Surpises left Behind
Posted on Sat Feb 20, 2021 @ 3:02pm by Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas & Lieutenant Yukiko Winters
1,661 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Operations
Timeline: MD 01 1400
[ON]
Soran needed the escape to Operations before she murdered someone. Like her infuriating father. She wouldn't get a long break, she'd need to go back to see what he was trying to bully Trellis into when she wasn't looking. But it was also a fairly pressing thing in its own right, as well as an excuse
"Lieutenant Kivan?" She called out as soon as the turbo lift doors opened. "Why are comms on the fritz?" She could get up to the main relays on the top decks. In amongst all those wires and receivers she could hide for days.
Newly-christened Chief of Operations, Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas pulled himself out from underneath an open panel. He had spent the past 20 minutes inside the unit trying to sort through what had happened to the station's system and where the problem had originated.
He saw the arrival of Captain Soran and pulled himself up.
"Ma'am, Lt. Winters had obtained a Cardassian message and we were attempting to decrypt it.." He said as he climbed to his feet. "We were able to partially decrypt it, but evidently the Cardassians had planned for it because it opened a pathway for it to enter our computer systems and begin rapidly replicating." He said with frustration as he went over to a functioning console and brought up a computer display.
"The virus has replicated and infected parts of communication and sensors." The Cardassian/Bajor hybrid said. "Everytime we clear out a sector, something else goes out and forces us to focus on that." He added. "Long range sensors are virtually useless until we get this under control. Internal comms are back, but we're still working on being able to transmit and receive a stable signal up to Starbase 718," He said, referencing the star map.
Maritza pinched the bridge of her nose, contemplating if going down to Pangaea and throttling every last Cardassian was physically possible. "If internal comms are working, use the Satyendra Nath Bose as a relay for now. We have to have comms. What else do you know about this little gift?"
Lt. Kivan furrowed his brow. “We can do that ma’am, but the amount of bandwidth that will be available through the Satyendra Nath Bose is nowhere close to the station’s output. We’ll be able to transmit, but it will only a fraction of the amount of data.” He replied.
"Its better than nothing. You never know where you have to send up a red flare." It was certainly an effective parting shot. She mentally cursed the cardassians again and then focused again. "So its replicating through the core. Is it doing anything else? Can you isolate the areas of the core and pull them out?"
Lt. Kivan looked towards the Intelligence Officer to give an additional info.
Silk had just listened and then at that handed the partial decoded message. "I think you better start sending up that flare. The message that we could get seemed to be aimed toward Xi'Cadian space and indicates that perhaps an attack or plans for one may be afoot. I like the idea of the relay even if not full bandwidth. The problem with the current situation is we do not know how long it might have been there, if a recent hack or something placed there and just humming in the background for 'as needed'. There is just too many beings on the station to get a good pinpoint. However, one must wonder if there are any other little 'gifts' that have been put in place."
"Ma'am," Petty Officer Bruavell said as she made her way over to the small gaggle of Officers. "Several hours ago, I picked up a large surge in beta-tachyon particles from within Xi'Cadian space." The Operations crewman stated. "I was not sure what it was or what caused it. I couldn't get a more detailed scan due to long range sensors being unreliable today." She said.
The Operations Chief replied quickly. "I don't have too much experience with that; however, what I do know is that if it is used in combination with antiproton beams, the particles can be used to increase shield strength." He added. "But what could be done that would create a large enough surge to be detected by our sensors all the way over here?" He asked.
Lt. Kivan thought for several moments and then looked towards Lieutenant Winters. "Wasn't there something about a Beta-tachyon particle surge prior to the destruction of the USS Ascension?" He asked the Intelligence Officer. **
"Yes. Let me think a moment, there are known producers of such things. A surge used to be from temporal transponders or distortions, another source is...." Silk trailed off a moment. "The use of cloaking technology! Cloaking would throw such things off." She looked at the Petty Officer and asked, "How are the sensors looking at gravitational waves?" She did not wait for the answer. "If these are many cloaked ships, an object with mass moving through space-time will create gravitational waves. It is a matter of physics and one which so far one has not been found to get around."
"Cardassian's don't have cloaking devices." Maritza frowned. "They have issues with not being able to watch their citizens and know where their ships are." At least, that was the received wisdom. "Chances of this being a natural phenomenon?"
Lt. Kivan nodded. "I agree that it probably isn't a cloaking device; however. . ." The Operations Officer trailed off as he went back to the console before him. "Sensors did register numerous wave gravitational wave distortions subsequent to the beta-tachyon particle bursts." He said.
Suddenly an idea hit him.
"The B'hala!" Lt. Kivan said. In response he received a series of blank expressions from the gathered crew members. He signed in aggravation at having to explain the situation. ***
"The B'hala was a Bajoran vessel that was destroyed by the 127th during a training exercise. The Cardassians claimed that the vessel failed to communicate its intentions, so they perceived it as a threat and opened fire. The B'hala was a scientific vessel, it....it never stood a chance." He said in a lower tone.
He waited a beat before continuing, "But it was the same thing as the USS Accension, its sensors had detected a Beta-tachyon particle burst. The next thing it knows, the Cardassians come in gunz-a-blazing." He pointed out. "Clearly, the Cardassians are desperate enough to kill to hide from detection whatever they are doing that involved Beta-Tachyon field distortions." Lt. Kivan said.
"Which doesn't bode well for anyone in Xi'cadian space." Soran drummed her fingers on her cross arms. "Alright, notify Starfleet security, somehow, that we've had the problem, and we think it might be linked to the Cardassians up to something in Xi'cadian space. In the mean time, how do we fix it, and how do we harden against repeat attempts?"
"We're already in the process of deploying worker pods outside the station to begin work on the structural upgrades the station needs. Not to mention, every spare hadn available is working on the station reactors in anticipation of the major refit, so the station power demands will be reduced from 87% down to about 62%." Lt. Kivan said.
"Thankfully, the Dockingmaster reported that we're not expecting any vessels this week, so I should be able to divert manpower from those duties to try to re-image the computer core to remove any elements of this invasive program." He said. "But I'm not security, so we might need to borrow a few hands from that department or maybe the Marines to start sweeping the Core units to see if there are any physical clues left behind." He added.
"And where would you like me?" Silk asked. "Personally I think we should play hard ball back. Everything points to the Cardassians so why not screw up their communications as well."
"I certainly love to know whats going on down there. Screwing it up would be fun. Cracking it open would be more useful." Soran certainly agreed with the urge to pay in kind. "Can we do that?"
"Depends on how much leeway I actually am allowed to have," Silk replied but did not elaborate.
Maritza thought about it. "Don't get caught, don't endanger the civilians. And if you can find more details about what they actually left us and how to shut it off, thats bonus." A thought occured to her. "Can you tell if they've booby trapped anything else?"
"Sorry Captain, nothing on my end, and probably not enough time to figure it out. I am figuring though that they have not had as much to plan either so think probably not. As for the planet, noted. I will see what I can get." Silk replied.
Lt. Kivan shook his head. "I don't have anything further to report, ma'am. The virus mostly lies dormant until its activated by some sort of external signal. The only way I'll know for certain is through a diagnostic of the communication systems. If I get started now, then I can at least have a preliminary report within the next 12 hours." He said as he suppressed a wearily sigh of exhuastion.
"All right. Get your best people on it." Maritza noted his weariness. Damn she needed a new engineer. "Silk, you have permission to go down and see what you can do to the Cardassians. Let them know we're watching." She hoped a little bit of retalation would remind them that whatever it was that was going on, The Federation had not considered the matter closed.
"Yes ma'am," Lt. Kivan said as he turned and headed towards the nearest lift.
[OFF]
** - https://ds5.sim-metry.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/1351
*** - https://ds5.sim-metry.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/521
Captain Maritza Soran
CO
DS5
Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas
Chief of Operations
DS5
Lt. Yukiko 'Silk' Winters
Chief Intelligence
DS5
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