Paranoia

Posted on Wed Dec 13th, 2023 @ 4:38am by Lieutenant Commander Kevin Lance

Mission: CSI: Chuck Norris
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Before Begin Watched

on:
{Deck 5, Port Landing Thruster Bay}

Kevin’s science experiment paid off. Based on the rate of melting of a known quantity of ice, he was able to calculate with a reasonable amount of precision the temperature of different areas of the bay. He was able to determine that the greatest heat was being generated by transporter transceiver that shared the bay with the antigrav thruster. Maintenance records showed that routine maintenance had been performed during the ship’s layover at Earth Spacedock while the crew was on leave and that it had checked out as operating within parameters. However, the security seal on the access hatch did not match with the maintenance records. It could have been an error in the record keeping but Kevin doubted it. The maintenance chief confirmed that no one on the Norris had reported unscheduled maintenance on the transceiver.

A clean maintenance history, excessive heat generation, an improperly recorded security seal, and computer sensors showing optimal operation of the transceiver. It was too many flukes for this to be merely an unscheduled maintenance failure. Something else was going on but not even the Chief could say for certain without a detailed inspection and that would require taking the transporter system offline.

Kevin was about to tap his comm badge when a thought stayed his hand. Lieutenant Kronnelti had reported that the intruder that had attacked Commander Rodale in the medical bay had blended in with the surroundings and been almost impossible to see. Kevin feared that one of them might be in a position to overhear electronic communications. Better to speak directly to the Captain or XO about taking the transporter system offline.

“Stay here,” Kevin order the Chief, “I will go and bring back a maintenance team.”

The Chief gave a questioning look as if he thought the order was plumb crazy but Kevin stared him down. The Chief finally shrugged and said, “Aye, sir.”

{Captain’s Ready Room}

“What the hell is this about, Lieutenant,” the Captain asked with more curiosity than malice.

Kevin wasn’t certain what to be looking for as his eyes swept the Captain’s Ready Room with the eye of a trained security officer, looking for anything out of place. He didn’t detect any anomalies that might have indicated a camouflaged intruder and spoke softly, “Sir, I think that I have found where the additional computing power may be being used but I will need to take the transporter system offline to confirm.”

“One of the transporter systems?” the Captain asked.

Kevin shook his head, “No sir, the port side transceiver.”

“Deck 5,” the Captain acknowledged

“Yes, sir.”

“But why come all the way to the Bridge? Why not call?”

Kevin looked around. “Call me paranoid, Captain,” he explained, “but I don’t think that comms are safe and with intruders that can camouflage, I felt it important to ask you in private.”

“You may very well be paranoid,” the Captain reasoned, “but it is not unwarranted, given everything that has happened. Very well, we don’t need the transporters right now so you have permission to take them offline. But don’t disable any other systems without my further concurrence.”

:off

Lieutenant Kevin Lance
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Chuck Norris