Vic Gets All The Fun Jobs

Posted on Mon Dec 14th, 2015 @ 2:00pm by Vic & Lieutenant JG Phoebe Chaelt

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Intel - Phoebe's Office

* Intel Deck 31 - Lt. Chaelt’s Office *

Lt. Phoebe Chaelt banged her fist on her desk and uttered a string of curses. Nico’s report on the Borg situation had come through and she’d had just a few minutes to talk to him before he had to dash off to get to the Hammond. Commander Sakkath was taking a rescue team and would be leaving shortly. She really should alert Leto but she was on her way home and it could wait until the ACIO wasn’t flying through Hirogen space.

The one bit of good news she had received early that morning was that the group who’d been tossed back in time to Bajor was home. The report had a few disturbing notes in it, however. She sighed and looked back at the terminal. There was a message from Counselor Amani that Six would be on Archadia for a few days along with the reason for the trip. At that moment, Phoebe joined a long line of people who wanted to toss Niro through an airlock. She had summoned Vic and was not looking forward to this briefing. What she needed was some strong coffee. As if he’d read her mind, Vance’s hand appeared in the door, holding a mug.

“Safe to come in?”

“Yeah.” She waved him on in and took the coffee he offered. “Thanks. This day sucks and it’s still early yet. Tell me you aren’t bringing more bad news?”

“Not me, nope. I just heard the cursing and thought you might need your morning fix.”

“I did. If you haven’t read the morning reports, go do it. That will clear up the reason for my mood. Vic is due in too. I have an assignment for the two of you but I’ll call you in to go over it once I’m done with him. This assignment’s straight from the top.”

Vance looked surprised. “I see. Alrighty, just yell when you need me. Enjoy the coffee.” He ducked out of her office and waved to Vic who was emerging from the turbolift.

Vic waved back, smiling cheerily. His dinner with Desta the night before had been quite pleasant and he was riding high today. Right up until he rode into Phoebe’s aura. His smile quickly faded and looked into her office carefully. “Hey you, you’re sort of radiating some dark thoughts. What’s gone wrong?” He went in and sat in the chair opposite her desk.

Phoebe looked up from her terminal as he sat down. “And you look like you won the Antares lottery. “You first. What gives?”

“Oh, not much. Just had a good date, that’s all,” he brushed his good mood aside. It was personal, after all. But then, he couldn’t keep the wide grin off his face as he thought of Desta in her tiny, oh-so-tiny, emerald green bikini. He cleared his throat and shifted in the chair. “Yeah, that’s it.”

Phoebe snorted and shook her head. “For all your years in Intel, you are a lousy liar. That’s it? Yeah...okay. I suppose you describe 900 as just a little station too.” She sipped her coffee and then the merriment left her expression. “Since you were off duty, I didn’t want to interrupt yesterday or the wee hours this morning. So, now that you’re here, I’ll update you in person. You’d better fasten your seatbelt though.”

“Oh, sure, go for it. Let’s see if you can put a dent in my merry this morning,” he winked at her, mimicking her thick Scottish accent.

“Very funny.” She picked up the padd with her list on it and began at the top. “First, news on Leto and Eldren’s retrieval. They extracted Seren and last we heard, were crossing Hirogen space. If all goes well, they will be here sometime late tomorrow. That’s the good news.”

“Okay. Hawke will be pleased to hear that, both of them. Kudos to Leto,” he said.

“It was an interesting trip - her and a man named Eldren Tohr. You should look him up sometime. Rumour has it he’s on Suresh’s payroll.” She looked back at her list. “Next is neither good nor bad news at this point. We’ll see which way it goes in the days to come. The Ning’Tao has docked and the captain has indicated they will be here for an extended layover.”

“Hmm. Out of all the traffic this station sees, why are we calling them out in particular?”, he asked. Ordinarily, ships came and went; some, like Niro’s and Robart’s came and stayed, seemingly permanently. Usually it was of no notice unless, like Niro and Robart had, the Captain and crew became an issue in some way. “Oh... we’re expecting them to cause trouble? Any idea what kind of trouble?”

Phoebe shrugged. “They are, to use the common term, pirates. That’s the main issue but the First Mate is one of ours...meaning Fleet intel. You know Ronin, of course. The captain’s name is Isaura Panossian. Not Fleet Intel but someone who has been ...of assistance, let’s say, in the past.”

“Oh. That’s... interesting,” he said slowly, considering that news. “Is Ronin her watcher? Or does a meeting with her need to be arranged?”

Phoebe began to laugh. “No he isn’t. Neither of them knows about the other. It may be an interesting vacation for those two, don’t you think?”

“So long as their interesting doesn’t harsh our calm,” he said, already feeling a bit less calm than when he’d entered Intel a few minutes ago. “Security is aware of them, of course? Gilroy can handle whatever trouble that crew brings to us.”

“Gilroy...which leads me to the next thing. Gilroy is going to be off-station for several days, along with Nico, Jackson, Commander Sakkath, CWO Awf, Lt. Tigan….and a bunch of the Marines under Major Lorenz. The group that went to investigate the Borg cube has run into some trouble.”

Vic's face fell. "The Borg cube? Was that Oz's group? Nalas and Nico. Oh gods, what happened to them?" He knew this had to be the worst news Phoebe had - and that Oralia was affected since Jackson was going.

“Nico’s report said that they detected no viable life signs on the cube but apparently there were some. Dae, Oz, Bryce, Iggy, and Patrick Smith were taken. Dae ordered Nico to get off the planet. The Hammond will be leaving shortly to retrieve them and hopefully blow the drones to hell.” Phoebe immediately covered her mouth. With a former Borg in the department, she knew she needed to watch that. Then she recalled that Six wasn’t there - more news for Vic.

"Those drones are Oz, Dae, Bryce... Did you say Iggy? Iggy was there? And now she's a Borg species?" He was horrified. As if fully functional Borg drones weren't bad enough: an eight-legged, fanged, hairy fully functional Borg drones was going to haunt his nightmares. Could she even be rehabilitated the way Six had been? Vic shook himself. "Does Chance know yet? Oralia's brother, I mean."

“No. Jackson was told and all Marla knows is that Dae has run into some trouble. Six was Bryce’s emergency contact but she was gone, of course. She hasn’t been told either.” Phoebe drank some more coffee and she knew she was delaying. Best to get on with it. “Which brings me to the last point...well next to last.”

"Six is back? Are Darwin and Julisa okay? Is Six okay?" He reasoned that if Six were still gone, Phoebe wouldn't have mentioned whether she'd been told or not - it would be safe to assume she hadn't been told if she weren't on the Station. "Where are they? Piper?"

“They returned early this morning,” she answered. “Darwin and Julisa have been released. Darwin had to have some repairwork done on a disruptor injury that was fixed on Bajor but the repair was somewhat primitive. Six is still in Piper but should be released soon.”

"Was she badly injured?" Since Darwin had been injured, that was very likely. Though he asked the question, Vic was mildly surprised to find that he wasn't particularly concerned - he was concerned, but only to the level he'd be concerned if Jackson or Darwin had been injured.

“No, she was uninjured. She was being held because of Niro. He had apparently been monkeying around in her head while they were gone. The report from Security indicates false memories implanted while other real ones were blocked. She will be off duty for several days and down on Archadia.” That was almost all the bad news and Phoebe laid the padd aside. She reached for her mug, only to find it was empty.

"They're home. That's what matters. Now their injuries - wherever they might be, can be tended to," he waxed philosophical. He watched as Phoebe glared at the emptiness of her mug and chuckled. "You said 'next to last'? What other news do you have?"

“This request came in from Admiral Wegener by way of Captain Hawke. We have a slight..situation that has come up. This morning Commander Kh’ali was visited by a Bajoran woman who’d just landed. She was there to request asylum. When Kh’ali checked her information, turns out the lady is listed as a Cardassian citizen, the wife of a Legate. Also this morning, that same Legate appeared at Admiral Wegener’s office to introduce himself and said he was meeting his wife here. See where this is going?”

"It sounds ugly, and not just because a Cardassian is involved." Vic frowned.

“Got it in one,” Phoebe replied. “Admiral Wegener requested a full report on Legate Zikar and Captain Hawke has requested direct monitoring. That’s where you come in.”

"Oh, joy. I get to follow the Cardassian around?" He sighed and could think of other things he'd rather do, such as pull his hair out.

“I figure that being at the Nexus, you are a good one to watch since he’s likely to go there. Vance can do the footwork at other times, as can Edana since Six will be gone the next few days. The wife is being watched by Kh’ali’s people and a security detail in one of the VIP quarters. Right now, she’s remaining in quarters but I don’t expect that to last. Things may get interesting once she’s moving about the station. The short version is, however, that she ran off after twenty-three years with him. Go figure.” Phoebe shrugged.

"All right. Though I'd rather not have Cardies in the Nexus at all," Vic said, realizing he had developed a distaste for the species - Reva's kidnapper had been Cardassian.

“Welcome to the frontier. You have my sympathies though. I’m going to be on call as well, to relieve Vance and if he comes into the Nexus, I want you to call me. Either Leto, when she’s back, or I will come and see if we can get a little closer.”

"I hear and I'll obey," he said, quoting some old text, and standing. "I'll see you later, then."

“Take care Vic. Let me know how the second date goes.” Phoebe snickered as he moved to the door.

"When it's a cold day in hell," he called back as he walked away down the hall.

*********************
Lt. Phoebe Chaelt
The Bearer Of News (Mostly Bad)

Lt. Vic
Unhappy Recipient