"... praise them not, their shields dragging, but ask their
cause for hearth-side lagging. Prydwyn full thrice
set forth sailing, but save seven none returned from
Anyvyn."
Excerpt from Captain's log, USS Adventure, Captain
Frank Peabody commanding. Stardate 1637.5. Final
entry.
"If you'd remained on Starbase 34," Kirk said sweetly, "or
taken the Elliot Ness to sector 9, you would not be
inconvenienced by this, Commodore. As it is,
circumstances have changed. We are responding to a distress
signal."
"A *sector* distress signal from a sector you were not in!"
"We're in it now." Kirk snapped.
"I will be filing a report." Whittaker sniffed.
"You can file it right up your -"
"Captain, have you reviewed the crew readiness reports?"
Spock asked.
"No." Kirk lied, and turned abruptly to the PADD Spock
held out. As Whittaker harrumphed his way off the
bridge, Kirk muttered to Spock, "I'm going to kill him. God
help me, I'm going to kill him with my bare hands."
"A paraphrase, if not a direct quote, of Mr Pateman's
remarks on the same subject." Spock said, and at Kirk's
glance, "Have you not wondered, Captain, why Whittaker
found it so necessary to leave Starbase 34 so urgently?"
Kirk began to smile, and then to chuckle. "I would give
real money to have been a fly on the wall." he said. "That
thought almost makes it worth it." Then he glanced back
at the PADD, and sobered. "Almost. Mr Sulu, what's
our time?"
"ETA in 79 hours, sir."
"Spock." Kirk powered his chair around and lowered his
voice. "Any hypothesis about the reason for this
evacuation?"
"Only extremely tentative ones, Captain. None firm
enough to justify a report."
" Humour me with your hunches."
"'Hunches'?" Spock raised an eyebrow.
"I forgot. Vulcans don't have hunches."
"Indeed, Captain, as I have told you on thirty-seven
previous occasions, 'hunches' are emotional and irrational
reactions, and as such have no place in a properly rational
and scientific approach."
"Tentative hypotheses, on the other hand..."
"Are provisional conclusions reached on the careful
examination of small items of verifiable evidence."
"Of course." Kirk said. "You won't need to explain it to
me again."
"I find that difficult to believe." Spock said dryly.
"So what are they? Your - tentative hypotheses?"
"There have been a number of - incidents - in this
area of space in the past month or so. Civilian and
merchant shipping, with filed and charted routes, failing
to make expected port calls or rendezvous."
"A number? How many?"
"Fourteen."
"Fourteen!"
"This is not statistically significant, Captain. There are
always instances of changed plans, accidents, navigational
errors, and the like. Fourteen is above the statistical
norm, but within any statistical range there are always
clusters. There are no reported cases involving Starfleet
vessels, and civilian and merchant shipping tends to be
more prone than Starfleet to errors and equipment failure."
"But you hypothesise that these 'incidents' - these
disappearances - have something to do with the evacuation
of Starbase 18."
"Tentatively." Spock said.
"Would you know if any Starfleet vessels *had* been
involved?"
"Not necessarily. The docking lists, shipping news and
cargo logs that I have used to assemble this information
are of course not applicable to Starfleet vessels. Direct
MIA reports from Starfleet are the only reliable source.
None have been broadcast."
"Which means either there aren't any missing Starfleet
ships - or that the Admiralty wants to keep the bad news
under their collective hats." Kirk said.
"Yes." Spock said.
"Work that up for me, Spock." Kirk said. "Check the
general mail squirts back for two months - see if there
are any link ups that were missed without explanations -
poker games, sports matches, you know the sort of thing."
"Indeed." Spock said. Out in the deep, two Starfleet
ships berthed at the same base or running in the same
course provided an opportunity for the crews of both
to revive acquaintanceships, friendships and romances,
to sharpen their competitive skills at everything from
chess to corridor soccer to cooking. Uhura had been
rehearsing the Enterprise's mass choir (nearly three
hundred of the crew) in groups according to their
shifts for several months in anticipation of the
upcoming quarterfinal 'sing-off' with the crew of the
USS Stupendous and there were times when it seemed
impossible to escape the strains of Blake's
'Jerusalem' in complex eight part harmony in every
corner of the ship. If the USS Stupendous had
suddenly disappeared, Spock knew, there would be a
significant trail of unanswered messages seeking to
confirm the location and conditions of the
competition. It was extremely unlikely that *any*
Starfleet vessel would not have at least one
significant competition or expected match-up with a
sister ship of the service in the near future, and
accordingly, correspondence concerning it in the
general mail.
"It's below priority on the evacuation." Kirk said. "But if
you have time -"
"Yes, Captain."
"Report back when you have something."
Spock raised his eyebrow. "Captain, do you not mean 'if'
I find something?"
"No, Spock. If you have a suspicion, I'm sure it'll
justified." Kirk grinned slyly at his First Office. "I
trust your hunches, Spock."