Captain's Log Stardate 240104.26. In light of the information given to me by Lieutenants Reno and Zolath, I have decided to confine the refugees in their quarters and to place the three main suspects in the brig until we can contact Starfleet. With the communications array down and the warp core out of commission… we are stranded with no way to call home.

Nitus ended the recording as she stood and walked over to the replicator ordering a cup of chamomile tea. Grabbing the cup she walked over to the sofa on the far side of the room. Just as she sat down the door chimes.

“Enter,” she says as her XO and chief counselor walk in, “Number One, what can I do for you?” she asks the half-Vulcan. She figured whatever it could be, it must be important for two of her most trusted advisors and closest friends to be here.

“Lieutenant Reno has something she would like to say to you that she didn't disclose to you before,” T'Soni said to her. Uncertain of what it could be, Nitus engaged in a silent engagement with Alessa but it was hard to gauge her because she was avoiding eye contact. So she resolved to simply nod at her.

“Commander,” she said, looking to the ground. It was as if she was ashamed to have not told Nitus beforehand when she had the opportunity. “When I was hearing the man's thoughts he said a name that threw me off,” she said looking around the room, “I did some digging and it turns out he is working for a Romulan.”

‘A Romulan!’ Nitus thought to herself she couldn't believe this. If it was the Republic or RFS who had done, this, that would be the end of diplomatic relations between the countries for the foreseeable future.

“There's more, Commander,” Alessa said a note of sadness evident in her tone. She walked over to the sofa and sat down next to Nitus. “He said the name Lord…,” she paused, unsure of if she should continue. Her heart pounding, Alessa knew she had to say it. The name weighed heavily on her. With a deep breath, she gathered her courage knowing that silence would only prolong the inevitable pain, “Eldus,” she said as she looked at Nitus trying to see her reaction.

She gasped after hearing a name she had not heard of in quite some time. If she was being completely honest she thought she wouldn't hear for the rest of her life. Her breathing became labored and her heart sank like a stone thrown into a bottomless sea. She wanted to deny it but deep down, she knew she couldn't escape the truth.

“Number One,” Nitus said looking at the floor, “Leave us.”

T'Soni nodded to her and left the room. As soon as the door shut Nitus stood from the sofa. She walked over to the desk and pulled out a drawer revealing a bottle of scotch. Grabbing the bottle she grabbed two glasses and walked black over to the sofa.

Setting the glasses on the coffee table she poured her and Alessa some. “Are you sure?” Nitus asked her, handing her the glass. For the life of her, she could not believe what she had heard.

“Yes, Ma'am. I am,” Alessa responded cautiously. She didn't want to disrupt an already fragile relationship between her commander and her brother.

Nitus sat in silence as she finished her glass of scotch before pouring some more. She tried to make sense of what she had been told. However, she struggled to grasp how the person who caused her so much grief and misery for not being fully Romulan and had fought for the well-being of the Empire risked his life for it on some occasions. He practically lived and breathed its ideas could just leave and become a pirate.

“I want you to take me through it,' she said, first looking at the floor before slowly looking up at Alessa, ”Tell me what you felt from the start of the interrogation until the end."

Alessa gulped, “That could take hours, Commander.”

“It's a good thing I got this bottle then.”

Zahir walked into the main workspace of the engineering room. At the primary console station stood Lieutenant Kevil Ch'kavor, the deputy chief engineer.

Kevil noticed that someone was approaching him and looked up. “Ma'am,” he said, looking up at her while straightening his stance.

“Kevil, have you been able to restore anything?” she asked him. Zahir wanted to give the commander good news. The discovery that one of the ‘refugees’ is somehow involved with the presumed attack on the Deblin colony had been brought aboard and had crippled the ship has put everyone on edge.

“No, Ma'am," he responded, “The EMP is making it difficult to access warp and impulse systems,” he said as the lights flickered, “As you can tell.” Zahir exhaled sharply. She was exhausted having spent hours going through every system trying to find some way to restore something anything at the very least communications or impulse even but to no success.

The situation was becoming increasingly frustrating for her. “Ma'am, if I may?” Kevil said, brining her out of her thoughts.

“What is it Lieutenant?” she responded.

“Why not just go into the maintenance shaft to where the EMP was placed and start there with the repairs?” he asked her. Kevil had spent just as much time as Zahir trying to figure out how to restore the main power.

“Because we don't know what state the shift is in. There could be an electric field and once a lifeform goes inside it could fry them alive,” she responded.

“What about if we put on an EXO suit?” Kevil questioned.

Zahir thought about the proposal to herself. The EXO suits were designed to diffuse any electric charge that the suit may encounter to leave as little hirt to its wearer.

“That could work,” she said to him a smile creeping across her face. “Great idea Kevil. Assemble a small team and get to work,” Zahir was thrilled that they were finally going to give the commander some good news.