Of Visitors and Viruses

[Cptn Corizon 0]

Corizon shuffled through the reports on his desk. Mostly they weren’t addressed to him, but he was smart enough to keep up on everything his underlings sent to each other report wise. Though he doubted they were any the wiser. The latest from Crispin particularly piqued his interest; for some reason that boy sent pains up Corizon’s back on a regular basis. But on the lighter note, the virus had been contained and dealt with thanks to Doctor Tyler Felix’s fast work.

 

Corizon made a mental note to send him a thank you note. Getting rid of that headache deserved something, even if it was an entirely hollow gesture.

 

Letting the PADD with Crispin’s report shuffle to the other side of his desk, Corizon flipped through a few others; nothing worthy of his attention at the moment. He had an appointment with Lt. Sherayx of Camelot about requisitioning of parts for Morningstar. He also had an appointment with Captain Sorehl to discuss the latest Dominion intelligence. A meeting with the Delta-shift leaders, something he wasn’t looking forward to in the slightest.

 

Shoving his personal appointments calendar to the bottom of the stack, he glanced at the one containing station news. The freighter Aquaran was due to arrive with a host of civilians. He wasn’t sure that bringing civilians to Camelot was the best idea he heard lately, but then he wasn’t entirely sure that Camelot itself was a ‘good’ idea either.

 

He picked up the PADD with Crispin’s report on it and smiled wryly. Reaching across the table he tapped the communications consol. “Commander Kennin,” his voice calm and flat. “Please report to Commander Corizon’s office on Camelot.”

 

A few minutes passed before Corizon's door chimed politely, and Kennin's voice filtered over the comm. "You wanted something, Commander?"

 

"Yes, please come in." He stood moving from his desk towards the door. Kennin entered, a small frown line between his brows. He wasn't entirely certain whether to be suspicious or just nervous -- Corizon was rarely so polite to him.

 

"Have a seat Commander," he pointed to the small sitting area where a water pitcher and two glasses.

 

Watching Corizon out of the corner of his eye, Kennin sat. Corizon sat across from him pouring himself a glass of water. He had laid the PADD down in front of Kennin.

 

Kennin's eyes slipped to the PADD idly, skimming the phrases with only casual interest. Suddenly, one line jumped out at him, and he sat up straight as if suddenly jabbed with a pin.

 

"I thought you'd enjoy that," taking a drink of water. "I know I certainly did."

 

"He can't be serious?"

 

"You've worked with him more than I have," he sat the drink down again. "What do you think?"

 

"I think he's either certifiable or just plain stupid. If he thinks he's really going to get this approved..." Kennin looked hard at Corizon. "He's not, is he?"

 

"Of course not, you're the technical advisor to Morningstar, in fact why don't you let him know that.." Corizon's calmness belayed his somewhat nefarious intent. "Think you can handle that?"

 

"Oh... I think it'll be a pleasure, Commander."

 

"Good," Corizon smirked. "Drink?"

 

"Please." Kennin let a small smile creep across his face. It seemed somewhat out of place on his usual placid features... one might almost call it... well, evil. "You know, Commander, you're a bad influence."

 

Corizon poured him a drink of water and handed him the glass. "I haven't a clue what you’re talking about."

 

"Of course not." Kennin raised the glass in salute. "Cheers."

 

Corizon smiled, and raised the glass. "I do however have another question for you..." Kennin waited, one brow lifted in a manner that proved he'd spent too much time with Vulcans.

 

"Commander," he slid another PADD across the table that had been tucked neatly in his jacket pocket. "It's a rather interesting theory..."

 

"Of course it's a theory based on purile conjecture, all of which lacks any hard evidence..."

 

Kennin took the PADD and skimmed through it quickly. "Interesting, yes, but he makes some rather stunning leaps of logic." He set the PADD back down on the table.

 

Corizon glanced at Kennin. "At what point did I miss our shielding failing during the attack?"

 

Kennin shrugged. "We might have had a microfail in one grid, or a seam gap, but I certainly didn't notice it. And the timing involved would have to have been... incredible. Literally," he added.

 

"And wouldn't our internal sensors have detected the beam in?"

 

"Unless some tech was slacking in his matainence routines, yes."

 

"Why don't you find out for me," Corizon said sternly. "Meanwhile I'll check the sensor logs and see if that damned thing got brought aboard at Al-Ucard."

 

"Will do." Kennin sipped his water. "I take it you don't think it did get beamed aboard."

 

"Not really," he said. "Why would you go to the trouble of using him as a weapon, when you pretty much had us destroyed anyway. Not to mention that whatever virus that thing was carrying would have killed us and ran it's course before we got back to Camelot...assuming they knew where we were going..."

 

"As fast as that thing worked..." Kennin rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Al-Ucard would still have been too far away to affect Camelot. Unless the stuff is viable in the atmosphere for a while, and they were counting on someone doing a salvage."

 

"Any luck on figuring out that weapon?"

 

Corizon poured himself another drink of water, and put the glass to his lips. Kennin sighed and tossed back the last swallow of water in his glass.

 

"Not yet. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. I mean, sometimes it looks familiar, but then the equations just go... ######-eyed." He made a motion to the pitcher, got a nod, and poured himself another glass. "You're going to laugh, but... The thing this reminds me of most?"

 

Corizon tilted his head, ears cocked slightly upright. "What?"

 

"Well... It looks like some of the stuff from the MIDAS array -- you know, the one that made contact with Voyager? That's strictly communications, though."

 

"Interesting," he said curiously. "Have you looked at any of the subspace weapon information in the databank."

 

"I was going to," Kennin admitted, "but then they hauled me down to Camelot's medbay..."

 

"Let me know," he said nodding. "I was looking over the other weapon they used...some sort of Quantum Pulse. Who ever that was, they're more advanced than anything I've ever seen."

 

"Just what we didn't need," Kennin sighed. "Another enemy more advanced than us."

 

"My thoughts exactly," he nodded knowingly. "Well Commander, I am sure you have work to do, I know I do."

 

"Of course, Commander." Kennin set his glass down on the table with a soft clink. "I'll just go have a word with Mr. Xavier, perhaps."

 

"I'd appreciate that," Corizon said standing up. "It's still your baby."

 

Kennin chuckled as he also rose. "I've got an upgrade plan on my desk," he said. "Been working on it for about a month, and I think it's ready to deploy now. I'll forward it on to you, shall I?"

 

"Excellent."

 

As Kennin left Corizon slumped back into the chair he’d been sitting in. Really he kind of liked working out of this office as opposed to working on Mornignstar it reminded him of his job prior to being assigned to the Gamma Quadrant, and he was suddenly very nostalgic for the days when got to sit behind a desk and look at tactical assessments for the Tholians and the Gorn.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Aboard the Aquaran Captain Heath Stanbury smiled widely as the freighter made it’s final approach to Starbase Camelot. Thankfully the whole quarantine order had been lifted and he could drop of his passengers and cargo, refuel, and be back in the nice safe Alpha Quadrant before all hell broke loose in the Gamma Quadrant.

 

In retrospect, taking this job had been stupid, but at the time he needed the money. “Send to Camelot station, this is the Passenger Liner Aquaran requesting permission to dock.”

 

A few moments later, Sprint’s voice filled the speakers on the bridge of the Aquaran. “Welcome to Camelot,” his voice upbeat and cheery. “How long will you be staying for Aquaran?”

 

Stanbury glanced momentarily at the Bajoran woman seated a few feet from him. “Just long enough to unload our cargo and passengers and refuel. Then we’ll be on our way.”

 

“Understood, you may dock at Port 5. Docking crews will assist you with everything you need. Simple contact Flight Control when you’re ready to leave. Sprint out.”

 

“Accommodating,” the Bajoran woman said smiling.

 

Stanbury smirked. “Don’t think you’re talking me into staying one moment longer than I have to in this godforsaken Quadrant.”

 

She could only smile.

 

~ ~ ~

 

In the Medbay on Camelot, Doctor Tyler Felix looked over his very curious new patient. Though he wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to be curing about him. From what he could tell, the man literally had thousands of the viral spores laying beneath his skin in tiny microscopic pouches.

 

Further complicating things, was the fact that he didn’t seem to be suffering from the virus at all. In fact, Felix couldn’t pinpoint why the man had passed out at all. Of course it would help if he had the foggiest clue what he was and what was normal for the creature. He seemed to be slightly reptilian in nature, but that was only conjecture, and Felix couldn’t even start guessing where he was from.

 

In deed the guy…he assumed…was quite the mystery. Part of him wanted to wake him up, but part of him—the more logical part—reminded him that he hadn’t the foggiest clue how to do that.

 

So, in the mean time, Felix had dedicated himself to studying the viral spore. In all his medical years, he’d never seen anything like it. Normally you saw bacterial spores, as a virus in essence is little more than strand of DNA or RNA with some protein covering. But this was different, It seemed that the virus had a bacterial spore protecting it, and somehow working as a delivery method.

 

When the spores where inhaled, the body would destroy the spores, but not before the virus inside of the spore attacked the bodies leucocytes, and anything else for that matter. Curing it, was a matter of introducing leucocytes that killed the spores, with out activating the virus inside. At any rate, it was a wonder of genetics that fascinated him, and would likely be all the talk back at Starfleet Medical when his reports finally made it back to San Francisco.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Propped on the arm of the couch in his office, Corizon ran his hands through his silver hair, stopping only to give a slight scratch at his ears before letting his hands work down his tensed shoulders and giving them a slight rub as he let his head bow slightly and his eyes flickered shut.

 

“Computer,” his smooth, yet paradoxically tense voice called. “Lights, thirty percent. Resume last playback.”

 

After a monotone beep, the lights in his office dimmed, and the soft gentle sounds of music began to filter into the room. The music was low, and accenting an odd yet soothing vocal.

 

As the music followed, Corizon closed his eyes, focusing only on the sound of the voice. And just as he began to enter a meditative state, the obtuse sound of his doorbell shook him from the state. He growled, making himself remember that he couldn’t rip whoever this was to shreds, it would make a mess on the carpet.

 

“Enter,” his voice sharp, displeased, and generally agitated.

 

“Ah-Windu Corizon…”

 

He turned hearing his full name, sans title, curios to who his visitor was. “Setting a romantic atmosphere?”

 

Corizon blinked, not expecting the visitor. “Actually,” the irritation quickly fading, “I was hoping to avoid people like you.”

 

“I see you’re notion of hospitality hasn’t changed.”

 

“You know me, Computer, Lights.”

 

As the lights brightened, the specter that had been his visitor came more clearly into view. He was Dameon, medium height and build. Dressed in a finely woven black jacket that most closely resembled a haori, with patterned white and grey kimono beneath, and a black hakama over the kimono but beneath the haori jacket; he also wore neck order, hanging from deep purple velvet ribbon. The order comprised of a single golden star, wreathed in flame, with a silver sword in the center. His face, worn with age, had four, two on either side, deep purple marks, like claws stretching from the crest of his gentle cheekbones to his silver hairline. On his forehead, he bore a crescent moon, with a sword through the center, of the same color purple.

 

“All to well I am afraid,” Corizon continued welcoming the other Dameon into the room. “Have a seat.”

 

“It is good to see you again,” he said as he took a seat. “I was frankly surprised when I heard you were being transferred to the Gamma Quadrant. I never thought they’d get you out from behind a desk…it appears they haven’t.”

 

Corizon chuckled ever so slightly, “And look at you Ambassador Tyan-ji. I never thought they’d get you to stay on Earth. It appears they haven’t.”

 

The two looked at one an other with amused grins. “Tell me,” Tyan-ji said, “How do you like the fleet life.”

 

“It could be worse.”

 

Tyan-ji chuckled. “I see you haven’t lost the infamous Corizon gift of understatement.”

 

“Tell me,” Corizon said, letting his ears lay to either side. “Why has the highest ranking Dameon Ambassador made a trip all the way to the Gamma Quadrant…it’s not even tourist season.”

 

Studying Corizon carefully, formulating a response, “I suppose you wouldn’t believe me if I said an old family friend was coming to see his garrrka, now would you?”

 

The two smirked at each other. It had been almost three years since they’d seen one an other. Tyan-ji had been a friend of Ah-Windu’s father, close enough for Tyan-ji to take Ah-Windu as his ¬garrrka, roughly translated to godson.

 

“Given the fact I know this old family friend,” Corizon said ruefully. “No.”

 

Tyan-ji smirked, “Always a bright one you were, even as a pup.”

 

“Well then, why have you come to see me?”

 

“Well, really I didn’t come to see you,” Tyan-ji said sitting up straighter on the couch. “You’re the bonus.”

 

“Oh?” Corizon’s interested was now piqued, and his ears stood at attention.

 

“I am sure,” pausing ever so slightly, “given your…position, you know what that Vulcan woman has proposed.”

 

Tyan-ji scoffed, his ears pinned back, “Well not really her so much as the hachgg bah of a Vorta Weyoun.”

 

A glazed and slightly annoyed look fell over his face. “Yes,” Corizon hid the annoyance, though his ears moved stiffly backwards. “What of it?”

 

“It has been brought before the Council,” Tyan-ji’s own annoyance obvious.

 

“And they of course see the merit to the proposal.”

 

Giving a slight nod, “Yes they do.”

 

“I can’t disagree with them, that if our interest is in having stability in the Gamma Quadrant, that her council is needed.”

 

“…If our interest is in having a stable presence in the Gamma Quadrant,” Tyan-ji repeated that phrase rhetorically. “There are those on the Federation Council, and in Starfleet Command who do not think that is where our interests should be…”

 

“To say nothing of our allies,” Corizon finished the thought.

 

“Well,” Tyan-ji smirked, letting the annoyance subside for the moment. “We weren’t planning on telling them one way or the other.”

 

Corizon smirked, a bit surprised. “So what has the council decided?”

 

“They have decided to…provisionally grant the request.”

 

“Provisionally?” ears and eyebrows quirked.

 

“You’re looking at the provision.”

 

Corizon smirk widened. “Oh really?”

 

“Well yes, the Vorta will be transported off the station and very secretly into the Alpha Quadrant within the next few weeks on a transport shuttle.”

 

“And you’ll be going with him?”

 

“No.”

 

Corizon blinked a mental, NO?

 

“No,” Tyan-ji said firmly. “I will be staying here to keep an eye on the little green blood, especially when the Vorta comes back. If I think we’re compromising the Federation’s security interests, I have the authority to shut this whole operation down and let the Dominion solve it’s own problems.”

 

Corizon couldn’t hide his surprise. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that.”

 

“No, I don’t suppose you were. But then, you’re not supposed to know any of this, if you get my drift.”

 

“If I didn’t know better,” Corizon said shaking his head. “I’d say a bunch of Romulans were running the council these days.”

 

“I think,” Tyan-ji said musingly, “If it weren’t for that Ambassador N’Kedre, they just might have been.”

 

The two smirked again, only shaking their heads. “Well Corizon, I am tired from my journey, and I am sure you have paper work you want to do. How about dinner?”

 

“Sure,” he said grinning, showing his fangs. “I’ll come pick you up. Sure you can find you’re way to the Ambassadorial wing?”

 

“I’ll just follow my nose, at worst I’ll find the Klingons…”