No Diplomatic Faffs: Instructions Unclear
Posted on Fri Jun 12th, 2026 @ 6:23am by Lieutenant JG Varinity Atoro & Captain Gary Taylor & Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik & Commander Kyle Reece & Legate Andrinn Orin & Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Avalon [ADMIN NPC]
Mission:
Season 6: Episode 7: Crossroads of Destiny
Location: Security Suite
Timeline: MD4, after 'This is How You Treat Guests?'
4325 words - 8.7 OF Standard Post Measure
Entering the security suite and knowing Gary and Alicia were close behind her, Varinity wasted no time in approaching a console and getting to work. If the commodore and Commander Reece were being summoned, she better have a damn good explanation ready. Assuming they weren't taken... she shook her head to dismiss the intrusive thought. "Ok, I'll scan the surface for the three comm signals and their biosigns. Cover all bases, and at least something should ping back." The 'hopefully' on her tongue only showed itself in her expression. She entered in the configuration for a sensor sweep of the planet.
"Run the scans Varinity. Let's see what comes back so when the Commodore and Commander Reece arrive we have current facts and information to give them and we can decide on a course of action." Gary replied crisply.
"Aye, Captain." This was taking longer than expected, which did nothing to ease Varinity's concerns. When the sweep finally completed, she stared at the response. Not found? Varinity's heart skipped a beat. How the hell could Damien just... disappear?? The scan also turned up nil for the two engineers she saw. Did she enter something in wrong? She glanced at the configurations for the sweep to see that they were, in fact, correct.
"That can't be right... sensors can't find them. I'm running the sweep again," she said. As Varinity re-entered in the configurations for a scan, guilt started creeping into her pulse. Damien went because of her. They both knew it was sketch but she insisted that at least one of them go check it out. But if she had listened to him and left, it's possible the guards would have gone after someone else.
Alicia was sensing the emotions coming from Varinity, she walked over to her offering a comforting smile. “I can sense what you’re feeling, don’t blame yourself for anything right now we need to find out what’s going on. Are we missing anyone else?”
"Varinity run the scan again, narrow the search to Elysium com signals. They have to be down there.... somewhere." Gary observed, "And we'll find them."
Glancing up at Alicia, Varinity returned the look with a faint smile. Right, be guilty later. Blaming herself didn’t help their missing people. Her gaze went back to the display as the NO RESULTS message came across the screen again.
Then, an alert came in. Varinity shared a quick glance to Alicia before reading the message, the unease in her gut only getting heavier. Major Leyton was due back to the ship. "Sir, I just got a missed checkin alert. Major Addison Leyton." With Teevs' arrest, Varinity grew concerned because she knew they were a thing and Addison was likely spending time with him and Kerilia. Was she arrested too? "I'll add her comm signal and Teevs' to the search, but I'll need to adjust the search parameters since the standard sweep isn't picking them up."
“We should bring all our remaining people up if they aren’t already onboard.” Alicia added as she looked towards Gary. “Just incase.”
"Definitely a course of action to consider Alicia." Gary answered, "Let's see what this latest sensor sweep shows and then we can decide on a course of action."
Andrinn and Josh came around a corner and Orin looked behind him, making sure that Josh was still with him. "We've got a major problem. I don't know all of it, but Teevs I think was just arrest. I'm having Major Richardson go to the archives and look into what's going on. What's going on here?"
Gary took in Orin and Josh in a single glance, "Correction we do have a problem and it appears that Teevs being arrested goes hand in hand with our problem which is members of the crew are being arrested/detained. questioned about Teevs. I've sent a message to the Commodore and Commander Reece to join us. With the reason being a problem with the quantum singularity." The last said with a tight grin.
Varinity glanced up when Orin and Josh appeared. "Teevs and potentially Major Leyton if she was with him, and we have three others missing." It would help to know who else was unaccounted for. "Avalon, please display the crew manifest in list format on the main display in the security suite." The screen came to life with columns of names. "Scan the planet and the ship for each person's communicator and biosign, and for good measure run through all the frequencies that our communicators can transmit on. Only keep the crew member's names displayed if there are no matches."
["SCANNING"] Came the AI's response.
Turning back to Gary, Varinity added, "it might take a couple minutes, but that should be able to help us figure out just how big this problem is."
"Take the minutes Varinity, I want us to be sure of what we're dealing with here and how many of our people are missing besides Teevs and possibly Major Leyton." Gary replied crisply,
"Aye, Captain," Varinity responded.
At that moment, the door hissed open and the large frame of the Elysium's Chief of Security strode into the compartment with purpose. "Varinity, what's going on?" He then saw Captain Taylor off to the side, and straightened slightly out of respect. "Apologies, Sir. I didn't see you standing there." As Gary was higher up the command chain, Kyle would not try to take command of the situation. That role belonged to the X-O, ar least until he stepped away, or the Commodore showed up.
Hearing another familiar voice, Varinity turned to see Kyle, and relief briefly washed over her face. At least he hadn't been taken. "Teevs has apparently been arrested for treason, and four others have gone missing. Sensors can't locate any of them, and we've had no SOS pings either. We think they've been arrested as well." The computer beeped in that moment, alerting to another missed checkin. Varinity looked at the message, "Commander Holv and Lieutenant Esquivias also missed their checkins. That's now seven people unaccounted for, including Teevs."
She looked to the main display, relieved to see that Phoenix's name had disappeared from it. So far, the command team was safe, but Rin's name was still on the display. "I have Avalon scanning for comm signals so we can get a list of who is missing. It should be done soon."
"Might want to have Avalon do a bio scan too after the initial scan. Lord only knows if the missing or detained crew would have their combadges on or with them, if they're being detained," Orin said, knowing that sometimes, combadges and other personal effects get taken when you're being detained.
The door opened behind them, and silence entered because the person who had opened the door had not entered, instead the person, with Commodore rank pips stood in the doorway. She was in her uniform, her hair however was braided down her back instead of its normal updo twist. On her hip was a phaser and across her back was a long sword. The one, Gary knew was normally under the command chair on the bridge. "Someone better start talking." The tone was not her normal polite Federation standard. It held an icy edge.
"Forget it Kyle, no harm done." Gary answered and was about to say more when the door hissed open and Phoenix stood in the doorway. A phaser on one hip and her long sword strapped across her back. "Situation brewing Commodore." he replied instantly. "It seems Teevs has been arrested and several of out people haver missed check ins and gone missing. The current number is seven. Correct Varinity?"
Seeing the commodore appear, Varinity straightened so quickly that under normal circumstances she might have pulled something. The sight of the sword and Phoenix's tone gave Varinity the impression that she wanted news she was unfortunately not going to hear. "Yes, the count is currently seven. Sensors are unable to locate them." She then quickly explained the guard encounters she observed, how they were eerily targeted and more than a coincidence.
As Varinity spoke to the Commodore, Kyle noticed a change on the screen listing the crew on the surface. He looked over at her, as he spoke, his tone making it clear that he had a good feeling how things were going to go. "Commodore...we have a list of crew who are no longer being picked up on our sensors. Major Richardson...is now on that list, Ma'am."
Alicia looked towards Phoenix, this wasn’t going to go down well. Especially with more people now missing.
With Kyle's words, Varinity forced herself to look at the main display. Avalon hadn't indicated the scan was done yet, but the display wasn't really updating anymore. Her face paled as her eyes travelled down the list of names on the screen:
CIVILIAN Dosivi, Kerilia
CIVILIAN Dosivi, Teevs
MAJOR Leyton, Addison
COMMANDER Rin
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER Sullivan, Tate
LIEUTENANT COLONEL Naxea, Azhul
LIEUTENANT Esquivias, Anna
LIEUTENANT COMMANDER Holv, N'vok
LIEUTENANT Blackford, Damien
LIEUTENANT Smithson, Zac
GST Charles, Leilani
SCPO Charles, Emily
MAJOR Richardson, Mattias
A few junior officers, including the two Varinity had seen, were also on that list, bringing the total to 17. Seventeen people. Four department heads. Varinity didn’t know whether to be angry or horrified, especially seeing Kerilia's name on that list. She was just a child!
"Avalon. Remove Erisian Data base." Phoenix said because she wanted to swaer in her native tongue without causing issue. "Nadorhuan!"
Then she spun on her heel. She didn't even explain. She didn't wait for anyone to try and stop her. She stalked back down the hallway "I'narr en gothrim glinuva nuin I'anor!" Echoed down the hallway. It didn't sound pleasant.
“Heaven help them” Alicia smiled a brief wry smile. “Phoenix isn’t going to let them get away with this.”
"Truer words were never spoken Alicia, they don't know what they have unleashed here, now." Gary added as he watched Phoenix storm from the room.
Phoenix headed to the nearest transporter room. She paused only to raid the nearest armory. Which alerted security to the fact that several phaser rifles had been taken from it and then the transporter whined and several secured weapons appeared on padd.
These weapons were from a specific locker that was only under the access of the Commodore and chief of security. 1 Ember whip - an Erisian flexible energy lashing that could, if used right decapitate a person, 1 Shadow Needle - an illegal weapon that fitted in the palm of a person's hand and fired darts with different toxins and finally a Widowmaker Carbine, a hand held version of a back market weapon. Phoenix collected them and stored them on her person before setting the transporter coordinates and stepping onto the Padd.
Gary looked at the others as Phoenix stormed out of the room. "We need to stop her and form some sort of plan rather than storming government buildings especially since we don't know where are people are being held."
Andrinn looked at the screen and said, "Wait! Major Richardson? I sent him off to see about getting more information about what was going on. Could his be where he might just be in a shielded area? Or is that a confirmed thing?" Andrinn was worried now because he hoped that he didn't send the Major into a trap or being detained.
As soon as thr armory had been accessed, Kyle's PADD vibrated in his thigh pocket. After pulling it out and seeing which weapons locker had been accessed. "Excuse me," he said to the room and left without another word. As he made his way to his destination, he used a bit of his own backdoor programming to lock down the transporters.
"At the moment, we don't know where he is, or anyone for that matter," Varinity told Orin. She watched Kyle leave, then quickly turned to Gary. "Captain, I don't even trust the guard interactions in public. If they took Major Richardson while he was on government grounds, with the diplomatic team unaware, there may not be anything stopping them from taking the commodore too. She’d be walking into a potentially hostile situation blind."
"I agree Varinity. Going to stop this now. We need a plan not go off half cocked." Gary replied as he headed out the door, He looked back , "Rest of you coming?"
“Right with you” Alicia nodded as she moved to join him, they couldn’t let Phoenix walk into a trap.
Orin quickly fell in line behind Alicia, Gary, and the rest of the team and hoped that everything would turn out better.
==Transporter room==
A few moments later, the doors leading out of the transporter room slid open, and the large security chief strode in. On his way from the security suite, he had stopped to grab his own weapon kit.
He had an armored vest on, and a tactical belt around his waist, filled with various ordinance. He had a type two hand phaser in a holster on his left hip, as he carried a three-emitter phaser gatlin. Moving over to the transporter controls, he used his secret code to unlock the system. He then looked at the Commodore, determination in his eyes. "Where you go, I go, Ma'am." His tone made it clear that he was not taking no for an answer.
Phoenix looked behind him. "Alone commander?" she asked, her eyes were that dark silver they went when she was pissed. And her tone was clipped.
"No, not alone Commodore." Gary's voice came from the doorway. "You need to stop and think. You go down there right now and you'll either get taken or killed. We need more information, starting with where are our people being held and are they all together." He looked at Phoenix, "Don't you think I want to go and rescue Naxea? But I won't do her or the others any good if I don't have a plan and to have one we need information."
"I have a plan" Phoenix said, her voice icy. "And they are about to find out why taking my crew was the worst idea these .. hobbits... have ever had!" She had the rifles and longsword across her back, and the whip at her hip and her left hand held the shadow needle and her right held the Widowmaker.
Gary sighed but didn't back down. "Will you listen! You are going down there blind! No plan just your anger and while impressive you are not going to topple a government. Let us run more scans and get the information we need to get our people back with no one getting killed."
Phoenix let her gaze land on Gary, the silvery cold in her eyes were clear. "I am not going to topple their Government Captain, I am going to start gutting their people until they return our officers." She looked to the console. "Avalon!"
The AI shimmered into form.
Gary turned and saw Varinity and the others had followed him. "No Commodore, you have a suicide plan." He looked at Varinity. "Varinity, use your phaser to blow out the transporter controls. " He ordered.
"Do it Lieutenant and you will be in the brig." The Commodore said firmly. She NEVER threatened brig time. It was rare for her to have to. But she outranked Gary and she was not about to stand down. "Avalon, initiate transporter lock on the location on the console,"
"Yes Commodore" The AI said.
"Will you think! You are blinded by anger and it's clouded your thinking. You and Kyle go down there and your walking into their hands." Gary tried again to reason with Phoenix. He looked at Avalon. "Avalon, can you not detect high levels of stress in the Commodore along with irrational thinking. She is embarking on a suicide plan."
The AI tilted her head slightly. "Yes Captain however, I am not a medical AI nor do I have the ability to remove the Commodore from duty, that subroutine was removed when my program was brought on line after the ALICE incident."
Kyle stepped up into the transporter pad, as he readied he weapon. If the Commodore was going, then he was too. He would not lose another flag officer on his watch.
Gary looked at Kyle and their eyes met. "Kyle. you're the security chief. Can you not see what is going on? The Commodore is blinded with anger but she has no plan. Let us get a plan together and then she can go and kill everyone she wants."
Kyle looked back into Gary's eyes as he replied. "With respect, Captain, if the Commodore chooses to beam down, then its my job to go to do whatever is necessary to keep her safe.you want to make a plan, go ahead, Sir. The Commodore and I will establish the beachhead."
Gary gave a sharp, bitter laugh. "A beachhead? The two of you are going to beam down loaded for bear and you think no one is going to notice and call the authorities? You will be stumbling around blind."
Kyle pulled out a PADD from his pack. "No Sir. Ive been scanning the planet since we arrived, and I've already set the transporter to put us down just outside their throneroom. We will shock and awe them before they even know what hit em."
Then, the transporter controls exploded in a shower of sparks.
Varinity's breath caught in her throat as she lowered her phaser. The threat from the commodore made her hesitate, and she looked between the members of the command team as they went back and forth before shaking her head to clear her thoughts. "With all due respect, shut up and think for just a moment!!" If the threat of brig time had any potential to be acted upon, she might as well make it worth her while. It didn't mean she wasn't scared shitless, though. "We don't know where they are! We don't know why they were taken! What happens if they take you?? What happens if they kill you, or worse, kill one of them???"
Varinity's hands were freezing from the adrenaline. She gripped the phaser by her side so tightly that her knuckles turned white. She spoke quickly, partly because her nerves wouldn't let her slow down and partly because it was only a matter of time before the shock factor wore off. "With the information we have, this could be anything from a misunderstanding to a hostage situation. There are too many unknowns, and the riskiest, most volatile course of action is the one you want to engage in right now! If I have to, I will go and disable every goddamn transporter on this ship if it means keeping an emotionally compromised commanding officer from doing something stupid!"
As her words sunk in, Varinity's expression gained a gradual realisation, and then a hint of fear. She just yelled at her boss and the very angry CO of the ship. She disobeyed orders. She threatened to cause more damage to the ship.
She was 0-2 with stupid ideas.
In an attempt to try and reduce whatever backlash was coming her way, Varinity squeaked out a "... ma'am..." that slightly cracked.
Alicia gave Varinity a surprised look before nodding. “I’ll stand by Varinity on that, we can’t risk anything happening to you Commodore.”
As soon as Varinity fired her phaser, Kyle aimed his phaser cannon at her. "Drop the phaser. Now!" His tone was very clear, he was not accepting any refusal.
A few beats later, the doors leading out of the transporter room slid open and a pair of security crewmen hustled in, stopping short, looking agape at the scene before them. The Commodore looking like some commando warrior, the Chief of Security equally armed to the teeth and pointing a powerful weapon at the young Lieutenant Atoro, she standing there, holding a phaser so hard her hand was shaking, the the transporter console a smoking ruin, and the XO standing in the middle of it all!
Kyle saw his men enter. "Rodriguez! Gablion! Disarm Lieutenant Atoro and escorted her to holding. The charge is unlawful discharge of a phaser aboard a starship."
The two security guards looked at each other, realizing that they didn't know what was going on here, but their department head had just given them orders. Gablin pointed her phaser towards Varinity's direction. "Ma'am, hand your phaser to my colleague and come with us, please."
Varinity's eyes widened slightly as Kyle aimed his weapon at her, then she glanced toward the two security officers. Slowly, she raised her hands, flipping the phaser around to offer the handle toward Gablin and Rodriguez. This wasn't the fight to engage in, and they all had bigger issues to worry about. At least she slowed down the commodore. "Apri gli occhi e alza le chiappe, Commander. You of all people know I'm right."
Kyle arched an eyebrow at Varinity's colorful words. "Keep it up and I'll add disrespect towards a senior officer to the charges."
While the others were distracted, Phoenix headed for the door. There were other transporter rooms. She didn't speak, didn't give any hint to what she was thinking. But she had lost Mattias once and she was not going to loose him again. Not to munchkins from OZ.
She passed Gary and as soon as she hit the doorway began to run.
Kyle saw the Commodore move and hurried after her, barreling past the rest of the assembled personnel. "Commodore!" He shouted as he closed the distance to her.
When she heard the voice of the man behind her, Phoenix spun, raising her phaser to fire. "Imnot losing Mattias again!" She shouted in anguish.
As soon as Kyle saw the weapon rising towards him, his training kicked in and he halted, aimed and fired the cannon from his right hip. Thankfully, the powers eating was set to stun. Two bolts of energy fired out in rapid succession with the quick press and release of the trigger. Both discharges struck Phoenix, one in her left shoulder, the other in her right hip. Even on the stun setting, the double hit was enough to launch her back off her feet a couple meters, causing her to land on the deckplating in the middle of the corridor, unconcious.
When the rest of the group caught up, Kyle dropped the cannon, removed his vest and ammo belt and tapped his commbadge. "Commander Reece to sickbay, the Commodore has been shot, two phase gatlin discharges. One to the left shoulder, one to the right hip. Emergency medical transport, beam her to your location now!"
He then turned and looked at Gary. "Captain Taylor, I hereby surrender myself to custody. The charges are, at the very least, unlawful discharge of a phaser aboard a starship, and injuring a superior officer." He then stood ramrod straight, waiting for the XO's orders.
Gary looked at the unconscious Phoenix and then at Kyle. who stood before him. He heard the whine of the transporter as Phoenix was beamed to Sickbay. His attention drifted back to Kyle. "You are confined to your quarters Kyle. Any additional charges if any will be dealt with later." He motioned to the two security men. "Gablin, Rodriguez. Escort Commander Reece to his quarters, disable all communications in his quarters. For now no visitors unless on my say so and keep a security guard posted outside of his door."
The two security officers, who were still escorting Varinity, look very torn. Gablin finally had the courage to ask, "Sir? Should we still take Lieutenant Atoro to the brig?" It was clear that she knew she was in dangerous waters here.
Gary looked at the two security officers. "No, escort Lieutenant Atoro to her quarters. Same thing disable all communications in her quarters and post a guard outside her door." He then looked at Varinity, "We'll get this straightened out just bear with me. Also have a security officer waiting for me in Sickbay. There's a conversation I need to have."
Gablin seemed to be relieved somewhat. "Aye, Captain!" She then nodded to her partner. "You escort the Lieutenant to her cabin, I'll do the same for the Commander. As she was speaking a couple more security officers arrived and collected the discarded armaments.
Varinity gave Gary a silent nod. Thank god she wasn't going to be stuck in the brig with Kyle next to her. Anything to avoid an ass-chewing. Looking to Rodriguez, she kept her hands visible. "Yeah, I know the drill," she told him, anticipating the usual blah blah she knew they'd eventually recite.
Gablin looked up at her boss and said, "After you, Sir."
Kyle nodded and turned away, keeping his movements as unthreatening as possible and his hands in clear view at all times. After a few beats, everyone was gone, leaving Gary alone in the corridor.
Gary watched Kyle and the security men walk down the corridor, he watched until they were out of sight. Once they were he expressed his feelings most elegantly. "Shit!" he exclaimed.
Alicia couldn’t help but briefly smile at that as she caught Gary up. “That’s one way of putting it, if it helps I’ll testify to the fact that Phoenix was emotionally compromised at the time Varinity and Kyle both did what they did.”
Gary turned at Alicia's comment and gave her a wry smile. "It does indeed help. I hope it doesn't come to that but it does help. Thank you for the offer."
Orin stood in the transporter room and just watched as everything unfolded in real time. All he could muster was, "What the frack just happened?"
