The Academy Years

Later on Luna, a delegation from the federation council made their way to the shipyard's dock where the launch would be. The security detail and Brok were already there and setting up.
"Is everything alright?" The lead councilman asked the security
Chief.
"I have reason to suspect an attempted problem, but we don't know how and it needs to be allowed to happen. The councilman nodded.
"It will not be obvious, but we will have a forcefield around the
delegation and the stage for a layer of protection. I don't think you
will have to be concerned."
"Noted. I will hold you to it, Cheif" The delegate joked.
Meanwhile, on the outer orbit of the moon, a small romulan shuttle subtly came out of warp and remained cloaked. The second scientist was on board behind a forcefield. The operative and pilot were talking quietly between themselves.
"SO," The scientist said, "Are we there yet?" The romulans looked at him over their shoulders. He put his hands up.
"Sorry, Just asking, Just asking. Kinda booring back here ya know." He rolled his eyes, “Stiffs.”
Back in the shipyard, the other scientist prepared his data-rod and a silver suitcase. He made his way around the facility to another
operative dressed as a starfleet officer. This operative, though in
appearance looked like a vulcan was in fact romulan disguised. The
crowds came in and filled the corridor according to plan. As soon as
the delegation was in place, the forcefield activated without a flash
to give it away. The operative assumed his place as a starfleet
journalist in the front row. The chancellor came to the podium and
began his speech just like any other.
The shuttlecraft flew in silently into the docks. Warp core offline for more stealth. This model was capable of rapid core ignition for such
missions.
“We have his signature. Shall we beam it up yet?” The one romulan asked
the other.
“No, we have to wait for the commander's lead. Maintain lock on both of them.”
“Lt. Moore to chief.” a member of the security detail said.
“Go ahead.”
“There is a civilian with a suitcase that fits the description served. Shall I apprehend?”
“Observe from a distance but be ready. Phasers to stun. Shoot first ask later.”
“Understood.” The leutenant said as she continued along the corridor attempting to follow the scientist. The speech makers did their craft in a seemingly endless manner, politician style. The romulan operative prepared his weapon disguised as a telephoto holocamera. He opened a comm to the ship.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
The operative raised his camera at the same time everyone else did.
“NOW” He stated.
The camera flashed like a flash grenade without the sound, almost the same way the device also flashed. The crowd spread away, but all in the vicinity were blinded temporarily which allowed the scientist to trade his suitcase for his partner. The operative disappeared with a
beam and the scientist appeared in the place. He was holding a small
case of latinum and the pair proceded to walk out of the room
quietly. This mostly worked, but the security detail was wearing
purpose made sunglasses.
“I've lost him.” The lieutennant stated as she looked frantically.
“I have him, front of the stage. Apprehend?” another security member asked.
“Affirmative. Move in, Team”.
The team captured both scientists and made their way through the crowd to the holding area for secure interrogation.
The romulan crew looked at eachother and the commander nodded to the pilot to escape. He dialed the course and the ship slipped away.
When the chief, Brok and the scientists arrived in the room, the door closed behind them. The chief looked at Brok.
“Are these the men?”
“This one is. The other one is not.”
“Strange. Where would the other one be. These are the two missing men.”
“I can explain.” the formerly hostage scientist blurted. Clearly he
was nervous. The other one elbowed him.
“Please do.”
“Well... Somehow the experimental project leaked out to the black market. Then one day I was kidnapped by a Romulan operative. He took me as a hostage with the mission to make him(pointing at the other man) give them the “unit”. They offered to make us lead the project when
they delivered it to the Preytor, but we refused. They decided it
would be more distracting to have us here for you to capture.”
“The Preytor?” The security chief asked. “Why would the Preytor want it?” The scientist paused before replying.
“He saw it as a control device. Never grow old, make your enemies older
and feeble or vice versa. A remarkable concept. Scary really.”
“Indeed.” He leaned on the table in his ominous way. “And you permitted it?!!”
“Well, not completely.”
“NOT COMPLETELY?” He replied. “A little? You only slipped a little of a classified project to our principle enemy? You should be put in
maximum security prison for treason to the Federation.”
“Hear me out, Sir.” The other scientist interrupted. “The explosion at the lab.”
“Alright, Speak”.
“The operative wanted me to demonstrate the device before we stole it. I tweaked the programming the day before to self destruct upon the next use. He took the unit, aimed it at the wall and the power supply blew up, vaporizing everything but the lens housing and a useless board. I handed him the worthless unit and an isolinear rod of designs for a
laser radiation machine which uses the same housing. The operatives
think they have it and we have a chance of another romulan Preytor
change.”
“While your attempted assassination was admirable, you have some very large problems now.”
“Why, what happened?” He asked.
“While you were having your little session in the lab, a couple cadets walked by the building. Do you remember what you set the unit to do?”

“Oh, my. That could be bad.”
“How bad”
“The condition caused is not in of itself bad, particularly to a cadet who has not reached active duty, but we don't have another unit.”
“What was the unit set to do?” The chief insisted.
“It was set to regress age to 13 and hold. 3 day process. That was our standard test point. Once there, the aging resumes normal rate. The good news is they are healthy 13 yr olds now. Awkward though. I never thought there would be bystanders at that time on a sunday.”
“How long til you can fix this?”
“Well, you see, this is not a normal unit that I can just whip together. It took him and I almost 2 months to put this one together and test it. At best case, with a team we may be able to get it done in a couple weeks. I don't want to do it that fast though, sir because it simply
is to hard to get the programming calibrated that fast and there's
too much at stake to rush it.”

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