Dr. Leighton's story waited until the day after his rescue, as the man slept for fifteen hours straight. Captain Freeman was notified that he was awake in the morning, and he proceeded down to Sickbay. When he arrived, he found Dr. Leighton sitting up, and his chief medical officer running the 'bone-knitter' over his wrist.
"There you go," she said to her patient, "good as new. Your wrist and abdomen will be sore for a few days, but the bones are repaired."
"Thank you, Doctor; you're a miracle worker," Leighton replied appreciatively.
She smiled and nodded at him. Dr. Giovanni left the room, heading towards her office. "Good morning Captain," she said as she passed Freeman, who responded in kind.
"Feeling better today?" Freeman asked Dr. Leighton politely.
"Yes, thanks to the kind administrations of your Doctor," Leighton replied. Dr. Leighton was a Human, clean-shaven, with silver hair. Though he was in his late sixties, his voice and movements were not that of an old man.
"I've arranged quarters for you, Doctor," the captain said to his guest. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to them. Perhaps then you can share with me this tale you promised."
"Gladly Captain, but first, a question. Did a small case get transported aboard your ship when you rescued me?" Leighton inquired.
"It did. You had it clutched in your unbroken arm. I had it taken to your quarters."
"Well, that is a relief," Leighton sighed. "Lead the way then Captain," he said, gesturing onward with one arm.
The two men arrived soon after at the quarters designated for use by Dr. Leighton. The doctor went immediately over to his case, which was set one of the room's two tables. He opened it up and leafed through its contents. At length he let himself fall heavily onto a nearby chair, while the captain sat across from him.
"Everything alright?" Freeman asked.
"Yes, thank you. The bulk of my discoveries and efforts are here, very much safe. I appreciate it Captain," Leighton replied, smiling, noticeably relieved.
"No problem."
Leighton took several Portable Document Holders and a lap-top computer out of the case. "I have some things to show you, Captain," he said simply, "which are, in my humble opinion, of great interest to the Federation." He called up several files on the document holders and passed them over to the captain one at a time. "Take a look at these."
Freeman glanced at the document holders for ten minutes or so and made a face of bewilderment. "Is there a point to all this Doctor?"
Dr. Leighton sighed and snatched the document holders away. "The point, Captain, is this: don't believe what you read in the history books." Leighton then began to tell his story, illustrating certain points on the document holders as he proceeded. "I was on a dig a year ago in the Chryellos system...," he began.
"In the Triangle?" the captain interrupted, referring to the section of space, triangle shaped, that was a 'no-man's land' separating the Klingons, the Romulans, and the Federation, before the Klingons and the Federation had made peace.
Leighton nodded and continued. "We were unearthing the remains of a Klingon town that had been abandoned and left untouched for 335 years. You'll recall that the Klingons were colonizing their home world's moon about the time we were fighting World War I on Earth?" The captain nodded, so he went on, "Two of my men and I stumbled across these," he said, pointing to several illustrations on his computer. "We noted some odd qualities in design which seemed to hint at Human influence, but Klingons and Humans didn't encounter each other officially until the Federation freighter Al-Abaz was destroyed by Klingons over a hundred and forty years later. Of course we know in retrospect that the Klingons knew about us five, maybe ten, years before we knew of them, thanks to the Orions, but that still left over a hundred years between these signs of Human contact, and the 'official' contact." Leighton paused, getting up and moving by the food replicator. "Can I get you something?"
"Apple juice, three degrees Celsius," the captain replied.
Leighton repeated the order to the computer, then ordered tea for himself before continuing. "I was prepared to dismiss these findings as pure coincidence; we're all very much aware that this part of the galaxy was populated with humans and humanoids by some unknown power. I had figured that perhaps it had been a group such as this, perhaps one that had been exterminated by a Klingon aggressor. Certainly worthy of further study at some point, I thought to myself at the time, but nothing out of the ordinary."
"What changed your mind?" the captain asked, taking a drink from his apple juice.
"A couple of things, actually," Leighton replied. "Other colleagues of mine have reported similar finds within the Klingon Empire, on a planet currently mined for its dilithium. At any rate, I also began to realize that these things weren't just Human influences I was detecting, but specifically Humans from Earth and Alpha Centauri. This peaked my curiosity, so I decided to put a little more time into this." He paused dramatically, "I have reason to believe that there was, and perhaps still is, a planet of Humans within Klingon space. Take a look at this." Leighton showed the captain a picture of an artifact he'd uncovered.
"Is this some sort of writing on here?" the captain asked after studying it a moment.
The doctor smiled at him, "It is a dialect of Klingon, and it names a city. After an exhaustive search, I discovered that the city once existed on a planet within Klingon space, but that this planet is presently uninhabited. At some point, the planet's orbit was shifted, and the surface temperature dropped over fifty degrees. Those who could presumably fled. Those who couldn't, perished. I found trade records which seemed to indicate that some sort of interstellar trade had been taking place involving this planet, but that it stopped abruptly a little over 320 years ago. I had obtained a permit to investigate, but my ship developed engine trouble."
"Why were you travelling alone?"
"Lack of funding, mainly. The Federation has grown weary of funding my whims, especially since most of them of late have been for naught," Leighton replied. "My team was eager to go, but I had to use my private craft, and there is only room for one inside. Er, well, there was only room for one."
The captain smiled faintly at the comment. He glanced at a couple of the document holders again before placing them on the table between them. "Let me guess; you'd like my ship to assume your mission."
Leighton put one hand up, "Now I realize Captain, that you must have many important duties to attend to. If you can't spare your ship, I understand." He paused, "Though it did involve a lot of arm twisting to be able to get a permit to search for remains on this planet."
Freeman nodded, "Doctor, my ship cannot be spared for this mission. I wouldn't imagine the Klingons would be too pleased with a Federation battlecruiser nosing about in their space for an extended period of time anyway." Leighton's face began to show his disappointment. "However," the captain continued, "we could probably spare a shuttle and a couple people to assist you."
Dr. Leighton beamed with gratitude, "Thank you Captain! You won't regret this."
Freeman shook his hand as the two stood up, "Well, don't thank me yet. We still have to okay this with the Klingons."
A moment later, Freeman found himself on the Bridge explaining to a Klingon border commander the situation. "Very well," the Klingon on the viewscreen replied after Captain Freeman had finished his monologue. He showed his teeth and continued, "In the spirit of cooperation, the transfer to your shuttle of your doctor's permit for travel and exploration of the planet is approved. You have 72 hours remaining. Kaplagh!"
Freeman smiled and pressed his comm-badge, "Dr. Leighton, this is the captain. Pack your bags; we're going on a little trip. Meet us in Shuttle Bay One when you're ready."
"Wonderful news Captain!" Leighton's voice came back over the intercom.
Yilaan started to get up and head for the turbolift when Freeman stopped her. "If you're headed where I think you're headed, don't bother. I'm leading this mission."
"But sir, this is hardly," Yilaan started to object, before seeing the flat stare Freeman was giving her. She saw he'd already made up his mind and decided to save her breath. "Yes sir."
"Ivanovna you're with me," Freeman said to his tactical officer, who nodded. The two began to exit the Bridge, when Reiv stopped them.
"Sir? You'll need someone to pilot the shuttle," Reiv said, being very careful not to look at Yilaan.
"You are quite correct, Lieutenant. I will be piloting the shuttle," Freeman replied. The turbolift doors opened and Ivanovna entered.
"But sir," Reiv started to say.
"Really, Lieutenant, you're as bad as my first officer. I wouldn't be a very good captain for this ship if I couldn't even pilot one of her shuttles. Besides, I haven't had a chance to fly one of those Runabouts the Federation gave us when we were patched up after the Borg incident. I've heard they're pretty fancy on the inside," Freeman said, chiding his helmsman. Yilaan gave Freeman a startled glance at his choice of words before the latter stepped into the turbolift and was whisked away. She smiled faintly to herself and shook her head as she sat in the command chair, while Reiv quickly sat down at the helm.
"Our captain certainly is stubborn at times, isn't he Reiv?" she commented lightly.
"Yes ma'am, ah sir, um Commander," Reiv stammered in response without turning to face her. He was blushing. Ensign Gates gave him a strange look from her seat at the navigational station, before deciding to mind her own business.
Yilaan, meanwhile, rolled her eyes as she sensed he was embarrassed again; she would have to have a little talk with him at some point. "Any one of the three will do, Lieutenant."
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