[Holodeck 1, Deck 6]
Runo stood outside the holodeck and queried the computer. Sure enough, the holodeck was empty and he had ten or so minutes before someone would be showing up for their scheduled holodeck time. He walked closer to the double doors and upon his approach, they slid open to reveal the well lit holodeck grid covering every surface in the large but completely empty room. Strolling in and hearing the door close behind him, Runo paused a moment as he looked around. There should be a control panel somewhere. But the lieutenant's search bore no fruit. There was not one single programmers inferface to be found. Walking back over to the doors and off to one side, he manipulated the wall console there to generate a workstation in the middle of the holodeck. With a shimmer and a low hum, the console appeared. "That's more like it." Walking over to the newly made console, Runo looked over the controls a moment before his fingers set to work, accessing files. Shortly afterwards, a hologram shimmered into existence with a blank expression on her face. "Lieutenant Dlya, you are attempting to access my activation protocals. State your intentions."
Runo sighed as he leaned on the console, one of his arms resting on top of the console. "Look, ALICE, I wasn't even any where near your matrix or programming so lay off will you?" The security officer shook his head in the negative and sighed again as he went back to work. "I've got two of my officers stationed outside of the main computer core and a few more around Engineering. Those are the main spots Marcus is worried about but I am leaning more towards the computer core. If a hostile force was to overrun Engineering, we can still lock down the consoles and critical systems from a different location but if the computer core is captured, then we are royally screwed."
The human expression didn't register to the hologram as she tried to place it in her subroutines. "Please be advised that 'royally screwed' is not a recognizible reference in my database. Would you care to elaborate lieutenant?" ALICE bore a straight face but she was as aware as Runo was that her linguistic's database was almost as large and extensive as the Charon's computer cores programmed knowledge. Mainly because she shared an uplink to the computer core and access to the data inside. ALICE had been tracking crew movements for a while, storing it for further reference, just in case it would come in handy. "I have been notified of the security details. However, your attempts at accessing the computer core's internal processing 34 minutes, 19 seconds ago, caused the security lockouts to activate. They were designed to protect the core from outside influences."
Runo slammed his hand down on the console. This interface really knew how to annoy him. "But not from pre-authorized sources. Commander Marcus was concerned that the security around the computer core, not just physical, was insufficent. After all, Romulans practically invented hacking." When he realized that his use of old 21st century vernacular was only going to be met with the same, annoying preprogrammed response, he waved off the hologram when her mouth opened to speak. "Nevermind what I said. I triggered the lockouts when I tried to integrate modifications into your survelliance and electronic countermeasure subroutines. Since I couldn't do anything there, I figured I would confront the source." The human male sighed a moment and looked the hologram in the face. "Look... I know you don't like me for some reason and I share the opinion but for the sake of...." He struggled to find a common point that she would agree on. "... The commander, at least try to work with me here. Now... I've uploaded the list of proposed changes, crew roster changes and security logs that I would like you to review on and get back to me okay?"
ALICE stared at the human and tilted her head slightly, as if she was confused by what he was saying and not understanding. "Lieutenant did you shrink 2 centimeters? Your physical parameters are not consistent with the medical scans we have on file." It was as if she had completely tuned him out. Her unblinking eyes looked to the console and she then gave a very good impression of a sigh, highly theatrical. Runo gritted his teeth. This is what you get for giving a hologram personality and then hooking it up to a starship's computer core. "Very well... I will look over your revisions and get back to you as soon as I finish. Be avised lieutenant that the next time you attempt to access anything I deem you unauthorized for, without appointed supervision and someone that knows my matrix sufficently..... well, you know the story." Runo stormed out of the holodeck, typing away on a PADD and checking that his officers had intend made it to their destinations around Main Engineering and the computer cores. ALICE watched the back of the human recede until the doors of the holodeck slammed shut, like the lid of a coffin. "It is such fun to toy with you Dlya. Now, lets see how much you've screwed up my home." She muttered quietly to herself as she walked over to the console.
[Deck 6, hallway outside of holodeck 1]
Stepping out of the holodeck and allowing the doors to close behind him, Runo took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He personally loathed the security program and wished it had never been installed on the Charon. Unfortunately for him, ALICE was good at what she did and they weren't likely to just do away with her. Throwing a glance at a nearby time-piece, Runo frowned. He had asked the computer to send a notice to Eliszabeth Johnson, the engineer that Marcus was about to wed, about maybe meeting up and discussing ALICEs programming for possible revisions in the intention to increase security without it being very obvious but he hadn't gotten any reply to that. Wasn't Indi supposed to give me a shout when she got off her shift? "Computer locate lieutenant (jg) Bai." His words were heard by internal sensors and the computer scanned for her combadge.
"Lieutenant Bai is on deck 2, Eris section."
Runo smiled slightly as he realized she must have finished her holodeck program early but he wanted to check something else. "Computer locate lieutenant (jg) Johnson." When the computer replied that the second lieutenant junior grade was also on deck 2, Runo's eyebrow rose just a fraction of an inch. Could it be coincidence that the two people he was looking for, although for different reasons, were together in the same spot? Maybe but only time will tell.
=====END LOG=====
Lieutenant Runo Dlya
Assistant Security Officer
USS Charon
with the appearance of....
ALICE (NPC) APB Richard
