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DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

[ USS Theurgy | Deck 02 | Corridor ] Posting Order: 1) IronFerrox 2) CanadianVet

It was time, and Ida descended the corridor towards the Flag Bridge with determined steps.

One would think that after all that Thea's crew had been through, a single accident would not become such a controversial matter. Captain Ives, however, was not the kind to cut corners, and neither was Wenn Cinn. Ida thought it just, of course, and her people were still sorting out issues from the mutiny. The incident during the mission to the Black Opal, however, was simpler in how it was not muddled by the lack of proper surveillance records. The issue that permeated the Mutiny Cases, which had their own label in a secure database, was that Thea's surveillance system could not provide any evidence, which left Wenn Cinn and Ida to find the truth through personal reports and the discrepancies thereof. Skye 'Kestrel' Carver's death, however, had all the surveillance covering an incident could possibly need, the evidence sitting right in Thea's hangar, and the single suspect under house arrest.

The true issue was, as far as Ida had been able to determine, that the Tactical Conn officers needed trust amongst and between themselves in order to function in their role as fighter pilots - the Lone Wolves being a key tactical asset to the Theurgy and the mission. Therefore, an incident like the one she was investigating now could potentially ruin the bond that rested between the fighter pilots. If they could not trust the person next to them, then they would not be able to function as a unit. This, Ida could respect, knowing her share of the thing from the Imperial Guard and Starfleet Security both. She hoped to find Isley innocent, just like he claimed to be, but if she were to overlook something, or cut those corners, she would leave doubt to fester among the ranks of the Lone Wolves, and leave them thinking that it could happen again. She might want to find a hardware error, but she was not in Security to find a product of her own make-belief. Her own wish was completely irrelevant. The evidence would show the truth, and anything else would be a disservice to Squadron Commander Renard and his fighter pilots.

With her PADD underneath her arm, she entered the A.I. Brain Core, which would also have served as the Flag Bridge if Captain Ives and his crew had not hijacked the ship in order to protect the truth of Starfleet Command. Admirals of Starfleet would be leading from the front-lines in that very room, a room which instead had come to serve as the area where Intelligence and mission-related matters were handled. That day, however, it was used to see the sequence of events that led to Kestrel's death from every possible angle. Across the high ceiling of the circular chamber, a holographic representation of the Black Opal engagement was on display. The Theurgy was present, along with the Lone Wolves, and in the distance lay the Black Opal on its asteroid. Glaring beams of phaser-fire were caught frozen in a specific moment, and as Ida walked into the room, she saw how one of those beams hit a Valkyrie fighter. It was the moment of Kestrel's death. She could not help but look at it for a moment, thinking of the accusations she had laid at the dead pinkskin's feet down on Theta Eridani IV, regretting that she had not found the 'reasonable doubt' that Captain Ives found before she conducted that hasty hearing.

Perhaps she could compensate the spirit of Ensign Carver now, when she were to determine the true circumstances of her death.

Aside from the holographic vista cross the ceiling, the viewscreens around the circular chamber showed the flight cams of the present Lone Wolves - all of them represented with names in the corner. Kestrel's recording was frayed in the instant of her death, lit corner to corner by the killing beam. And in the middle of the room, standing next to the protective dome over Thea's physical brain, was Lieutenant Commander Miles Renard. Ida imagined he had been there many hours before he sent her the notice, going over the recordings with Thea's help. Getting the message from him that he was done with the analysis, and also getting the same message from Chief Covington that the examination of the Valkyries were finished, Ida had asked the Chief to come to the Flag Bridge as well and present his evidence to her there. Ida had been given the flight records of the incident from Thea, of course, but she did not have the same experience as the Vulpinian to judge what she had already seen. Even less would she have been able to examine the evidence Covington had with the same expertise, the two Mk III Valkyries beyond her to examine for hardware or software malfunctions. So, with the right competence to aid her investigation, she sought it fitting that they would present the evidence in the Flag Bridge, since then, all three of them would be able to see the sequence of events clearly. Also, Thea would be present to aid them with any further queries.

She had already sent her message to Covington to come, so he would likely arrive any moment. As it were, Renard was present, and she inclined her head to him - antennae following suit. "Good evening," she said quietly, with respect to what had befallen the Lone Wolves under his command. She was dressed in proper uniform and the PADD of hers being the only thing one usually didn't see her with, she reckoned. She hoped the man would not impede the investigation by thinking it was his, just because Wenn Cinn had granted him and Covington the opportunity to assist Ida in their respective ways. She would hate to make him come to terms with the fact that this was a Security investigation, not one of Tactial Conn. She had no patience for cross-division politics, a politician not something anyone would think her be. She was a blunt instrument of justice, not caring if she stroked someone the wrong way, but she could certainly be civil about it if so required. "I got your message, and I told Covington to come here as well," she said next, seating herself in one of the chairs. She folded one leg over the other and rested her PADD in her lap.

"The Chief was finished with the Valkyrie examinations too, and when he comes, could you ask him to present his findings first?" Her request was not without reason, and she thought she might add her thoughts to it, as evident as it ought to be. "In order to rule out any error on the suspect's part, the Chief's reports will present any issues with the fighters or the exosuits that might explain what happened. Once we have established that, we can look at your findings in the proper light. Do you have any objections about that?"

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #1 –
Miles had been quietly reviewing the footage for about 15 minutes before Ida had entered.  In fact he had made a beeline to the flag bridge as soon as he had had been alerted by Thea that the she had fully integrated the available recorder data to begin the display holoprogram he had requested.  Before she had entered he had replayed the events culminating in Kestrel's death several times checking and rechecking the footage with each play through he seemed to turn a bit watching the whole sequence of events from each and every one of the captured vantage points.  It was far from easy to watch especially each time the shot came seeing the tetrion pulse slamming into carver's Valkyrie in the tight formation near meters away from his own knowing if this was an accident it could have just as easily been his own death they were investigating. 

Even when watching from the vantage point that the gunner that fired the lethal phaser had he could not hold that officer one bit at fault.  The crewman had took a shot at an enemy craft on a bombing run against his base.  The shot was perfectly made and did the job of neutralizing a very dangerous enemy spacecraft at the cost of only one casualty.  Despite how many on the ship seemed to harbor resentment from time to time against the officers in Starfleet who had dealt them killing blows he had felt none.  They were officers doing their jobs to protect Starfleet from what they believed to be a dangerous enemy with a devastatingly deadly starship at its disposal.  No, there was no anger towards the person who fired the shot.  There was only confusion as to what must have happened to lead to this tragedy.

His focus was interrupted when Ida spoke up and he delayed responding for a moment having been in a sort of trance from intently reviewing the footage.  "Oh... Yes of course; thanks," he said attempting to recall what he had heard her just say the words not yet fully being processed by his mind.

"The Chief was finished with the Valkyrie examinations too, and when he comes, could you ask him to present his findings first?

By now he was more aware of what she was saying and nodded, "Agreed, might make some sense out of the way Mav was flying.  It's like watching a cadet's first time behind the stick instead of a veteran pilot."  He said having planned to ask the chief to present his findings first as well.  Though, if he had to make a wager on Covington's findings he would have to guess that it was either an issue with the gravity dampers or fluctuations in the maneuvering thruster's output that had caused that particular issue in the mission.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #2 –
As soon as Covington had ended his conversation with Iron Fox, the Chief of the Deck had not wasted any time.  Both Kestrel's and Maverick's fighters were sequestered and any access was now strictly limited to the two people who'd be looking into the matter from the fighter bay end.  As soon as the flight and data recorders were pulled out and downloaded, Sten began his own investigation.  Granted, the quality of the flying was not his to look into, but he could not help but notice the number of control inputs from the stick at Maverick's end that were going in.  To his experienced eye, especially given the number of collision and crash investigations he'd been involved in between his time as a shuttle bay tech, at the Academy and on the design floor, it looked for the world to him as though Lieutenant Isley had been effectively fighting for control of his bird the entire time. 

However, the full series of diagnostics he'd promised to perform revealed nothing wrong with the control systems, or the various means of steering the fighter.  Yet, Maverick's flying looked like some rookie pilot during his first time in free-flight in a simulator.  Hell, it looked worse in some ways.  And what he found with the weapons system...  That was a very unpleasant finding all right.  But one thing for certain, it was not for Papa Bear to come to any of those conclusions.  Just like any other investigation involving any of his birds, he was simply there to speak about the technical aspects.  However, if he was asked for his opinion on the actual flying, he would provide it. 

And when the time came, Covington made his way to the Flag Bridge, which he was given to understand would make for a good substitute to any planetside or Starbase crash investigation lab.  When he entered this unfamiliar space, he made his way directly for Commander Renard and Lieutenant zh'Wann.  "Boss, ma'am," he simply said as an introduction.  Given the nature of the conversation at hand, he had taken the time to change out of his coveralls and back into a regular uniform.  For if anything, the grizzled veteran had the clear impression there would be other senior people to meet about this in the very near future...

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #3 –
As she sat there, Ida took note of Renard's comment about Isley's flying. She refrained from asking more about it for the time being, however, since Covington had just arrived. She finished her quick note on her PADD and rose to her feet when the pinkskin veteran greeted her. Starfleet etiquette did not require her to get up when someone of Covington's rank entered the bridge - since technically that was what they were on - but she did because she wanted to begin the hearing of her two expert witnesses. It was time to get started.

"Chief, thank you for coming," she said, human etiquette having rubbed of on her. In the Imperial Guard, she knew they wouldn't thank someone for coming when summoned, but she found that it eased things along well enough. "I would like to hear what your findings are first now that you've examined the two warp fighters and Mr. Isley's exosuit. Could anything you've found suggest a hardware of software malfunction, and could such errors account for how Ensign Carver's fighter was disabled?"

She hoped, in spite of her clear ambition to be impartial, that Covington had anything at all to go on. For if the error lay in the wetware - the surviving pilot - then it would just be a matter to determine whether or not Isley had fired upon Carver's fighter deliberately. In either case, Isley was at fault, which meant both he and Miles' pilots would have to overcome that before Starbase 84. The Lone Wolves were a tactical asset, and their role in the mission to Starbase 84 was crucial. All three in the room knew what was at stake, and what level of discretion the investigation held.

Raising her antennae, Ida stood ready with her PADD to take notes, hoping for the better... but fearing from the worst because of what Renard had already said.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #4 –
Covington knew that the Andorian deputy was known to be the kind of person to go straight to the point, and was not reputed to be overly long on the courtesies.  In fact, even compared to Sten's typical gruff demeanor she was downright brusque.  And thanking him for making his way to the Flag Bridge for a meeting he was summoned to, that was something he hadn't particularly expected. 

And when he was invited to speak, he laid down the PADD he had brought with him on the nearest console after punching a few keys and a wireframe display of Maverick's fighter materialized, courtesy of the holo-emitters that were not even at capacity from generating the simulation that took up a sizable portion of the room.  And one thing he didn't need was his notes. 

"I went through the flight recorder, the data recorder and ran full diagnostics on everything that could be involved in the way Lieutenant Isley was flying, and the weapons discharge.  I also took the liberty to download the gun cam footage into my PADD, for your review."  Covington did not sound pleased.  Of course, he was known to be a consummate professional and he would discharge his duty.  But in this case, it seemed much more unpleasant than anything else he'd done in quite some time.  "First of all, Maverick's control inputs are completely inconsistent with any possible malfunctions in any of the propulsion and maneuvering components.  Stick sensitivity is the exact same he set when he first came on board, which is to say the same one he had set by the time he completed the training package for the Mk III Valkyries and all steering subsystems are exactly on spec."

And those words, 'on spec', coming from Sten Covington, could be taken for gospel.  For one thing, he was the one who determined the final acceptable variance for everything on those birds, and he tended to cut those tolerances even closer on any deck he ran, and he had done this since before he was tapped for the fighter development programs.  "I know this isn't my area of expertise, but I've investigated a lot of in-flight incidents; I've seen better flying from Cadets getting their first go even in a simulated cockpit.  He's all over the place with his steering inputs, like he's fighting his bird the whole time.  That is, until he steadies down."

That was the part he liked even less.  "All weapon systems components in his Valkyrie register in perfect working order.  Torpedoes, phasers, tetryon cannon, external hardpoint, targeting, everything.  When Maverick's tetryon cannon was fired, the master arm switch was in the 'live-fire' position and all weapons were registering 'live-hot'; the dead-man interlock was functioning properly and the manual on-stick safety was disengaged.  The tetryon cannon weapon selector stud was depressed, and the trigger was properly pulled." 

He did not expect the Deputy to understand all of this.  After all, a fighter was a very elaborate piece of machinery and Starfleet had taken a number of steps to prevent accidents involving weapons.  And to avoid time-consuming modifications, the AC-409 included a built-in live-fire training mode into its weapons system, and the switch itself was a physical component that needed to be deliberately rotated after lifting a cover (and keeping it lifted) while depressing a lock; and there was no way to set the weapons to fire, even training shots, without doing so and disengaging the master-arm switch called for the exact same process.  And being a simple, solid-state component, the master-arm switch was probably the single most reliable and impossible to spoof subsystem in those spacecraft.  And there were other safeties, such as a dead-man switch built into the stick itself that required constant pressure from the pilot's hand in order to make the weapons fire, and a manual safety with the weapons control proper; granted, that one was a simple on/off proposition but it was still a conscious step the pilot had to take in order to make use of his weapons. 

"So, in short, the cannon was deliberately fired."  Sten's voice went cold and hard.  That was his only defence against what he had to say.  "I performed direct diagnostics on both Kestrel and Maverick's Identification-Friend-or-Foe systems were fully operational, and between a physical inspection of his helmet and his cockpit, the audible and visible blue-on-blue warnings were functioning properly at the time of the discharge.  The data recorder indicates Lieutenant Isley had a solid firing solution on Kestrel.  I also investigated his claims his sensors were malfunctioning; they were not."  There, he had said it.  There were absolutely no malfunctions he could detect in the fighter whatsoever that could account for the day's incident.  And truth be told, Sten would much rather have found a dozen glaring faults in each of the involved systems, but he hadn't. 

"So in short, from a purely technical standpoint, I can't explain Lieutenant Isley's flight patterns.  Regarding the discharge of the tetryon cannon and hitting Kestrel, his ship's weapons, targeting and IFF systems functioned exactly as they were supposed to when the tetryon canon was deliberately fired."

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #5 –
Miles looked to Covington and nodded, "Then it’s as I feared,"  He said, "Thea bring to focus two views on the incident, Black opal station gunnery sensor Gun emplacement Deck 05 position 3, and Nathaniel Isley's Valkyrie, forward view.  Time index 30 seconds before shots fired on Ensign Carver."  He watched as the two views were further magnified in the flag bridge now seeming to take up much of the space in front of the three.  "Begin playing at normal speed, Pause at 5 seconds before shot."  He watched as the motion began.  "As mentioned by Chief Covington, Isley was flying erratically.  My initial suspicion would have been his inertial dampers being out of sync, or a possible issue with his maneuvering thrusters.  However, since mechanical error can be nearly 100 percent ruled out other possibilities have to be the cause.  It appears that he is attempting to over-compensate for his initial shift out of formation which began at approximately 24.3 seconds before the shot.  If you notice with each oversteer the ship falls further and further behind his place in the formation.”  At this point the video paused.

"If you will notice this point right here, 5 seconds before the shot"  he pointed to the overall flight diagram and had it show an overhead view of the battle.  "This outline of a ship is where Isley should have been.  The blue silhouette here is where he was."  He placed his finger on the surface of the hologram tracing a line through it leaving a yellow line.  "And this was what we pilots call the blue-blue threat line.   In layman’s terms, if a pilot is any further back behind the rest of the formation, than this point there is a roughly 75 percent greater risk of friendly fire incidents occurring.  All Valkyries have an automated system to alert pilots if they are in an increased friendly fire risk position.  As a matter of safety during bombing runs, should a pilot fall this far out of line for any reason other than avoiding enemy fire, they are to report to flight leader that they are breaking off their attack run.  Then they are to return to base for the reason of possible ship malfunction or pilot impairment as there is no valid reason for them to be that far out of formation aside from an issue that could cause further risk to the squadron.  In a case where they are avoiding enemy fire they simply break off their attack run and join in on the next attack run so as to avoid the increased possibility of a friendly fire or "blue on blue" incident.”

"Computer resume at half speed and pause at 1.5 seconds before shot fired."  He watched as the video moved forward at half speed speaking again, "If you will notice in this small length of time the ship levels itself off and seems to cease all non-standard motion.  It appears that Isley has made a full recovery from whatever his issue was.  If you will note Carver’s ship is slightly below the line of sight directly forward of him.  Under normal circumstances this would not be a location that would be in the way of Isley's firing line.  But if you look at the firing line of his tetrion canon in relation to his target on the base Carver’s ship is directly in the line of fire.  At this point his targeting sensors must have been screaming at him that there is a friendly in his firing path.  Blue on blue warnings would have had to be giving him a solid DO NOT FIRE tone at him for at least one and a half seconds.  During this time all he would have had to do would be to break slightly upwards and level off and he would have had a highly effective and easy to make shot without any friendlies in the way.  Based on his previously shown performance in combat this would have been easy for him to accomplish.”  He paused a moment deliberating on starting the video back up but deided not to, “Thea, Please end the video feed; I don't need to see the rest again."

He then looked over the evidence he had remaining to go over.  "When looking over the incident I re-reviewed the audio logs.  I can confirm that the blue-blue warnings were indeed going off as Isley's cockpit recorder does register the distinct tones of a friendly fire alarm and Carver's ship recorder also registered the tone of a buddy spike confirming that the Tetrion canon wasn't only aimed at her ship but was locked onto her ship as an intended target.

"What I would like to call attention to now is the audio logs shortly after the incident." he said starting the audio file.

"Visual conformation, Kestrel is down, Valkyrie dead in the water and drifting.  Everyone check your weapons systems for energy fluctuations.  I think her Tetrion canon may have overloaded on her and the base gunners got a lucky shot.  Damned, Tetrion splash damage took out my coms for a sec there too."  Miles voice said over the com logs before he fast forwarded a moment and added,

"Isley shortly after replied with the following"  Miles said as he queued up the response.

"Negative Wolf-01 it was not feed back.  My console is saying I shot Skye! Repeat wolf-05 took the shot.  Valkyre is  acting strange.  I think it locked onto her during the first shot fired,  Sensors did not warn, repeat friendly fire was bent."  after a few moments of silence Isley's voice added, "Awaiting judgment wolf leader. Holding fire, Sensors still bent can not fix."  A few moments of silence followed again then a final request.  "Permission to join ground assault?"

Miles looked over to Ida.  "I allowed Isley to accompany me during the ground mission and even allowed him to go back in the air to operate essentially as a decoy to aid in Defeating the Romulan Warbird.  As such I spent much of the mission fighting alongside him on the station.  In addition, I had him return to the base to assist Covington in loading operations and I was the first person who he encountered upon landing."

he sighed as he looked around a moment, "All of the evidence points to him being at fault for a purposeful attack on Carver.  But something is bothering me its like something just isn't adding up.  His tone of voice, the way he has acted ever since the incident.  It don't seem fake."  He sighed looking down at the floor.  I don't know. It just feels like I am missing something crucial that needs to be in this report."

He paused for a moment then added something he felt might be important for Ida to know  "Shortly after we chased off the Warbird I asked the Captain to send Cameron Henshaw to meet with him once he was back onboard and requested his current state of confinement to voluntary house arrest.  She has qualifications as a counselor and as such I figured having a record of his psychological state post mission might come in handy for your investigation.  In addition, I noticed that he was logged as having left his room and escorted to the sickbay so there should be a medical evaluation of him on the record as well.  I don't know why I am telling you this but I just can't help but think that there might be some sort of explanation for what happened.  I guess I'm just having trouble accepting that he just decided to kill his own fellow pilot in the middle of a mission like this."

Pausing for a moment he handed Ida a PADD containing his observations and the evidence.  "But I'm not supposed to be her to give opinions, my apologies.  From a technical standpoint I would surmise a nearly 100 percent percent probability that there were no weapon or ship malfunctions.  Based on the video and audio logs there is irrefutable proof that when the weapon was fired there was ample warnings informing Isley that he was targeting Skye carver and that he indeed did pull the trigger.  Worst of all based on the flight path he took it appears that he may have intentionally fell behind which suggests that the whole incident may been a premeditated action."

He sighed and trembled a bit thinking about the whole thing, "I just hope you can find out the rest of the details.  I think we've did all we can, and i can't help but think that I've got a huge mess to deal with.  Speaking off the record, I'll be lucky if half of the squad trust their own wingmates after this ungodly clusterfuck reaches their ears."

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #6 –
Sitting there and listening to the two expert accounts on the evidence they lay forth, Ida's heart sank with the realisation that the accident was not so easily dismissed in terms of suspicion of premeditated murder. With no technical flaws or malfunctions, both hard- and software checking out in terms of reliability, Ida had hoped Renard would be able to tell her that Isley could have missed the fact that he'd had Ensign Carver in his cross-hairs, but evidently that was impossible. Why had he not heeded the warnings before he discharged his tetryon cannon? Looking at the way Miles described his flight-pattern and piloting, it seemed he was way off his mark in the formation, and the only inferior shred of evidence towards something more than what it seemed was the way he handled his Valkyrie poorly before he deploying the cannon and pulling the trigger. Yet as Renard said, the poor handling could have been just as premeditated as the murder seemed to be. After all, according to Covington, there was nothing wrong with the piloting systems, and every minute movement of Isley's hands on the stick had been registered.

"I just hope you can find out the rest of the details.  I think we've did all we can, and i can't help but think that I've got a huge mess to deal with.  Speaking off the record, I'll be lucky if half of the squad trust their own wingmates after this ungodly clusterfuck reaches their ears."

He raised the issue Ida had been thinking about before the hearing began, and as she sat there, she did not like how her fears had just been confirmed. She took a deep breath and got to her feet, looking at the notes she had been making for any inaccuracies before she lowered it, looking at the two experts she had consulted. "Junior Lieutenant Isley is still in Sickbay, so I have no update in his medical journal yet - at least in regard of what little I have access to in thanks to this investigation. Confidentiality of his journal from the day of the accident still applies, but some of the information has been granted to me," she said, and she put her PADD on the circular centre table of the room - encircling the massive transparent aluminium dome that housed Thea's positronic brain. She folded her arms underneath her breasts and looked to the deck plates, unsure how she could offer anything that could aid in their situation in the Fighter Assault Bay. She was not used to encourage people anyway. "I am not at liberty to share the details of what was in the information I received, neither from Sickbay nor Yeoman Henshaw, yet I can tell you that what I got... did not suggest any immediate physical or psychological health-issues either. He and I sparred the other day, and he did visit Sickbay to have his injuries treated, but he was cleared for duty and the mild pain-killer he took before the mission was standard issue. I asked to have this confirmed, demanding that the very hypospray and container that was used to be sent to the labs for analysis. The results came in a couple of hours ago, and confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the inoculation he got."

Ida raised her antennae and looked towards Renard and Covington in turn. "Henshaw more or less said that he seemed quite remorseful, that much I can say. Yet I agree," she said and looked to the Vulpinian, "something does not add up. I may not be the best judge of character, but I do know to look for motives during investigations, and I cannot see any reason why Isley would fire upon Ensign Carver during the onset of a mission like this. Without motive, I am reluctant t-"

[Sickbay to Security,] said a disembodied voice from Ida's combadge, and she tapped it immediately.

"Deputy zh'Wann here, what is it?" she said and took up the PADD, tucking it behind the waistline of her uniform trousers while she headed for the door.

"It is Isley, you better come down here..." said a low, rumbling voice, and she thought it might be Nurse Maal. What he said made a cold shiver run up Ida's spine, the unknown implications ominous given the development in the investigation. She looked over her shoulder towards the two men and she didn't think she'd be able to dissuade them from following her anyway, so she nodded with her head in the direction of the turbolifts outside as she left the Flag Bridge.

"Acknowledged, on my way."

OOC: You can end your posts just before entering Sickbay. :) Sorry for the delay, my new summer house and work got in the way for any deeper creative efforts. More posts on the way.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #7 –
Miles listened to her agreeing about pretty much everything.  From his interactions with Isley, the man was not just remorseful but preformed al other aspects of the mission more than admirably.  It was almost as if for that short time Isley just hadn't been himself.  Of course there was also the matter of the Ravon going MIA during Maverick's watch during the Harbinger coup so that in itself was becoming more suspicious looking as well.  He had wanted to mention this, but they were interrupted by Ida's Com badge chiming and a voice he didn't immediately recognize coming from sickbay.

His first instinct was to just get out of dodge and let security handle this but curiosity tugged at him too much to refuse the offer when Ida nodded towards the turbolift door.  'Looks like I'm visiting sickbay a bit earlier than my appointment after all,' he thought to himself as he headed towards the turbolift door.

As he entered he undone his uniform jacket a bit loosening the cuffs and loosening the neck just slightly before re-buttoning everything in the slightly loser state.  As the lift door closed so did the Vupinian's eyes as he willed himself to change into the more bestial were creature like form native to his species. The slightly enhanced musculature and fur filling out the bits of clothing that he had loosened up just enough that had he not opened things up just that little bit it may have been a little more uncomfortable than he would prefer especially considering he may he having to employ a much more physical form of coercion than he had hoped the "Isley Situation" would require.

By the time they had reached their floor the SCO stood waiting in his more imposing form a step or two behind the right shoulder the Andorian security deputy waiting for the door to open simply speaking up for the first time since the com badge chimed.  "Following your lead Deputy."

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #8 –
Covington knew why he was there.  He was the technical expert when it came to a Valkyrie's systems.  Hell, he had been an expert on fighters since Starfleet had a fighter program and these days there were instructors back at the Academy teaching new crops of fighter bay deck hands fresh off the street whom he'd first met the exact same way.  But a side effect of such a long career and not taking a commission, which had been offered a number of times so he could take a rightful place at Starfleet R&D, or even to head up his own department at the Academy, was a finely honed sense for detecting deception. 

And while the flight details were not really his concern, it was not to say he did not understand them.  But most importantly,  motive or mental state were definitely not in his bailiwick.  Such ought to be left with Security and the Counselors.  But it hardly meant he did not care.  One of HIS pilots had, in all appearances, deliberately opened fire on another.  And now that he got to think of it, was Maverick responsible for Razor's MIA status?  That was a question he could not avoid.

And when the call came that Isley was in Sickbay, and both the Deputy and the SCO were heading down, Sten followed them onto the turbolift.  He was only the Chief of the Deck and if the Lieutenant wanted him gone he would step out.  But Renard and he had known each other for a while now; and he had to know that if anything, the older man could sense bullshit from three sectors away, an asset that would be quite valuable in this case. 

As the Vulpinian loosened his uniform, Sten understood what was going to happen.  He'd seen it often enough.  And he could tell he meant to use some physical intimidation, which the Briton imitated by pushing up his sleeves, revealing his muscular, hirsute and scarred forearms.  And he said nothing.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #9 –
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | Turbolift > Main Sickbay | USS Theurgy ] Attn: IronFerrox & CanadianVet

Heading down with the turbolift, it seemed that the two males in her company were suspecting the worst, gearing themselves up for whatever might await them in their own separate ways. While the Vulpinian assumed his beast-form, the middle-aged pinkskin hiked up his sleeves as if about to enter a brawl. If she had that kind of sensory ability, she was sure that the amount of testosterone in the turbolift was suddenly quite overwhelming. As it were, she had no idea what to expect, but instead of planning for the precaution to arm herself by one of the weapon lockers on the way to Sickbay, she supposed the two males would come to use if the need called for it. She doubted it, for by the sound of the medic's message, the situation was still contained. She folded her arms and looked straight ahead during the short ride.

They entered Sickbay through the visitors entrance in the recovery ward, and after looking around for a moment, Nurse Maal appeared through the sliding doors on the other end of the ward. He motioned for them to come deeper into Sickbay, so Ida followed. "You called about the suspect in your isolation ward?"

"Yes, Doctor Nicander asked me to contact you, he is waiting for you in his office," he said as he ran a hand over his odd pinkskin haircut, and while it was obvious that Maal knew more, Ida did not press the young Klingon further. They were dropped by the doors to the CMO's office with a gesture and Ida gave the youth a nod before stepping inside. The primary surgical suite at the forefront of the office lay empty, and only the Câroon doctor could be seen in the back.

Dr. Nicander was studying the screens lit around him, his white lab coat bathed in the artificial light from them - each animation of the readings on display dancing over his frame. He did not turn around while Ida and her two followers approached, seemingly sunken deep in thought. Only when Ida cleared her throat did he glance her way.

"Lieutenant zh'Wann, how good that you could come," he said, brow furrowed and voice deep. He turned around to face her with his tattooed hands in the pockets of his lab coat, and then recognised the two she had behind her. "Gentlemen, I assume you are involved in this investigation that is going on as well?"

"They are assisting, yes," said Ida, not interested in a lengthy explanation about what the two had contributed with specifically, and she reckoned the doctor didn't care either. "What has happened?"

"Nothing. Or, well, perhaps a great deal. I suppose you and Lieutenant Commander Wenn will be able to answer that question eventually, depending on what the evidence is pointing at at this when all other evidence has been taken into account." As he said this, it seemed as if he was bitter. As if he wanted to say more, but couldn't. More than anything, he seemed greatly troubled about what he had learned.

"What do you mean?" said Ida quietly. "Do you know something about Mr. Isley that you have not already reported?"

"I did not know until a short while ago, and what I have learned might not be something that I am at liberty to tell you unless all other venues in this investigation has been explored. Doctor-patient confidentiality forbids me to reveal this unless under especially extenuating circumstances. I do not, of course, need to know the details, I just need to know if all possibilities of this being an accident has been ruled out or not."

Ida frowned, since that might just be the case. She glanced towards Renard and Covington as she began to pace the office very slowly, going over the investigation in her head while she had her arms crossed. Meanwhile, she let the two males tell the succinct version of their individual findings to the doctor if they felt like doing so. After all, they likely wanted to know what the doctor had learned as much as she did, after all.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #10 –
[ Miles Renard |  Main Sickbay > CMO Office | USS Theurgy ] Attn: all in room

Hearing the lower anxiety responses within the sickbay allowed the Vulpinian to relax.  It was good to know he wasn't walking into a fight and instead was just as backup in case something unthinkable happened.  Though he remained in his more bestial form his posture was one of professionalism and comfort, almost as if his true form was as aspect of a Starfleet dress uniform instead of what was before one of Intimidation and aggression as if worn like part of a combat suit. 

As the CMO spoke he listened knowing the implications were likely dire.  "Frankly before we were interrupted by the hail I had been hoping medical may have found something that could give a physiological, emotional, or even mental tampering based reason for the actions in the incident.  Unfortunately on my side of the investigation there is nothing that indicates that his actions were an accident, As much as I wish that were the case."

'Done with his synopsis of the evidence he turned to Covington as if saying in a silent kind of signal the two had established in multiple briefings of their respective crews.  Though before the single glance that they had developed had been a simple statement on his part of, 'PapaBear, the floor is yours.'

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #11 –
[ Sten Covington |  Main Sickbay > CMO Office | USS Theurgy ]

The trip to sickbay, although rather short in absolute terms, seemed to last for hours.  Covington had dealt with his share and then some of in-flight investigations, and not only as a technical expert.  And whenever human error, or worse yet, deliberate misconduct were involved it was always something that put him on edge.  He far preferred those investigations where a fault that was not caught in routine diagnostics, unforeseen catastrophic failures, design flaws, or even one missed through ground crew inexperience, to those. 

Upon reaching the medical facility, Sten remained quiet as the nurse, and then the CMO said what they had to.  This was not his deck, or even the briefing room attached to it and by rights, Iron Fox could present his Chief of the Deck's findings and have brought him along simply to answer specific expert questions.  Officers, too many of them tended to disregard non-commissioned personnel unless they absolutely had to, and Covington was used to it. 

Though, Renard decided to have him speak for himself.  "Doctor, there's really no way around it.  From a technical standpoint, there are no reasons to explain Lieutenant Isley's erratic flight patterns. There were no malfunctions with his targeting or IFF systems so he should have seen the warnings and heard the alarms, and his weapon systems were in perfect working order.  There can't be any doubt about it: he had a solid firing solution on Ensign Carver and he couldn't possibly have missed that.  And the tetryon cannon discharge was completely deliberate."

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #12 –
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | CMO Office | USS Theurgy ] Attn: IronFerrox & CanadianVet

While Ida had heard the same said just earlier on the Flag Bridge, Doctor Nicander absorbed what the Vulpinian and the Human said in quietude, standing there with his tattooed hands in his pockets. It was obvious from the frown he wore that he did not like what he was hearing, and when they had told him the dire development, he sighed lightly and raised one of his hands to rake back his hair from his pale eyes.

"That is unfortunate," he said, and then addressed what Renard had said about mental tampering. "And of course, the obvious answer would be that the late T'Rena managed to lay her hand on Mister Isley, and I have already ask-"

[Maya to Nicander,] came a voice from the CMO's combadge, making Ida look towards it before Lucan tapped the Vulcan through. Ida knew the Vulcan from the mission on the Allegiant, and she trusted her judgement. Knowing her fortes and role in cleansing the minds of the crew after the mutiny, Ida was glad that the CMO had made the judgement call to have her see to Isley. Hope sprung anew, where Ida wanted Maya to say T'Rena had been involved in the development, even beyond the veil of death.

"Eerie timing," said the Câroon in cursory comment before he tapped the communicator, "Nicander here."

[Here is my preliminary report on Nathaniel Isley. There is no evidence that he has been telepathically compromised, but I can report that he was hallucinating during the incident.  He has informed me that he experienced a loss of manual dexterity before he took the shot and suffered heart palpitations and vomiting afterwards.  I would like to run some more tests and request that someone in security investigate the possibility that something was slipped into his food or beverage.  In addition I have uncovered genetic anomalies that could indicate a congenital disorder.]

Hearing this, Nicander frowned even more, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Thank you, Maya. Please continue with the physical examination. I will be along shortly," he said, then looked towards Ida while he ended the transmission. "Nicander out."

Ida did not know the doctor too well, but it was quite apparent that the man did not believe the cause lay in Isley's claim about the disgusting pinkskin caffeine drink. "I think we have exhausted all other venues of investigation aside from this last claim."

"Well," said Lucan and resumed staring at the screens lit at the back of the office. "If there was something he ingested, it would have shown up in the scans, now, or when he was given that anaesthesia before the mission. Maya did confirm the same genetic anomalies that I found, and those are what I have been studying. Given what I have concluded a short while ago..."

When the doctor trailed off, Ida glanced at the screens and then back to the man. All she could see was that there were DNA readings, but nothing beyond that. "Doctor, I think we are well beyond the point of extenuating circumstances now."

Nicander sighed again, and turned to face the three visitors in his office. When he spoke next, it was as if he had struck Ida in the gut - making her eyes widen momentarily.

"Nathaniel Isley's true affiliation has been hidden from us. Deliberately so, he has been genetically modified to appear Vulcan... while he is actually Romulan."

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #13 –
[ Miles Renard |  Main Sickbay > CMO Office | USS Theurgy ] Attn: all in room

Miles looked down thinking for a moment.  Though the news was shocking to hard it did make sense, from a certain point of view.  Still other parts nagged at him.  He added up the possibilities in his mind mac's first action was literally claiming responsibility and taking himself out of the fight.  Had he not said anything Miles would have assumed that something in Skye's teterion cannon backfired on her own ship.  Upon recovery of skye's ship it would have came back with no evidence of the tet-cannon backfiring which isn't relevant because if it had backfired then it would have messed up the computers so badly that any data in those computers would be completely unreliable.  Had he not said anything there would have been no reason to inspect his ship for potential malfunctions nor investigate any further.  Him mentioning it is the only reason why anyone even checked his ship in the first place.

Miles could believe a lot of what he was presented with but of everything there was one thing he couldn't swallow.  He gave Mav the perfect excuse to claim and he didn't take the opportunity to get off Scot free.  Even after the fact, if he had planned this out so much before he could have brought along a means to fake computer logs to make things appear like there indeed was a malfunction and that he wasn't hearing friendly fire alerts.  The worst of all was the shot could have just as easily been on Miles own ship.  Miles knew Mav would be obvious next choice for SCO and as such he could have made sure it got covered up.

Miles could believe many possibilities, Drugging, Murder, Espionage, Brainwashing.  There was one thing he refused to believe in the realm of possibilities he was confronted with.  That fact was that for this to be true Mav would have to be the most incompetent Romulan to ever live.

Knowing he wanted to know more he had but a few questions and one request he had to voice.  "First of all, Doctor, are you meaning his mother was Romulan instead of Vulcan as he has claimed, or are you saying that he is geneticially a full blooded Romulan.  More importantly, has Isley been made in any way aware that we know of his true genetic makeup?  And finally, if he is unaware of our knowledge of his species, A request.  Given that I am his immediate superior, with your and Investigator zh'Wann's permission, I would like to be the one to confront him with the knowledge of us knowing his true biological makeup."

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #14 –
[ Sten Covington |  Main Sickbay > CMO Office | USS Theurgy ]

With four decades in Starfleet, Covington had a rather broad breadth of experience.  And while he had heard some of the most colourful excuses for misbehaviour or simply doing stupid things, so far he had never come across anything like this before.  Isley was actually part Romulan?  That was the kind of thing that definitely wasn't in the realm of what he had expected to come up in the course of this investigation.  But the way the ship's senior physician, and even Iron Fox, had seized on it bothered the Chief of the Deck.  Mind, he did not see things the way they did.

"Doctor, Boss, Deputy, I know I'm here as a tech expert and not to look into motive, but I'm not sure Lieutenant Isley's genes have anything to do with it.  If he was a deep-cover agent, he'd be a damn incompetent one not to have bailed out with every scrap of classified data he could have gotten when the Theurgy was actually in Romulan space.  He certainly had plenty of opportunities to do it.  And it wouldn't explain why he was flying erratically."

He knew he was exceeding the bounds of his official authority in this matter.  But any officer with half a brain would consider the opinion of even a non-commissioned man if he did have four decades of Starfleet experience under his belt.  "Second, Doc, there's all sorts of things that metabolize in a human in a few hours.  As in, too quickly for anything to come up by the time he got back on board, let alone within the timeframe of Doc Maya getting a closer look at him.  If I recall correctly, there was this stuff, GHB, pretty big in the early twenty-first century as a date-rape drug and would get through one's system before investigators would be able to test for it.  With his... unique physiology?  Who the hell knows.  And with all due respect, if Starfleet Medical, and you and every physician on this ship didn't clue in he had some Romulan in him until now I think it stands to reason you might have missed something in your toxicology scans."

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #15 –
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | CMO Office | USS Theurgy ] Attn: IronFerrox, CanadianVet & Kaligos

Ida's reaction to the news was somewhat different than that of the Tactical CONN people. When she heard that Isley's true heritage had been deliberately concealed, she had great difficulty to accept the fact, but at the same time, she had no reason to doubt the CMO. Of course, what Doctor Nicander said did not solve all the issues she had with the findings in the investigation, and Lieutenant Commander Renard raised some of those before she had recovered from the possible implications. The Squadron Commander asked good questions, but when the veteran Valkyrie technican spoke, he did not ask further questions. Rather, he seemed to ignore the possible motive on the basis that Isley had been flying poorly - something Ida now thought could be an act far more than she had thought before. That Isley had not left the Theurgy, however, did raise more questions. Questions, though, not proof of innocence. What made Ida raise her eyebrows and antennae was how Covington would rather think Isley drugged by someone, which called for a motive even more far-fetched than that of Isley being a Romulan spy acting innocent. Why would someone drug a pilot before a mission? Some personal dispute? There was nothing that suggested that Isley had enemies among the crew.

"Well," said Nicander in reply to Covington, and as abrasive as the comment from the old pinkskin had been, the Câroon doctor seemed to take it in stride. He seemed too distracted by his findings on the screen to take notice of any affront to a comment about his and his peers' shortcomings. "Toxicology and genetics are different medical fields, but as far as scans go, there is a common base in practice and applied technology, so I understand what you mean. However, as you pointed out, there is no medical evidence to be found that he was drugged. To be exact, not now, yet neither so just before the mission."

With his hands still in his lab coat's pockets, Nicander turned to face the three visitors in his office, and Ida saw how his eyes were lined with concern. "Isley was given a light anaesthetic for the aches that lingered after he had participated in some... barbaric sparring tournament held in the gymnasium, and this was right before the mission at the Black Opal. I have personally verified the readings from the scan that Doctor Maya made down in the Fighter Assault Bay. Needless to say, there was nothing detected before the mission. If there had been a... 'rape drug' in the readings, or anything else out of the ordinary, she would not have given him the anaesthetic... much less let him fly. This here, however..."

Nicander pointed towards the screen. "This I have determined for a fact. As much doubt as can justifiably be cast upon us doctors and our medical equipment, this I can verify for sake of the investigation. As a doctor, however, and not a security officer, it isn't my call whether not this actually means anything." Ida saw how Nicander looked at her before he continued, but she was still looking towards the deck in thought. She heard him nonetheless when he continued. "I would not presume to say this means Mister Isley is some kind of Romulan cloak-and-dagger operative. What I am saying is that his Romulan genes were hidden; made to look Vulcan. He does have human genes, as an answer you your question, Renard, but with the level of skill behind this genetic engineering, I could not guarantee when the manipulation of his genome took place. Was it done in his infancy? It might. Was it done more recently? That might also be the case. Beyond the fact that his Vulcan genes were actually Romulan, I need to run more tests. Given the nature of this find, and this investigation of his conduct, I merely felt that the deliberate way in which his genome had been masked raised concerns that obligated me to report it as soon as possible. So, indeed, Isley doesn't know this, and had he not been a suspect in the eyes of Security, I would have informed him first."

While the doctor had spoken, Ida had been staring at the deck below their feet. She had noted Renard's request to be present when Isley was confronted with the findings about his genome, and to this, she did not have any greater reservations. After all, he knew the halfbreed Romulan better than she did, despite how she'd had sex with him. Indeed, she knew him far less than she'd thought. Perhaps the Vulpinian could determine something she couldn't when he was told about Nicander's findings. She couldn't quite shake the idea that the easiest way to explain Isley's behaviour in the cockpit was that it had all been deliberate, an act all the way through, but the motive and the answers to the peculiar circumstances still alluded her... Furthermore, if Isley didn't know what he was doing, and he was some kind of sleeper agent for the Romulans, wouldn't Doctor Maya have detected that too?

With a sigh, Ida raised her eyes to the three males in the room. "Before I move Mister Isley to the brig, I want to see his reaction to these news,"she said, and she raised a hand to forestall any objections to moving Isley. "With too much circumstantial evidence, unanswered questions and peculiar circumstances, and that on the screen there being the only solid evidence, I cannot overlook another fact; that a Romulan ship shared the same intel we did about the location of the Black Opal. It might mean nothing, but it is too much of a coincidence, so I will have to extend this incident investigation to try and find if any subspace messages could have left the Theurgy. It is not perfect, but I do not deem it safe to have Isley remain in in the isolation ward or under house arrest."

Letting the gentlemen consider that, she tapped her combadge. "zh'Wann to Reagar, alert the Brig that they need to prepare a holding cell. Then, please take the suspect to the CMO Office." She thought about asking to have Isley cuffed, but dismissed it. It didn't seem humane since there were too many questions yet answered.

[Aye, Deputy,] came the voice from Reagar, who was the one posted outside Isley's isolation ward.

OOC: If Renard or Covington has any questions or comments to make before Isley arrives, then post away ahead of time. I will be able to have Isley and/or Lucan answer in my next post. Either way, you are next, Kaligos! :)

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #16 –
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley| Main Sickbay | Isolation Ward | Deck 07 ] Attn: Lucan, IronFerrox, CanadianVet

[zh'Wann to Reagar, alert the Brig that they need to prepare a holding cell. Then, please take the suspect to the CMO Office.]

Nathan blinked when he heard the voice over the com. If they were preparing a cell for him than that meant they hadn't found anything conclusive. He swallowed for a moment as he thought about it, a brig sentence wasn't much better than house arrest at this point. The security officers didn't move to cuff him, but did order Nathan to stand.

His breathing tightened for a moment, this was it wasn't it? He was going to be put in the brig with no chance of parole or proving that this wasn't his fault. He was going to spend the rest of his life in a prison cell. They couldn't unload prisoners otherwise that one in the brig would have been sent away a long time ago. And with The Theurgy in it's current state they would be chased and probably destroyed before he ever had the chance to get sent to a more...

luxurious? that wasn't the word he was looking for, but either way the cell they put him in would be the home he had for the rest of his life. He regarded the two armed guards, panic running through them as  Reager gave an affirmative 'Aye Sir.'

As the doors to the isolation room he silently counted the feet to the chief medical officers office. The voice in his head told him to take a gun, vaporise himself before he could be put away for life.

Of course he was desperate, but he disregarded it for the moment. Walking into the CMO's office he regarded the current company. Covington, he probably hadn't shown that man enough respect in his life. He wished he had payed more attention to him in all honesty. The Pilot could have learned a lot from the flight crew, like how to double check his weapons.

Renard, he was still fresh from the mind meld and seeing the puppy was both good, and bad for his moral. He must have thought that he was walking into  a fight because he was here in the more bestial form. Every time he saw it he was always surprised by it, the soft fluffy appearance was almost cute, and the way he held himself. He really had to get his emotions in check.

Then there was Ida, the woman who had ordered his arrest, and slept with him the day prior. He had no idea what was going on in her head. She was a better vulcan than he could have ever been, considering the emotional undercurrent between them he had to quickly avert his eyes. He had liked her a lot more than even he had been willing to admit but it was clear that he had to swallow that part of his pride.

Nicander was a non entity as far as he was concerned. Attending physician to some broken ribs, was about the extent of their meetings honestly. Nothing so emotional as the other three, and these people would be the ones who decided his fate?

He had slighted all of them in some way. He could blame this inquiry on them failing to be impartial but he knew that wasn't the case.

"Sir's, and Ma'am." He said addressing the room. "Can I call for a quick execution?" He said drearily, at this point he wasn't sure if he was joking or not. This was going to humiliating as his name was dragged through the mud and he was put into a cell and forgotten by friends and loved ones alike.

Letting out a deep sigh. He didn't even know if he was innocent anymore. He stood before the inquiry as a broken individual his wry humor failing him. "What have you found?" He said only a little curious at this point.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #17 –
[ Miles Renard | CMO Office | USS Theurgy ] Attn: all present in room

The fox-like humanoid sighed as he considered every bit of info at his disposal.  Strange that even after a mind-meld based psych eval. that they had been  told nothing of him being revealed to be a Romulan.  If anything would have revealed it outside of DNA it would likely be memory of a past as a Romulan.  Secondly even if as a doctor she was sworn to medical privilege if someone were found to be hiding a heritage to a potentially enemy alliance as powerful as the Romulan Star-Empire then said confidentiality would be waved as Lucan had with his DNA scans.

while waiting for his fellow pilot to be brought in he turned to the Andorian investigator.  "If I may play devils advocate for a moment?  Couldn't the two things be unrelated.  I know as an investigator you are taught to not believe in coincidence but considering his evaluator has not hailed us regarding any major unearthed secrets I cant help but think that he may not even know of his heritage.  I Mean he was just mind melded and she didnt even let us know she found out he was secretly a Romulan.  Obviously, this is something she would be bound to disclose as such a discovery is a massive security threat.  So, either Romulans can hide things from a mind meld really well, from what i have heard isn't the case, or another two possibilities.  A: his heritage is entirely coincidental and he is completely unaware of it, or B: the more likely we are dealing with what used to be called in terran terms, a sleeper agent.  Either way I think it it is entirely possible that the man walking through that door may not even know that he is part Romulan.  As such I think we should see if he will reveal his heritage upon a bit of probing."  he stated plainly looking around the room before hearing the door his open.

"Speak of the devil and he doth appear."  Miles said quietly knowing exactly how he wanted to start this confrontation.  Before he had a chance to open though the pilot spoke.

"Sir's, and Ma'am. Can I call for a quick execution? ... "What have you found?"

Miles was surprised at the words, he assumed the man was trying to employ the Terran concept known as gallows humor.  Still the words them self made perfect sense if he felt he was a captured spy.  Asking what they knew however was something he himself didn't want to reveal immediately.  "Sorry Mav, but I cant let you in on that without a few questions first."  he stated in an uncharacteristically deep and knowing tone laced with hidden anger.  "So, how long did you really think you could go without us finding out about your true nature?"  he added venom lacing together every word looking the man squarely in the eyes with a certain ferocity he had never before shown to his fellow pilots, a glare coupled with the mane like hair on the back of his neck standing as his ears lowered in a way  that looked less like he was about to rip the wings off of a guilty pilot's shirt, and more like he was going to rip out the man's throat instead.  Though his teeth were far from bared his eyes, ears, and every other feature of his body seemed contorted into those of a wolf ready to mangle a challenger to his station.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #18 –
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | CMO Office | USS Theurgy ] Attn: IronFerrox, CanadianVet & Kaligos

Ida remained silent as Miles Renard spoke of his theories, a couple of them already having come to her as well even if she had not raised her voice to speak them. There was little time to comment on his analysis of the situation before the sliding doors opened to admit Isley, but she did have the moment to incline her head slightly towards the Vulpinian in acknowledgement to his request, or rather his observation. This was indeed an ideal time to require answers from the suspect, and to glean whatever lay beneath the surface based on the answers.

So, she let the Squadron Commander speak, actually being quite grateful not having to speak when he entered. Knowing that Isley was part Romulan made her want to shower - to rinse herself from his touch. Seeing him again, knowing what Doctor Nicander had told her, Ida felt a bit ill. She did not let it show, as much as she might, as she stood there with her arms crossed and looked at the pilot - waiting for whatever answers might be found. She hoped her silent stare was as unreadable as she hoped it to be, but then again, even if some of her disgust showed, she supposed it might aide the current line of questioning.

Doctor Nicander did not like the development. As much had been plain when the Vulpinian spoke. Obviously, Ida thought he did not want to play games with a patient of his, but he remained silent to not obstruct the proceedings. He looked away, as if he did not want to participate in the charade, but still remained in the room - tattooed hands in his pockets.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #19 –
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley| Main Sickbay | Isolation Ward | Deck 07 ] Attn: Lucan, IronFerrox, CanadianVet

Nathan took an instinctive step back away from Miles when he confronted him. Seeing the anger in his commanding officers eyes and the way his body language told him that he was in trouble he honestly didn't know what he could say to that. His asking of his true nature, there were a lot of reactions to this that Nathan had expected but for it to come out like this? Had Maya included such things in her report... he supposed they were logical concerns, but for it to come out like that?

and the complete anger told Nathan all he needed to know. It made his breath hitch for a moment, but not out of fear. Rejection hurt after all. "Hey now that's not fair it's never really been a secret! I mean I would have said something eventually, but you are my commanding officer, and there was never really a good time to bring it up okay?"

Nathan looked around the room, feeling an odd tension. He looked at Ida, who seemed to be offering nothing towards him, and then to Covington, was this really the place to confront him about something like this? It felt almost unimportant when he was supposed to be on trial, but he supposed if it came down to it, if Maya had included it in her reports then there were clearly hurt feelings that needed to be situated.

"Yes, okay it wasn't my best move hiding it for so long, I always kind of wanted to tell you, but you were my direct superior and I knew this would cause drama, but at the end of the day we are both adults, and i certainly didn't expect this raw rage from you about something that in this era really should be a non issue." Once again he scanned the faces of the crowd and he was starting to feel lost for a moment as he did. Finally anger pushed aside all of the thoughts he had been harboring and Nathan stood up straiter addressing his commanding officer with a look of cold anger. "Plus well... Do we really have to talk about this in front of Ida what ever your feelings are towards this I hardly think they are part of this investigation so could you wait till I am in the fucking brig before you choose to humiliate me?"

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #20 –
[ Miles Renard | CMO Office | USS Theurgy ] Attn: 1) CanadianVet 2) Auctor Lucan 3) Kaligos  & at any point: Doc M

Miles listened to the pilot's words.  He watched the pilots movements, his body language, the anger that seemed to form out of nowhere.  More importantly he tried to make any connection to how his words could be a response to the secret that Miles was leading towards.  Whatever secret Isley was referring to was not the nature of his race.  Still miles held his own ideas close to his chest as he raised a PADD and began silently making what appeared to be notations on the interrogation. "Lieutenant, I do not know what you are talking about and how it would be construed at all as being humiliating nor do I see how the Investigator has anything to do with them." 

He paused a moment before looking to the pilot. and finishing a few more notations with what appeared like a pen or stylus like device. "No I am talking about your true kin and how you came up with an excuse not to take up arms in battle against them.  I find it sickening that you would have to use the death of one of your fellow pilots to create a convincing reason to not fire on an enemy ship.   Not that its too surprising that you would stoop that low when you apparently had already given them the location of a secret weapons base."  As he said this he made a last few notes probably about the questions he was asking and then pressing a button on the PADD before he lowered the device from his field of view.

At about this time Dr Maya's PADD would be chiming with receipt of a message, One that miles had just written while addressing the Pilot she had just mind melded with recently.  It asked a direct question one that hopefully could help answer a lot of questions and doubts miles was having about their current assumptions. "Were there any indications during your mind meld with Isley that he might be anything other than a Half Vulcan who has chosen to not purge himself of emotions per Vulcan custom?"

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #21 –
[ ThanIda zh'Wann | CMO Office | USS Theurgy ] Attn: 1) Kaligos 2) IronFerrox 3) CanadianVet (since he is on vacation)

Ida had narrowed her eyes at Isley when he spoke in defence, some of what he said alluding towards guilt on his part - acting as if there was no secret that he was a halfbreed Romulan. But that idea faltered as the pilot continued speaking, shedding doubt on how his genetic heritage was the matter in question. He hardly made any sense, and Ida frowned at the point where he was done. She had become none the wiser from the tirade, and so hadn't Mister Renard, who took the line of questioning further for her - having the foresight to frame their common suspicion in quite an eloquent way. In the wake of the Vulpinian's words, Ida dropped her arms, having had them crossed over her chest up until that point. She raised her eyes and pinned the pilot with them - her browridge lowered over her hard stare.

"When the Romulans surrendered, Captain Ives demanded to know their source of intel if she were to spare them, and while I do not know if the Captain made an idle threat... the Romulans gave in," she said, stepping towards Isley - unblinking as some kind of Andorian reptile emerging from the hoarfrost. "You are 'Aidoann', aren't you? You are a Romulan Operative, a planted agent of the Tal Shiar, now scavenging Federation space for arms in your civil war, not even caring how your intel might instigate another war entirely. A Galactic War, kindled by the idea that Starfleet would side with one of the Romulan factions, and thus turning the shattered Empire against us all. My only question is this..."

She paused her step at arm's length from Isley, her stare remaining - not a shred of doubt in her eyes. "Are you just Tal Shiar, or are you also one of them," she said, her meaning plain. Like Acreth, an abomination bent on the dissolution of everything. "After all, instigating a new war would be exactly what they'd need to tear down the pillars of all known societies, dividing us against each other, splitting us up... degree by degree, until they'd be cleaving our matter into the primoridal soup they need to feed. So tell me, are you just an ignorant operative, or is there something inside you, something we cannot see... controlling you with or without you knowing it. Something that wants to eat us all?"

Ida had faced Acreth and lived, and she would face Isley too, regardless what he might be. She took another step - jaws clenched as she faced the suspect. She was well past any personal compunctions in his regard. "Do you even know what you are? Can you really know your own true nature... when you killed Ensign Carver the way you did?"

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #22 –
[Nathaniel "Maverick" Isley| Main Sickbay | Isolation Ward | Deck 07 ] Attn: Lucan, IronFerrox, CanadianVet

True kin? Isley had assumed that this conversation had been about his own proffessional misconducts, but as they spoke he was just left confused. He had no idea the two of them were talking about. When Miles said that he was using the death of a comrade, a friend as an excuse he almost punched him. It took a lot of effort for Isley to not simply deck his commanding officer across the snout for that kind of accusaiton. But he wanted too... Oh joy did he want too.

"The fuck are you two on about?" Isley practically shouted as he looked between the two of them. When Ida accused him of being a member of the Tal Shiar the look he gave her was one of indignant confusion. How could she be saying any of what she was. What's more if he was an operative of the Romulans why had he not simply returned to the warbird the moment it had arrived? Why return to The Theaurgy and risk capture? When he could simply have run off with the valkyrie and any important logistical information the bird had contained after that?

"I'm half vulcan, on my mothers side you idiots not Romulan." Honestly he had no idea why he would have to explain that in detail. "Carver was an accident! I don't know how but I was almost certainly drugged, and going off what little information I had during the attack on the warbird I decided against the use of my weapons to further prevent any possible deaths that could have occurred."

He looked at Ida his face shifting to one of pain at the sight of her. "I'm not some kind of monster..." His voice caught but as he looked at her all those fears that he had confided in her only a short while before all of this had come back. Was it so impossible for him to be a sleeper agent?

He had been the one to step out of line and create the Niga incident. He had never been infected with the virus, but he had set all the events into motion. He had killed Carver, and abandoned another wolf to die, each time till now he had some justification. Miles himself had told him that loosing a pilot under the command was supposed to hurt, and with Razor it had. To think those choices could somehow have been intentional that he was subconsciously plotting against the rest of the crew?

Would he even know if he was a flesh puppet of something else? Did his actions speak more than that. Deflated as he was he just kept looking at Ida, and the fears he had shared with her. Then to Miles and the concerns that came to him. And then to Covington who he really should have paid more attention too. One of them had to have some kind of mercy, thought it was clear that it wasn't going to be Ida. It turned his stomach over to look at her at this point, but he couldn't muster the anger he wanted too have at the moment.

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #23 –
[ Sten Covington |  Main Sickbay > CMO Office | USS Theurgy ]

There was little Covington could say at that point.  So instead, he settled for observing the scene unfolding before him.  Oh, part of it might have been amusing, had a pilot's life not been lost due to what was, for all intents of purpose, a deliberate shot from a Tetryon cannon.  But mostly it was tragic.  But as he listened, as he considered things and information was revealed to Maverick, and his reaction to it, it was time for the Chief of the Deck to sound off.

"Sirs, Deputy, I think you might have all missed something."  His voice was at a conversational level, but he knew it carried well, and it never lacked that booming quality that had served him so well throughout his entire career. 

His eyes had been on Isley's the moment he had started talking, and so far as Sten could tell, the man was telling the entire truth as he knew it.  So if he had been deceived from childhood, that would be something.  But for his genetic scan to come through as part Romulan after he'd been in Starfleet for so long?  That was beyond ludicrous. 

"I think Mister Isley is telling the truth, or at least what he's always been told was the truth, so far as his genetic background goes.  But before the last mission, he was looked at by Doctor Maya, who also administered him some sort of medication.  And she was also the one who examined him afterwards and came up with this claim he is half-Romulan.  I'm not going to pretend I'm an investigator from Security, Miss zh'Wann and I'm not going to tell you how to do your job, Ma'am, but I've been around long enough to get a hint of a common thread, and if something ought to be worth looking into."

Re: DAY 04: Question of Wolven Error [1900 hrs.]

Reply #24 –
[ Maya | Main Sickbay | Medical Duty Station| Deck 07 ] Attn: IronFerrox   

In the meantime, Doctor Maya was sitting at the medical duty station, just outside the chief medical officer's office.  She was seated at a desk at an intersection in main sickbay that gave her splendid view of the hallway leading the medical labs and cryostorage.  She was transcribing her report when the PADD she had recorded her initial findings from Lieutenant Isley's examination chirped.  The little Vulcan's left eyebrow rose half a centimeter and she picked it up.  A message had been left for her.  One tap from Maya's thumb and a message from Lieutenant Commander Miles Renard appeared on the screen.

"Were there any indications during your mind meld with Isley that he might be anything other than a Half Vulcan who has chosen to not purge himself of emotions per Vulcan custom?"

Maya's eyebrow rose nearly an entire centimeter when she read the message.  The question struck her as odd, but of course since she had recently mind melded with Nathaniel Isley she was the one who knew the lieutenant best.  Given the cloud of suspicion the lieutenant was under it would be ludicrous not to imagine Renard would ask her that question.  Her reply was sent without hesitation.

"Negative.  Perusal of Nathaniel Isley's memories indicated that to the best of his knowledge his mother was a Vulcan who encouraged him to find his own path and not be bound by her traditions."
 
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