What Do We Do Now?

Posted on 11 Jul 2021 @ 9:14am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

2,219 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Extinction
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: Mission Day 22 at 1100

Once the Counselor had been taken into the room for an examination, Camila called a Security Ensign to stand guard at the entrance to Sickbay, out of the way of others and told to alert her if anything happened to Lieutenant Rael while she was going to see the Captain.

She turned to Joey. "Ready go to see the Captain?" she asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Joey answered. She wouldn't apologize to anyone, including the Captain, for ordering the arrest of the ship's new counselor. Not after Lieutenant Rael practically admitted to illegally procuring sensitive Starfleet information for the V'Shar. She did the right thing, and would continue to monitor all incoming and outgoing messages until she felt there was no longer a need to do so.

After posting a Security person to stand guard outside of the Counselor's door where she was being examined, Camila tapped her combadge as she left Sickbay and headed down the corridor to the turbolift. =^=Di Pasquale to Captain Geisler.=^=

Joey walked next to Camila, opting to remain quiet while she allowed her thoughts to wander a bit. Why did the Black Hawk seem to have such horrible luck with counselors? Though, a part of her did have to admit she'd much rather deal with this than deal with Tivan. Still, when would they catch a break?

"Geisler here," came the Captain's voice. "Go ahead, Commander."

=^=Myself and Commander Geisler need to see you immediately, Sir,=^= Camila responded.

"Come up to the Ready Room," Harvey then instructed. "Geisler out."

Joey stepped onto a turbolift and moved aside so Camila could step in behind her. She knew they would end up in the ready room, and that was how it should be. Harvey was busy, and it was.easier for them to go to him. "Do you want to start this impromptu meeting, or do you want me to?" She asked. Truth be told, it didn't matter who opened this particular conversation, but she would jump in wherever she felt she was needed.

"Bridge," Camila said as she stepped in behind Joey and moved to the side. "I'd rather start it off. He doesn't like me much as it is most of the time."

"And what gives you that impression?" The taller woman asked as the turbolift began to move. She was genuinely curious.

"It almost took me resigning just to get the authority to protect the ship," the Security Chief said as the turbolift came to a stop and the door swished open.

Joey couldn't help but arch a brow as she stepped from the turbolift. "That's what you're basing the Captain not liking you off of?" She queried. And there was a near resignation to boot? To get authority to protect the ship? There had to be more to the story. Still, that wasn't what needed to be focused on at the moment. "Then, I'll let you start things off."

"Long story, and you know some of it, but I'm still not entirely sure he likes me, but my job isn't to be liked." Camila said as she stepped off the bridge and headed to the ready room where she tapped the chime.

The taller woman nodded her head. There definitely wasn't time for a long story at the moment, and perhaps they could revisit this conversation at a later date. For now, though, Joey adjust her uniform a bit and clasped her hands behind her back. "I'm former Security. I can see why you would think that."

"Maybe it's just me, but this time, I have proof," Camila said.

The doors parted, revealing Captain Geisler seated behind his desk reviewing the reports from the surface teams. He looked up to see both his Chiefs of Security and Intelligence enter the room. "Camila, Joey," he greeted. "What seems to be the problem?"

Camila took a breath as she entered. "Captain," she said respectfully. "I regret to inform you that Lieutenant Rael is in Sickbay at the moment, but she'll be going to the brig from there. Sir."

That was one way to kick things off, but if she were sitting in the Captain's chair, she'd definitely want more information to go off of up front, and she did tell Camila she would jump in when she felt it necessary. This was one of those times. "Because of her ties with the V'Shar," Joey clarified. "And her basically admitting to illegally obtaining sensitive Starfleet information to report back to them."

The Captain leaned back in his chair and shifted his glance between the two women. He thumbed the padd to off and tossed it on the table. "What the hell?" he muttered, following that declaration with a sigh. Only a couple of hours had passed since T'Mari confessed to her connection with the V'Shar right here in this very room.

The Security Chief sighed; she had wanted to ease the Captain into it, but Joey had decided not to wait at all and dumped everything on him. "We made an inquiry, supposedly discreet, to Vulcan about the V'Shar and Ambassador Soval responded to it. Turns out, he's Rael's father and denied all existence of the V'Shar at first, then promised an internal investigation on the matter. All this was after Lieutenant Rael broke down and declared she was here to steal the secrets the Federation didn't share with Vulcan., then collapsed and we took her to Sickbay where she's under guard currently."

"The part of her being on the ship to steal the secrets of the Federation is presumed, however, given your position within Gamma Command now, it can't be ruled out," Joey stated, "That being said, I have no doubt that she has retrieved information not meant for her eyes, or anyone else's for that matter, and shared it. I have flagged her incoming and outgoing messages regardless of where she may be in the ship. Whatever is written, or spoken, I'll know about it immediately. And so will you, Commander Walsh and Commander di Pasquale."

"No, it isn't presumed, Commander," Camila said with some annoyance creeping into her voice. "She said, and I quote, 'You know as well as I do the Federation only releases what it needs to in those reports, it’s what doesn’t go into those reports that I’m interested in. The hidden secrets behind the discoveries, that’s what the Scientific Bureau are interested in.' When you asked how she planned on getting that, she said that's something she can't tell you as it would violate her oath to the Bureau."

"When I said what I said, I was speaking of the Black Hawk, hence my mentioning the Captain's current role in Gamma Command," Joey clarified. She wasn't going to argue with Camila about how she said what she did, because honestly, it wasn't that important. What was important was T'Mari's position on the ship and her potential for obtaining highly sensitive information that she had no business seeing. Her attention remained on Harvey. "Lieutenant Rael has made it abundantly clear that it's not likely she can be trusted. She's already spoken with her father, and attempted to hide the fact. I don't know exactly what was said given the fact I haven't had the opportunity to analyze the conversation, but it's at the top of my list of things to do."

"Ladies," Harvey said gently, trying to slip back into the conversation before he'd never get a word in edge wise. "Look, I'm not happy at all that this is happening. It's like the universe sees this ship as an easy target. This situation is infuriating. Consortium, Dolmoqour, Pirates, and now the V'Shar. Starfleet hasn't fully rebuilt since the Dominion War, and many of its scars are well known. Judging from reports," Harvey picked up a padd with a message he personally obtained from Gamma Command an hour ago, "the Vulcans have increased their civilian presence in the Gamma Quadrant by two hundred percent in the last year. One of their ships is even mapping the Convergence Zone. Given how humanity and Vulcans started more than two hundred years ago, it's safe to say they either are losing trust in the Federation, or they've never fully trusted us. Maybe we can use this as an opportunity to learn how deep this mistrust actually goes?"

Camila was fuming now and it showed on her face, but she kept her tone neutral as she could get it. "With all due respect, Captain," she stated. "The mistrust has gone as far as them putting a member of their intelligence bureau on this ship because of that mistrust. I'd say it's gone pretty far."

"Yes..." a slight hint of frustration entered Harvey's tone. "If they're putting their own agents on ships like ours, then yes, that mistrust has gone far. But that still leaves the question of why the counselor was willing to disclose this connection. Yes, she withheld it in the beginning, but she quickly confessed.. Maybe she's looking for a way out?"

"I'm not so sure that's the case, Captain. If it were, I think she might have hinted around," Joey explain as she finally removed her hands from behind her back. "Not only that, but she only began confessing when she was confronted by two higher ranking Starfleet officers and realized the severity of her current situation."

Harvey frowned. He rose from his chair and walked over to the window. Thanks to the ship's orbit, Harvey actually had a decent view of the planet this time. "Recommendations?"

"Ultimatums. She cannot be loyal to the V'Shar and remain loyal to the Federation as well. It's impossible," the Intelligence Chief said matter of factly. "Lieutenant Rael is going to have to decide where she wants her loyalties to lie. If she chooses us, she'll wave all rights to privacy until she proves without a shadow of doubt that she can be trusted. Unless, Commander di Pasquale has other plans."

"I concur with Commander Geisler on the matter of her loyalty and privacy," Camila said. "On the stipulation that she gives us the same said secrets that the V'Shar doesn't want the Federation to have. Make her a double agent, as it were."

The Captain, still staring out the window, nodded slowly. The V'Shar was not the only suspect organization within the Federation, not since the reveal of the Borg and the Dominion War. Being this far out from the Alpha Quadrant, Harvey knew he would never have a better opportunity. "A double agent, you say. That might be worth doing." He turned back to face his senior officers. "Especially since we're sitting on a perfect opportunity to see what exactly they might be interested from a planet like this."

"If there's a reason, we'll find it." Joey said, looking between them. "We all agree, then? If she wants to stay out of the brig, she needs to abide by our rules and agree to the terms we set forth until she proves she can be trusted?"

"I wouldn't trust her to even do counseling now," Camila said. "But if we can use what she knows to help us, I'm for it. Captain?"

Harvey considered their options for a few moments longer. Part of him wanted to send T'Mari off the ship just so he wouldn't have to deal with the situation. However, he felt that, in full conscience, he could not turn away a soon-to-be-mother in need. He hadn't worn a medical uniform in years, but the hippocratic oath still rang strong. Conflicts aside, a better opportunity would not present itself.

He turned around to face both women. "Very well. But we keep a close eye and a short leash."

"Very," his Security Chief stated seriously. "I would like to have a drone with a full sensor suite placed in the vent by her room."

"That would fall under waving rights to privacy as far as I'm concerned," the Intelligence Chief stated. Maybe this was all extreme, but Lieutenant Rael told them with her own mouth she couldn't be trusted, so extreme measures needed to be put into place until said trust could be built. As the age old saying went... Rome wasn't built in a day.

Harvey winced. The measure was most certainly extreme, but he had little choice other than to agree with what both women had told him. "If that's what we need to do, then so be it. Don't restrict her access to communications, but make sure all access is logged and every conversation recorded. Let's see who she's talking to and also who she'll go out of her way to try and hide from us."

"Will do, Captain," Camila said and waited for further instructions if he had any before he dismissed them.

"Then, it sounds like we know what we need to do," Joey said before looking to Camila. "Our next stop should be sickbay to let Lieutenant Rael know what her options are." Her gaze moved back to Harvey. "Do you have anything you wish to add, Captain?"

The Captain shook his head. "No, that will be all for now. Keep me posted on the situation, and I will expect regular updates. Dismissed."

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