It was with purpose that Eviea strode through the space station, having been pointed in the right direction, and insisting on making her own way. She rounded a corner, finding a door on either side of it two desks, behind one sat a Betelgusain, behind the other a Kerack, an outward symbol of cooperation. She was readily admitted as a Starfleet representative, Eviea noted the hint of boredom in the movements and expressions of the Betalgusain, something she felt for and could readily appreciate, the Keracak was betraying quite a bit of nerves, perhaps the fact of being around a new species, or maybe it was her own presence as Starfleet, and the need to impress had been pushed on the person.

She entered into an anti-room, of reasonable size and very well appointed, the heavy and soft blue carpet was in evident once again, with a run of accented angled beams dissecting the wall panels, and all set so as to draw the eye to the far end, two more desks were found in the room both occupied by Betelgusain diplomatic staff, the desks faced each other, with both placed towards a corner to form a triangle of sorts. “I need to speak with the Ambasador, please.” Eviea said flatly, taking as much emotion out of her voice in an attempt to mask the building frustration. The ambassador’s office entrance was set to the side of the office in a way that anyone emerging or wanting access would have to pass behind the rear most aids position. Eviea noted the design and approved, as it filled needs of both tactical and discretionary nature.

“Ahh my daughter, the Starfleet Commander. Welcome to the federation diplomatic mission quarters.” Sethren procalmed a little to grandly, arms spread as he emerged from the office at the other end of the room. Although this was not unexpected, as long as she could remember his tendency was to overdo at times, she had an inkling it was some sort of ploy, an inkling that was stronger given the current circumstances.

“We need to speak privately.” Eviea started, catching herself being a little terse, remembering where she was and who she represented, who was observing, the woman added a little flair she dredged up from memories, she even managed a sickly sweet smile. “If it is convenient and pleasing to the Ambassador of course.”

“Please, please, I would welcome such an opportunity.” He responded with a smile of his own, Eviea found herself staring and examining, still trying to separate a performance from a truth. He flicked a glance at both aides. “Please take an extended, early afternoon stroll, if you could bring me back one of the delightful fruit cups they have so masterfully created together.” Fixing her with a look of inquiry asked. “Would you like anything, Daughter-Commander?”  

“Much kindness, but no thank you, Ambassador- Father.” She responded, playing the part now, much to her own annoyance. 

She watched, following the aide from the rear station to the door, they walked with a practice and to her eye unnatural grace, her attention came back to her father as he made a follow up comment. “You deny yourself the intrinsic benefits of such partnerships and stationings, tell me is it Starfleet that has taught you such, or is this the ever present stubbornness of your character?”

“Stubbornness of character, although Starfleet training certainly has a hand inthings,  but it’s certainly better than fancying which delicacy to sample or present, all the while galactic situations burn out of control.” Eviea fired back, turning away from the now closed door, but even this was a veiled response, guessing that the person on the other side of the door might just be watching. “But I am not here for a reunion or to debate the merits of Starfleet or diplomatic service. We are in need of truly private space, can you provide?”

She watched as he paced to one of the desks, using one of the inset picture frame-like work stations, accessed and manipulated a control. “I have done so.”

“We have made certain discoveries in the course of performing assigned duties, discoveries that do not track with the narrative we have been presented by the Dari or the Kerakac. My question to you ambassador is, have you been told directly, overheard, or become aware of anything that has given you cause for concern?”

There was a pause, Eviea tried to gauge her fathers reaction, there were hints of being unconcerned, but also notes of discomfort, a raised brow that indicated a bit of surprise, but nothing clear or definitive. “As you ask, and as you indicate all might not be well. Firstly the decision to use a native craft was extremely last minute, a comment of ‘in national interests’ was used but only once in my presence, which could indicate a slipped phrase. Secondly, I was in the vicinity of a quiet conversation between both Dari and Keracac officials of how discrete trade relations would be affected, how their partners would feel about a pause, because of lack of access. On their own the comments mean nothing.”

Eviea sighed, frustrated at the fact these little nuggets of information had been held onto, questioning whether it was a lack of trust or a need to control or was it just fear of looking foolish or of losing face she long held against her father. “Then why not tell? I tell you and I tell you, Starfleet thrives on information, no better yet I thrive on information, I need as much as possible to perform my duties. Yet you still insist on holding on to information.” 

“My understanding was you were here for retrieval and presentation.” Sethren countered, this response seemed genuine, but his proximity to Starfleet over the years made her question even this.

“If Command had only wanted retrieval and presentation, they would have sent a runabout with a ranking officer and appropriate security and engineering personnel, we are not that far out from a starbase. Sending a full starship implies further investigation. But I suspect you know this, you’ve been in the game longer than I’ve been alive, so what held you back?” Eviea retorted, hands were on hips now, her frustration coming though in her tone, she was glad that this exchange was private. 

“You should know, daughter, this is a very delicate setup. Caution is implicit, both in action and in word, throwing around theories may be practice on a starship, but not in the diplomatic service as you know all too well, daughter. Had I had the opportunity. Had I been asked directly. I may have spoken.” His tone took on an authoritative edge now, one that was used to drive home points, to back representatives into political or legislative corners, flashes of events from her youth, memories of her slipping away when she felt conversations had already crossed into the line too serious and were threatening to get heated.  

“The reception prior to the retrieval was for what then? It was an inconvenience on our part, the team had been selected, the shuttle had been prepared, and we were ready to go.” Eviea fired back, stringing to keep her own frustrations at bay, but still wanting to understand her fathers pointions, his reasoning for taking said positions. “You could have pulled me aside, found a quiet corner, asked me to accompany you on a tour for Ost sake, I was there, I was ready.”

“But I was not ready. It was not for fear of looking foolish in my position. It was to preserve the delicate balance of the situation. Now you must have something certain and profound. I would like to hear it.” He stated, his voice had calmed, the edge was gone, replaced by something else, this was honest, she was sure it was or at least she hoped it was, for the first time in a long time. Then there was the appeal.

“The Escape capsule contains a being, a species, that we have not been made aware of.” Eviea started, she shifted position to stand behind a chair, placing both hands on the top of the back, she continued her revaluation with no small sense of wonder in her voice, along with a hint of concern about the implications.  Better yet it is clutching the artifact that is to be presented in the ceremony. Now either they have no clue the Species exists and have decimated without knowing, or they do know, they have kept it quiet and are hoping we don’t find out about them, which raises a question of why?” 

“Whether they previously knew is irrelevant, they know now, they may even have exploited the situation and  have a real fear of the Federation finding out.” The elder Betelgeusian summed up a theory. “The real question is how far will they go when it comes to containment?”

Having been escorted through the passageways of the station by a Kerac attendant, Racshaw was shown into a space that although alien was still a little familiar to her, a laboratory or research area at the very least. She smiled both outwardly and inwardly, even if there were stark differences between this room and the station she had observed so far.

The walls were almost bare and unadorned, a pattern on the back of the door and over in and defining  the far corner space, which also appeared to have a seating that was a little comfortable.

The rest of the space was gray along the floor and lower walls graduating through to white as it approached the ceiling area, there were two long tables that cut through the center of the space, with bench seating on both sides, inset screens at regular intervals, and a central larger screen on a stand fixed to the table, but with a mechanism that enabled it to be rotated. If she had to guess, Racshaw would have said this was a theoretical or social sciences lab, one that needs cooperation and data sharing but little in the way of practical equipment.

Looking up from one of the stations and one of the screens, the official that had been part of the reception line gave Racshaw a broad smile, her comfort in the setting showed where her roots and interest lay, a scientist at heart for sure. “Racshaw why, why, this is certainly a pleasant surprise.” Looking past her to the attendant, she gave a flick with her head backing up what she directed next. “Many thanks for providing our guest with guidance, you may return to your duties.”

Racshaw glanced over her shoulder, wanting to be sure the attendant was out of the room and out of listening range. “Well, it appears I was not so needed aboard ship at this time, I was intrigued as to the nature of your work and the environment in which you do so.”

“Well here you have it,” An open body position with hands spread away from her body palms up, she was more than welcoming of the visit and opportunity to talk. “You are more than welcome, as a fellow scientist, I put up with the receptions and the conferences and the  meetings but this is my contented place.”

“That I can appreciate, I’m at home in the lab, I’m learning other duties, but a lab and the associated possibilities is a happy place for me.” Racshaw responded, her own expression now a beaming smile, for the moment the expectation of her task confined to a corner of her mind, she reveled in the neatness of the setup while strolling forwards towards and around a workbench. Pausing, she took a closer look at her opposite number, hoping the silence didn’t stretch into uncomfortableness as the prime reason for her visit lept from the corner to the fore of her mind. “Speaking of happy points, our conversation from the reception intrigued me. If I recall you were hoping to uncover a little more, may I ask if you have?”

“You may of course.” Came the response, it was a ready response, but also careful, and she was sure there was a flit of a gaze from herself, to the door, then back to herself. “You recall I showed you a discovery made recently from the archives. It took a lot of searching but I managed to find another piece of similar age, it is physically not present, being kept in a vault at the Keracak capital museum. But please come let me show you, on the stand viewer, if you could fix it’s position.” The words tumbled out now, the UT barely keeping up with the excited scientist, something the Andorian could well identify and understand.Racshaw sidled up to her fellow scientist now the invitation was given, reaching out, delicately at first, and then awkwardly pushing the screen in a way to make sure both had a good view of the display. “That should do it, please, you have me intrigued.”

The screen went black for a moment, then one image displayed, then the second, with the pair of them side by side. A three centimeter wide white bar separating both images, out of necessity and for the purpose of displaying comparison notes.

Both images were of a poster, evidently a propaganda poster from times gone by, both were damaged, torn, weathered by time,  both had script in the native language of the respective species. This is where the likeness began: on each poster the name of the opposing species was picked out large, here appeared to be a depiction of a soldier of said species with a lash or whip poised to strike. The object of the strike was in both cases the most hard to make out, heavily worn and perhaps purposefully so, but Racshaw picked out the large cap-like top to the head, and the heavy set yet short limbs, both matching the description supplied to her by her executive officer. Above both partial images was another name picked out in equally large script and identical on each.

Withath was first to speak next, noting the interest and perhaps the surprise that the viewing had elicited in Racshaw. “Your reaction speaks to recognition, please tell me, what is prompting this.”

“That image, faded and partially ruined as it is, bears a striking resemblance to a discovery a senior officer made me aware of.” Racshaw began, stretching a hand and pointed finger to the display before her. For a moment the joy of the discovery was replaced by the implications of a ruined alliance and the destruction and death that could mean, another moment later the trust that Vonny had placed in her that her Captain had placed in her spurred her to continue with her part and that she must reciprocate that same trust. She felt the need to caution her counterpart. “Now I must stress I have not seen the being with my own eyes, but the source of the information is one that is very trusted by me, these two images they are verified? Were they developed together?”

“Fully authenticated and verified as genuine, I thank you for asking, it helps me trust your methods.” Withath responded with not a hint of unhappiness or frustration towards the first question. She then made a gesture that indicated her uncertainty, before responding. “Common word and theory is each one was produced in isolation, but a small group that are studying anomalies of conflict years are unconvinced, you see yourself the similarities are too striking to ignore. Add to that you tell me of a being that conforms to the image, the fact your people have it implies that it was in or around the capsule?”

“This is the case. My own studies of the telemetry gathered by the decent craft indicate it is not the only one of its kind.” Racshaw began, much the same as her counterpart now fully engrossed in following the evidence, so much so neither of them noticed the door to the lab swing open, or the officer in a smart trim uniform, with braided cuffs, and precise duel horizontal striping on the shoulders. He coughed causing Racshaw to look round, it took a moment but where she was, the subject under discussion, and the military air of the newly arrived person, caused a moment of panic and uncertainty.

“Consul, Lieutenant, the commander of the station has charged me with ensuring you cease and desist your current activities and conversations. Consul, you are to be confined for sharing sensitive information without authorisation. Lieutenant, you are asked to leave the station, until the ceremony.” His manner was stark and direct, it was now abundantly clear a higher level official or officer wanted the line of enquiry to end.