Chapter 5 – The Herald Of Bad Tidings

The morning sun shined across the mountain range in the distance, illuminating the apartment building Mei-Wan lived in on Kel-j’na. The morning fog had already lifted like a blanket being pulled away from a comfortable bed.

In her bedroom, Mei-Wan stared up at the ceiling as she spread herself out on the bed. Her alarm went off for the fifth time. She closed her eyes, knowing she had work to do at the institute, but she just couldn’t manage to get her legs to move the way they needed to.

“The future,” she murmured to herself. “The future.”

Another electronic chime filled her apartment, but this time it was the comm station in the living room.

Mei-Wan took a long breath, and rolled out of bed.

She moved slowly enough that she might not make it to the unit before the caller gave up. If that happened, she didn’t know if she could manage to avoid returning to the bed.

But she made it to the display before the signal stopped.

Mei-Wan touched a control.

Harold’s face appeared on the display. “Morning.”

Mei-Wan only frowned.

“I thought you might want to know,” Harold said. “There’s someone from the Archaeological Council here.”

Now that gave her a reason to go in to work.

***

Mei-Wan arrived at her office in the Kel-j'na Archaeological Institute to find the visitor examining a number of pieces on the shelves behind her desk. She stopped at the door, surprised at who it was.

“Raymond?” she asked.

Raymond Saselo, Mei-Wan’s mentor and the director of the Federation Archaeological Council, looked at the artifacts on the bottom shelf, examining them one by one.

“This is a nice piece,” he said, pointing to a ceremonial mask and finally turning to her. “Early Eslarian? Third Sectarian Crisis?”

“Second,” she said with a smile which faded a moment later. “I find it hard to believe you've come all the way to Kel-j'na just to enjoy the pieces I've gathered over the years.”

He gave a short nod. “Perceptible as always.”

She pointed to the chair opposite her desk.

He stared at it a moment before sitting.

“Have you kept up on Frexdon's work?”

“No...” She thought a moment. “Last I heard he was tracking down information on the Preservers.”

“That was more than three years ago,” Saselo said. “Last year, a rather generous, but publicly unknown benefactor, offered him the resources to approach a certain area of study.”

“Sounds interesting, but...”

“You.”

Mei-Wan took a moment to comprehend what he meant. “Me?”

“Or rather, your emphasis, or as some would call it, obsession with the Ancient Progenitors.”

“Which Frexdon would jump at as he never believed in Galen's proposal in the first place.”

Saselo nodded. “And if you remember, he wasn't very fond of you.”

Mei-Wan shook her head. “Our personal incompatibility didn't prevent us from respecting each other's work.”

“I think that was more the case on your part than his.”

“Okay,” Mei-Wan said, not really interested in digging into old arguments. “So, he's trying to find alternate explanations for the Ancient Progenitors.” She smiled. “I wish him good luck because he'll need it. My conclusions are rock solid. The datacores my team found erased all doubts. You've admitted that yourself.”

Saselo took a deep breath and held it. “In one week, he will present to the Council strong evidence one of your datacores has been tampered with. It's an involved technical analysis, but it does indicate recent tampering.”

Mei-Wan couldn't form the words she wanted to use to lash out, her mind was stunned with the very suggestion.

“Of course, he expects you to quickly insist on third party analysis. He's already got it from the Vulcan Science Academy, but he's not making that part of his presentation.” Saselo frowned. “I think he wants you to protest first, seeing how far out on a limb you go.”

“But...” was all Mei-Wan could get out. Natalie Fowler’s warning had finally become reality. But Mei-Wan’s team had gone over that datacore five times, checking it twice after Natalie had given Mei-Wan a cryptic warning. It had checked out. There had been no tampering.

“If you don't defend your research, he'll use that to go even further.”

Mei-Wan's eyes narrowed as she watched him closely. “Why come here and tell me this?”

He appeared startled at the question. “I wanted you to know about it ahead of time so you could be prepared.”

“You could have done that in a message.” Mei-Wan leaned forward. “Why did you come to see me face to face?”

Saselo looked down at his hands which he now clasped together almost as in prayer. “I'm here because Frexdon asked me to.”

Mei-Wan fought past the short breaths cutting off her speech. “You're in on this?!”

“No, of course not!

Mei-Wan took a small portion of relief from that reply.

“I'm here,” he continued, “Because Frexdon, after I insisted, wanted you told as a professional courtesy. He knows how you're viewed... seeker of the truth no one wants to hear... and he knows there are a good many academics who will see his presentation as merely an attack instigated by those wanting to protect their religion from scrutiny.”

“Which is what this is really about, isn't it?”

“At its heart, I suspect it is.” He looked past her, out the window at the city beyond. “If you announce you've learned of problems with your research, specifically the datacore and withdraw your conclusions, Frexdon will not make his presentation, allowing you to take his research and publish it yourself with your own conclusions. Of course, he'd want you to praise his honesty and tenacity at going after the truth.”

Mei-Wan shook her head. “And you expect me to go along with this?!”

“Mei, you don't have much choice. At least this way, it will be only a setback, one which I'm sure you can recover from. All research has to deal with such tangents from time to time. It’s part of the peer review process. You know that.”

“And if I don't go along with this extension of professional courtesy?”

“Frexdon intends to crush you.” For the first time, Saselo's eyes met Mei-Wan's. “He will demolish the very foundation of your Ancient Progenitor work, eventually offering the conclusion you have been less than honest--pencil engineering the data to come up with the conclusions you sought from the start.”

“You know me better than that.”

“Yes, I do. But it won't matter. His evidence is more than compelling. In fact, I'd call it devastating.”

Mei-Wan's jaw tightened. “And you think I should go along with this?”

“I think you need to consider what this will likely do to your career.”

Her eyes widened. “Is my position here at the institute in jeopardy?”

“Yes,” he said. “On the Archaeological Council, only Andrea and myself would still support you staying on here if Frexdon’s information comes out.”

“They've already decided?”

“No. So far, all they've heard are whispers. Though I suspect Frexdon has been talking to Murd Kalos, feeding him the details of his work.”

“I can't believe this!” Mei-Wan almost cried. “Seven months ago, all of you stood at a reception praising my work, what it told us about ourselves and the history of the Galaxy. And now because of one biased jerk, you're going to push me out the door?!”

“Some have been looking for an excuse to get rid of you ever since your presentation. Archaeologists everywhere have been harassed in every conceivable way because you took a large group of people and their objects of worship and told them they were wrong, that what they thought was the prime example of good in the universe was actually a horrible evil.” He shook his head. “Did you think there wouldn’t be a reaction?”

“I thought people would examine my evidence rationally and see the inescapable conclusion.”

“In a week, it won't be nearly as inescapable as you thought.”

Mei-Wan looked away. “I can't believe this is happening.”

“I'm sorry, but once you found that datacore, someone was going to do something to make your conclusions less secure. I just didn't imagine it as being so direct.”

“But how can he conclude there's been tampering? We know so little about Ancient Progenitor technology that...”

“He has another connection between you and the datacore,” Saselo said.

“What kind of connection?”

“It's his assumption you've sent people out to find these datacores, alter the information to support your hypothesis the Ancient Progenitors were genocidal maniacs, then conveniently discover them months later, surrounded by your team who would deny any such tampering.”

“That is insane!”

“There's a classified file at Starfleet concerning the discovery of a datacore by someone who worked under you as a midshipman aboard the Chamberlain. Frexdon believes he can prove there was a relationship between the two of you, and that you sent him out to find this device and alter it.”

“Who?!”

“Lieutenant Garshan Damapda.”

Mei-Wan thought a moment, then remembered the face that went with the name. “I met him twice! And only in passing in department meetings. He had returned to do some additional research on the Chamberlain after his midshipman assignment that Summer! He was on the ship maybe three weeks, all while I was recuperating from my capture by the G’voda!” Mei-Wan felt the room spinning about her. “He's bright, too bright to be involved in any tampering with an archaeological site!”

“No one has interviewed him yet, but that will happen soon.”

Mei-Wan tried to calm herself. “If I don't go along with all of this.”

Saselo nodded.

“You can see what they're doing here! Stand up to them!” Mei-Wan shouted.

“All I can go on is the evidence presented.”

“But you know his evidence is bullshit!”

“The evidence of tampering is quite compelling. And given the Vulcan Science Academy came to the same conclusion, it will be difficult to refute it.”

“They're in on it!” Mei-Wan shouted.

“Be careful of who you accuse, Mei. The VSA is older than the human word for science.”

“Since when does an appeal to authority mean a damn in science?!”

“When powerful political forces have an interest in results.”

Mei-Wan shook her head. “Then you admit...”

“All I have are suspicions. Strong ones, but nothing to back them up.”

“Then let's find what we need to back them up.”

“There is no 'we' here, Mei-Wan. If there's any hope I can help you avoid the worst of this, I have to appear impartial.”

Mei-Wan thought a moment, realizing what Salselo said about making an announcement of her questioning her own work was probably the best practical move she had. No. That would be an out and out lie, and she couldn't do that. It would be a betrayal of the truth as she knew it.

But what if I'm wrong?

She pondered it a moment. Maybe she was as arrogant as some people thought she was. Maybe. But that wasn't what drove her now. She was certain of her facts and her evidence.

“No,” she said. “I won't lie about my work.” Her eyes narrowed. “And I can't believe you're even asking me to consider it.”

“Mei, I'm thinking of you before I think of your work.”

“This work is who I am.”

He nodded. “Perhaps that's part of the problem.”

“You need to be asking yourself who this is so important to that they'd go to all this trouble to shut me up.”

“More people than you want to believe,” he said. “It's not only a few powerful people, but millions who believe in an idea.”

“A fantasy.”

“Doesn't history show people are more willing to kill and die for a fantasy than reality?”

“I thought we'd grown past that.”

He took a long breath. “A lot of us have, but not enough.”

“I won't capitulate to these people.”

He rose from the chair. “I'm sorry, Mei. I truly am. I'll do what I can.”

“Unless you intend to stand before the Archaeological Council and call them all out on this, don't bother with half-ass measures.”

He shook his head. “Those half-ass measures may be what keeps you from truly hitting bottom.”

He walked out of her office.

Mei-Wan got up to follow him. She was so angry that she wanted to chew him out in front of her team, to let them know she wasn’t going to back down. But she stopped herself halfway to the door as the full impact of what Raymond had told her settled into her mind.

-GO TO CHAPTER 6-