Chapter 2: All I Ask is a Tall Ship (part 4)

Chapter 2: ALL I ASK IS A TALL SHIP (part 4)

He then activated and decoded the next secure message and read through it carefully. After displaying a slightly restrained reaction to its contents, the Captain then prepared to share the next bit of information revealed within the message to his captive audience.

“Hmmm… it would seem that we do indeed live in interesting times… and your concern for the sanity of Starfleet… Well, Mister Pasqual... it may have just reached a new level.”

He then began to provide an overview of the message.

“It seems that another diplomat will eventually be joining us. This time though it will be a Klingon rather than a Vulcan.”

He allowed a moment for that statement to sink in before continuing.

“According to these records... K’Vada, once a Klingon Captain, commanded the cloaked Bird of Prey that covertly transported then Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Data to Romulus to investigate the presence and intention of Ambassador Spock on that world. According to this memo, he is currently en route to a rendezvous with us… that is once we have launched. The details of this transfer are listed as highly secure and will not be disclosed until we are underway; and only then via an encrypted secured channel.”

Sterling then referenced back through this classified historical records and made an interesting and rather relevant discovery.

“It would seem, Counselor,” Sterling disclosed “that there is a connection between K’Vada and the Vulcan diplomats that you met with… perhaps something that you can follow up with before we meet with the Klingon envoy. According to several entries here… K’Vada was introduced to these Vulcans through then Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Worf sometime after their departure from the Klingon commander’s ship those many years ago. It would seem that reluctantly, in time, K’Vada came to respect the honor and bravery of these Vulcans and their unyielding endeavor to be a voice of progressiveness in the Vulcan Council as they each continued to share information that they gathered related to the activity occurring throughout the Romulan Star Empire."

Sterling then pondered.

"How they were able to accomplish this without governmental interference from either side is a fascinating mystery… one that you may be able to eventually help us to uncover, Mister Pasqual.”

K'Vada. Frazetti needed to look that name up. Also find information on these Vulcans. And this Romulan guy...

As he concluded this portion of the conversation with the ship’s counselor and the First Officer, he looked back at the viewscreen and noticed another encrypted message from Starfleet. After carefully digesting the message, he looked backed over to the counselor still sitting across from him, looking somewhat perplexed and concerned as Sterling processed the recent disclosures.

“Well, Mister Pasqual, it seems that this diplomatic scenario just continues to become even more intriguing.”

He looked up at the two officers and informed them with a bemused expression:

“Meeting up with the Klingon will not be our only stop… we also have a rendezvous scheduled with…” and he looked at each of them with a very serious expression and completed his statement “a Romulan delegate who will also be representing the Federation position.”

Frazetti arched one blonde eyebrow.

"Hold the phone, Boss; a Romulan delegate representin' the Federation position? An' what's dis connection you're talkin' about? Is it a good one, or do we need t' be reinforcin' the Diplomatic Suite doors? Last I heard, the Klingons were kinda pissed 'bout dis whole deal. One of 'em -how'd dey put it?"

She paused, trying to remember the report.

"Be careful you do not find an Honor Blade... or a Klingon dk’tang... lodged in that bleeding heart of yours. There will be repercussions"

She did it in the best dramatic scary voice she could. "Or somethin' t' dat effect." Frazetti paused, thinking. "Romulans an' Vulcans an' Klingons, oh my... Boss, Counselor, it occurs t' me dat we may wanna, at some point, bring in Mistuh Falcar on dis. He can give us da worm's eye view of t'ings, tell us what t' expect from da Romulan Delegation. Have dey been informed on all dis?"

Sterling turned to Hartzer.

“An interesting proposition Commander… perhaps once Sub Lieutenant Falcar is acclimated to his post and his overall responsibilities, you and Mister Pasqual could approach this Romulan helm officer and gauge his interest and availability on such a proposition.”

He then turned his attention back to his computer terminal and stated:

”Let’s see if we can first dig up some background on this upcoming Romulan delegate.

Upon researching through the databanks, Sterling found several historical reference to this Romulan delegate.

“According to these records, D'Tan was a young Romulan living on Romulus in 2368 while Spock was working covertly on the foundations of the unification process. D'Tan was greatly influenced by his parents, who taught him the Vulcan language. One of his favorite books was one that told the story of the Vulcan separation. Later on Romulus, D'Tan eventually caught up with Spock and showed him his small carved stones, which Spock described as the syllabic nucleus of the Vulcan language. D'Tan revealed to Spock that his parents used these and several books as they taught him the Vulcan language beginning when he was a small boy.”

Sterling then read through a series of reports and memos about D'Tan as he grew and matured. The key element through all of his efforts was that he truly believed that Romulus would someday reunify with Vulcan.

“It also states here that D'Tan continued to participate and eventually help lead in the semi-underground efforts to bring Romulan society closer to this reunification reality. Over the years, he remained a friend and correspondent to Ambassador Spock and at one point was stealthily given passage for a brief visit to Vulcan and later to a federation Council meeting. He has remained a staunch leader of Spock's underground movement for Vulcan-Romulan reunification: apparently even up through all of these recent events.”

Sterling then turned back from the viewscreen and toward Pasqual.

“I’m sure that you have more thoughts regarding this situation as it is now unfolding Counselor, but understand… this is the hand that we are currently being dealt… and also, we all must realize that in all likely-hood that we can’t just turn in these delegates in exchange for a new set… like cards in a game. Therefore in all practicality, how would you suggest that we proceed?

"Warily, Captain Sir," retorted Ray deadpan. "I fear that, in this chess game, we are the pawns. All this sounds like but a part of something much bigger than a simple peace overture... and, considering who and what we are, we are either in this because we are deemed an effective decoy, readily expendable... or planted as the perfect scapegoats if something goes wrong."

Sitting back and crossing his arms again, he smirked humorlessly as he finished:

"Or all of the above, Captain Sir."

Sterling sighed at the response.

“I understand your trepidation Counselor, and to a degree I even share in your apprehension. However, what I am requesting from each of you is something pragmatic... a plan or an idea that we can actually enact while we have these three Vulcan delegates on board and before we round up the additional delegates.”

Sterling then gazed at the Ship’s Counselor intently.

“Even a pawn if played effectively in conjunction with the other pieces Mr. Pasqual can win the game… or at least be turned in for a more valuable game piece. It will be up to each of us to be strategically thinking and preparing many moves ahead and strive to be always contemplating a potential opponent’s possible next moves.”

"Aye, Captain Sir... this be true but only as long as we will be the players."

* * *

Doctor Cyl stepped in to his office and sat back down in his basic deck chair before tapping his combadge.

"Alpha shift science teams and ship counselor, please report to sickbay."

He then looked over at his computer and noticed one name that was pass due.

"Additionally, will Lieutenant Commander Archer report to sickbay?"

Then, Jayvin put up his feet and began to whistle the Starfleet fight song as he went back to reviewing his personal files.

"She is cute" He mumbled to himself, thinking of the nurse he had left with the Romulan pilot earlier.

Jayvin finished with the last of his personal reports and set his PADD aside before looking at the roster on his screen. A frown crossed his lips as he saw a number of names still hadn't reported in.

He tapped his comm and once again requested them.

"Alpha shift engineering members please report to sickbay. Also anyone that is on alpha has not reported to sickbay please report to sickbay asap or I shall have to test out the medical transporters. Yes this means you Lieutenant Commander Archer, Lieutenant Commander Pasqual and Lieutenant M'elena."

The Orion Counselor looked at his commanding officer and the blonde XO with a shark-like smile.

"Quite pushy for a guy more interested with ship hardware than fellow officers now, isn't he?"

Tapping his combadge, Ray then answered the CMO's call:

"Pasqual to Doctor Cyl; you keep interrupting a meeting with the commanding officer of this ship without any established medical emergency and I will have you relieved of duty and report immediately for psychological evaluation and stress-related examination under my authority as Ship Counselor."

Doctor Cyl raised his eyebrow at that reply. He paused a a moment before replying.

"Doctor Cyl to Mister Pasqual. I was unaware of this meeting. So, I do apologize for following the captain's order to give the crew a medical exam before clearing them for duty. Oh, and that does mean, 'till I approve your medical status, you are NOT the ship counselor."

Cyl smiled to himself. He never did like being bullied around.

"And until I approve your psychological fitness for duty, you are NOT the ship chief medical officer. And let me state for the record and before the commanding officer of this ship and his executive officer, that your psychological evaluation IS proceeding as we speak... and NOT looking good so far. Will see you soon in your office... and then, in mine."

Ray again sent a telling look to both senior officers with him.

He was showing that he did knew his job and cared to do it properly. But he was also making it very clear to everyone that he would not take that kind of crap from anyone without them having a serious fight on their hands. His peculiar Starfleet record told volumes about how he did not even flinch before the entire command of Starfleet, let alone one bullying ship doctor.

Especially since he enjoyed such fights so much.

Maybe I'm gonna like it on this ship after all, he surprised himself thinking.

At the other end of the line, Cyl laughed a bit to himself. This fellow was starting to sound like a Tellarite, arguing just to argue.

"You haven't read my file have you? I have been psychologically and medically fit for duty by Starfleet Medical ten days ago. It is standard practice for newly joined Trills about to undergo space travel. So, unless the Captain feels that a troubled Orion like you has better know of the working of the Trillian mind than Starfleet medical trill experts I am cleared for duty, Mister." ''You haven't read my file, have you?'' laughed out loud the Counselor. ''Then I suggest you do read my last bill of health from Starfleet Starbase Security done no later than yesterday, doctor. It is a clean one and up to date. And you, Doctor, will have an appointment with me after I am dismissed by the captain here. Obviously, your last evaluation was quite faulty as it missed your inclination to egotism, up to the point of persisting in interrupting without a valid reason a command staff meeting.''

The tone of the Orion man was grave and formal over the comm channel. But in the captain's ready room, he was smiling with obvious amusement.

Still, his eyes were deadly serious. It was clear that he enjoyed the verbal bout, but annoyed, worried even, at the complete lack of respect and common sense of the chief medical officer.

"My egotism? I was merely doing my job by performing preliminary medical exams as requested by the captain. Then you had to threaten to do dismiss me as chief medical officer. I continue to interrupt that meeting as to show to the Captain just what level of respect you give your fellow officer. Now if that is enough, I will let you get back your meeting."

''Most kind, Doctor. Thank you.''

Strangely enough, there was no irony in the green-skinned man's tone of voice. Raising a hand to the unseen speaker, he looked pointedly at the captain:

''As I said; a crew like none in Starfleet...''

Looking at both senior officers he shrugged but still smiled.

"Anything else, Captain Sir?"

Sterling smiled ever so slightly as the Counselor skillfully parried with Chief Medical Officer Cyl then immediately afterward switched his attention and addressed the First Officer’s suggestions.

There is a highly cognitive and introspective man and quite a warrior’s spirit clearly evident within that tightly fabricated and practiced veneer of a detached prankster that Pasqual masterfully projects Sterling thought to himself as he watched him in action. Yet, poke through that facade and the true skills, passion and dedication come out roaring like a challenged yet controlled predator.

This was what he needed on this mission; a lion tamer who has the heart, soul and predatory skills of a lion himself.

“I believe, Mister Pasqual, that there is more in that basket than mere crabs; perhaps also a shark or two among other creatures lurking yet to be detected.” The Captain responded as he began to carefully analyze the overall situation with the limited information he had at this point. “However” Sterling reflected, “I believe that this mission is more like being handed a Rubic’s cube than a chess game or a basket of crustaceans.”

He saw the bewildered expressions on the faces of his officers and therefore elaborated on specifically on what he was referencing.

“The Rubik's Cube was a three-dimensional mechanical puzzle that roughly resembled a miniaturized Borg cube invented in the late twentieth century by a Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ern Rubik. In a classic Rubik's Cube, each of the six faces was covered by nine stickers, among six solid colors: traditionally white, red, blue, orange, green, and yellow. A pivot mechanism enabled each face to turn independently, thus mixing up the colors. For the puzzle to be solved, each face must be a solid color.”

The Captain reflected for a moment then connected this to his correlation.

“His actual purpose was solving the structural problem of moving parts independently without the entire mechanism falling apart; much like we are going to be attempting to accomplish with this mission and our diplomats. In actuality, the puzzle consisted of twenty-six unique miniature cubes. Each of these included a concealed inward extension that interlocks with the other cubes, while permitting them to move to different locations. However, the centre cube of each of the six faces is merely a single square façade; all six are affixed to the core mechanism. These provide structure for the other pieces to fit into and rotate around. So there are twenty-one pieces: a single core piece consisting of three intersecting axes holding the six centre squares in place but letting them rotate, and twenty smaller plastic pieces which fit into it to form the assembled puzzle.”

The Captain elaborated then after a short pause:

“I mention the details of this cube’s assembly only as an analogy to the many hidden mechanisms and agendas that may be shifted and manipulated from the inside to affect what we perceive on the exterior of all of the diplomats and antagonists that will be attempting to shift and rotate the direction and the outcome of our mission.”

He then began to focus on his point, looking at each one of them in turn.

“To the majority of beings who attempted to solve this intriguing puzzle, it became nothing more than a frustrating exercise in futility because they just randomly twisted and turned the sides and sections of their cubes… with literally trillions of possible permutations existing. However, there were a select few who began to approach resolution systematically. They developed specific algorithms, a sequence of moves that had a desired effect of resolving the cube through a series of specific rotations and maneuvers that resulted in each of the six sides having the same individual color sequence.”

Sterling inhaled deeply and stated as seriously as ever:

“I don’t want to focus our time, energy, talents, and resources on the permutations of why this mission may fail. This is pointless and not much different than the individuals that mindlessly just spun and complained about the impossibility of completing their puzzle. Instead, this is our challenge to conscientiously resolve”.

The Captain then stood up and commanded:

“We need to know, in as precise and accurate detail as possible, the mechanism existing and moving beneath each of our delegates… on both sides of the table, so that we can begin to develop our own algorithms to solve this elaborate puzzle of a mission.”

Sterling then turned to face the Counselor more directly.

“Therefore, Mister Pasqual, your primary duty is to meet with each of these delegates and get to know them; their strengths and weaknesses. What are their actual agendas and how are they planning on achieve them? As you are doing this, you’ll also need to be developing and testing your own procedural and diplomatic algorithms for when the meetings occur.”

He then looked at them both.

“Failure is not an option, and therefore neither is approaching this situation unprepared or negatively!” the captain exclaimed forcefully.

He then turned to his First Officer.

“Once we are situated and en route, Commander Hartzer, I want you to work with Lieutenant Commander Archer in testing the mettle and skills of our Romulan Helm officer… before we rendezvous with D’Tan. Find out what you can about this officer… how he ended up involved in Starfleet and his thoughts and perspectives on this specific mission, and whether he know D’Tan in any capacity.”

Sterling then stood up and announced:

“You each have your assigned duties and we will meet again after launch to discuss your progress with them. Dismissed.”

''I will assume my duties at once, as per your direct orders, Captain Sir!'' stated emphatically the Orion Counselor as he stood up.

He had carefully checked first that his combadge was still open.

And so, offering the executive officer passage out of the captain's ready room first with a bow and a flaring gesture of his arms, he nodded respectfully to his commanding officer and exited after her to go straight to the turbolift.

His gaze towards the captain was truly one of sudden deep respect and admiration. The man was much more complex and brilliant than the average Starfleet officers he had met. But then again, he had never before being so close already to a starship Captain.

Fact was, he had never wanted or tried to. He had all thought them stuffed-up, self-important, rulebound popinjaes, like too many high ranking bureaucrats... and some chief medical officers, come to think of it.

This has been an eye-opening experience indeed...

And they had not even left spacedock yet.

Frazetti felt her estimation of the man rise several notches, and she mentally congratulated herself on landing this role, even if it was unexpected. She wouldn’t have a better study case. She straightened as he addressed her and nodded.

Nice t’ know my ideas ain’t completely useless…

But how to carry out her orders? Intelligence would be the first priority. Then Archer and her could work out a strategy.

Then he dismissed then. Pasqual held the door, a gentleman, she should have known, and she responded with a quick flash of her bright smile and a jaunty tip of the hat.

“Thanks, Mistuh Pasqual.”

Been a while since a guy opened a door for her. It seemed he was rethinking his opinion of the command team as complete morons.

Well. One of them at least. She felt like a goddamn cadet at the Academy again in that room, missing the obvious. He had been more helpful than she had, and it bothered her. She was the first officer. Helpful was her job. And failure was not an option.

Futz.

She stopped by her room on the way back to Ops, and went to the replicator. There, she spoke.

“Computer: replicate a Rubric’s Cube.”
A brightly colored, palm sized object appeared in a swirl of light. She took it and examined it curiously. It didn’t look like much… Experimentally, she mixed up all the sides, then tried to solve it.

Quickly, the basis for his metaphor became apparent. Every time she thought she had it, something went wrong, and before she knew it ten minutes had passed with her fiddling with the device. Extremely tricky.

She grinned.

I see ya point, boss, yes indeedy I do...

Then, because she was stubborn and never one to back down from a challenge, she put it back and said out loud:

“Computer: Replicate at half size.”

When she exited her quarters, she did so with the puzzle unobtrusively in her pocket. After which, she headed to Ops, where she met the rest of her department and got it ready for departure.

As the two officers walked out, Sterling looked down to see his nearly full cup of green tea… which he could feel was now basically cold.

He hadn’t even offered the two officers attending the impromptu meeting a beverage because frankly, he had simply forgotten.

He walked over to the replicator and ordered a cup of hot mint tea; this time with some honey added. He then walked back over to his large leather chair and sat down and took another sip. It was quite good.

Still sitting in spacedock and yet he was already somewhat exhausted.

He then looked at the small desktop screen and decided to go through and catch up on all of his unseen correspondences. Sterling wanted everything in order and ready to proceed before they exited out of those immense spacedock doors.

Approximately forty-five minutes later, the Captain was all caught up with correspondences.

After a while, he finally activated the shipwide communications switch:

“This is Captain Sterling” he began and then allowed a few seconds for the crew to prepare for a message. “Attention all Bridge Officers and Department Heads; You need to report your readiness to launch to First Officer Commander Hartzer within the next ten minutes… and not a moment later. Captain out.”

He would be back in the Icarus’ center seat in ten minutes awaiting a full report from the First Officer.

The time for hesitation was over.

And there was certainly no hesitancy in Ray Quinn Pasqual's immediate activation of his portable emitter while he was nearing the VIP quarters.

''Pasqual to Hartzer; Ship Counselor ready and already on the job. See you on the bridge in ten minutes.''

Then he stopped in front of the VIP quarters door, took a deep breath and chimed.
At least, logical and methodical Vulcans were easy to get immediately to the point. Ten minutes was just about what he needed.

In his quarters not far from there, Janus Falcar looked at the bottle and, after the last half hour, a fifth was missing. He placed the cap on the bottle, rose and took it back into the bedroom area. He placed the bottle back under his clothes and closed the drawer.

Falcar then left his quarters but stopped reaching the doorway. He turned around and got the PADD from his desk and then left the room. He walked through the corridor, and stepped onto the turbo lift.

“Computer, where is the First Officer?”

“Commander Hartzer is currently on deck 6.” Said the feminine voice.

That was vague, He thought. Then he asked out loud: “Where is the Captain.”

“Captain Sterling is on deck 1.” Said the feminine voice again.

Hmm, I can’t get lost trying to search for her, guess the captain will do.

“Bridge.” He spoke.

* * *

Brian stopped looking over the crew files and listened to the captain's brief address as did Cadet Thran next to him. In the last couple of hours they had powered through nearly three quarters of the crew records screening them for any potential security risks. Nothing had stood out thus far that indicated any potential threats. As Captain Sterling finished Brian turned to Thran.

"Let's go Mister Thran, we're headed to the bridge."

"Aye Sir."

The pair left the security office and made their way to the turbolift.

"Bridge." Brian commanded as the doors closed.

The lift began its short trip to the bridge and Brian turned to his charge.

"So, why Starfleet Mister Thran?"

"Sir?"

"Why Starfleet? Why not stay with the ADF?"

Thran offered a smile "I wasn't going anywhere with the Defense Force. My father is an Admiral and consequently the expectations placed on me were a bit...harsh. So I decided to go where no one knew who I was."
"I see, I can sympathize. My father is a retired Starfleet Captain, and my great great great grandfather..."

"I know Sir, Jonathan Archer. First captain of the Enterprise, President of the Federation."

"I see, I suppose that information isn't hard to find."

"No Sir, but I know how I felt when people brought up my father so I didn't see the point in saying anything."

"Thank you. It is not something I usually bring up. It caused me no end of trouble when I was in the Academy."

"I can only imagine," Thran replied smiling again.

The turbolift stopped then, and the doors opened depositing them onto the Icarus bridge. They moved to the tactical station and Brian pointed to the second chair.

"When we're up here that chair is yours Mister Thran unless I tell you otherwise."

"Yes Sir."

"Good, now let's check the diagnostics I had running."

Brian tapped a few commands into the console and pulled up the tactical diagnostics screen.

"Looks like the board is green Commander." Thran said

"I agree Mister Thran," Brian replied as he tapped his combadge

"Archer to Hartzer, Commander tactical and security is stood up and ready for duty."

* * *

Serving in Starfleet, a doctor got used to two facts.

Fact one: when someone needs you, they expect to be healed in minutes if not seconds.

And fact two: everyone ignores what you require.

Unfortunately for the crew, neither Cyl nor Jayvin enjoyed being ignored. So, after another ten minutes of waiting, Jayvin's approved the use of transporter to collect the remainder of the alpha shift crew during the remaining thirty-five minutes... well, other than the captain and the XO; he would get them on the bridge.

Yes, this did include Lieutenant Commander Archer, Cadet Thran and anyone else who didn't visit sickbay.

Sitting on the bridge next to Cadet Thran Brian was shocked to feel the familiar grip of the transporter and was even more shocked when he materialized in Sickbay. As he came to the realization of what had happened he was furious that the ship's doctor would resort to something like this to get him to Sickbay when a simple call on the comm would have accomplished the same thing.

"Computer, Brian barked, Security lockdown on all transporters authorization Archer November-Xray-zero-zero-one."

The computer beeped in compliance and Brian looked around at the medical staff many of whom were staring at him.

"Who's in charge down here? Where is the doctor?"

"Thank you for finally visiting us Lieutenant Commander." said with a smile Lieutenant Precourt. "Glad you could make time for your, Captain required, visit. I shall get the doctor."

She stepped away as the other nurses went to scan the pair.

Moments later Doctor Cyl and Head Nurse Precourt were back.

"Oh good for you two join us, Lieutenant Commander Archer, if thirty minutes later then required."

Brian glared at the Icarus doctor and, approaching him, he placed his hand gently on Cyl's shoulder.

"Doctor," he began and as he did so he locked in his fingers to the pressure point located in that region, not hard but enough to get the doctor's attention. "I don't know who you think you are, but if you ever transport me away from anywhere again unless I am in dire need of medical attention, I will lock you in the brig, take your combadge and forget where I put you. A physical is NOT a valid reason to use the transporters for site to site transports without command authorization and I seriously doubt Captain Sterling authorized this. I hope we're clear."

* * *

Ah. Better get goin'. “Mistuh Phelix, duty calls,” First officer Hartzer said, already moving right after the Captain's departure orders were heard over ship intercom.

“Aye, Commander. Good luck,” he said cheerfully as he moved to take her place and finish the final scans. “Give us two more minutes and we’re ready.”

“Luck ain’t got nuthin’ t’ do with it,” she said, smiling back at him. Then she was heading to the bridge. As she did, she got reports from both Sec-Tac and Pasqual. It was a good start...

And, abruptly, her PADD beeped at her, two feet from the turbo to the bridge. She had wired general ship's status to it, just in case, and as Ops officer it came in handy. She blinked and looked at it, then swore.

Security had locked down the transporters?

Hell’s bells, what’s going on? Her mind ran through half a dozen scenarios but she squashed her immediate suspicion. It could be nuthin’, she thought, but it never killed nobody t’ check neither. Ma didn’t raise no fool.

She tapped her badge.

“Mistuh Archer, did you just lock down da transporters? What’s happenin’?”

Her tone wasn’t accusatory, merely inquiring, and steady, not alarmed or panicky. She was rather proud of it. If it was a real emergency, she and the Captain needed to be the islands of calm and reason. A direct quote from the command handbook at the Academy, but it worked well here nonetheless. She looked up his location at the nearest terminal.
Sickbay?

What was going on in Sickbay?

Brian released his grip on the doctor's shoulder as the first officer's voice came over his combadge. He tapped it and responded:

"Yes Commander, I did lock down the transporters. It seems our good doctor has some uncertainty about what a valid reason is to transport a crew member directly to sickbay...but I think I've cleared it up for him."

Frazetti paused, thinking. It didn’t sound ok. Maybe she needed to talk to Doctor Cyl and Archer. She added it to the list of potential problems in her head, but she’d only act on it if it happened a second time. She preferred to try and let people solve their own problems; it was better for them, and easier for her, all at the same time. And when she did have to get involved, it generally meant that there was a good reason. But… They seemed to have resolved it. Somewhat. For now.

“Very well den, Mistuh Archer. Frazetti out,” she said. Maybe she should look into it anyways…??

Dammit, girl, stop second guessin’ yourself. Ya ain’t gonna solve no problems like dat.

Doctor Cyl smiled at the Lieutenant Commander as he talked.

"And if you repeatedly ignore an order from me again, Lieutenant, I will have you relieved of duty and perform a level 5 medical exam on you, taking a week to verify each and every one of your DNA strains before releasing you."

He then glanced to his nurses before adding, with a smile of course.

"Well it seems your exams had cleared, you are free to leave, Mister Archer."

Brian glared at Cyl again with a stare that could have chilled a Klingon.

"You try it doctor...and we'll see who wins."

With that Brian ended what he considered a pointless argument by walking out of Sickbay.

The Trill doctor was in his office where a message beeped on his desk computer; and at the same moment, the head nurse came to Cyl with a bewildered look on her face.

In her hand, she held a combadge; it had materialized alone, without its owner. It did not take any computer inquiry for the Doctor to know who was missing...

Doctor Cyl was no surprised to see afterwards from whom had come the private message on his desk terminal showing a waving finger as it said in a reproacheful voice:

''Uh uh uh! You did not say the magic word...''

* * *

Chief Petty Officer John Drake took a stance within the assembled security crew in cargo bay three and listened intently to the Chief Tac-Sec officer of the USS Icarus. He wanted to make sure not to be noticed, but also be noticed as present and accounted for. An interested but downcast attitude would largely guarantee more freedom of movement about the ship while avoiding a restrictive assignment, which would curtail his planned activities on the Icarus.

His modified combadge vibrated against his chest, informing him of a coded piggy-back signal arriving, and he waited patiently for the briefing to conclude.

With a bated breath, John meandered toward the exit with most of the crowd once they were all dismissed by Lieutenant Commander Archer. Being on Beta shift allowed him some breathing room. And, the order to always carry their phasers was welcome news. Although deadly in hand to hand combat due to extensive training in the Tal Diann, Drake was silently happy that he could now go armed at all times.

Entering the nearest turbo lift with a pair of other security crewmen, he waited for them to exit and then, alone in the empty lift, ordered it to the forward deflector array control. A minute or two passed quickly and John exited in the main shuttle bay forward, just aside of the main deflector control room.

Coming in nonchalantly, he nodded to the on duty ensign and petty officer and informed them that he was doing a routine security sweep. Once their nods of acceptance were noted, he made his way past them and their control panel and into the array's main chamber. The huge dish hummed patiently, generating its power in a barely audible him.

Once beside the massive unit, its harmonics and subspace interference masking his subterfuge, John accessed the coded message via his PADD link to his comm badge. The message had arrived piggy backed within the Star Fleet traffic encoded to the Icarus, and was a sub-set of the signal power which sent the official message. After reading it, John nodded to himself and deleted the now memorized data.

Still pretending to scan the compartment as a security sweep, Drake accessed various panels here and there, looking for the 'out of place' contingent specified in the security briefing.

As he searched, John also removed two isolinear chips from the secondary isolinear sub-processor of the main deflector array and replaced them with two hidden in the bottom of his PADD holster. They were optically identical, but contained a sub-routine to re-route power in a feedback loop into the deflector’s booster modulator. The resulting build up would overload the force beam generator and shut down the main deflector. The resultant back pressure on the array's EPS conduits would feed back into the warp chamber and also conceivably cause a shutdown of the warp core itself if not caught in time. Until extensive repairs could be made, warp travel would be impossible and the Icarus would be forced into sub-light speeds.

His mission accomplished, Drake exited the deflector array chamber, informed the petty officer that his station was secure, and left. His mission accomplished for the Tal Diann, John made his way to his quarters and freshened up, then went off to 'look' for other security issues, as ordered by the Icarus' Security chief.

"Deck 19."

Having instructed the computer, John leisurely waited the few minutes travel time going over his plans.

The Tal Diann, the intelligence arm of the Romulan Star Navy, had made it clear to him that they in no way wanted this diplomatic mission to succeed. Having pulled Drake from his deep cover assignment aboard Starbase 1 at Earth, they had sent him to the newly refurbished USS Icarus to hamper its mission.

Of course, getting a transfer for him was easy enough. His Starfleet profile was spotless and his six year academy record showed him as a tactical and security expert in the top percentile of his class. And it was all true.

John Drake was human, but on top of that, his sympathies for the Romulan Star Empire lay rooted in his youth. When he was five, his father, mother and two sisters had been killed by "friendly fire", according to the Federation. Then, raised by his paternal grandfather to hate the Federation, he was recruited into the Tal Diann on his fifteenth birthday.

The swish of the opening doors of the turbo lift broke John's reverie and he exited the lift. Making his way along the corridor, he went over his plans for the Icarus. Although sometimes complacent, Star Fleet officers were also known to be efficient and cunning.

Entering the large room at the left end of the hallway, he performed his expected checks methodically and noted any discrepancies or errors onto his PADD. Nothing out of the ordinary showed up, just minor tweaks here and there that would increase efficiency in the equipment. John also chatted nonchalantly with the various crew he encountered; minor greetings and how-is-your-day stuff, geared toward being unnoticed in a noticeable sort of context.

After sending his PADD notes to his superior, he left the room and went to the next across the hall. No one was in it and he methodically scanned this room as well, taking similar notes as the previous room. Having scanned the room and sending its information on up the chain, he then proceeded to sabotage the room’s equipment while no one was around.

Many minor components were here, mostly secondary back-ups and sub-control apparatus. But they were all also potential major components in the Icarus' operations, should occasion call on them. As his plan encompassed most other equipment on the Icarus as well, it made sense for him to start on the secondary systems before infecting the primaries, so that back-up switching would be corrupted. Taking the small vials from his security pouch, John affixed them into the power leads of key control panels.

The vials were made of ultritium, with a smattering of human DNA deposited on them from two ensigns from the star base engineering whom he had had drinks with the night before. The DNA should throw off any suspicion from him toward the two engineers.

Each vial's outer layer of ultritium surrounded an inner case of Saltzgadum. Both were highly undetectable to scanners. When activated by powering up the back-up systems, the ultritium explosive would break the encasement's surrounding the Saltzgadum. This substance would, in turn, alter the molecular structure of all the glass in the room.

Not overly dangerous, but as the molecular changes went on, the operating functions of all the panels in the room would be unusable due to the silicon being altered by the Saltzgadum. As the process ensued, all silicon in the vicinity would change and the equipment would become dangerously explosive when used.

Satisfied, Drake left the bridge and continued about his security sweeps, leaving deck 19 and continuing upwards on his assigned rounds.

Later, scanning the port nacelles, Drake placed a small phial of compressed tetrazine gas inside the plasma exhaust vent. Its timing mechanism, although simple, was extremely effective. In five minutes, the compressed gas in the phial would flood the exhaust port. Plasma exhaust would do the rest. The phial's twin was already in the starboard nacelle's exhaust port, timed to release with the port phial.

Transferring his tricorder "clean" findings to the tactical computer system, John made his way forward along the catwalk and placed his second charge, identical to the starboard charge planted earlier, behind the pylon EPS junction.
These two explosives, encased in verterium corteninde to mask their signatures against the same substance that the warp coils were constructed of, would destroy the EPS junctures where the support pylons connected to the nacelles of the Icarus.

The typical false DNA swipes were on the charges throughout the sweep, but this time to throw off pursuit if necessary. To add to confusion, this DNA signature was from one of the members of the deflector control watch from his previous encounter there. Gathering that man’s DNA had been effortless; simply by greeting him with a pat on the back when they had met earlier. The minute sweat trace from his uniform had transferred to his own gloved hand. A glove specifically designed to absorb these traces.

In addition, during his tenure so far aboard this new ship, John had garnered at least thirty DNA traces in similar fashion. The starboard nacelle charge contained DNA from Commander Brian Archer himself. He had left it on his cup at breakfast.

Another trace was picked up from an untended PADD left on the Captain’s chair on the bridge. An argument had distracted the bridge crew while he was doing a standard sweep of the area, and lifting the trace was a simple matter. Thus, the DNA trace of the ship’s doctor, Cyl, was on the starboard exhaust port explosive.

Exiting the nacelle through the access door, John heard the small pop of the exhaust port explosive go off as the door was closing behind him. The tetrazine gas flooded the exhaust port and awaited activation.

Drake continued to move about the Icarus, extensively; to track and record sensor sweeps of all systems for the security checks he was authorized to do. In actuality, his frequent stops included the gathering of components that, innocuous in themselves, when combined constructed his final solution for his Tal Diann mission. Stopping the Icarus diplomatic mission.

The first component he assembled was a microdyne coupler, used to delete information on a computer, leaving little or no trace. With the device in his pocket, John continued his sweeps throughout the secondary star ship systems and continued gathering his next device. Once that was completed, he made his way toward the final sweeps on his 'official' list. At last, he would be free of the Icarus and able to return to his adopted race.

Approaching the main access tunnel joining the Icarus to the star base, Drake addressed the officer's manning the security console.

"Afternoon Lieutenant; Ensign," John said casually. "Could I get your boarding logs, please?"

The recent comings and goings for the Icarus had slowed to a trickle, and the boarding umbilical was empty, as was the receiving room aboard the Icarus. As the two officers glanced at their console and ran various commands to retrieve John's security request, Drake swiftly pulled a medical infuser and sprayed both officers. The two dropped silently to the floor behind the console and John moved the boarding barrier across to obscure their sleeping forms from the umbilical walkway. The barrier was designed to funnel incoming personnel to one side of the corridor as a security choke point.

Glancing back into the Icarus, Drake made sure no one was around, and then utilized his microdyne coupler to erase the security memory on the console. Working quickly, John rapidly tapped into the Icarus security mainframe and using his rank codes, accessed the main ship's computer.

"Security override; Access protocol Alpha-niner-three."

Having gained security access to the main ships computer, John typed rapidly, inputting his planned over-rides. First: Emergency procedure Alpha Two, which bypassed main computer control and switched all systems to manual override.

With a quick switch command, John tied all access to the main and secondary ships computer's to this one console, then input his back up security; a Modulating algorithm. It effectively locked out this console to only his voice commands. In full control of the entire ship now, John proceeded with his final plan.

"Computer: Access main reactor controls."

As the newly commissioned master computer in control of the entire Icarus ship, the small computer bleeped compliance and John continued. Tapping the icons quickly, he reduced the matter/antimatter reaction rate to eight percent. This caused the plasma injectors to lock up. Now, needing to work faster, John deactivated the plasma conversion sensors and then adjusted the magnetic constrictors on the warp core.