New Boss...New Ways

Posted on 19 Mar 2015 @ 11:10pm by Civilian Reva Madhava & Lieutenant Commander Jessica Gibbs

2,139 words; about a 11 minute read

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

[Transporter Room 3]

Reva like many others had answered the call from the Commodore. The chance to explore unknown space was just something that didn't happen everyday and with no immediate family to tie her down she had jumped at the chance.

She shook he head as she stepped down, thinking to herself, ~Even the transporter rooms were big!~ She had tried to familiarize herself with the ships specs but the shear size had forced her to give up and just try learning a section at a time. She was just thankful she wasn't in Engineering or Ops. Just learning the location of things was going to be hard enough but to have to know every conduit, tube, and ODN junction....the thought made her head hurt.

Per her orders she had no uniforms and only her personel effects..and her new wardrobe. She was both honored at being selected as well as put off and hoped that it wasn't because she was Orion. At any rate she made her way to her new quarters and when the doors opened the Commodore was there waiting along side Cammy and another woman she was unfamiliar with.

"Well this is a top brass greeting...Good to see you again Sir. Cammy, You showed up to huh?

Cammy stood at attention, still adjusting to her artificial eyes. Never seeing in the EM spectrum before in her life, she wasn't accustomed to seeing the universe slathered in blueberry jam and shellacked. She had an easier time seeing with thermal imagining, but her eyes turned a shade of red. Though looking demonic wasn't a breach of Starfleet etiquette per se, it would have been undeniably rude and wholly inappropriate in the presence of a superior officer.

She trained her electric blue eyes on Reva, trying to make sense of the blue humanoid mass that spoke to her. "Lisa wanted to go. Wherever she goes, I'm not far off," she turned towards Commodore Da'nal. "though I'm not sure what an Infiltration specialist is doing on a mission of peaceful exploration."

Reva smiled; she had a point but the Commodore mus have had is reasons. "Well ya never know what we might run into."

Da`nal waited as the two greeted each other before introducing the new CIO. "Exactly. Ms. Madhava..Reva this is Lieutenant Commander Gibbs the new Chief Intelligence Officer. There are certain concerns that we have, given the nature of the mission ahead of us and its impact on the balance of power. You were selected to go undercover to address these concerns. To establish you cover your official record has been altered to show that you forced out of Starfleet under highly questionable circumstances following your reassignment. That in return for you helping me, I took you aboard and got you a position with Mr. Jothy's entertainment company. Only those in this room and the Head of Starfleet intelligence knows the truth."

Da`nal could see Reva's surprise but also that her wheels were turning. "I can't be unaccounted for for long so I will let the Commander fill you in on the details and let you two figure out how to get information back and forth." Nodding, "Commander." Tapping his commbadge he called for a site to site transport to sickbay to check on Ayren since she had yet to be released by Dr. Grange.

Jessica clapped her hands together as the Commodore disappeared into thin air. "Well, I guess that's that. If you cant tell at the moment, the Intelligence department on the Achilles is going to be rather small. For now it's just going to be the three of us unless we recruit more later on."

"I'll be heading the counter-intelligence operations. But for now... shall we start off with some introductions? I'm Jessica Gibbs, I've been doing this job for a while now. Not much else to say about myself, but I do welcome questions."

"I'm Ensign Cammy Valentine. I'm your infiltration specialist. If you need government property burglarized, I'm your girl." She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. "I also do gymnastics and parkour in my spare time. I don't suppose I'm here to impress new species with my acrobatics, though."

"Well I dont think we'll be needing to break into any government buildings for a while. Though depending on how things go you might be sneaking into more than one set of quarters." Jessica replied with a nod.

Reva tossed her bag on the nearest chair as Cammy introduced herself, all the while wondering what these 'concerns' were. Even though her mind was busy on that, as usual, she never missed an opportunity for some friendly innuendo. "Ya never know...some species like flexibility."

"I could name a few offhand." Jessica commented seemingly offhanded as she surveyed the other two women trying to gauge their responses. Jessica had always found that one of the best ways to tell how well she'd mess with others would be response such as that, and with how closely they'd have to be working over the next number of years it was important to find out now. "Romulans for one."

Cammy grinned at Reva. "You better practice stretching then. You're the one who's going to be an..." she brought her hands up into air quotes" "...entertainer." She turned towards Jessica. "And I'm not sure I want to know how you learned that about Rommies." She sat down and popped a few knuckles in her right hand. "Then again," she swapped hands." "I bet it made for a great debriefing." She shook some blood into her fingers, before crossing her legs and placing her hands on a knee. She cocked an eyebrow as she looked at Jessica, playfully daring her to extrapolate.

Jess shook her head, "Nothing more than an exciting night after we took Cardassia Prime after the end of the Dominion War, not work related in the least. Though we have kept in touch, always good to have contacts high up within the Romulan Navy." Thus far atleast Cammy seemed easy to get along with, though a bit curious.

Looking over towards the Lieutenant, Jess continued along the trend of contacts, "Something you'll need to do with your assignment, set up contacts within every department. Intelligence gray can scare off a lot of people."

Reva's face showed her doubt in that plan. "I already have friends aboard from those returning from the Commodore's previous command, but the more people that know whats going on the greater the chance that the operations can be compromised. I think it best that everyone think I just resigned. I can pass information through coded maintenance requests or reservation confirmations; RNA sequence suspensions that can be passed via a subtle hypo injection or even placed in a persons drink. We can even go old school with some dead-drops if needed." She paused slightly and thought for a moment. "There is another method that could be used...I'll see what arrangements I can make."

"So, do I have some kind of fake identity?" Cammy inquired. "Or am I just tagging along on this mission for gits and shiggles?" She couldn't help but feel she'd stand out on this mission.

That honestly caught Reva off guard. She had had no doubt that she would have had a role in examining data or "infiltrate" anyplace needed to confirm any suspicions that may arise. However a more direct role might help as well. "How about some indirect animosity following my, as the boss man put it, 'questionable departure' from Starfleet? Who knows...that could help reinforce my cover and could even lead to a recruitment attempt of a disgraced officer."

Jess pursed her lip as she thought about it. "For now coded messages should be fine." Jess replied to the Orions first question as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Animosity though is good. It could help to secure Ms. Madhava's position in comparison to your own Ms. Valentine. You're are both known Intelligence officers within the old crew with distinct positions. If Ms. Valentine here was named my Assistant Chief, combined with some animosity between the two of you and Ms. Madhava's new position, it could help sell her cover and lead to the possibilities you mentioned. It could also reduce the amount of questions asked, though might increase some questions about this... questionable departure so we may have to get some more solid details on that."

Reva had her hand on her hip, "I was wondering about that myself; though I'm sure the circumstances are classified", as she made quotation marks in the air.

"Even the most secure information is accessible if someone knows how to get it. Even then it'd help your case if you let a few 'details' slip. If people are met with a brick wall, all it will do is make them more curious." Jess said as she bit her lip as she thought about it, "We need to put actual details we can agree on into the file. If we run with the idea that it has to do with something between the two of you, creating this animosity and the Ensign's sudden promotion it might make it a bit more believable as well. Perhaps... Ms. Valentine caught you doing something, or something along those lines."

Reva cocked her head slightly. "But would that be serious enough to be 'highly questionable'?" Snapping her fingers as a thought occurred... "Cam is there something in your past; an op where something went wrong, something where people got killed? If information was discovered, something that I could be blamed for, that could cover both my court martial and the animosity."

Cammy could feel a headache start up, so she deactivated her implants. "Hmm...well, there was that holodeck fiasco that killed our former Chief Intel Officer," she said staring in to empty space. She pressed a neuropressure point between her left thumb and forefinger on the back of her hand to relieve the immediate pain. "I also remember a mission while I was on the Eclipse. We got a report of a Nausicaan frieghter carrying a modified strain of Kamaraazite flu. We boarded the ship, and walked right into a trap. Several Marines were killed, and I myself almost got killed in the firefight. After we returned, we found out the report had been falsified. The ship actually carrying the virus escaped into Cardassian territory while we engaged a well armed decoy. " Cammy popped her neck. "Needless to say, the Intel Deptartment wasn't popular for a while: the whole ship was bitter about it for at least a week." She stroked her chin as she recalled some of the looks she got from some Marines the day after. "But why make me the new Assistant Chief? Surely there's someone better qualified. I don't know anything about overseeing a bunch of Intel officers."

"Well for one, it would add extra tension between yourself and Madhava, at least tension others would perceive. Think, Miss Reva leaks classified information about a operation you were involved in that went bad. She gets run out of the Fleet, and then you get her spot. It screams favoritism and conflict. As for qualifications, I believe in learning on the job and I'm willing to help you along." Jess said with a shrug, "The failed Nausicaan mission would work well for this. Was the mission classified after its failure?"

"As far as I know. It's such a minor incident as far as operations go that there hasn't been much need for anyone who wasn't involved to know about it."

Reva nodded in agreement. She glanced to Cam with a grin and a wink, "Maybe we can get her promoted too...that way I can be a real bitch."

Jessica shrugged, "I certainly don't see an issue with that, Ms. Valentine's service record speaks for itself."

Cammy bit her lip. She was trained for field operations: intel collections, bugging, unconventional warfare...not management duties. "My record isn't THAT good," she said, a lump forming in her throat as she began to realize just how serious her colleagues were about this. She let out a resigned sigh. "I don't suppose there's an alternative, is there?"

Reva smiled, "Doesn't look like it. Seems that all that remain's is for the Commander here to get you promoted and you and me to sow the seeds of discontent."

"If you say so," Cammy said pensively as a knot formed in her throat. She wasn't so sure about handling the responsibility of being an assistant chief.

Reva looked to the pair with a sheepish grin. "Well if you two would excuse me I need to change and go speak with my new employer."



Lt. Commander Jessica Gibbs
CIO

Reva Madhave
Former LTjg ;)

Ens. Cammy Valentine
Infiltration Specialist
USS Achilles

 

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