Subtly Is the Name of the Game

Posted on Sun Mar 11, 2018 @ 11:55pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant Commander Alex Rho

Mission: Falling Star
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD 33 || 1300 Hours

While the Triumphant soared through space with still no contact from the Victorious and the surveillance fighters, Michael finished his PADDwork and then tapped his combadge. =^=Aravan to Rho. Meet me in my Ready Room.=^=

Alex had been going over the latest reports from the personnel assigned to shadow the Ambassador. So far, he hadn't seen anything that broke the normal pattern that she seemed to be establishing. But that in itself was a clue. When the Commodore's voice came from his badge, he replied, "Yes sir, on my way. Rho out." He tapped it end the transmission as he stood. Alex left his office and walked down the hallway to the turbolift. He entered and gave the location for the Bridge. Then he looked to where he knew the Intel devices to be and smiled. Alex Rho activated his transporter armband and vanished from the turbolift to re-materialize in the Commodore's Ready Room. "You rang?"

Michael jumped a little when the Chief of Intel appeared in his office, but forced himself calm again. "I need your services again, Mister Rho, but I need you to be even more discreet than you previously have been."

"My services are at your disposal, Commodore," he replied. "I can certainly be more discreet." He sat down in a chair opposite the desk. "If I weren't, I'd have been dead long ago. What can I do for you?"

"Thank you," Michael responded before he took a breath. "Ambassador Caenala has invoked diplomatic privilege as a reason not to disclose the protocols on the PADD that she has, citing that it's military in nature. She also stated that she had no desire to go from serving one master to another after myself and Captain Weisz asked her to grant us access to them."

"I can't depend on her to come through with the proper codes every time, Lieutenant. I need to have access to them, but without starting a diplomatic incident. The Independent Romulan Systems Allied Forces has been recognized by the Federation as a legitimate government and we cannot afford an incident at this juncture. However, if she becomes disabled, or worse, is killed in combat, we will need those codes to complete this mission."

"Indeed," he said. "For the safety and security of the Federation, the Independent Romulan Systems Allied Forces, and the crew of the Triumphant, I agree that we need them." It wouldn't be a bad thing for Starfleet Intelligence to get their hands on, either,, he thought to himself. "And if something should happen to the Ambassador, we can't be left without options. I can get those codes for you." He paused a second as a thought struck him. "How has the Ambassador been feeling lately? Any reason for her to visit Sickbay, perhaps?"

"Fine, as far as I know," the Commodore responded. "I know you have plenty of tools at your command, but just be very careful about how you employ them. I'm hesitant to even ask this of you because of the blowup this could have."

Alex nodded. "I'll be very careful, sir. And I'll do my best to not have it blow up. Tools or no tools," he added. "The Ambassador already knows I'm not a human and that I can get into her mind. But I'm sure we can figure something out."

"That could present a problem," Michael said thoughtfully. "Have you tried to enter her mind while she's sleeping?" he asked after a minute.

"Hmm, you know," he replied, "I haven't tried that yet. It's easy enough to do, though. The...patient...can't resist. And sometimes they think it's all been a dream anyway."

"I hope minds aren't too chaotic while we're dreaming," the Commodore said. "Sleep is when our subconscious clears out all the clutter and tries to make sense of things."

"The easy part is getting in unnoticed. What you mentioned, that's the more difficult part," Alex said. "The subconscious mind sorts, but we have to sort and interpret. There are things in a person's dreaming mind that are odd and things that are, or least can be, rather scary. But somewhere in there we might be able to find what we need."

"Just be careful and don't let her know you're in there," Michael told him. "She may not have the codes memorized, either. She said they change daily and the PADD she has has all the protocols for that."

"I will take care, sir," he nodded. "But if the changing information and protocols are both on her PADD, shouldn't we see if we can get that? Or at least clone the PADD to one of our Intel ones? Keeping her asleep and implanting good dreams for the duration might be easier than sifting through a cluttered mind."

The Commodore thought for another moment, then a sly smile came over his face. "Go talk to Master Chief Barnes and see about implanting a device in his console which will passively gather data from any PADD near it," he said. "The next time she has to give a code, she'll go to him with it and unknowingly give the codes to us."

Alex was nodding as the Commodore spoke. "I think, my Commodore, that it can be arranged. Between the Master Chief and I, I'm certain that we can come up with a proper device." He chuckled. "Mr. Barnes will enjoy some of the toys that we have down there."

"Then I'll leave you to it, Mister Rho," Michael said. "Make it so."