PART NINE cont.
The Away team took their leave of Treea and accompanied Mitchell and the strike team back to the Asimov. Upon their return to the ship Sanjay called an immediate debriefing. It was a long process and brought certain facts to light that set Sanjay’s teeth on edge, particularly the information Torres had downloaded from the uplink he’d found. After dismissing the crew he spent some hours in consultation with Admiral Janeway discussing the best way to handle the situation in light of the new information Seleya had acquired. When he was finished he called Commander M’Benga into his ready room.
“Take a seat, Commander,” he said as she entered. “Coffee?” he offered. She shuddered inwardly at the thought of the strong Turkish blend the Captain favored.
“Ah, thank you, no, sir.” She sat in the chair across from his desk as he got himself another cup to drink. She waited patiently as Sanjay reseated himself and inhaled the aroma of his drink. After taking a sip he said,
“I’ve spoken with the Admiral. She’s bringing this matter up before the Federation Council even as we speak. We should receive instructions fairly shortly.”
“Do you have any idea what they’ll want us to do about this mess, sir?” M’Benga asked.
“The Admiral is proposing FCC intervention, pending the Council’s approval,” Sanjay replied. “I can’t say that I see any other way out of it, myself.”
M’Benga pursed her lips. “If they do bring in the FCC will it go on our records?”
Sanjay shook his head. “No, we weren’t the cause of the problem. Anyone that they might want to point a finger at is long dead. Nevertheless, the Federation is responsible, in a way, for the Prime Directive violation on this planet and the Admiral assures me something will be done. We spoke about it at great lengths.” He sighed. “You now, Commander, this is the kind of situation that gives captains prematurely grey hair. When you get your own command I hope you dodge this particular bullet. Prime Directive issues are the worst, in my opinion. I’d almost rather have a temporal paradox to deal with. Almost.” He grinned wryly at her. “At least the final decision is being made by those above me. You and I won’t have to worry about the ramifications. We’ll just have to expedite whatever the Council decides. I’m fairly certain that, based on my talk with Admiral Janeway, whatever the solution is, it will be fairly straight forward. Then we can get back to the simple things in life, like fighting Jem H’adar, thwarting Romulan plots and even exploring a new bit of the galaxy.” He took another sip of his coffee. “I’ll call you when the Council’s decision comes through. In the meantime, if First Councilor Bela calls, put him off. I don’t want to give him any information until I hear back from the Admiral.” Commander M’Benga took this for the dismissal it was and headed back for the Bridge.
The Council had apparently decided the Mii situation was a high priority, a viewpoint that Admiral Janeway had probably encouraged, thought Sanjay. Their response arrived only a few hours after his chat with Commander M’Benga. As the Admiral gave him his orders his eyes widened a bit but upon reflection he agreed that the Council’s prescribed course of action was probably for the best. After signing off with Janeway, Sanjay made his way to the Bridge. The primary command crewmembers were all at their posts and they turned to look at him as he entered.
“Mister Nog, please open a channel to Acting First Councilor Bela,” he ordered. Pasting a patently false smile on his face, he stood before the giant viewscreen and waited for the transmission to begin. In a moment the view of the Mii was replaced with the face of Councilor Bela.
“Ah, Captain Sanjay, I’ve been awaiting your call,” he said.
“Hello, Mr. Bela,” Sanjay began. Bela frowned at his mode of address. “You’ll be happy to hear that we recovered our missing crewmembers.” Sanjay kept the artificial smile securely in place.
Bela smiled back at him. “And the First Councilor and Lead Citizen Juluth? Were you able to rescue them as well?”
Now Sanjay’s smile became genuine and, if the Miik had more experience reading human expressions, he would have realized it was more than a little feral. “No, I’m afraid not. You see, the Federation has a rule which proscribes us from interfering in the internal operations of a given society’s legitimate government. Since those two persons are being held by the real Mii government pending a war crimes trial I didn’t think it was within my authority to free them.” Bela looked disconcerted by the heavy emphasis Sanjay put on the words “legitimate” and “real”. He began to sputter.
“But, but we are the legitimate-“ Sanjay cut him off.
“Save it!” The smile was gone from his face, now, replaced by a cold fury. “We know all about what’s been happening here and on Varek! You Dresga people have a lot to answer for. I am fully conversant with the Dresga’s actions and plans and frankly, Mr. Bela,” his voice was low and cold now, “You and yours disgust me.” Bela opened and closed his mouth repeatedly but nothing came out. Sanjay continued, ”Now, let me tell you what we know so there are no misunderstandings.” Onscreen, Bela could be seen to slump into a nearby chair. “The Dresga used advanced Federation technology that they stumbled across to infiltrate the normal societies on Mii and Varek. Then, when opposed by the legitimate governments, you waged genocidal attacks on both planets but not before looting as many objects d’art as you could get your slimy hands on. When you realized the remaining authorities on Mii had sent a distress call to the Federation you concocted a plan to impersonate the legitimate leadership of the Regime so you could try to con us into sending you transport vessels to take the Dresga and your stolen loot to a new planet. Along the way you intended to overpower the Starfleet crews and steal the more advanced ships. Then you were going to hunt around for other pre-warp civilizations so you could pull pretty much the same scam on them as well. Did I sum that up well enough? Please,” he added sarcastically, “Let me know if I missed anything.”
“How, how, how,” Bela gabbled.
“We made contact with the remains of the Regime down on the planet and got the whole story.” When Bela opened his mouth Sanjay held up a hand to forestall him. “And before you start calling Treea and her folks liars there’s something else you should know. One of my officers managed to tap into the computers you have there on Tylum using an old Dresga interface on the surface and he downloaded the records containing all of your plans.” A look of sudden understanding crossed Bela’s face.
“So that’s where-“ and he severed the link.
Sanjay turned towards M’Benga. “I expect we’ll get some kind of reaction in just a moment,” he said off-handedly. They didn’t have long to wait.
“Captain!” Sergeant Mitchell said, “I have multiple missles launching from the lunar surface!” Sanjay grinned crookedly.
“See what I mean?” he asked M’Benga. Then, “Ensign Perling, can you tell me where they are headed?”
Louis consulted his read-outs for a moment. “They seem to be targeting the complex on the surface, sir.”
“Sergeant, please take them out before they hit the atmosphere. That planet has suffered enough.” Sanjay crossed his arms patiently.
“Aye, sir,” Mitchell replied. Beams of light sprang from the Seleya’s saucer section and the missiles detonated harmlessly in space.
“Very good, Sergeant. Now,” Sanjay added savagely, “Find the launchers they came from and burn them where they sit! I don’t want those ‘people’ to be able to throw a rock when you’re finished!” Mitchell complied with alacrity and the face of Tylum soon showed little pinpoints of red where the phaser strikes had hit.
“All launchers destroyed, Captain,” Mitchell reported.
“Very good, Sergeant.” Sanjay looked at Nog. “Mr. Nog, please reopen the channel with Tylum base.”
“Channel re-established, Captain.” Bela’s image was back on the screen. Sanjay didn’t give him a chance to speak.
“Now that that unpleasantness is over its time for you to hear what the Federation Council has decided to do about you and your Dresga.” Bela opened his mouth but Sanjay cut him off. “Don’t speak, Mr. Bela, just listen.” The Miik visibly deflated and shut his mouth. He had a resigned look on his face. “The Council has decided that the cultures of Mii and Varek have been interfered with by the Federation, however inadvertent that interference may have been, in direct violation of Starfleet General Order Number One. They are sending members of the Federation Contamination Corp, the FCC as we call them, to try to undo as much of the damage here as possible. Just so there isn’t any misunderstanding, my superiors are also dispatching a task force of eight ships to oversee the procedures. The lead ship is the USS Yamato, a Galaxy-class starship, so if you had any plans to oppose the FCC’s actions you might want to keep something in mind. The Seleya has a crew of about four hundred. The Yamato has about one thousand and its firepower is equally more impressive.” Sanjay grinned as Bela turned noticeably pale. “You’ll be happy to know we are going to help get the people in your little fleet to their destination.” When Bela started to perk up Sanjay shot him back down. “However, before we do that we will be stripping out all of the non-essential items you have so thoughtfully packed aboard your ships. You know, like the precious metals, statues, paintings and other items that are completely unnecessary for a new colony to get started. Those we’ll return to the rightful governments of the Regime and the Unified State. We’ll then tow your ships at high warp to the planet you had suggested originally. And the Council has decided that since you only gained warp technology from the Federation probe you found, once your ships are in orbit over your new home the FCC will be confiscating all of your warp coils.” Bela looked both shocked and horrified.
“But we’ll be stranded there! You can’t take our coils away!” he exclaimed.
Sanjay’s return grin bordered on evil. “Oh, that’s not completely true,” he said, “If you work hard to establish your new colony your infrastructure should be built up enough to replace the coils in, say, a couple of generations or so. The Dresga can use the time in between to reflect on the horrors you’ve inflicted on the people of Mii and Varek.”
Bela was completely morose now. “What about the non-Dresga? He asked.
“Not that it’s any of your concern,” Sanjay coldly replied, “But the Federation Council will be giving them humanitarian aid in the short term. In the long term, our terraforming experts will help them fix the ecosystems you shattered.” He paused for a moment. “And, Mr. Bela? We are currently tracking your fleet where it’s at in orbit around the seventh planet. If any of your ships power up their warp coils, if any of them even try to move out of their current positions, I will personally use our matter transporters to remove every molecule of oxygen they have onboard. Do we understand each other?” Sanjay asked sweetly.
Bela only nodded, unable to speak. Sanjay signaled to Nog to cut the circuit. As the tension drained from his body he made his way back to his chair and sat down. He stroked his beard, looking thoughtfully at the image of the devastated planet beneath the ship. Commander M’Benga jarred him out of his reverie.
“So what are our orders, sir?” she asked.
“Starfleet wants us to wait here and keep a lid on things until the FCC fleet arrives. Then we are going to the Beta Canaris system. It seems a Tarkalian freighter in the area detected what could be a weak warp field coming from the inner planets.” His eyes twinkled as Carol became noticeably excited.
“A possible First Contact? That’s wonderful!” she exclaimed.
“Yes,” Sanjay agreed, “It will be good to wash the muck of our current assignment off and get back to what we do best-explore new worlds. And we’ll do it carefully and by the book.” He looked back at the screen. “I swear, I will never let something like this happen on my watch!” Carol could only nod in agreement.
END
