PLOT - JDL | Com Ivanova, Capt DiAgessi, Cmdr Dahe'el, Cmdr Archer, Cmdr th'Zarath, Cmdr Rush, LtCmdr Stacker, Lt Merlin | Senior Staff Meeting

Posted on Tue Mar 20th, 2018 @ 5:45pm by Captain Aine DiAgessi & Commodore Rochelle Ivanova & Commander Thelin th'Zarath & Commander Mitchell Rush & Commander James Stacker & Commander Evan Merlin

Mission: Lacuna

Senior staff meeting. They were held once a week, even though they sometimes lasted less than five minutes if there was nothing of interest to report. This one, the Lieutenant thought, would probably last a bit longer than that.

Senior staff meeting. He strolled in, picked up a cup of tava juice from the replicator, and sat down in his customary spot. Not that he was really attached to a specific spot, but he'd found that it seemed to unsettle others if he shifted around too often and today, people were unsettled enough already.

Rather unusually, Commander Stacker wasn't here, yet. Usually he was the first to arrive. Given the circumstances, the Lieutenant wouldn't be surprised if he was the last one in, today. Captain DiAgessi was already there, the XO wasn't in yet. He gave the CO a polite nod and waited for the others to arrive. The spot where Commander Valeese would sit seemed already far too empty and forlorn.

"Give everyone a second to come in and we'll proceed..." Aine murmured more to herself than the oddball Special Operation's officer that had recently slid into place. The somberness of the situation didn't bode well for the rest of the station, but life, and the show, had to go on as seamlessly as possible.

Mitchell was slow to start that day. He'd been one of the first to notice the absence of their Chief Medical Officer, and it was a cut that refused to staunch. Part of him felt guilty, like he could have and should have done something better and been more astute. Maybe if he'd said something sooner then he'd have been able to save her before she'd been taken away completely. Their inability to find her spoke volumes; she wasn't there. She was gone.

Thelin had been notified of the meeting and their guests while he had been in the middle of another set of maintenance reports, he'd been catching up on them while some of his staff assisted security in looking for the missing officers.

The door opened to reveal the last individual. Time had not been kind to Lieutenant Commander Stacker: there was a tired air about him now, and if one looked closely they would see telltale signs of fatigue around his eyes. They were not red and bloodshot - oh no, that wasn't his style - but anyone taking a close look would've readily discerned that he had not been sleeping well since this crisis broke. That look, in turn, clashed with the clean uniform and freshly-shaved face, creating a contrast of a harried man. He slid into his chair, glancing quickly around the table. Tired he may have been, but he was still awake and functional.

One look at Stacker, and the rest filling the room, was all it took for Mitch to realize that the loss of the exuberant little Vorta was something felt heavily throughout their entire community. She'd have likely been touched to realized that she was part of such a family. Someday he hoped to explain that to her, but she'd need to be found first and time was ticking. "Ready when you are, Captain." He offered, solemnly.

Aine nodded in perfect understanding, offering Stacker the quickest of smiles in greeting. He was looking far worse than he had just a couple hours prior. Drawing breath to speak was pointless, the people she'd been set to say they were waiting for began to trickle in and the sight of them, grim, businesslike, was near terrifying. These were people on a mission, these were people who were angry, who had been to hell and back and now took the slight as being personal. It was written all over their faces, especially Ivanova's.

"Commodore Ivanova, Commander Dahe'el, Commander Archer, and Lieutenant Shran will be joining us and creating a task force. Lieutenant Si'a Dai'xun was the first to be noticed missing last night, taken from the station's promenade." The Captain explained, "As you well know by now, neither Lieutenant Dai'xun or Commander Valeese have been located on the station or any of the ships docked which leads us to believe that we're going to have to expand our search..." The brunette's voice trailed off. Just how did someone begin to explain that there weren't any leads just yet? A spark of hope filtered into her eyes, praying that the Vindicator's team had brought with something with them.

The Lieutenant raised his eyebrows when the Vindicator's delegation entered. He had seen their CO before, during the ball, had caught a brief glimpse of their XO and, he believed, of the Lieutenant as well. Commander Archer was a total unknown, but a quick sneak peak at the roster told him what he needed to know. The tense expression on the Andorian's face, though hard to read because of the scars and the visual implants, was not all that much different from that of Commander Stacker on the other side of the table. It also made it clear why their Chief Science was present here.

With most - if not all - eyes on them, Rochelle couldn't help but feel like the team she lead were being looked upon as saints and saviors when in all reality, they had fewer answers than questions. She knew the members of the opposite side only by reports and Federation dossiers - with the rare exception of Aine who was a blood relation. Even still, it did little to soften the blow that they too had suffered a loss and were searching a sea of stars for signs of their missing family member. "We are." Rochelle nodded, coming to rest near the table but choosing to remain standing rather than accidentally take a seat that belonged to the lost. This wasn't their home, after all. "Commander Archer has come to the determination that there's very little chance of them still being on the station - something I echo... Something I'm sure your own Intel officers echo." The woman's head shook as she spoke as if to offer nonverbal apology, "Commander Dahe'el and Lieutenant Shran conducted multi-layer scans of the station and nothing was turned up aside from possible vole activity in an otherwise sealed off area."

Archer nodded along with the Commodore, waiting for his chance to speak, "There's no hint of activity generated by anything larger." Not that it was important, but it was better than generating false hope. "Anyway," He cleared his throat, "We need to expand the search. So far none of my connections have heard anything and that is pretty fishy. No pun intended." His arms folded across his chest and his mouth came together pinched with irritation, "Someone's always heard something so this is rather unusual, I'm sure your man can agree with that." He added, flicking a finger in gesture towards Stacker.

"The level of security has been unusual." It had only been a few hours since James' meeting with the Station CO, but besides his change of uniform he had been able to return - briefly - to the department's nearly sealed-off area for an update. Tired he may look, his mind was still firing on most of its cylinders. "Station intelligence continues to assess that a significant level of technical resources have been put towards this endeavor. This was not amateur hour. Thus far all we have to go on is DNA from a fingernail, and from a leaf. We've also been able to pull down an image of a suspect, which is still being processed due to data corruption. And that's it."

"What about nearby ships?" The Andorian asked. His voice was harsh and raw, as if he'd spent the night screaming his head off. "Either docked or within transporter range at the time of the first kidnapping. Any markers which indicate the presence of cloaked vessels within range?"

To this Rochelle nodded in Almar's direction, "Commander Dahe'el has come up with a map of where ships would be located, as far as maximum distance traveled, if they had warp or slipstream. Unfortunately while this narrows it down a bit, it also leads us scattered to the four winds with the potential vessel steadily heading away from us." She explained, motioning for Almar to take over with the display he'd shown here just an hour or so earlier - only to pause and swing her gaze around towards the ghost Archer had prodded into speech, "Where was the fingernail found?" She asked, thinly coating the inquiry as to who the nail belonged to in a layer of professionalism. Had Si'a lost it while fighting? Or did it belong to the Vorta? It was hard for Rochelle to visualize the sweet natured Stenellis in a fight, especially one where she'd break a nail and not be able to utilize her built in bio-electrical defenses.

While the question was posed, Almar gave a nod to the Commodore and stepped forward with a padd in hand and downloaded the information into the holographic display and pulled up the map he'd modified for her in the ready room.

"Outside a secondary entry to the arboretum." The grey collar stirred in his chair, leaning forward and tapping a control that produced a rotating wireframe hologram of the starbase. It hovered in midair above the table, rotating slowly. A steady red light was blinking near the arboretum's lower decks. "This is a low-security zone. Early analysis confirmed the fingernail belonged to Commander Valeese. We also found foreign DNA on the fingernail: my analysts say we should have results back soon."

"I wouldn't mind a copy of that analysis." Archer responded, bending to examine the station and the beacon showing the location of the abduction, "Any idea what she was doing down there?" The question came without much prelude, no sense of accusation on his tone or much of anything beyond curiosity and a steady sense of continuing analytics of his own. "Ah wait, I think we read that she was involved as a lead on the arboretum project, didn't we? Probably providing care to one of the animals." He shrugged, "So the question really becomes whether she was followed down there or if this was an abduction based on chance..." This time his eyes narrowed, wrinkling at the corners and his brow furrowing as he turned his attention back to his fellow Intel agent, "What was your relationship with her? It's not every day that we happen to have a Vorta around. Tense? Pleasant?"

A single russet brow rose the moment Rochelle heard Archer's unorthodox question came to pass and how it was worded. Was instead of is - a passing blow to the fact the woman may be gone for good... but the logic behind it seemed sound - at least in her mind. Strange as it was, the answer would be extremely telling as to whether or not the kidnapping of Commander Valeese was more of a copy cat chance to settle a score than a true abduction linked with the disappearance of Lieutenant Dai'xun. At least that was how she tried to rationalize it in her mind. "What about the over all sentiments?" She added, "Lieutenant Dai'xun is a very trusted and beloved member of Vindicator society."

"And one other thing," Anaxar grated. "Is there any connection between the Lieutenant and Commander Valeese, other that they are both the only member of their species to serve in Starfleet? Anything at all?"

As all the questions had flown wild, meantime, an eyebrow had gave a slight twitch and James had again leaned back in his chair. Outwardly there was no other indication as to his state of mind. His eyes did glance briefly towards his CO, but whether or not the look served some purpose was unclear. Finally he turned back to the station's guests. "Before I start answering, are there any other questions?" The words were cool and polite, yet firm. His gaze did not dwell on any one individual in particular.

Mitchell could have choked on the tension in the air. It didn't take a trained psychologist to see the pissing match that was about to go down between the two Intel officers or the way that the Andorian had a heavy fingers on a hair trigger. In fact, it hadn't taken long at all for the witchdoctor to figure out that the big blue bloke belonged to the missing Stenellis, or at least a rather large chunk of his heart did. What was left was a man grieving and pensive and waiting for a chance to regain the piece of his life that fit that gaping hole.

What he was having trouble putting his finger on was the greater inducer of Stacker's more than apparent stress. Something had the man tied up in knots, and it didn't come across (at least not immediately) as an issue of pride being wounded by someone stealing from his favorite cookie jar right under his nose. There was something else there and the shrink was quick to jot down a note for later study. "Oi!" He called, holding his hands up, "I reckon we should all take a deep breath and realize we're all on the same bloody team, yeah?" His eyes passed mainly between Archer and Stacker, watching each one jockey for position. "Sooner you get on with it, sooner we bring them home. I don't know about the rest of you lot, but I'd like my friend back where she belongs." Mitch grumbled.

Cool, yet thoughtful, eyes turned in the counselor's direction and regarded him. There was no judgment held within; merely something akin to the way in which one looked at an item of faint curiosity. And then the corner of an eye crinkled in faint ... amusement? Yes, that was it, if the slight twitch in the corner of his mouth was any indication. The eyes went back to their waiting guests. "Commander Valeese and I crossed paths several times. She was quite far from the stereotypical Vorta. Unfortunately not all shared that opinion." Best to let the matter rest there. Next question. His eyes turned to the Andorian.

"As to a connection, the only one that's surfaced is that they both hail from inside the Ascendancy. The lieutenant is a Stenelli, the Commander comes from a colony of Vorta who escaped the Dominion in the chaos between the wars. I'd appreciate a copy of the lieutenant's service record -" by which he meant the record held by the parent command; notations, annotations, everything right down to written warnings and disciplinary records too minor for escalation to the Bureau of Personnel, "- to be sure, but working from the records we have there's no indication of their having crossed paths at any point." He had no qualms whatsoever about the omission. After all, the evidence was circumstantial thus far.

Making notes was keeping Thelin occupied as the Intel officers crossed swords and his antennae twitched nervously at the mention of people's thoughts on the Vorta, he'd been rather outspoken about her and was far from her favourite person in the universe, he reached up with his good arm and rubbed at the seam where flesh became alloy and circuitry while his eyes settled on the Andorian from the Vindicator, himself injured and adorned with cybernetics. "I'll work with our Intel guys on the images that have been pulled, there are a few old engineer's tricks we might be able to work on them, the sensors in that section haven't been replaced yet, they're a good few years old which means they're easier to work with."

'Thank you, Commander." Aine cleared her throat to speak, nodding her appreciation to the level headed Andorian. Tempers were flaring, emotions running hot, but the young Captain knew that their best bet for success would be to work together. She looked to Rochelle, the stoic image of fire personified. How the woman managed to seem to put together during such a grievous time really was a marvel. "Another thing to consider is that the pair are scientists. One is a Stellar Cartographer, the other a Doctor with a minor in biology and physics. I'm not sure what that amounts to as far as connections go, but it's something to think about and add to the pile." She breathed, "What we need to remember is exactly what Commander Rush said; we're both on the same team. We all lost someone. On our end, Commander Stacker is correct; Valeese was..." She paused, "is an integral part of the crew here. Some people may not have appreciated her presence, but I sure as hell did and I'd like to have her back same as I'm sure the Vindicator would like their Lieutenant back. So I'm sure there won't be an issue with the transfer of records back and forth about both individuals?" She asked, looking between the two Intel officers hard and long.

"No issues ma'am," from the Ghost's chair, accompanied by a nod so barely perceptible as to be almost invisible.

A similar slight nod came from the Andorian other side of the table, Si'a's department head. "Her files will be made available."

"Good." Aine nodded, "At least one thing is going right." She sighed and leaned deeply into her chair, "I think you all need to work together using the algorithms created by Commander Dahe'el, start looking at ships and colonies, stations, and other properties within that zone that could play host to the offload of this kind of cargo, or look for mention of ships displaying odd port call behavior. Would you agree, Commodore?"

Hearing her title, the redhead finally looked away from Archer long enough to really study her cousin. "I would be more than inclined to, yes." She nodded, folding her arms across her chest as she circled the table - and, by proxy, the hologram. "Everyone here has lost someone with this incident. Whether they were close to you, or not, your friend, your colleague, your lover... Doesn't matter. We're all family here and when one member is in trouble or missing you do what's needed to bring them home. Why? Because the needs of the many, our family, circulate around their safety." Rochelle's voice continued, hardly dripping with the saucy rancor one may have expected from the troubled flag officer. Each step was languid and measured, refusing to falter as she rounded the proverbial basis, meeting eyes from across the table as she passed each and every Station officer there - this was Rochelle in her prime, regardless of the stress.

"Vindicator will have those records sent to Intel immediately. I'll see to it that my yeoman tends to it personally so that I know for certain that they've been moved as a priority one communique to your inbox, Commander Stacker. Just the way that I will have our diplomatic attache reach out to the Stenellian Empress to see what can be done to soothe her before she decides to light all of us up like the Fourth of July." She could have snorted there, undignified but yet so perfect a response for the entire situation. "The last thing the Federation needs is war, and she's the type who will deliver one if she feels so inclined and motivated. Two of her subjects, one by blood, one by territory, being kidnapped is a sure fire way to strike her ire."

And that was where a new light ignited in the fathomless depths of the woman's arctic eyes. Something clicked in the back of her mind - a hunch, a conspiracy as insane as it sounded, but a lead she'd keep close to heart if the coming information were to prove worthy of unleashing her tenacious curiosity to run any further. She paused, coming full circle, and looked over her shoulder to catch Stacker's eyes, "I do ask that the results of the analysis of the DNA pulled from Commander Valeese's fingernail be sent with the same respect?" Her eyebrows rose to drive her point home.

"Of course ma'am." Once again, the ever-so-slight nod. If there was one thing true about the Ghost in this meeting, it was that he was a man of remarkably few words. Rather what one might expect from a grey collar with that nickname.

Quite unexpectedly, the Lieutenant in the corner spoke up. He hadn't said a word during the whole meeting, though he had been paying close attention to everything which was being said. There was no sign of his usual manic energy. But his eyes roved through the room, settled on everyobody present… and on the empty chair where Cold Station Theta's XO would normally be. Did the CO know about his absence? She didn't seem worried, which she should be if the man simply hadn't shown up. Another suspicious absence would throw many theories which were currently being tossed around into the wind… So his absence came probably down to 'need to know'. And with so many spooks around, there were many things that he apparently didn't need to know. Which was, to a StratOps officer, quite frustrating.

However, that was not what promted him to speak up now. "I have talked with the Empress earlier this morning," he said quietly. "I cannot deny she was close to, ah, lighten us all up. But I believe she'll explore other options, and will watch closely what we'll be doing to bring them back."

"I suggest caution." This from the Ghost in his chair. "We shouldn't dismiss any possibilities when it comes to the Empress, certainly not with her background in the Makta and her temperament." There was no outward reaction to the revelation that had just been made known. Filing cabinets were busy in his mind, however.

"You did what?" Archer was quick to question, staring incredulously towards the strange Strategic Operation's officer, "Who the hell authorized you to take up a diplomatic role with Xue'Daio Nox? Were you trying to get us all killed?" His brows tightly knit, he couldn't help the look that crossed his face; disbelief, shock, irritation... It wasn't pretty.

Rochelle's head shook and she unfolded her arms to hold a hand out in her Intel officer's direction, "Enough. He did what he did. Captain DiAgessi will like debrief him and we'll send Commander Smith over to get a better idea of what the diplomatic feel is." As ridiculous as it sounded, she could only hope there was some merit to that meeting and a damned good reason behind it.

Oh, it took all the Lieutenants willpower not to provoke the spook any further by smiling at him or giving him a little wave. In the interest of diplomatic relationships, between ship and station or between whoever this Commander Smith diplomat guy was and Xue. Spooks. They were so delightfully easy to provoke. But he did smile.

Aine, however, wished she could crawl under the table. Her mother would have likely flipped the table, throttled the Lieutenant and the spooks, and gone on the war path. Her analytically minded daughter, however, saw no merit it doing any of it. Instead she felt exasperated and drained. "Lieutenant Merlin..." Her eyes closed, "Please prepare a meeting with Commander Smith. I need you to share what you know with him and with Intelligence so that we can keep a better eye on the political situation with the Ascenandcy." Good order. That was wise, swift, concise. Problem solved. "As someone who knows the better portions of this station, her moods, her people... I will need to know that I can trust you. Commander Satie is otherwise indisposed. You'll need to fill his spot so that no one is spread too thin. Commander Stacker, you will work closely with Lieutenant Merlin. Should he be unable to perform in his new role, you will assume his duties." Camelot was being rebuilt, working to shelter itself against the heartache of losing their friend and colleague, "Commander Th'Zarath, thank you for your volunteerism. Intelligence will keep you close and to the loop... And I suppose Lieutenant Shran would be a valuable asset on that side of things given his mind for science and previous posts?" For this she looked to the Cardassian and the Redhead for guidance and final say.

The smile on the Lieutenant's face didn't fade. But it did freeze, for a moment, when her words sank in. Especially the bit about taking over Commander Satie's spot. No doubt the Captain did not refer to weekly dinner meetings. Good thing I need little sleep, was one of the first things which went through his mind. This will require a lot of reading up. Aloud, he said: "Of course, I'll be happy to share with the Commanders what I can. And I will be at your disposal, Captain."

"I look forward to the debriefing." This from the grey collar seated at the table, who was jotting a note on his PADD. There were many ways to take that response. His eyes flicked up, going first to the lieutenant and then captain before returning to whatever he was noting down. Internally his mind whirred, trying to think four steps ahead while fighting a sudden and deep-seated fatigue. Lord I could use some sleep right now.

Once again the Lieutenant fought the impulse to wink at him, or give him a wave, or something like it. But no, he would play nice. For now.

"Then if there's nothing else here, I suggest we break until the information from the DNA analysis comes in." Aine nodded, looking out over the table. "Dismissed."

---

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NX-78213-F

Captain Aine DiAgessi
Commanding Officer
COLD STATION THETA, SB-1170

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Executive Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NX-78213-F

Commander James Archer
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NX-78213-F

Commander Thelin th'Zarath
Chief Engineering Officer
Cold Station Theta, SB-1170

Commander Mitchell Rush
Chief Counselor
COLD STATION THETA, SB-1170

Lieutenant Commander James Stacker
Chief Intelligence Officer/Acting 2XO
Cold Station Theta, SB-1170

Lieutenant Punisher In Training
Lieutenant Anaxar Shran
Chief Science Officer, USS Vindicator

Lieutenant Evan 'Weirdo' Merlin
Chief Strategic Operations/Acting XO
COLD STATION THETA, SB-1170