Star Trek: Starbase 777 - lt-o’rielly﹢lt-vanderboom

It was the dead of night. Aoife was curled up in a little ball at the edge of her bed like she always was, asleep but only lightly she was never a deep sleeper. Her room was somewhat bare save for an armchair facing her bed, she hadn't bothered to unpack all that much when she left her old ACTO's quarters as she was living in hope of being accepted into the command training programme and week now.

As ordered, Rack had come all the way to the heart of the new galactic crossroads for what he assumed would be a rather interesting recruitment pitch. The huge, bulky form of the Human was sat casually in a chair at the end of Aoife’s bed, reading over her file on a PADD as he waited for her to wake up.

The hairs on the back of Aoife's neck stood up as her body sensed another presence in her room. As she began to wake up she made sure to stay still and very slowly began reaching for the phaser she kept in her bedside table.

Rack let out a soft, deep chuckle when Aoife reached for the phaser that he’d grabbed from the table as soon as he’d made his way into the room. “No need for that Lieutenant. I think you’ll find it isn’t where you last left it.” He said, not shifting a muscle as he sat, PADD now blanked to its home screen.

After hearing the voice Aoife rapidly sat up and began staring down the figure in front of her. "Lights, 25%" She said in a confused tone. "Damn did I leave my door open or something, who are you?"

Rack threw the other Human a soft smile as he leaned back in the chair, likely looking somewhat ridiculous as someone with the bulk he had squeezed into a seat clearly not meant for him, before steepling his fingers. “You did not. And right now who I am is not important, what is however, is one question.” He said plainly, not the type to mince words, before tapping on the PADD for a few times and throwing it to Aoife, the screen displaying her application for command training program. “Is this really what you want to do with your career”

Aoife gave the stranger a measured look, unsure what to make of his statement. She looked him up and down then back up, stopping when she noticed the purple stripe on his uniform. She took a split second to realise that she was sat across from an intelligence officer... in her PJ's. "I imagine you're going to present me with an alternative?" Aoife asked, leading the conversation to get a straight answer out of the stranger.

Rack nodded, before leaning forward to cross his arms, giving Aoife a thoughtful look and then answering. “Why yes I will.” He said with a sideways grin. "You could go for the program and maybe get in on the command track in 5 years time and have a ship in 10…or come work for us in intel…” He said with a gleam of amusement in his eyes “We've been watching you since you broke out of the prison ship after cestus III, you have skills we want and we can give you clearance and access maybe one day you'll find the Klingons who held you captive…” He said, hoping to further entice the officer to the side of intel.

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Aoife stared at the figure for a solid five seconds as she processed what was just said. She tilted her head slightly to one side as she thought, this had to be too good to be true, but the mysterious appearance of a figure who knew her whole service record lent credence that the person was really an intelligence officer. "You just got my whole service record on there huh. If you've got my record I assume you already know the answer to your question before you came here."

“Yes I do…it’s part of the job…” He said with a cheeky grin and a deep chuckle, leaning forward as he spoke. “But, I need to hear you say it…are you in?”

"Well since you came all this way I'll join your club." Aoife said semi sarcastically.

Rack chuckled and stood, sliding the chair back to its previous place in the corner of the room, before gesturing for Aoife to keep the PADD. “I thought as much…keep the PADD, it has all your paperwork. I expect to hear good things from you in the future Lieutenant.” He said, before slipping out of the room as quietly as he entered.

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