Always delete your Web history

Posted on 14 Sep 2016 @ 10:42pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant JG Randolf Eklund

2,211 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 12 - Recluse
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Miraj's quarters
Timeline: MD -26 2045

[ON]

Randy sat at the computer console in security, trying not to fidget. Sifting through computer traces was an important part of the job. He understood that, but it still didn't make it any less tedious. Thankfully the computer itself helped out with much of the drudgiest of the drudge work. Things which met certain criteria were escalated to the top of the list for review. Sometimes that wasn't as helpful as it might seem.

For example, one crewman had made an inordinate number of searches about bombs. That certainly sent up a red flag. That is until Randy started digging around in the files actually reviewed. Apparently the crewman worked in the mess hall, and a dome-shaped cake was also called a 'bomb.' He now knew what was to be served at the birthday party scheduled for this coming Wednesday, and he didn't have to worry about a crewman blowing up the ship...at least not this crewman.

He moved on through the list. time after time the red flags proved to be more like red herrings. He was about two thirds of the way through the list when he came across something he couldn't easily explain.

Another crewman, he ran a locator program, Ensign Derani, was looking up information about pirates, and blockaded planets, and methods of clandestine contact. This was not good, not good at all. Randy was fairly open-minded and fair. He tried to give people the benefit of the doubt, no matter how many times he'd seen them fail to live up to that trust. He knew that there might be an innocent explanation for this, but it was an explanation he felt he needed to hear. Sooner rather than later.

He checked the ensign's schedule. She was currently off duty. He checked her location. She was in her quarters. On a whim, he checked to see if her computer was currently active. It was. And it was currently sifting through start charts of several sectors famous for harboring the worst of the lawless bands of criminals who preyed on unsuspecting freighters and too lightly armed personal craft.

Randy grabbed his phaser, attaching it to his waist, and headed out to get to the bottom of this potential threat. A few moments later the computer chimed inside Derani's quarters, announcing his arrival.

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One of the benefits of graduating the academy and becoming commissioned was getting a much needed upgrade in security clearance. Now they were well underway, she was determined to put that clearance to good use, and see what she could squeeze out of LCARS on pirate activity on this side of the quadrant, see if she could find anything more on her missing mother.

There was a sighting in 2382 of a Cort Shipyards Heavy Frigate, the Boslic made vessel of the same type as her mother's. The Serpents Tooth was developing a near mythical reputation. As in allegedly it existed, but no one had seen it. The heavy frigate mentioned hadn't been identified, but had been seen tearing away from Iconia by Deep Space Five, dodging the fighter wing's polite requests to stop by unleashing its entire rear batteries on the pursuing vessels and dropping a field of subspace mines that took a month to clear.

So it seemed that Lianej Derani had been lurking around that part of space before her disappearance. Miraj just wished she could talk to people who'd actually been around there, who might have met her mother and learned what the Boslic pirate had been trying to achieve.

So Miraj was lost in a world of ship to ship combat, boarding actions and blockade running when her doorbell chimed. She got up from her desk and went to the door.

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The door swished back and Randy was confronted by loud music, a woman's high voice singing a song about a Black Freighter. Standing in the door was a very young girl, candy pink hair in bunches, wearing a pair of thin cotton pyjamas with narrow purple and yellow stripes that gave made his eyes hurt to look at and clashed with her hair.

Randy blinked at the riot of color and noise. He didn't know how anyone could live like this and remain sane. Which of course reminded him why he was here. "Ensign Derani?" He asked the question, though he already knew he had the right person. It was a small ship, and he'd seen her picture in her service file on his way here.

Miraj looked straight into a broad chest so had to look up. And up. There was a very tall man at her door. A tall, and rather cute, man. "Er, yes?" She managed to get out. She was all wit today.

"Lieutenant Eklund, ma'am," Randy nodded, "Security. May I talk to you here for a few minutes? There are a few questions I need answered." He didn't say it, but talking here was a concession to her. The talking was going to happen, whether it was here or in the Security office. He looked over her shoulder, trying to see if she was alone in her quarters or not. It looked empty, and again, there was that music. Unless there were someone on board who could not hear, he was fairly certain that the music alone guaranteed that there was no one else willingly in the ensign's quarters.

"Er. Sure." SHe turned back into her cabin, and let out a piercing whistle from between two fingers. The music shut off. "Sorry. I find being in warp tends to send me to sleep if I'm not on duty. Galileo cruises very comfortably at warp. Its like lielng up against a giant purring kitty." She stood back to let him into her room, crammed with bricabrac and antiques with a piratical or nautical theme. Her prized sextant, telescopes, a pair of flintlock pistols crossed on the wall, a pirate flag hanging from the wall over her bed.

She indicated the sofa to him, and sat down in her desk chair, "What did you want to know?"

Randy felt the tension which had been building up in his neck begin to relax once the music stopped. He took a moment to look around the room, noting the number of pirate-related things on the walls, shelves, and tables. "Actually," he sat down and looked at the pistols on the wall, "I'm here to ask you about some security concerns. We've been passively monitoring computer usage within certain parameters. We're not keeping tabs on individual use, just trends and topics. Anything beyond that and we have to start analyzing the raw data. I tracked some suspicious activity back to you, or your computer. Would you mind telling me why a flight control officer might need the amount of information about pirates you've been accessing?"

Her face went as pink as her hair. "I'm researching. I'm looking for my mother. she went missing seven years ago."

"Your mother was taken by pirates?" Randy asked. "I'm sorry to hear that. I can look into the security investigation to see where it stands, if you'd like. I can't share any classified information, of course, but I'm betting those are files you can't get to. Do you remember who the investigating officer is, or at least where and when the kidnapping was first reported?"

"Errr..." Miraj managed to turn even pinker. "My mother wasn't kidnapped by pirates. She was a pirate."

"Oh," Randy paused for a moment. "Oh! Sorry. I just assumed... Never mind. Well, the crimes of a parent shouldn't be held against her child, so don't worry there, but you're still researching some very dark places. You're asking for scrutiny, especially if you're trying to contact pirates, regardless of any family connection.?"

"I know. But I'm not digging for state secrets. Just what I have authorisation for. I can't leave it. It's my mother. You wouldn't just leave it if it was your mother would you?" She looked at him with wide earnest eyes.

"I didn't mean to imply you shouldn't search for your mother, only that detailed searches about pirates and research into how to contact them is going to draw notice aboard a Starfleet vessel." Randy tried to explain. "I just wanted you to be aware that accessing that kind of information might come with some unanticipated consequences. You haven't done anything illegal, and you shouldn't get in trouble for research and investigation...we don't have a 'future crimes' component to Security...but you surely understand the security concerns this kind of interest raises."

She frowned, her brow ridges furrowing together. "But i'm not doing anything wrong. Its all stuff I have clearance for. I'm not exactly trying to dig out command top secret files."

"I know you're not doing anything illegal," Randy repeated, not quite sure how to make this clear. "Let's try an example. If I told you that I have been looking up, say, birthday rituals for an Andoran. That I'd been researching what sorts of foods are traditionally served there, the kinds of gifts that would be appropriate, what sorts of entertainment or party games are common for an Andoran's birthday.That I'm digging up anthropology texts from near the founding of the Federatoin, taking extensive notes. What do you think my reason for doing all that research might be?"

He let her think for just a moment. "Could I be doing research for the paper I'm doing on cross-cultural rituals for the cultural anthropology course I'm taking?

"Now suppose I added that I just started dating an Andoran, an Andoran with a birthday coming up? Would that bit of information change how you interpret my actions? Maybe I'm just a little too detail-oriented about things like this. Maybe I just want to do something nice for my new boyfriend. Maybe I'm still doing a paper on rituals and just coincidentally started dating an Andoran.

"Do you see how that new information might change how my behaviors are interpreted? It's the same thing here. Lots of detailed searched for the type of information you've been accessing tends to correlate to some behaviors I'd rather not have going on on a Starfleet vessel. I didn't have the piece of information about your mother. That changes how your behaviors look, but then again...I could still be writing a paper..." Randy hoped she would finish that thought for herself.

"You think I'm plotting piracy?" Miraj had and enormous grin on her face. that was both silly - she was well aware that piracy was wrong - and awesome that anyone would think she was capable of it.

"I didn't say you were plotting piracy," Randy said. "I didn't say you were not plotting piracy, either," he added with a grin. "All I meant is that your data searches match a pattern similar to that of those who are at greater risk of plotting piracy. That's what the computer flags. If I had looked up information pertaining to piracy once in the last...say two years while you had looked up," he pulled out his PADD and checked something, "27 things related to piracy in the last hours, whom do you think is going to get more scrutiny from Security? You. And not because you've done anything illegal yet, only because you've done something which fits a pattern."

"Twenty Seven?" had it been that many? She'd kind of lost count. "But now you know its me, so its not an issue any more?" she asked brightly. "Right?"

"I know it's you," Randy agreed, "but I don't really know you. I don't believe you're a threat. That's what I'm going to note in my report. That doesn't mean that you might not get follow up visits from me or others in Security, though. Again, this is not you, but some people can become...sympathetic...to causes if they research them enough or have some kind of predisposition to support them. We may keep checking just to make sure no problems develop."

"Oh." Miraj could see his concern. at the academy everyone had become used to her habits and taken no notice of her searching the news feeds for signs of pirate activity. Here, no-one was used to her. She was going to have to build the tolerance and relationships all over again. "you mean you have to keep coming to see me?" He was cute, she wouldn't mind that at all.

"Well," Randy was a little flustered at just how enthusiastic Miraj seemed about him coming to see her. People weren't generally pumped about Security showing up on their doorsteps. "Yes, I suppose it could be me. But it could be one of the other Security officers as well. I'll make a note so that they know the context before jumping to any conclusions, though."

"Well that doesn't sound so bad." she decided. Another thought occurred to her. He outranked her, that meant his clearance was higher than hers. "Or you could look for me? that way you'll know I won't be being warped into a live of piracy and crime."

[TRUNCATED]

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LTJG Randolf Eklund
ACSTO
USS Galileo

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

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