Posted March 27, 2023, 12:04 a.m. by Jerome Davis
Posted by Civilian Molly Holloway (CEO - Holloway Industries) in [Holloway Heavy Industries HQ, Molly Holloway’s Office] Making Plans for the Future
Posted by Jerome Davis in [Holloway Heavy Industries HQ, Molly Holloway’s Office] Making Plans for the Future
Posted by Civilian Molly Holloway (CEO - Holloway Industries) in [Holloway Heavy Industries HQ, Molly Holloway’s Office] Making Plans for the Future
It had been a rough few weeks that had culminated with her own stay at Sacred Heart, but for the first time since the attack on her uncle’s shuttle, Molly felt at peace. It wasn’t as if the consequences of the whole ordeal had suddenly vanished, but she finally felt like things between her and Calvin were slowly returning to normal, both in their public lives and in the intimacy they shared at home. And even though the couple had fallen asleep on a pile of tangled sheets and discarded clothing, it had been one of the most peaceful nights Molly had had in a long time, as the warmth of Cal’s arms around her bare chest and the steady beating of his heart guided her through a dreamless night.So it came as a surprise to many when Molly walked into the HHI’s headquarters the next morning with a lighter step – hot coffee in one hand, and an issue of the OED Times in the other.
“Good morning, Ms. Holloway!” The singsong notes of her assistant’s greeting woke Molly from her thoughts as she exited the lift and walked into the reception area in front of her office. “It’s good to see you around this early! Mr. Holloway isn’t in yet, though.” She said pointing at Molly’s newspaper.
“Good morning, Hamari!.” Molly said with a smile, walking to the reception desk, before raising an eyebrow in surprise. “Hm… well, I guess there truly is a first time for everything…” She shook her head. “I’m sure he’ll be arriving soon. In the meantime, I need to make an important call. Do you mind handing him this when he arrives?” She gave the young woman the OED Times’s issue.
“Of course.” Dal Hamari was a Bajoran woman that had been on Lucas’s staff for a little over a decade. The fact that he had personally requested her to be Molly’s assistant spoke volumes about the quality of her work, as well as the tolerance she had for dealing with nonsense. More specifically, with Molly’s nonsense. Given how much the younger Holloway resisted at having her own dedicated assistant when she first arrived at the company, that alone had been an important asset.
“This is a really important meeting… I cannot under any circumstances be interrupted–” Molly started, but before she could continue, Hamari was already on it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll free up your next three hours.” She tapped a few buttons on her terminal and smiled back at Molly.
Holloway sighed but smiled back. “Thank you, Hamari. You’re a God send.”
The Bajoran shook her head. “Just doing my job, Ms. Holloway.”
Grabbing her cup of coffee that she had momentarily sat on the reception desk, Molly walked past the desk and stopped just outside of her office, turning around to face Hamari. “Please, just Molly. We’ve been over this.” There was a warm smile on her lips.
“I’ll make sure your uncle gets the newspaper, Ms. Holloway.” Came the lighthearted response.
Molly shook her head and walked in, closing the door behind her. The same smile still on her lips. Hamari was stubborn. Maybe it was Lucas’s way of giving her a taste of her own medicine. With a sigh, Molly hung her coat on the rack by the door, and turned on her terminal.
The office was spacious, with a large glass wall with a swooping view of downtown. A large glass desk took most of the space on the right side of the room, and the left side was left mostly empty, with a small coffee table and an armchair on one of the corners. Plants and glass terrariums dotted the space, giving it a natural and peaceful atmosphere. The walls displayed a few replicas of paintings of different authors and different origins, the most distinct of them being a reproduction of one of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies that her adoptive father had bought for her on one of their visits to the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco.
With a few taps in her terminal, Molly placed the call. The Starfleet Intelligence logo swirling on the screen almost immediately. Walking across the room, Holloway placed her half drunk cup of coffee on the coffee table and the PaDD with Section 31’s missive next to it. It seemed like ages had passed since she had gotten it. Adjusting her hair, she sat down in one of the armchairs. It didn’t take long for the holoemitters in the ceiling to come to life, and the figure of a woman to materialize on the free chair.
Molly Holloway, CEO Holloway Heavy Industries
Admiral Lady Denise Alexandria Marie Harrington, GBE, Director & Chief of the Starfleet Intelligence Special Operations Command was to many THE spy when it came to espionage and counterintelligence. After close to 20 years in the field (Fleet & SOC), Harrington had… three months before her 41st birthday… became the youngest Director of Education & Training in Starfleet Intelligence history. In the over a decade since, she had revolutionized training… personally rewriting the syllabus for the Farm and incorporating some of the most advanced training ever designed for the Intelligence Community. She was an icon and the smoothness of the current Intel community… both Fleet & SOC… was unquestionably because of her.
Three years ago, Molly would know, Harrington had been tapped to succeed Admiral Grant Andrews as the 27th Director of the Special Operations Command following the Dresden Incident after the former was considered to have lost touch with the field agents, which nearly resulted in the theft of a Federation warship. It was also more widely known that the Knighting of a “spook” was rather controversial at the time… but considering the Admiral was the favorite second cousin of the current British Monarch, neither woman really gave a damn. She was, quite simply, the very best at what she did and expected the same from everyone who worked for her. She was kept in the highest esteem within the Intelligence Community, though only SOC personnel and around a hundred other beings in existence knew of her current role.
At 54, the woman could’ve passed for a classmate of Molly’s. Her long blonde hair hung in a thick braid over her right shoulder and the Monster Blacks of Fleet Intel hugged every curve of her athletic, near-185 cm frame. Her noticeably long legs were crossed at the knee with trousers covering them and a pair of expertly polished combat boots on her feet. She wore no make up but had a natural beauty in keeping with her graceful air. Bright blue eyes sparkled from the afternoon sun filling the Bay Area office that the woman currently sat in as she smiled in greeting.
“Good morning Captain Holloway…” The woman’s Oxford accent would remind Molly of her & Calvin’s dear friend and former Exec, Captain Amelia Manning. “… it’s an absolute pleasure to finally meet you…” She smirked before motioning between the two women. “… well, as close as we can at this time. Thank you for taking me up on my invitation. I’m sure you have questions and I am more than happy to answer them.” The woman then folded her hands on her knee and waited patiently.
Admiral Lady Denise Alexandria Marie Harrington, GBE
Director & Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Special Operations CommandMolly didn’t move when the figure appeared, slowly lifting her eyes from her PaDD that she had started reviewing while she waited. Her gaze was observant, tracking Harrington’s every move. Even if she was technically alone in her office, and her company was nothing but a hologram, Molly never let her guard down. Harrington would expect it, and Holloway would expect the woman to do the same.
“Good afternoon, Ma’am.” Molly smiled. “Thank you for making the time to meet with me. And well… thank you for inviting me to do so.” Holloway hated formalities, but with someone like Harrington, she had no choice but to go through them, no matter how genuine or not they might be. “I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but… I was quite surprised to receive your message. And I can’t help but wonder… why?” Her eyes never left Harrington. “Why me, and why now?” She paused. “I’m sure Intel Special Ops is aware that I never had any particular interest in joining the organization, so only three possibilities come to mind… Either there’s something about me that Section 31 sees as an asset and feels that this is the time that I’ll be the most likely to join, or… after all that happened… you’d rather have me work with you than against you…” The smile had disappeared from Molly’s lips, but there was no hostility in her tone or her expression. “Or of course, both.”
Molly smiled warmly again. “I genuinely hope I’m not out of line, but I’d be lying if I said this haven’t been plaguing my mind ever since I got your letter.”
Molly Holloway, CEO Holloway Heavy Industries
Harrington smiled, an eyebrow raising slightly. “York was right, I see. You really do get right to the point and I respect that Captain.” She paused before adding with a more straightforward air. “Nothing about this conversation has anything to do with us being worried, per-say, about you and certainly not about you working against us. I am worried however… worried that a fantastic young officer with one hell of a skillset was put into a terrible position not once but several times by incompetent jackasses both in Fleet and the SOC.”
The woman looked at Molly intently for several moments before continuing. “Those jackasses are, no doubt, the reason you walked away from your Commission and your Starfleet career. Now…” She smiled brighter this time. “… I can’t offer you the obnoxious amount of pay I’m certain comes with such rarified heights you’ve found yourself in, but I can offer you this Captain.” Harrington motioned to the PaDD in Molly’s hand. “The opportunity to come back into the fold with an organization… I hope… you will let prove that what we do truly is for the greater good, regardless of the amount of s@#% Grant’s frackups put you and the ones you loved through.” Her tone was more serious now and her expression grave. “No one deserves what has happened to you over the past five years Molly, no one. I had always kept an eye on your career after your impressive rebound following the loss of your command… which was grade-A bull@#$% to begin with. You faced a redemption path that would have made stronger women than I say to hell with it and walk away.”
“I’m here today Captain, to not only personally apologize for the damage my predecessor did to you, Colonel Harris, and your uncle but to bring you back into the Intel Community in the only way I can. I don’t know Mr. Holloway by anything other than the reputation of slamming doors in Intel’s face…” She smirked. “… but I respect his desire to keep, as many view us, the more seedier side of Starfleet as far away from his family’s business as he can. And, as for… now General… Harris, Calvin went through the Farm when I was over Education & Training. He was an incredible asset, though… likely as a result of what happened to his partner… never had the prowess yourself & Colonel York have. I know that he will be a great support for you personally if you choose to take up my offer… even if he’s not exactly fond of us anymore.”
“You are in a very unique position, Captain, and it is my hope that you will allow me to leverage that position to benefit the SOC in our efforts to defend the Federation from our most cunning and dangerous adversaries.” Harrington was clearly in business mode now. “I have no desire to tell you how to run your company nor interfere in anyway with its operations. What I do want is information… access to one-on-one discussions with you in regard to topics such as R&D and any… questionable… clients that might come down the pipe. You would report directly to me, period. And with the incredibly rare exception of Colonel York and your Fiancé, congratulations by the way, your work with Intel & the SOC will be behind a wall of Black Clearance only myself and the President have clearance for. Is that… acceptable?”
Admiral Lady Denise Alexandria Marie Harrington, GBE
Director & Chief of Starfleet Intelligence Special Operations Command
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