S02 E06: Kettirohm Sovereignty: The Star Walker

 

S02 E06: Kettirohm Sovereignty: The Star Walker

          Rayla stood on the street corner and looked up at the tall ornate buildings. The Bajdon loved art in all things. The street buildings were no exception. The architecture throughout the city was lavish to say the least. There were buildings with fluted columns and some buildings with odd shapes that almost seemed structurally impossible. And colors that were lavish while still maintaining an air of elegance. She made her way to the Adoroth Theater. She was excited to see “Star Visitor”, the most popular live theater production in the Kettirohm Sovereignty. This was her main reason for visiting the capitol planet.

          She had learned there were many reasons this series of plays was popular here. The series had started two years ago, when the Kettian system still had its isolationist policy. The plays are about an unknown alien visiting their system. Even though the Kettians were not native to this system and were themselves “star travelers”, the story still fascinated them. And now that they were no longer isolationists, they had started a new exploration division that had already surveyed several previously undiscovered planets only a few light years away. Kettians citizens were excited for all the new possibilities that had suddenly opened up to them. Add to that the fact that the plays and the exploration division were both funded by the same wealthy financier, Wernel Scroh, who had become a beloved public figure in the last few months. He not only funded the plays, but he was also their writer and producer.

          Rayla found the theater and walked up to the tall blonde woman standing next to the statue in front of the entrance. “You must be Dravana,” Rayla said.

          “Shmaza!” said Dravana. That was the Bajdon greeting. “And you’re Rayla. So nice to meet you.” Toray Dravana was the Bajdon that had been sent to meet Rayla. As they walked inside the theater, they both expressed how excited they were to see it for the first time. Lt. Toray—the Bajdon culture had kept the Bajoran tradition of using their family name first—served as the historian on the KSV Utrun, one of the new the Bajdon exploration ships. (All of the exploration ships were “new”, since the exploration division was only ten months old.)

 

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          After the play, Rayla and Dravana visited the café next to the theater. Another thing Rayla enjoyed about the Bajdon culture was their “kranjo”, a hot beverage, much like the raktajinos that Klingons enjoyed. As the two women were enjoying their kranjos and discussing the play, Dravana mentioned one of the props used in the background. It was a mask that very closely resembled a mask she had seen on a deserted planet, designated Kappa F (Starfleet was assisting the Bajdon exploration ships, thus the Greek letter designation), that her ship had discovered. They both agreed it was a strange coincidence, as the records from the new planet had not yet been made public.

         

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The actress smiled at Rayla and bowed her head slightly. “I’m so glad you enjoyed it,” she said to Rayla. “The show has been a joy from start to finish.” Rayla was so happy to meet the cast of the play. This was quite a large reception, she thought. She was more than thrilled to have been invited to this two-year celebration for “Star Visitor”, especially after having just seen it the day before.

Now that they had the chance, Rayla and Dravana both asked the play’s sponsor, Wernel Scroh, about the mask prop that was disturbingly similar to something seen on a deserted planet. Werner seemed friendly enough, but turned evasive when asked about the mask. He tried to assure them it was a design he had made up and thrown into the play to add atmosphere. Then he changed the subject by telling Dravana how happy he was that the Kettirohm Exploration Division had been so successful, both for him financially, and to the people as a whole, as a new and exciting endeavor.

As Wernel excused himself, Rayla and Dravana took a closer look at the mask. It had been brought to the reception area along with other props used in the play. The mask was made from a thin polymer. It was oval-shaped with two cutouts for humanoid eyes. It was painted a beautiful purple and white design. Rayla turned the mask over and saw a small symbol on its backside. Dravana was familiar with ancient Bajoran and Bajdon symbols, but she did not know this one. “Hmmm,” she said. Dravana looked at her inquisitively. “It’s the Debali symbol,” said Rayla. “What’s that?” Dravana asked her.

Rayla kept staring at the symbol. She was sure it was Debali. “The Debali were an ancient race that died out centuries ago.” As an El-Aurian, Rayla was aware of many of the galaxy’s races that even Starfleet was unaware of. She asked Dravana what else she knew about the planet Kappa F. Dravana said they knew there must have been a civilization there that had died out or left long ago. The crew of the KSV Utrun had found a few buildings with inscriptions, but she didn’t recognize the symbol on the mask. Starfleet was still working on translating the inscriptions. Rayla could not read Debali inscriptions, however, she did know that the Debali language was based on mathematical symbols related to their location in time and space. She knew this knowledge would help in translating their script. She made sure to send this information to Starfleet Command to help in the translations.

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          When the Orb of Empathy first brought the Bajorans (now Bajdon) to Adoroth, it brought them to a large desert area. The Bajdon named it Selit Vogowa, or “Sacred Land”. They had built a temple in the desert to house the orb. The orb was later moved when the Bajdon decided it should be in a place more accessible to the majority of their population. Now after two millennia, the Selit Vogowa was still revered, but more as a historical landmark than a religious one. The land was visited even less often after an incident that occurred ten years ago. An aircraft carrying verdinion power cells crashed just a mile away from the sacred land. The power cells emitted a type of radiation that affected the weather patterns. Now there were heavy winds, and sometimes tornadoes, that plagued the area. The Kettians did not have an advanced weather system to dissipate the tornadoes. But they did have a good meteorological sensor system that was able to predict weather patterns. Enough so that the Kettians were able to excavate, knowing just when and how long weather conditions would permit it, much of the land that had been lost to time over the two millennia since they had arrived.

          Wernel Scroh had funded the excavation for the past several years and enjoyed coming to the sacred land to see how much more they had uncovered. He sometimes brought people on tour, as he was now, escorting Rayla and Dravana around the site. Wernel told them some of the stories that had been passed down for generations, such as how the Orb of Empathy had brought the Bajdon here, and the Prophets had told them that the Relamqu, a new race to them, would help them settle on their new home planet. Wernel had traced his own ancestry back to the original settlement and knew the name of his ancestor who had settled here.

          The original temple walls had deteriorated in some places. But Rayla could still make out a few of the carvings. Wernel pointed out a section of the east wall that had just been restored. Rayla looked at it closely and saw the same symbol she had seen on the back of the mask. Wernel moved in to examine it. He said it didn’t have the same sharp edges as the one on the mask. Rayla was sure it was the same symbol. Dravana also came closer to examine it. Then she remembered seeing something similar on Kappa F. She admitted this one before her now was not quite as clear, but it did look familiar.

          They went into another room that had more inscriptions in ancient Bajdon that had just been restored. These inscriptions had been fairly well preserved over time, and Dravana was able to read some of them. She said they told the story of an alien visitor to Adoroth right after the Bajdon and Relamqu came. They called him The Star Walker. He was deformed and had fled from others of his race who hunted him. On Adoroth, a Bajdon woman named Loca Jati nursed him back to health. He left on his spacecraft never to be seen again. So that could explain the same mysterious symbol being on Adoroth and on Kappa F. Perhaps The Star Walker wound up on Kappa F, Rayla and Dravana thought.

          Dravana started walking around the temple looking for more inscriptions. Then she heard a beeping sound coming from the direction of Wernel. It was his communicator. Wernel pulled out the communicator. It was the central office telling him a tornado had just formed in the area. As he started to lead them out of the building and into their ground transport, they heard a large cracking sound. Then a sudden gust of wind came over them. “The tornado!” said Wernel. “It must have hit the inner chamber!” The three of them huddled together in the center of the room. They heard more creaking of walls. They could hear the wild whirring of the wind outside. Then, suddenly, it got very quiet. They all peaked their heads up from the huddle. They walked in the direction of the inner chamber, and then to the temple entrance. The entrance had collapsed. The walls around it had caved it. They were trapped inside the temple.

          Wernel used his communicator to call for help. He was able to get through, but he was told there was still atmospheric disturbance in the area, and they wouldn’t be able to send help for another hour.

          “Oh,” said Wernel, “This was certainly not how I had hoped this day would go.”

          Rayla agreed with him and said, “At least we’re alive.” Wernel told her that it was not one of the strongest tornadoes they had seen in this area. Dravana said they needed to make sure the rest of the building wouldn’t collapse on them while they were waiting to be rescued. They walked around what was left of the structure. They didn’t see anything that they needed to be concerned with for now. Dravana was interested in reading more of the inscriptions if she could find any that were clear enough to read.

          To pass the time, Wernel told them the ancient myths about dragons that had once been on the fourth Kettirohm planet, Bearuta. One thousand years ago, there had been a green dragon that flew over houses and dropped a green egg down the chimney. It was said that the ones who received a green egg would put it on their front doorstep, and they would receive wealth and prosperity. Dravana had heard the myth and said some people on Bearuta still kept round green stones in their house for luck.

          Wernel’s comm beeped again. He told them he had just gotten the signal that a rescue team was minutes away. It was only five minutes later that Rayla heard someone yelling from outside the building that they should stand away from the walls to safely allow a phaser to cut through. Wernel and Dravana tried to direct the rescuers to a wall with no inscriptions so they could preserve what history they could.

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          Rayla was glad to be out of the temple, though she had found it a fascinating experience. When she was alone in her hotel room, she got a call from Starfleet Command. They had used her tip about translating the Debali writings. They told her that Kappa F had been visited by one Debali. He had fled his people because they wanted to kill him because he was deformed and different. His ship crashed on a planet and he was injured. There was a being on the planet who nursed him back to health. He repaired his ship and then made it to Kappa F. There he discovered he had some unknown disease and he was dying. His writings expressed gratitude to the stranger who had helped him.

          Rayla was amazed. Obviously, this Debali was the one the Bajdon had called The Star Walker. Starfleet told her they were going to send another ship back to Kappa F. Now that they could translate the writings, they could decrypt a code that would enable them to read the entire database the Debali had left there.

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After Rayla told Dravana and Wernel what she had learned, Wernel admitted that Loca Jati, the one who had helped The Star Walker, was his ancestor. He had Jati’s journal. He had written his plays based on them. Both Rayla and Dravana were surprised that Wernel would keep something like that a secret. Shouldn’t he be proud that he had an ancestor who helped a strange being from another planet? Wernel said, yes, he was proud, but he had wanted to show everyone that he could write an original story. The Bajdon place much higher values on original plays. Dravana knew that was true, but still did not think it was worth keeping this kind of secret.

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Rayla sat perfectly still at the dinner table. At her left was Tirinor Tomen Zariem, the leader of the planet Adoroth. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Tirinor Karese thinks very highly of you,” Tirinor Tomen said to Rayla.

She responded, “Thank you. She has been a tremendous help since I’ve been in Kettirohm; helping me learn about your culture. And she’s been very cooperative in letting me and Starfleet help your people.”

The Tirinor smiled and continued, “I heard back from our ship at Kappa F. Do you know what they told me after they decrypted the Debali’s database?”

Rayla told him she hadn’t heard. He told her, “When the Star Walker first went to Kappa F, the planet had an unstable atmosphere that caused dangerous and unpredictable weather conditions. The Star Walker had the technology and knowledge to stabilize the weather on the planet. Our scientists think they can use that technology to stabilize the weather at Selit Vogowa. So there will be no more tornadoes there.”

Rayla smiled back at Tomen. “That’s wonderful! So the Bajdon woman helped The Star Walker, and now The Star Walker--with his technology--can help the Bajdon. What a wonderful exchange!” Rayla and Tomen held up their drinking glasses in an old earth custom called a “toast”.

“To friends long departed,” said Rayla.

“And to new friends,” said Tomen. “May we all learn and grow together through mutual friendship and cooperation.”