Posted by Lindsay Bayes in Stark’s- This is the Delta Quadrant Calling

Posted by Commander Stark Nightstalker (Chief Intelligence Officer) in Stark’s- This is the Delta Quadrant Calling

Posted by Lindsay Bayes in Stark’s- This is the Delta Quadrant Calling
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Stark nodded and the white scar above his eye seemed to glow in the dim lighting in comparison to his midnight fur. He steepled his paws and began to speak.

=/\= Let’s start with this one. All of your worldly possessions are in your cabin when they call abandon ship. You have time to take one thing only. What is it and why? =/\=

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Faye grinned. =/\=Well, I can probably exclude Tess here, since she’s a sentient and chooses to be my companion, but honestly? Nothing. If there’s anything in the last few years that I’ve learned it’s that I have everything I need already. But if that isn’t a good enough answer, then I’d say my case of seeds. None of them are rare, but they were either given to me, or I collected them from my own cultivation. They’re my reminder that given the right conditions I can plant myself anywhere, and I might need that reminder when I get to the Athena more than I am already anticipating.=/\=

~Faye Calloway, Counter-Intelligence

Stark nodded, =/\=Succinct, balanced, truthful =/\= He leaned forward a little and his gaze returned to its former intensity. =/\=You’ll be welcomed by all here. No one is going to tick off the Jolly Green Giant and the CIO and live to tell the tale.=/\=

Faye smirked. She knew she had Dag there to help but it was nice to know that others might be looking out for her too. She wasn’t sure how much she could expect that, since she was a stranger after all.

=/\=For my next question… how can I help?=/\=

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Calloway doubted she’d have been able to hide her surprise if she tried, but thus the look of surprise that swept over her face was genuine. While Faye was not the most trusting person in the galaxy, she had come a long way, and Stark’s question was one of pure openness. Something unexpected. =/\=Umm, well, in full disclosure, though it is more under control than say a year ago, one of the symptoms I deal with is dissociation. For me generally it looks like I’ve zoned out. My mind goes elsewhere when it’s really stressed or triggered. If that should happen, bring me to Tess, or bring Tess to me. She’s a trained support animal, a cross between a Terran breed and a Betazoid empathic one. She knows what to do and how to read me. That and Daggum is well aware of how to handle my bouts. But trying to force me to quote on quote snap out of it is pointless. It just stresses me more.=/\= It was one of many reasons that she really shouldn’t be an Intelligence officer. But things were what they were and Faye had come to some sort of peace with the situation. Mostly.

=/\= Noted =/\=, his words were succinct but it was obvious that many cogs were turning as he took it in by the flickering of his eyes.

Inhaling deeply, Faye looked down at Tess whom had started a deep rumble. She smiled and scratched the cat’s head. She glanced away as she continued speaking. =/\=And… well, there is the other matter, confidentially, that my time with the Tal Shiar left me with information, as I mentioned. But the way they did it was to implant it in my mind and it’s inaccessible most of the time. But I get these memory dumps. I haven’t predicted their appearance with any consistency, but I get flooded with information at a rate that I can barely process. Sometimes it lasts a few seconds, but I’ve had rare instances where it lasts longer. In those cases, the effect is rather… extreme. Headache, migraine, heart palpitations. The last time I had a hard time taking a breath and required medical intervention. That is rare, but I feel it fair to disclose that to you, even if medical will be aware as well.=/\= That was the short version, but she was certain he could read between the lines. That she felt comfortable telling him this was important, and the information stored in the recesses of her mind of utmost interest to Intelligence. They had a love-hate relationship with each other, but Faye wasn’t so naive to think she could walk away. Even if she retired today she had no doubt there would be a field agent keeping tabs on her the rest of her life. Just in case. She didn’t blame them for it either. But still, it made just existing somedays a hard and scary act. Thriving the way she had been in the last year? Well, that as an utter act of rebellion that put her Maquis roots to shame.

~Faye Calloway, Counter-Intelligence

He took a deep breath and leaned forward again. =/\=I’m so glad you’re coming to join us. False modesty aside, when it comes to protecting people who are targets my people are the best. You are an enigma wrapped up in a puzzle, my favourite kind of acquaintance. I do hope that Daggum will allow us to help support you and won’t be all manly territorial about it. A soul as precious as yours deserves the best protection possible from multiple vectors and a constant reminder that you are more than what has happened to you and it’s consequences =/\=

=/\= Why Commander, I’m touched,=/\= Faye said, with further surprise she didn’t bother to hide. She was not used to strangers speaking to her this way, as if they immediately saw her character and value. Not that she thought so negatively about herself these days, but still, this was strange to hear and it made her wary for the briefest moment before it passed.

Stretching his mobile spine in several directions having sat for a while Stark continued =/\= You’ve been frank, honest and trusting, in the spirit of that, is there anything you’d like to ask me? =/\=

Stark Nightstalker CIO

She laughed. =/\=Lots! How often does someone in our field get to walk in with any information they want?=/\=

Chucking he answered =/\= The trick is to walk away with information that is the truth, but in your case I’m willing to be candid. =/\=

=/\=I guess to start I just want to know the current situation. I’ve been reading the Athena’s classified reports, and oh boy am I throwing myself into the fire in the best possible way. But where do we stand?=/\=

~Faye Calloway, Counter- Intelligence

There was a slight pop as he linked his paws and stretched his claws briefly. =/\=The Athena has now become a front for the Department of Temporal Investigations. Lucsly and Dulmer were reluctant but after saving the universe and the ship through judicious use of the Guardian of TIme they have established a small cell aboard run by the Mirror version of the criminal genius Archimedes who sacrificed himself to save his sister during said manouveres. The connection with the Mirror Verse led us to be used by the Prophets of Bajor to stop the multiverse from imploding in on itself through the use of a special Mirror Orb that we had to retrieve and activate. Then when the ship was destroyed and remade in our Time Guardian outing it drew the attention of one of the “Beings”, Athena who felt a disruption when the ship bearing her name ceased to exist. She invited us to a planet that her people were using to gather the power of wonder and awe of people who were vacationing on it through a device called the EDOC. Unfortunately rather than being happy eking out an existence as was Athena’s plan, Ares and Hades tried to usurp her and we got caught in a demi-god civil war. =/\=

He paused and took a breath and then continued. =/\= Now we are recovering a bit from all the excitement… aka I’m bored as hell =/\=

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Faye shook her head.=/\=You know, if I myself had spouted any of that randomly, someone would probably hold me for psychiatric evaluation. And given I’ve spent time in a mental health facility, I’m not exaggerating.=/\= She exhaled, measuring her breath to steady herself. =/\=This is why I advocated so strongly to bring my hardware and software upgrades to the Athena. You all need my expertise badly!=/\=

=/\= You’ll get no argument from me, my dear, any advantage we can garner ups our survival chances from none to slim =/\= His head was shaking ruefully.

Leaning back, she studied Stark for a moment, her mind doing its usual process of heading down multiple tangents at the same time. Always calculating, always thinking. =/\=As I’m sure you’ve read my file, you’ll know I and my parents were Maquis back in the day. It posed problems on previous assignments. Does that pose a problem for you personally, or the Athena crew that you know of?=/\= She liked knowing what situation she was walking into exactly, as best as she could anyway.

~Faye Calloway, Counter- Intelligence

=/\=If anything Faye, having your cards on the table is a refreshing relief to the cloak and dagger most hide behind. As for if it creates an issue with others I’ll refer you back to my previous comment about what might befall anyone who crosses myself or the Jolly Green Giant. =/\= He flicked an ear and then continued. =/\=It’s widely known that Athena holds many secrets within the minds of it’s denizens but we also have a reputation that we care for our own… without question. =/\=

Stark Nightstalker CIO

Calloway grinned. =/\=A concept I’ve become strangely used to on the Manhattan. It’s rather refreshing, actually. But you know, I’ve come to realize that I enjoy it so much because it reminds me of my childhood on Tracken II, before the Dominion razed it to the ground, of course. But there we were a tight knit community who went out of our way to make sure everyone was taken care of. I think it’s served me well now that I’m in a place in my life where I’m able to accept that from others and give it in return.=/\=

She touched the tips of her fingers to her collarbones. =/\=I’m being as transparent as possible because there are things I might not know to share or that in my mind I don’t even know I know. We work for a part of Starfleet that thrives on working behind the scenes and under the radar, but a lot of it lately just got me into trouble. I’m doing my utmost to not bring that to the Athena.=/\=

Faye tapped her fingers on the edge of the desk, her stormy grey-green eyes intense. =/\=There is one thing that I can assure you and that is that I make few promises or vows in my life, and my vow to Starfleet is an important one. I can vow to you Stark Nightstalker that I have only the best intentions, even if my sometimes bumbling social skills make things complicated. If I ever do or say anything that seems contrary to this, understand that I am exceptional loyal to my chosen family. Currently that is the Manhattan and when I arrive that will mean the Athena. My loyalty is the truest things about me, even if the implementation of it can sometimes leave a lot to be desired.=/\=

~Faye Calloway, Counter-Intelligence

Stark has stayed silent throughout Faye’s monologue. Her breathing, cadence, pauses, all spoke volumes about who she was and who she wanted to be and there was a deeper level below that, a level of struggle as she brought to the surface what had been done to her at a rate that she could process and another level where she feared it would all break over her as a wave and wipe her to oblivion.

Hard as nails and twice as deadly was Stark’s stock and trade but he knew that before that he had been where this woman now sat. Empathy was considered anathema in their business but Stark knew that such sentiment was a lie and was not truly strength. Strength was having something you loved enough to die for, because in having something worth dying for you also had something worth living for. He considered long what he would say and the silence was bordering on uncomfortable when he spoke.

=/\= Whatever demons past or present rise up to strike you, we will face them together. I accept your loyalty and offer you my own =/\=

Stark Nightstalker CIO