Secrets and Lies

Posted on May 26, 2014 @ 8:41pm by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Edited on on May 26, 2014 @ 8:55pm

Mission: All Our Yesterdays
Location: Various
Tags: Kane, Stonn, Jake, Russ, Kassandra

"SECRETS AND LIES"

(Continued from "Dealing With The Devil")


"A Boy Scout is never taken by surprise; he knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens."
- Robert Badon-Powell

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Captain's Log, Supplemental - The DISCOVERY will be arriving at the Suvin system in less than two hours. So far, the ship and crew have performed admirably, with no issues of any kind reported. The Suvin system houses houses Station 855, a listening post orbiting the deadworld of Suvin IV. The station itself is manned by a crew of ten, and is responsible for monitoring dozens of sectors that lie spinward of the Federation border. While there, we will be learning all they know about the mysterious computer signal that lies further into the Beta Quadrant.

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Location: USS DISCOVERY
Stardate: [2.14]0511.1940
Scene: Deck 9, Science Centre 1


Michael Turlogh Kane stood and listened while Solomon Arn, the DISCOVERY's Chief Science Officer, gave him and Isador a briefing on what was known about system K-60. Several long-range scans had been taken in the past several weeks. So far, he had learned that it was a dying binary system, anchored by a pair of red giants that had long ago exhausted their hydrogen cores and were entering the last stages of their life cycles. In a few millenia, they would become white dwarfs, cooling down as their lights guttered in the galactic maelstrom, until they died in a supernova that would be visible as far as Earth.

Exploding stars, fizzing and popping like firecrackers all across the heavens. As a boy, Kane would go to local carnivals and watch fireworks boom and splash a kaleidoscope of colour across the sky, arcing bright shining trails that lit up the darkness. But they always faded away, always blazed for too brief a moment before being swallowed up by the cold, unrelenting night.

Like stars, human souls flickered and went out, leaving the vast gulf of nothingness in their wake. Like stars, people had their brief moment to see and taste and hear and feel, and then die. What could it matter to all of eternity, he wondered, if he, or any of his shipmates, were here, or gone, or never here at all? We plough our own furrows in heaven, borne along in our little silvery ship, so small, so infinitesimal against the void. If Humans moved into space to be closer to God, then they had failed. The enormous dead spaces between stars seemed to consecrate the emptiness Kane felt whenever he looked out a viewport.

K-60 was in the Beta Quadrant proper. If it had ever had any life it was long dead, irradiated as the twin suns expanded into their present states. No probe had ever been sent there, no ship had ever passed anywhere near it.

But it was not altogether unknown. Solomon Arn touched the control pad and a three-dimensional hologram of the system winked into life over the desk. The Trill had been explaining why there was only one gaseous planet orbiting the twin red suns.

"You see, Captain, the gravity well exerted by a binary system is higher than that of, for example, your own star, Sol. When this system was formed, it tried to be a trinary system, with three suns coming together. But it didn't work out like that. For some reason, probably to do with the amount of available fuel for nuclear fusion, what would have been the third sun instead became an orbiting gas giant."

"A failed star? Like Jupiter?"

"Yes, Captain. The gas planet, designation K-60-Alpha, drew celestial bodies into its orbit. That is why it has thirteen moons and a large ring of rocks and ice around it. It is an enormous planet, measuring almost a quarter of a million kilometers at its equatorial radius. It is almost forty times the size of Earth, four times larger than Jupiter."

Kane shook his head in amazement. "Composition?"

"Despite the large numbers, the gas giant itself is not of much interest, Captain. From astronomical scans, it appears to be mostly composed of hydrogen, with a smattering of helium. Its mass is notable, however - eight by ten to the twenty-seventh power in kilograms. That's the same as twelve hundred Earths, all together in one place. Because of its size, it is able to hold hundreds of asteroids and planetoids in its own orbit. Our astronomers have designated thirteen of them as true satellites, and it is one of these that has caught our eye." Solomon pushed the touch-screen again, and the holographic image changed, zooming down to an inocuous-looking moon that hung like a bauble against the enormous planet. "This moon, designation K-60-Alpha-Twelve, is one of the smaller moons of the gas planet. It is only around one-hundredth the size of the gas giant, but it's still twice as big as Earth's moon. What's remarkable about Alpha-Twelve is that our spectroscopic scans have detected the presence of liquid water and a highly-oxygenated atmosphere."

"It's capable of supporting life?"

"Not necessarily. It depends on the salinity and acidity of the water, for example. A highly-oxygenated pressurised atmosphere also does not necessarily mean that we can breathe it - too much oxygen in the atmosphere will override our brain's control over our bodies' respiration and would make you euphoric and affect your judgement. Without the build-up of carbon dioxide in your blood to trigger breathing, your brain would forget to automatically exhale and inhale, since your blood would already be highly oxygenated. Gaseous transference across the alveoli would actually slow down, forcing you to breathe heavier. Assuming you could impose your will on your body and force yourself to keep breathing, you would nevertheless eventually fall unconscious. While unconscious, you would not automatically breathe, and would suffocate to death within minutes." Solomon made a face. "Somewhat ironic, is it not?"

Kane shrugged. "Do we know where in the system the computer signal is coming from?"

"No, sir, and there's no way to be sure until we get there. With so many asteroids and rocks floating around that world, the signal could have been bounced around hundreds of times before it finally broke free and was beamed our way."

"I see." Kane turned to Isador. "Have you any information on this system? Did your people ever come here, perhaps seed it with humanoid life?"

The enigmatic Preserver shook her head slowly. It was, Kane noted, a uniquely Human gesture. Almost a decade of living on Earth must be rubbing off on her. "No, Captain Kane. I have tried to remember, but all these stars are as alien to me as they are to you. It seems we are both breaking new ground, as they say on your world."

"I think it's wonderful," smiled Solomon. "We will be the first Federation starship to visit this world. What wonders might be waiting for us!"

"There's a mystery to be solved too, Lieutenant," said Kane, standing up. "Continue to liase with Operations. The more we know before we arrive the less surprises there'll be, and I hate surprises." He threw a nod at them both. "Thank you. Carry on."

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Scene: Bridge


Stonn sat quietly in the centre seat, impassive and unmoving and very Vulcan. He had not moved in the past hour, keeping his unblinking black eyes fixed on the main viewer. There was nothing much to see except the view of the blurred stars as the DISCOVERY surged forward through interstellar space at hundreds of times the speed of light.

"Five minutes to the Suvin system," reported Russ BaShen at the conn.

Finally, Stonn moved. "Thank you, Lieutenant," he answered crisply. "Bridge to Captain Kane. We are approaching the Suvin system."

[[On my way.]]

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Scene: The Suvin system


A glorious golden sun, named Suvin by Federation astronomers, shines out of the black velvet of space, so far away as to be mind-boggling. Five planets pirouette around her in the dance of ages. The fourth is notable for two reasons.

One is that it is the ruins of a short-lived (by galactic standards) civilisation that managed to obliterate itself shortly after it discovered nuclear power, some one hundred and nineteen million years ago. On Earth, the Cretaceous period had just gotten underway, the continents were beginning to break away from Gondwana and Laurasia to take on their familiar shapes, and archosaurian dinosaurs ruled the world with tooth and claw. Thanks to its incredibly delicate biosphere, the nuclear war that was unleashed upon Suvin Four by its long-dead inhabitants condemned the planet, and all life upon it, to a terrible death. The destruction was so total that even after almost a century of studying the world, archaeologists still have no idea what the Suvinians (as academics called them) looked like. The nuclear wildfires ravaged the planet, incinerating almost all traces of their civilisation, burning off her atmosphere, millions of years of topsoil and forever heavily irradiating the world's crust. Studying what little ruins remain is only possible in environment suits.

In its orbit, however, the Federation has constructed and manned a small space station that casts its gaze out at the distant stars of the Beta Quadrant, itself a vast graveyard of old suns and dead worlds. A little dome that sits atop a silver spindle, it drifts in a slow, lazy elliptical orbit over the ash-gray world beneath it. It is a brooch lying on the collar of a black velvet dress.

An explosion of light. Impossibly fast, a starship emerges from warpspace, decelerating to sublight in less time than it takes to take a take a surprised breath. She is not there, and then she is there. She takes a moment to orient herself, then glides smoothly towards the little dome.

Life has returned to the skies Suvin Four.

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Location: USS DISCOVERY
Scene: Bridge


"They are responding to our hail," reported Byte.

The main viewer winked on, revealing the command station of the listening post. A young, red-collared Human lieutenant stood before the main viewer. Around him at various consoles, were several of the crew of station UFP-855, looking at the screen expectantly.

All Human, Kane noted with interest. "This is Captain Michael Turlogh Kane of the DISCOVERY," he announced.

The younger man's Asian features were creased into lines of worry. {{I am Lieutenant Daniel Nguyen, station commander. Welcome to the Suvin system, Captain Kane. I believe you're here about a computer signal we detected some weeks ago?}}

Kane nodded. "That's correct. We require all the data you have."

{{I'm afraid we're having some problems aboard the station, Captain Kane,}} said Nguyen, running a nervous hand through his lank black hair. {{You see, there have been developments while you have been making your way here.}}

Kane advanced on the main viewer. Behind him, Stonn stood up. "What are you talking about, Lieutenant?"

Nguyen made a gesture of helplessness. {{We have been having intermittent failures of our main computer for the past two days. It's affected all our major systems. Life support is fine, it's just - well, we're having trouble isolating and calling up files. Including your data.}}

"I take it that these system failures started suddenly with no prior warning?"

{{Yes, Captain.}}

"Would you like our assistance?"

{{Very much! But there is more. There is a squad of marines waiting here to join your crew.}}

Kane spun around again. "What?"

{{As I said, Captain. A squad of marines under a Major Thytos is to be transferred aboard the DISCOVERY. They arrived here last week.}}

"The hell they are," growled Kane. He turned to Stonn again. "Situation is safe, minimal danger. Agreed?"

"Agreed, Captain. You will be leaving the ship?"

Kane nodded, lifting his head. "Bridge to Engineering. Have you been monitoring?"

[[Engineering. Crichton here. Yes, Captain.]]

"Commander, assemble a work crew and meet me in transporter room one. We're going aboard the station."

[[Understood. Engineering out.]]

"You have the ship, Commander Stonn. I'm going to go and find out what the hell is going on over there."

"Yes, Captain." Stonn watched his irascible CO stalk into the turbolift. As the doors closed, the Vulcan caught Russ BaShen's eye. Seeing the young helmsman's worried look, the Vulcan raised an eyebrow.

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Location: Station UFP-855
Scene: Transporter pad


A flash of light. A feeling of coldness, right down to the soul.

Michael Turlogh Kane materialised in a shimmering pillar of cobalt blue light. Around him, the away team were stepping down off the transporter pad. Crichton was there, along with his bespectacled assistant and two other engineers he didn't know.

Daniel Nguyen stepped forward from behind the transporter pad. He was flanked by a young woman with blond hair and haughty ice-blue eyes. "Captain Kane," he said. "This is my XO, Lieutenant Haggerty."

"My chief engineer, Commander Crichton," introduced Kane. "He and his crew are here to fix your computer problem."

"Follow me, Commander," said Haggerty. "I'll take you to our core control room at the bottom of the spindle." As one, they all left the room.

"I'll take you to the command station," said Nguyen, starting forward, but Kane grabbed his forearm.

"Not so fast, Lieutenant. What's going on here? Why don't you have my data? And what the hell are a bunch of marines doing here?" Kane kept his voice low and hard. "When I left Spacedock my mission was all planned out. I don't like surprises, do you hear me?"

To his credit, Nguyen looked pained. "Captain Kane, I give you my word I have no idea what's going on here! When we first detected that damn signal I followed the book - I packed it up nicely and sent it off to Starfleet along with a nice long report. Next thing I know a bunch of marines show up to tell me you're on the way and saying that they've got transfer order to join your crew. At the same time the main computer has intermittent failures. No offence, but I just want to get all of you off my station and get back to normal."

Kane pulled him to the door. "Then let's go meet this Major Thytos."

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Scene: Core Control Room


Wordlessly, Haggerty led Jake and his team down a long spiral staircase. The engineers were strung out like snake up the long flight of stairs. It was well-lit, and had landings every ten or twelve feet that led into a new deck.

"No turbolift?" said Cindy.

"Not designed that way," said Haggerty from the front of the snake. "We spend all day in the command station monitoring subspace frequencies, or else in our quarters. Starfleet must have thought that a six-month rotation orbiting a deadworld only needed minimum comforts."

"Tell me about the computer problems," said Jake.

"I'm not an engineer, but I'll tell you what I know. We picked up that mysterious signal a few weeks ago. Daniel boxed it up and sent it back to Starfleet with a report. At the time, we provisionally identified it as a Federation power signature. Watch that stair, it's loose."

Jake stepped over it carefully. "What happened then?"

"Nothing. That is, nothing until last week, when a Runabout full of marines warped in-system. The woman in command told us that you were on the way, that she would be joining your crew here. She had a big pile of orders from Starfleet - transfer orders, requisition orders, weapon orders, data orders, storage orders - you name it, they had it. They've stayed out of our way while they've been here, but it's all very damn peculiar. Here we are." Haggerty led Jake and Cindy into a room fifty square feet in area. The walls were lined with readouts and diagnostic panels that flashed a rainbow of colours. Several were blank, inert like black stone.

Cindy laid her tool box on the floor and motioned to the other engineers to begin diagnostics. Jake cast a critical eye around the systems. "These computer failures started after the marines came aboard?"

Haggerty looked pained. "I told you, I'm not an engineer. None of us are. We're comms specialists. Do you want to accuse ten highly-trained, heavily-armed marines of being saboteurs?"

Jake smiled sidelong. "I guess not." He turned to Cindy. "Let's go to work. Start by identifying each front-end system and work its relays backward to the core. We'll map out the whole station's power network. Then we'll have a clearer picture of where, when and how the breaks in the system are." He watched as the engineers stepped to their task.

"Need any help?" asked Haggerty.

Jake shrugged. "No, just some time."

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Scene: Command station


When the doors opened to the ready room, Kane stopped. He wasn't expecting all ten marines to be in here, but there they were, lined up like tin soldiers, taking up half the floorspace. None of them were armed, but they were all wearing their duty fatigues.

All Human men and women, too. You never got a Vulcan marine. They were too cerebral. The Corps was made for half-wits who lived somewhere up their own back passage and only climbed down out of it to shoot at something.

Morons, he thought. Muscles Are Required, Intelligence Not Essential. Pushing marines around was always fun. "What are you looking at, pal?" he growled at the nearest.

"SIR THE WALL SIR!" the man bellowed, remaining straight upright like his life depended on it.

Kane facepalmed. Marines took everything literally. Ask them what they were doing, they were liable to say breathing, or talking, or responding to you, sir! He tried again. "Who's the boss around here?"

"SIR YOU ARE SIR!" the man screamed.

Kane cast a weary eye at Nguyen. "This might take a minute or two," he said. Pausing while he summoned up the words necessary to frame a sentence that these people could understand, he finally turned around. "Marine unit commander - step forward!"

That did it. A diminutive Human woman with copper hair and wearing the arm flashes of a marine major stepped forward from the other end of the line. She had dark blue eyes, but that was not the most interesting colour about her. All over her face and neck, small subcutaneous lights blinked on and off in a variety of greens, blues, and reds. They contrasted starkly with her dark green fatigues.

Kane was on her like a dog on a rat. "Name!" he snapped.

"Kassandra Thytos," she responded smoothly.

No yelling. That was good. Kane eyeballed her, but she maintained a level gaze ahead. After a moment, he became aware that she was not looking at him, but looking through him. He frowned, looking again at the series of lights blinking dully under her skin. "Can you see me?" he asked.

"Not in the way you mean, sir," she said. "I'm blind."

"Then how - "

"I have a subcutaneous sensor net wired into my brain. Believe me, Captain, I am fully aware of where you are and what you're doing. If you hold up a hand, I'll be able to tell. If you want, I can even tell you how fast your heart is beating." Kassandra turned her eyes on him.

Kane stepped back. She was still not looking at him, not directly. It was more like she was staring at his face, rather than looking into his eyes. The effect was disconcerting to say the least. He shot a glance at Nguyen, but the younger man just shrugged. "You have transfer orders for me?" he asked.

"I do." She produced a PADD from behind her back and handed it to him.

Kane activated it. Marine SOCOM - Special Operations Command - had transferred two five-member elements to the DISCOVERY. The cover letter ordered him to take them aboard and integrate them into his crew. The orders were all signed off by command officers Kane had never heard of.

He held up the PADD in front of him. "I don't care what this says. No marines on my ship."

"Respectfully, Captain, higher authorities disagree."

"I don't care. Marines are unnecessary. Anything you can do, our Security department can do."

"Perhaps, but they are not specifically trained for combat. We are."

"I don't care. No marines. Get back on your Runabout and go back to whatever boot camp planet you came from. Tell Admiral Whoever that I said he can use you as cannon fodder against the Dominion."

"I came here from Earth, sir. I've been there for the past ten years. I was a civilian up until two months ago. I was recalled to the Corps specifically for this mission and I'm going to do my best to accomplish it."

It was hard to tell what her mood was, especially since her eyes didn't flare or or frown. But she had said one thing interesting. "Recalled?" Kane said. "Explain."

"Exactly that, sir. I got a communique. I went to see some people, some admiral. They told me about you, about the DISCOVERY, about her mission. They gave me back my rank and assigned me here."

Kane's mind whirled. What the hell was going on? A ship, a crew, a ready-made mission? Doors opening and closing everywhere, leading him down a laid-out path. This was looking more and more like a setup every day. "This admiral who recruited you," he said. "What was his name?"

Kassandra answered evenly. "His name was Richard -"

"Edgerton," Kane finished. He balled his fists and laid them down on the ready room table, an enormous sense of helplessness settling over him. When he spoke again, it was in a cracked voice. "Take your Runabout and dock with the DISCOVERY. Report to Commander Stonn for billeting."

"Aye-aye, Captain." As one, the marines marched out of the room.

Nguyen watched them go. When the last of them had filed out, he turned back to Kane. "Nobody told you they were here?"

Kane shook his head, casting a glance out to the vast starfield of the Beta Quadrant. Secrets and lies.

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NRPG: Welcome aboard, Alix. Now you can post.

Shawn/Chris: It's going to be harder than you think to access the data that we need, capish? We won't be stopping here long, but a post from everyone while we're here would be good. Talk to me online if you want/need pointers.


Jerome McKee
the Soul of Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Commanding Officer
USS DISCOVERY


"He speaks an infinite deal of nothing!"
- Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice', Act 1, Scene 1.117


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