Greatest threat Part 2

Posted on Fri Apr 3rd, 2020 @ 10:47pm by Commander Alexis Agrax (*) & Executive Officer Valiyi Uhin & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein & Jinx Jorasco & Commander Adamya Ryon

Mission: Cosmos
Location: Cardassian VIP Quarters
Timeline: 2396
1204 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Fortunately for the group, the turbolifts were still working in this section of the station. Using his scanner on a bit of the blast debris, Adamya Ryon stood. "I'm definitely seeing a similar blast pattern and markers that indicate the same type of explosion that we found in the Armory." He stepped up to look through the force field and into the inner dome of the huge stardock station. Sometimes he forgot just how big these things could be.

Looking to those gathered, the Cosmos' Chief Strategic Officer said, "Let's see if we can get anything on the targets, possibly any known enemies or motives." He knew it was a wild goose chase, but there were certain elements on both sides of the border who would like seeing Cardassian/Federation relations in tatters.

"Known enemies or motives for hitting Cardassians? The suspect list there is half of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants," Byla remarked, eyeing the area critically. "But that raises an interesting point: was this just meant as a statement? Anyone with a real grudge against the Cardassians would have waited the short time until they were living here."

“Could have been concerned the net was closing in,” Alexis piped up, crouching on the floor, looking stuff over before scanning her tricorder over it.

“Unless it was meant more as a statement than actual killing,” Ash pointed out as he filed through the recent intel logs. It was like picking a needle out of a haystack sometimes. He hated not being able to get a message off the station. Commodore Pierce would likely know something, or could get possible rumors from Legate Dahe’el in Cardassian High Command. “If no one was here, it would have been easy to get the bomb in place, then. Were the security sensors up and running? We might be able to look through them if we can find the origin of the blast, see if any station personnel were in that area recently.”

"I doubt the Cardassians agreed to having security sensors we could monitor," Drake remarked sourly. "Which, if this was primarily a statement, may have been another reason for choosing the location. But even right outside where we do have security feeds, I doubt we'll see anyone. If it were me, I'd have gone in from the deck above or below." She paced, considering options, blindspots, ease of ingress. "Or through the ductwork. The signature may be like an old low yield torpedo, but most of the size of those is due to the propulsion system. The warhead itself is only a little bigger than a briefcase."

Ash gave Drake a wry look. “And you actually let them dictate what you could or couldn’t see?” He shook his head. “That is a good idea, though,” he agreed. “We can check the feeds above and below, run a scanning drone through the ductwork and jeffries tubes, maybe find any DNA they might have left behind.”

"The Cardassians wouldn't have messed with security too much until they got here," Ryon pointed out. "They play nice beforehand, then turn off sensors and try to bypass security features behind your back," the Bajoran added. Looking at the rest gathered, he asked, "So, this is either a group trying to send a message, or it's an attack that just so happened to go off at the wrong time. Any leads on either of those options?"

"Both. All." Asha had a plain reply as she handed Ryon a padd. "List of groups are on that padd, of any group in the area that could have any inkling of a grudge against the Federation's diplomatic attempts with Cardassians. The ones most likely are highlighted in blue, with any of the groups that have left similar patterns to what we're seeing in green. I'll leave the technical stuff and the investigations to you guys, but we've got enough on the diplomatic watch lists that this sort of action is probably something we're going to see here a lot."

"I hope not," Byla remarked dryly. "I've lived through frequent bombings once, and would much prefer not to repeat the experience."

Alexis looked at Byla and smirked a little, enjoying the dryness. "Could not agree more on that," she commented on taking the offered padd from Asja. looking it over.

"That... is a great list to have," Ryon stated as he skimmed over the PADD before Alexis got it. "So, we are looking at either a Federation isolationist cult or a Cardassian independence movement," he stated after reading the list of names. "The hanger area was more open and probably has more surviving evidence."

"Closer to an isolationist cult, I think," Asha pointed out. "I would have to take a look at the tech specs myself, but I don't think Cardassians use the same tactics."

"I wouldn't count on that," Byla remarked. "Bombing the space they were going to move into to throw suspicion elsewhere strikes me as a very Cardassian move. Or at least it would have been when the Obsidian Order was still around..." She paused, pondering that statement. "Though there's no guarantee some remnant hasn't revived even if their government hasn't sanctioned it. Groups like that are like cockroaches."

“Not Bajorans?” Ash asked. “I would have thought they would top the list. Still plenty of bad blood between them and Cardassia,” he said. “And if the Obsidian Order is back, it would have to be too recent to have put together something like this. There’s been no chatter on Cardassia about them. I will check again though once contact is restored.”

"Either are possibilities, but it's no secret that there's still spite within many of the isolationists in the Federation." Asha nodded toward the list on the padd. "All of the groups we've mentioned should be on that list, and I can corroborate information. I'm sure we can find the answer somewhere."

"Bajorans would have waited until the Cardassians got there," Ryon pointed out as the senior Bajoran resistance member of the group. "But, that leaves technical error causing the explosions to go off early." He thought about the choices in front of him. "Either one sounds plausible."

"The same error in all the devices set at different locations?" Byla asked incredulously. "Possible, but only if the detonation was triggered by a single signal, and if that's the case we should be examining internal sensor logs down to the static noise level to find a ping broadcast to each of the bomb sites."

“That is going to take some time,” Ash said. “And I haven’t even met my staff yet to be able to ask them to do it.”

"That is probably the best place to start," Ryon nodded. Looking to the group, he added, "It's probably for the best that we report our findings to station command, then get to work on scouring the data."

---

Commander Adamya Ryon
Chief Strategic Operations Officer
USS Cosmos
(pNPC Jared Rosado)

Commander Alexis Agrax
Chief Of Security
USS Cosmos
(PNPC Sloan)

Lieutenant Bylaxera Drake
Senior JAG
SB 621

Lieutenant Asha Macae
Chief Diplomatic Officer
SB 621

Lieutenant Ash Danrisa
Chief Intelligence Officer
SB 621