Security Clearance: Check

Posted on Wed Feb 18th, 2026 @ 1:46am by Lieutenant Bailey Good & Lieutenant Amarok tr'Ragnar

Mission: Port of Call
Location: Security Office
Timeline: Mission Day 15 at 1830

[Security Office]
[Deck 5]
[Day 15, 1830 Hours]

A bit flustered as he reached the Security Office, just in time for his appointment that Index set up for him. Amarok did some calming deep breaths to get his heart rate down and adjusted his uniform, the Picard way. He tapped at the chime and waited.

"Yes?" The voice though muffled by a reinforced standard door, was feminine. The doors didn't open so much with a whisper as a gyrating hiss, much more like cargo bay doors. The room within was decidedly more drab than some of the cheerier, more somber, more... spartan. The walls were a black matte gray, ribbed with reinforcing structures. The lighting overhead came in rectangular slits from a central beam. As Amarok stepped through, the nearly invisible haze of a force field fizzed to let him through, likely recognizing his combadge.

"I'll be right with you," the woman at the standing desk stated. It too was very dark in its matte color. One oddity stood out- a cello was leaning against the wall nearby. "My predecessor's departure's left a lot of paperwork behind, and I'm looking to promote one of my deputies to assistant chief." She turned over a PADD she had and set it face down on a stack of PADDs also laid face down. "And we lost some personnel."

She thumbscanned a last PADD, turned it face down and then looked up. The woman was in her perhaps late twenties, but something about her character seemed more punkish and youthful. She wore eyeliner. Her hair was rather severely chopped at the shoulders. Her eyes were dark, expressive, and studying. "You must be my 1830 appointment. Lieutenant." She beckoned him forward with a double flex of two fingers.

"I am, greetings, Lieutenant Amarok tr'Ragnar, Chief Science Officer," Amarok put his hands behind his back and smiled. "I understand, take as much time as you need." He shifted to an at ease stance while he waited. He leaned forward a little as he checked out the rest of the room.

"Lieutenant Good, Security Chief," Bailey said with an even professionalism while she set aside the last of her PADD minutiae. "Welcome aboard." She glanced up, dark eyes settling on his visage. "Computer, open security file, note the stardate, and assign a level two security clearance. Voice authorization Good 29-Royal-Kappa-1-Omicron." She waited for the acknowledging chirp, "Open voice print identification and initialization. Record in three seconds. Mark." She gestured two fingers at Amarok to speak his code.

A smile spread across his lips. "Ragnar 69-Lambda-Delta-1-Kappa," Amarok stated, his grin still in place, he reached up to adjust his shades so they had become more transparent that Good could see his all black eyes but still opaque enough that the light didn't bother him.

"Code accepted. Recognize Amarok tr'Ragnar, Lieutenant." The computer states.

"Log as Chief Science Officer. Assign standard Level 3 security clearance." Good was meanwhile doing minute turns of her chair, a sort of sway left and right done by the shift and push of her feet. "Authorization Good 29-Royal-Kappa-1-Omicron, set 6-5-Code Alpha." The computer chirped.

"Lieutenant Amarok tr'Rangar now logged Chief Science Officer of the starship Sojourner." The computer stated almost chirpily.

“Thank you Lieutenant, I do have a question,” Amarok paused his expression became serious, “do any of the scientific facilities have any weapons lockers?”

Good raised an eyebrow whilst her lips pursed. "Negative. Starfleet Security regulations were revised after the Mars incident. Aboard explorer-class starships like ours, all weapons are to be stored in the ship's Armory." Her brown eyes lifted, "Unless the ship is specifically expecting hostile contact." She shifted a PADD she'd been looking at aside. "Why do you ask?'

“Forgive me, Lieutenant, but are we not specifically expecting hostile contact? Given all that has happened prior to the Sojourner’s return to Pathfinder.” Amarok’s head slightly lowered in respect to lost lives but his expression neutral. His eyes somehow visible and downcast through his semitransparent shades.

"With respect Lieutenant, you are a scientist, not a member of my security team. We are not at red alert or at battlestations." Bailey sat up straightly, a touch of rigidity. Her eye contact was steady, patient, but firm, and met his despite his eye shields. "In combat, I expect your teams to seek shelter, not a hostile force. We are not, at this time, expecting hostile action. If that changes, or if Captain Kodak plans to transfer personnel to my teams, then that may change."

He stepped closer and returned eye contact, while his right eyebrow arched, he realised his mistake. “I may be a scientist now but I am familiar with combat, back in my adolescent years on Nimbus III.” Amarok grinned at all he’d accomplished in his youth but it returned to a neutral expression a moment after. “I understand and help my teams get to safety. However, I do believe that additional weapons lockers while we carry out our missions in the rest of the Delta quadrant, which will no doubt present us with hostile contacts, could only help us,” he kept his tone plain. Amarok bobbed his head, “Merely a suggestion Lieutenant.”

Good's eyes stayed patient do drew cool. This had just shifted in to an uncomfortable situation. "I don't," Good began smoothly as she she rose, "Tell you where your probes and sensors, Lieutenant. I expect the same courtesy about my equipment. I will issue phasers to the general crew when and where Starfleet Command or Captain Kodak confirm an order for me to do so." She joined forward, her short straight hair swaying. "And not before." Her hand shifted to her desk. She tapped a button. The door to the Armory and her office opened. She straightened and pushed her hair behind the shell of her ear. A small black earring caught the light. She blinked, chin raised with a touch of tension, "Anything else, Mister tr'Ragnar."

He kept his arched eyebrow and eyed Good for several moments. “Why are you defensive Lieutenant?” He asked, his hands going slightly outwards from his body in a show of openness.

"Because you are out of line." Bailey stated. "Stay in your lane. I'll worry about where the phasers are supposed to go and to who. That's my job. You worry about who has access to what labs and when. That's your job."

Amarok didn't back down. Instead, he straightened to his full height, the shadows of his shades making his expression unreadable. "Lieutenant, as a scientist, I deal in probabilities. The probability of this ship being boarded while we explore the Delta Quadrant is high. I am concerned that our current reliance on a centralized armoury introduces a variable, time, that we cannot afford. What is your team’s fastest deployment time if that deck loses power? Or if a boarding party secures that specific corridor or more?"

"I don't have the luxury of dealing in whataboutisms, Lieutenant." Bailey returned. "The phasers stay here, in the Armory, where they are meant to be held. Until they are needed."

He adjusted his uniform, his voice dropping to a cool, clinical level. "It is a fascinating logical inconsistency to cite the Mars incident as a foundation for disarming the crew while we simultaneously trust Index, a holographic intelligence, with our primary systems. To trust an artificial avatar with our lives while deeming the rest of the crew a variable too dangerous to arm is a discrepancy I find difficult to reconcile."

"I'm sorry. Take it up with Commander t'Nai. You are a non-combatant officer. You and your staff. The phasers go to those who need to use them. That is Starfleet's logic."

Amarok paused, his tone shifting from clinical to a weighted sincerity. "We are alone out here, far from reinforcements. Our Academy training and annual re-certifications are our best assets, but they are useless without tools. I believe our current mission profiles requires a re-evaluation of these regulations. I intend to bring the merits of decentralized weapons lockers to Captain Kodak and Commander t’Nai—not to undermine your authority, but to ensure our collective safety."

Bailey stayed silent, and just waited for him to finish.

He offered a slight, formal nod. "I would prefer this be a collaborative discussion rather than a departmental dispute. Would you join me for this meeting to ensure the security department's tactical concerns are accurately represented?" Amarok turned toward the exit, his gaze lingering briefly on the cello. A stark contrast to the reinforced steel of the office, it served as a quiet reminder that there was more to Lieutenant Good than rigid regulations. Safety first, he thought, stepping out of the office. Music later.

"I am happy to join you at any time, with or without Commander t'Nai. But my position and the regs will not change until I get a memorandum from Starfleet Security." She nodded at the man as he turned to the exit, "Welcome aboard."

A Post By:

Lieutenant Amarok tr'Ragnar
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Bailey Good
Chief of Security