Post Number: 75 *Questions upon Questions

Posted on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 3:18pm by Captain Marius Pontmercy & Commander Jordan Haines & Lieutenant V'Lar
Edited on on Wed Oct 23rd, 2024 @ 3:19pm

2,516 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Obsidian

ON:

Jordan headed to the Arcadia, having messaged the chief intelligence officer, Lt. V’Lar had requested he meet him on the holodeck and since the stations were not operable he knew that was where he would find him.

He was finding it interesting the different personalities of the crew. He was looking forward to whether V’Lar was the typical closed off, suspicious officer like most were. They would complain that the crew gave them space but they didn’t exactly make them want to be around them.

He also wondered if V’Lar has had time to dig into any of their pasts to find out who they were and what they had done with their lives so far. She would have to have pretty high clearance to know the past few years of a Jordan’s life. There were only a handful of people who knew and he would just as soon keep it that way.

Heading through the Arcadia, he stopped to grab some coffee, something you took for granted when there was none available and then went to the holodeck where he found V’Lar waiting for him.

V'Lar was on her third coffee of the last couple of hours, a sign of how irritated she was in itself that was a rare thing for someone with a Vulcan side but then while she subscribed to the following of logic, most of the time, she didn't suppress her emotions she was a child of three worlds and she preferred to keep it that way. When Commander Haines stepped into the holodeck she took a breath "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" she asked.

"I prefer the good news first." Jordan said with a grin. "Save the best for last and then I can throw things." He was joking of course but Jordan preferred that than being a quiet reserved or carbon copy of others. He was an individual and he would damn well act like one.

"The good news is that the mystery behind the orders is a case of elements within Starfleet not talking to each other, the common expression is the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing." V'Lar said "Just because there are a couple of insurgencies going on doesn't mean Starfleet's abandoning the mission statement, seek out new life, boldly going and all that good stuff, so they have a section of the fleet that does this. The Arcadia as a science vessel belongs to that so your orders come from them, orders in the Cardassian front region obviously don't come from the same group. Given the current tactical preference of the Romulans and Cardassians is targeting shipyards, starbases and small vessel groups because they can't do anything else, there's a certain logic to repurposing a derelict base rather than building one from scratch. The only thing missing is a sign hanging on the hull saying move me."

"So, you are saying we are taking orders from both science and the front line of our battle with Cardassia?" Jordan said for confirmation. "Is that right?"

"Frankly Commander the first part of that sounds like a load of rubbish." V'Lar said "I was the assigned Chief Intelligence Officer, if those were the orders I would know and at no point was I told, and if you're going hunting for enemy vessels it's irrelevant what class you send, Tal'Shiar doesn't give a damn if they see a Pathfinder class, a Gagarin, a Reliant or an Inquiry all they see is a lone Starfleet vessel and they attack." she took a breath "What I'm telling you is that Starfleet as an organisation was forced into an armed conflict sixty five years ago, when that happened all the science, exploration and so on got shelved. This time around Starfleet's fighting in two different areas, the Cardassian border and what used to be Romulan space, there are two different command teams one for each area. In short this is a case of the Arcadia transiting between different operational areas and most likely a communication oversight occurring between the command structures in play. Overall the Arcadia is listed within the purview of Starfleet Science Division which is where the mix up occurs the SSD ordered a diplomatic mission to Alphias three, which is in what used to be the Romulan Neutral Zone, that's within their remit, they then send us here for a reason they haven't told us or are being prevented from telling us. That's another matter though." she paused "Would you like the bad news now?"

"Please do." Jordan replied quietly. If the Arcadia was a science ship and was going to only be used for science missions then they needed a new ship because there was no way in hell they were here for science purposes. Jordan knew better. He had a lot of experience in these things. Science officers on a science ship would never be assigned to fix a station and why the hell would they have a full regiment of marines on their own deck. It made no sense to him at all.

"The bad news is this." V'Lar said pressing the buttons on the wall console and bringing up the freeze frames of the five meetings she'd found earlier "Five meetings all on this derelict station in the last six months. We have involved a Cardassian Gul, a Romulan officer who is presumably a Tal'Shiar agent, someone formally listed as Lieutenant Commander T'Kia the Starfleet Intelligence to Qon'os or to put it another way the Klingon Empire, my guess he's a mole for the Romulans. The Bolian is Professor Lams Qoff he teaches Klingon history and politics at the University of Betazed. The Ferengei we've got nothing on but he's important for another reason. What these meetings appear to show is some sort of operational proposal, I don't know what it is but I do know that it involves a Klingon DNA sample. Therefore I've requested a specialist archaeologist to come and assist in the investigation, they'll be here within twenty four hours." she took a breath "I'm afraid it gets worse, this last meeting of the five was two weeks ago the stations external sensors, limited though they were at the time detected a Ferengei Marauder at the station, indications are that whoever T'Kia is left on that Marauder. As we're in the Bajoran sector we contacted Deep Space Nine, that Marauder went through the wormhole two weeks ago and hasn't come back. There's an entire army of scientists, doctors and security aboard who can tell you all the implications of what these meetings could mean. But what I'll tell you is this - Commander MacMahon was correct to say that Starfleet sent us here for a reason, they sent the Arcadia here for a reason, we disagree on the reason but that doesn't change facts, we've stumbled onto something and it stinks."

“My first question would be why are you concerned with Bajor?” Jordan asked him with a frown. “We are no where near there.” He looked V’Lar straight in the eyes. “Have you been given orders to throw us off the trail? You are too damn good of an Intelligence officer to think we would be involved with Bajor when Michaels and Walsh were removed from this command to make the long trip there. On top of it, who gave you permission to invite someone onto an unsecure base? That is not good.” Jordan was really irritated.

V'Lar was somehow resisting the urge to nerve pinch the XO at this point. "Commander this base sits in the Cardassian front region, weird as that sounds, in relative terms that's just down the street from Bajor which is the command post for the sector if we get attacked here that's where the cavalry is coming from, so as I wanted to know where that Marauder was heading I followed procedure and asked their strategic operations officer. The answer I got is that the Marauder entered the Bajoran system, went through the wormhole and hasn't been seen since." she said "Now as for this mess." she gestured at the five freeze frames "I've just shown you that a rather prominent member of Starfleet Intelligence is very likely a Romulan mole, if that's true then we have a serious issue that needs resolving, we lack anyone with the required expertise aboard this ship right now. Under any other circumstances I'd be having that conversation over subspace but as there's reason to believe Starfleet intelligence or elements within it are compromised it needs to be in person so it can't be listened in on. Now you're welcome to meet this expert when they arrive and before I even meet them, but they're on their way."

"I believe we take all this to the Captain." Jordan replied. "And get his opinion on the matter." He wasn't going to act on this without the captain being fully informed.

"That's your prerogative Commander." V'Lar said "There's a difference between the short game and the long game, that guy has been missing for a while, this won't be solved today or tomorrow but something's up and I don't like things that linger in the background ready to slice into you."

“There is always a lot going on within the Federation they hold back from us.” Jordan returned. “I don’t like it either. The captain is on his way here. I know he would want to hear it from you.

******'

When Marius got the call he had just finished up a video conference with a member of the Admiralty, discussing the possibility of more Engineering crew to assist in the repairs. While there were not as many to go around as there were in past years, Starfleet had agreed to send them what they could spare. They would arrive in two days. He sent a message to Stokes to let him know, and then headed for the Arcadia.

As he approached the holodeck, he wondered what they had uncovered, and what they were being dragged into. He hoped that there was good news. The doors slid open to reveal Lieutenant Junior Grade V'Lar and Commander Haines standing staring at five different images.

"What is going on," he asked?

"The good news is that our lack of information is down to Starfleet command structures not communicating with each other, we're answerable to certain flag officers and at a guess someone on their staff didn't send or receive information hence why we were all raising eyebrows." V'Lar said "These images are something that my people found digging through the base computer, it looks like the Romulans and Cardassians used this base when it was deserted as a meeting place. This is all we've found so far, the last one which is the one with the Ferengei happened in recent weeks. Of concern are three things - firstly when we dug into the limited external sensors and camera's we found a Marauder present, this Marauder left on a course towards Bajor, contact with Deep Space Nine confirmed that this Marauder travelled through the wormhole and hasn't come back, I don't know what that means but I intend to ask Deep Space Nine to notify us should it return. Secondly the person in the Starfleet uniform is Lieutenant Commander T'Kia, he's Starfleet Intelligence's liaison to the Klingons, looks like a Vulcan but if he's involved in something nefarious my latinum says he's a Romulan mole, he may even be Romulan. Thirdly I don't know what this means but I do know they're interested in Klingon DNA and that's troubling because it implies they're looking at the Klingons and the Klingon Empire is number three on the list of reasons why what you call a war and what I term Romulan and Cardassian insurgencies will fail." Marius frowned, letting the information sink in before he spoke.

"It sounds as if we have a mess on our hands..." he walked closer to the screens as he spoke. "Unfortunately, not all of this is actionable, yet. It seems bizarre that so much information would be found that would tie back to the Romulans and Cardassians. It seems careless."

"It does I agree," V'Lar said "They may have taken the chance on the base just being derelict or maybe T'Kia's set this up as some sort of insurance policy wouldn't be the first time a Romulan's done that. This is just the first of many times I'm going to give you a report that doesn't affect the day to day running of the station it's simply me making you aware of something beyond our control that requires some sort of action. In this case I'm recommending you flag with the admiralty that T'Kia may be a Romulan agent and that we request Federation forces stationed at Deep Space Nine intercept and detain that Marauder should it come back through the wormhole. I do have an expert in the Klingon side of things on their way to examine the fourth image which is the one with the Bolian in it, we can't make out the text on the PADD's but the box the Bolian hands over we do have a good image of. That assigns it to a specialist and we don't need to worry about this unless that Marauder comes back, meanwhile we get on with our jobs here." Marius nodded, his eyes not leaving the screen. There was more going on here than what met the eye, and he supposed they wouldn't understand it until they figured out the missing puzzle pieces.

"I will inform Starfleet Command about T'Kia when we are finished here, and send a message to DS9, as well as Captain Michaels about the Marauder. In the meantime, I would like you to work with Security and determine the best weaponry to fortify the base. I would then like you and Lieutenant Haines to meet with Engineering to see when it can be implemented."

"Aye sir." V'Lar said "I'll go find the security team. If I may just raise a personal matter, my adopted daughter Ruby is thirteen, that's the age we as a crew would normally start introducing them into ship operations in preparation for the Academy, you may want to have someone sit down with her and sort out her getting her hands dirty. But I'll leave that with you." she smiled and turned to exit the holodeck.

"That is not a bad idea," Marius called after her. "With the base being as...demolished...as it is, it will be a while before a normal rotation can be determined. Reach out to Lieutenant Hemsley in Medical, that would be a safe place for her to start." He looked at Commander Haines with his eyebrows raised. "Looks like we have more questions than answers these days."

************

Captain Marius G. Pontmercy
Commanding Officer
Starbase 11 - Obsidian Station

Commander Jordan Haines
Executive Officer
Starbase 11 - Obsidian Station

Lieutenant Junior Grade V'Lar
Chief Intelligence Officer
Starbase 11 - Obsidian Station

 

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