Decrypting A Puzzle

Posted on 03/02/2022 @ 6:01pm by Captain Cara Letsul & Commander Aer Feshau-Patton & Lieutenant Gilora Paret

3,040 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Mini Mission: When The Cat's Away
Location: Intelligence Suite, Poseidon Station
Timeline: MD002 - 1000 Hours

Cara had in her hand something that she considered precious. It was messages that needed to be decrypted, messages from a dark web chatroom that had escaped notice from security. This was due to the newest onslaught of nanites that had been causing trouble. She walked into Intelligence, and looked around for Aer.

"Commander Feshau, are you in?"

Aer was on the upper platform, above her analysts, when she heard her name being called. Like a meerkat sticking its head out of the ground she peeked up and saw it was Cara asking.

"Commander Letsul, I am up here." she said waving her up.

It was a perfect vantage point as the 'sea' of analysts looked like an old styled typing pool. The raised vantage point had two points of entry on either side that sloped upwards to reach the platform in which had consoles on the front and back, the back wall having a large display screen, and a holotable in the middle. Everything was constantly updating and the space was perfect to see it all in its entirety.

Cara realized she'd not really been in this part of the station. It was slightly different than what they had at the station she had been in command of. She went to where Aer was at, "Nice set up here." giving a smile, then the smile slipped away.

"I've got something that you and your team needs to go over and I'd like to be a part of that as well." pulling out a data crystal and handing it to Aer. "This data crystal contains messages that had been pulled in from a clandestine 'room' on the dark web. We've got a great security team here but with the craziness that the newest onslaught of nanites has caused I think it had slipped past our notice. However, this is heavily encrypted that the operations officer that came to assist me, he is unable to decrypt it. I am hoping that we can find information that will clear up the mess that has been happening."

For a moment Aer just held the crystal, balancing it in the palm of her hand as if weighing it. "It is funny that whenever someone gives me their sinister data crystals I can almost feel the darkness inside them." Aer said as she then looked up at Cara.

"To be honest this station has had its fair share of security and computer problems of late. There is probably quite a lot that has got by us, and that is no fault of anyone as we can only react to unexpected events as they happen." Aer said without any real need to.

She placed the crystal on an entry tray, this tray lit up a nice shade of dark pink as it scanned the object. "Any information on what kind of subject matter this 'room' was discussing?" Aer asked as the computer continued its scan.

"I have no clue and neither did Rudia. Ensign Pearson, the operations officer I had helping me, he wasn't able to get any information. All he knew was that it was a room, on the server at Rudia's Bath House. That was all that he could get. I am thinking though with how heavily encrypted, there maybe a lot there."

"My software is usually better at decrypting things." Aer said with no hint of superiority or boastfulness, it was just a fact. Plus she had many more minions who were adept at noticing patterns and breaking codes.

"The Bath House is always a juicy place for information. I usually visit them every so often to see what is in their 'lighter' rooms." she half joked as she then frowned as the data began to play hard to get. "Damn thing is throwing firewalls at me." Aer grumbled. "No, no, we'll just contain that I think. Over there." she said talking to herself

"There is a fragmented name, but it keeps appearing. Yia something..." Aer said as she continued to dig.

Cara pulled out her PaDD and started looking. "That sounds familiar, let me see if I can find a report." she managed to bring it up. "Oh Yiara Tahn, there was a report on her that was brought up in a security meeting. It seems there had been a couple of run ins with her. One of which was Lieutenant Serra. And the other which was caught on camera, Tahn talking with Lieutenant Yoshida."

Stefan had spotted someone who had come into Intelligence, and it wasn't someone he'd personally met yet. He recognized her as Commander Cara Letsul, and he had a slight amount of curiosity as well, so he came into investigate. He did give Cara the once over, she was attractive and perhaps he'd get to know her, maybe ask her out for a drink. However right now it was work time.

"What is going on?" Stefan asked Aer.

"This is getting cosy." she said with a slight annoyance. "Hold on." she stood up and walked over to the central table and input a code. A small bubble formed over the raised platform. They could still hear everything outside of it, but no-one could hear inside and all access to the consoles within was now restricted. "Gilora, you come over too. May as well get another set of eyes on this." Aer said turning back to the crystal and lifted it out of the dock.

"This is a crystal containing information from within a room on the dark web. It is heavily encrypted." she said putting it back on the dock and the scans resumed. "So far I have caught a fragment on someone called Yiara Tahn, but am always open to input from my favourite people." she added with a small smirk.

Gilora walked over to the area where everyone stood, and got there as Aer had spoke about what they had on their hands. The Cardassian woman cocked an eyebrow and the thought that station security could have missed something like this. But she was not there to judge at least not at the moment. "Perhaps if we use a recursive algorithm in conjunction with some old Cardassian decryption techniques I know we can get some more information out of it." She suggested.

Aer stood up from her seat in front of the crystal and used her hand to gesture for Gilora to sit. "Please Gilora, take the helm." she joked. "Your knowledge of Cardassian decryption techniques will far beat mine. Better you try it than me."

Gilora took the seat and cracked her knuckles with a smirk. The first thing she did was input the recursive algorithm. The results from that were immediate and promising, although they did not yield any data. A few more computer taps and Gilora had the computer screen in Cardassian. "Halsperet, Theora, Theora..." she had been speaking aloud in Cardassian. About three minutes or so later the computer screen showed a line of code which scrolled by exceptionally fast and then resolved into some usable data. "It seems that I have broken through a little bit. This is all background information Yiara Tahn. Enough information here for someone to impersonate her if they wanted to. It also seems that this person had a relationship with Hiro Yoshida..." Gilora's voice trailed off as the computer screen broke to snow for a moment and then resolved. "Hang on a sec... There is more data here but it is resistant to my decryption."

Cara frowned at this, "Well, I will leave this in your hands. Let me know when something more comes up. And most definitely let Security know as well. I need to go back to check on things in Operations. I've got faith in you all in cracking this." She paused for a moment or two then said, "I really hope this will crack open the case against Lieutenant Yoshida, this is really bothering me quite a bit."

"Of course, ma'am." Aer said as she looked away from the decryption screen for a moment. "I never believe for a moment that Hiro did anything like has been said. We will keep you updated." she added before Cara left.

"Well Gilora." Aer said sitting down at the station next to her. "Guess its up to us girls to save the men in trouble." she added as she brought up Yiara Tahn's file. After a few moments of scrolling through the data she frowned. "According to this Yiara chartered a ship to a research station on Alpha Vigo II before the bombings here and hasn't been seen since her departure into the wilds of the planet. Records also show she has not departed the planet either." Aer said scratching the back of her head.

Stefan had watched as Commander Letsul walked out of the area then turned keen eye as to the procedures that was taking place.

"Someone from another universe coming here and causing trouble." Stefan frowned at that. "Is there something you would like me to go do while the code is being worked on?" taking a glance at Aer.

Aer noticed a small flash of a name, Mekar. It was a name she'd seen pop up on her own radar several times. They were a Breen, and notorious for sticking the metal nose into the business of the station and other places. "There is a name here, Mekar. Can you pull up sightings of him here? Anything about them, movements, sightings etc."

"Certainly I can do that." Stefan moving over to another console and began his search he went silent for a few then his head raised suddenly and he looked at Aer, "It seems that they have been sighted at a station called Akaza Station. It isn't affiliated with Star Fleet. It is also rumored to be a shadow port."

"If I remember correctly Akaza Station is a good place to get your hands on explosives?" Aer half asked rhetorically. "It would fit with the two previous bombings of the airlock and Elysian Dreams. We did have a transport come from that station not too long ago." she said massaging the back of her neck with her hand before looking at Stefan. "There is a potential link between the two of them and our bombings here..."

"This could be true. I'll do more searching and had there been any analysis as to the cause of the explosion of the cake. I will have to do more digging or at the very least go talk to security to see if there has been findings of the substance the bomb was made of." Stefan replied.

Gilora bounced her signal through about thirteen other mainframes in four other sectors controlled my at least four different races. Sometimes it paid to be the daughter of the former leader of the Obsidian Order. She sat back for a moment and rubbed her eyes as her highly illegal hack did its job. The sound of Aer and Stefan talking rang in her ears there was definitely something big here if the Breen were involved as well.

All at once her screens resolved into an outpouring of data. It scrolled past quickly and with intensity. Gilora took a moment to pour over everything and process it. There was a fair amount, however, momentarily something caught her eye. "Ummmmmmm ma'am. I have good news and bad news. The good news is I am in, I broke through the encryption. The bad news it seems that there is a plot here for a third explosive. It seems that this one is to target..." Gilora paused as she continued to read, then her eyes widened as she got the rest of the information. "... The station's command staff. Ma'am Commodore Rice, and Commander Letsul could be in grave danger."

For a moment Aer's heart stopped and she held her breath. This would be the only time she was grateful that Jack was away on mission and not here in the safety of their station. However it seemed it was not so safe after all from what Gilora had just discovered.

Letting out her breath Aer turned to face the Cardassian. "Gilora see if you can find mention of where the bomb is placed, any indicators or places of interest." Aer ordered. "Stefan, if you have found anything on the composition of the bombs that stands out, anything that can be scanned for to help us find a location, do it now." she added before looking at the two of them. "Quietly... if we trigger a panic or change in routine then whomever they are may trigger the bomb prematurely and hurt other people." Aer said as she then pressed the badge on her chest. "Computer, contact Commander Letsul and inform her to switch to a secure channel."

Gilora pushed her hair over her ears, and affectation she picked up at the Academy and one that she did when she was deep in thought. She began to process, and reason the puzzle out aloud. "It seems that according to this and what we do know that whoever is behind this wants to sow confusion. The first bomb, unknown target was placed at Airlock six. The second bomb, and according to this the intended target was Colonel Patton, was Elysium Dreams. The third bomb with its targets being the Commodore, and Commander Letsul should be..." She kept typing furiously... "Dammnit..." She called as her screen went blank and the symbol for the Breen Confederacy flashed on it. She cracked her knuckles. "I don't give up that easy, we are coming in the back way and through something unprotected like replication systems... and.... Heshla! (Gotcha!) I am back in. The third bomb should be at Ops."

Cara had just gotten back to her office after having a briefing when the call came. "Letsul here, you are now on a secure channel. What's up Commander?"

"We have reason to believe there is a third bomb and that it is placed in Ops. You need to clear that area as quietly as you can, a rush could set it off or attract attention. Then we can send in bomb techs to search and defuse it. It would mean closing Ops down until we find it..." Aer reported.

"If it is even there..." Gilora began by calling over her shoulder. "...It seems that the timetable is off. If the timetable in this system is to be believed, the bomb won't go off for a couple of days. It is possible that the finding of this data in and of itself has disrupted their plans and the bomb never got placed. However, I do not see how we can know that for sure."

"And wouldn't it also depend on the substance that is being used for the explosive device? I think at the moment we will have to keep things as routine as possible." Cara frowned slightly at this turn of events. "Hopefully we can get a lead as to who the perpetrator is behind this or who will be one who has set it or will be setting it. I know its a dangerous game that we are going to be playing, but we're going to have to do this. Lull them into a false sense of security. "

Stefan gave a sharp glance over towards where Aer was speaking to Commander Letsul, he was worried and also wondered just how the woman could even be so calm in this situation.

Cara caught his thoughts, she just smiled. "Don't worry, I have confidence in those on this station and the ability of those who have the knack of investigation. Now that we know information, we won't be caught by surprise and create our own surprise instead. I am very pleased with your efforts and the ability to crack the code."

"The more I read here the more I think that the third bomb was never placed. However, one can never be too careful. I would recommend a quiet evacuation of Ops and Security to sweep for explosives." Gilora turned toward Aer as she spoke. The Cardassian woman had to hand it to the perpetrator. This was the perfect time to strike with a good amount of the senior crew off the station.

Aer felt like shaking her head. What Gilora had said was exactly what she had suggested in the first place. "That was my recommendation." Aer spoke as she scrunched her nose up a little in frustration. "Commander..." she began now addressing Letul. "I appreciate that you want to keep up appearances, but the threat is real even if there is a device there or not. A sweep of Ops will reveal anything out of place, a Cardassian station is very hard to alter in ways that don't stand out. However, I will support what ever order you give." Aer said with no hesitation. Cara was her friend, her superior officer and all she could do was recommend a course of action. She would not nag her into submission as she had more experience in these matters than her. Aer trusted her to make the right calls, that's why Cara wore the red and had risen to flag rank.

After all, Aer could be wrong but if she wasn't...

"At the moment I have to play that game, we've got a Romulan Ambassador that will be arriving very soon, within a matter of minutes." Cara closed her eyes, applying a pressure point to stave off the headache she felt coming on. "His arrival was a little bit unannounced. We hadn't gotten any indication as to his arrival." opening up her eyes once more. She took a deep breath, and let it out in a slight huff. "Looks like I get to put on my dancing shoes" flashing a smile. "Keep up on the good work you are doing."

Aer was a little puzzled by the comment. Was Cara going to go dancing with the Ambassador. She still had a lot to learn about Human phrases even now.

---

Lieutenant Gilora Paret
Logistics Officer
Poseidon Station

Lt. Commander Aer Feshau
Chief Intelligence Officer
Poseidon Station

Commander Cara Letsul
Poseidon Operations Commander
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Stefan Zamfir
Intelligence Officer

 

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