Learning

Posted on Tue Jun 23rd, 2020 @ 4:40am by Cailus Griffin & Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Owen Nash & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant John Sandoval & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant Commander James Smith
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:28pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Deck 2 - Conference Room

ON:

With the Away Team back on the Pandora and the crew enjoying temporary liberty on Paradise, Nyx gathered the senior members of the mission team together for a review meeting. Their first experiences on the Outpost were interesting to say the least, and would inform the next stages of the Pandora's operations. The three spears as designated by Lt. jg Parrino would still be in effect, but Nyx was becoming overly cautious about the station's chief and the reliability of Katya's hospitality. He couldn't quite escape the niggling doubts about Paradise, and was eager to learn what the others had witnessed.

Nyx entered the Conference Room ahead of the others and took his seat at the head of the table as usual. He scrolled through a PADD looking at the schedule for liberty on Paradise, ensuring they were keeping a tight control of how many officers were heading over to the station. He noted Ensign Rochester was somehow in the first group going onboard and he regarded this with a quiet frown.

Sandoval came into the conference room, relaxed and refreshed, gliding into the room without his cane. He felt good about his time on Paradise, having given aid to the Irokari, saved Mindo, and made new friends. “Good morning, sir,” he said, nodding to the Captain, as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Sleep well, sir?”

Nyx tilted his head a little as he nodded, "For the most part. There was a lot on my mind though. How about you?"

“Yes, sir!” John said, saluting the Captain with his coffee mug. “You should know, I’ve been talking to Medical about my leg. Even after one session it’s feeling a bit better. I still need the cane sometimes, I’m sure. But it’s a good start!”

“Well that is good news.” Nyx said, and the progress did bring a smile to the Captain’s face. “We’ll have you scaling the Jeffries tubes in no time.”

“Let’s hope so, sir!” said John with a smile.

Natalia entered the conference room and found a few officers inside. She quietly took a seat and scrolled through her PADD for the latest reports. She was used to meetings as an officer, yet she was slightly concerned about the impending deadline for Starfleet to leave. Additionally, a new anti-Federation group had cropped up recently, calling themselves Freedom's Legion.

Krysia walked into the meeting room looking a little worse for wear thanks to her morning sickness but still full of the joys of the news Aeryn had given her the previous afternoon. She walked over to the replicator and replicated herself a glass of water before joining the others at the table, nodding politely to Sandoval as she took the seat next to him. She just hoped her stomach would settle and she wouldn't need to be excusing herself from the meeting at any point. Her focus changed to the door as she sensed James arriving as well, when he'd left their quarters that morning he was still grinning like a Cheshire Cat at their news about the twins.

James entered the room a short time later with PADD in hand. He was all smiles as he took a seat near Krysia. James poked around the room at his friends and family, something didn’t feel right with Paradise station he was anxious to hear what others had discovered. He hadn’t been to the station yet but it was time to unravel the mystery that was Paradise Station. Looking around as he sat down he said, “Morning everyone, such a wonderful day.”

Krysia couldn’t help but grin at the smile still beaming on James’ face. “It is indeed” she smiled warmly at him as she leaned forward to pick up her water and take a sip.

The ever-taciturn security chief entered quietly, taking his seat without bothering to announce his entrance. Cailus was on duty, evidenced by the phaser on his hip, and the mask of cold professionalism had fallen as he waited for the meeting to begin.

Natalia smirked at Cailus entering.

Owen made his way into the room having grabbed a fresh Earl Grey tea from the replicator and nodded to everyone before sitting down. Having enjoyed a meal with Krys the previous day on the station and having discussed his concerns with Nyx from the Away Teams initial visit, he was eager to know what the next step was and everyone's reactions to Paradise.

"Good morning everyone," he said before taking a sip of his drink.

"Good morning Commander" Krysia smiled at Owen as he sipped his drink.

John was mid-sip of his coffee when the Commander greeted them, so he looked at his superior officer and nodded.

Natalia nodded. She almost dreaded the formalism of these meetings. If everyone said good morning and responded, that would take a good 10 minutes. She averted her attention back to the PADD. Apparently, Starfleet was re-activating vessels out of the monthballs in response to the Alrakis Pact.

Mindo entered the room last, quietly heading to his chair and propping himself on his knees to the table's height.

"Let's begin." Nyx said when all of the attendees had arrived, and he sat forward in his chair. "Now I, for one, observed quite a few interesting things from our first meeting on the station, but I wanted to gauge everyone else's thoughts on the matter first. For those who went over to Paradise, what did you think?"

Owen decided to hold back giving his views on the station until the others in the room had expressed their own. Whilst he'd spent a small amount of time onboard, he didn't feel he was informed enough yet to give an opinion. However, his biggest concern remained the ship being docked at the station and the danger that the surrounding ships posed so far.

Krysia was the first to say what she thought. "From having what contact I had with Katya she seems honest and open, to a point. However, I got the impression that there's more to Katya and this station than what there seems. The guards who escorted me to speak to their prisoner didn't allow me personal contact, it was all via view screen but he wasn't permitted free speech except to answer my questions and they were almost desperate to get my answer! The whole situation with the runaway children has me bothered too, why draw weapons when giving chase to two runaway children? It bothers me to say the least."

"Similar impressions, at least from administration," added John. "Katya seemed quite paranoid at essentially everything we did. She called us out for bringing a telepath. In hindsight, it's also possible that breakfast they put out for us was intentional, to throw us off our game." He paused a moment to think further. "In the common areas though...it was different. People seemed content to be there. Dr. Jameson and I shopped without incident. The only trouble we faced was fairly easily defused." He looked at Mindo, at first with a stern look, but then gave him a sly wink. Mindo looked away for a second, not making eye contact with everyone. "And the fact that the port is so busy is telling. People want to come here, and are willing to wait a long time for access."

Mindo looked back up at the Captain. "From a cultural and technological standpoint, the station is mostly up-to-date, though there was a considerable amount of information we gave that was entirely new to them. I'm not sure entirely what they have to give us, though. And not everyone takes Federation credits, though there are some vendors who do. Also, the demeanor of the place is rather civil. I was politely kicked out of a bar without much incident, which was a surprise. Of course, I have Lieutenant Sandoval to thank in part."

James looked around, “Captain I would like permission to board station as a registered guest. It would allow me a chance to look around without anyone looking over my shoulder, and not being in uniform shouldn’t raise any concerns from those running the station and may, just maybe we can find out what’s going on, and I don’t have to do it alone I can take volunteers with me as well.”

Krysia looked at James as he suggested the plan he'd already mentioned to her, if she wasn't already so well known to Katya she'd have volunteered in an instant to go with him. Her concern for his welfare was written all over her face, enough for anyone in the room to see just by looking at her. "I think it might be a good idea Captain" She looked at James and offered a brief smile. "Katya's people will be on the look out for our crew not a random guest or guests arriving."

"A human will be viewed as suspicious, regardless of their clothing," Cailus interjected, frowning. "We're far enough from the Federation that humans and other Federation species aren't commonplace. More than that, the station's security will be keeping a close observation of anyone passing through the airlock. Katya's people and any other interested parties aboard the station, such as Ravagers or agents of the Alrakis Pact, will immediately recognise you as Starfleet. I doubt that they have the resources to monitor all fifty of the crew who are on liberty at any given time, but I would suggest assuming that they do."

"Then how's about we do the opposite?" Krysia looked at Cailus. "I'm still tasked with the job of finding the missing children, that gives me chance to get wherever I need to be. I more or less, have free roam of the marketplace and its surrounding area. Doesn't mean I can't be looking around getting a feel for what's going on over there." She looked at Nyx to see what he'd make of all the input so far.

“We can do that as well, but what if we travelled together, do some shopping for the babies that are due and keep an eye on things. It would allow me better access to the facility.” James looked toward Lieutenant Parrino to see if she had anything to offer.

"Seems to be a better cover," Natalia chimed in.

Krysia was relaxing back in her seat she liked the suggestion James had given, they did need to buy extra supplies for the twins. She'd only considered one baby when looking before.

"Time is not on our side." Nyx weighed in to the discussion. "The evacuation period is due to expire and we're still some distance from the Carnwennan Corridor. To fulfill the Hybrid Spear of our operation, we need to be using any opportunity to find information on the Breen and Ravager movements on the station. It is possible the search for the missing children is a distraction, but if it helps you gain further time on the station and possibly into areas the other crew cannot go, then we'll pursue it. Lieutenant Griffin and Kaleri, that is your priority."

"Yes Sir" Krysia looked at James a little disappointed they couldn't go together but she had her duties just as he did. She looked at Griffin giving him a smile of acknowledgement.

Cailus nodded, his eyes slightly out of focus as his mind whirled on potential ways to advance the investigation.

Krysia smiled a wry smile as she gazed at Cailus, she could already sense his mind at work on their part of the plan. She had to admit she was starting to enjoy working with Cailus, he got things done no messing.

"We also have a way-in with the Federation database we supplied them." Nyx continued, "Mindo, Parrino, is there a way we could use that as a means of covertly searching the station's systems?"

"From my assessment, sir, the station's technology does not seem that advanced. If Engineering can create a back channel in the database and essentially a key logger, we can track what they are looking for and likely use our back channel account on the database to look into associated systems. It may be risky though, if they detect us snooping around their systems," Natalia answered.

"I have the perfect person for that," said Mindo, thinking of Greep, a computer genius.

"Lieutenant Sandoval, how about we contact the Irokari directly and try to meet them in person this time?" Nyx asked his Chief Diplomatic Officer. "We were sequestered into different rooms for the initial meeting but they must be docked at the station. I wonder if they'll be willing to provide information in a more private setting? Smith, you could help with this too."

"Yes, sir," John answered. "They'll have a ship docked here, too, to transport their aid back to Irokar. It won't have left yet; the aid transfer isn't complete. My department will arrange a small meeting between their leader and Mr. Smith and I."

Smith nodded “ Aye, sir.” He had wanted to join Krysia on the station, but he had a duty to perform and if he could find something in this meeting it could be to their advantage.

"Excellent." Nyx nodded, pleased that they were back on track again. "Is there anything else?"

Krysia shook her head and looked around to see if there were any other points to be raised.

"Nothing from me, sir," Natalia answered.

Owen decided to bring the team up to speed on the issues of the Pandora being located in such a dense area of starships near to its docking location.

"Thanks to Ensign Vieers, we've been picking up a large amount of comm traffic asking a lot of questions about our presence here and also about how we were able to get a docking space so quickly after arriving," he explained.

"It seems that a lot of the vessels in the immediate area have been waiting for a docking space for weeks or even months, so the fact that a Federation Starship has managed this so fast has given me cause for concern with some of the neighbouring vessels. I have Ops keeping an eye on things but should there be any hostile action taken against us then we'll need to be prepared," Owen finished.

“Agreed. That’s the last thing we want. For now, let us proceed with the mission as planned. I expect each team to make regular reports on their progress. We don't have long to learn what information we can and get back to Federation territory. But we still need to be cautious in our approach so that we also don't make an enemy out of Katya." He said heavily, looking between every officer in the room. It was a big ask, but he knew the crew could pull it off. "Now, Mr Griffin and Mr Nash, would you mind staying back? Everyone else, let's get to work."

Owen nodded to him as the other officers started filing out of the room.

OFF