Suspicions

Posted on Tue Jul 28th, 2020 @ 4:10pm by Commodore Jacob Kane & Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: USS Athena - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD-01
1547 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Kane waited for P'rel to enter, wondering exactly how this meeting would go. Their last one-to-one had been tense. Apparently Taeler had fared a little worse. And by most accounts P'rel hadn't been making friends elsewhere. So this 'summons' she'd issued had him curious. Although he liked a good showdown, he wasn't especially keen on those challenging his authority.

"Lieutenant. You have something for me?" he inquired, watching her approach his desk.

Not waiting to be invited into any comfort or use of the room, P'rel marched straight over to Kane's display panel and keyed in her access code to bring up her operational files; opening the recent save she left the screen file open and sat down opposite Kane in a chair which had not been offered. "Captain" she began in a short tone, "I have been sent a file from Captain Bennett at Starfleet Intelligence. There are some concerning..." she looked for her words cautiously "...coincidences in respect to the Pico, her movements and recent activity in the sector. The recent attack on Starbase 50 especially." The file had been scrolling and arrived at the flagged item, a set of stardates across five columns which now flashed the correlations; "there is some - admittedly limited - material to suggest that USS Pico is carrying a crewperson who is supplying information to foreign actors, against the interests of the Federation". She didn't have a lot of time morally for the interests of the Federation, but duty was duty and she had a job to do.

Kane paused, processing her very direct explanation and waiting for the moment to respond. "You've got my attention. Keep talking."

"Captain", she nodded. Realising her seating herself was a wasted exercise, she rose back to her feet and went to the wall screen. "Sir?" she said, indicating he should stand with her. "I'm piecing this together myself at the moment, I'm not fully caught up on sector reports, but if you'll indulge me..." her finger traced across a line of data to a set of stardates. "Here. Look- " she pointed; "Pico briefly stops in range of Starbase 50, nothing out of the ordinary; a deuterium transfer, some personnel rotations, that kind of thing." She looked to Kane, a half conscious move to see if he was following with her.

"At first glance," he acknowledged. "You spotted a pattern, I assume?"

"Intel has a short mention in a report from 50's Intel Chief, that a Ferengi merchant brought aboard a canister which was likely the source of the bio-agent that rendered the crew incapacitated. Now..." she pointed to another set of annotated dates "that merchant has previously been arrested for selling smuggled Jemonite out of Cardassia to..." P'rel pressed some buttons to bring up a Starfleet personnel file, a smiling Blue skinned Bolian appeared on the screen; "this man. Lieutenant Commander Brill, a relatively senior environmental sciences research officer." She pulled up his service deployment record, "Brill, on the same day the Ferengi brought the canister aboard the base, transferred to USS Pico. Not long after, the Starbase is attacked, and now the Pico has been attacked as well. Commander Brill is a common factor in two highly improbable events, and as someone who was previously reprimanded for purchasing illegal artefacts, he is a person of interest." She paused and stepped back, folding her hand behind her back; "as I said Captain, I'm still piecing some of this together myself."

"It's fine work, Lieutenant. Still, it's purely coincidental at this stage." He raised a hand before she could retort to that. "But I'm not one to believe in coincidences - Mr Brand alluded to this attack as well. Keep looking; we still don't know exactly why they wanted the data from Starbase 50. It could have been a random hit, but assaulting a fortified Federation outpost would be stupid without a clear objective." He ran a finger over his beard. "Someone wanted specific information. Do you have details on what other information was taken from the starbase's computer core?"

P'rel shook her head, "Not yet Captain; as I said I'm still catching up on sector intelligence." she paused, it had been many decades since working in operational intelligence, and sharing information with field commanders was still something of an unknown quantity to her. "You should be aware however, sir; that there is an intelligence operation underway at this time. USS Caliban has been sent to recover a person of interest connected to Thot Tan, a Breen General intent on destabilising Starfleet operations in this region. It is highly likely that the recovery of that person will yield significant details regarding the computer memory theft." The Vulcan officer paused again, momentarily aware from the reflection on the computer panel that she was still wearing the command red, and would need to change soon; "if I may Captain, I think you might be missing the bigger question in all of this."

"Oh?" Kane asked, still processing some of the information she was providing him. Although he was better than most when it came to tactics and strategy, he was still only human and less eidetic as the Vulcan standing alongside. This wasn't the first time he was hearing about the Breen. After their less-than-stellar encounter above the Aquilon resort, now this update, it sounded like they were becoming more expansive with their operations. "What am I missing, Lieutenant?"

Tapping in some menu commands, P'rel opened the deployment lists for the sector, into the Akira warship headings, and then opened the deck listings for, among the few others, USS Pico. She looked to Kane to see if he had spotted the issue, which he didn't appear to have. "Why would Captain Munro agree the transfer of a reasonably senior environmental research scientist, to a ship with no environmental research facilities?". P'rel thought she was on to something, this Lt. Commander Brill was just too much of a 'coincidence' to be a coincidence. Of course, Akira class warships had fairly generic science labs on board, but nothing of any seeming use to the Bolian Commander.

"Commander Xvar, his First Officer, was taken ill with a rare blood condition last month," Kane noted. He was aware of a few of those movements from his briefs from headquarters. "Perhaps Commander Brill was reassigned in his place? He has a certain level of experience, despite the reprimand." Kane continued to touch his beard thoughtfully. "It would be convenient timing..."

P’rel noticed the Captain’s seemingly unconscious tick, and filed it away for future reference; “Possible, sir” she replied “but his experience is simply by virtue of shipboard postings, no relative command experience as such, other than away teams and such.”. P’rel walked away from the panel, she was done with what she could show at that moment, “I can’t imagine that on a major sector installation there wasn’t at least one other person both better suited and available..” She pondered a moment, recalling something she’d heard on Cardassia IV, an old colloquialism, “I do believe in coincidences Captain, but I don’t trust coincidences”.

"All right, Lieutenant. What's your plan? What do we do with these suspicions, in your mind?" he asked, his arms starting to cross. He watched P'rel for her reaction.

Her brow customarily arching, she placed her hands behind her back and turned on a heel to face back to Kane. Of the various efficacious means of containing the threat she would prefer to pursue, it was unlikely Kane would sanction any of them - Cardassia had been an influence on her she reflected momentarily. Not necessarily good or bad, but certainly lasting. “Nothing yet sir”, she replied curtly, “I think the most productive way forward at this time is to gather more data, to be sure of what we are talking of.” Half a pace towards the door and she realised she hadn’t been dismissed yet, protocol being what it was. “The mission underway at present to acquire this person of interest...it’s under the command of another intelligence officer - I am not aware of the name - it would be prudent for me to get in contact, and see what can be shared. Your thoughts?”.

"Sharing intel with your counterpart is a sound plan. I don't think Pico has an intelligence liaison attached, so probably no luck there. Mr Brand's contacts may also be able to help dig up some more data." Kane regarded P'rel momentarily. "This is good work. And I'm pleased you brought it to me when you did - before reaching-out." He had to admit, he would've expected her to follow the trail further before sharing. But this was a good sign. "We're due to rendezvous with the Pico in less than 48 hours. That's your window."

“Captain” P’rel replied with an acknowledging nod; heading out of the ready room the various strands of possibilities raced through her head. There was too much here which didn’t add up, Captain Munro taking on board a pointless transfer was not the least of them; it was a minor one at this stage, but nonetheless a strand worth investigating. She made a metal note to check back into Munro’s history, and headed quickly to the intelligence suite.