The Devil is in the Details
Posted on Sun Apr 26th, 2026 @ 5:04pm by Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Keel & Lieutenant JG Ilian Ashford & Lieutenant JG Fulvia
1,912 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: USS Astrea, Deck 8, Intelligence
Timeline: MD 11, 1159 Hours
[Captain Johansen to Commander Keel, meet me in the main intel suite. I'm headed there now.]
Looking up from the pile of padds on his desk, Keel sighed. He had been reading through the diplomatic and intelligence reports for the summit at Barissa, and had ended up head in hands as he used his elbows to support it while reading the umpteenth report. He had found nothing untoward so far. It was frustrating. And a damning indictment of how little they still understood Romulan motivations.
Glad for the distraction, Keel hit the commbadge on his uniform breast, and confirmed, 'Aye Captain, I'll meet you in the Intel Suite now.' He got to his feet, rolled down his sleeves to make himself more presentable, and swiped his dedicated padd on the way out of the office and navigated towards the turbolift.
Remy walked briskly from the holodeck to the nearest turbolift. She was only one deck down from the Intelligence and Security Offices, and would be there quickly. She agreed with Doctor Blackstone, the information that they uncovered needed to be kept under lock and key, and while she trusted her senior staff implicitly, this was purely on a need to know basis. Especially with tensions among certain officers and Captain Auvray on board breathing down her neck - and Commander Spello's.
"Deck Eight," Remy's command to the computer was curt and direct. The turbolift ride short. When the doors opened she slowed her walk some, the intelligence office already in sight. When she reached the suite she leaned to the right of the door, letting the computer scan her face, the computer acknowledging her biometrics to unlock the suite doors and grant her entry.
She stepped in to the open bullpen to find that not much had changed since Cyn had left. Not that she'd expected it to. No one had been assigned to fill her position as Chief, though she and her command staff certainly would have given the current intelligence officers leeway to make this space their own if they had put in a request.
Trass was pouring over some sensor returns from the vicinity of Barissa Prime's second moon. He had gotten the itch that the Romulans had been savy enough to move their ships, and had been perusing the sensor returns for signs that might indicate a cloaked vessel. He'd flagged up some anomalies and was hoping Science would confirm his suspicions.
As the door opened, he spied the Captain, and shot to his feed, chair rolling back from his legs to hit the front of the terminal behind him in the pen. 'Captain on Deck!' he hollered in his strangled voice, followed by a sour smile as Keel walked through the door. 'And Commander Chatterbox too!'
Keel rolled his eyes before nodding his head with a smile, 'nice to see you too Ensign.'
Ashford rose when the Captain entered, one hand closing over the edge of his PADD before he set it down on the terminal beside him. “Captain. Commander,” he said, inclining his head once to each of them. Then he fell silent again, his attention on the two senior officers as he waited for whatever had brought them down to Intelligence. But he did not retake his seat.
Hearing the door open and the familiar footsteps of the captain and commander, Fulvia stood to attention. " Captain what can intelligence do for you." She said politely
The Captain was about to interrupt Ensign Trass and tell everyone to relax, but was quickly caught off guard by the way he had addressed Commander Keel. She paused and turned to see Keel as he walked further into the suite. He seemed to take the nickname in stride, some camaraderie developing down here that she hadn't noticed.
"At ease, everyone," Remy finally announced. "I have an assignment for you. It is sensitive on a number of fronts, which is why I've brought it here, and only here."
She looked around the secure suite and considered their accomodations. "Other than the Chief Medical Officer and Commander Keel, no other Senior Staff will be made aware of this project at this time. That being said, I'm not ordering anyone to participate, but if you choose, please join us in your conference room."
Remy gave everyone only a quick glance before proceeding to the conference room located at the back of the suite.
Ashford looked at the others for a moment before he straightened his uniform. His brown eyes looked...curious, and a small smile came to him. "Oh well, I never could stay away from intrigue," he said lightly, before he headed to the conference room.
Fulvia stopped briefly to lock her computer before heading to the conference room.
Looking at Trass, Keel flashed a smile and jerked his head in the direction of the conference room before following the others. Trass's lips compressed into a thin line before he nodded to himself, deep in thought, and moved to follow the others.
Once the conference room doors had closed behind them Remy gestured for the intelligence officers to have a seat, though she remained standing for the moment.
"We have reason to believe that a Romulan may have visited T'Varel on Vulcan at some point before the conference," Remy began, addressing the small group of intelligence officers. She shot a quick glance at Keel before she continued. "How we have this information is not of your concern. It's not anything that would assist you anyway. You'll have to start from scratch."
Remy took a seat at the table. "His name would have been Saipok, or at least that is a name he goes by," she said. "I'm not sure of the spelling. I also don't know if he's a part of any clan or an agent of some kind. But this person may have had a long standing friendship or working relationship of some kind with the Ambassador."
"Your job is to try to verify any of this, but the investigation is on a strict need to know basis. If a Starfleet inquiry into this person were to get out, it could put this person in danger, use only channels that you trust."
'Are we talking double-agent?' Trass asked openly, knowing this would be one of the few opportunities for clear-cut information during the investigation.
"Possibly," Remy answered, "That's a good hypothesis. We think he was likely there to warn her. And possibly had knowledge that her life was in danger and was trying to prevent her from going to the Accords at all. If all of this is true, he could have answers that we need."
" Vulcans are hard to get information from without them bringing it to the proper channels. " Fulvia added as she ran through a list of favours she was owed.
'Why use the proper channels?' Trass asked smugly, 'a little jiggery-pokery and we can access their raw data without them ever knowing.' He leaned against a chair. 'That is ... if the higher-ups are willing?' Trass looked to Keel who was chewing his lip as he thought it through. Trass then looked to Remy.
"Isn't that what you do?" Remy looked back at Trass, eyebrows raised nonchalantly as though he he had said something apparent.
Ashford exhaled, arms crossed as he watched them before he gave a nod. "Getting the raw data is one thing, analysing it will take some time," he observed, a frown settling on his features. He didn't like this one bit...it walked a fine line. Push too much and you could burn a source. And Trass...well, he didn't know him well enough to be sure he wasn't the sort of person who'd do it without a second thought.
'It's not just the time to analyse it,' Keel butted in, hand on chin as he looked at the other Intelligence Officers. 'The Vulcans cannot know we're committing a bee-and-ee into their systems - things will become more tense than they are now if that comes out,' he concluded without elaboration. 'If you can't jigger and poker without being detected, it's not worth the risk. Find another way to skin that Betazoid Mung Lizard if you have to.'
The Bolian exhaled, flashed a small smile. 'There are a few contingency codes ... make it look like the Talarians or Ferengi were trying to access a different sort of data, just in case we were detected?'
"Well, I don't know --" Remy began, but she was interrupted by an incoming message alert.
"If you'll give me a moment," the Captain requested, but as she went to read the message, the ship's status changed to Yellow Alert.
As the Yellow Alert sounded, Keel tensed, pursing his lips once more. The alert status was his least favourite. An exhausting vigilant watch for danger that might not present itself, a tense readying for hours for an immediate danger that might not come to pass.
Trass looked at the changing status light and shrugged. Another day on the job for the grizzled veteran.
The Captain looked up at the yellow flashing lights and finished reading the message. It was short.
[Captain, no time to discuss, Dr. Siv is unconscious in Sickbay, and we suspect another attack. No verification. Treating now. Respond Appropriately. Dr. Beckett]
"Unless Sickbay sent this same message to the Bridge, I'm not sure that the alert is related to this message," the Captain announced to the room.
"Commander Keel," Remy handed him the PADD with the message as she stood up and tapped her commbadge.
"Captain to the Bridge, Situation Report."
Dorsainvil's familiar voice followed in response. [Captain, this is Lieutenant Dorsainvil. We've discovered an anomalous reading from the nearby cluster.]
"Elevate status to Red Alert, have security check for any potential breaches on board Astrea, and dispatch the Marines for a shipwide sweep," Remy replied. "We have a person down in Sickbay, and our medical staff suspect possible foul play. Alert me with any updates. I'll be there shortly, but I need to make a few stops first."
Remy turned first to Commander Keel. "You're in charge of your team. Let's get everyone to work."
Straightening his shoulders after reading the message, he looked over his (to him) new charges and flashed a smile. 'You heard the Captain - we've got a job to do. Let's do it fast, let's do it well and get to the bottom of what the hell is happening out here.'
Captain Remira Johansen
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea
Lt. Commander Ryan Keel
Chief of Diplomatic Intelligence
USS Astrea
Lieutenant JG Fulvia
Intelligence Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of Xalanth)
Lieutenant JG Ilian Ashford
Intelligence Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of Ángel Martinez)
Ensign Adoran Trass
Intelligence Officer
USS Astrea
(NPC of Ryan Keel)
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