Personnel Screening

Posted on 24 Sep 2024 @ 1:49am by Commodore (Brevet) Harvey Geisler & Commander Terry Walsh & Commander John Reynolds & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Lieutenant Commander Theodore Marsh III & Lieutenant Commander Kennedy Monroe M.D. & Lieutenant Ranul Frex & Lieutenant Zayna Ryler & Lieutenant T’Mari Rael & Ensign (Provisional) Bertrim Wysocki

3,229 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Shattered Unity
Location: Transporter Room
Timeline: June 20, 2390 || 1400 hours

It had only been a couple of hours since Commodore Geisler had conducted a debrief with the senior officers on the Razmema away teams in his mess. The six officers had left without gaining any wisdom or insight about what was happening with the pirates and this new and unknown enemy. What was clear was that the seedy underbelly of the Gamma Quadrant reached everywhere. It had been suggested during that meeting that Paradan cloning technology was in high use in these sectors, and it made sense to screen the crew for potential clones.

It was Lieutenant Commander di Pasquale who had suggested that the entire crew and the survivors it carried be subject to a transporter screening. Doctor Monroe would assist, checking each of the biosigns for hints of cloning and genetic degradation.

The screening would start with the Senior Staff as well as key staff members and security personnel. And, to start, the entire senior staff had been summoned to Transporter Room One.

Camila was present with a hulking Brikar Engisn Thi Ng and a no-nonsense looking Andorian Thaan who kept one hand on his phaser and his antenna moving towards each new person that entered. She had already screened both of them and the teams that were bringing the passengers and crew to the transporters in groups. Hopefully, she mused, there would be no trouble.

Commodore Geisler was one of the first to arrive. As he entered the room, he nodded to both of the security escorts and remarked, "Not giving much room for a rogue person to try anything I see. The initial screenings have performed well so far, I take it. Any calculations on the margin of error?"

"Absolutely none, Commodore," Camila assured him. "There's always room for error if I like it or not. If one group's technology advances beyond what we know it to be, the margin grows. So far, my personnel are clean. Would you like to step up first, sir?"

There was no way he would refuse. Any hesitation would instill doubt in those on board, whether they were part of the crew or not. Without hesitation, he nodded and stepped up to the pad.

Joey made her way into the transporter room with Eden and her twin children in tow. While the toddlers were unlikely to be scanned, her cousin would need to be. She turned her attention to Camila. "Let me know when we're up."

"You might as well join me," Harvey stated from the pad. "Fuller pads mean quicker work." He then looked at Camila. "I think it goes without saying that the twins can sit this one out."

T’Mari was next through the door, she had nothing to hide so she wasn’t concerned about the call. She offered a polite nod to those already present. “Reporting as ordered Commodore.”

Joey nodded, passing the twins off to Camila so she and Eden could join Harvey on the pad. "Given that they're never out of our sight, I think they're safe."

Camila awkwardly took the little boy and girl, unsure where to put them or what to do with them. Surely, the Commodore would object if she transported and scanned them, too. "As do I," she said, attempting to be reassuring.

Ranul came running into the transporter room and realized that the party had already started. He awkwardly stepped up onto the pad with some of his fellow officers and said, "Well, hopefully I didn't miss anything and we're ready to get this joyous ride done and over with." He let out a bit of a nervous laugh, as he was one of the survivors of the Union's destruction and his being onboard would be more suspicious than anyone else's in the room.

Camila turned to the Andorian Ensign while she held the children. "Could you add Lieutenant Frex to the list, please?" she asked him.

"Certainly," the large Andorian said and checked him off.

Harvey looked around on the pad. Four of the six spaces were occupied. The Counselor still stood down on the floor while he, Joey, Eden, and Lieutenant Frex were awaiting transport. Looking back to Camila, he said, "I feel like someone early for class."

The omber haired woman frowned while they waited for the other six senior officers to arrive. This was just the senior staff and it was already going sideways. At least her Security team had known how to do it, she inwardly grumbled. Maybe I should run the entire ship through drills until they were disgorging their breakfasts, lunches and dinners and could successfully do it in their sleep. This was the Black Hawk, damnit!

She glanced at the extra spots on the transporter pad and then the Commodore. "Yes, Sir," she said. "Shall I have Security round up Commander Walsh, Commander Reynolds, Commander Marsh, Commander Monroe, Lieutenant Ryler, and Ensign Wysocki?"

T’Mari wasn’t sure if she should be up on the transporter pad or not. Stepping up she took up the fifth spot offering Harvey an apologetic smile. “Sorry Sir, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to wait or not.”

The twins, who seemed to grow a little more used to crowds as of late, watched what was going with a bit of interest until they took notice of the fact both their parents and Eden were on the platform and nowhere near them. That didn't seem to bother Alison as much as her brother did, though. Jameson, on the other hand, looked toward Camila and blinked twice before his little face screwed up as he tried to push away from her.

Joey frowned. She knew this wasn't an ideal situation, but they refused to stay with the holo-nanny. "I think we should run through before Jameson drives our Security Chief batty."

Camila looked down at Jameson like the Red Alert klaxon had just gone off. It had been fine holding them when they hadn't been moving or crying and now she wondered want she should do. There were only five officers on the pad and one starting-to-squirm toddler in her right arm. She cast a look at Joey that almost said you-owe-me-one and smiled down at Jameson.

"Stella stellina, la notte s’avvicina, la fiamma traballa, la mucca è nella stalla*," she sang an Italian nursery rhyme that her Papa had sang to her, hoping to calm him down a little.

John and Terry were the next ones to arrive. They had met up in the turbo lift. Terry was telling John about some of the more interesting missions he'd been a part of as the XO.

As they walked in, John was talking. "...purposely crashed a shuttlecraft into the ship." John chuckled as they nodded to the other officers in the room. He stepped onto the transporter pad as Terry took a spot in the line.

Harvey sighed, as it was impossible to not overhear the two gentlemen's discussion as they walked in. Looking over at Terry, he smirked and said, "Did you tell him about the time we crashed the original Black Hawk?"

Terry chuckled. "No I didn't. I think I'll leave that little nugget for you to tell, Captain. I just watched it from the cockpit of a fighter."

Overhearing the overlapping conversations, Frex leaned over and asked, "Did you guys really crash the original Black Hawk and if so, how? I'm totally curious now!" Frex asked with a small smile forming across his face and a chuckle forming.

Once Commander Reynolds was on the pad, Camila gave a nod to the transporter chief. "Energize," she said, not giving the Commodore or anyone else a chance to respond as the beam locked onto them, immobilized them and ran them through the transporter and reenergized back onto the pads. "You may step off and continue your conversations now," she said.

Harvey stepped down from the platform and reached for Jameson to relieve Camila of her extremely temporary nanny duties. With child in hand, he turned to face the Chief Engineer. "It's not as exciting as it sounds. We lost a nacelle defending New Bajor, and lost our ability to maintain orbit. With the battle going on, there was no one to rescue us. Commander Teixeira and I stayed on the ship and managed to put her down in an unpopulated area. Now, she's basically a mausoleum."

Joey and Eden stepped down behind him, the Intelligence Chief taking Alison from Camila. "Thank you."

Camila was grateful that the two potential warp core breaches were safely out of her hands again. "You're welcome," she said after giving Jameson to Harvey, then Alison to Joey.

Terry went ahead and stepped up onto the transporter padd. "Might as well stand here as much as down there," he said. "Waiting is waiting. But yeah, a monument to another age and another war."

"I'm glad that you guys were able to help defend New Bajor. I'm just sorry that it took a ship to make sure nothing bad happened. Hopefully, nobody was lost in that," Frex offered up.

Harvey didn't have the heart to tell him that thousands of innocents and Starfleet officers had died that day defending a compromised Starfleet. "All that matters is that it's in the past," he shared with Frex instead. Two years may have passed since the loss of the first ship, and several personnel in the room had seen each other at their worst. With any luck, they'd be able to avoid going down that rabbit hole once more.

"Apologies to all," Kennedy offered as she moved briskly into the transporter room. She didn't like being late, but she also wanted to make sure she fully understood what to look for if the crew were going to undergo proper scanning. She also wanted to make sure members of her staff knew what to look for so they could serve as back up reviewers in the case of eyes getting tired or merely just to have a second set of eyes confirming a particular reading. This was not a particular activity that could be undertaken lightly. "I just wanted to review a few things so I could understand what to look for. Shall I step up to be scanned myself or would you like me to review scans that have taken place, sir?"

"A review would be helpful," Harvey stated, bouncing Jameson on his hip to induce a giggle. "I don't think Commander Di Pasquale would want anyone leaving this room if we were a clone." By now several other security members had been screened, and the last thing he wanted would have been to get through a couple hundred people before finding out a key scan component was missed.

T’Mari stood waiting alongside the others, she felt oddly nervous even though she had no reason to be. She wasn’t a clone, or at least as far as she was aware she wasn’t. She shook it off and waited for Kennedy to go over the scan results.

"Go ahead and get on with Commander Walsh," Camila said. "Your scan is even more important than your review at the moment. I don't want to overlook anyone since so many have been late so far. I'll need to review them with you to learn what to look for as well."

"Of course," Kennedy replied with a nod, stepping up onto the transporter. She was glad to be getting her own skin out of the way despite the fact she believed herself to be unique and certainly not a clone! Still, she wanted to be accommodating in whatever way she could. It was nice having the twins around for a distraction. This was definitely going to be one of the strangest stories their parents would have to tell them later, she was sure

As Frex was waiting for the scans to be completed, he looked back at Harvey and said, "I've started working on that poloron beam analysis. I've got one of my team members down in Engineering working on it right now. I've just got a few more things I wanted to look through as I waited for some final results to come through before I handed it back up to you, sir."

"Excellent," Harvey remarked, shifting the baby weight around. Little Jameson was light, but the toddler's active nature meant Harvey's center of gravity kept shifting. "We still don't have much to go by, so anything you can find, no matter how minute, would be of great help."

"Yeah, that's what I was noticing when I went through some of the logs and sensor scans of the event. But, there were some markers that I wanted to run some tests on and that's why I had my staff work on that a little bit while we worked on this," Frex offered up, knowing that even the tiniest bit of information could be useful.

The Commodore nodded as there was not much more he could say on the subject. "I certainly look forward to your report, Lieutenant. Hopefully you'll have something I can share with the task group tomorrow when we arrive at Gavara."

"Can't guarantee that I'll have all the answers that you might seek. But, I'll at least try and get you some leads before we arrive with the task force tomorrow. What time will we arrive to meet up with them, so I can have something ready for you by that time?" Frex asked, wanting to make sure he had something on the Commodore's desk by that time.

Harvey knew that he was asking the world of his new Chief Engineer, a nearly impossible task with hardly any valuable information to vet and utilize. "1100 hours is when we meet," he replied. "But if you can have it to me by 0900, that will give me time to review and take action if needed.

"I'll have it on your desk first thing in the morning, at 0800hrs. It shouldn't take too long for us to run the reports and analysis, so I'll make sure it's on your desk first thing," Frex offered up with a warm smile.

"I'm late, aren't I?" Teddy asked as he rushed into the transporter room. "Got distracted. Sorry."

"It was accounted for in planning and preparation, along with all the memos and reminders," Camila said sweetly.

A moment later Socks entered the Transporter Room. He looked over to the Lieutenant Commanders.

Camila looked at the late Chief of Flight. "Welcome, Ensign," she said dryly. "Please get on the transporter pad." She then tapped her combadge. "Lieutenant Commander Ryler, please report to the transporter room."

Socks followed the lieutenant commander's orders. He stepped up the plankway onto the transporter pad and took position three.

"Thank you," Camila said.

Knowing she was late to the party, Zayna slipped into the transporter room. "Er, sorry. Got caught up in a few things," she stated quietly as she looked towards the transporter pad before stepping up.

Once the rest of the command staff had been scanned, Camila stood by the screening equipment. She looked at Commander Monroe. "Is everything in order?" She asked.

Kennedy took a moment to make sure she had all the scans she needed and that they were complete. It would take a bit of time to review them for the appropriate markers, of course, but she knew it was important not to skimp on the common sense things either. "All scans appear to be complete and accounted for so far."

"Then let's see if we have any clones in our midst." Camila acknowledged and made an adjustment to the console.

"On it," Kennedy replied simply, beginning her review. Immediately, she turned her attention to each person's scan on a micro cellular level, understanding that even the most unstable clones would maintain their integrity on a macro level for sometime. It was going to be the subtle chemical changes that would help her discern a fake from the real McCoy so to speak.

The door to the transporter room opened, permitting entry to Ensign Peris, one of the ship's fighter pilots. She paused in the doorway instantly when she saw the crowd and the many security officers. She instantly recognized the members of the senior staff, including the ship's captain and executive officer. "I have orders to report to the transporter room?" she asked, even though it really should have been a statement or declaration, but seeing everyone there set her curiosity and worry both aflame.

Camila had been looking over the scans and learning on the go when the door opened and a fighter pilot entered. She glanced at the chrono and saw that it was time for the next batch to start at that transporter room. "It'll be a few minutes, Ensign," she said.

The Ensign nodded and stepped off to the side. Well, as much to the side that she possibly could given that the transporter room was already so crowded.

Kennedy continued to examine the scans carefully, checking and rechecking just to be a sure she could be. Monroe is not the type prone to anxiety, especially as it connected to anything work-related, but even she knew the importance of not messing this up. She managed a small smile. "You'll all be relieved to know that so far, there are no clones among us."

Joey let out a sigh of relief, having stayed to the side while others were being screened. She passed Alison over to Eden, then reached for Jameson. "I know getting everyone screened is going to take a while, so I'm going to walk them back home and get back to work."

Camila had closely watched what Commander Monroe had been doing and asked questions on what to specifically look for. That information would be sent to every transporter tech on duty and double checked against Medical. "Then it's time to start getting the rest of the ship screened."

"So we're all in the clear?" Harvey asked, passing off his child to Joey while keeping his gaze fixed on Camila. "No clones in the senior staff?"

"You heard the Doctor, Commodore," Camila verified. "You have no clones in the senior staff."

Harvey found himself relieved, even though part of him had reason to suspect a couple of the new additions to the senior staff. At least he could now mentally resume trusting those who helped him run this ship. "All right then," he said, turning around and facing the officers. "Let's clear the room and keep the process moving."

As the group began to filter out, Harvey turned around once more to Commander Di Pasquale. "Godspeed, Commander."

"Godspeed?' Camila echoed. "I'd be happy with people being on time."

"Thank you for your help with him, Commader di Pasquale," Joey said before offering the Security Chief a smile. It was only a few seconds after that she and her cousin were on their way.

The Commodore nodded to the security personnel standing watch over the pad, then he was the last one out the door. As he crossed over the threshold, he prayed that not a single person who crossed that line failed the test none of them should have had to take.


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CDP's nursery rhyme: * Star Little Star, the night is coming. the flame is trembling, the cow is in the stable

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