First officer's log, Commander Sonya Gomez, U.S.S. da Vinci, Stardate 53270.2
I'm leaving the da Vinci.
Luckily, it's only a temporary assignment, to the planet Sarindar. Captain Scott gave me the assignment after we dropped the old Defiant off at Spacedock.
Sarindar's located in a fairly remote region -- it'll take a week just to get out there from Earth -- but it's in an area of space controlled by the Nalori. That area is pretty much all that stands between the Federation and exploration of Sector 969. I remember when I was on the Enterprise, Command had considered having us map that out, but ultimately decided against it. The Nalori would not permit a Starfleet vessel safe passage through their space, and going around would add several months to the journey.
I told Captain Scott that when we met in his office on Earth. He laughed. "Aye, lassie, the Nalori are a right unpleasant bunch. There was a border clash with 'em a couple hundred years ago -- that was before even my time. We gave 'em a good punch to the nose, and they went back to their space with their tails between their legs. They haven't been too keen on the Federation ever since."
"So what's changed?" I asked him.
"The usual. They need our help."
The captain called up a holographic projection of Sarindar. As he spoke, the image rotated, then went in for a close view of a section of the surface. The entire planet appeared to be made of crystal. I can't wait to see what it looks like in person.
"Sarindar's completely scan-and transporter-proof, thanks to an element called chimerium."
That surprised me. "Really?"
"You know of it, then?"
I nodded. "It's a composite of magnesite and kelbonite. They've found minute traces here and there, but--"
"Well, Sarindar's loaded with it, and the Nalori are tryin' to make use of it."
"You'd need to refine it first, but how can they mine it? It's much too dense to move manually. I don't know of any ship that could achieve escape velocity with a significant amount on board. You can't transport it -- you couldn't get a lock. I don't think even a dimensional shifter would work." I ran a bunch of possibilities in my head, then remembered a paper I'd done at the Academy. "Wait a minute, if you can put together a subspace accelerator to push it with a quick warp pulse--"
Captain Scott smiled that avuncular smile of his. "Congratulations, lassie -- you've worked out in two minutes what it took those bloody Nalori a couple centuries to figure out. In fact, they already designed themselves a subspace accelerator. But they're fallin' behind schedule, and there's a lotta bugs in the system. So they asked for Starfleet's help.
"Thing is, they still dinna like the Federation very much, and they like Starfleet even less. So they'll only let us send one person -- in order, if y'can believe it, to 'minimize cultural contamination.' As if contamination is what they're worried about." He shook his head. "The good news is that the one person'll be in charge of the whole kit and kaboodle."
"And I'm supposed to be the one person?"
"Aye." Scott nodded. "And ye'll be in command. The last supervisor quit in disgust, so that's where there's a vacancy, an' they figured they'd be better off with Starfleet's help at the very top. I've read that paper y'wrote about subspace accelerators -- that's why I recommended you specifically."
That threw me for a loop. I never thought that Montgomery Scott, of all people, would find some old Academy paper of mine to be of the least interest. "Really, sir?"
Laughing, he said, "Aye, really. Thought it was brilliant, actually. Why d'ye think I recommended you to David back when he was trolling for someone to head up his S.C.E. team after poor Commander Salek died in the war?"
He had not only read my Academy paper, it was what led him to recommend me to Captain Gold for the da Vinci. Wonders upon wonders. "I -- I didn't know that, sir."
"Well, now you do."
We went over the other details of the mission. In addition to the chimerium problem, Sarindar is also in a star system that is home to a quasar/pulsar pair that interferes with communications and navigation. "Ye'll only be able t'send messages from the surface once every fourteen hours or so. For that matter, ye'll only be able to do any useful testing during those windows."
The biggest annoyance, though, was the revelation that the Nalori are a bit -- well, backward about gender roles. The engineering team consists of several civilians made up of numerous Nalori races, all male. Women don't do this sort of work in Nalori society.
"Wonderful," I said. "So you're asking me to lead a team that hates Starfleet, hates the Federation, and hates women?"
For the first time, Captain Scott sounded like a captain when he asked, "Is that a problem, Commander?"
"No, sir," I said with full confidence. "I can handle it."
The avuncular smile came back, and he sounded like an engineer again. "That's what I like to hear. You'll be headin' out with the da Vinci to Starbase 96, where you'll meet up with a civilian ship, the Culloden. It'll take ye the rest of the way."
Then Captain Scott put his hand on my shoulder. "I can't emphasize how important this mission is, lassie. The Nalori have been showin' us their backs for almost two centuries. This is the first time they've extended a hand. We may finally get the chance to explore Sector 969, and this is our first chance to study chimerium up close." The captain had that glint in his eye that Lt. Commander Duffy once described as the "new toy to play with" look. And he was right -- chimerium has uncounted tactical uses, particularly against a technologically superior foe like the Borg or the Dominion.
"Don't worry, sir. I won't let you down."
"Of that, Commander, I have very little doubt. Now, be off with you. I've got an appointment."
We're now en route to Starbase 96. I've been studying everything there is to know about the Nalori in general and Sarindar in particular -- which, unfortunately, isn't much. The latest updates on the Sarindar Project are two months old, and the information in the cultural database is sketchy at best. I'm going to have a talk with our cultural specialist, Carol Abramowitz, before we reach the starbase to go over some of this. One interesting thing -- while the nation is called the Nalori Republic, the Nalori race is only one of the five members of that republic. And it looks like the work crew has representatives from all five.
The design of the SA is generally sound, but they've overdesigned it to an appalling degree, and some aspects of the engineering are, to be blunt, wrong and will need to be fixed posthaste.
It's going to be a challenge to get the project up to speed, but I'm looking forward to it.
Copyright © 2001 by Paramount Pictures
)
Commander Sonya Gomez is assigned to supervise a project on the crystal planet of Sarindar--helping the reclusive and hostile Nalori harness a valuable new ore. The project is behind schedule. Morale is low. Just when Gomez begins to gain the trust of Nalori workers, two are killed by a mysterious local animal--a shii that is ready to kill again.
