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» LCARS » Newspaper: The Federation Tribune » Newspaper Archives » 2005 » June 2005 » The Alpha Centauri Mystery - Part 23 - Questions, by Ben Versteegt.
 | The Alpha Centauri Mystery - Part 23 - Questions, by Ben Versteegt. |  |
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Summary: Things rarely ever go as planned. This was certainly the case for Captain Ayer and his crew: after a Starfleet facility on the planet Alpha Centauri III was destroyed, Ayer has lost his ship, his crew and his freedom, all because of mysterious crystals found near the Alpha Centauri system. A Starfleet Captain by the name of Donovan has captured the crystals and Ayer, and is torturing him for information, or just simply for revenge. Meanwhile, Zjavick, Sandra and Zaag, having just escaped death, have been beamed up from the lifeless wreck of the Aquinas. On the USS Sophocles, they will now do whatever they can to locate Captain Ayer and the crystals. However, it is a big galaxy, and Ayer could be anywhere by now.
And now the continuation:
Captain Ayer slumped to the ground. He wanted to fight, to resist the beating he kept receiving, but he couldn't. The right side of his face was covered in bruises, and a trickle of red blood flowed from his right eyebrow. He tasted blood in his mouth; his nose was bleeding, too, and he couldn't move his left arm -- it was broken when he had desperately tried to block one of Donovan's swings. He was certain he had a few broken ribs, too, but he didn't know exactly which ribs had been broken. The pain throughout his body was too intense to pinpoint a specific location of pain.
Donovan swung the steel pipe victoriously above his head, readying himself for another violent attack against Ayer. The smile that had been on his face minutes ago had now disappeared. He seemed somewhere else with his mind -- not here, anyway. It was as if, after seeing and inflicting so much pain onto his enemy, he switched over to auto-pilot. The man had, in his career, been responsible for many acts of violence. It helped if he could simply switch off his conscious mind so that he wouldn't have to see what he did. It wasn't really a matter of a troubled conscience -- he was convinced that the atrocities he had to perform were for a just cause -- but there was only so much violence one man could take.
"Stop!" Ayer's voice was so soft Donovan could just barely hear him. "I'll tell you everything," Ayer said, desperate to escape the beating Donovan was subjecting him to. Beaten by Donovan, both literally and metaphorically, Ayer had no choice but to co-operate with the Captain of the Iapetus. If he wanted to live, he was going to have to talk.
The problem was that there was nothing for Ayer to talk about. Donovan wanted to know everything about the samples, but all Ayer knew about them were rumours, and he was sure Donovan knew about them too. Yet, if he didn't tell Donovan what he wanted to know, The Captain of the Iapetus would start hitting him again, convinced that Ayer did harbour the needed information. He realised he would have to make something up.
Slowly, Donovan put down the pole he was holding. His mind seemed to have switched back into conscious-mode. "Finally. Go ahead, I'm listening."
Now it was time to come up with a convincing lie -- if Donovan found out that Ayer was simply making things up, he would hit him again. If anything, thought Ayer, he had postponed any further pain for a few seconds, for which he was grateful. Luckily, he stumbled upon an idea that he had thought of not long ago -- it seemed to him a reasonably plausible explanation of where the samples had originated. It was all speculation, of course, but hopefully Donovan wouldn't recognise it as such. "It was a planet," he told Donovan slowly.
Ayer seemed to have Donovan's undivided attention. So far so good. "Go on."
"According to the scientists who told me this information, the crystals are small fragments of the core of a rogue planet. Apparently," Ayer continued, periodically pausing to deal with the surges of pain that kept making themselves known to him, "the core consisted of an unknown material that, when subjected to intense pressure and heat, forms these crystals you're after."
"What happened to the planet?" Donovan asked, his voice low.
"I would think..." Ayer began but paused to involuntary cough up some blood, "...that it'd be obvious." Moaning, he struggled to sit up against the bulkhead. "The planet exploded."
"And so the core fragments crystallised under the force of the explosion," Donovan understood. "But why? What caused the planet to explode?"
Ayer shrugged, but instantly regretted it, for a surge of pain made itself known to him. "I honestly don't know. Perhaps the Romulans discovered the planet before we did, and realised its potential. I think they are the ones responsible for blowing it up."
Donovan rubbed his chin in thought. "That's possible... But highly unlikely. We would have known about it."
Ayer couldn't resist. "Perhaps you and your organisation aren't as all-knowing as you originally thought. After all, you did miss an entire planet."
The Iapetus' Captain's fist clenched around the metallic pole, but he managed to get a hold of himself. Knocking Ayer unconscious would prove to be a mistake at this point, at least from a tactical point of view. He seemed to have information, still. "Planets don't just appear or disappear. If there was a planet there, it couldn't have been far from Alpha Centauri. It would be impossible to miss."
"Then let me be the first to congratulate you," Ayer said, grinning despite the pain. "You succeeded in accomplishing the impossible."
Donovan raised the pole. "Watch it, Ayer," he said menacingly.
"Oh come on, Donovan," replied Ayer, succeeding, much to his surprise, in temporarily ignoring the pain he was feeling. "Haven't you tortured me enough? Look at me!" His voice was hoarse and the pain in his arm intense. "What left is there of me to break?"
"I may have broken your bones," Donovan said as he took a couple of small steps forward, "but judging from your sarcasm and your continued defiance, I see I haven't broken your will... Yet. For a man who is broken, you talk too much. And that..." Donovan actually smiled now. "That leads me to believe you may be not telling the whole truth."
Realising Donovan was on to him, Ayer desperately sought for ways out of this discussion. He knew where it was heading, and he didn't like it at all. "The planet was inhabited," Ayer added quickly. He was proceeding on assumptions which he thought could explain all unanswered questions, but which were, to him, beginning to sound increasingly less rational or believable. "I don't know the name of the species that lived there, but apparently they were an incredibly advanced civilisation. They managed to hide their planet from the rest of the galaxy by using some sort of large cloaking field."
"Interesting," Donovan commented. "That would explain why we couldn't detect this planet." He lowered the pole again and leaned against it, in very much the same way as a cane was used. Perhaps, Ayer thought silently to himself, the Captain of the Iapetus was suffering from a pain of some sort? Maybe he could use it as an advantage... if only he could find the strength to get up.
"Hold on." Donovan seemed to have thought of something. "That cloaking field still wouldn't explain why no scientist, Federation or otherwise, has discovered the explosion of that planet."
Ayer shrugged slightly. "Perhaps the planet's destruction took place before the Federation even existed, and it took the pieces of debris this long to finally float into an inhabited system. Those fragments don't exactly move at warp speed, you know."
Donovan nodded, deep in thought. At moments like these, he didn't seem to look upon Ayer as an enemy -- rather, he seemed to view Ayer as an equal and rational partner in a scientific theoretical discussion. In any other circumstances, Ayer would have been fascinated by the way Donovan managed to change personalities, as it were, depending on the situation. Now, however, Ayer could only watch and try to ignore the pain.
"A reasonable explanation," Donovan agreed. "Hypothetical, but reasonable." Again, he paused to think. "All right," he said after a moment of thought, "I'll buy it. Let's say that your statements are true and that what you have just told me is in fact exactly what the Starfleet scientists have told you. If all that holds, then why haven't we been able to find more samples? They can't all have fallen into enemy hands, and that planet's core must have exploded into more crystals than what we have managed to find. So tell me, Ayer. Where can I find the rest of the crystals?"
"Scattered around the galaxy, I would say," Ayer replied. "Or, at least, scattered around this sector and maybe the next few adjoining ones. I don't know where, exactly. The scientists didn't tell me."
Donovan grinned menacingly again. "I think they did."
With a sigh, Ayer pretended to give in. "All right. They did make some vague comments about it -- nothing in the sense of co-ordinates, mind you, but I may be able to get you in the right direction."
"Anything you could say about the whereabouts of the rest of the crystals would be greatly appreciated," Donovan replied in an overtly polite tone. "Now, where are they?"
Ayer made a show out of making it clear he was in a lot of pain. "I can't remember," he told his captor. "The pain... It's too intense. Can't... think this way." It was true that the pain he was feeling was immense, but despite a few punches to his head, his brain was working perfectly and trying to find a way to escape. "Please. Give me something for the pain."
Donovan's raising an eyebrow at Ayer's display was hardly the result he had hoped for, but his plan did seem to work. Whether Donovan was convinced or not was hard to tell, but he nodded all the same. "Very well. Since you've been helpful to us so far, I'm willing to be lenient. Don't get used to it, though," he added.
Ayer managed to nod. "Very kind of you," he said and rested his head against the wall. At least he had bought himself some time... Although he didn't know what he was buying time for. A rescue seemed out of the question, and escaping on his own would be difficult, to say the least. All Ayer could really do was wait.
Waiting was also what Zjavick, Sandra and Zaag were doing, and they weren't happy with it. After having beamed aboard by the USS Sophocles, they had been escorted to the ship's sickbay, where they were now being given full examinations by the doctor -- a grumpy old woman with a voice resembling, to Zjavick at least, a damaged comm unit. Despite their repeated requests to speak to the Captain, the doctor wouldn't let them go. "If you walk out of this sickbay and it turns out that there is still something wrong with you, guess who the Captain will blame?" she told them in that creaky voice of hers.
Luckily, the Captain himself came to visit them instead. "Commander Zjavick," said Captain Kellin, a human male, well in his forties. The grey features in his hair gave him a distinguished look. "I trust you have some explaining to do."
Zjavick nodded. "I do, sir. But..." He paused for a moment, hesitant to ask the question he was about to ask. "With all due respect, Captain, what is the Sophocles doing in this sector?"
Kellin was understandably surprised. "I would think that is obvious, Commander. We've received your distress call and we're here to bring aboard the survivors of the Aquinas and to assist in any way we can. I must say I am surprised at your response, Commander Zjavick. You seem almost... suspicious of our presence here."
"I meant no disrespect, of course," Zjavick sighed. "It's just that we've already come across one hostile Federation ship in this area, and seeing as the Aquinas was supposed to be the only one in the sector, well, I thought it'd be best to ask."
"A *hostile* Federation vessel?" To Kellin, there could be no such thing, even though Zjavick had just spoken of it. "Are you sure it was a Federation ship?"
"I'm positive," replied Zjavick. "We were attacked by a Prometheus class vessel; the USS Iapetus, commanded by a Captain Donovan. The Iapetus took out our shields, disabled our ship and beamed away the crystal samples we had managed to retrieve from the destroyed planetary base in the Alpha Centauri system. Evidently, those samples were the reason why the base was attacked."
"We just left Alpha Centauri space, looking for you." Kellin folded his arms. "I've spoken to a number of scientists there, and they kept asking me about the samples, which I knew nothing about. Apparently they're some source of power, and extremely important to various major powers in the galaxy. After the stunt they pulled back at Alpha Centauri III, I would have expected the destruction of the Aquinas to be the work of the Romulans... But you're saying it was a Federation ship? I find that extremely hard to believe, Commander."
"It was a Starfleet vessel, Captain," Zjavick explained, "but I don't think they were acting on orders of Starfleet itself. Donovan and the crew of that ship apparently are a member of some secret organisation within the Federation and Starfleet -- or at least, so Donovan has claimed."
"Donovan said he stole the samples because he wanted them to be kept safe," Sandra cut in. "Apparently, he was convinced that the Romulans would attack us again if he didn't beat them to it."
"He may have been right, too," Zaag contributed to the conversation. "We encountered a Romulan warbird not long after we were disabled. With their help, we tracked down the Iapetus and boarded it, took the samples, and got back here. But the Iapetus followed us, took back the samples and Captain Ayer, and left us to die on the Aquinas. We just got life support back on line when you contacted us," he finished, not without pride.
"Hold on, hold on." Kellin was confused. "Let's go back to the beginning. You say you were attacked by a Starfleet starship. Could you have..." he paused, "provoked them in any way?"
Zaag took an angry step forward. "Look, Captain, I know it's difficult to believe, but believe it. Every surviving crewmember of the Aquinas will tell you the same thing: we were attacked by a Federation starship. We didn't provoke them, we didn't taunt them and we didn't do anything to upset them. We were just happily flying as fast as we could to the Starbase, when the Iapetus showed up on our tail and started bombarding us with torpedoes!"
"Check your sensors," Sandra told Kellin. "There are Federation weapon signatures on the hull of the Aquinas. That should tell you all you need to know."
"You can study the sensors analyses later however," Zjavick cut in. "First things first: we need to find the Iapetus, and we need to rescue Captain Ayer and take back the samples. They've sustained damage in their fight with us and with the Romulans, and their ion trail will therefore be more difficult to mask. That makes it easier for us to find them."
Kellin sighed. "I can't say I fancy the idea of going after another Federation ship with the goal of engaging it in battle. Not only is that action in direct violation of about half a dozen Starfleet regulations, but it's also a damned foolish thing to do, from a tactical point of view: the Sophocles is no match for a Prometheus class."
"We have to do *something*!" argued Sandra. "We owe that to Uncle Pete." At Kellin's surprised look, she added, "and we can't let the samples fall into the wrong hands, either."
Kellin nodded thoughtfully. "From what I've heard about these crystals, we can't risk them being used to strengthen our enemies -- against a fleet powered by those crystals, the Federation wouldn't stand a chance." After a moment of thought, the Captain continued, "Besides, I want answers, and you lot are only giving me more questions. Very well, we'll find this Iapetus and catch up with her. And then... Well, we'll just have to see what happens, won't we?"
He tapped his communicator. "Kellin to the Bridge. I'm looking for a Prometheus class vessel in the area. See if you can scan for its ion trial."
=/\= On it, sir, =/\= replied a voice, only to be followed moments later by another statement. =/\= Actually, sir, I can do much better than giving you an ion trail. I'm reading the bottom module of a Prometheus class, less than a light-year away. And there are ion trails running away from this place, heading towards that bottom module. They're consistent with the engine emissions of the upper and the centre modules of a Prometheus class. =/\=
Kellin smiled. "Good work. Lay in a course and engage at maximum warp. Kellin out." He turned to look at Zjavick, Sandra and Zaag. "Looks like we found what we were looking for," he said to them. "Now let's see if we can get some answers."
To be continued...
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