S01 E02: Chronicles of T’Avaya: Friends and Foes

 

Section 31 Log. Stardate 45118.2. Agent T’Avaya reporting. I am on the Romulan colony planet Deitobakar on an undercover mission for Section 31. My orders are to locate a Section 31 informant, Niparam, who ceased reporting one month ago. I am to retrieve her at any cost. I have arranged transportation to the city of Alkez, Niparam’s last known location. This is my second mission for the covert organization Section 31. I am confident I can complete the mission successfully, as I did my first mission two years ago. I do not always believe in Section 31’s methods, but they do occasionally have worthy goals.

T’Avaya got off the public transport with the rest of the traveling Alkez citizens. She looked around. Alkez was a beautiful city. Deitobakar was one of the more well-off Romulan colony planets. The people had enjoyed fine art and culture ever since the colony was founded fifty years ago.

T’Avaya headed to the facility where Niparam worked as a neuroresearch scientist. She asked to speak to the facility manager. She told the manager she was Niparam’s landlord who has not seen her in a month. The manager looked suspicious of her. He told her that Niparam quit working there three weeks ago. Niparam had told him she had found another job in a neighboring city. He did not know what city or what job.

As T’Avaya was leaving, another Romulan walked over and whispered to her. “Why are you interested in Niparam?”

“I am her landlord. She is late on her rent, and I am concerned for her. She seems to have disappeared.”

The stranger said, “I think she was kidnapped. She was the leader on a secret project. After her disappearance, the project was canceled.”

T’Avaya asked the stranger to show her where Niparam had worked. The stranger, Melurov, led her to a nearby building. He said he had been Niparam’s assistant. The building  was locked but Melurov had a key. She asked him to show her on a computer terminal what Niparam had been working on. T’Avaya had always been interested in Romulan culture and was fluent in both speaking and reading in Romulan. T’Avaya saw that Niparam had been working on a neurogenic drug to help restore memories in people who had memory loss due to  traumatic shock. There were also notes that the drug could be used as a truth serum. Then she saw that Niparam’s last entry was “must go to Ecarad.” T’Avaya knew that “Ecarad” was Section 31’s code word for the Romulan homeworld.

*****

Section 31 Log. Supplemental. Agent T’Avaya reporting. I have followed the trail of Niparam to the Romulan homeworld. I am in the capital city Ki Baratan. I need to make contact  with Reneel, a Tal Shiar double agent that my handler told me to contact if I ever found myself on Romulus. Reneel should be able to help me find Niparam. The citizens of Romulus are very different than the citizens of Deitobakar. The colony planet had people who were happy, who had fled the homeworld for a better life. On Romulus, the people tend to keep their heads down, and they have a beaten, depressed look in their eyes.

T’Avaya walked behind a building to a deserted area and transmitted an encoded signal to Reneel using a Section 31-issued subharmonic communicator. She went back to a crowded sidewalk and started walking, waiting on Reneel’s return call. A man in a hood and cloak walked up to her. She immediately put her hand in a position to pull out her disruptor. Then the man pulled down his hood and smiled. It was Kamrak, the Romulan Section 31 agent who had worked with her on her previous mission. “Hello, Dorva.” He knew to use her secret identity name instead of her Vulcan name.                “Kamrak. It is agreeable to see you. How did you know I was here?”

“Our friend Mr. Medgett asked me to keep an eye on you. I followed you from Deitobakar.”

“Why didn’t you make contact there?”

“I was staying low in case I was being followed. But here it’s so crowded that I would have lost any follower I had.” He invited her to his home.

*****

Kamrak and T’Avaya talked and drank tea. Then Kamrak said, “I want to give you something.” He handed her a small talisman. “A doleti,” T’Avaya said. It was a small figurine in the shape of an old-style Romulan god, representing the fallen gods. The relic held sentimental value, reminding Romulans of their past. “I am honored,” T’Avaya said. He replied, “You were invaluable in the mission to investigate the explosion here on Romulus two years ago. Just a thank you gift.”

Then T’Avaya got a call from Reneel. She spoke to Reneel over her subharmonic communicator. “Reneel, this is Dorva,” T’Avaya said, using her assumed name. “I was sent here by Agent Oliver Medgett to find Niparam, a citizen of the colony planet Deitobakar. I have reason to believe she is here on Romulus. She was working on a project to create a neurogenic drug. Both she and the drug have disappeared.” Reneel said, “I heard that a bioscientist was taken to the secluded Tal Shiar compound outside the city of Giwana’el. The compound is closely guarded.”

“Can you get me inside?” asked T’Avaya.

Reneel said, “Yes. Meet me in front of the city park Branchel in two hours.”

*****

Kamrak escorted T’Avaya to the park. They were approached by a woman carrying a small satchel. She motioned for them to follow her. She walked to a secluded area behind a cluster of trees.

“Dorva, I have arranged a cover for you to get into the Tal Shiar compound. You will be a new clerk assisting Commander Ruvin. He is ruthless and cunning. Watch yourself. I have learned that he has kidnapped Niparam and stolen the neurogenic drug.”

“Do you know why he wants the drug?” T’Avaya asked.

“My sources tell me he has also captured a human scientist, and he is using the drug to extract information. What kind of information I do not know,” Reneel said as she handed T’Avaya an identicard and a data rod. “Use this card to get into the compound. The data rod has the location. I must leave now.” T’Avaya took the objects and watched Reneel scramble off. She then exchanged farewells with Kamrak.

“Live long and prosper, Kamrak.”

“Peace and long life, Dorva.”

Kamrak, a native of this world, did not mind sharing the traditional Vulcan goodbyes with her.

*****

Section 31 Log. Supplemental. Agent T’Avaya reporting. I have arrived at the secret Tal Shiar compound near Giwana’el. I had no problems with my identicard or with the guards letting me in. Reneel has been thorough in creating my cover. Now I must find not only Niparam, but also the human scientist, and get them out of Tal Shiar custody. I am one of the few Vulcans who has had Section 31 training in how to show emotions, rather than suppress them, for the purpose of undercover missions to Romulus. I will need to use that training so the Tal Shiar will not get suspicious and realize my cover.

As soon as she went into the building, she was escorted to a room with four computer consoles, three of which had a Romulan so busy at work that they didn’t bother looking up at her. The escort showed her to the one empty desk with a console. “This is your station.” T’Avaya sat down while her escort left the room. T’Avaya turned on the desk computer. It had a list of deliveries such as food, uniforms, chairs, tables, etc. She did a search to see if anything else useful was on her computer. She found a list of rooms in the building. Among the list, she saw “Commander’s Office” and “Interrogation Room”. She found a map of the building and quickly memorized it. She was wondering what the rules were about leaving her station, when her escort from before came back for her and said, “You are needed by the commander.”

She was taken to the interrogation room. She saw Niparam standing behind a human male. Niparam was holding a Romulan hypospray. The human was sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind him. He had been drugged. Ruvin was sitting behind a table in front of the human. Ruvin looked at T’Avaya. “Ah, you must be Dorva.” He waved his hand for the escort to leave. Then, addressing Dorva, he said, “I need you to record this session. Insert special tags on any scientific procedures. Then take the recording to Telak in the lab.” T’Avaya saw a computer console with a recorder. She sat down  at the console. She turned it on.         

Ruvin started with the human. “What is your name?” The human looked weak and appeared to be only partway conscious.

“Henry Gaskell,” he said.

“What was the project you were working on for Starfleet?”

“Creating a new element that would increase starship energy output by thirty-eight percent with only four percent particle loss.”

“And how did you create this new element?”

Gaskell began spouting a complex molecular structure. T’Avaya had a background in quantum mechanics and engineering, so she understood much of the structure and inwardly marveled at the power it could create. Ruvin’s next inquiry was, “And how did you create this element?”

Gaskell described a nanofabricator that could rearrange molecules.

Then, Gaskell suddenly stopped talking. He tilted his head back. His eyes were open, staring straight at the ceiling. Niparam said, “The drug is starting to wear off now.” Ruvin was not satisfied. “I need more specifics about how to create it. How can we make a nanofabricator?” Niparam did not know the answer, but she knew the human would say no more at this time.

She asked Ruvin, “Can I take the human back to his cell now?”

“Yes, yes, go.”

Niparam called for a guard and someone came in and untied the human and carried him away. Niparam left the room.

T’Avaya stopped the recorder. Ruvin told her, “Well, what are you sitting there for? Take it to the lab.” T’Avaya obeyed. She removed a data rod from the computer and took it to the room next door. She saw the Romulan Telak there. She handed him the data rod. He took it and motioned her out. She asked him what he was working on. He said he was trying to recreate Henry Gaskell’s elemental energy source. Ruvin had had two previous sessions with Gaskell, and he had not revealed enough to recreate a working elemental prototype. T’Avaya was glad to know that. Maybe she could rescue Gaskell before he revealed too much. She tried to gain this Romulan scientist’s trust.

“Humans. They are so weak,” she said.

“Yes. That Romulan lady scientist, though. She is something.”

T’Avaya asked, “What do you mean?”

“Her uncle is Senator Endain. He was caught trading political secrets with the Cardassians and sent to prison. Did you know that? Niparam thinks she can use this neurogenic break through drug to convince the Tal Shiar to restore her uncle’s position in the senate.”

T’Avaya saw Telak’s computer screen. She told him, “It appears you have made much progress in recreating the element.” He turned the screen off. “Not really. Not enough to make a working prototype.”

Just then, Niparam walked in. She looked startled to see T’Avaya.

*****

Later, T’Avaya went back to her work station. No one was there in the room. Everyone’s duty shift was over for the day. She sat at her desk and thought about what she witnessed with Telak and Niparam. She was certain she had seen that Telak had made more progress than he let on. And what did Niparam want with him? She pulled up the camera recording of Telak’s lab. Niparam seemed to visit him frequently. Interesting.

 That night, T’Avaya went to her assigned quarters inside the compound. When she turned on the lights, she saw a human male sitting on her couch. It was Oliver Medgett, her Section 31 contact. She was at a loss as to how he could so easily get to Romulus and then sneak inside a secret Tal Shiar compound.

T’Avaya told him, “I found Niparam. She seems to be here of her own free will. She wants to use the drug as leverage to restore her uncle’s position in the senate.”

“Let her try,” Medgett said. “I don’t think the Tal Shiar is very interested in the drug. It seems to have limited effectiveness.”

T’Avaya’s eyebrows raised. “Did you know she didn’t need rescuing?”

Medgett nodded.

“Then why am I here?”

“We needed you to spy on Ruvin for us.”

“Ruvin? Why?”

“We think he is a double agent for the Orion Syndicate.”

T’Avaya raised her eyebrows again. “That seems highly unlikely.”

“Nevertheless, just keep an eye on him for now.”

“You do want me to rescue the human, don’t you?”

Medgett walked across the room and stood in front of the door. “Of course.”

T’Avaya took this opportunity to tell Medgett, “There was no need to have Kamrak follow me. I know how to watch my back.”

Medgett glared at her. “Kamrak? I haven’t spoken to him since your mission two years ago.”

Then, a dark shadow came over his whole body, and he was gone.

*****

Section 31 Log. Supplemental. Agent T’Avaya reporting. Section 31 has changed my mission directive. Instead of rescuing Niparam, they want me to rescue the human Henry Gaskell and spy on Tal Shiar Commander Ruvin. Ruvin has scheduled another drug-induced interrogation for the human today. I don’t know if Gaskell will make it through in his weakened state. Section 31 is also concerned that Ruvin is involved in the Orion Syndicate. I have seen nothing to support that theory.

T’Avaya was back in the interrogation room with Ruvin, Niparam, and Gaskell. She was sitting behind the recording console, apprehensive. Gaskell was in the same chair as yesterday with his hands tied behind his back. Niparam held the hypospray, but had not yet administered the drug. She walked over to stand next to Ruvin behind the table. She told him, “I’m going to adjust the amount. I don’t think he needs as much in his weakened state.” “Fine--”, Ruvin started to say.

Then suddenly, Niparam pulled a dagger from under her lab coat and attacked Ruvin. He grabbed her arm.

Quickly, T’Avaya pulled out her disruptor. “Hold it right there!”

Ruvin was still squeezing Niparam’s arm, and she dropped the dagger. Ruvin exclaimed, “What is the meaning of this?”

Niparam looked at T’Avaya, “You brought a disruptor here? A bold move for a clerk.”

T’avaya told her that she knew of her plan with Telak to make the element and sell it on the black market.

Ruvin looked confused and said, “But there’s nothing to sell. We couldn’t produce the element.”

T’Avaya explained that she had seen the security recordings of Niparam and Telak. The drug DID actually work. They had been secretly using it on Gaskell to get the info on the element, then using a much lower dosage for Ruvin’s interrogations.

Ruvin called his security guards to come arrest Niparam and told them to find Telak and arrest him as well. Then he pointed a finger at T’Avaya and said, “Dorva, why did you view the security recordings and why did you bring a disruptor into the compound and into this room?”

She told him the truth without telling him the truth. “When I took the recording of your interrogation to Telak, I saw on his computer that he had come much farther in producing the element than he could have from what Gaskell had revealed to you. And Niparam came into Telak’s lab and looked surprised to see me. Those things made me suspicious, so I reviewed the security recordings to see what was happening between them. As for the disruptor, I carry it for protection. I never go anywhere without it.”

If Ruvin suspected her of lying, he did not say so. As the guards came for Niparam, Ruvin ordered T’Avaya to follow him to his office. When they got to his office, someone was already there.

“Jolan tru, Agent Medgett” said Ruvin, smlilng.

“Jolan tru, old friend,” said Medgett, smiling back.

She looked back and forth between them. Ruvin said to her, “You were very clever to figure that out. Telak has been working for me for two years, and I never suspected he would turn.”

Medgett added, “Once Niparam’s uncle had been removed as a senator, she no longer had inside intel that we needed. As an erstwhile informant, she had become a liability. This way, the Romulan justice system will take care of her for us.”

T’Avaya was disheartened. “So my whole mission was to expose Niparam, not rescue her.”

“That’s right,” said Medgett.

T’Avaya looked at Ruvin and said, “But you could have exposed her yourself. You didn’t need me.”

“The Tal Shiar has heard rumors that I might be working with Section 31. The only way to throw them off the scent was to bring in a new person--someone they had never seen before to throw shade on others around me. Now they will think Telak was the one who was framing me for his actions.”

*****

T’Avaya made one more trip to her quarters to get her overnight bag for the trip back to Space Station Tyrellia.  All she could think about was how she had been duped by Section 31. She pulled out the doleti that Kamrak had given her. Speaking of being duped, she suspiciously broke it open, and found a tiny silver chip inside. Of course, the thought, a listening device.

“Have a safe trip home.” She looked up and saw Kamrak standing in front of her.

“Kamrak. What was your part in this?”

He laughed. “Well, I was sent here by another branch of Section 31 that was looking for Henry Gaskell. It seems our organization is so secretive that it even keeps secrets from itself.”

“But you didn’t have to give me the bugged doleti. I would have assisted you in your mission.”

“I do apologize for that. I always use whatever resources I have. And you were a resource.”

“You used me.”

“Well, my dear, isn’t that what Section 31 does? Uses people to their own ends? After all, the mission comes first; even before friends. Though I hope we can still be friends.”

T’Avaya did not reply. She picked up her bag and left, leaving the broken doleti behind.

*****

Personal Log. Supplemental. Dr. T’Avaya reporting. I am back on Space Station Tyrellia. Henry Gaskell was taken to Starbase 234 where he will be nursed back to health and returned home. As far as Section 31 is concerned, the mission was a success. I find it ironic how many Romulans are working with Section 31. It seems a perfect pairing. I feel a certain anguish toward Kamrak. When I first met him two years ago, I thought he understood friendship in the way Vulcans do; that friends trust each other and never have false pretenses toward one another. It is disappointing to realize that I was wrong. Some Romulans cannot overcome their heritage, it seems.