Subtle Sabotage

MOTE Prompt Response

Zeke was staring at the panel, cursing softly when footsteps behind him had him spinning around.

Lina, his assistant stationmaster, stopped and raised her hands.

“Whoa. It’s just me. What’s going on? You’ve been down here for a couple of hours and Rafi said he didn’t even see you for lunch.”

Zeke growled. “Somebody messed with the codes for the doors into the unused docks on this side of the station. The system notified me last night there was an anomaly. I waited until this morning to check it out because they’re unused right now, and sometimes, a small power fluctuation can cause a system glitch that corrects itself eventually. But then I get down here and I find this!” He flung his hand in a dramatic gesture toward the panel he’d been cursing.

“What is it?” Lina asked, leaning in to peer at the offending door panel.

“The program has been changed. It’s a small change, but it means the door is locked to normal procedures, including override and emergency procedures. This isn’t a glitch caused by a power fluctuation, this is deliberate.” Zeke’s voice was low and intense. He was beyond angry. Nobody messed with his space station. Nobody.

Lina stared into the distance. Zeke could see the gears in her head turning. “So, what’s the point of doing something like that? Something that seems innocuous and silly?” she asked him.

Zeke took a deep breath and reminded himself that station owner or not, she herself had stated that she was remaining as assistant stationmaster in order to learn from him. And while she’d grown up with a family who routinely flouted the Bureaucratic Senate and the laws of the Core, she hadn’t really seen how deep the nastiness could go.

“It’s a test. A test to see what we’d notice, what we pay attention to, and if successful, whoever did this can leave it, knowing they have sole access to some docks, and that we don’t keep a close eye on things. Also, it tells me we have Republic or Senate agents on this station and we have to be better about acquiring and keeping information on every soul who steps in through an airlock.”

Lina gave Zeke a puzzled glance. “But we do pay attention to every little thing. Everyone on staff does. I mean, remember when Gregor found those diamonds in the hold? If you didn’t insist on somebody getting into every part of the station, including the unused holds, every couple of days, we’d never have found that.”

“I know that, and you know that, and the staff does as well. And it’s a good thing we caught that one in time, before anyone could collect those diamonds. But someone who’s here as a spy or agent provocateur might think we just got lucky and randomly stumbled on that. And remember, we asked Gregor to keep quiet about that little find. It’s not public knowledge.”

“Okay, so if this is a test… did we pass it or not?” Lina asked, turning back to gaze at the access panel.

“Yes. From both our perspective and theirs, whoever they may be, we passed the test. Now, we have to be even more vigilant and make sure we catch whatever else is done before it gets truly dangerous, and we have to figure out who’s doing it, preferably before they leave the station.” Zeke knew his face reflected his anger at the potential saboteurs, and his excitement at the prospect of hunting them down. This was his station and nobody was going to screw with that, even if that meant taking on the Bureaucratic Senate.

Lina gave him a sympathetic smile. “So, is this fixable? Or…” her voice trailed off and a thoughtful look crossed her face. Zeke started to get nervous. The last time he’d seen that look, she’d surprised him by buying this very space station.

“Or… what?”

“Or, can we figure out the new code and leave it? So they think we didn’t figure it out? Sorta like a double-cross thing? We can get staff to wander through here every so often and check to see what’s going on in the empty docks. They might figure out we know something, but they can’t complain if we go into the docks because they can’t admit we shouldn’t know the codes? Right?” Zeke’s stomach dropped even further at the feral grin spreading across her face. But…

“That’s actually a really good idea, Lina. You are a devious creature, aren’t you?” He laughed. “Yes, we’ll get Solon and his techies down here to work on this puzzle. That’ll keep them from trying to hack into Rafi’s drink menu at the bar.”

Lina laughed and gave a small, mock curtsey. “Why, thank you kindly. I do try to practice my deviousness as often as possible.”

Shaking his head, Zeke gestured toward the corridor behind them. “Okay, Princess Devious, let’s go see what Rafi’s up to and we can continue plotting the demise of our unknown spies over a drink.”

******

This week’s prompt was gifted to me by Leigh Kimmel. It’s a good thing we caught that one in time. Since the world of Glasvyr Station has been rattling around in my head, demanding an outlet, I thought I’d run with that. Catch a shuttle over to More Odds Than Ends and see what everybody else has come up with this week!