Analyzing Intel (Part 2)
Posted on Mon Jun 21st, 2021 @ 4:05pm by Lieutenant Mira Jayna & Lieutenant Aenar Torek & Lieutenant Rembrandt 'Remy' Batiste & Ensign Chevy Tuff & Logan & Spock The Monkey
1,174 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission: Eye of the Storm
[PREVIOUSLY]
"In trouble, how?" Tuff asked, watching the monkey eat while sitting in his hand.
"He's accepted you. Now he'll expect you to give him treats and play with him, too," Jayna said.
Logan smirked slightly as he added. "You think he's our pet when really we're his."
[CONTINUED]
Remy rolled his eyes slightly as he finally spoke up on the situation, having known Spock the longest, even being the one who was gifted him by his old friend. "Don't let them fool you, Ensign Tuff. While true, Spock will expect certain things from you, he is still pretty smart and resourceful. Not only will you have found a valued friend, but one who will often do what he can to get you out of danger. Even risking his own, small, life."
"Interesting," Tuff responded. "Well, it will be an interesting relationship to explore in the future."
'Delightful,' said Aenar from where he was standing, rubbing the ear with his earring to reassure himself. This was a larger meeting than expected. 'Anyone else for refreshments?' He indicated his office, 'room enough for everyone in here.'
"I'll get the refreshments," Jayna said. "If you wouldn't mind introducing what you have?"
"Yes, please." Remy said as he approached Aenar, looking up at him due to his small height. "Please share your findings."
'Just tea for me,' replied Aenar as he took a seat behind his desk, and picked up his PADD.
"What would you like?" Jayna asked the Chief Intelligence Officer and the engineer.
"Coffee, Miss Mira, if you please." Remy said as he approached her.
"Tea." Logan said allowed, looking to Jayna, before turning his attention to Remy. "You drank enough coffee today. We don't need you getting irritable while we discuss what was going on."
Remy narrowed his eyes to Logan, giving his friend a stern look, before looking to Jayna. "I'll be fine. And Jayna kindly asked me and not you so... If you please, Lieutenant?"
Jayna smiled at Logan. "Too late. He's already irritable."
A soft growl developed in his throat before it was cut off by a brief chuckle. He looked down slightly before looking up to Jayna and shaking his head with a smile.
She got Remy his coffee, but made it a decaf. She took the tray of drinks to the table and handed them out.
Reading from his PADD as the beverages were served, Aenar nodded his thanks and continued. 'Initial scans showed that the facility had been in sit up for quite some time, and was mostly located below the surface of the moon. The facility was heavily guarded when we entered. The team encountered several squads of Reman mercenaries, which is unusual in and of itself.'
The Bajoran glanced over at Tuff, 'the Ensign was the one who downloaded and prepped the data as to the facility's purpose, so I think it's best if he explains.'
"What exactly would you like me to explain?" Tuff asked, not understanding where Aenar was going or what information he sought.
"What you found, how you got it, why you need our help," Jayna said, trying not to smile.
Tuff took a deep breath. He had explained this before but redundancy was a way for everyone to understand everything and he respected that. After all, he refused to act without knowing all of the facts, as well. Politely, he said, "Very well. We found a computer system down on the planet in a secret facility. I was able to acquire data from that system. Much of it, if not all, is downloaded into my archives. When I first started analyzing the data, I found records on meteorology, gravitational waves, solar storms, ion storms, and magnetic readings. Digging deeper into the files, I found graphs and charts on all the data regarding these events, indicating a keen interest in all the patterns here on this planet. There seemed to be even research notes showing that the ion storms here have never lasted this long. However, from there, I ran into several blocks of protected data. At the moment, I have not quite cracked the code but there are references within what I found to a Project Romero. This is quite suspicious and lends credence to a hypothesis that I have been working on: that the building we found and the people within are somehow related to the ion storms. I need not remind you that ion storms are normally caused by coronal mass ejections. However, in my brief research, I have not found any stars in the vicinity that are undergoing such a process. Even so, the storm would not be sustained like this, nor would it be regular. This further supports my hypothesis that these ion storms are not naturally occurring and are related to the building we entered. Therefore, I acquire assistance in testing my hypothesis and finding more evidence to prove or disprove it."
"I think you're right," Jayna said. "All we need to do now is get into that data and see what else they're hiding." She smiled, eager to see what sort of encryption they used. "We'll need to decrypt it in a secure sandbox so we don't trigger any failsafe programs. As long as we work with a backup and keep the original locked behind our own security protocols, we should be fine."
Tuff responded, "I already have three redundant copies. If you would like, I can make more for more efficient analysis."
"That won't be necessary, but thank you," Jayna said. "We'll work with one copy and see what we can find."
"When would you like to begin?" he asked holding out a data chip.
"Could the storms be a byproduct?" Logan asked aloud, looking around at the others.
Remy looked up toward the large Caitian as he held his mug up. "Explain, Mr. Logan." He took a sip and immediately cringed, looking to Jayna sternly, before shaking his head in disapproval. "You people are slowly trying to kill me." He mumbled softly to himself.
"Well..." He took a moment to form his words before continuing. "We know Romulan's use an artificial quantum singularity instead of matter-antimatter that Federation ships are accustomed to." Logan gestured his head over to Tuff. "The Ensign said it was odd to have an Ion storms with no stars going through the normal process to cause one. So, it occurred to me, what if the lab was there to experiment on something involving the artificial singularity and the storms were just an unexpected byproduct they were trying to solve. All the charts and monitors could just be their own studies trying to map out where and when they showed up during the experiment. Trying to get a handle on them?"
(To be continued...)
Ensign Chevy Tuff
Computer Systems Specialist
Lieutenant Aenar Toric
Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant Remy Batiste
Chief Intelligence Officer
Logan
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer
Lieutenant JG Mira Jayna
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer
Spock the Monkey
Intelligence Specialist
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