Episode 1x08 – Decisions
'Status report,' Matthew asked, looking up from a bed in sickbay. He was no longer dressed in his old cadet's uniform, but the newest version of the Starfleet command uniform. Since the Dominion Wars, Starfleet had further reduced the stress on position colours, especially that of science and medical. The traditional blue uniform, that was meant to protect non-combat personnel, had proved to be more of a big 'shoot me' sign, than a means of protection. The latest uniforms were all almost identical, except for the colour of the inside collar and a small strip on the wrist. In Matt's case, these were red, signifying command. He wore no rank insignia, since he was still technically a cadet, even though the others had elected him as their captain.
'We're in bad shape, but we'll have primary power up in a few hours,' Ryan said, melancholy and triumph strangely intermixed in his tone. 'T'Vral is in engineering right now.'
'Comm?' Matthew asked.
'An hour? Maybe two…' Ryan shrugged.
'We have to contact Starfleet,' Matthew was slowly regaining his strength. As he sat up, he first noticed that Steven, Alex, and Kajsa were all there as well. He started to smile, but another thought interrupted him. 'Who's on the bridge?'
'Don't worry,' Alex smiled back at him. 'Jaroslav is there.' She paused for a moment, considering what she'd just said. 'Oh, and Niklas is watching over him,' she laughed and the others joined in.
'Besides, it's Deck Five that's the problem,' Ryan continued.
'Deck Four?' Matthew had a vague idea about what was located on deck five of their eight deck starship, but waited for the others to explain. They had much more time to get acquainted with the Discovery than he did, having spent the better part of the week in sickbay. Ryan spoke first.
'This ship used to have a small warp-eight engine, to fulfill its purpose as a short-term planetary research vessel, but even then, it spanned three decks from four to eight. When it was refitted for the war, a lot of the science labs on deck five had to be removed to make space for the more powerful engine.'
Matthew knew that deck five had been depressurized since they took command of the ship and he could see where this conversation was heading.
'Although engineering and all of the critical locations are ok, main warp core access is on deck five. I think that's the reason why we're having so much trouble sustaining the warp core.'
'It seems that the alien ship knew exactly where to hit us,' this time, it was Kajsa that joined in. 'I only recall one major blow during the battle after we transported from the freighter.'
Matt, still sporting the bruises from that encounter, could swear that there were more, but when he thought about it more, there really was only one 'major' blow. Everything after that was just cover fire.
'They probably went straight for deck five after the shields were down,' Steven was of course the combat expert. 'Once the warp core was unstable…'
'Do you remember the lights flickering?' Alex interjected, then looked back at him sheepishly.
'Once the warp core was unstable, they transported the crew of the Discovery aboard their vessel, checked the areas where the interference was too high, and then decided to tow the wreck home.'
'That's assuming they're going home…' Kajsa pointed out.
'Right,' Ryan continued. 'But what this means for us, is that we need to secure Deck Five.'
'We obviously have to do this without the first year cadets. None of them have the training,' Matthew thought out loud.
'And somebody has to stay in engineering and on the bridge to coordinate the efforts,' was there a hopeful note in Kajsa's voice when she mentioned the bridge? Matthew wasn't sure.
'There are eight of us qualified enough for a zero-g spacewalk.'
'I thought…' Alex looked over to the next bunk. Cyanne lay asleep, having spent several days in a row caring for Matthew and others that were injured.
'I'm not counting Cyanne and Moreena, they went to Starfleet Medical.'
'Oh…'
'Ryan and I can go in and check things out,' Steven offered. 'T'Vral can stay in engineering and Jaroslav and the others can stay on the bridge.'
Matthew smiled, 'Aren't you forgetting someone?'
'You're supposed to stay in sickbay for another day at least…' Steven paused and smirked. 'Cyanne's orders.'
'You've got to be kidding!' Matthew protested. 'I've been lying here for a year.'
'We'll let you know how it turns out,' they were already filing out.
'But…' Matthew looked at them incredulously. 'I'm your captain!' he shouted after them as they disappeared down the corridor.
Starfleet academy, the largest non-commercial complex on Earth and only the second man-made object that can be seen from orbit, is considered by many to be the greatest achievement of mankind. It produces countless talents each year to join the best of the best in the United Federation of Planets: Starfleet.
With the recent threats of the Borg and Dominion, and the weakened state of the Federation, that need for excellence has become ever more dire. It will be up to the next generation to protect Earth, to protect the paradise that humanity has had over five millennia to perfect.
He was half way to the door when a voice called out from behind him.
'Where do you think you're going?' Cyanne was sitting up on her bed. She had bags under her eyes, but the look she was giving him clearly said that she was ready to jump to her feet and restrain him if she had to.
'I'm alright,' he protested.
'That's for me to decide,' she countered.
'They need me on the bridge, something big is going down.'
'And naturally, you can't miss out on that,' she was frowning now. 'When there's danger, I can count on you to jump in, head-first.'
'I'm captain, I have to lead…' Cyanne opened her mouth to retort. 'And besides, I'm only going to the bridge, what can possibly happen?'
'A bulkhead could fall on you on the way,' she pouted. 'And with the state that your spine is in right now…'
'You're making that up,' Matthew smiled gently and Cyanne blushed a dark red.
'You want to come up and watch?' Suddenly, her face lit up and Matthew realized that she was probably waiting for that offer all along.
'I've never been on the bridge of a starship,' she beamed at him as they walked towards the turbolift.'
'… can you see that on your left?' Jaroslav was looking at the viewscreen, where two people in suits were slowly shuffling about.
'Affirmative,' Steven's voice buzzed through the intercom.
'It's the secondary power source for the emergency force fields.'
'Got it,' Steven muttered back.
'Captain on deck,' Alex noticed him and Cyanne enter.
Jaroslav looked around, not quite able to hide his disappointment, but then got up and moved from the main command seat to the one right next to it, where the executive officer sat.
Matthew pointed Cyanne towards one of the science consoles and then took his place on the bridge. Eyes met him as he walked to the center and the small platform that elevated the commanding officers above the rest for good tactical overview. Steven was missing from the security station and Matthew realized that they hadn't yet all met on the bridge at any point. Somebody was always down in engineering, or elsewhere. In this case, Deck Five.
'Continue Jaroslav,' he said as he sat down. The other commanding officer nodded and turned back to the viewscreen.
'We still have the issue of calling Starfleet Command,' Matthew had been thinking about this most of the time he'd spent in sickbay. 'Tell T'Vral that comm. is still our first priority.'
Niklas immediately sent the message and updated his Ops charts.
Matt brought up several of these charts on his command chair screen and looked over them. He'd seen fragments down in sickbay, when the others had reported to him, but only now did he start to appreciate the work of his Ops officer. Niklas was very thorough, having delegated the ship's many resources several weeks ahead. The only two things that troubled Matt were the call sheets for the ten third year cadets and supervision of the first years. If the ship was going to function in any stable way, two bridge officers simply couldn't baby-sit the cadets all the time, while still double-shifting eight hour shifts. Everything seemed to be working in engineering, since Ryan and T'Vral could always delegate some minor tasks for the cadets to do, but there would come a time when all of the others would have to contribute as well. The ship was already running at half the optimal crew. Matthew filed some of these thoughts to the back of his mind, thinking a rigorous training schedule would be much more effective than supervision in the long run, and turned his attention back to his two friends on the viewscreen.
'Secondary power is dead, just as primary was,' Ryan said from above the conduit.
'Any idea how it happened?' Matthew asked.
'Couldn't have been from a weapon blast, all the circuits look fine… they're just not working.'
'It was probably some sort of jamming weapon,' Steven stood behind Ryan, looking over his shoulder. 'I've heard about such technology existing, but that's about everything I know about it.' The comm. line went silent. 'Sorry Matt.'
'That's ok Steve,' Matthew encouraged him. 'I'm sure you'd have known all about it by graduation.'
This was bound to have happened sooner or later. Matthew knew that his crew simply didn't have the knowledge or experience a typical Starfleet crew had, but that wasn't going to stop them. Perhaps Kajsa would know something. The depth of knowledge she hid behind her shy exterior often surprised him.
'Any theories?' Matthew turned to his left, but noticed that Kajsa was almost staring at the viewscreen, far too busy to be paying attention.
'They'll be fine,' he comforted her. 'Steven and I have gone space-walking a hundred times. This should be no problem at all.'
Steven stopped looking at the mysteriously offline power conduit and looked at Ryan. He immediately switched off the intercom and spoke directly to the young mechanic.
'You ok?'
'Just the feeling that the only thing between me and space is this fragile thing,' he tapped on the visor of his suit.
'So, any idea what could have done it?'
Ryan shook his head. 'Unless…'
He turned the intercom back on.
'I think this may be the work of a computer virus. Computer? Run a diagnostic for any non-starfleet software in the current memory banks.'
Several seconds of silence.
'There is no software in the main computer databanks of non-Starfleet origin, would you like to change the query?'
'Computer. Any suspicious computer activity in the power consoles on Deck Five?'
'Deck Five computer running optimally.'
'Except its not,' he said to Steven. 'It's not running at all.'
'Which explains why we've been unable to turn it back on,' Steven gave him a large 'space-suit' thumbs up. 'The computer thinks its working fine.'
'Computer. Reboot all computer systems on Deck Five.'
'That is unadvisable. Deck Five contains primary warp access. A temporary shut-down in zero gravity could endanger warp stability.'
'Ryan?' it was Matt up on the bridge. 'What's your status down there?'
'I think we've identified the problem, Captain. We'll need to manually replace the missing hatch. Once we're done, we'll be able to reboot the system and get everything back online. Can't think of anything we might be able to do in case it happens again though. We might have to seal access to the warp core until we can figure that out.'
'Ok, get to work…'
Kajsa no longer stood by her station and was pacing nervously by the main turbolft, when it finally opened. She jumped at the first person and hugged hard.
Matt smiled slightly and tried to imagine the look on Ryan's face beneath that helmet.
'Hey, why does he get a hug?' Steven had removed his helmet.
A console in front of Matthew beeped and he turned to Alex's station. 'T'Vral says core containment is finally within Starfleet regulations. Comm and other systems should be up in moments.'
'Good work everyone!' Matthew beamed. 'You've all done a heck of a job.' Matthew took the time to look every member of his bridge crew in the eyes, finally grinning at Cyanne who smiled right back. 'Which makes what I'm going to tell you next so much harder.'
Cyanne's look of joy was suddenly replaced by one of confusion.
'We aren't going home,' he said simply.
'What!?' Jaroslav barked.
'We're going to follow them.' Another short sentence and after he'd said it, he gave his friends more time to think about what he'd said.
'Matt… Captain… this is crazy,' Steven still hadn't moved from just outside the turbolift, but now Kajsa had an arm around his waist. 'Starfleet would never…'
'Leave Starfleet up to me,' Matthew said simply, and noticed the furtive look from Alex. 'The point is: are we going to leave the crew of the Discovery aboard an alien vessel? Aboard an alien vessel that attacked an unarmed freighter with no provocation? We are several hundred light years from Federation territory. Even if Starfleet sends their fastest ship, it will still take them weeks to get here. We are only a few days away from the station. I'm not asking you to fight them again, that would be stupid. But we at least have to find out where they took them, and if anybody is still alive. We owe them that much.'
He paused. 'And besides, we are Starfleet…'
'Not yet,' Jaroslav pointed out.
'We've proved we can handle ourselves on our own. Everything that has happened over the last few days has reinforced my belief that we are meant to keep going, meant to push on, rather than retreat. The Federation, Starfleet, none of that will remain if people like us can't step up and do what's necessary.'
He paused again, this time for even longer, but nobody spoke up.
'I know we can do this,' he put a lot of stress on the 'know' and he meant it.
'Maybe we can, but the first years? All they've ever done was pass their entrance exams into the academy.'
'We're not going to back out of this and condemn any possible survivors just because we think all of us aren't ready. Yes, they don't have any Starfleet training, but as you've said, they've all passed their entrance exams, which means someone back in San Francisco believed that they have the potential to succeed. They're all talented people and all they need is some guidance and training, and we can see to it that they get both.'
Was he winning them over? Matthew looked around, and the only face that was still nowhere near convinced was Kajsa's.
'I know some of you want to go back,' he tried not to look at her when he said it, but Steven gave him an angry look anyways, 'but whether it is now, or a few years later, you're going to have to stand up on your own. You're going to have to make that tough decision. So why not do it now, do it while we can still save someone…'
'Let's pretend for a moment that we agree. Starfleet will never let us…' Jaroslav wasn't about to support Matt in anything. 'And we've got to tell them. If we don't, it will be the end of our Starfleet careers.'
'I think I can do something about that,' Matthew looked at Alex and their eyes met. 'But I have to know everyone is behind me.'
'Comm is up!' Alex said from her console. 'There is a priority one message coming on multiple frequencies.'
'That's them,' Matthew said simply. 'Enough talk.'
Matthew decided to give everybody an hour to think about it, after which they would make the decision and tell it to the first years.
Ryan had just told T'Vral about everything that happened on the bridge and was walking around engineering nervously. She had remained silent until the very end, when she politely thanked him and returned to running maintenance checks on the warp reactor.
He hadn't expected a reaction, but at least saying something longer than two words would have been nice. He had nobody on this ship to talk to. Normally, he would have gone to Matt, but their captain had clearly already made up his mind. Alex and Steven were nice enough, but he still didn't feel comfortable talking to them when Matt wasn't around. And besides, Steven had his hands full with Kajsa. He'd seen them arguing on the way down to engineering.
He felt like a stranger on this ship, but then again, he felt like a stranger everywhere. He'd spent his first two years at Starfleet Academy isolated from the others. His connections with the teachers were often better than those with students and he had no friends to speak of. People tried. They often spoke to him, asked whether he wanted to go out the following weekend, but he'd always refused. He didn't know why, he just did. After a while they just gave up. But not Matt. Matthew insisted he come along on their adventure when they first met. He came back to him when those people started acting weirdly. He didn't give up on people. And he wasn't about to give up on the crew of this ship. Not the old crew that was probably on the way to a labor camp, or worse, and not the current crew.
Ryan joined T'Vral beside the warp field readouts and began analyzing the logs since they'd fixed the problem on Deck Five. He was in.
Alex closed the door to her quarters, her ears relaxing as the shouting from outside faded. She stood before the mirror and looked at her reflection. She removed the clip from her ponytail and freed her brown hair, letting it fall into her face.
She slowly removed her clothes, shivering slightly as the cool breeze from the air conditioning system passed over her.
When she left the sonic shower and looked back in the mirror, the first thing that she noticed was that her hair was straight. And even though it was a different colour and a lot shorter than the other girl's, it reminded Alex of Cyanne. She immediately ruffled a hand through her hair, making it as messy as possible and let out a single sob.
'I hate her,' she though. 'I hate that she has everything I don't. I hate that she loves Matt, and that he loves her. I hate her beautiful hair. I hate her smile, and how it can render every guy in the room speechless. I hate how emotional she is. And most of all, I hate that she's so kind, that in some way… I really want to like her.'
She sat on the bed, thinking that if they all went back right now, things might get back to normal. Cyanne would go back to Starfleet Medical, and Matthew would go back to spending all of his time with her. It was stupid and she knew it, but she couldn't help thinking about it anyways.
Suddenly, the door opened and Matt's face popped around the corner.
'What's u… Whoa!' he exclaimed and his head retracted.
Alex's hands shot up to cover herself and she let out a high-pitched yelp. She quickly got to her feet, looking over her shoulder, making sure the doorway was clear, and put on her cadet's uniform.
'You decent?' Matt called from around the corner.
'Uh-huh,' Alex muttered as she brought her hair back into a pony tail. 'Ever heard of knocking?'
'Sorry,' Matthew came in, the nervous look on his face and the clearly reddening cheeks causing a warm rush to run through Alex's body.
'Well, you remember it from now on,' she paused and gave him a fake angry look. 'You perv!'
They both laughed and sat down on opposite bunks.
'I missed this?' Matthew said a bit too solemnly.
'What?' Alex's eyes widened. 'You've seen me, you know, naked, before?'
Matthew laughed again. 'No, I meant us… laughing, you know…'
Alex hoped that all of the emotions that were surging inside her didn't show on her face.
'Me too,' she tried to keep her voice calm and her eyes flashed towards Matt, when her voice trembled slightly, but he didn't seem to notice.
'Alex I can't do this without you,' he said after a long pause.
Alex's heart almost skipped a beat. Was she really that important to him?
'You're my best friend Al. If I'm going crazy need to hear it from you…'
'Wha…' Alex stared at him in shock. 'Why do you think?'
'I'm about to risk the lives of forty people, thirty of which have barely even decided to follow a military career. What right do I have to ask them of them?'
'You're our Captain Matt. We trust you,' Alex asserted. 'I trust you.'
Matthew gave her a weak smile.
'Wherever you'll go… I'll follow,' Alex held back her tears. 'And I know that if any of the others knew you like I do, they would too.'
'Thank you Alex,' Matthew leaned forward from the bunk and gave her a long hug. 'You're still the best girl I know.'
Alex smiled into his shoulder, and drew a small heart on his back.
'And did I mention that you have really nice b… ow.' She hit him across the head.
'Hey, just kidding! What's with the third degree?'
'That's it? Really nice?' she said mockingly.
'Oh, so that's what it's about,' Matthew laughed. 'In that case, you have the most beautiful…' This time she actually bit into his shoulder.
'Enough,' she said strictly, but couldn't hide the blush that crept up her cheeks.
They laughed for a few moments and when the laughter died down sat in silence for almost the rest of the hour. Matt was contemplating everything he had to do in the next few hours. The task would be hard, but with his friends on his side, he knew it could be done. He was just thinking about what he would tell Starfleet Command if they did all decide to go ahead with the plan, when the door slid open and Steven entered.
'Let me in,' Steven said pleadingly through the metal door of his and Kajsa's quarters.
There was no reply.
'Kajsa, please…' he began, but another figure appeared in the turbolift.
'Just leave her alone,' Niklas's tone didn't leave any room for question. It wasn't a request, but a command.
'Just stay out of it,' Steven's eyes didn't move from the door.
'She is my sister.'
'So what?'
'I think I know her a bit better than you do,' Niklas raised his voice. 'Just leave.'
'I'm not going anywhere!' Steven snapped back. 'Sweetie, let me in,' he pleaded with the door again.
'She doesn't want to speak to you,' Niklas had closed the distance and put an arm on Steven's shoulder. The touch was far from friendly and the security officer immediately responded. He shifted his weight to the side and pushed Niklas away with his shoulder. Steven held back, he wasn't about to start a fight with his girlfriend's brother, but he wasn't going to let the guy man-handle him.
'It's nothing personal man,' Niklas backed off a bit. He and Steven were the tallest two officers, Niklas even being slightly taller, but he knew he didn't have any of the combat training that Steven did. He'd even learned from his sister that Steven was the Academy's champion in MMA-Mixed Martial Arts. 'She won't speak to anybody right now.'
'Look, I need to explain it to her,' Steven was still shouting, unable to match Niklas's calmer tone.
'From what I heard, you took Matt's side,' Niklas shrugged. 'There's nothing more to explain.' He realized that he came off a little harsh, and smiled apologetically.
'It's the right thing to do!' Steven's voice echoed through the corridor.
'I'm right there with you,' Niklas backed off a little further. 'But you've got to understand. She's afraid, always been…'
'I know she is, but…' Steven's shouting died down. The emotional wave had passed and he was beginning to realize that his shouting match probably wasn't helping much.
'And she needed you to support her.'
'But I want to…'
'I know you do buddy. But she can't see that right now.'
'What should I do?' Steven asked him. He wasn't used to being so helpless.
'Give her time,' Niklas put an arm on Steven's shoulder, and this time, the other cadet didn't react violently. 'She'll come around. She'll realize it's the right choice.'
'Will you speak to her?' Steven asked.
'Of course,' Niklas tried to smile. 'It's always been tough with her. I've even wondered why she chose a career in Starfleet, but then I see how brilliant she can be, and it all makes sense.' There was a proud look on Niklas's face, the same proud look that was present whenever he talked about his sister.
'I know what you mean,' Steven sighed and, with a final look at the locked door, made way for Alex's quarters.
'What's up?' he said solemnly as he entered.
'Alex was naked,' Matthew quipped. 'She has breasts.' He said it in a very casual and matter-of-fact-ly tone and this time Alex couldn't interrupt him in time.
'The universe must be going crazy,' Steven laughed.
Matthew waited in the captain's ready room as the nine other third years gathered on the bridge. He could hear talking, but not the argument he expected. He didn't know whether this was a good sign or not. Steven and Alex, at least, would have defended his decision, even if all of the others were against. He went through the speech he had practiced while Alex and Steven had quipped in the crew quarters, then stepped through the door.
'Captain on the bridge!' Alex called out and they all stood in attention. Even the usually carefree Moreena, and arrogant Jaroslav. Matthew immediately discarded his speech and replaced it with a single simple sentence.
'So, what'll it be?' Matthew said, looking each member of his crew in the eyes.
Matthew and the others filed into the cargo bay. The first years had all gathered there and nervous muttering spread through the crowd like a group of breeding Tribbles.
Matthew took a deep breath, moved to the center where everyone could see him and spoke up in a loud voice. When he finished talking, he almost expected to hear screaming and protests, but all he saw was thirty terrified faces… a much more discouraging sight.
Matthew almost thought he would call the whole thing off. Tell Starfleet they were heading home, but could he really do that?
'If you don't want to be a part of this, we won't try to stop you,' he told the terrified crowd. 'We'll drop you off at the nearest Federation friendly outpost. It'll mean doubling back, but we can't force you to risk your lives.'
Finally, one of them spoke up.
'Doesn't this ship normally have a crew complement of eighty?'
'That's right,' Steven spoke up. 'But we've proved we can handle it so far. Just look around you. A few days ago, this ship was deserted, half of the systems weren't functioning and it was dangerously close to a complete break-down.'
'There's forty of us altogether,' now it was Alex. 'We're not going to pretend that we can do without you, but if you decide to leave, it won't stop us going after them anyways.'
She turned back to Matthew.
'We're not going on any suicide mission! We'll go as far as we can, and try to find out who they were and why they took the crew of the Discovery. We can always come back, but we have to decide now. If we wait too long, their trail may be gone by the time we reach the station, and it'll all be for nothing.'
'Why can't we just leave it up to another ship?' these were all questions that Matthew expected, and the answers were simple, but none of them would convince the people before him to go.
'There are no other ships in this area,' Niklas said in his calm voice.
'They towed us beyond the borders of the Federation, it would take weeks for another ship to even get to where we're now,' Ryan wasn't one for public speaking, but Matt was happy that even the shy mechanic felt this was a cause worth fighting for.
Matthew waited for some sort of reaction, but then Jaroslav pushed himself from the wall against which he was leaning and shouted at the crowd. 'What the hell are you thinking about you cowards? People's lives are at steak. Why are you even asking them Matt? You're Captain, make the decision.'
'We need to be in this together,' Matthew insisted. 'You've all trusted me so far… trust me now.'
Matthew and the others arrived on the bridge. 'Call Starfleet,' Matthew said, his voice trembling. 'Redirect it to the Captain's mess, that section sustained the least damage.'
'Aye Captain.'
Matthew left the bridge from the back right hand side, opposite of the main turbolift, and sat down in the Captain's chair. There were several memorabilia from the former Captain's journeys here and, for a moment, Matthew felt he was intruding upon somebody else's privacy. He decided to get up and stood in front of the viewscreen.
It flicked on, and Matthew was staring into the faces of four Admirals of Starfleet Command.
'What's going on?' a figure Matthew recognized as Rear Admiral Savaar asked. 'Where is the captain of the Discovery?'
'They…' Matthew began, but another, much more familiar face pulled into frame and interrupted him.
'Mr. Meyers?' It was Admiral Nielsen, commander of Starfleet Academy. 'This is all starting to make sense.'
Matthew told them about everything that had happened since they set out from Starfleet academy. It took several hours, and the Admirals asked very specific questions about the aliens that attacked them. It seemed that they were sympathetic to the cadets' predicament, but when he finished, the only sentence that followed was a direct command.
'Return to Federation space at once!'
'Sir, I don't think you understand…' Matthew began, but immediately bit his lip.
'Don't I?' the Admiral wasn't angry, but neither was he forthcoming to anything else Matthew might want to say. He was risking his career right now, but he wasn't going to give up just yet.
'Sir, the crew is held hostage, we are the closest ship…'
'You are trying my patience boy,' the only other human Admiral besides Nielsen interrupted him. 'I've heard a lot about you, and although I don't doubt your skills, you are on undermanned damaged ship, full of cadets. You will return…'
'Admiral Nielsen,' Matthew tried desperately. 'I know you've had plans for me. That you were the one who recommended me to Captain Riker when he was looking for a new officer. You even offered me the position of executive officer aboard the Sabre-class frigate assigned to Starfleet Academy at the end of my second year at the Academy. I've always held back, give me that same chance now. I've seen this crew in action. I know we can do it.'
The other Admirals turned to Nielsen, but their complexions didn't change.
'Your intentions are honorable, Cadet Meyers, but we can't afford to lose another ship. The fleet is stretched far too thin already.'
Matthew revealed the last fact that he had been saving. If this didn't work, nothing would.
'They are heading for the center of the galaxy. A massive space station in the center of a trinary star system. Draxxis.'
The faces of the Admirals suddenly transformed.'
'How do you know about that?' Savaar asked suspiciously. 'The existence of that station has been classified since its discovery by the Archer probe.'
'It's where my father was going when he disappeared,' Matthew tried to stay calm, but couldn't stop his voice trembling at the mere mention of his father's name.
'We shall take some time to convene,' Savaar looked at the others and the screen flickered off.
When the screen flickered back on, all of the Admirals were looking very grave again, only Nielsen seemed to be sporting an almost invisible smile.
'We have decided to grant you a field commission of Commander. You will assess the strength of the foe and return to Federation space immediately. You will be on a strict non-interference policy. If you come across any trouble, you will run.'
Matt opened his mouth, but no words came out. For a moment he felt like a fish out of water.
'Yes, sir,' he finally managed.
'I am sure we do not have to remind you that you are heading for a very volatile region of space. It is important that you maintain good relations with any species you meet. We cannot afford to stir up any trouble, Starfleet isn't as it was before the Dominion War.'
'Yes, sir,' Matt nodded.
'I expect daily reports,' Savaar eyed Matthew suspiciously.
'Good luck commander.'
The Admiral's faces were replaced by the blue Starfleet badge. Matt was about to leave when a single face reappeared. It was Admiral Nielsen.
'Thank you, sir,' Matthew said sincerely.
'I'm not here to pat you on the back. I'm doing this as a favour to your father. He was a good friend of mine.'
'I thought he never was in Star… wait, does that mean he's still alive?' Matthew eyes widened.
'I don't know. But I'm giving you the chance to find out.'
'Thank you…'
'You're the best student I ever had, Matt, and I'm not the only person in Starfleet Academy that thinks so. Don't think for a moment that I'd let you do this if I didn't believe that you were capable of it.'
'They're a good crew, sir,' Matthew said proudly.
'I know they are,' Nielsen looked like he was picturing the faces of all the people Matthew mentioned. 'I have two more important things to tell you, Matt, listen carefully.'
Matthew nodded.
'We've been meaning to send the Enterprise in your direction in search for allies and to asses the threat from Draxxis. However, the growing unease around the Romulans since the Scimitar incident has meant showing off our flagship along the neutral zone in order to preserve peace. War with the Romulans could be devastating at the moment.'
'I understand,' Matthew was listening carefully. If they were contemplating sending the Enterprise, this region of space was clearly very important. This reinforced his belief that they'd have to be very careful. Not only about not endangering their own lives, but also the entire stability of the Alpha quadrant. The pirates in this area, or the aliens that attacked them simply couldn't be allowed to find out about the Federation's fragile state. Matthew wondered whether that was the reason why the crew of the Discovery was captured and not killed, and shivered at the thought of whether they could withstand whatever interrogation techniques these aliens might have for so long.
'The second thing might come as a slight shock,' Nielsen didn't whisper, but it was clear that he didn't want this news to be heard by any other bystanders. 'You have a Romulan spy on board.'
This time Matthew couldn't stop his jaw from dropping.
'Do you know?' he began.
'No… I just felt you should know.'
'Thank you again, sir.'
'Be careful Commander.'
'I will…'
When Matthew emerged from the ready room, the bridge was completely silent.
'Conn. Return to previous course. Ryan. T'Vral. I'll need you down in engineering. Maximum warp.'
Nobody said a word, they all just got to their stations. Cyanne and Moreena left the bridge together after the two engineers had gone down.
Once Alex received the confirmation from engineering, she executed Matthew's command. The stars on the viewscreen extended until they formed straight bright lines, and the Discovery warped toward Draxxis station.
