Saboteur

The Bridge was full of activity, even though they were currently dock in the huge space dock of Star Base 901. Captain Taybar was sat in the command chair, reviewing sensor data of the escaping Hellcat. Somehow someone had managed to steal the runabout and leave the ship. Commander Rashad and Lieutenant Commander McQueen, the Leviathan’s Chief of Security were both missing.

Logan’s last message had announced the security breach and that he was going to investigate. By the time Aki had reached the shuttlebay, the Hellcat was gone and somehow, whoever had taken the vessel had managed to paralyse not only the Leviathan, but the entire space station.

[Security to Bridge.] A voice announced.

“Bridge here.” Aki replied. “What do you have to report ?”

[We’ve accounted for all of the crew bar three.] The voice reported. [Commander Rashad, Lieutenant Commander McQueen and Doctor Kahfre are all missing.]

*Rahel !* Aki thought. *Why take the Doctor ?*

“Understood, resume your duties.” Aki confirmed, closing the comm channel.

Suddenly alarms ran out.

“Report.” Aki demanded.

“We’ve had an explosion of deck six, section thirteen.” The Ensign at operations reported.

“The Intelligence office…..” Aki announced. “…..Bridge to Lieutenant Moss, report.”

Aki’s hail returned nothing but silence.

“Damage report.” Aki requested. “Did we suffer any casualties ?”

“All internal sensors are offline on deck six, as are communications on decks five, six and seven.” The Ops Ensign replied. “However, the Intelligence office is in the core of the ship, so it is unlikely that we will have suffered any hull breaches.”

“Bridge to Medical, I want an emergency team down on deck six in case of injuries.” Aki demanded. “Bridge to Engineering, I need a repair team to deck six, section thirteen and a full report on the damage in half an hour.”

“I can give you that Captain.” A voice from behind Aki stated.

Aki turned around to see Lieutenant Moss standing, his uniform tattered and singed.

“Mister Moss, what happened ?” Aki asked.

“There was a bomb planted in the Intelligence office.” Stefen stated. “There were no serious casualties, but the office is totally destroyed, along with all the data we’ve managed to collect on the Earth-Romulan war.”

“Can it be retrieved ?” Aki enquired.

“No.” Stefen replied. “It took some effort to gain access to that data and it was all stored on secured data pads. If we attempted to obtain the data again, we’d probably be detected. Our enquiries may have already alerted someone to our interest and I have a suspicion that some of the data I managed to review before the explosion had been altered to prevent us getting at the truth.”

“Stefen, I want you to take charge of the investigation into this bomb.” Aki ordered. “It would appear that we have a saboteur onboard ship.”

“Isn’t that a job for Security.” Stefen remarked.

“Normally yes.” Aki stated. “However, Lieutenant Commander McQueen is missing and with a saboteur onboard, Security is going to have its hands full ensuring that the Axeline ambassador is secure. Until Mister McQueen returns, you are now our acting Security Chief.

”What about Commander Rashad, I’m sure she would make a far better Chief of Security than me.” Stefen suggested.

“Commander Rashad is also missing.” Aki explained. “Whether the two sets of events are linked, I don’t know, but I want you to find the saboteur. Check all the security cameras on deck six if you have to, but I want answers.”

Stefen headed off the deck and down to the Chief of Security’s office. Sitting down at the console, he entered his access codes and found that he now had full security access to the ship. Quickly accessing the camera replays he watched hours and hours of video.

Finishing on the images of Stefen appearing from inside the Intelligence office and the blast of the explosion spreading debris into the corridor and the destruction of the camera, Stefen saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Sitting back in the chair, Stefen almost admitted defeat and then something occurred to him. The feeling of being watched that had haunted him came back. Rising from his seat, Stefen headed back to the Intelligence office.

Arriving at the office, he found a crew of engineers and security officers sifting through the debris of the office. The bomb had done its job, the office was totally destroyed, plasma conduits were exposed where the walls had been destroyed and the remaining walls had been burnt by the plasma fires that had ensued.

Stepping into the room once more, Stefen began looking around. At first there was nothing unusual, but then something caught his eye. Moving closer to the wall furthest from the blast, Stefen noticed that a section of it had been ‘dented’, most likely by the force of the explosion. Picking up a tricorder, he scanned the wall and discovered a cavity hidden behind.

Taking a laser cutter off one of the Engineers, Stefen made quick work of the wall in front of the cavity and uncovered a small device, set-up inside the cavity. Stefen recognised it as a surveillance camera, used exclusively by Section 31.

Quickly removing the device and hiding it from the others, Stefen headed out of the remains of the Intelligence office and back to the Security office. With luck the camera would have picked up who planted the bomb, all Stefen needed to do was gain access to the video footage and decipher it.