SIM:Varaan: The Secrets Continue

Crew of Deep Space 26

Commander Varaan

Rank: Commander Starfleet Serial Number: SE-381-568 Station: Deep Space 26 Position: Strategic Operations Officer Species: Vulcan Gender: Male Age: 71 DoB: 233001.06 Birthplace: Khir Ahl, Kir, Na'nam, Vulcan Awards & Service Ribbons Starfleet Academy Graduate Ribbon 5-year Member 1-year Member Nebula Bar Department Chief Ribbon Strange Medallion Sarpeidon Award Explorer's Ribbon Lifesaving Ribbon Captain's Commendation First Contact Ribbon Legion of Merit Galactic War with the Borg Service Medal TOSMA Neelix Award Phoenix Award Purple Heart Badges Starfleet Records • Medical Records • Starfleet Academy Transcript Edit this nav User Page

This SIM was written and presented on April 12, 2015, (corresponding to the IC stardate 239204.12).

((Main Brig - USS Atlantis))

::To the two security guards stationed in the security room adjacent to the cell he was in, Varaan seemed to simply be sitting cross-legged on the cot, experiencing a Vulcan meditation ritual. His hands lay gently in his lap, totally relaxed, while the rest of his body sat rigid, head to posterior, yet still somehow exuding an air of calmness. He had been "meditating" for almost twenty minutes, now, and the guards had checked on him three times already.::

::He wasn't actually meditating, of course. That would currently be a waste of his time, and Varaan was nothing if not efficient. No, he was busy.::

::The reason he had wanted the captain to release him back to the group of scientists and other "refugees" from Outpost Bravo in the same condition that the Vulcan had left them was simply to avoid the standard medical scans. By the time Varaan had returned, the rest of the group would have had their scans and he would have avoided his. He wasn't sick. That was not what he was afraid the doctors would find. No. It was his E.A.R.S.::

::Years ago, while he was the chief engineer of the USS Paladin, a form of negative radiation had affected the crew during a mission. This "negradic" radiation, as named by the then CMO Doctor Greene, affected each individual differently. Many were able to heal from their wounds in time. Varaan's dose of the radiation had been larger than the others. It had directly "degenerated" his aural canals and the associated bones and nerves. It had left Varaan completely deaf, with no chance of recovery.::

::Being Vulcan, staying that way would have been very inconvenient for him, but not something that would have required an emotional response. More than once he had to decline an appointment with the ship's counselor to "talk about how this was affecting him." Counselors had their place with the rest of the crew, and held an important role, but they needn't bother with Vulcan crewmembers. Varaan had been "at peace" with the outcome. His shipmates, those that liked to call Varaan their "friend," were not comfortable with the Vulcan's loss.::

::Some of Varaan's "friends" from the engineering, science, and medical departments worked long, hard hours on the return voyage of the Paladin's mission, to formulate an idea, and develop some bio-neural technology which they termed "E.A.R.S." The acronym stood for External Auditory Receptor System, which Varaan approved of because of its accuracy. The original units were large, clunky metal forms that attached to the patients skull, behind their natural ears. They were able to duplicate the function of natural ears, and even had a few enhancements.::

::Over the years, the design had been refined and improved upon. Now the E.A.R.S. that Varaan had were nothing more than circular black disks, roughly 3 centimetres in diameter, which easily hid underneath his hair. Visually, Varaan looked like a normal Vulcan. A medical scan, however, would have immediately found the E.A.R.S. and instantly identified him should the doctor query the technology in the computer database. Varaan's cover would have been discovered, and his current operation jeopardized.::

::Well, so far no one had bothered to do a medical scan of him. But the captain was probably on his way to the nearest communications terminal to contact Admiral Krieger at Deep Space 26. Krieger, while not part of Starfleet Intel, had been Varaan's "handler" for the last six years while Varaan had been working in the Par'tha Expanse. And if Blueheart talked to Krieger and told the admiral that his operative was currently incarcerated on the Atlantis, Varaan was sure that would bring this current Op to an end. It might even spell the end of Varaan's assignment as a deep cover operative within the Expanse.::

::Not that changing assignments would bother Varaan. On the contrary. Not only had Varaan served on several ships in several different capacities for Starfleet, but Starfleet had been a second career for him, after working for Vulcan Intelligence for twenty years. It could be said that he might actually look forward to a new assignment. But he calculated that he was 86% on his way to a successful completion of this Op. It would be a waste of time and resources to abandon the Op now, Especially when Krieger was informed about what Varaan had uncovered since his last debriefing.::

::But speculating about what may happen in the future only served to distract Varaan from what he was really doing. To the security guards outside the cell - there was one checking on him again - Varaan was deep in meditation. In reality, Varaan was using his E.A.R.S. to scan the various comm channels on Atlantis, gleaning information. Varaan had been on Atlantis before. In fact, Varaan had commanded the Atlantis for almost a year, when she was first commissioned a decade ago. While on board, he had inserted various "back-door" codes into the ship's operating system. They were not malicious in nature, and had never been discovered. So they were still there, and functioning.::

::Varaan had used his E.A.R.S., which could do more than just receive sound input now, to access those hidden command codes. Varaan was now mentally scanning all the internal verbal communication on Atlantis. He knew Elsa had been brought on board. Whether or not that was a good idea remained to be seen. Varaan was ignoring the minor status reports and damage reports and the like. He was looking for something specific. There! He found it. Varaan couldn't transmit verbal messages via his E.A.R.S. without speaking out loud. That would, in turn, alert the guards. So Varaan sent a one second data-burst to the receiver he had been looking for. One second was short enough time to go unnoticed.::

::The data burst had been a signal of sorts. Varaan's contact at the receiver would know it was him. They would begin scanning to find out where Varaan was. Luckily, this contact was deep-cover on board Atlantis. They had been assigned with the rest of the crew when Atlantis had been posted to the Par'tha Expanse. Varaan didn't even know who it was. Not yet, anyway. The Vulcan waited until the contact responded with a coded voice message of their own. It was piped directly into Varaan's E.A.R.S., so no sound was heard outside of Varaan's head. The guards were unaware.::

CONTACT: =^= Scans show you are on board, currently in the brig. Do you require extraction? One burst. Observe and await further contact? Two bursts. Other? Three bursts.

::Varaan shot back two quick data-bursts, signally that he was fine, but he might need aid should things go "sideways," as Varaan's former CO Rachel Daninburg was fond of saying. The contact did not even respond with an acknowledgement, but immediately terminated the comm connection. The entire exchange lasted no longer than ten seconds, on a secret coded subspace frequency. No one would ever know. But a back-up plan was now in place.::

::Varaan now actually began to meditate. He probably could have continued scanning the frequencies until he found the one that Blueheart would be using to talk to Krieger. But that would be eavesdropping. Not that Varaan hadn't done his fair share (or more) of surveillance that way, but the Vulcan was 96% sure of how the conversation was going to happen, anyway. So, he might as well get some "rest" now, while he awaited the captain's return.::

-TBC