Breaking Through the Lies

Posted on Mon Oct 5th, 2009 @ 8:06pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Jordan Gunning

Mission: Into a Devil's Heart
Location: Omega IV
Timeline: MD06 0320hrs Ship Time (1400 Local Time)

As the away team materialized on the planet's surface, Vorn took a look around. The seven officers - Vorn, Annalyn, Jordan, Ashley, one more medial officer and two additional security officers - had beamed onto the grassy centre of a large square, immediately in front of the colony's governance building - known more simply by locals of all colony worlds as the town hall. The sun was shining, and the atmosphere during the city's summer midday completely contrasted the image Vorn had held in his mind of the state of the colony after seeing the destruction in the background of Peter's communique.

Vorn turned his attention as the governor approached them across the lawn. A lean man, he portrayed the image of someone who did not shirk from personal, manual labor - though Vorn knew politicians enough to not let his impression of the man be formed by his physical fitness. "Captain! Welcome to Omega IV!" The man said, jovially. "Though as I told you in your hail, your visit is hardly necessary. We've had no problems beyond the mundane here. Hardly anything to warrant the waste of Starfleet's time."

Vorn sighed. His concerns had been worsened, rather than alleviated by the conversation from the governor in orbit, who had insisted that there had been nothing wrong at the colony at all in the last few months. "We scanned the colony, governor. We know of the attack you suffered in the residential sector."

"Attack?" The man replied, seemingly aghast, though Vorn could read people enough to know that it was put on... and mingled with an amount of nervousness. "There hasn't been an attack... we suffered from a gas leak a couple of weeks ago, which resulted in an accidental explosion - we're still dealing with some of the more seriously injured and the collateral damage to buildings now, but it is nothing that Starfleet needs to deal with."

"Sir, where are the wounded? The care of the injured is the paramount duty of any Medical Officer." Annalyn was worried, this man was lying, lying, lying and there was no way to inform the Captain.

"They're in the President Archer Hospital, under the care of our doctors," the man replied, his expression ever so slightly cautious, for some reason.

Vorn inclined his head to Annalyn, indicating she should go with her medical officer and one of the security officers to the hospital, a motion which the governor quickly objected to. "There is no need for you to take the trouble, doctor," he said quickly. "Our doctors are very capable, they're in good hands."

"All the same, governor, I'm sure the hospital staff would appreciate the input of a seasoned Starfleet Chief Medical Officer." Vorn didn't wait for the governors approval, and told Annalyn to take one of the nearby ground-cars to the hospital complex, before turning back towards the governor. "I am here on a matter of great importance, Governor Boulron. Could we go somewhere more... private to talk?" Even as he asked the question, he started moving towards the town hall, not giving the chance for the governor to interrupt. He didn't want to discuss the matter with Peter in the open streets, and he had a feeling that getting the governor to own up about the attack being real wouldn't happen outside either.

As the man led the now-three contingent of Starfleet officers through the building towards his office, Vorn tried to take in the surroundings. The route wasn't very complicated, though the governor had two doors which required a code to get into, but apparently no code to exit. Probably to stop the citizens from bombarding the staff-only areas without an appointment, whilst allowing the staff to exit quickly in case of a fire alarm, or other emergency.

As they entered the governors office, Vorn turned to the woman in gray. "Search the room for bugs," he instructed the Petty Officer, before turning to look coolly at the governor while the intelligence officer did her work.

Ashley went about her work as instructed, the curvy female went around the room scanning for bugs, she found a few and quickly disabled them after she removed them from their perches and put them in her pocket without anyone noticing.

=/= LaToon to Krace. This was no gas explosion, at least not by its self, several of the patients have burns consistent with phaser fire. I would say that they got shot at and something exploded alright, there are some very hurt people here. =/=

Vorn nodded. After what the governor had already said, and the way that he had acted, Vorn had already suspected that he was under someone's surveillance. Annalyn's comments simply confirmed his suspicions even more. =/=Thank you, Lieutenant,=/= he responded, keeping his eyes on the governor. =/=Do what you can for them. Krace out.=/=

"Now that we are truly alone, governor, let me introduce my officers. This is Lieutenant Gunning, my Chief of Security, and this is Petty Officer Williams, one of the Starfleet Intelligence personnel assigned to the Iapetus." The man's gaze seemed to linger on Ashley for a moment in what? Fear? It wasn't a positive expression that Vorn saw, though it was only a very slight change from the neutral face the man was trying to portray. "I am investigating a case of high importance," Vorn pressed on. "It involves Sarah and Sean Pendragon, and possibly the star ship USS Sierra. Do you recognize any of those names?"

"You know of the Sierra?" the governor asked, glancing apprehensively at the location where Ashley had revealed one of the bugs to be hidden before disabling it, as though afraid it would reinitialize. At Vorn's nod, the man sagged, and lowered himself into his chair, no longer trying to prevent his emotions from reaching his facial features. "They came, nearly two weeks ago. It fired from orbit, with no warning, at the residential sector after barely a pause in orbit. They remained there for a short while, blocking our communications, but one of my staff detected after a few moments that they were sending a message, but she couldn't tell what it was or where it was going, only that it was from the damaged residential sector."

The man looked up from his hands, and into Vorn's eyes. "Then their Captain beamed right into my office. He told me that he was Starfleet Intelligence, that I must not tell anyone what had really happened here, and that I must convince the population that what they saw wasn't really an attack, that I must make up some other explanation for them. He said that if anyone were to find out about the events that took place that night, he would have me killed."

Vorn nodded. He had formulated a similar theory off the evidence that he had been presented with since their arrival. "Do you have a list of missing people from the attack?"

"Yes. There are a small number of bodies too badly damaged by the phaser fire to identify, but that still leaves the body count two short." He handed over a list to Vorn after downloading it onto a PADD. "The two names you mentioned earlier - Sara and Sean Pendragon. They're on the list of missing."

"I need you to transmit all information you have on Sean Pendragon to the Iapetus," Vorn said, after a glance at the list. "And I need you to make all your facilities and databanks available to my staff. Captain Brown of the Sierra is not operating under Starfleet orders, and you will be protected against any actions of himself or his crew."

"You mean, he's gone rogue?" The governor asked, unsure whether to be more or less worried at the thought.

Vorn didn't answer the question, instead turning to his officers. "Petty Officer, I need you to return to the ship, and go over the data with Commander Walex. We're looking for any links - anyone who knew either of the Pendragons, Peter or John Brown, and anyone who might be able to tell us where they went."

"Yes sir." Ashley said as he tapped her comm badge issuing orders to be beamed back aboard.

"Lieutenant, I want you to post security personnel to protect the governor, and have someone do checks on his staff. We don't know if Captain Brown left any agents to ensure that the governor followed his instructions. Then I want you to take Lieutenant Jameson and investigate the residential sector; see if there is anything you can gather from there."

"Aye, sir." Jordan kept his response curt but instantly set about issuing instructions to the security staff who were down in the armoury. Three guards would take care of the governor. He sent the code for maximum armament. He wanted to make absolutely sure that his team would be protected if the colony was attacked again.

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

Lieutenant Abigail Valera
Chief Medical Officer
USS Iapetus

Lieutenant Jordan Gunning
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Iapetus

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ashley Williams
Intelligence Officer
USS Iapetus