Security Concerns

Posted on Thu Dec 19th, 2024 @ 5:39pm by Lieutenant Rune Thul & Lieutenant Alph & Petty Officer 1st Class Ayol & Commander Letayo Jedite

1,601 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Masters of the Stars [2]
Location: Security Suite--->>Bravo Docking Lounge
Timeline: Afternoon MD01

When Thul returned to his office from the briefing with Admiral Gali in the conference room, the Vorta yeoman Ayol was already waiting for him.

"Good morning Lieutenant. The Captain has asked that I spend some time assisting you." Ayol told him with a cheery disposition that was slightly at odds with his somewhat whispery Vorta voice.

Rune looked up from his desk and nodded. "Ah, yes. While I am all mostly caught up on all the station and its personnel has gone through already, I did want to get your view on how Tactical has been operating as of late?" He asked, with some hand gestures.

"I do have meetings scheduled with Tactical officers for later on today and tomorrow. I wanted to get your administration overview about what is doing well and what can be improved?" Rune added a moment later.

"I understand from the most recent reports that concerns were highlighted about Lieutenant T'Vath's decisions regarding crew deployment during downtime being excessive. The Captain's concern is that the department was run more like Operations, preparing for any eventuality, rather than dealing with situations as they arose, and devoting sentient resources elsewhere in the meanwhile." Ayol summarised. "But I am really more of a scheduler and communicator than analyst."

Rune nodded. "Considering Tactical is responsible for the station's exterior defence and that anything could come through that rift to attack us, preparing for as many situations as possible could mean the difference between life or death if defensive and offensive systems aren't tested regularly or constantly improved however they can be." His expression went very serious. "Yeoman, the away team saw the station be destroyed by that Dalek. Our technology, and that of those who built this station, are nothing compared to it's attack."

He smiled again, but faintly. "However, I will look into the Captain's concerns. Did he happen to mention any specifics as to particular duties he'd like tended to?" Rune asked as he caught the scheduler and communicator aspects of the Yeoman's job as things he'd have more on, especially from the Captain.

"Readiness drill scores peaked at around 80% under Lieutenant T'Vath. Beyond improving these scores, nothing further is requested beyond standard day-to-day operations. Tactical functioned well in our last engagement, an efficiency rating of 85%. Perhaps you can also bring about improvement there. As ever, we hope not to need you." Ayol said with a clear and whispery little laugh. "Are there any operational matters in other departments or areas I can provide more detail on?"

"Could you tell me how Security was doing prior to my arrival?" Rune asked, he was hopeful of good results but began preparing for bad ones.

"There were no incidents to report on, and few readiness drills, but the only scores on file were 71% and 75%. This was Lieutenant Eudlo's first stint as an acting chief, I would hasten to add." Ayol explained.

"Ah, I am already planning more drills and various readiness improvements. The issue is if Starfleet makes any advancements in technology, how likely are we to receive them in a timely manner?" Rune asked with a frown. "Our distance from the core playing a factor."

"Slipstream radio can get a message to Earth in two days. We might be difficult to reach, but we are not out of contact." Ayol explained.

"True," Rune said, sensing that this end of the conversation. "Thank you for your time, Yeoman. I will contact you if I need anything else."

"As you say, sir. I have taken the liberty of reaching out to Commander Letayo on the Challenger. I have suggested several options throughout the day for a departmental dialogue. His Yeoman has advised she will confirm the time that works best. I have also taken the liberty of reserving the bravo dock lounge for the day. Your options are laid out here." Ayol said, passing a padd to Thul, before bowing deeply.

He accepted the padd and smiled. "Much appreciated, Petty Officer Ayol, you are a credit to our Captain and your species. Bravo Lounge sounds great, just inform me of the day and time that Commander Letayo selects and done." He stood. "Thank you again for your work."

"I live to serve, sir." Ayol said humbly, making a swift departure.

-- Bravo Docking Lounge, 1400 Hours

The combined Security and Tactical departments entered the designated location for their appointment with the DS13 crew. At the head of them stood the small but sturdy Commander Letayo Jedite, the Bajoran XO, security chief and head of tactical for the Challenger. "Alright Lieutenant, I don't want to waste any more of your time than I have to." Letayo told Thul in a polite but commanding tone.

"What do you already know, Commander?" Rune asked, it seemed pleasantries had been foregone and really considering he was still working on evaluating their own Tactical department, there was much to be done.

"I know that you're in orbit of an anomaly that jumps randomly between universes. You since found some xenocidal alien gagoo that came through it. I know that it would've got away mostly unscathed if somebody from its universe hadn't stepped in and let you use his ship. What's your plan if a swarm of them come through on the next cycle?" Letayo asked.

"We'd fight and die, Commander." Rune said plainly. "It is far more advanced than we are. You are welcome to go up against it, should more cross over and see for yourself. Our friend who loaned us his ship is the only one who would be able to help us develop effective weaponry." He frowned. "Unfortunately, we couldn't perform any study on it as all our scanning equipment cannot penetrate its shell. Tell me, how would we defeat something we cannot understand? One favourable thing however was that starship weapons were able to momentarily stun it." He stood and stared straight at his counterpart from the Challenger.

His eyes narrowed slightly. "As our friend told us, the Daleks and his people, the Time Lords, had a war. Only the two survived, and now the Dalek is dead while our friend lives on as part of his ship. If a civilisation capable of mastering Time couldn't defeat the Daleks, what hope does Starfleet have. Of course, we'd give it all we have and try everything we can think of." Rune explained. "I do intend to confer with the other department heads about the Daleks in the coming days, which you are most welcome to attend." For a split moment, Rune had this terrible thought that perhaps the Dalek may have survived.

They did find a body, didn't they? He thought while schooling his expression to remain neutral.

"Good to have friends like that. Tell me, what sort of screening practices have you implemented in the event of docking from the other side? Or to make sure arrivals are who they say they are?" Letayo asked.

Rune frowned. "We are extremely lucky to have a Time Lord on our side. I will be consulting him on a few things soon, I hope, though I will have to gain permission." He explained.

"Inspections and scans upon docking is the standard practice. Anything that we cannot scan will be given to Sciences and Engineering to deal with." Rune began, he paused a moment as he folded his arms. "Verifying a guest's identity from another universe," he glanced away and then to the other side of the office. He made eye contact with Letayo again. "That will be quite difficult since they aren't from our universe and unless we can contact authorities through the rift to request confirmations, that is if whoever receives our transmissions both understands and is willing to help us, I doubt we will be able to do anything more than take our guests as they are while remaining vigilant during their visit." He concluded with a loud sigh of annoyance about how out of depth the rift has pulled them down to.

He leaned back in his chair and put his hands on the tops of the armrests. "I will insist to the Captain that all guests from the rift have a Security escort. For the duration of the Challenger's stay at Deep Space 13, I'm willing for one of your officers to partner up with one of mine?" He offered.

"Makes sense." Letayo said. "I can offer you the lion's share of my staff for whatever purposes you might see fit for them while we're docked. We're all up to date with just about everything on the Challenger. Are there any more specific ways we might help?" Letayo asked.

Rune stood. "Does the Admiral plan to go through the rift?" He asked.

"If he does, he hasn't told me about it." Letayo admitted.

"Do you have anything you need help with from me, Commander?" Rune asked as it seemed the conversation was coming to a close.

"No thank you Lieutenant. I think we have things under control." Letayo said. He sounded like tired was his default.

"Oh one more thing, what is Gagoo?" Rune half smiled.

"Gagoo. You know. The sort of hostile alien whatsit we seem to find on two out of every five planets. Little bastards that make away team security a job of work." Letayo said, feeling like that captured the definition sufficiently.

Rune nodded. "Aye. Well, see you around," he offered his hand.

Letayo shook his hand and nodded without speaking further. He turned to leave, and his department followed.

"Charming," Rune muttered as he picked up his padd and went to leave as well.
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