Enemies and Friends (Part One of Two)

Logan and T'Kul left the Brig and entered the turbolift.

"Sickbay," Lieutenant McQueen as the door closed.

"I think my colleague is telling the truth." Noted Rashad to the Security Chief. "I do not think Stefen Moss would kill his wife. I believe that the person he killed was an Omega agent."

"Well, Commander…" Replied Logan McQueen. "We are possibly about to discover who or what the dead person was."

*Yeah* Thought Rashad to herself. *I do hope that there aren't any other Omega agents on the ship…*

Sickbay

Doctor Rahel Kahfre was standing by a biobed containing the body of the Omega agent killed by Lieutenant Stefen Moss. Behind her in the small lab, Private Eliza Dyson, the Marine medic was working on something.

"Ah, Commander, Logan, there you are." She said, giving them a polite smile, yet unable to completely hide a bit of distress of having to do another autopsy from Rashad. "This is the body…." The Doctor said, taking off the sheet covering the deceased Omega agent.

Logan and Rashad both looked a little shocked. Instead of the body of Jessica Moss-West, they saw the body of a Vulcan male. Both recognised the body as that of the image Rashad had show Logan just an hour before. The body on the table was T'val."

"What !" Logan remarked, shocked yet not altogether surprised. "How is this possible ?"

"Now do you believe Stefen ?" Asked T'Kul, looking at Logan with a slightly risen eyebrow.

Logan had to admit that from the evidence in front of him, Stefen was telling the truth. But he had still killed someone on the ship, now Logan had to prove that it was self-defence.

"There is more…." Rahel took out a PADD with the data uploaded from the medical tricorder. "Have a look at this, Commander."

"Hmm… this is very interesting indeed. Lieutenant McQueen, what do you think of this ?" Rashad passed him the PADD.

"Romulan DNA." Said the Security Chief out loud. "Whoever this person was, he was a Romulan not a Vulcan"

*Tal Shiar involvement ?* Wondered Rashad. *Is that also possible ? Or was this a Romulan renegade?*

"Have a look at the rest of the findings." Responded the Doctor. "The DNA is Romulan, but according to the Starfleet database, it has also been somewhat modified. This is not the typical DNA of a modern Romulan. It appears to be more evolved."

Both Logan and T'Kul stared at the relevant findings. Suddenly it hit the Romulan-Bajoran *Drakara ! Doctor Adam Drakara! This smells of his involvement. His capability to manipulate DNA is far beyond the abilities of the 24th century, he was from the 26th… He simply must be somehow involved with this Omega group as well !*

"That, I must admit..." Said Rashad out loud. "…..is a great unknown at the moment. I will see if something turns up on this in the Intelligence database."

She meant the Section 31 database, of course. But given her recent inability to access the information from the Starfleet Intelligence database earlier that day, she now wondered whether she would have to hack her way in. She came up to the corpse and started to search it. The Doctor pre-empted her.

"Here is the personal holoemitter you are looking for, Commander," Rahel passed a small cube-like device. It looked not dissimilar to the Intelligence and Section 31 personal holoemitters Rashad was familiar with.

"Another thing to be analysed at the Intelligence office." Noted Rashad.

"Yes, Commander, and I would appreciate if you informed me of your findings." Logan McQueen gave her what she felt was a somewhat suspicious look.

"I'll see what I can do, Lieutenant." T'Kul nodded politely.

*After all, you were once one of us, intelligence people…*

"Thank you very much, Doctor." She turned to Rahel and gave her another one of her Vulcanoid polite nods. "You have been more helpful to the investigation then you can imagine."

"All in a day's work." Smiled Rahel Kahfre and this time the smile shined right in her eyes as well.

On the way out, Rashad turned to the Security Chief once again. "Lieutenant, I need a favour…" She immediately noticed something in Logan's eyes again. "Could you please release Lieutenant Moss from the brig ? This new data shows his innocence and he is needed at the Intelligence office now more then ever."

T'Kul saw some hesitation in Logan's eyes, but then he replied: "I still have a few unanswered questions. Like how this person managed to get aboard ship without being detected and of course, what happened to the real Jessica Moss-West. However, I will release Stefen Moss if you are willing to vouch for him."

The Romulan-Bajoran almost smiled as she said: "Naturally, I would be willing to do that, Mister McQueen. And I am very grateful for this."

Main Brig

As McQueen and Rashad entered the Brig, Stefen sat up as if coming back to full alert. Lieutenant McQueen spoke briefly with the security detail, before promptly leaving the Brig. Logan stepped towards the door and accessed the console controls for the forcefield.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant Moss." Said Lieutenant McQueen, as the forcefield shutdown. "You are being released. Commander Rashad here was willing to vouch for your innocence."

Logan glanced at the Romulan-Bajoran next to him slightly suspiciously.

"There are still a lot of questions to be answered, but it looks like you were right in one respect, the person you've killed was not your wife. They were using some holoemitter technology to disguise themselves, although I'm still not sure how they managed to evade the security checks."

"Well, thank you, Lieutenant McQueen, " Replied the half-Vulcan Intelligence Officer. "It sure is nice to be out of this place."

"No hard feeling !" Logan suggested.

"You forget Lieutenant…." Stefen replied. "Vulcan's don't have feelings."

With that, Rashad and Moss both left the Brig and headed down the corridor towards the Intelligence office.

Intelligence Office

"Well, here we are…" Said Rashad on opening and unsealing the office. "Welcome back to freedom, Stefen. I promise that I, like, I am sure, the rest of the Leviathan's crew, will do my best to help you to get Jessica back."

"Thank you, Commander." Replied a tired and distressed Stefen Moss.

Rashad shook her head, and then looked at her fellow spy. "You may call me by my first name, there is no one else here. I am T'Kul."

"Hmm… okay." Said Stefen, slightly uncomfortable at addressing his section chief by the first name. "T'Kul…"

"So, tell me Stefen, how do you feel about hacking some Starfleet Intelligence databases tonight ?"

"Why what do you have in mind, Com… T'Kul ? " Despite his distress the half-Vulcan actually smiled at the mention of hacking.

"Well, when accessing the Intelligence database Neo 31 after your incident here today, I have been unable to open the files on Lieutenant T'Val's service record. My does not seem to work for that one." Rashad took out a couple of special "hacking" PADDs and tossed one to Stefen.

"Oh, that !" Replied Stefen Moss with another little smile. "There is much easier way of getting this information than hacking. Computer, unlock all the Intelligence information."

<Authorisation required>

"Moss-pi-one-niner-Omega-Five."

"It will work now, T'Kul." The half-Vulcan turned back to her with a risen eyebrow.

"Why, Stefen, what is your clearance level ?"

"Omega Tao."

"So is mine !" Mused the Romulan-Bajoran out loud. "How come I was unable to access the database with my ?"

"Oh, T'Kul, I have forgotten something!" Stefen gave her a grin. "I have written something of my own into the computer's security programme. It seems my security algorithm recognised your voice pattern but not your code, as it has not yet been entered into its programming. I must admit I totally forgot about that feature when I had to initiate the intelligence lockdown earlier today. Your actual clearance level is not affected by this, but your access to the databases from this actual ship is restricted when the lockdown is activated."

"That is very impressive indeed, Stefen." Nodded Rashad, thinking.

*I wonder if he should not become a member of Section 31 as well… Officer 001 would certainly welcome his abilities and ingenuity.*

"There…" Said Stefen tapping something on his console. "…let us enter your code into my little invention now. Computer, recognise the following code for Commander Rashad:" He turned to her and motioned for the Romulan-Bajoran to speak.

"T'Kul Beta 4-6-2."

<Complying… The saved for Commander Rashad.>

"Well…" Said Rashad with a slightly risen eyebrow. "…do not forget to repeat the process with Lieutenant Wright."

Stefen nodded. "I won't, I promise."

"Well, let us have a look at your deceased friend's service record." Said the Romulan-Bajoran sitting down at her console.

"Computer, seal this office. Authorisation T'Kul Beta 4-6-2."

<Confirmed.>

"Access Intelligence database Neo 31. Display Lieutenant T'Val's service record. Authorisation T'Kul Beta 4-6-2."

<Access denied>

T'Kul turned to Stefen. "Is there anything else you have forgotten about, Mister Moss ?"

"No." The half-Vulcan rose an eyebrow. "Everything should work now. Computer, show us Lieutenant T'Val's service record. Authorisation Moss-pi-one-niner-Omega-Five."

<Access denied.>

"Well, T'Kul, it looks like we may need to do some hacking after all."

"Certainly looks that way, Stefen." Agreed Rashad with a nod. She realised she would have to contact Officer 003 about this as well.

It was going to be a long night of work…