Security Debriefing

Posted on Tue Nov 12th, 2024 @ 12:15pm by Commander Rovak & Lieutenant Rune Thul & Lieutenant JG Eudlo & Ensign Shova Qiil & Ensign P'Lar & Staff Warrant Officer Umet'Okan

2,276 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: DownTime [1]
Location: Security Suite, DS13
Timeline: 1500 Hours, MD00

Rovak delivered Rune to the entrance of the security suite, but his urgency to leave was obvious. "I believe Lieutenant Eudlo and the department's other senior officers are waiting inside." Rovak said.

As Rovak said it, the doors to the suite parted, and Lieutenant Eudlo emerged. He looked surprised to see them, but why he had stepped out wasn't obvious. "Commander, sir. This must be Lieutenant Thul." Eudlo said after a moment's deduction. "A pleasure to meet you, sir." He extended his hand to Thul.

"And you," Rune replied, though his expression did warp at the wave of 'something' from Eudlo. He quickly schooled his face to a neutral state, he felt it too early to follow up on whatever it was, but maybe it will be revealed soon.

"If you will both excuse me, I am needed elsewhere." Rovak said, leaving them to it.

"Yes sir," Rune replied and turned back to Eudlo. "I will need a debrief of the current status of all security personnel, equipment and our relations with the Refugees," he said, then gestured for Eudlo to re-enter the suite.

"Of course sir. If you'll follow me I've gathered the acting department heads in the briefing room." Eudlo said, leading the new chief through the lobby. It was a simple spacious room in standard starfleet decor. A desk sat in the middle of the room, occupied by a frustrated Kelpien Petty Officer who was speaking into a headset trying to determine the location of a delivery of chairs that had not appeared. "I apologise in advance if things aren't up to your standards sir. Honestly, this is my first deputy chief assignment, and we weren't expecting a chief for another few weeks." Eudlo told the Lieutenant.

Rune couldn't help but chuckle. "Nothing to apologise for, I only just arrived." He said, following the other man inside. "Let's take stock and go from there." He said with a smile.

At the rear of the room on one side were some auxiliary desks and terminals in the corners, at the front was a waiting area with a series of comfortable couches. In the other rear corner, the security department's own transporter, currently being maintained by a pair of engineers. They passed through the doors on the left of the room past the disassembled transporter, and entered the briefing room through a short hallway. It wasn't the usual round table other departments met within, it was descending rows of seating facing a central dais and presentation area.

In the front row, the three senior officers stood when they heard the doors part. "Lieutenant Thul, allow me to introduce Ensign Shova Qiil, our First Response team lead. Ensign P'Lar, acting head of investigations, and Warrant Officer Umet'okan, Master-at-arms." As Thul and Eudlo came down the outer steps towards the front of the room, gesturing to the Andorian, Vulcan and Jem'Hadar respectively.

"Greetings, I am Lieutenant Rune Thul. Son of the Seventh House of Betazed and wielder of the Sacred Sword. I'm a last minute transfer from the Qaraqorum as your assigned Chief of Security is unfortunately unable to be here due to personal reasons." Rune began and looked at each of his staff officers in turn. He lingered on the Jem'Hadar for a moment, wondering about the soldier.

"I will be relying on you all to help me get caught up on all things that are happening on this station," he sighed and made a practiced odd shape with his fingers and hands that does seem religious in origin. "May the Four Deities watch over you," he said somewhat reluctant, but since this was a formal meeting he had to follow his mother's wishes. He had completely forgotten to do the same when he met the Commander, but time was extremely limited then.

“And you, sir." Eudlo said, returning the gesture. "Ensign P’Lar, please debrief the Lieutenant on the state of our personnel.” Eudlo told the Vulcan.

“At present our security complement is 200 total. 24 Officers, 176 NCOs. There are several officers of the Romulan Free State serving among the wider crew’s complement, but none within Security.” P’Lar explained.

"None in Security, that seems unusual." Rune commented but Eudlo was already onto the next officer.

“Umet’Okan, our equipment?” Eudlo asked of the Jem'Hadar warrant officer.

“We have two active armories. There are 750 type-2 hand phasers and 240 type-3 phaser rifles in storage. We have 300 photon grenades in stock. We have counted 500 type-2 duty phasers on board, all registered and accounted for. I understand the commander has brought a number of personal weapons aboard that are stored in a number of locations, as a department we have not received specific information.”

"I shall discuss that with him when we both have a chance, thank you," Rune nodded at the Jem'Hadar, he wondered if the Federation allowed the Jem'Hadar to use their own weapons or only Starfleet ones. The soldier was in Starfleet uniform, so that was interesting to see.

“Qiil, the refugee population?” Eudlo asked.

“Sir, in my estimation, the refugee situation is currently under control. At one point we estimated there were 5,000 Romulans aboard, however we took oaths, DNA and holographs as the minimum standard for residency. Only 3,000 remain that were willing to provide all three. We believe the absent 2,000 made their way to the orbital dilithium refinery in orbit of Dreizhen VII.” Qiil explained.

“For the first few weeks it was not encouraged for Starfleet officers to set foot in Romulan venues, but I believe we have developed a good rapport. It does not hurt that there has been fraternization between our populations.” Qiil said with a tone that was more than a little judgemental.

“We don’t interfere in the Romulans conducting their business so long as they keep the peace. The Commander asked only that we respond to reported problems. There are 45 registered Romulan businesses aboard, 35 of which are in the so-called ‘green ward’ in the civilian sector, where most of the Romulan population is housed. Decks 95-98. The oldest establishment we estimate is more than a century old. It’s the most reliable method we have of dating the age of the station so far. There’s one venue on deck 98, called the wintergarden, it’s where about 90% of the shady business goes down. Keeping an eye on the front door there gives us a good idea of what to expect from the coming days.” Qiil explained.

Rune nodded. "Thank you all for your reports. We are allowed to patrol the Green Ward so they may approach us for help should they need it, or do we just wait at the entrance for them to come to us?" He asked curious, as Security would have to have been inside the ward in order to know that shady deals were inside the Wintergarden. Or Romulans told them.

"We've been making our presence known and patrolling in all the public areas, we've just made a point of seeming like we're getting in their business. So far we've stayed outside the threshold their venues unless invited in, or an emergency demands it." Eudlo explained.

"From what I understood from the Commander's admittedly somewhat vague instructions is that we're still in charge, but we're doing everything we can to stay on the good side of what we'll assume will be a lot of paranoia. I think he's confident relations will improve. I know I am." Eudlo said warmly, before realising something that seemed to trouble him slightly. "Has the Commander filled you in about the Romulan Ambassador?"

He nodded. "I agree," though he shook his head. "What about the Romulan Ambassador? I don't think so, there is much I haven't been informed of," Rune chuckled.

"Well, there's a bit. P'Lar?" Eudlo deferred to the Vulcan.

"Ambassador Creon is the daughter of the Tal Shiar spymaster Lucius Creon. She's believed to have entered his service as an agent after she finished school. She defected to the Federation around 2390 and was headhunted by Starfleet Intelligence. She eventually rose to the rank of Captain and was given command of the USS Hercules, with Commander Rovak as her XO. A few months into their mission into Romulan space and she absconded with the ship's saucer. Starfleet later learned she brought it here to dislodge the station's imperial commanders. She defected to the Romulan Free State and she was briefly commander of this station before the Free State handed it over to us, and made her the Ambassador." P'Lar explained. "I hasten to add that little of this information is on file, this is what we have pieced together. Her files are classified, even her Starfleet service."

"Thank you for that, Ensign. That is quite the resume. It's so hard to find good help these days," Rune joked to help ease the tension, though carried on. "Creon you say," the name did ring a bell as Rune did some fieldwork for Intelligence in the Romulan Star Empire prior to the Supernova, especially about Tal'Shiar Spymaster Lucius Creon and other VIPs. "I wonder if Ambassador to the Federation was her goal when she defected to Starfleet, or she was ordered to perform all she did up to defecting to the Free State." He said, voicing his thoughts to no one in particular. He would look into using his Intel clearance to get access to those files at some stage.

Rune glanced around his senior staff. "Any major persons among the refugees I should be aware of? Primarily from both troublesome and reliable point of views."

"None that we're aware of. There haven't been any major crimes since we took over that we're aware of. According to the Free State the Imperial bureaucracy collapsed during the Fall, almost all records were lost. They've told us everything they know, but the oldest records only go back a decade or so. There's an entire orchestra of musicians who were previously pretty well known throughout the Empire. Otherwise we have DNA and bioscans on file for everyone who stayed, so we're confident anybody who gets up to no good won't be able to slink away unnoticed. 70% of the population is under thirty. Otherwise just about everyone with any military experience is serving in some capacity aboard the station. There's a fairly comprehensive database, but not many else I'd qualify as a major person." Eudlo told the chief.

"Thank you for that." Rune clapped his hands together once and smiled. "Well first off I would like to have a quick party with all team leaders and then its business as usual." He added. "If any of you wish to attend you all are welcome, I will be making the announcement in the coming days once I have caught up on all the admin I need to." He offered his hands in an open palm up gesture. "Unless there's anything else you all believe that is urgent you are free to return to your duties?"

Eudlo looked them over and after a moment he began to leave. "Alright team, let's get back to it. Thanks, Chief."

The others stood and moved back up the steps around the rows of seats, with a polite nod to the Chief as they went. Umet'Okan moved slowly, and stopped in front of Thul. Once P'Lar, Eudlo and Qiil had left, and the door sealed behind them, he spoke. "Sir, it is on record already, but I wish to affirm to you that my first loyalty is to Starfleet. The Founders are my gods and I revere them, but my honour, ethics and genetic encoding all require me to fulfil the oaths I have made to defend the Federation for the rest of my days. Service is victory. Victory is life. Sir."

"I thank you for that and it is confirmed." Rune said before he gave a nod. "Did the Founders, though I suppose a Vorta really would be the one, share with you as to why they wished for Jem'Hadar to serve in Starfleet?"

"The Founders wish for peace. The best way to ensure peace is to promote understanding. There are still many who fear us or harbour trauma from the war. We hope to show that the peoples of the Dominion share the Federation's ideals. The Founders wish to atone for their past cruelty, and show that they too can commit to justice and freedom for all who wish it."

One thing was standing out to Rune. "That is one way of doing it." He decided to ask. "Did you fight in the war or are you a newborne?" His expression neutral.

"I was hatched seven years ago. By Gamma Jem'Hadar standards, I am middle-aged. I know only what I have been taught of the war. We learn that while there was fault on both sides, we drew first blood, coldly. The Dominion changed greatly with the return of the Founder Odo. He taught us that order could be achieved through consensus, rather than force." Umet'Okan explained.

Rune nodded. "Odo is a hero of mine, it would be an honour to meet the Founder one day." He smiled. "Do the Dominion personnel working in the Federation report their daily life to the Founders to keep them updated to how life with us goes?" He asked wondering about it all.

"Others may, I do not. My life is here now." Umet'Okan said simply.

"Understood. Thank you for the conversation. I know you have duties to tend to, I won't keep you any longer." Rune smiled and stepped aside to allow the Jem'Hadar a path directly out of the meeting room.

"Sir." Umet'okan said with a nod before moving to the exit.

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