The Little Things Give You Away

Posted on Tue Jun 23rd, 2020 @ 4:48am by Cailus Griffin & Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Owen Nash
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:28pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Deck 2 - Conference Room
Timeline: After "Learning"

ON:

After the mission briefing, Captain Temple had asked for Commander Nash and Lieutenant Griffin to stay behind, a topic of a more confidential matter to discuss between them. Nyx politely waited for the rest of the senior crew to leave the room and for the door to swish gently closed behind them before the smile dropped from his face. "Computer?" He called out sternly, and it replied with its usual beeps. "Secure the Conference Room, highest level."

As the room was secured, Cailus stood and moved up the table to sit closer to the two command officers. The security chief was, somehow, even more, grave than usual as he glanced between the captain and XO. Outside the window, the three men had a wonderful view of the station that the Pandora was docked to, along with the many ships that orbited it, but Cailus ignored it completely. He suspected that he knew why the captain wanted to talk privately; after all, Cailus had been forwarding his investigation updates to the captain, but he didn't know whether Commander Nash knew about it as well.

Owen looked at both Nyx and Cailus as he was unsure of what was about to come next, however, Nyx's move to secure the room was one that surprised him but also meant that there was something of a serious nature coming. "Okay, thats the first time that you've taken that decision since we all came on board to serve under you," Owen began. "What's going on?" he asked.

Nyx leaned inwards, placing his hands onto the table, “It’s come to my knowledge that there have been a number of small but alarming incidents while we’ve been busy with the mission. Security breaches that indicate someone on board this vessel is up to something nefarious. Griffin, tell us what you’ve found.”

"Three hours ago, there was an intrusion in the Marine NCO quarters," Cailus said, his tone grave. "In itself, the intrusion isn't suspicious. These kind of small incidents happen on a regular basis, as you both know. However, there were elements on the intrusion that raise concern. For one, the intruder attempted to use the Marines' secured communications access to communicate with someone nearby, either on a ship around Paradise or on the station itself. For another, the intruder left no forensic traces of any kind, suggesting that great care and skill was used during the intrusion. Third, the intruder used Lieutenant Arnaldo's access code, even though Arnaldo was, at that moment, in an unplanned meeting with a counselor. He was supposed to be sleeping alone at that time, where his presence could not be easily verified, suggesting an attempt to paint him as a suspect and distract the investigation."

Cailus' eyes hardened. "Moreover, there is the transporter malfunction at Salvaxe a few months ago that very nearly killed the away team, as well as our captive Ravagers. Lieutenant Mindo could never conclusively prove that it was sabotage, but the nature of the malfunction, as well as its timing, are highly suggestive. Isolated, these two incidents are concerning but not alarming. Combined, they form a pattern. There is now a moderate but real possibility that there is at least one traitor in the crew."

Nyx nodded slowly, "When you mentioned in your report that Lieutenant Arnaldo's access code had been used, I ran a check on his usage. In the previous five days his codes have also been used in two other occasions when Arnaldo was in the Brig or otherwise accounted for." Nyx tapped on his PADD and the log appeared behind him on the large screen. "Once was to access an auxiliary storage room on deck nine, and then again in the Hydroponics Lab on deck seven."

Owen sat forward as he took in this disturbing news. The fact that someone on board was up to something that could put the ship in danger. More over, he felt a stabbing pain in his gut at the thought one of the crew could be a traitor.

"This is bloody disturbing...especially as they've been to one of the auxiliary storage rooms and the Hydroponics Lab... That suggests someone could be putting together elements of a bomb," Owen surmised.

"A low-tech chemical explosive, but yes sir, it's a possibility that is being looked into," Cailus said gravely. "I have people checking the inventory and replicator logs now, but this saboteur, if that's what they are, has been careful so far to avoid detection. I have very little evidence to form an investigation on."

Nyx took a breath, "The question is, how do we proceed? We could enforce a total lockdown, end all liberties on Paradise, and block usage on Arnaldo's access codes. While that may prevent the culprit from acting any further, we don't have enough to go on now to be able to root them out. Alternatively, we don't tip our hand and try to monitor everyone as best as possible. We'd need to be ready should we detect any further activity."

Owen thought for a moment. "Is there a way that we could keep subtle tabs on the suspect or suspects perhaps? Have therm assigned to certain duties for a while and back that u with reasonable facts maybe?" he offered. "If you could keep them working on a specific duty, that way they could be monitored more easily, however, I suppose the bigger issue here is, who are the suspects involved so far?" he asked.

With the size of the crew of a Luna Class starship of around 300 or so, this was no easy task, but he was glad that they weren't in the same situation on one of the larger classes of starship.

"That would work if we had a suspect." Nyx nodded, "But right now we'd just be guessing. It is possible they will try again now that they've failed in Marine Country or will lie low for a while. Whoever it is has gone to great lengths so-far to conceal themselves."

"Under the circumstances," Cailus said reluctantly, stroking his chin, "the standard approach is to maintain secrecy until there is more data to work off. A lockdown is a temporary solution, and I don't believe it would help catch the culprit, at least not until we have some clue to their identity. At the very least, I recommend that Lieutenant Mindo takes precautions to protect the ship against internal explosives and sabotage, and that we change all security codes. Otherwise, we simply wait, stay observant and hope."

"Agreed." Nyx nodded. "I will inform Mindo of the situation, but for anyone else, this information does not leave this room. Until we know more, we simply don't know who we can trust."

Glancing between Nyx and Owen, Cailus nodded curtly. "Aye captain."

OFF