Queen Of The Underworld
Posted on Thu Mar 21st, 2019 @ 9:03am by
Mission:
S1E2: A Temple To New Gods
Location: Dania's Quarters
Timeline: MD3, 22:45
Dania had been going over the conversation with Ingram for the past few hours. Something niggled at the back of her mind about how it went down but her rational mind could not put a finger on the pulse of the problem. Something just didn't sit right.
She was trained to maintain a healthy dose of paranoia, it was part of the job. Storm could understand it to a point, given the Myriad and the recent Concordance discovery. Dania was even entertaining the fact that they were connected, or one and the same, in fact.
"Assumption is the mother of all fuckups, Dani, you know that." The norwegian muttered to herself as she changed out of her uniform and put on a pair of grey cargo pants and a black, long sleeved shirt.
She released her hair from the tight bun and let it rest from its constraints over her shoulders. Having ordered a cup of coffee from the replicator, she fished out a small, unassuming booklet and an old style graphite pencil and padded barefoot back to her work desk.
"Computer, recognize, Storm Delta Rho 387, access messages." Dania dictated, watching her secured work console come to life.
She'd ordered any and all search results regarding their discovery to be sent directly to her work console and any relating search algorithms to be deleted from records so as to minimise curious eyes who might wonder why she was searching for those particulars.
There were two messages waiting for her. Tapping a command, Dania opened the first message.
"Requested Translation results:
Language pattern indication: Indo-European Language Family, Slavic Subgroup, South Slavic Branch - closest approximate language: Serbo-Croatian.
Translation: Ovo je Persephone kolonija, trebamo hitnu pomoć Zvjezdane Flote - This is Persephone Colony, requesting urgent assistance from Starfleet."
Dania nodded slowly, pressing the read button, which was set to authorize deletion of the message. Within moments, the message was deleted from her system.
She opened her booklet, flipped a few pages, and scribbled in shorthand under the initial entry of the phrase given to them by Kle.
~~~
Translation confirmed: Persephone Colony - distress signal requesting Starfleet help approx fifty years ago.
Language use unusual, why not Federation Standard? Rouse? Disguise? Encryption? Or just someone from that area?
Eastern European Colony??? Search archival records (this bit she underlined).
~~~
Setting the booklet aside, she tapped a few commands, "Computer, continue use of specified algorithm - Storm 179. Search records for the following - Persephone Colony, Eastern Europe, Civilian Colony, Federation Colony, Eastern European Colony."
"Working."
Now she needed to wait. Again. Dania leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her coffee.
Again, she scribbled in shorthand.
~~~
Why such a high classification before we determined anything? Fear of Abborax or something else??? And why not include Ross?
~~~
Once again, Dania found herself having trouble discerning legitimate suspicion from rampant paranoia. Where was the curiosity? Where was wanting to know why there was a single non ravaged blip among a sea of devastation.
Could that blip be Persephone?
Could she trust that she'd be allowed access to the information from Kle's fliers? Or would it come from Ingram?
Storm sighed, taking a sip of her coffee.
"Local Network Search Complete."
Dania leaned forward in her chair, pressing a display button. There were Three hundred and seventy five entries containing one or more of the given keywords. She needed to narrow it down somehow, specify further what she was looking for.
"Computer new parameters, Persephone Colony, eastern european accent, eastern european language." she began.
If they detected the signal about fifty years ago, so the colony will likely have needed to be established before 2339 at the very least. If not earlier. Likely earlier, to allow for travel time.
"Search any civilian or Starfleet Record ending with the year 2339. Begin."
"Working."
Taking a deep breath, Dania leaned back again. Would she even find anything? The colony could have set out under a different name. Or Persephone could have been the name of a ship that carried the colonists. Was it even intended to be a colony?
"Local Network Search Complete." Said the computer.
Dania blinked. "That was fast."
She pressed the display button again, revealing four possible options. Reading through each of the files, Dania dismissed them on the basis of date of founding and location. None of the matched.
None of the three.
The fourth one, however piqued her curiosity.
Date Of Registration: January 4th 2158
Date Of Founding: February 19th 2162
Planet: Persephone V, super oceanic, Class M.
Stellar Location: File Corruption Detected, Unable To Seek Memory Alpha Restoration.
Geographic Data: File Corruption Detected, Unable To Seek Memory Alpha Restoration.
Population Data: 15'000 (Human 87%, Vulcan 4%, Andorian 3%, Trill 6%)
Primary Colonial Sponsors: Arabia Terra Mining, United Earth Space Probe Agency, Ingram Heavy Manufacturing, Trill Science Collegium
Current Status: Catastrophic Ecological Event, no known survivors
Colonial Administration Report: File Corruption Detected, Unable To Seek Memory Alpha Restoration.
Addendum Audio File: Unknown male voice, heavy Earth European accent, recorded in 2202 via radio wave: "Did you know? Did you know and send us anyway?"
2158, smack in the middle of the Earth-Romulan war. Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, Trill.
Trill....
The UESPA - what Starfleet was called prior to the formation of the United Federation of Planets.
"The Trill Science Collegium was in on this? What?" Dania whispered to herself as she read.
Her eyes however stuck for a moment on Ingram Heavy Manufacturing. Nowadays, however, they were called Ingram Nanoscale Solutions. This much she knew. A little too well. Which made her stomach clench further in worry.
"Okay, okay, stop. You don't know. You don't know. You need evidence. Follow the evidence." She said to herself as she pinched the bridge of her nose and forced herself to take a deep breath. "Assume nothing. Never go against your gut. Pick a time and place for action. Vary your pattern and stay within your cover. Keep your options open." She recited to herself quietly part of the Moscow Rules in an attempt to focus herself.
Finally, she took a deep breath and exhaled. "Okay, I can do this."
Then another thing sparked to mind, pointing to another oddity. Persephone V. Where did that ring a bell from? From recent times?
Dania leaned forward on her elbows, "Computer, continue use of specified algorithm - Storm 179. Search for any reference to Persephone V Colony. Timeframe, 24th century to date."
"Working."
Storm exhaled deeply then took another sip of her coffe.
"Local Network Search Complete." Said the computer again.
Dania pressed the display button yet again. As it turned out Persephone V was not only a full fledged working colony. It was also a Federation member of at least a decade. So why call it Persephone V?
Again, she scribbled in shorthand.
~~~
Persephone V? Original destination? Missed landing and ended up in Messier IV? Or false settlement point to hide the real destination? Tied to Ingram Heavy Manufacturing perhaps? Need further evidence and research.
~~~
Dania stood up then and headed into her closet. Out of it she fished out a small box, which carried a retina scanner. As it scanned her eye and she typed in a code, Dania fished out an isolinear chip and carried it over to the desk display and slotted it in. Tapping another series of commands, she made a copy of the findings.
As she unslotted the chip, Dania rubbed her tired eyes. "Computer initiate phase two of algorithm Storm 179."
This phase would keep a copy of the data on her station, but delete search patterns that lead to it, as a deterrence to possible infiltrators spying the system. She knew that they could just as easily find the file as well, but she needed what little evidence she had to present. Backups were always a good thing to have just in case an ace in the sleeve was needed. Getting up, she returned the chip to the box, had her retina scanned again, reentered the code, then wiped the surface of the box and carried it back to her closet, where she wiped it again before locking her wardrobe.
Then she went back to her desk and opened her booklet again.
~~~
Did they know what? What did they find to make them ask that? What happened? (then she underlined the following) Missed landing, purposeful off course, false destination?
~~~
She leaned her head against her palm, staring down at the shorthand scribbles. "I don't even know where to start untangling this. Damn!"
