Jovireh Velal
Security & Tactical
[TI18]
Posts: 2,609 Likes: 55
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Security/Tactical
Species: Betazoid/Romulan
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Post by Jovireh Velal on Dec 17, 2021 2:31:48 GMT
[Ms. Miller - Kaus Borealis - Schoolhouse]The little kid positively beamed when the man said that his drawing was helpful. He couldn't wait to tell all his friends that laughed at him! However, that expression faltered when he was asked if the monsters were green. "I dunno... I couldn't see beneath their clothes." Ms. Miller offered the boy a reassuring smile and rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I couldn't see their skin either," she told him in hopes to let him know that lack of information wasn't a personal failing. Her attention shifted back to the Lieutenant when he asked about her tricorder readings. "I uploaded the scans to my home computer. I can send them to you when class is over." She wanted to be cooperative, but she still had a responsibility to her students.
Tag Joshua Niles
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Dec 17, 2021 3:55:05 GMT
[ LT Joshua Niles - Schoolhouse, Kaus Borealis Colony ]Watching the boy's expression falter at not being able to tell their skin colour, Josh still smiled down at him, even as his teacher was comforting him. "It's really all right; you've been a great help, even if you can't answer that. Remembering the shape of their heads and drawing it for me so long after it happened? I know Starfleet officers who wouldn't be able to do that." Well, that last part may not entirely be true, but there indeed was at least one of his acquaintance he deemed would be hard-pressed to do it twenty minutes after the fact, let alone twenty days. And that boy, not even knowing the risk to his mental health he'd just taken, had done just that. Hopefully that would not awaken too many bad memories and nightmares; Niles himself had plenty of them to keep him company, even when he wasn't actively remembering some of what he'd gone through. And at least, the teacher still ha a copy of the readings, and that was excellent. With the information he had gathered thus far, he already had a tentative identification, and those tricorder readings would likely confirm them. If they didn't, well, they had much bigger problems all right. But, first she would have to wait for class to end, which could take a while. A while he did not really have, given the timeline Commander Taggert had set. "Ms. Miller, I'm afraid that time is a factor. Perhaps you could use my tricorder to link to your home system remotely, or find someone to spell you off?"Of course, he technically had the authority to requisition the data, or even get it on his own through a security override, that was the kind of adversarial approach that had come back to bite him in the past; granted, the teacher was a lot less abrasive than that administrator back on Kerelia but it would pay to keep on her good side. Tag Jovireh Velal
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Jovireh Velal
Security & Tactical
[TI18]
Posts: 2,609 Likes: 55
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Security/Tactical
Species: Betazoid/Romulan
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Post by Jovireh Velal on Dec 19, 2021 0:57:18 GMT
[Ms. Miller - Kaus Borealis - Schoolhouse]"You did really well, Marcus. Now go work on your assignment so you don't fall behind," she encouraged the boy with a pat on his shoulder, and he nodded with a small smile before shuffling back to his seat. Ms. Miller turned to the Lieutenant, sighing when he mentioned time was of the essence. "I have less than half an hour with these kids before break. Surely I'm not the only one in the colony you need to talk to?" They had been told that the investigative team would be talking to everyone. She supposed that might be why he was in such a hurry, but she didn't see why he needed the readings before talking to anyone else.
Tag Joshua Niles
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Dec 19, 2021 4:22:44 GMT
[ LT Joshua Niles - Schoolhouse, Kaus Borealis Colony ]With the kid, Marcus, going back to his desk, Niles did smile again. He was a brave lad, and he would have to find a way to let it be known just how helpful he'd been. Now, being a minor there were limitations as to what he could do, but he could certainly include the boy's first name in his official report. At least, when it would be collected it would eventually become part of the public record. Miss Miller, on the other hand didn't seem quite as enthused at being told that there was a time factor at hand. And if he could not obtain those readings in time from her, he did have the clearance and ability to actually get them the hard way without her assistance, but that sort of action would require him to most definitely have to draw up another report to explain his actions... And that would do no good for the relations between the colony and Starfleet. But half an hour? "Half an hour? I can work with that," he replied with a smile. It was a compromise, and it would have to do. As for having someone else to speak to, well... "Yes, there are a few others I would like to speak to, but you were the highest-priority individual on a fairly short list. And the boy, Marcus, please let his parents know that what he remembered is actually valuable information... and I hope he's going to be all right." He pressed a few controls on his tricorder, and it let out a friendly enough bleeping sound. "I'm tied into the colony network, so you should have no problems sending me your readings when you have a chance. Thank you for your time and your assistance, Miss Miller."With his thanks offered, the Lieutenant made his way down the corridor, and as soon as he turned the corner and made for the main door, his hand came to his commbadge. True, there was still quite some time before reconvening with the rest of the team, but he did have a few things his superior needed to know sooner rather than later. =A= "Lieutenant Niles to Commander Taggert. Sir, I just concluded an interview with a pair of witnesses and I have a tentative ID on the aggressors' landing party, with probably confirmation to come my way in the next thirty minutes or so. But we also might have a problem."=A= Now, hopefully, the veteran would understand why he felt the need to call in before officially reconvening, and he would hear out his concerns; in the past, he'd not had a whole lot of luck when dealing with insiders, seeing his concerns completely ignored and pretty much expected to continue as if such a risk did not exist until his superiors were fairly slapped in the face with hard evidence... But at least, Commander Taggert knew that. Tag Jovireh Velal
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Jovireh Velal
Security & Tactical
[TI18]
Posts: 2,609 Likes: 55
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Security/Tactical
Species: Betazoid/Romulan
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Post by Jovireh Velal on Dec 20, 2021 4:57:27 GMT
[Ms. Miller - Kaus Borealis - Schoolhouse]The teacher nodded, grateful at the acceptance of the compromise. After assuring the Lieutenant she would pass on the word to Marcus' family, and that she'd send him her readings as soon as her class went on break, she made her way back to the front of the room to resume the lesson. [Lt. Cmdr. Pierce Taggert - Kaus Borealis - Town Hall]Meanwhile, Taggert was in the Director's office, finishing up reviewing the information with Sihu when the call came through. Well, that was certainly faster than he was expecting to get anything. =A="Understood, Lieutenant. I'll meet you outside the town hall."=A= Closing the channel, he tucked his PADD into his belt and turned back to the Director. "I'll let you get back to work. We'll keep in touch." After a brief friendly handshake, he left the office and retraced his steps through the hallways until he came to the main room, and exited the building to wait for Niles.
Tag Joshua Niles
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Dec 20, 2021 5:17:46 GMT
[ LT Joshua Niles - Schoolhouse -> Outside of the town hall, Kaus Borealis Colony ]=A= "Aye Sir, on my way,"=A= Niles simply acknowledged. Taggert, he had to say, was at least willing to hear him out; and calling for a meeting outside the town hall rather than request that he explain himself over a comm channel in a situation where they might be overheard said things the Lieutenant liked very much about the veteran: he was willing to take his concerns seriously enough to hear them privately. Which, in this case, was a good thing. At least, the colony's infrastructure buildings were fairly close together, which meant it was not that long a walk to the town hall, where he was glad to find Taggert alone, and not looking like he'd been waiting too long. Closing in with his superior, he offered a nod. "As I said, Sir, bit of a good news-bad news sort of situation here. Good enough news, tentatively the aggressors' landing party was primarily made up of Gorn. A teacher at the school managed to get tricorder readings and she'll be forwarding them to me as soon as the students go on break, so once I have them I should be able to get confirmation in about half an hour or so from now."Well, that was the start. And a good point to go to the bad news. "As for the problem we might have, the package I was given stated that Miss Miller had taken readings of the aggressors, and she informed me that she had forwarded them to colonial authorities to have them sent up to us, but they weren't in the briefing package. I think it needs looking into, clear up whether it was a legitimate oversight at this end or if it was deliberate. The precision of the raid would also support the possibility of an insider down here, potentially placed high enough to also hamper eventual investigations like ours."He could not help the way his face contorted at his ugly suspicions; no one liked the idea of an insider threat for a variety of reasons. And while he certainly would appreciate having his concerns taken seriously, as opposed to the previous time, it was one thing part of him hoped he was wrong about; no one liked a traitor. Tag Jovireh Velal
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Jovireh Velal
Security & Tactical
[TI18]
Posts: 2,609 Likes: 55
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Security/Tactical
Species: Betazoid/Romulan
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Post by Jovireh Velal on Dec 20, 2021 5:38:32 GMT
[Lt. Cmdr. Pierce Taggert - Kaus Borealis - Town Square]Pierce rubbed a hand over his jaw, slightly surprised by the revelation. "Gorn? That's a possibility we hadn't considered before." His gaze wandered idly over the near-empty square, thoughts turning around in his mind. "It does fit what we've gathered..." When Josh mentioned the readings not being included in the information packet, he looked back at over at him, slight surprise etched on his face. "The packet you got was just the necessary information you'd need to follow your orders. We've gathered too much information to expect anyone to learn it all in one day." As for the specific readings he was referring to, Taggert pulled out his PADD once more and began flipping through the files. "Those readings were sent to the xenotech experts at R&D. It looks like they do list Gorn as a possible source of the technology used." The scans were far from thorough due to the brief exposure of the technology, so a definitive conclusion was almost impossible from those alone.
Tag Joshua Niles
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Dec 20, 2021 6:15:09 GMT
[ LT Joshua Niles - Schoolhouse -> Outside of the town hall, Kaus Borealis Colony ]Well, that changed things, in a lot of ways. At first, Taggert seemed to be appreciative of the information he was getting, and then, Niles found himself trying to choke back his rising anger. Given just what someone else thought he needed; was he being kept in the dark just enough to show the world he was indeed a waste of skin in a uniform, that... and that train of thought died as soon as the veteran explained the next part. It had been trimmed down to something manageable in size. Well, that was something else entirely, and whoever had done the trimming, well, couldn't have predicted that he would focus his work on that particular piece of information ahead of time. "I see," he answered with a deep breath, the tension leaving his shoulders. "But the readings Miss Miller took? They should get forwarded to xenobiology or medical; she had a medical tricorder that she'd just used with a student who hurt themselves on the playground. She probably got a good biological scan ahead of anything technical, if she got any solid technical readings at all."Then, he pulled his tricorder from its holster and brought up the crude drawing that had given him his tentative ID. "Miss Miller did describe all the aggressors as being bulky, and two meters tall or bigger, and when a student drew this silhouette for me, that seriously narrowed down the field of possibilities."Well, that was that, but there remained that bothersome, and somewhat ugly line of thinking he'd just wandered down and even if one of its branches had been pruned, there remained others. "While I'm relieved to know information wasn't withheld when the leadership here fired off what they had I still got the ugly possibility of an insider threat in my head. I'd like to recommend getting a team from the ship come down here to physically clone the colony's comm buffers and transceiver operations logs and go over, say, the last six months, look for any kind of discrepancies... assuming that hasn't been done already."Now that he was aware there were gaps in his background knowledge, at least he knew there were things he didn't know; the problem was that he didn't know what he didn't know. So hopefully he would not be suggesting duplicating existing efforts. Tag Jovireh Velal
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Jovireh Velal
Security & Tactical
[TI18]
Posts: 2,609 Likes: 55
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Security/Tactical
Species: Betazoid/Romulan
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Post by Jovireh Velal on Dec 20, 2021 7:01:58 GMT
[Lt. Cmdr. Pierce Taggert - Kaus Borealis - Town Square]Looking at the sketch Josh showed him, Pierce grinned. They didn't normally accept child drawings as evidence... But he was right that it fit with the rest of the eyewitness accounts. And it was a rather distinctive shape for a head. "They've been using some sort of scrambler to confuse sensors. The fact she was using a medical tricorder is probably why she was able to get any read on the technology." Either this group had new people, or they were sloppy after a year underground. They'd never been able to get this much information from a single raid before. When Niles continued, Taggert sighed. "Unless you've got another reason to suspect insider help, we don't have the grounds to forcibly access anything they haven't turned over willingly. So far they've given us everything we've asked for."
Tag Joshua Niles
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Dec 20, 2021 16:28:54 GMT
[ LT Joshua Niles - Outside of the town hall, Kaus Borealis Colony ]Sensor scramblers. Well, that was definitely going to complicate things. However, Niles did not know if Commander Taggert knew of the research he'd been involved in after the events around that planet-sized necropolis, but this was something worth bringing up at some point, see if his research could be adapted, perhaps? But first, there was the matter of looking over comms logs, and the Commander, well, did not seem to approve at all. "Honestly, Sir, no. I don't have any hard evidence to support an insider; all I've got is a description of the attack as being very precise, with little to no targets of opportunity. And since the first raid on Serenity, and with what happened on Arkaria, I always consider the possibility of an insider."Though, Niles brought a hand to his chin, raking through his beard for a moment. "Perhaps we should ask if we can clone the buffers and transceiver logs? Sir, it's not that I want to find an insider, but I don't think we can afford to not positively rule out the possibility."Well, Niles did have his reasons, but of course it meant he would abide by his superior's directives. Tag Jovireh Velal
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Jovireh Velal
Security & Tactical
[TI18]
Posts: 2,609 Likes: 55
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Security/Tactical
Species: Betazoid/Romulan
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Post by Jovireh Velal on Dec 22, 2021 2:02:36 GMT
[Lt. Cmdr. Pierce Taggert - Kaus Borealis - Town Square]While normally Taggert wasn't quick to dismiss someone's gut feelings, he also knew the likelihood of Josh's past experiences tainting those instincts. He paused for a few moments, considering his answer carefully. "All the raids have been like that. Though before, they always happened at night, or in less populated areas, reducing the amount of reliable eyewitnesses. The insider angle was among the first we examined... But there have been nothing in the records of people, ships, or activity leading up to the raids to connect them. If it is someone on the inside, they've been planted deep from the start of each colony, which is unlikely considering the differences in each colony and the fact that the raids only started a couple years ago." He realized this was information be probably should have shared sooner, but there simply hadn't been time. "It's far more likely that they're using some sort of long-distance surveillance that we haven't been able to detect. They choose their targets, learn their routines, and strike when it will be easiest to grab them all at once. Now if you have any out of the box ideas on how we might find that surveillance, I'm all ears." They'd exhausted all the usual methods of scouring sensor logs and running new sweeps, all of which came up empty.
Tag Joshua Niles
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Dec 22, 2021 4:01:33 GMT
[ LT Joshua Niles - Outside of the town hall, Kaus Borealis Colony ]That was something Niles liked about Taggert, he took the time to consider his answers, and did not just reject his notion out of hand even though in the end he did shoot it down. But he did so with a reason and logic that could not be argued against rather than pretending not hearing it or just discarding the idea just because he said so. And, much of the reasons he was citing were news to the Lieutenant, but unlike earlier, he simply nodded rather than let his anger rise. Now that he knew that the information he had been given had been truncated and why, though he was less than pleased with how it had been done, he was willing to roll with it. So insider threats were not a factor, and that knowledge alone visibly released tension from his shoulders and neck; no one liked looking for a traitor, let alone find one. But what was worse was not finding one before it would be too late. But that was no a concern anymore. However, he was posed another problem. Surveillance. Of course. It would have to be orbital to cover the colony, and would be stealthed in some way to hide its existence. And it would have to be able to hide its transmissions from detection in any way. Now that was a problem that got his attention all right, and his hand came up to his beard and he stroked his chin, deep in thought. "Long-range sensors wouldn't have the granularity needed for a strike this precise, so it has to be close. There is nowhere near here to set up a duck blind, so that's out. I would say a pattern of tactical probes or something similar was planted in low or medium orbit and only set to transmit when they're in line with the geostationary colony comms relay; we have a hard time finding our own without a transponder so that's possible. And they would have had to be in-system for a while to be able to hit as soon as the conditions were favourable, so that would mean hiding somewhere that could hide a fairly large ship for a while..." Then, he shook his head. "I don't think we'll find anything. If I was doing this, I would recover or scuttle my surveillance platforms before leaving the system, so at best we might find some unaccountable for debris fields and radiation traces." The Lieutenant's voice then stopped abruptly. Debris would get them nowhere, but the raiders' in-system hiding spot? He turned his tricorder towards himself and brought up information about the system's outer planets, particularly a gas giant that was sitting just on the far side of the asteroid belt. "The rings on that gas giant, and a lot of the asteroids in this system, are a dream if you want to hide. The gas giant emits a nightmare of thoron radiation, and the rings and asteroid belt are lousy with topaline. Both do a good number on sensors. And bathing in topaline dust and thoron radiation would leave a pretty solid trace on a ship. I can't pick up their surveillance, but if we scan planetary orbit for traces of topaline and thoron radiation and reconstruct the patterns, I think we can find out which heading they took when they left."It wasn't much, but it was something. Tag Jovireh Velal
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Jovireh Velal
Security & Tactical
[TI18]
Posts: 2,609 Likes: 55
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Security/Tactical
Species: Betazoid/Romulan
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Post by Jovireh Velal on Dec 24, 2021 23:45:09 GMT
[Lt. Cmdr. Pierce Taggert - Kaus Borealis - Town Square]The Commander listened carefully, rubbing his hand along his jaw thoughtfully as he considered the suggestion. "It's worth a shot," he replied after a moment. "Go ahead and get started on that when we get back to the ship. While we're here we need to focus on our eyewitnesses, but let's go back a bit farther from the attack. Let's see if anyone noticed any out of place technology over the prior couple months." While it might be a long shot, they couldn't ignore the possibility while they were done here.
Tag Joshua Niles
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Joshua Niles
Security & Tactical
[TI22]
Posts: 649 Likes: 21
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Tactical Officer
Species: Human
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Post by Joshua Niles on Dec 25, 2021 4:12:30 GMT
[ LT Joshua Niles - Outside of the town hall, Kaus Borealis Colony ]Well, at least he had an idea, and Commander Taggert liked it. However, Niles had other notions rather than just let it wait until they'd get back on board, whenever that was. It would take hours to collect the sensor data he needed and then start feeding it to the computers to reconstruct. Now, the attack was weeks old, but there was no telling if there was another in the works at this time, so finding out where the aggressors had gone was a priority, at least in the Lieutenant's mind. "Actually Sir, if possible I'd like to get people back on ship working on it right now. It would save hours."He wasn't working alone, there was a whole crew on the Wyvern whose skillsets would be better adapted than his own to put his notion into action; after all, wasn't it said that a commander knew how to do things by knowing who could do them? You didn't use a warp core engineer to lead a boarding party, and you didn't use a tactical officer to provide counseling services. A tool for every job. But then, Taggert wanted to expand the scope of interviews to going prior to the attack to see if traces of the surveillance could be found. Which led to Niles rubbing his own chin again. "I think I might want a chat with the colony communications and computer techs. It might be possible our attackers actually broke into the colony networks as well as having overhead cover. I mean, this isn't a Starfleet facility, they wouldn't have the levels of security we have, would they?"Tag Jovireh Velal
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Jovireh Velal
Security & Tactical
[TI18]
Posts: 2,609 Likes: 55
Rank: Senior Chief Petty Officer
Position: Chief of Security/Tactical
Species: Betazoid/Romulan
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Post by Jovireh Velal on Dec 27, 2021 15:41:40 GMT
[Lt. Cmdr. Pierce Taggert - Kaus Borealis - Town Square]Taggert's face hardened slightly when the Lieutenant said he wanted to get people on the ship working on those scans immediately. "I said it can wait until we get back," he replied firmly. "It will only save hours if we're down here for hours, which won't happen if everyone stays focused on what we're down here to do." He could appreciate the eagerness, but that didn't grant the right to circumvent orders. "Not to mention everyone who's on duty on the ship has their own tasks to complete. Starships don't run on idle hands, you know this."Thankfully, Niles' next suggestion was more in line with what still needed to be done before they could beam back to the Wyvern. "You're right, their cyber defenses are far from being top notch. Go ahead. Keep me updated."
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