Bluescreen (Part 2)

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

2,540 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2, Lieutenant Panne's Quaters
Timeline: MD08 0830 Hours

[Continued]

Being the light sleeper that she was, the sound of Kiri's voice woke Maenad up instantly. She was half-terrified for a few seconds, trying to figure out if Kiri were somewhere in her room or if she were indeed going crazy. The crazy option was not wholly impossible, after all. "Computer, what time is it?" Maenad asked, sitting upright in her bed.

"0840 hours," the computer told her.

"Oh my god..." was all she could whisper. Maenad turned around and pulled open her blackout curtains, flooding her room with light. She had only been asleep for a little more than four hours; she hadn't planned on getting up before noon, and was not at all impressed. With a sigh, she fumbled around her night table for her commbadge, knocking an empty glass onto the floor and spilling an open bottle of sleeping pills. A total of ten seconds had passed since Kiri's voice had woken her.

"Panne here," she finally replied, her voice somewhere between impatience and indifference.

To make her nightmare complete, the carrying voice of Liyar answered her. "We require your assistance. It is of moderate concern."

Maenad made a silent groan before replying. She could have sworn it was Kiri who woken her up, not Liyar. She threw back the covers and swung her bare legs over the side of the bed. "Is Cho there with you, Liyar?" Maenad got up now, put on her uniform and stepped into the bathroom. She looked herself over in the mirror before splashing her face with cold water.

"Affirmative, Lieutenant," Liyar said over the comm, confirming she was not in fact crazy. "Lieutenant Cho and I are on our way to your quarters now."

"Acknowledged," she replied from the doorway of her bathroom. Her hair was frayed, but she didn't care enough to do anything about it. She got the commbadge from her bedside and pinned it on her uniform, then rushed into the living area of her quarters. She replicated a pot of Earl Grey and some teacups, setting the tray on her kitchen table. They would be here any second, and she didn't want to give the impression that she was being inconvenienced. Being a senior officer meant that she had to carry a certain decorum, and being inconvenienced by her subordinates was not included.

Kiri was about to speak when Liyar her off before, after that she couldn't get a word in edgeways. She'd been looking forward to another chance to talk to Maenad, reporting what had happened. In a way Kiri was proud of herself, even if it all happened by chance. On the way to the Lieutenants quarters she kept her silence, eyes forwards and stance ridged, trying to take her mind off the pain in her nose or the front of her head. After a short turbolift ride they arrived Kiri being closer pressed the door chime.

Liyar stood behind Kiri, off to the side, with his hands clasped behind his back in deference to Cho. Panne was her superior, after all.

Maenad was just finishing pouring herself a cup of tea when the chime sounded. She replaced the pot on the tray and went to let in her coming guests. The doors opened revealing a nighmarish-looking Kiri and the ever-stoic Liyar; a mental tsunami flooded Maenad's thoughts with sudden worry. Kiri was sickly pale, her eyes bloodshot, and the edges of her nostrils were redder than they should have been. It felt weird that she wanted to care for her all of a sudden, but she had to suppress her inexplicable instinct to do something. Most of all, she knew Kiri well enough by now that to ask her what was wrong in front of someone else would make her uncomfortable.

"Good morning," she said to them, stepping aside for them to enter. Maenad's quarters had a relaxing, subdued, feeling to it. The air was fresh and flowery-scented from the generous, perhaps excessive, amount of plants she had; on either side of the large sofa beneath the windows, behind its flanking endtables and between the two living room chairs, was a Ming Aralia and a bamboo palm. The sills of the windows that made the entirety of the back wall were lined with many smaller potted plants and colourful flowers, and small ceramic hand-painted animal figures. There were even some ridiculous-looking fake feathered birds perched in some of the plants. A vine was attached to one of the pieces of bulkhead that divided the windows, which grew up until it hit the ceiling. Separate from the living area, which was immediately in front of the entrance, off to the right was a wooden bookshelf and desk. The shelf was mostly filled with novels and notebooks, she kept most of her 'smarter' titles in her office on deck four. The desk had a reading lamp on it and several black hardbound notebooks as well; various pens and pencils were strewn carelessly across its surface, and a shameless near-empty bottle of wine stood accompanied by its empty glass. There was an open package of cigarettes too, but no ashtray. On the walls were a few suprematist paintings by Kazimir Malevich, including Red Square near the doorway and Red Cavalry. There were also some works by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, her favourite being A 19. The kitchen area, to the left when coming in, was the cleanest of her her entire quarters; the wooden dining table surrounded by four pushed-in chairs had only a vase of daisies and the tray of tea that she had just replicated. There, too, was wood and glass-paned wine cabinet that was barely half-full. Everywhere else, the floor betrayed her often severe impressions, suggesting that she undressed herself carelessly, there being several articles of clothing tossed about. "What seems to be the problem?" she asked as the doors closed behind them.

Kiri had to marvel, she hadn't seen her bosses quarters yet. Her own was a room with no windows, a sloped ceiling few a few storage units and a computer terminal. The only decoration were a few picture and a single sculpture. To have more than a single room was more than she was used to, still it felt safe, crammed between a bulkhead and a shielded EPS conduit. She wanted plants and planed to obtain some, yet it had seemed to slip from her mind. Even though it had been only a short while since she joined the ship, this room was so vibrant, alive. Nothing like Kiri's home on Earth, or even the other rooms on the ship she had been to. The paintings were colourful, it seemed bright all around, it even smelt alive, that was more like home. The fact that the young woman was inspecting the room was clear, her silence holding for several seconds as she took it all in. Letting out how impressed she was in her own small way, silently. It even came across in the smile she gave willingly and without pause to Maenad, "Good morning sir." Raising her palm to show the green data rod, light shafting through it casting its colour onto her uniform. Now her tone shifted towards a more formal one, "At zero eight twenty hours Lieutenant Junior Grade Liyar sought my help to deal with a computer problem. I discovered they were caused by the defence programs of this datarod. It has a high level of Starfleet encryption. It is possible we have a security information breach, even if it is just a mistake by a member of the crew." That covered most of the situation but Kiri was sure there would be more questions.

After Kiri walked in, Liyar ducked in behind her. He noted the layout for reference as he did every other area of the ship he'd been in so far, and took in the large variety of plants, paper books and paintings he didn't recognize intermixed functionally with the metal and plastic of Starfleet standard issue. He listened silently while they spoke, and noted a half-empty wine cabinet at a point just beyond Maenad's left shoulder.

Maenad's eyebrows knitted, not entirely sure if she had understood. "One second," she said. "Do you mean that somebody has accessed secret information, such as files related to the previous mission, or that someone has accessed the ship's security and weapons systems?" Both had serious implications that meant trouble.

"Neither sir," Kiri took a pause, "Of the three personnel known to come into contact with this rod, that I know of none of them have accessed its contents. Other than it is encrypted I have no idea what it contacts if anything at all. The concern is that it was possible to gain physical assess of it at all, Lieutenant Liyar says it was inside a standard storage locker."

"We believe that it was misplaced by someone with higher authority than either of us," Liyar filled in, stepping forward slightly. "It was an error on behalf of whomever left it behind. Regardless, I must belabor the point," Liyar said, casting a glance at Kiri. He knew that being scientists, they probably did not put much stock in that which they could not see or hear, but he felt it would be remiss to omit the information. "This person is of questionable merit. Their intentions were shielded, secretive. Additionally, they do not match the mental profile of any remaining crewmember." With shore leave and a good five days, Liyar had familiarized himself with just about everybody still on board even if they hadn't spoken. It was a product of his V'Shar training. Always get as much information as you can about your environment. "The isolinear rod was then obtained by Crewman Athlen from the public requisitions locker, at my request. Neither Crewman Athlen nor myself recognized any distinguishable difference between this rod or any other. While it worked for a time, after a certain amount of data was amassed, it triggered a shutdown sequence which terminated the active processes in console station one," Liyar summarized neatly. He stepped back, having said his piece, and left them to determine the rest.

Maenad was beginning to think that this was an overreaction, but she didn't show it. "Have you checked the ship's internal sensors and personnel monitoring systems? We could find out everyone who's been in science lab two over the past few days, give us a clue as to whose this might be."

Kiri swallowed, remaining standing near the doorway, "Not yet, the pressing concern was securing the rod and reporting the situation, sir." Kiri wanted to hand it over but for now waited, her hand slightly outstretched.
"If you would like I can conduct an review of all materials, if you would rather it remained in the department." This was by the book, she knew she wasn't wrong here, her confidence showed somewhat.

Maenad nodded. She wondered whether her clearance was high enough to access the information held in the rod. "Let's check the internal sensor records first," she said. "We'll see who it belongs to before we try to figure out what's on it." Maenad wouldn't want her information prodded into just for leaving a data rod behind, so she thought she would give their mystery man the benefit of the doubt - at least for now. "If the sensor logs don't give us any answers, I will attempt to access the rod myself. If that fails, I'll take it to security and report it to Commander Holliday."

Maenad was leaning against the dining table with her arms folded on her chest, she turned to lift the cup of tea she had poured herself. "Tea?" she asked both Kiri and Liyar, then took a sip from her cup.

While tea was rather appealing Kiri wanted to get this sorted first, would it wait, would it be rude? To her, this was important, best not to put it off. Her confidence shrunk slightly, "May I check the sensor logs first sir?" Motioning towards the terminal on the desk, trying not to be distracted by the strewn clothes. There was now an urge to clean up as well, it wasn't helping.

Liyar stared, blankly, at the two of them. The words of his brother echoed ironically in his head, a brief memory. Starfleet is nothing like the V'Ket Miran, Liyar. Sekhet's words had been lilting, amused at the time with a preconceived notion that Liyar was going to find quite a lot of things to get used to. Liyar, faced with that abrupt reality now dealing with his psi-null counterparts, could only concur. "Negative, Lieutenant," he said to Maenad on the tea front. "If my presence is not required any further, I shall depart."

Curious at Liyar's sudden request to leave, Maenad looked at him. She heard Kiri, but she ignored her for the moment. Her asking them for tea wasn't meant as a social, but as a 'something to sip on while talking', and Maenad really didn't feel like explaining the difference right now. "What were you doing in science lab two, Mister Liyar, before you found this?" she asked casually. She didn't think that he had anything to do with what was going on, but it was a legitimate question. He was a diplomatic officer, but he spent a good deal of time in her department.

Liyar had assumed that she was being social, but didn't comment on it, instead directly answering her question. "The significant damage to your vessel prevents me from doing my job from within my own department," Liyar explained. "I have therefore sought to utilize the consoles in the science lab, which have been given priority maintenance. I have logged all requests for usage. As for the work, it is the Eridani sector resource allocation analysis for the Federation. The data should still be located in science laboratory two, if Lieutenant Cho is capable of salvaging it," he said impassively.

"I'm not questioning whether you have authorisation," she eased him, then took another sip of her tea. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Mister Liyar," Maenad gave the vulcan a dismissive nod. "Shall we proceed with the sensor logs?" she asked Kiri.

Since she hadn't been given permission to do anything Kiri had remained standing by the door listening to them. Before he left thought she felt the need to add, keeping her tone soft, "I already restored the work you where doing, as well a logging a record of the hours prior to the errors in the system." The last part was almost a warning but to her it was more of a reminder that if there was any evidence there she had it saved. Returning to the matter at hand, "Yes sir," Kiri moved towards the terminal, placing the datarod on the desk.

Liyar gave a brief nod in their direction before turning and exiting out the sliding doors.

[OFF]
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Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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

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

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