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

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… suppressed (7) 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. He is seeking a promotion and currently dating another officer)
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. Stated his plans to prank Rand and was overheard complaining about XO Alden)

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.

(snip)
Rand blinked at McRee’s enthusiasm and then nodded. She’d heard, from Scott, about her discussion with ch’Sirhc. Rand didn’t like the gossip, but for some reason Scott had decided the two were friends and took any chance she had to try and draw Rand into the social goings on of the ship. Scott was not well liked by the more strict and adherent officers. She loved to gossip and if she didn’t hear it she spent a lot of time speculating. She’d done the same thing about Rand before Scott decided they were friends. Rand pulled a chain from around her neck and glanced at the watch. “Scott works Gamma shift.” She remembered Scott telling her if she was awake and not on duty she spent most of her free time in the recreation hall. It was too boring in her quarters. She glanced around the Galley and not seeing her, “Let’s try the Rec Hall.”

Rand left the galley heading across the corridor to the rec hall. She was eager to talk to Jilva and Borgia, but talking to Scott might help shed some light on what was going on or eliminate someone as a suspect. Rand took a breath steeling herself for the bombing that would be Scott. Looking around she spotted Scott and made her way over. Rand knew the best way to get the girl’s attention was to give her something to think about - not the whole story. Just enough to entice her and then let her talk. “Hey Scott. Could we talk to you a second? There’s been a series of ‘pranks’ happening on the ship and we’re trying to figure out who’s doing it and why.” Then Rand stopped and waited for it to start.

Yeoman Rand

Scott was standing by a recreational computer console, using it to listen to some tapes. When she saw Rand walk up, she paused whatever she was listening to and looked up. “Rand, what’ve you been up to? I hardly EVER see you around anymore!” She said energetically, smiling widely at the officer she considered a friend. “Have you heard? Apparently, one of the Engineers nearly blew up his quarters…” She started rattling off one of her stories, but then paused about halfway through and trailed off. “Pranks? What kind of pranks? Pranks are fun! Assuming everyone’s okay, of course.” She’d once been the victim of a rather unkind prank during her academy days. She’d been blue for DAYS after that. That dye NEVER washed out of her uniforms, either. She looked up at Rand once again and frowned. “I’d heard some of the officers got pranked - in fact the Commander was in quite the fowl mood the other day - said he had all kind of fake meetings or something?” Then she grinned mischievously. “Ooooh! Who d’you think did it? I bet there’s all kinds of people aboard who’d have the time to carry something like that out.”

~ NEnsign Scott, Science

“Well we’re trying to narrow down the list, Ensign,” Anders said a little more deadpan than intended.

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

Kovan lurked in the background, hoping to go unnoticed. He wasn’t about to put a damper on their investigation because of a. . . personal issue between him and one of their few sources of leads. Still, even with that in mind. . . he couldn’t help but internally groan as Scott went on and on about absolutely nothing. At least he has the forethought to temper his words and at least pretend to sound calm when he said, “What can you tell us about Jilva and Baker? Or anyone else on our lists of suspects.” He offered Scott his PaDD with all their notes so far.

Ensign ch’Sirhc, COMMO/ENGR

Rand couldn’t get a word in edgewise, but that was nothing new with Scott. So she waited to see what other information might come out of Scott’s mouth. Anders and Kovan offered Scott plenty of gossip fodder with their list, now it was time to see what came out of the word work.

Scott gave Kovan a very snooty glare and turned away from him. “My mouth isn’t so much like the Verda sinkhole when you need my information, is it?” She said and then turned excitedly to Rand. “Baker is on the list? He was telling the whole lab he was gonna have you paged in the middle of the night so it would wake the command staff! I didn’t think he’d go through with it, though. I mean, I told him that seemed wrong. Even if the Commander could stand to loosen up a little.”

Kovan bit back a scathing response. They did need information and Kovan can and will hold back the worst parts of his personality if it meant taking the pranksters down. Seeing this investigation end with justice against them was far more worthwhile than the fleeting satisfaction from a sarcastic response. So he stayed quiet, the only sign of his struggle a sharp intake of breath through his nose.

Rand gave Scott a very sad look. “I got written up for that, Scott.” She hadn’t but Scott didn’t know that. No one would know that, it would be between her and her CO, in this case Rogers. If Rogers hadn’t been so understanding, Rand could have gotten written up. She lowered her voice, “They took my uniforms, cut them up and patched them together like Frankenstein’s monster. And look at this…” she turned her PaDD toward Scott to see the horrid print outs. “It’s all like this. Do you know what Rogers would do to me if I turned reports in like this?” Rand seemed stressed and worried. Which was a far cry to how Kovan and Anders and McRee saw her earlier. Was she perhaps playing it up for Scott? She seemed so genuine though, and she really could get in a lot of trouble for something like that. As if they had a shared secret, and they did, Rand said, “The yeoman corp doesn’t tolerate behavior like this. I can’t leave Star Fleet, I have nothing to go back to.” Surely Scott understood what she meant. Rand didn’t particularly enjoy playing the ‘damsel’ in this situation, but she was pulling at Scott’s good nature, rather than her ire at Kovan.

Scott knew why Rand had been the target of pranks. It was no secret that a lot of ship crew thought she needed to ‘loosen up’. She was nearly as uptight as the Commander, and that was saying something. The report printouts Rand showed her were… well, far from professional. Alden would have Scott’s head if she ever turned in something like that. No doubt Rand’s too. “Alright, alright. Just let me see again and I’ll tell you what I know.”

She snatched the PaDD from Kovan, holding it like anything of his might be some kind of toxic waste. “Jilva has a date on Saturday. And I heard he’s angling for a promotion.” She launched into a story about what she’d heard Jilva had been up to in order to secure that promotion. “I doubt he’d jeopardize his chances with some mean spirited pranks,” She finished at last, still only addressing Rand and Anders. Apparently, for how short her attention span seemed to be, the girl could hold a grudge.

~ NE Scott

“They aren’t just mean spirited, Scott. People have been hurt. En. Gom had itching powder put in his uniform, but he was seriously allergic. Others have been hurt too.” Rand had no idea and medical records were secure, but it was possible. Then to get Scott where it affected her and this was true. “That messed up schedule of Alden’s…There was a very important call to Star Fleet Science command that day. They were dolling out new projects. Alden missed it. There was a geology project for Acrorix he was trying to get, and then a mechanical science project focusing on that new Leoniceno Resistor. He missed getting both.”

Yeoman Rand

Scott gasped. “Acrorix?! No way! I can’t believe we could’ve been working on that!” And then, in typical Scott fashion, she went on for quite a while about the project. It couldn’t have been that interesting to the others, she was literally going on and on about rocks. Specifically, alien rocks. It wasn’t unlike when Alden really got going on something related to his work. Except… More Scottlike.

Rand let her prattle on for a bit. That was the thing, Scott may be a pain socially but she was very good at her job. Cmdr Alden knew that, and knew her talents were waisted helping out in the biology lab until they had something for her to work on. She was used to the science officers. She spent enough time around them. Not unlike the medical folks, just a wider range of topics.

OOC: Sorry for the AWOL folks! I’m back now!

Marcus took a moment to take all of this in, “Wow, a lot goes on on this ship without my notice,” he mumbled, making sure to increase the number of patrols for the next few weeks.

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

Rand was quite the actor. Kovan knew the truth behind some of the things Rand said, but if he wasn’t as privy to the details of the pranks he would have fallen for her act. He did spare a moment to mentally shake his head at the CoS. There are plenty of reasons to keep activities or interactions below the notice of the CoS or any commanding officer. No one liked it when commanding officers stuck their noses every day business. Or stepped into situations that lower ranking officers felt they could have taken care of on their own. Though these pranks were mean spirited, no one’s first thought was to report it to superior officers. There was no dignity in that. Not over something like that.

Ensign ch’Sirhc COMMO/ENGR

For once, Scott would agree with Kovan if he’d spoken his thoughts. No one wanted COs in everybody’s business all the time and no one was going to go reporting every little thing. Unfortunately, Scott did not have the self control Kovan did. She turned to Anders and said, “Of course it does! Nobody wants the department heads knowing ALL our business all the time.” She’d die if someone went reporting to Alden every time someone said something about her. She certainly didn’t need him solving her problems with the crew. She was pretty sure he didn’t like her anyway.

She looked back to Rand, and then the list, and tilted her head slightly. “It’s like I said, I overheard Baker talking about paging you in the middle of the night. He was also really angry when Alden wrote him up. He went on and on that entire shift about where Alden can put his rules and protocols. I haven’t heard of any motives he might have for the other pranks that were pulled, but he does have the time to pull them off. I haven’t seen him hanging around the rec center or the gym in a while. I still don’t think Jilva would threaten his promotion with childish pranks like these. And…” She read down the rest of the list, listing off what she knew about each suspect. “I’d say your guiltiest looking suspect is Baker.” She concluded.

~ NE Scott

Rand nodded, “Thanks Scott.” She started to stand up, she was pretty sure if Scott had anything else to say she would have already. She paused and looked back at Scott. “Really, thank you. These aren’t pranks, they’ve gotten really serious, and even dangerous.” She walked out looking like she was just worn out and hurt about the whole thing. Once away from the rec hall though she turned, all business. “So we have a witness about Baker. I would wager he went after Cmdr Alden because of the write up, and me because I filed the paperwork. As Lt Anders said, there are things that don’t get reported. Jilva may not want to risk his promotion, but Vulcans are very prideful and think they are smarter than the rest of us. He could be banking on these pranks not getting back to him. But if he’s been dating he may not have had time to pull them off. That leaves Borgia.” She glanced at the watch on the chain around her neck. “Still another hour till the next break for this shift, Baker should still be in the labs.”

Yeoman Rand

‘Lead the way Rand,’ Anders said, taking a moment to make a note of the conversation between Scott and Rand on a clipboard he carried around for reports while on patrol.

-Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Anders: Chief of Security-

Once his PaDD was returned to him, Kovan updated their notes with this new information. He followed Rand and security officers out, seemingly deep in thought. “More than banking, I’d say. Vulcan stereotypes are very flattering to them.” Not that Andorians didn’t get their fair share of romanticizing by other Federation members, but his species had a reputation for brutality that rivaled Klingons or Romulans. Hell, the Klingons and Andorians alone could compete over honor and battle prowess until the heat death of the universe.

“Assuming Jilva is an attentive boyfriend.” Kovan’s gut said it was too soon to go back to Baker. “We could speak with Jilva’s sweetheart. They might have more insight into him and how he’s spending his time. But Borgia. . . ” Kovan studied their list of gathered evidence. They should be looking into the computer scientist as well, “Who is his roommate?”

Ensign ch’Sirch, COMMO/ENGR

Rand nodded, “We could ask her, but,” she turned to Lt Anders, “we don’t have access to the security footage. Asking directly was our best way to get information. Some of these areas could have been caught on the security feeds.” She then turned to her PaDD and pulled up the ship’s information on room assignments. “Looks like Borgia’s roommate is…Maguire, medical. and the duty roster says he is off today. I didn’t see him in the mess or rec. So who first?”

Yeoman Rand