Deception - 20801.01
“Captain’s log, star date 98706.03. We’ve been patrolling along the neutral zone for several weeks now, and have yet to uncover any suspicious activity. I must say that frustration grows heavy on the lower decks of the Columbia, as it does among the senior officers as well. Our guest, Vulcan intelligence officer T’Rael, has been equally as tight lipped about our purpose out here over the past weeks, as he was when he first came aboard, back on Star Base One. He has assured me, however, when the time comes, I will be informed of what’s going on, but I’m left to wonder when that will be. Meanwhile, we’ve monitored several encounters on the other side of the neutral zone between Romulan warships and Orion pirates. It’s unclear which side maintains the advantage, but from what we’ve seen, Federation estimates of Orion pirate activity within Romulan space are vastly underestimated. That of course brings up the point that perhaps our mission is a mere boarder patrol, to gather intelligence. Of course, with the Federation long-range sensor arrays in place, the need for a single Intrepid-Class starship out here is unclear, at best. One thing is for certain, when Star Fleet Intelligence is at work, nothing is certain.”
As Captain Elisa Galena finished recording her log, she sat back in her chair, in the ship’s ready room. At forty years of age, this was her first voyage as commander of a starship, and perhaps it was her lack of time in the big chair that made her so uneasy. She ran her fingers through her long, brown hair as she sat in thought. With a sigh, she stood up, straightening her black and red uniform about her, and made for the door.
Commander Chet Halvorson was looking over the shoulder of the chief science officer, Lt. Alan Barbie, as the blue-shouldered science officer worked his console, on Columbia’s bridge.
“Any luck, yet?” the Commander asked.
Barbie shook his head, feeling the Commander’s eyes burning the back of his head. A young man, Barbie was used to being tucked away down in the science labs, not being on the bridge, where the prying eyes of his superiors were always over his shoulder. The young man, with his fair hair, and pale skin, was obviously annoyed, and any doubts as to that were alleviated by his tone of voice.
“Not yet, Commander.” he said. “As I said, you’ll be the first to know.”
Commander Halvorson huffed, as he stood from his crouch. A tall man of thirty seven, his hair was beginning to gray, most evident in the beard he kept well trimmed. Anger flashed in his blue eyes, but he let it go as quickly as it appeared. It was not Barbie’s fault he was such little prude, after all.
“Very well.” Halvorson said, “Keep me informed.”
Just then, the ready room doors parted, allowing their new Captain to enter the bridge. Captain Galena was not everyone’s first choice to serve under. Not that the woman was hard to get along with, but just the opposite. She tended to go along with the first suggestion given to her, and more than once it’d gotten her into trouble. After all, the best virtue of a good Captain is to get the best from his or her officers, which was rarely the first thing young officers came up with. No, experience told Halvorson that the easiest option was usually the first thing younger officers came out with, and the easiest course of action was rarely the best course of action. None the less, he respected the Captain, if only for the four brass pips on her collar.
“Captain Galena.” he said. “Glad you’re here. Lt. Barbie has some interesting readings on long-range sensors.”
Galena walked across the bridge, nodding to the tactical officer, standing at the weapons console, and came up beside her first officer. “What is it?”
Halvorson glanced at Barbie, “Lieutenant?”
“Unknown at this point.” Barbie said, shaking his head, as if tired of repeating his self. “Seems to be a high concentration of ionized particles in the asteroid field directly ahead. I’ve been trying to determine if the readings match Romulan ship emissions, but so far the computer has been unable to identify the signature.”
Halvorson pointed to Barbie’s screen. “Here, Captain.” he said. “You can see what appears to be a ion trail, similar to what a cloaked Romulan ship would produce, but it doesn’t correspond with any recorded Romulan emissions.” He followed the trail a short distance with his index finger. “You can see here that the trail dissipates, then a short distance later it picks up again, then expands into a large field.”
Captain Galena cocked her head to one side, allowing her brown hair to fall over her left shoulder, “Could it be a Romulan ship that’s been destroyed?”
“Possibly.” Barbie said. “The field is consistent with that, but the signature still doesn’t match anything we’ve recorded.”
“A new class of ship, then?” Halvorson offered.
“Only one way to find out.” the Captain said. “Where is this asteroid field?”
“Ahead, only two light years,” Barbie said. “Inside the neutral zone.”
Halvorson looked at his Captain with wondering eyes.
“Take us in.” she said. “If it’s a ship in trouble, we should offer aid.”
“And if it’s a Romulan military test?” Halvorson said.
Galena shook her head. “Then they’re in violation of the cease-fire agreement, and we have every right to investigate.”
Halvorson nodded, then turned to face the front of the bridge. “Helm, set course three-five-nine, mark two-one.”
“Aye, sir!” came the reply.
Halvorson turned back to face the Captain. “Captain, what does our…guest think about it?”
She shrugged her red clad shoulders. “I suppose I’ll have to ask, but let’s be clear, I command this ship.”
“Of course.” Halvorson said, quietly thinking the opposite, as had become apparent over the last week.
Galena tapped her commbadge. “Galena to T’Rael, please come to the bridge.”
After a short delay, the reply came back, in a stern, yet calm voice. “On my way.”
Galena then walked away, leaving Halvorson and Barbie at the science station. She stepped down onto the lower bridge level, and plopped down in the Captain’s chair. It wasn’t comfortable, but she’d grown to love it. It made her feel powerful, and respected, something she’d been longing for. She watched on the view screen as the asteroid field swung into view, as the helmsman adjusted their heading.
“Crossing into the neutral zone in three minutes, forty six seconds.” the female helmsman called out.
“Steady as she goes, Ensign.” Galena said. “Tactical, go to yellow alert, raise shields.”
“Aye, Captain!” replied Lt. Cmdr. Shrathe, the Andorian tactical officer. “Yellow alert initiated.”
The bridge lit up with yellow klaxons, announcing the yellow alert status.
“Nothing on sensors.” Shrathe called out.
After a few minutes of silence, the turbo lift doors swished open, and a dark skinned Vulcan emerged. T’Rael was a Vulcan in every sense of the word, statuesque, and solemn. He was dressed in a black uniform, with gray shoulders, and sported three rank pips on his collar. It was one of the few times a uniformed intelligence officer was seen on a starship, and T’Rael seemed to do his best to reinforce the crew’s stereotype of what an intelligence officer should be. He’d refused countless attempts at small talk by nearly the entire crew, and refused to speak to anyone, except Captain Galena, unless there was no way around it. The bridge crew all averted their eyes as he strode onto the bridge.
“Commander T’Rael.” Halvorson said, as he passed by. The Vulcan did not even glance at the first officer as he passed.
“Captain Galena,” T’Rael said, as he stepped down to where the Captain was seated. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yes, Commander.” she replied. “We’ve located an unexplained field of ionized particles, just inside the neutral zone. We’re moving to investigate. I thought you might take interest in it, although I’m still not sure as to what you might find interest…”
“Good.” T’Rael said, cutting off the Captain before she’d finished, earning him a stiff glance. “It’s right where I had expected you to find it.”
“What?” Halvorson said, breaking from the science station, and stepping down to where the Vulcan stood. “This is what you were after? And you made us search for weeks for nothing?”
T’Rael only offered a sideways glance.
“Easy, Chet.” Galena cut in. “Is this really what we’re supposed to be looking for, T’Rael?”
The Vulcan nodded. “I thought we may find this here, but I was uncertain, otherwise,” he said, looking at Halvorson, “I would have directed you here. How soon until we are close enough for a detailed scan?”
Galena huffed. “Barbie?”
Lt. Barbie keyed his console several times before speaking. “We weren’t able to detect it sooner because of the heavy metal deposits in these asteroids, they’re throwing our sensors off badly.” he said. “We’ll have to be right on top of it before we can get anything really definitive.”
“Helm,” said Halvorson. “How much longer?”
The helmsman ran some calculations. “At current speed, nineteen minutes.”
“Increase to full impulse.” T’Rael said, glancing at Captain Galena. “With your permission, of course, Captain.”
“Go ahead.” she responded, and then looked T’Rael in the eye. “I think you owe us an explanation. What is it, and why are we here?”
T’Rael nodded. “Your patience has been appreciated, Captain.” he said. “I believe you’ll find that the ionized particle trail matches that of a cloaked Romulan vessel, with some subtle differences. That’s because the ship the Romulan cloaking device was used on was not Romulan, it was Orion.”
“Orion?” Galena said. “The pirates have acquired cloaking technology?”
“Yes.” T’Rael said, bluntly. “The ion field is a sign I have been expecting, but was unsure of the location. This location was among my short list of possible locales, but to come directly here would’ve left vast regions of space unsearched, not to mention that I wanted our friends to sweat a little.”
“Friends?” asked Halvorson. “The Orions?”
“Precisely.” the Vulcan answered. “Now that we are here, I shall pass on our true mission.” He then looked at the Captain. “You will purchase the cloaking technology from the Orion captain. I am a Federation scientist, here to offer my professional opinion, and to aid in negotiations.”
Captain Galena was dumbfounded, as were the rest of the bridge crew. “I’m to purchase it? That’s outrageous!”
Halvorson spoke up. “The Federation has regulations we’re bound by.” he said. “Cloaking devices are illegal, why would we be sent to procure such a device?”
T’Rael shook his head. “You assume we are going to use it. I assure you, this mission was sanctioned at the highest level of Star Fleet command, everything we’ll soon be doing is known by the Federation government, at least the parts privy to such information.”
“Why the Columbia?” Captain Galena asked. “Wouldn’t a more modern ship, with higher battle capability be a better choice? And wouldn’t it make sense to send a diplomat for such a task?”
T’Rael raised an eyebrow. “Captain, you sell not only yourself, but your ship short. This ship was chosen for a specific purpose.”
“Which is?” Halvorson pressed.
“The Orions know the Federation position on cloaking technology.” T’Rael said. “It’s taken over a year of tough negotiation, by myself and several other high ranking intelligence officers, to convince them of the radical movement within Star Fleet.”
“Radical movement?” Galena wondered out loud. “You mean you made it up?”
“Precisely.” the Vulcan said. “It took a long time, but we’ve convinced this particular Orion Captain that this ship is part of a growing militant sect within Star Fleet, and that we wish to procure the cloaking device to use in the upcoming civil war we plan to start.”
Halvorson was shaking his head. “To what end? Why do we want the technology? They have to know that if we wanted to, we could create our own device.”
T’Rael nodded. “The Federation could, but we could not. We are only a small sect, after all.”
“But why?” Galena said. “The commander’s real question is why undertake this operation at all?”
“Because,” T’Rael said. “It’s sometimes necessary to deceive in order to secure peace. All you have to do is go along with whatever the Orion says. Agree to his
demands, they’ve already been negotiated. At this point, we are here to finalize the deal.”
Captain Galena rubbed her temples. She’d been expecting something out of the ordinary, but this was beyond even her wildest theories.
“Captain!” cried Shrathe, “Ship de-cloaking dead ahead! It’s Orion!”
“On screen.” Galena said, as she stood from her chair.
“Good.” T’Rael said, “They’re here.” Then, he stepped off to the side of the bridge, out of the line of sight of the viewer.
“We’re being hailed.” said the female Ensign at the helm.
Galena shot Halvorson a look. His return gaze told her he was not only infuriated, but at a loss for words. “On screen.” she said.
The viewer flashed to a shot of a large Orion male, on the bridge of his ship. He was flanked by two physically appealing Orion women, all three were smiling the deviant Orion grin.
“Captain Galena, I presume?” said the Orion Captain.
“You presume correctly” Galena responded. “I am Elisa Galena, of the USS Columbia, to whom am I speaking?”
“I am the one you were to meet, let’s leave it at that.” the Orion responded, as he shooed the two females away. “You are late, was our signal not clear enough?”
Galena didn’t know what to say. She found it hard to believe that T’Rael would leave her completely in the dark. “We took our time.” she finally came out with.
“I see. Well, shall we get down to business?” the Orion said. “Lower your shields, and I’ll beam you over.”
Halvorson shot Galena a stern look.
“I don’t think so.” she said. “How do I know you won’t attack us if we lower our shields?”
The Orion laughed. “Human females! I’ve always heard your kind are the most untrusting in the Federation. You have my word.”
“The word of a pirate?” Halvorson said, sensing his Captain was having trouble finding the words, “What good is that?”
The Orion’s face grew stern. “It is you who seeks that which I have, yet you dare insult me? If this is how your little group conducts negotiations, no wonder you are in need of a cloaking device!”
“What is left to negotiate?” Captain Galena asked. “I was told the negotiations were completed.” She eyed T’Rael nervously as she spoke, looking for some kind of sign from him, but getting none.
The Orion looked surprised. “Well, you are right.” he said. “But I see only one Federation ship here, where is the other?”
“The other?”
The Orion huffed. “Yes, where is the ship you will be returning on?”
Galena turned to face T’Rael, who only nodded, holding up a finger, as if telling her to wait. She nodded back to him.
“It’s on it’s way.” she said. “It’s waiting to see how things go here, first.”
“I see.” the Orion said. “I am anxious to see my new ship, and my new Captain.” he said, the deviant smile returning. “Why do I have the feeling your superiors didn’t tell you the details of our agreement?”
Galena looked shocked, but it was Halvorson who spoke up.
“You intend to take Columbia, and Captain Galena?”
“We were promised one Intrepid-Class starship, and one Federation Captain to assist us in operating it.” the Orion said. “Surely your superiors did not send all of you out here so unaware?”
“They must’ve known we wouldn’t like that deal very much.” Halvorson replied.
The Orion puffed himself up. “I hope you do not plan to back-out now. The deal is done, if you attempt to flee, you will be destroyed, and your superiors will be marked for death, as well.”
“Bold words.” Captain Galena said. “Don’t worry, we need only time to prepare. When the other ship arrives, the deal will go though. Until then, I’m afraid I must ask you to wait.”
“Very well.” the opposing Captain said, through clenched teeth. “But my patience grows thin!” With that, the channel was closed.
“What the hell are you doing?” Galena demanded of T’Rael, as she stormed across the bridge to where he was still standing. “Are you mad? Surely you cannot expect us to hand over our ship to them!”
“And our Captain!” added Halvorson.
“Patience.” T’Rael said, staring down into the Captain’s dark, and angry eyes. “All will be clear soon. Even now reinforcements are on their way, we need only stall them a little while.”
“Reinforcements?” Galena said. “I was not aware of any other Federation vessels in this sector.”
“Patience, good Captain.”
Halvorson now rushed to his Captain’s side. “Enough!” he yelled. “This is highly irregular! I’ve had my doubts about you from day one, but this has gone too far! There’s no way that Star Fleet would send us out here like this, with no idea of what is going on! I demand answers now, or you’ll find yourself in the brig!”
Galena could only listen to her first officer rant. She wanted too chastise him for the outburst, but she knew he was right. Something was amiss. “I concur, Mr. T’Rael.” she said. “It’s time for the whole story, now.”
T’Rael smiled, the first time anyone onboard had seen the Vulcan smile. “You will be told when it’s time, not before.” he said. “Don’t worry, Star Fleet Intelligence would not send you here to be killed, or abducted.”
“Not good enough!” Halvorson said, tapping his commbadge. “Security team to the bridge!”
“Captain?” T’Rael said. “You cannot allow him to do this. Are you Captain of this ship, or is he?”
Galena took a deep breath. In truth, she didn’t know what to do, but throwing the Vulcan in the brig didn’t seem very prudent. As Captain, she had to trust in her superiors, as her crew had to trust in her. “Stand down, Chet.” she said. “Let him be, for now.”
“Captain?” Halvorson pleaded. “You cannot let this stand! He’s lead us here into a trap! I doubt he’s even Star Fleet Intelligence, was there any confirmation from command after he came onboard?”
Galena hesitated. “It’s a black-ops mission, Commander.” she said. “There were no official orders.”
“What?” Halvorson said, obviously unable to believe what he’d heard. “This isn’t right, Captain! I must protest this course of action!”
“I agree.” said Lt. Cmdr. Shrathe, still at the weapons station. “This situation goes against every protocol in the book.”
Captain Galena spun around, looking out across the bridge. All the people were staring at her. She would be staring at her Captain too, she thought.
“Captain!” yelled Lt. Barbie all of a sudden, “Multiple ships de-cloaking!”
Halvorson ran back to his station, as Captain Galena ran back to the center chair.
“More Orions?” Galena asked.
“Negative!” responded Shrathe, “Romulan war birds! Four of them, two to port, two to starboard!”
“What?” Galena gasped, looking to T’Rael, who was smiling. “Where did they come from?”
“They’re charging weapons!” Barbie reported, “They’re targeting the Orions!”
“More Orion ships!” yelled Shrathe, “Two more astern of the first!”
Galena watched as two Orion ships materialized behind the first, just as green disruptor beams shot past the Columbia, striking the first Orion vessel, which promptly tried evasive maneuvers, only to receive critical damage, it’s bow being blown completely away.
“Red alert!” Halvorson yelled. “Back us off!”
“Evasive maneuvers!” ordered Galena. “Get us clear!”
The battle raged, as the war birds streaked past Columbia, laying waste to the three Orion ships.
“Captain?” said Halvorson, “Do we fight?”
“Fight?” the Captain responded, running scenarios through her head. “Hold your fire!”
“Captain?” Halvorson pleased. “We can’t let the Orions be slaughtered! We’re still at war with the Romulans!”
Galena shook her head, “They haven’t fired on us! Hold your fire!”
“Aye, Captain.” responded Shrathe.
“We’re being hailed.” said the helmsman. “Audio only, it’s the Orions.”
“Let’s hear it.”
The channel was only static at first, then a lot of screaming, and muffled explosions could be heard. Finally, a female Orion voice came though. “You’ve betrayed us!” the woman screamed. “Damn you Federation! You’ve killed us all! I hope you’re…” The channel went dead, as the last Orion ship exploded, it’s debris joining the debris from other two.
“Captain!” screamed Halvorson.
Galena looked to see him lunging for her, only to be shot in mid stride by an orange phaser blast. His body crumpled to the deck at her feet.
“No body move, or the Captain dies!” shouted T’Rael, who’d moved from his corner, a phaser in hand, which he now pointed at the Captain.
“Stay calm.” she told her crew, all of whom were standing, and ready to rush the phaser-wielding Vulcan. “T’Rael,” she said. “What have you done?”
T’Rael smiled, a cocky grin. “I told you reinforcements were coming.” he said.
“Now, I must ask you to lower your shields. Now!”
Captain Galena was terrified, she knew that Shrathe wouldn’t lower the shields, and she knew T’Rael would shoot her if he didn’t. She didn’t want to die, but she couldn’t just let the Romulans take her ship either.
“Computer.” she said, “Initiate self-destruct sequence alpha, authorization Galena, one-three-nine-four-seven-six-gamma.”
The computer beeped. “Self-destruct sequence alpha initiated, self-destruct in four minutes.”
“Fool!” screamed T’Rael, holding the phaser on the Captain. “What have you done?”
“Shoot me if you must,” she said, tears welling in her eyes, “With Halvorson dead, I’m the only one who can stop this ship from exploding. You won’t have her!”
“Lower the damn shields!” T’Rael screamed.
“Incoming!” yelled Barbie, the only officer still at his station.
The ship was rocked violently, as the Romulan disruptors found their marks. The bridge lights flickered, and panels exploded, as volley after volley hit home from the four Romulan ships.
“We’re loosing shields!” Shrathe said, when he finally made his way through the smoke and sparks to his station. “Weapons are offline!”
Galena looked at T’Rael. “Why?” she asked.
He was about to respond when the ship took a direct hit, knocking him off his feet, sending him sprawling on the deck. Captain Galena and Shrathe both rushed forward, Galena grabbing the phaser from his hand, while the Andorian held him down.
Galena pointed the phaser at T’Rael’s head, looking to the helm. “Get us out of here!”
“Trying!” the helmsman responded. “Impulse engines off line!”
There was a green light to Galena’s left. She turned to see T’Rael dematerialize into a green matter stream, right out from under Shrathe.
“He’s gone!” said Shrathe.
“Captain,” said the helmsman. “We’re being hailed.”
“On screen.” Galena responded, walking back down in front of the viewer, phaser in her hand.
A Romulan appeared on the screen, dressed in Romulan military uniform, his black hair hanging about his forehead.
“I’d hoped to retrieve T’Rael without damaging your ship.” said the Romulan. “You should have lowered your shields.”
Galena shook the phaser at him. “You won’t have this ship! Come and try it if you must.”
The Romulan laughed. “I don’t want you puny ship.” he said. “I only wish to thank you. If not for our un-witting allies, you or course, we would never have found that thieving pirate.”
Galena dropped the phaser.
“If you hadn’t feigned the purchase the stolen cloaking device, someone else would’ve. We knew he couldn’t turn down a Federation starship, it was too easy, really.”
“T’Rael was a Romulan?”
“T’Rael is a Vulcan.” the Romulan commander said. “A double agent, in fact. He has saved many lives this day, with your help, of course. May this be the first of many times our two people can work together, for the common good.”
Galena looked down at Halvorson’s body. “Common good? You mean good as you would define it…”
“Lives have been saved here!” the Romulan said. “I am sorry for your loss, but these pirates would have caused much more death should they have been allowed to sell their ill-gotten cloak.”
“There’s more than one pirate captain out there.” Galena said.
“And there’s one less now.” the Romulan countered. “We are now withdrawing from the neutral zone, and I suggest you do the same, Captain. And again, thank you. I trust this incident will not cause more hostilities between our people?”
Galena shook her head. “That’s not up to us, is it?”
“I’m afraid you’re right. Just know that the Empire will do whatever it takes to prevent the pirates from using our technology to wage war against us, and our allies. If some…feathers must be ruffled, then so be it. Out security, as well as yours, is at stake. Good bye, Captain.” The screen flashed back to a shot of space, the debris of the destroyed Orion vessels drifting among the asteroids, as the Romulan ships vanished.
Captain Galena looked around her shattered bridge. A team from sickbay had arrived to attend to Commander Halvorson, and engineers were arriving to begin repairs of the shattered consoles. The Captain plopped down in her chair, wiping tears from her face. “Computer,” she said, “Abort self-destruct sequence…”
“Captain’s log, supplemental. We’re limping back into Federation space on impulse power. The Columbia took heavy damage, but thankfully, we suffered few casualties. Commander Halvorson, my first officer, was the only fatality. What’s transpired here will take weeks to sort out. I’ve been in contact with command, and they assure me a full investigation will be launched to find out how T’Rael managed to infiltrate Star Fleet Intelligence. The breach in security may never be fully realized. I’m forced to imagine that all this will be neatly buried in the history books, and that a good officer may have died for nothing. I can never fully let go of the guilt I feel over his death. If I had only listened to him earlier, T’Rael wouldn’t have been able to kill him. Also, I was prepared to kill my entire crew in order to keep the Romulans from taking Columbia. Again, the guilt is overwhelming. Is an aging ship really worth the lives of over two hundred good people? I don’t think I can ever answer that. My first command has been a rocky one, and I hope never to face a situation like this again. If I do, I don’t think I can handle it, so I intend to resign my commission when we make it back to star base one. Someone like Commander Halvorson should be in command, not me. End log.
This story was the 2nd Place winner of the 20801.01 Short Story Contest.
