“Him being alive would be much more preferable as he can certainly offer us more than what he is indicating he will give to us.” Oksana paused, her head shifting in contemplation, then she looked at Samstone again with a quirked brow. “Was there anything about his family?”

Wade listened to her point and agreed "Absolutely, alive would be preferable, I would want him to be available for much more to be extracted from him. If for some reason it can’t come to pass, then I will have to settle for what we can get. As far as family, he made no statement for them, just himself is all he mentioned. So to my knowledge we would need to get there, get to the moon, locate him, and get the hell out. Well, you and your team I mean.”

He took a breath for a moment to think further before continuing “I feel we would need a handful of folks more experienced on the kinetic side of operations, is there anyone you had in mind we could add to supplement your team for this op, or would you prefer I decided for you?” It was something that while Wade knew he could easily do, he had sent off a few teams over the last couple of days, he also didn’t like stepping on toes or overlooking the experience his operators had.

“I’d welcome your thoughts on the matter if you have some already.” Oksana offered. She could tell by his expression and the way he was holding his body that he did. “I am concerned, however, that Tr’Lareth may intend to bring his family along and is not saying that, but we should be prepared for that possibility. If he isn’t… well… that likely answers the question of ‘why’.”

“A good point to be had for sure. We’ll want to make sure we have the medical side covered and the security portion as well. I would say we pull elements from Bulwark in. Hoshino, Trosk, Barel, and Idaris. Plenty of combat experience, strong recon, and some further help in the technical side for intelligence collections. If he does bring his family, we’ll need to process everything possible and ensure it’s secured. You’ll be lead for the operation since the focus is to pull an intelligence asset out. So you’ll have the ball.” Wade took another sip of coffee and leaned back in his chair a bit.

He then reached over and brought up the map of the border and the last known placements of Romulan warbirds. “It’ll be a tight window to get everyone ready and a transport there on time but it should be doable.”

“I’m not sure I see a necessity for Barel given the context of the mission, the others I can agree with.” Oksana nodded while her eyes moved over the map in a slow, methodical way. It was intense in a quiet way. “If you feel she would be beneficial I will consent to it, however, but these missions tend to benefit from the least amount of people involved when possible.”

He appreciated her thoughts and response “It’s your show Odile. If you feel Barel isn’t going to have a place in the mission, I’m not going to send personnel that aren’t going to be fulfilling needed roles. I know she has experience in dealing with combat situations prior, I would say I’m a little less knowledgeable in what she is bringing on the science side. I believe she’s working on some new breaching systems so it might be worth a look in consideration. But I won’t force another operator to just be another body on mission.”

“Breach is Nitro’s job.” Oksana replied firmly, but not unkindly. “If she has technology for it, she can offer education, but she is not qualified past that to conduct that operation. The rest of the team has enough combat experience for this mission that I believe it will be adequate.”

“Very well then. Have Nitro talk to her and setup any training needed for himself or the team as appropriate, I’m sure you’ll be able to make sure that gets done in time. As for mission launch, I am looking at 2300 tomorrow evening, so 36 hours from now. I want the briefing to be done at 1800 so teams can get everything together and conduct last minute checks. Otherwise I don’t think there’ll be much time for any contingencies.”

“I find there’s hardly ever enough time for them, really.” She smiled, but there were hints of sadness in it and in her blue eyes. Blinking once, she turned her head toward him. “Are there any concerns you have at the moment?”

“Me? Just that this is all a false flag and we’re sending you in for the Romulans to learn our operations. But if you and the teams are walking into a trap, and you get your hands on this guy, make sure he and anyone else with him are dead before you are. I don’t care if you have to blow up the whole transport with everyone else aboard to make sure that happens. Otherwise make sure you get your asses back in one piece? I don’t need the extra paperwork.” He was trying to hide his uncertainty behind weak humor. Not his greatest asset but he hoped it showed more of his concern for the teams than he was letting on.

“You’ve picked a poor mission to sign on for if you don’t like paperwork, I’m afraid.” There was a near flirtatious energy in her words and her smile, but it seemed to pull back just before really touching that realm. “The good news is… you’ll become very adept at filling it out?”

“I’m sure you’re right about that,” he replied. “But I know if we don’t go in for this, I’ll have the shortest command Star Fleet has ever seen. I get more efficient by the day in the levels of bureaucracy I have to engage in here” he joked back. He took another sip of his coffee before returning the same question. “What are the concerns on your end? Those are more important than my paperwork.”

“Much the same, including the paperwork.” The tone persisted in her voice. “I will make sure they are ready for this, and if they aren’t I will tell you. I am not in the habit of sending people into a situation for which they are not prepared no matter how important something is. It’s a good way to end up with dead people.”

“That would be the best approach, yes. Let’s avoid any deaths we can, I don’t need to be sending off those messages any more than remotely necessary. I’ll make sure one of the holo trainers is reserved for you and you have priority on the range and training course until 1600 tomorrow. Otherwise the rest is up to you and Starfield to get put together.” Wade stopped for a moment and drank more of the coffee to allow himself a second to make his next point.

“Odile, if for any reason before this operation launches, the team is not ready, tell me so I can pull the plug. No questions asked on my end, no red marks. Final go\no go will be at 1700 hours tomorrow. Your call.” He trusted the woman and her experiences, her observations, and her reviews of where everyone would be at.

“I will tell you.” She assured him again in that gentle voice. “I’ll arrange a meeting with Starfield later today once I’ve reviewed all of the available information in more detail, and we will start preparing the team. Is there anything you would like to be present for?”

“Just the team briefing tomorrow at 1800. Otherwise I’ve got things I need to look into for the other missions we’ve been handed down. So unfortunately I don’t have the time, but know that you both have my full trust in this.” It was true, and fact is, the Captain didn’t have any choice otherwise.

“Very well.” Oksana reached down and plucked the chip out from its place in the table, then placed it on the desk. “I will keep you updated on our progress as things fall into place, and if you are given any other information or have any concerns, you only have to call on me.”

“Thank you, Oksana. I’ll let you get to your preparations. Every second counts.” He picked up his coffee and made his way out of her office, leaving the chip behind for her to analyze and build the briefing from accordingly.