Into The Mind Of The Undine

Posted on Wed May 27th, 2015 @ 9:21pm by Commander Worth Maxwell VIII & Captain James Warrington

Mission: Beyond The Wormhole
Location: USS Ptolemy

* * * USS Ptolemy * * *

Once Worth had stowed his gear from the trip to the wreckage, he checked in with Ops to make sure the database from the Devore ship was accessible. It would take a little time to sift through it. He then opened a channel to Warrington.

“Maxwell to Captain Warrington. I’m on my way to see the prisoner. He’s in confinement in Sickbay. Meet me there?”

"Sure thing. Be there in five." James had been busy since the team's return working with ops to get a message transmitted back to Starbase 900. For the moment though it was proving difficult without relays not to mention them being stuck inside a dense debris field. Mercifully his current location had a site to site transporter nearby and medical being essential also had one. A short walk and an even shorter transport later he was entering a rather heavily guarded sickbay.

“Hello, Captain.” Dr. Sahli looked up from a patient as he entered. They’d set up a temporary triage station in the main area for the superficial wounds and crew were moving in and out. She paused only a moment to point deeper into sickbay. “Worth’s back there, you’ll see the guards.”

James nodded and walked passed to where the Doc had indicated. "Well if they aren't one of the weirder races about," he said to noone in particular. "Commander. Are the Devore wounded secure as well?"

“They are,” Worth answered. “Dara has them stabilized but this one is not in too bad a shape so I wanted a crack at him first.” He fell silent to give Warrington a chance to look the alien 8472 over.

The Commanding Officer looked at the 8472 and observed its injuries. "I want to know what happened here. But I also want to know what happened to our Iconian gateway. We detected 8472 warp signatures on the Melbourne after it happened and it puzzled us since. Maybe this... chap? Can enlighten us."

“It’s possible. I know they don’t particularly like humans, given their non-telepathic tendencies. I may get farther going that route.” Worth turned his attention to the alien. It looked at Worth with large dark eyes, unblinking.

Again James nodded. "Do what you need to within reason. At the very least the sensor logs from the Devore will fill in this puzzle." He turned and finding the nearest seat made use of it ready for a potentially long interrogation.

”Let’s start at the beginning...why did you attack the Devore ships? You can tell me and make this easy or I can just dig it out, your choice.”

The alien blinked, just once, then exhaled. "The Undine do not answer to you."

“I don’t see ‘the Undine’ here, I just see you and I should remind you that if you displease me, I can let you die. Your choice.”

The alien wafted a faint telepathic signal of amusement."I suggest you look closer then... Commander. My death is of no consequence."

“Is that so? Do you expect to return home?” Worth’s voice was measured and calm. We really have no desire to start in inter-species incident and we do have some of the Devore here alive. I would think you’d like to make known your side of the story.”

It tilted its head away exhaling loudly again. "You Starfleet have had no problem causing inter-species incidents before. The... Devore attacked us. Fools..."

“Why would they do something so foolish, to use your words.” Worth frowned at the alien’s revelation. Surely they knew that would mean disaster.”

"Against one ship they would have been victorious. But they did not expect us."

“So why the conflict then? Or are you saying that they only saw one, and the rest came to save the day and then departed?” Disapproval colored Worth’s thoughts as he regarded the alien. ”Terrans have a word for that.”

It sensed Worths disapproval but ignored it for now. "It is in a manner as you say Commander."

Worth nodded. ”Then why did they attack? We have no desire to step into your conflict and indeed, being here at all is an accident. We are simply doing repairs and then turning around.”

"Our ship passed through Devore space enroute to an objective. The information we received was that it detected a fleet waiting on its return several months later. That fleet followed and our ship attempted to escape back to fluidic space early. Before it could it was attacked and it only managed to open a rift long enough to send a message for help."

Worth could sense the words were the truth. ”Any idea why? Or was it simply because you are who you are? I cannot see the Devore wanting to start a war they would unquestionably lose.”

"They protect their space. Badly," was the short answer the 8472 gave amused again at the thought of their fight.

If it was a simple border dispute, so be it. I have reason to be concerned in their space too, you are aware of the reason. They would just as easily go after me as you.” Worth shrugged.

"Soon with their pathetic fleet in tatters. They would wait until our fleet retreated for repairs and with you here now in their space, even sooner."

“Agreed. They will want their survivors and insist on searching this ship for telepaths. Which means that both you and I are in danger.” Worth did not like the thought of that and he let the alien know it.

"Your Captain reads as a determined honest man. I believe you are safer than I here," it replied letting a faint and flickering moment of panic escape.

”Perhaps but that’s not how we operate, despite my initial threat.” Worth actually smiled now. ”We can return you but we’ll have to hide you as well. Unless you have an idea….”

"There is a nebula two days from here. It is highly volatile but there is a path through. We are still well within Devore space here and there but navigate the path and you will find safety."

Worth focused on the alien and finally nodded. ”You will have to remain under guard. You understand.”

The creature itself nodded. "Your Voyager proved you leave nothing to chance. I understand."

“Thank you. I’ll share this with the Captain. And as soon as repairs are done, I’ll come back and we’ll finalize plans. Until then, Dr. Sahli will see to you. She may be small but I advise not crossing her.” Worth smiled once more.

As Worth left, the alien settled down closing its eyes. Meanwhile the Captain had stood and was waiting for his XO. "Well that was substantially less interesting than expected. Mind filling me in?"

“I’ll do it the quick way as we go,” Worth answered. They proceeded out of Sickbay and Worth took advantage of the walk to pass to John all that the alien had said.

“He..it...has a point. With the two of us on board in Devore space, we are in danger. It’s a question of staying here and perhaps having big issues, or going through their space and dropping him off on the way through.”

"It stands to reason that the Nebula would be used by them to get back and forth. While in Devore space without the path the Devore’s shields couldn't withstand the disruption," he replied. "Oh yea. They tried. Was in the first ships logs. Engineering pulled together the sensor data of the second ship. It tracked the 8472 ship both times. Guess what its objective was?" He enjoyed this bit purely because of how ludicrous it sounded.

“Do tell?” Worth asked.

“Well each time the ship went in a direct line through their space. If you trace that straight line out you hit the Iconian Gateway,” James said with rather a lot of enthusiasm.

“And thus on the way to the Beta Quadrant,” Worth added. “I want to get to that with him but once we’ve had the doctor patch him up. He should be in a more forthcoming mood I think. Our first concern is getting the repairs done, then getting out of here. I don’t mind saying this area makes me a little jumpy.”

“You and the rest of us. If these are the 8472 that blew up the gateway we will be able to find out why at last. Strategically if they wanted to hit back at Starfleet leaving it intact was the best way, so this has made no sense to the brass.”

“Agreed.” Worth nodded. “They effectively shut off their own access to the other quadrants. This one seems cooperative enough, since we are willing to help him. However, caution is advised, nonetheless. I sensed no deception but then I’ve never read one of their kind before either.”

“Indeed. Once the Doc clears it have another go then. Find out why destroy the gate. For now we have some downtime while Darby makes repairs but I’m keeping us on yellow alert,” James informed his XO.

“Good enough. Darby’s inside now, at least, but he’s putting things back together below decks. I’ll inform the bridge crew to change out, then check with the doctor.” Worth paused, looking James up and down. “I suggest you take some downtime too. It’s been a very long day. And night...and day.”

“You do the same. I need my XO awake and alert and not tired. Especially if he is going to be mentally connecting to an alien. Night Commander,” He said leaving for the nearest transporter platform.

“Night.” Worth smiled, then pressed his comm badge to inform the bridge crew to take their leave. He intended to sleep, but there was something he wanted to do first. He began to walk, and pressed his comm badge once more.

**********************

Commander Worth Maxwell VIII
The Alien Whisperer

Captain James Warrington
The Bemused Strategist