On and Off The Record

Posted on Thu Jun 11th, 2020 @ 3:14pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander T'Vek

Mission: Into The Delta Triangle
Location: Captain's Ready Room

It had been a long night without a lot of sleep. Abigail had finally resorted to removing herself to her ready room in the wee hours of the morning, startling the poor officer on watch overnight who wasn't used to a short tempered, caffeine deficient Captain appearing like something out of a bad dream.

By the time duty shifts were starting, Abigail had managed a short nap and had long passed her third chai latte, but was definitely in better spirits when she sent the message to her Chief Intelligence Officer that she wanted to see him at his earliest convenience in her ready room, and she had a feeling, based on previous interactions, that he was likely going to make himself very conveniently available for her.

As it so happened, her musing regarding his willingness to be available was not an idle thing. Within a few moments, the door chime to her office was chirping away at the presence of a visitor.

Abigail was contemplating another chai when the chime announced that she had company. "Enter," she called as she looked toward the door, knowing full well it was likely to be T'Vek.

Lieutenant Commander T'Vek walked into the Ready Room briskly, his demeanor every bit that of any other Vulcan in the quadrant. He knew, however, that such a facade was far from accurate and that his new Captain had already seen behind the mask, at least slightly.

"You wished to see me?" the Vulcanoid asked as he stopped short of the flanking chairs.

"Take a seat Commander," Abigail said with a smile. "I was just contemplating another latte, can I get you something? I apologise for the mess," she motioned to the desk between them. "It's already been a long day."

"I am fine, Captain," T'Vek said as he took a seat, "What can I do for you?"

"I received a communication from a Lieutenant Commander Victrix, I believe assigned to the USS Fontana? The Commander was alluding to black market activity in the Delta Triangle, she also made specific mention of a marauder ship attacking vessels on trade routes, have you come across any of this information in your investigations so far?" Abigail replicated herself a chai latte and carried it back to her desk, sinking down into her seat gracefully, blowing across the top of the mug as she watched him.

"I haven't run across any specifics as to who is perpetrating the raids, however I have seen several credible reports to that effect, yes." T'Vek nodded.

"Is this going to put our mission at risk?" Abigail asked calmly. "Or our people on the surface?"

"It is entirely possible, and I would recommend that we move forward under the assumption that there might be unsavory elements out there that could put any away teams at risk. It would be better to be overcautious than not cautious enough," the Vulcan replied in his subdued tone.

"We have 48 hours until we reach Kessik, see if you can find out anything more for me by then, obviously any information we can get is better than none. We can reevaluate the away teams and safety protocols before anyone goes down." She paused, taking a sip of her drink, contemplating for a long moment as she lapsed into silence.

"I will pull some strings, but I can't say for certain they will bare fruit. Is there anything else on your mind, Captain, or will that be all?" T'Vek asked, not quite leaning forward to leave.

Abigail set her drink down and steepled her fingers in front of her chest. "I have one more thing I'd like to ask, but this is of a more personal nature," she said quietly. "I want you to look into Admiral Lockwood for me."

"Is there something in particular you wish me to find out? Or is this more... general suspicions of misconduct? I'm not entirely against fabricating evidence, should that be required... though I would need to run that by my superior at Starfleet Intelligence first," the Vulcan asked as if it weren't anything out of the ordinary.

"He's..." The Commanding Officer paused for a moment, almost uncertainly. "He's up to something and I want to know what it is. There's no general suspicion, I know with certainty that he's up to something. I want to cut him off before he involves this ship and crew any more than he already has."

"I see," T'Vek said with a raised eyebrow, "I will send word to my superior. If anyone can ascertain such machinations, it will be the General. Though, if you have specifics for me, I will be better equipped to counter any such... portents of doom."

"He set us up, he orchestrated a violation of a treaty with an ally, fired upon a friendly ship, used the attack to hide the fact that he stole something and then somehow managed to have all the evidence erased by someone on this ship," Abigail replied quietly. "When I took it to command he blatantly lied to them about what happened."

"That is... disturbing..." T'Vek frowned deeply, "I will do my best to look into this, Captain. I seriously doubt anything being plotted by this 'Admiral' will be beneficial to us in the long run."

"It's more so a concern of detriment than benefit," Abigail replied quietly. "Anything you can find out would be appreciated, and of course, I would be grateful if this would remain between us."

"I assure you that nothing you and I discussed here will be common knowledge. Unlike most Vulcans, I'm rather adept at weaving lies as easily as I am truths. Will that be all?" the Vulcan pushed himself out of the chair he was sitting in and looked down at the woman while he waited for her to decide if they had everything covered or not.

"Of course, thank you Commander, that is all." Abigail waited, watching as he left her ready room before she turned back to her console, activating the screen.