Things Past – Tip of the Iceberg: Part 8 - The Last Message
by Arrival Kaia
Post Details
ON:
Jennings replayed the message again.
"I know it's been over a year, but there's been a breakthrough. My contact over in Intel wasn't able to find much about the incident at Alpha Mensae, but he did find something. I don't know how he got it, but apparently it took some work going through Starfleet intelligence’s Romulan and Ferengi networks. What little he has able to find out from Starfleet’s internal databases is all classified for Flag Officers only. The attached file is from a ship called the USS Cerberus, registry NCC-77919 apparently used to be part of Task Force 72-B, that’s the Black Ravens task group. Even finding that much was a major risk. Apparently people have gone missing searching for this information, even within federation space. John, I don't know what you think you're going to find with this line of inquiry, but please be careful.
You'll have to do the digging from here on out on your own. Dredging up this much has made things too hot here for the time being. The Intel guy is already under internal investigation."
Jennings had looked over the file’s contents. It appeared to be an old crew manifest, utterly ordinary, except for the fact that it belonged to a ship that never existed, and more than one person had disappeared trying to find it. The sound bite played on...
“Something big is going on. The ship disappeared years ago with barely a trace. The fleet recycled the name AND the registration number separately. Searching for information regarding the USS Cerberus will turn up a centaur class ship with registry NCC-42381. While a search for NCC-77919 will turn up records for the USS Cavalry.
Both of these ships are younger than three years. Any search for the combination "USS Cerberus NCC-77919" in records prior to the year 2381 turns up nothing, and just searching for that combination of terms gets you flagged by Intel and temporal investigations. So don't even try it through official channels. This is the last transmission I'll be able to send you about this. I didn't read the file, for my own safety. And I hope to the maker you know what you're doing by looking at it. Even so, I'm sure I can expect Starfleet officers in the black collars to show up asking questions soon enough. Good luck, John, and God speed."
What was it about this list of names? This information was nearly a decade old, if the file tags were to be believed. He’d spent the last several months trying to parse the information. Was it the information itself, or was the manifest a cover for some kind of code?
Jennings had strained himself, using computer programs and non-starfleet contacts to look up information for him. Using separate and staggered searches relayed through proxies and independent parties, he’d found a perfectly normal Starfleet dossier for everyone on the list, and with few exceptions, they were all listed as having a “classified” final posting, followed by being listed Missing In Action.
There were some exceptions. Most of those exceptions seemed to have escaped from whatever fate ultimately found the Cerberus itself. According to the dossiers, the Cerberus’ Chief SECOPS officer James T. Lasitter was given command of the USS Nagasaki, where he eventually was killed in the line of duty. The Chief Intel Officer Sobahl and Chief Diplomatic Officer Nexus Andron transferred under Lasitter’s command and both KIA as well.
Marine Captain Erik Tuckerson was processed through courts martial, yet somehow also had managed to secure transfer to the USS Nagasaki. He was eventually promoted to Intel and became involved in some sort of clandestine work and later transferred to Klingon space as an envoy and had fallen off the grid.
The Cerberus’ Chief Counselor Jayne Smythe had likewise been transferred to the Nagasaki under Lasitter’s command. She had been promoted to XO and transferred to the USS Osiris. When the captain of the Osiris went MIA, Smythe was apparently slated to take command, but had some vaguely defined mental breakdown and was transferred to a counseling center near the edge of federation space, near the Klingon border. She too, fell off the grid, and the Klingons were even less forthcoming with information.
All those trails had gone cold. But the coldest trail was stranger yet.
Jennings’ contacts had found no record whatsoever of the Cerberus’ Chief Engineer. Two of his contacts that he’d asked to research the name never reported back, and he had yet to manage to contact them. According to the manifest his uncle in San Francisco had so nervously sent him, the chief engineer had been a young trill woman, barely 23 when she received the position. That had to be some kind of record.
But records there were none.
At all.
Only a name, “Sh’Zhan’n Ki”
A person who didn’t exist on a ship that didn’t exist.
The crewman’s training in security had taught him to be a rational and deductive thinker, and he wasn’t one to fall for conspiracies lightly. Earlier in his investigation he’d considered just passing of as hoax the oddly hidden cache of federation medals that he had discovered while performing a search on the young Trill’s quarters here on the station. He thought he’d been drawn into paranoia by some costume jewelry, but over time, his uncle grew more and more scared. This concerned John greatly, and he tapped the button on his PADD to play the last message he had received from his uncle once more.
“…going through Starfleet intelligence’s Romulan and Ferengi networks…”
Romulans and Ferengi? Starfleet crew falling off the grid in Klingon space? Did this conspiracy involve every political faction in the alpha and beta quadrants?
“…major risk. Apparently people have gone missing searching for this information, even within federation space. John, I don't…”
He hadn’t given the line much thought, expecting the standard channel traces he’s been taught to run at the academy. He’d thought his uncle was just being overly paranoid. That was, at least, until some of his own contacts had started disappearing after he had asked them to help him. Even family and mutual friends hadn’t been able to locate the missing persons.
Then his aunt had gotten the call.
She had been told that his uncle had been gotten involved in some classified project, and would be away on assignment for “some time.” His uncle had never been involved in anything clandestine before. He was a desk jockey, such as Starfleet had them. He had access to information, which was the reason John thought his uncle could help to begin with.
“…gets you flagged by Intel and temporal investigations. So don't even try it…”
If the people who worked Intel were a little creepy, then the folks at TI were downright spooks. He’d heard all the jokes at the academy, “How do you tell an Intel officer from a TI officer? Whisper a joke into your lapel and see which one laughs.” It had started out fun and games, but he’d seen TI officers only once during his time in Starfleet, and nobody ever had anything cheerful to say about them.
“…soon enough. Good luck, John, and God speed."
It had been almost a year since he had gotten the message. And since then he had only worked through external contacts, never searching for anything himself. As of now, his calls for updates were all returned negative, or not at all. He was once again alone in his search for truth.
He activated a console and began establishing a secure channel. “Why would a recipient of the Federation's highest honor be buried and hidden like this? Who are you…”
OFF:
NPC's played by
Kaia
Civilian
Owner of Xenogy Survey Services
Deep Space 5
"No plan, no technology, is so perfect as to truly be idiot proof."
by Arrival Kaia
Post Details
| Title | Tip of the Iceberg: Part 8 - The Last Message | |
| Mission | Things Past | |
| Author(s) | Arrival Kaia | |
| Posted | Mon May 23, 2011 @ 7:48pm | |
| Location | Enlisted Crew Barracks | |
| Timeline | Backpost (Interlude) |
Jennings replayed the message again.
"I know it's been over a year, but there's been a breakthrough. My contact over in Intel wasn't able to find much about the incident at Alpha Mensae, but he did find something. I don't know how he got it, but apparently it took some work going through Starfleet intelligence’s Romulan and Ferengi networks. What little he has able to find out from Starfleet’s internal databases is all classified for Flag Officers only. The attached file is from a ship called the USS Cerberus, registry NCC-77919 apparently used to be part of Task Force 72-B, that’s the Black Ravens task group. Even finding that much was a major risk. Apparently people have gone missing searching for this information, even within federation space. John, I don't know what you think you're going to find with this line of inquiry, but please be careful.
You'll have to do the digging from here on out on your own. Dredging up this much has made things too hot here for the time being. The Intel guy is already under internal investigation."
Jennings had looked over the file’s contents. It appeared to be an old crew manifest, utterly ordinary, except for the fact that it belonged to a ship that never existed, and more than one person had disappeared trying to find it. The sound bite played on...
“Something big is going on. The ship disappeared years ago with barely a trace. The fleet recycled the name AND the registration number separately. Searching for information regarding the USS Cerberus will turn up a centaur class ship with registry NCC-42381. While a search for NCC-77919 will turn up records for the USS Cavalry.
Both of these ships are younger than three years. Any search for the combination "USS Cerberus NCC-77919" in records prior to the year 2381 turns up nothing, and just searching for that combination of terms gets you flagged by Intel and temporal investigations. So don't even try it through official channels. This is the last transmission I'll be able to send you about this. I didn't read the file, for my own safety. And I hope to the maker you know what you're doing by looking at it. Even so, I'm sure I can expect Starfleet officers in the black collars to show up asking questions soon enough. Good luck, John, and God speed."
What was it about this list of names? This information was nearly a decade old, if the file tags were to be believed. He’d spent the last several months trying to parse the information. Was it the information itself, or was the manifest a cover for some kind of code?
Jennings had strained himself, using computer programs and non-starfleet contacts to look up information for him. Using separate and staggered searches relayed through proxies and independent parties, he’d found a perfectly normal Starfleet dossier for everyone on the list, and with few exceptions, they were all listed as having a “classified” final posting, followed by being listed Missing In Action.
There were some exceptions. Most of those exceptions seemed to have escaped from whatever fate ultimately found the Cerberus itself. According to the dossiers, the Cerberus’ Chief SECOPS officer James T. Lasitter was given command of the USS Nagasaki, where he eventually was killed in the line of duty. The Chief Intel Officer Sobahl and Chief Diplomatic Officer Nexus Andron transferred under Lasitter’s command and both KIA as well.
Marine Captain Erik Tuckerson was processed through courts martial, yet somehow also had managed to secure transfer to the USS Nagasaki. He was eventually promoted to Intel and became involved in some sort of clandestine work and later transferred to Klingon space as an envoy and had fallen off the grid.
The Cerberus’ Chief Counselor Jayne Smythe had likewise been transferred to the Nagasaki under Lasitter’s command. She had been promoted to XO and transferred to the USS Osiris. When the captain of the Osiris went MIA, Smythe was apparently slated to take command, but had some vaguely defined mental breakdown and was transferred to a counseling center near the edge of federation space, near the Klingon border. She too, fell off the grid, and the Klingons were even less forthcoming with information.
All those trails had gone cold. But the coldest trail was stranger yet.
Jennings’ contacts had found no record whatsoever of the Cerberus’ Chief Engineer. Two of his contacts that he’d asked to research the name never reported back, and he had yet to manage to contact them. According to the manifest his uncle in San Francisco had so nervously sent him, the chief engineer had been a young trill woman, barely 23 when she received the position. That had to be some kind of record.
But records there were none.
At all.
Only a name, “Sh’Zhan’n Ki”
A person who didn’t exist on a ship that didn’t exist.
The crewman’s training in security had taught him to be a rational and deductive thinker, and he wasn’t one to fall for conspiracies lightly. Earlier in his investigation he’d considered just passing of as hoax the oddly hidden cache of federation medals that he had discovered while performing a search on the young Trill’s quarters here on the station. He thought he’d been drawn into paranoia by some costume jewelry, but over time, his uncle grew more and more scared. This concerned John greatly, and he tapped the button on his PADD to play the last message he had received from his uncle once more.
“…going through Starfleet intelligence’s Romulan and Ferengi networks…”
Romulans and Ferengi? Starfleet crew falling off the grid in Klingon space? Did this conspiracy involve every political faction in the alpha and beta quadrants?
“…major risk. Apparently people have gone missing searching for this information, even within federation space. John, I don't…”
He hadn’t given the line much thought, expecting the standard channel traces he’s been taught to run at the academy. He’d thought his uncle was just being overly paranoid. That was, at least, until some of his own contacts had started disappearing after he had asked them to help him. Even family and mutual friends hadn’t been able to locate the missing persons.
Then his aunt had gotten the call.
She had been told that his uncle had been gotten involved in some classified project, and would be away on assignment for “some time.” His uncle had never been involved in anything clandestine before. He was a desk jockey, such as Starfleet had them. He had access to information, which was the reason John thought his uncle could help to begin with.
“…gets you flagged by Intel and temporal investigations. So don't even try it…”
If the people who worked Intel were a little creepy, then the folks at TI were downright spooks. He’d heard all the jokes at the academy, “How do you tell an Intel officer from a TI officer? Whisper a joke into your lapel and see which one laughs.” It had started out fun and games, but he’d seen TI officers only once during his time in Starfleet, and nobody ever had anything cheerful to say about them.
“…soon enough. Good luck, John, and God speed."
It had been almost a year since he had gotten the message. And since then he had only worked through external contacts, never searching for anything himself. As of now, his calls for updates were all returned negative, or not at all. He was once again alone in his search for truth.
He activated a console and began establishing a secure channel. “Why would a recipient of the Federation's highest honor be buried and hidden like this? Who are you…”
OFF:
NPC's played by
Kaia
Civilian
Owner of Xenogy Survey Services
Deep Space 5
"No plan, no technology, is so perfect as to truly be idiot proof."