[Galae Facilities, I'Rak Prime]
So far his assignment to the orbital facilities of I'Rak Prime had been satisfactory. Of course, he had only been there just over a week, but Lhaetan had nothing to complain about. His duties had already led him into quite a bit of very interesting information, and though he had been ordered by his superiors (including his eldest brother) not to pursue his investigation, there was little that could stop him at this point.
Shiarrael t'Rehu was a fascinating subject, and there was a link between her and his family. His mother, it seemed to be in specific. Though the family matron had refused to contact him regarding his inquiries, his eldest brother had seen fit to respond and discourage his line of questioning.
The most interesting part of it all, as he quickly found out during his time among his fellow intelligence officers, was that t'Rehu was not only an interest of his. Discussing the Riov-gone-Captain seemed to be something of a hobby amongst them, though they would never do it in earshot of their commanders. Though Lhaetan rarely took part in such conversations, he had definitely found them intriguing to listen to.
And when it came to gossip regarding Shiarrael t'Rehu, there was kilotons of it.
Regarding her, her family, her romantic interests, children, career…you name it there were rumors related to it. There were few others that created such waves of gossip. Jarok the Traitor, perhaps. And Tomalak. Large figures from the history of the Empire almost always created such talk. But for someone such as t'Rehu to cause such a commotion was quite a bit rarer in these times.
This evening, however, Lhaetan tr'Valkar was enjoing a quiet evening in his quarters. He was nearly finished with The Iliad for probably the two-dozenth time. And, as was his own personal tradition, when he finished with it he would continue with The Odyssey. While he was loyal to his people, and to his Praetor, somewhere inside he felt that if different peoples could see past their prejudices, and share things such as their literary works, peace would be a much simpler thing to come by.
If you wanted to see the values of a people, read their stories.
Humans, by their stories, were much more honorable than the Empire would have their citizens believe. There were great tales of vengeance and regaining honor lost to a duplicitous foe. While their stories tend to show both the best and the worst aspects of what they like to call "humanity," in nearly every story the best wins out.
Rihannsu honor wasn't so different to traditions seen on Earth, though Lhaetan had no idea if any of them were still practiced.
And there were a great many things that Lhaetan saw in the Empire itself that troubled him. While he saw the tactical advantage of a cloaking device, for instance, how honorable was it to sneak up on an enemy in darkness?
But he was a loyal son, and now a loyal officer. He would do as instructed, for the betterment of the Empire, his family, and himself. If that meant sneaking around under a cloak to spy on the Federation, or the Klingons, or the Gorn, or whomever else it might be, then so be it. He would do so with pride, in service of his people and their future…
[The next morning…]
As the erie'Arrain settled in at his computer terminal, ready to start the day's work, he pulled up his overnight notifications. Surprisingly there was one regarding Charon.
-Starfleet vessel USS Charon has diverted from previous course. Current course now intersects stellar object SBDC78 [Federation Designation].No cause for course change determined. -
The message was simple enough, but was just curious enough to encourage a little digging. Within an hour the erie'Arrain had managed to connect to a Galae cartography station in range of the stellar object, and had sensor information scrolling across his screen. He was no astrophysicist, but Lhaetan could tell it was a star soon to go supernova.
But why would that interest a Starfleet vessel? There was nothing spectacular about such an event. Remnants of novas could be found across the quadrants.
Especially given the state of the vessel and her crew. They should have just continued on to Lyrillia, and then on to Federation space. There was no reason to divert as they had. But then, that was his job, wasn't it? To determine the undeterminable?
"Curious, Captain," tr'Valkar sighed to his terminal. "Very curious."
[To Be Continued...]
erie'Arrain Lhaetan tr'Valkar
Intelligence Officer
Galae Facilities, I'Rak Prime
