A Change of Focus (part 4)

Posted on Fri Dec 9th, 2016 @ 4:24pm by Commodore Samantha York & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Commander Damion Wolfe & Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & Lieutenant JG Victoria Drani M.D.

838 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Shadow Dance
Location: Conference Room

[CONTINUED]

[NEW]

Damion looked over to Yui and rolled his eyes slightly, letting a sigh escape his lips. "The standard protocol when visiting an alien planet on a shuttle is to either 'A' leave an officer with the shuttle at all times or 'B' ensure the craft is safely locked and secured until you return." He looked away from Yui, than towards Sam. "If she is right and one of the Jenefran's used the shuttles equipment to replicate the poison, there is a change of a record of the replication occurring in the system. I would recommend putting Ensign Shirol on it. She would definitely be able to find the log." He than returned his gaze back to Yui, but it wasn't pleasant. He was unhappy and displeased with her over what she just admitted. "This is unacceptable, Lieutenant. The moment you noticed something out of place, you should have reported it right away. The fact that you left an opened shuttle, with its full functions still operational and unattended, is a blatant disregard of protocol. A number of important things could have been stolen while your back was turned. Records, The on board weapons, other Federation technology, and including the shuttle itself. When this briefing is over, make your way to the Security Officers and be thankful its not the brig."

[NEW]

Damon frowned deeply at the Security Chiefs words. The public dressing-down of the Lieutenant was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. Officers were to treat each other with respect and dignity, neither of which was being displayed here. It was the Captain or First Officer's role to publicly reprimand another officer. Whereas he was right that leaving the shuttle unattended was a breach in protocol, he should have simply asked her to fill out a security report and privately remind her of how serious the repercussions could be.

Although Damon was upset he was in no position to say anything. Being a Marine, he was in a different branch of Starfleet protocol. It was not his place. Instead he continued to stand against the wall quietly and hoped everyone would quickly move on.

After years of being together, Sam easily picked up on Damon's thoughts. She agreed with him, and hoped she could have a private word with Lieutenant Wolfe after the briefing. This was not the first time he'd been inappropriately disrespectful. She needed to find out what was going on, and if there was any way she could help. She didn't like seeing any of her officers get in trouble, and that was where Damion was heading if he continued acting the way he had lately.

Victoria looked at Yui and then at Wolfe. "You can't simply use the replicator to replicate a poison. You would need a senior medical or science officer's authorization. However, a poison could have theoretically been produced if the replicator was used to replicate something not listed as harmful in of itself alone but deadly if combined with another substance such as vinegar when mixed with bleach."

"Hmmm..." Arnon said. "Let me just think aloud for a moment. Poisoning requires planning. It's not something someone decides to do and then does it a matter of hours lately. Not in normal circumstances. So someone had to have been planning this. As a rule, the Jenefrans don't use artificial poisons...alright. But then, how would a Jenefran know what chemicals to replicate from our shuttle? How would they know which chemicals couldn't be replicated? How would they know if we could replicate poisons or not? If they did understand how chemical poisons work, why would they need our replicator? There have to be artificial chemicals on Jenefra that are known to be harmful. Couldn't they just mix those themselves? I suppose they could have thought if it came from our technology, they'd be able to blame the whole thing on us, but that brings us back to how would they know how to utilize our technology to commit this crime? Also, did they plan to gain access to Yui's shuttle? How would they know she'd leave it unlocked? Did they have some means of hacking the hatch locking mechanism and was it just dumb luck that they didn't have to use it? If so, where did they get the technology to do that?"

"I agree with Dr. Barak. We had no reason to suspect that there would be a murder and one of our crew accused of it," Sam said. "And, as they are supposed to be in talks to join the Federation, why would we need to be concerned about locking up our technology? Besides that, how would they know how to use the replicators? I don't think the shuttle is the origin of the poison."

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Damion Wolfe
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Coloney Damon Raine
Acting Marine CO

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Victoria Drani
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Arnon Barak
Chief Counselor

 

RSS Feed