The luxury of civil liberties
Posted on Sat Oct 27, 2018 @ 5:58am by Civilian 'Key Holder' Dorian Gabriel & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro
2,103 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Victory Conditions
Location: Raddon Corporation Storage Bay 762
Timeline: MD 15
Ensign Kivan Ta'Gas was a stickler for minor details. Perhaps that is why he chose to become an Engineering with Starfleet rather than a different calling. He felt more comfortable with the minute details and various equations. He felt if he could control them, then he could control the entire situation. Here the feeling was no different.
He found himself cramped in a jefferies tube just one level below the Storage Facility owned by the Raddon Corporation. It was perhaps the largest owned by the company and it appeared produce the most internal sensor activity as well. If they were ever going to figure out the secret to the dysfunctional sensors, then it would have to start here.
=/\="Kivan to Lieutenant Tessaro, ma'am, I'm reading that Gabriel is on his way to meet you at the facility. You just need him to allow you entry and get him to lower the sensor grid so you can search for. . .I don't know, something that Security would search for." He said quickly. "That will give me enough time to initiate my scan." he added.
While she had taken the hardline approach in the past, Annora was hoping a more restrained approach would work better this time.
=/\= Roger that Ensign. Standby. =/\=
It had been years since Dorian had worn a Starfleet uniform and he did not appreciate having to respond to the beck and call of Starfleet. He did not answer to them or their authority; however, considering the recent spate of attacks onboard the station, he knew that now wasn't necessarily the time to pick a fight with the 'Fleeters.
He walked around the corner of the corridor and was greeted by the sight of a Human female.
"T....Tessaro, isn't it?" Dorian said as he walked towards her. "So I guess you have finally decided to come ask for a job?" He said with a smirk. "Smart decision, we have dental, health, and paid time off!" He said, referring to the ancient Human custom of insurance. "Unfortunately, I think you are a little far away from the HR office." He continued.
"Thanks but no thanks. I'm not here for a job."
Having to deal with Dorian meant Annora would have to adjust her tactic a little, although that was kind of expected.
"If I took a job as a security consultant, it wouldn't be on a Starfleet station. Too restrictive."
While she had no current intentions to leave Starfleet, there was a lot of truth in her statement. While in uniform she was glad to work within their rules, but if she was working for an outside agency she wanted to do her job her way without those same rules muddling things.
Ens. Kivan listened from his location just below the facility. He recognized that the security system required Dorian to deactivate it using a bio-neural authentication. In a world of holograms and scanners, a person's brain was the final fail-safe security system. Before the Engineer's program could access any portion of Raddon's system, he would need Dorian to actual enter the facility and de-activate the internal security system.
"Too restrictive is just another way of saying, I couldn't stand the look of disappointment from my former colleagues." He replied caustically. He had experienced much of the same sense of anger and regret after he was unceremoniously cast out from Starfleet as the Chief Security Officer.
"I'm here as a follow up to the rash of attacks onboard the station. We're talking to all the major players on DS5. Ensure their security systems are up to snuff and answer any questions they may have."
Annora made sure Security talked to others on the station before heading over to the Raddon corporation.
"Major players?" Dorian asked rhetorically. "There are no other players that could even compete in our league" He said justifiably. He took it as an insult that his company had been lumped in with the other fledgling attempts at businesses. "Besides, I personally verified our security structure right after you all allowed that attack on the Embassies." he said pointedly.
"So thank you for wasting my time, but I have more important matters to attend to." He said as he began to leave.
"I know you're the largest employer on the station aside from Starfleet. I misspoke, my apologies. We've been tasked to talk to all the business on the station, especially those that do the majority of business."
She was losing Dorian, and had to scramble to make amends. "I don't doubt Raddon Corporation has ensured their security protocols are of the highest quality. However, the station Brass need some assurances. I'll make this as quick and painless as possible. Run a level 4 diagnostic and we'll call it good. We can also discuss security patrols near Raddon properties and any changes you may wish us to make."
Dorian stopped. She did have a point. A level 4 diagnostic run would be sufficient to address any concerns and he'd at least cover his ass in case something else decided to blow up on the station. "Fine" He conceded as he walked over to the panel and placed his hand upon the scanner. Several moments later a retinal scanner activated as well.
Ens. Kivan breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that the facilities security protocols were partially deactivating, allowing him to input his recurring algorithm to search for the appropriate frequency.
"I don't get you..." Dorian said as the door began to slide open and he took a step inside. "Having fought in the Romulan War I would have thought you'd be the best person to understand what this Corporation stands for." He said. "You know how lethally deceptive the Romulan can be and will continue to be. I don't see how you can just sit by and watch as Humanity becomes a second-tier citizen with the Federation." he added.
"I did fight in the war." Her response was meant as both a defense and a bit of a distraction to ensure the scan went unnoticed.
"Including Humans, there were half a dozen races fighting the Romulans. The Romulans thought they could divide us, but it had the opposite effect. I still don't trust the Romulan government, but that doesn't mean I feel all aliens are against us. I will admit I expected humans to have a bit more sway in the future, we were a founding member afterall, but I don't think hostility is the right method to correct that."
"Hostility? That's what you think we're about is Hostility? Is that what your Trill Commander told you?" Dorian shot back defensively. "Humanity led the fight against the Romulans, Xindi, Borg, Dominion and yet here we are groveling for acceptance from races that depend on us for stability and security." He said.
"We're advocating for our survival." He added as he walked further into the facility and activated a nearby console and begin the initial process for the analysis.
It took all of the Cardassian's willpower to resist the urge to shout back through his comm unit to the rhetoric coming from the former Security Officer. Kivan had witnesses what happened when a nationalist wave swept over a population and consumed them. This was about power, plain and simple. Humans like Raddon and Gabriel wanted to seize and hold power for Humans who believed in their cause, not necessarily the cause of Humanity. Cardassia had gone down that same path and it led to the death of 800 million Cardassians when their Dominion "allies" turned on them.
"I'm well aware of Earth's history Mr Gabriel."
She didn't like the implication that Commander Soran was pulling her strings, and told him as such.
"My thoughts are my own. If the Commander wishes to voice her disapproval, I'm have no doubt she will do so."
"And like good little soldiers, you'll just fall in line with whatever she says." He replied sarcastically.
Ens. Kivan decided to focus his energies back to his system. As the diagnostic came online it began to review the files stored within the facilities internal server at a steady pace. As it did so, it allowed Kivan's program to review the individual database and record the frequency.
=/\= "Ma'am. . .the algorithm is working but it is going to take time to work its way through the various databases on file. I'm also picking up something else. . ." He said as he continued review the files. Portions of the files were being compiled as the algorithm scanned them. They did not create a complete file, but Kivan was able to transcribe some portion of it.
She heard the report from Kivan, but there wasn't much she could do about it. They had as long as the diagnostic took, although perhaps she could draw Dorian's attention away from the console.
As enlightening as this discussion is, I'm not here to debate the merits of humanity's place in the stars. Getting back to the topic of station security, do you have any official complaints or suggestions?"
"Complaints? Other than the fact that our employees were brutally murdered on the Promenade and your department has not lifted a finger to find the culprits? Or how about the suggestion that you actually do something to stop the rising tide of terrorism on this station. I can't go a week without wondering if the coffee shop next door is gonna explode or if another body is going to turn up at The Box of Delights." He said harshly.
She wondered if he'd be so passionate if several non-humans were killed instead of humans employed by the Corporation.
"Any murder on this station is cause for concern. I don't know offhand who is handling the investigation, but when I leave here I will look into it. If you wish I can forward all relevant information to you within 24 hours, and place a note in the file that you're to be kept in the loop. However, I don't want to hear that someone in the corporation used that information to take matters into their own hands. As for the terror attacks, that is our top priority. I've already taken steps to beef up security around the station. The investigations into the attacks are still in the initial phases, so it's too early to comment on those."
While Dorian continued to speak, Ens. Kivan began to review the compiled information that was being gathered by the algorithm. He saw what appeared to be a subfile within the database. It seemed that the subfile was the operating system for a program that belonged to the Raddon Research and Development division. The program appeared to be related to some form of sensor technology. Kivan had seen something like this before in the Academy when they studied the Dominion War, particularly, a sensor array that was hidden within the Argolis Cluster and allowed the Dominion to track Starfleet ship movements.
Kivan was an Engineer, not a scientist. He did not understand the underlying technology or the gravitational variables that went into such a sensor. However, the one thing he was able to discern was series of tachyon dispersion signatures. The datafile contained well over a thousand and it would take hours to actual process the signatures and compare it to signatures found elsewhere on the station.
=/\= "Ma'am, I might have found the datafile we were looking for. It'll take some time to process everything. I'm making my way out of the immediate area before the security system detects my me or my program." The Engineer said.
With the Ensign finishing his part, Annora started wrapping up on her end. "I don't anticipate the new security measures to have a major impact on supply lines for any businesses, but if there are feel free to say something. That's all I can think of, any other legitimate concerns?"
"Are we done?" Dorian responded impatiently. The sooner he could get her out of the facility the better he would feel.
She noticed how he sidestepped her offer of help, but didn't comment on it.
"We are done. Everything checks out, thanks for your time."
Even if Kivan's spying failed to pan out, the meeting did provide Annora with a chance to better see how those running the Raddon Corporation felt.
"Dora, activate security protocols." Dorian called out to the artificial intelligence that oversaw the facility. "Perform level 2 diagnosis and submit report directly to me." He said as he proceeded to seal the entrance behind him.
Off:
Lt Annora Tessaro
Chief Security Officer
DS5
Ens. Kivan Ta'Gas
Assistant Engineer
DS5
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