* * *
"What do you mean, you can't find the orders?" Keller asked. His entire body visibly tensed; his complexion threatening to turn a deeper shade of red, reaching more of a purple. "Check the communications logs, now!"
T'Rel wasted no time. "Lieutenant," she called to Ha-vatoreii, "some assistance, please." Crossing over to the communications station, both officers worked in tandem to locate the transmitted orders, or even record of receipt.
Ha-vatoreii shook his head. "Apologies, sirs, but I cannot find any record of any transmission at the given stardate. In fact," he elaborated with a short pause, "the only traffic from headquarters received close to that time was the scheduled system update of our timekeeping program. As we've been operating under radio silence since, until Commodore Trujillo's message today, we've received nothing."
Ashen while hearing the explanation, Keller stalked toward communications and yanked the lieutenant out of the seat in order to directly access the controls and inputs. The captain stabbed commands into the system and with his own eyes witnessed the same as both his executive officer and communications specialist reported.
Keller lifted his haunted eyes toward T'Rel. "Where did it go?"
The Vulcan shook her head slowly, once. "Unknown, sir. It's as if the message was never transmitted to or received by this ship." She let out a short sigh. "Therefore, to your earlier question, given that we have no proof of being ordered under radio silence, protocol demands we respond to Gol's hail."
The captain's throat worked angrily as he dry-swallowed air. He rose from the communication panel and passed by Ha-vatoreii without so much as an apology for his assault of the lieutenant. When he reached the center seat, he touched the arm, but did not reseat himself. "Mr. Ha-vatoreii, as the XO says, open a channel to Gol."
Aboard Gol, Jarrod nodded to Glal. “Channel open, sir.”
Glal sat resolutely in his chair and dipped his head in acknowledgement of Keller. “Captain Keller, this is Commander Glal. I’ve been ordered to locate Repulse and escort you back to Commodore Trujillo for further inquiry into the goings-on out here on the border with the Gorn.”
"'Goings-on?'" Keller shot back angrily. "You are addressing a superior officer, Commander-" Before his tirade could properly find speed to take off, his eyes drifted over to Leo Verde. "Son of a bitch! Verde!"
"Present," Leo replied tonelessly, offering nothing more than a casual wave of his left hand.
“I don't know what this… officer… has been telling you, Commander, but he is nothing more than a miserable disgrace to the uniform," Keller growled loudly, his right hand gripping the arm of the captain's chair next to him. "What did you do, Verde, beg your daddy to reinstate you to the space service?"
Taking in a deep breath, Leo shook his head. "No, sir. I'm still in the JAG Corps," he said calmly, touching his badge of office displayed proudly on his chest under the line officer's badge. "I feel that we should table our reunion until after you respond to Captain Glal, here. With all due respect and everything."
"'Due respect,' my ass," Keller grumbled. "Yes, fine. Commander Glal, seeing as how I'm the senior officer here, I will take your order under advisement. We have higher orders."
As soon as Keller said that, T'Rel hesitated visibly on the screen, and the other officers suddenly found their stations very interesting as none of them looked in Glal's direction any longer.
“Do you, Captain?” Glal asked in a seemingly reasonable tone. “Starfleet Command disagrees. Commodore Trujillo was dispatched out here with a task force to locate you and find out what spurred a seemingly unauthorized attack against a Gorn installation. As my orders come from the commodore, a member of the admiralty, duly authorized by way of Fleet Operations, for the moment I exist outside your chain of command.” He sat forward in his chair, his thick-fingered hands clasped in front of him. “I’m merely the messenger, sir.”
Before Keller could respond, Leo asked, "Commander T'Rel? Can you confirm that Repulse has higher orders on record, something we can read for ourselves to confirm the captain's claim?"
Keller snarled, "How dare you impugn my word, Verde? You're the insubordinate bastard, here, not me."
T'Rel allowed Keller to say his piece before responding. "Commander, I'm unable to respond to your inquiry."
"Unable?" wondered Leo. "Or unwilling?"
Again, she hesitated before responding to Leo's question. Finally, she admitted with a nod. "I invoke the Seventh Guarantee, sir."
Keller turned his head slowly toward T'Rel. "What have you done?" As she opened her mouth to respond, he cut her off with a curt gesture; a knifed hand slicing through the air. "Go below, you're relieved!" He then told Glal, "I need to handle my staff, Commander. I'll contact you within the hour." The transmission closed without anything further.
Glal emitted something between a sigh and an analytical hmmm, a deep, gravelly sound. “That went about as well as I expected.” He raised an eyebrow at Leo. “You?”
"You threw him off his game by having me stand next to you," Leo admitted. "But then, I assume that was your plan," he finished with a smirking grin.
The Tellarite leaned back into his chair once again. “Why, Commander, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Leo chuckled softly. "Sure." He noted, more seriously, "I had a hunch that T'Rel wouldn't give him up, but her response was admirable under the circumstances. I feel bad for putting her on the spot like that, though."
“I feel for his unfortunate officers and crew as well,” Glal confessed. “Nevertheless, we have to investigate this thoroughly.”
Leo glanced back at Jarrod, to make sure he said his next sentence loud enough for both officers to hear, "You should prepare to have to relieve Keller of command. And uh… if there's going to be any sort of boarding action, then I should go with them."
“I’ll give him his one hour before pushing any harder,” Glal said. “Then it’ll be up to him how far or how badly this goes.”
Jarrod cast a glance at Leo from his station. “And why would you want to be part of any boarding action?”
Leo smiled sadly. "This has essentially turned into a JAGMAN investigation, now. But, uh… I'm still boarding-qualified from my service on the border. Ultimately, and I can't believe I'm going to say this out loud, I think I'm going to volunteer to defend that asshole. So, I need to make sure the son of a bitch's rights are being secured."
Glal nodded. “Nobody’s talking about denying an officer their rights, Leo. But if he puts up a fight in the face of lawful orders, he’ll get what he’s served.”
"Of course," Leo said confidently. "And I wouldn't imply otherwise… it's simply my duty to carry out." He sighed. "So… we'll wait the hour, then I guess we'll arrest him. My gut's saying he has no legal leg to stand on, and knows he's in deep. Played enough poker in my life to know what a bad bluff looks like."
* * *
After closing the channel and sending T'Rel belowdecks, Keller ordered Lieutenant Commander Vara to take the conn and slow the ship to warp four before they crossed over into Federation space. He followed in T'Rel's path from the bridge to the lift, until he reached the hatch leading to her quarters and announced himself.
T'Rel opened the hatch, still wearing her uniform. "Captain."
"Commander," Keller responded softly. "Might I have a word?"
She blinked at his change in tone when addressing her. In the years of service together, Keller never once hesitated to treat her with contempt. "Of course, sir," she said, stepping aside to admit his entry.
Once the hatch closed itself behind him, T'Rel guided him to an empty seat as she took the other within the spacious stateroom afforded to the senior officers aboard Repulse. "How can I be of service, Captain?"
Keller sighed, letting his chest sink downward and almost inward. "I don't think you realized the damage you've done, XO. You and I witnessed those orders together. They're in the computer, we need more time to find them. Why did you choose not to give us that time?"
T'Rel's expression softened, albeit only slightly. "Sir, time was of the essence. Commodore Trujillo's orders were clear, and however it may have happened, we had no evidence of our orders to prove that we were operating under higher authority."
"But we would, eventually-"
"No, sir," she interrupted him uncharacteristically. T'Rel rose from her seat and approached an elaborate tapestry upon the bulkhead within the front room. "As you pointed out to Commander Glal, an officer of higher rank has authority to recall or rescind us, if necessary. We had no orders. In other words, sir, we look like rogue officers off on a mission to start a war between the Federation and the Gorn."
Keller regained his confidence. "The Gorn started this!" he thundered. "The mission was in response to attacks on the border."
"Was it, though?" T'Rel asked. "If the orders didn't exist, how can we be sure that the briefing associated with it held any truth?"
The captain stopped his response under her questions. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. "No. I refuse to believe that we were fooled into marching across the border without cause. There had to be justification for this action. The admiral said-"
"And where is the admiral, now, sir?" T'Rel wondered softly. "Before you arrived," she said, pulling a display device from her personal desk, "I tried to locate that name in the listing of flag officers. I found no such mention in any department or any division within Starfleet."
Keller snatched the PADD from her hands and peered at it. He tapped and scrolled through the text. With each passing minute and second, his desperate eyes scanned each screen until his rage blinded him from reading a single letter.
"I came to my conclusion on the bridge when Commander Verde asked me to confirm your report," T'Rel said, after a few moments of silence. "We lack the resources to search. The JAG Corps can help us do that. They will conduct a full forensic investigation into our systems and records."
He tossed her PADD across the distance and let it crack against the bulkhead. "Turn myself in? For carrying out orders?" He spat, "Never. I will not suffer the humiliation of being arrested and relieved of my command. Certainly not by a man like Leo Verde. He's probably laughing his ass off, right now."
She pressed her lips together as Keller spoke. When he finished, T'Rel noted, "I have no other recourse at this time, sir. And, I plan on standing next to you when they arrest you. I do not plan on avoiding prosecution."
Keller scoffed. "You're damned right, you won't. If I'm going down for this, you can bet you will, too." When she did not respond to him, he took a step forward and raised his voice, "You thought I was going to be grateful for your sacrifice, Commander?"
T'Rel shook her head. "No, sir. That was not my expectation."
"Then what do you think you get out of telling me this?"
She stepped forward and closed the distance to meet his challenge head-on. "A Starfleet officer's first duty is to the truth."
* * *
The starship Gol signaled again one hour to the second after Captain Keller had terminated their previous conversation.
“Hailing a second time, Captain,” Ops advised Glal. “Again, no response.”
“Red alert,” Glal ordered. “All hands to battle-stations.”
“Mister Sabharwal, raise shields and acquire Repulse on our targeting sensors.”
Glal opened a channel in the clear to the other starship. “Repulse, this is Gol. I’d rather not press the issue, but I’m under orders. I have no desire to fire upon and thereby cripple another Starfleet vessel, but you’re not giving me any choice. You have exactly thirty seconds to respond.”
He threw a glance in Jarrod’s direction. “XO, be prepared to utilize Repulse’s command prefix codes to disable her defensive systems if she powers up shields and weapons.”
As his senior officers confirmed his orders, Glal fixed his eyes on the descending numerals on his thirty-second counter.
Glal advised his Tactical officer, “Sabharwal, if this turns into a fight, Repulse outguns us three-to-one. We’ll want to cripple her propulsion first, then her weapons emitters.”
The petty officer at Ops announced, “We appear to have got their attention, sir. They’re signaling.”
* * *
"Gol is hailing again, sir," reported Ha-vatoreii to Vara, seated in the captain's chair. "Shall I respond?"
Vara held up her hand as she called out once more, "Captain Keller, this is the bridge, please respond." He had not responded to her first call, given that she had the conn. The Bolian wiped a stray bit of perspiration from her blue cheek.
Lieutenant Kesshek added, "Commander, Gol is tracking us with their targeting sensors. They will have weapons lock shortly."
Ha-vatoreii's voice rose sharply, "They're giving us thirty seconds to respond or they will open fire!" He played Glal's message over the bridge speakers.
Vara sighed. "Open a channel."
"You're on, sir."
"Gol, this is Lieutenant Commander Vara, chief operations officer. I have the deck, and cannot reach the captain. The XO has been relieved. I am ordering this vessel to divert to your position. As I have no other option but to surrender, I do so willingly. I will not fire on another Starfleet vessel. Please acknowledge." She did her best to keep any timbre of pleading from her voice.
Glal appeared on their forward viewscreen, his expression tight with anger and regret. “Understood, Commander. For what little it’s worth I’m sorry for having to place you in this position. By authority of Commodore Trujillo, you are hereby commanded to take control of Repulse until relieved by myself or one of my officers. You are not to accept any further orders from Captain Keller or Commander T’Rel, is that clear?”
She nodded, relief evident on her face. "Aye, sir," she replied. "Might I ask if those of us among the senior staff should consider ourselves also under arrest?"
“Negative, Commander. Right now it’s limited to your CO and XO, though that could change as our investigation unfolds. However, your cooperation in this situation would be duly noted in any event.”
Vara sighed. "Thank you, sir. If the captain and exec are relieved, then I will need someone to beam aboard to secure the command codes per protocol."
“That’ll be me in about five minutes,” Glal fairly growled. “Inform your crew that I will be coming aboard with a security team. Nobody from your crew complement is to be armed when we arrive. To be clear, I will stun the ever-living shit out of any armed personnel we encounter.”
With widened eyes, Vara nodded mutely twice. "I will pass the word, sir."
From Repulse's helm, Lieutenant (jg) Thalix reported, "Now crossing into Federation space. Closing in on Gol's position, forty seconds to all stop."
Glal took no pleasure from uttering the words, “Repulse, heave to and prepare to be boarded.”
As the transmission closed, Vara keyed open the all-hands circuit and intoned, "All hands, this is Commander Vara. On orders from Commodore Trujillo, Captain Keller is relieved of command. We are coming alongside Gol to receive her captain. Crew is ordered to man the sides and prepare for piping aboard; no weapons, ceremonial or otherwise. That is all."
* * *
As Vara's call sounded over the speakers within his stateroom, Theodore Keller grimaced as T'Rel's prediction came to pass. While checking the ship's position, the computer disconnected his screen just before Repulse closed the distance with Gol. The screen would not render itself as before, simply stating that his access was denied.
A loud and shrill boatswain's whistle sounded over the speakers, along with a young voice intoning ceremoniously, "Attention all hands; Gol, arriving."
Keller began putting his personal effects into an empty duffel bag. The same bag he used when arriving aboard to assume command just over three years prior. Angry at the circumstances he now found himself within, his forcefulness with some of the more fragile items within his collection resulted in damage.
That only served to anger him more.
With his duffel slung over his shoulder, Keller moved to access the hatch and leave. When it snapped open, he was surprised to see three members of ship's security waiting for him; led by one of the ship's chief warrant officers, a Tellarite named Dursh.
Dursh raised his hand. "Sorry, sir. You need to return inside."
Keller frowned. "Stand aside, Mister." He noted none of the three carried any weapons. When none of them moved to clear his path, he pressed, "I said, stand aside. That's an order."
The Tellarite added his frown to Keller's. "My apologies, Captain. We're under orders from the new CO to arrest you to quarters. You will need to go back inside."
"Or else, what?" Keller puffed up his chest. His arms tensed, and his fingers tightened around his bag.
"Captain…" Dursh lowered his gaze downward with a heavy sigh. "Do us both a favor and go back inside. The captain of the Gol will see you shortly."
"I outrank the captain of the Gol, Mister," Keller hotly rejoined. "He doesn't have the authority to tell me where to piss!"
Dursh shook his head. "You leave me no choice." He glanced at the two master-at-arms, one Human male, the other an Andorian female. "Show the captain back inside, please."
Without a single word, both petty officers grabbed Keller at his upper arms and shoved him back inside. As the hatch slide closed, Keller screamed in frustration over the treatment from his own (former) crew.
* * *
Glal and his security team, joined by Leo Verde, materialized in one of Repulse’s transporter rooms. He was surprised to hear the trilling of the boatswain’s pipe just as he discerned the two ranks of officers and personnel lining either bulkhead as an impromptu honor guard.
Caught flat-hooved and despite leading an armed boarding team onto the vessel, Glal was too long in the service to break with tradition, as ridiculous as present circumstances rendered them. “Permission to come aboard?” he asked with no small amount of irony.
Vara stepped forward, "Permission granted, sir." She then nodded to the ensign at the console.
"Attention all hands; Gol, arriving!" said the ensign, calling out over the ship's intercom.
"Welcome aboard, sir," Vara continued, extending her hand. "I surrender the command of Repulse to your authority."
Glal shook her hand firmly. “Thank you, Commander.” He nodded in the direction of a nearby computer access terminal. “If you please.”
The pair took a moment to register the transfer of command code authorities over to Glal, fully terminating those privileges previously entrusted to Captain Keller and Commander T’Rel.
Once that was done, the wizened Tellarite turned again to address her. “Thank you for the welcome, Commander Vara. Please resume command on the bridge while Commander Verde and I have a sit down with Captain Keller.” He gestured to three members of his security detail. “They’ll be taking positions on the bridge to make certain nobody with conflicted loyalties tries to interfere with the provisional chain-of-command.”
She offered a wan smile. "Aye, sir. I've taken the liberty of confining Captain Keller and Commander T'Rel to quarters. Mister Dursh is seeing to it, presently." Vara asked, "By your leave?"
“Good work and carry on, Commander.” Glal looked to Leo and bobbed his head in the direction of the hatch. “Let’s do this,” he muttered distastefully.
Vara ordered, "Crew dismissed!" Then, preceded Glal to return to the bridge.
Leo wordlessly followed Glal through the hatch, until they were on the other side. "What a production," he noted. "My dad would be proud, though."
“She’s scared shitless and I don’t blame her,” Glal groused as they marched side-by-side up the corridor. “Computer, location of Captain Keller’s quarters…”
* * *
Glal paused on the threshold of Keller’s cabin door, nodding to the two unarmed security officers standing watch outside. He unholstered his phaser and handed it grip-first to the older of the two security specialists. “Don’t disappoint me, son.” He then turned to Leo. “Can I have a moment with him, or would you rather go in first and establish the legal lay of the land?”
Leo considered his options. "I don't think anyone would mind if you go in there, captain-to-captain. I'll say I was elsewhere until you called for me. Just remember two things: If you arrest him, I need to be there to offer counsel. And second, you might be called to testify what you said and heard, later. "
“With pleasure,” Glal confirmed.
He nodded to the door and the security man he’d just armed toggled the hatch to open.
Glal stepped through into the cabin beyond.
* * *
“Captain Keller, I’m Commander Glal of the Gol. Under orders from higher authority I’ve taken temporary command of Repulse until relieved by another duly designated officer, or until such time as command is returned to you.”
Keller lounged on the couch within the middle section of the captain's stateroom. If he acknowledged Glal's presence, he made no movement or sound to do so. In his hand he held an old-fashioned glass with a green liquid within. While Glal spoke, he lifted the contents to his lips and let it slide down his throat.
Unfazed by Keller’s silence, Glal continued, “I was prepared to afford you the dignity of leaving Repulse under your command until we’d joined up with the commodore’s squadron, but you chose to ignore me. You seem to be dead set on making a bad situation even worse. Do you mind if I ask why?”
The question hung in the air as Keller decided to respond with another drink from the glass, which resulted in an empty glass. He reached for the bottle on the table nearby and poured more for himself, but did not offer anything to Glal. Without so much as a raised glass, Keller drank more as though he remained alone.
“So be it,” Glal said. “The right to remain silent is one of your guarantees.” He walked over and triggered the hatch to open, ushering Leo inside.
“I am not going to arrest you for the attack on the Gorn outpost, seeing as that matter is still very much under investigation. I am, however, placing you under arrest for failure to follow a lawful order of a superior officer, that being Commodore Nandi Trujillo. Further charges may be forthcoming.”
Glal gestured towards the mute Keller as he looked at Leo. “He’s all yours, Counselor.”
As soon as Leo came into view, Keller launched from his couch, spilling his drink as it sloshed around within the glass. "Get him the fuck out of here," he ordered, seething with fury.
Leo raised a hand. "He can't arrest you without offering counsel, Captain. You have rights."
"I don't give a damn about rights!" Keller boomed at Leo. "This is your revenge for beaching you, isn't it? Well, I got news for you, Commander Verde; you stepped over the line on the bridge of my ship. You were one hair away from mutiny, as far as I'm concerned. You should have been court-martialed out of the service and sent to a penal colony!"
Leo sighed. "Sir-"
Keller finally addressed Glal. "Did he ever tell you? He was hot shit in the Border Service. On track for command of his own someday. Make his father proud… a real officer, by the way, Admiral Rey Verde. Served with Hikaru Sulu and Pavel Chekov during the war. And this snot-nosed fortunate son with privilege tries to tell me I'm treating his friends poorly. Stuck up know-nothing legacy ingrate!"
Glal interposed himself between the men, facing down Keller. “It’s clear there’s bad blood here, Captain. Be advised, Commander Verde was selected for this assignment, he did not volunteer. He is also the person best suited to defend you, so you just might want to consider putting that ego in check long enough to weigh the best interests of your career.”
"Oh, so now you care about my career?" Keller snorted and laughed at the idea. In a slurring tone, he accused, "You both are just… so fucking full of yourselves, aren't you?"
"Captain!" Leo called. "That's enough!" He approached Keller and removed the glass from the older man's hand. A mere whiff of the captain's general odor made Leo blanch. "He's drunk as hell, Skip."
“Then I’ll leave him to you, Commander. I’ve had my fill.”
Glal headed for the doors, convinced that remaining in the vicinity of the toxic Keller any longer would see himself brought up on charges of assault.
* * *
