Cynndle walked along deck 654 in Sector Lima-Violet towards the large cargo bay up ahead. As he walked he slowly scrolled through a PADD reviewing his orders. “Oh, the joy of the deck officer…”

Orders – Lt JG Oin’sun CO8928A

• Oversee review and inventory from Andorian Cargo vessel ‘Kusev’.
• Sector Lima-Violet – Deck 654 – Cargo bay LV4

Note: Shipment contains 30,000 vials of biomedical gel enroute to PSI Velorum for relief efforts. Shipment and cargo bay have been locked down since it was offloaded 6 hours ago. Cargo will be moved to USS Liverpool for final shipment in 12 hours.

Security Notice: Biomedical gel is a restricted substance; detailed review of cargo required. Notify security if there are any issues.

“Got to love inventory review,” he muttered but slowed his pace when he saw the security notice, “Hmm, well that makes it a bit more interesting.

Rounding the final corner towards the cargo bay he saw the closed hatch manned by an ensign in a yellow uniform. As he approached the door he nodded to the ensign, “Ensign, I trust everything is ok?”

The ensign stood up a bit straighter and nodded, “Yes, sir. The hatch was locked after the unloading team left.” The young Bolian paused for a moment before continuing, “I will need to check your clearance before you can enter sir. oh, I was also told that the rest of the inventory team will be here shortly.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Cynndle said as his identity and orders were confirmed. A moment later the door was unlocked and he entered the room. Upon entering the cargo bay Cynndle couldn’t help but sigh as he saw the large crates stacked neatly in three rows down the middle of the open space. As he started to make his way towards them the door behind him opened and two crewmen from logistics entered chatting happily amount themselves. Upon seeing Cynndle they stopped chatting and walked over. “We are here for the inventory,” said the most senior, a Petty Officer, as she looked down the rows of crates. “Shouldn’t take too long. Couple hours maybe depending on how detailed we have to be.”

“That’s good to hear. Should be pretty straightforward, it should all be the same in each crate. We have 30,000 vials of biomedical gel. Should be 500 per crate but as it is a restricted substance we will need to be very certain of the numbers we get. The inventory shows that it was checked prior to unloading here and it was all accounted for, I don’t think we will have any issues.” Cynndle responded. “Shall we get to it?”

The two crewmen nodded to him and pulled out their PADDs and tricorders to begin the inventory.

Four hours later Cynndle stood with the two crewmen and the young Bolian ensign as he shook his head. “How is one whole crate missing? Sixty were unloaded, we have logs showing that. The door was sealed,” he said as he began to pull up the security feed from the bay but when he tried the screen an error message flashed up. 

==ERROR, FILE CORRUPTED UNABLE TO RETRIEVE==

“Well that is not good,” Cynndle said as he tapped his combadge, “Lieutenant JG Oin’sun to Security, we have had a possible security breach in Cargo bay LV4 on deck 654; Sector Lima-Violet.” Turning to the crewmen and the ensign he sighed. “Well, this just got more complicated.”

Sonja was as always doing paperwork, which seemed to be her regular life now, but honestly, she had gotten so used to it she could be done with it fairly quick. The occasional call came in for her, but usually, it wasn’t something she had to directly report for. She had finished her reports and was taking a sip of water looking at the incoming request for clearance or transfers when she heard the call for Security. This was one of those things she did need to acknowledge, so she acknowledged she was en route and made her way there while grabbing three other Security officers on the shift.

She had learned the corridors over her time here and now had no issues getting from A to B and made her way to the Cargo Bay in no time. As the doors slid open she saw four people present conversing amongst themselves, until they saw the four Security officials appear. Sonja walked up to the Lieutenant and smiled “Hello, I am Lieutenant JG Sonja Thompson, What exactly is going on that you believe that a breach has occurred?” She asked motioning for the other three officers to examine the bay. 

Cynndle smiled at Sonya as she approached, “I’m Lieutenant JG Cynndle Oin’sun. We just completed an inventory of the crates of biomedical gel before they are moved onto the USS Liverpool. It looks like one is missing. We have been over it three times each and we are definitely short one crate and sixty were accounted for when they were offloaded 6 hours ago. I checked the security feed but the file was corrupted. Makes me think someone tampered with it.”

“The officer on watch said he heard nothing and the doors were sealed, so not surprised he heard nothing through them. Due to the nature of the contents, the loss of any of the vials is a possible security breach. Was hoping you would be able to lend some aid.” Cynndle continue with a shrug as he looked around the room; minor annoyance at the situation clearly visible on his face.

Sonja nodded as she jotted down notes of what she had just been informed of. She knew biomedical gel being lost was an issue, but if someone had tampered with Security footage that was worse. She knew to dig into that more she would need to be back in her office. “Can I see the manifest for the items?” She asked.

Cynndle nodded and held out his PADD, outlining the full manifest as well as the checks aboard the Kusev and during the unloading. “Sure thing.”

She took the manifest and began to look over the information seeing that the shipment was short. She looked back at the lieutenant “Doesn’t this cargo bay have access to the adjacent bay? If so is it possible that whomever took the crate did so through there?”

Frowning Cynndle glanced over at the large bay doors that lead to the adjacent bay. “It is possible, I didn’t check the other bays’ security feed but the door was sealed. Should have done that.” Stepping over to the console on the wall he quickly pulled up the logs for the other bay. “I think you may be onto something. There was activity in the bay 3 hours ago, there shouldn’t have been any. We can go check it out.” He said as he nodded towards the two crewmen.

Sonja nodded and looked back at the Security detail “Keep looking here I am going to head over with the Lieutenant and see what’s going on.” She got the customary nod and walked towards the other bay with the Lieutenant. They arrived to the doors where she input a Security lockdown on the bay and entered with Cynndle. “This should keep anyone from getting in here without authorization,” she said as they entered the empty bay. Upon entrance to the bay a slight smell of disinfectant was in the air. “Something doesn’t quite smell right here, wouldn’t you agree.” 

Cynndle looked around and inhaled deeply. “Agreed, there shouldn’t be any of that disinfectant smell in the air. Someone was trying to cover their tracks.” Glancing at the door panel behind him he frowned. “Does that look a little askew?” He stepped up to it and pulled out his tricorder and quickly scanned the panel. “Definite traces of a disinfectant here, they wiped it clean…” he said before pausing as he knelt down by the panel, “…maybe they didn’t clean inside though.” With that he slowly lifted the panel away, far easier than it should have to reveal a few scratch marks underneath. “You seeing anything else in the bay?”

Sonja had begun to inspect the bay looking for any signs of what had happened. She saw more scratch marks and a distinct crumb on the floor. “They didn’t clean too well here.” She responded and waved Cynndle over to her. She pointed to the evidence, which began to move “Uhh am I seeing things or is that moving?” She said as she observed it closer seeing it was a worm “Why is there a worm in the shuttle bay?” She said out loud.

He turned to look back at Sonja as she mentioned the work. “Sorry what? There definitely shouldn’t be anything like that in here,” he said just as the tricorder beeped and he looked down at it. “Bingo. I have Ferengi DNA here; someone got sloppy.” He stood and moved over to Sonja and held the tricorder out so she could read the results of the scan as he peered down at the worm. “This is odd.”

Sonja thought for a moment “Not at all, this is a regular Ferengi issue. They want anything that will bring them profit and this station is loaded with that. I will admit they have never been quite so bold to actually try it though. I don’t want to do it, but we need to lock down this section of the station. At least until we can determine where the Ferengi’s went.”

Cynndle grunted as he poked at the worm with his foot, “I agree, the theft of the gel is a serious issue.” He paused for a moment while he looked around then down at his tricorder. “There do not appear to be any residual transporter signatures and from the bay logs, no one has docked here. They likely carried it out so a lockdown is definitely required. Best you call in the lockdown. What do you need from me?”

She looked at her PADD and immediately sent in the message for a lockdown making sure the appropriate staff was notified and other security officers were notified. She looked back at Cynndle “You will be here to help with the crate if it is found. Stick with me, but know this is a classified investigation and you will be required to write a report. Is that understood?”

Cynndle smiled, “I would expect nothing less and yes, I want that crate found and won’t leave it to anyone else.” He looked around the cargo bay again with a quizzical expression. “From what I can see the only other exit is the main door to the corridor. The crate could be carried but not easily so I suspect they had a cart with them; allowing them to disguise it also. We may be able to pinpoint them with an internal sensor sweep, what do you think?”

Sonja thought for a moment, especially in the way of Ferengi. “I think a sensor sweep would be prudent, but I can’t say that the Ferengi covered their tracks in any way either.” She went to the nearest console “Computer initiate internal sensor sweep for any Ferengi signatures.” The chime of the computer acknowledged the order as it began to run the sweep.  

She looked over at Cynndle “Can you see if any deck officers have seen or heard of any Ferengi in the vicinity of the station?”

Cynndle nodded and stepped aside before tapping his combadge reaching out to his CO. After a quick conversation and a short delay he turned to Sonja, “A Ferengi salvage ship arrived last night with some engine trouble. And get this, they have docked only a few decks away.”

Sonja nodded and began to do an assessment of the information trying to determine the best action to take. She didn’t want to make a huge issue or involve too many people. She had enough ability in her position to take care of most issues she encountered. She messaged the security for the starship control. She explained the situation and asked for the ship to be silently secured. “I think it’s time for us to end this.”

A wicked grin crossed Cynndle’s face, “On that, I couldn’t agree more. Shall we go speak to some enterprising Ferengi?”

Sonja smiled and nodded leaving the bay and snapping her fingers making the security officers begin to follow her in formation. “Let’s go see if the Ferengi will admit to their crimes shall we?”

Cynndle and Sonja stepped off the turbolift onto deck 657 with the rest of the security team. “The birth for their ship should be 50 meters that way,” he said gesturing to their right after he double-checked his PADD. Without waiting he began to walk in that direction. After a few moments, they arrived at a large airlock door leading to one of the civilian hangers. He quickly checked that it was the right hanger and the information panel confirmed that the hanger was currently in use by ‘Risha’ an independent Ferenji cargo vessel. He glanced back at Sonja and nodded. “Ladies first.”

Sonja nodded before preceding into the hanger. It was quite clean in fact it smelled like it had been freshly disinfected, which seemed a bit suspicious. She saw two Ferengi standing nearby looking back and quickly making their way towards her “What do you want huuumaaan? We have permission to be here.” The one replied snarkily.

Sonja stopped and looked at them “Hello to you as well I am Lieutenant Sonja Thompson, security in the station and we have reason to believe you have absconded with Federation property. As such evidence has been mounted we will be grounding your ship and doing a full inspection of the ship and its cargo…unless you have something you want to admit.” She said slyly.

”You have no right to search our ship huuumaaaan.” The Ferengi snapped back.

”Actually I do.” She said as the Security team surrounded the ship. She looked at Cynndle “Anything you would like to add?”

Cynndle looked on with a smile, “Can’t say I do Lieutenant. Beyond the fact that theft of Federation property is a very serious offence, especially if it is a restricted substance. The punishment is quite severe.” He watched the two Ferengi glance back and forth at each other for a moment. It was obvious they were hiding something; ‘They must be new at this, always thought Ferengi would keep a cooler head,’ he thought to himself. Glancing back at Sonja he nodded, “Shall we?” As he began to walk towards the ship.

Sonja nodded and proceeded up the ship ramp at the protest of the Ferengi. As they entered the smell of antiseptic hit her nose strongly. She looked over at Cynndle and gave a sarcastic glance. They began to scan the ship for the signature they were looking for. After some tweaking of the scanner, they picked up a signature. Sonja signalled for Cynndle to look while she covered him in case the Ferengi tried anything.

Cynndle nodded to Sonja and peered into a small cargo bay. After scanning the room and confirming there was no one in it and no noticeable booby traps he stepped in. He pulled out his tricorder and quickly got a reading for the biomedical gel. After moving a couple of grates he found a loose grate which was easily removed revealing the crate of gel that was missing. “Found it, they hid it under the floor. And not that well,” he called back, “Going to need a hand lifting it out. But first, shall we go arrest those two? Who knows what else they may have hidden in here, think we may need a detailed sweep of this ship.”

Sonja nodded at the remark and headed back out to the exterior of the ship where the expressions of the Ferengi showed a state of worry. “Under the authority of the Starfleet and this station you’re being placed under arrest for the theft of Starfleet supplies and the fact that you lied to Starfleet officials.” She signalled the Security team to apprehend them, which to her surprise they did not fight. She looked back at Cynndle as the team left the hangar. 

“I think I can let you take care of it from here. If you find anything else that needs to be reported just let me know.” She smiled “It has been a pleasure working with you and I hope to do so again very soon.”

Cynndle smiled, “It was a pleasure, Lieutenant Thompson. Hopefully, next time we won’t have to be tracking down stolen equipment though I think we worked well together. Catch you around.”