Comparing Notes [✱10]

Posted on Wed Jan 14th, 2026 @ 12:32pm by Lieutenant Commander N'Tgni Creon & Lieutenant Commander Intharia T'Zor & Lieutenant Commander Yy & Lieutenant Rune Thul & SubCommander Saa Ni-Eng & Master Chief Petty Officer Gaz & Grandmaster M'Hum

1,383 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: Hall of Focus, Shitau Colony
Timeline: After [✱8]

Almost an hour after they had first split, M'Hum guided the inspection team to the main chamber of the Hall of Focus, where Gaz, Saa and T'Zor also arrived, guided by Maat'n.

"I imagine you will wish to discuss your findings. I will share my personal communicator frequency in case I am needed." M'Hum said, taking out a communication device and pressing a button that caused all their combadges to ping simultaneously. "Please enjoy the privacy and solemnity of the hall, we shall leave you to your duties." M'Hum said with a slight bow, before he and Maat'n departed swiftly across the inlaid wooden floors.

Once Creon was sure he was out of earshot, she turned back to the others. "So, did you manage to find anyone who hadn't secluded themselves?" She asked, wary of how many Order members had been absent from their positions.

"Nobody we were looking for. Seclusion is the hot new trend around these parts." Gaz grumbled.

Intharia remained quiet. She wasn't entirely confident that their hosts weren't listening.

"I don't sense any deception." Yy shared her passive telepathic impressions, "But a focused Vulcan mind can fool even the most talented telepath." She didn't want to cast aspersions, but the behaviour of this group was strange, bordering on suspicious.

"Alright, it's time we brought this to a head. I'm going to ask the Grandmaster straight up where the missing monks are, and if he doesn't give me a good answer we're doing a search." Creon said, before she turned and looked to Saa.

"Subcommander, are you essential for fixing whatever's going wrong with their power? Because if Gaz or anyone you might want to beam down can handle it, I'd prefer to have you at my disposal if we do need to start poking around the local caves."

Gaz wasn't thrilled about the idea of pulling the reactor apart and putting it back together, even with all the help the station above could give, but it was better than spelunking through caves looking for more ill-mannered Vulcans.

Saa was no more enthused than the chief. "Caves," she simply repeated, in a tone that suggested she might have heard incorrectly. It wasn't a word that appeared on her resumé.

"I understand you've worked with Vulcans before," Creon told the Engineer, "I want you to have a look with me underground and see if you can figure out what sort of thing a sneaky Vulcan might be getting up to under this sensor-insensate surface."

"Well, we're just blowing bubbles here, to be honest, Commander," the engineer admitted. "The reactor's in perfect condition. Whatever's unbalancing their grid, it's not up here or we'd have found it."

Creon nodded sharply to acknowledge Saa, and tapped her combadge. "Creon to M'Hum. Grandmaster, I'd like a word, where would I find you?" Creon asked her combadge.

“I am in the Hall’s courtyard, outside your current location. I await your candor.” The Grandmaster said.

"Alright, let's go." Creon gestured to the group.

When they reached the Grandmaster, Creon stepped forward and spoke plainly. "Grandmaster, can you please tell me how many of your order are in seclusion and where they can be found?"

“No.” He answered simply.

"You can't, or you won't?" Creon clarified, expecting some resistance.

“I cannot give you information I do not have. Members of our order are free to enter seclusion as the inspiration strikes. It is generally done to shut oneself away from distractions and focus on divine inspiration. They do so wherever and for however long they might like.” M’Hum explained further.

"Inspiration to find divine inspiration, Grandmaster?" The confusion clear in his expression and tone. "What has been the longest any of your members been in seclusion for? I hope none of your members have lost their lives?" Rune had his arms bent at the elbows but diagonally outward with his palms slightly facing inwards as if he held a triangular object at its corners. A gesture of concern and openness.

"I would not expect an outsider to understand, much less a Betazoid." M'Hum said in a tone that sounded polite, even if he did use the hard first syllable pronunciation of his species that wasn't heard much since the early 24th century. "I myself was once secluded for more than a year as a younger man. I emerged with my solutions for fractal subspace differentials completed. I was nominated for a Zee-Magnees prize for them, though I did not win. Some may come to misfortune or succumb to age while secluded, it is true, but such things are the balancing forces of harmony, we do not seek to cheat them."

"Alright then. Under the terms of your settlement agreement, you're hereby notified of our intention to search the site and its immediate vicinity. We'll also be taking a census of residents. We've got two fighters in the air that haven't detected anything with limbs bigger than a lizard within 25 kilometers of here. Whatever seclusion you're accustomed to, taking it idly on an unexplored planet is negligence. If this irresponsibility has led to harm, it'll be my recommendation to the Captain that your colony here be discontinued." Creon told the Grandmaster firmly.

"That is your prerogative, Commander. But you must know that this world is sacred to us. Its existence was first predicted in the time of Surak. The world in view of the eye of harmony. It is not the will of harmony that we be parted from it, of this I am certain." M'Hum said.

"I'd ask that you please remain within the compound, and ensure all your people do too." She told M'Hum, before turning back to the team.

Yy was surprised and impressed by Creon's boldness in telling the Grandmaster off, she took great comfort in the empathic echo of her confidence.

"No, I don't understand," Rune admitted in a sad tone. "I don't seek answers to grand questions like you and your members do. I am a Security officer." He told the Grandmaster, but did a double take at Creon at her bluntness. Rune thought discontinuing their colony was a little overboard but didn't say anything further.

M'Hum didn't respond to Thul, he wasn't given any question to answer and so furrowed his brows slightly to express his distaste for the man's emotions. He returned to the other side of the square, where other members of the order were gathering.

"I'll be calling for some runabouts, we'll be splitting into four search teams and choosing a cardinal direction to go in until we find someone or it gets dark here in Shitau." Creon told the team.

"Mr Thul, please request any staff you think you'll need from the station to perform a census of the population. We'll also need security assigned for the search teams, they might as well come down with the runabouts, but any names you could put forward in the meantime would be helpful." Creon asked Thul.

"Yes Commander, calling upon these," Rune rattled off team leader names—about 6 he gave—along with, "and their teams will be up to the task," each team was made up of 4 personnel, officers and enlisted in any number of ratios. He glanced over at the Grandmaster to see how he was taking the whole situation, the Betazoid's expression neutral but assessing.

"Commander T'Zor, on the same subject, I'll need four search teams worth of your best lookers and finders." Creon told the Asari.

"You'll have them. Tranklim has been itching for a chance to get down here, I'll have him round up the others." T'Zor affirmed Creon's request.

Yy wondered where she would be assigned. Here, to keep the Order in order, or out there, utilising her telepathy to track the missing Vulcans? She did not resent the wait, it was a practical reality she acknowledged that the Counselor was usually the last to get their orders.

"Counsellor," Creon said to Yy, "I'd like you to assist with the census process. I'm not expecting a riot, but do what you can to keep these people calm and informed as to what's going on."

"Of course." Yy assented, looking around for Thul.

"If anyone needs anything, call me. I'm going to go read their diaries." Creon said, returning to the Hall of Focus.

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