The Black Box

Posted on Sat Dec 19, 2020 @ 4:47pm by Commander Ajani Carter & Lieutenant Commander Ethan Brash & Lieutenant JG Sanok & Lieutenant JG R'Imus tr'Aimne

Mission: Episode 1: On Stranger Tides
Location: Deck 4, Science Lab 2
Timeline: Current
1745 words - 3.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Ethan came through the science lab door as it opened, in full stride, a duffel bag hanging at his side. He pulled the strap off his shoulder and over his head, placing the bag on the floor next to the central console. A quick exhale escaped him in a casual, "Whew!" as he knelt down.

Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a small, but heavy device. It was rectangular in general, but more cylindrical near the middle, with four rounded corners at the ends. It was a combination of bronze and faded greens and yellows, typical of Cardassian design.

He placed the thing down on the center of the circular science console's specimen-holding zone. With the press of a button, a small field enveloped the device, floating it several centimeters up into the air and holding it in place. "Okay, now you stay right there." Ethan commanded it.

"Ethan to Lieutenant tr'Aimne, I have a special project for you. Meet me in Science Lab 2, please."

tr'Aimne glanced up at the disembodied voice of the ship's SO. He set aside what he was working on and activated the security measures which had been installed. He had been installed as the Intel Officer when his predecessor had been recalled for a priority assignment. tr'Aimne had been on the Devils Brew as their tactical officer and so had been reassigned. It had been so unexpected and he was sorry he had to leave his friends but the Eagle was heading out on what could be a vital mission. He pressed his communication badge and replied "On my way, sir" while equal in rank, the SO was his senior in position.

He tapped his comm badge a second time, "Ethan to Lieutenant Sanok, we have a potential security risk that may require your assistance. Come to Science Lab 2 as soon as possible, if you please."

When Sanok received the call from Lieutenant Brash, he quickly made his way to the science lab. Brash hadn't said it was an emergency and there was no stress in his voice, but Sanok wasn't taking any chances. The door opened and he stepped inside; he looked at the device Brash had before him.

"What is the security risk?" said Sanok.

Ethan gestured to the device, about to speak, before the lab's door opened again.

tr'Aimne grinned, it was always a bit of a surprise when he did so for two reasons, the stigma of being an intel officer AND his pointed ears, most people assumed he was Vulcan, he liked to surprise people. Given his natural abilities, while being a Romulan by birth, he had always worked on that side of the Federation. Now he got to play with the Cardassians. he had no idea what he was seeing though.

Ethan nodded to both of them after their arrival.

"This here is, if I'm not mistaken, the Cardassian version of a black box." Ethan explained. "Seeing as how the ship it comes from is decades behind the times, it might actually be an easy thing to decrypt and access. I'd rather not take any chances, though," he looked towards tr'Aimne, "which is where you come in. Your training and knowledge make you the most suited to the task."

"Ah," he said stepping forward and fishing out a tricorder from a thigh pocket. Opening it up he started to scan it, there was no noise issued, a throwback to his covert days. "It's gonna take a few minutes." he said not looking up.

"Excellent!" Ethan commented, patting the man's shoulder.

One more look at the device and Ethan stepped to Sanok's side. "It is also an alien technology, one that may, in one way or another, pose a threat to the ship." Ethan now eyed Sanok directly, "Which is why you're here."

"I need the two of you to work together to access the device and limit risk to the Eagle as much as possible. Do you understand?"

"I do," said Sanok. "Computer, erect a force field around this lab. Authorization, Sanok alpha omega 7." He looked directly at Brash. "In case it is an explosive device."

"Oh, joy..." Ethan murmured, then looked towards the still-busy Intel officer.

"I do not think it will explode" he stated still scanning it, "While the design is old, the device itself is less than two years old. Subjective" he added with a frown.

"Either way, I think Sanok's precaution is warranted." Ethan sighed, "Well, we're stuck in here until the job gets done, anyway, so let's get it over with. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

"Well," tr'Aimne muttered "I can tell you that it ain't gonna explode" looking up at them "And you were right in your assessment sir, it is the black box. The problem is, that it is encoded with security coding that I have never seen before. Of course, I haven't had the opportunity to study the encoding practices of every faction out there." he shrugged a little shrug and smiled "I can tell you that it is not Romulan, Breen, Tholian, and I do not think it is Cardassian. Oh, it's nothing the UFP uses either." A flick of his hand and he activated a UI over the black box.

Sanok looked at the scan results. It reminded him of something from his past. He wasn't certain if he was correct, but it was worth mentioning.

"I believe this is coding used by the Orion Syndicate," said Sanok. "On my previous post, another officer and I had an interaction with them." He didn't expound on the details.

"Interesting, I wonder if the Cardassian's are in on this, or at least a Glinn somewhere. To access this, we are going to need the processing power of the computer as well as a power supply to power it up to full power."

"Ah, yes, of course," Ethan made his way to the opposite wall, kneeling down, "I thought we might need some extra power, too."

"Mr. Sanok!" The red-skinned chief of operations called back as he pulled the panel off the wall and began fiddling with the innards. "Look behind you and open the second drawer from the top. You should see a square-shaped adapter in there, somewhere."

Sanok did as he was instructed, finding the tool.

"I need a way to convert our electro-plasma into something more palatable. Since it's running off a Cardassian battery, it should be compatible with a direct current. Did you find it?"

Sanok held up the adapter as much to make sure it was what Brash wanted as to show he located it.

"Ah, perfect! Just toss that over here and I'll get it connected."

Sanok tossed the tool.

The sound of a ribbed hose being yanked through metal pipes accompanied Ethan's movements as he removed a great length of extra power housing from the wall. "Okay," he said between breaths, "let's get this," he stopped next to the Cardassian device, "hooked up, shall we?" He took two leads from the inside of the housing, inserting them into the square-shaped converter.

A small zap could be heard. "Ow!" Ethan's hand flailed into the air for a moment, away from the base of the adapter. He waited for a moment, brought his hand back down, then grabbed the converter slightly higher up. When it failed to zap him again, he pulled it up next to the black box.

"Find me the mounting interface and I'll plug this in, Mr. tr'Aimne."

"Just tr'Aimne," he said and pointed to a small port on the side of the Cardassian device, "and," he flipped his other palm up to show a small interface, winked, and plugged it into the device, "Your interface, sir." he said.

"Good, good," Ethan said offhand whilst pushing the adapter forward, not stopping until a small click was heard. He eyed his handiwork, then nodded for the Intel officer to proceed.

Waving a holoscreen up around the device the Romulan manipulated the controls, tapping into the backup computer for processing power. "Well, it does seem to be using Pact coding, but there is something..." he frowned, "I know that code," he said swiping screens away and he searched for a report he had read. "Ah" he muttered "Oh shit" tr'Aimne stepped back and read the report. He took a deep breath and turned to Brash "We have a problem" he said.

"Bad, bad!?" Ethan's eyes jumped from the device to Sanok, then back to tr'Aimne.

"Yeah," he said, "The Captain is not gonna be happy with this." He brought the offending code to the front again, highlighting a second of the code "This, here" he indicated "This is a signature code, it is as distinctive as a fingerprint. Then this part here" he highlighted another section of code "This is a trigger of sorts, it is designed to trigger the rest of the code into activation. This is also very distinctive."

He sighed "The signature code is from a Breen programmer I worked with once, the trigger. Well that is mine" defensively crossing his arms he stepped back. "The entire code was designed to destroy the data stored within, a fail-safe in case the ship was disabled and boarded. However, it didn't trigger. Mostly cos whoever cobbled this together didn't do a very good job, they failed to take into account this here" he pointed to a 3rd part of the code "This states that for the trigger to work they need to input an activation code upon installation." he turned with a smug look on his face "They did not do that" a swipe of his hand and he brought up a keyboard and inputted the access codes and unlocked the device.

"And it is unlocked" tr'Aimne stepped back and allowed Brash to get closer.

"Mr. Sanok," Ethan said, "you can shut down that forcefield, now, if you please."

Sanok nodded and deactivated the field.

The Chief of Operations tapped his badge, "Ethan to Master Chief Hannis... you can come in, now."

The doors to the lab opened, revealing a typical-blue Andorian. The Assistant Chief of Operations had her signature side-satchel, likely filled with numerous data PADDs- one of which was already in her hand as she strolled in. "About time..." She shot a withering look at Ethan, which he dared not address, simply smiling for all he was worth. She sighed, "Let's get to work."

"Yes, ma'am!" He said, saluting his assistant.