Manipulating a Hunt

Posted on Sat Jan 4th, 2014 @ 7:28pm by Captain Liarra Von & Commander Jordan Gunning & Ensign Corrine Steiner
Edited on on Sat Jan 4th, 2014 @ 10:16pm

Mission: Manhunt
Location: Command Center - SSB332

ON:

Starbase 332 began a rather normal morning, as far as normal could apply, here. The ambiance included the normal collage of background operations conversations quietly playing on the intercom.

Amidst that, the comm officer listened intently to her earpiece, then turned to Liarra. "Captain Von? I'm receiving a personal hail for you. A Major Beekman, Starfleet Intel Division... He's aboard USS Wolverine, inbound and one day out... requesting private channel."

Liarra moved closer to the comm officer. "Intel? I wonder what he wants. Alight, patch it through to my office. I'll take it in there."

"Aye, ma'am." "Starbase to Wolverine, stand by for private channel."

Along the way to her office, she stopped at Commander Gunning's post. "Commander, I'm getting a message from a Major Beekman, Starfleet Intelligence. Who knows what he wants, but do a little digging for me and see what you can find out about him."

The Commander responded in the affirmative and went about his business. Thankfully, Captain Von had seen fit to give him Alpha-2 system access and his Access Codes cleared him into the Starfleet Intelligence personnel records. Major Beekman's name appeared connected to a number of missions which seemed to have a completely restricted access code. Who was able to view these files?

She waited for the acknowledgment from the officer and quickly made her way through the sliding glass doors of the commanding officer's office. She powered up her console as she took a seat. "Major Beekman, this is Captain Von. I have you on a secure channel."

Major Beekman was the stereotypical covert ops officer. He presented himself very cordially and relaxed. His demeanor could easily lull people into casual, unguarded moods. "Captain Von! A pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Major. What can I do for you?" She wasn't sure what to think of the officer. It wasn't often that someone from Starfleet Intelligence would contact her directly. Usually they would coordinate with her intelligence officer. She was anxious to get to his point.

"Well Captain, we've tracked a dangerous, Starfleet officer to your base. Name, Ensign Corrine Steiner... passing her profile to you now. She's delusional, and we must recover her before she hurts herself or anyone else. We suspect that she recently arrived at your base on the civilian liner Pacific Pearl."

Liarra glanced over her profile, just skimming over the main points. "I'll look into tracking down the Pacific Pearl, but we've had a lot of ships come and go, Major. What seems to be the problem with her? Why is she on the run?"

Beekman breathed a deep and weary sigh, "She... and it's not her fault. She's mentally ill. She's paranoid that Starfleet is out to somehow... 'experiment on her brain'." He shook his head, seeming to consider possibilities, "Our doctors didn't get the chance for full diagnosis, but her symptoms suggest some sort of severe telepathic trauma." He 'generously' offered, "If your security could just locate her, we'll take care of the capture."

She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her temple. Her security forces were already overtaxed as it was. Adding a manhunt to the list of O'Connell's concerns wasn't going to make anyone happy. "I can see what we can do, Major, but I have a few questions first. Do you know for sure that she was coming here? What kind of security risk should she be considered? Is she armed, will she attack my officers on sight?"

"She's at your Starbase, Captain. That is a certainty." The major might have had a good poker face, but his body language revealed the presence of concealed emotions. Obviously in vivid remembrance, he picked up and precision aligned items on his desk as he spoke, "Corrine is... unpredictable. She is very, very good at anticipating opponent moves." He then recovered his presence. "I am sorry. I didn't properly address your question. Miss Steiner will become irrational when cornered." There was a trace of tenseness, "I'm sorry. I meant 'Ensign Steiner'." He chuckled lightly, "How unprofessional of me to vent my frustration." Before Captain Von coud reply, he cleared hs throat. "The target's combat training is minimal. However, like any cornered animal, she is not to be underestimated." He folded his hands," Assume that she is armed."

"I'll make sure my security officers keep that in mind, Major."

"Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Because of Ensign Steiner's deteriorating brain condition, our base physician recommends that she be sedated after capture. This will help prevent further implosion of her psyche until we can get her into therapy."

Gunning overrode the channel, muting and encrypting the communication as he did. "Captain, I'm not able to get a significant amount of information on this 'Major Beekman' but I've traced a couple of his aliases back through mission files. I've been able to get limited data suggesting various disciplinary proceedings in his file. We might do well to get Ensign Steiner's side of the story before we offer anything to him."

Liarra nodded. "I agree. I'm not handing anyone over until we know the whole story. Anything on Steiner?"

"Put it this way," Gunning replied lowering his voice further, "if I'm not able to read any flags on the Intelligence Database for Ensign Steiner then there aren't any that would be officially recognized by Starfleet."

"Understood, Commander. Keep looking and let me know what, if anything, you find. In the meantime I'll see if we can at least humor the Major." She reached to switch the comm back to Beekman, but hesitated. "Oh, and Commander, remind me to have a discussion later about listening in on secure channels. At least warn me first."

Gunning's eyes darted back and forth. "Yeah, apologies for that."

Von unmuted the channel to Beekman. "Sorry about that, Major. The comm system has been a bit on the fritz lately. Like I was trying to say before I realized what happened is that we do what we can. If you have a medical file that you can send me, that may help my medical and security staff know how to handle her."

"Certainly! I'll have it to you within the hour." He broke into a big smile, "Thank you, Captain Von! I'm sure that we'll have Ensign Steiner safe and home in no time."

"I'm sure we will, Major. I'm sure we will."

OFF:

Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer
Starbase 332

Commander Jordan Gunning
Chief of Strategic Operations
Archanis Sector

Major Beekman [played by Ens. Corrine Steiner]
Intelligence Officer
USS Wolverine