With only a few of them on board the Cookie, Mack began to consider a plan to ensnare whoever had tampered with the ionization diffuser. While Xo was working out, she sat with Daniya and Majira in the ship's mess.
"I saw it," she opened with, eliminating any preamble.
"What did you see?" inquired the green-skinned woman.
"Someone was messing with the ionization diffuser."
"Oh. That is serious," Majira said.
"I aim to find out who it was," Mack stated, "because I think, whoever did it, no matter how great they are otherwise, we just can't keep them. I can't have people sticking their noses and their fingers where they don't belong."
"Right," Daniya agreed, "but they would have to be caught in the act, I believe."
"Posting a guard would do no good," Majira threw out there, "as it would draw too much attention to the area. We'd be suspecting people who had never taken an interest in that area of the ship before."
"Right, and the last thing we wish to do is increase the number of suspects," Daniya agreed. "We need to make that number smaller, instead."
"Exactly," Mack confirmed. "Actually, the thing we really should do is install a hidden camera."
"The best people for that job would be Crita and Wesley," Majira pointed out.
"She's on, what is it, Risa? The Boy Wonder's on Earth," Mack stated.
"He has been incommunicado," Daniya pointed out. "I am sure he is having a marvelous time with his beloved. We should not be interrupting their good time, and definitely should not be making him come back early."
"What about Crita?" asked Mack.
"She is not alone," Majira explained. "She and M'Belle are touring together."
"All right, so we'll sit tight until they return. In the meantime, let's get our people back. We'll watch that work station," Mack cautioned.
"Right," Majira confirmed, "I will say that I do not suspect Xo. He's certainly had ample opportunity, what with only a few of us here, yet he's done nothing, so far as I can tell."
"But we're not continuously watching him," Daniya added, "so maybe he's doing something but is covering his tracks well enough."
"Let's not speculate," Mack cautioned. "Let's only go by whatever concrete evidence we've got. Right now, that's not much." She sent a message to all of her employees.
I'm sorry to cut leave short, but we need to move on. I want to head back to Andoria first, so if you need to come back from that direction, just meet the rest of us there. Then we'll start practicing Daranaean games. I figure that will be our next gig. See you all soon.
Upon seeing the note, Wes turned to Lakeisha. "It says here that Mack wants us all to return. I'm sorry."
"Hey, it's all right." She kissed him. They were lying in her bed, with little on over them, aside from a blanket. "I do have to study, y'know."
"Yeah, I guess you do. Uh, Lakeisha?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I tell you something?"
"Sure."
"Remember how I told you that I don't believe in holding anything back?"
"You definitely haven't been holding anything back for the past few days, Wes." They kissed.
"One more thing."
"Oh?"
"I love you, Lakeisha."
=/\=
The athletes received Mack's message on their PADDs, as they toured or dined or worked out or just rested, wherever they were. Slowly, they began to return to the Kreetassan System, and the Cookie, or they would just go straight to Andoria.
One, a Section 31 operative, broke away from another and contacted Harriet Caul directly.
While on leave, I tested any number of Federation citizens. I have not found anyone else with an anomalous radiation band who you have not accounted for.
My research has otherwise been fruitful. I may have located the supplier of the parts that Szish used, in order to build an ionization diffuser. That person is a Borothan.
Caul sent a return message.
Your priority now is to determine what other technology is on Dana MacKenzie's ship. Take images, scans, and notes. I want to know as much as possible. There will be a meeting in about six months, on Lafa II. We will meet there and exchange information.
=/\=
On the Enterprise-E, Marty, Geordi and B-4 went over the Kreetassan data. This time, they were joined by Michael Daniels, who commented, "Strange that we're related, eh?"
"Definitely," Geordi said, "I mean it's not as if we look too much alike."
"It's all branches of a pretty tangled tree," said Marty, "I'd love to see a diagram."
"Perhaps one can be constructed for your meeting in six months' time," suggested B-4.
"That would be good," Mike agreed. He turned his attention to the radiation band cycling data. "So, what am I looking at here?"
"We're seeing the numbers fluctuate," Geordi explained, "and here," he brought up two readings on his PADD's screen, "When we compare the Denab System and the Kreetassan System readings, the findings very nearly match."
"Same source?" asked Mike.
"That's our guess, too," Marty confirmed.
"Got it," Mike said. "The big guns, they think our family will have some sort of a, a connection with them?"
"I'm sure they don't really know," Geordi stated, "but they're hopeful."
"I can't shake the feeling that they're just clutching at straws. Do they really think this Mirror Universe is going to come crashing through?" Mike asked.
"Well, they've been here before," Marty clarified, "the Mirror, that is. But it required some special conditions. They'd need a wormhole, or a simultaneous ion storm in both universes, or they'd need to be Calafan, at a location in their system called Point Abic."
"Or have a spore hub drive," Geordi added.
"That, too."
"However," B-4 stated, "assuming a working ionization diffuser could reliably cycle to the correct radiation band, and could hold that position with any degree of stability, then the denizens of the Mirror could readily come here."
"It could be at any time they wanted, and from anywhere," Marty declared, "It would be like building a portable wormhole."
"If their motives weren't the best," Mike said, "well, that's gotta be no good."
"It would be perfect for an invasion," Geordi said. "They could conduct a sneak attack, from anywhere. Dana's ionization diffuser – if we could upgrade it and calibrate it just right, we might just be able to deflect this. We could turn the tables on them."
"Dana?" asked Mike.
"She's my second cousin. So she's your cousin, too, I guess. But it'll never happen," Marty said definitively. "It's a violation of the Treaty of Algeron to even work on such a thing. The Romulans would consider even research to be a hostile act, and I can't really say as I'd blame them."
"More's the pity," Mike stated. "We could definitely use a counter measure of our own."
"I hope Dana's got a clue of how to work it, and that Wesley figures it out, too, before it's too late," Geordi said.
"You and me both," Marty commiserated.
=/\=
"I, oh, Wes," Lakeisha said, kissing him. "I, oh God, no one's ever said that to me before." She looked at him. "I, I love you, too." They kissed again, but there was a communications chime. They broke apart, and Lakeisha said, "That sounds like an urgent chime."
Wesley checked his PADD. "It's me." It was a confidential note from Mack.
I'm sorry to bother you, Boy Wonder, but I need you back, pronto. I have a very specific – and very secret – job for you to do. Keep this one close to the vest. See you soon.
"It's more urgent than I'd thought," he said. "I've gotta go today." He got up and began hunting around for clean clothes.
"When will I see you?"
"I'm not sure," he admitted, "but Mack's looking to go to places like Daranaea."
"What is that, Beta Quadrant?"
"It's not too far from it. I'll write, and I will call, I swear. You won't get rid of me that easily."
She smiled at him. "Good thing I've still got school. I'll get you to a transport."
=/\=
For Tag Shaw, a trip to see the Great Plume of Agosoria was supposed to have been a spiritual pilgrimage. Insread, he had unexpectedly met Yi'imspi. He and the Calafan beauty had hooked up. "So," he said to her, as they lay in bed together, "do you wanna continue the fun when we get back?"
"Maybe."
"I heard that Calafans bond easily, and you bond strongly."
"Strongly, yes, but not so easily as all that. Besides, why are you in such a rush?"
"I like you very much," Tag admitted.
"Well, I am fond of you, too."
"Fond? That seems so, I dunno, it's like it's mid-level."
Naked, she got up, and began to pack her few things. "Isn't that better than no level?"
"I suppose." He watched her for a while, and then got up and started to pack his own small bag.
"Besides," Yi'imspi said, "I thought I saw you hitting on M'Belle. I believe I have also seen you hitting on Cilla and maybe also Adeel."
"They don't hold a candle to you."
"You just like me because I'm a cover girl on Tellar."
"I like a few other things, too," he smiled at her. "You're fun, and you're feisty."
"Feisty? I don't know about that."
"It's a compliment."
"Oh, well, then, thank you."
=/\=
On Risa, M'Belle and Crita got in one last visit to a seaside restaurant before leaving. Cilla, Dathan, Effeston, Adeel, Grosk and others made their final goodbyes or took their last looks before heading back, either directly to the Cookie or to Andoria.
=/\=
Harriet Caul wrote to Alynna Nechayev.
A final set of scans will be taken of Dana MacKenzie's ionization diffuser. There is a possibility that Szish's parts supplier has been found. We may be able to get a contractor to build us our own unit.
=/\=
As the Enterprise-E entered what had once been known as the Delphic Expanse, the radiation band cycling coming from the Ceti Alpha System began to increase in frequency, magnitude and seeming randomness.
The same was true of the other locations where the phenomenon had been observed – the Denab and Kreetassan Systems.
For the first time ever, the cycling patterns had achieved perfect synchronization.