The detail’s in the devil Pt 1

Posted on Tue Dec 26th, 2023 @ 4:16pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Commander Kevin Kilbane & Lieutenant Commander Jaal Jaxom

1,782 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Investigate the Chintoka Shipyard Buildup
Location: Ready Room, Bridge.
Timeline: Current

“…and your sure Bird?” Kilbane asked.

“Look, he’s proved he’s reliable, well, up till now anyway” Finchley replied.

“Being reliable is one thing, being trustworthy is something else” Kilbane said.

“We have to start somewhere!” Finchley retorted.

“One mission, you’ve decided after one mission” Kilbane said, “It took you three before you decided to make me your special advisor.”

“Yes, that’s because you’re an arrogant arsehole and I wanted to make you suffer” Finchley laughed.

“Mmmmmm…” was all Kilbane said in reply.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be fine with it, just don’t go over the score, he’s new to the post, just don’t be all, you know…you…” Finchley answered.

“As if I would…” Kilbane grinned.

Finchley just looked heavenward before tapping the COMM link on his desk, “Captain Kerr to Commander Jaxom, report to my Ready Room.”

Jaal heard the call over his commbadge and replied, "On the way Captain." He closed out his work station in the operations department and made his way to deck one.

After hitting the chime and being let in he found himself in front of Captain Kerr and Commander Kilbane. He had a PADD in his hand with the latest research into who was sending discreet intel off the Blackeagle. It was a very long list of every message, even every emission that could be coded as a message that had been transmitted from the ship. It was freshly compiled and Jaal hadn't had a chance to review any of it yet, but after a cursory look had flagged a few that seemed suspicious.

"Reporting as ordered." He was about to add a 'what's up' but bit the inside of his lip and decided against it. He was sure he would find out in short order.

“Take a seat Commander,” Finchley said.

Don't say where should I take it, Don't say where should I take it, Don't say where should I take it repeated itself several time in Jaal's head. This was no time to be a smart ass.

He simply sat.

“Before we go any further, I want to let you know that I’ve informed SFIHQ of my decision to appoint you as Executive Officer of the Blackeagle and their in agreement,” Finchley said, “further to that, they’ve agreed to increase your information classification to level six, this will grant you more access to certain classified documentation and communications.”

"Thank you, that will make things easier," Jaal replied reasonably.

“I also wanted to speak with you regarding Commander Kilbane here,” he said, thumbing at Kevin, who in turn nodded to Jaal.

“The Commander here is…” and he tried to word his next part carefully, “on specialist duties, reporting directly to me and only me, in effect, he’s here physically, but he’s ’not here’ if you get my meaning?”

The Trill wanted to badly to say Who's not here? but refrained. Instead his resolute reply was simply, "I do Sir."

“You're the ship's XO, but Kilbane here isn’t under your Command, he’s a ghost. Also, as a level eight operative, should you require something when I’m unavailable, he’s your next point of contact,” Finchley continued, “are we all clear, or do you have any questions?”

Several choice comments brewed in the Trill's mind but the only audible one was, "Understood Sir. No questions for the time being."

“Okay,” Finchley replied, “how are getting on with checking messages sent from the ship, you are checking everyone who sent messages?” he added, looking over at Kilbane.

He in turn added, “Especially Senior officers, no-one can be discounted.”

Jaal offered his PADD to Kerr, "Here's a list of every transmission the Blackeagle made in the last year, even non-comm signals that could be coded or piggy-backed to contain a message. I have not yet had a chance to run those through any algorithms to check. And as you mentioned there were some my security clearance didn't allow me to see... this list is complete though."

“You know, you could up his clearance to level seven,” Kilbane said to Finchley, “allowing him to check everything up to Executive Officer level.”

“True,” Finchley replied, “I’ll see to it.”

He looked at Jaal again, “though, as a forewarning Commander, those communications cannot be shared with anyone besides myself and Commander Kilbane. Anything you find, no matter how obscure. But, I still want you to set up the algorithm and sift through the communications sent by other ranks.”

"I've not delegated this to anyone else. I had an inkling you wanted kept on the downlow," the Trill replied. He cleared his throat and added, "We can't have the mole getting wind that we're looking for them, right?"

“Who said the mole is someone still with us?” Kilbane asked.

Jaal looked at Kilbane with one squinted eye. "Good question Commander, but I feel it's a safe assumption until we know for sure... and that brings me to another concern."

“Which is?” Finchley asked.

"I know none of us are above suspicion," Jaal stated evenly, "Someone needs to check my work. I mean, I could sit here all day and say 'I'm not the mole' and you have no reason to think I'm telling you the truth. I'm the newest person on the crew. No one knows me. There's no reason to think it's not me... at least not yet. Someone that's not me that can do all the things I do in the operations department needs to check my work and findings.”

Kilbane took out his phaser and said, “You have ten seconds to convince myself and the Captain you’re not the mole, if you can’t do it I’ll kill you where you sit.”

Finchley sat back in his seat, “That ten seconds starts now, oh, and if you’re wondering, this isn’t the first time we’ve gone through this, believe me when I say we can cover our tracks and make it look like you drew your weapon on us, so we had to defend ourselves, unfortunately killing you in the process. Nobody at SFIHQ will bay an eyelid and you’ll be a footnote in the traitors guild. Now, shall we hear what you have to say for yourself?”

Jaal took in a deep breath, "IF I'm the mole, would I have bothered you to check my work? And IF I'm the mole I wouldn't be implicating myself like I just did to have you point a phaser at my head, and IF I'm the mole I'm pretty sure I'd have put the blame on someone else immediately upon showing you the findings to deflect unwanted attention away from myself, and IF I'm the mole I'd have tried to get off the ship knowing someone who knows the ship's computer and systems as well as I do was actively looking for me... or I'd have tried to put that person looking for me out of commission some how."

Jaal thought he'd thought of everything but he also had no experience being a mole for anything or anyone. There were about two seconds left and all he could think to add was... "And please don't shoot me."

Finchley looked at Kilbane, “Well?”

“He talks to much, plus, he talks to much….but the pleading was a nice gesture.”

“Put the phaser away Commander, nobody grovels that much without…”, then a thought struck him, “how about we hand him over to Karadis instead, she’d love the opportunity to beat a confession out of him, or get to the truth that he’s not the mole. She’s been itching to try her new questioning techniques, what say you we give her the green light with Jaxom here?”

“I think that’s a very fair assessment of the situation, it’ll settle it one way or the other” Kilbane replied.

Finchley tapped the COMM button on his desk, “Karadis, can you step into my Ready Room please, we have someone we need questioned.”

Jaal felt his heart racing and his hands became moist with sweat. The last thing he wanted to was to be beat up by a Klingon. Eight months in the officer exchange program had taught him that already. "Why not just look at the hard data first? The algorithms are already in the main computer, you just have to add the data on the PADD I gave you. It can be done from the terminal on your desk."

“Oh, I’ll be doing that whilst Karadis ‘entertains’ herself,” Finchley replied, standing up, walking round his desk and taking the PADD from Jaal.

The chime on the door sounded and Kilbane rose and let her in. She walked over to Finchley and said, “You wanted to see me Bird?”

“Yes,” Finchley replied, “Mr Jaxom here has told us that nobody is outwith suspicion to be the mole. I believe you told me you have some new interesting techniques for gathering information, I think it’s time you tested them, with the help of the Commander as your first… volunteer. One way or the other, we can eliminate him from the investigation.”

Karadis looked at Jaal, a horrible grin on her face, “Oh, it’ll be my pleasure Sir, I can assure you of that!”

“Good, then we shan’t keep you,” Finchley said.

Looking at Jaal, Karadis said, “Shall we Commander.”

Jaal stood with a cross expression, "Fine, let's get this over with." He straightened his uniform while thinking of how to get out of this situation. Something in the back of his mind told him something was wrong. "Let's go." he headed for the door assuming Karadis would follow.

As Jaal turned and headed for the door, Finchley said to Karadis “Make sure you do a thorough job.”

“Oh yes Captain, you know me, no half measures, Commander Jaxom will get the full experience”, and with that, she to turned and left the Ready Room.

Once they were gone, Kilbane turned to Finchley and said, “For him, it begins now.”

“Karadis will make sure of that” Finchley replied returning to his desk and looking over the PADD. He entered the algorithm Jaal had mentioned then downloaded the messaging information. Running the programme, he watched the screen to see what would come out.

[Bridge]

As Karadis walked behind Jaal, she began saying in a low voice, “Dead man walking, dead man walking…”

They stopped at the turbolift doors, and when they opened, she shoved Jaal inside then stepped inside herself. “I’m going to enjoy this!” she said as the doors closed.

TBC…

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