Pieces of the Puzzle

Posted on Thu Mar 31st, 2022 @ 9:47am by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D & Commodore Jacob Kane & Commander N'Garzi Zora

Mission: With Gleaming Eyes
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD-05 - 0900
1867 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Kane paced his ready room. It was uncharacteristic for him to be impatient, but recent events had him concerned enough that time was important, and not something that was necessarily on their side. Of all the evidence they'd gathered, both from the surface and from other locations, there was definitely something else at work.

Zora made her way to Kane's Ready room as soon as she had received the call. She hadn't known the Captain for long but she was certain that something was on his mind and it would be best for her to not keep him waiting. She arrived at the Ready Room door at the same time as P'rel, coming from a different entrance on the bridge. Zora gave the woman a curt nod, now wasn't the time for petty rivalries. She held out her hand for the Vulcan to enter first, "after you," she said graciously. "Wouldn't want you to get caught in my transporter beam," she added, unable to help herself.

"Mind your head" P'rel responded with sarcasm as dry as Vulcan's Forge. She stepped into the ready room first, at least a small part of her anticipated being shot in the back though she suspected she was telepathically picking up on Zora's emotions. There was a human phrase that came to mind, "if looks could kill", and she very much concluded that a 'lethal' glare was emanating from the Commander at that moment.

As his XO and Intelligence Officer both arrived, Kane leaned with his back against his desk and his arms folded tightly in front of himself. Any interaction between the two went unnoticed as he considered what he was about to discuss with them.

"Doctor Ki has informed me that the plague has been dealt with and the vaccine distributed without incident," he explained. "However, I am concerned about some of the other details we've collected from our visit here." He motioned to the wall-mounted screen. "Lieutenant P'rel and Mr Tolbar have collated over a dozen separate documents, files, missing files, images and sensor readings." The various captures were displayed in an elaborate collage. "Notice anything?"

Zora turned her attention to the screen and studied the files that Kane had highlighted. "What am I seeing here?" She asked as she looked between the Captain and the intelligence officer.

"Everything" the Vulcan replied, moving closer to the screen to examine how Kane had laid our the data. "And yet, nothing" she concluded cryptically. "Each of these files, documents, each piece of this puzzle is brazenly insignificant in isolation. Indeed, even if one were to connect a few articles, there are far more logical and plausible conclusions than to arrive at the notion that Rondac is operational again." She took a moment to study the overlaid and connected artefacts on the screen, slightly enjoying the atmosphere in the room which conveyed that both she and Kane knew more than Zora, and that they had a topical relationship on this which predated the Commander's recent arrival to Athena. "Put together however, it would be fair to suppose that some kind of illicit cloning activity is taking place on Rondac..." she pointed at different parts of the display as she moved through her thoughts, not intending to but aware afterwards that it may have come across as patronising to the Commander. "...funded discreetly by regional illegal activities..." her hand moved along, "to replace key personnel....: and again, "orchestrated at least in part by high ranking members of Starfleet and the Cardassians at the very least, if not more".

Zora could tell that P'rel was enjoying this more than she was trying to let on, she definitely wasn't your typical Vulcan. "And you're sure you have the right theory? The right system?" She asked, mostly playing devil's advocate, partly questioning P'rel's work.

Ignoring the barbed language, P’rel turned on her heels with her hands behind her back to face Kane, as though he were some kind of mediator.

"The Rondac system appears in more than 80% of them," Kane finally sighed. "The official Starfleet reports post-Treaty of Cardassia are very clear: the Dominion cloning facility there was scuttled and destroyed less than two weeks after the war ended. And yet, we have documentary evidence linking a number of illicit operations to that very same facility." He shook his head. "The raid on at least two starbases, the loss of the USS Pico, our friend Commander Brill, the smuggling of Pilgrim biomatter, even charting back to a tiny slavers operation on Aquilon." It had been literally the day after he'd taken command of Athena, but he remembered that incident clearly. The first domino, it seemed.

"Not to mention the presently indeterminate nature of the device found on Metis. Though I have some suspicions on that, I was unable to complete a timely report due to a brief systems access issue...." P'rel looked sideways to Zora, leaving the barb hanging in the air.

"Save yourself some time and tell us now," Zora replied, ignoring the jibe that was clearly aimed in her direction.

Facing Kane directly, and deliberately excluding Zora from her body language, P’rel steepled her fingers under her chin as was her custom when expositing thoughts; “I am unclear on the precise nature of the device referred to as the egg, however the fact that it shows some similar biochemical properties to other artefacts in this puzzle indicates a clear connection. The device is artificial, and so logically the pilgrim matter has been added by choice. I note the reports which state it has the potential for exponential energy expansion such as an explosive device, however it is unlikely that is what we are looking at. I believe at Rondac, we would find some kind of receptacle for the egg which would serve as some kind of high functioning energy and biometric data processing device.” She paused a moment, conceding to herself she was making some assumptive leaps. “Their plan, whomever they are and whatever the endgame of that plan is, appears to be working so far, logically one would wish to expand your capacity for operations in response to success. This device….it may be the key to doing so, the ability to manufacture clones on an industrial scale due to the energy properties…and the biomemetic properties may indicate that those clones could all be different. Imagine, producing clones at a rate the Dominion did, but all of those clones are different individuals and not mass copies of the same person…”

"The fact that we've witnessed cloned infiltrators, and now that Starfleet reports have either been altered or falsified..." Kane shook his head. "I'm no longer confident we're dealing with an external threat here."

Raising her brows in an exaggerated conveyance of surprise, P'rel placed her hands behind her back and took a few steps away from the screen. "We rarely are, sir".

In all honesty, Zora couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had no doubt that an organisation as big and "perfect" as Starfleet had to have some ghosts, some dark secrets that were beyond public knowledge. In fact, most of the great powers on this side of the galaxy, hell even from her side of the galaxy did, but this was bigger than anything she could have imagined. "What's our move?" She asked, knowing that this was the reason Kane had called this meeting, and this was the reason it was between the three of them and not the entire senior officers.

"Commander. Lieutenant." Kane gripped his desk with his fingers tightly, then released it. "I intend for us to get to the bottom of this matter right now. I want us to set a course for Rondac and be under way within the hour. We're going to find out what's there. We're going to find answers."

Though she anticipated the likely answer, P'rel still asked aloud "Is Starfleet aware of our new deployment Captain?".

"No." Kane said it firmly. "Frankly, given the potential involvement of rogue elements within Starfleet, I don't know whether we can trust this with anyone else but ourselves. I want answers, and I fully intend to go and get them." He watched to see if either of them would object. He doubted P'rel would have an issue, but he was less sure of where Zora would come down.

Zora turned her back from the two officers in the room, thinking. She had spent her life going with her gut feeling, often that was in line with what Starfleet and the Federation wanted her to do, sometimes it wasn't. Her feelings now were telling her to follow Kane on this mission that was likely to get them all court-martialed, or worse. "Agreed," she finally said, turning back to face them. "But how do you know you can trust me? And more importantly, how do I know I can trust you?" She asked, her dark eyes searching theirs.

Turning to Kane, the Vulcan had to concede the Commander had a point. “This is a fair question. Perhaps placing the Commander in the brig would draw too much attention however…” P’rel said in a droll tone, unsure herself in all honesty how much she was joking, how much she was antagonising, and how much she was serious.

"Certainly more attention than locking up an antisocial Intelligence Officer," Kane remarked with a mild glare. "Stow the complaints. The three of us are the only ones who know precisely how deep this goes, and that means we need to be on the same page. Is that clear?" He looked between them firmly but expectantly.

Zora looked from the human to the Vulcan and back again. She was trying to figure the pair of them out, and their relationship. P'rel seemed to enjoy drama, she was enjoying this game of cat and mouse she had created. Zora found the behaviour most unusual but she would allow it, for now. Kane was harder to work out, his motivations seemed sincere for the most part, but could the El-Aurian trust him? "Aye Sir," she said with a slight nod. She was in too deep now, she had to see this through.

Mirroring the gesture, P'rel looked between Kane and Zora trying to analyse the best way forward. Though a range of longer term plans began to formulate, the best plan right now was the simple and curt "Sir" that came immediately after Zora's.

Wrapping the short meeting by dismissing the other two, Kane returned to his desk. Perhaps this was a fool's errand and he was flying them into a trap. But they'd learned too much to ignore it now. After a silent moment of consideration he touched the comm panel.

"Send to Commodore Ehestri, USS Cosmos. Encryption code Sierra-one-one-seven." He paused. "Operation Midnight points to Rondac. Athena is proceeding to investigate." He took another moment to add, "Acting before it becomes beyond our power to strike first." The phrase was the one she had spoken to him the last time they had met. If she hadn't been compromised, she would understand. And if she had been...then they might well be in trouble.