Shadow Operators

Posted on Thu Jan 30th, 2025 @ 9:03pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono

Mission: Training Cruise
Location: USS Washington

Minena Haro was a quiet person naturally, not what one expected when dealing with a member of her species. The Bolian female was nervous about this duty assignment. She never felt deserving being part of Red Squad, and now rather than serving aboard the new Galaxy class Republic like most of her class, she was having a short training cruise aboard the Sovereign class Washington. The Washington was one of the known ships in StarFleet, making a name for itself comparable to the Enterprise, Defiant, Voyager, Titan, and the Excelsior. As if serving on the Washington wasn't daunting enough, her meeting Capt Shran dh'Klar had put enough fear in her to power a shuttle. She rather hoped that this LT Kono she was meeting wasn't another person that she would fear.

She arrived at her destination and rang the door chime. She waited nervously for permission to enter, anxiously twiddling her hands and looking around.

The door opened and balloons and confetti blasted forth along withs tringers and shredded party paper. Lieutenant Kono popped out amongst the cloud of tickertape and waved happily at the Bolian.

"Welcome!" The slender short statured skinny girl said with a genuine smile. "Come on in. This assignment might be a little boring so I figured I'd spice it up as best I could for you. I'm Kate! It's nice to meet you. I never really formally went through Starfleet academy as much as I tested through it because an entity pushed all that knowledge into me, so you have a lot of real-world experience I never had the chance to experience, so, I kind of envy you in some ways," Kate explained. "Come on! I got some PADD's on the desk we can run through. Was there anything specific about the intelligence department you want to learn about, or do you just want the broad introduction to the clandestine field?" Kate rounded her desk and shot into her chair with all too much energy than she should have; a playful way of doing even the mundane task of sitting down. She folded her fingers together and placed her elbows on the desk while smiling at the new temporary member of her staff.

Minena was somewhat in shock. She had expected a rather stoic atmosphere, perhaps filled with mystery and intrigue. Instead, she was being greeted in a way that was reminiscent to her homeworld of Bolarus IX. "I, um, well...um, did you say you didn't go to the Academy? And some entity is the reason you are here? I think that deserves further explanation."


Kate giggled and handed a PADD over. "Some cute boy named Q brought me over from a mundane life. That's why I live it to the fullest!" Kate explained. "So! Your choice! What kind of clandestine spy stuff do you feel like you need work on or would like to explore?" Kate asked while raising her eyebrows up-and-down comically.

"Q? You encounter a member of the Q?" Minena questioned.

Kate nodded and smiled,
"K'So! You're already a very good interrogator. I asked you like, three questions and I'm the only one giving answers. That's very good!" Kate smiled and giggled. "Your turn! Answer time."

Minena looked at Kate as if she had said something confusing. "Oh, I don't think that is necessary. I think you'll fine I am more than proficient in all of those matters. But you said you had an encounter with a member of the Q. I would very much like to hear more about that."

"Well, he was a representative of the English language, you see... Sort of like the Night Before Christmas where we are visited by three ghosts only in this case, he represents the 17th out of 26! He also let me know that Q is almost always followed by the letter U in all words! Therefore..." Kate leaned forwarded and whispered as if paranoid. ".. I expect U might be listening. Not you, but U.." Kate looked around as if afraid she was heard. But she pushed that PADD closer to Minena to remind her that she had some questions of her own to answer.

Minena looked unamused. "Apologies lieutenant, but I don't enjoy playing games when dealing with serious material. I answered your questions, I would appreciate you answering mine."

Kate kept her smile and shook the PADD in front of her, "What, in your opinion would be the lacking areas you would like to cover while aboard the Washington, Cadet?" Kate blinked a few times while tapping at the pad while keeping that goofy smile. She could have reminded Minena that she didn't answer that question but decided instead to just ask it again with a slightly sterner reminder of who was in charge.

Minena offered a smile. "I would think it was obvious I don't require additional training. While I appreciate you trying to be friendly, my job is to function as an intelligence officer while I am here and that is what I will do. Now, I have given a direct answer to you, might you do me the curtesy of giving me a direct answer regarding the Q now?"

Kate raised a brow out of curiosity at Minena. She then spun the PADD around in her hand and loaded the public record of events that brought her to the 24th Century and put the PADD on the desk again.

"It's all there. There was no real big secret to it. I tested out thanks to Q and I was given my position on the Washington. Q was -- actually a nice guy! At least, to me he was. He brought me aboard to fill in a gap during a crisis. One thing I've realized about Q is that they always have an underlying reason to help hidden under all the craziness."

Minena looked over the material provided. "The Q are dangerous, but at the same time powerful allies, if you can call them that. Every encounter seems to show, as you say, an ulterior motive, usually one of them seeking out something to entertain themselves. Some encounters have dangerous or even deadly consequences, such as the encounter that sent the Enterprise into the Delta Quadrant where they made contact with the Borg, and other incidents, such as those documented by Admiral Janeway, are mostly benign, where Q, whichever one you encounter, just wanted to have a little fun. DO you know if the Q in question is one that has been encountered before?"

Kate smiled and sighed dreamily as she leaned back in her chair and propped her feet up on the desk; her slender little frame swaying back and forth as she wove her fingers together as a makeshift head-holder while she shifted from side to side on the chairs swivel.

"Well, there's truly no way to really tell since all Q can be anyone, but he was cute, huggable, more manageable than his father, not as frantically uncontrollable when situations don't entirely go his way or if he gets bored... He was great to talk to and I think I consider him a friend. I mean, he did a lot for me, gave me a life worth living, and showed a sense of compassion and understanding." Kate looked over to watch Minena studying her. Kate just smiled as she reminisced about the encounter with her fun and friendly Q.

"Father...you were brought here by the child Q. The one that Janeway is the godmother to. That is really interesting. He sounds like the most personable" Minena replied, a hint of excitement in her voice.

Kate nodded exuberantly and giggled, "Yeah! He was great to spend time around. I don't know what he does often, but I hope to see him again one day."