U.S.S. Corsair - NX-011979
Nebula II Prototype
“Sic Parvis Magna”
(Greatness From Small Beginnings)
“Progeny of the Progenitors – Part 16”
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An unusual quiet ran throughout the bridge of the Corsair. Like a silent snake its coils ensnared each bridge station as the crew efficiently went about their assignments. The Corsair had dropped from warp and had finally arrived at the planet D’aisnenn several days after crossing the Neutral Zone with only tacit permission from the Romulans who had indulged the Corsair and its captain on a matter of mutual security.
A brief conversation had ended only moments before between Captain Ramius and the Romulan captain. The two officers had agreed to conduct in depth scans of the planet and exchange data assuming there was anything to be found upon the icy rock. Full planetary scans would take some time and Ramius had wasted none issuing orders to tactical, engineering, and science departments to focus their energies upon scouring the planet’s surface for any sign of life or other anomalous readings. Search patterns had been calculated and plotted and the helmsman already had the Corsair in orbit as other departments made final preparations. All that remained now was to initiate scanning and wait for results.
## 48 Hours Later ##
Commander Novada opened the doors to the captain’s ready room after repeatedly ringing without reply from the CO. Upon entering she found the captain sprawled out on his couch fast asleep. It was just as well. Ramius hadn’t left the bridge since the Corsair had begun scanning the Romulan planet. He had only retreated to his ready room for meals and an occasional 15 or 20 minute nap.
She smiled softly. The invincible captain had finally succumb to sleep despite his iron will. Novada suppressed a chuckle as she quietly entered. The sleeping captain and his undignified position on his couch were true to his fighter pilot heritage. In fact if she didn’t know better it appeared as if Ramius had been out all night drinking and partying with fellow pilots after a mission and was now sleeping off the ill effects sacked out on the couch without a care as to comfort or dignity.
She lingered for a moment not wanting to wake him. There was something boyishly charming about the captain’s appearance with his unkempt hair and somewhat silly position on the small couch. Ramius could be unpredictable, harsh, arrogant, and as firm as anyone she had ever served under yet he too was human behind the tough shell of armor he was careful to maintain.
Duty however waited for no one. She moved to wake him when a voice startled her nearly causing her to drop the padd she was holding in her hand.
“Unless the Romulans have locked their weapons on us Commander and are requesting our immediate surrender I would prefer another half hour to rest.”
“Ca..Captain?”
Ramius let out a barely audible sigh before sitting up and stretching seemingly unconcerned about his appearance which over the past 48 hours had become decidedly “non-captainly”.
“You have something for me Alanis”, he asked running a hand through his matted hair.
“Me? You’re..” Novada was stunned by the captain’s uncanny senses. If she was superstitious she might be easily convinced the captain was half vampire needing little sleep, no food, and capable of unusual feats. The man never ceased to amaze her.
“Awake. Yes. Five rings at the door is enough to wake the dead which I am only in appearance.” Ramius smiled softly lightening the mood with a quick bit of self deprecation which wasn’t too far off the mark.
Novada nodded and handed the captain the padd which she was hesitant to release to his grasp. Ramius felt the subtle hesitation as he looked over the padd’s contents.
“We just completed our scans of the planet sir. I am sorry to say that we were unable to find any trace of a settlement or activity of any kind. The planet appears to be dead and uninhabited. There is no evidence of any activity, debris, equipment, radiation, emissions or anything else detectable by our sensors.”
Ramius looked up at the commander before tossing the padd aside without a second look.
“The Romulans?”
Novada shook her head. “No word. I can only assume they too are near to completing their scans or have reached the same conclusion and are simply waiting for us to verify their own findings.”
“Unacceptable”, Ramius said after a moment’s pause. “There’s something down there. I know it! We just missed it.”
“Captain, science assures me that we did scan the entire surface from pole to pole. If there was so much as a colony of bacteria alive down there sir they assure me they would have seen it.”
“Would they have”, Ramius muttered. “I reject their findings.” He stood and moved to his replicator. “Computer, coffee, black, hot.” A mug appeared in a brilliant swirl of blue and white which the captain quickly grabbed swigging a sizable amount of the liquid without so much as a pause.
“All the evidence we have points to an organization that is well funded, well organized, and extremely capable. I didn’t expect they would be so sloppy as to be detected by orbital scans. A passing ship or Romulan patrol could easily expose them if they were indeed so easy to find. We are dealing with professionals; people who want to remain hidden and who have gone to great lengths to do so. I know there is something down there. We just haven’t found it yet.”
“We have searched the entire planet sir. What other measures can we take? The Romulans will not allow us to remain here without some tangible evidence for much longer. I suspect they are currently ascertaining how best to use the current situation to their advantage which leaves us in a vulnerable position should they go so far as to reverse their position on our presence here in their territory.”
“Yes I know. Time is short”, Ramius answered taking another pull from the coffee mug. Options were limited. Any actions too radical would appear to the Romulans as if they were grasping at straws. However he was not prepared to turn around and leave. They had come this far. The trail had gone cold, but that did not mean it had ended.
“Our scans”, Ramius said pacing the carpet in deep thought. “How were they conducted?”
“Conducted? We ran all standard scans looking for any signs of life, equipment, or geological disturbances which might suggest activity.”
“AH”, Ramius exclaimed. “Standard. We ran standard scans?”
“…Yes?”
Despite the captain’s tired features a childlike exuberance burned in the man’s blue eyes. “I want the planet rescanned at once.”
“Again?”
“Yes again. This time I do not want anything standard run. In fact I want everything non-standard run. We looked for the possible and the probable. That was my mistake. I shouldn’t have been so careless. This time I want to look for the impossible and the improbable. We’re ruled out the possible and I know something is down there. Therefore we must look for the impossible to find what is hidden.
I want every known particle and every known anomaly scanned for not matter how impossible be it vertirons, tachyons, or gravitons. I want that planet turned inside out. We’ll look for black holes, quantum singularities, space time distortions anything and everything but the possible or probable. If after all our efforts we are unsuccessful then these villains deserve their victory for they will have outsmarted my crew who gave it their best and who are themselves the best.”
Novada smiled. “I will relay your instructions sir. And what of the Romulans?”
Ramius took a long sip from his cup before answering. “We will wait. If they wish to force the issue then our initial scans were inaccurate due to an undetected sensor malfunction and we will request time to complete an additional planetary scan.”
“Do you believe they will accept such a claim?”
“No, but I doubt they will attempt to interfere. If we are successful then they are successful should we find any criminal activity. They will profit from our success. Our failure could prompt a more drastic response and indeed could cost some their careers perhaps even their lives. They have little to gain by refusing us a small measure of additional time.”
“Issue the orders to rescan the planet commander”, Ramius added his voice taking a sterner note. “I’ll join you on the bridge shortly.”
Novada nodded and left the captain alone.
Turning toward his window, Ramius looked down on the frozen world below. He slowly sipped his coffee as his eyes scoured the surface ahead of his ship’s sensor beams.
“Where are you”, he whispered quietly as he silently pondered where his opponent might lie on the barren planet.
[ To Be Continued ]
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Captain Taverain Ramius
Commanding Officer, USS Corsair
Commander Alanis Novada
Executive Officer, USS Corsair
(Apb Tav)
