Deep Space 5 calling... (Part I of II)

Posted on Tue Sep 10, 2019 @ 7:32am by Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant JG Scaliontis Lovok & Lieutenant Alanna Wells

1,632 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Pangaea Portal Complex
Timeline: MD11 1830

Previously on Return Journey

The five uncomfortable minutes finished. "Very Good Mr Ryan, carry on."

Caleb moved away to let the security team form around ch’Zath and his people. “Eyes open, ears sharp,” he whispered to Annora as he passed. This was the hardest part of the job, sending people into danger like this.

And the security team stepped through the portal

Soran looked at Sovok, "And now we wait."

And now the continuation


Time seemed to crawl by. Soran checked the chronometer on her wrist, and frowned. Her away team should be back by now.

"Is there a problem?" Sovok asked innocently.

Soran ignored him and turned to her officers. "Any thoughts on attempting to get comms through the portal?" she asked Alanna, Erich and Scaliontis.

Scaliontis couldn't help a smirk when his commanding officer completely disregarded Sovok. The Romulan luckily wasn't facing the Alternate Vulcan, so Sovok couldn't see it. He refocused on the question Soran asked.

He could see Starfleet's equipment around the chamber as he looked around and thankfully lightning, otherwise they'd be in the dark. He walked to the two obelisks and opened his tricorder. It didn't give him anything but the obelisks' measurements but not its composition which irked Scaliontis to no end.

"I really wish something would reveal itself." He muttered, he turned back to Soran and tapped his combadge. =^= Secure channel epsilon four, Lovok to Haines? =^= He announced he knew that the combadge would send a signal only to Jason and not anyone else if it can.

He waited giving Soran a shrug. The obvious course of action done, Scaliontis glanced down at his tricorder again and tapped at it trying every single combination of settings on it.

"Everything we've tried so far has failed, including taking devices through the portal." Alanna said quietly to Maritza. She watched Lovok and shook her head. He was repeating tests and scans they'd already run on multiple portals. "I don't know how the Andorians managed to reach us. When this is over and enough time has passed, I'd like to take a team through the portal to have a look at the other side." She wished the engineer would be less curious with the Vulcan watching. This wasn't the best time for him. Scientists and Marines had been studying the portals for a good number of months. "I wish I'd thought to ask to look at their communications."

Soran folded her arms, pulling them close to her torso. "There has to be a way. The Romulan Core picked up signals somehow. So its possible. Its just a question of figuring out how."

"It is. I'll run some ideas past T'gan and see if we can come up with anything," she replied. She would definitely make it a priority. Especially if there was a chance others might come through the portal.

Alanna glanced at Lovok again and sighed. She wished he'd stop treating this like a first encounter, but the commander had asked for suggestions. She walked over to Sovok. "Since we haven't been to your world, how long would it take our security to escort the others to a safe location and return here?" She wanted a general reference to know when to expect Jason and the others.

"There are no safe locations, dear Doctor." He replied smugly. "Risa is firmly controlled by the Commonwealth. We put a prison there precisely because it is secure."

That was true, but Alanna didn't like the answer. However it wasn't so secure as to prevent the rebels from coming here.

Scaliontis looked up to see Alanna watching him, he ignored her. She was science, he was engineering, they had different views of the same thing. That should count for something, though he did pick up her mention examining one of the Andorians communications devices when she had the chance.

He grinned as he switched the target of his scans to that of the observing Vulcan's communicator. Scaliontis assumed they wouldn't have taken it off him as he was the lesser of two evils right now. Since he was still standing by the obelisks Sovok wouldn't know his communicator was being scanned. The Romulan's tricorder hit a firewall and he feared it would alert Sovok but it didn't, he decided to switch to passive means of hacking Sovok's communicator and closed his tricorder.

Alanna wished Scaliontis wouldn't be quite so obvious. Just because he was scanning the portal didn't mean no one would notice if he turned the tricorder on the Vulcan. She did, and she was only half paying attention.

She was worried about Jason. Surely they should be back by now? She buried her growing concern as deeply as she could so no one would pick up on it. She needed this to go well. She needed Jason to come back through the portal. Alanna walked to the portal itself to see if she could reach out telepathically and feel Jason on the other side. After a minute she sighed. That didn't work, either.

Clearly she didn't like him, Scaliontis deduced and really that was fine as he knew she was anxious because Jason was away. He had met Jason and the man is great, the Romulan wanted him back as well but being rude and emotional when calm is required just wasn't necessary.

So he decided that he'd not interact with her if he could help it. Scaliontis approached Sovok, just a little too close then necessary but not in the Vulcan's face. "Sovok was it? I don't believe you would simply just walk through to retrieve the Andorians if you had no idea of what was on the other side of the portal, logical?" He asked.

Sovok shrugged. "What's logic got to do with anything? We were trying to find our fugitives, and there was a strange phenomena. Call it intuition, coupled with a healthy dose of curiosity."

"So you entered the portal recklessly with no regard to your own lives?" Scaliontis asked as on this side safety was paramount but at some point they'd have to just step through and hope for the best. He recalled the mention of the Romulan Core back on the station, he knew it didn't have any devices built into it so it had to have used the station sensors to have detected and reacted to anything really.

That meant that the Core had some way of breaking through the interference if it's reaction to the planet's arrival meant anything. Though he'd work with Kivan on that or expand on with.

He continued to watch the Vulcan waiting. Sovok only shrugged again. "If you knew ch'Zath like we do, you'd understand that a little recklessness 8s often needed to stop him."

"I guess," Scaliontis said and stepped back then turned to face the portal but remained by Sovok's side.

Alanna listened to the conversation--there wasn't much to do besides wait. She had to agree with Sovok that ch'Zath was reckless. The attack on the Vulcans was a clear indication of that. Even though she knew the Vulcans were the oppressors, she wasn't sure the Andorians were much better.

She walked up to the portal again and stopped just in front of it. What would happen if she put her hand through? Would she be able to sense Jason then? Would she be pulled through? She put her hand up and stopped. It wasn't something she was willing to risk here and now. What if she went through and a platoon of Vulcans waited for her? What if they came charging through the portal to liberate Sovok?

It was a silly notion. Still, Alanna wished she were with Jason. Or that she would hear from him. She'd lost him once, but coming back from death had been a temporal anomaly. If she lost him again...

She turned from the portal and ran a hand through her hair. She needed to get her mind off Jason and how long he'd been gone. Still, it was tempting to step through, to reach out telepathically and see if her bond with Jason allowed her to reach him.

Alanna looked at Sovok. Was he a touch telepath like the Vulcans here? Did he have greater telepathic abilities? Could he mind meld? Did he have something like a Vulcan nerve pinch? They were questions she would like to know, but didn't dare ask. If he knew nothing of those abilities, would he try to learn? She couldn't risk that.

She walked back to where Sovok stood with Scaliontis. Addressing Sovok, she asked, "What do you suggest we do to pass the time?" And, just because she was curious, she gently reached out and brushed his surface thoughts.

"We'll always have chess," he replied smoothly, but underneath he was a steaming pile of smug, oily satisfaction, heavily tinged with an anticipation that bordered on the feral, aimed at her.

She nodded. "That was a memorable game," she said. It was true, but not the way she wanted him to think. His level of smugness concerned her. He was up to something, and it made her uncomfortable. She wished she knew what it was.

"Did you bring a board for the Chess?" Scaliontis asked Sovok with a smirk, he clearly missed the context as he thought Sovok had suggested they play Chess now. Then he actually processed Sovok's word properly. "Oh we could always play a game of Truth or Dare?" He suggested, he had be subjected to it back at the Academy.

"Tempting." Sovok replied, holding Alanna's gaze. "So very tempting."

To Be Continued...

Commander Maritza Soran
CO
DS5

Lieutenant JG Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer
Deep Space Five

LTJG Scaliontis Lovok
Chief Engineer
DS5

 

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