The Confidant (part 2)
Posted on Thu Jul 4th, 2019 @ 6:39am by Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant Sera Williams
1,176 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Deep Freeze
Location: Conference room, Command Center
Timeline: MD 01 : 1130 Hrs
Luka waited for everyone else to file out before he turned to Sera. He had yet to officially meet her since she had taken the position of Chief of Operations, but there was an odd familiarity that he could not quite place. But, how to bring that up with her without seeming absolutely awkward was another matter entirely.
"Lieutenant, there's something I think we need to go over. And I whatever I say cannot leave this room." Luka gave the woman a small frown. "Is this something you can be comfortable with?"
"Of course, Commander," Sera nodded as she turned to meet his gaze. As she stepped closer, a slight look of concern crossed her face. "How can I help?" she offered.
"I need someone who has managed to fly under the radar to take a look at something for me." Luka felt a sour taste in his mouth as he spoke the thought aloud. "I don't want it to be a full focus for you, but I can't help but think there's something fishy about the explosion on the Io, and if anything odd turns up on the colony, well... It would have to go through one of your people, I would think. Or the civilian requisition crew. I just want to make sure that if it is something we can catch, that we catch it. Discreetly."
"Keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary?" Sera echoed. "I can do that for you, anytime I get something I can usually have it moved into a storage area. I can run scans pretty quietly there, won't appear out of the ordinary." Looking into Luka's eyes, she asked, "Do you suspect something specific? That could narrow the focus down a little."
Luka frowned, steepling his fingers. "I'm not sure what to suspect, in honesty, but it's something Commodore Minawara mentioned that has me worried. I don't want this investigation to turn into something worse, but the thought of housing any sort of nefarious activity while we have innocent lives to care for doesn't sit well with me. Odd cargo, maybe. Something old that you wouldn't see coming, or even something mundane that comes in with some of the civilian goods. I know it's vague, but it's what I have to go on... And that isn't much at all."
Nodding her head a bit as she wrapped her head around the task, Sera exhaled deeply. "All of the debris is being stored together near some caves we found a few kilometers away from the colony for safety reasons, as you know." Thinking for a moment, Sera added, "I can run a more thorough scan on everything we find, starting with the explosion site."
"Do." Luka stated plainly. "As a secondary priority, obviously." He paused, as if assessing how trustworthy Sera was before he revealed his information. "When Security did their investigation, they discovered that whoever blew up the Io did so with antiquated explosives. They planned this so well that they didn't do this with anything we could detect right away, so it's likely they were sneaking it in in pieces. They we still don't know, but something that they thought would still not be detectable even after the explosion."
Taking a moment to consider this new information, Sera looked in the direction of the debris even though it would have been impossible to see from the colony. "That does help. The older materials leave a bit more traceable material, I can assume it was made from materials normally found on a ship but in a combination that isn't." She tapped the table as she added, "That is how we find it. I can calibrate the scanners to adjust for such volatile combinations."
"Good." Luka paused a beat, but not long enough for the distaste to return to his tongue. "Hopefully you'll find something that gives us a good lead." Another beat, before he decided to change the subject. "Lieutenant, I can't place my finger on it, but I feel like we've run into each other one way or another."
Sera let out one of those slight laughs that sounds more like an exhale out at the comment. "We very briefly met on the Portland a few years back," she responded. "I was newly appointed to Assistant Chief Engineer, so I doubt we would have had many reasons to run into each other."
"... The Portland." Luka's cheeks reddened at the name of the vessel. Oh, he remembered. "We may have, but I wasn't around long enough to garner anything but maybe a little ire from the Captain. Not as Chief of Operations." He frowned at the thought, chuckling at his own lapse of judgment. "But that's why I keep my diagnostics to the medical realm. Good to know. And the Portland was a flagship at the time, wasn't she?"
"She was," Sera nodded before adding, "though why Starfleet chose a century old Miranda to be a flagship, I will never know." Bringing herself out of those memories, she said, "I've had varied career since then. Being on a station taught me about my responsibilities at Operations. Just because I can't make a ship go from here doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing."
Luka's brow rose. "Lieutenant, if you're here, there's a reason for it. You don't have to prove to me you're proficient at your job. If I didn't think you were, someone else did and had you transferred in. Nothing gets done if I can't trust the crew to do their jobs." He let out a snort, before holding a hand up. "But I need an objective mindset who knows what it's like to have a high security level all around them. And you, Lieutenant, you're that mindset. Just keep me posted, and don't get yourself hurt."
"Will do, Captain," Sera nodded her understanding. "I'll need to borrow a security officer, so I can make sure what I'm looking at used to be a bomb, if there is anything to find," she requested. "Have anyone who's capable and trustworthy in mind?"
"No." Luka wanted to trust his security crew, but there were so many moving parts to this investigation. However, there was another option. "I do have an assistant chief for the department transferring in in a few days. Use her. An objective mindset might be more trustworthy than one close to the scene."
"Someone who hasn't established first impressions and will be objective," Sera nodded, "I can work with her." Shifting her stance a little as she considered the options available, she asked, "Will that be all, sir?"
"Hm..." It was only a short pause, before Luka looked up from his thoughts. His heavily weighing thoughts. "Yes, sorry. That will be all. Just be careful, no matter what you do."
"Of course, Sir," Sera nodded, then finished, "I'll report any findings directly to you and you alone." She then turned to leave the briefing. The woman definitely had her work cut out for her.
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