Beyond Reason

[Chirakis 1]

Beyond Reason

 

Kirel flexed her arm several times as she paced the office floor, pausing occasionally to stare out the observation window at the USS Toronto. Its presence disturbed her. Why? That Cdr Standard had recruited one of Aegis’ best science officers probably had something to do with it, but Kirel suspected there was more to that gnawing feeling. Having one more starship added to the border patrol in their area was encouraging and for all intents and purposes things were going very well.

 

After a decade of neglect, Aegis was receiving the attention it desperately needed. In testimony to its dire physical state, the internal communications system continued to shuffle priorities and croak like an old crone. Case in point, the entire system had hiccuped, causing SubCenturion Korjata’s security clearance for the Children’s Home and Mr. Rov’s clearance for the entire station to mysteriously vanish, probably caught in the ether and sentenced to wander aimlessly or be forever lost. Therefore, security had not been notified and both Rov and SubCenturion Korjata were justifiably accosted by security personnel before they could perform their duties. Rather than relying on the system, then, Kirel had corrected the problem. Personally. Accompanied by several evil thoughts aimed at the communications system. After thanking SubCommander tr’Jeth Dabi for his diligence, she gave him an updated list of those with proper credentials. From her own files.

 

And yet, the ominous feeling persisted, for some reason triggered by the presence of the Toronto.

 

The subcutaneous implant inserted for SI-5 not long after she joined had been successfully and expertly removed. It would no longer bother her nor would it tempt her to “tag” future operatives. They were, after all, children. Children. Not objects to be tagged and shelved for future use. She’d never had a childhood; the children on this station deserved better.

 

Toronto. Why suddenly decide to upgrade the station and launch a starship prematurely, then have it dock here? It wasn’t an obsession, only a nagging question.

 

She had also learned, by devious means (crossing the bounds of telepathic propriety with her bondmate), that USS Missouri was in cartel space as a base of operations for a Starfleet elite commando unit. Putting that with the information from Sonny Lucas on Tekal Dorn, she supposed that Annisha’s friends were being rescued and those who had enslaved them were being dealt with severely.

 

As for the Children’s Home, the caretakers treated the children as they did their own. There had also been many joyous reunions - those thought lost had been found and reunited. A few had been adopted into stable, prosperous families.

 

Commerce was at an all-time high. Several new establishments had opened on the midway to accommodate an influx of mining companies moving into the asteroid belt. The shipyard’s progress was impressive. Fresh fruits and vegetables from the Deosi farm colony on TKR-117 regularly graced private dinner tables. Supplies came at regular intervals and cargo ships’ crews spent their wages liberally on the station, some even choosing to stay to establish way-stations for delivery of goods throughout Aegis space.

 

So why, with all these positive events, was there a gnawing in her gut?

 

With one last glance at USS Toronto, she turned to exit her office. Thirty standard minutes to alpha shift and there was one stone she had left unturned: science’s progress with the MS3 virus.