by Dayton Ward
According to the latest version of whatever fluid diplomatic agreement governed the two powers’ activities in the Taurus Reach, simply by beaming down to the planet, Blair may well have triggered an interstellar incident, even though his reasons were straightforward. The distress call his communications officer had intercepted, broadcast without benefit of any encryption, had not expressly forbidden any non-Klingon vessels from answering the plea for help. On the other hand, it had been a generic, all-purpose distress signal transmitted on a repeating loop, the sort of prerecorded summons often designed to be dispatched quickly, such as when some kind of massive accident or disaster had occurred. Whether that was sufficient to absolve Blair of any wrongdoing so far as answering the call was concerned, he did not know.
All that’s for the politicians to worry about, he mused as he once more raised the binoculars to his face and took another survey of the devastated settlement. He had come here with the intentions of answering the distress call—detected two days earlier as the Defiant continued its patrol of the sector—and making a good-faith effort to render whatever assistance might be needed. As that was no longer necessary, his first instinct was to send Doctor Hamilton and her team to search for clues and answers as to what might have wiped out the colony.
An autopsy of one of the victims was out of the question, of course, and not just because his chief medical officer—so far as he knew, at least—possessed no in-depth knowledge of Klingon anatomy. While he was certain Hamilton could conduct at least some cursory examinations using whatever records might be on file in the Defiant’s library computer, even that would take more time than Blair knew remained to him. What if the settlers had fallen prey to some as yet unknown, perhaps even infectious disease that defied detection by sensor scans? Was that not important enough to secure as much information as possible? A full science team was what really was needed here, but the likelihood of the Empire allowing such an excursion was small, no matter how noble or innocuous the purpose. Despite whatever pretense of peace imposed upon the Federation and the Empire by the Organian Peace Treaty, tensions remained strained between the two powers, and events that had transpired in the Taurus Reach in recent months had only exacerbated the situation. The last thing Blair wanted was a confrontation with a Klingon battle cruiser here. Not now, when there remained far too many questions about what happened here.
“There’s nothing we can do now,” he said, shaking his head in disgust, “and our being here’s only going to upset whoever comes to check on the colony.” The best Blair could do now would be to compose a detailed report and transmit it back to Starbase 47, where Admiral Nogura would see to it that it was forwarded to the appropriate parties on the Federation as well as the Klingon side of whatever negotiating table the governments’ respective diplomats currently graced.
“Commander Mbugua did order me to make sure you returned to the ship within one hour, sir,” th’Vlene said.
Eyeing the Andorian, Blair replied, “Has it been that long?” He then heard the telltale beep of his communicator, and he offered a small smile. “Well, it looks like the commander’s been keeping at least one eye on the clock.” Reaching for the device at the small of his back, he flipped open the communicator’s antenna grid. “Blair here.” Expecting Mbugua, he was surprised to hear the voice of his science officer.
“It’s Commander Nyn, sir,” the young woman replied. “Captain, we’ve found something you need to see.”
The first thought that occurred to Thomas Blair as he studied the object before him was that it was the product of a science experiment gone wrong in some horrific manner.
“What the hell is it?” he asked as he walked a circuit around the odd device, which sat alone atop a small plateau no more than twenty meters across at its widest point. “Some kind of probe?”
From where she stood to one side, tricorder in hand, Lieutenant Commander Nyn said, “I don’t think so, sir. I’m picking up components of what looks to be some kind of sensor apparatus, but it seems to be fairly limited in scope.”
“A weapon of some kind?” Blair frowned, and for a worried moment, he wondered if it might be some kind of mine. Now’s a hell of a time to think of that.
Nyn shook her head. “That’d make sense, sir, particularly given what else we’ve found.” She gestured first to where the bodies of two Tholians lay a short distance from the object, near the edge of the rise, before pointing to the body of a Klingon female. “That said, I don’t see how.” Pausing, she continued to consult her tricorder. “I mean, I’m picking up what looks to be some kind of particle beam generator, but there’s nothing else that makes me think it’s part of a weapons system. No targeting array, and it doesn’t seem to have any sort of propulsion or flight control systems. It pretty much just sits here, and whatever beam it’s supposed to generate goes in one direction, though from what I can tell the beam is meant to disperse as it travels from its origin point, rather than focusing on a single target.”
“And this is the only one we’ve found that’s intact?” Blair asked.
“That’s correct, sir,” Nyn replied. “Though our sensors found twenty-three other sites, arrayed in an equidistant perimeter around the colony, every one of those sites has nothing but a small crater and some residual materials that are obviously artificial in origin.”
His gaze still fixed on the object, Blair said, “Let me guess. The perimeter is eight kilometers wide.” He heard Nyn clear her throat before replying.
“That’s right, sir.”
Blair ran his hand along the object’s flank. “And what’s that sound like to you, Commander?”
“Whatever these things are,” the science officer said, “they formed a kill zone, with the colony in the middle. Afterward, they initiated some kind of self-destruct protocol.” Turning, she pointed to another, smaller crater. “Something was over there, too, but beats me what it might’ve been. My tricorder picked up traces of Tholian remains from that site, sir. Whatever blew up, it took at least one Tholian with it.”
His fingers brushing over a series of scorch marks blemishing the object’s otherwise flawless black surface, Blair said, “Somebody took a shot at it. These look like disruptor burns.”
Nyn replied, “Judging by the damage and residual energy reading. I don’t think it’s from a Klingon weapon, though.”
Bending closer, Blair saw that the object’s outer casing had been penetrated. “Whatever hit it managed to punch through the shell.”
“There appears to be some internal damage,” Nyn said. “Some kind of computer component, I think, but without tearing it apart, I can’t be sure.”
Blair always liked a good puzzle, even if he knew he would not like the picture it would form. “I’ll bet a month’s pay this is the reason we have twenty-three craters instead of twenty-four.” He pointed to the damaged section. “The shot damaged whatever self-destruct mechanism this thing contains.”
“It’s certainly a possibility, sir,” the science officer replied.
Turning from the still unidentified object, Blair said, “What the hell were the Tholians doing here?”
“Upsetting the natives, I think,” another voice answered, and Blair turned to see th’Vlene making his way up one angled face of the rise toward them. The Andorian stopped before pointing back the way he had come. “I found another Klingon down there.”
Blair walked to the edge of the plateau and directed his gaze down the slope until he caught sight of the unmoving form lying at the bottom of the ravine th’Vlene had been investigating. The body was partially obscured by boulders and vegetation, but there was no mistaking the rather large burn mark on the Klingon male’s chest. Clothing along with skin and muscle tissue had been burned away, probably from a particle beam weapon at close range.
Pointing to another area of the ravine, th’Vlene replied, “As for the other Klingon, she didn’t have any obvious signs of trauma, but she looked like what we saw at the colony, sir.”
“Interesting,” Blair said, his attention shifting between where th’Vlene had pointed and the general direction of the settlement. Nodding toward the mysterious, drone-like object, he said, “She’s between this thing and the colony.” That seemed to lend some additional weight to his idea that the drone, along with its twenty-three destroyed counterparts, might well be some kind of broad-based antipersonnel weapon. How had they gotten here undetected? Were they moved into position by hand, or dropped from orbit? Without a more detailed examination of the drone, there would be no way to answer such a question, along with the hundred or so others Blair was contemplating, such as how the Tholians, however many there might have been, had kept their presence a secret. Where was their ship? Not in orbit, or it would have been detected by the Defiant’s sensors. Was it here, hidden? That made more sense. If the Klingon colony here was in truth just an actual agricultural outpost and not part of a larger, clandestine military operation, then the inhabitants likely would not have had access to the same levels of sensor and weapons technology used by the imperial forces. A party with sufficient skill, particularly if they were employing covert infiltration tactics, could very easily exploit such a shortcoming.
Maybe the colony was targeted for exactly that reason. The thought at once saddened and angered Blair, for the devastation that had been wreaked as well as the idea that the Tholians had with deliberate calculation targeted civilians with whatever weapon they had created. Such an overt, unjustifiable act would only serve to further deteriorate the already fragile political situation in this part of the Taurus Reach. And here we are, stuck right in the middle.
“Get this thing ready for transport,” he said. “We’re taking it with us. You’ll start your investigation on our way back to Vanguard. Meanwhile, I want every sensor scan you can throw at this planet. The Tholians had to have a ship. I want it found.”
Nyn nodded. “Aye, sir.”
His communicator beeped for attention, and Blair reached for the device and activated it. “Blair here.”
“Defiant here, sir,” replied the voice of Commander Mbugua. “It’s time for you to call it a day, Skipper. We’ve got company.”
Uh-oh, Blair thought. “Klingons?”
“No, sir,” the first officer replied. “Long-range sensors are picking up three Tholian ships, heading this way at high warp. They’ll be here within the hour.”
Th’Vlene said, “It seems someone else heard the colony’s distress call.”
“That, or the Tholians sent their own,” Blair countered, then nodded toward the drone. “Or one of these things fired off a call for help before self-destructing. Doesn’t matter now.” He was gripped by the sudden thought that everything they had seen of the mysterious Tholian technology here had smacked of tracks being covered. Perhaps the devices had self-destructed so as to give the Tholian government plausible deniability for what had happened here?
“Nyn, get this thing back to the ship, now.” For all Blair knew, this was the lone remaining piece of evidence implicating the Tholian Assembly as instigators of interstellar war with the Klingons.
If that was the case, and with more Tholian vessels fast approaching, Blair was certain of only one thing: The best place to be right at the moment was anywhere but here.
30
As the doors to his office slid aside, Admiral Nogura was greeted by the sight of T’Prynn and Ming Xiong. The duo was standing in the open area between his desk and the door, obviously waiting for him to arrive.
“I’ve never really liked it when my own meetings start without me,” Nogura said, eyeing his charges as he passed them on his way to the food slot set into the rear wall of his office.
“We hadn’t started, Admiral,” Xiong said, the expression on his face one of such concern and sincerity that Nogura almost felt a small pang of guilt for making what he had intended to be a mood-lightening remark.
Almost, but not quite.
“I directed that at myself, Lieutenant,” he said, waiting until the food slot’s door slid upward to reveal a cup of green tea resting in a saucer. “Flag officers make comments such as those in order to avoid offering a proper apology when they’re running late. Stick around Starfleet long enough, and you’ll one day be able to keep people waiting, too.” Retrieving the tea, Nogura made his way to his desk and lowered himself into his high-backed chair. Gesturing toward the pair of chairs in front of him, he said, “Those aren’t decorative. Somebody use them.” As Xiong settled into one of the chairs, leaving T’Prynn to stand behind him, Nogura lifted his teacup from its saucer. “So, I take it we have some sort of new development?”
Turning to walk to the wall-mounted viewscreen on the left side of the admiral’s office, T’Prynn replied, “Yes, Admiral. We have completed our analysis of the navigational data obtained by Mister Reyes from the Omari-Ekon.” Without waiting for further instructions, she took the square blue data card she had been carrying in her right hand and inserted it into a reader slot situated next to the screen. She then pressed a sequence of keys on the control pad next to the reader, and the screen flared to life. A wash of computer data coalesced into the image of what Nogura recognized as a standard Federation star chart. Moving to the side of the screen so as to offer an unobstructed view, T’Prynn clasped her hands behind her back.
“Based on navigational and chronological data recorded by the Omari-Ekon’s main computer,” she said, “we believe that the Mirdonyae Artifacts originated in this star system. Federation stellar cartography databases currently list this system as FGC PSR 0108+143.”
Shifting in his seat, Xiong said, “It’s a pulsar, sir, estimated to be two hundred million years old. As you can tell by the database, we haven’t given it much attention in terms of exploratory research.”
“But the Vulcans have,” Nogura countered.
T’Prynn nodded. “Indeed. Our star charts refer to it as Eremar. The only information we possess was provided by automated survey probes, dispatched centuries ago. As with much of the Taurus Reach, Vulcan never sent crewed vessels to that region.”
“So, where is this Eremar system?” Nogura asked, leaning back in his chair as he sipped his tea.
“Approximately thirty-five light-years from our present position,” T’Prynn replied, tapping the control pad again. In response to her command, the star chart magnified, this time highlighting and bringing into sharp relief one section of the Taurus Reach with which Nogura was becoming increasingly familiar.
“In the center of this … what did you call it? Tkon Empire?” he asked.
“We believe this to be the center of what once was the Tkon civilization, Admiral,” Xiong replied. “At least, according to the information we’ve so far been able to obtain on that area, including information supplied to us by Cervantes Quinn and Bridget McLellan from their mission to retrieve the stolen Mirdonyae Artifact.”
Nogura said, “Yes, of course. Their encounter with the Shedai … Apostate?”
“Yes, Admiral,” Xiong replied.
Offering a nod of thanks, Nogura eyed the image on the viewscreen. “That looks to be a bit of a hop from here,” he said. “Do we know why the Omari-Ekon was in that vicinity in the first place?”
T’Prynn shook her head. “We do not believe the vessel actually traveled to the region, sir, but rather obtained the relevant navigational data as part of the business deal that gave the Orions the artifact itself. According to the intelligence data we’ve been able to gather, we believe that neither Ganz nor any member of his crew possessed knowledge of the artifact’s specific origin or properties.” Stepping closer to the viewscreen, she placed one hand on the highlighted area. “Mister Quinn reported the Apostate’s mention of an alliance with factions from the Tkon Empire, one that resulted in the creation of a great weapon capable of imprisoning individual Shedai and neutralizing any threat posed by their activities.”
“Which we believe to be the Mirdonyae Artifacts,” Xiong said. “Quinn’s descriptions match the crystals in phy
sical characteristics and function. Given that we have two Shedai contained within a pair of the things, it seems to me we’re barking up the right tree.”
“It certainly seems that way,” Nogura said, setting aside his tea, which had cooled rather more quickly than he had anticipated. “Mister Xiong, what do we know about the Tkon, and Eremar in particular?”
Drawing himself up, Xiong replied, “Unfortunately, much of what we do know—including what was given to us with the reports supplied by Quinn and McLellan based on their encounter with the Shedai Apostate—is more story than fact. We know that their civilization existed more than six hundred thousand years ago, and tales have been told and circulated for generations. Consistent details describe the Tkon as having controlled a vast region within what we now call the Taurus Reach. Their empire crossed the border we’ve since established as separating the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, and their territorial boundaries extended into what is now Klingon space, though they did not reach across to areas now under the control of the Tholians.”
“According to these tales,” T’Prynn said, “the Tkon civilization was quite advanced—well beyond our present technological level. Among their many unsubstantiated achievements, they are believed to have mastered terraforming, as well as traveling interstellar distances without benefit of faster-than-light spacecraft.”
“The wildest stories involve the Tkon being able to literally relocate entire solar systems,” Xiong said.
Nogura said, “Sounds a lot like our friends, the Shedai, and what happened to the Jinoteur system.” His left hand resting on the desk, he began tapping its smooth surface with his forefinger. “Even taking into account gross exaggerations and embellishments of these stories, it’s probably safe to say that the Tkon likely were a dominant power in this part of the galaxy, at least for a time.”
