Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Government Tower - The Gatekeepes Are Locking The Gates

Posted by Civilian Dorma Fen (Governor’s Assistant) in Government Tower - The Gatekeepes Are Locking The Gates

Posted by Civilian Cort Belanger (Executive Assistant to Lt. Gov.) in Government Tower - The Gatekeepes Are Locking The Gates
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Twenty minutes after the meeting with Dasca, Dorma Fen arrived at the Conference Room for the meeting she called. On the long table were PaDDS for everyone, old-fashioned paper notepads and pens, water, snacks, and coffee. Six comm terminals had been connected, each dedicated to a specific office in the Tower and to needed off-site locals. The shades had been drawn and rhe wi dows set to opaque and secure, preventing outside surveillance.

Outside the room, it was eerily quiet. No one was present on the entire floor except for Fen… and four human males of distinctly Japanese heritage in suits outside the door, two on each side. They stood stoically against the wall, and each had a strange lump under their jackets; too large to be a phaser, too small to be a rifle. Each wore dark sunglasses and has a comm device in their ear.

As the rest of the Administration Staff arrived, the men said nothing. They simply held them at the door, looked at them directly for a few moments, and then opened the door and ushered them quickly inside.

Dorma Fen

Cort stepped in, surveyed the whole set-up, and gave Dorma an appraising look. Somehow, he expected nothing less from her. As he approached, finally some of his true worry was allowed to surface. “It’s too early to drink, right?” He was actually joking given that it wasn’t even 8 am yet, but his words came out with a sigh.

“I’d be lying if I said the thought to have a warm bottle of my family’s sake on the table hadn’t crossed my mind.” Dorma said with a weary smile.

“We’ll save that great idea for later,” he replied.

Cort poured some more coffee and took a seat just as Elema and Sherri stepped in. The two woman also grabbed coffee and sat down.

“This is just…” Elema said, shaking her head.
“It’s hard,” Sherri agreed, “But between all of us, we have plenty of skills and experience.” She reached over and rested a hand on the empath’s arm. “And we take breaks as we need to, okay? We lean on each other.”

Cort had experienced more than his fair share of tragic events, one of which he had briefly alluded to to Dorma at their dinner, but it never made it easier. It had, however, given him practice being stoic. But Elema, though the same age as Dorma, was the least experienced of the four of them, and he knew they would need to demonstrate how to handle something as big as this. “Schedules are clear. Where do you want to go from here?” he asked Dorma. He had things that had come to mind already, but she definitely had something in mind and he was happy to let her take charge here.

~Dasca’s Staff

Dorma nodded and said “So my mind is on all of us going on defense. Let our higher ups deal with public opinion and law enforcement interactions. Our only job right now until we decide otherwise is to keep the Governor and Lieutenant Governor free to deal with everything else as they feel the need to; but to give them enough room to process as they need.” Dorma had said both, but everyone in the room knew that one would need more time than the other. “And we keep the distractions to an absolute minimum. Additionally…” and she blew out a long breath, “Listen. We are all big boy and girls here. And we all know this place a history of expressing displeasure with leadership by force. What no o e seems to remember is that everything a Governor or Lieutenant Governor has been… ‘removed’… they have taken a few of us with them. Now, I don’t know the why surrounding Jones’ death; I doubt anyone does right now. But we need to look out for each other right now, too. All of us are privy to A LOT of privileged information, and that makes us targets if this was an attempt to come after Colonial leadership. So the guys outside the door are there to watch over us. We’ll have one with us at all times, and a pair following us that you probably won’t see.” She looked at Sherri and said “They will be with you everywhere except inside Fleet facilities. I’m sure Star Fleet Security is able to keep an eye on you inside the Fleet Compound.” She siad with a smile while thinking to herself And there is no way they would pass a Fleet Security check. “Outside, though… they are with you. Everyone ok with that?”

Dorma Fen, Governor’s Aid

Sherri and Elema nodded. “I’m not worried about the Compound. I can guarantee you that once McBride knows there will be a soft increase in the alert status anyway. Nothing most people will be aware of, but the security presence will increase. It will likely go to a full yellow alert once the news is broadcast to the public, or even just before that. It’ll be precautionary until a full risk assessment can be completed for the colony, and they may adjust it after that.”

Cort tapped his thumb on the table for a moment. “I’m fine with the precautions, too. But I was thinking about what all was supposed to happen this week and there’s a bit of a conundrum. I do know that Jones and Mathis were supposed to be interviewing people for the embassy staff positions. So far it’s just been them running the place, but that was about to change. I know those interviews will be put on hold for a short period of time, but the Ambassador needs support. She’s going to need someone to take care of things for her. My thought is that while there is a conflict of interest in some areas of the embassy operations that I can’t be involved in, there’s nothing stopping someone from lending her some administrative help, and split my time between there and here. And then Hyrushi and Dasca won’t be distracted by the needs of the embassy.”

Elema nodded. “It makes sense. We can shuffle the work load for the Executive offices between the four of us.” Though Sherri’s purview was strictly Starfleet, there was wiggle room in there when needed.

“It means a bit more would fall on you, Elema. Are you okay with that?” Cort asked. He didn’t want to overwhelm her and he was certainly willing to do both jobs right now. At least for the next 50 hours , no one was coming into the office that wasn’t already a part of things.

Sreer smiled. “I can handle it… with some hep?” she said, looking to Dorma.

~Dasca’s Staff

Dorma thought for a moment and then said “What if the four of us all took on Jones’ tasks? It would mean a small uptick in stuff for all of us, and we can compartmentalize the civilian versus Star Fleet versus Federation versus Colony matters between us.” She thought again for a moment and then said “And it would put four sets of eyes on the embassy dealings and potential needs and risks instead of just one.” She looked at Cort and said “Don’t take that as me saying I don’t think you could do it. I’m absolutely sure you could. But the four of us need to stick together, I think. I just have a bad feeling this is all about to go more sideways than it already has.”

Dorma Fen