How's the Office?

Posted on Tue May 24th, 2011 @ 12:06pm by Darek Halsey

Mission: Shore Leave 2; Picking Up the Pieces
Location: Intelligence Offices, Deck 10, USS Arizona
Timeline: Sometime after "More Interviews"

It had only been a few weeks, but it felt like it had been years since Darek had been on the ship and even in his.. well the Ensign's intelligence offices as they were now. Darek paused in front of the might doors that kept all eyes, ears, and other information gathering devices out of the most secure place on the boat besides maybe Engineering and the Marine's Armory. His eyes roved the edge of the door, it looked like what ever had happened the last time the Arizona had gotten into a scrap, had managed to come knocking at the intelligence wonk's door.

With his bandaged hand Darek removed the chewed and partially smoked cigar from his mouth and with his uninjured hand tapped in the key code for the door. Before the computer could began asking for his access code Darek rattled off the string of numbers and Greek letters the Commodore had given him, and with a mechanical groan the doors parted and revealed the darkened intelligence offices.

No one was hope, 1011 and 1010 were probably off duty or at the mess. As for the rest of the department there hadn't really been anyone else, when Darek had being the head of the department. Looking around Darek, removed his leather jacket again revealing his trade tools. He hadn't taken them off in weeks, so why start now; and plus it was more fun to stick it to the Federation regs any how. Whistling Darek strode around the room, until he noticed a light on in his old office in the back. "Hmm, boss must be working late tonight."

Walking towards the door, Darek placed the cigar back in his mouth and coughed loudly.

Nothing.

Sighing Darek shifted the cigar to the side of his mouth and called out towards the office. "Is there an Ensign Marcus Schenk present!?"

Marc looked up from the PADD that he had been working on as he heard a voice call his name. "In here, and it better be good." He locked the PADD and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't had a chance to go over everything yet and now someone was letting themselves into his office, which meant that they had to have their own codes to get in. He made a note to change the codes as soon as his visitor was gone.

Darek rolled his eyes at the young man's tone, he shouldn't have shown Darek his hand but he'd let the man off easy... this time anyways. "How's the office treating you Ensign?" Darek inquired as he leaned up against the door frame of the office, and took a look around the spartan space.

Marc got up from behind his desk. "Who are you and how did you get in this office?" His fingers tapped on a console on the desk, recording the event. He looked the scruffy looking blond man over. No insignia, no uniform, a bandaged hand and holding a cigar that looked like it had seen better days. That, and a non-regulation leather jacket.

Laughing Darek let himself into the man's office, either the man had just gotten the job or he had little to no initiative and had not looked into who previously had occupied his position. "Halsey, Darek. Service Number is classified and date of birth is in my file. Lieutenant Commander, retired. Forcibly." He said taking a seat as the man began to record their conversation. "As for how I got in here, this used to be my office." Was all he said, placing the cigar back in his mouth and removing a lighter from his pants pocket. "Mind if I smoke in here?"

"Actually, I do mind." Marc replied as he sat down. "So you are the former chief of Intel, Mr. Halsey. I've reviewed all the records and they indicated that you were very resourceful in your actions and initiative. However, you are now here in a civilian capacity, and any and all access codes and authority to retrieve information is now on a need-to-know basis. Take a seat, Mr. Halsey." He indicated the chair across from his desk as he sat back down.

"I don't know how you ran the department, but things are different now. Granted, I'm new at the position, but I have studied Intelligence at the Academy, and my former position on the Arizona was Investigative Officer for Security. Tell me about your history in Intelligence." He leaned back and watched the man.

Laughing Darek leaned forward in his chair, his face switching from humor to stone cold nothing. "Okay Ensign I was going to play nice but I see that isn't on your agenda. Your right, I sat in that chair before you and for a good reason, I have experience under my belt and not just two years of the Academy behind me." He began laying into the Ensign. "On top of that I may be here as a civilian, but with the knowledge, expertise, and contacts in this field I have; I can easily find out many things and would be of more help to you but as it stands it's your choice. As for telling you about what I did in the Intelligence field, well here this will be new to you... It's classified, and what isn't is blacked out and redacted is of nominal importance."

Seeing that the current course and tone would get him no where with the Ensign he sat back and sighed. His expression relaxing he started over, "Sorry... I'm here to offer my help as an expert in the field of intelligence. I'm not here to take your job, nor am I looking to kick around a junior officer who shows a lot of promise. I'm here to help this crew and the Commodore, end of story." Darek finished, hoping he could fix the working relationship with the Ensign before it was irreparably damaged.

Marc smiled as the former Lieutenant Commander used his game face on him and stated 'the facts'. After the apology, Marc leaned back in his chair. "Believe it or not, I now have the clearance to access events. That was given to me by Commodore Cowell. I would rather hear things from the horse's mouth. Or the horses ass, however you choose to play it. I'm not here to bust you chops. You obviously have what it takes to get the job done and I'm looking forward to working with you."

Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a wooden box and opened it. Inside were a half dozen small cigars, each hand rolled with only the finest tobacco. Taking one out, he offered the box to Halsey. "Cigar? I got these at DS 10. They were soaked in one hundred year old rum. Cost me a pretty bar of latinum, too."

Leaning back in towards the desk Darek looked from the cigars to the man behind the desk, "Where's the rum? And if these are what I think they are, you have quite a find." He said extracting one and running it under his nose for a nice whiff, it was a beautiful smelling cigar. One he'd save for a rainy day, reaching into his jacket he pulled out a two tube cigar case and added the small cigar to the case. Replacing it in his jacket he leaned back and placed his hands behind his head, "Which version you want, abridged or unabridged. Or are there places you need me to fill in details?" Darek inquired, if the man had access he might as well tell him, even if he was bluffing.

"I have to ask my connection for the rum when I see him again." Marc said as he considered the change in the civilian over something as simple as a cigar. Of course, telling Halsey that he had access to what he wanted to know help, also. "The abridged will work nicely. What I'm mainly interested in is your area of specialization. If I'm going to run this department, I need to know what everyone is capable of. It may say that you were on a mission to Rigel Four and did that, that, and the other, but I want to know how you run a mission when you're on it. Start to finish, what skills you utilized, how you came to conclusions, and your techniques. If there's anything else that I want to know," the Ensign said as he tapped the console. "...this will tell me."

"Let me remind you Ensign, that I am not truly part of your department. I am here in an advisory role, more of a consultant here to offer any assistance I can to you in getting this department up and running to the expectations of both SF:I and the Commodore." Darek replied quickly affirming his some what detached status with the Intel department and it's Chief. "However I am available to run OPS and even participate in them if so desired by yourself, Colonel DeVries, and the Commodore or any combination there of..."

Pausing before he answered the man's query he spoke to the computer. "Computer confirm Ensign Schenk's clearance level, if you please?"

The feminine voice quickly responded to his question. "Ensign Schenk has a clearance level of Level 10, Priority 3."

See that the Ensign's clearance was at par for what he was asking Darek began. "Now that, that is out of the way to answer your question I specialize in infiltration and paramilitary special operations, but I am trained and proficient in most areas under our umbrella... crypto, analysis, collections, and then the training I received as part of SF:I Clandestine Services, Special Activities Division." Darek paused for a second as he rolled the stump of the cigar over to the other side of his mouth.

"I lead from the front, I see no point in leading from behind, if you can't be in the hot seat and lead you have no right to be leading at all. I would say I'm by the book, but my book was thrown out the window along time ago. I run the mission as it is dictated by the situation, I take risks; but in our line of work those risks are well worth their price if it is ever required to be paid in full." The conversation at hand was never one he expected to have with an Ensign, maybe an Admiral or Captain. But surely not an Ensign, but seeing as that was an unimportant fact Darek pushed it from his mind and plowed on. "I follow the evidence, I don't allow personal bias to interfere with my judgment, and if it ever happens I remove myself from the conflicting situation. Life is not black and white, neither is my job, so I don't look at it that way. Simple as that." Darek finished for the moment, looking across the desk he waited a few moments to see if his response had triggered any questions from Schenk.

Marc smiled and steepled his fingers together in front of him, his elbows on the desk as he listened to Mr. Halsey. "Mr. Halsey, your style impresses me. If I had to make a judgment call based on what you just told me, I'd say that it's Starfleet's loss that you are no longer a Lieutenant Commander. I look forward to learning from you and continuing to making our department the best that Starfleet has to offer. If you have any operatives in mind for it, I will do my best to convince the Commodore that we need them. Furthermore, I would like to have you as my personal adviser in almost all things related to this department. Oh, there is one more thing, Mr. Halsey."

"And what would that be Mr. Schnek?" Darek inquired of the intelligence chief, leaning slightly in towards the desk.

"First, it's Ensign, not Mister. The second thing, call me Marc when it's you and me unless there's important things going down. Now help me sort out this mess you left behind. There's cross-referenced material here that leads to dead ends and I've been inside and out of everything you left behind."

"Marc, it's a die hard habit. Plus as it stands your rank does not matter to me, it's what you've got in your head. Now as for the mess I left behind, I'll look into it and see what I can make heads and tails of, and once I do I'll get it to 1010 and 1011 to get it into the system and on your desk." Darek said standing, "If you'll excuse me, i'd better get started on the intelligence." Extending his hand, "I look forward to working with you Marc, if you need me I'll be either here or on SB900."

With that Darek exited the office and the Intelligence offices heading for the air lock, he had a few people to speak too, and a cigar to smoke.