Chapter Four: Admirable Motives

Admiral Heihachiro Nogura was not favorably disposed toward him. This was mere conjecture on his part, based on his failure to answer his superior's last message. That Fleet Admirals did not react favorably to being ignored was considered so universal a truth, that he felt himself on solid ground concerning his assertion. For several seconds Nogura simply stared at him, with a lack of expression that would have impressed many Vulcans. A pseudonym came to mind, one that he had heard applied to Nogura on several occasions. Moai face. Appropriate, even if the nose was wrong.

"Good morning Commander," Nogura said in a precise, clipped voice. "I'm so glad you could finally make the time to inform me of your progress."

Definitely not pleased to see him. Or perhaps just angry. "Admiral, you have already received my report..."

"It's not a report Spock," Nogura interrupted, his tone biting. Taking a PADD from the desk, he held up in front of him. "It's a damned list Commander, a catalog of possibilities that tells me nothing."

"Considering the lack of data at my disposal, I was forced to include a broad range of viable hypotheses sir."

"And I need certainty Mr. Spock, or at least something that narrows down the number of possible reasons for what happened to the Valiant. About the only thing you seem certain about here, is that whatever occurred was not caused by artificial means."

"Excuse me Admiral, but I do believe my account stated that probability as 99.992 percent sir."

"Forgive me if I don't see the difference Commander."

"With all due respect sir, that is understandable, inasmuch as you are not a scientist."

The admiral glared at him for several seconds, before the corners of his mouth turned slightly upward. "Please sit down Commander," Nogura said softly, gesturing to three identical chairs situated in front of the desk. After Spock had chosen the center one, he activated the comm on his desk.

"Eulogio, a pot of Earl Grey if you please," he asked, looking at Spock, who nodded. "And two cups as well." After the tea had been poured and they were alone again, Nogura leaned back against the chair, his face set in stone once more.

"Why Mr. Spock? What makes you so damned confident that this was not an attack?"

"I would hardly characterize my conclusion as a confident one sir, given the lack of hard data. Rather, I would simply point out that the energy expenditure required to propagate gravity waves of the power and magnitude necessary to inflict the devastation experienced by the Valiant, would make such a weapon a useless one."

"Wait a minute. Now you're telling me you do know what caused this?"

"Negative Admiral. I am only postulating that the type of damage sustained points to a gravimetric event as the most logical possibility."

Nogura accessed the report, clicking through several pages on his PADD. "And you reached this conclusion because of the damage to the inertia compensators?"

"Correct." Spock stood up and walked around the desk, placing his PADD next to the Admiral's. "If I may sir?" He asked and the other man looked up and nodded. Spock touched the screen and a schematic of the Valiant appeared. "At the moment of first contact with the phenomena, two compensators failed, here and here. This precipitated a sequence of events that caused loss of atmosphere due to hull deformation in key areas of the ship."

"And also caused an imbalance in the main engines."

"Yes Admiral," Spock responded after a few seconds. "However, the point here is that the most likely cause would be gravitational waves of extreme power and frequency." Spock touched his PADD again, and it began to cycle through pictures of the destruction. Nogura peered at the images, then shook his head and whistled.

"It's hard to believe anything could do that to a starship's hull."

Spock nodded, tapping his PADD again. Several images of badly degraded machinery were displayed on the screen. "As you can see sir, all the Valiant's inertia compensators suffered significant impairment. If even one more had ceased functioning…"

"You and the rest of the crew would have been splashed all over the ship."

"Indeed sir. The ship itself would have been reduced to it's component molecules in less then a nanosecond."

"Sounds like we have the answer," Nogura muttered, before sipping his tea. "I don't see that we have a reason to move that ship now, Spock."

"Gravitational waves are not the solution sir. They do not propagate without a source. In order to know why the Valiant was destroyed, we must find that source."

"Which is why Commander," Nogura answered in a hard voice, "I need you working on this, not wasting your time helping Pike find a few cheating cadets."

Spock blinked several times, tilting his head slightly. "I assure you Admiral, no one is more desirous of obtaining a solution to this then I am. As I was already enroute to Terra when the Captain requested my aid, I saw no harm in offering assistance."

Nogura poured himself more tea. "You are absolutely sure that bringing the Valiant back to Jupiter Station will give us what we need?"

"As stated in my report sir, I know of no other means by which to extract data of what occurred during those crucial final hours. The ships information systems are too badly damaged for conventional techniques to be effective."

"And there's no way to get her here in less then six weeks?"

"Negative Admiral," Spock replied, with a slight shake of his head. "The engineers would not guarantee the structural integrity of the ship at any speed in excess of Warp 2.5."

"Why not just break down the memory cores and put them on a high warp transport?"

"Due to their delicate condition, they must be examined in situ Admiral. As things stand now, I am not at all certain they will not be further degraded when the Valiant is taken in tow."

"All right then, I'll cut the orders and notify the Chief of Fleet Operations."

"Admiral…perhaps now would be a propitious time to lift the news black out."

"Absolutely not," Nogura answered with a shake of his head. "Nothing goes out to the nets until we have an definitive answer." Spock raised an eyebrow, saying nothing. "What do you want me to tell them Spock? Something happened to one of our ships, but we have no idea what. The Senate would have a field day with that."

"Perhaps mechanical malfunction sir, cause unknown. Technically, it is the truth."

"Is that so? Whatever happened to that famous Vulcan honesty?"

"Perhaps my father was correct sir," Spock answered with a nod. "He did warn me that living among humans would tend to compromise my famous Vulcan standards."

"Why are you pushing for this?"

"Sir, in my opinion, it will not be possible to continue this charade once the Valiant is returned to Sol system. Amateur astronomers from Terra will be able to discern the damage, even if you lock down the repair yards." Spock paused for a second, locking eyes with Nogura.

"Then there is the question of my shipmates to consider. Per you orders, all uninjured members of the Valiant's crew have been confined to Starbase 14 since their rescue. It is past time they were allowed to return to their homes."

Nogura looked away for a second, shrugging his shoulders. "Agreed. I will leave it to you to compose the press release, subject to my approval."

"Of course and…I thank you Admiral, for them."

"You'd better be right about this Spock. If I order the Valiant moved to Jupiter Station and we get nothing out of it, my next command will be a small rock in the Neutral Zone, with you as my first officer."

"If any other option were open to us sir, I would certainly recommend it," Spock answered glancing down at his hands. He did not feel it would be wise to add that were he to follow his personal preferences, he would certainly never set foot on that vessel again.

Nogura tapped his PADD, cycling though several screens. "There is a Ptolemy class tug, the USS Copernicus, that will be available in three days. I want you on board when she warps out."

"Admiral, perhaps it would be more efficient if I were to remain here and prepare…"

"Pike doesn't need you Commander," Nogura interrupted. "I spoke with him this morning. He told me that because of the assistance you provided he's just about ready to wrap his investigation up. Which is more then I can say for you."

"Very well sir," Spock nodded, rising smoothly to his feet. "Please give my regards to…"

The comm on Nogura's desk buzzed. "Yes Eulogio?"

"Captain Pike sir, along with Commodore Celia Wilson." Interesting, Spock thought. In his observation, the Admiral was not at all please with that announcement.

"Send in Pike," Nogura barked, shaking his head. Seconds later the door slid open, allowing Captain Pike to enter. After a brief nod in Spock's direction, he turned to the Admiral, snapping to attention.

"Alright Chris, what the hell is going on? You were supposed to meet JAG Commander Barnes in his office at 0700."

"I know that Admiral," Pike retorted in an angry voice. "Commodore Wilson arrived at Barnes office about five minutes after I did, and told him she was taking our case. Since she is his direct superior, he didn't have much choice."

"At ease Pike," Nogura answered in a tone that almost sounded offended.

"Sorry sir," Pike responded sheepishly, "It's just that I…"

"I thought we were past that Captain Pike," the other man huffed. "Yes I'm angry, but mostly at myself. I think…"

The office door slid open again, and a tall, dark haired woman who was dressed in the distinctive blue and white uniform of a JAG officer stalked into the room. Spock observed that she was approximately 48.3 years of age, had excellent posture, and appeared to be extremely angry. Striding past Captain Pike, she stopped just short of the Admiral's desk, glaring at him in a manner that had Spock faintly alarmed at the possibility that she would reach over the desk with her long arms and seize Nogura by his throat.

"Pardon me Admiral," she bit out, leaning forward, her hands on his desk, "if I refuse to waste my time waiting outside like some junior officer who fell asleep during his watch."

"My apologies Commodore," Nogura answered in a cold voice, "I wasn't aware that you needed to see me."

"Well sir," she answered, "I believe that you have the priority wrong. You see, it's you that urgently need to see me, if you want this sorry excuse for an investigation to go any further."

"Thank you for the offer Commodore Wilson, it really is very kind of you. However, I have already asked JAG Commander Barnes to assist me."

"That's too bad sir. You get to ask for a court order, but you don't get to appoint the JAG officer you want. As assistant JAG officer in charge of this district, that responsibility falls to me."

"Why did you supersede Commander Barnes?"

"For the same reason you wanted him appointed to this case. Because you knew he'd roll over for you. Well you can be bloody well sure that I won't…sir."

"Let's get one thing straight Commodore," Nogura said in a low harsh voice, "this is my investigation. If you want to lend a hand, you are more then welcome, but under my orders."

"This isn't an investigation Nogura, it's a witch hunt! You've never accepted the Academy Compact, and now you're using this pathetic incident to get rid of it, because you couldn't make the case on your own to the Secretary of Federation Defense."

"You are out of line Wilson, and you are dismissed. Get out!"

"Excuse me Admiral," intoned a smooth Vulcan voice, "but I would highly recommend retaining Commodore Wilson's services, despite her disrespectful attitude."

"He's right sir," Pike broke in, "we need JAG cooperation if we're going to get that court order."

"And you Commodore," Spock continued, "have a duty to assist us, regardless of the opinion you hold concerning the motivations at the heart of this inquiry."

"I'm sure I don't need you to tell me my duty, Commander Spock."

"I would dispute that ma'am, since you are apparently determined to do whatever you deem necessary to obstruct the investigation of a possible security breech."

"Weren't we talking about an Ensign hacking some grades so he can get a little sex from a cadet? That was the so called accusation that Captain Pike informed me was that heart of your so called case. Explain to me how that constitutes a security breach Mr. Spock."

"Any unauthorized accesses of a Star Fleet computer network constitutes a possible breach of security Commodore."

"What? He hacked into the Academy network Commander, not the core computer of the Admiralty staff."

"No…no Commodore," Pike offered, shaking his head. "Spock is right. It's all networked together. All the universities and libraries, most branches of Starfleet. Hell, most members of the Federation. Even the colonies, except for the really poor ones like Hibernia." He turned to Spock, intending to ask his friend to explain in greater detail, but the Vulcan was just staring at him, both eyebrows disappearing into his razor straight bangs.

"Spock, what's wrong?"

"Apparently, my thought processes are not in order Captain." Before Pike could ask what he was talking about, Spock turned his attention to Nogura.

"Admiral, it is imperative that I be allowed to examine any of the PADDs or other network communication devices that might have been in Ensign Hahn's possession immediately."

"That's not going happen Spock," Wilson answered, "unless I decide the evidence warrants bringing this matter before a judge."

"What's is going on Spock?" Nogura asked, after glaring at the Commodore.

"Admiral…Commodore, I urgently appeal to each of you to put aside your disagreements so that we may verify how and to what purpose Mr. Hahn gained access to the Computer Sciences network."

"I thought you already knew how," Wilson huffed. "Captain Pike told me it was by stealing someone's pass code."

"That was one likely scenario Commodore, based on Mr. Hahn's past employment as a student aide in the Computer Sciences Department, as well as his lack of high level computer skills, however we…"

"Spock," Nogura interrupted calmly, "what's changed? Why the urgency?"

"Several months ago sir, I was asked to develop several specialized language translation algorithms by the Academy Computer Sciences Department, as part of an on going project of a classified nature. This undertaking was tasked with the development of a fully A.I. capable core computer, compact enough to be installed on a starship."

"Son of a bitch," Pike barked, "that was at my request Spock, I told them you were the best person for that job."

"Indeed Captain, then you are well aware of the potential for disaster."

"Would one of you tell me what the hell your talking about?"

"The M-5 project Admiral," Spock answered. "The Federation's next generation core computer. The first working model is scheduled for installation on the USS Enterprise later this year. At this moment, it is undergoing final testing of it's software suite at the Navy Yard here in San Francisco. As part of that testing, the M-5 has been integrated into the same computer network that has been compromised by Ensign Hahn."

Interesting he thought. Perhaps the sobriquet applied by others to Admiral Nogura was inaccurate. He would not have thought it possible that a human face could display such an expression.

A/N: Don't know how well this works. Probably too much talking, but it's the best way I could think of to advance the story. Next chapter will be longer. Let me know what you think and a big thank you to all who have reviewed. As always suggestions and criticism are appreciated.