I Need Names Lieutenant!

Posted on Tue Jun 13th, 2023 @ 9:34pm by Captain Tristan Faust & Lieutenant Shinobu Miyake
Edited on on Tue Jul 4th, 2023 @ 10:18am

2,071 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: The Peace Ship
Location: Deck 5: Captain Faust's Quarters
Timeline: M3 MD02 (2268.6.12) 1400

Approximately five hours had passed since the Midway was forced to a halt. The damage to her equipment was thankfully minimal, but her crew had been thrashed through a meat grinder. No deaths, but some serious injuries, her Captain included. So far the warp drive was still inoperable, the majestic vessel was reduced to limping along at impulse.

Captain Faust was lying in bed in his quarters. Discharged by Dr. Kitchner but not cleared for duty, this was all he could do. Kitch needed the bed space and sent him back here. He had tried skimming ship's status reports but his head was still killing him. A concussion, three broken ribs and a subdermal hematoma was enough to knock anyone out of commission, but he still had a ship to command. Or at least try to.

The door chime sounded from across the room; the crew was keeping their visitations to a minimum so as to give Tristan some time to rest, so whatever it was that the individual out in the hall needed to speak about... it was likely important.

"Come on in," Tristan responded. He was half asleep, but he seemed to always be in that state with whatever Dr. Kitchner had him doped up on. Something he could not pronounce.

The doors to Tristan's quarters snapped open and in stepped Lieutenant Miyake, PADD in hand and a look of concern on her face. Having adequately braced herself for the sudden deceleration, she had miraculously come out of the whole affair better than most; however, with a slight concussion and some minor whiplash, arguing that she'd made it out of the ordeal unscathed was a bit of a stretch.

"Apologies for disturbing you at such a late hour, Captain," she began. "I had the security teams looking into what caused the warp core to overheat- this being a fairly new ship and all, it had no reason to be overheating as fast as it did. And, unfortunately..." She hesitated for a moment or two, as if somewhat reluctant to disclose what she was about to say.

"...One of our officers has found evidence that would appear to indicate that this was a deliberate act of sabotage."

The Captain looked like he was in a daze but he snapped out of it immediately when Shinobu said sabotage. He pulled back the covers and got out of bed. He was still a little dizzy and braced himself with the bulkhead and headed towards the desk. "Have a seat and give me details," he said.

Lieutenant Miyake nodded and took a seat.

"Lieutenant Osborne was first to bring this matter to my attention," she explained, pulling up a digital transcript and handing it over to Tristan. "The ship's computer keeps a record of who accessed what computer terminals, at what time, and for what reason for at least 30 hours. Lieutenant Osborne decided to run a level 1 diagnostic, and he observed this discrepancy taking place, at approximately the same time that Commander Heartfilia gave the order to increase speed:"

She directed Tristan's attention to the data in question.

The Captain sighed as he read the logs and the accompanying summaries. Novo was at it again messing with key systems doing his usual upgrades. "Are you sure this isn't just a glitch due to his tinkering with the ship?" He asked,. "I have a hard time believing he deliberately do anything to endanger the ship and crew."

"That was the first thing I asked him," Lieutenant Miyake frowned. "All data recorders on this ship are fitted with a security mechanism that can detect whether or not the data stream is constant; any disruptions would be picked up within milliseconds of their occurring. I ordered Lieutenant Osborne to run a diagnostic of the security mechanism installed on that very console, and he reported no evidence of tampering or faulty hardware. I ordered him to run it again, and still nothing; by all accounts, Captain, there is no indication that anyone touched that console from the moment Lieutenant Novo increased the engine output to the moment we slammed on the brakes, meaning he either unknowingly or willfully left the engines on full output- both theories I find very hard to believe."

Tristan sat down, "Novo practically built this ship," he said, "He was the ship's project manager at the San Francisco Fleetyards. He knows more about the ship than I do, so there's no way it was unknowingly..." He sighed, "All that leaves is deliberate and that makes even less sense." He furrowed his brow. There was something else going on. He knew it, but what he had no idea.

"Trust me, sir, you're not the only one who has his doubts," Lieutenant Miyake sighed. "Sure, Novo can be a bit... eccentric at times, but there's nothing on his file to indicate he was ever unhappy working for Starfleet; if anything, a "Quality Of Life" report he submitted to Starfleet Command was glowing with positivity. This man's probably the last person on the entire ship who'd deliberately leave the engines on full power."

The Captain nodded, "Well," he said, "We have a mystery to figure out. But... We need our chief engineer down in engineering putting the warp drive back together, whether he caused it or not... I suppose we could have security in engineering, keeping an eye on things."

"I'll be sure to post a security team to monitor Lieutenant Novo at all times when he's outside of his quarters, make sure he doesn't pull anything funny... though, I highly doubt he will," Lieutenant Miyake replied. "But I suppose while I'm thinking about it, there is one more discrepancy I'm obliged to report..."

"And that is?" the Captain asked.

Lieutenant Miyake bit her lip. "As he was combing through the computer core, Lieutenant Osborne detected a short transmission that was sent out approximately ten minutes before the engine overheated:"

Tristan looked at the terminal. The code was fairly unremarkable except for the beginning and ending... Possessing a characteristic flourish of a Romulan code. "Romulan..." He declared.

"We checked the Data recorders that this transmission was allegedly sent from," Lieutenant Miyake continued. "All signs once again point to Lieutenant Novo being the last person to access that console."

"Doesn't make any sense," Tristan responded, "Novo is no Romulan sympathizer. I doubt he's ever met one... Doesn't fit the profile of someone who would be an agent..." He paused, "Usually it's money, politics, ego or blackmail..." He said, "But I don't need to explain that to you."

"You don't think I'm aware of that?" Lieutenant Miyake sighed. "We're dead in the water; the Romulans likely know we're dead in the water; and all signs are pointing towards a man who wouldn't sell us out to the Romulans in a million years. I'm... I'm at a loss right now. What am I missing? Because the facts aren't adding up here."

"The way I see it, the spy, whomever he is..." Tristan responded before straightening up in bed, "Lord I'm going to get bed sores by the end of this stint." He groaned, "Anyway, their attempt at sabotage was only temporary... They intended to destroy the ship and failed... So they will try again."

Lieutenant Miyake perked a brow at that. "Are you suggesting... we lay a trap, Sir? Try and lure the saboteur out into the open?"

"Absolutely," Tristan responded, "Right now we're just running in circles. The only other alternative is interrogating every crew member, which I doubt would yield anything anyway. An agent like this would probably get through undetected." He smirked, "Given how the Romulans operate, the saboteur may not even realize he's committing sabotage... Ever seen the 1988 film The Naked Gun?

Lieutenant Miyake shook her head. "I'm afraid that Old World films were never my specialty, Sir."

The Captain sighed, "It's a comedy film but anyway... The villain brainwashes Reggie Jackson of the Los Angeles Angels baseball team to shoot the Queen of Britain during a baseball game. The brainwashing is activated by a pager ring tone which activates the pop-hypnotic suggestion. After the act is committed, the perpetrator remembers nothing." He chuckled, "Ironically with Mr. Novo's history of amnesia, he is the perfect patsy."

Lieutenant Miyake scratched her chin. "Hmmm... so you're suggesting that Lieutenant Novo may have been subject to some form of Pavlovian Conditioning without his realizing it? A certain stimuli could possibly trigger a reaction in his brain that caused him to do what he did?"

"It's a possibility that I can't rule out," Tristan responded, "But it could be anyone... We have a crew of 400 with at least 50 of them with access to engineering." He sighed, "It's the issue of balancing security and accessability... If we limit access to engineering, we limit response time during a crisis," he added.

"Maybe we could see about posting security teams at key locations throughout the ship?" Lieutenant Miyake recommended. "If this truly is Pavlovian Conditioning like you suggest it is, then certain stimuli should cause the saboteur to act subconsciously, regardless of whether or not security is posted there- and if we detect that any one of them is behaving erratically, then the security team would move in to subdue them."

"Didn't we already have security teams posted through out the shop?" Tristan inquired, knowing the answer, "It didn't seem to make any difference."

"Damn; didn't think about that," Lieutenant Miyake muttered.

"Any other ideas?" Tristan responded, "Other than checking ID cards of everyone who enters sensitive areas... Although if the saboteur is a member of the crew, it won't do much good." He closed his eyes and tried to think but his head still hurt, "I'm sure they'll try something different way next time... Now what other ways can take out the ship? You could detonate one of the photon torpedo magazines. Or overload the reactor of one of the shuttlecraft... Overload the impulse drive..."

"Well a couple of years ago, I had heard a report about a bio-terror attack on a Federation starship that pretty much put the crew out of commission in a dangerous region of space," Lieutenant Miyake remarked. "A malignant parasite was introduced to the crew without their even realizing it, and less than 3 days later, approximately 75% of them were bed-ridden, with 25% of them having to undergo surgery to replace failing organs. Nasty little virus, if I ever heard of it..."

She glanced up at Tristan. "You don't suppose the Romulans would be brazen enough to attempt something like that, would you? After overloading our warp core and alerting them to our position... they might as well be holding up a neon sign saying they're going to ambush us."

"They are thorough, if nothing else," Tristan, "If I were them I would have multiple backup plans, especially for something this important... The Romulans have a history of bio-warfare... There are some that speculate are the culperate for the botanical plague on Marek II from earlier this year."

"Well, if that's the case, I should probably speak with Doctor Slattery about crew members reporting any unusual ailments, just to be safe," Lieutenant Miyake sighed. "Damnit, the more we speculate, the less sense this whole situation makes!"

The Captain nodded, "With something like this it's tough to prepare," he commented, "But now that we are actively looking for sabotage. I'm sure we'll notice it this time. In the mean time, see what you can get out of the engineering staff. Relieve anyone from active duty who's story doesn't make sense or seems out of place. We may be handicapping ourselves in regards to getting back underway, but I'd rather get there intact."

"Right," Lieutenant Miyake sighed, evidently reluctant to be placing a man she knew was innocent under house arrest. "Best be getting to that, then?"

The Captain nodded. Novo was a good engineer and a good friend. He knew he was innocent, but his job demanded he be nothing less than meticulous.

With a sad smile, Lieutenant Miyake adjusted her uniform one last time before turning to leave, knowing what she had to do, but evidently unhappy about following through on it.

 

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