Security Investigations

Posted on Sun Feb 3, 2019 @ 11:16pm by Lieutenant Commander Arrda & Commodore Michael Aravan & Lieutenant JG Zander Devereaux

Mission: On Slippery Ground
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD 1 || 1300 Hours

Mark Thompson had gotten the message from Chief Arrda and had immediately gathered a very small team -- too many would rouse suspicion -- of four people, not counting himself, to go and check the area near the shield control system. According to the chief, someone had tampered with one of the consoles there, and they needed to find said person and apprehend them if possible. He gave silent signals to his group, and they made their way quietly toward the location in question.

At the location, which was a sub junction on the upper tier of Engineering, was filled with the usual crew going about their duties and showed only a vague interest in what the Security team was doing.

Mark motioned to one of his team to scan the area, giving the man instructions to look for anyone who didn't belong here, while he had another check the console in question for the suspect isolinear chip. He and the remaining two watched everyone carefully while the other two worked. He was looking for anything that didn't fit, anything... off. Sadly, the alert the chief had given him didn't tell him who or what species he was looking for, so he just had to use his instincts and pray that they didn't fail him. His eyes took in everything around him as he waited for the two to finish.

One of the Security personnel entered his Security code while the other got down and crawled under the panel to remove it. "Okay, it's C-87685-C," he said. "Section fourteen Charlie, grid eight."

"Got it," came the reply a minute later before the other officer pulled the isolinear chip out. "We got the replacement?" he asked Mark.

At the console, a seldom used alert popped up and asked for a Security authorization of the ranking member present.

Mark walked over to the panel and frowned. This wasn't good. If this popped up whenever the chip was removed, that indicated that the person who had switched them initially had a security clearance to enter for this alert. That made Mark very uneasy, but he entered his code, authorizing the replacement of the chip his man had just removed. "I don't like this..." he muttered as he handed the man under the console a properly authorized replacement copy of the original chip.

The other officer installed the chip and worked his way out from under the panel. The one that was still standing glanced at the console. "Sir, this says that Lieutenant Devereaux is the one that installed this isolinear chip."

Mark frowned. "Devereaux? Isn't he damage control?" What was he doing replacing this chip without authorization? Well, one problem at a time. "Finish replacing that." He then moved to another console and accessed the security system, sending a silent alert to all on duty Security personnel to find and detain Mr. Devereaux and inform him when they had. He and his team would begin searching on this deck.

Message sent, he logged out of the Security system and returned to the rest of his team. "We'll need to check the rest of this deck first. You done there?" he asked the officer replacing the chip.

"Yeah," the officer said as he finished closing the panel and moved out from under it.

A chirp from Mark's combadge came a moment later. =^=We have Devereaux and he's not a happy camper.=^=

I bet not. Mark thought to himself as he tapped his comm badge to respond. =/\= Thank you. Where are you currently? =/\= Since he had sent the order to pretty much the whole Security department -- to the ones on duty anyway -- he could not be certain where they had found and detained the man. One more thing occurred to him, and he frowned. This area was well-monitored. He had ordered Devereaux detained to be careful, but he also wanted to look at the security footage for this area, see if anything stood out as... off. Something just felt wrong about this, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

"Now to have to have Ops reboot everything that was affected," one of the Security personnel said.

=^=The officers mess=^= came the response.

=/\= Understood. Keep him there for now. =/\= He then double-tapped his comm. badge to close that channel and open one to Operations. =/\= Thompson to Operations. We need you to reboot the shield and weapon sub-junction please. =/\= While he awaited a response, he looked at the officer who had replaced the chip. "You and Morris wait here and make sure that gets back online, then meet us in the Officers' Mess." He was not leaving any one of them alone, but there were five counting himself, so two here and two with him.

=^=We have...holy shit...what the...?!=^= came the response from the Security officer before a loud crash was heard.

=^=We're on it=^= came the response from Operations.

"Shit!" Mark hissed as he and his accompanying two officers took off at a run through the ship toward the officer's mess. Whatever was going on there, they needed to get there and put a stop to it. =/\= Rosen, report! =/\= Mark called over the comm. even as he ran.

=^=He ain't human!=^= came the response with the sounds of phaser fire.

"Shit!" =/\= Just don't let him get out of that room. We're on our way. =/\= "Computer, lock down the Officers' Mess." He didn't stop moving for a second, though."Authorization Thompson Beta Three Three Delta Nine."

"Confirmed" the computer responded.

A few minutes later, Mark and his team reached the Officers' Mess. Since the room was locked down, the occupant could not escape. He was concerned for his men inside, though. =/\= Rosen, situation? =/\=

A loud bang was heard, then a dent appeared in the doorway followed by a muffled thud.

Mark growled. "Computer, life sign scan. What life form iis contained in the Officers' Mess?" He needed to know that before choosing a proper response. Whatever was in there, he definitely didn't want getting out. If it could dent the doors, he could imagine what it could do to his team or anyone else on the ship. And he'd be damned if he let that happen!

"Two Humans, a Tellarite, Klingon and a Chameloid," the computer responded.

Mark froze. "Chameloid? Damn. They were a form of shapeshifter discovered in Kirk's day. He didn't know much about them beyond that, though. "Computer, are Chameloids susceptible to anesthezine gas or any other anesthetizing formula?" He was not oblivious to the fact that the team in there with that thing could be very much in trouble, but he had to neutralize it to help them, right?

"Unknown," came the response.

"Fuck..." Now he had a choice, and he didn't like it. "Computer, monitor all life signs in that room, and flood it with anesthezine gas. Inform me if and when the Chameloid becomes unconscious or is in any way affected." he instructed. He knew better than to open that door if that thing was still active. That would endanger the whole ship, and he was not going to be responsible for that.

"Confirmed," the computer replied.

A glowing spot began to appear in the center of the door the moment the gas started to flood the mess hall.

"Fan out and cover that door. Phasers on maximum stun. Whatever comes out, shoot it until it stays down." he told the other two men with him, one another Klingon and the other a Bajoran. The men took up positions to either side of him and either side of the door. Mark stood across the hall from the door. All three had their phasers on maximum stun and aimed at the door while the gas continued to flood the room. "Computer, status."

"The Chameloid is still active," came the response. The glow on the door got brighter and it started to melt.

"Is the gas having any effect at all on it?" Mark asked. If not, then he would have to come up with something else, but he just didn't have enough information, damnit!

Before the computer could respond, the door widened and some large, furry humanoid leaped out and tackled the Klingon and the two of them went down in a tangle of swinging limbs.

"Fire!" Mark ordered even as he fired his phaser. The Bajoran didn't hesitate; he fired his phaser too. Both kept firing at the furry mass. They were not going to stop either until it stopped moving and the computer said it was unconscious. If the Klingon got stunned, he would understand Mark was sure.

The Klingon, for his part, growled and tried to keep the beast between himself and his two teammates. He hadn't had time to fire his phaser, and now the battle was hand-to-hand just to keep the thing here instead of tearing off through the ship. He didn't really care if he got stunned as long as they took this thing down too. But he was damned sure going to keep it where they could keep firing at it if he could!

"Fire, you petaQ's!" the Klingon roared as he struggled against the Chameloid.

"We ARE!" Mark shouted back. He could raise the setting to kill, but what if he hit the Klingon? The stun setting didn't seem to be doing much. He set his to kill but let the Bajoran keep his on stun. This way, if the wrong person got hit, only Mark took the blame. He then fired it again at the Chameloid, over and over until it had an affect. The Bajoran frowned and kept firing, moving slightly closer to hopefully get more damage from the weapon, not close enough to be in reach though. He wasn't stupid.

Finally, the Chameloid slumped over and the Klingon groaned something that sounded like Qapla before he passed out as well.

"Cease fire." Mark ordered. The Bajoran stopped but kept his phaser trained on the furry thing while Mark asked the computer, "Computer, status of the Chameloid." It could be faking, after all, waiting for them to drop their guard... something Mark was not going to do.

"The Chameloid is unconscious," the computer stated.

"Beam it to the Brig and erect a Level 10 forcefield." he told the computer, relaxing only after it disappeared in the transporter beam.

"Confirmed."

Mark took a moment to catch his breath, then he called Medical. =/\= Thompson to Medical. Send a team to the Officers' Mess. There is a security team down. =/\= After that, he activated the badge again. =/\= Thompson to Aravan. The shields, weapons and related systems should be back up. Also, we found the one responsible for that particular issue. He is in the brig now. Do you want me to make my full report in person, Sir? =/\=

=^=Report to the bridge and good work, Thompson,=^= Michael responded.

=/\= Acknowledged, sir. Thank you. Thompson out. =/\= He closed the channel and sighed. He was pleased with the praise, but this was a bad situation all around. He looked to the Bajoran. "Veris, wait here for the other two, then you three continue the patrol pattern." He looked at the Klingon then back. "He'll be fine, and Medical should be on their way."

Veris Kohn nodded and took up a position beside the door to the officers' mess to await both Medical and the other two members of their team. Mark sighed, straightened himself and headed to the bridge to report to the commodore.