Suspicions
Posted on Sun Jun 28th, 2026 @ 8:16pm by Lieutenant Commander Areum Choi & Lieutenant Bartholomew Hale & Lieutenant Daegan Baas & Lieutenant Juliette Barnes
2,133 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Friends and Traitors
Location: Executive Officer's Office, USS Thunderbird
Timeline: Mission Day 1, 2140 Hours
The Thunderbird was quiet at night, especially when she was in port. Yet something brewed deep within. Through dimmed hallways, Hale thundered with purpose toward the Executive Officer's office. Barnes had mentioned to Hale that she had uncovered something explosive, if one was to pardon the pun, about the truth. Commander Bobbins' aggressive suggestion of incompetence on the part of the Thunderbird's crew had fueled Hale further to uncover the truth about this affair. It wasn't a brush he wanted his new crew tarred with, though the idea of sabotage was equally as unappealing.
Bartholomew tapped the doorbell stud next to the door to the Exec's Office. He waited, hands behind back.
Areum Choi was still settling in aboard the USS Thunderbird, and her office was not yet hers. Yes, it was assigned to her, and the doors opened for her without pause, but the office itself had been cluttered; it was evident that her predecessor did not bother taking all his personal items with him, and even more evident that the man had zero understanding of Feng shui, something Lieutenant Commander Choi was in the process of fixing when the chime alerted her to her next appointment. "Enter," she replied as she made her way back towards her desk.
"Lieutenant Commander Choi," Hale began, striding into the space, "A pleasure to meet you. Lieutenant Bartholomew Hale, Chief Flight Control Officer. Thank you for meeting at such short notice. Have you had a chance to read my preliminary report regarding the shuttle fire?"
Lieutenant Bartholomew Hale was a thirty-two-year-old male Human, and as he stated, Chief Flight Control Officer. "Sit," she said, gesturing to an empty chair as she herself took a seat behind her desk. "I had a cursory look through your preliminary report, Lieutenant. I would appreciate hearing more about it directly from you."
Hale took a seat. "All shuttlebay operations are back to normal. However, I've called on the expertise of Lieutenant Barnes after her technicians investigated the ruptured EPS conduit within the shuttle. She has analyzed the damage and will join us shortly. We suspect the damage was deliberate."
"Sabotage," muttered Lieutenant Commander Choi. "Aboard the Thunderbird? How unimaginative," she added, shaking her head. Sabotage aboard a Federation starship should have been unheard of, but in recent months, with the Maquis on the rise and corruption in the veins of Starfleet, especially with what had happened aboard the Thunderbird before her arrival, Areum Choi was not caught by surprise. "Your suspicions are very likely accurate."
“From what I understand of this crew’s recent experience, that may unfortunately be the case.” Hale agreed with a nod. “Sabotage or not, this incident has claimed the life of a crew member, and has left an officer from the starbase in a critical condition. Either way, this is more than a ‘lost time incident’.”
"Time is one thing, the lives aboard are another," replied Choi.
The door chime sounded again as Julie pressed her thumb to it on the other side of the door. What she had found was concerning to say the least. While she couldn’t definitively say this was sabotage, she could say it was almost zero chance of this being an accident.
"Enter, " Lieutenant Commander Choi responded. When the door opened, she quickly identified Lieutenant Barnes. "The calvary has arrived. Your timing is impeccable. "
Baas had been closing on Barnes and managed to enter with her, the doors had only just started to close as he passed.
"Lieutenant Barnes, good to see you again, I hope your investigations have been fruitful." Hale stood and extended his hand to the security officer, a man named Baas, who also entered. "I don't believe I've made your acquaintance, Lieutenant. Bartholomew Hale."
Nodding to the him, he had review to the mans file when he got word of the new officer but had yet to meet him. The name had rung a bell and it hadn't taken long before he put two and two together. Taking his hand, "THE Bartholomew Hale...your reputation precedes you."
"THE Daegan Baas!" Hale beamed. Good grief and gravy, what had Baas heard? "I hope you've heard nothing actionable, old chap?"
Having a few friends that had had to endure Hale's IG inspections he was sure requests for one of his legendary pranks would be incoming as a means of revenge. However he would have to see for himself what type of man he was. "Well that depends on what you consider actionable," releasing Hale's hand with a grin.
"Heh, indeed." Hale laughed, returning to his seat. He was interested to hear what Barnes had turned up. Though inside his stomach churned. The involvement of security was a fork in the road, the Chief Engineer was about to steer them between the road of accident and sabotage.
“Well, I suppose we’d better just rip the bandaid off,” Julie said grimly. “We’ve discovered that the plasma fire was caused my a catastrophic failure of the phase coil shield.” She paused a moment, gathering her thoughts. “While it is theoretically possible for that to just happen, it’s very unlikely. Simple failures happen all the time and are quickly fixed, but failure on this level is unheard of unless the damage is deliberate.”
Choi nodded. "I prefer facts or theories," commented the First Officer. "However, as you stated, evidence is pointing towards deliberate."
Hale’s heart sank. The word ‘theoretical‘ often ruled out the outcome one wished for. He looked between the assembled officers. “Did you find any solid evidence of tampering, Lieutenant Barnes?”
“Not yet,” answered Julie regretfully. “We’ll keep digging, though.”
Hale nodded thoughtfully. “Commander, our Shuttlebay supervisor, Chief Bilz has also notified me that the same shuttle involved in this incident was scheduled for Captain Norsgaard to board this evening for a hull inspection. With an accident now becoming less likely, I fear this may be straying toward a security investigation.”
Daegan was leaning back against the bulkhead with his arms crossed. "Agreed. As more and more information comes to light this is looking less and less like an accident. With the ship being docked at the station a saboteur could have been a member of the crew, or even boarded the ship and left as a station's tech. I've already begun a search for any personnel that had accessed or worked near the relay that blew. As well as search for anyone that may have recently gone missing."
After a brief pause, "With things looking more and more like sabotage we will need to notify and coordinate with station's security. In addition to who, one of the key questions we need answer is why. And there as a lot of 'whys' to be answered."
"I agree," replied Areum Choi. "We will need to coordinate with station security. Lieutenant Hale, you stated that shuttle was slated to have Captain Norsgaard aboard. I cannot but be concerned that was a potential attempt on the Captain's life."
"There is one other thing, especially if we're liaising with security on the starbase." Hale piped up with a wince. His words were strained, as though they were being dragged from him by an army of horses. "The matter of Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Bobbins, one of the officers from the station. He is the superior of Ensign Dara, the pilot who survived the shuttle fire."
"Go on," replied Choi.
Hale's pained expression didn't go away as he elaborated. "I'm frankly not sure if there's anything to it, however Commander Bobbins was watching Lieutenant Barnes and I conducting our initial investigation in the Shuttlebay earlier this evening. I... I tailed him around the ship for some time; he had a meal, made a personal visit to one of our crewmember's quarters. Eventually, he visited Ensign Dara in sickbay to demand our new CMO transfer the pilot to the starbase, which Doctor Sylar declined. The last I heard Bobbins was taking the issue to Captain Norsgaard."
Lieutenant Commander Choi looked at Baas. "Suspect?" she asked her Security Chief.
Baas watched Hale, his head shaking before turning the the Commander. "None that I was aware of. Commander, the watching of Lt. Barnes, could have been nothing more than a man looking at a woman. The insistence on transferring of station personnel to the station medical facilities, sounds like a standard request that was probably denied for medical reasons. The thing is any suspicions should have been brought to me immediately. We could have cross referenced the Commanders activities, crew assignments, or the possible knowledge of the the Captain's up coming flight in our current search to either confirm or eliminate those suspicions. We could have also monitored his movements remotely. If he was up to or involved in anything, by "tailing" him, Mr. Hale could have been seen and alerted him to that monitoring."
Areum Choi looked at the officers. "Lieutenants, we need to act quickly and swiftly. I want answers, and I want whoever is responsible brought to justice. Protecting the Captain and this crew is absolute priority."
"Agreed." Hale said, his eyes darting around. Part of him wished he'd acted his paygrade, all of him knew he had to apologize to Baas for overstepping the mark. Hale suspected that he'd done more harm than good, but someone about Bobbins was definitely off. "We've cordoned off the area where the accident occurred in the Shuttlebay. It's available to anyone who would like to inspect the scene."
Baas was in complete agreement, having cut his teeth under Norsgaard he sure as hell wasn't going to let anything happen to him under his watch. "There are still a lot of questions to answer and but we don't want to tip our hand either." Looking to Hale, "Who did this Commander Bobbins visit?"
"Crewman Harriette Boyd," Hale answered.
Lieutenant Commander Choi looked at Baas. "Somewhere to start," she commented.
Baas nodded. As to not interrupt any further discussions he lifted his padd and messaged those on his staff currently doing the digging so they could see what what was up with the Commander, why he would visit a crewman in person, who had access or knowledge to the Captain's schedule.
"While I'm loathed to suggest it, Ensign Jolley, the deceased technician." Hale strained again, words being dragged from him like a stump in the cold earth. He looked pleadingly to Barnes to shoot down the idea. "He was in and out of that shuttle all day. Dara reported problems with the craft, and it remained in service on Jolley's advice. If someone had the opportunity to tamper with it, Jolley certainly had access."
Even though Julie didn’t want to believe one of her people could be responsible for sabotage, she had to admit anything was possible. “But, if he was responsible, he would have surely made himself scarce, not stuck around for the fallout,” she pointed out. “Even if he wanted to shift blame, being around for it seems incredibly risky.”
Baas let out a audible breath, his people were going to be busy. "I will looking Jolly as well. If it was sabotage, possibly targeting the Captain, he would have been in the position to set it up. Perhaps his work went off early? I will have his quarters searched and personal logs reviewed. If he was planning anything their may be some indication there."
"All the more reason to check. The sooner Mister Baas and his people can clear Jolley's name, the better," Hale reassured Barnes.
Lieutenant Commander Choi had listened carefully to everything. "What we have currently is a lot of unusual circumstances, potential suspects, but nothing for certain. We do need to investigate all of this, but let's avoid a witch hunt. It is all too easy to make assumptions, and connect dots haphazardly."
"Well, time is hardly our ally." Hale tugged the bottom of his tunic. "Good hunting, Mister Baas. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance. Unless there is anything else, Commander Choi, I have to meet with one of my pilots regarding the transportation of our ambassador."
Baas nodded to Hale and turned to XO. "If there is nothing else Commander I will get with the team already looking into things and make sure we get everything covered. If nothing more than to clear our suspicions."
"I have nothing else," replied Choi. She looked to the others. "Lieutenants?"
"Nothing else, ma'am." Hale replied, standing, giving his tunic another tug for good measure. "Thank you all for your time."
"Very well," replied Choi. "Dismissed."
Lieutenant Commander Areum Choi
Executive Officer
USS Thunderbird
Lieutenant Bartholomew Hale
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Thunderbird
Lieutenant Juliette Barnes
Chief Engineer
USS Thunderbird
Lieutenant Daegan Baas
Chief of Security
USS Thunderbird
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