Intelligent secrets.

Posted on Wed Jul 23rd, 2025 @ 12:34am by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Captain Kevin, Lord Kilbane of Sanquhar & Lieutenant Commander Shr'Nesh Karadis & Commander Milani & Lieutenant Commander Dex

Mission: Delivering on the undeliverable.
Location: USS Thall
Timeline: Current.

--Sickbay--

Finchley had spent every available minute by Shon's side in Sickbay since they'd all returned to the Thall. Though he'd been told time and again by the doctors and nurses to go back to his quarters to rest and he'd be notified when Shon woke, he'd thanked them kindly but remained by her side. Looking at her lying there, he stood up and moved a whisp of hair that had crept over onto her face.

"Where are you at Shon, what's happening in that head of yours, come back to me" he whispered.

Shon was healing, the mission had taken a lot out of her and the beating had been severe. They had had to remove her spleen replace a lung and repair her jaw. However it had been several weeks since the mission and it had been deemed that she could be taken out of her unconscious state. The drugs had worn off and the surgical frame removed, it was time for her to wake yet Shon felt too much like sleeping. She opened her eyes slowly blinking at the harshness of the light. there was somebody with her and, for a moment she froze back in the room with the Romulan. She began to shake and moan. "leave me alone, please." don't hurt me any more!"

"Hey...hey...it's me...it's Finchley..." he said, gently taking her hand in his and leaning back so she could see him. He gave her a loving smile, glad to see that Shon had come back to him. He also knew that apart from the physical recovery, mental healing would have to be a big part of things...and he wasn't sure he was up to the task of that as he had a lot on his mind as well. That would be pushed to the side for the moment, Shon's recovery took priority for him, but there was also the rest of the away team to consider, they would all have their own recovery to make.

Shon opened her eyes fully and smiled, "you're here, how long has it been? seems like forever. She sat up and held him. "I feel better, that mission was a sleigh ride, so glad to be home." She looked at him, "what's on your mind,? I can tell there is something."

"It's been a few weeks love" Finchley replied, "they had to do some quite complicated surgery on you when we returned to they kept you under till your body was ready to act on it's own accord. Yes, they mission was a lot more complicated than I personally thought it would be, however, all things considered, it was successful if not a little costly from personal points of view. As for me, well...that can wait, I want to see you fully recovered and back home to our place before we have any kind of discussion. Are you hungry or thirsty, I can ask them to bring you something?"

Shon shook her head, I just want to go home with you, get back to work and then on to the next mission. Did you have a full debrief for everyone? I am so sorry Finchley I should have been more careful out there and you came gallantly to the rescue. I love you so completely. Please ask the doctor if I can go with you now, go home to our quarters."

"Well, we've had a debrief from SFIHQ, they sent Admiral Nerman" Finchley replied, "It was a bit hard going, what with you getting injured and the situation with the Rom..." and he broke of there and smiled, "but you don't need to know about that now, there's plenty of time to tell you. One thing that did come out of though is that Finnigan is joining the crew full time, or 'as a punishment' as Finnigan himself put it. Give me a moment to speak to the doctor and see what he says about you coming home."

He rose from his seat and went into the office where the duty doctor was. A few minutes later he reappeared and came back Shon, "Good news, the doctor say that so long as you promise to rest up he's willing to allow you to come home."

"Brilliant." said Shon swinging her legs slowly out of the bed and stepping down. Th nurse gave her a gown to wear so she could travel back.

"Looking forward to working with you Doctor Dex," she said .

Shon recognised her as new and smiled. "See you soon, thanks doc," she looked at Finchley and whispered "quick let's get out of here before they find a reason to keep me here apart from working a shift." As they walked back to their quarters Shon stopped and looked at him. "somethings off love, please don't shut me out." Finally they reached their quarters and entered. Shon drew a deep breath, "it's good to be home." she walked straight to the replicator. "Valerian root tea, hot." as it materialised she turned, "anything for you?" she asked.

"A skinny Latte please" Finchley replied. He took a seat on the sofa and stared at the door they'd just come through, "It is good to be home Shon, yes."

He closed his eyes and leant back, allowing the back cushion to slightly envelope him. He was tired, both mentally and physically, but what he couldn't afford to do was let the rest of the crew see that. He realised very quickly when he'd first come onboard the Thall again that a number of the crew looked up to him. This wasn't him inflating his own ego, or trying to be some kind of 'bigger man', he saw in them that needed a strong no nonsense leader, someone who would be able to take a situation by the horns and have ready and immediate answers to any problem or situation they encountered, but it was punishingly hard for him to constantly do that. The last mission had taken it's toll, he was no longer eating or if he did it was the smallest amount, and his weight had dropped drastically, his uniform was now two sizes smaller and when he looked in the mirror, some gaunt faced unknown was looking back at him. Then there was the Romulans...something he'd thought dead and buried but now back haunting and taunting him.

He opened his eyes and saw Shon slowly walking across to him with the drinks, standing up he took the cups, placed them on the table and helped Shon to sit down. Turning to face her he said, "You said to me in the corridor that something's off and that I shouldn't shut you out. You're right, something is wrong, however...and this is extremely hard for me to say as it's not a reflection on you or anything you've said or done...there are just some things I can't tell you. Protocol and SFIHQ policy prevent me from telling you for your own safety and the safety of the crew...both of which I take very seriously...however I can tell you something. Everyone has a past, and mine's is catching up on me, I may have to face some very uncomfortable situations but I knew one day I would. All I ask of you is that you not judge me if that day comes, just be with me as I am."

Shon smiled gently and touched his cheek and brow softly. "We have come all this way to find each other again and you ask me not to judge you.......my love I would never do that but remember I am also your physician and I am responsible for your health not just for yours or my sake but for our crew, our friends and ultimately Command." she sighed. "what I am saying is that you must come in for a complete physical, if you don't want me to do it Dr Andum can but this, not eating, this weight loss has to stop." She took a sip of her tea. "Finchley I am with you however you are and I will never leave you. Shon stood and sat next to him and taking him in her arms she just held him.

Finchley hugged her back, a long hug, then moved back slightly. Looking deep into her eyes he said, "I would prefer you do the physical Shon, but I need to ask something of you first, I need you to promise me, solemnly, that what you find will never be told to anyone...at least, not right away, I need time afterwards to prepare for what we'll do next."

"Of course I will do your physical, I would never let anyone else do it. Why don't you ask for some leave, you have it coming, we can go to some planet, or to Earth, get away from everyone?" She looked at him taking both his hands in hers. "I hope one day you will trust me enough to tell me but I will never press you.

Finchley smiled a sad smile, "I'd love nothing more than to get away for a while with you Shon, go somewhere quiet, just the two of us, but I'm afraid we can't right now. Once we've done the physical and I explain, you'll understand" he finished.

She nodded and smiled but a small worry began to niggle inside her. She sat and finished her tea, "I'm sorry love I need to lie down, why don't you join me for a cuddle?"

He looked at Shon and saw that she was worried about him, and he didn't want that for her as she'd already been through enough. "I'd like nothing more than that Shon" he replied, standing up and offering his hands to help her up. They moved through to the bedroom and he watched her as she slowly lay down, and once she was comfortable he lay down and cuddled her as she'd asked. His mind began to wander as he felt sleep creep up on him, and he hoped that she too was drifting off as well.

Then something just seemed to start him awake and he lay there thinking about the last mission. Before they'd left the Thall, that was when he'd realised that something inwardly hadn't felt right but he'd put it down to having butterflies over the object that Finnigan had brought onboard. However, the deeper into the mission they'd got, the more he realised his 'feeling' was taking a grip on him. He forced himself to calm down, to breathe slowly and clear his thoughts. He went back to the beginning again, and went over the scenario of who was involved in the first place in regard to who he'd spoken to and what their involvement was. SFIHQ, the Iconian's, Finnigan, the crew...and the item that had been brought onboard...all were the chess pieces on the board of the problem...but where to begin?

Shon jumped awake she felt rested but something was not right, she turned to Finchley hoping he had slept. however his eyes were open. Not wanting to push him she got up and stretched. "why don't we go a walk, get some exercise?"

Finchley was started out of his reverie when Shon suddenly woke up with a jump. He watched her stretching, a sign to him that she'd slept well and he was glad, she'd needed it. At the suggestion of a walk to get exercise he nodded. "That's a good idea, maybe get the old cogs turning..." he replied. They were soon both up and dressed, ready for the walk.

"Slow and steady doctor, CO's orders" he smiled as they left their quarters. Once again his mind wandered back to his previous thoughts on the mission, something was amiss and that bothered him.

He suddenly stopped, "Wait a minute, when the cargo was brought onboard, it wouldn't have been transported, it would have been brought onboard manually, but when we arrived at the cargo bay, only Finnigan was present...where were the others who must have helped him move it?" he said out loud.

"I remember it, there would have been a list of people on the manifest, Milani could check or, are you thinking of something more?"

Finchley went to the nearest wall terminal and brought up the information of the manifest for the day the cargo arrived on the Thall. Apart from the maintenance crew that had been working on the storage platform for the cargo, there were three others listed as coming onboard with it, though it gave no name's. What Finchley found odd was that there was no record that any of the three of them leaving again.

"We're going to have to assume Finnigan was one of them, and that the other two were assigned with him by SFIHQ" Finchley said. He tapped his COMM badge and said, "Kerr to Finnigan, when you brought the cargo onboard the Thall, who were the other two that SFIHQ assigned to you to help?"

Finnigan replied, "What do you mean SFIHQ assigned people to help me, SFIHQ didn't assign me anyone, the two helping me said they were from the Thall and had been sent by you to help me get it into the cargo bay."

Finchley looked at Shon, but carried on talking to Finnigan, "Did you see them leave the cargo bay once the cargo was stored?"

"Well no, I had to go and send a report to SFIHQ saying that the cargo had arrived safely and had been stored as per orders" Finnigan answered, "when I returned to the cargo bay they were gone, I just assumed that they had returned to their normal duties so I waited in the shadows for you to come down, I wanted it to be a surprise when you saw me."

"Thank you Finnigan, Kerr out" Finchley said, closing the link. He now had a look of concern on his face, "Whoever those two were, they managed to fool not only Finnigan and SFIHQ, but us here on the Thall, they came here, but never left."

"Computer, how many life signs are on the ship right now?" Finchley asked.

==^==There are thirty seven==^==

"Are there any shielded parts of the ship that could hide any life sign signatures?" Finchley carried on.

After a few moments the computer answered ==^==Cargo bay one has a plasma shield running==^==

"I have a bad feeling about this" Finchley said to Shon, "We should get you back to our quarters then I can go and check this out."

"I think I should go with you, or at least take someone with you?"

Finchley quickly thought it over, "Only if you feel up to it Shon, I don't want you to over exert yourself" Finchley replied.

"I will tell you if I am unable to do it, in fact it feels good to be involved in something, so, don't worry about me love."

He tapped his COMM badge, "Computer, site to site transport. Two to beam from this location to storage area in cargo bay one, energise."

The corridor they were in dissolved and was replaced by the dull grey walls of the cargo bay. Finchley helped Shon over to the cargo itself, still in place having not been touched since the mission began and ended. Looking at the whole box, the dimensions seemed a little odd, something he hadn't noticed first time round.

"There's a double doorway at the far end" Finchley pointed, "to allow whatever's inside to be brought out I suppose, but this end seems different, it's outward design isn't the same as the rest, there's double riveting. Now, I'm no engineer, but if you're going to do that to something this size, it's to protect what's in this end."

Shon walked around the box touching the smooth walls, "I agree but there does not seem to be any opening mechanism. I don't like the thought that there is something inside the ship we do not recognise and are unable to validate. The very point of our ship and it's missions should preclude anything like this."

"You would think so, as would I" Finchley replied, "but remember, this cargo isn't of a Federation design, I would say it's most likely Iconian and we don't have a lot of design information on what or how they've built thing...but wait a minute...oh hell...oh hell no...they can't have...not even the Tal Shiar would be that stupid!"

"Finchley I am not understanding, unless", she hesitated, "unless we have a gateway or some kind of Iconian energy, or weaponry on board?"

Finchley walked to the front of the cargo box and took off the cover for the access point. He moved a couple of the chips and entered a code on the inner pad. The cargo shimmered and there was a flash of light, blinding him and Shon for a moment. He opened his eyes and looked at the cargo, and though it was basically the same shape, the far end where Shon was now showed a hatchway.

"A Tal Shiar low yhfir'afwe daeien htta'" Finchley said quietly. He moved around to the hatch and grabbed the handles, and as he pulled them there was a hissing sound as the air inside escaped. Looking in, he saw two bodies, "That's why we couldn't find them leaving the ship, they never did because once they'd found their target they had no intention to, they knew it was a suicide mission."

Shon gasped at the sight of the bodies, "I don't speak Romulan so tell me the translation, I hate being left behind, what is this?" she asked. She grabbed his arm. "what is this thing?"

"I said it's a Tal Shiar low frequency field, that's what was covering the real look of this cargo container" Finchley replied, "and this has been long planned, with a dual purpose in mind. I still have no doubt that the main area of the container holds a weapon, possibly Iconian in design, but this end...this end was intentionally made for the purpose you see, to hide these bodies, and I think I know why. However, to prove my theory I need you to do two things for me Shon, the first is to scan these two and find their true identities, the second is to do your physical on me, and tell me what you find. I know you're not quite ready to go back to work, and I'm not asking you to, but I am asking you to do these two things, and do them in private, none of your team can be present. Once that's done, and I have your answers, I will try to give you some answers" he finished.

Shon studied him, something was affecting him greatly and she was beginning to worry about him however the scenario needed to be played out. "I will need to transport the bodies to sickbay to examine them but I guarantee we can do this in private." she touched her communicator. "This is Doctor Dex I want you to set up two biobeds with a privacy screen coded to myself and Commodore Kerr only. Please inform me when this is ready?" Shon's request was acknowledged. "Dex out." She closed the channel and smiled at him, "so we are involved in another adventure, so long as it does not involve a portal I will be quite happy. sickbay notified Shon they were ready.

Entering sickbay with Finchley she nodded to the staff that were there. she was happy to see there were no patients there. "Take a break people, leave sickbay I will let you know when to return." She smiled at Finchley. "I will gladly take the brownie points for this." they left leaving sickbay empty. for a moment Shon leaned against a biobed to catch her breath then moved towards the privacy screen. "Computer open screen authorisation Dex alpha one gamma four." there was a flash and the screen opened onto the two beds. they entered and the screen closed. "right, we are completely self contained there is no chance anybody can hear or see us. Tapping her comm once again she said, "computer beam two bodies from cargo bay one to this location. Energise."

Immediately the two bodies appeared one on each bed and Shon began examining them. "They look like human males in appearance but...wait there is something different, very different Finchley, their internal organs are different".....she moved up the body. "Well if that's not a turn up for the books, Finchley these men have been altered to look human, they are in fact Romulan, what's going on here?"

Finchley didn't answer the question straight away, instead he asked, "Can you revert them back to their Romulan looks Shon?"

"Yes I can, we have Romulan DNA on file, I won't take a minute." Shon went to a console and typed in her security code. A small shelf with some glass vials in suspension liquid appeared. Shon loaded a hypo and returned to Finchley. "Even though these men are dead they have not yet decomposed enough that this won't work." She injected the first corpse. "It should take a couple of minutes" she said and sat down. "Just resting," she laughed. A minute later she stood. "Look now his original face is appearing."

Shon injected the other and the same changes occurred. A couple of minutes showed the bodies of two Romulans. "there, all done."

Finchley looked at the both of them then took several steps back, a look of deep despair on his face, "Hwia rhaau aeka hsah innaehv aeil'uyqhiuqh culhas, hveolhaonn'm a ueieunhnnaith mnae walking..."

Shon grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him towards her. "Finchley, your scaring me, what in Surak's name is going on, do you recognise these men?"

Finchley's head snapped up when Shon grabbed his arms, and he looked deep into her eye's, her soul, "Yes...yes I do, they're part of a Tal Shiar assassination unit, code name 'Serpentes'. They were trained as infiltrators, able to carry out the most barbaric death sentences against anyone who stood against the Romulan Empire. Their name's are Larimus and Ejat, they were the best in the squad."

He pulled back from Shon and said, "You must carry out a scan of my body Shon, look for any anomalies, no matter how small or insignificant you think they are, you must tell me if you find anything!"

Shon began to get a cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. The strange idea that had come to the forefront of her brain would not be denied. "I'll need to use the diagnostic biobed." They went outside the screen and Finchley hopped up . "Lie down," Shon said . "There is no one else here so we can talk freely. I will go straight forward to a deep scan." There was a buzz and a persistent hum as the scan began. As used as she was to performing this kind of scan Shon wondered what was taking it so long and she realised her heart was pounding. She breathed a sigh of relief......"There is nothing...." an alarm permeated sickbay. "Computer discontinue alarm. "Shon said and began another scan. "Finchley, there is....something behind your left kidney, I'm not sure what it is but it should not be there...........you know what it is don't you?" there was silence.

Finchley closed his eyes and nodded, and when he opened them again he let out a huge sob, unable to hold his feelings back anymore, "It's an digestion inhibitor, it stops me from eating, I literally starve to death, it was inserted into me by one of the Tal Shiar doctors, a woman called Ank'Lar, when I was..." and he stopped himself from going any further.

He looked at Shon, "You promised me that you wouldn't tell anyone about what you found inside me, and I'm going to hold you to that. I'm also going to hold you to not telling anyone about the two bodies we found or about who they are. You must promise me Shon...you MUST!"

Shon grabbed him and held him tight scared of what was to come. "Finchley I promised you and I keep my promises." she held his chin and guided it to her face. "What were you doing there?" she asked her voice going cold. "were you a Romulan operative?"

Finchley tore himself out of her hold and ran for the door and as they opened, he stopped abruptly. He turned around and faces her, "They made me do it Shon...they tortured me for weeks, me and those they captured with me. Has it never struck you as odd that I can speak Romulan, that I sent you all through the portal when we were escaping in Rachel, that I recognised the Tal Shiar low frequency generated field on the cargo...and that I recognised those two Romulans through there?" he pointed to where the dead bodies were.

I just thought it was part of your ..........intelligence." Shon quietly took a sedative hypo. "Have you, are you a double agent?" she said quietly.

"You don't understand!!!" Finchley yelled, "They made me do it, I watched as they took people apart, piece by piece, first their minds and then their bodies. Those Intelligence officers...my Intelligence officers..." and he banged his fists on his chest in rage, "begged for death but those BASTARDS didn't care, they just kept torturing them till I gave in!!!"

He turned and head butted the wall behind him, "They died for me, they wouldn't give in...but I did, their blood is on my hands!" he yelled, looking at his hands and then frantically wiping them down his uniform, "and I can never wash it off, never...wash it off...not enough water to wipe their blood away..."

Shon took him in her arms tears in her eyes and injected him with the sedative then, as he sagged transported the two of them to their quarters. She laid him on the bed and being exhausted and sore she sat with some tea and waited for him to wake. "I love you," she whispered.

After a little while he began to wake up, his head lolled from side to side as the feeling of nausea came and went just as fast. He looked around and found he was back in their quarters, and he sat up quickly, "How did we get here, what about the bodies in Sickbay, if they get discovered I'll need to explain and..."

"Don't worry the screen is coded to my touch, we transported here, no one saw us and you needed perspective. Now I can help, i will always help you know I love you." she kissed him. "So what do we do about this?"

"First things first Shon, and you need to believe me when I say this, I've never betrayed Starfleet or SFIHQ" Finchley said hurriedly, "The Tal Shiar thought they'd turned me and set up mock crash site on the planet where I was captured by them. They set me up in a crashed ship they'd captured and made it look like I'd been there for some time living off the land, they'd even left a couple of my dead colleagues with me to let the rescuers think my story was true. I was to say that I'd managed to survive using my training and that I'd finally managed to fix the SOS beacon and that's how I was found. I was taken in for a debrief and told those taking it what had really happened, about the torture of myself and my colleagues, how the Tal Shiar wanted me to spy for them. It took my months to convince them that I wasn't a turncoat, but they used what had happened to me to their advantage. I fed false data to the Tal Shiar, telling them what what SFIHQ wanted me to tell them. Oh, some of it was true, some people were sacrificed to keep the illusion going, to satisfy the Tal Shiar that my Intel was good...more blood on my hands, but I had to keep it going. Meantime I also had to lead Purple Squad and not let it affect my work with them, which it never did. The one thing I didn't say in Sickbay was that the Tal Shiar had a failsafe to stop any operative giving to much away if they were ever compromised, the object you found inside me next to my kidney, the digestion inhibitor, it's a kind of walking dead death."

Shon sat thoughtfully, "so you were a double agent? and they have found this out? well what does it have to do with the artefact in the cargo bay ? and, my next thought is we get this thing out of you, today, now! I WILL NOT LOOSE YOU." Shon sat down feeling light headed not telling Finchley how ill she felt.

"I made the Tal Shiar believe I was a double agent, as I said, I told those from SFIHQ in my debrief all about what happened" Finchley said. He stood up and began walking around, "Believe me, it took some convincing the top brass I was legitimately ok and still an SFIHQ asset, but eventually they believed me. However, the Tal Shiar must have gotten information about our next mission somehow and so worked out a plan to get the cargo onboard 'and' have a failsafe in case we foiled their plan. The failsafe was getting Larimus and Ejat onboard disguised as human and have one of them activate the digestion inhibitor so that I would either die during the mission or die after if I returned. They couldn't afford me to be around anymore."

He walked back and forth, "I don't know how to stop this 'thing' inside of me and you can't operate as there's a code that needs to be put into it to stop it...only the Romulan doctor knows that code."

"Well Finchley, I think our, my mission is quite clear. I need to find this Romulan doctor? during a few of my missions after I left you I made a few contacts among the Senate, I could call in a few favours, the Tal Shiar is not universally liked."

"And how do we explain this to the others?" Finchley asked, "we can't tell them the truth, but you know that whatever we say they'll want to come along."

"Okay i have an idea, there is a doctor Par lat, he is the personal physician of Senator Darlack. He owes me, I saved his life when he was bitten by a Tarslat on a planet just inside the neutral zone. I was sent there to meet him to arrange for him to address the Federation council, well needless to say he owes me. So, we pay a visit to Romulus. Tar Lac hates the Tal Shiar. so, we take the gang with us."

"Yes, yes...I believe that would work" Finchley replied, "have you ever thought of a career in Starfleet Intelligence Shon, those kinds of lies are right up their street!" he quipped, now being able to smile.

Well a lot happened since I left you Finchley, a lot. Par lat will be with the Senator, they always sit late so let me contact him, we need to We will need to be disguised as Romulans, I can facilitate that but what Karadis will look like heaven forbid." Shon laughed and put her hand on his arm. "Everything will be all right."

"When have you ever known everything to be 'alright' where this rag tag crew are concerned?" Finchley smiled, reaching forward and giving her e gentle kiss, "but I know what you meant. I certainly hope so Shon, I really do, I can't afford to lose much more weight...mind you, I had been meaning to lose a couple of pounds, but this has been ridiculous."