Ask And You Shall Receive.

Posted on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 @ 10:23pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Alanah Matashi

Mission: War and Peacekeeping
Location: CO's Ready Room

Abigail stared at the ever growing mountain of reports that were piling up on her desk. So much that needed her attention, and so little time to get it all done. Now, with the discovery of a second body, presumed to be murder, likely in retaliation for what had happened to Miranda, her availablity was decreasing rapidly and the reports were growing at a significantly faster rate. She had heard plenty from Intelligence about the current state of events, and she had even heard plenty from Ichiko and Kaarg, but now she needed to speak to someone else.

Reaching up, she tapped her commbadge lightly. "Lieutenant Matashi, please report to my ready room as soon as you're available." Without waiting for a reply, Abigail closed the comm link and leaned back in her chair, taking a moment to just close her eyes and contemplate how nice it would be to be relaxing on a nice, warm beach somewhere with a delicious cocktail in hand, instead of trying to clean up murder in the middle of a civil war.

Alanah got the call on her combadge and as she went to reply the channel had been closed. Alanah looked at the survalience reports from Kaarg's. She put down the PADD and did as instructed and headed to the Ready Room. Her stride was accelerated and with purpose he body swung as he hips swayed back and forth. She found her self outside the doors before she knew it. The door opened and she walked in. "So much for a shakedown assignment." She said as she strode the rest of the way to Abigail's desk.

Abigail grimaced at the words. "It's a simple mission they said. Just a quick delivery, what could possibly go wrong?" She shook her head and pushed her chair back. "I don't know about you but I need a latte. Do you want anything?" she asked as she motioned for Alanah to take a seat before she headed for the replicator.

"Could use something with more of a bit, but since that's not happening give me a a couple shots of espresso in mine." She said as she sat down.

Replicating the two drinks, Abigail carried them back to the desk and slid the extra strong coffee across to Alanah. "I don't normally condone drinking on the job, but I've got a bottle of whiskey in my drawer and if ever there was a reason to irish up a coffee, our current circumstances I'm sure would qualify," she said with a laugh as she retrieved the bottle that had been liberated from Ashe's bar much earlier in their trip.

"I know you won't have full reports or anything yet, but I'm curious as to your thoughts about what's going on?" Abigail asked softly. "Everything seems to have escalated quickly, it's overwhelming to say the least."

"It has escalated to quickly for how many security measures we have in place. There has to be someone feeding this or my staff all need to be fired." She said plainly

Abigail nodded again. Alanah had just tapped into her primary concern with that one statement. "I find it difficult to believe that an entire department could be sufficiently inept so as to allow something like this without someone, anyone, raising concerns, which makes me think that there has to be external influence. Either that, or there's something else at play that we're all blind to." She poured a small amount of the whiskey into her latte, swirling the mug slightly before taking a sip. "It concerns me, greatly."

"Well going over the bios of the two groups I dont see where either side is advanced enough in their tactics and espionage to do this. So who would have a play in these proceedings falling apart?" Alanah was talking out loud.

"Who has something to gain from it?" Abigail asked. "And how do we stop it from happening again?" She sighed and took a sip of her latte. "We have one body from each side, I'd like to not see that toll rise any further."

"Maybe Intel can help with the who." She said taking a sip of the offered drink. "As for the how we have to lock them down. Lock both groups in different parts of the ship till we reach the planet. I know you wanted the chance at diplomatic relations but the bodies on chill throw that out the window."

"We've had them locked in two different parts of the ship, we've had security controlling when they could and couldn't leave their quarters and we have two dead bodies to show for it." Abigail sighed, setting her mug down on the desk and rubbing her temples. "At this point I think I should have taken your advice in the first place. We should just put them all in a cargo bay and let them have at each other. At the very least if there's going to be another death, everyone would know who did it."

"Well we still have the mock up plans to convert the Cargo bays. If you wanna give that a shot my people along with the Ops team can get it setup." Alanah offered.

"May as well do it. I mean, worst case scenario they kill each other and we don't have to worry about it any more anyway," Abigail said with a sigh.

"Maam, there is a working theory the team has not ruled out due to how the body was found and lack of struggle." Alanah started and then paused. "What if this isn't retaliation but rather made to look like retaliation to put equal blame on the other side." She finished and waited for Abigail's thoughts.

Abigail nodded slightly. "It's certainly plausible... Keep investigating, see if you can turn anything up, anything at all." She paused momentarily, contemplating. "Hold off on having them moved to the cargo hold, have them all confined to the lounge together as well. Make sure Kaarg and Ms Zachariah are aware. Have security stationed inside the lounge and outside the doors. Tell them that we're doing this so we can run a full security analysis on their quarters to look for any security flaws that may expose them to further danger. I'll have Operations prepare the cargo hold while they're confined to the lounge if you forward your plans through to Operations they can get it done."

Taking a sip of her latte, Abigail smiled, just the faintest hint of a smile. "If we have to play this game, we're going to play it on our terms now."

"Yes maam we will make this work." Alanah said sipping on the last of her cup. "I will keep you posted."