It's great to be here

Posted on Wed Oct 3rd, 2018 @ 10:20am by Lieutenant Seregon French & Lieutenant Alex Sexton & Captain Enalia Telvan

Mission: Hera v Hera
Location: Ready room off bridge
Timeline: Just After deployment

The senior staff had apparently been given their marching orders. Alex had not yet encountered his friend but was looking forward to it. He wanted to get the routine stuff out of the way first. He had fond this a thousand times. So when it was finished there would be nothing to do but surprise French. As he approached the bridge, he immediately realized that there would be no surprise, as French was standing at the tactical console running a diagnostic of some sort. As she turned to see who was entering the bridge her heart leaped into her mouth. "ALEX." She all but yelled causing several crew members to turn and look.

He held up a hand. "Carry on, I'll be in the area all day!" He said sarcastically and headed for his friend. They gave each other a quick hug and then broke apart.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked

"Following you of course." He returned

"I'm so glad to see you. Are you reporting in now?" She asked

"Yep, right this minute. I've already seen the doctor and the counselor. Pissed off the first officer and almost got thrown in the brig. So now I see the Captain. I understand you are my boss!" He said

"Boss, huh. You could run this department as well if not better than me. We will be a team. An unfreaking beatable team! Welcome aboard. Now get in there, and be humble. Tonight we party." Announced French

Alex smiled, hugged her again and headed for the Captains Office.

As her door chimed again, Enalia looked up from her desk terminal and clicked it off again. It seemed she was destined to not get anything done today. "Come in," she called, seeing the man on the other side of the door as they opened. "You are... Lieutenant Alex Sexton, right? Welcome aboard. Please, have a seat."

"Thank you Captain." And he did as he was told. "I've already had the pleasure of meeting your XO. Very interesting person." He said

"That she is. I'm glad we ran into her, honestly." Enalia grinned at the thought of how they found Rita. It was definitely unique, to be sure. "So how are you settling in?"

"I'm just about ready the go from limited access to full, in so much as I've had my physical check up in medical, spoken the the very alluring counselor and now I'm seeing you. I'd have to say, I'm doing well to be sure!" Replied Alex

"I've heard she has a way of getting people to open up to her." Enalia smiled politely. She wasn't the most trusting of psychics, though she'd had several as friends in the past. She just needed a bit more time than usual to befriend them than usual. She needed to focus on the man before her though. "Unfortunately, I'll need you to get to work straight away once our meeting is over. The incoming Intel Chief was murdered upon arrival using a fast acting and fast dissolving neurotoxin. Commander Paris was present at the time and was fast enough to get the EMH there to detect traces of the toxin as they dissolved."

The mood took a sharp turn in the serious direction. Alex had hoped to work his way in, but not like this. But when duty called, he was the one you wanted to answer. "Captain, I'm at your service. Use me in what ever capacity you see fit." Replied Sexton

He immediately began thinking about how and where one might find such a thing as a fast devolving neurotoxin. If they were of Risa he would know who to seek out and get a lead on the murderer. But here he'd be starting from scratch.

Enalia nodded and continued. "I'll make sure all the relevant files are made available to you. As the ship's new investigations officer, it's your job to look into things like this now. As for the circumstances, the deceased and I both worked on the same classified intel project so I think that might have been a factor. My Yeoman and the EMH have conducted the autopsy and have the remains in a stasis unit in the pod for now. As for the toxin, it was a common one used by higher tier agents in the now dismantled Section 31 for assassination and suicide as far as we could tell."

At the mention of the Section, Alex immediately knew what he was up against. He had the misfortune of being trained by operatives from the section on matters that were redacted in his records. On several occasions he had the unfortunate pleasure of working side by side with Section 31..operatives who would kill you as soon as look at you. Alex stood up slowly, with a look of pondering fate on his face. He turned and stood behind his chair.

"Captain, forgive me. I loath the section and the reputation they have given the Intelligence industry at Star Fleet. And though I'm not an Intel operative, you'd be hard pressed to find someone with as much past experience as Seregon French and myself with matters of an Intel nature. She was recruited at an early age when we served on a Star Base together over 10 years ago. So birds of a feather kinda stick together. One of the reasons I requested this assignment. I assure you Captain if the section had anything to do with this hynous crime, I'll get to the bottom of it." He said with the utmost confidence.

Enalia grinned as she leaned back in her chair. "Hard pressed? I may be a pirate empire heiress, but my entire Starfleet career has been centered around Intel, as have several others on this ship. Welcome to the Hera family. As for Section 31, since their dismantlement after the Dominion War, which we've had a small hand in cleaning up, we're the ship that's unofficially taken on the role that they used to handle without going so far over the line that they did. As such, our mission pod is from their dismantled ship. If the main forces can't handle something, we get to handle it in our way. We've lost a lot of people along the way, but we always get the job done with most of our morals in tact."

Then the spotted captain became a bit more serious. "What I'm more concerned about is the fact that the Gemini project might still be ongoing. It's a quantum cloning project that in the past somehow pulled a demonverse clone if the Hera, and me, into this universe. If they're still messing with that tech... And if the old director of S31 is still out there running experiments... And if her killed her..." Pausing for dramatic effect before she continued, Enalia took a deep breath. "It took the destruction of a planet and the murder of over three hundred million people to kill the last demon that came through that portal. I'd rather not repeat that."

Alex listened and paid attention. "Surely you don't think the old Diercetor is at it. Is that possible?" He asked knowing that almost anything was possible with section 31 but hoping he would not find out the hard way. He thought about the Gemini Project of which she spoke. Did his two years of looking after Frenchie take him that far out of the loop, that projects such as this one was new to him? He began to have his doubts about his earlier comment.

"Franklin Drake Is supposed to be dead, but as Sloan's replacement I'm sure he had several contingencies. He was also spotted at the Hera's last refit." Enalia would rather not have to mince words and it was true, after all.

"If he was at the refit, there is a likelihood he is interested in the Hera. I will find out. I'll make that my personal mission to find out if he is still alive and why he was at the refit. If this ship is in danger from the likes of him, we need to know!" He said very focused now.

"Thank you. I look forward to good things from you." Enalia grinned and leaned back in her chair, choosing to switch to a lighter topic now. "So now that that's out of the way, welcome aboard. What do you think so far? Is the Hera living up to your expectations?"

"I think if everyone works as hard as your XO, you're onto a winner here. With our mission being what it is, I'm sure this is going to be an interesting assignment. Now that I'm going from limited access to full access I can get cracking on my investigation and also help out wherever possible. I'll check in with the head of Intel to see what they can offer up on our present situation. That is if I have your blessings to do so. During an official investigation, even though I'm a Lt. I work with your authority if you grant me permission to do so, and I will not misuse the privilege." He paused for a moment. "If you like, I can give you a brief on my method of starting and conducting an official investigation, to put your mind at ease that I do know what I am doing! " said Sexton with total and complete confidence. When talking about an investigation he was at his best and as cool as a cucumber.

Enalia raised her hands in front of her with a slight grin on her face. She liked his enthusiasm, but she'd rather leave his job to him. "No, no... That's ok. I'll leave investigations up to you, especially since you'll likely need to investigate me as well. If you need anything at all, just let me know. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Not right now Captain. Thank you for seeing me and I'm glad to be here!" Said Alex

"It's good to have you aboard," Enalia replied with a grin. "If there's nothing else, you're dismissed."

With that Sexton did an about face and left the ready room in search of his adopted sister, Lt French.