Disclaimer: I did not create Star Trek or anything contained in it. Star Trek and all related indicia are property of Paramount Pictures. I do not wish to cause any kind of copyright infringement. I have a mortal fear of lawyers.
Summary: The Enterprise E is called to the Klingon- Federation border where they find that a Federation convoy has been destroyed by what appears to be a Klingon attack force.
Stains Of Dishonor
Chapter 1
"Captain Picard, there is a priority one message coming in on subspace" Worf declared as he tapped his communicator. Captain Picard woke suddenly, he sat up and groaned he had barely got to sleep, but already he was wanted.
"Thank you Lieutenant, patch it through to my unit." Picard said
Picard would have preferred to freshen up and maybe have something to eat, but as usual the demands of a Starfleet captain meant that reluctantly, he sat down at his unit. He walked over to his desk, sighing as he sat down. The message was coded which was perfectly normal, but the captain grew increasingly nervous as he tapped in his authorization code.
"Computer" he declared" Decode message and play" The face of Admiral Janeway appeared.
"Catherine it's good to see you again" he said, a look of pleasure spreading across his face.
"You to Jean-Luc, but I am afraid I have to dispense with the pleasantries, we have received troubling news from our outpost along the Klingon-Federation border. The sensors there were tracking four convoy ships traveling parallel to the border. They were standing by to jump to warp carrying supplies for Earth." She said in her usual tight voice.
"Go on" said Picard sounding nervous
"The supplies never arrived, we don't know exactly what happened to them. But debris was found near to their final location, with traces of weapons fire. Disrupters" she said, it was her time to sound nervous." The Enterprise is the nearest ship, so we want you to investigate"
" Is there any evidence of motive, do we suspect a Romulan incursion?"
"As of yet we cannot rule out any possibilities, including the theory that this may well be a Klingon incursion, but" she paused seeing the somewhat puzzled look on Picard's face." but" she continued " as unlikely as it sounds, High command wants this fully investigated"
"Very well, Picard said.
" Thank you, Jean Luc, I know you can be trusted. I have sent co-ordinates along with me, for a direct location of the debris. Janeway out"
The image clicked off displaying the standard Federation logo. Picard showered changed and walked onto the Bridge.
Helm lay in a course for the convoy incident, the co-ordinates are 2.04 M/ARC 291, Maximum Warp. Yellow Alert. Engage.
Chapter 2
" Sir we are approaching the site of the convoy incident" declared lieutenant Hawk.
"Engage impulse engines at one third" Ordered the captain.
"Sir, there is a debris field ahead of us, I suggest we beam some samples into the cargo bay for analysis" came the usual cool voice of Data.
"Agreed, Mr. Data"
"Bridge to transporter room one, beam some samples of the debris into the cargo bay for analysis"
"Aye, Sir" replied the voice of the transporter operator.
"Bridge to commander Laforge" said Picard
"Laforge here, yes captain" replied the ships chief engineer.
"Mr. Laforge I am sending, Mr. Data down to assist with the analysis of the convoy debris, please meet him in the main cargo bay" ordered Picard
" Yes, Captain. I'm on my way"
It was only an hour or two later when a message was heard ship wide on the communication system. "All senior officers please report to the conference room." The voice of a serious Captain was one to certainly be adhered to. So within only a few minutes, all the major officers were assembled in the conference room waiting to be briefed on the results of the hull analysis from the destroyed transporters.
" It is with heavy heart that I report to you that we believe that these ships were purposefully destroyed by weapons fire." said Picard woefully.
"Mr. Data?" he turned to the lieutenant commander indicating to provide the assembled officers with the finer points of the analysis.
"We have concluded that the four transport ships were attacked by 2 ships , we have noticed evidence of heavy disrupter fire consistent with the configuration of a pair of Klingon Birds of Prey" He explained, it was only after this comment that he seemed to realise the implications and the meaning of what he was saying. Everyone sat round the table was well aware that this sort of destruction was an act of war, and many of them retained tight in the face, none more so than Worf who seemed unwilling to accept this as evidence that the Klingon empire wanted to start a war.
Riker was the first to break the awkward silence, "Are we certain it was Klingon Birds of Prey"
"Yes, Number one all evidence does point in that direction." Captain Picard reassured.
Data seemed to realize something and spoke out " There is a possibility that this was a larger Klingon Vessel, or a Romulan ship that was restricting its fire to that of a Klingon Bird of Prey. That should not be to difficult for a skilled tactical officer."
"If they are Klingon what steps need to be taken" asked Dr. Crusher quizzically.
"I will contact Starfleet Command and arrange an ambassador to the empire to acquire an explanation for what is going on here and whether or not they wish to conduct their own tests, in the mean time we shall stay at yellow alert, until further notice, dismissed."
They all filled out of the conference room in twos and threes heading to their quarters or back to their posts depending if they were on duty or not. The rest of the crew was keeping well away from Worf. For obvious reasons.
Chapter 3
" Very well Admiral, Enterprise out"
Picard sighed he didn't enjoy taking orders he didn't really agree with , but unfortunately he had to as he knew only too well.
He didn't like calling two meetings a day but this was important and he needed to see what the crew thought of the new orders that had been given, From Starfleet Command.
Picard sighed and began the second briefing of the day " Well, we have been instructed by the High Council to complete our analysis and report our findings we will then begin a general patrol mission, location of which is yet to be designated. After that a delegation will be sent to the Klingon home world to settle the matter. We have been instructed to end our investigation and to cancel yellow alert, no further action shall be taken, High Command does not want to start an incident"
"What!" Once again commander Riker was the first to speak. " That's ridiculous, this was an incident as well as an act of war and it should be considered and dealt with in that manner."
" I agree Number One, but our orders stand"
There was a moment of unsettled chatter before Picard spoke once more. " If any of you wish to object then-" Picard was cut of as the sound of the red alert siren wailed from around them. " What the devil...."
As Picard and the rest of the officers walked onto the bridge, they were met with a Klingon bird of Prey on the view screen.
" Report" demanded captain Picard. "and who activated red alert."
" I did sir" said a voice from behind the helm conn.
" This ship has entered Federation space , we have hailed them several times, with no response. They are powering up there disrupters without cause or provocation"
" Very well, all hands stand to battle stations, stand by all weapons, shields to Maximum." Captain Picard ordered in the way that he new only to well."
" Klingon craft is preparing to fire, they are locked on" Said Worf
"Hail them again,"
"No Response Captain"
"Then open a channel " returned the Captain.
"Aye sir, channel open"
Captain Picard begin in the usual diplomatic but firm approach " Klingon Ship you have entered Federation space, and because you have not powered down your weapons or responded to our hails we have no choice but to take precautionary measures."
The Enterprise shook slightly, and again more ferociously this time.
"Lock on Phasers, full spread all forward banks on my mark" Ordered the Captain
"FIRE" he added
"Ready Quantum Torpedoes, dispersal pattern Beta-"
"Sir," declared Worf " The bird of prey has cloaked"
"Mr. Data are there any more ships in this sector, Federation, Klingon or otherwise?"
"Yes, Sir"
Chapter 4
I did not create Star Trek nor any related names or trademarks, these are property of Paramount.
Stains Of Dishonor. Chapter 2
Data hesitated slightly before continuing, "There is one Federation craft approaching at high warp."
"Confirmed sir, the USS Nebulae is closing on an intercept course" Said Worf from behind his console.
Picard rose from his chair " Hail the Neb-" he was cut short by a beep from behind him.
"Sir" barked Worf " The Nebulae is hailing us"
Picard responded " On screen" as he sat back down in his chair.
He was greeted, if that would be the best word to use, with the surly face of the Nebulae's captain.
" Ah Cap-" began Picard.
Much to Picards irritation he was interrupted.
" I'm afraid its bad news Jean Luc, I have orders to escort the Enterprise to sector 10, 47 for patrol duties.", he breathed slightly before he plowed on again. " You are also ordered, to cancel red alert, and to deactivate shields and weapons systems. We will be leaving in 50 minutes time, Nebulae Out" The screen clicked of and was replaced with a federation logo and the final words " End Transmission"
The crew of the Enterprise were always able to tell when there captain was angry, but even when they new there was nothing they could say or do to calm him down.
This time it was Data who was the first to speak, " Captain, I do not agree with our orders. Amongst my experiences with human emotion, I have noticed that often people feel a responsibility to seek out the cause of death, especially if they were the first to discover them, or even more so if they were a close one"
"I am fully aware of the moral responsibility we carry here Data, but this time I cannot ignore our Starfleet obligations" Said Picard in somewhat an apologetic tone of voice.
"Suggestions?, anyone" asked the Captain
" We, really cannot afford to allow our own moral intuition to guide us, I think that for the moment we should do as requested" Said Troi, the ships councilor.
Judging on the way eyebrows raised and eyes rolled in the room, she decided to end on a slightly more positive note.
"However as Data rightly said we still have a certain moral responsibility to the people on those ships, in my opinion we should continue an investigation of the incident."
Riker continued " That will be difficult, no direct access to the site, this investigation will not be plain sailing"
Data's head twitched in the manner it often did whenever he was thinking " We do however still have the debris samples we collected from the site, they may be useful in an investigation into the incident"
" Agreed, but for now we keep to our orders, we do not want to be reprimanded in a way that may affect our credibility should we discover anything of importance, dismissed"
Chapter 5
They rose from the table and filed out, Picard tucked us uniform slightly and sat down," Mr. Worf, hail the Nebulae"
"Aye Sir, they are responding"
"On Screen," Picard rose from his chair, the screen bleeped and he was once again looking at the sour faced captain of the Nebulae.
" Ahh, Captain" began Picard " we are more than ready to leave at your discretion captain"
"Excellent, we shall leave immediately, as you are aware we are heading to sector 10 47, please proceed at warp eight, Nebulae out"
The screen bleeped again, and Picard sighed.
" Ensign, lay in a course for sector 10 47, warp eight"
"Aye Sir, course plotted and laid in"
"Engage" came the reply
The young ensign tapped at his control panel, and the Enterprise hurled forward into warp speed.
At warp eight it did not take them a particularly long to reach sector 10 47, the Enterprises engines seemed to groan as the ship slowed to impulse, power.
" Scan the ar-" he stopped,
"We are being hailed" interrupted something he did not normally do, but the message in the signal made him interrupt his captain.
Picard thought for a moment or two before saying " Open a channel"
This time, all Picard could hear was the voice of his Federation counterpart.
"Well Captain, this is where we leave you, we have been ordered to Vulcan to transport some dignitaries to Earth, Good Luck"
Picard was determined to have the Nebulae's Captain see a message end transmission, so he answered " Thank you Captain, Enterprise out"
He ended with such slight exaggeration on the word "Enterprise" that no one seemed to notice.
" Mr. Worf, please run a full scan of the surrounding area, and report the findings in due course"
Picard looked around for Data after realizing that Data was in main engineering he tapped his communicator,
"Picard to Commander Data" He began
"Data her came the response"
"Data would you please meet me in the library , I want to pull up some information from the ships computer"
" Aye Sir on my way"
Chapter 6
Picard glanced quickly around the bridge and walked to the turbolift"
"Library"
The Turbolift whirred into life and carried him away from the bridge and towards his destination.
When he arrived Data was already at a console.
"Ahh Data, I was wondering if you could assist me in finding out information on any Klingon and Federation conflicts after the treaty.
"There are some pockets of conflict or territorial aggression, but nothing really on the scale of the convoy destruction, this really is an isolated incident"
"Yes, but..." Picard craned his neck as he peered to look at the computer screen. " It could be as you say Data, just an isolated incident, a misunderstanding of some description, but that is not good enough. I want to know the exact reasons for this conflict, it may be a Klingon invasion of the Federation"
"Agreed sir, I believe what humans say, we should leave no stone unturned"
Picard communicator bleeped and he heard a voice, " Bridge to captain Picard"
It was the voice of Riker, and it sounded wary and nervous.
"Sir we need you on the bridge, Immediately
"Acknowledged, I'm on my way Commander"
Both he and Data left the Library and quickly worked there way back up to the bridge.
"Report" He Said as he walked in.
"Sir Deana feels that we are being watched or worse hunted" Said Riker
Picard turned to Troi herself for a more detailed description.
"We aren't alone out here sir somebody's out there, watching us"
Picard turned to Worf, Worf shook his head to indicate nothing on sensors.
Picard began immediately to search for an explanation.
" Is it possible they are cloaked...."
The sound of Worf's dog like growl from behind them, caused tension to build up.
" Sir, Klingon Fek' Lhr class ship decloaking ahead"
Picard was now slightly concerned, they may be no threat but the possibility was always there.
He stood up, to order a hail, but before he could do so the Klingon ship began to fire.
The Bridge shook heavily, there were no shields up, that did not last.
Automatically the ship went to red alert readying weapons and raising shields.
Picard took no time in ordering return fire, phaser blasts erupted from the phaser strip around the saucer section of the Enterprise. The Consoles on the bridge shuddered and flashed as the ship received more heavy disrupter fire.
" They have moved towards the nacelles, they continue to fire, shields in that area will fail in 35 seconds."
"Helmsman bring us to bearing 0402 M/ARC 7.42 three quarters impulse power" Riker turned to tactical as he continued " Auxiliary power to aft dorsal shields"
" Aye Sir"
" Sir the Klingon ship is attempting to beam someone out of the Enterprise" called Worf
"Who?" Demanded the captain
" I cant say, I rotated our shield harmonics, they were not successful in there attempt"
"Sir the ship has cloaked, we have lost weapons lock"
The concern and worry about the events of the previous days had spread rapidly through the ship, many were now asking questions about what was going on, they were definitely questions that Picard and his senior staff wanted answering.
The Captain sat in his ready room as he mulled over the events.
An emergency message along with sensor readings of the conflict were transmitted to Starfleet Command, encoded of course it seemed obvious that no further risks should be taken. However nothing stunned the Enterprise more than Starfleet's reluctance to acknowledge what was evidently an act of open war. Precautionary measures had been taken, and all Starfleet vessels were placed on yellow alert. However the Enterprises orders to remain on patrol, were extended. Much to the crews displeasure of course.
Even though Starfleet was reluctant to provide answers to any of the crews questions, Data could always be counted on to provide his own theories.
" Sir, I have a suggestion" he began
Picard came to attention very quickly, " Go ahead Mr. Data"
" Worf has told us that the Klingon ship attempted to beam someone out of the ship, as we were also told this attempt was unsuccessful. It appears that as soon as the Klingon ship realized this, they cloaked. Therefore I believe that, that beam out was there primary objective. I do not think the destruction of the Enterprise was important, I believe that they were attempting to beam out" Data paused slightly before finishing
" Lieutenant Worf"
Chapter 7
At first Picard stared disbelievingly at Data, how, why, a million thoughts turned in his head, he continued his defiant gaze there was no way Jean Luc Picard was going to accept this explanation. However even as he looked on he was forced to accept the apparent logic of what he was being told. Even though Data is incapable of human feelings as he constantly reminds those around him whenever they comment on his human like behavior, he seemed to realize the tension that had mounted.
"Of course, I could be mistaken"
The group looked at Data as though he took them all for fools. Data, the most advanced android known to exist. Data, capable of making trillions of calculations a second. No. Data was rarely wrong.
"Captain, I assure you that I had no idea that, that Klingon ship intended to ......" Began Worf. Knowing what was to follow Picard cut him of instantly.
"Mr. Worf, I do not doubt for one second that you are a loyal member of this Crew, so do not think that I suspect you of having any knowledge about what we have experienced. Picard said this sternly for he believed what he said, yet he spoke also reassuringly. After all Worf was respected by all crew members"
"What about Starfleet's apparent reluctance to accept these attacks as an act of hostility, we still haven't got to the bottom of that" Picard looked at Riker as he finished his last few words.
"Agreed Number one, that is something we should work out, this could be one of two possible things, either the ships we encountered were simply rouge vessels that are angered by the peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. After all the Klingon people are a strong warrior race and some of them may quite literally be bored" Picard paused
" And the other possibility" asked Troi, even though she knew the second possibility as did everyone else.
"Councilor, the other possibility is that the Klingon Empire is preparing to wage war with the Federation."
Even though everyone knew what Picard was going to say, it still came as quite a shock when it was spoken out loud. In the same manner that Data had exhibited earlier Picard hastily added,
"But of course I am willing to other suggestions"
Worf moved slightly and even though Troi knew it wasn't a suggestion he wished to make, she encouraged him to speak.
" I cannot believe that some Klingon's would disgrace their race by attempting to sabotage the good peace between the Federation and the Klingon's."
I agree with you Lieutenant, however for the sake of millions perhaps billions of lives I hope an isolated rebellion is at the bottom of this.
Picard rose, " Dismissed"
Data left the room somewhat confused about the discussion he had participated in. He knew that it was highly likely that Klingon vessel was trying to take Worf from them after all Worf was a highly respected and trusted member of the Federation. He carried the rank of Lieutenant which allowed him a fair amount of access to the main computer. There was again the problem of the class of the ship that attacked them. Fek'ler class, named after a powerful mythical beast, the ship certainly lived up to this scope of power. Another thought occupied Data's mind as he stepped out of the turbolift and approached his cabin. Why had the Klingon ship not used its powerful polaron or even just its photon torpedoes. They would have disabled the Enterprise in just a few minutes. Data's organized mind realized that there Torpedoes were not functional, after all this may be a rebel vessel who's access to repair facilities was limited. Or perhaps they didn't wish to use torpedoes. He thought back to what he said when they were first briefed about the attacks on the convoy. Perhaps the larger Klingon vessel was a rebel ship and therefore did not have a fully trained crew compliment. Perhaps that's why they needed Worf. To help make the damage on their victims ships look like that of a smaller vessel. The ship that attacked them, may well be the ship that attacked the convoy, searching for someone else, someone better, to help make their attacks look more convincing. Attacking convoys to begin war was not how the Klingon's operated, but perhaps this "rouge" vessel was under the influence of someone who was more than willing to use sneak attack tactics.
Data set up his equipment, sat down and began to paint.