Operational Security

Posted on Thu Dec 29th, 2022 @ 11:49am by Lieutenant Mila Lynn & Captain Freya Mannerheim

706 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Chapter VI: Racing the Storm
Location: Science Lab, Ourainavassa

After her disrupted meeting with Kaiae had finally finished, Freya made her way down to the science lab to speak to Mila, before any of the Romulans could. The new recruit brought on by the Lieutenant may have promise, but, like Kaiae said, bringing a stranger on without any background checks, at this late stage of the mission, was a big security risk. When the Captain entered the lab, she found Mila pouring over some calculations. As she hadn't shown any reaction to the door opening, Freya figured Mila's aural implants were switched off, so she gently tapped her on the shoulder to catch her attention.

"Oh!", Mila exclaimed as she swirled around in her chair and quickly switched on her hearing. "Freya, what can I do for you?"

The Captain pulled up a chair of her own and sat down. "What are you working on?"

"Just running some calculations on how I could maybe improve the cloak modulation, make it more energy-efficient and such. Haven't found anything yet, though."

Freya smiled. "Always dedicated to your work. Which is why I'm here, actually. Tell me, honestly, why did you bring the Sikarian on board?"

Mila's face fell. She'd known this was coming, but she still hadn't been able to figure out an answer. "I... I don't how how to explain it," she stammered. "I just saw how lost she seemed to be, with nowhere to go. My brother and I have been in that situation before, but at least we had each other. She had nobody. I wanted to help her."

"I see," the Captain replied, nodding slowly. "And at any point did you even consider the security of our operation? How any slip, no matter how tiny, could mean failure?`"

Mila fell quiet for a moment. "I... I did, but, I didn't think she'd be any trouble. I mean, There's no way someone from the Delta Quadrant is a Tal Shiar operative, right?"

"Assuming she told the truth when she said where she's from. Look, Mila. I know you are used to acting on instinct, but that just won't cut it. You can't just rely on a gut feeling when the safety of so many people is at stake." Freya sighed. "I went out on a limb for you there with Kaiae. I was just beginning to build up some trust between us, which I'm sure you realise is not an easy task. And I laid it all on the line for a gut feeling that you were right. So yes, I also acted on instinct this time, but my instinct has a lot more experience to back it up than yours does. Next time you run into a random stranger on Drozana that you think might be a good fit for this crew, don't just grab them and bring them in for an interview. Get their contact info, and talk to the Subcommander."

She smiled. "She's Romulan, and Romulans are naturally more careful when it comes to things like this than Terrans and Humans are. And who can blame her, considering how sensitive this operation is? The lives of a lot of people depend on what we're doing here. we can't just take this lightly. You're spending all this time optimising the cloaking system, and all this other stuff you've been doing to make sure our ships aren't detected as easily. Would you want all of that to have been for nothing?"

Mila looked down to the floor in silence for a while. "I'm sorry," she finally muttered, quietly, stifling a sob. "I know I messed up. I should be kicked off this crew."

Freya put a hand on Mila's shoulder. "And what good would that do? Not only would we lose your brilliant mind, we'd put someone out there with intimate knowledge of this whole operation. Of course nobody is going to kick you out. All I want is for you to think about what I said, and not to let it happen again. Okay? Now, what was this about optimising the cloak for energy efficiency? I have a bit of time until I need to get back to Amelia, maybe I can give you a hand in figuring this out?"

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