Sleepers

Posted on Fri Sep 22, 2017 @ 9:15am by Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Mikaela Locke & Lieutenant JG Rhe'la Daughter of the Forty-ninth House & Ensign Calaban Bel-Asher

813 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: Security Chief's Office
Timeline: MD 5 1600

“Thank ya both for comin’ in,” Caleb said, leaning back against his desk as the three other senior officers took seats. He hadn’t had any real interactions with the Zarnac chief engineer or the acting head of Science, a Risan. Mikaela Locke he had worked with a bit more.

“Ah’ve received a bit of intelligence from Lieutenant Liam Reynolds in Diplomatics,” he explained. “Apparently the Tholians attempted to bargain their way onto Pangea and through the portals. Reynolds assured them he didn’t have the authority for that, and they gave him the intel anyway. They claim they have been tracking some...dimensionally displaced persons on the station and provided sensor data on anomalous quantum signatures.”

Caleb handed over a secured padd to each of the officers with the data. “Ah want ya’ll ta double an’ triple check the data, make sure we can trust this,” he told Ensign Bel-Asher and Lieutenant Rhe’la. “An’ then come up with a way we can configure our sensors to reliably pinpoint an’ track these individuals. We need ta know why they’re here an’ what they’re plannin’. An’ how they got here. Ah’ll forward this up to the Commander an’ the Captain, but Ah’d like ta keep this compartmentalized. We don’t want a security scare like we had over changelings prior to the Dominion War.”

Caleb looked at the officers expectantly.

Bel-Asher pulled the padd towards him and scrolled through the data. "They're using a variety of ways to identify dimensional displacement. It may take a while to reconfigure everything to get all the sensors rearranged. All day, at least. Maybe a good chunk of tomorrow."

Caleb nodded. “Whatever ya need ta do,” he said. “At least the security sensors will be good for something,” he said dryly. “Everyone an’ their mother seems ta have a way to mess with ‘em.”

Rhe'la studied the information before her, but it made so little sense that it may as well have been written in Sanskrit. "The Tholians understand trans-dimensional science on a level that we couldn't hope to in... ten lifetimes. When it comes to this sort of stuff, I'm like a child with a particle accelerator trying to discover the Higgs-Boson."

The joke about people messing with the sensors rubbed her the wrong way, as she still hadn't figured out how they'd been doing it. All of her attempts to build a device had been met, so far, with abject failure. "And I'm still working on the sensor blackouts. The current working theory is that Nazl's killer had a subspace dampener that they used to disrupt the sensors, but where the killer got one is anybody's guess."

“Sorry,” Caleb apologized to Rhe’la. “Ah’m guessin’ you’re just as frustrated about these sensor malfunctions as Ah am.” He gave the small reptilian a smile. “Thank ya for yer diligent reports. Ah know this is difficult.” He tapped the padd with the information from the Tholians. “That’s why Ah’m loopin’ Science in on this. More heads an’ all that. Ah’ve got no indication of any kind of imminent threat, so Ah can’t exactly put a fire under ya’ll. Ah know ya got your other projects ta work on as well. Put a team together ta work on this an’ keep me informed is all Ah’m askin’.”



[tag Rhe'la - if required?]



While they had been discussing sensors, Mikaela had been reviewing the padd that Commander Ryan had given her.

"If there are any dimensionally displaced persons on the station, it's the first wind of it that we've gotten," she said, barely looking up. "And, while it's certainly not out of question, there's also the possibility that the Tholians are using this story as a cover up, knowing full well that our level of knowledge with the science makes it very hard for us to prove them wrong."

“The thought had crossed my mind,” Caleb admitted, “which is why Ah roped ya in on this too. Has there been any chatter amongst the Tholian web? Any indication they might be up ta somethin’?”

"Not that I've been made aware of," Mikaela answered honestly. "But sometimes the minor details don't get brought to my attention." Having finished reading, she placed the padd on her lap and, for the first time in the conversation, made eye contact with Ryan. "I'll have the analysis team double check all reports and intercepted comms," she said with an air of finality. "I'll let you know if we find anything."

“Thank ya, Lieutenant,” Caleb said with a nod. He glanced at Rhe’la. “Ah’ll leave ya’ll ta yer work then. Dismissed.”

FIN

Cdr. Caleb Ryan
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lt. Mikaela Locke
Senior Intelligence Officer

Ens. Calaban Bel Asher
Acting Chief Science Officer

Ltjg. Rhe’la
Chief Engineer

 

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