Security Concerns

Posted on Sat Apr 2nd, 2022 @ 4:01am by Lieutenant Commander Ull Arkyn & Lieutenant Commander Klarth & Ensign Aakan Jun

795 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Into The Void
Location: Arkyn's Stateroom

After the meeting adjourned Ull invited Klarth up to the office in his stateroom. "You had some concerns that you wanted to discuss?"

"Yes, I was wondering where you are with tracking down this practical joker? You see I have some cases that may or may not be related?"

"You know of Lieutenant Fitzgerald's mystery illness and that the pathogen had hitched a ride in one of her cases. But she claims that she opened the case and immediately passed out, but someone called for help. What do the security logs say? And I don't find making someone sick very funny, but is it possible it is the work of the joker? What other sorts of things have been reported?"

And there is another matter, one that is a very sensitive and I am trusting your discretion. There were several books published by a company based on Mars called Blue Sky. The books are said to be written by Tina Loehr, but I suspect they were written by someone on the ship. As though highly sensationalized they seem to be based on certain details about my life as well as my Head nurse S'Lace. She is the one that brought me the information and when you see for yourself (Klarth had Ull a datapad it is open to an ad for the book. It was the image of a large Klingon wielding a battered bat'leth, his expression fierce. Behind him was a Vulcan female, attractive, her hair long, wielding a disruptor, her clothing torn and displaying a considerable amount of skin. It was an ad for a novel: Targ! Honorless Dog, by Hina Troel. "I came across this a few months ago. It tells the story of a dishonored Klingon doctor who must perform a hundred noble deeds to regain his name. He is joined on his adventures by a Vulcan woman who approaches him to help her solve the mystery of the death of her husband.").

After Ull had time to read the screen Klarth continued, "So I'm sure you understand why S'Lace found the existence of the book equally unnerving and angering as I did."

"But there is even more," Klarth continued "the same author has also written several YA novels" he manipulated the screen and revealed the face of a handsome woman of late middle age, an almost impish smile upon her face. "The titles are Deneva Dawn, Mars Maelstrom, Vulcan Vortex and Tellar Tempest." The book advertisements showed a human teenage girl with red hair and a pretty freckled face, in her arms was a blue cat.

"The protagonist is Venture Jones and her telepathic mutant blue cat, Malla." Klarth continued. "She travels through space on a star ship captained by her aunt, D'Arcy Dwyer....I'm sure I don't have to tell you it all bears a strong resemblance to the Captain and her niece. Now luckily they books are kid stuff and I talked to Dare and she kind of laughed it off but, also wants to find out who is behind it."

Ull looked at the screen Klarth was showing him and thinking about it all. "That is a lot to take in. Have the books been searched through to make sure there aren't any bits of classified materials or tactics in them? I can understand your anger about this and we shall see if we can figure out who is working them."

"Thank you very much for your understanding and your willingness to pursue this issue," said Klarth. "My focus was more on which of my and S'Lace's personal details were found in the novel. Classified material didn't really enter my mind. But that would definitely be a smart thing to look for as it would help narrow the suspects."

Ull took another moment to think back through everything. "I hadn't heard about the mysterious illness, but I will make sure to go through the logs and see who was with her when she passed out. Also, the only thing so far I had been tracking with the practical joker was the music playing for the Captain every time she entered the ship. I haven't dedicated too much time on it yet because the Captain had said it was low priority and my focus has been on making sure our underway went smoothly."

"Yes please let me know what you find out about Lieutenant Fitzgerald," said Klarth."Well, the joker might prove to be unrelated. But it's worth pursuing. I'm happy to help you look into the matter if you think my help would be of any use."

"No problem, Doctor. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything out." Ull smiled at Klarth.

"Thank you," says Klarth, feeling reassured by his talk with the Commander.

 

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