On His President's Secret Service

Posted on Sun Jan 20th, 2013 @ 5:00am by Lieutenant Three of Seven & Lieutenant Tre Boid

Mission: Funzone
Timeline: MD1, 1400 hrs

The drone continued his task of recruiting an away team that would be capable of efficiently executing the covert orders that Three had been given, a task which set the ship's Betazoid counselor at the top of the list of individuals that the Borg wanted on that team... and also one of the last that Three had actually gotten around to talking to.

Counselor Boid was a being of emotion, a fact which Three could respect even if not understand, but emotion was difficult to plan for or anticipate. Three had great difficulty, based on the limited encounters to date, with constructing a likely scenario for how this conversation would play out. And if there was one thing Three would procrastinate in doing, it was something he couldn't break down into statistical probabilities.

But, he still needed to have the conversation to determine whether the counselor could be integrated into Three's plan, and so the drone had done as the counselor had requested. Three had scheduled a follow-up counseling session with the Betazoid lieutenant. There would be no suspicion in a counseling patient making a routine therapy appointment with the counselor.

The drone arrived exactly on time by the ship's chronometer, stepping inside of the counselor's office and turning to survey the room until he had turned to face the person whose counsel he sought... just not, perhaps, in the manner in which Boid believed. "Counselor," the drone remarked in greeting. More an acknowledgment, but then pleasantries were not Three's strong point.

Tre was not honestly expecting Three of Seven to return so soon for a counselling visit. It had only been a day. To be honest, with his shields up, Tre couldn't really read anything from Three, and hadn't tried to actively read the man. "Ah, Three, it's good to see you, though I was expecting next week. Are you doin well?" He asked, trying not to show his surprise. Maybe the drone did have some emotional issues that were more pressing. Tre didn't want anyone to feel awkward or unwelcome in his office.

"I am functioning without complaint," the drone commented in answer, turning back to briefly to check for any sign of the counselor's enlisted aide. "Counselor, may I inquire as to your level of knowledge regarding the FunZone?"

"If you're looking for Crewman Xarym, she's off for lunch." Tre said, noticing the drone looking around. "And she doesn't listen into counselling sessions, I promise. As for the FunZone, big holosuite, boasts any and every public and some privately made and maintained holoprograms. Life of fantasy, whatever you want, if you've got the latinum to pay."

The drone looked back at the counselor and inclined his head toward the Betazoid. An efficient summary. Three could not have said better himself. "What you left out is that over one hundred individuals have disappeared while visiting this vessel," the Borg noted, as though commenting on some minor detail or footnote. "This is the actual purpose of our visit; however, due to the high volume of tourism that the FunZone experiences, Starfleet feels that doing so openly could incite a social hysteria. For this reason, the crew - with the exception of a select few individuals - are not being told this information and the investigation is to proceed as a subterfuge."

The drone allowed a moment for that information to be assimilated, conversation being a poor medium through which to exchange data. "It is possible that these missing individuals may still be aboard the FunZone. Masking life signs from sensors is far more easily accomplished than masking humanoid thought patterns from telepaths," Three added simply. "And it is in that regard that I believe your assistance in this mission is vital."

Talk about a large ball to drop. "Well..." Tre said, not sure exactly how he felt about that. It had been a long time since he had been involved in any investigations, something he had no real love for, unlike his husband. He was curious as if Cory was going to be involved, but had a feeling that Three of Seven was not thinking about grabbing the traditional people for investigations. It would be awkward at the very least, no walks on Risa's shore with Cory, instead he has to find nearly a hundred people. If they're still alive... He thought dryly. "That's a very astute assumption. Though, what makes you think that these individuals are aboard the FunZone? Or alive at that matter? I'm afraid telepathy only works with those in the land of the living."

Three nodded. "I have no preconceived ideas as to the motive, cause, or condition of the victims' circumstance. This could be a waste of your time and talents; however, I feel it is important to plan for the statistically probable eventualities," the drone answered simply.

Tre shrugged, "Fair enough. Is there any information on the victims? Any similarities in race, gender, appearance, political affiliations, profession, religion, so on and so forth?"

"I will forward you the information provided by Starfleet Security; however, statistical analysis has failed to demonstrate any logical pattern associated with the disappearances," the drone answered simply.

"You should be aware that other individuals privy to this knowledge are Lieutenant Sngarlassanarn, Lieutenant Mantell, Ensign Xel, and Ensign Sheen; not including Admiral Cowell and myself," Three noted, himself aware that the list was probably not entirely accurate. Three estimated a seventy percent probability that Admiral Cowell had told Lieutenant Junior Grade Marion, and then his research into covert operations had yielded the notion that it may be necessary to have operatives working with no other person being aware of their function.

"This will not be a traditional away mission. Working in groups of notable size should be discouraged to the greatest extent possible; however, we should coordinate meeting on board the Arizona periodically to exchange any information learned," the drone went on to add. "Are there any other questions, Counselor?"

"You are aware we have a talented, experienced Security Investigations specialist aboard, right?" Tre asked somewhat sarcastically, "Would make things a lot easier to not have to perform subterfuge on someone who is mentally and spiritually connected with me in ways that you surely do not understand."

If there was any offense to the sarcasm, it didn't show; however, Three didn't respond to that particular question. "You are correct that I do not have an empirical means by which to gauge your connection to Senior Chief Pomerantz," Three replied evenly, answering the interrogative that was more on point. "I would prefer to leave the matter of assigning additional security personnel to this mission to Ensign Sheen, as the Security Department operates under his cognizance; however, if you feel that you would be unable to adequately perform your task without Senior Chief Pomerantz being aware of the same then I would accept his addition to the team."

More simply put, if Pomerantz was the price of doing business with Boid then it was a concession that the drone was prepared to make.

"Thank you. I can't imagine why Sheen wouldn't approve him, but subterfuge with married couples is not good. At the very least, it doesn't work, or at worst, the person not involved suspects infidelity." Tre explained, "Is there anything else about the mission I should know about?"

"We will coordinate to meet onboard the ship at various times. As we will still be living aboard the ship, our presence here will not be suspect; however, we should be careful to stagger our arrival and departure times so not to appear to be functioning as a group," the drone remarked in reply. "Thank you for your participation in this endeavor, Counselor."

Tre nodded, "I'm not fond of investigations, but if it helps a hundred people, I am happy to do it."