Lookie-loos [✱13]

Posted on Tue Mar 10th, 2026 @ 8:56am by Lieutenant Commander S'Lace & Doctor Ori Enu'Tha ScD, QSsD, FZMI & Lieutenant Commander Raul Saez & Lieutenant JG Soo Nake & Petty Officer 2nd Class Odgerel & Legate Malak

2,056 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: USS Hercules, Bridge
Timeline: 1725 - MD03 (After 'Declawed [✱7]')

Things had been relatively quiet aboard the Hercules, the rescued Klingons were by now mostly seen to. The crew advanced slowly through the Praxis' Claw, but the radiation meant direct communication between the advanced team was no longer possible, they only had the regular check-ins from the crew waiting where the first arrivals had beamed in. About ten minutes ago they'd reported that they'd reached main engineering and split into two teams, one of which was moving forward to pursue the Borg that had fled at the sight of them.

"Commander," Petty Officer Odgerel said at tactical, first lazily, as though noticing some benign anomaly anomaly, before quickly becoming urgent, "I'm reading a ship decloaking 300km off the starboard quarter." It quickly became obvious that the vessel appearing was a Cardassian Hutet-class, the Dreadnought that had dropped Ambassador Mataan at DS13 around a month ago. "It's the Omekla." Odgerel confirmed.

"Maintain red alert," S'Lace replied, "Helm, bring us about to face the Omekla."

"Turning about." Saez responded, rotating the vessel smoothly, and fast.

Should she inform the away team? No, a sound from the comm badge might alert an enemy. Note to self, she thought. See if they could create a vibrating option for the badges.

S'Lace waited until both ships were facing one another before stating, "Hail the Omekla..."

“Greetings Commander. I am Legate Malak of the Second Order. Your Klingon friends have run into some trouble, I take it?” The gaunt features of the Legate appeared on the viewscreen.

"Greetings, Legate Malak. I am S'Lace," S'Lace replied in greeting, "Yes, we are currently aiding in a rescue mission."

Should she warn them about the Borg? How would they react? Being Cardassian-and hence brutally pragmatic-they would likely blow the Klingon ship up. She instead asked, "May I ask what brings you to this system, Legate?"

"Quite the same. We also detected the transmission, and had come to render aide, or claim salvage, if appropriate. Rather like the Klingons to get themselves into trouble, isn't it?" The Legate asked in what almost sounded like an attempt to socialise, despite his humourless and imperious patrician visage.

Lieutenant Saez had never encountered a Legate as closely as this before. Only Guls and their underlings. He wondered what one had to do to hold onto that much power in Cardassian society for that long. Nothing Raul would consider himself, he assumed.

It did not matter how many years it had been. It did not matter how much counseling she had received. It did not matter that the odds of this particular legate had been involved in any military action that touched S'Lace and her family was statistically low.

S'Lace did not like this legate.

"Indeed," S'Lace replied, "Their aggressive natures can be both an asset and detriment, depending upon the circumstance. Vulcan logic and Cardassian pragmatism both seem more reliable in most circumstance. At the moment there are rescue parties on board the Klingon vessel attempting to stabilize matters. However It would not be prudent at this time to add more variables to the situation."

"Indeed." The Legate echoed. "What manner of foe or fauna has the ability to cleanly tear the weapons pod from a Vor'cha class battleship? It certainly does not match anything we've encountered or heard of in this part of space."

"So you possess some knowledge of this region?" S'Lace inquired, "Interesting. It would be of value to us to learn what you know. Perhaps once this operation has concluded and I received clearance from my superiors we may share what we have learned here, and in exchange you may share with us what you know so we might avoid any potential hazards. Such sharing of knowledge promotes harmony between our cultures."

She wanted this being and his decidedly aesthetically unpleasant vessel to go away. His presence at best risked the operation at hand, at worse implied he was involved somehow. The latter was, she had to admit, a conclusion distorted by her bias. But logic fled her when Cardassians were involved...

"We do not share that which we have acquired so easily, Commander. Nor do we expect you to. I shall send over a squad to assist." The Legate said, making it sound like a suggestion though it was clear he was decided.

S'Lace felt the lirpa wrapped around her waist, briefly imagined wrapping around this arrogant Cardassian's throat. Cardassians had particularly strong neck muscles but S'Lace had found through experience if one drove their knee into their back for leverage that-

S'Lace had not experienced such memories in a long, long time. Her former counselors would be most disappointed. She had two options: continue to deflect and raise the Cardassian's suspicions.

Or fire on the Cardassian vessel. The latter option was...tempting.

"Very well," S'Lace murmured, "Since you are most insistent upon involving yourself we will inform our away team of your imminent arrival. S'Lace out."

S'Lace had the connection cut immediately. To Lieutenant Nake she stated, "Hail the away team. Inform them Cadassians will be beaming aboard. Let them know they were most...insistent..."

Raul suspected that S'Lace had dealings with the Cardassians before. "Commander, just a thought." Raul spoke up, his mind having been awash with reasons why Cardassians would choose not to come aboard from his scientific training and experience.

"We can't stop them, but maybe we can disincentivize them. Tell them maybe, that we've found what we suspect are outbreaks of kilakobacteria, the kind which aren't a problem for anyone aboard, but would make things very uncomfortable for Cardassians for a while." Raul remembered stories of Cardassian infestations during the war, the bacteria would form from certain combinations of parasites found in Klingon warriors and lodgings where live animals were present. In Cardassians it caused itching of an unfathomable degree and spread rapidly, remarkably difficult to kill.

S'Lace realized belatedly she should have muted the communication with the Cardassian commander and consulted her staff. Why hadn't she? Did she think it would have been a sign of weakness? Or had she allowed her...distaste for the Cardassian to affect her judgement, caused her to cease communications as soon as possible.

She said to the chief navigator, "Unfortunately, Commander, I did not take advantage of your counsel before prematurely agreeing to the Cardassians' involvement in this mission. I think at this point the Gul will suspect any story as being less than truthful. That being said, I believe after hearing such a story the Gul would have sent over his team in space suits."

She eyed the screen and murmured, "He seems most insistent upon involving himself. I wonder if he knows something that we do not...

"All due respect Commander, but I doubt he'd be barreling his boys in there if he knew it was Borg waiting for him." Dr Enu'Tha observed from the science post. "I'd say he knows a whole lot less than we do and he's just trying to stick his dreadnought in the middle of anything he can, because he can. Because well, let's face it, it's a very scary dreadnought." The Andorian academic said with a surprising amount of respect for S'Lace, and unpleasant reverence for the Omekla.

"Perhaps," S'Lace replied after a moment, "But the allure of Borg technology could drive many to heights of irrational behavior," she turned to the Doctor, "However you have a valid point; it is wiser to ascribe ignorance to the Legate's motives without further evidence."

She glanced back at the screen and murmured more to herself, "And ignorance and Card-"

"Major Kalath isn't happy, but she understands." Nake explained, having finished updating the away team via the beachhead they'd formed on the Klingon ship.

S'Lace hesitated, then nodded in acknowledgement.

After a few minutes of silence, the comm station chirped. "It's the Legate, again." Lieutenant Nake said, equal parts surprised and disquieted.

S'Lace turned to the lieutenant, "I see," she held up a finger and counted to ten. Slowly. Then, "Put the Legate on, lieutenant."

"Commander S'Lace. We have lost contact with the team we sent aboard, almost immediately. If you tell us what you know about this vessel and its conditions, we may not hold you responsible for anything that happens to them." The Legate said sharply, his earlier superiority replaced by low-key irritation.

Was that the slightest of smiles that creased the edge of S'Lace's face? "If I might remind you, Legate, you said to me 'We do not share that which we have acquired so easily, Commander. Nor do we expect you to'. It is not our fault you did not conduct a proper scan of the vessel before you sent your team over. One moment," she glanced over at Nake and murmured, "mute audio."

Nake tapped a command to mute the Legate's feed, he could no longer hear them.

To the bridge crew, her face turned from the screen so the Legate could not read her lips, S'Lace stated, "It is my belief the Cardassians will cut their losses and destroy the ship, seeing it as the most pragmatic solution. Options."

"We could tell them the truth. We don't know exactly what it is, some weird novel radiation we haven't seen before. We could also throw in the bit about the Borg, but that would almost certainly lead to your prediction about loss cutting coming true. We could ask them where they sent their people, and offer to look?" Enu'Tha suggested, even if he wasn't supremely confident in any of the options.

S'Lace nodded at that input, then glanced at the others. She realized the Legate was probably fuming but at that point she did not particularly care. Part of her thought she may need to revisit the counselor after this, as it seemed she still had unresolved issues regarding Cardassians...

"I don't think they will attack." Saez admitted. "They might be in a position of relative strength out here, but destroying the ship would be an act of aggression against the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Plenty of people waiting for an excuse to disarm them again on both sides. Besides, it might be big, but I wouldn't count out the Hercules if it did come to a fight. I think I agree with Dr Enu'Tha, tell them the truth, offer to help." Saez said.

“I think our only other options are to flee, or try to hit them hard enough that we disable them before they have a chance to arm defenses.” Odgerel suggested from tactical.

Lieutenant Nake didn’t have anything to suggest so she stayed quiet.

S'Lace digested all of these observations and suggestions, then she gave communications a nod and turned back to the screen.

"Legate," she said in as pleasant a voice as she could muster, "Your team is likely experiencing interference from an unknown form of radiation on board the vessel. If you could inform us as to where you deposited them perhaps we could aid you in restoring communication." she hesitated, then added, "Or they may have run into what may be a Borg presence on board the vessel. We were investigating this possibility when you arrived."

Another hesitation, then: "I do apologize for not being more forthcoming."

S'Lace's apology to even her own sensitive ears did not sound the least bit sincere...

"Borg?" The Legate practically spat the word, doing all he could to keep himself calm. The officers behind him looked briefly stunned by the explanation, but quickly looked back to their work. "Our people were sent to what should be main engineering for this class of vessel. I pray for the sake of the quadrant that your omissions do not lead to the resurrection of the most insidious enemy that this galaxy has ever known." With that final admonition, the channel closed, and the Omekla cloaked once again.

"Detecting a warp signature, ma'am." Odgerel announced from tactical, the flash of the craft breaking the warp barrier was just visible on the screen.

"Sounds like you were right, Doctor." S'Lace told Enu'tha, hesitant to say anything to further inflate the Andorian's ego. "Update the away team, let us try to reduce the number of potential surprises for them." She said, sitting back in the center chair, but still quite upright, a tense sort of relaxation. Once again, S'Lace waited...

RSS Feed