A piece of the puzzle

Posted on Sun Sep 27th, 2009 @ 11:50am by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex

Mission: Into a Devil's Heart
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD04 0900hrs

The next morning, Ashley, slowly woke up and quickly reached for her comm badge.

=^= "Krace, Walex, when you have the time, I would like to speak to both of you." =^= Ashley said as she tapped her combadge.

Vorn inwardly groaned when he heard the request from the Petty Officer. He didn't know whether he felt ready to talk to her yet after her agreeing to go with Peter, though he reminded himself that she had been taken along on false pretences. =/=On my way,=/= he replied verbally, before getting up out of his chair and heading to the turbolift.

Walex sighed as he glanced up from the dispatch that he was reading. The sheer amount of information that an intelligence officer had to overlook was awing at times. He rubbed his eyes, bringing the room back into focus. He toyed with the idea of declining the request when he heard the captain reply. Acle grunted this time then hit his own combadge.

=/=Walex here. I am on my way.==

Acle stood up, securing the documents and his terminal before moving to the hallway and the turbolift beyond.

As Vorn's turbolift descended towards deck 8, it made a brief stop at deck 6 to pick up the CIO. After the car continued its journey, Vorn asked his friend a question; "So what do you think she wants to see us for?"

"I have not the slightest idea... She is a women first off. That alone is a random element." Acle slight smirk faded. "In all seriousness Sir, stay behind me. She has proven to be slightly unhinged."

The turbolift stopped at Deck 8, pausing for a moment until the hatch slid open. He stepped out, proceeding his captain. Although this was technically against protocol, Acle did it anyway. He moved down the hall until he was in front of the hatch. He turned a looked at his commanding officer before stepping inside.

As the two officer's stepped inside sickbay, they didn't have to look far to see the Petty Officer wasn't in the main sickbay. Noticing one of the nurses doing the morning rounds on the equipment, he stepped to the side slightly so he wasn't being obscured by Acle's over-protective shadow. "Where's Petty Officer Williams?" he asked of her.

"She's in PR6, Captain," the nurse replied, giving Acle an uneasy look. Apparently the gossip machine wasn't quiet amongst the nurses.

"Thank you," Vorn replied, heading over to the room she had mentioned.

"You wanted to see us, Petty Officer?" he asked, as he stepped into the small private area.

Acle pointedly ignored the look the nurse directed at him and moved with the captain. As he did so, he wondered if he was going to hear something about the "incident". He shoved the rogue thought aside, and stepped to one side, casting his gaze over the young women within.

Watching Acle putting himself between herself and Krace, she was amused by his actions.

"I can tell you where he is going precisely. All I ask in return is be put back on active duty once the Doctor clears me and I have the chance of paying the XO back in kind for his actions towards me and leading me on false pretences that would make me sacrifice my career." Ashley said looking down for a moment.

"I am also sorry, I assault a immediate superior office and throwing up on you, Captain. I swear I thought you were Orion slavers or worse Pirates. The Doctor says I have to remain in sickbay for awhile longer but I can go back to light duty soon if you and the Doctor Permits." Ashley said as the full realization of what she did came to bare on her.

Vorn folded his arms across his chest, studying the Petty Officer - trying to get a read on her facial expression and body language, trying to see if he could tell whether she was exaggerating or not. "From the report I received, you told Commander Walex that you didn't know where Peter was going," he said. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but he couldn't stop a small part of him wishing that she could tell them where he had gone.

Acle remained silent, his face impassive. It would be best to allow the captain to have the lead. He would of course input when expected, but, for the most part, he would settle back and do his job... Observe.

"Would you remember much if you were stuck in a escape pod for three days?!, I don't think so!. But my help is contingent on you allowing me to be put on active duty again once the doctor clears me and you allow me to be put on the away team to retrieve him and I want that in writing." Ashley said reminding him of the deal for her help.

After a quick glance at Acle to try and quickly gauge his reaction and opinion of the request - yielding no results, due to his typical impassive expression - Vorn sighed. "Very well. On the condition that you report to Counsellor Openhouse until he deems you psychologically fit. And you will not do anything without my direct order when that away team is formed, is that understood?" Vorn didn't approve of having to negotiate or make deals with the officer under his command, but he needed the information she claimed to have. Besides, he knew Acle wouldn't let her go around without some sort of eye being kept on her, and he doubted that their new security chief would either when he joined the crew.

"Word of a Captain?" Ashley asked politely.

Vorn nodded. "Word of a Captain."

"I know he's going after his father, I don't remember his name, I also remember something about a nebula he planned to cross with high magnetic field or something that would hurt a ship without a specific shield type that only he knows the designs to, and something about a USS S...R...A." Ashley said as she tried to remember. "Something about someone he had to save... Yes, I remember now, he said he had to save someone from his father inside some nebula," she said as more memories flooded back in as whatever Brown used to sedate her also affected her memory apparently.

Vorn crossed his arms and raised one hand to hold his chin as he turned towards Acle, lowering his voice to have a slightly more private talk. "I met Peter's father once; Captain John Brown. The way he acted doesn't make it so surprising that he'd be a trouble-maker, but the fact he's a Starfleet Captain does... do you have any idea what the USS S-R-A could be?"

Acle's face tightened. His analytical brain had already come up with one possibility, but, it almost raised more questions then answers. "Perhaps the USS Sierra...?"

Vorn nodded, "Yes, I think I remember Peter saying his father commanded a ship called the Sierra. I didn't get any more details though."

Acle's face grew tighter still yet. "The USS Sierra is a Starfleet Intelligence tagged vessel. The missions it undertakes are strictly classified on a need-to-know basis. It and the few ships like her are almost legend within the black halls." Acle said, referring to the slang used when talking about Intelligence's headquarters. "Your talking about such missions that will not show up on any official documents, memos, or orders, much less the evening news. They are combat oriented, designed to swoop in to either extract an agent from a hostile area or insert. I associated with them because they were my support. I did the ground work, gathering intel. and the like. Once I accumulated the knowledge, I called in the 'cavalry' so to speak."

He took a breath, his face still mostly impassive. "I will not be able to pull up anything about her missions or her crew without clearance from my director. I know some of her senior crew, but, that is all. I can ask for the clearance, but, it will-" Acle paused mid-sentence, a light coming to his eyes.

"Son of a Bitch..." Acle said under his breath, his eyes gazing far beyond the bulkhead or the people within the room. He visibly shook himself and looked towards the captain. "I am an idiot. The USS Sierra's commanding officer is one John Brown. He has a son who briefly followed him into intelligence, he mentioned him to me once in passing." He stopped again, his brain thinking faster then his lips could communicate. "He and I were never friends or anything of the like, his way of action is almost draconian in its approaches." Acle met his commanding officer's eyes for the first time.

"We now have definitive motive Sir."

"Good, now we know who we're going after, we just need to find them. See if you can dig up anything on the Sierra, though I don't know how much you'll be able to get." Vorn turned his attention back to the Petty Officer, raising his voice back to normal levels. "Thank you, Petty Officer. You're free to return to duty after Doctor LaToon has cleared you, and after you have seen Counsellor Openhouse." With a nod in each of the Intelligence Officer's directions, he turned and left the private room, looking to speak to the doctor in her office before he went back to his duties.

Acle turned to look at the petty officer in front of him. "You realize that there will be certain conditions set upon you when you return correct? You will be, as the Captain promised, returned to full active duty, pending the conditions he set forth. However, you will be watched. I trust you understand my reasoning for this and realize that it is not personal." Acle said in an even tone. He then turned to look, making sure that they were alone.

"Off the record... As you already know, I had to file a report to Starfleet Intelligence about your... adventure. I will tell you this, however. No mention of your hitting me was ever mentioned in that report, nor was it wrote to seem as if you were a willing accomplice to become renegade. Although that is not to say that your record is squeaky clean." Acle smiled wryly then "Course... When has your record ever been that clean?"

Forgetting about rank, she quickly hugged Acle.

"Thank you." She said as she released him. "I expected to be watched. I just hope I don't get pregnant by sleeping with the crew so much." she groaned. "That is gonna suck if that happens. So what am I supposed to talk too Openhouse about exactly?" Ashley asked politely as she got down to business.

Acle stood still, clearly taken off-guard by the hug, then having been shocked by her words. "Pregnant?" he said. Then it appeared to come to him. "Electronic watching Petty Officer... Electronic, or else myself."

"Yes, I am pregnant and your the father." Ashley said with a stoic and serious face.

Acle's face registered genuine shock, followed by confusion. "How the hell...?"

She busted up laughing at the look on his face.

Acle sighed, quelling the anger that threatened to rise up. "Petty Officer... You will do well to keep your garments together. Such is your choice, just merely advising."

"I am stuck here in the Medical bay in my own room and your telling me I cant play a joke on you? I'm off duty here remember." Ashley said smiling as she laid up against the biobed.

Acle shook his head before turning. "Get some rest Petty Officer. Once the doctor rules you fit, you are going to find yourself quite busy." He said over his shoulder as he walked out. He knew when to concede victory.


---------------
CMO's Office
---------------

Vorn's visit to the Doctor's office he planned to be a short one. His talk with the Petty Officer, though enlightening, had been time consuming enough to mean that he now had to catch up on the duties of the morning, and with his new information, he had more he wanted to do.

"Doctor," he began as he entered the office. "I've told Petty Officer Williams she is clear to return to duty once she's received a clean bill of health from you, and once she's seen Counselor Openhouse to schedule some regular sessions to deal with the... issues, that her recent ordeal has brought up. I'd like you to make sure the bill of health is... comprehensive. Her recent lack of memory she claims to be a result of the sedative Peter gave her. I don't want any more side effects - physical or mental - to come apparent later."

"Yes Sir, I will schedule the Counselor to come here to see her, I expect another 24 hours before we have everything rebalanced."

Nodding towards the Doctor, Vorn then made his way out of the sickbay.

-------
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Commander Acle Walex
Chief Intelligence Officer & Acting First Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Abigail LaToon
Chief Medical Officer
USS Iapetus

&

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ashley Williams
Intelligence Officer
USS Iapetus