A Curious Encounter

Posted on Thu Sep 3rd, 2020 @ 3:32pm by Colonel Sehan t'Varis

1,019 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Shore Leave: Welcome to Drozana
Location: Drozana Station - Bazaar
Timeline: 238701.01

Following the strange meeting with Captain Stephenson, Raven had returned to the bazaar. Ostensibly, she had gone in search of some personal equipment, but in reality, she just wanted to go for a walk to try and clear her head. More and more strange things were happening all around her and her crew. First, the Tal Shiar agent, now an old Starfleet captain that claimed he had become an independent trader?

She rounded a corner to a stall selling hot drinks and refreshments, and purchased a raktajino to go, when an old man sat at one of the collapsible tables scattered around the stall waved at her. Raven frowned, and looked around to see if he meant someone else, but he beckoned again. With a sigh, she walked over, recognising the man as Romulan. More Tal Shiar? With her free hand, she reached for her weapons.

"Don't worry, child, I am not here to harm you," the old man finally said, his voice croaking. "Please, sit. I spent a long time looking for you, Sehan." Raven gripped her dagger. "How do you know that name." The old man smiled. "Colonel Sehan t'Varis of the Tal Shiar. Have you ever wondered how you suddenly got hold of a genuine commission?"

Raven's eyes narrowed, but she released the grip on her dagger, and sat down. "You have my interest. Better make it worth my time." The old man smiled. "You will not regret it, child. My name is Havus. I was sent to find you and give you this." He pulled out a formal-looking document. "The last will and testament of the late General Verun tr'Varis of the Tal Shiar. Your father. I was a servant to him for many, many years. Read the letter. It will explain many things."

Without another word, the old man stood and walked off, not even giving the ever more confused Raven a chance to respond. Seeing as she had nothing else to do, she unrolled the document, and began to read.

My daughter, Sehan,

I am sorry that we never met. Your mother was a mere fleeting acquaintance, and she disappeared soon after that fateful night we spent together. I only recently learned of your existence. I hear that you have become a freelancer, with your own vessel, and have begun to make a name for yourself. That makes me proud. When I heard you had elected to help Areinnye with her scheme, I decided that, in order to help you achieve your goals, I would grant you a formal commission into the Tal Shiar. As one of its most senior Generals, that was easily within my authority. I hope you have found it useful.

Although I had hoped that I would get to meet you, one day, my health, sadly, will make it impossible. As you are reading these lines, I am dead. As you were never legitimised as my daughter and a citizen of the Empire, my estate will pass on to your cousins, the children of my brother. I never married, and you are my only child. But that does not mean that there is nothing that I can pass on to you.

My seal, on the bottom of this letter, contains a datachip. I hope it holds information that will be valuable to you, my daughter. It saddens me that this is the only thing that I can give you, but you have had a successful life without ever knowing of my existence. I am sure you will not mourn for an old man that never made the effort to find you.

Best of fortune on your future endeavours.

Yours, eternally, your father,

Verun tr'Varis

Raven stared at the letter in front of her. She had always had an inkling that her father had been someone important, judging solely by the name she had inherited. However, she would never have thought that her Tal Shiar commission was genuine - and that it had come from him. But what about this datachip? Indeed, a wax seal was attached to the bottom of the letter. Carefully, she took off her glove, and peeled the seal off, revealing that indeed, a datachip was stuck to the bottom. Time to go find out what it was.


Back in her ready room on the Claw, Raven inserted the chip into her terminal. It took a moment for it to load, but finally, she was greeted with a recorded voice message.

"My daughter. Three years ago, my work as a director in the Tal Shiar came to its zenith, when I launched my masterpiece. A ship, modified with experimental technology. With enhanced stealth capabilities, the ability to disable any target's systems, and all the comfort on board that one would expect on a Starfleet vessel. I named her the Ourainavassa. On its shakedown run, however, the ship disappeared, taken by pirates. They will never be able to unlock her full potential. This chip contains an override code that only I possessed. It allows you to transmit a signal to the ship that will disable all its systems. It also contains the full authorisation code to enable its stealth and weapons systems, to which the pirates will not have access. I have also included the full blueprints for the ship. And lastly, I have included her tracker code. I never shared this with anyone. If it had been discovered that I had made all these changes to the ship, I would have been executed as a traitor. But a weapon such as this cannot be left in the wrong hands. I know she still exists. Find the Ourainavassa, and claim your inheritance."

The screen went blank, before displaying strings of code, and, indeed, the blueprints for a heavily modified Mogai-class vessel. She found the tracker code, opened the navigation screen, and entered it. After processing for a moment, the console displayed coordinates, maybe a day's travel away at full speed.

Raven stared at the screen, and suddenly began laughing uncontrollably. Finally, things were beginning to turn around.

 

RSS Feed