A Mystery

Posted on Thu Sep 17th, 2020 @ 12:58am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Lieutenant Junior Grade Mignon Mejia
Edited on on Thu Sep 17th, 2020 @ 2:49am

1,197 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - New Home, Same Pioneers
Location: Anthropology Lab - Deck 6 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD008 1500 hrs

A Captain's work is never done, or at least that was what Tyler's mother always told him. If he was totally honest with himself he would admit that he rather enjoyed moving around the ship and meeting with various members of his crew that he would not normally meet. His next stop would be the Anthropology Lab and Ensign Mejia. Tyler wanted to pick her brain about the artifact and see if they could deduce what it was.

He stepped into the lab and found the Ensign hunched over a computer terminal. "Afternoon Ensgin..." Tyler smiled warmly.

She recognized the captain's voice and straightened. "Hello, sir. How may I help you?" Clearly if he was in the archaeology lab he had a reason. He was far too busy to simply wander into labs to see who was there.

"Recently I have had many discussions about something the Romulans are doing that can be quite troubling. It dawned on me that you are the one person I should be talking to. Tell me Ensign have you heard about something called the Artifact?" Mignon could tell that he was not here on a social call, so Tyler decided short sweet and to the point would probably be the best thing here.

"It's all over the science community. Everyone wants to see it or has a theory about what it could be." She'd been curious herself about what this artifact could be, but right now, the Romulans weren't letting anything leak out.

"Agreed. So I wonder what you speculate it might be? There is a large power output from the area in which it is. However, I cannot believe that the Romulans are in any shape to take on something of a large magnitude. As it stands now the Vulcans are intrigued by this prospect. What can you tell me Ensign?" Tyler leaned up against the wall as he spoke. Although he was the commanding officer he wanted this to feel informal.

"Scuttlebutt is that they found some alien tech. Where is what people disagree on. I've heard it's Iconian, Borg, First Federation, or some yet-to-be-identified species." She shrugged. "With their attempts to re-establish the Romulan Empire, they could have found anything." She grinned. "Some even think they encountered an Arretan."

"Is there any proof to any of these theories? The only one that I have heard currently is that they have found another Gateway of Forever. If that is true then there is a lot for all of us to be worried about. Borg? Why would the Romulans call anything produced by the Borg an artifact? Also the shape they are in would they really want to risk tampering with Borg technology. I guess we have to first address what kind of people the Romulans are? Are they the kind that would risk everything?" Tyler's mind reeled with each answer another dozen questions arose. He hoped that Mejia's anthropological background could shed some light on the motives of the Romulans.

"Another gateway is always a possibility. I mean, at this point, almost anything is a possibility. That's why there are so many theories about the Artifact. What's odd is that in the past there's been open communication between scientists. Even with the Romulans and Klingons. We value knowledge and we're willing to share information across borders. But with this...there's nothing at all. No proof of anything." She hesitated before answering his last question. "Captain, the Romulans lost everything when their sun went supernova. There are many who would take risks to gain back some of what they lost."

The Ensign's ominous words brought Tyler away from his speculation and into the here and now. The Temporal Prime Directive was something that most if not all of the Alpha Quadrant races subscribed to, Federation or otherwise. "Are you saying that the Romulans would risk a breach on time to correct the Hobus supernova?"

"No, but if you go down that road, could you blame them? Would you take such a risk to save the Federation?" She let that sink in. "I don't think they'd try it unless they were fairly certain it would work. At this point, I don't think that's their goal. However, I wouldn't put it past them to try and regain the strength they once had."

"Alright, alright..." Tyler began while waving his hand. They had gotten off on a small tangent. An interesting tangent, but one they could not not explore at the moment. "...So speculate top three most likely scenarios and possible solutions." Tyler took a seat and crossed his legs. Mejia was his people expert, and it was time to learn about people.

"Top three..." She had to think on that for a moment. "I would have to say Iconian, whether a crashed ship or a gateway, I don't know. Borg has to be considered, too. They seem to pop up when you least expect them. I'm still not convinced we've seen the last Borg sphere. It won't be part of a large hive, but there could be a few strays still out there. Or there could be a crashed ship somewhere. My third choice would be a planet that once held an ancient civilization. We run into them on occasion. They're rare, but this universe is old enough to hold hundreds of extinct civilizations."

That part was easy. How to deal with the situation wasn't. "In my opinion, the best solution would be to foster a good relationship with the Romulans. They don't trust us after what we did, but we need to start building bridges again. Be authentic and be willing to work with them. Maybe if we have the opportunity, invite some Romulan scientists to work with us. Commander Vaebn is the best person to talk to about any joint ventures."

"Hmmm, I tend to agree and all three of those are valid ideas. I would like you to coordinate with Ensign Raine. Your anthropological background and her diplomatic clearance may net you an invite to the scientific table. We need to know what this is before they catch us with our pants down." Tyler replied, the wheels in his head spun quicker than ever.

Mignon had yet to meet the new diplomat. It was definitely time she did. She smiled at the captain. "I'll do that. I would like to talk to some Romulan scientists about a lot of things."

"Excellent, thank you Mignon. Make this your top priority for the time being. Report any findings directly to me..." Tyler did not want anything about this to get out just yet. Not until he could confirm something concrete. "...This road will lead to something really good or really bad. Keep up the great work Ensign."

"Thank you, sir." She was looking forward to doing research on the Artifact, and on current Romulan scientific projects. This was going to be fun. "And thank you for the opportunity."

A Joint Post By

Captain Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer

Ensign Mignon Mejia
Alien Archaeologist/Anthropologist, USS Pioneer

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