If You Poke a Vulcan...

Posted on Mon May 11th, 2015 @ 10:12pm by Stephen Jenkins & Commander Sinek & Alden Engstrom XIII
Edited on on Tue May 12th, 2015 @ 12:05am

Mission: The New Sydney Fiasco
Location: Conference Room 3

Alden Engstrom the 13th looked at his chrono. It was time for another interview. This time, he wanted to speak with the Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Commander Sinek. Reports showed that this man was able to successfully use an ophidian cane to get the Hera to the time it was in now and had even been able to keep the cane stable. That cane was now sealed inside of a science lab being studied by a very promising science officer. "Commander Sinek, please report to conference room 3." he called out to the computer, expecting the Vulcan to do his best to be punctual.

Lieutenant Commander Sinek had wondered when the investigators from TI would turn their attention to him. It was only logical that he be interviewed after successfully wielding and activating the Ophidian cane.

Several crew and civilians had already been interviewed. Some lasted only a few minutes. Many lasted several hours.

Angel had been under the gun from the beginning. She revealed to Sinek the encounters she had with TI. He knew from those relayed encounters that there was a spy aboard. He and Angel had worked together to uncover the agent.

Hearing the request to report for the interview, Sinek began constructing barriers in his mind. There were no known reports of telepaths being employed, but it was best to be cautious. Proactive, rather than reactive. Sometimes, the reaction was not quick enough. By the time Sinek entered the interview room, his mind was completely defended.

"Lieutenant Commander Sinek reporting as ordered," the Vulcan flatly announced as he gave a crisp salute. As always, his uniform was fresh and pristine.

"Excellent." Alden said slowly, not looking up from his PaDD. "Please have a seat. I think we have enough information on most of the events, but one thing remains unclear to me." Setting down his PaDD and looking up at Sinek, he drew out his next question. "How... exactly... did you get the Hera to this time from the one you were in?"

Sinek quietly took a seat, taking a formal, but relaxed, posture. He momentarily considered the question. With no indication of nervousness or pride the Vulcan answered, "I was able to activate an Ophidian cane left behind by a fallen Devidian."

Alden stared at Sinek, trying to process this. "Please elaborate. Do you have any knowledge of how you did such a thing?"

"Knowledge is the basis of logic," the Vulcan answered. "Knowledge comes from observation. I identified the precise location in which the Devidian wielded the Ophidian cane. When I placed my hand there I detected the life force of the Ophidian. I was able to connect with the Ophidian and using its brain to activate the cane."

Picking up his PaDD and making a few notes, Alden made an educated guess. "Logically then, through some sort of Vulcan touch telepathy mind meld function. Can you tell me anything more about the Devidians in general?"

Sinek allowed the query to register. However, Sinek needed the question to be more specific. The interviewer asked for generalities. If Sinek were to reveal all the generalities he now knew of Devidians, they would be there quite some time.

"I have extensively researched the Devidians since the incident," Sinek evenly expressed. "What do you specifically need to know?"

"Specifically, how they arrived on the Hera." Alden replied, matching Sinek's tone.

"According to the research," Sinek revealed, "The Ophidian interacts with triolic waves. It is not certain the Hera was the initial destination. However, we became a target once the triolic waves were produced by the phaser banks. Specifically, it was our efforts to remain unnoticed in the past, while attempting to keep the past intact that caused us to become a target. Captain Telvan recognized the past appeared to be changing and made the decision to act to preserve the past. Otherwise, the space-time continuum would have been disrupted."

"Gauging the level of disruption of the past is our domain. Please just stick to descriptions of the actions taken." Alden interjected haughtily. "Were you able to determine the cause of the initial temporal anomaly?"

Sinek raised a brow as without emotion he took a moment to make a point. "You were not available. Had we taken the time to contact you, we may not be here discussing this at the moment."

Getting back to the subject at hand, Sinek added, "Before the battle, Commander Radt and I were reviewing sensor files. It appears that at the precise moment we hit the anamoly, the files duplicated. Before we could take a closer look, the battle began. I made my way to the bridge."

"Not an uncommon occurrence for some forms of temporal incursions. What about your scans of the Borg probe? Were you able to review them?" Alden asked.

"Scans were not able to penetrate the probes shields," Sinek observed.

"Isn't that a bit unusual, even for the Borg?" Stephen interjected, wanting to see how Sinek would respond.

Sinek was beginning to wonder why Engstrom was so interested in their scans of the Borg probe. Why was he so insistent that they knew what they didn't. Sinek was beginning to conclude the Borg probe had more than a Section 31 connection; perhaps there was also a Temporal Investigations connection. Perhaps he was probing to see what Sinek knew.

"You and I both know there was a Section 31 connection with the probe," Sinek stated remaining emotionless. He brought his hands before him in the familiar triangle shape. "If a Section 31 operative wished to remain incognito, he would find a way to do so. My question is, did the probe have any other connections besides Section 31?"

"I see that's gotten around the ship already. We've already identified the two known agents on the Hera as well as the agent aboard the Probe. If the Probe had other connections, we're not aware of... Then please... Enlighten us..." Alden said slowly, wondering just what Sinek was referring to when he said 'other connections'. So far as he knew, it only had a connection to the rogue agent from Section 31.

"As was mentioned before," came the bland response, "scans were not able to penetrate the probe's shields. Therefore, we know of no other connection."

"Indeed. Do you believe the captain's decision to become involved to be correct?" Alden asked, switching to a different subject.

"At first," Sinek stated tilting his head to the side, "I had warned Captain Telvan of the implications of our involvement. The Captain did not have time to reason with me; she only had time to act. Reading the reports, since, it is my opinion that her logic is sound."

"Indeed." Sliding the PaDD across the table to Sinek, Alden only had one more question. "This list contains the names of known agents for Section 31. Do you recognize any of them?"

"Indeed," replied the Vulcan.

"And they are..." Alden prompted.

Without inflection, Sinek confirmed, "Commander Fairchild, I know; T'Pel, I am an acquaintance; Drake, I have heard."

Taking the PaDD back, Alden nodded. "Thank you for your time. If you have anything to add to any information we've discussed, please reveal it now."

"I know nothing more," Sinek admitted. "I assure you, if I discover anything more, I will relay the information through Captain Telvan." She can filter what she wishes.

"Then you're dismissed. Thank you again." Alden said, promptly ignoring the Vulcan in favor of his PaDD.

At least he did not probe into how much I know of Angel. This confirmed to Sinek that TI no longer considered Angel a threat, if they had at all.

"Indeed," came the Vulcan reply once again. Sinek calmly arose and strode out of the interview room.