STF

Defend by any Means Necessary

Posted Feb. 19, 2021, 7:35 p.m. by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) (Jennifer Ward)

Posted by Commander Ryder Raauhl (Executive Officer) in Defend by any Means Necessary

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Defend by any Means Necessary

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Defend by any Means Necessary
It was the middle of the night, the anti-inflammatories Dr. Knox gave her, also had the nasty habit of making her sleep. Probably planned that way. But Casela was suddenly wide awake, every nerve was on alert and out of long habit her breath stayed slow, even and deep as if she was still asleep. She listened carefully, she could hear Ryder breathing next to her and across their quarters she could hear the hum of Fenrir on his charger, but she couldn’t hear Gen. She reached out carefully, telepathically and found Gen easily enough, sleeping. So what had woken her up? Laying still she shifted as if asleep, there was no one else in here, she was sure of that. No scents of unknown soaps or shampoos, no sound of breaths that didn’t belong, no shadows that had strange origins. There…she closed her eyes, willing the sound to disappear, to simply be a remnant of a bad dream. The sound came again, and there was a strange sudden weight in her stomach, making her sick. She pulled herself, stiffly out of bed and opened the drawer of the bedside table. She pulled the space aged pager out of the drawer and turned it off.

She had 5 minutes to answer, or in the next 3 days they would be here, looking for her - SOP. It still took effort to stand without wincing, and that was not good for her now. 4 minutes. She paced slowly into the living area, closing the door to the bedroom and then slowly making her way over to Gen’s room and doing the same. She sat down at the desk, twirling the small cylindrical device around and around in her hand. 3 minutes. It could be nothing, but why the pager? Why not just an encrypted message? She set it on the desk and stared at the blinking red flash on it, the dread growing. Why her? What could they possibly need her for. She hadn’t done anything requiring this kind of contact since before Triton. 2 minutes. It was still flashing, waiting for her to connect. She had a brief flash of relief, she was on medical leave, they couldn’t send her anywhere. But it was short lived. Section didn’t care about things like that. She was assigned to Leviathan, what else could they want from her? Maybe they realized she’d been holding out on them, but then what agent didn’t? 1 minute, and the light flashed faster, warning, check in or get picked up. To not answer indicated an agent in distress, she didn’t want them coming here.

She picked up the small device, flipped open the back end, pulled out a connecting cable and plugged it into the LCARs display. A small door on the side opened, a very small ocular scanner. She held it up and let it scan her eye. On the screen the display changed, “PLEASE ENTER IDENTIFICATION.” Always so polite, the S31 programming. “Valkyrie 88259” “PLEASE ENTER DELTA AUTHORIZATION” “Delta 4439 a j f 97” “AUTHORIZATION ACCEPTED.” And the files began to populate.

There are dozens of files that she then transferred directly to a PaDD. Minutes later, there was no record of her having accessed the terminal, any transmission, or files downloaded. She removed the ‘pager’, the screen went blank, and the room dark, but only for a moment.

The first file was a copy of orders placing her on temporary detached duty from Leviathan, sent to Cpt Zachariah Cobb. Signed by the Admiral himself. Casela wondered briefly if it really was Roebuck’s signature or a very good fake. Probably real, if Cobb called to ask Roebuck there was no way the Section would risk Roebuck screwing this up. The second file, was a very snarky video of her orders, from her S31 CO. “Hello Valkyrie. Are you enjoying that cushy position out there for the ARU? Well we more pressing matters for you to take care of. All the basic SOP for this. Quiet and mouselike. You can manage that can’t you? You know the Romulan border better than anyone. I understand you’ve recently had surgery. Don’t worry by the time you arrive at your destination, you’ll be off light duty restriction. Convalesce on your transport. You leave right now.” And then the S31 seal appeared on the PaDD’s screen and then went blank.
Operative Valkyrie, S31

Casela sat there, in the chair fighting the urge to doze off. She was going to have to use something else as an anti-inflammatory. Alfred could fly the shuttle but she couldn’t afford to be this drowsy. She was going all the way to Epsilon Gruis near DS4 near the old neutral zone. She got up, moving about the room, silent, but slow, and opened a locker she’d installed behind a bulkhead. Inside she pulled out her backpack, already filled with survival gear, water, ration bars, a small med kit. She added the PaDD and pager to it. She set it quietly inside the bedroom door. If Gen should wake up, she didn’t want her getting into it.

She slipped out quietly, taking the long, but less crowded way to the counseling deck. She leaned tiredly against the wall of the turbo lift. Why couldn’t they get someone else? She exited the turbo lift; there was no way she would not be seen here. Her office was right off the main waiting area, and Ziecest was at the receptionist desk. Ziecest stopped her almost as soon as the doors opened, “I thought you were on bed rest? What are you doing down here? Seriously Lt. I’ll call Dr. Knox, or risk your wrath and call the Cmdr.”

Casela grinned, feigning a light heartedness she did not feel, “Just getting a book I was reading. I’m allowed to move around a little today. It’s quiet this early, in fact you are early. I’ll be gone in a moment.” She entered her office, locked the door and opened another locker. She placed several things in pockets on her clothes. A retractable bo staff, two tonfas (hidden under her shirt in the small of her back), a set of throwing knives. She pulled out a garrote and checked to make sure there was no age or damage to it. She stuffed listening and recording devices, comms, small explosives, cuffs, and a few other nasty surprises. She waved at Ziecest as she left, remembering to grab the PaDD with ‘the book’ on it as she did. She could see he had started a timer on his LCARs display. He was really going to call someone about her. She wasn’t sure if she felt moved or irritated by that. She headed up to the shuttle bay. Her skills in unseen movement paying off. She managed to get into the shuttle bay and onto Valkyrja without being noticed.

“Mistress Casela, it is the middle of the night. Where are we go…your vital signs show distress. What are you doing?” Alfred, thanks to Bog, was ever worried about the ‘poor’ counselor

“Can it Alfred. Initiate Delta authorization 4439 a j f 97.” Alfred immediately disappeared and the shuttle computer came on. She’d had to reprogram all of this after Bog’s work, but Alfred was totally operational for her Section needs now. “Authorization recognized Valkyrie.” She nodded to herself but made a face. Alfred was only an AI but she hated that name, and didn’t like him calling her that, but it was the best way to know that his systems had switched over.

“Alfred begin stealth preflight sequence.” She leaned against the wall. “Initiate site to site transport, to my quarters.” She disappeared into the blue swirl and silently reappeared in their quarters. She entered their bedroom and picked up the bag and added all the things she’d collected into it. She unzipped a tritanium lined pocket placing the gadgets inside. She closed the bag and set it down next to the closed door. She changed into her black compression t-shirt and gi pants.

She sat down on the bed, reaching for his hand and squeezed it. She didn’t want to tell Gen what was going on. Gen would worry while she was gone, but she would worry more if she knew why Casela was gone. But she couldn’t leave without telling Ryder. It was a unique feeling, this need to make sure he understood. That he didn’t think she’d just walked out. She wasn’t sure he would understand, or maybe it was simply that she didn’t want to understand it herself. “Ryder. Ryder wake up.”
Lt Casela Synthi-er, CNS

Raauhl was in the middle of one of his more fortunate nightmares which didn’t involve the death of everyone he loved including himself. At first, he thought the voice was coming to form his dream but as he slowly comes out of his slumber his surrounding began to blur into vision. It was dark but Casela was dressed, Gen hadn’t woken them up because they’d moth be up already. There was something about her tone and body language which seemed to jolt him with adrenaline. “What? What is it?” He asked looking frantically around the room, no explosions, no fires just silence. He turned to Casela, “What’s the matter, why are you dressed?”

  • Raauhl

She squeezed his hand slightly, but spoke softly, “The ship is alright, Gen’s alright.” She hated waking him up, well she was glad he was out of the nightmare that had flashed across his mind before he totally woke up, but she didn’t want to wake him up for this, but…”I have new orders. I have to leave, immediately.” She glanced down at the bag waiting for her, and then back at him. What she wouldn’t give at that moment, for him to be right, that her work with 31 was in her past.
Lt. Synthi-er


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