TBD (Once I think of a Title I’ll put it here)

Posted on Sun Sep 23, 2018 @ 4:48pm by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Major Victor Crowe & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Admiral Harv Bennett

2,509 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Plaga Navis
Location: USS Victory - Captain’s Ready Room
Timeline: 6 days after the spy is identified and killed

The very limited amount of data obtained by investigation into MacKenzie’s quarters and comm badge, as well as her actions within the Victory’s computer generally just served to put the Captain into a worse mood. Not for the first time, she was thinking that Dr. Anderson’s killing of MacKenzie had left the Victory now at quite a disadvantage.

Victory remained at the station for now, taking advantage of the station’s facilities to assist in their investigation into Blackhawk, and more quietly thus far.. into the discovery of Terran Empire ships from a dimension generally referred to as “the Mirror Universe” noted in the stations logs. The ships which had stopped at the station had all been merchant class vessels, not warships. Which meant nothing more than the warships had remained in an unknown location while the merchant vessels had come to the station to take on supplies of all kinds ranging from simple food stuffs to more complex components for repair of starship engines, and puzzlingly.. components for medical research as well as general contstruction materials such as one might expect to be in use at a newly established colony.

There were no star systems in the immediate vicinity which were capable of hosting a colony, or supporting human life.

But the Captain was quite certain that somewhere, out there.. one of those glittery little diamond-like spots of light hosted a planet where for some reason, some how... a contingent of refugees from the now defunct Terran Empire had managed to escape execution in their own brutal, bloody galaxy and come here..

She’d written a report, heavily encrypted and sent it to Admiral Harv Bennett relating to the reclusive Section 31 ranking officer what she’d found. Attempts to track the mirror freighter’s drive had failed. Too much time had passed since it’s last visit to the station however, sensors were now in place to generate a quiet alert should the ship reappear.

Thus far, no response had come from Bennett though she knew she’d hear from him once he’d had time to validate her findings.

While she hadn’t heard from Bennett, a new contingent of Starfleet Marines had arrived to replace Major Prime. She’d been rather relieved to see that man leave. He had been quite .. disappointing.

The arrival of the new Marine officers so swiftly was both a little surprising, and indicated to her that something more was going on out here. Why else have Marines aboard if not to utilize them..

A chime from the computer on her desk drew her attention, looking at the data on the display she studied the readout for a moment then disabled the alert. Just a transport making its approach to the station. Sensor scans had cleared the vessel as being prime universe. Not what she was watching out for.

Touching the comm control on the desk, the Captain said “Kennit to XO. Please pass word to Major Crowe that I have some free time finally, and if he’s available to please pay me a visit in my Ready Room.”

Seated in the command chair on the bridge, Alec answered the Captain, "Aye Captain. I'll pass the message along." Closing the com, Alec sat back. He and Rhea hadn't talked about his kidnapping and being rescued and aboard another Starfleet vessel. or his absence of contacting her to let her know he was alright. He knew he had hurt her not intentionally but he had. They needed to talk and not let this fester. He sighed maybe after her meeting with the new Marine CO.

Tapping his combadge he spoke "Commander Hunter to Major Crowe, Major, the Captain wanted you to know she has some free time if you would like to pay her a visit."


MARINE COMMAND DECK
MAJOR CROWE'S OFFICE
USS VICTORY

Well, it’s not a total clusterfuck! Vic mused as he looked at his office, which was a shambles.

“I am so sorry, sir!” a young corporal exclaimed as he pushed past Vic and began snatching up pads, papers, and other bits and pieces. “Major Prime left in such a hurry and I wasn’t told we were getting a new CO so soon, and I have been busy trying to…”

“Easy, son! You’ll burn out a bearing running at warp all the time! Take a breath!” Vic smiled, looking the youngster over carefully. Must be my yeoman.

“Apologies, sir! I am Corporal Levin, sir.”

“I’m Major Crowe, pleased to meet you.” Vic grinned. “Why is everything so disorganized around here?”

“Major Prime left in a hurry after we returned from our latest mission, sir. He took most of the admin staff with him. I’ve been trying to keep ahead of the starbase traffic in the office. The good news is we got two companies of Marines aboard. The bad news is space is at a premium, so we have to bunk some of them in Cargo Bay Three, as well as store most of our equipment there as well.” Levin answered, his voice steadier.

“I’ll talk to the captain about making room for us. In the meantime, let’s get things inventoried, prepped for action, and stashed. After…”

=/\= Commander Hunter to Major Crowe, Major, the Captain wanted you to know she has some free time if you would like to pay her a visit.=/\= the intercom interrupted Vic’s speech.

“Duty calls, Levin. Let my company commanders and staff cadre know I want a sit-down at 1500 hours today, with a full brief on their readiness.”

“Aye, major.”

Vic tapped his combadge “This is Major Crowe, acknowledged, commander. I’m headed to the bridge.”

A few minutes later, the turbolift doors slid open to admit the newly arrived Marine, A quick nod of his head from the XO indicated that Crowe should seek out the Captain in the Ready Room. Approaching the door, the Marine officer paused and rang the door chime, from inside, a soft “Enter” was followed by the door sliding smoothly aside to allow him to enter. Seated at her desk, the Captain held up one hand, index finger extended in a ‘one moment’ gesture as she read a message on her computer. Then, closing the message she looked up. Dark eyes immediately took in the Marine officer’s presence. Assessing and measuring, she was slender and fit. Kennit didn’t speak right away, waiting for him to introduce himself.

"Captain? Major Victor Crowe, reporting as ordered." Vic reached into his uniform pocket and produced an iso-linear chip, then handed it to the captain. Vic took an instant to size Captain Kennit up, clearly the woman was not afraid of putting herself in harm's way. She had a cool, confident look in her eyes that nearly all captain's possessed. Vic smiled slightly yeah, he thought, this one will do!! "I've never been on a Prometheus-class ship before."

“It’s a ship like any other.” Kennit replied, inserting the iso-linear chip into a slot on her desk and taking in the data displayed. “It breaks down from time to time, usually at the most in-opportune moment, and generates a continual stream of items in short supply which Commander Torres and Doctor Anderson vie for the title of biggest nag in seeking approval for resupply.”

Gesturing to the chairs before the desk, she said “Have a seat, what did they tell you about this assignment. Anything?”

Vic sat down in the offered chair and shook his head. "They didn't say a whole helluva lot about this ship, other than you would provide more explanation." Vic smiled, the smile not touching his eyes. "If I was a betting man I would put a month's pay that we will be doing black ops, or something of that nature."

“Black ops would be a stroll through the park.” Kennit said. “What we did is..more complicated. Most of the time our missions are standard duty. But then again, sometimes it’s not. I’m sure you know what function Section 31 performs. This ship, and myself, are flagged under the auspices of a small group within Section 31: Theoretical Research.”

Vic blinked in surprise. "Section 31? Begging your pardon, ma'am, but is that the reason why Starfleet Command decided to put a rifle battalion aboard this ship and relieve an ineffective paper pusher in favor of an experienced Marine combat officer?"

“I have no idea why some paper pushing bean counter felt there was a need for Marine forces aboard my ship,” she countered. “I have served in this role for much of my career, and usually if I encountered Marines at all it was more of a hinderance to my mission than anything else.”

“I suspect it has more to do with the number of new colonies attempting to establish themselves on a multitude of worlds in a region of space which is.. somewhat hostile.” the Captain said. “Most seem to fear the Borg but the Collective is the least of my concerns and indeed,” here she smiled just a little. “I don’t fear the Collective at all. Quite the opposite. There are far more civilizations than they take into account already here..fighting one another for generations who see us as a very unwelcome addition to a crowded Quadrant. The Kazon. The Hirogen. The Briori. The Caatali. Hell even the second Caretaker ..whatever her species may be.. she’s out there somewhere. As are countless more. While Starfleet focuses on their mission of peaceful exploration, we are here to do what needs to be done. Get our hands dirty when a situation calls for it.” Glancing at the XO, the Captain said “In fact, I think we’re going to be getting a little ‘dirty’ shortly. There is an inmate currently enjoying a vacation at Uran 16 whose expertise I believe we have need of.. which means we’ll need to break in, and break him out.” Locking her gaze on the Marine Officer, she added “ And that means you need to get down to Sickbay and get your check in physical with our Chief Medical Officer completed post-haste.”


Alec meant Rhea's look but kept silent. She was the one conducting the interview with the new Marine CO not to mention he was probably on thin ice with her after his kidnapping and eventual return by another starship crew and his failure to inform her he was okay.

As if aware she was being discussed, the door chimes rang as it opened to admit the Victory’s irascible Doctor. Whatever it was Dr. Anderson had intended to say was forstalled by the realization the Captain was clearly checking in a new officer. Before Anderson could speak, the Captain said “Speaking of the devil.. here she is. Be careful, she bites...”

Nicole's eyes flashed red and she walked up and put a stack of padds down on the Captain's desk. "Reports from the past week, autopsies, status checks, along with copies of equipment and supply requests copied to the station's supply officer and preliminary DNA analyses of the crew for background checks" she said, then turned and looked at the newcomer, folding her arms over her chest. "Another marine to babysit? Lovely. Be in Sickbay in ten minutes." She nodded to Alec and the Captain, then walked out.

Jesus Christ, a Section 31 ship! What the hell are they doing way out here? More to the point, how do I get myself into these messes? Vic mused silently. “Charming girl!” Vic remarked as the doctor left the room “As I was saying, my orders are to keep you and this ship as safe as I can using the tools and equipment I’ve been trained to use. I am a qualified bridge officer and can stand watches, as are most of my officers above the rank of captain. With your permission, I’d like to turn my people loose getting one of the auxiliary cargo bays converted into billeting for the enlisted troops. I can have my yeoman upload any specialized equipment’s replicator templates to your Ops chief. I know you must be anxious to get underway and I don’t want to be the one responsible for holding us up. I don’t relish the walk!” Vic grinned impudently.

"Yep. You caught her on a good day," Alec piped up from where he was sitting. "Be grateful."

“Work with the ops department and the XO. If you can find a way to make the modifications to one of the cargo bays so be it. Just remember that we have cargo bays for a reason, we do need storage space for spares and supplies.” The Captain said, adding “I wouldn't be late to Sickbay if I was you. Well, actually I tend to ignore her but you should not.”

"Well....." Alec mused, "You could be late. That's if you don't value your life. I would heed the Captain's advice. Dr. Anderson is an excellent doctor but she has her own way of doing things and you don't want to rock the boat. That's if you don't want to lose parts."

Vic looked at both officers and shrugged. "I'll get busy then."

The door chimes once more as it opened, and to the surprise of Commander Hunter and Major Crowe, Vice Admiral Harv Bennett, the commanding officer of Section 31’s Theoretical Research Department entered. Tall, fit and balding with cold ice blue eyes the Admiral didn’t get a chance to speak before the Captain greeted him in a tone of voice normally reserved for the discovery of fresh targ excrement on the deck. “Harv.” No use of rank. Just his name, spoken a tone which made that single word seem a curse. Mentally the Captain was making a silent promise to find out who allowed the man aboard her ship, neglected to inform her of his arrival... and express her gratitude ... personally.

The only sign of his notice that she’d dropped his rank was a twitch of the muscle at his jaw. “You and I need to talk.”

Kennit’s dark eyes flicked to her XO and newly arrive Marine CO. “Dismissed.”

Alec's eyes flicked between Rhea and the Admiral. he knew that tone, there no debating it. He rose from his chair. "Right, I'll be on the bridge and Major you should go to Sickbay for your physical." He turned his eyes skimming over the Admiral. "Admiral." He said using the word as both a greeting and a goodbye.

Vic nodded to the Starfleet officers as he left the office. Just what I need, a spook ship! he thought to himself as he boarded Turbolift 2. "Sickbay," he said, then tapped his com-badge, "Crowe to Corporal Levin, please inform the platoon leaders and NCOs that we will be appropriating space in Auxiliary Cargo Bay 2, and the officer's meeting will be delayed by a half hour. Crowe out."

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