Symbiosis

Posted on Sun Jan 29, 2017 @ 3:28pm by Commander Caden Aldrex

1,179 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: XO's Office, DS5
Timeline: MD4 - 1400

[ON]

Atris Peral smiled over the subspace link. "Aldrex, you mischief-maker. You're looking downright respectable these days. Didn't think you'd stay in that Starfleet unform so long. How are you?"

"I am well," Cade replied with his characteristic grin. "You're looking good yourself, Atris."

"Oh, please," Atris said, rolling her eyes. She was well over a hundred years old, but still as sharp and energetic as ever. She was dressed in business attire befitting her position, and her long, silver hair was tied up in a bun with a pin through it. "You were never any good at flattery, but I appreciate the effort. I hear you're a married man now?"

"Yeah, you heard right. Her name is Amia. She's a doctor, and she's wonderful. We're already expecting our first."

"Good for you! Congratulations!" Atris replied warmly. Then she placed her hands on the desk in front of her, fingers interlaced, and leaned forward. "So, what can the Head of the Symbiosis Commission do for you today?" Busy woman that she was, she wanted to get down to business with a minimum of small talk.

Cade took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he was about to do. "I wanted to make you aware of something I heard recently. Something you ought to know."

"Oh? What's that?"

"A symbiont that we thought was dead, could possibly be still alive, and living in a new host."

Atris Peral stiffened visibly, and her eyes widened. "Really? Who?!"

With a straight face Cade replied, "Ovaan."

Atris Peral repeated the name. "Ovaan?" She leaned back until she came to rest against her chair. "General Ovaan. It's been over three-hundred years!"

"Orcan-Sceptri VII. The war with the Sheliak," Cade replied.

"Yes, I was there. My host was Tano. I was with the combat engineers. You were there too?"

Cade nodded. "I was the General's aide, remember? My host was Hylias." It had been a short, bloody war over a planet both sides claimed as their territory. The Sheliak eventually withdrew, but not before capturing the Trills' senior commanding officer and conducting horrific "experiments" on both the host and her symbiont. The bodies were never returned. The Sheliak only stated that the remains had been "properly disposed of."

"What information do you have?" Peral demanded to know.

Cade cleared his throat. "As a senior officer here on the station, I'm cleared to read intelligence dispatches. Apparently, one of our reconnaissance probes was passing near a planet, and caught a snippet of subspace conversation between two suspected lieutenants in an organized crime operation. It was only a few seconds long before the signal became garbled, but they spoke of a young teenage girl, half-Trill, who was joined with a symbiont that had been purchased in stasis from a black market broker. They said it came by way of the Sheliak Corporate. From that I inferred that it must be Ovaan."

Peral looked as if she had been struck. "Who is the girl? Who were the people having this conversation? I want names!"

Cade shook his head. "I'm sorry. That's all I can say about it."

"What do you mean 'that's all?' How can I act on this information if you don't give me details?"

"Peral, it's classified information. I had to get permission from Starfleet Command to say anything to you. This whole thing is part of an ongoing intelligence operation against a very dangerous criminal organization. For all we know it may even be false information designed to draw undercover agents out into the open. I can't say more. I'm sorry."

Peral sat in angry silence for a few beats, then said, "why tell me anything at all, in that case?"

Cade Aldrex shrugged. "A courtesy. I just thought you should know."

Peral only nodded. Her eyes were fixed on something offscreen.

Cade leaned forward. "I'm also curious. If this does pan out, then what do you think you would do? The Commission, I mean?"

Peral looked him straight in the eye. "If Ovaan is alive, then we get Ovaan back. With Starfleet's help or without."

"But if Ovaan has been with this new host for a long time, then is it our place to separate them?"

"What are you talking about? I can't allow one of our symbionts to remain in the body of some criminal half-breed!"

"A kid, Peral! A teenage girl! If she's been joined for a good length of time then you can't simply separate them!"

"What do you know about this teenage girl? Who is she? What does she have to do with organized crime?" Peral persisted.

Cade threw his hands up and looked away, seemingly exasperated. In reality he was trying to think fast. "It's classified! I told you!" He looked down, rubbing the back of his neck. "It has to do with...humanoid trafficking. That's all I can say."

Peral relented and looked away with a sigh. She was assembling the rest in her mind. "So, some interested buyer was looking for a joined Trill to add to their collection of girls? And I suppose these criminals assembled one? Is that how it went?"

Cade looked her in the eye but said nothing.

Peral also sat in silence for a few beats, studying his expression. It was grim and nothing else. He wasn't going to say any more. "If you come across anything else you tell me, Caden. Please."

"I will."

"We have to bring Ovaan home."

Cade nodded. "If Ovaan is really alive, then yes. We have to think of the host, too. Whoever she is."

"We will give her appropriate consideration," Peral conceded. "She is likely an unwilling victim in all of this."

"More than that. She'll need medical monitoring, and training to help her adjust. For someone not prepared it's hell trying to reconcile all the new personalities talking."

Peral narrowed her eyes. "You seem awfully concerned about a stranger."

"I just want to make sure we do the right thing," Cade answered. "At the end of the day we won't butcher one of our own kind because she wasn't joined in a way we deem acceptable. When is the Commission scheduled to meet again?"

"A week from today. Why?"

"When you're done with normal business, go to private session and share this news with them. I'd like to know their reactions."

Peral nodded. "I will, and when we touch base again I trust you'll have more information to pass along?"

Cade shook his head slowly. "You know I can't promise that. In fact, you may have to consider that we may never hear of this again."

That earned a thin smile from the other Trill. "Fortunately, we have more than one lifetime to make it right. I'll see you around, Aldrex."

"See ya," Cade replied, then ended the transmission. He spent a few seconds looking at his reflection in the darkened screen, then he looked away. "And that's how you lie to an old friend," he said glumly.

[OFF]

Cmdr. Caden Aldrex
XO

Atris Peral
Head of Trill Symbiosis Commission
NPC Aldrex

 

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