The Darkness

[Cptn Corizon 0]

The diversionary trip to the Uturian Cloud had produced some interesting scans...if you were a scientist. Corizon was not. Nevertheless, he'd pretended to be interested as his science teams and his ever trusty Chief of Science Marcos Jakobi rattled on for hours about how fascinating the phenomena was to them. It had come as a small relief to Corizon, however, when the phenomena dissipated and it was no longer an object of interest for his team.

 

Oberon had spent nearly two weeks studying the peculiarity of the whole thing, and Corizon was ready to move on. With no other orders in hand or anything else of note going on in their current sector, he'd directed the helm to make for Qalarn sector where they'd be getting scattered reports of unusual energy bursts from deep space.

 

He'd retired for the evening and was sitting in his dimly-lit quarters reading a book a friend had sent him just before Oberon sat sail--"He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision,—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath—"'The horror! The horror!'--he wasn't quite sure what the unspoken message was exactly, but was sure that the humans history was as bloody as any in the Federation.

 

Sitting the book down on his lap, he leaned back in the leather chase he currently occupied and yawned furiously. It was just then that he heard the precursory chirp that meant he was about to get comm.'d from the bridge. Sitting up he patiently waited the few seconds it took for Ensign Mi'jJho's awkward, yet articulate voice to pipe into his quarters.

 

“Captain,” Mi'jJho said in his usual eerie tone. “I have correspondence fromStarbase One-thirteen, Admiral Nikata on for you personally.”

 

The E'xctejn phrasing had initially caused Corizon to do double takes, but after a few weeks, he'd began to understand the awkwardness of the mop of tentacles and air-sacks.

 

“Put the Admiral on down here, Ensign.”

 

“Sir, yes.”

 

Smiling despite himself at the E'xctejn, Corizon moved to his desk and hit the button causing a monitor to rise from the table. The Starfleet 'parabola' soon appeared on the screen and vanished into Nikata's angular face. Corizon tipped his head slightly, then brought his yellow eyes to bare on the Admiral.

 

“Admiral.”

 

“Captain.”

 

“It's good to talk to you again, something I can do for you.”

 

“Yes, Captain.” Nikata's voice belied something, but Corizon couldn't be sure what exactly it was. “I understand that your heading towards the Qalarn sector?”

 

“That's correct, we've got scattered reports of high-energy bursts coming from deep-space,” Corizon said politely. “We thought we'd check it out.”

 

“I am going to need to divert you from Qalarn...there some trouble going on in the Wakith system and we're advising ships to stay clear of that sector.”

 

Lifting his eyebrows and ears, Corizon narrowed his glance towards the Rear-Admiral. He'd not heard anything about anything going on in Wakith. It was an unusual play for Starfleet to be sure. “I hadn't heard of anything going on in that system, may I ask what kind of trouble?”

 

“Oh...nothing major just a local problem,” the Admiral said as his eyes darted off screen for the very briefest of moments. “We'd just rather not get any of our ships tangled up in it.”

 

“I see,” Corizon said, hiding his curiosity. “What would you like us to do instead.”

 

“I understand the Amagori Outpost is having trouble with their relay network perhaps you could give them a hand.”

 

Corizon started to speak, but caught a slight glance from Nikata that said everything he needed to know. “Understood Admiral, we'll make course for the Amagori Outpost.”

 

“Very well, have a safe trip, Captain. Starbase 113 out.”

 

The screen flashed the 'parabola' again before descending out of sight and into the desk. Corizon was left once more in the dim light of his quarters with more questions than answers.

 

If they were trying to divert people away from Wakith...Amagori really wasn't the place to be sending them. It was only a dozen hours away from the edges of the Qularn sector, but then how many people really knew that much about Amagori? The only reason Corizon had known anything about it was from the Dominion War.

 

The Dominion had made a serious attempt at getting control of Amagori because it was in range of Starfleet's Soramaro Arrai, one of the most advanced communication arrays in quadrant. Other than that though, Amagori was relatively unimportant.

 

“Helm,” he said tapping his direct line to the bridge. “Alter course to take us to the Amagori Outpost.”

 

“Yes, sir,” came the quick response, though Corizon didn't recognize the voice.

 

Looking back to his book that laid on the chair he made his way over and picked it up and sat backdown. Back into the Heart of Darkness he thought to himself. In so many ways.