Sometime it's better not to know

Posted on 16 Mar 2020 @ 4:09am by Commander Amelia Fox

Mission: Mission 3 - Whom gods destroy ...
Location: The Xo's office
Timeline: MD7 1200
1666 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Amelia was in her office going over the information she had retrieved from her mirror counterpart. She didn't like it. Before she briefed the Captain on this she thought it wise to go over the information with the operations officer. To that end, she had called Ensign Hawkins to her office.

Hawkins stepped inside, pausing for a moment or two, as he quickly glanced Amelia over, looking for signs of a difference between her and the Mirror Amelia. Of whom he had only caught a glimpse of before being knocked unconscious.

Amelia stood up from her chair "Ahh, Ensign Hawkins come in. Sit down. I've just spent the last hour trying to get information out of... Our guest in the brig." Amelia didn't want to use her name.
"She provided some. disturbing information that if it's true could cause us some serious problems."

She indicated to the chair on the other side of her desk. "Sit, please. Would you like a cup of tea?"

Michael nodded, "Yes, peppermint tea please." taking a seat. "I had been thinking of going and talking with the imposter to see if I could glean something from her, but...I just didn't want to do so and wasn't certain if it would be allowed. To be quite frank, I have some hesitation in speaking with you. It's not your fault, its just that the opportunity to get to know you better hasn't seemed to present itself, and.. there is the slightest knee jerk reaction to the surface resemblance the two of you have. It un-nerved me that there was a chance I could have met her, besides her appearance on the bridge and wouldn't have known any difference. In fact I feel slightly guilty of not making certain to even know something about you."

Amelia went over to the replicator "One peppermint tea and one rooibos tea, please. She came back and handed one cup to Michael. "I know how you feel. To be honest, I've had some... difficulty dealing with the first time reactions of people who I know and trust looking at me like I'm going to suddenly leap at them and squeeze the life out of them. I had to completely refurbish my quarters after knowing what she had done. Syvar... had been a great help." she smiled for a moment while her mind wandered to him, then she quickly came back to the present. "If what she told me turns out to be true, this could cause trouble for a lot of people." She looked at Michael "Well I'm here now so what do you say we get to know each other better too?"

Michael nodded in agreement, "That sounds perfect." taking a sip of his tea before continuing. "I can understand you wanting to refurbish your room, I don't know what happened, I am not going to pry. Jane Doe has certainly caused quite a bit of havoc and a ripple affect through out the ship. Which is something that can either shatter the unity of the ship or, one thing that I am leaning more towards, strengthening or creating a bond. Guess you could call this a wake up call for us."

Amelia nodded. “My counterpart seems to prefer being addressed by the name Fox. Apparently she ‘Sold’ one of the planet killer machines to the Cetea for a small fortune in gold pressed Latium. The Cetea are trying to get this planet killer operational by remote control. These planet killers are of the same design as that encountered by the USS Constellation and the USS Enterprise on stardate 4202.9. They have a weapon of pure antiproton energy that it uses to blow a planet to pieces and ingest the debris, giving it a virtually inexhaustible fuel supply. They also have a hull of solid neutronium making them impervious to all known weapons. Normally they are fully automated.”

"I will call her Jane, as that last name belongs to you." Michael simply stated. "As for the planet killer, I recall reading that the planet killer had a weakness which is its mouth. However someone trying to make something of that magnitude to be controlled by remote, that is nightmarish. Am I thinking right that the said planet killer hasn't been activated yet? If it has been activated, they wouldn't be able to program it at least not to my knowledge. Though honestly I haven't encountered a dormant Planet killer before. "

Amelia took a sip of her tea. “I share your concerns. You can’t help but admire the sheer cheek and downright audacity at selling something that she didn’t own, especially something like a planet killer. Also if I remember correctly, the device was only defeated by blowing up a starship inside it.”

Michael nodded "If activated we'd have to make a poison pill the size of a star ship in order to kill it off. Unless we can somehow get to where these monstrosities are being held. How did she find this thing and what would make her so desperate to give said weapon to the Cetea, and just how did she get here in the first place?"

“She says she just stumbled upon it but I know that is a lie. She didn’t tell me the whole story.” Ameila mused. “These devices also generates a local subspace dampening field which affect standard weapons. It could possibly mean having to sacrifice a starship in order to render it neutral. The Cetea also seem quite entrenched on the planet. Getting them out of there will be difficult. Not to mention we have no legitimate claim to the planet either.”

"Wonder where we could get a sacrificial starship to stop one of those things. And a question that has popped up in my mind. What do the other species in this part of space think about the Cetea? Could those living here be asked to work with us to stop a common foe which will destroy things here? Who would want a singular species to be dominant. I know I wouldn't.

"As far as we can tell so far, The Cetea are still hellbent on revenge against the Bak'u and the Federation , They don't seem to be interacting with the locals much except to get supplies and weapons but that's something we need to investigate.

" How much do we know about the Cetea, what sort of diet do they have, could a knock out drug be put in their food source and make it easier to deal with them? Couldn't we use an area affect stun for the Cetea and knock them out? And for that matter, is there a centralized location that they are at? If we knew where they are, perhaps we can use Anesthezine gas to slow them down if they are in a cave." Michael took a breath. "My apologies for tossing out possible ideas all at once."

Amelia smiled. “No need to apologise. It helps to throw some ideas around. The Cetea are the same race as the Bak’u but, they never returned to the Bak’u settlement. As a result they are dying, so they have nothing to lose at this point which makes them very dangerous. Anesthtazine should work on them. Another question is if they do have one of these planet killers, where is it? Have they managed to get it working? We’re still not sure where their base of operations is.”

Michael thought for a moment over what she said, then asked, "When did Jane get a hold of your comm badge? Was it after you were captured? And has she told you anything of where the Cetea are at? The reason why I am asking about the comm badge, is perhaps we can trace where it had been, perhaps we can locate where the Cetea are holed up at. I do believe you were being monitored when you went to that meeting before all hell broke loose. From there we may be able to deduce where the Cetea had gone from there. At times I feel like the commbadges are like mini transponders that we all wear."

"I don't think she had the time before she returned to the ship. All she would say about the Cetea is they normally communicate by subspace. She did mention a rendezvous point where the weapons were exchanged but no location of the actual base of operations.

"Rendezvous areas can be a mile up to ten miles away from a main camp. Any idea what sort of transportation that they have, and as for the locals do they have any idea. Perhaps the locals can be watched or even questioned to determine when the Cetea come in for supplies and weapons. Also is there a pertinent subspace signal that was used when she contacted them? And how much information has Jane revealed?"

Amelia slid a PADD across the desk. "These are the coordinates she gave me. As you can see It's in the middle of nowhere but it doesn't mean there wasn't a ship there to receive those weapons which might have left a trace."

Michael nodded as he looked at the information. "Any slight trace could help to locate them. Depending on the trace we might be able to figure out just how large the ship is that they are using. The locals who trade with them, any idea what they get from the Cetea in exchange for said supplies and weapons? And how often does this trade happen? "

"She would only give the list of supplies she had provided. It gives us something to go on. I think we better bring this information to the Captain's attention."

Michael nodded, "I agree, the quicker we can get things put in place to stop the Cetea, the better."

OFF:

● Ensign Michael Hawkins
Chief Operations Officer
USS Andromeda

●● Lieutenant Amelia Fox
Executive Officer
USS Andromeda