1.5 The Reactor
Lying on the sofa that
Harrias had in his quarters, he was slightly surprised to hear the quiet
whistle that he had set up as the alarm to tell him when he received a message
on the console. Walking slowly over to it, he opened it, and read it in a few seconds.
Congratulations on getting us moving again Mr. Harrias and hope you are about
to recover from your fall. Our soon arrival at the starbase will definitely
give you time to recuperate fully and consider yourself invited for a drink or
two, as soon as we have docked! Agalacticae out.
Harrias smiled as he read it, and wrote an equally short, and rapid reply.
It was a piece of cake. An extremely hard and inedible cake, but cake
nevertheless. I'll be up on the bridge to see us in, but a drink sounds great!
Harrias.
After cleaning up, he arrived on the bridge. He saw that as the captain was
currently off the bridge, Deis Irae currently held the bridge. He briefly
considered heading back to his quarters, worried that she might try and sedate
him or something, but got over that quickly, and moved to the engineering
console on the bridge. He flashed a quick smile at Commander Agalacticae, who
had noticed his arrival, and acknowledged it with a brief wave.
As Harrias was about to walk down to have a short chat with their helmsman, he
started a routine that Harrias knew well.
"Approaching Starbase, reducing speed to 3/4 impulse." Came the
professional voice of Commander Agalacticae.
"Open channel t' Starbase"
Then, from the other side of the bridge, Commander Savot's cold efficient
tones, "Channel open."
"This thi USS El Salvador, requesting a berth Admiral."
Admiral Magellan had appeared on the screen, and replied, grinning at them
dangerously. "Welcome home
"Aye. Yeh've heard?"
"I've felt, but we'll talk once you're in."
Harrias saw Robert's fingers start to manipulate the controls once more, and
they cruised gradually into their familiar berth, and stopped without so much as
a shudder.
"All in Commander." He said, turning with a smile. The Irish female
smiled at him, and then dismissed the whole bridge staff, letting them start
their leave early. As Harrias was leaving she collared him.
"Make sure you still check in with th' doctor."
"Aye sir."
<<USS El Salvador, Bridge>>
Sitting at the Helm as the
Harrias to Agalacticae: It was a piece of cake. An extremely hard and inedible
cake, but cake nevertheless. I'll be up on the bridge to see us in, but a drink
sounds great! Harrias.
Glad to have received a reply from the CEO so fast, indicating that his
recovery was coming along nicely, Agalacticae wondered about the sudden
obsession about food of various engineering officers in the fleet…at least as
soon as they would arrive they would switch to something more easily
digestible…fluids!
Harrias arrived on the bridge, when they were just about to commence the
docking protocol at Starbase Assailant, only giving a quick waive to the
engineer. Agalacticae safely docked the
Agalacticae: “All in Commander”
Agalacticae got up from her chair, mumbling to himself “Sleep well, my beauty”,
addressed to the ship itself and headed toward the engineer that had waited for
them to be dismissed by their first officer. Walking up to the engineer,
Agalacticae lay his arm around Harrias’ shoulders for a short moment, smiling
to him.
Agalacticae: “Yet another mission accomplished – and yet another well deserved
reason for a drink – glad you decided to accept my invitation”
"Well, we do only
go out on these missions to give us an excuse right?" The pair laughed as
they left the bridge.
As the pair left the bridge, Harrias spun to give the bridge a last glance
before he disembarked for leave. Making their way to sickbay first, to get
their respective procedures sorted. After a few minutes, they were both done,
and knowing that they had the whole night to kill, and no reason to get up in
the morning they headed to a small bar that Harrias had discovered when he had
been Chief of Starbase Operation on Assailant.
They sat down at the near abandoned bar and Robert turned to Harrias.
"The company seems... interesting."
"Aye, it attracts all sorts here. I expect right now, some kind of illegal
exchange is taking place. The rooms upstairs are frequented by women of the
night too. Everyone knows what goes on here, but Admiral Magellan's official
line is that he can't prove anything."
"Unofficially? He uses the place"
"Hell no. He's almost a holier-than-thou character. No, he just believes
that if he closes this place, another will start up just the same, and that it
is healthy for the place to hae something like this. I believe he also had some
kind of a 'push' in the right direction from Admiral Nechayev. I wouldn't be
surprised if her people use this place."
The human nodded as if this made all the sense in the world. At that moment,
the bartender made his appearance.
"What can I get youse two figures?"
Having changed into civilian dress, neither of the pair were identifible as
Starfleet, although both carried their comm-badges in their pockets.
"I'll have a Saurian brandy. For you?" He looked at Robert.
"I'll take a Stardrifter."
The pair conversed quietly about the last mission while they waited for their
drinks. When they arrived, both took a short drink of the potent drinks.
Indulging in his newly
arrived drink Agalacticae took a deep breath enjoying the relaxing and somewhat
dubious atmosphere of the place. The tickle his taste buds received when the
famous drink, known from Quark’s bar on Deep Space nine, started to caress his
tongue made him feel even more comfortable. Looking around he wondered what his
crewmember and friend had said about Nechayev’s staff and couldn’t help but
shaking his head for a moment.
The two men sat silently next to each other for a while, contemplating about
the fact, that everything seemed so normal every time they returned from a
mission. At places like these nothing ever seemed to change. Nodding into the
waiter’s direction quickly pointing at the two empty glasses in front of them
Agalacticae had already made sure that new supplies were underway.
With the arrival of the second set of drinks, Agalacticae raised his glass and
looked into Harrias’ eyes. For a brief moment he could see his reflection in
Harrias’ eyes, wondering whether the eyes of a person truly were windows to the
soul. It they were there was nothing in his fellow officer’s eyes – besides the
reflection of himself, that worried Agalacticae. The eyes of a veteran who had
seen more than his equal share of fights and broken promises – yet filled with
the idealism and youth to strife for the highest goals.
Agalacticae: “To the successful end of this mission and a fine officer!”
Harrias: “To a fine officer, indeed!”
They both finished their drinks, in a foolish attempt to emphasize their word,
at the same moment realizing that it had been the exact right time to commend
each other, before they both would grow increasingly emotional. Especially as
the over-polite bartender already had arrived with the next set of drinks…
Magellan checked over the
last of his correspondences and the latest briefing from Command concerning the
Vampire Infestation. It had been an unique experience, one Magellan very nearly
had not survived. If it were not for his symbiont that alien mind that had
invaded him would have erased all evidence of his soul.
Despite the risk of death, the fear and the feeling helplessness the encounter
had done much for Magellan.
He and Lin (the Symbiont) had never fully integrated on joining despite it
being his lifelong dream, but now the blend was nearly complete, there was
still the unusual control Lin still had but now they were in harmony rather
than at odds.
Glad to have finished the workload for the day he decided it was time to relax.
He took off his jacket and pulled on a civilian tunic. He left his office by
the side door, avoiding Ops and went down to the lower levels. He knew most of
the relief would be in 'The FishTank' and so headed down into the bowels of the
station.
He wandered about for awhile looking for one particular establishment, one that
appeared regularly on his weekly security reports. He found it soon enough and
ducked inside.
Through the gloom and dark he wandered along the bar.
"Terrelian Sunrise"
"Ice?"
"No neat will be fine" Magellan relplied cautiously avoiding a pair
of Nausicaans. Then he spotted them.
He strode over to a table with two men sat at it.
"Jira I thought I might find you here"
The trill at the table looked up.
"Admiral!"
"I think Magellan will be fine down here I think." Magellan replied
nodding in greeting to Rob Agalacticae.
"Mind if I join you?"
Agalacticae: “Not at all!
Please take a seat – that is, as long as you don’t mind two officers
contemplating about their last mission and their own greatness…”
Magellan: “I think I have experiences worse than that!”
Agalacticae was quite happy that Magellan wasn’t offended by his humorous
remark - after all the person in front of Agalacticae none less than his immediate
superior, the commanding officer of the first fleet.
As soon as Magellan had taken a seat, Agalacticae extended his hand.
Agalacticae: “Pleased to meet you Admiral. I’m Robert Agalacticae, current CNO
of the USS El Salvador”
Agalacticae: “I think we
served together on a joint mission together with the
Harrias grinned at the fact
that Agalacticae was trying to make polite conversation with the admiral.
Noticing Harrias’ smile from the corner of his eye, he could only assume that
the Admiral and Harrias had been friends for quite some time…
With the station commander
now here, albeit in civvies, Harrias had noticed a few of the more switched on
tenants had politely finished their drinks, and called it a night. Grinning
slightly he turned his attention back to the conversation between his fellow
Trill and his crewmate. Robert was slowly realising that Magellan was just like
any other person, and the fact that Admiral often preceeded his name made no
difference to this.
"So, Magellan I understand from your earlier comment that you have had
first hand knowledge of the vampire situation?" He said, turning to the
trill figure.
Finishing off his Terrelian Sunrise, and signalling to the barman that he
wanted a refill, Magellan started to tell his tale. Of getting bitten, having
the trauma, and then been saved by the Lin symbiont. Both Harrias and Robert
listened in relative silence, neither of them really being involved in the
epidemic on their own ship, asking polite questions every now and again.
When he had finished Harrias looked at him.
"That reminds me, when you have the time, I'd like a chat about
symbionts..."
Magellan looked at him knowingly, "Sure Harrias, you know where my office
is."
The trill station commander then glanced at his timepiece and frowned slightly.
"You know -" he spoke quietly so the bartender couldn't hear him -
"according to station laws this place should have closed about two hours
ago." He chuckled, and shrugged in an exaggerated way. He, like all good
commanding officers, recognised that he couldn't throw his weight around, and
that it was maybe healthy to let this place stay open for a while longer. And
besides, he wanted to have a drink.
T'Val gazed at her husband as
the two left their quarters. At this time in the evening it was not very likely
that there was still a place open on the promenade where they could eat; and
they did not want to share dinner in their quarters. T'Val had found that she
could not stay all evening in the confinement of their living area. she had
jumped several times in sheer fright when she passed the large mirror in their
sleeping quarters, when she changed her duty clothing <a civillian Vulcan
Healer garment> into something more comfortable <a long wide flowing red
dress>.
"Look," she suddenly said, pointing at one of the bars that still
seemed to be opened, "one is still open. Let us check if they are still
serving something."
Tedak nodded and led his wife to the bar. He would have preferred a restaurant,
but it would do. While he went over to the bar to enquire about dinner, T'Val
looked around for a vacant spot. Sadly, nothing was available save for two
seats at an already occupied table. She walked over and, to her amusement,
found admiral Magellan talking with Captain Harrias and a man she did not
recognize. "Excuse me gentlemen," she asked softly, "all tables
seem to be occupied, would you mind terribly if my husband and I joined
you?"
Just then Tedak joined her and told her quietly that chef was still serving
food. "He will be with us shortly, if we can find a seat."
"I just asked these gentlemen if we can join them," T'Val said
quietly, mildly amused at the blank looks she was receiving from the three men
before her. "Seems to me they are not used to a woman asking if she can
please sit down...." She gave her husband an amused smile and winked at
Magellan, a gesture the other two missed.
Magellan looked away and
stood quickly to bring forth another chair. Despite being completly submerged
by the alternate personality he was still aware of everything that thing had
done when in his body.
"Please do join us" He smiled forcibly, "This is Mr's Harrias
and Agalacticae of the
"Are you quite recovered now." Tedak asked taking a seat.
"Yes quite thankyou" Magellan replied
"Good, I was concerned we may have been subjected to breaking in a new
First Fleet CO"
"No No I m made of sterner stuff than that." Magellan laughed weakly
and draining another glass.
"How are you finding life in the Federation Ambassador" Rob asked.
"Fine, I ve spent a lot of time in the Federation, I still have to adjust
to some factors"
"Such as...?"
"Oh minor cultural things and theres still a lot of prejudice against my
people" He replied with barely a glimpse at Magellan, "But I hope my
efforts are serving to rectify that."
"I once knew a romulan you know" Magellan noted "A Captain
Vreenak, good officer one of the few in starfleet."
"He was killed wasnt he?"
"Indeed, whilst in command of the
As the conversation turned Magellan leaned over to Harrias and whispered,
"Sorry for crashing your drink but I forget sometimes I m a diplomat as
much as anything else now and I could hardly turn away the Romulan
Ambassador"
"Its alright Magellan" Harrias replied, "Diversity is all par of
the game in Starfleet."
"Indeed, I just never thought it would be me dispensing it."
Harrias wondered for a while
whether his reference to Vreenak had been to whether he had been a truely good
officer, or whether he instead meant that he had been one of the few good
romulans. He shrugged it off without any comment, aware that anything said in
front of the Romulan Ambassador should be careful and controlled. Which was
starting to be a problem. Having had at least six drinks, he was starting to
lose control of his own tongue, but he made a strong effort to stay polite and
calm.
"So Ambassador... what is your view of the recent build-up of strength on
the edge of the neutral zone?" Realizing too late what he had said, he
carefully controlled his features, making it seem that he had meant to say it,
and he looked carefully at the ambassador. He noticed that Magellan's head had
jerked around when he had uttered the sentence, and Robert was looking
similarly stunned.
Instead of getting aggressive, Tedak instead replied amiably; "I'm not
quite sure what you mean. There has been no build-up of strength on our
side of the neutral zone. So unless you are referring to a secret Federation
build-up?"
Trying to play word games with this Romulan didn't seem to be the best idea in
his current state, but Harrias blundered forward nevertheless.
"No build-up? So they have always been there?"
"I do not know of what you speak, but I think right now would not be the
best time to speak of it."
The tension growing, and the voices getting louder and sharper, Harrias snapped
back.
"When would be a good time to discuss the Romulans entrenching themselves
on the border of an ally Mr Ambassador?"
"The Federation has encroached too far into the neutral zone. They have
laid claim to five planets that used to lie inside it. The neutral zone gets
thinner everyday, thanks to federation 'exploration'."
"Ho-oh, so that's it is it? Getting jealous of the federation taking a few
inconsequential planets are we? Just because the Romulans wouldn't know the
meaning of the word archaeology if it was slapped on every one of their
foreheads!"
"The federation are not explorers, they are conquerors, and everyday their
empire gets larger, posing a greater threat to the Romulan Star Empire."
"So you post more and more ships on our border is that it? Is that how you
treat your friends?"
"Friends! Friends? We are not your friends. We may have allied against the
Dominion together, but do not fool yourself. Since the Romulan-Earth war we
have never been your friends."
"Oh, the truth is coming out tonight. I expect within a few weeks,
you'll have declared war on us, and Earth will be annihilated, in your
blunderous way. Good night." And with that, he stood up, bid Robert and
Magellan a good night, and returned to his quarters, wondering how long it was
until he got a professional call from Admiral Magellan
Tedak glared after the retreating
Trill and shrugged at both Magellan and Agalacticae. "I still don't know
what he is talking about," he explained, "as far as I have been
informed there is no build-up of weapons or ships on the ROmulan side of the
neutral zone." Again he shrugged. "But then, the Empire does not deem
it fit to inform me of everything, though as diplomat I should get informed.
since leaving the Romulan secret service, i have been cut off from my contacts.
They dare not contact me out of fear for their families. Truth to be told, I
cannot blame them. Were I in their position, I would not inform me
either."
T'Val, who had closely watched the exchange between her husband and the Trill
captain, now spoke up. "He is speaking the truth you know," she said
softly, "he truly does not know everything that goes on. I have sat beside
him numerous times when he tried contacting the Empire, but every time he tried
he got told off. Though from their reactions, I would surmise that something is
brewing, something my husband did not realise."
Amazed by the sudden turn of
events and the sudden onset of a dueling of words Agalacticae could recognize
his bewildered look mirrored in Magellan’s face. As the words shot across the
table neither Harrias nor Tedak broke any rules of good conduct besides an
increasing hostility in their voices… Apparently the presence of the romulan
ambassador must have triggered something in Harrias, which together with the
number of drinks both him and Agalacticae had consumed provoked the sudden
outburst of the otherwise composed officer.
As soon as Harrias bid both Magellan and Agalacticae farewell for the night,
Tedak commenced explaining himself, that he had no knowledge about his Empire.
A fact that Agalacticae found hard to believe as the position on Starbase
Assailant was a significant source of information for the romulan star empire.
When the ambassador’s wife decided to enter the conversation, praising her
husband’s honesty and trying to convince both Magellan and Agalacticae that
Tedak had no idea of what was going on in the romulan empire it seemed to much
of a set-up for Agalacticae, instantly sympathizing with Harrias.
Not showing his distrust regarding the overly polite behaviour of the romulan
ambassador and his wife – in a mixture of not wanting to hear more of it and
getting Harrias back to the table, Agalacticae got up, facing first Magellan
and then the ambassador and his wife.
Agalacticae: “If you would excuse me for just a second”
While saying this bowing just a little bit too exaggerated, well knowing the
all-to-common effect of the drinks they had consumed, hoping that the rest of
the company would not notice.
Following Harrias out of the bar, Agalacticae noticed Harrias increasing his
pace, doing exact the same himself – plain physics he thought to himself, the
faster you go, the more stabilized you path…or at least the both tried to
believe that.
Grasping Harrias’ shoulder the trill turned around a looked the pilot directly
into the eyes.
Harrias: “You know I could bring you up on assault charges for that?”
Agalacticae: “"You slag off a Romulan ambassador, and then say you could
bring me up on charges? Your logic is amazing!"
The two officers stared into each others eyes for a few moments. Both of them
being strong personalities, they both were convinced that they were right…and
even more so after a few drinks… Luckily it took both of them only a few
additional moments to starts smiling, accelerating into laughing.
Agalacticae: “Look, come back in. You haven't even finished your drink"
Turning around and heading for their table, Agalacticae added.
Agalacticae: “…and besides the fact that this isn’t your last drink tonight, I
don’t think I could endure the ambassador and admirality alone…”
Returning the both sat down, Agalacticae excusing his brief absence and Harrias
mumbling an apology only for an awkward silence to follow
His eyes down, staring at the
table top Harrias heard the polite conversation between Magellan and the
romulan ambassador. Harrias downed the rest of his drink, only for a full one
to take it's place before he could place the empty glass back on the table. It
appeared they had managed to get their own personal waiter. Wondering how many
he had had, he started to count them in his head, recalling the conversation topics
each time his drink had been refilled. He got to about 7 when Robert nudged him
on the arm, and whispered quietly in his ear that he was counting out loud. And
besides he had followed on, who cares how many you had?
Harrias looked around the table, and noticed that Magellan was still on his
first drink, although it appeared that he was keeping pace with the others, he
had managed to do this by only taking a tiny sip with each of the others'
larger drags.
The trill looked back up at Tedak, wondering whether his next question would
get as vehement response as his last.
"So what of Vreenak? My predecessor was assassinated. Rumour has it that
it was done because he was a Tal Shiar spy. Now I acknowledge that you may not
have much knowledge of the Tal Shiar, but you must have been heavily involved
in the aftermath of that death."
Just as Tedak was about to respond, T'Val cut in, her icy vulcan tones implying
not only a total lack of emotion, but a lack of emotion so strong, that it
almost was anti-emotion. "Actually, as Vreenak was a member of the
Federation, and had been disgraced in the eyes of his fellow Romulans, my
husband was not involved other than to inform his family." The speed with
which she had cut in, and the slight uncertainty visible in her husband's eyes
made Harrias wonder how far the vulcan inability to lie extended. She certainly
seemed to be telling the truth, but Harrias knew it was possible that she was
telling what she believed was the truth. Afterall, Tedak may not tell her everything.
And a vast majority of the Romulan ambassadors were on the payroll of the Tal
Shiar themselves.
"Of course. My apologies. I am sure that it was a complete routine
occurence." His words dripped with a challenge, offering Tedak two paths,
argument, or admittance that he didn't care about murder. Harrias waited,
noticing that Magellan's outward appearance was one of disapproval of this line
of conversation, but inside, there seemed to be something there, curiosity
maybe.
Tedak placed a restraining
hand on his wife's arm, while staring Harrias directly in the eyes.
"Actually, his performance as a Federation captain has outdone his
services for the Romulan Empire. While for the Praetor, Vreenak was a traitor
and disgraced his family that still lives in the Empire, I think it is more
important to remember his good deeds. I would very much like to see his killer
caught and convicted. Vreenak was distinguished as captain, and well-liked by
his crew. The humans have a saying: 'where the dead lay, lies the living.' I
believe that we should not speak ill of him. I did not know him very well, but
I would have liked to know him better. Sadly, I did not get that
opportunity."
Just then. Nut appeared suddenly above his head, reacting to his friend's
emotions. Landing on the table, the little firelizard glared at the 'offender'
once, then turned to Tedak, chirping questioningly. Tedak petted him gently,
assuring him nothing was wrong, then nudged him in Harrias and Robert's
direction. "Go on, they are good people. Make your appologies for
startling them." And indeed, the firelizard hopped graciously towards the
two officers, spread his wings and appeared to make a light bow.
Tedak glanced sideways at Magellan and noted his mildly bemused smile. Beside
him, T'Val seemed to be smiling also. As usual, the more reserved Sev did not
appear in the bar. The bronze did not like crowds very much, and because he was
smaller than his brown nest-mate, he did not want to do under for him. Nut, on
the other hand, loved crowds and make friends with whomever Tedak made friends
with.
"This is Nut," Tedak explained, "he is a firelizard, indiginous
to the planet Pern. He hatched when Saarok and I were running from whoever
chased us. I Impressed this little fellow, as well as a bronze nestmate. Saarok
Impressed a golden female, also called Queens because they are the egg-layers,
and a blue male. My bronze Sev is also a male”
Intrigued by the small
creature, Harrias forgot himself, and reached out towards the firelizard.
Warily, it hopped backwards, and in his intoxicated state, the trill tried to
follow it's movements with his head, rather than his eyes. A few seconds later,
he smacked his chin on the table, bringing his teeth together painfully on his
tongue.
"Owth." This got a laugh from Bob, and the firelizard, sensing his
pain, immediately reached out towards him in a soothing manner. Harrias smiled
slightly and raised his head back to it's natural height.
Finally deciding that it was time to retire for the night a few drinks later,
Harrias excused himself once more, a lot more politely than the last time. He
spoke with Magellan quickly before leaving too, arranging to meet him sometime
to discuss his transition into a joined trill.
Before he had the chance to
leave, T'Val caught his sleeve and, obscured from the sight of the others,
slipped him a hypospray and a blueish colored fluid in a vial. "This will
prevent a hang-over and will aid you in sleeping fitfully," she whispered,
"when you wake up, stop by sickbay if you do not feel well...you bit your
tongue rather hard, that might be a bit sore tomorrow."
She turned back to the company at the table, and ordered another Vulcan tea.
"Mr Agalacticae, how is life aboard your starship?" she asked. She
had never lived aboard a starship, and had only briefly traveled aboard one
only recently. And thát particular situation still brought the shame-green to
her cheeks. "Your captain a decent fellow?" she continued, "he
must be, seeing your reaction." She stiffled a smile as she watched Nut's
antics with the starfleet officer.
Magellan sat awhile and
listened to the conversation after a time he realised he wasn’t really taking
it and that it was time to retire.
“If you’ll excuse me” he said standing “I think an early night” he paused and
looked at the chronometer “Well earlyish night is in order.”
“Good night Admiral” Tedak said.
Agalacticae nodded to his superior, feeling as if he ought to stand, salute,
bow… well something.
“T’Val, Mr Agalacticae.” He said and departed.
Magellan returned to his quarters a few decks down and pulled off his comm
badge placing it back on his uniform. He took off his jacket and sat in his
chair.
“Computer. Access Starfleet Database. Personnel Records. Commander 1st Class
Harrias Erin… no belay that Harria Jira.”
The computer fell silent for a split second.
“Search Complete” she said
“Display full service dossier on main viewer.”
Magellan began to run through the document. He knew most of Harrias’ early life
from when the fellow Trill had served on Assailant.
He came from a good family, and was well educated, Several misdemeanours at
Academy and again the same in his first postings. He had a problem with
authority or rather where their authority affected his responsibilities.
He had had no trouble from Harrias whilst aboard Assailant. He had found the
fellow an efficient and effective leader and had him pegged for a captaincy one
day. There was of course an edge to him. In their dealings with the
archaeologists a few months previously, Harrias had been firm but fair, however
his reaction to Tedak, whilst understandable, He was a Romulan, was mildly
uncharacteristic.
He scrolled down to examine the new information, the symbiont Jira.
Magellan had obviously heard of Jira, all symbionts which had had more than 4
or 5 hosts were revered in Trill Society. Dax, Odan and the so like were like
celebrities and deeply honoured for the lives they had lived. Harrias it
transpired was Jiras sixth host.
Six hosts. Magellan and Lin revelled in that a moment. Lin itself was very
young, Magellan was only the second, before him had been the Exo-ecologist
Toya. What would having 6 lifetimes to deal with be like?
He scanned the various hosts, all distinguished. A politician, a security guard
a Restaurateur, painter, doctor, soldier. Such variety. And yet he saw a minor
thread – violence. Two hosts had been military/security based, and two had
suffered untimely deaths, one by assassination.
A violent death was something hard to assimilate. Magellan knew that, when Toya
had been killed, that last memory was incredibly vivid.
Secretly he had been hoping that the outburst was simply related to the past,
that one of the hosts had had a bad experience with the Romulans, but Trills
were anything but simple. He would just have to wait until Harrias came to see
him.
After Saarok and the rest of
the staff of SB Assailant returned safe and sound (more or less). Saarok left
the group and made way back to his embassy where he found his chief of security
waiting for him.
"Hello sir", the man said
"Greetings"
"So ready for more adventures", the man said with a grin
"I believe i have had enough of adventures as you put it, i am leaving you
in charge, for a few months", Saarok said
"Well i don’t know what to say, i am honored, but i insist that i leave
you 5 security guards here, just in case", the man said
"Fine, i believe it will ad to my ambassador status and it’ll be easier to
keep an eye on the dig, as you never know when something unexpected might
happen.", Saarok said
"Of course, if you would need anything you know where to find me";
the man said as he walked out the door
"I am becoming too old for this stuff", Saarok said to his
firelizards who were flying around
He picked up the pads with the standard diplomatic reports about the activities
of other ambassadors on the station and of course of what the federation
expects him to accomplish next.
He sat in his chair and began reading the reports
Tedak knocked on the door of
his friends office, and when the Vulcan did not answer, he opened the door and
stepped in. He was met by hissing of the golden and blue firelizards, and his
own chirped an obvious question. The hissing ceased, but the duo's eyes never
left Tedak, and his own firelizards. Sev instantly zipped out, and did not
return, and Tedak knew that the little bronze had gone home to T'Val. The
bronze took more liking to his wife, despite being bonded to him. Nut was his
most loyal pet, the little brown followed him everywhere.
"Up to mischief again Saarok" Tedak asked, when the Vulcan jumped
upon hearing his footsteps, "or just a bad conscience." He smiled
broadly, as he sat down in a vacant chair. "Guess who started an argument
with me yesterday evening, accusing me of knowing something about a Romulan
build-up alongside the Neutral Zone."
"I am only reading the latest diplomatic reports, you understand that will
all that went on recently, i have let some of my diplomatic duties unattended
to", Saarok said while putting his padd down
"Yes, it was Harrias Jira. First I thought him an amiable fellow, but then
I did some research. It seems one of his past hosts had a very bad experience
with Romulans once. His hatred goes deeper than Magellan's sheer distrust. I
can understand Lin's though, for it is Lin that harbours the distrust. I would
distrust me too if it had been nearly the death of me. But I do not know
anything about the Romulan fleet, the Empire does not deem it fit to inform me,
and when I ask, I receive 'not at home'." He wondered if Saarok know
something, but dared not ask. This friendship had been tough to build and it
was also fragile.
"A romulan build up you
say, hmm if i remember correctly that must have been former captain
Harrias?", Saarok asked remembering the file of the trill
"Yes, it was Harrias Jira. First I thought him an amiable fellow, but then
I did some research. It seems one of his past hosts had a very bad experience
with Romulans once. His hatred goes deeper than Magellan's sheer distrust. I
can understand Lin's though, for it is Lin that harbours the distrust. I would
distrust me too if it had been nearly the death of me. But I do not know
anything about the Romulan fleet, the Empire does not deem it fit to inform me,
and when I ask, I receive 'not at home'." He wondered if Saarok know
something, but dared not ask. This friendship had been tough to build and it
was also fragile.
"Indeed, one would think that the Trill would accumulate some logic over
time but some still let the feelings and memories of their previous hosts
affect them all too much", Saarok said sencing that his firend may indeed
want to discuss the Romulan build up if there is any at all
"Yo do not need to
justify that you do not know nothing of a build up in the neutral zone, it is
only logical that the Romulan senat would not inform you of it, after all if
they are still the same they do not trust humans, nor do they trust Romulans
who trust humans too much and i belive it is safe to say that they do not trust
romulan ambassadors who go on rescue missions with Vulcan ambassadors.",
Saarok said attempting it to turn out like a joke and hoping his friend would
understand what he meant
"True enough,"
Tedak said and shrugged, "but then again, there are Romulans in the Senate
that would welcome a unification with the Vulcans. After all, it is proven that
Vulcans and Romulans are distantly related. I for one count you among my
friends, I have married a Vulcan and I had a Cardassian friend. Magellan Lin is
the first Trill I had ever met, and though we are not friends, we do have a
friendly working relationship. However, if I got word of a build-up, Magellan
would be the first to know about it. Will you assist me in gathering the needed
information? I have come to know you as resourseful."
Perhaps we could look into
the matter", Saarok said thinking
"Perhaps we should invite Mr. Jibb to join us here, he could make some
inquiries with certain people who would not speak to you or me? However i am
not sure would he agree to help i since an amount of untrust from him towards
me", Saarok said
"Of course he distrusts
you," Tedak said, a bemused smile tugging at the corner of his mouth,
"he has grounds to distrust us both, but it does not hurt to ask him. I do
not trust him fully either, but we have these handy little friends of ours that
we can silently have tracking Mr Jibb should we believe it necessary. I might
send Sev to keep an eye on Harrias, if only to see if he is all right. His
outburst was not heart-felt, even I could sense that, and I am not a
telepath."
"You are indeed
right", Saarok said
=/\=Ambassador Saarok to Richard Jibb=/\=
=^= Jibb here=^=
=^= can you come up here?=^=
=^= Sure=^=
Within 5 minutes Richard was
in the office with Tedak and Saarok.
"I have no doubt he
will. We have made him curious, and curiosity, I have found, is quite a human
trait."
"Indeed, i believe there
is a saying, curiosity killed a cat, let us hope this applies to mr. Jibb, not
the kill part of course", Saarok said
"Curiosity killed the cat," Tedak corrected, still smiling,
"Mr Jibb is human, he will wish to know what we are 'conspiring' so to
speal."
"And while we are waiting for him, have you been observing the work of the
archeologist on the planet surface?", Saarok asked
"Not really, but I intend to beam down later on to review the site again.
Have you?"
"Indeed, i have been observing it, but recently for some reason there have
been no transmissions from the surface on the usual channels.", Saarok
said
"That is odd."
"I have been planning to go down and check myself what is happening,
perhaps after we discuss the build up matter with mr. Jibb you would be willing
to join me on the planet surface?", Saarok asked
"Naturally."
Saarok looked at Tedak
thinking how Richards’s bhaviour is highly illogical but humans are illogical
so he paid no more attention to it.
"The possible threat, Mr. Jibb is that there is a possible build up of
force on the Romulan side of the neutral zone", Saarok said
"And as ambassador Tedak now said we would like you to enquier in less
official circles about this.", Saarok said
Magellan sifted once more
through the stack of padds. Zoilip downloaded all the latest Starfleet
communiques each morning and left them on his desk in priority order.
He had already run through the latest diplomatic failure with the new Breen
government, three incident reprts along the Tzeenkethi border and the
announcement of the retirement of Rear Admiral Harak Tishol of Starbase 23. He
couldnt help feeling he had mixed up the order when he had cleared space for
his coffee.
The next PADD was from Starfleet Personnel, Section 47 Personnel in fact. There
was the usual hum drum formal opening and then a brief message from Admiral
Elron assuring him that more staff for teh Jefferson and Victory were on the
way, then eventually came the report he was waiting for. Starfleet Command
hereby promotes Commader 1st Class Harrias Jira to the rank of Captain and is
now eligible for captaincy of his own vessel at the fleets earliest
conveinence. Luckily for Harrias that convienice was very soon, there was an
opening on the Nevada. Magellan laid the padd aside for when Harrias came to
see him.
Taking a swig of coffee he paused to watch the USS Beaumaris, a medium sized
cargo vessel pull in to the main dock in front of ops.
The last PADD was marked top secret, Admirals eyes only and bore the mark of
Starfleet Intelligence. Carefully he inputted the codes and decrypted the
message. Intriguing Magellan thought to himself. There was indeed a Romulan
build up and not just on the Federation border. It appeared Romulus was
building up along all its borders, a very unusual occurence especially as if
Tedak had been telling the truth their own Ambassadors knew nothing of it. For
the moment Starfleet were only concerned and had reacted by subtle
re-positioning their own forces on the other side of the Neutral Zone. Likewise
the Klingons had moved an extra fleet to the border. It didnt make sense for
all round build up, if one were preparing to invade you didnt open up all
fronts at once it was almost like lowering the portcullis and manning the
walls.
Tired of military intrigue Magellan resumed his daily routine. It was Monday
and so like every monday he patched into the Starfleet Comm Network. After a
few swift keystrokes a face appeared on his small console. It was a young face
dressed ina starfleet uniform with blue trim.
"Admiral Magellan sir" The woman said, "Is it that time again,
don't the days fly by."
"Indeed they do Maggie. Your keeping well?"
"Can't complain, the kids are back at school so things are easier."
"And Brians better?"
"Oh yes, with me around he couldnt very well stay sick for long."
Maggie grinned a glint in her eye.
Magellan nodded, returning the smile and then cut back to the purpose of the
call.
"So any progress? How is he?"
"Hes not here I am afraid, don't you remember Dr T'Raht has taken him to
Boreth."
"Oh yes" Magellan replied suddenly recalling last weeks call.
"Dr T'Raht believes the Klingon Clerics and some familiar scenery may help
jog his memory."
"Do you think it will work?"
"It might" Maggie replied, but her eyes betrayed her true feelings.
Starfleet Medical had tried every possible technique to cure Locutis in the
past year and a half and all had failed, whatever that subspace bubble had done
to his memory appeared to be untreatable.
"I see. Well tell..."
"Tell him you called, yes I will. And I guess I ll speak to you next
week."
"Yes" Magellan nodded "Till next week."
The screen blipped out leaving the Starfleet Medical symbol.
Magellan took a deep sigh, a draft of coffee and then got to his feet. He swept
out of his office into Ops. He trotted down the steps,
"Good Morning Good Morning" He greeted with false merriment.
Zoilip was off shift and so Commander F'rras, Base Traffic Control Officer, was
on duty. The Regulan turned to him and in his usual low growling voice ran
through all the ships due to arrive and depart Assailant that day.
Magellan watched the hum drum
activity of the station for awhile and then noted with interested the arrival
of the transport 'Shakaar'.
"F'rras, The Shakaar, check the manifest I believe that carrys our new
Bajoran envoy."
The regulan ran his eyes down the list and looked up.
"Yes a Jessica Stephens."
"Ah good. Tell you what beam me to arrivals."
"Beam you sir? That is an infraction of protocols."
"Come on F'rras this is my station dont make me make it an order."
"Very well, sir."
F'rras' hands fluttered over a console and Magellan disappeared.
He reappeared moments later in the Arrivals lounge. He wandered over to the
security checkpoint and checked to see if Jessica had passed through yet, she
hadnt. He hovered their waiting for the Bajoran to arrive.
After awhile a woman approached the exit. Her ID papers acknowledged her as
Jessica Stephens.
"Greetings Miss Stephens" Magellan greeted, "Iam Admiral
Magellan, Base Commander"
"Pleased to meet you sir."
"Indeed, Welcome to Starbase Assailant. I know Attache Tavor Lyl runs the
Bajoran Office here, but I understand you ll be apprenticing under Ambassador
Saarok."
"Yes so I believe. I ll be working in the office but he will be my
mentor."
"Ah jolly good, Perhaps I can show you to him"
"That would be most kind Admiral."
jessica greeting the Starbase
commander with a friendly smiley, as the begin to showed her to Saaroks office
the begin talking and chatting about the starbase and different things*
well i only hope i can be as good as Bajooran Ambassador as the last one *She
smiled*
Waking up the next morning,
Harrias yawned loudly. As he sat down he pondered why he yawned when he was
obviously no longer tired, having just slept for almost ten hours. He ate a
small breakfast from his own replicator on starbase; he had managed to get his
old quarters from his time as Chief of Starbase Operations for the duration of
his stay.
Deciding that now was as good a time as any for his chat with Magellan, he left
his quarters without noticing that he had three messages waiting on his
computer. He made his way through the ship, and stepped into the Station
Admiral's office with little ceremony, having only pressed the button to alert
him, rather than request permission. The senior trill's aides had tried to keep
Harrias from entering, but had failed. Miserably.
Upon his entrance, Admiral Lin glanced up from the desk and frowned slightly.
"You seem to be missing something Captain." He said, and flicked a
gold pip towards the confused engineer. Harrias had picked up the use of
Captain, and the gold pip served to show that it was meant present tense, not
just a bad memory, or slip of the tongue.
"Sorry sir?" He slipped back into formality, unsure as to his ground.
In front of him, Admiral Magellan Lin sighed, and then stood up, came around
the table, and plucked the pip from his fingertips.
"Don't you read any of your messages?" He paused, and when he resumed
speaking his voice was much more clear-cut and formal. "Commander 1st
Class Harrias Jira, Section 47, Starfleet, you are hereby promoted to the rank
of Captain with all associated rights, priviledges and above all,
responsibilities. Congratulations." He grinned, and removed the black fourth
pip, replacing it with the gold one in his hand. "How does that
feel?"
"Much better." He smiled as he sat down at the desk, and Magellan
walked back around to the other side.
"I have one more present for you as well Captain."
"Oh yes? And what would that be?"
The Admiral allowed himself yet another smile, before he spoke. "Computer,
bring up external view 16." The screen went blank for a second, and then
showed a Sovereign Class starship. Harrias didn't say anything for a few
seconds, simply taking in the beauty of the thing, and then he finally
remembered to breath. "The USS Nevada-A. 680 metres of starship, yours to
command. It makes me wish I had a starship again."
Harrias grinned at him. "Well you can't have mine."
Magellan looked right into his fellow trill's eyes. "You feel at home
again don't you?"
"You bet. When do I move in?"
"Soon. I have a couple of things to talk to you about first." He
paused once more, while he brought up a file on a nearby PADD. "Firstly, I
would like to inform you that the level of readiness of this station was
increased to Amber this morning. I can not yet explain why this has been done,
but as such I would like the Nevada to be ready for action as soon as you can
arrange it."
Frowning, and wondering what could have triggered such a level of alertness,
Harrias suddenly realised that in all likelihood he already knew the answer. It
had to be the Romulan build-up he had heard of. He knew better than to ask
Magellan, as he didn't want to put the senior officer in a problematic
position, and thus kept the theory to himself.
"Secondly, I believe you came here for a reason?"
"Ah yes, I was just wondering well, about the joining. I've had... I was
just wondering, how you cope with all these thoughts, and hope you control all
these emotions, and how long I will stay so confused, and what I can do about
it?"
Magellan pondered this a
moment.
“I take it the commission weren’t of any help.”
Harrias shook his head
“They tried to help, but somehow it all seemed so rushed. The Vod symbiont
needed a new host and they seem more concerned about that.”
Magellan nodded, Like Dax and Cyl, Vod was a well respected symbiont. He had
already accumulated at least 7 hosts.
“Maybe, but the Jira symbiont is just as distinguished in its own way. What
sort of changes have you noted?”
“Nothing specific. Its just so overwhelming.”
“That’s understandable; I found it hard enough assimilating just one
personality. Six must be terrible. I myself had several integration problems, I
suffered from technophobia… myself and Lin have a somewhat unique relationship.
Up until the Vampire Infection we existed separately, two minds in one body as
opposed to the blend it is supposed to be, perhaps I m not the best person to
be asking for help. In fact given your 6 lives to my 1 you are in fact more
experienced than me.”
“That’s the problem none of the previous hosts seemed to have noticed the
change, I’m the first to be struggling.”
“Ideally you should see a Counsellor”
Harrias frowned
“But I think you’ll be okay. Try not to focus on any one personality allow each
one to manifest itself in its own time, try and acknowledge what each aspect
belongs to who. Take time to think through any irrational behaviours, let Jira
guide you.”
“Sounds easy enough I suppose”
“It won’t be plain sailing, you‘ll probably have mood swings for a few weeks,
confusion, perhaps even irrational actions. I’m suddenly reconsidering your
captaincy.” Magellan smiled “But seriously, if you’re really not integrating
there is one thing that you can do.”
“Yeah?”
“The Zhian’tara Ceremony. It manifests each of your hosts in the body of
another, its like a telepathic hijacking. It gives you a chance to meet each of
your hosts in person but I suggest trying on your own first”
“Well thanks Sir.”
“No problems its what a CO does. Now lets distract you from your troubles and
begin to run through your crew choices.
“I had thought of Commander Agalacticae”
“A good choice, hopefully Command will push that through and we can get you
sorted. As I said before I need the
“Okay. I’ll get her up and running ASAP”
“Good. I’ll give you a few days and then come for an inspection. And if you
need to talk again drop by.”
Richard had his right hand
comfortably near a pouch on his belt. Inside it was a small disruptor, shielded
with a low power dispersion field. It made him feel a bit better knowing that
he could pull it on these two if necessary. He realized that the Ambassador had
said something. "Sorry, what was that?"
Saarok's eyebrows came together slightly, with what Richard hoped was
irritation. "The possible threat, Mr. Jibb is that there is a possible
build up of force on the Romulan side of the neutral zone", Saarok said.
"And as ambassador Tedak now said we would like you to enquier in less
official circles about this."
Richard glanced over at Tedak. Romulan build up. He had already heard some
rumblings about that in his search for the Klingon K'Tak. Smugglers were
already complaining about having had to turn back at the border to Romulan
space because of increased Romulan patrols. The surprising thing was that the
Romulans were not using their cloaking devices as much as normal, advertising
their presence to anyone who wanted to look. Strange behaviour for Romulans. He
already knew it was pointless to question Tedak. It was unlikely that the
Romulan High Command would trust any useful information to someone stationed in
the Federation.
"I have already heard a bit about the Federation Romulan border. Are they
building up anywhere else?" Richard asked.
Tedak answered this time. "Yes, there has been a general build up of
strenght along the full length of the Klingon and Federation borders."
"And similar strengthening of Federation and Klingon forces as well, I
would imagine" Richard added. "So, what's changed recently in the
Empire?" Richard directed the question at Tedak.
"I have no idea Mr. Jibb. Such information doesn't reach me out here"
Tedak replied.
"Well, that's the question that we'll have to answer. The buildup of
forces on the border is the most obvious result of a change of thinking inside
the Empire. Once we figure out what has changed inside, it will explain what is
going on at the borders" Richard concluded.
"Yes, Mr. Jibb. Interesting. But we have no way of finding out what is
going on inside the Empire" Saarok said.
"Perhaps, but where there is something as obvious as a military maneuver,
there might be more subtle signs that we might be able to figure out. I guess
that I will go see if I can find some. Excuse me." Without waiting for
permission, Richard left the Ambassador's office, making sure that he didn't
turn his back on them as he left.
Back in Saaroks Office
"Ah well, perhaps we
should disclose our current discoveries, those that there are indeed build-ups
along the Romulan border, to Admiral Lin?"
"I am certain that
Admiral Lin already knows everything that is there to know about the build up,
perhaps we should contact some of the official channels? In a bit less official
ways.", Saarok said
"I suppose you are
correct," Tedak sighed, "as usual. What do you propose?"
He went over to a console and
tapped into the latest Starfleet intelligence reports on the issue.
"Take a look at this report", Saarok said to Tedak
The Romulan ambassador paled
visible; Harrias had been right all along. "Have I been so blind to miss
these reports?" he wondered aloud, "This is massive, more than anyone
has speculated so far."
"Yes it would appear
their indeed is a build up, but they do not seem to have found a reason for it
yet", he said
The Romulan opened his mouth
to say something, but was cut short when the doors opened
Just as Tedak was attempting
to say something one of the guards stationed in front of Saarok’s office chimed
and informed the ambassador that a Bajoran ambassador, Jessica Stephens has
arrived.
"Let her in", Saarok said as he pressed a key and the console screens
changed to the standard federation logo
Just then the ambassador entered.
"My name is ambassador Saarok, ambassador of Vulcan and the federation,
and this", he showed on Tedak, "is ambassador Tedak representing the
Romulan Empire"
Tedak bowed graciously
towards the Bajoran representative. "Greetings I am Tedak ir-Saj'sihaer
tr'H'Rhinann, but I invite you to forget the rest of my name, as occasionally I
myself have trouble remembering it. My wife has chosen not to carry the long
name, but then, she has a name I cannot pronounce." He smiled
encouragingly at the woman, then stood to relinguish his seat to her.
"Please, do sit down." He beckoned up, and a brown dragonette landed
on his arm. "Before he decides to introduce himself to you and scare the
living daylights out of you. This little fellow here is Nut, he is a
firelizard."
Tedak turned back to Saarok. "She is a diplomat, she should be informed
also. Perhaps she can even assist us."
Richard hurried out of
Saarok's office and into Starbase Assailant. He didn't seem to be able to put
distance between him and Saarok quickly enough. At least he had something to do
now. He found his way to a turbolift and got off on the main commercial level.
Finding out information regarding Romulan intentions was going to be very
difficult. They were notoriously close mouthed about what was going on inside
the Empire. They wouldn't even tell Tedak about what was going on in case he
let something slip. He would have to find people who had been inside the Empire
or near the border and find out any information they may have picked up. That
meant he was going to be spending a lot of time dealing with Yridians. They
were the primary information brokers around here.
Richard made his way to the main docking level. There were several
establishments on that level where information was exchanged. That was where he
needed to be.
Richard strode purposefully through the Starbase, failing to notice the winged
form of Sev cautiously following him
Richard was sitting in a
small restaurant called Baler's Bridge. It was pretty much the first place that
most freighter crews came to after leaving their ships. The food here was
pretty good and most freighter's didn't offer their crews much variety while on
long trips. The most popular meals here were made by an Andorian cook who
specialized in Bajoran cooking, of all things. Richard had just finished a
serviing of some rather spice Hesperat. It had been quite good.
Something else that freighter crews that had just come off of a long mission
was talk. Richard had been joined by several crew members from a small
freighter called The Rayna. They had just docked after a long run from a number
of stops, including a few that were along the Federation/Romulan border.
"So, you were saying that you had some trouble around the Indra
Nebula?" Richard questioned carefully, trying to keep the man talking. He
had been pumping this human, Perdin Luca, for information for about 15 minutes
now, before he got too drunk on the Andorian brandy had was drinking.
"Yeah. We were just passing through, using our collectors to pick up some
hydrogen when we picked up three Romulan warships coming our way. We had been
hearing from a few other ships that the Romulans have been acting a little
weird lately, so we decided to get out of there. We were headed out at top
speed when we get a message from a Starfleet vessel asking if we needed
assistance. Turns out they were doing research in an asteroid belt, which is
probably why we never saw them" the midly intoxicated crewman explained.
The two others who were with him nodded.
Richard was curious. He had already heard a few stories like this. The Romulans
weren't only building up their borders, they weren't hiding it either. It
wasn't like them at all. Richard's eyes snapped to his right, to the front
window of the restaurant. That was the third time that he thought he had seen
something fluttering around out there. Shaking his head, he told the men that
he had to be on his way. There was nothing else they had to tell him.
Richard left the restaurant and walked slowly along the corridor. He was
getting suspicious. He carefully pulled a small tricorder out of one of his
pockets and ran a scan of all non-human life forms within 50 meters of him.
Running down the list, he saw something familiar.
Nodding grimly, he made his way back to the Wanderer, entered the access codes
and walked onto the bridge. Sitting in the command chair, he used the primary
systems to scan the vicinity till he found the fire lizard that was following
him. Locking on, he then said "Computer, locate Ambassdor Tedak."
"Ambassador Tedak is in the office of Ambassador Saarok" the computer
replied.
Right, Richard thought to himself. Activating the transporter, Richard
programmed a site to site transport, then said "Computer, record and send
the following to Ambassador Tedak."
"Ready" the computer voice said.
"Tedak, this is Richard Jibb. I would appreciate your not sending your
flying lizards to follow me. I'm sure that Ambassador Saarok approved of your
action, but you are in technical violatation of Federation Diplomatic treaties
which state that you are not allowed to conduct espionage on Federation
Diplomatic personel, for any reason. If I catch you doing it again, I will have
you expelled from the Federation, and I will beam your fire lizards to a place
far less comfortable Saarok's office. Jibb out."
Angrily, Jibb sent the message. Romulan's weren't to be trusted
Magellan sat in his office
for awhile after Harrias had left. The new Captain was eager to get aboard the
The next item on his list was the continued of the Debrune city discovered on
the planet below. Aware of his diplomatic commitments he composed a swift
message to the diplomatic staff.
"Ambassadors Tedak, Saarok, Stephens, Qarek, Kaskrene, K'Ratoth.
You are all formally invited to attend a guided tour of the latest section of
the
If you intend to attend please meet at the runabout at 14.00hrs, Please ensure
appropriate attire is worn. Spacesuits will be provided, please radio ahead if
special requirements are needed.
Yours respectfully
Adm. Magellan"
Clicking the send button Magellan decided it best he have some lunch
Now sitting in the centre
seat of the USS Nevada, Harrias was looking around the bridge of the large
Sovereign class vessel. He hadn't served upon one before, and he had almost got
lost on his way to the bridge. Luckily this ship, as with the Galaxy class
before it, had an excellent internal navigation system, which he managed to
discreetly use to get him to the bridge. It wouldn't have looked good for the
captain to get lost on the first day.
Now that he was on the bridge though, he reflected it would hardly have
mattered anyway. None of the rest of the crew had reported in yet, and the
bridge wasn't even manned as they were in Starbase. On that note, he stepped
into his Ready Room. It hadn't been personalised yet, and was completely bare of
decoration. He reached into his bag, and pulled out a book. It was an antique
in the age of computers, but it was still in immaculate condition, and he
flicked through a few pages until he got to the part he had been looking for. "Thus
we play the fools with time; and the spirits of the wise sit in the clouds and
mock us" He considered this for a couple of seconds, and then threw it
from his mind. It had always had a deep meaning for him before, time. But now
that he had the Jira symbiont, time seemed much less important. He shrugged it
off. He placed the Complete Works of Shakespeare on the corner of his desk and
then sat down before it.
He was happy that he had managed to wangle Robert Agalacticae onto the ship as
his first officer, and he wondered how the human would fare in the position. He
had faith in him, the ex-helmsman had shown great command skills in the past
and now that he was in a position that gave him more responsibilty, Harrias was
sure he would rise to it.
While Saarok and Tedak were
talking to the new Bajoran ambassador Jessica Stephens, Saarok heard a signal
from his console that a message has arrived for him.
"Excuse me for a moment", he said leaving Tedak and Stephens to talk
while he went over to the computer. He pressed a few keys and a message
appeared.
"Ambassadors Tedak, Saarok, Stephens, Qarek, Kaskrene, K'Ratoth.
You are all formally invited to attend a guided tour of the latest section of
the
If you intend to attend please meet at the runabout at 14.00hrs, Please ensure
appropriate attire is worn. Spacesuits will be provided, please radio ahead if
special requirements are needed.
Yours respectfully
Adm. Magellan"
After reading the message Saarok pressed a few keys and replied to the message:
"Admiral, I ambassador Saarok of Vulcan will be taking 2 security guards
with me, and therefore ask that 2 additional suits be prepared for them.
With respect,
Ambassador Saarok of Vulcan."
And he sent the message away. After that he copied the message from the admiral
to the pad and took it to his guests.
"Ambassadors", he said
"We have been invited to visit the Debrune dig site on the planet
surface.", he said showing a message from Magellan
"I trust you will also, like me go and visit the ruins?", he asked
"Very much so,"
Tedak replied, looking up from a PADD Nut had dropped in his lap earlier, then
showed it to his friend. "Richard has discovered his tail. I will nead to
teach Sev to use more stealth. But then, he is still young, and should be able
to learn soon enough." He glanced at Jessica, who had remained rather
quiet. "The ruins are magnificent," he explained, "and you will
be very surprised to what cultures it can be dated back."
jessica listened queitly to
the two ambassador as the sent their reply, she decided now was good as time
any to get active, and Bajoraans where big on history, it would be interesting
she thought to herself to see these ruins* *she punced a few things on the padd
and sent a reply back*
Ambassadora Stephens will be attending *She replied* i would acquire about
having atleast one of my security personnel accompany me *she sent the
transmission and smiled Briefly then looked at Tedak and Saarok*
I am sure it will be quiet the interesting experience *She replied*
Well in the meantime *she responded* What was this thing i walked in on that
you think i might assist with? *she questioned curiously
"I require no
guards," Tedak replied calmly, wondering why his collegues requested them,
"and if I would need one, I am sure Nut will be sufficient protection. He
can breathe flame, when I feed him firestone, and his talons are sharp enough
to do damage to any assaillant of mine." He rose from his seat.
"Shall we go then?"
If only Tedak knew why Saarok
took guards with him he’d understand but that is not something he needs to
know, not yet anyway.
"Indeed we should ambassador", Saarok said as the group collected
what they needed and went out of Saarok’s office, where 2 of his guards, lt.
Seltok and cmdr. Redorane joined him.
After that they proceeded down where a guard for Ambassador Stephens joined them.
After that they went down to the docking bay. Saarok had left his firelizards
to watch his office and the things on Assailant, including certain things
related to Richard Jibb. But not Richard Jibb himself
Tedak followed in silence,
wondering why his two companions would need guards. He silently called Sev
back, but told him first to draw Jibb's attention, and get him to understand
where they were going. ~don't want him to feel left out, nor give him more
reason to distrust us~ he thought. Several minutes later, the little bronze
landed on his shoulder and chittered happily.
No sooner had they reached the airlock, where they would wait for the admiral,
when T'Val came rushing towards them. "I am coming too," she said,
"the ruins do not just hold mere scientific and engineering secrets, but
medical as well. Being the only medic around <so far anyway...any CMO please
shout out?> I want to come along. Besides, what if one of you gets
hurt?"
The three diplomats stood in silence, and Tedak knew that, if his bondmate
desired something and had set her mind to it, it was very hard denying her. He
looked upon her sadly, for he wished she would stay behind, but she would not
see his concern for her safety. Just then, admiral Magellan rounded the corner
and joined their little group. T'Val turned to him, and repeated her wish.
"She must have seen the message on my computer," Tedak whispered to
him, "I would prefer if she stayed behind, but it appears her mind is set.
It is your call admiral."
Magellan nodded to the
assembled diplomats.
"The more the merrier I say" He replied diplomatically, "An
additional physcian may be beneficial"
"Expecting trouble Admiral" Saarok asked, an eyebrow slightly raised.
"No not at all. I ve just learned that on Assailant its better to be
prepared. In fact I m not sure you ll be needing all the extra security. The
planet is quite secure."
Magellan replied indicating the diplomatic guards.
"Just being prepared" Saarok replied sardonically.
"Indeed" Magellan smiled wryly. "Shall we depart?"
Magellan led the party in to the airlock.
"The Starfleet Science Team is already on site. We'll be landing on the
platform outside the main Hab Dome. I ll give you a ten minute warning to get
suited up. If you ll take a seat I ll run through the pre flight checks and we
can be off."
Magellan took a seat at the conn and began to run over the controls. After
gaining clearance from F'Rras in Ops he piloted the Runabout Thames out into
space and down towards the dusty orange planet below
Tedak stepped off the
shuttlecraft before Saarok, Jessica or the guards. Saaroks guards did try to
get out first, but he would not let them. "I do not need guards to hover
over me," he pointed out, and took a few steps forward. He gazed over the
ruins in awe, and was struck silent at the sight. He had only seen them once
before, when he had snuck off with Saarok, but now they would get a more
detailed tour than before.
''Off you go," he told Nut and Sev, and set them aloft. The two chittered
in annoyance, but flew off into the ruins, hunting for bugs and other little
creatures they could eat. Tedak turned to Magellan and the other ambassadors.
"I assume our guide is to meet us here?"
Indeed. If you'll wait here a
moment I ll checkin with the base team"
Magellan ducked into the main complex a few moments later he emerged with Dr
Hyan Sharex the Colonisation Science team leader. The Tellarite was accompanied
by a Starfleet Science Team and a Romulan.
"This is Dr Mendot" Sharex indicated the Benzite scientist "And
Dr Relora" teh romulan.
The Ambassadors nodded in greeting.
"If you ll follow me."
Dr Sharex led the small party to a Hopper and once aboard powered up the craft
and piloted out across the red desert wastes of Qualinost.
After Saarok, his guards and
all other ambassadors boarded the craft; it started moving towards the ruins of
the Debrune city. According to the reports Saarok received, through more and
less official channels. The archeological teams have concentrated on the area
bellow, where a reactor was located.
After some time of travel and small talk on the transport they arrived to the
ruins. The first people to went out were the scientists working on the project,
after which Magellan stepped out, then Tedak, T'Val, his firelizards, Stephens,
and in the end Saarok followed by his guards.
After they all got out the lead scientist began their tour and started to
explain what was uncovered where, and what they believe this place was at the
time when it was not in ruins and when it was new.
As the small group of diplomats,
ambassadors and an admiral left with their guides in the small hopper, Ensign
Tomlinson had done the same, a small security team accompanying him in the
small craft. When he had arrived on Starbase, expecting to meet the trill
admiral he would be serving under, he instead only had a message left for him.
To discreetly follow the team in another hopper to ensure their safety.
Although Admiral Magellan wasn't expecting any trouble, even he had recognised
that that many different ambassadors in one place was a security risk. Ensign
Tomlinson would have preferred a slightly different approach had he been in
charge of the security of the tour, but as it was his first mission he ceded
that Admiral Magellan's orders would have to stand.
Personally of course, he would have taken twice this number of security
officers. Half of them would have travelled like they were now, dressed in
civvies in a unmarked hopper following the other. The other half would have
travelled in a further hopper which would have federation insignia all over it,
including the fact it was security. This would have travelled in front of the
diplomat's hopper, checking for and ambushes.
Simon Tomlinson, although an Ensign, was certainly no green amateur. He had
served as a security officer for the Xindi Council for the past ten years,
where he had finished as the Defense Secretary for the Xindi-Primates.
Unfortunately there had been a slight shift of power in the Primate government,
and Simon had ended up out on a limb. Although the new Xindi-Primate leader had
offered him a position on his inner chamber, Simon had refused and moved to the
federation to try his luck in Starfleet. He realised it was a massive dop down,
but it was the only life he knew, and Starfleet provided a lot of options for
one like him
Tedak walked beside his wife,
supporting her as they walked the rough path towards the Debrune ruins. She had
not yet regained her original strength since her little adventure as vampire,
which had drained her of her energy when she was cured. "Careful," he
whispered, as they walked on.
Above him, his two firelizards were on the alert, flying on and off in turns,
neither being present much at the same time, but also never being gone together
at the same time. The Andorian anthropologist walked up beside them and greeted
them with a smile. "Welcome back sir, ma'am," she greeted, "back
for another visit?"
Tedak nodded, continuing to guide T'Val over the path. "Yes, the admiral
had planned this little trip and invited DCS members along. But I think he has
something else in mind as well, but I am not entirely clear on what." He
looked back and saw that Saarok was guiding Ambassador Stephens. ~always a
gentleman~ he thought, as he focused on the Andorian again. " So, found
anyhing of interest since our last visit?"
Jessica watches as the rest
of the away team followed along watching the scientest talk about the ruins and
explain about their past, she smiled inwardly as she watched knowing that it
was all nothing in comparasion to the Bajoraan history but she would not say a
word in fear of causing trouble
Sharan-Ta-ra had been
examining the interiors of thebuildings to try and build up a picture of the
inhabitants life style. She had been assigned as Anthropolgist to the team
somewhat nepotistically. Her uncle, Ashrav-nit-al was the Team Archeaolgist. He
had managed to... just maintain his postion after what had happened in the
previous dig.
"Yes indeed Ambassador. I ve been working on a section of the city that
illustrates that the Debrune had a strict family structure involving extended
family, there are also remnants of some kind of class system, possibly
feudal."
"Interesting" Tedak answered "Romulan society is based on feudal
class basis"
"So I understand. Im hoping Dr Relora will be able to assist me"
"Dr Relora is one of our brightest scientists" Tedak noted "She
shall be of great help to you"
Magellan hovered as the Ambassadors milled around the concourse.
The city was mostly subterranean and sealed to the outside world. They had discarded
their helmets and carried them loosely. Dr Sharex was showing Dr Mendot to Dr
Nit-al and Magellan was taking a moment on his own to soak up the atmosphere of
the ancient site.
Saarok was with Jessica, the Vulcan was gesticulating wildly pointing out to
the overwhelmed Bajoran the various architectural styles and how they were
similar to ones on Vulcan. Tedak and T'Val were talking to thenew
Anthropolgist. Whilst Ambassador Kaskrene, the tholian delegate, stood on his
own. Major K'Ratoth had not attended, too much bloodwine the night before.
Seeing Dr Sharex returning he decided to pull the matter together.
"Ladies and Gentlemen if You ll follow us. "
"What is it your going to show us?" Jessica asked,
Magellan winked as if he wasnt going to answer and then thought better of it.
"Its a new section we've opened up. Its right in the depths of the
city."
"Oh yes" Dr Sharex said excitedly "Our scanners have picked up
an energy signature."
"Really!" Tedak and Saarok replied simultaneously and then looked at
each other.
"Yes down here."
The Tellarite led them down a sweeping spiral staircase to a doorway covered in
pictograms.
They all halted to stare at the beautifully ornate door.
"The signature is on the other side."
"And you havent managed to go inside yet" Jessica asked
"No not yet, we can't work out how to open it."
"Oh?"
Sharex looked at her.
"Its just that look here" Jessica pointed to the floor by the door,
there was a scrape inthe dust. It followed a shallow arc and ended in a short
line. It was evident that the door had been opened and then closed – recently
Once Jessica was finished
speaking everyone in the group was shocked for a moment. Then Saarok spoke up:
"It would appear that we have either a spy here, or you are attempting
conceal information from us"
"I believe we should attempt to open this door right away either by the
way they are opened or by blasting them open, i do not know what kind of energy
source is behind it but whatever it is if someone is inside federation
interests might be jeopardized. And that can not be allowed.", he finished
Dr Nit-al fixed Saarok with a
venomous glare.
"Blow it up!!! Blow it up. For a Vulcan your very illogical. Who knows
what we could damage, we could set off an auto destruct, a security
system..."
"Settle down Dr." Dr Sharex placated, placing himself between them.
"Indeed" Magellan noted, "No one is blowing, up phasering or
otherwise attacking anything. We know that it isnt any of the science team nor
can it be anyone new. Assailant would have detected any approaching
vessels"
Saarok was not convinced.
"That ship that rescuesd the suspected Debrune individual seemed to elude
Assailants sensors"
Magellan scowled, rankled that the Vulcan was right.
"Admiral, Doctors this site is of great value to the Federation and must
be protected."
"It is of equal value to the Romulans" Tedak stated curtly,
"This is a JOINT project remember"
Jessica remained in the shadows, watching diplomacy at work, Tedak and Saarok
seemed so natural.
"Of course it is joint. But Qualinost is in Federation Space."
"And the Debrune are our Ancestors" Tedak replied,
"And ours" Saarok answered uncosciously running a hand over his
pointed ears.
"Well they are not my ancestors" Magellan retorted "And I am in
Command here, regardless of diplomatic status."
"Err Sir" Jessica ventured
No one seemed to notice.
She tried again
"Excuse me?"
"YES?" The three spat back.
"You might like to know Ambassador Kaskrene is up to something."
Whilst the arguement had been raging the Tholian had wandered up to the doors,
raising one of its forelimb appendages he grasped what appeared to be a handle
and pulled.
The door swung smoothly open following the track left in the dust.
#It appears it is unlocked# Kaskrene rasped through the Universal Translator.
Magellan turned wide eyed and quickly unsheathed his phaser, the security
guards did the same.
"I guess we investigate" Tedak stated
"Not yet" Magellan replied "You" he pointed to one of
Saaroks guards escort the Ambassadors and the sceince team back to the hab dome."
"I am afraid I m not going" Saarok Noted
"Nor I" Tedak and T'Val said
"Me neither" Jessica replied
#I opened the door I wish to see inside#
Magellan sighed and didnt even both asking the scientists.
"Very well, wait one moment." He paused and tapped his badge.
=^= Ensign Tomlinson. We have an incident down here. Bring your security team
down to join us.=^=
=^= Aye Sir. On our way=^=
=^=Magellan to Ops=^=
=^=Ops, F'rras here=^=
=^= We have an incident developing, possible intruders. Have the
=^= Yes Sir. F'Rras out=^=
"Okay then once Ensign Tomlinson is here with his team we will begin a
careful and systematic search for the intruder."
"It may not be an intruder" T'Val noted, "If no ships are
detected then it is logical to assume the person was already here."
Magellan frowned.
"Maybe but then we ve never detected any lifesigns before and the planets
deserted. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it"
Agalacticae
woke up in his quarters after his night out in the “Fish Tank” together with
Commander 1st Class Harrias Jira. Returning from their mission on the USS El
Salvador, the two officers had become friends and decided to go for a few
drinks, which had turned out to a little more than just a few - almost
resulting in an informal diplomatic crisis as Admiral Lin and later Ambassador
Tedak appeared on the scene. Smiling as he recalled the events of last night
and how Harrias had threatened to get him arrested as Agalacticae tried to
steady his walk and get him back to the table, he suddenly realized why he had
woke up. The console on the table in his temporary quarters on Assailant must
have beeped for who knows how long.
Agalacticae got up and walked towards the screen, with a rusty voice talking.
Agalacticae: “Computer, display messages”
Agalacticae had to rub his eyes in a mixture of amazement and fright as he
realized who had sent the messages. Both were received a few hours ago, one
from his friend Harrias Jira and the other one from no other than Admiral Lin
himself. Thoughts started to flash in his mind, whether Jira and himself had
crossed a line yesterday and would be reprimanded by the admiral for
disrespectful behavior. Opening the first message from Harrias, he had expected
a friendly message regarding last night, possibly explaining his outburst at
Tedak and a note about a great night out. Nothing of that was in the message he
just received.
To: Commander 1st Class Robert Agalacticae
Dear Bob,
Please consider this offer to join me as my First Officer aboard the USS
Nevada.
Captain Harrias Jira, CO, USS Nevada
Agalacticae’s eyes widened a bit as he read through the message. Was this some
sort of joke? Yesterday Harrias had been a regular crewmember just like
Agalacticae himself and only a few hours later he was a Captain? Closing the
message - still undecided to regard it as a joke or to take it seriously - he
opened the message from Admiral Lin.
To: Commander 1st Class Robert Agalacticae
--Starfleet Command Orders, Section 47--
Commander 1st Class is hereby offered the position of First Officer aboard the
USS Nevada. You have 24 hours to inform me of your decision.
Admiral Magellan Lin, CO of Starbase Assailant, on behalf of Starfleet Command
Apparently it was no joke after all. Getting up from the chair in front of the
screen and putting on his uniform Agalacticae walked back an forth in his
quarters reflecting on what he had just read. He wanted to have a command
position again, but had not expected it so soon, let alone on the ship of a
Captain he knew and respected. He had barely had time to adjust to the crew of
the USS El Salvador and already it seemed time to leave them again…
Agalacticae left his quarters and walked to the docking area of the station,
glooming out into the vastness of space and the two ships, silently hovering in
front of him. He had to decide on which of those two would be his future
vessel. The USS El Salvador or the USS Nevada, Prometheus versus Sovereign…
Agalacticae knew what he would decide but still needed a few minutes to
contemplate about it, trying to listen to his heart and “feel” that it would be
the right decision.
Standing silently for a few moments his face soon turned into a smile, his mind
allowing him to feel the enthusiasm of his new position and a new era in his
life. Almost running back to his quarters, Agalacticae replied to Magellan’s
message, confirming his acceptance of the position, before heading to the USS
Nevada, where he expected to find Harrias. Entering the new ship, Agalacticae
was struck by the new smell caressing his nostrils…somehow he always noticed
the smell of a ship…subtly telling him the change on a more emotional level.
<<USS Nevada>>
Making his way to the bridge, in order to surprise Harrias, his comm-badge
chirped
=/\=Could Commander Agalacticae please report to the Captain's Ready Room=/\=
Just as expected Harrias had made his way to his new ship right away.
Apparently Harrias was already keeping a close eye on what was happening aboard
the ship, thereby nullifying Agalacticae’s intent of suprising him…
=/\= On my way, Captain =/\=
Arriving on the almost empty bridge, Agalacticae entered the ready room, to see
Harrias confidently sitting in his chair, a new full pip glancing on his
collar.
"“Quite a turn of events…I had expected a formal complain about grabbing
your shoulder last night…”
Harrias got up smilingly to see his friend, inviting him to sit on the couch in
his ready room before he replied.
"Well, I did consider it, but then I thought that the expense was rather
large for a joke, and I decided that I'd have you as my XO instead." He
laughed lightly.
Taking a seat next to Harrias the two officers small-talked about the previous
night’s events, Agalacticae consciously avoided mentioning anything regarding
his decision.
“Although it looks good on you I think it would take some time adjusting to
your new rank…”
"My old rank you mean? But I know exactly what you mean, there will be a
more formal aspect to our relationship."
“…after all we have come to be more friends than just crew members”
"God, it sounds like some kind of intimate relationship this. It's meant
to be a good laughi Seriously though, it was my call to point at someone as my
FO and I made that choice on a professional basis only. Of course I don’t mind
knowing you are a decent person, but still your name was the first I thought
of, so what do you say?”
Robert paused for yet another moment, before answering, putting his hand on
Harrias’ shoulder.
“I don’t know Harrias…”
Pretending to look down, instead of looking at Harrias, giving him the
impression that he would decline.
“…but then again I could not think of a better Captain to serve with than you
my friend”
"Good good I didn't want to have to order you into it! If you can sort out
the details, I've already done my end."
"Done already. Magellan must have received my message a few moments
ago"
"You can be a right annoyance sometimes you know Mr Agalacticae!"
""So, CAPTAIN, what is our first assignment?"
At that very moment the comm system bleeped, and the voice of the operations
officer sounded. After telling her to pipe the message through to the ready
room, Harrias leaned back in his seat, already having some idea of what he was
going to hear.
"Orders from Admiral Magellan for you Captain. You are to power up ship,
and begin a sensor sweep of the planet and the rest of the system. Your targets
are any cloaked ships, or any personnel not accounted for. Assailant out."
With a signifcant look at his first officer, Captain Harrias Jira stood up, and
walked back onto the bridge, where he was happy to see Commanders Rick Sharpe
at his post. He nodded briefly at them both, and then settled into the centre
seat.
"Start her up Mr Sharpe."
"Aye sir. Engineering reports ready."
Smiling, Harrias spoke the words he would never tire of speaking. "Take
her out. Easy as she goes." He turned to the science officer. "Run a
sensor sweep, look for anything unusual."
Receiving the comm bleep
signal that he knew meant that the Admiral wanted him, Tomlinson indicated to
his team to move forwards. They picked up their pace, and jogged towards the
group of ambassadors. Tomlinson was appalled to see that they were clumped
closely around a set of doors. One photon grenade rolled into the door would
kill them all without a problem.
"Okay. Plan. Let's spread ourselves out a bit, and move further away from
this door. Now, what would be the problem Admiral?"
"We believe there may be an intruder."
"Here?" Simon questioned, and was duly shown the evidence. He ummed
and arred for a couple of minutes, and then came to a decision.
"Okay, everyone back. I want you all in one of these transports for a few
moments while I investigate."
Immediately the arguments came back, Saarok's the strongest. "I do not
think it is in the best interest of all here for you to possibly contaminate
the site. Especially as you are federation. You could..."
Tomlinson cut him off. "I have no interest in this dig at all. My only
interest is your lives, something that may also be in your best interests. Now
I can not order you, but I would urge you all to retire for a few minutes.
Please?"
As the Ambassadors started to
protest Magellan pulled Tomlinson to one side.
"I m glad your here. Things are getting out of hand, there are far too
many people down here as it is. The problem is that it may not be anything at
all"
"That will be for me to decide Sir." Tomlinson answered curtly
"Yes. You are Chief of Base Security. The operative word in that is
Base."
"On the Base or of it, it is my duty to..."
"I know your duty Ensign, and I understand it. Sometimes however rules
need to be bent."
Tomlinson frowned,
"That is not how I see things"
Magellan smiled weakly.
"Okay, lets start again. Fact, we THINK someone has acccessed this site,
Fact, we do not know if they are hostile. Fact, its both of our jobs to keep
these people safe. Fact Starfleet Security can at times be a little... gung
ho."
Tomlinson rankled a little but remained silent allowing his superior to
continue.
"Now we need to clear the area. I want half your team to advance in to the
new area, each team will tke one of teh Starfleet Scientists. You will
co-ordinate but remain with us. We will enter the first chamber, I m hoping theres
enough items of interest to distract the Ambassadors long enough for us to make
the sweep. Okay"
Tomlinson nodded.
"Very Well Sir. On one condition We enter first and secure the
chamber."
Magellan ignored the fact that an ensign was laying down conditions to an
Admiral.
"Agreed"
The two men stepped apart, Tomlinson returning to the Starfleet officers and
Magellan to the Ambassadors.
"If you wait one moment, we'll move into the new chamber"
Magellan cast a glance at Tomlinson who had already despatched the first teams.
With precise and rehearsed actions the checeked the door and entered the room
beyond.
"ROOM CLEAR, Proceeding to other rooms" Came the shout.
Tomlinson nodded and together he and Magellan in to the chamber
Tedak walked down one of the
many corridors that forked from the main room they had just entered. On his
shoulder, Nut peered ahead of them, chirping on occasion when he saw something
intriqueing. He had sent Sev off with another group, to keep an eye on them.
Tedak looked around in awe, and tugged T'Val's sleeve as he saw some drawings
that caught his attention. "Here, look at this!" he cried out,
dragging her over, "this is Romulan writing!"
T'Val smiled lightly, this was one of the characteristics she loved about her
husband, he could get overly enthusiastic over one little item. Then, another
bit of writing caught her attention. "This is Vulcan," she said,
pointing at a small area, then pointed at another, "but this is a language
I cannot decipher."
Tedak moved over to her location and peered at the writings. It showed elfin
people on the wall drawings, but the writings were indeed undecipherable.
"It could be a mix of Vulcan and Romulan and something else," he
suggested, then pointed at one of the words, "here, this word says 'enemy',
but who would they mean?" He paused, peering at the writing again, then
shook his head. "Perhaps we should call that anthropologist, what was her
name again?" He thought for a moment. "Ah yes, Dr. Sharan-ta-ra, she
might know." He tapped his combadge, hoping that in the distant humming,
the anthropologist would hear. "Tedak to Sharan-ta-ra, T'Val and I have
found something. We are about a hundred meters down the second corridor on the
right from the hall."
"This is mighty interesting," he continued, then decided to sit down
on the sandy floor to examine a few rocks he had found. Covertly, he shoved one
in the pocket of his robe, then picked up another to examine it. "Doctor
Nit Al might find this interesting." Again he tapped his combadge, and
called for the archaeologist. "This is an archaeologist's paradise,"
he mused.
Magellan
looked apologetically at Tomlinson as he watched the Ambassadors wander off in
multiple directions to explore the cavern.
He had hoped to contain them in one place, he had sorely misunderestimated.
"Ladies, Gentlemen please can we all remain in this chamber until En.
Tomlinson has secured the site."
"Admiral you maybe interested in this." Tedak noted from one of the
corridors.
Magellan and teh others crowded round where Tedak, Sharan-ta-ra and Nit-al
stood examining a panel.
"Its definetly got Vulcan undertones, but theres certain Romulan elements
too" Sharan noted,
"Indeed and this configuration here is typical of Debrune sentence
structure" Nit-al agreed "It seems to be some kind of instruction
to..."
Nit-al extended an arm and began to push the symbols.
"No..." Magellan began to exclaim but it was too late.
There was a woosh and a release of air. In front of them a door slid up
revealing a vast secondary chamber.
The room was filled with a single pulsating column that ran from floor to
ceiling and was throbbing with a low violet light.
Around it was what appeared to be some form of control console. At the console
was a vulcanoid individual. The man looked up and scrabbled for something on
the desk.
Tomlinson was swiftly in action pulling free his phaser and placing himself in
front of as many of the scientists, diplomats and the Admiral as he could.
The vulcanoid grasped the implement and turned to face them.
"Halt" Tomlinson ordered raising his weapon.
The vulcanoid looked quizzically and then began to raise his arm. It got about
halfway up before the man pitched forward green blood sprouting from his chest.
There was a gasp as they all turned to face Ambassador Kaskrene. The Tholian
merely shrugged and withdrew another crystalline knife from a pocket.
#He was going to shoot us#
<<USS
Nevada, Bridge>>
As soon as they had finished their conversation and before Harrias could reply
to Agalacticae’s question regarding their first assignment Harrias received an
incoming transmission for Admiral Lin. Harrias entered the bridge closely
followed by Agalacticae, who took the chance of introducing him to the some of
the other crewmembers on the bridge. Naturally for a pilot the first person he
noticed was the CNO, Lt. Rick Shape.
Agalacticae: “Mr. Shape, allow me to introduce myself, Commander Agalacticae,
the new first officer aboard”
<Shape>
Agalacticae: “Indeed, I have to admit that I am quite jealous that you will
take her out…”
<Shape>
Promptly after the two officers had finished their conversation Harrias’ orders
proved Agalacticae’s point.
Harrias: "Start her up Mr Sharpe."
Shape: "Aye sir. Engineering reports ready."
Harrias: "Take her out. Easy as she goes." He turned to the science
officer. "Run a sensor sweep, look for anything unusual."
As Mr. Shape gently started to move the ship away from the base, Agalacticae
could feel his fingers itch. Getting used to “just watching” would also take
some time. Hopefully though the Captain would allow him to take a spin in one
of the shuttles every now and then…
Taking his seat besides Harrias, Agalacticae turned to his new commanding
officer.
Agalacticae: “What exactly are we looking for?”
<Harrias>
Agalacticae: “..so close to a federation starbase?”
<Harrias>
Agalacticae: “If you don’t mind I would like to take a few minutes to get
myself up to date with the digging on the planet…and on the way introduce
myself to our CEO John McDuff…”
<Harrias>
Agalacticae: “Agreed, I’ll be back on the bridge in a matter of moments.”
Agalacticae knew that his place was on the bridge, but some things simply could
not be put off, like introducing himself to some of the crew that would have to
work under his command. The chief engineering officer as well as the navigation
officer had both served on the ship for much longer than him. The least he
could do, as a token of respect, was to introduce himself personally.
<<USS Nevada, Engineering>>
Agalacticae: “Mr. McDuff, good to see you. I am Commander Agalacticae, the new
FO on board”
<McDuff>
Agalacticae: “Yes, only just accepted the new assignment and already on a
mission…when duty calls…”
<McDuff>
Agalacticae: “Well, I’ll better be on my way back to the bridge, I just wanted
to introduce myself, instead of merely being a voice over the comm.”
<McDuff>
<<USS Nevada, Bridge>>
Arriving back on the bridge, Agalacticae reseated himself to the Captain’s
right, going over the reports regarding the dig on the planet, gradually
understanding why so many parties had strong interests in the place that even
would justify a cloaked ship in federation space….
T'Val
raced forward, shooting a glance that could kill at the individual who had
thrown the knife. She knelt down at the vulcanoid's side and fished for her
tricorder. "He is still alive!" she cried, "if we are going to
save him, I need a proper sickbay, now!"
"We cannot beam out from here doctor," someone on the guard detail
snapped at her.
"Well then, you will have to assist me, ensign," she snapped
back, "here, hold this." She tears off strips from the victims
clothing and hands them to the startled ensign. "When I pull out the
knife, you are going to press that down onto the wound as hard as you can. Do
not faint on me!"
The ensign nodded, looking very pale around the nose. He kneeled down and
pressed down the strips of clothing down as hard as he could when the Vulcan
doctor pulled out the knife with great care.
T'Val tossed the knife over her shoulder, oblivious to the fact that it landed
point first in the owner's foot. She focused on her patient, seeing that she
was losing him rapidly. The man opened his eyes and locked his gaze on her,
eyes widening in surprise. "Calm down," T'Val told him softly,
"you will be just fine." ~but he is not~ she chided herself, she
hated lying. The man reached up and pulled her down so that her face was close
to his. "What is it?" T'Val asked, holding up her hand to keep the
guards away. The man was utterly harmless, and it was not a weapon he had in
his hands when he was stabbed, he was just holding a pen.
"my...." the man whispered, "save....my....fami..." He
exhaled and his chest did not rise again to take a breath. T'Val got back to
her feet and shook her head sadly. "I have lost him." She patted the
shoulder of the young ensign. "Well done lad, you may let go now. Why do
you not walk off a bit and get some fresh air? You seem about to faint."
She turned towards the guards, and the guilty ambassador. "That was very
unnecessary," she snapped, holding out her hand, "this is what he was
holding. It was a pen gentlemen, not a weapon but a writing tool. This man was
harmless!"
Tomlinson
almost burst out in rage when T'Val tried to make her will felt. However, years
in positions where there were stupid diplomats and politicians had taught him
to keep calm, and instead of the knee-jerk reaction he had been going to do, he
instead managed a more polite reply.
"I am charged with your protection Ambassadors. Me and my team were
analysing the threat. Until we knew the extent of the threat, we had to presume
the worst. Trust me, none of my men would have shot until we knew he was a
threat."
Tomlinson looked around the room at his guards, the ambassadors, scientists,
and finally Admiral Magellan. He saw that some of his guards looked nervous,
shifting their weight from foot to foot, and he made a note to get some proper
training on these men. He had not had a chance to get to know any of them, but
he could see some of them knew what they were doing, and they had already set
back to work checking everything in the room.
Idly, and because he needed to check the room anyway, Tomlinson walked up to
the desk. On it lay a vast variety of things, mostly covered in a thin film of
dust. Looking for the gap in the dust that would show where the pen had come
from, he soon found it, accompanied by lines created by his grappling hands.
Right by the pen, in fact along the line of the hand prints, a small and
old-style phaser was sat. Choosing not to make any comments to T'Val, he instead
lifted this off. As he did so a shout came from behind him.
"What are you doing?" he sighed irritably as he heard T'Val's voice
once more.
He turned to her, the gun held in his gloved hand. "I am ensuring your
safety by removing any articles that may present a threat. This is my job here,
and I regret to inform you that you have no say over that at all." He was
aware this was a knee-jerk reaction, albeit a calm one, and he regretted it
almost instantly.
"And
I am a doctor," T'Val said calmly, her feelings completely unreadable from
either voice or facial expressions, "my job is basically the same as
yours, though I save them through medical means and you through prevention. As
a doctor, even a civillian one, I do have the same authority as Starfleet
medical doctors." She points towards the phaser. "Our dead man did
not touch that phaser, he had a pen in his hand when he turned, not the
phaser." She allowed a smile as she faced the security officer. "But
by all means, remove anything that you think are a danger to us. If you think
it will ensure our safety, infact I insist you do. Now...perhaps we can
continue exploring? Tedak and I did find something interesting earlier."
Suddenly
there was another shout
That is
Ms Stephens' voice," T'Val said, and the two of them broke into a run.
when they reached Jessica's position, they found a young woman lying dead at
the base of what seemed to be a reactor. "Look!" T'Val exclaimed,
pointing at the reactor, "it is active!" While Tomlinson sped forward
towards the reactor, T'Val knelt beside Jessica, who was gazing at the dead
woman. "are you all right?" T'Val asked, tricorder at hand instantly.
After
examining both Jessica and the dead woman, T'Val concluded that their Jane Doe
<the dead woman> had been dead for quite a while, even though the body
was not yet decomposing. In fact, the body was in mint condition, but she could
find nothing to determine the cause of death. She and Jessica covered the body
with a blanket the found lying about, and she got back to her feet to scan the
area.
T'Val and Jessica entered an anteroom to the big reactorroom they were in now.
A soft crying caught T'Val's attention, and the two women sped forward. In a
crib, T'Val found a baby, not quite 6 months old. A quick examination told her
that the dead woman and man were the infants parents. "We will take the
boy back with us," she told Jessica, and picked up the crying infant.
Instantly, the boy stopped crying. Together they walked back to the group.
"I found a baby," T'Val announced, "he is the child of the man
and the woman. We found no-one else, unfortunately."
McDuff's
thoughts were wandering while doing a manual check of the plasma flow on the
2nd level. Visits to a Starbase always had a certain effect on a ship's
ambience. The bridge would be empty, corridors full, engineering buzzing with
activity. An extended stop like this always was an excuse to pull everything
apart. McDuff's teams had been doing 12 hour shifts to put everything together
again when the word came the
"Commander", a member of the engineering staff called from the main
systems display, "bridge orders a power-up for immediate departure."
- "Well we're ready here, report OK annd power her up. I'm gonna finish
this and then I'll have a look on the bridge", John called from above.
While scanning the last bit of the plasmaconductors he heard the double
entrance doors hiss open and saw the new first officer come in, seemingly looking
for him, judging by the look on his face.
"Up here commander", John called from above.
- "Mr. McDuff, good to see you. I am CCommander Agalacticae, the new FO on
board"
John walked towards the small elevator to the side of the platform. "I
know, I glanced at the command crew replacement list this morning, no yesterday
morning in fact. It's been a long day", he said while coming down.
- "Yes, only just accepted the new asssignment and already on a
mission…when duty calls..."
"I know what you mean, I didn't even get a chance to have a look around
the Starbase. But all systems are like new again, we replaced the cristals and
half the EPS system has been re-aligned. I appreciate your coming down here
commander. Agalacticae shook John's extended hand.
- "Well, I’ll better be on my way backk to the bridge, I just wanted to
introduce myself, instead of merely being a voice over the comm."
"I'm right behind you, I haven't had a chance to meet the captain yet
either."
[ bridge ]
Arriving back on the bridge, Agalacticae reseated himself to the Captain’s
right, going over the reports regarding the dig on the planet, gradually
understanding why so many parties had strong interests in the place that even
would justify a cloaked ship in federation space.
When McDuff arrived on the bridge the captain stood up to greet him.
"Good to meet you too captain, I kinda was wondering what was going
on", John said with a grin.
Indeed.
Starbase Assailant has requested a scan of the area, during which we are
looking for any cloaked vessels, or mysterious persons on the planet. Think you
can improve our range?"
With that, John McDuff made his way back down to engineering once more with the
promise to return as soon as he had managed to sort something out. Harrias cast
a quick glance over the crew. He knew that there were a few arrivals that were
yet to happen, one for example was Zhukarak Hrisvalar, who was due to become
the Chief Marine Officer on his graduation from the academy. Harrias had heard
good things about the officer, and was looking forward to meeting him on his
assignment.
Saarok
was examining the inscription on the wall when he heard a shout and people
running towards a newly open chamber. He, accompanied by his security went over
to see what was happening. Apparently the Tholian had thrown a knife into
someone who was working on a console. And after that T'Val threw the knife back
into the mans foot.
He walked over to Miss Stephens and asked her to have a word with Kaskarene and
try to calm him down as an incident here was not a good thing.
After that he moved past the security whose attention was directed elsewhere
and made way towards the column of light. He pulled out a tricoder and started
scanning it, but no readings could penetrate and scan the inside of the column.
Then he noticed an inscription on a part that was glowing in red, it appeared
to be ancient Vulcan/Romulan. It looked like danger, meltdown and terminate.
"Dr. Nit-Al", he called
As the man made way towards him.
"Can you translate this part that according to logic and may knowledge of
ancient Vulcan warns of a reactor meltdown, or am i mistaken?", Saarok
asked
The
throbbing of the reactor became stronger and stronger. Its sound increased in
intensity until it was beginning to drown out the voices of those in the
chamber.
Dr Nit-al approached the main reactor core and pulled out his tricorder to
monitor it. It bleeped rapidly a moment and then cut out. He frowned at it and
tapped at the buttons.
"Thats odd my Tricorder has frozon on an Omega graphic."
"A what?" Magellan asked striding over he took the tricorder from the
Andorian. He looked at the console and then frowned at the reactor. He looked
pensive a moment and then came back to the group.
"Ensign Tomlinson, Escort Ambassador Tedak and the infant back to
Assailant. Give T'Val full access to our medical facilities to assist in the
childs care. Also have the bodies here transported up to the morgue - I want
Nurse T'Somba to run a post mortem. Myself and the science team will remain here
for the moment. Have security secure the planet. All non-essential personnel
are to be evacuated even from the Hab-dome. Back on Assailant have F'Rras lock
the system down. No ships leave understood. No ships at all. Have the
<Tomlinson>
"Don't argue just do it, and make sure all the Ambassadors go with
you."
"Admiral I may be able to help with the translations." Saarok said
"Fine you stay. But everyone else goes... NOW!"
People shocked at the Admirals suddenly harsh tone began automatically to file
from the chamber.
Once vacated Magellan moved over to the reactor console to stand beside Dr
Nit-al, Dr Sharex and Saarok.
"So can you read any of it."
"Unfortunatly not" Saarok noted dryly "It appears to be a mix of
a very primitive vulcan script and some form of romulan."
"I m more concerned by the reactor," Dr Nit al commented, "Im no
engineer but my antennae are sensitive enough to detect the elctronic flux in
the reactor, its increasing in power."
Magellan frowned again and then tapped at the tricorder.
"Here that will clear its block, try scanning it now."
"If I may" Sharex said taking the tricorder "I have a broader
background."
He ran the tricorder around the console. He circled it three times.
"Its unique, the power source is well... incredibly powerful but seems
highly unstable. There appears to be some kind of mechanism for stabilising the
reaction but its offline."
"Any idea how to get it online?"
"None at all, even if we can decipher the text on the consoles, I wouldnt
know where to start with backstepping the overload sequence."
"Overload?"
"Oh yes. This reactor is ratcheting up in power its small but exponential.
I reckon we have 12 to 48 hrs before teh reactor will over blow the constricts
and then well... I believe the term is kaboom."
Magellan stared at the scientist,
"How big a kaboom?"
"Without knowing the source of the power its..."
"Thats not a problem I know the source, I can't say at the moment what it
is."
"I see" Sharex replied suspicously, "Then its still my best
guess. If this were a standard deuterium-tritium reactor it would take out the
whole of this city. But this power source, its incredible an explosion would
destroy this planet, Assailant and half the system!"
Stunned faces stared back, a reactor due to blow in less than 48 hrs with no
known way to stop it was somethin none of them had trained for nor expected.
Magellan
alllowed things to sink in and then released he needed to act and act quickly.
"Doctors, Ambassadors, can you remain here to work on deciphering the
text"
<Saarok>
"Good. I need to arrange evacuation plans, I ll have a team of engineers
come down to asssit you."
"Are you going to tell us what the power source is?" Sharex asked
"It may help."
Magellan looked about and then nodded
"Okay. But this goes no further, the reactor seems to be powered by an
Isotope of the highly dangerous element Omega. Its highly classified material,
very few scientists who study it survive and in fact any research in the
Federation is banned."
"Then how in the galaxy can we stop it."
"That you leave to me. Just concentrate on deciphering their
language."
Magellan left the reactor room and headed towards the science bas camp as
quickly as he could. As he did so he tapped his comm badge.
"Magellan to
"
"Never mind that. Put me through to Captain Jira, secure channel Priority
One."
"Aye sir right away"
There was a pause and the Harrias' voice rang out.
"Admiral?"
"We have a major catastrophe in the making here" Magellan stated and
then explained what was transpiring.
"I know your new to the captains chair. But I need you to access a
captains eye only file in the
"Do sir?"
"Just read it. I m afraid I m gonna be reassignbing the
"Reassigning? Surely we will be needed to help evacuate Assailant."
"No good, even with the Nevada and the whole first fleet it would take at
least 4 days to evacuate everyone of Assailant. I need to you to find someone.
There is only one man I know who knows anything about the Omega Molecule and
especially its isotopes. As much as it galls me we need his help. Hes a wanted
criminal and I swore I d kill him the next time I saw him so he'll be hard to
find."
<Harrias>
"His name is Dr Kavek. Go to my office, there is a file on him in my main
computer, Zoilip will access it for you. There is also a file from Starfleet
Intelligence they have been tracking him down and should have his last known
position, it wasnt too far from here the Tanis Borealis System I believe."
< Harrias>
"Good Luck to you Captain and be careful, Kavek is ruthless and clever,
but hes also an egotist I think he will do anything to get a look at this
reactor, but don't trust him not one bit. And I dont need to remind you how
much relies on the
Tedak
nodded without protest. Of course he had wanted to stay but he knew better than
to argue with an admiral of whom he knew he didn't trust him. He whistled
softly and his loyal little brown friend landed on his arm, gazing at him
questioningly. "Stay here," Tedak told the brown, "observe and
make sure that they stay safe." He pictured Harrias in his mind. "Get
to him as soon as someting is wrong. Do not hesitate." He pictured the
<anyone>
Tedak whistled again, but a different tune and now his little bronze came to
him. T'Val had a note ready on a PADD and handed it to the little bronze.
"Take it to Harrias," she said, "it says what to do when your
littermate arrives on the
<Harrias>
The infant in T'Val's arms started crying softly, waving his little fists in
the air. Tedak cast a final glance at Magellan, receiving a glance back that,
he believed, said 'this is non-negotiable, you are going back'. He nodded once,
laid a protective arm around his wife and the infant, and lead (led?) them
away. Minutes later, they were back on the station, where he lead T'Val and the
baby to sickbay.
T'Val laid the infant carefully on a biobed, asking a Tedak to assist her.
After careful examination, T'Val took the infant in her arms again, and carried
it over to a washing unit. "THe child is definately Debrune qua
genetics," she concluded, while undressing the infant. She wrinkled her
nose for a second, and told Tedak to start a hunt for diapers. There were bound
to be women aboard who had infants.
Tedak nodded and walked off, only to return a minute later. "One of the
nurses recently had given birth," he said, handing her a couple of small
sized pampers.
T'Val nodded and lowered the child in the basin with warm water. Instantly, the
infant stopped crying. Its dark blue eyes scanned its surroundings, and finally
locked with T'Val's. "Look," T'Val said, "he still has blue
eyes. According to my tests, this baby is little more than a month old. I
wonder how his mother had called him." She looked down at the baby, and
when Tedak motioned that he wanted to have a go at bathing the baby, she
stepped aside. "Who will take care of him now?" she wondered aloud,
"are there any other Debrune left?"
"If there are not, I am going to talk to Magellan," Tedak promised,
"then we will adopt the baby."
T'Val's eyes lit up with hope. "Would you?" she asked, her voice
breaking. It was good they were practically alone because she did not wnat the
assaillant staff to see her crying. Ever since they were married, T'Val had had
a child-wish, but after enough attempts, it became painfully clear that she
could not get pregnant.
Tedak nodded. "And until we know more, we shall care for the infant. Just
then, Tomlinson walked in, and Tedak turned away to give him a full report.
Rick
Sharpe was walking through a corridor, in a somewhat hurried pace. He had
forgotten about the time when he was busy with one of his favourite hobbies:
crashing shuttles on the holodeck, trying to improve his skills on flying
various types. He thought it helped, crash rates were dropping, so it was time
to increase the difficulty settings again. It was, as he described it in one of
his usual understatements, "a nice way to kill the time". To see a
large asteroid hurling itself towards you, he found quite exciting, at least at
the holodeck. When he was lying flat on the asteroid's surface, he heard a
familiar voice:
“Personal alert: this is the third warning and if you haven’t left for the
bridge yet, you’d better get a move on.”
It was indeed his own voice, he recorded a series of warnings to be played in
the event of losing himself in his game, which happened quite often.
“Computer, send the flight data to my quarters.”
It bleeped.
And now he was walking down the corridor, heading for the turbolift.
“Hello everybody,” he called as he entered Deck 1.
He looked around and saw that only the Ops Officer was present.
“A good afternoon to you too.”
“I hope we’ll start on a mission soon,” Rick said, “ I’m starting to get
bored.”
“Yes, we’ve been put on stand by; that sounds promising.”
“I assume the Captain is in his ready room?”
“You assume correctly.”
“Well, he’ll probably come out soon, we’ll just have to sit and wait for him,”
said Rick as he walked to his chair.
As soon as he was seated the Science Officer arrived and not even a minute
later Harrias entered the bridge closely followed by Agalacticae, who took the
chance of introducing him to the some of the other crewmembers on the bridge.
Naturally for a pilot the first person he noticed was the CNO, Lt. Rick Sharpe.
Agalacticae: “Mr. Sharpe, allow me to introduce myself, Commander Agalacticae,
the new first officer aboard”
”Ah, nice to meet you,” Sharpe said, “I read in your personell file that you
started as a CNO. It must be strange to see someone else doing the job now.”
Agalacticae: “Indeed, I have to admit that I am quite jealous that you will
take her out…”
”Well, I wouldn’t say no to a Prometheus class vessel either,” said Sharpe,
proving he truly read Agalacticae’s file, at least the part which wasn’t
confidential.
Promptly after the two officers had finished their conversation Harrias’ orders
proved Agalacticae’s point.
Harrias: "Start her up Mr Sharpe."
Sharpe: "Aye sir. Engineering reports ready."
Harrias: "Take her out. Easy as she goes." He turned to the science
officer. "Run a sensor sweep, look for anything unusual."
As Mr. Sharpe gently started to move the ship away from the base, Agalacticae
could feel his fingers itch. Getting used to “just watching” would also take
some time. Hopefully though the Captain would allow him to take a spin in one
of the shuttles every now and then…
"Call
for you from Starbase."
Harrias spun to face the screen. He raised his eyes slightly, as was his
custom.
"
Harrias could see all the activity happening behind the speaker, so had decided
not to press the matter, not wanting to rush them further. He glanced at Rick
Sharpe, and without even speaking to him, the navigation officer had moved them
into position. As a small shuttle tried to move past them, the operations
officer opened up a comm link and after a few seconds, the shuttle turned back.
Smiling at the efficiency of his crew, Harrias sat back slightly, enjoying the
working system.
Suddenly he was raised by Magellan. A short way into the conversation their new
orders came through.
"Reassigning? Surely we will be needed to help evacuate Assailant."
"No good, even with the Nevada and the whole first fleet it would take at
least 4 days to evacuate everyone of Assailant. I need to you to find someone.
There is only one man I know who knows anything about the Omega Molecule and
especially its isotopes. As much as it galls me we need his help. Hes a wanted
criminal and I swore I'd kill him the next time I saw him so he'll be hard to
find."
"That sounds a bit aggressive for you admiral. Have an uncomfortable
uniform at the time did you. What's he up to then?" The admiral gave him a
look of disdain before he replied.
"His name is Dr Kavek. Go to my office, there is a file on him in my main
computer, Zoilip will access it for you. There is also a file from Starfleet
Intelligence they have been tracking him down and should have his last known
position, it wasnt too far from here the Tanis Borealis System I believe."
"I know the area. We'll head that way now."
"Good Luck to you Captain and be careful, Kavek is ruthless and clever,
but hes also an egotist I think he will do anything to get a look at this
reactor, but don't trust him not one bit. And I dont need to remind you how
much relies on the
"We'll come through Assailant."
"Magellan Out"
About to leave, Harrias spotted one of Tedak's firelizards appear on the
bridge. He thought for a few seconds about delaying to get it off, but decided
if it was there, then there it would have to stay.
"You heard the Admiral, Lieutenant Sharpe, let's go to the Tanis Borealis
System."
Sev
hovered for a moment, then did a few rounds across the bridge to locate his
'target'. Once found, he directed his course towards the Trill captain, as this
one was the only one that matched the description Tedak had given him. Hanging
on to the PADD in his claws, he sped towars Harrias, hovering before the Trill
blocking his path.
He chirped questioningly, cocking his head at Harrias, then dropped the PADD in
the outstretched hands. Then he flew off to find himself a perch on the bridge,
to overlook things until he would be called back to Assaillant.
~~Debrune ruins~~
Nut zipped after the retreating party, spotted Magellan and squeeked at him.
The little firelizard kept up with the quick pace, and after another
questioning chirp, landed on the admiral's shoulder, careful not to disturb his
uniform in any way. From his perch, he kept an eye on the other members of the
party, especially the two Andorians.
Tedak
walked out of sickbay, leaving the child in T'Val's hands. The security
officer, Tomlinson, did not follow him, instead, he remained in close viscinity
of the child. He thought that, now that he had the time, he'd better check up
on his messages and see if any answers had come back from the querries he'd
send to the Emperor.
As soon as he had cleared the sickbay area, he broke into a run, feeling that
he could use the exercise anyway. Lately, he'd not been to the gym, and he
figured that, as soon as Saarok was back from the ruins, he'd invite his friend
to a sparring match in the gym. Just as he rounded a corner, near the docking
bays, he collided with someone else. The both of them grunted and landed flat on
the deck.
Tedak was the first to regain his breath. Getting to his feet, he held out a
hand to help the other up. First thing he noticed was that it was a male
officer, and he held his breath for a moment when he spotted the rank insignia
on his collar. "Ehm, excuse me admiral, my mistake entirely," he
said, smiling wryly as he dusted off his own robes. "Could I offer you a
drink to make it up?" he added, intrigued as to what another flag admiral
would be doing on this station. "Oh, I am Tedak, Romulan Ambassador to the
Federation. I live here on Assaillant with my wife, whom you will no doubt meet
later if you ever need to go to sickbay. She is Vulcan
Magellan
allowed things to sink in and then released he needed to act and act quickly.
"Doctors, Ambassadors, can you remain here to work on deciphering the
text"
"I will attempt to assist admiral, however i must point out that my
expertise lie in a different field, but lets not go into details about it now,
rest assured i will do everything i can do.", Saarok said
After the admiral went of, Saarok and Nit-Al were concentrated on deciphering
the text. But to no avail they were able to decipher most of it but nothing
that said about how to terminate the reactor without blowing up the planet.
The Omega molecule is an extremely dangerous substance and can destroy subspace
in this area of the quadrant should an explosion occur, and that can not be
allowed. It was time to consult Starfleet records on this Dr. Kavek, the name
sounds like a smuggler who deals with rare items and who has crossed the path
of certain parties a few times but always managed to wiggle out.
After explaining to Dr. Nit-Al that he can not do anything more to help out,
Saarok accompanied by his 2 security officers made way out of the are where the
transporters do not work. Once he reached the ground floor, he and his security
personnel activated their personal transporters and a few moments later
appeared on SB Assailant in the office of ambassador Saarok.
After dismissing the security personnel, Saarok made way to his computer
console, where he had several messages waiting for him, they were of the usual
sort, a change in the comm array configuration o shield transmissions from the
federation ship scanning the area, the latest SFI reports on activity in the
Romulan empire, it would appear they managed to recruit a member of the Romulan
senate, it was logical that this message never reaches ambassador Tedak as he
might consider it ....
Even with his wide views. After reading through the report he sent a request
for the record of Dr. Kavek, alto there was some logic in it that there is not
much known about him. After sending the request, he terminated the connection
and made way out of his office, he wanted to check on ambassador Tedak. He started
walking to the promenade accompanied by his faithful guards as always....
Drew
brushed the dirt of his uniform, and gave the Ambassador before him a hearty
smile, he had heard that Assailant hah representatives from most of the major
powers in the quadrant, he just never expected to actually bump into one.
“Paul Drew,” he said in way of introduction to Tedak, who had just introduced
himself, and then added with a laugh, “and you certainly can offer me a drink!”
“There is a bar on the Space Dock level, the Fishtank, we could meet there
later, say
Drew smiled at the Romulan again, “that sounds good to me.”
“Excellent,” Tedak said happily, “I will be able to introduce you to my wife.”
Drew noticed the glint in Tedak’s eyes as he referred to his other half;
clearly Drew thought this is a couple very much in love, it reminded him of his
feelings for his own wife back on Mars.
“Can I ask Ambassador, where you were heading in such a hurry?” Drew asked,
remembering how he had been flung to the deck.
Tedak looked embarrassed for a few moments, “I was actually heading to check my
messages.”
Drew gave him another smile, and a small chuckle, “Must have been an important
message.”
“I was catching up on some exercise,” Tadek explained.
“Ah, I see,” Drew, said, a smile still on his face, and then turning serious
asked, “Could you tell me where I could find Admiral Magellan?
While
aboard the IKS T’Gor, the newly promoted 1st LT, Hrisvalar, was united with
what would become the USS Nevada-A’s first Marine Assault Team. A total of 7
enlisted, marines consisting of 1 Staff Sergeant, 2 Sergeants, 3 Corporals, and
1 Lance Corporal. This was not a large marine contingent for a Sovereign class
starship. It was a small, specialized assault team for quick, covert action,
readily available at a captain’s request.
‘They look ready. Need to go over their personnel files when I get a chance’
was Zhukarak Hrisvalar’s thought as he was looking them over. Oddly enough,
they were all human and one of them, a sergeant, was a female. That they were
all one species was good, that meant they should be able to work well together.
Zhuk was just curious to see how they would respond to an Andorian leading
them. The human female, however, he was not happy to lead, not as part of an
assault team. On Andor, human females were not thought of as fierce. They could
not possibly compare to females of his own race, as Zhuk had served side by
side with many of them, and thought they were some of the fiercest fighters. A
klingon female would have been more preferable. He would have to watch this
one.
The staff sergeant, Jason Carrera, approached Zhukarak.
Carrera: “So, sir. Any idea if we have any impending missions coming up, or
will we be supplementing the
Hrisvalar: “We are in luck sergeant. I was told that the
Carrera: “Lieutenant, that’s a name I wish I hadn’t heard! He is a high
security risk. A rogue scientist who likes to experiment with the forbidden
Omega molecule, just that fact alone makes him very dangerous.” “Don’t tell me
that’s who we are after.”
Hrisvalar: “Apparently so. An ancient reactor on Qualinost will be going
critical in a few days. It seems this fugitive scientist may be able to help in
some way.”
Carrera: “And if he can’t?”
Hrisvalar: “The lives on starbase Assailant and on Qualinost will cease to
exist.”
Just then. =/\= Lt Hrisvalar. You and your team need to report to the
transporter room for immediate transfer. =/\= =/\= We are on our way. =/\=
After having been beamed aboard the USS Nevada-A, Zhuk needed to report to the
captain.
Hrisvalar: “Staff Sergeant Carrera. Have the squad get settled in, while I
report in to the captain. I’ll conduct a briefing when I have more information.
Also, check in with the ship’s doctor to ensure we are in medical compliance.”
Carrera: “Yes sir.”
Zhukarak liked this NCO (non-commissioned officer) already. The fact that the
sergeant engaged Zhuk in conversation was a sign that he was willing to work
with a superior of another species. This should help in influencing the others,
if there is a problem.
Just as the turbolift was to open his comm badge chirped.
=/\= First Lieutenant Hrisvalar to report to the bridge. =/\=
=/\= On my way, sir. =/\=
Within seconds of that statement, he had stepped onto the bridge
With the
Andorian now standing on the bridge in front of him, Harrias was suddenly aware
of the advantages of having him.
"Good morning Lieutenant, and thank you for your prompt arrival."
"You are welcome Captain."
"Indeed I am. I have a request of you Lieutenant. I realise that you are
in charge of the marines, however our Chief Tac/Sec Officer has failed to
report for duty, and I was wondering if you would be able to cover that
position for the duration of this mission. Basically you would take control of
all the security forces on board, and the tactical console. If not, we will
continue with the assistant in charge?"
"You are fortunate, Captain. Part of my training included the basic combat
tactics of Starfleet vessels. I would be honored to assist at the tactical
station until a more suitable replacement becomes available."
"Okay. You have been briefed on the mission I take it?"
"We are to capture Dr Kavek."
Harrias paused. He was aware that this was the basis of the matter, but when
you told marines to capture someone... Afterall, they wanted the doctor to be cooperative.
Admitedly, in the end it might take convincing that only marines could do to
get his help, but who knows.
"Yes, although it would be preferable to have him come of his own free
will."
"I
understand your concern, sir." "I assure you, when we capture him,
he'll have no choice but to assist us."
"We shall see. Nonetheless, welcome aboard. The tactical station is
yours."
With that, Zhuk took his leave from the captain and assumed his post at the
tactical station.
As
Lieutenant Hrisvalar made his way to the security console, which was just to
the right of the helm console, Harrias started to speak to the officer in front
of him, at the helm.
"Mr Sharpe, how long until we arrive in the Tanis Borealis System?"
Lieutenant Sharpe tapped a few buttons on the console in front of him, and the
ship slowed to a halt. He turned in his seat before speaking.
"Captain, we have just arrived in the Tanis Borealis System."
Choosing not to reply, Harrias instead read through a file he had on Dr Kavek.
The file, which he had been provided with by Admiral Magellan's staff listed
the more exact whereabouts of the doctor. According to the file, he should be
on a privately funded research facility on the fourth planet. As Lt Sharpe
moved them in orbit of the planet, Harrias read further through the file.
The facility that Dr Kavek was working in was owned by Poltek, which was based
on the moon. Although it recognised the federation as a benefactor, they also
recognised countless other governments, and accepted none of their rules. That
meant that they couldn't just parade onto the base, instead they would have to
take things more tentatively.
"Okay, senior staff, briefing room. Now."
When they were all present he ran once more through their basic mission, and
then more specifically about their plan of attack for the 'acquiring' of Dr
Kavek from the facility below.
"Lieutenant Hrisvalar. I want you to take your marine crew down onto the
planet. Surround the base as far as you can. If you need more people, I think there
are some ex-marines in our security force, take them with you. Then I want a
team of myself, Commander Agalacticae and Commander McDuff to go down to the
base to see if we can't get him peacefully. Lieutenant Sharpe, I will leave you
in command of the ship. I want you to run constant sensor sweeps on the planet
and more specifically the base. Keep Lieutenant Hrisvalar informed on anything
he should know. Everyone know what they are doing? Let's get to it
people."
Seeing
Mr. Shape getting the Nevada underway for the Tanis Borealis System, a small
sigh escaped Agalacticae’s mouth, immediately triggering a more or less
uninvited response from the Captain.
Harrias: “It gets better with time…”
Agalacticae only responded with a slight nod, as the Nevada finally received
their orders to take up a blockade position only to be revoked soon after by an
incoming transmission from Admiral Lin. With the turn of events on the planet –
a reactor about to explode and the power and mystery of the Omega Molecule – their
mission now turned into a hunting mission for a person named Dr. Kavek.
Following the conversation with Admiral Lin, Harrias ordered Lt. Shape to set
course for the Tanis Borealis System, before heading to his ready room, asking
Agalacticae to join him for a second. Entering the ready room, where only hours
ago Agalacticae had agreed to accept the first officer position aboard the
Nevada, the two officers - and friends started talking about what the Admiral
said.
Harrias: “So what do you think?”
Agalacticae: “I don’t know much about this Dr. Kavek, but I won’t be easy to
find him, let alone persuade him to come along…”
Harrias: “I agree…” while he walked to his desk and took a seat.
Agalacticae: “We should try and gather as much information about Dr. Kavek as
possible and try to avoid any conflicts whatsoever in our dealing with him…”
Harrias nodded while accessing his computer and browsing for the file the
Admiral mentioned. Discussion the nature of the Omega Molecule Agalacticae
positioned himself behind the Captain, so they both could have a look at the
console screen. When Harrias located the file, he paused for a moment, turning
to Agalacticae.
Harrias: “I have to ask you to leave now, Commander”
Surprised by the words he just heard Agalacticae looked at Harrias in
amazement.
Agalacticae: “Pardon?”
Harrias: “You heard the admiral – captain’s eyes only”
Agalacticae: “But…”
Harrias: “Sorry my friend, but I’m playing this by the book…”
Somewhat disappointed by not being allowed to gain access to the information at
hand, Agalacticae could not help but wonder whether Harrias actually trusted
him… Agalacticae had never had to think about this previously and always took
his friend’s trust for given. Wondering about whether this only was a matter caused
by their change in positions or a deeper problem within their friendship
Agalacticae made his way onto the bridge, when Harrias’ commbadge sounded.
=/\= First Lieutenant Hrisvalar to report to the bridge =/\=
Sensing his friends disappointment Harrias’ stopped Agalacticae a few steps
short of the door.
Harrias: “…and would you please brief Mr. Hrisvalar on the current situation.
I’ll be on the bridge shortly.”
Agalacticae: “Aye Captain”
Leaving the ready room with a bitter aftertaste Agalacticae decided that there
was no time for personal feeling to affect their working together and greeted
Hrisvalar on the bridge.
Agalacticae: “Mr. Hrisvalar – welcome aboard”
Giving Lt. Hrisvalar are mission briefing to bring him up to speed only moment
after they were finished Harrias reappeared on the bridge, introducing himself
to Mr. Hrisvalar, and following their arrival in the Tanis Borealis system
called for a senior staff meeting.
It was
time for action. Before Lieutenant Hrisvalar met up with his marines, he had
scanned the research facility. It wasn’t very large, consisting of three major
buildings with a few auxiliary buildings for storage, etc. There didn’t seem to
be a security force. Why should they, after all it was a Federation sanctioned
facility.
Zhukarak Hrisvalar made his way onto the turbolift. “Deck 7, Armoury!”
=/\= Sergeant Carerra. Lieutenant Hrisvalar here. Get the marines in gear, and
find us four more personnel to complement us. I’ll meet you in the armoury.
=/\=
=/\= I have just the men in mind, sir. Seems there are a few ex-marines
onboard. =/\=
While getting his gear in the armoury, 1stLt Hrisvalar was laying out his plan.
“We will split up into four teams of four each, Alpha, Beta, Delta. Each team
will be transported in the vicinity of one of the three main research
buildings. I want you to spread out your men to surround cover all exits from
those buildings. The auxiliary buildings should provide us with some cover, if
necessary. Once we are in place, I will contact the Captain who will then beam
down with his away team to help persuade Dr. Kavek to come with us. Let’s go!”
Just as planned, each team had beamed down onto the moon and surrounded their
respective buildings. A couple of civilian researchers had to be rendered unconscious
as to not alarm the rest of the facility. Zhukarak was waiting for all teams to
get in place.
=/\= Beta team in place. =/\=
A few seconds later,
=/\= Delta Team in place. =/\=
The Lieutenant gave his own report.
=/\= Alpha Team in place. Keep your eyes open. Keep your weapons on maximum
stun and don’t let anyone leave. =/\=
=/\= Captain Harrias, This is Lieutenant Hrisvalar. My teams are in place. You
may proceed. =/\=
With the
call coming back from Lt Hrisvalar indicating that his forces were in place,
Harrias nodded towards his first officer.
"You have the bridge Mr Sharpe."
Harrias and Robert then left the bridge heading towards the transporter room.
As they were dropping through the ship in the turbolift, Harrias turned to his
XO.
"Commander, I'd like to apologise about the whole problem with the Omega
Particle. In my opinion, showing you would have not caused any harm.
Unfortunately there are rules there, and I'm sure they are there for a
reason."
"One thing about the particle that I can tell you. If it extremely
unstable and dangerous. Now, let's go get us a doctor!"
The lift had stopped, and it was only a couple of minutes before they arrived
in the transporter room. Commander McDuff was already there. The three stood on
the transporter pad, choosing not to take any security, and quickly re-emerged
on the planet.
Magellan
paced within the main control centre of the Habitation Dome on Qualinost. He
needed some time to himself.
What a mess this had become. Why was it that diplomats always seemed to be at
the bottom of all of troubles. If they all survived this he would make sure
Ambassador Kaskrene never set foot in the Federation again. Tholians! Why did
he ever agree to allow them onboard let alone down on teh planet.
Of late, his whole life revolved around paperwork and diplomacy. It was not
something he was specifically trained. Gone were the days aboard the Victory as
Operations Manager where problems where the prevail of Locutis and he had a
hands on approach.
The Victory... that may just be it. It wasnt a solution but it was an idea.
quickly he exited the Hab Dome and rushed back to the Dig site and the reactor
room.
Dr Nit-al and Dr Sharex still pored over the reactors console but appeared to
have made no headway.
"Victory" Magellan exclaimed as he entered,
The two scientists looked at the trill and then at each other.
"Sorry?"
"The Victory. My first ship was a Temporal ship a specialised in Temporal
Mechanics."
"I dont follow" Sharex asked "This reactor isnt temporal."
"No no I know. But I think I can slow it down. On the Victory we used
modified forcefields to protect the temporal core. If I could rig one around
the Reactor core, it could slow the countdown. It won't stop it but it may give
us more time for the Nevada to find Kavek or better still you find a
solution."
"It might work"
"It will" Magellan replied
he turned away.
"Magellan to Assailant"
"F'Rras here"
"I need a science team, a maintainence team and they are to bring down
portable field generators a tachyon emmitter and a wave modulator"
"Very good sir. I have some messages for you."
"Go ahead"
"Ensign tomlinson has placed Ambassador Kaskrene under house arrest.
Ambassador Tedak wanted you to know the infant they found is doing well. And an
Admiral Drew has arrived."
"Admiral Drew!! Is it that time already. Okay then F'Rras If Admiral Drew
makes an appearance in Ops you are to put yourself and the Base under his
command. I m remaining here for the time being. Tell him I ll be in touch when
I can, oh and ask him if he knows how to rig a temporal generator."
It hadn’t
taken Drew long to learn that Magelln along with other members of the Base’s
team were dealing with a particularly nasty situation, and that now really
wasn’t the best time to bother him.
Deciding he had better do something useful, Drew headed for the Ops area of the
base, surely someone there would be able to find a job for him. Walking out
onto the wide operation centre, Drew was greeted by a Regulan Starfleet
Commander, who promptly stood to attention.
“Admiral Drew, I am Commander F'rras.”
Drew held out his hand, then noticing the look on confusion at the human
gesture, pulled his hand back to his side.
“A pleasure to meet you Commander,” he replied, with his standard ‘meet a new
person’ smile.
“Admiral Lin has instructed that you are to assume command of the base, until
his return,” F’rras told him quickly, one eye being kept on his console.
“I see,” Drew, replied, trying hard to hide his surprise, “In that case
Commander, status report.”
F’rras quickly brought Drew up to date, and told him of Magellan’s plan, Drew
nodded his head in agreement with Magellan’s decisions as F’rras spoke, when he
had finished, Drew ordered a channel be open to the Admiral.
“Magellan, you do like to get yourself in messy situations,” Drew said, when he
was told the channel was open.
“Messy doesn’t begin to describe it Paul,” Magellan replied.
“I am sure it doesn’t,” Drew said, casting a glance at the console in front of
him, “We are sending the teams you requested now, each of them has been briefed
on the situation.”
“Thanks,” Magellan said over the comm, Drew couldn’t be sure, but he thought
his old friend sounded relived, “I just hope it will work.”
“If I remember my temporal mechanic classes, it should do”, Drew reassured him,
“If you need anything else, you know where to call.”
“Will do,” Magellan replied, “Lin out.”
Now that things seemed to be under control a bit more, Drew caught sight of the
time, remembering his appointment with Tedak, he placed F'rras in command, and
headed for the fish tank.
Later
that evening, Tedak took his wife to the Fishtank, after both had made sure
that the Debrune infant was being looked after by the medical staff. The couple
had taken it upon themselves to look after the child in turns, seeing to it
that he was washed, changed and fed. At the moment, the infant was sleeping
quietly, so that both felt it safe to be away from it.
"Come," Tedak said, taking his wife by the arm gently, "we do
not want to miss this appointment, one does not keep an admiral waiting."
The two walked down the promenade towards the Fishtank, where Drew was already
waiting for them. "Greetings admiral," Tedak said, "this is my
wife, T'Val. She is the healer to the Diplomatic Staff aboard this station. T'Val,
meet Admiral Paul Drew. Admiral, your reputation precedes you. Please, I have
made reservations, do let us sit down."
“A pleasure to meet you Healer T’Val,” Drew said in a welcoming tone, “Tedak
has told me so much about you.” Drew followed Tedak and T’Val toa nearby table,
where they were seated, rather comfortably.
The three of them walked down to a table and a waiter came to take their order
for drinks. Once they received their orders, Tedak gazed at Drew. "So what
is a distinguished admiral doing on Assaillant? I am terribly sorry that you
have to miss Admiral Lin, he is rather cooped up on the planet, but I am sure
that once he receives word of your arrival, that he will send a message
toyou."
Drew took
a slip of the Vulcan tea he had ordered before replying, “I have been sent by
command to give Admiral Lin an extra pair of hands around here, I will be
taking on the role of Chie of Base Operations, and trying to help him cut down
on the paper work.”
“That will be excellent for his health,” T’Val commented.
“Indeed it should,” Drew, agreed, “I just spoke with him briefly over the comm,
he sounded like he could need a rest, so tell me Ambassador, what is life like
on Assailant?”
"Life
is good on this station," Tedak replied earnestly, and smiled happily,
"especially since I met T'Val. Even more curious was the circumstances we
met in...you see someone had tried to assassinate me, something that happends a
little too frequently for my taste. However, I managed to survive every one of
them, with special thanks to Ambassador Saarok." He paused and sipped his
coffee. "Saarok is the Vulcan ambassador to Assaillant, and one of my best
friends. Together, we have braved many a danger, and for some reason, danger
always comes to us."
He launched into an account of previous mission, and the account made T'Val
look down at her own mug in embarassment. Her flirtations with the admiral were
only too vivid in her mind, and she feared that she would never forget it, even
though Tedak had not held her at all responsible, nor the admiral.
"But we are glad that this is behind us, but now we face another problem.
T'Val found a Debrune baby, and both parents were killed a few days ago. If it
is all right with admiral Magellan, we would like to adopt the child. You see,
we have been trying to get children, but we are unable to, medically
speaking."
Again T'Val felt blood rise to her cheeks. ~husband, this is not talk for a
stranger's ears~ she chided him silently, but sternly.
Tedak shot a glance at her and stopped midsentence, he had been about to tell
Drew how he and Saarok had Impressed the firelizards. "I am sure you will
meet one of them soon, Saarok's queen and blue should be about. If you see
them, Saarok must be close by."
“I will
make sure to keep an eye out for them then!” Drew said, laughing at the trouble
Tedak was getting himself into with his wife. Before Drew could say anything
else though he was interrupted by a call from the Ops.
=/\=F'rras to Drew=/\=, came the voice of Commander F’rras, who sounded very
worried.
“Go ahead Commander,” Drew replied, tapping his comm badge.
=/\=Sir, an unknown ship has just entered the area,” F’rras reported, Drew as
already on his feet before the Commander got his next words out, “We have tried
hailing them, but as of yet have no response.=/\=
“I am on my way Commander, keep trying to reach them,” Drew ordered.
=/\=Aye Sir,=/\= F’rras signed off.
Drew gave Tedak and T’Val an apologetic smile, “You will have to excuse me.”
“Of course,” Tedak replied, raising to the table to shake Drew’s hand.
~~~In Ops~~~
Drew stepped out of the turbolift to find the deck buzzing with activity,
reports were being called out all over the place, and on the viewscreen was a
single ship, which to Drew didn’t like much bigger than a Delta Flyer class
shuttle.
“Report,” he called out, walking down to the central command and control
console.
“They dropped out of warp five minutes ago,” F’rras told him, reading from his
display board, “still no reply to our hails.”
Drew did a quick scan of the screen displays himself, the small ship was
heading straight for them.
“Keep trying to hail them,” he told the young Lieutenant stationed at
communications, “How many life signs?” he asked, turning to face F’rras again.
“Only three,” F’rras reported, “All human.”
Drew looked up at the viewscreen and watched the small ship get closer and
closer, he had to take some sort of deceive action soon.
“Put through on all channels,” he ordered, standing straight, and placing his
hands behind his back, with a nod from the Lieutenant, he took a deep breath,
and began to speak.
“Attention unknown vessel, please slow down your approach and identify
yourself.”
Drew waited a few moments, listening to the static of the channel, then turning
to face the Lieutenant, who’s name he really must learn, he shot up an eyebrow.
“They heard you Sir,” the Lieutenant replied, “they just don’t wanna talk.”
“Or they can’t,” F’rras added.
“Well, if they don’t slow down, they could crash right into us,” Drew said,
still watching the viewscreen, “Prepare a tractor beam, we will force them to
slow down.” Although forcing ship’s into tractor beams was sometimes frowned
on, Drew wasn’t taking any chances.
“Tractor ready,” F’rras reported.
“Sir!” another Officer called out, “they have powered up weapons, incoming
phaser fire.”
“Shields!” Drew bellowed, holding onto the console for support incase they
didn’t get up in time.
The station shook slightly as the phaser fire hit, and then returned to normal.
“Report,” Drew asked.
“They have stopped firing, no damage,” F’rras reported.
“Good, now get a tractor on them, and drag them in,” Drew ordered, staring at
the ship on the screen.
“One thing though,” the Lieutenant called out, “I detected a transport from the
shuttle, they beamed two people down close to the Admiral’s location.”
“Great,” Drew muttered under his breath, then ordered F’rras to contact Admiral
Lin and inform him he was going to have visitors.
“I will be at the shuttle pad waiting for our guest to get here,” Drew said,
pointing at the shuttle that was now being pulled towards docking pad B by the
tractor beam, “have any senior staff of the base left meet me there.”
Drew heard an “aye sir” before the turbo lift doors closed behind him
Having
placed Ambassador Kaskrene under house arrest, Simon was sitting in his rather
large office. Although it wasn't as big as the one that he had been in while
Defense Secretary on Xindi, it was more than large enough for his purposes. He
had not made much effort to make the place homely yet, he had stuck a picture
of Xindi on the wall. It served as a reminder for him. Of his past, of what he
could acheive, and that whatever you acheive, it can all change in a matter of
hours.
He was reading through his files when he noticed that Rear Admiral Drew had
come aboard. Although he had known about this transfer, he had expected the
Admiral to arrive a bit later. He made a note to meet him at the soonest
oppurtunity. As he was reading through a few more files, checking for anything
that might denote a security risk, his doors slid open, and Gaskene marched in,
the anger showign on his face.
"Release him."
Tomlinson smiled. "No. He accepted his arrest, and although he is covered
by his diplomatic status, he has allowed himself to be placed under house
arrest. His diplomatic status does not mean that he can get away with murder,
and unfortunately that is what we are dealing with."
"The man he shot was a threat to the life of himself and all others on the
planet."
"That will be taken into consideration. I will deal with the case in due
course. At the moment however, there are much more important things to
consider. Did you know that Dr Kavek had close dealings with your own
government? I was wondering if you could do some research for me. Try and find
out what he is up to. See if there is anything we can send to the USS Nevada to
help them."
Still seething, but realising he was beaten, the tholian aide left the security
office, muttering something about trying his best.
Now in
his quarters, Tedak received the message that all senior staff was to meet with
Admiral Drew at a shuttle pad. He had just settled comfortably on the couch,
T'Val leaning against him. This was something she did only in the close
surroundings of their quarters. Tedak sighed and carefully stood up, easing his
sleeping wife on the couch, then covered her with a blanket. Finally, he kissed
her on her forehead and went to write her a note for when she would wake up.
He grabbed his formal robes and pulled them on, shedding the robe he found most
comfortable but was not fit for duty. That done, he left his quarters and
headed for the directios that were given by the duty officer who had paged him.
When he arrived at the location, Paul Drew was already waiting. "Anything
new admiral?" Tedak asked, raising an eyebrow, "are we expecting
trouble?"
Drew
greeted Tedak with a smile, as always, then pointing to the door brought him
up-to-date, Simon Tomlinson, Jessica Stephens and Richard Jibb also joined them
just in time to hear what was going on. Tomlinson already had a phaser attached
to his belt.
Pulling out his tricorder, Drew scanned the shuttle that had now been pulled
onto docking pad B, he didn’t want to board the small ship until he was sure it
was safe for him, and everyone else.
Deciding everything was safe, Drew slowly led the team through the airlock to
the shuttle, Tomlinson pulled out his phaser, and stood next to Drew, ready to
board the ship. Tedak, Stephens and Jibb were standing just a few feet behind
them, all of them ready for whatever awaited them ahead.
Pushing a few commands on his tricorder, Drew activated the shuttle’s locking
mechanism and the door started to open. Counting down with his fingers, Drew
led his team into the shuttle. Then they all stopped dead.
Someone had deactivated all the power in the shuttle, and now they were all in
complete darkness, none of them had thought to bring a wrist light.
“Everyone stay together,” Drew, ordered, “Commander Tomlinson, keep that phaser
handy.” Pulling his tricorder out, Drew indicated the direction they should all
head in.
Tedak could hit himself for being so stupid, going out
without at least a light or a phaser. Yet he still had his blade, a weapon he
never ever parted with, and he pulled it from its sheath. It was so dark in the
shuttle, he could not see a hand before his eyes. The person in front of him
stopped suddenly, and the Romulan walked straight into him, scratching the
person by accident with his blade. He heard a muttered curse and resisted a
grin. "Sorry," he whispered, and readjusted his blade's position to a
little more downward. This was one of the moments when he hated being
night-blind, a condition he had been born with.
"I can't see anything," he complained softly, snatching at the
uniform of whoever was before him, "when the ilumination gets past the
sense of dusk, I am virtually blind." Now he wished he had one of his
firelizards with him, but he would not recall them from their assignments
without emergency cause, and this was just mere discomfort.
As Drew and his team slowly made their way through the
shuttle, Drew heard Tomlinson yelp, and then Tedak apologising, something about
being unable to see in the dark. Drew’s attention was taken away from the
conversation by the beeping on his tricorder.
“I am detecting one life sign,” he reported to the others, “in the next
compartment.”
“Which is where?” Tedak asked, the Romulan Ambassador was completely blinded in
the darkness, and the other members of the away team couldn’t see much better
either.
“This way,” Drew said confidently, his small tricorder the only light they had.
Just as the group were about to enter the next room, they heard a loud nose
before them. Instantly they all span around, Tomlinson aimed his phaser at the
sound, and everyone else moved behind him.
Again Drew pulled out his tricorder, “I am reading a Vulcan and a Klingon.” In
the distance, they heard the door to their room opening, and could just about
make out some figures entering the room.
“Identify yourselves,” Tomlinson called out.
“It is I, Ambassador Saarok, and Delegate K'Tar,” came the reply.
Tomlinson lowed his phaser in relief, and the group stood still for a few
moments, allowing the diplomats to catch up. Finally when everyone was
together, they continued to head for the next room, where the single passenger
of this shuttle awaited.
As he was waiting for everyone to be ready, Drew did cast a thought to the
other two passengers, who had beamed down to the planet, he hoped they weren’t
causing Admiral Lin any problems down there.
Tedak turned to see the light or flashlights coming their
way. Beside him Jessica Stevens had taken his arm to guide him in the dark,
preventing him occasionally from falling over objecs that were strewn <that
a proper word?> all over the deck. "Thank you," Tedak told her,
"who is that coming towards us? I can see only the brightness of their
flashlight."
*she held onto Tedak and guided him past the objects all over the floor then
nodded as the were passed* your welcome *she replied and looked to where the
lights where comming from* Oh it is Ambassador SaaroK
"Ah, I should have known Saarok would be joining us soon." Tedak
smiled, "well, shall the two of us go off exploring one of the rooms? Once
we acquire a flashlight of course. I am quite curious to find the owners of
this vessel and ask them who or what they are." He caught Drew whispering
to Tomlinson about two of them beaming down. "Not to worry admiral,"
Tedak told Drew, "Magellan has Nut with him. If there is trouble, Magellan
will send Nut back to me. Nut has strickt orders not to leave the party unless
Magellan tells him so."
~~on
Qualinost~~
Nut nuzlled Magellans face, wanting some attention. When there was no reaction,
he gave a dissatisfied squawk and jumped into the air. He beat his wings and
flew ahead of the party, surveying the caves ahead of him. The doors to the
reactor room were closed, so he entered another hallway, one of the many in the
maze of caves and rooms. He gave a startled squawk when he nearly collided with
a person. Upon close examination, he discovered the person to be dead. The
little brown received no images from the person, neither active nor passive.
Screeching, he sped back to Magellan and resumed his perch, chattering away at
the Trill admiral, hoping he understood the message. He sprang aloft again, and
gripped the Trill's uniform firmly with his talons, pulling him along.
In
frustration Magellan batted at the small creature, the claws whilst not
piercing his uniform or skin had begun to hurt. The firelizard sqwaked as the
Admirals hand waved at him. He took to flight and circled about the Trill in
agitation.
"Can we help sir." Lieutnenat Alari asked as he entered the chamber
with a 15 strong engineering team from the Starbase.
"No... No. Go through to the reactor room, You need to set up the
forcefields around the reactor and then modulate the field strengths."
"Understood Sir. I ve read your notes, I ve brought an enhanced Tachyon
Emitter and Derek here" he pointed to the Petty Officer of the Alpha
Shift, " Reckons he can improve the temporal cross modulation."
"Aye I reckon I can" Derek grinned "But it might bring the
Temporal Investigations Team down on us."
"Well never mind that, I ll take any of the flak IF we survive"
"Yes sir. you want to lead the way?"
"No" Magellan replied ducking as the Firelizard dive bombed him.
"This...thing wants something I ll catch up with you. Dr Sharex is already
there, he can show you where to set up."
As the Maintenace Team departed Magellan looked up at the small brown creature.
"Ok you win what do you want?"
Nut seemed to nod and hissed in what seemed like a cross between exasperation
and exaltation. He fluttered off a head remaining within sight and guided the
Admiral to the next chamber.
Magellan followed the creature, becoming more and more annoyed, they didnt have
time for this. The lizard led him in to a dusty chamber in which a number of
long tubes stood vertically in the room. They where glass plated and Magellan
stepped up to take a closer look.
He brushed away the dust on the glass to reveal the face of a vulcanoid man.
Magellan gasped and took a step back. His nerves settled he had another look.
He peered closer and saw that the body was dead, preserved by some process. He
saw a small strip of script across the base it looked like a name and date.
There were no electronics and no evidence of cryogenics and then it struck him,
this was a tomb. The last resting place of some poor soul. It was also further
evidence towards proving the city was Debrune. They already had a corpse and a
living child that Magellan was certain were Debrune, but they could have only
just arrived, this corpse could prove Debrune habitation in history.
=^= Dr Nit-al lock on to my co-ordinates and join me. I have a tomb for you to
look at.=^=
Sev gave
Magellan what appeared to be a smug grin, giving a selfsatisfactory chirp,
imitating an 'I told you so'. He settled atop one of the tombs and eyed
Magellan closely, ready to step in if the Trill were facing any dangers. He had
chewed his firestone and could flame whenever he liked. Seeing his friend jump
back startled, he hopped down and landed on his shoulder, nuzzling him in an
attempt to comfort, then shuffled down the length of his arm to face him, and
chirped questioningly.
Magellan
finished examining the other tombs and discovered that several more were
occupied. Dr Nit-al had arrived and interpreted some of the iconography and
text.
It transpired that when the Debrune left the planet they realised they couldnt
shut down their reactor, instead they left behind a small group of people as
caretakers to monitor the reactor and keep it working properly. The small group
had survived for a millennia but several hundred years ago an accident
devastated their population, since that time their numbers dwindled until only
one family remained and now with Ambassador Kaskrenes help now only one
caretaker remained alive - the infant now in the care of Tedak.
With word that the forcefield was up and that it was having the desired effect
Magellan decided it was time to return to Assialant and check in with his crew,
and more importantly find out if there had been any word on the Nevadas search
for Kavek.
While
awaiting the arrival of Captain Jira and his away team, Lieutenant Zhukarak
Hrisvalar decided to try a marine issue ration bar. The teams had everything
under control and he was getting quite hungry, with this waiting and all.
Zhukarak saw that it was labeled to be high in calories, much like his native
tuber root, but would it taste as good. He opened the dark brown wrapper to
find a bar that seemed to consist of nuts and dried up berries of some sort. It
appeared to be held together with some gelatinous based substance.
Taking a bite, Zhukarak didn’t care for the taste very much, but it was
palatable. It was crunchy, yet soft and gooey. It would do for now. He promised
himself that for his next dinner aboard the Nevada, he would have to eat some
Andorian red bat, a delicacy on his home world.
While eating his bar, Zhukarak was going over his tricorder scans of the
building his team was covering. 23 life signs were indicated to be inside.
Since this seemed to be the main building, it was very plausible that Dr. Kavek
was inside, but without his specific bio-signature it was impossible to tell
where he was exactly located. Hopefully he would come along quietly, once
Captain Jira and his away team made it clear that there was no escaping.
Kavek :
So close, so close ! Must input this data quickly, so much to do !
Dr Kavek was in an excitable state, his latest research was bringing his lifes
work closer to completion. Damn the Federation - they could have benefitted so
much had they not treated his research so badly. Still, his ` clients ` would
be most pleased and Kavek cared not that they were not Federation allies, so
long as his work brought him the recognition he craved.
Suddenly he froze where he stood then rushed to a flashing panel. Intruders !
He was deep in the bowels of the secret underground lab he had devised and had
built to prevent his ` specialised ` work being discovered. Now it seemed
someone was trying to locate him against his wishes.
Kavek : Computer, show me grid 385
The computer flashed an image up on the console and Kavek breathed a sigh of
relief. It was just some crewman leaning against the secret panel on the main
floor of the facility. Enough to trigger the alarm and activate the forcefield
beyond the panel. Still, accidental though the alarm trip was, he decided to
`err on the side of caution and activate the other security systems leading to
his lair. They were due for him to test anyway.
Kavek : =/\= Shareena, I am testing security protocols =/\=
Shareena, the Doctors trusted aide, acknowledged Kavek and was ready to press
the sequence to transfer all the Doctors experimental data to a file on a
pre-designated computer system in a protected bunker on a nearby planetoid. All
passing ships took note of the warning beacons which claimed the planetoid was
protected and must not be approached.
Shareena had been his assistant for many years. He chose her for her brilliant
scientific mind but which was coupled with a childlike innocence borne of
having been brought up by Kavek for many years after he found her alone on a
distant planet. She was kept mostly isolated from others in the facility,
having been told she was only to speak to them on his instruction to get
equipment for him. She had not the confidence to speak to anyone for any other
reason, such was the brainwashing Kavek had subjected her to. She more or less
lived in a small room attached to Kaveks ` legitimate ` office, which helped
keep up appearances. This was all very well in terms of the regular facility
crew - they had been told she was ` simple ` and not to press her in to
conversation. Kavek had ensured he seemed the generous benefactor to her `sad
situation` and incredulously this had never been questioned, but then, his true
past had been kept from them all anyway. After so many years of seclusion here,
Kavek had become complacent. Little did he know that Shareena could unwittingly
be his undoing, should anyone not of the facility staff come across her....
Kavek : Computer, activate status Kavek Beta 770
Lights flashed all around on the panels as forcefields popped in to life. Two in
the stair shaft leading from the secret panel down to level One, another at a 6
inch thick titanium door, an electrical pad, strong enough to stun an intruder
covering the next hatch leading downward, a network of laser beams filling a
narrow corridor then two more titanium doors into the laboratory itself. At the
rear, a section of wall grated as it moved backward, revealing a turbolift
which led to a shielded shuttle bay containing his vehicle which was
permanently ready to whisk him away if the need arose.
He did not notice the minor flaw on the shuttle bays grid because of the other
flashing lights before him. He was unaware that a fluctuation was present in
the shielding which disguised the shuttles location. For such a perfectionist
with paranoid tendancies it was a stupid error to miss but his mind was on his
latest research, and his ego did not conceive that he may have made a basic
error in his security details when everything else was in perfect order.
Kavek : Shut down Kavek Beta 770 Reset to readyness to trigger all systems at
once at the next possible breach
Computer : Acknowledged
Kavek went back to his work, blissfully ignorant of what may transpire next a
hundred feet above in the main facility......
Having
received the all clear signal from Lieutenant Hrisvalar, Harrias and the other
two officers were now standing on the firm ground of the planet. A few hundered
metres in front of them was the facility in which Dr Kavek was working.
Harrias looked around carefully, trying to see some sign of the marines.
Unfortunately he couldn't see them at all, and he gave up, realising that he
had never really considered the implications of bringing the marines. Their
professionalism was brilliant, but they could so eaily end up as an army,
rather than a taskforce.
He realised it was too late to do anything about this, and internally shrugged.
The three officers were advancing towards the outer door of the building.
Although he hadn't seen any security measures, Captain Jira was pretty sure
that their presence was already known. When they finally reached the door, they
could find no way to open it.
"Ideas people?"
Commander McDuff had been peering at the wall around the door. "Well, if
we want to get in I could just mess about with some programming. However, if we
are to get in legitimately, then I say we wait or get the ship to..."
Before he could finish his thought the doors slid open and two men stepped
through. Both were extremely broad shouldered, and were built pretty much as
well as the wall itself.
"This is a private facility gentlemen. You have no jurisdiction
here."
"We wish to speak to Dr Kavek."
The two men conferred in a loud whisper, the starfleet officers just being able
to hear odd words.
"Unusual...Kavek...nearly...starfleet...completion..." After a long
conversation, they turned back again. "I am afraid that will be
impossible."
"Wrong answer."
As he speaking he pulled his phaser out, thumbed it to heavy stun, and fired.
McDuff and Agalacticae had done the same to the other guard.
"Well, after you." Harrias offered, allowing the other two to enter.
He was about to contact Lieutenant Hrisvalar, but changed his mind, deciding
that the marine chief had seen what had happened, and that his marines were
already closing the net. They wouldn't move for the swoop until his signal, but
they would be in a more advanced position.
<meanwhile
on the Nevada: sickbay>
"Oooh...mwahhh..", Rex tried to get up but his head was pounding like
an elephant trying to dance to an old earthstyle hiphop-song.
A nurse came running towards his bed. "Try not to move ensign, you have
had quite an impact on your chest".
"Huh, what?", Rex tried to remember. After a few seconds it hit him.
Oh no, certainly not a good way to start your career son, he thought to
himself.
The nurse stood firmly and spoke to him in a motherlike manner: "Now, what
has gotten into you! Monster-truck rally is one thing, but to do it with the
safety-protocols disengaged is nuts. Especially when you fall out of one!"
Still somewhat dizzy. But Rex realized all to well what had happened. He came
aboard the ship with his new orders, CTSO of the Nevada, but hadn't had the
chance to talk to the captain yet, since he had been burried in reports for
like 18 hours straight. He was so bored out of his mind that he had booked some
holodecktime. Trying out his new privelegis he had disabled the
safetyprotocols. The results of that were now quite obvious to him.
"I must report to the Captain", Rex tried to convince the redheaded
humanoid nurse.
"Well the reporting has been done by the CMO, doctor Thomas. But I guess
it wasn't the report you'd hope for. Now stay here and rest. You can go within
a few hours, if all goes well that is."
Reluctantly Rex fell back on the bed. The elephant kept dancing in his head for
a few more beats, and then he fell back asleep.
The Commander handed Sev over to the CNO, Lieutenant Rick
Sharpe, who wasn't sure about it either.
This was because of two reasons. One: he didn’t know this creature, in fact the
only thing he did know that it was called Sev. And two: he had to attend the
staff meeting himself.
He decided to take it along and get it to wait in the corridor.
Harrias was already waiting in the briefing room.
“Where did you leave Sev?” he asked immediately when Rick entered.
“It flew away when I exited the turbolift. It seemed to understand it couldn’t
be here.”
“Firelizards are very clever. I think Sev was a little afraid to stay on the
bridge, I’m the the only one he knows well.”
“Ah, I see.” Rick replied.
When they were all present he ran once more through their basic mission, and
then more specifically about their plan of attack for the 'acquiring' of Dr
Kavek from the facility below.
"Lieutenant Hrisvalar. I want you to take your marine crew down onto the
planet. Surround the base as far as you can. If you need more people, I think
there are some ex-marines in our security force, take them with you. Then I
want a team of myself, Commander Agalacticae and Commander McDuff to go down to
the base to see if we can't get him peacefully. Lieutenant Sharpe, I will leave
you in command of the ship. I want you to run constant sensor sweeps on the
planet and more specifically the base. Keep Lieutenant Hrisvalar informed on
anything he should know. Everyone know what they are doing? Let's get to it
people."
“Just one more thing,” Harrias added when everybody stood up, “I received word
from Ensign Thomas that our new CTSO, Acting Ensign Rex B., is in sickbay
because he had an accident on the holodeck with the safety protocols off line.
Be sure to put him to good use when he is recovered, Mr. Sharpe.”
When Rick was back in the corridor, he saw Sev again.
“Well Sev, you’ll have to settle with me, because the Captain is going to the
surface.”
Sev landed on Rick’s shoulder, and together they went to the bridge.
Rick walked onto the bridge, and stood still for a moment. It was the first
time he was in command of a starship, and it felt strange. Feeling Sev on his
shoulder, he got an image of a pirarte captain with his parrot, Sev would
probably be offended if he knew. Rick went to the captain’s chair and, somewhat
reluctantly, sat down. It was time to issue his first orders.
“Ensign Bunell report to the bridge.”
Paul Bunell had an surprised look on his face when he saw Rick in the captain’s
chair.
“Well, well, you’re in command of the ship now, eh?”
“Yes, and as long as I am, you’ll take over the helm.”
Paul Bunell was also a pilot and Rick had known him since he was in Starfleet
Academy. Paul was in a lower year as Rick and Rick saved his life once, when he
was doing something very stupid. The only reason Rick was around, was because
he was returning from something against the rules as well. From that moment
they were friends.
Rick carried out the Captain’s orders, which meant he had to give orders to
somebody else.
“Ensign Rubor, run constant sensor sweeps on the planet and especially on the
base.”
Rubor was the Vulcan acting Science Officer.
For now there was just one thing Rick wanted to do.
“Bridge to sickbay.”
“Sickbay here.”
“How is ensign Rex doing.”
“At the moment he is sleeping. I intend to release him in a few hours,” was the
reply from Bailey Thomas.
“Thank you. Bridge out.”
A few minutes later Lieutenant Hrisvalar reported all clear.
Shortly later Ensign Sarah Johnson, who was at the Operations officer’s console
said: “Captain Harrias and Commanders Agalacticae and McDuff have transported
to the planet.”
“Right, keep me informed.”
Rick had hardly said that when Rubor spoke in a more urgent tone: “Lieutenant,
the sensors picked up some strange readings about one kilometre to the west of
the facility.”
“What is it?” Rick informed.
“It appears to be some kind of energy fluctuation.”
Rick noticed that commanding a starship wasn’t as easy as it seemed.
“Er, scan it in more detail, er, with any useful scanner we have.”
Walking now along the pathway towards the entrance,
Harrias was more and more sure that someone inside knew of their presence.
Although the facility was officially an open one, that could be visited by anyone,
whenever they wanted, this palce did not have that feel. The windows were all
barred, whether to keep people in, or out, Harrias knew not. The roof had a row
of spikes around the outside of it, and the doors were all behind portcullises.
The trill wondered how a marine team would ever be able to get inside.
He on the other hand knew that he was going to have to try the suicidal route.
The front door. So, when they eventually arrived at it, he pressed a button
next to it, which sounded a buzzer. A few seconds later, a voice crackled over
the intercom.
"Whadya want?"
"I am Harrias Jira. I wish to meet with Dr Kavek. I hear he has made some
major developments."
"The doctor don't want to speak with the Federation." He grunted
back, and closed the intercom. The trill officer sighed, and tapped him comm
badge, calling for a couple of marines. Lieutenant Hrisvalar arrived with two
other marines.
"Get me through this damn door."
Sev zipped in unasked, as if he knew he might be needed.
He landed neatly on Harrias shoulder, then hopped down to his arm, chittering
questioningly. The little bronze gazed from Harrias to the locked door,
chittered once and disappeared.
From the inside of the room, on the other side of the door, frightened screams
could be heard and angry chittering. A second later, Sev re-appeared, looking
rather smug, for a firelizard. As if to make sure Harrias understood what he
meant, Sev chittered again, and disappeared once more. Now, he remained on the
other side of the door, tugging one or two of the guards by their sleeves
insistantly. <the doctor's guards, not the nevada's>
No sooner did Marine Officer 1Lt Zhukarak Hrisvalar finish
his ration bar, did he see the familiar flash of blue. Captain Jira, along with
Cmdr1C Agalacticae and Cmdr McDuff, had transported onto the pathway leading to
the research building.
“Okay marines. Keep your eyes open and your weapons at the ready.” Zhukarak
commanded as the three Starfleet officers approached the doorway. Captain Jira
had announced himself and had received the answer everyone had anticipated, a
denial for access.
Zhukarak’s comm badge bleeped with a request from the captain, “Lieutenant
Hrisvalar. We need your assistance.”
The marine lieutenant approached the away team, at the door, along with two
other marines when Captain Jira ordered “Get me through this damn door.” One of
the marines, Cpl Yuri Antropov, placed photon breach charges on all the
critical points of the door.
Hrisvalar: “Well sir. I think the firelizard just ensured
us that we won’t have any resistance on the other side, when we blow the door.
I suggest we take some cover.”
After reaching safe distance, Cpl Antropov blew open the door by activating a
transmitter for the charge. 1Lt Hrisvalar, Cpl Antropov, and two more marines
rushed into the building. There was the firelizard, Sev. He had incapacitated
one of the guards, and the other was on the floor while Sev was sitting on his
chest, just daring him to move. ‘He might make a good marine’ Zhuk joked to
himself.
One of the marines went ahead and tied the two guards up, while the rest of
them ensured that this particular room was clear of any other hostilities. The
room was cleared and the team of marines was now covering another entranceway
that led further into the complex.
Hrisvalar: “Captain. We’re clear!”
Captain. We’re clear!” called out Lt Hrisvalar. Indeed,
looking at the doorway, Harrias could see that little was left of the door, the
bars, or even the door frame. On the other hand, he could see exactly what the building
was made out of; a meshed concrete.
He strode forwards, Robert by his side, and McDuff scrambling over a bit of
rubble. Harrias raised an eyebrow at him vulcan style, which caused all three
to laugh. They weren't laughing for much longer though. The marine team that
had entered the building before them, Lt Hrisvalar insisting that that was
after all their job, and he could now hear shooting. The three officers sped
up, and arrived at the back of the group of marines. However, so efficient were
the marines, that by the time they got there, the fire fight had finished.
Without so much as a word, the team was now advancing, two men at the front,
two in the middle, and two at the back. Each time they got to a junction, the
front two would peer each way, their guns poking around the edge. Remaining
like this, they then signalled for the next pairing to pass them, and so the
pairs rotated as they went forwards. The three starfleet naval officers just
watched them in awe, following at a safe 3 metres back.
Harrias wondered how the teams were choosing the path. Surely it was only guess
work? And yet, they seemed to be following a definite path, and they had on
occasion doubled back. He put his question to Lt Hrisvalar. The marine smiled
amiably and then spilled his secret.
"We look at the key codes by each door. The ones that are most worn down
must be the path. We have a device that can open them all anyway, so we don't
even need the code, although I can tell you it is 2019."
Harrias nodded his head in appreciation of the technique, and then they
continued their advance. Two more doors, and they were facing Dr Kavek.
With
tricorder out in front of him, Drew led his small team to the next room, where
they should find their mysterious passenger.
Entering the small room, Drew decided this was what counted for the bridge on
this ship, thanks to the light from the tricorder, he could just about make out
various control stations. Light from space also lit the room, coming from the
star ports along the front wall.
Slowly looking around, Drew saw a small dark shadow in the corner of the room,
hidden behind a chair; he looked across at the other’s to confirm they saw it
too.
“I am Admiral Paul Drew,” he called out to the figure, “come out and identify
yourself.”
No one moved, Drew wasn’t sure if anyone was even breathing, he knew he was
holding his own breath. Everyone waited a few seconds and their came no reply.
Drew indicated to the others to start moving closer, still the figure in the
corner did not move.
“I don’t like this one bit,” Drew said out loud, “Tomlinson, try using that
console to restore power, I want some light in here,” Drew ordered.
Even during this exchange, the figure still hadn’t moved, Drew was reluctant to
approach him until they had some sort of better idea what they faced. Just as
Drew was wondering what to do next, the room lit up.
“Let there be light,” Tomlinson called out from the console, a cheer in his
voice.
“Admiral, look!” Tedak called out, rushing to the figure, Drew could now see
why the man hadn’t moved; he was unconscious.
“Drew to Ops, I need a site to site transporter, Ambassador Tedak, and one
human male directly to sickbay.”
“Aye sir,” came the reply.
“Ambassador, as soon as you arrive call T’Val, our guest will be needing her
skills.”
Tedak nodded his head, and then he and the human male disappeared in a
transporter beam.
<tag Tedak>
“Tomlinson, get your security teams down here, and check the place over, I want
to know what we are dealing with,” Drew said, turning to leave the shuttle.
“Delegate K'Ehleyr, Ambassador Saarok, would you mind joining me in Ops?” Drew
asked, stopping at the door
Tedak was
beamed directly to sickbay, together with his unconscious charge.
"T'Val!" he shouted, as he lifted the man onto a biobed, "are
you here? I got a medical emergency over here!"
Instead of T'Val, a young Klingon nurse came running towards them. "Healer
T'Val is busy elsewhere," she said, as friendly as she could muster,
"I will care for him now. Step aside ambassador, you are in the way."
She nudged him aside without further ado as she started scanning the patient.
Dumbfounded, Tedak took a step aside, dumbstruck by the matter-of-fact handling
of the Klingon nurse. Helplessly, he watched as the nurse went about her
business. "Radiation poisoning,"the nurse barked, and held up her
hand, "antidote for theta-radiation poisoning please."
"Huh?" Tedak replied, gazing at the outstretched hand, "I am not
a nurse, I have only basic medical training."
"You are a smart man, surely you can find a vial labeled
anti-thetaradiation?" The nurse said sternly, "now shoo, go find that
antidote, or leave sickbay." She turned around again to continue her study
of the patient. "Male, human, about 40 years old," she summarized,
"no broken bones, one collapsed lung, breathing stress, no cranial
damage." She looked up, and rolled her eyes in annoyance as she found the
Romulan still standing where he had previously stood. "Well ambassador
what is keeping my requested medication? Get on with it!"
Instantly, Tedak was running to get the requested medication. On his way back,
he ran into T'Val. "I am glad to see you," he said, "you should
learn that Klingon nurse of yours some manners. I am a diplomat, not an
orderly."
T'Val stiffled a smile as she noticed her husband's helpless expression.
"I was with the Debrune child, he is fine now. Healthy as can be as a
matter of fact. Now, you had some crisis?"
"Your nurse, what is her name, took care of him. I have to get her this
medication before she'll do something to me." He grinned at T'Val and
quickened his pace. "Here you go nurse..."
"Sakti," the nurse said, "and thank you for the quick
response." Then she noticed T'Val. "Ah, healer you are here. This man
has theta-radiation poisoning, but that has been taken care of now. I have
given him oxygen, but his collapsed lung will have to fill itself again. I have
found nothing else out of the ordinary with him."
"Very good," T'Val said, "I trust your diagnosis, I see no
reason to verify your findings." She turned to Tedak. "Sakti is one
of my most trusted nurses. While a bit harsh in her dealings, she is actually
quite gentle with the patients while handling them." She led Tedak away
from the patient and the Klingon nurse. "You may tell Admiral Drew that
the patient will live."
Tedak nodded and walked away, forgetting to enquire about the Debrune child.
Once back in OPS, he went to find Jessica Stevens first. "Thank you for
leading me around the shuttle when I was handicapped," he told her, then
walked away to find Drew to deliver his report.
Drew saw
Ambassador Tedak enter Ops, and move to talk to Jessica, the two had seemed to
be building up a friendship, which pleased Drew no end, it was always nice to
see such relationships develop in the workplace.
Seeing the PADD in Tedak’s hands, Drew suspected the document was for his
review, likely a report on the status of their new guest.
“Ambassador, can I help you?” Drew asked, walking down to greet Tedak.
“Ah, Admiral,” Tedak said pleasantly, “T'Val asked me to give you this,” he
handed Drew the PADD with the medical report, “she believes the patient will
live.”
“Good,” Drew commented, skimming briefly over the report, “Tell T’Val there
will be someone down later to question her patient.”
“She won’t like that,” Tedak said in a warning tone.
“Probably not,” Drew agreed, “but it has to be done.”
Drew then caught sight of Jessica looking over at Drew and Tedak talking, she
had a lost look in her eyes, almost like the recent events had shaken her up.
“Ambassador would you be good enough to do me a favour?” Drew asked Tedak.
“Can I ask what?” Tedak asked, curiously.
“Take Jessica for a meal, she look’s like she could do with some company.”
“Ah, of course Admiral,” Tedak replied, moving to talk to Jessica.
<tag Jessica and Tedak>
As Drew turned his attention back to the PADD, he heard the turbolift doors
open again, and whoever walked out this time caught the attention of everyone
on the deck. Drew looked up, and smiled when he saw whom the person was.
“Admiral Lin!” he said happily, “Welcome back.”
“Thank you, Admiral Drew,” Magellan replied, nodding his head in greeting,
“Good of you to keep my Starbase together.”
“Was a pleasure, you missed a far bit of action.”
“Oh believe me,” Magellan said with a smile, “there was enough action on the
planet, would you be good enough to join me in my office Admiral?” Magellan
asked, indicating the large room at the side rear of the deck.
“Of course,” Drew said, walking towards the office
Magellan
led Paul into his office and motioned for him to take a seat on the couch. He
himself crossed to the replicator,
"Saurian Brandy. Neat" he turned round to Paul and with a sheepish
smile "Its been a hard day. You?"
"Oh yeah a hard day for me too so you better make that two."
Magellan nodded and issued the order.
"You know we are still on duty" Paul grinned,
"Hey we're Admirals now we get to make the rules."
Magellan took a sip and sat heavily down.
"So what have I missed up here"
Paul streched back rubbed the back of his neck wearily,
"We had an intruder. Single ship. One occupant, injured, they ve been sent
to the Hospital Healer T'Val is looking at him and Tomlinsons keeping an
eye."
"Oh good. You know at this rate we may as well take T'Val on as staff for
the civilian hospital. Shes certainly talented enough."
"Thats if we live out the week."
Magellan shook his head in fatigue,
"No word from the Nevada?"
"Not yet."
"Hell" Magellan cursed uncharactersitically, "You know I ve been
after Kavek for 2 years and if they catch him theres nothing I can do against
him. We need him, everyone on this station needs him. And I hate it, his
research has killed people"
"And now it may help save them" Paul pointed out
"Hmmph"
"Look I dont know the full deal with what went on between you two but your
a good officer and you ll do whats best"
Magellan didnt look convinced.
"Maybe. He has a tendancy to bring out the worst in me, I nearly killed
one of my officers to get him the last time. Its frightening how much power one
man can have over someone. Anyhow thats all irrelevant until Jira finds him. In
the mean time we have a new Ambassador, a Mystery visitor and I guess I ll need
to find you an office of your own."
“Never mind the office,” Drew laughed, taking a slip of
his brandy, “I would rather have some quarters.”
Since his arrival on the base, Drew had to be assigned any quarters, and with
everything that had been going on, hadn’t had time to enquire as to where he
would be living.
Magellan laughed with along with his old friend, pulling up a PADD from his
desk, which he handed to Drew, he said,
“Now that I have already taken care of, family-size quarters on the Habitat
Level.”
Drew quickly scanned the PADD, taking in enough information to get to his new
home, in a few hours, his family would be arriving at the Starbase, and he
didn’t have much time to get everything up to his wife’s standard.
“When do Jo and the kids get here?” Magellan asked, taking another slip of his
brandy.
“Shuttle due in some time this evening, although I must admit, considering the
danger we are in, I did wonder if I should delay their arrival.” Drew answered,
worry in his voice.
“Don’t worry,” Magellan reassured him, “if worse comes to worse, we have enough
ship’s to fully evacuate the station.”
“Would be better if we could solve the problem,” Drew answered.
“Indeed it would,” Magellan replied, sighing slightly, “I hope the Nevada gets
back soon.”
“Once Kavek, has helped us, maybe we could find someway to keep a hold of him,”
Drew said, reading the reasons behind Magellan’s worries.
“Maybe,” Magellan replied, “maybe.”
Their thoughts were interrupted by a call from T’Val,
=/\=Admiral Drew, I thought you would like to know that my patients condition
has improved enough for him to leave sickbay=/\=
Drew and Magellan exchanged glances, until they knew what was going on, there
was only one place they wanted their “guest” to be.
“Notify security, and have them escort him to the holding cells,” Drew replied.
There was clear hesitation in T’Val’s voice as she replied,
“As you wish Admiral, T’Val out.”
“We better get Tomlinson down there,” Magellan said, finishing off his brandy.
“I will drop my kid off in my quarters, and then meet him down there,” Drew
answered, also finishing his brandy.
“Good,” Magellan said with a smile, “by the time you finish I should have that
office arranged.”
“I want one with a view mind,” Drew answered with a grin as he left the office.
Walking into the turbolift, Drew tapped his comm badge,
“Drew to Tomlinson.”
=/\=Go ahead Admiral=/\= came the reply from the Chief of Base Security.
“I believe you have a mutual friend of our’s in your holding cells, I am on my
way to help you with the interview.”
Kavek
spun around, eyes wide. The security systems had triggered again. A malfunction
surely ?
Kavek : Computer, why have the security systems activated ?
Computer : Security systems were activated by voice command of security officer
Dapaken
Kavek : =/\= Dapaken, what is the alert ? =/\=
Dapaken :: Breathless :: =/\= Main entrance door breach Doctor. They are
Federation personnel. Several of my men are down, the rest have retreated to
defensive positions. The intruders are heading for your main office. What are
your instructions ?=/\=
Kavek : =/\=Hold them off, whatever the cost, I must have time to transfer my
work safely. Kavek out =/\=
The doctor was in a panic now. He knew the hidden panel in the corridor would
be extremely hard for them to find and they were obviously under the impression
he would be in his office, or somewhere on that level at least, as they could
not know about the shielded underground laboratory which was hidden from their
sensors. He checked one of the screens which had symbols flashing down it.
Excellent. Shareena was already transfering his data as per security protocols.
He would not have time to get her, but no matter. What she was transfering was
encrypted so even she did not know the content. At least, if she talked, she
would have little to say that could harm him and even she did not know his
pre-planned escape route to another planet.
Looking around quickly, he began gathering what he could ready to take to his
shuttle.
The fools. Did they think he could be so easily caught ? Even if they did
eventually find the secret entrance to the underground lab, the defence systems
would cause them more problems than they would have bargained for. The titanium
doors alone would take considerable time to breach and that was if they could
even get through the forcefields, laser grids and the added surprise of the
electrical floor pad, not to mention the narrow descent which would hamper any
attempt at a fast arrival to his position. Now he laughed, his arrogant ego now
overcoming his previous fear as he packed whatever portable equipment he could
manage, placing each container in the now exposed turbolift, ready to take him
to his shuttle.
Zhukarak’s
assault team, together with the fleet officers, had reached the final room
before Dr. Kavek’s office. There were four research security guards here. They
tried, in vain, to mount heavy resistance. It was nothing a couple of photon
grenades couldn’t handle.
Upon entering the final room, it was discovered to be void of anybody. Captain
Jira and Cmdr1C Agalacticae were rummaging through the desk, while Cmdr Mcduff
was accessing what he could on the research computer.
Hrisvalar: “Captain. I’m sure that we have raised some alarms by now. Seeing
that the doctor is not here, he probably will try to escape soon, if he is
still in this facility at all. I recommend that the Nevada be alerted for any
escaping transports.”
Sev
hissed in Harrias' ear, nudging his muzzle against the Trill officer's cheek as
if to steer him into a certain direction. He chittered angrily when Harrias
brushed him away, and he sped off towards Zhukarak, and then to Sharpe to see
if they were going to listen.
The little bronze had seen their charge run off, and had also seen the woman
cowering in a corner. When neither officer reacted, he started to take brusque
measures, and dug his talons into Zhukarak's sleeve, taking a firm grip on the
Andorian's arm, then started to pull him towards the woman. All the while, he
chittered angrily, his eyes whirling all kinds of shades between red and
orange. It was too bad that these officers did not understand him. Though, the
little bronze knew that the greyish being within the admiral, Magellan, had
understood him. Sev knew also that the captain, Harrias, carried one within him
also.
Once the Andorian was going where Sev wanted him to go, he sped after the
escaping Kavek, and when he located the fugitive, he hovered before his face,
hissing and producing small flames, large enough to scare but small enough not
to hurt him.
Zhukarak
noticed Sev, the firelizard, was trying to get someone’s attention. After
Captain Jira had brushed him off, Sev flew at Zhuk and and Commander
Agalacticae. Not being able to get his point across, Sev took a tight grip on
Zhukarak’s arm and pulled him along through a hidden panel in a corridor.
There, lying on the floor in a corner was a woman. It had to be Dr. Kavek’s
assistant. Sev accomplished what he wanted and took off through another panel
at the opposite end.
Hrisvalar: “CAPTAIN! It seems Dr. Kavek left something behind.”
The away team came rushing in.
Hrisvalar: “The firelizard left in that direction. I can only surmise that he
is trying to lead us to Dr. Kavek.” “I’m sure he has security measures set up.
I’m not worried about the firelizard, but it could take us some time to reach
the doctor. It would be easier to let the Nevada pick him up while he’s trying
to escape in whatever transport he may have.”
<Meanwhile
on the Nevada>
Rex was dismissed from sickbay and now entering the bridge. Somewhat surprised
to find a lieutenant in the captain's chair, he went to lieutenant Sharpe.
"Rex Bonar reporting for duty sir".
Lieutenant Sharpe could see the wrong interpretation of things by the slightly
too firm a way ensign Rex stood in attention.
"At ease ensign", said Sharpe in a gentlemens' way surpressing the
feeling he got from the situation.
"The Captain is down on the surface," he started to explain. After
he'd filled in Rex of the relevant facts, Sharpe showed the ensign to his
station.
Here Rex immediately recognised the buttons he'd seen only in simulators before.
Eagerly to get to work on the bridge, he releaved the crewman standing on his
position.
"Get
up" Hrisvalar ordered,
The diminutive woman stood up and looked at the Andorian and his marine team.
"He left me. After all this time he left me." she stammered
"I m sorry Ma'am"
"Kavek"
"You know him, you know where he is?"
Shareena looked at him crossways.
"Perhaps"
"I dont think you owe him any loyalty" Harrias noted
Shareena seemed to weigh it up. Kavek whilst cruel and unkind to her had been
her world. He had practically raised her, given her a job, given her a life...
a life? That didnt sound right. Forced to work in teh shadows, victimised, put
down, never trusted. Was that really a life, was that what she dreamed of at
night, what she longed for. No.
"I do. I can I mean I will help you."
"Good now where is he"
"Kavek is very paranoid and very cunning he has booby traps all over the
place. He has a shuttle somewhere, hidden its got all his stuff, his papers
research everythng."
"Where?"
"I told you I don't know."
"The firelizard seems to have his scent" Hrisvalar noted
"I ll come with you" Shareena said "I know all his access codes,
I can get you past some of his traps but not even I know of them all."
Kavek
looked up, startled. What was this ugly, hissing creature and where had it come
from ? He reached for a weapon and fired. The lizard dropped to the ground with
a thud, stunned unconcious. Kavek had no way to know that it was anything to do
with the Federation team. It must have got through the tiny air duct system as
there was no way it could have got through the security systems or titanium
doors of course. He stepped over it where it lay breathing heavily and went
quickly to the open turbolift. He glanced around, checking there was nothing of
importance left behind. His research was now safely uploaded to the computer on
the other planetoid and all transmission data erased. Time to go he decided.
He would make his way to his shuttle while the foolish Federation intruders
tried to find him. According to the wall console, the secret panel in the main
corridor had not been noticed at all yet, several marines having passed by it
as they sought him out. The turbo-lift door closed and he was finally on his
way to the shuttle bay to make his escape
The away
team started moving into the corridor they saw Sev disappear in, finding sev
after a few meters. Hrisvalar quickly scanned the firelizard with the tricorder
he was carrying.
"He's okay, just heavily stunned", he continued to scan the
environment, "there is a power signature moving downward some distance
behind this wall", Zhuk continued while walking towards a part of the side
of the corridor they were in.
-"This is getting nowhere", Harriias decided.
=^=
"Jira to Nevada, Rick we seem to have lost Kavek. He is supposedly getting
to a small craft somewhere under the building. Be on the lookout for ships
leaving the planet, intercept him if he tries to get away, disable his engines
if you need to."
- "Aye sir"
=^=
After closing the channel to the captain Rick took a somewhat deeper breath.
Time to get to work.
"Ensign Rubor, scan for any ships leaving the planet. Paul, stand by for
pursuit. Ensign Bonar, stand by phasers, we might need to disable him."
While Rubor scanned the planet Rex also took a deeper breath, and after that
activated the phaser array on a low power setting.
Rubor reported his findings, "I am not detecting any ships or landing
platforms, there does not seem... correction, a subterrainian hangar just
opened south of the complex... a small shuttle-sized vessel of unknown
configuration is taking off... moving directly for us with a growing power
signature."
-"Targeting signal", Rex reportedd
Kavek had detected the Nevada as soon as the reinforced bay doors had opened.
Not that it mattered, they'd be in for quite a surprise. Ordering the computer
to intercept this starship he keyd his targeting computer towards Nevada's
starboard nacelle, and pressed a blinking red button on his console.
"SHIELDS", Rick called after Rex's warning, raising them just in time
to take the bulk of the huge discharge from the small vessel.
"His weapon is some kind of heavy disruptor cannon, somehow not disturbed
by the atmosphere and..."
-"Very interesting ensign, but i'd likke some information I can do
something with", Rick interrupted the somewhat perplexed young vulcan.
"Yes sir, the ship seems already moving at the equivalent of almost our
full impulse, in a planetary atmosphere that is"
Rick tapped some controls on the panel under his left hand.
=^=
"Sharpe to away team, kavek is about to hurt our shields bad and have us
eat some plasma exhaust. I suggest an alternate strategy. John?"
- "I get ya, standby Rick"
=^=
John Turned to the first officer next to him, "you like to fly don't you
commander?", receiving a questioning nod from Agalacticae.
"Captain?"
- "Carry on", Harrias agreed.
>
=^=
"Nevada, two to beam directly to shuttlebay B", John continued.
=^=
Upon materialisation McDuff walked to a small craft in a corner of the bay.
"What's that?", Robert inquired.
- "That, commander, is Valiant"
After finding Sev nearly unconscious, Zhukarak was
actually worried about this firelizard. Zhuk had used the tricorder to ensure
Sev was okay and had given him a gentle stroking. Sev jumped onto his shoulders
and nudged and crooned. After a few seconds Sev was back to business.
Commanders McDuff and Agalacticae had beamed aboard the Nevada, to catch up
with Dr. Kavek. Captain Harrias, Lieutenant Hrisvalar, and the rest of the
marine assault team followed Sev’s lead. Sev was chirping and hissing at the
wall.
Jira: “What is it, Sev?”
Hrisvalar: “Hang on Captain. I’m reading a void behind this panel”
Zhukarak placed his hands around the area where the tricorder had sensed the
difference in density along the wall. With one hand he had made a slight push,
‘WHOOSH’. The panel opened up and showed a secret opening
Harrias stood at the top of the corridor and peered down
into. He could make out the general line of the corridor in the murky darkness,
but not much more. The marine team were fitting lights and generally preparing
to head down into the tunnel. Just as the first one was about to enter, Harrias
gave the order not to. Hrisvalar looked at him questioningly, and then
obviously not been able to stop himself,
"But sir, what about the information?" The trill looked at him, at
his eagerness to do his duty and get stuck in. He didn’t want to shatter his
plans, and indeed his appearance in front of his subordinates, but this was no
time to tender to the needs of his own subordinates.
"You think there is information on how to lock down a Debruni Reactor in
there? I very much doubt the good doctor has ever looked at that particular
problem. And besides, this looks to be no more than an escape route, which in
fact, we already know that it is. No, we will beam up to the ship, and continue
the chase there."
A few minutes they were indeed on the USS Nevada. The trill CO was pacing the
bridge, aware that his nervousness must be being conveyed to the rest of the
crew, but not particularly caring. If they weren’t nervous then they should be,
it would make them work quicker and more efficiently. He was watching the
twisting and turning chase that was taking place right in front of them. Dr
Kavek was trying his utmost to evade the Valiant, firing phasers, photon
charges and all other sorts of weaponry back in addition to his manoeuvres, but
Commander Agalacticae was equal to them all. Harrias felt a swell of pride at
this, but he could see that for all his skill, his first officer wasn’t
managing to reign the doctor in.
"Can we get a tractor lock?" He asked without much expectation.
Ensign Bonar fiddled with his console for a few seconds, and then gave the
negative answer that Captain Jira had been expecting. Harrias went back to
pacing once more. Now he was sweeping his glance across every console on the
bridge, trying to determine a course of action that might work. He paused at
one workstation as something caught his eye. It wasn’t anything to do with the
working’s of the ship, but it had stood out. One of the young female ensigns
had brought a cuddly sheep toy onto the bridge with her. A mascot of some kind,
Harrias expected.
"That’s it! Sheep!" He spoke out loud, drawing weird looks from the
rest of the bridge crew. The plan took shape in his mind, it might just work
too.
"Lieutenant Sharpe, I want you and your twenty best pilots out in space
yesterday. You have some shepherding to do." Although he was still giving
Harrias a funny look, Lt Sharpe started to make his way to the shuttlebay. With
most of the navigation team on it’s way out into space, Harrias took a seat at
the navigation console. He wasn’t a brilliant pilot, but even he could manage
the wide turns that the USS Nevada would be undertaking.
As he got comfortable, he saw shuttles starting to flood out of the Nevada and
into space. He tapped his commbadge and opened a link to all the ship’s
including the Valiant.
=/\= I want you to prove that you are the best pilot crew in the whole of
Starfleet. I want you to force Dr Kavek’s vessel onto this-" he tapped the
console and sent a file to the computers of all the shuttles- "course.
Once he is there, keep him there. Harrias out. =/\=
Looking up at the viewscreen, Harrias saw the shuttles scatter across into
space, and they started lashing at Dr Kavek’s shuttle with their phasers. As
Harrias had hoped, each time he was attacked, Kavek adjusted his course to
avoid the shot. Watching the shots, already Harrias could see that Kavek was
been forced into a tunnel by the variety of federation shuttles, and Harrias
checked the course heading and was happy to see that he was converging on the
relevant course.
Happy that the shuttles had control of the shuttle, Harrias tapped a few
buttons and the fighters all disappeared from the viewscreen, replaced by an
empty starscape. At the security workstation, Ensign Bonar looked at him
questioningly, but didn’t say anything. Harrias smiled, and then tapped his own
console, before sliding his forefinger across it, finishing with an unnecessary
flourish. Keeping it’s forward momentum, the USS Nevada started to spin
sideways. A few seconds later, Harrias straightened the Sovereign class vessel
up once more. She was now facing backwards, and the viewscreen once more showed
a collection of fighting shuttles.
"Sir?" Ensign Bonar spoke up, his curiosity obviously getting the
better of him. Harrias looked at him with a degree of satisfaction. Sometimes
it was quite nice to keep his crew in the dark over what was happening, even if
just to see the looks on their faces.
"Trust me Ensign, you’ll see." He smiled at the Tactical Officer once
more. He then looked back up at the viewscreen and was pleased to see that Dr
Kavek’s course was virtually straight. He checked the course, and then checked
it a following three times until two of them tallied.
"Opening shuttlebay doors." This time he could see Rex Bonar
positively itching to say something. Harrias cut him off.
"Accelerating to full impulse." He then watched the gap between the
two ships, large and small, close rapidly. As he was watching, his hands were
flying over the controls. Suddenly Dr Kavek attempted to swerve to one side as
he figured out what was going on.
"Valiant, get him back on line!" Harrias’ voice snapped over the
comm. A phaser lashed out from off the screen and lanced right along the length
of Kavek’s vessel, causing him to move back onto the required course. Still the
gap was closing, and then, just like that the shuttle disappeared off the top
of the screen.
Harrias’ fingers flew over his console once more, and the angle changed,
allowing them to once more see the small shuttle. Hovering just above it, and
guiding it with low-power phaser shots was the Valiant. Harrias called out.
"Confirm Kavek’s velocity?"
"5/6 impulse."
"Slowing to 11/12, 10/11, 9/10…" The speed with which the gap changed
slowed, and thus the relative velocity of Kavek’s ship also slowed.
"Approaching shuttlebay, speed holding at 5/6."
"…8/9, 7/8…"
Once more the ship disappeared off the viewscreen, and Harrias changed the view
with a movement of his little finger.
"Entered shuttlebay."
"6/7, 5/6 impulse. Relative velocity of 0. Engage shuttlebay internal
tractor beam. Close main shuttlebay doors, let our back into the secondary
shuttlebays. I want a security team headed by yourself in the shuttlebay right
away." Harrias snapped off the orders. As Ensign Bonar left the bridge,
Harrias breathed out a long, heavy sigh of relief. Finally, they had managed to
get the doctor onboard. They had still to convince him to help them, but that
was another task. He plotted the course back to Starbase Assailant and engaged
it himself.
As the ship lurched into warp, he looked at the chronometer he had set on a
countdown.
12 hours, 38 minutes
Drew
smiled politely at Tedak as he approached, the Ambassador had been a great help
in the recent troubles, and Drew was really starting to appreciate having him
around. He would have liked to have stayed, and talked to the Ambassador, but
Tomlinson was still waiting for him below decks.
With another smile he made his excuses, although not before wishing Tedak good
luck, and giving Magellan a “let them do it” look. Reaching the large turbo
lift compartment, he ordered it to the security level.
Walking out onto the wide area that served as the security base for all of
Assailant, Drew noted a number of Security Officers busying themselves with
various tasks; it looked to him as if they were preparing for the worse. He
nodded his head in approval at Tomlinson’s teams; it was nice to know they
would be ready, if needed.
Making eye contact and smiling at a few Officers, Drew found his thoughts
drifting to his family, he hoped that they would be ok, the Nevada better
get back here soon he thought to himself as he reached Tomlinson’s office door
I would hate having to move again
Waiting for the sensor to announce his presence to Tomlinson, Drew continued to
think of the what ifs of their current situation, as the doors whisked open
though, he put all thoughts to the back of his mind. He had a job to do.
Tomlinson’s office was rather large, although it had yet to be filled with many
personal items, a large desk was positioned in the corner of the room, with
various screens around it showing the “hotspots” of the station. Drew knew that
in theory, the entire Starbase could be controlled from in here.
“Admiral,” Tomlinson greeted him, the Security Chief was standing by another
door in the office, one Drew presumed would lead them to the holding cells,
where there “guest” awaited them.
“Lieutenant,” Drew replied, his voice crisp and professional, showing none of
his fears.
“My Officers have him already for us,” Tomlinson told him, “For now though, he
has been keeping quiet.”
Drew nodded his head in acknowledgement, “Let’s see if we can persuade him to
talk.”
The two Officers walked through the single silver door, that opened up to revel
the questioning area, and the holding cells of Assailant, the room felt
lifeless, and apart from the blue status lights of the force fields, there was
no other colour but Starfleet grey in the room.
The guest was sat in the far corner of his cell, curled up in a ball, he seemed
to be rocking backwards and forwards, he certainly looked a lot healthy than
the last time Drew saw him.
“We would like a word with you,” Tomlinson said in an authoritative voice.
The prisoner looked up at the two Starfleet Officer’s before him, and then
looked back down at his knees.
“Did you hear me?” Tomlinson demanded.
Again the prisoner made no comment, this time he didn’t even bother looking up.
“You know,” Drew, said, speaking for the first time since entering the room,
“You won’t be leaving here unless you help us.”
Still, they were met with silence, whoever this person was; he clearly had no
intention of answering any questions that Drew and Tomlinson had for him.
“Well if that’s how you feel,” Tomlinson said, walking away, “I will contact
Starfleet Security and have you sent to a prison colony.”
Drew gave the man one more look, and then turned to follow the Security Chief
out, before either of them could reach the door the man called out behind them.
“Wait!”
“What was that?” Tomlinson asked turning around.
“You want to talk?” Drew asked, also turning.
“Yes, yes” the man spoke quickly, and much quieter than before, “I will tell
you everything.”
It was
running late on Starbase Assaillant. The sickbay staff was just about to change
shifts again, and the chief medical officer had already gone off duty, together
with the DCS chief healer, T'Val. Firestorm to Ennien, a copper-red furred
Sivoan male, was tidying up in sickbay, before his shift change would arrive.
Firestorm was one of T'Val's chief nurses, and as a feline, most patients drew
away from him at first sight, but the younger patients, mostly the children of the
diplomats, loved him. He preened his fur before leaving sickbay as he had a few
last errands to run. First, he would have to see to the prisoner, who still
required medical attention. When he arrived at the brig area, he saw both
Tomlinson and Drew standing before the prisoner.
"Gentlemen, the prisoner will need his medication," Firestorm
announced, girl thingyfutting into the area like a true cat. "Ah, not
having much luck with him, are you?" he said, "may I?" He
stepped up to the prisoner and bristled, working up some anger. Baring his
fangs, and unsheathing his claws, he hissed at the prisoner, who blanched at
the sight. "Talk to them," Firestorm hissed, then turned to Drew,
"I think he will talk now." He handed Drew a hypospray.
"Administer this to him, I have some more errands to run."
Firestorm left the brig area and went in search for Ambassador Steven's
quarters. Records told him that she had skipped her medical examination, and
that was compulsary for staying aboard the station. Delegate K'Tar had skipped
them also. To his luck, he found both women in Steven's quarters.
"Greetings ladies," Firestorm purred as he stepped in, his tail
corked in a tight screw to denote his pleasure, "I believe you both know
why I am here. You ladies have skipped a medical exam. Would you both be
convenienced to under go it now? We cannot delay it much longer, Starfleet
Medical and DCS Medical are waiting on the reports of your health
conditions."
Now that
their visitor was feeling a bit more talkative, Tomlinson and Drew moved closer
to his cell again, both hoping that now they would find some answers.
Drew had to admit to himself he would much rather be helping solve the problems
that the base, and the planet below were experiencing, but, right now, they
needed to find out what this guy was up to.
“Let’s start with the basics shall we?” Tomlinson said, starting the
questioning, “what’s your name?”
The man looked up at the two officers were shallow eyes, he still had his knees
curled up, reminding Drew of a child, who had been caught out.
“My name..” the man’s voice broke up with emotion, “my name is Robert
Patching.”
“What were you doing on that shuttle, Mr. Patching?” Drew asked, also joining
in the line of questioning.
“Please,” Patching answered, his voice was weak, pleading even, “you don’t know
what they will do to me, you have to help me, please, they will find me, I
can’t stay here.”
“Who are ‘they’”? Tomlinson asked.
“I can’t say,” Patching answered, his voice was again breaking, and Drew
expected him to break down in tears. Considering the injuries the man had
suffered on the shuttle, it was possible he had already been a prisoner of some
kind.
“We want to help you,” Drew began, before Patching interrupted.
“If you want to help me, let me go.”
“We can’t do that,” Tomlinson answered sternly, “Now tell us, who are after
you?”
“They’ll kill me if I tell you.” The man was almost quivering as he spoke.
Tomlinson looked at him pitifully.
“Trust me Mr Patching, unless ‘they’ are the Federation, the only way they are
going to kill you is to destroy this starbase.” As he said this, he gave Drew a
significant look. He wondered for a few seconds whether this could all be some
elaborate way of killing this man, but almost as quickly dismissed it. There were
much easier ways to kill someone. He continued on lying slightly, “and as I
don’t see this starbase getting blown up too easily, I think it will be safe to
talk to us.”
Robert looked around, as if checking for listening devices in the cell.
“I want to go somewhere else to talk. And I request political asylum.”
Tomlinson moved out of view of the cell and gesticulated at Admiral Drew. The
admiral shrugged back at him, and mouthed ‘Magellan’. Tomlinson sighed and then
came to a decision.
“We can take you somewhere else, but you’ll have a security escort. And we
can’t grant you asylum until we know your situation.”
He nodded nervously at them. Tomlinson decided this was enough, and ordered
three of his guards to enter the cell. As they did so the man cringed into the
corner.
“Don’t worry they won’t hurt you. They are going to put a pair of handcuffs on
you, and then they will surround you to make sure you don’t try to escape
during out journey. The man stammered a reply, and then they began a short
journey through the ship to Admiral Magellan’s office. Tomlinson hit the call
button, and waited for the starbase’s CO to respond.
Upon
beaming back aboard the Nevada, Zhukarak Hrisvalar had heard that a new CTSO
had arrived while he and his team was on planet. Apparently he was a new
recruit and would probably need all the help he could get. When Zhuk had heard
that Dr. Kavek was captured with his shuttle in the shuttlebay, he immediately
dispatched his marines.
As ensign
Bonar neared the shuttlebay, he was happy to see that his security force
clearly already had everything under control. Upon entering the bay he heard
voices on the hallway.
"Move marines. Those starfleet security guys probably need our help"
Before Rex knew, he was almost run over by several marines. Lt. Hrisvalar
followed their pace, but stopped at the sight of Rex.
"So you're the new CTSO,ey", the Lt. said in mild contempt.
Rex, somewhat taken off-guard by his reaction, quickly regained himself.
"I don't remember the captain, or me, asking for your teams' assistance,
lieutenant. As you can see, we have the situation completely under
control.", Bonar replied while walking into the bay. For him this
conversation was over.
While he walked in the lt responded : "Just thought you and your boys
could use some expert assistance".
The way the sentence was spoken made Bonar quivering with disgust. He couldn't
help it but the first thing that came to his mind was 'marines shouldn't be
thinking'
Lt. Hrisvalar ordered his team to guard the enterance of the shuttlebay, while
Rex perfected the security perimeter around the shuttle.
"Dr. Kavek, you are now on board the USS Nevada. We mean no harm to you,
but in fact we require your assistance. Please step out of your shuttlecraft so
we at least can talk about it", Rex yelled into the bay.
No response came from the craft. In fact the only sound that could be heard was
the shuttlebay door hissing open....
It seemed
this young Ensign Bonar had everything under control, but Zhuk noted that it
was due to the experience of the security force, as the ensign was too new at
this. In fact while making the announcement, he had kept himself in the open
instead of behind some cover.
SSG Carrera (marine): “Hey El-Tee. If that ensign doesn’t suck in some of his pride,
he’s going to get hurt.”
Hrisvalar: “Yes, I know sergeant. Just go in there and cover him. Make sure he
doesn’t get hurt.”
SSG Carrera: “Yes sir.”
Sergeant Carrera took up a position, aiming at the shuttlecraft exit ready for
anything. In the meantime, the wait for Dr. Kavek seemed forever…
Lieutenant Hrisvalar seemed to be getting very used to
having the firelizard around. He was almost oblivious to the fact that Sev was
still sitting on his shoulders when they had set up at the shuttlebay.
While Sev charged in to retrieve the fugitive doctor, Ensign Rex Bonar was
about to reach for his phaser when SSG Carrera put a reassuring hand on the
ensign’s shoulder, “No need for that sir. Just watch.”
“All right, all right. I’m coming.” was all the doctor could say as he was
being ‘clawed’ out of the shuttlecraft by the firelizard. Ensign Bonar was
still too startled to act, so Lieutenant Hrisvalar took charge. “Sergeant
Carrera! Secure the man, and have him escorted to the brig.”
Sev hopped onto Zhuk’s arm, where he was given a few taps on his head. Zhuk
then addressed Rex, “This, Ensign Bonar, is a firelizard. He’s one of us.” “Now
if you’ll excuse me, I need to notify the Captain that Dr. Kavek has been
detained.” Zhuk walked towards the exit when a smile came across his face. He
then turned around to address the ensign one final time before exiting, “Oh
Ensign. You might want your security team go over the shuttle, making sure it’s
safe and secure.”
In the hallway, Zhukarak made his call =/\=Captain Jira. Dr. Kavek has been
detained and is being escorted to the brig.=/\=
Magellan
sat quietly as Tedak explained his plea. He looked up briefly as Paul got up
and excused himself to see the prisoner, shooting him a look in the process.
He felt rather uncomfortable being privy to such personal details concerning
T'Val and her relationship with Tedak.
It was an unusual request, not in its nature many people adopted, but more in
the new dynamic it would lend to the couple. The pairing was already unusual
given that Tedak was Romulan and T'Val Vulcan, now they would be adding a
Debrune child into the mix.
"You understand this isnt an easy thing for me to rule on" Magellan
stated,
"Of course" Tedak agreed, "But whoever said being an Admiral was
easy"
Tedaks comment caused a wry smile from Magellan who nodded.
"We have plenty of child specialists aboard and many others who may wish
to adopt."
"I am asking first"
"Yes I know." Magellan paused, "Its just that this is somewhat
delicate, this isnt just about a child its about interstellar politics"
"No. I disagree regardless of politics surely the child comes first."
Magellan sighed
"Of course"
"Then you are contradicting yourself."
Magellan took a deep breath and changed tack.
"Its not that I want to stop you. Its in my power but I dont want to go
down that road."
Tedak stood almost agressivly.
"Then what... you want to register your disapproval? Surely your re above
such petty bigotry over interspecies relations."
Magellan scowled getting the feeling that he was being eaten alive by this
experienced diplomat. Word games were the prevail of Ambassadors not Admirals
with a background in Starship Operations.
"Now just one minute. If you ll give me a chance I ll put my point
across."
Tedak relented and resumed his seat.
"I m sorry this is something very close to my heart, I will listen."
"Thankyou" Magellan entreatied, "What I am concerned about is
the childs race, yes. But more than that - do we know if there is any family.
We know that we have found bodies in teh family tomb, but is that all of them.
Is there a Debrune out there" he jabbed a finger at the viewport
"that has a claim. The Debrune are only just resurfacing and so far
interactions with them have been less than favourable."
"I understand, But we have no contact with the Debrune how can we ask them
when they remain hidden."
"I know, its frustrating but I am afraid I m going to have to turn your
proposal down, it is not appropriate for you to adopt this child..."
"You must be joking" Tedak interjected angrily "Myself and T'Val
would be perfect parents."
Magellan ignored Tedak and continued speaking,
"... at this time. Until we can establish contact with the Debrune or
fully assertain there are no relatives still on teh planet I cannot give him to
anyone else - it is not mine to give."
"But..."
"However," Magellan pressed on raising his voice and holding its
timbre to that of steel "I do believe that the child needs a one to one
carer. I believe that care can be provided by you and T'Val, she is a Doctor
and you have a stable and important job. Both of you are Vulcanoids and so can
provide better care than many, therefore I grant you TEMPORARY custody of the
child, until such time my concerns have been satisfied."
Tedak nodded, aware that this was probably as good as he was going to get.
"Thankyou Admiral" he answered formally " I will inform
T'Val."
"Good, Please give her my congratulations and thanks for her help
planetside."
Tedak seemed to scoff and left the office.
Disgruntled,
Tedak walked away to tell T'Val the news. He'd have hoped that the admiral
would decide to let them adopt the child. DNA tests had proven that the dead
woman and man had been the infant's parents. The DNA of the mummified peson in
the tomb was undisputedly Debrune, but not related to the child. He walked into
his quarters, Nut flitting in after him. Tedak had not even noticed his little
friend, and called him to his arm, then caressed his little friend. "T'Val
honey, are you home?"
"In the living room," came the answer, "come this you must
see!"
Tedak could tell his bondmate was excited about something, even if her voice
did not show it. He took long strides and entered the living room. On the couch
sat T'Val, the child in her arms, and he could instantly see why she was
excited: the child was smiling up at her, making happy sounds. "He is
smiling," Tedak noted, then motioned for her to put the child into his
box. <the play thing, not an actual paper box!>
"There is something I must tell you," he said solemnly, "I have
spoken to Magellan. He won't allow us to adopt the child, at least not yet.
Somehow, he feels that if there are living Debrune, they should be able to
claim the child first. However, he has appointed us as the childs official
guardians."
T'Val sat stunned. She had so hoped to adopt this child, she had become very
attached to the little boy, and it had meant a lot to her, given her medical
condition. She nodded, and picked up the child again. "Then, until
Magellan tells us otherwise, we shall be his foster parents," she said, her
voice having a pang of sadness to it. Nut hopped over to her and nuzzled her
cheek, sensing her distress. He chirped at her, then gazed at the child. He
chirped again, and now T'Val smiled. "Yes Nut, for now he is part of our
family. Guard him well as you guard us."
Tedak smiled too and sat down to give his wife a hug. "Tonight, we shall
go out for dinner, to celebrate that we have become official foster
parents," he said.
The
message console on Tedak's desk beeped insistantly, and no matter how he had
tried to ignore it, finally Tedak stood up with a sigh and walked over to the
console. There was a message from Admiral Hunter waiting, telling him that he
had been assigned for a mission to the USS Hope. General Traks would be
awaiting his arrival on the Federation vessel.
Tedak looked up, somewhat surprised. Why would a Federation vessel ask for his
assistance when they clearly needed a Federation representative? HE would be
certain to ask the general upon arrival. "I have to go on a mission,"
he told his wife, as he returned to the living area, "will you be all
right here? You may have to speak to the admiral in my stead during my absence,
but I have the utmost faith in you." He smiled down at his wife, for he
was indeed certain that she would speak up, certainly when D'beren, the child,
was the topic of discussion. He and T'Val had decided not to give up their
fight for adoption of their, now, fosterson.
Later at ops, Tedak told Magellan about his assignment. "I will return
when the USS Hope returns," he said, "T'Val will remain here. I will
take Nut with me, Sev will naturally return to T'Val when the Nevada
returns." Without waiting for Magellan to reply -Tedak was still
disgruntled about the Trill's decision concerning the child- he walked out of
OPS and headed for his own shuttlecraft. Minutes later, he was on his way to
the USS Hope.
Rex was
somewhat confused over what had happened in the last few moments. But he was
sure he didn't like it one bit.
To prevent the rest of the securityforce present knowing of his authority being
affected by the last remark of the marine lieutenant, he waited for the marines
to leave the shuttlebay. Then he let them secure the shuttlecraft.
"Be sure you don't touch anything onboard. Leave that up to the
engineers."
He waited outside untill one of the men called "All clear".
Rex ordered two men to guard the craft, while reporting to the captain over the
commsystem that the craft and the docter were secured.
Still confused and angry, Rex left the shuttlebay and returned to the bridge
Once Dr.
Kavek was safely secured in the main brig, 1LT Zhukarak Hrisvalar and his
marines were able to stand down. As the main brig is located on Deck 8, Zhuk
and his marines didn’t have far to go as their quarters were also on this deck.
It made sense to house the marines in the crew quarters of Deck 8 as this deck
was in close proximity to everything the marines needed. The secondary armory
was here, with a full complement of weapons, as was the firing range for
practice. Transporter rooms 1 and 2 were also located here, which made rapid
deployment very feasible. If they needed to deploy via shuttlecraft, the main
shuttlebay was just one deck above on Deck 7. As there were several officers’
quarters on other decks, LT Hrisvalar kept his quarters here, among the junior
officers quarters on Deck 8, to stay close to his marines. Albeit, it meant he
would be running into the new CTSO, Rex Bonar, more often, since his office was
also located here on Deck 8 near the main brig.
After checking in his assault gear, Zhukarak returned to his quarters, together
with Sev the firelizard, who was inclined to remain with the Andorian. Zhuk
wanted so desperately to take a sonic shower, but decided to relax for a minute
on his bed instead. He was going over the days’ events, mainly of the
assault/capture mission. It was a sort of after action review in his mind.
What they had done, what worked, what didn’t work. What could have been done
better?
|
‘At
least no one had gotten hurt.’ |
was going through Zhuk’s mind. Sev chirped and gawked at
him. “Yes, you’re right. You did take a phaser blast. At least it was on stun,
and you’re alright.” Zhuk raised his eyebrows and his antennae pointed forward
in astonishment. It was then that Zhukarak realized that the firelizard could
sense what he was thinking. “You understand, don’t you?” and Sev chirped
accordingly. Even though Zhuk couldn’t read or sense anything from the
firelizard, he assumed that the original caretaker of Sev could. They were
probably of a different species that made that possible.
This firelizard was becoming more and more of a welcome surprise.
LT Hrisvalar now wondered if Captain Jira was making any progress with Dr.
Kavek.
Will Dr. Kavek help Starfleet?
How much time is left before the reactor on Qualinost was going to overload?
With the ship well on it's way to Starbase Assailant, the
base only a couple of hours away at main warp, Harrias realised that it would
be mostly his job to placate the doctor and get him to work for the federation.
Although of course, in the worst case scenario, they could just force him to be
near the reactor, and if it blows up it would kill him. However, Harrias was at
heart more or less a nice person, and he wanted to get the doctor on their
side. He tapped his commbadge.
=/\= Captain Jira to Ensign Bonar. Can you bring the prisoner up to my ready
room please? =/\=
The new CTSO replied affirmatively, and a few minutes later appeared with the
doctor and a pair of guards, who he instructed to wait outside.
Captain Jira looked up.
"Ah, doctor. You are presumably wondering why we have gone to all this
effort for you?"
"I expect it has something to do with Captain Magellan?" Kavek almost
spat out the name, such was his disgust. Harrias smiled at him.
"That is Admiral Magellan, doctor."
"You lot made that idiot an Admiral?" He said, in a mixture of anger
and laughter.
"Indeed, anyway as much as he may want you dead, or at least rotting in a
high security prison, he and us need you. I admit it is a most unfortunate
series of events. I would far prefer to see you in a prison myself. However, we
have a problem that only you can solve."
The doctor smiled, realising the power that he know held. "And if I don't
help you?"
The smile slowly faded from Harrias' face, and he turned to see how his CTSO
was going to react as he spoke. "Then you will not leave this ship alive.
In fact, I have a marine officer who would be quite willing to remove your
limbs one at a time until your death."
"A threat Captain, I am impressed. But I fear, it is an empty one. Your
federation woul not allow that."
Harrias looked at him, noting the slight fear in the doctor's eyes, and the
tightness in his shoulders. "I want to make one thing clear to you Doctor.
Although the federation converns Starfleet, only one person governs what
happens on this vessel. And that person Doctor, is me. The federation doesn't
know whether we recovered you from the planet or not. It wouldn't be very hard
to say you were killed in an unfortunate incident. You are going to
either help us or die, Doctor."
Kavek took some time to weigh the captain's words. He
slowly turned his head and briefly looked into the eyes of Rex, as if he was
trying to find an answer to the seriousness of the captain there.
Rex had seen his share of interviewingtechniques in his past, and he made sure
his face didn't give away one clue. A contempting smile was Rex's response to
the doctor's unasked question.
Captain Jira's patience ran out, but just when the captain was about to patch
his comm to call for the Lieutenant, the doctor started to speak hesitantly:
"Tt..tell me more about your problem, before I decide"
Harrias relaxed, knowing that most of the work had been
done now.
"Well, Admiral Magellan who is now head of Starbase Assailant was with an
archaeological team on the planet Qualinost. That's the one that Assailant
orbits. Anyway, while they were down there, they found a reactor. Unfortunately
an action by someone down there seems to have triggered a meltdown of the
reactor. To put it simply, in under 12 hours now, unless anyone can prevent it,
the reactor will explode and kill everyone on Starbase Assailant and
Qualinost."
"I don't see why that bothers me." The reticence as coming back into
the doctor's voice.
"Well, considering that very soon you will be on Qualinost yourself, I can
think of at least one reason for you to do it."
The doctor's face paled visibly. Harrias grinned at him.
=/\= Lt Sharpe to Captain Jira. We have arrived back at Assailant Captain. =/\=
=/\= Great. Dock and inform Admiral Magellan I have his old friend with me.
=/\=
Starbase
Assailant – Holding Cells.
As Tomlinson went to contact Magellan, Robert looked up at Drew with pleading
eyes, the man was clearly desperate, and whoever was after him certainly meant
business. Since his arrival in the system, he had already tried to fire on the
base, evaded capture, been seriously injured, and now he was requesting
political asylum.
“I don’t understand,” Robert said in a desperate tone, “you’re an Admiral,
can’t you grant me asylum? Please, will do anything!”
Drew shook his head slowly, “Admiral Lin is the senior officer, and he alone
can grant your request.” The way Robert threw his arms up in the air made Drew
glad their was a force field between them, he was starting to get a fair idea
of the sort of man this Robert Patching was, and his only conclusion was mental
instability.
Before Drew could think, or say anything else, he heard footsteps behind him,
turning around he saw Healer T’Val approach.
“Can I help you Healer?” Drew asked, what he really meant of course was what
are you doing here, but he was much too polite for that.
“I am here to check on my patient,” T’Val replied, in that clam Vulcan voice of
hers.
“Speaking of which,” Drew said pulling her aside, “I am worried about his
mental stability.”
Before T’Val could comment, Tomlinson returned back into the room, Drew and
T’Val both raised an eyebrow as Admiral Lin walked in behind him, clearly
Robert was about to get his answer
Magellan
followed Tomlinson in to the holding area and waited for the Ensign to take his
seat.
Tomlinson sat beside the main security console and despite stationary appeared
as alert and ready as if standing. His hand whilst relaxed was well placed to
reach his side arm if the need arose.
At the edge of one of the cells Paul stood. He leaned casually on the side of
the wall waiting for him. He nodded at Magellan as he arrived.
Inside the Cell the man sat with T'Val, who bent next to him tricorder in hand.
"This 'im" Robert asked Paul jerking a thumb at Magellan
"Yes thats him"
"Lotta brass for such a station."
"Starfleet Personnel Assignment is non of your concern" Magellan
replied curtly, "I understand you now wish to talk."
"Depends" Robert began.
Magellan held up his hand to halt him.
"T'Val. How is he?"
T'Val remained quiet a moment and then looked up.
"He still has some swelling, but is essentially well - for a human. I will
need to check on him regularly though."
"Good. Then perhaps you could give us some space."
T'Val looked up an eyebow arched.
"Of course Admiral." She stood and exited.
Magellan thought he detected a bit more ice in her tone, no doubt Tedak had
spoken to her. He resolved to deal with that later and pressed on with the
matter on hand.
"So then Mister...?"
"Robert"
"So then Robert, what exactly is that you want?"
"Asylum"
Magellan laughed "I see, and would you like fries with that? Why would I
offer you asylum?"
"I 'ave information, important information."
"well out with it then."
"Oh no it dont work that way. Safety first then..."
"No you dont realise I m base CO its talk and then Asylum. If at all"
Robert looked flustered and looked at Paul for help.
"Hes the Boss" Paul shrugged
"Okay okay. heres the deal I know some pretty shady people, real low lives.
You know this system was once a haven for pirates well some still hang around I
can point a few out for you. Let me out and I ll finger them."
Magellan nodded.
"One moment. Paul"
Paul and Magellan crossed to a corner of the room.
"So what do you think?" magellan asked
"Hes hiding something. He didnt even know Assailant was here to start
with, hes biding time and hes scared, very scared of someone."
"Hmm. maybe, but just to let him out."
"Well we let him out with escort I suppose, thats if we believe him."
"Granted. It would be good to mop up some of the pirates in the system.
Lets say we let him prove himself give him enough rope for him to climb or hang
himself."
Paul nodded.
Magellan turned back to Robert.
"Ok Mr Robert its a deal. provisionally. Mr Drew and Mr Tomlinson are your
new best friends point out some of your mates and your right then its a deal,
you get protection and asylum. If you dont you ll be clapped in irons and on
teh first transport to the New Zealand Penal Colony."
As Magellan turned onhis heel he whispered to Paul
"Watch him and keep me posted. I need to check on teh Nevada I ll try and
catch up with you as soon as I can."
~~ brig
area ~~
Sev zipped in just besides T'Val's shoulder, startling the Vulcan healer a
little. "Ah there you are," T'Val said, allowing the little bronze to
land, "Tedak is not here. He and Sev have gone on a mission.
Sev nuzzled her face in response, warbling happily at her. He hid is face in
her hair and wrapped his tail around her throat lightly as Magellan re-appeared
from the holding cell. Her warm expression changed instantly to a cold one, as
she glared at Magellan. "I will be returning to my patient now, admiral,"
she said curtly, stressing his rank, "and I will not be disturbed. My
patient is very ill and I would have preferred to treat him in sickbay.
With both Magellan, Drew and Tomlinson gone from the cell now, she had a chance
to observe her patient alone. From his hiding place in her hair, Sev hissed
softly, making T'Val extra alert. "You are not well," she stated
matter-of-factly, "your monocyte count is too high, your pupils are
dilated and you are perspiring in abundance. Have you been experiencing
fatigue?"
Richard
sat at the helm of the Wanderer. He had been away from Assailant for a long
time. His assignment to discover why the Romulans were so active over the last
while had led him on a different trail, tracking down some freighters with crew
aboard with information he needed. These people had led him to an obscure
planetary system, and he ended up having to get involved with some rather
bizarre diplomatic work. He hoped that it would all be worth it.
He looked over at the copilots chair. The cowled humanoid had been sitting
there for as many hours as Richard had been piloting. "We've almost
arrived." The humanoid nodded, left his chair and walked back to the
passenger area to communicate the news to the others.
Richard examined the sensors. He was approaching Starbase Assailant and his
eventual destination of Qualinost. Despite the objections of his passengers to
stop at the planet first, Richard was going to bring the ship into Assailant.
Richard brought the Wanderer out of warp as the cowled figure returned to his
seat.
The second he had returned to normal space, his comm panel chirped. Sighing
with the knowledge that he was starting a diplomatic firestorm, Richard opened
the channel. "This is Starbase Assailant. We are reading you as the
Federation Diplomatic Shuttle Wanderer, captained by Richard Jibb."
Richard leaned forward. "That's correct Assailant. Who am I speaking
to?"
"Commander Frras, Starbase Operations."
"Excellent, is Ambassador Saarok aboard the station?" Richard said
the name with distaste.
"I'm sorry sir, but he isn't aboard at the present time" the Ops
officer apologized.
Richard nodded happily, he hadn't really been looking forward to having to deal
with the Vulcan anyway. "How about Admiral Magellan?"
"The Admiral is aboard sir, but he's busy right now. I also have to warn
you that Assailant is under a quarantine. There is a potentially lethal
situation on Qualinost that is threatening us" Frras reported.
"I'm aware of the situation Commander. I have a possible solution
aboard" Richard replied, glancing over at the cowled figure. There was a
brief silence at the other end of the comm.
"What is it that you would like, Mr. Jibb?" the commander inquired.
"I want to dock my ship at Starbase, and have Admiral Magellan and any
available diplomatic staff there to greet my guests and I on a priority 1
diplomatic matter" Richard requested.
There was another long pause from Assailant. "I'll see what I can do, Mr.
Jibb. Assailant out."
Richard looked over at his passenger. He could only see the eyes of the
humanoid, staring at him in a penetrating fashion.
Admiral Magellan was making his way to Ops to check the
status of the Nevada when his comm badge beeped. He tapped it impatiently.
"Go ahead."
"Commander Frras, sir. The Diplomatic Courier Wanderer is requesting
permission to dock and asking that all available diplomatic staff be there to
greet him and his guests on a priority one diplomatic matter."
Magellan had a lot on his mind, and spent a few seconds trying to figure out
why that ship name sounded familiar. The Wanderer...Richard Jibb. The courier
had left Assailant a while ago. Not that Magellan minded. Jibb tended to grate
on one after a very short time. And on a priority one diplomatic mission.
"All right Frras. I'll head down there now. Update me immediately if you
hear anything from the Nevada." Magellan changed his destination to the
diplomatic docking area.
In short order, the Admiral entered the dock area. A small contingent of
diplomatic staff were milling about, not sure why they were there. The Wanderer
had finished docking and the main hatch had opened by the time the Admiral got
there.
Magellan moved to stand near the end of the gangway and the available
diplomatic staff of Assailant lined up behind him, waiting. Suddenly, Richard
Jibb appeared from inside the ship and headed toward the Admiral, followed by
seven humanoid figures clothed in long robes. Their faces were concealed in
shadows cast by deep hoods that were attached to the robes.
Jibb and his contingent of..whoever.. reached the bottom of the ramp and six
stopped and spread into a long line, while Jibb and the last of the cowled
figures walked toward Admiral Magellan.
Jibb and the mysterious humanoid finally stopped in front of the mystified
Magellan. The Admiral noted that Jibb actually looked nervous, a rare condition
for the man.
Jibb stepped to one side and gestured at the person behind him. "Admiral
Magellan, this is JakDor, Supreme Elder..." Jibb hesitated as his
companion lowered his hood, revealing anciently lined face with a very dark
complexion. Magellan noted with shock the sharply pointed ears and eyebrows of
the being, similar to yet different from those of Vulcan and Romulan. Jibb took
a deep breath and finished his sentence "of the Elder Council of the
Debrune colony in the Vargas system."
JakDor raised his leathery arms in supplication and intoned in a gravelly voice
"We have heard the Prophecied Call from the Arch of Heaven of the
Qua'ee'nost, and we have come in search of the Divine Child." The six
figures behind him bowed reverently.
The Admiral's mouth dropped open in shock.
Taking a second to compose himself Magellan stepped
forward and extended a hand.
"Admiral Magellan Lin, An honour to meet you Supreme Elder. I... er had no
idea there were any Debrune still near here."
"Then you did not look hard enough. We have always been here. Sometimes it
is best to hide in plain sight"
"Yes of course" Magellan smiled weakly, "If you ll excuse me a
moment" he jerked a head at Jibb.
Once away from the group Magellan whispered to Jibb,
"A little notice would have been nice."
"I did try and contact Saarok"
"Nevermind are you certain of his... credentials. And how in the seven
suns did you manage it."
"How is a very long story" Jibb grinned "The second part, well
yeah I m pretty sure. I tracked him down with some pretty convoluted detective
work. To be honest I think he let me find him, from what I can tell theres a
lot he isnt telling me"
"That I dont like the sound of. So why now, The Reactor?"
"I doubt it, he seems more interested in the child."
"hmmm. Well first off we have a first contact situation and it needs to go
well so far our contacts with the Debrune have only been hostile."
"I know and its strange our previous encounters do not seem to fit with
what I have seen of Jak'Dor." Jibb noted.
"Okay this needs to go right. I ll assign quarters and diplomatic rooms.
Can you escort them to the main conference room. Have... a damn, Tedaks not
aboard. Okay T'Val will do. See if she can surreptiously check hes Debrune, oh
and assemble the other Ambassadors too. And remember everything must go right.
Full courtesys, the lot."
"Yes sir" Jibb replied.
The two men returned to the Debrune entourage.
"May we see the child now" Jak'dor asked
"We re not sure what child you are refering to, perhaps we could sit and
discuss your arrival and needs, I have..."
Magellan was interrupted by chirp from his comm badge.
"Admiral, F'Rras here the Nevadas back and they were successful"
Magellans originally calm and ordered face dropped like a cloud passing in
front of a sun.
"Understood" he said icily.
He turned on his heel and exited the landing bay.
"Er Admiral..." Jibb called after the vanishing man.
Magellan ignored him and disappeared in to a turbolift.
Jibb turned back to Jak'dor forcing a broad smile to his lips.
"erm The Admiral has been called away on urgent business, perhaps I can
get you some refreshments."
As he began to lead them from the bay under his breath he mimiced the admirals
words,
"full courtesys, the lot"
Zhukarak
was quite surprised to see Sev just disappear in a flash, then again, he was
used to the fact that the firelizard did it’s own thing.
After a few hours rest, Zhuk awakened and took a shower. While getting dressed
he wondered if the food replicator had what he was hungry for. "What were
they called…?" “Ah yes! Two éclairs.” He had remembered the delicacy he
had first eaten on Starbase Conqueror, at Tante Maria’s Bakery. He decided a
human beverage had to go along, “Coffee, lightly sweetened and creamed, at 95
degrees centigrade.”
While eating his meal, he was going over his messages on his terminal. There
was a general announcement that CMDR1C Agalacticae was being transferred for
another assignment. It didn’t say to where. Zhuk surmised it was a secret
mission of some kind. He would have to hurry and say his farewell to the commander
as the Nevada had just docked at Starbase Assailant. Stuffing the last bit of
his éclair in his mouth, he chased it down with the last of his coffee before
exiting his quarters.
Lieutenant Hrisvalar made his way from Deck 8 to Deck 2, where the senior
officers quarters were located, hoping to catch Commander Agalacticae while he
was packing.
Reaching his quarters, he rang the door chime.
Agalacticae: “Ah! Come in lieutenant! I’m glad you came by. I’ve been given
another assignment.”
Hrisvalar: “That’s why I came. I saw the announcement on my terminal. I’m
guessing you haven’t been given your own ship as it wasn’t mentioned where you
were going.”
Agalacticae: “Right you are. So you also know then, that I really can’t discuss
this assignment.”
Hrisvalar: “I understand sir. I just wanted to say that it was a privilege to
have been training under you on the USS Hope. I have nothing but respect for
you and am sure that you will make a great captain someday. When that time
comes and you need a senior marine, I would be honored to serve you again.”
Agalacticae: “Actually, you weren’t training under me, you were training with
me as I was going through command training aboard the Hope, and the privilege
was all mine. You handled yourself well not only as a Starfleet Marine, but as
a fighter pilot, and also as CTSO. You are a fine officer and I know that
Captain Jira is in good hands with you onboard.”
Hrisvalar: “Thank you sir. Your words are too kind. Well sir, I wish you a safe
journey. I’ll be on my way.”
Agalacticae: “Thank you. And if I ever do need a good marine officer, I’ll find
you.”
Zhukarak left the commander’s quarters feeling humble, proud, and yet a little
sad.
He entered the turbolift, “Bridge!” The turbolift whirred its way up one more deck
and opened its doors. As he exited, two security personnel were escorting Dr.
Kavek, to be handed over to Admiral Lin onboard Starbase Assailant.
Jira: “Lieutenant Hrisvalar. I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to introduce you to
our new CTSO, Ensign Rex Bonar.”
<nevada:
bridge>
Jira: “Lieutenant Hrisvalar. I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to introduce you to
our new CTSO, Ensign Rex Bonar.”
The two officers looked straight into each others eyes, while their looks
hardened.
"I already got to know the marine lieutenant, sir", Rex responded to
the Captain in the most diplomatic way he could.
Rex had no intention of letting the captain know that he had problems with the
actions and possibly even the personality of the marine officer. Oh no, he
wouldn't be the weak who'd be running off to tell the co he had problems with
this antennad-fellow.
Zhuk probably saw through the ensign's strategy and responded in the same
manner.
"We've met."
Jira could feel the air between them grow cold, but he had no time to be bothered
with this pesky rivalry, since he was about to report to the Admiral.
"Fine. Ensign you're with me. We have a prisoner to deliver."
As the captain made his way to the lift, Rex followed. However not before he
'accidently' bumped into the lt.'s shoulder.
The marine officer turned and the two officers kept staring at each other
untill the doors closed.
The doors
to the small cockpit whooshed open, admitting the small craft’s youngest, and
smallest resident, who hurriedly ran down to the vessels small helm.
“Are we there yet?” the small human child, named Max, said in his tiny little
voice.
His mother, a middle aged, Starfleet Commander, with shoulder length blonde
hair, gazed down at her child, her delicate blue eyes shining at him.
“Not just yet Maxxy,” she said with a warm smile, “We still have a long way to
go.”
“When will we be there?” Max asked, tugging now on his mother’s tunic.
Setting the helm on auto-pilot, his mother picked him up and sat him on her
lap, she allowed herself a small sigh at how heavy her youngest child was
getting, he was only six, but to her even that was growing up too fast.
“You see those numbers there?” she said, pointing to the display board, Max
nodded his head happily, “Well, can you remember what they mean?”
Max paused for a few moments, trying desperately to remember the lessons he had
been taught, his small hand reached out for the console, and he ran his fingers
along the numbers.
“Thr-three hours,” he said, he looked up at his mother with hopeful eyes, she
rewarded him with a big smile.
“That’s right my clever little man,” she told him, giving him a squeeze, then
lifting him of her lap and back onto the deck, she patted his head, “Go and
find your sisters and tell them.”
“Yes mummy,” Max replied happily as he ran off for the living quarters, eager
to share his news with his older sisters.
She watched him go, and laughed to herself, he was so like his father.
“You shouldn’t treat him so softly,” the old male Klingon at the operation’s
station reproved her.
“He isn’t a Klingon,” she replied to the old man, who had served as her
husband’s assistant since his promotion to the Admiralty.
“Indeed, he would have blooded by now if he were,” the elder replied, the two
of them often had debates such as this, it was how they expressed their deep
friendship for each other.
“And that’s why I give thanks each day he isn’t” she retorted.
The cockpit was filled with the sounds of them both laughing, Darok shook his
head slowly in all his travels he hadn’t met a woman quite like Commander
Joanna Drew, he often wondered who really was the head of the Drew household,
although he would never admit as much to the Admiral, he knew much better than
to do that.
As the
turbolift rose so did Magellans blood pressure. So long, he had waited for this
so long. To have Kavek so close. To have him in his grasp. All the thoughts of
what he wanted to do to him came flooding back and fuelled his fury even more.
The doors opened and Magellan strode out he brushed through the crowds before
him but stopped when he nearly ran straight into a broad shape in front of him.
"I thought I should accompany you Sir"
Magellan looked up to see Zoilip, his chief aide.
The bolian had served with Magellan for teh past 3 years and he had brought him
with him when he had left the Victory.
"I know how Kavek... riles you. I thought you may need a... mobile
concscience."
Magellan glared.
"Thin Ice Commander, very thin ice."
"Good job I like skating. And don't forget I owe him too. He abused Sek. I
want him as much as you."
In their last encounter Kavek had nearly killed Sek the Victorys changelling
CMO as CTSO at the time Zoilip blamed himself.
"Fine. But remember who wears the pips."
"And you remember why hes here."
The two officers spent the rest of the journey in silence and swiftly arrived
at the Nevadas docking port.
They were met by Captain Jira, next to him between and Andorian Marine and the
Nevadas Ensign CTSO was KAvek.
"KAVEK" Magellan growled pounding forward.
"Ah my good Captain. I know your an Admiral but you ll always be a Captain
to me. After all you would never have made Captain if not for me."
Jira and his crew looked puzzled,
"Oh didnt you know" Kavek said smugly, "If I hadnt incapactited
Commodore Locutis, there wouldnt have been a vacancy on the Victory for a
CO."
"YOU..." words failed Magellan as his fist lashed out. He struck
Kavek squarely on the chin sending him sprawling to the floor.
"Temper temper" Kavek hissed pulling himself up. "You need
me." He rubbed his chin and checked his jaw for breaks, "You still
got that morphing sac of fluid as a doctor?"
With a roar a second fist span out, This one blue and stronger. Kavek flew
backwards under the powerful blow of Zoilips precision strike to his nose.
Once more on the floor Kavek appeared to be in more pain blood flooding from
his nose.
"Err Sir. Perhaps we could tune it down a little" Harrias noted
"This is...approaching inappropriate."
Rex and Hrisvalar bent to help Kavek up but held him firm in their grip.
"Right right" Magellan said as if coming out of a trance.
"Okay lets get you sorted. Jira have your men escort Kavek to
basic...BASIC medical treatment, then have him ferried planet side. Get him to
work immediatly."
"Food" Kavek said through muffled nose
"WHAT!!"
"Food I wont do anything till I have been fed. I m very hungary. I have
all the cards remember. I help you and you set me free. You ll see to that
Captain Jira. I trust to your sense of duty more than the good Admirals."
"Fine. Just fine. swing him by one of the restaurants in the arcade. Full
security."
"Aye Sir" Jira replied and nodded to Hrisvalar and Bonar.
As Rex
and Zhukarak took the doctor towards the starbase's infirmary, Harrias stayed
where he was. Zoilip looked at the two trill's and then with a knowing look, he
walked away. Harrias turned to Admiral Magellan, the man he had served under on
the base not so long ago, and the trill who had helped him when he needed help.
"Magellan. As far as I am concerned, that never happened, and my security
officer's will tell you the same thing. However, I would highly recommend you
don't make a habit out of it."
"Is that a warning Captain?"
"No, it is a piece of advice from your friend, Harrias. Another piece of
advice would be to change your uniform before you meet anyone else. That one
has Kavek's blood on it."
Magellan showed his disgust at the blood, and immiedately removed his top,
throwing it down a nearby laundry shute. Harrias nodded at him, and then passed
him his own shirt.
"You're probably in more of a rush than me." He observed.
"Besides, the admiralty have to be better dressed. They have more people
watching them." He grinned at his Fleet CO, whose mood didn't seem to be
improving too much, then set his face once more.
"In Kavek's lab on Toranis, we found a lot of research projects. With your
permission I'd like to take the Nevada back and investigate what he has been
doing."
Granted
Captain. Its a good idea. I ll cut you some formal orders as soon as I can.
Your free to depart as soon as Kavek is settled."
"There is another problem"
"Go on."
"Commander Agalacticae is transferring, apparently hes been offered a
better posting."
"Thats a shame hes a good officer. I ll have a look through the fleets and
try and find you someone."
"Thankyou sir. I already have a short list."
"Okay forward me the list and I ll approve someone. Now I better go I have
a major diplomatic crisis developing to solve."
After the
discussion in the holding cells, Drew and Tomlinson had gone to make
arrangements for Robert’s stay on the station. He would of course be freed from
his cell, but he was being transferred to the most secure quarters on the
station basically a bigger cage Drew thought to himself as he finished
helping the Chief of Security.
Tomlinson’s large computer screen was filled with text, displaying all the
security systems that would be online to keep an eye on their new helper, also
a duty rooster detailing who would be on guard duty was in the top right hand
corner of the screen. Drew nodded his head approvingly of the measures
Tomlinson was taking, [Ii]with any luck this might just go off without a
hitch[/i] Drew mused.
“Ready,” Tomlinson said, closing down his computer, the small screen slid back
down inside the desk, Drew knew that pretty soon Tomlinson would be using that
screen to watch Robert’s every move.
“Good,” Drew replied, “let’s go get him.”
As he turned to leave, Tomlinson caught hold of Drew’s arm, Drew shot him a
quizzical look, then saw the phaser in the Chief’s hands that he was offering.
“You better take this Admiral, just in case.”
Drew hardly approved of carrying weapons around on the station, but he had to
admit, given the nature of the situation, they couldn’t afford to take any
chances.
Walking into the hold cell, Tomlinson and Drew were flanked by two stern faced
Security Officers, each of them fully armed, neither of them looked like people
Drew would want to meet on a dark night.
“Well it’s about time,” Robert said when he saw them, looking at the two
security officers he gave a small whistle, “all this for little old me?”
“Less of the back chat,” Tomlinson told him with an icy glare, “These two
gentleman are your new best friends.”
“Well with friends like tha,” Robert started before he was cut off by the sharp
looks of both Tomlinson and Drew.
“Lower the force field,” Drew ordered, “and just remember Robert, no tricks.”
As the blue force field faded out, Robert gave Drew a mock salute,
“Aye Sir!”
Drew rolled his eyes as they walked the prisoner away.
A few minutes later they were walking out onto the Arcade, the crowds parted to
allow them passage, although Drew heard the whispers among them, it wasn’t
every day they saw a prisoner being moved about.
As they got closer to the turbo lift, Drew noticed another crowd had also
formed, with the same level of commotion, looking across the level, he saw
Captain Jira, with two security officer’s also escorting someone, without even
looking Drew knew who that someone would be.
Behind Jira, was Dr. Kavek, easily one of the most wanted men in the
Federation, and sworn enemy of Admiral Magellan Lin. Drew noticed with interest
that the doctor had a number of fresh bruises around his face, he raised an
eyebrow when he saw Admiral Lin walking right behind the group, a look of
controlled fury on his face. Drew also noted with interest that Magellan was
wearing Jira's Captain's jacket, while Jira himself just had his under-shirt
on. Then just as Magellan turned to enter the turbo lift, Drew heard a loud
grunt behind him.
Suddenly the next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion, Robert some how
broke free of the guards, and charged at Kavek.
“Murderer!” he yelled as his fist impounded on the man’s face, causing the
doctor to fall to the floor, as the man tried to get back up, Robert kicked
him, and again, and again, until the guards were able to restrain him.
Drew, Jira, and Tomlinson all rushed to Dr. Kavek who led on the deck, clearly
unconscious, Admiral Lin just stood from a distance, watching.
“He still has a pulse,” Drew called out, by now crowds had gathered around the
fallen Doctor, which as far as Drew was concerned wasn’t a good thing, he
looked up at Magellan, expecting him to do something, but the Admiral just
stood there, he seemed to be froze in place.
Hitting his comm badge, Drew signaled called for help,
“Drew to the Infirmary, I have a medical emergency on the Arcade.”
=/\=Understood Admiral, we are on our way,=/\= came the cool reply of T’Val
“Move away, move away,” Jira called out, breaking away the crowd to allow the
medical team to reach their patient.
Soon Kavek was being lifted onto an anti-gravity stretcher, and being carried
away to sickbay, the entire time Magellan just stood there and watched.
Turning his attention back to Robert for now, Drew shot him a very angry look.
“You have just signed the death warrant of everyone on this station,” he yelled
at the man, then turning to Tomlinson, he pointed back the way they had come,
“put him back in the cells.”
As Tomlinson and his men hurriedly escorted Robert back to the holding area,
Drew and Jira turned their attention to Magellan, who still hadn’t said
anything.
“Admiral?” Drew said approaching his old friend, “Are you alright?”
Tomlinson blamed himself completely for the escape of the
pirate, causing the injury to Dr Kavek. When he had escaped, Tomlinson had been
very unprofessionally distracted; watching the other prisoner escort. He had
tried to say as much to Rear Admiral Drew, but the admiral would have none of
it, claiming that it was noones fault, and that it was as much his fault as
Tomlinson's, something the security officer took as a contradiction of sorts.
--- ---
Captain Jira had slipped into his captain's mode. He had immediately ordered
Rex Bonar to accompany Tomlinson in escorting the pirate down to the cells, and
1st Lieutenant Hrisvalar was now in charge of crowd control, trying to get the
large gathering of people to disperse. Harrias now turned to Admiral Magellan,
Drew doing the same.
The Admiral seemed to be in shock. He was simply standing there, not reacting
to anything. Jira gave Drew a look, and then the pair of them assisted the
senior trill to a seat on the otherside of the Arcade. Lt Hrisvalar accompanied
them personally, keeping a clear area around them.
"Admiral?" Harrias tried.
"Magellan?" Drew put in his oar.
"LIN!" Harrias raised his voice, and addressed the symbiont, a trick
he had learnt on trill during his childhood, handy when adults weren't paying
any attention to him.
"Can't believe it. Unconscious. All that effort. Now what? 100 000
people."
Drew turned to Harrias. "What starships are here at the moment? How
many?"
Jira thought for a couple of seconds. "Five. Nevada, Jefferson, Vesuvius,
Castor and Polydeuces."
Drew was silent for a couple of minutes deep in thought. "So that's... 30
000 evacuation limit?"
"Pretty much." Captain Jira replied downheartened.
---Meanwhile, heading towards the
brig---
"You can't throw me back into a cell. You need me, I'm important to
you." Robert's words may have sounded reasoned and calm, but he was almost
squeking them out such was his panic. It wasn't helped by the fact that
Tomlinson was carrying him in such a manner that his feet weren't touching the
floor.
"Umm, are you allowed to do that Lieutenant?" The Ensign Bonar asked
him.
"Ensign, with this scum I can do anything. And you, pirate scumbag can
shut up with your pleading. There was one prisoner on this base who was
important, and one who wasn't. You are the one who wasn't, you just assaulted
the one who was. You have just condemned yourself to death."
"But the Federation doesn't have the death penalty." The pirate
begged.
"Call it your unlucky day." and mine, and everyone else's on this
base he added to himself.
T'Val
sighed as she heard the call for the medical team. ~as if I do not have enough
to do already, with the Debrune investigation~ she thought, and picked up her
medkit. She was just out the door when another call came through, but it
directed her to the same location as where the previous call had come from.
Arriving on the location, Magellan instantly turned to her, pointing covertly
at the shrouded figure that looked obviously Vulcanoid. "I want you to
treat him" he pointed to Kavek "and covertly scan him, and verify
that he is really Debrune." T'Val nodded quietly, refusing to even so much
as speak to him.
Nobody noticed the tricorder, as she examined Kavek. "You have a hairline
fracture in your jaw," she told him.
"You!" the prisoner, Robert, cried as he broke away from the security
guards, rushing forward. T'Val jumped aside, not wanting to meet the force of
the rushing man. He swung at Kavek, sending the man sprawling for a second
time. This time, he did not get up. Instantly, the prisoner was restrained
again by Tomlinson, who gave her an apollogetic look. T'Val nodded and rushed
towards Kavek's side. On the background, she heard the call for an emergency
team. ~Drew~ she thought, as she focused on his patient and she was glad she
did not have to bother with calling the team herself. The team arrived swiftly,
carrying Kavek away on a stretcher. "I will be along shortly," T'Val
assured them. Sev had appeared beside her and was hissing constantly at
Roberts, as well as the shrouded figures.
"Hush," T'Val told the bronze firelizard, and instantly he was quiet.
Getting back up to her feet, she gathered her tricorder and turned to report to
Magellan. From a short distance she watched the exchange between Magellan and
Harrias, with the latter trying to draw the first's attention. She stepped
forward, running her tricorder over the admiral. "Shock," she said,
"both host and symbiont. Captain Jira, can you get him to sickbay? I need
to confer with admiral Drew for a moment."
T'Val stepped over to Paul Drew, who had watched the events from a distance.
"Admiral," T'Val started, "Admiral Magellan has asked me to
confirm the claims of the elder, of being Debrune. My tricorder confirms that
claim, they are who they claim to be." She looked worried, and fear was
readable from her eyes, fear of losing the child she had come to love as if he
was her own.
Slowly
and warily, Captain Jira assisted the starbase's commanding officer down to
sickbay. His shock was obvious, and his reactions slow. He wasn't walking so
much as being half pushed half carried by Harrias. Harrias thanked the extra
inch of height that he had over the admiral, which allowed him the space to
lift the admiral off his feet at times. He had to admit though, it felt wrong
manhandling an admiral and a friend in such a way.
When they eventually arrived in sickbay, three medics rushed over towards them,
and Harrias soon found that Lin was laid in a bed with all sorts of scans
running on him. He tapped his commbadge.
=/\= Could all Nevada senior crew please report to conference room one on
starbase. =/\=
He made his own way rapidly through the starbase to the conference room,
finding that only Zhukarak Hrisvalar had beaten him there.
~Starbase
Assailant Senior Staff Conference Room~
Awaiting the senior staff of the Nevada, 1st Lieutenant Zhukarak Hrisvalar was
going over the events since arriving on the starbase just a mere 20 minutes
ago.
He was blaming himself that another prisoner, under guard of the starbase
security team, was able to break free and reach Dr. Kavek, whom he was
escorting with Ensign Bonar. Dr. Kavek was now unconscious. This did not help
the situation on Qualinost at all.
Zhukarak had failed his own security protocol by letting himself get
distracted. He didn’t know what caused Rex to be distracted, or the other
security detail from the other prisoner, but he now remembered his own
distraction. Zhukarak noticed while the doctor was scanning Dr. Kavek’s
injuries, she was also covertly scanning the seven hooded figures standing
nearby. Apparently there was some question as to who they really were.
Captain Jira entered the conference room and together they were awaiting the
rest of the Nevada senior staff.
As Rex
entered the conference room, he saw the captain and Zhukarak already sitting
down. The room was quiet. Both men clearly were with their own thoughts.
Rex nodded to them both, while taking a seat opposite of the marine Lt.
The events of last were on Rex's mind as well, although Rex found himself to be
clear of all blame.
'Who transports a prisoner of such importance over an uncontrolable area, such
as the Arcade?' At the moment of the attack, his eyes were on the people who
had gathered into small groups, whispering to each other. No doubt they were
talking about the prisoner's identity. He never had seen the attacker comming.
They all sat there for a few minutes, untill one by one the other senior
officers arrived.
When all were seated, Captain Jira stood up and started the meeting.
One of
the advantages of being a helm officer was that long shifts were almost
non-existent. But sometimes there was no escape from them and the Tanis
Borealis expedition was a good example. The mission had kept Rick up for about
30 hours, and although he was able to take some rest on the way back to the
Assailant, he was pretty exhausted. Thus, after docking with the starbase, he
decided to get a good, lengthy sleep. In his quarters, he undressed and went to
bed. He had merely closed his eyes when he heard the call:
=/\= Could all Nevada senior crew please report to conference room one on
starbase. =/\=
Rick sighed, got up and dressed again.
As he made his way to the conference room, Rick quickly deduced something bad
must have happened. Walking the halls and corridors of the Assailant, he
couldn’t miss the rumours of the death of Dr. Kavek. This was a bad event, not
a terrible one, as Rick knew the value of rumours, there was always
exaggeration. His assumptions were confirmed when he was a number of levels
higher, where it was common knowledge that Admiral Magellan was the murderer.
However, when he entered the conference room and looked around, he saw the grim
looks on the faces of other officers of the Nevada and felt the grave silence,
and his mood sank. He took place in one of the empty seats and waited for
somebody, but especially the Capitain, to speak, not sure about anything
concerning the mission anymore, except that it hadn’t ended yet.
Harrias looked around the room at his crew. They were a
good bunch. Each had his quirks, but they slotted together well. Harrias was
surprised by the lack of females in the senior staff, something that could lead
to a more feudal staff. Something indeed, that he was already seeing between
two of the members of his crew; Rex Bonar and Zhukarak Hrisvalar. He had
noticed signs of tension between the pair, and made a note to try and ease this
as much as possible. Obviously they felt that they were competing for much the
same job.
Thinking about, the trill realised, he had made a note of a lot of things, and
many of them had not yet been acted on with one matter or the other, and this
was something he would have to do in their downtime. As Commander McDuff
entered and completed the senior staff, the CO called for quiet.
"Firstly I would like to congratulate everyone here on their excellent
performances in our recent assignment. The acquistion of Dr Kavek went very
smoothly, when all is said and done, and I commend you all for helping with
this. Now, you may have heard some rumours floating around the starbase. I want
to set the record straight. As we were escorting Dr Kavek through the arcade,
he was attacked by another prisoner who was been escorted at the same time. Dr
Kavek is currently in a critical condition, and it seems that our efforts were
in vain." A murmur went up among the crew, which Harrias removed with a
quietening motion. "However, it is believed that we have found members of
the Debrune civilisation, and hopefully they have some way of preventing the
destruction of the Starbase. Until that time, we are on standby evacuation
mode."
"So our mission was fruitless?" The marine officer spoke up.
"No, it did in fact acheive many things. Firstly it got us Dr Kavek, who I
am sure the federation will be interested in talking to. In addition to that, I
received our new orders from Admiral Magellan only a couple of hours ago. Once
this situation is over, we are to return to Tanis Borealis, and find out what
we can about Dr Kavek's research. However, a full briefing on that will follow.
At the moment though, you are all on leave until we receive our new first officer,
although I want all of you at hand, as we are still on stand-by.
Dismissed. Oh, and can I speak to Lieutenant Hrisvalar please?"
The rest of the crew filed out, leaving Harrias and the marine.
"I have noticed some tension between yourself and our new CTSO. Is there
anything you want to tell me?"
This took Zhukarak by surprise. Not the fact that Captain
Jira noticed, but the short amount of time he had noticed it in. Zhukarak had
hoped he could have resolved what personality conflict there was between him
and Ensign Bonar before this had happened. It was too late for that.
“Well Captain.”He started. “I have noticed that Ensign Bonar is reckless,
careless, and too eager to prove himself. When my marines and I arrived at the
shuttlebay, to detain Dr. Kavek, he did not appreciate our presence for
additional security. He had also unduly risked his own personal safety by
remaining exposed while trying to talk Dr. Kavek out of the shuttle.” Zhukarak
paused for a minute to let Captain Jira process this information, before he
continued."After Dr. Kavek was in custody, I took the liberty to do some
checking on Ensign Bonar. He had injured himself on the holodeck by removing
the safety protocols while participating in the destruction of ancient earth
vehicles…from the inside of one.” “At the academy he performed well as a
tactical officer, but he performed on an average scale when it came to security
issues.” Captain Jira nodded affirmatively as he remembered Rex Bonar’s file.
He also recalled Zhukarak's file and his experience with the Andorian Imperial
Guard. “So what would you suggest I do, Lieutenant.” “I think it would be wise
that you leave me in charge of security aboard the Nevada, or at the very
least, let me supervise Ensign Bonar until you feel he is ready to handle it on
his own.”
Captain Jira took a minute to think before responding
"No. The only way he is going to learn in the right
manner is to learn on his own. It is not going to teach him well enough if you
are there to make up for his mistakes. No, he has to learn on his own.
"In doing so he could endanger us all."
"We have to give him that respibility. After all, It is not only for what
we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do. He needs to
be held responsible for what he does. Not what he doesn't. We have to let him
try."
The marine nodded at him, not fully agreeing, but ceding the point for the
moment. Harrias left the marine to his own thoughts, and went looking for Rex.
Eventually he found him, in The Fish Tank, in the company of a lady.
"Not many people come down here Rex. You were hard to find."
Not many people come down here Rex. You were hard to
find."
The words came like a shock to Rex, who certainly hadn't expected the Captain
here.
Rex accidently spilled his drink over the lady he was conversing with. The
drink landed on a somewhat humiliating spot on the female, and Rex's clumsy
attempt at helping her get cleaned ended in a slap in the ensign's face.
After the woman had left Rex apologized to the captain about the scene, while
gesturing him to sit down on the now vacant seat.
Rex ordered the captain a drink.
Jira: "Well ensign. You sure didn't get a chance to adjust to your new
position, with all these recent events."
"I had noticed that as well, sir. I could have handled some situations
better I guess", Rex replied to the Trill.
"Yeah like the one when I got in. But seriously, don't worry too much
about it ensign, you'll learn as you go. However you do need to do something
about the friction between you and Lt. Hrisvalar. You're blinding yourself to
the fact that the lt. is a very competent officer. I'm sure you can learn a
thing or two from him"
Rex, tired and still a bit embarressed about the situation the captain had
witnessed, just nodded an 'understood' to the captain.
He would try..
Seeing that Rex was in thought, and that he was probably
still embarrased, Harrias stood up to leave. However before he went, he placed
a hand on the Ensign's shoulder.
"I believe in you Rex." As he left the bar, he reflected on what a
corny statement it was, but shrugged it off. It didn't really matter whether it
was corny or not. He made his way up to where he believed Magellan had gone. He
walked in to see the negotiations continuing with the Debruni individuals. He
discreetly took at seat around the table, and the Admiral gave him a slight
nod.
Meanwhile
in sickbay, T'Val had examined Kavek. "He will live," she told
admiral Drew, who was waiting in her office, "He has a fractured jaw and a
dislocated shoulder. He suffered absolutely no brain damage and will be back on
his feet soon. A mild concussion may cause him a few headaches but it is
nothing a paracetamol cannot cure."
Then she turned her attention to admiral Magellan Lin, who lay staring at the
ceiling on one of the biobeds. For some reason he was not responding to any of
the Trill remedies Captain Jira had suggested. "Admiral Lin," she
said firmly, as she tucked him in tightly with several blankets to get him
warmed up. Usually getting someone warm did the trick, but not this time. Next,
she resorted to Vulcan methods, when someone was aiding a person in coming out
of the tow-kath, the healing trance. She struck him hard on his left cheek, and
repeated the gesture on the other side. "Wake up," she commanded him,
ignoring the shocked expression on Drew's face.
Magellan
suddenly snapped back into himself and rubbed his cheek the sharp sting of the
slap still throbbing.
"T'Val." He shook his head "...I could have you up on charges
for..." and then the realisation returned, "Kavek? how is he."
"Essentially fine, or rather he will be once he wakes up"
"Which will be?"
"Whenever his brain kicks back in to gear. It could be 5 minutes, 5 hours
or 5..."
"Computer time to planetary destruction."
"4hrs 47minutes 32 seconds"
"Well it better be less than 5 hours then" Magellan replied dryly,
"You do realise that without him this station is pretty much gone. There
are a hundred thousand people aboard. We have 5 starships, 42 support craft and
perhaps 25-30 small commercial craft meaning we have a total evacuation ability
of just over 45,000. Not even half HALF of this station."
"We do stil have time" Paul pointed out drawing Magellan to one side
"And other options to explore"
"Other options?"
"Oh yes, T'Vals scans reveal that Jibbs guests are indeed Debrune."
"So we don't need Kavek" Magellan noted a cruel smile flickering
across his face.
"No, not if we can negotiate a settlement with Jak'dor." Paul agreed.
"Excellent." Then he frowned a moment, "We do have a bargaining
tool, something I dont want to resort to but may have to."
Paul looked at him quizzically,
"They know how to stop the reactor and we have something they want."
"The child?"
"The child."
"You'd really use the infant as a bargaining chip."
Magellan sighed,
"If it saves this station then yes."
"Well you best keep that quiet, I doubt T'Val and Tedak would agree."
"No, perhaps not, but there are too many lives at stake here and with any
luck Jak'dor will agree to help us without us needing to play that card."
"Luck indeed"
"Have the conference room prepared and have Jibb join us with the Debrune
party. Oh and ask any available Ambassadors to attend. We have some swift
negotiations to make."
JakDor
and his councillors had been staring at Qualinost for several minutes while
Richard conferred with the few Diplomatic staff that had been spared for him.
He was the senior diplomat here. It was hard to believe...
The elderly leader of the Debrune Council finally ceased his wondering gaze on
the planet of Qualinost and walked over to the table where Richard Jibb and
some Assailant diplomatic staff were sitting, and his six companions joined
him. The small contingent of diplomatic staff had been updating him with
current events, including some bizarre rumours regarding the homicidal habits
of Admiral Magellan. Everyone at Jibb's table sat up expectantly.
"Mr. Jibb, we are now ready to complete our pilgrimage to the holy
Qua'ee'nost. You have completed your part in our hallowed crossing. And we
thank you" JakDor intoned, and his cowled acolytes bowed in unison.
"You're welcome, Elder JakDor. And as much as I would like you to be able
to continue, there are some serious concerns that must be addressed before you
can proceed" Richard said in his most diplomatic tone.
"There are no concerns more serious than our requirement to reach the
Qua'ee'nost and view the Divine Child. We will allow nothing to stand in our
way!!" JakDor insisted in a loud voice.
Richard knew that JakDor was going to say something like that. Unfortunately,
he was the senior diplomat in the room. Must be a tough time at Starbase
Assailant to be able to say something like that. "Unfortunately, I have
been informed that the planet has only about 4 hours of life left before it
explodes. There is a Debrune power station left on the planet that will
overload soon. Not only will it destroy the planet, but this station as
well"
JakDor's eyes narrowed. "Your Federation has defiled the site. That is why
it will explode. Consider the loss of this place and it's people a penance for
your lack of restraint. We will go the planet and see the Child. That is all
that matters." JakDor's eyes were consumed with religious fervour.
"What makes you think that I will allow you to go to the planet?"
Richard asked calmly.
JakDor's eyes went from religions fervour to rage in an instant. "What? If
you do not allow us to the Holy Qua'ee'nost, this station and all aboard it
will be destroyed!"
"Well, you are correct about that. What is also true is that you will die
here along with us, never having reached your goal or completed your
quest" Richard stated matter of factly. He was being quietly kicked under
the table by one of the junior diplomats. It seemed that Richard wasn't being
diplomatic enough.
JakDor seemed about to retort angrily, but changed his mind and settled into an
icy calm. Dealing with him was quite strange, Richard thought to himself. It
was almost like dealing with a Romulan and Vulcan in one package. Highly
emotional one second, calm and logical the second. However, both were tempered
by religious fervour.
"What must we do to be allowed to reach the planet?" JakDor asked
after a considerable pause.
At last, Richard thought. "Do you know how to shut down the reactor?"
"Yes. That ritual is known. We can shut it down if you take us to
Qua'ee'nost. And the Divine Child must come with us" JakDor stated firmly.
Richard wasn't sure about the status of the child. "I'm not even sure
where the child is."
"The child is near us. Aboard this station. I can feel it" JakDor
stated with conviction.
How can he know that? Richard thought. Just as he was preparing to continue
with the negotiation, Admiral Magellan, accompanied by a considerable
contingent of Assailant's diplomatic staff, swept into the room.
T'Val
entered behind the admiral and the string of diplomats, carrying the child
carefully. Her eyes swept around the room, her expression one of apprehension
and fear. She feared the child, the orphan, being taken from her, she feared
nothing but the child being taken from her.
She walked on, stopping only a few centimeters before the Debrune Elder.
"This is D'Beren, the one you call the Divine Child," she said
clearly, but her voice was wavering, threatening to break, "I am his legal
guardian, as both his parents have passed on. I regret to tell you that one of
our own killed his father, and this man has been severely punished for it. I
have cared for this child as if he were my own, for I cannot beget." She
gazed at the elder, her eyes holding hope. "Please, do not take the child
from my care. I am Vulcan, and am supposed to refrain from expressing emotion,
but in this matter, I cannot. I would not be able to bear it if the child is
taken, for I love him as would I a son."
She held up the child to the elder. "Behold D'Beren, the child you call
Divine!" From his perch on her shoulder, bronze firelizard Sev peered
through strands of hair, and hissed at the Debrune elder, his eyes whirling the
red of anger/danger. A second later he settled down.
Magellan
realised that things could very quickly get out of hand, he knew Jibb could
handle himself but was glad nevertheless that he had asked security to be
present also.
"Gentleman Gentleman, Please let us sit."
Jak'dor seemed a little reticent but did so and with him so did his entourage.
Releived Magellan motioned for the others to sit.
"Lets take this a step at a time. This planet- Qualinost has been
abandoned by teh Debrune for Millennia, in the past its been claimed by Vulcan,
Andoria and now the Federation, legally it is ours."
He held up a hand to silence Jak Dors open mouth,
"Nevertheless we respect the wishes of its former owners. and wish to
enter in to a diplomatic state with you."
"We care only for theChild. The planet is worthless. The city is old and
although hallowed can be permitted to remain in alien hands, the child is
all"
T'Val gripped the infant tighter.
"Why is he so important?"
Jak'dor seemed unwilling to answer at first and then decided to come clean.
"We Debrune are old and noble. We live for tradition, we left this space
eons ago for the holy lands and never thought we would need to return. But now
things are different. The youngsters are restless and see this space as theirs,
we are fractured, divided, never has this been so in all our glorious past. Then
we recalled the caretakers of Qualinost and the legend of the child. Here is a
being who can heal our wounds, close the divide bring peace."
"I see" Magellan nodded "I think we have met the others of your
race."
"It is likely, they work in ways different to us. More... impulsive."
"We are the childs guardians though" T'Val asserted,
"We'll cross that bridge when we reach it" Magellan said,
"Jak'dor would you be wiling to turn off the reactor? If you dont not only
will 100,000 die but so will you and the child."
Richard
listened to JakDor with a fair bit of skepticism. He had been travelling with
the Debrune Elder and the Council for some time now, listening to their rituals
and stories and had watched them as they had gazed reverently at their
Qua'ee'nost and found it unlikely that they truly believed the planet was as
worthless as the Debrune were saying. It was more likely that they might play
for the planet later, perhaps using the child as a bargaining chip.
Richard could see that Magellan was starting to open his mouth and jumped in.
"I'm afraid that we can't hand over the child, JakDor. The boy was found
without living parents or other family. He has been given into the temporary
guardianship of Healer T'Val here and the boys fate will be decided by the
proper authorities."
"This place has no proper authorities for the placement of a Debrune
child. It belongs with us. Give the boy to me or I will allow your station to
be destroyed along with Qua'ee'nost!!" JakDor said coldly, glaring at
Jibb.
Richard stared back. He could see the JakDor was getting desperate. "That
works for me" Richard said. "We do have some other ways to shut down
the reactor. If you'd like, I can detail a ship to take you back to that piece
of impulse driven space junk I picked you up from. You should be back here in
about 4 years. Assuming that the planet is still here, you won't have the
leverage that you do now. What is it that you really want?"
Richard could see that JakDor had made that sudden emotional change again.
Anger to cold logic. "We wish to move the city of our forebears to the
Vargas system. That is our home now, but the city itself is of considerable
significance to us. We will halt the reactor if your Federation can help us
move the artifacts from the city to Vargas 3. In addition, we will allow the
child to remain, in the hope that Debrune, Romulan and Vulcan will realize that
we were all one in the past."
Finally a little truth, Richard thought to himself.
Harrias heard the comment about the child. He wondered why
they seemed to be giving up so easily on something that had been providing the
main part of their argument. He was no betazoid, but he was sure that the man
was lying. Harrias rose to his feet.
"Elder, from your arguments so far, I had the vague idea that this child
was the most important thing left to you, and yet now you throw it away like a
used tissue. Your negotiating tactics may be different to ours, but that does
not seem a very healthy move for you. Now you have given in once, you can not
hope to continue this negotiation to a successful end."
The federation diplomats looked at him in astonishment, wondering why he would
make such a statement that was surely not advantagous. Captain Jira cast a
glance at T'Val before continuing.
"So, I can draw only one conclusion. You do still want the child, but you
were going to take him using some other means, maybe wait until the deadline
was closer and we had no choice, I don't know. I can not prove the truth in my
words, nor the untruths in yours, but I challenge you to reveal your true
motives to this audience.
T'Val clutched the child to her chest, uttering comforting
sounds to it as it started wailing. She looked up and her gaze held nothing but
anger as she glared at the elders. She shifted her attention back to the baby
and rocked it gently in her arms, and soon the wailing subsided as the child
fell asleep. Sev had hopped down onto the baby's chest and was humming a tune
in his clear voice, something the baby seemed to like. T'Val looked surprised, she
had not known that the firelizard could sing.
She looked back up at the elder. "This child will not be used as a means
for bargain," she said, "he is a person, and while he is not capable
of fending for himself, he needs someone who does that for him. As his legal
guardian, I will fend for his rights. He needs parents to grow up with, needs
the chance experience childhood, and growing up as a child. The least he needs
is to grow up knowing he is an icon, always being tugged at, and denied his own
personality. I repeat, the child will not be used to be bargained with."
Having sat down meer seconds before, Harrias, with a nod
from the Admiral, stood up once more.
"Healer, I would like to remind you of two things. Firstly, you are not
the legal guardian of this child. He was placed in your care until such a time
as a legal guardian was found. Secondly, while you are the husband to am
ambassador, you are not recognised by the federation to negotiate, that
includes adding things to, and removing things from the bargaining table."
"Neither are you Captain." She replied icily.
"Quite the contrary healer. As a federation Captain I am recognised as a
diplomat. I had to take a two month course in it. Furthermore, I have not
partook in any negotiations, I have simply made comments."
The trill sat back down, to see confusion on the faces of both delegations.
That, to an extent at least was what he had been seeking. A slight break from
the proceedings should be an advantage to the federation diplomats, who had
seemed to be losing steam.
"D'Beren is a person," T'Val snapped, clearly
angry now, "he is not a thing that can be passed around as you see fit. He
has rights, as any Federation citizen has!" On her shoulder, Sev echoed
her anger, flapping his wings in response. On her lap, the child had fallen
asleep, and was now oblivious to the commotion his presence caused, much less
the emotional feelings that came from T'Val.
T'Val herself was confused, where she normally was very able to assess a
situation rationally and without judgement clauded by emotion, she now found it
very difficult to contain them. Somehow, she felt drawn to the child, as if she
had for some reason been destined to find him. She also knew, that she would do
just about anything to asure that the child remained in her care.
Harrias made another snide comment which had T'Val jump to her feet in anger.
She placed the baby in his crib, which she had taken along, and commanded the
bronze firelizard not to let anyone but herself near the child. The little
bronze chirped and hopped down into the crib, ready to attack anyone who came
near. T'Val walked up to Harrias and drew herself to her full height, which was
still just about a full head shorter than Harrias. Eyes full of anger, a sort
of anger that was now beyond her control, she raised a fist at him, ready to
strike.
The vulcan healer standing in front of him, her body
poised to strike, Harrias could not help but feel slightly sorry for her. He
could see how much she cared for the child, and he hoped that there was still a
way for her to keep the child, unfortunately, the captain's job was never easy.
The guards started to close in towards the pair, but Harrias motioned them to
hold off.
"Ah, but healer, he is not a federation citizen. He is a Debruni citizen,
and that, is the core of it. However, if you contin..." Harrias stopped as
a cold hand slammed into his cheek, sending his head around. He turned back
towards her, rubbing his cheek. His voice now matched the temperature of her
hand, his words cutting through the room, each one sharper than the last.
"As I was saying, your continued protests are purely selfish, something I
never thought I would see from any vulcan, let alone one of your standing. But
then, look at what you married..."
"THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH CAPTAIN." Admiral Magellan's voice was almost
booming, and Harrias could hear the concern for the station within it. He
nodded and sat down. His cheek was burning, but he ignored it, instead looking
with distaste at T'Val. He has always held vulcans in high regard, but she had
lowered his view with her actions.
"Now, if we could resume some sensible negotiating here? T'Val, sit
down."
T'Val sat down, glaring at Harrias. She was very sure that
he was very aware of her anger, and the insult directed at her bondmate
released all emotional barriers. She had been about to strike him again, when
Magellan had stopped Harrias, and she had balled her hand into a fist, trying
to gain some control of her emotions. ~this is not good~ she told herself ~I am
no longer in control of my emotions, what is causing this?~ She stiffled a sob,
and rubbed her throbbing hand. The hard slap she had served Harrias with had
sent a jolt up her arm and her hand was hurting. Still, she was not going to
apollogize to him.
She was aware of the diplomats and the Debrune gazing at her, but she pretended
not to notice. She felt blood rise to her cheeks as she felt Magellan's gaze on
her. He was the last person she had wanted to embarass, but the embarassment
was on her, she felt she had just lost all her credibility with that one
action. She met his gaze and concentrated, hoping he would hear. ~I am sorry~
she told him, as she drew a deep breath. She then averted her gaze and met the
eyes of the Debrune, and held their gaze in silence.
JakDor's eyes blazed. "You...will...sit!" he
said in a commanding voice while pointing a finger at the enraged Healer.
T'Val's head snapped around at the power in the Elder's voice which filled the
room without yelling. "If that child comes to harm by your actions, we
will take him and go!" T'Val sank back into her chair, her eyes brimming
with tears.
JakDor put bent his head forward and closed his eyes, the he raised his head
back up and stared at Captain Harrias. "Thank you for your contribution
and your honest appraisal of your diplomatic abilities. However, it is quite
clear that you are no expert in negotiations. Perhaps another few months in
your class will help."
He turned his attention back to Admiral Magellan. "You seem to have the
largest number of decorations on your uniform. Perhaps you are in charge here.
My interest in the child is secondary. The childs coming was a part of the
prophecy and was a beacon to lead us to the Holy Qua'ee'nost. Now that we are
here, our keeping the child is not necessarily a requirement on our part. I was
willing to leave the child here, however, it seems quite clear that your
Federation is unable to care for a single small child. How you managed to
achieve a galaxy wide government is beyond me." JakDor shook his head in
amazement.
He continued on. "However, that still leaves the original problem. You are
about to lose your starbase, and we are about to lose our city. Do you have any
useful suggestions, or are you willing to lose this place and most of it's
inhabitants?"
"I m glad that someone at least is looking at the
bigger picture. As I explained this area of space is now part of teh Federation
and what ever claim you had was relinquished when you left. However in the
interests of prolonged interaction and to aid the fostering of a new entente I
am amenable to negotiations. The child aside we do both want the same
thing."
Jak'dor nodded
Magellan pressed on.
"The planet is of extreme importance to us, this sector is over populated
and we need the land mass here to support or people. We are also due to take in
the refugee Talleran population when their sun goes nova."
"This is none of our concern"
"It is if you wish to have any say in what happens on the planet below.
The Federation is reasonable and willing to accomadate all. Perhaps I can put
forward a proposal that will be agreeable to all"
"You may try, but I doubt your ability to do so"
Magellan smiled curtly and bit back a scathing remark.
"Well lets see. We need this planet, but this city is yours, and is for
all intents and purposes operational. You are returning it seems, but this
space is now ours. We want peaceful co-existence, the natural agreement is that
you repopulate the city. You know how it works, your science outweighs ours you
could help our terraform project we could be partners. This project is
co-operation between the Ferengi, Federation and Romulans, more diverse a team
cannot be found. This way you get to directly over see your holy site, in
addition we can lend extra support in protecting it from any external source or
in fact an internal Debrune one. Perhaps we can even lend mediators to try and
heal your fractions?"
Jak'dor listened intently,
"And what of the child? He is still holy to us"
"Agreed, His parents were killed by us, it was an accident, a
misunderstanding and so we owe the child a debt of honour, T'Val and Tedak have
taken that on board. Can we not see this as seal on the document, the ink on
the paper. Allow them to raise the child, with you having a presence on the
planet you can ensure the child is supported and educated in your ways. Let us
show you we mean what we say, let this child be the bond that binds our two
peoples together."
All his diplomacy spent Magellan lent back and awaited teh response.
JakDor sat back calmly. "I am happy that some
negotiations are forthcoming. I can see the bigger picture, and I do not
dispute that this section of space is presently under the jurisdiction of the
Federation, but the Debrune have some historical claim to the planet itself, as
evidenced by the city we left there."
Magellan nodded wearily. "I have not disputed that point, Elder
JakDor."
"Nor should you. I may be amenable to moving the Debrune to the Holy
Qua'ee'nost, and assisting with efforts to terraforming the planet, if Starfleet
will detail ships to move our people." Jakdor shrugged at the surprised
look on Magellan's face. "In order to assist our attempt to keep our
existence secret, interplanetary travel was forbidden."
Magellan nodded in understanding. "I imagine that you have some other
points in mind..."
JakDor nodded emphatically. "The
Harrias gasped. "That's impossible! Do you have any idea how many
Tallerans there are?"
JakDor looked disdainfully at him. "I have no idea. Nor do I care. It is
just as clear that you have no idea how many Debrune there are, either."
The Elder returned his stare to Magellan. "We would also require our own
government to oversee our section of the planet, with no interference from the
Federation. The terraforming project can go on with the mentioned groups of
Ferengi, Federation and Romulans. We would also have to ask that a Vulcan sit
on the control group. As for the child, your conditions on him are
satisfactory, as long as it is clear that the child will visit the planet, or
entertain visitations by the Debrune. Also, the child will be required to
remain either on the planet or at this station until his 16th year."
"That is our position. Do you have a counter offer?" JakDor sat back
to wait.
T'Val, who unconsciously had been holding her breath,
exhaled with relief; she was allowed to raise the child. It had been her plan
all along to raise the child with backgrounds to the Debrune culture, but would
teach him also Vulcan and Romulan beliefs. She nodded when visiting the planet
was mentioned, and living on the station until he was sixteen. Neither Tedak
nor she had any plans to move anytime soon, Assaillant was and would always be
their home.
Visitations from the Debrune would be welcome, as they could assist in teaching
the child the Debrune beliefs, as well as herself. However, she did not
understand what he meant by control group, and asked him such.
JakDor glanced at T'Val when she posed her question
regarding the control group. He noted to himself that he was going to have to
interview the Vulcan woman to see if she would make a suitable ward for the
Divine Child. What he has seen so far wasn't very impressive. She seemed
unusually violent and unstable for a Vulcan. Hardly worthy of her shared Vulcan
and Debrune heritage.
Ceasing his musing, JakDor said "The control group for the terraforming
project will be the members appointed by the cooperating organizations. The
Admiral mentioned the Federation, Ferengi and Romulans. There will obviously
also have to be a Debrune member. I also think that there should be a Vulcan
member of this group. Does that answer your question, Healer T'Val?"
T'Val nodded. "Yes, that answered my question, thank
you." She had calmed down considerably, now that it was more clear that
she would almost definately be allowed to raise the child. She sat back in her
chair and listened to the conversation between the Elder and the Diplomatic
party, including Harrias and Magellan.
Gazing at Harrias, she noted that her handprint was still standing out on his
cheek, and she gave him an embarrassed smile when he glanced her way. She
beckoned him quietly, and slipped him a hypospray and a vial containing a
clouded fluid. "This will help," she whispered, then returned her
attention to the debate. Beside her, Sev was still guarding the child, but his
eyes were no longer red, instead they were whirling the blue of calmness.
Then the Debrune city came up again and the reactor. The chit-chat about it was
beyond T'Val but she understood the danger the reactor caused to them in its
current state, and she sensed the worry coming from the Federation staff around
her. "Will this reactor form a future cause of worry for the occupants of
both Qualinost and this station?" she finally asked, "and how can we
assist in assuring that an event like this will not occur again?"
"Indeed" Magellan noted picking up on T'Vals
astute point, "Perhaps we could suspend negotiations and stop the reactor
there are only 3hrs remaining. Once safe again, we could then return to the
debate."
"That will not be necessary" Jak'Dor replied a curt smile playing
over his lips, "Now that we have reached agreement, on that is
binding?"
Magellan nodded
"That is binding, I can inform you that the reactor is highly unlikely to
go critical. The
Magellan could barely believe what he was hearing, everything was fine, after
all that had happened, It was never going to blow at all.
"It is not surprising you failed to see, or technology in some areas seems
quite superior to your own. Once at full power it has enough energy to power
not just the city but the whole planet."
"Even so I wish that you could go planetside and verify that. Its not a
question of trust more one of being careful. And might I add that you are a
master negotiator."
Jak'dor nodded,
"I hope our deception does not displease you but gaining access to the
holy city and access to the child was all that mattered. To have the city we
can reunite our people and from what I can tell of your federation you are word
keepers, you will not renege on our deal."
"Indeed you are right, The Federation stands by your deal. But I will be
wary in dealing with you again. Heres to a new future for us all then"
T'Val nodded and picked up the child from his crib,
telling the bronze firelizard that it was no longer necessary to guard the
child. "You were promised full access Elder, as you put it," she
said, stepping up to the Debrune male, "allow me to introduce you to
D'Beren, as I had named him. If you have a more suitable name for a Debrune I
would be most pleased to hear it. Also I must apollogize for my...emotional
outburst. I have grown very attached to the boy, due to my own inability to
conceive, and I have had a child wish ever since my marriage with Ambassador
Tedak."
She noticed that Harrias Jira was still standing to the side. Handing the baby
carefully to the Debrune elder, she walked up to the Trill captain and saw that
for some strange reason, Sev had settled on his shoulder. "Captain,"
she said softly, noting that the handprint was still quite visible, "I see
that you did not take the medication I gave you. I hope you will forgive me my
outburst, all that mattered to me was the wellfare of the child, it had nothing
to do with you."
JakDor looked down at the tiny Divine Child, a being that
had been prophesied among the Debrune for many generation. Laying his aged
hands on the child forehead, he said quietly "D'Beren. Welcome to the
universe. As it was said, you have come, and so you shall remain." The
rest of the Elder council had gathered around and they bowed in unison as
JakDor finished his ritual.
JakDor looked back at Magellan. "Our negotiation is concluded. The Debrune
will now go and fulfill our part. I and the Elder Council will need to the Holy
Planet. The child will be a part of the ritual required to bring the reactor
under control. Healer T'Val, will you kindly prepare the child to come with us.
As you are D'Beren's guardian, you will come with us."
JakDor then turned to Richard Jibb. "Mr. Jibb, I have been informed that
your are a Federation Courier, tasked with carrying out official diplomatic
duties. You have been useful. I would appreciate your carrying the Debrune
council to the planet and then back to our colony in the Vargas system."
Jibb, who had been sitting quietly in the back of the room while the
heavyweights had gone at the negotiation stood and said "The presence of
the Elder Council aboard the Wanderer will honour my ship."
"Admiral, if there is nothing else to discuss, the Elder Council must head
to the planet. There is very little excess time." JakDor said.
"Of course. We will arrange an escort down to the planet while you head to
the Wanderer" Magellan said officially.
JakDor nodded, gathered up the Elder Council and headed for the door, Richard
Jibb trailing along behind.
Tell me what I must do," T'Val said, "is there
anything special that I need to do to prepare him for the ritual?" She hesitated,
then looked up at the Elder. "Would you...," she faltered, suddenly
very unsure as to what to say. She was still very embarrassed at her earlier
behaviour, and she did not know how the Elder would react. "Would you mind
terribly if D'Beren would call Tedak and myself parents? We would indeed be
very honored if he would address us as mother and father when he reaches the
age where he learns to speak."
She continued explaining that she would also very much like to learn more about
the Debrune culture, so that she and Tedak could raise the child to Debrune
standards, as well as Vulcan and Romulan.
Meanwhile
in Operations.
After making the necessary arrangements for the diplomatic meeting that was now
going on in the Conference room, Paul Drew had returned to Operations, and was
now busy preparing for if the negotiations failed.
Since word had broke about the very probable destruction of the base, many of
the private ship’s had left the base, and no new ones had entered the sector,
there were still Starfleet ship’s in the area, but like Magellan had pointed
out, they could only evacuate 45,000 people.
Now sat at his large station on the Operation’s deck, Drew was desperately
trying to find a way to get the other 55,000 odd people off the station too.
He heard the turbo lift doors open behind him, but didn’t bother to look up
from his station until he heard Lt. Tomlinson call out to him.
“What can I do for you Chief?” Drew asked, his eye’s still focused on his
console.
“Robert,” Tomlinson simply said, now Drew did turn around and face him.
“What about him?”
“He is still requesting asylum.”
Drew actually laughed at that, “You have got to be kidding me, he has just
signed all our death warrants.”
“No joke,” Tomlinson answered, “He has given me a list of all pirate activities
in the sector.”
Those were the requirements of his asylum Drew remembered, but that had been
before Robert had attacked Kavek.
“I will review the data and pass it on to Admiral Lin,” Drew said formally,
then noting the worried look on Tomlinson’s face, Drew gave the man a small
smile, and said in a more gentle voice, “Is there something on your mind
Simon?”
Once
again Drew found himself standing in the base’s security office, on the monitor
was Robert Patching, the pirate, for that was what he was, had been granted
leave to return to quarters, but on the way to said quarters, he attacked Dr.
Kavek, the station’s best chance at stop the planet below exploding and killing
them all.
Since then, Robert had been escorted back to his cell and left there, now Drew
and Tomlinson were watching him very closely, getting to go and once again
question their prisoner.
Walking into the large area that housed the holding cells, Drew felt his
stomach tighten as he saw the smug look on Robert’s face, the man was clearly
proud of himself, and there was something in his eyes, something like
satisfaction. He looked a lot more dangerous then he did before.
“Admiral Drew,” Robert greeted him, in a cocky voice, “the real boss too busy
to come see me?”
“I want to ask you some questions,” Drew replied, ignoring Robert’s jab.
At that Robert gave Drew a sly smile, “I don’t feel like visitors, I am all
worn out from a busy day.”
“Why did you attack Kavek?”
“Sorry who?” Robert asked, now sounding generally surprised.
“You know full well who I mean,” Drew answered coldly.
“I believe Federation law allows me to have a lawyer present before being
questioned,” Robert countered, “No lawyer no answers.”
Drew gave Robert a very cold smile keeping his eyes locked onto the pirates he
spoke to Tomlinson.
“Leave us.”
“I am sorry Admiral, but I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Tomlinson replied.
Now Drew did turn to face the Security Chief, and fixed his icy glare onto him,
when he next spoke it was with his “command” voice, the one used for when
orders had to be given and obeyed.
“Lieutenant, I do believe you’re under the mistaken impression that was a
request,” Drew said very coldly, “let me assure you it wasn’t.”
Tomlinson fixed Drew with an icy glare of his own, and then turned and left the
holding cell.
When he was gone, Drew again turned to face Robert, but when he spoke, it
wasn’t to the prisoner.
“Computer, deactivate all security recordings in this room, authorisation Drew
Pi Alpha 2-0-2”
Robert shot Drew a scared look, not so confident now Drew thought to
himself.
Still though Drew kept quiet, instead he walked to the control panel, and
lowered the force field, and then, very slowly walked into Robert’s cell.
“I want answers NOW!” Drew bellowed.
The pirate backed into the corner, fear was now in his eyes, this wasn’t part
of his job, this wasn’t meant to happen to him.
“You have until I count to twenty,” Drew said slowly, still walking closer to
Robert.
“Why do you care so much?” Robert shouted back at Drew, he had gotten over his
initial shock, and was now ready to argue back.
“Because, without that Doctor, this over 10,000 people are going to die,” Drew
replied, and then with a sudden movement, he grabbed hold of Robert by the scruff
of his shirt.
“And believe me, I hold you responsible for that.”
“It, it, it wasn’t my fault,” Robert stammered, “They didn’t want him helping
you, they told me my debt would be cleared if I got him out of the way.”
“Who are they?” Drew asked, still not letting the pirate go.
“I don’t know their names!” Robert cried, “They just told me there was
something on the planet they didn’t want you to find.”
“Admiral! Let him go now!” the sharp voice of Chief Tomlinson sounded
throughout the room, Drew threw the prisoner to the floor, and then turned his
back to him and walked out of the room, he heard the force-field go back up,
and then a few minutes later, Tomlinson came into the office.
“What the heck do you think you were doing?” the Security Chief demanded.
“Getting answers,” Drew replied, “And I got them.”
“You pull a stunt like that again, and Admiral or not, I will arrest you
myself,” Tomlinson told Drew, “I am in charge of security here!”
“I have work to do,” Drew answered, turning he walked out of the security
office, leaving Tomlinson standing behind his desk.
With
Qualinost and Assailant safe once more Magellan allowed himself a quiet moment
in his office to try and recapture his composure, he'd thought starship life
was hard!
He looked at the pile of PADDs that had only got bigger, he supposed that now
the station wasnt going to be blown to smithereens he ought to have a look at
them. later, much later.
Some of the staff were setting up a celebration in the Fishtank but he really
couldnt be bothered, too mcuh had happened, too many people had nearly lost
their lives.
Some good had come from it, a new alliance with the Debrune, but that also
brought with it problems, especially if the rogue fraction in Debrune society
made their presence felt.
Magellan looked to the replicator, was it too soon for another Saurian Brandy?
He decided it wasnt and so called one up and took a seat.
He sat in his comfortable chair and closed his eyes. His crew and those of the
Nevada had performed admirably, tracking down Kavek was no mean feat, he had
evaded Starfleet Intelligence for years. Kavek. The name struck him like a
bell. That man, that personification of all that could be wrong with science
was still alive and still on his station.
He set his drink down with a thud, the amber liquid sloshing up its side and
dribbling on to the table.
Sickbay was quiet. The small installation in the restricted Starfleet
Operations section was for Starfleet only. The base had its own hospital as
well as several infirmaries and surgerys. Magellan entered the room which was
about the same size and layout of one on a Galaxy Class starship.
He looked around at the few patients before finding his target.
Kavek lay outstretched on an isolated biobed, a security officer at his side.
The man seemed strangely peaceful. His eyes were closed lightly, his breath
shallow but supported by the biobed. His face was bruised from both his and
Zoilips punches and his hair was matted with blood from where Robert had struck
him.
Nurse Tsomba emerged from teh duty office.
"Admiral, Sir. I didnt know you were here."
"mmm"
"Can I help you? Your not injured are you?"
"MMmm Oh no, not at all. How is he?"
"Essentially hes fine. There was no lasting neurological damage but for
some reason he just isnt waking. It may have something to do with his work with
Omega it may have effected his neurones"
"I see and when will he be ready for trial?"
"Err not sure Sir, days, weeks months."
"I see. Thankyou Jill. You can knock off, theres a celebration in the
Fishtank"
"Thankyou sir."
Jill checked the stats on her patients and left.
Magellan was left once more with the man responsible for Locutis's injury and
L'Etals death.
"Ensign. Wait outside."
"Sir?"
"I said wait outside."
"Aye Sir"
Once the Security Guard left and the doors closed. Magellan turned back to
Kavek.
"Computer disable recording in Sickbay. Authorisation Lin Alpha Five
Bravo"
"Recording Disabled."
With a heavy breath Magellan said,
"Well Kavek it finally looks as if you ve reached the end of the line. He
reached forward removing the pillow from under the mans head. He held it before
him and then above Kaveks face.
"You ve ruined your last life" he said bravely and froze, the pillow
just inches from Kaveks face.
A thousand thoughts flashed through his mind, a hundred alternatives and a
million different futures. He stopped and bent further returning the pillow to
behind Kaveks head.
"Your not getting out of it that easily Kavek. You nearly made me do it.
But I want to see you in the dock."
Magellan turned and left the room, he passed the security guard.
"You can go back in now Ensign. And make sure hes protected I want him to
be at trial. If any one needs me I ll be in my office."
Magellan retraced his steps and with shaky hands, how close had he come?, he
downed the brandy and got another. Nerves settled he put through a call to
Starfleet Medical.
"Hello there, sorry to contact you twice in a week. How is the
Admiral"
"Locutis is as normal Sir."
"Can I speak to him?"
"Im afraid not Sir he is in the middle of a session. I can take a
message."
"Thankyou, just tell him that he is avenged. That his klingon soul is once
more whole. And that I ll see him at Kaveks trial."