"Captain, I am getting a... signal from deep space."
"Well, what kind of signal, Spock?" Pike cleared something stuck in his teeth and looked towards his science officer.
"It is reading 250M from quadrant 779X. I am unable to quite tell if it is a distress or otherwise, but I advise that we treat it as such."
"What seems to be the issue on identifying the signal?"
"It is older than our what our current systems can read, Captain. It is illogical that it is even able to be broadcasting this far out already. Something must be boosting it but the only thing else that I can tell is it is an Earth based signal."
"An old Federation signal..."
"No, Captain. It is older than the federation, it is only identifier is from Earth."
"How is that possible? Anything from that long ago shouldn't be even able to run any longer."
"Exactly, Captain."
"Alright Ortegas, set the course."
The group of Xindi scrappers muscled around the liquid tubes and could hear something sloshing around inside. One of three of the containers actually sounded heavy. Something was in this liquid and the Ferengi refused to say what. They had advertised it as some sort of mystery pull or lucky dip. What had really intrigued the Xindi and the Ferengi was the carbon dating of the containers themselves. They were from Earth and before First Contact. Well, not the entire container but certain name plating and other aspects were. It looked like the entire capsule had been replaced at one time another but the added pieces were from all sorts of different eras and quite a few were of unknown and non-human origin.
A Ferengi family had committed treason by investing all their credits into a new world's economy, indicating that the credits would triple. But, by claiming this, they had broken one of their Rules of Acquisition and all their belongings had been liquidated and pieced out by offended parties. One such storage locker was located and quickly parted out along the closest trade route.
The Xindi had to gamble on either buying the three capsules low and perhaps having a wash or wait for Ferengi officials to come by and appraise as well as identify the capsules. After hearing one of the pods contained more than liquid, they quickly secured the purchase. Now, they touched down on Qul'tar and were waiting to crack them open, piece out what was salvageable, and then get back on the hunt.
The salvagers made a point to land here on Qul'tar instead of opening the pods upon their ship in case of any anti-tampering devices. Any sort of detonation or other anti-theft trap could damage their ship and out here, no one would come to rescue them. Not their own kind and certainly none of the patrolling Federation. The five of them where now knocking on the containers, eagerly interpreting the sounds as various substances worth the weight in credits. They gathered and began to quibble before finally landing on one of them. The other four backed away, not wanting to be too close.
Holding a plasma cutter in their scaled hand, the oldest Xindi approached the nearest capsule container and gazed up at the whole ten feet height of it, eying exactly where he should break into first. The options were either the top so that they would waste little liquid if it turned out that they were important for whatever was inside or should they tap the bottom and allow the liquid to drain. The Xindi climbed atop the canister having made the choice with less chance of also being the one to have to clean up intergalactic space-goo and fired up the plasma cutter.
The glow of the cutter illuminated the long-ago abandoned storage facility, sending eerily long shadows of the crew eagerly awaiting to see what they'd scored. That light was quickly overpowered by a golden, amber light that caused the crew to stumble back and raise their blasters.
The Enterprise's ground crew had their phasers already armed saved for their Captain who had his hands up and palms out.
"Sorry to interrupt gentlemen," Pike's eyes had quickly surveyed the Xindi crew, sizing up their body language and taking in all the external tactical data he could.
"Bak to gah! Bak to gah!" The reptilian group shouted at the trespassers and gestured with their weapons for them to back up.
"Captain, the containers are confirmed to be from earth origins. Mostly." Spock had already switched his phaser to his tricorder. "It appears to have been coated in metallic based epoxies to reinforce the alloy and there are several patches and other devices." He gestured to the base of the canisters that were bulky and had several oversized panels that seemed either locked or rusted shut. "It is possible that the original caretakers of these canisters seemed devoted to insuring their longevity."
Captain Pike nodded his head in acknowledgment. He waved his hands down to the others to drop their phasers. La'an did not.
"It does not matter their origin, we paid a good, good price for them!" The leader barked at Pike. "Our purchase was good!"
Pike nodded. "Yes, I'm sure it was. Do you perhaps know what you have inside?"
The group looked at each other but the leader looked straight ahead, unsure to show all their cards or not in the fact they had no idea. Their history with the Federation was recently rocky at best and a rogue salvage unit or not would not buy them favor within their faction or with Federation courts.
Seeing the hesitation, Pike took a step forward with his hands still raised and palms out. "Perhaps, we could clear that up for you?"
The leader took a step back and slowly lowered their weapon's end but did not stow it. Nordrom nodded and gestured to the containers.
Spock took a step forward with La'an right behind him to provide cover. Her face settled, giving no indications of her willingness to engage with the Xindi.
The tricorder's lights began to glow and beep as they took in the nearby data. "It is confirmed. The cargo inside these containers all read human. Intact and all life signs do indicate alive and in suspended animation. Although one seems to be in mild distress." His eyes darted to the container which had heavily thunking sounds inside.
If Pike was surprised at these findings, he did not show it and he turned to the group. "It seems, that as you confirmed, a good sale. However, in Federation space, the sale and purchase of sentient life is quite an offence."
The Xindi all dropped their weapons and backed up shaking their heads, "We did not know, we would not have participated in such a sale. We cannot held accountable!" They began to panic, and the structure of their group began to break down admis the stress and mounting accusations.
Clasping his hands together, Pike licked his lips. "We understand that not all business deals are fruitful...perhaps we can help." he smiled brightly.
Part of Medbay had been cleared of beds and there was a substantial force field dividing the line between the standard medical area and the area that now held the three large capsule containers.
Most of the medical personnel had been cleared. Pike and M'Benga stood near the medical console, going over readings while Spock, Chapel, and Hemmer stood closer to the containers.
La'an stood the furthest back having just finished programming the defensive system as well as putting the final touches on the containment systems.
M'Benga sighed and looked over to La'An. "Are we truly sure it is necessary?"
She raised her eyebrows and looked over to Pike.
"My Security Officer would feel better if those inside should act erratically and have a ...difficult time adjusting, that she be present. But you are still in charge here." Pike smiled reassuringly.
Hemmer scoffed while connecting a cable from the last container to the control platform. "It seems they are now ready to be completely powered although I had to implement several precautions to keep them from overloading."
Pike smiled warmly at his chief engineer, "And I thank you. Is there anything else that you can tell us about the mechanicals of...all this" He gestured to the containers.
Gritting through his teeth, Hemmer responded, "I was warned of a patch job, not a complete insult to modern engineering." He signed and took a step back. "There was a patch from a Romulan battery here and around the back there's a redundancy system that's part Vulcan part Senorian. And the operating system is so very basic human that it should be a crime. It's been storing a bunch of files that I'm pulling up now and transferring to the Doctor. They seem to be medical files." Hemmer clicked his tongue, "How these haven't caught fire or just detonated is pure luck."
"Good work, you are a treasure, Hemmer" Pike smiled and walked back to the medical station. "If you could stay and help monitor any power surges or other such, it would be greatly appreciated, Lieutenant"
Hemmer didn't actively respond but did return to his place near the scanners and engineering control area he had created.
"What are you seeing, Doctor?"
"It's a mixed bag, that's for sure." His brow furrowed and he bit his lip slightly. He stood suddenly and glanced back at La'an and then tried to brush it off by looking back at the captain and back at the consol.
Lowering his voice, Pike cleared his throat. "What's got you agitated?"
Matching the lowering of the voice he nodded and rubbed his hands together before pointing to the screen. "These strings represent each of the individuals inside. I'm showing several augmentations and several genetic alterations. And this." He gestured at a separate data screen. "Is a side by side of La'an and Khan's DNA strings."
"And what am I really seeing here...between them?"
"Building blocks. These three...what was done to them for eons...it's what was used to successfully augment Kahn and his family. Together as a unit, they're all subjects zero."
"What about the rest of these augmentations...Khan and his family don't seem to have an exact match to these three..."
"Yes, there seems to be a universal translator...which is interesting individually but also, other upgrades. They have quite a bit of interior cybernetics which have me confused."
"It stands to reason that someone implementing these changes throughout time would have no issue with cybernetics...what's going on?"
"The data all say that these containers have not been touched in at least 200 years. But the cybernetics and even the universal translators are beyond the technology that we currently have."
"That's a lot of potential, why would someone abandon it or should I say, how would our friends have acquired them so easily?"
"I haven't' been able to break the medical encryption on any of the logs. They are only updated with user identifying tags of initials and nothing else. The much earlier information is corrupt and before that, it looks to be scrubbed."
"And if we wake them up and bring them back what are the risks to them?"
"Well, I have no idea to confirm when they were born or even having a confirming age data. There is a chance they could go into shock or if they have been awake during these...exterminations...they could relapse into an episode and relive their trauma. It's impossible to be sure. But I'm confident with Nurse Chapel and I that we can sedate them. And with La'an here. I'm as sure as I can be."
Clearing his throat, Pike nodded and backed up, clapping his hands for attention. "Ok everyone. These people inside have been asleep for quite a lot of time and there's no way to know their mental state when they wake up so let's all put on gentle smiles and open minds. Let's bring them home."
Hemmer and the doctor began to input as quickly as possible dismantling the duality of encryptions. About halfway through the keying process, there was an audible clicking sound as each container's mechanical shell knocked and began to slide open revealing three humans floating in a viscose liquid. One of the tempered glasslike inner shells began to fracture. A crack with a leak beginning to pool on the medical floor. The metal shielding had been stopping it but now the plug has been removed.
Doctor M'Benga shifted uneasily but still kept his attention on his medical scanners. "This one has been disconnected by some of the support systems. It looks to be accidental but I'm unsure on what that state that will leave him in.."
Red lights on the damaged pod began to sound and the doctor's screen light up with a barrage of warnings. "He's unstable. Nurse Chapel, I'll need you to increase the sedation dose."
La'an stepped closer to the barrier. Her phaser ready, "Computer, security barrier on standby. On my mark for implementation."
Confirmed.
The man's body sunk to the bottom of the console. The other two containers began to flush their suspension fluids and the jelly-like substance gathered and began to clog the drainage floor. Small medical cleaning bots auto engaged and scurried over to the jelly. They sprayed an aerosol that broke down the jelly which allowed it down the drains causing a sucking sound to join the barrage of sounds.
The liquid dispersed quickly, and the glass fronts slid open, allowing access to the subjects. The automated system lowered the strut that supported all the life support systems and cables began to disconnect themselves from the humans, emitting a loud pop. Their bodies slid to the floor among the liquifying jelly and huddled there for several moments.
Their bodies heaved and they began to cycle between coughing and choking as they cleared their airways. They all seemed to be coming to. One by one, they began to open their eyes.
And that's when the screaming began.
