"On the Prowl"

[Kansas_Jones 0]

10.18.07

USS Agincourt NCC-81762

"On the Prowl"

Midshipman O’Brien had been confined to quarters following the revelation from Lieutenant Black Knight that sciences had recorded O’Brien’s DNA at the scene of the NNC accident. JoNs would question her officer, that is, as soon as she calmed down enough to question him. For now, the feline lieutenant commander was sending off a report to Harper and Day regarding the new findings, and how she was going to proceed with the questioning of the alleged suspect.

 

She was also perusing the various events that had transpired during her absence from the security offices. Very. Interesting. The term “revamp the security protocols” kept coming to her mind.

 

The current image recording that she was currently studying however was not one of the current brig log recordings from the Agincourt, but an archival log from well over one hundred years ago. Two Vulcans, one a tall stately male and the other one a shorter female, were both squaring off on the bridge of an old Constitution class refit vessel. The elder male moved, causing the female to back away; he merely reached out and cupped a strong hand behind her neck, yanking her to him. The resulting mind meld was short, brutal, and coldly logical. The year was circa 2291, and the ships commanding officer and senior department heads – according to their profiles provided along with the history recording – of the USS Enterprise merely watched as Captain Spock performed the mind rape on Lieutenant Valeris, his former protégé.

 

“Computer, stop archival recording. Access ships brig recording, Day Alpha Two.

 

Kansas merely watched, her paws clasped together on the desk top, marveling at how freakishly similar this current event was to the archival footage. Whereas Spock had rooted (literally) for clues to an assassination plot, Lieutenant Colonel Day had asked – a gentle euphemism – Noleph several questions pertaining to where his true loyalties were, how the Agincourt fit or didn’t fit into his agenda, and the ‘freedom’ faction movement that he and others of his kind belonged to, and the like

 

Her feelings regarding the mind rape enacted by the lieutenant colonel were ambiguous at best; she did not trust Noleph in the slightest…but a forced mind entry was an entirely different matter, and raised her protection hackles. Did the information gleaned really outweigh the methods used? Oh, who the hell really knew?

 

And, Day had not gone rogue; the order, either official or unofficial, had come from Harper for Day to go ahead and question… assault Noleph?.... whatever. Her brain hurt. The order had come from Colonel Harper to Lt. Colonel Day, which meant that the senior command staff had bypassed their second officer. Which was fine – all was fair in love, war and command intrigue.

 

“Computer, run Condacin Alpha One.”

 

Sin had been the first unauthorized visitor to question the Selshan Noleph. The prisoner had spilled his guts, going on about the movement growing among his people to break away from the overly strict rule of the Selshan government, and the little bombshell he had imparted – the Soltan were the soldier caste of the Selshan. Now isn’t that a happy thought, eh?

 

So, now what? You want the freedom, Noleph, to make your own decisions, yet you use that freedom to manipulate us into being your Grim Reapers? We kill an entire ship full of Selshan for you, and this is alright because lets assume it’s done in the name of your movement?

 

“Computer, pause recording.”

 

The Caitian stood from her chair, and stretched in a rather alarming predatory manner; she had places to be, beings to question, and mayhem to enact. Her list of things to do was well populated this day - Harper and Day (there’s this thing called professional courtesy sirs), Condacin (Yo, Sin, little bit off your turf weren’t you?), O’Brien (gods help you if you disobeyed orders and truly rigged those holo safeties to fail down in the NNC) Levy (Oh, now this was going to be an interesting conversation – “Doctor, can you send someone down to the brig to check on the prisoner, he was mentally violated”) - and not necessarily to be done in that order. The feline would wait and bide her time; cats were very good at waiting.

 

She then stalked out into the outer offices, rolling her neck as she did so. Petty Officer Katt was the Officer of the Watch, and Kansas offered the short, dark haired enlisted officer a small smile as she approached the woman. “Katt, I need some personnel reconfiguring done. I want a second guard added to the brig, with one guard remaining inside the brig, and one guard outside. I also want a guard for the main offices here, as well one for the outer offices. Summary – four guards at all times, in addition to whoever is on regular duty, here in the offices. Contact whoever is at the top of the duty roster for deck patrol and choose someone good from the listing for a medical escort. Then, contact medical and have them send someone down to look at the prisoner; when the medical doc goes in the brig, that patrol guard stays with them, phaser drawn….”

 

“Sir, Colonel Day ordered a complete lockdown of the brig, no one in or out...”

 

Kansas moved a little too fast, getting right in Katt’s face. “I know what she ordered, and we are maintaining those orders with just a little spice of our own added. Protocol – injured prisoner? Medical checks them out.” The petty officer gasped and shifted in her seat as if to run. The senior feline officer was faster though, and reached a paw out to gently grab her arm. “I’m sorry Marisa; I can’t help how I move sometimes, but its no excuse to alarm you.”

 

Marisa offered a weak smile, but it was genuine nonetheless. “Not your fault sir; you can’t avoid a few thousand years of feline instincts….I’ll get right on it, and send the line officers a report outlining your orders as well.”

 

“Excellent. Thanks Marisa.”

 

JoNs then turned back around and headed back to her office for the next section of her plan. This is a security lockdown? You don’t say? You have no idea. Don’t you dare get my territorialism up…oh wait, it already is. Oops.

 

The feline attached a civilian issue Padd to her desk computer terminal, quickly entering a series of commands that appeared as coding on the device’s small screen. “Computer, purge and delete all Day Alpha 2 and Condacin Alpha 1 brig recordings, numbers 12 point 9 to 17 point 10. Send to JoNs Wraith Program, internal comm line beta.”

 

She calmly watched – and silently thanked B’Krel, the chief engineer of the SS Corsair for those long ago hacking lessons - as the data disappeared from the main computer and was re-routed to the computer terminal in her own quarters. The Caitian trusted her people, but with everything that had happened with Security during her medical induced absence, she did not want the recordings of the Selshan interrogations to be available to the general public….not yet at least. Satisfied with her work, JoNs backed her password encryption out of the systems, leaving the security systems looking - to the untrained eye that is – as if they had never been touched.

 

The lieutenant commander began to leave her office, but then paused as she glanced down at her clothing. Still being remanded to light duty, she wore a civilian tee shirt and sweatpants…they’d do for now. Her paw then brushed her comm badge, and her thoughts inexplicably darkened. Decision made, she plucked the badge off the shirt, placed it in a desk drawer, and then enacted the privacy coding for her office.

 

There was something to be said for being ‘untraceable’ for a little bit during a nice little reconnaissance trip, indeed. With a whoosh of single minded intent, the feline commander exited the security offices, temporarily untraceable for the time being, loving the thrill of the hunt, and hell bent on getting at least some answers to her questions this fine duty cycle.