Can I Help?

Posted on Sat Dec 24th, 2022 @ 10:04am by Lieutenant Commander Diane Doctrine & Lieutenant Commander Melor Pallara (Stoffels)

Mission: Evacuation
Location: Diane's office
Timeline: Before the Evacuation starts

Using willpower to try and hide his limp Melor walked up to Lieutenant Commander Doctrine's office. Now that the captain had given his permission he wanted to talk to her as soon as possible to see if there was any way he could make himself useful while on the ship. He was a trained intel officer after all.

So he hit the chime to her office and waited.

The door slid open to reveal the Resolution’s Intelligence Center. Diane stood in the doorway. “Mister Pallara, how can I help you?” She asked pleasantly.

Melor felt uncomfortable out of his comfort zone and he knew there was a real chance she would turn him down. "Afternoon, ma'am." he said politely, they were the same rank but she was the chief here. "I was hoping that I could make myself useful while I am here on the ship. I have done intel work for years now."

“Really?” Diane sounded genuinely surprised, “Tell me about it.” She moved back into the Intel Center allowing him to follow her. She took a seat on the corner of the master system display table.

"By now you know how my stepfather and General Stoffels feel about Starfleet Intel. And I do apologize for that." He smiled. "So they asked if I wanted to train as an intel officer to help them out. So I did. I have worked for the general ever since I got out of the academy." He hovered as she had not offered him a seat.

"Have you had any Starfleet Intel specific training?" Diane asked, "Or is everything you've learned being an intelligence agent from General Stoffels?"

"Oh dear. I can so hear you don't approve." Melor smiled. "And from your point of view I understand. I can understand their point of view as well. I don't know all the details but I think the death of Wain's sister involved intel somehow. It was before I was even born and he doesn't talk about it much. And the general has said that an intel mole was involved in the attack on Starbase 27, the attack that killed little Joanna. They decided not to take any more chances. But dad.. Wain made sure that I had Intel training at the academy, I have worked with Intel before and most of those jobs I enjoyed and enjoyed the company of Intel officers." He told Diane the honest truth.

Diane nodded in understanding. "It is unfortunate that some agents are... shall we say, not quite up to snuff and cause unfortunate things to happen." She implied people died from incompetence without actually saying it. "It's even worse when moles and double agents are discovered in our ranks." She shook her head sadly, "So, you see why I'm careful and critical of the people I choose to work directly with me." Her head tilted and her eyes narrowed as she waited to Melor to answer.

"I get that." He grinned. "I have been around careful people all my life. Look if this does not feel right, I get it. I will ask the general to have me do his paperwork until we ship out."

"I didn't say it didn't feel right," Diane countered, "If you want to work in my department on this ship I need to know what you know and then, perhaps, we can build on that. I have a feeling, the training you've had so far is rather, how shall I say it? Incomplete? There is a training regimen you can go through at Jupiter Station. That is something I would recommend to you once the danger of your family being wiped off the face of the universe is over." Diane tilted her head as she measured Melor's reaction, "What do you think of that?"

Melor could not help but laugh. "You have a very low opinion of my education, ma'am. As I said I attended the academy did the Intel training and have been working mostly as an intel officer for the past 8 years. But in the Federation and in the Klingon empire. If that is not enough for you then I think I would have to decline and do the general's paperwork." He had a feeling it was more that Diane really did not trust him and he could understand it. "No hard feelings, I just want to make myself useful while I am stuck here."

"You want to be useful?..." Diane stood up from the table, "...then help us get these colonists to their new home. That's our main mission now. When that's over, I'll see what kind of intel work I can toss your way." Her expression said she wasn't particularly pleased, but not unhappy either. She had a bushel of fish to fry with only one frying pan and she didn't like introducing unknowns into her plans once they were in motion. On the other hand, she hadn't completely discounted Melor as a useful agent...yet.

"Okay fair enough. Just tell me where you want me and what I can do. Remember I am one of the people that is here under protective custody at the moment because everyone in my family is in danger. So I don't know if I am allowed off the ship. But on board I can do whatever you need."

Diane pursed her lips for a moment before answering, "Well, you are a free person able to do what you want, however, I would strongly suggest not leaving the ship. You can aid showing the incoming passengers where they're going to stay while aboard. We'll need all the help we can get doing that."

"Then that is what I shall do." Melor was a little disappointed she did not trust him but for the most part he understood. "I will make them feel welcome and get them to their correct locations."

"That would be great," Diane replied, "Thank you for volunteering."