USS ALSEA: Smoke and Mirrors

Captain's Log: A dubious explosion aboard one of the Reman vessels present has trapped the Alsea in orbit of Unroth at the...insistence of Admiral Donatra who either believes, or has mechanized that we are behind the explosion. Her claims are shaky at best as I have every confidence that no one from the Alsea or the Federation has participated in this act of sabotage. Security has gone over the Alsea's logs and sensor readings an assured me no one left this ship, but Donatra outnumbers and outguns us and so my crew and I will have to find another way to prove our innocence.

Jureth closed the viewer on the desk of the ready room. He had taken the time to update the Alsea's log while Lieutenant Commander Sangliar and Lieutenant Sorripto worked their magic on the message buoy and the ship's deflector. Attempting to fool the Romulan Admiral was a risky move. If Donatra suspected what they were attempting or caught his people down on the planet there is a chance she would attempt to take them all prisoner. It was something she had stopped just short of so far, but she had the firepower if she were to choose to do so. At the same time the Alsea's crew were Lotus Fleet, the best of the best, and if any crew in Starfleet could pull this off they could. The Bajoran captain of the Alsea left the ready room and with a nod to the Catherine Steele at her tactical station he settled himself in the command chair and waited for his people to do their jobs. 

Unfortunately for his crew, patience was not a Bajoran trait and so it wasn't long before Jureth keyed the intercom.

"Oseno to Engineering, progress report."

"Starship captains are like babies; they want everything now and they want it their way; the trick you see, is not to give them what they want, but what they need..."

The voice of  Marksus Sangliar was slightly dim, as if heard from some distance and as if he was, which was the case, talking to someone somewhere in his vicinity; most probably Sorripto. Since he could not have missed the call of the communicator and the request of his commanding officer, it was obvious that he was using a now famous Tellarite stunt to give insult without actually doing so directly, as always to have his commanding officer demonstrate his strength of character. It was a well lnown and accepted tradition of Tellarite culture within Starfleet which managed avoiding reprimand by the implication of eavesdropping on crew any accusation would inevitably suggest. Thus, faces were saved and captains were diligently trained in self-control, diplomacy and rhetoric, skills most needed for command officers when later dealing with irascible Klingons and touchy Romulans.

As it were, the chief engineer now affected tapping open his combadge to directly answer.

"Aye, Captain Sir; the buoy is ready and the encryption is fifty-three percent completed. We need to have the Rommies sweat on this one or else they will suspect duplicity. Deflector dish adjustment will be completed in half an hour. I'm sure the other ships are enjoying the space ballet of our technicians fidgeting with it outside of our hull."

"I have no doubt that Donatra is watching us very closely. Keep at it, and you may draw from whatever resources you see fit," Oseno out.

Jureth turned to Cat at the tactical station "what are our "friends" out there doing?"

"Not much," the former Marine replied "I'm honestly surprised she hasn't been more insistent about sending over her "inspection" team." 

"I suspect she may be having some dialog with Starfleet, or D'Tan or possibly both. If this is a ploy to get Sela released, and I think it is, she would have to open a dialog at some point to state her demand." 

"Surely the Federation won't release Sela that easily." Cat replied

"I'm not so sure about that," the Alsea's commander said with a serious expression "I've found that diplomats do odd things for odd reasons. As much as they would love to put her on trial for the entire quadrant to see, she may be more useful to them back with her people."

"She allied with the Klingons to try and take over an entire area of space!"

Jureth nodded "She did, but with Sela at least they know what they are getting." 

Suddenly Cat understood "Better the devil you know..."

"Exactly, but for now all we can do is wait.."

And exactly half an hour later, the intercom chirped for attention.

"Engineering to bridge; everything ready for the game," announced the gruff voice of Sangliar. "And with what Sorripto did with the encoding for the buoy, they're gonna have hours of great fun!"

"Alright XO, let's roll the dice and see how far we get to move." Oseno replied "I'm sending Lieutenant Steele to the transporter room, and we can launch the buoy from the bridge once you are ready to beam down." 

"Already on our way, Captain," came the confirmation of the Tellarite.

Oseno looked at Ensign Allen, who had taken Steele's place at tactical and nodded. "Mister Allen, the buoy if you will." 

"Aye Sir, Buoy course plotted and programmed."

"Launch."

"Buoy away"

The log buoy launched out the Alsea's forward torpedo tube and streaked away from the ship. The programmed course, if it were to make it past the Romulans, would take it streaking through Romulan space at it's maximum speed for the nearest Federation outpost on the opposite side of the Neutral Zone. Jureth didn't expect that to happen, he fully expected the Romulans to either capture or destroy the buoy before it even had a chance to enter warp. Oseno watched with interest now to see what his opponent would do. 

***

Aboard the IRW Valdore Admiral Donatra received a report the moment the buoy launched.

"Admiral, the Federation ship appears to have launched a probe...heading is away from the planet." the Romulan manning the tactical console reported.

"That is not a probe," Donatra said immediately recognizing it for what it was "It's a Federation message buoy. They are attempting to get a distress call to Starfleet or they are trying to inform their superiors their sabotage has been detected. Are we the closest vessel to it?"

"Yes Admiral." 

"Helm, plot an intercept course, I want that buoy intact." 

"Aye Admiral, moving to intercept." 

The Valdore broke formation with the rest of its fleet and increased her speed to just beyond what the buoy was capable of. As the Imperial Romulan vessel began moving, the Republic Romulans too noticed the launch from the Alsea. Captain Jarok, and Proconsul D'Tan were conferring about their next course of action in the office of the former when she received a report from the bridge. 

"Bridge to Captain Jarok, the Federation ship has launched a message probe. We believe they are trying to get a distress call out to Starfleet." 

Jarok looked at D'Tan who raised an eyebrow "As Spock would say..Fascinating."

"Captain, the Valdore is moving to intercept. Orders Sir?"

Jarok's first instinct was to intervene and block the Valdore from reaching its objective, but both Jarok and D'Tan knew they were not ready to take on the Imperial admiral in a one on one fight...yet. 

"Observe and report Lieutenant," Jarok replied "Hold our position."

"Aye Sir, bridge out."

***

Back aboard the Alsea Jureth watched the viewer with interest as the lead Romulan ship began to break away. 

"Donatra's ship is moving to intercept the buoy." Ensign Allen reported 

Oseno nodded "Bridge to Engineering, time for our light show."

"Aye Captain, standby." came the reply from one of Sangliar's engineers. "Initiating deflector pulse in three...two...one." 

On the viewer Oseno watched as the Alsea's main deflector charged with energy and then a brilliant beam flared out and arced across the space in front of the ship. It adopted a wider track than a standard deflector pulse to catch as many of the Romulan ships in its path as possible. The effects were immediate on the Romulans whose consoles and power systems fluctuated as the pulse passed by them with weapons and sensor systems giving wild superfluous readings. Even the Valdore, which had shifted position to pick up the Alsea's message buoy and was just returning with her prize was stopped temporarily dead in her tracks. Jureth watched the effects for only a split second before issuing orders some of which were merely to keep up the facade of a major malfunction. 

"Helm, engines all stop. Bridge to Engineering, repairs teams to deflector control, and to the bridge." 

As he was giving instructions Jureth touched the small console on the arm of the command chair and signaled the main transporter room to send the away team to the surface of Unroth. 

"Helm answering all stop Captain," Shawn Hunter replied

The Alsea glided to a stop in her orbit of Unroth in exactly the position Shawn Hunter had programmed her to stop in affording the transporter room the most effective range for the precision beam down of the away team. Aboard the Romulan vessels chaos reigned temporarily as they assessed what had happened.

"What was that!?" Donatra exclaimed "Why are we stopped?!" her voice as was angry as it was confused

"I-I don't know Admiral," the helmsman replied "I've lost control over the ship, engines are offline." 

"Sensors and weapons are down, we have no shields!" the tactical officer exclaimed

Donatra cursed under her breath, she was beginning to form a picture in her head of what had happened and she was beginning to realize that this was not simply a situation of chance. Something, or someone had manufactured this massive malfunction and it was most likely the Federation captain though D'Tan's and his treasonous dogs were suspects as well. They may be trying to help the Federation ship escape. Several minutes ticked by and Donatra was contemplating the possibility of eliminating them all the Valdore's systems began to come back on line one by one. 

"Status report! Where is the Federation ship?" 

"They are stopped above the planet Admiral, they appear to be operating under reduced power. Their shields are up, but fluctuating." 

"Scan them!" 

"I can't Admiral, sensors are not fully online, and our power grid is still fluctuating. You have the best information I can give you." 

Donatra seethed silently, she was certain they had done this somehow, but she didn't know to what end. She would find out though, no Starfleet captain would get the best of one of one of the highest ranking officers in the Romulan Star Empire.

***