Hello again. I am back with my new update. This chapter is a fair length.
Please read it and review it. I really appreciate input. I have updated
this chapter along with the others to change the stardates to later times.
The crew of the USS Australian received some good news in the midst of the looming problem. The 27 reported casualties aboard the Okinawa were not deaths. The injuries ranged from minor to several that were critical, but the medical teams were confident that all of them would make a full recovery.
But the Australian still wasn't out of the woods yet. Starfleet had dispatched a Nebula class ship, the USS Merrimac, with Admiral Drake aboard to oversee the investigation into the accident aboard the Australian.
Lt. Com. D'Kut walked across the bridge towards the Captain's ready room. He had finished his investigation into the Torpedo rooms and had the report for the captain. His Vulcan training kept him from feeling the same as the rest of the ship, but he still had the sense of the loss that had occurred. He knew, logically, that his being able to remain emotionless would be of a great aid to the Captain. He reached over and tapped the control on the door to signify his presence outside.
Captain Jackson had been sitting in his ready room after reading the reports on what had happened and who was coming to investigate his ship. He had the same feeling of dread as the rest of the ship but he also felt that this incident was going to stop production on the Oshiana design.
"I just don't know what happened." He muttered to himself. "The shit is going to hit the fan when Admiral Drake gets here." At that moment the door chimed.
"It's open." He had finally thought of a new response. Too bad he probably wouldn't be able to use it anymore.
D'Kut walked through the doors and approached the desk. He centered himself in front of the Captain and offered his PADD to him.
"Torpedo inventory counts 99 live torpedoes in each forward bay and three practice torpedoes in each bay." He reported calmly.
"Which means we screwed up. Evergreen inspected the torpedoes before the test correct?" Jackson wanted to start getting people to question.
"Yes sir. Only engineering crews and torpedo crews had access afterwards." He responded.
"Commander, I want you to get me a list of every person that was in and out of the torpedo bays since we received those practice torpedoes. We need to start making headway before the Merrimac arrives." Jackson ordered.
"Lieutenant Evergreen should gather that list sir." D'Kut stated.
"No. He's going to be on it. We can rule out transporters because this design incorporates shields around the torpedo storage since we carry so many. Wait a second; look into torpedo bay shield malfunctions and transporter logs too. Use everyone that you need. Just find out what happened." Jackson wanted to cover all of the bases.
"Yes sir." D'Kut turned to leave the ready room. As he walked out, he felt like a great burden had been placed upon his shoulders. He knew, logically of course, that this mystery would be solved. When, was the next question?
Commander Rem Norland was sitting in her quarters going over the crew lists. She had her coffee cup sitting on the desk next to her computer. She had been up for the last 38 hours since the incident and had been going over all of the ideas she had about how this could happen. As she set her arms on the desk and buried her head into her hands, she knock over the small coffee cup spilling its contents onto her computer.
"Oh no." She quickly got up and walked into her bathroom to grab a towel. "I thought I was over being a klutz."
As she cleaned up her mess, the door chirped.
"Come in." She said paying attention only to what she was doing at the time.
As the doors parted Lt. Stryfe walked in.
"Here are those reports you wanted Commander." She said as she extended them out.
Rem turned to face her. The marks under her eyes from the lack of sleep were more than obvious.
"Have you been getting any sleep?" Stryfe asked. She didn't intend on being noisy with a senior officer.
"Not for a while. Is it that obvious?" Rem responded.
"Yes sir. I have the reports you requested." Stryfe offered the PADD again.
"What report? Oh, yes the ones on the torpedo bay shields. Thank you Lieutenant." She responded. Her expression was that of someone who was not completely alert.
"Commander you should get some sleep." Stryfe repeated.
"Is that an order Lieutenant? I don't think you're above me in the chain of command." Rem started. Her expression went from half sleepy and half worried to half sleepy and half angry.
"No sir. It was only a suggestion. This investigation needs all of us at 100 percent. We can't keep that up if we aren't rested." Stryfe added noticing the change in tone.
"You're right Lieutenant." Rem conceded as she stood up. She then placed her hand on her head to keep from losing her balance from the dizziness. "What's you first name?" She asked.
"It's Silver sir." She was slightly confused at why the Commander had not just looked it up.
"Well Silver, I'm Rem. Thanks for being concerned and reminding me."
"Of what sir?" Stryfe was still confused.
"That my job is to this ship and I can't do it if I can't think straight." Rem began walking over to her bed.
"Yes sir. Good night." Stryfe turned to walk out of the door.
"Good night." Came the soft reply as the lights dimmed.
"Captain's log stardate 40304.5. The Merrimac has arrived with Admiral Drake aboard. We have gained little headway into this disaster. The crews morale has been falling steadily since this happened."
Captain Jackson was standing in Transporter Room 3 waiting for Admiral Drake to signal his beam over. His transporter officer was standing silently waiting for the signal.
"Merrimac signaling they are ready for transport sir." The female Chief said.
"Energize." Jackson responded. As he watched the form of Admiral Drake begin, he couldn't help but hope that the Admiral was going to get the ship out of its predicament. As he finished materializing, Jackson stepped forward.
"Admiral Drake, welcome aboard the Australian. Although I wish it were under better circumstances." Jackson gave the protocol greeting.
"What the hell happened Captain? We give you a ship and you go around blowing the others up!" He began his verbal insults the second he opened his mouth. "I wasn't for giving you this damn thing in the first place."
'Ok he is NOT in the best mood right now.' Jackson thought. "This way to the briefing room sir." He said leading the Admiral out of the door.
"Just remember Jackson, if I find that you were negligent I am going to decommission this ship and throw you in the brig." Admiral Drake began again. "If this design can't be trusted to fire the right torpedoes then we can't trust it in any type of service."
'Ok so he hates the design and me.' Jackson thought as he used every bit of restraint he had.
They both entered the briefing room. The senior staff, minus Lt. Evergreen was present.
"Let's cut the crap and get straight to the point. What do you people have?" Admiral Drake bellowed as he entered the room.
"We have a list of 39 personnel that have had access to the torpedo rooms since we have taken the practice torpedoes on board. We also have a list of 14 personnel that were on duty in the transporter rooms since taking the torpedoes aboard. 5 names are on both lists." D'Kut began.
"What else? That's useless." Admiral Drake began getting on everyone's nerves after that statement.
"We also read three malfunctions with the torpedo room shields since leaving spacedock. Two after taking the practice torpedoes aboard. We are searching the transporter logs for times when the transporters were used during these down times." Rem added trying to tie together D'Kut's and her information.
"Then you have all been wasting time? Why don't you call me back when you actually have something to report." Admiral Drake turned and walked out of the door, heading back for the transporter room.
After the door closed, Jackson turned and looked at his officers. "Good work. Norland, I want you to start interviewing the names on both of those lists. Save the five that were in both places for me. D'Kut, I want you to start going over power distribution during the shield down times. Check just the transporter units. That will be all." Jackson finished and walked towards the doors.
"Sir," Lt. Stryfe started.
"Yes Lieutenant?" Jackson stopped and turned to face her.
"What will happen to the Australian if we can't find out what happened?" Stryfe asked.
"We will find out what happened. That's all you need to know." Jackson walked through the doors.
Rem was strained. She had never before conducted interviews into crewmembers before. Now, she had done 30 of them. He attention began failing as each person came in and out. It was beyond her why anyone would want to sabotage the Australian, or any Starfleet vessel. The next interview was with Ensign Trinitron.
Millie Trinitron entered the room and walked over to the small table where she sat down. She looked directly across at the ships first officer.
"Ensign, have you had access to the transporter units since stardate 40289.6?" The first question was useless but Rem wanted to see if she was honest.
"Yes sir, on stardate 40296.2. It was during a transfer of systems from cargo bay 2 to stellar cartography. We used the transporter to ensure that nothing was disturbed during the move."
Rem checked against her figures. The stardate and the transport time happened during one of the shield down times. She marked the file to remind herself of it later. "Did you transport anything else?"
"Just the equipment sir." She replied. Millie knew that there was an investigation underway, but she didn't know why she was being investigated. "What does this have to do with me sir?"
"We are investigating anyone who had contact with the transporter systems during specific times." Rem responded. It was no secret that the Australian had damaged the Okinawa heavily. "Do you know any of these personnel?" Rem handed her a PADD with five names on it.
"Yes. Lieutenant Evergreen and Lieutenant J.G. Bell. I don't recognize the others." Millie responded handing the PADD back.
"How do you know them?" Rem returned.
"It's embarrassing," she started. "Bell started to fight with Evergreen in Ten Forward over a date with me." She began to blush slightly. She had never had men fight over her before. At the time, she was angry. Now, she was excited that someone would fight for her.
Rem, on the other hand, had just come up with more questions. "How serious was this fight?"
"Serious enough for security to get called. Bell was escorted out while Evergreen walked me to my quarters." She responded, recalling the events a few days ago. "Bell shouted something that sounded like he would get even with Evergreen. But I didn't hear it clearly. He could have said anything."
"Thank you Ensign. You are dismissed." Rem added. She then watched the Girl stand and walk out of the door. Afterward Rem began to cross check Bell and Evergreen. 'A fight over a woman could cloud judgment on someone's part.' She thought as she checked the log of the incident. The new information gave her what she wanted.
"I think the Captain should see this." Se said to herself as she stood up and ran out of the room.
Captain Jackson was sitting in his ready room rubbing his temples with his fingers. He had interrogated three of the five officers that had access to both torpedo rooms and the transporter. Lt. Evergreen and Lt. J.G. Bell were the only two left.
"We shouldn't have to deal with this crap." Jackson said to himself as he moved his hands from his temples to his face. "What did we do to deserve this?"
The doors chirped at him, bringing him back into the reality of the situation. "Door's open," he called out. He liked his new response.
Com. Norland came through the doors before they opened all of the way. She was holding a PADD and appeared to have some important information.
"What is it Commander?" Jackson asked as he turned his attention to his first officer rather than his splitting headache.
"I have some new information. It seems we can narrow down to two suspects now." Norland responded. She was proud to have stumbled across this information.
"Explain!" Jackson ordered as his headache went away.
Lt. Evergreen was sitting in his quarters. Since being placed on 'the list' he had not had duty since the incident.
"I know those damn torpedoes were where they were supposed to be. I know it." He repeated to himself. He let his head fall down to his pillow. "I shouldn't have let this happen. I'm, or I was, the Chief of Security."
As he lay trying to grasp what was going on, his door chirped. At first he was shocked that someone was coming to see him. His interrogation time wasn't for another two hours.
"Come in." He said as he sat up.
The Captain burst through the door and stomped over to the bed. Evergreen barely had time to stand before Jackson reached him. Captain Jackson glared at Evergreen until the doors closed.
"When did you inspect the practice torpedoes?" The tone in his voice told Evergreen that he was thoroughly pissed.
"Two days before the mishap sir. I checked them and then double checked them." He was intimidated.
"Where are the logs?" Jackson was still mad. The glare in his eyes was getting colder and colder.
"They should be in the ships main computer sir." Evergreen didn't understand why they wouldn't have checked the logs.
"They're not Lieutenant. So where the hell are they." Jackson was not letting up on his security chief.
"I always keep a backup log and the tricorder has the information still in it." Evergreen walked over to his desk and retrieved the piece of equipment. As he handed the tricorder and his PADD to the Captain, he saw Jackson's face shift
"Evergreen this isn't going to be good enough!" Jackson turned around. Is voice was now lined with sympathy rather than anger. "You and Lieutenant J.G. Bell are the only two people left that could have anything to do with this."
"Bell? I fought with him in Ten Forward." Evergreen responded.
"Who is capable of changing the torpedoes around and altering logs? I sure hope to hell that my chief of security had nothing to do with this."
"Any engineer can do both of those sir. Half the crew could do something like this."
"You had better come up with something better Evergreen. Defending you won't be easy right now." Jackson turned and started for the door. "I'm going to have D'Kut look for fraud in these and the main data banks." Jackson stepped out of the door.
"Aye sir." Evergreen responded. He followed by slumping back onto his bed.
D'Kut was sitting at one of the aft stations on the bridge searching for any kind of fraud in the computer systems. He had already checked the tricorder and the PADD that Captain Jackson had given him and found nothing.
Lt. Stryfe walked up behind him and spoke. "Now what are you looking for?" Her curiosity was genuine.
"I am looking for instances of fraud in the main computer banks. Why?" His response was cold, like it should have been.
"Anything I can do to help?" Stryfe asked. "I'd like to do something other tan just sit and stare at the view screen all day."
"Take a seat." D'Kut commanded. As she sat down he transferred part of the load from his station to hers. "I am searching for irregular patterns in the database."
"Uh-huh. How will I know if it is irregular?" Stryfe began to stare at the lines on the computer screen.
"The computer is already programmed to find them. Once it does, you will have to find what was accessed and where it was accessed from." He began to explain.
"You mean like this access from main engineering. It reads that a file named 'torpedo inspection' was altered on stardate 40297.5." She said.
D'Kut immediately looked at her screen. "What kind of alteration?"
"It says the file was deleted. I could recover the file." She responded as she pressed the right sequence to bring the deleted file back up.
After the computer restored the file, Stryfe opened it and found the scans and notes from Lt. Evergreen on his inspection. "Is this what you're looking for?" She asked. She was not informed of why they were searching the computer banks.
"Yes it is. This verifies Evergreen's claim that6 he did inspect the torpedoes." D'Kut tapped his com-badge. "D'Kut to the Captain."
Over the intercom came Jackson's voice. "What have you found?"
"The file containing Lieutenant Evergreen's report on the practice torpedoes. We are tracing it back to see who deleted it."
"I know who deleted it. I'm on my way to settle this thing. Jackson out."
"How would he know who altered the file?" D'Kut was slightly confused.
"He's the Captain. He is supposed to know everything that happens on his ship." She responded as se stood up. "You're welcome."
"Why would you say 'you are welcome' before a person thanks you? It is illogical." D'Kut responded as he stood up as well.
"You should know by now that humans are illogical. Especially Captains." Stryfe smiled and walked back to her post.
Jackson approached the door to Lt. J.G. Bell's quarters. His fury was almost more than he could handle. He reached down and tapped the panel. As he waited, He thought about what he was about to say. When the doors opened, Bell was standing in front of the Captain.
"What can I do for you Captain?" Bell asked as Jackson brought his brown eyes to bore into the Lieutenant.
"You thought you could get away didn't you?" Jackson knew that it was obvious, but he didn't care.
"Get away with what sir?" Bell asked.
"Don't play stupid. I checked your folder. You changed your name two years ago. Your father was court-martialed due to my recommendation as when I was a commander." Jackson began.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Bell responded. Jackson was clearly getting under his skin.
"Your record also indicates letters of reprimand and a demotion for bad conduct. Usually involving a female crewman." Jackson continued. He was intentionally trying to get under Bell's skin. "Awful long time to spend as a Lieutenant J.G."
"You don't know the half of it 'Captain'." He used the word as if it were an insult.
"Oh really? What do you get out of fighting with Evergreen?"
"Respect." Bell began. "If he is portrayed as the bad guy, I get the girl."
"For an Engineer, you aren't that smart." Jackson added. His sarcasm pushed bell over the edge.
"I'm smarter than all of you!" He shouted. "I got this entire crew reassigned, Evergreen and you court-martialed. I win!" He finished taking a step back proudly.
"No you don't." Jackson tapped his com-badge. "Security to Lieutenant J.G. Bell's quarters."
"NO!" Bell shouted as he lunged forward. "I always get what I want!"
Jackson stepped out of his way as the security guards came through the door. Bell literally fell into their waiting hands.
"Take him to the brig. Detain him there until we transfer him to the Merrimac." Jackson straightened his uniform and stepped out of the room headed for the bridge.
"Hail the Merrimac." Jackson ordered as he entered the bridge from the turbo lift.
"On screen." Lt. Com. Blizzard reported.
Admiral drake appeared on the view screen. "What do you want captain?" His tone was the same as earlier.
"We found the saboteur. He used the transporters during a programmed shield malfunction." Jackson replied.
"Who was it?" Drake responded. His tone had definitely changed for the better.
"Lieutenant J.G. Bell sir."
"Really?" Drake acted surprised. "He has been a problem for Starfleet for some time now."
"Apparently sir. Who assigned him to the Australian?" Jackson knew there was someone behind Bell. Bell just wasn't smart enough for this much of a plan. He screwed most of it up because he became jealous over a woman.
"I don't recall." Admiral Drake suddenly went defensive.
"Let me remind you sir." Jackson brought up the PADD he had been carrying. "It says in his record that you assigned him here."
"Then I guess I did. What does it have to do with anything?"
"Your previous outbursts of how you wanted this ship to fail. Your complete and total dislike of me personally. Would you like me to continue?"
"I'll have your rank and your ship for throwing around accusations like this." Drake became furious once again.
"I'm sure of it. Oh and by the way. Bell's original name," Jackson paused a moment, "was Drake. His father was your son. I'm sure headquarters would like to hear all of this."
Jackson turned around and gave Blizzard a cutoff motion. Admiral Drake's expression became panicked as the screen flashed back to the view of all three ships.
"What was that about sir?" Blizzard asked.
"That," Jackson turned back to the screen, "Was the beginning of a long hard battle."
"Captain's log stardate 40336.1. The Australian remains in service after the unfortunate mishap with the Okinawa. Admiral Drake has been placed under investigation for undue command influence and conspiracy. Lieutenant Evergreen has been reinstated as Chief of Security."
Jackson was standing outside of the Holodeck doors. He decided to try this again since his last experience wasn't all that pleasant.
"You may enter when ready." The computer told him.
As he walked forward, the doors spread apart revealing the grassy plain and mountains he grew up in.
"A little taste of home sir?" Alex blizzard came up behind him.
"Yeah." Jackson began to take in the sights. "It fills in but it doesn't replace."
"No it doesn't sir." Blizzard began. "I was thinking sir."
"About?" Jackson replied still concentrating on the grass under his feet.
"Ten Forward sir. Most ships rename it so it is unique to the ship."
"Well, the ship is continuing in service. Maybe we should think of naming the place." Jackson looked around thinking of what exactly he was going to do. "You pick the name."
"Me sir?" Blizzard became slightly bewildered.
"You brought it up. You're in charge of picking a unique name."
"Yes sir. I'll work on it immediately." Blizzard turned to exit.
"Blizzard." Jackson called back. "Keep it simple."
"Yes sir." Blizzard responded as he exited the holodeck.
"I hope this ship starts to have a better life." Jackson thought out loud.
Well what did you think? I took several days to type this one. I just ran out of ideas. Expect the next update to be a bit quicker. Please review.
The crew of the USS Australian received some good news in the midst of the looming problem. The 27 reported casualties aboard the Okinawa were not deaths. The injuries ranged from minor to several that were critical, but the medical teams were confident that all of them would make a full recovery.
But the Australian still wasn't out of the woods yet. Starfleet had dispatched a Nebula class ship, the USS Merrimac, with Admiral Drake aboard to oversee the investigation into the accident aboard the Australian.
Lt. Com. D'Kut walked across the bridge towards the Captain's ready room. He had finished his investigation into the Torpedo rooms and had the report for the captain. His Vulcan training kept him from feeling the same as the rest of the ship, but he still had the sense of the loss that had occurred. He knew, logically, that his being able to remain emotionless would be of a great aid to the Captain. He reached over and tapped the control on the door to signify his presence outside.
Captain Jackson had been sitting in his ready room after reading the reports on what had happened and who was coming to investigate his ship. He had the same feeling of dread as the rest of the ship but he also felt that this incident was going to stop production on the Oshiana design.
"I just don't know what happened." He muttered to himself. "The shit is going to hit the fan when Admiral Drake gets here." At that moment the door chimed.
"It's open." He had finally thought of a new response. Too bad he probably wouldn't be able to use it anymore.
D'Kut walked through the doors and approached the desk. He centered himself in front of the Captain and offered his PADD to him.
"Torpedo inventory counts 99 live torpedoes in each forward bay and three practice torpedoes in each bay." He reported calmly.
"Which means we screwed up. Evergreen inspected the torpedoes before the test correct?" Jackson wanted to start getting people to question.
"Yes sir. Only engineering crews and torpedo crews had access afterwards." He responded.
"Commander, I want you to get me a list of every person that was in and out of the torpedo bays since we received those practice torpedoes. We need to start making headway before the Merrimac arrives." Jackson ordered.
"Lieutenant Evergreen should gather that list sir." D'Kut stated.
"No. He's going to be on it. We can rule out transporters because this design incorporates shields around the torpedo storage since we carry so many. Wait a second; look into torpedo bay shield malfunctions and transporter logs too. Use everyone that you need. Just find out what happened." Jackson wanted to cover all of the bases.
"Yes sir." D'Kut turned to leave the ready room. As he walked out, he felt like a great burden had been placed upon his shoulders. He knew, logically of course, that this mystery would be solved. When, was the next question?
Commander Rem Norland was sitting in her quarters going over the crew lists. She had her coffee cup sitting on the desk next to her computer. She had been up for the last 38 hours since the incident and had been going over all of the ideas she had about how this could happen. As she set her arms on the desk and buried her head into her hands, she knock over the small coffee cup spilling its contents onto her computer.
"Oh no." She quickly got up and walked into her bathroom to grab a towel. "I thought I was over being a klutz."
As she cleaned up her mess, the door chirped.
"Come in." She said paying attention only to what she was doing at the time.
As the doors parted Lt. Stryfe walked in.
"Here are those reports you wanted Commander." She said as she extended them out.
Rem turned to face her. The marks under her eyes from the lack of sleep were more than obvious.
"Have you been getting any sleep?" Stryfe asked. She didn't intend on being noisy with a senior officer.
"Not for a while. Is it that obvious?" Rem responded.
"Yes sir. I have the reports you requested." Stryfe offered the PADD again.
"What report? Oh, yes the ones on the torpedo bay shields. Thank you Lieutenant." She responded. Her expression was that of someone who was not completely alert.
"Commander you should get some sleep." Stryfe repeated.
"Is that an order Lieutenant? I don't think you're above me in the chain of command." Rem started. Her expression went from half sleepy and half worried to half sleepy and half angry.
"No sir. It was only a suggestion. This investigation needs all of us at 100 percent. We can't keep that up if we aren't rested." Stryfe added noticing the change in tone.
"You're right Lieutenant." Rem conceded as she stood up. She then placed her hand on her head to keep from losing her balance from the dizziness. "What's you first name?" She asked.
"It's Silver sir." She was slightly confused at why the Commander had not just looked it up.
"Well Silver, I'm Rem. Thanks for being concerned and reminding me."
"Of what sir?" Stryfe was still confused.
"That my job is to this ship and I can't do it if I can't think straight." Rem began walking over to her bed.
"Yes sir. Good night." Stryfe turned to walk out of the door.
"Good night." Came the soft reply as the lights dimmed.
"Captain's log stardate 40304.5. The Merrimac has arrived with Admiral Drake aboard. We have gained little headway into this disaster. The crews morale has been falling steadily since this happened."
Captain Jackson was standing in Transporter Room 3 waiting for Admiral Drake to signal his beam over. His transporter officer was standing silently waiting for the signal.
"Merrimac signaling they are ready for transport sir." The female Chief said.
"Energize." Jackson responded. As he watched the form of Admiral Drake begin, he couldn't help but hope that the Admiral was going to get the ship out of its predicament. As he finished materializing, Jackson stepped forward.
"Admiral Drake, welcome aboard the Australian. Although I wish it were under better circumstances." Jackson gave the protocol greeting.
"What the hell happened Captain? We give you a ship and you go around blowing the others up!" He began his verbal insults the second he opened his mouth. "I wasn't for giving you this damn thing in the first place."
'Ok he is NOT in the best mood right now.' Jackson thought. "This way to the briefing room sir." He said leading the Admiral out of the door.
"Just remember Jackson, if I find that you were negligent I am going to decommission this ship and throw you in the brig." Admiral Drake began again. "If this design can't be trusted to fire the right torpedoes then we can't trust it in any type of service."
'Ok so he hates the design and me.' Jackson thought as he used every bit of restraint he had.
They both entered the briefing room. The senior staff, minus Lt. Evergreen was present.
"Let's cut the crap and get straight to the point. What do you people have?" Admiral Drake bellowed as he entered the room.
"We have a list of 39 personnel that have had access to the torpedo rooms since we have taken the practice torpedoes on board. We also have a list of 14 personnel that were on duty in the transporter rooms since taking the torpedoes aboard. 5 names are on both lists." D'Kut began.
"What else? That's useless." Admiral Drake began getting on everyone's nerves after that statement.
"We also read three malfunctions with the torpedo room shields since leaving spacedock. Two after taking the practice torpedoes aboard. We are searching the transporter logs for times when the transporters were used during these down times." Rem added trying to tie together D'Kut's and her information.
"Then you have all been wasting time? Why don't you call me back when you actually have something to report." Admiral Drake turned and walked out of the door, heading back for the transporter room.
After the door closed, Jackson turned and looked at his officers. "Good work. Norland, I want you to start interviewing the names on both of those lists. Save the five that were in both places for me. D'Kut, I want you to start going over power distribution during the shield down times. Check just the transporter units. That will be all." Jackson finished and walked towards the doors.
"Sir," Lt. Stryfe started.
"Yes Lieutenant?" Jackson stopped and turned to face her.
"What will happen to the Australian if we can't find out what happened?" Stryfe asked.
"We will find out what happened. That's all you need to know." Jackson walked through the doors.
Rem was strained. She had never before conducted interviews into crewmembers before. Now, she had done 30 of them. He attention began failing as each person came in and out. It was beyond her why anyone would want to sabotage the Australian, or any Starfleet vessel. The next interview was with Ensign Trinitron.
Millie Trinitron entered the room and walked over to the small table where she sat down. She looked directly across at the ships first officer.
"Ensign, have you had access to the transporter units since stardate 40289.6?" The first question was useless but Rem wanted to see if she was honest.
"Yes sir, on stardate 40296.2. It was during a transfer of systems from cargo bay 2 to stellar cartography. We used the transporter to ensure that nothing was disturbed during the move."
Rem checked against her figures. The stardate and the transport time happened during one of the shield down times. She marked the file to remind herself of it later. "Did you transport anything else?"
"Just the equipment sir." She replied. Millie knew that there was an investigation underway, but she didn't know why she was being investigated. "What does this have to do with me sir?"
"We are investigating anyone who had contact with the transporter systems during specific times." Rem responded. It was no secret that the Australian had damaged the Okinawa heavily. "Do you know any of these personnel?" Rem handed her a PADD with five names on it.
"Yes. Lieutenant Evergreen and Lieutenant J.G. Bell. I don't recognize the others." Millie responded handing the PADD back.
"How do you know them?" Rem returned.
"It's embarrassing," she started. "Bell started to fight with Evergreen in Ten Forward over a date with me." She began to blush slightly. She had never had men fight over her before. At the time, she was angry. Now, she was excited that someone would fight for her.
Rem, on the other hand, had just come up with more questions. "How serious was this fight?"
"Serious enough for security to get called. Bell was escorted out while Evergreen walked me to my quarters." She responded, recalling the events a few days ago. "Bell shouted something that sounded like he would get even with Evergreen. But I didn't hear it clearly. He could have said anything."
"Thank you Ensign. You are dismissed." Rem added. She then watched the Girl stand and walk out of the door. Afterward Rem began to cross check Bell and Evergreen. 'A fight over a woman could cloud judgment on someone's part.' She thought as she checked the log of the incident. The new information gave her what she wanted.
"I think the Captain should see this." Se said to herself as she stood up and ran out of the room.
Captain Jackson was sitting in his ready room rubbing his temples with his fingers. He had interrogated three of the five officers that had access to both torpedo rooms and the transporter. Lt. Evergreen and Lt. J.G. Bell were the only two left.
"We shouldn't have to deal with this crap." Jackson said to himself as he moved his hands from his temples to his face. "What did we do to deserve this?"
The doors chirped at him, bringing him back into the reality of the situation. "Door's open," he called out. He liked his new response.
Com. Norland came through the doors before they opened all of the way. She was holding a PADD and appeared to have some important information.
"What is it Commander?" Jackson asked as he turned his attention to his first officer rather than his splitting headache.
"I have some new information. It seems we can narrow down to two suspects now." Norland responded. She was proud to have stumbled across this information.
"Explain!" Jackson ordered as his headache went away.
Lt. Evergreen was sitting in his quarters. Since being placed on 'the list' he had not had duty since the incident.
"I know those damn torpedoes were where they were supposed to be. I know it." He repeated to himself. He let his head fall down to his pillow. "I shouldn't have let this happen. I'm, or I was, the Chief of Security."
As he lay trying to grasp what was going on, his door chirped. At first he was shocked that someone was coming to see him. His interrogation time wasn't for another two hours.
"Come in." He said as he sat up.
The Captain burst through the door and stomped over to the bed. Evergreen barely had time to stand before Jackson reached him. Captain Jackson glared at Evergreen until the doors closed.
"When did you inspect the practice torpedoes?" The tone in his voice told Evergreen that he was thoroughly pissed.
"Two days before the mishap sir. I checked them and then double checked them." He was intimidated.
"Where are the logs?" Jackson was still mad. The glare in his eyes was getting colder and colder.
"They should be in the ships main computer sir." Evergreen didn't understand why they wouldn't have checked the logs.
"They're not Lieutenant. So where the hell are they." Jackson was not letting up on his security chief.
"I always keep a backup log and the tricorder has the information still in it." Evergreen walked over to his desk and retrieved the piece of equipment. As he handed the tricorder and his PADD to the Captain, he saw Jackson's face shift
"Evergreen this isn't going to be good enough!" Jackson turned around. Is voice was now lined with sympathy rather than anger. "You and Lieutenant J.G. Bell are the only two people left that could have anything to do with this."
"Bell? I fought with him in Ten Forward." Evergreen responded.
"Who is capable of changing the torpedoes around and altering logs? I sure hope to hell that my chief of security had nothing to do with this."
"Any engineer can do both of those sir. Half the crew could do something like this."
"You had better come up with something better Evergreen. Defending you won't be easy right now." Jackson turned and started for the door. "I'm going to have D'Kut look for fraud in these and the main data banks." Jackson stepped out of the door.
"Aye sir." Evergreen responded. He followed by slumping back onto his bed.
D'Kut was sitting at one of the aft stations on the bridge searching for any kind of fraud in the computer systems. He had already checked the tricorder and the PADD that Captain Jackson had given him and found nothing.
Lt. Stryfe walked up behind him and spoke. "Now what are you looking for?" Her curiosity was genuine.
"I am looking for instances of fraud in the main computer banks. Why?" His response was cold, like it should have been.
"Anything I can do to help?" Stryfe asked. "I'd like to do something other tan just sit and stare at the view screen all day."
"Take a seat." D'Kut commanded. As she sat down he transferred part of the load from his station to hers. "I am searching for irregular patterns in the database."
"Uh-huh. How will I know if it is irregular?" Stryfe began to stare at the lines on the computer screen.
"The computer is already programmed to find them. Once it does, you will have to find what was accessed and where it was accessed from." He began to explain.
"You mean like this access from main engineering. It reads that a file named 'torpedo inspection' was altered on stardate 40297.5." She said.
D'Kut immediately looked at her screen. "What kind of alteration?"
"It says the file was deleted. I could recover the file." She responded as she pressed the right sequence to bring the deleted file back up.
After the computer restored the file, Stryfe opened it and found the scans and notes from Lt. Evergreen on his inspection. "Is this what you're looking for?" She asked. She was not informed of why they were searching the computer banks.
"Yes it is. This verifies Evergreen's claim that6 he did inspect the torpedoes." D'Kut tapped his com-badge. "D'Kut to the Captain."
Over the intercom came Jackson's voice. "What have you found?"
"The file containing Lieutenant Evergreen's report on the practice torpedoes. We are tracing it back to see who deleted it."
"I know who deleted it. I'm on my way to settle this thing. Jackson out."
"How would he know who altered the file?" D'Kut was slightly confused.
"He's the Captain. He is supposed to know everything that happens on his ship." She responded as se stood up. "You're welcome."
"Why would you say 'you are welcome' before a person thanks you? It is illogical." D'Kut responded as he stood up as well.
"You should know by now that humans are illogical. Especially Captains." Stryfe smiled and walked back to her post.
Jackson approached the door to Lt. J.G. Bell's quarters. His fury was almost more than he could handle. He reached down and tapped the panel. As he waited, He thought about what he was about to say. When the doors opened, Bell was standing in front of the Captain.
"What can I do for you Captain?" Bell asked as Jackson brought his brown eyes to bore into the Lieutenant.
"You thought you could get away didn't you?" Jackson knew that it was obvious, but he didn't care.
"Get away with what sir?" Bell asked.
"Don't play stupid. I checked your folder. You changed your name two years ago. Your father was court-martialed due to my recommendation as when I was a commander." Jackson began.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Bell responded. Jackson was clearly getting under his skin.
"Your record also indicates letters of reprimand and a demotion for bad conduct. Usually involving a female crewman." Jackson continued. He was intentionally trying to get under Bell's skin. "Awful long time to spend as a Lieutenant J.G."
"You don't know the half of it 'Captain'." He used the word as if it were an insult.
"Oh really? What do you get out of fighting with Evergreen?"
"Respect." Bell began. "If he is portrayed as the bad guy, I get the girl."
"For an Engineer, you aren't that smart." Jackson added. His sarcasm pushed bell over the edge.
"I'm smarter than all of you!" He shouted. "I got this entire crew reassigned, Evergreen and you court-martialed. I win!" He finished taking a step back proudly.
"No you don't." Jackson tapped his com-badge. "Security to Lieutenant J.G. Bell's quarters."
"NO!" Bell shouted as he lunged forward. "I always get what I want!"
Jackson stepped out of his way as the security guards came through the door. Bell literally fell into their waiting hands.
"Take him to the brig. Detain him there until we transfer him to the Merrimac." Jackson straightened his uniform and stepped out of the room headed for the bridge.
"Hail the Merrimac." Jackson ordered as he entered the bridge from the turbo lift.
"On screen." Lt. Com. Blizzard reported.
Admiral drake appeared on the view screen. "What do you want captain?" His tone was the same as earlier.
"We found the saboteur. He used the transporters during a programmed shield malfunction." Jackson replied.
"Who was it?" Drake responded. His tone had definitely changed for the better.
"Lieutenant J.G. Bell sir."
"Really?" Drake acted surprised. "He has been a problem for Starfleet for some time now."
"Apparently sir. Who assigned him to the Australian?" Jackson knew there was someone behind Bell. Bell just wasn't smart enough for this much of a plan. He screwed most of it up because he became jealous over a woman.
"I don't recall." Admiral Drake suddenly went defensive.
"Let me remind you sir." Jackson brought up the PADD he had been carrying. "It says in his record that you assigned him here."
"Then I guess I did. What does it have to do with anything?"
"Your previous outbursts of how you wanted this ship to fail. Your complete and total dislike of me personally. Would you like me to continue?"
"I'll have your rank and your ship for throwing around accusations like this." Drake became furious once again.
"I'm sure of it. Oh and by the way. Bell's original name," Jackson paused a moment, "was Drake. His father was your son. I'm sure headquarters would like to hear all of this."
Jackson turned around and gave Blizzard a cutoff motion. Admiral Drake's expression became panicked as the screen flashed back to the view of all three ships.
"What was that about sir?" Blizzard asked.
"That," Jackson turned back to the screen, "Was the beginning of a long hard battle."
"Captain's log stardate 40336.1. The Australian remains in service after the unfortunate mishap with the Okinawa. Admiral Drake has been placed under investigation for undue command influence and conspiracy. Lieutenant Evergreen has been reinstated as Chief of Security."
Jackson was standing outside of the Holodeck doors. He decided to try this again since his last experience wasn't all that pleasant.
"You may enter when ready." The computer told him.
As he walked forward, the doors spread apart revealing the grassy plain and mountains he grew up in.
"A little taste of home sir?" Alex blizzard came up behind him.
"Yeah." Jackson began to take in the sights. "It fills in but it doesn't replace."
"No it doesn't sir." Blizzard began. "I was thinking sir."
"About?" Jackson replied still concentrating on the grass under his feet.
"Ten Forward sir. Most ships rename it so it is unique to the ship."
"Well, the ship is continuing in service. Maybe we should think of naming the place." Jackson looked around thinking of what exactly he was going to do. "You pick the name."
"Me sir?" Blizzard became slightly bewildered.
"You brought it up. You're in charge of picking a unique name."
"Yes sir. I'll work on it immediately." Blizzard turned to exit.
"Blizzard." Jackson called back. "Keep it simple."
"Yes sir." Blizzard responded as he exited the holodeck.
"I hope this ship starts to have a better life." Jackson thought out loud.
Well what did you think? I took several days to type this one. I just ran out of ideas. Expect the next update to be a bit quicker. Please review.
