Reg's Adventure Chapter 11

"Whatever Happened To...?"

Reg, Elizabeth, and David exited the High Council chambers and walked towards a transport tube. Reg absent-mindedly said to no one in particular "Kind of reminds me of the Klingon High Council minus the drama."

"Klingons? Who are the Klingons?" Elizabeth asked.

Reg looked at her and said "Oh, I'm sorry. You won't believe how much has changed since you left Earth."

She asked Reg what year it was. "In your time, 2367. We don't use the old system except in archeology anymore. 'Star dates' are used by the Federation and its members."

"When the Prometheus left Earth, it was some thirty years after the Vulcans made first contact. We only knew of a few other spacefaring civilizations, but the Vulcans didn't want us roaming the galaxy without their supervision."

Reg was amazed..."How...how much about that time do you remember? Did you actually meet Zephram Cochrane?"

(this is before the events of "Star Trek: First Contact)

"No, I was interested in archeology, not space. Although we found and connected the cave drawings, we never went to the Vulcans to see if perhaps they had any insights."

Then she looked away, and sadly said "Maybe we should have, but Charlie and I had visions of a Nobel Prize in our eyes and so we went to Peter Weyland, the richest man on the planet at the time."

"And it all, as David said, 'went to pot.' "

David looked at Reg, and asked how he knew that. Just then, the transport car arrived, and they walked in and took seats.

"We were able to recover the log entries along with the remains of your crewmates", Reg said. "Captain Picard believes that if Weyland hadn't 'blitzed' the Engineer with his requests for more life and being arrogant the entire encounter could have turned out differently. One of the first classes you attend at Star Fleet Academy is in First Contact protocols. Our early spacefaring history is pockmarked with poor initial contacts, sometimes leading to war as it did with the Klingons."

"But you're not at war with them now?" Elizabeth asked.

"No, not now, but the war cost a lot of lives on both sides over a misunderstanding."

She looked away and said "Weyland provided the money, and he called all of the shots."

"Yes, I know," Reg said. "We watched the video of the encounter on the Engineer vessel's bridge and Picard believes that you and Weyland 'overloaded' the Engineer. His facial expressions tell the story. He was expecting a rescue from his own people and instead he's confronted by a group of Terrans speaking a language he doesn't understand."

"What you don't know is what happened in the lifeboat after you left the Engineer to grapple with the 'squid monster'."

"So, what happened?"

"The Engineer eventually lost the battle, and ended up being impregnated with some kind of bipedal creature that burst from his chest."

Elizabeth became defensive, saying "It was his own fault! He decided to attack me even after I hit him with an axe!"

Reg held up his hands, saying "I know, I know! He was a lot bigger and stronger than you and all you did was defend yourself. He would have killed you if you hadn't opened the med bay doors."

"Well, perhaps you can explain it to our 'hosts'. I think that some of them still don't believe me about what happened on LV-223."

Then she looked at Reg, and said "Reg, there is a possibility that they will not let you leave this place. They wouldn't let me and David leave, in fact, they destroyed the ship we used to come here."

Reg's blood ran cold and drained to his feet at the thought of effectively being held prisoner here. He hadn't thought of that. After a few moments he said "Perhaps I can persuade them to allow me to play the log entries before the High Council. Honesty and openness are always the best policies."

"Besides, Star Fleet knows where I went, and if I don't return they will certainly send a ship to investigate and to initiate first contact"

Elizabeth replied "The Mala'kak are quite secretive since the war with the Yautja."

It was Reg's turn to be surprised, as he said with astonishment "Who are the Yautja?"

(end of chapter)