A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma: Part 1

Posted on Wed Mar 22nd, 2023 @ 9:11pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Savette

2,209 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Investigate the Chintoka Shipyard Buildup
Location: Onboard the Chin'toka shipyard
Timeline: Current

Having docked at the shipyard, Finchley had ordered the Away Teams to assemble and had sent them out to check around to see what they could find out about the Dominion force that was there, looking to rebuild the shattered yard.

His own team had assembled and having cleared the docking port and gotten onboard, they surveyed their surroundings. Broken conduits had left pipes and wires hanging down, bulkheads had been blown out and were in crazy twisted shapes. Here and there, the remains of bodies lay, the corpses had long since decomposed so all the flesh and soft tissue had rotted leaving just hair and bones. The horror of 'grinning' skulls brought back bad memories for Finchley, having several times been on missions where such things had been discovered.

Turning to Shon and Yadira, he brought out a small PADD that had the layout of the yard on it, and said "Right, we're here. The main control centre is there. Between us and it we have to cover several sections. There's no way of knowing the damage that's been caused, and no way of knowing how many Dominion soldiers and staff are here. 'If' I were to make and educated guess, given the ships we know they have here, I'd say perhaps two or three platoons. We need to find out as much information about them and their plans as we can. Any questions?"

“Obviously this is a stealth mission Sir?” Shon said looking around at the bones scattered liberally around the corridor.
“No line Em up and shoot em.” She smiled.

"Correct Commander, this 'is' a stealth mission, we keep any...offensive matters to a minimum, preferably none if we can help it."

At that point, Karadis briefly joined them, and one seeing Shon she growled and said "You!..." and stepped forward, but Finchley stopped her.

"Ok Karadis, ok, that's enough, whatever you were going to do, just can it, we need to stay focused on the job at hand. We have to make sure we get this right, 'tie up' any loose ends..." and he couldn't stop himself from bursting out laughing.

Shon was somewhat reassured the Kerr was there, she had not see Karadis since she left her spreadeagled and tied to her bed. She turned her head away and smiled then looked at Kerr as if to say ‘don’t tease her or she will explode’ but then she imagined Karadis exploding and then she had to stifle a laugh. Then she was all business. “Shall we split up, cover more ground Sir?"

Karadis just growled again "I just came to say that Away Team two, led by Captain Tristen, will be heading to the upper decks first Sir."

On seeing Shon's look, he nodded almost imperceptibly the looked at Karadis and replied "Very good Chief, the best of luck to you all, and ourselves of course, on you go."

Karadis nodded, looked at Shon and mouthed "We're not finished", then was gone.

“Am I missing something?” Isabelle looked between Dex and Finchley wondering just what it was she’d missed that they seemed to know about.

Shon shook her head and smiled, “no Lieutenant you did not miss anything, it was a private joke that is all. Are we ready to move off?”

"Yes, keep your eyes peeled, we don't know if this place is booby trapped" Finchley replied. He started off down the corridor then stopped and looked at Isabelle "Lieutenant, can you discern between our crew and Dominion, can you read them?"

Isabelle gave Finchley a wide eyed look. “I can sense where people are Captain, but I couldn’t give you numbers or exactly where they are. I’d have to be up close to discern exact positions. As for reading them, using telepathy to read anyone is strictly forbidden without consent, and I have no doubt they’d sense me rattling around in their minds.”

Shon was making her way silently along the edge of the corridor. On hearing Isabelle she turned and whispered “even using telepathy on an enemy Lieutenant.”

"I didn't mean read them as in read their thoughts" Finchley replied, "I meant, can you detect them, can you 'feel' their presence before we see them physically!" Finchley said, annoyed at the implication he'd suggested otherwise.

"Anyway, let's go..." he added, walking off.

“In that case... yes I can feel them before we encounter them.” Callie smiled. “I didn’t mean to sound like I was suggesting anything nefarious Captain.”

"That ships already sailed Lieutenant" Finchley replied "I said, lets go."

Setting off again, he looked at the schematic on the PADD he had with him. They were several sections away from the Operations room, the place where he wanted to begin his search. Something about the 'yard didn't sit right with him, he couldn't quite put it together, but parts of the situation bothered him. Why were there only a handful of Dominion ships guarding the place, surely if they were going to do a full scale rebuild there would be tens of ships of all sizes? Why were there no outlying scouts ships, the three pervious Starfleet ships sent into investigate had gotten very close to the 'yard? Even though the 'yard itself was heavily damaged, why were there no patrols at the docking ports, how had they managed to get the Blackeagle docked and come onboard without being detected the minute they set foot in there?

No, this wasn't right, it wasn't right at all. "Commander Dex!" he said sharply, stopping and pointing to the schematic "Double time it, go a section ahead to this point, see what's up ahead. Don't engage any guards or Dominion personnel you see, report back to me, we'll be coming that way but I also want to check any rooms we pass, just in case they throw anything up."

Isabelle looked towards Dex. “Be careful Commander, I am sensing others in this vicinity.”

Dex nodded and slowly felt her way along the corridor wall. The light was so bad it was difficult for her to see where she put her feet, the last thing she needed was to step on a pile of bones. That would probably alert whoever it was and give her a fright besides. She edged towards a half open door and pushed it open. She flicked on her palm beacon and directed it around the room. There was a desk and a console with a skeleton half fallen from the chair. The firefight must have been bad she thought. She moved out of the room and crossed the corridor. Flicking her beacon off so as not to alert anyone she moved on. Then she could hear the faint noise of someone talking. A faint light flickered on and off inside another room and she edged her way towards it. It sounded like a heated discussion was going on about getting power to the system of whatever was in there.

“This must be the place!” Someone exclaimed. “We have to get the power back on to it will be our turn to end up like Durand.” “How long have we got?” Dex noted a third voice. “Until they return for us, about three hours.” “Enough time to find the weapon?” A gruff voice asked. She made her way slowly back to her team.

She looked at Isabelle and Kerr, “you were right there are three, possibly four persons in that room at the end of this corridor. They are speaking Federation standard and talking about getting the power back on. There is something they need from the system pertaining to a weapon. One of the voices is Klingon. The corridor turns from there so, I was unable to make out what was next. I can get past and continue but, if they come out I am not sure if there is anywhere to hide.”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Isabelle looked at Finchley. “What kind of weapon could they be looking for?”

"You have to remember, this was a Dominion yard and research centre back during the war, Intelligence reports were pretty thin, we had..." and he stopped talking looking at Shon and Isabelle "...what the hell, they can only fire me and put me on a penal planet for the rest of my life. We had reports, unsubstantiated reports I may add, that they were working on a biogenic weapon though we never got much more than that, and the name of the lead scientist and his assistant. The lead was someone called Renex and his assistant was called Dusand or Dutrand, something like that."

Isabelle nodded. “What exactly does a biogenic weapon do? Is it biological warfare?”

"Yes, that's correct Lieutenant, it's basically germ warfare" Finchley replied "We never got any definitive information on where they came from, or who they were going to be used against given the difference in the Federation ally DNA set up. I couldn't imagine a 'one germ warfare fits all' if you forgive the crude analogy, so I'm imagining it would have been specific. Right, given where we are and where we have to go, let's get as close to where they are as possible and see if we can work out what they're doing. Commander, if you could lead the way" he said to Shon.

“One of the names I heard was Durand, I think that is near enough Sir. We need to get into that room, find out what they are looking for but, that means either waiting for them to leave, possibly with the answers or we go in stun them and look ourselves or return to the ship and question them. I must admit they sounded pretty scared and certainly not the instigators. Sir?” Shon looked at Kerr.

"That could be the name" Finchley said, looking at Shon. It was a dilemma, but it was crucial that they found out what these people were after.

"Waiting for them to finish isn't an option, they could be hours" Finchley began "stunning them is a fifty fifty, what if they're supposed to report in at a specific time, and they miss it, that could draw more Dominion personnel to the room. On the other hand, it means we could then search the room. Taking them back to the ship...no, same as stunning them, what if they're missed, again, it could draw unwanted attention and a search party could come looking for them"

He began scratching his chin, and looked around them, he needed inspiration. The something caught his eye and he smiled "Commander, Lieutenant, have you ever wondered what it would be like to be Breen?"

Shon looked at him as though he had lost his mind, she liked that. “Not exactly sir I’ve killed a few, what have you got in mind?”

Finchley walked away some twenty feet or so, then pointed to some bodies on the ground, they were dead Breen soldiers "I was thinking you and the Lieutenant could disguise yourselves as Breen soldiers in these uniform, go into that room and send those in there on a fools errand, somewhere far away on the other side of the 'yard, that way we don't have to kill or stun them and their out of our way. They won't dare question an order from a superior force, let's face it, most of the Dominion were frightened of the Breen anyway, and it then means we have time to search the room for any clues."

Isabelle looked at Dex, then at Finchley. “I don’t like it, but if you think it’ll work Sir.”

Dex kicked at the bones, “these uniforms are a little old but I’ll give it a go.” She bent down and released the helmet from the neck bones of the dead Breen, unfortunately the scull was still inside but Dex gamely pulled it out and placed in somewhat reverently on the floor. She sighed, dusted it out with her hand and placed it over her head. It smelt musty and the vision was not too good. “I hope the voice synthesizer still works.” She took it off and began stripping the bones from the rest of the uniform. She looked at Isabelle, “come on Lieutenant I’m sure you played dress up as a child.” She smiled.

"I'm not going to force either of you to do this if you don't want to, it's merely a suggestion" Finchley said "If you have better plan to get past these people, tell me now!"

Dex was already half in the uniform, she stopped and look at Kerr, “now you tell me Captain but, no I think your plan worthwhile. Look I’ll go on my own! I don’t mind. It leaves the Lieutenant with you if things go pear shaped.”

"No, you go in together, two heads are better than one" Finchley replied, "plus, the Lieutenant has the edge when it comes to...processing he situation. However, no heroics, you spin them the yarn, and get them to leave, have you goy that?"

“Got it Sir” Isabelle nodded. She didn’t like the idea, but she had orders and she’d follow them.
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TBC

 

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