—- USS Selene, Captain’s Ready Room —-

Captain Olivia Carrillo and Lieutenant Commander Gabriella Miller looked at the Klingon officer. Carillo had not realized that they had a half-Klingon officer, a fact that had just been brought to her attention after their trip to the Klingon fleet yards. Though the woman was a half Klingon half Vulcan and her distinctive ears would not have allowed her to pass as a Klingon. Further she was a science officer, a job not suited to a mission in a potential battle zone.

“So Lieutenant Junior Grade Bran’nea, do you have family in the Klingon Empire?” Carrillo asked, trying to gauge if the officer would be useful.

“I was raised Vulcan, and while I have family in the Empire, I would hesitate to believe that I am a cultural expert on the Empire. My family there are farmers, not warriors,” the woman said, her pacing of language and vocal intonations quite Vulcan. Given that she looked like the could rip both of Carrillo’s arms off it was quite odd.

Of course, the captain reminded herself, so could a Vulcan.

“And what do you think of the footage?” Miller asked. She was the woman’s direct commanding officer, which was why she was here.

“Given Starfleet has shared its changling finding technology with the Empire, among other powers, I would posit that the Emperor has not been replaced by changlings. However it is possible that this technology has not been shared throughout the Empire. Hence it would be possible to impersonate the Emperor for a limited time,” Bran’nea said.

This matched both what Captain Radak had said when they had shared the footage with him back on the USS Falcon, and Carrillo’s own guess at what was gong on. One of the powers not gifted the technology was the Orion Syndicate, and that was who it was assumed was behind the attacks.

“Would the Klingons allow two destroyers to be stolen on purpose?” Carrillo asked.

The half-Vulcan and half-Klingon blinked, “I would answer again that I am not an expert on current Klingon political situations. It could be justified under the code of honor, but nearly anything could.”

“Thank you Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant Commander,” Carrillo said as she gestured towards the door. The pair exited. The blue of their uniforms pointing out a weakness the Selene had in its current role. It was a science ship, staffed by scientists and cadets. It was not adapt at solving mysteries like stolen destroyers.

Her terminal beeped with an incoming message. Being in Klingon space they had opted for sending encrypted messages rather than real time conversations. The Klingons might be allies, but that was seeming increasingly temporary.

After the message was unencrypted it played on the terminal as Carrillo sipped from a thermal bottle of water.

Captain Radak’s face appeared, “We concur that it is unlikely that the Klingon Emperor has been compromised. However this incident is being shared with the High Command by the Federation diplomats anyway. Your next job is to go to Jaressi Centre and locate the stolen materials from the raided colonies. Obviously you won’t be able to repossess them, but if we can show the goods are in pirate hands, it will also us to more directly take this conflict to those behind it. Obviously a Starfleet Vessel showing up at Jaressi Centre will be difficult to manage so take a Runabout and send a team. Radak out.”

The video died off, as the Vulcan’s message ended. Carrillo glanced at the terminal and sighed, standing she exited her ready room to put the order in motion.

—- USS Selene, Main Shuttle Bay —-

The runabout Zeus left the Selene three days later once the ship was near enough to Jaressi Centre to send it off, but not near enough to be located on sensors. The team consisted of Lieutenant Jara, Lieutenant Rebecca Avila, Crewwoman Vanuoma Vedda, and Lieutenant Maria Cortez.

The inclusion of the Orion Vanuoma had been done so that they had some local expertise. Her mother was a high ranking pirate and perhaps that would payoff for the away team.

On the bridge Carrillo watched them go, nervous that she was not joining them. While she trusted most of the crew, she did not trust the residents of Jaressi Centre. The old Romulan station was now a hub of privacy and the last time they had sent crew there the Chief Councelor and the USS Seattle’s First Officer were taken control of by an evil god, and and their chiefs of security and science had been taken hostage in a shipping crate.

This was before Carrillo’s time, but it was enough to make her nervous.