Questions And Answers

Posted on Fri Dec 3rd, 2021 @ 4:51am by Commander Ichika Misono & Lieutenant Alisha Reno
Edited on on Fri Oct 14th, 2022 @ 1:55pm

1,911 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Handling the Fallout

The Inuto were a curious species, Alisha reminded herself as she walked down the hall, on her way to an uninvited appointment that was only in her head, being a humanoid canid race that had been a 'client species' (far better phrased than enslaved) of the Klingons for who knew how long, before being liberated and joining the Federation in 2266. Much of the culture did appear to be related to the canine model, pack mentalities, which was possibly one of the reasons so few of the Inuto were enlisted in the Fleet, much less as officers. However, they did seem to have an aptitude for the art of Operations, which was always one of the harder niche spots to get someone skilled in, despite what everyone said. That this one, Ichika Misono, was in a command rating was even more rare. Of course, the report she'd just read was also intriguing.

Which was why finding the Executive Officer was so very important. She was the one who'd put together the report, and the fresher it was in her mind, the better. She was taking larger strides to show everyone that she was in a hurry, not to be interrupted if at all possible, shoulders slightly hunched, but that would change once she saw the XO, just whatever was needed to avoid the distractions. Finally, as she rounded the corner to the XO's office, she shortened her stride, the pleats in her skirt settling down at the slowdown in speed and pressed the annunciator, the door sliding open a second and a half later and Alisha walked in, very slight smile on her face, eyes open and bright as she saw the XO for the first time, "Good afternoon, ma'am, I'm sorry to disturb you, but I was hoping you had a few minutes at this time?"

"Oh, but of course," the XO smiled, gesturing for Alisha to have a seat. "Lieutenant JG Reno, I presume?"

"Alisha Reno, ma'am, yes." The blonde confirmed, glancing around briefly, just to get more of a feel for the other woman, moving fluidly to the chair and gracefully seating herself properly for someone wearing a skirt, not a skill too many people knew how to do flawlessly, "Your new Chief of Intelligence, ma'am." She crossed one leg over the other as she sat partially back, "I just finished reviewing the report you sent over and I do have a couple questions about it, if you wouldn't mind?"

"Be my guest," Commander Misono nodded. "I'll try and answer your questions to the best of my ability, but I'm sure there's a few details I'm missing."

"Thank you, ma'am." Alisha inclined her head in acceptance of the qualifier and she took half a second to organize the thoughts she wanted. She'd trust her memory to get her back to her office to take the notes she was going to, but for the time being, it was all good, "I've reviewed the information available on the Nikko and Commander Iwaki and his file is rather slim on details, aside from the generalities of his career and the fact that he's been in command of Nikko for the last three years. I was wondering if you or any of the other members of the command staff have had any significant contact with the Commander at all, ever? The same would go for any of his senior staff, to give us a sort of an in depending on how things play out with the Commander."

"I'm afraid I wasn't all that close with Commander Iwaki," Commander Misono admitted. "Though I do vaguely recall an old friend of mine from the Academy had been assigned to the Nikko as an encryption specialist. Of course, I can't say with absolute certainty if she ever served under Commander Iwaki's command, and it's been ages since I last spoke with her."

She leaned forward slightly, her chin coming to rest against her hands as she pondered a list of contacts who might possibly have some more insight into Commander Iwaki.

"I recall from my research that Commander Iwaki had served under the jurisdiction of one Commodore Tohru Honda before going AWOL," she replied at last. "Given that she's not already preoccupied with running damage control in regards to Iwaki's actions, I may be able to get you in contact with either her or one of her affiliates."

"I can probably shoot a communique up the line towards her Chief of Staff, but I do believe you're right that the Commodore would be a bit busy to talk to a lowly peon like myself." Alisha allowed a wider smile at that, "If we can prime that particular cannon with yours or even Commander Takahashi's name in attendance, it might make it a bit further up the chain than with just mine." The smile grew slightly mischievous for a moment as she thought to herself, 'Unless I throw an autograph or two in there... Photo op, maybe.'

Then her focus returned, mischief gone from her smile, "If I may be so bold as to suggest, ma'am, see if you can get in touch with your friend? Even if she isn't on board Nikko, it never hurts to have additional contacts here or there. I've as wide a network as I can get away with, planetside, stations, starships, civilian and Fleet alike just in case. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, ma'am."

"I'll see what I can turn up, but no guarantees," Ichika explained. "Keep in mind, she works in Intelligence, and Starfleet tends to be rather tight-lipped about their Intel Officers."

Her face suddenly lit up as if she had been hit by an idea.

"Though, seeing as you might have the proper clearance, I can give you a name to look up," Ichika continued. "Her real name's Nanase Maiba; not sure what rank she is now or what aliases she goes by, but I do know from our time in the academy that she went by the nickname of "Nana"."

Alisha's smile had turned smirkish at the time Ichika had mentioned that Intelligence was tight-lipped about itself, then chuckled at the idea of the Commander, "I don't know what you mean about us being as secretive, I've never heard anything about that." She let the joke sit for a couple seconds with a bright smile, "I can work with the name, I'll just drop yours if I do make contact. If she's under an alias, the nickname would act as a bonafide for me. Of course, if I'm needing to do that in person, I'll also be under an alias, since I'm officially here under my own name." She shrugged, "Business as usual."

"Excellent," Commander Misono smiled. "And don't worry; she'll know who you're talking about should you decide to mention me. The two of us were particularly close from our Academy days."

"Hopefully it won't have to come down to a clandestine meeting out in the open, but if it does." Another half-shrug from Alisha, "Not sure if you knew, but most of the time, it's actually easier to meet a contact out in public than trying to find a place where no one will notice you. The more people, the better, because you're more likely to just blend in." She nodded, "I'll do my research and try to find out where and who they are under at this point." She pursed her lip for a moment, "The other question I have is this, and I'm sure it'll be answered in the briefing that I'm sure is coming up, but do we know the intentions of the Klingons in the Y'Tem sector are?"

"If Ambassador Vro'LakH is to be taken at his word," Commander Misono explained, "There is currently no evidence to prove that they've been violating trade agreements with the Federation, outside of Commander Iwaki's allegations."

A creative NON-answer, Alisha noted with a nod to the response from the XO, then opened her mouth to make a comment, but shut it without saying anything. All she had said was that the Klingons were denying the allegations, not what they may or may not do in the future. But, Intelligence was the group delving out information and she'd likely have more of that coming in to hand out to others as well. Perhaps it would be better to go into that with a clear and uninformed mind? "They would say that even if it were obvious that they were, which I'm not alleging." She pointed out, "Certainly, once we locate Commander Iwaki and investigate, the answers will show themselves."

"I don't doubt that for a minute, Lieutenant," Commander Misono concurred, leaning back in her chair. "Between you and me, I haven't ruled out the possibility that some key details regarding this situation are being deliberately withheld; whether that's the fault of the Klingons attempting to cover up their tracks, the Admiralty attempting to downplay the severity of the situation so as not to draw unwanted attention, or both is anyone's guess. While I can provide you with the cards I've been dealt, there's only so far my authority goes in this particular instance."

“Which is where I come in.” Alisha came to the logical conclusion. She was silent for a few seconds as she went into overdrive with the magnitude of what was going to be coming her way, closing her eyes as she realigned the blocks of data she needed to acquire and sort through, then opened them again and smiled naturally, her soprano going from a sharper, clipped tone to a more relaxed and slightly higher pitch, one that surely oozed confidence, “Which is where I come in.” She repeated, a slight southern accent now audible, “I’ll get started on reports from the sector and those neighboring, correlate anything I can find along shipping, customs, unanticipated course alterations and late deliveries. I’ll also be going over the border reports to see if there have been any unexpected contact reports between our ships and theirs, just in case, not because I expect to see anything, as well as ours and their merchant ship activity along and across the Y’tem Sector. If there’s somethin’ there, I’ll try to dig it out, ma’am.”

"That's what I like to hear," Commander Misono smiled. "If any new information becomes available, I'll be sure to keep you in the loop; until then... welcome aboard."

“It’s a pleasure to be aboard, ma’am.” Alisha veritably grinned as the smooth silk of her natural Texan accent blossomed fully and she stood up and came to attention, “If you need me for anything, you know how to get a hold of me.” She sketched a sharp salute before turneding on her heel and departing, almost like a different person than had walked in the door.

"Right," Commander Misono sighed once she had the room to herself. "Perhaps I should speak with Captain Takahashi on stopping over at Nigala Station; chances are that Strategic Ops has been monitoring Commander Iwaki ever since he started conducting these raids, so it might behoove us to determine a pattern of activity..."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Posting by (in order of appearance):

Lieutenant Junior Grade Alisha Reno
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)

Commander Ichika Misono
Executive Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)

RSS Feed