Civil(ian) Relations

Posted on Thu Apr 20th, 2023 @ 7:26am by Caithlin t'Leiya & Lieutenant Colonel Shaun Bradley
Edited on on Thu May 4th, 2023 @ 2:07pm

2,855 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Pressure
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD01 11:45

Logic was one of those funny things. Some people spent their lives chasing the perfect definition of it. Others would refute it, saying that it was just chaos attempting to make order of the randomness of the universe. For Shaun Bradley logic was one of those things that came in the form of a checklist. Do X, then Y, and finally Z. Protocol Six was one of those things, since Starfleet Captains had a habit of getting kidnapped.

Step one was to establish a combat ready stance. This was done, the Marines at Camp Vimy were now fully ready for a rapid combat deployment if needed. They'd even rolled the Chieftain out of the motor pool and readied it. This had resulted in a hoard of very excited school children crawling all over it, much to the confusion of a tank commander. Step two was to inform command - that was done too, with both Rear Admiral Minawara up to speed as well as Major General MacTaryn. Step three was to stand by and wait for the next in the line of command to approach you and ask for assistance. That's where the list had fallen apart, seeing as the next in the chain was him. That was complicated, he was not Starfleet. He'd already had a meeting with the various department heads, which meant the next stage was to assure the civilian population.

That was the part Shaun knew he was unfit for. Marines telling people things had gone unwell meant that panic usually followed. Starfleet gave bad news, Marines heralded the apocalypse. That meant he needed a face to address the issue with people in a calm and casual process. That had resulted in the call he'd made. People thought highly of the lawyer that was new to the colony, a leader of the people of sorts. Shaun had sent out the simple letter, a polite request for Caithlin to come to the Captain's office for a quick discussion. It was somewhat deceptive in the writing, the letter as emotionless and bland as though he were inviting the woman for lunch. Still, he needed to keep things as calm as he could before too many people realized what was happening.

The rather out-of-nowhere invitation was curious; though perhaps the man simply had finally decided she merited interest; or found the time in his schedule. The almost sanitized-level blandness of the invite itself, however, had piqued Caithlin's interest; setting off decades of instincts trained to note the subtle intrigue of what was not said speaking as loudly as what was. On the way over, she briefly considered once again some of what she thought were the most likely prospects for the reasoning behind it; coming unfortunately once again up to the Fleet and/or the Marines intending to make some sort of legal claim against the Bray Foundation for the recent disturbances. That would be a headache to sort out, if so. Still. She would have expected the Captain to hold forth on that if so; though perhaps they meant to throw her off balance by having the summons come from the Colonel instead. If so, they were likely to disappointed, she thought, smoothing one hand carefully over her jacket as she waited to be let in to the office.

The door hissed aside, ushering Caithlin in, to find Shaun sitting at the Captain's desk, reading over a PaDD with an interest that denoted he'd rather not actually be reading it. His eyes darted up to the woman, then back down as he gestured to the seat across from him, finishing his line and then smiling as he placed the PaDD down. Civilians liked when you smiled, right? "Hello Ms. t'Leiya, sorry for summoning you without much context," he said, somewhat cordially, a tone that failed to meet his face. Tired lines crept at the edges, and he resisted the urge to outwardly sigh. "I don't believe we've formally met," he now stood and extended a hand. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Shaun Bradley. Second Lightyear Division, Third Aerospace Group Commander, and on loan from above to Haumea Colony as the Marine liason. I find myself in a bit of perdiciment, and I hope you can help." He sat back down, and glanced at the coffee tumbler that was empty and inwardly cursed. He could always do with more coffee.

"A few Marine formalities first, if you'll pardon them. I'm a telepath, recent and somewhat unrefined, but in my line of work we consider it rude not to disclose that to people we talk with. I don't go around reading people's minds, if anything I prefer the mystery of letting people talk for themselves. Second, for the moment I am acting as the Starfleet detachment's commanding officer, as we are currently dealing with a bit of an emergency - which would be what you are here for. I bring this up, as keeping with Marine tradition, anything mission critical is liable to be relayed to my chain of command as well as Starfleet. Wanted to be upfront about all that. If any of that is objectionable, please let me know and I can find someone more suited to talk to you." He paused now, letting her have her moment to say anything.

Having dodged the inevitable human handshake earlier with the trick her nieces had taught her shortly after she'd first arrived on Earth - overshoot the outstretched hand ever-so-slightly to grasp hand-to wrist with the other party rather than palm-to-palm - Caithlin absorbed the rest rather rapidly as it was relayed: The first bit was unsettling; she was not generally fond of being around telepaths; half of it from plain and simple common sense, half from unpleasant memories of the ones she'd met working for Federation intelligence; and she did not exactly necessarily believe most people who could read minds claiming they would not or were not reading yours. It was the second part that caught undeniable attention, however, and anything she had been planning to say with a witty quip about how the only objectionable thing being the attempt to grab her hand went by the wayside.

"What sort of emergency?" The attorney's eyebrow crept up slightly, and she sat somewhat reluctantly once the Marine did; whatever this situation was, it apparently was not any of the ones she had surmised it might be on the way over. There had been precious little quickly accessible and available on the Lieutenant Colonel himself, for that matter; it was possible she might have been able to dig more up with more time, but as it was, she knew little more of him than what the man's public record contained; a situation she was never fond of being in.

Shaun drummed his fingers on the desk, mulling it over in his mind how to say it. "Captain Mahone is missing," he came out and said. "As I understand it, as a representative of the Bray Foundation and this community, you are rather well respected around here. You also have a degree of engagement with the civilian council that I sorely lack. There is going to be a lot of chaos and a lot of confusion when that information goes public." The fingers drummed again, and the Marine looked off into the distance, his mind mentally making a note to check the navigation beacons for any ships coming or going unexpectedly. "I need to have someone who's got a rather good head on their shoulders to spearhead the questions that'll be asked, someone that we can safely relay information to to act as the civilian liason in this matter. I would like that to be you."

Exactly how and with what details the situation arose was something Caithlin made a firm mental note of her own to get whatever information she could on - she somewhat doubted it was in play here, but it was thoroughly possible for one to rope in an outside party to help manage a situation with the aim in mind that they would do so unaware of the complexities of it, and therefore get themselves in too deeply to it to later extricate or redeem themselves when it later became clear it was something they did not wish to be associated with or a side they did not wish to be backing. Not to mention depending on the details of the incident; whether or not its root cause would pose a threat to her family.

"If you wish to avoid speculation or chaos when the information is released; my first suggestion would be that it is likely those things will to a degree be unavoidable, but are likely to be greater if it is released in an accidental or unplanned way. You would do well to consider releasing it in a controlled manner at a time and situation of your choosing; but in doing so your enemy is plain and simply foremost time: The longer you wait, the more likely it will come out some other way. I will have further questions in a moment, but for the first: Do you have a...." Caithlin searched for the Federation term in her head for a moment "...public affairs officer? Someone skilled in the release of information and the follow-ons to it?"

A scoff escaped the Marine and he all but rolled his eyes. "Clearly you haven't dealt with the Fleet in any meaningful way," he said, a tinge of the inter-operational rivarly sneaking into his voice. "A PAO would be great. But they have never assigned one out this far, the Commanding Officer has been acting in that role since the Io incident. If it were a simple matter of me being in charge and something less dramatic happening, I'd fumble my way through it. I am great with a starfighter, better with a bar brawl, but when it comes to letting information out to the public I am like a brick through a window. It doesn't help the general perception of Marines is that we bring bad tidyings, adding to it while maintaining our own relations will just make things harder." He sighed, the kind of tired sigh of a man who very much was in over his head. "I'll likely have to do it eventually, but following that I only have Ensign Davna to screen questions and and investigation to oversee. I have requested additional support from the Fleet, but at the moment the kind of staff we need is a week away."

He gestured about the room. "This is the best I have in the moment, short of deputizing someone to deal with it. Which is why I a coming to you, and in a smaller part, the Bray Foundation to act as our support in this matter for the time being, until we get our ducks in a row. As you mentioned yourself, there is a very short window we have left to make this matter known to the public in a controlled fashion."

Caithlin considered for a moment, head tilting slightly to one side then returning to stare full-on at Shaun. "If you wish that to be the case, then I will need substantially more information on what is and is not known at the moment; as well as indications on what of it you - or those conducting any investigation - do or do not wish to be shared for risk of jeopardizing it. And quite possibly, a member of the Fleet personnel, still, to partner with - if you wish in large part to attempt to avoid unrest, then one way to stack the deck in your favor is with signs that there is - mysterious disappearances aside - not tension or instability in or between the colony's various authorities. If this Davna is good at public interface to a degree she might do; unless you have a better candidate to put forward."

"I'll ask her, but seeing how critical she is to the investigation that might be the last resort. I have Marines gifted with gab, but I fear with the shrinking window that I may have to make that announcement sooner than I'd like. If needed I'll do it and deal with the backlash." A part of him knew that there was likely going to be no one else, and that he would be the one to do it himself. Still, he'd make that his true last resort. "Lastly, as a scientific element, do you know if the Bray Foundation has any external sensors? Space telescopes, geological or seismic sensors? Any data we could add to our own to fill out a complete picture? Starfleet would appreciate assistance in that matter greatly."

"It is possible. Perhaps even probable. I do not know the entire list of specific equipment for immediate recall however; but I suspect my sister does." It was perhaps a choice irony of the universe that led to Ali and Caithlin both now working for Bray; the engineer and the lawyer working in concert as they had been raised to do...Just for a different cause and in different roles than had been originally intended for them in their youth. One of Caithlin's hands swiped at an otherwise ordinary looking silver-white bangle hidden on one wrist under her sleeve, and a little projection screen with a block of Romulan text came up, ready to ask the question in a no-doubt nebulous and innocuous-if-intercepted fashion; but her finger hovered without sending, her next words belying a question perhaps most colonial lawyers wouldn't think to consider. "Are you blocking transmissions from this location; or not? If you are, I will need to access your comms system instead to inquire."

"Just off planet," Shaun said, as though commenting on the weather. There was some part of his information security training that screamed about not being so free with information. That part was quickly pushed down by the time he'd spent dealing with pirates and mauraders, and his understanding that even the most innocent of Romulans were not idiots. "Planetary communicatons are still functional as they don't rely on the satellite network outside of the major population centres."

"Ah." Caithlin left unmentioned the various other ways one could attempt to interfere with such regardless if they were truly determined to; and sent the query along. "If you wish to consider an announcement; I suggest a broadcast on the local voice and video access channels. It provides the ability to share information in a more controlled fashion versus and open press conference or announcement in person in the town square or such. We can record it in advance and be able to re-record any pieces which need it, and arrange for it to provide the information desired, and any questions or contacts we wish people to respond to if they have additional information that may be useful. You will wish to set up someone to field those as they come in, then, however. Perhaps a member of the security staff, if any are available; or if nothing else, a clerk who is skilled in recording information."

Nodding alone, Shaun punched a note into his PaDD to find someone. Chances were one of his Corporals was about to get a operator job if anything. "Then I'll make sure that happens on our end. I now have to inform the Council before that, following which we will have to make the announcement. Do you have any follow up questions for me?"

"Several; mostly concerning further details of the incident and what is or is not know at the moment." The words harkened back to Caithlin's earlier comment; that she would require more of such details before participating in any announcements or public management of. "However, in there interests of time; perhaps you could assign someone else with such details to brief me while you handle the other items; or provide access to any briefing materials to review while you do. Also, I suggest you get one of your quartermasters to pull the required recording equipment and set it up for us in an appropriate space for when the time comes." It was the smooth combination of personal handling vs delegation and whatever combination of and adjustments a situation required that one might expect from a woman who had once been part of the relative inner circle of an Empire in crisis in the aftermath of an apocalypse; and that she had lost such did not mean she had lost some of the skills one garnered from having survived it.

"I'll see that we have an attache assigned to you to keep you briefed, and make sure we have all the equipment ready to go." Shaun stood. "Ms. t'Leiya, thank you for your time we will be in touch," he said cordially, letting her stand and leave. When the door closed, he finally sat back down, and laced his fingers together. He had a lot to do.

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