Ensign D'tin Breys - What Blue Shirts Do
Bea S
(( Afalqi Project Launch Control - Meranuge IV ))
Jetripar had proven to be full of political answers. Breys had hoped they had moved past the period of obfuscation and diplomacy, and could actually start looking at the important stuff.
Breys: These were being used to monitor the ship? What exactly can you tell us about what made the Afalqi experimental?
Jetripar: It operates around a novel, self-regulating core. Most importantly, it redefines the way dilithium is used, reducing dilithium decay and consumption to a fraction of the standard.
This was vague engineering jargon, nothing useful to her. Hopefully Imril and Tarsan were piecing it together with the schematics.
MacKenzie: Secretary Jetripar, I know you outlined the extensive security presence already... Was that the same level of security present on the day the Afalqi was stolen?
Silveira: And was there any flight scheduled for that day?
Jetripar: I can assure you, Captain. Security remained of utmost important , and we retained a consistent level at all times. A test had indeed been scheduled for the following day, which is no doubt how Havun was able to pull off his heist. Much of the work of preparing the ship would already have been done for him.
K'Wara: Like any other day, hm...
That all made sense, a test flight would be the best chance to steal a craft like this.
MacKenzie: And you consider the security staff to be trustworthy? Can you think of anyone else who might be here that would have helped them steal the ship?
K'Wara: Maybe someone who hasn’t shown up for work since?
Jetripar scoffed.
Jetripar: He brought his wife on to the project as well. Oh, she was mysteriously ill and unable to report for her duty shift the day prior, of course. And you're correct that I haven't spoken with her since, but I have reported her connection and circumstances to the civic authorities.
Breys: I’d tell my wife to skip work if I was going to rob the place as well.
Silveira stepped aside for a moment. Walking off to look at some consoles.
MacKenzie: We're going to do our best to get to the bottom of this, Mister Secretary. ::to the others:: Where would you like to begin?
Silveira: Who figured out that it was Chief Engineer Havun who took the Afalqi?
Jetripar: Who else could it have been? I knew immediately when I heard it was missing.
MacKenzie: It sounds like you had suspicions of the Chief Engineer for a while...
oO I’d like to know more about how the Da’al court system views innocent until proven guilty. Oo
The tactical officer looped back, and took a step closer to Jetripar
Silveira: I see… Secretary if you don’t mind me asking… ::he glanced at Zie:: Where were you when the ship was reported missing?
Jetripar: I was on my commute to the office when my assistant informed me. It seems the custodial staff was running behind that morning, but they reported the irregularity immediately upon discovery.
This obviously offended the dignitary, he redoubled his resolve and stood up straighter.
Jetripar: Surely you aren't attempting to imply that I could have played a role in this horrendous theft!
MacKenzie: We're simply trying to get a more clear picture of what happened, Mr. Secretary.
Breys: I’m sure Lt. Commander Silveira was just trying to establish a timeline.
Breys felt she owed Siveira some damage control for prying her free on Callis.
Silveira: I am trying to figure out the motive, that usually helps in finding out the truth. And honestly I am not ruling anyone out of a potential suspect list. Maybe Chief Engineer Havun is being framed…
Jetripar: Havun is most assuredly responsible for this heinous crime. He was observed here the night of the theft, outside of his usual duty shift, and his codes were used to access the bay. Surely that was in the report provided you and should make it clear that he is the one who has absconded with my ship!
With every moment that passed, Breys trusted this report less and less.
MacKenzie: Well, just because it was in the report doesn't make it true, though we'll absolutely take that into account...
Breys: ::intentionally seeming distracted by her tricorder:: He’s certainly a primary suspect.
K’Wara: Well, that rules that out. It would still be helpful if we could have a list of potential co-conspirators that helped him from inside launch control though… ::looks to Jetripar:: Do you keep extensive records of anyone who enters the control room throughout the day?
Jetripar: Everyone who passes through a security check is logged automatically, matching their ID with their biometric data. Launch control itself is also protected by a pass code, individual to each employee.
Silveira: Makes sense, that can be a good place to visit as well.
Breys: Just make sure to verify any biometric data, it wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to fake a DNA test,
More chances to be a scientist, she could work with that.
K’Wara: I think it’s an avenue worth pursuing, Captain. Perhaps Commander Silveira or myself should accompany the First Secretary to cross-reference that list?
Jetripar: I would be happy to take you to our security office. Perhaps there might be further information there as well that could assist in your investigation.
Jetripar went to a nearby comm panel.
Jetripar: =/\= This is Secretary Jetripar. Could you secure your post and come inside, please? =/\=
A security guard quickly scuttled through the door,
Jetripar: I will be leaving these Starfleet officers here. Please attend to them in my absence.
MacKenzie: Commander K'Wara, go with Secretary Jetripar.
For some reason Breys was expecting to be selected to analyze the biometric data, but she realized sending a nervous Ensign off with a foreign dignitary might be a risk.
K’Wara: Understood, Captain. ::looks to Jetripar:: Please, lead the way, First Secretary.
Jetripar: Of course. Please, follow me. ::turning to MacKenzie and bowing:: Captain, it was a pleasure making your and your crew's acquaintance. I remain at your service, though we are parting for the moment.
MacKenzie: I have no doubt we'll see one another soon.
Silveira bowed slightly and grinned.
Silveira: The pleasure was ours.
Breys mimicked the bow the captain originally gave towards Jetripar, the context shouldn’t have changed enough for it to be a bad choice.
Breys: Thank you for your time.
As K’Wara and Jetripar walked away, Mackenzie turned to the other two.
MacKenzie: ::softly:: Not exactly forthcoming, is he?
Silveira shrugged and held up the data rod Jetripar gave him.
Silveira: Politicians… That’s to be expected. At least he cooperated. But honestly to me it looks too good to be true that they know this was the work of Chief Engineer Havun.
And again… Why?
Breys: There are a lot of reasons for an engineer to steal a ship, especially when he had such a bad relationship with his boss.
There was a small pause, Silveira crowded in on Mackenzie.
MacKenzie: Do you think he had anything to do with it, or do you believe his story that it was definitely the Chief Engineer?
Silveira: It’s too early to believe in anything. The accounts we have could easily be tampered to frame the Chief Engineer. There’s certainly a conflict here, but that isn’t uncommon in Da’al culture. I just don’t want to rule out any scenario.
D’tin took a small step forward as well, to close the circle.
Breys: If it was the Chief Engineer, whatever they aren’t telling us about the warp drive is likely important.
MacKenzie: Let's see if we can uncover any evidence or any data that might be helpful. ::gesturing toward a console::
Silveira nodded and pointed Breys towards a station.
Silveira: Also we should run the data that Jetripar gave us. I want to see if there isn’t… Any foreign pattern…
Breys: I’m not sure what you want me to look for.
MacKenzie: Response
Silveira grinned wider and broke into an explanation.
Silveira: I am not sure if any of you considered the possibility of outside influence? The Da’al don’t have many friendly neighbors and they were never on good terms with the Klingons.
And there’s always the Suliban…
What I mean is how fully original is the work on their prototype, and if their data doesn’t match any of the known antagonists… Or is it the protagonists… ?
Any of the other key players around. Because another thing is bothering me… Where did they go?
Breys: I can look for some of the more common signs of tampering, but analyzing this data on the Artemis would let me cross reference it with the federation schematics databases to see if they creatively repurposed any ideas.
She looked at the guard next to them. They didn’t seem to care.
MacKenzie: Response
Silveira nodded and opened his arms. He obviously had a better idea of what they’d find than Breys. He gave the captain a wink and handed the clumsy ensign the data, she immediately almost dropped it.
Silveira: Care to do some of that Science magic you Blues are so well spoken for?
Breys: I’ll see what I can find.
MacKenzie: Response
The initial portion of the dig took some time, it was scraping through file structures and hoping something reminded her of an obscure lesson on Klingon spreadsheet design.
Breys: So far everything seems standard, all the data uses the same formatting. None of the non-redacted schematics feel like neighboring tech.
MacKenzie/Silveira: Response
Breys: That’s a great idea, if the data is fine, what if they missed the data’s data?
MacKenzie/Silveira: Response
She was certain she sounded crazy now, but nonetheless she began to dig into the metadata of the Da’al data rod. It held the echo of an encryption still imprinted on the quantum data of the drive. Da’al tech wasn’t made to erase it.
Breys: Look at this ::she points her tricorder at where she installed the data rod:: minor quantum fluctuations. Normally that could be background noise, but this pattern is too regular.
MacKenzie/Silveira: Response
Breys: The Klingons are known to use encryption at the quantum level, but all that means for certain is some data on this rod passed through a Klingon computer at a point, or maybe just a computer someone bought from the Klingons.
MacKenzie/Silveira: Response
TAGs/TBC
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Ensign D’tin Breys
Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240301DB4