Catching Up

Posted on 02 Dec 2014 @ 4:58pm by Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos & Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia Ph.D.
Edited on on 18 Feb 2015 @ 3:22am

1,336 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Intelligence Office, Deck 5
Timeline: MD -24, 15:00

IN:

Lt. Markos sipped her coffee, glancing at her calendar. She had booked in a meeting with Lt. Alasia. She knew she needed to catch up with the diplomat, especially since...well, she hated to admit it, but she had neglected them in general. She just didn't know what to do with Diplomats. Rather embarrassing really, but it couldn't be helped. So she wanted to see if the diplomat had any concerns, anything he wanted done...anything really. Really. Anything.

Paul made his way across the short, gray, carpeted threshold from his office to the Intelligence Officer's. He had put the nervousness out of his head but at that moment he couldn't help but shutter just slightly. He had only formally met with the Lieutenant once before and it was at his behest. Though he'd only been on board the Galileo about 5 weeks, Paul had gotten the definite sense that Amynta was more the hand-off type when it came to the diplomatic responsibilities of the ship. Indeed, on a larger ship, Intelligence and Diplomatic would have cooperated but they'd still have been separate departments.

Since he'd gotten the message the day before, Paul couldn't help but wonder if he was in trouble. Tucked under his arm was a recounting of the day-to-day activities of his sub-department, anticipating the possibility that he was being called to account for his job. Lyras, after all, had served the Galileo capably for some time without an officially commissioned Diplomatic Officer. Paul wondered was this is a visit to the Principal's office?

Paul lightly grazed the chime on the door as if to announce his presence as meekly as possible. "Oh, I stopped by, but I guess you weren't in" Paul could later claim with plausible deniability. Unfortunately, irrespective of the force with which it's pressed, the chime is as loud as it always is.

"Enter," Amynta said and looked up, watching the doors sliding open.

"Lieutenant." Paul peeked his head into the door. "Is now a good time?"

"Perfect. Come and sit down," she said and motioned to the empty chair, sitting back as she watched him.

Paul sidled over to the chair and dropped himself into it. "How are you doing?"

"Well, thank you. Yourself?" she asked as she arched an eyebrow. Her idea of well was being here, doing her job. She expected his explanation had the potential to be...longer."

"Good... goodish." Paul smirked. "Still settling in. Getting used to the rhythms of a starship. Weapons pulled. Screaming matches over the operating table. Ritually sacrificing Tribbles. You know. Everyday stuff just like I've always done." Paul laughed and sighed. "Anyway, sir -- what can I do for you?"

"Nothing. I am seeing what I can do for you," she admitted as she shook her head. She was less than pleased that scuttlebutt about sickbay had made its way all the way to the diplomatic department though.

"I'm mostly fine, I think." Paul gave a tight-lipped grin. "I guess now would be as good a time as any to discuss what this whole "Support" department thing means. What were things like between you guys and diplomatic before I came along?"

"I had my own Chief back then who dealt with it all," Amynta said bluntly, watching him. "And it is rare that a Support department has as many different things in it as it does on this ship. So perhaps it is better that we define between ourselves what will work best for the ship."

"One facet that springs to mind for me is how visible you want to be in your role. Intelligence - it seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong - has the information gathering and analyst facet to it and the sexier cloak and dagger stuff. As a diplomat my role is always visible and public but as CIO, your role can go either way. So -- as a for instance, at the time I thought it was interesting you attended the Cardassian dinner since I think the CIO could go either way on something like that, member of the senior staff or not. So you prefer a more visible and open presence for the intelligence attach?"

She arched an eyebrow at his words, taking a breath. "Quite frankly, I go where they tell me to go. If I had a choice I wouldn't have attended, but there was no choice. My personal preferences mean nothing; t is what is expected of me. This is not Section 31. We do not do the cloak and dagger things of a Bond holonovel either. I am the one at the table who observes, while you are the one who talks."

Paul eyes widened slightly, taken aback and slightly chastened. "Well, I wasn't implying you, like, assassinate people. But I mean -- I don't know what you mean when you say you don't do cloak and dagger. How do you not?" Paul felt himself rambling. "I mean, there's even an element of that to diplomacy as well... I guess I had a misapprehension about SI." Paul paused, looked down at the floor, racking his brain. His head jerked slightly - he looked like a droid with new inputs he couldn't process. "So, what do you guys do?"

"We obtain and assess information for the most part," Amynta said bluntly, watching him. "On a ship, it is all very civilised. Some would call us analysts rather than spies."

"Right." Paul said slowly. He struggled to figure out if his Department Head was genuinely confused or playing coy. "With respect, sir, everyone on this ship does information analysis in some form or another. It's the kind of information you analyze and how you obtain it that makes you all what you are. Again, unless I misunderstand."

"I always find that when people start a sentence with 'with respect', it means they will say something disrespectful, so we might as well continue down that route," Markos said flatly, watching him for a long moment with something close to boredom. "I am not entirely sure where you are going with your line of questions. We obtain information regarding elements that might be useful. We go through the information, half of it is bullshit, and then write a report to whoever needs to know it so that they know what is going on and can use said information. The elements can be a planet's intelligence system, known enemies, ect. I don't think I can use smaller words to explain to you what Intelligence does on a science vessel."

Paul's first encounter with his department head was somewhat stilted and this one was actually going quite a bit worse. As he considered this negative trend Paul was becoming impatient with his boss' curt demeanor. He perked up and smiled to compensate. "Ok, Well. I apologize for my misunderstanding." Paul moved his weight forward in his chair. "I have nothing new to report at the moment, sir. So, if there's nothing else..."

"Dismissed," Amynta said and arched an eyebrow, watching him. She would quite enjoy having him out of her office now. She didn't understand diplomats very well, so was more than happy to have him go.

Paul smile dropped, he shook his head slightly as he stood up. "Thank you. Have a good day, sir." he stated flatly and exited. Outside, Paul heard the door close behind him and he stood for a moment cradling the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. "The hell was the point of that?" Paul whispered under his breath. In his dealings with his Department Head, she had not seemed an especially willing interlocutor. On the short walk back to his office he muttered to himself and considered new conversation topics for the future.

OFF

Lieutenant JG Wakeham Paul Alasia
Diplomatic Officer
USS Galileo

&

Lieutenant Commander Amynta Markos
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo

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