Star Trek: Starbase 777 - captains-office

Walking with Zhi’rev, the young Trill’s wide eyes swam around the office they were going to be meeting the senators in. She hadn’t been in the captain’s office just yet, and didn’t really know the guy very well…she felt like she was in the principal’s office. Zhi’rev’s reassurance was keeping a tight lid on her anxiety, though.

Zhi'rev was there now! Waiting for the senators to enter the office. He was trying to figure out where he should stand, eyes flitting around the room for a moment before he found somewhere.

A few moments behind Zhi'rev and Yali Aoife snuck into the office and found herself a perch somewhere near the action but far enough away where she could sink into the wall. The senator's were Intel's assets after all so they had a stake in any debrief.

Behold, the guy whose office this was! He asked the computer for a coffee, black, hot, and then sat on one of the many comfortable ergonomic seats. He took appropriate furniture very seriously. "Get yourself some drinks. I have a feeling we're gonna do alotta talkin'."

He decided to replicate some hot tea with milk and sugar -- it would soothe his throat as he tried to talk to these senators.

Some hot cocoa was replicated on Yali’s request, and she made sure to let it cool off this time. The last time she got impatient and drank cocoa straight from the replicator, she burnt her tongue.

Aoife resisted the urge to order a double andorian ale and instead went for a quadruple espresso. Equally as unhinged but not as bad as drinking in front of your boss.

The cadet held her PADD out toward Zhi’rev after pacing around the office a few times taking some frantic notes, giving a little nod, “This um…th-this should be a full timeline of events, based off what you told me, Sir,” She returned her arms to her side, “I uh- I made sure to…account for things happening at um…at the same time, s-specifically when and where transporter signatures were picked up.”

"Thank you, Cadet, it is much appreciated," He said with a smile on his face, looking over everything in detail, it was invaluable information after all.

A little smile danced on Yali’s face, and she quietly began to pace again as they waited for the senators to arrive. She took a sip of her cocoa after ensuring it had cooled off enough, and idly fidgeted with the cup as she moved back and forth.

The arrival of the senators was, unsurprisingly, done discreetly and with high security detail. Nor they, nor the station would take it any other way.

Some of them looked better than others. Talai, unfortunately, did not fall into that category - if anything, the man looked older than he was, for the series of events that had transpired so far... well, even he, usually a man of unwavering faith and hope, was shaken. "You wanted to see us?" and yet... he still offered the diplomats of 777 a warm smile, which didn't quite reach his green eyes.

1

Yali paused in her pacing and quickly returned to Zhi’rev’s side, giving the senator a little nod, “Y-Yes, sir, uh…” She paused for a moment, considering if she were speaking out of turn. She glanced at Zhi’rev out of the corner of her eye before she continued, “Cadet Yali Uo. We’d just…like to ask you a few questions, right Sir?” She turned to the Lieutenant Commander at her side.

"Yes, the first of which is perhaps a little simple. But... how are you? I know this must have shaken you greatly, and that you must not be in the best place at the moment, but..." he trailed off for a moment before he shook his head, stopping his rambling and deciding to introduce himself. "Lieutenant Commander Zhi'rev tr'Lareth. I apologise for not giving my name earlier."

"La-- oh..." a laugh bubbled up the man's lips, tired and disbelieving, "Of course. I've heard about you. Well... pleasure to meet you face-to-face. I wish it were under better citcumstances." He sighed, then. "It's... not good. I apologize in advance if I fail to speak as a senator, but instead let myself be a weak and selfish man; but I feel like what happened could be blamed on us. On me. I... invited trouble into your territory. Brought the wolves over from our forest..."

He shook his head not disapprovingly, but in simple, neutral disagreement. No victim blaming would take place here today! The fault was in the hands of the aggressors. "We took you in by our own choice, and as such we took the risk of wolves in, too. Don't feel guilty for our actions. You didn't call any of this upon yourself."

The cadet gave a little nod in agreement. No one in this room was at fault, they were just the victims of circumstance. Yali knew that really well, “The um- The captain’s right, Senator.”

It was evident in the man's eyes that he didn't quite believe them, not fully, but some of that weight was lifted still. Talai ran his hand through his curls, nodding: "Whatever it is, now is not the time to lament over it, I imagine. Both us and you want a solution, and we will try to do whatever we can to achieve it. So... ask away."

Yali swallowed, her throat a little tight for a moment as she considered what all there was to ask. There were many questions floating around after everything had happened. Where would they start? “Um…a-are you aware of any Republic agents operating outside of your jurisdiction? Someone by the name of Whisper?”

Zhi'rev gave Yali an encouraging smile and a nod, wanting to know the answer to this question as well. He had a question of his own, but he would wait until this one had been answered.

The senator shot them a curious look: "You know about Whisper?"

2

Yali blinked, turning her wide eyes toward Zhi’rev for a moment before they returned to Senator Talai, “Y-Yes, sir, we um- We were contacted by them, and a warbird flew alongside Eventide to find our missing personnel, ah-” She whispered to Zhi’rev, “-could you give the PADD to the senator, Commander?” Information on Whisper was on it. Yali had done her due diligence. (edited)

"Of course," Zhi'rev said as he took the PADD and handed it over, checking over the information briefly before he did so -- he did trust Yali, of course, but he wanted to make sure it was all there.

“Thank you…um- You’ll find some…collected transmissions, and a small timeline of events on that PADD, Senator. I uh- I-I did my best to make sure I had the most accurate information available to us,” Yali shrank a little in on herself, worried she was taking too much of the spotlight in the discussions. The work she’d done spoke for itself, though.

"Good work, Cadet," Meph said, with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. This person was clearly a little green in the gills, probably because of the whole situation going on. For a cadet, it was like going to your first day at work and finding the whole building on fire. "Were we not supposed to know, then?" His tone was amused, like they'd caught Talai taking a cookie from the jar.

1

"Thank you kindly, Commander, Cadet," the Romulan offered her a gentle smile as he took the PADD in his hands, green eyes concentrating on her both out of the urge to include in the exchange, and because if he looked at Zhi'rev for too long... "You are doing a splendid job, you know? Now, as for your question..." Briefly he lapsed into silence as he went through the details listed in the report. "Calling people like her Republic agents might be a bit of a misnomer," he finally said, lifting his gaze at the Starfleet officers. "The nature of our Empire birthed dissidents. Some were like D'Tan, finding strength in community and oratory skills, others preferred the way of direct action against the very institution that kept Romulus subdued, and her people isolated from the rest of the world. They are their own bubble, one that crosses over with the Republic, yes, but is largely independent - which makes them all the more trustworthy and harder to corrupt, funnily enough. You were reached out by one of such independent, freedom-seeking cells. It's no surprise that they lingered here, given what had happened during the speech..." He paused, his index finger rubbing against his scruffy cheek. "They brought us here. I've also learned that these same people had a run-in with this starbase's officers, some time ago. I think they grew somewhat fond of this station. I gather you haven't heard from them since?.."

5

4

Of course, Zhi'rev knew what cell they were talking about, he had helped said cell with their business after a bit of a miscommunication. But, now it was time for his own question, something that was pressing on his own mind. "I do not believe we have heard anything from the group we interacted with months previous... but... I do have another question if you don't mind. You mention that Whisper was part of the group that brought you here... but were there any Starfleet Officers who knew that you were coming? Because somewhere, somehow, information of your arrival on this station likely reached the Tal Shiar." He believed that there was a mole within starfleet -- given everything that had occurred (and the fact that they knew there was a mole... in starfleet). But he wanted to make sure there was not more than one.

Now he let his index finger rest on his chin: "Well... the senior staff of the starbase, of course. Then, your Intel officers, for we reached out to them first. And also a handful of security officers that were there to meet us and then later came with the captain... Surely there is a list of people present from that day? Do you think one or some of them were..?"

"There is a possibility, what matters is that somehow, your position was compromised, how that happened remains to be seen..." He mused, voice still serious. Perhaps a list of everyone that knew of the Senator's arrival, and when they knew, might help see how many moles they had.

Yali appreciated the little compliments she was getting from everyone, but she was a little too focused on the task at hand to internalize them just yet. The cadet’s eyes swam between Zhi’rev and the senator as they wondered aloud about who, or what, had been compromised, “We um…we could ask the Chief of Security to look into the officers who were present?” She offered, “It would uh- I-It would narrow our suspects. We’d just have to do some interviews.”

"That sounds like a wonderful idea, Cadet, hopefully these interviews are fruitful." He said as he brought a finger to his chin. "Now, does anyone else have any questions?"

1

“O-Oh, yes, uh…” Yali piped up, a little bolstered from everyone telling her that she was doing a good job and had good ideas. She was almost proud of herself! Almost, “Has the Republic had any…previous encounters with the IRW Temhruuhi?” (edited)

Aoife had been listening to the briefing from the sidelines, when a timeline of who knew and when got mentioned she perked up a bit. She had one handy from the day the senators reached out. She picked up a PADD and with a ping the file landed on Yali's PADD. The list mostly showed the intel group who found out first, the senior staff who got looped in and then the security officers who were assigned. Intel kept records of pretty much everything after all.

1

"Temhruuhi is one of the few Tal Shiar ships we knew was still active, as it would occasionally surface on our radars," he explained. "A big, mean Mogai-class. She never faced the Republic head-on, preferring the outskirts and picking on the colonies. They decided to use this ship likely for her defensive capabilities and, ah... brig size."

Zhi'rev nodded, before he decided to ask a question of his own once more. "You likely will not have the answer to this question, but... are there any likely areas where they might have taken prisoners?" He asked, not expecting an answer but wanting to shoot his shot all the same.

The gentle expression shifted, letting some of the sadness pass through: "I wish. There might be... several options as to where they could've gone, and given some of the information that we now know, I have some specific suspicions. I am aware that the cell that assisted you knows how to track retreating ships, but given that currently that whole vessel is missing... we will have to work with uncertainty."

The cadet hummed with some uncertainty. There was a quiet, mumbly, “Thank you,” given to Aoife as she looked at the data the intelligence agent shared with her. Yali was not an individual adept for rescue missions, as helpful as she had been during this discussion. She could maybe help with the interviews alongside Zhi’rev or security, but running off to save lives is not something she was very good at. There was a part of her that still wanted to lend a helping hand to it, though, “Do you um- Do you think we’d be able to…have a list of those suspicions?” She glanced at Zhi’rev and the captain, “W-Would we be able to coordinate a large scale scouting mission?”

"I think we can provide coordinates and visualize them on a map?" Talai offered. "Mind you, these will be approximations that our own scouts managed to gather, but..."

Letor had mostly been standing by, as he wasn't a senator and he wasn't quite the palatable orator that Talai was. He took this moment to speak up though. "You can't scout all of them out, though, they would notice the incursions into their space and take action, which would risk the lives of the hostages. We might be able to contact Dana and Dhiov, see if they can spare Romulan ships that stand out less, but they're dealing with the border incursions. I can't guarantee anything."

While they were talking, he was discussing something with Sul on comms. "So our CoS is suggesting a full lockdown and advisory for ships to stay out of transporter range. That seems like it would conflict with any sort of scouting mission." (edited)

The cadet paused in sharing some more information with the senators to give Mo a rather worried look, “Wh-Why are we um…locking down?”

His expression didn't change much, but the hand that Talai was resting on the table did curl into a fist. "Which also means that no ship can come in?.."

"If this was put into effect, yes." He sighed and thought for a moment. Decisions, decisions. "I'm wondering if we could make an exception for the scouting ships, or if that would be defeating the point... What do you folks think?"

"I feel like the Senator has a specific ship in mind that might want to come in soon. Perhaps an exception can be made for that ship in particular..." He offered, resting a finger on his chin, already having an idea about who it might be.

"But then that makes two exceptions. What use, then, is the lockdown?" Meph asked, more out of curiosity than criticism.

"Honestly... I don't think the lock down is a good idea, but then again, I am a diplomat, not a security officer." He explained quietly, completely understanding that the powers that be could go over his head and put one up anyways.

Yali didn’t have much of a dog in this fight, though she understood that a lockdown was something that, on paper, would provide some safety. The cadet’s eyes bounced between the captain and Zhi’rev as she considered if she should even say anything… “Um…” She piped up, “I-I think, in the interest of having future diplomatic discussions, that a lockdown would be, uh…good. It would provide some more safety to the- th-the senators, as well as us. And, um, if…i-if there are other spies, then…well, they…can’t leave.”

1

"Good points, good points." He was still thinking about what to do. All his questions were simply gathering information that might factor into his decision. "Tell me, Talai - how badly do you need this ship of yours to come in?"

"It would be easier to answer if we knew their current status," he said with a bit of a nervous laugh, eyebrows scrunched together. "If-- when they come through, we can talk and share information through a comm line. That way your lockdown and our collective safety stays untouched. Would that sort of setup work?.."

"It would, yes. That makes one exception removed. In that case, I think the lockdown might be a good idea, and it seems most people here are in agreement, as are the people who originally suggested it, presumably." He tapped his comms badge to let Sul know they were locking down the station, unless anyone had anything else to add first.

The lockdown would go on for a day and a half - all the while the officers tirelessly worked on triangulating the coordinates of the area for where their friends and colleagues could be taken. Until... A warning sounded, indicating an approaching ship.