Science Officer, Sensor Specialist, Computer Expert, Spy?

Posted on 10 Jun 2012 @ 11:01am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Kiri Cho

2,667 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 07 - 1130 hrs

[ON]

As she sat in her office, Lirha browsed through Ensign Cho's personnel file on her desk's computer terminal. The captain had been rather concerned over the past half hour, ever since Commander Holliday had approached her with the suspicion of a possible saboteur. At first, the idea had seemed ludicrous and far-fetched to Lirha, but as she gave it more thought, she realized that such a security breach was not outside the realm of possibility. And, as commanding officer of Galileo, it was her responsibility to follow through on any potential threats to her ship and crew. Adjusting herself in her chair and running a hand through her dark hair, she sighed as she pondered the situation. Kiri was someone with whom Lirha was not very familiar, but from what she had seen of her on the bridge, she seemed...a bit strange. With a tap of her commbadge, she quietly summoned her to her ready room. "Commander Saalm to Ensign Cho, please report to my office." she said, then leaned back in her chair as she waited for the young Trill woman to arrive.

Kiri was on the bridge at her station when the call came through. Working her way through the sensor readings that she had been pulling apart strand by strand. Looking for weaknesses in the cloaks the Klingons were using. She had made a tiny bit of headway, assuming that she was given enough time to scan for them. It was slightly harder than normal, since she hadn't gotten any sleep at all the night before. Instead she had been struggling through some of her problems with her counsellor. Then the call to her combadge struck her dumb. Without thinking her legs started to walk her towards the captains ready room, her mind storming. Once she was at the door she pressed the chime, announcing herself, "Ensign Cho reporting captain." her voice was timid again, worried about what this could be about. Would it be about the computers, something else? Had Brayden broken his word and talked to the captain about her, was she going to be sent home?

"Enter." the captain called out from inside her office, then looked up from her desk's computer towards the door as she mentally prepared herself to deal with the science officer standing outside her door.

Very gingerly Kiri entered, finding a spot in the middle of the room where she stood rigidly to attention. Feeling rather worried by the green skinned woman that to her, held her life in her hands. Not saying anything but clearly looking a worried by the whole thing.

Lirha took in the sight of the blue-collared science officer and immediately noticed her shy and timid demeanor as she stood silently and firmly in front of her desk. "At ease, Ensign." she said with a small smile to put her at ease, then extended her hand to a nearby chair indicating for her to sit. "Please, take a seat. May I get you a drink or a snack?" she asked, her eyes flickering towards the replicator on the far wall. It was part of her plan, of course, to put the young woman at ease before beginning the line of questioning. Her years as an intelligence officer had unfortunately given Lirha ample experience in interrogations, and though this would not be nearly as severe of an experience, it nonetheless helped to have the Ensign relaxed and comfortable.

Relaxing in stance alone Kiri took the offer of the seat, taking her place neatly with her hands in her lap. The offer of food or water wasn't something she could take up though. It would disrupt her own carefully planned diet and Kiri didn't like to drink anything while on duty. Shaking her head only slightly she answered, "No thank you sir." At ease she was not. An Ensign barely a week out of the academy now in the presence of her captain. Relaxing wasn't in her repertoire as it stood anyway, let alone now.

"Very well." Lirha replied, watching as Kiri declined her offer then sat down in the chair across the desk. Clearing her throat, the captain spoke again. "How are you settling in aboard Galileo so far, Ensign?" she asked in a rather casual tone, her intentions hidden from sight.

Lying to the captain didn't feel like a good idea, telling the truth seemed less so. Saying that she didn't feel like she fitted in, that very few people seemed to like her. Despite what she felt was her best efforts. Would she really be here if there wasn't a problem though? The captain likely knew everything about her, she couldn't lie, it wasn't allowed. With a deep breath she answered, "My work is adequate, but currently I don't fit in." Her hands squeezed each other. It wasn't the answer she wanted to give, but there was no choice.

Lirha raised a surprised eyebrow at the Trill woman. The answer she had given was not at all what the captain had expected, and she now had a mixed range of emotions run through her. Part of her wanted to ignore the comment and continue on with the informal questioning, yet her duties as a captain and her caring personality told her she needed to tend to the young woman's mental health. That was, of course, if she was not a saboteur or some type of covert operative. "Why do you feel that way?" she asked curiously, hoping to get Kiri to speak more and open up.

Kiri really didn't want to talk about it. Not to the captain, not after the night before. The uncomfort was now extremely clear, the girl's breathing sharper, "Doctor White, he says I don't understand how to make friends, that it takes time." This wasn't that she was expecting and the barrier in her head between her mask and a well of tears was very fragile.

"Well, I'm sure that's not exactly what he meant." she replied, her eyes studying Kiri intently. The woman had become visibly tense and appeared to be in discomfort, a possible sign that she was nervous and trying to hide something by putting on a facade. Or, it was completely possible that she was a young Starfleet officer who was socially awkward and indeed did not understand how to form friendships. It took a long moment of thought before Lirha decided she needed to stay focused on her original intentions. Shifting in her chair, she folded her green hands in her lap and spoke again. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Miss Cho. I'm sure Lieutenant White will do his best to help you with whatever issues you might be having. In the meantime, I would like to ask you a few questions, since I've not had the opportunity to speak to you personally since you came aboard."

It was the little things that Kiri picked up on. Right now each of them shone in a negative light. That the captain had called Doctor White, Lieutenant even though Kiri was sure last time she checked he wasn't part of Starfleet, he had never worn a rank. In turn she had been called Miss instead of ensign, did that mean that the captain didn't regard her of that rank? Was this not a formal meeting? Not relaxing at all with a furrowed brow she thought hard as the captain kept speaking. There was no way she could refuse the questions, even if the conversation had taken a downward turn for her. Remaining stock still the girl replied in her quiet wavering tone, "Very well Captain."

The captain glanced at her computer screen for a moment before looking back at Kiri. "I see from your Academy records that you are well-versed in computer programming and mathematics." she began in a casual tone, "Where did you learn those skills?" she asked.

No one had asked her a question like that before, "The basics were at school, the more advanced parts with my friends and by myself until I took modules at the Academy, sir." Even then she had taken a fair amount on by herself.

Lirha considered her answer for a brief moment before continuing. "Yes, I saw that one of your instructors noted that you had a natural talent for working with code. Do you use your skills as a hobby?" she asked as she fiddled with her thumbs under the desk, "Perhaps some programming in your free time?"

Trying her best to smile Kiri shook her head, "Rarely captain, I try to use them to better refine the ships sensor readings, other things to that nature." Should she talk about that? Well she was the captain, "I used them when we were upgrading the shuttle craft, and with the problems in the computer core."

"Yes...the computer core." she replied quietly, her eyes now locked intently on Kiri. "I read the report about some of the malfunctions we have been experiencing." she began, "What did you discover was the problem when you investigated further?" she asked, secretly surveying the woman's facial expressions and body language for any sign of false information.

Looking uncomfortable because she had failed in this respect she answered, "I'm afraid I haven't found an answer yet Captain, but I can keep working until I do." Pausing for a few seconds she looked even more uncomfortable, "There doesn't seem to be any evidence left of what caused it so far, I think the malfunctions may have erased it." Was this what the meeting was about? The fact that she had failed to find a cause, that she had failed? Failure wasn't something Kiri took lightly.

"How can there be no evidence of a malfunction?" Lirha asked, her voice betraying a hint of her annoyance as she studied the Trill woman. She was not pleased with the vague answer the ensign had just provided, and it hinted towards some type of weak cover-up.

Kiri was confused, hadn't she just said that? Yet more uncomfortable with her eyes fixed hard on her knees she repeated in more detail, her voice shaking, "I fixed the malfunctions and I provided all the documented evidence to Lieutenant Commander Remington, but I haven't been able to find their root cause. It seems unlikely to me it just happened by chance, Captain." If it wasn't completely against how she was taught to act, Kiri would be fidgeting, still she looked extremely tense and even a little guilty.

"Yes, I agree that it is unlikely to be a random malfunction." she began, "And as one of the few crew members with the knowledge of programming involved, I would have expected you to be able to tell me more." she said with an intense green stare of her eyes. The young ensign looked guilty as sin, her body tight and rigid in obvious discomfort in front of her captain. Lirha was half tempted to call security right then and there to have Kiri confined to quarters. But, of course, she had no proof yet of any wrongdoing, and mannerisms alone were not sufficient grounds to incarcerate a crew member.

Had Lieutenant Commander Remington not made her report available to the captain then? Kiri thought that it would have been one of the first things he would have done, it cast doubts in her mind. reaching back she pulled the report from her own mind and tried to piece together an overview. Stammering she reported, "As of sixteen hundred hours yesterday I had discovered twenty three instances of computer command related malfunctions. All most all of them were in unrelated systems, most were in minor systems such as waste processors and internal communication relays, though it was also part of the reason behind the warp core failure three days ago at thirteen forty hours. I repaired all of them and since then I haven't discovered any new malfunctions as of yet. The computer logs have been erased almost completely, as have update logs. The computer reports no problems, but it didn't when there were errors before. It would take weeks for a team of specialist to check it completely. I think it would take at least a hundred hours of work just to ensure that the critical systems were unaffected. I haven't found any evidence of what caused the core to be corrupted yet, if it was a person then they erased any way of identifying them." When she spoke it was eyes forwards, the way she had been taught to report to a superior officer. Her uncomfort was still clear though, mostly growing from her own sense of failure.

A much better answer, the captain thought as she sat there quietly and dissected various parts of Kiri's report. Although she had been briefed by both her chief engineering and operations officers, it was nonetheless good to hear it from the ensign's own mouth. The situation was delicate and Lirha did her best to figure out as much as possible. "Besides yourself, who else have you seen working on the computer core?" she asked.

Kiri had taken her own line of self questioning in this direction, the only problem was, before yesterday, she hadn't even been in the computer core here. Calming just a little bit she answered, "I have only been to the computer core once since I embarked on the ship. That was yesterday and the only other person I saw there was Chief Petty Officer Willis when I requested him," The ensign took a breath, "The computer logs are gone and internal sensor logs for that deck and several others have also been affected, so anyone could have had access prior to two days ago."

"I see." she replied quietly. "And Chief Petty Officer Willis...he was present with you while you performed your diagnostics?" she asked.

"No Captain," Kiri glanced up at her before looking down, "After he applied my update to the system he left, I was alone until nineteen hundred hours."

Lirha sat quietly for a moment before speaking again, her green eyes once again locked on the blue-collared woman in front of her. "As far as you are aware, has he accessed the computer core since he applied the update?" she asked.

"No sir," Her tone was a lot more confident on that.

The captain didn't like being called 'Sir'. It had happened several times during the conversation and now it was beginning to annoy her. And she didn't like being deceived, either, which is what she suspected the science officer in front of her had just attempted to do. For the moment, Lirha had no more questions. If she prodded any further, she would risk revealing her advantage and possibly alert Kiri to her suspicions. "Very well. I have no further questions for you." she said curtly in an even tone.

Feeling confused and rather accused Kiri slowly stood up, not sure if she should be doing so. She was even more unsure if she should start to leave or not. While it was the impression she got, the green skinned woman hadn't said dismissed. Trying to deal with it in her head she didn't look very comfortable.

Lirha watched silently as Kiri stood and waited awkwardly in the middle of the room. Several long moments passed before she finally spoke. "Dismissed." she finally said simply, her green eyes staring with a penetrating gaze at the blue-collared woman.

Pretty confident that her first meeting with the captain went badly didn't help Kiri's current mindset. That every time she interacted with anyone on the ship it seemed to end badly. Her entire body drooping Kiri returned to her station on the bridge, trying not to think too much. She was tired and fragile, she just wanted to curl up somewhere and disappear.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Kiri Cho
Science Officer/Sensor Specialist
USS Galileo

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