Unofficial Literary Challenge 23 - "Battle Scars", prompt 1
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Kathryn walked to the display screen within the wall and tapped at the corner. Images appeared revealing a star chart, some text within a report and a few images of persons from various races in profile. Turning toward the conference table, she cleared her throat briefly.
“On Stardate 91347.5, USS Solaris intercepted a cargo ship in the Mempa Sector, fourteen AU outside the Vor System. The vessel was adrift and all systems non-functional. Passive scans did not reveal other vessels nearby, no life signs on board and all escape pods were used. Registry searches returned null results. Starfleet was promptly notified and a boarding party was beamed onto the ship, with me leading the team.”
Although looking to each of the three people at the table throughout her introduction, Kathryn stopped her roving glances onto one, a female Vulcan. Counselor A’Mand raised an eyebrow in silent response declaring their previous sessions are not relevant in this setting. A second passed before Kathryn continued.
“Once aboard we quickly determined the vessel’s cargo were animate in nature.” Kathryn instantly regretted the choice or words and was interrupted before she could correct herself.
“Animate? Do you mean livestock?” The male Rigelian leaned forward as he spoke, clearly his attention was captured.
“Pardon me, Admiral Doss, the cargo were sentient beings.” She turned and tapped the screen to highlight a cargo manifest. “15 different species from the Beta Quadrant: the vessel was transporting people. It was a slave trading ship.”
“Captain Beringer, please forgive my interruption," the human male reclined his chair and looked to the Counselor. "How did Solaris find this vessel if it was just a floating hulk in deep space.” His trimmed beard and mustache conveyed a relaxed appearance. Hazel eyes and muscular build through the Admiral’s cloak made him almost dashing even though he was at least twenty years older than Kathryn.
She smiled. “Of course, Admiral Snord. Solaris was on a diplomatic ferry mission to Qo’Nos for Commandant Decker of the Dawn Patrol Task Force. Once in the Pi Canis Block, per standard procedures, our maximum travel speed is Warp 2, with forward-path tight beam sensor scan at timed intervals. The Bramtlok was simply in our path.”
Admiral Snord smiled and was still for a few seconds, enough time for both Doss and A’Mand to look at him questioningly. “Would you say this was a fated moment?”
Kathryn looked down as if embarrassed with her response. “Yes, sir.”
“How did you know the ship was carrying slaves,” asked Admiral Doss.
Sadness overcame Kathryn‘s demeanor. “They were still in the freight hold.” She recalled pulling the manual lever to unlock the cargo doors. It took four of the team to pry open the massive doors. When dead fingers poked through the small opening from their efforts, the team jumped in their space suits. Shining lights into the room revealed the grisly scene.
Bringing herself back to the present, Kathryn continued. “Investigating the computer core yielded flight plan and path as well as the ship’s registry, but not for the abandoned condition of the vessel. Technical teams did not discern a mechanical or electrical reason for the abandoned condition of the vessel or for why the inhabitants to be spaced within the ship. All personnel logs were wiped. The OSS Bramtlok was Orion manufactured and owned by Gratol Kiaf, also known as ‘Gratol the Grave” within the Syndicate. SFI reports sum him up as sadistic, among other color descriptions.”
She turned back to the viewscreen and selected a star chart showing various symbols with corresponding colors. A line connected two points: one in a blank area of space, the other at a named star system. “There was a discrepancy between the number of persons listed in the manifest and those on the ship. Once Doctor Kalmar matched records to deceased, Solaris made for the Vor system to investigate the ship’s last point of origin. In transit, we detected faint subspace echoes emanating from the asteroid belt between the fifth and sixth planets. Passive sensor readings strongly suggested an intra-core artificial structure was located within the belt.”
The Rigelian raised an orange-highlighted hand. “Did Commandant Decker approve of the deviation from mission parameters?”
“Yes, only because we were near two hours ahead of schedule.”
Admiral Doss nodded his head approvingly.
Kathryn continued, “Solaris orbited Vor VII and started geological scans of the planet as a means to divert attention away from the covert operation conducted via shuttle. The goal was to learn more about the facility directly before taking further action, time permitting.”
A tactical display showed the Vor system, with images pointing to locations around the seventh planet and the asteroid belt. A simple dotted line connected pictures. “A Type-9 shuttle was used for the sortie, piloted by myself.” Both Admirals quickly looked to Counselor A’Mand, who remained composed, as if expecting the comment.
Admiral Snord leaned forward and laced his fingers together on the table. A sly smirk was glued to his face. “Captain, why did you take a shuttle by yourself to the facility?”
Kathryn placed both hands behind her back and gathered her thoughts. “To minimize risk to ship personnel, and considering the limited timeframe, the less staff directly involved the easier to accommodate resources to research the anomalous event.”
The three officers at the table sat quiet and unmoving. Kathryn perceived her answer was sufficient enough to continue the report.
“At four hundred thousand kilometers, passive scans revealed a massive structure built within an S-Type asteroid. Interestingly, only twenty humanoid inhabitants could be detected. Closer inspection revealed the facility to be a mining station. The majority composition of the asteroid was Bicarbonate Silica, a very benign substance, yet used in the manufacture of medical equipment within the Klingon Empire.”
Clearing her throat, Kathryn tapped on the viewscreen to enlarge a schematic of the mining facility shown in three dimensions revealed a basic sphere shaped structure with about ten percent being above the surface of the irregular shaped asteroid. “I teleported onto Level Two; this was the main docking level to the station and the least inhabited.”
Seeing Admiral Doss’ eyes widen, Kathryn quickly attempted to preempt his question. “My goal was get eyes-on surveillance of the facility to verify its legality, keeping in mind a derelict slave ship’s last port of call was this station.” Doss became mollified by the explanation.
Tapping the screen again, the second level schematic was cut out and presented as a tactical display with words appearing in various rooms. Pointing to the ‘control room’, Kathryn explained, “I was able to subdue a lone operator without raising alarms and accessed the computer core.” She tapped another area of the screen and a large manifest record appeared over the level map. “I was able to determine the station was indeed a mining facility operated by a cartel within the Orion Syndicate and that the Bramtlok had picked up the last of the slave workers for transport to another facility. The destination is still unknown, unfortunately.”
Counselor A’Mand’s eyebrow rose at the editorial. “Captain, pardon me for interrupting, what do you mean ‘unfortunately’?”
Kathryn turned to face the Vulcan. “The Bramtlok’s destination could have revealed further slave activity by the Syndicate and dealt with by proper authorities.”
Admiral Snord, still smirking added, “Your authority?”
“That was not my intent. The time window was shrinking in order to get Commandant Decker to his appointment on Qo’Nos. My report would have been sent to Starfleet Command to be routed.”
Kathryn waited for more questioning. After a couple of seconds of silence, she continued. “Recalling a discrepancy between the Bramtlok’s manifest and those found in cargo bay, I hedged on the cartel having mediocre attention to detail.” She tapped onto the screen and the second level schematic slid back into the sphere of the station and the sixth level pulled away. Enlarged, the words on rooms read ‘holding cell’. Tapping onto the area within a particular cell, a photo image appeared. The three officers at the table gasped.
“What is … is that a humanoid?” Admiral Doss was pointing at the image of a butchered mass of meat on the screen.
Without emotion Kathryn replied, “My readings suggested a Human female.” She turned and closed the image, and then tapped on another cell. A second image opened to show another mutilated corpse, its internal organs strewn about the small room. Kathryn paused for effect and then closed the image. She was about to tap another cell when someone’s hoarse coughing stopped her.
“Thank you, Captain. How many bodies did you find?” Admiral Snord wore a frown when Kathryn looked over her shoulder.
“The difference between the Bramtlok manifest and its cargo hold … except one.”
Kathryn opened a file showing a Bolian youth. “This is Bried. I found him using a tricorder scan for lifeforms and filtering out chronological age parameters. He had been hiding in a mine shaft on level eight. At that point, my time had almost expired. To get back to a safe transporter location to the shuttle, Bried and I had to use more obvious pathways that risked discovery. There was a firefight on level three. The incapacitated Orion in the control room must have been discovered. I was able to escape with Bried, but not before injuring three captors.”
“I evaded minimal aggression by egress above the orbital elliptic of the asteroid belt. Once aboard Solaris, I ordered the facility be destroyed.”
Counselor A’Mand looked to the Admirals. Admiral Snord’s smirk returned as he sat back into his chair and placing hands behind his head, looking relaxed. Admiral Doss seemed tense by comparison. “On what grounds?” A’Mand looked back to Kathryn stoically.
“The station was highly probable to have been a slave labor mining camp organized and run by the Orion Syndicate or its affiliates. Mining registrations for the Vor system only listed holding on planetary bodies, not the asteroid belt. With the unexplained deaths of the beings in Bramtlok’s cargo, the crew’s inexplicable departure from a technically functional spacecraft, and the condition of the bodies found on the facility, I concluded it a matter of injustice to leave the area with only a report being sent to Starfleet. Ultimately, the facility was not legally sanctioned and my orders prevented its continued use.”
The three officers looked to one another until the Admirals looked at A’Mand and nodded. The Vulcan Counselor turned to Kathryn and asked, “is this a matter of ‘might makes right’, Captain?”
Kathryn quickly responded, “to the contrary. Respectfully Counselor, right guides might.”
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Cast for crew:
Kathryn Beringer - Rachel Nichols
Counselor A'Mand - Lynn Collins
Admiral Cranston Snord - Ethan Hawke
Admiral Kree Doss - Daniel Radcliffe
Seen not heard:
Bried - male off-the-street extra 1
Gratol the Grave - Michael Nyqvist
