Chapter 8 - His Master's Voice
Jack McCall walked down a corridor on Deck Eighteen of the Chamberlain toward a group of labs. The argument with Mei-Wan still ate away at him despite the four hours that had passed. He knew she had come back to the ship while he had been busy in his Ready Room scouring over the reports Zachary sent up from the surface. Jack still could not believe he and Mei-Wan had gone at each other like that. They had to work this out.
He remembered the discussions they had months ago on this very topic. Mei-Wan had convinced him that she could deal with being married to her captain. Now after five weeks it looked like he might have to decide between his wife and his command.
The door to Archaeology Lab Four slid open before Jack as he walked in. He saw Mei-Wan sitting at a console looking at various images that flashed up on the display. In a chair next to her sat Ensign Fowler grabbing a PADD off a far table, checking some piece of information Mei-Wan asked about. Fowler looked up from her work and noticed Jack.
"Captain," she said.
Mei-Wan turned around in her chair at first with a smile, but it left her quickly.
"Anything interesting?" he asked.
Mei-Wan took a deep breath to compose herself. "Yes, sir. We seem to have found another set of symbols on the wall panel which started the recording. They show up in the upper ultraviolet band, so it's possible the panel does far more than simply activate the holographic system."
Jack nodded. "Any chance there are more chambers?"
"We're waiting on some scans from a shuttle that's cruising over the area. My guess is there's probably a whole series of rooms and passages beneath the structure we were in," Mei-Wan said.
Jack smiled and turned to Fowler. "Ensign, would you excuse us for a moment?"
Fowler stood from her seat. "Of course, sir."
Jack sat in Fowler's chair as the Ensign exited the lab. He watched Mei-Wan's slender fingers touch controls on the console. She tried to ignore him as he placed his hand on her leg.
"Jack, I'm really busy."
He pulled his hand back. "I just thought we could talk."
"That's what I tried to do, but was told to follow my orders."
He leaned back in his chair. "When we're in a duty situation you can't act like I'm just your husband. I'm you're captain."
"I know that, Jack. That wasn't what I was doing. I think you've let your sympathy for Zachary and what he went through cloud your judgment. He should have never been assigned to this ship as Chief Science Officer."
Jack stared down at the floor.
"Look," she said, "I know I can be stubborn sometimes."
He smiled.
"Okay, a lot of the time," she said with a grin.
Jack laughed softly. "Try most of the time."
"Okay, so I can be bullheaded about things. But Jack, this site isn't just the find of a career, it’s the find of the millenium. Everything we know and understand may be changed by what's down there. I have to fight for it."
He nodded. "How it might change things is exactly what concerns me, Mei. What might send us to new heights if discovered by the Federation might in the hands of someone else send us into oblivion."
"I realize there are risks, but that's always the case with new discoveries."
Jack started to say something when the door to the lab slid open and a very exuberant Duncan Zachary trotted in with three PADDs in his hands and four more under his arm.
"Sorry to interrupt sir," Zachary said as Fowler followed close behind. The young Ensign gave Mei-Wan a glance that said, I tried to stop him.
Zachary made his way to a large wall display and activated it dropping three of the PADDs under his arm. He reached down and picked them up and slung them onto a nearby table. He stood up facing Jack, took a deep breath and smiled.
"The last hour has been extraordinary, Captain," the Science Officer said.
Hel'yra's sun was shown on the display behind Zachary.
"Something about the star?" Jack asked.
Zachary turned to Mei-Wan. "I have an apology to make to you and your young ensign, Lieutenant. The data on this star told us it was about a billion years old, but we had of course assumed that it had gone through a normal stellar development."
The display changed and a small flashing dot showed up near the star's core. Zachary smiled like a kid hungering for an ice cream cone on a hot summer day.
"This star's development has been anything but natural. That small spot is a micro-wormhole which has been controlling and maintaining the star's fusion reactions for over four billion years."
Jack took several steps toward the display. He had a hard time believing what Zachary was telling him.
"To what end?" Jack asked.
"Well, the wormhole does keep the star stable, but that's not its primary function. We did a subspace examination of the local space-time and we found this."
The display changed to show the planet they now orbited. The ancient structure zoomed in large and a distance below it another flashing indicator lit up.
"The other end of the wormhole is fifty kilometers below the structure we found on the surface of the planet."
Even Mei-Wan and Fowler moved closer now. They had looks on their faces that showed both surprise and an intense desire to hear more.
"Who would terminate a wormhole inside a planet?" Fowler asked.
Zachary looked at her with wide eyes. "The more important question, Ensign, is why. Fortunately, we think we've got at least part of that figured out."
The display expanded to show a wide area about the surface structure.
"They are using the power from the star's core to generate some incredible sub-space field in a two kilometer wide chamber down about twenty kilometers below the surface. Now, what the hell that's for, I don't know, but the entire system is incredible! To tap a star for power and at the same time continually engineer that same star to maintain a physical age of only a billion years over the course of four billion years is about as near god-like power as I can imagine."
Jack stepped up next to Zachary and closely looked over the images on the display.
"And it's still stable?"
Zachary laughed. "Our estimates are it will probably remain stable for another four billion years."
Mei-Wan smiled as she walked up next to Jack. "Can you imagine what technology like that allowed them to do?"
Jack thought about it a moment and wondered how the Dominion would have reacted confronted by such power. Something about the image on the display didn't sit right with him, though.
"What kind of sub-space field is being generated by this system?"
Zachary let out his breath. "That's still got us still examining our data. It appears to be some sort of multidimensional subspace folding of the local continuum, but so far we can't penetrate it or come up with a reason why anyone would generate it."
Jack was pleased they were finally getting answers, but they seemed to be the kind that only presented you with more questions. He was afraid it would be a downward spiral of questions and answers that never came to an end.
The intercom activated and the voice of Lieutenant Commander Pederson spoke. "Captain McCall, we are receiving a transmission."
Jack thought a moment and realized the impossibility of what he heard. He turned to Zachary.
"I thought you said we couldn't receive anything inside this nebula."
Zachary shook his head. "Preposterous!"
Jack was less than satisfied by that response. "Who's the communication from?"
Pederson hesitated a moment. "No identification, sir."
"What's in the transmission?"
"The message is to you by name, sir and they're asking that you and your Executive Officer meet them at a set of encoded coordinates. The final part simply says they will await your arrival."
Jack McCall didn't like this situation, and more and more he wished he had never met Admiral Christopher Hancock.
***
As Jack and Commander Negev walked down the corridor on Deck Twenty-Two toward the Captain's Yacht, Hank Evans followed closely behind with a frown.
"This is insane, Jack."
Jack smiled. "That's becoming the standard mode for my life."
Hank turned to Negev as they entered the Yacht. "And you're going along with this, Commander?"
The Executive Officer nodded as he activated the Yacht's power systems. "The captain has explained that Admiral Hancock told him to expect this so I would estimate the risk to be acceptable."
Hank rolled his eyes. "If Chris Hancock said it was okay, I'd run the other way."
Evans turned back to Jack. "At least take a fighter escort."
Jack sat in the pilot's seat and activated the navigational systems. "We'll be fine, Hank."
Hank walked out of the Yacht. "Don't expect me to come after you if you get lost this time, kid!"
Jack laughed as the airlock sealed behind Hank Evans and the engines of the Yacht came to life.
"He does let himself become consumed with worry, doesn't he?" Negev asked.
"You should have seen him when I was an ensign," Jack said.
Metal seals about the Yacht came loose and they dropped into space. The U.S.S. Bucephalus, NCC-97301, activated its impulse engines and cruised away from the much larger starship Chamberlain.
As Hank Evans approached the turbolift doors on Deck Twenty-two they opened and out walked Commander Kadan Loftus.
"You wanted to see me?" she asked.
He smiled. "Always sweetheart."
"I meant about something to do with the ship."
"The captain and Negev have taken the yacht out and I'd like it if you took your pilots out on some drills. I'd like to recalibrate the phaser targeting system."
Loftus was used to how Hank's mind worked by this time. She smiled.
"So, you want us to follow and keep an eye on him."
"The captain specifically ordered me not to do that. Of course, you never heard him say that."
Loftus laughed and entered the turbolift with Hank.
"You're going to owe me for this one, Hank," she said.
"I love owing you. Your method of repayment is always a lot of fun," he said as the doors closed.
***
Jack sat in the pilot's seat of the yacht Bucephalus as it cruised through the densest parts of the nebula. Negev sat at his console reviewing page after page of information.
"What's all that?" Jack asked.
"My review of personnel reports which I must have ready for you by 0800 tomorrow."
"No hurry."
Negev smiled. "I attempt to be prompt, sir."
Jack frowned. "Believe me, I've noticed."
Jack checked the pilot's display in front of him.
"Well, it seems Hank Evans still can't follow orders," Jack said.
Negev continued looking over his reports. "I take it there is a fighter escort with us."
"Back just far enough that I wouldn't notice without a long range scan," Jack replied.
"Should we contact them?"
"No. As long as they don't follow us out of the nebula they should be okay."
Jack leaned back in his seat and looked about the interior of the Yacht. He absentmindedly started tapping at the side of his console. After a few moments Negev turned and stared at Jack.
"Sorry," Jack said and stopped tapping.
Negev returned to his reports while Jack checked their position for the fourth time in the last five minutes.
"Two minutes to nebula boundary," Jack announced.
Negev did not react. Jack looked out the large front window of the Yacht at the thinning nebula. He thought he could just start to notice a few stars shinning through.
Jack looked back down at his scanner display and saw that the fighters had turned and taken up a holding pattern some two hundred thousand kilometers to their stern. At least he would not have to get into a shouting match with whoever was leading the fighters. Probably Commander Kadan, he thought.
An alarm on his panel sounded and Jack looked up and saw the last mists of the nebula slide past. At last, he thought, stars again. Jack sat up in his chair and turned his attention to scanning the area of the coordinates they had received. After a moment he frowned.
"Nothing. Not a thing," he said.
Negev switched off the display of personnel reports and looked over at Jack's panel.
"They did say they would be waiting," the Andorian replied.
Jack turned the yacht toward their destination. Out the forward window there was nothing but stars, no ship, no anything.
Negev looked down at his display. "Nothing on long range scans either, Captain."
Jack shook his head. "I say we give them an hour to show. After that we head back. I'm not some trained dog that leaps every time someone says…"
In the blink of an eye Jack McCall and Lak Negev found themselves inside a completely white twenty by twenty foot cube. Light illuminated the room, but didn't seem to come from any source.
" … jump," Jack finished his sentence.
Jack and Negev turned their backs to each other so that between them they had complete view of the room. Jack reached down for a phaser which was not there. "You have a weapon?"
"No, sir."
Jack scanned every inch of the room with his eyes looking for a way out, but there wasn't a door visible on any of the walls. He took a deep breath and relaxed.
"They asked us here, so I guess we just wait to find out what they wanted."
Negev frowned. "I hope the atmosphere in this room will last that long."
Jack hoped it would too. He told himself that if he came out of this alive he would never listen to Admiral Hancock again.
"Welcome Jack McCall and Lak Negev," spoke a soft voice that was neither male nor female.
Jack looked around for the source of the voice but saw no one.
"We thank you for arriving here to meet us."
Jack kept his eyes looking about the room. "Who are you?"
"What is the condition of the planet Hel'yra?"
"Who are you?" Jack asked again.
"What is the condition of the planet Hel'yra?" the voice again asked.
Jack noticed the voice did not sound angry at his question. "The planet is still there."
The voice took several moments before it replied. "Does the mechanism on the planet still function?"
"If you mean the micro-wormhole that siphons power from the star to generate some massive subspace field, then yes," Jack replied.
"Does the star continue to appear stable?"
"Yes, it does."
Almost a minute of silence passed.
"Thank you Captain McCall. Please inform Admiral Hancock that we are satisfied with his fulfillment of our agreement and we shall contact him soon to relay our final payment."
Jack took a step forward and spoke to the air. "That's it? How about answering a few of our questions?"
"Again, please accept our thanks."
"Now just a damn… "
Jack and Negev were back aboard the Bucephalus.
" … minute," Jack finished.
"Hancock is going to have a lot of questions to answer," Jack said.
"It was an interesting experience, Captain," Negev said.
"I've already got enough 'interesting' in my life, Mr. Negev."
***
Kadan Loftus sat in the cockpit of her fighter and checked her forward scanner again. It had been nearly fifteen minutes since the Bucephalus had fallen off her display. Hank had told her to wait only an hour before going out after the yacht, but now she thought fifteen minutes was far too long. She didn't like letting the captain and the XO leave her sights, but Hank told her the captain had insisted and he did know Jack McCall far better than she did.
She could not wait much longer. The communication she received ten minutes before though broken and filled with static was clear enough that she knew they did not have an hour to wait.
"Fighter Wing to Captain McCall, please respond," she spoke into her communication system. She was certain there would not be a reply, but she felt better for signaling.
Loftus hated waiting like this. Her nature was to take a situation and manipulate it to her best advantage. That was one of the things about fighter duty that appealed to her the most. Unlike serving aboard a starship, each pilot was their own captain and crew. You had some measure of control over your own fate.
Suddenly something appeared on her scan display.
"Fighter Wing to Captain McCall. Please respond," she said.
After a brief pause Jack McCall's voice came from her speaker. "McCall here."
"Captain, we've received a broken message from the Chamberlain. They report there has been a death on the planet," she said.
Nearly ten seconds passed. "Understood Commander. We're going to warp two. We'll meet you back at the Chamberlain," Jack's voice said.
As Loftus began turning her fighter she saw a blur soar past her front viewport. She was just glad this particular patrol was over.
The Bucephalus came out of warp one hundred thousand kilometers away from the Chamberlain. Jack signaled his ship and asked for information on the death.
"We're still not certain, Captain," Melissa Vargas said over the yacht's speaker. Static accompanied the message. "We're having trouble communicating with the surface. Recent solar activity appears to be increasing the disruptions in the planet's magnetosphere. Hank Evans and Doctor Preston went down as soon as we got word of the death."
"How many people do we have down there right now?"
"Twenty-seven," Melissa said. "Sir…"
Her voice stopped, but Jack could not tell if it was due to static or something else.
"Say again, Commander."
"Captain, Mei-Wan and her Archaeology Team are down there," Vargas said.
Jack did not even take time to think. "We're going down to the planet."
***
Jack took off running out of the yacht the moment the door opened and before the ship came to a complete rest on the surface of Hel'yra. He knew Negev could finish shutting the ship down. He had to get to the large structure ahead of him.
The sun had just started to rise above the distant mountain range and the warmth felt good on Jack's face. He tried to think of anything other than the fears forcing themselves to the surface of his mind. She had to be okay.
Just as Jack reached the entrance of the structure, Hank Evans came around one of the outer columns and waved him over. Jack quickly turned and ran to four officers who stood looking down at a body. Jack saw the face that mattered most to him. She's alive! he thought. But tears pooled in Mei-Wan's eyes as she walked over to Jack.
"It's Ensign Uduff. I was going to come out to our shuttle to get a piece of equipment, but he offered to go instead and…" Mei-Wan was overcome with emotion and closed her eyes.
Jack put his arm around his wife. "There was no way you could know, Mei."
A tear slid down Mei-Wan McCall's cheek. "I need to go back inside. I can't stay out here."
Jack nodded as Mei-Wan left. He walked over to where Doctor Taylor Preston, a tall, dark-complexioned human in his late thirties, leaned over the body of the now dead Ensign Uduff with a tricorder.
"What happened?" Jack asked.
Preston stood to his feet. "Best I can tell, his neck was broken and with quite a bit of force."
Jack turned to Hank. "Zachary said there was no life down here."
"There isn't except for our survey teams," Hank replied.
Jack looked down at Uduff. The body of his dead crewman seemed twisted all the wrong ways.
"Then you're saying he was murdered?"
A lieutenant walked over to Preston and handed him a PADD.
"What about your guards?" Jack asked Hank. "Did they see anything?"
"Hendricks was out checking the shuttles at the time and Ramirez was at the front entrance. Both said they didn't even see Uduff walk out."
"I doubt he came through the walls."
"I've got Zachary's people running another complete lifeform scan to make sure there's not something they missed before."
Doctor Preston turned to Jack and Hank. "You can have them stop. It's definite. There are fragments of genetic material around his neck. My analysis shows the DNA is human."
