A Freezer full of Romulans

Posted on Sun Aug 15th, 2021 @ 12:52pm by Captain Freya Mannerheim & Colonel Sehan t'Varis & Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant Hatham tr'Krotash

1,638 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Chapter IV: Unravelling the Mystery
Location: Captain's Ready Room, I.S.S. Amelia
Timeline: 238702.21

Finally, the Amelia had reached Drozana station. As soon as both it and the James Bedford had reached their docking positions, Captain Mannerheim had requested a meeting with Commander and Major Rogers, Lieutenant Hatham, and the Ourainavassa's commander, Raven. Not more than an hour later, everyone had assembled in the Captain's ready room.

Freya looked around the assembled officers, and smiled. Without wasting time on pleasantries, she went straight to business. "I assume that you have received a full report on what happened when our MACO team boarded the James Bedford?", she asked, looking at Raven.

The colonel nodded. "Yes, both Major Rogers and Lieutenant Lynn sent me detailed reports. I must say, I did not expect Vulture to stoop so low as to use transport blockers. But then, we already know that she has no qualms when it comes to killing or kidnapping people. Apart from that, though, the mission went off without any further complications?"

Freya nodded. "Yes. Our medical staff have confirmed that the Romulans held within the stasis pods are in good health." She turned to Hatham. "Lieutenant, as the only Romulan present here, I would like to ask you for your suggestions on how to proceed with the refugees."

"Thank you, Captain," Hatham replied with a precise incline of his head. "The answer depends in part on whether they are all from the same group or made up of different groups that had been taken, as well as whether they had destinations ready to receive them - such as those from the Reunifiers granted sanctuary on Vulcan - or were simply fleeing in hope of finding one. A single group with a pre-arranged destination will obviously be easier to assist." He paused a moment, hoping that was true. Lost slots for resettlement might have been taken by others. "Though that would still bear checking before arranging secure transport for them - secure being the other important issue. The last thing they should have to go through is being taken by Vulture twice." Left unsaid was that Romulans would never actually admit to trauma, but that didn't mean they didn't experience it.

"However," he continued. "We can't determine anything but an approach to security without reviving and questioning some of them. I'd suggest selecting men and women over 150 years old. They are most likely to be the community leaders and most will have had Galae service so their report on what they recall of Vulture's attack on their vessels may be of use."

Raven nodded. "That sounds like a good idea, Lieutenant. I recommend that yourself and Subcommander Kaiae handle that matter. As for arranging transport - what is the current condition of the ship they are currently being held in stasis on?"

Freya thought for a moment. "I had the same thought. The Bedford suffered minimal damage thanks to us being able to use her prefix code to disable the ship. Provided the refugees are willing and able to crew the ship, I see no reason why they should not use it. Our engineers have found that Vulture's people made no major changes to the vessel, other than to flush its transponder with their own programming, which we have already reverted. The cryo pods are of a Federation design, I believe the ship was originally a medical transport. Its service record indicates it served in such a function during the Dominion War."

"Dominion War design is promising in terms of having some level of decent weaponry," Hatham remarked. "And there should be enough Romulans with prior Galae service to crew her. But I'd feel better if we could give her some upgrades and possibly provide a ship meant for combat as an escort."

Captain Mannerheim nodded. "You make a good point, Lieutenant." She turned to Raven. "You are more familiar with this station than I am, Colonel. Do you believe such upgrades to the Bedford's shields and weapons could be procured here?"

Raven frowned, deep in thought. "While I believe that yes, the parts may well be available here," she finally said in response, "there are inadequate facilities to actually install them. Drozana only has one fully equipped engineering dock, and they charge exorbitant rates for its use. No, I think the Lieutenant's suggestion of an escort would be more suitable." She looked at Hatham and Ash. "Maybe we could get Doctor Gable's friends to help us out."

After a moment's consideration Hatham nodded. "Their ship is a cargo vessel, but seems well-armed for such." He looked at Ash. "They came help with smuggling people out, so I imagine they'd willing, but they are more your friends than mine."

Ash nodded, "T'Ango is always willing to help those in need." She paused, "And even those that don't realize they need help."

The Commander listened quietly before speaking up, "As touching as that is... let's figure out who these people are first... not to be the one to say it, but there is a possibility that we just need to jettison them all into the sun." She looked at Hatham, "No offense."

Hatham's jaw tightened just slightly. "I fully appreciate that some of them may be plants, but there are a number of children and no one is jettisoning them into the sun," he said with a finality that brooked no argument. "The adults will need vetting. As much as I would gut our telepath if she touched my mind without explicit permission, her abilities may be warranted here."

Ash tensed at the mention of Xia, something she knew the Terran her would have picked up on, but Hatham was right. "Agreed," she looked over at the Commander, "We can be prudent without being heartless."

The Commander smirked at the Major before turning to Hatham again, "No arguments from me."

Freya chuckled to herself at this exchange. It seemed their friends from this universe were beginning to rub off on the Commander. Not that she would ever say so out loud. "Well, it seems that would be the best way forward. It would be foolish to assume our enemy did not place any operatives among the refugees in stasis. I wonder, though, if there might not be another way to find them. After all, There are, what, 150 of them? Having the telepath check every single one of them would be quite time-consuming."

Raven immediately caught on to what the Captain was suggesting. "Zhat Vash operatives, more than likely, would be time travellers, no? Is there a way to detect people who are out of their usual time?"

The Captain grinned and reached for her tricorder, putting it on the table. "You tell me, Colonel. People from what you call the mirror universe are easily detected by checking their quantum signature. I am sure you can find something that would indicate that I've been displaced in time, though." She turned to the Commander and smirked. Time to see how smart their allies were.

The Colonel picked up the tricorder, and pondered for a moment, trying to remember what she had learned about temporal physics at the academy, so long ago. She had never of course finished the seminar, but the basics were still there. After a moment, it clicked. "Chroniton radiation."

Freya clapped slowly. "Very good, Colonel. Yes, time travel leaves chroniton residue, both around objects and around people. If you were to scan on this ship, the background radiation would make your findings highly inconclusive. After all, it won't even be built for nearly another century. However, the Bedford is not a timeship. There should not be any abnormal chroniton radiation on that vessel. Not, that is, unless there is a time traveller, or displaced technology, on board."

"That is presuming that any operative they put in place is a time traveler," Hatham noted. "Vulture seems to employ a lot of people. Hard to believe all of them come from elsewhere - elsewhen? - in the timeline."

Raven nodded. "While that is true, it would give us some indication. If we did find some displaced operatives, it would definitely get a bit easier. We'll have to talk to Xia about this."

The Commander spoke up, "Well, I probably shouldn't be on board when you do those scans. Lord knows I'm just oozing with chroniton radiation."

The Major also spoke up, "Mila and I also accidentally did some minor time traveling when we're testing out that shuttle... so, guess I'm in the same boat as the Commander." She looked over at Hatham, "Unless you've had some adventures you haven't told me about, I think you should lead this from our side. Do you agree, Raven?"

Raven nodded. "Yes, this sounds like it should be a job for Hatham. Gives the added bonus of having a Romulan on board when we decide to thaw out the refugees."

"I'm pleased to lead that," Hatham replied. Truthfully he was doubly pleased since he doubted chroniton scans would be quite that useful or conclusive with respect to finding enemy plants, but this way there was no need to argue it. "I'd appreciate it if someone could talk to Gable's friends about an escort, and their take on finding plants. If they've done much smuggling they must have dealt with the issue and both of them seem much more chary of telepathy than even normal Romulans."

Raven smiled. "Ash, I mean, Major Rogers, that's a call you are probably best placed to make."

Freya nodded. "Very good. Commander Rogers, you will continue to serve with the Ourainavassa. We will see if we can't get more intelligence on the installation at Hobus, as well as continue to attempt to contact Discovery. Any allies we can gather will be needed."

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