Routine Thoughts

[H.G. Reed 0]

Well into the night watch, the ship’s corridors were quiet and mostly deserted as H.G. silently made her way through them. Although she had planned on having a swim earlier in the watch, she had been detained in dealing with a mistake made by the laundry personnel: uniforms belonging to Petty Officer Reezes, who worked as a field coil specialist in the engineering, had been mistakenly delivered to her quarters. The error had been somewhat amusing, as, although she was shorter than average for a human, she was not by any means comparable in stature to the diminutive Tellarites.

 

She nodded politely to a pair of crewmen working on an open EPS conduit, who had moved to allow her to pass by, as her thoughts shifted to their current mission. Something was bothering her, but she could not yet articulate what it was. There seemed to be quite a few variables floating around in this equation, so many that solving it, she feared, could eventually end in disaster. Perhaps it would help if she focused on the outliers once more, endeavouring to determine how they factored in? Although Commander Ba’alyo had stated that the Klingons did not currently have a presence in the Tellun Systems, there had been reports of Klingon vessels on long range sensors at several different junctures during this mission, which was disconcerting.

 

H.G. also found it curious that the ship the Challenger had pursued into the Lantaru Sector was Klingon in origin, but had been operated by a Romulan crew. Was it possible that the other Klingon vessels they had detected might also be under the control of the Romulans? Could the Romulans be attempting to incite conflict between the Elasians and the Troyians for some nefarious purpose? While the probability of Romulan involvement was unknown, given the circumstances, it ought not be totally discounted.

 

Another interesting factor was the sudden illness of the Vulcan Ambassador who had come aboard while the Challenger was docked at Epsilon 7. While H.G. had not been fully briefed regarding the matter, she had heard enough to know that foul play was suspected. The Ambassador had immediately fallen ill upon his return from a state dinner hosted by the Elasians. If he had been poisoned, she wondered who had done so, and why. Given the relationship between Vulcans and Romulans, this was yet another indication that the Romulans might somehow be involved. While H.G. had had limited interaction with Romulans, she knew that aside from a few cosmetic differences, they physically resembled Vulcans. Culturally and temperamentally, however, the differences between the two were immense in both number and significance.

Sighing, she entered the gym, wondering if perhaps she wasn’t just being fanciful again. Currently, she had no tangible evidence that Romulans had any involvement in these matters. She was most likely allowing her overactive imagination to get the better of her good sense. All the tension and stress of this mission, and everything currently taking place aboard ship, could be making her paranoid, seeing plots where they did not exist.

 

As she wandered into the changing room, her thoughts moved to the tetryon signature which Lieutenant Poldara had discovered. That was another variable that needed to be investigated, as it could potentially pose a threat. At the very least, they ought to discover the origin and source of those readings. She headed towards the pool, beginning to muse over the possible ways they might scrutinize the phenomena. Their sensors were already tasked with keeping track of ship movements in the region, but if she worked with Poldara and Ensign Freeman, they could possibly come up with some way to look into the matter.