Absolutely Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Posted on Thu Jan 14, 2021 @ 12:17am by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Commander Cullen Walker & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot

1,378 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Archangel
Location: Walker's Office

Being himself,Walker had the computer reading him reports pertaining to Admiral Markus. He was upside down and blindfolded taking apart a rifle. He was about twelve reports in. "Who is this guy?"

He heard something. "Computer, back one paragraph." It replayed. "Again." Again in replayed.

"Walker to Anderson and Naroot: my office," he spoke.

"Repeat." Again, he listened. It wasn't right. He tapped his comm. "Walker to Ensign Alexander: you get that package I requested?"

Tag Alexander

A few minutes later, Penny walked down the corridor to Walker's office. She saw Nicole coming up from the other side, scowl firmly in place. "Could this be a happy meeting? Surprise birthday party maybe?" Penny said.

"You know what it's about," Nicole grumbled. "Get your game face on." She rang the chime to Walker's office.

"Right," Penny said, folding her arms as well, and scowling.

Nicole cleared her throat. "That's my game face," she said.

"Oh, right," Penny said, putting her arms behind her back and making her blue eyes seem bigger and more innocent.

Answering the chime, Walker said, "Enter." He was hanging upside down and blindfolded with a rifle underneath him. It was an early 21st century military rifle. This kept his head clear. It helped him focus. He heard two sets of footsteps and knew the patterns. "Computer. Repeat selection." The selection played. At first, it sounded like a lot of special teams missions. However, there was a problem. It mentioned Anderson as the post op physician and Walker leading support operations. The problem was the date. Walker and Anderson hadn't met each other yet. "I wasn't on that Mission. Based on records, you weren't attached to that Mission Doctor. I've found 23 like this so far. Just close enough that someone would overlook it." Looking at Naroot, "I even found one of Naroot that said she flew a Mission two months before graduating Starfleet. It was your kind of Mission. You're an animal on the stick." That was a compliment for crazy Pilots, not that piloting uses a stick anymore.

Penny opened her mouth to ask a question, but stopped as Nicole held up a hand.

"Is there a question, Commander?" Nicole said.

Answering her, "I don't think they are reports. I think they are flags." He put his hands on the floor, lifted him off the bar and came down in a back bend. He pushed off his hands and stood up. "You two have experience with Markus. Is this the kind of sadistic fucker that would flag the Captain's senior staff and watch us?" Walker said it aloud and thought of another possibility, one much more paranoid, picking up the rifle and putting it on the desk.

Nicole and Penny exchanged a glance, and an eyebrow raise, then both said, "yes."

"However," Nicole said, "that's the wrong question. The question is, why does he feel the need to?"

Walker looked at the reports and found another odd thing, "Computer. Were the selected reports written in the Admiral's Office?"

The answer came, "Unknown."

Walker tried again, "Computer. Were the selected reports written on any ship commonly used by the Admiral?"

The answer came, "Unknown."

Walker tried again, "Computer. Were the selected reports written using the Admiral's ID code?"

The answer came, "Unknown."

Walker looked at Nicole, "I think I got dropped in a rabbit hole." Either Markus enjoys screwing with people and dropped him in a rabbit hole or the people behind Archangel did it to distract him. He wasn't happy.

Nicole sat down and crossed her legs, swinging his computer terminal around to scroll through the information. "Entirely possible. This whole mission feels like a rabbit hole. How did you find these, anyway?"

Grinning, Walker answered, "It isn't what you know, it's who you and how you can twist their arm. That was my job for years. I only took this assignment so my kids could contact me on a semi regular basis." His last assignment, it destroyed his marriage. He would promise that he would do things for his kids. He would show up late, if at all, and get called away and not be able to say bye. "My grandfather knows a guy who liked Romulan ale."

Nicole scratched her cheek thinking. "A series of fake logs, pretty much designed to get our attention. Theories?" she said, looking at Penny.

Penny tilted her head a moment, then sat down as well. "If it's the Admiral, there's information he wants us to extract. If it's a 3rd party, it could be bait they want us to take. With no way to identify it, it makes it suspect either way." She looked at the information as well. "I could go through these and look for the Admiral's usual encryption style. Could be most anything. Are the dates significant?"

"I don't think so," Nicole said. "This one was when Camille and I were on Rigel. I think we were camping at that point. This one was just a regular Thursday while we were en route to resupply. Neither are of major significance."

"Well...I can take a peek anyway, with your permission, Commander," Penny said, looking at Walker.

Answering Penny, "have at it, it is unlocked."

He looked back at Nicole. "I'm giving you an order to ignore the report about Penny having a grand theft auto and joyriding charge. She is getting messed with over that one after all this." He walked over and made a pot of coffee and a pot of tea. He poured them into carafes, and put sugar, lemon, and cream on the tray and put it on the desk with coffee cups, one of which said Birthday Girl. Another one had a hammer on it. The third one was generic Starfleet cup. "I know the 1958 Gaylord Gladiator was a sexy ride. It had to be. I understand that one, but a 1975 Austin Princess 1800?"

"Are you speaking in tongues?" Nicole said, looking confused.

Looking at Nicole, he laughed, "Their twentieth century automobiles. Little Miss Grand Theft Auto with the Expunged Juvenile record knows what I'm talking about." He set the tray down on the desk. "Things I didn't know until one of my guys got me a mirror of the Admiral's terminal." Walking around his desk, he had a grin on his face. He was impressed on multiple levels. Most kids her age don't know what a car is, much less how to drive one.

Penny scrolled through the reports to find the one about her driving. She hadn't engaged in grand theft, just some gambling, but she was curious why it would have wound up in a report. As she read it, her head tilted and she frowned. "Commander," she said, "I need to go verify some information. Permission to be dismissed?"

Another file decrypted, tapping a button, Walker answered, "Go ahead." It was an investigation report saying Walker assaulted a retired Admiral to get his son off the hook for an attempted murder charge. There was even video footage. It was a fairly decent armbar, and it looked like Walker. Anyone who had sparred him knew he liked pressure points in addition to his restraints. He would have had a tiger grip on the Admiral's arm, this person was using an open handed, like a wushu snake. Crossing his arm, "That isn't how my son got off of charges." He looked at Nicole, "Fabricated Leverage?"

"Unlikely," Nicole said. "More likely there's a hidden pattern that Penny will suss out." She rubbed her eyes. "I doubt this is Admiral Markus' handiwork. It's not his style."

Looking at her, "That's not my armbar. Holofootage gets that right. It looks like an armbar of someone else. That's impossible." He was thinking about something.

"Yes, well, I'd say they successfully have our attention, whoever 'they' are," Nicole said. "Until Penny gets back to us, I should get back to Sickbay. Is there anything else, Commander?"

Nodding to Nicole, "For now, these are enough discrepancies to review, I agree." He handed her a padd. "I will keep digging. You go do what you do best." He grinned, "Professionally, that is."

"If I could do it professionally, I wouldn't need Starfleet," Nicole said, taking the padd and standing up. "I'll be in touch, Commander."

 

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