The Intelligence Offices of the Atlantis had a very austere feel. It felt nondescript but that was how all good intelligence operatives worked. They could stand in the middle of a three-ring circus and you would still not even notice the person was there. The office was a large room with a center table with four doors lining the back wall. One was simply marked as the department head’s office. The second office was for the intelligence division’s 2IC. The third door held several work areas for those on a shift in the department. The fourth door had its own security panel that opened into the brains of the room. While the command staff and chief of security theoretically had the access codes, like with all things cloak and dagger, the intelligence divisional chief had the ability to lock the room and override anyone getting into it. This was not a tidbit most CIO’s shared with their cappy or XO. It just tended to ruffle egos but it was there and for use at one’s discretionary will.

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Starfleet Intelligence Listening Outpost Theta Sierra
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The man waiting at the console felt tense. It was the standard operating procedure to use assets in every mission. When you were using one of your own as the asset it left a bad taste in most people’s mouths. Lt. Commander Harry Parks had no loyalty to anyone but those in the Intelligence Department. Too often people rose to power and then had the ladder they climbed knocked out from under them. Why someone had not blown up the ladder under Admiral Perkins still astounded him. If this was just to help Perkin’s career, Parks would have taken longer to place the call but this was far greater than a self-absorbed bureaucrat/officer that thought every word or order that left his lips was important.

He hoped Rand would understand and play ball the way Intelligence needed him to. The problem with men placed in the divisional chief’s position meant they were wild cards. At times they felt a loyalty to the crew they worked with over loyalty to the intelligence division. He had heard of Devon Rand but only vague murmurings. The man had started in security then left to return to Bajor. There were rumors of him working in the resistance yet somehow that did not impact his ability to re-enlist with Starfleet again but this time as an intelligence agent; however, with men like Devon Rand, it was not always completed the ways his superiors might have wanted. Staring at the controls, he waited for the man on the other line to activate the call.

<reply for Rand>

The man on the other line dispensed with the pleasantries. Whatever was going down appeared to already be happening. Chit-chatting about the Galactic Series scores or which team looked like it was headed to the Galactic Bowl seemed pointless and would only raise Rand’s suspicions that he was being worked as an asset. The plain truth was Rand was an intelligence operative and Intelligence had a job for him.

Crossing his hands on the table before him, he began immediately with the assignment. “Three hours ago we the craft appeared at the coordinates where the Atlantis was sent per official communique by Starfleet HQ. We understand the Altantis beamed them over. Upon their arrival, there was an incident but that is not our concern,” the man on the other line said in a neutral tone. They only knew what little the Atlantis did about the arrival of the ship and only because they had all eyes and ears on that section of space. If they had not been looking, like the rest of the universe, the arrival of the four individuals would have been missed. As to the events on the Altantis, the only intell they had ascertained had been the chatter on the Atlantis’ internal comms that there was a security incident upon arrival. They had no idea what had happened but they could speculate. Hopefully, Rand would be a good soldier and fill in the blanks with positive eyes and ears on the ground to turn the speculation into facts. The key to good intelligence however was always making the other party think you held a royal flush when you only had a pair of two’s in your hand.

“You are to assist the assets,” the man chose his words carefully as he began to lay out the mission parameters. “Right now Starfleet Intelligence does not want to term them, friend or enemy. We are interested in obtaining what they are terming the package. Once the package is identified you are to remove it from the Atlantis and rendezvous on here on Outpost Theta Sigma. It is preferred for you to bring all four assets with the package but it will be acceptable for you to bring one asset for further interrogation. While it is unfortunate that your captain was injured, it has opened up an exit strategy. We were able to falsify a shore leave request granting you permission to leave the Atlantis. It is vital that the assets turn over the package to the Atlantis crew and that you obtain this for the safety and security of the Federation.
Do you have any further questions?”

Starfleet intelligence operative