Talking Intelligence

Posted on Sat Mar 26th, 2016 @ 8:12pm by Lieutenant Ishan Satele

Mission: Vipers and Scoundrels
Location: Canteen
Timeline: Current.

Kevin was feeling very hungry as he entered the canteen. Ordering his breakfast from the replicator, he turned to choose a seat to sit in only to find the canteen choc-a-bloc with people already.

Sighing, he looked a bit more carefully to see if there were any free seats at all. It was then he noted Lt Satele had a seat free opposite her. Walking over he stood behind the empty seat and asked "If this seats free, would you mind if I sat down here to have my breakfast Lieutenant, the canteens rather full at the moment?"

"Of course, by all means Lieutenant. A little company can sometime be a good thing" Satele said, putting down a PADD she was reading. It wasn't rare for her to eat with others, but because of her Cardassian heritage, some crewmen didn't trust her.

"Thank you" Kevin replied, placing his tray on the table and taking the offered seat. As he prepared himself to eat, he looked at the PADD on the table in front of Satele and asked "Anything exciting?"

"Not really, it's just some regulation updates I've missed out on"

"Ah yes, updates, that reminds me, I must check the updates sent to me last night after I'm finished here" Kevin replied "Central sent me some Intel info I asked for about this station we're going to. Speaking of Intel, you said we could have a chat about what experience you've had with them. I couldn't tell if it had been good or bad, would you care to share?"

Satele looked up at Kevin, "that would depend on your security clearance. Yes I know you're the chief of Intelligence, but that doesn't mean your clearence level is high enough"

"Well, though we're not actually at war with anyone, we're still classed as a front line vessel because we're a first response ship" Kevin replied "with that in mind, and to allay any doubt you have, my Intelligence clearance is double AA. The only clearance above that is for the Senior staff at Central itself. I won't be offended if you'd rather not talk about it, I have to admit, before I joined Intel, my experience with them wasn't always that great" he finished.

"Well, by the sound of what you're saying, my experience must have been an exception to that rule" Satele said, believing that his clearence was high enough, "but before I continue, I'd like to know how much you know about me first"

"Well, you're an academy graduate obviously" Kevin began, "you're half Cardassian and, at a guess, half Bajoran......and you're here!" he said with a smile. He leaned on his right elbow and continued "Seriously, this isn't the Spanish inquisition Lieutenant Satele, you can say as much or as little as you like. I'll be very honest with you, I tend to only look at peoples biographies if I feel there's an absolute need to. There are one or two onboard whom I have felt the need to delve into their information, but you're not one. So, please, the ball is in your court."

Satele sighed, "It's Lieutenant Ishan. I would've thought that an intelligence officer would know that Bajoran custom"

"Well, not being Bajoran, and how to address anyone who is not being particularly high on the Intelligence curriculum, I didn't know that, however, I'll make a note of that and try not to make the same mistake again Lieutenant Ishan" Kevin replied.

"Anyway, you wanted to know about me and Starfleet Intelligence. Well I was on a break from Starfleet when I came across some Intelligence that the Klingons where planning an attack on one of our colonies. I traded that information for protection from the Klingons and reinstatement into Starfleet"

"A break from Starfleet, I like that notion of events you present" Kevin replied as he picked at his breakfast "I sometimes think I'd like to do that after I'd just degraded my CO, and then, you know, kick back, put my feet up whilst I work out how to steal something that doesn't belong to me, then attack Starfleet supply ships. Oh, by the way, when I said back then that you're not one of the one's who's biographies I looked at, I lied. You're name has cropped up a number of times on various charge sheets...most of which have conveniently been set aside because of the deal you struck...but, believe me when I say that not every charge has gone away. When I took the opportunity to join Intel, but remain on this ship as it's Chief Officer for that department, the very first information pack I was sent was about you and the conditions by which you're governed to be able to continue to serve in Starfleet. Do you think for one second I don't know everyone's information on this ship, including Wade's? Oh, he thinks it locked away so no one will ever find out what he's done, however, there's a lot higher up the chain of Command in Intelligence who aren't...afraid to share it. Anyway, I just wanted to hear what you'd say, in our own words, about your time with Starfleet Intelligence and believe me, your view on the turn of events differs quite a lot from theirs."

Now done with his food, he stood up and picked up his tray "Thank you for the seat, and the company, I need to go get myself ready for the mission, Good Morning Lieutenant Ishan" he finished.

Satele was a little confused, "wait, that's it? You just wanted to hear what I'd say? Clearly you have some personal opinions on what I did so why don't you just come out and say it?"

"This has nothing to do with my personal opinions Lieutenant" Kevin replied as he placed his tray back in the replicator and had it cleared "I let the facts speak for themselves. I'm not the one who just lied..... a break from Starfleet indeed, I bet that had them rolling in the isles. You lost mental balance and control, plus you stole Starfleet property, and you attacked Starfleet vessels and personnel without provocation. You're not to be trusted Lieutenant, and it's my job as Chief Intelligence Officer to make sure you don't ever repeat what you did before. Unfortunately you're of the opinion that because you traded some info on a Klingon attack that this wipes the slate clean on your previous misdemeanors. I have no idea why the Intel people you spoke with let you off so lightly, me, I'd have still flung you in jail, doing penal servitude. People like you, who have betrayed your Starfleet oath, are dangerous because who's to say you won't do it again. I'll be keeping a close watch, and unless you can prove me wrong, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if history repeated itself."

Quickly standing up, Satele marched over to stand infront of him, "I will prove you wrong. Yes I broke my oath to Starfleet, and I fully expect to have to earn back any measure of respect. As for the Starfleet ships I attacked, they were only supply ships and no one died. It didn't endanger anyone's lives and the supplies were replaced within a week. I chose low value targets that wouldn't effect anyone in the long turm. Perhaps I should have just attacked harmless colonies and killed millions. Is that what you expect from me? Just because I left Starfleet?" She said, getting a little more angry than she intended "perhaps the Maquis were right about Starfleet"

Kevin backed up a couple of steps as Satele spoke out rather angrily. If she was going to make any sort of physical assault on him, he wanted room to maneuver.

"And there it is, the little Gremlin we all have inside of us" Kevin replied calmly. "It's strange that you describe the ships you attacked as 'only' supply ships, as if those ships weren't of any consequence. You're correct when you said that no-one died, but you're incorrect when you said it didn't endanger anyone's life. The simple fact that you attacked a Starfleet ship should be enough, but you didn't know that when you fired at them, anything could have happened. You could have miss-calculated your firing solution, either ship could have fractionally moved as you did fire, you could have then hit a part of the ship that could cause a breach, an anomaly could have caused you to fire higher or lower or wider thus causing who knows what damage, even causing critical mass to that ship and........'poof'.........up she goes. The fact that 'you' chose the targets is bad enough, but you had no idea that those choices wouldn't effect anyone in the long run, you didn't know 'why' the supplies were being brought in and you didn't know for who, you could only hazard a guess. What 'if' one of the supply ships you hit had say....some kind of medical equipment that was needed to treat someone, and unless that equipment made it to it's destination, that someone would have then died? No, you're cold and calculating Lieutenant, you knew exactly what you were doing and you just didn't care who you hurt, or I dare say killed, in the name of the Maquis. Oh, you can wax lyrical as much as you like about the 'just cause' of the Maquis and why you felt it your duty to help th.....oh wait, not, you can't be dutiful to them, because duty means nothing to you does it, you showed that already on the USS Great Brittan, let me correct myself, you felt honour boun......nope, that doesn't work either because you attacked 'only' supply vessels, which are only lightly armed, and where's the honour in that....no, you felt obligated to help them."

He took one step forward, and standing easy as he placed his hands behind his back, lowered his voice and said "I think that you're still a member of the Maquis Lieutenant. I think that yes, you stumbled across the Klingon plan by accident, and even though you'd gone your own way from the group you were with by that point, your loyalties still lie with them, your ideals and aims are still the Maquis ideals and aims. I think you hatched a plan with your former group so that you could wheedle and con your way back into Starfleet, and it's worked. I think you're aim, and it may be long term, is to spy for the Maquis, passing them little bits of information as and when you can. Oh, there are those within Starfleet who think the Maquis are disbanded and pose no threat, but Intelligence knows better, we know they still have a core group who're willing to stop at nothing to reach their goals. I think you're a part of that core group. You may wonder why I'm telling you this, after all, it would have been better to keep it all secret and just 'catch you in the act' so as to say. It's rather simple really, my loyalty lies with Starfleet, no if's or but's, it simply does. To that end, I think you should pass that onto your Maquis friends and let them know that this war they have begun isn't over, that they'll be hunted down for the criminals they, and you, are. You may fool the Captain and the crew here Lieutenant Satele, yes, your surname is Satele, this isn't a Bajoran ship, it's a Starfleet ship and surnames are used when addressing a fellow Officer, not forenames, but I intend to keep a very wary eye on you, that's why I've told you. He straightened up again and took a step back the way. Bringing the level of his voice back up to normal he continued "Anyway, if there's nothing else, I have to go and dress for the upcoming party, I bid you Good day Lieutenant."

Standing there for a few minuets, Satele glanced over at Kevin as he left and smiled, "well, this should be fun. I wonder how long I should wait to tell him." She said before returning to her table, retrieving her PADD's and heading out


Lt/jg Kevin, Lord Kilbane of Sanquhar
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Victory

&

Lieutenant JG Ishan Satele
CFCO