we may have a problem on board

Posted on Wed Aug 21st, 2024 @ 11:13pm by Lieutenant Etan tar-Lexros & 1st Lieutenant Kayleigh London & Ensign Cobal (Johnson)
Edited on on Fri Aug 30th, 2024 @ 5:55pm

Mission: Those who are left behind

Kay had called her officers and non-coms together and also Etan as she wanted him to be aware of the situation as well. As she nursed a cup of tea to wait for everyone to arrive she continued to kick Toni mentally in her head for being so daft to bring her granddad on board. That old man was meaner than anyone she knew and a total monster to get along with. Not to mention being a serious security risk.

The door opened as Ensign Cobal entered the room. In his hand was a PADD and in the other was the Bolian equivalent to coffee. Honestly he had no idea what the meeting was about. "Lieutenant."

"Ensign." Kay replied. "Thank you for coming so quickly. I have asked Lt Tar-Lexros to join us as well so I am going to wait for him before the briefing. Anything else I need to know about?"

"Everything is handled and the department is ready for departure."

"Great, thank you." Kay said with a smile. Hopefully it will be a nice quiet journey for us."

Etan walked in with the ever-popular PADD and coffee combo, looking at Kay and Cobal with a smile. It was obvious he'd already been up and on the run, and there was, strangely for Etan, a smudge of some kind of grease on the vest he was wearing over his three-quarter-sleeved duty shirt. This was a day of working for him, and it had already started. He walked in, and smiled at Kay, then turned to Cobal with the same expression. "I apologize, I was delayed and I didn't have a moment to reach out. We had a lubricant leak in Cargo Bay Two."

"Ouch." Kay said. That sounds nasty. Sorry to haul you away from your work." She took a deep breath. "I wanted to brief you both as we may have a security risk on board." She handed them all a file marked top-secret. "Toni has brought her grandfather on board. The file has all the background info on the family. But as summary, there have been several attempts on him and or his family for years now. The latest attempt on Earth killed his ex wife and severally wounded him, his son and several of his grandchildren. Toni deemed it not safe to leave him on Earth as he does not listen to reason. She thought it would be easier to contain him on a small ship." Boy she was still so mad about it. "So it is up to us to keep the old coot alive and make sure he does not pose a danger to this ship. And yes I am aware that he is a retired five star general and only two years was our highest marine general. And for full disclosure, Toni's parents and mine are best friends, have been for decades so I grew up around him as well. Any questions?"

Etan looked over the file and shrugged. The man's career and history didn't make him out to be a danger to ship or crew, and he had clearance to be wherever he wanted. The Efrosian thought for a moment. "Well, the Resolution is not by any means a small ship. We can certainly request that he remain in civilian areas, like the arboretum and the holodeck. From an Ops perspective, I'm not seeing how this is much different than any VIP assignment." Etan had improved since he'd joined the ship, by leaps and bounds, but there was always going to be some disconnect when it came to people. "Is there any reason we should be worried about him interfering?"

The Bolian looked through the file and was clearly confused by the look on his face. "I have to admit that I am confused on why he is even on the Resolution outside of having family here. We clearly have a serious assignment ahead of us, which is going require a lot of attention. But we possibly risk that be having someone on board that is clearly in danger of being assassinated. This seems like a task by a detail that should have the General in hiding somewhere. And from what I am reading on his own behavior. I have to believe that he would interfere with security keeping an eye on him."

Kay nodded and then hesitated for a few seconds. "Guys I have to be totally honest with you. We have two more people on board who are at risk of being assasinated. There is a Klingon house that has a feud with the general's family ... and mine. It was my father who triggered the feud. A few months ago they also tried to kill some family members including some of my brothers and Toni and her brother. Sometimes they will go years before trying again. I have lived with this all my life." She closed her eyes for a few seconds thinking back to the death of her little sister when she was a child. "I get it that Toni wants to keep an eye on him. But as a security officer here I don't need this extra risk."

"By the two other people. You mean yourself and the Ex oh?" Cobal asked.

"I am afraid so. I am a marine so I can look after myself." She added quickly. 'But I would appreciate it if everyone kept a close eye on the XO as well."

Cobal nodded. "So how did the General a Marine as well agree to this?"

"He must have." Kay said. "I have not talked to him yet." She would avoid him as long as she could if it was up to her.

"I really don't see Klingons infiltrating the Resolution to kill the man," the Ensign brought up. "My guess is if they did make an attempt on this ship, then it would be a non Klingon hired to get the job done."

"Or a human. They have allies in the federation. That is the scary part of it all." Danger could come from any direction. It was what she grew up with and it kept her from getting involved with men and not even making that many friends. Anyone really close to her could be a target. "I just thought both our departments should be aware of this."

Etan stood up and pulled up the surveillance systems on the ship. It was terrifying for most people to realize the fact that Ops had access to every piece of data, every sensor, and all the tracking systems the ship's computer had available. There was only one section of the ship Etan couldn't manage, and that was the Intel section - which he trusted to the Intel team. Under an Ops chief like Etan, it was a comfortable blanket, a secondary layer of security - but a less kind-minded man could turn the ship into a surveillance state. He called up the diagrams on the main wall screen of the conference room. "We have systems in place to prevent that already, Kay. Anyone who approaches either you, Toni, or our VIP will find themselves trapped in force-field blocked sections with emergency fire bulkheads dropped and high-dose anesthezine. We don't even need to fire an Intruder Alert for it to happen."

He looked at the Security team, shrugging lightly. Sometimes they focused on their own abilities so completely that they overlooked the ship herself. "And if you're deeply worried, I can randomize the SIF frequency. Only our transporters will be able to beam through it, because I'll resync our ACB and Brownian unit to the SIF with a higher polling rate." Again, it was a small change, so tiny no one would have noticed. But Ops had control over a terrifying amount of the ship.

Kay walked over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "You are really an angel and a wizard, Etan. Thank you!"

Etan blushed at the sudden display of affection from Kay, but wasn't about to argue it either. Rather than return the kiss, he reached out and gently squeezed her hand. "I'm not, but thank you."

Cobal looked over to the Ops officer, nodded and smiled in approval. "That solves that issue. So my next question is on whether we plan setting a trap and dealing with these individual accordingly?"

"Don't you think we tried that over the years?" Kay said frustrated. "Sometimes they lay low for years making us think the danger is over. In fact until a few months ago, I think it had been more then five years since anyone tried something. We thought house Reshtarc finally had let the feud go."

"How about an old-fashioned fight to the death?"

She snorted. "If only it was so simple. I think my dad would have gone for it in a heartbeat."

Cobal looked over to Etan. "I thought it was a good idea."

He looked at Cobal and shrugged with a bit of a smile as he recovered from the kiss. "I'd prefer that any fighting to the death be kept outside the ship. There's less cleanup that way." For the usually shy Ops officer to make such a dark joke meant he was probably either in a very good mental state, or a very bad one. Given the interaction with Kay moments before, it could be assumed he was in a better mood.

"We can monitor communications between the ship and external beacons, especially in the direction of the Klingon Empire or known Klingon vessels within Federation space. If they're going to receive orders, it'll probably be sent in a covert manner, but sensors can track off-band comms signals."

"That sounds good." Kay said. "They may back off for years again now, but I thought you all had to know and it does not hurt to keep vigilant."

"The Klingons are currently are allies," Cobal reminded. "Which means they have a lot more access to us."

"Legal access." Kay agreed. "Which makes it both easier and harder." Kay admitted.

"How long is the plan to keep him on the Resolution?" the Ensign inquired. "Best plan might be constant movement. By the time someone figures out his whereabouts and comes up with a plan, he could already be on the move elsewhere."

"For me it can't be short enough. I can do without the old bastard breathing down my neck telling me to quit the marine corps. My biggest fear is that someone will let him reenlist now with the war and all that."

Etan thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Ops can support whatever you decide, but I'm not a security expert."

"For now I just want you two to be aware of the problems around marshal Sorrel so you won't be surprised. I appreciate that you want to help find solutions. I appreciate it." Kay said.

"No problem at all," the Bolian responded.