Teaser
Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 11 October 2642. Captain Robert Dale recording. We are still in orbit over the planet Ys'talla in N2S7 as to support a diplomatic mission to the Miqo'te. The planet's governing body, the Council of Clans, is considering a new defense treaty with the Alliance that could provide great benefits to this region of space.
Although our main purpose is diplomacy, I have won permission to consult the Miqo'te on the matter of their origins. Ys'talla is not their original homeworld according to their teachings and examination of the planet's fossil records. And now we have proof of how they ended up on this planet through the efforts of the Darglan. I'm hoping we find clues as to where more knowledge of the Darglan can be found.
The capital city of the planet Ys'talla had the unassuming name of Sweetwater Springs. As he had walked along the long pathways between buildings in the Ys'talla Academy of Sciences and felt the warm sea air that regularly moved through the city, he reflected on the reasons why.
Set aside the obvious fact that the name was actually a near-unpronounceable one, and that "Sweetwater Springs" was just the English translation. The fact that a city that sounded like it was a resort and vacation town had become a gleaming planetary capital was, in fact, due to being a resort town. Or rather, a recognized meeting place for the various nations and clans and tribes of the Miqo'te. It had been such for thousands of years, since the planet had been settled, declared a neutral place where no warfare or violence was allowed. The step up to planetary capital had not been a large one.
Robert and his entourage - Caterina and Meridina - were walking another pedestrian bridge between two of the main towers of the Academy. The gleaming splendor of the capital was visible out the windows. The architecture tended toward the round shape - inspired by old Gersallian building? - and wide avenues spoke of former street markets. The smell in the air was a scent of tropical wood like none on Earth, a faint hint of sweetness with the strong wood smell.
The Miqo'te themselves were an interesting sight. Felinoid species weren't unknown in the Multiverse, of course. The Caitians of S5T3 were a valued member of the Federation. One of the species of L4R2 were the Rr'timm, and on the few times Robert had seen one they always made him think of panthers to the point he half-expected to meet one named Bagheera. Universe E5B1 had once contained the Dilgar, who had a feline look to them.
But those species all had distinct elements to set them apart from Humans, including actual fur over their bodies. The Miqo'te, however, had skin of the same texture and feel as Human skin. Their fur was limited to the tails that came out of their backsides, or rather the base of their spines, and to the cat-ears on the tops of their heads, which were surfaced with fur. The eyes were certainly cat-like. Their clothing varied by tribe and culture in terms of coloring, style, taste.
And as Tom Barnes had so helpfully pointed out the day before during a walk in the capital's marketplace and parks, the Miqo'te girls had busts like a number of other humanoid species did. While Robert already knew that from briefly meeting a Miqo'te piloting officer on the Aurora, the outfits of the troupe of dancing girls they'd seen had made that an inescapable fact.
Stepping into the building reminded Robert of stepping into retail stores back in the pre-spaceship days of his life. Powerful air vents acted as something of a barrier for the outside air. The tropical wood smell was replaced by something flowery like lavender mixed with cinnamon and the warm sea air was now climate-controlled cool air. What little perspiration had formed on his forehead now grew cool. His skin immediately stopped that slight production of sweat in recognition of the changed climate. The halls were colored in earthy tones of brown and pale yellow. Plates in the characters of the Miqo'te language pointed toward various places. Caterina's omnitool provided a translation and she directed them down the hall and then to the right.
Their eventual destination was an office. Windows looked out to a classroom that was now empty. Tomes bound in leather revealed the Miqo'te, at least urban ones, had the same tastes in printing books as Humans did. A male with rust-colored hair and fur on his tail and head indicated seats for them. Robert and the others noted that his skin, while fair in tone, seemed to be bluish-gray, and his eyes were widely dilated. "I am H'rmaz R'mar," he said. "Assistant to Doctor Y'shmyn O'yano, the Professor of Ys'tallan History."
"Mister R'mar, Doctor… or do you prefer Professor?" Robert asked, looking at the scholar. She was wearing a white coat that matched the fur and short-cut hair on her head. Red markings - tattoos? Some sort of facial marking? - were visible on her cheeks, giving the impression of cat whiskers. Eyes of light teal color looked up from a book. "I'm Captain Robert Dale of the Alliance Starship Aurora."
"Ah, Captain. Doctor will do." The translators rendered her speech into an accent that sounded like a well-spoken English academic. "I received your message and the materials your science officer provided."
"That's why I brought her along." Robert gestured to Caterina, who as usual looked like she was about to burst into questions. "This is Lieutenant Caterina Delgado, Aurora science officer. And my chief of security Lieutenant Commander Meridina, who helped rescue the Darglan Jornam."
"Doctor, it's a pleasure to meet you," Caterina said, offering her hand. Y'shmyn accepted it.
"Doctor." Meridina did not offer her hand. She bowed her head in greetings.
By this point Robert could feel what Meridina had already felt. He looked to Y'shmyn with a bit of surprise. Y'shmyn smiled back. "Yes, Captain. You and I share the Gift. Azeyma has blessed me with power. In my younger days I made use of it, but today I am an academic, and I vastly prefer mysteries in books than hunting slavers across the U'nar Plains."
"I see." Robert nodded and accepted his seat among those that H'rmaz offered. "What can you tell us about your history of how you came to be on Ys'talla?"
"Very little, until now," Y'shmyn confessed. "I have studied what our oldest oral histories hold to have been our arrival point, known as Azeyma's Rest. There is an ongoing excavation there. But all evidence we have found simply reflects the state of the Miqo'te when we arrived on Ys'talla. We were a pre-industrial species. Almost all of the tribes were nomadic or semi-nomadic, and some still are I will add. Our science was laughable and superstitious beliefs still predominated."
"My grandmother told me as a child that Menphina and Azeyma opened a door to this world so that our people could escape a great calamity," H'rmaz offered. "That is the belief of most Miqo'te today."
"And it will remain so, I suspect. We do not recall the place of the Darglan in our histories."
"It's possible the Darglan hid themselves during the transplantation," said Caterina. "They might have interacted with you through holographic disguises."
"To protect our culture from the effects of being introduced to space flight and interuniversal drive at our stage of development? A reasonable hypothesis." Y'shmyn looked thoughtful. A pen levitated from the surface of her desk and began to spin in mid-air. "I will continue my academic work on the matter. As it is, many of my colleagues I've consulted find the theory of the Darglan role meritable, and I am writing a paper on the evidence. I hope to lay out the case well enough to be accepted by our people."
"I am curious as to why your people were brought to this world. Was it a war of some sort?" asked Meridina.
"It was something wrong with our world of origin. Our oral histories all match in that respect, whether one is a Keeper or a Seeker."
"Keeper? Seeker?"
At Caterina's question, Y'shmyn said, "You may have noticed that my assistant has a different base coloration from my own, with wider eyes. Miqo'te have developed into two distinct racial groups, diurnal and nocturnal. I am a Seeker and I function best in daylight. H'rmaz's ancestors on our original homeworld took to caves and night-time living, becoming nocturnal. Keepers."
"The distinction does not matter as greatly any more," H'rmaz said. "Aside from physical attributes and some theological squabbling about whether Azeyma or Menphina is the more important deity for our people."
"At least, not in our cities. In the countrysides, it can vary. I have learned this from harsh experience." Y'shmyn spun her finger around and the pen spinning in mid-air began to spin with greater speed. Robert got the feeling it was something she did while in deep thought. "The Darglan. Such a mystery. We learned they existed from our contacts with the Gersallians, small as they are. To think that we owe our existence on this world to that ancient species…"
"Your people tend to be isolationist, right?" Caterina asked.
"In general." Y'shmyn frowned. "It is an annoying tendency, mind you. The Coserians and their Jeaxian proxies nearly enslaved us due to it, and to this day we have trouble with the Jeaxian warlords and the most violent of our own clans."
Robert was darkly reminded of Doctor Opani's ordeal as a volunteer. "So I've heard."
"It is waking us up, bit by bit. I hope, in fact, to one day see my species within your Alliance, Captain." She smiled slyly. "Although I would be grateful to you for not mentioning that to the Academy Chairwoman. She is rather strict about political neutrality among the senior academics."
"A wise policy," H'rmaz observed.
"And we are getting off the subject that you came all this way to speak with me on," Y'shmyn added. "I presume you have more questions about our history?"
"We're trying to learn more about what the Darglan did during their time," Robert said.
"For the sake of knowledge?"
"Yes," Caterina insisted. But she looked to Robert for correction, indicating her answer was more her own desires than the official ones.
"Among other things," he clarified. "The more we learn about Darglan activities in the past, the more likely we are to locate other remaining sources of Darglan technology. Now that we know more about what they were doing back in the day and that there might be other caretaker stations like Jornam's, we need to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands."
"I think I understand." Y'shmyn took the pen out of mid-air with her hand. "You're hoping the Darglan might have left observers here too?"
"Maybe not living observers," said Caterina. "But perhaps observation stations. Automated ones, maybe. Or, like in N2C5, they may have had a central location to observe any other systems they were interested in. With probes or automated observers for remote watching."
Y'shmyn thought deeply about that. "I have heard nothing of such a site being found. But our sensor technology is not as advanced as your own, Captain. It is possible your sensors might detect something our means have missed." She pulled a sheet of paper out of a drawer. "I shall write you a recommendation to my colleague at the Azeyma's Rest dig site. Perhaps you will find something there."
"If we do, you'll be the first to know," Robert promised.
"I should hope you inform Professor B'rrel first," Y'shmyn remarked. "He will be your man at the dig site." She smiled slightly. "I do hope you find something. It would be quite the discovery."
"Thank you for your help, Doctor." Robert stood, prompting the others to do the same. "We appreciate your time."
The command staff met in the conference lounge off the bridge upon the trio's return. "I've already spoken with Doctor B'rrel via commlink," Robert informed everyone. "He's ready to receive a science team in the morning."
"Which will be this evening by ship time," Caterina clarified. "Due to the hour difference."
"Right. Jarod, you and Cat will take down a contingent of science officers."
"I'll also invite our new xenoarcheology specialist, Doctor Tralamina," Caterina said.
"I'll leave the team makeup to you and Jarod," Robert said. He turned to Julia. "Have we heard anything else about the defense treaty negotiations?"
Julia crossed her arms and sighed. "A couple of the critical votes are being troublesome. Chief U'mhaka was basically asking for his weight in latinum."
"So he wants to be bribed into voting for the treaty." Robert sighed at that. But he shouldn't be too shocked. Some people were just naturally greedy. "And who's the other hold-out?"
"Chief U'dahra."
A mental image appeared in Robert's mind that he wished to rub out. "The one who showed up on the train with nothing but women in his retinue, half of whom were dressed like they were going to a swimsuit contest?" And more than a few looked unhappy to be there, Robert thought darkly, well aware that the Miqo'te were still having issues with their nomadic groups' blaise attitude toward the rights of servants as people.
Julia nodded to him. "Yes."
"And what does he want?"
"Me."
For a moment Robert had to process that answer. "You? As in…"
"As in biblically," Julia clarified. Seeing the looks she was getting, she continued, "Well, he didn't say that, but it was pretty clear he wants me to visit his personal quarters wearing those skimpy things half of the girls in his retinue wear, and that would be just the start of the evening."
"It might be because of your height," said Jarod, matter-of-factly. "Miqo'te females average about four-eleven, you're six feet tall. The idea of being with someone taller than him might be the point."
"I figure it's being head of his own clan and thinking this gives him access to any woman he wants," Julia answered with more than a hint of just how she felt about Chief U'dahra's attitude towards women.
"Well, we'll write him off the list," Robert said.
Julia continued form there. "If we can bring Chieftess Y'mali over, that should give us enough votes. She's sympathetic, but she's opposed to joining wars by the Alliance." Julia tapped some keys to show the text of the proposed treaty. "I think that if Emissary Jopari and I amend a couple of the terms, Chieftess Y'mali might even swing the other borderline isolationists over to a yes vote, and we won't need either of those bastard chiefs."
"I doubt the Senate will mind the idea of the Miqo'te not sending troops to fight the Reich," Locarno noted. "That's not really the point here."
"Forward the amendments to Jopari, then," Robert said. "Anything else?"
"Yeah." Now it was Zack's turn. "Karen has been released for active duty. I'm trying to make arrangements for her to meet up with us. And Ys'talla is pretty far for an average transport so having her come out this way just for us to leave in the week it's going to take her to get here would be… well, annoying as all hell."
"Right." Robert nodded. "I can't think of any reason we'll need the Koenig any time soon, so if you want to launch and meet up with her at a fleet base, go ahead. Your crew could probably use the deployment time anyway."
Zack leaned back in his chair. "Fine. I'll send her a signal and work with Apley on a good spot to meet her. You're going to want Tom back, I guess?"
"Th' lad willnae be happy if ye have him workin' as a third wheel once th' lass is back aboard," Scotty pointed out. "Besides, I still have some work t' dae with him t' make him ready for his new post."
For a moment the room quieted as everyone considered what Scotty meant. Not about Tom, but about his new job, as it reminded everyone of how the senior staff was being divided with Julia assuming command of the Enterprise at the end of the year. Cat even briefly glanced toward her sister Angel, who was also going to transfer with Julia.
"I could use Tom here, actually," Jarod added, quickly cutting through the moment before any further awkwardness could build. "If we find Darglan technology, he's one of the few qualified officers with it. I'll want everyone I can get."
"That makes sense," Zack said. "I"ll have Ana Poniatowski run Engineering until we meet up with Karen."
"Alright then. I'll leave you and Lieutenant Apley to make the arrangements, let me or Julia know when you're ready to launch." Robert shifted his weight in his chair. "Alright, anything else?" When nobody answered he nodded and stood. "Alright. You're all dismissed."
Everyone got up and left. Everyone, that is, except Julia. The look in her aquamarine-colored green eyes told Robert she wanted to talk and he too remained. "Are you okay?" he asked her.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"About?"
"About all of this drama about the Enterprise." Julia drew in a breath and let it out. "I'm not sorry for taking command. But I never meant to tear our team apart."
"Well, I'm not sure that was in your power," Robert answered. "I mean, let's face it, Scotty is thrilled at the idea of a new Enterprise, and of getting to be the first chief engineer to put the design through standard field operations. And Angel…" Robert shrugged. "...that's on me. I chose this." He gently held his hand up and caused the teacup in front of him to briefly levitate in the air. "I chose it over her. I don't blame her for wanting to move on, especially if she gets to keep her favorite sparring partner."
Julia smiled thinly at that. "She's on my list of potential First Officers. Not that she'd get the position first, I doubt Maran will approve a two rank jump."
"And Angel would have to qualify for command first," Robert added. "I'm not sure she wants that."
"Nor does Jarod," Julia said.
"You already asked?"
"No." She shook her head. "But I know him. He barely tolerates the idea of being in charge if both of us aren't available. He doesn't want a command posting. Frankly I think he'll leave before he accepts something like that."
"Right." Robert considered the question for the moment. "Nick?"
"I'll ask him, but only if it's okay with you. As things stand you're already losing three senior officers. Four if Caterina wants to stay with Angel."
"I know," Robert said. "We're both going to have adjustment periods." After a moment he added, "And go ahead and ask Nick, it's fine."
"Alright. Later, of course." Julia stood. "I'll go speak with Emissary Jopari."
"And I'd better get back out to the bridge."
They left the conference lounge together.
Given the excavation they were due to assist that evening, Caterina and Jarod were relieved from further duty so they could get sleep. Caterina stopped by Science Lab 1 long enough to check on the process of examining the database given to Lucy by the Darglan caretaker Jornam before heading to her quarters. When she arrived she pulled off her uniform jacket and hung it up.
Before she could remove her skirt and finish swapping into her sleeping clothes, a door chime sounded. Caterina called out, "Come in!" and walked to the exit from her bedroom.
Violeta stepped in wearing her uniform and carrying a bag. Caterina skipped up to her and accepted a warm kiss from her girlfriend. When the kiss was over Violeta said, "I'm due on the bridge in two hours. But I wanted to show you what I picked up during my shore leave this morning."
"Oh?"
Violeta set the bag down on the coffee table and pulled out several items. One was a necklace with an amber piece, the amber mixed with a blue substance that gave it a beautiful mix of colors. A data slip was marked with Miqo'te characters and added English labels denoting titles. "Movies?" asked Cat.
"Some Miqo'te romances. Action-romances, comedy-romances… and one harem romance that I'm told is pretty spicy with the love scenes."
"But…"
"Love scenes between the ladies only," Violeta added, grinning.
Caterina matched the grin. "Okay, that's different." Nevertheless a little pink blush had formed on her cheeks at the thought of what the movie in question contained.
Violeta removed the next items and the blush deepened. "Those… those are…" Caterina held up one her size. "...you bought me a dancing girl outfit?"
"Sure." Violeta put an arm around Cat and kissed her reddening cheek. "I can't wait to see how it looks on you."
"But…" Caterina shook her head, laughing at the silliness of it. "I mean… you and I have been naked before. Together. In bed."
"Among other places," Violeta added with a grin that brought Caterina's blood rushing to her cheeks (among other places).
"So… I mean, we've seen each other without clothes. It just seems weird that we'll enjoy being in clothes more." Caterina dug into the bag's bottom and pulled out more clothes. "Wait," she said. "These are your uniform undershirt and…"
When she turned to present them to Violeta, Violeta had removed her uniform jacket and trousers. She was wearing the same kind of "dancing girl" bikini outfit, where the fabric was no thicker than a centimeter save the diagonal bands that provided support and just enough coverage to be appropriate. The bottom worked under the same principles. Violeta raised her arms up and bent her elbows to put her hands above her head, a seductive smile on her face as she swayed slightly in her pose.
Caterina looked at this display intently. She swallowed. "Okay," she said, her heart picking up. "I see what you mean."
Violeta nodded. "I'd like to see you in yours," she said. "If you're okay with it."
The initial, instinctive reaction was "No". Cat had spent her life avoiding these things. Ever since it became clear she wasn't going to have the curves that all of the other girls she knew had. Just looking in her mirror in bra and panties in her teen years had convinced Caterina she was too short, thin, and puny to make a swimsuit like that work. She'd always worn one-piece suits and that was that.
But the glint in her girlfriend's vivid purple eyes convinced her that maybe, just maybe, she could look good in something like that.
Caterina picked up the suit. As she did, Violeta murmured, "And just think how much fun it'll be taking them back off."
It didn't take much thinking for Caterina to decide that it would, indeed, be a lot of fun.
The yellow sun of Ys'talla gave the excavation site the feeling of being in an open air oven. Azeyma's Rest was three hundred kilometers from Sweetwater Springs in an area of semi-arid steppe land and scrub that saw just enough rainfall to support agriculture (with the assistance of the underground springs in the general region and a river system that helped replenish those springs). Looking at it was enough to tell Jarod that the Darglan had picked the site well. That judgement did not include the possible existence of game animals for the Miqo'te to hunt after their arrival. Today there seemed to be few, but thousands of years of hunting and being pushed out of habitats by growing Miqo'te communities could easily account for that.
Professor B'rrel was a male Miqo'te of bronze complexion with wheat-colored hair, including facial hair that gave him an almost leonine appearance. He was dressed in a work jacket and shorts that were almost khaki in their coloration, with his feet padded by dark brown boots. Jarod had already observed that B'rrel tended to let his tail swish absent-mindedly when he was focused enough on something else, whether it be a conversation or examining an artifact.
"We have definite estimates for the ages of these artifacts," he was saying to Jarod. "The deepest strata include tools and weapons that are approximately three thousand and two hundred twenty-six years old."
Jarod did the conversion in his head. "So roughly three thousand and sixty-four years old by Human reckoning."
"Mrrr… yes, I suppose." B'rrel held up one item. "Some puzzle us. For instance, this amulet."
Jarod visually inspected it. The band was of old, crackled leather, while the amulet proper was a crystal of white color that could pass for ice. He held it in his right palm. It felt cool to the touch, cooler than the environment suggests it would be. Jarod activated his omnitool with his right hand and ran the scanner over the crystal. "Hrm. I've never seen a material like this before."
"Yes. We have found a few similar items. They seem to be jewelry, set into amulets and rings. You don't suppose…"
Jarod could tell what B'rrel was getting at. "I can cross-check what information we have on the Darglans to be sure. Although I don't recall anything like this in their technology."
"Very well." B'rrel looked out over the site from the covered platform they were standing on. Jarod looked as well, watching the Miqo'te archeologists and students at work digging and checking while, among their number, Alliance science officers were scanning away for more signs of the Darglan. Their black and dark-blue field action uniforms set them apart from the other examiners. Jarod had insisted on the action uniforms, not because he worried about a confrontation but because they were made for easier use in extreme climates, and the warmth of the semi-arid steppe was just high enough to be a concern.
"It will be something to corroborate the theory," B'rrel said. "Some of the clans may dislike discounting divine involvement in our arrival on Ys'talla, but for me, the thought that the Darglan had a hand in our destinies… marvelous. An honor."
"I wonder what your homeworld was like?"
"As in the world our species comes from?" B'rrel's tail widened its arc of movement in response. "A good question. I wonder if it still survives."
Jarod had no response to that. It was an interesting speculation, certainly, but not what he had on his mind right now. There was too much going on, and far more important questions still loomed.
While the action uniform did provide some protection from the heat, Caterina found she was wishing she had the looser, cooler near-khaki outfits of the Miqo'te archeologists. Or the cooling suit that Doctor Tralamina was currently clad in. Tralamina was a Gy'toran. Facially he looked more like a koala than anything, although the facial structure was still different with deeper dark eyes and a tall, lithe body of very fine violet fur. The fur was more hair than fur, in fact, but it did give Gy'torans a unique appearance compared to most Humanoid species.
Of course, the main differences revolved around the fact that they also had four arms. Or rather, six limbs, given the incredible dexterity of the Gy'toran species. Tralamina was currently walking on his two legs, but he could easily use his middle pair of appendages as a set of legs too given the segmented nature of the Gy'toran body that gave them an almost insectoid quality. If push came to it, Gy'torans like Tralamina could even run on all six limbs, although it could be awkward for them. Caterina had only seen such in video records, in fact.
For the moment Tralamina was busy examining a blade. "This is quite peculiar," he said with the benefit of auto-translation. He held up the rusted weapon. "The blade is larger than one would imagine a Miqo'te of either gender would utilize. In fact, it appears to be large even for most other species, such that it would be a two-handed weapon. Yet the balance and design imply it is for one-handed use."
"Maybe it was ceremonial?" Caterina suggested while scanning away with her hand-held sensor. The omnitool was also scanning, but the scanner she held had ground-penetrating capability beyond what the omnitool could do.
"Perhaps. I shall take it to Professor B'rrel."
With that Tralamina left her vicinity. Caterina tried not to feel frustrated with him. The assignment of a xenoarchaeologist to the Aurora civilian science specialist team had seemed unnecessary. Indeed, Tralamina's secondary speciality as a geologist received more use than his primary skill. The chance to practice his education in these circumstances was clearly causing him great joy.
But we're not here to look for swords, Caterina grumbled to herself as the scans came up empty yet again. She moved over to another search area. Given the map they had already searched half of the existing excavation. If nothing came up they had nothing to do but wait and see if B'rrel's team could find anything else.
Tralamina returned. "The good Professor has informed me that there are more blades like that one," he said. "So the idea that they are ceremonial is definitely a good theory."
"Thank you."
Caterina couldn't keep the frustration out of her voice. And Tralamina heard it. "It is possible there is nothing," he pointed out. "The Darglan would not have left anything to contaminate the Miqo'te species culturally or socially."
"Not intentionally," Caterina said. "But maybe we could find something. An old disguised sensor, maybe."
"Perhaps our wind will change," Tralamina said, keeping his reassuring tone. "In the meantime, I hope to see if we can find any signs of their cutlery. Or perhaps animal bones. How the Miqo'te ate can help us determine how the initial settlement may have sustained itself…"
Before Caterina could respond, her omnitool started blinking with an incoming message. "Lucero to Jarod or Science Officer Delgado."
Caterina pressed a key to open a channel. Jarod started speaking first. "Go ahead, Lieutenant."
"I've got something for you," she said. "We've found something in Jornam's database."
"We'll beam up in a few minutes. Jarod out."
"Hrm," said Tralamina. "I hope this doesn't lead to us leaving this excavation so soon. It is such an excellent dig site."
"That's why I'm leaving you in charge of it," said Cat. She smiled at him. "Let me know if you find anything."
"Of course, Lieutenant," he chittered, quite happy with himself. "Of course!"
Robert and Julia entered Science Lab 1 at the same time as Jarod and Caterina, coming in from the opposite side. The former two were a little rumpled; it was 0143 ship time and they'd been called from bed.
The two sets of newcomers converged at the central console where Lucy, Barnes, and Meridina were sitting and going over data. "Yeah, that's definitely a jump drive," Barnes remarked.
There was no need to ask what he was talking about. The computer was showing an image of a lab with azure-tinted walls. Orange-skinned figures with tall skulls and wearing dark green coats were gathered around a machine, a squat, wide device that was easily three meters long and about one hundred and twenty centimeters wide. It was squat, like a standard probe or torpedo casing, but with interfaces along its top side and an open port at the end.
"I thought jump drives were five meters long?" Robert asked. "I remember seeing them as being pretty long…"
"They are," Barnes agreed. "I mean, that's the smallest model, and it's got crap for redundancy. The Aurora's jump drive is almost ten meters in length and two meters wide, and it's the best frakking model we've got. It's why we can't install the damn things on smaller ships like runabouts. Not enough power or volume."
Lucy tapped keys that brought up Darglan characters, then converted them to alphanumeric ones. "But this model is far more efficient according to their lab data. And it's capable of a wider band of universes."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Julia.
"Different bands of space-time, different continuums" Caterina said. "I mean, they exist theoretically, and we have some possible confirmation of them from a handful of encounters. Like the Q in S5T3. It's possible that the Darglan may have been building a jump drive that would access those continuums."
"And it may be why they were punished," Meridina said. She couldn't take her eyes off the image. "I saw something like this."
All heads turned to face her. Robert asked, "Where?"
"In Jornam's mind, as he lay dying," Meridina replied. "He… he pleaded with me to forget the memory. That it was an error." A horrified look crossed Meridina's face at the implications.
Implications that the others quickly grasped. "Could this be what caused the Darkness to attack three thousand years ago?" Robert asked, holding a finger toward the screen.
"I believe so."
"I suppose," Caterina said. She eyed the image. "I mean, if it accessed other bands of space-time, other continuum… it might have brought something into our continuum, our band of space-time and universes I mean, that was hostile."
"Or it might just be a cooler new jump drive," Barnes pointed out. "Something we could use."
"I would hesitate to share this device with anyone, Lieutenant Barnes," said Meridina. "It is dangerous."
"In more than one way." Robert kept his eyes on the image. "Imagine if it's still out there. If someone found it…"
"Swenya's Light, no," Meridina said in a hushed tone.
"We have to find it, then," said Lucy. "I'll keep searching the Darglan databases we have."
"Well, maybe there's another way?"
Everyone looked to Caterina. Her old shyness disliked this, but she was used to it enough that she didn't stammer when she resumed speaking. "Years ago, we were told that old species, 'Ancient Ones', punished the Gersallians and took away their IU drives, right?"
"Yes," said Meridina, who remembered learning it at the same time as Caterina.
"Well, it's likely the Ancient Ones came from E5B1, right?" asked Caterina. "At least some of them. And we know that E5B1 had species known as First Ones. If there's anything left, any sources of information from those First Ones…"
"I find it unlikely," Jarod said, shaking his head. "These kinds of species and beings aren't the type to just leave maps lying around."
"It's still worth a shot," Cat insisted.
For a moment Robert considered the question. A feeling within him built up, a sense that Caterina had a point and this was the thing to do. He nodded. "Alright. I'll ask Admiral Maran to contact President Sheridan. If anyone knows what we're looking for, Sheridan may know who we should ask."
Ship's Log: ASV Aurora; 11 October 2642. Captain Robert Dale recording. We are still in orbit over the planet Ys'talla in N2S7 as to support a diplomatic mission to the Miqo'te. The planet's governing body, the Council of Clans, is considering a new defense treaty with the Alliance that could provide great benefits to this region of space.
Although our main purpose is diplomacy, I have won permission to consult the Miqo'te on the matter of their origins. Ys'talla is not their original homeworld according to their teachings and examination of the planet's fossil records. And now we have proof of how they ended up on this planet through the efforts of the Darglan. I'm hoping we find clues as to where more knowledge of the Darglan can be found.
The capital city of the planet Ys'talla had the unassuming name of Sweetwater Springs. As he had walked along the long pathways between buildings in the Ys'talla Academy of Sciences and felt the warm sea air that regularly moved through the city, he reflected on the reasons why.
Set aside the obvious fact that the name was actually a near-unpronounceable one, and that "Sweetwater Springs" was just the English translation. The fact that a city that sounded like it was a resort and vacation town had become a gleaming planetary capital was, in fact, due to being a resort town. Or rather, a recognized meeting place for the various nations and clans and tribes of the Miqo'te. It had been such for thousands of years, since the planet had been settled, declared a neutral place where no warfare or violence was allowed. The step up to planetary capital had not been a large one.
Robert and his entourage - Caterina and Meridina - were walking another pedestrian bridge between two of the main towers of the Academy. The gleaming splendor of the capital was visible out the windows. The architecture tended toward the round shape - inspired by old Gersallian building? - and wide avenues spoke of former street markets. The smell in the air was a scent of tropical wood like none on Earth, a faint hint of sweetness with the strong wood smell.
The Miqo'te themselves were an interesting sight. Felinoid species weren't unknown in the Multiverse, of course. The Caitians of S5T3 were a valued member of the Federation. One of the species of L4R2 were the Rr'timm, and on the few times Robert had seen one they always made him think of panthers to the point he half-expected to meet one named Bagheera. Universe E5B1 had once contained the Dilgar, who had a feline look to them.
But those species all had distinct elements to set them apart from Humans, including actual fur over their bodies. The Miqo'te, however, had skin of the same texture and feel as Human skin. Their fur was limited to the tails that came out of their backsides, or rather the base of their spines, and to the cat-ears on the tops of their heads, which were surfaced with fur. The eyes were certainly cat-like. Their clothing varied by tribe and culture in terms of coloring, style, taste.
And as Tom Barnes had so helpfully pointed out the day before during a walk in the capital's marketplace and parks, the Miqo'te girls had busts like a number of other humanoid species did. While Robert already knew that from briefly meeting a Miqo'te piloting officer on the Aurora, the outfits of the troupe of dancing girls they'd seen had made that an inescapable fact.
Stepping into the building reminded Robert of stepping into retail stores back in the pre-spaceship days of his life. Powerful air vents acted as something of a barrier for the outside air. The tropical wood smell was replaced by something flowery like lavender mixed with cinnamon and the warm sea air was now climate-controlled cool air. What little perspiration had formed on his forehead now grew cool. His skin immediately stopped that slight production of sweat in recognition of the changed climate. The halls were colored in earthy tones of brown and pale yellow. Plates in the characters of the Miqo'te language pointed toward various places. Caterina's omnitool provided a translation and she directed them down the hall and then to the right.
Their eventual destination was an office. Windows looked out to a classroom that was now empty. Tomes bound in leather revealed the Miqo'te, at least urban ones, had the same tastes in printing books as Humans did. A male with rust-colored hair and fur on his tail and head indicated seats for them. Robert and the others noted that his skin, while fair in tone, seemed to be bluish-gray, and his eyes were widely dilated. "I am H'rmaz R'mar," he said. "Assistant to Doctor Y'shmyn O'yano, the Professor of Ys'tallan History."
"Mister R'mar, Doctor… or do you prefer Professor?" Robert asked, looking at the scholar. She was wearing a white coat that matched the fur and short-cut hair on her head. Red markings - tattoos? Some sort of facial marking? - were visible on her cheeks, giving the impression of cat whiskers. Eyes of light teal color looked up from a book. "I'm Captain Robert Dale of the Alliance Starship Aurora."
"Ah, Captain. Doctor will do." The translators rendered her speech into an accent that sounded like a well-spoken English academic. "I received your message and the materials your science officer provided."
"That's why I brought her along." Robert gestured to Caterina, who as usual looked like she was about to burst into questions. "This is Lieutenant Caterina Delgado, Aurora science officer. And my chief of security Lieutenant Commander Meridina, who helped rescue the Darglan Jornam."
"Doctor, it's a pleasure to meet you," Caterina said, offering her hand. Y'shmyn accepted it.
"Doctor." Meridina did not offer her hand. She bowed her head in greetings.
By this point Robert could feel what Meridina had already felt. He looked to Y'shmyn with a bit of surprise. Y'shmyn smiled back. "Yes, Captain. You and I share the Gift. Azeyma has blessed me with power. In my younger days I made use of it, but today I am an academic, and I vastly prefer mysteries in books than hunting slavers across the U'nar Plains."
"I see." Robert nodded and accepted his seat among those that H'rmaz offered. "What can you tell us about your history of how you came to be on Ys'talla?"
"Very little, until now," Y'shmyn confessed. "I have studied what our oldest oral histories hold to have been our arrival point, known as Azeyma's Rest. There is an ongoing excavation there. But all evidence we have found simply reflects the state of the Miqo'te when we arrived on Ys'talla. We were a pre-industrial species. Almost all of the tribes were nomadic or semi-nomadic, and some still are I will add. Our science was laughable and superstitious beliefs still predominated."
"My grandmother told me as a child that Menphina and Azeyma opened a door to this world so that our people could escape a great calamity," H'rmaz offered. "That is the belief of most Miqo'te today."
"And it will remain so, I suspect. We do not recall the place of the Darglan in our histories."
"It's possible the Darglan hid themselves during the transplantation," said Caterina. "They might have interacted with you through holographic disguises."
"To protect our culture from the effects of being introduced to space flight and interuniversal drive at our stage of development? A reasonable hypothesis." Y'shmyn looked thoughtful. A pen levitated from the surface of her desk and began to spin in mid-air. "I will continue my academic work on the matter. As it is, many of my colleagues I've consulted find the theory of the Darglan role meritable, and I am writing a paper on the evidence. I hope to lay out the case well enough to be accepted by our people."
"I am curious as to why your people were brought to this world. Was it a war of some sort?" asked Meridina.
"It was something wrong with our world of origin. Our oral histories all match in that respect, whether one is a Keeper or a Seeker."
"Keeper? Seeker?"
At Caterina's question, Y'shmyn said, "You may have noticed that my assistant has a different base coloration from my own, with wider eyes. Miqo'te have developed into two distinct racial groups, diurnal and nocturnal. I am a Seeker and I function best in daylight. H'rmaz's ancestors on our original homeworld took to caves and night-time living, becoming nocturnal. Keepers."
"The distinction does not matter as greatly any more," H'rmaz said. "Aside from physical attributes and some theological squabbling about whether Azeyma or Menphina is the more important deity for our people."
"At least, not in our cities. In the countrysides, it can vary. I have learned this from harsh experience." Y'shmyn spun her finger around and the pen spinning in mid-air began to spin with greater speed. Robert got the feeling it was something she did while in deep thought. "The Darglan. Such a mystery. We learned they existed from our contacts with the Gersallians, small as they are. To think that we owe our existence on this world to that ancient species…"
"Your people tend to be isolationist, right?" Caterina asked.
"In general." Y'shmyn frowned. "It is an annoying tendency, mind you. The Coserians and their Jeaxian proxies nearly enslaved us due to it, and to this day we have trouble with the Jeaxian warlords and the most violent of our own clans."
Robert was darkly reminded of Doctor Opani's ordeal as a volunteer. "So I've heard."
"It is waking us up, bit by bit. I hope, in fact, to one day see my species within your Alliance, Captain." She smiled slyly. "Although I would be grateful to you for not mentioning that to the Academy Chairwoman. She is rather strict about political neutrality among the senior academics."
"A wise policy," H'rmaz observed.
"And we are getting off the subject that you came all this way to speak with me on," Y'shmyn added. "I presume you have more questions about our history?"
"We're trying to learn more about what the Darglan did during their time," Robert said.
"For the sake of knowledge?"
"Yes," Caterina insisted. But she looked to Robert for correction, indicating her answer was more her own desires than the official ones.
"Among other things," he clarified. "The more we learn about Darglan activities in the past, the more likely we are to locate other remaining sources of Darglan technology. Now that we know more about what they were doing back in the day and that there might be other caretaker stations like Jornam's, we need to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands."
"I think I understand." Y'shmyn took the pen out of mid-air with her hand. "You're hoping the Darglan might have left observers here too?"
"Maybe not living observers," said Caterina. "But perhaps observation stations. Automated ones, maybe. Or, like in N2C5, they may have had a central location to observe any other systems they were interested in. With probes or automated observers for remote watching."
Y'shmyn thought deeply about that. "I have heard nothing of such a site being found. But our sensor technology is not as advanced as your own, Captain. It is possible your sensors might detect something our means have missed." She pulled a sheet of paper out of a drawer. "I shall write you a recommendation to my colleague at the Azeyma's Rest dig site. Perhaps you will find something there."
"If we do, you'll be the first to know," Robert promised.
"I should hope you inform Professor B'rrel first," Y'shmyn remarked. "He will be your man at the dig site." She smiled slightly. "I do hope you find something. It would be quite the discovery."
"Thank you for your help, Doctor." Robert stood, prompting the others to do the same. "We appreciate your time."
Undiscovered Frontier
"All That Remains"
"All That Remains"
The command staff met in the conference lounge off the bridge upon the trio's return. "I've already spoken with Doctor B'rrel via commlink," Robert informed everyone. "He's ready to receive a science team in the morning."
"Which will be this evening by ship time," Caterina clarified. "Due to the hour difference."
"Right. Jarod, you and Cat will take down a contingent of science officers."
"I'll also invite our new xenoarcheology specialist, Doctor Tralamina," Caterina said.
"I'll leave the team makeup to you and Jarod," Robert said. He turned to Julia. "Have we heard anything else about the defense treaty negotiations?"
Julia crossed her arms and sighed. "A couple of the critical votes are being troublesome. Chief U'mhaka was basically asking for his weight in latinum."
"So he wants to be bribed into voting for the treaty." Robert sighed at that. But he shouldn't be too shocked. Some people were just naturally greedy. "And who's the other hold-out?"
"Chief U'dahra."
A mental image appeared in Robert's mind that he wished to rub out. "The one who showed up on the train with nothing but women in his retinue, half of whom were dressed like they were going to a swimsuit contest?" And more than a few looked unhappy to be there, Robert thought darkly, well aware that the Miqo'te were still having issues with their nomadic groups' blaise attitude toward the rights of servants as people.
Julia nodded to him. "Yes."
"And what does he want?"
"Me."
For a moment Robert had to process that answer. "You? As in…"
"As in biblically," Julia clarified. Seeing the looks she was getting, she continued, "Well, he didn't say that, but it was pretty clear he wants me to visit his personal quarters wearing those skimpy things half of the girls in his retinue wear, and that would be just the start of the evening."
"It might be because of your height," said Jarod, matter-of-factly. "Miqo'te females average about four-eleven, you're six feet tall. The idea of being with someone taller than him might be the point."
"I figure it's being head of his own clan and thinking this gives him access to any woman he wants," Julia answered with more than a hint of just how she felt about Chief U'dahra's attitude towards women.
"Well, we'll write him off the list," Robert said.
Julia continued form there. "If we can bring Chieftess Y'mali over, that should give us enough votes. She's sympathetic, but she's opposed to joining wars by the Alliance." Julia tapped some keys to show the text of the proposed treaty. "I think that if Emissary Jopari and I amend a couple of the terms, Chieftess Y'mali might even swing the other borderline isolationists over to a yes vote, and we won't need either of those bastard chiefs."
"I doubt the Senate will mind the idea of the Miqo'te not sending troops to fight the Reich," Locarno noted. "That's not really the point here."
"Forward the amendments to Jopari, then," Robert said. "Anything else?"
"Yeah." Now it was Zack's turn. "Karen has been released for active duty. I'm trying to make arrangements for her to meet up with us. And Ys'talla is pretty far for an average transport so having her come out this way just for us to leave in the week it's going to take her to get here would be… well, annoying as all hell."
"Right." Robert nodded. "I can't think of any reason we'll need the Koenig any time soon, so if you want to launch and meet up with her at a fleet base, go ahead. Your crew could probably use the deployment time anyway."
Zack leaned back in his chair. "Fine. I'll send her a signal and work with Apley on a good spot to meet her. You're going to want Tom back, I guess?"
"Th' lad willnae be happy if ye have him workin' as a third wheel once th' lass is back aboard," Scotty pointed out. "Besides, I still have some work t' dae with him t' make him ready for his new post."
For a moment the room quieted as everyone considered what Scotty meant. Not about Tom, but about his new job, as it reminded everyone of how the senior staff was being divided with Julia assuming command of the Enterprise at the end of the year. Cat even briefly glanced toward her sister Angel, who was also going to transfer with Julia.
"I could use Tom here, actually," Jarod added, quickly cutting through the moment before any further awkwardness could build. "If we find Darglan technology, he's one of the few qualified officers with it. I'll want everyone I can get."
"That makes sense," Zack said. "I"ll have Ana Poniatowski run Engineering until we meet up with Karen."
"Alright then. I'll leave you and Lieutenant Apley to make the arrangements, let me or Julia know when you're ready to launch." Robert shifted his weight in his chair. "Alright, anything else?" When nobody answered he nodded and stood. "Alright. You're all dismissed."
Everyone got up and left. Everyone, that is, except Julia. The look in her aquamarine-colored green eyes told Robert she wanted to talk and he too remained. "Are you okay?" he asked her.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"About?"
"About all of this drama about the Enterprise." Julia drew in a breath and let it out. "I'm not sorry for taking command. But I never meant to tear our team apart."
"Well, I'm not sure that was in your power," Robert answered. "I mean, let's face it, Scotty is thrilled at the idea of a new Enterprise, and of getting to be the first chief engineer to put the design through standard field operations. And Angel…" Robert shrugged. "...that's on me. I chose this." He gently held his hand up and caused the teacup in front of him to briefly levitate in the air. "I chose it over her. I don't blame her for wanting to move on, especially if she gets to keep her favorite sparring partner."
Julia smiled thinly at that. "She's on my list of potential First Officers. Not that she'd get the position first, I doubt Maran will approve a two rank jump."
"And Angel would have to qualify for command first," Robert added. "I'm not sure she wants that."
"Nor does Jarod," Julia said.
"You already asked?"
"No." She shook her head. "But I know him. He barely tolerates the idea of being in charge if both of us aren't available. He doesn't want a command posting. Frankly I think he'll leave before he accepts something like that."
"Right." Robert considered the question for the moment. "Nick?"
"I'll ask him, but only if it's okay with you. As things stand you're already losing three senior officers. Four if Caterina wants to stay with Angel."
"I know," Robert said. "We're both going to have adjustment periods." After a moment he added, "And go ahead and ask Nick, it's fine."
"Alright. Later, of course." Julia stood. "I'll go speak with Emissary Jopari."
"And I'd better get back out to the bridge."
They left the conference lounge together.
Given the excavation they were due to assist that evening, Caterina and Jarod were relieved from further duty so they could get sleep. Caterina stopped by Science Lab 1 long enough to check on the process of examining the database given to Lucy by the Darglan caretaker Jornam before heading to her quarters. When she arrived she pulled off her uniform jacket and hung it up.
Before she could remove her skirt and finish swapping into her sleeping clothes, a door chime sounded. Caterina called out, "Come in!" and walked to the exit from her bedroom.
Violeta stepped in wearing her uniform and carrying a bag. Caterina skipped up to her and accepted a warm kiss from her girlfriend. When the kiss was over Violeta said, "I'm due on the bridge in two hours. But I wanted to show you what I picked up during my shore leave this morning."
"Oh?"
Violeta set the bag down on the coffee table and pulled out several items. One was a necklace with an amber piece, the amber mixed with a blue substance that gave it a beautiful mix of colors. A data slip was marked with Miqo'te characters and added English labels denoting titles. "Movies?" asked Cat.
"Some Miqo'te romances. Action-romances, comedy-romances… and one harem romance that I'm told is pretty spicy with the love scenes."
"But…"
"Love scenes between the ladies only," Violeta added, grinning.
Caterina matched the grin. "Okay, that's different." Nevertheless a little pink blush had formed on her cheeks at the thought of what the movie in question contained.
Violeta removed the next items and the blush deepened. "Those… those are…" Caterina held up one her size. "...you bought me a dancing girl outfit?"
"Sure." Violeta put an arm around Cat and kissed her reddening cheek. "I can't wait to see how it looks on you."
"But…" Caterina shook her head, laughing at the silliness of it. "I mean… you and I have been naked before. Together. In bed."
"Among other places," Violeta added with a grin that brought Caterina's blood rushing to her cheeks (among other places).
"So… I mean, we've seen each other without clothes. It just seems weird that we'll enjoy being in clothes more." Caterina dug into the bag's bottom and pulled out more clothes. "Wait," she said. "These are your uniform undershirt and…"
When she turned to present them to Violeta, Violeta had removed her uniform jacket and trousers. She was wearing the same kind of "dancing girl" bikini outfit, where the fabric was no thicker than a centimeter save the diagonal bands that provided support and just enough coverage to be appropriate. The bottom worked under the same principles. Violeta raised her arms up and bent her elbows to put her hands above her head, a seductive smile on her face as she swayed slightly in her pose.
Caterina looked at this display intently. She swallowed. "Okay," she said, her heart picking up. "I see what you mean."
Violeta nodded. "I'd like to see you in yours," she said. "If you're okay with it."
The initial, instinctive reaction was "No". Cat had spent her life avoiding these things. Ever since it became clear she wasn't going to have the curves that all of the other girls she knew had. Just looking in her mirror in bra and panties in her teen years had convinced Caterina she was too short, thin, and puny to make a swimsuit like that work. She'd always worn one-piece suits and that was that.
But the glint in her girlfriend's vivid purple eyes convinced her that maybe, just maybe, she could look good in something like that.
Caterina picked up the suit. As she did, Violeta murmured, "And just think how much fun it'll be taking them back off."
It didn't take much thinking for Caterina to decide that it would, indeed, be a lot of fun.
The yellow sun of Ys'talla gave the excavation site the feeling of being in an open air oven. Azeyma's Rest was three hundred kilometers from Sweetwater Springs in an area of semi-arid steppe land and scrub that saw just enough rainfall to support agriculture (with the assistance of the underground springs in the general region and a river system that helped replenish those springs). Looking at it was enough to tell Jarod that the Darglan had picked the site well. That judgement did not include the possible existence of game animals for the Miqo'te to hunt after their arrival. Today there seemed to be few, but thousands of years of hunting and being pushed out of habitats by growing Miqo'te communities could easily account for that.
Professor B'rrel was a male Miqo'te of bronze complexion with wheat-colored hair, including facial hair that gave him an almost leonine appearance. He was dressed in a work jacket and shorts that were almost khaki in their coloration, with his feet padded by dark brown boots. Jarod had already observed that B'rrel tended to let his tail swish absent-mindedly when he was focused enough on something else, whether it be a conversation or examining an artifact.
"We have definite estimates for the ages of these artifacts," he was saying to Jarod. "The deepest strata include tools and weapons that are approximately three thousand and two hundred twenty-six years old."
Jarod did the conversion in his head. "So roughly three thousand and sixty-four years old by Human reckoning."
"Mrrr… yes, I suppose." B'rrel held up one item. "Some puzzle us. For instance, this amulet."
Jarod visually inspected it. The band was of old, crackled leather, while the amulet proper was a crystal of white color that could pass for ice. He held it in his right palm. It felt cool to the touch, cooler than the environment suggests it would be. Jarod activated his omnitool with his right hand and ran the scanner over the crystal. "Hrm. I've never seen a material like this before."
"Yes. We have found a few similar items. They seem to be jewelry, set into amulets and rings. You don't suppose…"
Jarod could tell what B'rrel was getting at. "I can cross-check what information we have on the Darglans to be sure. Although I don't recall anything like this in their technology."
"Very well." B'rrel looked out over the site from the covered platform they were standing on. Jarod looked as well, watching the Miqo'te archeologists and students at work digging and checking while, among their number, Alliance science officers were scanning away for more signs of the Darglan. Their black and dark-blue field action uniforms set them apart from the other examiners. Jarod had insisted on the action uniforms, not because he worried about a confrontation but because they were made for easier use in extreme climates, and the warmth of the semi-arid steppe was just high enough to be a concern.
"It will be something to corroborate the theory," B'rrel said. "Some of the clans may dislike discounting divine involvement in our arrival on Ys'talla, but for me, the thought that the Darglan had a hand in our destinies… marvelous. An honor."
"I wonder what your homeworld was like?"
"As in the world our species comes from?" B'rrel's tail widened its arc of movement in response. "A good question. I wonder if it still survives."
Jarod had no response to that. It was an interesting speculation, certainly, but not what he had on his mind right now. There was too much going on, and far more important questions still loomed.
While the action uniform did provide some protection from the heat, Caterina found she was wishing she had the looser, cooler near-khaki outfits of the Miqo'te archeologists. Or the cooling suit that Doctor Tralamina was currently clad in. Tralamina was a Gy'toran. Facially he looked more like a koala than anything, although the facial structure was still different with deeper dark eyes and a tall, lithe body of very fine violet fur. The fur was more hair than fur, in fact, but it did give Gy'torans a unique appearance compared to most Humanoid species.
Of course, the main differences revolved around the fact that they also had four arms. Or rather, six limbs, given the incredible dexterity of the Gy'toran species. Tralamina was currently walking on his two legs, but he could easily use his middle pair of appendages as a set of legs too given the segmented nature of the Gy'toran body that gave them an almost insectoid quality. If push came to it, Gy'torans like Tralamina could even run on all six limbs, although it could be awkward for them. Caterina had only seen such in video records, in fact.
For the moment Tralamina was busy examining a blade. "This is quite peculiar," he said with the benefit of auto-translation. He held up the rusted weapon. "The blade is larger than one would imagine a Miqo'te of either gender would utilize. In fact, it appears to be large even for most other species, such that it would be a two-handed weapon. Yet the balance and design imply it is for one-handed use."
"Maybe it was ceremonial?" Caterina suggested while scanning away with her hand-held sensor. The omnitool was also scanning, but the scanner she held had ground-penetrating capability beyond what the omnitool could do.
"Perhaps. I shall take it to Professor B'rrel."
With that Tralamina left her vicinity. Caterina tried not to feel frustrated with him. The assignment of a xenoarchaeologist to the Aurora civilian science specialist team had seemed unnecessary. Indeed, Tralamina's secondary speciality as a geologist received more use than his primary skill. The chance to practice his education in these circumstances was clearly causing him great joy.
But we're not here to look for swords, Caterina grumbled to herself as the scans came up empty yet again. She moved over to another search area. Given the map they had already searched half of the existing excavation. If nothing came up they had nothing to do but wait and see if B'rrel's team could find anything else.
Tralamina returned. "The good Professor has informed me that there are more blades like that one," he said. "So the idea that they are ceremonial is definitely a good theory."
"Thank you."
Caterina couldn't keep the frustration out of her voice. And Tralamina heard it. "It is possible there is nothing," he pointed out. "The Darglan would not have left anything to contaminate the Miqo'te species culturally or socially."
"Not intentionally," Caterina said. "But maybe we could find something. An old disguised sensor, maybe."
"Perhaps our wind will change," Tralamina said, keeping his reassuring tone. "In the meantime, I hope to see if we can find any signs of their cutlery. Or perhaps animal bones. How the Miqo'te ate can help us determine how the initial settlement may have sustained itself…"
Before Caterina could respond, her omnitool started blinking with an incoming message. "Lucero to Jarod or Science Officer Delgado."
Caterina pressed a key to open a channel. Jarod started speaking first. "Go ahead, Lieutenant."
"I've got something for you," she said. "We've found something in Jornam's database."
"We'll beam up in a few minutes. Jarod out."
"Hrm," said Tralamina. "I hope this doesn't lead to us leaving this excavation so soon. It is such an excellent dig site."
"That's why I'm leaving you in charge of it," said Cat. She smiled at him. "Let me know if you find anything."
"Of course, Lieutenant," he chittered, quite happy with himself. "Of course!"
Robert and Julia entered Science Lab 1 at the same time as Jarod and Caterina, coming in from the opposite side. The former two were a little rumpled; it was 0143 ship time and they'd been called from bed.
The two sets of newcomers converged at the central console where Lucy, Barnes, and Meridina were sitting and going over data. "Yeah, that's definitely a jump drive," Barnes remarked.
There was no need to ask what he was talking about. The computer was showing an image of a lab with azure-tinted walls. Orange-skinned figures with tall skulls and wearing dark green coats were gathered around a machine, a squat, wide device that was easily three meters long and about one hundred and twenty centimeters wide. It was squat, like a standard probe or torpedo casing, but with interfaces along its top side and an open port at the end.
"I thought jump drives were five meters long?" Robert asked. "I remember seeing them as being pretty long…"
"They are," Barnes agreed. "I mean, that's the smallest model, and it's got crap for redundancy. The Aurora's jump drive is almost ten meters in length and two meters wide, and it's the best frakking model we've got. It's why we can't install the damn things on smaller ships like runabouts. Not enough power or volume."
Lucy tapped keys that brought up Darglan characters, then converted them to alphanumeric ones. "But this model is far more efficient according to their lab data. And it's capable of a wider band of universes."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Julia.
"Different bands of space-time, different continuums" Caterina said. "I mean, they exist theoretically, and we have some possible confirmation of them from a handful of encounters. Like the Q in S5T3. It's possible that the Darglan may have been building a jump drive that would access those continuums."
"And it may be why they were punished," Meridina said. She couldn't take her eyes off the image. "I saw something like this."
All heads turned to face her. Robert asked, "Where?"
"In Jornam's mind, as he lay dying," Meridina replied. "He… he pleaded with me to forget the memory. That it was an error." A horrified look crossed Meridina's face at the implications.
Implications that the others quickly grasped. "Could this be what caused the Darkness to attack three thousand years ago?" Robert asked, holding a finger toward the screen.
"I believe so."
"I suppose," Caterina said. She eyed the image. "I mean, if it accessed other bands of space-time, other continuum… it might have brought something into our continuum, our band of space-time and universes I mean, that was hostile."
"Or it might just be a cooler new jump drive," Barnes pointed out. "Something we could use."
"I would hesitate to share this device with anyone, Lieutenant Barnes," said Meridina. "It is dangerous."
"In more than one way." Robert kept his eyes on the image. "Imagine if it's still out there. If someone found it…"
"Swenya's Light, no," Meridina said in a hushed tone.
"We have to find it, then," said Lucy. "I'll keep searching the Darglan databases we have."
"Well, maybe there's another way?"
Everyone looked to Caterina. Her old shyness disliked this, but she was used to it enough that she didn't stammer when she resumed speaking. "Years ago, we were told that old species, 'Ancient Ones', punished the Gersallians and took away their IU drives, right?"
"Yes," said Meridina, who remembered learning it at the same time as Caterina.
"Well, it's likely the Ancient Ones came from E5B1, right?" asked Caterina. "At least some of them. And we know that E5B1 had species known as First Ones. If there's anything left, any sources of information from those First Ones…"
"I find it unlikely," Jarod said, shaking his head. "These kinds of species and beings aren't the type to just leave maps lying around."
"It's still worth a shot," Cat insisted.
For a moment Robert considered the question. A feeling within him built up, a sense that Caterina had a point and this was the thing to do. He nodded. "Alright. I'll ask Admiral Maran to contact President Sheridan. If anyone knows what we're looking for, Sheridan may know who we should ask."