In a Spirit of Support

Posted on 07 Jun 2014 @ 11:07pm by Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia Ph.D. & Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Petty Officer 1st Class Siren Hex Saalm
Edited on on 09 Jun 2014 @ 12:20pm

1,353 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 5 - Intelligent Offices
Timeline: MD 05 - 1030 hrs

ON:

"The hell is that?" Paul mumbled to himself as he rounded the corner toward the intelligence offices. At that moment, Paul caught a glimpse of a very beautiful young crew person with a PADD in her left hand. He walked up to her while simultaneously looking past her, squinting. Paul shook off his reaction for a moment. "Hi, I'm sorry." Paul said to the young woman, assuming a smile. "That was, uhh..." Paul furrowed his brow and looked lost in thought before snapping back. "Yeah, that was rude. Sorry. Hi, I'm Paul Alasia." He extended his hand.

Siren Hex stopped as he peaked round her shoulder, touching his arm to push him half around to face her with her arm's length between them. She laughed softly, but with an arched brow that questioned the sanity of what was going on right now. She took his offered hand and gave it a shake, but at the wrist rather than the hand. "I know who you are," she assured, but with a small, half smile pulling at her lips. "Siren Hex. Is....everything alright there....?"

"You wouldn't by any chance have a... like a dog or vole or something, do you?" Paul asked

"Huh?" Siren laughed outright at that, holding her padd against her tummy as she wrapped her arms over it. "I've heard of a dog, but what the hell is a vole? Sounds like some kind of medical condition. No...I have no animals or medical conditions."

Paul laughed. "No, a Cardassian vole. It's a furry thing, they keep them on Bajor... I could've sworn, I saw, like, a small animal. I'm probably seeing things." Paul shook his head again to remind himself why he was where he was. "Do you know where I could find Lieutenant Markos?"

Siren chuckled softly, shaking her head as she leant to him and lifted her arm to point to Amynta's office "She's in. Just...be a bit more normal with her. She's not known for her patience...." she winked to him. "My tip of the day, straight from me to you."

"That's a... that's a good tip. A good tip for life, really. Thank you very much for your help, Ms. Hex." Paul meandered over to the office of the CIO and rang the chime.

Amynta looked up from what she was reading, frowning. "Come in," she called out, reaching for her coffee.

"Good morning, ma'am. I'm Wakeham Alasia. I probably should have done this days ago but I was wondering if you had a couple minutes. I'm embarrassed we haven't had a real chance to speak yet."

Amynta looked at him for a long moment, blankly. He was...very, cheery. She hadn't heard a good morning in ages. Maybe because mornings weren't that good. "I...I do," she said and sat back. "Have a seat, Lieutenant."

"Thank you." Paul plopped in his chair comfortably before thinking better of it and straightening his back.

"So, the hierarchy of the Galileo is a little different than what I've heard is typical. The best I can tell, you are... you're my department head." Paul trailed off, the tone of his voice conveying something in the small purgatory between a statement and a question.

She looked at him for a moment before nodding. "I suppose so. But I'll be honest. Unless you kill someone or need some advice, I won't monitor anything you do. It's not that I don't care..." she stopped before she shrugged. "It's just that I don't. You're a diplomat. You look like you're harmless and quite nice. Very polite. So I take it you know your job and are able to work with things. Now, I'm more than happy to exchange information. I have plenty to give and I suspect you do too. But don't send me any reports unless you think they'll have an impact on my work because frankly, if I receive one every month and find them not contributing to my work, I'll stop reading them."

"Fair enough." Paul paused a moment. "So, I'm curious actually. You've served on the Galileo some time now. Some of my Battalion at OCS really thought that a Nova Class Ship was a bizarre place for a full diplomatic and intelligence complement. I mean, I guess there aren't a ton of us or anything but still. We got thrown into the fire a little bit with dinner the other night but even given that... do you find the Galileo to be an effective platform for intelligence work - compared to the other ships you've served on, that is?"

"I find that this ship, for whatever reason, has a talent to put us in stupid-arsed dangerous situations where diplomacy and stealth work is desperately needed," she said bluntly. "Because the scientists here have not got the first idea of how to survive outside a lab. They get themselves into trouble, they have no concept of how to handle other people or know when to remain silent and plot your revenge." If anything, Amynta Markos sounded frustrated as she spoke. "This ship has caused me to work more hours than any other. So don't underestimate it..." she met his eyes before giving a weak smile. "I think that to call a ship an effective platform is a waste of words. It's a tin can in space. All that matters is what we get thrown into. Since we have faced the Borg, I can safely say this ship will be messing with your head. And the people here are even worse."

Paul raised his eyebrows and burst out laughing. "Without trying to put too many words in your mouth, it sounds like a science ship would typically not need a diplomatic and intelligence division but this one does because the crew is stupid or reckless... or both..." he smirked. "Is that, like, the official Starfleet justification?" Paul laughed again incredulously.

"Look, I get it." Paul added. "Our jobs are what we make of them - doesn't matter the ship we're on. But there is a tendency to send some "tin cans" to investigate - or even participate in - a fire fight along the neutral zone and they send other tin cans to collect core rotation data on the Star in the Delta system..." Paul raised his eyebrows. "Some tin cans need intelligence more than others."

"So have you just gotten lucky?" Paul asked facetiously. "Or is the Galileo a little less science ship than they would have me believe?"

Amynta's lips curled into a small smile. "It's a lot less of a science ship. I personally have a theory that Starfleet wants this ship destroyed...so send it out where it shouldn't be going," she said before giving a small shrug, holding his eyes.

"Well, that alleviates a lot of worries." Paul said, standing up. A mischievous smile crossed his face. "Since, we'll all be dead forthwith, no need to get too worked up, is there?" He laughed.

"That's the spirit," she said as she nodded, and it was difficult to tell if se was joking or not. "We are all going to be dead soon anyway. Dismissed."

"I don't expect you'll find much use for me, ma'am. But I am down the hall and at your service should you need anything from me. Oh! Also..." Paul smiled broadly and made his way to the door. "I'll have that monthly report you asked for by the end of the week. I think you'll like them. Long. Long reports." Paul reassured Amynta sarcastically. "Detailed. Lots of details. Even if we don't do anything."

"Fantastic," she held his eyes, her eyebrow arching as she held his eyes. "Please include any personal detail as well. Like breakfast choices." With that, she reached for her padd and started to read again.

OFF

Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 2nd Class Siren Hex
Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

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