by Lara Valera Ryn and Salvek
90522.2200
After Riddle Me This
90522.2200
After Riddle Me This
She wanted to throw the PADDs across the room. It would have certainly made her feel better. They revealed everything...and nothing. Lara now knew more about what the crew of the Zenith had been doing probably better than they themselves had known prior to their disappearance. She had even plotted their locations on the ship, based on the routine reports that everyone made.
And still nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on and then poof! Everyone was gone.
Time for a new angle. Lara took a deep breath and turned toward the science console, which she was sitting in front of. "Computer, display a crew roster."
The computer beeped and provided her a list, dividing the people first by department and then by rank. The names meant nothing to her. It was just a list, nothing more, nothing to provide any context about who these people were. Not one shred of evidence.
And then it came to her.
"Computer, is it possible to access the personnel logs of the crew members?"
^Affirmative.^
"Okay, then do it."
^A level one command code is required for that function.^
"Of course it is. How silly of me to have forgotten." Lara rolled her eyes at the computer and then pushed the chair in which she was sitting away. She plopped down on the floor and yanked off the cover in front of the console. She ducked her head underneath and took a look at the inner workings of the panel, becoming immersed in her work, so much so that she did not hear the footsteps behind her.
"Lieutenant, what are you doing on the floor?"
Lara bumped her head against the console and yelped. Placing her hand on her head, she the slowly scootched out and stood up to see Commander Salvek standing next to her. She wanted to say, When did you get back? but instead replied, "Trying to re-wire the science console."
Salvek raised a pointed eyebrow, and then asked, "To what end?"
"I want to access the personnel files. Maybe there is nothing out of the ordinary, but we won't know..." She trailed off when she saw Salvek nod his head.
"Computer," he said, "upload the personnel files for all Zenith crew members to the bridge science station."
^Level one command code required,^ the computer droned.
"Salvek, Upsilon Five Omega Seven."
The computer beeped and started to compile the files.
"Might I recommend," Salvek began, "you start with an Engineer named Silav. An alien was posing under that name and I would like to know if and when there was a change in his personal logs that may have indicated when the actual engineer may have been replaced."
Salvek looked off towards the viewscreen where he saw the Alchemy gliding out of its bay, with Lair Kellyn in command.
"I will be home soon," he said to no one in particular but the ship on the screen before him. The Captain had made the logical choice, getting those in the most danger of harm away from this location.
"I beg your pardon?" Ryn asked.
"Nothing, carry on." Salvek felt a nearly imperceptible shift in the plates below him. Besides raising the shields, he had programmed a series of low thruster speed evasive maneuvers into the helm, to keep their speed and heading randomized in case something was attempting to target the ship. His task at the moment was to continue collecting any information he could until the Captain decided on their next move.
After a few moments, it was Lara's turn to call out, "Nothing."
Salvek turned around and looked toward the science station. Lara swung around in the chair to face him and clarified, "There isn't much to go on. There were only four personal logs made during this voyage, each one shorter than the last. Things like Reported for duty or Completed calisthenics routine successfully."
Salvek nodded and then asked, "What about duty reports?"
"According to the engineering roster, he was punctual for every shift and performed his duties admirably. Other people may have been late, or not completed their tasks, but never Silav. But just doing your duty competently is not a bad thing on a ship. Then again, if you want to stay off the radar, you don't think outside the box."
Salvek nodded for a second time and began to think about the sparse details. A minute later, he suggested, "Have you compared his work schedule with the duties being performed in engineering at the time? Even those he was not assigned to."
She shook her head. "No, but that's not hard to do." She swung back around to the console and tapped the console to reorganize the data sitting in the screens in front of her. "Well, now that is interesting," she finally said. “Take a look at this.”
Salvek crossed the bridge to the science station, and stood over her shoulder. He looked at the duty reports Ryn had spread out side by side on the screen. Silav was indeed the model of Vulcan efficiency. Too efficient. The computer records of his workstation access indicated that he had completed each of his tasks quick enough to allow him enough time to log into the sensors systems and make modifications, before moving on to his next task.
“Isolate each modification he made to the Science systems and see if you can determine what he was doing.” Salvek ordered.
Ryn filtered out the assigned tasks, and began assembling the changes made to the science system like a puzzle.
“Looks like he was very slowly but surely filtering out the programming in the computer that recognizes transporter usage. Then he overloaded the secondary backups.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Well,” Ryn continued, “Once the mains have been altered you can only disable the secondary backup with command authorization.”
“Or sabotage,” Salvek added. “It seems however that there are no other ships nearby. Is it possible there is some sort of transported tied to the subspace distortions in this area of space?”
“A subspace transporter? Or a wormhole of some sorts? I can’t even imagine the power that would be necessary to make such a device work.”
Salvek thought about it for a moment, and it occurred to him that it was entirely possible that the sensors had never been repaired before the Zenith crew vanished. “What is the status of the sensors now?”
"Lemme check," she replied before tapping a few buttons. A few seconds later, she took in a deep breath.
Salvek did not need to wait for her to verbalize the sound. The situation had not changed since the original Zenith crew had disappeared. Combined with Vol Tryst's warning and the presence of Silav, things were definitely not looking good.
"Commander, they could still be out there. Whoever they are."
Salvek once again thought of the counselor's premonition. "Assuming the crew of the Zenith was transported off the ship, would there be any way for us to block another attempt?"
Lara grimaced. "Maybe. But we'd have to know what transported them in the first place. Without that, we could not make any modification to the shields to block their beam."
"We are also assuming that there is some technological compatibility. If, to use your term, they have superior technology, our efforts would be in vain."
Shaking her head, she mumbled, "What I wouldn't give for a pile of dirt with some bones right now."
Salvek rested his hand on his chin in thought for a moment. “The uncertainty of that course of action is not acceptable. We need to more effective strategy then simply hoping we can deflect their attack.”
“So what do we do?”
“We talk to the Captain.”
******************************************
Lieutenant Lara Valera Ryn
Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Commander Salvek
First Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Lieutenant Lara Valera Ryn
Science Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Commander Salvek
First Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012