Departmental Handover

Posted on Tue Apr 10, 2018 @ 1:04am by Lieutenant Ryan Milarno & Commander Caleb Ryan & Ensign Jessica Mayhew

2,296 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Victory Conditions
Location: Security Office
Timeline: MD4

ON:

Ryan Milarno had just finished a walk around of the department, Amongst that walk around he inspected the armory and found every weapon proved to be worthy of use. Happy with that, he made his way back to his office to file that he'd checked them.

Approaching his office, he saw someone waiting, a command officer and someone he hadn't met yet. As he walked closer, he smiled as he worked out who it was. "Commander Ryan," he smiled as he held his hand out. "It's good to meet you. I hope you haven't been waiting long?"

“Not at all,” Caleb assured Milarno, taking the man’s hand. Caleb’s grip was firm and calloused, his hand large. He was a tall man, with dark hair and eyes and weathered features, and he spoke with a rather thick Texan accent. “Ah wanted ta give ya some time ta settle in before Ah came around an’ introduced mahself. Didn’t want ta give the impression that Ah was gonna be lookin’ over yer shoulder. How ya settlin’ in? Ya keepin’ Jess in line?” He flashed a smile at the pretty young blonde ensign seated at the front desk.

“Would you like some coffee, sir?” Jessica asked, seeming more to address Caleb than Ryan. But then she hadn’t had enough time yet to learn her new boss’s preferences.

“That’d be jus’ fine, Ensign Mayhew,” Caleb said. He looked back to Ryan. “Jess said ya were inspectin’ th’armory. Emily does great work,” he said, referring to the tall, leggy, busty redhead that was the departments armory officer and weapons trainer.

"Yes." Ryan nodded. "And I was impressed, and I don't think I'll be anything other than that. In the coming days I'll be conducting more inspections. Not to bring your previous work here in question, sir. I'd just like to make sure everything is to standard for my own sense of knowing," he explained, then turned to Ensign Mayhew. "If you don't mind, Ensign, I'll take a coffee too, just plain black," he said with a smile.

"We can talk in the office if you'd like, Commander?" Ryan asked.

“Yes, sir,” Jessica said with a nod, turning to head off for the replicator.

“That’d be just fine,” Caleb told Ryan. He took a step toward the office, then remembered it wasn’t his anymore, and paused to step aside for the new chief. “An’ no offense taken. Ya need ta be up ta speed on ever’thin’ that’s goin’ on yerself. Ah understand that. Get ta know yer people an’ all that. Ah did the same thing when Ah first arrived.”

Ryan smiled and stepped forward and opened his office door. "So, Commander, I'm sure there's a lot you can tell me about what's going on here. I won't lie, at the minute I feel a little lost, and I don't know where to begin." he chuckled. "Please, sit down," he offered.

“Thank ya.” Caleb took a seat, and soon after they were settled, Jessica arrived with their coffee.

“Jess heah tends ta have the pulse a things,” Caleb commented, giving the young blonde a smile.

The ensign blushed a bit. “Anything else you need, sirs?” she asked.

“Bring in the Nazl, Dilithium Chamber, and Thereen reports,” Caleb told her. “An’ the Box an’ Promenade incident reports.”

“Yes, sir,” Jessica said, glancing to Ryan to see if he had more to add.

Ryan shook his head ever so slightly and smiled at Jessica as she left. "If I might ask, was there anything you did that made this transition easier for yourself? I could use a little advice." He smiled. He wasn't afraid to admit it. "There's just so much to take in and be knowledgeable of and to remember." He laughed. "All the while in the back of your head knowing there's a certain group of people on the station that would happily see me gone." He laughed again, despite it being far from funny. "Don't mind me, sir. I can handle Gabriel and company."

Caleb gave a bemused smile. “So ya’ve met Mr. Dorian,” he said, emphasizing the man’s civilian title. “He’s a snake.” Caleb shook his head. “Ya got one thing over me when Ah moved in, Milarno,” he told the younger man. “Ah didn’t have the former chief ta catch me up.” Caleb laughed. “Then again, Ah didn’t have the former chief lookin’ over mah shoulder as mah boss, either, so six of one, Ah guess.”

Ensign Mayhew returned with several padds and Caleb took them, laying them out on the table. “Ya got some good people. Get ta know ‘em an’ what they can do. You’ll do fine. An’ mah office is always open.”

Caleb indicated for Jessica to sit and join them and handed her the padd. “Catch Lieutenant Milarno up on the Ferengi.”

“Yes, sir,” Jessica said, sitting up straight in her chair, looking over at her old and new boss. “Dealing the with Ferengi now is a bit...delicate,” she said. “They’re mostly law abiding, but we’ve had some...incidents. “During the appearance of Pangea, when there was concern that the station might fall apart, we ordered an evacuation, all ships on hand. The Ferengi ambassador Qinee made her ambassadorial courier available, taking on several adolescent students, including Commander Ryan’s daughter.” She nodded to Caleb.

Caleb’s jaw worked a bit under his cheek, but he said nothing, and so Jessica continued. “Per Ferengi custom, the evacuation of the children included a bargain for passage. Aleczandra Ryan, “Jessica again shot a look to Caleb, who merely sat stone still, staring at the wall, a tension in his body, “agreed to perform certain...services on Ambassadorial Aide Nazl. Oomax specifically,” she noted, looking up at Milarno and then Caleb. “This arrangement was confirmed by both parties, and said services were confirmed to have been given by both parties. The incident was handed over to child protective services, but according to Ferengi law -- and they were on a Ferengi vessel -- Miss Ryan is of age for consent.”

Jessica took a breath and continued. “Congruent to this, when the evacuation order was canceled, the Ferengi vessel refused its position in the return line several times. It turned out that the Ferengi captain of the vessel was exercising his right under Ferengi law to be compensated for the trouble of taking on the refugees and refused to dock until credits were transferred. The previous station commander, Captain T’vaurek, was...irate. She ordered Security to perform a boarding maneuver and rescue operation on the Ferengi ambassador’s yacht. That resulted in a couple Ferengi embassy guards being injured by phaser fire, frightened adolescents, and the Ferengi ambassador and her aide being held at phaser point while the children were moved to the runabout.”

Caleb nodded. “It took Diplomacy a significant amount of massaging an’ credits ta smooth over that little debacle,” he said with a sigh. “Needless ta say, Ambassador Qinee ain’t mah biggest fan, though Ah opposed the boardin’ maneuver. Lieutenant Trellis was put in charge of the actual mission, while Ah ran point in Ops.”

Caleb looked back to Jessica and nodded.

“Needless to say,” Jessica continued, “the Ferengi actions, along with Ambassadorial Aide Nazl’s taking advantage of a young Human girl--” Jessica paused and looked up at Caleb.

“Half Human,” Caleb admitted. “But Human enough for some folks with an agenda,” he pointed out.

Jessica nodded. “It made tensions between the vocal Human First minority on the station and the alien population increase. A few weeks later, Ambassadorial Aide Nazl was found stabbed repeatedly near the turbolifts by the Box of Delights. Security sensors were scrambled by some unknown technology we are still trying to decipher. Science and Engineering are working on that. Suffice it to say, Nazl was found too late and Medical was unable to save him. Ambassador Qinee was understandably furious. Investigations have produced little evidence. Nazl was not the most well-liked Ferengi on the station. Even Ambassador Qinee had little good to say about him. He was implicated in the death of the previous Ferengi ambassador, but that was ruled natural causes. He apparently had been running some shady operations out of the lower docks, as well.

“Nazl was last seen exiting the Box of Delights with a Human woman. The Box does not have security cameras, and so we were only able to get a description from the waitress who served them and got a sketch. The woman eventually turned up stabbed and shot by a disruptor dead, beamed onto the awning of the Dilithium Chamber with another dead Human. She was identified as Ranjel Nassir, a former Starfleet Security officer. The nature of her wounds did match the knife used to kill Nazl. The other Human was a dock worker named Kyran. There was a recorded incident of disruptor fire on one of the lower docks, but the place had been scrubbed and sterilised.”

Jessica paused, looking to Caleb again. He just nodded.

Jessica took a breath. “We got trace DNA, but...we can’t be sure it wasn’t corrupted. It led back to Aleczandra Ryan, but there is no way she could have been there at the time. She was in her quarters. Security cameras in the corridor saw her enter and never leave during our time frame.”

Ryan nodded and took a moment to process some of what had just been said. "So someone is trying to frame her." He realised he was stating the obvious, but he was saying it to confirm his own thoughts. "I assume we have people working on this, yes?" he asked, then looked at the commander. "Sorry, sir. I can imagine how difficult this all is."

Caleb shifted in his seat. “Been through worse,” he said. “Frame, or just contamination, or a false positive, we don’t know yet,” he admitted.

“We do have people working on it, but until there is more evidence…” She shrugged.

“Anything on the Thereen case?” Caleb asked.

Jessica switched to another padd and looked over to Ryan. “There is a Bajoran shopkeeper on the Promenade. Rumor in the Bajoran community is she was a collaborator.” She let the weight of that settle. “At least two unknown assailants entered her quarters at night, drugged her with a paralyzing agent, and made threats unless she convinced our Chief of Diplomacy -- she is dating him -- to lay off the Cardassians. We’ve been having some trouble with them, if that fleet sitting just outside our space isn’t enough of a giveaway. At the time, Diplomacy was pressuring them about an attack they made on a Bajoran experimental vessel that was in international space, as well as a boarding of a Bajoran merchant vessel that went wrong and killed a Cardassian boarding party.”

Jessica looked back down at the padd. “We did a thorough forensic sweep of Miss Thereen’s quarters and shop. Nothing conclusive. They were careful. Professional. Miss Thereen has moved in with Lieutenant Reynolds in the meantime, and Lieutenant Reynolds has been moved from Diplomacy to Counseling, so I hope that should alleviate any further attempts at extortion on Miss Thereen.”

“Let’s hope,” Caleb said wryly.

Ryan nodded. "Lots of things to be keeping an eye on, I see, and we will." He turned, smiling to Jessica, then back to the commander. "There was one thing or person I should say that I wanted to run past you. What's your take on Miss Ibalin?"

Caleb mused over the question. “Complicated,” he said. “Ah’m fairly certain she has some fingers in some...unsavory pies,” he admitted. “No proof, mind. Just...rumors, connections. She seems ta run the Box clean, though. She’s in a bit of a fued with Raddon at the Dilithium Chamber, an’ not over business.” Caleb shook his head. “He’s another one ta watch. Ibalin, though, seems willin’ ta try an’ play nice with us.”

Ryan nodded. "I'd have to agree from my dealings with her so far, although I make sure my shields are up when she's around. I can't work her out." He laughed. "You said her feud with Raddon is not over business. Do you know what it's over?" he asked.

“Raddon’s stirring up a lot a the pro-Human an’ anti-alien rhetoric ‘round heah,” Caleb said with a sigh, rubbing his forehead as if it gave him a headache. And it did. “Ibelin is the most prominent non-Human business owner on the Promenade, an’ she’s a strong woman. Don’t take no shit from no one. Had an incident in her place after hours. Two brothers, children, snuck in. Seems like they were aimin’ ta do some mischief t’ an alien. Nothin’ harmful like. Well, Ibelin heard somethin’ an’ came out ta investigate. Spooked the boys somethin’ fierce. One of ‘em ended up goin’ over the balcony railin’. Evidence suggests an accident, boy got scared, turned ‘round, an’ flipped right over the rail when he tried ta run. Raddon got his teeth inta it though, got the little brother singin’ that she pushed him over the rail. Been rilin’ everyone up since. Ah’ll have Jess pull that report for ya, too.”

Jessica had taken a seat in the corner chair, unobtrusive, and took notes. She nodded.

Looking over the report Ryan sighed. "She's not blessed with the best of luck, is she? Thank you for helping me catch up, Commander. Itt's greatly appreciated," he told him genuinely.

OFF:

Lieutenant Ryan Milarno
Chief Security Officer

Lt. Cmdr. Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer

Ens. Jessica Mayhew
Security Officer
NPC Caleb Ryan

 

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