Groundhog Day

Posted on Tue Sep 19th, 2023 @ 3:21pm by Ensign Gazo Daw & Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis & Chief Warrant Officer B'Rala Of House Seeth & Ensign Gianna Djokovic

2,222 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Prelude to Rebirth
Location: Some space station
Timeline: June 7, 2396

[ON]

It was iteration 539,298 of an endless series of days that were all alike. Or so it seemed at least. The Firebird had docked at yet another industrial space station to pick up several crates of one material or other to deliver it to some other place they all had stopped to care to remember the name of. And that was after not even two months of similar assignments since the ship had passed the shakedown cruise.

The Firebird's resident cadets, Djokovic and Gazo, were on security duty, supervised by Lieutenant Commander t'Aegis. Their current task: scanning the crates before they were brought aboard to make sure the contents matched the cargo manifest.

Rhiana was standing a few steps away, letting the cadets go on with the assignment while she was reading whatever was stated on the PADD she was holding in her hand, either trusting the cadets implicitly or completely ignoring what they were doing. After all, this was a routine task.

Gia continued slowly down the row of shipping containers in what had become an almost robotized process of scanning and verifying the cargo's receipt. Surely there were reasons there were not actually robots doing this task, or reasons they didn't just approve the manifest blindly, but she knew better than to complain about it. There were always worse tasks to be done on a starship, she knew that much already.

Daw looked down at the hand scanner, his eyes slightly glazed by the monotony of the task. He'd never had the pleasure of using one of the scanners before. It was essentially a small sensor unit with a display to verify that the container was listed on the manifest and ready to be transported. If it was a match, the scanner made a beep. If it didn't match...

The scanner made a sound and Daw started to slide to the next crate but he paused and actually looked at the scanner. The sound had been different. The screen was flashing 'Unable to read'. That response wasn't in their briefing. He looked up, spotted Gia and cleared his throat. She didn't look up. He glanced at Commander t'Aegis. No way.

"Gia!" he whispered in a low voice.

"We just had a break, you can't possibly--" Gia stage-whispered back, but cut off when she actually looked over and read his expression. She walked over, reading the scanner's message from over his shoulder with a frown.

Her eyes darted to the crate in question. It looked normal: a standard metallic box approximately a meter in width with no identifiable markings of origin, destination, or content. The chip that held the manifest data was embedded into the electronic locking mechanism. "There," she said, picking out an almost-imperceptible visual defect near the seal. "This has been tampered with."

Daw grimaced. "Why would anyone want to tamper with," he paused and looked at the manifest list for what should have been in the box. "plasma conduit tubes, small." He shook his head. "I guess it doesn't matter. You better tell the Commander we have a problem."

"Theft can sometimes be a problem at some of the outer ports, but I don't know. That's not exactly valuable," Gia answered, talking now in a normal voice. She raised her arm to flag Rhiana's attention. "Commander? Cadet Daw found something you should see!"

Rhiana raised her head from the PADD when Gia called her. She had heard the different sound emitted from the scanner, but had waited to see how the cadets would be handling it. "What is it, Cadet Gazo?" she asked as she approached the two newest crewmembers.

"Uhh..." Daw said. He'd hoped that Commander t'Aegis would ask Gia. "Well, sir, I was telling Gia... I mean Cadet Djokovic, that this crate is unreadable and then we determined that it looks like it has been tampered with. Do you think we should open it or beam it away or...." he trailed off, realizing he was running off at the mouth again.

"Well, we have an obligation to investigate," Gia interjected, but also glanced to Rhiana for her approval of that statement. "It could be a malfunction with the scan or it could be a threat. It's like Schrödinger's cargo."

Daw also watched to see what the security chief would decide. This was already the most exciting thing to happen to him since he'd joined the ship. He glanced down at the crate again, trying to decide what could be inside. Probably something boring but he hoped it was something that was interesting.

"Cadet Djokovic is correct," Rhiana stated. "We cannot simply transfer a container with unknown content anywhere. Not only would this be in violation of security protocols, but we might actively endanger others, We have to investigate and eliminate any potential threat," she lectured. "Now, Cadet Gazo, show me where the crate has been tampered with and tell me why someone might want to gain access to a cargo crate."

An Engineering question! Daw thought, excited. He ran the scanner over the container. The screen once more made the unable to read sound. He manipulated the data block, bringing up additional information. "Sir it appears that shortly after coming on board this container stopped emitting the correct safe code and became unreadable. This happened 20 minutes after it was placed in the cargo hold. Gia, can you check the environmental controls for unauthorized access?" Daw said. He looked at Commander t'Aegis. "Sir, it is unlikely the perpetrator intended harm to us or the Firebird. The scanners would have picked up any direct threat. But this space station is industrial in nature. Perhaps something valuable is inside?"

"The manifest shows it should be plasma tubes, right?" Gia recalled. "Hardly anything worth stealing. The other obvious possibility is to replace the contents with something that shouldn't be there. Contraband." She glanced to Rhiana as though she were answering an Academy exam question, "Level three quarantine field and evacuation of non-essential personnel from the immediate area?"

"There are ways to dissimulate threatening substances to a scanner, Cadet Gazo, therefore we can never be certain that a container that has been tampered with does not pose any threat," Rhiana explained. "We always have to assume the worst, though you are likely correct. So are you, Cadet Djokovic. Set up the containment field. Cadet Gazo, ensure that all non-essential personnel has left the immediate area." The latter should not be too difficult, for the station had little staff, but it was important to teach the cadets the correct protocols to follow.

"Yes, sir," Daw said, turning to act on the orders he'd been given. The Commander's rebuke had been a gentle one but it still stung. Security had not been a strength in the Academy. This type of work was much more complicated than recalibrating the warp coil and could clearly be equally explosive. He'd always heard the tales of the war for Bajor from his elders but his generation was the first to come to adulthood without those scars. It took him only a few minutes to make sure that the cargo bay was empty of everyone but the three of them. He tapped his combadge "Area clear, Commander," he said and headed back to the container.

"Computer, erect a level three forcefield around the immediate work area," Gia no sooner said the words than the computer chirped in compliance and a subtle static hum filled the air around them. "Hopefully it's not actually explosive. Never been on the inside of one of these before."

"You can leave the containment field if you prefer," t'Aegis replied matter-of-factly. It was difficult to judge whether she was being kind or condescending. In any case, she did not wait long for a decision but instead approached the cargo crate, her own tricorder in hand, and proceeded to scan the crate again. "Unless they are particularly well shielded, we would have detected explosives with a scan," she explained for the benefit of both cadets. "A risk remains, of course, but we would have detected that kind of shield as well and could have taken the necessary precautions." Even she would probably have left the containment field in such a case. "But this is something else." Rhiana holstered the tricorder and proceded to activate the opening mechanism of the crate. It opened smoothly until the top part was at a ninety degree angle.
Nothing exploded and Rhiana bent down to raise the lid of an interior crate. That done, she took a step back and gestured at the cadets. "Come and have a look."

Daw eagerly moved forward to see what was in the crate. The smell of chemicals filled his nose as the air that had been trapped inside the crate wafted into the open. His jaw dropped as he realized what he was looking at.

"Phaser rifles?" He asked. They were obviously knock-offs of Starfleet's standard Phaser Rifles but they looked very close to identical. He counted ten rifles snugly packed together. "Why do I feel like things just got really complicated?" he said, looking at Gia out of the corner of his eyes.

"Because they're certainly not plasma tubes," Gia replied, meeting Daw's gaze with a lifted brow.

"Situations like these are why we have protocols," Rhiana explained. "And specialists who deal with them." She tapped her combadge. "t'Aegis to B'Rala. Report to cargo hold 2 aboard the station. There is some cargo you need to inspect."

B'Rala was finally getting a chance to get a bite to eat and was about to take her first bite when the coms interrupted. She rolled her eyes and put her spoon down. "On my way" she replied tapping her chest.

As she made her way through the door she saw everyone huddled around the crate. She walked up grumpy and hungry. "What do we have here?" She asked.

The chief of security looked at Daw. "Make your report to Chief Warrant Officer B'Rala, Cadet."

Daw couldn't help himself, he turned to face the Warrant Officer and came to attention. "Sir! We were conducting a routine examination of the the cargo and this crate gave off an unusual response indicating it had been tampered with. We enacted a forcefield around it and proceeded to examine the contents, which turned out to be, um, phaser rifles," Daw said his voice trailing off near the end.

B"rala turned her gaze from the Cadet to the crate that sat half opened. She took her boot and kicked the lid the rest of the way off. As reported they had some rifles. They were older model and looked to be refurbished. She squatted to get a closer look of things. "You would think one trying to smuggle arms would have better taste in weapons." She expressed as she picked up a rifle. "Is this the only crate like this?"

"It is the only one we have found so far," Daw said. "We do still have more crates to examine though so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of more weapons yet."

"Proceed to scan the other crates then, cadets," Rhiana interjected. "We need to know whether there are more that have been tempered with."

"Yes, sir," Gia replied crisply to the order before reaching for her tricorder. She gave Daw a nod of approval before taking in the rest of the row of crates. She realized how many more were left and let out a sigh. It was going to be a long shift.

"These weapons are not very valuable but I suppose if you where trying to smuggle arms these would be easy to get in bulk and move. I am sure they would not be missed from where they were lifted from." B'Rala relayed to the Security Chief. "We can probably try and get a trace on where they were manufactured."

Daw nodded. "Understood, Chief. Cadet Djokovic and I will get the rest scanned and cataloged but this is going to take a while."

"Do that, Chief Warrant Officer. We may not find the weapons valuable, but others clearly have a different opinion," Rhiana replied to B'Rala and made a note on her PADD. "While we are not in a hurry, Cadet Gazo," she continued and looked at Daw with a slight raise of her left eyebrow, "I expect you not to dawdle unnecessarily but to proceed efficiently with your task. And remember to file a report once you are finished." She looked from him to Gia and back, then lowered her eyes to her PADD where she made another note, wordlessly dismissing them.


[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Rhiana t'Aegis
Second Officer / Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Chief Warrant Officer B'Rala Of House Seeth (NPC by Stephens)
Master-at-Arms
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Cadet Junior Grade Gazo Daw (NPC by Llwyedd)
Propulsion Specialist / Security Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Cadet Junior Grade Gianna Djokovic (NPC by Woodhouse)
Yeoman / Security Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

RSS Feed