Machivellian Machinations

Posted on 31 May 2016 @ 4:08am by Vice Admiral Nathan West & Rear Admiral Azura Ashcart

1,107 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: ED 3 - 1000

ON:

Azura sat behind his desk going over the reports from the system they were headed too. They were disturbing to say the least, and the patterns he noticed made him think of the 6th fleet. They would have to fight them again, sooner rather than later he was sure. He looked over the list of the missing officers and crew the marine detachment was lacking, and security and tac was short staffed as well. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head, he hoped that the patters wouldn't coalesces around Hadronus.

The sound of a hologram appearing in his ready room. "Captain, do you have a moment?" Pallas asked.

He snorted "Yes, as your already here, what can I do for you?"

"I have discovered something that might be of interest to you sir. I've been monitoring the crew's actions and have noted this man," the holographic face of Ensign Jon Marshall appeared to the right center of his desk "he has been in six incidents in the past twenty four hours. All of them he has either instigated or caused to be created due to his actions or words."

Azura's blood ran cold, an impressive feat considering his Vulcan heritage which craved and enjoyed heat. His voice quavered ever so slightly with his indignation "That man is on my ship?" the question was more rhetorical.

"He is here sir, and currently assigned as the Assistant Chief Science Officer of the USS Redemption." Pallas responded.

"Who have you told other than me?" he asked his eyes locked on the image of Marshall.

"No one sir, after the pattern appeared in the incidences and I saw he was the common element of all of them I cross referenced him with the previous missions of the Redemption and found him. Given his history with the ship and you I thought it would be prudent to contact you directly and let you know he is back on board. I assumed that his assignment to the ship being with in 24 hours of the ships departure, and the nature of his relationship with the crew that you had not approved his transfer. I also assumed that neither you nor Commander Rhyan was aware of the problem and wanted to bring it to your attention and find out what you wished to do."

He tore his eyes away from the image of the Ensign and looked back at Pallas. "Wise of you, goddess." he smirked to himself "I doubt you were installed on the ship without SFI putting backdoors into your programming. Are you able to locate and open a channel with the Master?"

Pallas laughed, musically "They did place taggs into my programming but they didnt have the foresight to place it in my core programming so I couldn't change it. I found their bugs and neutralized them I let slip some information to let them think they are still active and I can monitor the traffic on their frequencies without raising any flags."

His eyebrow shot up at the counter-intelligence chops the AI had and he was quite impressed. "Please do continue to monitor their frequencies and if you catch anything from Marshall flag it and send it to me immediately, no matter the time of day. Please open communications to SFI and get me the Master." she nodded and stepped back looking up and to the right as she accessed, encrypted and established communications with Admiral West. The face of a man bathed in shadows appeared.

"Who, how did you get... ah Ashcart, what can I do for you?" West said.

"Master," Azura said as he spoke the codename of his friend, a name that each member of the covert operations service used "why have you placed this man," Azura threw the image that was floating over his desk at the hologram of the Master "on my ship with out my permission?"

West sat back in his chair and paused, he pressed some buttons on his desk and the pop and fizz of a force field being erected was clear on the other side of the channel. "I am not aware of any Intelligence personnel placed on the Redemption other than the overt officers. The Ensign was not placed on your ship at my bidding." there was clear unease in his voice as West spoke.

Azura raised an eyebrow "What do you wish me to do with him as I would prefer to throw him out an airlock."

West paused as he thought "I dont know enough about the situation as it stands. Keep him under surveillance, I'll dispatch Tempest to intercept you at Hadronus. He will stay outside of the area and will only come in if signaled. Marshall, I fear, did not transition well into the Company. I believe he still thinks were the 31st and I have been made aware of his unorthodox methods and I do not approve."

Azura nodded "We will keep Marshall under surveillance and forward any information we get from him to you... and Master, I would suggest you look into your organization as there are machinations at play that you are not aware of and that scares me."

West nodded "I agree Captain, and rest assured I will be looking into it. I mislike being kept out of the loop of my own organization."

"Very good Master," Azura raised his hand in the Vulcan salute "Live long and prosper."

"Peace and long life." West replied and the connection was severed.

"Pallas, keep Marshal under surveillance and should he get close to Rhyan, Blackburn or Cadet Scott inform me immediately and monitor the situation. I want to know what the hell that man is doing on my ship."

"Understood sir, though he has already had run-ins with Major Blackburn and Cadet Scott. They were part of the six incidents I reported earlier."

Azura gritted his teeth and growled softly to himself "Protect them Pallas, if he harms any of them you are free to treat him as an enemy combatant by my order and in compliance with sections 2 and 4 of the Federation accords."

"Understood sir I'll keep them on my eye on them."

"Also send a message to Commander Rhyan let him know I wish to speak to him at his earliest convenience."

Pallas nodded "The message was sent as soon at the link with the shadowed man was established. I assumed you wanted to talk to him afterwards."

He nodded "Thank you Pallas that will be all."

OFF:

Azura Ashcart
Captain
Commanding Officer
USS Redemption

&

Nathan West
Vice-Admiral
Head of Star Fleet Intelligence/The Master
Star Fleet Headquarters

 

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