Chapter 6 – The Walrus
At
the morning senior officers' meeting, everyone listened to Doctor Taylor
Preston relate the current patient list in sickbay.
“So,
nothing serious?” Melissa asked. Captain Hayden had asked her to run these
daily meetings.
“No,”
Preston said. “Lieutenant Parker's pregnancy is going as expected, and that was
the only patient with even a possibility of complication.”
Melissa
nodded and turned to their new chief engineer, Bradley Dawson, a forty-seven
year old man with dark, receding hair. Melissa had only had a few interactions
with Dawson, but so far, she liked him.
“Commander
Dawson, you had something to report about engineering?” Melissa asked.
“Yes,”
Dawson's deep voice replied. “Over the course of the last two days, I have
detected a small, but not insignificant variation in the drive core
synchronization system.”
Hayden
perked up at that, but remained silent.
“How
bad is it?” Melissa asked.
“At
present, it's barely noticeable,” Dawson said. “However, I have gone over the
ship's logs concerning the system, and noted that the entire Oceana
class suffered from a problem with this system when they left the shipyard. I
have attempted to dig into how the problem was solved, but the computer keeps
telling me that information is classified.”
“Classified?”
Hayden asked, finally speaking up. “Why would the solution to an engine problem
be classified?”
“I
can explain later, Captain,” Melissa said.
“I'd
like to know as well,” Dawson said, wearing a frown. “I can't do my job if I
don't know the history on the systems I'm supposed to be overseeing.”
“Can
Mr. Dawson be in on this?” Hayden asked.
“I'd
have to check with Starfleet Command,” Melissa said.
“For
crying out loud!” Dawson nearly shouted. “It's just a warp core synchronization
system! What the hell could be classified about that?”
“It's
not the system,” Melissa said. “It's where the solution came from.”
“I'm
more curious than ever now,” Dawson said with a smirk.
“All
right,” Hayden replied. “I will discuss this with you later, Commander Vargas,
and then depending on what you tell me, I'll decide whether our chief engineer
can know about the service history of his engines.”
Dawson
shook his head.
“Proceed,
Number One,” Hayden ordered.
Melissa
turned to Sunita Mahajadan. “How is staffing in the science department?”
***
“I
thought they were a myth,” Hayden said.
Melissa
and Hayden sat across from each other at the now otherwise empty conference
table.
“They're
real,” Melissa said. “I met one.”
“Holy
shit!” Hayden shouted. “What were they like?”
“It's
hard to describe. They were a lot like a large cat, but kind of droopy and
sad-sack looking. Not at all what I expected.” Melissa paused. “But given the
location we were in was some artificial construct, I suppose their form could
have been a deception.”
“Beings
as powerful as the Vedala wouldn't need a deception,” Hayden said. “At least I
wouldn't think they would.”
“The
creature's eyes were the strangest part,” Melissa said. “Through the whole
meeting, I had the sense that it wasn't really looking at us. It had a gaze as
if it were looking at something light years away. I think we were insignificant
to it.”
“But
it was the Vedala who gave Starfleet the engine fix?”
“Yes,”
Melissa said.
“They
ever indicate why?”
“I
had the sense it was because they felt we were necessary to their goals.”
“It
would have to be something like that,” Hayden said. “I had heard there had been
no contact with them for over a hundred years.”
“That's
what I had heard as well.”
“And
now they're gone for good?”
“Yes.”
Hayden
seemed to ponder that for several seconds.
“But
our engine system is failing... again.”
“Again?”
Hayden asked, a confused look on her face.
“It
went out once before a couple of years ago right after the Vedala disappeared.”
“But
it got fixed.”
“Yes,”
Melissa said, taking a long breath. “The solution found that time was something
that I can't tell you.”
“Something
more secret than the Vedala?” Hayden asked with wide eyes.
“Unfortunately,
yes,” Melissa said. “You'll have to call Starfleet Command to get the answer to
that.”
“But
you know?”
“Yes.”
“McCall
told you?”
“No,”
Melissa said. “As operations officer, I was one of the few who needed to know.”
Hayden
sighed, and touched a control on the table. “Mr. Nakano, get me Admiral Tal in
San Francisco.”
“Aye,
Captain,” came Nakano's reply over the speaker.
Hayden
looked at Melissa. “Is there anything else you can't tell me concerning my
ship?”
Melissa
almost winced at Hayden's claim to the Chamberlain. “A lot of things.”
A
moment later, an Andorian, Admiral Nord Tal, floated as a holographic image
above the table. “Captain Hayden, how are you settling in?”
“Fine,
Admiral,” Hayden said. “It appears there are classified matters regarding this
ship my executive officer can't inform me about.”
“Which
ones?” Tal asked sternly.
“Admiral,
with all due respect, I think I am entitled to know all of them,” Hayden said.
“I don't like the idea my executive officer has to keep secrets from me.”
Tal
looked down a moment. “Is Commander Vargas there with you?”
Melissa
walked up next to Hayden. “Yes, sir, Admiral.”
“Commander
Vargas, you are hereby authorized to inform Captain Hayden about any and all
matters concerning the Chamberlain's past.”
“All
of it, sir?” Melissa asked. “Including Lieutenant Commander Nelson? I'm not
going to get in trouble with a certain group am I, sir?”
Tal
paused for several seconds. “As of this date, you are authorized an exemption
from temporal regulations for Captain Hayden only.”
“Aye,
sir.”
“Was
that all, Captain?” Tal asked.
“Sir,
we may have a problem with the engine synchronization system again.”
“Damn,”
he muttered. “I'll check with the other Oceana class captains and get
back to you.”
His
image faded away.
Hayden
turned to Melissa. “Please tell me this doesn't have anything to do with
Temporal Investigations.”
“I'm
afraid so.”
“How
does Nelson fit into this?”
“The
Robin Nelson from our timeline died near the end of the Dominion War,” Melissa
said. “The woman you met was from a different timeline, one where they had
figured out a non-Vedala solution.”
“Shit,”
Hayden muttered. “I should have let them keep the damn bar.”
Melissa
fought off a smile.
***
Three days later, the Chamberlain dropped out of warp on the
outskirts of the Shiloson system and cruised into a comfortable orbit about the
fifth planet, a barren dusty world.
Melissa stared at the viewscreen.
“Charming.”
Hayden chuckled behind her. “Ours is not
to reason why, Exec.”
“Obviously,” Melissa said. “That way
lies madness.”
“At least there's a breathable
atmosphere.”
“That just means I can't sit in shuttle
as we survey the planet.”
Hayden frowned. “Do you always look at
the most depressing side of a situation?”
Melissa grinned as she stood at her
executive officer panel. “Yes. That way if it turns out better, I can be
pleasantly surprised.”
“Choose your team.”
Melissa had already been running this
through her mind for about a day. “Lieutenant Commander Mahajadan, Lieutenant
Burton, Mr. Nakano, and Lieutenant Fowler... report to the main shuttlebay.”
Burton and Nakano got up from their
stations and headed toward the door at the rear of the bridge.
“Aye,” came Mahajadan's voice over the
intercom.
A moment later, Natalie Fowler responded
with a heavy sigh and, “Aye,” over the intercom.
Hayden smiled. “Try to have a little
fun.”
“Oh, no,” Melissa said. “Trying to have
fun always leads to disaster.”
***
As the shuttlecraft left the Chamberlain,
Natalie Fowler turned in her seat toward Melissa. “And why am I along on this
little vacation?”
“We’ve detected a large set of ruins
down on the surface,” Melissa said. “Given you’re the chief archaeologist, I
felt you needed to come along.”
“I’m happy to be doing a real science
mission for a change,” Sunita said. “Maybe we’ll do this more often.”
Melissa couldn’t help smiling. A mission
like this could be good for the entire crew.
“Not just a large set of ruins,” Sunita
reported. “Dozens of cities so far.”
“Small or large?” Melissa asked, leaning
toward Sunita to gaze at the display she was working at.
“Very large,” Sunita replied. “Most are
buried under the sand, but many of them spread out over thirty or forty
kilometers.”
“So this was a fairly advanced civilization?”
Natalie asked.
“They had nuclear weapons,” Todd Nakano
said from the front of the shuttle. He sat next to Zaylie Burton who was
piloting the vessel. “No active weapons detected, but the isotopes of uranium
and plutonium present in the soil and air would indicate not only that they had
the technology, but they had used it extensively.”
“Time frame?” Natalie asked.
“Somewhere in the range of thirty
thousand years ago,” he replied.
“Then it’s a dead world,” Melissa said.
“Not completely,” Nakano said as he made
adjustments to the scanners he was monitoring. “I am reading a power source
just outside a city a hundred and fifty kilometers to the South.”
“Change course to take us to that
location,” Melissa ordered.
“Aye, Commander,” Zaylie said.
A moment later, the shuttle banked to
port.
