True Confessions

Posted on Mon 8th Mar, 2021 @ 9:54pm by

1,140 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Business Not At All As Usual
Location: Henry's Office, Captain of the Port
Timeline: MD 3, 1328

The door to Commander Perry's office opened and Riko poked her head around it. "Henry, do you have a few minutes?" Without waiting for an answer, she came in and took the seat in front of his desk, setting two small opaque white boxes on his desk. The larger one was about 3 x 5 centimeters, and the smaller one about 3 cm square. She stared at them a minute, then took a deep breath and looked up into her friend's face.

"I have a confession to make. I hope you'll hear me out and then keep my secret, as well, but that's up to you." The Commander leaned back away from her in his chair, and she continued.

"The day that ... Samurai was attacked, I was working on something. Or I had been before bridge duty. I left my experiment running when I went on the bridge, and it was connected to the science station up there when we were attacked."

Picking up the smaller of the two boxes, McCord continued, "These two boxes work independently of one another, with separate purposes, but they also go together, in a way. This small one has one purpose, to detect theta sine waves a ship's sensors pick up. I discovered, by looking for the whole Greek alphabet of energy waves, that when ships are cloaked - any ship, any kind of cloaking - they emit an almost infinitesimal amount of theta sine - just enough to be detectable.

"That's what this box was doing that day, and why we had any warning, however small, that we were being surrounded by cloaked ships. Possibly, it's what saved the 2/3 of the crew who survived." She turned the box around and around in her hand for a moment, lost in contemplation of history and everything she'd lost in those attacks, everything they'd all lost.

She put the box down, and picked up its larger neighbor. "This one has a little more to do. Once I knew about the theta sine waves, and how to detect them, I needed to be able to cancel them for us. That's what this box does. It makes the vessel running it truly stealth, truly undetectable under cloak. Until someone invents something else we haven't discovered yet."

Henry sat behind the desk, looking over the boxes and then looking over to his best friend. Henry knew this look upon her person as one of sorrow, remorse, and regret. He had only witnessed it a few times through the years, but when he had, he knew his friend was carrying a heavy weight on her shoulders. Henry took a moment to choose his words carefully, not wanting Riko to stop opening up to him about this.

"Riko, if this device can do all that you say, why are they sitting here in this office and not with Starfleet being utilized? Better yet, why have I not seen or heard of these before?"

His friend shrugged. "All that might have happened if events had gone differently. After the attack, I had other things to think about, and ... I'm still not sure if it's a good idea to have this tech out there at all. I've already developed a way to cancel the advantage. What if we didn't have ways to find cloaked ships? Is that a good thing? You know the Federation members would all have it in no time. We have people from every member working in Starfleet. It would leak everywhere. And then the pirates and marauders of the space lanes would have it, and what kind of mess would I have made?"

She flipped the boxes over. "They work simply by pressing the toggle switch here for on and off. That's it. It automatically searches for a science bridge station or records in the ship's database if it can't find one. How do you think Starfleet would have used this in the last three years? Are we any worse off for not letting them have it?"

Looking at him, she said, "I don't think we are. I brought them to you because the missions of Isabella's ship are one area that it might make a life and death difference, and I thought you might want to install them on her ship. Without telling her. I'd know and you'd know, and if it became necessary to use them, they'd be there. It isn't tech I want to fall into anyone else's hands. Could you do that to Isabella? Could you do that to Starfleet?"

Henry sat in the chair, silent as he stared at the devices on the desk, and then back to Riko. He already knew what his answer would be to his dearest friend, but he had to admit that he was a bit surprised at what he was hearing from Riko. No matter what, Henry knew his priority would always be to his sister and her safety if he could help it.

"Anything that will give you all an edge over the enemy out there will be needed for you to survive, so I will install the devices. But, I don't think you need to keep it a secret from Isabella. The two of you are embarking on a different type of friendship and level of trust. She is going to depend on you to be open with her and tell her what she needs to know. I will keep your secret, because it will give you all an edge. This is not my secret to tell, it will be yours. But how do you want this one to come out?"

McCord moved restlessly in her chair. "I don't want it to come out. At all. These are the only prototypes. I've destroyed all the records I had - and the other person who knew what I was doing, who was working with me that day was one of the Winters who didn't make it home with us. No one else knows about it. Maybe you're right, and I'll have to tell Isabella at some point, but not today. When that day comes, I'll deal with it. In the meantime, if something happens to our ship, the tech dies, too, and it will wait for someone else to rediscover it. I won't be responsible for making it possible for lowlifes to sneak up on ships and freighters and families."

She pushed the devices across the desk. "It's pretty simple installation, just wedge them in or attach them somewhere they can't fall out. I don't think you'll have any trouble finding a place to hide them on the ship." She looked him in the eyes. "Thanks, Henry. You'll know we are safer, and I'll know that no one else knows about this little advantage. If something happens just to me, then it's your secret to tell or keep."

 

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