Looking for Bugs

Posted on Sun Jul 12, 2020 @ 5:16am by Civilian Jason Haines & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant JG Natalie Cross

2,037 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Alanna's shuttle
Timeline: MD05 1100 hours

ON

Alanna was once again tinkering with the shuttle, checking the layers of programming for any hidden programs or files. She'd found several early on, but nothing of late. Still, she was hesitant, remembering when Draxx appeared on the comm screen while she and Brianthe were having a first look around.

She'd invited Natalie to join her, in case she could find something Alanna missed. She'd planned on bringing Jason, before he was pronounced dead the second time.

The shuttle intrigued Natalie so when Alanna invited her to get a closer look she jumped at the opportunity. The doors to the shuttle bay opened. Natalie stepped inside. She could already see Alanna inside the shuttle. She smiled and headed towards it. The two had spent a bit of time together since her arrival to the station, and Natalie was starting to think of her as a friend. "Hello." Natalie said stepping inside the shuttle.

"Hi. Come on in. I think I have most of this figured out, but I'd appreciate a fresh pair of eyes."

Looking around the inside of the strange shuttle she took a seat next to Alanna. "I will try my best to assist in whatever way I can. Can you tell me a little more about it? Maybe, what you've discovered so far."

Alanna nodded. "When I came aboard, I set up some secondary security on the portal site. Stuff we used to use on archaeological digs to keep out poachers. They can be pretty clever. Anyway, my security went off, letting me know a shuttle was trying to get down to Pangaea. Commander Ryan was the chief of security then. I went down with him to investigate and we found this shuttle, piloted by a man named Draxx. Basically, he gave me the shuttle. When Brianthe and I came to look it over, Draxx popped onto the comm screen. That's when I started digging for hidden programs." She handed Natalie a PADD she'd put together. "This is what I've found so far."

Graciously accepting the PADD, she took the next several minutes to review the information. Ricardo Draxx defiantly peaked her interest. A name she had never heard, but a name she would look into it. Alien tech was interesting as well. That was probably more aligned with Alanna's interests. "What have you discovered about this alien tech?" She asked handing the PADD back to Alanna.

"The ship got through security on Pangaea without a blip. It was the program I added later that caught it. Mine was meant for smugglers, tombraiders, and disgruntled neighbors. They come up with some rather ingenious ways of breaking into a dig site or a tomb. So, we had to come up with odd and clever ways to catch them. Ones that didn't require a lot of tech. It took me a month to find out how Draxx knew when Brianthe and I came aboard. That's something I've replicated in the portal site nd my cabin on the planet. I found his hidden access, too, and changed the codes. But my skills are not up to the level of intel. I'd planned on bringing Jason aboard, but..." she hesitated. "But we never got around to it."

"What about Draxx - have you been able to find out anything about him?" Natalie inquired.

"Only that he had some connection with the Raddon Corporation. He left the starbase, and I'm not in intel to see if he's on their radar. I don't know if Commander Ryan did any more digging."

Natalie nodded. "Ok, I'll look into that." She smiled at Alanna. "Back to the shuttle. What other interesting programs have you discovered?"

"They're on the PADD. I've locked them away from the main computer,just in case," the science officer replied.

---
Jason knew he was being followed by his escort to 'protect' him from Daniels. Jason wasn't too worried. If Daniels still had it out for him and if he was aware of him, Jason was sure there wasn't much one guard could do. So far his escort had been unassuming, but when Jason got to the Starfleet shuttle bay, this one got a bit more 'assuming'.

"You can't go in there", she said.

Jason asked, "Why not?"

"Because I know that you are technically a civilian", the young guard replied.

"Well then, please contact Lieutenant Wells and ask her to come to the door as she did invite me here", Jason said.

"I'm sorry", she replied. "I am here to make sure you are not accosted, not to play messenger. You need to stay to unrestricted sections."

Alanna felt Jason's presence and wondered why he hadn't come in. Then his irritation registered and she turned to Natalie. "Be right back."

She walked to the door, sending a telepathic message to Jason letting him know she was on her way.

Jason couldn't reply to Alanna's thoughts, but he smirked at it and wondered what the guards was going to say.

Alanna opened the door to the shuttle bay. "Hi," she said cheerfully. "I've been waiting for you."

She turned to the security guard. "This is my personal shuttle in my personal bay. He is authorized to come in, but you are not. Please wait here until we are finished. I promise we won't leave the station and he isn't making a run for it." Her voice was too sweet with a hint of irritation she couldn't hide--or didn't care to.

"Aye, Lieutenant", the guard replied, looking at Jason a little sheepishly. "I'll be here when you are finished."

Jason followed Alanna, bemused at the situation just couldn't help giving the guard a jaunty, two-fingered salute as the doors closed.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue oh fair maiden", Jason said to Alanna.

"Any time. Just send out a mental shout and I'll be your maiden in shining armor. Or something like that." She stopped to hug Jason. "I want you to be safe, but having a shadow like that would get annoying fast."

Jason returned the hug, chuckled, and said, "Indeed, very fast."

"Natalie is on board. We're looking for any bugs I missed. I can also get you authorized for the bay and the shuttle."

"Cool", Jason said. "One question, who is Natalie?"

She took his hand as they walked onto the shuttle. Once they were on board and the door closed, she went to the computer and entered a code. "Put your hand on the screen and you'll have command access."

Jason put his hand on the screen as instructed and said, "Thanks."

Alanna turned to Natalie. "This is...John. Officially, anyway." She smiled at Jason. "And this is Natalie, she's the new Chief of Intelligence. I don't think you've met yet."

"Oh, Lieutenant Cross", he said, extending his hand with a smile.

"Welcome back, Mr. Haines." She shook his hand. "It is good to see you again."

"Thank you", Jason replied. "I hope you are having fun in my former role. Glad it is you now and not me."

Natalie smiled. "It's been an interesting ride so far."

"So, now that we're all together, let's see if I got all the bugs out," Alanna said, pleased to see that Natalie seemed okay with Jason being here.

Strange way to be introduced to the man she had been looking for a while now but then again nothing on this station has been normal since her arrival. She nodded. "Sure, let's do that."

"When you say bugs, do you mean mechanical issues or do you mean tracking bugs?", Jason asked.

"Both, actually," she said. "I've used several programs to search for them, and found several. But I could use some help making sure."

"Well, let's get to work", Jason said. "Has anything been found before?"

"Yes." Alanna handed him a PADD. "I intended to have you help before..." She didn't finish the sentence. Before Sovok, and before Daniels. "I've isolated everything I found, but there may be some files I can't find myself. And some of the tech is...unusual."

"I've never seen a design like this before", Jason said looking about. "Where is it from?"

"It's alien. I'm not sure where it came from. Draxx didn't say." Alanna looked around. "I think I've found what lets it get through tarfleet security, but there could still be little programs hidden here and there. I don't have a good AI to dig through all the systems. Still, it's a good little ship."

"Can I borrow your tricorder? Jason asked Alanna.

Jason started to scan the ship after she handed it to him. The readings were quite intriguing.

"You know, it is going to be a bit tricky looking for a bug, given the technology here", Jason said. "I am not sure if I would even know one that wasn't in all the databases. Something tells me on this ship, they probably won't be."

"That's been my problem," Alanna admitted. "I've dug through a lot of files, and pulled what looked odd. But you two are more experienced at this than I am. On a positive note, I think any bugs would have been planted by Draxx, not the original owners. At least, it makes sense that he would have cleaned out anything harmful and added his own bugs and back doors."

"What race is this Draxx fellow?", Jason asked. "Why did he just give you the shuttle?"

"Commander Ryan and I caught him trying to fly it down to Pangaea and sneak through the security barriers. He said he had to leave and offered to give me the shuttle because I was a pretty female." She shrugged. "I do know he left the station shortly after because some crime lord was coming, or something like that."

When Alanna said 'crime lord', Jason's brows shot up.

"Uhm, any possibility that this shuttle may belong to that said crime lord?" Jason asked.

"I don't think so. It sounded more like Draxx just wanted to get away and since we weren't going to give him back his shuttle, he let me keep it." At least that was what Alanna recalled.

"Well, I would keep my eyes peeled when using this", Jason said. "Said crime lord might have enemies."

After a few moments of scanning, Jason said, "I am not seeing anything that seems to be a bug. That said, this is different technology and it may be something passive or it may not activate unless the ship is running."

"I'd offer to take you for a spin, but I'm not sure what your security shadow would think." Although Alanna wouldn't mind heading down to Pangaea with Jason and Natalie.

"We could invite the guard along", Jason said with a shrug.

"Yes. I think I do want to take the shuttle out for a spin."

Alanna went to the shuttle bay door and opened it. "Hi," she said to the guard. "We're taking the shuttle out. Care to join us?"

"I'm sorry Lieutenant", the young guard said with a bit of a smile. "Neither I nor my charge there may leave the station. Captain's orders."

"All right." Alanna smiled pleasantly. "Come in and explain that to Jason."

Jason came up and listened. He thought about giving the guard a hard time and then stopped himself.

"Although I don't mind getting myself in trouble", Jason said. "I'm not going to get someone else in trouble. Let's wait until I am officially a civilian and you can invite me for a ride."

"I can think of several ways to take you for a ride," Alanna quipped. "I have a place I want to show you on Pangaea, when you can get away."

"I think we're done here for now. Let me know if you have any suggestions." Alanna would much prefer flying down to Pangaea with Jason, but she didn't want to get him in more trouble, or risk his safety. "Come on. I'll buy you lunch."

Jason smiled and said, "You are on!"

____
OFF

Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space 5

Ensign Jason Haines
Troublemaker
Deep Space 5


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Reference posts:
Touch Down: https://ds5.sim-metry.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/773
Examining the Shuttle: https://ds5.sim-metry.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/854

 

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