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“It appears it is the collected archives of the majority of knowledge that Vulcan has amassed. It is housed in a very durable vault so the Admiral is quite hopeful that it is still intact despite the planet’s destruction.”The elderly Vulcan’s voice remained even and calm despite his matter of factly speaking of his home world’s destruction. Only deep in his eyes was it apparent how this affected him.

Commander Stovik

He’d wondered from time to time in the 12 years since Vulcans destruction what he would do if Earth had been destroyed. What would his family have done if the Xindi had been successful a century earlier? He put such thoughts out of his mind and returned to the task at hand “Given the method use to fracture the core of the planet, I would likely be somewhat less hopeful than the Admiral. This was also 10 years ago. Why has it taken this long for your people to attempt to retrieve the archive?”

Whitney (CE)

Stovik shook his head soberly, “I do not know, Lieutenant. I had assumed that we had lost all our history and knowledge with Vulcan’s destruction.” The lines on his ancient face deepened as he allowed the other man to see a glimpse of the grief within. His eyes looked far away at something in the distance, perhaps back to that fateful day 10 years ago.

Then his eyes suddenly sharpened and his gaze returned to Whitney.”That is not for us to question though, we will go and ascertain what we can.” He paused a moment as he studied the CE before him again.” I must admit to some curiosity, Lieutenant. You have had a stellar career as a ship designer, this ship class to be specific. What has lead you to wish to serve on her?”

Commander Stovik

He felt a flutter of sympathy as something approaching pain seemed to cross the officers face. He maintained the neutrality of his face, knowing enough of Vulcans to understand that emotional outbursts or commentary were rarely appreciated. He cleared his throat again, more out of reflex as it gave him a moment to consider the situation “There’s nothing too particularly profound about it, Commander. Starfleet Engineering has approved the initial draft of a refit for the Kurtzman. It was… Pointed out… to me, that in order to produce a refit worthy of the time, effort and resources, it would behove me to experience the reality of the original design after extended deep space duty. I didn’t choose the Chernov, that was just the only ship in class with an engineering position open, but it’s a lucky choice given its age and some of the more straining missions in its history… Tell me, Commander, while I appreciate that Starfleet has made some effort to protect the Vulcan debris field from raiders, what makes the High Council believe that even had it survived the planet’s destruction, this archive has not long since been looted?”

Whitney (CE)