Security Briefing

Posted on Thu Jan 23rd, 2014 @ 4:02pm by Commander Jordan Gunning & Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Sean O'Connell & Major Alexandria Somers & Lieutenant Lynsi Mason

Mission: Picking Up the Pieces
Location: Senior Officers' Conference Room - Deck 14

[ON]

Gunning had already been in the Conference Room for a good ten minutes before he began to hear the low rumbling of footsteps and voices in the corridor. He had been working through a couple of ideas for the bar which had suddenly been deposited in his lap. He couldn't run it himself and didn't think that excluding people in favour of the officers of the station was fair. That left him with one option which didn't sit well; hiring someone to do it for him.

Blaze Mason wasn't exactly sure why she was being called to this meeting. She still felt a little out of place going to a meeting with members of the senior staff, but she had to keep reminding herself that she was the ranking squadron leader. She figured that someone must have thought her input would be valuable. She thought she was getting there early so she had time to make sure she had the right conference room. She was more used to seeing the station from the outside than from the inside. Lynsi was surprised when she found someone else already there. "Excuse me, Commander. Is this the main conference room?"

"Sure is," Gunning replied flatly, "you're Mason aren't you?"

The lieutenant nodded. "That's right sir."

"How's Commanding the Air Group working out for you?" He asked. He already knew that Lieutenant Lynsi "Blaze" Mason had been whipping the fighter patrols into shape but hadn't been able to get hold of her for a meeting.

O'Connell entered the conference room in a nonchalant manner. Sean was Irish and he had a way of showing that he didn't care a fig about was what happening. Under this façade, he was tired, he was under-staffed, and had been doing shifts on the promenade non-stop.

He walked towards the replicator he ordered his coffee, extra strong no sugar. He was knackered and these few minutes rest was all he needed. In a few moments all hell would break loose and he needed to be ready for that. He took his seat grunted and then took a few nips of his coffee. He was Chief of Station security and in the last few days carrying the weight of the universe.

"Nice to see you too, Commander." Gunning had met Lieutenant Commander O'Connell only once and already knew that he wasn't a fan of niceties. His eyes told the whole story. They were framed by black rings and bloodshot. He looked like he was either sleep-deprived or had gone a couple of rounds with a Nausiccan.

Sean looked up, a flicker of a smile appeared, but he was too tired and overworked to pay any close attention or reply at all.

Entering the Conference room, she took one look at O'Connell "Damn Commander, you look like death warmed up" Griffiths said as she replicated a mug of Bajoran herbal tea and took a seat.

[Tag: O'Connell]

Mason watched the display and decided not to comment on the tension between them, though she did start to wonder what she had gotten herself into. She turned back to Gunning. "I'm really only the acting air group commander. I'm not sure I want the job full time if it takes me out of the cockpit."

Gunning noted the Lieutenant's commitment to her Wing. "It's all good experience, Lieutenant. The next time you're in your fighter and your Wing are cursing the name of the CAG, it'll give you some perspective."

Mason put on a frown. "Commander, we never curse the name of the CAG..." Her frown shifted to a grin. "...On an open channel."

Griffiths looked at the pair and with a wicked smile said "You pair should get a room."

The pilot turned and gave her a weird look, but didn't say anything. She was the junior officer here, and had no desire to create any problems.

Gunning threw her a nonchalant shrug and smiled at Griffiths. "Marines live in a whole different world."

After a short while the doors opened again and through them strolled Captain Von. As usual of late, she carried a number of PADDs with various reports. Since taking command of the station, reading reports had pretty much become her life. "Good morning, everyone. I apologize for being late. I've been tied up in some transfer issues. Apparently our chief engineer has been recalled, and the transfer orders got lost in transit. How is everyone?" She tried to remain as friendly as she could, but it was pretty clear that the nights had been late for her too.

"Fine, Captain. Here, let me help you with that." Jordan said, rising and taking a few of the PADDs out of her hands and placing them at the head of the table.

"I am fine thank you Captain" Griffiths asked.

Lynsi just nodded, still wanting the senior officers to take the lead.

Liarra kept up her tired smile. "I know it's been a tough month for all of us, but we've survived to this point. Let's get down to business, shall we. Commander Gunning, how do things look in the Archanis Sector?"

"Quiet for the moment." Gunning replied curtly. "Our current status means that a significant amount of traffic has been diverted to Starbase Fourteen which is keeping our airspace relatively quiet. It should make the routine stop and searches a bit more effective. I keep hearing little whispers from Gharrana Two that the Sojourners are trying to recruit some of their young as mercenaries but I don't know how much truth there is in that."

Von gave him a confused look. "Gharrana Two? I'm not sure I'm familiar with them."

"No, no. Gharrana. They're descended from the Gorn and the Sojourners appear to be labouring under the misapprehension that they have the same nature. I don't put a lot of stock in it being a threat, there's a reason they split away from the Gorn."

"I have some feelers out for leads on the bomber. Although Starfleet would rather us sit on our hands, I take the opposite opinion. I'll know more in the coming days but- as yet- I don't have anything to report on that front."

Liarra nodded along. "Find out what you can about the Gharrana situation. If things get rough, I'd like to know about it before it gets to our backyard. As for the bomb, keep pushing. Starfleet may want us to sit on this, but I want to know how they got in. Keep me posted."

"Got it." Gunning replied. He didn't want to keep the Captain back any longer than he had to.

The Trill captain turned to her chief of security. "What about things on the station? How are we handling things at home, Commander."

"We're focked. that's the gist of it." Sean didn't look at her just sipped his coffee and sat back. " I can give you a detailed report, but seeing that I sent in eight reports for transfers, promotions, supplies, repairs and the like. I think your not focking bothered much." Sean turned his head towards Von. "Your chief of security is working back to back shifts. I am 50 security officers short, I even had to ask the marines to lend a hand. I got a load of looters, pillagers, lawyers, etc. in my brig and no judicial department to take care of it. Either you give me permission to handle it or get the federation to swear in some magistrates."

Liarra closed her eyes for a moment, trying to come up with a delicate way to respond. She certainly didn't like his tone, but she didn't want this meeting to descend to a shouting match. "Commander, I've sent in those reports and requests. Don't think that I don't care. I'm not the reason they're not getting approved. I've nearly had an open comm channel for weeks trying to get extra support. The official stance is that we're on our own. They don't want to spare another fifty security officers. I know we have issues, but we're going to have to get through them. If you want, I'll sit in that office so that you can get some sleep. God knows that I'm not getting any anyway, so I might as well be productive. I'll keep pushing and see what I can do about getting additional magistrates, but until then we'll just have to prioritize. Keep them in the holding cells for as long as we can and let them go, focusing on the worst infractions. If some things slip through, so be it, but we have to at least keep the peace. But don't think that I am going to declare martial law on my station. I'll work with the Archans and see if we can work out some sort of agreement with them, but I can't promise anything. But don't think for a minute that I don't care. We're all overworked, but we're just going to have to deal with it."

"You won't have much luck with the Archans." Gunning stated flatly. "They're so busy trying to keep their resorts open and make their guests feel secure that they won't give up a single member of their Security Force unless O'Connell's got a vault full of latinum somewhere on the station."

Liarra didn't want to say the first thought that came to mind, that Alex probably would have found a way to get help from the Archans. He seemed to have a better relationship with them. But she held her tongue with his brother in the room. "I'll keep that in mind, Commander, but it's still worth a shot. We are still responsible for their sector security, so maybe that can be a powerful negotiating tool."

Gunning leaned forward and offered up the one nugget of an idea he had that might keep the Security Chief on side. "I might be able to secure a ship which O'Connell's teams can use to secure prisoners but I'm not sure where you'd stand with the law. That's not to say that there isn't a way around that."

"If the mountain doesn't come to Mohammed, Mohammed has to go to the mountain. We can ship our prisoner to the nearest federation base and let them handle it. Just give them a heads up. My paper work is done and the thugs have been processed through the standard procedures, we only need a judge."

Liarra shook her head. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that conversation. I'd prefer to do things our way." She lowered her voice. "But don't forget about the suggestion entirely. I want to keep options open, just in case, but let's hope that it doesn't come to that."

"Will do." Gunning replied, matching the tone of the Captain and clearing the screen of his PADD.

Sean raised an eyebrow and sat back.

"As I said in the earlier meeting I have added fifty Marines to the Security force, and there are twenty four on special training. I have a few contacts, in the Marines I will see if I can get some more Marines assigned here to assist Security, if that is okay with you Captain?" She said before turning to look at the CoS O'Connell. "And you?"

"That's fine with me, Major," Liarra answered while nodding. That should free up some of the security forces. Perhaps the marines could patrol some of the more sensitive areas and keep the security teams in the civilian areas. Like I said, I don't want it to look like we've declared martial law, and armed marines wandering the Promenade could send the wrong message."

With the security department out of the way, Liarra turned to Griffiths. "Alright, Major. You're up. What do you have to report from the 14th Battalion?"

Looking up "Well I transferred 50 marines to security, also I have assigned 11 marines to train as a SAR unit under myself also I have talked to some contacts I have at the marine HQ on earth and they are sending fifty extra marines to work with security" She looked first at Liarra Von then at O'Connell.

"Fifty is all I need, thanks Major." Sean grabbed his PADD and started crew rotations.

"Indeed and you are welcome Sean, those marines will be here by weeks end, they have been instructed to report to you, unfortunately they can only send fifty extra, they will have to do" She said with an apologetic look at Sean. Then she looked back at the Captain. "Apart from that the only thing I have to report is my new and limited sources on the station say that criminal activity like petty theft and larceny is on the increase and smuggling into the station has decreased since my marines have been assisting so with luck those extra marines should help. Otherwise my report is complete Captain" Griffiths reported.

"I'd like a dossier on your on-station sources if you wouldn't mind." Commander Gunning stated. "I want to make sure that Starfleet Intelligence aren't stepping on your toes or having you fed duplicitous information. Same goes for you, Commander."

Sean shook his head and smiled. "You show me yours and I'll show you mine, share and share a like, commander."

Griffiths looked at both, then directly at the base Commander "Sorry Captain, I cannot reveal my limited sources, they are not linked with Starfleet Intelligence, I have ways and I clarified this" She said then looked at O'Connell "Sorry Sean, but my sources will only talk to me, if they saw anyone else approaching them they would remain hidden" She finished and her PADD bleeped, she took it out and read it, then looked up at O'Connell "You may want to send an armed Security detail to Cargo Bay Nine, there are some illegal goods coming into the station." She said showing the CoS the info on the Padd "In case you are both wondering to protect my sources, this PADD is linked to my DNA on a basic fundamental level, it will not work without me holding it, gotta loves those boys at Starfleet Intelligences R&D" She said with a smile.

Gunning shook his head. As expected, they were not only being cagey, they were being wholly uncooperative. He spoke quietly, trying to keep his irritation covered. "Starfleet Intelligence sources are available to anyone with high enough clearance which includes both yourself and Commander O'Connell. I am more than happy to share information with you. I'm not here to work against you but it is nice to know where I stand."

"With all due respect, Major, as the station commander and the officer ultimately responsible for this sector, I would appreciate that you at least share your intelligence with Starfleet. I know the Marine Corps likes to do things their way, but we've got to all play nice. We're in this together. I'll respect that your sources wanted to remain anonymous, but I want you to coordinate your information with our Intelligence chief, which happens to be Commander Gunning. Acting on a tip to find illegal goods is one thing, but I don't want us to start acting behind each others back. Are we clear?"

Tapping something on her PADD then looking back at the Captain "Done" She said then looked at O'Connell "Every now and then you will get an alert from an unknown source Sean, it will show up as my name so when info comes in there will be three copies sent out, one to this PADD, the other to Security and one to Intelligence" She said then looking back at the Captain "that should cover that subject Captain, that way my contacts will still be able to remain unknown, but information will still be supplied to Security and Intel as and when it becomes available, this I trust is satisfactory?" She said ending with a question aimed both at O'Connell and Liarra Von and Gunning.

"That would be good enough for now, Major. Like I said, we have it bad enough right now. I don't need us infighting or missing leads because some source wants to be left secret. If it affects station security, I want to know, and I want it handled." Liarra took a deep breath. "Is there anything else from your Battalion, Major?"

Shrugging "Apart from my report and the confidential info being sent to both Intel and Station Security I got nothing further" She said.

Sean sat back and shook his head as far as he knew most of the SFi agents on 332 and his station sources had been killed. Not by accident, but deliberately killed. He made a few notes on his padd and then looked around.

"Most of my sources are dead, don't know why? Will be fun to find out. As for SFI on the station mostly dead too, I think they are connected. As for illegal goods cargobay nine, we know who is picking them up and it's us. We are working on getting a man inside that smuggling ring."

"The source that sent me that info Sean is as close as they can get without compromising their position" She said then looked at Gunning "Commander I would suggest you insert an intel officer, I know you have some spare and it would allow Station Security to show the flag on the promenade and other public areas." She said then looked at Von "I agree Captain keeping the Marines mostly around the Cargo bay areas is a good idea, but it would be politic to insert some on standard Security duties, after all that is why they have been assigned to Commander O'Connell" Griffiths said.

"They would still be supplementing O'Connell's teams. My point to putting them near the cargo bays was more to free up some of his officers to patrol other areas. The idea was to keep armed marines from patrolling the Promenade decks, even if they are serving in the same capacity as the Starfleet security officers. It's a matter of perception." Liarra took a deep breath and rubbed her temple. "Let's talk about something else now. Lt. Mason, could you give us an update on the air wing?"

Mason looked up from the far end of the table. For most of this meeting so far, she had been hiding in the back trying to soak everything in. Interdepartmental politics was not her forte, and that was what the meeting had seemed to be leading into. She was relieved as much as the captain to be talking about something else. "Of course, Captain. We have stepped up the number of patrols around the station, keeping one whole squadron flying sorties at any given time. We've divided the squadrons into three eight hour shifts. Our primary duties have been to intercept and escort any vessels that station ops deems suspect, often detaining them until the marines can inspect cargo. "Pythons", "Claymores", and "Exocets" are running each of the three shifts, while "The Express" has been divided up to ferry around the Major's troops." Lynsi took a moment to consult her PADD. "To date, we have intercepted twenty-three ships in the past month, and so far all of them have answered hails. No warning shots have been required."

[Tag: Any questions regarding the air wing?]

Lynsi noticed the silence and decided to ask a question. "If you don't mind me asking, Skipper, I was wondering if there has been any progress on getting a new CAG. I don't mind continuing to fill in, but I'm not sure I exactly have the most experience. I know I'd feel a little more comfortable having someone that's been around a little longer calling the shots."

Liarra nodded. "Don't worry, Lieutenant. I understand your concern. Actually, I have received word that a new CAG is en route, a Major Ed Maxwell. He should be arriving in a couple of days. I'll let you know when. I'd like you to accompany me when I meet him."

Blaze was a little surprised that they had found someone so quickly. "That's great to hear. Thank you, sir. I'll be happy to tag along. Just give the word."

"You're welcome, Lieutenant." Liarra studied her officers a moment while she rubbed at her temple again. "Alright, does anyone have anything else that they'd like to cover?"

Gunning shook his head. He'd had ample time to take the temperature of the Station's on-site security and was confident that he knew exactly where he stood. On a crumbling precipice.

Mason shook her head. "No ma'am. That's all I have."

"I got nothing more Captain" Griffiths spoke up.

------------------------------------
Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer

Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
Starbase 332

Major Naomi Sylan Lanpya Griffiths
Marine Commanding Officer, 14th Marine Battalion SFMC

Lieutenant Commander Sean O'Connell
Chief of Security
Starbase 332