Issues in Trust

Posted on Thu May 9th, 2019 @ 11:58am by Executive Officer Valiyi Uhin & Christopher Byrne

Mission: Mission 8 - Shattered
Location: USS Gaman, Admiral's Quarters
Timeline: Post Meal
1134 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Shinji's suspicions had been met; the feared 'Butcher' was more than suspicious of him. What the Admiral did not see was an attempt to utilize one of his most trusted lieutenants against him. It was why he invited Sera to his personal quarters, an action he did not follow through with often.

"The dinner went better than I imagined," he spoke soft, yet firm. As he did, he handed the woman a tall glass of swirling, amber-colored liquid. He took the other glass that sat at the table, which sat next to the half empty, crystalline bottle. "I trust you enjoyed yourself?"

"Enjoyable may not be the word I'd pick, but it was interesting," Sera replied. She took a small sip of the liquid as her emerald eyes narrowed in the direction of the Butcher's ship. "I don't trust Captain Gregnol," she let out, she held her loyalty at a high price and so far only Shinji had earned it.

"Oh, and why is that?" Shinji inquired, eyes following her movements. He strode around the table, so that he could see the ship in the viewport. He had his reasons for distrusting the Captain in question, but it was always refreshing to hear the perspective from his staff.

Turning her gaze squarely on Shinji, Sera immediately replied, "During the dinner, he seemed to take pleasure in his attempt to sow dissent among your department heads and yourself." While not out of the ordinary for their time and place, what made it different was how openly Gregnol had tried it. Following up her previous statement, she added, "Not many Captains would try to cross an Admiral so openly. He does not respect you."

"A keen observation." An obvious one, but one that he would have much rather her noticed on her own. "He is unlike many of the Captains I am in charge of in the fleet. Blowing up a planet does not do well for the ego." The 'Butcher's' reputation certainly preceded him. "I was hoping to assuage any fears you may have - and I understand why you would have them - with information. As much of it as I can give." He gestured to the decadent lounge sofa. "Please, sit."

With a nod, Sera took the indicated seat. Most of the chairs in engineering were hard metal, it was quite the change from what she was used to and she was not sure if it was a good or bad change. She was looking forward to hearing what he had to say, as loyal as she was even she had a few seeds of doubt after the exchange with Captain Gregnol.

"This ship, this Mary Rose," Shinji began, "Was formerly in ownership of Hamish." As he spoke, he took a seat across from Sera. "It supposedly contains information on the whereabouts of a camp of Cardassians that have a secret bioweapon they intend to utilize on the Empire. I am hoping we can find this information - preferably before said weapon is utilized, but for that information to fall into Gregnol's hands..." he let his thought trail off.

Nodding at the end of that sentence, Sera though that the last thing they wanted was for the Butcher to add any more planets to his list. "If you can tell me a little about this... grotto, I can calibrate the sensors to give us a magnet to find this needle in the haystack."

"That is the problem." This was met with a gruff annoyance, directed at the ship in the viewport. "Not only has he not put this 'grotto' of his on any design plan or blueprint of the ship, but this is the first I've heard of it. Which means someone else knew of this before I did, and someone is keeping a secret from me. And a secret of such importance is not one that I take lightly."

Coming up with an idea, Sera nodded toward the ship. "Do we have any schematics for a Constitution-class ship?" she asked. Elaborating a bit, the Chief Engineer added, "I can run some scans to see if there is an area that stands out as too different. It could give me a chance to narrow our search to smaller areas."

"A Constitution-class?" Shinji frowned in thought. "Quite possibly. There has to be one from when this universe had been encountered previously." He turned to the console at his desk, tapping at the screen a few times. "But that is an avenue I had yet to think of. How resourceful of you."

Sera did not reply directly to the showing of appreciation, it was not proper to give thanks for performing one's duty.
"It won't offer us a one-to-one replica, but we will have more than we do now," she pointed out. She wanted to get a sense of the outsider's ship without alerting Gregnol that they were actively searching to beat him to this Grotto.

"Make it so." Shinji gave pause. "Lieutenant, we may need to send in a team before Gregnol decides he's become too impatient. A small one, and one who can get in and out undetected. Or perhaps one that can walk in as members of the crew... Hm."

"I may be able to transport a few people over undetected," Sera nodded. "If you can send some sort of transmission or make some kind of scan in the direction of the Fenris, I can piggyback the transporter on the signal so it can't be detected. Two or three people at most."

"That may be just the right amount of people we need." He hesitated on sending her to lead the team. He trusted her, but it was everyone around the both of them he did not trust. Only a fair few knew what was going on, and there were reasons for that. "I want you to coordinate the infiltration from the Gaman. You have the most experience in the matter. Harrington... he will be kept in the loop, but I will take care of that. I'll leave you to choose who you feel is best suited to the mission itself, but keep it to whomever you trust. The information Hamish has is too delicate to lose to prying hands."

"Understood," Sera nodded. She had a few people in mind. The real trick for this mission was to find the right mix of trustworthiness and skill. "I'll be ready on your order, Admiral," she confirmed confidently.

Shinji gave a smile of pride at his engineer. "Then you're dismissed."

"Yes Sir," Sera nodded as she made her way out.

Admiral Shinji Kita
Commanding Officer
ISS Gaman
(PNPC Uhin)

Lieutenant Sera Williams
Chief Engineer
ISS Gaman
(PNPC McIntyre)