Editing Reverse Technologies group (section)

====Describing Reverse Technologies to Captain Rivers====

(Planets Surface - Base Camp - Lt(jg) Zach Falthgood - 0157)

It wasn't as though he had been trying to hide his approach, but he silently cursed at the look that crossed her features when he had first startled her. He moved himself into a source of light so she could see who it was, then stepped forward again into the relative comfort of the shadows. Dark stories were best told away from the light, they helped hide the face of the teller, and oft'times made what was said that much more believable, since the Night was when all manner of nasty beasts roamed, the one time when a person could really believe in things like black magic, curses and sorcerers. 

"Captain," he said lightly as he finally came to a halt. He watched her briefly for a few moments, then looked up at the stars. "It was... A most interesting day."

(reply: Rivers)

He took a deep breath of the night air, and let the slight cool brush across his face as he contemplated everything he was going to say. If she was to believe him, then there was very little he would actually be able to hold back. He wasn't in any of the old programs he had once been affiliated with, but he still took his oaths seriously. And though it had devolved into something ugly, the ultimate work and goal of the reverse engineering group and archaeologists really did have the best interests of the Federation at heart. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he said "Tonight is a lovely night, the end of a horrible day, but I'm afraid I must add a chill lest we all get too comfortable in what appears to be the end of the storm." He took a breath, and looked back down at her. "In the last week, you have heard many ghost stories.
Half told tales with weak explanations and only vague references. I sympathize, lack of information is one of my largest pet-peeves. So, let me be blunt and tell you a tale that you won't be able to confirm through any official sources. The moral, I'm sure, you will be able to guess once I am done."

(reply: If desired)

He pulled over one of the camp chairs that was close by, and sat his over-large frame into it. It creaked ominously, then settled into silence as he folded his hands together and looked *nearly* eye to eye with his CO. "You have heard, no doubt, that Starfleet has within many black organizations. Or, if not black, at least not official. In fact, you and your crew were volunteered into just such a project, something quiet and filled with paranoid secrecy. It was in such a world that I worked for many of my most productive years in Starfleet. Reverse Engineering Technologies, that was the official name under which my particular group worked. And it was true enough, at the start I was one of a dozen individuals exceptionally adept and ripping apart near anything and figuring out how it ticked. Good enough, in fact, that we were often paired with archaeological groups to work on advanced civilizations that went the way of the Dodo long before our ancestors were walking upright, or even living out of trees." 

Zach tapped his fingers together a couple times, "After a few years the creator of the group left and I worked my way up the hierarchy, eventually achieving the Field Command, whereas the creator himself achieved Flag Rank and continued to oversee and assign us to wherever we might happen to be needed. And, the paranoia grew. We learned things that the Federation shouldn't have learned for generations to come, our political enemies started poking around with a very practiced eye, and the paranoia grew even more. What started as a simple group designed to figure out the secrets of the ancients turned into a special intelligence unit, attached to both an equally secretive group of selected xeno-archaeologists and the most trained Security force that this Man's Starfleet ever conceived. We became blacker then black, and precious little of what we unlocked ever has seen the light of day since." He took a deep breath, "Death, be it foreign or domestic, was not a stranger to us after a little while. The creator of the group achieved more and more power inside Starfleet, and the moral regulations covering our actions grew more and more lax as time and our success went on."

He looked down, and practically whispered. "By the time I had reached the height of my power, I could have had nearly anyone in the Federation simply disappear for asking the wrong question, and not a trace of him would ever be turned up by Starfleet Intel or Security. I was in charge, I used the power very lightly, only when our ultimate security was indeed at stake. But some in our little clique, and within the group of archaeologists that I most often worked with, grew to like that power a lot. The ultimate power of life and death, the power to give a word and have an entire ship disappear simply because it had been used in some of our more sensitive probes. Many ships listed as Lost in Action or Missing will never be found, or will be found sometime later only in pieces."

"Understand, Captain, We did much good. The price-tag, however, was often horrendous. And, the political aspect got worse with every passing year." He frowned, "The internal intrigue was such, that one of the group did away with my own son, for some reason I have never yet determined. I had lost my wife a couple years before to some obscure jungle virus that popped up on one of our digs, I met her in the same service, you see." 

He leaned forward, "It took much to pull out of the group, everything from handing over a Captains commission in favor of Lieutenant Junior Grade... To having my entire service record purged and rewritten to account for the missing years." He smiled, ever so slightly, "Your fine SFI agent wondered allowed what he might find if he were to investigate me, Ill tell you what I didn't tell him. If he tried, he would have a death warrant signed for him less then four hours after the request was tendered and received. And the person signing it, most likely, would be Doenitz himself. Why?" He trailed off, a dry chuckled the only indication that he was still there. "Why, is the best part. Even many years removed, I'm still bound in its secrecy and paranoia. Under orders and oath not to breathe a word of what we did, what we found and what methods we used." 

He sobered, his forced aire of humor abolished in a moment with utter concentration and seriousness, something highly unusual in what she had seen of Zach. "I don't know the reason behind the attempted sabotage of the ship. But, Captain Susan Rivers of the USS Nimitz, I can tell you this with utter certainty. We have seen far to much here, we know now what the archaeologists above were sent here to study. And that makes us a threat. There are many circles in Starfleet, Black as night, that wouldn't be anywhere above making sure the Nimitz and her crew are only a footnote that includes the words 'missing', 'duty' and 'sacrifice'; in some future Starfleet text given to read at the Academy."