Preliminary Findings, Part II
Posted on Sat Mar 21st, 2026 @ 9:18pm by Captain Philippe Auvray & Major Clay McEntyre III & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Keel & Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Commander Maxun Spello
2,075 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD09, 1600 Hours
Auvray lifted the espresso again. Another quick sip--smaller this time.
"Consequently," Auvray said, replacing the cup back down on the saucer, "this matter is no longer confined to your ship, Captain Remy."
Nash raised his hand like he was back at the Academy. “Uh… excuse me. Nash Winters, Chief Engineer. Can I just say one thing? Her name is Captain Johansen. She should be shown the same respect she afforded you. Captain. That’s it. I’m done.”
Remy tried to give Nash a subtle look. She realized she probably should have warned him about Auvray. The last thing they needed was for Auvray to have more targets in his sights.
Keel frowned at Auvray's rudeness, glad that Auvray would likely interpret his expression as a reaction to that, and not the news that the Romulan Free State had lodged a protest. He flicked another quick glance at Rethel as Nash spoke, wondering why she said nothing.
"We welcome an open exchange of ideas and interpretations, and even dissenting positions, Captain," Remy stated coolly. "At the end of the day you can always find someone who will disagree with a choice we made or a stance we made. It doesn't mean that both can't be right. Nor does it mean that people can't make mistakes."
"Commander Spello was the ranking officer in the room, and you had an individual who was the pilot of a ship who disregarded repeated orders to stand down and told they were not cleared for take off," she reminded him.
"I highly doubt this meeting could be about one simple interrogation and arrest, though," she continued with an almost cavalier tone. "So tell us what this is really about. None of us have time for this dance today."
Captain Auvray found himself still focused on Nash's outburst and had pressed pause on Remy's diatribe. He did not so much as blink at the Chief Engineer's interruption.
In fact, something deeply boyish twinkled in his eyes. It was amusement. Something a middle-aged man might reserve for a spirit canine companion.
"Commander Winters, is it?" he said, his voice a silk laid over steel. "Your devotion to titles does you credit. Rank, after all, is the spine upon which order rests." He paused. "And we are nothing if not vertebrate."
“In our current setting, of course. I’m following protocol. We do not, however, know each other. So I don’t expect you to understand how I conduct myself. Despite being a senior officer, I encourage our entire crew to address me by my first name. Starfleet officers we are, but we are also family as far as I’m concerned. Rank is part of being in the service, that’s understood. I’m just Nash. But “spine”, as you put it? Not even close, bubba.”
There was another pause, Auvray's amusement brimming in a bright smile and twinkling eyes. Then his gaze returned to Remy.
"You believe this to be administrative theater," he added, tapping the saucer once with a finger, and looking directly at her. "I assure you, if I wished to dance, I would have brought a full orchestra."
He picked up the data PADD again and scrolled through it.
"But you are quite right, Captain Johansen." The correction was a gentle one. "This is not about a single interrogation or some obstinate pilote."
He folded his hands atop the conference table and his tone turned more serious, like darkened clouds rolling across an open plain.
Rethel sighed heavily--the first sign she was even present in the room. "Captain Auvray, if you could dispense with your usual ryakna, please." Her face was painted in utter disgust for the Parisian security officer.
'I'm eager to hear why we've been assembled as well,' Keel replied with a guarded diplomatic mask of an expression. 'As far as I understood - before hearing about the formal objection by the Free Romulan State - I thought we were bearing up to the task in front of us. From here, your attitude suggests ... otherwise.'
Before Auvray could speak, his adjutant--Lieutenant Commander Torab--entered the lounge at a canter. The Saurian crossed the room in a straight line, data PADD held with both hands, stopping beside the Captain. He extended the PADD.
"Final report from the senior science officer on Barisa, sir."
Auvray accepted it without looking up.
"Merci, Commander." He nodded faintly and with an open-palm, gestured to the table. "You may be seated."
Torab didn't sit until the words had been fully spoken. He moved to a chair on the other side of Rethel and assumed a seated posture so incredibly rigid it may as well have been hull strut manufactured at Utopia Planitia.
"Hm." Auvray activated the PADD and scrolled.
"Elevated synaptic conduction velocities across all eight subjects," he read aloud. "Localized hyperactivity in the parietal and temporal cortices. Micro-hemmorhagic stress markers along the upper spinal column. Traces of ionized particulate matter embedded in epidermal layers."
He lowered the PADD and gently set it on the table, sliding toward Remy.
"In plain terms," Auvray said, his voice returning to a slight uppity lilt, "eight healthy individuals experienced a synchronized amplification of neural activity. As if their nervous systems had caught fire." He narrowed his eyes at Remy. "At present, we cannot determine whether this was achieved by aerosolized agent, precision beam, or some hybrid mechanism."
He looked at Irene and then to Spello.
"This was not environmental according to our investigators. This was intentional."
Remy didn't bother to hide her annoyance. Auvray was deliberately being enigmatic, and she did not find it cute nor amusing.
"Care to enlighten us, Philippe?" Remy asked dryly. "The who, what, when, and where perhaps to start."
Auvray didn't answer right away. Instead, he regarded Remy from across the length of the table as if she'd just inquired whether gravity was strictly necessary.
For a moment he seemed slightly disappointed. Then he sighed.
"D'accord," he said, almost breathing the word. ("Okay.")
"The who," he said, "is almost certainly Romulan."
At this, Rethel bristled ever so slightly. She was no fool--she was well-aware of the Tal Shiar's hardline against unification. Especially since the destruction of Romulus. She carefully watched Auvray as he painted the picture with broad strokes.
"This is not the work of a diplomat. Nor a merchant. Nor was it a former Colonial Guard with an ax to grind," he said the last while looking directly at Xalanth. "And Doctor Aerev is not responsible."
Auvray stood and adjusted his uniform with a sharp tug, turning to the viewport and the view of Barisa Prime. Without looking, he lifted the data PADD he entered with and scrolled, coming to the line he wanted.
"This," he said, shaking the PADD gently, "is a report from 773 from six days ago. It is a sensor report that went unflagged, referring to tachyon emissions near your Nidean freighter while it was in orbit of Barisa."
As with the previous PADD, he set it on the conference table and slid it toward Remy.
"The very same freighter that is now small strips of confetti."
Keel looked from Auvray to the Captain, then back to Auvray, 'tachyon emissions that match up with known Romulan measurements?' His expression turned skeptical. 'How was this sensor return not flagged? Surely that's, well, dereliction of duty?'
“That is a question I’d like to find an answer for,” Clay spoke up from the end of the table. He looked over at Johansen and Spello sitting side by side. The Bridge crew should have caught it.
Maxun looked at the sensor report, then responded. "With respect, Captain Auvray, it was reported. Our starfighter CAG, Lieutenant Jason Williams, reported unusual sensor readings during a flight. When he and his team flew closer to investigate, they found nothing but empty space. So, if there was a cloaked Romulan ship in the area, they clearly moved so as not to risk detection."
Captain Auvray nodded, listening to the Commander closely.
"I don't dispute that your CAG reported this," he said, making a hand gesture to indicate he was in agreement.
Torab spoke next. "Commander, this report came from Starbase 773 the very day Astrea arrived here. Mister Williams' findings are more recent and not included in this particular report but may figure prominently in the final report to Starfleet Command."
The Saurian adjutant's tongue whipped quickly out of his mouth before retracting.
Auvray frowned and shot him a dark look. Torab lowered his eyes in supplication.
Turning his back on the table for a moment, the Parisian security liaison let his gaze fall upon Barisa again, watching a patch of clouds glide across the open ocean. It truly was what some back home might term a postcard world.
"Monsieur Keel," he said in a maddeningly measured tone, having digested his and Clay's previous remarks, "you ask whether the tachyon signature corresponds with known Romulan cloaking emissions."
Returning to face the table, he tilted his head. "Mais oui." ("Yes, of course.")
He shrugged. "Within ninety-two percent confidence parameters. It is all contained in that report," he added, pointing to the PADD currently in Maxun's hand.
Auvray's gaze fell upon the Caitian marine. "As for the question of dereliction." He pursed his lips thoughtfully.
"That word--dereliction... so inelegant, wouldn't you agree?" he asked rhetorically, as though he were playing for an audience.
He walked a few steps back toward the table, his fingertips making contact with the back of his conference chair.
"What occurred here," he continued, "was not negligence. It was bureaucracy at its worst--or finest. That depends wholly on your opinion of whether Starfleet regulations and staffing levels are adequate or not. Mais ça n'a rien à voir." ("But that is neither here nor there.")
Looking directly at Remy, his expression became apologetic. "I think you would agree that 773 has become one of the busiest starbases in the region. A random tachyon signature discovered via routine sensor sweep may be easily dismissed as naturally-occurring phenomena--from background radiation to neutrino oscillations." Auvray's French accent had hit every syllable in the wrong place. "The sensor buoy array around Barisa reports raw data to the 773. Staff then processes thousands of subspace fluctuations every hour from ion wakes to stellar drift."
"So, no," he said, his eyes finding Keel's. "Let's not drag-out the guillotine for some poor, overworked junior officer on the starbase just yet."
Auvray resumed his seat and folded his chubby fingers in front of him, fixing a gaze on Nash Winters. His expression turned serious and all performance was halted. The Starfleet officer behind the pompousness had now revealed himself.
"If there does exist a Romulan vessel nearby," he lowered his eyes, looking down at his thumbnails, "then I believe Astrea is in a far better position to find it than anyone else here. And, it behooves us to make every effort." He lifted his eyes, sharp and challenging, to Remy. "Would you agree, capitaine?"
Continued at: Preliminary Findings, Part III
Captain Remira Johansen
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea
Captain Philippe Auvray
Senior Starfleet Security Liaison
Starfleet Security
(NPC of JB Dorsainvil)
Commander Maxun Spello
First Officer
USS Astrea
Lt. Commander Nash Winters
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Astrea
Lt. Commander Ryan Keel
Chief of Diplomatic Intelligence
USS Astrea
Major Clay McEntyre III
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Astrea
Commander Irene Seya
Diplomatic Security Liaison
(NPC of Remy Johansen)
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