Meeting the New Team

Posted on Tue 29th Oct, 2019 @ 1:27pm by Lieutenant Damion Ildaran & Captain Andrus Grax & Lieutenant Adam Keller & Ensign Elizabeth Brennen

1,816 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Intelligence Department
Timeline: MD: 07 - 0800 hours.

It was unusual for Captain Andrus Grax to arrive first to a staff meeting. His usual modus operandi was to arrive dead on time for the start of the meeting, sweep in and begin without preamble. Today, for reasons that he hadn't quite ascertained, he found himself slightly early and was, therefore, seated at the head of the table, coffee mug and PADD in front of him with a couple of minutes to spare. He read over his notes, quietly to himself as the other team members arrived.

"Sir," Jason Fisher acknowledged Grax's presence as he entered the briefing room. He moved around the table and took his usual seat at Grax's immediate right.

"Commander," Grax replied, without looking up from his notes.

The other senior members of the Triangle Region's intelligence team filed into the briefing room, one by one and sat themselves around the table. Some carried mugs of varying beverages.

Adam took a seat. He was tired after not sleeping well with Jasmine gone. Lani hadn't slept well, but once Adam let her curl up in bed with him, they both slept soundly. This morning he was drinking coffee, which was unusual for him, but it kept him alert.

Damion Ildaran took a seat at the conference table and tried to be quiet about it, as he was the last person to arrive. Five other members of the Intelligence Department already sat there, waiting for Captain Grax to speak.

As the chronometer ticked over to oh-eight-hundred, Grax looked up from his PADD and sat back in his chair. "Morning, everyone," he said, looking around the room, his face not betraying any emotion he might be feeling. "Before we get into our morning updates," he continued, "We're welcoming a new colleague today." He turned and faced Isabella Perry, and smiled - not a broad smile, but a genuine one nonetheless. "Lieutenant Perry joins us from the station's security staff, although, this isn't her first soirée in to the only-slightly more grubby waters of intelligence. So, I'm sure she'll feel right at home." He looked around at the rest of the officers seated before him. "And if she doesn't," he continued, "I'll be wanting to know why." There was a joviality in his tone that suggested this warning was a joke, but his expression betrayed the seriousness with which it was meant. He turned back to Perry. "Welcome, lieutenant," he said warmly, the hard expression of the previous comment disappearing as quickly as it had come. "If you need anything," he paused for effect, "Then you know where Commander Fisher's office is."

Surprised that the woman was leaving security, Adam nodded and welcomed her to the Intel branch. "It'll be good to work with you, Lieutenant." He offered her his hand. "Welcome aboard."

"Thank you Captain Grax and everyone else for the warm welcome. I am excited to be apart of this team and hopefully, learn something from all of you here." Isabella made sure to make eye contact with everyone at the table while she spoke.

Ensign Brennen nodded with a smile happy to have more competent help in the department to help with the work load.

Adam was glad for the help and knew that the woman would fit in well with the rest of the team.

Damion smiled at her. "Who are we supposed to call on now, when we need someone arrested?" Damion mock-pouted, "you were so good at it!" He leaned forward and extended his hand. "Welcome to Intelligence, Lieutenant."

Isabella gave a slight chuckle and took Damion's hand into hers. "I appreciate that. I think I will miss it a bit, but it will be good to get back to my roots." She took her hand back and continued talking. "And, Lieutenant Dallas Briggs will be taking over as the head of Starbase security. I will be there for him in only a support role until he fully transitions into the role. If that's okay with you, Captain?" she asked as she looked toward Grax.

Grax offered a small, slightly crooked, smile, along with a raised eyebrow. "Of course," he replied, "I will, of course, be expecting a full report on any security issues that might be of interest...?"

"Of course, sir." Perry said as she nodded her head towards the Captain.

"Okay," said Grax, returning his attention to the PADD on the conference table in front of him. "Morning updates - what have we got?"

Not seeing anyone pipe up quickly Brennen replied, "I finished analyzing the data from the intel smuggling ring." A group of smugglers thought they'd be bright and get into trying to smuggle intel for the Orions. "Looks like the Orions are trying to break into trading information not just of corporations and persons but governments now."

"That's worrisome," Damion said with a frown. "Selling information about governments is escalating their game quite a bit. That's high stakes. Are they concentrating on any particular governments, or just trading any information they can get their hands on?"

"I'm thinking they must be up to something pretty big." Adam interjected. "I picked up some information this morning that I was going to bring to you this afternoon. Evidently a prototype runabout with special cloaking and weapons capabilities was hijacked from Utopia Planitia. A special team has been put on trying to retrieve it. From what I can tell, it's a pretty unique and valuable piece of equipment." Adam gave a shrug. "Not much we can do right now, but I'd like to keep an eye open for information regarding it. I'm sure the syndicate will be looking for a buyer once they feel secure enough."

Isabella's ears perked up when she heard the runabout be mentioned. "Wait a minute." She stated with a level of concern in her voice. "Starfleet has only sent one team out to recover a hijacked prototype Runabout that can cloak. Does anyone else find this a little concerning?"

"Depends who's on the team," Grax mused, almost to himself. "Do we know?"

"Not yet. But with your permission, I'd like to dig a little more." Adam responded cautiously. "We'd be digging into someone else's mission. I'd like to keep my ears open, in case they need help. We can be quick aid, if we know what's going on." It would be hard to stay out of the search for the prototype knowing it was going on at all. But it was best to leave it to those it had been assigned to.

"Captain Grax," Isabella added, "I recently had a conversation with Admiral Nechayev. She actually is the one who talked me into stepping down as Security Chief to get back in the intelligence game. She wanted me to come to Earth to talk over the future. I wonder if it could have something to do with this?"

Grax listened to both Keller and Perry and mulled thoughtfully for a few seconds before responding. "This hijack could be totally disconnected from our investigation," he mused, "But, if there is a connection, it could be an invaluable lead." He turned to Isabella. "Take the meeting with the admiral, Lieutenant," he instructed. "If there is a connection there, all well and good, but if not, then use the opportunity to do a bit of digging while you're there."

"Aye sir." She said in response.

Grax glanced around the room, his expression suggesting that that particular matter was closed and that it was time to move on. "Anything else?" he asked, to no one in particular.

"Status of the repair shop is nominal," Damion said. "I've been using our maintenance contract with the casino to keep an eye on who frequents the place. Notable people of interest in the past week have been a couple of blokes who are mid-level lieutenants in the Monterroso crime family of Alpha Eridani II." Damion sent their images to everyone's PADDs. "They seem to have clearly been there to check out the premises, particularly security and what-not. We'll want to warn the owner and the manager."

Grax nodded. "Can I leave that with you?" he said in a tone that suggested this was less of a question and more of an order.

"Yes," Damion said. "I'll schedule an appointment with them tomorrow and tell you what comes of it."

"Thank you," Grax nodded, before turning his attention to Jason Fisher. "Have you and Mister Eberstark made any headway with the pirate attacks?"

"Not yet," Fisher replied slightly reluctantly, "Although the bolder they get the higher the chances that they'll make a mistake. Of course, if this hijack is connected..." he gestured with his hand in a way that suggested it was obvious what the implication of that was: another potential route of investigation and another opportunity for the team to discover what the pirates were planning.

Grax nodded again, clearly agreeing with Fisher, that the meaning of his last sentence was clear. "Keep at it," he said before, once again, turning his attention to the wider group of officers. "Anybody have anything else to report, today?"

Damion sighed and looked at Grax. "I got the report in from Muffet Langston about Zelda Alegari's poison ring. You won't like it."

"Of course I won't," Grax replied, his face completely dead-pan. "Let's have it anyway."

"You recall we found that the ring was stuck in the bottom of the secured evidence container? It's stuck because it grew tendrils out from itself into the material of the container and extracted from the container whatever molecular compounds or elements it needed to refill its poison chamber--all on its own. That's why it was embedded in Zelda Alegari's finger; not necessarily to 'chain' her to its creator--though that may have been a happy side-effect. It was using her own biological tissues to make its poison. The thing is a nanite chemical processing device."

"Well, you were right," Grax replied, feeling slightly more perturbed than he would have wanted to admit, "I don't like it." He paused, replaying in his mind the words that Damion had just said. "I've seen some weird and wonderful technology in my time, but this seems like something..." He paused again, still processing. "Something new," he eventually continued, without saying what he was really thinking. "Something new and very disturbing." He turned his attention back to Ildaran, "Keep liaising with security," he said, "Lieutenant Perry," he turned to the newest member of the team, "If Mr Ildaran needs any access that he doesn't already have, make sure he gets it."

"Aye, sir." Isabella said along with a curt nod.

"Good," Grax put both hands on the table and stood, arranging his PADDs as he did so. "Keep at it everyone," he said, turning to meet the gaze of as many of them as possible. "You're dismissed."

And he rounded the table and left the room.

 

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