Echoes of Coventry

by Richard C. White

  Bart examined the messages while he was waiting for the newly reactivated computer to finish the program he’d started seven days ago. A cursory examination didn’t find anything that jumped out at him. It was a straightforward Cardassian encryption system; his diagnostic program identified it as a pre-Dominion cipher that Starfleet had broken a few years ago. Priya took his decrypts and began translating them in case there was anything useful to report when the next opportunity arose.

  After a few hours, Priya went over to Jamie’s station and physically escorted him out of the operations center, muttering dire threats about what would happen if she caught him out playing with the security guards. He put up a halfhearted protest, but he knew she was capable of following through on her threats, so he acquiesced in the end.

  “I swear, Bart, sometimes he’s just like a kid,” Priya said as she reentered the room. “He knows he needs to eat and get some sleep, but he’d be in here 26/7 if he thought we’d let him.”

  “I think this is the first time he’s been in the field in a long time. He’s starting to get to the age where they’re not going to want to deploy him much more and he knows it. He’s trying to squeeze everything he can out of this assignment.” Bart looked up at Priya over his padd. He turned to push a few buttons on the computer terminal next to him and annotated the information on his padd before continuing. “He sees this as his swan song.”

  “Swan song?” There was no questioning the confused tone in her voice. “What would a bird have to do with this mission?”

  “One of the most pervasive of swan legends back on Earth is it sings a beautiful song just before dying. Over time, it’s come to mean the last great act a person does in their life.”

  “You think Jamie will die after this mission?” Her shocked voice echoed in the ops center.

  “No, but he’ll probably go back to the Academy and teach there until he retires. He sees this as his last chance to do something really meaningful. That’s why he’s doing all the extra stuff, playing commando, et cetera,” Bart confided, keeping his voice low before returning to his computer.

  Looking up a while later, he saw Priya sitting at her terminal, staring over the top of her monitor at the wall beyond her. “Is something wrong?”

  She jumped, startled by Bart’s sudden question. “No, I was just thinking about what’s going to happen to us after this mission is over.”

  Bart laughed, “Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I fully expect to wind up in some dull, boring, and very safe assignment after this war is over.”

  “I imagine I’ll go back to Bajor, but in a way, I’m not looking forward to it.” She sat at her terminal, tapping the end of her stylus on the table in front of her.

  “I thought you were fighting to liberate Bajor?”

  “I am.” There was pride in her voice, but sadness was visible in her eyes. “It’s just that it’s only been a few years since we liberated ourselves from the Cardassians, and now this. I don’t know what Bajor’s going to be like when the war’s over.”

  As they reached the end of their shift, the computer finally spit out the results Bart had been waiting for. His eyes lit up as he saw there was a positive match with several of the groups of code he’d been targeting. As he turned around to pass the good news on to Priya, he saw Sabran standing in the doorway to operations. It was obvious the Vulcan had something on his mind, but Bart had the feeling he wasn’t certain how to ask.

  “Chief Sabran, would you check this out for me and make certain I’m interpreting the data correctly?” he asked, hoping it would give Sabran the opening to say whatever was bothering him.

  The Vulcan moved across the room with a catlike grace, taking the padd from Faulwell. His brown eyes gazed at the computer’s results and then he began comparing the recoveries and the original text. “Very good, Petty Officer Faulwell. It appears you have begun to make good progress against the unknown code.”

  “It’s a start. I just wish it didn’t take so long to run this program. There’s no guarantee the Cardassians won’t return before I get the entire message broken out.” Frustration was visible on the cryptologist’s face. “It takes too long even to prove something’s wrong.”

  “I believe I can help there.”

  “Oh?” The Vulcan’s hesitation had gotten Bart’s attention. Sabran was usually so confident when he spoke.

  “I noted certain…inefficiencies in the diagnostic program you were using. I have been working on a suitable upgrade if you are interested in testing it out. I realize using an untested process is against regulations—”

  “—but given the current situation, I take full responsibility,” Jamie said, appearing behind the two of them out of nowhere. “What makes your program so much better, Chief?”

  “Well, the original program was only designed to look at a small number of messages, comparing statistical and various other attacks against the traffic. It is extremely thorough, but it requires a large amount of the computer’s capabilities, even one as advanced as this station’s, which is why it can only review selected messages.” The Vulcan’s voice grew stronger as he warmed to the subject.

  “I understand the limitations of Bart’s current analytical programs. What are you going to do to improve that?” Jamie asked, waiting for Sabran to get to the point. “And, in plain terms. My head still hurts from the last time you tried to explain that damn subspace signal.”

  “Very well, sir. My process will allow the computer to skim all the traffic we’ve intercepted, and at the same time we can easily include any new information that might arrive once the process starts. It looks for commonalities rather than examining it at the micro level. My initial thought was to attempt a brute force attack, but since Petty Officer Faulwell has made these possible recoveries, that simplifies things. The program can be modified to take advantage of his recoveries and use all known attacks against the intercepted messages as well as every possible variant. We’ll be putting a strain on the main computer, but I believe there’s an eighty-six percent probability it’ll lead to a recovery sooner than our current methodical process.”

  “My head’s starting to hurt again, Sabran. However, unless Bart has an objection, go ahead. We can always continue using Bart’s diagnostic programs if your system doesn’t work.” Jamie smiled at the Vulcan and then turned to walk over and get a cup of coffee from the replicator.

  “Thank you, Mr. Cruz.” The Vulcan took his position and began to type away on his console.

  Turning to Faulwell, Jamie gave him a big smile. “Nice work on that possible recovery, Bart. I know you were chomping at the bit when we were shut down.”

  “Well, it’s only a partial recovery, if it is a recovery. For all I know, it’s strictly coincidental. Until I have readable text, it’s still a theory.”

  “I’ve got a good feeling about it.” Cruz carried his coffee over to his console. Entering a few commands, he made annotations about the Cardassian fleet that had just moved beyond the Antros system. Looking back up at Bart, he gave him a wan grin. “You’re a cryptanalyst; I’m a communications analyst. Sometimes you just know something’s right, long before you can prove it. I know you’re on to something here.”

  Looking around, Bart saw Priya had already left the room. He hurried toward the door to see if she was up for a match before shift, when Jamie’s voice stopped him.

  “Oh, by the way, I’d keep a low profile. I had a talk with Zarinth. He’s concerned the Cardassians may return in force. He wants to issue defensive armor and weapons to everyone, just in case. Unless you want another thing to have to hand-receipt, I’d make certain he didn’t find you.”

  “Me hand-receipt something? I’d hate to think how much stuff you’ve signed for just in improvised explosives,” Bart laughed.

  “No comment. Now, get out of here and get some sleep.” Jamie’s voice followed Bart down the hall as he hurried toward the turbolift.

  As the turbolift door shut, Jamie’s final co
mment finally sank in with him. Oh sure, you’re a great one to be giving sleeping advice.

  Three days later, Bart slid open the door to his room to find Priya waiting for him. He noticed she was looking over his shoulder into his room at the pile of equipment lying in the corner. “Yes, one of Zarinth’s minions found me. I’ve got more military hardware resting in my room than I’ve ever owned in my life.”

  “Don’t feel bad; he caught me earlier too. I’ve never used a phaser rifle before, so Mayhew was kind enough to give me a training manual. At least I don’t think he’s going to expect me to field strip it blindfolded yet.” Priya’s eyes twinkled as they shared a laugh. “However, knowing Zarinth, it’s just a matter of time before we’re drilling right along with his troops.”

  “I know the Andorians are a martial race, but Zarinth is taking this to extremes. Are we certain he’s not part Klingon?” Bart joked as they made their way to the lift. “It’s too bad we don’t have time for another match.”

  “After the way I trounced you today, I’m surprised you’re wanting a rematch so soon.” As the door to the lift opened, they discussed the match as the turbolift rose toward deck two. The conversation lasted all the way down the corridor toward operations, with Priya showing Bart some of the things he was doing to tip her off on what he was trying to do.

  “So, I’ve been giving myself away this whole time?” he asked, playfully slapping himself on the forehead. As they walked through the door, a sudden snoring halted her response and they both turned to find Jamie laying sprawled across his terminal. They rushed over but, after a quick examination, they decided there was no medical emergency here.

  “That goofball,” Priya said. “I’ll bet he stayed up all night doing something with M’thanga again and fell asleep before his shift was over. I swear, if they don’t blow themselves up, it’ll be a miracle.” She pointed toward a clear spot on the floor by the far wall. “Help me move him over here. At least he can be comfortable while he’s asleep.”

  Bart grabbed Jamie under the arms and began to lift so Priya could get a grip under his legs. As Jamie’s torso came upright, a sudden intake of breath from the Bajoran nearly caused Bart to drop Jamie. He turned his head to look and she was nodding her head at a portion of his workstation that had been hidden beneath Jamie’s slumped torso.

  A single red light was flashing.

  Shifting Jamie’s body carefully, he positioned himself so he could reach the screen without dropping his commander. Bart quickly ran his hand over the touchpad to take the terminal out of snooze mode, and carefully typed in the password with one hand to get past the security layer. A broad smile crossed his face as he examined the information that sprang to life on the screen.

  They’d broken the code!

  Chapter

  9

  Bart stood there staring at the results on the computer before Priya’s strained voice broke through the fog, “Ah, Bart, I know you’re excited about this, but Jamie’s really getting heavy. Could we finish moving him first?”

  Quickly muttering an apology, he reacquired his grip on the recumbent analyst. They moved him over by the wall, being careful not to slam his body into anything and eased him onto the floor. Bart toyed with the idea of getting one of the gurneys from sickbay, but he knew the medic would insist on reporting this to Zarinth. He was not in the mood to deal with the Andorian right at the moment.

  “Priya, can you see if you can contact Sabran. I’m surprised he’s not here.” He made certain Jamie was comfortable before moving over to his station. Priya tapped her combadge as Bart routed the information from Jamie’s workstation to his. He could hear her conversation in the background, but he immediately lost himself in the information flashing on the screen.

  “Yes, see here, we’ve got matches all across the board!” Excitement rose in his voice as he motioned her over to the screen. “We’re getting plain text now. Do you recognize the language?”

  “I’ve never seen anything like this before, but it’s definitely a language of some sort, Bart.” She spun him around in his chair, a huge grin on her face. “We’ve done it, you’ve done it! You broke the encryption. Now it’s just down to doing the translations.”

  “Time to earn your keep, Lieutenant.” Bart began going through the parameters of the encryption system, preparing the short explanation of the system. He would do a more formal report on the system later, but right now, it was important to get the basic information about the system ready to broadcast. Cryptanalysts had their own shorthand for describing encryption systems; with a good description, any analyst would be able to re-create the cipher without ever having to see the original message.

  The room remained quiet as Bart and Priya buried themselves in their work, only Jamie’s soft snoring echoing above the familiar hum of the computers. After a few hours, Priya projected the images from her screen onto the large viewscreen mounted on the wall. She began manipulating the symbols on the screen as Bart looked on in amusement.

  “I’ve never seen letters that looked like that,” he said in a confused tone as she replaced one set of symbols with another to begin building an alphabet of unknown origin.

  “Well, these aren’t real letters.” Priya never took her eyes off the screen as she shifted several symbols around into a new progression. “One of the tricks with dealing with an unknown language is to use symbols. If I started out using Bajoran letters for similar sounds, I could talk myself into assigning meanings to words that have nothing to do with their real meaning. By using these generic symbols, I can concentrate on trying to decipher the words on their own merits.”

  “Makes sense. It’s too easy to talk yourself into thinking something is ‘X,’ whether it is or not, in cryptanalysis also. You’ve got to keep an open mind and not assume anything.”

  “These words here are probably proper names, since they occur near the first and last of the message.” She ran her stylus over the padd she was using, highlighting several symbols on her terminal screen. “I’ll leave them alone for later, but I’m certain these groups of symbols here are words based on their repetition in the message. Now, if the computer just has something that matches up with these possible word patterns, we’ll be able to cross-reference it against the original alphabet and voilà, we’ve identified the language.”

  “That’s great…if the computer has a match. After all, there aren’t that many languages spoken in the galaxy, are there?”

  Priya frowned at him and then realized he was picking on her. “Arrgh! Well, luckily, the Federation’s Universal Translator’s technology has proven very flexible. All we need are enough samples and there’s a very good chance we’ll get somewhere. It would be useful if we could identify the language, though.”

  As Priya manipulated a few more symbols, a section of the screen began to glow blue and an unknown alien writing began to appear in the blank spaces directly beneath the symbols. Just below the writing, a translation began to appear also. Bart moved over and began to read the translation as Priya continued to manipulate the symbols, causing more and more of the alien writing to appear.

  “You’ve got something here, Priya. It’s still disjointed, but you’re on the right track,” he called back over his shoulder. He could see her furiously punching on her terminal as the number of unidentified symbols rapidly converted into the alien symbols. “Has the computer identified the writing?”

  “I believe you’ll find that it’s Vorta,” came Sabran’s voice from the doorway.

  “Vorta?” Bart asked, quickly turning around to see the Vulcan standing there.

  “They are administrators for the Dominion and serve as ambassadors to non-Dominion governments.”

  “I’m familiar with who the Vorta are, but why do you think this code is theirs? Usually their codes are easy to decipher because their language is very simplistic, since the Founders never needed vocal speech. They just created one to speak to us. This is a significantly high-level code.”

  �
�It would not surprise me if after all is said and done that this is actually a Breen encipherment system given to the Dominion. After all, the Breen have very little love for the Federation. However, with regard to the Vorta, it would only be logical to find them behind these communications. Although the Cardassians do have an embassy on the Breen homeworld, I began to suspect the Vorta based on the unknown communications system.”

  “How long have you suspected the Vorta?”

  “It was always one of the possibilities. Since the Vorta maintain a high position in the Dominion, it was the logical solution. However, I did not want to prejudice Lieutenant Priya’s work. There was a slight probability it could have been any of a number of other races that serve in the Dominion’s forces or even the Founders themselves. From my research, I determined the majority of our knowledge of the Founders and the Vorta language come from the reports which are on record at SI headquarters—”

  “—which, of course, we can’t access because we’re on radio silence.” Bart and Sabran turned to see the Bajoran staring grimly down at her terminal. “Even though Vorta is a fairly simplistic language, we don’t have much in the linguistic databases. Bart, I’m going to need your help on this one. We’re going to have to do this the hard way. Maybe it’s a good thing Admiral Hazlitt added an extra linguist to this project.”

  “That’s why he gets all the perks, I guess. Sabran, we may need some computing help here. We’re going to be stretching some of these programs to create a Vorta dictionary in a hurry. We may need you to write some patch code as we go along.”

  “Very well, Petty Officer,” the Vulcan replied. “While I am here, there are a few scenarios I want to run against those subspace transmissions. Some are really quite fascinating and I’d like to include more data about them when we make our report.”

  “Knock yourself out, Sabran. We’ll call if we need you,” Bart said, turning back to his terminal. Priya and he continued to hammer on the translation. They followed a few rabbit trails here and there before realizing their mistakes. After several hours, they had resolved most of the kinks in their program with some assistance from Sabran.