The hall was silent, not of reverence but almost oppressively so.  Their stillness was broken by the echo of footsteps as a figure strode down the corridor; reaching its end, a pair of doors swished open and the figure crossed into the room beyond.  The lights in the room were low, yet still carried a harshness that further emphasized that this was a chamber not of contemplation, but where things were discussed that had no place in civilized society.  The figure passed through a beam of light, revealing the pointed ears of either a Vulcan or a Romulan, and an ink-black uniform that decried the former in favor of the latter.  This uniform was not of the Romulan Republic, though, bearing instead the insignia of the Romulan Free State.

The figure joined a second, dressed in more civilian attire that still somehow appeared to be militaristic in its cut and trim.  The second figure barely glanced over at the newcomer before returning their gaze to the chart projected on a wall-mounted monitor nearby.  “What news?” they asked.

The newcomer saluted, fist to heart, before responding.  “The asset we hired has gone silent,” they replied.  “One of our spies reports that they may be preparing their own hunt.”

The second figure scoffed.  “Why am I not surprised,” they rejoined.  “They probably suspect they can find it first, then extort us for what’s rightfully ours.”  Fingers beginning to drum on their arm, they stood quietly for a moment before continuing.  “Take your ship, and make sure you find what we’re after.  And remind our former asset of the price of disloyalty.”

The newcomer saluted once more, then turned on their heel and left the room.  Within an hour, a Malem-class bird of prey had launched, cloaking as it made its way outbound on its errand.

Subcommander Sovikruk returned to the Kormoran’s control center, crossing to his console and taking a seat.  “Centurion Keval,” he said over one shoulder, “I’m transmitting data to your station; cross-reference it against both Federation and Republic archives, and report your findings to Commander Temoris.”

Keval skimmed the data for a moment.  “Yes, Subcommander,” they said.

As Sovikruk returned his attention to his station, Keval opened the data, quickly reviewing it before accessing the ship’s uplink to the Republic’s archival databases.  A cursory search did yield some information, but not much.  It did appear as though some transports fleeing Romulus had carried various artifacts from some of the planet’s famed galleries and museums, the ones of which it spoke were largely currently on exhibition in similar facilities across the Republic, and those that weren’t were listed as being from private collections and remaining so today.  They did find some of the same records that the subcommander had provided them – the selfsame documents that the Scholar had provided to Sub-Centurion Olynxa – but there was no new information to be found.

The centurion then input the ship’s access codes to the Federation’s databases, provided upon Kormoran’s secondment to Starfleet that she might better function as one with her Federation consorts.  It being their first time accessing the Federation database, Keval was surprised at the sheer breadth of data that they discovered.  In truth it made sense; while the Federation was far younger than the Romulan people, it had still existed for a few centuries at this point – and its member planets populated for millennia – and it seemed to them that almost every file and image from across the histories of each of those worlds had been uploaded.  The volume of data was truthfully rather overwhelming to the Romulan, trained as they were not for research but for more martial pursuits.

Fortunately, Keval had at least some direction in which to begin their inquiry, specifically the time period around the destruction of Romulus.  The records came quickly to their fingertips, and Keval began to read.  The contents were solemn, to say the least, and a lesser-trained person may have succumbed to despair at retreading the calamitous event, but as an officer of the Republic Navy Keval had been trained to set their emotions aside when the situation required it, training which served them well now.  They saw transcripts of debates in high halls of power, admirals and councilors arguing over how best to help the Romulans – and in a few cases whether to help at all, or leave their people to die.  They skimmed over video footage of the destruction of the Federation’s massive rescue fleet over Mars, and the subsequent discussions that led to Starfleet’s decision to walk away.

There were also refugee records, for some refugees had made their way into Federation space.  These were almost uniformly tales of hardship, hardly surprising in light of the ordeal through which the refugees had just made it.  As they had found with the Republic’s records, though, there was precious little about artifacts; what little was present suggested that any that had made their way to Federation space had been repatriated to the Republic as a gesture of goodwill while relationships warmed between the two governments in more recent times.

One record did emerge, though, that seemed to be of interest.  A Starfleet border outpost had detected a convoy, seemingly some four transports escorted by one warbird, on its way towards the Federation frontier, and yet there was no record of its arrival in Federation space.  Curious, Keval returned to the Republic’s archives, querying now for any data of a five-ship convoy arriving at another location.  Their search came up empty, at least as it pertained to the convoy as a whole, but three different worlds had reported unanticipated single transports arriving, from directions that suggested that they could have been members of the convoy.  For the fourth transport, and the escorting warbird, the records simply listed: Unknown other arrival.

Digging deeper into the convoy, Keval noticed two things.  First, the records did not go into detail what the convoy was carrying; passengers, naturally, but all that was recorded otherwise was assorted cargo.  Second, which surprised Keval, while the names of the four transports were included, there was no record of the name of the warbird.  Keval checked the chronometer on their station, surprised to find that almost two hours had gone by, then activated the intercom.  “Control to the commander.  Centurion Keval speaking,” they said.

Temoris’ voice came over the bridge speakers a moment later.  “Report, centurion,” she replied.

“Records analysis complete, commander.  I can confirm the information relayed to the Medical Officer appears to be genuine; the records suggest that there may have been more transports and convoys that carried potential artifacts than have been confirmed to arrive,” they said.  “The records are vague and incomplete, though.  I do have one potential target.  There is evidence of a five-ship convoy that left Romulus before its destruction, yet I can only confirm the arrivals of three of the five ships, and at different destinations; it appears that the convoy may have dispersed for some reason.”

“Very well,” Temoris answered.  “Contact Starbase 86, and inquire as to the availability of research assistance.” She paused for a moment before continuing.  “And inquire if Appalachia has returned and is available to join us.”

“Yes, commander,” they said.  “There is one other thing, too.”

“Continue.”

“The convoy in question appears to have been composed of four transports, escorted by one warbird, but I could find no mention of the warbird’s name.”

The line sat silent for a good moment as Temoris searched the Republic’s records herself for the name.  “This warbird was listed as unknown other arrival?”

“Yes, commander.”

“Do you concur with that assessment?”

Keval thought for a moment.  “It’s not impossible,” they replied eventually, “but there are other possibilities as well.”

“Then notify Naval Command of our suspicions, that a chance remains that she may still be missing, as well.”

“Yes, commander,” they replied again, then closed the channel.

Working quickly, Keval soon had the message to Starbase 86 prepared, and sent it on its way.  Kormoran did not have to wait long for an answer, either.  Opening the reply, Keval read it quickly, then sent it on to Temoris’s quarters for the commander to read as well.  Starfleet had confirmed the request for research and – potentially – archaeological support, and would be transferring a three-person team via runabout; they would be leaving Starbase 86 within the hour, and the base had sent a rendezvous point for Kormoran to meet the new additions to her complement.  Unfortunately, that was the extent of the good news; the base had promised to relay the request, should Commander K’lev’s ship return before Kormoran, but indicated that Appalachia was out on an assignment of her own and that it might be some time yet before she returned.

Keval then assembled the records they had identified about this unknown warbird, sending them to the nearest Republic base and copying Starbase 86.  The Republic base acknowledged receipt in due course; it seemed, though, that they did not find Keval’s conclusion sufficiently compelling to amend the record, at least for the moment, but they did say that if the warbird could be identified or if more conclusive proof of the its status could be found they might amend the record at that time.  Shortly thereafter, Starbase 86 confirmed the departure of the runabout carrying the Federation research team, and Temoris ordered that Kormoran alter course to the intercept point.  The bird of prey leapt to warp, racing off to pick up her passengers before attempting to pick up the trail of the intriguing convoy.