Intrigue Pt 2

Posted on Fri Jan 7th, 2022 @ 10:58pm by Commander Finchley Kerr & Captain Rhenora Kaylen

Mission: Gamma Quadrant
Location: DS9
Timeline: Current

Joran had been in his, what he looked upon, temporary billet for a day when he'd been ordered to go to the office of Captain Kira.

Making his way there, he found himself outside the office. He had slight butterflies in his stomach, which was unusual for him, normally he was calm and collected. Taking a deep breath, he reached out and pressed the buzzer and awaited and answer.

Kira looked up from the report she was reading at the sound of the door chime. Through the glass doors she could see Joran, whom she'd offered a job to a few days before to be her personal aide.

"Come in" she called and drained the last of her cold rakitjino.

The doors to the office opened and Joran walked, stopping a respectable distance from the large desk dominating the room.

"You asked to see me Sir" Joran said.

"I did, the counsellor passed on my offer?" She asked, signing off on the pads and putting in the large pile at the end of her desk that was threatening to collapse.

"She did Sir, and I'm most grateful for the opportunity" Joran replied.

"With your permission please Captain?" Joran then added, moving to the pile of Padd's "I can put them in task priority order and then date reference them so that, when the tasks or orders ae completed, they can be filed away appropriately. I can sub divide them into Senior Staff, Operational and General Purpose catagories so there's no mix up."

"There is only one thing though Sir, there may be sensitive materials on some of the Padd's and I don't have any kind of Security clearance" he said.

" I can take care of that in time" Kira smiled, knowing she was going out on a limb here. She increased his clearance a few points to give him access up to level 5, a regular leuitenants clearance level. It would allow him to take care of most things. " Here's the deal, you manage my calendar, my report schedule and keep my office looking respectable."

"Thank you Captain, I will do my utmost to see these duties are carried out to the best of my abilities" Joran replied respectfully "may I enquire as to what time you arrive on duty for the day...to ensure you have a rakitjino waiting for you" he added, nodding towards the cup on Kira's desk.

"Ummmm around 0700 usually, unless there's something going on" she admitted as she considered her daily routine. No-one had ever asked her that before, they assumed she almost slept in that office.

"Very good Sir" Joran replied "I'll ensure your report schedule will be updated and on your desk for your arrival, along with your rakitjino. I'll also see to your callander and prioritise any meetings you wish to convene or attened according to your availabilty. As to the office itself, I'll see to it personally that it's cleaned first thing dailly, it could do with sprucing up a little if you don't mind me saying so, it's somewhat...clinical, devoid of a calming essence" he finished, smiling.

Kira looked around the large office as if seeing it for the first time "I never really had the time to do anything to it since The Emissary left" she admitted sadly, taking in the baseball that took pride of place on the desktop.

"Yes, The Emissary, may he be at one with the Prophets" Joran replied. He looked around the office himself, then back to Kira "Perhaps a small sand garden, over in the corner there, I used to have one when..." and he made a stone face as if a memory had flashed in his mind and it had troubled him greatly.

"When?" Kira prodded gently, picking up the cold coffee and taking a sip, grimacing at the temperature and the flavour. "What did you remember?"

"A cavern, we'd taken cover there, we'd been given intelligence that Halraim's soldiers were coming through the pass" Joran replied slowly.

"I was praying at the time, using the crude sand garden I'd set up, when the firing began" he went on "Halraim's soldiers had taken a higher route, along a ridge, we were taken by surprise. I...I rushed outside, but by then the fighting was fierce and we had to fight hand to hand. My troop finally gained the upper hand, and we started to beat them back, but then more of Halraim's soldiers appeared in the pass and we were forced to run" he finished, his face now red and his eyes staring.

"Hey, whatever happened back there's you're safe here." Kira set the heavy mug on the table and reached for Joran's arm, hoping to reassure him.

"As we're running, we turn to fire, one of my troop is shouting to me, asking for orders, but the fightings so heavy, the sound of phaser blasts is deafening" Jorna began again "They began shouting a second time, only this time a phaser volley caught them and half their arm was torn off and his face was badly charred. I ran over to help, but he was dead before he hit the ground. He was just a child, no more than seventeen seasons. Someone else ran past me and grabbed me by the arm and dragged me along with them. They were shouting something about cover, the next thing I know I'm in a crater of some kind. Our troop has managed to get to cover and we could at least make a fight of it. I looked around at those who were left, again, they were just children..." then the memory faded, leaving Joran with tearful eyes.

" It's ok, you're safe here, it was a long time ago" Kira soothed, trying to pull him out of the memory. They all bore scars but some ran deeper than others. " I need to focus on the here and now, I need you to be present here, on the station."

"Not so long ago Captain, but thank you, I'm sorry for allowing my emotions to be laid so bare Sir, I'll try to not let it happen again" he smiled wanly.

" Never apologise for emotion. It's what makes us who we are. There is however a time a place for them most of the time for those who aspire to a certain decorum like Starfleet wants us to...."She started then shut her mouth before a heeled boot ended up in it. " Now... where were we?"

"Forgive me Sir, but I'm not a Starfleet Officer, and neither are you, we're both Bajoran Officers. This should be a station where Bajoran ethics and standards count first, not Starfleet" Joran replied, but then realising he'd most likely spoken out of turn.

"That's where you are wrong, this is a Starfleet station, we just work here and in return it defends the Alpha Quadrant and Bajor from what goes comes through the wormhole. Their ideals align with our own. It's not a them and us scenario" Kira said evenly, it was becoming clear that Joran was passionate about his homeland.

Joran considered Kira's reply, then said "You're correct Captain, my personal views should be just that and be kept to myself, forgive me. If you wish me to leave, I understand."

"You've only been here all of 5 minutes, quit apologising. I understand it's going to take a while for you to adjust to the way we do things" she smiled, trying to ease his anguish.

"Sorr..." Joran began, then stopped himself, changing it to "Absolutely Sir. I'll just refresh your rakitjino then I'll get to those Padd's. Do I just work in here beside yourself, or do I have a room where I can work from?" he enquired.

"There is an adjunct to this office that will be yours. Access is through that door over there. I'm sorry it's on the small side but I'm sure you'll make do" Kira explained as Joran headed for the replicator.

"I'll work in whatever space is available Captain" Joran replied. Once he'd got the rakitjino, he returned to Kira's desk and put the cup down. Walking across and gathering one of the piles of Padd's from the huge desk, he turned and headed to the adjoining room pointed out to him.

As he drew level with Kira he asked "Have you set your schedule for today already Sir or do you wish me to have a look at it just now for you?"

He was eager to begin his duties straight away.

" Ahh I haven't actually looked at the schedule yet " Kira admitted, knowing that there was probably a dozen meeting requests and another dozen other requests she hadn't even begun to look at yet. " Why don't you get into it and we'll see how we go?" She offered.

"Straight away Sir" Joran replied "May I?" he gestured towards the Padd on the middle of Kira's desk that he guessed would be the meeting requests."

Tag Kira

"Thank you Captain" he replied and carefully picked it up off the desk and balanced it precariously on top of all the others. Tottering off, he approcahed the door to the adjacent room, and turning his back to it bumped it open woth his rear end. Once inside, he placed the Padd's on his much smaller desk and returned to close the door so he'd have some peace and he wouldn't hear anything said in Kira's office.

Walking back to his desk, he took the schedule Padd and turned it over. Opening the back, he took a small box from his belt pack and opened that as well. Taking out a very small micro tracker he placed it on the processing unit then closed the Padd back up. Placing the box back in his belt, he settled down in the chair at the desk and began his 'duties'.

An hour later, he emerged from his office and saw Kira still at her desk.

"Excuse me Sir, I've prioritised your meetings" Joran began "You have on online Quadrant update meeting in half an hour with Admiral Bennecker, then Chief Baxter needs you for an hour to go over the stations weapons upgrade, Dr Bashir would then like a word with you about personnel for Sickbay, it would appear you've put him off three times already so he's getting rather impatient and lastly the Prominade shopkeepers meeting regarding how the new Security measures brought in place last month are effecting their trade."

" Wow, already?" Kira looked up in amazement as the mess that was her schedule was neatly transformed into an achievable workload. " I had put Bashir off a number of times... damn, I hadn't realised it was that many" She admitted as she looked at the new schedule. " Well done - and thank you"

"You're welcome Sir, I like to think I can deliver a good service" Joran replied "If you wish me to, I can take the Prominade meeting on your behalf, all I need to do is read up on the new Security measures and give an explanation on why they've been brought in, I can bring any shopkeepers concerns back to you and get your reply and deliver it back?"

Kira sighed in relief " That would be great, I don't have the headspace to deal with them at the moment, although I know it's part of the job. It's bad enough dealing with the Admiralty every other day" She chuckled to herself.

"Our of curiosity Sir, with the level five clearance I've been granted by yourself, will I be able gain access to the new Security measures for the Prominade that I'll need to read up on, or do I have to get it from station Security with a note giving your permission for me to do so as I'll be acting on your behalf?" Joran asked.

The Station's CO mulled over that for a moment. Technically the security measure were level 7, but if Joran's was taking on some of the workload then he would need a higher security level. Her gut twisted for a moment, she barely knew this guy and was doing him a favour by offering him a job. But to do his job he would need a level of clearance higher than the average Joe Bloggs on the station. Moving to her desk she used her own security clearance to download the required files he would need into a padd. " Don't let this fall into any else's hands - got it? There's sensitive information here"

"Thank you Sir" Joran replied to his CO "I'll ensure it stays with me at all times and once the meeting's concluded, I'll ensure all information is deleted and the PADD cleared and then destroyed."

Returning to his office, he began reading up on the information conyained within the PADD so he was ready to meet the shopkeepers of the Prominade.