Mission Report... Plus

[Rhean t'Valae 0]

Rhean sat in her quarters, dressed in clean clothes and typing her mission report with much muttering to herself and revising.

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INTERNAL ETREHH COMMUNICATIONS FILE

SENDER: T'VALAE, RHEAN

ATTENTION: KHRE'RIOV T'REXAN

SUBJ: MISSION REPORT, [PLANET NAME]

 

Khre'Riov, my compliments, and permit me to report on the events of this our most recent mission.

 

Our objective was to locate and apprehend a Tal Shiar spy who had stolen an REF and ground to ground on [planet name]. With your indulgence, rekkhai, I shall dispense with the preliminaries of the mission leading to our insertion at the spaceport. No doubt these events are better related by those who played a greater role in them.

 

Upon entry, we assumed the garb and role of various dockworkers, as we came upon suitable camouflage. My assumed identity placed me in such position as to load cargo crates onto a ship docked in port. By itself this should be nothing suspicious, but for that the ship was of Sheliak origin. Despite our best efforts, we remain uncertain how and why the Tal Shiar came to ally themselves with the Sheliak.

 

Alliance, though, it must be, for the crates we loaded contained not merely the foodstuffs so abundant on that world, but also spare parts and weapons, some with the Galae's own mark still on them. Indeed, we found crates labelled for delivery to Talon itself slated for loading. Attached is a listing of all the cargo codes I was able to record. Beyond the disturbing implications of the Tal Shiar-Sheliak alliance, the presence of these supplies begs the question of what is being given to those ships which were intended to receive them. Either we now have several ships un- or under-supplied, supplied with substandard replacements, or someone has double-ordered them. It would be instructional to determine which case is true.

 

Once the Sheliak vessel was fully loaded, we were able to investigate the complex further. The Elements favored us, clearly, for we quickly stumbled across the REF stolen by the traitor, and at the same time picked up indications of his presence. Arrain tr'Khev and I investigated the REF. Obtaining access was not difficult, although the traitor had locked it down. I append some few suggestions to improve our security for the future. Such was our ease of entry, however, that we came to suspect the vessel was booby-trapped. Proceeding with caution, we discovered no such traps, but also no useful information.

 

At this point, we chanced to see the traitor walking with several Tal Shiar officers. We, and the rest of the team (excepting tr'NDak, who was absent and had been for some while) followed this group. They complained of the Sheliak arrogance, mentioned a coup, and stated that they possessed a full garrison and REF fleet.

 

There was discussion of capturing at least one of these officers, but el'Riov t'Aehjae ruled that it would draw too much attention to us. They continued their conversation with reference to "the deihu" and "his whelp"; presumably they refer to tr'NDaks father and son. There was much discussion on the subject of killing one or both of them, and a desire to destroy the Talon. Our means of eavesdropping was cut off shortly thereafter, and we repaired to a safe contact point to await Talon's check-in.

 

Tr'NDak rejoined us during our exit from the facility, and he and t'Aehjae had a heated argument while we awaited Talon's comm signal. He was no longer with us at the time of beam-out, however, so t'Aehjae remained behind to search for him and tr'Psichore, whom some thought we had seen in the port. We took supplied to the silo which had previously housed our party and then returned to the port. Tr'SBien rejoined us as we reached it. We were unable to apprehend the traitor, and tr'NDak apparently made his own transport arrangements, but we did gather further evidence regarding the diverted supplies. Unable to achieve any of our other objectives, we returned to the beam-out point.

 

Scanner datalogs are attached.

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She hit the SEND key and then sat there. She sat quietly for a long, long time, gazing thoughtfully at the screen, now empty but for the MESSAGE SENT confirmation glowing steadily. At last she began typing again.

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INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

PRIVATE

SENDER: T'VALAE, RHEAN

ATTENTION: KHRE'RIOV T'REXAN

 

Llhei, allow me to put before you a matter related to our most recent mission. I felt it inappropriately placed within the formal report; indeed, I confess an uncertainty in reporting it at all. But considerations of duty must needs take precedence over confidences kept. And perhaps it is no troublesome thing, at that; I hold myself unfit to judge.

 

While on planet I had occasion to speak with daise'erei'Riov tr'NDak in some privacy and at some length. The content of that conversation was thus:

 

We discussed the current situation, and his disappearance while on planet. He indicated that he had been following tr'Psichore, whom he believed to be a double agent. He then raised the subject of his family.

 

He told me that House s'NDak was disgraced in an incident involving his mother and a plot to use the Sheliak and the Dominion to destabilize the Gamma Quadrant. The Tal Shiar, he said, offered his father a chance to regain face by dealing with you, khre'Riov.

 

Apparently the resolution of that incident was unsatisfactory to them. Or the daise'erei'Riov has a healthy paranoia. In either event, he believes the Tal Shiar are trying to kill him, and further that they have been and will continue to try to kill you in order to remove him. I found that line of reasoning illogical, but he claims to have been threatened, should you die of anything but natural causes.

 

Beyond this, he told me little of any concrete use, although he did speculate that the alliance with the Sheliak may be prelude to a coup. Although he protested ignorance, there was something about his body language that suggested her knew more than he was telling.

 

It seems like a small amount of information, khre'Riov, and perhaps unimportant as well, but instinct tells me there is something more at work. Forgive me if I trouble you with matters you already have well in hand.

 

By my hand,

Rhean t'Valae