Station/Nazgul Post #12. Something Odd

Posted on Sat Mar 30th, 2024 @ 10:56pm by Captain Tore Bjorgo & Lieutenant JG Ainkara "Kara"
Edited on on Wed Apr 3rd, 2024 @ 5:31pm

Mission: TALES FROM THE MIDDLE STARS
Location: USS NAZGUL
Timeline: Current

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As Captain Bjorgo sat in his command chair, legs crossed at the thigh while reading his duty PADD on his lap, Ainkara walked over and mounted the dais his chair sat on, standing to his left. She held her hands behind her back, one hand clutching a PADD of her own.

"Captain," she said, to get his attention, and continued as he looked up from his reading. "In regards to the Mutara Sector, there are some discrepancies." Kara waited for a response before she was willing to continue.

"Discrepancies?" Bjorgo queried. "How so?" He was fairly certain what she was going to say as he well knew the history of the region the Mutara Nebula had encompassed.

"I find it curious that that region of space, where the Mutara Nebula used to exist, has been under not only Starfleet quarantine, but Federation quarantine, as well." Ainkara voiced. "There is special dispensation for the civilizations that live in the sector, for traffic to come and go, but they are usually escorted by Starfleet and watched closely. Also, I find it not only curious, but odd, that a Mutara class nebula has reformed out there exactly where the previous one was. And, no one knows why."

As she had been explaining Tore put his PADD in its slot on the side of his chair and stood up. "Jaz, take over. I'll be in the Ready Room." She acknowledged and took the center seat while he took Kara into the port lift, and then into the Ready Room. His desk was to the right while entering, with the small lounge area arranged before it. Then the conference table slightly to the left, and then to the far left, in the back of the room was the command CIC. He walked her over to CIC and began to tap keys and bring up charts.

Ainkara watched him work, curious as to what it was he was digging for. Then, on a large screen, a chart of the Mutara Sector, and the Nebula within that sector came up. She said nothing as she figured he would now explain what he was doing.

"Lieutenant Kara, this is the Mutara Sector. I'm sure you've seen this chart several times over the past hour while you were digging for data. Nothing unusual, right?"

"That would depend on one's definition of unusual. But, yes, I understand your meaning, Captain."

Nodding to that Bjorgo then reached out and input his Security access as a Captain, but then added in another access code that took it from classified to top secret. Another chart did a layover of the first, and there were quite a few differences, none of which are noted on the 'public' chart. "This is the real Mutara Sector. What is left after Kirk and the USS Enterprise took on Khan Singh in the USS Reliant. The ship this class of vessel is named after. Ever wonder why a starship that has never been touted as doing anything special in the eyes of the public ever got a ship class named after it?"

"It had crossed my mind," Kara admitted. "Wanting to know the history of the class I did some research and found that Reliant was never listed as being involved in anything remotely heroic, or that added to the lives of the citizens."

Tore nodded that she was correct. "Precisely. The entire thing was buried by the Federation Council and Starfleet so as not to openly admit that the Federation had created a device so powerful that if used as a weapon it would annihilate all life on a planet and completely restructure it. Instead of conquering worlds any enemies that got a hold of the device could redesign worlds to their liking, and wipe out all resistance on those planets with a single shot."

"You are speaking of the Genesis device." Kara said, deadpan. As if it was common knowledge and she knew all about it. The electronic spindle in her left eye was active and spinning as it provided data. "The Iconians knew of it, and knew exactly when it went off. They saw the damage it had done to subspace in the region, and the planet created was highly unstable."

Tore could see her left eye giving off that slight yellow amber glow as her biosynthetic implants were aiding her with memory recall. It always made him nervous to know she had that within her, but he showed a trust in her for having it. So far he had not been proven wrong in that. "It was. The creators of the device used protomatter in the design, which you know is highly unstable and every ethical scientist in the galaxy has deemed dangerous. Doctor David Marcus, to be exact. He was so afraid that Genesis would never work that he took short cuts so as to make it work. All in the name of fame. Well, if the public knew what had actually happened out here then it would not have been the fame he was hoping for. More like infamy."

"Unethical in the extreme," Kara stated. A questioning look appeared on her face. "So, who is Kahn Singh and why was he involved? Better yet, how did he get the device to begin with?"

Tore told the tale, from start to finish. Everything that had occurred, how Khan had been defeated by Kirk fifteen years prior and had used the Reliant to escape exile and go on a rampage of revenge against then Admiral Kirk. He left nothing out. Once the tale had been told he then looked her straight in the eye. "Khan was like me. He was, like myself, an experiment in genetic engineering. When Humans tried to redesign our species into something better. Something stronger and more durable. I am an Augment, the label they give us since there really is no better way to describe us. We are augmented human DNA. One of the original scientists did try and give a warning against it; Superior ability breeds superior ambition. Earth suffered a catastrophic war over trying to defeat the augments, people like Khan. Khan was the worst of them and had pulled them all together over one banner. When they started to lose and all hope was lost, Khan and a handful of his followers infiltrated a space program facility and launched themselves in a vessel. It had sleeper units and they went into hibernation in these pods while the ship moved at one-quarter impulse across the galaxy to find a new world for them to conquer. That was when the Enterprise found them by sheer happenstance and the events I described earlier commenced."

"Seems that you Humans don't learn much from your mistakes. I've read your history and all the silliness that ensued over gender. To this day, from what I can tell as a scientist, humans are male and female just like my people. And, that is a stated fact in Starfleet medical, no argument. It took a near extinction event such as this world war you described to wake you up to all that. Now you know why it is that the Iconians want to enslave mankind. You are too stupid for your own good in their eyes." Kara stood stoic and gazed at him.

"We have been, yes. You should see the Denobulans laugh at our history, trying to argue biology with fantasy. When it comes to that sordid bit of history most species merely shake their head at our past and are not surprised that it took us so long to get to space travel and warp drive." Bjorgo said.

As he spoke a thought came to her mind that Ainkara was curious about. "So, if you are one of these Augments, and you are all considered extremely dangerous, then how do you know so much? Why aren't you prison?"

"Because I mixed with others out in the galaxy." Bjorgo responded. "Instead of being dead set on conquering Earth and all that rubbish, I chose to use my skills and abilities to aid the underworld for many years. My status as an augment was never admitted to others, and if anyone found out that could be a threat to my freedom, I killed them quickly and quietly. There were a lot of 'accidents' back in those days. Eventually I had a change of heart, went to the Federation and turned myself in. Of course I did time in a penal facility, but I was also a living example of my kind and they wanted to study me and get to know how we ticked. As time passed I was then offered a chance out of prison by working for Intelligence and strategic operations. If it was dirty and needed a scapegoat in case of capture, they picked me."

With his story unfolding Ainkara felt a sudden affinity for her Captain because his story was not too dissimilar from her own. The Voran had been conquered, surgically enhanced, and used as weapons and tools to further Iconian power and influence. "I can empathize, Captain. I too have been a tool for others who preferred to remain in the shadows."

Bjorgo was glad to hear that she was not offering sympathy. The things he had done in his past, things he had thoroughly enjoyed doing, were just that. In his past. He was able to build in himself the willpower and self control to view the galaxy in a more grounded, and benevolent fashion. Now, after all these years, he could not fathom being the person he had exorcised. "I'm not proud of the things I've done. But, we got way off track." He cleared his throat to say they were going back to his original reason for coming in here. "As you noted, the Mutara Nebula was dissipated from the area, which was an act of the genesis wave and the subsequent development of the Genesis planet. Then, the planet came apart due to the protomatter. But, several years ago the nebula began to reform. Not one of the starships or probes sent out that way could understand why since all the static discharge and gases had been thoroughly destroyed by all that energy. But," he motioned at the current map as he dropped the past map overlay. "There it is."

"Are you suggesting a connection to the Gola, Captain?"

"Possibly." Bjorgo answered. "It just seems odd that the Gola wants to go there when it has what it needs here..."

"Or, does it?" Kara asked. "Just because we gave it a trough to feed from doesn't mean it was what it was seeking. It may have gone into a form of hibernation while it regained its strength to continue searching for whatever it is seeking."

"My thoughts exactly. We could be totally wrong on this, but it's a start." Tore said. He felt better now that he had discussed it with his Science Chief. "All this Genesis information needs to remain top secret, Lieutenant. No casual conversations, no mentioning of it at all. Sheyla is in the know but no one else. Understood?"

"Of course, Captain." Kara said.

Bjorgo nodded. "Good. I'll put all this data back on lockdown. Continue your data gathering and research. I want us as ready as we can be for when we arrive. Hopefully, the Gola doesn't hold grudges and recognizes the ship that sent it to bed." He smiled. "Carry on, Lieutenant. I'm going to prep for a staff meeting."

Ainkara gave a bow from the neck as she spun and departed. Tore went to his desk and brought up his own computer as he looked to the data sent to him so far by Starfleet.

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