EPISODE 5 - The Wedge (Part 1)

[tomcat]

Run Silent, Run Deep
EPISODE 6 - The Wedge (Part 1)
Stardate: 8417.8 (.3 per hour)
Earth date: September 11th, 2085
Setting: U.S.S. Columbia, NCC-1830, Light Cruiser

Epilogue
The door hissed closed behind the Klingon delegation.

Once gone, the three Humans, two Andorians, and two Vulcans looked at one another. The regal-looking Vulcan at the table spoke first, "They are close. The talks are going well, don't you think?"

"There are still the differences regarding the Enterprise and Admiral Kirk. I wonder if that will be something that can be overcome?"

Listening to the others, the President of the United Federation of Planets stood, "That is the least of our problems. The Enterprise incident can be overlooked. The Klingons are a proud, warrior folk... certainly they must respect Kirk. The demand for his head is nothing more than bluster."

The President turned to the window and looked out over San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge - still elegant in its design those many centuries ago. It was a testament to the engineers of Earth. They built things that lasted... and so would he. "It is the other problem that concerns me most. Are the pieces in place Admiral Devereaux?"

The uniformed officer cleared his throat and spoke, "Yes sir. It took the ship a bit longer to get to the 'Wedge', but her captain has done well. I believe that they will be able to achieve their mission."

The Andorian spoke next, "It is an inexperienced crew that you have sent... and hardly a vessel of great capability. Can you be so optimistic?"

To this, one of the Vulcans raised an eyebrow, "Logical," he thought.

The president replied, "It is their inexperience that will allow this mission to happen. A more experienced crew may question their orders. If the captured information on that data disk is what our analysts have defined it to be, then the Klingons may be on the brink of war and they do not yet know it. The fractures in their government could leave it quite vulnerable to an attack and to being toppled. I do not want to see our relations return to what they were fifty years ago. Besides... it is the Columbia's inexperience that we can offer up as an excuse... in case they fail."

The human's trust in luck made the Vulcan council wonder, but it was too late - the pieces were in place, they must now play their part. The Presidential council members each nodded, one at first, then another, and then another, until all shared agreement.

"Give the order," the President commanded of Admiral Devereaux; his voice held little emotion.

[tomcat]

Stardate: 8417.8

Mr. Stonn watched as the starmap scrolled, centered as it was on the Columbia. Starboard of the ship's course was the neutral frontier with the Klingon Empire, to port was that of the Romulans. The Federation starship was currently navigating a course along the thin area of space that lay between the two called the wedge. They were still well within Federation territory, but at their current speed and course, they would come to the end of that wedge in less than five days.

There was some comfort from the fact that along both borders there were many Federation defense installations, and there was also a starbase (234) within the sector, but these positions were fixed and could only offer aid to those near at hand. The wedge was notorious for dangerous interactions with rogue ships, be they Klingon, Romulan, or some other captain with ill intentions. And so, the science officer remained ever vigilant in his duty of scanning the space before the ship.

The bridge of the Columbia was quiet, save for the electronic beeps and hums that went along with the many controls. The lights were low to signify the 6:00 PM hour. The senior staff were all still at their stations - Townshend sat writing on her PADD instructions for her relief; Pushkin monitored the ship's course; and Grahm checked over maintenance data of the ship's main torpedo tubes. Her captain sat within his Ready Room, just off the main bridge and the crew had not seen him in over an hour. Stonn assumed that he was still working on his reports that needed to be filed to Starfleet Command in regards to the recent incident with the Tau Hydraen princess.

The princess and her crew had been left at Starbase 157, in the custody of the Starfleet commander there, until the situation could be resolved... diplomatically. Captain Darkan's report would be the damning information that would make the diplomats job a little easier. The princess had tried to commandeer a Federation vessel. That was hard to excuse, whether Tau Hydrae was a part of the Federation or not.

The helm console beeped, "Mr. Stonn," said Pushkin in his heavy accent. "We are at the commencement point of our primary mission."

[GandalfOfBorg]

Darkan had gotten only a rough outline of the incident report he was to file to Starfleet Command when he could go no further.  No matter how many times he tried to progress with the tedious busy work over the last few days, the mission and his command had begun to wear on him.  With a frustrated groan, he punched his terminal off and laid his head down on the desk while looking wistfully on at the picture of Mia and remembering the smell of her hair and feel of her skin.  To his disgust, the recent memories of coercion by the alien pheromones and the near breaking of his will and commitment came flooding back, making his lonely heart hurt all the more.

Not quite despondant enough to do something rash or fall apart emotionally, Darkan though does reach into a compartment in his desk to pull out a bottle of liquor that he had found left by the previous captain.  Must have been some secret tradition he'd never heard of but now understood all too well.  He'd been nursing it ever since the Columbia left the starbase -- a little here, a little there -- not ever too much to affect him beyond the moment of weakness.  He makes a silent salute to "naval tradition," downs a mouthful, and puts it away for the next rainy day.

OOC: Whomever contacts the captain next will find him a bit groggy from a cat nap induced by the liquor and stress over his emotional baggage.

[tomcat]

Juan Ramos pushed the button on the last containment unit, flipping off his tricorder as he did. The probes all checked out - at least those that weren't defective upon their initial loading . His staff had had to strip down three of the adapted Mark-IV photon torpedoes, to bring two others to 100%, but they would have enough for their mission.

Their mission.

Ramos looked at his watch and did a few calculations in his head - departure time from Starbase 157; the speed that the Columbia had been maintaining the last few days - they should almost be to the commencement point.

He would have to get with Grahm - the tactical officer would be taking over these crates real soon. The thought pleased the engineer actually... it would free up room in his engineering holds.

On the bridge, Jess Townshend set down her PADD and took the comm unit from her ear. Another day. An ensign approached her; the young woman would be taking her senior officers place at the comm station for the evening.

Jess smiled as the ensign came to stand next to her, "Everything you need to know is on the PADD there. You have a good night."

Townshend stood and began to walk towards the turbolift, when behind her the comm panel began to beep. "Commander," she heard. Jess gave a silent curse as she turned back towards her station.

In his ready room, Darkan heard the communicator, "Captain Darkan, receiving flash traffic from Starfleet Command. It is encrypted top secret and it is for yours and Stonn's eyes only."

[GandalfOfBorg]

Darkan took a moment to respond, rubbing his eyes and letting out a yawn.  Punching the speaker button, he replied, "Acknowledged.  Route it to my ready room and have Mr. Stonn report to me.  Thank you, Darkan out."

Upon his XO's arrival, Darkan calls up the priority message from Starfleet Command.

[Fingolfin]

John Grahm ran his fingers through his thick blond hair. He was frustrated. His hand went next to rub along his face even as he let the PaDD go to clatter on the console. There was a slight delay in the port tube launcher opening. Of course that was automatically compensated for by the computers so there was no danger of blowing themselves up at the 'fire' command but it could impede a tactical torpedo spread and make it less effective. And where they were going it was a matter of necessity to have this operational.

He thought, his eyes flickering to the viewscreen. He'd looked over the schematics of that door. It seemed to be working fine when they did centralized tests of it. But maybe it wasn't the port? He keyed in a notation for the shift on duty now to check the command console. Maybe there was a problem there that delayed the command for those milliseconds. Bad circuit maybe? He hoped they would trace it. Engineering was already squabbling about the probes and he was squabbling back about the use of two of his torpedoes.

In the background he heard some general chatter, ship operations and the like. These are the kinds of missions he had often thought of - without viable backup, limited resources and having to make do with what one has to the best of one's ability. John would be stretched in this mission. That he felt assured of.

[tomcat]

OOC: I have kind of been waiting for Shawn to chime in here for Stonn before I posted the communique to Darkan, but I'll post it tomorrow. I'd do it tonight, but I just posted the new chapter of the LotR game and my brain creativity has been drained a bit.

Look for an update tomorrow (Monday)... goodnight.

Tomcat

[sdrotar]

OOC: I have kind of been waiting for Shawn to chime in here for Stonn before I posted the communique to Darkan, but I'll post it tomorrow. I'd do it tonight, but I just posted the new chapter of the LotR game and my brain creativity has been drained a bit.

Look for an update tomorrow (Monday)... goodnight.

Tomcat

OOC: Sorry...

Stonn headed to the Captain's room, curious about their next mission. He was satisfied that the recent down time had helped the Columbia and their crew recuperate from their recent voyages, and it gave the engineering team the opportunity to get the ship into excellent condition. The captain would have a ship and crew that were prepared for almost anything, and as First Officer, this was his primary concern.

***

Ramos felt better about things than he had in months. He and Grahm had been working on shifting materiel around, as is normal during ship replenishment at a starbase, and although the large man was concerned about "his" torpedoes, Ramos didn't worry much about it - he wasn't a provincial man. Things would work themselves out before they got under way, and that was all that concerned him.

[tomcat]

Stonn walked into the softly lit Ready Room seeing his captain sitting at his desk, his face aglow from the monitor before him. The first officer took a seat across from Darkan and the senior officer pushed a button.

The screen immediately became active and a female voice spoke, "Authentication code please."

Darkan replied, "Darkan Steven, Commanding officer U.S.S. Columbia, DS22032."

"Secondary authentication code, please," the computer answered, to which Stonn returned, "Stonn, First Officer U.S.S. Columbis, SV14557."

The two identifications confirmed by both number and voice imprint, the message began to scroll up the screen for the officers to read.

TO: Captain U.S.S. Columbia, Commander Steven Darkan
FROM: Admiral John Devereaux, Starfleet Command
SUBJECT: EYES ONLY

By presidential order, the U.S.S. Columbia is to immediately commence OPERATION SHARPEYE.

The details of said operation have already been discussed in full with the senior commanding officers of the U.S.S. Columbia and both have taken responsibility to act on said orders. A secure electronic data package has been sent with the following coordinates for the disbursal of the modified Mark-IV torpedoes. Once prepared, the computer will automatically transfer coordinates to the probes prior to launching. The data collected by each probe is to be gathered after their flight plan has returned them to the Columbia's location, barring unforseen circumstances. During this period, the U.S.S. Columbia is to go into blackout of all communications to ANY Starfleet or Federation facility, ship, or person.

Captain Darkan and Commander Stonn, you are given permission to act on the behalf of your ship in all things with the understanding that Starfleet Command takes no responsibility from this point forward, until the secure return of the probes and the Columbia to the Sol system.

Best,

Admiral Devereaux

With that, the screen went blank and at the tactical station, coordinates were written into the firing commands of the soon to be launched probes.

For the first time since the Romulan-Federation war, Starfleet Command would be intentionally, although deniably, violating the agreements of truce which were set long ago with the Romulans.

"At least my ship will," thought Darkan.

Darkan and Ston would need to meet now with their senior officers. They had all committed upon being chosen for this assignment - Darkan hoped that none would have a change of heart. The Columbia's actions could be deemed an act of war. Commander Darkan pondered that as he and Stonn rose - the final word of the transmission leaving the weight of the whole mission on their shoulders, with no one to call for help.

[GandalfOfBorg]

"If you don't need anything further from me, call up the senior officers to the conference room in 15 minutes... umm, make it 30 -- I need to freshen up a bit."  As the two stand, Darkan mutters playfully to himself, "I've always wanted to be a spy."

Darkan heads to his quarters to change and throw a bit of water on his face.  Looking in the mirror he sees a man in conflict, but puts on his "commander face" and heads to the upcoming briefing.

[tomcat]

With a twinge of a headache, but feeling much more refreshed, Darkan stepped out of the turbolift on Deck-2 and entered the briefing room. Sitting around the table was his senior staff, all of whom quieted down as the captain took his place. Lt. Townshend pressed a button on the auto-recorder bringing the meeting to a start.

Grahm smiled inwardly as he looked at the communications officer - things were starting to take shape. It had been a bit rough re-breaking the ice with Jess after the Tau Hydraen incident, the pheromone effect needing time to dispel. Soon after though, the couple had begun their daily handball matches and John finally got the nerve up to ask her to a movie. The rest was history, as they say, and Grahm smiled again at the envious looks that the small Russian helmsman had been giving him.

Tam sat quietly beside Ramos - the two had also formed a bonding friendship from the prior incident. They had been the only ship officers that had evaded the Princess's tactic and kept the Columbia from being commandeered. The two had a respect for one another, each highly capable technicians - one of the body and the other of the massive vessel around them.

Stonn chimed the bell that sat on the table bringing everyone's attention to their commanding officers.

[GandalfOfBorg]

Down to business, Darkan breaks the silence.  "Before the briefing begins, are there any issues you'd like to address?"  Once they've reported, if any, he looks to Stonn to lay out the mission once again for the senior staff.

[sdrotar]

"If you don't need anything further from me, call up the senior officers to the conference room in 15 minutes... umm, make it 30 -- I need to freshen up a bit."  As the two stand, Darkan mutters playfully to himself, "I've always wanted to be a spy."

Stonn had no such desire.

At the captain's request, he illuminated the viewscreen on the wall and stood in front of it to address the staff.

"This mission is top-secret and we will be disavowed by Starfleet in case of failure. Nothing about the details I am about to provide should be revealed to anyone on board without the express permission of Captain Darkan."

The assignment, to Stonn, did not not seem sensible; or at least the information they might retrieve seemed unlikely to be worth what they would risk for it. But he was an officer, and he knew that if he refused, someone else would simply take his place and the mission would commence anyway. Therefore, it seemed logical that the best course of action was to support the mission and help it to succeed despite it's risks and whatever he may think about the strategy behind taking them.

He laid out the plans in exacting detail, making certain that the rest of the staff understood the strict radio silence, the fact that Darkan's word was as good as Commander, Starfleet's on this mission - and that until they reached Earth, they were entirely on their own.

[Edrahil / Tam]

"Before the briefing begins, are there any issues you'd like to address?"

Tam looks up at the captain, "No sir, nothing new to report from sickbay."

Once Stonn starts his speech, Dr Tam just sits quietly observing... although the journey here has been rather interesting, with the parasite possessions and persuasive princesses, he wasn't really looking forward to the next leg of it too much. Afterall, when you're in enemy territory there's not a lot of medical study called for, so the only times sickbay is likely to be called upon is if we get found out and attacked...

[tomcat]

OOC: Let me start this post with a disclaimer for our diehard Trekkies...

I am not. I love the original series and three of the movies (Wrath of Khan to Voyage Home) and I enjoyed Enterprise a little, that's about it. I also love tactical starship battle games (i.e. Starfleet battles) The other generations of Star Trek were of no interest to me at all and I know nothing about their contributions to the history. I have been studying Ex Astria to sharpen my Trek lore, but I have always been leary of the 'pure' utopian concepts that Rodenberry sort of portrayed in his stories. I think that no matter how far we advance, greed and base animal instincts of man (and any other race that may harbor these same faults) will always keep a society from being perfect. There will always be a 'bad' guy even in the most idealic societies of Man that will try to take advantage of the system, others, etc. Thus there will always be the need for heroes, warships, etc.

Now that you know my knowledge of Trek lore; my mindset of how I envision what even an idealic future would be; now I can say that our story will probably fall out of Trek chronolgy because I don't know if anything like this ever happened in Trek between the Klingons and Romulans.

I hope that the diehard Trekkies that play in our game do not get bent by this break in canon and if so, I am sorry. I know I have made this disclaimer before, but I do not want to trash all over Trek lore. You guys know how I try to keep my LotR game true to Tolkien's spirit, so I do not want to abuse Rodenberry's.

'Nuff said...


For the first time since they departed the Sol system, the senior staff were given full disclosure of their mission.

When they had been selected, they had been questioned as to whether or not they could follow orders that may deviate from the letter of the law although they may have a moral weight that would supercede said law. All had agreed that they would see a moral issue through if it was just, even if it required plausible deniability from the government in which they served.

Stonn pushed a button and Admiral Devereaux's face appeared on the view panels in the center of the conference table. The officer began to speak...

"Good evening Steven, I want to bring you and your staff up to speed on your mission. You have reached the initiation point of Operation Sharpeye and the U.S.S. Columbia will, by your order, commence launching probes into both Klingon and Romulan space to gather data regarding an offensive build-up by the Romulans on the Klingon border.

You see, eighteen months ago, Starfleet came into possession of some critical information regarding an armament build-up along the Romulan/Klingon border. A merchant vessel that had been in the 'employ' of Starfleet passed very near a Romulan installation drydock, within Romulan space, in an area that we had no charted installation. The merchant's scans picked up that the installation was being hauled by tugs towards Klingon space. Unfortunately, the merchant vessel was only able to broadcast this basic information to our 'snooper' installations on our side of the Neutral Zone before the Romulans had destroyed it. And so, there is critical data that is unknown.

As you may all know, the Klingon Empire is in fractured situation right now and harbors on civil war. The Klingons and the Federation have slowly been building relations over the last decade and we foresee stronger relations as long as the empire doesn't fracture completely. What the Federation fears is that the Romulans are aware of our ongoing diplomacy and they are preparing a strike on the weakened Empire in the hopes of seating their own puppet government, or at least to create enough anarchy to breakdown any relations that we have built. It is presumed that the Romulans would never want to see an allied Federation-Klingon front.

That is where you and the Columbia come in. The probes launched by the Columbia will penetrate deep into both Romulan and Klingon space to determine what level of security the Klingons have prepared, and what kind of armament the Romulans may have possibly arrayed against them. Understand, that until this data returns to Earth, the Columbia as well as all of its personnel no longer exist. The Federation will not, can not recognize your activities nor support them either politically or martially.

We trust in your skills and may you be successful in this endeavour.

Admiral Devereaux out.

With that, the viewscreen went blank.