Suspicion and substance

Posted on Fri Jul 15th, 2022 @ 5:13am by Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery & Captain Stenn & Lieutenant JG Calanthe 'Cal' Diaz

Mission: Mission 6 - Memory
Location: MACO Barracks F Deck
Timeline: MD 301 1125hrs
1720 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Stenn was returning to his Office when he met O'Connery and Diaz stepping off a lift.

"Ensigns" he nodded to them and caught the look on O'Connery's face. "You are looking for me I presume. This way"

He led the way to his office, closing the door once they were in. He gestured for them to sit and went around to take his own chair.

"I assume Ensign Diaz is aware of your... concerns?" he asked Lexi

Lexi sat heavily in the chair and frowned at the phrasing but nodded neither less. Concerns was all she had alongside the feeling of having a lucky escape.

"Very well and what is your opinion of Ensign John Smith?" he asked Diaz

Calanthe opened her mouth and promptly closed it again, an impressive display of restraint that gave her time to cross one leg over the other and sit up a little straighter. As tempting as it was to give an evaluation as a typically blunt summary, Cal curbed her vitriol to include something a little more professional.

"He oozes insincerity. He has a glib tongue," she conceded, "and has a distinct knack for discovering ways to make it seem like he's personally invested in people. But he speaks loudly when it isn't warranted and is overly animated. Hand gestures and facial expressions," Cal elaborated. "Everything about him seems intentionally crafted to me." There was a pause and then the brunette couldn't help herself. "He gives me the creeps."

“It is the creep factor but I feel like we just had a lucky escape.” Lexi finally admitted aloud looking at Calanthe looking shaken to her core by the interaction they had just had with the man. “Like we were really lucky to escape being alone in the mess hall with him.”

"Sincerity, or a lack of, is a subjective rather than objective opinion. As is assessing someone's glibness" Stenn replied levelly "Showing a personal interest in other peoples wellbeing is surely an expected and positive trait in a Morale Officer? Many people adopt certain characteristics that they may believe, possibly mistakenly, will assist them in their career. Again assessing such traits in not objective. Many Humans describe Vulcans as aloof, distant, overly-controlled, lacking empathy, smug, arrogant, in short we do not act as some Humans, believe or expect we should, does that make us creepy?"

There was a suggestion of agitation to Calanthe's posture, the kind of bristling that always occurred when people questioned her professionally-informed intuition. That being said, it wasn't always easy to substantiate her observations with evidence enough to satisfy those who didn't believe in trusting natural instinct.

"Behaviour is an observable metric," she retorted. "I am not being subjective when I say that his mannerisms are consistent with fabrication and duplicity. For a human," Cal added, "Which, again, is a distinction with enough clinical validity that it is literally used to diagnose mental health disorders."

The brunette shifted in her seat, uncrossing her legs to lean forward and make earnest eye contact. "Listen, when Lexi first mentioned this to me, I wasn't sure either. I knew I didn't like him, I knew I didn't trust him, but like you say, not enough basis to accuse anyone of being anything other than a jerk. So, since he is determined not to leave me alone, I turned it to my advantage. Started referencing things from the past year but leaving out details or changing them." Cal paused to wince, a familiar dull ache starting to settle behind her left eye. "He doesn't actually commit to his own recollections. Any contribution he makes to a conversation about something six months ago is vague and generalised, the kind of manipulative banter seen historically in charlatans and frauds trying to convince the gullible that they can speak to the dead. He does a lot of agreeing; even to things that didn't actually happen."

"Look unlike you Cal I do not have any memories of him nor any mention in my personal logs but I do have my natural-born linguist skills and he is just off. It all seems wrong to me but I cannot truly explain it properly in words as it defines a phrase. All I can sum it up as when I am around him every instinct in me tells him to run." It was some basic defence mechanism or something but it told her her in the pit of her stomach to run.

Stenn sat back and looked at the pair for a moment. "I do not discount gut instinct. In Vulcans, as in Humans, there are times when one has a sense of... inbalance. For which there is not a logical explanation.

That said, feelings, judgments, fears and mental health opinions by personnel who are not clinically accredited to make such claims, do not provide supstansive evidence. Particularly when the vast majority of the crew considers the person concerned to be behaving perfectly normally."

He held up a hand before either could object.

"But, hard data, such as there being no record of Ensign Smith in your logs, is the better basis for further investigation. A foundation to which I can add another layer. I spoke with the detachment yesterday. Many have strong memories of Smith, going back to the the launch of this ship. Many even claimed he organised a drinking contest after the official launch reception the night before we departed Earth. Many, but not all.

One of the Operatives is a keen image journaller, they have kept image and video recordings of Detachmnet and ship events since coming aboard. Yet, in their entire libary, there are no images of Smith prior to last week, at a basket ball event he organised in the cargo hold. There is not one picture of him before that, not even in the formal pictures taken at the offical reception.

I have also viewed his personnel record on the ship's database. It is unlike any other, in that it has nothing beyond his name, rank and position. All other areas are blank."

“Strange that no one else has noticed. I have tried talking to several people and everyone kinda goes blank at the mention of him and get really happy and sings his praises.” Lexi said thinking he had definitely not been there for the formal photos. She could remember everything about that night in sharp contrast before she had gotten drunk and tried it on with William and succeeded.

"We have an Officer who does not appear to have a history aboard, beyond a week ago. Who brings on disquiet in some personnel and yet is admired by others." Stenn noted "People from a possible alternative reality, who claim their Atlantis was destroyed by some being. And now we have the death, or possible murder, of the Executive Officer. There is insufficient evidence to link these events, yet logically I do not believe them to be unconnected. We have a puzzle but not all of the pieces."

Lexi nodded. It felt like her Rubik's Cube that lay on a shelf in her quarters. She knew how it all meant to fit together but just could not make it fit. “Frustratingly so.” Lexi agreed growing silent again as she started to think over it all and what was going on.

Having sat in frustrated silence at the typical dismissal, yet again, of her entire field of study, Calanthe raised her eyebrows and blinked with intentional deliberation several times. "So how do you suggest we get the pieces, Captain? In a reliable, non-subjective manner," she continued, toeing right up to the line before obvious and blatant mockery.

"We find more hard data, or rather an absence of data" Stenn replied. "He is not mentioned in your logs," he gestured to O'Connery "Nor in my Operative's image records; he does not have a personnel file. There is, so far, no record of his presence aboard, prior to a week ago. We need to find more evidence of this kind, evidence that cannot be contested or passed off as emotionally driven.

You are both Communications Officers, you have access to all of the ship's communications records since we left Earth. Search them for Ensign John Smith. Find his transfer orders, his service record, he personnel reviews, presumably by the Executive Officers and countersigned by the Captains. His cabin assignment, his shift records, his weekly department reports, indeed any report he has ever filed; every mission he has been on, everything he has done on duty. Logically, if he has been aboard for the entire time he should appear in many forms within the ship's official records. If he is not there, that is conclusive evidence we can take to Lieutenant Gerhard and the Captain that they cannot ignore"

"Let's go then," Cal appealed to Lexi, pushing upwards to rise from her chair. The mention of the unsolved death, now apparently officially referenced as a murder, had formed a layer of ice over the knot that already threatened to tie the linguist's insides into a mess. "If you're right," she said to Stenn, "and all of this is connected, Smith is dangerous."

"He is connected. I can feel it." The petite blonde said almost to herself as she looked at the man. She had been attempting to go through communication reports but it had been hard going without anyone else alongside or without letting anyone in on what she was doing for fear that they would mention it to Smith. As Lexi made an awkward move to stand up with the crutches as an alert ripped through the ship.

"Security Condition Reed 4. Deck G, Port Side." The alert said.

"That is ... weapons fire sensed," Lexi commented whipping her head around seeing that he was already armed. "Aren't you meant to answer that type of alert Sir? Weapons fired but no response"

There was no response as Stenn was already halfway out of the door. =∆= MACO duty team meet me on Gulf Deck =∆=

“We better head to the Communication Control room,” Lexi said knowing neither of them should be alone at the moment especially them after the weird feeling that she had from Smith in the mess.