"What is wrong with my station, Chief?" a frustrated Captain Johnson asked Newstreak, who wiped sweat from her forehead. They, along with the rest of the inhabitants of the station, were becoming quite tired of all these malfunctions. This was not the sort of station Captain Johnson wanted to be in charge of.
"There's no way the station is this fragile. Someone caused this to happen," she said while rummaging through some tools. "Newstreak to Engineering Crew Number 4." There was no response. "Damn it!" Newstreak said angrily.
"Is that just speculation, or do you have a basis for that assumption?" Johnson asked, suddenly giving the woman his undivided attention.
"The Romulans could have caused these malfunctions to occur," Newstreak said, her voice muffled from under a nearby console. Newstreak pulled her head out from under the console just before it hissed and threw a few sparks. "Damn!" she said, hitting the console as hard as she could.
Johnson shook his head. "But there was a specific clause of the treaty that makes it impossible."
"Impossible without breaking the treaty," Newstreak added.
"Vena," McGives said under his breath.
Johnson didn't want to believe that the Romulans would do such a thing, but he wouldn't be surprised if the Romulan security chief had something to do with the problems they were having. Suddenly, red alert lights began flashing around them. "Setha-tri par trukatha," the computer said.
"I thought you finally had the computer speaking in English!" McGives said angrily.
"Setha-ki par trukatha," the computer continued.
"I did!" Newstreak said, grabbing her tool kit and diving under another console.
"Setha-mille par…destruct. 45 seconds until self-destruct."
Johnson and McGives exchanged a horrified look. "Johnson to Vena," the captain said, hitting his combadge much harder than necessary. "Vena!"
O O O
Julian was now pounding on the door to the turbolift as the red lights flashed around him. "Help! Get us out of here!" he called in desperation. A hand grasped his shoulder tightly. He felt his muscles grow suddenly weak and he fell to his knees, his head clouding.
"Is this an example of how Starfleet handles a crisis?" Vena said. Julian looked up at her, his eyes a bit clouded in reaction to the nerve pinch. "You're not accomplishing anything." She tapped her badge. "Vena to Johnson." She shook her head. The computer counted down to 30 seconds.
"We're gonna die. I arrived on this station less than 24 hours ago, and I'm already going to die," Julian said. He stood and wrapped an arm around Vena's shoulder.
"What are you doing?" she asked, looking at the hand Julian had placed on her far shoulder almost in disgust.
"Comforting you."
"I don't need it." The turbolift jerked. "Uh, oh," she said quietly. The turbolift dropped.
Julian couldn't help but smile when Vena grabbed a hold of him as the turbolift fell. Then the turbolift jerked to a rather forceful stop, presumably by a bulkhead or some other safety measure (if any were working), causing the two to fall to the ground. Vena roughly shoved Julian away from her and stood.
"Self-destruct in 15 seconds."
Vena took a deep breath, glancing at Julian. Julian could tell she was nervous-almost afraid. Of course, who wouldn't be if they knew they were going to die in less than 15 seconds. "Recognize Sunsearcher, authorization code 329-alpha-763-omega," Vena said.
"Ready."
"Abort program Federation 47."
Julian felt his heart stop as the computer counted down to one. But he didn't die. The station didn't self-destruct. The red lights went out, and the turbolift began moving up smoothly.
"Encrypted message sent to office of Romulan Chairman," the computer said.
Vena's face was expressionless as Julian stared at her. "What message?" he asked. "To who?" Vena didn't look at him. "What message?" he repeated. Julian didn't expect to get an answer, and he received none.
The doors of the turbolift opened, and the two stepped out into Ops. Everyone in Ops was hugging each other happily; Newstreak was currently being crushed by McGives in a bear hug. As soon as the Starfleet officers saw Vena, two security officers suddenly grabbed her by each arm.
"What was in the message you just sent to Romulus?" Captain Johnson asked, looking furious. The gleeful atmosphere of the room died instantly. Johnson took a few menacing steps toward Vena. "That the self-destruct failed? I can't believe you would kill your own people just to-."
"Captain!" Julian interrupted, coming between Johnson and Vena. "I was with her the whole time, she didn't send any message." Julian looked at Vena. "In fact, she just saved our lives."
"And how is that?" Captain Johnson asked disbelievingly.
"Apparently, Chief Newstreak accidentally activated a last-resort program designed during the war to destroy the station if the Federation took over." Julian caught Vena's eyes. "Vena discontinued it."
Commander McGives came forward. "And how did she do that without an authorization code?"
"I had a back-up code in place," Vena said before Julian could answer. "Vena 1592-beta," she said. Julian felt his heart skip. That wasn't the code she had used. Vena caught Julian's gaze again. "I knew the Federation would take away my access code, so I made another in case of an emergency."
"Is she telling the truth, Doctor?" Captain Johnson suddenly asked. "Is everything she has said true?"
Julian took a deep breath. He could feel Vena's eyes watching him closely. "Yes, sir." His heart seemed to beat as fast as a hummingbird when he realized that he had just lied to his superior officer. But he said nothing more.
Captain Johnson nodded to the security guards, who let Vena's arms go. She rubbed her left arm a bit where the officer had been gripping it.
"About my security clearance…" she began, taking a step toward Captain Johnson.
"Oh, no," McGives muttered.
"Do you really expect me to keep the station safe without my security clearance?"
"Apparently you can," Captain Johnson said under his breath. "As soon as we are done with altering the security system."
Vena smiled and shook her head. "You haven't tampered with it enough?" She turned and entered the turbolift. Before telling the computer a destination, she said, "Oh, and Julian," she said. Julian turned to her in surprise. "Lunch would be acceptable. 1300 hours?"
Julian blinked in surprise. "Yes. Right. Great! I'll-I'll meet you at the Jolan."
Vena smiled and nodded to him. "Level 5." The turbolift doors closed.
Julian smiled to himself. When he turned around, he saw the entire crew in Ops staring at him, jaws dropped. "What?" Julian asked innocently.
"What happened in that turbolift, Doctor?" Captain Johnson asked incredulously.
Julian pretended to be offended. "I believe that my personal life isn't any of your business, Captain," he said. His boyish smile grew wider as his fellow officers continued to look at him in amazement. The voice of the computer suddenly seemed to speak inside his head. "Encrypted message sent to office of Romulan Chairman." Julian's smile faded slightly as he glanced nervously toward the closed turbolift doors.
O O O
The door to the Captain's office chimed. "Come in," Johnson said.
"Captain," Chief Newstreak said as she walked in. "I need to talk to you…in private." The door closed behind her.
"Well, this appears to be the best place for that," Johnson said with a smile, putting down his PADD. "What is it, Chief?"
"I just checked Vena's other security code as you requested," she said.
"So it does exist?" Captain Johnson said.
Newstreak nodded. "But there's one problem-that program couldn't have been aborted by that code. It doesn't have a high enough clearance."
"Meaning?" Captain Johnson said, leaning forward.
"Meaning that the code wasn't what stopped the self-destruct sequence, sir."
"Doctor Bashir said that Vena was the one to stop the sequence, and that she used that code," Johnson said. "Are you saying he was lying?"
Chief Newstreak took a deep breath. "Someone is, Captain."
Captain Johnson sighed, folding his hands and putting them on the desk. "And the message to the head of the Tal Shiar?"
"Sir?"
"I've just done some research on the Romulan Empire," Captain Johnson said, picking up the PADD. "The Chairman is the head of Romulan intelligence, the Tal Shiar. That's who the encrypted message was sent to."
Newstreak was silent. "Doctor Bashir seemed sure that Vena didn't send any message."
"Someone did," Johnson said. "And I want to know who it was, and what that message said."
"I'll try to find some evidence in the computer system," Chief Newstreak said. "There will probably be some sort of residual trace. Do you want me to send Commander McGives in, sir?" she asked as she turned to leave.
"Yes. Thank you, Chief."
Captain Johnson picked up the PADD again, staring absentmindedly at the symbol of the Tal Shiar. What had Starfleet gotten him into?
O O O
"Computer, any messages?"
"14 new messages." Koval sighed in frustration as he sat at his desk. His office did not used to require all of this useless paperwork-this was for the Federation ninnies on Earth!
"Who are they from?" he asked, knowing that the answer would not make him feel any better.
"Ten are from the Romulan Senate," the computer began, causing Koval to shake his head. The Senate was nothing but a nuisance nowadays. "Two are from Doctor Vokla, one is from unknown." Koval understood that the unknown sender was likely the Tal Shiar operative in Starfleet. "And one is from Tal Menar."
Koval looked up sharply. "Computer, repeat final sender."
"One message from space station Tal Menar."
Koval was confused. Why would someone send him a message from Tal Menar? He had no operative in position there. The Senate didn't allow it, because it violated the new treaty with the Federation. "Computer, what is the message from Tal Menar?"
"Emergency authorization code for Sunsearcher was used to abort Federation program 47," the computer said. Koval's heart began beating out of his side and mixed emotions raged in his head.
"Computer, how long ago was this message sent?"
"46 minutes ago."
"That's impossible…" Koval sat forward, his brow furrowed. "Computer, display record of Mission "Sunset", authorization code Koval 325-beta-654-alpha-978-gamma-green."
The computer beeped. "Authorization Koval confirmed." The record appeared on the screen on his desk.
"What is the likelihood that this mission failed?" he asked as he skimmed the report.
"Mission failure probability was estimated at .0029 when file was created. Now estimated at 99.2."
Koval leaned forward again. "What caused the change?"
"Recent information sent to office of Chairman."
"I am the Chairman," he muttered. "The message…"
"Please repeat request."
"Disregard, computer." The computer beeped in acknowledgment.
Koval sat back in his chair and shook his head. She couldn't be alive. He looked at the report in front of him, and was suddenly struck with a horrible realization. Sunsearcher was not dead. More than that…she was on Tal Menar, safe in Federation territory.
The Senate would certainly not be pleased about this…and if they were monitoring his communications as Koval believed they were, they would already know and would soon be demanding that he do something about the traitor. He felt a pang in his heart as he called her a traitor in his mind. But the Senate wouldn't want to risk going to war again with the Federation, yet they would likely demand that this problem be dealt with, and that it was his duty to deal with it. This was a problem he wished he had never created.
Koval looked at a picture on his desk, and he gazed at the Vulcan woman he was standing with, each holding a small child in their arms. The two young girls were both smiling and waving to the camera, while the Vulcan allowed a small smile tug at the edge of her mouth. Tears came to his eyes for a moment, before he aggressively wiped them away.
"The Senate wishes to speak with you, Chairman Koval," a voice said, cutting into his thoughts. Koval nodded, tapping a button on the desk.
"Understood." Koval stood and left his office, securing it behind him.