...They will sing.
Posted on Thu Nov 21st, 2019 @ 10:31am by Captain Luka Mahone & Cornelius Warner MS
2,015 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Canary
Location: Secured Shuttle Site
Timeline: MD06 2300HRS
The wonderful thing about space travel is that "jet lag" is a lot worse. For new transfers it can be as bad as not being used to the different operating hours from one colony to the next. Ship time only made it worse. To resolve this, new transfers often had special exceptions to work hours to get used to the new planet, and with civilians this was even more apparent. So even though the moon was high in the sky and the stars twinkled, the one guard outside the doors to the facility didn't question too much as Cornelius showed him an ID badge that stated he was an engineering specialist that had been recently transferred. A thick coat and scarf obscuring the majority of his face, hidden from the slight cold and a "my last posting was basically tropical all year round" gained him a nod, and entrance into the facility. Of course it all checked out, Cornelius had planted the information there himself, and would delete it a few hours later. He just needed a peek at the shuttle in question.
Quick-Fab structures were never warm, but they were warm enough to ditch the thick layers at the lockers. Stretching a little and clipping his comm badge to his chest, he smiled and moved through the building towards the centre of it. Doors hissed open, his ID badge was registered as being allowed to move towards the area housing the shuttle, but as soon as he moved through, it was like the computers forgot. A small bit of SFI technology, as active camouflage was so impractical, and just wiping yourself from sensor sweeps as you went had a way better application. After all, people didn't stop to consider another person. Grabbing a pair of glasses from his coat, and tucking part of his face under a face mask (someone clearly though airborn contagions were a possibility and had thought ahead, making his life easier) he finally approached the observation room, and the final barrier before he could get to the shuttle itself. Here he stopped to stand and consider it. It was definitely old, that much was apparent from looking at it, and sure enough, it was missing it's registration entirely. In fact, it had absolutely no markings what so ever, which caused the man to cross his arms and stare it it, trying to figure out just why.
"Please tell me you wandered in here on accident."
Luka knew better than to naively think the sighting of Cornelius Warner in a supposedly highly secure area was coincidental, but he had to ask. The Captain, dogless for once, had his hands in his pockets. He arrived after Cornelius had, making small talk with the young guard who happened to be stuck with duty overnight.
Then came the innocent 'oh I bet you're here to see the new science guy' comment. It was an odd tip off. Luka only meant to peek his head into the lab to see what this shuttle even looked like, but now he had a clear reason to be snooping about himself. He had a guarded curiosity when he entered the area, only to find a minor annoyance at the sight of the other man. "... And if not, I have questions for you."
"Captain, I don't want to lie to you, so I shan't." Turning around to face the man, he pulled his mask off and offered a smile. "So how about we jump to the questions?"
Luka kept his tongue for a moment. Even if they were both here 'informally,' he was still the Captain. He probably should have acted like it.
But, instead of turning to give Cornelius a tirade of questions, Luka instead kept it as short as possible; "What do you know?"
"It's a shuttle." The words were playful in tone, but buried beneath that was the truth. "Not much else. Honestly, I wasn't sure what had happened, and I know that when there is a gag order, that there is something interesting happening. So I came to find out exactly what I could know." Corenlius leaned forward, looking at the console. "And since you're here, how much do you know? Or, how much do you want to know?"
Luka made a point of closing the distance between the pair, leaning against the console Cornelius was inspecting. What little power he felt he had, he could at least attempt to insert into the situation. Sort of. "I know just about as much as you do. It's a shuttle. And no one knows who it belongs to, or why it's so important. All we've got is this," he gestured to the shuttle, "And that there are people who aren't happy we have it. What I want to know is why."
People was an interesting choice of words, and one that lead Cornelius to read between the lines. Starfleet was what was implied, and Intelligence was further more. And once again, the mystery as to why he wasn't told something was happening in his backyard struck a sour note with him. "Probably because it's not supposed to be here," finally the spy said. "It's old, and from where I am standing it's missing it's registry. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist though, just that someone worked hard to hide it." A few key strokes into the console the the various sensors in the room whirred to life. A minute or two later the console beeped back, finding nothing. "Or, it never had one." Shifting to give the Captain a closer look, he pointed to the sensor suite on the front.
"This shuttle is old, carbon dating puts it from the mid-2200's. I'd guess Constitution classes were still the peak of the fleet when this shuttle departed. Shuttles were not known for having any real high quality sensor packages, since they could not operate far from a starship. This shuttle on the other hand, has a very powerful sensor suite. But... for what?"
"I'm surprised the science teams could glean any of that from this hull." Luka took a few steps toward the giant, decaying mystery, peering through the viewport. "Most of the packets have been gutted. But... that's concerning. It's all concerning." He crossed his arms over his chest, moving back over to look at the readings on the console. "... No one's told you anything, have they?"
"If I had been told, I wouldn't have come snooping," replied Warner simply. "No, no one saw fit to tell me this was here. More worrisome is that when I placed a formal inquiry, there was a lot of deliberate attempts to redirect and dissuade me." The man reached up and slipped the glasses he wore off his face to rub his eyes before replacing them. "No something here is very wrong."
"I'm... pretty sure the kids on the street could have told us that." Luka pointed out wryly. "... But yes, it is. And I'd rather know what's wrong here before someone comes in and snatches it up. Or hides it behind some classified files and a lot of red tape. Even my informal inquiries are coming up fruitless."
Luka narrowed his eyes at the shuttle. "... If we can figure it out first, then we can figure out if there's something else we need to worry about coming down the line."
"Captain, if someone has told you to stop looking into this, then something is coming down the line we need to worry about. And if they are so concerned about a shuttle that is nearly one hundred and fifty years old, then whatever is in this, is something we should really dig into." Crossing his arms, the spook pursed his lips. "If you want my advice, I would cut the door open, but use the civilian side to do so. You can't lock them out easily, but you can say they did it without your permission. Stafleet can't punish them, and you wash your hands of it. Once you are in, get some power and copy the computer core to a remote centre."
Luka quirked his brow. "I think that's the first thing we've both agreed upon. The science teams have already looked into it, but there is a minor caveat in that some of the Starfleet scientists are insisting they have involvement..." The Captain began to mutter under his breath in thought, concerned about the moving parts that he had to take note of. "And I'm more concerned about SFI deciding they're just going to take the whole science team with them, civilian, Starfleet, or otherwise. And a remote computer center... do we even have that? I'm sure we do..."
He paused, holding up a hand. "I'm sure we can figure something out. How long do you think we'd have for this, in your experience?"
"Intel would have dispatched an unassuming ship, an Intrepid-class or maybe an old Excelsior. Something no one would pay heed to. We're not exactly a Core World, so I would say that likely a week from when you told them. A couple days left on that, give or take. When you get a Federation ship in orbit that has been 'redirected to assist' or even was 'part of a patrol route', then you know your time is up." Cornelius scratched at his face absentmindedly. "They'll come down, act buddy-buddy, then as soon as they have agents in here, they'll push you out and secure the site. They'll wipe the ship's computer, burn out any hardware, cook the hull a little more, and then say it was a false alarm and leave you the slag heap to leave with." Closing his eyes, he did quick math. "Whole operation will be stretched to two days, and then they'll leave all cool like."
Opening his eyes and looking to the Captain, the spook's face was almost sympathetic, marred only by a frown. "I have a private database under the bar that I can destroy any trace to, and they aren't allowed to touch it without an actual admiral setting foot on the planet and asking for it himself. So unless you think Commodore Minawara is going to come raise hell with you, I think you're fine."
Luka drew out a long breath. With as much as there was to process, he felt oddly clear about what to do. They needed the answers, and with potential trouble looming overhead, there truly was only one way to go. "We should go through with it," he resolved. "It's not like I'm going to report a secret database to the higher ups, and I'm already going through with the investigation in 'ignorance' of a message. I'm not here to play the left hand of Starfleet's secrecy. Not if it means potential danger to the colony."
He folded his arms against his chest, a small smirk on his face. "I'm sure there's some other reason for the Starfleet presence, but until then... colony security is primary."
"We all play into Starfleet's hands, sir," replied Warner, replacing the glasses and offering a smile. "Until this is resolved I am at your disposal, and then will try and stay out of your hair for a little while." The smile evolved into a full fledged grin, and he added "But I make no promises, I don't often keep my nose clean." He turned on his heels and made for the door. He paused, not looking back and added, "Don't trust anyone Luka, there is a really good chance that someone here will spill the beans if you tell them the truth. They may not even mean it. If you do need to talk..." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a single, unassuming key, and placed it on the table next to the door. "My bar is always open for you. Don't make me regret that." With that he made his way through the door and back through the facility, off into the night.
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