One Ring to Disturb Their Calm

Posted on Tue 18th Jun, 2019 @ 2:01pm by Lieutenant Commander Dallas Briggs & Lieutenant Damion Ildaran
Edited on on Tue 18th Jun, 2019 @ 2:52pm

1,070 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Security Department, Deck 576
Timeline: MD-4

Damion exited the turbolift on deck 576 and made his way to the Security Department, Once there, he stopped at the front desk and asked to speak to the Evidence Officer.

Ensign Lea Loren was holding down the front desk this morning. A last-minute change in the roster shortened her weekend. She had promised a friend that they would spend the day shopping and tasting various treats on the Promenade today, but she had to take a raincheck.

Bajorans used the ol' name switcheroo, so the first name was their last and their last name was their first. Ensign Lea was a cute Bajoran with short dark brown hair that stopped at the bottom of her neck. She had dark brown eyes and a stubby nose with those prominent Bajoran ridges on the bridge of her nose.

Loren was working on the daily reports, adding in information that was pertinent and was gathered from other Officers' investigations. Great, data entry, my favorite. She had always despised data entry and thought it was beneath her. She had been many things in her short career with Starfleet, a member of Hazardous Teams and SAR teams, and she found this pace of work boring and mind-numbing. She at least wanted to go out and bang some heads together.

Loren turned away from the screen and toward the voice. “Hello, Lieutenant,” she said, after a quick glance at his pips. “The Evidence Room is two decks down, and the Officer on duty is Petty Officer Hightower. May I ask whom he is expecting?”

"Damion Ildaran, from Intelligence," Damion said. "I talked to him about ten minutes ago."

Loren sent a message to Hightower, who was in the High Security area of the section due to the high value of evidence. “I’m Ensign Lea Loran, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant,” she said as she waited for an answer from below.

Damion shot the ensign a fleeting grin. "After the day I've had, the pleasure's all mine."

An audible beep on her console gave her the information needed - the Lieutenant was expected. “If you will step into this turbolift, he’ll be waiting for you below.” Loren indicated the secure turbolift behind her.

"Thanks, Ensign. I hope the rest of your day goes well." Damion walked past Lea to the turbolift she'd indicated and took it down two decks. The doors slid open moments later, and Damion found himself facing a set of doors labeled 'Authorized Personnel Only' and locked with a biometric scanner. He waited outside them, as he didn't have clearance to enter this area unescorted.

The doors hissed open and a rather tall lengthy young man stepped out. “Petty Officer Preston Hightower,” he said, “at your service, Lieutenant.” He reached out and shook the man’s hand. “So you’d like to borrow item 32001B for a while?”

Damion shook the petty officer's hand. "More a case of needing to rather than wanting to," Damion said. "Item 32001B is a nasty piece of work. I should have it back in here later today; tomorrow at the latest. We'll keep it in secure storage in my department if we need it overnight."

Preston nodded, “I wondered why they wanted to keep a ring in a class 8 Security container.” Preston indicated a biometric scanner on a pedestal in the middle of the room. “If you would place your right hand on the scanner for identification, we can proceed.” This section, along with the Brig, was the most secure area of the base.

Damion laid his right hand on the scanner and watched as the beam of blue light under the screen moved from fingertips to wrist. Then he gazed into the retinal scanner.

Not only did the biometric scanner check his finger and hand prints to confirm who he was, it also checked his blood pressure and heart rate to make sure that he wasn't under any duress or pressured into coming here. A microscopic needle also poked into one of the finger tips taking a blood and DNA sample to verify identity. After a short moment, a green light flashed an 'All Clear'.

"If you will follow me, Lieutenant," Preston said and palmed the biometric switch on the wall. The door opened, allowing them access to the secure corridor that contained Evidence.

It was a long corridor that contained many secure chambers of various sizes, with the larger ones on the bottom and smallest on top. Preston grabbed his PADD and used it to locate the chamber in question. Once he found it, the two began to walk. "It should be right up here, Lieutenant."

They walked a little farther. "There it is, Item 32001B." Preston placed his thumb on a green glowing button that grew even brighter. Then a small door opened with an escape of air pressure. A fog rolled out of the small storage chamber. Preston reached inside with both hands, pulling out a smoke-colored polymer container that was quite a bit bigger than just a ring. "This is a level 8 container, nearly indestructible." He handed it to the Lieutenant.

"Right now it's coded to my thumb print and will only open for me. We will have to add yours to the data base," the petty officer said as he typed in some commands on his PADD. "Put your thumb here." He indicated his PADD.

Damion pressed his thumb against the PADD that Hightower indicated, glad to see that Security had taken seriously the warnings in the report that the CMO had provided. "Are these containers all a standard size? It seems so large for just a ring."

Preston shook his head, "This is the smallest container. Within each is housed its own computer with power source and force field." Preston looked back down at his PADD, "Okay, you're all set. It will open whenever you place your thumb on the button, Lieutenant."

"All right. Thank you, Mr. Hightower; I appreciate your help," Damion said. "Once I open it, how do I close it again? Does the button operate like a toggle switch?"

"You can push the top closed, but the thumb print is needed to activate the security for the container," Preston happily explained.

"Understood. My thanks to you and your department for letting me check it out," Damion said. He shook hands with PO Hightower once more and then headed toward the lift.

 

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