The Missing Piece
Posted on 17 Jun 2023 @ 5:35pm by Captain Corvus DeHavilland & Commander Anson Corduke MD & Lieutenant Tahriik
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: USS Pathfinder - Enroute to Obsidian Command
Timeline: Immediately following In Repair
2693 words - 5.4 OF Standard Post Measure
Corvus had left the Sick Bay fit to be tied. She’d tried to settle her anger at the Alabama coming in and simply wiping their sensors clean under the guise of an obscure Starfleet protocol as the price to be paid for them saving their collective lives. But this was different This was more than she was prepared to take and she was on the verge of losing her desire to participate in this protocol bullshit no matter the cost. At least, that was her first thought. As she rode the lift back to the bridge, she felt her temper cool and be replaced by the cold logic that was needed.
The Pyrryx was gone and likely any indication that they had ever had the Pyrryx to begin with. Thinking about that moving pieces of that, she shook her head. “Computer, redirect lift to the shuttle bay,” she ordered.
“Affirmative,” the computer replied overhead.
A few moments later the lift doors opened and she saw herself outside the corridor that led to the shuttle bay. Rolling her neck and trying to shake the fury off so she could focus on reality, she marched off the lift a woman on a mission. As she entered the shuttle bay it was obvious which craft was the Demophon, there simply wasn’t the room in the Nova-class’s bay for much else.
The few engineering staff tending the damaged shuttle perked up at the sight of the Captain on deck, but she waved them off for any formalities and headed straight into the craft, moving through the interior straight to the operations station. An engineering Petty Officer was repairing the section that led to the back.
“Power’s down, Captain. Give me a sec, I’ll turn it back on,” the man said, watching Corvus tap the glass in vain for a moment.
“Thank you,” she called back.
She stared down at the glass, closing her eyes briefly to calm her fury and opened them again as she heard the tell-tale chirp of the panels powering on.
“I can come back, Captain,” the Petty Officer said, heading for the hatch.
“It’s fine. Keep on with what you’re doing. I won’t be long,” DeHavilland answered, turning a smile back at him. “Please,” she added, gesturing at what he’d been doing.
“Yes, ma’am,” he shrugged, returning to his task without another word.
She quickly went about the protocols to bring up the ships scans, starting with the descent into the Korin atmosphere and then all the way through to their departure. There it was, clear as a bell in the sensor logs. One Pyrryx corpse in the hold. That meant that Bowdler’s magical fix didn’t connect in to the Demophon to get its data.
“Excuse me, Petty Officer…?”
The man had been holding a plasma torch in hand, holding the eye protection up with his free hand, but turned it off and lowered it. “It’s Carter, ma’am.”
“Mr. Carter, when did the engineering team turn power off on the Demophon?” She asked.
He smirked crookedly, “We didn’t ma’am, it failed shortly after landing. I pulled the power core and had to replace it. I just hadn’t reconnected it before you got here,” he explained. “She’s basically been a brick since we landed. Why? Is something missing from the data core? Backup systems should have saved everything in their final burst before going offline,” he asked worriedly.
“No. No it’s here. I was just wondering why it wasn’t synched to the bridge data. But you answered that,” she smiled back, “Thank you.”
Corvus turned back to the panel and after a moment, Carter returned to whatever he was mending in the doorway back. She sighed as she read the information. It meant a gap in the sensor data was filled. Thankfully for Bowdler, the system had gone offline almost immediately on their return so it hadn’t synched data on the Alabama being there. But. It meant that the information the Pyrryx was and there was no way to explain the gap. It could be the one thread that, if pulled on appropriately, could unravel the bigger mystery.
The question she had was how was she going to keep this from the Admiral. Sure, the data wasn’t there, so she could hide behind that (for the most part) but it meant she had to stand in front of the man that had trusted her with this command and trusted her to do it right, and lie to his face. It wasn’t just that though. The man intimidated the hell out of her already. She couldn’t explain why, but there was just something about him that made her feel like a cadet all over again. Every ounce of her was screaming that he was going to be able to look right through her. Hell, she was confident he’d see right through her even if she wasn’t nervous around him. He wasn’t in his position because he was a dim bulb.
Corvus got up and went to the back wall of the cockpit, retrieving one of the scattered padd’s there and returning to her chair. She activated it, cleared it, secured it with her own credentials and then downloaded all the Demophons sensor logs to it. All of them. Including the presence of the Pyrryx. Something told her that she needed to do this. That she needed some record of it. Almost like an insurance policy. She downloaded it all, checked it was properly there, and then did something she’d never done in her career in Starfleet. She deleted the sensor logs.
Feeling dirty and almost disgusted with herself, she spent a little while longer in the logs, trying to play off her presence there with Carter so he didn’t have any odd memories of her being there and doing something quick and shady. When she finally finished, she tucked the padd under her arm and got up. “If you need to disable power again, go ahead,” she smiled to him. “Sorry to interrupt,” she added, giving him a friendly wave as she headed out of the runabout and back out towards the lift.
She just couldn’t wrap her brain around how Starfleet could have approved of all of this. It was antithetical to everything that they said they believed in. They didn’t skulk around in shadows, behind banned cloaks, spying on their neighbors. They operated in the light, not only in the light but as a beacon of light. How could they be doing something like this? How could a Captain as vaunted and respected as Bowdler allow it? She was lost to those thoughts as the lift arrived and didn’t even notice the doors open until a voice stirred her from her reverie.
“Captain?” A woman’s voice asked meekly.
Corvus looked up, suddenly aware of just standing there and looking behind her to see who was speaking, finally noticing the woman standing in the lift. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, stepping quickly onto the lift. “Bridge,” she ordered, and the lift doors closed. “Sorry about that. Lost in thought,” she tried to chuckle nervously.
“I’m sure there’s a lot on your mind, ma’am,” the bald-headed Deltan nodded.
DeHavilland just smiled politely back. The lift paused a moment to let the Crewman out. She waved politely in parting and then the doors closed and the lift went on, finally resolving on the bridge. Adjusting herself so as not to look like a Captain that had just done the unthinkable, she walked confidently across her bridge, intending to go to her Ready Room but interrupted by Doctor Corduke who was clearly lurking on the bridge waiting for her.
The bridge was alive, but it was a working silence as everyone went about their duties. The battle was over, but they were still outside of Federation space and without any connection to the Fleet. Until they cleared into comm range they were likely to remain on edge like this. Corvus would be until they were either in Obsidian Command space or under the wing of a larger, more capable ship like the Alexander.
It seemed odd that she’d find Doctor Corduke on the bridge as she’d just left Sick Bay. If he’d had something he needed to talk to her about he could have just shared it there. That thought confused her and then made her incredibly nervous. If he was here this quickly, that meant something had happened. The hairs on her arms stood up as she approached the man, lurking by Tahriik’s station.
The massive Geuraani officer looked no worse for the wear as he went about the duties of the Chief Tactical Officer of the vessel. The Ensign’s assigned to that department seemed to be basking in the knowledge of a senior officer who clearly knew his trade. Corvus was glad to see that - they certainly needed the knowledge and comfort of someone who knew their job and knew it well.
“Captain. Captain, I need a word,” Corduke declared quickly. He’d been lurking by the corridor that led to her ready room, seemingly trying to watch both lift exits.
“Ok,” she replied, stopping by him and folding her arms across her chest. “What’s wrong?”
“Not… can we go in the conference room?” He said, gesturing across the bridge to the tiny space across the far side that could be considered a conference space, but was more like a really large office or a small crewman’s quarters. Such was the nature of life on a starship this size.
“Sure,” Corvus said warily, waving for him to lead on.
Corduke took two steps and then turned back, “You, uh, you should come too,” he said, pointing to Tahriik.
The big man shook his head, “I have diagnostics, Commander. Much to be done here.”
“It’s important, Tahriik. You should… just come on,” he said, waving and refusing now to budge until he did.
Tahriik sighed deeply, but nodded. It was unusual for the Doctor to be… well… formal. Normally he was first with a sharp joke, or snarky quip. To have nothing to offer concerned him. “Very well, Doctor. If you insist,” he said, gesturing for him to go on now and following.
Corvus trailed the two of them as they crossed the bridge, glancing across the bridge at Commander Zahn and giving a half shrug. She had no more idea about what Corduke wanted to discuss than Tahriik did but she was following along out of respect for the Doctor. He’d just helped patch up the whole of the marine detail and the rest of those in between. She could begrudge him this meeting with the hopes he really did have something important to share.
Corduke led the way into the small conference room, walking around the long table to the interior side that had the large view screen on the wall. The far side, with the window allowing a view forward of the ship showing the stars moving rapidly around them as the ship moved at Warp with the Theseus visible just below their bow as they rode more or less in the baffles of their nacelle’s.
Doctor Corduke was interacting with the screen as Corvus spoke up, “What’s going on, Doctor?” She asked.
He brought up a display on the screen that showed the anatomical readings on a humanoid figure, right down to the atomic level and then turned back, “I had a chance to scan our guest when he came aboard, before he mysteriously vanished,” Corduke began, gesturing at the screen. “I had to be sure he was in fact dead and not just out cold.”
“Was he, dead?” Corvus asked quickly.
“Yes,” he answered solemnly. “Without a doubt, deceased,” he clarified more formally.
Tahriik muttered something in his own language, but didn’t otherwise participate in the conversation as Corduke confirmed that.
“Are you alright, Lieutenant?” Corvus asked with genuine concern.
“In my culture… taking life is… sacred,” she said quietly. “I did not wish to kill this warrior,” he said, gesturing at the screen. “But… he left me no choice,” he added heavily. “Even… after what he said,” he added. “I still would have preferred he lived.”
“He spoke to you?” Corvus asked, confused. “He spoke to you and you understood him?”
Tahriik chewed on that question for a moment. He hadn’t sat down and instead was standing behind one of the chairs with his hands gripping the back tight enough that Corvus was concerned he might just rip it in half. If he was honest with himself he hadn’t afforded himself the luxury of thinking about it, at least not the implications of it. He did keep reliving the fight in his mind. The way the warrior moved, the way his attacks were framed. He just didn’t let himself go down the rabbit hole of ‘who’ he might be just yet.
“He knew words that were familiar to me, not in standard,” he replied solemnly, letting that hang on the air a moment. “He called me Thalak-koorlh,” he said, pronouncing the word with clear distaste. Just speaking it made his lip curl with anger. “It means, blood traitor, in the ancient tongue of my people,” he added. “He also carried a Le’uor’ix blade, a blade sacred to my people,” he continued, producing the weapon he had on his back, that he hadn’t found a place for since he’d arrived. He retuned it to its sheath on his back, putting his hands back on the chair and gripping it all the tighter. “It means. It means…” he shook his head, refusing to acknowledge what he thought it meant. “I still search for its meaning. I must speak with my Great Mother once we have comm’s. Perhaps… perhaps she will understand how this is possible.”
“Tahriik,” Corduke spoke up, drawing the man’s gaze over to him. His voice was calm and comforting, without a trace of humor. “I can…” he swallowed, glancing at Corvus. “I think I can help with that,” he said, gesturing at the screen. “Captain, this data was stored on my tricorder. I can’t find the data that I’d scanned put into the computer, which is problem one. Well, I suppose problem two since the body is gone,” he clarified.
“I’m aware of that problem, Doctor, and it’s not one we can fix. You just need to accept that for now, and keep that to yourself. You and I can talk about the protocols of the situation with Commander Magnolia or Captain Callum,” she said, effectively shutting down that discussion angle.
“… right,” Duke said, “Ok. Well. I had this on my tricorder,” he said, gesturing at the screen. “So I’m able to tell you everything you need to know about the Pyrryx. Wh-”
“Good,” Corvus cut him off before he could continue on, “I’m sure Callum will agree with me, but you need to study this and become an expert. Quickly as you can. We may lose this data too,” she said. “Double and triple save this information, and secure it where no one else can find it,” she added.
Duke shook his head, “I don’t need to become an expert in this, Captain,” he said matter-of-factly. “There are already experts. Thousands of them,” he shook his head as if that idea was preposterous.
“How is this possible?” Tahriik asked, drawing himself up. “How is it you can know this?”
Corduke sighed, and gave a slight shake of his head. “Because, my friend. The Pyrryx,” he said, gesturing to the screen, “And the Geuraani,” he said, gesturing to his friend. “Are the same species.”
