Ten
Stardate 59434.5, Romulan Moon Lleiset, 10 kilometers east of Lleisetian Municipal Center
Captain's Log: Supplemental
After a tense, but productive meeting with the Lleisetian and Romulan Wing representatives, we finally have a cease fire. The prospects seemed optimistic, however after an exchange or words between our enlisted personnel, a secret message was passed indicating a much deeper problem. Though I want more than anything for my suspicions to be proven wrong, I cannot help but feel that the chances of us ever helping these deserted people getting slimmer and slimmer.
"Try it again!" Keln yelled at the Corporal.
"This is my fourth time damn it!"
Keln reached over and grabbed V'Riss' wrist. He held him tight while he removed the small data chip from the scanner on his forearm and released him without any words.
"Give that back!" V'Riss demanded and leapt at Keln.
The Romulan caught him by his arm again and threw him back hard. V'Riss, with his natural balance and nimble form, tucked and rolled back to land on the ground with his hind legs planted firmly. He curled his body down, with his hands on the ground and growled menacingly. With an almost blinding speed, the naturally evolved Caitian predator pounced and lunged at Keln. He gabbed him buy the neck, claws extended, and knocked him down with a loud roar and snarl.
"That's enough!" Bullock shouted at the two.
Still grappling on the ground with one another, Bullock un-holstered her phaser and released a pistol like bolt of energy that impacted the ground centimeters away from Keln's head, and that had also grazed the whiskers on V'Riss' right side.
"Is there a problem?" Theus asked without looking up from his tricorder?
"N-No sir." V'Riss said and released Keln.
"Good." He said. "Major, take the Corporal and reconnoiter the area again. Make sure we didn't miss anything. Centurion, bring me that chip."
Everyone paused. Theus assumed it was because of his level of calm but didn't care to dwell on it, not when there was so much work to be done.
"Now!" He shouted.
Bullock and V'Riss moved instantly. It took Keln a bit to shake off the earlier attack, but he shook away his lethargy to meet Theus without anymore delay. He handed over the chip, and Theus inserted it into a recess in his tricorder and opened several holographic screens to hover in front of him.
"Do you have anything-"
"Let's get one thing straight, Centurion," Theus said angrily, "Corporal V'Riss does not report to you. No one on my ship does."
"I know that." He said.
"Sir!" Theus shouted. "You know that, sir!"
"Sir." Keln said.
"You say you know it, but you don't act as if you do. But rest assured, if you forget it again, I'll make sure you spend the rest of this journey in the smallest part of the brig."
Keln nodded. "Understood, sir."
Theus turned his attention back to his screens. He was running more analysis on the data chip in addition to several scans of the surrounding area. While en route to their destination, he had used the computer system onboard their Hercules to decrypt the security codes and access the contents of the chip. To everyone's surprise, there was only a set of coordinates.
They traveled some distance to the outskirts of the municipal complex. The area they arrived at was deep within the lush forest that covered most of the planet, and Theus was thankful that there was a small trail already available. Their presence wouldn't disturb the local wildlife or fauna much, but the destination was a rather large glade. It was beautiful with the sparse wildflowers growing near the trees, and a pond that was fed by a 30-meter-high waterfall. But aside from the picturesque scenery, there was nothing noteworthy.
"Sir?"
"What?" Theus asked.
"Maybe I can take a look at it again, I might be able to see something you all have missed."
"There is nothing here K-...Centurion. I've run several multi-layered decryption algorithms and even ran the high-resolution spectrogram across the surface for physical defects that could transmit data. Nothing."
"But there has to be something more."
"I agree. There's no reason we would've been sent out here just for a nature hike."
Theus checked more information. He was trying to concentrate, but an itching on his neck and at the side of his head kept taking away one of his hands.
"You alright over there?" Keln asked.
"Fine." Theus said in a clipped tone. "Also watch your accent, you're slipping."
"No one's around." He said. "I thought you sent them away to be able to talk."
"I did. But if you were going to tell me what your real mission is or why you're on my ship, you would've led with that."
"Eri-"
"What do you want? What is it that you're after?" Theus asked and scratched again.
"You know I can't tell you that." He said. "You sure you're okay? I can grab you something from the med-kit."
"If you won't tell me, you can help by starting a grid scan of the area with me. We'll start by the Herc and work our way out." Theus ordered.
They walked over to the vehicle and began to search the area away from it in opposite directions. Now less focused on security since they got here, Theus took the time to take in the area. He would've loved to have had the time to study this spot alone. At the corner of the pond was a large, bulb plant that was as tall as the palm trees from his hometown. It was a bright white and green, with blue stripes along it's outer leaves. An interesting aspect of this plant, was that its bulb was closed, even with the amount of sun in the sky. It was also moving, no pulsating. At least at the top where the closed bulb was.
"Argh!"
Theus turned and saw Keln coughing harshly, while doubled forward at the edge of the pond and rushed to him.
"What happened." Theus asked while taking scans with his tricorder.
"N-nothing." He gasped, and coughed more. "The water."
"What about it?"
"It's salty." Keln said.
Theus stopped scanning and looked at Keln quizzically. "You drank some of this water?"
"So what if I did?" He asked with a sheepish grin. "Look at it, it's pristine."
Keln was correct, but it didn't explain his actions. "Why would you ingest anything from a foreign planet that hasn't been cleared by our doctor?"
Keln shrugged, more to himself than anything. "I dunno, I just became really thirsty suddenly and the water was calling my name."
Theus turned to the pond and took some scans. As he worked, Bullock and V'Riss returned from their patrol.
"Sir, there's still nothing out there." Bullock reported.
"One moment Major." Theus said. He turned from the pond and scanned a nearby plant. Then jogged a bit to the entrance of the glade and scanned a tree, then over to the large bulb and scanned it before returning.
"Corporal, do me a favor and retract your helmet." Theus said.
"Yes sir." V'Riss said while the HUD peeled away. "Is there something I should be doing?"
"You're doing it now." He touched his commbadge. "Eridos to Utan, Doctor are you available?"
"Utan here, how can I help you Captain?" Came the Doctors cool voice.
"I'm sending you some scans, as well as a few samples of the local plants here with a water sample as well. Can you have a full biological work up done on them?"
"Sir, I'm currently in the process of replicating the medical supplies your ordered be transported down."
"This takes priority Doctor, it may help explain why there's been so much bloodshed here recently."
"Right away sir." She said.
"Good, also I need-"
Theus was cut off by a loud cracking sound. It could've been mistaken for tree branches snapping. Or even the breaking of bone. Everyone looked toward the source of the sound to see the bulb plant opening. Nine curving leaves opened to reveal what could only be described as a gapping maw, filled with teeth."
"Good god!" Bullock said in shock.
The 'teeth' on the inner leaves of the plant were in fact barbs. They seemed to interlock with one another, hence the cracking sound as they split. But on one of the leaves, was the desiccated corpse of a Romulan. Its skin had been so mutilated that the gender and age was indistinguishable, but it was so taught, it looked like bone.
"Are you still there Doctor?" Theus asked.
"Yes sir."
"Doctor prepare your sickbay, I'm going to need an autopsy as well."
Commander zhNon sat in the command chair on the bridge of the Aegis in a deep contemplative thought. The words that her captain had spoken to her had struck a chord. Although she had not done anything outright that was insubordinate, it did irritate her that her actions while serving as first officer could be seen as so. She could see it as so.
She was not concerned that she was challenging her CO, more doing her job to present to him alternatives that he may not have considered. But she had spoken to Captain Williams concerning her current commander. And she was lacking in the familiarity with all ships systems. She would go over the technical manuals and schematics with a fine comb, but for now, she needed a way to broach the topic that had her so preoccupied.
"Commander." Carver said from her Ops console.
"Y-Yes, Lieutenant?"
"Ma'am I just received a sub-space message back from the Emergency Romulan Governing Council." She said.
"Acknowledged, transfer it to my station." She said.
zhNon reviewed the data. At first, she thought there was some mistake, but after reviewing the authentication codes from the sub-space relays she knew that couldn't have been the case.
"Lt. Goritan, please join me in the ready room." She said while walking to the captain's office.
The two traveled the short distance and once inside, zhNon said, "Computer, seal the doors to this room, no entry without my explicit authorization."
Room is sealed, the computer confirmed.
"Is there a problem, ma'am?" He asked.
zhNon reached over to the desk for a PADD. After inputting a few commands, she handed it to Goritan to read. He too, seemed confused as he re-read and checked several authentication codes.
"So we agree that the information is accurate?" She asked.
"We do ma'am," he said, "but this makes no sense. Why would the Romulan Star Navy report Centurion Keln as, what can only be described as dishonorably discharged after a court-martial?"
"I'm still trying to understand it myself. Romulans aren't exactly known for their leniency, especially when it comes to their military forces."
Goritan looked as if he was trying to suppress a dark thought but couldn't. With hooded eyes he said, "Commander, if he was disciplined, then more than likely he was sent to the dilithium mines of Remus."
"And it's a safe bet to assume that prisoners on Remus were amongst the lowest of concern with the attempted evacuation." She sighed. "If there was in fact a Centurion Keln, then he died with the destruction of the Romulan system."
"We need to inform the captain." Goritan said.
"Not just yet." She said. "Keln is with the Captain's team right now, we don't want to tip him off to anything."
"Understood."
"I'll have you beam down once they've finished their survey of the area they were investigating. It won't look suspicious with you being armed or with a security team."
"Yes ma'am…"
"Is there a problem?" zhNon asked.
"…How did this happen?"
"I wish I knew, Goritan."
"No, I mean physically how? Starfleet requested someone, but they didn't vet a Romulan Officer? At the very least the Empire would've had his entire bio-metric profile on record. There's no way command wouldn't have verified it."
zhNon pursed her lips as she thought. The lieutenant was correct, there were times when Starfleet and certain members of the bureaucracy dropped the ball, but this was bordering on sheer incompetence. This form of gross negligence in the security community would never be tolerated. Especially with the heightened state of alert the destruction of Romulus put the Federation in.
"Can you check with the Captain?" Goritan asked.
"What? I just said we will wait on that."
"No I meant Captain Williams ma'am."
She bit her tongue over what she wanted to say.
"I will say this once Lieutenant, we have one CO. That's who we report to, that's who we take orders from!"
"Ma'am I…"
"I know what you meant, and it stops now. From you, from me, all of us. He's been doing an amazing job so far, we can't give him anything less."
Goritan nodded. "Understood, but as acting captain and as your acting first officer, it's my duty to present you with better options. I think we should find out more about this, if not from Captain Williams, then from someone."
He finished with an edge in his voice that zhNon heard. "What's on your mind?"
"…Permission to speak-"
"What is it Goritan?!"
"The Admiral." He said in a low voice. "She was the one who ordered the command test for Commander Eridos and who took Captain Williams off the Aegis. She was the one who insisted on Keln being aboard."
"Go on." zhNon said.
"I can send a security request back to Starfleet. It'll take a while, but if it comes back, it should have every step he took once he entered Federation space. I have the clearance, and the request is practically automated once reviewed."
"And if anything impedes it?"
"Then it will be because someone flagged the information for review. There is no reason for anyone to be concerned to that level. I hate to say it Commander, but we could be dealing with more than just an imposter or infiltrator."
Her antennae twitch. "zhNon to bridge, get me a secure link directly to Major Bullock's HUD."