O Changeling, Where Art Thou?

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 1:56am by Cailus Griffin & Commander Mindo & Lieutenant Kalin Brennan-Griffin PhD
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 2:19pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Cailus/Shae’s Quarters
Timeline: After “Give Me Some Credits”

A Mission Post by Lieutenant Mindo & Lieutenant Kalin 'Shae' Brennan PhD & Lieutenant JG Cailus Griffin
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Cailus/Shae’s Quarters
Timeline: After “Give Me Some Credits”
Thu Mar 15th, 2018 @ 9:48pm


After meeting Mindo in the holographic arcade, Cailus went straight to his office in the absence of anything better to do. With his prosthetic hand still malfunctioning he was officially on light duty, which meant (to his undeniable irritation) diving into a metaphorical mountain of paperwork. Even so, after barely half an hour, he gave up, putting down a PADD with bone-dry phaser efficiency statistics. Paperwork was manageable when he could schedule other things around it, from drills to bridge duty to simulations and tactical wargaming, but without being officially able to do any of those other things, the paperwork was all, and the paperwork was death.

Cailus promised himself privately for the hundredth time that if he ever got promoted high enough to be offered an admiral bar, or a desk job, to resign immediately and never look back.

Instead, with two hours left until he could slip away guilt-free to check on Aoife in her physical therapy, he decided to get a start on Mindo’s request. The irony wasn’t lost on him. There had been a time when Lieutenant Caradan Eunidas had asked him to investigate Mindo, but now, Mindo was asking the reverse. Unfortunately, the USS Tornado was now in another quadrant on the other side of the Federation, a salient fact that would make the investigation immensely difficult.

Regardless he began wading through the endless red tape of Starfleet beauracracy. With the Palatine still close by to assist repairs of its wounded sister ship, he was able to piggyback on their more advanced comm system to acquire a direct connection to the Starfleet data nets. There, however, Cailus hit a brick wall. No matter how he came at the problem, accessing any kind of information was simply impossible. He talked to three separate beauracrats over subspace, two on Earth and one on Starbase 12, but none gave him so much as a scrap of information about Lieutenant Caradan Eunidas or the USS Tornado. The third even flatly stated that she could neither confirm nor deny the very existence of Caradan or the USS Tornado, and when Cailus pointed out that he had served with that same officer on that same ship, she had actually tried to scold him for releasing classified information. Cailus’ resultant quiet but brutal dressing down of her made him feel a little better and probably traumatised the idiot Bajoran girl, but it got him no closer to solving the problem.

Later that night, at a time so late that he tried not think about it, Cailus lay on his side in bed, his mind still churning relentlessly in the dark. Shae was fast asleep, her tail occasionally twitching against his bare back, but not even the lullaby of Shae and Aoife’s soft breathing was enough to get Cailus to sleep. Instead he simply kept remembering Mindo’s forlorn look upon learning that Caradan might have moved on from their brief love affair, might even be actively ignoring his subspace messages. Mindo had come close to crying there and then.

Damn that Fesarian.

Disgruntled but determined, Cailus stealthily extricated himself from the bed and pulled on a shirt, moving to the couch. Within minutes he was back at it with a cup of piping hot coffee in his lap, a PADD in his right hand and his bare feet sinfully resting on the table. It was still quite dark but Cailus left it that way, preferring not to risk waking Shae or Aoife. And in any case, he was making progress...

Shae ended up waking anyway because of a slight chill down her back when he vacated the bed. When she turned over to snuggle closer to Cailus, she realized he was not there and she sat up to look around. Where was Cailus? She slipped out of bed and wandered to the main room where she found him on the couch.

"Hey, everything okay?" Shae said softly from the doorway, mindful of Aoife still sleeping soundly in her cot.

Glancing up at Shae, Cailus smiled apologetically. He could only see her silhouette in the darkness, faintly illuminated by starlight from behind, but with Shae’s distinctive physical profile it was still a memorable and beautiful sight. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Just can’t get this damned thing out of my head. Go on back to bed.”

"Still can't reach Caradan?" Shae asked, sounding concerned. She felt bad that she hadn't made any attempts to reach out to Caradan, but between work and Aoife, she never seemed to have the time! Not like it would have amounted to much from the sound of things.

“It’s more than random interference or classified nonsense,” Cailus said with a frustrated sigh, taking a sip of his coffee. “Someone very powerful is deliberating making sure that nobody on this ship can communicate with the Tornado in any way, and they’ve been doing it for months. I just don’t know why.” He looked back up at Shae with a rare look of sadness. “Something about Mindo...hell, Shae, he was a wreck when we talked. I had no idea that he cared about Caradan that much, or that he was even capable of it.”

Shae sighed softly, then stepped further into the room. "I know you two haven't been on the best of terms, but... there's more to him than you've tried to see," she said in a quiet tone. "I knew he was seeing Caradan, I could smell her on him; Caradan admitted that she had never been involved with anyone before, I also know how Fesarians are in terms of romantic entanglements, so I knew this was new territory for them both. I was glad to see a familiar face when he transferred in, but I knew he missed Caradan."

“And for all we know, she could be missing him,” Cailus replied sourly. He was still somewhat flummoxed by his desire to cheer up Mindo, to perhaps reconnect the estranged lovers, but he knew what he needed to do. Peeking at Shae again, he smiled. “Really, love, get some sleep. I’m making progress here, but at least one of us should be well rested.”

"It's alright, I've got a lot on my mind as well," Shae said with a languid stretch. "Our newest Officer in Science has, I kid you not, a pet rock; it shifts colors and vibrates and even moves, but only when it's not being observed... we thought we had lost our minds, and Fillmore actually had to go see Mera to make sure he wasn't crazy," she continued as she padded over to the replicator for a cup of tea, then she joined Cailus on the couch. "Is there anything I can help you with? No, how about this, just start from the beginning and go over everything you've come across; sometimes it helps to hear everything laid out aloud, you can make a connection you couldn't before."

Shifting himself to sit straight, Cailus grunted. He was tired and stiff, a state of affairs not helped by the occasional sharp jolt from his malfunctioning prosthetic hand. “I’ve confirmed that Caradan is still on the Tornado and is still the XO. I had to dig deep to do it, pretending to be double checking a phaser certification she did while I was onboard, but it’s something. She hasn’t run off to the Gamma Quadrant or somewhere else impossibly remote.” Rubbing his eyes, he added quietly, “How much do you know about duotronic-based computer code, like they used back in the 23rd?”

"I know the technology is often overlooked in terms of modern isolinear systems and I knew how to exploit these holes in security to break into places I shouldn't have had access to. Why?" Shae asked.

Cailus held up the PADD wearily, and sure enough, it was showing what appeared to be computer code. “Because that’s exactly what someone has done here. I found this program about half an hour ago, embedded in some subprocessors attached to the main deflector. I wasn’t even looking for it, and I only recognised it because we still used duotronic systems in my time. Hell, I’m probably the only Starfleet officer qualified to work with duotronic computers within a hundred lightyears.”

He rubbed his eyes as he spoke, a headache forming from spending far too long taking apart a computer program. “The program is a blend of modern isolinear software and older duotronic software, although I’ll be damned if I know how this engineer got them working together cohesively in a single program. I don’t understand a lot of it, but there are some things that are obvious. Any time that we try to send a message to the Tornado, there’s a clear record of this program activating.”

That sent a shiver through Shae. "Shite, I've been watching for any signs of surveillance, but the exploit of technology like this isn't widely used so I wasn't looking for it," Shae admitted. "And it raises a whole host of uncomfortable questions: who would go through this much effort to block contact with the Tornado, and why?"

“I don’t have any working theories yet,” Cailus replied with well-concealed frustration, leaning forward to put his elbows on his knees. “Just wild speculation. There just isn’t enough data yet to form a conclusion, not without something from the Tornado.” He hesitated, glancing sideways at Shae. He hated to tell her the next part, knowing what it would do to her, but there was nothing for it. “More than that, I found that this program has another function as a way of concealing subspace messages. That transporter malfunction back on Salvaxe, when my team were beaming up. A message was received through this program five hours before we were supposed to beam up, and another one was sent thirty minutes after Mindo found the problem and fixed it.”

Now there was pain written on Shae's face. "What do I have to do to get away from all this cloak and dagger nonsense?" And yet if he asked for her help, she would give it to him in a heartbeat. "It seems to me, you have two options: disable the device and disrupt communications with whoever is behind all this, but that has the downside of either forcing their hand or using something else that we can't track, and option two, leave it in place and see if you can't use it to ferret out the subversive on the ship."

“Don’t worry about that,” Cailus said quietly, although even through his fatigue, there was a dark glint in his eyes. “That’s my job to arrange, and I’m damned good at it. Whoever this person is, they’ll be in the Brig soon enough. I just need to stop staring at this PADD and get started.” With that, he stood, rolling his shoulders to ease his early morning stiffness. Without thinking, he crouched down and kissed Shae lightly before standing back up. “I’m going to talk to Mindo, but I’ll be back soon. He deserves to know as soon as possible that Caradan hasn’t abandoned him.” He sighed. “Get some sleep, love, and thank you. Saying it all out loud...it helps.”

"Mmm, anytime," Shae said with a hum, a small smile lingering after the kiss. She finished off her tea, then took both of their cups back to the replicator before returning to bed as ordered, feeling more at ease now that she knew that Cailus seemed to have a handle on the situation.

A few minutes later, quite exhausted, irritable yet determined, Cailus stood outside Mindo’s quarters, the PADD still in his hand. He was still clad in his silk shirt and pants, and he knew that the ship’s rumour mill would go nuts if someone saw him standing outside Mindo’s quarters at 0415 in his nightwear, but to hell with it. However, Cailus did hesitate for a moment before pressing the chime, hoping fervently that Mindo hadn’t broken his month-long celibacy the previous night. If someone was in there with him, this would become immensely awkward. Of course, that was a forceful reminder of all the reasons why Cailus sure as hell did not like Mindo, but to hell with that too. It was too late to turn back, no matter how much he suddenly wanted to.

Mindo's door opened and Mindo stood there in blue pajamas, rubbing his eyes and trying to adjust to the light.

As the door opened, an Ensign in a blue uniform walked by. He gave them both a look and smiled, saying "Have a good night, gentlemen," as he walked away.

Mindo grunted and stood aside for Cailus to come in.

"This better be good," said Mindo. "I was really hoping you were Fick again... or Shae, for that matter."

The answering glare from Cailus would’ve been enough to melt steel. Then, even worse, he became brutally cold as he took two steps inside then looked down at the little bastard. “Damn it, Mindo, why do you work so hard to piss me off?”

Mindo rolled his bleary eyes. "I was just saying... never mind. Why are you here?" Mindo moved over to the mini-bar on his size-adjusted coffee table and started fixing himself a drink. "You want a drink?" he asked, almost as an afterthought.

Mentally repeating an old Vulcan mantra (Serenity through knowledge...) and trying not think something else (throw him into a damned bulkhead), Cailus took a breath to calm himself. Intellectually he knew that Mindo had probably misspoke, not meant what Cailus had originally thought, but he was tired and worried and definitely not in the mood to be forgiving.

“I found something,” Cailus said instead, speaking slowly and with great control. “Caradan hasn’t been ignoring you, nor has she disappeared. An illegal computer program installed in our systems has been blocking all our subspace traffic to her, both to and from.”

Mindo looked up while pouring his drink, and for a second Cailus thought he was about to spill, but Mindo straightened the bottle in time. He turned around sharply, putting the cap on and setting it down absentmindedly.

"So she has no idea I'm here," said Mindo. "That would explain a little, but it certainly asks a lot more. Where did you find this program?"

Thus, in detail, Cailus related his findings, from the structure of the program to its security implications, as well as the connection to the attempted murder of the away team. By the end he was sitting in a chair with a glass of some mysterious cider in his left hand, having belatedly accepted Mindo’s offer for a drink.

“Regardless, I thought that you would want to know,” Cailus finished, eyeing the Fesarian keenly. He yearned to get back to bed with Shae, but he forced himself to focus on Mindo. “Caradan hasn’t been ignoring you at all. I understand that that was eating at you.”

Mindo sat opposite Cailus, nursing his own drink. For a long moment, he was quiet, and any number of things could have been going through his head. His next words were quiet, controlled. "Someone doesn't want me talking to her. And apparently they're willing to kill someone to do it if they have to." He took another long drink, finishing his glass. He hopped down from his chair and went to pour himself another drink. "One thing's for sure... the Pandora isn't the only ship that's in danger in this mess."

Cailus made a noncommital sound in response. “Discovering that hidden program gives us an advantage over our enemy. It’s a step in the right direction, but we need more data. There is an active saboteur on this ship, someone who has proven to be an active threat to both you and me, but without a clear sense of their objective, we’re still at a disadvantage.”

"What about the Tornado?" Mindo asked, not saying the obvious... What about Caradan?

“Any warning we send would be vague and unhelpful,” Cailus pointed out with ruthless logic. “More than that, contacting them would require purging that hidden program from our computer, which would alert the saboteur to our suspicions. It would do more harm than good.”

Mindo nodded. That made sense. "What do we do then? How do we find the saboteur?"

It was a good question, Cailus conceded, and not one he could immediately answer. He put his empty glass down and stood. “That’s my job. I’ll brief the captain on this tomorrow. For now, your job is to examine that program. Don’t change or purge it. Just analyse what you can without setting off any countermeasures and keep an eye on its activity. When the time comes, we’ll be able to use it.”

"Use it for what?" said Mindo. "Activate it and put the saboteur into the transporter?"

“Or use it to eavesdrop on this saboteur’s communications with their superiors,” Caiius said, although there was no condescension in his tone. He was too drained, and thinking longingly of a good few hours of sleep, he turned to leave.

"I'll look into this tonight," said Mindo as Cailus made his way to the door. "We'll talk tomorrow... either at the beach or afterward. And Cailus," Mindo added, "thanks for this."

Cailus hesitated at the door, plainly unsure of what to say. After a moment, he managed an awkward nod before leaving, the doors closing behind him.

Mindo downed his drink and set the glass down. Time to go to work, he thought, looking at his chronometer. Gonna be a long day.