Digging Out the Truth

Posted on 28 Mar 2021 @ 2:43pm by Lieutenant Parker Voss & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

2,108 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Extinction
Location: Security
Timeline: Mission Day 15 at 0900

Camila sat in her office when an alert came across her console. She pulled it up after entering her authorization and noted that a new crew member had joined the ship. One Lieutenant Parker Voss who was here for the Chief Engineer position. The last one, a half Romulan, had found a convenient excuse to leave before she could examine him and she had put an alert on his file for the suspicious activity. The ship had seen a number of Chief Engineers, but she doubted this Chief Engineer had every met a Security Chief like her.

She tapped the comm. "Lieutenant Voss, report to the Security office immediately," she stated.

Voss tapped his comm badge. "Voss here, on my way." The captain did say the security chief would probably want to speak to him, so he left his office in main engineering and took the turbo lift to the proper deck.
When he arrived, he activated the door chime.

Once again, the Andorian receptionist's antennae swept back in annoyance as yet another person breezed past her desk at the entrance of Security. She made a note to ask the Chief if she could stun them if they kept doing it.

"Enter," Camila called out as she cleared the last PADD off of her desk and secured them. No pictures were on her desk, no trophies, no awards, and not even a coffee cup sat anywhere in sight. It was just a plain office that looked nearly identical to any other office on the ship.

Parker entered and was expecting to see a junior officer, lieutenant maybe, and probably some plain looking guy or gal, but when he entered, and saw what can only be described as something akin to a goddess, he was momentarily struck speechless. It took him a few seconds to regain his ability to speak. "Commander Di Pasquale?"

"That's me," she said. "Sit down, please, Lieutenant and clear your mind of any preconceived notions of anything you've heard about me or what other Security Chiefs may have told you. You're on the Black Hawk-A now and things are never going to be the same for you." She took note of the look and reached to pull a tricorder out from her desk and activated it, then set it on the desk facing him.

"Two things I heard about you, commander, is that you are probably the best security chief in the fleet, and probably the loveliest." Voss sat back in his chair. "I hope things will never be the same, commander." He smiled at her. "You have questions?, ask away."

"Who did you hear these things from?" the ombre haired woman asked without acknowledging the comment about being lovely. If anything, it seemed to annoy her and her voice got a little flatter.

"I'd rather not say who told me those things. But, meeting you leads me to believe them." Voss responded.

"The tricorder I put there is currently scanning your pulse, respiration, eye movement and every other tell that indicates when a person is lying," Camila said. "I asked you a question. You said you'd rather not say. Let's see what the tricorder says." She lifted it up and checked the small screen.

He waited until she checked the tricorder. "What does it matter who told me, it's not a top secret level access only type of intel. People I know, who know you or have heard of you tol dme those things when I got the transfer here." The only thing the tricorder might detect is his interest in her.

"So, we have conduct unbecoming an officer and unwilling to divulge your sources," Camila said and made a note on her console. "Is there anything else you're interested in besides me?" she asked him as she set the tricorder down again. "Learning about the inside of a brig? Learning that such actions tend to make promotions harder to come by? Learning that I'm not the person you heard rumors about?"

"Your kidding. It's not a crime to refuse to divulge the names of some one who told me something, in confidence, about a future crewmate. We didn't discuss top secret or confidential materals. You want to throw me in the brig, or threaten me with denial of future promotions, then go ahead. I'd be interested in hearing what the judge advocate says at my trial." He crossed his arms in front of him. "One request, before you toss me in a cell, can we have a drink together?" He smiled at her.

"No, and this is an investigation, Lieutenant, not a bar. Now if you'd really like to tell a Judge Advocate how you continued your conduct unbecoming an officer, by all means continue," the Security Chief stated flatly.

"Conduct unbecoming an officer because a friend of mine, upon hearing that I was being transfered here, told me about an attractive chief of security? Have I missed the part where we became part of the Tal Shire?"

"What I am talking about, since I have to spell it out for you, is that if you continue on this unwanted vein of sexual comments, I will not have a problem telling Captain Geisler that you aren't fit for this ship, and you can't keep yourself from acting like you're off duty," Camila said. "I will also enter this conversation into the official record if you persist. Am. I. Clear?"

"Sexual comments? All I said was that you are an attractive woman, a very attractive woman. And I act like myself, a human being, on AND off duty. But if that's what you want, fine. You. Are. Very. Clear. Commander."

"Try acting like an officer on duty," the woman said. "Now then, tell me about your last assignment and why you left."

"I was assigned to the USS Potemkin, to replace the Assistant Chief Engineer, who was killed in the line of duty. I was there just under a year, when the assignment as Chief Engineer on the Blackhawk opened up. I put in my transfer request, and it was accepted." he answered coldly and straight forward.

"Much better, Lieutenant," Camila responded. "I see that you earned a service medal for Duty Above and Beyond the Call of Duty, That's very impressive and earned you a promotion. Tell me about it."

"I helped save some children after their colony ship crashed, plus they were threatened by a creature. There was no need for the promotion or medal, but command wanted me to accept."

"What happened that put you in that position?" the Security Chief asked, now clearly interested.

"The ship's sensors picked up readings that indicated a possible damaged warp core on a planet. Sensors were having trouble getting a firm readings, so the captain wanted me to investigate. He assigned 2 security officers to accompany me. We boarded a runabout and we headed to the planet." He took a breath, he hadn't thought of this incident in years. "With the interference coming from the planet, we could only approximate the location of the ship. So we landed, armed ourselves, and started a search. It took an hour, but we located the wreck. Our tricorders detected life signs in the wreck, but when we approached, a creature, it seemed to go from a gaseous state to a solid state, emerged, standing guard over the ship." He took a breath. "We tried to communicate with it, but it never responded. We tried to force it away using our phasers....we aimed around it...but that just angered it. So it came after us. We had no option, so we fired at it, weapons at maximum settings......it took awhile, but we finally killed it. Then we rescued the children and brought them to the runabout and brought them back to the ship."

Camila listened and thought for a moment, the paused her interrogation of his record. "Impressive to do when an Engineer with only two other Security personnel with you, Lieutenant, and admirable. Have you ever heard of Search and Rescue?"

"Yes I have. If a ship is in distress, another ship or a team, go looking for it, correct?"

"A team," she said. "A very highly trained and specialized team. I'm one of the SAR graduates and the Captain has given me permission to put together such a team on this ship. How would you like to be part of that, Lieutenant?"

"I'm just trying to imagine what an engineer could be of help on a team like that, commander." He responded.

"You described a perfect SAR scenario in rescuing people from a crashed ship and ask that question?" The ombre haired woman asked. "The Technical Support Flight of a SAR team include engineers, small craft pilots, operations specialists, supply experts, transporter experts. Each is required to be proficient in their field. I think you would qualify."

"I'm always up for a challenge, commander, count me in, unless I don't get past your interrogation."

"There's a catch," she said. "You have to crosstrain in the area of another flight in the squadron. Owing to the fact that the units operate behind enemy lines on a routine basis, a premium is placed on combat lifesaving and combat training."

"I'm pretty good with a phaser. I've been cleared to pilot runabouts and shuttles. And I can hold my own in a nice dragged out fight."

"What about emergency medical procedures and first responder treatments?" Camila asked.

"I learned basic first aid at the academy, so that's about it." Voss responded.

"Then I'd suggest brushing up with Medical and then we'll see about your other skills," she said. "I'll also have to evaluate your phaser skills and combat skills. The original course is eighteen months, but you already have a start and I'm compressing everything down into a quick course. Well, as quick as can be done."

"I'll check in with sickbay to see if someone can give me some basic pointers about emergency medical techniques." He looked at her. "Does this mean I past this interview, commander?"

"It means I'm not throwing you in the brig and I want to apologize for the cold start, Lieutenant," Camila said without directly answering his question. "It also means you'll be answering to me on any SAR related missions. I want you to brush up on mountaineering, too."

"Thanks for not throwing me in the brig. And I should apologize for my smart ass statements at the beginning, commander." He looked at her."Mountaineering???"

"Yes, mountaineering," the woman said. "Some of the places we may have to get into won't be possible by transporter or a shuttle. We'll have to climb in and out of some of the places and I don't want anyone going that isn't trained sufficiently. I have a number of holodeck programs already in place."

"Guess that's why they invented holodecks, to practice on. Good thing I'm not scared of heights."

"Good. Now then, have you ever obtained illegal substances for personal use or sale, consumed Romulan ale, cheated on any exams, blamed a colleague for something you did wrong, or taken credit for someone else's ideas or work?"

Voss answered directly and with few words. "No. Yes. No. No and no."

"Then you're dismissed, Lieutenant," Camila said as she made a note in his file and came to her feet to offer her hand. "Welcome aboard."

Parker was stunned, he figured admitting to drinking Romulan Ale would surely be held against him. He stood up and took her hand. "That's it, commander?"

"That's it," she said as she gave his hand a firm shake. "Don't let your shadow cross my attention unless it's for SAR or something related to the ship's security, Lieutenant, and send anything breakable home." She thought of the many things she had lost when the old Black Hawk crashed on New Bajor and it brought a twinge of sadness to her.

"I have few things here that mean much to me, Commander." He liked that she had a firm handshake. "Tomorrow when I can, I will schedule some time to some mountain climbing in. And once I get a handle on that, I'll go to sickbay and get some medical training."

"See you then," Camila said and with that, turned her attention to the next person as she dismissed him.

"Commander." Parker turned and headed to the door. His first stop was to engineering, to make sure everything was operating smoothly. Then next was the lounge...it was past his dinner time, after that....bed. Tomorrow was already shaping up to be a long one.

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