MISSION 1.6 Robbing Peter to pay Paul
KezTrek was just settling down to a cup of coffee, her first of the day,
waiting for Daniel to wake up. They were on Mars, in his parent's home. It was
the first time she'd been here since she had left their son with Daniel's
parents almost a year before, Paul O'Neill was now a bouncing two year old, and
KezTrek smiled a little at the thought that the term 'terrible twos' most
certainly applied to her son.
The com on her desk beep and KezTrek debated ignoring it, but knew she
couldn't.
Hitting the 'on' switch she waited for an image to appear.
"Rear Admiral KezTrek there is a message coming through for you on a
secure starfleet channel from Starbase Assailant, it's
from Rear Admiral Paul Drew." The comm officer told her patching through
the call.
"Kez!" Drew greeted.
"Hello Paul." KezTrek replied smiling at her old friend... it was
strange to think how long they'd know each other. He'd been a mentor yes, and
even a friend, but he was also like family to her, Paul's godfather, and like
the brother she had never had.
"How are you?" Drew asked.
"Fine, yourself?" KezTrek questioned, getting that same feeling she
got when she knew he was about to ask her for something.
"I'm fine, but this is actually a business call." He admitted
sheepishly.
"Of course it is, what can I do for you?"
KezTrek asked.
"Well I was hoping you could come to assailant, I don't want to say much
on this channel, it's meant to be secure, but I just can't be positive, but I
need your help on a little matter." Drew told her.
"Little... why do I doubt that?" KezTrek said one eyebrow raising, in an expression that left no doubt she wasn't
buying it at all.
"Little." He replied with a chuckle.
"I'll see if I can book passage... it might be a few days though, I'm with
Daniel and Paul on Mars." She told Drew.
"Okay, let me know as soon as you know when you'll be here." Drew
said.
"Of course."
"How is little Paul anyway?" Drew asked.
"Not so little, he's only two but you'd swear he was four to look at him.
Anyway, I think I hear him fussing, so I'd best go see to him, I'll call you
later today with my travel details." She promised.
(Three Days Later)
As it was KezTrek didn't bother to call Drew back, instead preferring to
surprise him. Hitching a ride on a freighter she made Assailant in just a few
days.
It was a typical Starbase for all accounts, and not hard to find her way
around. A quick word in the ear of a young Ensign, and she located Drew.
It was into the evening before she had arrived on the base, so he was in his
quarters, having asked the Ensign to find her accommodations and knowing she
could locate them using the computer as soon as they were assigned to her she
made her way to Drew's quarters, fielding the few odd looks she received with
amusement.
*beep*
"Come In"
"You know you should learn to ask who is at your door before you invite
people in, it maybe a Bat'leth wielding maniac." KezTrek said as she
entered Drew's living quarters.
"Kez... you certainly know how to make your presence felt." Drew said
getting up from behind his desk to hug his old friend.
"Yes well you drag my all the way here away from my son that I haven't
seen in nearly a year, and my husband who I've seen far too much of in a purely
professional light for the last year, and won't tell me why, am I meant to be
cheery and happy?" she asked, with mock annoyance, even though she was pleased
to see Drew... even if he HAD dragged her away from her family.
"All will be revealed, but first I think you should meet the Admiral,
Magellan Lin, do you know him?" Drew asked.
"Of him, never met him personally, you know me and Admiral's they make me
itch." KezTrek said.
"You ARE an Admiral." Drew commented lightly.
"So that’s why I'm always scratchy lately... huh, who knew." KezTrek
chuckled, and Drew joined her, oh yes some things never changed, and KezTrek's
mile wide sarcastic streak was one such thing.
"Where's your stuff?" Drew asked.
"I'm an Admiral, I did what any good Admiral
would do... off-loaded it on the first unsuspecting Ensign I could find."
She said with humour in her voice.
Drew roled his eyes and laughed along with her as he lead her from his quarters
in search of the bases Commander, and an explanation to KezTrek as to why she
was here.
********
After being away on urgent business ambassador Saarok was returning back to
Assailant. The starbase was coming into view from the view screen of the USS
Mystique.
"Decreasing speed to impulse, sir", the helmsman said
"Very well, proceed at 1/4 impulse", the Vulcan said
"Yes sir", the helmsman said
"I will be in my office preparing my files, prepare my standard team, 4
security officers, my assistant, and of course you.", he said turning to
the officer seated next to him
"Understood sir, will you make the call to SB Assailant?", the man
asked
"Yes"
After finishing up the convo Saarok made way towards his office where he
collected his pads and put them in a case just when an ensign came to pick them
up and take them to the transporter room.
"Are you finished, sir?"
"Yes you may take it all", the Vulcan said
After that he opened a channel with SB Assailant. And
informed them that he will be transporting back with his team, he did not want
to cause a commotion by excising a covert approach as there was no reason for
it at this time.
After he finished the convo, cmdr.
After that Saarok got up from his chair and made way to the bridge he issued
several commands to the officer in charge before he proceeded to the
transporter room.
When he arrived there he saw the 5 officers team
already waiting for him. After issuing a few commands to the transporter officer,
he and cmdr.
"Energize, he said as the transporter room of the USS Mystique
dematerialized and a transporter room on board SB Assailant appeared in front
of him.
***
T'Val
was waiting at the airlock, after receiving a message on Tedak's console that
their friend Saarok would be returning. She settled the baby in his pram and
maneuvred it towards the airlock. Bronze Sev settled on her shoulder, seeming
eager to meet the golden queen Aeris again. Finally the airlock opened to
reveal the distinguished Vulcan diplomat.
T'Val raised her hand in the formal Vulcan greeting, while Sev warbled at the
queen that was perched on Saarok's shoulder. "Welcome back to the station
ambassador," T'Val said, "you have missed quite some action."
She indicated the sleeping baby, and did not miss the surprised glance
flickering across his face. "I am the guardian of this baby, he is of
Debrune origin. Unfortunately, Tedak is not here to welcome you back, he has
been called away to help with negotiations dealing with the Gorn."
They walked towards the OPS area, where she 'handed' Saarok over to Magellan.
"If you will excuse me, I have an appointment with the Debrune
Counsil," she said, and left.
"Ah Saarok, Welcome back, Good Trip?"
Saarok entered the office with Magellan.
"It went well enough." he replied non-committedly.
"Well things here have really developed. I guess I better fill you
in."
Magellan fixed Saarok a drink and then settle down to
fill him in. He went over in great detail the deal made with Jak'dor.
"Most intriquing. It fits with the intelligence I
recieved about teh Romulan build up. It appeared the Romulan Senate feared the
Debrune may try and take over the empire. It was all so secret I doubt they
even informed Tedak lest the public find out and panic."
Magellan decided not to ask how Saarok knew something that even Tedak
apparently did not.
"I ll need you and Jibb to work closely with the Debrune, I ve been
informed that the Tekaran Refugee Delegation will be arriving soon to meet with
Jak'Dor I ll need your diplomatic sense to ensure it all goes smoothly. It may
also be worth you calling in Jessica, this new pirate situation seems to
indicate that a few maybe Bajorans, her contacts could be invaluable."
"Of Course" Saarok replied "Whatever you require."
***
Richard
Jibb was keeping a careful eye on the sensors as he made his way to Qualinost.
A mistake now would destroy a lot of useful negotiations, and doom Qualinost
and Starbase Assailant to destruction.
His tactical sensors beeped at him and he glanced down. Once he saw what was
coming he automatically raised his shields. Then a message came in over the
comm. "Federation Courier Wanderer, this is Lt. H'Roy, in command of
Federation 114th Fighter Squadron. We've been assigned to escort you to Qualinost
by order of Admiral Magellan. We also have an armed shuttle with a Marine guard
force aboard" a gravelly voice said.
Richard carefully examined his readouts. There were 13 Hidecki class fighters
and a large, heavily armed shuttle closing on him. "OK, Lieutenant. Deploy
your ships to standard escort formation and stay with me. Wanderer
out." Richard closed the channel and watched as the fighter fanned
out to give him cover. From the main cabin, he could hear JakDor talking to
T'Val about her responsibilities as the guardian of a Debrune child. He would
have liked to go back to listen, but this was an important flight and he didn't
want to be away from the captains' chair.
***
Looking around the arcade, Tomlinson saw that no-one seemed to be up to
anything evil, as usual. As he glanced around, he saw Drolem Simeth sitting at
one of the central bars. Tomlinson looked straight at him, but the Risan didn't
seem to notice him. Instead, he was peering around the room, apparantly looking
for someone. The base's security officer frowned, and kept watching the
starbase's mayor carefully. He looked this way and that always watching,
looking at each and every entrance in turn. Tomlinson started to rotate around
the room, looking at him from each angle, and then sat down at the edge of the
room.
A waitress came over to him, and he ordered a cup of tea, never taking his
attention away from the dignatory. Suddenly, the rotating Risan head stopped
and fixed itself on one of the entrances. Tomlinson looked the way that the
mayor was peering, and locked his vision onto an average looking woman who was
heading towards the bar, her track straight and true, without hesistation.
She walked up to the bar and sat down. Tomlinson took himself and his drink to
another table to get a better view of the pair. They were not interacting at
all, but it was obvious this was who the mayor had been expecting. He was now
looking into the center of the circular bar, no longer hunting for someone. A
few minutes later, the woman left, and the mayor stayed to finish his drink
before he also left.
On his way out, the mayor passed Tomlinson, and gave him a warm 'Hello' before
leaving. The security officer's forehead creased into a frown once more. As far
as he could tell there had been no interaction at all. He finished hiw drink,
and then headed to his security office to try and figure out what he had just
observed.
A few hours later, after watching the video three times, Tomlinson thought he
had it sorted out. He made his way up to Admiral Magellan's office, but found
that the station CO was busy with one of the ambassador's. Instead, he made his
way towards Rear Admiral Drew's office, but before he could get there, he found
the Admiral escorting another high ranker through the station's corridors. Only
one look was needed to figure out who she was.
"Admiral KezTrek, Drew." he said in greeting. "Umm, Drew, if I
could just have a word?"
"Of course Lieutenant." The admiral replied,
and then gave KezTrek directions to the CO's office and a promise to catch up
with her later. "What is it?"
Tomlinson led the station's operations officer into a vacant conference room,
where he sat on the edge of a table.
"I just observed a very interesting meeting." He explained what he
had seen, and then continued on with the videos. "I couldn't figure out
what I had seen, so I watched and re-watched the video. And finally I figured
it out. It was risky, very risky. The woman came in and ordered a drink. She
handed over a few coins, which were exact change. Then, however the mayor
ordered his own drink before the money reached the till. The change he needed
was exactly one of the two coins, so the bartender gave him the coin she had
given him. That was the exchange, I'd swear."
Rear Admiral Paul Drew took a few deep breathes. "That's a serious
accusation against a senior member of this station. And what is to say even if
it was an exchange there was anything vindictive with it. For all you know it
was completely innocent. We can not make any action based on that. However, you
know the current situation. Watch him. Discreetly."
"Yes sir." Tomlinson left the Admiral to catch up after
KezTrek, while he went back down to his office.
***
T'Val
sat across the Debrune Elder, holding the child securely in her arms. "Am
I expected to attend ceremonies involving D'Beren?" she asked, after
settling the baby for his feeding. She picked up the bottle she had gotten out
of the replicator only seconds earlier and offered the teat to the baby, who
instantly began suckling away. "He will lead a normal youth right? I mean,
will he have to grow up knowing he is Divine? He might go above himself and
look down on others, that would not be right. He will
learn that all are equal?"
She looked down and noticed that the bottly was empty...the boy must have been
extremely hungry. She resettled him so that he was leaning on her shoulder and
she patted his little back gently for a moment. The boy gave a satisfied sigh
and snuggled against her, and suddenly T'Val was overcome by a complete sense
of love for this child. ~if only Tedak was here~ she thought. To the side, Sev,
who would not leave her unless specifically told to do so, warbled happily,
fanned is wings and crooned, seeking attention.
T'Val affectionately petted him, and then ordered fresh meat from the
replicator to feed the little firelizard. "There you go Sev, now do not be
greedy, there is quite enough to satisfy you!" She watched in dismay as
the little bronze gobbled up the meat faster than she had ever seen anyone eat.
The bronze crooned, then sprang aloft, flying forward to join Richard Jibb. He
settled down on the console before the human courier, gazing out of the main
window, warbling and chittering constantly.
JakDor
had been quietly observing T'Val as he tried to give her a fast overview of
Debrune life. He still wasn't sure that giving the child over to her had been
the best thing to do, but there was a vague section in the Prophecy regarding
the crossing of stranger which he thought might refer to this woman and her
husband. Only time would tell. That was the problem with prophecies,
they very rarely told you what was supposed come after they occurred.
"The child will be required to attend several ceremonies a year on the
planet. As well, you may expect several visits a year from groups who wish to
view the child" JakDor informed. At least several, he thought to himself.
It had been a difficult task to forbid many of the inhabitants of the Debrune
colony permission to go with the Council. The fact that their ship was so small
was the only thing the kept them away. "Whether he learns to hold himself
above others is an unknown. He will follow his own path into the future."
That statement led to a few minutes of quiet as the Wanderer made it's way to Qualinost. T'Val started as there was a squawk
from the command area of the ship and the small flying lizard made it's way back to T'Val, it's small eyes orange and looking
back towards Richard Jibb. "It seems that Mr. Jibb isn't fond of
pets" JakDor said with a slight smile.
"He has reasons to sir," T'Val replied, as the little bronze landed
on her lap. She stroked his back gently and the little creature responded to
the touch. "Mr Jibb was bitten by a vampire entity. I was infected, as was
Saarok to a certain extend. Saarok too has Impressed
two of these beauties." She continued her explanation of the vampire
virus.
"This one was one of the first to hatch, or so Tedak has told me,"
she continued, "but the brown that went along with him to the USS Hope is
by far the smartest of the two." She coaxed him
to settle on JakDor's lap, startling the older man. "He is quite
friendly."
Then she returned to the issue at hand. "Several visits
a year," she nodded, "and Debrune ceremonies on Qualinost. I
am to attend as well, as his guardian?" The elder still had not answered
her question if the child would be allowed to call her mother and Tedak father.
She so yearned to be called that. She also knew, that
if the opportunity arose, she'd be applying to adoption of a second child.
"I would like to know more about the Debrune themselves,"
she finally said, after a long silence.
The image of a bright sun filled the screen on Magellans
desk. Before it a small dark speck sat in contrast to the bright and vibrant
orange yellow corona. It may have been a speck of dust on the screen but was in
fact a planet. Tekara had once been a verdant paradise, a place of beautiful
forests and sweeping grassy plains. That now was a thing of the past. Tekaras
sun was going nova, it still had many centuries before the final journey of the
star was completely but within two years the planet would be essentially deadly
to the native Takarans, it was already pretty hostile, skin cancer was up 120%,
solar flares interupted communications, brush fires were common, magentic
fluxes rendered Transporters and some hoppers unusable.
Saarok followed the briefing with his usual diligence, much of it he already
knew, he was after all the most senior Federation diplomat on the station and
had access to a lot of information through a variety of sources.
"When will the Takaran delegation arrive?"
"Tomorrow. They are on the USS Royal Oak, its due to dock tomorrow evening. I must warn you though
they are highly skeptical of the Debrune offer and really want full access to
the planet."
"As Federation members they must learn to adapt, not all can have their
own way."
"Indeed" Magellan replied, "The Cultural team from Terraform
Command and The Refugee Relocation Committee will be reporting back in the next
week too. Hopefully they will have more of the logistics tied down."
"Very good."
-Di-di-de-di-
Magellan looked up to see Admiral Drew at the door.
"If you ll excuse me Ambassador it looks as if I have visitors."
"Of course Admiral, We will speak later."
"I ll look forward to it."
Saarok rose and smoothed down his robe, he exited the
office through the rear door that led out on to the corridor.
Magellan turned towards the door into ops and waved his hand to beckon Drew and
someone else back in.
Paul pushed the door opener and stepped in to the office.
"Magellan may I introduce Rear Admiral Keztrek"
The person with him stepped forward, the individual was a slim Vulcan, she was
dressed in the standard Admirals Uniform with the exception of a badge on her
shoulder, it bore the scales of justice - the symbol of JAG.
"Welcome Aboard Admiral" Magellan greeted,
standing and extending a hand "I have heard a lot about you. I didnt
realise Paul meant you when he said he knew a big gun he could call in to help
us out."
Keztrek shook the hand and turned to Paul,
"Big Gun?"
Paul grinned and gave an exaggerated shrug.
"Please take a seat"
The three admirals all took a seat.
"Its good of you to come."
"Well if anyone else had asked... and I like a mystery."
"A mystery?"
"Mr Drew here refuses to fill me in"
"I didnt think it wise to broadcast it over subspace" Paul noted.
"Very wise given the circumstances" Magellan agreed.
"So...?"
"So what... oh yes why your here." Magellan
smiled sheepishly, "You ll have to forgive me, I m not sure I m fully
recovered from the dramas of last week."
Kez raised an eyebrow,
"I ll fill you in later" Paul whispered.
"I ll get to the point. We have a complex problem in the Qualinost system.
Last week we encountered a shady fellow by the name of Robert,
it seems he has a number of connections in the underworld, namely teh pirates
we've been having difficulty with recently."
"What sort of difficulty?"
"In the past, before Assailant was built Qualinost was used by pirates as
a base of operations, when Starfleet moved in they moved out, that is until
now. Now they are back and plague shipping lines in the area, one group were
even bold enough to attack this station in the first week I was in command
here."
"I see and where do I come in, it sounds like a simple Starfleet Security
issue."
"Not quite" Paul replied, "You see we persuaded Robert to give
us a list of pirate contacts in teh system. Now we are aware it may be
completely phoney he could be leading us up the garden path, but some of the
names on teh list are serving Starfleet Officers, some work teh frieghters,
others here on Assailant."
"And thats not all" Magellan continued, "They way the pirates
strike suggest they have access to higher levels of information than those
officers have access to , so you see the problem"
Kez nodded "Somewhat"
"I ve tasked Paul to track down the pirates, and he suggested we have JAG
assistance, hence your involvement. Can you help?"
JakDor sat back and regarded the winged creature that was sitting on his legs.
Personal pets were almost unknown on Vargas. There were almost no indigenous
animal species, and those that were there were completely unsuitable for
domestication. The sharp teeth and talons made him uneasy, and the creature
sensed it and returned to it's owner. The Debrune
Elder sighed with relief and answered one of T'Vals' questions. "No, you
will not be allowed to attend the Debrune ceremonies, as you are not Debrune.
Your responsibility is to protect the child and transport him to and from the
ceremony site. He will be handed over to a Debrune Oracle and returned to you
when the ceremony is over. Many Debrune ceremonies are several hours in length,
so the you and the child should be prepared for
occasional long absences from one another."
JakDor stopped and let T'Val digest that while he tried to think of what to
tell her regarding the Debrune. Breathing deeply, he began. "As you are
aware, the Romulans began as a faction of Vulcans who could not accept the
teachings of Surak. They followed their leader, S'Task, away from Vulcan
looking for a new world. The landed on many worlds, conquered
primitive cultures on their way, until they encountered the Debrune."
JakDor stared into the distance, reliving what he had been taught like it had
happened yesterday. "The Romulans landed on several Debrune worlds. We
outnumbered them, yet they were better armed and trained. The slaughter was
fearful and eventually the Debrune chose surrender to genocide."
"However, there were still splinters among the conquerors who believed
that they had travelled long enough and wanted to remain. S'Task wanted to move
on, but didn't have the support required to leave. Instead, he compromised and
said that the Vulcan's could stay while he tried to find the right direction to
go. The Vulcans stayed and interbred with the Debrune for several generations,
leaving their stamp on the conquerors."
JakDor locked eyes with the Vulcan woman. "However, the Romulans
overlooked a few Debrune worlds, and survivors fled to them and passed on news
of the disaster. They in turn decided to leave rather than face their end,
eventually settling on other worlds further from other races, and have remained
there till found by Mr. Jibb" he said, nodding towards the control cabin.
T'Val turned troubled eyes in that direction as well.
Almost on cue, Richard's voice filled the cabin. "We're preparing to enter
Qualinost's atmosphere. Due to arrive at the city in 4 minutes."
JakDor and T'Val strapped themselves in.
"I am aware of Romulan history," T'Val said quietly, "as well as
Vulcan's bloody past. I am not proud of the history of my ancestors, but I do
take pride in what we have achieve to become. I grieve
for the wrong done to your anscestors, and am quite relieved to say that you
will be returning to your home world. I am prepared to leave D'Beren in the
hands of ceremonial masters for several hours, but he will need feeding
regularly. Are there special nutritional additions that he will need that my
medical scans overlooked?"
She worried for the child, but knew that he would be well cared for during the
ceremonies. THe only thing she did doubt was that he was going to like being
visited several times a year when he would be older. But then, he was the
Divine, if he said no, his will be done. ~I will have to teach him that
everyone is equal~ she thought, wondering whenever JakDorn was going to answer
the question she had asked numerous times by now. <the
mom/dad question>
JakDor could see that the Healer was staring at him in the same hopeful way
that she had been ever since she had asked him how the child would be allowed
to refer to T'Val and her husband. He had been trying to avoid the question. He
hadn't become Supreme Elder of the Debrune solely through his negotiating
skill, but also through his understanding of people. It was obvious this point
was important to her, and it was just as obvious what his duty was to the child
and the rest of the Debrune who would eventually see him. He had wanted to try
to balance the needs of his people with the hope of T'Val, but in this there
was no option.
Turning the steely gaze of the Debrune Supreme Elder on the Vulcan female, he
said "I am glad that you know your Romulan history. As Supreme Elder, I
imagine that I could give you a version of Vulcan history that you are not as familiar
with. I must tell you that the stories of Vulcan conquest of our homes are
still told. I believe that many of our people would be most offended hearing
the Divine Child referring to a Vulcan as mother, and it would be equally
insulting to the actual parents who died fulfilling a Prophecy that is
centuries old. You have named the child, and you will be his mother in fact,
but he will not call you by that name."
The Wanderer rocked slightly, and Richard Jibb's voice filled the cabin.
"We have arrived."
T'Val swallowed, her fear having come true in that one sentence. "If he
cannot call me mother, then how will he call me? and
my husband?" she asked quietly, carefully masking her expression,
"and indeed there are parts of Vulcan history that I am not aware of, but
if you will tell me, I would be very much interested to hear it. After all, am
I not to teach D'Beren his history as well? To teach properly, I will have to
be taught myself."
Beside her, Sev picked up on her hidden emotions and warbled, his eyes whirling
the orange of alarm and concern. The little bronze gave a glare at the elder,
chittering at him. "Quiet," T'Val told him, "he is a friend, do
not upset him. You will not chitter at him like that. Apollogize
to the Elder." Sev calmed, fanned his wings and gave an apollogetic
warble. He then flew forward again, deciding to take his chances with Richard
Jibb. THough, he stayed well out of the way of the courier.
After leaving Magellan's office Saarok was greeted by his two guards. He often
thought that they were the best the party could offer, and they have proved so
on numerous occasions. But now was the time to visit certain people, informed
people. He walked over to the wall console and attached a small device to it.
He entered code 346 and hit transmit.
After that he removed it and made way towards one of the more shady
establishments on the promenade. When he approached the door he saw that Drolem
Simeth was sitting at the bar. He appeared to be a bit nervous.
Saarok signaled for his guards to remain at the door while he made way towards
Drolem.
"Mr. Drolem", he said in the typical Vulcan way while he was taking a
seat next to the man
"You?", he said in shock
"You appeared to be surprised Drolem, have you thought i was dead, because
that would not be a logical conclusion to make for someone in your
position", Saarok said
"...fine what can a humble man like me do for you, di...", Simeth
began
"No, no i am an ambassador now", Saarok said
"Yes whatever», Simeth said
"What is happening around Assailant at this time?"
"Nothing, i mean there’s nothing going on"
Saarok looked him right in the eye, and the man turned his eyes away from the
Vulcan.
"Up to your old tricks no doubt, i want to hear it all, and i mean all,
and you, i am sure will do the logical thing.", Saarok said
The man was sitting in silence for a moment before he started speaking, he told
Saarok everything he knew and what he was doing at this time.
"Intriguing, i trust you will keep me informed? » Saarok asked
"Yes"
"Good", Saarok said while extending his hand to shake hands with the
unsuspectfoul man. Drolem took the hand and shook hands with Saarok, falling
right into his trap a small subspace camera-sensor was in that way attached on
Drolem allowing Saarok to see everything that Drolem might have concealed from
him.
After that he made way towards the exit where his guards joined him before he
proceeded to the next on his list of people to visit.
--An hour and a half later--
After visiting all his informants and "friends" on the station Saarok
arrived to his office where he saw that
"They are working perfectly chief", Jackson said
"Good, i do not require anything else from you may take the rest of the
day to rest and visit old friends", Saarok said
"Thank you sir", Jackson said as he left Saarok’s office, the two
guards took their usual station in front of Saarok’s office while he took a
pile of pads and began to read.
Sitting in his security office, Tomlinson was rotating through his cameras,
watching the path of Saarok. He had seen the Vulcan ambassador meet with the
mayor, and something had definitely been said. They had shook hands at the end
too. The chances of some kind of exchange were very high. Only...
a Vulcan Ambassador? It didn't make any sense. But then, it could be
something so simple as the mayor providing
information.
Saarok had gone back to his office. Nothing suspicious there.
Meanwhile, Simeth was in his quarters. Tomlinson brought up both their
schedules. Neither was particularly busy. Simon decided that some old fashioned
detective work and scare tactics were in order. Not that a vulcan
could get scared. He picked up a couple of items from his desk, and was about
to leave when a thought struck him.
He went back over to the computer, and set it to record a list of everyone who
had been to see either the ambassador or the mayor in the past week. He then
set it running a few other things, correlating meetings of the two and a few
other things. Of course, Saarok having just returned this was going to be
tough.
When he was satisfied it was all running, he left the office, and locked it to
his voice pattern, and code. Checking it with a couple false codes he headed
down 156 decks to the diplomatic level. The journey was a long one even with
turbolifts, and he thought about his wording.
As the doors slid open, the ex-Defense Secretary heard the sounds of a heated argument.
He rested his hand on his phaser, and stepped out of the turbolift. No sooner
had he left the haven of the lift when a chair came
flying towards him. Without time to dodge it effectively, it smashed into his
knee-cap sending him sprawling on the floor, the chair falling on him.
Angrily, he threw the chair away and tried to rise to his feet. As he did so a
sharp pain ran through his leg. He swore loudly, and climbed significantly
slower to his feet, avoiding putting wait on his left leg. He looked up to see
the Klingon and Cardassian ambassadors arguing with each other.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" he shouted, but was drowned out by the
noise the arguing ambassadors were making. He pulled his phaser out, and shot
right in between the two, causing them both to spin towards him. He thanked his
stars for the rule that said Ambassadors weren't allowed to carry weapons.
"Thank you. Can either of you explain this argument?"
Half an hour later, both the ambassadors had been convinced to return to their
embassies, which were luckily opposite sides of the deck, and a medic has
prescribed Tomlinson with a broken leg; shattered in 62 places. It was just his
luck, he wasn't even able to have it fixed, he would
have to wear a cast for weeks. He put off treatment for the moment, accepting
only assistance in getting to Saarok's office. Once he was inside, and seated
in front of the ambassador's desk, he allowed himself a small smile. Only he
could break his leg going to see an ambassador.
"Ambassador. I'll cut straight to it, I understand that you met our esteemed mayor earlier.
What did you discuss?"
"We discussed the recent happening on the station during my absence.", Saarok said
"I see. And it was fruitful?"
"I can not say that it was too informative"
"Have you received any information from any of your many contacts?"
"Regarding what officer?"
"Regarding anything. Ambassador."
"In that case then yes. My contacts would be rather poor if they
had told me nothing."
"You know what I mean."
"Do I?"
"Yes Ambassador you do, but you obviously don't feel disposed to share
information with your own people at the moment, so I'll be leaving." He
tried to stand up, forgetting his injury and fell back into his seat.
"Not so hasty now." the Vulcan said smuggly, one emotion that they
had never removed.
"I sense mr. Tomlinson that we have gotten of the
wrong foot, as humans say."
"Perhaps we should start it from the beginning again", the Vulcan
said while looking at Tomlinson
"Okay, that seems acceptable, mainly because I
can't leave... Being the Chief of Security on a starbase isn't an easy job.
There are over 700 decks. I can't watch them all, even with my whole security
team. So, I need contacts. You ambassador seem to know a lot about the goings
on, on this station."
"I propose a mutual agreement, I will provide you with the information
that you may need, if I have it that is, and you will keep of from following me
and observing my actions, and leaving alone certain people should it be
necessary.", Saarok said
"And please note Mr. Tomlinson that I do not need to make deals with you,
nor do I need to share information with you, and that this is only a logical
option which could benefit both of us, and the federation interests on this
part of space, should you accept."
"Indeed Ambassador, but on the same reasoning, I do not need to share
information with you, and in fact, I just about have the jurisdiction to
formally question you. Of course, you'd have to give me a reason to do so. But
liaising with dodgy characters..."
"Now, Mr. Tomlinson what have you decided", Saarok asked
"To be honest Mr Ambassador, I love love to tell you shove your idea.
However, I need information. So I will tentatively agree, although I can't
promise not to watch you. I am after all responsible for your safety."
When he had finished speaking, he slowly raised himself to his feet. Unable to
put weight onto his foot at all, he picked up the crutch that one of the nurses
had left him, and walked slowly out the room assisted by it.
As he was stepping through the door, he turned to the ambassador once more.
"You are an interesting man Mr Vulcan." And then left, the door
sliding closed behind him.
He made his way slowly up to the infirmary, where he found Dr Fremar tending to
a few of the sick. He limped towards her.
"Broken leg worthy of treatment these days?"
Back in the Admiral Lin’s Office.
“Will you help?”
KezTrek folded her arms out onto the desk, and took in a small sigh, a show of
her emotive human side, she glanced out at the star’s in the background, and
then turned back to face Magellan.
“I’ll help,” she said in an authoritative tone, “I will of course need a copy
of your list of suspects.”
“Of course,” Magellan agreed, “I will make the necessary arrangements.”
“I will also require full access to the Starbase’s databanks,” KezTrek
continued, “and a record of all ship’s that have been in the sector in the last
few months.”
“I will make sure you get all the information,” Drew answered her, “You can use my office.”
At that KezTrek turned round and gave Drew one of her very rare smiles, “Why
Paul, how kind of you, of course, I will have to re-arrange everything.”
“Everything is fine the way it is,” Drew protested.
“You would think that sweetie,” KezTrek replied, even laughing now, Magellan
looked at the two Admiral’s before him and just shook his head, the
relationship between Drew and KezTrek was well known within Section 47, they
had served together on the Fang, where KezTrek was Drew’s First Officer.
“If we could get back to the business at hand?”
Magellan asked, causing both Drew and Kez to return to their professional
behaviour.
“Don’t worry Magellan,” KezTrek said in a friendly tone, “We will get the job
done.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” Admiral Lin replied, “I just worry what you two will
do to the rest of the base.”
“Nothing worse than what happened last week,” Drew promised, “If there is
nothing else Magellan, we should probably get straight to work.”
“By all means,” Magellan said, waving them out of the office, “I want regular
reports on your progress.”
“Oh goodie, reports,” KezTrek muttered, as she and Drew walked from the office
to the turbo lift, heading for Drew’s own office, where they work would begin.
“Like I said,” KezTrek joked as she walked in, “I am going to have to
re-organise everything.”
“You do, and I will cut off your hands,” Darok called out, as he appeared from
his own small office space, adjunct to Drew’s.
“Darok your old dog!” KezTrek exclaimed, as she
embraced the aged Klingon, who gave her a crocked grin.
“Kez, good to see you again.”
“And you Darok,” KezTrek replied, “You still owe me a barrel of blood
wine.”
“Nonsense,” Darok told her, grinning, “you owe me a
crate!”
Drew rolled his eyes, no matter where Kez went, she always managed to strike up
banter with someone, especially Klingons, he was
starting to know how Magellan must have felt earlier.
“Darok, do you have the documents ready?” Drew asked his trusted aide.
“I do,” Darok replied professionally, “they are waiting on your desk, for both
your review.”
“Thank you,” Drew answered him, and then guided Kez to the centre of the
office, where Drew’s large desk was located. The desk was typically covered in
PADDs, with a space cleared aside where the computer terminal would rise from
inside the desk. Along the back wall of the office were more control panels,
giving access to most of Assistants systems.
Kez pulled out one of the leather chairs from behind the desk, and picked up
the first PADD.
“Darok!” she called out, “You better get some coffee.”
Taking his own chair, Drew activated his computer console, the sleek Starfleet
computer slid up to his desktop, logging into the computer system, he noticed
he had a message from Lt. Tomlinson, asking to speak to him urgently, keying in
some commands, Drew opened a channel to the Security Office, the
young face of Simon Tomlinson greeted him.
“Lieutenant, you wanted to talk?”
JakDor and the rest of the Debrune Elder Council jumped to their feet on the
announcement that they had arrived at Qualinost and hurried toward the hatch,
ushering T'Val and the child with them over the Healer's quiet protest. D'Beren
had finally fallen asleep and she was trying to keep him that way.
The confused group made it to the hatch, which didn't open when they arrived.
Impatiently, JakDor tried to open the door with the controls, which failed to
respond to him. Impatiently, he slammed his open hand on the door and yelled
"Mr. Jibb, open this door immediately!!" There was a loud chorus of
agreement from the rest of the Council, the first time
Richard had heard them say anything since they had arrived in the system.
Richard had sauntered down from the bridge, accompanied by the suddenly
agitated Sev, who circled T'Val who was suddenly dealing with a crying child.
"Sorry JakDor. The Marines have told me that they want to secure the area
before they let us out. Something about a death in the party
that was here last."
JakDor pushed his way through his advisors. "We are not in danger here! It
is you and your Federation that have no idea what is going on. Release us
immediately!" he exclaimed, shaking his fist under Richard's nose.
Just as this little scene was taking place, the comm crackled to life.
"Mr. Jibb, this is Lt. Jaro. The area is secure."
"Thank you, lieutenant. Computer, release door."
In response to Richard's order, the hatchway opened and the gangway came down,
leaving JakDor staring rather comically over his shoulder while still having
his fist in Richard's face. The Debrune council politely grabbed T'Val and
ushered her down the ramp, Jak Dor following. Richard paused only long enough
to grab a phaser rifle, hand phaser and a backpack out of the weapons locker by
the door. The pack contained a number of items that Richard had found came in
useful when one was in field.
Pulling the pack on, he started down the ramp after the Debrune and T'Val.
T'Val clutched the child to her chest, muttering soothing words as the counsil
members ushered her into an ancient building. Once there, she had the chance to
sit down for a moment and soothe the crying infant. She did not get the
impression that the child was hungry, but merely startled from his sleep as
JakDorn had increased the volume of his voice.
Sev landed beside her on the bench and softly hummed a tune he had learned from
Tedak. The humming seemed to soothe the child and soon he had calmed down.
T'Val hugged the boy and got back to her feet. "Let us go," she
advised, "before something startles him yet again." She shot him
accusatory glance, for it had been his voice that had awakened the baby. Sev chittered his consent, and glided down to her shoulder to
take his accustomary perch, hiding in her long hair, wrapping his tail lightly
around her throat.
After Tomlinson departed from Saarok’s office, the ambassador took a moment to
think about the young man. He wasn’t going to agree easily to Saarok’s terms
however the lack of knowledge might just be the thing which is going to keep
him occupied with others and leaving Saarok to dedicate himself to other
matters.
When he was about to return to his pads the door chimed and
"Sir, the Debrune council has just landed on Qualinost"
"Thank you mr. Jackson, for informing me"
"Also the Tekaran Refugee Delegation will be arriving within the next
hour, i presume you want to speak with them before they meet with the
Debrune?", Jackson said
"Yes, you are correct, please arrange an official welcome for them,
collect some of the station dignitaries to be there when they arrive, also see
if you can get Admiral Magellan to be there", Saarok said
"Understood, i will do my best"
And with saying that, Jackson went out leaving Saarok to prepare for the
delegation. He picked up several pads related to the matter at hand and started
reviewing them.
Magellan glanced at the chronometer and realised there was only a few minutes
until his next appointment, not enough to complete or even begin any of the
many tasks before him.
He leaned back in his chair and then glanced at the replicator. Rising he
walked over and replicated a Saurian Brandy. Knocking it back in one he coughed
and ran a sleeve across his mouth.
Admiral Kez seemed to be a competent officer he mused to himself. He knew of
her by reputation, and some reputation it was too. He also knew of her long
association with Drew and that in that friendship there was proof that Kez
would do whatever was necessary to get the job done. She had after all once
locked up Paul in the line of duty.
It rankled Magellan that he had crew aboard that were
so corrupt. He abhorred such betrayl but as he had learned in the past year,
running a starbse was much different to running a Starship. On the Victory he
had known the name of every member of the crew from Crewman to Commander, here
with a staff 5 times that of the vitcory that just wasnt possible.
The door chimed once more and Dr Hyan Sharex appeared at the window.
Magellan waved him in and fixed them both a drink.
"Excited then?" Magellan asked rhetorically
"Oh very" The Tellarite jabbered, "It will be the pinnacle of my
career. And I have the Debrune to thank for it all."
"Indeed" Magellan replied.
Up until recently the Gaia project had one major drawback, power. The project
was based on Genesis research. It manipulated a chemical cascade matrix to
rapidly terraform a planet. Not like genesis did, much simpler. The process
would convert the atmosphere on Qualinost in to a breathable one. Originally
the pwer required meant that it would have taken perhaps 18mths to get the
planet barel breathable, however with teh dicovery of the Reactor in Debrune
city and with the help of teh Debrune scientists it would now be possible to
complete the whole transformation in less than 3 months, if all went well.
"So your ready then" Magellan prompted
"Well nearly, Thats why I m here I would like to
second your scientific and engineering staff"
"For?"
"To calibrate and monitor the equipment, it will need 24 hr
supervision."
Magellan called up the duty schedules.
"You can have the science teams, thats not a
problem, Engineerings different. If you wait two days, the Starfleet Corp of
Engineers team will be arriving to look at the reactor. They can help you
integrate the reactor to your equipment."
"Excellent Admiral." The Tellarite stood and
crossed to the door, he paused and turned "Shall I give the details to
your aide?"
"Yes Zoilip can assign you the neccessary staff"
"Thankyou and before I forget we are holding a celebration on the night of
the Atmosphere Terraform, In the Fishtank (4days) I hope that you and the
Diplomats will be able to attend."
"Of course Doctor and good luck. I ll send out formal invites to the
diplomatic staff immediatly"
After acquiring permission, Tedak docked his shuttle to Assaillant and boarded
the station. Nut chittered and he knew instantly that his wife was down on
Qualinost. "Oh well," he muttered, as an aide came racing forward,
telling him that Saarok was back. "Computer, locate Ambassador
Saarok," Tedak said.
=^= Ambassador Saarok is in his office =^=
Tedak smiled and made his way to his friend's office. There, the golden queen chittered a welcome, and Nut warbled a happy response. The
blue did not make a sound. "Well Saarok old chap, back on the station are
you? Hope you kept yourself out of trouble while you were away?"
Richard and Lt. Jaro trailed after the Debrune Council. JakDor was leading the
way, with T'Val in the midst of the six others. Lt. Jaro gave the heavily armed
Richard a sidelong look, then said "Expecting trouble sir?"
Jibb shook his head. "Not really, but that's usually when the fun starts,
isn't it." Jaro nodded ruefully as they followed the Debrune into a large,
temple like structure. The other Marines had fanned out and were carefully
covering the Debrune party as they moved about. Overhead, the Starfleet
fighters patrolled, looking for anything unusual.
JakDor and the Debrune entered the building. Richard moved a little faster to
get caught up to them. They seemed to be looking for something in particular,
but Richard couldn't figure out what it was. T'Val looked bewildered and spent
her time protecting D'Beren, while Sev hissed in an agitated fashion from his
perch on her shoulder.
After several minutes of wandering, the Council stopped in front of a section
of wall covered with carvings that didn't really look any different than the
rest of the walls. Richard and Lt. Jaro joined T'Val and watched as the Debrune
spread out in a long line, bowed simultaneously in front of the wall and began
to speak softly in unison. After a minute, a large rectangular section of the
wall outlined by dancing humanoid drawings began to glow slightly. JakDor left
the Debrune and walked over to T'Val and spoke to her gently. "Healer
T'Val, I must take the child now. You and the rest must remain here while we
complete the ceremony."
She didn't like it, but T'Val nodded quietly, carefully handing the baby to the
Elder. "Take care of him," she added, quite unnecessarily, of course
he would take care of the baby. Sev suddenly gave a surprised chirp, cocking
his head as if to listen to something.
T'Val nodded quietly, understanding what he meant, her bondmate had returned
home. She left the building with Richard Jibb. "Shall we look around the
premises a little?" she asked softly, "I can send Sev back home if
you prefer, though I would prefer his company. I wonder how long this ceremony
will take, I will be glad to be back home. My husband
has returned from his mission."
At the surprised glance from the courier, she nodded towards the little bronze.
"He was bespoken by Nut, and I am able to understand both firelizards
quite well." She nodded towards the extensive gardens. "Shall
we?"
"Logic states that it is highly unlikely for a member of the diplomatic
corp. to have any trouble at all", Saarok replied
"Is that so?" tedak laughed, "I remember getting into trouble on
Pern, for starters, and the two of us have been through a lot of trouble
together. Though, I suppose it is how you define trouble, eh?"
After ending the introduction chat of two friends Saarok informed Tedak of
everything that happened on Assailant since he returned, including the small
misunderstanding with the chief of starbase security Tomlinson.
"Tomlinson? Yes I believe I have met him, though
I would not worry about him too much. He is just doing his job, as we are doing
ours. He probably does not like it that his security force
is being depleted to keep us safe." He grinned, picturing a flock of
security officers trailing them all the times in his mind.
"We are just in time to greet the Tekaran Refugee Delegation should you
wish to join me?", Saarok asked as he was getting
up
"However if you would rather rest i will understand.", he finished
"Hm? No I will come with you. I had my vessel on automatic pilot for most
of the journey, so I have had plenty of rest. However, after this meeting, I am
going home to see my wife, and the baby. I cannot wait to hear what the outcome of the discussions were. Also, I think we must meet
with the Debrune Counsil, I heard Mr Jibb managed to find them on some outback
planet. Perhaps the two of us, as well as Ms K'Tar can join us if she wishes.
We could use her help." He smiled at his friend, and on his shoulder, the
brown chirped acknowledgement of the feeling.
JakDor carefully took the child from T'Val's arms and turned back to the quiet
ceremony that was taking place before the glowing wall section. Walking over,
JakDor knelt and held the child in the air, and the wall gradually faded from
existence. The Debrune Elder Council then walked through the opening and into
the dark passage beyond. After the last one passed, the wall appeared again,
looking as solid as it did before the ceremony started.
"Shall we look around the premises a little?" T'Val asked softly,
"I can send Sev back home if you prefer, though I would prefer his
company. I wonder how long this ceremony will take, I will be glad to be back home. My husband has returned from his mission."
Richard was a little surprised by her knowledge, but she said, "He was
bespoken by Nut, and I am able to understand both firelizards quite well."
She nodded towards the extensive gardens. "Shall we?"
Richard put that little piece of knowledge into his head. Might
be useful later.
He and T'Val wandered the gardens of the Debrune city for about a half hour.
Lt. Jaro, not sure what to do, divided his force into two sections, one
watching the door where the Debrune disappeared, the other watching the two
diplomats, while the fighters continued to patrol overhead.
Suddenly, the ground under their feet lurched violently, flinging Richard,
T'Val and the rest of the Marines to the ground. Richard recovered quickly and
dragged T'Val behind a fountain whose water was spraying wildly and started
looking for something to shoot at with his rifle. Lt. Jaro was doing the same
thing.
Over the
Suddenly, his fighter lurched violently and he was headed for the ground. He had
to struggle to regain control. the ensign pulled his
ship out of the dive, only to see another fighter from his squadron headed
directly at him. He tried to execute a sharp turn to port, but the two ships
collided, shearing off
In orbit
over Qualinost
The Federation Science ship Berman was in orbit over Qualinost. It was an aged
Obereth class that had been conducting an orbital survey of the planet to
prepare for the influx of Takarans when the ship was hit by shockwaves without
warning. The waves caused minor structural damage and surprised the crew, but
there were no injuries.
Starbase
Assailant
Admiral Magellan and Dr. Sharex were toasting their success with brandy when
the floor shook slightly for just a second. Immediately, the Admiral tapped his
comm badge. "Magellan to Ops, what was that?"
"Sir, some energetic gravity waves just passed through. Computer
says the point of origin was the Debrune city" the Ops officer replied,
the said "Sir, message coming in from Qualinost for you."
"Put it through." Magellan sat down at his desk as the image came up.
JakDor's face appeared on the console. The Supreme Elder looked very tired.
"Admiral, the reactor is shut down. The Debrune have fulfilled our half of
the bargain. The Federation had best do the same." The channel closed
before he could reply.
"A bit short wasnt he" Sharex noted jabbing a thumb towards the now
off monitor.
"He is a bit. I ve not weighed him up yet."
"Well just stay on the right side of him, we need that reactor to get the
project too work."
"Don't worry Doctor Ihave no intention of Jak'dor being anything other
than a close ally."
Sharex frowned,
"And since when has anything gone right around here."
Magellan laughed wryly,
"Granted. So you better run me through the project again, make sure we
have all bases covered."
"Of course."
Dr Sharex retook his seat.
"The Gaia project uses the Genesis principle to rapidly terraform, however
the instabilities of it and given the Genesis Wave incident we ve modified it
using some new research."
"New research?"
"Well not that new, it came to us from Voyager. You hear of a Dr
Jetrel"
Magellan shook his head
"Not surprising, he was a Haakonian scientist encountered by Voyager in
the Delta Quadrant. He created a weapon of mass destruction - called the
Metreon Cascade."
"And this weapon helps us... how?"
"Its not that research that is most interesting, he came up with a way of
using a transporter to reassemble individulas that had been vapourised or
rather more accuratly Atomised."
"I dont follow."
"Its quite simple. We flood the planet with core
materials, Carbon, sulphur, iron etc. We use a similar re-integration matrix
with a transporter to redistribute the matter onthe atomic level. its a gradual process but gives us a biosphere, once thats
present we then introduce hyperaccelerated algae to form a soil and
then..."
"Woah steady. So you ve basically invented a
giant Replicator."
Sharex furrowed his already wrinkled face,
"Crude bet I suppose that analogy works."
"Thats all I need to know, and do you have enough
staff?"
"Ah yes I wanted to inform you about that. Terraform command
are sending us a team of Fabrini scientists. They arrive in a day or so.
They are also sending a diplomat."
Magellan rolled his eyes, more diplomats just what he needed.
"Okay, Im sure theres memo on its way to me from teh Fed
Council, either that or Saaroks forgotten to fill me in."
It was not particularly late but Drolem was tired nonetheless, civil office was
particularly tiring. He had been in his Mayoral Office most of the morning,
baring his earlier meeting and his conversation with Saarok. That was one
Vulcan he trusted less than a ferengi.
He tapped in his pass code to his quarters and stepped inside. no sooner over the threshold a pair of rough hands grabbed
him and shoved him to the floor.
"Grrrrr" came a growl
Drolem whimpered
"Okay Nrek let him up."
The hands pulled him to his feet, in fact off his feet. He was then propelled
on to the sofa, he rolled over to face the toothy grin
of a Nausicaan.
Nrek drooled and grunted ferally. The ugly visage was occluded by another man,
this one smaller and thinner. His skin was green, like that of cabbage. His
eyes were dark and piercing.
"I dont like it when I m forced to visit you. I prefer discretion"
Drolem sat up and tried to regain his dignity.
"I ve come to tell you Peter aint happy. He knows your trying to cut him
out."
"I m not I m not" he stammered,
"Spare me" The Orion waved, "I know, your using your Starfleet
turncoats to supply the same info to Peters competitors. Playing
both ends against the middle. Smart for profit, but very dumb to do it
so badly"
Drolem just squirmed.
"Peter isnt happy, sort it. Either its him or...
well no one - catch my drift. Any more tip offs and Nrek here will visit. Oh
and Peter wants to more info. He needs to know all... and he
means ALL the flight plans for this month... understand"
Drolem merely nodded miserably.
"Good. Then its goodnight from me and good night from him."
Nrek grunted and followed the Orion from the room.
After meeting with Saarok, Tedak decided it was time to face the music and
report to Admiral Magellan that he was back home on Assaillant. He wondered
where Nut had gone off to and just as he had been about to call for his friend,
the little brown appeared in front of him, his eyes whirling green and looking
rather smug. Tedak had had an odd feeling somewhat earlier but he had been
unable to define it and had put it aside as he had been busy going through his
messages. None had been of any importance or urgent.
"Where have you been," Tedak laughed, stroking the little brown
lovingly. He received images of Saarok's Aeris and that told him quite enough.
"Chasing the ladies, have you, you scoundrel," he laughed, going up
to the replicator to order some raw meat to feed his little friend.
Nut crooned, devoured the offered meat quickly, then
resumed his usual perch on Tedak's shoulder. "Very well," The Romulan
diplomat sighed, "ready to meet with Magellan?"
Several minutes later, Tedak stood before Magellan's office, and rapped his
fingers on the door, waiting to be called in.
Jibb walked cautiously behind and to the left of T'Val so that he would have a clear
field of fire as the Healer headed back towards where they had left the Debrune
and grunted non-commitally to her wish to go home, thinking to himself that it
might be lucky if they got home at all. Richard continued to pan his phaser
rifle around. What had Richard worried at present was
the rising column of smoke to the east and the sudden lack of air cover. T'Val
appeared to not have noticed and that was probably just as well anyway.
Lt. Jaro had taken up the point, while the rest of the Marines were moving
along on both sides of them in an escort formation. Richard had been in enough
questionable situations over the years to know that they could be in some
trouble, and Jaro seemed to know it too. There was no real way to tell what
JakDor was going to do now that he had access to the city and its' reactor.
After some walking through the convoluted streets, the small party arrived back
at the door that they had left. It was closed, and a half squad of Marines was
scattered around keeping an eye on things. Just after they had arrived, the
door opened and the Marines prepared themselves.
After a moment, JakDor and the rest of the council trudged into view. JakDor
was carrying the child and tottered along as if he were supporting a
shuttlecraft on his back.
T'Val rushed forward and unceremoniously grabbed D'Beren from JakDor. The elder
looked too tired to resist. The baby was dressed in a long robe similar to the
ones that the Elders were wearing, but was quite asleep. T'Val cradled him
gently, ignoring what was going on around her for the moment.
JakDor turned his eyes on Richard and the courier saw that the Debrune Elder
now looked ancient. "It is done, Richard Jibb. The reactor overload has
been averted. We have fulfilled our half of the agreement. When will the
Federation deliver on theirs?" he demanded.
Richard had known this would be coming. "When you
provide us with a complete list of all Debrune settlements and their
populations. Then they will have to be contacted and arrangements made
to move them to Qualinost. It's not going to happen overnight."
JakDor nodded ruefully, then a startled gasp from
T'Val caused the two of them to look over at the Healer. It looked like she had
been examining D'Beren for injuries and was looking at the section of his right
arm between his elbow and shoulder was now marked with a series of pictographs
and stylized scripting. T'Val was trying to remove the writing with her thumb,
but was making no progress. "What are these marks?" she demanded of
the Supreme Elder.
"Those are the marks of the Divine Child, inscribed by the holy
Qua'ee'nost, symbolizing our long journey and return. He will carry them for
the rest of his his life, as a symbol of hope and cooperation between our
people" JakDor stated. The Elder turned back to Richard Jibb. "Your
job here is done. Go in peace." The Elders turned and headed back through
the doorway, which closed behind them, leaving Richard and T'Val with nothing
to do but return to the Wanderer and Starbase Assailant.
T'Val looked horrified at Richard, cradling the baby who had slept through all
the commotion. "They tatood a baby?" she gasped, "how..how...brutal!" But she accepted the fact that the
child was the Divine, and thus should bear the marks as was prophecied. She
held on to the child as Sev chittered happily, his eyes whirling green.
Then, the little bronze took air and hovered in front of Richard, chittering
wildly and insistently, his eyes whirling the red and orange of danger. He too,
had noticed the smoke, even if T'Val still had not. The Vulcan healer only had
eyes for the comfort of the child, and she had taken a cooling pack from her
med kit to cool the marks on the baby's arm, for she knew they would hurt when
the baby woke up.
She looked up and saw Sev clutching at Richard. "Sev!" she said
sharply, and startled, the firelizard fell silent
mid-chirp. "Go back to Tedak Sev," she commanded, and with a
protesting chirp, the bronze winked out. "I am terribly sorry Mr Jibb, I do not understand what has come over him. All I get
is images of danger, but what danger? We are no longer in danger, are we?"
"I am terribly sorry Mr Jibb, I do not understand
what has come over him. All I get is images of danger, but what danger? We are
no longer in danger, are we?" T'Val asked.
Richard looked over at Lt. Jaro, who looked back and shrugged slightly. Richard
agreed. He didn't know either, which meant that it was time to get off of this
planet, as quickly as possible. "Lt. Jaro, get your squad back to your
shuttle. Healer T'Val and I are going to beam directly to the Wanderer."
The Marine nodded and started organizing his men. Richard pulled out a small
remote and started entering commands. A few seconds later he, T'Val and D'Beren
materialized on the shuttle. Richard turned to T'Val and said "Strap yourself in. We're leaving as soon as I can." She
nodded and started walking to the passenger area.
Richard turned and quickly made his way to the bridge and initiated start up
procedures, while simultaneously opening a channel to Lt. H'Roy, leader of the
escort squadron.
"Lt. H'Roy. Tell me what's going on" Richard ordered.
There was a pause before the lieutenant answered. "Sir, I have a downed
fighter with a dead pilot. I have another ship headed back to Assailant with
severe structural damage."
Richard muffled a curse and began to cut corners on the startup sequence.
"What was the cause?"
H'Roy answered quickly. "Unknown sir. We had some
severe turbulence up here. The pilot of the damaged fighter said the other ship
was headed right at him. We don't know if the pilot lost control or suffered
some type of battle damage."
Richard decided to toss the rest of the startup sequence out the window.
Engaging the engines, the Wanderer leaped off of the surface of Qualinost like
a startled bird. "Lt. H'Roy, I am off of the surface. Escort me to
Starbase Assailant."
Taking his own chair, Drew activated his
computer console, the sleek Starfleet computer slid up to his desktop, logging
into the computer system, he noticed he had a message from Lt. Tomlinson,
asking to speak to him urgently, keying in some commands, Drew opened a channel
to the Security Office, the young face of Simon
Tomlinson greeted him.
“Lieutenant, you wanted to talk?”
“Yes Admiral,” Tomlinson replied from his office, Drew studied the young man’s
face, the Security Chief looked slightly stressed, almost as if he had been
arguing with a Vulcan.
“Are you feeling alright Lieutenant?” Drew asked with concern.
Tomlinson gave Drew a small smile, “I am fine thank
you.”
“Good, what’s on your mind?”
“That is distressing,” Drew, answered, “Given our ‘project’ it could also be
most useful information.”
“Very well,” Drew replied, “Keep me informed, Drew out.”
“That was interesting,” KezTrek said, slipping her coffee, “We should keep an
eye on our Mayor.”
“Agreed,” Drew answered, “Perhaps we should go visit him? Do a bit of
undercover research?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kez agreed as they walked out of the office.
"So Drolem is Risan right? Interesting Mayor... "
KezTrek said talking in a low voice as they walked through the
corridors.
Drew nodded at the odd passing crewmember, and KezTrek couldn't help the little
smile... he'd changed a lot over the years... too many years to count... that
she'd known him, but he still had that same... thing... that made those around
him loyal to him.
His little nods and smiles at passing crewmembers and civilians alike proved
how he'd found a place here in the time he'd been here... she doubted he felt
as at home here as on a Starship, but he made a good show of feeling
comfortable in these settings.
"Never had much to do with him personally."
Drew said, letting KezTrek enter the turbolift ahead of him.
"Still the gentleman I see." KezTrek teased.
"Only when I'm around people who can kill me with their
pinky finger." Drew retorted.
"Now Paul I'd never kill you with my pinky... if I was going to kill you
I'd be much more inventive than that." KezTrek smirked.
It was nice, this old banter, nice to know it was still there after all the
years they had served together, and then apart.
"Still sarcastic I see." Drew said.
"Always my dear, always." KezTrek responded
cheekily as the lift came to a stop and opened to let them out.
There were a couple of teenagers waiting at the lift door when they exited,
holding hands, obviously sweethearts, and KezTrek couldn't help but smile.
"Young love." She murmured to Drew as they walked away from the lift
and the teenagers.
Drew just nodded.
"How many civilians are there on base?" KezTrek asked curious.
"I stopped counting after a hundred." Drew said jokingly.
"Kez?" he asked his brow furrowed a little as he realized KezTrek had
something other than their current job on her mind.
"Nothing Paul, just thinking, come on, lets go see our Risan friend, and
see what he has to say for himself."
~~~~~
They were admitted quite freely into Drolem's office, after all if nothing else
this WAS a Starfleet base, and they were both Rear Admirals, sometimes the pips
had their advantages.
"Admiral Drew, Admiral KezTrek, what a pleasant surprise, I'm honoured by
a visit from two such highly distinguished officers of Starfleet." Drolem
greeted them.
It took KezTrek exactly to the word pleasant to decide he was anything but
pleased to see them, and to the word honoured to decide she didn't trust him.
"Mr Drolem." KezTrek nodded politely, Drew following her suit, the message
in his movement was understood, for the moment, she was in command of this
situation, Drew would follow her lead.
"Please, please sit." Drolem offered.
"Thank-you Mr Drolem, but we aren't staying long,
I just wanted to introduce myself, since I'll be staying on the station for a
while." KezTrek said watching his reaction.
"Really... may I ask why such a distinguished Admiral, the head of JAG no
less visit us here?" Drolem asked. KezTrek heard the slightly tremor in
his voice, his attempts to hide it were wilful, but she was trained to read a
liar, and he wasn't very good at lying to start with.
"The most recent project on Qualinost interests me, and it was a chance to
visit with Admiral Drew here." KezTrek told him, watching him closely, he
seemed to relax a little... good, then he believed her, but he was still
tightly strung, there was something else going on under the surface of his
expression, KezTrek could *FEEL* it.
"We won't keep you any longer Mr Drolem, I hope to see you again while I'm
here, perhaps we could have dinner sometime, I'd be
most interested to here about your work here." KezTrek said smiling
genially.
"Of course. I'll have my assistant set it up. A pleasure to meet you." Drolem said shaking her hand
quickly.
His palms were sweaty, yet another tell-tale sign he was hiding something.
~~~~~
"Well?" Drew asked as they walked away from Drolem's office.
He's already worked out for himself Drolem was lying but was interested to hear
KezTrek's perception.
"Lying, and scared... but it's not us he's scared of." KezTrek said.
"How do you figure?" Drew asked.
"When I said I was only here to visit with you he believed me, and his
posture relaxed somewhat, but not completely, there is another matter at hand
here... he's hiding something, and he's afraid... most probably for his own
life... someone on this station may not only be a thief, but a killer."
KezTrek said.
"Kez!" Drew's eyes were shocked.
"I know Paul... and don't give me that look, but I'm telling you I could
*FEEL* the tension in him, he's scared of something or someone, I just don't
know who." She said.
"Okay... but now what?" Drew asked.
"Now... now we go dig back into those files on your desk and see if
anything catches my eye... also a good strong raktajino, and some food wouldn't
go a complete miss... are you always such a bad host that you don't feed guests
you've just dragged half-assed way across the quadrant?" KezTrek asked, lightening the situation and giving herself time to think
quietly without having to tell Drew her every thought.
"Only when those guests are fully grown Admirals who
should know how to use the replicator for themselves." Drew replied
as they re-entered the turbolift.
"Charming." KezTrek said.
"I know I am." Drew said.
KezTrek rolled her eyes, and finished the look with one perfectly raised
eyebrow.
"Come on, if you behave yourself I may see myself to feeding you."
Drew told her as they exited the lift on the right floor again.
"Paul you forget who your talking to, behave? Moi?"
KezTrek laughed as they entered Drew's office again.
"Dare I ask?" Darok asked.
"Probably not..." KezTrek said still chuckling.
"Well, if that's everything for now Admiral, I'll be going, I'll see you
tomorrow." Darok said leaving with several padds in hand.
"Paul your terrible, the poor boy has so much
work he has to take some home." KezTrek said retaking the seat she'd be in
earlier.
"He's very dedicated." Drew shrugged.
"Slave driver." KezTrek retorted.
"Ha, and what did your last slave die off?" Drew asked with a smirk.
"He's still alive, now go slave and get me drink and food." KezTrek
said, still chuckling as she picked up a padd to read, before they both settled
down to examine the files before them.
“Good, what’s on your mind?”
"Just our mayor Admiral. I have reason to believe
that he may be... corrupt. It is difficult to prove, but there is something
there."
“That is distressing,” Drew, answered, “Given our ‘project’ it could also be
most useful information.”
"Indeed, that is what I thought Admiral."
“Very well,” Drew replied, “Keep me informed, Drew out.”
The connection closed, and Tomlinson frowned. He didn't like it when other
people tried to take over his investigations, and he was sure that was going to
happen here. He pushed himself away from the table, the wheelchair he had been
providing with rolling smoothly backwards. He had been informed that the
osteo-regenerator wasn't working, so his would have to do it the old fashioned
way. Leg in a plaster cast, and movement via a wheelchair.
He propelled himself out of his quarters, and down towards the mayor's office.
As he neared it, he saw Rear Admirals Drew and KezTrek entering the office. He
stopped himself. So they were taking over then. How irritating. They would only
create further problems. He turned around, and headed to the nearest security centre.
The base being so large there were four across the station, and one was only a
couple of decks up.
When he arrived in it, he brought all the cameras watching the mayor's office
up. Unfortunately station policy did not allow any internal ones, but the
external ones would tell him when the admiralty had finished screwing things
up. He watched, bored until they left, and then started to turn his wheelchair
around to head down to the mayor's office. However, before he had revolved far
enough, he noticed another figure walking towards the office. A smart well dressed fellow, who bypassed the security checks even
more smoothly than his superiors had.
Zooming in, Tomlinson managed to get a shot of the man's face before he entered
the office. Running it quickly through the system, he found a match. Only,
well.
Name:
Tooram Baintcha
Species:
Place
Rank: Lieutenant
Status: Killed in Action
Tomlinson frowned. It was definitely Baintcha, and he definitely wasn't dead. He
tapped his commbadge.
=/\= Tomlinson to security teams. There is a man currently in the mayor's
office. Very well dressed. I want him watched, I want
people on him all the time, I want to know where he eats, what he eats, who he
talks to, everything. =/\=
After the wild ride from Qualinost to Assaillant, T'Val thanked Jibb for the
ride, picked up the baby from his crib and left the Wanderer. She was glad to
have the steady decks of the starbase under her feet again. No sooner had she
set foot on the station, ere Sev returned to her chittering wildly and humming
with delight alternatingly. T'Val allowed him to land on her shoulder as she
set course for her quarters.
She knew Tedak would not be home. She settled the baby in his playpen and went
to check if there were any messages. There was just one, telling her husband
that a new representative, one from New Fabrini, would arrive shortly. The
message was fairly recent. She turned to Sev and pointed at her 'son'.
"Watch him, if he stirs, come get me." The bronze warbled and took
perch on the edge of the wooden playpen. She nodded approvingly and headed back
for the docking bays, hoping to catch a glimpse of her bondmate.
~if he is not here, I will see him with dinner~ she thought idly, waiting for
the vessel carrying the new diplomat to arrive.
Richard watched as T'Val gathered up D'Beren and left the Wanderer. He was
happy to see her go. He still hadn't gotten over the little vampire infection
and was a little jumpy around anyone who had been infected.
Returning to the bridge, Richard sat down in his chair, accessed the ships self
diagnostic protocols and initiated a ship wide level 2 diagnostic. The Wanderer
had been doing some extended duty lately and he was getting behind in ship
maintenance. Hopefully, he would have some time to take care of that kind of
thing.
However, there was one last item he had to take care of before the Debrune mess
was off of his plate for a while. Picking up a PADD that JakDor had been using
on the trip to Qualinost, Richard left the Wanderer, set the ships full
security protocols to active, and went in search of Admiral Magellan.
Richard proceeded up to the Admiral's office. There was an obvious science type
leaving as he approached the door. Richard had had enough of being diplomatic
recently and barged into the Admiral's office. The Admiral was standing in
front of a large viewport, watching ships as they proceeded around Assailant.
The king surveying his realm, Richard thought sourly.
"Have you ever heard of knocking, Mr. Jibb?" Magellan said without
turning around. Richard jumped slightly with Magellans' seeming telepathy,
until he realized that the Admiral had seen him in the reflection off of the
glass. His own nervous reaction irritated him even more.
"Just trying to be efficient, Admiral. You know
how wild I am about time management." Richard walked over to Magellan's
desk and tossed the PADD onto it. "There you go." Richard turned to
leave.
"What's that?" Magellan questioned, finally turning from the view.
Richard stopped and said "It's information about Debrune settlements and
their locations. I've taken a look at it. There are 3 different ones in some
very remote locations. Total population of about 45000 that
will have to be moved to Qualinost. JakDor seemed quite anxious for you
to get started arranging the move." Richard smirked at Magellan. "You
should really get to work. Have a nice day." Richard started walking again
and swept out the door.
"Diplomats hah" Magellan scoffed under his breath irritated by the
couriers blaise attitude. Who did he think he was?! To speak to an Admiral like
that, to someone of such high stature in such a manner. Magellan strode across
the room. He'd give that little runt what for, show
him what it was to disresp... Magellan paused.
What was he getting angry about, Jibb had been a great asset to the station,
helping to stop the Vampire infection, Finding the Debrune. The man had much
talent and was wasted in the Diplomatic Corp, the man
was a born agent of Starfleet Security or even special Ops. Shaking his head
Magellan let his anger disappate surprised at how suddenly he had nearly flown
off the handle. He ordered himself another brandy and settled down with the
PADD.
45000 people, three planets, that was do able. It was quite sad really, that so
little of the once Debrune Empire still remained. At least with relocation to
Qualinost they would be home, perhaps that security would give them a sense of
purpose and help heal their internal wounds. With Paul working with Kez
Magellan decided he would have to deal with this himself. He knew several ships
in the fleet would need be repositioned so that the
task could be accomplished. He began by checking the availbility of the
Cultural Vessel USS V'Sharn. It would be free in two weeks. The V'Sharn had the
capacity to move large quantitys of people in short time periods. It then occured to Magellan what the capacity of the city was -
would all 45,000 be accomdated there or would some have to wait until later in
the year when the stable atmosphere was established. He made a note to
contact Jak'dor. It wouldnt hurt for them to meet, they would after all be
neighbours and Magellan wanted to go over jursidiction issues, after all the
Debrune would be entering Federation space, perhaps they would consider
Federation Membership at the very least he believed he could convince Saarok to
offer Jak'dor the status of Protecterate at the very least. He made a note to
do that also.
He realised it was getting late and decided to call it a day early for once. He
set down his padds and headed to Hirishars Bolian Restaurant for dinner.
Tedak frowned, and gazed at the brown on his shoulder. "I know it isn't
polite, but fly in and see if he's there," he told the firelizard. The
brown warbled, zipped away and instantly came back. "So he isn't there
huh? Must've just missed him then." He gazed at
his chronometer. "Ah, I think I know where he's gone."
Nut warbled and reclaimed his perch. Tedak grinned, catching the images the
little brown sent him. "Oh I bet," he murmured, wandering off towards
the restaurant. Oddly enough, he beat the admiral to the entrance only by a few
seconds. "Admiral..." he started, then
realized he had no idea what he wanted to say.
"Ambassador" Magellan returned the greeting, trying not to let his
face drop, "I m just about to dine, join me?"
"Thankyou" Tedak assented and the two men entered the restaurant.
"Ah Admiral, please please come in" Hishar grinned broadly ushering
Magellan and his guest to his usual table over looking the
"Thankyou Hishar, I ll have the usual - Grilled Yanak Steak and Mr Tedak
here?"
Tedak quickly scanned the menu.
"How is the Vinagrene?"
"Excellent" Hishar smiled,
"All Hishars food is good, this place is the quadrant, no the galaxys best
kept secret"
"I ll have that then please."
Hishar bobbed and headed to the kitchen.
"So have I missed much" Tedak asked.
"Not really, the Fabrini science team is due tomorrow, Jak'dor has given
me details for his peoples move and Saarok is preparing to talk with the
Takarans. What about you, how was your mission on the Hope?"
"Not what I expected" Tedak replied curtly
"Oh I see, Nebula class isnt she, like my Victory."
"Indeed it is, a fine ship but not a patch on a
D'Dederix class vessel" Tedak laughed.
The two bantered through the dinner and Magellan actually found himself
relaxing a little. At the end of the supper the two men exchanged pleasntries
once more and went their sepearte ways.
Taking a nice long slip of his cup of tea, Drew savoured the smell of the tea
leafs, feeling much more relaxed, he turned his attention back to his computer
screen. Although these were his private quarters, that he shard with his
family, Drew still had a Starfleet desk installed in the room, a smaller model
than what he had in his office, but enough to allow him to work from home as it
were.
According to Assailant’s time zone it was well into the hours of the night,
Drew’s young children were already fast asleep in bed, as was his wife Joanna.
Drew had gone to bed, but found he couldn’t sleep, so he now sat at his desk in
his nightgown going back over some paperwork.
Reading through various reports, and giving his thumbprint to documents, Drew’s
mind started to wonder back to the days before he had a desk job, when he had
been on active starship duty. No doubt Admiral rank did have its benefits, as
did his current assignment, finally allowing his family to be with him, but
Drew had to admit he did miss those days of action.
“This is Kez’s fault,” he muttered to himself, seeing his old friend again had
made him remember the days of his youth, it occurred to him that things had
certainly been easier back then, certainly much quicker.
or rather I could act quicker he thought,
wishfully he cast a look at the holo-picture on his desk, a photo of the senior
staff of the Fang, all gathered around the bridge. Drew smiled as he remembered
the adventures they had together, and more importantly, the time they had spent
together.
The photo had been taken after his Tactical Officer, Graeme Janeway had been
promoted to Commander, Drew remembered, they had held a surprise ceremony for
him on the bridge; someone obviously had a camera that day.
Drew looked carefully at himself in that picture too, his hair was a more jet
black back then, not like the rusty black/grey it was today, and he to admit,
he was a little more chubby these days.
By the window was another memento from those days, a golden model of the Fang
itself, presented to him by the crew on the day he stepped down from command
and took the assignment at headquarters.
His thoughts were brought back to the present though by a beep from his
computer, informing a search he had requested earlier had been completed. He lowed his teacup as he read the alarming report the computer
now gave him; someone had been deleting communication logs from the last
twenty-four hours.
Calling up another menu system, Drew logged into the Base’s central security
net and started trying to recover the transmissions,
they were bound to be able to offer some clue as to who the spy among them was.
Starfleet systems usually kept back ups of all files stored online, and even
when files were deleted, some kind of trial usually remained, but Drew couldn’t
find any such trial in the system logs.
That in itself was even more alarming, not many people on the Station would
have the clearance, or the knowledge to be able to rid the system of all
records of the logs, and there were a limited number of locations were such a
thing could be done.
Drew called up another screen, this one with a list of all locations where such
a thing could be done, Operations, the Site Commander’s Office and the Security
Office.
Time to bring in the big guns Drew thought to himself as he pulled his
uniform off from the back of a chair, tapping his comm badge he opened a
channel to KezTrek.
“Drew to Tomlinson and KezTrek, meet me in my office in ten minutes.”
Jatira Laika stood by the front console starring off into space, watching the
stars streak on by as her shuttle travelled along at warp speed. Her pilot was
focused on his work and paid her no mind as she stood there admiring the stars.
As a new diplomat, this was her first assignment offworld. She was being sent
to Starbase Assailant, which orbited the planet Qualinost.
In her company were a group of Fabrini scientists who were along. The
Federation was currently in the midst of a major terraforming project, which
the scientists hoped to assist. Jatira wasn’t much of a scientist herself,
although her sister J’Leera Laika was, who was the chief
science officer aboard the USS Tiger Shark. Instead, Jatira’s job was to
assist the scientist and to help her own world to gain more standing amongst
the scientific community as well as that of the diplomatic corp.
Now that New Fabrina was well established after the Fabrini population settled
on it in the 23rd century, many felt that it was time that they started to have
more influence in the Federation and build up their own diplomatic offices and
embassies.
Jatira turned back towards the scientists who were grouped in the back. Many of
them had never left their planet before and were understandably excited about
the trip. She smiled, remembering her first trip. It was to Starbase Bellicose
for a brief visit to see her sister before heading off to
Because of her studies before the Academy, it didn’t take very long and was
soon assigned to be the official representative on Starbase Assailant.
As her shuttle neared the station, the pilot messaged in,
announcing their arrival and requesting permission to dock.
KezTrek heard the comm come through and shook her head. 'Same old, same old,
does the man never sleep?' She thought as she fixed her hair back into place,
and gave herself a quick check in the mirror to make sure she looked
presentable.
She was out of uniform, but then it was getting late, and she'd been hoping for
an early night after calling Daniel on Mars, seemed that plan was unlikely now.
She had ten minutes to get to Drew's office, but she wanted to speak to him
before Tomlinson, so she headed another direction and cut him off coming out of
a turbolift on his way to his office.
"Paul..." she paused, giving a quick look around.
"Yes?" he asked giving her one of those 'oh no what is Kez thinking
of NOW?' looks he'd favoured so often in the old days, amazing how things
changed so much, but still stayed the same.
"Whatever it was you wanted to tell me and Tomlinson, don't." KezTrek
told him.
"What? That's ridiculous, why wouldn't I tell you?" he asked.
"Because I've got a gut feeling here, I was going to call Daniel this
evening, but before I did I logged into SFI... now I couldn't find anything of
interest, but something unsettles me about Tomlinson." KezTrek said.
"Kez, look I know you, and I respect your judgement but that’s
crazy." Drew said.
"Paul..."
"Admiral's." Tomlinson's voice interrupted.
KezTrek gave Drew a warning glance, but he wasn't paying attention.
Damn fool man, some days he was just too trusting of a Starfleet Uniform for
his own good, you'd think given the number of times he's been stabbed in the
back by members or factions of Starfleet he'd take a little more care, but not
Paul Drew... no that would be too much like making KezTrek's life simpler!
"Lt Tomlinson," KezTrek greeted with an incline of her head.
"Lt... my office." Drew pointed to the door
a few feet in front, and no more was said till they were inside the doors.
"I was looking into some communications that were made recently, when I
came across something most disturbing..." Drew started to explain.
KezTrek half listened, but her attention was focused on Tomlinson's reaction to
things... something didn't seem right about him... she didn't know if he was
involved with any of this, but one thing was certain, he set of her 'spidery
senses' as Daniel called them.
Richard was sitting with his feet on the table in the passenger area of the
Wanderer. The main console was showing a game of Parisi Squares that was taking
place live at the Starbase. A team from some freighter named Maria's
He leaned forward carefully and grasped the half full bottle as Saurian Brandy
that was on the table and took a long swig. This was his second bottle, but he
was still feeling alright. The secret was to not stand up. He had made that
mistake a while ago, and it had taken him nearly a minute to climb back into
his chair from the floor.
The game ended, with the freighter team making Starbase Security look like a
herd of Klingon Targs. It was quite fun to watch.
Richard deactivated the console and looked around. His ship was very quiet.
Standing up carefully, he picked up the bottle and made his way to Sickbay in a
reasonably straight line. He walked in, sat on the biobed and said
"Activate EMH." The familiar form of the doctor appeared.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency" he said in his
serious voice.
"I'm drunk" Richard reported.
The doctor looked Richard over appraisingly, walked over and took a sniff of
the contents of the bottle. "Saurian Brandy.
Would you like a cure, or some ice?"
Richard considered the question carefully for almost a minute before replying
"Ice please." The doctor walked over to the replicator and muttered a
quiet command. The replicator hummed and the doctor returned with a glass and 3
ice cubes in it. The doctor took the bottle and poured a civilized drink.
Richard didn't notice that the doctor failed to return the bottle.
The doctor sat down in a chair opposite to Richard and said "So, what's
the occasion?"
Richard shrugged and took a sip of brandy. "Civilizations saved, galactic
peace preserved. You know, the usual."
The doctor nodded. "And so you're drinking by yourself, again."
Richard closed his eyes. "That's right."
"Is there no one else on the station that you have been able to get along
with yet?" the doctor inquired.
"Maybe it's them that can't get along with me" the courier said in a
sulky voice.
"Don't be ridiculous Richard. You drive them away with almost every word
you say. Here you are, hiding in your ship again as
the world passes you by outside. Eventually, they will stop asking for you if
it's less trouble to get someone else. Then where will you be? Back on some
miserable backwater world repairing damaged shuttle drives and outrunning the
authorities" the doctor lectured.
"I came back here for company doctor, not to be sermonized." Richard
stood up and made his way to the door, leaving his drink behind. The doctor
stood aside and let him leave.
Richard walked unsteadily to his cabin and lay down on the bed, but sleep was a
long time in coming.
T'Val waited patiently for the new ambassador's shuttle to land in the docking
bay. Once the duty officer gave the all clear, she entered the bay to welcome
the new diplomat. She saw a young woman appear from the shuttle, looking
uncertainly about her. T'Val thought she should not keep the young woman
waiting and stepped forward to greet her.
"You must be the new Fabrini diplomant," T'Val started, "I am
Healer T'Val, the DCS healer, and bondmate of Ambassador Tedak, guardian and
mother in name of the Debrune Divine child D'Beren." She spoke proudly of
her son, for she saw him as her son even if she was only his guardian,
and mother in name only. It saddened her, even though the child was allowed to
call her mother, and even that title she'd had to fight for. "Please
forgive me," she added, "when speaking of my child,
I do tend to forget myself."
She looked up, meeting the woman's eyes. "Come, I shall take you Admiral
Magellan, he is the station commander. I shall also introduce you to other key
personnel on this station. You absolutely must meet Admiral Paul Drew, as well
as my bondmate Tedak, ambassador Saarok, ambassador
K'Ehleyr, Mr Jibb....." She frowned at the mention of Jibb; something was
odd with that man, his reactions to Magellan and herself. ~I really must talk
to him at some point~ she thought. "Come....crewmembers will take your
belongings to your quarters shortly. After meeting with Magellan, I shall take
you there myself."
As Jatira stepped off the shuttle, she noticed a woman standing off to the
side. When the woman came walking towards her, Jatira quickly smoothed out her
diplomat's outfit to made herself look more
presentable. The outfit that she was wearing was based on the Vulcan design out
of deference of First Officer Spock who had been aboard the ship that had saved
their people. When they had heard that his race had come from a world with many
well-known diplomats, they decided to design some aspects of the Vulcan
diplomats in honour of Spock.
The particular outfit that she was wearing was a rich maroon with a cream trim.
It wasn’t as bulky as the Vulcan version though, but was much lighter looking.
The woman introduced herself as the Healer T’Val and bondmate to the Ambassador
Tedak. She had recently heard about some problems with the Gorn and wondered if
he had finished yet. She was about to ask when T’Val began talking about her
child.
"Please forgive me," she added, "when
speaking of my child, I do tend to forget myself."
“That is quite alright,” she smiled. “Of course you would be proud of your
child. What mother wouldn’t be?”
T’Val nodded. Jatira immediately realized that she was very concerned about the
child, Jatira but didn’t want to pry, so she changed the subject. “Would you
please tell me where I might find Admiral Magellan? I imagine that he’s
expecting me.”
"Come, I shall take you Admiral Magellan, he is the station commander. I
shall also introduce you to other key personnel on this station. You absolutely
must meet Admiral Paul Drew, as well as my bondmate Tedak, ambassador Saarok, ambassador K'Ehleyr, Mr Jibb....."
Jatira noticed the frown when T’Val mentioned Mr. Jibb’s name. Well, I
suppose that not everyone can be happy on a starbase. There’s bound to be
trouble sooner or later. She decided not to ask about that one either,
believing that it would eventually come up if this was something that she was
meant to know. For now though, she looked forward to getting to know her new
colleagues and getting to work.
Some noises behind her disracted her momentarily and
she turned to look. She saw some crewmembers beginning to unload some crates
with some of the scientists hovering worridly over them, trying to make sure
that nothing was broken or damaged. Jatira smiled. It was hard enough to
convicen them to transport the equipment by shuttle. She couldn’t imagine what they
were going to but the crew through now.
"Come....crewmembers will take your belongings to your quarters shortly.”
She heard T’Val say. “After meeting with Magellan, I shall take you there
myself."
Jatira nodded and followed her out the door. Before low, they were standing in
front of the Admiral’s office and were being let in.
T’Val quickly introduced her to the Admiral who was busy at his desk with some
work. When he saw her, he quickly stood up and extended a hand. “Welcome to
Assailant!” he smiled.
T’Val
quickly introduced her to the Admiral who was busy at his desk with some work.
When he saw her, he quickly stood up and extended a hand. “Welcome to
Assailant!” he smiled.
“Thank you, Admiral,” she shook his hand. “This is quite a station you have
here. I look forward to working here.”
"And me with you" Magellan replied diplomatically, he really should
stop judging people by their jobs. Not all diplomats could be a pain in the
proverbials...could they?"
“I
trust that my scientists will be well cared for as well,” she added. “They’re
rather particular about their work as all scientists are. If there is any
trouble with them, then I would hope that the matter would be taken to me to
deal with.”
"Of course, The scientific team will be under the
direction of Dr Hyran Sharex, you might have heard of him, hes one of Tellars
finest minds. Even so even he reports to me, so do not worry and problems and
you ll be the first tohear. Although from what I hear of fabled Fabrini
scientist I dont think problems will arise."
“Also,
I do not know if you know this or not, but my government did not have time to
fully brief me on the situation here as I was assigned fairly quickly,” she
explained. “Might I ask for information to study up on tonight?”
"Of course. Healer T'Val perhaps you could excuse
us, I m afraid its going to get rather boring."
T'Val nodded
"I must be leaving as it happens, I need to get
D'beren home in time for a feed and nap."
With a curt nod to Jatira T'Val exited.
"Right now where to begin. The colony project was
founded to help relocate the Tekarans. Their sun is going nova and they need a
new home. Dr Sharex is using a new terraforming technique called Gaia, its based on the Genesis Principle. If that wasnt hard
enough the Debrune have shown up, a long thought of dead ancestor of the
Romulans, They too want to colonise the planet. I ve agreed to allow them
habitation of their abandoned city but the rest is up for negotiation, in the
long run of course we will allow it but in the short term, well thats
different."
"I see" Jatira nodded
"A Tekaran Delegation is due to arrive here tomorrow to being negotiations
with us and the Debrune concerning the changes in the project. Ambassador
Saarok as our senior Federation Diplomat is co-ordinating that, I was hoping
you could assist him? in addition to representing your
scientists of course"
Magellan leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forhead.
"You ll soon discover that life here is somewhat unique, for a backwater
station its certainly a hive of activity. We currently
have a major pirating problem in the area so if you ever need to go off station
please check in with Tomlinson - Chief of Base Security. He gets annoyed
otherwise." he grinned.
"Right let me give you a quick tour, Assailants too big for the full
thing."
Magellan led Jatira out of the office and in to the operations room.
A large room with a huge viewport overlooking the interior
dock.
"This is Commander F'Rras Chief Traffic Controller officer and this
here" he said pointing to a Bolian at Tactical "Is Commander Zoilip,
my aide. If you need anything and cant find me - he'll
either be able to help or point you to who can. F'Rras can
you assign the Ambassador quarters. Come let us find Ambassador Saarok,
he will hopefully be in the Federation Offices, this way please"
Magellan ushered Jatira out and towards a turbolift.
It seemed to take a lot of effort for Richard to open his eyes, almost as if
they had been glued shut. Gradually however, his eyelids dragged themselves
open so he could see the interior of his darkened cabin. Wasn't much to look at
really. Richard's eyes slipped closed again, but he
knew that sleep was lost to him now. Sitting up slowly, he said "Computer,
lights" and the dark room was suddenly awash with brightness. Squinting
painfully, he yelled "Computer, lights one-half intensity!" and the
illumination became bearable.
The first thing that caught his attention was a strange sight on top of his
bureau. The bottle of Saurian Brandy that he had emptied was balanced upside
down atop his similarly upside down drinking glass, and a second drinking glass
was sitting atop the inverted bottle. Richard shook his head, amazed. He didn't
remember doing it, and probably couldn't do that sober. He reached over
carefully and removed the three glass items from atop the bureau and placed
them into the replicator for recovery, then turned for the shower.
About a half hour later, Richard was again sitting in his chair on the bridge,
examining the results of the level 2 diagnostic he had run. There was nothing
serious on the list, just some minor repairs that could become problems if not
taken care of. Malfunction in a tertiary data relay, secondary navigational
deflector out of alignment, replicator malfunction in one of the passenger
cabins. Nothing that a few hours of preventative maintenance wouldn't fix,
Richard thought happily. He was very fond of the Wanderer. She was by far the
finest ship he had ever owned. Richard grabbed a took
kit from a locker and got to work.
Four hours later, he stepped back onto the bridge after getting cleaned up. The
navigation deflector problem had proven a lot more difficult to correct than he
had thought. Richard had fixed the original misalignment, but doing that had
led to another problem, and he ended up having to realign all the navigation
deflectors on the Wanderer. However, once the repair was done there was really
only one way to test the new navigational deflector configuration. Richard
opened a comm line and said "Wanderer to Assailant Operations."
"Wanderer, this is Starbase Operations, Commander F'Rras here" came the immediate reply.
"Commander, this is Richard Jibb. I just completed some upgrades on my
navigational deflector array and need to check them out. I need Starbase exit
clearance" Richard requested.
"Standby Wanderer." There was a brief pause
while F'Rras checked whatever scheduling he had available. "Wanderer, I
have an exit window in 25 minutes. I have a convoy of freighters inbound
carrying Tekarans bound for Qualinost, with an escort of Federation starships.
I can let you go when they're in."
"All right, Ops. I'll be ready when you give the word." Richard
closed the channel and started running through his preflight checklists.
T'Val didn't like being shut out, and was quite annoyed when she saw Magellan
usher the young woman away swiftly, without allowing her so much as a word in
T'Val's direction. ~I shall seek her out later~ T'Val thought. On her shoulder,
Sev echoed her annoyance. She startled, having completely forgotten the
presence of the little bronze.
Then and there she decided she should seek out Richard Jibb, and ask him about
the odd reactions he had been displaying. Without thinking where she went, she
suddenly found herself standing before the doors that allowed access to the
docking hatch to the Wanderer. She pressed the chime and waited patiently for
the human to allow her in.
Elsewhere on the station, Tedak and Saarok had met for breakfast in Saarok's
office, discussing several diplomatic items.
Richard was taking his time running through the Wanderer's startup checklist.
The shuttle could be in the air extremely quickly, so he still had time to kill
before his launch window came up, and there was no point in irritating
Commander F'Rras by leaving without permission.
He was about five minutes from his exit window when the comm systems went off.
Richard looked at his main board with annoyance. It wasn't a comm,
someone was standing at his hatch and pressing the call button. He accessed his
Security systems and took a look at the exterior of the main hatch. It was
T'Val. Richard closed his eyes and rubbed them with one of his hands. T'Val was
not high on his list of people that he wanted to spend his time with. He
considered just ignoring her and leaving when his launch window came up, but
that level of rudeness was a bit beyond him, unfortunately. Besides, doing that
would be lost on T'Val. Vulcans tended to not understand being insulted. He
opened a channel, but refrained from opening the hatch. "This is Jibb, go
ahead."
"Mr. Jibb, this is Healer T'Val. I would speak with you" she
announced.
"Go ahead, T'Val" Richard said from his chair, smiling grimly.
"I would speak with you in person, Mr. Jibb." Richard thought that he
could detect a trace of irritation in her voice.
"Gee T'Val, I would really like to talk to you too, but I have a launch
window coming up in..." Richard checked his chronometer "three
minutes. I'm not waiting for another one to open, so unless whatever it is you
have to say takes less time than that, you'll have to come with me. What
happens if D'Beren needs you?" Richard threw that last one in shamelessly,
hoping to use T'Vals attraction to the child to put her off as long as
possible. He closed his eyes and waited for the response as the time counted
down.
T'Val however, was determined to clear up the uneasy work-relationship with the
other diplomat. "D'Beren is cared for," she said, not so much as
blinking when she said that, "Tedak knows our son is at home with a nurse, and his brow firelizard checks in every several
minutes. I will come with you then." She waited patiently for Jibb's
answer.
She had not lied when she said the brown checked in often, for the little brown
was an intelligent creature, and his litter mate, the bronze on her shoulder,
had informed him of matters that played. Nut had checked in on them only
moments before she had left her quarters, and she had told him to stay with the
baby and the nurse, and call for Tedak should the nurse or the baby need
anything. Nut had chirped and settled himself near the crib.
T'Val sighed, her patience getting stretched to its limit as she still gazed at
the closed docking hatch. However, she wanted him to let her aboard, even
though she could easily use her medical override. She had one, despite being a
civillian healer, because if she were around when a Starfleet physician was
not, she should be able to get to a patient in the other doctor's stead. Again,
she sighed, but stood motionless, waiting. On her choulder, Sev warbled
annoyance, his eyes whirling yellow-green.
Back in Drew’s Office.
"I was looking into some communications that were made recently, when I
came across something most disturbing.”
Tomlinson leaned forward with interest at what Drew had to say next, but Drew
noticed KezTrek was paying more attention to Tomlinson. He had known KezTrek
for years, and knew she didn’t often make mistakes, but sometimes she did, and
Drew simply couldn’t believe that a fine Officer like Tomlinson would betray
the uniform.
“Someone has been making repeated coded transmissions from Assailant, and then
deleting the logs.”
Tomlinson gave Drew a confused look,
“If they have been deleting the logs, how do you know they have been making
transmissions?”
“There are a number of discrepancies in the log’s, concurrent with the deletion
of logs,” Drew explained, “however, I cannot find any trace.”
“Anything deleted would leave a trace,” Tomlinson argued, “It’s the standard Starfleet
backup system to protect against operator mistakes.”
Drew looked over at KezTrek, who had not said anything; she was still watching
Tomlinson carefully, almost as if she expected him to make some sort of
confession. He was just relived that Tomlinson didn’t appear to notice, or if
he did, he gave a good impression of not knowing.
“Nominally I would agree with you,” Drew answered, “but, we all know that there
are ways to remove all evidence from the system.”
“But only a handful of people know that, and even less can actually do that,”
Tomlinson counter argued.
“Indeed,” KezTrek finally said, “And it can only be done in select locations,
including the Security Office.”
Tomlinson turned round as if noticing KezTrek’s mood for the first time, he
gave the Admiral a cold stare.
“As well as Operations, and Magellan’s office.”
“Again, only a trusted senior member could get to those locations,”
KezTrek answered, her voice remained neutral.
“Are you trying to suggest something Rear Admiral” Tomlinson asked in a
harsh tone.
“She is suggesting nothing,” Drew said sternly, ending their argument, “We are
not here to argue among ourselves.”
“Why are we here then?” Tomlinson asked, he was becoming annoyed now, and Drew
knew he was on the verge on walking out.
“Because according to my research, the last transmission was sent just an hour
ago, whoever is doing this, is on the Station as we
speak, we have to find them before they give away more secrets.”
There was a silence around the room, as each person thought over those words,
and each thinking of their own suspects.
Jatira listened carefully to what Magellan said. From what she knew,
relocations of large populations always caused problems. She remembered the
stories from when her people relocated to their new planet for identical
reasons. Fortunately for them, the Federation had been willing to help them out
and to rebuild their civilization.
As Magellan continued, she realized that her people had it far easier since
there weren’t any other worlds wanting to colonise the same planet. "I
see" Jatira nodded.
She now understood why she sent here. Things were going to take some time to
straighten out and Ambassador Saarok was going to need help to do it.
“Of course I’ll assist him,” she said. “That is my job after all. I’ll be glad
to do it.”
"You ll soon discover that life
here is somewhat unique, for a backwater station its certainly
a hive of activity. We currently have a major pirating problem in the area so
if you ever need to go off station please check in with Tomlinson - Chief of
Base Security. He gets annoyed otherwise." he grinned.
Unique? she
thought. Sounds interesting.
At the mention of pirates, she became concerned. “Pirates?
Well, don’t worry. I won’t be planning to go anywhere for a while yet and
certainly not alone.” She wasn't pleased when she heard that, but then again
she couldn't expect the Federation to be everywhere all of the time. But now
that the problem was being given more attention, she was confident that it
would be solved.
“Right let me give you a quick tour, Assailants too big for the full
thing."
She waited for him to come from behind his desk and followed him out the door
into the operations room. She was curious about her new home and wanted to get
to know it as well as the people living here. She marveled at how large the
space was at the size of the viewport near the dock. Magellan began to point
out a few people who were busy at work.
"This
is Commander F'Rras Chief Traffic Controller officer and this here" he
said pointing to a Bolian at Tactical "Is Commander Zoilip, my aide. If
you need anything and cant find me - he'll either be
able to help or point you to who can. F'Rras can you assign the Ambassador
quarters. Come let us find Ambassador Saarok, he will hopefully be in the
Federation Offices, this way please"
She followed him out of the operations room directly to one of the
turbolifts. After a short ride, they stepped out on one of the decks and made
their way over the Ambassador’s office.
Richard cursed quietly under his breath. T'Val still wanted to come aboard.
Well, there was nothing for it now. He opened the hatch and watched T'Val and
one of her flying lizards climb aboard. He closed the hatch behind her, and
locked it down.
He could hear her footsteps approaching the bridge, and he was about to turn
when the comm sounded. "Wanderer, this is Starbase Operations. You are
cleared for takeoff. Your exit vector is 217.8. Confirm."
Richard opened the channel and said "Confirmed Ops, 217.8. Out." He turned to T'Val, who was standing at the back
of the bridge. "Last chance to hop off."
T'Val looked at him without expression, walked over to the secondary bridge
chair and sat down. Her lizard settled itself into the corner of the main
viewscreen and stared out, waiting to fly into space.
Sourly, Richard turned to the controls, coaxed the Wanderer out of it's docking bay and into the crowded Starbase hanger.
Expertly, he navigated his way into the controlled chaos, through the bay doors
and out into open space.
The security officer pushed back away from the table his wheelchair rolling
smoothly across the floor until it hit a miniature step. He promptly turned it
around and wheeled through the door.
"Are you walking out on us Lieutenant?"
Tomlinson spun the chair back towards the desk. "That is not in the least
bit funny Admiral. And I am going to follow up some leads I have. It's what the
security people do when the admiralty is just blaming the first damn person
they see." With that he rolled out through the door,
and through the base to his security office.
Once he was inside, he locked the door, and accessed the communication logs.
Indeed, as the Rear Admiral had said, there were indeed discrepancies that he
hadn't noticed earlier. He then checked for trace's,
and yet again found that in some things the admiralty could work, there were no
traces of the communications left. The work of a
professional, as would be expected when the Chief of Security was doing
something.
He kicked himself for not sorting out the discrepancies, but knew that to
remove them now would place too much suspicion on himself.
Instead he worked through them backwards, looking for anything that could lead
to himself. Of course, they had all been sent when he was on duty, but most of
the staff were on duty at that time so it made little
difference. He had also got the camera watching his office on a recurring loop
each time, so that nothing could be seen.
He was damned stupid for leading them to himself, and couldn't believe he had
done it, but that was in the past now. From now on, he would have to be very careful
and work slowly to make sure nothing could be traced back to him or his office.
Any further transmission would have to be completely invisible, without even
the discrepancies he had been leaving so far.
Going through the usual motions, Tomlinson put a tape recorder on that would
play white noise for the next five minutes, at the low level that inidicated
normal levels, and hit the cameras on loop. His office was now sterile. He
slowly inputted the relevant codes and locks to open the secure channel he
needed.
T'Val sat, motioning Sev off to stay away from the human, while he piloted his
shuttle deflty out of the docking bay. She remained quiet until they reached
open space. "Mr Jibb, we must talk," she said finally, watching him
intently, "you seem to go very quiet and observant when either Magellan or
myself are around. I sense anxiety coming from you at
such times, as I sense anxiety right now. What have we done that made you act
this strangely towards us?"
She held no direct memory of preying on the poor courier, when she had been
infected with the vampire virus, but she knew his reactions were tied into that
episode, or in the least she had a hunch. "Please, why do we not try to
clear it up, it would do our working relationship much good, or that is my
hope."
Richard listened to what T'Val had to say while he flew the ship. He was
looking for some place within the system to test out his new navigational
deflector configuration. Activating his short range sensors, he set them to
look for a class 2 or 3 comet that was close to his present position. While
they searched, he had a moment to think about what T'Val had said.
So, she wanted to clear up their working relationship.
Richard wondered what she would think if she knew that the security system on
this ship was set to transport her and her pet into the pattern buffer if he
said a particular keyword. Probably wouldn't do their working relationship much
good.
"T'Val, I'm not really interested in improving our working
relationship" Richard stated with as much courtesy as he could muster,
which in all honesty wasn't very much. "My work and yours are going to
coincide very rarely.
Richard was distracted by his sensor console, which had located a class 2 comet
near the Bertreka Nebula. Richard altered the course of the Wanderer so that
she would pass through the tail of the comet, giving the deflectors a bit of a
workout so that he could assess the effectiveness of their new configuration.
They would rendezvous with the tail in about 10 minutes.
"But you and admiral Magellan Lin will work more closely," she
countered, "you have been acting very strangely around us, and I have also
noticed that you do not socialize much either." She looked at him
earnestly, motioning Sev to remain absolutely quiet. "You avoid him as
much as possible, and your behaviour has been bordering on insubordination, if
not plain rude towards the admiral. I have watched you when you speak with
other diplomats, and around Saarok your behaviour is rather peculiar also.
Why?"
Richard winced inwardly. Vulcans and their insufferable logic could be quite
maddening at times. He hadn't realized he was being that obvious with his
dislike of the three of them though. His anger burst forth. "Why? Because that is my right, that's why. I don't trust you,
Admiral Magellan or especially Saarok, and I don't have any intention of doing
so in the near future. I don't know whether I can trust you and have no way of
knowing or understanding your motives. From what I have seen of your past
behaviour, the three of you are capable of pretty much anything. I may have no
choice but to work for Saarok or Magellan at the moment, but it is my option to
be cautious about what position they put me into, and question as to why
they're doing it. If they or you aren't happy with that, then they can transfer
me or I can resign my position."
Richard set the autopilot, abruptly stood up, walked over to the replicator and
ordered up a cup of coffee, carefully keeping an eye on T'Val and her little
monster as he moved in case they tried anything. He also studiously ignored the
fact that his hands were shaking with agitation and his little walk was
designed to hide the fact from T'Val. Richard took a sip, which eased his
nerves and waited while T'Val digested what he had just shouted at her.
T'Val
let the anger come over her, and ignored it. She knew he had every right to be
mad at them, she only wanted to sort it out. The
healer in her noticed his shaking hands, but she also saw that he was trying to
hide it so she let it pass. She remained seated, hands folded in her lap, in
clear view. ~he feels threatened by me~ she thought, and wondered why.
Carefully and gracefully she rose from her seat and walked over to the
replicator to get a coffee herself. She kept her eyes on Jibb, but made no move
to approach him. Instead, she got her coffee and returned to her seat.
"Are you sure that it has nothing to do with us having been infected with
the vampire virus?" she asked innocently, studying his reactions,
"having used you when we were not ourselves?" ~stay~ she told Sev,
who was fanning his wings in anger, his anger, not hers. ~do nothing to
antagonize him, or I will send you home~ The bronze
instantly settled down.
Richard watched T'Val warily as she crossed over to the replicator, hand
hovering near the small phaser he had constantly concealed in his clothes. It
was getting harder keeping track of both of them, and
it was obvious her lizard was becoming agitated. Richard was ready to beam both
of them into the pattern buffer before they could blink.
"Are you sure that it has nothing to do with us having been infected with
the vampire virus, having used you when we were not ourselves?" T'Val
asked.
Richard looked at her coldly. She was missing the point. "How do I know
you were not yourselves?" he demanded. "Perhaps that's the way you
really are. I've seen nothing that would lead me to believe otherwise. In fact,
according to my investigations, I'm not certain Saarok was even infected, yet
was willing to sacrifice me and possibly many other members of the Federation
for little reason. How can I trust any of you? As it stands, the best I can do
is be cautious, keep my eyes open and stand
ready."
There was a beeping from the console. Richard walked over to to take a look.
The Wanderer was approaching the comet tail. He sat down in the captain's chair
to monitor the approach, while keeping an eye on T'Val using her reflection on
the main view screen.
Magellan took Jatira down to the Ambassadorial level, here were located all of
the embassies and diplomatic rooms.
"Here is the Dominions Embassy" Magellan pointed,
"I find it odd that they are allowed an Embassy here."
"Well so did I when I arrived. But so far things
are quiet with them, if you forget their attempted invasion of Klingon Space 2
years ago. They had a sceintific interest in the Nebula and so Command granted
them the right to have a small diplomatic station here, just a Vorta, a handful
of Jem'Hadar and some of their scientists. They keep to themselves mostly. I
tend to let Saarok deal with Shian their Vorta, hes as supercillious as the
rest of his race."
"What of the other races?"
"Well we have a Klingon Embassy, Tholian, A Cardassian run by some
disgraced Legate, Krell I think hes called. Theres obviously the Ferengi
Embassy and the Romulan, they are both major financial partners in the colony
project."
"Sort of a new NimbusIII then"
"Better, much better I hope and with out all teh mind control"
Magellan chuckled
"I take it the Federation has quite a presence here?" Jatira asked as
she began to realise just how big the office space was that they were now
entering. Each door was marked by the UFP symbol.
"Oh yes. Saarok heads the team but their are
representatives from Vulcan obviously, Betazed, Bajor, Rigel, Tellar and now
New Fabrini. Its lucky you are only a small
delegation. I m afraid we have had to put you up with the Bajoran
delegation."
"Thats fine" Jatira nodded
"So whats New Fabrini like now." Magellan started, Now - what was he
on about he had never been to New Fabrini and neither had his first host Toya.
"Ah heres Saarok now" Magellan pointed.
A slim Vulcan man dressed in a simple tan gown approached them,
he was flanked by a pair of Security guards and accompanied by Tedak.
"Admiral" Saarok greeted formally
"This is Delegate Jatira, the New..."
"The New Fabrini Ambassador" Saarok finished curtly "I spoke
yesterday with the President about her appointment"
"Of course you did. " Magellan said through
gritted teeth and a forced smile. "This is Ambassador Tedak, Romulan
Ambassador." He gestured towards the Romulan "Mr Saarok perhaps I can
leave Jatira in your capable hands. I have a freighter Captain to debrief and
want to get some food before the Tekarans come aboard."
"Of course" Saarok nodded, the slightest tug
of a smile to his lips, "You must of course eat. I will show Jatira her
new offices and then meet you at Conference Room 4?"
"Yes Zoilip has set up 4 for the initial meeting. Till later then"
Magellan nodded and headed off.
T'Val could actually understand his anger, for he was very much correct and she
nodded. "Yes, Saarok did use you, but he used us also. I am very sorry
that he used you as bait, but I do not think we ever harmed you. I mean Admiral
Lin and myself."
~go aft and stay there~ she silently told the bronze firelizard, who once more
was fanning his wings ~you will not antagonize Mr Jibb~ The little
bronze zipped out instantly, without so much as a chirp in protest.
Then she got up and slowly, and very carefully approached
Richard Jibb, then kneeled before him. "Give me your hand," she said
softly, "and I shall show you that you have nothing to fear from me."
Without awaiting his response, she took his hand and placed it on the katra
points on her face. ~your mind to my mind~ she thought, closing her eyes, then
waited for him so see.
Richard became alarmed as T'Val approached him. He had absolutely no intention
of allowing even the possiblity of a repeat of past events that had occurred
between him, T'Val and Magellan. Without a second thought, Richard spoke his
code phrase "Ferengi Federation". The phrase activated the Wanderer's
heavily automated security systems, which in turn beamed everyone living thing
aboard the ship except Richard Jibb into the transporter pattern buffer. T'Val
disappeared from in front of him, and Richard knew without checking that her
lizard was in there as well.
Richard walked over to the captain's chair and checked the pattern buffer. Both
T'Val and her lizard were safely tucked away. Richard deactivated the autopilot
and started the Wanderer back towards Assailant at top speed.
Surprised, T'Val suddenly found herself in small quarters. Looking around she
saw it was sparsely furnished, but enough to provided enough 'human' comfort. A
second later, Sev was transported in also, and the little bronze chittered
angrily and looked as if he were to zip out and give Jibb a piece of his mind
about first being transported into a buffer pattern, and then finally into
quarters.
"Stay," T'Val told the bronze firmly, grabbing his tail before he
could go, "he is antagonized, we do not wish him
set against us more than he already is. I only hope he saw into my mind before
he transported me. It was a very dangerous and stupid thing for him to do, for
it could easily have gone wrong, but we are all right. At least he is humane
enough to transport us to quarters in the end, and not leave us as a
transporter pattern in the buffers." She shuddered at the idea and
transporting already was not her most favourite means of transportation.
She walked around the small room, and literally jumped when she passed a
man-sized mirror. Ever since she was infected with the vampire virus, she could
not look into her own reflection in a mirror. Thus, she avoided them as much as
possible.
She walked towards the doors, but found them closed to her, there was no way,
not even her medical override, to open them. Finally, she sighed and resigned
herself to the situation, then chose to lie down on the bed and take a little
nap. "Stay," she told the bronze again, "I will be very angry if
you disobey me." The bronze chirped and curled up beside her. She would
wait until Jibb would come to her, instead.
After Magellan left, Saarok turned to the newcomer.
“Allow me to properly introduce my self, Ambassador Saarok of Vulcan, and this
here is ambassador Tedak ir-Saj'sihaer tr'H'Rhinann. “
<Tedak>
<Jatira>
“I have heard good things about you Miss Jatira”, Saarok said
“But now to keep the talk to the minimum as we have a Tekaran council arriving
shortly”, he said
“Let me show you to your office, and then perhaps you would like to join me and
ambassador Tedak in greeting the council?”, he said as they started moving
towards her office
<Jatira>
After a shorter walk they arrived to her office.
“This here is my office, he said pointing to a door as they passed by it, and
yours is right down here, he said pointing to a door where an ensign holding a
pad was standing.
“Ms. Jatira Laika”, he asked
<Jatira>
“I have your access codes, and also you can tell me if there is anything you
might need, from assistants to security guards anything at all feel free to
contact me about it and ill see that it gets done.”, the Ensign finished
<Jatira>
“Now is it me being around humans for far too long or is this man acting
strange”, Saarok whispered to Tedak
<Tedak>
Meanwhile Jatira finished her convo with the ensign and he proceeded further
down the corridor while Jatira entered her codes and opened the door to her new
office. Inside there were some members of the Bajoran delegation working at
computer terminals.
“I have prepared the pads containing the latest diplomatic events and placed
them in your office, when I was informed that you would be coming, also should
you require anything else, ask me and I will see if I am able to assist.”,
Saarok said
<Jatira, Tedak>
KezTrek considered Tomlinson, there was certainly something she didn't 'like'
about him... oh if her mother could hear her thoughts now...
But for Drew's sake if nothing else, she willed herself to conceder other
suspects, after all, Drew trusted Tomlinson, that
counted for something... KezTrek was sure Drew couldn't be involved here.
She'd made the mistake of not trusting him in the past, and it was always
wrong, the first time... she remembered it so clearly... was terrifying, standing
up in front of the man she'd known, and... yes... in someways even loved for
years, a dear friend, and loyal officer... and ordering him put in the brig...
she'd felt dizzy for an hour afterwards, and sick with concern when he'd later
been kidnapped... the second time... didn't bear consideration... no she
wouldn't be that stupid again, Drew was no part of this... he couldn't be...
"We need a list of suspects gentlemen, lets start
with our Mayor... obviously he has something to hide." KezTrek said, flipping a small black box from her ever present hip
holster, and opening it to reveal a padd, that was at all times connected to
SFI by subspace.
Drew gave her a questioning look having never seen such a device.
"SFI... new tech, I get to play, always fun." KezTrek told him, with
what she hoped was a smirk. Her mind wouldn't stop her traitorous thoughts
about Drew, but she couldn't follow them, and couldn't let him see them.
"Suspects gentlemen, suspects." KezTrek
repeated trying to get their minds back to the job at hand, and away from any
other thoughts she may or may not be having.
RA KezTrek
Richard sat in his chair on the bridge of the Wanderer. After a few minutes, he
couldn't stand it any longer and transported T'Val and her fire lizard into a
berth on the passenger level. While he didn't really want T'Val anywhere near
him, she certainly didn't deserve to be locked up in the transporter buffer.
The transporter cycle completed and he scanned the two of them. She and her
lizard seemed to be fine. T'Val was circling the room. Richard waited for the
two of them to come back up to the bridge.
After several minutes, a puzzled Richard checked his internal scans again.
T'Val was lying on the bed in her cabin. He had been expecting her to come up
as soon as she transported back, but she seemed to be taking a little break. He
checked the room status and discovered that the door was locked, which
surprised him even more. He didn't normally lock the cabins. T'Val must have
done it.
Richard checked the logs and discovered that the command to lock the door had
originated from his own control console just when he had beamed the two of them
in there. However, he had absolutely no memory of doing it. But the truth
listed on his screen, staring him in the face.
Richard started to become worried about his mental state. It was one thing to protect
himself from an unwanted mind meld, but it was another
entirely to be committing actions of which he had no memory.
Richard released T'Val's door and opened it remotely, so that she would know it
was unlocked, then started running a list of commands
that he had done from his console to see what else he had been up to without
realizing it.
T'Val noticed the door opening and sat up on the bed, carefully not to rouse
Sev, who was sleeping. She waited for the door to open further, and hopefully
admit the courier to her little quarters. When nothing happened, she got up
from the bed and walked to the door, opening it further, then
sticking her head out to look left and right into the corridor.
"Hello?" she called.
When nobody answered, she stepped out and found her way back to the command
centre. "That was quite an experience," she said softly, then noticed
the man started. "My apollogies, I did not intend to startle you."
She looked out the viewscreen. "Why are we flying into a group of vessels
that obviously have no Federation markings?"
Richard looked away from T'Val and at the main screen. There was a small group
of vessels in close proximity to one another directly in the Wanderer's path,
shimmering faintly. They seemed to solidfy and start moving away from one
another, then alarms started to go off and the shields snapped on
automatically. Richard quickly executed a sharp starboard turn, but the unknown
vessels kept moving and stayed with him.
Richard initiated a scan of the ships. There were 7 vessels of varying
descriptions and crew makeup. They all seemed to be armed with an assortment of
weapons. The largest was about the size of a small destroyer, with about 50
life forms aboard. The rest were shuttles, mostly smaller than the Wanderer.
The destroyer had a very high power usage curve, which led Richard to believe
that there was a cloaking device aboard, which would explain why all of the
smaller ships had been closer to the bigger one, taking advantage of the
protection provided by the cloaking screens.
Suddenly, several phaser beams flashed through the space in front of the
Wanderer and the ship-to-ship comm crackled to life. "Attention Federation
vessel. This is the Dread Pirate Roberts. Drop your shields and prepare to be
boarded, or we'll take your ship by force!"
Richard attempted to open a channel to Starbase Assailant, but found that all
frequencies were being jammed. There weren't many options available, so Richard
looked over at the Healer and asked "T'Val, how are you at handling a
weapons console?"
After a working dinner with the Captain of the Yridian Freighter in one of
Assailants less than desirable eating locales in the bowels of the station
Magellan made his way back up to the starfleet secure areas and the main
docking ports. He stood for a few minutes at one of the vast windows and gazed
out as his old ship the USS Victory made ready to depart. Work Bees buzzed to
and fro like gnats compared to the starship.
With a clanking groan the vast bay doors shuddered
open. The inky blackness of space appeared ever widening revealed a second
starship on approach. The Sydney Class transport was dwarfed by the station as
it entered. Using RCS thrusters it carefully manouvered towards one of the
inner docking ports as opposed to the vast docking arms that were used for the
starships.
Magellan checked his uniform and looked up to see Zoilip arrive with a simple
honour guard.
"Everything in order?"
The bolian grinned,
"Of course. Wouldnt be much of an aide if it wasnt"
"Good, I have a sense this may not go well"
"You always think that sir"
"Yes and I m usually right"
The transport was now docked and the airlock cycling.
With a hiss of air the door slid open. Zoilips honour guard flanked the doorway
and snapped to attention.
Emerging from the doorway came three men.
They were willowy in shape, fragile sprang to mind. There were essentially
humanoid but had piercing orange pupils and an odd yellowy tinge to their skin.
Hair colour ranged from jet black to almot white.
"Jenta ta lo" Magellan suddenly said extending one hand fingers
extended and thumb tucked beneath.
The lead tekaran copied and said,
"Jenta ta la Admiral Magellan. I was unaware you spoke our language."
Magellan likewise was surprised but merely smiled and replied,
"I believed it appropriate to pick up a little, we
will after all be neighbours."
"Very good. How much have you picked up?"
"I m not sure" Magellan answered truthfully
"Let me introduce ourselves. I am Prime Delegate Lorol, this is Councillor
Garel of our Cultural Committee and this is Lead Enforcer Hapel in charge of
planetary security."
"A pleasure." Magellan nodded taking each of
their hands. "I have arranged a light buffet and an opportunity for you to
meet our dilpomats, Ambassadors Saarok, Tedak and Laika. I thought it prudent
we discuss the aspects of teh project before we meet with Jak'dor and the rest
of teh Debrune tomorrow."
"Very wise Admiral. I must confess to be somewhat skeptical of the Debrune, they feature in much of our folklore and never in a
positive light. I am however more upon to negotiation than some." Lorol
cast a sidelongs glance at Garel. He seemed not to notice or simply ignored it.
"Here let me lead the way." Magellan offered and together with teh
delegates and honour guard they left for Conference Room 4.
As Zoilip had promised everything was in place all that was missing now were
the Federation diplomats.
T'Val paled slightly as the courier gazed at her, asking her to handle weapons.
As a healer her oath was not to do any harm, but if she were to handle weapons,
she would be doing harm. ~but if I do not, they will harm us, and a healer's
safety comes first~
"I believe that now would be as good as a time to learn," she
replied, her voice a little shaky, as she settled down in the chair at the
weapons console. "What do I do?" She listened patiently to Jibb's
crash-course in shooting and targeting. "Now what?" she asked, still
feeling oddly out of place.
|
“Do you mean its government or its geography?” she asked.
“Both,” Magellan answered.
“Well, basically on New Fabrina we hold elections for our officials, but we do
not elect our K’Len, or President as you would call it,” she explained.
“Instead, we elect the members of the Cabinet for each department like
education and economic. Then, those elected members chose the person who would
govern our world.”
“As for its geography, New Fabrina only has one land mass has many cliffs
unlike the beaches that I’ve seen on Earth. Since the land mass is near the
equator, it is very warm and very few areas receive any snow. Those that do are
the high mountain areas in the far south. The rest of the land is covered in
smooth plains that are very good for agriculture and has a wide variety of
wildlife including some Phawnders, which are horse-like creatures with horns on
their snouts. They are the largest animals there and most others are the birds
and other small creatures,” she paused. “Is there anything else you would like
to know?”
At that moment, Ambassador Saarok came out and Magellan introduced him to
Jatira. After the introductions, the Admiral had to leave, so he left her with
Saarok.
Richard had been hoping that T'Val had received some training, but in
hindsight, he shouldn't even have entertained the notion. A Vulcan doctor, two
usually non-violent concepts all rolled into one. He quickly explained how to
use the main phaser system. The Wanderer was pretty well-armed for a smaller
ship, and T'Val would have access to fore and aft Type 9 phasers. Richard kept
control over the mini-photon torpedo launchers, as they were a lot harder to
use effectively.
"Excuse me, Federation ship. Apparently you haven't noticed that you are
surrounded by superior forces. Please drop your shields and prepare to be
boarded. Otherwise I will be forced to put your shields down myself. You won't
like that" the Dread Pirate Roberts declared. The pirate was unusually
polite, but that name. Richard shook his head. Richard doubted that the
situation would improve if he giggled...
"Sorry, Roberts. I was busy overriding your
jamming and placing a distress call in to Assailant. A Federation starship is
on route right now. It might be best if you and your ...fleet... left right
now" Richard replied.
"Nice try, Federation vessel, but I would know if you had managed to get a
signal out. This is your last warning. Drop your shields and prepare to be
boarded!" Roberts said menacingly.
Richard grimaced quietly, then narrowed his eyes.
Roberts would "know" if he had gotten a signal out? There was no real
way for for him to know that. An interesting slip of the
tongue. He put that aside for the moment and analyzed the situation.
Roberts was running out of time, and they both knew it. There was a heavy
Federation presence out here and the Starbase would notice a situation like
this fairly quickly, whether or not Richard could actually contact them. All he
had to do was keep the Wanderers' shields up until help came. Richard decided
to let his engines do the talking, kicked the Wanderer into warp and prepared
his pre-programmed list of evasive maneuvers.
T'Val kept an eye on the sensors, while Jibb concentrated on the main vessel,
with the person who had done the talking. ~a pirate apollogizing for
threatening to board a ship?~ she thought, shaking her head ~highly illogical~
One of the smaller ships came swooping in, and thanks to Jibb's quick
explanation of the weapons console, she disabled it's engines.
Sev suddenly burst in, chittering in agitation. "Down," T'Val sternly
told the bronze, casting a quick glance at Jibb. "You know, nobody would
notice if he were to zip out and get a message to anyone you wish to notify.
Just give him a clear image of whom you want to alert, and he will go
there," she continued to Jibb, all the while keeping an eye on the
sensors. The bronze chirped once, but stayed well away from Jibb. The little
creature had not liked being transported, but since his lady friend had not
taken offense at it, he stayed away from Jibb. Had she taken offence,
the man would have known instantly as well.
T'Val waited for Jibb to respond to her suggestion. She keyed out a sequence on
the console, so that she could easily target out the ships that were about to
attack. She also kept an eye on the disabled vessel, lest it be feigning being
disabled. "Sev is agitated, I would not be
surprised if his litter mates are also." She explained about Nut and
Saaroks duo, who had all come from the same nest.
"Could you send him yourself, T'Val? I'm a little busy. And strap yourself
in, this is going to get rough." Richard grated.
The opposing shuttles were proving to be a lot more agile than Richard had
anticipated, and the destroyer was trying to lock onto them with a tractor
beam. "Computer, begin evasive sequence Jibb 72." The Wanderer
immediately started moving in a highly erratic series of turns and attitude
changes. A volley of phaser fire blasted by, just missing the ship. Richard
didn't think that the ships had access to phaser locks, and were being operated
on manual. Unfortunately, the shuttles were attempting to force him closer to
the destroyer, so that that ship could bring it's
superior power to bear.
Abruptly, Richard had to disengage the computer and go to manual. The
preprogrammed maneuver had taken them into a collision course with one of the
enemy shuttles, and he had to jerk the Wanderer into a corkscrew maneuver to
get away from it. This had led him into the sights of a type 9 shuttle, which ended up scoring several hits on Richards
starboard shields, lowering them to about 70%.
"Computer, evasive manuever Drunkard's Walk!" he yelled, as the Type
9 continued to fire away. The Wanderer responded with a number of tiny course
changes along a straight line, causing the shuttle to miss. Richard could hear
T'Val firing the phasers, hit it several times and causing it to break off it's attack with some severely damaged forward shields.
Richard's unexpected corkscrew had a bonus though. Another shuttle walked into
Richard's torpedo sights. He quickly fired two, both of which hit, heavily
damaging the shuttle and sending it into a powerless spin out of the combat
area. Richard could have fired more, but he had a small stock of torpedoes on
the Wanderer and didn't want to waste them on a ship that was probably out of
the fight.
Suddenly, the Wanderer lurched violently to port and several consoles blew out
on the bridge. Richard looked at the damage control screen. His port shields
were down to 40% and some EPS conduits had blown out. Roberts' destroyer had
finally gotten a hit on them. The ship-to-ship comm crackled to life and the
gleeful voice of the Dread Pirate Roberts filled the air. "I'm really
looking forward to having your ship in my fleet. She's quite powerful and
agile. Too bad I don't need any more pilots."
Richard started running repair subroutines and looked for a way out their
predicament. There didn't seem to be too many options.
T'Val nodded and beckoned the bronze firelizard. "Sev,
go find Magellan." She pictured the Trill admiral and tapped out a
message on a PADD, which read:
Wanderer
under attack, request assistance. Two person's aboard: Ambassador Richard Jib,
Healer T'Val. Repeat: require assistance, Wanderer under attack
She didn't have much time to write more, because she
was a little occupied herself. "Go," she told the bronze, picturing
Lin one more time. Sev warbled and zipped out. "He is gone." T'Val
announced, concentrating on weapons again. The cheerful voice of the pirate was
starting to annoy her. "Someone give that man a
nerve-pinch" she muttered.
~~aboard Assaillant~~
Sev zipped into view, gracefully flying past Tedak, warbled a greeting at the
other firelizards, then continued to glide towards Magellan and settled on his
shoulder, holding the PADD in his front paws. He warbled questioningly, holding
out the PADD to the admiral.
magellan glanced down at the Padd and then frowned.
Spinning on his heel he crossed to a terminal. He punched in a command and was
met by the face of F'Rrass.
"F'rass The Wanderer is under attack, edge of the
nebula"
"Sir, we are detect..."
"No time to argue. Launch Runabouts Thames,
"Aye Sir" the regulan replied, turning from the screen to issue the
commands.
Magellan turned of his screen and then flicked it to a new channel.
"Paul" He greeted as Paul Drews face appeared.
"You and Kez might want to get up to Ops"
"Oh?"
"Jibb has gone and got himself tangled up, could
be the pirates. F'Rass is scrambling a response now."
"Thanks for teh heads up. You coming up?"
"Can't at the moment, gotta get these talks going. Will try and slip away.
Keep me posted."
"As always, Drew out."
Sev fanned his wings, as he was grateful for the food offered by Tedak. He
hadn't had any food for a couple of days now and he was extremely hungry now.
He crooned as the Romulan fed him the chunks of meat, Nut crawling up beside
him to beg for a few bits too. While feeding his friends, balancing a tray on
his arm with a lizard on either side of it, Tedak walked up to Magellan. "Problem?" he asked, having caught the images from Sev's
mind.
Magellan, however, shook his head, and went on to introduce them to their
guests. Tedak midly shook his head, smiling to himself. ~that man should learn
to relax~ he thought. After his two little friends were done, he sent the
little bronze back to T'Val with a message of his own.
~~ aboard the wanderer~~
Sev appeared mid-squawk, quickly landing on T'Val's lap, dropping the PADD.
"Help is under way," T'Val announced, "but it may be a while
before they get here."
The Wanderer suddenly slammed to a stop. They had been caught by the tractor
beam of Robert's destroyer. A series of alarms started to go off, including one
that surprised Richard greatly. He turned to T'Val and said "It seems that
they have a device to drain the shields. We probably don't have a while"
in a resigned voice. "However, that doesn't mean we have to give up!"
Richard bent over the command console and started entering commands which began
a power build up in the engines. Putting their output to the wall, Richard
forced the wildly vibrating ship to pivot towards the destroyer. Once she was
in sight, Jibb burst fired the remainder of his torpedoes. The unexpected
maneuver caught Robert's flat footed and all of the projectiles slammed into
his forward shields, causing extensive damage. Smiling grimly, Richard then
accessed his main computer and said "Computer, engage fractal encryption
algorithm." Immediately, all of the consoles and lights on the bridge went
dark, and the ship was quickly dragged towards the larger vessel.
"What did you just do?" T'Val asked as she sat with the fire lizard
on her lap.
"I initiated a fractal encryption code on the main computer. It will take
some major computing power for them to be able to use the Wanderer for anything
besides a paper weight now" Richard said with satisfaction.
T'Val shook her head. "Won't they just get how to decrypt it from
you?" she asked.
Richard shrugged. "I can't decrypt it either. The ship will really need a
spacedock before she'll function again." He looked out the viewport. The
Wanderer had been dragged in very close to the destroyer, and the rest of the
shuttles were huddled near her as well. Richard noted that the enemy shuttles
that had been damaged in the combat had been recovered and were here as well.
T'Val got up from her chair and joined him. "They must be bringing us in
so close so that they can use their cloaking device on all of the ships."
Richard agreed with her silently. Abruptly, a hum filled the air and he and
T'Val disappeared from the bridge of the Wanderer, only to rematerialize on a
transporter pad.
"Welcome aboard Robert's Diamond!" a cheery voice exclaimed from the
other side of a transporter command console. Leaning down, the tall man then
said "Engage cloak and get us out of here!"
After looking around her new office and briefly speaking to her new neighbours,
the Bajoran delegation, she checked to see what time the Yridian freighter
would be arriving. Since it wouldn't be there for a little while longer, she
decided to take the time and settle into her new office.
The room may have been a little small, but it was comfortable. Sala, her aide
was already there setting up a few of her belongings. A small picture of her
family sat near the computer monitor along with a few trinkets that she had
picked up on a offworld trips. One was a spiked orange
crystal from Alpha Centuri and another was a small fern from Earth. The most
special item was in a small blue ceramic box with a piece of glass. In it was a
little bit of dirt from New Fabrina. People always asked why she kept it and
she told them that it was to remind of home.
"Everything's set up," Sala said, getting up from the computer.
"Your account is set up and all it needs now is your authorization."
Jatira sat down and put it her security code. "Security codes accepted.
Welcome Ambassador Laika," the computer responded. She turned around to
Sala. "How are the scientists settling in?"
"Things are going smoothly," she reported. "They have almost
finished unpacking their supplies and will soon be moving into their
quarters."
"Excuse me?" they heard a voice behind them. They turned around to
see one of the Bajoran delegates, standing there. "Welcome to our office,
Ambassador," she smiled. "I am Delegate Lora Kenda. I've been
instructed to help you settle into your new office."
"Thank you, but I think that we're okay."
"Well, if you need anything, I'll just be around the corner," she
said. "Feel free to come over if you need to. We enjoy the company,"
Lora Kenda said and went back to her work.
"Perhaps you should be going now, the freighter is due to arrive
shortly," Sala told her.
Jatira glanced at the time and saw that Sala was correct. "Very well, then
in that case would you please compile a list of the delegates here on the
station for me to read when I come back?"
"Of course," she said and went to work immediatley.
T'Val gasped as she felt herself being caught in a transporter beam. A quick
glance told her that her companion had been beamed over also, but the little
bronze firelizard had not been. Knowing her little friend though, it would not
take long for him to appear once he figured out where she had gone.
She was pulled out of her surprise by a cheerful voice who welcomed her aboard.
~now what?~ she thought, but gazed ahead, her face
composed into a blank expression. She averted her eyes only to acknowledge the
man's presence. She willed herself not to look at Jibb, not only to keep the
man's attention on her, but because she knew Jibb was in a sour mood now.
~~ aboard wanderer ~~
Sev chirped in agitation, flitting around trying to find his friends.
~~ aboard the pirate ship ~~
The little bronze firelizard appeared, but apparently nobody took notice. A
stern glance from T'Val told him to remain absolutely quiet, and hide himself
somewhere on the ship. The pirates must not notice his presence, until it
became useful that they did. ~useful for me~ she thought.
"Why am I here?" she finally asked, her voice icy as she gave the
pirate leader a cold stare, "I am a Federation citizen." ~revealing
my diplomatic status will do little good~ she thought. She still did not
acknowledge Jibb's presence.
At that moment, a door to the room slid open,two
heavily armed humans walked in and pointed weapons at Richard and T'Val. The
Dread Pirate Roberts did not react to the hostile tone of T'Val's voice. I'm
sure that he's heard it before, Richard thought to himself. He decided to keep
quiet for now and let T'Val chat with the pirate. Richard listened carefully
for any useful information or clues that would help them get out of this.
"You're here because I am in need of your ship, and I do not kill people
who I capture out of hand. If that were true, I would have beamed you into
space. Also, it is not uncommon that those who I capture can be persuaded to
join me, or render some kind of assistance." Roberts declared.
"That is not going to happen" T'Val stated, and even Richard had to
suppress a shiver at her frigid tone.
Roberts' face remained darkened slightly, then cleared back up and he shrugged.
"That's fine. Perhaps we can find some other use for you." He turned
to Richard. "And you sir, I don't suppose that you would be inclined to be
more reasonable than your friend here?"
"Depends on what you mean by reasonable" Richard replied.
"You could start by giving me your names" Roberts said.
Both Richard and T'Val remained silent.
Roberts waited, then turned to the two guards and said "Fine. Take them to
the brig", then turned and marched out of the transporter chamber.
"You will not get away with this, pirate," T'Val said icily, and shrugged
off the two other pirates who grabbed at her arms. "Where are your
manners, you do not touch a Vulcan, did your mother not teach you that?"
It was all she could do to keep the firelizard silent. The bronze was fanning
his wings in agitation in his little hiding place. If she could not keep him at
bay, he would surely attack the pirates, with the risk of him and herself and Richard, getting killed.
~stay~ she told Sev, as she and Richard were marched out of the transporter
room. Both of them were pushed into separate cells, and T'Val turned instantly
to face the pirates. "Starfleet knows," she said calmly, "and
rescue is under way. Soon, you will see."
“Report,” Drew ordered as he walked out onto Operation’s, KezTrek was right
behind him, and for a moment it seemed to Drew like they were on the Fang
again, that memory gave him the confidence they could resolve the situation.
F'Rrass looked up from his console, “The Thames, Tay and Avon have all departed
under the command of Lt. Tomlinson, they report they will be at the scene in
five minutes.”
“Very good,” Drew answered walking down to the command deck, in front of him
was a large control panel, showing a map of the entire sector, and the
locations of all ship’s, Starfleet and otherwise.
“Do we have any idea what is going on?” Drew asked, as he glanced at the
readouts on his display.
“Not at this time Admiral,” young Lt. T’Ark reported from Tactical control.
“Whats the Shial'ra’s ETA?” Drew asked, casting a look
up at F’Rrass.
“Slightly longer I am afraid, they are still ten minutes away.”
“Open a channel to them,” Drew ordered, standing in the centre of Op’s so as to
face the viewscreen.
A few seconds later, a Bolian Captain appeared onscreen.
“This is Admiral Drew at Starbase Assailant,” Drew introduced himself, he
didn’t bother waiting for the Captain to reply before continuing, “We have
dispatched Runabouts to the area, once you arrive coordinate your response with
them, and forward all your sensor readings to us.”
“Yes Admiral,” the Captain replied, “I believe I may have an explanation for
what may have happened.”
“Lets hear it,” Drew answered.
“As we left the sector, we detected some odd sensor readings, we presumed it
was our sensors needing realignment.”
“But it could have been clocked ships,” Drew finished for him, “Captain, I am
authorising you to break the warp five barrier, increase to warp nine.”
“Aye Sir, our ETA is now just one minute.”
“Keep me informed, Drew out.”
As the screen went blank, Drew turned back to F’Rrass, “Start analysing all our
long range sensor readings, find out if there have been cloaked ships in the
area.”
“Admiral, Lt. Tomlinson is hailing us,” Lt. T’Ark reported.
“Put him up on the screen,” Drew said, once again turning to face the forward
viewscreen, “Lets hope he has good news.”
Richard sat down on his cot, rubbed his face and spent some time thinking about
what he had managed to learn about Roberts so far. It wasn't very much. The man
had implied that he had some kind of way to get information out of Starbase
Assailant. He had a fairly large ship and a half dozen
smaller ones. So he had about 100 or so actual combatants. Roberts would also
require access to a base of some kind to service that many ships. Richard
thought about what he had seen on the way here. The design of this ship was
unfamiliar, so it was either a custom job, or a ship that had been so heavily
modified that it was no longer recognizable. Either option meant that Roberts
had access to a lot of money. All these items were very unusual for a pirate,
but didn't really help with the present problem of how to get off this ship.
Richard could hear T'Val pacing in the next cell and he walked over to the
door. There was a force field up, and the two men who had walked them down here
were sitting at a small table, playing a card game of some kind. As Richard
approached the door, both men looked up. Richard took a quick look around the
room and then sat back down on the bed. There wasn't much to look at. The men's
attention went back to their card game, giving Richard a chance to check
himself out. His hidden phaser was gone, as were the few tools that he kept behind
his belt in case of emergencies. Roberts must have removed them during
transport. Richard sighed, then realized that he hadn't seen T'Val's fire
lizard recently. The animal seemed quite loyal and able to get around without
transporters. It must be aboard somewhere. There was some hope. Richard sat for
about 20 minutes trying to come up with a plan that would work. He wished that
he could coordinate with T'Val a little. Their chances would improve if they
were working together.
Abruptly, the door to the security area slammed open. Roberts and a Bolian
Richard didn't recognize walked in and stood in front of the two cells.
"Two of my technicians are dead" Roberts stated angrily. "They
were trying to access your ships' systems and were captured by force fields.
They both suffocated to death inside. I can't even recover their bodies. They
are both just hovering on the bridge and my men won't go near them."
Richard winced inwardly. He had been hoping they would wait before trying to
access his ship. The automated security on the Wanderer was lethal. Roberts
didn't seem nearly as jovial now as he did when they were beamed aboard.
"What a pity. Perhaps you shouldn't be capturing ships and taking hostages
then" T'Val said loudly. "If any of the rest of you are interested in your continued existence, letting us go
should be your next action."
Roberts appeared undisturbed by this threat, but the two security guards looked
at one another uneasily. "You think so, Healer T'Val? Do you agree with
her, Federation Courier Jibb?"
Richard couldn't help but flinch. How had he found out who they were so
quickly?
Roberts smiled triumphantly. "Yes, I know who you are. I think that the
Federation will pay dearly for the return of a Federation Courier and the wife
of the Romulan Ambassador to the Federation. I hope that they do, otherwise,
the only way that they will find your bodies is if they run a nuclear level
scan of the Bertreka Nebula." Roberts and his Bolian companion turned and
stomped out of the room.
T'Val remained silent for a moment, wondering just how they figured out their identities
so quickly. She tried to get a glimpse of Richard Jibb, knowing her companion
was stunned into silence also.
"You will wish you had not captured us," she said coldly, "and
the Federation does not deal with terrorists, nor do they bargain with them."
She gazed the pirate directly in the eye, daringly.
When he had left, she caught movement under the cot in her cell. Crouching
down, pretending that she had lost something, she found the bronze firelizard
gazing at her, his eyes whirling red and green. Red for danger, green for
relief to see them safe. ~Sev, Richard is next to me,
show yourself to him briefly to let him know you are with us. Make no sound~
she thought. The little bronze made a movement that sort of looked like a nod
and disappeared.
She heard a gasp from the cell next to her, and when one of the guards looked
up questioningly, she heard him explain that he had bumped his knee on the cot
when he walked past it. Seconds later, the bronze returned. ~fly around the
ship, see if you can find a way out for us~ T'Val thought next, as the bronze
hid in her long hair ~go to Richard, let him know too. If you can warn
Magellan, do so~
The little bronze disappeared again, and did not
return. "Richard?" she called softly, "are you all right?"
When her companion did not answer, T'Val resigned herself to the cot and
dediced to get some sleep while she could. Not long after she had dozed off,
did she hear a loud clanging noise, as if a stack of containers had collapsed
on itself. Opening her eyes slowly, she saw the guards charge out. An instant
later, the bronze firelizard was hovering before the forcefield, gazing at the
controls that operated it. Having seen how the guards had operated it, when
they had first shoved Jibb into his cell, T'Val visualised how to operate it to
the little bronze.
Sev gave a soft chirp and, while holding himself aloft with his wings, applied
his front paws to the controls. After several attempts, the humming of the
forcefield ceased, as the field was deactivated. Instantly, Sev took his usual
perch on her shoulder and rubbed her cheek affectionately.
T'Val stepped over to Jibb's cell and deactivated the forcefield.
"Hurry," she whispered, "we must be out of here before the
guards return."
Richard sat up when the loud sound filled the brig. The two guards who had been
sitting at the table charged out to investigate. Almost immediately, T'Val's
lizard appeared out of nowhere and began to hesitantly work the controls to the
door. After a few seconds, T'Val stepped out of her cell and released Richard's
door. He moved into the brig area and she said "Hurry, we must be out of
here before the guards return." Richard nodded, turned to the door,
prepared himself and opened it. On the other side was one of the guards with
his hand up, preparing to open the door. His eyes widened as he was completely
caught by surprise at the site of the two former prisoners. Richard took
advantage by seizing his outstretched arm and executing a Harai Goshi. It was a
throw from an ancient self-defence technique and threw the guard into the room.
It also gave Richard an opportunity to relieve him of a phaser as he fell.
He turned with the weapon. The second guard had overcome his surprise and was
reaching for a weapon when Richard shot him. The energy discharge knocked the
second guard into the far bulkhead and then the deck, unconscious. He quickly
turned to see what the first guard was doing, but discovered that T'Val had
already incapacitated him with a Vulcan Neck Pinch and was searching his
clothing. Cautiously, Richard peeked around the corner, but there was no one
around. He grabbed the guard on the floor and dragged him into the brig. T'Val
and the lizard were busy dragging the first guard into her former cell. Richard
thought that was an excellent idea and unceremoniously dumped his unconscious
guard into his ex-cell, after relieving him of an additional phaser rifle.
That done, Richard activated the force fields, turned and
checked on T'Val. She had picked up a phaser and looked ready to go.
With Richard in the lead, the three of them left the brig.
T'Val looked around at the pirates they had overcome, then
noticed their own clothing. "We are too much in sight in our own
clothing," she announced, and began to strip a pirate she deemed of
Richard's size of his clothing, then handed the items which were surprisingly
clean, to her compantion. "Those clothes are too large for me, we will
have to come across a female pirate, or a smaller one," she continued, as
she turned around to stand guard while Richard grumbled and changed.
When he was done, she turned back and looked him over approvingly. "If we
encounter someone, we can always pretend that you are moving a prisoner
elsewhere," she noted, tucking the weapon she had recovered behind the
waistband of her robe, hiding it between its folds. "You know, I believe
there is one place they would not look for us," she said after a long
silence, "we should get to the captain's quarters."
As the USS Avenger slid out of warp, Dillon brought up the fleet on his main
viewscreen. As usual, the other fightershad made a
honour guard around Robert's Diamond. It always annoyed Dillon to see that,
especially when his long range sensors were showing incoming federation
fighters. Of course in his cloaked defiant class vessel, it would be highly
unlikely that anyone would notice him. Unfortunately with the fighters mere minutes away, he had to decloak to communicate
with the pirates. But then a thought hit him. The new
technology that Nechayev had sent him. He made his way down to the small
holodeck and ran the program.
He appeared in the Captain's Quarters, where he would normally expect to find
Robert, as whenever he communicated with them, he always got patched through to
his quarters. However, after looking around the whole place, it appeared that
he wasn't anywhere to be found. Frowning, he stepped through the wall, just as
he heard the door slide open into the quarters. Sticking his head back through
the wall, he saw a pirate enter the room with a vulcan
female, who appeared to be his prisoner.
"Okay, now what?" the pirate asked. Dillon frowned. That was not
something that was normally posed to a prisoner.
He changed the settings on the holo-program so that he was hidden from sight,
and then entered the room with them, the invisible hologram making no noise at
all.
"I believe that hiding would be the best option at the moment, until we
can device a more logical plan of action," the vulcan
replied calmly. On her shoulder, Dillon noticed some kind of dragon, which
appeared to be shivering slightly.
The man dressed as a pirate looked around. "We should hide,
lay an ambush for Robert's when he returns."
Dillon sighed, the noise inaudible in the quarters, only in his holodeck back
on the Avenger. The pair of them made their way to a cupboard, and hid inside.
Dillon frowned, and sat down on a seat. He never understood how he could select
some things to appear solid and other not... but apparantly he could. Being on
stealth setting, the seat didn't sink under his weight, but kept it's shape.
About twenty five minutes later, the door slid open and Robert's walked in,
holding a disruptor in his hands. Dillon sighed once more, then
appeared in the seat. A shot ripped the chair apart.
"Well that's a nice way t' treat yeh're boss, so it is." He said,
rising to his feet.
"They're in the cupboard. The male is armed, yeh may want t' just shoot
them from here."
"I need them alive. They would be worth a lot to us."
"So be it. Yeh're problem if they beat yeh though. Who would make a good
replacement to ya, would ya say?"
Richard, T'Val and the lizard slipped into the closet and carefully closed the
door behind them. There was a little extra space and they moved around a
little, getting comfortable. There wasn't much to do now but wait.
Richard sighed quietly and said "I wish I had one of the remotes from the
Wanderer, but the one I had with me must have been removed by Roberts."
"I thought you said that the fractal algorithm prevented even you from
getting access to your ship" T'Val whispered back.
Richard nodded. "No one can get access to the important systems, like the
drives or main computer, but I might be able to over ride the lockouts on the
less necessary stuff which might be useful."
T'Val looked over at the lizard which was twined in her hair. "Send Sev"
she said simply.
Richard looked at the little creature. "I don't know how."
"Picture where the remote is on the ship, as clearly as possible" the
Vulcan said.
He closed his eyes and pictured the Wanderer, then his cabin, then the small
table to the right of the bed. The remote was attached to the bottom of the
table. By the time he had opened his eyes, Sev was gone. A minute later, he
returned with the remote clasped in his claws and eyes whirling green with
satisfaction. The little dragon dropped the remote into Richard's outstretched
hands and returned to his perch.
Jibb bent over the remote and started trying to access the Wanderer. He was a
little rusty as he had never actually had to try this before, but his knowledge
of the ships systems eventually led to some success. He managed to access the
Wanderer's transporters and internal sensors when the two of them heard the
door to Roberts quarters open. After a brief pause,
there was the unexpected sound of disruptor fire and furniture collapsing.
"Well that's a nice way t' treat yeh're boss, so it is." said an
unknown male voice. T'Val and Richard looked at one another in surprise. Where
had he come from?
"They're in the cupboard. The male is armed, yeh may want t' just shoot
them from here." Richard jumped at the words. The unknown man knew that he
and T'Val were here. Richard quickly accessed the remote and transported the
three of them out, using a pre-made program that held them in the pattern
buffer briefly, then created a dozen different transporter traces all over
Robert's Diamond. He hoped it might give them a few seconds until the crew of
the ship tracked them down. Richard heard the steps of Roberts' headed towards
the cupboard and initiated the transport.
Roberts threw open the doors, but the cupboard was empty. He looked back at the
Starfleet officer and said "Are you trying to be funny or something?"
The three of them appeared on the bridge of the Wanderer, where Jibb quickly
got the other remote. Sev hovered around, looking rather pleased with himself for having achieved lifting the remote Richard had
needed so badly. T'Val quickly gathered a few medical supplies, among which a
tricorder, and found one for Richard as well. For him, she also deviced a small
medical kit, just in case he should need it if and when they would get
separated.
"I will need an attire like yours," she
said, "do the replicators still respond to your commands?"
When he nodded, he gazed her over for a moment, and she suppressed a grin of
her own. The dress she was wearing now was rather form
fitting, the pirate attire would probably be more so. She had assumed
correctly, but at least it came with a long wide cloak that hid her forms quite
nicely. "Oh well," she sighed, "at least it may prove a
distraction for other pirates we may encounter." Sev crawled into the hood
of the cape, chirping questioningly. "No Sev, you must hide on the Diamond
again, until we call for you," she answered, "go..." An instant
later, the bronze was gone.
She gathered up her supplies and dropped them in a pack she had seen the
pirates on the Diamon carry. "I hope we will pass," she said,
"how about we beam into engineering, see if we can disable that cloaking
device of theirs?"
Jibb nodded, and an instant later, they stood dead spot in the middle of
engineering. To their surprise, there was not a living soul in sight.
"This is too easy," T'Val complained softly, taking out her
tricorder. However, readings showed that there was indeed nobody within
engineering.
On Assailant
The face of Lieutenant Tomlinson appeared on the
rectangular view screen, behind him were two other security officers, and one
very cramped cockpit.
“Lieutenant,” Drew greeted him simply, he didn’t have time for pleasantries.
“Admiral,” Tomlinson replied, “We have arrived at the Wanderer’s last known
location, there is no sign of them.”
“We believe we could be dealing with cloaked ship’s,” Drew told the Tactical
Chief, “We are running over our sensor logs now, the Shial'ra’ should be with
you momentarily.”
“Shouldn’t we have detected cloaked ships?” Tomlinson asked confused,
Assailants sensor grid system was state of the art; nothing was meant to get past
it.
Before Drew could reply a horrible thought came to him, ignoring Tomlinson for
the moment, he turned to F’Rrass,
“Check the sensor grid’s command and control database.”
“Sir?” F’Rrass asked, not understanding what Drew
expected to find.
“Look to see if anyone accessed the grid in the last twenty four hours,” Drew
explained, “Specifically look for any commands to shut
down the grid.”
“You think someone interfered with our defensive network?” Tomlinson said from
the view screen, picking up on what Drew was saying.
“Explain to me how else cloaked hostile ships could get near us without our
knowledge.” Drew answered, “We already know the communication logs have been
edited, why not other systems as well?”
“Admiral,” F’Rrass called out, “Sections of the sensor grid have been shut
down.”
“I knew it!” Drew exclaimed as he walked over to F’Rrass station, “Show me the
command codes.”
“I can’t sir, it’s locking me out.”
Drew’s eyes widen as the Starfleet system refused to accept F’Rrass’s codes to
access the shut down areas of the grid.
“Computer, bring the entire sensor grid back online, authorisation Drew Pi
Alpha Two Tango.”
“Unable to comply, specified user does not have authorisation for this system”
came the cut reply from the computer.
For a second time Drew’s eyes widen, as the Chief of Base Operations he had
access to every system on the Station, and as a Rear Admiral he had access to
just about everything in Starfleet.
Shock still displayed on his face Drew tapped his comm badge.
“Operations to Admiral Lin.”
Richard pulled out his tricorder as well. There was some very specific sabotage
that would have to take place if he and T'Val expected to be free much longer.
He turned to T'Val and said "See if you can find the cloaking device
controls." First thing to go had best be the internal sensors. Using the
tricorder, he quickly located the correct console and analyzed the sensor
programs. They were pretty straightforward. Richard entered a simple password
system into the sensors, then wrote a fast program to
activate the password and put the sensors into a two hour diagnostic cycle.
This way, no one could stop the diagnostic without entering the password, but
no one could access the password due to the fact the diagnostic was running.
After that, he located the transporter relay system and pulled out it's isolinear chip drawer. Inside were the dozens of
isolinear chips which allowed the transporters to function. Not having time for
anything clever, Richard pulled out a phaser, set it to Level 11 and vapourized
the entire assembly.
Finished with what he wanted to do, he looked over to T'Val to see if she had
managed to find the controls for the cloaking device.
As Tomlinson was talking, thoughts were starting to form in his mind. If they
discovered his handiwork, then he wouldn't have much of a defence. Suddenly his
sensors started twigging.
"Admiral, I'm getting something. A ship is decloaking to our port..."
He looked sideways out of the shuttle's window. "Oh
god!" He closed the comm link without thinking about it. He quickly
brought up another comm link, straight through to Dillon. He had purposely
flown alone for this reason, but had hoped it wouldn't be needed. It was much
harder to keep it secret out here.
Suddenly the link connected. "Sean..."
"T'is better b' good... I ain got time for any of your rubbish."
"Sean, they've discovered the loose ends. It's not going to take them
forever to trace them."
"What do you know about it. T'ey'll never trace
em."
"You can't know that for certain. The have the Chief Justice there."
"Dillon out."
Tomlinson swore loudly, then opened a comm channel to
the other vessels.
"All vessels, battlestations, engage the enemy."
Suddenly the Shial'ra lurched out of warp, and opened fire on the larger ship
in the middle, hitting three shots at one spot, the first damaging the shields,
the seconds removing them, and the third sailing straight through the hull
leaving a gaping hole in the ship. A couple of seconds later,
and with a completely silent explosion the ship blew up.
--- In the USS Avenger's
brig ---
T'Val and Richard Jibb materialised inside the brig of the Defiant
class vessel. The vulcan healer turned to Jibb.
"I do not think this was an intended part of the plan."
"No. It wasn't." He replied his teeth gritted together, his anger at
the apparant destruction of Robert' Diamond and the Wanderer not leaving him
too happy.
--- In Space ---
Able to move, Wanderer programmed her course, and set sail for Assailant.
Recognising her, the federation ships avoided her, and provided help by taking
out the small fleet that was scattered around the escaping vessel.
The Tekarans seemed to be nice enough, although Magellan was well aware that
appearances could be deceptive.
"More wine?" he offered
The delegates nodded and he beckoned for a Steward to
fulfill the task.
Tedak, Saarok and Jatira were mingling with the delegation well and Magellan
was beginning to feel somewhat of a spare wheel.
"What exactly is it the Debrune?" He heard Garel say
"Not much in reality" Tedak noted
"Not much?"
"Just a to share the planet."
"hmmm"
"You do have to remember it isnt yours" Saarok noted
"Its not theirs either" snapped Garel
"Calm yourself Garel" Lorol interceded, "You must understand
that Garel fears that our culture wil be diluted if forced to live with such a
defined race as the Debrune"
"I see" Tedak noted
Magellan was beginning to see one of those deceptive appearances...appearing.
"Operations to Admiral Lin.”
=/\=Go ahead=/\= came Magellan’s voice.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Drew said, “but someone has locked us out
of the sensor grid, we can’t tell what’s out there.”
=/\=How’s that possible?=/\= Magellan asked, concern
in his voice.
Drew looked up at Tomlinson on the forward view screen,
the Tactical Officer shared the same look of horror that was on Drew’s face,
and probably Magellan’s too.
“I don’t know,” Drew answered, “but, there could be a fleet of ships out there
right now, and we wouldn’t know about it”
"I ll be right up."
Magellan practically ran to Ops he burst through the door.
"Well. Report?"
F'rass began to answer but was beaten to it by Paul.
"We're not sure exactly, The Shial'ra has dropped out of warp and
destroyed the lead pirate ship, Tomlinsons team of fighters and Runabouts are
just arriving to mop up the rest, but its hard to tell"
"Hard to tell! Whats hard about it!"
Magellan snapped "Either its destroyed or its
not"
Paul ignored Magellans tone,
"Theres a lot of Comm Chatter out there and we re not entirely sure how
much we can trust our sensors."
"And thats another thing, how is Assailant so
compromised. I ll not have. I ll not have the safety of this base threatened by
anyone. F'Rass lock down the station. No one in no one out. All flights are suspended."
"Aye Sir. How long shall I tell the Freighter
captains the suspension will last, they will need to reorganise their
schedules"
"Indefinetly"
"Sir?"
"Indefinetly damn it. I ll tell you when."
"Yes Sir."
"We're getting more information, there are still
disruptions in the sensor grid. But the Shial'ra confirms one kill, and that
the Wanderer has been picked up in the debris." Paul looked up as he read
from the terminal and met Magellans eyes.
"Any survivors?"
"None yet."
Magellan stared at the viewscreen, now here was not only a personal tragedy but
a political one - wife of romulan delegate killed in a ship piloted by a Fed
Diplomat being captured by an unknown foe. Wars had started over less.
"Well tell them to keep looking. Hopefully we can find T'Val and Jibb
before we need to contact Tedak."
Paul nodded, but he realised that there was little chance of their survival, Magellan was just going through the motions. He
could almost see the rage physically building in Magellan once more.
The trill tapped his badge.
"Lieutenant Alari report to Ops with your best Computer Specialist and a
damn good reason why we cant see a blasted thing out
here"
"Aye Sir right away" the tiburonese Chief Maintenace Officer replied
With the line turned off Magellan turned to Keztrek.
"Admiral Keztrek, You have carte blanche. As of this moment you have full
authority on the station. You may question anyone. You may search any room, any
quarters any ship. You may appropriate any staff for any purpose. Find out who
did this to us, find out who did this to T'Val and
Jibb. Find Them, and shut them down. Lock em up
whatever. End it and end it soon. If anyone has news I ll be
in my office."
And without a backward glance Magellan stalked from Ops and in to his office,
making a beeline for the replicator.
With the lead ship down, the team of shuttles and fighters that Tomlinson was
leading now started to clear up the smaller support vessels. Tomlinson knew
that Dillon wouldn't shoot on them. He had his current prize, and from what he
has heard, Robert's lot weren't high in the picking order. Losing them to keep
his anonymity would be more his style.
The station's security officer slid his shuttle down between two floating
skeleton's of ships, their hulls blackened, and holes allowing him to see
straight through them. On one he could see faint federation markings, all but
removed and the pirates emblem painted on over the top. As he manoeuvered his
shuttle through the gap, he spun slowly through 270 degrees, and then hooked
back around the ex-federation ship to engage what looked like a commandeered
bajoran assault vessel.
He kept tight to the framework of a ship below him, and then rose rapidly,
flying within the shields of the assault vessel, before firing with his
phasers. With the shields unable to defend against the attack, it ripped
straight through the hull, cutting a line right through the middle of the
assault vessel. The ship seperated at the centre, and proceeded to float away
from each other. Tomlinson smiled, pleased with the move.
Glancing at his sensors, which were fully functional, he spotted that all enemy
ships had been destroyed.
=/\= Tomlinson to all ships, return to base. =/\=
The fleet made their return to Assailant, where
Tomlinson became stuck with another problem.
"..what do you mean, I can't dock. I work there, I am part of that investigation. I'm in a frigging
wheelchair... what do you think I'm doing to do... roll over everyone?" he
asked frustratedly. In complete contrast KezTrek remained calm and controlled.
"We need to find the source. We are investigating everything at the
moment. You can return when we are satisfied..."
Tomlinson was sure she had more good news to spread, but he wasn't in the mood.
He closed the comm link.
"This certainly is proving to be an interesting venture," T'Val
commented, "we get to be sightseeing a couple of
brigs." She was not at all troubled by the fact that they were again
locked in. "This is a Federation ship," she continued, "I am
quite sure that whoever is in command will soon discover their error, and let
us go."
She glanced at the firelizard, who had taken up a perch on Richard's lap,
gazing at the man intensively as if talking to him. She noted the bronze wasn't
disturbed either, at least not yet.
~~ On Assaillant ~~
Tedak was chatting to the new Fabrini ambassador, laughing good naturedly. He
wasn't worried by the fact that T'Val had gone off on an adventure with the
courier. ~she too, deserves her fun~ he thought idly, as he stroked the brown
firelizard on his head knob. The brown crooned, as earlier he had been very
agitated. Nut always knew if his 'brother' was in trouble, and communicated
that knowledge to Tedak. As Sev was in tune with T'Val more so than with Tedak,
even though he had Impressed the bronze, the brown was very much in tune with
the man.
He watched as Magellan strode away briskly, his facial expresion one of anger
and worry. "Something is going on," Tedak whispered to Jatira,
"they seem to be extremely worried about something, or someone. Brown Nut had flown
after Magellan, who seemed oblivious to that fact. Some time later, the brown
firelizard came flying back into the conference room,
chittering in agitation. Tedak looked worried, then
gazed at Jatira."Come, let us see if they will tell
us." He held out his arm courteously to the woman, and led her towards the
admirals. "Gentlemen, Gentlelady," he said softly, nodding towards
Lin, Drew and Keztrek, "something seems to be the problem, I think. Is
there some way we can be of assistance?" He noticed the worried look in
Lin's eyes, and the working of the man's jaw. Something was indeed amiss, but
Tedak had already guessed that.
Jatira was enjoying herself immensely, talking to the Tekarian delegates and
getting to know some of them. They seemed to be very pleasant people, but she
knew from past experience that officials often were on the outside and could be
very different on the inside. She hoped that this wasn't the case with these
people, but still kept her guard up.
At the buffet tables, many different types of food from the many cultures of
the Federation had been set out. One table was reserved specifically for
Tekarian fruits and vegetables, which one of the delegates pointed out to her
and explained what each item was.
Jatira listened carefully and tried to learn all that she could about these
people, knowing that she would be working with them for quite a while. She
wasn't sure what things were going to be like at the negotiations table, so she
wanted to have an idea of what to expect from them.
As the time wore on, Jatira struck up a conversation with Ambassador Tedak
about the station. He told several amusing stories about some of the past
events and Jatira told him a little about herself and her sister who was
serving in Starfleet.
She was curious about his firelizard, so she asked many questions about him.
Back home, she was allowed to keep many pets, which often included fish, birds
and just about everything else one could imagine. However, since she had joined
the diplomatic service, she couldn't keep as many, but still had her male
Hiruss Finch. Tedak wasn't familar with the species, so she told a little about
them saying that they were bright purple with white streaks on its breast. They
were very much like Terran finches, except the Hiruss variety was capable of
talking that could outdo even the best parrot. Jatira admitted that sometimes
the bird could be a little obnoxious, but enjoyed having him around as a
companion.
After a while though, Jatira noticed that some of the Starfleet officers were
becoming rather anxious and coming in and out of the banquet hall. She frowned,
wondering what was happening.
Tedak too noticed. "Something is going on," he whispered, "they
seem to be extremely worried about something, or someone."
She nodded. "I've noticed the same thing," she said, thinking.
"When I arrived, Admiral Magellan mentioned something about pirates in
this sector. Do you suppose that might be what it's about?"
"Come, let us see if they will tell us."
Jatira took his arm and followed him over to where Admiral Magellan was
standing along with a few others. He seemed deeply concerned about something
and Jatira hoped that the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed.
Richard sat on the bed in the brig and bided his time. T'Val was right.
Eventually one of the geniuses on the bridge would figure out who they were and
release them. He was more worried about the Wanderer. She was a custom built
ship and couldn't be replaced, not for him anyway.
He barely noticed the lizard sitting on his lap, and Sev was unceremoniously
dumped off when Richard stood up due to the sudden appearance of a Starfleet
Commander at the door. "Excuse me, Mr. Jibb, Healer T'Val. We have just
confirmed your identities. My apologies for the
misunderstanding." The commander deactivated the force field and
stood aside to allow them to step out of the tiny room. Richard and T'Val left
quickly.
Richard was happy to be out of the room, and even more anxious to find out what
was going on. "Thanks Commander. I would like to go to the bridge to find
out the status of the pirate ship."
The commander nodded and the four of them left, bound for the bridge.
Magellan sat hunched over his desk. It was unusual for him to get this worked
up of crises, but this was something different. As he knocked back the last of
his drink he noticed movement out in Ops, Ambassadors Tedak and Laika had
arrived. Kez and Paul were avoiding them and concentrating on getting the feedback
on what was happening.
It suddenly struck Magellan that it wasnt appropriate allowing ambassadorial
staff in to ops at will, here was a sensitive case that could only be made
worse by their presence. He made a mental note to review the protocols. He pressed
a button and spoke.
"Commander F'Rrass please show the Ambassadors
in"
The regulan complied and the doors opened admitting the two diplomats.
"Tedak, Miss Jatira How can I help you. Not a problem in the negotiations
so soon I hope?" he greeted forcing a smile to his lips.
Tedak looked at Jatira.
She too noticed his obvious discomfort and
became a little more uneasy. "Admiral, we've been noticing strange
behavior among the Starfleet officers and so have some of the Tekarian
delegates. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that something was wrong."
"What gave you that idea?"
Tedak gave Magellan an apolligetic smile as he indicated the brown on his
shoulder. "My little friend here picked up on your emotions,
admiral.">
Magellan looked uncomfortable and Tedak sensed something was indeed up and
pressed further.
"What is going on admiral. Three admirals, huddled together in OPS, you striding away high on
emotion a few minutes ago. Something must be going on."
Magellan got up fixed himself another drink downed it in one and then turned to
face Tedak.
"It seems that I must break some bad news to you Ambassador. I was hoping
to wait until I had a fuller story. Just under half an hour ago we received a
distress call from the Wanderer."
"Jibbs ship?"
"Yes. It was under attack by pirates. We scrambled assistance. When
we arrived there was no sign of the Wanderer, knowing Jibb it was assumed he
had evaded them by going atmospheric or something, so the Shial'ria went in
weapons hot."
"Isnt that a vulcan ship?" Jatira commented
"Yes Captain Solans. The lead ship was destroyed but unfortunatly we
detected the Wanderer in teh debris."
"Then the Wanderer was in the Pirate ship" Jatira asked
"So it seems." Magellan seemed to shuffle, "Ermm Ambassador -
were you aware that T'Val was with Jibb?"
The Romulan diplomat nodded solemnly. "I am most aware admiral," he
said softly, "my two firelizards are in constant contact with one another.
Nut just told me that she is well, and he senses no stress from his
hatch-mate." He frowned a second later. "Why? Do you suspect they are
in trouble? Has the ship been recovered
"No. We re not sure. We
are currently looking for life pods. We are sparing no ships. We will find
them, and there was no guarantee they were aboard that ship."
Jatira was somewhat taken back by this, knowing
who she was. Tedak didn't seem very concerned and seemed quite confident that
she was alright. However, his firelizard began behaving in a manner that she
had never witnessed. She had heard that they were bonded with their mates and
could sense each other. Was this one distressed because they other was also?
Suddenly Tedak gasped in shock and collapsed, saying something about how the
bond was gone. Jatira quickly grabbed his arm and helped to lower him to the
floor with Magellan's help. Nut kept crying aloud in distress and Tedak had
tears streaming down his face. Jatira looked over at Magellan inquiring what
she should do.
"Do we need to call for a medical team, sir?" she asked, kneeling
down next to Tedak
The irish commanding officer had called for the
prisoners to be brought up to the bridge. No doubt they thought that they were
being released, and he had no reason to stop them thinking this. He smiled to
himself, and glanced over at the large casket in the corner. It's
mere presence was making the whole room much colder, but it was worth it, if
only to see the look of horror on the faces of the two federation citizens when
they realised what was going to happen.
They stepped onto the bridge along with Dillon's first officer, a man that he
had met up with a few years ago when he had served with the Maquis. They had
formed such a bond of trust between them that he had got the man instated as
his number two on the Avenger. T'Val walked straight towards him, and was about
to talk to the irishman, but he sidestepped her,
intrigued on the courier's reaction.
He was standing open-mouthed looking at the freezer-like object in the corner.
He turned to Dillon.
"That is banned under so many laws that simply having it on this ship
could give this whole crew more time in prison than you'll live for."
"Aye, ya be righ' t'ere. It would indeed. T' only t'ing I can t'ink of
t'at would increase it is if I were t' put her in t'ere." He said,
pointing at T'Val, upon which his guards seized her,
and one shot and paralysed the firelizard, allowing them to put it in there
too. Once they were both inside he activated the power, and then turned back to
Jibb.
He was rooted to the spot, amazed at what was happening.
"But this is a federation ship, and a damn good one at that. You can't
have stolen it."
"No, t'ey gave me one of ma very own." He said with a wide smile.
"She had a link wit' her husband, so's they mighta still known yous bot'
was alive. Now, he'll t'ink she's dead."
~~ avenger ~~
T'Val stood stunned as she gazed at the coffin-like, standing up device. She
barely heard Dillon's voice, and only noticed something was extremely wrong
when Sev suddenly screamed as two guards seized her and gave her a firm shove.
Unprepared for such treatment, it sent her spinning into the 'coffin', upon
which one guard secured her into it, while anoter stunned Sev and placed the
bronze on her shoulder.
Too horrified to move, she saw the lid close before her, and through the glass
she noticed Jibb's horrified expression. Intense cold flooded the compartiment,
and soon her bodily functions had lowered to the absolute minimum, as the
freezing cold brought them to a near stand-still, freezing her body in place.
The brown firelizard continued his piteous cries, burrowing his head in Tedak's
robes, alternating it with flying to Jatira and Magellan. The colour of his
eyes alternated between bright yellow and red, whirling to denote his personal
distress. He batted his wings as he tried to keep eye contact with Magellan,
picturing it's distress to the admiral.
Tedak lay writhing on the deck in agony, oblivious to the soothing attempts
from Jatira, and the distress of his firelizard. All he felt was the loss of
his bondmate, the place in his mind that first had contained an echo of his
bondmate's mind now an empty void. He continuously cried out T'Vals name.
In their quarters, the nanny caring for D'Beren was having a fit. The infant
had started crying, keening the moment that he too, felt the passing of his
adoptive mother. Picking up the wailing infant, nanny McFaye ran out of the
quarters, towards the conference room. Once there, she found that the
ambassador had gone to OPS, and thus continued her way to that location. She
let out a gasp of shock as she saw her 'boss' lying down on the deck, a group
of people gathered around him.
"Let me pass," she demanded, elbowing her way through, while
carefully holding the infant. The instant she reached the ambassador, she
placed the infant on his chest, hoping it would help them both calm down.
D'Beren indeed calmed somewhat, his tiny body still racked with sobs, but he
was no longer wailing. Tedak, however was
inconsolable.
"We need a Vulcan," McFaye announced, remembering a little of Vulcan
marriage and mourning rituals, "where is Ambassador Saarok? Perhaps he can
offer assistance." She gazed at the officers and the female diplomat that
were standing around them.
Richard's mind was working quickly. He was looking at a piece of technology
that he had only heard rumours about. A Cryonic Neural
Inhibitor. A device specifically designed to neutralize species with
advanced mental abilities, like the Vulcans, Betazoids or Ullians. Richard had
heard that a Ferengi scientist had come up with the concept, and sold it to the
Romulans. But he had never seen one in actual use. He also knew that if T'Val
stayed in there long enough, she would lose her mental abilities forever.
He looked at Dillon and said, "I know what that thing does and putting
T'Val in there serves little purpose. If you think that it will make me do
anything, you can forget it! I'm not overly fond of that woman anyway!"
"Ah, how grea'ly se'f centred ye are, Jibb My aim be on Assailant. Ye
hae'nt changed sin' ye were on Daran 4." Dillon laughed at Jibb's puzzled
expression. "I heerd abou' ye. Ye were fixin
shuttles back t'en. You was workin' fer us wi'out even knowin' it!" The
rest of the bridge crew broke into laughter along with Dillon and Richard knew
his checkered past was coming back to haunt him, again. "I
also heerd abou' how cle'er ye are. T'at won' work for ye here
ei'her."
Richard had been thinking about ways to get out of this mess, and he was even
shorter on options than he had been aboard Robert's Diamond. He had checked,
and his remote for the Wanderer was gone again, and there was no way he could
get at the last one. Sev had been frozen with T'Val. There was only one thing
that could help him now, and that was on the Wanderer. If he
could figure out some way to get in contact.
Assured that Tedak was being looked after Magellan stepped
out into ops.
Paul and Kez looked up.
"Has anything changed?" Magellan asked
"Not so far." Paul replied "Tomlinson is still apprehending the
last of the ships. Why whats wrong?"
"Tedaks collapsed. He said something about losing his bond."
"Then T'Val is dead" Keztrek responded coolly
"We don't know that. Just that the bond is severed. Any sign of the
Wanderer at all."
As if on cue the comm chirped and Tomlinson appeared on screen.
"Sir's We have destroyed or apprehended almost
all the pirate craft."
"Any sign of the Wanderer?"
"Actually yes sir. Its why I m calling, its adrift in an irregular orbit,
its damaged, thats probably the debris we picked up and assumed it was
destroyed."
"Anyone..."
"No there no lifesigns, and I ve done a scan but
it wouldnt..."
"Pick up any dead bodies" Magellan finished icily.
"Err well no."
"Then dock and investigate. Assailant Out"
"I get the feeling we are missing something here" Keztrek noted
"Something elemental"
Magellan huffed "Elemental or not we seem to be in the dark here. Perhaps
you and Paul could put the hard word on our suspects on board."
"Actually you might have something there Kez" Paul noted, remember
what I said when the net first went down."
"About us being blind and a whole fleet of cloaked ships being out there.
But that is inaccurate an entire fleet would create a resonant inverse polarity
wave and we've run tachyon scans"
"Yes yes the whole fleet thing was an exageration, but what about one
ship. The stations sensor net is not sensitive enough to make anything
discernable"
"You think theres something out there."
"Well its a possibility if we do not find TVal and
Jibb on the wanderer or ... in the debris."
Magellan paced Ops.
"Jatira, could your scientific team help? Could they help us reconfigure
or sensor network?"
"Ta'e 'im back to 'is cell" Dillon ordered. The security detail that
had escorted him up to the bridge grabbed Richard by his upper arms and hustled
him off the bridge, back to the brig and dumped him inside.
Richard picked himself up off the floor and sat back down on the bed. He had
seen more than enough detention cells in the past day to last him for several
years, but he couldn't think of a way to get out. These Defiant class vessels
were very short on excess controls, and there didn't appear to be anything in
the cell that could help him that wasn't gamma welded closed. Looking out the
door, there was one member of the crew keeping an eye on him. He was a human,
and seemed to be watching carefully. The last thing he needed was an alert
jailer. The door provided full view of the cell. Richard lay down on the bed.
There was nothing to do but wait and think.
After a few minutes, quiet noises from outside the cell brought Richard out of
his reverie. His guard was moving around the small security area in a
business-like fashion, but Richard couldn't figure out what he was up to. The
man walked over to the door and fiddled with the controls for a second, then
walked back to his desk, pulled a small device out of his pocket that Richard
couldn't see and placed it in an open drawer, then started to walk towards
Richard's cell. He quickly stood up and prepared himself, in case Dillon had
given some new orders regardging his treatment. The guard stopped at the door
and said "You're Richard Jibb?"
"Yes" he replied. There was no point in concealing himself.
"My name is Palan Sonev, Starfleet Intelligence." Richard's eyes
widened at that admission. The man continued. "Sorry to reveal myself this
way, but neither of us has very much time. I'm pretty sure that Dillon knows he
has an infiltrator aboard, but isn't sure who it is. I have information that I
have to get to SI, and this looks to be my last chance to get off the ship. And
I think that he is planning on killing you, once you've served whatever purpose
that he has in mind for you. Do you have any way of getting off this
ship?"
Richard absorbed the information Sonev gave him as quickly as he could, and he
mentioned the one question that popped into his head. "Why should I trust
you? This could be some kind of game that Dillon is trying to run on me."
"No reason" Sonev replied. Then he reached up and deactivated the
force field covering the door. When Richard stepped out, Sonev gave him a hand
phaser and tricorder. Richard checked them both quickly. They both seemed to be
in good working order. Sonev looked at Richard, hands empty and repeated a
phrase he had said earlier. "Do you have any way to get off this ship?"
Richard stared back at Sonev and made his decision. "Yes," he replied
"if you can get me a communicator. And we have to get T'Val as well."
Sev woke from the stun blast slowly. The freezing cold of the cryonic neural
inhibitor had no effect to him, as the between that he passed through
when teleporting himself from one place to another was just about as cold. He
nuzzled the woman that stood upright and motionless, but she did not respond.
His eyes picked up speed and turned bright yellow. Without making a sound, he
launched himself from her shoulder, and winked out.
The little bronze re-appeared under the seat of Jibb's cell, and chirped
quietly, hoping the man heard. He was a ware of the man's dislike of him, and
the woman, but right now, Jibb was all he had, short of abandoning the woman
and going back to his friend Tedak.
He chirped again, drawing the man's attention to him again, after the man he
was speaking to had left for a moment. The little bronze didn't know who he
could trust, but he knew the woman did trust Jibb despite his apparant distrust
of her.
After Saarok noticed that Tedak and Jatira went of somwhere he excused himself
from the party and went over to one of his guards to try to determine what is
happening.
"Well?", he asked
"There have been to many messages going around during the last 10 minutes,
apparently Richard Jibbs ship was captured by a pirate, and someone disabled
Assailants security grid so that cloaked ships could sneak by. And it seems
that there is a possibilty that Jibb and T'Val have been killed.", the man
finished
"Ok, contact the USS Dark Cloud, they should be near by tell them to
proceed to SB Assailant and use the Qualinost atmosphere to use the phase
cloaking device and hide within Qualinost", Saarok finished
"Yes sir, i will proceed right away and inform you of their ETA."
=/\=McFaye to ambassador Saarok, ambassador Tedak is in a state of shock come
up to OPS right away=/\=
Once he recived the message Saarok and his remaing guard hurried through the
crowd who was observing the hive of active ships flying around Assailant to the
nearest lift in order to reach the OPS level.
Once they entered the lift Saarok ordered it to go to OPS. After a few minutes
they lift came to a stop and they existed and proceeded throught the busy ops
level towards Magellans office. Before they entered
Saarok turned to his guard:
"Go to my office and begin reviewing sensor data", he looked around
and found a pad which contained some unimportant info, erased it and entered a
security code and aproval complete with the authorization code which would
grant, should someone from the security pop by, them some peace, as it declared
all data located in the ambassadors quarters classified and only viewable by
the permission of the ambassador himself.
"Take this, should someone bother you, if youfind any trace, no matter how
small it might be of a ship sneaking away from the site where the Wandered was
destroyed, inform me immediatly.", he finished
After the guard went away, Saarok entered Magellan's office and founf a crowd
of people assembled around Tedak who looked catatonic, but Saarok hoped that he
could reach him, because he was a dear friend and loosing him would be a great
loss for both the federation Romulan diplomacy and for him.
After Jatira and the rest of the people around Tedak told him what he already
knew more or less he told them to give him some room, then he proceeded to
excise a mind meld with his friend.
"Your mind to my mind, your thoughts to my thoughts...", he began
Tedaks mind felt like it was completly shut down, it took Saarok a while to be
able to enter it not to mention establish a link betwen them.
"I know you can hear me my friend, we are once again in a situation like
we were in once more, the absense of the link does not mean your wife is dead,
remember what happened last time when you lost the link, it was merely being
blocked, and there is no undisputable proof that she is dead, everything is an
asumption. Listen to my thought hear what i know he said as he let the
knowledge of what he learned during his way up. And you have a child that needs
you, you need to come out of it, and belive that she is still alive as it is
only logical to do so untill we find undisputable eveidence, scientific proof
that she is not among the living."; he finished
Once he was finished he felt a surge of power runing through Tedaks mind, and
he broke the meld.
"I am gald to see you are still among us ambassador", he said
offering a hand to help him up
Meanwhile Saarok recived a message through his implanted reciver that the ship
will be on the desired location within the hour. Good he thought, as he turned
to his friend.
"I trust you are feeling well enough now?",
Saarok asked
"You probably wont agree to stay here and rest and do nothing while
admiral Magellan is looking for your wife?", he asked
Dillon was sat in the tiny anteroom next to the bridge. Although designed as a
war room, he used it as a ready room most of the time, only convening with
other people when necessary. He was reading through the most recent report he
had received from his superiors. Apparantly Starbase Assailant was looking for
him, something about their anti-cloaking technology. Admiral Nechayev actually
seemed quite worried by it all, which confused Dillon slightly. She had always
been such a calm woman. And besides, the people who had designed the
anti-cloaking technology on assailant were the same people who had designed
his... anti-anti-cloaking technology. His cloak couldn't even be picked up by
Assailant.
If only it wasn't for Tomlinson. He was slipping,
people were starting to notice what he was doing. Dillon had considered killing
him, but... he was family, in fact, Dillon's only family,
and it didn't do to go around killing family. The irishman
kept reading, Jibb and T'Val had been reported dead, that was good, although it
would mean any access codes they had would be nullified, not that he needed
them. Admiral Nechayev gave him clearance higher than most admirals, including
all of those currently on Assailant, although the CJ's got close.
The door slid open and his first officer walked in with a frown on his face.
"The prisoner has gone, as has Sonev."
Dillon looked up, irritated. The report on his desk included some information
about Sonev he hadn't like, and the guy had been about to meet with the wrong
end of a dangerous weapon. Now it appeared he had proven the need for that
treatment. Ah well, looked like they'd have a fun hunt around the ship first.
Richard
was still verifying whether or not the weapon and tricorder that Sonev gave him
actually worked when he heard a familiar, quiet chirp from inside his former
cell. He first glanced at Sonev, but the man didn't appear to have heard. Glancing over quickly, he saw T'Val's little lizard Sev sitting on
the bed, looking at him questioningly. Richard looked away, not wanting
to acknowledge the presence of the creature.
Hesitantly, he tried to use his mind to tell Sev to hide, but the lizard
obviously didn't want to. An image of T'Val forced it's
way into his mind, so strongly that Richard nearly tripped. Sonev looked over
at him curiously and said "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine" Jibb answered. Mentally, he repeated an order for Sev to
hide, and then sent an image of Richard opening the door to the device that
T'Val was being held in. Reluctantly, Sev agreed, much to Richard's relief. He
mentally upped their chances to get out of this mess, but didn't tell the
supposed SI agent. The courier still had no guarantee that the man was actually
what he said he was, and if he wasn't, Sev could be a significant ace in the
hole.
Sonev looked over and said "Are you ready yet? They probably know that
we're missing by now."
"I'm ready. Let's go" Richard declared. The two of them cautiously
stepped out of the security area, where they could hear a crew member coming
down the hall. They quickly went in the opposite direction.
"So, what's your plan?" Sonev asked as they proceeded cautiously down
the companionway.
"I have a ship in the area, I should be able to arrange to beam us off, if
you can get me a communicator" Richard explained.
Sonev looked at him incredulously. "That's your plan? You have no idea
what you're doing! Dillon has a dispersion field running inside the hull of
this ship. Nothing can be beamed off."
Richard's heart sank a little. "What about beaming off from here?"
Sonev shook his head. "The transporter has been limited to a range of 10
kilometers, so that he can beam from ship to ship. Changes are allowed by
Dillon only, and it's not like we can ask."
Sonev had led them into a Jeffries tube and eventually to a small alclove. He
opened a small hatch, that had several small
electronic devices hidden inside.
An idea formed in Richard's head, but he didn't want to reveal it to Sonev just
yet. Even if the man was who he said he was, Richard thought he wouldn't like
his new plan very much. "Can you get access to the transporters?" he
asked Sonev.
The operative looked at him in anger. "Aren't you listening? We can't beam
more than 10 kilometers! I should have known better than reveal myself to
you" he said bitterly.
Richard had been through a lot today and finally lost his patience.
"Listen, if you want to get off this ship, answer my questions. I don't
have time for your whining! Do you have access to the transporters, or any
other ship systems that can help us?"
Sonev absorbed that and said "Yes, I can access the transporters. They
aren't well protected as you can't go very far. I have programmed the internal
sensors to ignore the two of us, but that won't last much longer once they
start looking for us. That's pretty much it. Dillon has everything locked down with
access codes."
"Great" Richard growled. Seeing a communicator in Sonev's little
stockpile of equipment, he picked it up, popped off the maintenance plate and
started fiddling with the settings.
KezTrek, Drew and Lin all looked up at Jatira hopefully, if they could at least
get the grid back online then they would be able to get somewhere, even if it
was only to discover nothing was there. Although a number of starship’s
were in the area, none had sensors anywhere near as powerful as Assailants and
certainly none capable of finding cloaked ships.
“I will have to review the data,” Jatira answered, “but we should be able to
help.”
“Excellent!” Magellan said,
hope returning to his voice, “Admiral Drew will arrange the access for you.”
As Jatira and Magellan continued talking, Drew accessed the primary databanks,
and granted enough access to Jatira to allow her team to work, as he worked,
KezTrek came up behind him.
“I still don’t trust Tomlinson,” she whispered in Drew’s ear, “Without our
sensor grid, he could have done anything out there.”
“Kez, he wears one of our uniforms!” Drew protested.
“He also has all the opportunity to do this, and is the only senior member
missing from the Base.”
Drew looked up at his trusted friend, and buried the feeling of anger he had,
when he spoke his voice was clam.
“And what about motive? Why would Tomlinson betray
us?”
“Now, now Paul,” KezTrek said in a mocking voice, “That’s why we have an
investigation”
Drew shook his head, not able to believe how easily KezTrek was accepting the
situation, talking about the Head of Security betraying the base like it was a
common occurrence. He watched as Tedak and Saarok walked out of Magellan’s
office and joined the discussion Magellan and Jatira were having. He didn’t
envy how Tedak must be feeling at this moment, there
was nothing worse than fearing the loss of a loved one.
“Lieutenant Tomlinson’s shuttle has docked,” F’Rrass called from his station,
“Shall I inform Security to let him through the blockade?”
Drew was about to say yes, when he remembered KezTrek’s warning, if Tomlinson
was somehow involved in this, he would likely hide any evidence as soon as he
got back to base, something Drew couldn’t allow to happen.
“No,” Drew answered, before Magellan could, “Tell Lt. Tomlinson that Admiral
KezTrek and myself will meet him at the airlock, he is not to board the station
until we are there.”
“Aye Admiral,” F’Rrass replied, relaying the command’s to security forces as
Drew and KezTrek entered the turbolift, leaving Magellan to solve the base’s
problems for the time being.
“Time to go fishing,” KezTrek remarked as the turbolift doors closed behind and
started its fall to where their prime suspect could be.
“Indeed,” Drew answer grimly, “I just hope we don’t
catch anything too big.”
T'Val was cold, extremely cold. Her mind was reeling, and to her she felt as if
her thoughts were coming extremely slowly. It was as if she existed in her mind
only, without control over her body. She didn't feel anything,
all her senses had gone numb. Then she panicked, the sense of her bond was gone
also.
~Tedak!~ her mind cried, frantically. She knew Sev was
about, but she caught no images from him either. If she could sob, she would
have done so. Her mind went over the situations that had happened lately.
The Romulan ambassador, Tedak, had been brought into sickbay, injured. The
Cardassian ambassador, Havoc, had been accused of the murder attempt, but T'Val
would not hear of it. She had known the two men were close friends, despite
their species. She had healed the Romulan, and had proven that the Cardassian
had been innocent. She had met up with Tedak several times, and allowed him to
court her. After several meetings, they decided to get married
~I am glad we did not waste time there~ she thought.
T'Val was infected with the vampire virus, and though the feeling shamed
her, she felt attracted to admiral Magellan Lin. She
had made it her personal business to see to it that he was content at all
times. She had even offered herself when there was no 'food' available. To her
shame, she had also kissed him. Richard Jibb had been forbidden to them, and
she had plagued the man in the form of a feline.
~so that is why he distrusts me~ she thought sadly. ~I wish I could make that
up to him, we have wronged him greatly~
A baby was found on Qualinost, his parents
killed only moments before by a trigger happy ambassador. Harmless and
vulnerable, the baby would die if he would not be cared for. T'Val and Tedak
had taken it upon themselves to care for the boy, whom she had named D'Beren,
after his heritage: Debrune. The Debrune counsil had wanted to take the child
from her, which had driven her to desperate actions. In the end, she was
appointed surrogate mother.
~my son~ T'Val thought, letting out a mental sob ~I so
wish for a child of my own. D'Beren is my son, even if he is not of my blood~
She was still extremely cold, and she knew that her skin would be an awful
shade to look at. ~vasocontraction~ she recited to herself ~skin on a human
will turn blue, on a Vulcan it will turn yellow.~
Thoughts came more slowly, as her brain was deprived from its valuable oxygen.
At last, she didn't even have the strength to think anymore, as the intense
cold penetrated her organs and slowed her blood stream even further.
Richard
continued to work on the communicator as Palan Sonev kept an eye on his
tricorder, looking for any members of the crew of the Avenger that were heading
their way. Sonev's device quietly beeped a warning and Richard looked up from
his work. "What's going on?" he asked.
Sonev continued to work with his tricorder. "I programmed this to tell me
when Dillon managed to figure out that I had compromised the internal sensors.
They might be able to track us down soon. How's it going?"
"Slowly" Richard replied. "I'm trying to contact my ship. I take
it that Dillon monitors all outgoing comm signals."
"Of course" Sonev stated.
Richard rolled his eyes. "Of course. There is
heavy comm traffic in this system. I'm trying to find a passing carrier wave
that I can use to piggyback this signal out of the Avenger. Someone on the
bridge would have to be monitoring all local traffic to pick it up."
Palan narrowed his eyes. "That's pretty clever" he stated.
"Yes," Richard grunted "but only if it works. How much time do I
have?"
"I'm not sure" Sonev replied. "I have isolated this area from
the internal sensors by putting them on a continuous feedback loop. From the
bridge, they will appear to be working fine, but will show nothing. The area
would have to be physically checked to find us."
Richard nodded absently. He was getting close to having completed the
modifications on the communicator. All he needed now was an errant subspace
carrier. Suddenly, several lights on the communicator started to glow. Quickly,
Jibb activated the device and said quietly "Jibb to Wanderer". The
communicator did nothing except return static, underlain with a muted
conversation from the subspace signal he was using. Richard shook his head and
tried again. "Jibb to Wanderer.
Acknowledge."
A second later, the communicator came to life. "Wanderer
here. This is the doctor. Is that you, Richard?"
Things had moved on a pace since Drolem had been visited by Paral and NRek. The
Orion and Nausicaan had really frightened him. He was in way over his head and
he knew it. He sat in his office his head buried in his hands. All thoughts of
his real job were on hold, very much the same he felt about his life. His
secretary Miss Lamont was beginning to suspect something was up as was his cabinet, he had cancelled all his meetings and held all his
calls.
His mind swam with possibilities and fears. There was no way out, he was
between a rock… and well an even bigger rock.
It had all seemed so simple way back when. The life of Mayor was not a
profitable one. He wasn’t especially talented at it,
he wasn’t particularly talented at anything much really, except perhaps at
hiding that vacuum of talent. It was why he had managed to become the lead
administrator on an out of the way space station in the middle of nowhere, then suddenly out of nowhere the station had become the
centre of a terraforming project and site of a re-emergent Debrune
civilisation.
He had been approached several years back by a trader, well more of a pirate.
The man, a human named Carlos ran a small smuggling business taking goods to
and fro across the Klingon Border, he often ran into difficulties with the KDF
and branched out into piracy, he needed a base of operations and Assailant was
perfectly placed. He had approached Drolem and after offering him a cut of the
profit persuaded him to help. As Mayor he set aside some remote warehouses for
Carlos to use and that was it then, he’d been on the payroll ever since. He had
been doing well out of it but then got greedy, he had
been approached by Robert. He was an agent for ‘Peter’. Most of the pirates
spoke about Peter and when they did so it was in awe. Few knew his real
identity, some said he was ex-starfleet, others that he was a non-corporeal
being and others still that like a ghost he could appear from anywhere.
And so Drolem found himself working for both Carlos and Peter, at the time he
thought neither knew about his involvement with the other. Such
foolish naivety. Peter knew all, but tolerated him because as Mayor he
had access to shipping routes. The problem came when he became greedy and had
started to give the same information to both sides. The pirates had often
attacked the same transport at the same time and had to fight over the spoils,
damaging both pirate rings. That all led him to here.
Peter warning him to stop and Carlos doing the same and on top of all that
Tomlinson was snooping around as well as Admiral Drew and that JAG officer. If
they found out he’d be locked up for a very long time. It was then a solution
struck him. A way to get rid of peter and the investigators.
He put in a call to a hacker he knew and set it all up.
He leaned back very pleased with his work. By transferring some of his funds
into Admiral Drews account, it implicated the Admiral as the inside man and
left a paper trail back to peter. Tomlinson and that JAG officer couldn’t miss
it. They’d lock Drew up stop looking for leaks and in any luck pick up Peter,
at the very least Peter would be scared off from the sector and he could go
back to the simple life, dealing with just Carlos.
After Saarok finished his talk with Magellan, he proceeded towards the computer
screens where Jatira and the science team was working.
While he was walking towards there he contacted his office.
=/\=Saarok to Jackson=/\=
=/\=Jackson here, go ahead=/\=
=/\=Have you made any discoveries regarding the sensor logs?=/\=
=/\=Nothin as of yet, whoever disabled the sensors did it a few hours before
the battle took place=/\=
=/\=Kepp working, contact me once the ship is in place=/\=
=/\=Yes sir, i will do just that=/\=
Just as he was done talking he arrived at the computer screens where Jatira was
working.
Saarok went over to a console in whose sourounding there werent many people and
started a program that was going to try to determine when was the grid shut
down and whose codes were used to do it or at least where was it done from and
who was in the vicinity that is unless that someone did not deactivate the
internal sensor systems or purged the logs but if he did again it could be
traced by tracing the codes that were used to their owner.
Before the turbolift could go much further, Drew’s comm badge chirped,
“Incoming subspace communication for Admiral Drew on coded transmission,” the
clam voice of the computer announced.
Drew tapped his own comm badge he reply, and told the computer to put the
transmission through to his office, and then informed the turbolift to stop at
that level.
“What about Tomlinson?” KezTrek asked, as the lift resumed its trip.
“If you start the questioning, I will be down as soon as I can,” Drew told his
old friend, “It’s probably just a standard message.”
A few minutes later, Drew as sat behind his large desk, with his own private
computer raising out from the desk, the standard
Starfleet logo was on the screen, with a request for his private codes. Drew
quickly keyed in his passwords, and seconds later a text message appeared on
his screen.
It made Drew’s blood go cold.
“Computer delete this transmission, and all reference
to it.”
The screen went dark, but Paul Drew was already out of the door before the
computer screen sank back into its hiding place.
As quickly as he could without raising suspension, Drew headed for the docking bays, in his head he went over what shuttles were available,
and which ones could get him where he needed to be fast, and undetected. Then
it came to him, Tedak’s shuttle! It was fast, and it had a cloaking device,
perfect.
Reaching the shuttle, Drew encountered his first problem; Tedak had a number of
security codes built into the system to stop anyone accessing his private
transport. Precious minutes were wasted as Drew worked to by-pass the system.
When it was done Drew thanked the genus at
The shuttle came to life as Drew stepped in, the controls sensing his presence,
he calmly sat in the pilots seat, and accessed Assailants docking systems,
using an old trick he had learned from a friend, he authorised the shuttle
departure, no one would suspect a thing.
Seconds later, the white Romulan shuttle was in space, and slowly disappeared
from view as it cloaked, hidden from all but the most advanced sensor systems,
and luckily for Drew, Assailant didn’t have that right now.
Sending the shuttle into high warp, Drew set a course to meet the Pirates…
Tedak was just looking out the window when he saw a white object flying by,
leaving the station. He stepped closer to the window, trying to see what kind
of object it was. Then he noticed it was a vessel, and there were not that many
white vessels docked to Assaillant.
Without a word, he raced out of OPS, towards the dockingbays. Fortunately, it
admitted him without trouble. He wasn't really surprised that his shuttle was
missing, because his was actually the only one that was authorised to dock at
Assaillant. "Nut, go see who stole my shuttle," he told the little
brown.
Nut chirped, and winked out. A couple of minutes later, he re-appeared, feeding
Tedak images of an admiral. Though the brown chirped apollogetically that he
didn't know the admiral, Tedak himself knew the admiral in question perfectly
well.
With long strides, he marched back to OPS, pulling Magellan's sleeve. "Admiral.....a moment please. My shuttle has just been
stolen, and sir....I regret to inform you that the only occupant is Rear
Admiral Paul Drew."
Richard turned away from Sonev and whispered into the communicator. "I
don't have much time, doctor. How much progress have you made on decrypting the
Wanderer?"
"As per my protocols, if you haven't entered your code into the computer
after 2 hours, I am activated and am to attempt to get the ship to the nearest
starbase. I have managed to reactivate the sensors and impulse drive. That's
all so far, and you have already reactivated the transporters" the doctor
reported.
"That will have to do. My next question is how long can a human live in
space without protection?" Richard asked.
"You mean without a suit? Up to about a minute, but irreparable damage to
your body will begin after about 20 or 30 seconds" the hologram said.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because I..." Richard glanced at Sonev "...we're in a real jam.
We're going to be beaming off the cloaked ship that we're on shortly. I need
you to scan for 2 humans and a large piece of equipment in space. The equipment
will be emitting Sarium particles. That should help you locate us. Once you
find us, beam us aboard."
"Richard, I have no idea where you are. You may not even be in range of
the transporter!" the doctor said.
"I know doctor, but my options are extremely limited..."Richard
looked up as Sonev's tricorder started beeping again. "What's
the matter now?" he asked.
Palan grimaced at the tiny device. "There are 4 crew members coming this
way. I don't know how they managed to find us. We're going to have to fight it
out!" he said grimly, hefting his phaser. Faintly, Richard could hear the
sound of booted feet echoing down the Jeffries tube.
"If we fight it out, we won't have the time to get off the ship. I have
another option" Richard said. Thinking hard, Jibb sent Sev in to attack
the group heading towards them. Immediately, he heard shouts of surprise
booming down the tube, and then the buzzing of weapons fire which was quickly
followed by screams of pain. After a few seconds, the sounds of feet running up
the tube could be heard and Sev appeared beside Richard, looking very satisfied
at the blood dripping off of his talons.
"All right Sonev. Lock the transporters onto us and T'Val and beams us off
the ship. I don't care where." Richard spoke into the communicator again.
"Doctor, stand by." However, this time there was no answer. He had
lost the subspace carrier wave they had been using.
Palan Sonev recoiled in alarm. "You're crazy! We'll never survive!"
Grimly, Richard stunned Sonev with his phaser, walked over to the unconscious
form and picked up his tricorder. "You'd be surprised how often people say
that to me" Richard said to the unconscioius agent. Jibb locked onto
himself and Sonev, then scanned for Sarium particles
and locked onto the source of that. He then initialized the Avenger's
transporters and beamed the three of them off the ship and into open space.
He was immediately struck by the feeling of intense cold on his skin. He opened
his eyes, but closed them again immediately as he started to feel nauseous and
started counting. Richard started to worry when he got to ten. When he got to
fifteen, he started to panic. This could well be the last risk he would ever
have the opportunity to take. Abruptly, the cold was replaced by a welcome
heat. Richard opened his eyes to see his holographic doctor standing over him
with a very disapproving look on his face. Looking around the Wanderer's
sickbay, he could see Sonev on a biobed and the Cryonic Neural Inhibitor with
T'Val inside and Sev perched on top.
Richard looked back up at the doctor, who said "Richard, one of these
days, your luck is going to run out."
Magellan looked up from his console in irritation.
"What?"
"Admiral.....a moment please. My shuttle has just
been stolen, and sir....I regret to inform you that the only occupant is Rear
Admiral Paul Drew."
Magellan glanced at the minimal sensor data and caught just a glimpse as it
winked out of existence, the cloak engaged.
"I see."
"You see?"
"Yes I see. I believe Mr Drew is following a line of enquiry and has only
appropriated the ship to use its cloak."
Tedak frowned
"Then you knew he was going to do this?"
"Yes and I gave him my complete blessing"
"Oh I see. Well it might have been courtesy to..."
"It may well save your wife, time is of the essence. Now if you'll excuse
me I hope you ll leave the experts to it. Try and get some rest, if you want to
keep busy talk to the tekaran delegation, but please just let us do our
jobs."
Tedak was not happy with this and nodded
"Perhaps a break would be handy, Perhaps I can
find out from Nut more information"
"A good idea"
Magellan watched Tedak leave and then approached Zoilip,
"Keep an eye on him, I do not want him stumbling into ops again. Make sure
hes looked after and kept up to date."
"Aye Sir"
Magellan left ops and returned to his office.
Once he was sure the door was closed and locked he accessed his terminal.
"Computer access all information pertaining to Admiral Drew. Recent
whereabouts, recent computer access, accounts everything."
"AUTHORISATION IS RE..."
"Authorisation Lin-Alpha-Pi-Peek a boo."
"CONFIRMED.... PROCESSING..."
Magellan now tapped his badge.
"Magellan to Adm Keztrek"
"Keztrek"
"Would you like to tell me what in the nine levels of hell Paul is doing
stealing Ambassador Tedaks Shuttle because I sure don't have an answer?"
Grinding his teeth in anger, he left OPS obviously seething. An admiral had
stolen his personal space craft, and another admiral was covering for him. At
least Drew could have asked his permission, and explained that he was going
after his wife and Jibb.
He stalked back into the conference room, Nut screeching at him while trying to
keep to his perch on Tedak's shoulder. The little brown had dug his claws in,
but Tedak was oblivious to the bleeding marks that stained his shirt.
The three Tekarans were gazing at him with curiosity, their orange pupils
giving them a scary look. The leader, Lorol, was flanked by his security
officer Hapel and the Minister of Culture, Garel. "What was going
on?" the minister demanded, rather rudely.
"Trouble," Tedak answered curtly, "my wife and a friend have
been captured, and something has happened that caused me to lose my bond with
my wife. I was .... incapacitated
for a moment. I am better now. Shall we resume our negotations?"
Garel shook his head. "No," he said, "I wish to know what is
going on."
Tedak slammed his fist on the table, his anger exploding. "My wife is
missing, Admiral Drew stole my shuttle and Admiral Lin is covering for him, THAT
is what's happening," he thundered, sending his firelizard aloft
screeching, echoing his anger, "and that will be all of it. We have
negotiations to return to, so let us do that!"
"We can discuss my eventual loss of luck at some other time. Take care of
these two, but keep him unconscious" Richard ordered, gesturing at Palan
Sonev as he ran out of Sickbay.
The doctor called after him. "Why should I..." but the door closed
before the hologram could finish.
Richard ran towards the aft section of the Wanderer. Now that the Fractal
Encryption coding was activated, the main bridge was a deathtrap. There was a
little used console hidden away in a corner of Cargo Bay 1 that was less well
protected than the main bridge, and that was where Richard was headed. The
Wanderer was not a large ship, and he was there in less two minutes.
Accessing the console, Richard examined the capabilities of the ship. He had
impulse engines, main deflector, transporters, internal sensors and main
sensors. Nothing else. He didn't even have navigation.
He could get the ship to move, but couldn't turn her easily. No weapons. No
shields. Jibb knew the phrase sitting duck, and couldn't imagine a ship that
phrase would apply to more than the Wanderer right now.
Shaking his head, he jammed the impulse engines to full to get the ship moving.
Grabbing Sonev's small communicator from inside his shirt, he opened up all
frequencies and said "This is the Diplomatic Courier Wanderer to any Federation
vessel. We are in distress and require immediate assistance. Please respond." Then he accessed
the main sensors. The Wanderer was naturally not pointed at Assailant, and they
were now headed away from the base at full impulse.
Then he placed the communicator on the console in front of him and started
figuring out ways to vary the output of the two impulse engines so that he
could at least turn the ship towards Starbase Assailant and tried to ignore the
fact that every red light on the console was flashing at him.
As Drew expertly piloted the small Romulan shuttle, a small pop up screen in
the corner console informed him there was an incoming transmission on all
frequencies.
"This is
the Diplomatic Courier Wanderer to any Federation vessel. We are in distress
and require immediate assistance. Please respond."
Drew raised an eyebrow at the message, recognising Jibb’s voice at once, things
were moving quicker than his contact had informed him. Drew didn’t have much
time left.
Quickly he pressed the reply button,
“Wanderer, this is Admiral Paul Drew, I am heading to your location now.”
As the shuttle continued to speed through space, Drew reflected that time
really was running out…
The EMH gazed at the unconscious human for a long moment, then
decided to strap him to the biobed anyway, just in case. The stunblast should
keep him unconscious for a long while, but the EMH had seen stranger things
happen in all of his existance. Making sure his patient/prisoner was secure, he turned to the large object.
"What's this, what's this?" he muttered, searching his memory banks.
He walked around the object, waving a scanner over it. Over to his right, a
monitor started beeping frantically. "Cryo Neural inhibitor," he read
aloud, frowning, then started. "There's someone
in there!"
Sev screeched, trying to claw the EMH as the hologram
walked around it. The EMH batted him away. "Do be quiet you!" he
barked, and Sev instantly quieted down, but kept a close eye on the hologram.
He walked around it several times again, and finally found the console that
operated the object. He keyed in a sequence at random, but nothing happened.
"Damn," he cursed, looking at the readings he got from the being
inside. He keyed in another sequence, and after a long while, finally the hatch
sprang open.
T'Val shivered violently, and slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the
sudden bright light of sickbay. "Wha...." she tried, but her teeth
were shattering and she could not manage to get her thought out.
Sev instantly winged in, rubbing his head against her cheeks vigorously,
crooning anxiously, encouragingly. She tried to take a step forward, but her
muscles would not work. She lost her balance and toppled forward.
The EMH just gazed at her, astonished to find a Vulcan in the object. When she
fell forward, he jumped just in time to catch her, and carried her over to a
biobed, the diagnostic half circle closing over her.
"Severe hypothermia, neural activity extremely low...what have you done to
yourself?" the EMH muttered, "poor woman." He loaded a vial into
his hypospray and pressed it against her throat. Instantly, her yellowish
colour improved somewhat to a pale green and she was breathing easier. The half
circle lowered again, and the EMH had the replicator create a stack of warm
blankets and wrapped his patient tightly into them.
"You won't be going anywhere for a while miss," he said softly.
T'Val opened her eyes for a short moment. "Mrs," she managed, and
sighed as the EMH pressed yet another hypospray against her throat.
"Shhht, don't talk. You need rest....sleep, in a couple of hours you will
feel much better."
T'Val sighed and closed her eyes, drifting into a dreamless sleep. On the
headend of the bed, Sev sat crooning, but less anxious.
The EMH walked over to the consoles, then tapped his
combadge. "Sickbay to bridge. She's safe, both
patients are unconscious at the moment, the woman will be waking in a couple of
hours."
Dropping his shuttle out of warp, Drew quickly took a scan of the area, he
picked up the Wanderer at once, she was badly damaged, but almost certainly
repairable, he also detected four life-signs aboard the ship, one was fainter
than the other, suggesting someone was injured, a more
detailed scan told him it was a Vulcan female.
“I am hope T’Val takes it the right way if I wish that’s her over there,” Drew
muttered to himself as he prepared to drop his cloak. Just before he did
however, his sensors picked up another ship entering the area, a Defiant class ship.
“The Avenger,” Drew read from his screens, letting out a sigh of relief, with
the Avenger present this was certainly going to be much easier. The Avenger
would be able to tow the Wanderer much more easily than Drew’s little shuttle.
Deciding now was as good a time as any; Drew dropped his cloak, almost
immediately the Avenger was hailing him.
=/\=This is Cap’n Dillon of te Avenger, identify ya
self=/\=
“Captain Dillon,” Drew said in greeting, “This is Rear Admiral Paul.”
=/\=Ah Admiral Drew,=/\= Dillon answered, =/\=tis a
pleasure to meet ya.=/\=
“The pleasure is mine Captain,” Drew said warmly, “It seems however that we have
a bit of a problem with the Wanderer.”
“Aye, that we do,” Dillon replied, “I picked up their distress call, like
yaself, and was just ’bout to tow um.”
“Excellent,” Drew said with a smile, it was just as he had hoped, the Avenger
was much better equipped to handle the Wanderer and her crew than Drew’s little
shuttle.
A frown played across Dillon’s face as he read something off screen, turning
back to Drew, he seemed more hostile.
“Tis a funny thing Admiral Drew, but it seems Starbase Assailant has issued a
warrant for ya arrest.”
Drew tried to play his best poker face, he couldn’t tell this Captain about the
message Starfleet Intel had sent him about the Wanderer’s location. “I had to
borrow this shuttle to get here.”
“Ah I see, and a right good job you did as well,” Dillon answered, “But I
wouldn’t be much of an Officer now would I? if I
didn’t follow orders.”
“What are you suggesting Captain?” Drew said coldly.
“I am suggesting Admiral, that ya lower ya shields and
prepare to be boarded.”
Before Drew could reply, his comm system beeped, informing him he had another
transmission coming in, this time from the Wanderer itself.
=/\=Admiral Drew,=/\= came Jibb’s calm voice, =/\=The
Avenger is under enemy control.=/\=
Drew saw the look of rage that took over Dillon’s face as he heard the message.
=/\=Ah Admiral Drew, I was hoping we could have gotten to know each other a wee
bit better as well.=/\=
Alarm bells started to ring in Drew’s head as he saw the Avenger start to power
up its weapons.
“Captain Dillon, I am giving you a direct order, lower your weapons.”
=/\=Ah now Admiral, that I can’t do.=/\= and with that
the screen went blank, leaving Drew with the image of an torpedo heading
straight towards him.
“Computer evasive action!” Drew shouted, praying it
would be enough to avoid the torpedo…
Re: MISSION 1.6 Robbing Peter to pay Paul
Post by Alex
Dixon/Richard Jibb on
“Wanderer, this is Admiral Paul Drew, I am heading to
your location now.”
Richard wanted to answer the Admiral, but he had his hands full trying to pilot
his ship. Using a combination of varying power to the impulse engines and the
RCS thrusters, he had managed to awkwardly turn the Wanderer so it was sort of
headed towards the starbase at full impulse. Richard was hoping that nothing
got in his way, because right now the ship had the maneuverability of a stellar
core fragment.
Richard checked his sensors. There was a small shuttle behind him that was
presumably the Admiral's ship. Suspicion lit up his mind. He had never heard of
Admiral Paul Drew, and wondered what an Admiral was doing here in what looked
like a private shuttle. Abruptly, another ship appeared. It was a Defiant class vessel and was closing in on the shuttle.
Richard decided to see who was on what side and picked up the communicator
again. "Admiral Drew, the Avenger is under enemy control."
Both ships started to power up weapons, while Richard worked the controls to
try to coax a little more speed out of the Wanderer.
Magellan was not impressed by Keztreks lack of knowledge concerning Drews disappearance. He doubted it very much that Drew had
stolen the vessel maliciously and yet...
The computer beeped.
"ANALYSIS COMPLETE"
He quickly scanned the information and his eyebrows raised as he noted the
large cash deposit in to Drews personal account. He bookmarked the information
deciding to tell Kez about it later.
"Excuse me sir, we're picking up Comm Traffic." F'Raas reported over
the comm.
"Patch me in" Magellan asked.
Magellan listened with interest in to the conversation between Paul and Jibb.
It appeared they had tracked down the mystery ship. He quickly pulled up the
tactical display. He noted that the Shial Tara was almost out of the system in
pursuit of a handful of pirates. Drew and Jibb were alone.
He dashed from the office and in to Ops.
"F'rass bring the defense grid online, Raise
Shields. Can we define a target near to teh Wanderer?"
"Negative sir they are just outside our weapons range."
"Blast. Where is Tomlinson and the
runabouts?"
"I m not sure. They seem dispersed and Tomlinson
hasnt checked in recently."
"Well they need help. And we can't"
"Actually we can" F'rass replied, "The Chief has finished
upgrading the sabres. He thought you might need them in the firefight"
"Tell Chief Alari hes gonna get a promotion. Get me a crew. Oh and F'rass where is it berthed?"
"Base of Berth B"
"Good. Mr Zoilip I want you at tactical, think you still remember
how."
The Bolian winked.
"It'll be like old times Sir"
"Indeed it will"
"The Stations yours Mr F'rass"
Magellan and Zoilip ran down to the berth and boarded a sabre class vessel. The
Vanquisher was a tactical support vessel, its sister ship - the
Alari was already at the
"My Compliments Mr Alari. Who has the
"Commander Abren"
"Excellent" Magellan nodded wishing he'd had the forethought to ask
for teh Strategic Ops Officer to get down here.
"Okay people fire them up. No preflights no time.
I m trusting to you and your SCE wizadry Mr Alari"
Without flight clearance an dmuch to the annoyance of F'Rass the two sabres
zoomed out of the bay doors and into space.
"Put me on broad comms, I want everyone to hear me."
"Aye Sir. Your on"
Zoilip replied
"This is Admiral Magellan Lin to all ships in the area. All ships are to
power down and disengage. Admiral Drew is under our protection as is the
Wanderer. Captain Dillion stand down your weapons and
assist in protecting both vessels from any pirate attacks. Assume escort
formation. Failure to comply will cause me to list you as hostile. Magellan out."
"Okay then" Magellan said to his small bridge crew, "Lets
see what they make of that."
After Megallan requested that she look into the computer problem, she
immediately went to a communications console and contacted her assistant.
“Sala, could you have Mr. Hirak meet me in the operations center.”
“Is anything wrong Ambassador?” she asked.
“Yes, but hopefully it’s not too serious,” she answered and turn
the console off.
Five minutes later, her head scientist James Hirak came through the door,
looking rather concerned. Jatira hoped that Sala hadn’t made him too nervous.
Perhaps the situation wasn’t as bad as everyone thought it was.
“What’s the problem Ambassador?” he asked.
Jatira explained the problem quickly. “Now, I know that you have experience in
these matters and would like it if you look the computer network.”
“Of course Ambassador, I’d be glad to,” he said and went to work. A few people
from the engineering staff were working on it too, so he went over and began to
work with them. Jatira came over and monitored their progress. True, she wasn’t
an engineer, but she did have some experience with computers, so she helped
when she could.
After a while, it became obvious that breaking through the access codes wasn’t
going to be easy. Ambassador Saarok came over and asked about their progress,
"Have you made any progress yet, ms. Laika?",
he asked
“I’m afraid not,” she shook her head. “Whoever locked us out did a very job of
it.”
"I see, what have you managed to find out so far?"
“Whoever did this, was able to disable the other
access codes and isolate them from the main computer so that none of the codes
for the computer would work,” she answered.
"So whoever did it disabled all oter accesss codes, and isolated it from
the main computer so that none of the codes for the computer would work.",
Saarok repeated
“The key to breaking through this lies with the main computer since that’s what
controls everything else.”
"Yes i agree, we need to reconect it to the main computer and everything
else will be resolved then.", he said
“Exactly.”
"Can you do a scan of ports used for integration to the main computer and
try to determine if any have been physicly detached or have the access points
just been encrypted?", he asked
“I’ve done that already and I can tell you that they are only encrypted. None
of the ports have been physically detached, so once we can decrypt them, we
should have access.”
"So you have already tried it and they are only encrypted", he said.
Saarok stood a moment to think.
"The only logical way to proceed now is to start a systematic algorithm in
order to decipher to code and establish the link with the main computer.", he said
Jatira put in the first algorithm, hoping that it would be the right one. There
was quite a large amount of algorithms that they would have to check and the
longer they remained blind to the sector, the longer that they were in danger.
She watched carefully as the computer went through it. It finally bleeped,
loudly rejecting it.
"Let's use a different one.", he said
handing her a tricoder. "Load this algorithm, it covers almost all
encryption methods used, so if we do not get the code using this, we can try
other methods.", he said
She put it in, still hopeful that this would be the one. Unfortunately, it
didn’t work, so they went on to the next algorithm and continued to work on it
for several hours getting nowhere. Mr. Harik and the rest of the team were
there, but even with their help, they were still having trouble with the
encryption code.
"Here we go", Saarok said as Jatira was trying out the last few
codes. "We got one of the ports opened"
She quickly glanced at the screen and he was right.
"Now just reastablish a link betwen the main security protocol for the
station and that should be it", he said stating the obvius
“I can do that,” Mr. Harik volunteered and within minutes he was finished.
“Well, the station’s sensors should be working now,” she said to Saarok.
Swinging the shuttle hard to port, Drew was just able to avoid the powerful
torpedo that had been intended to impact on his small ship’s shields. With the
skill of someone who had spent the last twenty odd years in space, Drew avoided
the second one as well.
It did occur to him that he could cloak the shuttle, but he suspected the
Avenger would still be able to detect him, and besides he couldn’t fire the
shuttle’s small but powerful disrupters if the shuttle was cloaked, and right
now those disrupters were all he and the Wanderer had to fight back.
Flying as close to the Avenger as he could risk, Drew powered up the weapon
systems, and fired two full power beams at the former Starfleet ship, but at
the same time, phaser beams impacted on his own shields.
Drew held onto the console for support as his ship shook from the attack.
“At least they are firing at me and not the Wanderer,” he said out loud to
himself, he still couldn’t believe that Dillon had betrayed his uniform, it now
seemed obvious to Drew who the senior Starfleet pirate had been all along.
“I knew it wasn’t Tomlinson,” he muttered as he avoided yet another torpedo,
“Kez was wrong yet again.”
Just as Drew was bringing the shuttle about for another attack run, his comm
beeped again, this time though it was from the USS Vanquisher. Hope filled Drew, only one person would be commanding the Tactical ship
from Assailant.
He smiled as he heard Magellan’s words come over the speakers;
=/\=This is Admiral Magellan Lin to all ships in the area. All ships are to
power down and disengage. Admiral Drew is under our protection as is the
Wanderer. Captain Dillion stand down your weapons and
assist in protecting both vessels from any pirate attacks. Assume escort
formation. Failure to comply will cause me to list you as hostile. Magellan
out.=/\=
That smiled disappeared when he realised Magellan still thought the Avenger was
a friendly ship, with his hands still occupied keeping the shuttle safe from
attack, Drew ordered the computer to open a channel to the Vanquisher.
“This is Admiral Drew to the Vanquisher.”
=/\=Paul what the hell is going on=/\= came Magellan’s stern voice over the
speakers.
“I will explain everything later on,” Drew, answered, “Magellan, the Avenger is
a pirate ship, her crew have mutinied against
Starfleet.”
=/\=Well that at least explains why she is firing on you, what’s your status?=/\=
“I am fine, go help the Wanderer, they have already sustained heavy damage.”
=/\=Understood, watch your back, try to keep out of danger=/\=
“You kidding?” Drew said with a laugh, “This is the most fun I have had in
years.”
=/\=Just don’t get yourself killed=/\= Magellan replied, but before he cut off
the channel, Drew heard the emotion in Magellan’s voice, just like Drew,
Magellan was enjoying being back in the thick of things.
“Beats flying a desk any day,” Drew muttered as he dodged another torpedo.
Richard was trying to guide the unresponsive Wanderer around a tumbling comet
when the intercom went off and the Doctor's voice filled Cargo Bay 1. "Sickbay to bridge. She's safe, both patients are
unconscious at the moment, the woman will be waking in a couple of hours."
"That's great, doctor. Happy to hear it. But if
you were in my shoes, you'd know that we aren't anywhere close to safe right
now. Jibb out." He was about to broadside the
comet, to he put the starboard engine to full reverse and the port engine to
full forward. The Wanderer missed the comet, but started spinning out of
control. Richard manipulated the controls but it wasn't helping much. Suddenly
the communicator sprang to life again, speaking with the sound of Admiral
Magellan.
"This is Admiral Magellan Lin to all ships in the area. All ships are to
power down and disengage. Admiral Drew is under our protection as is the
Wanderer. Captain Dillon stand down your weapons and
assist in protecting both vessels from any pirate attacks. Assume escort
formation. Failure to comply will cause me to list you as hostile. Magellan out."
Richard checked the sensors. There were two Sabre class vessels closing in on
the shuttle and the Avenger. The Defiant class vessel was firing on the small
shuttle. That was fine with Richard. He couldn't attack a Pakled cargo shuttle
right now, and certainly couldn't defend himself. Entering a complicated series
of navigational inputs, he managed to get the Wanderer back under some semblance
of control and tried to get clear of the battle area. The last thing that he
wanted after all he had just been through was to be destroyed be errant phaser fire.
T'Val shuddered as she woke up, cold shivers running down her spine despite
being tightly wrapped in several blankets. The moment she woke, the EMH was
hovering over her, running a tricorder over her body without even making an
attempt to remove the blankets.
"ma'am, please lie still," he complained, as he tried to hold her
down in order to complete his scans. "ma'am, please....how am I to help
you if you don't lie still!"
T'Val stared at him coldly. "My name...is...T'Val," she managed, her
teeth shattering with the cold.
The EMH frowned, for she should not be cold. The temperature in sickbay
currently was well above human comfort at the moment. "Very well, T'Val,"
he continued, "now please...work with me or I'll
have to sedate you."
T'Val grunted, and did his bidding. ~I have to get out of here~ she thought.
The thought instantly brought Sev whizzing in, chittering wildly, his tone
scolding. However, his eyes were blue and they were not whirling. The little
bronze settled on her chest, peering at her intently, then whizzed away again.
"What was that all about?" the EMH asked, finishing his scans. He
peered at the results and shook his head. "This is worse than I
thought," he mumbled, then walked away to his office.
T'Val took the opportunity. She felt the ship rumbling and rocking as it was
under attack. But, as soon as it started, it also stopped. She struggled
against the blankets, and managed to free herself. In silence, she slid off the
bed and wrapped the load of blankets about her as she unsteadily found her way
to the bridge. Once there, she was met again by a scolding Sev, who was now
chittering at her angrily.
"N-need help?" she asked, as she dropped down in the nearest chair.
She gazed out the window at the battling ships, not even noticing that Richard
wasn't even on the bridge.
Sev zipped away and re-appeared just in front of Jibb, chittering angrily.
He was still struggling with the Wanderer when Sev appeared in front of him,
chittering in an agitated fashion. Richard was waving at the creature to get it
out of the way when the intercom went off again. "Richard, this is the
doctor. I have a bit of a problem."
"What problem could possibly be worse than the ones we already have,
doctor?" Richard asked sarcastically, trying to operate the ship while
shooing away an anxious fire lizard.
"That Vulcan woman T'Val has left sickbay. She might be delerious. I have
accessed the internal sensors and she's on the bridge" the doctor
reported.
Richard stared at the comm panel in shock. "Doctor, the Fractal Encryption
is activated. The bridge has more traps set than than a Cardassian solar
system. If she even touches the controls, the ship might kill her before I can
get to her!"
"I'm aware of that. Get her back here!" the doctor ordered.
Shaking his head, Richard accessed the internal sensors and transporters. T'Val
was indeed on the bridge, looking out the main viewport, and perilously close
to the main control panel. Locking onto her, Richard beamed her back to Sickbay
onto a biobed and opened the comm again. "Doctor, restrain her this
time!"
Returning to guiding the injured Wanderer, Richard saw that he was getting
within range of Starbase Assailant and opened a channel. "Assailant Ops,
this is Wanderer. I am declaring an emergency. I have little control over my
ship, and on my present course I am going to impact Deck 79. I also have
casualties aboard. Any assistance you can give me would be appreciated..."
T'Val looked up in time to see Jibb and gave him a half smile attempting to
rise from her seat. The next moment she found herself back in sickbay and she
looked around in surprise. "Richard?" she called, but there was only
the EMH who easily lifted her up and placed her onto a biobed. He deftly put
the restraints in place, and gazed down at her mildly, though with annoyance.
"healers," he muttered, "worst
patients."
Confused, T'Val looked up. "What did I do?" she asked. To her
surprise, the EMH just placed the load of blankets back over her, tucking her
in gently. "What did I do?" T'Val asked again, "we are under
attack...I must assist him..."
The EMH shook his head. "You need rest T'Val, you
have been through quite an ordeal." He looked up at the bronze firelizard.
"You got a very loyal friend here, a caring one too."
"Sev," T'Val said softly, and the bronze hopped down, nuzzling her,
"he is attached to my husband. Tedak Impressed him and a nest mate when he
was on Pern, saving me and Ms Drouet...Saarok got two as well." She suddenly
felt extremely tired and suppressed a yawn. Sev crooned and the soft sound
lulled her into sleep.
The EMH watched with interest, then tapped his
combadge. "You can breathe now Richard, she's asleep. She didn't touch
anything did she?"
Saarok
had spent the last 30 minutes attempting to trace and determine who it is that
has used his codes to disable to sensor grid, but all he got were Admiral Drews
access codes and it was illogical for him to disable the grid, which meant
someone, who disabled the internal sensors, also using admiral Drews codes, at
the time when he disabled the grid had used admiral Drews codes to accomplish
the ilegal act.
Saarok stopped trying to trace it down to the person who did it and made a note
to speak to admirals Drew, Magellan and Keztrek once they are were back on the
station, and inform them of what he discovered.
=/\=The ship is in position=/\=
A message came over the comm system to Saarok, which meant that the Dark Cloud
was in position. As he was moving away from the console in ops he heard an SOS
message coming over the comm system.
"Assailant Ops, this is Wanderer. I am declaring an emergency. I have
little control over my ship, and on my present course I am going to impact Deck
79. I also have casualties aboard. Any assistance you can give me would be
appreciated..."
As the ops officer on duty at the time was thinking about what he was going to
do as Magellan took out all the ships that were in working order Saarok already
knew what to do.
=/\=Saarok to the USS Dark Cloud=/\=
=/\=Captain Subotai here, go ahead=/\=
=/\=Drop your cloak and use your tractor beam to stop the USS Wanderer, after
you have them in tow position them so that Assailant controll can draw them
into the hangar bay=/\=
=/\=Understood, Subotai out=/\=
A few moments later on the sensor display in the Ops another Starfleet ship
appeared, the snesors showed him approaching the USS Wanderer and engaing its
tractor beam. It also showed the Wanderer beeing place infront of the hangar
bay doors, as Assailants landing system engaged and started pulling the
Wanderer inside the hangar.
In the mean time the ops officer Andrews, had made contact with Jibb and has
transported the casualties to Assailants sickbay.
=/\=Saarok to the USS Dark Cloud=/\=
=/\=Subotai here, go ahead=/\=
=/\=Proceed to the 2 sabre class vessels comanded by admiral
Magellan and protect them no matter what=/\=
=/\=Understood, Subotai out=/\=
As Saarok was done liasing with the old friend. He decided it was time for
Tedak to learn of the news.
=/\=Saarok to ambassador Tedka, proceed to Assailants main sickbay, there is
someone who youd want to see, Saarok out=/\=
<Tedak>
After he was done talking with Tedak Saarok decided it was time he paid another
visit to mr. major of SB Assailant. As he made way out of OPS
towards the perssonel transports.
Quote:
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"In a minute ambassador," Tedak snapped, while glaring at the three
delegates. His anger still wasn't subsided, and the attitude of the Tekarans
didn't help the situation either. The Culture minister was totally
understanding and he and Tedak had engaged in a shouting match, while the
leader of the group had been too understanding, which had angered the Romulan
even more.
Then, as if overwhelmed by emotion, he felt the bond with T'Val surge back to
life. He gasped, and found himself breathless for a moment and very faint. The
Tekaran leader moved in to support him, waving away the brown firelizard.
"Can't you see I'm trying to help him, you little monster," he cried,
while shoving the Romulan in a chair and forcing him to drink down a glass of
rum. "There...better? What happened?"
Tedak accepted the drink reluctantly, and felt it burn in his throat. It sent
him into a coughing fit but it revived him quite well. "Excuse me,"
he said, jumping to his feet with renewed energy, "I will explain later, I
promise. If I forget, come seek me out, the computer will tell you where I am."
With that, he dashed out of the conference room, leaving the trio behind
somewhat stunned.
As fast as his legs allowed him to go, Tedak raced down (up?) to sickbay.
"Where is she!" he demanded, grabbing at the first nurse he
encountered.
The nurse merely pointed and went on with her duties.
Just before he reached the bed, Assaillants EMH stopped him. "Not so fast
mister, she can't have any visitors right now."
"Out of the way," Tedak bellowed, trying to shove the hologram out of
the way, "she's my wife. She was presumed dead, and I suffered for it. I
want to see my wife." Above his head, two firelizards got themselves
entangled as they enthusiastically greeted one another, then both hissed at the
EMH when he refused to let Tedak through.
At last, the EMH relented, seeing the pained expression in the Romulan's eyes.
"Fine, but if you upset her, you'll bear the brunt of my wrath!"
Tedak nodded and stepped through the curtains that separated T'Vals bed from
the others, allowing them some privacy. He sat down on the bed and scooped the
diminutive Vulcan woman in his arms, hugging her tightly as tears started to
flow freely. "I missed you," he cried, "I thought you were dead.
Don't you ever leave me, my love."
T'Val returned the hug with a feeling he never thought a Vulcan was capable of.
"That was horrible," she whispered, her voice breaking, "I am so
cold...I wonder if I ever will be warm again. Please thank Richard for me...he
could have left me behind but he didn't...after all I had done to him back
then...he came back for me. That is a man of honor." She snuggled up
against him and cried freely, not caring about emotion.
A nurse came wandering in with a crying infant. "He just won't stop
crying," she said, handing the baby over to Tedak.
Instantly the boy stopped crying as both Tedak and T'Val hugged the child.
D'Beren gazed at his surrogate parents, his grey eyes settling on T'Val then
held out tiny hands to her. "He knows who I am..." she whispered,
hugging the child.
"Of course he does," Tedak replied, "you are his mother, the
only mother he will ever know. Now, you must rest my love. We will come back in
a few hours, I have to return to a meeting, it can't
wait." He tucked T'Val in and kissed her, then wiped the tears from her
cheeks. "Rest now, all will be well."
Richard was sitting on a biobed in the Wanderer's sickbay, while the doctor
examined him with a medical scanner and a tricorder. After several minutes, the
doctor put his instruments aside and said "Well, you're adrenaline is
running extremely high, even for you, but otherwise I'd say that you came
through all that quite well. You were lucky."
Richard hopped off of the bed and straightened his clothing. "You told me
that my luck is going to run out one day. I've been thinking about that and I
would have to say that my luck seems to run out every day. Then it comes
back."
The doctor stared the enigmatic courier in the eye. "There's no such thing
as luck, Richard. Problems seem to find you and you seem to find solutions for
them. I hope the day never comes where you can't find the answer, because it
will be the death of you."
The words caused him an involuntary shudder, but Jibb tried to laugh it off.
"You're a prophet now?"
"No, just someone who watches. See you
later." The doctor turned away and deactivated himself.
Richard stared at the spot where the doctor had been standing. Shaking off the
weird feeling he had, Jibb turned and made his way off of the Wanderer and
started asking directions to Assailant's Yard Superintendant. The Wanderer
needed more repair than Richard was able to give her.
The two sabres flipped over and rolled beneath the belly of the Avenger, They
let fly with a volley of phaser fire that did little but illuminate the ship in
a flare of shield feedback.
"Bring us around. Have the
"Aye sir" Alari noted pushing the nose down and twisting the ship.
Wanderer continued to limp towards the Assailant and was still a sitting duck.
The Avenger lined up ducking either side of the sabres trying to pull a bead on
the Wanderer.
"Hes not taking the bait. I bet he knows most of
our manouvres. You remember the Victory's out-take port."
Magellan asked Zoilip,
"Which one" the Bolian replied Wryly,
"The B. Incursion Class. It has the same base design as the Defiant."
"Ah yes the port out-take manifold. A phase
invariance creates a weakness in the shields."
"Alari on the next pass roll us along the port side."
"But Sir" Alari protested "That fault is widely known in
Starfleet he'll see what we're doing."
"I m banking on it"
The Vanquisher leapt forward, her impulse drive throbbing as Alari accelerated,
looped round and pulled up behind the Avenger.
"Easy" Magellan hissed as the ship shuddered from a glancing phaser
strike.
"Patch me into the
"I think so sir."
"Don't Think...Do"
"Aye Sir"
The Vanquisher pulled round the port side and locked phasers on the manifold as
expected the Avenger rolled counterclockwise pulling away from the Vanquisher.
"Hes seen it sir" Alari said
"Good"
As the Avenger inverted it was suddenly met by the Copenhagen the ship had
dropped from above and pivoted neatly. A brace of pulse phaser blasts struck
the manifold.
"Excellent work Abren" Magellan praised "That should..."
Magellan paused as he noted the Vanquishers shields were still up. It fired
directly at the
"Upgrades" Magellan mused, "Well it looks as if dogfighting
won't help, we'll just have to overwhelm him with numbers. Where the hell is
Tomlinsons and the runabouts, with them we could box him in."
"No good sir, The Copenhagens out. "
"Out?" Magellan dared to ask
"No fatalitys but the bridge is pretty broke
up."
"Tell them to Withdraw. Drew you still here?"
"Wouldnt be anywhere else, looks like its just us
eh."
"Looks like, That Romulan Shuttle got much in the way of weapons"
"I ll have a look" Paul quipped.
Then a large vessel decloaked, its was federation in
design.
Not another one Magellan sighed to himself. He watched as it tractored the
Wanderer.
"Hell. We're not going to let them get Jibb and T'Val. Load Torpedos and
target the new ship."
"Hold on sir. We have a comm from Saarok, apparently its one of his."
"It is?" Magellan replied darkly "That man has resources that
worry me. Paul that ones ours form up and provide flanking positions to support
them back to the Assailant. I doubt we'll be able to bring the Avenger in, she
run as soon as we're in teh Assailants fire arc. As much as it pains me, we may
have to let em go."
“Acknowledged,” Drew replied to Magellan, as he brought his small, borrowed,
shuttle around to join the Starfleet escort that was now forming. It irritated
Drew to let the Avenger get away, but like Magellan had said, they just didn’t
stand a chance of catching them.
Bringing his shuttle in line with the rest of the ships, and setting a course
back to Assailant Drew reflected on the confrontations that awaited, first
there would be explaining to Tedak just why he had stolen his shuttle, then
explaining the entire thing to Magellan, and even more worryingly, explaining
to his wife.
As the escort moved closer to the Starbase, the Avenger fired a few more phaser
shots, and then suddenly disappeared under a cloaking device,
leaving Drew to wonder how much longer the renegades would be able to survive.
“Enjoy your freedom while it lasts,” Drew said to the ship as it disappeared,
before long the entire Fleet would be on the look out for that particular
vessel.
A few minutes later, the Romulan shuttle was again docked at Assailant, and as
Drew walked out from the shuttle little ship, the stern faces of Admiral Lin
and Ambassador Tedak greeted him.
“Admiral Drew, I think you have some explaining to do,” Magellan said, with his
arms folded.
“Too damn right he does,” Rear Admiral KezTrek exclaimed as she entered the
docking area, “And be better start explaining right now why I shouldn’t throw
his Starfleet pampered behind in an holding cell.”
“Nice to see you too Kez,” Drew said with an evenly aggressive tone.
“Don’t you nice to see you Kez me,” Keztrek snapped back, “Thief, conspiracy to
prevent the course of justice, unauthorised absence from your duties, not to
mention a whole list of charges for giving away Starfleet secrets.”
“Now that last one wasn’t me,” Drew protested.
“Oh I know that already,” KezTrek retorted, “but you running off round the
galaxy like some kind of cowboy hardly helps me do my job.”
“Well, I had a job to do,” Drew answered.
“Speaking of which,” KezTrek slowly replied, “What was that job?”
Now Drew gave KezTrek a wicked smile, he was going to enjoy this next bit.
“Sorry Kez, that’s classified.”
KezTrek returned the smile, “It always is with you.”
While this was going on Magellan and Tedak watched in silence, neither not wanting to get involved in this argument, but
now they were both puzzled by the sudden change in mood, KezTrek and Drew
seemed to be almost enjoying the argument.
KezTrek looked across at their audience, and seemed to read their minds.
“You know Paul, sweetie, I think we have our two friends here confused.”
“I do believe your right,” Drew replied, and then winked at his old friend,
“They’ll just have to get used to it.”
“Now don’t you go winking at me, your still in the doghouse Mister.”
“When am I not?” Drew asked with mock concern.
“Oh your so lucky I am in a good mood,” KezTrek
answered, and then turned and left the docking area, leaving Drew with a
thoroughly confused Magellan and Tedak.
Tedak
tapped his foot as he waited for Drew to turn his attention back to himself and
Magellan. He had diverted to the dockingbay when Magellan's aide had called him
to say that his shuttle had been recovered, though damaged. The Tekarans would
have to wait just a little longer, he was sure Ms Laika would be very able to
entertain them for a bit between her working with Saarok. Ms K'Tar was present
also, as well as several other diplomats.
"You have some explaining to do admiral," Tedak said, his annoyance
and suppressed anger very clear. "Even though your taking my shuttle
probably has a direct effect on me getting my wife back safely, you could have
asked first." The admiral was fortunate that his two firelizards had
chosen to remain in sickbay with T'Val, even Nut who was usually inseparable
from Tedak.
Richard walked out of the Yard Superintendants office. It had taken a lot of
arguing and some waving of Richard's diplomatic credentials, but the Wanderer
was on the priority list of repairs that the Starfleet repair yard had. It was
a long list right now due to the unexpectedly high traffic that Assailant had
seen lately. The freighters carrying the Tekarans all seemed to require some
repairs from the shipyard before they could leave, and now there were several
ships that were in for repair due to damage caused by recent fighting with
pirates. It looked as if Starfleet had not expected such a sudden upswing in
traffic and was scrambling trying to find the personel and equipment to keep
up. That was a bureaucratic issue that Richard had nothing to do with, though.
There was, however, one thing that Richard wanted to deal with before anything
else. He headed back to the Wanderer and into Sickbay. Standing by the central
biobed was a piece of technology that Richard had heard only rumours about
before now. A Cryonic Neural Inhibitor. In the rush of
events, everyone seemed to have forgotten about it, except for him...
Richard stood in front of the nefarious device, trying to decide what would be
best. In the long run, destroying it would probably be the wisest course of
action, but he was always against destroying anything out of hand. Most people
might say that this device was evil, but Richard had always been of the opinion
that no device was evil, just the use that it was put to.
Turning to one of the sickbay consoles, Richard accessed the transporters and
beamed the device into Cargo Bay 3. Then he turned on the dispersion field
within the bay to shield it's contents from prying
eyes.
That done, he left the Wanderer to find Assailant's Sickbay. It was time to see
how T'Val was doing.
“Ambassador, I am deeply sorry,” Drew answered, addressing Tedak, “As I said to
Admiral KezTrek, this matter is largely classified.”
“You said something before about a contact,” Magellan prompted, “I am presuming
Starfleet Intelligence is involved.”
Drew nodded his head, “As you, yourself know Magellan, Intel often requests
tasks from Starfleet Officers.”
“Are you saying Starfleet Intelligence ordered you to steal my shuttle?” Tedak
demanded the disbelief in his voice was evident.
Drew shook his head, “Of course not Ambassador, it was just the most suitable
craft.”
Magellan seemed to be accepting Drew’s story, but Drew could tell Tedak would
take some convincing. He knew he couldn’t tell Tedak about the message he had
received from Palan Sonev, informing him of the location of the Wanderer, and
Jibb and T’Val, perhaps one day he would, but certainly not today.
“Ambassador, I will ensure that your shuttle receives priority repair, it will
be fully operational again within days, and as way of apology, I would be
honoured if you and T’Val would join my wife and I for dinner this evening.”
Drew waited for the Ambassadors answer.
“Ambassador,
I will ensure that your shuttle receives priority repair, it will be fully
operational again within days, and as way of apology, I would be honoured if
you and T’Val would join my wife and I for dinner this evening.”
"And I hope that you will accept that Starfleet will foot the bill in its
entirety. I can understand your annoyance, but its well within the rights of a
senior member of Starfleet to appropriate any vessel in the pursuit of his
duties. I hope you understand this and that this will not become an issue that
needs to go any further than this base."
<Tedak>
"Well if you'll excuse us I think myself and Admirals Keztrek and Drew
need to have a conversation. Confidential I m afraid."
<Tedak>
"I ll give you time to get cleaned up Paul, My office in 30mins?"
Magellan suggested
Paul nodded
"Sure."
Richard was leaving the Wanderer when the sound of voices raised in anger
attracted his attention. Looking along the docking bay, he saw a sight that he
couldn't recall ever having seen before. Three Starfleet Admirals and what
looked like the Romulan Ambassador were arguing heatedly beside the shuttle
that had assisted him in getting away from the Avenger. They didn't seem to
realize that they were getting quite a crowd of onlookers as they sniped at one
another.
He owed the pilot of the shuttle a thank you, but this was clearly not the
right time. If he went it there right now, he might face some embarrassing
questions as well.
Turning, Richard hastily beat a retreat in the opposite direction.
After changing into a clean uniform, Drew found himself waiting outside
Magellan’s office, waiting for the signal to enter, he could see through the
doors that KezTrek was also present in the office, both waiting to give Drew a
full grilling no doubt.
Before coming to Ops, Drew had made the arrangements necessary to ensure
Tedak’s shuttle would get repaired, and then had paid a very brief visit to
T’Val in the infirmary. The Vulcan healer was tired, and would likely need a
few days rest, but the Doctors had ensured Drew that she would make a full
recovery.
At least everything is back to normal Drew thought to himself, but then
a pang of regret hit him, although they had determined who the pirate leader
was - Captain Dillon, they still hadn’t discovered who had been the senior
member of Assailant’s staff involved. False evidence had been planted, that
seemed to implicate Drew himself, but those data records had easily been found
to be incorrect. So now they were back to square one, just who was the
informant on Assailant?
Before he could think of any possible answers, the signal came for the office
door to open, stepping instead Drew faced Admirals Lin and KezTrek…
Quote:
|
"No admiral it does not," Tedak replied, "but it is common
courtesy to ask first. However, it is very gracious of you to offer repairs and
I will gladly accept that offer."
Quote:
|
"Of course," Tedak replied, then turned to
Drew. "I'm afraid you will have to owe us dinner. T'Val will not be
released from sickbay anytime soon." He bowed gracefully towards both men,
then to Keztrek and turned on his heels. A little down the corridor, he saw
Jibb turn on his heels and disappear back onto his ship, and decided to go
after him.
"Mr Jibb?" he called, "may I come aboard?" He heard a grunt
and took that as a yes. "I believe I owe you my grattitude for saving the
life of my wife. Thank you, also in her name. She asked me to convey her
grattitude to you."
Richard hesitated as he stood behind the closed main hatch of the Wanderer. He
had been hoping to get away clean, but hadn't quite been able to. Sighing
quietly, he opened the hatch to reveal the Romulan Ambassador.
Tedak paused for a second, then said "I believe I
owe you my grattitude for saving the life of my wife. Thank you, also in her
name. She asked me to convey her grattitude to you."
Richard maintained an uncomfortable silence. He was not used to being thanked
for anything. Then he replied "You're welcome Tedak. I certainly couldn't
leave her with on the Avenger. I was just getting ready to go visit T'Val.
Would you like to join me?"
Tedak nodded solemnly. "Yes, well you beat me to it. I was going to ask
you if you would like to join me. I was just on my way to her after that
unfortunate argument with Admiral Drew. Though, I am gratified that that matter
is solved."
He led the way to sickbay, where T'Val was sitting up with a blanket draped
around her shoulders. She didn't notice the two men entering, but looked up
when the two firelizards perched on the diagnostic board gave them away. She
actually smiled at seeing the two men together, then
beckoned them to come closer.
"Mr Jibb," she called, after properly greeting her husband, the
Vulcan way of course since they were not alone, "did Tedak convey my
gratitude? I deeply regret having been such a burden to you...ever since we
first met. I am of belief that we got off on the wrong foot, would to care to
start anew?"
Richard stared at his feet, embarassed, as T'Val finished her speech. The
Vulcan didn't look like she was in very good shape. She had been through a lot
today as well, much more than he had been. Richard felt like he had been used
as a ball in a Klingon game of Parisi Squares. He could only imagine what T'Val
felt like after being stuck inside that machine for so long.
T'Val and Tedak were quiet as Richard thought about what she had said. Things
had been very difficult between Richard and pretty much everyone else that he
had come into contact with on the station since he had arrived, and the Vampire
virus had not helped. Unfortunately, Richard had a very hard time forgiving and
forgetting. It was what was left from the many years of difficult existence on
frontier worlds that he had been through, before he had come back to the
Federation.
"Unfortunately, I'm not a forgive and forget kind
of a person. On the other hand, I haven't treated you very well either. Why
don't we just call it even and get past it. Sound fair?" Richard said
hopefully.
T'Val nodded carefully. "What has been done to you is not easy to forget,
and I do not ask nor want you to forget," she said softly, "though I
would very much like for us to get along, if not be friends." She
grimaced, then smiled a little. "Seems though,
that we keep getting stuck with one another," she added, "fate must
be playing a part here, however much I believe there is no such thing as
fate."
The two firelizards warbled in agreement, though stayed away from the human
ambassador. Tedak noticed this and called Nut to him. "We will be forever
grateful anyway," he said, "and if there is anything we can do for
you at any time you just have to call. If it is in our ability to accomplish
what you wish, you shall get it."
He petted his firelizard. "Is there any word on this Dillon character, and
who tried to frame Admiral Drew?" He knew that that information wasn't
general knowledge, but he'd been right there when Drew had stolen his shuttle,
and he had also been able to access the sensor logs that were covertly kept.
Richard looked over at Tedak. "Someone tried to frame Admiral Drew? I'm a
bit out of the loop as far as that goes. We only spoke to this Dillon guy for a
moment, and that was only long enough for him to throw T'Val into the
Neutralizer." Richard stopped and looked around Assailant's Sickbay, the
looked back at the injured Vulcan. "T'Val, where's Palan Sonev?"
T'Val looked back at him. "Who?"
"Sonev, the man who helped us get off of the Avenger. He opened up
my cell as long as I helped him get off of the ship. He was the unconscious one
on the other biobed aboard the Wanderer" Richard said quickly.
The Healer closed her eyes in thought. "I vaguely remember someone else
aboard the Wanderer besides your doctor. An unconscious
human. Richard nodded at her. "But I don't know where he is now. I
would assume that he is somewhere here in Sickbay."
Richard looked around again carefully at all of the occupied beds. None of them
resembled the man who had claimed to be a member of Starfleet Intelligence. He
stopped a doctor who was passing by T'Val's bed. "Excuse me doctor, but
another man was beamed off of the Wanderer to Sickbay. Can you tell me where he
is."
The doctor looked confused. "I'm sorry sir, but only T'Val was beamed
here. There was no one else." Richard looked over at Tedak, who moved
quickly to a computer console.
"This is Romulan Ambassador Tedak. I need to know the location of a Palan
Sonev."
The computer hummed briefly, the replied "There is no such person aboard
Starbase Assailant."
Tedak frowned and said "Where is the second person who was beamed off of
the Wanderer today at time index 14?"
The computer paused again, for a much longer period, then
answered. "Only one person was beamed off of the Wanderer at that time
index."
Richard walked over to Tedak and said "It seems that we have another
problem."
"You believe he is still aboard your ship?" Tedak asked, and quickly
cast a glance at Sev. The bronze instantly winked out, only to return a few
seconds later his eyes whirling yellow with alarm. "He is aboard the
Wanderer," the Romulan announced, and only seconds later, the computer
confirmed their suspiscion. "Sev can detain him until you get to the
wanderer, he knows the ship. I'll send Nut with him. Do you want me to come
with you?"
The two firelizards winked out mid-warble and Tedak gazed at Jibb. Then he
glanced at T'Val, who nodded ever so slightly. "Come on, I shall fill you
in about what has happened on the station under way."
Reluctantly,
Richard agreed to let Tedak come along. He didn't like the concept of a Romulan
Ambassador being aboard a Federation Diplomatic vessel, and he knew that it was
in violation of a number of diplomatic protocols. However, Tedak didn't
actually have to board the Wanderer. Besides, he had a better idea and tapped
his communicator. "This is Ambassador Class 3 Richard Jibb to Security.
There is an intruder aboard the shuttle Wanderer, which is in the repair dock.
Send a security team to detain whoever it is." He received his
acknowledgement and he and Tedak continued quickly to Richard's ship.
By the time they got there, Tedak had finished filling Richard in regarding
station events while he had been away. It all sounded quite fishy to him, but
it was time to find out what was going on aboard the Wanderer. There was a
heavily armed three man security detachment at the main hatch, commanded by a
Marine lieutenant who eyed Richard and the Romulan beside him carefully.
"Are you Richard Jibb?" he asked.
"Yes lieutenant. Did you catch the intruder?" Richard asked back.
"There was nothing aboard except two fire lizards. They're yours?"
the Marine said, glancing at Tedak.
Tedak nodded, closed his eyes and called Nut and Sev to him. The two lizards
appeared immediately and settled onto his shoulders. "What happened?"
he asked them and stood as the two lizards sent what they had seen to the
Ambassador. "He beamed off" Tedak said after a moment.
"I don't see how that's possible sir. We have been monitoring the ship
since we received the alert. There have been no transporter traces reported. I
also have a team in there scanning right now. There are no ionization remains
that would indicate that anyone was beamed from the ship in the last few
minutes" the Lieutenant said.
"Well, someone beamed off of the Wanderer, somehow" Tedak replied.
"The Starbase shields are up, so whoever it was is at least still on the
base. We need to start a search."
The Marine nodded and started issuing orders over his communicator.
Tedak saw the sceptical look on Jibb's face. "You don't believe it,"
he said accusingly, "the firelizards can't lie. They don't know how, they
only pass on what they see." He turned on his heels. "I am going to
see admiral Magellan," he added, "we need to shut down all docking
bays and restricht any ships already having received clearance to leave."
He strode away with long paces, then halted and turned. "You coming?"
he called back, "the guards and I suspect your ship,
will tell you when someone tries to board again."
He continued his strides and marched into OPS. To his surprise, they hadn't
even gone to yellow alert. "We have an intruder alert," he announced,
"someone tried to steal the Wanderer. He or she is still aboard this
station, you need to lock down all ships and retract any clearances for
departure."
He gazed at the admirals around him expectantly. He gazed at the two
firelizards, then pointed at Magellan. "Show him
what you saw," he told them, and the duo lifted off to hover before
Magellan's eyes, staring at him intently, then the duo turned to Drew and Kez
in turn, to show them too.
First bit fits in before Tedak arrives.
"Ah Paul come in" Magellan greeted ushering Drew in to the office.
Keztrek was already present. She sat in the corner half in shadow.
"Kez" Paul nodded.
"Paul" She replied curtly
"Shes annoyed with me cause I ve got myself into trouble again" Paul
chuckled.
"You seem to have a knack for it" Keztrek replied
"Well at least I m not cooling my heels in a prison cell this time."
"Well you would have, if you hadnt skipped off aboard a stolen ship."
"Hang on Hang on" Magellan wailed raising his hands, "Ceasefire.
We all know Pauls innocent"
"Only because Saarok cracked the code" Keztrek noted
"Yes." Magellans face darkened, "He seems rather able in the
arena."
"Where exactly did that second ship come from?" Drew asked
"I d say that was his doing too" Keztrek replied "He was using
the comms heavily the whole time you were gone."
"Any logs"
"Nope" Kez replied
"Thought as much"
Magellan rubbed his forehead,
"This is a little of track, Saaroks not the issue here. The Avenger is. We
still don't know who betrayed us. Or who set you up Paul"
"We have an idea " Kez answered "The
planted money wasnt done very well. An amateur"
"But that doesnt fit the MO of the guy whose being leaking info."
"Which means..."
"Which means we potentially have two moles. One
who is better than we are with our own systems" Magellan pointed out.
"So whats next?"
"Further investigations I suppose. The trail seems cold. I ve put
out a wanted report on the Avenger, and I doubt we'll see them for a bit. And
we seem to have sileneced the pirates - we took out several of their key
ships."
"So back to normal"
"What passes for normal. But lets keep an eye
out. The clever mole will take time to trap but I expect the other one will
slip up soon enough"
"Indeed" Keztrek replied.
They were interrupted by teh arrival of Tedak.
He continued his strides and marched into OPS. To his surprise, they hadn't
even gone to yellow alert. "We have an intruder alert," he announced,
"someone tried to steal the Wanderer. He or she is still aboard this
station, you need to lock down all ships and retract any clearances for
departure."
He gazed at the admirals around him expectantly. He gazed at the two
firelizards, then pointed at Magellan. "Show him
what you saw," he told them, and the duo lifted off to hover before
Magellan's eyes, staring at him intently, then the duo turned to Drew and Kez
in turn, to show them too.
"I see so this Sonev who helped rescue T'Val is missing. Thats not unusal for SF intel"
"But he treid to steal the wanderer"
"Hmm I suppose" Magellan replied, "Perhaps he needed an
exit"
"Well arent you going to look for him?"
"Do you have any idea how long a search of this station would take. And how easy it would be for an Intell officer to
avoid us? No we'll need something smarter than that. I ll agree to a station
shut down, but I think our best bet is to release Sev and Nut to track him
down?"
Tedak nodded. "Call on Saarok's duo too..that
will make four of them." He gazed at his two, and instantly the two winked
out. He smiled at the admirals. "You will be amazed how handy these
creatures can be. Of course, if you want some privacy, they can be a pain too,
they re always tuned in to their owners...and if the owner is a telepath, or
telepathically linked, also to his or her partner."
He bowed politely towards the two men and the woman. "I
apollogize for barging in like this. I shall take my leave of you now so
that you can continue what you were doing before I interrupted you. I will make
sure my firelizards will not fly in unannounced." He bowed again and
turned to leave.
OOC Before we get to the meeting with the Admirals
Richard followed quietly along behind Tedak. The Romulan Ambassador seemed
quite hostile, overall. Richard was perfectly aware that the fire lizards
weren't lying. Lying and concealing information were the constructs of
intelligent, enlightened civilizations. It was very rare for any animal to be
able to lie.
Richard shrugged inwardly. The Ambassador was undoubtedly under a lot of stress
after all. His wife was in Sickbay after being kidnapped and placed in that
machine. Richard still wasn't sure if he should keep it or destroy it.
While he was thinking, he, Tedak and the fire lizards arrived at their
destination. Tedak swept into the room without knocking, Richard still
following quietly behind. Sitting around a desk were Admiral Magellan and two
other Admirals Richard didn't know personally. He hadn't been in a room with
this much brass in it since his last formal diplomatic dinner.
Tedak immediately got into a conversation with Magellan regarding recent
events, showed him what the fire lizards had seen aboard the Wanderer and then
quickly walked out of the room, leaving Richard standing there with three
Admirals looking at him expectantly.
"Well, it seems that I am no longer required. I guess that I'll be on my
way as well" Richard said calmly and turned to leave the room.
Magellan held up a hand. "Actually Mr. Jibb, I'd appreciate it if you
would remain for a while. You're the only person aboard Assailant who has seen
this Palan Sonev, besides one fire lizard. I think that it might be useful if
you participate in the search." He looked over at the other two Admirals,
and received nods in response. "By the way" Magellan continued,
"this is Admiral KezTrek and Admiral Drew." The two stood to shake
hands with the courier.
Richard took a long look at Admiral Drew. "Excuse my saying so, Admiral,
but taking on a Defiant Class vessel in a stolen shuttle is a fairly unusual
act for a Starfleet Admiral. And thanks, by the way..."
Drew gave an uncomfortable sidelong glance at KezTrek and replied "Options
at the time were extremely limited. I did what needed to be done."
Richard nodded and resolved to try to get to know this particular Admiral a bit
better. People who were willing to do what needed to be
done were pretty few and far between. He also wanted to know how he had managed
to remain an Admiral.
Richard turned to Magellan. "So do you have a plan to track down
Sonev?"
Tedak walked back to sickbay, continuing his brisk pace. He was rather miffed
that Magellan had turned him away so easily, even though he did raise the alarm
phase on the station. ~he still doesn't trust me~ he thought, chagrined ~how am
I ever going to get that brass to trust me. Fleeters, hmph!~
He stalked back into sickbay, where he found T'Val sitting on the edge of the
bed. "Are you allowed to be up?" he asked gently, his voice betraying
the anger he still felt.
T'Val nodded. "The doctor just released me. He said I will still need a
lot of rest, but I am yearning to see my child. Is the nanny still with
D'Beren?"
Tedak nodded and held his arm out to her. "Come, you must still be
cold."
T'Val shuddered at the thought. "Please, do not remind me, this is not
something I wish to be constantly reminded of. I am still having nightmares,
however illogical this may sound to you...or to myself.
It was horrid."
"I know," Tedak almost whispered, "it severed our bond. It was
again Saarok who saved my life. We must not make this a habit my love." He
smiled down at her gently, as he draped an arm around her frail shoulders. ~she
has lost weight~ he thought with alarm. In silence, he led his wife to their
quarters, where she instantly ran over to their son.
"My son," T'Val whispered, hugging the child close. THe boy cried
happily.
"ma," the infant brabbled.
T'Val looked up. "Did you hear that?" she asked, staring at the boy
in disbelieve. "what did you say?"
"Ma," the boy repeated, waving his little fists in the air.
"I believe he just called you ma," Tedak said dryly, but he smiled.
"So he did," T'Val said, as she lowered the boy back into his crib.
"I must inform the Debrune council that D'Beren has just spoken his first
words."
~she looks too pale~ Tedak thought, worried ~she mustn't talk to them yet, but
I can't keep her from it. They expect it of her...who are they to expect this
of her!~ Anger flushed his cheeks, but he kept silent,
and motioned for the firelizards to keep quiet too, as T'Val informed the
Debrune council.
"Managing a search is very difficult. Especially for
someone with his skills. I have my staff searching as well as the 4
firelizards. Its about as much as we can do for now. I
would remain content that he rescued you and secondly that he failed to take
the Wanderer"
"Thats hardly the point Admiral"
"Maybe" Magellan replied "But this still my station an it may be
advantageuous to give this Sonev a little rope."
"Rope?"
"Yes rope on which to hang himself."
"I see. Care to elaborate?"
"Put it this way, I m not convinced he was SF Intell - We know that there
are more than one pirate factions involved around here. And we have discovered
one set aboard the Avenger. There is still a contact or contacts aboard
Assailant. I think he'll make contact with his contact and thereby we get not
only him but verification of the contacts guilt. Patience Mr Jibb is a
wonderfull thing."
Jibb was riled by the Admirals supercillious tone.
"Can I at least assist?"
"Of course you may assist with the surveillance of prime suspect - Drolem
Simeth. And I highlight the word survellience, survey
and report DO NOT interact. Contact Security and Ops if you finding anything. Fair enough?"
"Sounds Fair" Jibb replied.
"Good" Magellan replied.
“One another thing,” Drew added, “We still need to investigate whatever
involvement Lt. Tomlinson had in all of this, and I would suggest we limit his
involvement in the investigation into our beloved Mayor.”
“Agreed,” Magellan replied, “Admiral KezTrek can head up the investigation
team.”
There were a series of nods of agreement around the room, has everyone approved
of the plan, now all they had to do was put it into effect.
“I’ll start to run a station wide scan for any unusual activity,” Drew said, nodding
in goodbye to the others in the room. Settling himself in his station at Ops,
Drew entered his personal codes, and logged into the computer systems, at once
he began setting about the scan’s needed for the detailed search of the base,
he also made sure special attention was paid to all shuttlecraft docked at the
base, and use of all transporters.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he whispered to himself as he looked
for there would be escapee.
Tedak was sitting in his quarters watching over D'Beren. It had taken some
work, but he had finally convince T'Val to get some
sleep. It was clear she needed it. The child was sleeping quietly as well, and
he was savouring the quiet that he knew wouldn't last.
Almost on cue, the comm panel on the desk chimed quietly, and Tedak walked over
and tapped the screen. A Starfleet lieutenant was visible. "Excuse me
Ambassador, but there is an incoming communique from Supreme Elder JakDor of
Qualinost for Healer T'Val."
Here we go, Tedak thought to himself. "Thank you. Put it through to this
station please." The officer nodded and pressed a few buttons on his
panel. The weathered face of Elder JakDor appeared.
"I was expecting Healer T'Val, however, it is nice to see you face to face
at last, Ambassador Tedak" JakDor stated.
Tedak kept his face impassive. He and JakDor hadn't actually met before. It
seemed that the Debrune Elder had been doing some homework. "It is nice to
see you as well, Elder JakDor. I'm looking forward to working with you on the
Qualinost Terraforming Project."
Courtesies concluded, JakDor got down to business.
"I received a message from Healer T'Val. I understand that the Holy Child
is doing well?"
<Tedak>
"Excellent. I have also seen that the influx of Tekaran refugees
has begun to gather at Assailant, and I presume that they are going to wish to
begin moving to Qualinost. I'm afraid that I will not allow that until the
Federation has fulfilled some part of it's half of our agreement" JakDor
said bluntly.
<Tedak>
Quote:
|
The Romulan frowned a moment at the mention of the word 'holy', as it didn't
quite go down with him that a child could be divine. "Yes he is well.
T'Val takes great care of him, and she cares deeply for him, almost at the cost
of her own health. I finally managed to get her to sleep a couple of hours, she has been through quite an ordeal recently.
D'Beren called her mother, in ever so much a childish fashion and she was delighted
to hear it. Well, as delighted as Vulcan gets that is."
He allowed himself to smile at that.
Quote:
|
Tedak nodded. "I understand Elder, perhaps we can
start negotiations on allowing a few to settle? There are some with families,
small children. I have spoken with the Tekaran delegates at length, but I will
convey your concerns to admiral Magellan at the
earliest opportunity. You have my word on that. Is there anything else I can do
for you?"
<Tedak>
Wearily, Richard left the Admiral's office and started mentally preparing
himself for his next job of monitoring Drolem Simeth. The courier decided that
it would be best to find some information on this Simeth person, as he had yet
to meet or interact with him in anyway. Also, Richad needed some relax for a
while.
For Richard, it had been an extremely long day and he was looking forward to
getting some rest and sleep aboard the Wanderer. He walked slowly through
Assailant's repair facility and towards his shuttle. Finally reaching the main
hatch, he keyed in his access code, and was very surprised when the door didn't
open. He tried again, but the door still refused to release. Leaning over,
Richard examined the keypad and found that it was not active. Cursing under his
breath, he started trying to remove the faceplate to repair it when he heard a
voice from behind him.
"Excuse me, but may I ask what you're doing?"
Richard turned to see a Starfleet Junior Lieutenant standing behind him,
looking at him curiously. Closing his eyes in exasperation, he replied "My
name is Richard Jibb, and this is my vessel. I am trying to get aboard so I can
get some sleep. Why is the door pad deactivated?"
The lieutenant pulled out a PADD and tapped at it briefly. "The Wanderer
has been shut down to assist the repair teams overcome a fractal encryption
algorithm. We've been unable to decode it so far, so we have been limiting the
freedom of the main computer and using Assailant's computer system to try to
overpower the shuttle. As a result, all systems aboard your ship have been shut
down."
"But where am I supposed to sleep?" Richard complained.
The young lieutenant looked puzzled. "You can sleep aboard Assailant sir.
There's plenty of space available. But you can't sleep aboard your ship."
Turning, the lieutenant walked off.
Richard sighed. He wanted to stay aboard his ship, but it seemed that wasn't
going to happen anytime soon. Irritated, he walked out of the repair facility
and onto an empty turbolift. Tapping his communicator, he said "Access
accomodations database."
"Working. Request complete" the computer
replied quickly.
"This is Richard Jibb, Ambassador Level 3. I require accomodations aboard
Starbase Assailant. Is there anything available?"
The computer paused for a second, then said "Richard Jibb, Ambassador
Level 3 already has assigned quarters aboard Starbase Assailant."
Richard looked up at the computers speaker in puzzlement. "I already have
quarters? Why?"
"Federation Diplomatic protocol Section 892, paragraph 5, states
Federation Diplomatic personel permanently assigned to any Federation posting
shall be supplied with appropriate quarters until such time as they are moved
permanently to a separate posting. Paragraph 6 states that at such
time..."
Richard cut the computer off. "That's enough." So, he already had
quarters. That was different. "Computer, where are my quarters?"
"Quarters for Richard Jibb, are located on Deck
17, Section 32, Room L41."
Richard redirected the turbolift to Deck 17 and stepped off when the doors
opened. Proceeding down the corridor, he found room L41 and opened the hatch.
Taking a deep breath, he cautiously stuck his head through the open door.
The room was palatial, with a wide view of the planet Qualinost. Richard walked
in and the door swished closed behind him. He could see the line of Tekaran
freighters waiting to dock with their loads of refugees, along with their
Starfleet escorts. He did a fast inspection of the entire series of rooms. There
was a large receiving area, sitting room, kitchen, several bedrooms and
sanitary facilities.
The last place besides the Wanderer that he'd had to himself was a miserable
shack on Garbin 4 that he had been forced to hole up in for 2 months while
evading some local thugs who were trying to extort protection money from him.
He'd had a small computer repair business at the time that was making a lot of
money, and the local gang had wanted a piece of it. He had barely escaped that
place with his life. This apartment was a castle compared to that hole. In
fact, the rest of the places that he had called home over the last decade were
rarely much better.
Shaking his head at the odd turns his life had been taking recently, Richard
set about getting a meal out of the replicator, sat down in front of the
magnificent view and tried to relax.
Tedak nodded. I understand Elder, perhaps we can start
negotiations on allowing a few to settle? There are some with families, small
children. I have spoken with the Tekaran delegates at length, but I will convey
your concerns to admiral Magellan at the earliest
opportunity. You have my word on that. Is there anything else I can do for
you?"
JakDor's eyes had an angry glint in them as he opened his mouth. Then he closed
it again, obviously rethinking what he was going to say. "I would appreciate
it if you could arrange for the Debrune council to meet with whatever governing
body the Tekarans have. It is time that we met with our potential neighbours.
However, I would like to repeat that no Tekaran will be allowed to set foot on
Qualinost without my approval."
JakDor sat back in his chair, his eyes measuring the Romulan Ambassador.
<Tedak>
"As
you wish," Tedak replied, measuring the Debrune Elder in turn. He didn't
miss the angry glint in the man's eyes and knew he had to tread carefully when
dealing with this man. "I will contact the Tekarans, and beam down with
them in half an hour. Where do you wish us to beam down to?"
<JakDorn>
"I shall also contact Admiral Magellan, and advise
him to keep the Tekarans from beaming down. I will let T'Val sleep though, I will inform you in person of what she has been
through. Our trusted nanny will take care of D'Beren. Do not worry,
she has been thoroughly screened by starfleet security, as well as DCS
security."
<JakDorn>
Wearily, Tedak closed down the communications console. "Ambassador Tedak
to Admiral Lin, could you spare me a moment of your time please, it is
important." After an affirmative, Tedak explained the situation briefly, then set to gather the Tekarans and meet the Debrune
Council.
"As you wish," Tedak replied, measuring the Debrune Elder in turn. He
didn't miss the angry glint in the man's eyes and knew he had to tread
carefully when dealing with this man. "I will contact the Tekarans, and
beam down with them in half an hour. Where do you wish us to beam down
to?"
<JakDorn>
"I shall also contact Admiral Magellan, and advise
him to keep the Tekarans from beaming down. I will let T'Val sleep though, I will inform you in person of what she has been
through. Our trusted nanny will take care of D'Beren. Do not worry,
she has been thoroughly screened by starfleet security, as well as DCS security."
<JakDorn>
Wearily, Tedak closed down the communications console. "Ambassador Tedak
to Admiral Lin, could you spare me a moment of your time please, it is
important." After an affirmative, Tedak explained the situation briefly, then set to gather the Tekarans and meet the Debrune
Council.
After sending the coordinates to Ambassador Tedak, JakDor sat back, closed his
eyes and sighed heavily. He had been working constantly, along with the rest of
the Council, since the moment he had set foot on the Holy Qua'ee'nos. Although
most systems had held up well, time had done it's
damage. He was in a very perilous position, and it was his responsibility to
deliver this planet to his people.
Opening his eyes, he could see the several members of the Debrune Council
sitting in their respective chairs in the Great Hall, looking at him worriedly.
The space was enormous in the Hall, with enough room for several thousand
people. However, there were only 5 here right now. The remaining 6 members of
the Council were scattered all over the city, trying to get systems back online
using training handed down over generations of Debrune.
"We are extremely vulnerable right now, Supreme Elder. We have only been
able to reactivate the primary defense mechanism of the planet, and it is only
a deterrent" KayRon said worriedly. "You are pressing them too hard.
If they decide to try to take the planet from us, we will only be able to hold
out for a day or two."
KayRon was JakDor's Foremost, or adjutant. He was also his primary rival for
control of the Council. KayRon was a conservative and had some support from
several members. JakDor thought that KayRon had wanted the Debrune to stay on
their colonies, and ignore the call of the Holy Child.
However, JakDor knew a secret that he had never passed on to the Council. The
fertility of his people had been declining over the last few generations, and
if his calculations were correct, the Debrune had less than 15 generations
before they were extinct. He had taken the call of the Holy Child as proof of
the Debrune's sacred right to survive. JakDor fervently believed that the
Debrune would flourish if they could reclaim their rightful home, and more
importantly, have all of their population in one place.
KayRon was about to speak again when JakDor gaze fell on him like a great
weight. "This is the course that I have set for the Debrune. I have heard
your arguments." KayRon's mouth closed and he nodded meekly. Violence was
not unknown during Debrune Council meetings, and there had been occasional
deaths over the years. Right now, KayRon was the only member of his small
faction at Council.
"I will continue to press the Federation, and if they try to take the
planet from us, we will use our defence as long as it lasts. The call of the
Holy Child has led us to the Qua'ee'nos, and the Divine Light will protect us
if the Federation tries to take it" JakDor intoned.
The Debrune Council bowed their heads penitently at the mention of the Divine
Light.
Magellan was still on an adrenaling high from the thrill of commanding a
starship again but was brought back down to earth with Tedaks comments. He
quickly made his way down to meet him.
"Ah Ambassador - I take it the natives are getting restless."
"I hardly think it appropriate to term them natives"
"Actually I think its very accurate, but never
mind. Whats the main problem?"
Tedak repeated Jak'dors commands.
"Oh I see well we should be alright for now then." Magellan sighed
"The three Tekarans here are the only ones aboard, the first refugees wont arrive until the second phase terraforming is complete.
They came to meet with the Elders only and discuss how to live in harmony. You
can also reassure Jak'Dor that ships have been assigned and despatched to
gather his people. The USS Harbinger and Jaguar should be there within the week
and here... well next month."
"That is good news. Jak dor seemed rather... terse"
"I hope it pleases him, remind him that we can offer him support in
reuniting the factions within the Debrune too and that Dr Sharex still needs
access to the reactor to trgger the Gaia Device."
"Will Do. Perhaps you could accompany me and we
could tell him together."
"Very well Ambassador."
The two men departed to find Jak'dor
"We should gather the three Tekarans first," Tedak suggested as both
men walked to the transporter room, "I had the distinct impression the
Elder wanted to talk to them."
They walked past the quarters of the delegates and the five of them soon beamed
down to Qualinost, just in front of the doors to the council chamber.
"Admiral Lin, Ambassador Tedak and the Tekaran delegates," Tedak
introduced them to the guard, "we have an appointment with Elder
JakDor."
The guard scrutinized them then motioned his hand. "You may pass," he
replied, "they are waiting for you in the large hall."
Tedak nodded, and the group of men walked on. Recognizing the elder, Tedak
bowed. "Elder JakDor, we meet at last."
Off: First a bit of retrospective 
After Saarok went out of the ops center on Assailant he proceeded to pay Drolem
Simeth another visit, the man was definitely hiding something and it might not
be as small as it seems.
As Saarok passed thought the station he noticed a few familiar faces but he had
no time to talk to them at this time, he merely nodded his head as he passed
them and proceeded to Drolems office.
After he arrived at his office he chimed the door a few times before he heard
the words come.
When he entered the office he found Drolem drinking champagne.
"Are we celebrating something?", Saarok asked
As he noticed him Drolem immediately went pale,
"I, erm I was just trying out something new on the replicator.",
Drolem said and immediately proceed pretending to be firm
"But what exactly is it that you want?", he asked
"Some information", Saarok replied
"Of course you always want information but you should know that nothing is
free and information is something that definitely is not free.", Drolem
responded
"I see your self respect has grown since last time, the logical conclusion
would be that you were able to conceal one of your mischief’s which were
worrying you before, no don't bother denying you know i can read you like a
book", Saarok said
Drolem's confidence was beginning to fade and he knew Saarok noticed that
"But don't worry I’m not interested in your little illegal
activities", Saarok continued
"I know you have been playing several pirate sides and tried to turn them
one against the other in an effort to come out clean, and i know that you still
act as their middle man, so if you would be so kind and contact me when one of
them comes by again, I would be inclined to assist in helping you resolve the
investigation which is concentrated around you. And clearing you of any
suspicion, of course if you are interested in helping
"Fine, ill help you but after this you give me your word you’ll clear
me", Drolem said
"You have my word", Saarok replied
"Fine, when one of the pirates contacts pays me a visit ill send you a
message. But now go.", Drolem said
When Drolem finished Saarok said his goodbyes and proceed out of Drolems
office, deciding to have someone keep an eye on him just in case something
happens.
While he was going away he noticed one of the guards in disguise approaching
Drolems office to keep an eye on him.
After he was done he proceeded to tend to his other duties.
--Present time--
Saarok was reading some reports as he was informed that the meeting of the
Tekarans and the Debrune was taking place and ambassador Tedak was leading the deal.
Good he thought this will help him perhaps even earn him more trust from the
admiral and rest of the federation.
=/\=Jackson to Saarok=/\=
=/\=Saarok here, go ahead=/\=
=/\=I've just picked up a possible transport from inside of Mr. Drolems office,
it is a personal transporter designed to be concealed from standard sensors and
I’m detecting 3 people inside=/\=
=/\=I see, make an effort so that the stations sensors pick it up however make
sure that no alarm is raised. I will wait and see if Mr. Drolem is a man of his
word.=/\=, he finished
Operations was as usual buzzing with activity, and in the far corner, Paul Drew
sat at his lone console, scanning the entire station.
“Any luck?” KezTrek asked as she stepped down the platform, and pulled up a
chair next to Drew’s station.
“Nope,” Drew answered grimly, “Whoever this guy is, he sure knows how to hide.”
“His sort usually do,” KezTrek replied, looking down
at the sensor readings, “This whole thing is just giving me one big headache.”
Now that made Drew laugh, he looked up at his old friend and smiled, “You
really should be used to this sort of thing by now.”
“True, but there is just no getting used to you and your messes dear,” KezTrek
replied in mock annoyance.
“Think how I feel, you little visits always led to me spending time in jail.”
“You shouldn’t have such a guilty looking face,” KezTrek retorted.
“My face is one of perfect innocence,” laughed Drew.
KezTrek raised her eyebrow in that typical half-Vulcan way, unlike most
human/Vulcan hybrids; she fully embraced her emotions, and delighted in mixing
her human emotions and cold Vulcan logic together.
The beeping of the sensor panel stopped any come back KezTrek might have.
“What is it?” she asked, looking back down at the display, which Drew was now
enlarging on the screen.
“We have detected what appears to be multiple
transports.”
“Where?”
Drew shook his head in annoyance, “I don’t know, the trance has disappeared, I
just know it’s in the civilian levels somewhere.”
“That’s good enough for me,” KezTrek said, tapping her comm badge, “Security to
the Civilian levels, intruder alert.”
“I’ll scan all ship’s in the area,” Drew called out as
KezTrek headed for the turbo lift, “I’ll try to find which ship they came
from.”
“Make sure no one beams off the station,” KezTrek replied, as she stepped into
the turbo lift.
“And you look after yourself,” Drew called back over to her.
As the doors closed, Drew saw KezTrek give him a smile,
“You should be more worried about them,” she said as she disappeared into the
turbo lift.
The footsteps of Ambassador Tedak, Admiral Magellan and the Tekarans echoed
through the Great Hall of the Debrune as they slowly approached the large
table, set up on a dais above the main floor. As the Federation delegation
approached, JakDor and the rest of the Debrune Council slowly stood and watched
as they walked towards them.
This had all been arranged by JakDor, in hopes of rattling their visitors a
little. Every advantage that could be gained must be tried, he thought to
himself, as his guests neared.
They slowly climbed the stairs to the table where the Debrune stood, and JakDor
watched them carefully. Tedak and Magellan seemed undisturbed by his little
superiority tactic, but the Tekarans were glancing nervously at the Debrune
Council. Probably wondering what they had gotten themselves into. JakDor knew
that they had been told that this planet was uninhabited. They must be
surprised to have to negotiate now.
Unsurprisingly, Tedak took the lead for the Federation and bowed before JakDor.
"Elder JakDor, we meet at last." The Tekarans bowed slightly as well,
following Tedak's lead. Magellan inclined his head politely, showing courtesy
but no subservience to the Debrune Council.
"The presence of you and your delegation honours our planet. May the
Divine Light cast no shadow over you." The rest
of Debrune Council bowed slightly. "Shall we sit?" JakDor said,
gesturing at the chairs. The Debrune Council and the Federation Delegation
selected chairs and were seated.
JakDor looked over at Tekarans. "So, my understanding is that you wish to
negotiate for the freedom to colonize a part of this planet. Formost
KayRon..." JakDor gestured at his adjutant "is handing out
information packets. I think that we should start by showing the areas we think
would be most suitable..."
The three Tekarans paged through the information package and their faces took
on a darker colour as their moods darkened too. "This is
unnaceptable," they said in unison, after which the leader continued.
"We have families docking at Assaillant soon. You can't expect the station
to harbour them all! You just can't!"
Tedak rested a hand on the man's upper arm in quiet warning. "I am sure
that something can be worked out here," he said calmly, gazing at JakDor
and his fellow council members expectantly. They too, received a warning glance
from them.
The Romulan diplomant could care less that the Debrune saw his adoptive son as
their Devine Light. He knew it would work in their advantage, as well as that
of the Federation and possibly even his own empire. ~yeah right~ he thought
idly ~as if I am going to tell the Emperor of my son's heritage~ He didn't
believe the child could be divine, but his wife did and so he kept his mouth
shut about his own ideas on the matter. He loved the boy as would he his own
blood.
"Admiral, if you please?" he motioned the Trill admiral forward,
"Reverend Elders, we are ready to start up the terraforming project in
order to meet part of our bargain. We would ask that you allow the first
families that arrive, to settle in quiet. They would assist in the terraforming
project. Among the families are farmers, as well as renowned technicians. They
would be valuable assets to this planet. We may hold off further colonisation,
but we as that you allow these settlers to settle down on Qualinost. Naturally,
you will be duly compensated."
Saarok was in his office preparing a report on the major, when he was just
about done the doorbell chimed.
"Come", he said not even looking who was at the door
"I would think you would be more careful", the man said as he entered
his office
"Who are you and what is it that you need?", he asked the man rising
from the chair
"How careless of you to send your security away", the man continued
"I have a present for you from Drolem Simeth", the man said as he
raised a disruptor like weapon
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Its time to forget it all", the man said as he pressed the button
the weapon fired and hit Saarok directly in his head causing him to collapsed
to the floor
"Well i don't expect we'll be having any problems with you for a
while", the man said as he approached the computer terminal and using a
tricoder erased all data Saarok had.
After that he threw one last look and then left Saaroks office, the man was not
going to cause them trouble anymore, at least for a while.
"That sounds acceptable to me Tedak" Magellan replied "He then
turned to the Tekarans. "And the fact that you
are already mobilising your people is against the agreement. Tekara is still
safe at the moment and even before the Debrune turned up you werent due to
reloacte until the terraforming was finished."
"But..."
"No. No buts, I gave my word to teh Debrune their people would be allowed
to return to the city, their city and in turn they would assist with the
terrafroming of the planet. Once they arrive which should be within weeks, we
might be able to sort something out. For now any refugees will be quartered
aboard assailant."
Magellan refused to allow the Tekarans to reply and added.
"I hope this suits both sides. And Jak'dor please remember
Qualinost is a federation planet now."
"Very well," the Tekaran leader relented, "when we get back
aboard Assaillant I will signal the first ships to board Assaillant and follow
your orders admiral. I will also signal the rest of the colonists not to depart
our planet just yet."
He turned to Tedak. "I am very sorry to have inconvenienced you and the
admiral, Mr Ambassador," he said, then turned his head towards the Debrune
council, "and you all. We may have misunderstood the agreement. Meanwhile,
those families who are here, can they not be made useful in assisting the
terraforming project? It will give the Tekarans and the Debrune a chance to get
to know one another. I promise that the colonists will not be interfering with
the Debrune, but will merely stick to their assigned tasks."
He saw the Debrune Elder's expression darken and hastened to add: "If the
Debrune Council approves. Just a few men and women, it would not be entire
familied down here, merely a few people who are capable of helping out. Please....it
will keep the Tekarans at peace, and not a burden to Assaillant."
Tedak glanced at the Debrune Elders now. "He does have a point Revered
Elder. The families, especially the men, may riot if they are feeling they are
useless, and witheld from any useful job they can perform. Assaillant is not
equipped to provide work for every adult, and the Terraforming Project could
use all the help it can get. It would place less burden
on Starfleet personnel, who must patrol the area to make sure nobody interferes
with business here."
Somewhat later, the men turned as they heard the whine of the transporter. They
heard someone argue as the guards barred the newcomer's way into the council
chamber.
Outside, T'Val glared at the two guards who would not let her in. She was clad
in a long formal dress and a warm cloak. On her arms, she carried her son who
took in his surroundings with remarkable intelligence in his eyes.
"You will let me pass," she demanded, "the
Divine Child will not be denied access to this building. It is his heritage and
his right to be here. As his mother, I will not be denied either."
She glanced past the guards at the approaching men. Casting down her eyes
briefly, she made a light bow towards the elders. "Reverend Elders, please
tell your guards that they shall not bar the Divine Child entrance to this building."
D'Beren, recognizing Elder JakDor, held out his tiny arms to the man.
Surprised, T'Val held out the child to him. "For one so young he shows
remarkable intelligence and understanding," she commented. Her expression
quickly changed from a mask of annoyance to a pleased expression. "He has
spoken only one word so far," she added, happiness showing on her face
now.
She joined her husband's side, as the elder held the child. She watched his
discomfort for a moment, while the child only seemed to want to be hugged by
the older man. At last, the child squirmed and held out his hands back to
T'Val. "ma," he babbled, reaching for her.
"See?" T'Val asked, "and I did not teach him that either."
JakDor smiled inwardly as he watched Magellan and Tedak try to placate the
Tekaran delegation. Things seemed be going exactly as planned. He had written
up the colonization plans in the hope that they would create some anger and
give the Debrune a good bargaining position. He continued to allow the
Federation types to mediate the negotiation.
After several minutes of Magellan speaking to them, the Tekarans seemed to
settle a little. Finally, Magellan turned to the Debrune Council and said
"Jak'dor please remember Qualinost is a Federation planet now."
JakDor opened his mouth to speak, but quickly changed his mind about what he
was going to say. It was time for the carrot now, not the stick. "Thank
you Admiral, I am aware that the planet is mostly under Federation control now,
except for the areas that were ceded to the Debrune by agreement. I have no
intention of refusing to allow the Tekarans to land on Qualinost, as long as
they are within the boundaries that I have set out in the information packet I
handed out earlier. If you wish to land people immediately, you of course can.
I would do nothing to block you from settling on this planet..."
The other people at the meeting returned to the information packets. The
Tekarans had looked a bit hopeful after JakDor had finished speaking, but
started to look upset again at the areas JakDor had laid out. They were some of
the more desolate areas of the planet, far from the Debrune city.
"You have placed us in some of the most inhospitable areas that are
available on the planet. There are no places for colony ships to land nearby.
Our people would be forced to travel over difficult terrain for a long distance
in order to reach the places you offer" the leader of the Tekaran
delegation complained.
"I'm sorry. I hadn't realized how unprepared your people were for the
rigors of colonizing a new planet. The Debrune had colonized many worlds. We
have found that such discomforts are a fact of colonization" JakDor said,
narrowing his eyes. "If the Tekarans wish, you could take areas nearer the
At that moment, JakDor and the rest of the Debrune Elders turned towards the
main doors of the hall. A few seconds later, a commotion erupted at the door.
Everyone else around the table turned as well to see a Vulcan female in a long
flowing robe approaching. She was yelling something angrily, but JakDor's
attention was entirely taken up by the tiny shape in her arms. The Divine Child
had arrived. D'Beren held out his arms to JakDor, and T'Val quickly handed him
over.
JakDor was bemused by the tiny infant he had come so far to find, but his
concentration was disturbed by the angry Vulcan lecturing everyone in the room. "You will let me pass, the Divine Child will not be denied access to this
building. It is his heritage and his right to be here. As his mother, I will
not be denied either. Reverend Elders, please tell your guards that they shall
not bar the Divine Child entrance to this building."
JakDor was extremely displeased by T'Vals behaviour. "Healer T'Val, the
Divine Child has every right to enter this Hall, as has his biological mother,
his blood relatives or anyone who has been invited. You are none of these. In
addition, I find your behaviour appalling for a Vulcan. Your outbursts have no
place here, and no place in D'Beren's future. If you
do not take heed of what I'm saying, your position as the guardian of the
Divine Child is in doubt."
JakDor's words quickly quashed T'Vals anger, and D'Beren, sensing her
discomfort, started squirming in the Elders arms to get back to her. JakDor
hesitated in handing the boy back. Something T'Val noticed and her eyes opened
wide with alarm. Relenting slowly, he allowed T'Val to take the boy.
Turning back to the Tekarans, he waited for a few minutes until saying
"Well gentlemen, what do you think of my proposal?"
"We agree," the Tekarans said, finding themselves suddenly feeling
very uncomfortable.
At the side Tedak glared at the Debrune Elder. ~who is he to decide for the
child? Who found him and cared for him? If not for us, the child would
certainly have died, and they would have had nothing to bargain over~ he
thought, he jaws working in held back anger.
Sensing his mother's distress, D'Beren wrapped his little arms around her
tightly. "Mama," he said urgently, "mama....no cry.." The child was picking up on vocabulary extremely
fast for an infant, something which surprised even the Council. The child
turned, and cast his eyes on the Elders, but refused to say another word to
them, then returned his attention to T'Val.
With rising surprise, Tedak regarded them. "Who's comforting who
now?" he asked aloud, chuckling.
"We agree," the Tekarans said.
JakDor started slightly in surprise. He had been expecting a bit more
resistance than that to his little plan. He was starting to think that he had
his tiny enclave of Debrune could negotiate the delivery of the entire
Federation into his hands.
Looking around, he could see the troubled eyes of Foremost KayRon watching
T'Val and the Child together, then turn to him. JakDor
could tell what his Foremost's was thinking. He had originally agreed to leave
the child with a Vulcan as he had hoped that some of the cold emotional control
of that race could be learned by the Child. However, it seemed that T'Val was
not entirely stable for a Vulcan, and prone to angry outbursts. She didn't seem
to be a suitable guardian at all, and he seemed to have underestimated the
influence of Tedak on T'Val, which might explain her lack of emotional control.
JakDor and the rest of the Elder Council excused themselves from the hall, in
order to debate whether or not T'Val would be allowed to keep the child.
JakDor stood behind a stone column and closed his eyes. He could sense the
approach of the Divine Child.
He had managed to delay the meeting regarding T'Val for about an hour. That was
a far as he could put off the Elder Council. He regretted the necessity, as he
knew that KayRon would be talking to the other members, trying to find support,
but there was no choice.
He spent the few quiet minutes that he had considering his problem. The future
of the Debrune would require a strong leader, and it was entirely possible that
leader might be D'Beren. The prophecy wasn't clear on that. However, there was
a brief mention that someone would step forward to claim the child, and T'Val
had been the only one to do so.
JakDor had followed the prophecy, and was now regretting that decision. A
leader needed strong training, and he had hoped that the Vulcan philosophy
might provide that for the Divine Child. But T'Val seemed to be impulsive,
short tempered and combative. Traits that the Divine Child
did not need. It appeared that T'Val wasn't the correct person to bring
up the Divine Child.
JakDor shook his head. Following a prophecy wasn't as easy as it seemed. There
were more grey areas than he could count, and they all seemed capable of
swallowing the Debrune whole.
JakDor could hear the footsteps and knew without looking that T'Val carried the
Child with her. As she approached, he stepped out from behind the stone column
and waited.
T'Val
walked around the large hall, speaking quietly to D'Beren, telling him of
Debrune history, at least as much as she had so far managed to remember
herself. Some parts just fell into place, even though she had only read a
partial piece of documenting.
She didn't understand why the Elders wanted to take the child from her. She
sensed their apprehension at her earlier demand, but didn't understand it. It
had seemed right for her to demand it.
"See now," she told the child, as she readjusted his weight on her
arm, "see these pictures? Those are your forefathers there, and see
this?" She pointed at a particular picture. "That is your father, and
next to him your mother. They were guardians of the chamber we found you
in."
She stopped short and discovered she had almost collided with JakDor. She
looked up, and found him gazing at her intently. "Excuse me," she
said, taking a small step back, "I was just telling D'Beren about Debrune
history, and his biological parents. Now that I see you, perhaps you could aid
me in telling him about his parents actual task? I
fear that most of that part is still a blank to me."
As JakDor
stared at the two of them, a line from the Prophecy of the Divine Light came
into his mind. And the line that became a circle of one to two to three shall
begin to close in the bonding of two to one. And in the shadow of two to one,
the Divine Child shall find sanctuary, and the circle will become a line.
Those lines had puzzled him for many years, until he
had seen T'Val and Tedak together. Vulcan and Romulan split apart and then
brought together, and in their shadow, D'Beren will find his way.
JakDor came back to the present to find T'Val staring at him expectantly.
"Sorry. D'Beren's parent disappeared from our colony on Varan 4 many years
ago. It was very mysterious at the time, and remains so to this day. Two were
only in their early 20's at the time, and were to marry. It was assumed that
they had been in some kind of accident together, and the bodies never found.
How they came to here on the Holy Qua'ee'nos is beyond me. Some higher
intervention must have occurred. Their names were Splan and I'nara."
Both T'Val and D'Beren were watching as JakDor spoke. However, there was
something he needed to talk about that was more pressing than a history lesson.
"T'Val, I feel that you would very much like to be able to keep
D'Beren." The Healer opened her eyes wide and nodded emphatically. "I
thought as much. As Supreme Elder, my word is law among the Debrune, yet that
only remains true as long as they follow. There is a small faction in the Elder
Council that believes I have made a mistake in following the call of the Divine
Child, and that giving the child into your care is a greater mistake. Having
watched your actions, I am starting to believe the same thing. What do you say
to that?" JakDor crossed his arms and watched the Vulcan woman carefully.
T'Val gazed at the Elder, confusion crossing her face.
"I fear I do not understand Elder," she replied, just barely managing
to keep emotion she didn't even understand out of her voice.
In her arms, D'Beren stirred and wanted to turn to look at the elder. She
adjusted his position in her arms, and continued to gaze at the elder.
"Have I done something wrong?" she finally asked, after a long
silence. Apparently, something had gone wrong,
otherwise JakDor would not be asking her this.
Re: MISSION 1.6 Robbing Peter to pay Paul
Post by Alex
Dixon/Richard Jibb on
"Have you done something wrong?"JakDor repeated. "I'm not sure.
There is never anything wrong with being who you are. However, D'Beren needs
many things, foremost among them is a mother who can teach
him to control his emotions. There are many women among the Debrune who would
be willing to care for the Divine child. Unfortunately, they will also teach
him our worst habits. If D'Beren is to ever lead the Debrune, he must be able
to bridge the gap between the Debrune and the rest of the Alpha Quadrant. There
is no Debrune woman who can do that, which leaves me with you."
JakDor continues. "T'Val, I appreciate your devotion to D'Beren. However,
unless you cease your odd behaviour, both of our situations might become
unbalance."
T'Val's look became puzzled, so JakDor went on. "There are some among my
Council who feel that you should not have been appointed Guardian. If that
decision causes me to lose my position as Supreme Elder, whoever replaces me may
attempt to use political pressure to have D'Beren returned to the Debrune. I
will have no say in the matter is I lose my position.
If you would like to keep D'Beren, you must attempt to regain the emotional
control that the Vulcans are famous for."
Finished explaining the situation, JakDor awaited T'Val's response.
"I...," T'Val began, then hesitated, her
confusion growing. "Elder, I am being who I am...control is everything for
me. I do not understand these outbursts, I have been
meditating but cannot find an answer. I am Vulcan, I
am not supposed to have these outbursts." Suddenly her eyes widen, as
something occurs to her. "Could it be...." she wondered aloud.
She looks up at the Elder. "Something is going on. It is possible Tedak is
going into the Pon Far, something very rare for Romulans but it is possible. If
it is not, then someone is using me, channeling any suppressed emotion I have.
I feel a strong connection with the Divine Child, as if he were my own. I do
not understand this connection. Having no children of my own, I do not know
what mother instinct is, but I have seen other young mothers display exactly
what I have been doing. I ask for guidance reverend Elder,
what am I to do, so that you will be assured of your position and I as guardian
of D'Beren?"
After thinking for a very long moment, T'Val shook her head. She recalled
Tedak's medical record, and if he had ever entered the Vulcan Pon Farr, then it
should have been in his record. She clanced sideways, to
where her bondmate was talking to the Tekarans and Magellan. He looked
very calm, not prone to angry outbursts or any other symptom that usually came
with Pon Farr. Touching their bond, there was nothing there that even suggested
something that could lead to the blood fever.
"No," she finally said aloud, "it is not Pon Farr. Since it is
not, I am at a loss as so what it acn be." She gazes at JakDor with
pleading eyes, even though her facial expression is an emotionless mask.
"Please help me find out what is wrong," she finally asked.
JakDor needed answers, but there were none to be had here. Looking over at the
Federation and Tekaran delegation, he could see they were all distracted. There
wouldn't be a better time.
Looking back at T'Val, he said "Come with me." The Elder turned and
walked towards a section of wall hidden by a massive column of stone.
Soundlessly, the section slid aside and JakDor walked into the inky darkness.
T'Val hastily stepped after him, only just managing D'Beren from crying out
with glee. For the boy, this was one mighty adventure, but for the adults, this
was deadly serious.
T'Val waited quietly in the darkness, until the elder would speak again. She
found the darkness disquieting even though it held somewhat of a sense of peace
and tranquility. In her arms, D'Beren had gone completely silent too. He had
stopped squirming and his breathing had slowed, as if he was asleep.
JakDor quietly led T'Val and the Child through the Transport Portal. There were
a series of them all over the City. It was a safe form of interdimensional
transport, undetectable by standard Federation scans. They were only activated
by the presence of access keys available to the Elder Council.
JakDor had led his companions to the main medical facility in the City. It's bright lights made him squint slightly. He turned and
was surprised to see that T'Val and the child seemed to be asleep. There was a
slight anesthetic in the air, keyed to Debrune DNA which tended to keep Debrune
patients calm. The Debrune race was quite excitable and disliked being cooped
up in hospitals, and the airborne calming agent helped keep things under
control. The Elder Council took injections to avoid the effect, but the
surprise was the T'Val was responding to it the same way D'Beren was.
Gently, JakDor led T'Val to a medical receptacle and placed her inside after
removing D'beren from her arms. The child was then placed in his own
receptacle. The Elder turned to the medical console and started a full scan on
T'Val. It was done after a few seconds and he took a look at the results.
Serotonin levels were fairly low for a Vulcan, and Dopamine levels were high.
That would explain her unusual behaviour.
JakDor took a long look at her brainwave function. They also looked a little
strange for a Vulcan. Puzzled, he looked over at the two of them. D'Beren
shifted slightly in his sleep, and then T'Val did as well. Startled, JakDor ran
a scan on D'Beren's brain function and compared the results.
The two scans were very different of course, but as he watched, the appparently
random peaks and valleys came briefly into synch. JakDor looked over quickly
both shifted slightly, in unison.
It seemed that the Divine Child had Imprinted T'Val, and his emotions were
affecting the Vulcan Healer. JakDor moved to a storage area and selected
containers of Acetycholine and Kironide. After checking T'Val's readout again,
he selected a suitable dosage and injected them into her arm. These would allow
T'Val to retain control. Unfortunately, they would also have to be administered
on a regular basis.
JakDor got T'Val to her feet, picked up D'Beren and led her to the Transport
Portal, knowing that she would come out from the anesthesia in a few minutes,
having only a slight headache from the injection.
T'Val woke up and found herself standing beside
JakDor, who was holding D'Beren. She didn't remember falling asleep but for
some reason she felt refreshed despite her sudden headache. "What
happened?" T'Val asked, as she rubbed her temples.
She listened quietly to JakDor explaining his findings. "That
is....unusual to say the least," she replied, surprise rising, "do
you have any idea how this is possible? I have heard of mind control and races
able to do it. I am able, to a certain extend but I use it only when needed, as
a doctor."
She listened again, as the three of them were
transported back to the where they had come from previously. "I thank thee
for thy assistance," T'Val said formally, "and I invite thee to come
visit thy Divine Child whenever thee wishes, however inconvenient it is for
me." She paused. "Unless I am in surgery or at night, thee can visit at all times."
With those words, T'Val took her leave from the Elder, and beamed back to
Assaillant, after making sure that Tedak and the Tekaran delegation had left
already.
JakDor returned to the Debrune Medical facility and reviewed his findings on
T'Val, shaking his head with regards to the things that he hadn't passed on to
T'Val. The primary one was that she had amounts of Debrune DNA in her, which
was why the Debrune anesthetic worked on her.
Once the rest of the Debrune were here, he could begin sifting through them to
find a DNA match, which might tell him how this had happened.
However, there was nothing else to do now. JakDor gathered his information and
headed to the Elder Meeting.