Death...and deception?

Posted on 12 Aug 2014 @ 1:53am by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Civilian Reva Madhava & Lieutenant Commander Anastasia Lyons & Lieutenant JG Giada Lindert

1,197 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M12: For Duty or Honor
Location: Holodeck
Timeline: MD 4

The medical team was removing the body as Da`nal entered the scene with his XO. Death under his command was nothing new but pointless death was never easy, even for a person raised to see death differently than other races.

Marines were stationed at the entrance to the holodeck as they entered and he surveyed the room seeing several intel officers, and that security was already there. He stopped the medical team as they were leaving with a covered body and he pulled by the covering to see al-Altaa.

Replacing the covering and nodding he glanced to Anna as the medical team continued on. "He was our chief intelligence officer."

Lt. Commander Anastasia Lyons just nodded in sombre response, "Aye Sir, and my first death as part of a command team." After a short pause of respect, the blonde XO continued, "Anything else you want me to do?" Silence made her think and that was the last thing she wanted to do in the present situation.

Keeping his voice low to keep his comments between the two of them. "His death may have been apart of a greater plot. Keep any eye on the investigation."

The XO nodded and scooted a little closer to Da'nal, "Anywhere I should start?" she asked, her eyes still facing front.

Given the lack of information he had and the various avenues used to get at him in the past he had to suspect all. "No. If someone did this they will have no doubt tried to cover their tracks..." A thought occurred to him, "...have Lt. Todd discretely look over the programming. His...condition might be well suited to find any tampering."

After a brief exchange they moved into the room to find out just what had happened. "Report."

Cammy stood at attention, and swallowed a lump in her throat. "I was running a personal holodeck program modeled after the Kobayashi Maru simulation. I ended up dying in the program, and assumed it ended like it was designed to. I'm not sure how or why, but the program continued and simulated this ship. I went to what I thought was the lounge, but the program resumed the combat portion. One of the holograms must have killed the Chief Intelligence Officer afterwards." She paused a moment. "I'm not sure how though. Surely if the safety protocols were disabled, it would have killed me as well..."


Giada had arrived shortly before the Admiral and was helping to process the scene. While it was possible this was simply a computer malfunction, that determination would have to be made by someone more familiar with holodeck technology. For her part, she was treating it as if the death was a deliberate act by someone else.

Reva nodded in agreement and added to it. "We had initiated this as a training program to build departmental cohesion and to help us all learn each others strengths and weaknesses. Everything was working fine until one of the holographic enemies we had created burst into the room and broke the Lieutenant's neck. At that moment I froze and ended the program. The computer also reported the safety protocols were operational.

Da`nal had looked forward to serving with al-Altaa. He had seemed to be a very capable and honorable man. That and he was looking into the possibility of a spy aboard the Achilles. He found al-Altaa's death to be a bit too coincidental compared to the orders he had given him. Whatever had taken him must have been extremely fast and powerful. He turned to his new Anna, "I want all holodecks taken offline and I what that program and the safeties examined....down to the binary if necessary. I want to know if this was a malfunction or tampering."


Giada listened as the Admiral talked with the remaining spooks. She respected his rank and position, but at some point Security needed to take over the investigation.
"Excuse me sir, if I may?"

Da`nal nodded to allow the new security officer to continue.

"Lt Lindert, security department." She said by way of introduction to the other officers. "Ensign Valentine, you state that you thought the program had ended until the combat simulation resumed?"

"That's correct. I thought I walked to the real lounge to meet Lisa." Cammy answered.

Deciding to continue with the current line of questioning, Giada resumed her conversation with the young Intel officer.
"At what point did the combat portion of the simulation resume?"

"I sat down and talked to Lisa about the program." Cammy replied, her brows furrowed and eyes drifting towards the right as they often did when thinking. she got up to get drinks for us." She stroked her chin thoughtfully before making eye contact again. "That's when sprites from the program burst into the lounge."

"Thank you. Can you describe from your point of view what happened from then until LT Madhava ended the simulation?"

"It all happened so fast...I remember Lisa was a changeling and tried to strangle me and a group of super-powered Ferengi ran into the lounge. We headed for the brig, and, next thing you know, one of the Ferengi killed the Intel Chief. The program was designed to guarantee the player's defeat. At this point, the computer was beyond cheating. It was determined to kill the players, as it was intended to. Maybe it took things too far?"

Reva added to her, previous testimony, "The program had most of us in various locations, both on and off duty. Lt. al-Altaa, myself and, Ensign Nechayev had managed to link up. It wasn't until I terminated the program that we saw Ensign Valentine."

Da`nal kept his reactions to himself but made note of that fact.

A crime on the holodeck presented a unique set of challenges, but in the end the basics were still the same.

Da`nal listened to the questions and the gather of information intently. Only a member of the crew for a few hours and was integrating nicely and thoroughly. The padd in his hands chime softly and he lifted it nodding at the information displayed. Lt. Rahde had been reassigned and was disembarking to the surface. Looking up from the padd he returned his gaze to the new security officer. "Lieutenant Linert, a moment please."

Stepping away from the others, Giada wondered what the Admiral wanted?
"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Yes. Continue your investigation and have engineering assist. If this program was altered I want to know by who. Oh...you are now the Chief of Security. Congratulations."

"Aye sir. This wil be top priority." About then it dawned on Giada that had just been promoted in position. Not sure what to make of it , she responded simply. "Thank you sir."

Returning to the investigation, she continued to talk with the officers to finalize some information.

Da`nal, never one to micro manage his officers turned and with a nod to Anna left the holodeck.

---

Rear Admiral Da`nal
CO

Lt. Cmdr Anastasia Lyons
XO

Ltjg Reva Madhava
Intel Officer - NPC played by Da`nal

Ensign Cammy Valentine
Infiltration Specialist

Lt Giada Lindert
Chief Securiy Officer

 

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