Meanwhile on Sarabande

 "A Genesis Device?"

The tone in the captain's voice left no doubt as to all the emotions that assailed her uttering but those few words; astonishment, incredulity, fear and even anger. Seekal mustered as much Vulcan emotionelessness and Starfleet professionalism to keep those emotions from spreading to the rest of the listening away teams. After all, they were all right in the middle of it all.

"In essence, affirmative, Captain; but unlike our own previous attempt at fully terraforming a planetary body with a programmed matter and energy conversion device, this system does not use protomatter, the substance responsible for both the stability and the ethical problems Doctor Marcus' invention was known for. Moreover, this fully terraforming and biogenensis device is substantially more complex and considerably larger. As recorded by the Phoenix, this entire complex and the starship it sprouted from are all dedicated to this task."

His own Team 1 was occupying the vast record and control chamber that displayed all the subatomic, atomic and molecular data pertaining to every single element composing a viable world; from atmospheric gases to organic compounds, from the simplest and most common molecule in the universe, H2, up to and including a myriad of DNA strands for a complete and balanced biosphere... including a small but definitely humanoid sentient species. Team 3 was continuying research on the matter and energy collecting structures erected on the surface of the planetoid while Team 2 was working with the first level of underground installations and their vast, powerful engineering and fabrication installations. As for Team 4, they had just reached the computer center of the whole alien complex and transmitting data and images from the integrated tricorders of their EVA suits. It is from compiling all their preliminary reports that Seekal had contacted Captain Ross with his own confirmation of the USS Phoenix' original survey.

Captain's Ross conclusion was simplistic and overtly dramatic... but it was, as Seekal had said, basically correct. There was a huge alien starship buried within this planetoid that had expanded itself into this immense underground complex for the sole purpose of making it the habitable world of an unknown sentient species.

A good moment of silence stretched before Ross spoke again.

"Report from the Phoenix state that their experimental system enhancing nanites had been... collected by this... facility and triggered an early activation phase..."

"Accurate, Captain; our readings so far confirm that the Phoenix crew successfully purged those nanites from the alien system and that it is now returned to it's original low power and activity state prior to their coming in this area."

"Lucky for them," then grumbled the basso voice of chief of security Tritter on the comm. "Their coming and playing with this whole alien contraption is textbook example of a Prime Directive violation. Captain Syntron should have been court-martialed along with all those oh-so fine Lotus Fleet elite officers they're all supposed to be."

There was no mistaking the bitterness in that voice, even from a Vulcan. But the first officer of the Asimov would not let it go unoticed, especially with all the away teams listening as well as the bridge crew and most of the researchers left aboard the Nova class vessel in orbit above them.

"Mister Tritter; your concern over our General Orders and regulations is commendable... but in this case misplaced. It is an accidental contact with a rogue, unknown and as of yet undefined spatial anomaly endangering a civilian shuttlecraft in this area that forced the USS Phoenix to vent out excess plasma from her systems... and with it, inadevertently, a few of their experimental system-enhancing nanites. Unknown to them, the spires of this installation collected those unknowingly lost and free-floating nanites as part of their matter and energy collecting function, thus absorbing those microscopic cybernetic organisms into the systems of this facility; nanites built to enhance an artificial system. Because this had triggered an early and unintended activation of this installation, they were bound by the same Prime Directive to correct the contamination. This is why they... played with it, trying to find a way to do just that... and succeeding."

"As I said... lucky for them," still grumbled the blonde giant. "I read their CMO's formal protest of their whole away team operation. I'm not convinced that they knew about the contamination before they started opening chambers and pushing buttons down here as if they had been Napoleon's soldiers looting the Pyramids of Egypt..."

"Starfleet only looks at the fact, Lieutenant. And the facts are that this alien installation had been contaminated and they resolved the situation... and restored the entire installation to it's original dormant state as you yourself can currently observe."

"Well, yeah, if you say so, Sir... However, I'm not so sure about that."

There was a short moment of silence before the voice of Captain Ross was heard.

"Report, Lieutenant."

"Well... I'm not yet sure... but all our tricorders down here are registering some kind of weird power fluctuation."

"Be specific, Lieutenant," now admonished Seekal.

"Well... we have some short but intense electromagnetic spikes registering on our scanners... but we can't seem to be able to locate the source... and it registers on one or the other of our tricorders but never on all of them at the same time as it should if this... contraption around us was fully active or even starting up. It's like it's... moving... like... like some animal under the bushes."

"Colorful, Lieutenant but not very accurate if we are to determine the nature of your readings," the Vulcan admonished sternly. "Adjust your scanners to short range and wide dispersal pattern and confine their readings to electromagnetic energy. Link them to my own and to the ship's computer for analysis."

"Aye, Commander."

As the way teams continued their exploration, Seekal adjusted his comm channel to the specific frequency of the Asimov's bridge so that only the captain and his bridge officers would hear.

"Captain, if I may; Lieutenant Tritter has a point; what the Phoenix did would have been a violation of General Order 1 has it not been for the hapenstance of their accidental contamination. So, respectfully, Captain, I have to ask the following question: since we do not have such an accident as a need or an excuse, are we not committing this very violation ourselves?"

The growl in Ross' voice was unmistakable in her suddenly harsh, clipped tone.

"We are here by order of the Federation Science Council, Commander Seekal, not just bumping around looking for what's out there! And we are ordered to ascertain that this... Sarabande thing does not pose any present or foreseable danger to this sector of space! And we are not going to touch anything beyond what is needed for establishing this with certainty! And we are here to observe and record only, to gather data without tampering with it for future deeper analysis and report our findings for the Federation Science Council for it to determine what should be done later with it! Does that answer your question, Mister?"

In typical Vulcan stoicism, Seekal nodded as if he was right in front of her and not inside the planetoid. Yet, his left eyebrow still arched high over his widened eye.

"Affirmative, Captain. I was just wondering if our mere presence in this place could not also be considered a violation. After all, this whole installation does not belong to us. Simply taking records and samples or just being on the premises might be interpreted as interference by whover built this facility."

"Well do you see them around?" retorted Ross. 

"With all due respect, Captain, that is quite irrelevant. We might see this as but a mere technical facility or even an ancient, forgotten ruin... but to those who made it, this might also be hallowed ground, a sacred place our mere presence is profanating... or even contaminating in ways we can not yet determine... except on a moral standpoint."

"Didn't your first readings show this place to be very ancient? If they're not around anymore, how could they be... offended? What harm could be done?"

"Affirmative, Captain; but the morality, or possible lack thereof, of our actions, is not lessened by age or absence."

"I'm a starship captain, Seekal, not a philosopher; I'll let our big brains back home ponder the problem, if problem there is. I'm only interested in the practical and in completing our mission, which is to learn as much as possible from this thing... without tampering directly with it."

"Then on a practical standpoint, you should consider the possibility that our very presence alone might be interfering with the intended process of this facility," insisted the Vulcan.

"I'm not interested in mere hypothesis nor in philosophical debate or rule lawyering, Commander. We are scientists. Record a formal protest like that Doctor on the Phoenix did if you must to clear your record and your conscience. Gather data, follow your hypothesis on this if you will... and if, if you find it sufficiently supported by the facts to the point of theorizing such interference as statistically plausible, we will then consider withdrawing. But until then, continue your research until a reasonable determination can be made as to the origin, purpose and especially it's safety for us. Do I make myself clear?"

"Affirmative, Captain."

"Good. And have Tritter watch for those peculiar energy spikes of his."

"Acknowledged."

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