USS Edinburgh – The Castle – 1500

=^=Crewmen Gilberto Febo and Gilad Can are stable, but they will need sickbay and transfer to Bravo for treatment.”  Reid shook her head, “They endured much, Commander.=^=

Harris leaned forward, “How long until you’re able to return?”  His science chief was nervously watching the sensors in case the Romulan ship they had glanced on her way out decided to return.

=^=Mr. Kondo is still doing his investigation on the Raven class ship.  I’ll have these two ready to return on the Robby in about half an hour.=^=  Reid tapped at the console and the screen returned to the planet before them.

Harris stood and soon stood behind his helm officer, Prentice.  “Hail Mr. Kondo.  Let’s see what he knows.” Will tapped at the console and moments later the face of Ensign Kondo De La Fontaine filled the screen.

=^=Commander, I’m using this ship’s communication console…my apologies if this shorts out.=^=  He tapped at the console, =^=This ship was attacked by a device similar to what Lieutenant Thasaz described…it did not occur here.  The wreckage was transported here and left for ruin with the injured.=^=  He continued, =^=I’m sending you ship’s logs, sensors reports – everything I can pull out of the damaged computer banks.  It looks like they did not take the time to erase the records or even affect an edit upon them.  I am not sure if this is due to hubris or ignorance.=^=  Another tap of the console on his side, =^=My prisoner is not saying anything but I have made it clear her mission in service to whoever sent her is over.  We shall see if she is willing to speak.=^=

The CO frowned as he glanced at the data stream coming through on Prentice’s console, “Was this a suicide mission for her?  I can’t imagine a scenario where she escapes after she kills one of ours.”

=^=My guess is that she believed she was going to be transported away from us somehow – the reality of her situation only began to sink in once I put her into custody.  She may have been…or still is a true believer in whatever orthodoxy was being practiced.=^=

Lieutenant Thasaz spoke up from the center tactical station, “Mr. Kondo is on the right track.  There is almost a religious side to some of the more… influential governors, commodores, or even sub-commanders.  I do not doubt this is the case here.  The level of brutality and force present is an indicator that someone is leading a group as if they are the savior…or king.”  Harris felt a chill in his bones at her words. What in the universe had they stumbled onto and into?

=^=I will have my inspection complete within moments.  I will return to the Robby and we shall make our way back to you, Commander.  Kondo out.=^=

The CO contemplated further, “How far were we able to track the Romulan ship?”

Thasaz reported, “We tracked it for fifteen minutes before it left our sensor range.  There are far too many planets in range of that data point to make a guess.”

“Keep an eye out.  I’ll be in my ready room.  Alert me when the Robby returns.  Thasaz, you have the CONN.”

USS Edinburgh – Ready Room– 1515

He stood at the windows that lay above the long couch, an iced cider in his hands.  There was so much happening and the day had been moving at such a fast clip…he felt his mind slow enough to begin unpacking the threats and actions that had occurred against his crew.  Reid could have died.  Three more of their crew were still out there somewhere in the hands of someone who seemed intent on drawing them further. He swirled the contents and took a light sip.  The sweet cider dug into his mouth.  He was starting to consider that whoever ‘they’ were – it was starting to feel connected to the distress call from the Pentax.  The data was in the hands of Starfleet, but they had their own copy in the science department and a team had been assigned the job of digging further.

He took another sip as he stared out into the stars that sparkled through the darkness.  He remembered as a kid going with his parents out of the massive Denver area to find an empty field in the country and just lay and watch the stars, ships, and stations that glittered above.  Harris had spent enough time in his own holodeck programs in middle school and high school to know the sky was once empty of these ubiquitous vessels…that it once only held the stars blinking back at those on Earth.  The desire to seek out The Final Frontier had powered humanity to the greatest height where they careened through The Undiscovered Country, seeking to understand and explore.

“What fools these mortals be…”, he muttered.  They had stretched out their arms into the skies and gone beyond the imagined and found the reality of a universe of friends, enemies, and monsters.  He stood on the shoulders of those that had come before and his shoulders would eventually be stood upon as time hurtled on and life continued to find a way.  He refilled his cup and found the book he was looking for.  He opened it and found the first lines,

To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to: ’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep; To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub: For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 

He read on into Hamlet until his badge chirped, =^=Commander, the Robby has arrived.  Mr. Kondo is transporting our guest to the holding cells with a security escort.  Doctor Reid has her patients in sickbay and will have a full report for you soon.”  He tapped the badge and drained the cider.  He glanced at the book and decided to take it with him.  He figured some Shakespeare never hurt anyone.