Chapter 2 - Messages

Jack McCall stepped onto the Chamberlain's bridge and walked over to the Operations Station where Melissa Vargas and his Executive Officer, Lak Negev were having a spirited discussion.

"But why do we have to accommodate their whims? They never requested that in their manifest. Would it have hurt them to simply ask rather than demand it at the last minute?" Melissa asked Negev.

"Ask who what?"

Vargas and Negev turned to Jack. "Captain, we have a problem with the Corps of Engineers."

"What do they want this time, Mr. Negev? Dinner hand delivered to them every night?"

"That would be simple compared to what they're insisting on," Negev said.

Jack sat in his command chair. The Corps of Engineers personnel had already disrupted much of the routine aboard his ship with their supplies, cargo, and equipment which was now crammed into every free space the Chamberlain had--- and for a ship its size, that was quite a lot.

Melissa stepped toward him. "They are insisting that we convert the shuttle maintenance bays on Deck Thirty-two into a command center for their construction activities."

Jack didn't like this at all. "But I thought they were going to build a facility for that in space."

Negev tilted his head slightly. "They changed their minds after they discovered the Chamberlain was going to remain at Cajma for the next six months."

"Six?!" Jack nearly shouted. "I was told three months."

Negev handed Jack a PADD. "This just come up a half hour ago."

Jack didn't even bother reading it. His first instinct was to toss it as hard as he could against a bulkhead, but knew that wouldn't help the situation or his anger. He handed it back to Negev.

"Give the Corps of Engineers whatever they ask for."

"But Captain, we can't let them..." Melissa started before Jack cut her off.

"We can and we will. I really don't want to get these engineers hacked off at the crew, Melissa. We have to live with them for the next six months."

Vargas nodded reluctantly.

The communications officer, Lieutenant Commander Arthur Conrad turned to Jack. "Captain, we're getting a priority signal from Kel-j'na."

Jack, Negev, and Melissa all turned to him.

"Starfleet has detected a number of ships coming through the wormhole. No vessels are scheduled to arrive today."

Jack stood to his feet. "Yellow alert."

The Chamberlain's bridge officers went to work knowing their captain would soon want information.

"How much longer until the Corps of Engineers finish loading their cargo?" Jack asked.

"Another five hours was their last estimate," Negev said.

"Ask Mr. McGuire how long it would take to close the Main Bay doors so we can maneuver."

Negev activated a comm panel as Hank Evans entered the bridge and took his position at the Tactical Station.

"What the hell's going on?"

"Ships exiting the wormhole," Jack said.

"And the reason that's something to pay attention to?" Hank inquired.

Lieutenant Commander Timothy Blackwood looked at Hank from the Science Station. "Thirty-four ships have come through so far and it appears more are on the way."

Jack took a deep breath. "Red alert."

The alarm klaxons sounded throughout the corridors of the Chamberlain sending the crew to their battlestations.

The mouth of the wormhole flashed brightly as vessels continued pouring through it. Few of them seemed to match. There were ships of every shape and size and their places of origin were just as varied. Gorn, Bajoran, Cardassian, Klingon, and Romulan, Fabrini, Andorian, Tellarite, and some from places no human had ever been to or known. There were nearly a hundred craft after just a couple of minutes. Finally a last set of ships came through.

"Skorr cruisers," Jack said. "It's Osmand."

Hank looked up from his tactical display. "We should have the Main Bay sealed up in three minutes. Five other starships are moving to intercept."

Jack watched the main viewscreen. Something wasn't right about this. Attacking Kel-j'na didn't fit what he had seen from Osmand and his group of religious zealots.

They violated the Prime Directive without care or concern, but attacking a world populated with humanoids just didn't seem his style.

Conrad noticed something on his communications panel. "Captain, the ships are signaling."

"Let's hear it," Jack said.

After a few seconds of static, Osmand's voice, "To the people of Kel-j'na and the Starfleet vessels in orbit, we mean you no harm. We are passing through your space and will momentarily leave."

Jack turned to Conrad. "Put me on."

A moment later Conrad nodded.

"This is Captain Jack McCall of the starship Chamberlain. Mr. Osmand, you are hereby ordered to surrender your vessel and prepare to be boarded. You and your Skorr associates are wanted for the attack on Yed Post Four."

Osmand's voice crackled over the speaker again. "Captain McCall! How nice to hear your voice again. Please tell Mei-Wan I'm sorry I couldn't stop by to see her. I hope she's doing well."

The speaker went dead.

The one hundred assorted vessels turned in one hundred different directions and streaked away as they went to warp speed leaving the Starfleet ships nearing their position with nothing left to pursue.

Jack returned to his seat and stared forward. The thought of Osmand in the Kel-j'na Region did not please him at all.

"Secure from General Quarters," Jack said. He turned to Negev. "Inform Mr. McGuire he may resume loading his cargo."

***

Mei-Wan sat at her desk while the display listed various items she would need to deal with before she left. She had two weeks for a schedule containing enough work to fill four weeks of her time.

She had reviews on all her personnel to finish up, as well as passing on a number of items that would fall to Sunita. She also had to do an inventory of all the equipment and supplies for the Archaeology Section.

Mei-Wan looked over at her wall of artifacts and took a deep breath. That would be the most time consuming thing--- packing away the lifetime of trinkets and objects she kept on display. She regretted they'd all have to remain in storage. One of the advantages of being on the Chamberlain was she had been able to construct her little "trophy wall" as those in her section referred to it. She didn't care what they thought. She was proud of her achievements.

She thought about the one thing she couldn't put up on a wall, the one thing she couldn't seem to get right--- her marriage to Jack. Academics and archaeology had come so easy to Mei-Wan. Sometimes she felt guilty because it took so little effort. But Jack... he was different. She just couldn't seem to put the pieces together to make their marriage work. And she was frightened when she thought of how it might end.

Mei-Wan left her troubles to turn to the sound of the lab door opening. Timothy Blackwell, a man of about thirty with bushy blonde hair strolled up to her desk with a PADD.

"Sorry about this," he started. "But I've got a couple more reports for you to finish before you leave."

She took the PADD he handed to her and let out a long breath.

"I kind of expected you'd be bringing me this."

"I'd have gotten it to you sooner, but Zachary left things in a bit of mess."

Mei-Wan nodded and set the PADD on the desk. She'd look at it later.

Blackwell walked over to the wall of artifacts and tried to appear casual as he looked at them.

"One good piece of good news, however," he said as he stopped and examined a bronze alien figure. "The Office of Personnel has called all the reports Zachary filed into question, especially yours. So, all that crap he sent back to Starfleet is gone."

"I'm just glad I don't have to read it."

"You ought to. It's pretty entertaining stuff," he turned to look at her. "I never knew the criminally insane had such a colorful way with words."

Mei-Wan smiled. "Nothing about Zachary would surprise me anymore."

Blackwell nodded and returned to his gazing at the artifacts.

"You have enough help packing all this stuff up?"

Mei-Wan walked over to him. "Natalie volunteered."

"If you need more help with it, just let me know."

"Thanks, Tim."

He turned to her and grinned. "You know you haven't called me 'Tim' since I was at the Academy."

Mei-Wan thought a moment. "We met at the Academy?"

"Not exactly. I guess you don't remember."

"Sorry," she said.

Blackwell took a breath. "I took your father's course on Von Eschenbach's Parzival; the one he taught from his home."

Mei-Wan smiled. "You took that course? I never could get through that book."

"It's not an easy read, but I learned things from it that changed who I was. I owe your dad a lot because of that."

Mei-Wan knew her father's former students respected him. No matter how long they'd been away, he would receive messages and visits from them years later.

"You know there were a number of us from that course who were tempted to ask you out, but we were too terrified of how Sheng Lau might react."

Mei-Wan grinned. "When did you take the course?"

"It was right after you had returned from Iconia, the summer before your first year at the Academy," Blackwell said. "Sheng was really proud of you."

She nodded.

"I saw him on Yed Post. He was concerned you weren't going on the expedition."

"I know," Mei-Wan said softly.

Mei-Wan slowly turned to Blackwell who went back to admiring one of the stone figures on the wall. Out of all the people who had tried to push or pull her one way or the other over the last many months, Blackwell didn't tell her what to do.

The comm panel chimed breaking Mei-Wan's line of thought.

"Well, I'm sure you've got a lot to tend to. I won't bother you any longer," Blackwell said as he left the lab.

Mei-Wan went to her desk and sat down. She touched a control and after a moment, a familiar face filled the display.

"Kyle?"

Hoffman smiled. "Hey, Mei. I just wanted to check and make sure the orders I received were right. You're joining the expedition?"

Mei-Wan nodded. "Yes. Once we arrive in the Cajma system, most of my section transfers to the Venture and then a week and a half later, we'll be aboard the Ravenscroft."

Kyle did his best to hide his happiness at this news, but failed terribly. "That's great."

Mei-Wan thought a moment. "How are you getting a transmission through the nebula?"

Kyle leaned back in his chair. "Because we're still three days out from Hel'yra. We stopped by the colony on Corvanis Two for a while."

Mei-Wan leaned forward in her own seat. "Problems?"

"No. We had some supplies we wanted to pick up and... " his words trailed off. Kyle took a deep breath. "I wanted to see if you'd change your mind."

Mei-Wan feared Kyle might allow his feelings for her to cloud his judgment. The last time they spoke she'd almost gone with him on the expedition. She had hoped the delay in her joining the Ravenscroft's crew would give her some clarity, but now she knew that wasn't the case.

"I was afraid your decision to not go was because of me and the things I said to you."

She didn't want to get into all of that again and certainly not over subspace communication. "There were a lot of reasons, Kyle."

He nodded. "I just want you to know that I'll back off and keep my distance once you get here. I won't pressure you like that again. We'll have a year or more to figure out 'us'."

Mei-Wan could tell from the look in his eyes that he was lying--- not just to her, but to himself. She doubted any of that would last more than a day.

He smiled and leaned forward to activate a control at his desk. "Oh, a couple of other people would like to say hello too."

After a moment, LeAnn Goodwin and Susan Tanega walked into the view of the display. Both smiled wide.

"Hey Mei, so you finally decided to join this crew of crazies?" Susan asked.

Mei-Wan grinned. "Someone has to keep an eye on you guys."

LeAnn nodded. "Yeah, Starfleet isn't paying me enough to corral these people on my own."

Susan nudged LeAnn in the ribs. "She's one to be talking. You should have seen what she was up to on Corvanis."

LeAnn shook her head. "We were on leave. That's different."

Susan leaned forward. "Hey, we made some progress translating the holographic message you recorded."

"What did you get?" Mei-Wan asked with a note of excitement.

"Mostly bits and pieces, but a couple of sections had some really strange stuff like, 'Sealed from the future that must not come, the lives of darkness must remain,' and then some portions about 'do not mourn our passing, we will be reborn anew'."

Mei-Wan had expected to hear a lot of things once the message from Hel'yra was translated, but those weren't on her list. "Very odd. Sounds more like some primitive apocalyptic religious sect than an advanced species of space travelers."

"And those are the most intelligible sections. There's some of it that goes on and on about imminent destruction, we're all gonna die in one big heap, that sort of thing," Susan said.

Mei-Wan considered Susan an accomplished linguist, but that just couldn't be right. In a few weeks she'd have to go over it all along with Susan's methods of translation. None of it sounded like the Ancient Progenitors she knew.

Kyle broke in. "Sorry to cut this short, but we're about two hours out from the nebula and contrary to what my crew thinks, we do have work to do."

"Work, work, work, push, push, push, is all this guy has been about since we left Gamala," Susan said with a smirk. "I sure hope you can cheer him up once you get here, Mei."

That was the last job Mei-Wan wanted.

"Don't worry, Susan. Once I get there and take charge, you'll wish Kyle was still running things."

"Yeah, but you're not the hard-ass about regulations like 'rule-boy' here is."

Mei-Wan grinned as Kyle leaned forward to switch off the transmission. "I need to torture Susan for a while, so if you'll excuse us."

He stopped a moment and lowered his voice. "I'm glad you decided to come along after all. It'll be great having you here, Mei."

The display went blank leaving Mei-Wan alone with her thoughts and her fears.

***

Fifteen minutes after his ship had gone to warp and left Kel-j'na, Jack found himself seated in a chair across from Akala Wilmarza, the Chamberlain's Personnel Officer and Chief Counselor. If it weren't for a direct order from Admiral Simmons he would have been anywhere else at that moment.

"Is there really any point continuing these sessions, Captain?" Akala asked. She was clearly frustrated.

"You're not enjoying these times we spend together?"

Akala's fingers toyed with a PADD on her desk. "I do have other things I could be doing."

"So do I."

She looked directly at him. "If these sessions end I think you'll have more free time than you know what to do with."

Jack took that as the threat it was intended to be. With a word to Simmons from Akala, Jack's Starfleet career would be finished. That and her telepathic abilities had driven him to the conclusion he really didn't like her.

He leaned back in his chair. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"How about being a little more cooperative?"

He stared at the ceiling. This was their fourth session and he'd done his best to make this one as difficult for her as he had the previous ones. He hated to be an ass about it all, but he just didn't see how his personal problems were any concern to Akala or Simmons.

Akala, however, knew from her thirteen years of being a Starfleet counselor that every aspect of a captain's life were Starfleet's concern. She couldn't understand why Jack McCall didn't see that.

She watched him for several moments as she considered doing what she had planned on since their last session. Akala had almost made out a final report and sent it to the admiral then, but she had done some digging in her captain's service record and found something that caught her curiosity.

"Who was Larrisa James?" she asked.

Jack sat up in his chair.  "You rummaging around in my mind again, Counselor?"

"Why, were you thinking of her just now?" Akala shot back.

"I thought you agreed to leave my mind off limits."

She held up the PADD. "She's listed in your service record."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

"She meant something to you beyond just being another member of the Bonifacio crew."

"She and I had been involved at the Academy."

"So her death had a large impact on you."

Jack leaned forward and looked down at the floor. A short smile came to his face as it did every time he remembered Larrisa. He could never forget how she looked the first time they had met--- how her wispy dark blonde hair tossed about in a breeze, and how her eyes tore into his soul like no one before or since.

His mind returned to the question. "Watching her die wasn't an easy thing to go through."

"You loved her?"

He hesitated, but only a moment. "Yeah."

"I noticed that she and Robin Nelson look a lot alike."

"What?" Jack looked up at her, not understanding what she was getting at.

"I was just wondering if they were similar in personality," Akala said.

Jack thought a moment and shook his head. "I don't know. I never knew Robin that well."

Akala watched as Jack struggled to sit still. "You spent three days in the same barracks with her, she was a member of your crew--- you don't even have an opinion about her?"

Jack's face went blank. "I told you, I didn't know her all that well."

Akala touched a control on the PADD she held. The images of two young women with dark blonde haired filled the display on the device. She handed it to Jack.

"Do you think they look alike?" she asked.

Jack reluctantly took the PADD and looked at the images. "Maybe a little."

"Does that suggest anything to you?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Beyond two people dying under my command? No."

Akala nodded slowly as Jack handed the device back to her.  "Perhaps you should think about that until our next session."

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