Editing Reverse Technologies group (section)

====Getting Irritated====

(USS Nimitz - Personal Quarters - Lt(jg) Zach Falthgood - 2100)

Zach picked up a tricorder and ran it over the small piece of T'Kon technology he had brought with him from Cochrane, for the thousandth time. And like the other nine thousand times, it reflected all scans. He changed the bandwidth slightly, if absently, but nothing would penetrate this hunk of metal. 

He shut the tricorder slowly, and rubbed his hands over it absently as his attention was focused on one spot on the wall.. And inward to his own memories. With a sudden bellow he turned and tossed the Tricorder with all his strength across the room and into one of the bulkheads. Being made as it was it didn't break, but it made an ungodly metallic
*thump* against the metal of the wall. 

Falthgood turned and gave a royal kick to the T'Kon technology, and ended up both bruising his foot nearly immediately and kicking the hunk into his bedroom. He sat down, and ran both his hands through his very short hair, trying to decide if he wanted to commit murder or simply break down and cry. He had often felt this way, a couple breakdowns would do that to a person, but he had long since recovered and had attained the personality he had before he had ever gotten seriously into Reverse Technology, into a Starfleet Think-tank designed for the utmost secrecy. The official findings had been many, but very few had ever been released. Each year the Federation Council would deliberate in public council if it was worth the resources to keep up such a strong Research and Reverse Engineering department devoted to the various long-gone races. Every year Starfleet would quietly present its last years findings and, publicly at least, the Council would reluctantly pass the budget statement for the next year.

Secretly, Zach had never lacked for anything he asked for on his requisition forms. Be it equipment or personnel, they were always close at hand. Heading up research and development on several quiet worlds had its advantages, and a whole slew of disadvantages. 

"Melina Lockwood," he said to himself, looking at his hands and rocking in his seat ever so slightly. "Of all the people in the universe, Lockwood had to be put on this project."

He knew he had acted rashly in Grandpa's quarters, but he didn't much care either. All the time he had within his control certain discretionary powers to maintain secrecy of his projects, the only time he had ever considered using them with enthusiasm was against her. He hadn't been attached to Intelligence, but he had been sorely tempted to call in a few favors, just for a small interrogation. It had been Grandpa who had stopped him then as well, the not-so-old not-quite-human being had been his guardian idiot for most of the years Zach had been in close contact with Archaeologists and the whole Slew of Reverse Engineers. 

And because Melina had continued to stick around most of the major projects Zach would be assigned to, even after her 'retraining' (which was a joke, she passed every class in days, not years), he found he couldn't stay around. It had taken a lot to be released, and that release had included so many extra secrecy orders and such a hefty demotion from Captain to Lt(jg) that he was surprised they hadn't just given him to SFI to be quietly reprogrammed. He knew where a lot of skeletons lie, he supposed he was still being watched and would continue to be watched until the advances he had found, decoded or designed were comfortably included in typical Starfleet technology. His official record would probably never clear from the Fiction that it was today, half the places he had been no longer existed on that record, most of his older promotions, compared to most people with the years he had in the fleet, his biography and official transcript was awfully short and very censored. 

He closed his eyes for several moments, memories welling to the surface unwillingly...