"Thank you, Commodore. Now then, perhaps you could give us a little more detail in what has been going on."
"Certainly, sir," he said, gesturing them towards the door. As they walked, he continued. "Last week, we received a report from Lieutenant Handley... he was the security officer on duty at the communications center at the time, handling emergency calls. A call came in at around 0230. A young man stated that he and his companion were being chased. He didn't get much further when the link was severed, quite abruptly."
"Any indications of how it was severed? Communications malfunction, or something like that?" Circe asked.
"Oh, we definitely found an indication, all right. The commpanel he used had been shot out."
Apollo raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I'd say that would just about do it. May we go to the scene now? Has it been disturbed in any way?"
"We cordoned off that area that next day. Aside from our own security, no one has touched anything in that area. We've had a 24-hour guard stationed there so no one would go near it."
"Good, good. Is there a shuttle handy to take us there?" the admiral asked. Apollo rarely used a site-to-site transport on a planet's surface.
"Of course. Unfortunately, I won't be able to go with you. Too many duties here, I'm afraid."
Apollo smiled sympathetically. "I understand."
Ryan chuckled. "You know, sir, in a way, I kind of envy you. You're an admiral, yet you managed to retain your command. Me, as soon as I was promoted to Commodore, they gave me this position. It has its perks, but nothing will ever beat a command."
Apollo walked ahead of the group, with Sam walking only slightly behind him... as such, she was the only one who saw his grim look. "Yes, I guess I was lucky that way," he said. Judging from his tone, Sam thought he certainly didn't feel lucky.
When they reached the shuttle depot, Ryan said, "Well, this is as far as I go. I'll make sure the guards on scene admit you when you arrive, and cooperate in any manner you see fit."
"Thank you, Commodore," Sam replied with a smile.
Before they left, Circe told Apollo, "Sir, if you don't mind, I wish to stay here for a few minutes, see if I can't get any other details from Commodore Ryan."
"Commander, shouldn't you be with us when we examine the crime scene?" Apollo asked.
She shrugged. "I can always take a transporter there and meet up with you when I finish here."
Apollo regarded his Chief of Security for a moment before nodding. "Very well... we'll see you there, then." He and Sam headed into the shuttle and the pilot took them out. As they flew over the city, Sam remarked, "I'm amazed at the beauty of this place."
Apollo nodded in agreement. "Yes. It's almost hard to believe this city made such a comeback from such a tragic incident."
The shuttle driver looked at them with a clear sense of confusion. "Tragic incident?" he asked, prompting for more information.
The admiral sat back in his seat and crossed one leg over the other. "On stardate 7513.2, a terrorist had detonated an annihilation device in the vicinity of New Athens spaceport. It was a cheap cardboard box, rigged with a simple magnetic field suspending a small amount of antimatter in the center of the box. Touch a certain spot on the box, and the magnetic field collapses, allowing the antimatter to come in contact with the box." He paused, noticing that the pilot paled quite visibly as he imagined the catastrophe. Sam even grimaced at remembering the incident. "The blast covered an area sixteen kilometers in diameter. Over 900,000 people died that day, and more died shortly thereafter, bringing the toll to about a million. While the tachyon radiation from the explosion wasn't dangerous to life, it wiped out communications and sensor scans of the surface. But rescue and recovery operations were superb. As I said... they did a remarkable job of building this place up again."
The rest of the trip was made in silence. A few minutes later, the shuttle reached a park and set down. "This is it," the pilot said. "Admiral, if you'd like, I can stay, but..."
"I understand, Lieutenant... you have other duties to perform. You're dismissed."
"Thank you, sir. Good luck." When the the Highlander officers stepped out, the shuttle took to the air again and returned from whence it came.
Apollo was already heading toward an area clearly marked as restricted. Another Starfleet officer was already walking toward them. "Hello, sir. I'm Commander Reynolds. I'm in charge of the site at the moment."
"I see. This is Captain Racer, my first officer," Apollo replied, gesturing to her. She smiled pertly and nodded at him.
Reynolds nodded his acknowledgment, then led them to a small pavilion. The damaged commpanel was inside. "As you can see, whoever was shooting at those people clearly weren't playing around."
Sam moved closer to inspect the panel. "I'd have to agree. The weapon would have to be on at least level 12 to cause this type of damage."
Reynolds was slightly impressed. "That was my conclusion as well. We've scouted the perimeter, done a search in this section of the city. If those people survived, they must be long gone."
They talked to Reynolds a little longer, until a transporter beam deposited Circe in front of them. Once the admiral introduced her to the team and took her through what they already saw, the group fanned out, looking through the immediate area. Apollo entered the grove and looked around. Finding nothing, he leaned against a tree and looked at the city he had admired from above. He quickly changed his position when his hand came away from the tree sticky. "This tree is leaking sap."
Reynolds came up to Apollo. "Strange, that wasn't noticed before. Of course, we never really looked at the trees, just around them. It could be a phaser blast traveled too close and brought some of the sap to the surface."
He pondered that scenario. "Fascinating," he said, raising his eyebrow.
"Admiral," Sam called to him.
The two men walked over to a spot between the trees and the pavilion. Sam was crouched close to the ground. Reynolds saw what she was looking at and nodded. "One of them was unfortunate." He traced an outline burned into the grass, shaped vaguely like a humanoid figure. "We figure from the way this area was burned, he must have been injured, and they finished him off. If he was killed as he ran, the burn area wouldn't be so large."
"You said 'if those people survived.' You think there may be more than two of them?" Apollo asked.
"The report mentioned there were two people, but for all we know, there may have been more."
Sam shook her head. "I sure hope there were only two. I'd hate to think there may be other poor devils who were vaporized like that."
Suddenly Apollo's head jerked around. "What?" Sam said, standing. "Admiral, what is it?"
He held up a hand to quiet her. "I heard something." He listened intently, but heard nothing else.
Circe's antenna twitched. "I heard it, too. Almost like... like a whimper," she added, trying to describe the sound.
Apollo replayed it in his mind, figuring out the direction it came in. He walked slowly back toward the trees, and found himself again standing next to the one with the sap on its bark. "It... sounded like it came from this direction." He closed his eyes and listened, using his Vulcan techniques to methodically block out each sound he was hearing... the noise from nearby traffic, calls from the local fauna, the movements of his people and the team there. He managed to isolate the rustling of the leaves in the wind, and the very wind itself whispering past his ears... and one more thing. He heard what could almost be the sound of breathing, but it wasn't his own. He looked left, then right, then at the ground for a moment or two. Finally, he thought to look up into the branches. The leaves were thick, but he was sure he could make out a shape up in the tree. "Hello? Is anyone up there? Could you please come down? We won't hurt you."
Sam and Circe looked at each other, wondering to whom Apollo was talking. Sam shrugged. They both looked at Reynolds, who shrugged too.
"It's all right. We want to help you. Could you please come down from there?" When he first spoke, he wasn't sure there was someone up there. However, whoever it was stiffened at the thought of being discovered.
By this time, the small group had joined Apollo at the base of the tree. "Who's up there?" Sam asked.
"Can't be sure. It looks like a woman," Apollo replied. "She's frightened, too. I can sense it now."
Reynolds scratched his head. "I wonder why the tricorders didn't pick her up."
"We'll find out if she would just come down."
"Well, Admiral, why don't you go up and get her."
He turned and looked sternly at his first officer. "Because she is already scared enough as it is. I don't want to frighten her any more. However..." he added, raising his voice just a little bit in emphasis, to make sure the person could hear him. "We could have her beamed from where she is to the ground. But I'd much rather she comes down on her own."
That seemed to settle things. There was more movement up in the branches, and finally they could see the person, indeed a woman, make her way down the tree. She wasn't expecting the sap, though, so when she tried to remove her hand from it, she lost her balance and fell. Fortunately, Apollo was there to catch her. "Whoa! Are you all right?" he asked, gently setting her on her feet. She stumbled for a moment, but righted herself. Apollo didn't let go until he was sure she could stand on her own. "Miss, what were you doing up there?"
"Are you the friend of the person who sent that call in to Starfleet?" Sam asked. The woman nodded, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief. "Well it's good we found you before those others did. Were you hurt at all?"
As the woman shook her head, Circe said, "She looks a bit thin. But then, she must have been hiding in the tree all week."
Apollo tapped his commbadge. "Racer to Highlander. Dr. Kellara, come in please."
"I'm all right," the woman said, startling them. "I don't want to see a doctor."
"It's just to make sure you're all right, is all," Sam said assuringly.
"Highlander to Admiral Racer. This is Dr. Kellara, go ahead."
"I said I don't want to see a doctor!" She said again emphatically. "I'm just hungry, is all." She took a couple of steps away from them to accentuate her point.
They all stood where they were. Apollo then said slowly, "We... found who we were looking for, but it turns out she won't be needing your services. She's all right. Sorry to have bothered you."
"Oh, well it's nice to know that she's all right, Doctor Racer. I'll be here if you need me. Highlander out." The connection closed. Apollo looked at his people. Circe was intently studying the tree; Sam looked at him, stifled a giggle and shrugged.
He made a face at her. :Ha ha.: He turned his attention back to the young woman. She appeared to be in her mid-20s. "Okay. No doctors. For now. What say we get you something to eat, and you can tell us, among other things, why you don't like doctors. Sound fair enough?"
The woman nodded. He turned to Reynolds. "It looks like the people we're looking for are present and accounted for... except for the ones chasing her. Go ahead and make your report to your superiors. We'll take her to one of the places near here." As he nodded and tapped his badge to contact the base, he returned his attention to the woman. "Now, it's important for you to realize that as long as we're here, you're safe. Okay?" Another nod. "My name is Apollo."
"Anna," she said.
"Okay Anna, let's take you somewhere to fulfill your needs." The four of them walked through the park toward the city.