Mission 94:1001: Khhe Rhae - Clean Start

[Deleted]

As Dor’vel and Ch’varak left in the same direction to locate viable suspects, Terrh also moved off to hopefully begin tracking the perpetrator through what he’d done so far, while Govan was left behind, exactly as he wanted to be. This sort of issue didn’t involve his strongest skill set. Echal was better with known suspects rather than trying to identify one among others unless the group was small enough. A few hundred was not a small enough group. Feeling a bit useless, the Sub Commander exited the office and was somewhat startled to find the tactical Centurion working at a console on the other side. Glancing up, Dor’vel nodded to acknowledge him. “I thought I told you to work with the Legate,” Echal questioned the officer gruffly.

“You did,” Dor’vel replied. “We will keep in contact. He will ask me if any suspects he locates fits with your skill profile, and I’ll ask him if any suspects I locate have a history with the Tal Diann. I can do all my work from here, but I wanted to remain in close proximity to you just in case another attempt is made,” he added stoically.

Intrigued and suspicious at the same time, Govan regarded the Centurion carefully, trying to size up his intentions. There were only two reasons to stay close to the Sub Commander at a time like this. The first was to either try to kill him yourself or assist whoever was trying, and the second was to earn favor by keeping him safe. Both were the result of ambition, but which one obviously mattered a great deal to Echal. Unfortunately, Dor’vel remained with his eyes fixed on the console before him, not saying a word and giving nothing away. ‘Keep your friends close and your enemies closer’ certainly seemed to apply. Only time would tell what his goal was.

“It will take quite awhile to go through all the names and come up with a short list of those within the targeted skill set. Once I have the names, we should compare them with the list Ch’varak provides as quickly as possible to look for an overlap...if he provides us a list,” the Centurion suggested the doubt in his voice unmistakable.

“Oh he’ll never just hand me a list, but he will confirm any names that show up on both lists or he’ll wish that he had never even been born,” Govan muttered moodily. Dor’vel cracked a brief, grim smile at the Sub Commander’s threat before the mask dropped back once more, and he got back to work. Just waiting for the next disaster or some sort of progress was driving Govan crazy. There had to be some way of expediting things to get to the good part, and luckily for him, he wouldn’t wait long.

=/\=Sub Commander Echal, my greetings. Sub Lieutenant Virh knows something he isn’t letting on; maybe we could get Ch’varak down here to… find out?=/\=

Smiling wickedly, Govan was already halfway across the second level. “That will not be necessary...” he muttered as he honed in on his target: Chief Engineer Virh. Bearing down on the engineer, Echal stormed directly over to him, before moving to tower over him, while his steel eyes coldly bore into Terrh’s. “I would think you above anyone else would understand why there isn’t time to waste. The longer we run around in circles trying to find this vermin, the greater the chance that this ship will get blown to pieces. I don’t care about full reports, and I don’t care about ‘too early to jump to conclusions.’ I care about getting results as soon as possible. Now, what do you know that you’re not telling me, Sub Lieutenant?” Govan demanded.

<Terrh>

OOC: Sural, I’ll reply to your tags once I know whether Govan will let Terrh live. Lol.

[Deleted]

Looking up at the sub-commander he didn't flinch, there was no fear in him. He had long accepted that one could live or die in service of the empire. If you worried about it you were useless and that would make you expendable.

" Sub-Commander what I know doesn't amount to awhole lot right now". He brought up the name of romulan accessing ship systems. The Sub-commander looked at the name on the screen and didn't give anything away.

" I dont know who this person is there is no record of them on this ship or in the fleet. I have been trying to see if there is a record in any of your past reports nothing so far. The only reason I haven't said anything before is because I wanted to offer you a body with the name and not come to you empty handed."

Looking back down at his screen he was still trying to access the ships recording devices but they were blank. " Sir who ever this is knows just enought about this ship to cover there tracks. From what I gather right now they have use 2 differnt types of programs to cover there tracks on a federation design to access system. The other a klingon design to make the invisible to the cameras. Who ever they are they dont want to show them selves just yet.''

Looking up at the sub-commander again. " So unless you know the name and have a face to go with it I'm wasting your time and that was the one thing I didn't want to do. I'm not looking for favor with you Sub-commander I have already learned that you offer none. I just didn't want to discover the other end of your blade for wasting your time at the moment" <Tag Echal>

[Deleted]

The last hours had been quite busy with Tamir right up front handling the incoming injured. It was the sort of task she was well suited for because in spite of her timid and quiet nature, when working in a medical emergency the noise and clutter of her own thoughts faded away and were then replaced by the cool, crisp professionalism required to save lives. A decision that a typical Nurse H’railiun could spend days if not longer debating and fretting over was made calmly and instantly before moving onto another equally dire choice. It was both stressful and liberating at the same time. As the emergency calmed and the frantic rushing was replaced by a more sedate and calm pace, things were beginning to settle back to normal once more, at least until Doctor Sural, whom everyone was still trying to figure out, approached her.

"You did well, Tamir. You handled Triage deftly. I noticed you paid particular care to the Sub Commander, and if I did then others will have. I value my staff and do not want them compromised. Understand." the doctor commented to her quietly.

Frowning a little, Tamir replied, “I was merely checking on his condition. It wouldn’t do to have an injured or unwell commanding officer.” Of course she knew what he meant, as well as what was being assumed or implied, and so she quickly added, “…but I do understand what you mean, Doctor, and thank you for your concern.”

"Well with the crisis over get some rest. In your own bed." he added, though that caused her eyebrows to shoot up in surprise. "I better go deliver the butcher’s bill."

Before she could ask him what exactly he’d meant by ‘her own bed,’ or refute any rumors or suspicions he may have, Sural was already gone, so she didn’t get the chance. Glancing around, Tamir took in the eyes that were watching her and felt her face begin to flush. Did they actually think that she and Govan were...? With her skin quickly growing greener, the nurse decided that maybe going back to her quarters was a good idea, but it was more out of embarrassment than necessity.

~

"Sub Commander, what I know doesn't amount to a whole lot right now," Terrh replied, remaining calm in spite of the murderous look Govan was sending him. As he brought up the name of a suspect, Echal didn’t recognize it, but burned it into his memory. They would not be in one piece for long. “I don’t know who this person is there is no record of them on this ship or in the fleet. I have been trying to see if there is a record in any of your past reports nothing so far. The only reason I haven't said anything before is because I wanted to offer you a body with the name and not come to you empty handed," the engineer added as he turned back to work the console.

"Sir, whoever this is knows just enough about this ship to cover their tracks. From what I gather right now they, have used two different types of programs to cover their tracks, one a Federation designed access system, the other a Klingon design to make them invisible to the cameras. Whoever they are, they don’t want to show themselves just yet, so unless you know the name and have a face to go with it, I'm wasting your time, and that was the one thing I didn't want to do. I'm not looking for favor with you, Sub Commander. I have already learned that you offer none. I just didn't want to discover the other end of your blade for wasting your time at the moment," the Engineer finished, looking Govan in the eye waiting for his response.

Rolling his eyes, the Sub Commander replied, “Now is no time to be tentative, Virh. Any information is better than nothing and keeps us from suspecting everyone,” he stated before turning to Dor’vel who had followed him. “Centurion, I want this ship on a lockdown, everyone accounted for, and the entire vessel searched. Choose the men you trust the most to conduct the search and to guard key areas, with no one assigned alone. Sub Lieutenant Virh, I want your entire staff on alert as they work, and all identities confirmed. Sub Lieutenant i-Mhiessan, I need you to shut down the science department until he’s caught, and assign any capable officers to assist in the repair efforts. We’re going to need to use both visual and biological identification to verify everyone is who they are supposed to be and say they are.”

<Tag Terrh/Jhu>

Opening a channel, Echal contacted the Legate. “Echal to Ch’varak, we have a name, which I’m forwarding to you now. If you have any information about this person, I expect that to be shared immediately. In the meantime all non-essential personnel are being confined to quarters. Select a group of Intelligence officers that you trust and have them report to Security to assist. I know they don’t normally interact with the rest of the crew, but there won’t even be a crew if we don’t find this person of interest quickly. Tell them to suck it up and make it work. I want you working with Centurion Dor’vel, as you should still be doing anyways,” he ordered. “Echal out.”

<Tag Tevio>

As Govan turned away to try and see if he could access the Tal Shiar databases somehow to search for this person, he was stopped instead by the presence of the doctor, who began to speak without being addressed. "I have that report for you now. Four dead, three unlikely to last the night, thirty-two major injuries, mostly second and third degree burns and sixty-seven minor injuries, and of those injured, I have returned fifty-six to active duty," he reported somewhat smugly in Echal’s opinion.

‘Well it could have been much worse…’ Echal thought before responding. “Thank you, Doctor. The ship is being placed on lockdown while we attempt to determine who is behind this. I’ll need you to keep sickbay on alert until this is over, but tell all off duty staff to remain in their quarters. Send discharged patients back to quarters as well as forward their names to their department chiefs,” he ordered. “Dismissed.

Govan had barely turned when Sural added, "Before you go, can I have a word?" Sighing, the Sub Commander’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing, even as this doctor presumed to lecture him. Growing more annoyed with each passing second but nonetheless allowing the medical officer to finish his obnoxious speech, Echal rolled his eyes before replying. “That’s the thing with psychologists…they analyze everything to death, and they often become so single minded that they ignore the bigger picture. They also tend to talk endlessly when actions are required instead of words, which sounds awfully familiar right now, Govan added before continuing.

“Your hero clearly failed to consider all aspects in his little theory. In a superior race, there are always those who fall below the standard. Just because the standard is raised doesn’t mean there aren’t those who fail to meet it, leading to bitterness. Not only that, but superiority does not imply loyalty, and when a superior person is not loyal, the consequences are far more disastrous than with an inferior enemy. That is part of why the Tal Shiar exists, and why it is vital to the security of the Empire. A single genius can be far more deadly than an army of idiots, though both must be stopped,” Govan argued, pausing to take a breath before finishing his own speech.

“Just because we’re a superior race does not mean that whoever is behind this is superior too, but they are on this vessel. The assassination of a single Commander benefits no one but other Romulans, especially given my current circumstances. If we come across a Vulcan, Human, Klingon, or Cardassian during our investigation, they’ll become our number one suspect,” the Sub Commander sneered turning to go back to work before pausing and turning back. “Oh, and next time, either get to the point or keep your mouth shut,” Govan added before leaving the doctor behind.

<Tag Sural>

[Deleted]

"... Now let's get to the Engine Room and start figuring this out as a group."

Tevio said nothing in reply to Govan Echal's rant at him. It was one thing having to listen to it, it was another resisting the urge to argue back. But then Tevio never would, he was not a predictable fool. Instead he just absorbed the information given to him, still it was not enough, but soon they would be the Engine Room - somewhere Ch'varak was not quite dying to get to at the moment, after the totally necessary dispatching of the junior engineer the Legate would have prepared to have stayed away for a short while, just enough to let him recoup and assess after the "unfortunate" incident.

Once in the Engine Room, Govan led Tevio, the temporary tactical officer and Terrh Virh into an office off to the side of the main Engine Room floor.

“Legate, work with the Centurion to identify possible suspects, Ch’varak identifying those with a possible motive or some sort of history or background that would explain this, while Dor’vel approaches this from the angle of capability. They need enough skill to at least pull something like this off but not enough to have been more successful."

Ch'varak didn't say anything after instructions, and after Echal had moved on the Legate turned to Centurion Dor'vel. After a short cursory look at each other, the two moved away together to a console closer to the Engine Room's entrance. Tevio finally spoke once they reached a master library console. "I suggest we compile separate lists of possible suspects of this terrible crime." The Intel officer put particular emphasis on the 'terrible', his sarcasm clear. Dor'vel nodded. "I will contact you when ready," Tevio added and suddenly left the room. A slightly surprised Dor'vel returned to the console.

The doors to the dark quarters swished aside to let the soft light of the corridor filter through, and following the in-flood of photons was Tevio. He immediately moved for his desk, letting the door shut behind him to once more bathe the sizeable quarters with caliginosity.

He brought up his desk-computer screen and went to access his extensive library on Romulan Naval personnel, Tal Shiar operatives (partially complete) and even delving into the lists of Romulan civilians not affiliated with the Navy who were likely to commit such an attempted act of murder and sabotage.

After half an hour of non-stop research and once he'd compiled a worthy list, Tevio had a 'break'. He went into the back-room of his quarters, behind the sleeping compartment, and accessed the Intelligence-only console situated there. It connected him to all the happenings of the inner-worlds of the Romulan Empire. The politics, the militaristic events of notice, or anything else that was not easily accessible from any ordinary station.

There was nothing of exceptional note, one or two points of interest perhaps, certainly worth exploring later when he had more opportunity to do it in full. Govan's insistence was starting to grate, and while Tevio was not helping the CO as much as he could, he felt that it was at least worth following his orders. As if by design, a beep sounded from the other room, by his computer. It was Govan calling.

"... I want you working with Centurion Dor'vel, as you should still be doing anyways,"

Tevio smiled to himself, tight-lipped. This would not do. He replied instantly, "Have no fear Sub Commander, your list is being readied."

A short, condescending reply. It could never be anything too long, if it required more than a couple of breaths to say then it was too convoluted and drawn out. Such a thing betrayed signs of weakness, lack of clarity of thought which was an absolutely key quality to have.

Ch'varak sat down to view this name that Virh had discovered in the recesses of some file. The name appeared on the screen just as Tevio was getting comfortable. He leant forward ever so slightly when he saw it, and slowly dropped back into the chair after he'd made sure of the name. "Hmm..." The noise escaped Tevio's throat. An interesting name... He did recognise it, from the depths of his service history, he had not seen it for quite a while. The memories of associations with certain groups that Tevio had built were invoked when he saw this Romulan's name. He had been a thorn in Ch'varak's side on more than one occasion, had been equally frustrating to work with too.

The S'Harien's Intelligence officer put his hand to his chin pensively in thought, as he leant back in the chair. Yes.. this investigation had just become a lot more interesting.

Grinning now, not with any form of happiness but with the irony of what was happening, Ch'varak leaned forward and touched the button to open a comm channel. "Centurion Dor'vel, this is Legate Tevio, are you ready with your list of potential suspects?"

<Tag Govan (& Dor'vel)>

[Deleted]

“Just because we’re a superior race does not mean that whoever is behind this is superior too, but they are on this vessel. The assassination of a single Commander benefits no one but other Romulans, especially given my current circumstances. If we come across a Vulcan, Human, Klingon, or Cardassian during our investigation, they’ll become our number one suspect,” the Sub Commander sneered turning to go back to work before pausing and turning back. “Oh, and next time, either get to the point or keep your mouth shut,” Govan added before leaving the doctor behind.

"I think you missed my point somewhat, but it matters not" Sural shrugged, "As we know, my place is in sickbay. I m just an old man who rambles and irritates. But if you recall it is the irritation in an oyster that forms a pearl. Good day Commander and good hunting."

Sural left engineering and returned to sickbay. He felt a longing to return to his work in the lab but knew he had to prioritise if someone successfully blew up the ship his research would go too and so his and securitys objctives lined up.

"Doctor Frolle have any of our staff been asked to input the investigation."

Frolle, a younger doctor shook his head,
"No. Not that I know of"

"Okay" Sural replied deep in thought "Oh how our are patients"

"Fine... well recovering."

"Centurion Samak?"

"Stable but unless we get his fluids stabilised he'll die over night."

"Okay. Maintain his IV and ensure he has 24 hour nursing care. Who is the Science Officer - that Jhu woman?"

Frolle scowled,
"That harlot you mean. She has no business being on this ship."

Sural smiled,
"Why because shes a scientist or shes...friendly. Neither seems a crime to me."

Sural checked the notes of the patients and then called Frolle over again,

"Its my thinking that the saboteur must have lefgt some kind of biological trace either on the panel or explosives. Contact this Jhu, have her meet with me, perhaps a forensic examination may yield more answers than all those young hot heads running around interogating each other and glaring."

TAG Jhu

[Deleted]

A light just went off in his head when the Sub-commander said biological. That would be the key away to find out who was behind this whole thing. It would not be easy not to say the least but help from Jhu might make it possible.

Turning to face his sub-commander " Sir you just hit on a possiblity of finding out who is behind this. Our intel officer has access to the Dna of everybody in the Romulan fleet and its kept under guard by the most advanced security protocals possible."

He noticed the sub-commander looking at him with a questionable look on how he knew that.
" Dont worry sub-commander I'm not a spy but the best security systems aren't always thought up by the intell community. I helped develope one of the lower programs for the system. My point is if Sub Lt Jhu could get Dna samples from everybody then sub-lt Ch'varak could cross refrence them to the system. Who every I friend is out there they dont have the access to that system and can't add them selves to it. They could play this game for awhile but if caught there Dna is ran against the system to locate family members for punishment and to verify they are who they claim to be. It might not tell us who they are but it would tell us who there not"

Pausing a moment to let it all sink in "It would take all of us working together to make this happen." he saw the look in the doctor eye's " No offense Taranek but know we can't use the Dna from the medical section to cross refrence those files were load for us by somebody else. They weren't samplese taken under your supervision and control. They must be fresh and of everybody we just have to figure out away to no make the crew think something is not going on"<tag anybody>

[Deleted]

=/\=Centurion Dor'vel, this is Legate Tevio, are you ready with your list of potential suspects?=/\= the voice of the Chief Intelligence Officer requested, provoking an irritated and equally angry scowl to cross the face of the Acting Chief of Security.

“I have, Legate. However, with the recent identification of a suspect who appears to be almost invisible, I believe our efforts would best be focused there for the time being. I will nonetheless forward the list to you to compare with yours, but I must caution you, the list is rather extensive and holds no indication of guilt,” he replied, feeling it necessary to defend those on the list, who were merely capable of having committed the acts of sabotage, some of whom were friends and highly respected.

<Tag Tevio>

Now that the list was forwarded as requested, the Centurion focused his efforts on trying to track down the mysterious suspect, who was most likely trying to blend in with the rest of the crew. It would be tough to find him, but he couldn’t hide forever.

~

As the engineer suddenly got extremely talkative and began to present his idea, Govan feigned nonchalance, displayed actual annoyance, but heard every word. Finally, with an irritated sigh, Echal replied, “That was exactly what I was getting at by confirming identities both visually and biologically, Virh, but using Ch’varak’s database as a reference is a good idea. I wouldn’t be too quick to dismiss medical records though. What we should do is use both DNA samples as well as the visual files to confirm who everyone is. He may have thought to change the samples in our database, but more than likely he wouldn’t have access to Tal Diann records.”

It was then that Sub Commander Echal had a mini breakthrough. “That’s it…that’s how we’ll catch him.” Not bothering to explain to the engineer, Govan immediately sprung into action. “Echal to Ch’varak, I need you to forward all the DNA records of every confirmed member of the crew to Doctor Sural. I don’t care about any of your precious Tal Diann security protocols; just get it done. If you need a good reason, think about it this way. We should technically have samples for the entire crew in our medical database anyway, but he could have accessed and switched them, so we only need Intelligence data to confirm their authenticity, so you’d only be confirming data we had at one point and should have, Echal out.”

<Tag Tevio>

“Echal to Sural, the Legate should be forwarding you DNA records for the entire crew now. I want you to compare that database with our own, and see if you can find any discrepancies. If he wanted to hide among the crew, he could have easily accessed the medical and standard databases to alter his identity, but not the Intel records. Also, work with the science officer and get a team of medical and science personnel to collect DNA samples of the crew for a third comparison, Echal out.”

<Tag Sural/Jhu>

Glancing over at Terrh, who he grudgingly had to admit had helped bring about this way of possibly catching this traitor, Govan couldn’t actually say that aloud to him. “Continue to work on repairs and monitor all systems for any unauthorized access. I’d rather avoid another explosion, but if it’s unavoidable, let’s at least catch him.”

<Tag Terrh>

[Deleted]

He acknowledged the Sub-commanders orders, he wasn't expecting any rewards or comments of a good idea. He had know the Sub-commander only a short time but a few things he had already figured out when it came to him. He was just grateful to still draw breath and that was reward enough when it came to the Sub-Commander.

He looked at the repair progress his staff was moving a little slow but he noticed that the repairs were complete and operational to full power. This brought a little smile to his face to many times things got rushed and over looked not his staff. This made hiim think if I were going to destroy the ship and hadn't been succesful so far where would I go next. He started to think and came up with a idea so far everybody was concerned about the ship its self. Nobody was watching the hanger deck, nobody would there was very little damage to that area and would be the least occuiped right now. His scans show only 3 people in there now and there work would be over in another 2hrs. Which meant the hanger deck would be empty and unguarded.

He wasn't sure if his idea would be a good one there would plenty of other ways to cause problems but that would be hard and near impossible to pull off. "Sub-Commander if I was determined as our friend has been to destroy this ship and you I might go to the hanger deck in a couple hours and cause one the shuttles or fighters to over load. That would be more then enought to finish the job. Its just a suggestion and one that I would try if I had a death wish. Nobody around to interffer plenty of time to make sure it worked." Pausing for a moment

" Like I said sir its only a suggestion my best guess on what I would do next. There are other ways but it would take time and the risk of discover would be higher. So far no real damage was done there and all avaible crews are on repairs right now so its low priority" <Tag Echal>

[Deleted]

Upon Govan's call, Tevio immediately went to the IRW S'Harien's crew and DNA roster. Whether this figure from Ch'varak's past still had access to such Tal Diann protocols was going to be interesting, but of course this search was not conclusive. He searched through the roster, the name was of course nowhere to be seen, the Tal Diann's copy matched the S'Harien's own.

Packaging and sending the file off to Sural, knowing that it would reveal nothing in the way of any differences to his own copy, Tevio considered the possibilities that this revelation offered. The fact that the name had not been on the Tal Diann copy of the roster meant that either: the culprit still had accessed to top-level Tal Diann data, a terrifying yet fascinating prospect, or: the culprit was not meant to be aboard the ship at all. Not according to the S'Harien's general records. Not according to the Tal Diann's secure database.

Putting aside the first idea for a second, the second possibility meant that they were 'back to square one', to borrow a Human expression that Tevio thought was particularly fitting. If that was indeed the case, Tevio thought, then he would have to turn back to the original orders from Subcommander Echal: work with Centurion Dor'vel.

He accessed the file that Dor'vel had sent him, and tried not to smirk with scorn at the ridiculously long list that the temporary tactical chief had compiled. Did this Romulan know of the concept of exclusivity? He may as well have handed the Legate the entire roster, as if he needed it.

All the same, Tevio ran a cross-referencing program between his and Dor'vel's lists. The result displayed, and once again there was nothing conclusive. Nineteen names. Tevio cut the list down, removing all the ones killed in the explosion, but kept those discarded just in case. Now the list yielded just eleven names, among them some quite interesting ones, and there were few enough for Tevio to be able to visit each of them personally. And he would be doing so. Of course, it was not certain that the perpetrator was one of these, even if the list was the result of work by two Romulans (one of them the Legate). And this was where the first possibility that Tevio had deduced came in again, what if one of these names was the figure from Tevio's past? Ch'varak had to admit that this Romulan probably did it, and thus all the more reason to visit each of the eleven Romulans.

Ten minutes later, Tevio was walking into engineering, the list on a portable datascreen in his hands. He approached Govan, and wordlessly passed the datascreen to him. Tevio had no hesitancy in doing so, it was hardly a secretive thing, this pithy list of names.

<Tag Govan>

[Deleted]

"Sub Commander, if I was determined as our friend has been to destroy this ship and you, I might go to the hanger deck in a couple of hours and cause one of the shuttles or fighters to overload. That would be more then enough to finish the job. It’s just a suggestion, and one that I would try if I had a death wish, nobody around to interfere, and plenty of time to make sure it worked,” Virh suggested. "Like I said, Sir, it’s only a suggestion, my best guess on what I would do next. There are other ways, but it would take time, and the risk of discovery would be higher. So far, no real damage was done there, and all available crews are on repairs, so its low priority."

Govan supposed that was an option, but unfortunately there were so many possible ways to destroy a starship. It was almost impossible to guess which one would be used next. “That theory is as good as any,” Sub Commander Echal grumbled. “But there’s no way to know for sure where he’ll strike again. We need to keep a close eye on this entire ship. All non-essential personnel are confined to their quarters, and security teams are continuing patrols. I’ve asked Dor’vel to assign a few good officers to monitor the sensors to account for everyone’s whereabouts. That, along with monitoring any unauthorized access to systems, is just about all we can do, so I suggest you do your part, fix the ship, and monitor the systems,” he ordered moodily.

<Tag Terrh>

The current situation had Govan feeling helpless, which was neither a familiar nor a comfortable feeling in the least. Pacing back and forth, the Sub Commander had finally had just about enough of the silence. He needed someone to report in about something, anything…but he couldn’t bring himself to contact the doctor, science officer, or Legate for no good reason. Finally, after a few minutes of grumbling and pacing, he finally got a new idea and opened a channel. “Echal to Sural, I want you to confirm the identities of the bodies of those who died in the explosion. Perhaps the perpetrator switched places with someone else or faked his own death. Also, I need to know if you and the science officer managed to make any progress yet.”

<Tag Sural/Jhu>

After the channel closed, once again, he was left with nothing more to do but wait. A few moments later, the useless pacing of the commanding officer was halted by the sudden appearance of Tevio Ch’varak, who unceremoniously thrust a datapadd into Govan’s hand without a word of explanation. Too busy wondering what might be on the padd to glare at the Legate for his rather rude arrival, Echal snatched the data device and quickly scrolled through the list on it: eleven names...one of whom might just belong to the person responsible for this whole mess. “Is this the result of comparing your list with the one the Centurion sent you?” Seeing the wordless nod of the Tal Diann agent, the Sub Commander turned to Dor’vel, who was now standing behind him, and passed the data device over. “This is the new list the Legate has provided us from yours. Do any of these names jump out at you, Centurion?”

Taking the list, Dor’vel quickly scanned it a few times before answering. “The list I gave the Legate was anyone who fell into the correct category of ability without any of my personal observations. Four of these names are officers I would trust my life with, and three more I have a very hard time believing would do something like this.” Pausing for a moment, the Centurion carefully considered the remaining four. After some careful thought, he finally spoke up. “Two I highly doubt are bright enough to pull this off and the other two I honestly don’t know particularly well. My bet is, if the person we’re looking for is even on this list in the first place, it could be one of those two,” Dor’vel added before passing the modified list over to Tevio once more.

“Any thoughts on those two?” Govan asked, carefully scrutinizing the Intelligence officer for any reaction. “I realize there’s no guarantee that he was on that list, but it’s a place to start. Do you have anything specific on one or both of them, or was there anyone else you can think of that might belong on that list that you left off?”

<Tag Tevio>

[Deleted]

Looking back at the sub-commander " Understood sir we will double our efforts and you will have the bridge back in a hour" He knew he was pushing it about the bridge but he didn't like everybody down in the engine room and neither did his staff it was slowing things down.

He looked over at the screen and started rerouting power to the shield to plug the leaks. He got up and left his station and head to the bridge in order to keep his word. It didn't matter that there was air to breath they were going to need key system restored.

As he head for the bridge the halls were empyt it was a odd feeling but a nice one. He entered the bridge and when straight to the science station to restore internal senors. With one system restored he head for the helm to restore Navigation when he felt somebody Hit him from behind his whole world went dark before he fell he caught a sight of some one.

As he blacked out he smiled thinking Ch'varak was going to be a little shocked if he lived throught this and then there was nothing.

[Deleted]

Jhu raised her eyebrows as Terrh contacted her. From having nothing to do with this investigation at all, she had now received orders, or requests at least from three different colleagues, including their command officer. Browsing over them in her mind, she saw that luckily she could probably incorporate them all into one task and manage to keep all three officers happy. Not that she particularly cared for any of them other than Echal. Well, not care exactly, she just needed to keep on the right side of him, or at least try and avoid getting much further on the wrong side. Her eyebrows twisted from their risen position down into a frown. She was letting her mind flit around too much; the injury was obviously still having its effects.

She had opted for helping the doctor out with his DNA study; this appeared to be the easiest way to most closely adhere to all the requests that she had received. It also seemed a very mundane and fruitless task. Although it was impossible to say that it was going to have no positive result, it was safe to say that were they to get a result, they should become heavy gamblers. Such were the odds. The young science officer considered again how much her mind was drifting off topic.

When the doctor received a call from Echal to report on their progress, he seemed to have no qualms in passing on their negative feedback. This was one who was clearly not bothered about the feelings or favour of his superiors. The incident on the bridge obviously was not just an act. She stored this information away for future use; not that she was sure what it would be. As she worked through the next set of names, her station gave a small flash in the corner. Navigating quickly to it, she noted that Terrh had managed to reboot the internal sensors from the bridge. Smiling, she accessed them, and quickly ran a check on the bridge to see how much more he had got done.

The results made her blood run cold. Immediately, her training took over and she opened a channel to Sub Commander Echal.

((V)) i-Mhiessan to Echal, Terrh has been knocked unconscious. His assailant remains on the bridge, but I can not get a clear sensor lock. ((V))

[Deleted]

This was beginning to get beyond frustrating. All these people working from all of these different angles, and they were still coming up with nothing? The guy couldn’t be this good and still have failed so badly. It just didn’t make sense. What Govan really needed was a prisoner, someone he could make pay for all of this. That fun was what he needed to focus on, to keep him from bashing someone else’s head wide open because the next target that crossed his path the wrong way was going to be feeling some pain. Sub Command Echal was about to smash an unsuspecting console, that just happened to be in his way, to pieces, when the comm sounded.

=/\=i-Mhiessan to Echal, Terrh has been knocked unconscious. His assailant remains on the bridge, but I can not get a clear sensor lock,=/\= the science officer reported.

Finally, something for Echal to do. “Understood. Meet me there, Sub Lieutenant.”

<Tag Jhu>

Turning to the engineers nearby, he barked, “Seal off the bridge. I don’t care how many forcefields you have to put up to keep him there; just do it!” Govan ordered as he stormed towards the turbolift with Dor’vel right on his heels. Once in the lift, the Sub Commander actually considered the poor Chief Engineer for a moment, and opened a channel to the transporter room. “Lock onto Sub Lieutenant Virh on the bridge and beam him directly to sickbay. Inform Doctor Sural he has a patient.”

<Tag Terrh and Sural>

As the turbolift slowly made its way to the bridge, Govan considered contacting the Legate but decided against it. It was far better to have more information than your enemy, and the thought of informing that superior, know-it-all of what was going on held a certain satisfaction. Unfortunately, as the doors parted, the satisfaction died as an on the other side stood Sub Lieutenant Ch’varak himself on an otherwise unoccupied bridge. With disruptors drawn, Echal and Dor’vel exited the lift, slowly approaching the Legate, who was merely watching them and the look on his face seemed to proclaim that he knew something they didn’t, which only irked the Sub Commander further. “What are you doing here, Ch’varak, and what is going on?”

<Tag Tevio>

[Deleted]

".. Do you have anything specific on one or both of them, or was there anyone else you can think of that might belong on that list that you left off?"

Ch'varak very slowly and carefully frowned, it was an unpreventable reaction to one of the two remaining names on the list, but he had made a sufficient effort to stop Govan from asking any further, deeper and more probing questions. "Very specific information on both," Tevio said calmly, passing the datascreen back to Centurion Dor'vel. "Although.." he said to Govan, deciding that it would not be detrimental to tell the S'Harien's commander this, "..I do not know either on a personal level, of course. However, one of them is an intelligence officer and as such would certainly not act by himself."

What Tevio was not telling Govan was that the exclusion of that intelligence officer was also due to him not being the former Tal Diann whom Tevio had known, thus leaving the remaining name on the list as a... 'relatively' high possibility of being either the Tal Diann, or in any case whoever was responsible for the attempted assassination. So many possibilities...

Tevio ignored the last part of Govan's question, instead reassuring the Subcommander with his silence that there were no other names he would have liked to add. Of course, there were the others on the list still to explore, but he wouldn't need to worry about Echal as long as he kept him appeased with near-meaningless remarks.

"So this leaves just one suspect." Dor'vel stated, looking for confirmation as well as summing up the exchange.

Tevio had been turning to leave, he glanced at Dor'vel as he did so. "It would seem so," he said simply. He left the Engine room. Sub Lieutenant Terrh happened to leave for the bridge, stepping away from his console and walking in front of Tevio out of the room. Tevio followed him closely.

A moment later the Legate entered his office/quarters, which served him with double functionality. The Legate flipped up his data terminal, accessed the stored list of names and then felt an unusual emotion (for him), a sudden and painful pang of absolute horror. The screen was black, empty. In the bottom right hand corner, a red flashing graphic displaying in small letters, 'FILE DELETED'. The black screen... In here..?

Immediately, Tevio was up out of his seat, backing himself against the wall. He drew his hidden blade and flattened himself against the wall, his eyes darted around the room. "Full illumination," he whispered with infinite gentleness. The usually dark, shadowy quarters were suddenly lit bright. The harsh white ceiling-lights now revealed every corner, every recess of the room. Tevio looked around it slowly. No one was there. He relaxed, returning the blade to its place.

This was very disconcerting, someone had access to his quarters, no one on the ship was able to hack his Tal Diann database, not even another Tal Diann. The only way the list could have been wiped was to have actual access to the terminal itself, which meant someone had to have been in here. The Legate could hazard a guess as to who that was. He's back to haunt me again... Tevio's 'colleague' from his past. "Terminal," he activated the vocal recognition subroutine on his data terminal and then went to sit at it again. "Track CC-ID, last user of Terminal Database 42-Diann-6Y. Cross-reference with recent computer access, shipwide."

The screen displayed the recent activity of the user who had accessed Tevio's personal terminal. No user could hide from Tevio's levels of access, not even another using a Tal Diann code. The final entry told him that the last computer acccess by that user was from... the S'Harien's bridge, fifteen seconds ago. Tevio thought furiously. Terrh...

He accessed his wrist-device again, "Site-to-site transport Program 2B," he said into it, "Rear maintenance cupboard, bridge." The Chief Intelligence officer dematerialised in a cascade of green light, and Tevio's quarters were left empty once again.

Tevio materialised in the dark of the maintenance cupboard at the back of the bridge, he swiftly stepped forward. The doors swished aside as he stepped through, and the Legate saw that the main part of the bridge was almost as dark as the cupboard. The place was a wreck, conduits were rent open and seats were on the floor... But that was only secondary in Tevio's list of concerns. As he moved forward Sub Lieutenant Terrh, at the front of the bridge, collapsed under the assault of an unknown figure.

"It is you, then." Tevio said. A dark figure was standing over Terrh's prone form, he turned slowly as Tevio talked to him. Even though he knew who it was, Tevio tried to pick out his features, but his face was barely visible in the light.

"Indeed," the figure rasped in reply.

"Was breaking into my office really neces-" Tevio stopped and changed the question, "Not content with whatever prison you were confined in?"

"Correct." The figure said. He made his way towards the bridge's exit, unblocked by the Legate albeit under his watchful eye. At the lift he stopped but didn't turn. "What willst thou do?" he asked coldly, his back to Tevio still. "Thou knowest our objectives, would thou hinder me?"

Nearly smirking with the nostalgia of the culprit's archaic use of language, Tevio replied, "No. Leave," he said. "I shall cover." Slowly, the dark figure moved away from the turbolift, instead moving to the Subcommander's ready room and beaming out with a site-to-site transport. Once Tevio was sure he was gone he spoke into his wrist-device. "All staff, procedure 35, it seems we have an agent to protect. Target..." he thought for a moment, "Tactical officer Talok."

He lowered his wrist-device just as Govan Echal and Dor'vel, followed by the science officer Jhu i-Mhiessan entered the bridge. Thanking fate, Tevio turned to face the new arrivals.

Govan narrowed his eyes at the Legate. "What are you doing here, Ch'varak, and what is going on?"

"I initiated a site-to-site transport as soon as I heard of Terrh's predicament, Subcommander," Tevio said evenly. "As soon as I arrived, Terrh's attacker assaulted me. I tried to incapacitate him but he got away, I believe he's headed for the shuttlebay."

"Who was it?" Dor'vel piped up from behind Govan.

Tevio turned to look at him, "Talok Hir," he said.

<Tag Govan>

Indeed, it had been designed that when the Subcommander investigated, he would find that a 'mysteriously invisible' assailant had left a convenient path of destruction leading from the bridge to one of the S'Harien's shuttlebays, a path made to seem completely authentic, by Ch'varak's well drilled and ingenius Intelligence officers.

[Deleted]

"Talok Hir." All it took were those two words for Govan to see red. Grinding his teeth together, the Sub Commander spun and punched the nearest bulkhead, ignoring the searing pain and the sound of bone breaking. Suddenly it all made sense to him, the information about the data chip, the weapons overload, the attempt at bribery, his sudden disappearance and transfer request...the pieces all fit together perfectly.

Turning to face Dor’vel, Echal could see a similar reaction in the tactical officer’s eyes as well, and unfortunately, there was nothing either of them could do about it. The Sub Lieutenant had already left the S’Harien, and the warbird was too badly damaged to pursue the shuttle. “Did he work closely with anyone, have friends?” Govan asked hoping that maybe there was an accomplice that didn’t get away. At the shake of the Centurion’s head in response, the Sub Commander swore under his breath before addressing the Legate. “Contact your superiors in the Tal Diann and make sure the traitor is caught and pays for this. I’ll contact the Star Command and inform them of what happened. Have your officers assist tactical in sweeping the ship to make sure there aren’t any traps or rigged explosives lurking anywhere.”

<Tag Tevio>

The Centurion seemed to get the implied order for him and moved aside to contact his officers to arrange a full sweep of the ship. Crossing the bridge, careful to avoid any debris, Govan pulled his scanner and checked each step to make certain there was nothing lying in wait for him as he made his way to his ready room. Once inside, the process was repeated for the Sub Commander to get to his desk. Unfortunately, Echal had completely forgotten that all the terminals had overloaded, and threw a random piece of debris from his desk into a wall in frustration before heading back to the bridge to utilize the viewscreen instead, that is if that even managed to work.

Storming back onto the bridge straight for the command chair, Govan sat down in a huff. “Can you open a channel from there?” he shot back towards Dor’vel, who wisely remained silent and hurriedly accessed the appropriate protocols. When the computer politely requested his authorization, Echal spat them out furiously. The viewscreen sparked to life in a flurry of snow matching the audio static, which the Centurion rushed to clear up, before the slight fuzzy image of the Sub Commander’s direct superior appeared. “Fleet Commander,” he acknowledged, the words coming out more like an accusation than a respectful address as he glared at the screen.

“Sub Com...” the Commander began before falling silent, appearing surprised at both Govan’s appearance, as well as the destruction of the bridge in the background. Finally clearing his throat, he continued. “What is your status?” he requested evenly.

That brief pause had been enough to assure Echal of one thing: this hadn’t come through the Navy chain of command, either that or Hir had deviated drastically from his original orders. Deciding to give the Navy the benefit of the doubt, at least for the moment, Govan refrained from bursting into indictments and allegations, and replied, “The S’Harien is still badly damaged, but we regained access to the bridge. The power systems are unstable, and it will take over a week to replace the burned out relays. We lost four, over a hundred injured, but we know who’s responsible.”

A dark look crossed the Commander’s face as he listened to Govan’s report, and his expression only grew darker as he leaned towards the screen. “Who was it?”

Now reasonably sure the Navy didn’t officially have anything to do with this, Echal replied, “Sub Lieutenant Talok Hir, who was assigned as my Chief Tactical Officer and has since resigned after attempting to bribe me. He recently departed in a shuttle. I’m sending you all the information I have on his vessel so that he can be apprehended as quickly as possible.” Nodding to Dor’vel, who quickly got to work on retrieving and sending the information, Govan turned back to the screen. “I would…appreciate being kept informed of his whereabouts, and when the time comes, I could like to have a word with him if I could,” the Sub Commander added, his voice cold with barely contained fury, hoping his request would be respected.

In spite of the Navy’s general dislike for Echal, and the Fleet Commander’s own personal dislike of him, he was responding as any Romulan Commander should, and a grudging understanding passed between them for a moment. “I will do what I can, Sub Commander. I assure you, we will spare no resource to capturing him.”

Recognizing the relaxing of posture as a momentary acceptance, Govan returned the gesture by relaxing as well and nodded. “I appreciate that, Sir,” he responded, allowing a brief show of respect for his superior and the Navy’s chain of command.

A flicker of surprise registered on his face before his features were schooled once more. “Keep me informed, Taren out,” he replied before the viewscreen went dark.

Leaning back in the chair, Govan turned his head to glance at the Centurion, who seemed to understand the nuances of the scene he’d just witnessed, but quickly glanced back at his console. “My teams are conducting a full sweep as we speak, Sir. So far, they haven’t found anything suspicions. They’re also searching Talok Hir’s quarters for anything he may have left behind, but so far they found nothing.”

“Good,” Echal replied, before adding. “You should probably join them, Centurion.”

Hesitating, Dor’vel replied, “Actually, Sir, I think it would be best if I remained here. After all, I believe if anything was left behind, you would be the most likely target.”

Carefully scrutinizing the officer, frowning slightly, the tactical officer’s expression betrayed nothing, but Govan didn’t pick up on any hidden agendas or intent from him. In fact, since this whole incident began, Centurion Dor’vel had been nothing but helpful, and had in fact gone out of his way to ensure Sub Commander Echal’s safety at every turn. Although it was a little early to trust anyone, and in fact, fully trusting was something he was careful never to do, but trust was starting to grow. “You’re probably right, Centurion,” he finally replied before turning his attention to the science officer, who had remained quiet while working at her station the entire time. “Sub Lieutenant, do what you can to track the traitor’s shuttle, and forward what you find to the proper channels. The last thing we want is him getting away.”

<Jhu>

After a minute or two of silence, Govan’s thoughts actually drifted to the fate of his Chief Engineer. Though loathed to show any compassion or concern, he wanted to know what was going on, so he grudgingly opened a channel. “Echal to sickbay, Doctor Sural, what is the condition of Sub Lieutenant Virh?” he asked trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, as if he was just mildly curious rather than concerned.

<Tag Sural/Terrh>

[Deleted]

Having worked with Jhu on the DNA analyses Sural had begun to return to Sickbay when he was alerted to the incoming patient,

Great more work he thought bitterly.

"I m on my way" he replied and stepped up his pace a little.

By the time he arived Terrh was already laid on a biobed dark green blood oozing from the back of his head.

He ignored the tricorder being offered him and bent down to look closer,
"I dont need a tricorder to see what the problem is." he growled at the orderly.
He carefully felt around the wound and did a quick response test. Taking a swab he mopped up the blood revealing a small blunt force trauma.
"Microsutcher" he demanded and then ran the device over the affliction.

“Echal to sickbay, Doctor Sural, what is the condition of Sub Lieutenant Virh?” he asked trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, as if he was just mildly curious rather than concerned.

"He'll be fine. Concussed mostly. If it had been one of your security boys their thick skulls would have casued no harm. Terrh however is softer. He'll have a headache for awhile but will be fine"

"I asked for a report not a sermon" Echal snarled

Sural shrugged and turned to the nearest nurse,
"When he wakes give him a mild analegesic. I anyone needs me I ll be in my lab."

[Deleted]

He started to open his eyes and felt a little confused at first until he remember what happend. He saw the doctor standing over him talking about his soft head, he didn't take it as a insult but more as a poke at bad humor.

Although the doctore was right his head was killing like he had drunk to much ale. Slowly he try to rise but the room would start to spin. So thought better of it and layed back down he knew by now it was over. There first trip out and major repairs were needed, he was going to be busy. He later found out about the there spy stealing and ship and leaving in truith he wasn't shocked.

Opening a com channel to Ch'varak " I would scan for a tracking device I had them installed before I went to the bridge. I know we wont be able to give chase but it would give you a direction not to mention I'm sure you have other ways to use what I gave you"

[Deleted]

It’d been almost a day since the reveal and departure of the former Chief Tactical Security Officer, and although there was still a lot of damage to repair, things were beginning to gradually get back to normal. The engineering staff was working non-stop to restore key systems in spite of being without their chief, though that would soon change. Everyone was pitching in and doing their part to help out, and even though no one would have asked for this kind of disaster, somehow it had served to bring the crew, in general, closer together. Govan had barely slept, not feeling quite safe enough to do so, but it had allowed him time to be more involved in the repair and recovery process, much to the chagrin of the Assistant Chief Engineer.

As much as Govan hated to be towed back to Assailant, there wasn’t much choice. The sad fact was, they hadn’t made it far from where they had picked up Echal’s shuttle, and the S’Harien was far too badly damaged to move under her own power, so it was the only option. A Federation starship had arrived fifteen hours earlier to offer assistance, but to the Sub Commander, it was practically a slap in the face. Still, he’d had to politely thank the Captain for his help and force a polite smile as they were told to drop their shields and to shut down their thrusters in preparation. They offered to send over a few teams of engineers to assist in the repairs, but he firmly refused. It may take them longer, but they’d repair the S’Harien themselves.

It would take several days to get back to the starbase, but Govan was hopeful that by then significant progress would have already been made. He didn’t want to stay docked at an enemy base for longer than was absolutely necessary. It was a rather spectacularly pathetic end to the S’Harien’s first mission, and Govan Echal’s first real command. They fact they’d survived had been testament enough to the ship and crew, but they had accomplished nothing and only just barely made it through. As the Sub Commander watched the stars slowly drifting by on the viewscreen, he could only hope somehow the next mission would go a lot better than this one had.