The Root of the Problem

Posted on Thu Jul 20th, 2017 @ 1:38pm by Commander Alora Knight & Lieutenant Soren Dillinger 'Speedy'

1,761 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Caught in the Cracks
Location: Intel
Timeline: BACKPOST

ON

After speaking with T'Shenn and the Captain about their behavior over encounters with Dillinger, Alora felt it was high time she had a talk with the man himself. So she headed for Intel to see how he was settling in.

While the majority of the Intel Department were hard at work, Soren was in his office with his feet up on the desk and his chair leaning back. His cybernetic legs were crossed as the Intel Chief was tossing a ball up toward the ceiling and catching it as it came back down. On the desk was the Holo-Sphere he hid in his thigh that contained Bettie's program and was currently playing music. The current song being: Nancy Sinatra - California Dreamin.

Bettie, on the other hand, was out of her sphere and dancing slowly in a corner of the room. She was in a short white dress and white go go boots, moving with the music while she was mouthing the words, as if she was performing. Every once and a while she would catch Soren looking at her and let out a smile, followed by a laugh, as he was enjoying the mock performance. As well as the song itself.

Alora walked into the busy Intel office. "Is Mr. Dillinger here?" she said.

One woman pointed to a closed door, then went back to her work.

Alora nodded her thanks. As she walked up to the door, she could hear music playing. She raised an eyebrow and rang the door chime.

Soren had just tossed the ball up to the ceiling when the chime rang. It only took him a few seconds to look to the door just as the ball came down and hit him on the head. He rubbed his head as he looked to Bettie who only covered her mouth and laughed into her palms. Soren couldn't help but laugh too before reaching down and picking up the ball. "Yeah. Yeah. Come on in." He shouted slightly as he leaned back in his chair again.

Bettie continued to dance around slowly in a circle, listening to the music play. The song began to fade away and another song faded in. This time it was still Nancy Sinatra but the song was now Killing Me Softly with His Song. She was still mouthing the words as if she was singing it.

Alora stepped inside the room and stopped. Seriously? He was in his office, playing and watching some hologram dance while the rest of his department did all the work? "I hope you are not too busy?" she asked.

Soren raised a brow at the woman who just entered and slowly tried to look over her shoulder at the people outside. He than turned to face Bettie before looking back to Alora and clearing his throat. "Funny. I don't remember ordering an Orion stripper. The Command Uniform is a nice touch though." He slowly stood up and shouted from inside the room to the officers working outside. "Did ya'll get me a stripper to get on my good side? Cause if you did, I got to say, you're on the right track."

The officers in the outer room all looked very uncomfortable.

"Ensign Dillinger, I am Commander Alora Tau'Ri, First Officer of the Tokyo and your immediate superior."

Soren let out a sigh, as if un-phased by the firm tone, and slowly sat back down in his chair. "Well there goes the rest of my good day." He said as he looked to Bettie and tilted his head slightly in the direction of the Holo-Sphere.

Bettie pouted slightly and pointed to the sphere, immediately making the music stop. The hologram then placed her hands on her hips before walking over to the desk and sitting down on it.

"Well." Soren said, smirking slightly as he picked up the ball again and rolled it around in his hand before he continued. "At least your taller than the Captain."

"I see why you've caused so much trouble since your arrival," Alora said. "By your behavior, you don't seem to care about this assignment, or your freedom."

Soren narrowed his eyes as he sat up right in his chair and cleared his throat. He glanced over to Bettie who quickly covered her mouth in shock, before he turned back to face Alora and spoke in a soft and calm tone. "So, because you walk in here and see me like this you immediately jump to the conclusion that I haven't finished my assignment?"

He slowly rose from his seat and pushed the stack of PADD's in front of him before sliding one toward Alora. "Intelligence Reports." He slide another one. "List of ships previously traveled though this sector." And another. "Their assignments." And another. "Their public logs." And another. "The Department Heads Mission logs." And finally the last one. "And notes I made while contacting my personal contacts and questioning them on what, if anything, did they experience when they came through here." Soren calmly placed his hands on his desk as his face and tone shifted slightly. "Outside, those officers are working around the clock to make sure any new information that comes in, suspicious or otherwise, goes direction to me and right to you and the Captain. So, don't sit there and assume that I am ignoring my duties, just because I ran out of ideas and things to do that will help in the current situation. Just because my behavior isn't up to code, doesn't mean I am not the kind of guy who neglects to get things done."

"And what have you found in those logs and reports that give us an idea of what we may encounter?" she asked. "Is there anything we need to look out for? Anything of interest?"

"Nothing." Soren said quickly. "Zilch. Nada. Goose Egg. The old negotiator. Thanks for playing and don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya." He concluded as he grabbed a PADD from his stack and slid it across his desk toward Alora. "Just some minor hiccups and strange echos. You know, the kinda stuff the science types like to dig into and try to turn it into their next boring research paper." He leaned back in his chair and looked to her with a smile. "Nothing we need to arm all cannons and hoist the colors about."

She caught the PADD and thumbed through it. She took her time. "What do you make of these hiccups and echoes? Have you sent the information to science?"

"Sensor ghosts." Soren said softly, shrugging a bit before continuing. "At least that's what they chalked it down to when the ships involved investigated further into it. If you ask me it was just their computer's acting up and them jumping to conclusion." He looked over to Bettie before looked back to Alora and nodding his head. "I was going to have Bettie send it over once she finished going through the files to make sure there isn't anything else."

Alora glanced at Bettie, then back to Dillinger. "I imagine she's quite busy entertaining you at the present. Or is that only in her spare time?"

"Actually, she's pretty efficient. Bettie can entertain me, herself, perform a self diagnostic, and write out a report all while hopping on one foot and rubbing her tummy." Soren replied quickly before adding. "She still can't figure out a way to make a decent pizza without making it taste like cardboard though. We're still working on that."

"No, that would be a job for a replicator specialist, or a chef," she admitted. "How long has she been working on the analysis?"

"Ask her yourself, she's standing right there." Soren replied as he leaned back in his chair.

Alora nodded and turned to the hologram. "How long does it take you to perform an analysis and does it require dancing?"

Bettie looked over to Soren before turning to face Alora and replying happily. "I started two songs ago and there is a lot of information to shift through. So about two more songs and Yes. Yes it requires dancing." She laughed wrote continuing her dance.

"Bettie is shifting through various reports at the same time. Intel. Science. Security. Logs and such, so its a lot of things to go through." Soren replied firmly before clearing his throat. "The music and dancing is only to keep us busy instead of standing around and doing nothing waiting for results."

"And its fun." Bettie shouted with a giggle.

"And its fun." Soren replied calmly.

"Well, every program does have its flaws." Alora shook her head. She wasn't sure if it was the program or the programmer that had the flaw. "When you mange to get the report done, would you please send me a copy?"

"I was planning on it." Soren replied. "I just figured you would want me to be thourough than give you something that's filled with speculation and theory."

"Did she just call me flawed." Bettie immediately narrowed her eye and stopped dancing.

"B? Let it go." Soren replied with a sigh.

Bettie let out a frustrated huff before placing her hands on her hips. "Oh no no no no no." She said firmly. "She does not get to call me flawed. I am not flawed. I am 200 percent better than any of the basic, and boring, programs around here, okay? I can process circles around any program on this floating tub."

"Better than basic and boring programs, I'll grant you, but better than other programs out there?" Alora shook her head. "Most are able to do simple analysis without having to be an exhibitionist at the same time. But that's okay. I blame the programmer." She was trying very hard not to smile. She was getting a perverse pleasure out of taunting the hologram. Especially after the trouble she'd had to deal with on this ship so far.

Alora's combadge chirped. "Tau'Ri."

"Ma'am, could you please come to the bridge?"

"On my way." Alora sighed.

"I expect your report by the end of the day." Alora's smile was saccharine-sweet. "I assume that's enough time for both of you to...dance through the data."

Before they could respond, she turned and walked out of the office.

____
OFF

Commander Alora Tau'Ri
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Soren "Speedy" Dillinger
Chief Intelligence Officer

Bettie
AI

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