Capt. Roshanara Rahman: Ukinix's Weird Presentation

[richyulin]

((Supplemental, Holodeck 2, USS Veritas))

::Roshanara and Marshal Hext entered Holodeck 2 to find themselves back on the bridge of the USS Veritas. The sense of deja vu was a bit unsettling, although this bridge was decidedly emptier, with only one other occupant now slumped in the captain’s chair.::

Ukinix: ::Without looking up.:: That was quick.  I was going to run a simulation without the Universal Translator before you got here.

Rahman: ::looks over at Hext:: Ever get that feeling you were just here?

Text: Response

Ukinix: ::snapping to attention::  Captain! I wasn’t expecting you. Sorry, I was sitting in your chair - kinda.

Rahman: I saw that. ::offering a teasing grin:: Fresh out of the academy and looking to jump a few ranks already?

Ukinix: Um, no Sir, I was running some simulations.  The Universal Translator was modified in that systems breach a few days ago, I was trying to work out exactly what the modifications do.  Teller’s on his way up, I have some initial findings.

::She nodded and introduced the other man with her.::

Rahman: Excellent. This is Deputy Marshal Hext of the Colonial Coalition Marshals Service. He also had some ideas to help us.

Hext: Response

::She looked back at Ukinix.::

Rahman: So what do you have to report?

Ukinix: Well, I was about to run two more simulations to make sure, and I really hope I’m wrong,  but the short version is – you know that Plan B you asked up to come up with? I think someone’s trying to blow us up too.

Rahman: ::nods grimly:: Unfortunately, I’ve already been informed that was likely…

Hext: Response

::Soon, the trio were joined by the acting chief engineer, holding an armful of coffee mugs.::

Teller: Interviewing my replacement already, Captain?  

Rahman: More like *my* replacement, ensign.

::She exchanged another teasing glance back at Ukinix, chuckling before she took the coffee cup from Teller’s hands.::

Teller: ::sipping his coffee:: Captain, Ensign Ukinix here might be new but he understands systems analysis like he was born to it.  If he survives this tour I think we should write him a nice recommendation letter for the Daystrom Institute.  

Rahman: Well, as an alum, I have my contacts… but as a captain, I might want to be a little selfish and keep him aboard for a little longer. Good engineers are like latinum, especially in this part of the galaxy.

Teller:  Well that's true...and I need someone to help me clean up the Engineering lab.  Alright Ensign - coffee break over.  What've you found?  

Ukinix: OK, so first things first.  The breach was made by someone who had information on our systems, plain and simple.  You just can’t change a federation’s ship systems and then subsequently scramble system logs without knowing in precise detail what the ship’s encryption codes are at a specific time.  Some of that information is held by Starfleet and is classified.  It’s impossible to do.  However - if you were, say hmm I don’t know, in the future, and had an historical record of all of that info…

Hext: Response

Teller: We're dealing with time travelers - Lets just save ourselves some time and take the word 'impossible' out of our collective vocabulary.  

Ukinix: That’s not all.  There are also some changes made to ship to ship communication control systems, along with UT. I think they combine to be a trigger. I – ah – ::gulping:: well, I’ll just run the simulations to make sure I’m right, you’ll see.  ::Looking up at the “bridge’s” ceiling.::  Computer, run simulation.

::The viewscreen image flicked over to that of a Klingon captain sitting on her own bridge.::

Ukinix: Um, by the way, this might get a bit weird – sorry.

::Roshanara just returned a raised eyebrow at the warning, but before she could think too much longer on the ensign’s possible oddities, the Klingon captain began speaking.::

Klingon Captain: chay'pen botlhDaq.  ::Proudly slamming a clenched fist against her chest:: jIHvaD laH wej 'uch Soch tuq mangghom wItI'nISmo'.

Rahman: I’m afraid my Klingon is a bit rusty, ensign…

Teller:  ::smiling sheepishly:: Sorry Skipper, I only know enough Klingon to ask where the bathroom is.  

Ukinix: Computer, end simulation.  ::Red faced, turning to look at the others:: She’s speaking a slightly modified line from an early 21st century Earth song.  There’s a trigger phrase I put in there, but I deactivated the UT so ::checking his PADD:: nothing happened, which is what I expected.

Teller:  Captain, I think I see where he's going with this.  And he's going to make his point. ::with a pointed look at Ukinix:: Soon.  

::The captain simply sipped her coffee, partly to hide her amusement at seeing her “chief” ensign growing into the role right before her eyes.::

Ukinix: Computer – enable Universal Translator and re-run simulation

::The simulation reset and began again, this time, the Klingon’s words decidedly more understandable.::

Klingon Captain: I am going to fight them all.  ::Proudly slamming a clenched fist against her chest::  A seven house army could not hold me back.

::Without warning, a loud pop sounded and Roshanara and the others found themselves bathed in confetti.::

Rahman: ::wiping the confetti out of her hair:: That’s the “weird” part, I assume?

Hext: Response

Teller:  ::smirking:: Festive - is it someones birthday?  

Ukinix: :Embarrassed:: Um, sorry about that.

Hext: Response?

Ukinix: ::Face turning white::  It’s a holodeck simulation mod I made in the Academy.  The confetti is a replacement for the auto-destruct sequence. My prototype version of the UT modifications triggers it by saying “Seven House Army”. The actual implanted changes in the UT and ship to ship communications do something similar.

::The new ensign handed a PADD to Roshanara for her to look at while he continued.::

Ukinix: And it triggers it silently, and quickly.

::She raised her coffee cup up, about to take a sip.::

Rahman: ::echoing as she reads the PADD:: Silent but deadly…

::She took her sip as Teller chimed in.::

Teller:  Captain, I don't have to tell you that these modifications are well beyond our capabilities - we're definitely looking at well planned sabotage of the Veritas, all purposely designed to look like an accident.  

Ukinix: I can’t tell what the real trigger is, it’s heavily encrypted.  It could be a simple phrase, a whole conversation, a hidden signal…  It could be anything.  Mind you, if a Tholian hails us and starts quoting Romeo and Juliet, I’d get nervous.

Teller:  Good work Wil.  I've got an idea for monitoring some of our other systems going down in Engineering, would be good to get another set of eyes on it, maybe we can figure out how to locate whoever is doing this to us.  

Rahman: I don’t know if locating who is as important as just finding what the trigger is and how to stop it. Since we’re dealing with time travelers here, I suspect they might not even be aboard. They might have planted this weeks or months ago… perhaps even longer. ::She turned to Ukinix.:: Is there any way to tell when the modification happened?

Ukinix: Response

Hext: Response

Teller:  Another thing, Captain.  I'm working on an alternate demolition plan for the Artemis in the Engineering lab...sorta a 'just in case.'  But I'm a little out of my depth on some of the finer points of subspace topology.  Can you come down and take a look?  

Rahman: Of course. And actually, that’s why I brought Deputy Marshal Hext here. He brought up an idea of breaking the ship into smaller chunks.

Hext: Response

Ukinix:  Response

Teller:  Can't make any promises yet, Captain, but if it works the way the sims say it should, we may be able to completely eliminate the Artemis without wasting any of our ordinance and without leaving a significant footprint behind.  No souvenirs for the Tholians to take home, anyway.  

Rahman: I’ll take whatever you’ve got.

Teller:  Have the away team reported in yet?  If they say it's clear we can have a damage control team aboard in a few minutes, trying to bring systems back up.  

Rahman:  I’ll be checking in with them shortly. In the mean time, take a look at Hext’s idea as well and give me your assessment. My main concern of any plan is making sure there is absolutely no evidence left of Starfleet involvement on this side of the border. I’ve already told the bridge crew if we need to, I want to find a way to at least drag the hull back across the border if we’re not certain we can completely eliminate it here.

Teller:  Understood Captain.  We'll keep working on it.  

Hext: Response

Ukinix:  Response

::She gave the PADD back to Ukinix and glanced for a moment around the faux Veritas bridge now sprinkled with confetti. If they weren’t careful and couldn't find the "ticking time bomb" before it was too late, the real one would be left with far worse markings.::

Rahman: I think we might also want to enlist more help from our time traveling “guardian angel,” Mr. Ekal. Perhaps he could recognize the handiwork of one of his colleagues to help us trace it faster and eliminate it completely from our systems.

Hext: Response

Ukinix:  Response

Teller: Response

TAG! TBC…

Captain Roshanara Rahman

Commanding Officer, USS Veritas

I238705TZ0