by Edward Philibin
A tall figure stepped out from the shadows between two large rocks to the cliff's edge and stared out over the ocean, several hundred meters below, toward the setting sun. His large, solid black eyes narrowed against the sun's light, as well as the shoreward breeze ruffling the short, gray fur on his head and arms. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply and stretched his arms straight down, fingertips scraping the rocks at his feet, then straight out at the shoulders. His eyes snapped open as he stepped forward and pushed off the edge of the cliff. As he fell, membranous wings unwrapped from around his arms, catching the air.
As he began a circling descent to sea level, his communicator chirped.
"Lieutenant Commander Kele'stra, please report to the Captain's Ready Room." The neutral voice of the computer echoed unnaturally around him.
"Acknowledged." He twisted in midair, pulling his feet under him. "Computer, end program."
As the deck materialized under his feet, the artificial gravity in the holodeck rose smoothly from the .68 G of Q'arvec'ta to standard Terran gravity, reaching full just as his feet touched down. His wings wrapped around his arms as he turned and walked out the door.
As he walked the twenty meters from the holodeck to the turbolift, No'ar had to dodge three times as technicians raced past carrying yet another piece of hardware that had to be installed before Yeager could get under way. It was a relief to reach the turbolift.
The bridge was unfortunately in the same state of chaos as the rest of the ship, with about a half-dozen Starbase technicians and several of the ship's engineers feverishly working. No'ar picked his way past the three techs apparently rebuilding the flight controller's console from scratch and stood by the ready room door.
"Come." As Captain Marshall's voice faded, the door hissed open. No'ar stepped through and let it close behind him.
"Lieutenant Commander No'ar Kele'stra reporting as ordered, sir."
The captain turned his chair from the window, placing the padd he was working with on the desk. "At ease. Have a seat, Mr. Kele'stra."
No'ar sat, not noticeably relaxed.
"Now, then. I've been reviewing your service record. It is, for the most part, very impressive." He touched a key on the terminal on his desk. "You left the Academy in the top five percent of your class. You spent three years as flight controller on the Phoenix; Captain Maxwell rated your performance quite highly. Two years on the Akagi, then four years as second officer of the Galaxy."
No'ar cleared his throat. "Three years, actually, sir. I was named second officer after Commander Selten was reassigned."
The captain glanced back at the display. "Ah, yes." He switched the display off and turned back to No'ar, his expression solemn. "Then, four months ago, you commanded the away mission to Parnias II. I've read the transcripts of the court-martial, but I'd like to hear your side of it directly, in your own words, if you don't mind."
"Not at all, sir." No'ar settled back into his chair.
"Second Officer's Log, stardate 47721.8. While the Galaxy proceeds to Theta VII to assist the Federation colony there control an outbreak of Tychron's disease, I am taking the runabout Colorado to the Parnias system. The second planet is a class-M world with a technology base roughly equivalent to Earth's in the mid-Twentieth century. There we will recover a class seven probe that stopped transmitting three days ago. Since the planet's two largest nations have spent the past decade pointing enough nuclear weapons at each other to sterilize the planet several times over, the probe could provoke unwanted hostilities if it is detected. Kele'stra out."
"Isn't that overly dramatic, sir?"
No'ar glanced at the young, brown-haired Terran sitting at the rear console to his left. "I suppose it could be, ensign. However, if a probe like this one had fallen out of Earth orbit in, say, 1955, how do you think the United States or Soviet Union would have reacted?"
The ensign's eyes got really big. "Oh. Right. They'd probably have assumed it belonged to the other, tensions would have escalated--"
"And escalating tensions and fusion devices don't mix very well. Don't you agree,T'Lara?"
A Vulcan woman stepped through the door leading to the aft compartments. "That would be a...volatile combination, Commander." She settles into the left front seat, beside No'ar.
The ensign leaned forward in his seat. "Did Vulcans ever get to that point,Lieutenant?"
"No, Ensign Charleston, we did not." T'Lara touched the console, and a simplified display of the system appeared on the monitor.
"Oh, right, that would have been illogical."
The Vulcan continued tapping at the console. "Yes, it would, but that is beside the point. It never happened before the Reformation, either. Vulcans were, at the time, a very passionate people, and apparently killing millions of people hundreds of miles away was not to their liking." She stopped and turned to face the young man. "They preferred killing them personally, at close range."
Charleston stared blankly back at her, as comprehension began to filter in. "Oh." He turned back to his console, glancing warily at T'Lara's back as she returned to her task.
The Vulcan turned to No'ar. "Commander, we have reached the system's Oort cloud."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." The Q'arvec'tin began tapping commands into the helm display. "We'll warp in on the far side of Parnias, and go to sublight just before we pass the star. We'll come in from there at one-quarter impulse." He turned in his seat to face the others. "From here on we will run emissions-quiet. No active scans, minimal shields after we leave the star's vicinity. We will assume that they could possibly detect any energy signature we produce, so we will produce as little as possible. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good." He stood up and moved to the middle of the control deck. "Now, since it will be a couple of hours until we reach orbit, I'm going aft to stretch my wings." He stopped at the door and stretched, wingtips scraping the bulkheads on either side of the cabin."It gets a little cramped sitting at the controls for too long."
No'ar crossed his arms and stared out of the viewports from the center of the control deck. "Anything yet, Lieutenant?"
T'Lara glanced over her shoulder. "Still no signal from the probe, sir. as far as I can determine it is not, in fact, in its proper orbit."
"Could it have exploded? Or already fallen to the planet's surface?"
"That is possible. More likely, the probe has collided with another object with sufficient mass or kinetic energy to radically alter its orbit. We will have to sweep the entire volume of space in the planet's vicinity to locate it. With the probe's stealth design, locating it will require up to two hours fourteen minutes with passive sensors.
"Can we safely assume that such a collision would also damage the probe?"
"Yes, sir. That would explain the probe's silence, in fact."
"That's what I thought. Proceed with the search. Mr. Charleston, would you make certain that the containment fields in the storage bay are working properly? If the probe is damaged, it may be emitting energies I don't particularly want to be exposed to."
"Aye, sir." The young ensign went through the door leading aft.
"This is unfortunate." The Vulcan spoke quietly, almost under her breath.
Nonetheless, No'ar immediately turned and leaned over T'Lara's shoulder. "Something wrong?"
"Yes, sir. I have located the probe."
"Well, that was quick." His expression shifted from alarm to puzzled curiosity. "I'm afraid to ask, but what's wrong with locating the probe?"
"The problem is that I began the search in the planet's immediate vicinity. I located the probe in the upper ionosphere, at an altitude of eighty-seven kilometers. "
No'ar sighed heavily. "Yes, that is 'unfortunate', all right."
T'Lara punched up another display. "I am reading an energy leak from the probe's power system. The energy is interacting with charged particles in the ionosphere to--"
No'ar straightened. "--to produce a very impressive light show. Better and better."He spread his arms, keeping the wing-membranes furled. "Perhaps for an encore we could put up a huge sign reading 'Attention: You are being observed by extraplanetary beings. Please act naturally, and do not look directly into the camera.' "
The Vulcan turned and looked up at No'ar, one eyebrow cocked upward. "Commander, I am certain sarcasm will be of limited use in resolving the situation."
The Q'arvec'tin threw himself into the pilot's seat quite a bit harder than he really needed to. "I know, but it makes me feel better." He scowled at the display showing the probe. "What was that probe doing here anyway? I thought they weren't used in close proximity to technologically advanced planets."
She tapped the console. "According to records, this was to be the last used at this proximity. Further surveillance was to be based farther out-of-system."
"Great timing. Do you have the full orbit calculated, T'Lara?"
"Yes, sir. It is currently near perigee; its apogee will be 142 thousand kilometers,over the planet's day-side, in forty-seven hours."
"Good, at least we can get it safely away without having to make it vanish in plain sight of half the planet." No'ar tapped at the helm controls. "Adjusting our orbit to intersect the probe's shortly before apogee. Now, while we're waiting, why don't we survey the damage?"
T'Lara turned toward the Q'arvec'tin. "Sir?"
"Monitor the local communications channels, Lieutenant. Let's see how the people are reacting to this."
The three officers sat around the small table in the aft section of the runabout. Ensign Charleston set his padd on the table. "We've scanned the probe thoroughly since it left the ionosphere. The energy discharge is within safety tolerance for the containment field. The leak can be easily sealed off once it's aboard." He touched the padd, and a holo-display appeared above the table. "The damage is here--" pointing at a connection at the core of the probe "--at the main power coupling for the on-board computer. Apparently a meteorite punched a hole straight through the probe."
No'ar leaned forward, examining the display. "Why didn't the anti-tamper destruct kick in?"
"Most likely the computer shut down before it realized anything was wrong. I won't know for sure until we get it aboard." He touched the padd again, switching the display off.
"Very well, ensign. Now then, T'Lara, how is the populace reacting to the unexplained object orbiting their planet?"
She responded without glancing at the padd at her elbow. "News reports from both the Northern and Southern continents consist mainly of video of telescopic images of the probe, accompanied by claims by 'unnamed government sources' that the probe is a secret military satellite launched secretly into orbit by the opposing power, with official denials of ownership by militaries on both sides."
"Which is exactly how everyone would react if it really was a secret military probe,except that no one is lying this time."
"Yes, sir. Unfortunately, the political tension has caused the military forces to go on alert. Both sides have strategic bombers in the air."
"How many?"
"Enough to render most of the planet's surface uninhabitable."
A leaden silence filled the room for several moments. T'Lara referred to her padd. "According to records, this situation has occurred four times in the past decade. Each time, the aircraft have been recalled."
No'ar glanced up from his folded hands. "Well, let's hope this makes five. Continue monitoring, T'Lara." He pushed himself up from the table. "Mr. Charleston, I believe we have about fifteen minutes before we bring that probe aboard."
No'ar and Charleston stood in the central, removable module of the runabout, which for this mission was fitted with a storage bay and cargo transporter. The ensign had his arms up to the elbows inside the casing of the probe, which rested on a worktable in the center of the chamber.
"The computer core seems undamaged, sir. I should have it online in a few minutes."
No'ar hovered nervously at Charleston's shoulder. "And the destruct mechanism...?"
He glanced back at the Q'arvec'tin, smiling. "Disarmed first thing, sir."
No'ar let out the breath he'd been holding subconsciously since the probe had been beaned aboard. "Good." He smiled sheepishly at the ensign. "Just checking."
"Of course, sir." The ensign crouched a bit to get a better view inside the probe's casing. "It looks like we guessed right. A meteorite about two centimeters in diameter punched straight through the probe, cutting the power to the computer." Picking a tricorder up from the worktable, he scanned a small hole in the upper surface of the probe. "Looks to have been nickel/iron, from the residue. Judging from the very clean holes it made, and the orbital deviation, I'd say it was moving at about one-quarter lightspeed."
No'ar let out a low whistle. "That explains why the probe's systems didn't react."
"Yes, sir. There just wasn't time."
The door leading forward, to the command deck, hissed open. "Commander, there have been... developments on the planet."
No'ar stiffened, his crest flattening against his skull. "Would it be too much to ask that they've all stepped back away from the precipice?"
"Yes, sir. It would."
The Q'arvec'tin followed T'Lara forward. "What is the situation, T'Lara?"
"Fifteen minutes ago, most of the strategic bombers of both sides began to withdraw to their home territories. Except for these five from the Northern continent." She touched a point on the display, which magnified to show a group of five red triangles moving over a simplified map. "They held position for a few minutes longer, then started south."
"Toward the 'enemy'."
"Yes, sir. I have monitored radio communications with this squadron. Their superiors have told them that the 'attack' order was a computer error, but they refuse to listen."
"They likely have standing orders to ignore voice commands under these circumstances.Radio communication could easily be compromised at this technology level."
"True. Unfortunately, this development has caused both sides to maintain their current level of readiness."
"You mean the bombers are still in the air."
"Yes, sir." T'Lara touched a pad on the console, and the display pulled back to show a wider area. "Tactical fighters from the Northern continent are in pursuit. They will overtake the attacking bombers in six minutes, forty seconds."
No'ar reached past the Vulcan, tracing the fighter's course backward. "At that speed,from the mainland.... I didn't realize they had that kind of range."
"They do not. They have already lost the ability to return to their home territory,or even an ocean-based transport."
He sighed as he stood straight. "They're sacrificing themselves to stop the bombers."
"Apparently."
"Put the aircraft on the tactical display." No'ar slumped into the right-hand chair."Let's see if they can head off a war."
As the fighters closed, they fired a barrage of air-to-air missiles. One bomber was destroyed, and one damaged. When the fighters caught up, they had destroyed another bomber and crippled a second when they broke off their attack, rapidly descending toward the ocean below.
No'ar jerked upright in his chair. "What the--"
The Vulcan's hands were already dancing over her console. "The fighters have exhausted their fuel, and have fallen into the sea."
The Q'arvec'tin leaned on his console, holding his face in his hands. "Does anything else stand a chance of stopping the remaining aircraft?"
"Yes, sir. A squadron of fighters from the Southern continent is approaching, and--wait. One of the bombers is losing altitude."
No'ar sat up, turning to T'Lara. "One of the damaged ones?"
She looked back at him, one eyebrow raised. "No. The undamaged bomber is diving rapidly, while the crippled ones are turning to meet the Southern fighters."
No'ar's head dropped back against the headrest. "Oh, no."
"Sir?" T'Lara turned her gaze back to the display. "I see now. The damaged planes keep the attackers busy--"
"While the other dives to an altitude where their detection systems are useless."
The Vulcan touched the display again. "You are correct. The aircraft has leveled off at fifty meters above the wave tops. It is extremely unlikely that it will be detected before it reaches the coast. After that, it will be virtually undetectable."
"Damn." The whispered syllable echoed through the control deck.
No'ar turned his chair to look out at the stars as T'Lara and Charleston sat down at the table. He turned in the Vulcan's general direction, still looking through the windows behind her. "Where is the bomber headed?"
"Its target seems to be the capital of the Southern continent. It will reach its target in one hour, twenty-seven minutes. It is currently passing over an unpopulated desert region."
"Is there any possibility that the Southern forces will stop it?"
"No, sir. There are no defending forces within range, even if they could locate the intruder. The pilot has maintained an altitude of one hundred meters or less since reaching the coast. Their detection systems are rendered ineffective due to ground clutter."
"When will we be returning to the Galaxy?"
No'ar turned to face the ensign. "After this situation has resolved itself. If this civilization is facing its final hours, the least we can do is record them."
"The captain will be expecting a status report."
"That will wait until we break orbit, Lieutenant. At the moment we have little new to report."
T'Lara's eyebrow raised at that. "Yes, sir."
No'ar turned back toward the windows. "Ensign, would it be possible to prevent the bomber from reaching its target without revealing our presence?
Charleston glanced at T'Lara in confusion. "Sir?"
"Purely theoretically, of course."
The ensign sat back in his chair, staring at the ceiling. "Well, Commander, I suppose....a high-energy subspace pulse, directed in a narrow beam into the planet's gravity well toward the bomber's location could do it. If the frequency and power were selected carefully, the pulse would surface from subspace in an electromagnetic pulse that would disrupt electrical systems within a five hundred meter radius for a period of ten minutes, without being detectable beyond twenty kilometers. It would require we break our emission-quiet status for about five seconds, though."
No'ar snapped his chair around, looking straight into the Vulcan's eyes. "Would such an act be detected, if we were to go ahead with it?"
T'Lara's eyebrow threatened to lock in a raised position at this point. "The odds would be extremely low, Commander. Most of their attention is not on orbital surveys. Of course, it is a moot point, since such an action would be a violation of the Prime Directive."
The Q'arvec'tin leaned forward, rubbing his eyes. "Yes, of course it would." He stood and began to pace along the length of the table, passing between Charleston's chair and the door leading forward. "And of course, we couldn't think of violating the Prime Directive ourselves, even if it has already been broken before we arrived."
T'Lara stood, an expression of alarm briefly crossing her face. "Commander...."
No'ar turned and stepped through the door, tapping the 'lock' key on the pad beside the door just before a low thump echoed through the storage bay from beyond the door. "Computer, restrict voice command to myself, restrict console commands to command deck.Security code Kele'stra Theta Delta One Four Seven."
"Command overrides confirmed. All consoles and control pads not on the command deck have been disabled."
Stepping forward into the command deck, No'ar sat at the helm console and began punching in a course change. "Computer, calculate the power and frequency required to create an EM pulse with a radius of five hundred meters at an altitude of one hundred meters above the planet's surface using a subspace pulse."
No'ar stepped to the door to the aft compartment and touched the 'lock' key on the keypad next to door. The door hissed open; the Q'arvec'tin tried with only partial success to avoid flinching as T'Lara leveled a phaser-two at his chest. Charleston looked up from the disassembled keypad he was working on, his gaze drifting back and forth between the phaser and its target.
"Commander, what is our mission status?" The Vulcan's aim did not waver in the slightest as she spoke.
No'ar had regained his composure in the meantime. "The political situation on the planet has, well, improved. The bomber will not reach its intended target." He handed his phaser-one to T'Lara. "You have the conn, Lieutenant."
She lowered her phaser as No'ar stepped past her and walked to the windows at the back of the shift.
After a quick glance at Charleston, who had just finished reassembling the keypad,T'Lara addressed No'ar. "Sir, is there any reason to remain in orbit?"
"I can't think of one, T'Lara."
"Very good, sir. Ensign Charleston, set course for our rendezvous with the Galaxy."
The young Terran stared at No'ar's back for a moment. "Aye, Lieutenant." The door hissed shut behind him.
T'Lara stepped to the table and set the phaser down. "No'ar."
He glanced over his shoulder. "Can I assume I'm confined to this compartment for the moment?"
"You didn't have to lock us back here, you know. Neither of us would have stopped you."
The Q'arvec'tin sat at the head of the table. "I know, but if I hadn't, we'd have all been facing court-martial when we get back. This way, it's only me."
"I think we would have survived."
No'ar shook his head. "The decision was my responsibility, and mine alone. So are the consequences."
No'ar fought the urge to tug at the collar of his dress uniform as he sat at a table in a large room with a currently-empty gallery. Three admirals sat at a table at one end of the room. A human commander stood next to the table. T'Lara sat in a chair located between the table and the gallery.
The admiral seated at the center of the table turned to T'Lara. "And you have nothing further to add to your testimony, Lieutenant?"
"No, sir. All was as I have reported."
"Very well. You are dismissed."
T'Lara stood and left; she nodded to No'ar as she passes him.
The admiral turned to the commander standing next to the table. "Do you have any further evidence to present, Commander Draith?"
He consulted his padd. "No, Admiral, that is all."
The admiral turned to the Starfleet officer sitting with No'ar. "And you,Lieutenant?"
The lieutenant glanced at No'ar, then shook his head. "No, sir."
"Very well. Commander Kele'stra, is there anything you wish to say for the record before make our decision?"
"Yes, sir, there is." He rose to his feet. "While I admit that my actions were in violation of the letter of the Prime Directive, my intention was to minimize the effects of a previous and inadvertent disruption of the planet's development that threatened to bring any further development, tainted or not, to an abrupt halt."
"This court is well aware of your motivations, Commander. They will be taken into due consideration. This court stands adjourned until twelve hundred hours tomorrow, when we will give our decision."
The admirals leave by a door at the rear of the chamber. As No'ar's defense advocate left, Draith walked over to No'ar."
"Looks like you'll be getting off easy, Commander. Probably not more than a grade reduction."
No'ar's eyes narrowed. "You sound disappointed."
"The reason I requested assignment to the Judge-Advocate General's office was to remind people like you of the consequences of defying regulations."
No'ar's crest flattened back on his head. "I was fully aware of the potential consequences of my actions at the time, Commander."
"And the crew of that plane you sent to their doom? Did you consider them?"
"Yes, I did. I didn't enjoy shooting them out of the sky, you know. However, they were going to die in any case, and I think if they could have been consulted, they would have considered their lives a small price to pay to save their country. It was what they were trained to do, after all."
"That's a clever twisting of the facts, Kele'stra.
"Funny, I thought twisting facts was your line of work."
Draith turned and stalked out of the room. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing one another again, Kele'stra."
Captain Marshall leaned forward on the desk. "I gather Commander Draith was correct about the sentence."
"Yes, sir. He seemed angry when the Admiral mentioned that I'd be assigned to Yeager,for some reason."
"I think I can explain that. Draith's grandfather was in the Inspector General's office, and spent a good part of his career persecuting a group of Starfleet members who eventually converged on the first Yeager. Apparently, his fate was linked to theirs to the end. It wasn't a pretty end, at that."
"Oh."
"So, let me see if I understand this. While in command of an Away mission, you took it on yourself to violate Starfleet regulations without consulting with your commanding officer. This resulted in the death of several inhabitants of a planet under Prime Directive protection, but probably saved millions of lives."
No'ar thought for a moment. "Well, that does sum it up fairly well, sir."
"Good." The captain turned to look out the window. "I would appreciate it if you did not get into this sort of situation while under my command, Commander."
"Yes, sir. I understand."
He turned back far enough to glance at No'ar. "I would like to make decisions that involve violating the Prime Directive myself, if you don't mind."
"Oh. Oh. Yes, sir."
"You are dismissed, Commander."
No'ar stood and walked to the door."
"Oh, one more thing, Commander."
No'ar stopped at the door. "Sir?"
Marshall smiled. "Welcome aboard."
"Thank you, Captain."