Old Contacts

Posted on Tue Feb 15th, 2022 @ 8:50pm by Chief Petty Officer Charlton Kelly

Mission: Shoreleave
Location: Starbase 48 | Promenade

ON

The promenade, a section of the Starbase designed for shopping, browsing, and entertainment. It was separated into two levels, with a balconied walkway allowing a view into the lower section. There was even a very nice water fountain, he saw. Leaning against the railing of the upper walkway, Chief Petty Officer Charlton Kelly waited.

The communication, requesting the mneeting, had been brief, absure, and unsigned. Just like the bad old days, he mused. Only a few knew where he was, fewer still would even dare to contact him. Of those, barely a handful would want to meet in such a way. Definitely just like the bad old days.

He was stood, waiting, people watching. Deressed in civilian clothes, so as not to be too easily identified - there were countless scores of civilian poersonnel on a Starbase, one more on the promenade would hardly be noticed.

It was almost twenty minutes before his perohperal vision caught a figure moving tto the railing next to him. Back against it, they stood facing opposite directions. "Your Captain is playing a dangerous game." The gruff voice confirmed Kelly's suspicions.

"What game is that... Cobb?" He asked, with a thin smile, tweaking the man's tail.

He could feel the side-ways glare that was almost certainly directed at his head. "She's planning a mission to Lembatta."

That caught Kelly's attention. Although he didn't let his facial expression change, the man did blink. Hard. "The Nebula?" Silence was all the confirmation he needed. "Oh Christ. Does the Agency know?" Although Starfleet Intelligence was officially designated as a Division Branch, it was referred to by insiders as 'The Agency', an informal knick-name from pre-Federation Earth.

"Know? Yes. Involved in the planning? No. Holden is pissed,"

Vice Admiral Lucas Holden to Starfleet was better known for his SFI title: Deputy Director, Operations. Kelly had dealt with the Operations side of Intel on a number of missions, co-ordinated alongside his own Hazardous Operations Command, or SHARC.

"A shame my clearance got yanked, isn't it?" Kelly replied airily. "Else I might have had some knowledge about it."

Cobb turned to face him at that, the expression he wore decidedly unfriendly. "Cut the bull, Charlton. You know as well as I what's in there."

The honest truth was that Kelly didn't know, in the sense of having proof. He had suspected for awhile. Discordant pieces of information heard, a few discreet inquires. He could piece things together. "She's going after pirates, Cobb. Not some old research station."

"And when she finds it!?" The aggitation in the man's voice let his native accent slip through. "Her Away Team will pole, and prod, and dig. They'll get to the computers, and send everything back. You know as well as I that Black operations stay Black for a reason."

"So what do you want me to do?" Kelly turned to face the man he had once worked with. The man he had gone into every kind of hellhole in the Galaxy with.

"She knows your story, I assume?" Cobb asked. Kelly merely stared at him as a response. "Convince her you need to be on the Away Team. Wipe the computer records, and make sure that place is dust."

Kelly noticed he didn't say anything about the Endurance or her crew making it out alive. "Who's giving these orders?"

Cobb merely scoffed. "This ain't some sanctioned mission, Kelly. Christ, have you forgot everything?"

Kelly took one step towards the man, he eyes turning cold as ice. "If this isn't sanctioned, you can go to Hell. I have a CO. If she's going in there, then I'm watching her back."

"Jesus..." Cobb looked away for a moment, then met the man's eyes. "Fine. You are hereby ordered by the Deputy Director, and Admiral Forrestal to bury this once and for all."

Kelly's mouth curled into a smile. "See? That wasn't so hard now, was it?" He took a step to the side, moving past Cobb.

"That's not an acknowledgement, Chief."

"I know." Kelly fumed to himself as he walked away. The bad old days were right.

OFF



Wallace Cobb
Starfleet Intelligence