Mr. Lotor, You Have Some Explaining To Do
Posted on Tue Jan 31st, 2023 @ 7:28am by Lieutenant Helena Issacks & Rocoa Lotor
1,545 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Roll With It
Location: Haumea Flight Pad
Timeline: MD 02 : 1238 Hrs
There was a relief for Helena, upon hearing that their forcefield issue was nothing more than a holographic anomaly. One that seemed dead set on keeping people safe, at that. The report she was given detailed some absurd events, but the woman was now set on finding the source of this bubble-turned-headache of an issue.
But without a look into the programming of this field herself, she had little to go on in terms of evidence. So, that left her asking around the colony's inhabitants. Who interacted with potentially experimental holographic technology on any basis at all? Not the science labs, not in a way that was not cleared by the engineering crews. And no one she was aware of had asked for clearance of such an energy draw or even use of a holographic suite.
Which left her grasping at straws and making suspicious looks at everyone who looked even remotely guilty.
Her last guess, longshot as it might have been, was the only member of the colony she had a hard time tracking; Rocoa Lotor. Surely, after he was partially responsible for blowing a hole in the side of a cliff, he would think twice about plugging in technology that would have caused such a fuss. But, Helena was not going to rule the possibility out, so she made sure she was there moments after the Atala's shuttle landed to deposit the away team safely home. And, while Graham took the youthful-looking doctor away, Helena took the moment to make her move while the Procyor was set on his own.
"Mr. Lotor, a word," she stated. Not a question, but a firm statement.
"In a minute." It wasn't that Rocky hadn't caught the security officer's tone. He just didn't feel the need to jump to in response. He wasn't Starfleet after all, and you couldn't go letting security types think had more authority over you than they did. Of course, it didn't do to outright offend anyone. As a GD rep, he tried to be on good terms with Starfleet (or at least the people in it that might make purchasing decisions). "I have biological samples here that have to be transferred to proper storage," he explained, pulling a stasis box onto a hover cart and starting to push it toward the exit. "You're welcome to have a word walking with me though."
"We can stop by wherever," Helena stated blandly, already ready to keep in step with a potential runaway. It was not that she suspected Rocky already, but it would be unwise of her to not be ready for any situation. At the very least, if he did run, it would confirm suspicions. "So long as our last stop ends up being the Security Offices. You know, for official statements. Then, I'm sure you'll be back to business afterward."
"Sure." The racoon-like Procyor shrugged nonchalantly, fully expecting this would be yet another idiotic complaint about food going missing somewhere or candy disappearing from a bowl - as if candy set out in a public space wasn't there precisely so that people could take it! But then his attention was primarily on the cart and thinking about what he could do with the samples in within. Could the tissue be cultured? Possibly induced to root like a normal cutting? Or maybe grafted onto a native plant...
Helena made a dismissive gesture toward the glaring field surrounding the majority of the city proper as they walked past, "I'm sure you haven't heard, but I find it odd that a couple hours after the Atala left orbit that this happens to have happened to the colony. We're turning every lead at this point, but you wouldn't have happened to know anything about what's going on there, would you?"
Rocky looked up. And stopped in his tracks, ears straight up and tail poofed. What in rotted-egg hell had those sons of rabid lizards done with his program?!? He shook himself and looked up at the security officer. "I do not know how that happened," he stated tightly, pointed teeth showing below flattened lips. "But I intend to find out. Where is Mr. Bray?"
The security officer's eyes narrowed, but considering the circumstances, and the body language she was receiving from Rocky, Helena had a sneaking suspicion she was at least somewhat barking up the right tree. Or at least, close to it. "Then we're on the same page, because we'd all like to know." She tilted her head toward the horizon, where the sight of the bubble nearly blocked out half the treeline. "We're not sure where Mr. Bray has gone off to, but the best guess is in there."
"Wonderful," Rocky replied in a voice that dripped with sarcasm. "As to what's going on, that looks like the shield bubble for a predictive holographic simm I installed for Bray a couple days ago. EXCEPT there is no way it should be that big - the power draw for that is way outside the program parameters. All I can think is someone in there decided to mess with settings and crank everything up to 11ty, and even then they'd need to over ride something to hook into the power grid..." The engineer blew out a frustrated puff of air. "Scientists! I should never have trusted them with full permissions."
Helena's brow raised in surprise. Did she fully blame Rocky for what was going on? No. It seemed to be a series of unfortunate circumstances that happened to lead to someone who was constantly blamed for explosions and malfunctions.
But blame and accusations could honestly wait till they were all unstuck from this disaster. "At the very least, it sounds like you'll be able to help us out," she said neutrally. "We've got some engineers working on disconnecting the power grid - which is what this holographic program seems to be drawing its energy from. How it did that, I'll leave that to you and the engineers to figure out."
"Right." Rocky looked at his stasis box and frowned. "I'm going to need someone to authorize temporary storage for this in the Starfleet bio lab. Then I'm going to need somewhere to work." He cracked his knuckles. "If it can reach out to pull energy from us, I should be able to reach in and shut it down."
"Consider it authorized." Helena was not going to waste a moment of their time. "And-" she couldn't believe she was about to say this. She could hear the Captain's objections now. "What do you need? And where do you need it?"
Hmmm... Anything? That sounded like he could ask for anything. Rocky suppressed an opportunistic smile. "I need an Ops terminal with access to power systems and coding privileges." Seeing hesitation, he quickly pushed on. "I need to see where and how this drawing power and trace that back. Bray, Starfleet and the municipality all have firewalls, but somehow this breached all of them!" He made a mental note to pitch upgrades to all three. "I need to find those exploits to reverse this!" He paused and straightened his jumpsuit. "And snacks. Lots of snacks."
The dry look on Helena's face cemented itself for the beat it took for her to think on the matter. "I'll get you the terminal - with supervision," she clarified. "While you have the expertise on the matter, the clearance is something you're without. Need I remind you that if you do anything that makes the situation worse, it's not going to look good for you." Her eyes narrowed. "... We'll rain check you on the snacks."
"Of course I'll need an Ops officer to provide permissions. That goes without saying." Rocky flipped a dismissive hand, ignoring the insult. Security types! It would be a relief to speak someone from from Ops who might at least understand the rudiments of the task. But on the issue of snacks his eyes narrowed right back. "Rain check? Did all your replicators go off line too? If you require optimum work, then I require energy, fuel for thought - candied crayfish, cheese crackers, donuts, and coffee, extra whipped cream, extra caramel, extra cream and sugar." He crossed his arms with a huff. "It's not like I'm asking for time and half - which I'd have a right to! I just got back from an away mission after all."
Helena folded her arms in annoyance. Why was it that everyone around here complained so much? Demands. Everyone had demands.
"Considering the draw of energy, I'd be surprised if we got a replicator to make more than black coffee," she stated dully. "I'll get you set up with Ops, and we'll see... what we can do... about the ... food."
Rocky rolled his eyes. "There are ships and shuttles with replicators run from their own dedicated power supply," he said giving the security muscle a 'Do I have to do all thinking here?' look. "Now, run along and make the arrangements while I get my samples stowed. I guess I'll have to check that the stasis boxes haven't been stripped for power cells by hungry biotechs..." he muttered as he pushed his container toward the bio labs.
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