Posted by Captain Sara Kiernan (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim - A Unique Invitation (Tag CO, XO, CIO)

Posted by Gamemaster Alias Smith N. Jones, Esq. (Gamemaster) in Main Sim - A Unique Invitation (Tag CO, XO, CIO)

Posted by Commander Shara Calloway (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Main Sim - A Unique Invitation (Tag CO, XO, CIO)
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Admiral Patrick ‘Pat to my friends’ Hallsley looked through the roster of unassigned Fleet ships. He needed something specific… but the problem was he didn’t know what ‘specific’ meant right now. “I’ll know it when I see it…” he muttered under his breath. Silence was king in his office for several more minutes when his eyes lit up. “Brazen… nice. And in repair status right now? Oh yeah… keep talking to me like that.” he said to himself with a smile. He rapidly pulled up the personnel records of the command staff of the ship and read through them at an astonishing speed. The more he read, the more he smiled. Finally, he spun his bulky frame in his chair and laughed loudly. “By all the gods in all the heavens that is perfect!!!” and he stopped spinning and jabbed his finger at his desk interface. “Get me the Co and XO of the Asimov in here asap. Oh, and their CIO.” he said and grinned. “Fate… you beautiful, beautiful thing you..” he said and smiled at the ceiling.

GM

A few moments later Sara stepped into Hallsley’s office. “Admiral. Captain Sara Kiernan, USS Asimov, reporting as requested, sir.” She thought it rather odd that they had been summoned personally to his office, with the CIO. Something was up for sure, but she’d soon find out what.

-Captain Sara Kiernan, CO

Right behind the Captain followed the First Officer. With a nod and a smile she greeted the Admiral and said, “And Commander Siadra Enai.” As she stood there right next to Sara, she looked around the office, taking notes of everything she saw, and also mustered the Admiral closely.

~Cmdr. Enai, XO

The ship’s repair status meant time for Shara to get certain things under control and to her liking. It was a small ship and the coziness of it reminded her in part of Voyager, so she was feeling more at ease with her new assignment than she had anticipated. Still, work had to be done and she had been putting in long days to get things sorted. The summons certainly was not expected, though she had expected orders to come down the pipeline. But even more unexpected was the office they were summoned to. With a chuckle, Shara downloaded all her latest updates and a report and headed off to their meeting.

About thirty seconds behind the CO and XO, Shara slipped in. Unlike the casual ease she had shown off duty, Calloway was all professionalism, though the hint of aloofness was dropped as she laid eyes on the Admiral. “Heya Pat. What’s kickin?” she said, folding her arms across her chest. They’d only met a couple of times, but she had regularly gone on missions after an initial mixed-bag team had done their thing. So rather than true familiarity, it was more like they circled the same circles, though Shara was the last most expected to be chummy with Admirals.

Commander Calloway, CIO

“Calloway… I figured you’d have been put out to pasture by now. Something about old dogs turning tricks, I think.” and he smiled, the bushy mustache flexing as he did so, and then he chuckled.

“Awww, plenty left in this ole gal. And you know as well as I do I go when I damn well good and ready to,” Shara said, her demeanour more serious.

“Now all of you, go ahead and sit.” and he waited for the three to settle in. “For those of you that dont know, I am Admiral Hallsley. I command Special Projects. I am assuming you all know what that is, right?” and he waited for confirmation before moving ahead.

“For a quick refresher,Speacil Projects is our own animal. We take on jobs that need done, and don’t always follow the book. That last part is why you three are here.” Hallsley looked at Calloway and said “Why don’t you fill in the Captain and Commander on the events surrounding your recent trip to the Delta Quadrant, Commander? I’m sure it will be better coming from the source rather than some editorialized operations report.”

Hallsley

Brows raised slightly, Shara blew out a breath between pursed lips. She knew there’d be fallout, but she was sure hoping she’d stay clear of it once her part was done. She also assumed that she was allowed to reveal classified information. “Well, for the last two years I’ve been working under orders from Admiral Marissa Greyson of Intelligence. There seemed to be some unusual activity within mid-level and senior agents that didn’t makes sense. Field agents operating outside their orders. I was tasked with with running the investigation from the field, and I discovered that it was a matter of not just agents acting of their own volition, but that they believed they were following orders. When we traced the orders, we discovered that they were false one. So either someone was handing out false orders, or we had a bunch traitors in our midst, or there was some sort of outside influence.

“My fifth case was the most serious, with false orders being signed off by the Deputy Director himself. He of course claims he did not and there is evidence to back that up… now. But the agent we believed possibly compromised was assigned to the Manhattan, stationed in the Delta Quadrant. So I was told to go directly. This officer, one Faye Calloway, now a Lieutenant Commander and yes is my daughter, was doing experimental work to the ship’s data protection systems. So the concern was not just for the status of the agent, but the welfare of the entire ship and its crew.

Shara took a moment to check that everyone was following before continuing. “Long, dramatic story short, my daughter claimed innocence. Her Primary orders checked out, but her secondary orders did not. Those orders had been sent from her handler and he was the one who told her to keep going despite her frequent protests. We executed a plan of my daughter’s devising, meant to lure her handler to her rescue and then from there we knew we could assess whether he was who he said he was. He was not. Another long story short, our imposter was a member of some loosely dubbed Shadow Syndicate who was interested in the XO, also in Intelligence. My daughter’s work was a draw as are bits of her… expertise that outsiders would have a hayday with if they could access. Faye’s actual handler was recovered, having suffered terrible conditions for well over a year. The switch happened before my daughter arrived at her assignment and she hadn’t seen him in person in awhile. We tricked the imposter into thinking he was able to escape and was able to locate the destination of his transmission. We also have a way to decode their transmissions, also due to my daughter’s work. And that’s where I, and my daughter, got off the crazy train and left them to clean up what has been a nightmare for everyone, your truly included.” She looked at Hallsley with raised eyebrows as if to say ‘good enough for you?’.

Commander Calloway, CIO

Hallsley nodded and then looked at Shara and said “Well… you thought you had got off it, anyway.” He stood up and walked in front of the desk and sat on the edge, crossing his large arms over his broad chest. “Intel has asked… and yeah, I mean asked… Special Projects to step into this hornet’s nest. The individual asking has the authority to make that request, so I told them I’d think about it but only if I was in charge. I don’t want anyone in Intel having a say. They are compromised… if they want help, they do it my way. And that brings me to you…”

Hallsley looked at all three and took a breath. “What I am about to disclose, and then ask you to do, is so far outta the box that it’s actually dangerous. It is a high-risk, high-reward scenario that you are not obligated to do… but I think of all the potential candidates, your ship and crew have the best shot at success. So, in a nutshell… I want you to take on board the Asimov the agent that was duplicated, take him undercover to the location the false agent was trying to go to, help him insert himself into this Shadow Syndicate as his double, and gather as much on-site intelligence as you can before leaving… hopefully with the agent. This is an unsanctioned, covert operation. The only person that’ll know what you are doing is me. Which means you will have exactly jack and s#!+ for support. You will be on your own, off the reservation, and no longer a Star Fleet vessel. Your ship will be marked as lost. As long as you’re doing this, you and your crew are for all intensive purposes either dead or criminals… the kind of individuals who would crew a salvaged derelict of a vessel and make a living as pirates and mercenaries. The kind of people a group like this Shadow-whatevers can make use of.” and he paused and leaned back with a twinkle in his eye and slight grin.

“Whadaya think? Feel like hoisting the black flag and seeing what life is like on the fringe for a bit?”

Hallsley

This struck Sara as funny. Intel had stepped in it and were calling for help. She couldn’t much gloat, but she could enjoy it. “Sir, I believe we can accept this mission. If there’s any sort of support we can take with us, I think that’ll gladly be accepted.”

-Captain Sara Kiernan, CO

A deep frown had appeared on Siadra’s pale face as she listened to Hallsley and only deepened at the Captain’s quick acceptance of this mission. There were a number of difficulties, problems … red flags even that she saw and she wanted them addressed before making a decision. So without so much as a preamble, she asked, “You want to send a man, who has been helped captive and from the sounds of it was tortured, back to the people who did that to him in the first place? Have you even considered the effects that can and most like will have on him? Sending a traumatised person back into a situation like that? I understand that much is at risk here, but that makes me question your plan only more and not less.” There were a few other things she wanted to address, but left it at that. For now. Waiting for his reply instead.

~Cmdr. Enai, XO