Patterns of Destruction!

Posted on Mon Feb 4th, 2013 @ 2:03pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Lieutenant JG Marcus Augusta PHD

1,109 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Sowing the Seeds
Location: Bridge, USS Ranger
Timeline: Slight backpost. BEFORE "The Wheat from the Chaff".

ON:

Once Barker had left the bridge, Elsie marched over to Augusta at the main Security/Tactical terminal and placed a hand on the surround of his console, peering down at his readout. "Anything?" she queried, trying not to seem intimidating but insistent nonetheless. "This is all so bizarre!"

Marc moved slightly to his right so as to both allow the CO a better look at his readings but also to help shield their conversation from the rest of the bridge crew.

"Nothing that can be scientifically verified without further evidence ma'am. But I believe I have a hypothesis." Marc's matter of fact presentation barely disguised the fact that despite his diplomatic presentation, he was convinced that his hypothosis was in fact the truth.

Elsie remained tight-lipped, cocked her head to the side and emphatically raised her right eyebrow to indicate her attention.

Marc punched in commands rather then ask the computer in order to avoid notifying the rest of the bridge crew before he had solid evidence. His gloved hands gliding over the interface like a fish through water. Augusta's electronic travel's took him first into the computer's memory core from the past few hours and then into years gone by. Once Marc was satisfied he had found an appropriate comparison he began his explanation.

Keeping his voice low so as to diliberatly not to involve anyone other than the captain himself, Marc spoke gravely.

"This is a sensor recording from our external array during the first 9 seconds of the Dubai's explosion. Note the location of the initial and secondary explosions as well as the dispersal pattern of the debris."

Marc and the captain looked on as the recording recounted the last few moments of the 1000 plus individuals who's lives had ended abruptly in the moments there were witnessing for the second time. Once the recording had played through Marc entered a set of new commands that removed the image of the doomed Dubai and replaced it with three smaller images of seemingly identical galaxy class vessels of exactly the same specifications as the Dubai, the USS Alexandra B, USS Tel'aviv and the USS Belfast, ships all known for they way they met their end.

Elsie watched the starships on the screen and shook her head as her brow furrowed. She shot a look to Marc and then moved back down to the screen.

Marc initiated the playback choosing to allow his theory to speak for itself. All three of the vessels began to explode in tandem, producing their own debris fields, debris fields that to the naked eye seemed to bare an undeniable resplendence to one another.

Elsie's eyes widened as she lowered both her head and her voice. "What is the single factor between these destructions, Lieutenant?" she asked, searching her mind for her own answer. She looked again at the Belfast as her heart sank, focusing on the named bulkhead that could be seen ripping apart in space. "The Belfast," she mentioned quietly. "A lot of good officers aboard that ship." She sighed and was reminded of one of her Academy colleagues, the then Commander Broadbent-Ward." I knew the ship's First Officer from my time on the Damascus. He was a Lieutenant back then." She thought again as the sadness began to well within her. "From what I remember, the Belfast self-destructed. And if that's the case, and you're implying what I believe you are, then you believe the Dubai met the same way."

She thought back through her memory again and something struck her. "My starship engineering knowledge isn't what it was, but I'm sure the Galaxy class ships' self-destruct incorporated the palm-print reader in Main Engineering. Executed by both First Officer and Captain."

Marc gave a swift but confirming nodd, "Indeed the galaxy class does incorporate that method however, if my engineering and operations knowledge is up to spec it was widely unpopular with Co's when brought into service for a number of reasons and a variety of well documented methods exist to override that protocol." Lowering his voice further and moving slightly closer to the captain to avoid anyone overhearing.

"Particularly given the state of affairs aboard the Dubai it would stand to reason that the CO would want to place as little authority as possible in the hands of an executive officer who was questioning his judgement and command decisions." Marc trailed the final part of the sentence off with a small but poorly concealed glace over at the empty executive officers chair.

Elsie followed his gaze to T'mpest's chair and then shot him a knowing glance.

"Unfortunately, it is possible with the combined authorization of other high ranking officers, the XO can initiate the self destruct aboard a vessel against the captains wishes." Marc flatly stated his opinion to pointedly that he felt the need to at least provide some kind of disclaimer. "This is all of course conjecture, ma'am."

Elsie nodded, taking in Augusta's theory. She couldn't help but align herself with his way of thinking, despite her better judgement going against it. If there was one thing she couldn't fault him on it was linear and supported way of thinking. "So, self-destruct?" she added, narrowing her gaze knowingly at him. "Now the question is who and why?"

Marc once again had his theories, backed up by his considerable experience, however he had no comparative evidence to support them. His frustration over not being able to answer the CO's question angered him, an anger that caused his headache to only swell and pound more furiously against his skull.

Briefly placing one of his gloved hands across his brow, hoping that he had miraculously developed some kind of analgesic touch to numb the pain, he attempted to provide an insightful answer to the CO's query.

"Regardless of the clear rift that existed between the CO and XO aboard the Dubai, self destructing the vessel with all its occupants would seem not to serve either's more obvious goals. Put simply, ma'am, none of this makes sense. We're missing something integral to the story. And in my experience, once we find it, everything else will fall into place."

Elsie inhaled slowly and then held it. She agreed. The keystone to the whole fiasco of this situation was, she assumed, still buried in the logs and files over on the Dubai. She shot him a glance and then patted his shoulder. "Good work, Lieutenant," and she headed to rendezvous with Baker in Astrometics.]

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