Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Old Habits - New Adventures

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Old Habits - New Adventures

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Akirel Ros (Consultant Researcher) in Old Habits - New Adventures
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Surda grinned at Cobb. “Are we on the clock or can I grab the good stuff?” She could grab something a bit stronger than his average stash depending on how friendly he wanted the rest of this meeting to be.
-Surda, CoS

The captain offered no verbal reply, but the wink followed by a nod to his desk’s bottom drawer told Surda she could go for the very best in his immediate collection - a 40-year aged bottle of Draylaxian whiskey.

Surda grinned slightly and pulled out the indicated bottle, a slight clinking the only indication anything had moved.

Casela was laughing to herself but was sure to not let it show on her face. She usually took the seat across from Cobb whenever she was in here, but this was something different. Instead she took a spot, standing, by the window and leaned back arms loose at her sides. There weren’t enough seats in this office and if Cobb wanted his ‘Angels’ as he called them, then there was a reason. Again, at Surda’s words, she didn’t laugh, but she wanted to. Cobb was probably about 2 hours late for his drink. Quinn would know more precisely. She hoped Surda didn’t offer her a drink. She had strict orders to not drink. But looking over at Akirel and Gruv…yeah the Angels were still on duty. Any time those were around you better always be on duty. More misfits for this crazy boat. Really didn’t they have enough intel people working this ship? How many games of chess was going on on this ship now?
Lt. Synthi-er, Cobb’s Angel

Settling into his chair, Cobb nodded for Akirel and Gruv to take theirs, as Surda prepared drinks and Casela maintained a trained eye over the newcomers. Then finally, once all formalities had been dragged to conclusion, Zachariah sat forward and cast a steel glare over each man in turn.
“Okay then, gentlemen. I honour you both with my finest vintage, so you can honour me in return with the truth. Since you seem oblivious as to your intended purpose on this ship, perhaps you should tell me a little about what you do have to offer as a part of my already elite crew.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Surda began pouring drinks, passing them around. She placed one in front of each of the men, then returned to the wall, passing one to each side. She signed to Casela, barely moving her hands. Trust me. Try it. The Angels drinks were non-alcoholic, instead seeming like fruit-flavored water. She had many tricks up her sleeves, some quite literally.
–Surda, CoS

Casela took the drink, sipping it. She trusted Surda without doubt. Where was she when she was running all those ops alone? The thoughts never crossed her face though. It was fruity. She stopped herself from daring Surda to serve this to Cobb. She’d love to see his face when he got fruit instead of whisky. She raised the glass slightly in Surda’s direction and then turned her gaze back to others in the room, though her attention had never wandered.

The silent communication between the two women did not go unnoticed and, inwardly, Cobb smiled at the efficient connection between the pair. The Leviathan’s security team was truly a force to be reckoned with and, of them, the Angels were the most primed and capable of them all. He was lucky to have them and he was not about to let himself forget that for even a second.

Picking up his drink, Gruv paused at the Captains remark of an elite crew, then looked over at the three Officers who had accompanied them into the Ready Room. “Elite?” He asked with a raised eyebrow. “Oh I get it,” he said, taking a sip of his drink and winking at Surda. For an elite crew, the Captain seemed to require bodyguards and servants for what to him, was a regular check-in. Maybe it was elite like the old Roman Praetorian Guard, which was so elite they often stabbed you in the back. Come to think of it, that was the Romulan Tal-Shiar as well, that his wife belonged to. He sighed to himself, it was always elite these days, poor old Gruv just wanted to be normal for a change.

“I hope for our sake that you do, truly, get it, Mr Gruv,” Cobb fired off a warning to the Tellarite.

Her face remained blank as she listened to Cobb. The more she worked with Cobb the more she liked him. She was pretty sure that Mr Gruv only half got it. This was Cobb’s show so she wasn’t going to tell Gruv and Ros the reason Cobb had them in the shuttle bay. It was getting to be a problem. More new crew than they could timely process and everyone brought some anomaly or piece of equipment. And some deliveries weren’t new crew and they weren’t to be trusted. So now they had a protocol for welcoming shuttles on board. Expected or not, Star Fleet or not. It saved time, and Cobb got a kick out of showing off his ‘Angels.’ And he was as fiercely protective of them as they were of him and the crew.

As Ros sat down, he placed the box he was carrying gently beside his chair and turned to look at the three against the wall. Appraising them for a moment but now the slight smirk was gone. It was an honest appraisal unlike what he had given one of them in particular earlier, then turned to Cobb and slid his left ankle over to rest on his right knee in a relaxed pose, holding his own drink and nodding to Surda in thanks.

“We will start with a little about me and my history, Mr Gruv has been my operations partner for a while but he has his own skills that might come in use to you. I served as Chief Engineer on the Viking under Captain Nakuto before moving into Starfleet Intelligence, before that I served with Section 31 for a time. I’m no longer part of that organization and they have very little interest in having me as such, nor I in working with them.” He smiled now and it was slightly smug. Like he enjoyed the fact that Section 31 didn’t want him.

At the mention of Nakuto’s name, Cobb fired a surprised glance in Synthi-er’s direction, followed by another, more concerned expression, as Akirel expanded on his connections to Section 31. But to the Bajoran, he simply nodded.

There was a slight incline of her head at Cobb’s glance. She’d heard and was taking in all the information. She’d talk to Kara later. And she would make an inquiry into the Akirel Ros and the section. No one got out of the section, unless you were dead. And if he really was out, well she would love to pick his brain about it.

“As part of Starfleet Intelligence I served on the Discovery as a counselor to graduating Cadets, I am a qualified counselor but have little interest in that position. That was more to assist in my tasks for Intelligence that I was uniquely suited to. My role in SI was something of a bounty hunter, of sorts,” he paused and took a sip of his drink then tilted his head at the three women. “Doing a job that I believe you have these three doing somewhat, although clearly not in such a capacity as your ARU carries out. My task was to track down and recover if possible, eliminate if needed, people and technology that was deemed too sensitive to fall into the hands of our competition among non-Federation aligned worlds. My methods were a little unconventional at times, but I have skills in finding answers where I need to. Be it deep interrogation, technological investigation or,” now Ros grinned openly, “seducing Amazonian women, as you so eloquently put it Captain.”

Lt Cmdr Akirel

“Counselor, eh?” Zachariah echoed, “Bounty Hunter? Sounds like you’re a veritable jack-of-all-trades, Mr Akirel. And while I struggle to see a place for you amongst my Angels,” he chuckled at the mental image, “I’d wager we might find a use for you as part of this crew. On Polizzi’s clean-up crew, perhaps?”

“One manages to find skills to keep oneself useful if you want to survive in the Intelligence world long,” Ros smiled lightly aware of the glances and side glances but keeping his eyes on Cobb. “But really it’s more about surviving and getting a job done, the ability to adapt rather than being trained to push button A when situation A happens.”

“The lad doesn’t have the complexion to serve with them Angels either, does he?” Gruv smirked at Ros. “No way anyone could mistake ye for an angel lad, ye lost yer halo long ago, even if those halo’s come with conditions.”

Reclining in his chair, Cobb took several moments to savour the richly-spiced whiskey in his glass. The parallel worlds of Section 31 and the ARU refused to find separation, becoming more evidently entwined at every turn. It was a fact that brought him an acute degree of discomfort - this world of shadows and secrets one that he would never have stepped into willingly. But step into it he had and so now there was no option but to forge on, to find a capability for trusting those deemed distinctly untrustworthy.

“If you have served on the Viking then I presume you will already be familiar with a couple of our Consultant Researchers,” the captain offered at last. “I am sure they could put your skills to good use. Commander John McHarrie specialises in Abell research from a medical viewpoint. Or for an engineering approach to yellow level development, we have former Viking Captain, Kara Nakuto.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Casela was very quiet, very calm and not a person in the room would know the alarm bells going off in her head. Bounty hunter, counselor, interrogation, retrieval …..oh yes she knew the type. She was the type. And now here was her counterpart sitting across from the captain, sent by intel according to his words. She caught Ros’s eye and raised one brow at the mention of seducing Amazonian women. She wished him luck, not on this ship. She was sure he was very good at it, but that was one line Casela, no matter how much the section wanted, never crossed. Hmmm....Intrigue, secrets, and chess moves. Was he here for her?

Noting the womans eyebrow rise, Ros shifted his look back to Cobb. There were Morals behind that look. So the hard as ice Angel had a weakness, and Ros considered morals very much a weakness. Whether in Section 31, Starfleet Intelligence or the Tal Shiar, it was generally far more effective to break a person’s morals than it was to break their spine. Morals were never a strength, they would make a mission fail as surely as tripping an alarm. Morals meant secret organizations could control you, no matter how much you wanted out. Morals were the realm of a perfect society, or those that tried to ignore the mire that flowed beneath it.

He’d worked with Kara and John. She considered them friends, but they had a stronger connection. Would they warn her? It wasn’t something she could count on. Research, information gathering, and then decision making. It might be time for Valkyrie to disappear again.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

He was about to take a sip of his drink when the last thing Cobb had said registered with him, and he paused. Outwardly he didn’t move at all for the barest of a second, but his eyes moved from his glass up to rest on Cobb, searching the mans face for any hint of betrayal, of a lie. He felt a heat inside him burn slightly as his breath came quicker, imperceptibly but there. There was no lie in the man’s eyes.

“Kara Nakuto, is here on the Leviathan?” Ros asked. His voice was firm and steady. “She’s alive?” Clearly, the news was just that to Ros, news. In the moment it seemed like a needle would sound like a crashing ton of metal in the void of Ros’ question.

“Ha!” Gruv exclaimed, breaking the silence by giving Ros a mighty whack on the shoulder. “Nakuto is alive lad! How about that!” Turning to Cobb, Gruv leaned forward and suddenly had a very serious look on his face.

“Tell me Captain, does she still have the funny hat?” And to emphasise it, Gruv put his hands on either side of his head and stuck his fingers up like a pair of horns.

Lt Cmdr Akirel, and Gruv