Solaris McLaren rocked her head gently in time with the soft jazz music playing throughout her ready room as she browsed through one of the various reports her department heads prepared for her on a weekly basis. Thankfully her XO fielded most of them, and only let through the most critical of them. She sighed quietly, setting the PADD down, taking a sip of her tea and letting her head hit the back of the chair, just letting the music flow through her for a moment, before the beep of her terminal drew her back to reality.
The cryptic message from Lieutenant Seta had been just that; cryptic. She wasn’t opposed to speaking to Doctor Trova, but she found herself curious as to what she could shed light on for a vessel that specialized in telepathic studies.

She quickly paused the music and answered the call, setting her tea back down on the desk. For a moment, she studied the face of the doctor on the other end of the call, seeing if she could glean anything from her facial features. Frustration. Worry. Doubt. Each had signs, and she could see the telltale hints of them all on the Doctor’s face, a furrowed brow, creases at the corners of her eyes.
Her time in Intel let her read most of them. She gave the woman a sympathetic look.
“Doctor Trova. How can I be of assistance?” she asked, leaning forward some.

“Thank you for meeting with me.”, Nichelle said and tilted her head. For a moment, she hesitated, and then evidently decided to dive right into the matter at hand.
“Captain, a few weeks ago we came across a vessel connected to harvesting Borg implants from ex drones. We were able to rescue the surviving prisoners and take the crew into custody.” She paused. “Most, if not all of them, blamed their Captain, and claimed they had been forced into those crimes. It all fits very neatly. I just… don’t believe them.”

Sol’s gaze soured for a moment. She had a friend who was ex-Borg, and the thought of a group of people harvesting their implants was disgusting to her. She nodded to the doctor.

“I’m glad you were able to stop them…” she said, considering the rest of the information for a moment. It did seem unlikely that they all would have been forced into it, but it wasn’t impossible. She frowned slightly. “While it’s improbable that the entire crew was forced… it’s not impossible. I’ve read several reports of criminal enterprises where much of the grunt work was done that way.” she said. She had also written several reports like that in her time.

“The story is that the right hand of the Captain and most guards left when the captain was injured. It fits – there was a warp signature of a shuttle departing, and most of the retrieved tech was gone.”, Trova explained and leaned in. “I am coming to you because we found a match for the Captain in Starfleet’s database. We have a name, but the rest is classified, and connected to your own time in Intel. Arys Turunen.”

Solaris had been about to reach for her tea when she was stopped dead in her tracks. Her normally collected facade was momentarily broken by that name. Surely she had misheard the name. Surely. She took a moment to recompose herself, then fixed the Doctor with a look that was probably far more fierce than she meant it to be. “Say that again? Who was it?”

“A woman called Arys Turunen. At least what I found referred to her with that name.”, repeated the Doctor. For a moment, she remained quiet. “She’s alive but… well, she’s physically healed. She just doesn’t talk. I can’t defend her if she doesn’t talk.”

No. Solaris hadn’t misheard the name. She had held out hope that Arys was alive, but as the months had worn on, she had resigned herself to the possibility that she wasn’t. Just another nameless star on a wall. She took a breath. Then another, listening as the doctor outlined her status. None of it sounded good. None of it sounded right. She hated every bit of it. For not only had her friend suffered, she had suffered because of a failure on her part. Her looks softened almost immediately, as she tapped in a few commands on her terminal, securing the channel. “Is this a secure channel on your end?” she asked.

The doctor nodded.. “Intel console. I… don’t think they overjoyed with me using it, but I didn’t see any other way.” 

“They’ll live…” she commented, not caring if the Callisto’s intel staff didn’t like the Doctor using their equipment. She nodded. While she composed herself a bit more she sent a quick text message to her XO, rescinding her crew’s shore leave on DS17 and telling her to prepare the ship for launch as soon as possible.

“First of all… thank you for calling me. Arys was–” she paused, shaking her head, “–is a friend and I thought she was dead.” she began. She felt a small weight off her shoulders.
“Second, most of what you’re about to hear is classified, but I was classifying authority, and I’m effectively reading you in right now.” she added. She still held her intel clearances and it was for reasons like this.
“She was doing some work for me, trying to track down someone.” she began. “Another friend… who disappeared.” she started. “The who isn’t important… but it wasn’t exactly the safest place to send someone.” she said.

Less so if they weren’t trained, more of Sol’s failure. “The last contact I had with her was her requesting someone to retrieve her. Someone had been asking questions about the person she had been sent to track down. When the extraction team reached her last location… she was gone.” she finished, sitting back.

“I’m sorry.”, Doctor Trova said quietly. “Can you tell me when that was? The vessel’s logs link her back to the operation for the past two years. If you could confirm that she has still been working for you and been in regular contact with you, it would make me able to advocate for her release from… “, she sighed “the brig.”

“Two years?” Solaris asked, shaking her head. “No no… not possible. That last contact was six or seven months ago, and I had contact with her for months before that.” she continued, tapping a few controls. “I’m going to send you the relevant files, which you can safely share with your captain. They will contain what you need.” she added.

She frowned, thinking of Arys alone in the brig, unspeaking, with no one but the Doctor advocating for her. “Thank you Doctor… for digging deeper.” she said. “I’d like to come see my friend… if you could clear it with your Captain as well.” she said. Maybe her presence would help Arys. Or maybe she just wanted to assuage her guilt. Maybe a bit of both.

“Of course, I will let Captain Ceix know.”, Trova nodded. “If there is anything you can think of that can help her… please let me know”

Solaris sat quietly for a few moments. What could she say that could possibly help Arys, beyond giving Doctor Trova the information she needed, especially after half a year as a prisoner doing goddess knows what. She looked up at the Doctor. Arys was strong, she knew that. She wouldn’t have done it willingly and she would have found a way out if she could.

“Tell her…” she paused, playing on a hunch. “Whatever she did to survive… she did the right thing.” she said quietly. “And tell her I’m on the way… maybe she’ll react… maybe not…” she said trailing off.

Solaris wasn’t a master of the mind. She had seen agents come back from much longer missions and be able to handle it. And then she had seen others, who had spent much less time away, and did not handle it in the slightest.

 If Arys could, she didn’t know. But she had to believe she would.