Pilot Episode - Act III

The camera focuses on the inside of a door on the Hodgkin. The electronic chime sounds, indicating a visitor, and we hear Oobadek's polite voice say, "Come in."

The door slides open and Zuto walks in. The camera pulls back and shows that he is walking into Oobadek's lab, the one we saw earlier when the two characters first appeared.

Zuto smiles. "Hi, Liaison. Lieutenant Iron Eyes asked me to check on you, see if there's anything Security can do to help you. I hear you're doing a bit of sleuthing." He leans against a high table, looking relaxed and friendly. He seems to genuinely like talking to Oobadek.

Liaison Officer Oobadek looks at Lt. Zuto with glassy hooded eyes. "Yes. This is probably just your specialty - you are an assassin, are you not?" He waves at a display filled with alien writing. "Mission Officer Dareth was unaware of the change and seemed to have a different copy of the protocol than I did. He went off to find the final version. Kentek, my partner for many years claimed to be too busy to review it just then, and ignored any attempt to explain the urgency. 'Prickly aliens,' was all he'd comment. Manitehen of the Inphirian Institute Administration office refused to take my call; her assistant claimed that she was aware of the issue and would put her top women on it. I've tossed a, how do the Earthers say it, a Harry Male to my sponsor on the Board of Directors. I marked it excitedly urgent. I anticipate his return message."

He rubs his tendrils with the back of his hand, sighing. "And you? How are you? Did you receive the chair I sent to your quarters?"

Zuto looks shocked. "What? No, I--" But Oobadek is already talking about the stonewalling his friends have given him.
Zuto looks both confused and overwhelmed. "Chair? Yes, thank you, but hang on a second. I want to know why you think I'm an assassin."

Oobadek shakes his head sadly. "I am an excellent intuitive. The Federation sends floating boardrooms out into deep space, and manages to find themselves embroiled in wars with every ne'er-do-well that can spell Empire. With no shock troops or even infantry aboard, no ground vehicles or tactical space stations, they 'fight' these wars, yet then emerge victorious? Please, how do you explain this without espionage and assassinations? But don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

Zuto simply gapes at him. He appears about to deny it again, but then seems to decide it's not worth the effort. "Okay, then explain throwing a Harry Male? Oh... a Hail Mary. Got it. So now what? You wait for your sponsor to return your message? Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Oobadek makes a dismissing gesture. "We're not quite ready for violence yet. But if you can hack the holographic encryption in these message headers, we may be able to determine who authored the changes to the protocols. Then we'll be one step closer to finding out why they want the Hodgkin defenseless." He swipes one display and sends it to Zuto's attention.

Zuto looks as though he's about to argue something, then appears to decide it's not worth the trouble. He gestures toward a computer terminal, asking permission to use it, then uses it to access what Oobadek has sent him.

As he works, he says, "I'm actually pleasantly surprised you're letting me help on this. It must be pretty uncomfortable for you, so I want you to know that I appreciate the trust."

"I admit there are... cultural difficulties I've had to overcome. My people are generally open with each other yet we've learned that trusting other species is usually immediately repaid with treachery. Maybe that's ironic, in this instance, if I use that word correctly. But I want to make this work, I want to assist you in this mission, and I equally don't want to be vaporized."

"Well, Liaison, I know I speak for Starfleet when I say that we want to make this work, too." He turns back to his work. "And I promise not to use my assassin skills to vaporize you."

His grins, but the expression fades as he seems to encounter some difficulties in the hacking. "Boy, somebody knew what they were doing. They've done a great job with this encryption."

He bites his lip, then appears to make a choice and works with more intensity. Finally, he slaps the table and grins, turning to Oobadek. "Okay, I can't read the name, of course, but this is the person who made those changes to the protocols. Anyone you know?"

Oobadek eyes Lt. Zuto suspiciously. "That didn't take long. My superiors would be very interested to know that their cryptography was so far behind that of the Federation." He looks back at the screen. "Once I tell them, that is."

He taps the screen with a loud thunk. "Kenthek. He was the alternate for this posting. Perhaps his inclination toward sabotaging the mission is what cost him the assignment."

He means back. "I'm uncertain how to proceed."

Zuto folds his arms, looking speculative. "Or maybe losing the assignment explains his inclination toward sabotaging the mission."

"That would seem excessive. Competition was fierce, but for your theory to hold true, he would have to be certain of not being found out. After all -"

The conversation is interrupted by a com signal.

"Ah, I've been waiting for this. Stand to the side out if view, if you don't mind?"

Zuto looks slightly surprised, but he complies, moving to the side as Oobadek has requested. He leans against a bulkhead and watches as the Inphirian answers the comm.

Liaison Officer Oobadek toggles his wrist comm and a large display switches to show a stately Inphirian diplomat.

"Director Dokling, thank you for returning my message. I've ensured that this channel is encrypted and isn't monitored by the Federation's systems. I trust this communique is secure on your end?"

He doesn't look at the purported assassin in the wings.

If Director Dokling is surprised by Oobadek's question about the security of the transmission, he doesn't show it. However, his response is, "Naturally, all is secure on our end, Dr. Oobadek. I am eager to learn what has prompted this query, as well as your communication."

Oobadek forms a claw with his right hand. "Not to put too fine a point on it, sabotage, and the destruction of all our hopes. That is to say, an attempt has been made poison our relationship with the Federation."

He leans back and looks to one side, then to the other side, incidentally at Lt. Zuto, and leans forward again, looking at the screen. "After the Institute carefully negotiated a set of protocols for our dealings with the Federation, a subtle poison pill was added to the accords to make it intolerable to the Federation. It seemed like we required them to always lower their shields when approaching an Inphirian vessel or installation, no matter the circumstances. Of course, this is ludicrous! Not just the Federation, but no government would agree to that."

He bangs his clawed hand like a fist into another. "We know what's out there."

Tapping his wrist comm, he ends with, "I've sent you the requisite supporting documents on a sub channel, along with the code to decrypt the message headers - it was ridiculously easy to decode, by the way."

Zuto huffs a little, silently, at the implication that hacking the encryption had been easy. He folds his arms and scowls at Oobadek, his expression clearly demanding more respect for his decryption skills.Dokling's tendrils twitch and flick almost imperceptibly. Zuto has spent enough time watching the liaison to recognize that either the Director is mostly unfazed by Oobadek's announcements, or he has very impression self-control. He suspects the latter.

Dokling's wrist comm chimes discreetly, and he glances at them only briefly. "You have a name, I presume? For the one responsible for this... incident?"

Oobadek's tendrils droop slightly. "The identity on the message headers of the change log is Kenthek. He was my direct competition for this assignment. It seems unlikely to me that he... well, that's speculation. If you have our technicians perform their own analysis, you'll no doubt come to the same conclusions."

He pauses, then says, "If they haven't contacted you already, Starfleet is aware of these unauthorized changes, and are formulating a response. My impression is that they are displeased."

There is a pregnant pause after the liaison's declaration, during which Dokling's tendrils are nearly motionless and Zuto idly thinks what a bad time this would be for his comm badge to get a notification, and once he thinks that, it's all he can think about. His forehead actually spawns tiny beads of sweat as he becomes convinced that someone is going to comm him and expose that Oobadek is allowing a Starfleet officer to secretly listen to the conversation.

When Dokling finally speaks, Zuto is so distracted by his worry that he nearly misses the first couple of words.

"Who noticed the altered language first?"

It seems an odd question, but then Zuto supposes that there are nuances that the universal translator doesn't quite know enough yet to pick out.

"Oh, I did, I am sure. I was going to bring this to your attention and seek instruction, but before I could get out of the meeting I was in, a Starfleet admiral interrupted and questioned me on it. I did my best to obfuscate, of course, to buy time until I could recieve direction. I want to serve our people faithfully. Tell me what this means. What I should do!"

Oobadek's tendrils stick out alarmingly as if statically repelled by each other. His eyes are wide and he carefully wishes Lt. Zuto would phase through a bulkhead into the corridor.