Chapter 8: Meeting a Ghost
Iota Pavonis Trading Station
After having an argument with the
station’s Assay officer, LT Cartwright decided to head back down to the
promenade level to look for Captain Jerran and LT tr’Kovan. As soon as
she was out of ear shot of the Assay office, where she wouldn’t look
schizophrenic by appearing to talk to herself when she
was actually using a subdermal communicator, she
tried to contact her two crewmates.
“Well, that was about as useless
as counting hairs on a tribble,” she said, hoping not
just to herself. After a minute, she
looked concerned and said, “Are you guys listening to me?”
There was still no response. After ducking down into a darker hallway out
of the normal traffic areas of the station, she pulled out her tricorder, scanning for the signal from their
communicators. “This can’t be good,”
Jennifer said to herself as no signs of the other two came up on the tricorder.
She sighed and thought of the word
tr’Kovan had told her to use to activate the
transporter to the shuttle, “Computer, hteij’rhae.” She was pleasantly surprised when the green
but still familiar Romulan transporter beam took hold
of her, where she promptly rematerialized in the small transporter booth of the
Hyades. She quickly walked to the front of the
shuttle and sat down at the pilot’s seat, activating the ship’s sensors. After a few moments of scanning for both the
communicators and their life signs, LT Cartwright came to the conclusion that
they were no longer on board the station, and she was going to need some help.
“Station control, this is the
shuttle Hyades
requesting launch clearance.”
[Hyades, this is launch control. You
are number 5 in the queue. We’ll clear
you as soon as possible.]
All she could do now was sit back
and wait.
Transporter room, Transport Ja’telaih
After being escorted out of the
bar by Stefanh tr’Khnialmnae
himself, Jerran and tr’Kovan
were ushered towards a nearby, deserted cargo bay, where they were beamed
away. After having been around Romulan technology for a number of days, Jerran recognized the interior of a Romulan
transporter room as soon as they materialized.
It was still very different from the architecture on board the Veloris, but
still familiar. Jerran
decided that tr’Kovan would probably have a similar
feeling after having been on the Oberon
if he were to walk onto the deck of an old Constitution
class starship.
Immediately upon materializing,
and without thought to whether their captors would stop him, Jerran walked over to tr’Kovan, who was just waking up from the stun blast.
“He’ll be alright, Captain Jerran,” tr’Khnialmnae said.
“You still haven’t explained how
you know who I am,” Jerran said as he pushed the
guard away and held tr’Kovan steady himself.
“I told him,” tr’Kovan
said groggily. Before Jerran could say anything, the young Tal
Shiar officer looked over to the older Romulan and said, “Couldn’t you have just used setting 1?”
“It had to look convincing.”
Jerran looked at the two shocked, knowing that they must be
working together. He also realized,
though, that they still hadn’t taken his phaser. Rather than reaching for it, he said, “Is it
standard procedure to let a prisoner keep his weapon?”
tr’Khnialmnae chuckled
and said, “No, sir. But, I don’t believe
in disarming a guest. Allow me to
introduce myself. I am Captain Stefanh tr’Khnialmnae, and I
would like to welcome you aboard the Ja’telaih, Captain Jerran.”
“This day is starting to be full
of surprises,” Jerran said, scowling at LT tr’Kovan.
“Indeed, Captain,” Stefanh said. “And,
we have much to discuss. In the
meantime,
Jerran grudgingly followed tr’Kovan out
of the transporter room as tr’Khnialmnae headed up to
the bridge. “I couldn’t tell you until I
was sure we’d be out of the influence of Major t’Khellian’s
spies and listening devices,” tr’Kovan said as they
walked down the hall. Jerran didn’t respond the whole time they walked, and they
were eventually at the door to the guest quarters.
When tr’Kovan
opened the door for him, Jerran was quite impressed
with the interior. Captain tr’Khnialmnae’s reputation for opulence was well deserved. It was probably one of the largest quarters
on the ship, and it had one of the best views.
Jerran could see the trading station drifting
off in the distance as Captain tr’Khnialmnae
moved the ship away.
Sensing that Jerran
was in no mood to talk to him in particular, tr’Kovan
simply pointed out some of the amenities of the room. “There’s a Starfleet uniform in the closet,
if you want to change out of your civilian clothes. Captain tr’Khnialmnae
has an excellent tailor from Deep Space 9 that he commissions for the crew’s
clothes, so I hope it fits.”
Jerran simply nodded as he looked out the windows. “I’ll be back to take you to the captain in
about 30 minutes. I believe he has lunch
planned for you.” tr’Kovan then took the opportunity to leave after a
moment of silence.
Captain’s Lounge, Ja’telaih
After a silent walk with Captain Jerran through the ship to the lounge, tr’Kovan
and the Starfleet officer entered the room where Captain tr’Khnialmnae was waiting for them, standing near the
head of the table with a glass of Romulan ale in his
hand. tr’Khnialmnae smiled to Jerran,
a gesture that the half Bajoran found to be almost
infectious. “Come in, come in, Captain,”
tr’Khnialmnae said as he picked up a second glass and
offered it to Jerran.
After taking the glass, another
person came in through a door on the opposite side of the room, a Romulan woman who appeared to be about the same age as tr’Khnialmnae. Jerran looked at her closely as she came up beside the Romulan captain, taking his arm. She was definitely familiar to him, but he
couldn’t exactly place her.
“Allow me to present Kimara Cretak, my wife,” tr’Khnialmnae said.
Jerran shook her hand as she offered it, but he started to
remember exactly who she was, thinking that this whole mission was getting more
and more complicated by the moment.