Commander Margaret Walker: Guardian of the Gate

[Michael Meir-Wright]

OOC: This takes place a few hours after Jack visits Promontory and Sherlock.

OOC2: All thoughts and opinions are strictly IC.

(( Security Department Conference Room, Deck 7, U.S.S. Octavia E. Butler ))

Throughout her many years of service with Starfleet Intelligence's Dominion Affairs Bureau, Commander Walker had conducted numerous interviews with repatriated prisoners of the former power. Ostensibly an attempt to gain as much information as possible on one of the Federation's most implacable foes, they also had another hidden purpose: an attempt to ferret out possible infiltration by the Founders. After all, one could never be too careful with such a wily species- even after their hegemony had collapsed. Even one Changeling could cause unimaginable havoc were they to escape detection- and Dominion Affairs had been uniquely qualified to tackle such a threat.

Similar circumstances had brought the newly appointed Director of Intelligence to the security department’s rather austere conference room. Only this time, the existential threat did not come from the former masters of the Gamma Quadrant, but rather one of the newer powers in the region whose motives and modus operandi were still shrouded in mystery. Intelligence chatter about the upstart Zet had first percolated two years earlier when they first ventured out of the energetic nebula they called home. Twelve months later and those reports became more concerning, especially when it transpired they had acquired warp technology from the United Dominion of Planets- and were quickly implicated in the disappearance of the starship Caboto, and again in an attack on the neutral waypoint, Yansamin Anchorage.

Jack Kessler, formerly the Chief Tactical Officer of the ‘Oumuamua had recently escaped from Zet captivity- and was now aboard the Octavia E. Butler looking to resume his duties. He was now looking to reactivate his commission with Starfleet after being declared Missing in Action- something that Walker had met with some wariness when she had found out- and then there was the matter of the fact he had been insistent about established a secure and encrypted connection to Commodore V’Airu. The former tactical officer had repeatedly refused to disclose the reason why- something that had raised the Director of Intelligence’s suspicions.

If Kessler wanted to resume his duties aboard the newly commissioned Sagan-class, then he was going to have to go through her.

As Walker took a sip of ice-cold water from a highball glass, the doorbell chimed. She looked up from her PADD in the direction of the dark red portal and steeled herself.

Walker: Enter.

She had never met Jack Kessler before but she recognised him immediately  from his personnel file- something she had read multiple times in preparation for the  interview she was about to conduct. He stepped into the conference room and she immediately motioned for him to join her on the other side of the rectangular table.

Walker: Lieutenant Kessler, :: she said matter-of-factly. :: I’m Commander Walker, the new Director of Intelligence. Take a seat, please.

Walker watched the man keenly as he slipped into the chair opposite her own. Again, she drank from her glass and allowed herself to savour the icy crispness of the water. She found that it sharpened her thoughts.

Kessler: Response.

Walker: I have been brought up to speed on recent events. :: she said, referencing his recent incarceration as delicately as possible. :: I also understand that you are looking to resume your duties aboard the Butler.

It wasn’t a question. Commander Promontory’s briefing memo had been very thorough.

Kessler: Response.

Walker: I am sure that you are aware that my role is pre-empt threats to Starfleet and Federation  operational security in the region. :: beat :: To that end, Mr. Kessler, I need to ask you about your time as a prisoner of the Zet. After all, we know relatively  little about them.

Kessler: Response.

Walker: Perhaps you should start from the very beginning. What happened after you went back in to Zet prison?

Oh, she knew all about the unsanctioned, off-the-book mission to the Zet prison where Kessler believed his father was being held. After all, she was the Director of Intelligence, and it was her job to know everything.

Kessler: Response.

—

Commander Margaret Walker

Director of Intelligence

Gamma Flotilla Expeditionary Task Force

Assigned to:

USS Octavia E. Butler

C239293TW0