“You
did what!?” Captain Blake almost shouted.
Tarin
ran her hands through her hair and rested them on her neck. “I knocked out a
Klingon delegate. And yes, I did it on purpose. I provoked him into attacking me
and then hit him as hard and as often as possible.”
While
Edward Blake just clenched his hands, Ambassador Satek was more focused. “Is
this a secured channel, Captain Veal?” he asked.
“It
is on my end.”
The Vulcan nodded. “Good.” He looked at the face on the monitor and asked: “Why?”
“Because
I trusted Captain Klag. After Grekor had more or less admitted that he was
working directly for Gowron, I had no choice but to remove him from the
conference if I wanted to gain anything from the connection Klag had been trying
to build.”
”I
hope it was worth it,” Captain Blake fumed. An official protest from the
Klingon Chancellor himself wasn’t what he had expected when they had been able
to re-establish communication with Akadon III. Not that the way Klingons
formulated ‘official protests’ had made him any happier.
“I
think so, yes,” Tarin Veal slowly replied. “At least now we know a lot more
about Gowron’s plans.”
Ambassador
Satek nodded again. “Go on.”
“What
we know is that Gowron doesn’t care about any of the factions on the High
Council. All he cares for is strengthening his own position – not by allying
himself with anyone else, but by becoming stronger himself.” Tarin rested her
folded hands on her desk. “Sponsoring an expedition that retrieved Sabak’s
armor would strengthen his position immensely. Whoever actually retrieved this
artifact, Gowron could twist the facts in a way that would make him reap all the
glory. With such an achievement he would be able to dominate Klingon politics
for years to come.”
* * * * *
“We
are closing on L-351,” Lieutenant O’Shea reported.
“Get
us as close to the planet as you can before leaving warp, then bring us down
near the outpost as fast as possible,” Dar Enikal ordered. “The last thing
we want is a space battle with a bird-of-prey.”
Lieutenant
Alvarez rose and made for the cockpit door. “I’d better check on my men;
make sure they are armed and ready.”
“You
do that Lieutenant,” the Bolian replied, “but make sure your men understand
what we are here for. This isn’t a combat mission. For now our objective is
search-and-rescue, should that turn out to be necessary at all.”
After
the doors had closed behind the Valkyrie’s security chief, Moira
remarked: “You know, I’d be a lot happier if Rishana was with us. She is a
much better pilot than I am.”
Commander
Enikal leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Moira,
you will be doing just fine.”
Moira
O’Shea looked over her shoulder at the Commander and smiled. “I see you have
been picking up some command skills from our Captain.”
Dar
winked at her. “Is it working?” he asked with a smile of his own.
Moira looked out the forward window again and laughed softly. “Yes. Yes it is.” Before Dar had a chance to reply she was all business again. “Hang on. Leaving warp… Now.”
* * * * *
“Edward,
please, calm down.” Tarin raised her hands in a defensive gesture. “I think
it was really worth it.” Her colleague was still not ready to accept the
course of action she had chosen and Tarin couldn’t blame him. The few options
they had didn’t look very promising, but just letting Gowron have his way
seemed even worse.
Edward
Blake wasn’t convinced and it showed, but at least he sat down. “That’s
very well for you to say, but if this doesn’t turn out like you hope, it could
mean open war between the Federation and the Klingons!”
When
Tarin had replaced him as XO of the Galahad, he had been confident that
her unique balance of logic and intuition would make her a great commanding
officer one day, but now he wasn’t so sure anymore. Had she made the biggest
mistake of her career or could it be that Captain Klag was as trustworthy as
Tarin thought?
Ambassador
Satek raised his hand to silence Captain Blake. Soon he would have to beam down
to Akadon and face Gowron. The last thing the Ambassador needed was Captain
Blake to be so agitated. “There is no need for any kind of antagonism. I am
sure Captain Veal knew what she was doing.”
“I
hope you are right, Ambassador,” Tarin replied. “I really do.” She looked
away from the Vulcan and out the window at the silhouette of the Negh’Var
orbiting close to her own ship. Had she placed too much faith in Captain Klag?
No, the Klingon had proven to be a true ally of the Federation, but would
anything the away team could accomplish make a difference for the better?
* * * * *
The
heavy landing shook the whole ship, but even before everyone had regained their
footing, Lieutenant Alvarez had opened the airlock.
“All
right! Move out!” he ordered his small security detail. “You stay with the
ship,” he commanded one of his enlisted men, as two others jumped out off the
hatch and took positions to both sides, their phaser rifles raised and ready.
“All
clear,” one of them called out and the rest of the Valkyrie’s away
team jumped out into the dusty wasteland that was L-351.
Commander
Enikal drew his phaser and asked Lieutenant Hagen, “which way?”
She
swept her tricorder around, trying to correlate the ship’s sensor readings
with her tricorder scans. “This Way!” She pointed ahead and to the left.
Alvarez just made a short, sharp gesture and his men advanced, using every cover they could find.
Dar
Enikal was satisfied. Placing Lieutenant Alvarez in charge of the Valkyrie’s
security department had been a good choice. He was firmly in command and he knew
what he was doing.
The
Bolian checked the setting of his type II phaser and waited for Alvarez to give
him the ‘go ahead’ signal before he advanced and Lieutenant O’Shea and
Doctor Jascar brought up the rear.
* * * * *
L-351
certainly wasn’t what Moira had expected. When the report talked about
‘ancient cities’, she had imagined some ruined walls and a few traces of
ancient buildings, but now the away team was making its way through a real city.
Sure
it was a bunch of ruins, but ruins that still towered five or six stories above
them. Buildings and streets were still recognizable and it was easy to imagine
what would once have been residences or shops or…
Moira
shook her head and focused on her tricorder again. With everyone except Doctor
Jascar concentrated on a possible fight with the Klingons, it was her job to
keep track of sensor readings. In a way she was the eyes and ears of the away
team.
“Wait!”
She wasn’t sure if she should whisper or shout, but at least everyone stopped.
Moira checked her readings again. “I have got some faint life signs in this
direction.” She pointed her tricorder to the left, down an alley. “I think
it must be the expeditions’ base camp.”
* * * * *
“What
have we got?” Commander Enikal enquired as he motioned to Lieutenant Alvarez.
The
security officer just pointed at two low buildings on the left and the right of
the plaza and his men took their positions while he kneeled down near the other
members of the away team.
“Three
dead and two seriously injured,” Doctor Jascar replied after a quick tricorder
scan. “I’ll be lucky if I can manage to save them under these conditions.”
“Do
what you can, Doctor. What about the Klingons?” Now Dar Enikal was in command.
While he needed to rely on Lieutenant Alvarez to handle the minutiae of the
mission, he was still the one in charge of the away-team.
“Let
me check,” Moira answered, as she took some more tricorder readings. Even a
cursory glance told her something that made her heart skip a beat.
“We’ve
got incoming on all sides!”
* * * * *
Doctor
Jascar was working as fast as he could. It didn’t matter that he didn’t want
to be here or that part of him had never really wanted to be part of the Valkyrie
mission. His training had taken over and his mind was only focused on the
problem at hand.
One
of the security officers fell down, hit by a d'k tahg dagger slashing across his
stomach, but Theron Jascar didn’t wait for the Klingon to be dropped by
Commander Enikal’s phaser shot - he was already at the side of the wounded man
when the Klingon warrior hit the ground.
He
didn’t have time to check his tricorder. Theron had seen enough to know what
he needed to do. Coagulant, painkiller, self-adhesive bandage. The dermal
regenerator and all his other high-tech toys would have to wait.
When
he checked around to see if anyone else needed his help, the Doctor saw that the
Valkyrie crew had won the battle, at least for now. His eyes darted
around and nothing he saw required his immediate attention. First-degree
disruptor burns on Commander Enikal, a few cuts and bruises on one of the
security people, but nothing more.
Satisfied
that the man who lay in front of him was in no immediate danger he turned to the
two surviving scientists again and reached for his medical tricorder once more.
* * * * *
“What
have you done with Captain Veal?” Gowron could hardly bring himself to
call her by her title, anger and contempt apparent in his voice.
“For
now she is in her quarters, with an officer keeping a close eye on her.” While
Captain Blake still had his doubts about Tarin’s decision, he wasn’t
prepared to tell Gowron that while Tarin was in her quarters, she was certainly
not confined to them.
The
Klingon Chancellor narrowed his eyes and snarled. “Good enough – for now.”
He turned to Commander Jenor. “I demand to know why you sent your only
ship away, right after that incident!”
“Sir, I felt it necessary to inform Ambassador Satek and Starfleet as soon as possible about what was going on here and that ion storm is still interfering with communications in our sector.” While Martin Jenor wasn’t comfortable with lying to the Klingon Chancellor, he had his orders from Ambassador Satek and the station logs would support his story. “Using a courier seemed like the best way to do it.”
The
Klingon just snarled. The human was most likely lying, but Gowron wasn’t
concerned. The courier could carry only a few people and neither it nor it’s
crew would be a match for the team he had sent out. “And what have you
to say about all this, Ambassador?”
The
Vulcan looked emotionless, but his voice carried a faint trace of sympathy with
it, as it seemed not for Captain Veal, but for the enraged Klingon.
“Chancellor Gowron, I assure you this incident in no way reflects the way the
Federation views our allies in the Klingon Empire.”
It
wasn’t even a lie from the Vulcan’s point-of-view. The fight had only
involved Grekor and Captain Veal and calling Grekor an ally of the Federation
was at best debatable.
“I
am sure Captain Veal will be prepared to make a formal apology for any
misconduct on her part.” As the Ambassador expected Tarin not to see any
misconduct in her behavior, that statement wouldn’t mean anything.
“In
that light, may I suggest we treat this as an unfortunate misunderstanding,
caused by the inexperience of two young officers, and start our conference as
initially scheduled?” Satek knew what Gowron would hear; a chance to blame his
young officer, Grekor, if the situation wasn’t resolved to his satisfaction
and a chance to buy more time for Vontar to succeed in his quest. As the Vulcan
had expected, it worked like a charm.
“Yes,”
Gowron leaned back into his chair, “let’s proceed as planned.”
*
* * * *
“How
many more?” Lieutenant Alvarez asked, as he glanced over the low wall at the
two Klingons cowering by the tunnel entrance.
“Hard
to say,” Commander Enikal replied. “Standard crew on a B’rel is twelve,
which would leave about three or four with Vontar, but with something like this
at stake, I don’t know. Lieutenant O’Shea?” He looked over his shoulder.
Moira
shook her head. “I am not getting any clear readings from inside. Looks like
about six or seven people two hundred meters down the tunnel, but I am not sure
if that number is right or even if they are Klingons or not.”
“Too
bad. We will have to do this the old fashioned way – go in and take a look for
ourselves.” Commander Enikal looked at his small away team. The wounded
security officer and the two surviving scientists had been beamed to their small
ship, so it was down to him, Lieutenant Alvarez, Moira, and Doctor Jascar plus
one security guard.
“Okay, here is the plan.” He pointed at the enlisted man. “You circle around and create a diversion to draw out the guards. Lieutenant Alvarez, when that happens you will take the one on the left and I will take the one on the right. Moira, you target the tunnel entrance in case we miss one of the Klingons with the first shot. We can’t allow them to alert the rest of their crew.”
* * * * *
The
officer keeping a close eye on Captain Veal sat down by her side and gently
touched her face. “Are you all right?” Ben asked.
Tarin
smiled reluctantly. “I am fine, don’t worry.” She moved away from him,
leaning against the armrest of the sofa, so she could better look at her fiancé.
“I just wish I could do anything about what is going on.”
“Don’t
worry.” Ben reached for her shoulders and drew her closer again. “I am sure
Ambassador Satek knows what he is doing and didn’t you tell me how much you
trust Commander Enikal?”
When
Tarin smiled again it was much more genuine, less forced. “I do.” She gave
in to Ben’s pull and leaned against him. “You should try to get to know him
better. Underneath that cool, professional exterior is a sense of humor you
would like.”
Commander
Tucker softly laughed. “I know. Remember that surprise I talked about? We have
been working on it together and Dar sure has a sense of humor I wasn’t
expecting.”
Tarin’s
smile widened. Ben never thought about it much, but he was a good judge of
character. “You don’t want to tell me about this surprise, do you?” she
asked.
“Oh
no,” Ben replied with a mischievous grin. “You will have to wait a little
longer.”
* * * * *
The
tunnel was lit by battery-powered lamps every thirty meters, which was just
enough to make out the shape of the tunnel.
As
the away-team slowly made it’s way along the rubble-strewn corridor, they were
careful about where they stepped. Flashlights would have only alerted any
Klingons in the underground tunnel to their presence and the only active light
source they carried was Lieutenant O’Shea’s tricorder, which she tried to
shield with her left hand.
“Anything?”
Commander Enikal asked in a hushed voice.
Moira
stopped and starred at her tricorder. “Readings are a little better. I am
getting seven life-signs, about eighty meters ahead. Five Klingons, two
humans.”
“What
about the humans,” Doctor Jascar asked, “are they hurt?”
“Not
from what I can tell, at least not serious.” Now that they were closer to the
source of the bio-signs, Moira was a lot more sure about the accuracy of her
readings.
Lieutenant
Alvarez didn’t bother looking over his shoulder when he addressed the Valkyrie’s
Ops Officer – his attention was focused too much on what lay before them.
“So what’s ahead? More tunnel?”
“No,”
Moira answered. "About 40 meters ahead is a large chamber and beyond that a
number of corridors and smaller rooms. Looks to me like a spaceship buried deep
underground. From the metals I’d say it's Klingon. Three Klingons and two
humans in the larger chamber and two Klingons inside the ship.”
So
the Klingon ship carrying Sabak’s armor on-board had probably crashed here.
“Options?” Dar Enikal asked.
Lieutenant
Alvarez laid down his rifle and drew his hand phaser. Holding it so Dar could
see what he was doing, he set the weapon on wide-angle heavy-stun.
Commander
Enikal allowed himself a small smile and nodded. He couldn’t imagine what it
had been like to be a security officer before stun weapons became available and
‘shoot the hostage’ turned into a feasible scenario.
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7