A Piece of History

Posted on Fri Apr 12th, 2019 @ 6:08pm by

908 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 97 - Cultural Exchange
Location: Starbase 400 - The Serenity Gallery
Timeline: MD 08 0930 hours

ON:

Kalani had a day off today and she was looking forward to it. She was hoping to go on an adventure around the station. She decided she had someone to see first.

After returning to Starbase 400, Vox began to make headway in getting into contact with the proper authorities to help him repatriate the books and manuscripts from the, now, infamous hoard.

He hoped others would soon hear of it and make contact with him.

Kalani finally had time to speak with Vox. Bremer had suggested it and she was excited to see those manuscripts. She entered the Serenity Gallery and called out. "Mr Vox?"

"Yes?" he replied from the back of the gallery, as he peered over the top of one of the manuscripts he was trying to translate from Klingon. He could tell it was an opera but wasn't yet sure why who or what it was about. " I am in the back" he added.

Kalani headed to the back, "Hello! I'm Kalani Liora. It's lovely to meet you Mr Vox. Admiral Bremer recommended I come to see you." She held her hand out.

"Oh did he now" Vox replied taking her hand and giving it a gentle shake. "So, what can I do for you?" Vox asked.

"I am the new Archaeologist / Anthropologist here. I may be able to help you with your manuscripts."

"Oh wonderful, are you any good at translating Klingon but a dialect that appears to be quite old?" Vox asked.

"I speak it fluently, both the current and ancient dialects." She smiled, "Lead the way!"

Vox pulled up a chair behind the desk and motioned for Kalani to take a seat. Once she had, he handed her a pair of white gloves to put on before she could handle the old manuscript.

She smiled, "Glad to see you are using proper protocol for the gloves." She pulled the gloves on and gingerly took the manuscript. She read it her eyes growing. "Oh my! Mr Vox you have a treasure!"

"I do? I am not a big fan of Klingon Opera, to be honest. The only one I have actually listened to was Aktuh and Melota. So why is this a treasure?" Vox asked.

She smiled, "This was written about...300 years after Kahless. It is about Kahless and Lady Lukara the love story of their courtship...oh this is wonderful. This is the earliest version of it. An original....." She studied the penmanship. "Penned by Topeketh son of Detara, that can trace, through his mother's line all the way back to Lady Lukara!"

"Wow, sounds like this is something the Klingon Archives would want to have back. I am not sure how it got into the hands of the smuggler who built up the hoard it became part of. So how old is the manuscript then? " Vox replied.

"I have a scanner that will give us the age. I can bring it tomorrow." She looked at Vox. "Thank you for taking good care of it. I have a contact on the Klingon homeworld at the museum of Kahless."

"Thank you for your assistance. It certainly is exciting times. See you tomorrow then, what time? " He asked.

She smiled, "I finish my shift at 1700 hours. How about then?"

"Sounds good. Before you go, would you mind looking at this small document that was found in the hoard? It's a single sheet a paper which appears to have a hand-drawn diagram of a warp core on it. " Vox asked.

"Of course," She said. She walked over to the sketch and examined it closely. Her mouth opened and then closed. She turned excitedly. "Oh my! This...this a sketch...an actual Zefram Cochrane sketch.. It's the eee....EEEEEE." She did a little dance of excitement.

"Looks like an engine drawing to me. Its the only item in the hoard that isn't a manuscript or a book. You seem excited by it, why?" Vox asked.

"Zefram Cochrane, the Zefram Cochrane. For Earth he made the first warp flight and he brought the Vulcans there. This is the engine of that ship the Phoenix! This is valuable...I mean super valuable." He reverently touched it with her gloved hand. "Do you have a light?"

Vox turned on the high powered lamp above the desk. "This any good?" He asked.

"Perfect." She studied the image closely. "This is....perfect. It's authentic I know it is. I will scan this one tomorrow when I bring the machine but the marks, the pencil pressure, the paper watermark....this is Cochrane."

"That's great. I wonder how the smuggler managed to get hold of it. I haven't seen the Phoenix in the Smithsonian, to be honest. I have been meaning to. So I will keep this safe until tomorrow after your shift. " Vox replied.

She gave a nod. "I would ask Bremer for a guard....those things are valuable."

"If you think that would be wise. Do you have better channels to speak to him than I do? If you don't mind that is. " Vox asked for a small favour. " The titanium chest they are all in is very secure, it defeated two Ferengi recently. I will, however, put it in the extra protected area of the Gallery's safe. " Vox replied.

She smiled, "I will have someone from security sent before the end of today."

"Great. I look forward to their company." Vox replied with a smirk on his face.

OFF:

RSS Feed