Another Piece of the Puzzle

Posted on Tue Jun 15th, 2010 @ 11:00am by Vice Admiral Iluvar & Commander Earlond & Commander Fala Awen

Mission: Episode 1.2 - "A House Divided"
Location: Ready Room, USS Pandora
Timeline: MD15, 1040

ON: [[Ready Room, USS Pandora, MD15, 1040]]

Once the away team had beamed back aboard, Awen sent the Security Officers to brief the others on the conditions. Normally she would have done so herself, but they were perfectly capable and she and Earlond needed to report in to Iluvar. The two had kept a good pace through the corridors and were now outside the ready room.

Having remained silent through the trip to the Ready Room, Earlond glanced once at Awen before keying the door chime. He was still extremely unhappy about having to work with these Romulans, especially with the level of secrecy and deception that seemed to saturate this mission.

"Come," Iluvar's voice called from within. The door slid open to allow the two officers access to the ready room, which was different than what Iluvar had occupied aboard the Tethys. While it was clear that the admiral had taken some effort to make the space his own, it was going to take some getting used to...for all of them.

Iluvar turned away from the viewport that he had been looking through when he heard them enter the room. He motioned to the chairs in front of the desk as he moved to take a seat in his own chair. "I trust your time on the surface was most enlightening," he said, looking from Earlond to Fala.

"Enlightening is one way to put it, sir," Awen replied as she took the seat closest to her. Normally she would jump right in with a full report, but Earlond was the Executive Officer and he had been the actual leader of the away team, so she wanted to give him the chance to explain what had happened first.

"I wasn't quite as enlightened as I'd hoped, though," Earlond said, taking a seat. "They are quite secretive about what they are doing, and their reactions were...abnormal, at least for what I'd expect of Romulans."

"Abnormal in what way," Iluvar asked, his interest piqued by Earlond's observation. They hadn't been able to learn much as far as attitude or perception were concerned from the two unconscious colonists in sickbay, which left the interactions on the surface as the only means of possibly indicating how the Romulans were receiving their visit.

"Well, they didn't show any real interest in the inspection," Earlond replied. "They were ready to accommodate us, but they seemed too...weary to care about it. When one of the colonists collapsed, the governor was apathetic towards his treatment."

Awen nodded, agreeing with Earlond's assessment. "They were much more subdued and seemingly unconcerned than I would have expected. So much so that they seemed mostly harmless - which made me even more wary."

"That is strange indeed," Iluvar agreed, folding his hands before himself on the desk. Ordinarily, Romulans were a very proud people. It was strange, then, that the colonists would be so apathetic toward alien visitors, especially Starfleet officers on an inspection tour. He considered this for a moment before asking, "Did any of them speak to you?"

"Governor Dhivael did, sir. But otherwise, they mostly ignored us or watched us as we walked by," Awen replied.

Another peculiarity about this colony. In addition to everything that they had been able to determine so far about Nerus V, what Fala and Earlond had experienced on the surface was proving to be equally revealing. "We have two unconscious colonists in sickbay and, aside from the colonial governor, none of the other colonists spoke to you," Iluvar mused aloud.

"Makes you wonder if they really want us here," Earlond said. He would be only too happy to leave.

"Perhaps," Iluvar said slowly. The Romulans were the ones who had invited them to tour the frontier in the first place, but that didn't necessarily equate to an open welcome at every stop, especially given the situation within the empire. "What about your initial assessment," he asked, "Is there any indication that this outpost could handle an attack by the Elyshans or the Breen?"

"At this point, I don't think this outpost could handle an attack by a strong wind," the Bajoran replied. The colony wasn't in the best of shape and its inhabitants seemed to simply not care.

"It doesn't appear that they are even interested in self defense of their colony," Earlond added. "The governor had guards, as was expected, but I didn't see anything that might indicate they expected or even cared about any visitors, be they friend or foe."

Quirking an eyebrow, Iluvar was mildly surprised by such news. The Romulan Senate had invited them into their space, provided an escort, and brought them to Nerus V. A frown began to materialize on Iluvar's face. Why, then, would the colonists have no interest or expectations in their tour?

"If the Romulans care as little about this colony as it would appear, they probably didn't inform the colonists that we were coming. Though I honestly don't know that it would have made a difference with the colonists anyway. And, knowing Romulans, I'm sure they have a very good reason for allowing us here; undoubtedly it somehow benefits them," Awen surmised.

"It still doesn't seem to make sense, though," Earlond said. "If they had something deliberately set up for us, would the colony really be this apathetic? One would think they would be at least trying to pretend everything is normal, but the governor did nothing to hide the state of the colonists. Either they're all really good actors...or something else is going on."

The conclusion that seemed to be weighing on the conversation was one that Iluvar was not surprised to hear, even if it was more than a bit cynical. "Any thoughts," he asked.

Awen spoke up, "I think we need to think of the colony of Romulans and the Romulans who put them there separately. I don't think the Romulan colonists are in on anything whatsoever...I think the colonists were likely set up for whatever the Romulans' ultimate motivation is and them having us come here only furthers it in some way. What, exactly, that motivation is, I'm not sure. But I think the colonists realize that their government essentially abandoned them and with everything they're dealing with there, they simply no longer care."

Abandonment. The thought, as sobering as it was, was not a new one when it came to the Romulans. If the behavior the away team had witnessed was any indication, the colonists certainly seemed to be acting as if they had been abandoned. "Assemble the senior staff," he said in a low voice, "I think we just found the next piece in our puzzle."

OFF:

A JP by

Rear Admiral Iluvar
Commanding Officer
USS Pandora

Commander Earlond
Executive Officer
USS Pandora

and

Lieutenant Commander Fala Awen
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Pandora