Captains Log, Star date 2484262.
The Ronin has 'safely' arrived at Valaria. We had a brief altercation with a
Romulan ship en route, but it was nothing Commander Tyran didn't know how to
handle. He is certainly a capable officer and I can see myself placing a great
deal of trust in him. Similarly, Commander Kira certainly seems to be handling
his new position well. With the Knight soon to be decommissioned, I only wish
more of her crew could have been assigned to me. It seems as thought that ship
had not only some of the best officers in the fleet, but also some of the most
attractive ones. I find myself attracted to Ensign Jin. I have no idea why,
but from that first moment I saw her on Earth, something sparked. It goes against
just about every regulation for a Captain to be involved with a member of his
crew, but I can't seem to help myself. I find myself running into her in the
corridors on purpose. Maybe I shouldn't pursue this, but I have asked her to
dinner tonight. Commander Tyran will be on Valaria as well as most of the crew
so there will not be much to worry about. Hopefully, I can begin to get to know
her better.
Yesterday, Lieutenant McQueen, Ensign McCloud and myself went and picked up
our cargo. It certainly is mysterious. They have as of yet not been able to
make head nor tail of it, not even with the help of Ensign Gregholt who we found
on the planet. Apparently, he was meant to be travelling with us to Deep Space
11, but I had heard no such news. Never the less he seems sincere, so he will
be coming with us.
One thing that worries me... The scientist back on Valaria mentioned that the only way that they discovered what it did was to install it in one of their ships, but it had catastrophic effects and resulted in a great loss of death. I just can't begin to imagine what this thing does. Admiral Pike mentioned that this could be the saviour of the Federation, that we would no longer need to worry about Borg or Romulans, or any other hostile race. Some how, I find myself doubting this devices ability to do this.
Commander Kira has come forth with an idea, he believes that the Romulans hadn't made a mistake in their mission; they were just a bit early. They were after something known as the "Gemini Device" that they believed we had onboard. What if this IS the Gemini Device? What could it do? In Earth Astrology, Gemini was the zodiac sign of the twin... But I don't see how this relates to anything. Right now, Commander Kira and myself are keeping this to our selves. We don't wish to alarm the crew, but we fear we may not have heard the last of the Romulans.
King Purol was nearly assassinated yesterday from a Romulan attack. Another Romulan also took Commander Kira, Tyran and Ensign Jin captive later that night. Fortunately, Commander Kira's unique abilities managed to save the day and the three got out of it unscathed. I will be heading down to Valaria shortly to sit in on the interrogation of the prisoners with the Valaran government.
Finally, I have an odd feeling on this ship ever since we left Earth. There's something not quite right. I'm no telepath, but I can sense a great deal of tension onboard. I'm particularly concerned about Lieutenant Porat. She came aboard at the last moment and seems a very shifty character. What could she be up to? Could it be some how linked to the Gemini Device? Not only that, I find myself getting paranoid. I have feelings that I am being stalked while walking down corridors, feeling that I am being watched while I lie in bed, seeing shadows running down corridors. Doctor Jin can't find anything medically wrong with me, so I'm putting it down to lack of sleep either that or worry about what we really have onboard... I'll be glad once that this thing is off my ship and safely aboard DS11.
End Log...
*Time to go check up on the engineers* Ryan thought as he left his quarters. He walked into the cargo bay to find the four engineers the Ronin had onboard working hard on deciphering what this thing could be.
"Who's in engineering?" Ryan asked
"Don't worry Captain, the ship is in peak condition, we don't need any one there right now." Replied McQueen
"I'd like some one there at all times please. Ensign Johnson, get down there now"
The young ensign reluctantly put down his tools and left for engineering leaving McQueen, McCloud and the new engineer, Steven Gregholt.
"Mr. McCloud, I have a proposition for you, now that we have an abundance of engineers aboard and have lost all our operations officers, how would you like the position of Senior Operations Officer?"
"I would like that very much Captain."
"Very well Ensign. You are now on Alpha shift with the rest of the senior crew. Make sure you don't forget."
"Don't worry, I'm a Vulcan, I won't forget."
"Well then, what have you three found out about this thing?"
"Not a lot at all Captain. We have gone through all the tests Gregholt performed and done some new ones of our own. Not only do we not know how to turn it on, but we don't even know how to power the damn thing."
"It's a complete mystery" Gregholt added.
"Well I'm sure you people will solve it. I've got something I need to do, so I'll leave you three to it."
Ryan left the cargo bay and headed for the bridge. He was becoming frustrated. He didn't like not knowing things and this was eating him up inside. He had to find out what it was!
"Captain! Wait up!" Ryan turned around to find Commander Tyran walking up behind him.
"What can I do for you Commander?"
"How about joining me for a game in the holodeck, I have a program that I took from the Knight that Captain Tumock and myself used to use."
"Maybe later, Commander, I have some other business to attend to."
Ryan began to turn to leave, as Nige noticed that Torasu was walking down the corridor behind Ryan
"Uhh... Captain, are you sure you don't want to try the program now?" Nige said trying to stall him.
"I'm pretty sure Commander, I need to get to the planet."
Nige glanced over Ryans shoulder and Torasu had sat down and begun to lick his paw.
"Captain, tell me, how is the investigation into the alien device going? Made any progress?"
"Well not really, no one seems to be able to figure anything out about it."
"Surely you must know something?"
"Not a thing, but I have McQueen, McCloud and Gregholt working on it now."
Nige glanced again and Torasu was still washing himself.
"Do you want me to give them a hand?"
"I highly doubt that you would be able to find out anything that they haven't already uncovered."
"I may surprise you"
"You may do, but I need you at tactical in case anyone else decides they want to take this from us."
"Understood sir"
Torasu sat down and sprawled himself out across the corridor.
"Well, I really need to be going now, see you on the bridge Commander. "
Nige began to panic.
"Captain..."
"Commander, do you have a problem? I really have to be on the planet and your holding me up? Are you trying to stall for some reason?"
At that moment Kira walked around the corner and realised what was going on, he quickly picked up Torasu and hurried round the corner.
"No sir, not at all. I'll see you on the bridge."
Ryan gave Nige an odd look and walked off, Nige breathed a sigh of relief *That was too close!* thought Nige as he headed over to Kira to yell at him for letting the cat out.
Ryan continued toward the transporter room and locked in the co-ordinates for the planet. He beamed down into a huge hall bustling with Valarians. From amongst them, a particularly tall one walked out towards him.
"You must be Captain Evans I assume?"
"I am"
"I am King Purol, Leader of the Valarian people. I am pleased to meet you at last."
"It's an honour your highness. I apologise for not being able to come myself previously, but I had specific orders to safeguard the technology first. I hope Commander Kira and Commander Tyran made a good impression."
"Indeed they did. We were very impressed by your ideals and would very much like to become a part of the Federation. Also the way they sprang in to action to protect me from that assassin."
"I am happy to hear that all went well. I am sorry for the attempt on your life, but the Romulan people are one of our enemies and for some reason seem to oppose you becoming members of the federation."
"Well there's only one way to find out what they wanted here, let's go speak to them."
"Of Course" said Ryan following King Purol.
Four hours later, Ryan finally managed to pull himself away from the interrogation. It had been a long and hard one. Romulans weren't exactly fond of giving away too many secrets and neither Ryan nor the Valarians present seemed to have much experience interrogating people. The Romulans finally cracked and revealed that they were here for the Gemini Device. But that was about all they would say. They threatened that even if the Ronin did get away, she would not make it to DS11 in one piece.
Ryan transported back to the ship and headed for his quarters to get changed ready for his dinner with Dinara. He checked the transporter logs and Nige was on the planet with the Valarian Defence Minister and wasn't due back for another three hours... ample time to have dinner with Dinara.
Ten minutes later he was ready and headed for the mess hall. He walked in and Dinara was sitting at a table. She was out of uniform and looking more beautiful than Ryan had ever seen her.
"Ensign, you didn't need to dress up for this. This is just a casual occasion."
"Yeah... there's a small problem with that, you see, Nige has asked me to go down to the surface with him. Its our last night on Valaria and as soon as he'd finished with the Minister of Defence, we were going to go watch a Valarian sunset. They're meant to be beautiful."
"Ohh... I see..."
"I'm sorry Captain, I was really looking forward to this, but you know..."
"Yeah, I know" said Ryan putting up a fake smile.
"We can do it again some time" said Dinara standing to leave.
"Of course we can. I've got some reports that I really should look over anyway. I guess I'll see you in the morning then"
"I guess so"
Ryan waited till Dinara left and kicked the chair. *Damn it!* he thought. He left the mess hall and headed back to his quarters.
[Lieutenant McQueen to Captain Evans]
"Go ahead Lieutenant"
[Captain, I've found something about the device you might want to see.]
"I'm on my way." Ryan quickly got changed into his casual uniform and headed for the cargo bay.
"Captain, take a look at this" McQueen said excitedly as soon as the doors opened. McCloud and Gregholt were off duty and had left, but McQueen had stayed behind to work on it a bit more.
"What is it Lieutenant?"
"I think I may have found out how to power this thing. I adapted an ODN relay to fit in this socket here and linked it directly to a plasma conduit. It seems to be powering up."
"So now we can power it, you're saying we can use it?"
"We certainly can, but I wouldn't recommend doing it in here, the amount of energy this things taking up, this could easily blow the ship apart."
"So it IS a weapon?"
"No, I still don't think so. It doesn't have any systems familiar with any weapon I have ever seen. If you ask me, it seems to work more like a transporter."
"A transporter? Are you sure?"
"Positive captain. I have definitely identified a buffer capable of handling vast amounts of matter. And I mean VAST! If this truly were a transporter, then we could transport an entire planet from one location to another providing we had the power to do it."
"Your joking right?"
"Absolutely not, and look at this," said Elias pointing to some coils inside the device. "We didn't find this compartment before because it was extremely well hidden, but look what's inside..."
"Heisenberg compensators!"
"Exactly, there's no doubt about it Captain, this thing is definitely a transporter of some kind."
"Could it be a time machine?"
"I highly doubt it, there is nothing in here that I can find that could produce any chronoton particles, let alone emit them. Besides, It wouldn't need as much power as it's taking now if it was a time machine. I mean, I'm no expert on time travel, but I'm sure that this isn't a time machine."
"Well then... hold on... if this is what I think it is..."
"What's that?"
"If this is the Gemini Device, that the Romulans were after, then... that means that we've solved the problem!"
"We have?"
"Think about it, Gemini was the zodiac sign for twins in Earth Astrology. Now what could this thing do with such a large matter buffer?"
"Store copies of what ever it is transporting."
"Precisely!"
"I think what we have hear, is a duplication device. Which means Admiral Pike was right. We won't have to worry about any hostile threat again. Speak to no one bout this. Not even McCloud or Gregholt. I'll speak to Kira, but for now, it stays between the three of us. Understood?"
"Perfectly Captain."
"Pack up your equipment, there are no more tests to be done on this now. The cargo bay is off limits to all personnel except you, Commanders Kira and Tyran and myself."
Ryan left and headed for his quarters once more. Relieved that he had finally got the purpose of that device off his mind.
"Lieutenant Sular, place a security team outside the cargo bay. No one is to enter unless they hold the rank of full lieutenant or above, understand?"
[Yes Captain, I will station personnel there now]
The time was 0100 hours and Ryan felt he needed some sleep so headed for his quarters. He entered his quarters and sat down on his bed. He pulled off his uniform and got into bed. "Computer, lights off" he said. The lights went off and he proceeded to get some sleep. Not long had passed before he heard a thump on the floor. Almost immediately after he felt something jump onto his bed and start moving around by his feet. It then started to make a noise. *Is that... purring?* Ryan thought to himself. "Computer lights!" The lights came on to reveal a cat sitting at the bottom of Ryan's bed licking its paw. "What the?? How did you get here?" The cat stood up and walked up to Ryan's face and began to rub Ryan's chin. "Captain Evans to all senior officers. Report to the mess hall IMMEDIATELY!"
[Captain, do you have any idea what time it is??] asked McMillan
"I'm aware of the time Lieutenant, but I have something important to discuss. Make sure all personnel are recalled from Valaria for this"
[Yes Captain]
On the surface...
Nige and Dinara were lying on a Valaran beach watching the sun set.
"It really is beautiful isn't it?" asked Dinara.
"Sure is. But there is something more beautiful on this planet?"
"Ohh and what's that?" asked Dinara rolling over and looking into Niges eyes.
"You of course" he said. Dinara moved closer and they started to kiss.
[Commander Tyran, come in please]
"Don't answer" said Dinara quickly between kisses.
[Commander Tyran, please respond]
"I'd better answer, it may be important" said Nige. "Tyran here."
[Sorry to disturb you Commander, but the Captain has recalled all senior officers to the ship]
"Have you any idea why?"
[None, but he seems pretty P'd off]
"Thanks Trish, beam us up when you're ready"
Five minutes later, the tired and disgruntled crew were assembled in the mess hall. Everyone was confused as to why they were there and patiently awaited the arrival of the Captain. Ryan walked in with the cat in his arms and placed it on the table.
"What is this?" asked Ryan
"It would appear to be a cat sir" answered Sular
"I know damn well what it is! But what's it doing on my ship?"
"But captain, you asked..."
"Sular, you know what I meant."
"No sir."
"Forget it." Ryan noticed Nige fidgeting towards the back of the group. "You know something about this Commander?"
"Yes Captain, I'm afraid the cat belongs to me."
"That still doesn't explain it being here!" said Ryan, obviously annoyed. "Care to explain yourself?"
"Well, when I joined Starfleet, I left him with Dinara to look after, but Dinara joined Starfleet too, so we didn't know what to do with him. Commodore Pike had no objections to him being onboard the Knight. Nor did Captain Osagawa."
"Well I'm afraid I have a problem with it Commander, This is not a Galaxy class ship! Keeping a cat confined in your quarters all day is bordering on cruelty."
"Thats another thing Captain. Onboard the Knight, Torasu had a full run of the ship. He could go where he pleased and has been doing so since he came aboard the Ronin"
Ryan stared at Nige with a raised eyebrow "You expect me to let this hairball have access to all parts of my ship?? Out of the question! What if it needs the toilet?"
"The computers aboard the Knight were configured to detect any, ahem, accidents that the cat may have and... Transport the err, waste into a container located in the ships waste disposal system." Nige was obviously becoming a bit apprehensive about this as he had started to fidgit around and the smirks and sniggers from the Ronins crew didn't help much.
"I see...." said Ryan leaning back and stroking the cat. "The cat can have limited access for now. It will not be allowed on the bridge, in sickbay, or engineering. Is that understood?"
"Yes Captain" said Nige sheepishly
"Lieutenant McQueen, reconfigure the sensors and transporters to... dispose... of the cats waste."
"Aye sir" said McQueen grinning like a Cheshire cat.
"Fenris, configure the sensors to keep a constant lock on the cat so we can determine where it is at all times."
"Aye Captain."
"Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but I need some sleep." said Ryan handing the cat to Nige. "Anymore surprises Commander? A dog? A hamster?"
"No sir, this is it"
"Good" said Ryan as he left the room followed by most of the crew. Lieutenants McMillan and Jin came over and started fussing over the cat, speaking to him in cutesy voices and ruffling his fur again.
"Captain, believe me" said Kira as they walked away from the mess hall. "That cat won't be a problem. It is very well behaved and caused no problems on the Knight."
"The Knight was a ship of exploration designed to carry families. This is a war ship. It is no place for a cat"
"But what do you expect him to do with it? I mean, he can't just leave it behind some where"
"I can appreciate that, but I don't want it causing any trouble."
"Alright Captain, I'll make it my responsibility to make sure that Nige keeps the cat out of trouble ok?"
"Deal"
"See you in the morning Captain."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
