The Round Up

Posted on Tue 25th Nov, 2025 @ 4:04pm by Captain Gordon Francis & Criswell Sandbags & Commander Geraldine "Geri" Severide & Commander Entaaro Nasz & Lieutenant Damion Ildaran

1,641 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: From The Ashes
Location: Qaraq's Casino
Timeline: current

-Start-

{Captain Francis Office- OPS}

Captain Francis was deposited back into his office moments after disappearing, the meeting with Alex in the White room concluding without ceremony. Time swirled around him little did he know, and the vortex of compressed time changed his reality to bring him to the present. It was like holding a sneeze. Captain Francis reeled from the experience. Just days ago he had suffered a concussion and he wasn't quite 100% yet.

Looking down, he noticed a list on the desk, in his own handwriting, from inside the White room when he and Alex had determined twenty candidates for roles on board the IBEX. Alex had done most of the work. Francis was unfamiliar with some of the people chosen, and having a house cat as an official member of the crew seemed a little odd. But then again, Sundae was not the typical house cat. Ultimately, Francis had to trust Alex, who always seemed to be the smartest man in the White Room. He was unsure of the mysterious man's motivations. It was part of Francis' Intelligence training not to trust someone promising a good thing. Nevertheless, Francis was curious enough to accept the assignment. He sat down and picked up the archaic piece of paper.

The list contained:

1. Damion Ildaran (Recommended for Captaincy)
2. Entaaro Nasz (High potential-clean record)
3. Pampo Gnu (High Potential- Trained, Intelligence Asset)
4. Mindo (High Potential- Technological/ Security Asset)
5. Exo-comp QT (Technological Asset)
6.Xelphia Arrackis (High Potential- Trained, Intelligence Asset)
7.Mikaela Locke (High Potential- Trained, Intelligence Asset)
8.Elaine Kaleh (High Potential- Trained, Intelligence Asset)
9.Kellian Michaels (High Potential- Trained, Intelligence Asset)
10. Yuma Mukkai (Former Crew, Trained)
11/12. Gary Thirteen and Sundae (TEMPORAL/ Redacted- Major Asset)
13. Criswell Sandbags (Criminal Intermediary, asset)
14. Geri Severide (Trained, Intelligence asset)
15. Haley Sawyer (High Potential- Trained agent, operations Asset)
16. Carlos Vasquez (High Potential- Trained pilot, Asset)
17. Khellian s'Siedhri (High Potential- Romulan, Trained, Medical Asset)
18. Wyatt Keller (High Potential- Trained, Intelligence Asset)
19. Renoh'th Jannaris (High Potential- Religious/Cultural asset)
20. Tannis 77-AE (High Potential- Borg Tech asset)

The training Francis had undergone was brief and not at all enlightening. The old data padd with knobs and sliders would serve as a datalink to the council of commanders that make up the network of ships. He didnt get missions from it, but rather files of information on a case of interest. Part of the joy of decentralized command was the autonomy of deciding what actions to take. Alex had made a wrong choice, trying to delete sensitive data forcibly on his previous mission and gotten half the crew killed for it.

“Leave only good impressions. Say only nice things.” Alex had summarized the paradigm in those terms. IBEX was not a warship and trying to use it like one had not worked out at all. The IBEX needed a handler with ties to intelligence but no anchors, and she also needed a captain. Someone to be there, to make those decisions, the right ones that furthered the mission without losing life and limb.

=/\= Entaaro to Captain Francis… I could have just sworn I saw two of you on the station, are you in your office?”

Francis looked around the empty Ready Room and hit his comm badge. "Am I supposed to be somewhere else?"

Entaaro hated that he couldn’t answer that question in any manner approaching sanity. He simply followed up with, “A problem we can resolve with a diagnostic I’m sure, but Commander Severide is asking for you and I wasn’t sure where to route the call. Sending to your office.”

=/\=Commander Severide to Francis… Can you confirm… I’ve had a task list updated on my work docket for the day. That isn’t a shared file, unless you accessed it so do you, or our, guests have something to do with this?”

Francis looked down at the paper again. "Yes, they do," he said. "I don't want to talk about it over comms. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way to you, meet in your office?

"No," Francis said. "Meet me at Qaraq's Casino in the Garden District. I'd like a place with more noise. Call it a hunch."

-Qaraq's Casino, Ten Minutes Later-

Geri wasted no time, pointing to her workpadd, a specific line item labeled only "Interviews." She had her own ideas but didnt want to barrage the Captain so she cut to the chase, "Who am I interviewing and for what?"

The two had brought their korfmagers to the buffet area and found a table. The tables in the buffet had been carefully positioned by Qaraq's assistant Criswell Sandbags to make it easier for conversations to stay more "private." Noisemakers were also carefully positioned around the area as well.

"We're getting a band together and its name is Ibex," said Francis. "It's that strange ship in Docking Bay 7 (??) that's been sitting around for a few weeks. I've been told it's ours and it needs a crew. I'm not familiar with everyone on the list but our mystery man Alex has carefully chosen them. I'd like you and Commander Mindo to conduct the interviews. Mindo is on the list, but I'm disqualifying him as I need him on the station. How did your meeting with him go? Do you think the two of you can work together?"

Geri almost laughed, "I have no issues at all, funny little guy."

There was more writing to the list at the bottom, also handwritten.

"This crew will determine their own path from the cases you give to them. If you choose well they will do well. You've seen the mission, and the details will be forthcoming on how it all works, but these are the values we have to have. "Honest, Caring, Responsible, Trustworthy, Reverent." Those are the criteria, it's vague, but it's worked for hundreds of years to keep this organization on a good path. They have to have all of it, or they can't join up. Choose well, ten folks who will become the new crew, and then we start training. Good luck."

"'Hundreds of years," Francis repeated.

Geri looked at Francis with heavy eyes, "So, you're taking the reins on this are you? I'll admit..." She stopped and considered, "I can play along some more too. Not every day we meet guardian angels. They earmarked Damion for the Captain. So... we start there?"

Francis nodded. "Absolutely. I'll join you for that one. Ultimately, it's my choice. You okay with that?"

Geri looked at him with an odd expression, "Never had any other notion crossed my mind til now sir."

She wrote a brief message, to be routed through Qaraq's auto-populating coupon ad system. Only this was directly sent to Damions Private inbox.

Come to Qaraq's and enjoy a complimentary Korfmager if you mention this ad. Come to Qaraq's, it's not an order, it's a mother@$#^%% suggestion!"

Geri chuckled to herself, "Ok, I should expect to see him soon. Shall we away once he arrives to my secret little space nearby? We should avoid being seen together as well. I can do the moving, you do the shaking once we all arrive."

Damion was in Pub 10-42, enjoying a large slice of New York-style pizza at the bar when his watch beeped with a message. He ignored it. The bartender, Carlo, was telling a joke about a gynecologist who'd become a car mechanic, and he wanted to hear the end.

"So the guy says to his instructor, 'I saw my certification grade, but I don't understand it. How did I earn 150 points on a 100-point test?' And the instructor replies, 'Well, you took the engine apart perfectly, with truly beautiful precision. It was a joy to behold. You got 50 points for that. Then you put the car engine back together, and when we turned it on, it worked perfectly; the diagnostics software detected no errors. So we awarded you 50 points for that, as well' And the ex-gynecologist says, 'But where did the extra 50 points come from?' And the mechanic instructor tells him, 'You did all of that splendidly. But what really impressed us and earned you the extra 50 points was--you did all of it through the muffler!'"

Damion sputtered with laughter. "Through the muffler?" He laughed out loud. "Oh, that was good!" He took a deep sip of his soda and sighed contentedly. "I got a message; let me see what's up."

The message from Cmdr. Severide "suggesting" he go to Qaraq's Casino replayed in his ear.

Is she drunk? Damion wondered. "I have to go," he told Carlo and paid for his meal. A few minutes later, he was in the tram, descending through the base. He deboarded at the Garden District and made his way to Qaraq's. He never went there to gamble, but he did like to eat some of the food, and the Korfmagers were good, rich and full-bodied, though he was no connoisseur of beer.

Damion looked around for Severide upon entering but didn't see her right away. He went to the bar. "Hi. I received this ad," he said and showed the image from his smartwatch to the bartender. "I'd definitely like to partake."

"You must be Mr. Ildaran," came a voice from behind. Criswell stood there with a smile. "You are a little early, but your friends are already here. Um, please follow me. Once you have joined them, I will get your complimentary drink." He stammered for a second, realizing he may have been too vague. "Er, I didn't mean to be so mysterious. Your friends are Commander Severide and Captain Francis. Beyond that, I know nothing of the matter."

Damion turned around and looked at Criswell. "Hello, Mr. Sandbags, I guess, if Cmdr. Severide is with Captain Francis, she must be all right. Please lead on."

-To Be Continued-

 

RSS Feed