It's Like Reading Code

Posted on Thu May 9th, 2024 @ 6:16pm by Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Jerant van Rijn

Mission: The Trojan Horse
Location: Operations office
Timeline: Prior to marine deployments
1492 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

"Xav, got a minute?" It was a simple request but as Jerant approached, he had a different air about him. He held a PADD in his hand, and even from a slight distance the lit faceplate was visible. While often intended as a mere social call when the civilian visited the office, today seemingly he had business on his mind.

"Maybe one," Xavier said as he looked up from the mountainous pile of PADDs on his desk. He was studying the final schematic checks from the shuttle upgrades, the last thing they wanted was some kind of malfunction during the marine descent. "You okay?" He asked, seeing the excitement on Jerant's face.

"Yes, I'm fine," the other Betazoid answered with a smile. Of course he was always happy to see Xav, but this time it wasn't just a social call. "You?" He asked as a courtesy while offering the PADD he carried. "I was going over the linguistic files to see if any needed updating," he explained, "and adding a few new dialects here and there, but I've discovered an anomaly. Something has infected the database.. have you noticed anything lately when talking to people? Getting misunderstood, or otherwise? Or gotten any complaints?"

"Only Thral," Xavier replied with a smile as he took the PADD and read over the data. "Mmh," he muttered as he went through the breakdown of anomalous readings and algorithmic charts. "Now that you mention it, I have seen some reports bouncing between us and engineering involving the universal translators but I left it in the hands of Finn and her team. What do you think the anomaly is?" He asked, the data on the PADD was thorough but it wasn't laid out in the standard way he was used to. Civvies always did things slightly differently from Starfleet protocols.

"I don't know yet but it seems to affect the most commonly used languages, such as Federation Standard, Vulcan, Klingon, Romulan." To make his point, he switched to his own native Dutch language, fairly certain this was one Xav did not speak. After that, he switched to Trill. "It's like someone or something has purposefully changed syntaxes or algorithms, I just don't know who, what or why yet ."

"Do you think this was intentional?" Xavier asked standing up a little straighter.

"It's too specific to be a glitch," Jerant mused, "glitches usually just affect small things, and tend to be isolated to a couple of languages. This is too wide spread to be accidental." He paused, an edge of worry creeping into his expression. "Imagine the chaos, if people stop understanding each other?"

"Computer, run a level one diagnostic on all UT language subroutines," Xavier ordered. "Start with all languages spoken on the ship, then increase the search to all known languages in the databanks. Compare results to the last known diagnostic check, then compare results to the nearest communications relay and report any anomalies."

The computer beeped in acknowledgement and Xavier signed. "Okay, it should take a few minutes to check thoroughly, so say you're the detective for the day," he said turning to Jerant. "Firstly, who could do this, secondly, why?"

"A detective huh?" Jerant smirked at the OPS chief, "I do like the sound of that. As for who... probably anyone technologically capable of disrupting a complex database like linguistics. The why... Cause chaos. If we can't understand each other, how are orders sent and received? How will we battle an enemy, or negotiate a treaty? You and I are lucky to speak the same language, but what of say Commander Zora? I might understand her as a linguist, but would you? Would the captain? Or say Lieutenant Zade, how would she lead a security team if her people don't understand her?"

"Yep I see the problem there," Xavier said, a serious look crossing his eyes. "So someone wants to create chaos on the ship, disable our methods of communication, make us less effective, that makes sense." He ran his hand through his hair, an indication that he was thinking, running through all possible scenarios in his mind. "Could this be accomplished externally?"

"Possibly..." Jerant studied him for a moment, before looking back at the data. "I'm no engineer but surely a jamming device is a good start? Or a virus that disrupts the database? Though that would probably require someone to be on the ship?" He too looked thoughtful. "If external, that means they have to be close by yes?"

"If it were external," Xavier said, thinking out loud, "it could just be a transmitter code - a sort of activation key," he added, trying to keep it simple for Jerant to understand. "That could be done over subspace hidden as background noise. Though, that would mean someone would have had to plant something on the ship at one point. It could also be a cascading virus that's been hidden in the system for an unknown amount of time and only recently activated. There are too many variables." Xavier said. He needed more data but the computer hadn't finished its analysis yet.

"It could be anything," Jerant mused, "we'll probably know more when your diagnostic finishes. Until then all we have is speculation, even though they might make some sense."

Xavier raised an eyebrow as he angled his body more to face Jerant. "You don't seem too bothered we may have a saboteur on board," he said half asking, half accusing.

"Don't mistake my enthusiasm for a linguistic puzzle for a lack of bother," Jerant answered, "of course it bugs me. But unless we have hard data and proof there's not much we can do to track a possible saboteur down is there? I mean I can be wrong... Fact is something is wrong with the database and now we need to find out what so we can get it fixed. And don't get me wrong but doing that is time consuming despite it actually being fun for me." He smiled, gently touching Xav's arm. "Whatever it is, we'll find the cause. And until then people will either have to make do with Standard, or find a linguist to help out ."

"You're the one who came to me talking of saboteurs," Xavier replied, his voice rising slightly. "You shouldn't say that on a starship unless you're sure beyond a doubt." He was annoyed with how flippant Jerant was being. Maybe it was because he was a civilian, maybe he didn't fully understand the implications of the words he had uttered. He took a deep breath and was about to speak when the computer bleeped, indicating that its analysis was complete. "Pull all data to the master display console," Xavier said, turning to face the wide console that lit the space behind his desk. "You're the expert detective," he said waving his hand at the screen, "you will understand this more than I."

"No, I said there was an anomaly," Jerant countered as he studied the data on the large console. He scrolled through it a few times as if to double and triple check. "I don't think this is sabotage," he finally spoke, while highlighting the faults. "This looks like an error coming from the transmitting database. Like it had a hitch somewhere that corrupted the transmission. It's not something we can fix and I don't know where exactly we receive this data from, but they'll have to run a diagnostic and fix the glitch." He cast his friend a hopeful look, maybe Xav did know?

Xavier rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, clearly beyond frustrated right now. "You said 'it's too specific to be a glitch' and 'too-wide spread to be accidental'," he said slowly and clearly. "That implies sabotage." Xavier groaned loudly, he didn't have time for this and now he was behind on the mission prep he was in the middle of when Jerant walked in.

Xavier pulled up his department duty roster and scanned the list. "Leiko to Crewman Washington," he barked after hitting his combadge. "Drop whatever you're doing Henry, I have a puzzle for you to solve." Xavier knew that the mere mention of a puzzle would spike Henry's pulse rate. "I'm sending over the data now, this takes priority. If you need engineering support I'm sure Finn can spare Fenn." She could always spare Fenn he mused. "If you need further support reach out to Mr. Van Rijn." He closed the channel and turned back to Jerant. "Sorted."

"I'll go meet with him then." He could sense the other's frustration but without invading his privacy he couldn't pinpoint the source. "Thank you for helping me," he added, and in the privacy of the office quickly kissed his cheek in a minor sign of affection. "I'll leave you to it now and I'll let you know when the UT is fixed." Before Xav could respond, Jerant was out of the office.