Matters of security

When the turbo lift doors opened, he stepped onto the bridge and addressed Lt. Commander Tomah, the acting CSO. “Lieutenant Junior Grade Josh Vincent reporting for duty as Chief Tactical/Security Officer,” he stated.

A middle aged human male looked around at him and gave a smile "Welcome aboard Lt. Vincent, and welcome to the hart of the Lotus." Then glanced away and mumbled "Or is that main engineering? I suppose this could be the brains of the ship but wouldn't that be the computer core? anyway, welcome sir."

Then looked him up and down "Let me make a guess, this is your first command post is it? It seems like Lotus fleet command sends all their best and brightest to me for training in the field, the last four CSO's all came straight out of the academy!" then mused "Most are captains on other ships now, but do they drop a line to old Tomah from time to time, of course not." Then looked at Vincent and sighed "You'll be the same I'm sure"

Vincent had the feeling he had somehow upset the man.. without saying a word.

But Tomah got over it quickly "So sir, what are your orders?" he said with a smile.

"This is my first security command," Josh replied, grinning at Tomah's energy. "I was the chief operations officer aboard the Alsea for her last two missions, but Fleet Captain Samji thinks I can better serve the fleet as the chief of security on the flagship for this operation. My orders are to report for command transfer as chief of security. And sir," he added," this is definitely the heart."

Tomah's smiles brightened "Thats what we like to hear lieutenant." then frowned a little. "Pardon me for asking sir, but do you have any experience in security at all? It would be asking a lot of even a miracle worker like my self to prepare someone like that to run the entire department, if you get my meaning." He seemed genuinely concerned.

"I studied tactical and security at the Academy," Josh replied, "and I served in Star fleet Intelligence, where I ran several security operations, from graduation until my transfer to Lotus Fleet. Most of my operations are classified, so you'll just have to take my word on it, sir. My assistant, Ensign Kiels, specialized in shipboard security at the Academy, and served in the security department at Star fleet HQ, so she can help you fill in the blanks in case I miss anything."

He rolled his eyes "Classified, classified. classified! is their anyone in start fleet who files arnt classified? thats what I liked about our former captain Mr. Felez, the man was straight forward and as honest as they come. Well, it is what it is I guess. But I don't remember all this sneaking around when i was your age, or maybe i just wasn't interesting enough.." and gave another heavy sigh.

"So any ways.. I hear theres some sort of new security proceeder we have to initiate?"

"Yes there is," Josh replied. "We will be implementing more strict measures to keep the Horizon's Children from infiltrating our ship. I know the basics of the plan, but we must contact the Artemis to get the details of their security, which we'll use as a template. I've also told my investigations officers to start security checks on all new crew members to look for any irregularities."

"That may be harder than it should be Mr. Vincent." the captains voice moved past them as he had just exited the lift seconds before. "More than 70 percent of the crew are new to the Lotus, if there are any 'children' among them it may take some time to pick them out." he sat down in his chair and looked around at them. "And I'm still a little unsure as to how they can infiltrate the Lotus in the first place, are the Horizon children a known race that can blend in with the alpha quadrant? or is it being suggested that federation personnel are willingly helping them.." but stopped short of saying 'destroying our universe' in front of the rest of the bridge crew, it wasn't the time for them to know that. "I find the notion unlikely at best."

He then opened the ship wide comm system. "Attention all hands, this is captain Gould, we have a launch time of 1 hour and 15 minuets, have all sections report readiness to the bridge in one hour. All senior officers will report to the briefing room in 30 minuets for pre-launch orders. Gould out."

Tomah mumbled "Not a man of a great many words is he?" but smiled anyway.

Gould stood up and walked over to them. "Your top priority is saboteurs, the ship is as ready as she'll ever be so the best we can do is try and keep her that way, if we have any on board I want them in my brig before they get a chance to so much as scratch the pain job, is that understood gentlemen?"

"Yes sir," Josh replied. "I will start implementing strict security measures immediately. As I understand it, the Children is a cult made up of races from throughout the quadrant. It is likely that they will try to penetrate our defenses by persuading a Star fleet officer to join their cause. I believe they used an officer aboard the Artemis to attempt an attack there; as such, prevention and detection of sabotage is part of their protocols that I will use, starting with a room by room search of the ship for stowaways or unauthorized devices."

Josh then turned to the side and tapped his com-badge and pulled up his PADD.

"Ensign Kiels, this is Lieutenant Vincent."

"Kiels here sir," came the woman's reply.

"I'm sending you new security protocols," Josh said, "Please go over them with each shift leader and begin implementing them immediately. First though, I need you to do a count of all weapons on the ship; all security personnel should be issued a type-1 phaser and all other weapons must be stored in secure areas. While alpha shift is finishing up its duty shift, activate beta shift now, and perform a level 5 visual sweep of the entire ship, keeping an eye out for any signs of sabotage; contact me immediately if you find anything strange."

Turning back to the captain Josh said, "There are several other protocols that should be put into place, so I will work with the other department heads to secure the ship as completely as possible."

"Vary good, try have a section report ready in time for the meeting" then with a nod he walked into his ready room.

"Yes sir," Josh responded to the captain.

Then he turned to Mr. Tomah and asked, "Is there anything more that needs to be done in order to make the transfer official, sir, or may I get my report started?"

"We just have to pop down to my.. i mean.. your, office for a little privacy and perform the codded command transfer, easy as pie." then waved at the lift. "Shall we?" and the two men left the bridge.

Josh followed Mr. Tomah through the corridors and into the security office, where they proceeded with the coded command transfer and finalized Josh's transfer to the Lotus.