Episode 101: Open Doors (Part 4)

[UltimateTrekker]

"Gremlins," Captain Jefferys said as he looks at the engineering monitor.

"It seems," Stirok added, "their primary function is to carry out specific orders.  They are not functional on their own."

"Mark one for the good guys.  Now we just need to keep their boss quite until we can get rid of them all," the Captain added.

"That will be difficult, Sir," Lt. Brandt said.  "They are far to small to get any transporter lock, much less shooting them with phasers."

Thram now spoke up.  "They're also too small for a security team to round them up either."

"Sir," said Commander Zack, "I suggest we return to spacedock.  Surely command will be able to help us remove them."

Gavin looked at the four men, but focused is eyes mostly upon the Commander.  "And what happens when these things are found while we're in the Beta Quadrant?  Hmm, fly back to Earth?  No, we need to solve this problem on our own."

"I must concur with Commander Zack's suggestion," added Stirok.  "Logic dictates that we get to a safer location as soon as possible.  We've only been gone for 4 hours and we could be back at earth in 1 hour at high warp."

"High warp is only for Emergency use," Lt. Brandt mentioned.

"What do you call six thousand saboteurs, Mr. Brandt," asked the Andorian?

"No.  We fix this here and now, ourselves.  I'm not running back home with my tail between my legs like a wounded pup.  This is our shakedown cruise and by God we'll shake it up if we've gotta," Jefferys firmly stated.

Zack considered arguing the point, but knew that he MUST follow his orders properly, no matter his personal command preference.

"May I add," Stirok continued, "that the only thing they've done so far was to help conceal the arrival of miss .  She is the logical person to suspect is controlling these machines."

"Who said they were being controlled.  We barely know how they work," Jefferys questioned?

"Logic.  Since they have multiple functions, yet autonomy is not one of them, they MUST be programmed.  Since the only action so far has been a simple malfunction, we can assume that at least 5900 of them are for other uses.  And, since we've detected no programming so far, we must also assume they their programming is yet to be given to them and since..."

"OK, I get it.  Enough of the pointy talk."  Jefferys was obviously a bit annoyed by the length of Stirok assumptions.

Thram looked at Zack and mouthed the words, "Pointy talk?"  Zack just shook his head, not knowing what to think of the Captain's use of slang in front of his crew like this.

"We'll assume that they are controlled.  But, the question is, how to we capture or destroy them."

"The only way I can see doing that," Brandt said, "is to get them all into one place, like a container.  Then close it up."

Thram shook his head.  "We can't TRICK these things.  They don't think.  They follow orders only and will never deviate from those orders."

"Then what we need," Gavin interjected with a smile, "is the Pied Piper."

[Andorian_Incident]

Thram looked at the spider-like micro-robot that now appeared at his station.  And to think that there were now six thousand of them on board the Archer.  He, of course, had recognized the handywork of the Romulans right away, and was glad that Brandt was also familiar with the Romulans.  He didn't want to tip his hand yet, not at this early stage of the game.  But that did beg the question of how Brandt was familiar with it.  As far as Thram knew, not too many knew of this development by the Romulans.  Of course, Brandt's knowledge of it was possibly innoculous, but Thram made a mental note to keep an eye on him.

This mission was not getting off to the way that he had hoped.  There was really no one on this crew that he could trust, and few that he was currently getting along with.  There was a captain that he was unsure of, though the captain may prove to be the least of his worries, and could possibly be an ally at times.  He did, afterall, approve of the way that Jefferys handled the monkey situation--though he would never admit to it.  But at other times, the captain proved to be a headache, such as arranging a ship transfer in private and without making preparations with him.  And now this.

Thram alerted all his officers of the security alert through his station.  He then tapped his comm badge. "Thram to Ensign Golko."

[Golko here, sir.]

"Ensign, I'm placing you in charge of the security alert below decks.  All security personnel will check in with you, and I will liason with you with further information should you need it.  Right now we just need to contain this threat.  Report anything unusual to me immediately.  I shall remain on the bridge until further notice."

[Understood.]

Thram said, "We don't even know if their orders are coming from outside this ship.  With a new crew, we can't afford to make assumptions.  Especially not with the complication of a stranger onboard."

Stirok spoke up, "We do not know what kind of a threat the robots pose."

"And I would prefer to not find out," Thram countered.  "With the Romulans involved, it can't be good."

"Keep in mind that the Romulans were our allies in the Dominion War, Thram," Brandt interjected.

"I'm aware of that.  During my tour in the war, I relied heavily in the Romulans during the battle defending Andor.  But the war is over, and the Romulans have used the time since then to further destabilize the Federation.  Captain, I need to speak to you in private."

"Very well."

Jefferys lead Thram into his ready room.   The doors had barely closed before Thram started to talk.  "Captain, when it comes to the security of this ship, I need to know what you know."

Jefferys sighed.  Not one of these conversations.  It seemed like everyone liked questioning his authority.  "I fully intend to let you know what you need to know."

"Good.  Who is Lt. D'Aaron?"  Thram wasn't going to beat around the bush.  He prefered to be more blunt.

"I can't tell you that," was the response that Thram got.

"Captain, with the threat to the ship, I feel that I must know."

"And at this juncture of the mission, I don't feel that you do," Jefferys said flatly.

Thram was getting annoyed, and raised his voice even more. "Sir, with all due respect, at this juncture of the mission, it appears that the Romulans are trying to destroy the ship.  I need to know why."

"Do we know for sure that the Romulans are involved?" Jefferys asked.

"I can assure you captain, that the Romulans are involved.  What would our guest know about that?"

"Well, Mr. Thram, Lt. D'Aaron is not responsible for our threat.  You're dismissed."

[Mentat_Tir]

Stirok dismissed himself from the bridge while the Captain and Commander Thram were in the ready room.  The situation was in the hands of security now.  There was little he could do but await the next case of sabotage.  He stepped onto the turbolift and instructed it to return to Engineering.

Captain Jeffreys’s decision is reckless and irresponsible, thought Stirok.  There was no logic to his decision at all.  The Starbase diagnostic and sensor equipment was no more advanced than what was on the Archer.  But there was much more of it.  The repairs could have been done in a fraction of the time.  Stirok could only conclude that the captain’s decision was based on pride, not the welfare of his crew.

By the time Stirok had reached Engineering, his teams were already aware of the situation.  He assigned groups to comb the ship and report back any “micro-bots” they discovered.  The remainder of his officers he assigned to perform level 1 diagnostics on key systems.

Stirok worked at a control station near the warp core.  Behind him, two technicians knelt, working at a junction relay.  They talked quietly between themselves.

“I can’t believe the chief has us doing diagnostics and crawling through access tubes while that saboteur sits up on the bridge,” Stirok overheard one technician say.

“What are you talking about?” said the other.

“Haven’t you seen our illustrious first officer?  He’s a Cardie.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No.  They say he’s some kind of loner.  Someone told me that he was a POW from the Dominion Wars.  Some Admiral felt sorry for him and…” The technicians gasped when they turned to see Stirok standing over them.

“Have the two of you completed your task?” asked Stirok.

“N-no…no, sir,” said the first technician, his face flushed.

“Your full concentration should be on your assignment.  If I hear you spreading any more baseless accusations, I will take disciplinary action.  Is that clear?” asked the Chief Engineer.

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

Stirok eyed the two men.  “Then I suggest you get busy.”

[AlexanderTheGreat]

What a foolish man, Zack thought to himself as he tapped away at his console.

Since Zack had arrived on the Archer, every action taken, and decision made, by Jefferys had been foolish and inappropriate for a CO of a Federation flagship. There was no logic or common sense behind his flawed decision-making.  The Starbase diagnostic and sensor equipment was definitely more advanced than what was on the Archer. By trying to ameliorate the predicament on his own, out in space, Jefferys was merely illustrating how egotistical and unprofessional he was. Zack had just discovered that a new crew member had joined the ship, for a reason Jefferys would not reveal. How could Jefferys not tell me about this, Zack pondered. I am the XO of this starship. We need to work together, in order to ensure the efficient running of the Archer. Things definitely have to change around here!

It was almost as if Jefferys did not trust Zack. It was as if the Pah Wraiths were mocking Zack, trying to show him that he really would never “amount to anything”. With the physical appearance of a Cardassian, he found it extremely difficult to gain the trust of people. He could already tell that quite a few of the junior officers were unhappy to be talking orders from a Cardassian. In his periphery vision he could see them staring at him, wondering why “the enemy” was now serving as their XO. They thought he couldn’t see them. But he could. Watching him with their suspicious eyes. Waiting for him to slip up, to reveal his true nature. And to make matters worse, the Captain didn’t exactly trust Zack either. For a minute Zack thought that maybe the cadets back at the Academy, who told him he would amount to nothing, were right all along. Maybe the Bridge of a Federation starship wasn’t the right place for him. Maybe I am a freak.

NO! Don’t ever let yourself contemplate such things ever again, Zack chastised himself. Zack immediately took that thought out of his mind. If they didn’t want him as their XO, well guess what. He wouldn’t run away and hide. He had done enough of that in his lifetime. He would prove them wrong. He would remain on the Archer to spite those who were against him. Their disapproval of him only served to strengthen his desire to remain on the Archer. But if I’m going to stay, things are definitely going to change. The captain is going to have to trust me. I will make sure of it.

Zack rose from his seat on the centre of the Bridge. He had made a decision. If he was going to find out who was responsible for the mechanical assailants that were slowly eating away at the Archer’s key systems, then he would have to do all of the work on his own. He would confer with Lt. Commander Thram, and together they would try to discover who the perpetrator was. Zack thought Thram was a committed and hard working officer. He seems like the right type of person to be responsible for the security of this ship, Zack thought. We will indeed work well together.

As Zack approached Thram’s station on the Bridge, Thram’s communicator chimed. It was Ensign Golko. Golko told Thram that she had to speak to him privately and Thram left the Security station to a nearby ensign, and entered the Turbolift. Whatever Golko wanted to discuss, it indeed seemed important. Zack would wait for Thram to return. In the meantime Zack would maintain a strict authoritarian rule over the officers on the Bridge, and ensure they were preforming their duties efficiently.

After working at his console and ensuring that all officers on the Bridge were working efficiently Zack began to wonder what was taking Thram so long. He had retuned from his meeting with Golko and immediately requested a private conference with Jefferys in his Ready Room. Once again Zack felt that he was being excluded from the decision-making, but right now he had to ensure that everything was running smoothly on the Bridge.

“I am glad to see you are working efficiently Ensign Kenek. There have been some minor problems with your work so far, which I am not quite impressed with, but I will take into consideration the fact that this is your first day. Just don’t keep it up, or you will be back at the Academy in no time.”

As he was over looking the work of Ensign Kenek, Zack was disturbed by the beeping of his commbadge. It was the Captain. He insisted that Zack enter his Ready room immediately. Finally, Zack thought, the captain is going to start filling me in on what exactly is happening.

As Zack entered the Ready Room he noticed that both Thram and Jefferys were staring at him strangely.

[AlexanderTheGreat]

Jefferys cleared his throat and said, “Commander Zack, it appears that you have not been completely honest with us.”

Jefferys paused for a moment. He did not want it to appear as if he was judging Zack, or presuming he was guilty, before being presented with all of the facts, but the evidence they had just discovered did indeed implicate Zack. He collected his thoughts and continued “We have just discovered evidence that points to you as being responsible for the predicament we are now facing. I am not one to jump to conclusions, and I don't want ya to think that we are in any way blaming you, but the evidence is quite conclusive…"

This can’t be happening, Zack thought to himself. What type of evidence are they talking about? He had no idea who was responsible for the metallic spiders, but he knew without a doubt, he had nothing to do with it. Someone who doesn't want me to be here because I am part Cardassian must be trying to frame me as being responsible for sabotaging the ship.

That has to be it!!

How am I going to prove my innocence?

[Peter_Pevensie]

“So tell me about Kenek’s former hosts.”

Will Brandt sat across from Alia Kenek in Ten Forward, catching a quick dinner.   Technically, their first shift on the bridge had ended at 1800 hours ship’s time, but all the senior officers were working extra duty on Captain Jeffrey’s orders, trying to come up with a way to resolve the micro-robot crisis.  He took a bite of his pasta and waited for the young Trill to reply.

“Well, there were only two prior to me, Jarid and Nitza.  Jarid was a sculptor, and Nitza was a…”

“A musician, yes, I know, and of great renown!” Will said with no small amount of admiration in his voice.  “I feel as though I should ask you for your autograph!”

Alia laughed, perhaps a little too loudly, at Will’s last remark.  “I really wish you wouldn’t,” she said, still giggling to herself.

“Sincerely, though,” said Will, smiling at her amusement, “I’m very fond of To Zora, On Summer’s End.  It’s one of the most stirring compositions I’ve ever heard.  Spellbinding.”

Alia nodded politely in gratitude.  “It was based on an ancient Ullian courtship melody.  The theme was actually proven to have an hypnotic effect on many humanoids species.  That’s why Nitza chose it.  Did you also enjoy Midnight’s Zenith, then?”

But Brandt, who had been so animated only a moment ago, was now staring off into space, completely absorbed in his own thoughts.  “Lieutenant Brandt?  Hello?” said Kenek, smiling and waving a hand in front of his face.  Will shook his head slightly, focused on her eyes, and smiled.

“Alia, I think you just solved our little infestation problem.  Come on, let’s get to engineering.”  He practically lept from his seat and headed toward the door.  Kenek followed, a bit bewildered.  “But I haven’t finished my dinner!”

Will shook his head.  “Later.”  Heading toward the turbolift at a fast walk, he tapped his commbadge.  “Brandt to Commander Stirok.”

[Stirok here.]

“Ensign Kenek just figured out a way to take care of our little spider friends.  Care to meet us in Purgatory?”

[If by “Purgatory” you mean Main Engineering, yes, we can assemble there.]

Moments later, Brandt and Kenek arrived to find Stirok waiting for them.  The Vulcan looked at Alia with a raised eyebrow.  “So, Ensign, how do you propose we rid ourselves of the micro-robots?”

Kenek hesitated for a moment.  “Well, sir, I…um, I…”

“She thinks we should hypnotize them,” said Brandt, smiling and patting the ensign on the back.  “Isn’t that a great idea, Stirok?”

“To attempt to induce a sleeplike state in an inanimate machine is highly ill…”  Stirok fell silent as his incredibly astute Vulcan mind came to grips with Brandt’s meaning.  He looked at Alia Kenek with a new respect.  “A highly creative solution, Ensign.  You are to be commended.”

“Um, thank you, sir?” Kenek replied, still looking a little bewildered.

“Yes, great job, Alia,” said Will, smiling and patting her on the back again.  As Stirok stepped toward the panel that controlled the ship’s defensive shields to begin putting the plan into motion, Brandt winked mischievously at the young ensign, then walked over to give the Vulcan a hand.

[Dohlman]

Dayna stood alone in cargo bay 6, counting crates of supplies and entering the results in her PADD.  

2 crates isolinear chips
20 refrigerated crates of bioneural gel pacs
2 crates Saurian brandy.  Saurian brandy?  

So that’s where the captain kept his stash.  She smiled, and then erased that particular entry.  Then she felt the vibration of her subspace encoder.  She reached into her boot and extracted the encoder.  She spoke in shorthand code, which the device then further encoded upon transmission, and decoded upon receipt.  

D’Aaron

[Narison. How goes?]

Well.  

[Bad news. Head scientist kh’Riov found dead.  Spider probes missing.  Not heard from operative in over 2 days.]  

Know who has spider probes?  

[Most likely agent of rogue faction.  Could be anywhere.  Mechanics of probe unknown.  Only have structural information. Bulk silicon legs, polyimide micro-joints, and polysilicon heating resistor with boron-ion implant.]  

Dayna’s brow furrowed.  She had gotten a C- in engineering in Star Fleet and had been happy for it.  She sighed.  Just great, she thought.  

Understood.  D’Aaron out.

She switched off the encoder and placed in back into her boot.   Alpha Centauri had decoded messages from Romulus about a month ago that had told of a successful empirical trial of a new micro-robot that could be used to infiltrate and destroy entire computer systems.  FI knew Romulan scientist kh’Riov was heading up the microweapons program for the Romulan military, and FI had just gotten an agent in on the inside. He was working as an aide to kh’Riov.  Dayna remembered the elation her cell had felt when they had finally gotten an operative on the inside, and now she could sense it all starting to fall apart.

[UltimateTrekker]

"What's this evidence," the XO asked.

"We've detected some biological material in some of the places that we believe the micro-bots were released at.  The DNA can't be used to identify a person specifically because it was damage, we assume purposely.

"It IS however obviously Cardassian.  Furthermore, it also shows some traits of Bajorn heritage.

"I personally don't know of any mixed Cardassian/Barjorns within a thousand light years other than you."

Zack was amazed.  "This is PROOF, you said yourself, it's damaged DNA, they can't PROVE it's mine!"

"Exactly!  That's why we're in here talking.  I don't like to think that you'd do it, but think about this.  If you found the DNA was from a 60 year old Scotsman with a penchant for Saurian Brandy, what would you do?  Blame Thram," he added sarcastically?

"No, Sir.  I understand.  But I do maintain my innocence."

"Thram, will you please excuse us?"  Thram left the room as ordered, but slowed as he reached the door.  He knew that Zack could pulverize the older man before anyone could get in the room.  But, he followed his orders.

Gavin stood up and walked over to the man.  "Sit down, please," he said calmly.  Zack hesitated, but finally did.  "Give me your hand."  Again he hesitated.  Gavin extended his.  "Zack.  Give me your hand."  It sounded more like a plea than an order.

Zack took Jefferys' hand and Jefferys put his other hand on top.  "Now squeeze."  Zack looked at his CO in confusion.  "SQUEEZE, d**n IT!"  As he said that, he squeezed hard enough and used his fingernails to pierce the mans skin.  Blood began to flow out, slowly.  The pain made Zack do the same, but held back just enough to keep from totally crushing the human's bones.

"Now look into my eyes.  Both of them."  Zack did.  "Tell me what you have to do with this."

"Nothing, Sir.  I swear to you by the Prophets!  Nothing!"

His grip got stronger.  "Lad," the Captain said calmly.  "My name is Gavin."

Zack dropped his eyes, then finally looked by up.  "Gavin."  His grip released and his hand dropped, covered in the blood of his CO and himself.  "I had absolutely nothing to do with this.  You must believe me."

Gavin shook his hand a bit.  "I do.  I do."  He walked over to the sink in the room and washed his hand.  He grabbed a towel and dried off, then threw it to the Commander.

"Take all the time to clean up that you need.  I'll be in Engineering.  We're gonna need your help to find the person who did this."

Gavin walked out the door and left Zack alone.

[Mentat_Tir]

“Stirok to Captain Jefferys.”

[Go ahead.]

“We have a theory on how to irradiate our spider infestation.  With your permission, I would like to take the ship out of warp.”

[Whatever ya need to do ta get those things off my ship.]

“Acknowledged,” replied Stirok.  “Engineering to Bridge.  Take us out of warp.”

The streaking stars once again became points of light as the Archer dropped to impulse power.  The pounding rhythm of the warp reactor slowed as the ship no longer required the power to travel at faster than light speeds.

Stirok, Brandt and Kenek set up a subspace harmonic resonator with one modification…an attached transparent-aluminum container.  The three worked the controls of the resonator.  One screen displayed a real-time scan of one of the spiders.  The other showed the resonator’s frequency wave.

Brandt concentrated on his instruments.  “Let’s try a .30 cochrane wave.”

“Initiating,” said Stirok.  He tapped the control panel.

“Nothing’s happening,” said Kenek studying the micro-robot.

“Let’s bump it up to .50 cochranes,” said Brandt.

Stirok again worked the controls.  The wave displayed on the monitor moved faster and the lines condensed.

“Still nothing,” said Kenek, disappointed.

“Hmmm.  Little bugs don’t want to wake up.  Try .75 cochranes.”

“I’m not sure that’s wise.  A point 75 cochrane wave may aversely affect the ship,” replied Stirok.

Brandt smiled.  “Hey, the captain said whatever it takes.”

“Very well,” said the Vulcan.  The wave on the monitor replied to his commands.  Throughout the ship, the deckplates and bulkheads hummed.  Most anything glass (including the captain’s Sarian Brandy bottles) shattered.

“It’s working!” shouted Kenek over the hum.  The micro-robot on the monitor released its lock on and began floating through the air.  Miniature thrusters propelled the microscopic machines through corridors and over the heads of unsuspecting crewman.

The resonator’s monitor displayed that there were 500 micro-bots in the container and rising.

Captain Jefferys stormed into Engineering obviously upset.  "What are you people doing down here?!  And what is that contraption?"

Brandt replied, “Just a few minutes more, captain.  I think you’ll be happy with the results.”

[Tricorder]

While Jefferys was busy with the spider escapade,  he took the time out to come to Sickbay and sign Johansson's Monkey Report, and that wasn't the only thing he did.

"Aye, Laddie," He looked at Johansson like he had a mission from God, "All signed and ready to go."

He gave Johansson one of the spiders that were found in Engineering. "This, laddie, I hope you will make some use out of." Johansson lifted his eyebrows.

Jefferys had told his story to the Doc earlier, about his assumption about Commander Zack, and while he knew Commander Zack couldn't be the one responsible, he needed to have some proof, so he brought a spider with some of the DNA on it. He put it under his microscope and began to analyze it.

"Hmmmm, Oh yes... this is interesting", Johansson thought.

"What?", Jefferys replied

"Well Captain, upon looking at this under my microscope, I am able to determine that it is in fact Cardassian DNA -", Johansson said but before having finished speaking, the Captain interrupted him.

"I knew it! I knew it was him. Well, my Commander will need to be spoken to about this...", Jefferys said.

Johansson replied with a rebuttal. "Not so fast, Captain. Yes, the DNA is Commander Zack's DNA. It is positive, but upon further analyzing, I see that it isn't natural DNA."

"How so? What do you mean?", Jefferys asked.

"Well, as you said, the DNA is damaged,  and it is so.  It is damaged because someone made a mistake in copying it.", Johansson said.

"So, you're saying....."

Johansson smiled as they both thought about the same thing." Yes, Bio-engineering. It's safe to assume that Commander Zack got framed, Captain. All there is left to figure out is by who."

"Thank you, Doc. This will be useful evidence." He nodded and walked out of Sickbay onto his next location like moving onto locations while playing an old fashioned game of Clue.

[Ana Ng]

Ensign Kenek continued to monitor the number of spider-robots that were collecting.  Something was wrong.  She walked over to a sensor station and peered at the readings.  Lt. Brandt noticed Kenek's consternation and looked at the readings as well.

"Some of those little bugs are still holding on," Brandt observed.

Stirok turned to Brandt.  "I do not recommended increasing the wave strength."

"They can't be holding on by much," Will replied.  

"And we will not be holding together very much if we increase the strength," Stirok reasoned.

"There has to be a way," Kenek mused.  Suddenly, her face lit up as she turned to Stirok.

"Sir!  Perhaps if we slightly misaligned the inertial dampeners. Not enough for us to feel it, but enough to move the spider-robots.  I could plot a course to really shake them loose!" Kenek's voice was reaching an excited pitch as she spoke.

"The course corrections would have to be very precise," Stirok said, walking over and looking at the console.  "But in theory, it might work."

"If it works, I'm all for hearing it!" Captain Jefferys declared as he stepped into Engineering.

Stirok and Brandt relayed the plan to Captain Jefferys while Ensign Kenek stood patiently, awaiting orders.

"All right, lass!" Jefferys declare, clasping his hands together, "Get to it!"

"Yes, sir," Kenek nodded, and quickly making her way to the turbolift.

Jefferys tapped his commbadge.  "Jefferys to bridge."

[Bridge here] Commander Zack's tense voice responded.

"Ensign Kenek is on her way, she's going to plot in some course corrections to try to shake the rest of these pests loose."  Jefferys went on to explain the plan.

[Understood.]

Jefferys smiled at Stirok and Brandt.  "Hope no one on this ship gets space sick."

Kenek arrived on the bridge and relieved the ensign at the helm.  Commander Zack approached the helm and watch Kenek's movements carefully.

Lieutenent Brandt's voice spoke over the comm system.



Zack raised his eyebrows at Brandt addressing Kenek by her given name.  Highly unorthadox, even if acceptable considering Brandt's senior position over Kenek.  He began to wonder if he was going to end up as the last bastion of professionalism on the Archer.  

"All set," Kenek said after she plotted the first set of course corrections.  

"Engage," Zack ordered.

Kenek moved her hands quickly over the console, and if one were looking at the ship from outside, he might think the Archer looked much like a dog chasing its own tail.

Ensign Kenek pulled the Archer to a stop.  "First set complete, sir."

Zack nodded stiffly.  "Engineering, report."

[Readings are consistent with our projections, Commander.  It appears to be working.]  Stirok relayed.

"Begin second set of course corrections," Zack told Kenek.

Kenek moved her hands along the console, and was halfway through the second set when the ship began to shake violently, nearly knocking her out of her chair.

"Ensign, report!" Zack practically snarled.

Alia kept her composure, although she was confused.  "I don't know, sir?"

[Engineering to Bridge]  Stirok's voice sounded again.

"Yes, what is it?" Zack asked.

[We appear to have another problem, sir.]

[Mentat_Tir]

Stirok studied the readings on the master systems display console, then addressed Zack with his commbadge.  “Sir, according to these reading, we just collided with an object.”

“What are you talking about, Mr. Stirok?”  said Zack on the bridge.  Zack moved to study the console attached to the captain's chair.  “Your right.  But sensors detected nothing there a moment ago.”

“Perhaps not,” said Stirok.  “But moments after the collision, sensors registered a high-energy tetryon distortion."

Brandt went flush.  He tapped his commbadge.  “Commander Zack, a tetryon compositor is a key element in a cloaking device.  If there is a cloaked ship out there, they probably didn’t anticipate Kenek’s wild driving.”

Zack paused for only a moment.  “All hands, red alert!  Captain to the bridge.”

[Ana Ng]

Thram stood at tactical, ready to arm phasers and quantum torpedos.  Captain Jefferys appeared on the bridge and took his seat in the command chair, Lieutenent Brandt close behind to man the science station.

Counselor Tae sat next to the captain and watched the crew. She'd expected the tension level to rise since hearing there might be a cloaked vessel just outside, but instead everyone seemed to focus more, battle ready.

"Ready phasers," Jefferys ordered.

"Phasers ready," Thram reported.

"They know we're here.  And they have to have a pretty good idea that we know they're here.  Come out, come out, little ship," Jefferys said.

Everyone on the bridge waited, their senses heightened, ready to move when it became necessary.

"Don't keep us waiting," Jefferys said.  Suddenly, he had a thought.

"Engineering, any luck exposing our neighbor out there?"

[Just a moment, sir.] Stirok replied.  Obviously he had the same idea in mind. [Sir, the collision must have damage the cloak.  We're detecting intermittant tachyon feedback.]

"You have the coordinates?" Jefferys asked.

[Yes, sir.]

"Fire phasers on those coordinates, Thram.  Just give it enough juice to expose them," Jefferys ordered.

"Firing phasers," Thram replied.

Everyone on the bridge watched the viewscreen as the vessel was exposed.  Jefferys squinted, to make sure he was seeing correctly.  

"Not exactly a menacing warbird, eh?" Jefferys said with a chuckle as he sat down.  "Hail them."

"No response," Thram reported.

Brandt turned around from the science station. "Sir, I'm not detecting any life forms aboard."

"A spy ship.. sent only to watch?" Zack asked.

"Maybe," Jefferys replied.  "But it's a little too close to home for my comfort."

Ensign Kenek looked at the viewscreen, wondering if she should be embarassed that she managed to "crash the ship" on her first day, or pleased that she exposed this vessel.

[Peter_Pevensie]

Brandt ran his fingers over the console, calling up the personalized scanning routines he brought with him from the Corsair.  While serving with the famous combined Federation-Romulan Task Force of the equally famous Sixth Fleet during the Dominion War, he’d developed a bit of a reputation for detecting and identifying cloaked ships.  After all, they had spent almost as much time watching their Romulan “allies” as they had the Jem Hadar and Cardassians, and with good reason, it now appeared.

Thram spoke from behind the Security console.  “Sir, the hull configuration matches that of a Romulan class five probe, although it’s been heavily modified.  It’s a long-distance probe, warp capable.”

“Modified how, Thram?” asked Captain Jeffreys.

Brandt cut in.  “I can answer that, Captain.  First off, the powerplant has been upgraded.  I’d estimate that the upgraded core provides 80% more power than the original, unmodified class five needed to operate.”

“Why would a such a wee thing need all that extra power?” mused Jeffreys to himself.

“I believe I can answer that as well,” replied Brandt.  An additional instrument has been added to the probe’s forward sensor array.  I’m not sure what it is yet…but it looks like a harmonic subspace resonator.  If that’s what it is, it would be capable of sending out modulated bursts of subspace energy at incredibly high levels, but for infinitesimally short periods of time.”

“A weapon?” speculated Counselor Tai.

“Doubtful,” replied Stirok.  “Such a resonator would not be capable of transmitting for a long enough period of time to do any significant damage to a starship.  At most, such a weapon would only be able to overload a few non-vital systems, and perhaps set up destructive molecular oscillations in brittle materials.”

Ensign Kenek turned around and locked eyes with Brandt.  “Like glass?” the two said simultaneously.

Captain Jeffreys slapped the arm of his command chair and jumped up as he caught on.  “Well I’ll be d**ned…it’s our Pied Piper, isn’t it?”

“That would be my guess,” said Brandt.  “It’s really a very ingenious system.  The subspace bursts it theoretically uses to communicate with the micro-robots would be of such short duration that they would blend in with cosmic background noise.  This thing would be almost impossible to detect,” he continued, with a smile and a glance toward the helmswoman, “unless you ran your ship into it.”

“Yea, a very lucky piece of flying there, Alia.  What is the operational status of the probe, Will?” asked Jeffreys.  He moved in next to Thram while waiting for the reply.

“It would appear to be dead in space.  The only instrument receiving power right now is the harmonic resonator.”

Stirok spoke next, with a sense of urgency in his voice that approached alarm.  “Captain, internal sensors show that the remaining micro-bots aboard the Archer that we were unable to dislodge have migrated in the direction of the probe.”

“d**n!” said the Captain.  “The pied piper is trying to lead his rats out of town.  Thram, see if you can get a tractor beam on that thing.”

“I can’t get any beam adhesion, sir,” replied the Andorian with some annoyance.  “It’s as if it’s not even there.”

“That is a function of the cloak,” said Stirok.  “It has reactivated itself, at least partially.  It would appear that damage to that system was limited to its ability to mask it’s visual signature.”

“The probe’s warp engine is coming on line, Captain,” said Brandt.

“Lock phasers on the probe’s propulsion system, Thram, and fire!”  Captain Jeffreys sounded desperate in his desire to keep the probe from fleeing.  The eyes of the bridge crew, except for those of the security officer who was busy working out a firing solution,  were fixed on the viewscreen, and they all watched as the probe seemed to come to life.  It turned, began to accelerate slowly away from them, and then suddenly blinked away in the flash of a warp engine engaging.

The captain was obviously furious, but he wasn’t giving up that easily.  “Kenek…”

“Pursuit course already locked in, sir,” said the Trill with a note of excitement in her voice.”

“Then what are you waiting for, lass, an invitation from the Federation President?  Engage, engage!”

As they sped away in pursuit of the probe, the captain turned toward his Security officer.  “Mr. Thram, send a security team to Lt. D’Aaron’s quarters and have her escorted to the bridge.  No, on second thought, you go and bring her here yourself.  Let’s see if our “passenger” can shed any light on all of this."

[Andorian_Incident]

Thram touched a few buttons on his console to call for someone to come and take his station before he headed for the turbolift and Lt. D'Aaron's quarters.

He knew that D'Aaron was up to no good.  He knew it when she mysteriously appeared on board the ship, known only to Jefferys.  Perhaps even the captain was in on some kind of conspiracy himself.  Who knew what kind of schemes were lurking inside the Captain's head.

He arrived at D'Aaron's quarters and sounded the chime.  

"Come," came the response, and Thram entered the quarters.  He found D'Aaron sitting at a small desk inside her quarters.  

"I think I know why you're here," D'Aaron said.

"You do?" Thram asked, not yet saying anything that may tip his hand in dealing with her.  If he could get her to confess now, it would save a lot of trouble later.

"You think I know something about our little predicament."

"Do you?" Thram asked, trying to get her to tell him what she knew.

Of course, D'Aaron was too smart to say anything.  Her experience with FI had trained her well.  Far too well for a simple ship's chief security officer.

When she didn't say anything, Thram said simply, "The Captain wants to see you on the bridge."

Thram escorted D'Aaron out of her quarters and back to the bridge.