by Peter David
Before any of the Excalibur crew could say anything, Vonce spoke up, and it was in a voice that was filled with joy and reverence. "It is a miracle!" he cried out. "It is as Ontear foresaw! A miracle, I say!"
"What are you talking about?!" demanded Shelby.
" 'He will come from air and return to air!'" Vonce explained eagerly. "Don't you see? The prophecy has been fulfilled! He came from air, via your transportation device. And now, with His passing, He has vanished into the air as well! There is no trace of Him to be found! We are dealing with the miraculous, I say!"
"Don't be a fool!" said Maro the Questioner. "We are dealing with thievery! Thievery of the most vile and depraved sort! That is what faces us! Thievery on the part of the Unglza, who are probably behind all of this!"
This immediately prompted a firestorm of protest from the Unglza representatives, a chorus of agreement among the Eenza present, and a few holdouts who agreed with the miracle theory postulated by Vonce.
Shelby pulled out her phaser and discharged it once
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skyward. She only had it set on stun, so the result was simply a very loud noise rather than any damage being done. It was, however, enough to immediately seize their attention.
"We," she said with great control, "are going to look for the captain. We are going to operate on the assumption that he is alive, well, and being held by person or persons unknown. We will find him, make no mistake. And when we do, if we discover that any of you had any involvement in this matter . . ."
She let the threat trail off, reasoning that whatever they might come up with would likely be far more frightening than anything she could possibly say.
"Shall we . . . shall we bring you to the last known location of his body?" asked Killick.
"That should not be necessary," Selar said. "Commander, with your permission . . . ?"
"Whatever you have in mind, Doctor, I'm all ears," Shelby told her.
Selar tapped her comm link and said, "Selar to transporter room."
"Transporter room, Watson here."
"Watson," Selar said, "I require your aid in locating Captain Calhoun."
"Yes, Doctor," came back Watson's voice. "Uhm . . . how are we going to go about that?"
"Elementary, Watson," said Selar, and she was about to continue when she was interrupted by a rather surprising guffaw from Shelby. She looked questioningly at the commander. It hardly seemed the time for any sort of levity, and she was at a loss to determine just what it was that Shelby considered so funny. Shelby waved it off and gestured for Selar to continue.
"Doctor?" came Watson's mildly confused voice.
"We have the captain's DNA records and molecular
patterns in the transporter buffer files," continued Selar after one more puzzled glance at Shelby. "Use the shipboard computer medlink and download that information directly into my medical tricorder."
"Will do, Doctor. Give me a minute to pull up the pertinent data. Keep your tricorder on in order to ensure proper information retrieval."
"Understood."
While they were waiting for the information to be processed, Shelby turned to Si Cwan. "I want you back on the ship," she said.
"What? demanded Si Cwan. "For what purpose? If I remain here"
"If you remain here, you could wind up in the same trouble that the captain's in, whatever that may be," Shelby told him. "I'm not going to have any more dealings with these people until we know exactly what's going on around here. Nor am I going to have any non-Starfleet personnel putting themselves at risk."
"I can take care of myself, Commander," Si Cwan informed her.
"Lord Cwan," Shelby said with fading patience, "there is not a single individual in this galaxy whom I would have thought more capable of taking care of himself than Mackenzie Calhoun. He's now missing. So don't for one moment think that your protestations of your own capabilities are going to cut any ice with me. Do we understand each other?"
"Perfectly," said an annoyed Si Cwan, clearly disagreeing but realizing that he wasn't going to make any headway against the immovable object of Commander Shelby. And then he turned to face Zak Kebron. "Bring him back, Kebron. Bring him back safely. If anyone can, you can."
"A compliment?" said Kebron with mild amusement.
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skyward. She only had it set on stun, so the result was simply a very loud noise rather than any damage being done. It was, however, enough to immediately seize their attention.
"We," she said with great control, "are going to look for the captain. We are going to operate on the assumption that he is alive, well, and being held by person or persons unknown. We will find him, make no mistake. And when we do, if we discover that any of you had any involvement in this matter . . ."
She let the threat trail off, reasoning that whatever they might come up with would likely be far more frightening than anything she could possibly say.
"Shall we . . . shall we bring you to the last known location of his body?" asked Killick.
"That should not be necessary," Selar said. "Commander, with your permission . . . ?"
"Whatever you have in mind, Doctor, I'm all ears," Shelby told her.
Selar tapped her comm link and said, "Selar to transporter room."
"Transporter room, Watson here."
"Watson," Selar said, "I require your aid in locating Captain Calhoun."
"Yes, Doctor," came back Watson's voice. "Uhm . . . how are we going to go about that?"
"Elementary, Watson," said Selar, and she was about to continue when she was interrupted by a rather surprising guffaw from Shelby. She looked questioningly at the commander. It hardly seemed the time for any sort of levity, and she was at a loss to determine just what it was that Shelby considered so funny. Shelby waved it off and gestured for Selar to continue.
"Doctor?" came Watson's mildly confused voice.
"We have the captain's DNA records and molecular
patterns in the transporter buffer files," continued Selar after one more puzzled glance at Shelby. "Use the shipboard computer medlink and download that information directly into my medical tricorder."
"Will do, Doctor. Give me a minute to pull up the pertinent data. Keep your tricorder on in order to ensure proper information retrieval."
"Understood."
While they were waiting for the information to be processed, Shelby turned to Si Cwan. "I want you back on the ship," she said.
"What? demanded Si Cwan. "For what purpose? If I remain here"
"If you remain here, you could wind up in the same trouble that the captain's in, whatever that may be," Shelby told him. "I'm not going to have any more dealings wi
th these people until we know exactly what's going on around here. Nor am I going to have any non-Starfleet personnel putting themselves at risk."
"I can take care of myself, Commander," Si Cwan informed her.
"Lord Cwan," Shelby said with fading patience, "there is not a single individual in this galaxy whom I would have thought more capable of taking care of himself than Mackenzie Calhoun. He's now missing. So don't for one moment think that your protestations of your own capabilities are going to cut any ice with me. Do we understand each other?"
"Perfectly," said an annoyed Si Cwan, clearly disagreeing but realizing that he wasn't going to make any headway against the immovable object of Commander Shelby. And then he turned to face Zak Kebron. "Bring him back, Kebron. Bring him back safely. If anyone can, you can."
"A compliment?" said Kebron with mild amusement.
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"No. A challenge." He tapped the commbadge that he had been issued and said, "Si Cwan to Excalibur. One to beam up." And, moments later, he had dematerialized in a sparkle of molecules.
"Well done, Watson," Selar was saying in the meantime.
"Not a problem, Doctor. Anything else you need, just ask."
"Understood. Selar out."
"All right, Doctor," Shelby said, her arms folded and looking barely patient. "What have you got in mind?"
"We can use the tricorder as a localized detection device," Selar said, after making a few adjustments. "Lock on to traces of his DNA or molecular structure in the same way that a tricorder can be utilized to locate any other specific trace elements."
"If we can lock on to where he is, let's just find his coordinates and have him beamed up to the ship."
"The equipment is not quite that localized, Commander. It will indicate direction, but not the final destination."
"Wait a minute." Shelby tapped her commbadge. "Shelby to Bridge."
"Bridge. Lieutenant Soleta here."
"Just the person I wanted to speak to." She quickly outlined what it was that Selar had planned, and then said, "Can we run the same information through the ship's sensors? Do a sensor sweep of the planet using his molecular structure as a guide?"
"Absolutely," Soleta replied. "But via our sensors, it would be more of a selective process. Essentially we'd have to filter through all the biological organisms within the area of the sensor sweep and detect the captain either using his molecular patterns as a guide, or else by process of elimination. That is to say, we
eliminate everyone we know is not the captain and, in doing so, eventually find him."
"Sounds like a plan," said Shelby, who then almost bit her tongue since she had inadvertently blurted out Calhoun's favorite expression. The last thing she wanted to admit was that she had been influenced by him in any way. "Do it," she said. "Until I return, you have the conn, Soleta."
"Yes, sir. I'll get right on it."
Shelby turned to Soleta and said briskly, "All right, Doctor. Fire up the tricorder, and let's track down the captain. Between our being on the scent down here, and the Excalibur tracking him on their end, we should be able to do this in no time. Gentlemen," and she addressed Kebron, Hecht, and Scannell, "let's go find the captain."
Killick quickly made his way to what he hoped would be a private communication point, deep in his own personal sanctum. Quickly he used it to contact Ramed's home and, to his concern, Talila appeared on the screen. "Killick!" she said, making no effort to hide her surprise. She knew of Killick, certainly, but since he was of the Unglza, she had never actually had any direct communication with him. "This is a surprise."
"Yes, I imagine it would be," he said, trying to remain calm. "Is Ramed there?"
"Here?" The genuine puzzlement on her face was all the answer he needed, but it would have been rude to simply shut off the link. "Why would he be here? He's there, isn't he? He . . . he left for there. He even spoke with me just the other day to tell me that he had arrived."
"Did he say anything to you, Talila?"
Talila was completely confused, to say nothing of
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"No. A challenge." He tapped the commbadge that he had been issued and said, "Si Cwan to Excalibur. One to beam up." And, moments later, he had dematerialized in a sparkle of molecules.
"Well done, Watson," Selar was saying in the meantime.
"Not a problem, Doctor. Anything else you need, just ask."
"Understood. Selar out."
"All right, Doctor," Shelby said, her arms folded and looking barely patient. "What have you got in mind?"
"We can use the tricorder as a localized detection device," Selar said, after making a few adjustments. "Lock on to traces of his DNA or molecular structure in the same way that a tricorder can be utilized to locate any other specific trace elements."
"If we can lock on to where he is, let's just find his coordinates and have him beamed up to the ship."
"The equipment is not quite that localized, Commander. It will indicate direction, but not the final destination."
"Wait a minute." Shelby tapped her commbadge. "Shelby to Bridge."
"Bridge. Lieutenant Soleta here."
"Just the person I wanted to speak to." She quickly outlined what it was that Selar had planned, and then said, "Can we run the same information through the ship's sensors? Do a sensor sweep of the planet using his molecular structure as a guide?"
"Absolutely," Soleta replied. "But via our sensors, it would be more of a selective process. Essentially we'd have to filter through all the biological organisms within the area of the sensor sweep and detect the captain either using his molecular patterns as a guide, or else by process of elimination. That is to say, we
eliminate everyone we know is not the captain and, in doing so, eventually find him."
"Sounds like a plan," said Shelby, who then almost bit her tongue since she had inadvertently blurted out Calhoun's favorite expression. The last thing she wanted to admit was that she had been influenced by him in any way. "Do it," she said. "Until I return, you have the conn, Soleta."
"Yes, sir. I'll get right on it."
Shelby turned to Soleta and said briskly, "All right, Doctor. Fire up the tricorder, and let's track down the captain. Between our being on the scent down here, and the Excalibur tracking him on their end, we should be able to do this in no time. Gentlemen," and she addressed Kebron, Hecht, and Scannell, "let's go find the captain."
Killick quickly made his way to what he hoped would be a private communication point, deep in his own personal sanctum. Quickly he used it to contact Ramed's home and, to his concern, Talila appeared on the screen. "Killick!" she said, making no effort to hide her surprise. She knew of Killick, certainly, but since he was of the Unglza, she had never actually had any direct communication with him. "This is a surprise."
"Yes, I imagine
it would be," he said, trying to remain calm. "Is Ramed there?"
"Here?" The genuine puzzlement on her face was all the answer he needed, but it would have been rude to simply shut off the link. "Why would he be here? He's there, isn't he? He . . . he left for there. He even spoke with me just the other day to tell me that he had arrived."
"Did he say anything to you, Talila?"
Talila was completely confused, to say nothing of
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frustrated. She was, after all, speaking with someone whom she regarded as the enemy. She knew, however, that Zondar was endeavoring to enter a new age of tolerance, and what sort of mother and wife would she be if she resisted something as positive as cooperation and brotherhood? So she put aside her immediate temptation to bite off a sharp answer and instead replied, "Did he say anything? What would he have said, Killick? I . . . do not understand."
"I'm not sure," he admitted in annoyance. "But"
"But what?"
He took a deep breath, and said, "The Savior is dead. Dead and gone. I saw His body myself, and that body has now vanished. And Ramed is gone as well."
"Gone?" She stared at him, and he could almost see the wheels turning in her mind, almost perceive the actual thought process as it was reflected on her face in growing disbelief. "Dead and gone . . . and you . . . you are implying that Ramed had something to do with it?"
"I don't know," Killick said in frustration. "All I know is that he is gone. That makes him a suspect."
"No," Talila shot back at him.
"Talila, listen to me"
"No!" she said again, even more forcefully. "Ramed's absence does not make him a suspect. Any one of a dozen reasons would suffice to explain that. No, what makes him a suspect is you. You and years, centuries of distrust of him and all those like him. All those like me. I resent your implications, Killick. Resent them most deeply, and you would be well advised not to be in contact with me again."
"Talila," he started to say.
