Lazarus
Fleet Captain
STAR TREK Chasing the Twilight - updated outline & rough chapter
PROLOGUE
The new-orleans class USS Houston, commanded by Captain Paul Kelland, is on patrol near the Romulan Neutral Zone. The ship is not normally assigned this duty, but has relieved the USS Discovery while the old constitution-class vessel is at Utopia Planetia undergoing maintenance. The Houston has been on patrol for nearly three months, and during that time a number of civilian ships and freighters have been brutally attacked by a pirate known throughout the region as the Red Dagger. But the Dagger's attacks go beyond simple piracy, with the pirate crew butchering the civilian crews in horrific ways before plundering their cargo. On each occasion where a ship has been attacked, the Houston has arrived too late to help, and the seeing the horrific aftermath of these attacks has left the Starfleet crew extremely uncomfortable. When the Houston picks up a distress call from a nearby Bolian freighter being attacked by the Dagger and rushes to their aid, but upon arriving find only a ship of people butchered by the pirate crew. But the freighter managed to damage the Dagger during the attack and the pirate has left a trail, which the Houston follows at maximum warp. Their course takes them toward the Neutral Zone, and the Starfleet ship intercepts the Dagger and opens fire, the pirate ship crosses into the Zone where the Houston is forbidden to follow.
The damaged Red Dagger has stopped just outside the Houston's weapons range to make repairs, floating within the Neutral Zone just out of reach. Captain Kelland is torn between his sense of duty not to enter the Neutral Zone, but knows that if the Dagger is allowed to make repairs they will escape under cloak and continue brutally attacking civilian shipping. Making his decision, he orders the Houston to enter the Neutral Zone to apprehend the pirate vessel, banking that his entry will go unnoticed. But as the Houston draws nearer the Dagger, first officer Doug Richards realises that the pirate is nowhere near as badly damaged as he appears. Realising that they've been set up, Kelland orders an immediate retreat, but as he does so a small fleet of old Romulan ships decloak ahead of the Houston. The ships belong to a race called the York, a civilisation that was until recently under Romulan rule. The Houston has blundered straight into a trap.
The Red Dagger has vanished beneath its cloak, and the Houston is surrounded by the York ships, who launch a weapon that detonates at point-blank range against the Starfleet vessel. The explosion knocks most of the Houston's systems offline and the York ships move toward her, snaring her with their tractor beams. The Houston begins transmitting a distress signal. The York commander appears on the viewscreen, introducing himself as Beda Vath and informing Captain Kelland that the Houston has entered restricted space that is being guarded by the York Empire. Kelland's ship will be seized and his people taken prisoner, and any aggressive action by the Starfleet crew will result in the Houston being destroyed. With a number of his crew dead and dozens injured, Kelland is essentially powerless, and realising that the Houston will soon be boarded, he orders his crew to begin disabling systems and enters an emergency code into the main computer. Upon recognising the code, designed to be used in the event of the ship falling into enemy hands, the computer's security protocols begin locking all control systems and stored data with fractal encryption. Once complete, to prevent a captain giving up a release code under torture, not even Kelland can restore normal operations. Only a second code known only to Starfleet Command on Earth will do that. Finally, to prevent the Houston ever being used as part of the York fleet, the chief engineer causes an overload in the reactor that causes the automatic safety systems to eject the core into space, where it explodes. The York have recently invaded Abalone, a former Federation world located within the Neutral Zone where both Romulan and Starfleet ships are forbidden to enter. It is here that the Houston is towed and the crew taken prisoner.
CHAPTER ONE
Another Starfleet ship patrolling the border intercepts the Houston's distress signal, and immediately changes course to take up position as close to Abalone as they're able without violating the Neutral Zone. Captain Sandra Cussak of the Truman relays the distress signal to Starfleet Command, wondering why the hell a veteran like Paul Kelland would've entered the Neutral Zone.
Elsewhere in the Federation, Captain Lisa Tennant is aboard a shuttle approaching Utopia Planetia fleetyard alongside Commander Rhodes, who has only that morning been rejected as first officer of the new USS Enterprise by Jean-Luc Picard. As the shuttle weaves its way amongst the rows of Starfleet vessels, Tennant realises that the shipyard is significantly busier than normal, and apprehensively concludes that some sort of large-scale mobilisation of Starfleet forces is underway. Stationkeeping at the edge of the yard is the USS Discovery, a seventy year old constitution-class vessel and the oldest Starfleet ship currently on active duty. While the ship fills Captain Tennant with pride, having served aboard for some years as first officer before being promoted to captain, the old Discovery fills Commander Rhodes with nothing but despair. A signal from the Discovery informs Tennant that Admiral Bill Sheppard, the ships' former captain, is on board and waiting for her.
In the observation lounge Sheppard is drinking whiskey with Doctor Arthur Fry, the Discovery's chief surgeon. The two men have been friends for many years, since Sheppard was given command of the Discovery fifteen years earlier. Sheppard accepting a transfer to a position in Starfleet Intelligence hasn't changed that. The doctor soon departs and leaves the two command officers to their meeting.
Sheppard explains that the York, a former subject of the Romulan Empire, has recently undergone a leadership coup that has left the military in charge. Under this new leadership, the York have landed troops on a moon of Abalone, a planet in the Neutral Zone that once belonged to the Federation and claimed it as their own. The invaders present the Federation with a major problem. Simply sending a fleet of ships into the Neutral Zone to drive the invaders off Abalone is impossible, since that sort of action would almost certainly trigger a war with Romulus. But likewise the Federation can not merely stand by and watch the York seize a planet in the Neutral Zone with no consequences. The York intrusion has caused a massive rift between Starfleet and the Federation Council, who are reluctant to provoke the dormant Romulan Empire by engaging in a military conflict on its doorstep, and are instead arguing that the York should be permitted to take Abalone. Many in Starfleet are taking the view that if the Federation stands by and lets the York overrun a solar system on the edge of their territory with no impediment, what stops them similarly invading other worlds throughout the Neutral Zone, or possibly even ones in Federation space? Starfleet says the eyes of both the Federation's allies and adversaries will be watching what they do or do not do in response, and if the Federation is seen to allow the invasion it will appear to everyone as a toothless old cat, and it could be a matter of months before its enemies begin encroaching on its territory.
Sheppard tells her that a week earlier, the USS Houston was seized by York vessels and taken to Abalone. Starfleet Command is horrified at the thought of one of their latest designs being studied and copied by the York, who will use the Houston to make massive advances in their own outdated, Romulan-derived technology. The York could even turn the Houston over to the Romulans to get themselves back into the Empire's good graces.
But the Federation Council will not allow a fleet to be sent to Abalone, but Starfleet Command has decided to increase patrols along the border and quietly redeploy ships to the general area in case events force a military response. Admiral Sheppard tells Tennant that the Discovery will return to its usual assignment patrolling the Neutral Zone border, where she will rejoin her fellows helping monitor Romulan fleet movements and track cloaked ships, a task at which the Discovery's crew had become exceptionally proficient. In a few days when the ships at Utopia Planetia had finished refitting and taking on stores they will join the Discovery at the border and await further developments. As the meeting concludes the Discovery takes aboard a large amount of weapons and supplies to restock the starships Roosevelt and Truman, two constellation-class sister ships who form part of the Discovery's patrol fleet.
CHAPTER TWO
As Commander Rhodes struggles to become accustomed to life aboard the Discovery, the ship speeds toward the Neutral Zone, but as she approaches the border her team of dedicated sensor operators detect what they believe to be a cloaked vessel trailing them. The senior staff gathers on the bridge and Rhodes witnesses first hand how the crew is able to track these stray readings that are so weak as to be almost non-existent. Tennant tells him that it is probably a Romulan spacecraft on a routine reconnaissance mission, and is is aghast to learn that unknown to most Federation citizens Romulan craft regularly cross the border. In the years since she was assigned to the Neutral Zone the Discovery and her fellows have become extremely effective in tracking these shadows and warning them off, but do to so requires a great deal of both skill and patience. Rhodes asks why the Federation allows the Romulans to do such a thing under their noses, and Tennant tells him that it is the price they must pay for peace.
After a few days of patrolling the courses of the Discovery and Truman intersect, and the two ships patrol alongside one another for a few hours to transfer supplies. A signal from Admiral Sheppard at Starfleet Headquarters informs them that the York have begun landing ground troops on Abalone itself. The Truman's captain Sandra Cussak comes aboard the Discovery for dinner with Captain Tennant, and the two friends discuss the steadily worsening situation on Abalone and the fact that their ships could soon see combat. Tennant confides in her friend her reservations about remaining in Starfleet and desire to start a family. They also discuss the enigma that is Steffan Rhodes.
CHAPTER THREE
The next morning the Truman and Discovery arrive at the rendezvous point with the task force she'd witnessed at Utopia Planetia a week earlier, led by the mighty USS Churchill, an ambassador class ship under the charismatic Admiral Douglas West. West is a MacArthur-like figure known throughout Starfleet, who informs everyone that he is eagerly waiting the 'inevitable' order to go to Abalone and 'kick those York bastards clean out of the Neutral Zone'. West signals his ships with orders to bring shift patterns into line across the task force, and institutes a punishing program of battle drills in preparation for his planned invasion. In addition the admiral begins staging surprise inspections, and materialises aboard the Discovery at 0300 hours with his customary entourage. Tennant is awake and dressed within minutes, accompanying West as he tours the ship and charms her by complementing the 'classic' design of the constitution-class vessel.
The next night he boards the Truman without warning, and within the hour all communication from the ship ceases and the Truman isolates itself away from the fleet.
On the Discovery Tennant worries that something has gone very badly wrong, but hails from all vessels are ignored by the Truman. The Churchill, West's flagship is finally contacted by the Truman over a secured channel, and Captain Jeremy Trent of the Churchill in turn broadcasts a message to the task force that no one should approach or attempt to contact the Truman. As an hour passes Tennant instructs Lieutenant Doyle to begin hailing the ship on a specific frequency, one that only vessels searching for cloaked spacecraft would monitor. Rhodes objects, but Tennant succeeds in reaching Captain Cusak. Cusak is extremely anxious, and explains that while touring the Truman Admiral West died in what the ship's chief surgeon identified as poisoning. Since then the admiral's staff have taken over control of the bridge and confined the entire crew to quarters. Someone on the Truman's crew killed the admiral, and whoever that person is has been aboard since the ship's last port of call over four months earlier.
Finally Starfleet Command announces that Douglas West died aboard the Truman but offers no specifics, and orders the Truman to return to Earth with the Greyville as escort. The task force, now two vessels short, awaits instructions.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Federation negotiators eventually reach an agreement with the York government that the Houston's crew will be released, but the York flatly refuse to surrender the starship itself. Though Starfleet vigorously protests at one of their vessels being left to be studied and copied by the York, and possibly the Romulan Empire itself, the civilian Federation Council decides that a lone ship is a minor loss. The York agree to allow one Starfleet vessel to enter orbit around Abalone to collect the prisoners, but specifies that it will be escorted by two York warships and follow a course chosen by them, one that will keep it on the opposite side of the planet to the Houston to prevent Starfleet firing weapons to destroy their prize. On Earth, Admiral Duncan Wheeler personally addresses the Federation Council seeking permission to destroy the Houston, but the Council refuses. Upon returning to Starfleet Command, Wheeler decides that regardless of what the Federation Council has decided, he can not stand by and watch a state of the art Starfleet ship be copied by the York or Romulan Empire. He visits Starfleet Intelligence to confer with Admiral Berlin and Admiral Sheppard. They decide that the Discovery will go to Abalone, but Admiral Sheppard also contacts Tennant and advises her that, whatever the Federation Council's opinion may be, Admiral Wheeler wants the Houston scuttled to prevent it falling into Romulan hands, and wants her to do something about it.
Tennant calls a meeting of the most senior officers on board, and explains that they've been asked to devise a plan to destroy the Houston against the orders of the Federation Council. She tells them that anyone who wishes to not be a part of the mission may leave.
The Discovery enters orbit around Abalone, careful to hold position as instructed on the opposite side of the planet from where the Houston is being held. The transporter rooms begin beaming the imprisoned Starfleet crew aboard, and when Captain Kelland materialises Tennant introduces herself and asks for his assistance in destroying the Houston . In the second transporter room Commander Rhodes' suit is undergoing final checks, but Kelland insists on accompanying him on the mission . Tennant refuses, but Kelland convinces her that his actions caused the Houston to be captured, and wants to at least partially salvage some honour by preventing the York cannibalising her. As planned, Kelland and Rhodes are beamed to a point directly above Abalone's northern pole, where the combination of their small size and magnetic fields will shield them from the York sensors. Kelland proceeds to contact the Houston via a subspace transmitter, and activates his ship's transporter to complete the journey. They materialise aboard, and quickly proceed to the lower decks where the antimatter pods are stored to place the bomb they've has brought from the Discovery. Kelland sets it in place with a twenty minute delay. In the Houston's transporter room Kelland sets the controls to beam them both back to the pole, instructing Rhodes to stand on the transporter pad. At that moment three York guards burst into the room, holding their rifles on both Starfleet men. Kelland's hand drops onto the controls, and Rhodes watches helplessly as the York shoot the captain as he dematerialises.
On the Discovery everyone is anxiously waiting for Kelland and Rhodes to re materialise at the pole, and with the Houston's entire crew aboard the York are demanding that they leave orbit immediately. Stalling for time Tennant advises the York that the Discovery is experiencing engine difficulties that should be rectified shortly, aware that they must leave orbit soon or risk being trapped by the York when the Houston explodes. With less than five minutes before the bomb detonates, sensors detect a single person materialise at the pole and the Discovery beams him aboard. Rhodes tells Tennant that Kelland is dead, and to break orbit immediately, but as ship goes to warp three York vessels give chase. Far behind, the Houston is destroyed by a massive antimatter explosion.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Discovery heads for the border at maximum speed, the fastest she's travelled in ten years, placing the old ship's engines under immense strain. Though the might of the Starfleet task force is awaiting, they are forbidden from entering the Neutral Zone to assist the Discovery. An overload in the ship's engines causes a sudden drop out of warp, leaving the Discovery in a standoff with the three York vessels commanded by Beda Vath. On the Churchill, Captain Jeremy Trent is observing events via long-range sensors. He finally decides 'to hell with orders' and orders his ship into the Neutral Zone to assist the Discovery, and joined by four other ships from the task force.
The York commander contacts the Discovery, demanding Captain Tennant's surrender. She refuses, and the York ships move in for the kill. At that moment, a massive subspace pulse disables the Starfleet ship's sensors, leaving them blind for nearly a minute until the sensors are rebooted. When the view screen comes back to life, the York ships are nothing but debris floating in space. Reviewing the sensor logs, Lieutenant Sharma comments that just for a second, he thought he observed several cloaked vessels nearby.
The Churchill arrives soon after, having lost sensor contact with the Discovery and York ships due to the subspace pulse. As the Discovery prepares to be taken under tow, the task force's sensors detect a massive orbital bombardment taking place on Abalone. The Romulans are eradicating the York threat from the Neutral Zone. The task force retreats back to Federation space.
Sheppard contacts Tennant, telling her that the truth of the Discovery's involvement in the Houston's destruction has caused a massive conflict between Starfleet and the Federation Council, who have demanded the immediate resignation of Admiral Wheeler and his deputy, and Admiral Berlin of Starfleet Intelligence. All three have resigned in the aftermath of the incident, leaving a power vacuum in the upper-echelons of Starfleet. Lieutenant Commander Fontana also visits Captain Tennant, giving her a small warp-plasma control valve that he has replaced - this is the part that malfunctioned as the they fled the York ships. He tells her that the component has a lifetime of around seven years, and this one was installed five years ago. It may indeed have malfunctioned, but Fontana says that the chances of it malfunctioning at that precise moment seem unlikely. He leaves, leaving Tennant wondering if there could be a saboteur on board.
Some time later, a Romulan commander walks into the detention facility of his new d'deridex class Romulan warbird, and tells the one prisoner that when the ship arrives at Romulus there will be many questions asked of him. Sitting trapped in the prison cell aboard an enemy vessel, thought to be dead by Starfleet, Paul Kelland contemplates his future.
PROLOGUE
The new-orleans class USS Houston, commanded by Captain Paul Kelland, is on patrol near the Romulan Neutral Zone. The ship is not normally assigned this duty, but has relieved the USS Discovery while the old constitution-class vessel is at Utopia Planetia undergoing maintenance. The Houston has been on patrol for nearly three months, and during that time a number of civilian ships and freighters have been brutally attacked by a pirate known throughout the region as the Red Dagger. But the Dagger's attacks go beyond simple piracy, with the pirate crew butchering the civilian crews in horrific ways before plundering their cargo. On each occasion where a ship has been attacked, the Houston has arrived too late to help, and the seeing the horrific aftermath of these attacks has left the Starfleet crew extremely uncomfortable. When the Houston picks up a distress call from a nearby Bolian freighter being attacked by the Dagger and rushes to their aid, but upon arriving find only a ship of people butchered by the pirate crew. But the freighter managed to damage the Dagger during the attack and the pirate has left a trail, which the Houston follows at maximum warp. Their course takes them toward the Neutral Zone, and the Starfleet ship intercepts the Dagger and opens fire, the pirate ship crosses into the Zone where the Houston is forbidden to follow.
The damaged Red Dagger has stopped just outside the Houston's weapons range to make repairs, floating within the Neutral Zone just out of reach. Captain Kelland is torn between his sense of duty not to enter the Neutral Zone, but knows that if the Dagger is allowed to make repairs they will escape under cloak and continue brutally attacking civilian shipping. Making his decision, he orders the Houston to enter the Neutral Zone to apprehend the pirate vessel, banking that his entry will go unnoticed. But as the Houston draws nearer the Dagger, first officer Doug Richards realises that the pirate is nowhere near as badly damaged as he appears. Realising that they've been set up, Kelland orders an immediate retreat, but as he does so a small fleet of old Romulan ships decloak ahead of the Houston. The ships belong to a race called the York, a civilisation that was until recently under Romulan rule. The Houston has blundered straight into a trap.
The Red Dagger has vanished beneath its cloak, and the Houston is surrounded by the York ships, who launch a weapon that detonates at point-blank range against the Starfleet vessel. The explosion knocks most of the Houston's systems offline and the York ships move toward her, snaring her with their tractor beams. The Houston begins transmitting a distress signal. The York commander appears on the viewscreen, introducing himself as Beda Vath and informing Captain Kelland that the Houston has entered restricted space that is being guarded by the York Empire. Kelland's ship will be seized and his people taken prisoner, and any aggressive action by the Starfleet crew will result in the Houston being destroyed. With a number of his crew dead and dozens injured, Kelland is essentially powerless, and realising that the Houston will soon be boarded, he orders his crew to begin disabling systems and enters an emergency code into the main computer. Upon recognising the code, designed to be used in the event of the ship falling into enemy hands, the computer's security protocols begin locking all control systems and stored data with fractal encryption. Once complete, to prevent a captain giving up a release code under torture, not even Kelland can restore normal operations. Only a second code known only to Starfleet Command on Earth will do that. Finally, to prevent the Houston ever being used as part of the York fleet, the chief engineer causes an overload in the reactor that causes the automatic safety systems to eject the core into space, where it explodes. The York have recently invaded Abalone, a former Federation world located within the Neutral Zone where both Romulan and Starfleet ships are forbidden to enter. It is here that the Houston is towed and the crew taken prisoner.
CHAPTER ONE
Another Starfleet ship patrolling the border intercepts the Houston's distress signal, and immediately changes course to take up position as close to Abalone as they're able without violating the Neutral Zone. Captain Sandra Cussak of the Truman relays the distress signal to Starfleet Command, wondering why the hell a veteran like Paul Kelland would've entered the Neutral Zone.
Elsewhere in the Federation, Captain Lisa Tennant is aboard a shuttle approaching Utopia Planetia fleetyard alongside Commander Rhodes, who has only that morning been rejected as first officer of the new USS Enterprise by Jean-Luc Picard. As the shuttle weaves its way amongst the rows of Starfleet vessels, Tennant realises that the shipyard is significantly busier than normal, and apprehensively concludes that some sort of large-scale mobilisation of Starfleet forces is underway. Stationkeeping at the edge of the yard is the USS Discovery, a seventy year old constitution-class vessel and the oldest Starfleet ship currently on active duty. While the ship fills Captain Tennant with pride, having served aboard for some years as first officer before being promoted to captain, the old Discovery fills Commander Rhodes with nothing but despair. A signal from the Discovery informs Tennant that Admiral Bill Sheppard, the ships' former captain, is on board and waiting for her.
In the observation lounge Sheppard is drinking whiskey with Doctor Arthur Fry, the Discovery's chief surgeon. The two men have been friends for many years, since Sheppard was given command of the Discovery fifteen years earlier. Sheppard accepting a transfer to a position in Starfleet Intelligence hasn't changed that. The doctor soon departs and leaves the two command officers to their meeting.
Sheppard explains that the York, a former subject of the Romulan Empire, has recently undergone a leadership coup that has left the military in charge. Under this new leadership, the York have landed troops on a moon of Abalone, a planet in the Neutral Zone that once belonged to the Federation and claimed it as their own. The invaders present the Federation with a major problem. Simply sending a fleet of ships into the Neutral Zone to drive the invaders off Abalone is impossible, since that sort of action would almost certainly trigger a war with Romulus. But likewise the Federation can not merely stand by and watch the York seize a planet in the Neutral Zone with no consequences. The York intrusion has caused a massive rift between Starfleet and the Federation Council, who are reluctant to provoke the dormant Romulan Empire by engaging in a military conflict on its doorstep, and are instead arguing that the York should be permitted to take Abalone. Many in Starfleet are taking the view that if the Federation stands by and lets the York overrun a solar system on the edge of their territory with no impediment, what stops them similarly invading other worlds throughout the Neutral Zone, or possibly even ones in Federation space? Starfleet says the eyes of both the Federation's allies and adversaries will be watching what they do or do not do in response, and if the Federation is seen to allow the invasion it will appear to everyone as a toothless old cat, and it could be a matter of months before its enemies begin encroaching on its territory.
Sheppard tells her that a week earlier, the USS Houston was seized by York vessels and taken to Abalone. Starfleet Command is horrified at the thought of one of their latest designs being studied and copied by the York, who will use the Houston to make massive advances in their own outdated, Romulan-derived technology. The York could even turn the Houston over to the Romulans to get themselves back into the Empire's good graces.
But the Federation Council will not allow a fleet to be sent to Abalone, but Starfleet Command has decided to increase patrols along the border and quietly redeploy ships to the general area in case events force a military response. Admiral Sheppard tells Tennant that the Discovery will return to its usual assignment patrolling the Neutral Zone border, where she will rejoin her fellows helping monitor Romulan fleet movements and track cloaked ships, a task at which the Discovery's crew had become exceptionally proficient. In a few days when the ships at Utopia Planetia had finished refitting and taking on stores they will join the Discovery at the border and await further developments. As the meeting concludes the Discovery takes aboard a large amount of weapons and supplies to restock the starships Roosevelt and Truman, two constellation-class sister ships who form part of the Discovery's patrol fleet.
CHAPTER TWO
As Commander Rhodes struggles to become accustomed to life aboard the Discovery, the ship speeds toward the Neutral Zone, but as she approaches the border her team of dedicated sensor operators detect what they believe to be a cloaked vessel trailing them. The senior staff gathers on the bridge and Rhodes witnesses first hand how the crew is able to track these stray readings that are so weak as to be almost non-existent. Tennant tells him that it is probably a Romulan spacecraft on a routine reconnaissance mission, and is is aghast to learn that unknown to most Federation citizens Romulan craft regularly cross the border. In the years since she was assigned to the Neutral Zone the Discovery and her fellows have become extremely effective in tracking these shadows and warning them off, but do to so requires a great deal of both skill and patience. Rhodes asks why the Federation allows the Romulans to do such a thing under their noses, and Tennant tells him that it is the price they must pay for peace.
After a few days of patrolling the courses of the Discovery and Truman intersect, and the two ships patrol alongside one another for a few hours to transfer supplies. A signal from Admiral Sheppard at Starfleet Headquarters informs them that the York have begun landing ground troops on Abalone itself. The Truman's captain Sandra Cussak comes aboard the Discovery for dinner with Captain Tennant, and the two friends discuss the steadily worsening situation on Abalone and the fact that their ships could soon see combat. Tennant confides in her friend her reservations about remaining in Starfleet and desire to start a family. They also discuss the enigma that is Steffan Rhodes.
CHAPTER THREE
The next morning the Truman and Discovery arrive at the rendezvous point with the task force she'd witnessed at Utopia Planetia a week earlier, led by the mighty USS Churchill, an ambassador class ship under the charismatic Admiral Douglas West. West is a MacArthur-like figure known throughout Starfleet, who informs everyone that he is eagerly waiting the 'inevitable' order to go to Abalone and 'kick those York bastards clean out of the Neutral Zone'. West signals his ships with orders to bring shift patterns into line across the task force, and institutes a punishing program of battle drills in preparation for his planned invasion. In addition the admiral begins staging surprise inspections, and materialises aboard the Discovery at 0300 hours with his customary entourage. Tennant is awake and dressed within minutes, accompanying West as he tours the ship and charms her by complementing the 'classic' design of the constitution-class vessel.
The next night he boards the Truman without warning, and within the hour all communication from the ship ceases and the Truman isolates itself away from the fleet.
On the Discovery Tennant worries that something has gone very badly wrong, but hails from all vessels are ignored by the Truman. The Churchill, West's flagship is finally contacted by the Truman over a secured channel, and Captain Jeremy Trent of the Churchill in turn broadcasts a message to the task force that no one should approach or attempt to contact the Truman. As an hour passes Tennant instructs Lieutenant Doyle to begin hailing the ship on a specific frequency, one that only vessels searching for cloaked spacecraft would monitor. Rhodes objects, but Tennant succeeds in reaching Captain Cusak. Cusak is extremely anxious, and explains that while touring the Truman Admiral West died in what the ship's chief surgeon identified as poisoning. Since then the admiral's staff have taken over control of the bridge and confined the entire crew to quarters. Someone on the Truman's crew killed the admiral, and whoever that person is has been aboard since the ship's last port of call over four months earlier.
Finally Starfleet Command announces that Douglas West died aboard the Truman but offers no specifics, and orders the Truman to return to Earth with the Greyville as escort. The task force, now two vessels short, awaits instructions.
CHAPTER FOUR
The Federation negotiators eventually reach an agreement with the York government that the Houston's crew will be released, but the York flatly refuse to surrender the starship itself. Though Starfleet vigorously protests at one of their vessels being left to be studied and copied by the York, and possibly the Romulan Empire itself, the civilian Federation Council decides that a lone ship is a minor loss. The York agree to allow one Starfleet vessel to enter orbit around Abalone to collect the prisoners, but specifies that it will be escorted by two York warships and follow a course chosen by them, one that will keep it on the opposite side of the planet to the Houston to prevent Starfleet firing weapons to destroy their prize. On Earth, Admiral Duncan Wheeler personally addresses the Federation Council seeking permission to destroy the Houston, but the Council refuses. Upon returning to Starfleet Command, Wheeler decides that regardless of what the Federation Council has decided, he can not stand by and watch a state of the art Starfleet ship be copied by the York or Romulan Empire. He visits Starfleet Intelligence to confer with Admiral Berlin and Admiral Sheppard. They decide that the Discovery will go to Abalone, but Admiral Sheppard also contacts Tennant and advises her that, whatever the Federation Council's opinion may be, Admiral Wheeler wants the Houston scuttled to prevent it falling into Romulan hands, and wants her to do something about it.
Tennant calls a meeting of the most senior officers on board, and explains that they've been asked to devise a plan to destroy the Houston against the orders of the Federation Council. She tells them that anyone who wishes to not be a part of the mission may leave.
The Discovery enters orbit around Abalone, careful to hold position as instructed on the opposite side of the planet from where the Houston is being held. The transporter rooms begin beaming the imprisoned Starfleet crew aboard, and when Captain Kelland materialises Tennant introduces herself and asks for his assistance in destroying the Houston . In the second transporter room Commander Rhodes' suit is undergoing final checks, but Kelland insists on accompanying him on the mission . Tennant refuses, but Kelland convinces her that his actions caused the Houston to be captured, and wants to at least partially salvage some honour by preventing the York cannibalising her. As planned, Kelland and Rhodes are beamed to a point directly above Abalone's northern pole, where the combination of their small size and magnetic fields will shield them from the York sensors. Kelland proceeds to contact the Houston via a subspace transmitter, and activates his ship's transporter to complete the journey. They materialise aboard, and quickly proceed to the lower decks where the antimatter pods are stored to place the bomb they've has brought from the Discovery. Kelland sets it in place with a twenty minute delay. In the Houston's transporter room Kelland sets the controls to beam them both back to the pole, instructing Rhodes to stand on the transporter pad. At that moment three York guards burst into the room, holding their rifles on both Starfleet men. Kelland's hand drops onto the controls, and Rhodes watches helplessly as the York shoot the captain as he dematerialises.
On the Discovery everyone is anxiously waiting for Kelland and Rhodes to re materialise at the pole, and with the Houston's entire crew aboard the York are demanding that they leave orbit immediately. Stalling for time Tennant advises the York that the Discovery is experiencing engine difficulties that should be rectified shortly, aware that they must leave orbit soon or risk being trapped by the York when the Houston explodes. With less than five minutes before the bomb detonates, sensors detect a single person materialise at the pole and the Discovery beams him aboard. Rhodes tells Tennant that Kelland is dead, and to break orbit immediately, but as ship goes to warp three York vessels give chase. Far behind, the Houston is destroyed by a massive antimatter explosion.
CHAPTER FIVE
The Discovery heads for the border at maximum speed, the fastest she's travelled in ten years, placing the old ship's engines under immense strain. Though the might of the Starfleet task force is awaiting, they are forbidden from entering the Neutral Zone to assist the Discovery. An overload in the ship's engines causes a sudden drop out of warp, leaving the Discovery in a standoff with the three York vessels commanded by Beda Vath. On the Churchill, Captain Jeremy Trent is observing events via long-range sensors. He finally decides 'to hell with orders' and orders his ship into the Neutral Zone to assist the Discovery, and joined by four other ships from the task force.
The York commander contacts the Discovery, demanding Captain Tennant's surrender. She refuses, and the York ships move in for the kill. At that moment, a massive subspace pulse disables the Starfleet ship's sensors, leaving them blind for nearly a minute until the sensors are rebooted. When the view screen comes back to life, the York ships are nothing but debris floating in space. Reviewing the sensor logs, Lieutenant Sharma comments that just for a second, he thought he observed several cloaked vessels nearby.
The Churchill arrives soon after, having lost sensor contact with the Discovery and York ships due to the subspace pulse. As the Discovery prepares to be taken under tow, the task force's sensors detect a massive orbital bombardment taking place on Abalone. The Romulans are eradicating the York threat from the Neutral Zone. The task force retreats back to Federation space.
Sheppard contacts Tennant, telling her that the truth of the Discovery's involvement in the Houston's destruction has caused a massive conflict between Starfleet and the Federation Council, who have demanded the immediate resignation of Admiral Wheeler and his deputy, and Admiral Berlin of Starfleet Intelligence. All three have resigned in the aftermath of the incident, leaving a power vacuum in the upper-echelons of Starfleet. Lieutenant Commander Fontana also visits Captain Tennant, giving her a small warp-plasma control valve that he has replaced - this is the part that malfunctioned as the they fled the York ships. He tells her that the component has a lifetime of around seven years, and this one was installed five years ago. It may indeed have malfunctioned, but Fontana says that the chances of it malfunctioning at that precise moment seem unlikely. He leaves, leaving Tennant wondering if there could be a saboteur on board.
Some time later, a Romulan commander walks into the detention facility of his new d'deridex class Romulan warbird, and tells the one prisoner that when the ship arrives at Romulus there will be many questions asked of him. Sitting trapped in the prison cell aboard an enemy vessel, thought to be dead by Starfleet, Paul Kelland contemplates his future.
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