First Impressions

Posted on 06 May 2016 @ 2:47am by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Civilian Reva Madhava & Lieutenant Commander Samuel Killpatrick

2,305 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: M13-C: Shattered Time
Location: Intelligence Office
Timeline: Prior to What to do

:: Shortly after leaving DS9 ::

Sam had been woken by the dream again, it hadn't really bothered him in years, but the return of his brother, and the death of his long term girlfriend was enough to bring it back apparently. Groaning he rolled out of bed, he'd been here before, and knew he wouldn't be getting back to sleep, looking around his sparsely appointed quarters, he decided he may as well check out the Intel department, after all, it was going to be his domain for some time, and what better way to see how things operated than to show up, unannounced, in the middle of the night. He had been aboard, only long enough to meet the commodore, be assigned a room, and given some gear, he had then organized the transfer of the Shadow, as well as the transfer of his personal items and gear from Starfleet holding to here. Then he had hit the cot for some much needed sleep, that had been four hours ago. Well he'd done more on less sleep, might as well start another glorious day in the fleet, as his old drill instructor used to say back in the academy. Funny he hadn't thought about the DI's at the academy in years.

After a quick shower, Sam hit the deck, the ship was massive but he was certain he'd have ample time to explore, well, as ample as any senior officer had, which meant not much, between reports, and requisitions, logs, and notifications. Then there was his second posting it seemed he was pulling double duty as Chief Strategic Officer as well as Chief Intelligence officer, not a problem but more work. Oh well, he thought, he'd manage that too. Taking a deep breath Sam projected the façade of an energetic and dynamic officer, an energy he didn't really have, he recognized the lethargy as depression and instantly suppressed it, it wouldn't do to allow his personal life to interfere with his professional life, he could grieve when the day was over. Quick powerful strides had him at the Intel office in no time, and with the acceptance of his security authorization he was permitted entry by the door. Now he had entered the inner sanctum of the ships intel branch Sam quickly surveyed the room, like every Intel office he had ever been in, the first room had dozens of desks for the Intel officers who were the face of the department, these would be the people in black uniform who analyzed data, wrote reports, and took care of the minutiae of the intelligence world, branching off from this room would be corridors that led deeper into the heart of this small select community. One would head towards the mainframes, one went off to the Intel interrogation rooms, a closely guarded secret that would have Security spitting chips if they knew, one would lead into the armory, another secret, then there would be the ready rooms for the operatives, and there would be three lounges at least, maybe more given the size of the ship. Over it all would be the Command centre, where controllers would operate 24/7 to maintain assets in the field. There might even be a lab aboard to analyze various, chemical and biological threats. Sam knew all of this without needing to see the listings or department lay out, he'd been in enough intel departments before. Still, the size of the office was impressive; he hoped that the designers hadn't sacrificed what he would define as crucial intelligence assets to give the impression of size.

The officer on duty saw the Commander enter and quickly pulled his feet of the edge of the console and stood. “Morning sir. Up early or trouble sleeping?”

Sam took one look at the junior officer and smiled the smile of a predator, it was never too early to start rumors about his abilities, "Sleep is for the weak." Sam said simply, "I'm your new CIO, how about giving me a tour of the facilities, then you can show me my office, we've got a long day ahead of us." Sam knew a great deal about human limits, he knew his own and how far he could push them, he also knew how far he could push people before they broke, he didn't want to break his juniors, but they had clearly gone too long without a firm hand on the reigns, and that had allowed indolence to be fostered in the mostly junior staff, as evidenced by the younger officers surprise by his arrival. The best way to fix that would be to demonstrate the kind of professionalism he expected. They wouldn't accept the kind of demands Sam would make if he didn't show them that it was not only possible, but that he expected more from himself. That meant he was going to spend most of his time here, in the Intel Office, even going so far as to sleep at his desk with the door closed and the room locked down as if he was in a secured meeting of course. But that was the job, Intel was as much about the lies you tell your colleagues as the lies you tell your enemies.

Rising from his station. "Well sir, follow me and I will give you the tour".

After the tour he took a deep breath Sam started, "I am Samuel Fitzpatrick, the new Chief Intelligence Officer aboard the Achilles. Some of you have heard of me, perhaps even by name, most of you have reviewed after action reports from my missions, and all of you have benefited from training that is a direct result of my experiences." It was true Sam could think of at least three situations off the top of his mind that had resulted in new training doctrines in the Intel community. Doctrines that had been almost immediately taught to the intelligence teams as they came up for retraining. This revelation created a stir throughout the room but Sam didn't give it time to grow into full blown discussion. " I don't expect you to perform the impossible, that's my job, I expect you to perform to the best of your abilities while on duty, and be aware of your situation while off duty." Sam continued, "I'm not going to say I won't work you beyond your limits, the future is unpredictable and circumstances may require that we do the impossible, but know this, when the chips are down and messy death seems a certainty, I'll be standing right there beside you."

It had been a very long day, he had held the third watch on duty and the first watch as well, now all three watches were in attendance so it was time to give the official introduction to the whole team. Sam had met most of the team leaders throughout the day, enforcing briefings and meetings, often going from one meeting room to another ostensibly getting up to speed, but also meeting each and every member of his team. In between all of this he had been reading over all the old reports and action statements in the library. Sam felt now that he knew every member of the crew and every civilian aboard. That wasn't entirely true, he knew that it would take actually meeting and getting to know those people but it was suitable for the minute. Now he needed to introduce himself, give them a glimpse of the dragon they'd been saddled with. Sam stood over the Intel office looking down on his men and women, they were decent enough, they all had the skills to make excellent Intel assets and would in time be a force to be reckoned with, they just needed a little experience, more training and a guide. Sam was there to provide all of those things.

"Third and First watch, you've been on duty all day, you are now dismissed Third watch, don't return to duty until halfway through your usual watch, then return to normal times, Second watch you are covering the first half of second watches duty." Then Sam nodded at them and simply said, "Back to work." Before returning to his office. Well now to deal with the inconsistencies he thought activating his communicator.

=^= Commander Fitzpatrick to Commodore Da'Nal can I please have a word please =^= he called.

[CO's Quarters]

Da`nal's long experience had trained his body to waken at the sound of a chime or comm signal and sat up at the sound. Tapping the panel on the table next to the bed, and look over at Ayren as she slept soundly "Da`nal here. What is it Commander?"

=^= I've just noticed some irregularities and thought we should talk them over, preferably in private, I don't want to step on any toes. =^= Sam explained, that was all he was willing to say over an open channel, he preferred to discuss apparently ongoing covert operations face to face.

"Very well. I will meet you in your office in five minutes." Rising from his bed he slipped into an open jacketed uniform and tied his hair hair back with the leather thong. He looked to his workout clothes that he had laid out, if this didn't take too long he should still be able to keep to his schedule. Replicating a qa'vIn he drank the hot liquid as he entered the corridor.

With his quarters and the senior offices all on the same deck it made things...convenient. Scoffing at the thought he continued, nodding to those that greeted him as his thoughts drifted back to his destination. Personally he had never cared for the clandestine side to things; it had always struck him as somewhat deceitful even dishonorable. However, he had to admit such information had been useful, he had even ordered the use of such tactics.


[Intel]

Sam stood and stepped out of the office, his assistant had gone to her quarters for the day so he strode to the balcony and looked down on the duty staff, he caught the eye of the officer on duty and signaled him to come up for a moment. When the duty officer arrived Sam said simply, "The captain is on his way here, when he arrives show him to my office."

"Yes Sir." the duty officer said.

"Dismissed." Sam said and returned to his office to gather and go over all of the relevant details.

It wasn't long until he entered the ships hub of information as he took a drink from his over-sized mug.

The officer on duty came to attention at the arrival of the Commodore, "Sir," he said, "The Commander is waiting for you in his office, he told me to show you up." he added before leading the way to Sam's office.

Da`nal nodded. "Lead the way." Following the officer into the office set aside for the head of the department and watched as he excused himself. As the door closed he was turning to the man that had requested his presence. "Do you ever sleep Commander?"

"I try not to Sir," Sam said for the benefit of his officer, standing as a sign of respect for his commanding officer, "it's a bad habit to get into, plus it's bad for morale. Thank you lieutenant, you can return to your post now."

Now that they were alone; "So Commander what did you want to see me about?"

Sam looked at the Commodore for a moment assessing the Klingon and weighing his words, "I've found your undercover officer." he said simply, handing over a dossier he had put together, "I wanted to confirm that this is in fact the case, I also wanted to gain a more accurate picture of the situation and was hoping you would allow me to take over control of the operation." he said, "Whilst I recognize your authority over it, I feel it would be," he paused, "advisable to allow someone with my expertise to oversee the day to day operations of supporting and maintaining whatever the operation may be." He wasn't looking to take over the Captains operation but he also had no doubt that he was superior when it came to running undercover operations, or for that matter any intelligence operations. It was, after all, why the captain had brought him aboard. Intelligence was a game of shadows, a game of bluffs and brinkmanship, and whilst many flag officers liked to dabble in the grimy world, thinking they were unnoticed and making the kinds of changes they wanted to see, the truth was the only times they really succeeded was when they allowed an Intelligence officer to manage the situation. Sam had no doubt the Commodore could manage a spy or spy ring, given his background external to Starfleet, but Sam also knew that Klingons, in general, had difficulty remaining discreet, for that reason, Sam knew most of the Klingon operatives who had ever operated in the federation, and a fair few who hadn't.

Taking a pull from his coffee. It was not surprising that he had located something on Reva's status. As he had not briefed him on it his predecessor must have left him a file on the matter. However he came into the information he was more than happy to hand things back over to him. "By all mean, take over the operation. I personally find all this...what's the phrase...cloak and dagger tedious; even if it was deemed necessary."

Taking another drink he continued. "If you haven't already found out her mission is to observe and report while under the cover of a disgraced officer that I had...taken in. With all the various non-Federation elements aboard who knows what could develop on a mission of this length."


TBC

 

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