Detective Work

Posted on 30 Nov 2012 @ 1:46pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho

3,598 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo, Deck 2 - Dr. Panne's Quaters, Deck 4 - Computer Lab
Timeline: MD08 0855 hours

[ON]

Maenad led the way to the computer terminal in her quarters which, being a senior officer, had all the perks of a computer in her office or the science labs - including access to sensor records. She moved behind the desk, gesturing Kiri to follow her, pushed the rolling chair aside so there was room for the two of them, and she leaned against the desk with one arm while she activated the computer with the other. She first had to enter her authorisation and access codes.

"Computer, show me a record of everyone who has been in science lab two over the past twenty-four hours and sort by most recent," Maenad commanded. There was a chirping sound as the computer did whatever it did and a list of ranks, names, and positions were listed. Maenad, still leaning over the desk, turned to look at Kiri. "Anything jump out at you?"

Keeping her hands in her lap Kiri watched the screen but nothing came to mind, everyone that was listed seemed to have access and none of them seemed to be doing anything odd. Bending slightly, she looked closer but still nothing, "No sir."

Maenad sighed through her nose and turned back to face the screen. There weren't that many names to choose from, either. There were maybe a little more than a dozen, and four of them were Kiri, Athlen, Liyar, and herself. So, really, that limited their options to about ten people. None of them had officer clearance, and a few of them were civilians. In order to narrow the search, they would need to know what time the datarod had appeared. "Before what time was the rod not in the lab, Miss Cho?" Maenad asked. Knowing this would considerably narrow the possibilities.

"The last inventory of that lab took place three days ago at eighteen hundred hours, it wasn't present at that time." Thinking back over status reports Kiri paused, "The day after the lab was closed for maintenance and the locker should have been locked." That left them with one day and a few hours, "Lieutenant Liya was using it for the first time today, so it is likely he was only given it today." She wasn't sure if that helped but couldn't they watch through the visual logs? There was also, "Were the sensors off-line at any point?"

"Good question," Maenad tapped away on the computer some more and learned that, yes, they were. "It seems so," she said, standing upright and crossing her arms across her chest. "They were taken offline for a period of about five minutes beginning at..." Maenad looked back down at the screen, "This morning at 0403." She looked at Kiri now, "Any idea why?"

"Every few days they are taken offline in sequence to allow for system updates and maintenance that but the timing is different every time and known only to the Senior Officers," Kiri didn't know if the Science department was included in knowing about it, she had never thought to find out. "Other than that they shouldn't have gone off line at any point I know of."

Maenad frowned. This meant that someone had deliberately turned off the sensors and was up to something in the science lab that morning. "Is there a way to find out who deactivated the lab sensors and from where they did it?"

"Computer, display all access logs that would effect the internal sensors of Science Lab Two in the last four days," There were several things Kiri could try to do to find out more, several of them would land her in a lot of trouble though.

After a second the computer replied, "There are six access that match your request, two are restricted." The four that Kiri had access to see were now on the screen, it would take a moment before she could read them though.

"Do you need my access codes?" Maenad asked, looking at the screen too.

"Maybe," Kiri read the last entry she could see again, "But it might be that one, "Power was rerouted at sub-junction twelve at zero three fifty, the power drain lead to an outage, that should cause an alarm though," Kiri sounded more concerned now, "Computer, was a secruity alarm raised at zero four zero three?"

"Negative."

"Why did the power drain at sub-junction twelve at at zero three fifty cause an alarm?"

"Unknown."

Well Kiri was at a loss, rather confused she looked to Maenad, could it be related to the other computer problems she thought she had fixed? Could it be something else, or was it really an act of sabotage and why? Why leave something behind rather than steal something, it didn't make sense.

Maenad looked angry. "Hmm," she breathed. None of this was making any sense. Somebody had obviously gone to great lengths in order to hide their tracks, and whoever that somebody was had impressive technical skill. This somebody was really good at hacking or had senior clearance, but she could not imagine any of the other department heads erasing their whereabouts from the ship's computer. Still, there had to be a connection between the rod and the missing records.

"Let me try to see what's on that rod," Maenad said to Kiri. "Put it in and I'll see what I can do."

Taking the rod from the desk she started to insert it into the computer panel with slight hesitation, then retracted. Holding it up she looked at it, "Sir, that might not be a good idea." Looking at Maenad for a few seconds, "Maybe this was their plan all along, the computer testing equipment might be better." The more Kiri thought about it the more possible it seemed, handing it up the ranks until it ended up in the computer of the XO or the captain, stealing data. It is what she would do, it explained why someone would do this, it was meant to be found.

Kiri was right, Maenad immediately thought. "We should go to the lab and create a facsimile, then, to simulate a higher-level terminal. I'll try to access it that way, and no real data could be lost."

"Yes sir," Kiri stood up straight, "Is there anything else you want me to do?"

"Not tell anyone," Maenad told her, but she knew that Kiri didn't need to be told.

"Yes sir," Kiri looked slightly conflicted for a second, did that include the XO and Captain? The chances of that coming up right now were minimal, she would have to forgo the tea. Checking she had everything Kiri moved towards the door, pausing again. It was better they went together, so they could watch each other.

"Let's go," Maenad said. She followed Kiri out the door to the turbolift. Maenad ordered it to deck four, sharing a concerned glance with her assistant.

Kiri remained quiet, not really sure what the implications of the situation would be, she was tired. Her mind was blank and she wanted really to just sit down and do something easy, working on solving a mystery was fun but she wasn't really in the mood for it.

When the two science officers walked into science lab one, Maenad headed straight for the primary computer. She looked at Kiri and saw how exhausted she looked. The concern that she had had when Kiri had first presented herself returned. "Miss Cho," she said, turning away from the console, "Is everything all right?"

"Yes sir," Given the circumstances everything was as good as it could be. The problems she was having were something personal that she wouldn't let effect her work. They were just dreams, she was just tired there was nothing more than that. Taking a dummy system plug from the shelf Kiri placed it next to the computer and connected the single cable, trying to trick a program wasn't normally hard, unless someone planned for it.

Maenad didn't believe her and she gave her a skeptical glance. She had noticed the reddened inside of one of Kiri's nostrils, which meant that it had been bleeding, and her eyes were unmistakably bloodshot. Beneath her eyes the skin was a darkened purple and she looked considerably paler than the last time she had seen her. Kiri was performing her duties without any troubles, or so it seemed however, and Maenad knew that she had done all that she could; if Kiri didn't want to talk to her, it was none of her business to encourage her.

As Kiri connected the cable and set-up the facsimile, Maenad watched her little hands working efficiently, but with a hidden fatigue. She wanted to order the young woman to a good meal and then to bed. It was at that moment that Maenad wondered whether she thought of Kiri as a little sister. The idea puzzled her; because she had no siblings, Maenad had no idea what it felt like to care for one.

The computer informed them that it was ready to be programmed, distracting Maenad from her internal conversation. "Computer, create a simulated version of a computer terminal with all the access, capabilities, and clearances as one that would be found in either the office, quarters, or bridge station of Lieutenant Maenad Panne. Authorisation Panne, Maenad. Epsilon-Delta-Lambda-Six-Nine." The computer did as it was told. "Computer, does this station have access to the ship's full database?"

"Affirmative," it replied.

"Computer, give me a general description of what this terminal can access," Maenad said. She wanted to make sure that it had done what she wanted.

"This terminal has access to the ship's entire database, including that of Starfleet and the Federation."

"Are sensor records, crew and ship logs, technical schematics, mission briefings, those sort of things implied by ship's entire database?" Maenad asked.

"Affirmative."

Maenad looked at Kiri, then back at the screen. "Computer, does this terminal have access to the chief science officer's personal log for stardate 66708.41?"

"Affirmative."

"Display log,"

"Unable to comply."

"Why not?"

"This terminal has simulated access only."

Maenad smiled, then looked back to Kiri, indicating for her to put in the rod. "Let's see what happens."

Nodding Kiri spoke first, her voice cracking a little, "Computer, display all running functions, programs and memory usage, trace all changes and store in a diagnostic database named, Cho Seven." With a breath she inserted the rod, her eyes now glued to the screen. What happened at the start was normal, the computer activated the rod and started to read it. Several programs started to run, diagnostics, file decryption, memory optimisation, everything seemed normal, but the numbers didn't quite add up, "Pause all operations." Looking closer she shifted gaze to Maenad, "There is more memory being used by the file decryption and diagnostic than there should be." That wasn't even looking at what was inside the rod but Kiri didn't feel that she should even try, it wasn't at her security level.

Kiri was right; whatever was on the datarod, it was doing a lot more than it appeared. But not only was the computer trying to read it, the rod seemed to be accessing the computer. The make and model of the rod was nothing out of the ordinary; it had the appearance of a typical data storage device, but this apparent storage device was doing a lot more than just storing data - it was accessing the main computer, at least until Kiri paused the simulation. "Computer, identify the device that was just inserted."

"Unable to comply."

"Why not?"

"The device's datastream is uni-directional and cannot be accessed under established parameters."

Maenad frowned. That didn't make any sense. The information on the rod had to be accessible somehow. Maenad bit her lip, refusing to sigh. "Computer which parts of the database were accessed and downloaded, though, correct?"

"Affirmative."

"Which parts?"

"Insufficient data."

Maenad fingered the console, pulling up schematics and technical readouts of the datastream. After a few minutes of getting deeper into the stream, Maenad found what appeared to be a data input node. "Computer," she mumbled, "Identify and access that data node," her voice was monotonous. She doubted it would work, but it was worth a try.

"The node is encrypted,' the computer said back to her.

"Override. Panne, Maenad. Epsilon-Lambda-Delta-Six-Nine."

There was a double notification alarm. "Override restricted."

Maenad licked her lips. It seemed like this device was a lot more secure than she had originally thought, the thing even hid its own tracks as it was working, had a secure access stream, and refused senior officer clearance. "What do you make of it?" she asked Kiri.

"It is designed to gather information aggressively," Beyond a doubt then it wasn't friendly and it wasn't meant to be there, "Would you like me to access it?" Her tone shifted slightly towards the end, it wasn't something she was meant to do. Kiri knew she was quite capable of breaking into most systems and programs, this one accessed information. So she would just create a remote access program and let it be copied, working her way from the inside out.

Maenad nodded, taking a step back from the computer. "Let's see what you can do," she said, giving her approval.

Kiri would rather not too many people were aware that given time she could take control of the entire ship by doing things like this, it worried her a lot let alone anyone else. Taking the open place Kiri pulled a small program from the menu, adjusting it with deft little fingers. It needed to operate remotely and provide a basic access to inside the data rod, to map the files and scan them without being disrupted, to discover the encryption and finally, to give her access. In her head she could see how, tagging the file classified, encrypting it to appear to be a text file, setting a time delay, converting itself to update the rods most basic systems. Several minutes later she had a working test copy, so she activated it, and waited. "It will take a few seconds sir."

Maenad studied Kiri's face and movements as she worked, still wondering what was wrong with her. She had to restrain herself from prodding her for answers, however, and she did so with a great deal of difficulty. Maenad gave a slow nod in response to Kiri, but didn't say anything. She watched the data pouring over the screen as she waited for Kiri to interpret it.

Watching the read outs Kiri started to work again, she had a foothold now she just had to hold it. Doing her best to overcome the defences, working to match the existing programs. It was hard, demanding work and she was hardly in the best shape for it. Rather than anything elegant she brute forced her way inside, pulling out the file directory first, "This is a list of all the files on the rod sir."

"Well done," Maenad said, taking a step closer to the console. The list was extensive and most of the file names were nonsensical, at least they appeared to be. Maenad scrolled through, expecting to find something recognisable but to no success. Not everything on the list was a file, however; some of the names were folders, which indicated that they were there to store organised data. She checked several of them only to find out that they were empty.

"I think," Maenad began after a minute, "That this rod is used to access systems and collect data," she mumbled. "From what I can tell, it hasn't stored anything yet." Maenad looked at Kiri. "What do you think?"

Kiri kept working, peeling away at the layers of code. Now she was looking for something different, something from the programs that the rod ran onto the terminal, trying to find hints of what it was looking for. Her voice was quite cold as she focused, "I agree, I'm trying to see what it was looking for."

Maenad decided that she would be getting in touch with Lieutenant Coleman and Captain Saalm once she and Kiri had finished examining the data. She normally would have taken it to Commander Holliday, but he was off-world. She patiently watched Kiri doing her work as she tried to figure out what could have been going on.

It took almost five minutes for Kiri to gather everything together, maybe she was wrong. Before she had suspected that it was trying to find something to copy, it was but that was a cover. There was an access program designed to be overlaid into the command protocols. It would give someone access to the ships systems, but not for long. The rod also would also copy data but whoever put it there had to assume at some point it would be found out. Unless they were looking at it, the protocols would have gone unnoticed for quite a long time. Frowning she tried to put it into words, "It is trying to copy data, access codes, any information tagged as classified. But that isn't all, it also has a program that uses the access codes to create a series of new command protocols, hidden ones. They could allow someone access to all the ships systems and even take control of the main computer, until we stopped them. It has a Starfleet architecture but some of it hints at Romulan design."

Maenad's eyebrows flattened as she thought. She didn't like this. "Romulan?" There was a slight hesitation as her mind worked. "Thank you, lieutenant," she muttered. "Can you get anything else out of t?"

"Maybe," She could take it apart bit by bit if required to, there might be more information there but most of it she felt she'd already found. Taking a breath she felt rather resigned to how she would be spending the rest of the day, "If you want me to keep working on it sir?"

Maenad watched the screen a moment longer before saying to Kiri, "No, that should be enough for now, thank you. I think I should take this to the captain right away."

"Very good sir," Kiri swallowed, somewhat thankful, "Would you like me to summon a security officer for you, or," The idea seemed silly even as the words came, "Would you like me to escort you?" Anyone who was left alone with the rod could be made a suspect. The entire thing could just be a test though, Kiri was still new to the ship, or any ship, it wasn't impossible.

Maenad eyed Kiri, wondering what she was thinking. "You can join me," she said. "If Captain Saalm has any questions about what happened between you and Liyar, or before that, then you can speak for yourself. Disconnect the facsimile and we'll go."

"Yes sir," Kiri started to removed the wire and shut down the terminal, the rod couldn't be locked into this system like the others. It only took her a few seconds before she was standing up. Too fast. She staggered catching herself on the terminal as she blinked, she really was tired. The blood had just rushed to her head, that was all, she was fine. At least, she wanted to be fine.

Maenad was in the process of shutting down the arching system as Kiri removed the rod and closed the terminal. When she stood, Maenad noticed her swagger a bit. "Miss Cho, what is the matter with you?" she asked, but her voice sounded angrier than she had meant. Ever since Kiri first came to her that morning something seemed horribly wrong, but she refused to talk about it. She cared was all, but sometimes Maenad showed it the wrong way.

"I'm fine sir, just a little tired," Idiot! Kiri winced, she didn't want to say anything, she shouldn't have. Now there would be questions, more people thinking she was crazy, being taken off work. She took a breath, now she was angry with herself, Maenad was angry with her also. Anything to distract her, random thoughts, "Should we scan the rod for any biological readings, evidence who has handled it?" That would do right?

Now irritated, Maenad shook her head. She told herself it was none of her business. Kiri's personal problems were her own, and how she dealt with them was up to her. Until her problems started effecting her work, there was nothing she could do. And, she didn't think that they had yet. Lightheadedness wasn't exactly something by which Maenad could prod into Kiri's personal life. "Yes, good idea," she said. "But with somebody this intent on hiding their tracks, I doubt we'll find anything."

Kiri could feel the tension, that she was causing a problem. Panicking she conducted the scan with a tricorder as quickly as she could, but found very little. There was evidence of Trill, a Vulcan and Rigelian but nothing more useful than that. She had hoped that maybe it would have an answer, yet
nothing. That feeling was still there though, "No evidence sir, sorry for misspeaking."

"Misspeaking?" Maenad asked her. "Scanning for bio-residue was a good idea, lieutenant. Now, if you're ready, I think we should go find the captain."

Feeling like she had dodged the bullet Kiri breathed a sign of relief, "Yes sir." She would have to be more careful about what she said, more so around the Captain.

---

[OFF]

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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

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