Entrepeneurship

Posted on Wed May 1, 2019 @ 7:50pm by Captain Maritza Soran & Civilian Jason Haines

910 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Commander Soran's Office
Timeline: MD 7, 1300

[ON]

Jason sat in his office half-heartedly reading reports. His meeting with Raymond Raddon was getting to him. He had tangled a bit with the man, slightly putting his toe on the 'line in the sand' that the man had put forward. Jason knew if he kept quiet for a bit, there would be other items to occupy the man. That said, he needed a way to find out more about Raddon, without drawing attention to Starfleet. He smiled as an idea hit him. He would need Commander Soran's permission, at least her unofficial permission, as he would be stretching, if not breaking a number of Starfleet regulations. He darted off to the command deck.

Coming off the turbolift on to the command deck, he saw the Commander's yeoman and went to the man.

"Hello Commander Soran's Yeoman", he said with a smile. "How are you today Claude?"

Claude gave him a grin. "I'm just fine, lieutenant. Its a beautiful day. No-one has died horribly recently. All is good. How's life amongst the spooks and ghouls?"

"Same old, same old", Jason said with a smirk. "A few brains here, a few brains there. Enough to keep us busy. Speaking of busy, is the Commander available? I need to speak with her."

Claude checked a padd. "She's got ten minutes before her next appointment. Want me to show you in? Or do you need longer?"

"Please show me in", Jason said. "If I can't pitch this in ten minutes, I need to take public speaking over again."

Jason followed Claude. He liked the Petty Officer. He wondered who was busier, the Commander or the Yeoman. He would probably place his bets on Claude on most days."

"Come on then, let's go beard the lion." Claude stood up and headed over to the Commander's office. There was a brief exchange at the door, and then Jason was shown into the brutally spartan office.

Soran seemed to be working on a single pad, a stylus in her hand. "What can I do for you, Mr. Haines?"

"Well, Commander, off the record", Jason replied. "In order to further investigate a subject of interest and not draw attention to Starfleet, I want to start a business. Actually, it would be more accurate to describe it as move one that I know of, that can fit my needs, here."

"I'm intrigued, Mr Haines. What are you investigating, and what are you hoping to achieve?"

Jason sized the Commander up for a moment, wondering if she was on the 'payroll'. It didn't matter as he had already started to tip his hand.

"With all that is going on with Raddon Corp", Jason said. "their recent activities on and off the station and some interesting discussion with multiple Raddon staff, I am convinced that they are going to be a very big problem. Of course, I can't prove it yet and I can't hope to prove it through standard channels otherwise elements in Starfleet will come down on me and then you. Therefore I need to change the channel to use an old earth term. As to what I am hoping to achieve, is to stop them."

It was an interesting idea. Totally off playbook. She wanted to say yes. But. This sort of ideological domestic terrorism was a very grey area. It was so unknown in the Federation. Nothing since Terra First for humans, or the Syrranites on Vulcan. The Maquis was the closest thing, and that was twenty years ago. Whether it would count as an Intelligence operation or a security investiagation wouldnt' be clear at all. "There are some legal and ethical considerations of Intelligence investigating a Federation citizen. Have you spoken to security? Have you any hints he might be dealing unlawfully with a hostile power?"

"That's the thing Commander, Intelligence wouldn't be investigating anything", Jason replied with a smile. "We would be verifying information passed along to us by another business, owned by a Federation citizen. How they came about the information, who knows. Industrial espionage can get quite dicey, or so I am told."

He shrugged his shoulders.

Maritza raised an eyebrow. That was... devious. "Very well. But let Lieutenant Tessaro know what you're up to. She should know."

"Although, I will do that if you wish", Jason said. "but, I do ask you to reconsider. There needs to be a level of realism so that if for example, members of the business get caught doing anything that might seem questionable, I wouldn't want Raddon to think that they are getting off easy. And the fewer that know about this, the better the illusion so to speak."

"I agree in principle. but I'm not having two departments working in competition. Let her know you're there, and ask her to keep it to herself."

"Very well Commander, I will indeed contact her", Jason replied. "I don't have anything else in regards to this unless you have any questions."

"Not yet. I look forward to seeing your results."

"Thank you for indulging me on this Commander", Jason said, then stood at attention briefly, and knowing his ten minutes was up he left her office.

Passing by Claude tapping his wrist as if he had a watch, he said with a grin, "Twenty seconds to spare."

Claude snorted a laugh and gave him a thumbs up.


[OFF]
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Lieutenant (jg) Jason Haines
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deep Space 5


Commander Maritza Soran
Commanding Officer
Deep Space Five

 

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