Troublesome Iso Chips

Posted on Saturday August 14th, 2021 @ 5:16pm by Commander Kanaka Shakura & Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe

3,107 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: S1-A1-Ep. 1: Spectrophobia
Location: U.S.S. Poseidon; Various
Timeline: Following A Frustrating Fix: Part Two
Tags: Engineering, Iso Chips, Tal'Shar, Paul Sharpe

[ON]

After the meeting still somewhat dirty Sharpe steps out onto the bridge tugging his tunic down, he looks around, "Commander Shakura?" he asked looking at the full Commander sitting in the Captain's chair.

Reflexively, Kana's head turned to look in the direction of the turbolift, but within a split-second corrected her course as she saw the scruffy-looking figure out of the corner of her eye who had just exited the Captain's Ready Room. All the others who were present on shift on the Bridge looked at the man with some astonishment, and Kana herself too was caught surprised. Quickly though her eyes managed to make out the mans features from beneath all the dirt on his face, and she recognised him to be Poseidon's own Chief Engineer.

"Did he...come in via the Jefferies tubes?" She thought to herself, in a mix of astonishment but also slight admiration. "They weren't lying in his references when they said he was known to be unorthodox."

Standing with a perfectly straight posture and a broadening of her shoulders, the rest of the Bridge crew eventually managed to turn their attentions back to their duties, albeit with a few whispers amongst them about the oddity that was Sharpe's sudden appearance, which would no doubt go on to endear him to some of the cadets on-board. The Commander approached.

"I am Commander Shakura. What seems to be the problem?" She asked him politely yet with a direct tone, as she looked him up and down. He stood a whole foot taller than her, but her stance made it clear that she was not a person to be easily dwarfed.

"Might I have a word with you in private Commander please, it is something you should know?" Sharpe asked "Oh apologies Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe Chief Engineer, we have yet to meet, figured now is as good a time as any" he added.

"Lieutenant Commander Sharpe, it is indeed a pleasure to finally meet you. I remember reviewing your file before you joined us. You've certainly made this introduction memorable." The Commander's eyes flickered as she gave the elder Sharpe a quick smirk, before her face reset to the rested but aware expression she often defaulted to when performing her role as Executive Officer.

When the Chief Engineer informed her there was something she should know, and she noticed both the Captain and Lieutenant Hirsch return to the Bridge behind them, she recognised that this likely had to do with the emergency that required her brief take-over of the Helm. Now that she was effectively relieved again, it was her turn to be briefed. "I see. Let us go to my office."

She gestured for Sharpe to follow her as she walked with a confident pace towards the turbolift, only giving a brief nod of acknowledgement to the Captain as she left. She stepped inside the lift and waited for Sharpe to join her.

Paul followed the First Officer "I must apologise for my appearance Commander, I came directly here via the Jefferies tube by way of the CRR, I have seen cleaner tubes, perhaps we could have cadets cleaning them at some point!" Sharpe suggested as he entered the turbo lift with her.

Kana had to resist the temptation to crack a bit of laughter at the mention of having the cadets clean the tubes. While it was likely a very serious suggestion, she could not help but imagine the old Human "chimney sweepers" from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. "I would not be surprised if that were necessary. She's an old ship, even with the upgrades and a new lick of paint."

As the turbolift closed and they proceeded down to Level Six, she continued. "As for your state, Lieutenant Commander, don't apologise. My father was also an engineer on many a long-haul space freight journey, and he always told me that you should never trust an engineer who isn't prepared to get himself dirty for his work!" She cracked a smile. For a moment, there was a clear flicker of fondness in her eyes as she thought of her father. But as the turbolift arrived at their destination, she seamlessly snapped back to be a more focused expression as she proceeded down and around the corridor, expecting Sharpe to follow.

Eventually, they arrived at the Counselling Offices, where her main office resided. At the moment things were quiet, as Kana insisted on there being a break in the middle of the day before counselling resumed in the afternoon, to allow her trainee counsellors a chance to collect their own thoughts after a busy morning of helping to collect others. She walked through the open foyer and to the large set of doors behind her Aide's desk and stepped into a large office and counselling space which she called her own. As Sharpe stepped inside, he would notice how neatly space had been arranged and choreographed. On the walls hung various paintings and pieces of art, each reflecting the cultures represented within the crew. Sculpture decorated the empty spaces in the corner at the far end of the room, along with large potted plants to contrast with them. Along with these, she had from her own possession brought a selection of reading material into the room: primarily Human and Vulcan classical philosophy, but there were also reading materials on a wide variety of human sciences. On the wall behind her desk, she had finished hanging all her qualifications, and on the desk itself, there were a number of personal embellishments.

Along with all these artistic touches, there was a large coffee table, which took a central location in the room on top of a rather vibrant rug, with two spacious lounge chairs on either side. The room was also complemented by rather large viewports, which showed the great and colourful expanse of the Betreka Nebula beyond.

With the doors now closed behind them and their privacy assured, Kana turned to face the Chief Engineer directly and was quick to the point. "So, what is the situation?" Her tone was polite but also clear in its frankness.

Standing there at parade rest and slipping into an emotionless tone that betrayed no emotion "I have found some contraband Isolinear chips, the type I have seen back in my short stint undercover while I was still a cadet, my speciality is computers and such used to be known as hacking, anyway I came across this chip" he said holding out the bootleg chip "that little beauty was a part of a much larger issue we have seen cropping up in our systems recently, I have measures in place or will do to scan for any more of these, but while they are Orion Syndicate make, there is some Romulan design in them to, so my assumption is that Tal'Shar are in partnership with the Orion Syndicate, what I have not yet been able to discern is if they are proactive chips or background ones, meant to disable every system on this ship allowing Orion slavers to come in and collect out unconscious forms, but I recommend a ship-wide high level search into all systems, but for my money the concentration should be on essential systems" he paused.

"I suspect this was done at the shipyard when the ship was docked and undercover operatives were there, which is alarming to me as I am a former Security Chief that Starbase security was so lax in allowing such a thing, but I would recommend that Security be tightened on the ship, especially in key areas, as no one wants to knock out gas rendering us all unconscious at the wrong time now," Sharpe said

As Sharpe briefed Kana, she took the bootleg chip from his hand and observed it in her own. She was no engineer, so she was always stunned by how something so small could be so destructive and potentially life-threatening. Despite the Federation's efforts of advancing peace through science and technology, there were plenty of destructive forces still pushing in the opposite direction. When Sharpe mentioned the Orion Syndicate and Tal'Shar - names Kana was familiar with from her career so far - she was visibly concerned. When the Chief Engineer made his quip about the knock-out gas, she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Humour your go-to response in situations like this, Sharpe?" She asked, seemingly quite genuinely. This was after all their first proper interaction since his joining of the crew, so as well as working together professionally this was a chance to make sense of him personally.

Looking at the Commander "not really Commander, about security breaches I do not joke, it is the Vulcan in me" he said and then clarified "I had some schooling on Vulcan and I learned how to control my emotions, not always successful mind you, but I do have a sense of humour, just not in this case and there is my training as a Security officer which comes into play with incidents such as this and in light of such a security breach I have no sense of humour, now finding out that a sentient plant dragged a heavy Gorn into the Jefferies tubes was very funny" he said finally smiling at the thought of recent events and then he turned serious again.

"...I see." The Executive Officer remarked, at first expressing fascination in her eyes when he mentioned his Vulcan schooling, but then her expression quickly changed to nonplussed when he mentioned the sentient plant in the Jefferies tubes. Needless to say, she found it far less funny when she had to read about it in the report.

Kana then turned to walk towards the viewport and held up the bootleg chip against the light of the Nebula beyond. "Before you joined the ship, the Poseidon came under attack at the Bright Nebula from the U.S.S. Cain and the U.S.S. Abel, who we now know were both commandeered by pirates. Since that attack failed, I wonder if these bootleg chips are the next escalation in their efforts and if that is the case, why the fascination with the Poseidon?" She openly wondered, curious to hear what - if anything - Sharpe would offer in reply.

"I have no knowledge of those events Commander, but from experience, that chip is likely one of twenty-four, if you look at the serial number on it, it ends in 24, so there could be another 23 or another six until we search everywhere concentrating on key systems this ship is not safe. *pause* "That particular chip has a Tal'Shar signature, it may have come from the Syndicate, but they were not the ones to make that item you have there Commander, also I must confess to having a little more knowledge in their programming than anyone else including the Syndicate and this is how I recognised it," Sharpe said hoping the Commander would ask him for some clarification on what he said.

Kana listened to Sharpe, still looking at the chip, and noting the serial number as he mentioned it. When he mentioned having experience in their programming, she turned her face back to him to give him a once-over with her eyes. "You are true as peculiar and mysterious as your character profile attested you to be, Lieutenant Commander Sharpe." She now shot him a slight grin of her own as she returned to him, placing the bootleg chip back in his own hands.

"Alright then, I'll bite. How is it you know so much about these things?" She asked, "If they are as dangerous as you say, then I trust the Captain has already ordered Lieutenant Hirsch to increase Security aboard the ship and begin a search for them?"

He began pacing "that he has Commander," Sharpe said then began "I was in my fourth year as a Cadet at the Academy when my... *A little embarrassed* Ahem computer skills came to the attention of Starfleet Security, which in turn got the attention of both Starfleet Intelligence and Starfleet External Security, who knew Security had so many departments, right!" He asked and then continued "I was called before the Academy Commandant thinking I was in trouble, but no Intelligence wanted me to go undercover, me being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed agreed to it so a fake service file was made for me, which made it appear that I had been booted out of Starfleet Academy for illicit computer hacking, the fact that I was in my fourth year would allow for any bearing I attained as a Cadet to be my excuse for not being like other malcontents. So Intelligence dropped me off seemingly disgraced and left to fend for myself, it was then Section 31 working in partnership with Intelligence got me into New Sydney where I kicked around begging and scavenging for some weeks and generally making sure I got into trouble" he paused.

"Then on my fifth week, a well-dressed man approached me and showed me some kindness, at first I did not know he was Orion Syndicate, but next thing I knew I was having a hot shower and given something to eat, that was when he revealed himself as Syndicate and as I was under orders to infiltrate them after a couple of day's hesitating I agreed and that was when I was introduced to a Romulan, I did not know she was Tal'Shar at the time but my different view on computer coding and seeming innocent got them started on that type of Iso chip, the base code will have part of my skill in there, but I scanned it and that same coding had been vastly altered from what I put in. Then two months undercover I was sleeping soundly when four guys in black gagged me and dragged me out and rendered me unconscious and when I came to I was on a modified Starfleet shuttle where I was told my abode on New Sydney was bombed, but my body would be found charred and among the wreckage. I found out that Section 31 had pulled me out as my cover had been blown, it seems there was a Starfleet Officer in External Security that was in the Syndicates back pocket and they got information on my mission" he paused again.

"So to cut a long story short, I returned to the Academy to complete my final year, my fake file was erased my real one reactivated and the operation classed secret and I was told not to speak of it. You will find that no Officer outside of CinC Starfleet Security, Intelligence and Section 31 has access to that file, I am only telling you Commander as my past has come back to haunt me *pauses* this chip while vastly altered is in old earth term a hackers chip this one, in particular, was designated to lower the ship's shields at the worst time, I have removed that, so the shields are safe for now, but other chips like that are usually designed to cause some serious issues when activated, I do not know if it is by a sub-space transmission or we have an enemy agent on board waiting to endanger us, all I know is when any one of those is activated it will be bad for us" Sharpe said as he stopped pacing and looked directly at the First Officer "we all have regrettable issues which eventually come back to haunt us Commander, and I will make sure that nothing bad happens to this ship or her crew" he added.

Kana had listened intently as Sharpe explained the story of his youthful exploits. Her face, rarely betraying her true feelings, did occasionally show a flicker of wonder and surprise as his story took its many twists and turns. But as the story came back to the matter of the present, and how these Iso Chips were a real threat to the security of the ship, the Executive Officer's expression grew more serious again.

"Well, I thank you for that enthralling story, Lieutenant Commander Sharpe. You certainly are one for surprises, and I'm sure this won't be the last time, either." She slapped him on the side of his arm. "But you're right, the past does come back to haunt you, as it does all of us from time to time. But the fear of those ghosts is what makes you stronger than you were before because you're more alert to the dangers, more aware of their presence. Thanks to your awareness, we'll have nothing to fear from them."

She smiled at him confidently as she then made her way around her desk, beginning to take her seat as she prepared to get back to work. "I want you to keep me informed about any more of these Iso Chips you find, where you find them and what potential damage they could cause in each instance were they able to activate. If someone is trying to sabotage us, it'll be important to assess how badly and therefore to what ends they could be trying to achieve by doing so."

"Understood Commander, will do so, I have me a feeling that this will get worse before it gets better Commander," Sharpe said noting the First Officer had gone back behind her desk indicating the meeting was at its end.

"I have a feeling you might be right, Sharpe, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try our best to mitigate that as much as possible." Shakura confidently remarked. "Speaking of which, Lieutenant Commander: next time, make sure to make less of an entrance if you can help it." She smirked at him, to let him know that while she was serious, it was in good faith.

Looking quizzically at the First Officer "less of an entrance Commander! What earth do you mean?" Sharpe asked in a tone Vulcan's usually used when they were curious, he even raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe leave the tube crawling to the cadets, is all I'm suggesting." Kana's smirk continued for a little while longer, before she turned her attention back to work at her desk. "You're dismissed, Sharpe. Keep up the good work."

With a final nod Sharpe exited the First Officers office and returned to engineering his mind full of questions, who was doing this, why and what did it have to gain for that person? he asked himself.

[OFF]

Cmdr. Kanaka "Kana" Shakura
Executive Officer & Chief Counsellor
U.S.S. Poseidon

&

Lt. Commander Paul Sharpe
Chief Engineering Officer
U.S.S. Poseidon

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