Bluescreen (Part 1)

Posted on 18 Nov 2012 @ 6:07pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho

2,346 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 4, Science Office/Science Lab Two
Timeline: MD08 0820 Hours

[ON]

Liyar stared down at the LCARS panel he had been working on for the last four days, and watched emotionlessly as several pieces of crucial data files disappeared without warning, and the screen they were on turn fuzzy and glitchy, random lines sticking out and colors blurring. If he were human, he might have cursed in frustration or even banged the thing with his hand.

But he was not human, and so he did nothing. He knelt down and began a systems check, hoping to retrieve the datarod and reverse extract the files embedded in its firmware. Unfortunately, the rod was stuck, for lack of a better word. The processes that normally would release it were telling him access unauthorized, please consult administrator.

He mentally went through the personnel who were responsible for repairing the damage that the Galileo incurred, and came up with Kiri Cho for the sciences department. The Trill who organized the training session. Liyar stood and made his way to her office. If he couldn't get his data back, perhaps she would have the authorization required. He rang the chime to her office and waited for the door to open.

Kiri's attention was buried in the requisitions and requests involved the new sensor set up. Almost all the work was being done by members of the Core of Engineers but she was still doing almost all of the paper work. It didn't help that her brain was clouded thanks to her lack of any consistent sleep. So when the chime went she didn't exactly remember where she was at first, answering by reflex, "Enter."

After the door slid open, the Vulcan strode in, hands behind his back, and settled a blank stare down on her. "Lieutenant Cho, you are responsible for the science department repair team." It was a question. It just didn't sound like one. "The computer terminal I am using has malfunctioned. It will not allow me to extract my work without proper authorization. As I have proper authorization, this is a glitch. I do not understand your Starfleet system well enough to fix it by myself. You will fix it." His voice was deep and flat, and sounded like it could carry with little effort.

Looking up from the scrolling reams of data from the updated operating system Kiri looked stunned. Her head now upright she could again feel how raw and tender the inside of her nose was. Having not moved in two hours had helped her forget, not any more. She just wanted to scratch at it, not that it would help, not that she would let herself. The demands made of her fell on muted ears, dull orders that processed much slower than normal. Rising to her feet slightly shakily she responded, "What have you been working on?" The correct question to ask why why he wasn't asking operations for help, but she wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders. Today her hair was loose, cascading over her shoulders in a dark mass. The bags under her eyes were again hidden but the bloodshot whites couldn't be.

Liyar blinked at her. As he paused to listen to her response, the aura of the room seeped through, where before he had his shields up to full capacity. The only acknowledgment he gave of her distress, was the blink, and a slight hesitation before he spoke. "I am working in science laboratory two on console one. It is mathematical data. You are responsible for the repair teams in the science labs. You will be successful in assisting me." He kept watching her, though, as if he were scrutinizing her.

Kiri's friend Sellen wasn't anything like this Vulcan she was starting to realise. There was no passive kindness, just demands it was starting to scare her somewhat even as she complied, "I will try," She followed him towards where he had been working, starting to wake up more as she did so.

Liyar took in her reactions impassively, before turning and striding out. He could feel her fear, and anxiety, but unlike the simulator programs he had run, he had no idea what to do. Like the days before, his attempt to be congenial was awkward, even downright harsh. Why didn't he have this problem with Athlen or Coleman? His pace quickened as he went through the situation in his head, with the feelings and sensations of the shorter girl behind him tapping on his mental fishbowl.

It was a reminder that this wasn't a test. It was reality, and he was failing. He paused outside the door to science lab two and looked back at her, hand stilled over the entry pad. He seemed to frown almost minutely, before he offered, "Thank you for accepting my request." The door opened and he walked through, guiding her to the console which begun to emit a loud beeping noise in his absence. Liyar stared at it before saying, almost conversationally, "The problem appears to have escalated."

Kiri managed a small smile when he thanked her, but now she had time to think at no point was it a request. Taking a seat she looked at the controls, she didn't know what the real problem was. The terminal had reached an error on all levels and was now starting to over heat. This wasn't something that could normally happen. So she did the two things that came to mind right away, moving all the working memory to the computer core in a partitioned drive, then turned it off. Remaining seated for several seconds she looked to him, remembering the way he had taken the phaser apart a few days ago. Her voice raspy and quiet, "Have you made any changes to the terminal?"

"I switched the mathematical input to base-3 and changed the linguistic setting to my native language," Liyar told her outright. "I was assured by Starfleet Command this was acceptable. Did that damage it?"

"No," Kiri shook her head, "It is either a cascade failure of safety systems or a mechanical fault," Shifting herself from the chair to remove the panel under the terminal Kiri fiddled for a few seconds and removed the datarod. She could move to the other terminal in the room, restore the memory and see if she could extract the data he wanted. Or test to see if there was indeed some sort of very strange software failure.

Liyar peered over her shoulder, but refrained from commenting as she worked. He clasped his hands behind his back once more and stood silently, memorizing what she was doing. Only after she seemed to be working for a long time did he point at something flashing in the corner. It was spitting out something in strange script. Liyar translated it. "It says you do not have authorized access. That you require an administrator." Liyar tilted his head. Obviously the assistant chief would have that capacity. Rows upon rows of the same winding script started to appear, which Liyar read off. "Remove hard drive and seal all data ports. Data safety network inoperative."

There was something she had missed, the problem only happened when she inserted the datarod, that narrowed down what the problems where. There was also a torrent of information to reply to, "I have the same security clearance that you do, there are also no hardrives on these terminals." Having narrowed the problem down to a prime suspect she asked, "Where did you get this datarod from?" She stood up to get a tricorder from the wall, hoping to solve this quickly.

"I retrieved it in the requisitions locker," Liyar supplied. "I assumed it to be fully functional. I was not familiar enough with this design to determine otherwise. Terminal now commencing purge of data," he read out loud and moved, but it was too late. The computer turned dark. Liyar closed his eyes for a fraction of a second at the thought of potentially losing two month's worth of data. He projected the same calm, immobile aura as ever. "I assume the concern is related to the isolinear rod."

Kiri wasn't worried, the data was safe right where she had left it, there were also hourly backups at a minimum. Scanning the rod she had her suspicions confirmed. The rod has been encrypted to a high level, "We do not have the clearance to use this datarod, it uses a hostile attack program to stop unauthorised use." This was the cause of the problems he was having. The larger question was how this rod happened to be in a requisition locker.

"Why was this left in a public requisitions area?" Liyar asked, watching her run her scans. He carefully picked it up out of her hands, avoiding the prospect of actually touching her, and set it on his palm. He closed his other hand over it and focused on it. "Crewman Tares, sifting over it. It did not suit her purpose. Then, Crewman Athlen. He was the one to give it to me. From the locker. Before this, someone. Left it there, an absent movement. It was a mistake. They did not intend to leave it behind. I do not recognize their signature. It is unusual." Liyar opened his eyes.

"If you allow me a moment to restore your data and save it to your personal section on the main computer, we can complete a chain of custody." She as an officer again now, knowing what to do in the situation. This is an item of classified information, it needed to be reported and she had to be careful not to cast suspicion on herself. The question was who to report it to, logically it should be Lieutenant Panne but was that wise?

"Affirmative." He held out the rod to her and followed her to another terminal. "It would be prudent to inform Lieutenant Coleman of this. She is the chief intelligence officer. As it was my negligence, I will take responsibility. I do not recognize the signature of who this belongs to, but I noted some rather questionable intentions."

Keeping the yellow rod folded in her palm as she typed Kiri felt the need to add, "Or someone made a mistake." Kiri didn't feel the need to add that many people did not spend much time writing by hand, there could be lots of benign reasons for this happening. It took only a few seconds for her to sort out his work and save it before resetting and locking both terminals. Making sure she had a firm grip of the rod she turned to him, noticing how much taller than her he was, "I think we should report this to Lieutenant Panne first." Chances were she was closest and it happened in her department, she would then be able to report it to Lieutenant Coleman or the XO as she saw fit.

Liyar was noticing a lot of strange behavior happening on the ship lately. First Ni Dhuinn, then Trisant, Cho, and now this. He wasn't sure what was happening exactly, but the atmosphere on the ship felt far different than the atmosphere on the planet. There was no logical reason to suspect anything amiss, but Liyar had learned a long time ago not to doubt his psionic impressions. Rather than press the point, he merely inclined his head, filing the information away for himself. Maybe it was nothing. "As you say." He stared at her for a while longer, almost like he was attempting to see through her, but tilted his head toward the side. "Do you wish for me to accompany you."

"If you would," Kiri nodded. The idea was that if both of them were there when they handed over the datarod then neither of them, well at least she couldn't be a suspect. At no point had she been alone with the rod, while it was more or less procedure the Captain already didn't seem to trust her when it came to computers. Standing up she took a breath, then a thin scarlet line started to run from her nose to her lip. Feeling it tickle her skin by instinct she raised her index finger and turned away. As soon as it had started it had stopped, this time. Still keeping her back from Liyar she sucked the blood from the crook of her finger before licking the tip and wiping away the rest, her nose hurt again.

"I will," Liyar agreed. He made no movement when she turned away, but spoke calmly after an awkward silence befell them once again. "You are unwell." This time it wasn't a question at all. If Liyar hadn't been paying attention, he might have missed it, but the telltale movements and the resulting flash of strangeness cued the Vulcan in.

"It is just a nosebleed," She had them before, when she was younger. This was one of the worse spells she had ever had, waking up covered in her own blood had only happened once before but it wasn't anything serious. When she was little her parents had taken her to a doctor about it, short of a restructuring of her nasal blood vessels there wasn't a whole lot they could do. It had gotten better as she got older anyway, until now. Turning to face him she forced a smile, "Shall we go?"

Liyar didn't respond to the assurance she was well, but blinked in acquiescence. "We shall." He gestured to the door and headed out first.

Starting into the corridor Kiri pressed her combadge, "Lieutenant Cho to Lieutenant Panne." It was early but Kiri hoped that she was up, it wasn't that early. It was important enough to wake her up though, she could be confident in that.

[TBC]

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Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, SDD/VDF
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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