A Reluctant Spook

Posted on Sat Jun 13th, 2026 @ 11:48pm by Lieutenant Grace Sternwood PhD & Captain Alina Barrett & Captain Taviel Valesh

1,244 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Preamble
Location: Ward Room, Deep Space Nine
Timeline: 6 Months ago...

The intelligence briefing made for terrible reading. The moment behind the reconstruction efforts on Cardassia Prime had started to falter, and where the population found issues, the blame was being squarely placed at the feet of Starfleet. The Interim Castellan, Elim Garak, was seen to be close to Federation hands and a movement had been growing within more rural communities on the homeworld, under a revived banner of the 'True Way' - a once extremist nationalist group that deemed to return the Cardassian Union to the empire it was almost half a century ago.

Alina Barrett, a Starfleet Captain and the officer responsible for Operation Lantern, threw her PADD down on the table with a heavy sigh. "This information is stale," she complained to the room, "We need someone on the inside. Who's our expert in this field?"

"She is." responded, a middle-aged Lieutenant Commander, who had been sitting to Barrett's right swung his chair, so he faced the far end of the ward room desk. He indicated to a young Lieutenant who had until that point been sitting there inconspicuously.

"And you are?" Barrett asked.

"Doctor Grace Sternwood, ma'am," Grace said, sheepishly. "I am the subject matter expert on Cardiassia and Bajor." While Grace had come into her own in the work that she did she generally felt uncomfortable in the intelligence arena. While she loved the research and the coming to conclusions she had the constant imposter syndrome not believing that people would actually take it as how to make a decision that effected the entire galaxy somehow.

"And what's your take on the threat assessment of the True Way? Do you concur with this -" Alina pointed dismissively at the PADD she had discarded, "-assessment that they are simply agitators with no formal organisation, or that they're lone wolves operating driven primarily by personal motives who have adopted this extremist ideology as a justification rather than from sincere belief?"

Before the young Lieutenant could begin to form an answer, Alina stood from her Chair and made a path towards the replicator at Grace's end of the room, "Well...? she questioned.

"I think there's not enough data to be sure," Grace said, frankly. "I think that we need to gather more to find their true intentions. Sure, we know they say they want to move forward with their plans but do they?" She asked, pausing for effect. "I think that the possibility of them being or becoming organized is real. This has been a major part of the Cardassian history since before the Obsidian Order was established."

"I tend to agree." Barrett answered as she made her way back from the replicator with a fresh cup of columbian coffee, "By my analysis, the political turmoil on Cardassia is likely to take a nose-dive, with former Union Officers & hardline state operatives abandoning the Castellan's progressive approach and reverting to the propaganda of the True Way rather than facing up to the mistakes they've made over the last century or so."

Barrett took her seat again at the top of table, "... have you any field experience Sternwood?"

"I agree," Grace said. "And field experience?" The girl didn't think that she mean like an archeological dig in which she had plenty of field experience.

Alina motioned at the Lieutenant uniform colouring, "This is an intelligence briefing, you're wearing a gold uniform ... have you any field experience?" As the Captain finished her sentence, the door to the ward room slid open with a mechanical whirr that was distinctive to Cardassian engineering. Through the open doorway another Starfleet officer wearing a gold uniform stepped in to join the meeting, this officer also wore 4 golden pips indicting their rank of Captain.

Captain Taviel Valesh was a much older woman in comparison to Captain Barrett and Lieutenant Sternwood. She carried herself like any spymaster would. She had something of mysterious between her all black pupil and irises. She carried three PADDs of various shape under her right arm. She sat her PADDs on the table's surface before taking a seat opposite of Lieutenant Sternwood. She studied the young woman and then placed her index finger on the bridge of her nose before placing her hands folded in front of her. She studied the young woman with scrutiny from her emotional state. Valesh was a Betazoid. She was a highly skilled empath.

"I definitely don't have that kind of field experience," Grace said, watching the newcomer enter the room but not saying anything.

"Captain Valesh, meet Lieutenant Sternwood. I think we have our UC."

The Betazoid Captain didn't answer Captain Barrett nor did she look over to her when she was addressed. She was studying Lieutenant Grace Sternwood. She didn't need to study the Outpost's Commander. She was there to ensure that Sternwood would be a reliable, proven field asset. It would be her assessment and recommendation for training to ensure that she had the skillset to survive and uncover the True Way's intentions on New Bajor, "Ms. Sternwood."

She grabbed a PADD and slid it across to her, "I want you to memorize this PADD. You have twenty-five seconds to find the information. The PADD will then lock you out and you'll have to re-account the information on that PADD within forty seconds."

Grace tried her best to hide the feeling of being put out by this test or that her intelligence or memory was being questioned. Sadly for Grace the ability to control her facial expressions was a bit lost on her. That would also probably not be helpful in this grand plan to send her undercover but it was starting to seem as if she didn't really have much of a choice. She accepted the PADD and did as was asked and returned it to the Captain when the exercise was complete looking up at her as she waited for her evaluation.

The Betazoid spymaster had the sense of that the Lieutenant didn't like her intelligence nor memory being scrutinized by her superiors. It was across her face along with the idea of being deployed undercover to New Bajor, "You have the aptitude, Ms. Sternwood to be a good intelligence officer. I have reservations about your abilities to be placed on an undercover assignment on New Bajor. Captain Barrett believes that you are our woman for the job.

She passed over another PADD, "These are your orders to report to SFI training facility on Bajor. There you'll be trained in field work. I personally will be overseeing your training from afar and will continue to evaluate you as a field operative. Do you have any questions before you're dismissed, Lieutenant?"

"Ms. Sternwood, I once sat where you are. Granted the scenario was slightly different, but I was thrust into this world at short notice. From everything I've read about you and your history, you'll thrive in this world. And we'll - I'll - have your back." Alina had switched tact to a more empathetic approach to contrast the hardline of Sternwoods would be handler.

"I encourage you to grasp this opportunity." Alina said finally as she stood from the table.

"I don't really have any useful questions," Grace said, taking the PADD as if it were some sort of dangerous device. "I guess if there's nothing else?" she said, standing from her seat. It seemed that she had a lot of things to do. With the consenting nod of her superior she turned and left the room.

 

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