U.S.S. Corsair - NCC-011979
Nebula Class Starship
“Sic Parvis Magna”
(Greatness From Small Beginnings)
“A Devil In The Details – Part I”
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Captain Zane Akina strode through the doors of Captain Ramius’s ready room carrying a stack of padds.
“Morning Ramius, I have this morning’s decrypts along with the other data you requested. I still don’t know what we’re looking for.”
Ramius sipped a warm cup of green tea setting it down on his desk as Akina dropped the half dozen padds on his desk.
“Have the computers been able to decrypt any more information from your data dump of the NeoDyne computers?”
Akina shook his head as he replicated a cup of black coffee. “Afraid not. I have a large portion of the ship’s computer chewing on the data on a 24/7 basis, but it could be days, weeks, months, or never depending on the sophistication of NeoDyne’s encryption which I assure you is first rate. I wouldn’t count on being able to unlock that data for sometime although I’m confident it can and will be broken given enough computing power and time.”
“If you need more computer resources, talk to Kusinagi in engineering”, Ramius replied in between sips of his tea.
Akina took a seat blowing on his own cup of steaming coffee as the two men began their morning ritual of sifting through another day’s worth of intelligence data searching for clues on the clandestine activities of the NeoDyne Corporation.
[ Four Hours Later ]
Akina slurped up a noodle from a bowl of warm chicken soup. “Another day of dead ends”, he said as a noodle wiggled upwards disappearing into his mouth. Ramius, looking haggard and tired, continued to pour over a dozen padds of random reports, data, and information collected from a variety of unlikely sources. His dedication to the task surprised even Akina who had stopped after a few hours to grab something to eat and to recharge himself. “You should take a break Ramius. Grab a bite.”
“I’m ok”, Ramius muttered as he poured over a padd.
“You look awful. That data will still be there in twenty minutes. We can’t let the mission wear us down physically despite the challenges and work. You have to eat.”
“Later.”
“Fine. Suit yourself although the good doctor will eventually have something to say about it the longer you keep this up. And we all know how much you love doctors.”
Ramius flashed Akina a quick glance before returning his gaze to the padd. “You’re beginning to sound just like the doctor Mr. Akina. At least he has the good sense to know when to stop badgering me.”
Akina shrugged at Ramius’s terse remark. “What are you so damned interested in over there”, he asked taking another noisy slurp of soup.
“Travel manifests.”
“Manifests? What and where?”
“Transports. Astate.”
Akina stopped mid slurp and set his bowl down. “Why Astate? Why are you looking there?”
“It is the only place we have concrete proof of NeoDyne activities”, Ramius replied. “There has to be a clue there somewhere. NeoDyne is good, but even a nuclear explosion cannot erase all tracks.”
Akina sighed. “I’ve been over that data a dozen times Tav. It’s clean; cleaner than clean that data is plain sterile.”
“Perhaps, but it is our best source for leads. Think about it. Neodyne lost a vital and well disguised facility. They obviously had a cell of operatives at work as your report implicated a marine colonel and several marines who are on the NeoDyne payroll.”
“Ventris is long gone. I had every source I could lay a hand on scour Astate for his whereabouts. He fled, was scooped up, or was terminated by the company. If you want my opinion, I would bet heavily NeoDyne executed him shortly after the facility was blown sky high. As for his associates, they could have met the same fate. Ventris was obviously the ring leader and I’m confident he’s no longer a problem.”
“What makes you so sure”, Ramius asked leaning back in his office chair.
“Well, he was the puppet master behind the scenes. He had me followed and conveniently was around whenever my investigations put me close to the truth. We’ve gone over this. Are you implying there was someone else on Astate?”
“Perhaps.” Ramius pushed the tips of his fingers together as he sat quietly. “Neodyne isn’t stupid enough to put such a dangerous, expensive, and clandestine effort into the hands of a turncoat, bribable colonel and a few disloyal soldiers. There had to be someone else there; someone close to NeoDyne. This person would have been the brains of the operation. The question is who are they and where are they now?”
Akina paced the floor in front of Ramius’s desk. “You bring up an interesting and plausible possibility. However how do we find this mystery person? It could be anyone.”
“Not anyone”, Ramius smiled. “It is certainly someone.”
Akina stopped his pacing. Ramius was playing games with him. “You found them? “Who is it?”
“Why the brains, like I indicated.”
“No not that! Give me the name.”
“You’re already familiar with it. I stumbled across it early this morning by accident. I did some cross checking and I’m sure it’s the lead we are looking for.”
“Do I have to play twenty questions to get the name out of you Ramius? Just spit it out man!”
“If you were in charge of large scale medical facility and the place was suddenly destroyed in a very public way by an incompetent subordinate who panicked what would you do to avoid the authorities in the event Colonel Ventris was picked up and coerced to talk?”
“I suppose I would run, go undercover or into hiding, or attempt to….ESCAPE?”
“Now I see your interest in the transport manifests. You were looking at those leaving Astate shortly after the explosion.”
“Precisely”, Ramius said grabbing a nearby cup of coffee. He nearly choked on the dark liquid as it was several hours old, ice cold, and unpalatable. “I had the computer scan the names of those who left aboard public and private transportation and cross referenced the names with files, criminal records, civilian data, and other databases.”
“NeoDyne wouldn’t be stupid enough to expose themselves in such a cavalier manner. This mystery man would be using falsified papers, forged IDs, and one of perhaps a dozen aliases. It’s unlikely what you found is really the person we are after.”
“Under normal circumstances I would agree, however when one is rushed, panicked, and pressed even the best trained agents under extreme duress and pressure can and do make mistakes. Plans are not followed and contingencies break down. Such errors are traceable and can be tracked.
Akina was a nervous bundle of energy which Ramius was taking great pleasure in stringing along.
“Alright enough with the analysis, I’m the experienced intelligence agent who has obviously been shown up by a second rate captain so let’s just cut to the chase Taverain. Who is it?”
Tav held out a padd for Akina to review faking being wounded by the second rate captain comment. Zane snatched the padd from Ramius’s hands and quickly poured over its contents searching for the elusive name and clue which could give them the break they needed to continue the hunt.
“Ballantine. Boarded a private transport two days after the explosion. Hmm. Whoa, hold on a second. Is this my Ballantine”, Akina asked quickly looking up at Ramius.
“The very same. Go on. Keep reading.”
Akina returned to the text of the report. “Dr. Artimis Ballantine. Graduated top of his class earning doctorate degrees in microbiology, genetics, and molecular chemistry by the age of 25. Quite the studious sort”, Akina noted as he continued to read aloud. “Let’s see, did some post-graduate work on Jupiter station, a few other research labs, and eventually wound up on Alveyon II, a border planet which…” Akina’s voice trailed off. “Alveyon…that’s your homeworld is it not Ramius?”
Ramius nodded. “Don’t stop, it gets better.”
Akina wrinkled his nose as Ramius’s somewhat playful demeanor. He’d hit gold and yet was acting as if it were nothing.
“Ok, he ended up on Alveyon. Spent a year doing research. Research unclear. Wound up on trial for conducting illegal and unethical experiments primarily on animals. The research was based on genetic manipulation and augmentation which is banned. The doctor was summarily stripped of his medical licenses and degrees, shunned by the medical community, and banned from research and scientific pursuit. Consequently, the scientist who exposed Ballentine and who was the prosecution’s star witness ended up dead three months later in what was ruled a suicide. Hmm that sounds oddly convenient if not extremely suspicious.” Akina continued to read. “Ruined professionally with his reputation forever scarred, Ballantine disappeared from public view and has not been seen in over 35 years. “
Akina looked up at Ramius with a stunned expression. “Is it possible Ballantine had something to do with the research which your father used to save your life and gave you your unique abilities?”
“Did Zephram Cochrane invent the warp drive”, Ramius asked.
[ To Be Continued… ]
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Captain Zane Akina
Starfleet Intelligence
Captain Taverain Ramius
Commanding Officer, USS Charon
