Yatokii continued to go through the Randori No Kata with a holographic partner. “Computer increase the speed of the partner to realistic attack speeds, and restart the kata sequence.” “Affirmative” 

The sequence reset itself and restarted at a more realistic speed versus the slower training/learning speed. Yatokii thought to himself, “There is something oddly peaceful and comforting about following a training regime, also hearing the sounds of feet and bodies on a hardwood floor in my dojo versus the chaotic mess of this station first thing in the morning.” As the sequence came to an end for the third time, “Hmmm, time to face the day.” “Computer, end Yatokii aikido dojo program.” As the program ended, he made his way out of the holo suite, and the room returned to the standard black tile look. 

0730 – Promenade Security Office

“I can’t believe this, three months of asking, three months of putting in requests, and this damn office is still nothing more than a hole-in-the-wall dump with a desk,” as Yatokii looked around what should be the de facto security headquarters of EOS station. 

He pressed his comm badge. “Engineering, when are you going to finally fix my brig? Let alone my office.”

“You’re on the list, sir. Though the brig is not considered a priority by the chief at this time.”

“What do you mean not a priority? Where am I supposed to hold folks who have broken the law or are wanted fugitives?”

“Sorry, sir, I’m just relaying the message.”

“I understand that; I’m not mad at you, just at the entirety of the system itself.” 

Yatokii thought to himself for a moment. “pass this to the Chief Engineer for me. If you do not fix the brig soon, I will be forced to commandeer his quarters to be used as my brig till he decides to fix the brig. During that time, I will make sure that he is assigned what should be the brig as his quarters.” “Ummmmmm yes, sir, I’ll see that he gets the message.”

“See that he does, Chief.”

He stood and looked at what should be a working security operations panel, “Like everything else on this station. Non-operational, broken, or just plain missing.”

The panel showed handwritten notes on current investigations on the station, lists of current security issues/breaches, security personnel assignments, and a list of the stations most wanted.

“Let’s see what Bravo shift had to report last night, hmmmm the usual squatters in the living quarters – removed from the quarters, and the quarters were locked with new locks and codes. One of these days, we are going to need to do something about this issue. I wouldn’t mind rounding them all up, putting them on a ship, and sending them somewhere, well, anywhere but here. It looks like we are getting reports of the pirate gangs and smugglers trying to move back into the lower levels. Going to have to double what personnel I have to patrol down there.” 

Yatokii blinked his eyes several times and ran a hand over his scalp. “ “Damn that Ferengi was back at it last night. How is he doing this? Better yet, how have we not found out who he is or who is helping him? There has got to be an insider or someone that has intimate knowledge of this station for him to pull off these so-called auctions. Better take this to the Captain ASAP.”

He tapped his com badge. “Captain Abernathy, Lieutenant Yatokii. Sir, if you have a free moment this morning, I need to come up and show you the latest security reports. We have a few issues that I believe you would want to know about.”

Rob tapped his comm badge, “absolutely, come on up,” the Captain replied.   Rob hadn’t had the chance to meet with the Security Officer since arriving but now was as good as any. He walked over to the replicator and ordered a coffee while he waited.

Yatokii made his way to the nearest turbo lift, entered, and held the antiquated control device “Operations Center.” Yatokii made his way to the Captain’s ready room via his yeoman’s office as it was closer to the turbo lifts than walking through the operations center.

“Good morning, captain, and welcome to EOS station.”

Robert lifted a box and set it on the box, and it was just a few personal effects to decorate his office with; nothing too special. “Good morning to you as well, Lieutenant,” he looked at the man for a minute, “Lieutenant,” he paused, “what brings you to Operations on my first day of work?”

“As you may know, sir, I have already been on board for a couple of months. Well, sir, as I am sure you already know, the station is a mess not just from an engineering standpoint but also from a tactical and, more importantly, from a security standpoint. We have reports that the local pirate and smuggler gangs have built back doors into our security and tactical systems. It would not surprise me to find out one or more of the Romulan factions are behind these back doors. Nonetheless, due to these back doors, we have reports of several nefarious businesses being run by these gangs in the station’s lower levels.”

“I expected a few things from the reports I read on my way over,” Robert looked at the Security Officer, “but this is a bit of a surprise; even on a station this old, we should have systems in place for such events?”

“I have been working on it, sir. Though with a skeleton crew like EOS has right now, we are stretched thin, even with additional support from the other departments. I have been expanding and upgrading the patrol sections as the new crew comes on board. I’m going to focus on getting those lower-level security offices staffed up.” Yatokii looked at the Captain, then at his PADD, and blinked a couple of times. “There is another idea, we put them out of business, make it so that it is not profitable for them to continue their operations on EOS. Lots of empty space on the promenade or on the lower levels. I can’t believe I’m going to suggest this; maybe offer them a type of free-trade zone agreement. ” 

Robert wasn’t sure where the man was going with this, this report seemed to cover all of security all in about a ten-minute conversation. He just looked at the Security Officer and sighed, “I’d rather not do that, just yet.”

Yatokii handed his PADD to the Captain. “However, sir, we have what I feel is a bigger threat to the station from not only a security standpoint but from the overall operational status of the station. For the past year, there have been unconfirmed reports of a Ferengi and his “corporation” running auctions selling systems, parts, and surplus supplies. Basically, anything they can get their hands on that they think they can or could make a profit off of.” 

Yatokii took a seat in front of the Captain’s desk. “I have made this corporation one of my top priorities over the last month or so, took me a bit to find out how he was conducting the auctions. Then I had to create a persona and a background to get invited to the encrypted communications feed.”

“This Ferengi,” Robert asked, “he any good at this?”

“He is good sir, smart, careful, and has an uncanny knowledge of just what the buyers need. He doesn’t promise anything and tells everyone that he does not have the goods upfront but that he has the ability to get the goods if the price is right. We have tried to set up sting operations to catch them in the act but if they see anything, hear anything or even catch a whiff that anything is not as it should be, then they just don’t acquire the auctioned-off item and move on. Which has led me to believe that someone or several people on this station are working with him. I’m investigating several areas; at this time, I believe he has at least someone in operations, engineering, and security on his payroll; now it’s just a matter of finding out who.”

“What you have on the PADD, sir was the feed from last night, now I did not partake in this one as I have been going through my yearly shed for the past few days and kept myself to my quarters. The first page that you see is his menu for the feed, he usually sends this out 24 hours before the actual auction. The auctions are quick, lasting only a minute or two for each item. Highest bid when the timer ends wins. His standard is 50% upfront non-refundable; the other 50% is paid at delivery, no delivery, no pay. But last night was different; he threw in a special deal last night. From what I have garnered, he will do this from time to time.” Yatokii blinked several times and ran a hand over his scalp. “Sir, have you been in the operations centre yet this morning?” Yatokii reached over the desk and hit play on his PADD.

A video starts to play showing a chair, but not just any chair; this is a captain’s chair. As the video plays, you can hear a pleasant-sounding female voice going over the attributes of the chair. When the voice ends, a 2-minute timer appears in the bottom right corner, and a list of bids starts to appear in the top left corner.

Robert stood up from his desk, “what the hell am I looking at?”  He looked at the man, “shut it down, shut it all down. I knew when I took this assignment that there would be some housekeeping; I guess we start with whoever is feeding this Ferengi.”

“Sir, can you secure the room? That way, we ensure this, for now, stays between the two of us. But before you do that.” Yatokii got up from his seat and stepped through the Captain’s operations door, and made a circuit through operations. Most importantly, he noted that the Captain’s chair was still where it was supposed to be as he brushed past it, he tapped on one of the armrests and went back into the Captain’s office.

“Well, sir, the good news is that your chair is still where it is supposed to be.” As he entered the Captain’s ready room.

“I’ll take this as good news,” Robert looked at the man, suddenly wondering if he hadn’t at least attempted to put up a fight over this command. Things were considerably worse on Eos than he was led to believe. ”I hate to say it, but having only taken over this command in the last 24 hours, this is a lot to process at all once. I think it best you give me time to review, consider options and format a plan. I know you’ve been working on this for a while, and it’s appreciated. I truly don’t want my first action on the station to be a cloak and dagger operation,” he smiled. 

“Understood, sir, though we do need to figure something out before too long. The more crew we have arrive, the harder it will be to figure out who is helping this Ferengi. Although,” Sesias looked towards the operations center door for a minute and then looked back at the Captain. “More crew sooner rather than later may be the answer. Make it harder for a single person or a group to try things. Along with some upgrades and tweaks to the security systems.hmmmmm it just may work.” 

Robert gave the PADD he’d been reviewing back to the Security Officer, “Give me twenty-four hours,” he stated, “let me get settled in and get a feel for things.”  He paused as his mind thought for a minute, “What’s been happening isn’t going to correct itself in that timeframe.”  He smiled, “That will give us both a moment to formulate a good strategy to combat the problems head-on.”

“Yes, sir, I believe that would for us both some good and give us both a chance to sit down and think things through. Now I gotta go see a certain chief engineer about getting my brig fixed.” Yatokii stood “ unless there is anything else you would like to discuss, sir.”

“Dismissed Lieutenant,” Robert nodded, “and good luck with the Engineer; I hear that the whole Department is a bit busy at the moment.”  The Captain nodded, “so go easy on him.”