He was deep in his REM sleep cycle and dreaming of things he would not remember when he awoke. So naturally Lif Culsten assumed that the voice he heard was part of his dream. That was until his subconscious convinced him that the insisting trilling noise was in fact an external stimulus, trying to get his attention.
The young Krellonian didn’t have ears–none of his species did–instead he picked up sonic waves through the epidermis in his skin which made him slightly more acute to the perception of sound. He knew what he was hearing even before he opened his eyes.
“You have an incoming, priority message,” the computer repeated for the fourth time.
Culsten’s eyes opened slowly and he glared across his small, dark quarters. Culsten had many friends across the fleet but most had better sense to try and to contact him at such a late hour. Most of them in fact would not have resorted to a real-time priority message.
“You have an incoming –“
“Yes, thank you, computer. I heard you,” he said, barely able to stifle a yawn.
As he hesitantly crawled out of his warm, comfortable bed he began to realize how unusual a real-time priority sub-space message was. Especially these days, as Starfleet was fighting a desperate war and most resources had been diverted or reserved for the war effort.
Whoever was trying to reach him, it was important. Not only that, the person wishing to speak to him held some significant sway in order to dedicate a priority message to a rather insignificant junior lieutenant helmsman serving on a starship far removed from the front lines.
His mind snapped awake and was buzzing with possibilities as he sat down in front of his computer. He had become so anxious about this mysterious call he almost slammed the controls, accepting the call.
He was completely baffled when the face of a young human man, not much older than himself, with dark blonde hair and dull brown eyes greeted him on the screen. “Lif Culsten,” he said with a tone of casual familiarity. “It’s good to see you again. You look well.”
The Krellonian was so dumbfounded he was taken aback. He had never seen that man in his life, he was absolutely positive about that. And yet this rather indistinct person appeared to know him quite well, in fact was speaking to him as if they had been friends for years.
“And congratulations on your recent commendation. I hear it was thanks to you that Eagle survived a rather unpleasant run in with half a Jem’Hadar fleet. Looks like that command you always wanted is inching closer by the minute.”
Culsten could feel anger rising within him. This man knew too much. Yes, Starfleet had awarded him the [FONT=Calibri]Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry[/FONT] after he had managed to keep Eagle alive against overwhelming odds during a secretive mission to an equally secretive Starfleet outpost a few months ago. He had nearly busted with pride upon being given the much coveted award even if there hadn’t been much fanfare about it. A small ceremony on Eagle and a personal message from Admiral Throl had been the entire extend of his proudest moment in his short Starfleet career and for good reasons.
The war had made heroes of many men and women as they were tested day in and day out and asked to go above and beyond the call of duty on equally numerous occasions. Some failed but those who succeeded were given medals, a handshake and a ‘well done, son’ before being asked to do their damned best to keep it up.
Culsten understood that it wasn’t practical to stand on big ceremony and he was loathe to think of himself a hero. And after all that it still felt pretty good to have been recognized for what he had been surprised himself he had managed to achieve.
The other reason why his citation had been kept on the hush-hush though had been because the entire mission had been classified by the highest levels of Starfleet Command. To this day Lif Culsten had no idea why Eagle had been sent to Ligos IV. This made him angry not because he wanted more recognition but for the simple fact that Commander Edison, their former first officer had lost his life there.
And for whatever reason, this stranger, this man he had never before met in his life appeared to have intimate knowledge of these events. Even if he hadn’t said it out loud, the confidence in those brown eyes was more than sufficient proof.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Oh,” the man said with apparent surprise. “I thought it would take a minute for you to remember me but I forgot one very crucial thing.”
Culsten wanted to ask what exactly it was this man had forgotten when, to his horror, he realized that the man’s face was morphing in front of his very eyes. He was gripped by such a sudden sense of fear and dread that it completely overrode his rational mind, trying to remind him that no matter what he was facing, there was no way it could harm him over a comlink.
It took some willpower not to jump out of his seat. Instead he managed to remain calmly where he was and watched the transformation with anxious anticipation to see what it would reveal.
The stranger had been wrong. It didn’t take Culsten a full minute to recognize who he had been speaking to. No, he recognized her instantly and then quickly cursed himself for having shown such an irrational amount of fear.
“Galven.”
The pretty but unassuming blonde woman offered him a small smile, revealing her enjoyment in playing these little games and then brushed through her plentiful hair. “You like me better this way?”
Culsten frowned. He had met the shape-shifter only once, two years ago when she had tried to recruit him after putting him through a harrowing experience that could have easily cost both of them their lives. He had thought much about her since and even though he had declined her offer back then he had been left with the distinct impression that she had chosen to ignore his decision.
“What do you want from me? I told you, I wouldn’t spy on my friends for you. Nothing has changed.”
“Oh come on,” she said playfully. “That’s no way to start a friendly conversation now, is it?”
“So we’re friends now?”
She shrugged. “Why not? I hear you make friends quite easily. Is there something about me in particular you don’t like?”
“Well one thing would be how you seem to know everything about me and I know hardly anything at all about you. That’s not exactly making me feel at ease here.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I get that a lot. Occupational hazard, I guess.”
The Krellonian had noticeably relaxed by now and he quickly understood that it was exactly what she had tried to achieve. If nothing else, she was pretty good at what she did. But then again he didn’t really know what it was she did.
“I know you want something, Galven, otherwise you wouldn’t have contacted me. I’m sure somebody like you has better things to do then spend their time making small talk with a junior lieutenant.”
“We all want things, Lif. Get that promotion, have your own starship command someday, winning the war against the Dominion. If there is one constant in this universe it’s that everyone has an angle.”
“And what is yours?”
“Right now?” she asked. “Prevent Eagle from tearing apart the Federation.”
That got his attention. “Say again?”
“How much do you know about your current mission?”
“We’re heading to a planet called Tiaita with which we have recently signed a treaty and whose government has agreed to let us build mining outposts in their system. We are to supervise the humanitarian mission to –“ he stopped himself. He had surrendered Eagle’s entire mission profile to an intelligence officer he practically knew nothing about. How could he have been so stupid?
Galven noticed his apprehension and smiled. “Relax, Lif, your mission is not exactly a secret even if some people would prefer that it was. You’re not telling me anything I don’t know already.”
Culsten wasn’t quite convinced and decided to remain quiet.
“But there is something you need to know about this mission and this is very important. The man behind this mission is Admiral Melvin Schwarzkopf, a rather impulsive person who at times might be more concerned about his legacy than what is good for the Federation. He has managed to fast track this treaty by convincing the big brass that this is the way to strike a decisive defeat against the Dominion. He’s wrong about that but unfortunately that’s not the only thing he is wrong about. Getting involved with the Tiaita was a mistake.”
“And why is that?”
“Because these people are not yet ready for a treaty with the Federation.”
Culsten considered this for a moment. “The Federation is desperate. Maybe we need to allow for some compromises in order to survive this war.”
Surprisingly Galven nodded in agreement. “We do. But not like we are on Tiaita. There is another element to this you don’t know about. A group within Starfleet Intelligence is opposing Schwarzkopf for their entirely own reasons and if this situation escalates we might very well be looking at a rift developing within Starfleet itself and that is something the Federation cannot afford.”
The young lieutenant’s head was beginning to spin. Galven was asking him to assimilate too much information at the same time. It took a few seconds for him to pick up the loose ends. “If Starfleet Intelligence is playing a role in this why are you coming to me? That’s your people, why can’t you get them in line?”
At that she chuckled slightly. “You have a somewhat naïve impression of the organization I work for. Intelligence is nothing like the neatly organized fleet of starships out there. Oversight and coordination are not our strength, I’m afraid to say that some groups have motives which might run counter to the majority.”
“Are you suggesting that Starfleet Intelligence is an uncontrollable group of influence welding parties?”
“No,” she replied sharply, apparently not liking the insinuation. Whatever was happening in the intelligence community, her loyalty was still fully intact.
Culsten looked at her suspiciously
“Look, the point is this. With Eagle joining the fray we will be looking at two factions of Starfleet fighting each other and that is what we must avoid at any cost.”
“Alright then but why come to me about all of this? Why not just go directly to the captain and explain it to him? Surely he would understand and find a way to avoid what you have suggested.”
She shook her head. “If the captain finds out about this now he will have to report it to his superiors. He would have no other choice. And if this becomes public, even if it remains just within Starfleet we would be looking at the outsets of a civil war between those who are willing to do whatever is necessary to win the war and those who want to maintain the Federation’s core values. Our only chance now is to shut down the Tiaita disaster before its implications can spread throughout the Federation.”
“I find it hard to believe that this one incident could have such wide ranging repercussions,” Culsten said.
“The worst disasters start out with the smallest incidents, Lif. All they need is a spark.”
He sighed heavily. “Fine. So what do you expect me to do about all this?”
“You can keep your eyes open. We know about Schwarzkopf but we don’t know who is pulling the strings on the other side. Let me be clear, I’m not expecting you to single-handedly bring this secret war to an end but I need you to provide me with information. That is all.”
Lif Culsten’s words were stuck in the back of his throat. He wanted to tell her to go to hell and find somebody else to be her pawn but she had been too convincing for Culsten to simply turn his back on her now. She had hit all the right notes, talking about the threat of civil war and the very future of the Federation. He could not in good conscious ignore her request. But for now he wished for nothing more than never having met the shape-shifter in the first place.
“I will keep digging up what I can on my end but I need you to do this, Lif. Can I count on you?” she continued when he had refused to speak. Her voice was firm and sincere now, maybe even a bit menacing, as if anything but his full cooperation was going to be entirely unacceptable.
Despite himself Lif nodded his head slowly. “I’ll keep my eyes open.”
At that she smiled. “I knew I could trust you, Lif. I’ll be in touch. Galven out.”
And with that her face disappeared from the screen and Lif Culsten was left sitting in his dark quarters with an undeniably rotten feeling in the pit of his stomach.
The young Krellonian didn’t have ears–none of his species did–instead he picked up sonic waves through the epidermis in his skin which made him slightly more acute to the perception of sound. He knew what he was hearing even before he opened his eyes.
“You have an incoming, priority message,” the computer repeated for the fourth time.
Culsten’s eyes opened slowly and he glared across his small, dark quarters. Culsten had many friends across the fleet but most had better sense to try and to contact him at such a late hour. Most of them in fact would not have resorted to a real-time priority message.
“You have an incoming –“
“Yes, thank you, computer. I heard you,” he said, barely able to stifle a yawn.
As he hesitantly crawled out of his warm, comfortable bed he began to realize how unusual a real-time priority sub-space message was. Especially these days, as Starfleet was fighting a desperate war and most resources had been diverted or reserved for the war effort.
Whoever was trying to reach him, it was important. Not only that, the person wishing to speak to him held some significant sway in order to dedicate a priority message to a rather insignificant junior lieutenant helmsman serving on a starship far removed from the front lines.
His mind snapped awake and was buzzing with possibilities as he sat down in front of his computer. He had become so anxious about this mysterious call he almost slammed the controls, accepting the call.
He was completely baffled when the face of a young human man, not much older than himself, with dark blonde hair and dull brown eyes greeted him on the screen. “Lif Culsten,” he said with a tone of casual familiarity. “It’s good to see you again. You look well.”
The Krellonian was so dumbfounded he was taken aback. He had never seen that man in his life, he was absolutely positive about that. And yet this rather indistinct person appeared to know him quite well, in fact was speaking to him as if they had been friends for years.
“And congratulations on your recent commendation. I hear it was thanks to you that Eagle survived a rather unpleasant run in with half a Jem’Hadar fleet. Looks like that command you always wanted is inching closer by the minute.”
Culsten could feel anger rising within him. This man knew too much. Yes, Starfleet had awarded him the [FONT=Calibri]Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry[/FONT] after he had managed to keep Eagle alive against overwhelming odds during a secretive mission to an equally secretive Starfleet outpost a few months ago. He had nearly busted with pride upon being given the much coveted award even if there hadn’t been much fanfare about it. A small ceremony on Eagle and a personal message from Admiral Throl had been the entire extend of his proudest moment in his short Starfleet career and for good reasons.
The war had made heroes of many men and women as they were tested day in and day out and asked to go above and beyond the call of duty on equally numerous occasions. Some failed but those who succeeded were given medals, a handshake and a ‘well done, son’ before being asked to do their damned best to keep it up.
Culsten understood that it wasn’t practical to stand on big ceremony and he was loathe to think of himself a hero. And after all that it still felt pretty good to have been recognized for what he had been surprised himself he had managed to achieve.
The other reason why his citation had been kept on the hush-hush though had been because the entire mission had been classified by the highest levels of Starfleet Command. To this day Lif Culsten had no idea why Eagle had been sent to Ligos IV. This made him angry not because he wanted more recognition but for the simple fact that Commander Edison, their former first officer had lost his life there.
And for whatever reason, this stranger, this man he had never before met in his life appeared to have intimate knowledge of these events. Even if he hadn’t said it out loud, the confidence in those brown eyes was more than sufficient proof.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Oh,” the man said with apparent surprise. “I thought it would take a minute for you to remember me but I forgot one very crucial thing.”
Culsten wanted to ask what exactly it was this man had forgotten when, to his horror, he realized that the man’s face was morphing in front of his very eyes. He was gripped by such a sudden sense of fear and dread that it completely overrode his rational mind, trying to remind him that no matter what he was facing, there was no way it could harm him over a comlink.
It took some willpower not to jump out of his seat. Instead he managed to remain calmly where he was and watched the transformation with anxious anticipation to see what it would reveal.
The stranger had been wrong. It didn’t take Culsten a full minute to recognize who he had been speaking to. No, he recognized her instantly and then quickly cursed himself for having shown such an irrational amount of fear.
“Galven.”
The pretty but unassuming blonde woman offered him a small smile, revealing her enjoyment in playing these little games and then brushed through her plentiful hair. “You like me better this way?”
Culsten frowned. He had met the shape-shifter only once, two years ago when she had tried to recruit him after putting him through a harrowing experience that could have easily cost both of them their lives. He had thought much about her since and even though he had declined her offer back then he had been left with the distinct impression that she had chosen to ignore his decision.
“What do you want from me? I told you, I wouldn’t spy on my friends for you. Nothing has changed.”
“Oh come on,” she said playfully. “That’s no way to start a friendly conversation now, is it?”
“So we’re friends now?”
She shrugged. “Why not? I hear you make friends quite easily. Is there something about me in particular you don’t like?”
“Well one thing would be how you seem to know everything about me and I know hardly anything at all about you. That’s not exactly making me feel at ease here.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I get that a lot. Occupational hazard, I guess.”
The Krellonian had noticeably relaxed by now and he quickly understood that it was exactly what she had tried to achieve. If nothing else, she was pretty good at what she did. But then again he didn’t really know what it was she did.
“I know you want something, Galven, otherwise you wouldn’t have contacted me. I’m sure somebody like you has better things to do then spend their time making small talk with a junior lieutenant.”
“We all want things, Lif. Get that promotion, have your own starship command someday, winning the war against the Dominion. If there is one constant in this universe it’s that everyone has an angle.”
“And what is yours?”
“Right now?” she asked. “Prevent Eagle from tearing apart the Federation.”
That got his attention. “Say again?”
“How much do you know about your current mission?”
“We’re heading to a planet called Tiaita with which we have recently signed a treaty and whose government has agreed to let us build mining outposts in their system. We are to supervise the humanitarian mission to –“ he stopped himself. He had surrendered Eagle’s entire mission profile to an intelligence officer he practically knew nothing about. How could he have been so stupid?
Galven noticed his apprehension and smiled. “Relax, Lif, your mission is not exactly a secret even if some people would prefer that it was. You’re not telling me anything I don’t know already.”
Culsten wasn’t quite convinced and decided to remain quiet.
“But there is something you need to know about this mission and this is very important. The man behind this mission is Admiral Melvin Schwarzkopf, a rather impulsive person who at times might be more concerned about his legacy than what is good for the Federation. He has managed to fast track this treaty by convincing the big brass that this is the way to strike a decisive defeat against the Dominion. He’s wrong about that but unfortunately that’s not the only thing he is wrong about. Getting involved with the Tiaita was a mistake.”
“And why is that?”
“Because these people are not yet ready for a treaty with the Federation.”
Culsten considered this for a moment. “The Federation is desperate. Maybe we need to allow for some compromises in order to survive this war.”
Surprisingly Galven nodded in agreement. “We do. But not like we are on Tiaita. There is another element to this you don’t know about. A group within Starfleet Intelligence is opposing Schwarzkopf for their entirely own reasons and if this situation escalates we might very well be looking at a rift developing within Starfleet itself and that is something the Federation cannot afford.”
The young lieutenant’s head was beginning to spin. Galven was asking him to assimilate too much information at the same time. It took a few seconds for him to pick up the loose ends. “If Starfleet Intelligence is playing a role in this why are you coming to me? That’s your people, why can’t you get them in line?”
At that she chuckled slightly. “You have a somewhat naïve impression of the organization I work for. Intelligence is nothing like the neatly organized fleet of starships out there. Oversight and coordination are not our strength, I’m afraid to say that some groups have motives which might run counter to the majority.”
“Are you suggesting that Starfleet Intelligence is an uncontrollable group of influence welding parties?”
“No,” she replied sharply, apparently not liking the insinuation. Whatever was happening in the intelligence community, her loyalty was still fully intact.
Culsten looked at her suspiciously
“Look, the point is this. With Eagle joining the fray we will be looking at two factions of Starfleet fighting each other and that is what we must avoid at any cost.”
“Alright then but why come to me about all of this? Why not just go directly to the captain and explain it to him? Surely he would understand and find a way to avoid what you have suggested.”
She shook her head. “If the captain finds out about this now he will have to report it to his superiors. He would have no other choice. And if this becomes public, even if it remains just within Starfleet we would be looking at the outsets of a civil war between those who are willing to do whatever is necessary to win the war and those who want to maintain the Federation’s core values. Our only chance now is to shut down the Tiaita disaster before its implications can spread throughout the Federation.”
“I find it hard to believe that this one incident could have such wide ranging repercussions,” Culsten said.
“The worst disasters start out with the smallest incidents, Lif. All they need is a spark.”
He sighed heavily. “Fine. So what do you expect me to do about all this?”
“You can keep your eyes open. We know about Schwarzkopf but we don’t know who is pulling the strings on the other side. Let me be clear, I’m not expecting you to single-handedly bring this secret war to an end but I need you to provide me with information. That is all.”
Lif Culsten’s words were stuck in the back of his throat. He wanted to tell her to go to hell and find somebody else to be her pawn but she had been too convincing for Culsten to simply turn his back on her now. She had hit all the right notes, talking about the threat of civil war and the very future of the Federation. He could not in good conscious ignore her request. But for now he wished for nothing more than never having met the shape-shifter in the first place.
“I will keep digging up what I can on my end but I need you to do this, Lif. Can I count on you?” she continued when he had refused to speak. Her voice was firm and sincere now, maybe even a bit menacing, as if anything but his full cooperation was going to be entirely unacceptable.
Despite himself Lif nodded his head slowly. “I’ll keep my eyes open.”
At that she smiled. “I knew I could trust you, Lif. I’ll be in touch. Galven out.”
And with that her face disappeared from the screen and Lif Culsten was left sitting in his dark quarters with an undeniably rotten feeling in the pit of his stomach.
_ _ _ _ _
She hasn't shown herself to be trustworthy in my opinion.
out of the admiral, even though it would probably end his career.
