7
In Disguise
First Chancellor Ta'Bob Bobba Dus walked into the security hub and came to stand next to the chief of planetary security just as the sleek Starfleet shuttle took off and left the surface of the planet. "They are intriguing people," he remarked.
Ta'Rex Da Od nodded. "I'll have to take your word for it."
"Now, have you managed to pinpoint the exact location of those savages that landed here a few weeks ago yet?" he asked, his expression darkening. "Or found out how they ended up here in the first place?"
"Not yet, chancellor," he replied. "Patrols have run into them occasionally. They are skilled in fighting techniques and they do not seem to be willing to talk. The one we captured last week spit in my face, attacked several of my men, killed two of them and severely injured the third before he could be detained."
Ta'Bob Bobba Dus snorted unhappily.
Ta'Rex Da Od turned away from the screens before him to look at the chancellor directly. "The empath didn't want to go near the monster and when he finally did, we had to force him to treat the most life-threatening injuries."
"Rumors are spreading amongst our tourists that there are monsters out in the night. It's not good for our reputation, especially not when Captain Christopher and his crew are here. I want to make a good impression," Ta'Bob Bobba Dus said seriously.
"I have done some digging these past few weeks, talking to several of our regular visitors. None of them seem to have seen this species before. Perhaps you should consider the possibility that they are on the run from something?"
The chancellor narrowed his eyes. "What are you insinuating, Ta'Rex Da Od?" he asked.
"Is it a coincidence that the large battlecruiser, called the USS Enterprise, is visiting Circusia for the first time only a few weeks after this mystic appearance of the savages?" The chief of planetary security questioned.
Ta'Bob Bobba Dus nodded. "Captain Christopher did ask when we last had any new visitors," he admitted and then shook his head. "No, they must come from one of those rough regions of the Gargantos territory."
OOOOOO
Pike, Spock and Una walked into the conference room to join Amin, Nicola and Louvier.
"Welcome back," Amin greeted. "I am almost a little jealous."
Una broke into a sarcastic grin as she took the seat next to the navigator/operations officer. "Don't be, Jamila. I prefer exploration on my own. As it was, our lovely tour guide, chancellor Ta'Bob Bobba Dus, has done nothing but bragged about the Circusian excellence."
"I thought it reminded me of Risa," Nicola said. "At least from the pictures we've been fed."
"Cheer up, lieutenant, the landscape does remind everyone of Risa," Pike said with a faint smile. "I am sure you'll have plenty to discover back there."
Louvier leaned forward in his chair. "So, we are going to get shore leave?" he said hopefully.
"Right now, I see no reasons as to why not," Pike replied and then took his time to look at the officers seated around the table; one by one. "Just be sure to remind your departments not to bring onboard something they'll regret."
Una tried to hide her amusement and keep a straight face at the stern look from Chris. Chartering the new frontier did lead to unwanted and also very amusing situations onboard the ship at times. The last time shore leave had been on the duty roster some of the bioelectric engineers had brought back a few living souvenirs that infested the ship's food supply and created havoc with the Enterprise's communication system.
"To Ensign Harriman's defense; it wasn't intentional, sir," Louvier answered. "None of us thought those small, harmless creatures on Veridus could grow so big within a few days."
Amin chuckled at the memory. "Who would have thought those little buggers would find the botany bay and eat up all our pepper fruits."
"I don't mind getting rid of a few chili plants," Pike said.
"Hey," Una protested. "I like spicy food."
Chris smirked. "You should have seen the faces of the admiralty when I explained that our long-range communication problem was due to a distortion field generated by three, two meters long, electrical eel-like creatures."
"We've all suffered long enough for that," Una said. "We've waited over two years for proper shore leave; unless you count being laid up in drydock for repairs one-hundred-and twenty-four-days."
"Captain," Matthieu Louvier began. "As you requested; the away team was safely beamed down to the surface of Trehelios a few hours ago. Flight engineer, Lieutenant Hicks, also departed with our transfer shuttle Columbus."
Pike nodded. "Good," he said cryptically.
"We took as many sensor-sweeps as we could before heading back to Circusia," Amin added. "But we've only just scratched the surface so to speak. The planet is very inhospitable, the atmosphere is thinning, it makes it hard to breathe. I imagine it's like standing on a mountain peak all the time."
"I have run all the standard hails, gone through the usual channels and frequencies of communication. I've got nothing in return. I haven't been able to detect any kind of interference that could point to a hidden base under the surface either," Nicola reported.
"Our hasty conclusion is that Trehelios is nothing but a dead world. As for how that happened or why, we can't even begin to understand at the moment. There is very little data available," Louvier explained as he glanced around the table.
"Captain," Nicola asked with a frown. "I understand that Doctor Boyce is analyzing a few things in the medical lab as we speak. Did something peculiar happen while you were on Circusia?"
Pike sighed as he leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands together on the table-top. "I suppose you could say that," he replied.
"When we toured the hospital, a man was brought in," Una began. "I would say he was more dead than alive at the moment. He was covered in blood and gore and his vital signs seemed almost non-existent. Now, this man appeared in the recreational park a few hours later-," she paused and gestured with her arms. "-walking and talking like he didn't have a care in the world."
"We nicknamed him the 'Miracle Man'," Pike added while he offered a faint sarcastic smile.
"The Circusian excellence?" Amin guessed wittily.
"No way," Una replied dryly.
"Let's keep the epitome 'Miracle Man' for the time being and await Doctor Boyce's analysis," Pike suggested.
"I am curious. You mentioned a planet called Ichkamar earlier," Louvier stated. "I have never heard of the place before?"
"Not many have," Pike answered as he began to tap away at the table-top, on the integrated information station. He easily accessed the report from the mission Discovery had undertaken – to the solar system called the Sobada Star System. He then accessed the mission report from a few years earlier, when the Enterprise had visited the same place, and put them side by side on the large wall-mouthed glass display.
Jamila Amin narrowed her eyes, crinkled her nose and involuntarily shuddered as she recalled the initial hostility which had greeted them. "Sobaya and Sobral," she stated. "On the brink of a planetary war."
"Did we miss something?" Vicente Nicola asked curiously, wondering why Pike had taken Discovery there.
"In a way," the captain let on cryptically as he shared a knowing glance with his confidant, Number One. "I had no intention of going back there at all. Especially not after it was made clear that they didn't want us to return unless summoned."
"The Sobayan chancellor was quite something," Una recalled as she tilted her head a little. "We aided them, helped them understand each other to the extent that they avoided that dreadful war and yet he wasn't grateful."
"Grateful?" Louvier echoed sarcastically. "They fired upon us, tried to blow us to dust. That's quite offensive if you ask me."
"That was the Sobralian ground forces," Spock pointed out.
"Well, they weren't exactly friendlier," the chief engineer argued.
"About that 'do not return thing'; Seeing you again must have been a sight for sore eyes," Una added with a twinkle in her eyes directed upon her captain.
"Captain, if I may?" Spock said.
Chris nodded.
"You might recall that the Discovery was running late to the rendezvous point with the Enterprise before the final showdown with the AI and the Section 31 armada," Spock reasoned.
There were a few nods around the table.
"The main reason for that was an unknown phenomenon, feeding from energy, that crossed our path. It drained the Discovery of power and caused main power shortage. It rendered the ship unable to travel. It happened just outside the Sobada Star System and we got sucked into a geosynchronous orbit around the planet Sobral."
"It turned out the peace treaty was a bit fragile and the different fractions were still trying to force their way of life upon the others," Chris added.
"They resorted to extremism," Spock filled in. "They saw our return as an opportunity to win – both sides did."
"I think you need to clarify that statement," Una remarked. Chris had given her plenty of things to study when it came to Ichkamar but she didn't really know what had transpired on Sobral.
"I believe you recall the Glory Guards," Spock replied evenly.
"All too well," Amin stated.
"Running errands for the Sobralian government, they decided to try out a nasty contagion on their enemies. Unfortunately, our away team ended up in the crossfire," Chris explained, his voice turning cold.
"They seemed to have so many enemies," Una pointed out.
"On Sobral, we met members of a semi-secret organization called the truth-seekers," Spock explained. "They came together to unravel the fabric of their entire history based on hearsay."
Chris pursed his lips into a thin line of displeasure as he thought back upon the mission. "Once again we got caught up between the different fractions. However, it turned out that the truth-seekers were on to something after all."
Una nodded. "They were the ones who sought this unbreakable vault," she realized.
"Yes," Chris concurred. "And that turned out to be so much more than they had hoped for."
"Deep beneath the ocean, we found a secret vault that contained technology so advanced that it would fascinate even the Vulcan Science Academy to this date," Spock added.
"It turns out that the current population on Sobaya and Sobral derives from another people; another planet," Chris informed. "A far more advanced people who tried to save themselves from extinction."
Nicola straightened in his chair. "So, the mother of the two planets-," he began curiously. "- Sorabraya. Did she really exist?"
Chris nodded. "She was a scientist from a planet called Ichkamar," he told them. "Some of her journeys on the planet's surface, when she thought no one was looking, were secretly depicted by the small group of natives."
"The cultural shock must have been extreme," Nicola marveled. "Imagining a neanderthal meeting a Vulcan."
Spock arched an eyebrow, looking somewhat undignified.
Matthieu Louvier studied his captain for a moment, his lips curling cunningly upwards. "You have been looking for this planet ever since; haven't you?" he asked.
Una broke into a cunning smile. She and Chris had been talking about this mysterious planet a lot of times since he'd gotten back onboard as he had shared the story with her.
Pike nodded enigmatically at Louvier.
"Captain?" Amin asked. "What makes you think Trehelios is Ichkamar?"
"Nothing yet," he replied.
OOOOOO
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