The Missing Piece (Part 1)

Posted on Thu Aug 4th, 2016 @ 12:08am by Winset-Kelix ‘Winkel’ Mar-Abek [N'alae] & Crewman Sonos Danat Mr

1,198 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Celebrate Culture
Location: TGT Freighter Miscellanea, Tiberius IV
Timeline: Back-post

ON

Winkle shuffled over to a large container sitting against a bulkhead in the dimly-lit cargo bay. Two smaller crates were stacked on top of it. He looked at the serial numbers painted on their sides; all the other containers he had seen were also similarly marked. Sonos, he thought, then shrugged and pressed a few controls on the PADD he was holding. A moment later there was a whirring sound from above, and a large claw descended from the ceiling to pick up one other the smaller crates. It moved to the left and deposited the crate on the floor nearly two meters away. It then did the same with the second crate, before returning to it’s position overhead.

Winkle moved closer to the large container and used the controls to open the lid. It popped up but remained on top of the container. Grumbling, Winkle gripped the metal and gave it a shove so that it slid over the side and onto the floor with a loud clatter. The sound echoed through the cargo bay. Behind him three more containers were similarly open, with some of their contents lying about the otherwise-clean floor around them. He began digging through the the new container, looking at the items inside.

Winkle looked down at the part in his hand, turning it over a little as he inspected it. It was in fairly good condition, only needing a bit of attention before it could be used.

“Oh yes, this could be useful.” He muttered to himself, and placed it atop a growing pile of bits and pieces on a nearby hoversled.

Sonos was sitting at the main computer terminal of the bridge of an old Federation freighter, which Khiy had designated for use as a warehouse of sorts. It was probably a 200 year-old design, elongated with ten cargo bays divided along the port and starboard sides. The engines, as well as what passed for personnel areas of the ship, were located at the aft of the vessel. Here was one shuttle dock poorly located on the forward hull, requiring any crew to traverse the length of the vessel when either arriving or disembarking. It was cramped and dingy, not at all designed for comfort.

The Freighter was named Miscellanea, which Sonos though was quite appropriate, for it contained much of the parts Khiy had salvaged from derelict vessels over the years. He suspected that the vessel had been renamed.

The freighter was nearly antiquated, and was not in a very good state of repair. The engines, life support and artificial gravity systems still functioned, but little else. Currently it just barely succeeding in maintaining orbit around Tiberius IV.

When it had first arrived, being towed into orbit by one of Khiy’s other vessels, Sonos had hoped that it might provide a source of materials for the retrofit of the Romulan vessel. Khiy had been quite vague in his responses to Sonos’ requests for a manifest, which had led him to believe that there was not official log of the parts on board. What he had discovered upon finally boarding the vessel was shear disarray. It had taken him and his staff weeks to properly organize and catalog everything.

The current rotation of crew had left thirty minutes ago for to return to the Wake, but he had stayed behind to enter the latest inventories into his database, giving instructions to return for him in two hours. He was nearly finished when a noise caught his attention. As the freighter was supposed to be empty all should of been quiet.

There was a distant echo of a crash, followed shortly by another. The sound made him grind his teeth, as it was the sound of all his work being undone. Quickly but calmly, Sonos set his PADD aside and turned to the security feeds from inside the freighter. The docking indicators were not currently working, making it impossible to tell if shuttle had docked. A skilled pilot could have done so with minimal jarring the the freighter.

Soon after it’s arrival, Sonos had requested for this system to be repaired, along with the installation of an internal surveillance system. A repair team had been working on the later system, which was at least 75% operational. He began scanning the screens for the intruder. He already had his suspicions as to whom it might be.

Winkle appeared on the screen standing over an open crate and riffling the contents. A nearby hoversled was piled with items he had already succeeded in pilfering from other containers. A dark look passed across Sonos’ otherwise impassive face.

Moving to another console, Sonos called up the docking hatch controls and with a smug expression, locked-down Winkle’s shuttle. At lease that system still functioned. Then slowly rising from his seat, he exited the bridge and made his way down the long corridor to cargo bay six.

By the time Sonos reached the cargo bay, the noise had stopped. For a moment he thought that Winkle might have known about his approach and was attempting to flee the scene of his crime. Quickening his pace, Sonos made his way through the orderly rows of crates, shelves and containers towards Winkle’s last-observed position. More and more items were strewn around the floor as he grew closer. At the sight, a quiet anger began to burn in his chest.

He stepped out from behind a container, with a hand raised and a righteous indignation on his lips, but was stopped short by what he saw. The dirty engineer was sitting on the floor staring down at a part that he was slowly turning in his hands, a look of disbelief on his face. So taken aback by the child-like nature of it, the words Sonos had prepared died away.

After a moment, Sonos managed to regather his anger enough to growl at the engineer on the floor, “Winkle! What are you doing?”

Winkle, startled by Sonos’ unnoticed appearance, jolted and looked up at the tall Cardassian standing several feet away. The look of disbelief fell from his face and was replaced by one of pure excitement. Jumping to his feet, he practically skipped over to Sonos.

“Do you know what this is?” He asked, then repeated with even more enthusiasm, “Do you know what this is?”

Sonos looked down at the part Winkle was cradling between his hands. It was cylindrical, approximately 23 centimeters long by eighteen centimeters in diameter, grey and silver with red connections at either end, and a faded serial number etched into one side. He recognized it from the inventory list. “It is item number S-097A-3801-SP-2.” He replied in an annoyed tone. His photographic memory and strict mental training allowed him to recall every item. “It is categorized under Starfleet Special Projects.” He continued, “A restricted technology, this is a core processor for a Federation holographic cloaking system. Third generation if my research is correct.”

TO BE CONTINUED

Tags

‘Winkel’ Mar-Abek
Chief Engineer of the Morning's Wake

Sonos Danat
TGT, Logistics Officer of the Morning's Wake

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