Intelligence Gathering

Posted on Tue 16th Apr, 2013 @ 1:33pm by Colonel Horatio Drake & Lieutenant Samantha O'Dell & Lieutenant JG Xavier Lee

2,974 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: http://sb109.sim-station.net/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Deck 27: Drake's Quarters
Timeline: MD-04: 1500 Hours

ON:

Drake had requested both Lee and O'Dell to report to his quarters, with any findings that they might have, about ten minutes ago. He had considered going up to his Ready Room or the Observation Lounge, but really couldn't be bothered. His quarters had literally not been altered in anyway since he had moved in, just as sterile and plain as always, so he really didn't see the problem - even if it was an unusual etiquette.

In the years gone by, he used to take great enjoyment from decorating his quarters. Not least was his display of weapons. He had started collecting just before he entered the Academy and now had a fairly respectable collection. Energy weapons of the past century, was his forte... now they were probably sitting in a cargo box somewhere in the depths of the starbase. Nice things hadn't really had a part to play in his life since the death of Patrick.

He inhaled deeply and started moving towards the replicator, as the door chimed.

Sam was standing outside the Colonels door, her hands folded behind her back patiently waiting to be told to enter. She had been working with Windsong on his theories of residual energies and was expecting that between his telepathy and the left over energies in that sector they'd have some information. She was in uniform as was expected of her but he hair was not within regulation standards, it was long and flowing off her shoulders, suggesting she'd not been in uniform earlier. Truth was she'd rushed out of the gym on his word and just hadn't pulled it up. The gym gave her time to think, process information. Usually.

Xavier rounded the corner of the corridor to find Sam waiting outside of the Colonel's quarters. It made sense that Drake had wanted to see the two of them, their positions on the station meant they were very close to this investigation, in fact Xavier was a little too close to it all. When ever him and Drake were together recently, a major development seemed to present itself, it was as though the young Betazoid were cursed. Xavier shook these thoughts away, that was no way for a senior officer to think.

"Lieutenant," Xavier said with a slight nod. He wasn't sure what else to say; small talk seemed inappropriate given the circumstances but his greeting seemed a little too formal, not like him at all.

Sam looked over when Xavier greeted her. "Hello, Xavier." She retorted. They were both Lt's junior grade or not she'd only recently been promoted she considered Lee an equal. It had been a while since they'd seen each other, just the other night and she could see why he would be a bit formal. It hadn't been the greatest impression, still... it could have been worse.

"Please, come in" Drake called out so that he could be heard from outside. He ordered himself, once again, a strong coffee. "Can I get you, both, anything?" He asked, surprised to see both the officers arrive at the same time.

Samantha came into the Colonels quarters and was instantly curious about the interior, how large it was, what sort of decor there was. It told her a lot about the man. "No, thank you, sir." She retorted when asked if she needed anything. It was midday, and Sam wasn't a coffee drinker like many of her compatriots. She just didn't care for the bitterness of the stuff.

"Xavier?" Instantly the informality of that struck him. Had O'Dell picked up on it? He hadn't had many dealings with the Chief Intelligence Officer so far... something he wanted to change. He knew she had a security background so double doubly interested in her opinions and suggestions on the forsaken section.

She noticed, but what was she going to do? Scold the Colonel for being informal with a junior officer?! Perhaps it was merely that they were on a more comfortable basis then she was with Drake, it wasn't her place to point it out and it wasn't like her to point it out. She was more of an observer anyways. She learned more about people by watching them over long periods of time. She hadn't had much time do converse with Colonel Drake, she had been tucked away with work and she hadn't really been on the starbase that long.

Xavier noticed the informality but didn't think twice about it. It wasn't that unusual for a CO to call one of their senior officers by their first name and even if it was, he doubted that Starfleet had such a protocol for their given situation. "Peppermint tea please, two sugars."

Drake collected the two drinks and handed one to Lee, keeping the other for himself. Inviting the two officers to sit, he nearly threw himself onto one of the sofas, he crossed his legs.

"So, where are we Lieutenant?" He addressed the first question to O'Dell, knowing that Lee would have some useful information regarding the recent revelation in S49A after the explosion.

Samantha sat, crossed her ankles and looked at the CO. "Not as far as we'd like to be, I admit. Commander Windsong and I are currently working on the residual energies left behind using his telepathy we're trying to determine if any of the energies left behind can point us in a clear direction, and the data we have from what little was left on the computer is still being cleaned up. This is one fragment that is hopeful, sir." She offered. "Whoever was there was in a real hurry to get out they weren't thorough with their evac as they should have been, it's only a matter of time before we know who was there."

"When you say the energies left behind, what kind are you looking for exactly?" Xavier asked Samantha.

"Commander Windsong said he picked on strong emotional connections to the area itself." She offered. "This is new to me, so I'm not exactly sure what we're looking for."

Drake sat uncomfortably on the topic of detecting residual energies as a way of investigating this attrocity. Throughout the Academy his two great loves and passions had been advanced weaponry & configuration and Starship Design & Construction. Both of which required specific and detailed knowledge. He had always aired on the side of logic and 'exact sciences' when it came to do with both his career and his relationships. It seemed that trying to mentally pick up residual energies was almost reaching into the realms of fiction. He knew this wasn't the correct attitude to have but really couldn't help it... he quickly swayed the subject onto the hard fact.

"They didn't full complete their evacuation procedures... that's good. So, are we saying that fragments of files were left behind?" He knew it was an incredibly long shot, but worth the question.

She nodded her head. "While we're hoping that whatever Commander Windsong uncovers will lead us in a direction we're not expecting to be able to use it as evidence, merely a guide. As far as the fragmented files, we're working on it." She took a deep breath. "Colonel, in security they tell us that a criminal element make an average of 10 mistakes for every crime they commit." She offered. "Whoever did this had a whole lot of time to make mistakes, and if they left in a hurry which we think they did, there could be more. It's only a matter of finding them." She offered. "What surprises me is that there was no attempt to come back and clean up later." She retorted.

Xavier studied Samantha for a while. What he and Paul had felt down in Section 49 Alpha wasn't exclusive to a Betazoid mind, Brian too had felt the strong emotions surrounding that place. This created more questions than it answered, in fact everything about this investigation seemed to be about creating questions as opposed to answering them, it was very frustrating.

"No disrespect Lieutenant but you seem to be assuming that you're dealing with some kind of petty criminal," Xavier said, "when in fact all the evidence we've seen so far tells me a different story. They managed to keep things quiet for a long time, and used a dampening field of a very sophisticated origin. Not to mention I still can't trace the power source and the place seems to be booby trapped to hell. I'm sure you are right and a mistake has been made somewhere along the line but I wouldn't underestimate this person."

She looked surprised that Lee thought she considered these people as petty criminals... granted they didn't know each other very well or really at all for that much maybe that was the reasoning for his comment. "Underestimate... no, no absolutely not. Whoever this was and is, they're deceptive, educated and high ranking. They have excellent engineering capabilities, understand of biology, sciences and security protocols. They're methodical, controlling and manipulative... they're anything but petty." She offered to both Lee and Drake. "But no one is perfect... It might only be a finger print, or a second of a file... but there are mistakes and we will find them."

Drake felt reassured that the passion was showing in both the officers - whatever task or job one was performing, you could almost always guarantee the result would be faster or better if they had passion.

"So, what are our next steps?" He took a long sip of his coffee, there wasn't enough caffeine in it.

Xavier nodded in approval of O'Dell's answer, she obviously understood the gravity of the situation better than he had realised. "Our records from the Dominion War on this station are sketchy at best, so until we can recover the data, what else can we do?" Xavier asked in reply to Drake. He took a gulp of his tea and instantly felt warmer despite the cold nature of the topic.

Samantha looked between both men, "Correct me if I'm wrong, I realize I'm still the newbie on the station but isn't our visiting... oh whats the word I want to use.." She stopped short of calling the man a criminal. "Well, wasn't he in command during the war?" O'Dell was one of those kinds of people who took being a department head extremely seriously she took everything her people did as he own actions, she was responsible for their failures if they messed up and gave them the credit when they succeeded. She thought CO's were no different. "I'm sure he can give us names of personnel we should be able to track down and question." She looked between them... she wasn't accusing anyone... yet.

"In fact, he wasn't in command of the station during the war. In twenty three seventy three, when the war started in earnest, the station was handed over to the Federation Civilian Defence Authority - they essentially ran the station, albeit with a skeleton staff. There were a few Starfleet personnel still on board, Captain Dobbs was one of them. His duties on the station are sketchy at best". Drake knew that if there was one thing worse than something being classified, it was something that was vague and looked as if it had been made up by an intelligence analyst. Top secret things were always classified, however ultra secret things usually had a simple cover story put to them... classified provokes interest.

Samantha nodded. "Let me see if I can't pull up some of that "classified" information, usually intelligence has clearances to get into that sorta information." She retorted with a sassy tone to her voice.

"My fear is, Samantha..." it was unusual for Drake to use first name terms... well it used to be... not so much anymore. "... that this wasn't even classified. If we're right in our assumptions then his duties on Protector during that time aren't recorded anywhere. Hence why officially he's got a load of petty tasks on his duty roster".

She didn't hesitate to ask the Colonel her next question. "Is Captain Dobbs your suspect, sir?"

The question caught Drake completely off guard... he liked the directness and forcefulness of it. He was being made to confront something that he had been putting of. Truth be told, did he even know the answer to the question? If she had asked him yesterday, he would have gone on about how Dobb's is a decorated Starfleet officer and he is not to be brought into this investigation until evidence came to light etc. etc. But, after Dobb's visit to his Ready Room earlier today he wasn't so sure anymore... he had virtually threatened him. Losing his career was no longer important to Drake, but he still didn't want to slander the career of a good officer.

"There is no evidence to suggest Captain Dobbs was involved in any way, shape or form with Section Forty Nine Alpha. However, his presence on the station at the time, coupled with his extensive skill set... plus his, unusual behavior, recently... puts a dark light over him." He paused and took a sip of his coffee... then another... "You can treat Captain Dobbs as a suspect, but for the time being this stays between the three of us".

Samantha nodded. "Unusual behavior, sir?" She'd been working between her office and the section 49A, so she hadn't even really met Dobbs. She was fine with having Dobbs as a suspect even if she couldn't go forward with it without proof, but she wanted to know more about why the captain considered him a possibility, if his gut said something was wrong. Something... was wrong

"Captain Dobbs was waiting for me in my Ready Room earlier today... going through my computer. He... almost tried to warn me off the investigation in forty nine alpha... he wanted to be keep apprised of all further developments. Which, naturally, I refused without the Sector Admiral's permission. He didn't seem at all happy with this."

Samantha nodded her head. "He threatened you, then didn't he?" She assumed as much. She knew the Colonel had asked her and Lee to his quarters for information not to give it. Although honestly she wished he'd have said something sooner.

"After a fashion, I suppose he did" Another long sip of his coffee facilitated a thought process around that area.

"Which is one of the reasons why I think he's hiding something" He added.

Samantha nodded her head, she liked that the Colonel and her thought along the same lines, it could make work much easier for an Intelligence officer when the CO thought along the same lines. Dobbs was getting himself into Samantha's line of site, it was definitely not a place anyone wanted to be as far as her job was concerned. "I'm sorry, sir I didn't mean to make this a Q and A session."

Drake smiled and dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand.

Xavier sat listening intently. He had been so concerned with himself and his feelings of Section 49 Alpha he had totally forgot about Dobbs' presence on the station, never mind his previous relationship with this place, how had he missed such a vital piece of the puzzle? He thought back to his own meeting with Dobbs only a few days ago and how charming the man seemed and eager to discuss his work. Could he really be involved? Had Drake suspected this all along?

"Sir whether is he a suspect or not, Dobbs could have vital information we need in this investigation."

"Very true, Lieutenant... but it could also spell the end to many careers if we're wrong" He was, of course, not talking about his own... to his mind his career had ended two years ago. No, it was the careers of this promising officers that he was concerned about... it was a funny feeling... he had supervised investigations in the past, but never one with such hard hitting ramifications to both the victims and those investigating.

Samantha couldn't help but smirk, "there's a reason why I'm still just a Lt, sir." She offered. Samantha had a history of being willing to stake her career on her actions. Sometimes they were the right thing to do at the wrong time, and sometimes they were just wrong all around. "But if you feel the Captain is a potential suspect, sir. Then I have to go with your gut. We'll continue the investigation and hopefully your gut is right. Captain Dobbs doesn't have to know we consider him a suspect." She looked to Lee. "Xavier's right. The Captain could prove very helpful either way, and if he's guilty he'll lie. You can tell when a person is lying, right Lee?"

"Normally yes," Xavier replied wanting to be as enthusiastic as Samantha, "however I doubt he got to the position he is at without knowing how to lie. Telepathic or not, if Dobbs is involved it might take quite a bit to bring him to justice."

"Getting back to these data fragments - is there anything useful in them? Perhaps some sort of correlation between them?" Drake felt like this really was the only lead they had.

Samantha shook her head. "Nothing so far, sir. My team is still working on it. As soon as we know more, you'll know." She felt like it was a downward progression-less answer, but it was the truth.

"Very well" Drake nodded to the affirmative... he was sure there was something he was missing here. But why did he feel like he was missing something and no one else was? Something that Dobbs had said? It was merely a threat... nothing else?

OFF:

A Post By:
Lieutenant Samantha O'Dell
Chief Intelligence Officer
&
Lieutenant Xavier Lee
Chief Operations Officer
&
Colonel Ashton Drake
Commanding Officer

 

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