A change of scenery...

Posted on Fri May 8th, 2020 @ 7:26pm by Lieutenant Commander T'Vek

Mission: Around The World in 8 Days
Location: Various

[Headquarters, Starfleet Intelligence, Earth]

Lieutenant Commander T’Vek strolled the silent corridors of Starfleet Intelligence, passing untold numbers of closed doors as he headed to his superior’s office. Behind each and every closed door was some manner of intelligence operation in progress. T’Vek could imagine rather easily that one room might be conducting some form of surveillance while another room was plotting the downfall of entire governments, and just next door to all that, another room was trying to figure out how to keep the first two rooms from reaching their goals. And all of this and more was conducted in the name of preserving the Federation.

When T’Vek found the ‘right’ door, he didn’t ring the door chime, he didn’t wait for permission to enter… he just waltzed right in like it wasn’t someone else’s personal space. Once he was fully inside and the door had slid closed, the Vulcan stood just a step behind the chairs in front of the occupant’s desk until the elder gentleman acknowledged his presence.

“Heard you put on quite the show,” the Major General sitting behind the desk said as his eyes lifted up from the PaDD in his hand.

A proud smirk appeared on T’Vek’s face, “One of my finer moments, if I do say so myself.”

“Lieutenant Hawking seemed to have a different opinion…” the Marine said dryly.

“Ah…” T’Vek frowned deeply, “I fail to understand why she continues to be assigned to my unit when all she seems to do is complain about my methods.”

It was the General’s turn to smirk, “Because she’s a damn good medic, T’Vek. The last three came back in body bags.”

“That was not my fault…” the Vulcan protested.

“I know, I read the incident reports. They were killed before the explosions, not after. No need to get testy,” the Marine replied to his friend, “At least Hawking can hold her own in a fire fight. And you tend to attract a certain amount of fire when you’re at your best out there.”

T'Vek shifted uncomfortably, “Perhaps you should have a word with my instructor…”

“No need to get personal, my friend…” the General grumbled.

“It was not a personal attack,” the Vulcan said with a raised eyebrow, “You simply took it as such.”

“Don’t give me that Vulcan logic schtick, T’Vek. You’re about as Vulcan as I am, maybe even less so. I’ve known you entirely too long to be blinded by that bullshit,” the man pointed at his friend in an exasperated manner.

“Fine, Charles…” T’Vek’s demeaner shifted from the Vulcan stiffness most people expected of him to that of a much more familiar and relaxed countenance, “So if you’re not going to scream at me for the fireworks display, why did you call me here? Last I checked, my team was on a standby rotation for at least a week.”

“You’re absolutely right… they are. You on the other hand, are being given new orders, a new assignment… and about three days of shore leave since the ship you’re going to is in orbit taking it easy,” the General said as he tossed the Vulcan a data fob containing his official Starfleet transfer orders.

“You’ll report to the Astraea no later than this afternoon. Follow-up orders will be sent at a later date with your field operating instructions. Until then, you are simply to perform the duties of a Chief Intelligence Officer for that vessel. Understood?” the man finished his explanation.

“Very well,” T’Vek nodded, “I’ll leave immediately.”

Without allowing the man another word, T’Vek left the office of his long-time mentor and friend to take on what would no doubt be another important operation for the sake of the Federation.

[Transporter Room 3, USS Astraea]

The transporter pad hummed to life as the pattern buffers sorted through the incoming transporter signal and the form of the Vulcan Intelligence Officer materialized within the ship. Slung on his back was a small storage cylinder containing an assortment of specialize gear that would generally not be allowed to be brought aboard a ship. As luck would have it, the transporter room was devoid of an operator at the moment, and his arrival had not been announced formally to anyone who might have been manning the bridge. For all intents and purposes, he wasn’t aboard at all.

T'Vek left the transporter and began to walk through to corridors of the Akira class vessel. As the man passed by the few crew that occupied the ship, it became increasingly obvious to him that a new face didn’t so much as register in the minds of those aboard. Recalling something that his long-time mentor had said in their meeting, it began to make sense to him that such a relaxed posture was being presented. The crew was home, they had been given shore leave, and that made them vulnerable.

The wicked grin that crept onto his face went unseen as he began to formulate a plan…