Cloak and dagger? or Cat and mouse?

Posted on 01 Nov 2025 @ 12:56am by Chief Warrant Officer Glenn Stone Mr & 1st Lieutenant Cassandra Matthews & 2nd Lieutenant Melody Hawthorne

4,513 words; about a 23 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Marine XO office
Timeline: Sometime after the briefing-

ON:

Cassandra tried to focus on the reports. She had a discrepancy in the inventory list with the quartermaster, in regard to the updated service vests. There had been exactly enough provided for the Division, and they had been assigned directly to the service members and signed for by each member upon that afternoon's inspections. There shouldn't be a need for anyone to be putting in a request for anymore. All had been accounted for before the briefing. Now there was gear in excess when the quartermaster had done his inspections. The numbers were not adding up.

Cassandra sighed. It hurt still to do so. Hawthorne had been waiting for her right after the briefing following Cassandra to her office with a more advanced med kit then what she had beforehand. The doctor had done her best to patch up the extensive damage the Marine had taken earlier. She remained in the room watching Cassandra from the chair across the desk waiting to be acknowledged by the Marine XO for the better part of an hour now. "Are you really going to just sit there and work on an inventory report after what happened?" Melody asked breaking first.

"Mhm" Cassandra responded. She didn't want to have this conversation again with the doctor. Wished the other woman would just let it go. She played with the idea of ordering the doctor to leave, However Hawthorne had brought up how she could relieve Cassandra of duty in regard to the injuries she suffered, so they found themselves at a standstill for the moment.

"You need to report this." Hawthorne insisted. "Somers can protect you, protect your daughter even. You know that!" Melody urged gently.

Cassandra sighed and sighed out of her terminal locking it. "I'm going to have to call Bob in to talk about this. My goodness how do we end up heavy ten units is beyond me. Im going to have to track em down."

"Cassandra! talk to me." Melody said a bit forcefully now. "Why are they trying to kill you? Does this have to do with the Pathogen? About you stepping down as the MCO?" She asked her tone full of concern as she watched Cassandra lean back in the chair and finally look at her for the first time in over an hour now.

"You know that everything we say is recorded by an AI system in the offices, and through our comm badges, the computer terminals." Cassandra said in an offhand tone. "Benson once told me that it's not that difficult to listen in on people if you really wanted to. It's against protocol of course still." Cassandra managed a tight smile. "Some conversations should be discouraged. This one for example. falls into that category."

Hathorne huffed. "I should recommend you for counseling. Your acting paranoid."

"Am I now?" Cassandra asked.

Melody knew better, She knew the truth. "I have it down as injuries due to a training exercise but anyone that looks too hard at it are going to have questions." Melody stated dropping the meat of the conversation for a moment if only to get Cassandra to talk about something.


With most of his activities completed for the time being, he took the time to review the patient's medical records. Stone was investigating what he thought was going on with Lieutenant Matthews, also known as Cassandra, as some of her friends called her. Starfleet records were stellar. Stone's hands danced over the table as he put in a few extra codes to see if anything came up on the security side of the house. There was some information. Stone, with his special operations background, read between the lines. Then he found what he was looking for in the medical reports of some injuries that Matthews had sustained in training.

But there was no incident report for the injuries. Stone wasted no time cross-referencing all the training that day, and he found nothing Matthews was a part of. He did relax, but he was about to go on one of his rants about how a senior officer had gotten hurt and not reported it and chew somomes butt for that. No, he only had to track down one officer. Stone stood up, typed some more, and found her location.

About five minutes later, he showed up at her door. He touched the panel next to her door, and the door chimed. "Lieutenant Matthews, It is Warrant Officer Stone." He announced as he waited.

Both sets of eyes went to the door. Dr. Hawthorne actually got to her feet. Mouthing the name with quietly to herself. It was as if her words had manifested the man from the shadows.

"Enter, please." Cassandra said getting up to greet the new comer though the effort was still quite painful. She managed a friendly smile as he came through the door. "To what do I owe the privilege of a visit from the chief of boat? If it's about the inventory lists I assure you we are investigating that situation currently."

"Sir." Hawthorne said respectfully in acknowledgement of his entry. She herself looking much like a deer in the head lights.

"I thought it would be a follow-up on an incident report. But there was no report." He placed a pad on her desk with the medical report. His tone is polite and respectful. At the end, he sounded a bit more stern.

"Cracked ribs, bruising reading this report, you would think you fell down some stairs. But, it looks more like you fought with a Klingon or Gorn, and even a Jem'Hadar could do damage like that. Training accident? With that type of blunt force trauma. Do not think I am that stupid." He said and held up his hand to stop any rebuttal. "Computer, seal room Authorization Sera 590 Brovo. "Now, between you and me, what really happened, just be honest, Lieutenant. I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth," he almost demanded it, he did not sound angry, but stern and concerned.

Cassandra didn't respond at first. Instead her blue eyes raked over him. Could she trust him? She didn't know him. She knew of him. Of his reputation as well. Had noted the way he had kept stealing glances at her new MCO Janeway. How very unlike him. A curious change coming into play on the heels of her near murder. Why was he trying to get close to the MCO? Why was he here now? Probably pissed she was stillwate alive. Was he one of them? Was he here to finish the job? Is that why he locked the room? So many questions. Still she needed help. Every attempt to reach Benson had been deflected, same with Somers. What if this was her only chance? Or what if it's a trap? No, if it was a trap then she and Melody would be dead already. Or maybe like Hawthorne he was trying to gather the information before doing the deed?? She would give them nothing.

"If your going to kill me just do it already," Cassandra said sitting back down in her chair. She looked defiant, but also tired. Even if she could muster up the strength to fight him it wouldn't end well for her and she knew that. He was so big and her body was already so broken. She was afraid. She'd be damned if she let him see it though. So she leaned back taking on a look of boredom. Her last line of defiance before what was likely to be a very ugly painful interrogation like earlier. She'd fight of course. She couldn't not fight if he came at her. Still she knew her limits and knew he exceeded her capabilities especially now. So be it.

His blue eyes reminded her of Tevern Antakos. Though not so cruel, still hard like iron. It made her tremble slightly as she remembered those six months of hell at his hands. At least this would be quick.

Hawthorne looked at first at Stone and then at Cassandra. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on. Only that the air felt heavy, as though anticipating something explosive. "Officer Stone. What exactly do you think is going on?" Melody asked, trying to draw his attention from Cassandra and break the terrible tension that had filled the room. She had grabbed her med kit subtly and had slowly shifted her position now as though to put herself between the two.

Stone's eyes went wide as he did not see Hawthorne when he walked in. His head slowly turned, and he watched as Hawthorne got between him and Matthews. He felt bad that someone else had seen that. That conversation was meant for him and Matthews. Now a third person was involved. "Dam... that conversation was for me and Lieutenant Matthews, Lieutenant Hawthorne," explained Stone in an apologetic tone.

"Besides, if I were after Lieutenant Matthews, I would have security with me. Now I am questioning some reports." He said, explaining the situation.

Hawthorne relaxed her stance only slightly. "The people who harmed Lieutenant Mathews earlier also came with security. I have been urging her to report the incident. She is adamant that doing so would bring danger to her and her daughter. Frankly I don't see the logic in her reasoning. If they are trying to kill her as she says and steal her daughter then keeping silent only plays into their hands." The doctor explained glad to have another voice of reason perhaps to help with this madness.

Cassandra took a deep breath, it made her flinch. There was no getting out of it now. "The people who did this to me are not the same people trying to take my daughter. It's complicated." She said.

Hawthorne turned now to be able to see them both. Was this it? Was Mathews about to break? "Then explain it to us. I saved your life. You can not tell me that doesn't prove my loyalty to Starfleet, to Somers."

The scoff was involuntary, "oh I don't doubt your loyalty to Starfleet. Just your humanity. You took a oath to do no harm. But you... Your no better then they are." Cassandra accused.

At that Melody nodded, and shrugged "I do as I'm ordered to do. If you had done the same you wouldn't be in this mess now."

He sighed and shook his head. "Lieutenant Mathews and Lieutenant Hawthorne. Who is trying to harm you and take your daughter? Where is your daughter now?" His anger looked to be boiling over. "If they are on this ship, I want to know. I promise you, they will find an airlock. Did someone in Starfleet order this?" asked Stone, his tone stern and serious. Listen to me, I will not tolerate attacks on the crew of this ship, the ship itself, or our Captain," he said forcefully. "I need to know the five Ws right now," he said to both the Lieutenant.

The chief was about to explode, his face red. The Lieutenants could tell it was not so much towards them but at the news and what was done to an officer of the ship.

Cassandra made up her mind. His anger was genuine. He wasn't one of 'them'. She thanked the powers that be for this chance to finally reach out to someone safe. First though. "I'd like for Doctor Hawthorne to leave. Now if you please."

"Don't do this." Melody said there was a pleading in her voice.

"You wanted me to report the incident Doctor. I'm asking for privacy and confidentiality between myself and the chief of boat. I'm ordering you to leave my office. I'm asking Chief Warrant officer Stone to allow that to happen." Cassandra stated slowly her tone was matter of fact. "Please." The please was ment for Glenn. "I need her gone."

Melody shifted uncomfortably but offered no further protest.

He looked over to Hawthorne with a stern look. "Sorry, Doc, you heard her," he said to Hawthorne with authority. "Computer, let out Doctor Hawthorne out and reseal the door." He commanded not in a forceful way, more like please.

After Hawthorne left and the door sealed again, Stone turned to Mathews. He took a slow breath, steeling his nerves, focusing on her. "First, is your daughter safe and husband?" he asked, his tone suggesting uncertainty about the husband part.

Cassandra got up and walked around the desk, "I have no husband." She said as she went to a nondescript panel on her wall and after a few moments she swung it open like a door. The advantages of having the chief and deputy chief engineers as her best friends. "You can come out now sweetie. I want you to meet a friend of mine."

A small child no more than four years old with dark black curly hair emerged from the hiding place. The blue eyes darker than her mothers was full of intelligence and awareness titled slightly, Ears gently pointed suggesting something not entirely human had fathered her. She was dressed in the same frilly outfit shed worn to the holodeck with Thomas Zang earlier that day, White shirt and a white jumper. Around her waist a tiny little tool belt.

Although it hurt to do it, hurt like all hell Cassandra reached down and picked the child up almost protectively. "Chief Warrant Officer Stone, this is my daughter Martha Mathews." She introduced.

"Good to meet you." Martha said trying not to move to much or cling to tight. She knew her mother was hurt. She didn't want to cause her any undue pain. She also understood there was no asking to be put down. She could feel the stress her mother was dealing with like a coiled spring in her mind. All she could do was be still.. yes so still. Her eyes drank in the man before her. The way he stood, the way he was dressed, what she had heard from the way he had spoken. Her mind taking it all with intense interest,

He looked surprised. He stood there for a moment looking the little girl over carefully. He went down to Martha's eye level. "Hello, little princess, as your mom said, I am Chief Warrant Officer Glenn Stone, the Chief of The Boat. What that means is I am the toughest man on the ship, and I am here to help you and your mother," replied Stone to Martha.

"Now that I know that both of you are safe at the moment, I don't need to call out the Marines," he said with a wink to Martha. "Mathews, does the Captain know Martha is aboard?" he asked, not seeing any injuries or the child being over stressed. He stood back up to his full height.

"Yes, I put in the request before we went on shore leave after the last mission." Cassandra stated.

Martha added her tiny voice,"The bad men don't know I'm here. They think I'm still on the station."

Cassandra nodded. "I'll admit that I forged documents to make it appear as though she'd be staying on the base before going to Cait with my foster brother C'Tirr."

Cassandra moved carefully mindful of her battered body she returned to her seat and placed Martha in her lap. "So to answer your previous question. The Who... I was tasked by Admiral J Doe to investigate possible disturbance of a Dilithium mine. It was an off the books mission. Somers was not supposed to know. I took a team and we set up surveillance on mines as directed. While there I picked up a temporail signature. Upon investigation I came across a coffin with a body inside of it. That body had a pathogen, a very deadly pathogen inside of it. That was where the temporal readings were coming from. I was ordered to detour out return and deliver that body to an undisclosed science station. However some how my secondary engineering officer was able to get the mechanical components of the corpse working and suddenly it had a pulse. I made a judgement call. It's one thing to surrender a dead body to the science monkeys, it's something else to hand over a helpless person. I instead had Doctor Ross and Doctor Hawthorne work to save her life and had her brought to station 51 for protection. I contacted Captain Somers explaining what I could of the situation. I know she has connections and would be able to protect who we now know as Emily Janeway. By doing this I have put myself in a bit of trouble. There are some people who are unhappy that I did as I had done. They attempted to kidnap Hawthorne and force her to provide them with samples of the pathogen that were being stored in the medlab. I was told if I intervened that it would be the end of my career. They tried to manipulate me into using my position to help cover for Hawthorne. I refused and I stepped down from my position as MCO as a result. Apparently they didn't like that to much. The pathogen has been destroyed. The only remaining element resides in the host. They haven't figured that out yet. I'm preventing Dr. Hawthorne from disclosing that information currently. Just as they have their guns to my head, I have one aimed at hers. If they kill me or take my daughter Dr. Hawthorne won't be too far behind me. She wants to know who my connection is. That information however is not mine to share." Cassandra ran her hand through Martha's hair more for her own comfort then anything else.

"As to the incident that took place before the briefing. I was summoned to a section of engineering under the pretence that my friend Leland needed to speak with me. It's not odd for me to go talk to him while he is working so I didn't think twice about it. I set up for Martha to go with Zang to the holodeck and I went to meet with Hawksley." Cassandra took a slow breath, thankful for the painkillers in her system. "Leland wasn't there. What I found was three men under the guise of security officers who detained me and said I was being taken into custody. Well... Let just say they were not security and I was not taken to any security station." She stopped. She didn't want to go into details with her daughter here. It was enough that the girl had to deal with being hunted, not to have to listen to how her mother had nearly been killed only hours ago.

"That answered some of the questions I have, but not the main question. No matter how you respond, it stays here in the room. Does Captain know that Martha is on the ship?" He asked again a little more forcibly.

He thought for a moment. "Do you know if the Security officers were part of the Crew and if you killed them what did you do with the bodys?" He asked, still questioning Mathews. He needed the whole truth to help and protect the two. Keeping something from the Captain is not passing him, but it was when he would tell the Captain.

Martha looked up at her mother as though she too was waiting intently for the response. "Somers is aware that Martha is with me. As to the men who attacked me... They are dead, but I didn't kill them. I don't know what happened to the bodies. I am completely sure that they were not listed on the manifest. I have been searching for how they have been able to hide from the ships sensors and impersonate officers without getting caught. It's ... It's like they were ghosts. I know that there is at least two more on the ship possibly three. I don't think they are from the same factions though. They seem to be moving against each other. That's why Hawthorne wanted to stay I suspect that she has something to do with part of this. I know she is trying to gather information as well. I just.. I don't know what team she's batting for. She has ties to Section thirty one. She was involved in experimental bioweapons and how they effect alien biology. Could be that her main interest involves the pathogen from miss Janeway. I believe she's under orders to re aquire a sample. Something about testing the effects of temporal transmutation of the cells or some science bullshittery."

Cassandra shifted, trying in vain to be comfortable. "So far as I can tell, I have narrowed it down to this, the other agents must be in engineering or security. Logs and surveillance have been altered most expertly to cover their tracks. Or maybe Im wrong and they are hiding in plain sight." She shrugged. "For all I know you could be one of them. The fact I'm still alive is moot. Because at least one of these factions stepped in to save me today. I don't know why. I do know it wasn't section thirty one initially, though they did get me to Hawthorne, they didn't want to be seen by her, or for her to know that they helped me. I think from the brief interaction that I can remember is that they are most likely a male. It's hard to know for sure. I was pretty out of it. The reason I think at least one is an engineer though is because after the mining mission I began to get sick. It wasn't right away mind you. I went to medical and Doctor Hawthorne kept saying that I was fine. That it was stress related. However a girl from engineering put it together for me, I was only getting sick after I ate. I was eating food from the replicators system. She offered to look into it for me and found that the computer had a string of code that told the replicators to add arsenic to all my meals, only mine. It was set to increase the doses slowly over time. I had been trying to get on to speak with lieutenant Benson and file a report. My requests however get removed before sending. When I have attempted to go see her physically I am redirected and told she's unavailable. Which has me questioning security as well." She explained, hoping that she wasn't coming across as paranoid. She wanted his help. Needed his help. Especially if she couldn't get to Benson.

He gave a nod to her explanation. "I can not leave you with all of this going on. Do you hate your chain of command? The Captain? Have you been restricted from seeing the Captain, too? And NO, I am not part of any of the factions that have an interest in you and your daughter. If I find the people involved and catch them, I will ensure they are escorted out of an airlock." Stone replied, looking angry and trying to control him self.

"OK, one, who out of the Marines do you trust? I want five names. Second, I'll consider this and set up a plan to launch an ambush, I am open to ideas. I will hold off telling the Captain until I check a few things. I need to review some backgrounds to see if I can find something that stands out." Stone told Mathews. He took a deep breath. " Never thought I would run into this on this assignment. 31...... well, dam, they don't like me much. But who dose." He muttered to himself with a grin.

Cassandra considered his question. She was glad that Stone seemed to be already setting up a plan. "Thomas Zang, K'Muss for sure, Chris Kildare, Doctor Gavin Ross," Cassandra stated, "However, Emily is just as much a target as I am if they think she still has the pathogen in her blood." She explained.

He sat for a moment, taking in all the information and thinking about it. How sure are you about Major Janeway being a target in this? Now that she is missing," he asked. He was growing more agitated with this situation. With Security possibly compromised, and they might even have a Marine in the mix, too. That's what he would do, and they would need to work closely with someone near the command staff. This line of thought troubled him. "Major Janway still has the pathogen in her blood?" Stone question. This made some sense. He had guessed something like that was going on now, he knew. And with the Major's sudden disappearance, things got harder.

"The people after the Major's blood to?" he asked. This was a web of trouble. He would have to go to the Captain now. Operating on his own could cause a lot of trouble for him if he killed someone suddenly.

"Not exactly," Cassandra replied in a measured tone. "If they made a move on Janeway specifically, they'd expose themselves far too easily. Besides, they believe the pathogen was purged from her body. I had Dr. Hawthorne alter the records to make it appear that way. What they’re really after are the samples taken from her before she was extracted from the coffin, when the pathogen was at its most potent in our timeline."

She paused, letting the weight of her words sink in, then continued with a chilling smirk. "I don't think they’d go after her directly it would be pointless now that she is gone. What they want is the samples. Luckily for us, those samples... don’t exist anymore. I destroyed every last one of them along with the associated data. That’s why they’re so furious now. I imagine they finally managed to crack Larmie’s data shields, only to discover that the records they wanted from the mining mission, along with the pathogen samples, are all gone. For good. The problem is that they fail to believe the truth. They think I've laid a false trail. They are right. Just not regarding the samples."

He sat back, looking at Cassandra. Stone looked to be re-evaluating her. "I can see that this is nothing that will be changed today, and I think there will be a few more changes coming down the line that will help your situation. I can not go into that now. But you will have to see the CO sooner rather than later," said Stone, his tone even but mysterious. " Not on this subject, but another if you don't already know." added Stone.

Stone let out a breath. "I will go and leave you to your work. I will do what I can to take care of you and your daughter," Mr. Stone said, standing. "I will be in touch." he added before he left.

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