State of Intelligence

Posted on 09 Jun 2024 @ 1:46am by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Ensign Ronin Tetnel & Petty Officer 3rd Class Klim Sokamin

1,474 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Shattered Unity
Location: Intelligence Office
Timeline: June 19, 2390 || 0900 hours

After using her freshly changed code to get into the Intelligence Center, Joey made a beeline for her office, but took a moment to take a look around. It was no surprise that only select people could gain access to this area without an escort. The copious amounts of sensitive materials locked inside could spell disaster should it fall into the wrong hands, and it was her job to see to it that didn't happen along with the few others in her department.

She took her duties seriously, and always had since the first time an order was passed down to her. Now would be no different. Joey would do what was expected of her and more without question, and now the senior officer found herself caught up in her thoughts as she replayed the days happenings.

Petty Officer Sokamin took note of the Chief's arrival, glancing up from a padd as she entered the complex. "You are alive," the scorn Zakdorn remarked. "I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to return to Intelligence since you came back."

Joey snapped out of her musings and looked toward Klim, a smile forming on her lips. "Disappointed? Or perhaps you care even when you pretend not to."

Ronin looked up when the Chief came in and gave a nod. "What do you have for us to work on, Commander?" he asked politely.

Joey frowned. What she wanted was answers, but didn't know if there were any to be had just yet. "I want every report, sensor reading... whatever you can find... to be scoured for answers. I'm hoping we missed something, but I don't think we did."

Klim know Joey wasn't wrong. He didn't pretend to care, even though he secretly hated getting to know new faces. "We've been pouring over the sensor data from this attack and everything we could learn from the Gaittithe. It would help if we had some computer records from the downed ships."

Ronin looked up at Commander Geisler. "What exactly are we looking for answers to, Commander?" He asked before he thought of something. "Could we salvage the bioneural gel packs and integrate them enough here to form our own records if we get the right ones?"

"That's not a bad idea. On both accounts," Joey said, looking thoughtful. "We would need to send a teams over. Any volunteers?"

"I'll volunteer," Ronin said readily.

"Great," Klim said, thrilled that the ensign had so quickly offered himself at tribute. "That means I can stay here and run a thirteenth analysis of this radiation. It's interesting how it was so concentrated around the Gaittithe as to block transporters. But here, it's only strong enough to distort energy signatures."

"Apologies, Petty Officer, but my asking for volunteers was out of courtesy. There are four disabled ships not including the Jem'hadar one. I don't think we need to gather the databases and bio-neural gel packs from all of them, but we should try for at least two," Joey said. "We'll also need a couple engineers and perhaps a person or two from operations."

The petty officer muttered a foul curse, a Zakdorn word that often lost much meaning or value once it ran through the universal translator. "Fine. A fresh pair of eyes will do these radiation readouts good. As for the teams, I would suggest puling from the survivors from those ships. I know it will be difficult for emotion-laden officers to go back there, but they have the intimate knowledge of those ships that we don't."

Ronin didn't cast a look at the Zakdorn but kept his eyes on Joey. "As there's only six of us in the department, are we going to have outside aid in retrieving them from those ships?"

"Eight," Klim corrected. "If you count Crewman Blaise who's on medical leave and Crewman th'Weeze who broke his foot crawling around the Gaittithe."

"I will leave that to your discretion as you'll both be head of your teams. Choose who you want to go with you and get me a list. I'll stay here and go over the radiation readouts and do a few other things," their Chief stated.

Great, thought Klim. He never cared for field work, and now he had no choice but to get out there, don an EVA suit, and lead a team of emotional survivors. Perfect day. "All right. Do we have any survivor manifests? And recommendations on which of the four hulks to start with?"

"I'll contact Medical for the ones able to move on their own," Ronin said.

"A list should already be in the system, and will likely be updated pretty frequently as more names are provided. It's also easier to determine who didn't make it that way so next of kin can be notified," Joey said with a frown. So much death and destruction. She was feeling far too much right now, and didn't know how to channel it. "As for which one to start with, we'll choose on that's been here the longest and the one the shortest. Perhaps, that one may have picked up something worth noting. Who goes where is up to you two. Take a security officer, too."

"Yes, Commander," Ronin said as he pulled up the four ships that had been attached to Unity. "The USS Holtrame is the only one of the three that didn't use bio-neural gel packs. We can eliminate that one. Retrieving isolinear chips likely wouldn't yield any information if they survived."

"And the Irvine was found closest to Unity," observed Klim. "It has the best odds of what we're looking for. Otherwise, I would suggest the Bamaass. It was the most powerful ship attached here. There's not much left of her, but there is a section of the saucer still intact with a lateral array. If the associated sensor control room is still attached, there may be some data left in its buffer."

"Then the Irvine and the Bamaass will be our targets. Get what can be gotten, and we'll go from there," Joey stated. "Get me names of those you want on your teams as soon as possible and make whatever preparations you need to. I'm going to get approval from the Captain. When I return, I'll have everyone assemble for a briefing, then both teams can be on their way."

Klim sighed. There was certainly no avoiding this away mission. Even for a Zakdorn, he was a bit amazed with the level of commentary he was able to pull off. Zakdorns, Zaldans, and Tellarites... it's amazing how much this Federation and their policy of infinite diversity tolerated. He turned back to his station, and within a few seconds he'd pulled up the survivor manifests. "Here we go," he said, looking at the screen. "It'll only be slightly helpful. Only the dead and missing are reported. A survivor's actual condition may not be accurate or available."

"We'll definitely need Engineers,": Ronin said. "Security. Operations." He knew they wouldn't need Medical unless one of them got hurt. "Maybe Science?"

Joey shook her head. "We don't want too many people going. This isn't your normal away mission," she said. "I would go with no more than four per team."

"Strategically sound," confirmed the Zakdorn. "Should anything happen, casualties are kept to a minimum. And, we still have enough people to make sure the job's carried out." He paused for a second to consider. "And we should take shuttles as soon as they can be allocated. With all of this radiation, we don't want to chance not being able to be beamed back to the Black Hawk when shit hits the fan."

"I'll take the Bamaass with a team," Ronin volunteered.

"Then it sounds like we're all on the same page. I'm going to see Captain Geisler for approval, then when that's done, I'll have everyone going on the teams meet for a briefing, then you will all be on your way," Joey said. "Any more questions?"

Klim shook his head. "I did hear rumors that we're supposed to head for Gavara this evening. So, however we do this, it will need to be quick."

"In which case, we better get started," she said, looking back toward her office. There would be time later to get some other work done. Even if that meant a later than usual night. "To make things easier, I'll choose your teams and brief them. You two focus on necessary equipment and a game plan for when you get on the other side. I'll also speak to the Captain. We should have a few hours or so to make things happen. Dismissed." With that, she made her way out of Intelligence.

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