PHD #312: Carefully Laid Plans
Carefully Laid Plans
Summary: Mathers and Madilyn discuss SILENT MASTIFF; Marko continues his own investigation of potential CIC espionage.
Date: 04 Jan 2042 AE
Related Logs: None
Players:
Mathers Madilyn Marko 
Marine Offices - Deck 6 - Battlestar Cerberus
This offices consists of desks for those under the CO, along with his desk toward the back of the room. The S1 and S2 have desks here and the place is neat as a pin, with everything in its place. At the front of the room, a Marine sits at a desk to meet people as they come in through the hatch.
Post-Holocaust Day: #312

Mathers hasn't been aboard the ship long, but he's learned enough of the layout to find the essentials: berths, head, chow and of course, duty station. He's currently standing at the whiteboard with a marker uncapped, adding a note about the upcoming EVA pool training exercise. The CMC now has the pool commandeered nightly from nineteen hundred hours to twenty one hundred hours. Here's to hoping they'll learn how to use the equipment and not drown trying.

"You've secured all the equipment necessary, right?" Madilyn's question comes from behind the desk, where she's looking a little more flustered that usual. An extra button on the top of her uniform shirt is unbuttoned, the tight bun is replaced by a messy ponytail, and the big dark circles under her eyes are returning. "Of course you have, what am I saying. That's second nature for a former S-four." That she knows from personal experience.

"The request form has been filled out in triplicate and I even went down to Engineering and looked intimidating in person. The pool has been reserved and I have a memo into Vandenberg requesting that she opines regarding which personnel to staff the operation with. Major Hahn is already aware of our requirements for the mission and Lieutenant Makinen will see to it we have the instruction needed to train in and operate the modified welding equipment." Mathers slightly turns over his shoulder to finally look at Madilyn after that whole little spiel, giving her a slow smile before adding, "Sir."

"How long has it been since you've done EVA anything? I don't mean the suiting up and dumping atmo while in a Raptor. I mean honest-to-gods EVA, tethers and all. This is going to be the first EVA scenario we've ever prepped for here on Cerberus…and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing." It goes without saying that, depending on Cylon intervention, this could either go very smoothly or become very difficult. The way Madilyn leans back in her chair and steepels her fingers up, pushing index fingers to her lips should indicate that that's exactly what she's thinking about, however.

Mathers recaps the marker and tosses into the little metal tray at the bottom of the board. "Can't be much different than rock climbing. Except the whole, you know, lack of gravity thing." Which is to say that Mathers has likely never strapped himself into an EVA suit to do much of anything beyond transport. "With the proper tools and training, the mission should be a success. My concern comes once we actually are able to breach the ship and get into the interior. Unless there are skinjobs in that foundry, the Toasters have zero uses for life support that I know of, which means the whole damn ship may be without artificial grav or air supply."

"That is a concern. Aisde from being heavily armed and armored, they are equipped to operate in a complete lack of atmosphere. Of course, we might get lucky and just find that it's not populated by any Cylons, and that even they contract out their assembly to mindless robot production lines. That would be some kind of relief. I'm just waiting for someone to fire a rifle and go spinning before they learn how to make everything work together, honestly." It's a cheap little laugh and Madilyn knows it, but someone's going to have it happen to them once or twice in training.

The Marine CO occupies her desk, while the XO is lingering near the white board where the ink regarding the commandeering of the pool is still drying. "If it were unmanned by Centurions and Humanoids alike, that might explain why they haven't reacted to our presence yet. But you know how the saying goes, you can shit in one hand and hope in the other and see which one fills up first." Mathers folds his arms over his chest, the lines of his face hardened with the unnerving thought that they are sharing this particular square of black with the foundry.

Marko pauses outside the hatch to rap smartly on the metal, wincing nervously at having just sort of showed up without making any attempt to find out if he would be remotely welcome. "Next time, Flasher, put your bright ideas in a Godsdamn memo." he grumbles at himself before blowing out a long sigh. "Well, this will either work, or get me put in the brig…." he says, then chuckles ruefully to himself. "Let's find out which!" he adds in a breezy, television announcer kind of way.

"If want wanted to be really thorough, and didn't care about any particular information that might be stored there…and if we had unlimited time and resources to clear the minefields, I'm all for just nuking the damn thing. Just blow it to pieces, and then get the frak out of dodge." Not the most elegant of plans, that's for sure, but this is all getting way more complicated than anyone could've possibly signed up for. At about that time, Marko is opening the hatch which draws her attention.

"Don't take nuking off the table just yet. Call it a contingency plan." As Marko enters, Mathers likewise swivels his attention in that direction. One brow raises expectantly towards the Jig, but he doesn't address him straight off.

"Oh, sorry, Major, I didn't realize you were in the middle of a brief." Marko replies, wincing a little. Because, you know, he didn't bother to call down before showing up, silly ECO! "Sorry for interrupting, sir." he adds quickly. "I can wait outside until you've got some free time." he says.

"No…it's not a particularly bad time. We're just going over a few final details before actual training begins. I'm sure you wouldn't come down unless it was a pressing matter, of course." A subtle hint that this better, in fact, be good?

"Come on in, Lieutenant." Mathers offers only after Madilyn gives the okay, albeit that okay was rather vague. He moves around the backside of the CO's desk, taking up a lean just behind her. This man takes being the 'right hand' almost literally.

"Oh, okay, thanks, sirs." Marko replies, "I have…well, kind of an odd request." he begins, pulling a standard data disc in a plastic case out of his thigh cargo pocket. "I'm doing a little….research project…" he begins, eyes shifting slightly. "And I have come across an encrypt that I can't seem to get through." he explains, holding the disc where it can be seen by both officers. "I've got more than ample reason to believe it's a Cylon encrypt, but it's so complicated, I can't get the decrypt gear in the Raptor to break it down before it crashes the system. I was wondering if there was a way I could get some access to some more…serious decrypt gear."

"Have you tried taking that to CIC? That seems like something more under their purview. Or at the very least, something that our S-two would want to have a closer look at. Likely, he'd just take it to CIC himself, and collaborate with them on cracking whatever encryption you've got there." Long story short? There are likely points of contact elsewhere that would be more fruitful. Curiosity does get the better of Madilyn though, and so she asks, "Might I ask where you came across that encrypt?"

"It'd have to be an un-networked machine to avoid a security threat of whatever code you're trying to break, and then you wouldn't have the full power of the server behind it. You network in, and you're risking uploading a virus." Just Mathers two cubits, for what they're worth. While Madilyn prods further into the nature of Marko's project, the XO removes a toothpick from a little silver tin he carries with him, tucking it between his teeth to teethe on.

"Well, Major, I'd be happy to explain it to you…in private." Marko replies diffidently. "This is highly classified and, well,.." he says, letting the volume of his voice drop to a mere whisper. "The reason I can't take it to CIC is that's where I found it." he says simply. "I'm sitting on a _major_ security breach here and the last thing I want to do is for any of this to come to light before I can narrow it down to one specific suspect. Hoping that whatever this is on this disc can help me do that."

"You do know that we're probably the last two people on board that you want to be informing of your…theft, right?" Before, she'd been leaning back in her seat, but now she's leaning forward, staring intently at Marko. The intensity of her gaze is blunted a bit by the circles under her eyes. "That is, of course, you were given that honestly, but based on your recalcitrance to bring it back to them, I don't imagine this is on the up-and-up."

There may or may not be a smile from Mathers at the word 'recalcitrance', but if it did exist, it's obscured as that toothpick gets switched to the other corner of his mouth. He, of course, lets Madilyn run the show, but notice how he didn't excuse himself when Marko said that he'd talk to the Major in private.

Oh dear, this subject is going down entirely the wrong pipe, and much quicker than he'd anticipated. The fact that the big Captain is still present and looking as intently interested as Major Willows-Cavana is not lost on him. "Make a long story short, Captain Nikephoros asked me to do a little discreet digging." he explains. "In the process, I came up with this, and now I'm scared to death to give it to her until I can definitively clear her of being the one who _did_ it." he says nervously. "Bootstrap knows about this as well, he thinks it might be related to the transmissions he picked up during that last fight on Tauron a few days ago."

"It seems odd that she'd ask you to do some digging if she was responsible. However, if there's equipment there that you need, I'm sure El-Tee O'Hare would be happy to get it for you and help with the analysis. Intelligence is his gig, afterall." Let it not be said that Madilyn isn't sympathetic to that cause. "But if it is incriminating, then this will give us the leg-up."

"I dunno, sir." Marko sighs, shrugging a little. "As much weirdness has gone on aboard this ship since we left Leonis, frankly, sir, I don't know what to believe. All I know is that there's a very good chance somebody in CIC's not what they appear." he says simply. "I'll have a talk with Lieutenant O'Hare if you think he's someone I can trust with this, sir." he adds, nodding respectfully. "I appreciate your time, and for not hauling me to the brig before hearing me out."

"I'm all about contingency plans." Mathers rumbles from his position just behind Madilyn.

"He's the man when it comes to this. I trust him to hear you out and given your encrypt a fair analysis. What will be will be, and since the encrypt is all we have…" Well, Madilyn just lets that phrase trail off. "Go talk to El-Tee O'Hare when you get a chance. I'll let him know to expect you. He may already know about what you have there."

"Yes, sir. Thanks again, sir." Marko replies, nodding again and giving the two officers a quick salute. "I'll keep you advised as to what we find out."

Mathers returns the salute fluidly, "You want my advice, you'll stop trying to crack foreign code, and start trying to track down who it was aimed at. If there's a mole, we need to find it sooner rather than later, then the code becomes less of an issue." Whether that's to Madilyn or the departing Lieutenant, who knows.

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