Tricia sat at the helm station as she completed her shift.
Just an hour to go, She thought to herself.
Things had been tough since her return from Valaria. Steven Gregholt’s
condition was still the same, the virus that had infected him and started to
destroy his immune system was still present. Doctor Hancock had done all the
tests he said he could. Every time Steven was brought out of stasis, the virus
had quickly been reactivated, now it was just a matter of wait and see. There
had been no word from the Valarian authorities about their investigations.
Deep down Tricia felt somehow responsible for Steven’s position. If only
she'd reached the roof space a few seconds earlier, if only she'd been able
to fire on the assassin from the courtyard. If only, Dinara had pointed out
that Tricia was using that phrase a lot lately.
Tricia didn't feel much like talking to anyone, but Captain Ryan had insisted
that Tricia see one of the ship counselors. Dinara was the more obvious choice,
Tricia knew her quite well unlike Commander Bentara. Tricia couldn't quite put
her finger on it but there was something about the Commander that didn't fit.
Every time they met, it felt to Tricia like Karissa was trying to reach into
her mind. Somehow, Tricia managed to block the feeling, she didn't know how.
Tricia had seen Dinara three time in the past week, they'd talked about Tricia’s
time aboard the Ronin, about her life before joining the ship, but whenever
Dinara moved the conversation towards the mission to Valaria, Tricia had an
overwhelming feeling of remorse.
For the moment Tricia was doing her job, when she was off duty she was either
checking up on Steven in sickbay or in her quarters alone. Even her best friend
Lieutenant Jin couldn't coax her out to play.
"Captain, we have an incoming vessel on long-range sensors." Lt. Commander
Tyran said from tactical. "It appears to be on an intercept course."
"Can you identify it ?" Captain Evans asked.
"It's a fairly small craft, probably a shuttle of some kind. It doesn't
conform to any known craft, but is consistent with a Valarian vessel."
Nige replied.
"Hail them." Ryan ordered. "This is the Federation starship USS
Ronin to unidentified vessel."
[Ronin, This is the Valarian vessel ‘Karikia Heart’, requesting permission
to ‘come aboard’.] Came the reply.
"The ‘royal yacht’" Tricia exclaimed.
"Permission granted. We'll expect you in an hour." Ryan stated. "Ronin
out."
[We estimate we will be able to rendezvous with you within the hour.]
"So we're expecting royalty." Commander Markos announced as he entered
the Bridge.
"Better get the red carpet out." Ryan replied, rising from his command
chair.
"Actually, you'd better make that the blue carpet." Tricia remarked
as she relinquished the helm to her relief. "The Valarians have a thing
about the colour red. The royal colour is blue. Plus I doubt it's the monarch,
there's no guard ships. But the yacht is fast, probably the fastest vessel the
Valarians have, which means they needed to reach us fast."
"Well then ‘Ambassador’ a blue carpet it shall be." Ryan
replied as the Alpha shift completed the hand-over. "I’ll expect to
see you in an hour in the main shuttle bay."
"Yes Captain." Tricia replied, entering the turbolift.
Captain Evans walked over to his ready room and entered.
An hour later, Captain Evans and Tricia were in transporter room one awaiting
the arrival of the Valarian visitors.
The familiar sounds of the transporter filled the air and three figures appeared
on the pads.
"Lieutenant McMillan it's good to see you again." The central figure
announced.
"And to see you ambassador." Tricia replied. "May I introduce
Captain Ryan Evans, my commanding officer."
"A pleasure Captain." Ambassador Kash replied, stepping off the transporter
pad. "I think you both know Guardian Klara and my other colleague is doctor
Veneri."
"Captain." Klara remarked. "Tricia, it's good to see you again,
we must talk later. For now I suggest that we go visit your medical centre,
we have some news."
"Of course." Captain Evans replied, heading out of the door. The ambassador
and Doctor Veneri followed the Captain, with Klara and Tricia following along
behind.
"Doctor, we have some guests." Captain Evans announced as they entered
the sickbay. "
The Doctor was just finishing up some routine tests on Karissa at the time and
turned to acknowledge the new arrivals.
"That's all for now Commander." He announced "I’ll see you
again tomorrow."
Karissa rose from the bio-bed and stood up, ready to leave.
"Ambassador, may I introduce my chief counselor Commander Karissa Bentara."
The Captain announced. "This is Ambassador Kash of Valarian, Guardian Klara
and Doctor Veneri."
Karissa acknowledged the three strangers.
"If you'll excuse me, I must return to my duties." She announced,
walking out the door.
"Doctor, we may have some new information in your quest to ‘save’
Lieutenant Gregholt." Ryan announced.
"We checked out the research facility where the assassin had previously
worked. We found a few pieces of information, but not a trace of the virus that
infected the Lieutenant." Klara announced. "We did however find these."
Klara opened a small box that she had been carrying and opened it on the desk.
From it she produced a small glass tube and passed it to Doctor Hancock.
"What is it ?" William enquired.
"The LTMH was able to identify the devices, but we thought you'd like to
see for yourself." Ambassador Kash replied.
"Doctor Hancock took the glass tube and put it under the medical scope.
"My god." William remarked as he noticed the miniature devices. "These
appear to be nano-probes."
"Borg nano-probes !" Ryan remarked, the obvious implications making
his voice harsh.
"I don't know, I've only seen a couple of images of Borg nano-probes, but
they do seem to have common characteristics." William replied.
"There is one other thing that the LTMH discovered." Doctor Veneri
announced. "These nano-probes are inert."
"Inert ?" Ryan enquired.
"Yes, they have most of their programming encoded, but they don't appear
to have been given any specific tasks." Veneri replied.
"Blanks." William replied. "Interesting. Captain I think we should
get Wang to take a look at these."
"I agree." The Captain replied. "Evans to Lieutenant Wang."
[Wang here. What can I do for you Captain ?]
"Could you please come to sickbay, there's something here I think you may
want to see." Ryan replied.
[I'm on my way. Wang out]
Ten minutes later, Lieutenant Wang arrived in sickbay and was introduced to
the ship's guest. The he was shown the nano-probes.
"Wow." He exclaimed. "These are amazing."
"Do you think they are Borg ?" Ryan asked.
"I don't think so." Wang replied. "Computer, run a technical
and metallurgic analysis of one of the nano-probes."
<Analysis complete.> The computer announced.
"Is the nano-probe consistent with known Borg nano-probes." Wang asked.
<Negative. The nano-probe is only a sixty percent match with know Borg nano-probes.
Analysis has detected elements that are unique to the Alpha quadrant. Analysis
would therefore suggest that the nano-probe was created in the Alpha quadrant
and is therefore not of Borg origin.>
"So what does all that mean ?" Doctor Hancock asked.
"That someone else has nano-probe technology and from what we've just heard,
I’d guess that they had access to Borg technology." Wang replied.
"But what's their purpose ?. Who and why were they created and how did
they turn up on Valaria." William asked.
"We also checked out the quarters of Addison Hillstead. We found nothing
else, but we also checked out his off-world communications. At first everything
seemed in order, but as we looked deeper we found several hidden messages in
what appeared to be routine messages." Klara announced.
"What we're these messages and who were they to ?" Ryan asked.
"They were all to a Doctor Bakar Mikori." Klara replied. "Each
message was sent to a different locations and we were unable to trace where
the message went after they were received."
There was a shock throughout the room as Klara said the name.
"Do you know this person ?" Klara asked, realising that she had said
something important.
"We are currently investigating a Doctor Bakar Mikori in an unrelated matter.
If he's involved in this as well then you may have just given us another piece
to the puzzle." Captain Evans explained.
"Of course." Wang exclaimed, as a thought came into his head.
"Lieutenant do you have something ?" Ryan enquired.
"I don't know Captain, it's just a thought. I’d need to take these
probes to the lab and try and de-code their programming to be sure." Wang
replied.
"Why ? What do you think these nano-probes are ?" Ryan asked.
"If I'm right, then we may have discovered how the DNA manipulation was
performed." Wang replied. "We may even have a way of reversing the
effects."
"Do it." Ryan ordered. "Let me know when you have anything."
"Doctor, I’d like you to perform a complete body scan of Lieutenant
Gregholt, see if there are any nano-probes still in his system." Wang requested.
"We'll need to adjust the scanners to detected the probes, but we should
be able to do it without taking the Lieutenant out of stasis." Hancock
replied.
"OK people, let's get busy." Ryan stated. "Tricia, I’ll
leave our guests in your capable hands. If you need me, I’ll be in my ready
room."
Captain Evans left the Sickbay and headed to the Bridge.
"Ryan to Commander Bentara." Ryan announced as he entered the turbolift.
[Karissa here Captain.] She replied.
"Please meet me in my ready room, we have some interesting news."
Ryan replied.