Yay! Research!

Posted on Mon Jul 17th, 2017 @ 8:55pm by Lieutenant Commander Eneas Clio & Chief Warrant Officer Daytona Ral

Mission: Death is in the Details
Location: Intelligence Center
Timeline: Current

Daytona looked at the image of a strange starship leaving Selen VI just before Evil Enalia blew it up. He'd only just arrived to work when Clio said she had something to show him and than presented him with the image he was looking at now.

"Uhm..." he said. "What exactly am I looking at? I mean, I believe that's Selen VI and that starship appears to be leaving the system. The time stamp on the sensor log says our sensors captured this image shortly before the planet was destroyed. But as far as I can recall, I've never seen this ship before in my life. What made you think to ask me about it?"

"It's the only one we spotted leaving and you haven't disappeared." Clio wasn't always so direct, but the faster they solved this mystery the sooner they'd get a break. "I don't much care how your younger self escaped. But I need to know who was on this ship, and if it wasn't you... it may have been Maas Teranja."

Daytona looked at Clio strangely.

"The pharmaceutical tycoon?" he said. "What does he have to do with any of this? Ugh, we'll get to that in a minute. As I said, to my knowledge I've never seen that ship before in my life and I have no idea who is...was...is? Oh for the Prime Number's sake! Now I'm doing it! Anyway, I don't know who's ship it is or who was aboard it. I caught a ride with a Yridian information broker who was visiting the station to mine it for...well...information."

Daytona left out just how his passage off Selen VI was arranged, in part because he was a little hazy on that himself, and in part because what he could tell them, if Temporal Investigations and Starfleet Intelligence hadn't ordered him not to except in the most extreme of circumstances, might distract them from the matter at hand.

"Now," he said. "Back to my question. What does Maas Teranja have to do with all of this?"

"Mal-- I mean, Commander Xustos and Captain Telvan think that's who the... uh..." Clio wasn't really sure what to call the 'demonverse' version of Enalia. She didn't know for sure if it was really a demon or just some sort of twisted shapeshifter. "The thing. The one that looked like the captain. Who it was after."

Daytona looked thoughtful.

"Her psychotic babbling did seem to indicate that she was looking for someone," he said. "And it did appear that she had located a secret elevator. Even at the time, with no other proof, I assumed the elevator led to the Master's lab."

Then Daytona looked at Clio askance.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" he said. "Maas Teranja...Maas Ter...Master? Really? Why in the name of the Prime Number would a Rigelian abbreviate his name to a word in Federation Standard? Fed Standard is Earth English!"

Daytona shook his head.

"Not to over use the Prime Number," Daytona said. "But what, for the Prime Number's sake, is going on here?"

"I wish I knew, but I don't. Trying to figure it out is making my head spin." Clio had no idea why a Rigelian pharmaceutical tycoon would be involved in this mess or why he'd use a Federation Standard word as his nickname.

Daytona took in a breath and then blew it out slowly, letting the action relax him.

"Alright," he said. "There aren't going to be any records from the spaceport. The whole place was destroyed. All that's left is debris and scrap. Alright, how about this. If we can get a possible heading on that ship, we could dig through historical records and try to narrow down the most likely destinations and then, we dig through the records regarding those planets and see if there's any mention of a ship that matches the description of the one we're looking and maybe a man that fits Teranja's description. If we get really lucky, maybe there's an image file somewhere. That's going to be very time consuming. If you think that's a good use of our time, I'll do what I can..."

Daytona's voice drifted off for a moment.

"You know," he said. "I have what might be a really bad idea. In fact, I'm certain it presents a direct threat to the space-time continuum. How badly do we need to know where this ship went and who was on it?"

"Enalia seems pretty intent on finding out why her demonic self was after Teranja and wants to know for sure if he was on that ship. Since it wasn't you on that ship... she's going to assume it's him and want us to find him at all costs." Clio wasn't sure she liked the sound of 'direct threat to space-time continuum', but she didn't like the idea of spending days or weeks tracking the ship down either. "What did you have in mind?"

"Okay," Daytona said. "But remember, I told you this was a really bad idea. I left the Selen VI with a Yridian information broker named Yanski. How I found Yanski in the first place is classified, but I went on to work with him for several years as his partner and sometimes as his muscle. Anyway, we could contact him and offer him something, a piece of information or perhaps even just money. He wasn't adverse to accepting latinum as compensation. We could contact him and ask him to see what he can find out about our mystery ship. We could ask him to keep young me in the dark as much as possible but...it could change my past. Give me information that I didn't have before we ask him, information that might change something important. Or, being really pessimistic for a moment, both Yanski and young me could get killed. Either way, we could change everything I've done over the last 234 years. We're not even going to be here that long. He'd have to leave the information for us somewhere...somewhen, that we wouldn't get it until we get back from this little adventure. Yanski is clever and a bit greedy. If you offer him enough, he might be able to find a way to keep young me out of the whole affair...still that's going to change my history...ugh! This is a really terrible idea!"

"Oh hell no. Change your entire history and possibly damage the timeline for the sake of our curiosity? Not going to happen." More time travel paradox gobbledygook. Clio wasn't sure how much more of it she could take. "It's not worth it. Too big a risk that we'll alter something critical to our timeline."

"I did say it was a terrible idea," Daytona replied. "Well, I can start looking into this Teranja and Teranja Pharmaceuticals and see what I can discover about him. Would that help? I'll start with what we have in the ship's computer. When we get back I'll access outside sources. If necessary, I can go on a few...excursions to see what I can find out in person."

"That helps a lot, actually. Whatever we can find is what we'll take... and honestly you'll probably have better luck than I would anyway. I'm not well-liked in most communities, especially with the sort of reputation I've garnered over the years." Clio smirked a bit. "I'll see what I can find out about our little mystery ship. It might have something unique to it that I can trace."

"Sounds good to me," Daytona said. "If it's alright with you, I'll get started on sifting through the information in the ship's library computer right away. Is there anything else?"

Clio shook her head slightly. "No. Just keep me updated."

Daytona nodded.

"I'll get to work then," he said. He walked over to his work area and began his search.

As Daytona started on his work, Clio busied herself with the details and analysis of the ship they'd picked up leaving orbit. With any luck, the two of them could find a lead sooner rather than later.