Haystacks, Needles, and Pacts

Posted on Mon Jan 25, 2021 @ 11:53am by Lieutenant Skot Ryder & Lieutenant Commander Ethan Brash & Lieutenant JG Finchley Kerr

Mission: Episode 2: Rising Tides
Location: USS Eagle, Deck 4, Science Lab 1
Timeline: Current
2070 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure

The doors to the turbolift closed. "Computer, Deck 4."

He cleared his throat, tapping the comm badge on his chest. "Ethan to Mr. Kerr, would you meet me in Science Lab one, please?"

Finchley looked up from the PADD he was reading, "Well, that's rather interesting" he said to himself "that was the same time our unit took out..." though he was interrupted from finishing the sentence as his badge chirruped and the message came through from the Chief of Operations.

Tapping his badge he replied, "I'll be there presently Mr. Brash, Lieutenant Kerr out."

Going back to the PADD again, he re-read the information. He tapped his chin rhythmically with the forefinger of his left hand as, in his minds eye, he recalled the hastily arranged meeting. "They said his team couldn't go and had been stood down so we were to take their place, and that's when..."

He smiled ruefully, "Oh, that's clever, that's Really clever..."

He stood up, walked across to the far wall and put the PADD away in the secure locker. Turning, he left his office and headed for Science Lab One.

Once again, he tapped the badge. "Ethan to Ryder, the good Captain has set us a task, and she would have you join us. Can you meet me in Science Lab One?"

“Already a head of you Lieutenant.” Skot called out. He had finished reviewing the crew’s logs going over the events of the last few weeks and to say it was intriguing was an understatement. What he was most intrigued about was the data core the crew had recovered. This was his first time working with members of the crew and Skot was excited yet nervous at the same time. No one could predict how the crew would react to his unorthodox leadership style, and Skot hated dealing with the unpredictable. One thing had to be done before he could begin any work though, and that was to find coffee.

The lift stopped at deck three, taking on another passenger. As the doors opened, Ethan smirked, shaking his head, "How do you do that?"

Master Chief Etzel Hannis stepped inside, presenting him with a data PADD before she said anything. Her reaction was far less dramatic than his, though he did notice the edge of her flat-lined lips curve ever so slightly upward. "I always know where you are." She replied dryly. "Someone has to, with all the trouble you get into."

He smirked at her bluntness, which was something he'd come to enjoy. Bringing up the PADD, he looked over the latest Operations reports, skimming over the important bits as the turbolift closed and resumed. It only took him a few seconds to go over fifteen pages within. He had learned while working with Etzel that you either keep up with her pace or get yourself in trouble.

"Looks good, where are you off to, anyway?"

"Engineering." She said, both as a reply to Ethan and as a command to the computer. "They need parts, I have the manifest, the usual."

Ethan hadn't even noticed that the doors to the lift had opened, and he blinked twice when she gestured for him to leave. "Oh, uh, right." He stuttered a bit, waving to his Andorian friend as he moved out.

The doors closed, and Ethan reminded himself why he'd been on the lift in the first place. "Oh, right! Science lab."

A short walk later, he'd reached his destination, striding through the doors with a purpose. "Okay, you!" He said to no one, then pointed his finger forward, then down, which activated a holographic display in front of him, provided by the holo projectors in the lab walls. The personal interface was something he'd been working on with Etzel, mostly as an inventory itemizing tool, but it had many potential applications. With a down-up gesture of his finger, he brought the saved data, which had been salvaged from the Cardassian starbase, into life as a small ball of light. The little bright sphere represented all the information that data extraction gleened.

Curious, Ethan double-tapped the sphere with his index finger, bringing up the properties. "Wait..." He muttered as he saw the readout. Blinking, he looked again. "Does that say Terraquads?" The sheer amount of information that could be held in that large of a file was daunting.

The doors to Science Lab One opened and Finchley entered, seeing Lieutenant Brash he walked over and said, "You asked me to meet you here Lieutenant, how can I help you?"

"Ah, yes," Ethan started with an apologetic smile, "we've yet another mystery on our hands, a veritable haystack if you will." He motioned towards the small ball of light hovering over the center console, and it streamed across the room into his hand. With a flourish of both hands separating at the fingertips, he brought the data to life, it's digital mass spreading across the lab like a galaxy map. It was almost impossibly large and complex, full of endless entries, dates, manifests, docking records, personnel files. Some of the data was corrupt and a lot of it had data holes, like an old-Earth classified document with black lines covering up important information. Other files were wide open and unclassified, clear of errors and full of details.

"The Captain found the ID of a Romulan among the files, a General Ael. As someone who wanted the Romulans out of the Typhon Pact, she became the target of an assassination. No one knows who killed her. If she is mentioned in these files, she must have been an important figure in all of this. Knowing who killed her may lead us down the right path in our current investigation. Captain Carter believes our primary suspect is the Tzenkethi."

Finchley had been listening, but at the same time had begun looking over some of the files nearest to where he stood. The redacted files were the one's he was drawn to first, such was the ingrained nature of his call to always be on duty.

"The Tzenkethi have no love for the Romulans, and even less for the Federation, however..." and he stopped to study an open file, "...assassination is not their forte, it's impersonal, they like to see the fear in their prisoners eyes before they kill them. In old money, to them, it would be dishonourable."

Again, he stopped to look at some redacted files, then clucked his tongue "I think the Captain is right, the Tzenkethi are suspects, but I think you may find the answer lies with someone else amongst all this information, but it'll be hidden...deep, under layers of deception and misguidance. I have an Intelligence analyst who works with me, someone I trust and whom I know can be trusted, they may be able to give us some clues, but it's whether they'll be given permission to carry out their work 'here'."

The door to the science lab hissed open as Skot walked in with a mug of coffee in his hand. “So this is the infamous data core everyone is talking about.” He was shocked by how much information was there, but was not worried in the slightest that they would find the answers. As his eyes roamed the holograms that filled the room, it dawned on Skot that he had not introduced himself to the two other officers in the room. “Lieutenant Skot Ryder,” he said as he offered his hand to each officer, “I’m the new XO. And you are?” It was more of question for the room rather than for any one individual.

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Finchley Kerr, ships Intelligence Officer Sir" Finchley replied.

"Ethan Brash, Ops Chief. Hello."

“Pleasure to meet you both.” Skot took a long sip of his coffee while studying the holographic displays of data. “Oh and do me a favor, drop the ranks and call me Skot. It’s one thing when we are on the bridge, but down here we are just glorified data miners.” He took a long sip before continuing, “Now, where do we begin?”

Since returning to the USS Eagle with the data core, Finchley hadn't been privileged to have been in any meetings or studies in regards to the item at hand, so he was basically coming into the situation the same as the new Executive Officer so waited to hear what Ethan had to say.

Clearing his throat, Ethan began, "The data quantity we're dealing with is in the Terraquads." He paused, walking towards the center of the room where the specimen-holding console was, it looking glike the center of an apple. "Ael, a Romulan General." Ethan said, grabbing her ID data string and throwing it at Ryder. The string shrunk into a small ball of light as it traveled into the XO's hands, ready to expand into a full file upon his inspection. "She's apparently linked in some way to our current investigation, which we assumed after the Captain found that ID among the files."

He sighed a little, his red hands folding together behind his back as Ethan finished his thoughts, "To be honest, we're not entirely sure what we're looking for, or what such results will net us. This is, however, what the Captain wants. I suggest we get started by researching any links we can find on General Ael, the Romulans in relation to the Typhon Pact, and/or the Tzenkethi, who the Captain suspects should be our primary targets."

"I was just saying to Lt Br...sorry, Ethan" Finchley began "that I have an Intelligence analyst who works with me, someone I trust and whom I know can be trusted. They may be able to look at this information and give us some clues as to why this General Ael is mentioned so prominently, but it's whether they'll be given permission to carry out their work in here with us?"

Skot nodded as he processed the information that had been presented to him, "Let's see what your analyst can find out Finchley, let me know if anyone gives you any trouble with your request."

"I'll contact her right away, thank you, and yes, I will do" Finchley replied.

He sat his coffee mug down and using his hands began to expand the data file Ethan had tossed over to him. Skot examined the contents for a second before he realized just how much work was going to have to go into this. Diving head first into the task at hand Skot began to sift through the information.

After what seemed like hours Skot had finally had enough, "Alright let's go over what we have so far." Skot began pacing the room, something he did when he needed a break and to process information more quickly, at least he felt he did. "We have a Romulan General that has been assassinated with no real reason why other than her contact with the Typhon Pact. The Tzenkethi are our prime suspects based on the information we have been able to decipher so far."

"Yes," Ethan agreed, "but all we've got is codenames and vague references. It would be nice to have something more..." He used a pair of fingers to snatch another holographic file out of the air, eyeing it like one would a fleck of dust, "concrete."

Finchley's COMM badge chirruped and he answered it. After a brief conversation, he went to the doors of the lab and manually opened them. Someone entered and Finchley closed the doors again using a manual code. Returning to where Skot and Ethan were standing, Finchley said "Skot...Ethan, this is CWO Shr'Nesh Karadis, the Intelligence analyst who works with me and whom I mentioned to you both earlier. I firmly believe if anyone has a chance of trying to help us piece together the information we have here, in regards to why General Ael was assassinated who did it and if it can be linked to the Typhon Pact or another group or race, Karadis can.

Karadis looked at both Skot and Ethan and said "Sirs, it nice to meet you both, as Lieutenant Kerr has just said, if I can be of help in any way I'll try my hardest."

Skot nodded, "Well come on in and join the fun Karadis. Maybe you can spot something that we can not."