After having a chance to go through all the data collected from the seemingly abandoned Ferengi shuttle, the senior members of the crew were gathered together in the aft observation lounge. 

Lieutenant Devron felt it would be better if he allowed his Tactical Officer to chair the meeting and put forward his and Crewman Tyson’s findings.  Besides it would be good practice for furthering the Ensigns career and easier with a small group of familiar friendly faces.

Tholakath began by out lining the situation aboard the shuttle.  Nothing had seemed out of place; the computer and equipment all appeared to be functioning normally, just on low power.  He supposed this was to render the ship harder to detect.  Which the rest of those present all agreed with.  Life support was working perfectly well and there appeared to be enough emergence food rations available to last a month even if the replicator failed.

He also confirmed that it would be impossible for anyone to return to the shuttle as its own transporter could not be operated remotely. Whoever had left it had left for good.

Jason asked him how long the shuttle had been here, to which the Cardassian was able to give him a fairly accurate answer.  The 13th February; and within a few hours of them leaving the solar system.

“The craft sod was watching us.” Devron slammed a fist on the table before learning back clasping his hands behind his head. “How did he know we were watching the planet?”   The question was asked more in general; he wasn’t expecting anyone to give an answer, not yet and least.

He signalled for Tholakath to continue with the report.   Transporter logs registered DaiMon Talr beaming down to the planet’s surface alone; roughly three hours after they’d arrived.  There followed at various intervals the odd communication between Talr and his pilot/assistant Norr.  Nothing though that would indicate there being any problems.  At one point a number of items were beamed on board, one of which the young Cardassian now produced for the rest of the senior staff to view.

It was a short broad sword, about 60 centimetres in length and 8 wide at the point where the blade met the ornately designed handle.  It was a weapon more for show than actual combat, but if called upon it could be used rather effectively.  One thing that stood out though was the carved gem nestled within the hilt.  Roughly the size of a Quails egg was a Dilithium crystal.

“Wow.” Was the only word that came out of Ensign Harris’s mouth and it kind of summed up everyone’s feeling in the room. In fact it was nearly half a minute before anything else was said. 

“So these Vasileian treat Dilithium in the same way the vast majority of other races treat diamonds and emeralds etcetera.” Lieutenant Stuart mused. “So what’s Talr doing, just stealing them?”

“From what information we collected, other than this sword and a few items of Jewellery taken on a previous visit; the DaiMon has been replicating the Dilithium and any other gems to replace any he’s taken, before returning the item.” 

“Wouldn’t they notice the stuff was fake?” Cho asked, still marvelling at the craftsmanship of the sword.

C’Rren stepped in with an answer. “Given the level of advancement this people have reached and how good the Ferengi are at deception, they might not notice for another five hundred years.”   

It was a perfect crime, or at least had been up until the point it had all mysteriously gone wrong.  The Tactical Officer finished off by playing the last recorded message from DaiMon Talr.

“Norr what’s taking you so long?” The voice of the Ferengi was clearly annoyed and agitated. “It shouldn’t take even a halfwit like you this long to operate a transporter!” The next part was originally another ten minutes late. “Norr if you don’t get me off this planet this very instant, I will chop off both your ears and sell them as novelty ashtrays! I’m docking your pay for this trip to.” 

The Captain laced his fingers together, elbows on the desk listening to the one sided conversation, before speaking again. “What about his ship?  That Marauder we ran into. Why hasn’t it come looking for him.” 

“The Perpetual Profit, as she’s called had a run in with one of our ships.” Tholakath informed him. “Another unfortunate side effect of Frontier Day.  The Marauder was heavy damaged in battle and had to make a run for it.” 

“Well thank you Ensign for that detailed report.” Devron commented rising to his feet. “I hope your first time leading a briefing, wasn’t too stressful.” He smiled at this Tactical Officer who nodded a ‘thanks’ back.

“Mister C’Rren if you’d conduct a detailed scan of the area, we can assess what impact if any our Ferengi friend has made in six months. Dismissed, all of you” 

Cho commented on how sorry she felt for the people on the planet below having their wealth stolen as she headed for the door. Harris mused over their reaction if they’d discovered the DaiMon.  Doctor Andrianakis, who’d, remained mostly silent turned back half way between the table and the door. “I’d hate to think what someone like that could do to a planet like this.” 

“I agree.  The consequences could be devastating.” Replied Jason. “Well now I’d better go make a report on all this.”

            **********

In the end the report back to Fleet Command had been fairly short.  There were still so few facts and Jason was unwilling to go out on a limb and speculate.  One thing that nagged him; and he’d told them as much was the missing pilot of the shuttle.  There were eerie similarities between what had happened to the crew of the USS Alberga a Danube class Runabout he and the crew of the Jaxartes, then under the captaincy of Commander Salan; had been tasked in finding.  The Commander was amongst several others seemingly kidnapped on that ill-fated mission.  Was it just coincidence that a Ferengi had gone missing around the same time?  If it wasn’t and there was a connection; some as yet unknown and potential hostile race, based on their action, now had one individual from at least ten different races.  What the fate of those taken had been could only be speculated upon. 

For now though that was something for greater minds than his own to discuss and think about.  His tasks right now was the retrieval and apprehension of one DaiMon Talr with the minimum impact and disturbance to the native population and if possible negate any influence or damage created by the Ferengi’s arrival. 

Of cause it could be all too late, but wasn’t going to stop him trying.  Regardless of anything else Talr needed stopping.