Secrets and Plans

Posted on Tue 5th Jun, 2018 @ 9:39pm by Lieutenant Commander Andrew Eberstark & Lieutenant JG Kellian Michaels
Edited on on Thu 21st Jan, 2021 @ 6:07pm

1,146 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Federation Cutter Benhall, in the vicinity of SB 109

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I asked you here," Starfleet Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Daisy Pantoufle stated, wryly. She was a viera, a lapine humanoid easily topping 180 centimeters of height, even before her upright ears were taken into consideration. Today she was wearing a pair of black leggings under a white shirt-dress which didn't quite conceal the neon pink color of the brassiere she wore.

"Here," in this case was a rarely seen class of starship, a cutter. Lightly armed, quite swift, the ship was larger than a runabout but smaller than a scout. The officers in the briefing room with her had beamed out from Starbase 109 at her invitation. Two of the officers were already known to her, but the other two... "Let me recap," Pantoufle suggested, and then went on to do so. "A couple of months ago, at Starbase 185, one of my office's Special Agents went missing after leaving a cryptic comment that he was looking into a jewel heist. Not long afterward, his dead body turned up here, on your station."

Kellian nodded, being one of the two officers who had already met SA Pantoufle before. Andrew mimicked the affirmative nod from Michaels and remained silent, waiting for the familiar Agent to continue to elaborate on the events to bring everyone up to speed.

Isabella sat beside Kellian listening to the brief and looked at him and whispered, "So, do you know Special Agent Daisy?"

"I met her when I ran an FFIS check on a John Doe we had who turned out to be one of her Special Agents," Kellian said to Isabella in a low voice. "My FFIS result was her showing up, asking to ID his body."

"The death of Special Agent Solo resulted in an excellent display of investigative prowess by officers here," Pantoufle went on, though one of her ears twitched in Perry's direction. "And that, sadly, led to the death of Colonel Horatio Drake. When the woman going by the pseudonym Anise Lay'di was apprehended, she was carrying a plethora of jewels. It took time to analyze them all, but now we have."

The mention of Drake's death again made Andrew flinch slightly. A part of him wondered when he would make peace with it and another hoped he never would. The next part of Pantoufle's explanation snapped Andrew back to attention and he straightened his seat, anxious to hear the results but remained silent.

"If you remember your academy chemistry classes, jewels are lattices of repeating molecules. Those molecules may have errors, but still contribute to the overall makeup of the crystal without visible flaw. What we found is that someone had used this fact to encrypt data into the crystals beading Anise Lay'di's clutch." Pantoufle paused. "It remains an open question why Colonel Drake immediately focused on the clutch. We are investigating his background as we speak."

Kellian gave Agent Pantoufle a sudden sharp look. "So that's why the jewels were stolen. Have you been able to determine what sort of data was encrypted in them?"

"The jewels were stolen," Pantoufle countered, "because it was these specific jewels which had the encoded data. I have been assured that the data would not be in a usable state, were the gems to be scanned and replicated. Apparently, a replicator would "fix" the flaws in the lattice." The lapine agent shrugged. "I don't know precisely what was encoded. That information is need-to-know, and apparently, none of us here do. What I do know, and can tell you, is that it was data and schematics from a now-terminated special access project relating to cloaking technology."

"Terminated because these gems were stolen?" Kellian asked.

The Agent shrugged. "Above my paygrade; fruitless to speculate. What we do know is that when she was apprehended, Lay'di was attempting to enter the Triangle region. We also know that pirates have recently been operating in that region with surprisingly modern cloaking devices on older hulls. SCIS has no jurisdiction in the disputed territories, but I believe you should be aware that the possibility exists that the data Lay'di was taking into that area was intended for pirates, or for their suppliers. You should also be cognizant that the data may have been sent through more than one channel."

Andrew shook his head, "Sounds like this could turn into a wild goose chase. There are dozens of species around capable of smuggling data from one client to the next. The Orions. The Yridians, hell even the Ferengi. You name it. Has any progress been made in tracing the jewel path backwards? Or Lay'di's past associates? That could give us a clue as to which channels we should focus our attention on."

Pantoufle nodded. "Those avenues are being pursued. This meeting is in the nature of an informational briefing, to keep you appraised of possible threats in your area. No specific, immediate action is required or requested."

Jacen, who had been silently listening to the conversation, idly tapped a couple of buttons on the console in front of him. He gazed around the room and sighed. "At least that is the...official explanation of this meeting. Perhaps we can dispense with the maneuvering, and get to the unofficial request, that I'm sure you've got for us?"

Isabella smiled at Jacen's comment and waited expectantly to see what Pantoufle's response would be.

The Agent spread her hands in a show of innocence. "This meeting is for your benefit, not mine. SCIS has no jurisdiction over the Triangle, and especially none over the drifter city Oblivion. Whatever is bought and sold there is none of our business. We don't even collect rumors about it."

"Because you couldn't do anything with the information, even if you collected it?" Kellian asked. Part of him wanted to call her on her statement; the other half suspected she already had more than enough on her plate and didn't need to have activity in the Triangle added to it.

Pantoufle gave Michaels an odd look. "Sure," she drawled after a moment. "Let's go with that."

Kellian gave her a questioning look back.

Jacen frowned, and stood up. He logged out of his console and walked over to look out one of the windows. For our benefit? More like enticing us with some juicy tidbits so we can do her job for her. he thought to himself

After a brief pause, Andrew folded his hands on the table, being as diplomatic as he knew how, "I'm sure we all appreciate this informational briefing. Can I assume we'll be kept informed if something relevant turns up in your investigation?"

"Of course," Pantoufle answered. "And we expect the same courtesy."

Raising his eyebrow slightly, and leaning back in his chair, Andrew nodded looking quickly at the rest of the officers, "Seems fair to me."

 

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