An Unusual Partnership - Part I
U.S.S. Corsair - NX-011979
Nebula II Prototype
“Sic Parvis Magna"
(Greatness From Small Beginnings)
Captain Taverain Ramius entered his ready room where he greeted his visitor who now looked rested and refreshed after a brief, but necessary, stay in sickbay. Captain Zane Akina, the somewhat famed Intelligence Officer, sat on his couch as Ramius took a seat at his desk.
“So Captain, what brings you to see me? I understand the doctor has given you a clean bill of health.”
“He still wants me to take it easy for a few days, but I’ve been discharged. What I want to know is why this ship is headed to Versailles Station at breakneck speed?”
Ramius’s expression turned pensive. “If afraid you won’t be able to take it easy for the foreseeable future Captain. I’ve learned that your Ambassador Lamont is currently assigned to the station.”
“So why the rush? Why risk drawing attention to ourselves and tipping him off?”
“Because I’ve also learned that the Ambassador, despite his protests, has been assigned to a deep exploration ship the USS Charon which is due to depart to begin her mission in just under twelve hours. The diplomatic corps appear to want a young, but talented diplomatic officer, aboard the Charon who will be exploring uncharted space on a two year mission. If we don’t hurry our only link to NeoDyne will ship out and I’ll be in the cold again.”
“You mean we’ll be in the cold”, Akina corrected Ramius. “Your need for expediency appears to be needed.”
“Well I’m glad you approve Captain”, Ramius said sarcastically somewhat annoyed by Akina’s last statement.
“How do you intend to play this Ramius? From the looks of things we won’t have much time to interrogate him if we cannot get to Versailles sooner.”
“I’ve asked my Engineering department to give us as much speed as possible without tearing the ship apart. We’ll get there in time.”
“So we get there in time”, Akina suggested. “Then what? Do we just walk up and ask the man for a friendly chat about NeoDyne and his connections?”
“I haven’t figured that part out yet”, Ramius snapped. “There are always options, its just knowing which one is the best to employ given the situation. Perhaps you have some clever ideas?”
“I've just learned of the situation. Hardly enough time to devise an appropriate response. However, a proper interrogation of the Ambassador could take hours. Cleaning up afterward will also take your doctor, should he be willing to cooperate in this less than legal business, another few hours to erase Lamont’s memory of the incident. We probably won't have have that kind of time unless this ship can run the higher end of warp 10.”
“I’m taking this one step at a time Captain”, Ramius calmly stated. “Once we approach Versailles, we can decide the best course of action. However, we cannot do anything until we arrive at the station and assess the situation and the target’s location.”
“Agreed”, Akina reluctantly answered. He too wanted Lamont in order to learn what his connection to NeoDyne was and how deeply the connection ran. Perhaps Ramius and Akina could turn the man into a double agent – working for them and NeoDyne and getting them one step closer to destroying the infernal company once and for all.
“Captain Ramius, you’ve yet to tell me your motives for wanting the NeoDyne Corporation destroyed other than your display of unusual abilities in your quarters.”
Ramius turned in his chair and faced his window staring out at the stars that were streaking by hundreds of times faster than they usually did when his ship was at normal cruising speeds. “I have my reasons”, Ramius muttered staring off into the blackness.”
“Captain, if we are going to work together it will be necessary for us to establish a bond of trust. At the moment you know more about my connection to NeoDyne that I do about yours which puts me at a disadvantage and makes me doubt your motives. I believe an explanation is in order and we both seem to have the time.”
“The truth you seek Akina is locked in none other than a real pandora's box. Open it and nothing but trouble will plague you.”
“I’m afraid it is a bit too late for that warning Captain. My involvement in this matter has already been cemented in this affair I’m afraid. You saw to that when you rescued me from certain death on Astate. NeoDyne knows what I’ve seen and knows I've escaped. So you see – the demons are already sharpening their claws. Obviously you opened the box and have been haunted by it demons yourself. I want to know the how and why.”
Ramius sighed. There was only one other man alive who knew his secret. Ramius trusted that man with his life and had done so for more than thirty years. Now that there were others involved in his messy affairs that would need the truth to help their understanding. He still wasn’t sure about trusting Akina. The man was fine in character and loyalty to the fleet, but could easily report his knowledge to Starfleet authorities which would likely end Ramius’s career and the honored career of another in the upper echelons of Starfleet Command. A calculated risk, to be sure, but Akina seemed driven to ruin NeoDyne and expose their crimes. Ramius was confident the man could keep a secret especially since he was now directly involved and on the radar of the powerful technology conglomerate.
“The demons you referred to a moment ago”, Ramius said quietly. “Many of them are on the payroll of Neodyne or its subsidiaries.” Ramius turned back in his chair to face Akina and look the man straight in the eyes. “The other two demons – perhaps the worst of the bunch were 'created' when pandora’s box was opened over thirty years ago.
Those two demons are none other than myself and my identical twin brother. We are the threat. NeoDyne is just a facilitator. They want us – both of us. If they should somehow obtain the two of us together the balance of power in the quadrant would forever change. Neodyne would become nearly invincible and would become a major power broker among the galaxy’s races. The Federation, Romulans, Klingons, Breen, perhaps the Founders themselves would have no choice but to cower before the company’s will.
“I don’t believe it”, Akina replied. “What could you and your brother possess that could so radically change affairs on a galactic scale with such far reaching effects?”
“You’ve already seen one in action Captain when you were in the NeoDyne Lab on Astate”, Ramius answered coolly. The experiment you fought, a teenager I believe you said, was just a deviant, a reject, half of the equation. He was created using an old, but nonetheless viable sample of my brother’s DNA obtained years ago from his youth.
“Impossible”, Akina muttered. “What I saw, what I fought was..”
“Something you know nothing about and have no understanding of”, Ramius interrupted harshly.
Reaching into his drawer, Ramius produced a small, marine knife of some sort with a razor sharp blade. With a quick motion he pulled the knife across his palm as the blade cut deeply into the flesh of his hand. Ramius seriously injured himself all without flinching, changing his expression, or uttering a single sound. It was if Ramius was unable to feel pain or was somehow able to block its effects. Akina, shocked and surprised at the Captain’s behavior, could do nothing but watch in a macabre awe.
Ramius squeezed his injured hand as several drops of his warm blood fell from his fist and landed on his glass desk. Moving a finger in the small pool of reddish liquid he stared at it rubbing it between his fingers. Uncoiling his hand and displaying his palm to Akina revealed only a pink mark where the vicious cut had been only moments before. The injury was practically healed and Ramius himself seemed unaffected by its disappearance or by the initial injury itself in anyway.
“This”, he said staring at the drying, sticky blood on his fingertips.
“This is the real demon. Modified against our will over thirty years ago it has been a curse and a burden my brother and I have had to carry for eternity. Death surrounds us as a powerful few seek us out to obtain our secrets. Try as we might to forget out past and leave it where it belongs – there are others who never sleep in their relentless pursuit of us.
Ramius tossed the knife back into his desk drawer and leaned backwards. “I suppose you’ve earned the right to know. But be warned – the truth will make you a marked man. So long as NeoDyne exists you must forever watch your back and choose your friends and allies with unrivaled caution. They know you’re involved and should they capture you – your knowledge could endanger freedom and peace everywhere for generations.”
“I accept the danger and the responsibility. I must know the truth Ramius. After what I saw in the NeoDyne labs – I have to know. You have no idea what they did down there - those children...” His voice trailed off as silence filled the room.
"I can only imagine", Ramius answered after a time with a sullen tone.
“Very well”, the captain replied with an icy, foreboding tone that sent a shiver down Akina’s spine. “Since you have accepted the warning I shall tell you my family's dark secret that haunts my brother and I every second of every day.”