Deck 15 - Security

Starkly utilitarian, even for a deep space exploration vessel like USS Phoenix.

Here you will find the ship's brig, armory and a holodeck dedicated to aid tactical training.

There is a large briefing area where ship's security teams will report during emergency and counter boarding drills.  Off the briefing area, a small office for the ship's Security Officer is dominated by the ship's secondary security console.

The office of the ship's Tactical Officer is located here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:36, Thu 03 Mar 2022.

From: The Ready Room

Even though she had never actually set foot in this area of the ship before, she knew the layout of her old ship well enough to know exactly where to go. As soon as the automatic doors opened, the young woman began issuing orders to the officers under her command.

"We are on twelve-hour rotations for the increased guard duty. Laillalos! You are in charge of the team who has to go through every line of code and make sure we have no more unauthorized code usages, and that there are no more sabotage programs laying in wait. Chuverk! I want you in charge of the forensic teams going over the sabotage area. Look for any clues as to what we might look for beyond corrupted code. Altaha! Run background checks on Sub-Commander Calaar and make sure he didn't sneak in anything past the biofilters and teleporter safety routines. Zh'orenaq! Begin crew interviews and go over security footage from the time the first unauthorized use of the previous Captain's code was used in Starbase until this very instant. Yegorovna! Anyone not assigned duties is in that holodeck, training for damage control and evacuation procedures, is that clear? I want progress reports every hour on the hour! Mova isso!" she barked, making sure everyone started moving fast.

Issue Orders 09:50, Today: Starfleet, on behalf of Lieutenant Valeria Gomes Serrano, rolled 10 using 2d6+1 ((3,6)). STRONG SUCCESS

The security and tactical team responds like a well oiled machine leaving you confident that the saboteur's (or saboteurs') days are numbered.

Crewman Laillalos leads her small team through an arduous line-by-line review of the code controlling major systems. Whoever the saboteur is has proven themselves adept at manipulating the algorithms and subroutines controlling key equipment. This project is going to take some time.

Ensign Chuverk probably finds himself somewhat redundant up in Sickbay as the doctor already has her team going over every square millimeter of equipment.  But he does lend a hand and consolidate the findings from the medical staff (Chuverk might find something interesting depending on how Dr Bishop plays her complication... we'll see how it goes.)

Despite their diligence, Ensign Altaha's background checks on Sub-Commander Calaar come up empty. All the system shows is the Sub-Commander's military attache information file. This file was clearly approved for release to Starfleet by the Tal Shiar, so it has nothing useful. The Ensign is confident that the Romulan attache didn't sneak in anything past the biofilters and teleporter safety routines.

Crewman Zh'orenaq compiles a list of crew interviews and begins to develop a holodeck simulation to trace crew movements and the first unauthorized use of the previous Captain's code.

Lt(jg) Yegorovna has a holodeck training simulation ready after a few moments "Do you intend to join us, Sir?" she asks.

Help Lallialos with the search for nasty code?

Check on things in Sickbay?

Dig deeper on Calaar?

Use Zh'orenaq's simulation to piece together the sabotage incident?

Run through security drills with Yegorovna?

Something else?

OOC: Mostly coordinating all the activity that she had ordered, sifting through the data looking for patterns, and sending the Captain regular progress reports. Although as a necessity she would have to work closely with Lallialos when a ranking officer's code is required to inspect sensitive and critical systems. She can't pass out those codes to everyone, obviously.

Just as a reminder, there's a page from Sirin Norn from the Shuttle Bay, confirming that the shuttle was sabotaged.

In reply to Lieutenant Valeria Gomes Serrano (msg # 4):

Over your shoulder you see Yegorovna gearing up her team to run through infiltration drill sigma-1-7.

You get a report from Chuverk that he has detained one of the medical staff to question them about maintenance on Sickbay’s biobeds.

And of course, the Chief Engineer may have stumbled into something interesting in the shuttle bay.

Since Lallialos is collaborating with the senior staff on the bridge, he has all the access codes he needs right now. Feel free to jump in there and do some hunting through dense control system algorithms if you like, but do it at disadvantage since you would much rather be doing something active like questioning suspected saboteurs or jumping into the holodeck leading the charge against a pack of simulated Romulan boarders.

Seeing that the operations that she had ordered were bearing fruit and functioning smoothly, Lieutenant Serrano decided that it was time to check some things out for herself. Making sure the channel was private and secure, she tried to contact and old friend of hers from the Academy days. One Lieutenant Commander Impela Ledwaba, a man big enough to need to duck when he entered most standard sized door-frames, but as kind as a family dog to almost everyone. He was too polite to beat her in most of their wrestling matches, but she knew he could have tossed her around with one hand. He had decided to put his people skills to Starfleet Intelligence, rather than his strength onboard ships.

He was a good man, and a good friend.

She just hoped he would be willing to share some information, after all these years.

>>>Routine Transmission
>>>Encryption code Serrano Omicron-0-0

The subspace transmission resolves into focus as you catch Ledwaba at his desk, over his shoulder you see the door of an office, under the Starfleet intelligence insignia on the door, you can clearly make out the nameplate: Admiral Erik Pressman.

As luck (or perhaps bad luck) would have it, Lt Cdr Ledwaba has been assigned as executive assistant to the director of Starfleet Intelligence.

"Hello Valeria! How is life on the Phoenix?" Impela replies with a wide smile before his faces darkens as he notices the encryption. "But, I see this isn't a social call. Is there something I can do for you?"

Valéria smiled when she saw her old friend. He was a good man, and a sharp one. He didn't need the preamble before she started in on what she needed. Some day he would make someone a great partner. He was tall, handsome, strong, smart, and kind. But he was also stable and safe, which meant he was completely romantically unappealing to Lieutenant Serrano.

"Impela! Bom te ver de novo! But you are right, this is serious call. Depending on how this turns out, I'll follow up with a friendly call later. The Phoenix has barely been out a day and its been...eventful. I need someone I can trust to look into a few things for me, and I trust you Impela. First things first, we have a Romulan on board that was sprung on us without informing Security first. Starfleet Diplomatic Corps gave the all clear for the standard background check. But I need to know if Starfleet Intelligence has anything on him. Name, Sub-Commander Calaar. Next, our Captain informed us that the Treaty of Algeron was changed in secret, allowing a certain number of Starfleet vessels to carry cloaking technology. THAT sounds like something that I would have heard about. And we already have cloaking technology installed on the Phoenix. On top of that, we have had several acts of sabotage. That part I can handle, and I am already having my people conduct interviews and investigations. Engineering is already scrubbing the system from further sabotage. But the codes used to sabotage our systems were the former Captain Maxwell's codes. Does Starfleet Intelligence have any red flags on his crew that remained with the Phoenix. Diehards or troublemakers that might want to hurt this ship, that kind of thing. I know that's a lot to dump on you Impela, but I'm flying without sensors out here..." she asked, being completely open with her old friend.

"Hmmmm," he replies taking notes on his PADD. "Sub-Commander Calaar. Maxwell diehards. I'll need to dig into those for you. Might take a day or so to see what I can come up with." he shrugs apologetically. "As for the Treaty, I can tell you a little bit about that. His eminence was directly involved." he adds with a derisive gesture to the door over his shoulder. "In fact, the whole thing was pretty much worked out in advance between Starfleet Intelligence and the Tal Shiar. They approached us if you can believe it. They offered to trade cloaking technology for our research into the Borg. The Borg really has them shaken up, but in the end, we're pretty sure they gave us cloaking tech that is about twenty-five years old. But that a big leap of faith for them, isn't it?"

"Not really. We feed them vital intel on a terrible new enemy, and share technology frighteningly more advanced than our own, and they allow us a handful of vessels that have old cast off cloaking devices that they probably know exactly how to see right through. We got hosed in this deal, não se engane sobre isso. But you didn't exactly answer my question. Was the Treaty actually legally changed, or is this just a Starfleet Intelligence backroom deal with the Tal Shiar? Alright, so Sub-Commander Calaar and the red flags crew might take some time, understandable. Do you need any specific information from me to make your search easier, minha amiga?" she asked, steepling her fingers in thought.

”We will have to agree to disagree, old friend,” he replies a bit dejected. ”I will prefer to think we have shared critical information that would help another civilization resist assimilation. If asked, we probably would have shared it for nothing, I think the Romulans were too proud to take the research without offering something in return.  Allowing them to save face and improving relations with an old foe? Small price to pay.”

”As for the treaty, what makes you question the legality?” he asks without really understanding your concern. ”It’s a bilateral treaty amended by both parties to the agreement. I can’t say for certain if all the steps of the amendment framework were adhered to; I’m not a legal officer. What has you chasing conspiracies?”

"Because the whole situation smells fishy. As you said, it's a bilateral treaty amended by both parties. That means the Romulan Senate, and the Federation Council both had to agree on these changes. Now, I am no expert on the Romulan Senate, but I know that the Council operates under an edict of transparency, in order to facilitate legitimacy among the member planets. While some aspect of their decision making might be classified because it's exact execution touches on Starfleet's security operations, this is different. Getting two large legislative bodies working towards any goal is a long and ponderous undertaking. No way do hundreds of politicians disappear over a long weakened and hammer out amendments to a decades old treaty. We would have been aware of the changes long before they went into effect. I'm a member of Starfleet, and one concerned with regulations and if necessary martial engagement. I'm what should be among the first departments to hear about something like that. And it's not just like I dropped the ball and missed something that was major news. As far as I can tell, all the senior staff as well as the Captain were blindsided by this change to the treaty  and the inclusion of cloaking technology until we were already underway and ordered to carry out our current mission by the Admiralty. Now, call me paranoid if you want, velho amigo, but that sounds suspicious as hell. Wanting to know if the legitimate governing body of the sovereign nation to which I serve and have citizenship in followed the legal process required to actually accomplish what we have been ordered to undertake seems like a rather valid concern," Valéria said calmly as possible, but feeling her frustration flare up again.

”You were there my sister. You saw what they did.” he replies, his own frustration beginning to show. He lets a long moment pass before continuing a bit more calmly, ”Was everything made transparent? No. But do you wonder why when even your own first reaction is to conclude the we were ‘hosed’ in this negotiation?  Do you wonder at the secrecy when the Borg showed us that in a matter of mere hours they could assimilate one of our most loyal and talented leaders and turn him against us?”

Valéria's eyes narrowed, and for the first time the difference between frustrated/annoyed and angry became apparent. Her eyes were burning with a fire that promised immanent violence. And the way she clenched her jaw could have broken a Rodinium bolt in half.

"...Yes, I was there Impela. I saw thousands die, screaming into a cold void. I saw ships burn so bright they lit up the darkness of space. My friends died horribly all around me, and my ship was crippled. So don't you DARE lecture me on the dangers of the Borg. I know for a fact that the Enterprise went on to defeat the Cube without sacrificing the principles of the Federation. I also know that it doesn't matter how secretive you are, if the Borg capture our highly placed leaders, it doesn't matter how much the general populace was kept in the dark, the Borg knows everything that was in their brain as plainly as if was written in a book. So even if the Senate and the Council did change the Treaty in secret, it wouldn't porra matter! All it would do is sow confusion among he rank-and-file, like it is apparently doing right now. You keep dancing around a 'yes,' but I want to hear the words in plain English. Was the Treaty of Algeron lawfully changed with the approval of both the Senate and the Council? Yes or no, that is all I am asking for..." the woman asked in a dark voice so low it might as well have been a growl.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:33, Fri 01 Apr 2022.

”No one is lecturing you!” he growls in reply, slamming his hand on his desk in frustration. ”Perhaps, as you say, these measures will do nothing, but I choose to believe they may just save a few lives the next time a Borg ship decides to destroy and assimilate in the alpha quadrant. We were minutes away from complete annihilation. Do you think we could just go back to peaceful exploration and non-intervention when that is out there? This is no time for naïveté or idealism and there are enough in the Federation Council who understand this that the treaty was ratified. Legally.”

”What is going on out there?” a voice calls from inside the office. ”Is there something wrong, Impela?”

Calling back over his shoulder, Impela replies, ”No sir, no trouble.” then turning back to you, he says flatly, ”I must go.” before disconnecting the call.

"Vocês... covardes fracos!" Lieutenant Serrano cursed as soon as the connection broke.

"Eu sou ingênuo? Ingenuidade é acreditar que não se pode defender sem sacrificar seus princípios. Ninguém preparou QUAISQUER textos de história? Seus idiotas simplórios e sem honra! Os Borg não são o problema aqui, são vocês filhos da puta míope!!!" she ranted, glad to have closed the door to her office so that the people under her could not hear her angry ranting.

Closing down her station, Valéria stood up and straightened her jacket. It took a few moments of deep breaths to calm down. Not only did talking about the Borg bring up all the pain and trauma that she had suffered, but now it sounded like the Federation and Starfleet were starting to abandon the principles that she had worked for and believed in her entire life. She could only hope that they would abandon this path once the initial shock of the Borg wore off.

"I'm going to the Bridge. Forward all of your reports to the Tactical Station while I am gone," she ordered to the officers under her command once she calmly exited her office.

To: The Bridge
This message was last edited by the player at 12:39, Sat 02 Apr 2022.