"Of Avalon Transmitters"

[Dox Maturin 0]

"Of Avalon Transmitters"

Duty Log - 0705.14

 

Dox settled into a tight chair in the main science lab. The panel in front of him, labeled terminal 4, showed a small progress bar from the signal it was receiving from the tricorder on the desk top. The tricorder blinked rapidly, sending the Excalibur computer the data it had collected from the away mission. They had just returned, and Dox had changed out of his bulky warmer jacket into a fresh new tunic.

 

The information he gathered had been quite extensive. The symbols on the door, which he had immediately tried to identify when he returned to the ship, could not be found anywhere in the database. There were a few sections of the array of symbols that were similar to the Sumatris, a pre-warp civilization in the Gamma that was conquered (or rather, extracted) by the Dominion and used for manual labor. Perhaps, Dox thought, these symbols were a derivative of that language. It was possible that the room they discovered was built in part by Sumatris laborers.

 

Unfortunately, all of the information he had only brought more questions rather than answers. The only piece of equipment he could identify, and then only because he had seen one before, was the Dominion transmitter in the center of the room. He knew immediately that it and everything else in the room was Dominion in origin. The labels and computer interfaces were written in the universal language of the Dominion, a language whose origin was unknown but likely a combination of several of the original races that made up its foundation. Although Dox could not speak it - a skill not often pursued with the great ease and convenience of the universal translator - he was quite proficient in reading and writing it.

 

This was oddly a unique skill he had found amongst his fellow officers. The Federation had issued a language packet for the Dominion soon after the war began, but it was few who took the time to study and learn the language. Perhaps it was a lack of interest, or foresight to believe it would come in use, or perhaps it was because the cryptic nature of the language made it difficult to learn. Even so, Dox had found it useful knowledge many times before. In fact, he had been the only one in his small company on the planet Andaman to be able to read the labels on the food storage containers during their raids on the Dominion outpost. It also meant that he had been recruited to join in each raid, despite being a lowly triage assistant, and ultimately lead to his capture.

 

Dox set his hands onto the desk and eyed his missing finger. The Vorta typically used neurological-interface equipment to extract information from prisoners. But what would a Vorta do if he had no power, no equipment, and was exhausted, frustrated, and needed to extract the strength and whereabouts of a marine platoon? There were so many things Dox would prefer to simply forget ever happened. Looking into the dead eyes of a Vorta and vomiting was certainly one of them.

 

In any case, his ability to read the language enabled him to shut down the transmission in the cave. He also managed to get a scan of the unit itself. This alone Dox felt was incredibly valuable. The caverns they were in were rich in sili-decim crystals, a mineral formed by high pressure and heat in silicon-iron rocks, quite similar to how Terran diamonds are formed. Sili-decim is quite common in the Gamma, and while his own tricorder signal was confused by the reflective nature of the rock, the special transmitter could penetrate it clearly. Dox forwarded his scans of the unit to engineering. With any luck, it could be used to develop a new scanning method to overcome this minor shortcoming.

 

But what had the room been used for? What was all the equipment for? Why did it have an emergency failsafe transmitter? There were just too many questions, and while Dox would have preferred they spend several days studying the room, here they were back on the ship. Waiting for something. What, Dox had not a single idea. Of course at his rank, he wasn't given much information in the first place.

 

There was good news, however. According to the daily roster, a new officer had just come aboard in science. Dox made a mental note to introduce himself when he had the chance. There was much for them to do.