Marlena/Lars - Enemies in our midst

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD

Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

"Cross," Marlena told him. "Lieutenant Cross."

Marlena was no stranger to men looking her up and down and so she just looked at him and pieced together the information she was given, turning to her console and bringing up all the information that Starfleet had on him so she wouldn't be caught of guard. She knew not to rely on Starfleet Intelligence as she knew they were lacking information on her and on all of Doclin's crew, but still, it would give her a general idea and she hated being caught off guard.

"Our ground teams need all the help that they can get, Commander Janssen," Marlena agreed as she nodded slowly. "What with Captains Crae having family infected and Colonel Lucas' lack of disregard for anyone other than himself when it comes to information on such things, they could use us. You'd think perhaps he might have changed as he has a friend here in the Intel department, but as good as the young Ensign is at what I assign her to do the simple fact is that she wasn't here when things happened and my department was swamped with information on Betazed and the attack--she was off with the Colonel and I wish she took her job more seriously but as you and the Colonel both served on Starbase Seven together, I'm sure you understand his complete lack of respect for our uniform so perhaps he likes having young Pena under his wing because she also has a problem respecting our uniform."

They were things that she didn't need to be telling Lars as they didn't know each other, but at the same time he was worried about the ground team and so was she. She felt like there were people handling things that were rather incompetent and yet they were lucky and she didn't want anyone finding out about her quite yet. So while she had no cares in the world about who came back and who didn't, it was good she was worried for any reason at all so it seemed as if she was actually worried about the team itself.

"So these issues...please inform me," she told him with an almost smile on her face. "It'll be nice to hear something from someone competent even if it means berating me for some of my more questionable crewmen. You are competent, right?"

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

"Cross," Marlena told him. "Lieutenant Cross."

Marlena was no stranger to men looking her up and down and so she just looked at him and pieced together the information she was given, turning to her console and bringing up all the information that Starfleet had on him so she wouldn't be caught of guard. She knew not to rely on Starfleet Intelligence as she knew they were lacking information on her and on all of Doclin's crew, but still, it would give her a general idea and she hated being caught off guard.

"Our ground teams need all the help that they can get, Commander Janssen," Marlena agreed as she nodded slowly. "What with Captains Crae having family infected and Colonel Lucas' lack of disregard for anyone other than himself when it comes to information on such things, they could use us. You'd think perhaps he might have changed as he has a friend here in the Intel department, but as good as the young Ensign is at what I assign her to do the simple fact is that she wasn't here when things happened and my department was swamped with information on Betazed and the attack--she was off with the Colonel and I wish she took her job more seriously but as you and the Colonel both served on Starbase Seven together, I'm sure you understand his complete lack of respect for our uniform so perhaps he likes having young Pena under his wing because she also has a problem respecting our uniform."

They were things that she didn't need to be telling Lars as they didn't know each other, but at the same time he was worried about the ground team and so was she. She felt like there were people handling things that were rather incompetent and yet they were lucky and she didn't want anyone finding out about her quite yet. So while she had no cares in the world about who came back and who didn't, it was good she was worried for any reason at all so it seemed as if she was actually worried about the team itself.

"So these issues...please inform me," she told him with an almost smile on her face. "It'll be nice to hear something from someone competent even if it means berating me for some of my more questionable crewmen. You are competent, right?"

"I assure you, I am competent," Lars sniffed. "Or at least, I am competent enough in the eyes of the Director of Starfleet Intelligence to be appointed to the Admiral's executive staff. That must count for something." He sounded a bit haughty, as he was quite proud of that accomplishment. But that soon evaporated as he grinned genuinely at Marlena's incisive analysis of the situation he had recently uncovered.

"Wellll…you've hit on one of these issues already. I just had a meeting with dear Ensign Pena, and I am sorry to report to you that your department is effectively compromised, worse so than if you had a Changeling infiltrator or Romulan deep cover operative spying on you." He stood and took a step forward, leaning on the edge of her desk so he could lean in for dramatic effect…and also get a closer look at her.

"Because I am afraid that viridescent ensign will be the Colonel's inside woman, and likely undercut any of your intelligence plans by revealing more than is healthy to him and his…grunts. He will use her as a weapon against you, and continuously undermine your authority and ability to function aboard this ship, grinding you down until you're more compliant and submissive than a Marine fresh out of boot." Lars gazed at her in mock sympathy. "And I don't think you want that, do you?"

He straightened, and his face hardened as he discussed the practiced art of counterintelligence."Now, you might try to get a man inside his detachment, but I wouldn't bet on it; marines make poor double agents. And his special relationship with the Captain means you might have difficulty reassigning that little green floozy of his. So you might be stuck with just limiting her access to mission intelligence, an imperfect solution at best." Lars paused then, looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at her and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Or…you might try to do something to undermine that special relationship with the Captain the Colonel has. Something involving that little green floozy, perhaps. Seems like there's something more going on there than any of them would care to admit." Lars turned his back to her and clasped his hands behind his back, adding in a low voice. "Just a thought."

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

"Cross," Marlena told him. "Lieutenant Cross."

Marlena was no stranger to men looking her up and down and so she just looked at him and pieced together the information she was given, turning to her console and bringing up all the information that Starfleet had on him so she wouldn't be caught of guard. She knew not to rely on Starfleet Intelligence as she knew they were lacking information on her and on all of Doclin's crew, but still, it would give her a general idea and she hated being caught off guard.

"Our ground teams need all the help that they can get, Commander Janssen," Marlena agreed as she nodded slowly. "What with Captains Crae having family infected and Colonel Lucas' lack of disregard for anyone other than himself when it comes to information on such things, they could use us. You'd think perhaps he might have changed as he has a friend here in the Intel department, but as good as the young Ensign is at what I assign her to do the simple fact is that she wasn't here when things happened and my department was swamped with information on Betazed and the attack--she was off with the Colonel and I wish she took her job more seriously but as you and the Colonel both served on Starbase Seven together, I'm sure you understand his complete lack of respect for our uniform so perhaps he likes having young Pena under his wing because she also has a problem respecting our uniform."

They were things that she didn't need to be telling Lars as they didn't know each other, but at the same time he was worried about the ground team and so was she. She felt like there were people handling things that were rather incompetent and yet they were lucky and she didn't want anyone finding out about her quite yet. So while she had no cares in the world about who came back and who didn't, it was good she was worried for any reason at all so it seemed as if she was actually worried about the team itself.

"So these issues...please inform me," she told him with an almost smile on her face. "It'll be nice to hear something from someone competent even if it means berating me for some of my more questionable crewmen. You are competent, right?"

"I assure you, I am competent," Lars sniffed. "Or at least, I am competent enough in the eyes of the Director of Starfleet Intelligence to be appointed to the Admiral's executive staff. That must count for something." He sounded a bit haughty, as he was quite proud of that accomplishment. But that soon evaporated as he grinned genuinely at Marlena's incisive analysis of the situation he had recently uncovered.

"Wellll…you've hit on one of these issues already. I just had a meeting with dear Ensign Pena, and I am sorry to report to you that your department is effectively compromised, worse so than if you had a Changeling infiltrator or Romulan deep cover operative spying on you." He stood and took a step forward, leaning on the edge of her desk so he could lean in for dramatic effect…and also get a closer look at her.

"Because I am afraid that viridescent ensign will be the Colonel's inside woman, and likely undercut any of your intelligence plans by revealing more than is healthy to him and his…grunts. He will use her as a weapon against you, and continuously undermine your authority and ability to function aboard this ship, grinding you down until you're more compliant and submissive than a Marine fresh out of boot." Lars gazed at her in mock sympathy. "And I don't think you want that, do you?"

He straightened, and his face hardened as he discussed the practiced art of counterintelligence."Now, you might try to get a man inside his detachment, but I wouldn't bet on it; marines make poor double agents. And his special relationship with the Captain means you might have difficulty reassigning that little green floozy of his. So you might be stuck with just limiting her access to mission intelligence, an imperfect solution at best." Lars paused then, looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at her and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Or…you might try to do something to undermine that special relationship with the Captain the Colonel has. Something involving that little green floozy, perhaps. Seems like there's something more going on there than any of them would care to admit." Lars turned his back to her and clasped his hands behind his back, adding in a low voice. "Just a thought."

"Trust me, I've got a plan in motion to through a wrench in the wheels," Marlena said with a laugh and a genuine smile. "Gotta say, I love the way you think, Commander."

She knew that something had to be done about Taylor undermining her authority because she had a feeling that it was really only a matter of time until he did just that. Marlena needed to keep the upper hand and if that meant getting to Nayla, then that meant getting to Nayla. Anything she could use to knock Taylor Lucas down a peg was definitely worth considering at this point. How else would she get to Lillian?

Marlena knew what her main objective was and she was going to see it through, but Lars was giving her insight into Taylor that she didn't already know. He had served with him and knew a thing or two about Lillian as well so he could be a useful resource to her and she knew not to turn away a chance to get an upper hand. This was like a gift that had fallen into her lap and she leaned forward a little.

"See, I've already got the Captain on alert about his market availability and I have a plan in motion to loosen her up to what I need from her. She just needs the right push to really put her into a place of true commanding and once she's there Taylor won't have his perks anymore--she'll treat him more like her MCO and not her lover or whatever it is that they are." Marlena said happily. "Eventually she'll think he's like all the other ones before him whether she shows it or not and everything will fall into place. What I'm more worried about is her ability to see clearly right now. Word through the grapevine is her sister got infected and it's probably only a matter of time before her parents or her brother are targeted...her parents are the ambassadors of Betazed." Marlena sighed loudly and then leaned back in her chair. "What I want is more information about this virus so that I can keep her focused and alert and not try to do this for some personal gain or vendetta against this Doclin character."

What more she knew about Doclin she would keep to herself...her want to know more about the virus, however, was completely genuine.

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

"Cross," Marlena told him. "Lieutenant Cross."

Marlena was no stranger to men looking her up and down and so she just looked at him and pieced together the information she was given, turning to her console and bringing up all the information that Starfleet had on him so she wouldn't be caught of guard. She knew not to rely on Starfleet Intelligence as she knew they were lacking information on her and on all of Doclin's crew, but still, it would give her a general idea and she hated being caught off guard.

"Our ground teams need all the help that they can get, Commander Janssen," Marlena agreed as she nodded slowly. "What with Captains Crae having family infected and Colonel Lucas' lack of disregard for anyone other than himself when it comes to information on such things, they could use us. You'd think perhaps he might have changed as he has a friend here in the Intel department, but as good as the young Ensign is at what I assign her to do the simple fact is that she wasn't here when things happened and my department was swamped with information on Betazed and the attack--she was off with the Colonel and I wish she took her job more seriously but as you and the Colonel both served on Starbase Seven together, I'm sure you understand his complete lack of respect for our uniform so perhaps he likes having young Pena under his wing because she also has a problem respecting our uniform."

They were things that she didn't need to be telling Lars as they didn't know each other, but at the same time he was worried about the ground team and so was she. She felt like there were people handling things that were rather incompetent and yet they were lucky and she didn't want anyone finding out about her quite yet. So while she had no cares in the world about who came back and who didn't, it was good she was worried for any reason at all so it seemed as if she was actually worried about the team itself.

"So these issues...please inform me," she told him with an almost smile on her face. "It'll be nice to hear something from someone competent even if it means berating me for some of my more questionable crewmen. You are competent, right?"

"I assure you, I am competent," Lars sniffed. "Or at least, I am competent enough in the eyes of the Director of Starfleet Intelligence to be appointed to the Admiral's executive staff. That must count for something." He sounded a bit haughty, as he was quite proud of that accomplishment. But that soon evaporated as he grinned genuinely at Marlena's incisive analysis of the situation he had recently uncovered.

"Wellll…you've hit on one of these issues already. I just had a meeting with dear Ensign Pena, and I am sorry to report to you that your department is effectively compromised, worse so than if you had a Changeling infiltrator or Romulan deep cover operative spying on you." He stood and took a step forward, leaning on the edge of her desk so he could lean in for dramatic effect…and also get a closer look at her.

"Because I am afraid that viridescent ensign will be the Colonel's inside woman, and likely undercut any of your intelligence plans by revealing more than is healthy to him and his…grunts. He will use her as a weapon against you, and continuously undermine your authority and ability to function aboard this ship, grinding you down until you're more compliant and submissive than a Marine fresh out of boot." Lars gazed at her in mock sympathy. "And I don't think you want that, do you?"

He straightened, and his face hardened as he discussed the practiced art of counterintelligence."Now, you might try to get a man inside his detachment, but I wouldn't bet on it; marines make poor double agents. And his special relationship with the Captain means you might have difficulty reassigning that little green floozy of his. So you might be stuck with just limiting her access to mission intelligence, an imperfect solution at best." Lars paused then, looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at her and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Or…you might try to do something to undermine that special relationship with the Captain the Colonel has. Something involving that little green floozy, perhaps. Seems like there's something more going on there than any of them would care to admit." Lars turned his back to her and clasped his hands behind his back, adding in a low voice. "Just a thought."

"Trust me, I've got a plan in motion to through a wrench in the wheels," Marlena said with a laugh and a genuine smile. "Gotta say, I love the way you think, Commander."

She knew that something had to be done about Taylor undermining her authority because she had a feeling that it was really only a matter of time until he did just that. Marlena needed to keep the upper hand and if that meant getting to Nayla, then that meant getting to Nayla. Anything she could use to knock Taylor Lucas down a peg was definitely worth considering at this point. How else would she get to Lillian?

Marlena knew what her main objective was and she was going to see it through, but Lars was giving her insight into Taylor that she didn't already know. He had served with him and knew a thing or two about Lillian as well so he could be a useful resource to her and she knew not to turn away a chance to get an upper hand. This was like a gift that had fallen into her lap and she leaned forward a little.

"See, I've already got the Captain on alert about his market availability and I have a plan in motion to loosen her up to what I need from her. She just needs the right push to really put her into a place of true commanding and once she's there Taylor won't have his perks anymore--she'll treat him more like her MCO and not her lover or whatever it is that they are." Marlena said happily. "Eventually she'll think he's like all the other ones before him whether she shows it or not and everything will fall into place. What I'm more worried about is her ability to see clearly right now. Word through the grapevine is her sister got infected and it's probably only a matter of time before her parents or her brother are targeted...her parents are the ambassadors of Betazed." Marlena sighed loudly and then leaned back in her chair. "What I want is more information about this virus so that I can keep her focused and alert and not try to do this for some personal gain or vendetta against this Doclin character."

What more she knew about Doclin she would keep to herself...her want to know more about the virus, however, was completely genuine.

"Got the Captain on alert about his market availability, eh? How ever did you manage that?" Lars chuckled, turning to gaze out the viewport but also to watch the CIO out of the corner of his eye.

But as her words came to him his face suddenly went blank. "Did you say…her sister got infected? Well…that's unfortunate," Lars said impassively, but his insides had just turned to ice. The possibility had been in the back of his mind ever since he had heard Megan was involved, but to hear confirmation of his worst fears left an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He knew that he could show no weakness in front of the cunning woman next to him though, so Lars changed the subject slightly. "You mentioned this Doclin character. That is the other issue I came to discuss with you. If he is in any way connected to this attack, I am sure that he presents a clear and present danger to the safety and security of the Federation, and this ship in particular. I've spoken to the Captain about this, and it turns out she's got some kind of history with the man. I'm just not sure about the extent of it, but it does seem to me that she's a bit hesitant to pursue him in an…appropriate manner. And that is a situation we cannot permit."

Lars turned to gaze at her directly once more, a mild scowl on his face. "What's more…I'm concerned that he might have agents aboard this ship," he said ominously. "We'll need to utilize all our resources to locate these sleeper cells and expunge them, or Doclin will always be one step ahead of us. And frankly, I don't know that Captain Crae is up to the task, so we may have to do this on our own and under the radar."

Perhaps it was her Intel uniform, or perhaps it was her looks, but either way Lars was unwittingly confiding a great deal in Marlena, and that she might be one of the sleeper agents he spoke of hadn't occurred to him. Living the soft life of a desk jockey on Earth had dulled his instinctive paranoia a bit, perhaps.

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

"Cross," Marlena told him. "Lieutenant Cross."

Marlena was no stranger to men looking her up and down and so she just looked at him and pieced together the information she was given, turning to her console and bringing up all the information that Starfleet had on him so she wouldn't be caught of guard. She knew not to rely on Starfleet Intelligence as she knew they were lacking information on her and on all of Doclin's crew, but still, it would give her a general idea and she hated being caught off guard.

"Our ground teams need all the help that they can get, Commander Janssen," Marlena agreed as she nodded slowly. "What with Captains Crae having family infected and Colonel Lucas' lack of disregard for anyone other than himself when it comes to information on such things, they could use us. You'd think perhaps he might have changed as he has a friend here in the Intel department, but as good as the young Ensign is at what I assign her to do the simple fact is that she wasn't here when things happened and my department was swamped with information on Betazed and the attack--she was off with the Colonel and I wish she took her job more seriously but as you and the Colonel both served on Starbase Seven together, I'm sure you understand his complete lack of respect for our uniform so perhaps he likes having young Pena under his wing because she also has a problem respecting our uniform."

They were things that she didn't need to be telling Lars as they didn't know each other, but at the same time he was worried about the ground team and so was she. She felt like there were people handling things that were rather incompetent and yet they were lucky and she didn't want anyone finding out about her quite yet. So while she had no cares in the world about who came back and who didn't, it was good she was worried for any reason at all so it seemed as if she was actually worried about the team itself.

"So these issues...please inform me," she told him with an almost smile on her face. "It'll be nice to hear something from someone competent even if it means berating me for some of my more questionable crewmen. You are competent, right?"

"I assure you, I am competent," Lars sniffed. "Or at least, I am competent enough in the eyes of the Director of Starfleet Intelligence to be appointed to the Admiral's executive staff. That must count for something." He sounded a bit haughty, as he was quite proud of that accomplishment. But that soon evaporated as he grinned genuinely at Marlena's incisive analysis of the situation he had recently uncovered.

"Wellll…you've hit on one of these issues already. I just had a meeting with dear Ensign Pena, and I am sorry to report to you that your department is effectively compromised, worse so than if you had a Changeling infiltrator or Romulan deep cover operative spying on you." He stood and took a step forward, leaning on the edge of her desk so he could lean in for dramatic effect…and also get a closer look at her.

"Because I am afraid that viridescent ensign will be the Colonel's inside woman, and likely undercut any of your intelligence plans by revealing more than is healthy to him and his…grunts. He will use her as a weapon against you, and continuously undermine your authority and ability to function aboard this ship, grinding you down until you're more compliant and submissive than a Marine fresh out of boot." Lars gazed at her in mock sympathy. "And I don't think you want that, do you?"

He straightened, and his face hardened as he discussed the practiced art of counterintelligence."Now, you might try to get a man inside his detachment, but I wouldn't bet on it; marines make poor double agents. And his special relationship with the Captain means you might have difficulty reassigning that little green floozy of his. So you might be stuck with just limiting her access to mission intelligence, an imperfect solution at best." Lars paused then, looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at her and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Or…you might try to do something to undermine that special relationship with the Captain the Colonel has. Something involving that little green floozy, perhaps. Seems like there's something more going on there than any of them would care to admit." Lars turned his back to her and clasped his hands behind his back, adding in a low voice. "Just a thought."

"Trust me, I've got a plan in motion to through a wrench in the wheels," Marlena said with a laugh and a genuine smile. "Gotta say, I love the way you think, Commander."

She knew that something had to be done about Taylor undermining her authority because she had a feeling that it was really only a matter of time until he did just that. Marlena needed to keep the upper hand and if that meant getting to Nayla, then that meant getting to Nayla. Anything she could use to knock Taylor Lucas down a peg was definitely worth considering at this point. How else would she get to Lillian?

Marlena knew what her main objective was and she was going to see it through, but Lars was giving her insight into Taylor that she didn't already know. He had served with him and knew a thing or two about Lillian as well so he could be a useful resource to her and she knew not to turn away a chance to get an upper hand. This was like a gift that had fallen into her lap and she leaned forward a little.

"See, I've already got the Captain on alert about his market availability and I have a plan in motion to loosen her up to what I need from her. She just needs the right push to really put her into a place of true commanding and once she's there Taylor won't have his perks anymore--she'll treat him more like her MCO and not her lover or whatever it is that they are." Marlena said happily. "Eventually she'll think he's like all the other ones before him whether she shows it or not and everything will fall into place. What I'm more worried about is her ability to see clearly right now. Word through the grapevine is her sister got infected and it's probably only a matter of time before her parents or her brother are targeted...her parents are the ambassadors of Betazed." Marlena sighed loudly and then leaned back in her chair. "What I want is more information about this virus so that I can keep her focused and alert and not try to do this for some personal gain or vendetta against this Doclin character."

What more she knew about Doclin she would keep to herself...her want to know more about the virus, however, was completely genuine.

"Got the Captain on alert about his market availability, eh? How ever did you manage that?" Lars chuckled, turning to gaze out the viewport but also to watch the CIO out of the corner of his eye.

But as her words came to him his face suddenly went blank. "Did you say…her sister got infected? Well…that's unfortunate," Lars said impassively, but his insides had just turned to ice. The possibility had been in the back of his mind ever since he had heard Megan was involved, but to hear confirmation of his worst fears left an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He knew that he could show no weakness in front of the cunning woman next to him though, so Lars changed the subject slightly. "You mentioned this Doclin character. That is the other issue I came to discuss with you. If he is in any way connected to this attack, I am sure that he presents a clear and present danger to the safety and security of the Federation, and this ship in particular. I've spoken to the Captain about this, and it turns out she's got some kind of history with the man. I'm just not sure about the extent of it, but it does seem to me that she's a bit hesitant to pursue him in an…appropriate manner. And that is a situation we cannot permit."

Lars turned to gaze at her directly once more, a mild scowl on his face. "What's more…I'm concerned that he might have agents aboard this ship," he said ominously. "We'll need to utilize all our resources to locate these sleeper cells and expunge them, or Doclin will always be one step ahead of us. And frankly, I don't know that Captain Crae is up to the task, so we may have to do this on our own and under the radar."

Perhaps it was her Intel uniform, or perhaps it was her looks, but either way Lars was unwittingly confiding a great deal in Marlena, and that she might be one of the sleeper agents he spoke of hadn't occurred to him. Living the soft life of a desk jockey on Earth had dulled his instinctive paranoia a bit, perhaps.

When it came to things that involved taking down Doclin, Marlena was less than enthused but she couldn't let that show to Lars. Marlena and Marshall had a rather complicated past and honestly Marlena had been surprised to be picked to be a six after Taylor took care of Norin but she was happier to be that much closer to Marshall because she loved him...very much. She was only here to do his bidding and with the promotion that meant she had to take her job that much more seriously.

"Yes, trust me...the Captain and the Colonel will be at odds soon enough and if that helps you in any way then feel free to swoop in and wound them even further," Marlena said with a wave and then she studied Lars a little--he didn't look like he was enjoying the conversation as much anymore and neither was she.

She didn't know what she had said to make him seem less interested, but at the same time Doclin made enemies wherever he went and Lars was high up on the Starfleet food chain now. So perhaps it was just her mention of Doclin that was making him lose interest. After all, she was certainly not happy anymore either about having to pretend as if she hated everything that Marshall had chosen to be.

"You don't think maybe that Doclin is a little too hard to get to? Starfleet has been after him for years and they're no closer." Marlena reminded him and then she nodded slowly. "Though, perhaps smoking out the operatives is a good idea...someone is bound to crack right? Even though so far they kill themselves before they give up their information. Still, there's always a weak link. If you want, I could set up something but for now I'm focused on Betazed even if telepaths aren't really my favorite people."

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

"Cross," Marlena told him. "Lieutenant Cross."

Marlena was no stranger to men looking her up and down and so she just looked at him and pieced together the information she was given, turning to her console and bringing up all the information that Starfleet had on him so she wouldn't be caught of guard. She knew not to rely on Starfleet Intelligence as she knew they were lacking information on her and on all of Doclin's crew, but still, it would give her a general idea and she hated being caught off guard.

"Our ground teams need all the help that they can get, Commander Janssen," Marlena agreed as she nodded slowly. "What with Captains Crae having family infected and Colonel Lucas' lack of disregard for anyone other than himself when it comes to information on such things, they could use us. You'd think perhaps he might have changed as he has a friend here in the Intel department, but as good as the young Ensign is at what I assign her to do the simple fact is that she wasn't here when things happened and my department was swamped with information on Betazed and the attack--she was off with the Colonel and I wish she took her job more seriously but as you and the Colonel both served on Starbase Seven together, I'm sure you understand his complete lack of respect for our uniform so perhaps he likes having young Pena under his wing because she also has a problem respecting our uniform."

They were things that she didn't need to be telling Lars as they didn't know each other, but at the same time he was worried about the ground team and so was she. She felt like there were people handling things that were rather incompetent and yet they were lucky and she didn't want anyone finding out about her quite yet. So while she had no cares in the world about who came back and who didn't, it was good she was worried for any reason at all so it seemed as if she was actually worried about the team itself.

"So these issues...please inform me," she told him with an almost smile on her face. "It'll be nice to hear something from someone competent even if it means berating me for some of my more questionable crewmen. You are competent, right?"

"I assure you, I am competent," Lars sniffed. "Or at least, I am competent enough in the eyes of the Director of Starfleet Intelligence to be appointed to the Admiral's executive staff. That must count for something." He sounded a bit haughty, as he was quite proud of that accomplishment. But that soon evaporated as he grinned genuinely at Marlena's incisive analysis of the situation he had recently uncovered.

"Wellll…you've hit on one of these issues already. I just had a meeting with dear Ensign Pena, and I am sorry to report to you that your department is effectively compromised, worse so than if you had a Changeling infiltrator or Romulan deep cover operative spying on you." He stood and took a step forward, leaning on the edge of her desk so he could lean in for dramatic effect…and also get a closer look at her.

"Because I am afraid that viridescent ensign will be the Colonel's inside woman, and likely undercut any of your intelligence plans by revealing more than is healthy to him and his…grunts. He will use her as a weapon against you, and continuously undermine your authority and ability to function aboard this ship, grinding you down until you're more compliant and submissive than a Marine fresh out of boot." Lars gazed at her in mock sympathy. "And I don't think you want that, do you?"

He straightened, and his face hardened as he discussed the practiced art of counterintelligence."Now, you might try to get a man inside his detachment, but I wouldn't bet on it; marines make poor double agents. And his special relationship with the Captain means you might have difficulty reassigning that little green floozy of his. So you might be stuck with just limiting her access to mission intelligence, an imperfect solution at best." Lars paused then, looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at her and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Or…you might try to do something to undermine that special relationship with the Captain the Colonel has. Something involving that little green floozy, perhaps. Seems like there's something more going on there than any of them would care to admit." Lars turned his back to her and clasped his hands behind his back, adding in a low voice. "Just a thought."

"Trust me, I've got a plan in motion to through a wrench in the wheels," Marlena said with a laugh and a genuine smile. "Gotta say, I love the way you think, Commander."

She knew that something had to be done about Taylor undermining her authority because she had a feeling that it was really only a matter of time until he did just that. Marlena needed to keep the upper hand and if that meant getting to Nayla, then that meant getting to Nayla. Anything she could use to knock Taylor Lucas down a peg was definitely worth considering at this point. How else would she get to Lillian?

Marlena knew what her main objective was and she was going to see it through, but Lars was giving her insight into Taylor that she didn't already know. He had served with him and knew a thing or two about Lillian as well so he could be a useful resource to her and she knew not to turn away a chance to get an upper hand. This was like a gift that had fallen into her lap and she leaned forward a little.

"See, I've already got the Captain on alert about his market availability and I have a plan in motion to loosen her up to what I need from her. She just needs the right push to really put her into a place of true commanding and once she's there Taylor won't have his perks anymore--she'll treat him more like her MCO and not her lover or whatever it is that they are." Marlena said happily. "Eventually she'll think he's like all the other ones before him whether she shows it or not and everything will fall into place. What I'm more worried about is her ability to see clearly right now. Word through the grapevine is her sister got infected and it's probably only a matter of time before her parents or her brother are targeted...her parents are the ambassadors of Betazed." Marlena sighed loudly and then leaned back in her chair. "What I want is more information about this virus so that I can keep her focused and alert and not try to do this for some personal gain or vendetta against this Doclin character."

What more she knew about Doclin she would keep to herself...her want to know more about the virus, however, was completely genuine.

"Got the Captain on alert about his market availability, eh? How ever did you manage that?" Lars chuckled, turning to gaze out the viewport but also to watch the CIO out of the corner of his eye.

But as her words came to him his face suddenly went blank. "Did you say…her sister got infected? Well…that's unfortunate," Lars said impassively, but his insides had just turned to ice. The possibility had been in the back of his mind ever since he had heard Megan was involved, but to hear confirmation of his worst fears left an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He knew that he could show no weakness in front of the cunning woman next to him though, so Lars changed the subject slightly. "You mentioned this Doclin character. That is the other issue I came to discuss with you. If he is in any way connected to this attack, I am sure that he presents a clear and present danger to the safety and security of the Federation, and this ship in particular. I've spoken to the Captain about this, and it turns out she's got some kind of history with the man. I'm just not sure about the extent of it, but it does seem to me that she's a bit hesitant to pursue him in an…appropriate manner. And that is a situation we cannot permit."

Lars turned to gaze at her directly once more, a mild scowl on his face. "What's more…I'm concerned that he might have agents aboard this ship," he said ominously. "We'll need to utilize all our resources to locate these sleeper cells and expunge them, or Doclin will always be one step ahead of us. And frankly, I don't know that Captain Crae is up to the task, so we may have to do this on our own and under the radar."

Perhaps it was her Intel uniform, or perhaps it was her looks, but either way Lars was unwittingly confiding a great deal in Marlena, and that she might be one of the sleeper agents he spoke of hadn't occurred to him. Living the soft life of a desk jockey on Earth had dulled his instinctive paranoia a bit, perhaps.

When it came to things that involved taking down Doclin, Marlena was less than enthused but she couldn't let that show to Lars. Marlena and Marshall had a rather complicated past and honestly Marlena had been surprised to be picked to be a six after Taylor took care of Norin but she was happier to be that much closer to Marshall because she loved him...very much. She was only here to do his bidding and with the promotion that meant she had to take her job that much more seriously.

"Yes, trust me...the Captain and the Colonel will be at odds soon enough and if that helps you in any way then feel free to swoop in and wound them even further," Marlena said with a wave and then she studied Lars a little--he didn't look like he was enjoying the conversation as much anymore and neither was she.

She didn't know what she had said to make him seem less interested, but at the same time Doclin made enemies wherever he went and Lars was high up on the Starfleet food chain now. So perhaps it was just her mention of Doclin that was making him lose interest. After all, she was certainly not happy anymore either about having to pretend as if she hated everything that Marshall had chosen to be.

"You don't think maybe that Doclin is a little too hard to get to? Starfleet has been after him for years and they're no closer." Marlena reminded him and then she nodded slowly. "Though, perhaps smoking out the operatives is a good idea...someone is bound to crack right? Even though so far they kill themselves before they give up their information. Still, there's always a weak link. If you want, I could set up something but for now I'm focused on Betazed even if telepaths aren't really my favorite people."

He shrugged and nodded at her comment about not liking telepaths, missing a slight coincidence there. "Yeah, I don't really like the idea of having my mind read either, but with any luck they'll have other concerns at the moment and be too busy to pry into our classified thoughts. Besides, they're on our side. Unless you're worried about them reading other, less professional thoughts of yours" he offered jokingly, to try and lighten the mood again. Lars was in fact enjoying this conversation with Marlena for the most part, thinking he had finally found a like-minded officer aboard the ship.

Other things were worrying him at the moment though. "Me, I think Doclin might have overplayed his hand this time around, and attracted the attention of people more dangerous than Starfleet. People who don't care how hard to get at he is, because they make it their business to deal with people like him who interfere with their interests." Then, sensing he might have said too much, he shrugged again and waved a hand dismissively. "But that's just me speculating." He eyed her with a cooperative expression again.

"Anyway, you're right, we can work on sniffing out any double agents once the situation on Betazed has been resolved. And on that note…I think I'm going to arrange a secondary Intel team and head down to the surface. There are some things I want to make sure get addressed satisfactorily, and I'm concerned the present Marine and Security teams lack the…finesse to do that. What are your immediate plans?" he asked, trying not to sound too authoritarian about it. Lars wanted to remain on good terms with the ship's CIO for the duration of his stay at least.

|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

"Cross," Marlena told him. "Lieutenant Cross."

Marlena was no stranger to men looking her up and down and so she just looked at him and pieced together the information she was given, turning to her console and bringing up all the information that Starfleet had on him so she wouldn't be caught of guard. She knew not to rely on Starfleet Intelligence as she knew they were lacking information on her and on all of Doclin's crew, but still, it would give her a general idea and she hated being caught off guard.

"Our ground teams need all the help that they can get, Commander Janssen," Marlena agreed as she nodded slowly. "What with Captains Crae having family infected and Colonel Lucas' lack of disregard for anyone other than himself when it comes to information on such things, they could use us. You'd think perhaps he might have changed as he has a friend here in the Intel department, but as good as the young Ensign is at what I assign her to do the simple fact is that she wasn't here when things happened and my department was swamped with information on Betazed and the attack--she was off with the Colonel and I wish she took her job more seriously but as you and the Colonel both served on Starbase Seven together, I'm sure you understand his complete lack of respect for our uniform so perhaps he likes having young Pena under his wing because she also has a problem respecting our uniform."

They were things that she didn't need to be telling Lars as they didn't know each other, but at the same time he was worried about the ground team and so was she. She felt like there were people handling things that were rather incompetent and yet they were lucky and she didn't want anyone finding out about her quite yet. So while she had no cares in the world about who came back and who didn't, it was good she was worried for any reason at all so it seemed as if she was actually worried about the team itself.

"So these issues...please inform me," she told him with an almost smile on her face. "It'll be nice to hear something from someone competent even if it means berating me for some of my more questionable crewmen. You are competent, right?"

"I assure you, I am competent," Lars sniffed. "Or at least, I am competent enough in the eyes of the Director of Starfleet Intelligence to be appointed to the Admiral's executive staff. That must count for something." He sounded a bit haughty, as he was quite proud of that accomplishment. But that soon evaporated as he grinned genuinely at Marlena's incisive analysis of the situation he had recently uncovered.

"Wellll…you've hit on one of these issues already. I just had a meeting with dear Ensign Pena, and I am sorry to report to you that your department is effectively compromised, worse so than if you had a Changeling infiltrator or Romulan deep cover operative spying on you." He stood and took a step forward, leaning on the edge of her desk so he could lean in for dramatic effect…and also get a closer look at her.

"Because I am afraid that viridescent ensign will be the Colonel's inside woman, and likely undercut any of your intelligence plans by revealing more than is healthy to him and his…grunts. He will use her as a weapon against you, and continuously undermine your authority and ability to function aboard this ship, grinding you down until you're more compliant and submissive than a Marine fresh out of boot." Lars gazed at her in mock sympathy. "And I don't think you want that, do you?"

He straightened, and his face hardened as he discussed the practiced art of counterintelligence."Now, you might try to get a man inside his detachment, but I wouldn't bet on it; marines make poor double agents. And his special relationship with the Captain means you might have difficulty reassigning that little green floozy of his. So you might be stuck with just limiting her access to mission intelligence, an imperfect solution at best." Lars paused then, looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at her and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Or…you might try to do something to undermine that special relationship with the Captain the Colonel has. Something involving that little green floozy, perhaps. Seems like there's something more going on there than any of them would care to admit." Lars turned his back to her and clasped his hands behind his back, adding in a low voice. "Just a thought."

"Trust me, I've got a plan in motion to through a wrench in the wheels," Marlena said with a laugh and a genuine smile. "Gotta say, I love the way you think, Commander."

She knew that something had to be done about Taylor undermining her authority because she had a feeling that it was really only a matter of time until he did just that. Marlena needed to keep the upper hand and if that meant getting to Nayla, then that meant getting to Nayla. Anything she could use to knock Taylor Lucas down a peg was definitely worth considering at this point. How else would she get to Lillian?

Marlena knew what her main objective was and she was going to see it through, but Lars was giving her insight into Taylor that she didn't already know. He had served with him and knew a thing or two about Lillian as well so he could be a useful resource to her and she knew not to turn away a chance to get an upper hand. This was like a gift that had fallen into her lap and she leaned forward a little.

"See, I've already got the Captain on alert about his market availability and I have a plan in motion to loosen her up to what I need from her. She just needs the right push to really put her into a place of true commanding and once she's there Taylor won't have his perks anymore--she'll treat him more like her MCO and not her lover or whatever it is that they are." Marlena said happily. "Eventually she'll think he's like all the other ones before him whether she shows it or not and everything will fall into place. What I'm more worried about is her ability to see clearly right now. Word through the grapevine is her sister got infected and it's probably only a matter of time before her parents or her brother are targeted...her parents are the ambassadors of Betazed." Marlena sighed loudly and then leaned back in her chair. "What I want is more information about this virus so that I can keep her focused and alert and not try to do this for some personal gain or vendetta against this Doclin character."

What more she knew about Doclin she would keep to herself...her want to know more about the virus, however, was completely genuine.

"Got the Captain on alert about his market availability, eh? How ever did you manage that?" Lars chuckled, turning to gaze out the viewport but also to watch the CIO out of the corner of his eye.

But as her words came to him his face suddenly went blank. "Did you say…her sister got infected? Well…that's unfortunate," Lars said impassively, but his insides had just turned to ice. The possibility had been in the back of his mind ever since he had heard Megan was involved, but to hear confirmation of his worst fears left an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He knew that he could show no weakness in front of the cunning woman next to him though, so Lars changed the subject slightly. "You mentioned this Doclin character. That is the other issue I came to discuss with you. If he is in any way connected to this attack, I am sure that he presents a clear and present danger to the safety and security of the Federation, and this ship in particular. I've spoken to the Captain about this, and it turns out she's got some kind of history with the man. I'm just not sure about the extent of it, but it does seem to me that she's a bit hesitant to pursue him in an…appropriate manner. And that is a situation we cannot permit."

Lars turned to gaze at her directly once more, a mild scowl on his face. "What's more…I'm concerned that he might have agents aboard this ship," he said ominously. "We'll need to utilize all our resources to locate these sleeper cells and expunge them, or Doclin will always be one step ahead of us. And frankly, I don't know that Captain Crae is up to the task, so we may have to do this on our own and under the radar."

Perhaps it was her Intel uniform, or perhaps it was her looks, but either way Lars was unwittingly confiding a great deal in Marlena, and that she might be one of the sleeper agents he spoke of hadn't occurred to him. Living the soft life of a desk jockey on Earth had dulled his instinctive paranoia a bit, perhaps.

When it came to things that involved taking down Doclin, Marlena was less than enthused but she couldn't let that show to Lars. Marlena and Marshall had a rather complicated past and honestly Marlena had been surprised to be picked to be a six after Taylor took care of Norin but she was happier to be that much closer to Marshall because she loved him...very much. She was only here to do his bidding and with the promotion that meant she had to take her job that much more seriously.

"Yes, trust me...the Captain and the Colonel will be at odds soon enough and if that helps you in any way then feel free to swoop in and wound them even further," Marlena said with a wave and then she studied Lars a little--he didn't look like he was enjoying the conversation as much anymore and neither was she.

She didn't know what she had said to make him seem less interested, but at the same time Doclin made enemies wherever he went and Lars was high up on the Starfleet food chain now. So perhaps it was just her mention of Doclin that was making him lose interest. After all, she was certainly not happy anymore either about having to pretend as if she hated everything that Marshall had chosen to be.

"You don't think maybe that Doclin is a little too hard to get to? Starfleet has been after him for years and they're no closer." Marlena reminded him and then she nodded slowly. "Though, perhaps smoking out the operatives is a good idea...someone is bound to crack right? Even though so far they kill themselves before they give up their information. Still, there's always a weak link. If you want, I could set up something but for now I'm focused on Betazed even if telepaths aren't really my favorite people."

He shrugged and nodded at her comment about not liking telepaths, missing a slight coincidence there. "Yeah, I don't really like the idea of having my mind read either, but with any luck they'll have other concerns at the moment and be too busy to pry into our classified thoughts. Besides, they're on our side. Unless you're worried about them reading other, less professional thoughts of yours," he offered jokingly, to try and lighten the mood again. Lars was in fact enjoying this conversation with Marlena for the most part, thinking he had finally found a like-minded officer aboard the ship.

Other things were worrying him at the moment though. "Me, I think Doclin might have overplayed his hand this time around, and attracted the attention of people more dangerous than Starfleet. People who don't care how hard to get at he is, because they make it their business to deal with people like him who interfere with their interests." Then, sensing he might have said too much, he shrugged again and waved a hand dismissively. "But that's just me speculating." He eyed her with a cooperative expression again.

"Anyway, you're right, we can work on sniffing out any double agents once the situation on Betazed has been resolved. And on that note…I think I'm going to arrange a secondary Intel team and head down to the surface. There are some things I want to make sure get addressed satisfactorily, and I'm concerned the present Marine and Security teams lack the…finesse to do that. What are your immediate plans?" he asked, trying not to sound too authoritarian about it. Lars wanted to remain on good terms with the ship's CIO for the duration of his stay at least.

"Maybe...I like my privacy," Marlena said with a laugh and then while she kept the smile she felt a little bit on guard for a moment as Lars said something about attracting the attention of more dangerous people. "Doclin has been around long enough that I think that by now he probably knows what he's doing. After all, he still hasn't been able to be tracked yet and I'm sure he knows who his enemies are. Underestimating him would be a mistake."

She laughed again to try and wave off that she was very much standing up for him, and decided it was time to just act like a member of the Fenris. If she blew this cover, Marshall would be more pissed at her than if she 'accidentally' killed Lillian in the process of all of this and she knew when it was time for a good subject change. So she nodded at Lars and took in his words so that she could give him a proper response and make it seem like she was trying to be helpful.

"Just stay in contact with me," Marlena told Lars gently. "I like to know what is going on and I guarantee that if Lucas screws this up he won't be coming to us about it so that we can help so I trust you far more than I trust him. At the moment I am making sure that Captain Crae has all of the information that she needs, both past and present of this virus and then I have to contact Lucas and see how the assault team is doing as I need to know more than Ensign Pena. Once we get readings of the bomb, we also have to work to figure out how to diffuse it."

]|| Intelligence Offices
|| USS Fenris
|| TBD


Still a bit agitated from his meeting with Nayla, Lars strode out through the Intelligence offices, but paused when he realized he didn't know where the CIO's private office was on this type of starship. His mind was filled with much more important things, he reassured himself. Still, he scowled as he flagged down a crewman to inquire the location of the office. After receiving a hasty reply, he made his way around cubicles with encrypted LCARS and gray-shirted officers working on sensitive data to arrive at the private office.

With his usual bombast and disregard for others' privacy, Lars typed in an override code on the door and started forward, but was surprised to find that his code did not work, for the first time in memory. Whoever this CIO was, he or she had their act together. He regretted the fact that he didn't even have a name to put to his fellow Intel officer, but the unexpected nature of this whole mission had left him a bit flat-footed. So he politely keyed the door chime and waited for an answer, curious as to who would emerge to greet him.

Marlena looked up as she heard her door chime and then got up and typed in the pass code so that the doors would slide open. They revealed a man in a gray uniform that she didn't recognize, but soon she'd have all the information that she needed to continue with what she was doing. She was only CIO on this ship because Marshall had sent her there and now she was a 6 and her privacy was even more important.

"And who do we have here?" Marlena asked him in her business tone.

She looked him over as she tried to figure out to whom she owed this meeting and then walked back over to her desk so he could make his way into her office. It was decorated and yet simple, but it had a rather comfortable charm to it and she found herself more at home there than in her own quarters. Sitting down in her chair she motioned for Lars to sit and then folded her hands in her lap and looked at him.

"Anything I can do for you?" She asked him.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Lars responded cordially, a bit taken aback by her appearance. He'd been expecting a craggy Efrosian or severe looking Vulcan or some battle-ax like that to be CIO, but instead he was treated to the sight of another well-proportioned woman today. Sizing her up as he sat and crossed his legs casually, he wondered if she could hold her own against all the competing personalities on board this ship.

"I'm Lieutenant Commander Lars Janssen, currently working as auxiliary Intel personnel on the Mitterand. This mission has diverted my team and I from some other tasks, but that's just fine. The situation on Betazed is much more important. As such I've been focusing on coordinating analysis and presentation of intelligence across the two ships in support of the ground team…if they'll even use it," he added under his breath.

"Now then…I need to discuss some issues that have come to light that would seem to involve you, Lieutenant…" he paused, hoping she'd fill in her name.

"Cross," Marlena told him. "Lieutenant Cross."

Marlena was no stranger to men looking her up and down and so she just looked at him and pieced together the information she was given, turning to her console and bringing up all the information that Starfleet had on him so she wouldn't be caught of guard. She knew not to rely on Starfleet Intelligence as she knew they were lacking information on her and on all of Doclin's crew, but still, it would give her a general idea and she hated being caught off guard.

"Our ground teams need all the help that they can get, Commander Janssen," Marlena agreed as she nodded slowly. "What with Captains Crae having family infected and Colonel Lucas' lack of disregard for anyone other than himself when it comes to information on such things, they could use us. You'd think perhaps he might have changed as he has a friend here in the Intel department, but as good as the young Ensign is at what I assign her to do the simple fact is that she wasn't here when things happened and my department was swamped with information on Betazed and the attack--she was off with the Colonel and I wish she took her job more seriously but as you and the Colonel both served on Starbase Seven together, I'm sure you understand his complete lack of respect for our uniform so perhaps he likes having young Pena under his wing because she also has a problem respecting our uniform."

They were things that she didn't need to be telling Lars as they didn't know each other, but at the same time he was worried about the ground team and so was she. She felt like there were people handling things that were rather incompetent and yet they were lucky and she didn't want anyone finding out about her quite yet. So while she had no cares in the world about who came back and who didn't, it was good she was worried for any reason at all so it seemed as if she was actually worried about the team itself.

"So these issues...please inform me," she told him with an almost smile on her face. "It'll be nice to hear something from someone competent even if it means berating me for some of my more questionable crewmen. You are competent, right?"

"I assure you, I am competent," Lars sniffed. "Or at least, I am competent enough in the eyes of the Director of Starfleet Intelligence to be appointed to the Admiral's executive staff. That must count for something." He sounded a bit haughty, as he was quite proud of that accomplishment. But that soon evaporated as he grinned genuinely at Marlena's incisive analysis of the situation he had recently uncovered.

"Wellll…you've hit on one of these issues already. I just had a meeting with dear Ensign Pena, and I am sorry to report to you that your department is effectively compromised, worse so than if you had a Changeling infiltrator or Romulan deep cover operative spying on you." He stood and took a step forward, leaning on the edge of her desk so he could lean in for dramatic effect…and also get a closer look at her.

"Because I am afraid that viridescent ensign will be the Colonel's inside woman, and likely undercut any of your intelligence plans by revealing more than is healthy to him and his…grunts. He will use her as a weapon against you, and continuously undermine your authority and ability to function aboard this ship, grinding you down until you're more compliant and submissive than a Marine fresh out of boot." Lars gazed at her in mock sympathy. "And I don't think you want that, do you?"

He straightened, and his face hardened as he discussed the practiced art of counterintelligence."Now, you might try to get a man inside his detachment, but I wouldn't bet on it; marines make poor double agents. And his special relationship with the Captain means you might have difficulty reassigning that little green floozy of his. So you might be stuck with just limiting her access to mission intelligence, an imperfect solution at best." Lars paused then, looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at her and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Or…you might try to do something to undermine that special relationship with the Captain the Colonel has. Something involving that little green floozy, perhaps. Seems like there's something more going on there than any of them would care to admit." Lars turned his back to her and clasped his hands behind his back, adding in a low voice. "Just a thought."

"Trust me, I've got a plan in motion to through a wrench in the wheels," Marlena said with a laugh and a genuine smile. "Gotta say, I love the way you think, Commander."

She knew that something had to be done about Taylor undermining her authority because she had a feeling that it was really only a matter of time until he did just that. Marlena needed to keep the upper hand and if that meant getting to Nayla, then that meant getting to Nayla. Anything she could use to knock Taylor Lucas down a peg was definitely worth considering at this point. How else would she get to Lillian?

Marlena knew what her main objective was and she was going to see it through, but Lars was giving her insight into Taylor that she didn't already know. He had served with him and knew a thing or two about Lillian as well so he could be a useful resource to her and she knew not to turn away a chance to get an upper hand. This was like a gift that had fallen into her lap and she leaned forward a little.

"See, I've already got the Captain on alert about his market availability and I have a plan in motion to loosen her up to what I need from her. She just needs the right push to really put her into a place of true commanding and once she's there Taylor won't have his perks anymore--she'll treat him more like her MCO and not her lover or whatever it is that they are." Marlena said happily. "Eventually she'll think he's like all the other ones before him whether she shows it or not and everything will fall into place. What I'm more worried about is her ability to see clearly right now. Word through the grapevine is her sister got infected and it's probably only a matter of time before her parents or her brother are targeted...her parents are the ambassadors of Betazed." Marlena sighed loudly and then leaned back in her chair. "What I want is more information about this virus so that I can keep her focused and alert and not try to do this for some personal gain or vendetta against this Doclin character."

What more she knew about Doclin she would keep to herself...her want to know more about the virus, however, was completely genuine.

"Got the Captain on alert about his market availability, eh? How ever did you manage that?" Lars chuckled, turning to gaze out the viewport but also to watch the CIO out of the corner of his eye.

But as her words came to him his face suddenly went blank. "Did you say…her sister got infected? Well…that's unfortunate," Lars said impassively, but his insides had just turned to ice. The possibility had been in the back of his mind ever since he had heard Megan was involved, but to hear confirmation of his worst fears left an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He knew that he could show no weakness in front of the cunning woman next to him though, so Lars changed the subject slightly. "You mentioned this Doclin character. That is the other issue I came to discuss with you. If he is in any way connected to this attack, I am sure that he presents a clear and present danger to the safety and security of the Federation, and this ship in particular. I've spoken to the Captain about this, and it turns out she's got some kind of history with the man. I'm just not sure about the extent of it, but it does seem to me that she's a bit hesitant to pursue him in an…appropriate manner. And that is a situation we cannot permit."

Lars turned to gaze at her directly once more, a mild scowl on his face. "What's more…I'm concerned that he might have agents aboard this ship," he said ominously. "We'll need to utilize all our resources to locate these sleeper cells and expunge them, or Doclin will always be one step ahead of us. And frankly, I don't know that Captain Crae is up to the task, so we may have to do this on our own and under the radar."

Perhaps it was her Intel uniform, or perhaps it was her looks, but either way Lars was unwittingly confiding a great deal in Marlena, and that she might be one of the sleeper agents he spoke of hadn't occurred to him. Living the soft life of a desk jockey on Earth had dulled his instinctive paranoia a bit, perhaps.

When it came to things that involved taking down Doclin, Marlena was less than enthused but she couldn't let that show to Lars. Marlena and Marshall had a rather complicated past and honestly Marlena had been surprised to be picked to be a six after Taylor took care of Norin but she was happier to be that much closer to Marshall because she loved him...very much. She was only here to do his bidding and with the promotion that meant she had to take her job that much more seriously.

"Yes, trust me...the Captain and the Colonel will be at odds soon enough and if that helps you in any way then feel free to swoop in and wound them even further," Marlena said with a wave and then she studied Lars a little--he didn't look like he was enjoying the conversation as much anymore and neither was she.

She didn't know what she had said to make him seem less interested, but at the same time Doclin made enemies wherever he went and Lars was high up on the Starfleet food chain now. So perhaps it was just her mention of Doclin that was making him lose interest. After all, she was certainly not happy anymore either about having to pretend as if she hated everything that Marshall had chosen to be.

"You don't think maybe that Doclin is a little too hard to get to? Starfleet has been after him for years and they're no closer." Marlena reminded him and then she nodded slowly. "Though, perhaps smoking out the operatives is a good idea...someone is bound to crack right? Even though so far they kill themselves before they give up their information. Still, there's always a weak link. If you want, I could set up something but for now I'm focused on Betazed even if telepaths aren't really my favorite people."

He shrugged and nodded at her comment about not liking telepaths, missing a slight coincidence there. "Yeah, I don't really like the idea of having my mind read either, but with any luck they'll have other concerns at the moment and be too busy to pry into our classified thoughts. Besides, they're on our side. Unless you're worried about them reading other, less professional thoughts of yours," he offered jokingly, to try and lighten the mood again. Lars was in fact enjoying this conversation with Marlena for the most part, thinking he had finally found a like-minded officer aboard the ship.

Other things were worrying him at the moment though. "Me, I think Doclin might have overplayed his hand this time around, and attracted the attention of people more dangerous than Starfleet. People who don't care how hard to get at he is, because they make it their business to deal with people like him who interfere with their interests." Then, sensing he might have said too much, he shrugged again and waved a hand dismissively. "But that's just me speculating." He eyed her with a cooperative expression again.

"Anyway, you're right, we can work on sniffing out any double agents once the situation on Betazed has been resolved. And on that note…I think I'm going to arrange a secondary Intel team and head down to the surface. There are some things I want to make sure get addressed satisfactorily, and I'm concerned the present Marine and Security teams lack the…finesse to do that. What are your immediate plans?" he asked, trying not to sound too authoritarian about it. Lars wanted to remain on good terms with the ship's CIO for the duration of his stay at least.

"Maybe...I like my privacy," Marlena said with a laugh and then while she kept the smile she felt a little bit on guard for a moment as Lars said something about attracting the attention of more dangerous people. "Doclin has been around long enough that I think that by now he probably knows what he's doing. After all, he still hasn't been able to be tracked yet and I'm sure he knows who his enemies are. Underestimating him would be a mistake."

She laughed again to try and wave off that she was very much standing up for him, and decided it was time to just act like a member of the Fenris. If she blew this cover, Marshall would be more pissed at her than if she 'accidentally' killed Lillian in the process of all of this and she knew when it was time for a good subject change. So she nodded at Lars and took in his words so that she could give him a proper response and make it seem like she was trying to be helpful.

"Just stay in contact with me," Marlena told Lars gently. "I like to know what is going on and I guarantee that if Lucas screws this up he won't be coming to us about it so that we can help so I trust you far more than I trust him. At the moment I am making sure that Captain Crae has all of the information that she needs, both past and present of this virus and then I have to contact Lucas and see how the assault team is doing as I need to know more than Ensign Pena. Once we get readings of the bomb, we also have to work to figure out how to diffuse it."

"Right. I'm going to look into linking up with the people on the ground, but I have to be careful about that. I might just wait until they've secured the bomb and then take charge of the transport. At this point it's all still very much in the air, and it all depends on the intel we get. I'm counting on you for that," Lars said respectfully, giving Marlena one final visual inspection and liking what he saw more and more.

"And, if you come across any information that looks really important…" he leaned in close, giving her his best winning smile, "…then why don't you run that by me before you spread it amongst the foot soldiers, what say?" He clicked a finger at her affably, then straightened, admiring her office one last time. "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship…we'll be in touch."

With that he nodded once more to her and turned to make his way out of the Intel offices, whistling a jaunty tune.


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