Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Governement Tower - Lt Governors Office - Chasing a lead (TMODJ)

Posted by Civilian Alston ‘Fox’ Mace (Colonial Intelligence Agency Asset) in Governement Tower - Lt Governors Office - Chasing a lead (TMODJ)

Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Governement Tower - Lt Governors Office - Chasing a lead (TMODJ)
Posted by… suppressed (13) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Alston just watched Cort and Dorma as he was talking. “I will be stopping by the CCDA later today. The bug in question was handed over to us by the Police, in an attempt to see if we could better track down what information may or may not have been transmitted. Add in the Vren visiting, and there are some concerns about the external security of colony. Hence while I’m here, while the analysts work their magic on the bug itself.

“I was hoping you could tell me a bit more about what kind of items are typically in these deliveries, and how that process would normally work?”

• Mace

Dorma’s comm chirped with an incoming call and she would note it was prefaced by one of the new codes they were testing out. This one indicated it was from Eela Dasca and that it was marked as highly confidential and necessitated Fen take it in private.

~Eela Dasca, Lt. Gov.

Fen stood and said “If you will excuse me, I must take this call. Please, do continue. I will catch up when I return.”

Dorma Fen, Governor’s Aid

Mace nodded towards Dorma as he made a mental note. With everything a a stand still for the moment, he wondered what exactly would be pulling her away.

Cort watched Dorma leave and then focused on Mace again, shrugging. “I’m not involved with any of that unless she specifically asks me to order anything for her, but generally anything going to her home is personal. Everything related to her job comes here, with a few exceptions if what she requested was for her home office, but that’s not been the case lately. I do know that she has been ordering quite a few things in advance of the Batarael festivities. It’s an important Haliian holiday that is coming up in a couple weeks and her and her visiting daughter are hosting a large dinner on the first day. The last oder she placed I wasn’t involved in, but she had mentioned it related to some of the private rituals. Unless she offers information or invites questions, I tend to respect her privacy in these matters.”

~Cort Belanger

“I understand, but let me rephrase my question. It is my understanding that items headed for her home are grouped together to clear customs, and to make a single delivery. Instead of being delivered individually, is this correct?”

• Mace

Cort shrugged. “Not necessarily. It depends on what it is. In this case, there were several items all arriving within a couple days of each other and since none of them were needed urgently, so someone, probably her, suggested that they wait till they were all there and send it as one given most items were useless without the others.”

He frowned slightly. “How serious is this bug issue, Director? Given other events currently going on it does seem… rather coincidental, does it not?” Were the bug and Jones’ death connected? It didn’t seem like it, but something about it all just struck Cort oddly.

From the other side of the table, Lieutenant Watts. “But who would even bother trying? Like, sure, she’s still new around here, but after the incident with her ex, security around Captain Dasca is pretty tight. You either have to be pretty confident about your odds or incredibly stupid to attempt it.”

Cort Belanger, Executive Assistant to Lt. Gov.

“Bugging of the Lieutenant Governor’s personnel residence is always a serious issue. Add in the other current events, well that is why I’m the one here asking the questions right now. While I can’t rule out it all being a coincidence, history has shown me that chances are very low.

“As for the security around the Captain, apparently there is still at least one hole in it. That’s what I’m trying to find right now, hence the questions.”

Alston leaned forward in his chair and placed his arms on the table. “I’m trying to figure out how between one controlled area, customs, and another controlled area, her personnel residence, that someone was able to get close enough to plant a bug on the container. Because while it was a bug today, it might not be a bug that’s planted next time.”

Cort didn’t need to be told this. Not only had this already occurred to him, he had been present when a similar situation had occurred back in his relief days. He was careful not to let this disturbing memory grace his face though.

He paused for a second before sitting back in his chair. “So, are you able to help me figure it out? Right now I’m trying to figure out where the items were gathered, and how they were transported to her house.”

• Mace

“I mean, everything is screened again when it reaches her building. Nothing goes upstairs that isn’t cleared. Obviously there will be more thorough checks now that her details knows where the weak points in the system are. But I don’t think the delivery point is where you need to be looking. If anything, in this particular case, you should be looking at who packaged everything together, or who laid hands on it between customs and her building. While there are many goods that come through Oed customs, hers would be priority marked and removed from the general process, yes?” Cort leaned back frowning. “Where exactly was the bug hidden? “

Cort Belanger, Executive Assistant to Lt. Gov.

“And that is why I started here. I figured that you would be the best person to start with in trying to gather that information, being the most familiar with the procedures around the Lieutenant Governor.” Now that it seemed Alston had finally gotten through to the right track, a bit of flattery never hurt to help keep the person in a helpful mood.

Cort did not react though and simply listened.

“The bug was adhered to the outside of the container. I’m guessing that the suspect knew the bug was going to be discovered, so instead of spending more time in trying to hide the bug, but increasing their chances of getting caught in the act, that they went for the faster placement to lower their risks. It could also have been a test of how the Governor’s security, but we are operating under the idea that they were trying to gather some sort of intelligence.

“Who was charged with packaging it together? Was it an outside contractor? And who is charged with transporting the materials to her residence? And did this particular shipment go via transporter, or was it moved via, say a slider?”

• Mace

Belanger held up a finger and turned back to his workstation and began to pull up records. He skimmed a few things before pulling up others. “Okay, as best I can tell the items all arrived through customs from Halii on three different dates. They were held in customs for initial inspection and cleared, but held in secure storage until the last shipment came in. Then they were packaged together in the crate by someone at Customs and then given to a delivery service the government uses.” He looked up at Mace. “They’re vetted as far as I know. Then the crate was delivered to her building where it was screened by the security officer on duty and sent up to her.” Cort shrugged. “Pretty standard procedure and there are multiple screening points.”

Cort Belanger, Executive Assistant to Lt. Gov.

Alston nodded. “Is the security at her building local? Or is it provided by Starfleet?”

“Starfleet,” Cort says. “They handle both internal and external security of the building, but her residence itself is guarded by her CCDA team.”

As he had figured there were only a few moments that the crate had been accessible. While it was not probable, the crate could have been bugged at customs, or even more unlikely before it had been picked to be used for her. But there were to many variables in those cases. From his experience, you wanted to control or eliminate as many variables as possible.

He’d have someone check on the delivery service, but either way the security at her building was either inadequate, or had been compromised. The most likely explanation was that someone had gotten through security, and it had been tagged after the screening points.

“Okay, let’s assume that the timing of Mr. Jones passing and this bug attempt aren’t just a coincidence. What is Lt Governor working on right now? Because someone thought this was the easiest way to get information.”

• Mace

Cort almost laughed. “What isn’t she working on? There is everything surrounding the Vren, she was helping Ambassador Mathis and Mr. Jones get the new embassy up and running, there’s Cabinet meetings and related meetings and projects. She’s become something of an art patron and does a lot of work in that part of the community. She’s also the Commander-in-Chief for the Starfleet contingent here, which means not only is she the liaison between the crew here and Starfleet Command, but she’s privy to fleet movements in the neighbouring sectors. The Centurion is a part of Oed’s planetary defence system, but even if she wasn’t Starfleet, her and the Governor have a pretty collaborative system. There isn’t anything he’d be working on that she wouldn’t know about, even if she’s not directly involved.” Which is why this was so unnerving for him and the others. “But I will say that, hard to believe though it might be, I know I don’t know everything she’s working on. If it comes through the office, I know. If it’s something she’s dealing with more discreetly, as is her right and purview, then I wouldn’t.”

~Cort Belanger, Executive Assistant to Lt. Gov.

Alston tapped his chin thinking through it. “Okay, so following that train of thought, but not a lot of those tasks would Mr. Jones be read in on,” he said starting to think out loud. “It’s unlikely that this is a matter of trying to gain information on Starfleet. First, there are a lot easier avenues to get that information, second you would probably try to go for one of their facilities instead of her personnel residence.

“We can rule out the philanthropy work for now. While it might not always make you well liked, there is any benefit to getting advance notice there.

“The new embassy is definitely something to consider. Depending on what operations were moving there, I could see wanting to try and plant some bugs now, before it was fully operational.”

“But why try Dasca, then? Go for Mathis or Jones. With all teh construction, there’s a lot of people that have been coming and going form there, vetted though they may b,” Belanger reasoned.

Alston paused for a second. “If we consider Occam’s razor, and go with the most straight forward option, trying to get inside information on the Vren visit makes the most sense. Maybe trying to get intel on a part of the schedule that wasn’t made public? Trying to line up something to discredit the Vren perhaps? Arranging an attack on the Governor or Lt Governor would definitely derail the talks, but any threat would have already been reported and vetted. And as delicate as these talks are, I know at least we are taking every potential threat very seriously…”

He trailed off for another moment before looking back over at Cort. “When do you think she’ll be available to talk? If there was something she was working on outside of this office that could be the reason behind the events, her input may help.”

• Mace

Cort exhaled a deep breath. “I don’t know. She definitely won’t be at work today, and probably not tomorrow. She’s also dealing with other issues at this moment. However, I can let her know that you want to discuss the bug, and given how important it is and the need to rule out that it’s connected to this new tragedy, I suspect she’ll try to at least have a conversation with you. I just can’t guarantee it will be in person.”

Cort Belanger, Executive Assistant to Lt. Gov.

“That’s fine. I’m not the police, I don’t need to follow certain procedures to clear people off my list,” he said with a smirk.

“I appreciate your time this morning, you’ve given me some information to think about. Please let me know when the Captain will be able to have a call, and in the meantime if you can review recent correspondences, encounters, anything you could think of, for a potential threat to either her or the Governor that would be appreciated. Until we can figure out the motivation, it’s worth casting a wide net.

“I’m sure you have other things to do besides listening to me ramble through theories. So unless you have any questions for me, I think I know where my next stop will be,” Mace said standing up before adjusting his coat.

• Mace

It was hard to know whether to say something or not, but then Mace’s words rang a bell. “Mr. Mace, Lieutenant Watts,” she greeted, moving around the large table to stand before her. “I’m Dasca’s aide-de-camp.”

She seemed uncertain, but then found some resolve. “I don’t know where this falls in the grand scheme of things, but there was an odd encounter that Captain Dasca and I had at the gala the other night. One of the guests, a business man by the name of… oh, Thurston… Kennick, that’s it. Thurston Kennick, a CEO of some tech company. Anyway, he comes up to he and introduces himself and he’s all swagger and charm. He starts congratulating her on her achievements on Oed and Dasca is pleasant but I can tell she’s sizing him up because he then counters him but assuring him her actions weren’t stunts. He waves her comments away and seems to make a point of the fact that she’d lasted longer than any of her more recent predecessors. Then he excuses himself and heads off. She and I exchanged a look and I asked if that exchange was as weird as I thought it was, and she agreed. She said, and I quote, ‘He was being a complete jackass with a smile’. And she should know, she is an empath.” Watts shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t know that it meant anything. She has her fair share of detractors for a variety of reasons, but it was just… off. She said she felt like he was playing some sort of game.”

Lt. Sherri Watts, Aide-de-camp

“You said Thurston Kennick?” Alston said pulling the PADD out of his pocket and sending a quick note back to one of the analysts to pull the records for Kennick. “I am not personally familiar with that name myself, but I am also still new to this region of space. Did he seem like he might of had a few to many drinks? Or possibly intoxicated in some way that may have explained his behavior?

Watts shook her head. “No, he seemed pretty clear headed and it was still pretty early after speeches, but I suppose that doesn’t mean much.”

“I do appreciate you speaking up Lieutenant, I’m just trying to get a gauge on what his intentions may have been.”

• Mace

She nodded. “Like I said, it was just… weird, and Dasca seemed to intuit there was more behind it than some fake compliments. Anything more and you’d have to to talk to her when she’s available.” Right now was a bit of a mess, all told.

Lt. Sherri Watts, Aide-de-camp

Alson nodded as he finished up his notes and slipped the PADD back into the inside pocket of his jacket. “I appreciate the information, and will look into it. If any of you think of anything else that would be useful, please contact the office. They will be able to put you in touch with me.

“In the meantime please let the Captain know that I’d like to speak to her when she is available. Good morning to you all.”

With a nod Alston headed for the door of the conference room. He had enough to get started, and he was itching to start following a lead. As he walked through the door, he turned towards one of the guards standing outside, tapped the side of his coat with a wink before continuing onto the lift.

As the lift descended he leaned against the wall. He was curious to learn more about Kennick when the file was complete, but for now it was probably more efficient to follow the trail of the bug first. That meant talking to the security detail at Dasca’s personnel residence.

Exiting the lift in the lobby, Alston made it through the crowd before exiting onto the street outside of the tower. Hailing a public slider, he set off in that direction.

• Mace