Catching up the XO

Posted on Thu Jan 29th, 2015 @ 4:40am by Lieutenant Commander Horatio Hawke & Captain Tim Williams

Episode: Orphans
Location: USS Highlander - Transporter Room
Timeline: MD30 1010hrs

Tim entered the transporter room as the rematerialisation cycle completed, depositing Commander Hawke on the transporter pad and dimming the lights around the bay that signified a transport in progress. "You're going to start feeling like a yo-yo beaming up and down like this if we stay here much longer," the captain commented, as the chief behind the control console began readying for the next transport. Tim led the commander out into the hallway, wanting to be clear of the transporter room by the time the Cardassians beamed onboard so that they had an extra few minutes in the briefing room to prepare for them.

Hawke fell in step with the captain as they left the transporter room and put a hand to his stomach, "I don't know how many more trips my stomach can handle," he said with an attempt at a grin. He wasn't feeling very jovial, given the events of the day. "So, we have some unexpected guests?"

"We do," Tim confirmed. "A ship of Cardassians led by a man named Gul Brenor. They claim that a fugitive they've been tracking may be on the planet below. A Cardassian scientist named Kotan Entek."

"A scientist?" Hawke asked with a surprised tone, his mind already joining dots with the events of the day.

"He's a former member of the Obsidian Order - he's actually the son of Corbin Entek, the operative who made Major Kira Nerys of DS9 look like a Cardassian in order to try and expose Legate Tekeny Ghemor as a member of the Cardassian Underground before the War." The captain had made sure to read up on the information they had in the database briefly as he had made his way down to the transporter room. "The crimes they listed are fairly typical of what you'd expect of a member of the Order - murder, manslaughter, theft, and so on - but Brenor also said that he has been pursuing illegal genetic research, trying to bio-engineer the 'perfect shock trooper'."

The XO grumbled in the back of his throat and shook his head in disbelief, "A shock trooper, or a vicious predator?"

"Hmm," Tim vocalised, agreeing with the first officer's assessment. "It's possible that these creatures we have encountered are either an early prototype of Entek's work, or perhaps some failed experiment left to run amok. But that's not the most troubling hypothesis around it; I spoke with Doctor Talm after you beamed back down. He ran a DNA analysis on the fur and saliva left on the two bodies; the creature's DNA looks to be made up of a cross-fertilisation of numerous species, including human, cardassian, vulcan, bolian and bajoran, but the Doctor says that the differing DNA sequences appear to have been spliced artificially, and accelerated artificially. I'm no geneticist, but the DNA sequences he showed me looked wildly chaotic. I think that Entek is trying to merge different species together, in order to end up with the 'best' qualities of each - at least as far as his aim of a perfect shock trooper go."

Hawke was disgusted and had to work to keep his jaw from dropping at the thought of what the captain was telling him. He walked silently for a moment before finally shaking his head and saying, "I'm no geneticist either, sir, but I know enough about Federation law to know this guy's violating at least a dozen of them. These Cardassian's aren't going to get in the way of us bringing him in, are they?"

"They might try to," the captain said. "But they're going to have a hard time of it if that's their plan. If they want custody of this Entek guy - if we even find him down there - they're going to have to take that up with the Federation's Justice department. If he ever steps aboard this ship, he's being dropped straight off at Starbase 126."

"Sounds like a plan, sir," Hawke said, looking grim.

"The Cardassians will be aboard soon. Get Kessel and Taylor to meet us in the briefing room as soon as they can, and get a couple of Mac's security guys to the transporter room to escort our guests there," Tim ordered, silently hoping that the meeting with the Cardassians will be short and hassle-free.

The first officer, becoming more and more comfortable in his new role, nodded and said, "Aye aye, sir," before tapping his commbadge and issuing orders.