Trouble On New Sydney?

Posted on Tue 1st Jun, 2021 @ 2:55pm by Captain Andrus Grax & Lieutenant Adam Keller & Lieutenant Damion Ildaran & Ensign Elizabeth Brennen

1,418 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Waging Peace
Location: Intelligence Briefing Room - Deck 15
Timeline: MD 01: 0900 hours

"Okay then, let's get to it," Andrus Grax said, without preamble, as the last of his team, Jason Fisher, entered the briefing room, collected a cup of coffee from the replicator, and sat down.

Grax sat at the head of the briefing room table, as was usual for a Monday morning, and surveyed the assembled officers before him. He wasn't a huge fan of running team meetings - sit-down discussions weren't really his style - and, as a result, tended to run them in a somewhat unorthodox and informal manner. "Updates on existing situations? Anything new to report?" He spread his hands out in front of him, inviting contributions.

After a couple of moments of deafening silence, Damion spoke up. "I've submitted the Alegari report. Starfleet CIS will take the case from here. Ms. Alegari is now living under what might be termed unofficial witness protection, thanks to Commander Addams' family. All that remains is to apprehend the suspect." He paused. "I've completed the closure of Durant Repair Services and have released the space back to the starbase Chamber of Commerce. My legend, Corin Durant, has returned to Earth." He tapped his PADD and glanced at Grax. "I've just sent you the closing audit report. Aside from that, I'm closing out my current cases when I can and am prepping for my transfer in two weeks. I'll have a list of my remaining investigations for you by end of shift today."

Grax nodded. "Thank you," he said, with a half-smile that suggested that he was simultaneously happy for Ildaran as he left to take up a new role but also sad for himself, that he would be losing a valuable member of his team.

Adam only had one small thing to contribute and he wasn't sure if it was worth mentioning at this juncture. At the last team meeting, he'd explained to Grax about the missing prototype shuttle, but that had resolved itself just recently. He sat forward and spoke. "My contact on Vega Six contacted me," He looked at Andrus. "If you recall, he told me about the prototype that was stolen a few months ago." Adam waited to see that Andrus recalled what he was talking about. "Evidently there is talk of a retaliatory strike against the pair of Starfleet Officers that retrieved it." He sat back. "Lo' Tan has been relatively dependable up until now, so it may be something to look at a little closer."

Grax thought for a moment. "How in danger do you think those officers are?" he asked. "Can we warn them of the threat, or do they need a full-on extraction?"

"From my understanding, the young woman that was brought here a couple of weeks ago, after having been found adrift, is one of the officers. We can keep an eye on her," He stated. "But, I'd have to get more information. All I know is that a threat has been made by the Orion Syndicate. If I'm not mistaken, she and her husband are both aboard the station. We should at least talk to them and see what they want to do," Adam tapped notes to himself as he spoke. The woman he was talking about had taken a position in his wife's department. He'd want to check out the lab's security protocols before long.

Grax nodded. "Okay," he said, almost absent-mindedly reflecting, "That makes our lives a lot easier." He turned his attention back to Keller. "Can I leave that one with you?"

"Yes, sir." Adam nodded. "I'll keep you posted," Adam again tapped commands into his PADD.

"Thank you," Grax returned, politely, before once again surveying the whole room. "Anyone else?"

Elizabeth wasn't entirely sure why she was here, as an analyst and techie she normally worked in a room with computer screens and acted to support the field personnel as needed. Most anything she had to report was something someone else was already working on. It could be she just wasn't entirely comfortable being pulled from her domain. Still she spoke up, "The new security protocols arrived from HQ. Once I've updated them for the actual hacking attempts we get, I can schedule with you the reset protocols as it will take internal Intel systems offline for 5 to 7 minutes. AKA no access to files and such."

"That doesn't sound like too much of an imposition." Jason Fisher spoke up. "Schedule it around a coffee break and no one will even notice."

"I thought I'd banned coffee breaks?" Grax replied facetiously.

"In your department, maybe." Fisher replied, "In R and A, we don't survive unless we're regularly refilled with real caffeine."

Grax gave a small chuckle to himself, before turning his attention back to Brennen. "Very good, ensign," he said, "Keep me posted on when the new protocols are ready to go live.

"Understood, sir." She replied, trying to keep a straight face. For a bunch of highly skilled intel experts they were a silly bunch. She made a note on her PADD.

"Is that it?" Grax asked.

"There is one more thing, sir," Fisher said, his tone fully serious once again. "I've heard reports that a crime syndicate is increasing its profile on New Sydney. Nothing too serious as yet - drug trafficking, dealing in precious artefacts, low-level hacking, but my contact thinks they're growing in influence. The most concerning thing is that my contact believes they have links to at least one group of pirates that are active in the region."

"That is a worry," Grax agreed. "The last thing we need are pirates gaining more power and resources." He thought for moment before turning to Damion and Adam. "I wonder whether a short trip to New Sydney might be in order? Just to assess the lay of the land?"

"If SSA Pantoufle has no problem with me going, I don't mind," Damion said.

Grax nodded, “I’m sure we can persuade Ms Pantoufle to allow you one last hurrah before you depart for pastures new,” he said, smiling slightly mischievously to himself for finding an opportunity to keep the infiltration specialist around a little while longer. He looked down and made a note on his PADD and then looked up at Damion again. "Commander Locke's just come back from New Sydney," he remembered, "It might be worth you checking in with her before you leave - see if she clocked anything."

"I'll see where my conversations with the two pilots leads to and then I'm on board for a field trip," Adam looked at Damion. "If you want to get with Locke, we can meet up here tomorrow and discuss travel plans."

Damion glanced back at Adam and nodded. "Sounds good to me. I'll schedule an appointment with her."

"Is all the information on their hacking methods in the system?" Elizabeth asked, "I could review might give an idea as to their abilities. I could also get some viruses and such ready if you can get to any of their computer systems that could aid a remote access hack. Super easy to use, just plug and play." she continued.

Adam listened to what Elizabeth was saying and had a thought. "Perhaps we could have a quick meeting later today. I'd like you to look into something for me if you have some time."

Brennen nodded her agreement. "I can have time for that,” she replied to Adam.

"I like plug and play," Damion said to Elizabeth. "I've seen your work. Anything you want us to take along is welcome."

Elizabeth smiled in thanks at the comment and nodded.

Grax nodded again, firmly. “Excellent,” he said. “Lastly,” he continued, “Major Sawyer has informed me that the new Marine Intelligence Liaison will be here in the next day or so. I’m pretty sure they’ll want in on our team meetings, so let’s try and act like we know what we’re doing, yes?”

Damion looked back at Adam and chuckled. "I say we both show up in deep 'Infiltration Specialist mode'--long hair, scraggly beards, wearing civvies and all."

Adam laughed. "Right there with you brother."

Brennen, stifled a laugh. She'd have to make sure she was nearby to see the reaction to that.

Grax chuckled lightly, rolling his eyes at the same time, knowing - or at the very least, hoping - that they were joking. "Good," he finally said, standing and resting his hands on the conference room table. "Well, I'm pretty sure we've all got work to be doing... You're dismissed."

 

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