A quick fingerprinting exercise confirmed that the quadrant’s largest news conglomerate was protected by military-grade cybersecurity. Even if she tasked workloads back to the Serenity, hacking the Federation News Network would take days. Chief Petty Officer Shafir set her pentest suite to work and then turned to other possible sources of information.

“Hey Commander, any concerns if I take a pass at cracking the local gov while we wait? They’re bound to have feeds saved somewhere.”

“Go for it,” Commander Lewis agreed without hesitation.

As opposed to the Federation News Network, the municipal government for the City of Milan was not well defended. After a short few minutes, the Chief reported success: “I’m in, and I’ve located all of their camera data.”

“Scrub it for traces of Edir.”

“Stand by. It’s going to take a few minutes to run the convolutional neural net without tripping the monitors.” She could have blown through it faster, but that could spike IO and network traffic and trigger performance monitoring tools. By throttling the workload, she blended her routines into background noise.

“Doesn’t it bother you we’re hacking our own government here?” Lieutenant J.G Jace Morgan asked as they waited for the model to finish. “Couldn’t we just submit the paperwork to get this properly?” The city government wasn’t the enemy, but they were treating it like it was.

“And give them an opportunity to say no?” Commander Lewis asked. “Absolutely not.” If they did it by protocol, Starfleet Intelligence would submit a request to Starfleet Security, which would then pass it through the Starfleet Office of Civilian Affairs. After that, it would enter into the Federation legal system, where it would queue up for review by a Federal Magistrate before they could do anything with it. At best, it would take weeks, and with the chilling welcome Reyes had reported from San Francisco, the likelihood they’d ever see an approval was near zero. It was far easier to just break in.

“What about respecting the privacy of our citizens?” Morgan pressed. He believed they’d done the right thing on Nasera, crossed lines only because it was necessary to save their officers and the colony, but hacking the city government wasn’t like that. It wasn’t necessary. It felt simply like they were doing it because they could, sliding down a slippery slope. “The principle of individual privacy is enshrined deeply within our laws.”

“And we’re sticking by the spirit of those laws, Jace,” Ayala countered gently. “I’m not invading individual privacy. Only the model sees the vast stream of imagery. All we get back is the hits on Rear Admiral Edir, who I’m pretty sure would like us to find her. Everything else is thrown out, and thus privacy is preserved.”

Jace Morgan took a deep breath. Ayala was right. He was getting bent out of shape over nothing. The whole Nasera affair, the ongoing investigation, the JAG’s biting words, it had gotten under his skin, and was making him question things he shouldn’t.

“Ok, I’ve got it,” Shafir declared. The team huddled around to see the results.

“She beamed into Piazza Armando Diaz, walked past the art museum, crossed through the square, and went straight to the FNN broadcast center in the Galleria,” Shafir explained as she showed them the hits on the map. “And nothing on any feeds after that.”

“So she goes inside and then never leaves?” Lewis asked.

“That’s certainly what it appears like,” Shafir confirmed. “Unless she beamed out from within.” It was within the realm of possibilities that she could have left of her own accord from within the building, but since she’d never come home after, it reasoned that she did not.

“What about the FNN internal cams? Any luck getting to them yet?”

“Nope, not so far,” Shafir replied as she rechecked the progress of her pentest suite. “The FNN uses an isolated darknet with a central ingress-egress terminator, which means that, unless we compromise their physical security and get to the equipment itself, otherwise I have to crack their core backbone to get anywhere. My best guess is it’s going to take a day or two.”

“Then I say we pay a visit to the broadcast center.”

“And do what?”

“Waive around our credentials and see what happens,” Commander Lewis laughed. He was fully aware that media outlets did not take kindly to meddling from Starfleet investigators, and the FNN would not roll over just because Starfleet asked. “Sometimes rattling the hive causes honey to fall out.”

Commander Lewis, Chief Shafir, Lieutenant Morgan and Ensign Rel packed up their gear and headed out of the dusky apartment serving as their safehouse for the investigation. 

The evening streets of Milan’s old city center were bustling with activity, a mix of businessmen, shoppers, tourists and theatergoers. They passed old churches and theaters interspersed with high fashion boutiques and decadent eateries, and then they came upon the impressive Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. They paid no heed to the fancy shop fronts, nor the iron-and-glass vaulted ceilings, instead hustling up stairwells to the higher floors of the Galleria that hosted the FNN broadcast center.

When they stepped into the FNN lobby, there was a single woman sitting at a reception desk. “How may I help you?” she asked courteously, surprised to see four Starfleet officers standing before her. She hadn’t seen anything on today’s broadcast calendar that led her to expect them.

“We are here on official Starfleet business,” Commander Lewis explained. “Is there someone we can speak with?”

“Let me ping our news director and see if he can come over.”

Not even ten seconds later, a heavyset man in a perfectly tailored Milanese suit, hand-crafted Coridanian leather shoes, and an antique timepiece from a notable Swiss watchmaker stepped into the room. He walked with a proud and pompous gait as he approached the Starfleet officers. “Good evening. To what does the Federation News Network owe the pleasure of a visit from Starfleet’s finest?”

“An ongoing investigation of a former officer,” Commander Lewis explained. “Seventeen days ago, retired Rear Admiral Edir visited this facility. We are here to understand the purpose of her visit and if anything out of the ordinary occurred.” 

“Oh yes, Admiral Edir,” the news director smiled broadly. “She’s one of my favorites to have as a guest commentator when we talk military policy and affairs of the galactic west.” 

“Why was she here seventeen days ago?”

“Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to discuss anything that,” he explained, his smile vanishing and his tone becoming firm. “I can neither acknowledge why she may have been here, nor what purpose such a visit could have had.”

“She was here,” Commander Lewis replied as he flipped a PADD towards the news director with a picture of Admiral Edir walking into the FNN broadcast center. “Clear as day from this security camera.”

“Isn’t that a mild intrusion of personal privacy?” the news director asked as he furled his brow. “For your sake, I’m going to pretend I didn’t see Starfleet using city surveillance equipment to spy on the movements of its free citizens. As for Aria Edir, any business she has with us is between us and her. We do not disclose sources or methods, especially not to the likes of Starfleet. Mister Lewis, as a broker of information yourself, I’m sure you understand how such disclosure would ruin our ability to source.”

The Commander ran the conversation back in his head. Had he ever introduced himself? He was pretty sure he’d never said his name. It was thus surprising the news director knew him by name. “What if I told you that your favorite guest commentator went missing right after she made this visit?” Lewis prompted as he watched the news director for any tells.

“If true, I’d tell you that I was disappointed,” the news director replied with no visible discomfort. “But it doesn’t change our position. Disappointing things happen every day, and if we compromise our values every time something goes wrong, we’ll have no values left.”

“I have a duly signed order from Admiral…” Lewis began, attempting to hand another PADD to the news director.

The news director put his hand up in an obstinate refusal to take it. “I most certainly will not,” he asserted firmly, his tone becoming hostile. “I don’t care that you have orders from Reyes. Hell, I wouldn’t care if you had orders from Shelby or Chekov either. Unless you get a court order, you’ll need to bugger off.” His gaze narrowed on Commander Lewis. This conversation would go nowhere.

Their duel of words continued for a few more minutes, but eventually it became clear that the conversation was going nowhere so the operators took their leave and departed the FNN offices, winding their way back to the apartment they’d made their safehouse for the investigation.

“Well, that didn’t go well.”

“Nope, didn’t get a goddamned thing.”

“At least we got to stretch our legs,” Chief Shafir laughed as she looked over at their commander. Lewis had a smug look on his face. “Jake, why do you look so pleased? Is there something we missed?”

“Yes, they know far more than they’re letting on,” Lewis nodded. “I never introduced myself, but he knew my name and seemed almost familiar with me. He also name dropped Reyes, even though I never said her name. And did you notice how swiftly he showed up when we arrived? We were expected. And that means there’s more going on here than meets the eye… We need to go back there and learn more.”

“They’re not going to be any more loose lipped the second time. What’s the plan?”

“Oh, we’re not going to talk to them again,” laughed Commander Lewis. “It’s time for a little B&E to snoop around.”