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Shadow Dealings - XO Office

Posted May 14, 2019, 7:53 p.m. by Commander Ardashir "Jack" Creed (Executive Officer / CIO) (Steven Sigle)

Posted by Civilian Vorraye Anders (Diplomatic Attache) in Shadow Dealings - XO Office

Posted by Commander Ardashir “Jack” Creed (Executive Officer / CIO) in Shadow Dealings - XO Office

Posted by Civilian Vorraye Anders (Diplomatic Attache) in Shadow Dealings - XO Office
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Jack stared at the door for a second. He hadn’t any appointments but he did have open office hours. Part of him never liked to chalk things up to mere coincidence but he highly doubt this had anything to do with what showed on his screen. Still he lowered the panel on his desk as he titled his head just slightly.

“Enter.” He said, his sharp features staring. For many Jack could have a somewhat imposing figure. Most would find him often strikingly handsome yet he couldn’t help but seem to have very chiseled features that could give him a stare that didn’t always mean what he wanted it to convey.

Jack has a fairly typical office overall, there was bits and pieces from his travels all over. Family portraits of him and his sister as well as him and Celina laid on his desk.

By fair the most unusual piece was the painting behind his head of a bar. It seemed to not fit with most of the work around the room but clearly had some level of importance.

Creed, XO

She came in at his beckoning and get eyes swiftly took in the room with the practice of one looking for dark corners. To anyone else, it looked like an over curious money. But you those who knew what to look for, they could be on the fact she was aware off every piece of furniture, every doorway or window, and the locations where people could be hidden, or hide, should it come to that.

“Commander Creed, I hope I’m not intruding. Vorraye Anders, your new Diplomatic Attache.” Her smile brightened as she stepped towards the desk. “I hope I’m not out of line dropping in unannounced.” She glanced a second too long at the painting behind him before once more looking at his face. It gave her away. The picture intrigued her and she didn’t understand its place in this man’s domain. But she accepted it, just like she accepted the fact that as long as he was sitting, she had a slight upper hand. At least, in perception, anyway.

Her eyes swiftly darted over him as they had the room. Like the room, she was measuring him up. He wasn’t lazy, she guessed. There wasn’t a softness to him that many Commanding Officers had. He was in shape on purpose. She stopped at his eyes and held them a moment too long before closing the gap to bring her up the table as she awaited his response. The door finally hissing closed behind her.

Ardashir leaned back as he looked her over, he read her file but never really expected her to grace his office. Diplomacy was often the farthest thing he was part of, and a civilian diplomat even more so. “Not at all Ms Anders, please have a seat.” he said, not standing up it was clear he was looking her over. Jack himself wouldn’t be super easy to read. Much of his training kept him calm. Betazoids and other telepaths often were employed to sift through people in the underworld. Undercover operatives needed ways to not be spotted when going deep.

“I must admit, I wasn’t expecting you to come by me. I figured you would simply see the Captain then settle in. How may I assist you today?” he asked her, it was spoken in an even polite tone, but it seemed to say more than that. It was direct, what are you going here.

Creed, XO

The young lady inclined her head at the invitation to sit and sat back comfortably, crossing her legs. It wasn’t a reclining, social pair, more of an I’m comfortable one.

“It seemed prudent to come make my own introduction to you, Sir. I will be dealing with you as equally as the Captain, at times, I’m sure. No point in waiting for crisis to put us in the same room, is there?” She shifted slightly and removed a small data stick which she then lean leaned forward and placed on the desk between them. “I thought a copy of my personal file may be of use to you as well. It includes several non important things that may come in handy including species I’ve dealt with and recommendations on dealing the few we know we’ll encounter in the Delta Quadrant.”

Jack glanced at the chip, it seemed unusual to him but not unheard of. Some civilians didn’t have every detail on file for Starfleet. Still it wasn’t exactly common, especially for her to give him the chip right now. If anything this would go to the Captain. Which did beg a second question, despite her statement just why was she talking to him exactly. She could claim she would work with him but he highly doubted it, he wasn’t often giving the diplomacy missions as it were.

It seemed redundant to give him a file of things he could probably easily access with a bit of probing, but she’d it neatly before him without said digging or prompting. Leaning back, she glanced around the room. Looking back, she merely smiled a bit brighter. “It suits you.”

“Suits me? You don’t know me.” he said as he squinted at her, he wasn’t sure he liked her familiarity as he stared at her. It had little to do with her per say, he just didn’t like anyone getting too familiar. Still, timing and all he couldn’t help but feel like there was a catch any second.

Creed, XO

She had studied the top of the ship, and was working her way down the ranks in the coming months. “No, I don’t know you. But I know of you.” She clasped her hands properly in her lap and cocked her head. “Commander Ardashir Creed, though you prefer ‘Jack’. A knack for engineering, you were headed that way till scores in your Command classes started rivaling them in your study scores. You were a class clown to avoid being the know it all.” She watched his expression as she rattled off his dossier.

“Your parents were killed and you didn’t take it well,” her voice dropped as did the smile as compassion flickered with genuine feeling over her features. “I’m sorry for that. Sincerely.” She glanced around the room and then back to him. “Your room is as meticulous as your life. Neat… organized… just the kind of room you would expect for an Executive Officer.” Her hand then rose to point to the bar scene behind him. “Yet there, out of place in the perfection of the room, is a scene that speaks to the fun side of you. Perhaps many on the ship are unaware of that side of you. Perhaps they think the picture is merely a silly frivolity you put there for conversation purposes.” She dropped her hand and smiled once more. “You are right… I don’t know you…but I know you. And beyond your excellent engineering skill, beyond surviving a Borg attack, beyond losing a fiance and your parents, you are more than that. Whether you admit it to me or not is completely up to you. But I shall tell you, ‘Jack’ Creed, Commander on the Manhattan, I trust you at my back more than even your Chief of Security or your Commanding Officer, the Captain.”

She let those words settle into his mind as she watched him, unmoving.

“You think reading a dossier on me helps you understand what kind of person I am? Surely you can’t be that naïveté. You never judge a book by it’s sleeve, most of what you read is often all they want you to read.” Jack said, he couldn’t tell what he thought of this woman. If she was a threat he would have to eliminate her quickly but he didn’t feel threatened by her. Quite the opposite he felt more annoyed than anything. Some of her points had hints of truth but he didn’t ask for her sympathy nor want her analysis. He avoided the Counselor enough as it was, it was hard to open up to her when half the things you might truly want to tell you force you to kill her to hide a secret afterwards.

“So how about you start again, cut the crap… why are you really here Ms Anders, no theatrics. It’s clear you want something, or know something. So…” Jack paused as he looked at the chip. There was something he remembered. A favor he had asked.

Raye simply raised a curious eyebrow as he paused.

Aedan Teller, kind of a dick but something about him seemed honestly kind of trustworthy. Or at least man of his word at least. He was owner of OMAP but most members of the Starfleet Intelligence community knew Mr. Teller dealt in far more than just cheap furniture sleazy tv and technology.

S.I. has long since formed a mutual friendship of connivence so to speak with the man, so when he found him in a drugged out state in some shady nightclub on Orion, he had to admit he didn’t know what to do with him.

Still, saving someone that had spheres of influence and then befriending them always helped, and when Jack learned Aedan was angry about some dealings with members that matched the Shadow Syndicate he figured a chance for some quid pro quo could be in order.

“This chip… what’s on it?” He said as he stared at her for a moment as he pulled out from his drawer a device. Placing the chip in it began to process the data. Jack as not about to place anything like this into a network connected to the ship. He trusted Aedan to an extent but he made a living off of secrets and day time soaps, some of the soaps about secrets ironically.

“That blathering idiot, why Starfleet works with him. He should have told me you were coming. We set up code words for a reason… so what is it?” He said as he looked at her, Aedan had told her when he sent anything he would mention the nightclub they meet, Lux, in a sentence to let him know there was more to the conversation than meet the eye.

“He does have a type now that I think about it, his Ms Adams and you have the same level of curves and red hair. No wonder he decided to marry the XO of that outpost get a change of scenery, if blonde can be seen as a change. Kind of basic to me but who am I to judge.” Jack said as the data finished.

She smiled as he finally made the connection. “He was right, though. Merely playing a doe eyed diplomat wouldn’t work. Unless I got you riled up, it wouldn’t occur to you to do more than toss the stick aside. We were having drinks at The Lux when he mentioned this is where I would be getting this job.”

The data wasn’t much, it gave him the details of the woman in front, Aedan worked quite a bit to sell and trade secrets but he seldom did any of the selling. “He found a Ferengi stealing from him did he? Had some of the items he mentioned.” He had giving Aedan direct orders to never mention the tech that he had been looking into when sending his go betweens. Aedan liked to play private spy at times but he knew the man wouldn’t risk his tech and media empire by pissing off S.I. They looked the other wife as long as he kept them appraised of all shadier dealings her heard of out in the fringe systems.

Creed, XO

Vorraye relaxed a bit. “I’m sorry for the theatrics. Though I didn’t lie. I’d rather have you at my back.” She smiled and nodded to the stick. I don’t know what’s on it, honestly. He said if I looked, I’d find a copy of my transfer orders and a picture of him.” She laughed, shaking her head. “I just decided not to look.”

“Well, I guess you are stuck here for awhile then. I am sure Aedan wants you to tell him something in return he always… likes quid pro quo… even if you save a mans life. I gotta ask why did you start working for a man like him? I mean money I am sure is good but… I don’t know. Life of wealth and opplulance was never really my cup of tea.” Jack asked the young woman as he eyed her more. He still didn’t fully trust her but she could at least be an asset.

Creed, XO


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