Deconstructing the Deconstruction

Posted on Sat Oct 24th, 2020 @ 5:23pm by Captain Abigail Laurens & Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Commander Ichiko Gail

Mission: Into The Delta Triangle
Location: Captain's Ready Room

Abigail was in her ready room, pacing in front of the windows as she waited. It had been almost an hour since the away team had returned to the ship. Their return had brought a sense of relief, but there was still a lingering anxiety that she couldn't easily quash. She had asked to see Lieutenant Commander Rogers as soon as he was available, though he had been ordered to receive medical attention first, even if it was just a checkup.

Turning on her heel, Abigail started pacing back the way she had just come, catching herself and sighing. It had only been a couple of hours earlier that Ichiko had cautioned her about wearing through the deck with her constant movement. Tugging at her jacket, she turned and started toward her desk, the sound of the chime stopping her in her tracks just steps from her chair. "Enter," she called, looking toward the doors expectantly, a smile of relief passing her face as the familiar figure of her helm officer appeared in front of her. "Commander Rogers, you are indeed a welcome sight," she said, motioning for him to take the seat. "Can I get you anything?"

Buck saluted as he stepped across the threshold into the ready room.
"Bet you say that to all the senior officers, Ma'am." He placed the PADD he carried on the desk in front of him and sat as instructed. "Could use a glass of water, ma'am. Don't think I've had a prober drink since I went planet side."

With a nod, Abigail moved to the replicator and keyed in the order, waiting for the tall glass of cool water appeared before offering it to him. "I trust you're okay, that everyone is okay?"

Buck gulped down half the glass before he answered. "Hernadez came off worst but no-one suffered any injuries that our sickbay couldn't cure."

Abigail nodded slowly, thoughtfully as she sank into her own seat. It was after a long moment of silence that she spoke again. "What can you tell me about what happened?"

Just before the explanation began, there was a chime at the door. Upon being allowed entry, Ichiko walked in. "Apologies on my late arrival. I was assisting with the debrief of our two pilots." she mentioned, before making her way fully into the Ready Room, giving Rogers a nod.

Buck returned the nod and waited for the first officer to take up a seat before he began speaking. "Based on the testimony of Juruss of the House of Antaak and Lt Valenna's observations we've determined that the initial collapse was triggered by a trilithium explosion. It seems a group of miners with ties to the Orion Syndicate were trying to cut out the middle man for a trilithium synthesizing racket running out of Kessik III."

Abigail raised an eyebrow slightly and looked toward Ichiko. "That sounds startlingly familiar to what was reported with your experiences as well," she said quietly. "Trilithium explosion that caused catastrophic destruction and just happened to coincide with our presence?"

Ichiko gave a nod back towards Abigail, "It's nice when there's a match." she commented, before returning her attention to Rogers, "Did you find any of the equipment for said synthesis? It'd be nice to hand this to the Scekvin, the head of the Kessik Judicial System, with a proverbial bow tie."

Buck turned to look at Ichiko. "The equipment was ground zero for the explosion: none of it survived. The lab structure Commander Morgan and I explored had some equipment that would likely have been used to scale up production if their test had succeeded but that was buried in a secondary collapse. I turned over the location the planetside authorities. If Scekvin wants it he'll have to dig it out."

"Duly noted." Ichiko said with a smirk. "I'll be certain to give him a call at some point before our departure to make sure he has the exact coordinates for his evidence." she offered calmly. While there wasn't a hint of malice in her tone, there was almost an audible smugness to her. This was one contest she was glad to have behind her. "If you haven't already done so, I'd suggest heading to Medical to make sure you aren't suffering from any exposure to Trilithium's nastier emissions."

She paused to reflect for a moment. Abigail would recognize these little moments as Ichiko's memory on a runaway train ride. It passed quickly, though. "We... the Ts'usugi, we don't use Dilithium, ergo, we don't often come into contact with trilithium. I've read up on the substances, though. Required reading when dealing with the Federation." a pause, "Just better safe then sorry. I'd rather leave it at a suggestion rather than a recommendation." she was avoiding the term 'Order', possibly out of respect for Rogers' intelligence and his capacity to know his own limits.

"Way ahead of you on that, Ma'am." Buck replied offering a slight grin. "Doc checked it out while taking care of injuries received in subduing the only survivor from the Syndicate lab. Already handed him over to Kessik's 5-0."

"Dangerously efficient of you Mister Rogers." Ichiko complimented.

Abigail remained thoughtfully silent for a long moment. "I think, we've reached the limit of our involvement in this situation. The response team is enroute from 332. They have the capacity to stay here longer and help restore order and investigate what's happened in conjunction with Kessik security. Captain Vonn has advised that their medical facility is also standing by to receive any of the more seriously injured, rather than leaving them here on Kessik."

She paused, steepling her fingers in front of her, touching her fingertips to her lower lip for a moment. "I'm not happy with what's happened, it still has me feeling off side. I don't know, the entire situation just doesn't sit well at all, but I also think we should dot our i's, cross our t's and leave the rest to the experts."

"Did Away Team Two manage to find any hint of Tejar?" Buck asked

Abigail shook her head quickly. "No sign of Tejar, and during the brief conversation I had with Scekvin earlier I doubt he has been here. Cardassians tend to stand out. It seems the information sourced by intelligence may not have been as intelligent as we had hoped. Everything both away teams endured seems to have been for nothing." With the final statement, the hint of bitterness was evident in Abigail's voice.

"You'll want a read of this then." Buck leaned forward and slid the PaDD towards the captain. "Testimony from one of the shift leaders; Bullgruff Harding. Tejar, or someone matching his description was sited in the mines a few months back. In the wind now, but it's a start."

Grabbing the PaDD, Abigail thumbed into it before looking across at Rogers and nodding slightly. "I'll pass the information on to intelligence. They might be able to track what vessels were in the area at the time. You're right, it's a start, a good start."

Ichiko seemed to agree, opting out of reading the report at the moment. Enough memories were being born in this moment. "I must say, I'm quite impressed with your capacity." she complimented. "Though, I must agree with the Captain, something about this entire situation seems a bit... uneasy. We were herded here, nearly caught in an explosion and a cave in and nearly blamed for the same." she counted off.

"Someone wanted us here, I feel." she then shook her head, "But I might be reading too much into it."

Buck shrugged. "Sounds like conspiracy theory nonsense to me, Ma'am. Awful lot of resources to accomplish very little. What's the point?"

Abigail smiled, a smile that just didn't quite reach her eyes. "Well, we may never no either way. Thank you Commander Rogers, I appreciate your time and your efforts planetside. Why don't you take a few days off? I'm sure Ensign Kirkland can manage the help while we're enroute to 332. Now, if you'll both excuse me, I need to contact Captain Vonn with an update of our situation."

She watched quietly as the two stood and made their way from her ready room, waiting until the doors were closed before she activated her console. "Computer, open a channel to Starfleet Command, Admiral Kadalene, intelligence office."