Chapter 5: Game Plan (part 2)

Chapter 5: Game Plan (part 2)

Eight minutes later, Sterling fixed his eyes on Commander Hartzer manning the Ops station and stated “Take the center seat Number One.”

Nothing else needed to be stated. He knew that she understood the responsibility of taking command of the Icarus; even if it was only for a brief amount of time. He recognized that the more accustomed she became to taking on this role and sitting in the center seat, the more prepared and self-assured she would be in handling the responsibility should the need ever arise during any limitless number of possible circumstances.

Two minutes after leaving the bridge, Captain Sterling along with Counselor Pasqual and Lieutenant Commander Archer alongside his security team were standing in the Transporter 1 area on deck 10.

Sterling turned to the transporter operator and stated “Beam them here now Ensign Doyle.”

Within a few seconds, the twinkling patterns of two forms began to emerge. A few seconds after this, the tall and impressive Romulan Captain Terrah along with Ambassador D’Tan both stepped off of the transporter pad to greet their hosts.

Captain Sterling moved in toward both of them and stated “Welcome aboard the Icarus Gentleman.” Sterling then proceeded through the formalities of introducing his officers.

Afterward, as they exited the transporter room, Sterling turned to D’Tan and informed him “Ambassador D’Tan, Counselor Pasqual will escort you to your quarters on Deck 2, while I meet with Captain Terrah. I look forward to having the opportunity of subsequently speaking with you individually. Meanwhile, you’ll have time to get situated in your quarters and afterward meet informally with the other members of the Federation delegation.”

“Thank you Captain Sterling. I am looking forward to starting these negotiations with my colleagues.” D’Tan replied.

Sterling nodded, knowing that getting the delegation aboard this ship to reach some level of synchronous order and consensus would be quite a monumental task in itself for the newly arrived Romulan delegate. He just hoped that the Ambassador’s optimism and tenacity would endure throughout this lengthy process.

Arriving to their first destination, they all stepped into the turbolift. After briefly ascending through the levels of the starship, the doors whisked opened on Deck 2.

After Counselor Pasqual, Ambassador D’Tan and two security guards exited the lift and headed toward the VIP quarters, the doors of the turbolift closed again with a hiss. The remaining officers were whisked up one additional level and as they stepped off the lift and onto Deck 1,

Sterling led the Romulan Captain directly toward his Ready Room. Archer and his security team followed several paces behind so as not to intrude on the personal space of both Captains, yet they remained close enough and poised to handle virtually any emergency situation. Fortunately this time none occurred.

As he entered into the Ready Room, Captain Sterling turned and signaled Lieutenant Commander Archer to have his security team stand guard just outside of the room. There would be no one entering this room without authorization.

Once inside, Sterling turned to Captain Terrah and inquired “May I offer you a beverage Captain?”

Captain Terrah not wanting to insult his host’s offer thought for a moment and then stated “Kali-fal.”

A moment later the light blue drink was replicated, along with its aromatic properties. Sterling handed Terrah the Romulan beverage and then ordered green tea with honey. He took his replicated beverage and walked over to his rather ornate leather chair and proceeded to sit down. He then invited his counterpart to do the same. Terrah complied and then after taking a sip of his Kali-fal, placed it onto the desk situated between the two Captains.

“Captain,” the Romulan commander began, “I must say that I was rather surprised to see you arriving here in this rather unique vessel. It is quite reminiscent of a bygone era is it not?”

Sterling smiled and then replied “Indeed Captain Terrah, she possesses a rather distinctive style, but she is also fully modernized in every other capacity. She was completely rebuilt and renovated recently to serve this mission, and they apparently spared no resource to make her as agile, complete and efficient as possible.”

Captain Terrah nodded and responded “I am sure they did Captain Sterling… but I am curious as to why they selected this ship specifically for such a… challenging and potentially dangerous mission.”

Sterling sat back in his chair and took a rather long and slow drink of the green tea. He wasn’t really prepared to answer this rather complicated question; especially to a Romulan officer he hardly knew.

After setting down his cup and taking in a few deep breaths he responded “Well Captain… that is a rather convoluted and somewhat time-consuming tale… I don’t believe that either one of us really has the time for…

Captain Terrah’s expression slipped into a rather wide grin as he leaned back into his chair and countered “Come now Captain, we have both traveled some distance to reach this meeting point… and we each faced some rather perilous circumstances along the way to get here… certainly we can take some time for two Captains to exchange exclusive and perhaps engaging information?”

Checkmate Sterling thought to himself. And in so few moves. The patient tactician in this Romulan Captain presented itself rather disarmingly.

Sterling then grinned and responded cautiously “Well Captain… there is an old Earth expression: careful what you wish for… you just might get it!”

This brought a bit of laughter from the Romulan Captain as he conceded “Understood Captain Sterling. I acknowledge that I have been suitably warned.” He then signaled for the Captain of the Icarus to proceed with his tale.

After several more sips of his green tea, Captain Sterling began his saga.

“Well… the beginning of this tale actually goes back several generations, to my grandfather: Captain Marcus Sterling…”

As the story began to unfold, Captain Terrah would politely interrupt during certain parts of the tale to ask for clarification or an additional explanation. However, when he reached the segment about the Romulan Honor blade, Captain Terrah did not say a word, but gave Sterling a look as if he had just claimed that pigs could fly. Seizing the opportunity, Sterling got up from his chair and walked over to the display case and picked up the hand-crafted case where the blade was ensconced. He walked over to Captain Terrah and presented it to him.

“Please Captain Terrah, open it and have a look for yourself” Sterling encouraged as he made his way back to his seat.

The Romulan Captain seemed to be studying the craftsmanship of the case itself as if it were telling him part of the story as well. Eventually, he unlatched the case and lifted the top portion up: exposing the Honor blade and the engraved plaque.

As he studied the contents of the case and read the inscriptions, he finally muttered “Fascinating… I had no idea… I mean I never heard of this event… “

Sterling nodded and added “I knew nothing of this either… and he was my grandfather!”

As Terrah stared at the blade, Sterling insisted “Take it out of the case Captain Terrah and look it over.”

The words had barely left the mouth of Sterling and the Honor blade was swiftly in the hands of the Romulan Captain who proclaimed “This is an extremely valuable treasure that you have here Captain” as he gazed intently at every centimeter of the gift as he carefully moved it around in his hand. “In fact, I have never heard of such an honorable gesture bestowed to any out-worlder; especially someone from the Federation… It’s almost unfathomable!”

Sterling then proceeded to tell him the remaining information of how the ship was rebuilt and the crew assembled, the perceived symbolic nature of the mission with the Icarus, the sabotage by Drake, and afterward their encounter with the IRW Lehal and the Klingon Vor’cha-class Battlecruiser the IKS WovHaqtaj and their diplomatic passenger K’vada. After Sterling finished describing the details of their assistance to the Klingon ship and her crew, Captain Terrah nodded in approval.

“That was one helluva story Captain Sterling.” The Romulan Captain emphatically acknowledged. “Allow me to continue the tale… including the moment we received your encoded message.”

Captain Terrah then explained how they used subterfuge to protect D’Tan and capture the attacker. He began with how he leaked faulty information about the transport of D’Tan supposedly being on the IRW Khazara rather than the Akhiy'ae. Then, as they traveled silently together to the designated rendezvous point, another misguided operative gained access to the warp field controls aboard the Khazara and then slightly misaligned the radiative emissions of the engines resulting in an imbalance of the nullifier cores. This caused a polarized magnetic distortion to show intermittently as the Khazara moved through space under the supposed protection of its cloak. Captain S'Task notified of this modification by his chief engineer chose to allow this deviation to continue, in order to draw in their adversary. After the message was received from the Icarus, Captain Terrah moved the Akhiy'ae to a flanking position further away from the Khazara and prepared high-energy plasma torpedoes with specialized sensor packs to greet their adversaries. Unfortunately though, their plan worked effectively enough to have the Khazara decimated through the implosion of a gravity well as a result of the attack from the Valdore class Romulan adversary IRW Leahal’s energy weapons. Captain Terrah then responded by launching four programmed torpedoes which decimated the enemy vessel upon impact. The commander of the crippled Leahal tried to take Captain Terrah into oblivion with him by detonating his remaining salvo of torpedoes; which exploded ferociously just before the arrival of the Icarus.

“The only potential clue we have to the identity of the perpetrator was an intercepted message that we captured but have yet to decode.” Captain Terrah affirmed.

The two Captains continued their discussion about the ships, their crew and the mission for approximately another fifteen minutes before Captain Terrah interrupted Sterling and stated:

“Captain Sterling, I must confess. These circumstances have turned out more profound than I had initially imagined. In fact, I would like to offer a proposal and perhaps a suggestion to you.

Sterling leaned forward in his chair slightly and with a curious expression responded “You certainly have my attention Captain Terrah… please proceed.”

The smile reappeared across the face of the Romulan Captain as he continued. “I am certain that we can agree Captain Sterling, that this has been quite a perilous mission so far, and you have yet to even reach your actual destination.”

Captain Terrah began slowly and methodically to explain his idea as he leaned back comfortable in his chair; choosing his words carefully.

“I also believe that we would agree that it is most likely that you will have other possible adversaries to contend with as you travel toward your destination.”

Sterling did not say a word but nodded affirmatively as the Romulan Captain spoke. This was something that was actually gnawing in the back of his mind… something that he knew he would need to deal with before they headed off toward Khii.

“One of the many challenges Captain regarding this as you realize, is not knowing who will strike where… and when. It’s almost maddening, isn’t it?” he asked rather rhetorically.

“The obvious question is Captain Sterling … what are you going to do about this?

* * *

''Where is he?''

Counselor Pasqual turned to face the broadset Klingon ambassador stomping down the curve of the corridor with fuming nostrils and blazing eyes barely kept in check with a strained tightening of his bearded face and gauntleted fists.

''Ambassador K'Vada?''

''The Romulan!'' almost roared the armored man glowering at the door behind the Orion Starfleet officer.

''In his quarters, Ambassador. As you can see, they have been assigned diametrally opposite to yours on this deck so that you will be unscathed in case he would try anything like, oh I don't know... like overload a phaser pack and blow up half this deck.''

The fire in the dark eyes shifted from the door to the green-skinned man.

''Are you implying that I fear this... PetaQ?''

''Not at all, ambassador. I am telling you that we are ready for anything that could jeopardize this mission of Peace.''

The unblinking eyes of the counselor gave everything that this statement implied. In response, the burly Klingon ambassador crossed his short arms on his thick chest with a smirk on his face.

''You were not so ready when this saboteur tried to stop this... mission of Peace.''

''Tried... and failed, Ambassador.''

They stared for a moment longer at each other, each smirking. Then, K'Vada roared with laughter.

''I like you, Orion. You have the spirit of a warrior, even when you speak of Peace.''

''It is something worth fighting for, Ambassador.''

The Klingon snorted. ''We shall see.''

Then, he brought his face inches to that of Ray and growled:

''Just make sure that the Romulans understand this... on both sides of the table. If not... blood will flow... and I promise you, it will be green.''

Glowering, ambassador K'Vada walked away with heavy, purposeful steps, the amber eyes of the counselor watching him disappear around the curve of the corridor before letting go of his breath.

Too much fun...

* * *

Sterling studied the Romulan Captain intently as he spoke; curious to determine what exactly he was leading to with this discussion.

Then with an inquisitive expression veiled across his face, Sterling inquired “Were you speaking in terms of our vigilance as we proceed on with our mission?”

“Yes of course Captain Sterling, but I was also inquiring how specifically you were going to go about conducting your journey itself as you traveled toward your destination.”

Sterling pondered introspectively for a moment about this predicament before responding.

“We have set up an improved scanning system in place to detect the signatures of cloaked vessels so that we are not attacked covertly... as the other two vessels were. In addition, our security forces have been running supplemental tactical training sessions for crewmen in each department on varying shifts to prepare them in case of any type of intruders are somehow able to board our ship. Our shielding and weapons are all optimized as are the officers in charge of operating them. In addition…”

“Captain” the Romulan commander interrupted “Based on your description, it would appear that you have enacted several excellent precautions internally. However, the blatant vulnerability in your situation is that you do not have any back-up support.”

The Romulan commander shifted his position slightly and displayed a slight quizzical expression as he continued.

“What puzzles me Captain is why your Federation would send you and the Icarus on this important mission without any other ships to escort you and your delegates to your destination. Based on the story you shared with me, I can understand why they would choose the Icarus to be the flagship of any convoy sent… but to send your ship into this hostile environment alone is… ludicrous at best.”

At first, Captain Sterling felt a bit insulted by what the Romulan commander seemed to be implying; as if he and his crew were somehow helpless and incompetent in their ability to protect themselves and complete this mission. But then in reflecting on exactly what the commander stated he realized that the commander had a raised a valid point. Why weren’t there any supporting ships accompanying the Icarus on this mission? Certainly this mission was crucial enough to warrant additional fleet support. Undoubtedly the delegates themselves would at least warrant additional protection.

“I do have a couple of theories about this scenario Captain Sterling… if you are willing to indulge my hypothetical speculation” the Romulan Captain injected in the middle of Sterling’s thoughts.

Captain Sterling brought his attention from his introspective thoughts back to the Romulan commander sitting on the other side of the desk from him and responded “By all means, Captain Terrah… I would like to hear to your suppositions.”

* * *

Ferenginaar Orbital repair facility.

"Commander. The courier has arrived."

Sa'arvik turned toward the approaching centurion and accepted the encrypted message from the officer. After a retinal scan opened it for him, Sa'arvik scanned the message and then erased the contents.

"You have command of air wing two Centurion. We’ll get underway immediately."

With a gesture of dismissal, the Commander barked orders to get underway and the crew scurried to comply. Two of the ship's impulse drives cut in and pushed the colossus up to one quarter light speed in a matter of minutes. Then, her twin warp drives cut in, taking the ship to warp six in seconds. Her destination: the Hyralan sector, and an interception to complete Setal's failure.

* * *

With the captain's indication that the security officers were to remain outside of the ready room while the meeting of the two commanding officers was in progress Brian stationed two officers on either side of the ready room door and two by the bridge turbolift with the other officer on the opposite side of the bridge so as to have a clear kill zone in the event of a firefight. Not that Brian expected a firefight, but with the way this mission was going he wouldn't be surprised if a Borg assault squad beamed onto the bridge out of nowhere at this point. Brian himself resumed his spot at the tactical position and made sure that there were still quantum torpedoes loaded in all the tubes, and that his continuous internal sensor sweeps were still running. The parameters included searching for any known explosive compounds, and other hazardous materials that could indicate more sabotage.

Archer was more uneasy about this mission than he ever was about anything that happened in the Dominion War or anything he'd done with Section 31. There were so many variables, and he knew that many of the outcomes depended on his readiness and the readiness of his department. Brian was also still stung from his department having been infiltrated so easily by a saboteur. He felt as if he'd already failed as the Icarus security chief. If it hadn't been for that Corps of Engineers inspector they may have never caught Drake, at least not until he'd damaged the Icarus much more heavily than he had in the first place. Archer shook off those thoughts, if there was one thing the Dominion War had taught him it was that once you committed yourself to something the only way to go was forward.

Captain Terrah watched Sterling’s expression with the eyes of a hawk; as if trying to measure the resilience of the man with a single intense glance. He finished the last of his Kali-fal and placed the cup with only a slight trace of the light blue liquid remaining within the container onto the desk in front of him.

“One possible reason” the Romulan commander began “Is that your Federation officials underestimated the negative reaction that would result from such a brazen endeavor to bring some type of unity between our empires.”

He held up a hand to signal Sterling to allow him to continue his statement.

“I know the Federation doesn’t consider itself an empire by name… but in many ways and in its numerous deeds over the centuries, it has demonstrated this to merely be a matter of semantics.”

After a momentary pause the Romulan commander continued.

“Frankly, I find the possibility of the Federation perceiving this responsibility so naively virtually nullified. Therefore, this leads me to another possibility… that this deed of goodwill of the Icarus flying across the quadrant under a banner of benevolence is merely a symbolic gesture; a token action by the Federation in reaction to the devastation caused by the Hobus Supernova to our worlds and our people. In this scenario, what matters apparently is the charitable demonstration of goodwill… the bringing of delegates to negotiate resolution… more so than actually completing such an inauspicious undertaking.”

As he listened while his ship and his crew were being portrayed as mere puppets or pawns in some sort of superficial procession, Sterling could feel the embers of anger and resentment to this assertion beginning to ignite. Nevertheless, he maintained his composure externally: determined to allow the Romulan commander the opportunity to continue presenting his conjectures.

With a devilish grin the commander added “No offense intended for your fine ship or your brave crew Captain.”

Captain Sterling merely nodded in affirmation and gestured for the Romulan commander to continue.

Without hesitation the commander proceeded.

“This leads me to perhaps a more unusual possibility Captain. That is with two rendezvous points scheduled for the Icarus; perhaps the architects of this summit anticipated the possibility of you and the Icarus accruing allies along your journey. Apparently though, if this were the case they didn’t anticipate malicious adversaries creeping in and decimating these potential allies.”

Captain Terrah leaned forward and elaborated.

“Unfortunately Captain Sterling in all probability we will never truly know what the actual intentions or perceptions were in this initial endeavor. What I do know based on recent history and just plain common sense, is that the opposition to this summit and these subsequent attacks have not ended. This leads me full circle back to my initial question about your plans as you leave this sector.”

Sterling circumspectly studied the posture of the Romulan commander and afterward inquired “Am I to assume that your question is meant as a segue to your proposal Captain Terrah?”

Terrah broke the mounting tension with a vigorous laugh and then almost immediately composed himself to respond.

“Indeed Captain Sterling. To use an old Earth expression, I will cut to the chase. At this point Captain your mission and your very lives are in jeopardy. For you to proceed onward without any type of escort or backup is potentially akin to suicide. Therefore, I am offering the Akhiy'ae, or as you humans refer to her, the Blackwing to escort you surreptitiously as you journey on to your destination. If your ship sensors can detect other cloaked vessels, then you will be able to warn us of any other ship entering within our path. We’ll then have the opportunity to surprise any sneaky little adversaries with a stealth attach of our own, flank them, and at least incapacitate them and their efforts. In addition, I’d suggest that we alter our course to a more unpredictable and indirect path so as to not be where anyone may expect us to be along the way. From this point forward no one will know our meandering course but you and I and our helm officers. Up to this point, these coordinates have somehow been leaked to our adversaries. Not anymore. These coordinates will be classified and encoded so that no one else can access them. We can communicate through short-range encoded messages when necessary only between the security channels that we’ll set up.”

Just then a message signaled Captain Terrah’s communicator. Obviously bothered by the interruption, Terrah engaged the device and growled “I told you that I didn’t want to be disturbed. This had better be important!”

“Sir,” his chief tactical officer Stelam announced a bit nervously “We have just broken the code of the messaged sent by the Leahal before the detonation.”

The eyes of the Romulan commander opened wide with astonishment as he proclaimed “Send the message directly to Captain Sterling… immediately!”

Sterling turned his body slightly and engaged the computer terminal. Within a matter of moments the decoded message arrived and he opened it up for the two Captains to read simultaneously.

Both Captains just stared and re-read the message repeatedly, as if trying to find additional meaning and information within the message.

Sterling turned to Captain Turrah and asked “Do we know who specifically this was sent to?

Without even blinking an eye yet somewhat squinting both of them, Terrah stated with distain laced steeply within his voice “The only one who has the impudence to claim herself as the Empress of the Romulan Empire… Sela the vicious and power-crazed half-breed!”

Sterling knew about the atrocities committed by this half-Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar, former security officer of the Enterprise D. She was indeed extremely cunning and equally dangerous and resourceful. The level of danger that they would continue to face became even clearer.

Sterling turned back to the Romulan commander “Well… it appears that we were just presented with an additional motive to team up and follow your recommendation Captain Turrah. My only request is that before we depart, I’d like to send an encoded message back to Starbase 39 informing them of this revelation concerning Sela’s involvement in these attacks. Perhaps they can send a message to the Romulan Star Empire who can confront Sela with these accusations. It may not stop her, but perhaps they can somewhat distract or least inconvenience her on some level.”

Sterling then added with a slight grin “However, we’ll obviously keep our affiliation and game plan to ourselves.”

“Agreed” Captain Turrah acknowledged. “We’ll be your like your shadow guard on this journey… and no one will ever know we are there… until it is too late!”

He stood up and extended his hand across the Sterling’s table.

Captain Sterling stood as well and then accepted the Romulan commander’s hand. The handshake was quite firm as they stared for a moment at each other.

As they released their grip, Captain Turrah stated “We’ll need another half hour approximately before we are ready to depart. Meanwhile, I’ll work on several alternate paths for us to follow and we’ll meet briefly again before departure to confirm our route and any other details.”

“We can use the time as well in the Icarus to finish up several activities and firm up preparations on our ship. Signal me when you are ready to finalize our plans Captain.” Sterling replied as he came around the desk and began to exit out of the Ready Room.

Before he reached the door, the Romulan commander looked back at the hand-crafted case and commented “Captain Sterling, you must display this Blade out in the open where others can appreciate its significance and prestige… not keep it sealed up in this exquisite tomb.”

Sterling peered at the Romulan Captain seriously and stated “Only after this mission has been successfully completed to a reasonable level of satisfaction Captain Turrah will I have earned the credibility to display such a token of honor on these walls. Until then, it will remain positioned safely within its case.”

Captain Turrah merely nodded in acknowledgement, although a glimmer of a smile escaped from the side of his lips. In his thoughts, he respected the sentiment of Sterling’s quest to earn the honor of displaying the blade in which he already possessed.

As they stepped beyond the threshold of the parting doors, two security guards were still standing at attention when the doors split open while two additional stood directly across from them. Sterling announced with authority to the security guards “Escort Captain Turrah back to transporter 1.”

“Yes Sir!” came the simultaneous reply as the security officers positioned themselves around the Romulan Captain and escorted him toward the nearest trubolift just around the corner. They were not taking any chances with the Romulan Captain while he was in their care aboard the Icarus.

After they were gone, Sterling headed back into his Ready Room and began to compose his message for Admiral Kelek on Starbase 39. Hopefully they could do something productive to actually help their mission.

* * *