The Admiral's Debriefing

Posted on Tue Oct 2nd, 2012 @ 6:49pm by Captain Li Hawke & Lieutenant Commander Kh'ali & Admiral Ricky Wegener & Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Admiral Wegener's Office

In the span of just a few minutes, Oralia Zeferino went from the Archadian jail to the Archadian Palace to the Station’s transporter room on Deck 307, in Security’s detention center. Once there, she found Darwin waiting for her. On seeing his reaction to her, though, she rather wished he hadn’t been waiting. Behind her, the four officers who’d been incarcerated with Kh’ali filtered off to Main Security, a few decks down.

Darwin’s expressive face winced as he caught sight of Oralia’s bruised collarbones, split lip and a swelling near her left temple. “I trust the Captain looks worse?”

“Gee, thanks, Mike, love it when you’re brutally honest with me,” she shot him a glare then asked, “Levin?”

“In the morgue; he got a bit roughed up during his apprehension.”

“A bit roughed up?” His definition of ‘roughed up’ and hers obviously didn’t match. “I’m ‘roughed up’; if he’s in the morgue, he’s dead. Who got that result for us?” Her gaze went to his hands then his face; he had no obvious wounds. “Gilroy?”

“Ah, no. Nick Marcinko was with us. He’s a touch... zealous. For an Intel guy.”

Thinking that Darwin’s assessment was most likely understated, as he tended to do that, Oz covered her eyes for a moment. “Fine. Make sure Ian Bren is kept under tight guard still.”

Oralia rubbed her neck, giving Darwin a moment to make a notation on his ubiquitous padd. “By the way, Ganesh was in the Nexus earlier,” he commented.

That made Oz groan. “Let me guess: the Bolian’s mouth ran over?” As Darwin nodded, she shook her head. “I’ll have to talk with him about that.” She paused, thinking better of it, “Actually, either Gilroy or Aliso need to get on that. If I have to do it, he’ll lose a stripe or two.”

Making yet another note on the padd, he nodded and sent a message to the two. “Ensign Bren is fully joined now; the ritual, though delayed, went off just fine. We have some information from the Natalia personality and it seems like Ian is recalling more and more.”

“Good,” she nodded and blinked a few times, “What time is it?”

He checked his watch, “Later than we think, Oz. Alpha shift ended quite a while ago.”

“Oh. Go home, head to bed,” she told him, “Um, I mean, first do that one thing, then go home. It’s where I’m headed. Well... after I see an Admiral,” she glanced down at the silly formal Archadian dress she was wearing. “And after I get a uniform.”

He chuckled and nodded, “Yes, Ma’am, I’ll happily follow the order to go to bed and let you go see the Admiral.”

** Admiral Wegener’s Office **

Having quickly showered and changed into a uniform, Oz showed up at the Admiral’s office and waited till Hope gestured for her to go in. She did, noting that Wegener and Li were already there, “Admiral, Commander, good to see you both,” she grinned slightly.

“And you, Commander,” Rick said with a smile.

Li smiled as Oz entered the office. “Welcome home. It’s a relief to see you here instead of down there behind bars.”

“It’s a relief to be here versus there,” Oz agreed and took the seat the Admiral had gestured to.

"How was your treatment?" Rick asked. "If they were harsh in any way, I will file a formal complaint with Starfleet against them. It may very well affect their protectorate status."

“The only thing harsh was the Captain’s initial scuffle with me. That woman is built like a brick house.” Oralia smiled, having nearly said ‘brick shithouse’ in front of the Admiral, probably not a great idea; then she recalled: he was the one who taught Iggy how to curse. “But once in the cell, I was left alone.”

Li frowned in thought. “Don’t you find it strange that someone in her position was so glaringly inept at her job? If you had conducted an investigation in that manner, Oz, we’d be having some serious words right now. Dobry seems to think there is a plot afoot and he agrees that having the Prime Minister out of the way was a neat, and important step in it. Your thoughts?”

“She isn’t inept. Prior to this, I found her to be highly competent and very interested in following the laws. But this...?” Oz shook her head, mystified. “I agree with Dobry that there is a conspiracy here. Not only do we have the Captain’s lax attention to detail in this matter, but there’s the attempted murder of Jackson Banning and Cassidy Wilde. Natalia Bren was involved in that and Bren’s subsequent host, Ian, recalls quite a bit about that plot. The plan was to place the blame on the Archadian military. That, along with the bombing in the cafe that just missed Admiral Hawke, would have given the Parliament reason to cast a no confidence vote against the Prime Minister.”

“So do we think that some of the security staff could be involved? Possibly swayed by Section 31 to help facilitate their plot?” Rick asked, leaning back in his large, leather chair.

The doors opened as he asked the question and Kh’ali stepped in. “My apologies, Admiral, Commander. I was detained a bit but I have Dr. Harding’s report. It proves that she’d had time to bleed out for longer than we were in the palace.” She passed the padd to Ricky. “And the answer to your question would be a yes, in our opinion.”

"Hmmm," he said. "Then that kind of muddies the waters a bit." Looking to Li he asked, "What has Intel found out about the military's involvement in the bombing?"

“None. Nick and Nenita made a run a week ago and he downloaded a very interesting load of information straight from military division.” Li flashed Kh’ali a rueful smile. “Sorry Kh’ali, I know that’s technically a no-no, considering our agreement with them. It proved, however that there were no planned strikes. Interestingly, there were several reports of stolen weapons that matched what surfaced with Natalia and the bombing.”

"Have your--er, Lieutenant Smith's people go back through that information," Rick replied, "and see if there is any indication that the PM's security staff may have been involved in any way. We may have some sort of coup working from within where the right hand, the military, doesn't know what the left hand, the security forces, are up to."

“I can see that, Admiral,” Oralia chimed in, “Who better to tank an investigation than the Captain of the Guard. She certainly has on this one, but she lacks any subtlety in doing so. If the goal is to remove the current Prime Minister and the first plan failed, killing the Queen would work. Ian Bren, who inherited Natalia’s memories confirmed that Jonas Levin was assigned to kill the Queen, as a back-up plan. We know Natalia was involved with Section 31.”

“Now,” Kh’ali spoke up, “it’s a matter of convincing Prime Minister Maline. I gather she was somewhat sceptical, Admiral?”

“Oh, aye,” he replied. "And it makes sense that Levin would try and find comrades within the security forces for the Prime Minister," Rick replied. "Who else could easily get so close to her without question? Of course, now that she's to be made Queen, they've still won because they've essentially taken all real power away from her and can install their own PM." He stood and paced behind the desk. "It was obvious when we were down there," he said, jerking his head toward Li, "that she didn't want to hear much of what we had to say. We need to find some sort of evidence to convince her that something is up and that she, or the replacement PM, may be in danger, or that the replacement may actually wind up being controlled by someone else."

He paced a bit more then added, "Kh'ali, can you have one of your people go over any information available about the power of the Queen? I'd like to know if, once Maline becomes Queen, if she has any power at all or if she is simply to be a figurehead. Surely she must have some sway or ability to affect the government, otherwise, what's the point of having someone sitting there? Especially when this person is essentially just some elected schlub and not a descendant in a long line of royalty?"

“Will do, Sir. Aure’l will be perfect for that. In the meantime, I have a few contacts that I intend to call in some favors from so we’ll see if that turns up anything.”

“We have all the security feeds and check-in records from the reception, Oz. I’ll send them on to you to go over. If anyone can spot what’s missing, in case there’s some tampering going on, it’s you,” Li added.

“I’ll get on that as soon as possible, Commander. We’ll also press Ian Bren a bit more, see what other information he might recall,” Oz confirmed.

“I’m also curious why the door chime panel shocked our security officer.” Kh’ali frowned. “The escort at the time seemed to be in a big hurry to move along before the door even opened. You think it may have been sabotaged Oz? And whatever it was supposed to do, it fizzled?”

She nodded, “But ‘think’ is the operative word there. I haven’t been able to take a look at that panel, nor has anyone in my department. Perhaps it was simply jimmied, to open the door to the Queen’s chamber without a code. I would be surprised if the same panel is there when, and if, we get to ever take a look.”

"Then we need to move fast, people," Rick interjected. "Find me something conclusive, or just damned close, that can link the Captain of the Guard, or security staff, to this and Maline will have to give us full access to investigate. If not, then she's either involved somehow, or she's a complete fucking moron."

A slight grin appeared on his face at the glances the women gave him. Most Admirals didn't curse, at least not as much as he did. But he didn't care. After a couple hundred years, some things just aren't worth worrying about anymore.

“Will do, Admiral,” Oralia said, even though she wasn’t completely certain where to start on that. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go get Security started on that. Admiral, Commanders,” Oz stood and, at a nod from Rick, headed out.

“And I’ll get to work as well. Thank you Admiral, Commander Hawke.” Kh’ali rose and followed Oz out leaving Li and Ricky alone in the office.

“Cross your fingers, sir. This is going to take some finesse,” Li commented.

"My dear, I'm almost of the mind to say screw finesse. Part of me wants to just John Wayne in there," he said, making an old Earth reference, "lay my thing down and tell 'em how it's going to be. Besides, they do have to follow some guidelines from the Federation in their protectorate status. To a certain degree, they have to fall in line with everyone else. I'd think that us finding suspicion of some sort of coup would put us squarely in line to kick ass, take names and come out smelling like roses."

“I think that once Oz and Kh’ali and Intel finish, we’ll be exactly there. Kh’ali’s latest agreement with them ran largely in our favor. They are walking a fine line now.” Li smiled. “Lay what thing down....” She hesitated only a second and held up her hand. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

Rick smiled wondering just how he would explain that one to her. "Maybe so, but this bullshit has gone well beyond their relationship with the Federation in their status. I'm well within my rights as the senior officer in the quadrant to lay the smack down on them right now." He huffed and flopped down into his chair. "But I guess it's a good thing you're my XO. The yin to my overzealous yang." He paused, "Uh, that didn't come out exactly right..."

At that Li had to laugh out loud. “I think that should just be left here.” She rose to go, then turned back. “No more troubles since the shuttle malfunction?”

"Nothing," he said, then looked back at her. "Unless--does it look like I'm getting shorter to you?"

She smiled finally. “I hear you do shrink with old age. And on that note... see you.” And she zipped out the door.

________________________
Lt. Michael Darwin
Lt. Commander Oralia Zeferino
Vice Admiral Ricky Wegener
Commander Li Hawke
Lt. Commander Kh’ali