Welcome to Star Trek Simulation Forum

Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to contribute to this site by submitting your own content or replying to existing content. You'll be able to customize your profile, receive reputation points as a reward for submitting content, while also communicating with other members via your own private inbox, plus much more! This message will be removed once you have signed in.

Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0
Chirakis

Wrapped in an Enigma

Wrapped in an Enigma

Captain, I know you said your contacts are in the dark. But at least with Missouri, try to discover why we are the only two places experiencing this.”
~Commander Scott Coleridge

 


In the relative quiet of the Security Complex, Kirel paged through her files, looking for information that would point to the commander’s request: discover why Aegis and USS Missouri are the only two places that have experienced the “red dot” phenomenon, and why it insisted on using the Mission Operations console exclusively.  

She looked up to study one of the many screens that decorated her office, the screen focused on Nebula 236A.  A mark just to the left of mid-screen highlighted the red dot’s location within the nebula.  The red dot never moved from those coordinates, but it did move from one console to the other. It followed a live Mission Operations screen.  Mission Operations focused on external communication: communication between Aegis and starships in the vicinity.  Internal Operations—also known as Aux OPS—focused on communication within the station.  A dissimilarity.  A valuable dissimilarity that could be the reason for the red dot to focus on  External Communications.  In other words, something out there could easily be trying to communicate with Aegis and/or Missouri.

Pushing away from her desk, Kirel began to pace, which helped her think.  After pacing for some time, she decided to break a promise she made to herself long ago.  She needed assistance, and she knew where to get it.  As much as she disliked telepathic conversation, sometimes it had its perks.

Kh’éile,” she mentally called to her bondmate, Je'rit d'Ka, who busied himself with the same puzzle on USS Missouri.  “Are you occupied at the moment?”

After a few moments of silence, “Not especially,” he responded.

“A question regarding your ability, kh’éile.  Are you sensing anything from Nebula 236A?”

Again, a few moments of silence delayed his response.  “I will tell you what I told Captain Ramson, and that is that I sense something, but nothing that gives us information.”

She paused in her pacing to stare at the screen. “You sense something but you do not know what it is?”

Correct.  I can only describe it as being filtered from full communication. Blocked, you might say.”

“But you still hear, sense, and feel everything else?”

She sensed a snort, then a wry smile as he shook his head.  “More than I ever wish to hear, sense, and feel, kh’éile.  The price I pay for agreeing  to command a predominantly human crew.”

“Do you sense a threat?”

None at all.”

Over the next half hour, she and Captain d’Ka exchanged information and gathered some very interesting material.

Nebula 236A was not an ordinary nebula, it furnished a conduit from Breen space to reclusive communities just outside the space claimed by the Joint Allied Powers. USS Missouri  led Task Force Aegis and kept outsiders at bay and generally away from unwanted groups—especially black marketeers and the like—out of Joint Allied space.

Nebula 236A was also known for unpredictable nebular and electromagnetic shifts that drew ships off course.  It had been assumed that the exploratory science vessel, USS Vladivostok, was drawn off course within the nebula.  They were captured by a rogue group and left to die on a barren planetoid while the rogues took the ship into Breen space.  Vladivostok’s crew was subsequently found and rescued by two elements of USS Missouri’s Special Operations.

“Yes, I remember that well,” Kirel said.  The she  asked, “How did they survive in such a forbidding atmosphere with so little to keep them alive?”

There came a very long pause, during which Kirel could feel his slow mental shift to intense focus. “They were kept alive by a group of strange aliens who did not speak, nor did they show their true nature. They were completely covered with cloth.  According to their physician, the aliens tried to feed them, but they could barely stomach what they were fed.  Also….”  He paused again, sorting through his thoughts.  “Kh’éile, they saved the lives of some of the crew who had  gravely ill from malnourishment and exposure to the elements.”

Kirel waited, expecting more, then asked, “And the Special Operations elements that rescued them?  Did they see the aliens? Were they able to tell more?”

No,” he said after a pensive pause.  “Kh’éile, they never saw the aliens.  The aliens left no trace. Not a print in the snow that showed a ship landing or leaving.  USS Ramius was monitoring external starship movement during the operation, and they detected no ship leaving. It was as though the  aliens had ever been there.”
 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0