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

Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in Side-Sim Pranks and Jokers

Posted by Ensign Kovan ch’Sirhc (Engineering & Communications Officer) in Side-Sim Pranks and Jokers
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)
OOC: Leaving relevant evidence/information here, but snipping

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 (Computer science, 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 (engineer, 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 (Human, Mechanical Science) 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.

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.”

(end snip)
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-

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

As for Kovan, the honest answer was that informing security never crossed his mind to begin with. Perhaps it was part of his nature as an andorian but Kovan faced his problems head on. Why bring in security when he was perfectly capable of handling things on his own? And as a fellow victim Rand had every right to investigate and the two of them made for surprisingly effective and competent investigators. “I wanted definite proof before making accusations.” Was all he said in defence of their private investigation up to this point.

A few moments later, the doors to the crew lounge slid aside to reveal the grinning face of a stocky, silver haired Texan man. Ensign Charlie McRee had been a member of Starfleet for about a year, but had only just managed to get himself on a starship. He grinned when he saw Anders and gave a two fingered salute, “You called Lieutenant?”
Anders tapped the man on the back and replied, “I’ll let the Yeoman brief you Ensign,” he gestured to Rand.

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

Her? Why her? She didn’t even know why Lt Anders called McRee down there. Why not Kovan, he’d put quite a bit of the information together. She glanced at her Andorian partner in…investigation? It certainly wasn’t crime, and shrugged slightly. “En ch’Sirhc and I discovered several officers have been the target of ill conceived and sometimes malicious pranks.” She began to list them and then stopped, tapping quickly on her PaDD as well as flipping papers back and forth. “ch’Sirhc you said Cmdr Alden’s schedule was altered? Do you remember what day that was?”

It took Kovan a moment to recall the date, “It was six ship days ago, so on [stardate].”

Rand flipped a switch on her PaDD and went back into the ship reports. “The night before, wasn’t there a computer maintenance routine scheduled?” Even if Kovan didn’t work on it, he would know because it would have been notified in Engineering. Computer science, mechanical science, and engineers were all needed for those.

Kovan stood straighter, his mind working as it picked up on what Rand was leading to, “Yes. Computer maintenance on decks nine through twelve. I was posted on deck eleven in the upper warp core.” All of their suspects and Baker himself could have been apart of the maintenance giving them easy and unhindered access to unsuspecting victims. Including their XO’s whose office was on deck nine.

She nodded along as Kovan spoke. People always complained about how Cmdr Alden was such a stickler for the rules down to the very fine and seemingly insignificant things. If something had happened to his PaDD or his saved files, such as his schedule, Cmdr Alden would have reported it. She flipped through the maintenance and work order requests for the following few days. “HA! Look.” She held the PaDD out to Kovan, “Cmdr Alden filed a computer glitch that afternoon about his altered schedule. The cause, ‘I speculate that it was a glitch caused by the computer system maintenance. My files have been corrected but there may be other lingering errors.’ And look who accepted the notice and marked it as ‘fixed’.”

Yeoman Rand

Kovan studied the padd, and grinned, caught up in the excitement of their new lead, “Jilva. We can check the maintenance logs for deck nine that day and see if Baker or any of our other suspects were also posted there.” Oh, wouldn’t it be perfect if Jilva was involved. Everyone would assume a vulcan would be above something as petty as “pranks” completely forgetting that vulcans were perfectly capable of lying and deception. Then a new idea struck, “Rand, you reported your hacked PaDD and requested maitenence, right? Who accepted the request?”

Ensign ch’Sirhc

Tap…tap…tappity tap tap… “Ayden did initialy. I remember, she came up to my office and replaced the actual printer and the internal physical printer drive of my console. But that didn’t fix it. She said she’d pass it on to computer sciences because it was probably a software problem and not hardware.” Tap tap tap “Borgia in computer science picked it up.” She looked up suddenly and looked at Anders, “Sorry Lt.” She turned back to McRee and finished giving him all the information they had so far and then turned to Anders. “Jilva, he’s an engineer, and Baker spend a lot of time outside the labs together and if you check their reports, they collaborate on a lot of work orders. Jilva has the training to alter the computer programs but not hack the command codes. Baker does. Borgia works with Baker, and they don’t seem to socialize, but Borgia is in charge of delegating tasks and work orders that come in and determining what to do with them. He could write the program, but his security clearance is pretty low, but again, Baker’s isn’t.” More tapping and flipping of papers, “Baker and Borgia are on duty right now, Jilva is just coming off duty, and Ayden is scheduled for shuttle maintenance today.”

She glanced at the reports again. “I really wish I knew what they were talking about....” The corner of her mouth twitched. “She has absolutely no connection to this, but En Scott, she works Gamma shift in the Biology lab, seems to know all the gossip in the ship at all times, specifically the science department. If anyone heard anything at all, she would have. If she didn’t have a habit of telling everyone, everything she hears, I’d consider recruiting her for the yeoman corp.”

Yeoman Rand

McRee clapped his hands together, “Well hell, then I’d say Ensign Scott is where we start surely?”

-Ensign Walker McRee (As Played by Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security)-

Kovan thought it over, turning possibilities around in his head. As much as he’d love to find and interrogate Jilva, the better informed they were beforehand the better they could press him for answers. “I agree, we should talk with En Scott.” It was the sensible choice, but not one Kovan particularly looked forward too. He had a . . . strained personal relationship with En Scott. To put it succinctly he snapped at her a several ship days ago, after listening to her prattle on and on about ship gossip in the lounge. He also compared her mouth to the Jaws of Verda, a sinkhole the size of a continent on the barren planetoid of Verda 3.

There was very good chance that she would not be happy to see or speak to him.

Ensign ch’Sirhc, COMMO/ENGR