Gathering Intel

Posted on Fri Nov 8th, 2024 @ 1:42pm by Lieutenant Commander Rin & Lieutenant Commander S'hib & Lieutenant Nicholas Reece [Reece]

Mission: Season 6: Episode 5: A church beyond heaven
Location: Conference room on station
Timeline: MD 2 / 1331 hours
2012 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

After spending a couple hours with the locals, then looking through the computer files that were open to the general public, Nicholas found a few odd items. He decided to find Rin, and bring them to her attention. He reached up and tapped his commbadge. "Lieutenant Reece to Lieutenant Commander Rin, what is your current location, Ma'am?"

"Currently touring the station," Rin replied. "Is there an issue?"

"No, Ma'am," Nicholas replied. "Just some...oddities that I thought you should know."

"On my way. Where can we meet?" Rin asked.

"I am currently on the main promenade, making my way back to the airlock that Elysium is docked to. I'll be at the gangway in about five minutes, Ma'am."

"Acknowledged. On my way."

Rin arrived with a quick gait at the Elysium seven minutes later. "What do we have, Lieutenant?"

Nicholas straightened up when his department head arrived. "Well, Ma'am, it seems that there are more ships docked with the station, than there are people moving about. And when I inquire about it, I keep getting vague answers. It's as if no one remembers who is missing." He paused, then added, "And I must admit, I think it's starting to happen to me."

Rin looked around at the people walking up and down the corridor. A fair number, although, indeed, perhaps small for the number of ships outside. She mentally noted to have people look into it. At the moment, she had a more pressing concern.

"What do you feel is happening to you?" she asked.

Nicholas shrugged and shook his head, seemingly at a loss, as he replied. "I can't be certain, but, I feel like we've lost someone from Elysium since we arrived. There are a few junior officers and crewmen that I feel should be there, but...aren't. The same with our Chief Helm Officer. I can't remember the person's name, or what they looked like, but, I know it wasn't Maxine this whole time. Or at least...I think I know it wasn't her."

"Of course it's not Maxine. She was only just promoted," Rin assured him. "She replaced....someone, yes, obviously. Not like me to forget a name." In fact, she kept track of every officer on board, particularly the senior ones.

Rin tapped her badge. "Rin to Essex."

Essex, one of her Intel crewmen, responded, "Essex here, sir."

"Can you tell me who was Chief Helm Control before Maxine?"

There was a pause. "I...I'm not sure, sir."

"Look it up on the computer," she directed.

Another pause. "There wasn't one," Essex reported.

"Was there really not a Chief Helm Control officer?" Rin asked Nicholas. That made the most sense. That would be why she never bothered learning about such an officer; the officer simply hadn't existed.

Nicholas tilted his head to his right slightly. "No....I can definitely remember that there was one. He...or she...is the reason we are alive, and not already scattered atoms, after that singularity caught us." He straightened up as he asked, "You do remember that, don't you?"

"Of course." Rin was slightly annoyed at the suggestion she wouldn't know how they all became stranded. "But you're right, someone did...something, right? It's like it's on the tip of my brain, something I can't quite see, like...a mirage? That's so...weird."

She turned toward the ship's airlock. "I'm gonna check the computers. There has to be records."

"I've checked already, Ma'am," Nicholas spoke up. "I've been having this feeling since we got here, so I did some digging. According to the Computer, Maxine is the only Chief Helm Officer on record. However," he continued. "How can a ship this size only recently have a Chief Pilot? Something doesn't add up here."

Rin nodded. "What are you suggesting for next steps?"

Nicholas considered the question for a few beats. Clearly feeling frustrated, he sighed and shook his head. "I'm not sure, Ma'am."

Rin paused for a moment, tumbling the facts around in her head. "Let's assume someone is indeed missing. For some reason we don't remember them. For some reason the computer has no records of them. But... they should have belongings. You can hack a computer. You can telepathically hack a brain. But you can't just hack stuff. And if this person was Chief of Flight Control, they should have had quarters with the other senior officers, right? So... we search the unassigned senior officer quarters."

Nicholas nodded, then paused. "Would we be breaking regs if we start breaking into cabins without telling Security or the Commodore, Ma'am?"

"The rooms we're interested in are unassigned. I have access," Rin assured him.

As Rin and Nicholas spoke, raised voices echoed down the vast and opulent docking ring, grabbing their attention. Nothing was clear at first, the tall walls and many surfaces doing little to help the words reach them with any clarity.

Nicholas turned his head towards where the commotion seemed to be coming from. "Now what?"

Rin turned as well, frowning slightly as the distraction.

"I'm being unreasonable?!" Shouted a man in a brightly coloured flight suit, its bulk and padding exaggerating his already well-built frame as he walked a few steps towards an A'janie, forcing them to step back in turn.

"You're the ones who keep treating me like I'm fucking crazy!" He continued, shouting at the man before him as he desperately tried to calm him down, his voice too quiet for Rin or Nicholas to make out over the fog horn of a man shouting back at him.

"I already told you this! we're in a communication dead zone because of that supernova, I can't contact the Union!"

Rin purposefully strode over to the altercation, slipping her less-than-towering form in-between the two men to make sure the Ajanie didn't get punched, which was the direction the argument seemed to be going. Observers might even find the scene comical, this small woman staring down a man more than a head taller than her.

"Excuse my interruption, but perhaps everyone can take a breath? And then we can figure out what is the problem," she said evenly.

Nicholas, with his bulk, shadowed his department head, keeping a eye on both men in the altercation.

"Oh, here we go..." Growled the man, his heavy boots thumping as he turned away, throwing his arms up in exasperation.

"Captain Tho'mos, perhaps it would be best if you returned to your ship." Said the A'janie priest, his voice low and sheepish.

"Oh fuck you, you toffed up old prick!" Tho'mos said as he turned around again, throwing his gloved hand up in an obscene gesture neither the Starfleeters recognised, though they did get the idea.

"Why don't you explain to these-" He paused, looking Rin up and down before looking at Nicholas and raising an eyebrow. "Pyjama-wearing idiots how you have two ships docked but no fucking crews, three if you include mine."

The Priest let out a deep sigh as Tho'mos spoke, making sure not to look over at Rin or Nicholas. "Captain, as we have explained to you many times, there was and only ever was two of you when you arrived."

"Union regulation two forty-five, section four, paragraph three. No Union vessel is allowed to leave dock without minimum crew requirements, and in the case of mine that's twenty-seven!"

"Captain-"

Tho'mos stepped forward, moving somewhat around Rin. "Union regulation three thirty-six, section two, paragraph one! All Union vessels are to be inspected by an outside contractor before departure to maintain compliance with regulations two forty-five, two forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight... Need I go on?!" He bellowed, spittle flying out from his lips as he counted each one.

Nicholas stepped in and asked the irate captain, "Excuse me sir? My name is Lieutenant Nicolas Reece, I'm with the USS Elysium, a Starfleet vessel, representing the United Federation of Planets. You said you are missing crew. Can you describe them, perhaps we could help in the search for them?"

"Thats just the thing, I can't remember... And they can't remember if those ships ever had a crew, but you won't admit it!" Tho'mos growled, turning his attention to the A'janie with his last few furious words.

"If it helps, we have noticed the same thing," Rin added. Then she turned to the A'janie, trusting Nicholas had the captain well in hand. Does it not seem odd that so many ships here are undermanned? I understand your records reflect the lower number of people, but don't those numbers seem a bit...off when you think about it?"

"Well, yes..." The Priest stuttered, looking increasingly uncomfortable as the conversation continued.

"I agree it is a bit odd, but hundreds of people don't just up and vanish without anyone noticing, besides... where would they go? It just doesn't make sense."

"Oh, so now you agree with me?"

"Captain, please." The Priest said, his tone a mixture of compassion and frustration.

"I personally welcomed you aboard when you arrived, I remember that clearly and so do you. I would also remember if there was more than just you and your pilot... which there wasn't."

Tho'mos turned around and walked away a few paces, his gloved fists rubbing anxiously over his forehead into his short greying hair.

"He says he hasn't slept for a few days." The Priest said quietly, turning towards Rin.

"I think it would be a mistake writing off his concerns as the result of sleep depravation," Rin replied similarly quietly. As she did, she casually took a couple steps so that she was once more between the priest and the captain.

Nicholas spoke up. "We just arrived, and already we have been hit with whatever is affecting you both. Neither my department head," he dipped his head towards Rin, "nor myself, can recall who our former Chief Pilot for our starship was, prior to the one that was just elevated to the position. However, we both know that there had to be one, as our ship is too large to fly without one. We were about to investigate unassigned officer's quarters, to see if we can find any clues." He looked at the alien Captain. "Have you done similar yet, Sir?"

Captain Tho'mos didn't answer immediately; instead, he paced about seemingly lost in his own thoughts on the situation.

"The mess hall," He said as he turned, his voice far quieter than it had been moments ago. "It's, there's ... I mean, there's half-eaten food everywhere, plates and shit all over the floor."

He turned slightly, his eyes flicking about as if looking for something amongst the vast halls of the docking ring. "I've salvaged hundreds of vessels during my career as a Union Captain, I recognise a ghost ship when I see one..."

"How many people should be on your ship?" Rin asked. "And would you allow us to assist in your search?"

He sighed, an almost defeated look in his eyes. "Like I said... at least twenty seven, but I always hire more so I can rotate the crew better."

Only two out of at least twenty seven accounted for, Rin thought. How many might be missing from the Elysium? A dozen? A hundred? More? How many people were even on the Elysium?

Surely she should know that answer.

Why didn't she know that answer?

An Odyssey class vessel held a maximum of 2500, she was sure of that. But there had been the accident. The Quantum filament. That had taken...a lot. How many? She was sure she knew this once. Did it matter?

"Lieutenant, we need to get back to Elysium," she said to Nicholas. "The problem might be much bigger than we thought."

Nicholas nodded, concern clearly etched into his face. "Aye, Ma'am. I agree completely. Something definitely is messed up here." He nodded to the alien ship captain and the monk that they had been speaking to, as he turned to the side, to allow Rin to pass him and lead the way back to the Elysium.