Chapter 4
Astrometrics was the best place on a starship to for covert scanning, its sensors were far more acute than those used at the tactical station on the bridge. Captain Lennon, Commander Sara, Cumbrae were gathered in the presence of Ruth Donnachie. The scientist had recently been reassigned here and was making remarkable progress in fine-tuning the scanners.
" I have scanned all the docking ports, there are no Cardassian vessels docked at the station," she said. " For that matter there are no Cardassian life signs aboard the station, we must only assume that if the Cardassian diplomatic team were here, then they've left quite some time ago."
Captain Lennon was sure they had been here, the whole station seemed on a heightened state of alert, but he needed some concrete proof. " Can you scan for remnants of a Cardassian warp trail?" Sara asked.
Lieutenant Donnachie brought up the scans on the astrometrics screen straight away having already completed them in advance.
" I've discovered a very vague Cardassian warp trail, it heads back to Cardassian space but I'm afraid the signal has degraded so much that I can't be anymore specific. I would estimate the ship departed roughly 32 hours ago." said Donnachie.
It was a very impressive analysis that Ruth had come up with, the Captain was still slightly weary of her after the 'Science Net' objective failed, but her best efforts had to be acknowledged.
" Very Good Lieutenant, but that doesn't give us a great deal of time to determine their route." He thought briefly about the next course of action before Commander Sara interrupted.
" The flight plan of all outward bound ships will be recorded at the operations centre of DS9, will they not?"
" That's right, but we must be secretive here, we can't let anyone know what we plan on doing so we can't get to the computer banks in ops." Lennon replied.
" However," inserted Cumbrae with one of his eyebrows raised as if he was about to come up with an ingenious plan. "Since this would be a matter of high security, it could be assumed there is also a record of the Cardassians flight plan in the Security Department. It would of course be easier to get to than main Operations."
" I am aware of the Head of Security aboard this station," added Sara, " he is a shapeshifter called Odo."
Both men nodded their heads; this strange being intrigued almost all of Starfleet. Cumbrae even more so than the rest, being a fellow security chief. The chance of sneaking into his office to steal files would be too intriguing to pass up.
" We need to divert his attention long enough for me to get into his office and covertly download several files." Cumbrae pointed out.
" You?" both men asked,
" I am the logical choice Captain, the files will be encrypted, and as a security chief I should be able to decipher them quickly."
" But if your caught..." the Captain started, before Cumbrae interrupted,
" The secret then is not to get caught."
Both men shared a quick glimpse in which everything seemed to be clear.
" So I'll be the one to arrange a disturbance," he added.
Thus ended the conversation in astrometrics, and all three men headed for the door, leaving Ruth Donnachie inside alone to continue her work. Commander Sara headed the opposite direction leaving the Captain and Cumbrae to walk to the turbolift alone.
" Was it wise sir, to discuss these matters with Lieutenant Donnachie present, afterall there may be spy onboard and you yourself have recently reassigned her." Cumbrae asked in a quite voice.
" Commander, until I know for sure who this spy is, I'm not going to second guess all of my senior staff. If you have some evidence incriminating her then I'd like to hear it, if not she should not be singled out." replied Lennon.
" However Captain if there is a spy, then there is a distinct possibility of it being a member of the senior staff." continued the Vulcan.
" In all honesty no-one can be totally trusted, but making everyone feel paranoid is not going to get us anywhere." For a second he stopped and thought, "You might even be a spy yourself!"
" I can assure you Captain, that I am not." replied Cumbrae almost taking offence to the Captains suggestion.
"However," continued Lennon, " as a mater of security, no-one is to leave the ship whilst we are docked at DS9 unless given direct permission by me, we don't want anyone escaping from our ship."
The turbolift arrived and the Captain ordered to be taken to the bridge, he still had a small matter to sort out of creating a diversion to distract the attentions of the shapeshifter security guard. For that he had an excellent idea. After a few seconds the turbolift opened out onto the bridge and Lennon stepped off first. Operations officer Anel Jura nodded to the captain to signify him taking command again.
" Anel," he said before a pausing to think, "come into my ready- room." he concluded smiling as if a brilliant idea had entered his head.
" And tell the good doctor to report as well," he shouted on the way to his ready room.
Doctor Lucas Dayne had arrived within minutes of being called for. There wasn't a great deal going on in sickbay, so any opportunity to impress the new Captain would be welcome. However he was not expecting anything like this.
" A fight!" he shouted repulsively.
" That's right Doctor, a good old scrap between you two." replied the Captain.
Both officers seemed shocked on hearing this. Anel Jura stood in silence, unable to speak. They were all well aware the Captain couldn't officially order this, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He pleaded with them that it was for the good of the entire mission and the Captain gave his personal word that there would be no after effects.
After a while both reluctantly agreed to take part in this rouse and the whole operation had been planned to the letter. Lennon would be overseeing the operation from a safe difference, afterall they were his crew and he was responsible for the safety of every one of them.
Astrometrics was the best place on a starship to for covert scanning, its sensors were far more acute than those used at the tactical station on the bridge. Captain Lennon, Commander Sara, Cumbrae were gathered in the presence of Ruth Donnachie. The scientist had recently been reassigned here and was making remarkable progress in fine-tuning the scanners.
" I have scanned all the docking ports, there are no Cardassian vessels docked at the station," she said. " For that matter there are no Cardassian life signs aboard the station, we must only assume that if the Cardassian diplomatic team were here, then they've left quite some time ago."
Captain Lennon was sure they had been here, the whole station seemed on a heightened state of alert, but he needed some concrete proof. " Can you scan for remnants of a Cardassian warp trail?" Sara asked.
Lieutenant Donnachie brought up the scans on the astrometrics screen straight away having already completed them in advance.
" I've discovered a very vague Cardassian warp trail, it heads back to Cardassian space but I'm afraid the signal has degraded so much that I can't be anymore specific. I would estimate the ship departed roughly 32 hours ago." said Donnachie.
It was a very impressive analysis that Ruth had come up with, the Captain was still slightly weary of her after the 'Science Net' objective failed, but her best efforts had to be acknowledged.
" Very Good Lieutenant, but that doesn't give us a great deal of time to determine their route." He thought briefly about the next course of action before Commander Sara interrupted.
" The flight plan of all outward bound ships will be recorded at the operations centre of DS9, will they not?"
" That's right, but we must be secretive here, we can't let anyone know what we plan on doing so we can't get to the computer banks in ops." Lennon replied.
" However," inserted Cumbrae with one of his eyebrows raised as if he was about to come up with an ingenious plan. "Since this would be a matter of high security, it could be assumed there is also a record of the Cardassians flight plan in the Security Department. It would of course be easier to get to than main Operations."
" I am aware of the Head of Security aboard this station," added Sara, " he is a shapeshifter called Odo."
Both men nodded their heads; this strange being intrigued almost all of Starfleet. Cumbrae even more so than the rest, being a fellow security chief. The chance of sneaking into his office to steal files would be too intriguing to pass up.
" We need to divert his attention long enough for me to get into his office and covertly download several files." Cumbrae pointed out.
" You?" both men asked,
" I am the logical choice Captain, the files will be encrypted, and as a security chief I should be able to decipher them quickly."
" But if your caught..." the Captain started, before Cumbrae interrupted,
" The secret then is not to get caught."
Both men shared a quick glimpse in which everything seemed to be clear.
" So I'll be the one to arrange a disturbance," he added.
Thus ended the conversation in astrometrics, and all three men headed for the door, leaving Ruth Donnachie inside alone to continue her work. Commander Sara headed the opposite direction leaving the Captain and Cumbrae to walk to the turbolift alone.
" Was it wise sir, to discuss these matters with Lieutenant Donnachie present, afterall there may be spy onboard and you yourself have recently reassigned her." Cumbrae asked in a quite voice.
" Commander, until I know for sure who this spy is, I'm not going to second guess all of my senior staff. If you have some evidence incriminating her then I'd like to hear it, if not she should not be singled out." replied Lennon.
" However Captain if there is a spy, then there is a distinct possibility of it being a member of the senior staff." continued the Vulcan.
" In all honesty no-one can be totally trusted, but making everyone feel paranoid is not going to get us anywhere." For a second he stopped and thought, "You might even be a spy yourself!"
" I can assure you Captain, that I am not." replied Cumbrae almost taking offence to the Captains suggestion.
"However," continued Lennon, " as a mater of security, no-one is to leave the ship whilst we are docked at DS9 unless given direct permission by me, we don't want anyone escaping from our ship."
The turbolift arrived and the Captain ordered to be taken to the bridge, he still had a small matter to sort out of creating a diversion to distract the attentions of the shapeshifter security guard. For that he had an excellent idea. After a few seconds the turbolift opened out onto the bridge and Lennon stepped off first. Operations officer Anel Jura nodded to the captain to signify him taking command again.
" Anel," he said before a pausing to think, "come into my ready- room." he concluded smiling as if a brilliant idea had entered his head.
" And tell the good doctor to report as well," he shouted on the way to his ready room.
Doctor Lucas Dayne had arrived within minutes of being called for. There wasn't a great deal going on in sickbay, so any opportunity to impress the new Captain would be welcome. However he was not expecting anything like this.
" A fight!" he shouted repulsively.
" That's right Doctor, a good old scrap between you two." replied the Captain.
Both officers seemed shocked on hearing this. Anel Jura stood in silence, unable to speak. They were all well aware the Captain couldn't officially order this, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He pleaded with them that it was for the good of the entire mission and the Captain gave his personal word that there would be no after effects.
After a while both reluctantly agreed to take part in this rouse and the whole operation had been planned to the letter. Lennon would be overseeing the operation from a safe difference, afterall they were his crew and he was responsible for the safety of every one of them.