Regrouping

Posted on 12 Jul 2017 @ 7:39pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Commander Thiago Teixeira & Commander Terry Walsh & Commander Jayla Kij & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant David Moreau Jr & Lieutenant JG Felix Langston

3,670 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: The Finnean Crisis
Location: Conference Room
Timeline: MD 5 || 1700 hours

Five hours.

They'd only been in the Finnea system for five hours and already so much had happened. The squadron had a situation with the Rakhari and Ferengi. A dead body had been found on the Vasco da Gama and the ship crippled. The Selubassari were acting strangely. Those were just on the tip of the iceberg.

And they were nowhere close to finding the probe.

Because so much had happened, and was still happening, Harvey summoned a portion of the senior staff to the Conference Room behind the bridge. Given the situation, he couldn't call everyone back, but he had enough to at least figure out the next steps.

In a rare move, Harvey was the first to enter the conference room. Instead of seating himself at the head of the table, he stood at the rear viewport to observe Deep Space Fifteen and the planet below.

As if she hadn't been through enough already! Jayla was exhausted. All she wanted to do was the crawl into bed and forget everything that had happened so far. But, there was a meeting. Of course there was. Why wouldn't there be? There was always a meeting.

So, she arrived at the conference room, surprised to find only the Captain there, his back turned, staring out the window. She opened her mouth to say hello, but something stopped her. She didn't know why, but she was terrified of talking to him. So, she simply took her seat without saying a word.

Joey arrived shortly after Jayla did, and since returning from DS15, there wasn't much for her to do except hit the ground running, leaving her very little time to change her clothes. So, here she was, walk-in into the conference room still dressed in her undercover clothing.

Her torso was clad in a black low cut top that left very little to the imagination and accentuated her top curves nicely, leaving her midriff bare, which was being held together by laces down the sides and in the center. Her lower half was clothed similarly in a pair of hip hugging fitted black pants that were also laced down the sides, which stopped just at the waistband. The outfit was completed with a pair of black leather thigh high boots that zipped up the sides. She was wearing a combadge until she could finally change.

Her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her now blue eyes looked at the only two people present. She said nothing as she made her way over to a chair and settled down to cross her legs.

David was walking across the bridge with a PADD in his hand and happened to look up as he crossed the threshold into the ready room. What he saw boggled his brain and switched the pace of his walking without authorization from his mind; one minute he saw a shapely pair of hips and lots of skin, the next moment he saw the floor approaching him rapidly as his right foot decided to lag behind and trip his left foot. A moment later, the big bald Security Chief thudded to the floor with a muffled groan and the sound of a PADD cracking.

Joey looked just in time to see David hit the floor. "Walk much?" she asked, unable to help herself.

"No," David groaned as he pushed himself to his feet and picked up the broken PADD. "But I practice lots." With his dignity in shreds, he went and took a seat as far away from the Intelligence Chief as he could, knowing that he'd never live it down. As it was, he considered it fortunate that Baldilocks wasn't in the meeting yet.

Under normal circumstances, Jayla would have thought that was hilarious, but given their present situation and her current mood, all she could do was scowl at the security chief. Men! she thought irritably. Why does anyone want one of those?

Lt. Felix Langston made his way into the conference room nonchalantly. He whistled a little bit of Gershwin to keep his mind at ease while he walked through the entryway. He made his way to a seat, but not before quizzically tilting his head at the appearance of the intelligence chief.

"Um, pardon me for asking," Felix said sitting down, "but did you change your hair?"

Joey looked over to Langston and nodded her head. "I did, and it was necessary, but it won't be staying like this too much longer," she answered.

"Oh," Felix said, sheepishly. "It looks...nice..." He hurriedly sat down in an effort to seem like he wasn't staring. Upon sitting down, he glanced over at Jayla's scowl, chuckling a bit at her expression and apparent disdain for the security chief. He looked at the captain staring out the window and hoped that things weren't too dire this time.

Arjin had been quite busy with their findings at the Vasco da Gama when the call for the meeting came. He made sure his uniform was impeccable before setting off towards the conference room.

As he entered the door he cound not help but notice that the captain did not sit down but instead was facing the window. Nor the rather special outfit Lieutenant Corwin was wearing. He slightly raised an eyebrow, but did not say anything of it. Instead he took a seat next to the doctor.

Having returned from collecting the various Starfleet crew being held on DS15, Thiago had made sure the Black Hawk's medical team had fully checked them out before they were returned to their various assignments. The exceptions to this were the handful of individuals from the da Gama who knew about the message from the probe. Those people were in guest quarters, with restricted access.

Walking into the conference room, the Executive Officer took a seat to the right of Geisler's usual chair at the head of the table. "Captain," he said in a curt greeting.

Terry was the last one to arrive. The CAP change over had not gone according to plan, but everything was settled. At least for now. The bald Squadron Commander tapped the back of the PADD on the palm of his hand as walked in to the conference room. He noticed those seated and looked around for an empty chair. There was one across the table from Baby Bear, so he decided to take that one. Sitting down, he turned his attention to the Captain. Terry didn't figure he'd have any time to go over anything since he was the last one to arrive.

Harvey turned around. He hadn't paid much attention to the commotion of the officers arriving, nor counted the number of times that the doors had opened to allow people to enter. His eyes scanned the room, noting that everyone he'd summoned was here... including a non brunette Joey? He let that go for now.

"Mister Teixeira," Harvey said, not moving from his position. "You and the Doctor are up first. How's the crew on board the station?"

Waiting for a moment to see if Harvey was going to take a seat, Teixeira finally decided to proceed with the CO still standing. "The doctor and her team were able to begin rudimentary examinations, while I met with the da Gama's senior staff. Or some of them at least." He looked around the table at the people present. "One of those I spoke with was Lieutenant Carmichael. He confirmed that he heard the message from the probe," he finished, shifting his gaze to Geisler again.

Both of Harvey's eyebrows were immediately raised. "Mister Carmichael?" he parroted, still stunned that out of all the people in the universe, his former science officer would have been the one to turn up. "Well, if there was any debate as to this damned message from the future, it's been put to rest. Where is he now? And anyone else that might have heard the message?"

"And that, Captain, is the question. Carmichael was certain the two others knew, but there is a chance that others know too." The Commander paused. "Mister Carmichael is enjoying our hospitality in secured quarters. He can't leave the quarters without authorization from one of us," he finished, pointing to the large Security Chief, Geisler, and himself.

"Which two others?" Harvey asked. "I can assume Commander Stryk, the commanding officer of the Vasco da Gama is one."

Teixeira nodded. "And an Ensign Akagi, the Ops Chief. Unfortunately," he answered, wishing he had better news, "we haven't been able to find the Ensign yet."

"I know where he is," said Jayla gravely with a deep sigh. "He's lying in our morgue."

"Found in one if the Science labs aboard the Vasca da Gama.", Arjin added. "Next to a strange text written on the wall."

"What kind of strange text?" Joey asked, turning her attention Science Chief. "I spent quite a bit of time in the area months back, and while I may not be able to read it, I may be able to identify it. All I need is to see it."

"Wait," David said as he looked at the Trill Science Chief. "There was a body found on the ship and Security wasn't brought in? The body was moved back to the ship, too? Who's idea to breach protocol was that?"

"It was my call to do so.", Arjin chose to reply to the last question first. Choosing not to flinch when he looked over towards the Chief Security Officer.
"The situation was tense enough with the Selubassari aboard the Vasco da Gamma. Getting Security in at that time would only have gotten a tense situation worse. It will be in my report and it would have been sent over to you already if a had the tile to do so."

Turing his attention towards Lieutenant Corwin, he added. "There have been taken pictures, scans and images on that text. They are currently being researched by our scientists. You are welcome to take a look at them."

"Send me a copy, and I'll see if I can be of any help figuring them out," Corwin said, offering Djinx a smile.

Harvey couldn't help but to frown and dip his head. And now the gravity of the situation had been confirmed as blood had now been spilt. "And Commander Stryk is in critical condition in sickbay. "It seems to me that Mister Carmichael can't just be confined to quarters. He'll need to remain under guard for the foreseeable future."

"He'll be nice and comfortable in the brig, Captain," David said. "The isolation cells are very nice from what I've seen."

The Captain's frown remained. He was torn. Out of everyone on board the Black Hawk, there were few people that Harvey knew as well as Charles Carmichael. To keep him in a brig cell would be not just demoralizing to Charles, but Harvey wasn't sure if he could live with the decision. Then again, the voice from the future echoed in his head.

Ultimately, Harvey shook his head. "The brig is for those who've violated the rules we all strive to uphold. To our knowledge, Lieutenant Carmichael has done nothing wrong. Until something happens that tells us differently, Charles can remain under close guard in quarters."

"Understood, Sir," David said and made a note to assign two of his best officers.

To Doctor Kij, Harvey asked, "How did the ensign die?"

"Suicide," she replied a bit sadly. "Though, the method was a bit unusual."

Joey looked toward Jayla. She wasn't quite sure why the doctor wouldn't elaborate on the fact that Ensign Akagi's death was being ruled a suicide from the beginning, but she would bite. "What makes it unusual?"

Harvey also looked towards Jayla. "What's unusual about a suicide?" As a former physician, he knew there were many ways an individual could end their life. Usually, most were quick and painless. Perhaps this was not one of those.

"He stabbed him self," she replied clinically. "Multiple times. Which is strange in itself, but to make it even stranger, he managed to stab himself in the same exact place; there is only one entry wound.

"That's impossible," David said as he shook his head. "No one can stab themselves in the same place multiple times. The body would jerk and cause a miss on more than one attempt. No wound is that clean for multiple stabbings in the same location, either."

This was bringing back memories for Joey, and none of them were good. Mysterious deaths... kidnappings. "Lieutenant Moreau is right. It's impossible for anyone to stab themselves in the same spot more than once. Based on some happenings when I was here the first time, I would say Ensign Akagi had help."

Jayla frowned irritably. Right, she thought, more than a little annoyed. Like we didn't do a thorough forensic exam. "I would tend to agree, but the angle of the wound indicates that it was self-inflicted. Even if someone were to force his hand into the right spot, it wouldn't look the same."

David looked at the Trill Doctor. "Why wasn't I notified about it to begin with?" he asked. "That's a Security matter and we have our own investigation team for these things."

"I wasn't in charge of the autopsy," she replied tersely. This was starting to get on her nerves.

"I don't recall asking about the autopsy, Doctor," David said. "I asked why I wasn't notified."

"It's up to the person in charge to notify security," she replied through gritted teeth. "Or the person who found the body, but as the body was not found on this ship, I guess they figured it wasn't your jurisdiction."

"You're the Chief Medical Officer," David pointed out. "So regardless of you being in charge of the autopsy or not, it's still your responsibility to make the report. As for jurisdiction, seeing as how I am the Chief of Security here and the highest ranking Security officer available, that makes it my jurisdiction."

"Like I said it was my call to have the corpse beamed aboard and have the autopsy done. It was performed by a most competent officer in that field. If you are unhappy with how I handled the situation, take your beef with me. Not with the doctor.", Arjin spoke at a calm tone.

He did not know why he had felt the urge to defend Jayla, but it had been his order and he would stand by it no matter what another department chief had to say about it.

Jayla gave Djinx a weary nod of gratitude. Quite apart from their previous hosts' relationship, she was starting to like him.

If Harvey's frown could grow, it would have. "Are we done?" he asked simply. "Jurisdiction or not, we've been stretched thin over the last few hours. So much has been thrown at all of us, and we should consider ourselves fortunate that we have what we have. You want to have a pissing match? Fine. Just don't do it here."

"Do you want me to question Carmichael?" David asked as he decided to drop the matter at the moment, but he did wonder if the reason the old Black Hawk really went down was due to the seeming incompetence of most of the senior staff.

"Most certainly, yes," Harvey quickly and utterly confirmed. "We need to find out immediately who else knows about this probe, and their whereabouts."

"Carmichael will talk if he knows anything," David said. "I'll get Lieutenant Metsker and we'll go have a nice talk with him. You'll know everything he knows in a few hours."

The Captain turned to face his XO. "Commander Teixeira, aside from our missing and recovered Ensign, is there anyone else unaccounted for among the Senior Staff?"

"The XO," Thiago replied with a nod, "Lieutenant Commander Yuki. No sign of her."

"The medical team cataloged the rest of the crew and discovered that all of the security officers are missing as well as most of the engineering and ops officers," Jayla added. "One of their science officers said there was a rumor they'd been sent to the labor camps, but couldn't confirm it."

Joey listened as the others spoke. This situation was definitely going to get worse before it got any better, and now they were in the thick of it. What she knew couldn't wait any longer, and rather than wait to be called upon, the Intel Chief decided to speak up. "Just before Miller and I left DS15, one of the girls mentioned the dig sites on the planet. According to her, they're digging for ruins. During my initial sweep shortly after we arrived here, we found multiple sites that our sensors couldn't penetrate near said dig sites."

She paused briefly to allow that to sink in a bit, then continued. "There's more. While I was synced to the main data center, I intercepted a message. All hell is going to break loose. Those who are being forced to dig are planning a rebellion."

Harvey's frown remained. This situation was just getting worse by the second. "None of this makes any sense. Who's digging? And what would be protected near these dig sites?"

"The Selubassari are the ones digging, Captain. Not physically, but the digging is taking place in the Second and Sixth Steadings, both are under Selubassari control. We picked up a large number of Finneans with a smaller mix of Karemma, Dosi, Deltan, Risan, and even human in each labor camp," the Intel Chief replied. "I was also able to pick up a low-level Finnean transmission among the ships. Those on the surface are being told to resist without causing trouble, be it by slowing production or slowing their movements. It seems their families wish them rescued."

Joey sighed. None of the pieces were fitting into place yet, and that was driving her crazy. "My guess would be they've actually found why they're digging for, and are keeping it off the radar. Or, the probe is being hidden in one of those areas," she said. No longer did she believe that anyone but the Selubassari had it. "Of course, I could sit here and speculate all day, but I won't do that. In fact, I'm requesting your permission to go to the surface and check out these shielded areas to find out exactly what they're hiding, Captain."

Harvey took a moment to finish processing all that was said. "There's still some pieces missing to this puzzle. Commander Teixeira, I want you to lead a team to one of these dig sites. Confirm that our missing personnel are at these sites. Take Lieutenant Corwin, Doctor Kij, and anyone else you deem necessary. Mister Moreau, get me answers. Talk to Carmichael and take a look at where Akagi... died. Mister Langston and Mister Djinx, I need you both to continue our queries into the zone. Study what the Vasco da Gama has collected and find a way in. Have Lieutenant Adan join you both."

"I'm on it," David said.

"If there is a way in, we will find it for you Captain.", Arjin added.

"Captain, there's a shitstorm brewing on the surface. Getting into these secluded areas will be hard enough for a single individual, which makes a group, even a small one, that much harder. They'll be heavily guarded, and no doubt said guards will not hesitate to kill any intruders on sight to protect what they're hiding," Joey said. "Which is why, for my safety, and the safety of... another... I'd rather not risk it."

Harvey didn't even hesitate. "I've given the order, Lieutenant," he declared. Regardless of their relationship, in this room, he was the Captain of the ship and there were a lot of other elements to this puzzle. He could not, in good conscience, send an officer down alone. This required an official operation, one that needed to involve at least one member of the Command Staff. With Commander Teixeira leading the team, Harvey could focus on some of these other moving parts. "Commander Teixeira will lead the team to the surface."

"Acknowledged, Captain," the Lieutenant said before falling silent again. Orders were orders, and Joey would follow them.

Terry had been sitting back and letting the discussion take it's course. "Captain," he said, "the Ferengi shuttle that the squadron brought back to the ship...are they any updates on the 'medical' and 'food' supplies that they were trying to get to the Finneans?"

"Last I heard," Harvey said, glancing over to the Commander, "your Chief of Fighter Maintenance was still working on that. I suppose it's about time I gave those Ferengi a visit anyway."

Terry nodded. That was the last report he'd seen from the Flight Deck as well. "I'd imagine those Ferengi have a lot to add to what's going on."

Harvey nodded his agreement. "Give me an update on that shuttle as soon as you can." Looking over to his XO, Harvey said, "The sun has set on the Selubassari steadings. I'd plan to beam down at daybreak. Seeing how those steadings are a couple hours behind us, that's probably going to mean a 0400 departure."

"Yes, sir." Thiago replied, looking to Corwin and Kij to indicate that that was the plan.

"As for the rest of you," the Captain said. "Let's see if the tension will settle overnight. Finish what you can, and we'll pick it back up tomorrow. Dismissed."

At the Captain's dismissal, David took his broken PADD and headed out of the ready room, tapping his combadge as he did so to begin issuing orders to his department.

Terry nodded and picked up his PADD. Standing up, he followed Baby Bear out of the room. The Squadron Commander had a Ferengi shuttle to check up on and update to put together.

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