PNPC CPO Ral Shaw - Where did they make a mistake on Betazed?
CPT Arianus
(( Cargo hold 2, USS Artemis-A ))
Chief Ral pondered over the open crate in deep thought. The first two layers filled with EPS control units lay next to the box, and the third was still inside.
Ral was baffled. A quick scan revealed that the box in question did not contain what was listed on the manifest, but the reason was beyond comprehension. Fuzes for fusion power generators were not considered classified or restricted technology. In fact, the use of fusion generators had been slowly phased out by Starfleet and other Federation planets that had been members for at least five years, and their technology was something that the Federation had generously distributed to every colony in the Beta and Gamma quadrants - even the most remote ones. Therefore, it seemed absurd that someone would go to great lengths to smuggle such a common technology. The question that remained was: why bother?
The solution to the riddle was beyond her level of expertise. It seemed more like a job for someone from the Security team, and she didn't feel competent enough to investigate further. However, this discovery indicated something significant - the crate containing the circuit board fillers they had found earlier was not a mistake. Both crates were intentionally placed there. Moreover, the fact that the contents of the first crate were missing suggested that they had already been taken from the ship long ago.
Ral looked at the chronometer and saw that there was still an hour left until the Chevalier returned from the surface. Although there was still time, Ral had completed her mission. The mission is what raised more questions than satisfied them.
Chief picked up her tricorder from a nearby crate, where she was examining the Betazed cargo, and scanned the ID tag once again.
Delta Victor Three Five Seven Zulu Zulu. It was picked as a filler for transport to the first vessel Artemis encounters, either SB118 or USS Oumuamua. On Betazed, someone else wrote off the item. On Artemis, it was accepted and manifested by a different person. The weight was correct. On the Betazed hub, both crates arrived as part of a different tracking chain. Those crates have nothing in common. They had never met anywhere before, now, and even after. After.
Ral: Smith, can you look into the system at 55799-Epsilon-Delta-Bravo?
Smith: Yup, boss. What do you want to know?
Ral: At this point, everything.
Smith sighed and nodded. Ral’s crusade had the right roots, but repeating the same things would not help. They had a limited number of steps, and they did all of them. There was no need to go through the known facts again to discover nothing, as they knew all.
Smith: So, 779-EDB arrived from Betazed Hub as ordered. A crate is on the delivery list and listed in order… Artemis was the final destination, the materials inside were for interim use. Two hundred fifty pieces of plasma line decouplers. Hm…
Ral raised her eyebrows. Petty Officer's reaction sounded interesting, as if he had ... found something.
Smith: This is weird, Chief. You never tell number two fifty. Aren’t those delivered like five hundred minimum? Let me see the order confirmation. ::changing page on his PADD:: Ah, flow supply crate, that… Chief?
Petty Officer lifted his eyes from PADD and looked at Chief Ral, who was not paying him any attention.
She watched a young human girl, one of their new additions to their little warehouse keepers club, push the crate into a vacant spot, place it there, scan it, and tick off in PADD that it matched the entry in the delivery manifest.
Ral: Crewmen Novak, may I see what you brought?
Chief stepped over to her subordinate, who was putting her tricorder back on her belt. Crewmen Novak nodded and handed her her PADD.
Ral: I wanna see your tricorder, the data you scanned from the crate?
The crewmen looked tired and disgusted, but wordlessly she took out her tricorder and handed it to Ral. Ral opened it and took out the data. She checked them for a moment, then closed the tricorder again and returned it.
Ral: You did not scan the material inside the crate, crewmen one. Novak, did you have any reason not to follow regulations? You had a great recommendation and service report. You want to step up and become a petty officer, right?
Novak: Yes, ma’am. For my reasons, the Bajor hub had already scanned and confirmed the contents of the box before transport, so I just paired their confirmation with the crate ID scan. Chief.
Ral: Scanned in the hub or not, the regulation clearly states we need to scan the content as soon as we take over and store the cargo, crewman. Let me tell you what happens next, ok? Tomorrow, when your shift begins, first thing in the morning, you will go to Cargo Hold One to scan all the crates there and confirm their content. After you are done, you will send me the result to my station. And I then forget to write you up for this. Are we clear, crewmen?
Novak: Aye, ma’am. As ordered.
Ral nodded her in understanding and let the crewmen leave. As she pivoted, she strode over to Smith and unleashed a piercing, wrathful yell that caused the petty officer to wince.
Ral: ::upsetly:: It’s ok, Smith. Where did we end? You were telling me about that crate…
Smith: You could cut her slack, Chief. You know we all do it? I saw you once to do the same.
Ral: ::angrily:: I KNOW!
Smith: OK, OK, just saying. No need for yelling.
Chief took a deep breath, raised her hands as if to the sun, and then lowered them to her body, along with a deep breath. She tried to calm down. She had access to a phaser and a baseball bat in her office, and what's more, she had a short fuse to run before she started to beat people. She definitely needed to smoke. The doctor told her it was absurd and health-damaging, but it was that or beating people.
For some reason, Starfleet was less critical of herbal smoking used for "religious" purposes than of non-commissioned officers running, screaming, and beating their subordinates below deck.
oO Calm, peace, unicorns, kittens. Calm, peace, unicorns, kittens… Oo
Ral: ::amicably:: Sorry. Of course, I know. Now. I’m just angry at myself for not realizing sooner. This is how this… ::points at the open crate:: …happens. But we are still missing something. Like everything. But that crate. Seven Niner Niner. What did you find?
Smith: It was flow supply. Betazed hub was out of stock for distribution, so they took the material back out of their own division and repackaged it for us as a safe backup until we can get a full delivery at any other logistic hub we end up with next time. Those decouplers are fast-moving material, but the practice is that a new one is ordered as soon as the last crate has been removed from the cargo hold. Which means that there is still a supply far beyond the possibilities of consumption during a standard mission all around the ship. Better to be safe than sorry logic. They are used a lot, but basically, they are in each engineering supply box on the ship… so we would probably not touch that crate anyway and offload it on our next stop with a load of what we ordered, in numbers we ordered.
Ral: So, basically, you say we were defrauded? They knew what they were doing, knew we would slack, and used things no one could ever control for that…
Smith: Yea?
Ral: ::gesturing angrily:: Yeah, that's great. Perfect. Wonderful. And you know what? That’s criminal and over our pay grade. We are done here.
Chief Ral smiled. It was not her problem anymore.
Ral: Send me that order confirmation and have this crate moved to the restricted section. I will go to my office and start with the report for the security and fifth deck. It’s their problem now.
Petty Officer nodded to Ral, who turned on the spot and stepped toward the doors out of Cargo Hold 2. As she was out and the doors closed behind her, Ral hit the bulkhead and let out a hiss of pain.
Ral: Prophets, give me strength…
TBC