"The Section" by Rangi & Bren & Muma ===== Bridge, USS Chimera ===== Shane was sitting in his chair scratching his chin. It was more then an hour since the Warhammer fighters were send to search and rescue Major Walsh's team. The good news was that they maintained contact with the Chimera and communication wasnt jammed by the Eihoften facility jammers, the bad news was the fact that Walsh's team was still nowhere to seen. Shane was reluctant to plan any further action without the ODA CO and XO and the informations Walsh's team would provide could prove to be essential for a success. Nonethless he was concerned about the security of his men ... lets be honest, he wasnt too fond about the Major, but Walsh was still a member of the crew and Shane didnt want to loose anymore crew during this mission. The young Cortez was a promising marine and in due time maybe even a leader ... and to loose him would be quite a loss. It was just then when the lift's door opened and a blonde woman in red wearing LtCmdr insignia walked in. It was of course Samantha Palmer and she went straight towards him. "Captain... Commander," she said, nodding to the CO and XO in return. "Captain, may I speak with you private? Commander Summers too, if you don't mind?" Shane looked a bit surprised at Samantha but nodded. "Of course Commander" he replied to her question about a more private place. "Lets go to my ready room" he said and motioned the HELM officer to lead the way. He stood up from his chair and followed her to the ready room. Rangi caught his eye as she left her own chair and gave a slight shrug to his questioning expression. The ready room's door slid open and Samantha stepped inside, waiting by the door for the Captain and his XO to enter. When Rangi entered, the door slid shut behind her. Once inside, Shane asked Samantha to take place and he went to his own chair where he sat himself. Looking at Samantha, Shane was quite interested to learn what was the point she wanted to speak with him. {Duty or not?} he asked himself. When she sat down, Samantha passed the padd she had brought with her to him across the desk. "I think you might find this interesting," she said, glancing at Rangi. "I managed to gain access to the database's third encryption level. I pulled up the shuttle's communication logs, and their origin points to Section 31... Black Ops. I haven't spoken to anyone else about this; I wanted to let you know first." Shane said nothing at first but reached for the PADD. He skimmed fastly throuh the content of the PADD and saw that even if the data from the Marduk shuttles were not consistent, the hints to Section 31 were present. Not many of course and none obvious ... just small clues and hints, but it was enough to convince him. Another story was the question WHY and HOW Samantha gained those informations. Level three encryption level ... not even Shane as CO of an SSF starship had a sufficient security clearance for such data ... but Samantha obviously yes. Sure, she was an (Ex?) SSF operative, but knowing the ways SSF operated .... her security clearance should be disabled at the same moment as he signed her transfer request. On the other hand ... having friends on the right places OFTEN helped with codes and access restrictions.. Rangi, watched Shane reach for the padd but looked sharply at Samantha unable to disguise the thought that had sprung to her mind. { How come she had no trouble gaining access? surely all of her security clearances have been changed..mmm...thats a bit fishy} Samantha watched Shane's reaction as he read over the padd she had given him. She hoped he didn't suspect her of any involvement in this, or that he thought she might be in league with S31. It probably didn't look too good that she was the one bringing him the information, especially not considering their history together and her connections to Nicolas Harker. Her relationship with Rangi was also far from perfect. Though she's expressed her regrets about past events to the XO, the air between them was still a cautious one, devoid of trust. Samantha wondered whether any actions on her part could replace that trust. The name of Nicolas Harker sprung in Shane's mind almost immediately. Harker was a Black Ops that was disguised as HELM officer during the last mission and he withold vital data and endagred the ship and its crew ... more then once. Frowning a little, Shane considered how much he could trust his HELM officer. Shane's Intel paranoia kicked in again ... he thought fastly about a complicated plot involving SSF and Black Ops ... before looking at the two woman again. Rangi couldnt resist but to ask. She watched Shane frowning a little in concentration then focused her attention on Samantha. "I'm surprised you could do it so easily." she said."I mean...your security codes still work?...even though you're no longer an SSF agent?" Her tone was one of interest and though no accusation was made, it was clearly hinted that Rangi suspected Samantha was not free from her former position. "I took a chance," Samantha explained, trying not to sound too eager in her defense. "I didn't expect it to work, but it did. All my Intel-level access codes have been revoked so I assume the shuttle's database security must be out of date. If they are involved with illegal covert operations, I doubt that they will be constantly uplinked with the Starfleet security network." Shane noded and asked: "I am a bit concerned about the possibility of Section 31 beeing involved in this matter." Looking at Samantha he asked: "Commander, I dont know much about the Section ... even if I am a SSF CO and I believe Ragi knows even less, could you please brief us about the Section and its purpose?" "No one is really supposed to know about Section 31," Samanta said, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "It's official existence, like that of the Black Ops division, is neither confirmed nor denied. From what I know, it is the most elite group within Black Ops, and by far the most dangerous and powerful. It's rumoured that Section 31 is exempt from abiding by Federation law. " As she explained to them what she knew, she wondered to herself whether Nicolas was just Black Ops, or whether he was Section 31 as well? Pushing the thought from her mind, she continued. All these levels of secrecy made her dizzy. It scared her to think of the amount of power Section 31 was rumoured to have. Shane scratched his chin again: "Well, what does it mean then? Are we supposed to look away when the matter concerns the Section? Shall we find those agents and arrest them? Will some Intel General cut our heads of cause doing that?" Shane felt less then comfortable. He didnt like Intel much ... but Black OPS were just too much ... he could virtually sense that trouble was on the way ... Samantha looked at Guzman. "I don't know that there's all that much we can do, Captain. Where Section 31 is involved, I would stear as far clear as possible. Our authority means nothing to them." Hesitating at her next statement, she added, "I'm certain none of us want a repeat of our previous mission. We were ordered to find out why Einhoften went silent, and we've done so. I would suggest it's up to Intelligence to find out who's responsible." Rangi looked at Shane, trying, but failing, to read his thoughts from his expression. {This is all 'too' convenient} she told herself transferring her attention to Samantha. "You're right...we dont want a repeat." she said evenly. "But we have to follow orders and part of them was to secure or destroy the facility. We can't just leave." Shane noded: "I agree. We will follow our original orders. Shoot or capture the enemy, free the prisoners and gain control of the facility. We gather all data we can and send them to SSF Command. Let be the Intel side of the story their concern." Looking at Samantha he said: "Thank you Commander for this information. We three know that the last mission caused quite bad feelings and that trust had to be earned, but you Commander set the foot on the right path. Please keep us informed about anything concerning the Section you encounter." ====== End of log ====== Cmdr. Rangi Summers XO USS Chimera – A & LtCmdr. Samantha Palmer HELM USS Chimera – A & Cmdr. Shane Guzman CO USS Chimera - A