Up to Speed

Posted on Mon Jun 26th, 2017 @ 9:13pm by Lieutenant Valeria Mordin & Lieutenant Alexander Vickers

Mission: Awakening
Location: Intel Officer's Office
Timeline: Shorter after "Cards on the Table"

With the briefing handled, Valeria had a few moments before she felt the flood of personal meetings and clarifications would begin. Like some sort of inquisition, she feared for the worst. How do you do this... how do we counter that... tell us everything... she went right to the worst case and just stayed there for a moment, though there was something that broke her out of the spiral. A notification of a new Intel officer that hadn't been part of the briefing.

Should she allow Kevin to bring them up to speed, or handle it personally? Allowing Kevin to do it would be easier for her, but ultimately there'd be the issues of whether or not he was concise. She didn't doubt his memory, she was just worried about him potentially painting a false picture of her people to a new crewmate. It was that thought that carried her to the Intel Officer's office, as she rang the announcer chime.

Alex had been sitting in his office for sometime working out the details of his transfer and attempting to read details on the Victory's mission. Starfleet Intelligence hadn't been overly helpful; the usual red-tape hassle.

The door chime surprised him since he had not undertaken any correspondence with the crew as of yet. "Come in," he said looking up towards the door.

The door swished open and the Victory's resident rabbitess walked in. She seemed a touch removed from touched up: her hair wasn't quite brushed, her fur was nice but could use a touch up... she actually seemed like she just came out of a long meeting. Though she seemed to actually wear it well.

She offered the new lieutenant a soft ghost of a smile, a smile that didn't seem to reach her eyes. No, that was wrong, it made it there, but her eyes were strikingly unusual. They reflected nothing. No light, no warmth, they weren't windows into the souls but rather pools that offered nothing, but took everything.

"Good afternoon Lieutenant. My name is Valeria Mordin. I'm afraid you missed a rather vital meeting concerning the current mission. I've come to bring you a bit up to speed as it were." she motioned to one of the office's chairs, "May I sit?"

Alex nodded. "Please," he said while motioning towards the empty seat. "Thank you... I was not told about the meeting, so I apologize for my absence." He hoped this was only a coincidence of the new posting.

Valeria took the seat once permitted, a literal load taken off her shoulders. Or in this case, her feet.

"The fault is mine. I thought I had the latest roster of the department heads. I apologize for the omission." she shook her head gently, "I'll start with the basic foundation. A few hours ago we were informed of a call for arbitration between my people and one of my people's oldest allies, the Dalacari. The core of the dispute concerns a possible emergence of artificial intelligence in the Dalacari drone control computer, a field of research which is forbidden according to an accord signed by the two people."

"We're on our way to the two craft now: A Dalacari frigate and a Ts'usugi gunship escort."

Alex listened closely and remained still, declining to respond to the apology, while taking the information in. He had previously read a version of short-hand meeting notes, that were open to those with the proper clearance, concerning the situation. While he was unsure why only notes were taken, he was pleased that his colleague would take the time to make clarifications.

He asked, "Are there any confirmed reports of the artificial intelligence in existence? According to Starfleet," he added.

Valeria shook her head, "No. While Dalacari use drones for almost all of their military applications, the drones are governed by a tightly restricted decision engine. They've been using engines like these for years. If this engine emerged into sentience, it would be the first time on Ts'usugi records, and therefore, Starfleet records."

That, at least, is a step in the right direction, Alex thought to himself.

"I will admit, Lieutenant, that all I know of the Ts'usugi is from briefings and reports; the same goes for the Dalacari. How old is the alliance between the two?"

"There have been several overlapping non-aggression pacts between the Ts'usugi and the Dalacari, but the actual alliance... the accord... has been in place for roughly a hundred years."

Alex nodded. "Who has requested these meetings?" Alex had to think things over before speaking or jumping to conclusions.

"The call for arbitration was made by Shipmaster Koichi of the Ts'usugi Imperial Cruiser Razor's Gale. We presume that at current Dalacari communications were disabled by the crew."

Alex finally sighed and spoke up. "Lieutenant, I have to analyze things logically so that they make sense. Now I haven't been read into the situation by Starfleet Intelligence, yet; but, why would two empires, which have had an alliance for around a hundred years, suddenly need mediation?" Alex was simply thinking aloud and Mordin seemed as good of a person to do so with.

"I understand completely." she said, accepting of his need to analyze the situation. "They require outside arbitration. A situation has arisen that could, in theory, jeopardize the accord of peace. A neutral third party is required to see if this is an accidental emergence, or something that the Dalacari were designing. The latter is forbidden by the accord."

"Any Ts'usugi investigation would be biased towards the continuation of the accord, as would any Dalacari investigation. For a completely neutral and truthful arbitration, as is the right of the accord, the local authorities were invoked. Hence the Federation's involvement."

"If I were to take a guess at the moment, both parties are hoping this is a gross misunderstanding... but protocol must be followed."

"As do I," Alex replied in an unfamiliar tone. In his mind, there were numerous possibilities and scenarios racing around: causation, response, and of course the Victory's chances of success.

"And on the chance that these talks fail... what are we looking at?"

After speaking it, Alex realized that the question was probably better suited for a diplomatic, but had confidence in Mordin on the shear fact that she shared lineage with one of the parties to the situation.

"Worst case scenario, the decision engine goes hostile and launches drones against the Razor's Gail and the Victory. Retaliation action cripples the Dalacari frigate, resulting in injuries or possible deaths across all three. Word reaches the homeworlds of the transgression, and reperations will be made. If the engine does not turn hostile, there will be talks about the rights of the new sentience, but the accord's terms will still be violated in either case."

"A new set of accords would possibly be negotiated, with further limitations on Dalacari ingenuity. Any here involved with the engine would presumably be investigated and incarcerated." she paused, "I seriously doubt this will erupt into war, to settle that fear."

Alex offered nods at times when listening. "It seems as if we have our work cut out for us. Are you aware of anything that I specifically need to do?"

"I imagine most, if not all, of your potential questions will be answered by reviewing the recordings of the two briefings I've delivered. There's one for each species in play in this event." she mentioned, "I'll make myself available for any further questions or concerns that aren't addressed directly. Just recall that while the Ts'usugi find security in a strong military presence, and the Dalacari value life above anything else, neither of them are looking for a conflict. Merely a resolution."

"We're not here to provide military assistance. We're just here to arbitrate."

"I understand," Alex replied with a nod. He was still pondering over the details and assumed it too would be a learning curve as the future days progressed. "I'll get to those briefings as soon as I can."

"Give them the time and attention they need, but recall that we are only a few hours off from where the arbitration is to occur." she mentioned, "And another point. I've been permitted by the Ts'usugi government to speak of any matter that isn't Clearance One. While nothing in the mission docket thus far would begin to approach that limit, and nothing in the briefing itself violated such just be informed that there is still a slim chance I will not be permitted to answer a question you may present." she cautioned. "Again, the odds of such a question rising from this mission are slim, but I've learned to never underestimate human curiosity." she said with a smirk.

"If there's nothing more, I should go prepare for the proverbial flood."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." Alex stated as it seemed the end of the conversation was near. Due to the last point made by Mordin, he was curious as to she really knew and whether she made a fair judgement of what is needed to be known and what isn't. He planned to keep this in the back of his mind; only time would tell.