The Business of Secrets II

 Episode Name:  The Business of Secrets II

   Written By:  Spider

         Cast:  Bright, Etena, Fischer, Foster, Medes and Spider.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Spider

     Aired On:  Thu Jul 15 23:15:55 2004

     Stardate:  54241.8

Time: Thu Jul 15 19:33:56 2004

Stardate: 54241.5

Spider has left.

Foster arrives, phaser loosed and set for standard stun. He nods at the other Security Officers on the team and moves in carefully, making an effort to assess the situation.

The science lab is in complete disarray: specimen jars have been smashed, and the place smells vaguely off, sort of like standing outside a fresh seafood market. There's liquid all over the floor.

The NCOs -- a female Trill, a male Trill, and a female Axanari -- stand uneasily.

"Stay at attention, men," Foster says. He switches his weapon to the opposite hand and pulls his tricorder out, in order to scan the room, starting with the most general scans and then progressing to the more complex ones, and looking for lingering energies such as those left by transporters. "Secure the entrance. Noone comes in until authorised."

The Axanari Petty Officer moves out into the hallway, along with the male Trill. The female Trill stays behind, just inside the door, phaser at the ready.

The red alert klaxon sounds throughout the station.

Bright comes in from the central Labs area.

Bright has arrived.

GAME: Foster spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Foster claiming advantage contests his Personal Equipment Tricorder skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!

<CONTEST> Foster contests his Shipboard Systems Security skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Foster contests his Shipboard Systems Security skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Foster taps his com badge. "Lieutenant JG Foster to Operations."

Over Foster's com badge, someone says, "Ensign Valentine here."

The male Trill ducks his head inside the door. "Sir, there's a Lieutenant Bright here, reporting to her duty station... "

Bright fidgets out in the hall, looking quite concerned.

Into his com badge, Foster says, "Ensign Valentine, Science Lab One is secure. The lab, however, has been trashed. Security logs indicate an Andorian female, using the falsified voice of Lieutenant Laco, gaining access and then beaming out. What trace I can do from here indicates that the transport originated off-station. You may be able to determine more from there. Visual logs indicate that the Andorian was dressed entirely in black, even to the extent of covering her antennae, so further details are hard to come by."

Foster turns and says, "Let the Lieutenant in, but keep her there for now. We want to take as little chance as possible to ruin any evidence that might be found. Besides, I have a question for her."

Medes heads out.

Medes has left.

Etena comes in from the central Labs area.

Etena has arrived.

Bright steps in with the security officer's leave, eyes going wide open. She stares, one hand coming up over her mouth.

"Good evening, Lieutenant," Foster says. Hey, nothing wrong with being polite even if you ARE at red alert. "I'm sorry about all this. Would you be able to tell me anything about what I'm dealing with here? It smells a little like I'm standing outside a seafood market. And what is this liquid? And does anything appear to be missing?"

. o O Bright thinks "The specimens. They've ruined the specimens. I can't believe this. I'm going to be sick."

Into his com badge, Foster also appears to be having a conversation with another person, whom he has only addressed as 'Lieutenant'. He is asking that Lieutenant about, apparently, the trashed lab.

Bright stares about, still looking shocked. She says, quietly, evenly, "The specimens from Fimdari. They're ruined. Some were taken. Some were destroyed... but there might be some things still salvageable." She steps toward a fallen container, lips pursed together.

Foster nods thoughtfully, "That jives, actually, with the perpetrator being Andorian. Please be careful, Lieutenant."

Into his com badge, Foster says, "Lieutenant Bright has identified the smashed specimens as coming from the recent Fimdari exhibition. She notes that some of them were taken as well."

Bright nods. "Can I salvage them or does it need to be kept as it was when you found it?" she asks, voice still quiet and even. She crouches by the container.

. o O Bright feels nauseaus. There's also a whirling miasma of fear around a spike of red-hot fury. Something she loves has been destroyed, tampered with. She's trying to keep it under control. She feels like hitting someone or crying, though. Still trying to keep calm.

"Well, Lieutenant," Foster begins. "Technically, it should remain as it was when we found it so we can have a full Security team in here to scan the place. However, we might be able to facilitate matters. Would you be willing to help me try and pick up any traces that might have been left behind by the culprit? I strongly suspect you're more likely to be able to make these machines jump than I am." He nods towards the computers, and then even extends his own tricorder.

Over Foster's com badge, Valentine says, "Acknowledged, Lieutenant. Please post a team, let's not let anybody in there that doesn't need to be in there until the computer techs can make sure that's the only thing that was taken."

Bright nods quickly to Foster, straightening up and striding over toward him to take the tricorder. She nods. "I'll help."

Into his com badge, Foster says, "Acknowledged. The exit to the main corridor from the lab does not have a forcefield unit, so I will be required to post a secondary team to prevent access. Lieutenant Bright has agreed to see if she can help me facilitate matters in terms of finding any leftover traces from the perpetrator, but we will hold off until a team gets here. Are you routing one to me, or do you want me to call them?"

Foster grimaces apologetically towards Lieutenant Bright, and says, "I guess we're going to have to wait. Apologies."

Bright's jaw clenches briefly she nods and begins punching things into her tricorder.

GAME: Bright spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Bright claiming advantage contests her Personal Equipment Tricorder skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

. o O Bright thinks "I knew it wouldn't be a popular theory, but I never realized the Andorians would take this much offense and destroy research! They're Andorians no matter where they originated, Fimdari or not!"

Bright waves her tricorder about slowly, scanning still. She frowns, looking down at the floor and walking she comes to a halt, crouches, and continues fussing with the tricorder. "I've located a fiber and a hair that do no belong to any officers on this station."

"Oh?" Foster asks. "Run it through the computer, see if it has any kind of identification? I doubt it, but it never hurts to look."

<CONTEST> Bright contests her Computer Research skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Bright continues scanning she replies in businesslike tones, "The fiber is from a replicated synthetic blend of fabric. The hair is undoubtedly Andorian."

. o O Bright thinks "This is me, not being surprised."

The pilot-come-Security officer nods. "Any bodily traces on the fabric, or in the hair? You never know - they might be somewhere in the Federation databases." He moves over, clearly intending to help with his own tricorder.

GAME: Foster spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Foster claiming advantage contests his Computer Research skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Bright contests her Computer Research skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Fails!

Over Foster's com badge, Valentine says, "Call 'em, Lieutenant, we've got a bit of a crisis up here at the moment." Understatement of the century."

Into his com badge, Foster says, "Very well. Foster out."

Foster taps his com badge and terminates transmission.

Bright shakes her head. "Not that I can find, no, Lieutenant."

Foster signs off with Operations, only to tap his combadge again immediately. "Security detail to Science Lab One." He taps off again, looking at the reading on his tricorder. "This is suspicious just by the fact that it seems to be missing." Then he taps on his combadge a third time, calling for a set of techs to come in and help with the situation.

Bright nods. "I'll collect the sample in case further study is required." She heads over to a cabinet and removes a small petri dish and some tweezers.

Foster nods quietly, choosing to stay out of the way. Once the second Security detail arrives, he posts them outside the door, while moving the three he arrived with inside.

Bright goes back to the samples and carefully deposits them in a small container. She takes a moment to just stare at the plastic in her hands, blinking.

. o O Bright thinks "So much work..."

"Latinum for your thoughts, Lieutenant," Foster says, half-smiling at his variation on the old Earth cliche.

Bright looks up from the samples, though not at Foster. "This was one of the biggest scientific finds we've ever had," she says quietly. "It's amazing, it's stunning, it... opens up so many questions and possibilities. And they've tried to ruin it. For what?" She puts the sample on a table and says, "We'll just have to go back to Fimdari and get more samples. I expect we'll be encountering resistance."

"Well, it depends. What /was/ this find? And why would people want to prevent it from being, well, found?"

The station shakes violently and briefly. Pictures fall off of walls, vases topple. A bright orange explosion appears in the viewports, and then fades.

Bright looks over at Foster and blinks twice. "We discovered evidence that Fimdari may have been the Andorian planet of origin, not Andor as previously thought. That they may have been transplanted by another space-faring race before they were capable ot spacefli---" She cuts herself off, staggering several steps into a counter with a grunt of surprise.

Foster seems to be fairly good at keeping his feet, but then, he spends most of his time on board much smaller vessels that sometimes come under great amounts of fire. Shaking isn't that bad to him. He does move forward with the intent of helping out, but the other Lieutenant has already crashed into the counter. He asks, "Are you all right?" In the meantime, he's also working systems, running a sensor sweep of the orange explosion.

Bright nods, stepping away from the counter. "I'm fine, Lieutenant. I wish I knew what was going on."

<CONTEST> Foster contests his Shipboard Systems Sensors skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

. o O Bright thinks "Are they attacking the /station/ because of this one /project/? That's insane!"

"I'm trying to find that out right now," Foster says. He pales slightly. "OK. That's definitely not a good thing. That explosion was the end of a Warp Core, from a shuttle. As for the samples, well, I can see why Andorians might want to steal them. They are a very proud people."

Bright's jaw clenches she nods. "Understandable."

Foster nods, "Understandable. Not necessarily a good thing, but understandable, at least."

"Were the samples on the shuttle?" Bright inquires.

Foster's com badge chirrups. "Lieutenant JG Donavon to Lieutenant JG Foster."

"It was just the warp core itself," Foster says. "No shuttle at all." He flashes a smile to apologize for being terse as he taps his combadge.

Foster taps his com badge. "Lieutenant JG Foster here."

Bright nods she glances about the lab and notes, "I'm going to start trying to salvage the specimens."

Over Foster's com badge, Donavon says, "Ops is inquiring if there might be any other trespassers still aboard"

Foster nods, "I'll stay out of your way. I'd probably just make a mess of things."

Fischer comes in from the central Labs area.

Fischer has arrived.

Fischer heads out.

Fischer has left.

Into his com badge, Foster says, "I'm still in Science Lab One with the broken specimens and Security. There aren't any /here/ and Security has not mentioned seeing any strangers en-route."

Bright nods quickly and sets to work, wincing at a melting block of ice containing a finned fish thing she helps it back into its container and carries it back to cold storage.

Over Foster's com badge, Donavon says, "Acknowledged. Stay on stand by for the moment."

Into his com badge, Foster says, "Lieutenant, if you're still up in Ops, can you tell me what's happening up there? I read that explosion as coming from a shuttle's warp core?"

GAME: Bright spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Bright contests her Life Sciences Biology skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

GAME: Bright spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Bright contests her Life Sciences Biology skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

GAME: Bright spends a courage point.

Over Foster's com badge, Donavon says, "Ops will provide an announcement at the appropriate time. At the moment, we're handling the situation."

<CONTEST> Bright contests her Life Sciences Biology skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

GAME: Bright spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Bright claiming advantage contests her Life Sciences Biology skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

<CONTEST> Bright claiming advantage contests her Life Sciences Biology skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

Over Foster's com badge, Donavon says, "Unless you have any further questions of Ops, I'll be dropping this coms."

Into his com badge, Foster says, "No, I'm good for now. Keep me up-to-date, if you get a chance?"

Over Foster's com badge, Donavon says, "Certainly, Lt. Foster. Ops out."

Foster's com badge clicks as Donavon drops off channel. The channel closes.

Bright quietly busies herself with the specimens, working as quickly as she can. She's wincing the whole time, though, visibly forcing herself to be slow enough to be careful.

Spider has arrived.

GAME: Spider is joining this location.