Lowering The Drawbridge

Posted on Mon May 29th, 2023 @ 4:30pm by Lieutenant Rohan Read & Lieutenant JG Osil Haistro

2,497 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 5 - Objects In Motion
Location: Security Briefing Room, DS21

Bobby wasn't exactly sure what this briefing was about but it had read important and get to the conference room straight away so he had got straight down there and was presently awaiting the rest of the people invited.

Billy had been in Starfleet a while now and this meeting was shaping to be like just another run of the mill security briefing. He had yet to meet the new Assistant Chief but that would soon change as he was the man who called them all here. It was strange to him though that Commander Tobru wasn't present, but not that out of place that he was concerned. Supervisors usually ran the meetings and now that Tobru was XO she was more absent given her other duties.

Ronan approached the front of the room with a PADD in his hand. "Thank you all for coming. I apologize for keeping this under the radar but I'm sure you'll all appreciate why in a moment when I begin."

"Looking forward to finding out sir." Billy chimed in as the others perked up.

Brodie walked in and found a seat at the table and sat down, with a PADD in one hand and a raktajino in the other. He looked at those assembled here and wondered what this briefing would entail. He politely acknowledged those at the table as he passed them.

"Alright, lets begin. I've received intelligence that stations bar owner, a..." Rohan glanced down to look at his notes for a moment. "Niska O'Trei, has managed to smuggle a board and amount of unregistered dilithium crystals. Obviously, we all know the dangers of unregistered or unlicensed crystals being moved and/or stored on the station.

"As a result, of this intelligence we will be doing a surprise inspection of the bar and all storage areas Ms O'Trei has access to."

Osil was the last to arrive, panting for breath and looking sweaty. "Sorry I'm late to the party, what did I miss?"

Read glared at the new arrival. "If you'd bothered to be here on time, you'd know."

Kaylee raised an eyebrow at this, she had been sitting in the back drinking some tea and waiting for the meeting to commence. "We will be going to raid Niska's place? Interesting." she just commented. She wondered if Read knew who was related to who. Not that it would matter, she's had to conduct investigations even if it meant looking into her husband's relative and even her own.

Osil blinked, biting back a retort about a busy shift. "Wait what? Miss Otrei's bar? Why, do you have probable cause to?"

"The recent sector sector update, there has been reports of unlicensed Dilthium being moved throughout the area. Being one of the large installations in the sector, it makes sense that this Dilthium would find its way here at some point. Plus Miss Otrei has just had a large delivery of yamak sauce delivered poses the question, why does she need that much yamak sauce. I assume that someone somewhere decided it was a good cover for a Cardassian built station." Read explained.

Bobby had been taking a sip of his coffee and suddenly he was spraying Lieutenant Reed. "Sorry sir," he said quickly trying not to laugh further. "If I may say something. Have any of you looked into Niska's background?" He had actually done some homework. On a few of the civilian proprietors actually.

"I was asked to look into a few people and have been compiling some intel. Yes its very foggy. Parts have been omitted. No one knows for sure why she upped sticks and left Poseidon station as if you look at the financial records, she was doing rather well."

"Intel I have found have the odd person placing her as the "Jade princess" claiming she has history with slavers, doing their bidding and herself being a slave. But a history and now she was going straight.

Whereas I do not doubt she likely if she wanted to would have the contacts to get hold of Dilthium crystals. What i do not believe sir, is that she would be so stupid as to store them in her own bar, right under our noses in a batch of Yamak sauce," Bobby said. He didn't care if he was just a lowly Ensign. Someone had to a be a voice of reason.

"Also sir you know she is Commander Reynolds step sister? You go in and raid her place you could embarrass his position and efforts with the colony. And her step mother is," he looked to Kaylee who he knew had a conflict of interest which would have to be declared. He had literally just done that for her now.

"The leader of the 11th house am I correct Lieutenant?" He asked Kaylee.

"That is correct," Kaylee simply replied.

"Regardless of whom she may be related too, there is enough evidence to search her premises. If nothing is found, then there is nothing to worry about. However, if we do find the dilthium crystals, we will need to find out if she is the guilty party or if someone is using her for their own gains." The Lieutenant explained.

He then looked at Ensign Matthews, "I understand how it might seem like a pointless exercise but in my experience, criminals like to hide things in plain sight. We have a suspicion and we are well within our rights to investigate."

"Sir all I'm saying is get your ducks or in this case canons in a row properly before storming the castle and this could be dealt with far more discreetly so not to cause a diplomatic incident or decremental damage to a civilian establishment if she is innocent. Niska's step mother is a Federation Ambassador for Betazed. But you are Lieutenant in charge," Bobby stated firmly. He felt like he was being spoken too like a green straight out of the academy ensign. "I defer to your experience."

He said the words expected of him but he knew this wasn't going to go down well.

Kaylee took a look at Read, "Make certain this happens in a more diplomatic manner and also.. have you thought of having said premise scanned for said items, before you go in and kick down the door as it were. Have you thought of that? A half baked investigation will leave you looking like a total fool. I would scan first especially if you say criminals leave things hidden in plain sight, like a purloined letter." she shifted her seated position, "once we find out where it could be located then mark it down where it would be then go have a chat in her office. That would be my recommendation. And if she is guilty and tries to have it moved in some form or other then you have Niska dead to rights. You did mention that you do plan on going through the whole routine, get proof run scans first if you haven't done so yet." Kaylee was an investigator at heart, and had conducted enough of them in her day. "It won't be too difficult in tracking down readings of the dilithium crystals due to their own energy signals."

" Might i make a suggestion? " Asked Brodie Bane. " And I believe it will help out the current situation. We don't go in with a search warrant or kick in any doors. There is a lot of repairs going on here in the station in the aftermath of the Romulan attack and engineering is stretched to the limit at the moment. We go in with three or four security personal and perform a safety evaluation as well as some of the neighboring shops. We scan for the damage and turn the information over to engineering and scan for any Illegal contraband and dilithium crystals. They can't refuse a safety inspection when there's been damage to the station, That and no one can claim that it is harassment or offend anyone's relatives if we just happen to find said Illegal items during a routine safety inspection. "

"Thank you, Lieutenant Serra-Reynolds for that wonderful bit of insight into how to conduct an investigation." Read said in an unimpressed tone. "We have made internal scans and not found any traces of dilithium crystals, but at the same time we didn't find any traces of yamak sauce either."

The Lieutenant then glanced at Bane, "I like your idea. Just a routine safety inspection inline with the recent attack on the station. This might give us the breathing room to actually search the containers that have come in."

Kaylee cut in, "Excuse me Lieutenant Read, my comments were valid as I do not know you and we do not know how you operate. Do not be so dismissive as to what I have to say. Also, have you even passed on information as to this upcoming investigation into Niska and her bar to Commander Tobru? I am certain the Chief of Security would be very interested in this investigation and how it will be handled. Especially since she and Niska are involved. Commander Tobru could have done some investigating on her own and find out some details or if needed to excuse herself from the investigation. What we may have here is a possible break down of communication, that most assuredly needs to be dealt with."

Bobby's mouth dropped. ~Involved he thought. Well that was one he didn't know. Hot dam. And now the idea of that would be the only thing in his head.~

He pinched his finger trying to get his brain in a more professional fashion and avoided looking at Kaylee remembering she was of course part Betazed.

"Commander Torbu, is busy with her Executive Officer duties. She needs me to run the department while she's doing this. I can't keep running to her with day to day running of the department. This all could be us barking up the wrong tree but it needs investigating. Once we determine what is in those containers we can decide what action to take." Read replied, in a cool and even tone.

Kaylee raised an eyebrow at this, "You are wrong there, Lieutenant Read. This sort of thing is part of the duties of her being an executive officer and you do need to let her know about what is happening especially since she is chief of security as well. This station runs on communication and you will let her know as to what is going on. Not communicating with the Chief of Security is wrong, and do not just sweep this under the rug. You need to go through channels Lieutenant. Let her know, as this also affects part of the station as well. Learn to be more of a team player, Lieutenant Read. Communicate let her know, do not keep her out of the loop. You are not a one man show, this is supposed to be a team, you are part of team this includes the XO of the Station. This is how we've survived the events that have taken place is due to team work."

"Actually ma'am," Osil spoke up, "I don't think lieutenant Tobru should be informed if it's her partner that is involved in this. She can't have anything to do with this case, and she could even be informing Miss O'Trei. This could compromise the case severely."

Kaylee rolled her eyes, "Then by all means don't tell her and on that note I will also step away from this investigation. As I could be considered someone who could 'tell' Niska about the investigation. Since you are calling into question my integrity besides Commander Tobru's and not letting her have the choice to recuse herself from the investigation. While you may have a point, Osil, I will still step away as you don't need me here either." Kaylee rising up from her chair. " And you, Lieutenant Read, hopefully you will adjust your attitude about being here." with that Kaylee strode away out of the briefing room, simply disgusted with this whole proceeding.

Read watched as the Lieutenant stood and walked out of the briefing in amazement. "They really have let insubordination take over." Read muttered to himself, maybe a little louder than intended. "Lieutenant Haistro, did you just say that the Security Chief and Niska are in some sort of relationship?"

The Betazoid nodded. "And Commander Serra just did too. It's definitely going around the grapevine." He shrugged indifferently.

"To be honest Lieutenant, the Commander is still pretty new to the station and to us. We don't know her very well, and have only heard of her past in small bits." Billy spoke up. "We are still getting used to her and how she works but..." he turned to Osil, "To suggest that she may be supplying information to Miss O'Trei is quite disrespectful to woman in her position and I'd be careful with that link of thinking, especially if we have no evidence to support it. I don't know the woman any better than any of you..." he turned back to the floor. "but she has still be entrusted as the XO, and is still the Chief of Security on this station. Rumours can catch like wildfire."

"Look, I don't want to cause problems or grief for anyone on the station. This whole situation could be a storm in a tea cup. However, if its not we could be saving a lot of lives. Hence why I want to investigate this properly. If it turns to nothing I'll take any slack from higher ups but there is a possible threat and it needs looking into." Read explained, trying to hide his frustration.

Outside after she left the briefing room, Kaylee sent out a message to Tia, "Commander Tobru this is Lieutenant Kaylee Serra-Reynolds, we have a situation in the briefing room, of security. I suggest that you speak to Lieutenant JG Rohan Read, I am sending you a briefing as to what has just happened. There is a problem that I see developing." After making the notations, Kaylee sent the report into Commander Tobru.

"Are we dismissed?" Bobby asked. "Or is the plan to do this routine safety inspection now?"

Read rubbed his left temple in frustration. "Now is the plan but if you have something more pressing to attend to..."

Bobby wondered if this newbie realised how much of a dilhole he was coming off from his idea to totally torpedo any goodwill they had built between fleeter and non fleeter relations on the station, the not quiet enough comment on "insubordination" and effectively him having one officer effectively storm off. Also did he Bobby warrant that response in any way? It was just a question and one actually designed to get things moving again...

"Not all all sir, on your order," he said heading out to go up to the Niska's and the promenade.

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