Shihori opened her communicator to contact Captain Miyachika after translating the latest message. Tenzing had been on constant alert, reacting to each and every sound by pointing her phaser in that direction. Tenzing typically wasn't so jumpy but an empty Romulan ship was sure to cause anyone to be on edge. The bridge felt like the safest place on the ship in oppose to random dark corridors. It was only the two of them so any part of the ship wouldn't be any safer than the next.
Only a few minutes had passed by the time the captain returned with Captain Kang. She attached her phaser to her hip as she walked into the room.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Sir, the latest message I translated was from someone named Chulak. It was his order for these Romulans to create distrust between us and the Gorn."
"That would be easy to figure out without going through their messages," Kang said.
"There's more," Shihori said. "There's something going on at a planet called Galorndon Core. Chulak refers to it saying: 'our plan at Galorndon Core.' He continues to say that success in disrupting any Starfleet and Gorn relations will allow their plan to continue to go unnoticed."
"Any info on what this plan involves?" Miyachika asked.
"Nothing good if they're trying to keep it a secret by messing with other quadrant powers," Kang said.
Miyachika bit her lip as she exhaled through her nose. She looked like she was in a trance for a moment before looked to Kang and Shihori. "Okay, I have an idea but I'll need to contact HQ first. I'll return to the ship and have repair teams beam over. Shihori, keep at it and see if you can find anything that gives us more information about this plan of theirs."
She nodded before turning back to the console.
"I'll leave them to you, Yeon Tae," Miyachika said.
"I'll keep them out of trouble while you're gone," Kang said. Miyachika nodded before flipping open her communicator. Before she could say a word, Tarsi and Hunter appeared from around the corner.
"Find anything?" Miyachika asked.
"A few Romulan corpses, blown EPS conduits, no hull breaches but it'll take some time to get this ship back to pristine condition," Tarsi said.
"Captain, may I have a word with you in private?" Hunter asked.
"It'll have to wait, Ensign. I'm returning to the ship to contact Admiral Garrett." She put the communicator up to her mouth. "Miyachika to Miki Endo, one to beam back."
"Locked on, sir. Energizing."
The Romulan surroundings faded and were replaced with the welcoming walls of the Miki Endo. Miyachika smiled and nodded to the transporter technician, a middle-aged blonde man in a red jumpsuit, as she briskly walked out of the room. She mulled over the idea in her head as she rode the turbolift to her quarters. Her doctor was going to have to work a little overtime if this had any chance of succeeding. The turbolift stopped and she headed for her quarters.
"Bridge," she said sitting down behind her desk.
"Bridge here, captain," the officer on duty reported.
"Connect me with Admiral Garrett at Earth Spacedock."
"I have Admiral Garrett for you, sir," Shihori's replacement reported.
"Put him through." The screen switched to Garrett.
"It's good to hear from you, Captain. I trust things are going well at Edren."
"Actually, it's the opposite of that, sir. The Gorn attacked the Zhang He because they believed we attacked one of their ships first. Turns out it was the Romulans."
"Romulans? On this side of the Neutral Zone? Are they wanting to start a war?"
"Yes, sir but not with them." Garrett shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "We captured one of their ships and have gone through their mail. My comm officer has found communications between the ship and someone named Chulak."
"I know that name," Garrett said. "He was a military commander about a hundred years ago who led a suicide run against the NX-01 Enterprise at Galorndon Core. While I'm sure Romulans live just as long as Vulcans, this can't be the same one. It's possibly a descendant."
"A descendant that is using Galorndon Core as a location for some sort of plan. We haven't discovered the details of this plan yet. We-"Her communicator beeped. "Excuse me, Admiral. It's my away team." She flipped open the communicator. "Miyachika here. What have you found out?"
"Captain," Shihori said. "I've uncovered more information about this ship. It's part of something called the Tal Shiar. Do you know what that is, sir?"
Miyachika saw Garrett rub his face before pressing a button on his table panel. He had muted himself to talk to someone else.
"I don't know but I think I'll soon find out. Anything else?"
"Yes, sir. Another transmission from Galorndon Core refers to something I'm not sure I understand."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't think my Romulan is rusty but it's a certain combination of words that don't make much sense when directly translated. It says Chulak wishes to dine and kill on dirt."
"Dine and kill on dirt? The hell does that mean?"
"I'm not sure. It mentions something about an antiproton beam and that he wishes to dine and kill on dirt. Does he plan on using an antiproton beam to eat dirt while killing things?"
"That's exactly what he plans to do," Garrett said. Miyachika wasn't sure when he unmuted himself. "Ever hear of the Constellation? Matt Decker's ship?"
"You mean the one that was used to disable some sort of – ohhh!"
"That planet killer consumed planets and used a pure antiproton beam to break them up."
"My question is: where did they get a planet killer? It's not like you can find them anywhere," Miyachika said.
"Now that I have that information things make sense," Shihori said. "Their plan is to distract us with a conflict with the Gorn while they go unnoticed readying themselves to deploy a planet killer."
"Thank you, Shihori," Miyachika said. "Let me know if you find anything further, Miyachika out." She turned back to the screen.
"I know that look, Chiharu," he said. "That's the look you have when you have a plan."
"I have one and I think it's the only one we can put together at a moment's notice considering that we need to get to Galorndon Core and make sure their plan fails."
"What did you have in mind?"