Star Trek: Penumbra war

Rating: T

Genre: Sci-Fi/Action

When a Starfleet officer is murdered on a Federation space station, the Enterprise is called in to investigate. Soon though the crew is pulled into a web of conspiracies that could threaten the very Federation itself.

Disclaimer: I in no way own Star Trek or any of it's characters.

AN: This is the prologue, to set everything up. For those worried about OC's don't worry, the crew takes over this story in chapter 1.

"-Rioters were arrested on Rigel X today following-"…"-Federation council has promised to stand firm against increased piracy along the Orion border-"…"-Next week will see the second anniversary of the destruction of Vulcan, Ambassador Sarek addressed-"…"-DIvI' wItlh puy net lel 'IQ!"…"-Starfleet sources reported continued manpower shortages following the destruction of the Cadet Fleet-"…

"Two thousand news channels, nothing but bad news, and I'm too bored to care." Lieutenant Carol Marcus thought bitterly as she flicked off her PADD and slipped the flat personal computer down on the table she was eating lunch at. With a sigh Marcus looked down and pouted her plate of Caitian shawarma.

Marcus had made the mistake of flicking on the news while she was going over her latest tritanium purity reports for the day. The Federation, and by extension Starfleet, was going through rough times. It had been two years since the time traveling Romulan terror Nero had nearly wiped out the Vulcan race. Aside from the horrendous loss of life suffered, the destabilization caused by Vulcan's destruction had nearly stretched Starfleet to the limit. Despite losses at the hands of Nero, the Klingon Empire had stepped up its posturing along the neutral zone. Emboldened by Starfleet's perceived time of weakness, Orion pirates had stepped up slaving raids along the federation boarder. Vulcan had also been a major center of Federation research. The loss of the Vulcan Science Academy set back the Federation science division at least ten years.

This was how Dr. Carol Marcus had become Lieutenant Marcus in little under a year. She was fresh out of MIT, PHD of Organic Chemistry in hand when reality had hit her hard. Her family, while not poor by any means, simply couldn't afford to pay for eight years of university studies. To make matters more complicated with the recent Romulan threat most of the Federation laboratories had shifted away from genetics research to weapon R&D, something Marcus' didn't particulary want to do. She had never pictured usuing her degree to find a better way to kill. However with the bills pilling up in her inbox, Marcus had been forced to put her idealism aside and at least see what Starfleet had to offer.

It wasn't so bad in the end. Starfleet was still feeling the pinch from the loss of almost an entire year of Academy students in the disastrous battle above Vulcan. Desperate to recoup its losses, Starfleet was offering obscene enlistment bonuses to experienced candidates. In the letter Carol had received from Starfleet Science Division they had offered to pay off all of her student loans in exchange for a four year commitment. Not only that but she was assured she wouldn't be assigned to weapons development if she was opposed to it. Her family had not been happy with her decision, with Starfleet's high mortality rate and all, but the offer had been too good to pass up. So, after a year in San Francisco to learn basic Starfleet procedure she'd been shipped across the galaxy (with a bump in rank for prior scholastic achievements) to the fourth floor of the Starfleet liaison office at the Hyperion Designs shipyard above Deneb V.

Most of her job consisted of assisting in experiments trying to bond tritanium with various compounds to make it more resistant to stress. It was not bad work by any means, she actually quite liked the few time she was required to go EVA and over see installation of a new armor plate on the under construction ships. Marcus had found walking on the underside of the massive ships while stars and Deneb V floated above her quite thrilling. However those times were few and far between. It certainly was not what she had imagined doing with her degree. For the most part anyone with half Marcus' schooling could do her job.

Mostly Marcus was just bored. Whatever she had expected out of Starfleet it hadn't been spending most of her time double checking other peoples work. This was why she immediately looked up and noticed when her boss, Lieutenant Commander Ben Finney, exited the elevator to the common area of the office they shared looking out of sorts. Commander Finney was never the friendliest of people, from what Marcus' co-workers had told her he had wanted to be a starship captain but had screwed up his career at some point. Now he was stuck pushing paper and relaying messages to Hyperion executives from Starfleet; a thankless job that seemed to make him more sullen by the day. Even still, Marcus couldn't help but notice Finney was sweating as he stepped into the office. Marcus couldn't help but question his appearance.

"Sir? Are you alright?" Marcus asked cautiously. Finney wasn't a people person at the best of times; she wasn't going to push him when he already looked flustered.

Much as Marcus expected, Finney barely acknowledged her as he made a B-line for his office.

"I'm fine Lieutenant." He quickly said as he entered his office. "Just forgot a file I needed for a meeting later today."

Marcus rolled her eyes. This wouldn't be the first time the commander over reacted to some small inconvenience. Shaking her head Marcus picked up her PADD, called up the structural reports on the Biko and went back to her lunch. She didn't even bother looking up when Finney left his office a few minutes later and got back into the elevator.

Finney clutched his PADD against his chest while he nervously jammed the button for the ground floor. The doors finally closed and the elevator began its descent. Finney noticeably jumped when the small transmitter planted in his ear chirped.

"Relax." A cool young male voice told him. "Someone will know something is going on if you keep acting like that."

"How am I supposed to relax when you're threatening me?" Finney snapped back quickly.

The voice on the other end of the transmitter chuckled.

"Come on Ben. Did you really think no one would notice you've been slanging info to rival companies?" All I want is a freebie". There was a pause before the voice spoke again. "Look alive Commander Finney, here's your stop."

As soon as the voice in his ear said this the doors dinged and opened in the lobby of the Starfleet building. It wasn't grand in the slightest. A pair of clear double doors opened into a small marble lobby with a single reception desk. Aside from the ensign engaged with his duties behind the reception desk and a couple of people in line the lobby was empty. Not acknowledging anyone in the lobby, Finney quickly strode across the room and walked out the doors.

When Finney stepped out of the Starfleet office it looked like he had stepped into a small city built in massive cave. Lit by the lights of the city, Finney could see the ceiling three hundred feet above him. The station he was on had been constructed out of a massive asteroid back in late 2190s. Picked for its high metallic composition the asteroid had been towed into orbit and the inside hollowed out. The material mined from the inside had then been used to construct the space side dry-docks, and the administrative and living quarters inside. The whole station was kept from being pulled down to the planet by a system of heavy thrusters that periodically readjusted orbit.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Finney asked as he looked around the street. The station wasn't big enough for personal vehicles but there was still substantial foot traffic. Finney was so distracted he didn't notice when a small figure that had been leaning on the building he passed scanned him with a tricorder and started following him.

"Head for the central shuttleport, the 12:30 shuttle gets in five. Go to the offloading exit." The voice stated.

Breathing heavily Finney started for the shuttleport. It was not a long walk and he soon reached the shuttleport. The port itself was a squat box like building built into the side of the asteroid with an exit that opened into the central square of the city. The shuttleport was one of the busiest areas of the station. People were always coming and going to both the planet below and the shipyards outside. Finney brushed by people of all different races as he reached the unloading exit of the shuttle bay as a cool female voice announced the 12:30 shuttle had just arrived. A few moments later the doors opened and a stream of people of poured through. Finney found himself engulfed by the crowd.

"Stay exactly where you are, I'm coming toward you."

Out of reflex Finney looked around for who was talking to him but he saw no one he recognized in the throng. Finney was looking ahead when he felt a hand clasp his back and a small lance of pain. He tried to turn his head to see what had pricked him but to his horror found he couldn't turn his head. He was powerless to do anything as a small feminine hand reached around his side and ripped the pad from his hands. His entire body started to go numb; breathing seemed to take an extraordinary amount of effort. Finney couldn't keep his eyes open. His body went slack and he collapsed into the crowd. Concerned passersby were on him in a flash trying to assist him but it was too late, Finney was dead before he hit the ground. His body wasn't completely lifeless though as his earpiece spoke up.

"Finney? Finney? Talk to me...Dammit!…"

The crowd jumped back as a small bang emanated from Finney's ear as a small sliver of explosive planted in the transmitter detonated. People in looking gasped and pointed as a small trail of smoke billowed from the dead man's right ear.

Walking the opposite direction of the crowd a small figure looked down at the PADD in her hands with a grin that she hastily suppressed.

Hope I have your interest, if you liked it review!. If you didn't like it, review anyway! For those interested I will have the uploading the first chapter by the end of tomorrow ideally.