Secrets

Posted on Wed Jan 25, 2017 @ 6:16am by Lieutenant Commander Alex Rho & Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Intelligence Chief's Office
Timeline: MD 3 || 1425 Hours

Following her meeting with the captain Marisa headed straight for intel. She was keen to feed her face with something solid but with her new posting she was even more keen to make a good and dutiful impression on the crew. After this she’d go to the galley, she promised herself, moments before she nearly slapped herself on the forehead. There was a facility inspection and she had to address her subordinates, especially if they were going deeper into the nebula. They could be forced to sortie at any moment and she had no desire to make an off the cuff battle plan with no idea of what she had at her disposal.

Her stomach grumbled and she gave and exasperated sigh as Marisa seriously considered having one of her squadron going to see if Aquaponics had some perch for consumption; she also remembered balking at that when she read the Odyssey edition of Fleet Net magazine. On her way towards the turbolift she stopped by the replicator and requested an additional PADD, placing the one with her hearsay and conjecture about the Slaver market in one of the pockets on the front of her flight suit.

She stepped into the turbo lift with a couple of crewmen and instantly looked out of place in her fitted red and silver environmental flight suit. She didn’t pay the sideways glances too much mind as she instructed the lift to take her to Intel. With crew members hopping in and out of the lift she had a bit of time to learn simply how big her department was and just exactly how much extra responsibility she’d taken on. Over 100 small ships and 200 personnel were now under her command, and all done with a simple wave of the Captains hand not 3 minutes ago. There were exploration vessels under Captains with less personnel.

As the door opened and the computer announced their arrival at the intelligence department Marisa put those thoughts to the back of her mind. She’d been a Star Fleet pilot for a decade and a squadron leader for three years, and a damn good one on both accounts. She might have the butterflies now, but she’s got this.

With a sharp exhale she stepped out of the lift and followed the computer’s directions towards Intelligence.

Tom had been sitting at the desk in what had become affectionately called 'Reception,' when his holo-work had disappeared. As soon as the turbolift doors began to open, the sensors activated and multiple holo-screens came up. One was displaying an image of the lift doors, two more were showing images of the corridor, and one had brought up the personnel file of the blonde woman that had exited. There was also a spinning holo-image of the woman. Tom quickly scanned the file for any pertinent information. In a moment she would be standing outside the door to his office and pressing the chime. The door that wouldn't open like normal starship doors.

Marisa, of course, didn't know this and only stopped a centimeter short of walking into the door. With wide eyes she stepped back and looked to the little key pad that accompanied every aperture and keyed the intercom button.

"Hello? This is Lieutenant Cheshire." She said with a slightly confused cadence. "I've got orders from the Skipper to report to the head of Intel."

The computer chirruped a few beeps before responding, "Please enter your authorization codes."

"Cheshire Four-Two-Romeo." Marisa said, regaining her composure with only a hint of exasperation. Going from hearing the captain sing her praises to having to go through a security screening, like everyone else would, re-aligned her with reality somewhat.

The computer chirped and the door slid aside to reveal, well, not much really. There was a desk being manned and a the tree that seemed to be growing right out of the floor. At the desk, was a nondescript young Terran male with brown hair, brown eyes and features that wouldn't be remembered ten minutes after he was seen. Looking up, he offered a vague smile. "Can I help you, Lieutenant?" he asked. Tom's own grey uniform bore the rank of a Chief Warrant Officer and the desk he sat at didn't seem to have a single thing on it, yet he managed to look busy. The information from a few seconds ago was gone.

"Yes." Marisa said with a pleasant smile as she stepped forward into the antechamber. "I'm here to deliver some information to a Lieutenant Rho." She continued as she made her way towards the desk.

“Alright then, just a moment....” Sliding his left hand over a spot on the desk, a holographic terminal came into view and Tom touched a spot on it. "Alex, this is Tom. Lieutenant Cheshire is here to see you sir. She has some information for you."

Alex tapped his commbadge and responded, "I'm currently busy, Tom. Please have the Lieutenant wait. I'll be there momentarily. Alex out."

Tom looked up at the Lieutenant. "There is a couch over there." He pointed in the general direction of the wall across from them. "If you wouldn't mind, please have a seat. Alex will be here shortly."

Marisa looked at the sofa with a bit of trepidation. The only thing that had gone was any elation from the praise, but her new responsibilities still gnawed at her. She still managed an appreciative smile at 'Tom'.

"Thank you chief." She said before heading to the seat.

She sat down and pulled out the PADD with her department's information on it and started scrolling through the various names and records of those under her. While her gear didn't bother her, her life support cowl on her shoulders was no doubt digging into the upholstery and doing some damage.

Alex wrapped up his current task that had kept him busy and transported into his office. Once there, he settled in behind his desk and pulled up the personnel file on his awaiting guest. He noticed a redacted section in her service record and the instructions to contact Starfleet Intelligence. A grin crept across Alex's face. Secrets, he thought, every has secrets. As any good Intel Chief would do, he immediately requested access to those records and then closed down the file. He unzipped his uniform top and reached inside, changing his clothes to a pair of denim jeans, a light grey pull-over t-shirt, and a grey blazer. Alex then tapped his commbadge. "Alex to Tom, please send the Lieutenant in."

"You've got it, Alex," replied Tom. The Chief Warrant Officer slid his left hand over a spot on the desk and a holographic terminal came into view. He touched a spot on it and turned to watch the wall near the desk shimmer, revealing a door. "You can go right in, Lieutenant."

Marisa had gotten rather absorbed in her PADD, so when she was called she looked up from it at the chief as though she was startled. It didn't take her long to pull her self together and return a polite smile as she deactivated the device, stowing it in her flight kit as she got to her feet. She gave the newly materialised door a suspicious glance, but quickly put it out of mind.

"Thanks Chief." She said with a polite wave as she headed towards what she assumed was Intel's head office.

She found herself approaching the door carefully this time around, half expecting it to swing open in her face. Rather than chance it, she guided her hand straight towards the door's key pad as she approached.

The door to Alex's office slid open quickly to allow entrance. His office was of a simple décor. There was a plain desk with a number of PADD's stacked up on the left side. In front of the desk were two chairs. Other than his, those had been the only places to sit when he moved in. And he had kept it that way. Behind the desk was a small replicator and an exotic plant that floated in a liquid solution that was suspended inside of a glass bubble which was suspended from the ceiling. What seemed to be an ancient filing cabinet was against the wall and off to right side of the desk.

"Welcome. Please, come on it and have a seat," Alex said, standing.

Marisa retracted her hand and cautiously stepped forward. As she eyed the furniture the thought crossed her mind that this might be some kind of psych test and pushed through any hesitation.

She continued her stride all the way up to the desk with a wide polite smile, but stopped short of sitting down. "Lieutenant Marisa Cheshire." She said, offering a gloved hand to the Intelligence officer.

Alex stood and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Lieutenant. I'm Lieutenant Alex Rho, Intel Chief. How was the flight in?"

There was a couple of seconds pause in Marisa's thought patterns as she caught the officer's green eyes. "Oh," she said finally with a chuckle after her brain caught up "Well, let's just say I'm glad to have enough space to stretch my legs." she continued with a slightly exasperated cadence as she took her seat.

Alex smiled and sat down as well. "That's a good thing, I presume. I've never been a fighter before, so I can't say for certain." He paused for a second and looked at the blonde in front of him as if he were taking in every aspect of her appearance and storing it in his prodigious Ullian memory. As if... "So, Tom tells me that you have some information for me."

Marisa nodded as she lent back to get access to her kit "Yes, uh..." She hummed as she fished out the PADD in question. She took a moment to make sure it had the correct data on it before handing it to Alex "Here, this is everything the boarder patrol at K7 was able to collect on the syndicate." She relaxed back in the chair as she continued. "It's not all substantiated but, well, I'm sure you'll see what we noticed." she finished with a shrug.

Alex took the PADD and skimmed it. "K7, huh. Not a bad collection of Syndicate information." The Syndicate. He was thinking more and more about his deep cover assignment those many years ago. A low-level Farian business man laundering money for the Syndicate...Tanner Gallal, owner of Mendev's Bar. But no one at all had any information about that. He then put the PADD on a particular place on his desk and waved his hand over the center. A holographic display came up and Alex started the process of allowing the computer to secure the PADD before he took it anywhere into the heart of the Intelligence Department. "We can take that and have it substantiated in a moment. But why don't you tell me about your time with Starfleet Intelligence. I could of course pull it up and read it, but what fun is that? I prefer to hear it straight from the source."

Marisa's lips thinned a little at the mention of the redacted entry in her file. "I auditioned for something and had a disagreement with the officer testing me. Beyond that you'll need to show me a form from the home office waving the non disclosure."

Alex smiled. "Lieutenant, I have an Intelligence Communications Facility and an Intelligence Network Data and Computer Complex behind this wall that would make the home office drool. If you want a form, I can get you a form. Or we could go to the Communications Facility and you speak with the Admiral at Starfleet Intelligence. Then we could go down the corridor and access your complete file at Network Data. Besides, we knew you were coming as soon as you stepped off the turbolift. I have already browsed your file and sent a request to Starfleet Intelligence. I expect to have my answer by the time we finish analyzing and substantiating your data." His Intel curiosity was getting the best of him. What was it that she was so reluctant to share? What was hiding behind protocol? What was her agenda. The Ullian made a few mental notes.

Marisa's expression softened a bit with a slightly apologetic tilt. "Lieutenant, the consequences of breaking confidentiality were made abundantly clear and I've got no desire to suffer them." There was a momentary pause as she settled back into her chair. "I'll tell you the whole sordid truth right now if you present me a waver." There was almost a hint of fear in her eyes as she looked defiantly at the Intelligence officer.

"That sounds like us," he said. "We can address that later when Starfleet Intelligence sends me your complete file as I've already requested. For now," he picked up the PADD, "tell me more about these slavers that your patrols picked up at K7."

A slight sigh of relief emanated from Marisa before she continued, somewhat relaxing. "A few times a month we'd come across a ship with some contraband. Every now and again we'd get them to confess their destination. It was always in this system, but they never had a final vector. Of those there was a small few that told us about a subspace frequency that would give them the final destination once they broadcasted a pass code in the system." Her tone became more speculative "I'm sure they have one or two more security protocols, like they're not going to give it to an Odyssey class broadcasting a Star Fleet I-dent'. I'd recommend using a ship you might have recently impounded. But aside from that, you follow the directions in the notes and you should get some approach vectors or transporter co-ordinates or something."

Alex sat back and listened intently to the fighter pilot. "So slavers with destination in this system and a pass code upon entering. And I agree about the security protocols. We would need to get those before attempting access with another ship. I'll have our analysts go over the directions and see what they can come up with. How about their point of origin? Those that you came across, do you know where they were coming from?"

"The ones we encountered almost all had origins all over the Klingon Empire, but if you look at our liaisons with Sierra-Bravo-Twenty-Three and Thirty-Nine-Sierra that I've included, you'll see that the ships that fit the profile that they encounter normally originate Romulan Empire." Marisa said with a wave of her hand. "The system you're looking for is a hub, I don't think it's part of a highway. Then again" she continued with a shrug "I'm not an analyst so I could be wrong."

"Romulans...," said Alex. "Now that is interesting. And as far as your suppositions, I'll make a note to have them looked into. When it comes to things such as this, we don't throw anything to the side. The contraband you mentioned earlier, slaves or something else?"

"Drugs, banned weapons, everything that falls under the category of contraband." Marisa explained, and then smirked at the officer "I get the impression that slavery is a pretty niche market. If I was running a criminal empire I'd diversify my holdings."

Alex returned her smirk. "Have you ever diversified your holdings?"

Marisa tilted her head, retaining her smirk "That's a secret between me and my portfolio Mister Rho."

Alex started laughing. "Very good, Lieutenant. I shall look in that later." He laughed again. A holo-screen then came up and there was a message from Starfleet Intelligence. "Well, it seems I have your unredacted file and the the letter you requested..." He swiped it up for her to read on her own while he brought up the file.

Marisa took the PADD with a slightly exasperated sigh. "Alright." She said, glossing the document over. "If I can, I'd like to read it once you're done. I've never seen what he said about me." She added after a moment, her eyes peaking over the device.

Star Fleet Intelligence
Hazard Team Epsilon
2383/9/12

Audition Report for the position of Pilot
Evaluator: Lieutenant Ulameel
Subject: Cadet Marisa Cheshire

Test Conducted: Subject was required to undertake a modified Kobayashi Maru test that took two phases. Phase One was 5v5 combat sortie in which the subject led a flight of Peregrines against a flight of Nausican fighters, which she was expected to complete easily. In Phase Two a Nausican Corvette was to attack a colony, with the surviving members of her flight the subject was ordered to protect the colony for 30 minutes until an evacuation ship could be launched. The corvette could not be taken down with the weaponry on board the Peregrines and the subject would be expected to leave the colony and all 5000 colonists to their fate or sacrifice themselves to allow them time to get away.

Results: During Phase One subject attempted to distract the Nausican flight while ordering the rest of her flight to attempt to get behind their formation. The Nausicans saw this and split off to attack each ship independently. Subject proceeded to eliminate them one by one, losing two of her flight in the process. During Phase Two Subject probed the defenses of the Corvette from a safe range while the colony was being attacked. Following the distress call a description of the evacuation plans was transmitted detailing the ship would need 30 minutes to load up and take flight. Subject made a few more probing attacks until giving up and circled the colony until the Corvette completed it's attack 5 minutes later, exterminating the colonists.

Following the termination of the program the Evaluator interviewed the Subject. Following his comments the Subject defended her actions and showed disrespect to the Evaluator.

Conclusion: Subject Denied Position.

Alex finished reading the report and handed the PADD over to Lieutenant Cheshire. There was no expression on his face or gesture in his body language. It was an interesting report to the say the least from Starfleet Intelligence and a bit of an insight into the Lieutenant.

Satisfied with the waver she dropped that down and took the second PADD. It was clear from her expression and body language that she was a lot more relaxed about the subject, at least while she was in Alex's office and the waver was in effect. As she reached the end of the document she chuckled "'Subject Denied Position' hey?" she said with an amused inflection as her eyes darted up towards the intelligence officer. She lowered the PADD and sighed "That's one interpretation of reality I suppose."

Alex nodded, "There are always two sides to every story and somewhere in the middle is what actually happened. In regards to what we were talking about earlier, thank you for the information. I will make sure to get it and your suppositions to our analysts. Is there anything else you'd like to add to it? Or to the report, for that matter."

Marisa shook her head "No, seems like a petty act now. If I recall correctly the file isn't incorrect, just omitting some events." she said with a slight shrug. "And the PADD you've got is about as complete as we could make it. If you have any questions, well, I'm here now, just a tap of your comm badge away."

"Okay, then," he said. "And if you think of anything else let us know. It Tom isn't on duty, my Yeoman will arrive instead." Alex rose from his seat and extended his hand to the new fighter pilot aboard.

Marisa gave a quick nod as she got to her feet and shook the intelligence officer's hand "Will do." she said, before turning to leave.