Chapter Seven
«
I got it, commander. » Eskina said. « It's right
there. » he pointed at his screen to a square on a grid. « It's heading towards
the closest star system ; Hargill.
»
« Hargill. » Sutter repeated. «
Any M-class planets ? »
«
Yes, two planets. One is uninhabited and the other one is the home of a
technologically advanced race, on Hargill VII. »
Eskina explained.
«
I remember that name. » said Burnel. « A year ago they were proposed membership
to the Federation. But they rejected it because we were :
'poisonous larvae who spread their ways of life and their stupidity across the
galaxy'. »
«
Charming. » said Kline.
«
I'd bet they landed on the uninhabited planet. » said Sutter.
«
Wrong. » Eskina smiled. « Their ion trail leads straight to the planet...Looks
like they landed. »
«
I believe it was a Starfleet runabout. » said Mantion. « The data is consistent
with the hypothesis. »
«
Okay...Follow that trail, full speed. » Kline ordered.
* * *
The
trail lead to the planet of Hargill VII, the planet
was very similar to Earth, green-yellow continents. Blue seas
and swirling white clouds moving silently over the globe. Kline gazed
out the window of the observation lounge. His crew waiting in
their seats around the conference table.
The
acting captain took a deep breath and swiveled to
face his officers : « So, what do we know about this
planet. »
«
It's a technologically advanced society, equals that of the Federation in
almost every way...And nearly surpasses us in some things. » said Eskina. « They despise the
Federation because they think we're some sort of plague running around the
galaxy. »
Kline
nodded : « What should we expect if we ask them for
our runabout, or information they might have about it. »
Eskina
shrugged : « I think they're going to spit at the
viewscreen and say that some members of your ancestry are vegetables. But I'm
not really sure about that. »
«
And they know lot's about how Starfleet works. They could get suspicious if
they use their planetary sensors to scan us with all the Covert Ops equipment we're carrying. » said
Sutter. « And that would be a problem. »
«
Does anyone have an idea about how we're going to get to that runabout on the
planet without getting discovered or spat at ? » Kline
asked.
No
one said anything.
«
That's what I was afraid of... » he sighed and dropped himself into his chair.
« I think the only way we can get down there is to use a randomly scrambled and
reassembled transporter beam to get a small team down there and find the
shuttle. The shuttle could have landed in a radius of a few hundred meters in
the large forest near the biggest city on the big continent. It shouldn't take
too long with a team of five or six people. »
«
About half-an-hour. » said Mantion.
«
And what about the shields around the planet ? » asked
Stevenson.
«
We can pass them. » Mantion smiled, the first smile
anyone had ever seen from the short security officer. «
Without any problem. »
«
Are you sure ? » asked Stevenson, frowning.
«
It should be simple enough for her. » said Sutter. « Those shields are crap. »
He
shrugged : « I hope you're right. »
«
Okay. Commander Sutter, you shall be in command of the away-team. Mantion,
Stevenson, Burnel, Tarses, you're all going with her. I'll stay up here with
you. » he pointed at Eskina. « I need you to come up with a frequency code
which will be impossible to detect. And I want it yesterday. »
Eskina
nodded and walked quickly out of the room, followed by the away team members.
Kline stepped back onto the bridge.