Upholding the Devil's Bargain

[Kassie Kaine-Calhoun]

Kassie smirked as she looked at Shrin and Cece, that was one thing she absolutely loved about working for the President, so many strong women that took absolutely zero fucks from anyone. As the leadership moved to leave the room, she whispered to Cece and Shrin, "You uhm... do realize that both of you will need rides, unless you're staying in the Compound."

"Oh I was planning on staying here, Shrin... you're welcome to bunk with me until tomorrow. It'll actually be nice to actually get to know you better since let's face it, Mattis... is probably not coming back and even if he does... something tells me that he'll be taking some extended leave." Cece said with a slight wince. "I need to give you a little... background intel that I'd prefer to have done in my quarters where i know I can secure it."

"Her quarters, no matter where they are, are more secure than any place on the planet. Decades of hacking and getting where she shouldn't taught her a lot." Kassie added.

"Decades... Kassandra... you make me sound like I'm ancient." Cece teased. "And I thought you were a cool sister in law..."

"Hey, I right about those... toys... right?" Kassie winked her eye. "RJ looked absolutely beat when I saw him the next day..."

"Ahem..." Cece blushed. "True..." she cleared her throat. "Kassie has a way of making people blush."

"It's a gift. And I'm a total slut... a married slut who's giving you a niece or nephew soon." Kassie reminded her. "So yeah... I want to actually raise my child on a planet that isn't a smouldering pile of ash next year. I really hope you all know what you're doing with this... I really don't want to see what happened to Thessia or Mars happen here."

[Shrin]

"Honestly, not a clue," Shrin said. "I fear a 'Hulk smash!' approach would likely result in a lot of deaths, and let's face it. That's kind of what us Marines are known for. Subtlety is not our strongest character trait. Oh, I wanted to run something past you Ms. Kaine. I'd like to supplement the Secret Service with a Marine Special Forces unit. Disguise them as a color or honor guard or something. I already have a unit in mind. The 78th Highlanders. They already have their own distinctive dress uniforms..." She hesitated trying to find the unfamiliar word. Abandoning the futile attempt she simply said, "Umm.. skirts?"

"The word you are looking for is 'kilt' General." Admiral Tomrrah said in her typical Romulan manner. Her hands were clasped behind her back. A habbit she picked up while serving in the Romulan Senate. "I have had the unfortunate discussion of the Scots and their peculiar dress from Ambassador T'kir."

"Uh, yeah a kilt. Well, Colonel MacDonald also has a regimental band already in place."

Tomarah rasied an eyebrow, "I do not like the idea of bagpipes in the presidential compound, but I do like the idea. We can never have too many eyes, and phasers protecting the president, and the 78th is one of the best trained units in the entire corps. We will need to devise new training and advanced placement for these special operators."

"I'm working on it. And I don't want to weaken the 78th either. We might need them on the front line. I think we should form a thrid Battalion."

[Tanya Foster]

"Well you're gonna need the extra security, half the press corps wants yuir heads." Tanya said as she walked over. "They're oh so happy about the security arrangements. Just... just remind the Scots in kilts to not go regimental... I do not want to smell their sweaty arses."

"Oh I am entirely having Jason wear a kilt... why should I be the only one with a skirt?" Kassie giggled. "I'm fine with supplementing the Secret Service with Marine guards, Secret Service was always President Ryder's thing, he had his cloak suited agents and such, once a spy always a spy."

"Admiral, General one thing we both need to ensure remains... that the civilians are the first ones secured. As broken up as everyone was when Ryder and the cabinet were all taken, people were almost more broken up by the loss of the civilian pages and cleaning staffers and others that had nothing to do with the government. We can lose the support of our people if too many 'normal' people are lost. People like you and even Mrs Calhoun and Miz Ryder no one would shed too many tears if they died. They're part of the 'system'. But people like Lenny the plumber. Agnes the coffeeshop girl. They die... then we didn't protect 'the people'."

[Shrin]

"I suggest we furlough with pay all if the civilians. The president can deal with replicated coffee, and can put Naval Services on the job doing the maintenance and janitorial work," Tomarah suggested.

"It would make it easier to control who is coming and going, not to mention keep the civilians out of harm's way," Shrin added.

[Cece Ryder]

"Indeed... although let's face it, a lot of our civilians are former Fleet, so we can always invoke the reactivation clause IF we need them." Cece replied as she made a few notes on a padd. "And as much as I hate doing it, we also have more AI controlled systems. BECKI and IRIS avatars practically run the place now as it is, but we let her take more of public facing. Something happens... even she'd rather lose an avatar than a flesh and blood."

[Tomarah t'Sei]

"Thankfully that is not a decision that I must make," Tomarah said with a quirk at the corner of her mouth. "I just have to somehow figure out how to secure all of our space with a finite number of ships."

[Angel Ryder]

"Good thing Admiral Parros and I have been working on getting on the smaller ships we've been developing shakedown ready..." Angel said as she walked out of one of the offices. "We should have twenty frigates, ten light cruisers and roughly twenty ish... maybe twenty five scout vessels ready to go by next week. Amazing the response we get when we tell retired COs and XOs 'we'll give you a brand new ship and a small crew if you come back.' Oh and the work-release program is going to help staff them as well. We've still got close to a quarter million Imperium defectors that we've kept in detention centers until we were sure we could trust them. After all, if Dominus is going to be striking Earth or here or anywhere for that matter... old grudges aren't going to matter."

"How much caffeine have you had today Admiral?" Kassie said with a smirk. "I don't think you took a breath once."

"I have amazing breath control." Angel chuckled. "Islander girl, remember... and oh I've had like four doppio espressos..." she winced.

"I am starting to see why Malcolm and T'Kir never have breakfast with you." Tanya rolled her eyes. "You are way too bloody perky in the morning."

"You should see her when she's had a 'good night' before..." Kassie whispered. "Perky, overly happy, and she dances."

"Saints preserve us..." Tanya shook her head. "So Admiral... are you fine with furloughs of civilians?"

"Absolutely not..." Angel said and crossed her arms. "You do realize that if they aren't here in a secured facility, they're home or out where it's not secure. Then there are more civilians out and about. Although I do understand why... but I suppose I'll trust Cece and Kassie's judgement, they run this Compound more than I do. Still, no one is here because they 'had' to be here, they chose to work here."

[James Cross]

"I would have to agree with the Admiral..." James 'Half Round' Cross said as he approached the ladies. "Sorry if I'm interrupting, Director Cross wanted me to give 'the Admirals' these." he opened up his briefcase and handed off padds. "They're the reports from our agents in the field and on other planets. He's not trusting any of our networks, Naval Intel is going old school. Only gave you padds because we're still trying to get the paper printers setup. His advice is to keep any plans, reports and actions to paper that can be destroyed. Padds, network terminals and the like... too easy for Dominus and his lackeys and spies to get access."

"So you're the 'sneaker net' as it were?" Cece said with a smile. "Good thinking... we'll have to do the same here too. God I never thought I'd see actual printers being used again... "

"Sometimes the old ways are the best ways, especially when we're pledging loyalty to a mad man." Angel said softly. "And a madman that looks like my father."

"I'm sure all of you will figure out something. We always seem to. Never thought I'd see the day the Imperium actually were allies." James said and closed his briefcase. "Or the day a little cloned Kirk kid would get a job as an office assistant."

"You know too much, safer to keep you on the payroll." Cece teased. "Besides, you're practically my brother in law. Just don't marry MC until you're old enough to shave alright?"

"Oh it won't be until we're old enough to go to Risa without a chaperone..." James said with a wink. "Provided Dominus doesn't blow that planet out of the stars..."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“Who’s pledging loyalty to a mad man?” Kinsey inquired as she walked up behind James and ruffled his hair. “Someone needs a haircut. Cross is letting you go savage.”

[James Cross]

"I think it makes me look a little older." James said with a smile as he looked at Kinsey."You didn't hear the news?" he handed her an Intel PADD. "Dominus destroyed Mars and Gorvan Prime is basically threatening that if we and other governments don't 'pledge loyalty' and hand over our highest ranking military commanders, he'd blow us all away. President Price and the Admirals and Generals agreed to his terms... of course, there's more that even I don't have clearance to know." he said and put his hand on Kinsey's. "And no, they didn't ask for you."