Persons of Interest

Posted on 10 May 2016 @ 10:14pm by Ensign Calin & Lieutenant Benice Gyce Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Randolf Eklund & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell & Chief Petty Officer Torgeir Naes & Petty Officer 1st Class Taliesin Cynwrig
Edited on on 19 May 2016 @ 12:15am

3,657 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 11 - Divinum Mundi
Location: USS Galileo - Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD1 - 0900 Hours

[ON]

With surveillance running on her personal computer and the brig empty, she felt comfortable for the moment. At least long enough to run a department meeting in the observation lounge.

The security office was too small and with her new arrivals, a slightly bigger place was needed. Thus Gyce placed water jugs at the center of the table as she waited for her department staff to arrive.

A Vulcan elder had once told Calin that to merely be prompt was insufficient, and that it was best to be early... and prepared. It was for that reason that he arrived as ordered both several minutes early and with a large data PADD and stencil so as to record any necessary items. Calin first noticed his senior officer, Lieutenant Junior Grade Benice Gyce. The last time they'd met, or spoken, had been during his indoctrination.

"Good Morning, Lieutenant Benice." Calin said in greetings as he moved to what he deemed was the least senior spot at the table.

"Greetings Ensign Calin," Gyce greeted with a warm smile. She enjoyed being around Vulcans a lot.

It hadn't been a Vulcan elder, but Randy had been taught that showing up on time was late, too. He strode into the observation lounge several minutes before things were scheduled to start. He also had his PADD, but he'd brought along a mug of tea, as this was the middle of his night, and a small basket as well.

"Good...0900, all," Randy set the basket on the table. "These are some cookies I...liberated...yeah, liberated from my mother's cookie jar before we left. Please eat them before I do."

Greg, who didn't care whether he was late or on time, or really what anyone thought of him ever (though he did strive to come in on time) walked in through the door. "CWO2 Mitchell, reporting as ordered Lieutenant. I'm all good to go and focused solely on getting involved in this department meeting. Nothing's gonna distract me from......oh cookies!" He said as he waltzed over to the cookie basket.

There were some others in the lounge already, but as Terje made his way inside, he was relieved to see he was not yet the last. "God morgen." Taking a seat at the table he claimed a glass of water for himself before considering the treats, taking one to try. He was starting to place faces to names, but was not quite ready to address at random, content to let the others talk a bit to get the feel of things.

"Morning all," Gyce finally spoke dutifully as she stood up and walked over to the LCARS wall display. "I first want to open the meeting with introductions. I know we have some new faces so let's go around and introduce each other."

Calin had sat waiting for someone else to begin. It only seemed appropriate, given that he was perhaps the newest of them all. When nobody started, however, and the silence began to stretch to the point where it might have become uncomfortable, he elected to break that silence. Standing up with a composure that seemed both rigid and relaxed, Calin placed his hands behind the small of his back.

"My name is Ensign Calin. This is my first duty station since graduating from Starfleet Academy. While on board, I serve as the Galileo's Security Investigations Officer."

Greg sat down, swallowing the rest of his cookie, and leaned back in his chair. He was used to, and genuinely enjoyed these meetings, as he had many before. They reminded him in attitude and protocol of the briefings he used to have before going on duty back at Champaign Police Department on Earth. When Ensign Calin finished, he sat up straight enough to show respect to protocol.

"Hello everyone. I'm Chief Warrant Officer Second Class Greg Mitchell. I'm a security officer. I've been stationed here and there before coming aboard. Last posting being the Neutral Zone, post-nova." He said, referring to the Romulus Supernova incident. "Before that, I was a police officer for the city of Champaign Illinois police department. While here, I, like my fellow officers, patrol and keep everyone safe."

"Taliesin Cynwrig," said the human man with brown hair and eyes who looked to be in his thirties. The lowest-rank in the room, he didn't seem at all uneasy about it though, and lounged somewhat in his chair. "From Toshvot Station, in the Jaradan Sector," he added, mentioning the distant area outside of Federation space. "Former law enforcement, now Master-At-Arms around here."

Terje didn't have such a list of accolades to his reputation, so he merely lifted his hand. "Torgier Naess. Formally of Ardana, though I spent some time on Earth with my mother's family. I transferred over from Operations some time back and the move suits me better."

He'd waited til the others had had an opportunity to speak before introducing himself. "I'm Lieutenant, j.g., Randolf Eklund. I'm Lt. Benice's new assistant. I just transferred over from the Lakota and served on the Callisto before that. I'm from Earth, and I felt the urge to explore that none of my family did."

"Now that we've all met, I feel all new and old faces need to be updated on some of our more bothersome and disruptive faces aboard the ship." Gyce gestured to the main monitor and tapped a button on her PADD so the service jacket pictures of Tuula and Jynn were displayed in before of them.

"Mister Jynn was recently found guilty of breaking his Deltan celibacy oath. The only reason for him to be assigned back to the Galileo, would be that he passed his rehabilitation. All the same, we should be extra diligent he and Miss Tuula Voutilainen do not cross the line of platonic while in public."

Gyce poured herself a cup of cool water, drank a bit, and then went on to Tuula. "Our young doctor, however, is not the victim, as this Jynn Case has made her out to be. She has, in fact, been in the midst of a sexual misconduct case before - A case a former Master-at-Arms of ours sabotaged and caused her and the two others involved to close ranks and lie - to the point that case had to be closed as Inconclusive. And Miss Voutilainen came close to admitting her second bedding of Mister Jynn was not entirely consensual... Any questions so far?"

Randy was disturbed. He'd met Tuula. Hell, he was supposed to be joining her and the CMO for a sauna at some point. He made a mental note to start reviewing the information that hadn't made it into the official case files as soon as possible.

Greg was the first to raise his hand, "Yah ma'am, about that. I have never dealt with Deltans before, I've actually never met any, and I'm not really familiar with customs of other cultures. But I've been hearing people mumble about about rumors regarding this. Aside from the obvious issue of fratranization among crew members what is the major issue with this?" He sat back in the chair, "I mean, forgive my ignorance."

"Fraternization isn't so much the issue," Randy said. "This is a small ship. People are bound to...fraternize at some point. The issue, if I remember correctly, is that Deltans can be sexually...overwhelming to most other species. To the point where they could threaten the emotional stability of a crew if unchecked. Deltans serving in mixed crews must take an oath of celibacy, otherwise things could get very bad very quickly."

"Ah, that explains a great many things. Alright, we're on the same page now." Greg responded, resting his arms over his head.

Taliesin had rolled his eyes a few times during the explanation that had been given to them about the sexual situation. By body language alone it was plain he had little to no sympathy for anyone involved, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth closed about it. People, especially Starfleet people, should learn how to control themselves and their baser urges.

Terje's attention was piqued by the woman's name, recognizing it from others similar to his mother's home region. Not Norwegian, but close enough to bring the area to mind. However, the smile of recognition faded as the details of the case came to light. This ... Tuula seemed to be a piece of work. "If this Miss Voutilainen is in medical, we would assume she is aware of Deltan protocols - how was she not the one charged with sexual assault rather than Jynn?"

"I would assume it had to do with the mishandling of the case by the Master-at-Arms," Randy didn't sound happy about that. "But that's the way our justice system works. It's better for a dozen guilty people to go free than for a single innocent one to be unjustly punished. Though...I hope the Master in question suffered some kind of consequences."

"That is a completely separate case," Gyce admitted with a wince, for just the sheer memory of it gave her a splitting headache. "In that case, our good doctor failed to register an incident report, in the very least. Doctor Mott carried a bloody rug with a... rather loose female inside of it, to Miss Voutilainen in Sickbay. Then proceeded to rid himself of the rug by carrying it back through the ship. The three involved closed ranks soon after and lied so much that who the victim and perp of the incident are, are a complete mystery. So to save their asses, they shut their mouths on the insistence of a former MAA of ours."

Greg, who was now leaning forward in his chair and rubbing his temples. "So, what I'm getting from this is that a butt load of people on here don't follow orders......" He perked up. "I think I may like it here." He said sarcastically.

"Doctor Mott may very well make this list if he's not careful," Gyce agreed, going a bit off-topic. "The only reason he's not on here at the moment, is because the events he's been part of, are very unclear if he knew his actions were bad... All evidence point to him being a bit of a medical savant and a mild-mannered irritant."

Randy took that in then turned to Chief Mitchell. "These are scientists. Of course there are a butt load of them who don't follow orders. But there are a butt load of people in this room who do. And our orders are to keep them safe while giving them the leeway to do their jobs. That's not going to be easy, but if you'd wanted easy you should have gone into Command."

Greg laughed at that. "Lord knows, first thing I would do was accidentally order the ship into an asteroid field. No, I like being a cop way to much." He sat back again. "Alright, so this Mr. Jynn. Are there any probationary guidelines that he needs to follow? Like checking in with us once every few hours for a couple of months? What are our plans for keeping the two apart?"

"Command Staff have not listed any restrictions for Mister Jynn. He is to be treated as one that's been rehabilitated," Gyce informed her staff, then pulled out from her messenger bag a handful of encrypted isorods. "Ensign Calin will act as Mister Jynn's probation/rehabilitation officer, and I believe an official meet on how he is doing and what Mister Jynn's plans are for the future, would be a good start."

She handed Calin one of the rods, then proceeded to hand each of the other department members their own rod.

"Consider these your semi-personal, encrypted filing bins for cases and work-related events you wish to keep track of. They, like the conversations we have in our meetings, are not to be shared with anyone outside this department. And no one outside the department should know you even have them - for these datarods are for private, department use on any case that may pop up, in the event we lose computer data."

Gyce did not say that private files also tended to become personal projects. The cases that went cold, at any rate.

Randy synced his with his PADD. "I'm assuming these can access the security network as well. So another reason to keep them from falling into the wrong hands." He slipped the rod into his pocket and sealed it. He would secure it in his cabin later. "What others should we be keeping an eye on, ma'am? Surely even on a ship this size there's more than just some illicit affair for us to worry about."

The rod was non-descript enough; turning it about in his fingers, Terje addressed the curves and angles before tucking it into a pocket on his uniform.

Greg took his rod, examined it, before putting it away in his uniform. "Surprisingly, I thought you were handing out night sticks at first. I miss the good old PR-24. Now that sucker could take a man down."

Randy chuckled. "That could take a bull down! I'm hoping that we won't be needing that kind of deterrent with a ship full of brainiac scientists. The PRs can't help me out think them, after all."

Gyce tried not to laugh, though she did manage a small smile. Enough to let her department see that she was not always super serious.

"We have stun grenades if needs be - though I hope we never have to use them on the squints," Gyce spoke with a reddened face. Then she cleared her throat and pulled up a Romulan female. Civilian and one with great style.

"This next one to watch is Doctor Seleya Qellar. Her family were closely involved with the Tal Shiar, before their star went nova. With her degrees in biotechnology and the fact she's been in the proximity of three attempted forced-entry alarms on the ship, she's also to be watched as much as we can without violating her civilian rights of privacy."

Greg's happy demeanor wore off. He had hoped he would be gone from the Romulans on this posting. Evidentally not. After the Ohio he had hoped......Lying piece of crap station administrator. He just wanted me gone as soon as possible. He sat up straight for the first time since he got here. "What exactly constitutes her rights of privacy, ma'am?" Greg let slip without even thinking. The last time a Romulan had been aboard his ship.....

"As she is not Starfleet, she is not subject to Command Staff-enforced inspections unless we have probable cause. Same thing goes for non-passive surveillance," Gyce informed. "We do nothing to disrupt her life unless we've actual hard proof she's committed or associated with a crime."

"I see..." Greg responded while tapping his fingers on the table, "Understood ma'am."

"Just confirming," Randy put out there. "She hasn't actually done anything wrong other than look suspicious and be related to potential bad characters. That's certainly enough to keep an eye on, but she's personally clean, right?"

"That we have proof of? No, she's innocent," Gyce frowned at that. "The doors and locks all belonged to Lieutenant Idris though. And upon asking him about the coincidences around this woman, I believe Doctor Qellar could be, or is in the process of, blackmailing him... To what end, I do not know. Both seemed uncooperative to give any further information about the break-ins."

"I don't like the thought of just sitting around, waiting for this pot to boil over, Lieutenant," Taliesin spoke up. "Personal vendettas have a way of getting dangerous, even without having the sodding Tal Shiar involved. Is there no way that we can bring this to a head? At a time and place of our choosing maybe?"

"As your chief... I am obligated to say that the invasion of a civilian's base rights, is illegal. Unless we have real proof or probable cause, anyone violating said civilian rights, are to be arrested - pending court martial."

Gyce took off her badge for a moment before adding, "Staking her out, however, is in the grey area... If you go after her, you better not let her catch you."

Greg nodded. "Should I find sufficient reason to, I'll make sure to keep an eye on her. I've...dealt with Romulans before, and this is a pretty dicey time for them, forming all sorts of terrorist groups." He thought back to his dream about the events on Arus 4. "I won't bias her, but I'll sure as heck keep an ear open.

"It couldn't hurt to have some of us checking in on her, as our paths cross," Taliesin added. "And to keep an eye on Doctor Idris as well. Maybe we could even get one of them to open up a bit more." He sounded doubtful about that last part, and was sure that it wouldn't be him that could manage it. It appeared to him that they were going to have to wait and see, and that didn't make him happy.

Randy wasn't comfortable with this line of discussion, but he wasn't about to be that guy. He did feel that he needed to at least say something, though. "If this Dr. Qellar has experience with the Tal Shiar, let's keep in mind that she will not be as clueless about surveillance as most of the scientists on this ship probably would be. No matter how good the tail, no one is perfect. If she's actually guilty of anything, she's been crafty enough to obscure it this well. That means she won't be an idiot or an easy mark. If she's truly innocent, and someone starts violating her rights, that person is going to be looking for other employment if they're caught."

"Sometimes the most obvious is the least." Terje inclined his head. "If we want to keep observation on the Doctor, then why not spread out our attentions? Make a point of observing other members of the team as well, rotate officers who are watching our question people, so that the attention seems just par for course. Eventually, we would become background, and the presence of at least one security officer more often than not wouldn't seem so out of place."

"Perhaps," Randy admitted, "but that doesn't change the fact that we would be treating someone as though they were a criminal on purely circumstantial evidence. The Cardassian system may assume guilt until innocence is proven, but ours does not. I'll grant you that I will be more vigilant around Dr. Qellar because of this briefing, but I'm not going to violate the rights I swore to protect."

Terje shrugged. "Then that's what you're doing. If people have doubts of the Doctor, they could look for opportunities to cause harm; but if she has a security presence, perhaps not? We protect those in question by protecting our interests as well."

Greg sat up again to input: "Sir, if I may suggest. While I was a patrol officer, we had a certain strategy. If we suspected a person in a car of acting suspicious while they hadn't yet broke a law, all we had to do was follow them a little while. Eventually they would make a traffic violation such as driving through a traffic light or failing to signal a turn. That gave us PC to pull them over and check."

He sat forward, folding his hands on the table. "I don't advocate following her all the time. That would be a waste of time, man power, and would look bad for us. But at times that she may be poking around near sensitive areas, we could put a plain clothes officer near by to keep an eye on her in case she does something near suspicious. That would give us cause to investigate further." He started tapping the table out of slight anxiety. "But that's just my opinion."

"I agree," Randy started. "IF we had probable cause, then I'd have no problem pulling someone in for questioning or even focusing surveillance on her, but we don't have that. We should absolutely keep our eyes open, but keeping eyes on her because of some anticipated 'future crime?' That's a bridge too far for me."

Randy then chuckled as things were getting entirely too serious. "And if you can figure out how to hide security officers on an all Starfleet ship with only a hundred or so crew by putting them in plain clothes, I'd do it just to be part of that. You have no idea how much I'd like to learn a trick like that to use around my family. I mean, these cookies weren't easy to liberate."

"Agreed. I'm not advocating we go off the reservation... But I've also learned your gut instincts are rarely wrong," Gyce conceded. "I'll pass whatever leads you might come across through passive means... But if Command Staff still doesn't budge, follow whatever gut instincts you have."

Gyce cleared the monitor and turned to her senior department staff.

"I will back any actions you make in the field so long as you investigate and act smartly, and with justification," Gyce told them. "Having said that, you're all dismissed to your regular duties and activities at this hour."

[OFF]

---

Lieutenant JG Benice Gyce
Chief of Security/Tactical
USS Galileo

Ensign Calin
Security Investigations Officer
USS Galileo

CWO Torgier Naess
Security Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPCed By Noah]

Lt.jg Randolf Eklund
Asst. Chief of Security/Tactical
USS Galileo

CWO2 Greg Mitchell
Security Officer
USS Galileo

PO1 Taliesin Cynwrig
Security Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPCed By Cyrin]

 

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