Lieutenant Commander Cadfael Peters: More Questions than Answers

[Zeph]

(( Commander Katsim’s Quarters, USS OE Butler ))

Peters: Not a problem. Can you perhaps tell me what I’m looking for?

Richards handed over a PADD with some information on it. Cadfael skimmed the log, brow tightening slightly as he followed the timestamps.

Richards: See this log here.

Katsim: Response

He gave a small nod and crossed to the unit, setting his toolkit down with quiet precision. The quarters carried that lived-in feel — personal gravity layered over Starfleet standardization — and he took care not to disturb more than necessary.

More habit than necessity, he keyed in his renewed credentials and brought up the text-based interface.

Peters: Have we ruled out pets accidentally triggering it while you weren’t here?

Katsim: Response

Richards: I think it would have to be a pretty precise critter to pull that off.

Peters: Dr. Skyfire’s beagle can order kibble by barking in a specific manner courtesy of voice activation, but still needs a two-legged to get it down for him. So it’s not that hard, in theory.

Katsim: Response

Richards: That’s odd. Any chance that the terminal could have been activated remotely?

Cadfael didn’t answer immediately, already focused on the internals. He removed the casing with efficient care, checking for wear, misalignment, or residue that might suggest interference. After a moment, he reseated the connections and reassembled the housing.

Katsim: Response

Peters: Nothing wrong with it internally.

Richards: For what purpose?

Katsim: Response

Cadfael remained crouched a moment longer, eyes on the interface rather than the hardware now — the question shifting from fault to intent.

Peters: Any chance of a misfire caused by whatever artificial intelligence you tangled with on the last mission?

Katsim / Richards: Response

He straightened slightly.

Peters: I read through some of the AARs — it assumed the voice of the ship’s computer. If it retained access pathways, it’s at least worth ruling out.

He tapped the log again.

Peters: Do these timestamps roughly align with your time off-ship during the away mission?

Katsim / Richards: Response

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Lieutenant Commander Cadfael Peters

Engineer

USS Octavia E Butler NCC-82850

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