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Meeting with the Police - Tag Karlson

Posted May 19, 2022, 3:58 p.m. by General Calvin Harris (Command General- Colonial Customs and Defence Authority) (Jerome Davis)

Posted by Civilian Joseph Karlson (Police Commissioner) in Meeting with the Police - Tag Karlson

Posted by General Calvin Harris (Command General- Colonial Customs and Defence Authority) in Meeting with the Police - Tag Karlson

Posted by Civilian Joseph Karlson (Police Commissioner) in Meeting with the Police - Tag Karlson
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻
As Commandant General of the Colonial Customs & Defence Authority, General Calvin Alexander Harris had… for the past three weeks… been insanely busy. Averaging 16 hour days nearly every day of those three weeks had been exhausting, only broken up the past weekend by Molly insisting they take a three day holiday to the newly arrived Holloway Grand Resort & Casino Station. Harris went on to spend close to the entire first day asleep in Molly’s arms, followed by two days of enjoying each others company and avoiding all government related functions. Then he dove right back in. There was the approval of the final designs from the Uniform Board and the issuance of said uniforms to the rather rapidly forming trifecta of the CCDA, assembling the Commandant General Council and selection of the Service Chiefs… a duty Calvin had taken distinct pleasure in doing.

The Council consisted of accomplished veteran leaders hand picked from the ranks of Starfleet, the SFMC, and the Planetary Defense forces of a half dozen member worlds of the Federation. The Colonial Defence Force and the Astro Control Service were, as of yesterday morning, under the leadership of none other than the Dynamic Duo themselves… General Devri Rae Hudson and Admiral Samantha Jean Halloway, respectfully. Those were the two most important of the three services and while the Customs & Immigration Service was being staffed up, they were being manned a bit more from the ground up with admin support from CCDA HQ.

For Calvin, it was now time to meet with more of his counterparts, now that the day-to-day was being addressed. First up, the Head of the OED Police, Commissioner Karlson.

The memo to the OED Police Chief read simply:

Commissioner Karlson,
I know you’re very busy but now that things have calmed down on my end, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind dropping by my office for some coffee and a chat?

Respectfully,
General C.A. Harris, CCDA
Commandant General
CCDA Headquarters
86th Floor, Government Tower

It was a brief memo and Cal sent it with hopes the Commissioner wasn’t too steamed it took him nearly a month to get the man up here.

Harris, CCDA

Moments later a reply came:

Of course, never said no to ten drops before.

I shall be with you shortly.

Commissioner Joseph Karlson
Head of Oed V Police.

Less than ten minutes later Joseph arrived through the Government tower elevator with his small escort. A short man in a nice suit and a perpetual frown on his face and a middle-aged woman in a Police uniform ranked as a Constable holding a PaDD and conversing with her boss quietly as they walked across the new agency’s headquarters. Joseph himself was wearing a simple dark blue three-piece suit, his cane for today was a nice carved mahogany with bronze trimmings. His two escorts waited outside as Joseph waited to be let in to the Generals room.

Commissioner Karlson

As the Commissioner approached the large door, flanked by two large flag pools holding the flag of OED V and the grey, white, and gold flag of the CCDA, he would see how busy the heart of the young agency really was. There was a group of high school-aged young people on a recruiting tour, a team of Console Techs installing workstations, and more than 30 already-working HQ personnel busily addressing the CCDA’s needs.

Opening the heavy, Black Walnut door, the Commissioner stepped through onto wall-to-wall cobalt blue carpet. The room featured a pair of comfortable black leather couches either side of the door for Karlson’s staff to wait. Directly across from the opening was a large wooden desk with a sharp looking redheaded Sergeant First Class sitting behind the desk. The view out the window behind her was breathtaking, a sweeping view all the way out to the edge of the dome to the northwest. The room had equally large doors on the left and right of the room, the one to Karlson’s right flanked by CCDA’s flag and a red flag with three silver stars and to his left the same but with four silver stars. As they stepped in, the young woman smiled, speaking in a distinct New Jersey accent. “Good Mornin’ Commission’er… please…” She motioned the four star door. “… go right on in, the General is expecting you.”

The door opened to a large office on a section of curved outer wall, the left to right windows were stunning. Centered on the window was a large desk with a sitting area with a couch, two leather chairs and a coffee table on a large round rug featuring the CCDA’s trident. Commandant General Calvin Harris stood as the door opened, walking from behind the desk with a warm smile, offering a hand shake. “Good morning Commissioner, welcome to the CCDA…”

Joseph returned the smile and the handshake heartily “Thank you, General” After releasing the mans hand he placed the can back into his right hand.

”… please, grab a seat.” The former Starfleet Marine grabbed a chair as he motioned to the other chair. A moment later, the Sergeant entered with a tray with two steaming cups. “Raven…” She smiled, handing Harris a cup before turning to the Commissioner. “… here ya go sir… straight black. There’s cream & sugar in the bowl on the side table.” With that, she smiled and nodded before going back out to the outer office.

“She’s a hell of a kid…” Harris smiled proudly. “… like a second Daugther, Jersey & my little girl been friends since high school. When she joined the Corps, she asked if she could be my aide and has been with me ever since. Thankfully, her tour was up for renewal last month… so I offered her a promotion and a job if she came over to the CCDA. She jumped at the opportunity.”

Smiling, Harris nodded to the Commissioner. “I wanted to thank you for coming by. I’ve been meaning to reach out but needless to say, we’ve been swamped. How are things on your side of the house?”

Harris, CCDA

Joseph took a careful seat, he’d been careful in sitting down anywhere in the government tower since an unfortunate incident involving a shoddy stool some years back on a different floor of the same tower. He placed the wooden cane across his lap and put his hand inside his jacket, grabbing a pair of full moon spectacles and placing them on his face “Things have been fairly quiet, although things are usually quiet after several incidents happen in a short time, the Shadow man and the Halloway incident a few years ago mean that your standard organized crime is keeping a low profile, the biggest problem on my hands has been you” He pointed a large finger at the general then immediately raised his hands apologetically, his grandfatherly smile widened

Harris put a hand to his chest in a faining gesture, laughing “Who…? Me?” The former Marine winked before picking up his cup and taking another sip.

“The formation of your agency has the local smugglers in a panic, they’ve been working overtime trying to fill their little hidey-hole to prepare for additional crackdowns. Oed’s always been a bit of a freeport when it comes to illicit goods. My evidence rooms are piling up, things have been slowing down, however.” Joseph clasped hands together “I’ll make sure your people have access to the necessary intelligence as soon as you feel they are ready for it.

Commissioner Karlson

“Oh…” The General chuckled. “… I’ve been expecting that. I reached out to a few… let’s call them ‘friends’… and had them start pulling IFFs off every craft that comes within OED’s sphere of influence and my AOR. (OOC: Area of Responsibility) Nothing super special right now… just clandestinely logging EVERYTHING till the boys & girls over at CIS get all their ducks in a row and HHI delivers our Interceptors.”

Harris paused with a smile. “That’s probably going to be my favorite part of the job… making your days easier, Commissioner. I want those bastards scared of me and this agency… especially those pricks behind that mess with Lucas. He was and remains my friend… long before his niece and I got involved. I wanna make sure you and the good people of this colony never have to deal with that nonsense again!”

“As for Intel…” He continued. “… your Analysts will be listed as Partner Agency Specialists and will have special access to CIS’ info. You and your command team as well. While I apologize for… um… poaching away some of your folks, I want to make sure that by doing our job, your boys can focus on Inter-Colony crime… and a lot less on smuggling.”

Gen. Harris, CCDA

Joseph laughed heartily at that “Can’t say I’m happy at seeing them go but they’ll serve you well. It’s good that you have members from all major groups within your agency, the biggest problem since.. well since the founding has always been the clash between the police and Starfleet Security. I managed to make it work with Preston for years because we got to know each other but the first few months were hard.” He sighed with a regretful air “Having a buffer between the two will hopefully lessen the strain.” the older man shook his head and his smile returned fully “Besides, it doesn’t hurt to have another Marine around, only one I know around is an Ex-Major that still calls me sir”

Commissioner Karlson

bump

Calvin chuckled and nodded. “I have a few of those in my life too.” There was a pause and then Harris continued. “More than anything, I want the CCDA to be a useful component of a Total Force for OED. As a Federation recognized colony and, hopefully one day a recognized single system member, Starfleet will always be around. But I feel, as does the Governor, that it’s high time we handle our own business. To not lean so hard on the Fleet and the Federation to take care of things we completely have the capacity & capability to address in house.”

Harris took a sip, leaned back and pointed in a gesture to the Commissioner. “I’m basically building a small defense department, complete with a AstroControl system extending to the ecliptic of the system… a Defense Force capable of physically defending the planet and… a Customs & Immigration service that, for its sized will be as good if not better than Terra’s when I get done.” Harris smiled. “I want to help the locals, you included, feel like you are free to finally do what you should have been doing all along and let me put out the fires that have tied y’all’s hands for years.”

Harris, CCDA

BUMPITY

Joseph nodded slowly in agreement “This will certainly grant the freedom that has sorely been lacking, especially if we finally remove the Dome after all these years. I hope you are ready for the responsibility of building an organization that will hopefully last throughout the years” He added with a chuckle “We’ll have to find the right way to decide what is CCDA and what is Police and what is Star-Fleet, although that’s mostly a problem for lawmakers.” The older man interlocked his fingers in front of him “Have you gotten all of the logistics set up this past month? Guarding an entire system is a huge undertaking, the only reason the Police have been as effective so far is that we don’t have to concern ourselves with anything outside the dome.

Commissioner Karlson

Harris chuckled. “That’s probably the biggest understatement I’ve heard since taking this job!” The General ran fingers through jet black hair that was starting to pepper with age. “Logistics hasn’t been too… crazy…” He smirked. “… I guess you could say. But the bigger issue has been recruiting. Equipment I can beg, borrow and steal like the best Gunny out there…” He winked with a harder chuckle. “… but people is another story. I’ve tried not to pull too hard from local resources as much as possible but Starfleet has already started bristling over the number of folks I’m pulling out of their ranks for higher paying posts with the CCDA and the OED Council isn’t happy with what I’m spending either… but the Governor is keeping them off my back.”

Calvin picked up a PaDD, tapped it a few times then handed it to the Commissioner. The data on the device was the Table of Organization for the entire CCDA. “As you can see, Mr. Karlson…” Harris began in earnest. “… the CCDA will be comprised of three branches of various size but each in Division strength once fully staffed. The Customs & Immigration service will be the smallest, with around 7,500 uniformed personnel supported by around 2,500 civilians. They will handle both the pending explosion of immigration we expect in the months & years ahead while addressing Customs issues that will certainly arise with that many new faces. Anti-Contraband operations are of primary focus. Astro Control will be comprised of approx. 12,500 uniformed personnel with around 7,500 civilians and Merchant spacers supporting their efforts in Traffic Control through the system and Anti-Piracy Operations throughout the system. Lastly, the CDF is of max Division strength at 25,000 uniformed members supported by 15,000 civilians and a Reserve Force of 10,000. They are a show of force and will also be available to aid the Federation if called upon in the event of an armed conflict.”

Harris smiled and added. “We are still very much in flux, with a rather narrow scope laid out by the Governor… but that doesn’t mean I’m building this to be a couple one trick ponies. If you can think of areas we can address, I’mm all ears!”

Harris, CCDA

Joseph read the report carefully and nodded at the numbers “My own people are telling me we’ll have to expand ourselves before the walls finally come down, currently we have around 7500 officers plus support staff, our number has always balanced the Starfleet numbers although supposedly never on purpose” He gave an amused smile at that “And please, call me Joseph, never been comfortable being called by my last name” He said with a soft laugh “Regarding your personnel issues my recommendation is look further away, recruit from the central systems, look for academy’s that train specialized personnel that don’t want to join Star-Fleet or retired Fleeters.”

The former Marine nodded with a smile. “I feel that. My old man’s been a General for so long, I swear he hates the sound of his own last name!” He then added. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do… from planetary defense forces to the Merchant Marine, I’ve been hitting them all up.”

After finishing his reading the large man put down the PaDD “I will be proposing a pilot program of Personnel exchanges with the House of Duroc. Lord Urg’ton has promised to send one of his best to serve as a Police Officer and I’ll be sending one of my to serve with his Guards, we have extremely positive relations with House Duroc, when all else fails I can put in a good word with Urg for you.”

Commissioner Karlson

“Hadn’t really thought of that…” Harris replied. “… though a lot of our stuff is a bit more out of their comfort zones, sorta speak.” He finished with a chuckle.

“Any other advice Joseph?”

Harris, CCDA

Joseph considered “Use your locals, cultivate relationships with the public and the press. Make sure that you have enough usable local resources, reliable people, and such. Also get a dependable company to serve as your major shipping partner. Oed is still a bit of a wild west and you’ll be bringing a lot of new order to us, it’ll be easier when you know who your local friends are.” He tapped his cane a few times “Also set your secretary to be prepared for a meeting from some Ferengi, they’ve been building up business interests here, not bad folk at all just a little excitable.”

Commissioner Karlson

Harris nodded at both suggestions, a smile cracking across his face at the Commissioner’s last words. “That they can be, at least in my experience. I fully intend to plug in with Lucas on the Shipping side. While he isn’t in that game directly, they build a hell of a lot of shippers and I trust he can put me in touch with a good one.” The General paused for a minute, deep in thought, before continuing. “Aside from any other advice you might have for me Joseph, I don’t wanna tie up your whole day with me.”

Harris, CCDA


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