Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters, only my OC - Kaitlyn Donovan.
This story is the sequel to All's Fair in Love and War.
Query: What sacrifices must be endured by those that secure our freedom?
Thank you to Just a Crazy-Man, bina W, and IrishBug74, LoyaulteMeLie, and Lupinesence for the reviews, and to everyone that is following this story and adding it to their favorites.
Chapter 5 - Memories have an uncanny ability of returning with the right kind of stimuli.
The Price of Freedom
Chapter 5
Kaitlyn's eyes snapped open when her scanner started to beep loudly. She scrambled and got the scanner, her phase pistol, and her night vision goggles. She'd realized the scanner had alerted her to movement at the Captains' site. She quickly looked towards the area through her green hazed lenses and saw Archer arguing with Hernandez.
Archer picked up his pack.
"Shit." she cursed quietly. The man was actually going to go climbing at night?
"What?" Reed questioned as he quickly looked through his goggles.
"Archer is going to get himself killed if he tries to climb at night." Kaitlyn grabbed her pants and quickly pulled them on. It would take at least seven minutes to get everything packed and put back on, then they'd have to go after him.
"I don't think you need to worry about them for awhile." Reed said softly as he lowered his goggles, then slowly moved away.
Kaitlyn quickly picked up her goggles and saw the two Captains shedding each others' clothes. Oh. . .
She lowered the goggles and put her stuff back down. She sank down to her blanket, then warmed the rocks back up. She reached into her pack and pulled out her tin cup and filled it with water, then set it on the rocks. She noted Lieutenant Reed was watching her. "Would you like some tea?"
He nodded and put his cup with water on the rocks and watched as she got out two tea bags and put one in each cup.
She sat back and leaned against a rock. She really hadn't gotten any sleep and it was only 0117. They sat quietly for a few more minutes, then they got their cups off the rocks. "Did you get any sleep?" she asked cautiously.
"Not really." Malcolm admitted and took a sip of his tea. It smelled vaguely familiar. "What is this?"
"It is a tea from Vulcan - I've become fond of it." she stated.
"I thought I'd recognized the smell - I think Commander T'Pol drinks this on occasion." he explained as he continued to watch her. "Do you remember everything?"
She nodded.
"I thought I'd remembered you had an eidetic memory. So, they had you go through all of the mission logs and catalogue all of the reports?"
"That's all they had me do at first." She winced slightly, "Then Admiral Gardner became all paranoid and planted the idea that you might not be you." She shrugged and sighed heavily, "He had wanted a whole team to go through the personal logs, but Admiral Stevens put his foot down and said I would be the only one listening to them." She hoped that made him feel a bit better, that no one else had listened.
"Not a small task - how long did it take you?"
"Four days. I read each person's logs from start to finish. It took me another day to re-organize it all in my mind to get a complete picture of what happened each day."
"You didn't write anything down?" How could she keep it all straight in her head? It seemed a bit too much.
"No, and once the debriefings are over, they will all be erased." She finished her tea and put the cup down.
"So, how did you satisfy Admiral Gardner that you'd read all of them?" Malcolm frowned - Gardner wasn't a man to just take your word at something.
"He tested me." Kaitlyn frowned as she laid down on her blanket and picked up the scanner.
"How?"
"Does it matter?" she snapped. She took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, Lieutenant - I hated having to read those logs and I just really don't want to talk about it."
Malcolm nodded slowly as he contemplated her reaction. "Well, I for am grateful that Admiral Stevens only had you going through the logs."
She looked over the readings on her scanner, "I'm glad that we came out here and not anyone else. I don't think the Captains would be pleased if they ever learn that anyone had followed them."
Malcolm laid down on his side, "I certainly won't mention it."
She watched as he stretched out and closed his eyes, "You think it's okay to go to sleep?"
Malcolm cleared his throat, "They're not going anywhere." A slight wave a jealousy swept through him - at least the Captain had a companion and hopefully the man would find his balance again that the Expanse had taken away. Malcolm sighed heavily. He'd burned the bridges in his past relationships. Oh, if he went to a few of them, they'd take a few rolls in the hay with him, listen to him half-arsed as he babbled on, then send him on his way. But, that's not what he wanted. He wanted someone that would understand everything they had to do out there. He turned over again and tried to get back to sleep.
XXXXX
0742, Transport Station in San Francisco
Ambassador Soval took a deep breath as his Aide, Varik, explained that there would be a delay in their departure. They were on their way up to the Vulcan ship in orbit. Minister Kuvak had come to personally take the information from the debriefings back to the Vulcan High Command. He was also here to congratulate the Earth government on the success of the Enterprise's mission into the Expanse. But, now Soval's departure was delayed. Evidently, Security wanted to check the shuttle again.
He looked over the few people waiting in the shuttle terminal for early morning departures. His eyes widened. He almost hadn't recognized her. When the lists of casualties had come in from the Enterprise, he had been relieved that her name was not amongst them. He walked over to the table she sat at, reading her PADD. "Corporal Cole."
Amanda Cole jumped up from her seat when she heard his voice. "Good morning, Ambassador Soval." She looked around quickly for his guards and relaxed slightly when she saw them about ten feet away.
"Good morning, Corporal. Are you traveling for your leave?" Soval asked, seeing that was the only logical reason she was here this early in the morning.
"Yes, I'm going to go visit family in Baltimore, my shuttle has been delayed for another hour." she shrugged.
"My shuttle is delayed as well." He had a thought, "Would you like some tea?" he suggested.
"That would be nice." Amanda nodded slowly, wondering why on Earth he was talking to her. The last time they spoke, he said she distracted him and had her removed from his security detail. It still perturbed her that he had just removed her instead of dealing with his emotions.
Soval motioned for one of his guards, and requested two cups of tea. He indicated for the Corporal to sit back down, as he did the same. After a few weeks of increased meditation, he had finally pushed aside the emotions that had bothered him when she was on his guard detail. He had finally concluded his heightened emotions around her had been because she was with him when he had been kidnapped. "Did Captain Donovan ever speak to you about why I had you removed from my detail?" He was curious, because Donovan had never mentioned it to him.
Amanda frowned, "No. When she came back, she was very distant and she only spoke to people when she needed to. Right before the Enterprise left for the Expanse, she talked to me - wished me good luck. She looked like she was about to ask me something, then stopped. She finally said 'Whatever happened, can not be undone. But, there is always a reason why things happen'. Anyhow." she shrugged, then thanked the Vulcan that set the cup of tea in front of her.
Soval had not known that Captain Donovan had been so distant when she came back from her mission to stop the weapon supplier of Terra Prime. He knew she had been injured, but she recovered in four days, and her mission had been deemed a success. He should have insisted on seeing her, though he hadn't because of the way he had treated Corporal Cole. He thought back to encounters with Captain Donovan over the past week - she seemed fine now, maybe she had just needed time to recover from her mission. It was in the report that five people had been killed when she was found. He took a long sip of tea and realized he'd been quiet for a few minutes. "Captain Donovan is very wise." He watched the young woman before him. She was not wearing her MACO uniform, but instead a pair of jeans and a red top and she had her hair down. "I was pleased that you were not on the list of casualties." he admitted.
Amanda's eyebrows rose, "I'm glad I wasn't either. There were a few times . . . well, we lost a lot of good people." She sighed softly, "Thank you for coming to Major Hayes memorial - it meant a lot to us, especially Captain Donovan."
Soval watched her carefully, "He was a good officer and his sacrifice will not be forgotten." She did not look well, not as self-assured as she had been before she went into the Expanse. "What was it like, the Expanse?" he questioned her.
"Very different. We had problems as soon as we entered." She began and started to tell him about how the spatial anomalies had altered what they knew about physics and how they never knew what was going to happen from one minute to another. She told him about all of the species they'd encountered - the ones that were friendly, and the many that weren't. She frowned when she looked at her watch. She'd been talking for almost an hour and he hadn't stopped her once. She took a sip of her cold tea, then set it down. "I'm sorry to go on . . . it was just nice to have someone to talk to that kind of understands the situation." She felt like an idiot, he'd probably read all of the reports, seen the transcripts of the debriefings - he already knew what had happened.
Soval had watched her carefully. Taking in all of her slight smiles when she talked about the few happy moments, and the involuntary winces when she spoke of things that were unpleasant and downright deadly. She'd spoken softly, but her voice was adamant when she spoke of their mission and that everyone knew the responsibility they had to keep Earth safe. At all costs, they would find the Xindi weapon and destroy it. He knew that humans were very focused when they set their sights on something. This was one of the reasons the Vulcan High Command was hesitant about humans. They had accomplished so much, in such a small time frame. What were they capable of? What if they wanted to dominate? Soval breathed deeply, that was not what these human wanted. Instead of retaliating, they had offered peace to the Xindi. Perhaps, Vulcans could learn a few things from these humans. "I believe I understand better now that I have spoken to you." he admitted.
Amanda smiled softly, "Well, my point of view is limited to my involvement in things - I don't even know about everything. I just know that each time something went wrong, the Senior staff took it personally. Major Hayes was impressed by them, even though he'd never tell them. After each incident, Archer would always ask them 'What can we learn from this?' then they'd come up with a few more protocols - I think we had ninety-six when we returned."
"Protocols?" Soval inquired.
"Guidelines on how to approach species you've never met before - things like that, I know he's going to share it with Starfleet Command." Amanda looked up as she heard that her shuttle was cleared for boarding. She stood up and smiled, "Thank you for the tea, Ambassador."
Soval nodded, "Thank you for the conversation, Corporal." He watched as she picked up her bag and headed off to her shuttle. Soval noted two males following her as she headed away, they seemed vaguely familiar.
"Her MACO security." Varik stated when he noted where the Ambassador's attention was.
Soval nodded, remembering that Captain Donovan was having the Enterprise crew guarded, but he hadn't realized she was also protecting the MACOs that had served on the Enterprise. It was a wise precaution. He looked at Varik, "Is the shuttle ready?"
"Yes, Ambassador."
They turned and headed to their shuttle.
"Did they explain the delay?" Soval questioned.
"There has been another shuttle bombing, this one in England. All shuttles are going through thorough examinations before they are cleared to depart." Varik explained.
Soval contemplated this information, "Isn't this the fifth bombing in seven months?"
"Yes, Ambassador."
"Who is in charge of the investigation?" Soval questioned as they sat down in the seats of the shuttle.
"Earth's Emergency Recovery Agency, but I saw on the news they just asked for Starfleet's assistance."
Soval looked out the window as the shuttle quickly took off and headed to their waiting ship. "Please send a message to Admiral Forrest and send our deepest regrets on the latest tragedy. Then, recommend he send Captain Donovan. In fact, Lieutenant Reed should go too - since he has returned from the Expanse."
Varik swallowed as he looked up at the Ambassador, "Sir, you know Admiral Forrest doesn't like it when you give suggestions."
"Remind him about my shuttle being bombed at Starfleet Headquarters." Soval pointed out. Donovan and Reed had found part of the bomb back then, when no one else had. He closed him eyes and decided to meditate for a few minutes before he met with Minister Kuvak. Kuvak had always been a close colleague, but recently the man had been swayed heavily by Administrator V'Las.
XXXXX
Donovan and Reed walked quietly along the terrain of the mountain. The two Captains were about a mile ahead of them.
Reed's communicator chirped and he quickly opened it. "This is Reed."
"Lieutenant Reed, this is Admiral Forrest. I understand that Captain Donovan is with you? She can hear me?" Forrest asked.
"Yes, Admiral." Reed stopped walking. What could the Admiral want with him?
"Good. We've had another shuttle bombing and we'd like the two of you to go to the site and help with the investigation." Forrest explained.
Donovan frowned, "Sir, I'm in charge of. . ." She was cut off by the voice of Admiral Stevens.
"We know what you're doing right now. You can have someone else take care of it. One hundred and twenty-six civilians just died and we are asking for both of your expertise." Stevens said calmly, but firmly.
"Yes, Sir. Where do you need us?" Donovan questioned.
"We'll have you beamed here to Starfleet Headquarters. Stand by." Steven ended the communication.
Donovan looked at Reed, "I guess we're done with this."
Reed nodded and took one more look at the Captains, then they were transported from where they stood.
XXXXX
Colonel Kemp met them in the Transporter Room of Starfleet Headquarters. He nodded to Reed, then turned his attention to Donovan. "Who do you want to send in your place for 0101 and 0201?" he asked as they walked down the hall.
"Actually, Sir - I think it would be better just to keep the one mile perimeter in place." Donovan quickly stated.
Kemp raised an eyebrow, then he thought he understood what she was trying not to say out loud. "Okay. I'll keep Tebbe in charge until you return." He stopped before opening the Conference Room door and shook his head at her borrowed Starfleet uniform.
Kaitlyn looked down at the uniform, forgetting that she'd borrowed it and wasn't in her MACO uniform. "Can't I change first?"
Kemp grinned, "Nope, they said to get you here as soon as possible. You might have some explaining to do about jumping ship to Starfleet."
She shook her head, "It was the only thing available."
Kemp chuckled, "I know - seriously, it's fine. Don't worry about it." He pushed the button on the panel and the doors opened. He couldn't wait to see the look on General Casey's face.
Donovan and Reed stepped in and couldn't help but feel the stress in the room. It was palatable.
Their gear clanged as they walked over to the table and reported in.
The Admirals and General Casey nodded.
Admiral Stevens quickly handed each of them a PADD that had all of the details they had on the previous four commercial shuttle bombings. "We want the two of you to help with the investigation - the EERA is expecting you in London. Nothing has been removed yet, just photographed."
Donovan nodded, "Sir, if I may ask, why are Lieutenant Reed and I going?"
Admiral Forrest leaned forward, "Because you two found evidence when Ambassador Soval's shuttle was exploded on Starfleet Headquarters. You have proven you work well together."
Donovan looked down, she vaguely recalled reading about that event in a report. She glanced at Reed - he also looked puzzled. She looked up at the Command Council. "We'll need to gather our uniforms and equipment." she stated.
"Already taken care of. Both of your go-bags and extra sets of uniforms were delivered a few minutes ago. Commander Morrison is ready to give you any equipment you need." Admiral Stevens informed them. "A Starfleet shuttle will be waiting outside in thirty minutes."
Donovan and Reed snapped to, then headed to Commander Morrison to gather their equipment.
Malcolm Reed glanced at Donovan, "Are you having a hard time recalling that bombing?" he asked as he held the stairwell door open.
She nodded, "I am. We'll look it up on our way over."
Commander Morrison nodded as they came in, "I've already laid out everything I think you could need. Look it over and see if you can think of anything else."
"Do you have a copy of my program?" she asked quickly.
Morrison handed her a PADD, "It's ready."
She quickly turned it on and went over the detonation extrapolation program to make sure it was her latest version.
Reed looked over her shoulder, "I do remember that program." he mentioned softly as Morrison started packing all of the equipment for them.
"Why don't you two go shower, while I finish this. They left your bags here." he indicated the table that had their bags and two set of uniforms.
"Thank you, Commander." Reed said as they headed to the nearest showers, which happen to be the decontamination showers for biohazards. He was thankful there were seven separate stalls available.
They showered and changed in record time and picked up the rest of their uniforms and equipment and headed out to the waiting shuttle.
The pilot quickly flew the shuttle to London.
Malcolm Reed quickly called up the details of the bombing of Ambassador Soval's shuttle and sat back as he started to remember her using that detonation extrapolation program and them climbing up a tree. But, he couldn't remember what happened after that. He frowned as he glanced at Captain Donovan. He quickly started going through the details of the other shuttle bombings.
"The last reading indicated the shuttle was at 200 feet and it was landing when the bomb went off." Kaitlyn stated as she read over the details. She sat back against the bench, "What do you normally do at 200 feet?" she asked Reed.
Malcolm raised an eyebrow, "Me, when I'm landing the shuttle? I activate the inertial stabilizers so there's less wobbling when I land."
Kaitlyn nodded, "So do I. What happens on the shuttle when the inertial stabilizers are activated?"
Malcolm thought quickly over the process in his mind, "Flaps open, landing gear comes down, landing lights come on." He looked at her, "Start with those areas?"
"Yes. The dispersal pattern doesn't indicate the bomb came from in the cabin, or even in the lower holding with the luggage - but the underbelly of the shuttle." She showed him the one aerial photo they had to work with at the moment. She turned on her program, "Tell the pilot to hover at 200 feet where they last had contact with the shuttle." She quickly input all of the variables at the time of the bombing into her program.
"We're here Ma'am." the pilot indicated. "They are telling me to move off, Ma'am - you'd better make it quick."
She quickly called up the topography of the area and filtered it into the program. "Done, thank you." She indicated for the pilot to go ahead and land.
Reed looked at the program as it went through the detonation process and indicated the most probable areas to find different parts of the shuttle. "They should have the area gridded by now, we should be able to find these areas rather easily."
The shuttle landed, they picked up their bags, and then stepped out. Kaitlyn stopped at the pilot standing outside the shuttle, "If they give you any grief about hovering over the site - blame me."
The young man nodded, looking a bit confused.
They walked quickly back down to the crash site.
"Are you the gits that were hovering over the crash site? We put up a no fly zone for a reason - if you're journalists, we'll have you licenses revoked!" a middle-aged woman came flying towards them from the Command Center tent set up on the other side of the taped off area.
Kaitlyn raised an eyebrow at the woman as she showed her identification, "I'm Captain Donovan and this is Lieutenant Reed - I believe Agent Wilkes is expecting us."
The woman frowned, "Fine, come along." She waved for them to be allowed to cross to the crash site. "I'm Agent Donnally." She walked a few feet ahead of them to the Command Center. "Wilkes, they're here."
The older man hovering over a computer monitor stood up and looked over the two officers that Starfleet had sent over. He strode over quickly and shook their hands, "We're glad you're here. Why don't you leave your bags here, and I'll take you in." He indicated the young woman beside him with a PADD in her hands. "This is Melanie, she'll document anything you find."
They set their bags down on one of the empty tables and quickly put on their gloves, then walked with Wilkes. "We haven't removed anything, we've just gridded the area and taken photos. We've got about seven hours of daylight left. We'd really need to be able to remove the bodies soon." he explained as they walked. He stopped and looked at both of them questionably, "It's very unsettling - you're going to be fine?"
Donovan raised an eyebrow, "It can't be any worse than Alpha Centauri."
"Nausicaans." Reed muttered to himself as he looked back as another shuttle took off.
"Well, if you start to feel sick, just get away from the site before you hurl." Wilkes advised them and started walking again.
Kaitlyn stopped. She'd just processed what Lieutenant Reed had muttered to himself. How did he know about the Nausicaans? It wasn't in any of the reports.
"Captain?" Reed called when he noticed she'd stopped.
"Fine. Just thinking." She quickly caught up with them. She frowned as she finally got an up close view of what the crash site looked like. She took a few deep breaths and tried to keep her emotions out of the way. She focused on taking in all of the details as they walked around the perimeter. She pulled out her PADD, "Agent Wilkes, if you've got photos of the civilians, go ahead and have them removed - we'll see if we can find the bomb remnants for you."
He looked at the two curiously, then walked away and left Melanie with them.
Kaitlyn glanced at the young woman curiously, "Melanie, you're not with the EERA?" she inquired as they started to move through the wreckage carefully to grid 22B.
"No, Captain - I'm just an intern." Melanie explained.
"Well, this is a very unique scene. What do you notice?" Kaitlyn asked the young woman.
Melanie frowned, no one ever asked her opinion. "The dispersal pattern is pretty compact for such a large shuttle." she stated hesitantly.
Lieutenant Reed nodded, "Very good, Melanie. So, what does that indicate to you?" he questioned.
"That the shuttle was relatively close to the ground, not moving - preparing to land. Even though the bomb destroyed the shuttle and killed everyone in it, the bomb didn't vaporize everything." the young woman looked at them expectantly. She smiled when the Captain and the Lieutenant both nodded at her assessment.
"What we have decided to look for are things on the underside of the shuttle." Reed stated as he bent over when he saw part of the landing light lens. "Shouldn't this be more towards 18 to 24?" he asked Donovan as he held it up to her.
Donovan looked over the piece of the lens, then nodded. They were currently standing in grid 32. "Please annotate where we found this, Melanie." She handed it to the woman and she quickly bagged and tagged it, then put it in the pouch she shouldered.
They continued to work their way up to grid 22B, where they found the rest of the landing light housing. They worked the rest of the afternoon and found all of the other pieces of interest from the shuttle in the area indicated on Donovan's program.
Donovan and Reed sat down in the grass away from the crash site and compared notes, while Melanie took all of the bagged evidence back to the Command Center. They'd been mulling over all of the items collected for twenty minutes.
"The only thing really out of place according to your program was that first piece of lens. We should focus there, and the surrounding grids." Reed suggested.
Kaitlyn nodded. "If the bomb was in or near the landing light lens, how was it triggered?"
Reed stood up and offered her a hand. "Don't know yet - could have been triggered when they came on, or maybe set to go off when they came back down to a certain altitude, possibly even remotely triggered."
She took his hand and he helped her up. She got a flash of him offering her a hand previously - but she didn't recognize the scene, or when it had happened. She frowned as she let go of his hand.
"Are you okay?" Reed asked as she continued to stare at her hand.
Kaitlyn took a deep breath. Something . . . something was trying to come back to her memory, but it was just out of reach. She looked up at Lieutenant Reed slowly, "I'll be fine. Let's go check out that grid."
XXXXX
They found a few more fragments of the lighting lens and took them back to check the residue left on the fragments.
Kaitlyn sat back and watched as Lieutenant Reed used the equipment to analyze the fragments. She closed her eyes and tried to call the flash she'd seen earlier when he'd offered her a hand.
She was getting out of a taxi. He smiled and kissed her - really kissed her. Her eyes flew open and she quickly looked around, her breathing was a bit ragged. She looked at Reed, wide-eyed. Could he be the Starfleet Officer she'd worked with when she went after the weapon supplier of Terra Prime? But, he died - she remembered him dying! Well, she had snippets of him being shot - but why would she remember that and not what he looked like, or his name? Who could have wiped her memories? She clenched her fists - Harris. Damn the man!
Lieutenant Reed looked over at Captain Donovan when she jumped off her stool. "Are you sure your okay?"
Kaitlyn shook her head. She couldn't risk saying anything at the moment until she decided what she was going to do. She couldn't talk to him about that mission as long as she had her communication implant in, because Harris could be listening to her conversations. "Actually, my implant is giving me a headache." She touched her implant, "Donovan to HQ."
"This is HQ, go ahead Donovan."
"My implant is giving me a headache and impeding my focus on the current situation. I'm going to have it taken out. You can still reach me through my PADD." she stated.
"Acknowledged. Make sure you bring the implant back and we'll have our people look at it when you return. HQ out."
Malcolm watched her closely. What was she up to? "How are you going to get it out?"
She went over and found a sterilized scalpel, "Just a small incision behind my ear." She tried to hand him the scalpel.
He shook his head and stood up, "I don't really think I can do that."
She put the scalpel down on the table and reached for his hand. Maybe he'd remember something.
Malcolm was puzzled, but allowed her to bring his hand up to her neck. He blinked as she kept her hand on his. His hand felt warm, and suddenly he had a flash of him running his hand over her neck and kissing her hard on the lips.
His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to question her.
She shook her head, then handed him the scalpel again.
Malcolm didn't remember ever kissing her - and he'd certainly remember something like that happening. The only time that was a mystery to him was when he went after the weapon supplier of Terra Prime. He blinked rapidly. She couldn't be the woman - could she? But, she died - he remembered her dying! Who was capable of taking their memories away and creating this elaborate ruse? His lips drew into a fine line - Harris.
Kaitlyn watched as Lieutenant Reed's mind put things together. She watched as his lips drew into a fine line.
"You need to sit down." he said softly as retrieved a med kit from another table.
She sat still on the stool as he cleaned the area around the implant with a numbing agent. "If you make the incision right at the base, it will just slip out."
Malcolm nodded and picked up the scalpel. He quickly made the incision and the communication implant easily came out into the gauze he had ready to catch it. He handed it to her, then quickly wiped away the small amount of blood and put some liquid adhesive over the cut. He watched as she cleaned the scalpel and used it to open up the implant and did something to it, then closed it back up.
Kaitlyn put the now non-functioning communication implant in a baggie and put it in her pocket. She looked up at him as he cleaned off his hands, then sat back down on his stool.
He didn't know what to say. How could he start this conversation? He glanced around as more people began arriving to work overnight at the crash site. They couldn't talk here.
They both looked up as the machine finished its analysis.
"Tricobalt explosive residue." Malcolm sighed.
Kaitlyn quickly looked over the information on her PADD, "None of the other bombings annotated tricobalt explosives."
Malcolm crossed his arms, "So, does that mean we really have five unrelated bombings, or someone using different explosives to make them seem unrelated?"
They compiled all of their findings into an information package and sent it off to Admiral Forrest and to Agent Wilkes.
A few minutes later, Agent Wilkes came over. "Any theories from your findings?"
Lieutenant Reed shrugged, "We'll need to go over everything again tomorrow. Maybe something else will show up after the top layer of wreckage has been removed tonight. Is it possible for us to review the complete files of everything from the other bombings, including the photos?"
Wilkes nodded, "I can have all of the photos brought here. We have all of the analysis on disks. I'll have them here by 0900. Good work today. See you in the morning." he smiled, then headed off to make a few communications.
They picked up their bags and uniforms and headed to the hanger where the Starfleet shuttle was waiting to take them to Officer Housing at London's Starfleet base.
"Ready Ma'am, Sir?" the pilot questioned as they got in the shuttle.
"Actually, Ensign - I've gotten an invite for us to stay at The Belthroy, do you know where that is in London?" Kaitlyn questioned.
The Ensign grinned, "Sure do, Ma'am. Very nice hotel. I'll get you there in ten minutes." He began his pre-flight check.
Kaitlyn quickly typed a message on her PADD to the manager at The Belthroy and sent it off.
Malcolm looked at her questionably. The Belthroy was a very expensive hotel.
Kaitlyn read the reply when it came in, then erased it. "I think after we check in, we need to change, then get dinner." she suggested.
"Sounds good. What kind of establishment are you looking for?" he asked.
"A pub will be fine." She realized that her hands were shaking slightly, so she clenched them into fists.
"I know of a place not far away from the hotel." Malcolm watched as she clenched her fists. He had so many questions and it was killing him not to blurt them out. But, they had to be cautious. If Harris had taken their memories away - why did he do it, how did he do it, and what was he trying to keep hidden?
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TBC.
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