Ride-Along: Who Investigates the Investigators?
Posted on 28 Sep 2022 @ 10:48pm by Chief Petty Officer Ozanna Isuri
Edited on on 06 Feb 2024 @ 8:15pm
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Security Offices
Timeline: MD06-0900
1876 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure
Upon assuming his new role of Chief of Security, Sikan knew it was customary to say a few words to the office, to introduce himself to the others and ensure they knew who he was and what he expected. It was a part of the job that he always found the most tedious. They were all trained Starfleet officers. Why not simply get on with the work as required? But he also knew that as tedious as it was, it was still necessary. So at the start of his shift, he assembled the officers present on-duty and said, “I am Lieutenant Commander Sikan, the new Chief of Security. I trust we will come to know each other well enough in the days to come. I look forward to working with you all, and welcome any questions you might have.”
Once that was done, Sikan retired to his office to get caught up on the paperwork that was awaiting him from the gap between the previous chief’s work and his first day. One thing that he’d learned while researching Obsidian Command’s security department was that a small ship was seconded to it. The Wasp, commanded by CPO Isuri, was assigned to the department for use as a patrol ship. It was, to put it mildly, a rather irregular arrangement. There were several ships under the command of Starfleet Security, of course, but rather few that were seconded solely to an individual starbase’s security department. He had some questions for CPO Isuri, and fortunately she was due back that very following a patrol.
After sending a message asking her to report to security upon her arrival, Sikan finished his paperwork. His office was sparely decorated, with few furnishings apart from his desk, two visitors’ chairs and his computer. The only personal item was a single knife mounted on the wall behind him, the ritual blade which he’d carried with him on the Rite of Tal’oth.
CPO Ozanna Isuri had barely been cleared to dock the USS Wasp when the call came in from the new Security Chief that he wanted a check in with her. She'd left the shutting down of the Wasp and the final engineering and operations check offs with her merry little crew of other non-coms as she begged off to see to meeting the new guy in charge.
As she strode into main security, Ozzie thought about how different it looked from the day she'd arrived, when Starfleet had yoinked the stardock class station back from the void it had been in for 18 months. No one, so far as she knew had solved the case on how that friggin hole in space had been formed. It wasn't an investigation anyone was tasking her on. The security offices themselves had been absolutely *thrashed*, the reports claiming that in the station evacuation during the Void event, the prisoners interred from a major pirating organizational crackdown had all escaped holding and made a mess of the place before hightailing it out on a stolen ship. As a personal interest, she was still tracking leads on that lot, but the cases were pretty cold by the time she'd been given access to the file, and space was pretty big for a bunch of wanted criminals to dissipate back into. She'd been getting used to not catching criminals for what seemed far too long now.
She rang the chime on the Chief's door, taking a moment to remind herself it wasn't going to be Lt. Winslow greeting her and preparing herself to adjust to some one new, who she hadn't even had the time to look up the dossier on. But her innate passive telepathic sense could practically smell a Vulcan on the other side. Ozzie zipped up her duty jacket.
“Enter,” Sikan said when his door chimed. When it slid aside and Ozzie entered, he scanned the Betazoid with his eyes, assessing her quickly. He knew who she was from the personnel report he’d read. “Sit down, Chief. Thank you for being so prompt. I trust you had a safe voyage?”
"Commander." Ozzie said with a respectful nod, picked the chair to the left, swiveled it and sat. "No incidents to report, Sir. The Wasp evaluated several sites in the ort cloud here in the Loki system, following up on the system being flushed out from hide-aways a couple weeks back." She volunteered a summary. "It seems most of the occupants left undetected when word got out that the ort cloud was being combed. We located several of the abandoned century old Romulan listening posts and documented the interior camps, gathering what we could find for evidence."
Sikan nodded as he processed that, his mind quickly filing the information away for the next daily threat assessment he’d put together.
“A thorough report, Chief. Thank you for that.” He paused as he looked at Ozzie, sitting straight and proper before him. “I had wondered about the efficacy of a ship detailed specifically to the security department of a Starbase. It is…a rarity, in my experience. I admit to being curious if you’d deem the Wasp a worthwhile use of our time and resources, Chief.”
"I do, Sir. The safety and security of Obsidian Command certainly extends to the system and surrounding space and many of the issues our department handles requires outside investigation." Ozzie had grown attached to the boat and her merry little band even if the Wasp was barely significant in the shadow of the flagships so commonly traversing the system. "She's a sure little ship."
“I believe that to be true, Chief. However, it cannot be denied that there are other ships available which might do this work. The USS Pathfinder, for instance, which is already on another mission. Perhaps this is a case of ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’, to use a colloquialism. Taking the Wasp out means removing officers from this department, and from doing their work on this base.”
"But, Sir. The Pathfinder as you point out, is tasked on another mission. The kitchen is kinda big and there are a lot of pots to stir." She'd not heard that phrase from a Vulcan before and found it weird.
Sikan pressed his fingertips together as he considered the matter. “Tell me what you are investigating externally now.”
Ozzie exhaled, wanting to be careful. After she'd gotten a taste of freedom on flight patrols, she didn't want to end up with mall cop duty. "The Wasp picked up a signal in the ort cloud while we were running supplemental sensor scans before the base was operational. It was a count down, and it coincided with the attack on OC. Hardly a coincidence. When the conflict wrapped, I figured my report about the signal had been lost in the sauce. There was a lot of sauce, after all.
"But Commander Zahn ran an investigation from my report, backtracked some signal recordings and modeled a refractory algorithm which matched some other sensor whispers in the compiled sensor data on record. The information was used for the Pathfinder and Theseus to mount hunt of the ort cloud. They flushed out a couple of remaining operators and a group of fighters on some of the distant objects, and shortly after the first engagement, there were warp signatures leading out of the system originating from many of the other points of interest. They got the picture fast, whoever was still hunkered down.
"My crew was tasked in the follow up action to make a closer look at the posts. Most of them are rudimentary enclaves in the rock with unreliable environmental support. After the Pathfinder and the Theseus had their way, the Wasp made the final pass on the remaining coordinates given. We only found vagrants, refugees, and addicts in residence. The largest posts we were tasked to investigate included hangar bays and cloaking systems and may have been part of the assault launched on the system. But by the time the hunt was made there was no one left, just signs of recent occupancy. Every post we find and catalog evidence from is ordered to be destroyed after investigation. So. We've torpedoed a few dozen rocks." She didn't want to admit that was probably the most fun they were having.
Sikan listened silently, completely still while Ozzie detailed the actions that the Wasp had undertaken for the base. She was very careful to highlight the value in what she was doing, and there was the unmistakable note of pride in her voice. She enjoyed her duty on the Wasp, enjoyed going out into space to follow her investigations wherever they went. That much was obvious. Sikan had wondered if her pride and enjoyment of having her own ship clouded her judgment of its usefulness. “Then your assertion is that in clearing these posts still present around us, the base is thus made more secure? Destroy them, they cannot be used again. A logical conclusion.” He’d read all of her previous reports, of course, but reports didn’t tell the full story, and didn’t truly tell him if the Wasp was a responsible use of resources. “I would like to attend one of these patrols. To see your work firsthand myself. Would you have any objections?”
Ozzie was a little surprised at the idea. "Uh, well," she blew a little air out of her lips, "Sure, Commander, of course." He was the boss after all.
“You did not anticipate that I would wish to come out on the Wasp,” Sikan said, quirking an eyebrow. “If this ship is everything you believe her to be, I would be remiss not to see it for myself, would I not?”
"It's just that I don't see a lot of direct attention from the Officers. I just get the orders and put in my reports afterwards," she answered honestly.
“And they have been thorough and comprehensive reports,” Sikan said. “But there is a report and there is experiencing a thing and understanding it. You will find, Chief, that while I appreciate the former, I prefer the latter. I will make arrangements to accompany you on the Wasp in the near future. It will be illuminating for us both, I think.”
"No doubt, it will be," Ozzie agreed. Already she was wondering how the rest of her team would take the news of having an Officer ride-along. Worse yet the new Chief of Security. She was almost afraid to ask, but she steeled herself and did anyway— "Is there anything else, Commander?"
“No, that will be all, Chief. Thank you for answering my questions. You have been most illuminating. I look forward to seeing the Wasp myself.” It was true in more ways than one. Already he knew that he would miss the freedom that came with being on a ship. A part of him understood why Chief Isuri guarded her ship so strongly.
Considering that her cue, Ozzie stood respectfully and gave a, "Thank you sir." Before finding her way back out of the office. She needed to give the crew a heads up before they found Commander Sikan on the next launch manifest and panicked...