The Disappearing Doctor - They seek him everywhere

Posted on 02 Jul 2018 @ 7:16am by Commander Juan Zamora (Dec [CDO]-Jan 2389 - TRSNFR to Gorn Dip.) & Lieutenant Commander Iria Taltos & Ensign Arthur Jones, Son of Ruk (Jan 2389 TRNSFR After Second Battle of XFY) & Lieutenant Harry Stevens & Captain Edward Bolingbroke (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War)
Edited on on 03 Jul 2018 @ 9:48pm

Mission: Ne Me'e Laua Na Paio - Heroes & Villains
Location: Security Department

[ON]

[Deck 14 - Security Department]

Bolingbroke stepped off the turbo lift and found his way to the Security Department. His understanding was that the Marines were needed to help Security conduct some kind of ship-wide search for the Gorn Doctor, who had gone missing around the time of the battle with the Gorn warship.

He was directed into a briefing room and took a seat with some of the other senior officers.

Juan, seated to one end of the table eyed the marine as he entered, checking him against his mental list of crew members until the right name came up.

Iria was pretty confused about being included in this meeting but she wasn't showing her confusion on her face. She offered up a playful cheeky grin of greetings as she got settled into her seat. As the meeting began she listened intently.

Arthur sat, muttering about the meeting.

A few moments later a Security Ensign entered.

As Harry took his seat, he said "Hello everyone, I am here to bring you all up to speed on the investigation," as he put the PADD down upon the table, "first things first, Thank you all for coming," he continued as he knew that this was his first briefing. As Lady Sif lay down next to Harry and rested her head on her paws.

Juan nodded once in response but otherwise remained impassive, listening attentively

Iria side eyed the dog and her cheeky grin turned into a full blown smile of amusement, "Love to know how I can help." She sat at ease in her seat though she was keeping an eye on the large canine.

"Eh."

"What we have learned so far is that Cortez was blackmailed in setting this all up," replied Harry looking back at all the senior officers "and that all this including the Doctor going missing was to try and unseat the Captain," He finished looking up at them all.

Bolingbroke was surprised at what he was being told, Starfleet officers being blackmailed? He asked a question "Who's behind the blackmail and why would they want to remove the Captain?

Also, why do you think this Gorn doctor is still on the ship, I heard he beamed off to that ship that attacked us and destroyed the Wyoming?"

"That we don't know yet Sir," replied Harry looking back at everyone, He continued, "But Cortez won't talk about it," as he gave the final part of his answer. "But as for the Gorn Doctor, he never used the transporter, but he had ditched his combadge," He finished "and with the internal Sensors down, I am using the K-9 division to find him," as Sif's ears pricked up upon hearing about her.

Bolingbroke nodded. It still sounded all very suspicious and he was not sure if he was being told exactly what was going on. But that was not an unusual circumstance for the Marines.

Iria blinked slowly, "He might have been aboard the shuttle that returned to the Wyoming but with the ship being gone now the only way to find out is if someone goes back and scans the debris field."

Arthur slammed his fist on the table loudly. "Gorn. Why was one allowed on the ship?!"

Sif Jumped up from where she was looking alert as Harry looked down at her and started to stroke her, he said, "Its ok Sif, the Chief Ops was getting over excited," as she lay back down again on the floor. Harry turned to face Ruk and asked, "Can you not do that, it upset Lady Sif,"

Iria had done a whole body jerk and had to fight to not leave her seat at Ruk's slamming his fist on the table without warning. She forced herself to relax but eyed Ruk warily.

"The Lieutenant was allowed aboard because he was a Starfleet officer in good standing." Juan said flatly, crossing his arms. "There was every indication that he would be able to carry out his assigned duties effectively. Furthermore Mr. Ruk, I would expect you, of all people, to understand the importance of judging individuals by their actions, rather then their heritage. Now, if you have any practical suggestions as to how we may improve our screening process going forward, you can make an appointment to discuss them with me at a later time."

"He's still a Gorn. Why was he trusted in Starfleet in General." Ruk said in Klingon, the UT easily picking it up.

"I guess they'll let anyone in now..." Bollingbroke commented, giving the obtuse Klingpn-wannabe a pointed look before turning back to the rest and asking "So, moving on, if the Doctor is still on the ship somewhere, any ideas where, or if he's armed?"

"No, we don't, hence why the K-9 division," Harry as he wasn't even sure the Doctor was armed and the Chief Petty officer hadn't mentioned him having a weapon on him. But he could of acquired one.

"I'm sure all of you can grasp the severity of this situation." Juan said, looking to each of the officers seated at the table. "Which means you will all understand how important it is that we resolve it as soon as possible. I trust you to be thorough in searching every darkened corner of this vessel, but, I would like to know how long you plan for this search to last."

"We can be ready within thirty minutes, we just need to know where to start and what to search" Bollingbroke confirmed. "What are the likely spots?" He looked over to the Operations and Engineering officers

"He's a Gorn. They're a bunch of petaQs, just don't worry about it. He'll end up getting himself killed, whether by us or Klingons, what does it matter." Arthur said, scowling.

"Don't worry about having a rogue, possibly armed and dangerous, seven foot tall, three hundred pound reptilian wandering around the ship?" Bolingbroke asked, amazed at the Operations Chief's comment. "Are you serioulsy suggesting we just ignore him?"

"Yes. He's a Gorn. They'll deal with themselves." Arthur said, sounding very much Klingon.

"No we can NOT ignore him," replied Harry, He continued, "He is a major Security Risk, not just for this ship, but for all our ships as he has sold all our ships frequencies to our enemies," as he looked back at everyone.

"It is Imperative that we bring the doctor into custody so that he can stand trial. In addition he represents our most valuable potential source of information on the threats we are currently facing. Simply put, we cannot afford to let him get away." Juan explained.

"Agreed" Bolingbroke nodded, "I'm assuming he's not likely to be on the main crew accommodation decks, as somebody would have seen him.

Not that we shouldn't do some kind of sweep through those, we must, but I would think a fugitive on a ship would look for the less used spaces, which would be where? Cargo holds, storage compartments, engineering spaces, Jeffries tubes?"

He looked over to the two officers with greater knowledge about such parts of the ship, Operations and Engineering. "Any suggestions where we should start?"

"If you think we must search the ship. Start with the last place he woulda been. In this case, check cargo bays and shuttle bays." Arthur said.

"Since we have the major repairs finished we can start working on getting the internal sensors back online. I can tell you with as much as we've been doing repairs he isn't hiding within the Jefferies tubes he would have been found by repair crews crawling through the last few days." Iria intoned, lightly, after a moment.

"Well that's a start." Bolingbroke nodded "Is there any way to seal off the parts we have searched as we go, so he can't slip past us. Can we get forcefields set up?"

"And how exactly are we supposed to get those forcefields up and ensure he hasn't already slipped by? Barring erecting them on top of you guys." Arthur sounded...irritated...if he could sound anymore irritated by these people.

Bolingbroke looked over at Jones, shocked at what he was hearing. The Operations Officers attitude was bad, very bad. He seemed determined to be obstructive and unhelpful, while allowing a Gorn to roam the ship at will. The man would not have lasted long with that attitude in the Corps.

He looked over at the Executive Officer wondering if he was going to allow Jones to derail the search like this.

"Your objections have been noted Ensign, however, this operation has been deemed vital to our mission and will be carried out one way or another. I expect you to carry out the duties of your position and contribute to a successful apprehension." Juan commanded, he sat ramrod straight in his seat, fixing Arthur with his most piercing gaze, his voice stayed even but took on a flinty edge. "Any more outbursts, and I may feel it is necessary to suspend you from your role as chief of operations. In any case, you will be seeing me in the near future, and we are going to talk about this, and other matters pertaining to your role aboard this vessel, at length."

"Yes sir." Ruk said, his voice tense but respectful.

"I think we can safely divert power from none essential systems to give you more access to moving forcefiels around, if nothing else comes up." Iria retorted lightly wondering quietly who or what had spoiled Ruk's morning meal because he seemed to be in a very foul mood.

Bollingbroke relaxed a little, at least it seemed the Engineer knew how to run the Force fields unlike the surly Operations Chief. "That's more like it. Thank you!"

He gave her an appreciative smile and happened to notice her eyes, they appeared rather unusual, slightly different hues in each, kinda cute he thought.

"Er yeah..." Momentarily distracted before pulling himself back together. "Umm.... Oh yes. Any way to use life support to lower the temperature in the search areas?

I'm no expert on Gorn physiology, but as a reptiliam speciies I'd assume he would be a bit slower in cold conditions. Anything that could give us an advantage would help."

Bollingbroke knew that even with a squad of armed Marines the prospect of tackling an adult male Gorn in a confined space was not to be taken lightly.

Iria thought a moment and nodded her head, "I can double check with medical and science then see about what we can do to cool things off without making things harder on the search parties. Other options would be we can coordinate which area you want to try flushing him out of by removing personnel and lowering the temperature in that area? If you have other suggestions I am sure we can find a way to figure out a solution." She said with a cheerfully cheeky grin, whatever was bothering the Chief Operations officer, wasn't her business and she was more than happy to help the others out.

"I assume we'll clear personnel out before we search each deck." Bollingbroke suggested "We can put on artic gear, so drop it as cold as you can"

Iria nodded after a moment, "If you are geared for it I can easily make it as cold as an Andorian winter in each area. Not all at once of course. I'll need to know what section you want to start with and will need a moment or two to switch once the area you are searching has been cleared." she said as she made some mental notes of what needed to be done.

Harry responded "But not to cold for the K9's to work," as he knew that Sif and her friends would find the Doctor and show Starfleet command a need for such a team as Sif opened one eye and then closed it again.

Iria nodded, "Okay so not an Andorian winter but maybe a Canadian instead, I will need the breed and coat/fur details for the K-9 crew so I can make the proper calculations to be sure they don't get hurt by the cold but so it still affects our missing Gorn Doctor." she said with a wry grin, it was going to be a lot of work but she wasn't worried about work or the amount of it.

"I do have one question though," replied Harry looking around the room, He continued, " What do we do about Cortez?" as he had been pondering that very question himself. Hw finished," Do we release her or do we keep her in the Brig?"

Bolingbroke shrugged "Sorry, not really my area, so nothing to offer on that one"

Iria shook her head softly as she met each man's gaze, "I don't know Cortez personally and if you are certain of her being blackmailed she isn't a threat. Her fate is between you, the Captain, and First officer. I am only an engineer after all." She said pleasantly with a small cheeky grin. Though as she looked at Bolingbroke she paused a a moment longer than when she had regarded the others before him.

"What to do about Cortez is ultimately the Captain's decision," Juan offered, "one he will make once our investigation into her circumstances has concluded."

"But we might need her skills in case we find something that only an Intel officer can open," responded Harry as he was now looking at the bigger picture and was looking at all contingencies.

"True enough" Juan admitted. "However, the process is still ongoing and I'm not able to comment one way or the other."

Iria kept her mouth shut since, she had said all she could on that matter after all, repeating it would only waste time that could be sued on other things.

Iria sat still as she thought over the briefing thus far, the idea that an officier in star fleet was being blackmailed, the idea that the Doctor might be a spy and still somehow hiding within the bowels of the ship was disconcerting. Even more so with the repair crews had been spread out n all areas. Since none had mentioned anything strange she figured that they'd seen nothing. She had been following up on repairs and found no sign of anyone let alone a full grown male Gorn who appently betrayed the ship and crew hiding below decks. She regarded everyone as she waited to hear if there was anything else to know before she needed to start working again on the sensors and force fields to be moved and made mental notes of double checking information on how adjustment to the life support system to help flush out the Gorn Doctor.

"How about teams of four Marines, with two Security officers and one of your K9's. Weapons on stun as I'm sure you want him alive, that work?" Bollingbroke asked Stevens. "What deck do you want to start on?"

"I was about to sudggest something like that myself" replied Harry, He continued," And I was about to ask for the Marines anyway," as he looked around the room and knew that his first briefing had gone some what without incedent that was without Ruk's temper outburst.

"It would seem Reasonable to begin at the lowest level of the ship and work your way to the top." Juan offered

"I'd go exactly the opposite Sir" Bollingbroke explained. "If he hears us coming, and he will, driving him up into decks with more people is just going to cause problems. Tougher to track if we get sensors back online, harder to control movement through the force fields and do we really want to give him the chance to attack crew or take hostages?"

"Fair enough," Juan replied, "You clearly know what you're talking about, downwards it is."

Bolingbroke checked the time. "We'll be ready in thirty minutes!" He moved to get up. "Anything else?"

Juan remained silent, looking over to Ensign Stevens

Harry looked around the room and then said " If that is all then I call this meeting to a close," as he tapped two fingers to his side and Lady Sif rose from where she had been, and gave a streach of her legs. as Harry left the meeting with Sif following him, he knew that he would have to go see the Captain.

Iria waited for the last of the information to be given out, and once she was certain of her having leave to do so. She rose from her seat and flashed a cheeky grin everyone as she left, even to Ruk, his attitude wasn't going to keep her from being herself no matter what was going on.


[OFF]

Juan "JJ" Zamora, CDR, SF
XO

Harry Stevens, ENS, SF
TACSEC

Iria Taltos, LTJG, SF
ACHENG

Arthur Jones, Son of Ruk, ENS, SF
OPS

Edward Bolingbroke, 24th Visc. Creedmoor, 1stLt, SFMC
Team Leader, 2d MSOT, D CO, 3d MRBN