A Dietary Disaster - Part One

Posted on Thursday July 15th, 2021 @ 8:43pm by Captain Franklin Johnson & Lieutenant Oscar Vladinchi & Lieutenant Lazarus Kord & Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe & Lieutenant Commander Michael Stevens

3,342 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: S1-A1-Ep. 1: Spectrophobia
Location: USS Poseidon; Bridge, Captains Ready Room
Timeline: Arrived at Betreka Nebula

[ON]

The Captain had settled into a quiet routine now that they were at the Betreka Nebula. Commander Shakura was dutiful in taking over the bridge for the Captain when he required the time to handle ship-specific paperwork; an old analogy to a more modern problem that had the same type of issue despite the difference in technology used. Quite often Franklin would find himself taken away from his duties on the bridge as he dealt with hours worth of backlog that accumulated from reports involving Cadets and from Department Heads. Had it not been for his constant willingness to divert his attention between his Chair and Ready Room, he'd likely have to acquire more yeoman staff to handle everything - a prospect he was trying his best to avoid.

After finishing a rather lengthy report, Franklin stood from his chair behind his desk and walked into the Foyer. It was time for a snack and typically, as per the medical instruction of Lt. Commander T'Vek, he was to enjoy his prescribed Virinatian Nut tea with a Reman Slate Cracker. As he ordered it in front of the Replicator, something odd happened. The bluish haze signalling the activity of the replicator was replaced by a sharp red hue, and suddenly the Captain's intended dietary supplement was replaced by a rather harsh and brutal Klingon cuisine!

Sighing, the Captain tapped his combadge. His eyes firmly placed on the Bloodwine and Gagh before him.

=/\= Captain Johnson to Lieutenant Stevens. Mr Stevens, I have an issue with my replicator in the foyer on the bridge. Can you take some time to see me if possible and help? =/\=

-Corridor-

Micheal had been in the meeting with the ships Barkeep discussing the decorations that she wanted to make to the bar when the captain had called, he tapped his combadge, =/\= On my way Sir Stevens out,=/\= as he knew that the captain was a top priority and why was the replicator playing up, he thought to himself oO Maybe I should put a call into the chief engineer and get him to help as two heads are better than one Oo as he headed towards the nearest turbolift.

-Foyer-

The Captain had attempted several more dishes with varying levels of success - if that success meant a healthy and hearty Klingon Diet. Each time he failed he placed the unappealing dish back into the replicators receptacle so that the materials and food could be recycled. After several more attempts, he gave up and returned to the Captain's Ready Room to contemplate other matters in the meantime.

-Captain's Ready Room-

Within half an hour Micheal arrived at the Captain's ready room and pressed the door chime waiting to be summoned into the captain's private sanctum, as he hoped that someone had not pranked the Captain if they had it would mean an internal investigation between Security, Engineering and himself, but that was the worst-case scenario.

"Enter!" called out the Captain as he sat down a datapad. He gave a stretch in his chair and greeted those who would enter.

As Micheal entered the Captain's ready room, he asked " Sir, what's the problem?" as he knew the captain hadn't sounded that too happy on the Com and noticed the plate. he thought to himself oO did the Captain like that? Oo as he waited for an answer.

"Mr Stevens!" Franklin greeted, standing as he stood after his stretch and Michael's introduction. "Glad to have you here. Strangest thing! My foyer replicator has been reprogrammed, probably accidentally, to only produce Klingon dishes. I've tried everything I've known I could do from rebooting it to selecting other dishes, but the darn thing keeps producing those Klingon delights! Not delightful for me, of course. Can you help?

"Of course Sir," replied Michael as he came to a halt next to the Captain, "However; I would advise that all replicators be taken down until we need to fix this," as he knew that if the captain's had been compromised then who else had theirs done as well, He finished, "as a Precaution."

"Taken down?" the Captain asked, curious. "I haven't had any further reports of this happening. Have you? If so have you managed to gauge if it is a software malfunction or....well, I can't imagine sabotage because that's just silly!"

"Sir, if yours have been tampered with then who is to say others haven't" replied Michael as he had not brought his datapad with him to check the diagnostics, he finished, " I am going to have to do a full level 3 Diagnostics afterwards," as he knew that this was not one happy commanding Officer.

The Captain grumbled, audibly. Was this a cadet pranking their superiors? Was it some crewmember thinking that pranks were still an acceptable form of humour and professionalism? Was it an actual form of sabotage? He shook his head to himself, then looked at Michael.

"Alright, Mr Stevens," he said in way of approval. "Is there any way I can help?"

"Yes Sir, to do this I am going to require the assistance of Engineering and Security," replied Michael as he knew this was going to be something that was not funny, as it meant a lot of hard work for him, he continued "As we need to find out who has done this,"

"I think I got just the two individuals in mind," replied the Captain as he gave a smile.

" I think the chief Engineer should know about this Sir," replied Micheal as he knew that the Chief Engineer was not going to be happy when he found out about this, he tapped his Combadge =/\= Commander Sharpe, could you meet me in the Captain's ready room, as I need your input on a certain matter,=/\= as he knew that the Captain does not have any idea this was happening nor happy.

--------[TWENTY MINUTES LATER]--------

Lieutenant Oscar Vladinchi and Lieutenant Lazarus Kord stood at attention in the Captain's Ready Room as the Captain paced back and forth behind his desk. It was a rather perplexing situation for Franklin not to have his chosen dietary needs met, but at the same time it was a relief to know that very soon things would be fixed - he hoped.

"Mr Stevens, would you catch these two Lieutenants up to speed on the situation?" Franklin asked. "Most of the department heads are busy with their own assignments, these two are the top recommendations. I assure you that Mr Kord and Mr Vladinchi will be more than adequate to assist until Mr Sharpe can join us."

Down in Engineering commander Sharpe was working on a way to try to find more of those bad Iso's like the one he found in the Jefferies tube when his Commbadge came to life with the voice of Lieutenant Stevens.

Combadge =/\= Commander Sharpe, could you meet me in the Captain's ready room, as I need your input on a certain matter=/\=

Tapping his Commbadge =/\= understood, Sharpe out =/\= he closed the line "what the hell is going wrong on this ship now!?" He verbally asked himself as he left engineering tugging his tunic down and headed to the nearest turbolift.

The Poseidon being a small ship it did not take him long to reach the bridge, as he stepped out onto the bridge "so this is what a bridge looks like when one does nae climb through the tubes, very nice" he said to no one in particular as he walked up to the CRR and pressed the Buzzer.

"Enter!" called Franklin, as the trio turned their heads toward the door.

Sharpe, enters "okay what is happening to my ship this time and what is it I have to fix," Paul said "I am still trying to locate those blasted bad Iso's!" he moaned then got hold of himself and tugged his tunic down. "Apologies Captain, what is the exact issue?" he asked noting others in the room he nodded to Kord "I see they dragged you in here to Lieutenant?" He said.

Kord grunted towards his superior officer, rolling his eyes and shaking his head in a silent acknowledgement. He kept silent however as he maintained a respectable posture before the Captain.

Oscar, for his part, remained silent and attentive even though it was becoming very clear that he would not be readily needed.

Franklin sighed at his Chief Engineering Officer. "Something to do with the replicators. They all now produce Klingon food for some reason. Ugh."

Sharpe thought a moment "Sounds like a computer virus of a sort, I will take a look-see, is it just your Captain, or is it every replicator on the ship?" Sharpe asked as he walked up to the replicator tapped something into the interface and got a reading "very weird, Lieutenant Kord gt you into the tubes and access the panel that connects to the replicators all over the ship but pay particular interest in the line to the Captain's one" Sharpe said looking at the reading, he was wondering as to why this was happening, he knew those isolinear pirate chips would not be used for something so mundane, so it had to be someone playing a prank on the Captain or there was a fault in the circuits of the replicator.

"Right away, sir," Kord replied. The Gorn was very flexible for a lumbering sack of scales, surprisingly fast when he wanted to be also. He moved swiftly to one of the access ports for the Jefferies tubes, quickly using a hand tool to undo bolts to move in.

Franklin watched with some interest before looking back to his CEO. "A prank then?" he asked, trying to clarify. "Why and who? Is this another one of the cadets playing pranks?"

Looking intently at the offending tool "that remains to be seen Captain, if it is I will have them scrubbing the dirtiest places in engineering, especially if it was one of those damned Cadets" he said as he pulled the front panel off to get to the circuits inside, pulling out a tricorder he scanned it and cursed and looked up at Kord as the Gorn was about to enter "Lieutenant, have you disconnect all replicators, then purge them and reload all replicator item patterns from the backups, it seems something contaminated the ones currently active, I Will do my bit here" he said as he began moving Iso chips around and EPS lines.

Kord grunted and gave an affirmative nod. "I did so with the ones on this deck and below, but not any further. I can let the computer automatically purge the databases to defaults, but that wouldn't necessarily do the job right. I'll have to do it manually on each and everyone if we're to be sure about this."

At the last statement, the Gorn grunted, scratching his chin. He sighed, pulling out his tricorder as he began the operation on the one in front of Sharpe and him. A few moments later he gave a more satisfying sounding grunt.

"Alright, I got this one reset to default, at least component-wise," he remarked, then heaved a sigh as he added, "I'll go do the rest...shouldn't take but a few hours."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Sharpe said to the Gorn and returned his attention to the replicator "I will bypass the damaged relays and put in a maintenance order for a team to come out and check all the replicators and repair them, but the bypass will be unique to this unit Captain, but all programmed foodstuffs should be available," Sharpe said finishing up his quick bypassing the damaged circuits and replacing the covering and then turning to face his Captain. "Perhaps it might also be down to the fact this ship is serving past its official service life, no matter how many refits such an old ship has at some point the systems will advance beyond what a ships hull is capable of operating" he added.

Franklin gave a thoughtful nod. "I have had a discussion privately with the Commodore on this very subject, actually," he remarked. "Something about a possible upgrade in the works if we wanted it, but for the moment I refused. Not that I wouldn't say no if it was ordered, but I think we can manage a few more years out of the old girl. Get the next few years of academy cadets through her, at the very least. Don't you think, Mr Sharpe?"

"As the ships Chief Engineer I will do my best to keep the old girl going Sir, but I fear she may not have as many years left as you might think, but while she is operational I will nae give up on the old girl Captain, of that, I promise," Sharpe said, is there anything else that will need my attention, that I do not already know about?" He ended with a question.

"Good to know Chief," Franklin replied with a smile, then, "and nothing at the moment I'm aware of."

Sharpe gave a thoughtful look "I will not attempt my holographic warp core idea until we can ascertain that there are none of those pirated chips remaining on the ship, the last thing I want to remember is the warp core going through my rear as the ship goes boom" Sharpe said blandly.

Lazarus appeared in the Ready Room again, after having pressed the chime and being allowed to enter by the Captain with a moderate, "Enter!", being bellowed. The towering Gorn stood at attention before the Chief Engineering Officer.

"Sir, I'm happy to report things have progressed faster than you expected," Lazarus said. "After instructions were given to several of the other Officers, I watched as they utilized the situation for their Cadets benefits. They were told what to look for the Senior Cadets got charge of the fresh ones in Engineering, and I'm happy to report that the majority of the Replicators have been fixed this issue. Though, I'm unhappy to report that it happened across the entire ship."

A low tone, then, "Sir I think it was sabotage. It couldn't have been a massive computer error, not at this scale, not without some....cosmic situation unfolding."

Looking from the Captain to Kord with a puzzled frown "well then Lieutenant if that is the case, then it was someone with computer knowledge and the know-how on how to do such action, I know of only one person with that ability and he would have not done it and that person is myself" Sharpe said and look at Lieutenant Stevens "Lieutenant investigate you this, concentrate on those with specialist skills in computing if you need to interview me as I come under that qualification do so, but I can assure you it is not me, but start you with engineering staff and work your way out, logically it is a sound method, but remember that in the end, when you eliminate all possibilities, whatever is left however improbable must be the truth, I will give you clearance to question my staff, but keep it low key Lieutenant, please, else you will tip the real saboteur to your actions" Sharpe said to Stevens

"Thank you, Lieutenant, I will take that under advisement," replied Micheal looking back at him," Also Sir I'd like the notice to be put out as routine maintenance as not to tip he/ off that we are onto them," as he knew this was not going to look good at all.

"Very Good Mr Stevens, make it so," replied Franklin quickly.

He then looks again to Kord "Lieutenant, brief our damage control specialist to keep an eye out for any irregularities, he will be doing a sweep of the ship and should he see anything that should not be there to call in specialist teams to sort the issues out" Paul looked troubled "between this and those damn Isolinear chips, someone is definitely trying to sabotage our mission Captain" Sharpe said looking at the Captain and Kord.

"That is indeed very concerning Mr Sharpe," the Captain said, nodding slowly. "I had already anticipated this conclusion, it was my own at first, but I wanted to clarify with everyone present. Now that we have, I am afraid to admit I may have been right in my preliminary assumptions. I don't like being right about things like this."

Kord scratched his chin, "but why sabotage the food replicators with partially edible food?"

Looking at Kord "well Lieutenant, it would seem our saboteur has a sick sense of humour, but this might also be a distraction for other things too, we have those Isolinear chips from someone who perverted my early work in that area, then we have the replicators, what else could have issues with that we do, not knowing nothing about!" Sharpe surmised and looked at the Captain "I may be stepping out of bounds here Captain, but I think there should be restricted access to essential and secondary systems, only a select group should have access to these, but it is only a suggestion" Sharpe finished.

Kord listened to his superiors explanation - or at the very least hypothesis - on the situation. It all seemed overly complicated to the Gorn. Then again, his Terran slavemasters would have loved such a game of cat and mouse. Maybe. Those memories were long ago now, and that was a good thing. He found it satisfying that he was beginning to forget most of the pain. In response to Sharpe's explanation, he merely gave a nod, though still not fully comprehending the why of it.

The Captain on the other hand had a grim expression. He looked from everyone present to back to his Chief Engineering Officer. This was a dire situation to even consider restricting access to these systems. The entire purpose of placing an Academy on a Miranda class was to allow cadets the chance to tinker and learn. The Commodore would not be happy about this, but this was Franklin's ship regardless. He gave a nod.

"Make it so, Mr Sharpe," He said with a firm voice. "I want all essential and non-essential systems restricted to Officers or above, according to a list you approve of, Mr Sharpe. Just in case this is a bunch of cadets playing games, we can fix this situation quickly. If it's not and it's sabotage..."

Franklin's words lingered, the implications extremely unsettling.

"Sir, May I enlist the services of Lieutenant T'Pri in my investigation?" asked Michael as he knew that subtle was key here and she knew how to keep an ear out in her department and throughout the ship and the crew.

"You have my approval for that, Mr Stevens," Franklin replied. "It could be beneficial to get intelligence involved, if they already weren't."

Sharpe looked at the security officer "Mr Vladinchi kindly bring the Security Chief up to date on new restrictions if you will please!" Sharpe said "I have to get back to looking for more of those chips and my other stuff in Engineering, I swear if this is some Cadets joke I am going to shove them out an airlock" Sharpe grumbled, looked up innocently.

Oscar Vladinchi, who had for this entire meeting stood quietly at the entrance to the Captain's Ready Room, nodded to his superior. He was slightly surprised to have been drawn into the conversation, considering his belief that he had been called simply to provide security.

"I will get on it right away, sir," Oscar replied as he exited the CRR.

Then looks at the Captain, "if there is nothing more Captain I will return to my engines" he said and with a nod left the CRR grumbling about too much work and not enough time to do them in.


[OFF]


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Captain Franklin Johnson
Commanding Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Lt Cmdr Paul Sharpe
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Lieutenant Lazarus Kord
Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Lieutenant Oscar Vladinchi
Security Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Leiutenant Michael Stevens
Chief Operations Officer
USS Posiedon

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