Might not be a bad idea, wine wouldnt be too hard to make aboard ship either with the right grapes." Jess replied as she spun her fork around and collected some of her spaghetti. After she chewed through a mouthful, she grabbed her glass of wine and raised it, "To getting back to what Starfleet was meant for."

Taking his glass lifting to hers. "Making the unknown...known."

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Commodore Da`nal
CO

Lieutenant Commander Jessica Gibbs
Chief Intelligence Officer

 

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