“Monarch on the Shore”
Stardate 75205.4;
March 17, 2398
Episode 78
Written by Chris
Adamek
Prologue
The Jan’tral
Sector
Romulan Neutral
Zone
It’s a Yridian
transport ship,” said Commander Francisco Perez. He carefully studied the tactical overview displayed on the
workstation before him before furthering his analysis of the alien ship. “According to their manifest, they are
delivering food and medical supplies to the colony in the Jolan’isar Cluster.”
“On
screen.” Seated calmly in the Gemini’s
command chair, Captain Allison Duford approached this situation like any
other. For all intents and purposes, it
was a situation like any other.
Even if they were up to no good, one Yridian transport ship posed no
threat to the mighty weapons aboard the Gemini. Still, Duford was cautious, for the cargo
aboard her ship was far more important that anything the Yridans were
carrying…
Moments later,
the Yridian vessel flitted onto the viewscreen—and the tension welling in the
pit of Duford’s stomach eased. The
vessel was perhaps the most dilapidated thing she had ever seen—so
decrepit-looking, in fact, that it barely constituted a starship. Its brownish hull was pocked and scorched,
and one of its dingy warp nacelles was clearly a cheap replacement for the
original, for it wasn’t even of the same design.
“At their
current speed, they’ll enter Romulan Space in about an hour,” said Ensign Fritz
at the helm.
There was still
plenty of time to take action, a fact that kept Duford at ease. “Are there any other starships in the
vicinity?” she asked.
“The Archimedes
is in range,” Perez gleaned from sensors, “but they’re presently en route to
Outpost 23 with a medical emergency of some sort.”
Duford knew she
could easily have the Archimedes diverted to the Neutral Zone in
response to the Yridian freighter—and she considered it for a moment—but in her
opinion, the medical emergency took precedence over the Yridians. The Gemini would have to
respond. “Open a channel to the
Yridians,” she ordered.
“Yes,
ma’am.” Perez quickly complied with the
order, and a moment later, the junky freighter flicked away—replaced by the
shriveled face of the Yridian Captain.
Duford promptly
rose from her chair to greet the little man.
“This is Captain Allison Duford of the Federation Starship Gemini.”
The Yridian
nodded pleasantly. “Marouk Afeel,” he
stated cordially. “Is there something I
can do for you, Captain?”
“There
is.” With her hands resting upon her
hips, Duford took a few steps closer to the helm. “According to the treaty established after the Elorg War, no
vessel can enter Romulan territory without first passing through one of the
Federation checkpoints along the Neutral Zone.”
If Afeel was
concerned about the treaty, he showed no sign of it. “We passed through the checkpoint at Pelios Station three days
ago,” he chirped.
“Pelios
Station,” Duford skeptically repeated.
“That’s more than six light years away from here.”
Afeel flashed a
faint smile. “We drove our engines
hard,” he explained. “The denizens of
the Jolan’isar Cluster are in desperate need of our assistance… so if you don’t
mind, we’ll be on our way.”
“Of course,”
Duford replied. “As soon as we review
the records from Pelios Station and confirm your story, you’ll be free to go.”
Concern
suddenly flashed across Afeel’s wrinkled face.
“But the denizens of the Jolan’isar Cluster—”
“—can wait,”
Duford curtly interjected. “Given your
rather surreptitious route, you’ve already made them wait… another hour won’t
make much of a difference.”
“We encountered
an ion storm,” Afeel quickly replied.
“We had to adjust our course, otherwise our ship would have sustained
massive damage.”
Duford raised a
curious eyebrow. “I’m curious, Captain,
what is your definition of massive damage? Given the status of your vessel, it’s already heavily damaged.”
“Then you can
understand our desire to avoid the said ion storm.” Afeel tapped a few commands into the computer console beside
him. “Now if you’ll excuse us, the
Romulans need their medical supplies.”
If the Yridians
had been transporting any extralegal cargo, sensors would have detected it by
now. Given the ship’s decrepit state,
it was unlikely that they had the power to hide anything from the sensors. But Duford wasn’t ready to let the Yridians
off the hook that easily. She candidly motioned for Perez to mute the
conversation, and then turned to him for his opinion. “Well?”
Perez shook his
head. “I’ve checked the records from
Pelios Station,” he said, just as the turbolift doors slid apart. “The Yridian ship did dock there
three days ago—and their cargo manifest seems to check out.”
“What are they
carrying?” asked Duford, making every effort to keep business flowing as usual,
despite the newfound presence on the bridge.
“Exactly what
they stated,” Perez replied, casually glancing at the list. “They’ve got assorted grains and vegetables,
some therazine to help with the recent outbreak of Imolean flu… lectrazine,
cordrazine… a few other cortical analeptics… nothing out of the ordinary. Certainly nothing that justifies detaining
their vessel.”
And though she
found it hard to believe, Duford was left with the conclusion that the Yridians
were probably telling the truth. “We’re
going to have to check astrometric sensors for this ion storm,” she said, but
it was her intent to do so later—after her own precious cargo was safe
and sound.
Unfortunately
for her, that cargo chose the most inopportune moment to speak his mind. “You said something about therazine?” The voice belonged to Ghodan Makar—and he
was the President of the United Federation of Planets, on his way back to Earth
after a summit on Risa.
Perez quickly
looked back to his data.
“Therazine. Yes. The Yridians have large quantities of it to
help treat the Imolean flu outbreak in the Jolan’isar Cluster.”
Makar was a
Trill in his late forties—perhaps fifty, though one would never guess by
looking at him. His dark hair was
slicked back over his high forehead—and there was nary a gray hair in
sight. He was fit and trim—literally
bustling with energy not usually seen by a politician… which was probably why
he was such a popular leader. Even
Duford found herself fond of the man—though perhaps a bit more when she wasn’t
directly responsible for his safety.
Makar crinkled
his brow. “I wasn’t aware of a flu
outbreak in the Jolan’isar Cluster,” he stated.
And neither was
Duford—but she didn’t generally keep abreast of every last illness sweeping
across some remote Romulan colony. “It
must have cropped up over the last few days,” she said.
“Or not at
all,” Makar grimly replied.
The tone did
not go unnoticed, and Duford immediately came about to face her supreme
leader. “What are you getting at?” she
cautiously inquired.
Makar expelled
a long, weary sigh. “There is more than
one use for therazine,” he explained.
“And while it is effective cure to the Imolean flu, it can also help
counteract the effects of thalaron radiation…”
It took a long
moment for the words to sink into Duford’s mind—and once they did, she
sincerely wished they hadn’t. “The only
way one can get thalaron radiation is through exposure to a thalaron particle,”
she realized. “And if that is the
case…”
“…then the Romulans are developing a dangerous weapon,” Makar
grimly finished.