Ensign Gideon Hughes - Caught in the Act
Kevin Day
(( Warp Core & Antimatter Injection Systems Access, Deck 8, USS Valkyrie ))
Hughes: I think I’ve got something ma’am. The good news is that the signal appears to be originating from Lower Cargo Bay 3, Deck 15.
Is’Kah: That is an out-of-the-way Cargo Bay.
Neshala: Indeed. But I think you have more news for us, don’t you?
Hughes: The bad news is…. it appears to be Cardassian.
Is’Kah: A Cardassian? Our only Cardassian that I am aware of transferred months ago. Are you aware of anyone, Neshala?
She shook her head, not recalling anyone since Soria had left.
Neshala: I can’t think of any.
Is’Kah: I didn’t think so. Could it be a Caraadian and the hack caused a computer error?
Neshala: I don’t know. But why the Cardassians? The Cardassian Union is literally on the other side of the galaxy from us? What could they possibly hope to gain?
Hughes: ::He looked between both Neshala and Is’Kah:: It doesn’t necessarily mean the Cardassian Union is behind the hack, ma’am. We brought a band of Cardassian outlaws on board 2 days ago. I filed the standard reports of the incident and ::he tried to pull up the aforementioned security files and found them missing:: they’re gone!
Is’Kah: Can you bring up a video feed of that cargo bay? I’d like to confirm what we’re walking into.
Neshala: Yes, one moment.
She quickly called up the feed, but the database indicated there were no records available for the indicated timeframe.
Neshala: Computer, what happened to the records for Cargo Bay 3?
Computer: There are no records for the time of your inquiry, Lieutenant Neshala.
Neshala: Why not?
Computer: It was taken offline at fourteen-twenty-one hours two days ago for maintenance.
Neshala: That can’t be right. I would have had a record of any maintenance requests.
Gideon kept working as each new revelation emerged. Using the security chief's algorithm that had identified the Cardassian signature to begin with, he ran it against any aberrant system glitches that had been reported over the past 72 hours. Finally, each instance was displayed on the access panel the 3 officers had been working at.
Hughes: ::To Neshala:: They’ve been hiding from us for 2 days Lieutenant. Erasing security reports ::he pointed to the record showing the terminated security files::, disabling our surveillance, and now sending out this signal right under our noses.
Is’Kah: Of course, it’s been hacked and is offline. Ensign, can you bring it online without alerting the attacker? If you can, once we verify what's going on, we’ll shut off all outgoing subspace relays for ten minutes. With people on the planet, we can’t risk being offline for longer.
Hughes: ::He shook his head:: They haven’t just disabled the video feed, they have completely dismantled our surveillance systems in the cargo bay. ::He stared at the access panel until a new inspiration struck:: But what I can do is initiate the video feed from one of our worker bees and ::beat:: Yes!
Gideon pumped his fist in triumph as the video feed went live revealing a lone Cardassian working confidently at one of the cargo bay’s terminals, having no idea he had been discovered.
Neshala: Understood, Chief. Should I alert the command team that comms will be down?
Hughes: ::To Neshala:: Perhaps we shouldn’t shut them down quite yet, ma’am. Now that we know where and how the signal is being transmitted, I should be able to clean up telemetry and maybe we can find out who they’re sending it to. Try it now Lieutenant.
Is’Kah: Response
Neshala: Understood, Lieutenant. I’m already in it deep. Might as well keep piling it on.
Is’Kah: Response
Hughes: Could they be trying to mount some kind of ill advised rescue mission?
Neshala/Is’Kah: ?
Hughes: ::To Is’Kah:: My phaser qualifications are all up to date ma’am, permission to provide back up?
Neshala/Is’Kah: ?
Ensign Gideon Hughes
Engineering Officer
USS Valkyrie-A NCC-76418-A
V240304GH3