Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders (Chief of Security) in Side-Sim Pranks and Jokers [Tag Wachter]

Posted by Ensign Kovan ch’Sirhc (Engineering & Communications Officer) in Side-Sim Pranks and Jokers [Tag Wachter]

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders (Chief of Security) in Side-Sim Pranks and Jokers [Tag Wachter]
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
Two tables over, Lieutenant Marcus Anders arched an eyebrow. He had not heard about any of the situation revolving around Ensign Baker; he tried to keep abreast of all gossip aboard Sentinel, regardless of how benign or inconsequential, just to be sure. Anders stood and strode over to the two junior officers around the table, grinned and said: “Ensigns, what’s this I hear about pranksters?”

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

Rand looked up, oh dear, it was Lt Anders. She hadn’t spoken to him since that very early and awkward morning on deck 6 when she’d been on her run. She stood up quickly, “Lt Anders,” where to start. She supposed they should have asked security but nothing dangerous to ship, crew, or individual had happened, yet. It was mostly annoying. “There have been a series of…” what was the best word, “inconveniences, some might consider them pranks. At first they were seemingly unconnected and explained away by a glitch or human error. But they seem to be increasing in number and not so unrelated.” Rand turned back to Mendez and she stared into her cup. “I think you might be right Rand.”

Yeoman Rand

Kovan stood straighter as Lt. Anders approached. So even the chief of security has gotten involved now. . . Kovan supposed it was only a matter of time. These pranks showed no sign of stopping and affected even XO Alden. “Prank implies these incidents were harmless jokes, which they are decidedly not. Rand and I can attest that there is nothing funny about these ‘pranks’. His focus shifted to Mendez, “If there’s anything you can tell us about Baker or his associates then please tell us. We need to stop this before these incidents go too far.” And they will, Kovan was certain.

Ensign ch’Sirhc, COMMO/ENGR

Anders arched an eyebrow at Rand, “By ‘eck lass, you could’ve told me this sooner. What kind of incidents are we talking?” Anders appreciated that younger officers were bound to pull practical jokes on each other at some point, but if it was becoming a danger to the ship and her crew, it needed to be dealt with. Fast.

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

“Yes, Sir,” she should have. She knew and Anders knew it, but they had only discovered it all today. “We didn’t put it all together until today when En ch’Sirhc and I crossed paths. I picked up my uniforms from the ship’s laundry and they were more akin to patchwork quilts. Then he told me about his chime. When we checked the logs in the laundry En Baker picked up and then returned my uniforms. When we went to ask him if someone had tampered with his uniforms he was aggressive.” Kovan could probably describe it better what had happened with the PaDD.

“We decided to look into it and well it wasn’t just the uniforms. En. ch’Sirhc’s door was tampered with, my computer credentials.” She handed over…her tampered with PaDD, with the information. “It was more than just the two of us.”

Yeoman Rand (Human. Ruined Uniforms)
En. Kovan (Andorian. Engr/Commo. Door chime hacked to play a song when passed. Audio devices planted in Engineering to play sounds only he could hear)
NE Vash (Human. Science. Door hacked to only open when danced for)
XO Roman (Human. XO. Science. Personal PaDD hacked to add fake meetings across the ship to his daily schedule)
En. Gom (Tellarite. Engr. Itching powder in spare uniform)
En. Macheskey (Human. Medical. Trapped door that dumped green dye on her)

“Given Baker’s behavior and the self sabotage of his PaDD, I ran some cross reference searches and came up with this.”

Borgia (he worked with and never seemed to cross paths outside of the lab. Does not have the skill or training to alter her computer credentials)
Jilva (he was Vulcan and it seemed unlikely but Vulcan’s had a history of extreme animosity toward Andorians. And they were always in mess hall together either at lunch or dinner. Could create a program to alter her font permanently but does not have the skill to hack the computer clearance codes)
Ginna (a Tellarite engineer that was working on Kovan’s deck the day his chime started acting up)
Ayden (another eng, Human, was there the day before).

NE Baker frequently worked the same shifts with NE Vash and worked a shift with XO Roman before their PaDD was hacked.
Ensign Macheskey logged a complaint against Ginna for what was described as inappropriate behavior.
Ensign Gom also logged a complaint against Ginna for inappropriate jokes about his cleanliness.
En Baker had a formal complaint and write up for inappropriate and harassing behavior toward En Mendez
The analysis reported unusual logs for Jilva and Borgia. Things like showing up to shifts late, leaving in the middle of shifts and other minor things. Nothing that would condemn them, but certainly raised suspicion.
Ayden was absent from the report, making Kovan think he’s not involved at all.

Yeoman Rand

While the COS read through their PADD of gathered evidence, Kovan added, “When we were speaking with NE Baker and became apparent that we suspected him, his personal PADD emitted a series of long and loud screeches. Something simple enough to program and activate. Perhaps to throw us off the trail but only an idiot would fall for a ploy like that.” Here Kovan hesitated. On the new PADD Rand requisitioned for Baker, Kovan installed a simple but subtle hardware tracking program. Either Baker or whoever did the programing pranks would have to take the PADD apart to find the tampering. Then, after only a moment’s pause, Kovan said, “On Baker’s new PADD I installed tracking hardware. Nothing that would reveal personal information, but would allow us to follow his movements off-grid so to speak. We know that the people behind these pranks are not afraid to alter computer records and override access codes.”

The tampering was bound to be revealed. Kovan might as well speak now before someone else finds out. It wasn’t even a high-tech bit of tampering. Just a piece of hardware that sent out an electronic ping every hour. With every ping the ship computer would note the location and time and send the data to his and Rand’s PADDs. So long as the pranksters didn’t know about it it was tamper-proof.

Ensign ch’Sirhc

“Well… this is certainly… a lot of pranks.” Anders took a few seconds to soak in all of the information in front of him. True, there was nothing on here that threatened the entire ship, but if he wanted to keep the entire ship efficient, he needed to sort out this mess, “I think we better pay Ensign Baker a visit, where can we find them?”

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

“He works in mechanical science. He’s working a double shift today,” Rand pulled out the watch she wore on a chain and checked the time. “He should be there now, their lunch hour is over.”

Yeoman Rand

Mendez spoke next, “I wish there was more I can tell you but I really don’t know anything more.” She seemed pained that she possessed no new information for their investigation. “Baker. . . he was angry when I rejected him, but he hasn’t said anything to me since I reported him. Good luck with your investigation.”

“We will figure this out.” Kovan said, tone neutral to hide his disappointment. He had hoped Mendez would know something to push their investigation forwards but it seems this was a dead end. At least they learned more about Baker and his oh so charming personality. Kovan turned to Rand and Anders and said, “Let’s go speak with Baker and see if he doesn’t have anything more to say.” Perhaps now that the CoS was involved the NE will be more honest.

Ensign ch’Sirhc

OOC: Sorry guys! Time has been getting away from me of late!

Anders clicked his fingers suddenly, “Wait, we may need one more person on this.” He crossed to the communications panel on the wall and tapped the control, “=^= Anders to Ensign Wachter, can you report to the Mess Hall please lass?”

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

OOC: It happens. We’re glad your back.
But Yvonne (Wachter) had to take a step back and left the ship: https://www.star-fleet.com/core/stf5/sentinel/posts/161230/ So do you want to use an NE here or maybe someone else would like to play an NE Sec officer?

IC:
Rand smiled gently at Mendez. “It’s okay. Thank you for talking with us though.” Rand had been hoping that maybe Baker had said something trying to show off and impress Mendez, but apparently being formally reported was enough to make him realize to look for romance elsewhere. She scanned the crowd in the Mess Hall while they waited for the other security officer to join them.

Yeoman Rand

OOC: Ahh of course! I can add an NE in here to bulk out the team!

The voice of a Texan crewman came back over the wall com, “=^= Howdy L.T! This is Ensign Mcree, Ensign Wachter is currently resting in her quarters after a… minor training accident, can I help you with anything? =^=”
Anders grinned, “Charlie, I told you lot about being rough with each other. Can you meet Yeoman Rand and I in the crew lounge as soon as?” He acknowledged and closed the channel, “We need to get moving on this people,” Anders said to Rand and ch’Sirhc, already feeling as if he was taking charge.

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

BUMP

-Kieron-

Get this. . .? Moving?! Then what the hell has he and Rand been doing this whole time? Kovan’s nails dug into his palms, hands tense with the effort to hold back biting and sarcastic remarks. Oh sure, just waltz in and take over because clearly this investigation was going nowhere. Clearly he and Rand would never have figured this out without someone in charge. He kept it under control. He’s fine. This. Is. Okay.

While they waited on this random security En to show up, Kovan pulled out his PaDD and checked the tracker on Baker’s PaDD. So far it seems like Baker is where he’s supposed to be and has stayed there. No strange appearances in other parts of the ship. Kovan handed his PaDD to Rand to show her the results as well.

Ensign ch’Sirhc

Anders caught the small look of frustration on ch’Sirhc’s face and scratched the back of his head, “Sorry lad, I don’t mean to take over straight away, I just wish I’d known about this sooner, I could’ve helped.”

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

Rand took the PaDD and looked it over. “Doesn’t mean he took his PaDD with him. It also doesn’t tell us who he might have met with in those places.” Rand glanced at Kovan and nodded. She felt the same way. There were times when Rand had a hard time dealing with people, but in this case the rules were very clear, as well as why she, at least, had gone about this the way she had.

“I won’t speak for Ensign ch’Sirhc, but for myself, I need to make sure I have my facts straight, Lt.” she said addressing Anders. “I have the ear of the Cpt and in her place the XO as well. I can’t just accuse someone of breaking rules without severe consequences. Especially if I’m wrong. It causes hurt feelings, could ruin or set back someone’s career, and unfortunately gossip. As a Star Fleet officer I won’t make empty accusations. I don’t think ch’Sirhc would either. And so far the pranks, though annoying, haven’t endangered the ship’s safety. Well individually for ch’Sirhc and myself. When you put them all together though…”

Waiting for Mcree to show, Rand commented, “We’ve talked to Baker, he’s pretty cocky. We have not spoken to Ayden, Ginna, or Jilva.” She didn’t see the point in treading roads covered without new information. Of course she wasn’t a security officer either.

Yeoman Rand