Cloak and Dagger

Posted on Wed Apr 5th, 2023 @ 12:43am by Lieutenant Alex Drake & Captain Charlotte Rhodes

1,451 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: Runner
Location: Ready Room, USS Defiant
Timeline: Sometime before Stormy Seas

Charlotte paced back and forth across her Ready Room, forever grateful that the deck plating was not made of some easily erodible material. Her mind had been racing for a while now as she mulled over the decision she was about to make.

The door chime cut through her focus, bringing her back to the present. "Enter."

Alex had been summoned to the CO's ready room. That was rarely a good thing, so he had taken a moment to change into a less wrinkled uniform shirt before making his way down. The entire time he was searching his brain for what he had done wrong or who he had angered.

Upon his entry, Charlotte cracked a slightly relieved smile, glad to just be having the conversation. "Thanks for coming, Lieutenant. You can relax, you're not in trouble. I just have a...sensitive topic I need to discuss."

As soon as those words left her mouth, Alex walked over and pressed a button next to the door. A soft 'fumpth' was heard followed by an almost imperceptible buzz. "Room has been sealed. Oldest Intelligence trick in the book, when you have to talk about sensitive topics you don't want to be disturbed."

"I'll have to remember that," the Captain replied, making a mental note of that. "So as you might be aware, I have been petitioning Starfleet to let us take Defiant into the Carina Nebula for a scouting mission. We have too many things coming out of there and impacting the surrounding areas to simply ignore it. Refugee ships keep arriving and knowing what is causing them to flee might help us better prepare to receive or assist them as they appear. We have reports of pirate attacks. Obviously these ion storms are an issue too. So I've been asking for Starfleet to let us go do that whole exploring thing. And...well the Eta Halix situation finally has them ready to say yes."

"Fair enough. And I'm guessing there's something else, as routine exploration and checking out weird stuff isn't exactly in my job description." Alex responded with a smirk.

"There is indeed something else. Something a lot more up your alley," Charlotte replied as she leaned up against the side shelf of her office. "In exchange for approval to head into the nebula, I agreed with to a request from Command. We are to try and ensure our safety during said voyage. And to do that, I am going to need your assistance tracking down a piece of technology that is...well, let's just say it isn't currently ours."

At this, Alex perked up. "Enemy or ally tech? Wait, that's a dumb question. If it was allied tech we'd just ask." He shook his head at himself, "in that case, I guess the question becomes. Which enemy and what kind of tech are we talking?"

Charlotte took a deep breath. "It's Klingon...mostly."

"Klingon, what piece of te--" Alex's eyes widened as he connected the dots. "We're stealing a god damn cloaking device?! You do realize we'll be hunted by Klingons across the quadrant, right? Well, assuming I don't tie up all the lose ends in the process. Do you know how much paperwork I'm going to have to do for this?! Please tell me we aren't registering this damn thing!"

"Oh there won't be a single piece of paperwork on this. This is fully off the books. If we do in fact manage to acquire one, it won't be officially recognized unless we find a damn good cover story," Rhodes said, slightly relieved to have simply said it out loud finally. "Regarding those loose ends though, there is apparently a bit of a plan here. One which I'm going to need you to read me in on. The Diplomatic team has identified a Klingon House working closely with the Romulans. A little too closely. So intel took a look. There's a briefing for you right here that outlines the rest." She handed over a small tablet.

Alex took the tablet and read over it for a moment, before shaking his head. "This cannot be happening." He sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"The house of Lerk, pretty low down in the chain, is working with the Romulans. From what we can tell, it's something to do with improving a cloaking device. Empire likely doesn't even know." He chewed at his lower lip, a quirk he had when he was thinking hard.

The Captain's eyebrows rose with nearly every word. "Ruthless self promotion and deceitful back dealing. It's not every day you get to play your rivals' flaws against each other. If the House of Lerk is working with Romulans off the books, I see exactly why Starfleet wants us to jump on this. Forced deniability on both ends. The House of Lerk won't be able to admit to anything without incurring the wrath of Qo'nos. And the Romulans can't admit it or they risk blowing up the whole damn Alliance," Charlotte said. "So...how exactly do we get our hands on it? I can't exactly fly Defiant over to Kus'Rok and take it."

"Can't take a lot of people, this has to be done off the books. Maybe two at most. Will have to do some genetic manipulation to disguise ourselves. I'll have to call a few of my contacts and see what we can get for a ship, I have a couple of Suliban who owe me a few favors I may be able to cash in." Alex continued his Intel ramblings, "this is going to cost me so many favors...do we have those transporter thingies? They can be stuck to something to allow an automatic transport as soon as they're activated."

He began pacing in a small circle. "I'll have to go over the schematics of a Klingon cloak to see how to detach it, wouldn't want to damage it. Then of course have the need to get out with the damn thing..."

Charlotte was a few paces behind. "Hang on. A Suliban ship? Buying a cloak to steal a cloak is very circular...Well, actually it's a good call. But I can't imagine we're going to be able to get our hands on anything particularly big or modern. Even if you managed to get an old stealth cruiser or something, space would be extremely limited. You'd have a handful of people at most. We could bring those...beans, but the transporter range on something that old is going to be a lot smaller than Defiant's. And the warp speed won't be much better. It'd be a slow, stressful journey in and out of Klingon space." She thought about it for a moment. "I suppose we could bring the ship back to Defiant and try to bring it up to spec. Couldn't use Starfleet parts, but we could use some more modern science to enhance the thing."

"And have half the crew questioning what we're doing?" Alex asked, tapping the back of the first two fingers of his left hand on the tablet. "I know a few junior officers in both Science and Engineering who either have been intel previously or have been on my watch list since I came aboard. We might have no choice but to use some of them."

Alex smirked, "and who said anything about buying a Suliban ship. When you work intel you learn quickly how to get favors out of people. When you have blackmail information on them, it tends to add up fast."

"Fair enough. You know, maybe I don't want to be read in too much on the details," she replied, shaking her head. "Well...we have a lot of prep before any of this needs to be set into motion. I'll let you get to your business. Anything you need for me on this right now? Other than your bean things?"

"To keep this under wraps. But you seem to be better than the Captain of the Berlin, so I'm not too concerned there." Alex said, thinking. "I think that's all I need at the moment. Watch for requisitions to come through from me."

"I was involved with an Intelligence Officer for a while. I got at least a little used to the whole secrecy thing. Though maybe that..." Charlotte let out a laugh that sounded more performative than genuine. "Well, that's a story for another time. I'll keep an eye on your requisitions, how ever odd they may look."

"Sounds good, Captain." Alex said, walking over and unsealing the room. As the door hissed open, he turned back to Charlotte. "And I'll keep you informed of my progress."

 

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