Aidan was not surprised to be called to the CEOs office. Rumors travelled fast on a small ship like this, and the incident in the XOs quarters, as well as what happened in Sickbay had caused quite some stirr among the crew. The only ones not laughing were the engineers, who had to deal with the waste and many minor malfunctions caused by it. Aidan was pretty sure he had done the proper modifications not to affect any other area on the ship, but apparently, something had gone awry in an unforeseen way and caused more harm then the joke intended. "Ah well," he sighed. "win some, loose some." he sentenced and made his way to see Lt. McTaggert, who had rapidly gained a reputation of being less then patient.. Sean was immersed in the reports issued by Rodgers and Garsha alike. It seemed that the General had had a word with the Base Engineers, too, since Garsha had managed to keep him updated of everything and his reports seemed to coincide with Rodgers findings. Sean had just managed to calm down on the refits, although still not agreeing with them, when the waste disposal problem had appeared. The timing couldn't be worse, Garsha and his team were joking constantly about it, and his initial, wrong-proven, suspicions of the refits causing the problems had left him as a paranoid. Sean had traced down the modifications to the waste disposal unit, and PO Alfonz had informed him of the presence not only of Walsh, but of his Engineering Specialist too. The changes in the programming had been elegant and subtle, no way that troglodite soldier named Walsh had done that piece of work. Sean would take care of this Lynch character his own way, making sure this interference in His systems would not repeat itself. Aidan rapped gently on the glass wall, seeing the tall engineer behind the desk rather busy. "Sir, I understand you wanted to see me?" he said in a calm tone and a wide smile. Sean continued reading his PADD, in appearance ignoring completely the presence of the ODA Specialist. Aidan sighed for himself and stepped into the office. This wasn't going to be easy. "Spc. Lynch reporting, Sir" he tried again patiently. "Step closer, Specialist" said Sean without looking up and took a PADD from his hand, placing it in front of Aidan. "Have a look at this while I finish here." he added in a dry tone. Aidan stepped to the desk and took the PADD. He recognized immediately what he saw. His own modifications on the waste disposal system were visible between the normal code of the program. Aidan couldn't avoid grinning. He had hidden the modifications as good as he knew, but this McTaggert had found it anyways. Just as he imagined, this wasn't going to have a happy end, but Aidan was prepared for it. He took a seat. Sean saw the movement through the corner of his eyes and said, without looking up from the report, in a cold tone. "I don't remember having allowed you to sit down, Specialist. I can see following protocol is not your strength." With that he left the PADD on the desk and took a first look at the officer. Much to his annoyment, Lynch didn't seem too impressed about being there. He could almost picture the laugh going on inside the ODA Engineer. "What can you tell me about what you see there." he decided to go right to the point. Aidan looked again at the PADD and shrugged. "Seems to me, there has been an alteration to the programming. Could be a glitch if you ask me." he lifted his shoulders and left the PADD on the desk. Sean's face darkened. He stood up and took the PADD in his hand. "I will let you into a little secret, Specialist." he said while starting to pace in front of Lynch. "This is a modification entered manually to the waste disposal program. It was altered during the exact period of time, where you were reported to pay a visit to your superior officer, Major Walsh. This modification has caused some serious trouble all over the replicator systems and could have potentially caused an even more serious damage to the systems and the crew." he stopped in front of Lynch and looked him square in the eyes. "Now I will ask you again. What can you tell me about this?" he continued in an icy tone. Aidan's head was working feverishly. Ok, this guy had caught him. What were his options? McTaggert had no hard evidence of his own involvement in this, except circumstantial proof. Aidan could just play dumb and get away with it, he was quite sure of that. He thought about the toothbrush in his quarters. Walsh would be knee-deep in shit if Aidan bailed out, that was for sure. It just didn't seem right, especially since, in a way, McTaggert seemed to be waiting for a chance to get back at Walsh. His confrontation with the Major in the messhall had been witnessed by a lot of people, and the rumors had spread fast. Sean grew impatient at the Specialists silence. These days had been tough enough without the ODA thinking they had special rights, and Sean wasn't going to allow this to happen, especially not with that horses ass names Walsh. "Am I to understand that you know nothing about this?" he inquired again and paused. Aidan thought his options over again. Hell, he could take responsibility for it, it wasn't that big a deal. In the worst of cases, he would spend a few days in the brig, and that was nothing new to him. There was a reason for him still being a Specialist, and it was not the lack of skills. Sean took deep breath. "Very well, Specialist, I will give you my view on things, and you better listen, and listen good." he started to pace again. "I have in my hands a major infraction. An alteration caused in ANY of the systems to the harm of the crew can be seen as a major derelict, given the difficulties it can cause. In war times, anybody caught doing that would be executed without trial. Of course, we are not in war, and that kind of punishment is not necessary, but I hope that makes it clear to you, what we are at, and what will be done about it." he paused. "I will make sure that the General knows what went on here, so he can take appropiate measures Major Walsh, since it was his security code that allowed this alteration. If I were you" he approached the Specialist from the side. "I'd be looking to salute your new boss, cuz Walsh..." he grinned with satisfaction. "...is history." he finished. Aidan hadn't considered this. This McTaggert was overreacting, but he WAS the CEO of the ship. His word would have some weight, and this was going way beyond the joke intended. "Sir," he finally said. "all I have to say to this is, that that is a fine piece of coding, and you have to admit that. And, if I may speak frankly, it's really not that much, the problem would have gone away in 12 hours." he added with a smirk. Sean stood in silence in front of the Specialist. He didn't hear what he wanted. Yet. "In any case" continued Aidan, "you got me, Sir, good job. I didn't expect anyone to see the difference from a glitch, but you did. I am impressed. Say, what would you have done different to hide the code better?" he added with an interested tone. Sean was caught offguard by this level of disrespect and reacted almost instinctively. "Well I would have added..." he started and caught himself, his face turning into a red mask of anger. "Specialist Lynch" he said with supressed rage. "What made you even THINK you could do this. You ODAs might think that the ship is your playground, but be sure that what you have done is SERIOUS and will be dealt with in the HARSHEST of manners" Sean's face was two inches away from Aidans. "Trust me, you will regret the day you touched my systems. Not only have you compromised the integrity of vital parts of the ship, but you have also placed us in ridiculous in front of the Base Engineering crew, and THAT, Specialist, I wont allow." Sean was breathing heavily. Aidan stood there, trying not to laugh. The only ridiculous thing going on there was McTaggerts reaction, and Aidan had a hard time holding back an answer. "For starters, Specialist" Sean went back behind his desk. "All your security clearances will be temporarily revoked, and your permission to go offshore, cancelled. Furthermore, you will be removed from the ODA for the time being and assigned to maintenance until the Command crew decides what to do with you. Your shift starts in half an hour and will be extended to 10 hours, more if required. After that you are to go back to your quarters and stay there till your next shift." he sat down and took up a PADD again. "One more thing, Specialist. I will be making sure that my orders are followed, so don't even THINK about anything, or you will regret it. Dismissed." Aidan shrugged and lifted his shoulders. "Aye Sir, you're too kind" he said with a smile and a sarcastic tone and left the office. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NPC Lt. Sean McTaggert DCEO USS Chimera & Spc. Aidan Lynch ODA Eng. USS Chimera