July/August 2021 Challenge Entry: "And Ask the Ghosts if Truth Matters"

[Cobalt Frost]

“This had better be really damned important,” he growled as he rolled off of his latest fling, throwing on a Tholian silk robe and heading for his office. The Starfleet standard (read: annoyingly peppy) four-tone, indicating an incoming transmission, echoed through the nigh-palatial apartment. Well, if one could call the multi-level residential complex that took up nearly three decks of the Earth-orbiting Starbase Prime an ‘apartment.’

Reaching the office and sealing the door behind him, Fleet Admiral Robert ‘Phaser Pants’ Durham, CIC Unified Command, tabbed the channel open. “This had better be really damned important,” he said, repeating his earlier complaint. Whether wearing a robe that cost millions of credits or a full dress uniform, Adm. Durham exuded an aura of command that made very nearly everyone flinch or recoil at the sound of his voice. To his credit, the officer who’d made the call did so visibly, but recovered quickly and started to deliver his message.

“Sir, we have a situation on Concordia V,” said Commander Maxin, a nervous tremble just barely evident in his voice. “Pollux got out.”

“How long ago?”

“Two days standard. We…”

“TWO DAYS?” erupted Durham.

“Sir, we had to confirm it wasn’t a case of the naturally-occurring Castor virus that Pollux was designed to mimic. Additionally, we had to accelerate our timetable to act as if the accident was in fact the planned Stage IV release. Other than not having certain spaceborne assets in theatre, everything is proceeding as if it had been the intentional release.”

Durham regarded Maxin cooly. “So, the virus spread is vectoring as anticipated?”

“Yes sir. We are of course monitoring the spread and every anticipated transmission variable as closely as possible.”

“Well done, Commander. I commend your management of the situation.”

“Thank you, sir! I recomm-“ Maxin stopped and looked to his right. “Excuse me, Admiral.” A tentacle handed the commander a PADD; he took a moment to scan the info it displayed.

“The announcement of the ‘Castor’ virus’ detection was just made by the local media. Based on the previous outbreak, we expect planetwide lockdowns within the next half hour. My team had already activated pre-programmed glitches into the transporter hubs; no one has beamed on or off-world for the last two days, and no one has tried to launch yet.”

“I suspect we’ll be getting a call for medical cruisers very shortly,” remarked Durham. “Wait a day and activate our ‘agitators’.” Maxin nodded.

“We have recalled USS Warspite and USS Constantine, both Defiant-class, but they’re twelve hours off. Our only asset in orbit is the frigate USS Veritas.”

“I’ll get what ships I can to you as soon as possible, Commander, but most of our heavier assets are dealing with agitations on the Tseruntai border. I’ll be in touch.” Durham cut the channel and leaned back in the chair, stretching.

So the kickoff was a little sooner than expected.. but so far it’s going to plan. He got up and headed back to the bedroom. Now, where was I? he thought with a grin. Oh, that's right...

 

[Cobalt Frost]

USS Challenger NCC 86128, location Beta Caeli system (slightly to the galactic north of Starbase 343)

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Slipstream drive disengaged,” said Challenger’s Romulan pilot, Lt. Mokul. “Thrusters to station keeping; helm answers all stop.”

“Discharging superspace capacitors,” added LCDR K’kon, the OPS officer. “Anticipate two hours before we can resume course.” K’kon noticed something on his console. “Tractor beam systems are overloaded again,” he mentioned. “Looks like that phase variance is back.”

“We’ll get it looked at when we get back to Earth. That’s lunch, everybody,” Capt. Gabriel Frost quipped tiredly. “Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.” None of the bridge crew got the reference, but they were getting used to their captain’s anachronistic comments, so a polite chuckle sounded around the bridge. XO Commander Connie Taylor, seated to Gabriel’s right, just rolled her eyes.

“Contact UniCom,” she said. “Let them know we’re running late.”

“Aye, Commander,” K’kon replied. There had been some unusual turbulence in the quantum slipstream, so the trip from Gateway Station in Alliance space to the Federation had taken a few days longer than anticipated. It was also the reason Challenger had dropped from slipstream here, on the outskirts of Federation space. Once they’d gotten things buttoned up, standard warp drive would carry Challenger to her overdue appointment on Earth.

“We’re getting a reply from Unified Command,” said K’kon, a hint of surprise in his voice. He turned to face Gabriel. “Eyes only, sir.”

Gabriel stood and yawned. “In my ready room please, Commander.”

“On your word, sir,” answered K’kon.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Authorization Frost delta two delta delta stroke seven,” Gabriel said as he sat down at his ready room desk. The monitor sprang to life, displaying the face of Admiral Durham. Gabriel instinctively sat a little straighter.

“I’ll get right to the point, Gabriel. I need you to set course for Concordia V, best speed. There’s a situation developing, and right now you’re the closest ship available. Which is fortuitous, actually… maybe as their Hero, you can talk some sense into them.”

Gabriel frowned at the mention of Concordia V, but asked what the situation was.

“As you may or may not know, there was an outbreak of the Castor virus about a year ago. It was contained fairly quickly, thanks to a fast-tracked vaccine, but there were a fair number of fatalities. Unfortunately, it seems the virus is active again, and it’s mutated. The current variant has an extremely high lethality. We’re working as fast as we can to modify the original vaccine, but the natives are getting restless, as they say.

“There are some medical cruisers on station; however, they only have the frigate USS Veritas as an escort. We’ll have a battle group en route as soon as we can pull a few ships from the Tseruntai border, but we can’t let anyone off-planet. The battle group will be there in two days; Challenger can be on station in three hours, as soon as your capacitors are discharged.”

“We’ll get there as soon as we can, Admiral,” said Gabriel.

“This bug can’t get off-planet, Gabriel, no matter what.”

“Understood, sir. Challenger out.”

 

[Cobalt Frost]

USS Challenger, en route to Concordia V at high warp, ETA one hour

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“So what do we know about Concordia V, other than it’s another planet where the people worship our captain and the ground he walks on?” The other members of Challenger’s command crew, assembled in the observation lounge behind the bridge, winced at Commander Taylor’s comment. Connie noticed (uncaringly), but looked at Gabriel in expectation of a biting retort. What she didn’t expect, however, was the look of deep visceral pain that crossed Gabriel’s face. He remained silent, nodding to Lt. Rio Duran to continue the briefing.

“The Concordia system is heavily, heavily industrialized, but lightly populated,” she said. “Concordia III, IV, and VII support mining, mining operations for various ores, tritium from, from seawater, and tibanna gas respectively. IV is Class O, a pelagic, pelagic world, while V and VI are Class M, though only, only Concordia V has a substantial population, a polyglot of various, various races with humans very slightly, slightly in the majority. The world is mostly agrarian, with a general, general tech level roughly equivalent to, to 21st century Earth.

“There are only, only two small spaceports with a few impulse-only shuttles, so transporter hubs, hubs in a high geosynchronous orbit handle all, all of the freight.”

“That’s odd,” Connie remarked as she consulted a PADD. “Considering the raw tonnage of foodstuffs they export. Why not just land the bulk freighters?”

“Concordia V has, has unique atmospheric properties that make their farming, farming so successful,” Lt. Rio explained. “These properties are disrupted by heavier, heavier ships’ drives, so they limit atmospheric flight, flight to ships about the size of the old Bajoran impulse raiders. Anything else anchors, anchors within range of the transporter hubs, and items, items and people are beamed on- or off-world.”

“The transporter hubs have been locked down,” said Gabriel. “Only the medical cruisers have functioning transporters; they’ve sent down specialists and supplies to aid the local medical establishment. However, there have been some protests, and per our latest information, some of the more vocal protesters are threatening to get craft in orbit. The fear is that if they can get close enough to the transporter hubs, they can override the lockdown and beam to waiting ships.”

“Farmers? Not bloody likely,” said Connie dismissively.

“One of the Starfleet officers stationed at the northern spaceport, a Lt. Tybarumaqua, has apparently taken the Concordians’ protests to heart and has absconded with several kiloquads of data, including system access codes to the transporter hubs.” Gabriel paused to take a sip of water. “You’d think being one of only three Cohvli on the planet would make it easier to find her, but so far no joy.

“There are two Defiant-class en route; they should arrive just before we do. Durham’s battle group will follow in a day and a half. We have to keep any craft grounded while making sure no other ships get too close to the planet.” Gabriel tapped on the control panel in front of him, and a hologram of Concordia V appeared over the conference table. The spaceports were indicated with red circles. Another tap, and a transparent blue sphere enclosed the planet.

“This is the Branson-Bezos Limit, the closest ships can get to the planet. They prefer ships use the anchorages near the hubs, of course, but occasionally a ship has to get closer. Challenger will not go below the Limit. When we get to Concordia V and assess the situation we’ll deploy fighters to help ensure that nothing that isn’t one of ours gets above it.”

Gabriel looked around at his command officers. “The lethality of this virus is incredibly high,” he said somberly. “Too many have died already, but if Castor was to get off-world…” He let the sentence hang unfinished. “We arrive at Concordia V in one hour. Make sure all appropriate personnel in your divisions are briefed, and I want a six-ship CAP ready to launch as soon as we’re there.

“Dismissed.”

 

[admiralelm11]

Wow! That's quite the situation that Challenger and her crew have on their hands. The beginning reminded me of Dr. Strangelove. Keep up the great work, Cobalt Frost.

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

You had me at Tholian silk... That wouldn't be the Delta variant of the Castor virus?
And the Branson-Bezos limit wasn't lost on me either.
Delightful as always! Thanks!! rbs

 

[Cobalt Frost]

Thanks for the praise, y'all. Still gotta post the rest tho, lol...

 

[Cobalt Frost]

USS Challenger, in orbit of Concordia V, arrival plus six hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Shortly after Challenger’s arrival, protesters had seized control of the global communications net. Unfortunately, the planet’s ruling body had been so caught up in the arrival of their 'Hero' that Gabriel had hardly got a word in edgewise before being unable to communicate at all.

“Keep trying,” sighed Gabriel.

The intraship channel chimed open. “Bridge, flight deck.”

“Bridge,” Gabriel replied. “Go ahead, CAG.”

“Alpha CAP is due to head back,” said LCDR Dallas Parrino, Challenger’s fighter wing commander. “They warned off a couple of corporate skiffs, but no shots were fired. Seems the locals haven’t worked up the chutzpah to make a run for it.”

“Yet,” Gabriel added. Considering what they were able to glean from intercepted broadcasts, that lack of chutzpah wouldn’t last. “Launch the Beta CAP and have Alpha return once Beta’s ships are on station.”

“On your word,” said Parrino.

“Warspite and Constantine have the southern spaceport buttoned up tighter than Fort Knox,” Connie reported. “No one is flying so much as a kite down there.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

USS Challenger, in orbit of Concordia V, arrival plus 11 hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“The Brythunia is back on board,” said LCDR K’kon.

“By the skin of their teeth,” Connie snarked.

“It was worth a try,” Lt. Avallios commented, but Connie’s dark glare cut off any further commentary.

In theory, it was a good idea. Damningly unable to communicate with anyone on the surface, Gabriel had recalled a technique used during Earth’s mid-20th century, where ‘informational’ – propaganda, really – leaflets were dropped by low-flying aircraft over a population center to get a message to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, for a population with a tech level akin to 21st century Earth, they somehow had access to decidedly more modern weaponry. Challenger’s shuttles had to fly low enough to distribute the papers that had been replicated, which meant they were easy targets. At least the protestors seemed to be poor shots, except whoever had blown a nacelle off of the Brythunia.

Gabriel sighed, in a poor imitation of a Brooklyn accent. “I shoulda stood in bed.”

 

[Cobalt Frost]

USS Challenger, in orbit of Concordia V, arrival plus 17 hours

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Red alert!” Connie barked. “All hands, battle stations!” The bridge lights shifted to red and the alert klaxons started wailing. “How the Hell did we miss the launch?”

“No idea, Commander,” replied Lt. Priest as she jumped over a railing and slid into the tactical pit seat. “Combat holographics online, weapons hot. Challenger is cleared for action.”

“Blessed Hell!” Connie swore. “I’ll have someone’s head for this!”

“Recriminations later, Commander,” said Gabriel as he stepped out of the turbolift and tugged on his uniform jacket. "Kill that noise, and let’s deal with the situation at hand.” The klaxons cut off instantly. As he took the center seat that Connie had just vacated, Gabriel turned his attention to Lt. Priest.

“Talk to me, Goose.”

“Multiple contacts, making a hard burn for high orbit,” she said, ignoring what she assumed was another of Gabriel’s oddball quotes. “I count 19 craft.”

Gabriel turned to Connie. “Get all our birds in the air,” he said curtly. As she turned to relay the order to Challenger’s CAG, Gabriel called to Lt. Avallios.

“Squawk on repeat, all channels, all frequencies: Alter your course and return to the surface. We will fire on any ships attempting to breach the Branson-Bezos Limit.”

“No idea if we’re getting through,” said Avallios, “but we’re broadcasting.”

“Challenger,” Gabriel hissed. “Countdown, bogies’ time to the Limit.”

One minute, replied the ship’s computer.

“The interference is fluctuating!” called Avallios. He jabbed at his console. “Still can’t tell if we’re getting though. One of them seems to be trying to transmit something…”

“Can you piggyback on that, warn them off?” Connie asked.

“Encryption I’ve never seen before…” Avallios’ fingers danced. “Not enough time to crack it.”

Thirty seconds.

“Fire a warning shot,” Gabriel ordered. At the shot, six ships fell off; several of Challenger’s fighters swooped in to shadow them to the surface.

“Thirteen ships remain,” Connie stated.

“Lt. Priest, disable their engines.”

“No good, sir. Their momentum will carry them over the Limit.”

Ten seconds.

Gabriel swore softly in the Celvani tongue. “Lieutenant, transfer tactical control to me.”

Lt. Priest waved her arm to the left as she replied, “transfer tactical control to conn, aye.” Her hard-light holographic display appeared in front of Gabriel; he lowered his head imperceptibly and fixed the display with a hard stare. He blinked once, twice, then reached out to the hologram and tabbed ‘fire.’ Challenger’s ventral saucer phaser arrays lit up, ruby beams lancing out in rapid succession. All 13 Concordian ships blossomed into fireballs of silent death.

As silent as Challenger’s bridge.

 

[Cobalt Frost]

Wrap-up coming very soon!

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

Sweet STVI reference. Really a good mix of serious storytelling with a lighter tone - bit of a trick. I appreciated the captain taking fire control when destroying the ships.

Thanks!! rbs

 

[admiralelm11]

A captain has to do what a captain has to do.

 

[Cobalt Frost]

18 hours later

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“You destroyed?”

“Yes, sir.” Gabriel looked at his hands for a long moment, then back to Admiral Durham. “That wasn’t something I was willing to order someone else to do.”

“How many dead?” Admiral Durham took a moment to look at the artwork on the conference room wall, his back to Gabriel. Ugh.. pointillism.

Gabriel shrugged slightly. “With all the interference, we have no way of knowing. They could have all been automated, though I doubt it, considering the uproar on the surface.”

“And that interference?” Durham turned around, sat across the table from Gabriel. “Any ideas?”

“Lt. Nowar and Lt. Ha’arsui theorize it may have been an unusual solar particle wind interacting with the planet’s unique atmospherics, but we’d need time to study it in depth…”

“Time you don’t have,” said Adm. Durham. “We’ll get a dedicated science vessel out here, one of the new Tsiolkovsky-class cruisers. Once the virus outbreak has been dealt with, of course.

“Newport News is waiting, Captain, and I’ve made sure Challenger has priority at the yards. I suspect you and the crew could use some R&R as well.” He and Gabriel stood, moving towards the door. Durham placed his hand supportively on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I’ll take care of things here personally, Gabriel. Not to worry.

“I expect Challenger to be under weigh within the hour.”

Gabriel nodded, his expression still distant. “On your word, sir.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

USS Challenger, location Drydock 3, Newport News Orbital Shipyards, Earth

Two days later

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Not bothering to ring the ‘doorbell’ to announce herself, Commander Taylor barely allowed the ready room doors to crack open before she stepped in and headed towards Gabriel.

“Do come in,” Gabriel remarked drily. He set an oversized engineering PADD on the desk and leaned back a little in his chair.

“I want to ask you a question,” said Connie tersely. “I ran a holodeck simulation of the events of two days ago with Lt. Priest, having her engage at the same moment you’d finishing ordering her to transfer tactical to you during the actual event. It took her five seconds to target and fire on the 13 ships that were trying to break quarantine. Four of them were able to escape. You were able to target and destroy all 13 ships in a hair under two seconds.”

Gabriel looked at Connie over the top of his glasses. “I’m assuming there’s going to be a question at some point?”

“How. How?!? Lt. Priest is one of the five top-rated tactical officers to come out of the Starforce Battle College in the last twenty years. Your Academy scores on various tactical situations were... adequate at best.

“Blessed Hell, Captain. I reran the sim several times, each time having the computer simulate a member of a different race known for their extraordinary hand-eye coordination at tactical. Your time was better than any of theirs by a full second. I…” Connie paused abruptly, her brow furrowing as a thought came to her from out of left field.

“You are human, aren’t you?”

Gabriel looked at Connie, a half-smile on his lips that was at once sad, amused, and a bit condescending. I really hate that smile, Connie thought darkly.

“More or less.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me, Captain?”

“There are a lot of things I’m not telling you, Commander Taylor, because there are a lot of things you simply don’t need to know.”

“Hai, hai, I remember the speech,” said Connie acidly. “There are things that you as ship’s captain need to know that I don’t, or things you have the clearance to know that I don’t, or things you deem not necessary for me to know for the fulfillment of my duties. Ah, but you’ll never lie to me.”

“Have I?”

“Well…” Connie thought for a long moment. “No.”

“I gave you my word, Commander, that I’d never lie to you. Apparently, that doesn’t mean very much to you, but it does to me. There are and will be things I won’t tell you, but I will never lie to you.”

Connie’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. “We’ll see,” she said, her voice a near-whisper. Connie spun on her heel and left the ready room nearly as quickly as she’d entered. After the door slid shut, Gabriel sighed and shook his head, before retrieving the engineering PADD and picking up where he’d left off.


If the pintle-mount cradles for the Bernoulli convergenators weren’t so bloody delicate…

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

USS Rhadamanthus NCC-99197, Admiral Durham’s flagship, in orbit of Concordia V


At the same time

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

“I’ve given the data you delivered a cursory examination, Commander Maxin,” said Adm. Durham. “I will examine it in depth when I get back to Earth. I did notice one thing, however, that I wanted to ask about.” Durham’s tone was carefully neutral, albeit with an almost subliminal hint of malice.

“Yes, sir?” Maxin found himself sweating rather profusely. Durham noticed, of course, and had to suppress a chuckle. Maxin feared him – Hell, anyone with any sort of working brain feared him – and Durham reveled in it.

“The potency of Pollux.” There was a long pause. “Your results indicate a seven percent higher than expected lethality rate. I am… impressed. Do we know what caused it?”

“Ah, no sir,” said Maxin, clearly relieved. “We are working to isolate that factor so we can use it in the next variant, and if possible increase the effect.”

“Keep me apprised, Commander. I want the Zeus variant ready for Stage IV testing in one year standard.”

“Zeus, sir?”

Durham smiled cruelly. “Castor was mortal, Pollux was a demigod whose father – along with most of ancient Greece, according to the myths – was Zeus. And Zeus was a vengeful son of a bitch…”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Kanryou

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

Oooh - an evil admiral... Haven't seen one of those in a while. And some mystery as well. I was wondering about the mythological variant names.. Thanks!! rbs

 

[admiralelm11]

I'm reminded of the movie Outbreak with this installation. Great work. Hopefully, we'll see more soon.

 

[Hawku]

Haha, love the anarchic phrasing from the Captain. And Concordia is too familiar, it's scary. Cheers!

 

[ColdFusion180]

Interesting to leave without mentioning a new vaccine for the virus. Wonder who is deceiving who and why. Good job maintaining the mystery.