Divulging Facts

Posted on Sun Sep 22nd, 2024 @ 7:03pm by Lieutenant Commander Deanna Celes & Commander Jonathan Grayson & Commander Samantha Howard & Lieutenant Commander Callie Raven-Grayson & Lieutenant Imik S'Niohun & Lieutenant Inara Senn & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono

Mission: The Gambit
Location: Conference Room

Deanna had requested the senior officers come to the conference room. They needed to inform them of what was happening and give them a chance to voice their concerns, if any. She knew Sam would be ready for anything, and Imik would likely be stoic as usual, but she was somewhat concerned with what sort of reaction Inara might have. Jon was sitting in the captain's spot, which she hoped gave some indication of the situation.

Inara walked in and sat down at the table. Things were odd lately, but Inara was focused on pure science. She wanted to go back to the pursuit of pure science. No more freaking gods or anything like that. Also... Jaz... She wanted to do stellar cartography with Jaz. It was better than a night out.

Jon sat at the head of the table. His face was stoic. Deanna was at his right as they waited for the senior officers to arrive. Inara was the first to arrive and she came in and sat not saying anything to either Deanna or himself.

Sam arrived at the conference room and took her seat, nursing a coffee in her hands.

Jon smiled as Sam entered the room with a cup of coffee in her hands. chuckled to himself thinking, if they ever cut Sam's veins open coffee would come out instead of blood.

Imik arrived at conference room and bowed as she entered, "Blessings on all gathered here." She then moved to a seat which could accommodate her, sitting down she noted the XO sitting in the Captains chair. A thought ran through her mind but she held her back from commenting for now.

With the twins left in the safety of the nursery, and Harry with a friend’s family, Callie entered the briefing offering everyone a warm smile as she took the next seat around from Jon. There was obviously something wrong going from Jon’s emotions, no doubt they were all about to find out what.

Jon gave a short nod to Callie as they waited for Kate to arrive so the briefing could start.

Kate blasted into the ready room as she always did with enough momentum to travel along the length of the ready room table while launching PADD's in front of everyone as if dealing cards.

"Hello everyone here's what I got feel free to keep the PADDS I had a replicator accident last year where I accidentally got two hundred of them and I'm trying to hawk them off on everyone every chance I get so freefreefree.."

On the displays were her research on flight plans, flights that weren't logged and which directions they went, witness statements from subspace communications which also included people other officers in the crew already talked to, and warp signature tracing. Another menu had information pulled off the Runabout computers, including a transmission stamp from Starfleet Intelligence Commander Tyisha Weyland.

Kate spun backwards in her chair and motorboating her legs until the chair backed into an empty spot at the desk. She then folded her arms and looked at the officer next to her suspiciously as she slid a stack of PADDs in front of him.

"Free..." She whispered.

"Kono, you do know you could take those PADDs, stick them into the replicator, and it will dematerialize it back into the energy it came from. Replicators are amazing with dealing with waste. Interesting, it's like we're eating the waste energy from last night's dinner. That being said, what have we here?" Inara read the PaDD.

Deanna looked at the information with a scowl. She seemed to be growing more and more angry as she reviewed. She finally slammed the PaDD to the table, hard enough to fracture the screen. "So much for intelligence. Perhaps we should follow these fables and innuendos, or perhaps I can give you the actual information about what is going on." Whatever was going on, Deanna was an emotional powder keg.

"So much for intelligence, indeed." Inara was speaking about Startfleet Intelligence, and what she was reading.

"Easy Deanna." Jon said gently. He alone knew how much this whole situation was affecting her. He turned and looked at the assembled officers. "Captain Shran is missing." He began without preamble. "Some of you are aware of that, others not at all. What I and later Deanna tell you stays in this room." He paused and looked around the room then continued. "Now, as I said earlier, Captain Shran is missing and has been for eight days. We are currently heading to Velez Prime. We have information that shows he left for there with two Cardassians. As some of you know, Velez Prime sits in the old Cardassian neutral zone so will need to be on alert. Imik," He said looking at the tactical chief, "I want us ready to go to red alert at a moment's notice, with weapons ready to use. Sam, keep all your medication for an Andorian on hand. Kate and Inara. work together and see if you can detect any coded transmissions or cloaked warped signatures. Callie, I'll need you to focus on what you sense if we contact anyone. Now before you are dismissed, I'm turning this briefing over to Deanna," He looked to Deanna, "Deanna, the room is yours."

Deanna was still highly emotional. "The captain was sent on a mission of the highest classification. It is so classified that practically nobody knows about it. We are going to be dealing with intelligence operatives of the deadliest sort, notably remnants of the Obsidian Order, and the Tal Shiar, particularly one of the deadliest and cunning Romulans, Col. Lovok. Lovok has no compassion for the Federation, particularly humans, and should he find us interfering in his mission, he'll kill us without hesitation. As far as that mission of his, he seeks Iconian technology. The last time he tried to get it he was thwarted by the captain, lost an entire battalion of Tal Shiar troops. He spent several years in a Dominion prison camp, and when he returned the war had ended and from his perspective, the Romulan Empire had been left weak, only made worse by Shinzon's attempted coup. He led the Romulan retaking of Romulus and the purge of the Remans, which was responsible for the death of half the Reman population. So, you can imagine, we are in for a very dangerous time. You can expect that we will meet with hostile forces the moment we arrive at Velez Prime."

"Thank you, Deanna." Jon replied before looking to the group again. "There, now you know. So, no more fun and games people. This is serious business, deadly serious. We can't make any mistakes. Double and triple check everything you do. If you have a question, ask it. This is a zero-mistake mission. Do I make myself clear?"

"Understood, that being said, and with all due respect, heading to Velez Prime would be a mistake. Whoever made the Captain go missing will be expecting that, and if his cover was compromised, our opponent would quickly figure it out. I think a trap is waiting for us at Velaz Prime, Sirs. It's what I would do if I made a Starfleet Spy go missing." Inara pointed out.

"Nobody knows the captain is a spy. If they did, he'd be dead already. But Inara is correct, a trap is waiting for us at Velez Prime to be sure. Lovok will be expecting StarFleet, with the planet being under Federation jurisdiction. We have contacted DS9 and will have assistance within 12 hours, but we'll be alone until then" Deanna replied.

"Well now, it's just become the trap we know about. Colonel Lovok.. Hmm... I think I'll do a little digging on his history, as I seem to recall the Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order sending a fleet into the Gamma Quadrant before the war." Inara noted. "The fleet was destroyed by the Dominion, of course. But perhaps we could learn something in the intelligence historical archives that could be of some use." Inara mentioned. "It's high time we looked into who in both those ominous organizations survived the Dominion. Likely fewer in Cardassian space. Gul Dukat had a particular distaste for the Obsidian Order, and he would have gladly purged them to satiate his Dominion Allies." Inara mentioned.

Jon sighed at Inara's statement. "Inara. The person we're concerned with Lovok, you and Kate can investigate his history, his tactics anything that will give us the edge when we encounter him, and we will." Jon stated firmly.

Inara stayed silent, as speaking more would not accomplish anything. 'Goddesses, this reminds me of the war, and what I hated about it. There's is not to question why, there's is to do or die.' She said to herself. 'Can't we just be explorers again?'

Deanna looked to Jon after Inara spoke. Much of what Inara had said regarding Lovok and the joint Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order fleet she had discussed with Jon already. She considered telling everyone all she knew, who she had spoken with, but now wasn't the time for such things. Garak had warned her about Lovok, but that too was information not applicable at the moment. "I think for right now, we just need to focus on our individual tasks. When we arrive at Velez Prime, we'll spring the trap and will force them into moves they are unprepared for. They won't be ready for a Sovereign class ship, which will give us the advantage."

"Enough. Deanna is right. What we need to do is concentrate on the assignments you each were given so when we reach Velez Prime, we'll be ready to move." Jon answered. He was ready for this discussion to end and get to work on retrieving Shran.

Imik had glanced at the PaDD and looked up as Deanna slammed it down, she then listened to what everyone had said. "Commander, our weapons are always ready to use, but more tactical information would be most useful. If you have information on the types of vessels we may encounter, that would assist us in weapon readiness." She then looked at Deanna, "I humbly suggest that you seek help for your mental attitude, we will need you at your best when we find Sinkahue Shran." Then she turned back to Jon, "It is a pity we can not communicate with Sachzny, she was a member of the P'Som Tee. An organisation not unsimilar to both Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order, she could have given us relevant information for dealing with such people."

Callie had sat silent until now, Imik had a point where Deanna was concerned. “Commander” she looked towards Deanna. “If you would stay, please, I would like to speak to you afterwards.”

Deanna looked to Imik, "You can expect the typical assortment of vessels that we might encounter dealing with Romulans or Cardassians. So, Galor and Keldon class Cardassian vessels, D'Deridex class Romulan warbirds, possibly Valdore class warbirds. That is all the preparation information I can provide to you, except to say that it'll be the Romulan vessels that will be more of a concern." She then looked over to Callie, "Of course counselor."

Dipping her head, Imik smiled. "I thank you Commander, I have encountered Romulan vessels before, but I am not so sure of the Cardassian vessels. And please if I can assist you in other ways, please feel free to ask, counselor I extend that offer to you also."

Kate left a huge stack of PADD's on the desk and kept one with her to study on after she used it to take additional notes.

Sam took some mental notes during the meeting, watching the different officers' reactions. It was concerning to say the least that they may be heading into a trap, but hopefully they would be prepared for it. "Commander, I treated the two Orions in the brig for burns, they are well enough to be questioned at your convenience." She addressed Jon and Deanna.

"I'll handle that." Deanna looked to Jon, "No males should be around those Orions. I'll get all relevant information from them, one way or another."

Jon nodded, "Of course Deanna. I leave it in your capable hands." He said and then motioned her to follow him a few feet away. "Deanna," he said softly in a low voice, "I know this hard for you, but you aren't alone in this and don't try to handle it alone. I'm here for you as is Callie and Sam. Deanna we all care about Shran and I need you at the top of your game." He finished quietly.
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"Understood" she replied stoically. "And appreciated" she added. "Let's get to work. Limited time before we reach Velez Prime."