Lieutenant JG Amelia Semara - Who Dunnit

[Max]

(( Just Outside Main Engineering, Deck 12, USS Khitomer, en route to Lagoon Nebula ))

It was quickly becoming clear the hardest part of Amelia's special project was going to be juggling a double life.  She was only afforded a few minutes away from the lab where Ras and Richard were expecting her return to help set up the tests, and that was all the time she was going to get to execute on her other job.  And she also had to have her planned conversation with Banks in the allotted time.

Someone had altered Khitomer's orders, and she meant to find out who.  Given their imminent return to the Lagoon Nebula, where the change in orders had sent them, it was now a pressing matter. The thrum of the warp core steadily drummed away, helping push away all the distractions until she could focus on the problem at hand.  She breathed with the rhythm it set.

Where to begin?

It was someone who knew Sencha and the SDA.  Someone who knew the Khitomer and her crew.  Someone with the means and opportunity to falsify orders.  There was still one key ingredient lacking: why?  What purpose did the deception serve?  If they had tested the equipment anywhere else, they'd never have created the Hobart Ho-

That had to be it.  Someone needed a subspace anomaly of epic proportions.  But that just pushed the question one level deeper.  Why would anyone need that?

She scrolled through her PADD again, idly looking for any clues as to what they left behind.  But that was exactly the problem - the Khitomer hadn't exactly stuck around to take any readings, and their sensors were barely working at the time anyway...  Evidence was slim.

She closed her eyes and bit her lips together.  Maybe she was taking the wrong approach.  She had precisely one piece of hard evidence to work with: the altered orders themselves.  Perhaps if she pulled on that thread?  She was no communications expert, but orders were not such an easy thing to fake or alter.  Perhaps answering the questions of when, where, and how, she could start to narrow in on something more than speculation.

Maybe she had more than one reason to recruit Juliet's help.  A plan formed quickly.  She opened her eyes, crossed into main engineering and quickly spotted the yellow-collared woman.  Amelia waved her over with a smile.

Semara: Hey! :: Producing a smaller PADD with a smile :: I got those gel-pack inventory numbers you wanted.

There were too many different counts of too many different model numbers to report verbally.  Not like the numbers meant much outside of a computer system, anyway.

Banks: Response

Semara: :: A soft chuckle. :: No, it ain't the only reason I'm here.  We need a bit a' help settin' up an isolated computer system for takin' measurements.  Don't wanna lose data if we lose power again.

Banks: Response

Amelia beamed brilliantly and followed alongside Juliet, nodding along to offer any help she could.

Semara: Well, since you're bein' so accomodatin'...  :: A little chuckle. :: Maybe there's one last thing I could trouble you for.  I've been doin' these officer development courses...  Mind if I pick your brain while we work?

A truth, but an unrelated one that she hoped would satisfactorily sate Juliet's bright enthusiasm and curiosity.  Amelia would hate to lie to someone she liked so much.

Banks: Response

With Banks already pointing at the equipment she wanted, Amelia hefted some bulky Starfleet-tannish-beige module with a decade-old looking LCARs interface on it out of its spot and set it on the floor.  She pushed a bit of blonde hair back into its place and posed her question.

Semara: I'm workin' on somethin' that goes like this - I wanna verify the source and integrity of a long-range communication.  I know the computer does all the cryptographic checkin' automatically, but I'm feelin' that ain't enough.  Where would you start if you really wanted an impressive answer?

Banks: Response

Tag / TBC...

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Lieutenant Junior Grade Amelia Magnolia Semara

Science Officer - Special Projects

USS Khitomer - NCC-62400

A239710MA0