Hairdryer

Posted on Fri Oct 12, 2018 @ 2:16am by Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant JG Leonora Dell & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas

1,924 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Victory Conditions
Location: Ops meeting room
Timeline: MD 11 1500

[ON]

Maritza, uniform fresh and pressed, hair pinned down, looked at the staff in front of her and double checked the doors were locked and the room sound proofed. there was no need for any one else to hear this.

"Three days ago secure offices were broken into and an established Starfleet captain went rogue. Two days ago a major promenade business turned into the shoot out at the OK Corral and the first we hear about it is when the place catches fire. Last night the Cardassians and Klingons were targeted by a bomb for which we had no hint those explosives were on the system. We are plagued with sensor failures and outages and criminals beam on and off the station like it's spring break on Risa, not a Starfleet station!" Her voice had been rising in volume even though her tone stayed measured. "Would someone like to tell me: What. The hell. Is going on!"

Alanna wasn't sure if now was the time to mention that someone had almost made it past the security system to get to the tunnel system on Pangaea. "No idea, ma'am."

Lieutenant Trellis chimed in during the silence. "Ma'am, a significant source of our problems stems from the establishment owned by Yolanthe," he said. "That place has been the source of countless violent acts, including the assassination of a Ferengi diplomatic official," he said. "I believe we could alleviate some of our problems by starting there.

"In terms of the USS Svikiri, my team is still investigating who the ship's crew had contact with prior to the attack. I have reason to believe they received assistance from someone onboard this station," he said.

"The Box of Delights?" Soran turned a scathing look on her fellow Trill. "Did one of the pretty boys cut you off whilst you could still stand? And I fail to see how that bar is the reason why your security sensors are constantly not working!" She slammed her hand down on the table. Then she glared at Dr. Wells. "No ideas? No ideas! You're entire job is to have ideas!"

While she never liked a dressing down, it didn't come as a surprise. Any one event on their own was concerning enough. Together, in short order, they were cause for greater concern. At the same time Annora wished Trellis had worded his response different.

"I don't think the other events are directly connected to the incident with the USS Svikiri. It's quite possible, however, that the criminal element took advantage of the incident to cause further trouble. One theory is the destruction of the Box of Delights is revenge for a past wrong, either real or imagined. The security breaches are alarming, and while the investigations are still ongoing I've ordered a complete review of all security policies."

"A review?" Soran snapped back. "These problems have been going on for weeks, and you've ordered a review?" She didn't even need to raise the eyebrow, her sarcasm dripped from every word. "I want every system stripped down and replaced. I want every inch of cable inspected for bypasses, bugs, and scramblers. And I want this entire station scanned for anything that can cause issues. Anything. I don't care if it’s ancient, obsolete, illegal, or fictional. If there's even a ghost of a possibility I want it checked."

"That will take several years," Alanna said quietly. "And we don't have the equipment to replace everything."

Caleb leaned back against the wall. He kept his face carefully neutral as Soran ranted. He had to admit he felt a similar frustration at the level of activity going on the station. “Ibalin does seem ta attract trouble,” Caleb had to admit. “Ah don’t know what it is. Ah cain’t find much on the woman. She’s not from the Federation. An she’s cagey. Ah cain’t get a read on her. But mah spider sense tingles sometimes.” He shrugged. “Be that as it may, every investigation leads ta self-defense, or just coincidence. It is the largest an’ most frequented establishment on the Promenade. It’s bound t’attract trouble.

“But the problem with the security sensors we know a bit more about,” Caleb continued. “We got intel that someone got hold of some old Dominion tech from the war, includin’ some small devices that locally scramble our sensors. Somethin’ like those Jem’Hadar cloakin’ fields, though tech based. Probably somethin’ they developed with early Cardassian attempts at cloaking tech, considering the Dominion never used cloaking devices.”

Caleb shrugged. “But that’s just speculatin’. Ah got a name, but hard ta follow up on.”

"Hard?" Soran asked. "Are we running a holiday camp here? I'm not hearing any reasons for not doing it. And you two?" She turned to the most junior officers present, Dell and Ta'Gas, representing Operations and Engineering. "I hope you two haven't got any plans? Doctor Wells thinks you're going to be busy. I don't suppose you've any idea on why nothing on this damn hulk is working they way it should?"

Dell didn't raise her eyes. "Nothing's really worked since the AHD platform went haywire and Colonel Darson trashed the computer core," she said quietly.

"That was months ago," Soran snapped. "Would either of you like to enlighten me why it's still not fixed?"

Caleb’s jaw flexed as he clenched it, but he held his tongue. His reasons were personal. He would follow up on it. He just wanted to be sure he was in the right frame of mind when he tracked down Daimon Dys, or it could just end his career -- or his life.

Ensign Kivan Ta’Gas preferred to be just about anywhere rather than sitting here watching the commander harangue various crew members for the calamity that had befallen the station. However, he did have to admit that Starfleet needed to take a more assertive stance against the various parties at play. Otherwise it was an open invitation for more attempts such as what had happened on Pangaea.

“Ma’am,” the half-Cardassian, half-Bajoran began to speak, “I believe Commander Caleb may be on to something regarding the sensor-scrambling technology. To be able to scale down such a device for personal usage requires sophistication and considerable capability,” he said. “Normally I’d assume that the Cardassian military regime was behind its development, but if they could hide from our sensors then Cardassians would have already raced down to Pangaea before we could stop them,” he reasoned. “My next suggestion would be the Raddon Corporation,” he said with considerable intent in his voice. “Their rivalry with the Box of Delights always seems to happen around the time that our sensor in the immediate area go haywire,” he said.

“But we need more than coincidence before we ca—“ Lieutenant Trellis stated.

“I realize that,” Ensign Kivan replied. “However, their device emits a particular tachyon dispersion signature. If I could get close enough to set up a surveillance unit I could see if I could capture the same signature and compare it to every other reading we’ve detected so far,” the young engineer stated.

"At last!" Soran huffed. "A practical idea. Well done. I trust you can manage that whilst overseeing the repairs to Deck 60 at the same time?"

Ensign Kivan paused slightly before responding, “Ma’am, the damage to the various embassies will take some time. Whoever carried out the attack used cabrodine and infernite composite for the bomb. The entire deck was in the process of being retrofitted from the infrastructure down to the bio-neural circuitry,” he said. “Whoever did this attack knew where and when to hit us. Not only will we have to rebuild the deck, but we’re going to need to call in the Starfleet Corps of Engineers just to put everything back on track with the integration of various foreign governments and their technological nuances,” the young engineer said. This was a nightmare of epic proportions.

Soran leant forward on the table and looked at her officers. "The leaks, the breaks, the errors in our security are going to be closed. As of now, leave is cancelled. You will follow leads wherever they go. You will run level one diagnostics of all security systems. After that, you will do the same, system by system, until you've covered any other sensors, comms, transporters, and you will also run one in the computer core. Stop and search any usual suspects if you have to, but I want that tech found and confiscated. Anyone, and I mean anyone, found with sensor scramblers or other cloaking technologies goes to the brig on whatever charges will stick, and you will question them until they give up their suppliers. I want order on this station and I want it now. Do I make myself clear?"

Ensign Kivan sat idly as he observed the reactions from the more senior officers present.

"It might be a good idea to have small devices at every entrance to any sensitive areas, including the various diplomatic offices, to check for these scramblers," Alanna said, "as a backup to what the main computer can do. Especially if the computer core has been compromised." She needed to get back to the Romulan core and find out if any new information had been uncovered, and if it could help them with any of the problems going on with the station and with the planet.

The enhanced security measures would upset a lot of the civilians, but it wasn't the first time Annora had to deal with that. "Aye, ma'am, we'll go over everything with a fine tooth comb." She then switched her attention to Ensign Kivan. "If you need help from security to set up the surveillance, let me know. We have a few personnel with experience in covert surveillance."

“Be careful with that,” Caleb warned Annora. “That tachyon signature is only gonna get us a general area, an’ sensors will be down for anythin’ else. We’ll only have personal searches an’ scans once we get a signal, an’ if Raddon is behind this, we’ll get a lot of blowback from their civil liberties lawyers.”

It was an appropriate warning, one she'd already given some thought to. She hadn't liked the man since their first meeting, but he was also very powerful. "We'll try not to prematurely rock the boat with the Raddon Corporation. Any potential charges will be run past JAG before we take any real action."

Ensign Kivan waited for the lull in conversation before starting again. "The hard part will be getting them to deactivate the security protocols. That can only be done from inside of their storage facility on the lower levels since that is where I will need to perform the initial scan. So that means I'm going to need somebody to run distraction long enough for me to get the appropriate scan," he said.

"Talk with me after the meeting, Ensign, I have some ideas."

Annora had the start of a plan, but didn't want to drag the meeting out further than she had to.

"Well!" Soran said sharply. "If no one has anything more to add, I expect regular updates on progress. Dismissed."

[OFF]

Commander Maritza Soran
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant (jg) Annora Tessaro
Acting Chief Security Officer

Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer

Ensign Kivan Ta'Gas
Assistant Chief Engineer

Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer

LT (JG) Leonora Dell
Assistant Chief Operations Officer

 

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