Down at the Oubliette Part 2

Posted on Tue May 5th, 2020 @ 4:33am by Commander M'Mira & Lieutenant JG Adam Burns & Lieutenant JG Kara Quinn-Chaim & Lieutenant JG Shannon Cosantior

1,731 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: Diplomacy, what’s that?
Location: Intel Compound

Shannon rubbed her eyes, fortunately she'd gotten a nap in on the cot in her office because she knew they'd all have to be on the top of their game. This was a complex set of issues with multiple players in the region and was not going to be solved by a solo renegade mission like the old days. This was going to require a highly talented team, which she seemed to have as she looked around the conference table as the last ones arrived. At least she hoped so.

"Ok so I've been reviewing the plans and for the purposes of reporting to the Commander we're going to focus primarily on fleshing out our response to..." And she tapped a key on the console calling up their orders.

---One: Find evidence, if it exists that the Governor of Faltan, attacked Captain Refelien.

---Two: Review attack on Leftenant Tendai by a member of Crystal Fruit to confirm the players there, the Captain appeared to do nothing then disappeared.

---Three: Review all persons on station starting with those with a Red Flag in their file for Faltean Sympathizers.

----Four: Monitor and gain intel on the local Governor, Union, Ryeaya and the status of the local Free Romulan Movement.

She looked at them, "I will assign people to teams unless we have volunteers." There was no reason not to. These were the best she had, experienced and adaptable. " I've got people reviewing personnel files for number three. Once they've given us a list to work with we will proceed there. So for now we will focus on plans for 1, 2, and 4. I will head the team for 4 that being our largest immediate priority though I plan to flow in and out of the other teams as needed.

"All of this falls under a class A4 lock down security clearance. Only ourselves and the Commander are read in. If anyone else needs in later, send the request to me and I'll verify clearance. This is especially important as we do not have an answer to number three yet and can't afford leaks. Any questions or suggestions for changes before we get going?"

She asked trying to slow her roll, when she got going it was often hard to slow down to give others a chance to comment. She was trying though and looked at her inner circle as she waited for replies.

A young woman sat across from Shannon, she was busy taking notes on a PADD as Shannon spoke about their objectives. She wasn’t your a-typical Betazoid, she was a Betazoid trained to put her skills to use obtaining information, if that meant a little telepathic prying then that’s what she did. “Lieutenant does the Commander allow the obtaining of information in, shall we say...nefarious ways?” She sat back in her seat. “I’m fully trained to gather information telepathically. Though I know Starfleet doesn’t usually approve of such things.”

Shannon turned her attention to the speaker, "Fair question. I believe she might if I can prove need. I get the impression this information is a fairly high priority." Then as a warning, "However it in and of itself is not sufficient. We would need to be able to prove our point with objectively viewed data." aka anyone who was authorized needed to be able to follow the path of evidence. "And you would need to make counter measures as part of the plan, we're not the only ones with telepaths."
Then as a final point, "Just to be safe an suggestions should include a telepath and none telepath option." She said finally.

"Yes ma'am" the young woman nodded and went back to her note taking, she'd have to come up with a good idea that wouldn't include the need for her mental 'gifts'.

A convivial young man walked in. Wherever he went, he was smiling at women and making cutesy little remarks. With a great deal of casualness, he spotted Shannon and asked, "What is it that I can do for you, boss?" He nonchalantly put his foot upon the chair and smiled at Shannon. Unfortunately, the chair was less than cooperative. It swiveled, causing Adam to lose his balance and he fell to the floor. He picked himself up, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Must be loose."

Shannon raised one eyebrow something she'd seen to good effect in a vulcan friend of hers. "Well to be on time would be a first good start and perhaps a refresher on the effects of physics." Her tone started off serious but there was a hint of humor at the end. She gave a quick overview then,

"And I'm not repeating that again, currently we are working out initial plans to present to the Commander on these topics." She couldn't be too mad, intel types especially analysts could be socially odd ducks but were brilliant at what they did. Being somewhat awkward herself she was inclined to cut some slack but only a bit, things needed to be done after all.

"Which topics would those be?" Adam asked with the innocence of a fawn. "And I'm quite sure that I was on time." His voice sounded wounded at potentially being late. "Could we please take it all from the beginning again?" He blinked several times at Shannon, hoping that he was appearing endearing.

Shannon mentally counted to 5 slowly. She wondered if it were some ploy but then decided to stop trying to read things into other things all the time. Sometimes a duck was a duck. She took a few seconds and tapped several keys on her PADD then handed him another PADD, "This lays everything out. Since I need everyone on the same page while Adam catches up, take a few minutes review the materials I just sent to all your PADD's or ask any questions you may have." She sat down available for questions.

“Ma’am do we have any records or anything extra to go on regards the attack on Captain Refellen? Perhaps there was something that was overlooked?” She gazed at Shannon.

Adam answered instead, "Falteans shut us completely out of the investigation then had the Governor cremated. Said it was their culture's way and we had no jurisdiction. I don't think Refellian allowed anyone to investigate covertly either but what would I know?"

Shannon nodded, "That dovetails with what we know. The governor was an important man as such he had is own physician. He has since disappeared. Odds are the good doctor is dead or in hiding but if we can get current details we may be able to find out if he kept any um shall we say back up records?"

“Question is how do we get our hands on any possible back up records he might have had?” The young woman looked at those in the room. “They’d no doubt be hidden and encrypted.”

Another officer pipped up, "What about a an old fashioned back trace?" In that they would start from the last place they knew he was at and back track everywhere he went looking for clues that he may have hidden.

Shannon looked thoughtful, "If they've not found them yet and that's a big if they may still be looking or at least looking for anyone come to call. We'd have to have an undercover team to do the searching and a team to watch for anyone watching the main team." She called it 'chaining' and it could be bloody if one side pulled their string. She paused to consider, the more moving parts something had the more likely it was that something could go wrong, giving others a chance to chime in.

Adam looked terribly confused. He was into field intelligence and he often thought that meant intelligence in an actual field. "How does this help?"

Shannon looked at him, "Sometimes digging deep requires going through information but to do that we need to get to it. Let's try another tack, does anyone have data on the last known whereabouts of the good Doctor?" She glanced around at the team.

"The Doctor should be in sickbay unless he's off duty," Adam replied, confused as to the necessity for the question.

Shannon closed her eyes for a moment begging the universe for patience before looking at Adam, "I rather mean the Governor's doctor." She said patiently, "Ok we're rabbit holing, let's bring back." She said a plan settling in her mind as she called up their four missions again.

---One: Find evidence, if it exists that the Governor of Faltan, attacked Captain Refelien.

---Two: Review attack on Leftenant Tendai by a member of Crystal Fruit to confirm the players there, the Captain appeared to do nothing then disappeared.

---Three: Review all persons on station starting with those with a Red Flag in their file for Faltean Sympathizers.

----Four: Monitor and gain intel on the local Governor, Union, Ryeaya and the status of the local Free Romulan Movement.

"You" she pointed to one officer, "Will command project two, get me what resources you need by end of day tomorrow." The vulcan nodded and she turned to Adam, "You will assist him, alright?"

"Yes, sir!" Adam replied standing up and giving an exaggeratedly proper salute. "Your will shall be done!"

Shannon shook her head, thinking what an interesting group she had. Then continued.
"I am merging projects 1 and 4, taking that personally. I will be recommending an undercover operation to the XO." She faced another officer, "You'll take point on project 3, I expect that to be a large undertaking with the sheer amount of data involved so I'll be giving a fairly high priority for computer use to you and your team. Get me what you need by end of day tomorrow." The officer nodded.

Shannon turned to the entire group. "I know we've got a lot to do but I have every faith we'll be able to find the right path through all this information. Does anyone have any questions before we break to our individual projects?"

Seeing none, "We've a lot to do. You are the best Starfleet has to offer. Let's act like it. Dismissed." After they all left she pulled her PADD toward her to go over and fine tune before sending it on to the XO, the tea cup at her elbow going cold as she worked.

 

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