NOTES: done in a half hurry and after much sleep depravation... other than that: w00t
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Chapter 8
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Counselor’s Log, Stardate 52593.1
Thomas and Mary are still not communicating effectively. If they are unwilling to work out their problems, I’m afraid they may break up. I’ll need to remind them that marriage isn’t a walk in the park, and that it takes an effort on the part of both people to make it work.
As to my latest patient, Samuel Carter, I don’t know what to do. I went to see him earlier today, and he wouldn’t even acknowledge my presence. The guard informed me that all he does is curl up and rock back and forth while murmuring to himself (nothing intelligible); he’ll also occasionally pace his cell for awhile. He continues these two activities for a day or two at a time until passing out. When he wakes up, he continues again. He doesn’t eat, so the doctor has been keeping him alive by feeding him intravenously. In all my years I have never seen anything like it, a complete withdraw from all reality and possibly paranoid delusions as well. I’m ordering a full drug screen as well as a detailed physical examination and brain scan. The only things that could explain this behavior are drug abuse, severe post traumatic stress disorder, or possibly a genetic disorder. Since the subject has not been in front line combat, I’m inclined to believe one of the others, and given the lack of family history of genetic disorders; that leaves drug abuse. If the presence of illicit narcotics is detected, an investigation will have to be conducted to discover the drugs’ source. If it is a drug, I hope the affects are reversible; otherwise he’ll be confined to an asylum for the rest of his life.
******
Imperial Transmission Stream
Time Index: 55.876.256.677Xfa
Encryption Key: 3511fg82nd0b5wn
Col. Irenicus: Did you even check the crates before you sent them through?
Cmdr. Thrax: Sir, I simply forwarded to you what I received.
Col. Irenicus: Commander, what am I going to do with a battalion of OUTDATED CLONE WAR ERA DROIDS?!
Cmdr. Thrax: Sir, I apologi….
Col. Irenicus: And what’s more… they seem to be devoid of their blasters!
Cmdr. Thrax: Sir, there must have been a mix up with the shipping orde…
Col. Irenicus: I don’t want to hear about the screw ups on your end commander! I want to hear that you WON’T make this mistake again!
Cmdr. Thrax: I assure you sir, from now on I’ll personally make sure the contents of your shipments are double checked before they’re sent through the gate.
Col. Irenicus: Be sure that you do.
Cmdr. Thrax: Do you want me to send blasters for those droids?
Col. Irenicus: No, we’re on a tight enough schedule without wasting gate time for a bunch of deprecated droids. How are those Defenders coming?
Cmdr. Thrax: Sir, I don’t know if I can get you more than maybe 6 or 7 TIE Defenders.
Col. Irenicus: I wanted at
least two squadrons.
Cmdr. Thrax: I’m aware of that sir, but Defenders are extremely expensive, rare, and every Admiral, Captain, General, and Moff in the fleet is requesting or commandeering them faster than they can be produced. I may be able to procure some TIE Advanced as replacements.
Col. Irenicus: Very well, what about Missile Boats?
Cmdr. Thrax: Only one, maybe two of those. Could you use regular Gunboats, sir? They’re plentiful.
Col. Irenicus: Send them through only if you have spare gate time. What’s the status on the generators and relay satellites?
Cmdr. Thrax: The generator is approximately 10% through. The satellites are still being constructed in accordance with your engineer’s specifications and will be transferred after the generator is done.
Col. Irenicus: Carry on Commander, Irenicus out.
**End Transmission Stream**
Irenicus turned away from the communications console in his make-shift command center to come face to face with his chief of operations. “Sir, we still have a battalion of unarmed clone war battle droids that need assignment.”
Irenicus thought for a moment, “I suppose they’ll simply have to serve as cannon fodder. But at the very least upgrade their combat algorithms.”
“Yes sir.”
The chief turned to leave, but then a thought struck Irenicus, “Wait, how many Terran weapons did you say we found?”
******
Counselor’s Log, Supplemental
Very strange, blood toxicology reports show traces of several chemical substances yet to be identified. After speaking to Mr. Carter’s commanding officer at the preserve station, I’m fairly convinced that whatever happened to Mr. Carter happened during his journey into the forest. Perhaps he had a bad reaction to one of the plants? I find it difficult to believe he would have such a volatile reaction to something natural. Perhaps he made the drugs himself? No… surely such drugs would be easily identified. While the specific drugs cannot be identified, their functions seem to include: hallucinogens, depressants, stimulants, and amphetamines.
Stranger still are the marks found near the base of the skull, in the small of the back, and in the bicep of each arm. They appear to be needle marks or bite marks. A sufficiently mutated or even alien insect may explain his situation. If so, then there has been a huge breach in customs. However, the marks seem too deliberate to be the result of insect bites. Upon closer inspection the marks on the arms would appear to be injection marks made by a hypodermic needle. The other marks, however, seem to have slight burn marks as though a large amount of energy passed through them. At those points, such an action would produce tremendous amounts of pain.
The conclusion is inescapable; this man was tortured. But by whom? And for what purpose? I need to hear Carter’s side of the story, but in his current state that’s impossible. I’ve transmitted a request to Starfleet for two things, to send a Vulcan here to attempt a mind-meld, and permission to begin a formal inquiry into a possible human rights violation. While I wait for a response the only thing to do is wait and see if Carter will come out of it on his own.
******
Captain’s Log, Supplemental
Since we determined that the computer board fragment the Ferengi offered us was genuine, I purchased the board along with the coordinates of the system where the Ferengi claims to have acquired the artifact. Starfleet agrees that the mystery of how a relic of Earth’s past wound up so far from home is worth postponing the Enterprise’s scheduled maintenance. We are currently en-route to Beta-Aquilae, a system on the outskirts of explored space near the far end of Ferengi territory. A few “gifts” have ensured that the Ferengi Alliance will not object to our presence so far within their borders. We should be arriving very soon. What mysteries coul…..
***
A sudden jolt cut off Picard’s log entry and nearly threw him out of his chair. He tapped his comm. Badge, “Picard to the bridge, report!”
Riker’s voice replied over the intercom, “Sir, minor injuries being reported around the ship; slight stress fractures and minor buckling on the ship’s also occurred.”
“What happened, number one?”
Riker’s response was a bit delayed as he conferred with engineering, “It seems our warp bubble suddenly collapsed, we’re determining cause right now.”
“Understood number one, I’m on my way.”
***
Picard stepped onto the bridge from the turbo lift, “Well, what happened?”
Data looked up from a science console to report, “Sir, it would appear that we have encountered an area in which sub-space has been severely damaged. Enough so that creating a stable warp bubble is impossible. I believe the source of this phenomenon is here.” Data pointed to the screen which should a solar system, one of the planets seemed to be heavily fractured.
“Several hundred years ago, Beta-Aquilae IV suffered some sort of catastrophe. An explosion of enormous magnitude cracked the planet’s crust, and managed to splinter much of the planet into the surrounding space. Though our sensors are limited due to the rupture in sub-space, I have determined that this planet is the center of the disturbance.”
Picard studied the readouts for a moment, “Vik said the board was discovered on Beta-Aquilae III, how long would it take us to get there using our impulse engines?”
Data replied nearly instantly,”Sir, such a journey would take at least a month.”
Geordi’s voice chimed in over the intercom, “Engineering to bridge.”
Picard turned his attention away from the monitor, “Go ahead Geordi.”
“Sir, I think if I tie the deflector into the warp systems, I may be able to get the ship moving at warp under these conditions. But only up to warp 3 or 3.5”
Picard cheered up at that news, “Excellent Geordi, let me know when it’s ready.” Picard turned his attention to the helmsman, “Helm, set a course for Beta-Aquilae III, maximum impulse until Geordi has completed his modifications.”
“Aye sir.”