Seeing Through the Mudd

Posted on Mon Jul 15th, 2019 @ 8:52am by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ila Dedjoy & Kodria Mizu & Commander Rita Paris & Jaeih Dox-t'Aan
Edited on on Mon Jul 22nd, 2019 @ 9:09am

Mission: Mudd on the Souls of Mankind
Location: Intel Pod, Deck E
Timeline: 2396

On the turbolift of the U.S.S. Hera, Intelligence Operative Jaeih Dox, was on her way up to the starship’s somewhat mysterious Intel pod. Having been granted clearance as a part of her new position as an independent agent of the intel starship, this would be the elder Romulan’s first visit to the hub of the Hera’s secrets. Thus she was understandably intrigued.

In her hands, folded behind her back, was a PaDD with all of the collected data from her reports on the now infamous ‘Cleopatra Mudd’ incident. The cybernetically enhanced daughter of Davo Mudd and the Hera’s own Vulcan refugee Az’Prel, Mudd had successfully tricked her way through every kind of sensor and scanner on the Hera. After which she had overcome a brig forcefield with ease to transport away with her devious father, leaving the crew of the Starship Hera with proverbial egg on their collective faces.

So Jaeih was on her way to the Pod to consult with the Illarian Yeoman Ila Dedjoy, the Hera’s resident Mad Scientist. Who now resided in an android body of her own creation. As the turbolift reached its destination on Deck E of the Intel Pod, the lift computer performed a passive scan of the Romulan woman before the doors wooshed open.

On the other side of the lift doors seemed to be an entirely different starship. The corridor greeting her was gunmetal gray, and narrower than the regular corridors of the Hera. Along the walls were covered with tubes and pipes crisscrossing overhead, and the clean and comfortable Starfleet aesthetic seemed conspicuously absent in this more utilitarian and functional version of starship design. Stepping out, Jaeih took in her surroundings casually as she began to make her way to her destination.

As Jaeih turned the corner towards Yeoman Dedjoy's office, she was momentarily surprised by the sight of the Hera's golden garbed First Officer, Commander Rita Paris, standing outside, looking intensely over a PaDD in her hands and clearly waiting for something. "Commander?" She said, to get Rita's attention.

Looking up in mild surprise, the fulsome first officer recognized Mrs. Dox, as she tended to refer to the elder Romulan woman onboard. While diversity was the watchword on the Hera, Romulans were still few and far between in Starfleet. And in this case, the mother-daughter team of Dox and Dox had to have a differential between them. As she was uncomfortable referring to a woman who was her elder by her first name, as well as being unprofessional in her eyes, the old-fashioned officer always deferred to the simple honorific by which she would refer to the mother of a peer.

“Mrs. Dox… fancy meeting you here,” Paris quipped, although the small smile she offered was not one of merriment as was usually the case. ”If you’re coming to meet with yeoman Dedjoy, I suspect we are on the same mission- determining just how Ms. Mudd managed to fool our sensors and transporter, as well as what that stasis field she dropped was and just how she managed to penetrate an active forcefield and identify its frequency?”

Stepping up to Paris, Jaeih had her somewhat standard, stern expression well in place, but a more relaxed posture showcasing her increased comfort around one of the very few humans in the galaxy that she both liked and respected. "Indeed, Commander. I have been combing over the files of all of the instances of late in which the ship's sensors proved inadequate, starting with the attack on Mn... on Lieutenant Dox."

"And Mudd's technology in specific has clearly leapt past Starfleet and Romulan levels as my review of the sensors in your EVA suits shows that they are state of the art. Ergo, we must move beyond state of the art if we are to catch and defeat him and them. And this seemed to be the place to go to see what can be done in this regard."

“In that, Mrs. Dox, we concur,” Paris offered grimly. “We’ll not be fooled again. Which means we’ll need to analyze this data thoroughly to insure we are prepared for our next and final encounter with Mr. Mudd and his agents.”

Once the doors finally unsealed and they were let in, Ila Dedjoy greeted them with her large eyed smile, ice crystals in her hair and clothing. "Sorry for the wait. I accidentally flooded the chamber with neutron radiation and had to vent the lab into space while... Ah... I'll explain inside. Please, come in." Stepping aside, she motioned for the pair to enter the expansive lab of the ship's resident mad scientist and Captain's Yeoman.

Slightly taken aback, Jaeih cautiously stepped in behind a much more confident Rita Paris, taking in the room as she did. "Uh, pardon my asking, but 'Neutron Radiation'? You look remarkably healthy for that to have just happened?"

The former Tal'Shiar agent was both confused and curious. She had read Dedjoy's personnel file, but at her clearance level, it was fairly light with nothing referencing how the petite, wide-eyed young woman could survive such an event unscathed. There was, however, an anomalous detail that she was curious about: A date for the young woman's death was listed.

Ila gave the Romulan woman a strange look, her large doll-like eyes blinking a couple of times. "Ah, I suppose introductions and explanations are in order. I am Yeoman Ila Dedjoy. I was lost on a recent mission but was able to be mostly rescued and built an android body for myself to survive. Most forms of radiation, as well as the vacuum of space have little effect on me now." Ila offered a handshake in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm told by Ensign Gonadie that you're the resident expert on cloaking tech."

Cricking an eyebrow at how matter-of-fact the explanation for something that sounded significantly more dramatic had been, Jaeih returned the handshake as she replied. "Jolan'Tru, Yeoman Dedjoy. My name is Jaeih Dox. I am working with the ship as an intelligence consultant, but am also a graduate of the Romulan Engineering Academy with a specialty in Cloaking Field Technology."

"A pleasure meeting you. I'm a geologist by trade, but I earned my name by developing scanners that could see black crystals that reflected conventional scans and developed them into data storage and transfer tech. I'm told that Miradonian stealth units use effectively identical crystals." Ila was not one to mince words, nor one to brag, but there was a hint of pride in her voice as she mentioned earning her name. After all, it was still an important thing for Illarans. "I foresee your aid being of great import as we sort through the sensor logs."

“Our Miss Dedjoy is something of an expert in cybernetic systems, having studied them extensively during her supervision of the construction of a chassis to house her remaining biological bits after her sacrifice to save others in a quantum surge,” Paris explained. “Thus she is the logical choice to spearhead an investigation such as this one. Although hearing it spoken aloud like that it does sound a bit callous… good morning, Yeoman. It’s good to see you.”

When Paris smiled again, it was more the usual Human expression of warmth and greeting, as it was abundantly clear that she was quite fond of the doll-eyed Ilaran cybernetic crewman.

"Always a pleasure to see you as well, Commander. Lucky would say hi as well, but I have him so piled up with tasks..." Ila waved one hand at the ceiling as she headed further into her lab, picking up a few random looking devices as she did so.

That warmth coming off of Rita Paris was all that the otherwise cautious Romulan woman needed to relax her guard slightly. If Rita Paris spoke highly of someone, then it was earned as far as Jaeih was concerned. "Well, I offer any aid I can in our work here, Miss Dedjoy. Having worked with Ensign Gonadie on her modified Cloak for the Cyclone project, I can attest to not only her exceptional skill, but the value of crystals in question. I believe they were instrumental in circumventing the power allotment issues that have plagued cloaking fields for centuries."

"And it's those crystals that I think will come in handy again," Ila replied excitedly, handing Jaeih a normal science tricorder and a clearly modified intel tricorder with the casing still open and parts hanging out. "I have crystal circuitry in my nervous system as a key component, and I was able to recreate the effects that Cleopatra Mudd used to hide her cybernetic enhancements and true appearance to an extent. If you use the normal tricorder I should read almost identically as a normal Illaran."

Standing off away from anything else, Ila held her arms out away from herself. "But if you use my modified tricorder... Which is an older intel model used by Section 31 before they were disbanded, which is still more advanced... Which I integrated a miniaturized version of my crystal scanner tech into using the crystals themselves... You should be able to read the quantum flux state of not only me, but of my mirror universe counterpart. If you so desired..."

As Dedjoy spoke, Jaeih used her PaDD to call up a set of baseline Illarian vitals as a point of reference, then ran a full scan with the standard Science Tricorder, walking partly around the petite subject to be through. "Remarkable, Commander. There is zero variation in readings. It's a perfect sensor feedback. No echoing. No phase shift. Nothing. According to this tricorder, Miss Dedjoy here is completely organic and unenhanced."

“So my question becomes, is this sensor camouflage we are seeing, designed to reflect actual scans to give false readings, or is it jamming, or is it a forcefield that prevents the scans from penetrating, or are the organics of the system confusing the sensors? After all, it fooled the transporter, and it had to disassemble and reassemble her.” At that, a barely perceptible shudder ran through Paris’ frame, which only a trained observer would likely note.

The former Tal'Shair agent handed the tricorder to the gilded Commander for review as she looked at the newly modified model she had also been handed, working her way around the dangling wires and open panels. After familiarizing herself with the slightly different interface, Jaeih began a deep scan. With the panels open, the tricorder was significantly louder than normal, but after a few seconds, Jaeih's eyebrows raised.

"There it is. A Quantum flux phase variation of... six point zero seven on a frequency of..." Sounding remarkably like her daughter when she was working through a problem, Jaeih began talking in sentence fragments out loud as she tucked her PaDD under her arm and began adjusting the Tricorder's settings manually.

"You accidentally flooded the compartment with NEUTRON radiation. A byproduct of Cloaking device usage. This... this is a form of a signal cloak. In the same basic fashion that a cloaked ship mirrors the effects of normal space to fool a ships sensors as well as the naked eye, this is... It's remarkable that the power sources are escaping basic detection and not boosting your internal temperature to physically noticeable levels. But... here. Look."

Handing the Tricorder back to Dedjoy, Jaeih had an almost excited expression as she worked things out in her head. "If you KNOW you're looking for a quantum flux phase variation, you can reroute sensor functions away from everything that we KNOW will be a false data stream. All the vital signals are projections. Don't waste the processing power on them and we can get a 25% plus gain on the reception. Quantum variation is picking up now at twenty-six point three."

Ila motioned towards the tricorder excitedly. "Exactly! If I'm right, that tricorder should be able to see through any cloaking device, no matter how advanced, at around fifty meters. With a little work, I think I can integrate this into a few of our EVA suits. The bad news is that we only have enough pure crystal samples to make maybe a dozen such systems."

“The good news is there is a planetary system of them out there,” Paris remarked, referring to the newly formed genesis system known as the Dedjoy system. While much of the science was over her head, the ancient astronaut occupied herself with the practical elements of the situation, upon which she was qualified to comment and strategize.

"True, but it's considerably further away than I'd like." Ila tapped her chin in thought for a moment. "Though I did finish the shielding on the quantum displacement drive... And being docked here at the fortress this long has given me a chance to restore our stock of quantum particles... We could do two jumps with the drive now. Alternately, something like three hundred transports with the quantum displacement transporter if we had precise coordinates."

“Or I could make a requisition of one of the survey teams working those planets, and have them send a shuttle our way with the requested supplies,” Paris offered, seeking a more practical solution. “While we will need to upgrade the systems, it doesn’t have to happen today. Hell, we could go ourselves.”

True. We likely have some time." Ila thought on this for a few. "And we have a start at the very least."

Thoroughly confused at the references to an entire planetary system of the crystals in question, Jaeih re-focused the discussion slightly. "And we currently have enough for twelve functioning scanning devices, correct? That's an effective start to ensure we aren't caught unawares again."

"But Commander Paris also raised another point that I am thinking about. We transported her. Twice." Jaeih continued beginning to pace as she thought. "So, the transporter had to have scanned her properly, or she would have materialized in pieces if it was receiving false data. Which means that she must have had additional technology to rewrite the transport log records or something similar. Something that worked instantly to ensure that the security scanners wouldn't call out her deception? That means we actually might have a detailed scan of her hidden in the transporter system... unless it was completely overwritten? Is that a reasonable hypothesis?"

"It's an incredibly good point and I'm glad you brought it up." Ila headed over to one of her workstations and brought up the transporter data logs. "Lucky is going over them now, but it seems that she has a built in transporter, inhibitor, and..." Tapping a bit more, she pulled up the buffer data, revealing a full scan of the woman's true form. "She disengaged her sensor blockers long enough for us to transport her both times. Our logs would have been overwritten if our own protections hadn't prevented it. As advanced as she is, the Hera itself is just a touch more so."

"Say Lucky," Paris turned those bright blue eyes to the overhead as she called upon a marvel of the future. "Be a dear and fetch those scans and bring us up a holographic representation of our little turnabout intruder, if you would please?"

There was a slight delay, then the clipped British baritone of the Intel pod AI spoke up. "I'll put a few processes on hold for you, since you asked so nicely, Commander."

Which was when a holographic representation of Cleopatra Mudd appeared, side by side. Both images were of the ragamuffin version, side by side. "These are both scans, from both transporters. There are some subtle variances that might suggest redirected power flows to different systems, so I thought you might want to compare both for additional date analysis possibility."

It was Lucky showing off just a teensy bit, which tended to make Ila's eyes roll.

"Wait..." Jaeih interjected, eyebrow raised. "Is this scan data... of her true appearance or the illusion? Which was real?"

"This is the physical and biological configuration she was in at the time she was processed by the transporter buffers," Lucky replied, highlighting several cybernetic implants within her. "However, with her internal holographic and replication systems, I estimate that the subject could in theory completely change her appearance in under thirty seconds."

Looking at Commander Paris as she processed the information, Jaeih commented. "So it wasn't just illusion. She can physically alter her appearance on command. That's useful. And now we have her schematics."

"Well, at least she can't turn into a table lamp... wait, with holographic camoflage, she might. Ugh, she is going to be such a pain to... catch..." The eyes of the human girl from Earth narrowed and her lips pursed in thought. "We'll have to get her to come to us, and for her to think she's running a con on us, but we'll be running a con on her."

Rolling her eyes, the intuitive executive continued studying the systems. "So she can generate sensor bluffs of all sorts, and shields- oh, nice, to block beaming as well as for self-defense, and the same emitters are used for the holocamoflage as well. So like a cloaked vessel, she doesn't have the power to run the shields and the cloak at the same time... good to know, although I'll bet the sensor bluffs are... aha, separate power source, look at that."

While the throwback officer wasn't technologically well-educated nor was her knowledge base particularly up to date, the detailed holographics Lucky was producing included labels for systems and illustrated connections. For while the knowledge and skill were absent, imagination and intuition often seemed to suffice.

"All right, shapeshifting sensor blind holocamo Mudd girl, internal replicator, kind of like our rifles, but very nicely miniaturized. I guess she carries some mass blocks to compensate her weight... there. Replicator's in the arm here, look at the density of this wedge behind it... great galaxies, look at her fingers... what is all of that? It's like she has swiss army fingers," Paris remarked, noting the dozens of tiny tools built into the fingers of the young woman, before she stood and eyed the furtive hologram.

"He took her hands. I wonder if that was by accident, like Sam... or by design." Grimly, the bombastic blonde shook her head. "He did all of this to her. She doesn't even have her own hands and feet. There's no birth defect he's correcting with all of this, no excuse of it keeping her alive. Mudd did this to her... all of this.... for himself. To make her the perfect accomplice. His own daughter. It's... monstrous."

"To her it's normal, the life they lead, being the way that she is. She was born and raised into it- the only life she's ever known. That bastard cut her up and stuffed his crummy robot parts into her until she's barely half alive. How do we fix that?" The eyes of the ancient astronaut grew wet with tears. "How can we teach her there's a better way after all of that, what about poor Az'Prel?"

While Rita spoke, all Jaeih could do was think of her friend, Az'Prel. Of the torment she was feeling throughout all if this.

"That's her mother, right?" Ila asked softly, looking over the scans as well, pulling one of them apart as she did so seemingly looking for something specific. "I have no idea. How do you tell a mother her daughter is a demented and twisted cyborg mockery of the Borg that's designed to tear down and destroy everything we have created and brainwashed by a psychopath? Ah, here we go. If we use a twenty three phase chronometric shield, we can keep her from breaking through it. I'll need at least a few weeks to invent one..."

Sighing, Jaeih turned to Dedjoy as she pondered the yeoman's question. "I wish I knew. Every new bit of information seems to break Az'Prel down that much more. She is trying to lean on her logic. And lean on us, but I fear that she will succumb to the horror of all this."

Off to starboard, before another word could be said, a monitor lit up. On it was the youthful face of the young Vulcanoid android Kodria, therir ersatz niece from the future. In most of her messages she was smiling cheerfully... but not so much this time.

"If you're getting this message, I left it with Lucky, so he decided to show it to you. This means Cleopatra and Davo Mudd both got away, which means you're all in really big trouble. See, he brags about it- the uniform, his taunts-" A sensor clip played, showing Davo Mudd being chokeholded by Az'Prel.

"...there might be a place for you in the new Empire we're to raise. You could have your old job back!"

"Then there's all this..." Kodria winced and sensor log clips began playing, disp[laying Arenara Artan as she dueled Captain Telvan.

"...stakes so high the universe itself is the prize..."

"Society is a lie the weak convince the strong to go along with so they can survive and thrive."

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to peel away and make civilized men into savages."

Kodria's concerned face returned to the screen as she pleaded with her audience, sometime in the future. "Apparently great grandmama had planned to rule as the empress of the Terran Empire, but how she was going to- oh, right, that body-swapping sword Mudd created. So this message is assuming Grandma is still herself and not, you know, grandmama... but either way, their plan is still the same."

"They're going to go back in time... to change first contact with the Vulcans, to lead the charge on the T'Plana-Hath to loot it for humanity, to kickstart their race to conquer the stars. One tense scene in history they can change with a gunshot and a few narcotics, and history will go very, very badly for us all. They're trying to go back to start the Terran Empire. They'll kill the crew of the Enterprise circa 2373 too, which will be kind of moot in the overall rewriting of history and all, but still... You have to stop them!"

Then the message froze on Kodria's frantic and frightened face, and silence fell.

...there might be a place for you in the new Empire we're to raise...

The blonde brows of the first officer contorted in suspicious curiosity, as if she'd made a sudden connection.

Ila was the first to break that silence. "That's a problem... Lucky, activate chronometric shielding around the ship immediately."

Within half a second, Lucky replied. "Shielding activated. Shall I begin calculations for slingshots or for quantum displacements to the correct temporal coordinates?"

Ila didn't even have to think about her answer. "Both please. Who knows which one we'll need."

"Dear Captain," Paris muttered as she tapped at the screen of her PaDD. "So it turns out we have to time travel and interfere with First Contact." Shaking her head, the unconventional officer chuckled mirthlessly.

"Oh, the reports I write on this ship..."

It would be the year 2474 before the Starfleet Secrecy Act would run out on the report of this mission, in point of fact. The day it was declassified, Rita Paris was notified, and she dutifully read her logs from a lifetime ago with her morning coffee. Her memories of those missions was unsurprisingly nowhere near as clear after so long a life lived. There was considerable joy for the aged astronaut in seeing her youthful self, and hearing the concise and spirited reports of her heyday.

The Ambassador's wife still recalled most of the stories, although the details were still fascinating to observe, at least to her. Following her own career of the past as it declassified, day by day.