Episode 1x02

 

Uncommon Cold (II)

 

Chapter One

 

‘Commander, the Eradicator is firing at the sea,’ Young yelled from the Osiris’ tactical console.

‘Ensign, get us in the air,’ Wright said as he sat back in the central seat. He had been at the rear science console watching the events unfold at the prison.

Wright held on as Larson bypassed several safety protocols, which in other circumstances would have earned him a court martial for endangering lives, and retracted the landing struts while the ship was still on the ground. He engaged the impulse engines as the Osiris plummeted a few feet and spun the ship a hundred and eighty degrees, then flew straight toward the Jumani cruiser at a speed not recommended while on a planet.

‘Young, as soon as we’re within range fire a torpedo at the Eradicator’s power systems.’

‘Aye sir,’ the young tactical officer replied and loaded the torpedo tube.

The Osiris sped across the planet’s surface and soon came across the Eradicator as it dived through the atmosphere toward the Mauna Loa that was at this very moment emerging from the sea, with its shields at maximum.

‘Approaching maximum range,’ Larson said.

‘Fire,’ Wright yelled.

A single quantum torpedo whistled through the air and slammed into the side of the Eradicator, knocking it out of the way of its attack trajectory.

‘Good shot,’ Wright congratulated Young and then turned his attention to the viewscreen where the sea was now clearly visible. ‘What the hell—?’

The Flyer emerged from the water and flew toward the Osiris but nothing followed it.

Larson asked what was on everybody’s lips. ‘Where’s the Winceby?’

‘Wright to Mauna Loa.’

‘Lieutenant Chen here, sir.’

‘Lieutenant, where’s the Captain?’

He heard Chen take a deep breath. ‘Captain Astor and the others were on the Winceby when it slid down to the seabed. They finally got it toward the surface and then the Eradicator fired on them.’

Wright’s anger was bubbling toward the surface. ‘What happened?’ he asked through clenched teeth.

‘The ship slid back to the bottom and I lost contact with them. I couldn’t even detect their lifesigns anymore.’

Wright sighed in helplessness. ‘You got out of there. Which means that we have a second chance to get them out of there.’

His anger was now solely directed at Captain Tyar and the Eradicator.

‘The Eradicator is coming around for another assault,’ Young said from tactical.

‘I don’t suppose he’ll let us fire at his engines again,’ Wright thought aloud.

‘Probably not, sir,’ Larson replied.

‘Sir, they’re firing,’ Young yelled.

A volley of torpedoes slammed into the Osiris’ shields.

‘Hull breach on deck twenty-three,’ Talen’s beta-shift replacement at Operations, Ensign Bartok, said. ‘Emergency bulkheads are holding.’

‘Return fire,’ Wright ordered.

Young fired phasers and torpedoes at the Jumani warship and watched as the Eradicator took hit after hit but still kept coming.

‘His shields are holding,’ she said.

‘How can that be?’ Wright asked. ‘Last time we hit him with less than that and his engines nearly blew.’

‘His repairs were obviously quite extensive in such a short time,’ Young answered with an almost-Vulcan detachment. ‘He’s coming back.’

‘Lieutenant, keep firing.’

‘Aye sir,’ Young replied.

‘Wright to Mauna Loa.’

‘Go ahead, sir.’

‘I want you to go and help Gonzales against that other warship. We’ll take care of the Eradicator. And don’t worry about the Captain, she’ll be okay.’

‘Aye sir,’ Chen replied and manoeuvred the Flyer to head in the direction of the prison.

She didn’t really believe that Astor would be okay, not with Xeris and Talen at each others’ throats. Snowcroft was a good pilot, her hobby was antique spacecraft, but she was still too young an officer to appreciate what power plays between senior officers could do to a fledgling career.

 

The Constitution-class USS Winceby had raised a cloud of dust when it hit the bottom. The Eradicator’s second blast ripped through the hull of the starship and she went sliding toward the seabed again, her forward hull irrevocably damaged. There would now be no way to fly the ship home under its own power. Creative manoeuvring by Snowcroft working the ventral thrusters, now working properly, put the Winceby back on the ridge again but they were now in trouble.

‘Is everyone okay?’ Astor asked as she pulled herself up.

‘Yes, sir,’ Snowcroft answered from the helm control.

‘Talen, Xeris?’ she called over the comlink.

‘We’re fine,’ Xeris replied. ‘The impulse engines are okay but I’m not sure about the warp engines.’

‘Thank you, Commander,’ Astor said. ‘Can we get out of here now?’

‘The forward hull has been compromised in three places. I’ve no idea if she’s even spaceworthy now,’ Talen added.

‘Well, we still need to get out of here.’

‘We’re on the ridge and all the thrusters are now working at better than eighty percent of maximum,’ Xeris told her.

The information on his engineering screens all showed green, even considering the fact that the entire ship was submerged in an inland sea with very murky water. They had all been having trouble seeing but main power, such as it was, had been restored to nearly maximum levels so there was plenty of light for them to see what was going on inside the ship.

‘I’ve got full power,’ Snowcroft said from the helm.

‘Then by all that’s holy, get us out of here,’ Talen screeched from engineering, deafening everybody.

‘Engaging thrusters,’ Snowcroft intoned as she used the antique craft’s manual controls.

The Winceby shuddered, more from the hull breaches than the thrusters, but it finally started rising to the surface and Astor hoped that this would be the last time. She was hungry, had been in the environment suit for hours and was itching to relieve herself. Snowcroft looked uncomfortable too and she was sure that Xeris and Talen would be. She was the captain and had to be strong. Using all her energy reserves she moved to sit in the captain’s chair of the antique starship. Snowcroft, still holding the ship on an ascent course, smiled briefly. Astor didn’t see it and Snowcroft was glad of that as she saw the murkiness recede and daylight start to filter through.

‘We’re approaching the surface,’ Snowcroft said.

‘Astor to Osiris?’

There was no response.

‘Sir, the Eradicator is still there.’

‘Xeris, have we got weapons?’

From engineering she heard a curse, that sounded Romulan. ‘I’m working on it, but the phaser banks took a big hit from that Jumani warship.’

‘I have a feeling you might want to hurry.’

‘Give me sixty seconds,’ Xeris replied.

‘What sort of evasive manoeuvres can we do with this ship?’

‘Minimal ones,’ Snowcroft answered facetiously.

‘Ensign, this is serious,’ Astor retorted, all humour gone from her tone. ‘What can we do with this ship to give Commander Xeris a chance to get the weapons online?’

‘The best I can do with the thrusters, as the impulse engines are now offline, is manoeuvre away from the shots, but that’s about it. We’ve got no shields and the hull has been hopelessly compromised.’

‘Thank you, Ensign, that’s all I needed to know.’

Snowcroft nodded her head just as the Winceby broke through the surface of the inland sea. The sunlight was waning but the fact that Astor could see it was enough. They were lucky not to be stuck on the seabed.

 

‘Commander, need some help,’ Lieutenant Chen said from the Mauna Loa.

‘The warship,’ Gonzales replied and abruptly cut the comm. ‘Thanks.’

‘No problem,’ Chen replied to herself.

She saw the single warship fire what looked like everything it had at the two runabouts and the cargo ship. The Flyer loosed a few microtorpedoes at the warship’s engines and then used the phasers on the weapons ports. The Monongahela joined the Mauna Loa in a combined attack on the weaker of the two warships as the Kanawha quickly approached.

*          *          *

‘Weapons are online,’ Jenson yelled from the cargo ship’s armoury.

McNamara hit the trigger and the ageing hulk of the cargo ship fired plasma charges at the approaching warship.

‘Shields?’ Reich asked as the Rustbucket shuddered.

He heard the boom of an explosive decompression.

‘One more minute,’ Jenson replied.

‘Reich to Gonzales.’

‘Go ahead, Lieutenant.’

‘We’re on our way.’

With the two runabouts, the Flyer and the cargo ship, the Jumani warship decided against continuing to fight and turned tail. ‘Don’t let him get away,’ Gonzales ordered to no one in particular. ‘He’ll be back with reinforcements.’

All four crafts fired shots at the retreating warship and each pilot watched the shields flicker out of existence. The warship exploded in a blinding flash of light and the three Starfleet auxiliary craft scrambled to avoid the debris. The cargo ship was too big to move that quickly and it was hit by several pieces. Reich watched what had been a rather large section of hull twist and cavort toward him and tried in vain to manoeuvre out of the way. He winced and cringed as it hit but looked up to see a smile on McNamara’s face.

‘Jenson got the shields up just in time.’

Reich grinned and then chuckled out loud.

‘Jenson!’

‘Sir?’

‘You saved our butts with those shields.’

‘Don’t ask for any more miracles, sir. I think I’ve used up the day’s quota,’ the security officer said.

‘I wouldn’t dare,’ Reich replied and then opened the comlink to Gonzales. ‘All in one piece, Commander. Can we go now?’

‘We have to rendezvous with the Osiris and it looks like they’re having a little trouble with the Eradicator,’ Gonzales told him.

‘Are my crew safe?’ Cavendish asked.

‘Safe and sound, helped us too. You’ve got a fine crew, Captain.’

On the Kanawha, Cavendish smiled. ‘They’re Starfleet,’ he said cryptically.

Reich laughed and an open comlink between all ships meant that everybody else was too. At least until they saw the Osiris and the Winceby.

‘My ship!’ Cavendish screeched.

‘Kanawha to Osiris.’

‘Gonzales,’ Wright yelled. ‘Don’t talk, just fire.’

Gonzales’ eyes narrowed to slits. ‘All ships, fire,’ she said quietly.

The Eradicator was pounded by microtorpedoes, phaser fire and plasma charges. It shuddered under the strain and the shields, like they had on the last warship, flickered and failed.

‘Cease fire,’ Wright ordered. ‘Captain Tyar, leave now or I will destroy you. You’ve lost one warship today and another is unsalvageable. Isn’t that enough damage?’

‘You will regret this, Starfleet,’ Tyar said and the Eradicator pulled up sharply and headed out of the atmosphere.

Gonzales watched him go. ‘Commander, permission to dock?’

‘Granted, all vessels.’

 

The Osiris returned to the ground and the landing struts made a deep thunk as they made contact. Gonzales was back at tactical and making sure that the Jumani weren’t coming back. Wright was in the captain’s chair, watching the Winceby on the viewscreen. It wasn’t designed for atmospheric flight and Snowcroft was having a hard time keeping her in the air as thousands of gallons of water gushed out from the numerous hull breaches. The bridge and first six decks were clear of water and sea creatures, leaving another seventeen to clear. It was going to take a while.

‘Ensign,’ Astor said. ‘You’ve done enough. Get back to the Osiris and I’ll hold her steady while she drains.’

‘You go, sir. I’m staying until its done.’

‘Sir,’ Talen appeared, he’d climbed up the turboshaft again.

‘Lieutenant, take over from Ensign Snowcroft,’ Astor said in a tone that nobody would argue with. It was her captain’s voice and it was back to full parade-ground volume.

‘Aye sir,’ the Operations officer said.

Snowcroft looked up at Astor sheepishly and then smiled when the captain did the same.

‘Where’s Xeris?’

‘Here,’ the engineer said, climbing onto the bridge.

‘Astor to Wright, three to beam up.’

Talen glanced back as all three suited figures dematerialised in pillars of white light. He was alone on a century-old starship. But at least the temperature was cold enough for him to enjoy. He watched the readouts on his screen. Deck eleven was now clear, almost half the ship. In another twenty minutes the ship should be clear enough to take into orbit, provided the hull didn’t buckle any further.

Astor wasted no time. After stepping off the transporter platform, disposing of her environment suit and changing into a fresh uniform, she went straight to sickbay where Solian Brex, with the aid of his entire medical staff and the Emergency Medical Hologram (Mark III), was attending to the crew of the Winceby. Captain Eric Cavendish was sitting on a biobed as Brex waved a medical tricorder across his body.

‘Captain Cavendish?’ Astor asked as she approached.

Cavendish looked up. ‘Captain Astor?’

Astor nodded.

‘I must thank you for saving my crew.’

‘I’m afraid you’re in better condition than your ship.’

‘How bad is she?’

‘Hull breaches on most decks, severe damage to the infrastructure. Warp and impulse engines are surprisingly intact.’

‘So she’s not too bad, after all,’ Cavendish replied.

‘Apart from the fact that her class was retired seventy years ago.’

Cavendish nodded, realising he was out of his time period. ‘Doctor, you’ve been waving that thing at me for nearly ten minutes. Have you found anything wrong with me?’

‘That’s just it, I haven’t,’ Brex answered. ‘You’re in fantastic shape. Apart from a little dehydration.’

‘Doc?’ Astor asked.

‘Clean them up and get them out,’ Brex said with a grin.

‘We haven’t got enough quarters, you’ll have to double up,’ Astor told Cavendish.

‘That’s not a problem, Captain. We’ve been together for a long time. A little longer won’t make much difference, unless our ship is ready.’

‘Sorry, no. We’ll have to leave her here for now.’

‘As you wish,’ Cavendish demurred.

Before Astor could say more, her combadge chirped.

‘Go ahead, Commander.’

‘Sir, we’re receiving a priority one distress call from the Jumani homeworld. A priority alert to anyone in the area. They’re under attack.’

Astor looked at Brex and Cavendish. ‘You’ll have to remain with us for a little while. Red alert; all hands to battle stations.’

 

 

Chapter Two

 

Captain’s Log, stardate 58164.1:

Captain Cavendish and the crew of the USS Winceby are guests aboard the Osiris for the time being but the ship is to remain on Abanaki XV for now as the Osiris is responding to an urgent distress call from the Jumani homeworld. From what we have been able to gather, a single alien craft – unknown at this point – fired a number of weapons into the atmosphere of Jumani Prime. We don’t know what damage this has caused but the Jumani are private people. For them to ask for help from anybody means that it is a grave situation indeed. I only hope that we can help them, and maybe it will lead to the end of the war that they have been fighting with the Abanaki. But that is a secondary consideration. Our primary goal will be to help them stave off whatever disaster they have been beset by.

 

For most of the two hours that it took to get to the Jumani system, Captain Elizabeth Astor sat in her quarters going over the information in the LCARS database about the Jumani and to be quite honest there wasn’t that much. She was thinking that Captain Stapleton of the Malvinas did the most cursory of inspections when he made his foray into the sector about eight years ago and the fact of the matter was that what was happening now might not have been if Stapleton had done his job properly. He had been killed in the war, as had so many others, so she decided not to think ill of the dead. She was trying to think of what she might be able to do to help when the door chimed. She turned off the LCARS access and moved to face the door.

‘Enter.’

The doors slid open to reveal Lieutenant Commander Xeris, her Romulan chief engineer, in a fresh uniform.

‘Captain, I wish to discuss a private matter with you,’ he said stoically, making him seem more Vulcan.

Astor raised her eyebrows. From what she knew of the only Romulan in Starfleet he was a very private man and told no one anything of his past.

‘Is it important?’ she asked, slightly impatient.

‘I believe so,’ Xeris answered, taken aback by the captain’s tone.

‘Well?’

‘I have information regarding the Jumani Militia.’

Astor looked at him as if he’d sprouted wings. ‘What kind of information?’

Xeris looked uncomfortable and shifted positions.

‘Commander?’ Astor asked again, raising her voice.

‘Someone in Starfleet Command knew about the Winceby,’ he said matter-of-factly.

‘And he did nothing about it?’ Astor asked, wondering who it could have been.

‘He kept an eye on the situation.’

Astor nearly exploded. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’

Xeris realised that he was going to have to tell her everything if she was going to believe him, and he needed her to. ‘I was part of…Section 31,’ He finally admitted.

Astor nodded her head in comprehension as part of the truth dawned. ‘I suppose I should understand that, you being the only Romulan in Starfleet.’

He ignored that jibe, had heard it before, numerous times. ‘As you know, Section 31 went underground after the fiasco with the Founder disease and many operatives were released from the section, including me. I knew about the Winceby and the Jumani-Abanaki war. They wanted to see if either race came up with a new weapon which they then planned to use against the Dominion.’

‘And then?’

‘Nothing, it was a low priority.’

‘When the war ended?’

‘Section 31 left them alone, thought that as they hadn’t come up with anything the war had probably ended.’

‘Why are you telling me this, Commander? If you’ve been released then there’s no need for me to know.’

‘My loyalty lies with you now, Captain. Not with Section 31 anymore, and we’re heading into…another dangerous situation. It could be related.’

‘In that case, you should have told me a lot earlier. Is that why you were assigned to this ship, on this mission?’

‘No ma’am. I was assigned to the Osiris because of the SCE background. Admiral Kelley thought that as the ship would be in a sector where no help would be available then you should have an engineer capable of jury-rigging anything. He fell short of assigning a full SCE detail.’

Astor smiled grimly at her uncle’s manoeuvring. ‘How can I know that you won’t switch sides again?’

Xeris looked at her and raised an eyebrow. ‘You don’t,’ he said honestly. ‘I guess you’ll just have trust me.’

Astor lowered her head and sighed. ‘I used to have trouble trusting Romulans, especially knowing their history with Earth and Starfleet. Then they joined the alliance, yes they were still two-faced, but they dis help us to defeat the Dominion. Okay, Commander. You’ve told me. I’m not going to put this in any official record, not even in my personal log. But I want to know now if you know anything else about the Jumani or the Abanaki, and I want to know now.’

Xeris shook his head. ‘I only know what I’ve told you. But I can tell you that the Jumani Militia will not listen to reason, I know that for sure.’

‘How can you be so sure about that, Commander?’

‘Section 31 engineered the coup that toppled the legitimate government. They killed the Jumani Premier and allowed the Supreme Commander of the Militia take power, and then control the Jumani however he wanted. The Militia double-crossed them and did their own thing. Section 31 was trying to figure out a way to fix the problem when the disease for the Founders was created and this sector was then forgotten about.’

Astor nodded and tried to digest the information. ‘Dismissed.’

Xeris strode from the room and walked to the turbolift a broken man. He had hoped that telling Astor about Section 31’s actions would make her change her mind about helping them. They should be allowed to get on with their lives without interference from the Alpha Quadrant’s do-gooders, but here he was, working for the do-gooders and trying to change the system from the inside. Astor stood at the window of her ready room watching the stars streak past at speeds that once boggled the minds and sometimes still do. She was wondering just what she could do to convince the Jumani Militia to end their war.

But there was also the distress call that they had received and she had to decide whether it was an ambush or not. Astor watched the stars and thought long and hard about the Jumani-Abanaki war, Xeris’ information about Section 31, and whether or not that information would be helpful to the Supreme Commander of the Militia in ending the war. Before she could make up her mind on any issue, however, her combadge alerted her to more immediate problems.

‘Captain to the bridge,’ Wright said suddenly and she detected an urgency in his tone. The doors opened to the bridge and Wright was sitting in the captain’s chair, staring at something on her screen.

‘What is it?’

‘We’ve got the complete distress call from Jumani Prime.’

‘Play it again.’

 

“This is the Supreme Commander of the Jumani Militia to any ship in range. We have been attacked by an unknown vessel. They released some kind of biological agent into our atmosphere and the entire population is infected. We request assistance…This is the Supreme Commander of the Jumani Militia to any ship—”

 

‘It keeps repeating,’ Gonzales told her. ‘The message is at least three hours old.’

‘It took us two hours to get here.’ Astor said but wasted no time in deciding on a course of action.

‘Contact the Supreme Commander. Federation Starship Osiris responding. Ensign, put us in a high orbit.’

‘Aye sir.’

‘Are we getting a signal from the planet?’

‘No sir,’ Gonzales answered. ‘But I’m picking up a massive subspace distortion, it looks like every vessel the Jumani have is converging on the origin of that message, at their homeworld.’

Astor was looking in her direction and gulped. ‘Scan for every ship in the immediate area. I want to know who did this.’

‘Aye sir,’ the tactical officer replied and set about distinguishing between all the warp signatures that she was getting.

‘We’re in a high orbit, Captain,’ Larson told her.

The Osiris was greeted by a horrific sight. More than thirty vessels dropped out of warp seconds after they did and were firing at any ship that left the surface. Astor watched, helpless, as six small pleasure craft were vaporised by the Militia cruisers and warships.

‘Open a channel to the lead ship.’

‘This is Captain Ulit of the Annihilator,’ came the response. ‘This is internal problem, you are advised to withdraw.’

‘I am Captain Astor of the Federation starship Osiris. We’re responding to the distress call.’

Ulit looked lost for a second but then hung his head and admitted the truth. ‘We have no way to combat biological agents, not on this magnitude.’

‘We do,’ Astor replied quickly without hesitation, without thinking about the ramifications. ‘I can assemble a team to try to find a cure.’

Ulit looked at her. ‘Go ahead. I will contact the Supreme Commander.’

Astor watched Ulit’s face before the screen faded back to the orbiting ships. She waited no more than a second before organising her people. ‘Astor to sickbay.’

‘Brex here, Captain,’ the doctor replied and sounded a little harried, he had probably only just finished treating the Winceby crew.

‘Assemble your best people. We’ve got a planetary case of biological warfare to deal with.’

Brex sounded surprised when he answered. ‘A planetary case?’

‘Yes, Doctor, I don’t know how many people yet, but the Supreme Commander tells me that the entire population is infected.’

 ‘Aye sir, permission to take the Mauna Loa.’

‘Granted, you’ll wear full biohazard gear.’

‘Yes sir.’

‘Have you got any qualified pilots on your medical staff?’

‘Yes sir, three.’

‘Take at least one with you. You can have all the resources in the sector at your disposal.’

‘I’ll be ready in ten minutes, Captain.’

The Bolian tapped his combadge again to close the link and then turned to his staff. He gestured for them all to follow him into the relatively small, and rarely used, situation room. Because of the size of the Osiris the medical staff consisted of five doctors and about twenty nurses, all of which would be involved in finding a cure.

‘Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram.’

‘What is the matter, Doctor?’

‘Ladies, gentlemen and hologram, we have a serious situation brewing on the surface of Jumani Prime. An alien race has seeded the atmosphere with a biological agent that has infected the entire population of the planet.’

Derek Stryker, a junior grade Lieutenant and doctor, asked the most important question. ‘Was it genetically engineered?’

‘Considering the scale of the attack, I would say yes,’ Brex answered. ‘We are to wear full biohazard gear while on the surface and we’ll take whatever we can down to the surface to aid in our search for the cure.’

‘What if we can’t find one?’ asked the pessimistic doctor, Lieutenant Eugene Carson.

‘Then a planetful of people die, and I’m not willing to accede defeat before we’ve even begun,’ Brex answered.

‘Where do we start?’ asked the head nurse, Janice Gold.

Brex smiled. ‘Gather everything useful in combating plagues that can be taken down to the surface and prep the Mauna Loa, both Runabouts too. We may need them as triage centres.’

‘Yes sir,’ the doctors and nurses echoed each other.

‘Dismissed.’

 

Astor slumped down in her chair and watched the scene unfold below. The Jumani Militia ships, all forty of them, were taking up positions around the planet as a cordon to prevent anything entering or leaving the atmosphere. Ulit’s warship, the Annihilator, was acting as a control centre in high orbit. She watched her bridge officers as they moved to individual tasks. Most had nothing to do as this was almost completely a medical matter, all she would have to do is protect them on the surface.

‘Gonzales, send a security team with the doctors.’

‘Aye sir,’ the tactical officer replied and tapped her combadge. ‘Lieutenant Reich, pick a team and follow the doctors when they go to the surface, full biohazard gear. You may be pulled in to help them, do what they ask. I’ll be joining you shortly.’

‘Aye sir,’ Reich answered.

‘You’ll be joining them?’ Astor asked, turning to face her.

‘Yes sir,’ Gonzales replied. ‘If you want to do a job properly, and all that.’

‘Excellent,’ Astor replied and turned back to the viewscreen.

Brex, three of his two doctors and eleven of the twenty nurses made their way through the pristine corridors of the Osiris toward the main shuttlebay. The Heliopolis-class starship had three large shuttle bays. Shuttlebay one had the Flyer and Runabouts and Shuttlebay two had the three shuttlecraft. Shuttlebay three was dedicated to the use of any craft that the crew might build for specific uses, like the Delta Flyer was for Voyager. The shuttlebay doors opened and they walked in. Brex stopped as he saw Astor and Lieutenant Reich, with a full security detail.

‘Captain?’

Astor looked at the fifteen people ahead of her.

‘Because of the number of people with you, and those that will accompany you,’ she indicated the security people, ‘you will take the Mauna Loa and both runabouts.’

‘Captain,’ Brex replied. ‘What if something should happen to someone on board, they would be infected.’

‘That’s why three ships are going. You need to hurry, I’ve heard on the Jumani News Service that more than a thousand people have died, and more are in what they are calling the final stages.’

Brex looked at his staff. ‘Fast gestation period’

‘Definitely genetically engineered,’ Stryker agreed.

‘Where is the best place to land on the surface?’ Brex asked as he climbed aboard the Flyer with his equipment.

‘The central square in the capital city,’ Astor replied. ‘The coordinates have been downloaded to each craft.’

‘Thank you, Captain. Stryker, take the Kanawha. Beaujolais, take the Monongahela.’

‘Aye sir,’ both men replied and led their small contingent of medical personnel to their respective craft.

Astor returned to the bridge and sat in the chair just as Brex’s voice came over the comm.

‘Mauna Loa to bridge, request permission to depart.’

‘Kanawha to bridge, request permission to depart.’

‘Monongahela to bridge, request permission to depart.’

‘Bridge to all vessels, you are cleared for immediate departure. Godspeed,’ Wright answered, as the executive officer and Chief of Flight Operations.

‘Acknowledged,’ Brex replied.

Moments later the Flyer, piloted by Lieutenant Reich, flew from the shuttlebay and headed for the surface. A minute later the Kanawha emerged from the shuttlebay and a minute after that the Monongahela followed suit. Astor watched the three support craft make their way to the surface and then contacted Ulit on the Annihilator to ask a very important question.

‘What is the infection rate?’ she asked.

‘From the information that is coming in from the surface, the infection rate is one hundred percent,’ Ulit answered. ‘No one has been spared.’

‘Has it spread outward from the capital city?’

‘Yes, forty kilometres in every direction, so far. All aircraft have been grounded but mass panic is setting in. Your people could be in danger.’

‘My people can take care of themselves, we have had far too much experience in this area in our history and have learned to adapt to each situation.’

‘Your people are indeed capable of incredible feats, I’ve heard what you did in the Abanaki system, and I must say, that I’m glad we are not your enemies, Captain.’

‘We are enemies with no one unless they give us cause to.’

Ulit raised his eyebrows in surprise. ‘But you have just had a war?’

Astor sighed. ‘We tried diplomacy but the Dominion were run a race called the Founders, who believed that Solids—people who can have many forms—represented a threat to them and they intended to wipe us out. They believed that the galaxy was for them and no one else.’

Ulit nodded in comprehension. ‘There are many races in the universe like that, Captain. You were unfortunate to come across such a powerful one. Even in this sector there are one or two races like that, with luck you will not come across them.’

 

 

Chapter Three

 

The Mauna Loa set down in the central square of the unimaginatively-titled capital city, Jumani City. There were hundreds of people in and near the square lying against pillars or writhing on the ground in extreme pain. Others were being turned away from buildings that had a very familiar caduceus-like symbol denoting it as a hospital. Brex was already in his Biohazard Suit and the others on board the Flyer were getting into theirs. He watched as the two runabouts landed to the left and right, also in the central square.

‘This looks bad,’ Brex said over an active comlink between the vessels. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this, not even during the war.’

‘I’ll take air samples and beam them back to the ship for the EMH to take a look at,’ Doctor Stryker told his boss.

‘It looks like we’ll have our work cut out for us,’ Brex added. ‘Good work, Derek. Let me know the moment you’ve got anything.

‘Aye sir.’

‘Look at each person you find, hopefully in all stages of the disease. Take all the readings you can,’ Brex ordered. ‘I don’t want to go back to the ship until we have something to build an antiserum with.’

‘Aye sir,’ the team answered.

Brex stepped into the airlock and then opened the hatch once it had cycled through. The others followed and they were soon inundated by Jumani people wanting help in their last moments. They looked around and the true horror of the situation started to sink in. Everybody in the immediate area was coughing, spluttering, writhing and moaning. All were dying and Brex almost choked.

‘Everybody split up,’ Brex ordered. ‘I’m going to the Supreme Commander and his staff, but I will still be taking all the readings I can. Link up with the Mauna Loa and transfer all the data to the Osiris when you get it, the EMH can do the sifting.’

‘Sir, I’ll go to the hospital and see if the doctors have anything on this thing,’ Stryker added.

Brex sighed. ‘I don’t need to know where you’re all going. Just go. Meet back up in two hours or at least use your combadge to call in.’

He stalked off in the direction of the Headquarters of the Jumani Militia and left the others to organise themselves. He had barely gone a few steps when he heard hurried footsteps behind him.

‘Sir, you’re not to go anywhere without a security escort,’ Lieutenant Reich said as he caught up to the Bolian.

‘I’m a doctor, not a security risk,’ Brex spat back.

‘Captain’s orders.’

Brex sighed again. ‘Fine, just don’t get in the way. And if I want you to help, you will, got it?’

‘Yes sir,’ Reich answered. ‘I’ve been briefed on the situation.’

Brex nodded and continued his brisk stalk to the Jumani Militia Headquarters. Turning back, briefly, he could see that every doctor and nurse were covered by a security officer. The nurses were in pairs, as they usually worked on special projects, and a security officer covered them too. The large doors opened and a man with a strong bearing and wearing what was obviously a high-ranking military uniform stepped out. What surprised him most though was the fact that this man, the leader of his people, was not ill. He did not seem to have any of the effects of the plague that was sweeping his world. Reich stood in the background, with his weapon at his side. Trew took no notice of him.

‘Supreme Commander?’ Brex asked.

‘Are you from the Osiris?’ the man asked.

‘Yes sir.’

‘Good, then you can examine me. I am General Trew, the Supreme Commander of the Jumani Militia. Perhaps we should talk in private.’

‘I’m not here to talk, General. I am here to find a cure for the plague that is killing your people. The most important question I have to ask, is why you’re not infected?’

‘I don’t know the answer to that. As far as I know I am the only person that is not, but that would mean that I am not Jumani.’

‘Not necessarily, General. In my experience it is possible that you may have an immunity to it for some reason.’

‘What reason?’

‘A childhood disease, perhaps?’

‘No, I had none of the usual childhood diseases that affect my people. I know some others that were not affected either.’

‘Where are they now?’

‘Spread across the planet in all manner of positions.’

Brex tapped his combadge. ‘If any of you come across people that aren’t infected I suggest you take blood samples and get the EMH to look at them immediately. It could be a clue.’

He then took a blood sample from the General and waved his medical tricorder over it. The plague was present but in much smaller amounts than would have been normal.

‘Thank you General, I will now look at those staff still present.’

‘And do what?’ Trew asked, on the defensive.

‘Take blood samples from them, and then analyse them using the powerful computer on the Osiris.’

‘And the computer will come up with a cure?’

‘It’s more complicated than that, General.’

‘Then hurry, my people are dying around me.’

‘I will do whatever I can, General. But I must get on.’

‘Dismissed, Doctor.’

Trew then turned away and went back to his private office. Brex walked back to where Reich was.

‘Doc?’

‘There is something very strange going on here,’ Brex answered. ‘Something is niggling at my mind but I’m not sure what. A familiarity with the symptoms and also the reason why the General and some others aren’t infected.’

‘There are more not infected?’

‘Yes, Lieutenant. We must hurry. I have a feeling that whoever did this will return to make sure that they did the job right.’

 

‘Captain, I’ve got something,’ Gonzales said just before she was going to beam down to the surface.

‘What is it?’ Astor asked, jumping from her seat and striding to the tactical station.

‘I don’t recognise the warp signature,’ she answered. ‘But it’s definitely not Jumani.’

‘Hail the Annihilator.’

‘Captain, do you have something?’ Ulit asked.

‘We have found a warp signature that is not Jumani,’ Astor answered.

‘Send it to me, I will see if it matches anything in our databases.’

Gonzales did so and he let out a string of curses. ‘It is the ship of the Xegnotin Sovereignty.’

‘The who?’ Gonzales asked, immediately on the defensive.

‘Nearly two millennia ago the Xegnotin occupied the majority of this sector but an extrasolar comet impacted their homeworld and they were nearly wiped out by a plague that the comet contained. They have lived nomadically since and believe that other races in this sector were responsible for their problems. Over the last few hundred years they have attacked colonies in the sector with viruses that were relatively easy to treat. But they have never done something on this kind of scale.’

‘Could it be a rogue group?’ Astor asked, thinking about the attack on one of  Bajor’s moons by the Cardassians during the Occupation.

‘They’re all rogue groups, Captain,’ Ulit answered. ‘They have a rule that they live by. The precept of biological superiority. Basically they believe that to become biologically superior they must eliminate all other sentient lifeforms.’

Astor’s mind couldn’t really comprehend such a dangerous mentality. ‘Is there anything that we can do?’

‘Kill them all,’ Ulit answered without hesitation.

‘That would make us as bad as them, Captain. There must be a diplomatic solution.’

‘As I’m sure you’re aware, diplomacy sometimes fails.’

‘Sir, the plasma decay is increasing. We may never find them again,’ Gonzales interrupted.

‘We have to stay in orbit, Brex is using the computer to help find a cure,’ Astor thought aloud. ‘Commander, prep a shuttlecraft and take Gonzales with you. Find the Xegnotin and try to get an antidote.’

‘Aye sir.’

‘You are being foolish, Captain. The Xegnotin will not listen to reason,’ Ulit advised her.

‘That is as it may be, but I will still try, for your sakes,’ Astor replied and made the cutting gesture to Gonzales.

Privately, Gonzales agreed with Ulit but she had the feeling that he was leaving something out. But there was no need to mention it because she was sure that Astor noticed it too.

‘Yes, Commander, I know he’s hiding something,’ she said to Wright. ‘But until we know what that is, we go on the fact that everyone is as innocent as everybody else.’

‘Aye sir.’

‘Gonzales—’

‘We’ll take the Heisenberg,’ the Betazoid replied. ‘It’s already been outfitted with the new technology.’

‘What new technology?’ Wright asked.

Gonzales smiled. ‘The Heisenberg has been fitted with an ablative hull generator and quantum microtorpedo launchers. Xeris was working on something else, but I’m not sure what it was.’

‘Ablative hull generator?’ Wright asked.

‘Courtesy of Voyager,’ Gonzales answered.

‘Ah yes,’ Astor replied. ‘The temporal visit by Admiral Janeway.’

‘I think I remember reading that report,’ Wright said.

‘Get going, both of you,’ Astor told them. ‘While Dr Brex is working on finding a cure, you have to track this ship down and ask them nicely for an antidote.’

‘Providing that they actually made one,’ Larson murmured from the helm console.

‘We must work on the basis that they did,’ Astor admonished him the helmsman.

Gonzales and Wright entered the turbolift.

 

In the Osiris’ sickbay Doctor Mikhail Kornilov was busy analysing the data streaming in from the surface, with the EMH looking over his shoulder. Blood samples were being analysed by the massive medical computer as air samples were coming in from the surface.

‘Is there anything I can do?’ the EMH asked. ‘I am unfamiliar with microbiology.’

Kornilov smiled. The learning-curve EMH Mark III was far superior from the arrogant Mark I and the gormless Mark II. ‘Let me know what the blood samples tell you about the disease.’

The EMH, that unlike his counterpart on the Saber-class SCE ship USS da Vinci, did not have a name. But the crew were making their choices known and the senior officers would pick the most common or the one they think most suited the EMH’s unique personality—another new design feature of the Mark III. He walked over to the primary diagnostic console and watched the data scroll across the screen. It took him a few moments to see what they were trying to tell him, after all he was only a third year intern with all the textual knowledge but not the real life knowledge that the Marks I and II had.

‘Doctor, there are genetic discrepancies between General Trew and some of the other people that the samples were taken from.’

Kornilov joined the EMH and whistled. ‘They almost look like two distinct species.’

‘Is this important?’

‘Quite possibly.’ Kornilov tapped his combadge. ‘Sickbay to Brex.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘The EMH, we really have to find a name for him, has found a genetic dissimilarity between the General and those that have been infected.’

‘Bloody hell,’ Brex screeched. ‘I knew I recognised something familiar. Tell me, Mikhail, does General Trew have a less-advanced brain structure than the others?’

‘Not really, the brain patterns of both species seem to be nearly identical. But the genetics are different, almost subspecies.’

‘Thank you, Mikhail. I need to check something.’

‘Sir?’

‘You know I am interested in the work of Doctor Phlox, the Denobulan doctor of the Enterprise NX-01, from the mid twenty-second century?’

‘Yes, Doctor.’

‘Well, Phlox encountered something similar. I want to know what happened on that situation. Because there, like here, it would appear that both species—or subspecies—evolved on the same planet, alongside each other.’

Brex was back on board the Mauna Loa, and pleased that the advanced biofilters made sure that the disease did not get cycled though the airlock. He got access to the massive LCARS database and did a search for the Denobulan doctor of the Enterprise. He skim read until he found the relevant mission report. The Valakians and the Menk had evolved on Valakis and the Valakians had contracted a genetic illness but the Menk had not, they were evolving and could not do so with the Valakians there.

Phlox had used Menk DNA to find a cure for the Valakians but advised Captain Archer to let them die, as it was the natural course of evolution for them. Archer hadn’t given them the cure but it had haunted him for many weeks. This situation, though similar, was different. The genetic differences were not as pronounced as they were then. It made Brex think of the Xindi, there were five distinct subspecies and all had similar DNA.

‘Brex to Astor.’

‘Go ahead, Doctor.’

‘The Jumani are actually two species, one is infected and the other is not, whoever did this didn’t know about the differences. I might be able to use the other species to create a cure. It all depends on whether the other species has an antibody. I’ll be checking that out now.’

‘Good work, Doctor. Keep me informed. Astor out.’

Brex exited the Flyer and saw a house about five hundred metres away with a child playing in the street quite happily, and showing no symptoms other than a cough. He walked over, with Reich in close proximity, and knelt beside the child. The child was lying on the ground clutching his stomach and Brex took out his tricorder. Before he could make a cursory examination a woman appeared from inside the house and snatched the child up.

‘Excuse me, ma’am,’ Brex said as politely as possible.

The woman caught sight of his blue skin and screamed but no one came over she glanced around nervously.

‘I’m here to help,’ Brex tried his best to stay calm. ‘You don’t seem to be infected.’

‘I’m not,’ she screeched at him. ‘And I don’t know why my child is. I’m the only one that will survive.’

Brex elected not to tell her that General Trew would also survive. ‘Let me take a blood sample from you. You may be the saviour of your people. I would like to take a sample of his blood too, if that’s okay.’

She looked shocked by that statement but held out an arm. Brex took a sample and placed it in a special pouch on the biohazard suit. She then obediently lifted the child up and Brex took a sample from him too. The woman strode inside clutching her child and Brex ran to the Mauna Loa. Once inside he contacted Kornilov again.

‘What have you got for me this time?’

‘I want you to analyse these samples and tell me what you find, quick as you can. It could be important,’ Brex said and sent the digital samples.

‘Aye sir, I’ve got the samples.’

 

 

Chapter Four

 

Brex waited impatiently for the results. Patience was not a virtue of his race but he had learned it over the years while in Starfleet. He’d grown up on Earth with children of many races and learned that some of them were even less patient than he. Vulcan children were known to be especially impatient (though they admitted not) with Human children and Brex had often come to the Humans’ aid.

‘Brex to Kornilov, what’s taking so long?’ He hadn’t quite mastered patience.

‘I was just about to call you, sir,’ Kornilov answered.

‘Well?’

‘The woman belongs to the same subspecies of Jumani, but the child is mixed.’

‘Both species?’

‘Yes sir.’

‘But the usual Jumani subspecies are the more dominant genes?’

‘That’s what it looks like, sir.’

‘Alright, what do the antibodies look like in the mother and child?’

‘The mother’s antibodies are minimal for the disease but the child has got oodles of them.’

‘Oodles?’ Brex asked. ‘Is that a technical term?’

‘Sorry, sir. There are thousands of antibodies in the child’s body. We’ll need a bigger sample from him.’

‘There may be another way,’ Brex thought aloud. ‘Other mixed children might also have high antibody counts. If we can get blood samples from all of them we might have a good chance of coming up with an antidote.’

‘Does the General know about the two species?’

‘No, but the doctors might.’

‘Are you sure the General doesn’t, sir. It might be that the others—in this case the healthy ones—are a lower caste than the others and the General isn’t acknowledging them,’ Kornilov said.

‘Good point. What’s the death toll so far?’

‘Fifteen thousand dead and another hundred million infected.’

‘It’s spreading quickly?’

‘Yes sir, two hundred kilometres in every direction from the capital city.’

‘We’ll need to come up with an antidote quickly and then find a way to manufacture enough of it for the entire planet.’

‘We can’t do that alone, sir.’

‘I know, we’ll have to get other planets manufacturing it as well, and quickly. Do what you can up there. I’m going to find other samples. And tell everyone else to do the same.’

‘Aye sir.’

‘Brex out.’

 

The Type-XII shuttlecraft was currently the most advanced in Starfleet, the sleekest fastest craft of its size and Commander Aaron Wright was sitting in the pilot’s chair hurtling through the cosmos at speeds exceeding warp nine, trying to track down the Xegnotin ship that seeded the plague on the Jumani homeworld. Lieutenant Commander Sheena Gonzales was making sure that all the shuttle’s tactical systems—both defensive and offensive—were operating at peak efficiency, just in case the Xegnotin didn’t like her superior’s diplomatic skills.

‘Plasma decay rate is increasing, sir. We’re losing them.’

Wright snorted and Gonzales recognised it as his incredulous snort. ‘We’re travelling at speeds close to warp ten and we can’t catch them, what have they got, transwarp drive?’

‘As far as we know,’ Gonzales hastened to reply, ‘only the Borg had transwarp technology and Captain Janeway put a stop to that for quite some time.’

‘Like a century,’ Wright added with a smile. ‘Well, they’ve certainly got something, what about the slipstream drive that Janeway discovered?’

‘No one in the Alpha Quadrant has been able to make it work,’ Gonzales answered. ‘Not that I’ve heard, anyway.’

‘Well, we’ll need to find them soon or this mission will be a total washout.’

As if on cue, Gonzales made the statement that they both wanted to hear. ‘I’m picking up a ship on long range sensors.’

‘Does it match the Xegnotin ship that you picked up on the Osiris?’

‘Sensors aren’t going to be brilliant at this distance, can we increase speed?’

‘We’re already at nine-point-nine-seven-five,’ Wright answered, ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

Thirty seconds later the Heisenberg threatened to tear itself apart as the shuttlecraft lurched suddenly.

‘It’s definitely the same ship, intercept in eleven minutes at current speed but we’ll be on their sensors in three.’

‘Warp nine-point-nine-eight-three,’ Wright told himself aloud.

‘Xeris will have a fit if you screw up his engines.’

‘I’m sure, but the Romulans are known to have tempers.’

Gonzales decided to try and get the truth from her superior as they were nowhere near the Osiris. ‘Why don’t you like him and what do most of the crew have against him?’

Wright turned to her. ‘He was stationed on the USS Galileo, an SCE ship, during the Dominion war. A Founder got aboard and sabotaged the ship. Xeris ran, he was the commanding officer of the SCE personnel on board, and they were all killed. No Starfleet officer runs from battle, he’s a coward.’

‘Is that it?’

‘At the end of the war he was transferred to another SCE ship, the USS Musgrave where he was stationed for a year and a half, during which time he sabotaged the ship himself for reasons that are unknown. He was court-martialled but nothing came of it, he was acquitted but the crew knew that it was him. They believed that he had friends in high places who got him off.’

‘Then he was transferred to the Osiris?’

‘Supposedly because we’d be too far out for help to arrive quickly and an SCE engineer would be a good idea.’

‘Has he not been useful?’

‘Yes he has,’ Wright answered. ‘But I still don’t trust him, and as chief of security you should keep an eye on him.’

Gonzales narrowed her eyes at her commanding officer. ‘Commander, he is a member of this crew and until such a time as he gives me proof that he should not be trusted, I will trust him. I find it incomprehensible that you do not.’

‘He’s a Romulan!’

‘And prejudice caused genocide on Earth a few centuries ago,’ Gonzales shot back. ‘I had hoped that humanity had left that thinking behind. Obviously I was wrong.’

Wright whirled on her. ‘I am not prejudiced against him, Commander, and I resent the implication. What I meant was that Romulans are known to be untrustworthy.’

‘Only those in the military. I have met several, non-military Romulans, who are as pleasant as you are.’

‘I’m sorry, Commander. I just don’t trust him.’

‘We’re approaching the Xegnotin ship, Commander,’ Gonzales said, pulling them both back to the mission at hand.

‘Good work,’ Wright replied, channelling his anger toward the Xegnotin. Hopefully they weren’t telepathic and wouldn’t notice the anger.

‘Intercept in thirty seconds.’

‘Hail them,’ Wright said as he cut the warp engines and slowed to impulse speeds. ‘The ship is on screen.’

‘No response.’

The Xegnotin starship looked like some kind of insect, but it was definitely an alien ship. Ulit had not been able to provide them with a likeness of the Xegnotin Prowler but this fit the bill as well as anything else.

‘How close are they?’ Wright asked.

‘Four hundred million kilometres,’ Gonzales answered.

‘Hail them again.’

Gonzales did so but waited just ten seconds for them to respond. ‘No response.’

Wright held back a smile. Starfleet tactical officers thought that if someone didn’t respond within five or ten seconds then they were hostile. But these aliens definitely were. He thought for a mere second or two and then entered into a course of action.

‘Open a channel.’

‘Channel open.’

‘This is Commander Wright of the Federation vessel Heisenberg. You are trespassing in Federation territory. Withdraw or you will be destroyed.’

‘Sir?’

‘What is it?’

‘Do we have the authority to destroy them?’

‘They’ve committed an act of aggression against an ally of the Federation,’ Wright answered.

Gonzales nodded. ‘They’re not responding,’ she said. ‘We’re getting something,’ she added.

‘A response?’ Wright asked. He slapped his hands to his ears when a high-pitched clicking and clacking sound came through the speakers. ‘What is that?’

‘A language,’ Gonzales replied harshly. ‘The universal translator is doing its job.’

‘Hail them again,’ he said when the noise died down.

‘The UT has almost—’

‘This is Geyt of the Xegnotin Sovereignty. You dare to approach one of our vessels?’

Wright sighed. ‘We believe that one of your vessels attacked a planetful of people and we were hoping that we might be able to ask why.’

‘What planet?’ Geyt asked.

‘He’s charging weapons,’ Gonzales spoke quietly.

‘The Jumani homeworld.’

‘This is Xegnotin territory, Commander. The Jumani are within our boundaries.’

‘The Federation expanded into this territory nearly eight years ago,’ Wright told the Xegnotin Captain. ‘But why did you attack the Jumani?’

‘This is our space,’ Geyt yelled. ‘We intend to take it back from those who nearly wiped us out many years ago. I am only following orders.’

‘Have you personally ever met the Jumani?’ Wright asked, thinking about Gonzales’ prejudice speech.

‘No.’

‘Then how do you know that the attack was from them?’

‘The comet that decimated our worlds originated from their system,’ Geyt replied. ‘All our scientific evidence confirms it.’

Wright sighed as he believed that he knew what had happened. ‘On what scientific basis did you make that assumption?’

‘Chemical components of the local asteroid fields.’

‘Are you aware of extrasolar comets?’

To Wright it looked as if the Xegnotin Captain was thinking but he couldn’t be sure, their species was more like the Tholians and the Federation had never really had a good relationship with them.

‘What are they?’

‘They are comets that travel on random paths through the galaxy. Occasionally they will pass through a system and if they encounter an asteroid field they will send those asteroids spinning out toward worlds. You probably encountered a rogue comet that had picked up debris from the asteroid field.’

‘This is a lie, there is no evidence to suggest anything of the kind.’

‘Where is your homeworld?’ Wright asked.

‘So you can eliminate our species like we have done theirs? I don’t think so.’

‘So you did attack the planet?’ Gonzales asked.

‘We have no quarrel with your Federation.’

‘Yes you do,’ Wright told him. ‘The Jumani are protected by us and you have tried to wipe them out. That is an act of war.’

‘You would do well not to antagonise me, Commander. This is a small Xegnotin Prowler. Our warships are many times bigger. We have lived nomadically for many years but we finally have a new homeworld and we are massing an army to eradicate all live in this sector – it is our precept of biological superiority.’

‘How can you be superior to life if no life exists?’

‘We leave the lower lifeforms intact, only sentient species are wiped out, and therefore we are superior to those lifeforms.’

The screen went blank and the Xegnotin ship changed. The legs were retracted into the main body of the ship, then it suddenly sped off at a speed that the Heisenberg couldn’t possibly track it.

‘Where did it go?’ Wright asked.

Gonzales looked blank. ‘I have no idea, but I don’t see it on sensors. It could have cloaked.’

‘It looked like it went to warp,’ Wright interjected.

‘Well, it’s gone. Whatever it did and there’s no plasma decay to track,’ Gonzales replied. ‘We’d better get back to the Osiris and inform the Captain of what we have found.’

‘Indeed.’

Wright turned the Heisenberg around and it returned to warp. Hopefully Doctor Brex was having better luck.

 

The Chief Medical Officer of the Osiris found himself surrounded by many people, all of them unaffected. Standing right beside him was Lieutenant Reich minus his phaser rifle. They were both being held by uninfected Jumani but still had their Biohazard suits on, thankfully. Reich was struggling against the two beefy men that held him but a jab from his phaser rifle, held by Supreme Commander Trew, put a stop to that.

‘What is going on?’ Brex asked.

‘It’s quite simple, Doctor,’ Trew answered. He was wearing civilian clothes now. ‘I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out.’

Brex grimaced as the people holding him tightened their grip. ‘You’re responsible for this?’

Trew looked around and let out a throaty chuckle. ‘I never disclosed the fact that I belonged to the lower caste of Jumani society, I would never have been accepted into the Militia.’

‘How did you get past the blood screenings?’

‘We don’t practise them,’ Trew answered with a grin. ‘I rose up through the ranks picking those people I believed I could trust. I vouched for several to enter the militia and now I control the fates of millions.’

‘And this disease?’

‘I send a genetic sample to the Xegnotin Sovereignty, they returned with a disease to wipe up the majority of the population.’

‘Then you made a grievous error in judgement,’ Reich told him. ‘Of the two castes, which is the stronger?’

‘There are two distinct subspecies of Jumani, the Juma and the Mani. This disease is obviously set to destroy the Juma while leaving the Mani alive,’ Trew answered glibly.

‘Then you’ve doomed your race to death unless I can find a cure.’

‘Nonsense.’

‘The Juma are more dominant. When one of each caste procreate the child becomes Juma, not Mani. So only those with pure Mani blood will survive. And if I’m not mistaken, that leaves a very small gene pool,’ Brex told him.

‘You lie!’

‘No, he doesn’t,’ a voice said, pushing its way through the crowd. ‘Only the militia know the truth and you’ve unwittingly suppressed that knowledge.’

‘I know you,’ Trew yelled ‘You’re the Chief Medical Officer.’

‘I’m also Mani, like yourself, General.’

‘How many are dead, Doctor?’ Brex asked.

‘About seventy thousand now, mostly children and the elderly. Many children were mixed.’

‘Did you not realise that your people were overcoming the prejudices on their own?’

‘We will be the only caste,’ Trew yelled, clearly losing control.

‘Then you will be just like the Xegnotin and their biological superiority,’ Brex yelled back. Reich had never heard the Bolian shout and the voice was loud.

‘How dare you bark at me like I’m a cadet, I am the Supreme Commander of the Jumani Militia.’

‘No!’ Brex yelled back. ‘You are a genocidal killer.’

The word passed through the crowd as they all realised fully what was going on. The people holding the Starfleet officers released them and Reich grabbed his phaser rifle from a stunned Trew.

‘Reich to Osiris.’

‘Go ahead, Lieutenant,’ Astor replied.

‘Request one to beam directly to the brig.’

‘Explain!’

‘Supreme Commander Trew ordered the Xegnotin to create a virus to wipe out the higher caste of the species, but he didn’t realise just how few of pure blood there were.’

‘We can’t beam him up if he’s infected.’

‘What shall I do with him, Captain?’

‘Are there no jails on the surface?’

‘Yes, but all the guards are infected.’

‘Hold on a moment, Lieutenant,’ Astor said and turned to Young at tactical. ‘Is there anywhere on the ship that we can put him that is completely sealed?’

‘What about the decontamination chamber that we have on board?’ Young asked.

‘Good thinking Lieutenant. Lieutenant Reich, we’ll beam him to the decontamination chamber and post guards.’

‘Aye sir. Have you got a lock on his biosign. He’s standing two feet in front of me?’

‘Energizing now.’

 

 

Chapter Five

 

Trew disappeared in a pillar of light and the crowd dispersed.  Brex was working furiously at his tricorder trying to retrieve some data.

‘This is going to be difficult,’ he yelled to no one in particular.

‘Doctor?’

‘I need to get blood samples from as many mixed children as possible in order to have a large enough basis for comparison. Brex to all medical personnel. What is your situation?’

They all got back to him and he realised that while had been held captive by the Supreme Commander they had all been tracking down mixed children. The runabouts had gone from the central square and were flying around the infected areas taking samples from anyone with the mixed genomes.

‘We’ve got close to ten thousand samples, Doctor,’ Stryker told him.

‘That should be enough for now. Everyone back to the Osiris. We need to start compiling data and coming up with vaccines and cures.’

‘Aye sir, Stryker out.’

Reich recalled all his security teams and the three vessels returned to the Osiris shuttlebay. Bioscans of all personnel confirmed that they were clear of the pathogen and it had not survived on the auxiliary craft. Brex went straight to sickbay where Kornilov and the EMH were cataloguing all the samples and trying to find something from which a cure, or at the very least a vaccine, could be made. Astor made a trip to sickbay to see how they were getting on.

‘Captain, is this a social call?’ Brex asked hurriedly.

‘No, Doctor, I wanted to see how you were getting on?’

‘We’ve got all the samples we can, both infected and uninfected people of mixed genome, and we’re analysing them all to see if there are a substantial number of antibodies that we can produce synthetically.’

‘And?’

‘Nothing much, so far,’ Brex admitted. ‘But we’ve only managed to analyse about a third of the sample. I’ll run simulations as soon as I get something.’

‘People are dying down there all the time,’ Astor reminded and he glared at her, letting her know that the reminder was unnecessary.

She acknowledged the glare with a nod and strode from sickbay, pausing for a moment before she decided to have a talk with the genocidal killer. ‘Lieutenant Reich, join me by the decontamination chamber immediately.’

Both Astor and Reich watched Supreme Commander Trew pace furiously up and down the chamber, muttering to himself. They observed him for a few more moments and then Astor activated the comlink to the chamber.

‘Supreme Commander?’

‘Who are you to hold me here?’

‘I am Captain Astor of the Federation starship Osiris. You are responsible for killing thousands of people. The Federation has never executed anyone—we don’t believe in it—but your people might feel differently, if they survive.’

‘I want to join the Federation,’ Trew yelled.

‘Your people don’t, not at the moment anyway. We do not interfere in other species’ law enforcement. What is the punishment for genocide on your world?’

‘A public execution. But you can’t let them. I did this for my people, not the Juma.’

‘The Juma are your people too. The Mani and the Juma are genetically near-identical, that means that neither is more dominant than the other. Genetically, Juma genes are stronger but the Mani have much stronger immune systems. What you have done was irresponsible without knowing the full facts, and reprehensible in itself. You deserve to be executed,’ Reich said. ‘Too much time among the medics,’ he added in` an aside to Astor.

‘The Mani are pure, the Juma are filth, prejudicial filth.’

‘And what does that make you, as you try to kill them off?’

Trew didn’t answer. ‘Contact the Xegnotin, they’ll provide you with a cure. They must have one.’

Astor looked at him. ‘Why should they have one?’

Trew paled. ‘Let me talk to them.’

‘We have crewmembers out looking for them.’

‘They won’t listen. You must let me talk to them.’

‘Why should I?’

‘I’m the only one that can save my people.’

 

Wright was still piloting the Heisenberg as it slowed to impulse just outside the Jumani system. Both were disappointed that they couldn’t get a proper response from the Xegnotin and in not being able to do so may have doomed a race to death. Gonzales was napping beside Wright when the proximity alarm klaxon sounded. She sat bolt upright and scanned the vessel. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the configuration.

‘Sir,’ she said. ‘The Xegnotin vessel is back, its following us.’

Wright glanced over at her console. ‘So it is.’

‘I’m hailing them,’ Gonzales told him.

‘No, wait,’ Wright replied, and put a hand on hers to stop her. ‘Wright to Osiris.’

‘Astor here. Go ahead, Commander.’

‘The Xegnotin vessel didn’t want to talk to us, sir.’

‘I’m sure you did your best, Commander.’

‘Sir, it vanished without a warp signature—but it followed us back,’ he added and heard the intake of breath.

‘Commander, are you sure it’s the same vessel?’

‘The power signatures are identical,’ Gonzales answered the captain.

‘Very well,’ Astor replied. ‘Lieutenant Reich, go to red alert. Raise shields and charge weapons.’

‘We’re being hailed,’ Reich replied as the ship went to red alert status.

‘On screen,’ Astor told him.

‘This is Geyt of the Xegnotin Sovereignty Prowler Bakterion. This is a biological testing site for the Sovereignty.’

Astor’s eyes widened. ‘This is Jumani space. And the Jumani are allies of the United Federation of Planets.’

‘The Federation?’ Geyt repeated. His eyes narrowed to slits and he raised his voice, uttering a single word as a curse. ‘Starfleet.’

Astor whispered to Reich, ‘Get Xeris up here.’

Reich nodded and disappeared into the turbolift.

‘What do you have against Starfleet?’

‘We have already performed our assigned task for you, do not ask for any more considerations,’ Geyt replied and the screen went blank.

‘They’re powering down weapons,’ Young said, having replaced Reich at tactical.

‘Do the same, cancel red alert and allow the Heisenberg to dock,’ Astor told her.

‘Aye sir.’

Unlike on Sovereign-class ships there was no conference-style situation room. The situation room on the Osiris was built around a central working table with stools rather than seats. The table had a holographic sensor grid and right at this moment it showed a holographic representation of the Bakterion. The senior staff were seated around the table, Astor at the head with Wright and Gonzales on either side of her. Talen and Xeris sat further down and then Brex and Larson seated at the bottom of the table. Gonzales was looking at the weapons that the Bakterion seemed to have.

‘Doctor, what is the current situation?’ Astor asked.

‘We are currently running simulations on several of the possible serums.’

‘You’re aware that the disease is spreading?’

‘Yes, Captain. From the doctors on the surface, we have determined that the disease is actually a very advanced, genetically-engineered strain of what we would the common cold for the Jumani. Though, obviously the gestation has been increased many times.’

Astor nodded. ‘Commander Gonzales, how well armed are they?’

‘From what I can determine, their hull prevents deep scans, they appear to be as well armed as we are. Perhaps more.’

Wright kept his gasp but Larson did not. ‘Captain, we can’t outrun them. Their engines are better than ours. If we can’t outgun them—and they don’t seem interested in diplomacy—then what is left open to us?’

‘Succinctly put, Ensign, and you’re quite right. Our only option is find another one,’ Astor answered the youngest member of the senior staff. She then turned to her chief engineer. ‘Commander, perhaps you should tell everybody else what you told me. And this time I want to hear all of it.’

Xeris spoke up. ‘Shortly after the Dominion war began, Section 31—the most secretive and least official branch of Starfleet Command—started looking across the galaxy for something to use against this most powerful enemy. Eventually they came here, to this sector. Three officers on the Malvinas were agents of Section 31, and they secretly contacted the species that they were told were the most dangerous.

‘The Xegnotin had developed their race around biological warfare. They are immune to almost all types of biologically hazardous materials but have the most advanced biological weapons facility anywhere in the galaxy. Section 31 hired them to create a weapon to kill the Founders, and in return they agreed to let the Xegnotin kill whomever they wanted without interference.’

‘How do you know about this?’ Wright asked.

‘I used to be an agent of Section 31. After they were discovered by the crew of Deep Space Nine and their senior agent was killed, they went underground. Several agents were released from their…employ…and returned to Starfleet proper. Or quit altogether.’

‘But?’ Gonzales asked, clearly remembering her conversation with Wright.

‘I can’t tell you anymore. All I can say is that the Xegnotin are the most dangerous species in the Alpha Quadrant. They could kill every species in the quadrant easily.’

‘Is there anything we can do to stop them?’ Gonzales asked. She trusted him, could see it in his eyes, and knew that he was telling the truth.

‘We must convince them that their whole civilisation is built on a misguided piece of information by a deluded scientist hundreds of years ago,’ the Romulan engineer answered and looked directly at her.

The room was silent.

Brex’s combadge chirped.

‘Sir?’ the voice was Stryker’s.

‘Go ahead, Lieutenant.’

‘We’ve got it, sir.’

‘You’re sure, you’ve run simulations?’

‘Repeatedly, and the results are nearly identical in each case.’

‘Let’s get manufacturing,’ Brex replied, looking at Astor.

‘We have been monitoring your communications,’ a voice said over the comm.

‘Geyt,’ Wright hissed.

‘I congratulate you on your hard work,’ Geyt continued.

‘Will you help us cure these people?’ Brex asked.

‘These people do not deserve to be cured.’

‘What did Supreme Commander Trew promise you?’

‘That is irrelevant. He provided us with the information to kill his species, we did so as it is part of our basic law, the precept of biological superiority.’

‘Sir, can I tell him about the Jumani?’ Brex asked his captain.

‘Why? They could create a new virus.’

‘Trew’s information was faulty, we could use it against their precept.’

Astor shrugged. ‘See what happens.’

‘Geyt, the information Trew gave you was incomplete.’

‘Explain.’

‘There are two species of Jumani. The information he gave you was for the higher caste of Jumani, leaving the lower caste to take over the system.’

‘Genocide?’ Geyt asked. ‘That is abhorrent!’

‘What do you intend to do about it?’ Brex asked him.

There was silence for a few moments. ‘We will assist you in finding a cure. Send your information and we will help.’

‘How did you know it would work?’ Astor asked him.

‘They wanted to eliminate everyone, not just part of the population. Doing so would give a species an unfair advantage over another. That went against their grain, against their precept. I took advantage of that.’

‘What do we do with the Xegnotin when they’re done helping us?’ Wright asked.

‘Cross that bridge when we come to it,’ Astor answered. ‘Our primary goal is to save the Jumani people.’

‘What do we do with Trew?’ Gonzales asked.

Astor looked at the tactical officer and chief of security. ‘If the Jumani were members of the Federation we would take him back to Earth for trial. As he is not, then we return him to his people once a new leader has been set up.’

‘But they are a Federation protectorate,’ Gonzales replied.

‘Captain, I need to get back to sickbay,’ Brex told her.

‘Everybody dismissed.’

Everyone but Astor and Gonzales left the situation room.

‘You’re right, Commander. They are a protectorate. Which leaves us with one other option. We have to help them set up a government and then hand Trew over.’

Gonzales thought about that. ‘We could be here for a long time.’

‘Not necessarily. They had a form of democratic government before Section 31 engineered the coup and paved the way for Trew to commit genocide. All we have to do is find any of those former government officials and restore them to power. Fixing 31’s mess.’

‘But we have to wait for the Xegnotin to give us the cure first.’

‘And then try to stop them from killing anyone else.’

‘How?’

‘If they’re so good at creating biological weapons then they must have a facility to do that. We convince them to put it to other uses.’

‘And if we can’t?’

‘We must, otherwise we’ll have no choice but to destroy it. Our aim should be to convince them that what they have been practising over the last few hundred years is wrong, and that they must use a form of democratic government.’

Gonzales shook her head. ‘That’s pushing our preferences onto another race, which goes against the Prime Directive.’

‘Very well, Commander. We’ll see what we can do.’

 

 

Chapter Six

 

‘Captain, I’ve got the first batches of the cure,’ Brex told Astor in sickbay three hours later. ‘But there’s a problem.’

‘What is it?’

‘Because of the chemical formula, it can’t be seeded into the atmosphere. It has to be given manually to every single Juma that is infected. The Mani aren’t a problem. They show no symptoms and their bodies are breaking down the virus anyway. But that still leaves about three billion people to give the antiserum to.’

Astor thought quickly. ‘Give the medical people the antidote first and then help them to set up a programme to get everyone. And give yourselves a dosage because you’ll be down there helping them.’

‘Sir?’

‘As you said, three billion is a lot of people.’

Brex nodded glumly, just realising what he had agreed to do.

‘Act quickly doctor. Ten thousand people are dying every hour.’

‘We can start right now. Beaming into hospitals around the world.’

Astor’s combadge chirped. ‘Bridge to Captain,’ Wright yelled.

‘Go ahead, Commander.’

‘The Annihilator has just noticed the Bakterion and is opening fire.’

‘Stop them, I’ll be right there. Brex, hurry.’

Astor made it to the bridge in less than thirty seconds.

‘The Bakterion is firing back,’ Wright told her.

‘Hail them both.’

‘No response, opening a channel,’ Gonzales replied.

‘This is Captain Astor on the Osiris. Cease fire immediately. The Bakterion has the cure for your people Captain Ulit. If you kill them you kill your people.’

The Annihilator stopped but the Xegnotin did not and a single torpedo blast hit the Annihilator head on, the prow exploded and the warship started listing to starboard before making a dive for the atmosphere.

‘Get a tractor beam on the warship. Gonzales, fire a warning shot at the Xegnotin, advise them that the Jumani are under our protection.’

‘Aye sir, but some of the other Jumani ships are moving in.’

‘Murphy’s Law strikes again,’ Larson murmured.

‘Evasive,’ Astor yelled as the Bakterion fired at them.

Larson gave the Xegnotin Prowler the ventral hull as he tried to pull the Osiris out of the way. The torpedo impacted against the shields and Gonzales fired at the weapons ports only, knowing at aiming for anything else could blow it up and they would lose the cure. Geyt wasn’t so nice, firing at the engines as well.

‘We’ve lost the tractor beam,’ Wright said. ‘Xeris, we need it back.’

‘I’m rerouting power from the holodecks now,’ the chief engineer replied.

The tractor beam came back just as Gonzales got a lucky shot in and obliterated the forward weapons on the Bakterion.

‘Hail the Xegnotin. I’m not having this. Open a channel to the Annihilator, ask them to hold off their ships. We need to rescue this situation.’

‘Aye sir,’ Gonzales replied. ‘The Jumani cruisers are moving off.’

‘Good work. I want to talk to Geyt, now.’

‘He’s not responding’.

‘Sickbay to Bridge.’

‘What now,’ she murmured. ‘Go ahead, Doctor.’

‘Cargo bays three and four just filled up with vials of the cure,’ Brex replied.

‘Sir, the Bakterion is moving off, just like it did last time,’ Gonzales told her.

The bridge crew watched as the legs retracted and the vessel vanished.

‘Where’d it go?’ Larson asked.

‘No warp trail to follow,’ Gonzales spoke dejectedly.

‘We’ll have to let them go for now. We have more important things to deal with.’

‘Aye sir,’ Gonzales replied.

‘Doctor, how quickly can you start curing people?’

‘Right now, I’m about to beam down with my medical staff. Every one of us is taking a different hospital. I would like to ask as many members of the crew to help as possible, it won’t take as long that way.’

‘You have my permission.’

‘Including the crew of the Winceby?’

‘If they’re able. How long will it take?’

‘That depends, sir, on how fast we can reach the infected outside the hospitals and then the rest of the population. But as long as the medical staff can set up their own programmes for reaching the infected our job will be done.’

‘Very well. Astor out.’

Brex beamed down just outside the central hospital with three cases of the antiserum on an antigrav unit. Enough to cure a million people. The Xegnotin created a potent antiserum of which a single hypospray vial could be used to treat a hundred people. Each of the hypos had been set to the specific dosage. As he materialised he realised that there would be a problem but before he could tap his combadge it was ripped from his chest, along with the phaser he was advised to carry by Gonzales.

‘What’s going on?’

‘The Supreme Commander’s mission must succeed,’ one of them said and Brex recognised him as the one that held him before.

‘What are you doing? I have a cure for everyone,’ Brex told those that had quickly gathered. ‘If any of your children are infected, I can cure them. No matter how far along they are.’

‘Liar,’ yelled one woman holding out her child who was almost dead.

‘She’s only got a few hours left. Let me help her.’

‘How?’

‘The hypospray. One dose,’ Brex pointed to the device in someone’s hand.

The woman snatched it and pressed it to her daughter’s shoulder. The child’s coughing immediately subsided and colour started to flush her face.

‘It will take a little time for all the symptoms to disappear, but as you can see, it is a fast-acting cure.’

‘Why did you do it?’ one man asked. ‘Trew was a good man, he knew what was good for his people.’

‘All of you are his people, Juma and Mani. You are all equal. Your Supreme Commander committed genocide. There are many castes on my own world and many worlds that I have visited. All are equal to each other.’

‘But it has not been that way for a long time.’

‘It can be like that again.’

‘No, it can’t,’ the man that held it said. ‘The Juma are weak and we will survive them for eternity.’

The grip on his arms loosened as the high-pitched whine of a phaser sounded. The man collapsed to the ground and the crowd stepped back. The woman who’s child he had just saved was holding the phaser, pointing it at the most dangerous of those nearby. ‘Let him treat everyone.’

‘Thank you,’ Brex told her.

‘I am Erit, I used to be the Deputy Regent of the Jumani people, before Trew took control. I would like to take my post up again.’

‘What makes you think you won’t?’

‘Don’t the Federation install their own government?’

Brex smiled. ‘No. We let the planetary governments run the planet. We’re just on hand to help out if there are any planetary emergencies.’

‘Like this one?’

‘Exactly.’

‘How long will you stay?’

‘We can’t stay for too long unfortunately, we have a lot to deal with.’

‘Oh,’ Erit looked distraught.

‘We’ll stay as long as we can.’

‘Thank you,’ she replied and walked off, toward the Headquarters, presumably to try and wrestle command of her people back from the militia.

Brex thought quickly about how much time they could really afford to spend in orbit. ‘Brex to Osiris.’

‘Astor here, go ahead.’

‘Captain, I have an idea. If we could get an SCE ship out here, they can help the Jumani put their planet back together in the wake of this outbreak and maybe take the Winceby and her crew back with them.’

‘I’ll see what I can do, Doctor. Astor out.’

Astor sighed. She would need to talk to Admiral Janeway about the situation here, but who to contact about the SCE ship? Of course, she thought, who else but the hundred and fifty year old legend who was now liaison between the SCE and Starfleet proper.

‘Gonzales, put me through to SCE Headquarters on Earth, priority one.’

‘Aye sir.’

The smiling face of Captain Montgomery Scott appeared on her screen. ‘What can I do to help ye lass?’

‘Captain, we’ve just cured a planet from a genetically engineered plague, but they’re going to need help getting their planet back up with a reduced population.’

‘Aye, sounds like a doozy, but there’s something else isn’t there?’

‘Yes sir,’ Astor answered.

‘Lass, we’re the same rank, call me Scotty.’

‘Aye sir,’ Astor replied. ‘You’re right, there is something else.’

‘Look, you got me out of a meeting, for that I’m grateful lass, but I do have things to do, like oversee a dozen ships.’

‘Sorry, sir. We have a Constitution-class starship that we pulled out of an inland sea, it had been buried for fifteen years, the USS Winceby, and her crew to take back to Earth.’

Scotty raised in surprise. ‘The Winceby, I wondered where she disappeared to. I know just who to send. The Galileo will be with you as soon as it can.’

Astor looked a little puzzled. ‘Sir, is there another SCE ship you could send?’

‘Why?’

‘My chief engineer was on that ship, I get the feeling he isn’t well liked by them.’

‘Who?’

‘Lieutenant Commander Xeris.’

Scotty’s face clouded at the mention of that name. ‘Aye, I can see where that might pose a problem. But sorry, lass, the Galileo is the only one I can spare. Scotty out.’

Astor watched the legend’s face fade from the screen. She wondered how long they would have to wait for the Galileo, after all it had taken them slightly more than two weeks to reach the sector.

‘Astor to Brex.’

‘Sir?’

‘The Galileo is on its way.’

Brex let out a Bolian curse and Astor understood its meaning plainly.

‘It’s the only one they can spare.’

‘Keep Xeris out of the way then.’

‘I plan to, Astor out.’ She then thought very carefully about the Xegnotin and what she could do. ‘Astor to Gonzales, I want a secure line to Admiral Janeway, immediately.’

‘Aye sir.’

It took twenty minutes of pacing up and down her quarters but finally the secure channel alerted her.

‘Astor-Epsilon-3-3.’

Admiral Kathryn Janeway’s lined face appeared on the small screen. ‘What is so important, Captain?’

‘I have some information about Section 31 and a link with this sector.’

Janeway’s disapproval evaporated at the mention of Starfleet’s thorn-in-the-side. ‘Let me hear it, and leave nothing out.’

Astor told the Admiral chapter and verse of what she had learned over the last day or so and Janeway’s face fell.

‘I’ll need to speak with the Command Council, Captain. Wait for my response. Do nothing until then – do not leave orbit.’

Astor nodded and the screen went blank. She sat in her chair, receiving reports from various officers, for the next two hours. The Command Council could be stirred to action when things threatened the fragile galactic peace that the end of the Dominion war had brought. The screen flickered to life and Astor entered her personal security code once again.

‘Captain, it is the unanimous decision by Starfleet’s Command Council and the entire Federation Council—as well as, I might add, the Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian empires—that the Xegnotin be prevented from using their biological weapons for good. Do whatever you must but end that threat before it becomes a galactic problem.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Astor replied, suddenly of the pressure suddenly being placed on her shoulders.

‘Good luck, Captain. Janeway out.’

 

Captain’s Log, supplemental:

The last fifteen hours have extremely taxing. Doctor Brex has managed to come up with a cure for the genetically engineered virus seeded by the xenophobic Xegnotin. We believed that the Xegnotin tried to obliterate the Jumani people with the virus, but have come to learn that the virus originated with the leader of the Jumani Militia, Supreme Commander Trew. Minister Erit has nominated herself as the new leader of the Jumani Republic and she is assisting Dr Brex and her own people’s medical staff to cure the population.

The crew of the USS Winceby will shortly be turned over to the crew of the USS Galileo, the Starfleet Corps of Engineers ship that is en route to meet us. The Winceby itself will be towed home by same said ship. While the Jumani are in the process of being healed there is little I can do to find the Xegnotin. I intend to find their biological weapons facility and destroy it, preventing them from perpetrating their precept of biological superiority.

I have the authorisation of the Federation Council and the Commander-in-Chief of Starfleet Command to do what I must in order to prevent this race from killing any more people, from committing any more genocidal acts. I will not go so far as to commit genocide myself by eliminating the race from the galaxy, but they must not be allowed to commit these acts against Federation protectorates, or anyone else.

 

Astor returned to the bridge and sat in her chair. Talen was going over the reports on the medical situation, where the antiserum was most needed and how to get medical personnel there. The transporters were working overtime getting everyone where they were meant to go. Larson was bored at the helm, being stuck in orbit didn’t require finesse.

‘Sir, we’re being hailed. It’s the Galileo, Captain Wesley Zion.’

‘Put him though, Commander.’

‘Captain Astor, we’re en route to you, estimated rendezvous eleven hours.’

‘Eleven hours? Where are you, it took us more than two weeks to get here from Earth.’

‘We were salvaging a ship in the Erisa system, not that far from you, really. Can you give us a more detailed picture of what we’ve got to do, I need to brief my engineers.’

‘Of course, Captain—’

Zion’s eyes widened as Astor filled him in and he paled when she briefed him on the Xegnotin.

‘What about this ship, the Annihilator?’

‘The captain is dead but the crew are effecting repairs until they can land at their repair facility on the planet. Where are you going to put the crew of the Winceby?’ Astor asked. ‘I know the Sabers are too small.’

‘The Odyssey is joining us.’

‘She’s a Galaxy-class isn’t she?’

‘The last one was,’ Zion answered. ‘This one is a Steamrunner.’

Astor nodded. ‘Should be enough space. Was the Odyssey with you in Erisa?’

‘She was, Commander Derrida is in temporary command. We’ll be there as soon as possible, Zion out.’

Astor relaxed in her chair. As soon as the Galileo got there, she would be able to transfer the Winceby crew and then get on with finding the Xegnotin.

‘Commander Wright, go down to astrometrics and locate any possible locations where the Xegnotin biological weapons facility might be. Try and get the Jumani and Abanaki databases to help.’

‘Aye sir,’ the executive and science officer replied, jumping up. He was glad to be able to something after sitting around doing nothing.

Astor was thinking about whether diplomacy would work when the proximity alarm klaxon sounded. She whirled to face Gonzales, who smiled grimly.

‘The Eradicator,’ she said.

Astor smiled back. ‘

Hail him.’

Captain Tyar’s face appeared on the screen. ‘Captain, I wish to thank you for all the help that you have given my people.’

‘All part of the service, Captain Tyar. I trust your repairs did not take too long.’

‘Not too long.’

‘Captain, there’s another ship dropping out of warp. It’s the Totality.’

 

 

Chapter Seven

 

‘Tyar, don’t charge weapons,’ Astor ordered. ‘Hail the Totality.’

The screen split into two. Tyar’s face on one side and Roti Kei’s on the other. ‘Captains.’

‘What are you doing here, Kei?’ Tyar asked.

Kei ignored him. ‘Captain Astor, I regret to inform you that Emperor Veuti III died a few hours ago. He spoke with me before he died, making me pledge my allegiance to a united Abanaki. I have the pleasure of being the new Premier of the Abanaki Consensus ’ He turned to Tyar. ‘I heard what happened and you have the full support of my people. We will help wherever we can.’

Tyar looked like he was about to say something but bit his tongue. He cogitated for a few moments and Astor held her breath.

‘Thank you Premier.’

Astor interrupted. ‘Gentlemen, I do believe that you have a common enemy, the Xegnotin.’

‘Indeed we do, what do you propose we do about it?’ Kei asked.

‘I have been ordered by the Federation to eliminate the Xegnotin biological weapons facility,’ Astor told them. ‘If we all work together then we may well succeed in our goal.’

Tyar and Kei looked at each other.

‘That seems like a perfect way to ally ourselves,’ Kei replied.

‘I agree, but I will have to contact Regent Erit and ask her permission.’

‘Very well,’ Kei said and his side of the screen blinked off.

Tyar did the same and the viewscreen returned to the image of the planet revolving below. She saw several ships leave their orbits and head toward the surface, as did the Annihilator.

‘Brex to Astor.’

‘Yes Doctor?’

‘The medical staff are well and a planetary programme has been set up. I think we’re all done here.’

‘Excellent, you may return whenever you’re ready.’

*          *          *

Ten hours later the Galileo dropped out of warp.

‘Thank you for your assistance, Captain,’ Eric Cavendish was saying, shaking her hand. ‘Perhaps we will see each other again.’

He stepped onto the transporter platform and stood beside his senior officers. The last ones to beam aboard the Odyssey. The Galileo was already assisting with the planetary repairs. Astor watched Cavendish dematerialise and then left the transport room and returned to the bridge. She sat down and noticed that, including Xeris and Brex, her entire senior staff were on the bridge.

‘Message coming in from the Totality, leading the Abanaki fleet, Captain,’ Gonzales said. ‘Ready.’

‘And the Eradicator’s fleet?’

‘Same.’

Astor smiled again. ‘This is Captain Astor on the Osiris to all ships. Prepare for warp speed. Coordinates being sent now.’

‘Are we sure those are the right coordinates?’ Talen asked, checking the starcharts.

‘Commander?’ Astor turned to her executive.

‘According to both the Jumani and Abanaki, this system is heavily protected by numerous security devices. There don’t appear to be any inhabited planets and there is a large metallic reading so it’s quite possible that there is a massive space station there. It could be the Xegnotin weapons facility.’

Talen nodded. ‘The fleet signals their readiness.’

‘We’re being hailed by the Galileo.’

‘Put it through.’

‘Good luck, Captain. We’ll be here to help if you need it. Zion out.’

‘What is the maximum speed of the other ships?’

‘Warp eight-point-three,’ Talen answered.

‘Set a course for the Tyrak system, warp eight, engage.’

‘Aye sir,’ Larson replied and programmed in the course. He set the speed and hit the engage button.

The Osiris sped to high warp, closely followed by the Abanaki fleet, led by the Totality, and the Jumani fleet led by the Eradicator. There would be no communication between the seven ships, led by the Osiris, until they reached the Tyrak system. The estimated travel time, at warp eight, would be just slightly more than five hours. During which time Xeris was asked to service all three shuttlecraft, both runabouts and the Flyer, to make sure that they were ready just in case.

Astor herself sat in her ready room, looking over every incident of biological warfare from Starfleet’s chartering, and there wasn’t much. The ones that there were, were recent, all happening within the last fifteen to twenty years, what Starfleet now called the War Years as they had faced off against the Klingons, the Cardassians, the Borg and the Dominion. She looked in the mirror and saw that her face was developing more lines than it should, she was one of the youngest ever captains in Starfleet history, another notable one was the commanding officer of the flagship, Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise-E. Deciding to make use of the time she had, Astor decided to have a shower.

After a quick nap, lasting two hours—the longest nap she’d had in three years—she had a bite to eat. Her favourite meal was pan-fried catfish, it seemed to her to be a genetic thing from her grandfather’s family, who was in Starfleet before the Federation was founded, an engineer – Charles Tucker, but she didn’t feel like it. She wanted something fun to eat, and a big bowl of sherry trifle was the perfect answer. After eating her fill she put on a fresh uniform and returned to the bridge.

Xeris was there looking triumphant and everyone was pointedly ignoring him. She’d looked in his file and seen nothing that looked out of place, but Scotty’s reaction to him had seemed contrived somehow, like he’d been told to react like and didn’t really want to do it. There was definitely something strange about the Romulan and she would have to keep an eye on him if she wanted to find out what it was. Talen’s antennae were twitching, a sure sign of his nervousness, but Larson looked cool at the helm. Just like his father had been in command.

‘Sir, we’re approaching the Tyrak system,’ Talen informed her.

She glanced at the chronometer on her chair arm and noticed that the chronometer in her quarters was ninety minutes off. She’d had a much longer nap than she thought. The only person who would have done that was Brex and she couldn’t really fault him for it. She had needed the sleep, and she did feel relaxed.

‘Slow to impulse. Gonzales, continuous scan for any vessels or space stations.’

‘Aye sir, nothing so far.’

Six other vessels slowed and took up flanking positions behind the Osiris. The Jumani to starboard and the Abanaki to port. Larson held the ship on a steady course as they made their way toward what metallic signature Commander Wright had picked up in the astrometric laboratory, more Voyager technology, this time Borg-inspired. Gonzales picked it up on sensors first.

‘It’s huge,’ she gasped and put the image up on the main viewer, forwarding it to the other ships.

‘Maximum magnification,’ Astor ordered.

‘How big is it?’

‘More than two hundred decks,’ Wright answered.

‘I want complete detailed scans. I want to know what power systems and weapons systems they have, how we can disable it without destroying it, if possible,’ she added. ‘But I want to know how many ships can fit into that thing.’

‘There’s one emerging from it now,’ Gonzales replied, magnifying a small section of the facility.

‘How big is it?’

‘The dimensions of three Galaxy-class starships,’ Talen answered, almost breathless.

The Galaxy-class was the largest ship Starfleet had. But this ship was massive. It looked like a cross between a Galor-class Cardassian warship and a Romulan warbird.

‘We’re being hailed.’

‘The station or the ship?’

‘The ship.’

‘On screen.’

‘This is Admiral Rettin of the Xegnotin Warcruiser Lytic. Identify yourselves.’

‘I am Captain Astor of the Federation starship Osiris.’

‘I am Captain Tyar of the Jumani Republic starship Eradicator.’

‘I am Premier Roti Kei of the Abanaki Consensus starship Totality.’

‘What do you want. This is Xegnotin sovereign space.’

‘We are here to discuss the terms of your surrender,’ Kei answered.

‘To seek revenge for the near-genocide of my species,’ Tyar added.

‘To discuss your precept of biological superiority,’ Astor finished.

‘There will be no negotiation. Your vessels will be destroyed,’ Rettin told them.

‘Red alert, all hands to battle stations,’ Astor said, recognising the tone in the Admiral’s voice.

‘All ships ready for battle,’ Wright told her as he received messages from the others.

The Lytic’s first shot crippled the Obscene, Tyar’s third ship.

‘Fire,’ Astor ordered and the phasers attacked the shields of the massive warship.

‘No effect.’

‘Use the torpedoes then,’ Astor yelled as a blast rocked the Osiris across her hull.

‘Hull breach on deck seven,’ Talen said and held on as another blast from the Lytic did its damage.

‘This is not going to be useful,’ Astor murmured. ‘Fire at will!’

All six ships fired continuous blasts at the Lytic, weakening its shields at several points. Gonzales’ cool use of the phasers and photon torpedoes opened a hole in the shields near their engines and she sent a single quantum torpedo hurtling through the gauntlet toward it. A small craft emerged from the Lytic and intercepted the torpedo.

‘They’re stalling for time, repairing the shields,’ Gonzales yelled as the Xegnotin warcruiser’s massive weapons banks launched hit after hit.

‘Shields are down to thirty percent,’ Talen said.

‘Xeris, we need more power to the shields.’

‘Give me ten seconds, I’ll give you something better.’

‘Hurry.’

An Abanaki cruiser headed for the gap in the Lytic’s shields. The Warcruiser shuddered as the cruiser dived, prow first, into the lowest level of the engineering section. Explosions rippled along the hull until the Warcruiser separated into five sections.

‘Shields are down,’ Gonzales said. ‘The next volley will tear us in half.’

‘Divide and conquer,’ Astor yelled and the five remaining ships, including the Osiris, headed for each of the sections of the Lytic.’

‘Incoming,’ Talen screeched as he saw a Xegnotin torpedo coming at them.

The Osiris rocked as gently as a breeze on a rowboat.

‘What happened?’ Gonzales asked, expecting to be seeing stars.

‘I used the ablative hull generator from the Heisenberg,’ Xeris told them.

Wright smirked as Talen almost choked.

‘Keep firing, we need to destroy that behemoth.’

‘The Totality is making a strafing run at the uppermost section,’ Talen said quickly.

‘Go after the nearest hull and fire everything we have,’ Astor ordered. ‘Destroy it at any cost.’

‘Aye sir,’ Gonzales replied and fired a dizzying sequence of attacks that would have made a Borg Queen look confused.

The hull they were firing at suddenly made a run for them and Astor knew that no matter how good the ablative hull armour was a direct impact by a ship surely finish them off.

‘Evasive manoeuvres,’ Astor ordered.

Larson initiated a manoeuvre that hadn’t been seen in years, known in the business as the Picard Manoeuvre. The Osiris made a very fast warp jump and the Lytic’s hull went right past where they had been. Larson turned the ship and returned to the fight with Gonzales firing quantum torpedoes. The Lytic didn’t have very strong aft shields so the torpedoes breached the shields and the engines. The hull exploded and sent debris toward the already-damaged segment and it too, exploded.

With three hulls to destroy and five ships, the odds were looking up.

‘Captain, shields are operational,’ Xeris told her from engineering.

‘Drop the armour and raise shields. Help the Eradicator, it looks like its having trouble.’

Larson manoeuvred the ship through the debris field and Gonzales fired at the first of the Lytic’s three remaining hulls. The Osiris, Eradicator and Totality fired at the same section while the other two ships fired at the two remaining hulls. It exploded and the two hulls that were left broke off their attack and headed back toward the space station.

‘Sir, they’re retreating,’ Gonzales informed Astor unnecessarily.

‘Pursuit course. Get me scans of that thing, I want to know if they’ve got any biological weapons on that station,’ Astor replied.

‘No way to tell without beaming aboard,’ Talen told her. ‘Its alloy and shields prevent scanning. However, there is a small gap in that shield near the lower section of the station that will allow transport.’

‘Astor to sickbay,’ she said, tapping her combadge.

‘Brex here.’

‘Doctor, I want you to assemble an away team to beam onto the Xegnotin station and find out whether they’ve got any biological weapons. Lieutenant Gonzales will be assembling a security detail to join you if you do find anything.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Brex replied. ‘Five minutes.’

Astor turned ‘Gonzales, one security officer for each member of Brex’s team.’

‘Aye sir.’

‘And take some explosives,’ Astor advised. ‘Just in case they do find anything. I don’t want them to have anything from which to create more weapons.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Gonzales replied. She tapped her own combadge. ‘Gonzales to Reich.’

‘Ma’am?’ Reich asked from the armoury.

‘Explosives, and lots of them. Phaser rifles for ten people. Transporter room two in five minutes.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Reich replied.

‘Commander?’ Astor asked her. ‘What are you planning to do?’

‘Melt down the fusion core,’ Gonzales replied matter-of-factly.

Astor smiled. ‘Isn’t that overkill?’

‘If there are weapons labs, then they’ll run off the fusion core. If we destroy the backups as well then they’ll be no power and the station may well be destroyed.’

‘Very well, go ahead. I’ll leave it at your discretion. Commander Wright, I want to know the second we get any scans from that station, anything that will enable the away team to find the labs.’

‘Sir, if I may?’ Talen asked. ‘If the labs are there then they will most likely be on the outer edge, so if there is danger the labs can be exposed to space.’

‘Get down to astrometrics and let me see what the outer hull looks like. Situation room in five, mission is delayed until we know what we’re dealing with,’ Astor told those on the bridge.

Five minutes later the senior staff were assembled in the situation room and the table showed a holographic display of the Xegnotin space station. There were thirty-three separate locations highlighted.

‘These upper sections,’ Talen pointed out, ‘are the weapons laboratories. As you can see, there twenty-five of them. These sections,’ and he pointed out the lower sections, ‘are the fusion cores and backup systems.’

Gonzales magnified the fusion cores. ‘We’ll need a lot of explosives. What do you think, Lieutenant?’

‘Maybe not,’ Reich said. ‘A single tricobalt device will do what we need. It will cause a chain reaction and destroy the station.’

‘And how are we supposed to get that on board?’ Gonzales asked of her second in command.

‘That’s easy,’ Xeris answered in Reich’s stead. ‘I’ll build one you can separate into sections and each take a section of it. It won’t be too heavy. Give me an hour.’

‘Thank you, Commander.’ Astor looked around. ‘You’ve got to be off that station before it goes. We’ll detonate from here. Let’s get to it people, dismissed.’

‘Sir, we’re being hailed by the Totality and the Eradicator.’

‘On screen.’

‘Captain, I need to get back to my people,’ Premier Kei said.

‘Thank you for your assistance, Premier. I regret the loss of your warship.’

‘They died fighting, it is the best they could have hoped for. Kei out.’

‘I must return to Jumani Prime and help my people rebuild,’ Tyar said. ‘Thank you for helping us.’

He didn’t give Astor time to answer as the screen went blank. The four ships went to warp and the Osiris was alone with the massive space station.

 

 

Chapter Eight

 

Solian Brex and Sheena Gonzales materialised aboard the lowest level of the station first, Brex carrying a medical tricorder and phaser and Gonzales carried a phaser rifle with a pack on her back, the tricobalt itself. Two other members of her security team would assemble it while the rest of them would escort Dr Brex and the other medical personnel as they traversed the station looking for the weapons lab to confirm that they did actually exist.

‘All clear,’ Gonzales said.

Reich and Stryker materialised next and the security officer started to unpack his section of the tricobalt device. By the time everyone was on board the space station all the pieces of the tricobalt device were out and two security personnel were starting to put it together.

‘We’ll move out, mapping the station as we go. Ideally we should be back here within two hours. The device should be ready by then and we’ll leave,’ Gonzales said.

Brex was happy  to follow Gonzales lead, this was her area of expertise. ‘As you say, Commander. So let’s get moving.’

Gonzales took point and the rest of the away team followed, single file, alternating between medical and security personnel. It took nearly twenty minutes of vertical climbing before they reached a level of the station that had turbolifts or their equivalent.

‘Maybe we should have had an engineer with us,’ Reich murmured.

‘No need,’ Stryker interjected. ‘From the look of the controls there is no security clearance required so we should be able to go anywhere on the station. Including the control room.’

Gonzales smiled. ‘Excellent. Everybody in.’

Once they were all inside the turbolift a voice spoke to them. ‘Welcome to the Xegnotin Weapons Platform. Please select your destination.’

‘Weapons labs,’ Gonzales said.

‘Weapons labs, level seventy-three,’ the turbolift replied.

The doors opened and they were on deck seventy-three.

‘I didn’t even feel that,’ Brex murmured.

‘Hmm,’ Gonzales replied.

‘Where to?’

They all stepped out and there was a lit arrow on the floor. Pulsating with light and an arrow further one also lit.

‘This way,’ Gonzales answered, following the arrows.

She took point and after a few minutes the entire away team came across a massive weapons laboratory complex, spanning at least three decks.

‘Wow,’ Brex said. ‘I’m detecting more hazardous materials that even the Cold Station Complex has on Pluto.’

‘So this is definitely where it all happens?’ Gonzales asked.

‘I’d say so, yes.’

She nodded. ‘Gonzales to McNamara.’

‘Sir?’

‘Prepare to deploy the weapon. This is the place.’

‘We’re having a little trouble, sir.’

‘What’s happening?’

‘We seem to have triggered some kind of security device,’ McNamara answered.

‘Reich, get down there.’

‘Yes ma’am.’

‘It looks like we’ll have to go plan B,’ Gonzales told her team and they all took their packs off their backs.

‘What’s going on?’

‘If we can’t destroy the station then we’ll just have to make do with the weapons labs themselves.’

Ensign Delco took one of the explosives from his pack and an alarm klaxon sounded.

‘Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Explosives detected on laboratory level six. All personnel evacuate. Counterinsurgency programme in sixty seconds.’

‘Damn,’ Gonzales cursed. ‘I hoped this wouldn’t happen. We need to get out of here.’

‘Wait, the labs would be protected at all costs, wouldn’t they?’ Delco asked. ‘If we can get into one, we’ll be safe. The scientists can get out so we must be able to get in.’

‘Are you crazy?’ Brex asked. ‘Those labs are full of who knows how many viruses. We’re not even in the correct gear.’

‘Doctor, this is my area of expertise. We need to get out of here—’

‘Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Explosives detected on laboratory level six. All personnel evacuate. Counterinsurgency programme in forty seconds.’

‘—before whatever programme they have activates itself,’ she finished.

‘Fine,’ Brex said. ‘But I am officially lodging an objection.’

‘Noted, Doctor, I just hope we don’t have cause to worry about it. Everyone, this way,’ she added ‘Follow the scientists.’

Everyone followed her, including Brex and the medical staff, and they found the door that the scientists were leaving from.

‘Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Explosives detected on laboratory level six. All personnel evacuate. Counterinsurgency programme in twenty seconds.’

Two looked at them and hurried away. Gonzales led her people inside and sealed the door just as the computer’s final announcement came.

‘Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Explosives detected on laboratory level six. All personnel evacuate. Initialising counterinsurgency programme.’

The corridor was flooded with gas. ‘That’s anesthezine gas,’ Brex told them. ‘At those levels its fatal.’

‘Luckily we’re in here.’

‘Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Explosives detected in biohazard level five laboratory. All personnel evacuate. Counterinsurgency programme in twenty seconds.’

‘You spoke too soon,’ Gonzales said grimly.

‘I have an idea,’ Stryker replied. ‘Computer, hull breach detected in level five laboratory. Deactivate counterinsurgency programme.’

‘No hull breach is detected. Counterinsurgency programme in ten seconds.’

‘We all need to tell it.’

They did.

‘Hull breach detected. Counterinsurgency programme will be ineffective.’

The gas started to clear.

‘Thank heavens for that,’ Delco murmured.

The doors to the lab suddenly opened and ten men with weapons stood in the doorway. The weapons were pointed at the away team.

‘This way,’ the lead man pointed.

He was vaguely insectoid in appearance and the weapons were held in a triangular-shaped appendage. Gonzales motioned for them to follow him. They were in trouble and she just hoped that they had bought enough time for McNamara and his partner to finish the tricobalt device and activate it.

 

‘McNamara to Osiris.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘We’ve lost contact with the away team and there’s been a security alert. They may have been captured.’

‘Is the device ready?’

‘Yes ma’am.’

Astor sighed. She didn’t want to lose her senior doctors, nurses and security team but this weapons platform needed to be destroyed. ‘Get back here. We’ll give them one hour and then we’ll have to detonate.’

‘Aye sir,’ McNamara replied and shot a worried glance at his partner. ‘Two to beam up.’

They dematerialised and McNamara spared a quick glance at the explosive device. It had been wired in properly and would make a really big bang when it went off.

On the bridge of the Osiris, Astor paced up and down watching Larson, Wright and Talen. Xeris emerged on the bridge and when he didn’t see Gonzales he went back into the turbolift and ordered it to the astrometrics lab.

‘Level three security clearance required,’ the feminine computer voice answered his request for entry.

He looked around to make sure that no one was there. ‘Authorisation Xeris-3-1-Omega-8-9.’

‘Access granted.’

The doors slid open and Xeris quickly entered. Once inside he activated the astrometrics sensors and brought up the image of the weapons platform. The hull certainly let no sensors through, but he used to be with the SCE and knew a few tricks. He recalibrated the deflector dish to send out a pulse that would pound the station with dangerous x-rays, maybe that would give him some idea of where everyone was.  He just wanted to make sure that no one would come in on him while he was working.

‘Computer, seal the doors, authorisation Xeris-1 only.’

‘Doors have been sealed.’

‘Good.’

He rerouted control of the deflector to the astrometrics lab and charged it. He knew that Astor would send security down to him but he should be long gone by then. The computer alerted him to the fact that the deflector was fully charged and he engaged it. An invisible beam coursed through the dish and the astrometric computer analysed the information. A full schematic of the space station was visible if only for a brief second.

‘Computer, compile information on the space station and locate all Starfleet officers.’

‘Required information will take seven minutes to compile,’ the computer voice told him.

‘Wish it was faster,’ he muttered, ‘but seven minutes it is.’

Seven minutes later Xeris could see where all the Starfleet officers were. The third level from the top in what appeared to be officer country.

‘Computer, what are the radiation levels on the space station?’

‘Radiation levels are steady at three hundred rads, there is no danger to humanoid species,’ the computer replied.

Not too bad, Xeris thought. But now it was time to reveal the truth.

‘Xeris to bridge.’

‘What is it, Commander?’

‘The away team are on deck three. But the shield generators are still active.’

‘Where are you?’

He knew he had to admit it. ‘Astrometrics.’

Astor said nothing which meant she was ordering security down to the lab. ‘Can we shoot the shield generators?’

‘Possibly. A quantum torpedo should be able to penetrate their shielding and take out their shield generators.’

‘Thank you, Commander. Now open the door or you’ll end up in the brig.’

‘Yes ma’am.’ He closed the comlink and deactivated the lock.

The doors opened and three burly security officers stood there. He meekly followed the lead officer back to the bridge where he was ushered into the captain’s ready room, guarded by two officers. It looked like he would have to wait until he found out what had happened to his comrades. Astor walked in a few minutes later and the security guard left.

‘It’s quite simple, Commander. Tell me how you managed to get in to the astrometrics lab and what you did to get the full schematic of the space station or I will have you thrown into the  brig.’

Xeris hesitated for a brief moment. ‘I realised that x-rays might be able to penetrate the hull alloy of the station but I knew you’d say no because of the radiation, which is stable at three hundred rads. I used the deflector dish and then located our people.’

‘Okay, that explains that,’ Astor replied. ‘But how the hell did you get into the astrometrics lab? That requires a level three security clearance, granted only to captains and executive officers.’

‘A trick from my former employers.’

‘I want those codes so I can void them.’

‘Sorry, they are one time only codes. They will have already been voided. It was a security protocol that Section 31 decided on to prevent their agents going rogue.’

Astor looked at him but believed he was telling the truth. Without Gonzales he couldn’t be sure. ‘Alright, fine. Get back down to engineering. We’ll use your idea but I will be putting this into my official log.’

‘I expect no less, sir.’

‘Dismissed.’

*          *          *

Lieutenant Young fired a quantum torpedo at the weakest point of the station’s shields and the shield itself collapsed, as Xeris predicted. The transporter chief beamed the away team aboard and the senior officers went directly to the bridge to take their posts.

‘Captain?’ Gonzales asked as she replaced Young at tactical.

‘Detonate the tricobalt device, it would appear that we’ve outstayed our welcome,’ Astor answered.

‘Yes sir,’ the Betazoid replied and pressed the trigger.

‘Ensign, take us to ten million kilometres. I don’t want to get caught in the shockwave.’

‘Aye sir.’

The weapons platform shook itself as the fusion core’s shields fell. The explosion tore through the lower levels and the platform started to lose altitude.

‘I would say that this station won’t pose a problem for us any longer,’ Wright added with a smirk.

Astor looked over at him. ‘Indeed. Ensign, set a course back to Jumani Prime. Warp five.’

‘Jumani Prime, warp five. Aye sir.’

Astor decided to walk the ship, something she hadn’t done since they arrived in the sector, and found herself in engineering. Xeris had his people running diagnostics and performing the usual tasks that the engines on a starship needed to be at optimum efficiency.

‘Commander, walk with me.’

Xeris looked up from the console he was working on and rose. Astor strode from engineering and he joined her.

‘Sir?’ he asked as they walked along the corridor.

‘There is no one here but the two of us. Tell me the truth. Do you still work for Section 31 or are you now a free agent so to speak?’

‘I don’t work for Section 31 any longer, Captain. I was honest when I told you that. But I still have the instincts that they forced into me – and I am not sorry that I usurped control of the deflector for the purpose of saving our people.’

‘I will be putting a mark in your permanent file. You will not disobey me again, nor will you use tricks from your former employer to take over control of this ship or any part of it. Is that understood?’

‘Yes ma’am.’

‘Good. Get back to engineering. I don’t think that we’ll be needing a quick getaway but you can never be sure.’

‘Aye sir,’ Xeris said and walked away from her as fast as he could. As soon as she was out of sight he made a detour to his quarters and attached an encrypted server to his computer terminal. The Starfleet logo appeared on his screen, followed by a familiar face. A face that many people in the fleet hated, including him.

‘Well?’ asked the man wearing a Starfleet admiral’s uniform.

‘Your foolproof plan has backfired,’ Xeris spoke with contempt rather than respect.

The admiral grimaced. ‘I take it that you confessed?’

‘I did, but I had to act and because of that I know that she doesn’t trust me.’

‘What happened?’

‘Some of her crew got stuck on the Xegnotin weapons platform. I had to get them off.’

‘You didn’t have to, but that is beside the point. What happened to the station?’

‘Astor destroyed it.’

‘Damn. You’re my eyes and ears in that god-forsaken sector of space, you’re supposed to be looking out for my interests. I want you to keep at it.’

‘Yes sir,’ Xeris replied, still showing no signs of respect. ‘What of the Xegnotin? Have they outlived their usefulness?’

‘Not in the least. You know my views on Starfleet’s “new era of exploration.” It’s time that we took a page from the Romulan book and started to conquer systems, to expand and control the quadrant, and then the galaxy. Any coup starts with a small step and that’ll be your job. Your supposed background within Starfleet has been checked out by Astor, she has no idea that it’s false.’

‘Am I supposed to stall investigations if we come up against the Xegnotin again?’ Xeris asked. He knew that his “supposed” Starfleet background was real but the admiral was too stupid to realise what was happening.

‘No, that would be too suspicious. But if you get a chance to speak to one of them, let them know that we’re still interested in the deal. If it wasn’t for them we still might be at war with the Dominion. The Federation owes us a great deal and we intend to collect, sooner rather than later.’

‘Yes sir,’ Xeris replied. ‘On another matter, where have you decided to set up your new base?’

‘You’ll forgive me if I don’t reveal it, paranoia is a way of life for us.’

‘Aye sir.’

‘Jellico out.’

 

 

Epilogue

 

Xeris sighed when the screen went blank. He made another call and the Starfleet logo reappeared. It was followed by a familiar face that was well-liked in the Admiralty.

‘What happened?’ Admiral Tchaikovsky asked.

‘Jellico bought it hook, line and sinker.’

‘You know, Commander, that you’re playing a dangerous game. Section 31 could find out what you’re doing.’

‘Sir, we need to find out where they are so they can be brought to justice for what they’ve done. At the moment I’m the only one in a position to help.’

‘True,’ Tchaikovsky said. ‘Has he checked out his false background for you?’

‘Yes. Rest assured Admiral, I will find out where Section 31 have situated themselves. I have a score to settle with Edward Jellico and I intend to do that. If you’ll forgive the expression Admiral, you’re mission is a means to an end for me. If I can deal with Jellico I will.’

Tchaikovsky smiled. ‘I expect nothing less. Tchaikovsky out.’

Xeris shut down the machine and returned to engineering. He was playing sides off against each other and that was always dangerous. But there will come a day when everything will come out and when that day came he knew that he would be vindicated in everyone’s eyes.

But for now, all he could do was wait.

*          *          *

Astor sat in her chair on the bridge watching the events on the viewscreen. The Galileo was in a low orbit of Jumani Prime and Astor knew that they were busy coordinating the repair of planetary systems that had been running on their own since the outbreak began more than a day ago. While she sat there another vessel entered the system. It was the Odyssey, carrying the Winceby in a tractor beam.

‘Captain Zion, thank you for your assistance in this matter,’ Astor said.

‘My pleasure, Captain Astor. I was hoping to have a little diversion. But we’re about to get underway now, both of us. The Jumani are capable of handling the rest on their own. Good luck with your mission. Zion out.’

Astor smiled. Things were going alright at the moment.

 

Captain’s Log, stardate 58221.6:

With the Xegnotin weapons platform destroyed, their immediate threat in the sector has been eliminated. But there are other problems that we must face. Lieutenant Commander Xeris has shown a disregard for the chain of command and proper protocols and I enter into my log on this date a report to that effect. No punishment is to be taken at this time but my chief engineer will be scrutinised for some time to come. We face solutions as well. The Osiris is in orbit of Yenson III, a neutral planet in a system that is uninhabited, for the purposes of the first peace summit between the new Jumani Republic and the reinstated Abanaki Consensus.

Supreme Commander Trew, the former leader of the Jumani Militia is currently being held under guard on Jumani Prime, he will be tried for war crimes by his own people. Trew’s replacement as Chief of Military Operations is Admiral Tyar, a man we have had dealings with before. The new leaders of both planets have arranged a speech and they asked us to be here, so it is only out of respect that we attend. I believe that this will represent a new balance of power in the sector and I can only hope that it stays stable for the foreseeable future

 

Premier Roti Kei welcomed Admiral Tyar and Minister Erit with open arms. Both parties had been through some problems in recent days and Astor had hoped that meeting now, while the problems were fresh in their minds, would be beneficial. She stepped to the podium in the hastily erected conference centre.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, as you probably know by now, I am Captain Elizabeth Astor of the Federation starship Osiris. I will  be your Federation representative until future notice, well, until Starfleet reassigns me which I hope will not be for some time yet. I am pleased to be here to open negotiations for a peace treaty between your peoples, and I would now like to turn the floor over to Minister Erit of the Jumani Republic.’

‘The Jumani have been waging war against the Abanaki for many years for a slight that occurred between our peoples a long time ago. As you know we were recently attacked by the Xegnotin and approximately a third of our population was killed before the Starfleet medical team, led by Doctor Solian Brex, was able to provide us with a cure. We can ill afford the war any more and it is time to put our differences aside and work together, not just for the benefit of both our peoples but also to pool our resources against a common threat.’

Premier Kei stood up and went to stand beside Erit. Astor looked surprised but she knew that several communications had been exchanged between the two new leaders in the days working up to this historic moment.

‘The threat of the Xegnotin affects us all, any of our worlds could be next.’ He looked toward Erit who nodded. ‘It is this new threat that we face that has prompted this new action.’

‘What’s going on?’ Wright asked.

‘I have no idea,’ Astor answered.

‘It was decided that the leaderships of both worlds should form a Serik Alliance and ask as many planets to join as is possible, to gain allies against the threat of the Xegnotin and anyone else that thinks they can destroy our new way of life. Maybe one day in the future we can all look forward to joining the galaxy-spanning Federation family, but for now—’ Erit continued.

‘—we must work together in our small corner of the galaxy to make our lives better and to rebuild our planets from the damage caused by more than a decade of war,’ Kei finished.

‘I wasn’t expecting that,’ Astor admitted.

‘You’ve got to admit, it sounds like a good plan,’ Gonzales added.

‘It does indeed.’

 

Astor realised that the Osiris was no longer needed and after the reception she decided that they should get on with their mission to explore this sector. Once they were underway Astor called a meeting of the senior staff in the situation room.

‘It would seem that our mission here has so far been a success,’ she said. ‘A new alliance has been formed that will benefit all its member worlds, so far two, and the balance of power has been stabilised in this area.’

‘What about the Xegnotin?’ Gonzales asked. ‘They’ll be on the lookout for retribution against us or the Alliance for destroying their weapons platform and warships.’

‘We’ll be keeping an eye out for them, as will the Serik Alliance. The Borg are trapped in the Delta Quadrant, thanks to Voyager, and I doubt the Dominion will be leaving the Gamma Quadrant anytime soon. The galaxy is the most stable it has been for more than two decades, and other than the Romulans—which Captain Riker is dealing with—and the Klingons and Cardassians, who are still our allies, at least for the time being, the Federation has nothing to worry about.’

‘Except the Xegnotin, they represent a significant threat,’ Gonzales put in.

‘That’s what we’re here for,’ Wright interjected.

‘Where do we go from here?’ Larson asked.

‘I think it’s time that we did what Starfleet was originally chartered to do two hundred years ago, explore,’ Astor answered. ‘Set a course the nearest uncharted system. Dismissed.’

Everyone stood up and looked at each other, smiling as they left the room.

All except one.