Richard

Posted on Sun Oct 2nd, 2022 @ 6:24pm by Captain Xavier Carey & Commander Antonia 'Tony" Stoffels

Mission: The Lost Brother

Soran waited outside the interview room where sergeant Drew and General Stoffels were speaking. He needed to take the general to see the captain, his face remained calm but he was very uneasy. Carey had been very patient with him so far, but he didn't know how he was going to react to so much happening without his consent or knowledge.

Five minutes later Richard stepped out and looked at Wagnor. "He is lying. I know it but I can't get him to speak. Something is not right here."

"Send him back to your father-in-law would be my suggestion." He sighed. "If I'm right about his involvement in this, It'll let Moxley know he can't get away with this shit. If someone else is involved, Moxley will make him talk. Hell the threat of doing that might be enough to get in to speak to you. Anyway I'd rather turn him over to you than process him, I don't need the marine fleet friction that would cause."

"That's alright. I will handle him." Richard said. "This is a nasty business, Ren. Very nasty. I must thank you for getting my son and keeping my wife and daughter safe. Aleck is never going to change."

"And I'm settling myself with your daughter who's made of the same tough cloth." Soran chuckled.

"Yeah, same rebellious stroke. I am surprised you and the captain were able to keep her in line. I still have not decided if I should take action against Aleck." He looked truly troubled.

"I can't advise you on that," Soran shook his I have little experience in such matters."

Richard smiled. "Not yet. But like you said Tony is her mother's daughter. It might not be long before you ask me for advice."

"I don't doubt it." Soran smiled. "We need to go see the Captain."

"Yes. You have told him I am on board haven't you?"

"I told them you were coming, " Soran shrugged. "I haven't had a chance to let know you're here."

"Oh dear we had better go see him then."

Soren smiled warmly at the general in that's wrong in some ways this man was a Surrogate father to him. They made their way out of the security office and down towards the lift.

The Angosian stepped out of the lift shift with the General behind him and press the time on the captain's ready room.

Xavier had been going over the reports. When the chime rang, he welcomed the distraction. "Enter."

"Captain, may I present General Richard Stoffels." Wagnor nodded.

"A pleasure captain." Richard said as he extended his hand, not standing on formalities as usual.

"About damn time you come visit me general. You have been here what a few hours already."

The general blnked his eyes. As a four star this was not the usual reception he got, not even when he was in the wrong as he was now. Then he could not help but smile. "I do apologise, sir. It was all happening so fast and I must admit that worry about my errant chief of staff and the wellbeing of my children got the best of me. Very bad manners."

"Excuse my attitude General, but the whole mission stunk, several of my officers are wounded. Thankfully no one was killed, and no incident has been caused with Klingon high council. The damage to the ship, thankfully isn't that serious."

"I am so sorry,captain." Richard said seriously. "I do thank you for your help in getting my son back. And looking after my daughter."

"Not looking for apologies, I do hope it was worth it.in the end. I owed it to the commander."

Wagnor nodded in agreement before moving on to the mess. "Sir we've had an incident between the Fleet and Corps, Gunnery Sargent Franklin Drew caused a disturbance in Sickbay. I had to remove him, I haven't officially taken him into custody. I would like to give this matter to the General, I have enough bad blood with the Marines."

Richard looked amused.But did not say anything. He did not know if the captain knew that Tony and Ren were seeing each other.

"Given the tensions that this mission brought, my recommendation is to separate the marines, and the fleet, however charges should not be laid. There has always been some... tensions between the two have always been high."

"I don't think it needs to come that far." Richard said. "There has been tension for centuries but we have always been able to work together in the end."

"Then why now?"

"Sergeant Drew has had a grudge against me for a few years now Sir." Wagnor said

"That is true. I can't imagine why my wife brought him along. On that subject I do hope she has not been too much trouble."

"Procedure will dictate that we should do a safety check on turbolyft two Drew tripped and fell on his face." Wagnor explained.

Raising an eyebrow, "I will get right on it Commander." Xavier replied as he leaned back. "I assume his version of events will match yours."

"His direct superior's report matches mine," Wagnor explained.

"I see no reason to follow up with an investigation." Xavier replied suspiciously. "What else have we learned."

Richard kept his face completely impassive as he watched the byplay between the two men.

"I'll that the general explains." Soran nodded to Richard.

"I was hoping to get an update from all of you." Richard said with a smile. "Remember I have just now arrived. Did you take any prisoners, do you know who is behind this and those are only my starting questions."

"Yes, we've taken the four prisoners," Wagnor explained, "I'll leave the decisions about the interrogations up to you two."

Richard smiled in a way that would chill people who did not know him very well. And few knew he had this cold side to him. "I would not mind doing that, captain Carey."

"You are too close to this General. We want answers not blood." Xavier replied as he thought about it. "Give me a few hours. I will figure something out."

The general seemed to hesitate for a moment then took a deep breath in and relaxed again. "Allright, you handle it captain. I trust you."

"I would have thought there would be more fight than that General. Marines have one way, fleet has another. Given I figure this whole mission that the resolution has been on, will be deemed classified once we get out of here." He paused. "Its been a while since I have dealt with interrogations. The Wellington being lost in space for years didn't offer many chances. So I guess here is my chance. However, I will need the full story about why the mission went awry and was deemed necessary in the first place."

Richard went very serious. "This would normally be information above both your paygrades. But you are right, you should know. Is this office secure? And is there anyone else you think should be in on it?"

"Your daughter.... for one."

The general smiled. "You do trust her then. That is good to know."

"We have a past, shes helped me when i needed it."

Richard quickly looked at Ren, he was not sure if the men knew about each other. But he knew what the captain meant. "I am glad to hear it, captain. Well if you call in the people you want I will fill you all in. THis has to be kept between us though."

"What I meant in my past, I was her patient, and she helped me after I had to kill my father, to save the innocent. That is it."

Richard looked at Ren to see if he had known that. He was not sure the captain knew about Wagnor and he was not going to tell. "Isn't that awkward for you? Having her as your first officer now?"

"Your daughter is a professional, we can separate our personal and professional concerns." Soran gave both men a meaningful look.

"Its easier for me because I know its someone I can trust whole heartedly, even if she has no prior experience in the position."

'That is good to hear." Richard said. "I know her first posting was not a success so she may feel less confidence than she shows. She needs both your help to grow gentlemen. Tony has it in her but she needs guidance."

"By what I am hearing from the away team... shes more than ready for the position. My job now is to get her ready for the centre seat, which will come in time."

Wagnor nodded in agreement, he didn't have much to say. He hadn't told the Captain about his budding relationship with Tony.

"That is very good to hear." Richard did not hide his feelings of pride. "Now get Tony and any others you need in here and I will explain what is going on."

"Carey to Commander Stoffels report to the ready room." Xavier called after pressing the chime. It shouldnt be too long as she had been on the bridge.

Tony appeared pretty quickly. "You wanted to see me, sir?" Then noticed her father and Wagnor. "General."

"The General here is going to inform us as to why it was so important to put his family, and in the end, this crew in jeopardy."

"You seem extremely angry with me, captain Carey. This was not my operation and I am sure it was not set up to put anyone in danger. My family or your crew." Richard was getting a little irritated.

"I have had a very bad experience on covert ops... General. Not saying it was your fault. Nor is it you i am angry at."

"you are not the only one." Richard said and motioned for everyone to sit. "Tony knows some of this but not all." He began.

"Around the time she was born I had command of marines on a starbase in the Klingon sector. It was on the planet Tabulon. Owain London and his wife were both serving on the planet. As it happened both he and I had had some very bad experience with both covert ops and starfleet intel and we came up with the plan to set up our own organisation using only people we trusted. At that time there was a lot of hostility between the federation and the klingon empire but Wain had befriended a fleet admiral by the name of Pallara who also dabbled in poltics. He and his son Kazovan also became involved in this organisation. We always kept it small and used people we trusted. But it cost us dearly over the years. Only a few years later there was a bomb attack on Tabulon. Wain's house received a direct hit and one of his children, an infant daughter was killed. His wife Denise and two of their other children were in hospital for months and it took them years to get over the death of their child." He looked at Tony. "Tony spent time in hospital as well. In the ensuing skirmishes with the Klingons her uncle Gilbert was killed in action. Aleck's younger brother. Even then we had the feeling that this klingon rebel faction who were against peace talks were backed by some faction here in the federation. We have never been able to find evidence. We kept searching all these years."

"Now a few months ago Wain came to me that Tasin Pallara had been in touch that our old enemies were stirring again and might be up to something. I did authorize him to send out teams to investigate. We were going to lay a trap to catch out who was helping them from inside the federation. I did not know that Wain had involved my son or one of his own. And I can't ask him right now as the doctors do not want him upset after his heart attack. So I hope that Mellor and Tasin will be able to fill us in. Something is fishy here."

"Sometimes, one can only trust their own children... Other times not..." He thought about the look if betrayal his father had given him when he fired the shot. He closed his eyes as the flash back came back. "Anyway whats our next course of action."

"Oh I trust my children and Wain's without question. I just wonder if Nick was the right choice for this mission." He said. "Now it is trying to find out if they learned anything on that mission. I don't know how badly the London boys are off. I have understood that Nick is not up to a debrief yet." There was hurt in his eyes now. "And we need to grill the prisoners."

Wagnor didn't make eye contact with anyone in the room, he left his our people over the sins of their government. It was hard to hear similar things happening in the Federation, sometimes he felt like he jumped out of the frypan into the fire. He'd always hated politics and is cloak and dagger bullshit almost as much.

"Commander, you are technically not involved in matters.... I would like you to interrogate. I have the awkward duty of reprimanding someone I am personally involved with."

Soran nodded, "I can handle that."

"Get to it, let me know what you find out."