Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 1: Eye of the Beholder
Scene 22: Waiting and Watching
1.22
Waiting and Watching
Captain Yui Song was not happy with Captain Skip Howard. Again.
They were in the U.S.S. Beagle’s security center along with the Beagle’s chief security officer, Major Janet Carter of the United States Marines. Major Carter was a first cousin to Captain Rhonda Carter, but looked nothing like the Escort’s captain. Her features were strongly African American. Her short, curly, black hair was mostly hidden by her uniform hat. Her frame was large, muscular, and ramrod straight. Everything about her from her strong, set jaw, to her precise, powerful movements, to her crisp, precise accent, screamed career military.
Her second in command, Captain Osollaa sh’Zhiathis, a short but muscular andorian woman from Alaska and one of her NCO’s, Sgt. Tommy Richards, another African American with a pronounced Texas drawl, were operating the security monitors. Which were displaying, among other things, a recording of Pel messily enjoying tube grubs in the U.S.S. Mako’s galley.
“And just how long have you been monitoring the internal security feeds from my ship?” Captain Yui wasn’t bothering to ask how. This was just more evidence of the advanced surveillance technology Nakamura Enterprises was famous for.
“You might as well get over it, Song,” Skip Howard replied with a warm smile. “This isn’t new technology. It’s been standard equipment on every Vulcan Science Academy vessel since before first contact. The vulcans have always been listening in on us whenever they’ve been within a parsec. We’re currently listening in on all the ferengi ships as well. Every internal feed that is within range.”
“But the security codes…” Yui started.
“Vulcans. Vulcan sensors. Vulcan math. Vulcan decryption techniques. Vulcan ethics. Vulcan standard operating procedure.” Skip Howard’s irrepressible smile managed a hint of sadness. “Sorry to burst your bubble,” he added as he watched the magnitude of this revelation causing Yui Song to rearrange her mental furniture. “The engine room too - standard layout for this class of ships for well over a century. Vulcans are extremely effective at keeping secrets.”
Captain Yui felt her anger gradually fading into the background noise of irritated disillusionment that was standard issue for any Star Fleet command officer - something that seemed to be handed out along with the fourth solid pip for every officer on their promotion to captain. She felt comfortable enough in present company to express this emotion with a heavy sigh of resignation. She could almost feel her iron gray hair finally beginning to turn snowy white. “Okay Skip, so why did you bring me here and show me this…” She gestured to the viewscreen that displayed Pel and his disgusting lunch.
It was Major Janet Carter who responded. “What you are looking at is not some unfortunate junior liquidator for the F.C.A. What you are looking at is a highly trained intelligence agent.” She gestured toward Sergeant Tommy Richards and the young marine N.C.O. quickly entered commands which backed up the image and then focused tightly on Pel’s fingers, moving with odd precision against the bottom of a rather innocuous looking spice bottle.
“A very clever device,” Carter continued. “Almost certainly ferengi technology. Precisely 4 tumvor (or a little over 3 minutes) after the Project Director set the bottle down, the device emitted a signal that hijacked the U.S.S. Mako’s background warp shell to send a compressed, directed signal not toward Ferenginar, but directly to a ferengi listening post.”
“Thank you, Major,” said Captain Yui. She directed her attention to the Beagle’s captain. “I take it you are disinclined to confront our guest with this evidence?”
“Pel is doing one of two things out here,” Skip Howard replied. “Either he’s part of the conspiracy that managed to infiltrate ferengi security to allow those trills safe passage to D, Red South 179, or…”
Yui Song finished Howard’s thought: “Or he’s trying to get to the bottom of it and expose the conspiracy.” She shook her head and smiled grimly. “So we watch and we wait.”
Skip Howard nodded. “We wait, and we watch.”
1.22