Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek , though MACO Lt. Kaitlyn Donovan does belong to me.
Hummingbird2 - I'm glad you caught the foreshadowing.
LoyaulteMeLie - I'm happy your still intrigued. I hope this chapter will be just as compelling.
Reviews are much appreciated. Thank you to all of the readers following this story.
The End Justifies the Means
Chapter 11
1245 - outside Starfleet Weapons Complex
Lt. Reed listened carefully as Commander Williams filled him in with everything that had happened and handed him a PADD. "So, Lt. Donovan would like for me to discreetly find out the whereabouts of all of these people last night?" he questioned.
Williams nodded, "I know it's unorthodox, but she's not sure who to trust in Starfleet Security or the MACOs right now - she seems to think she can trust you." he watched Reed closely.
Lt. Reed raised his eyebrows, "And you don't?" he inquired.
Williams frowned, "I didn't say that."
Reed studied the man before him, "Well, she obviously trusts you - if she's having you make this request." he pointed out.
"I think she does." Commander Williams sighed and looked around the grounds of Starfleet. He felt guilty about what happened to her last night. He was probably only a few minutes away when she was attacked. He pointed to the PADD, "Send her a message from that when you've got information to tell her. She said the thing is special and no one will be able to trace it." he emphasized to the Lieutenant.
Lt. Malcolm Reed smiled softly, "Please tell Lt. Donovan that I understand and I'll start working on her request."
Commander Williams nodded and shook the man's hand, "Thank you, Lieutenant."
Reed waited until Williams had walked away, then he sat down on a nearby bench and took a quick look at the PADD. He smirked as he looked over its operating system. This was definitely not Starfleet issue. He clicked on the icon that was labeled 'Introductions'.
Lt. Kaitlyn Donovan appeared on the screen. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant Reed. I'm Lieutenant Donovan. I first want to thank you for disarming the two bombs that were on the Enterprise. Secondly, thank you for helping me. I was told that I couldn't meet with you - so, here is the PADD we can communicate on, without technically 'meeting' each other." she smiled softly. She touched her throat gently, then frowned and got down to business. "I have included on this PADD some other information that may help you in locating the maker of the bombs. Did they contain tri-cobalt in them? I remembered that I met a man on a previous assignment that had mentioned obtaining some. I've included the information about him on this PADD. Thank you for your help." her image quickly went away.
Lt. Reed found the information on the PADD about the tri-cobalt and nodded to himself on this new lead. He put the PADD in his pocket and headed back inside. He decided by the time he got back to the lab that he would start a search for the 'tri-cobalt man' she'd mentioned, then he would use his skills to find out where all of the people on her list had been last night. He typed in his inquiry and got to work.
1330 - Starfleet Headquarters
Lt. Donovan looked up as Commander Williams came into the office. She raised her eyebrow in question.
Williams nodded and stopped beside her. "He said he'd get to work on it." He looked at his watch, "It's about time to leave for the meeting at the Dock Yards."
"The Admiral's ready. I think he's a bit nervous meeting with Keppler up there." she said softly. "I reminded him that he has nothing to worry about, that we've already secured the Dock Yards."
He frowned at the fading bruising at her throat, "I think he's more worried about you, than himself." he pointed out.
She lifted her chin, "He needn't worry about me."
Admiral Forrest came out when he heard Williams in the outer office. "Rather long lunch today, Commander." He caught the look between the two of them.
Lt. Donovan cleared her throat, "He was on an errand for me, Admiral. I'm sorry if that has delayed our departure." she apologized quickly.
Maxwell Forest smiled, "We're not late, I just wanted to give the Commander a hard time - he hardly ever takes more than twenty minutes for lunch."
Lt. O'Dell came over to the Admiral, "Sir, when you get back, we should start to work on your speech for next week." he suggested as he handed him a PADD to sign.
Admiral Forrest looked over the PADD and signed the requisition order for supplies, "Why don't you let me work on that tomorrow, then we can go over it on Monday."
O'Dell nodded, "Yes, Sir. I'll schedule some time on Monday."
Forrest smiled softly, then they headed out. "How's your head feeling this afternoon?" he asked Donovan as she stepped out the door first and surveyed the area quickly as they walked to the shuttle.
"I'm doing well, Admiral." she reassured him as she nodded to Ensign Mayweather. "Good afternoon, Ensign. All is well?" she questioned him.
"Yes, Ma'am." Ensign Mayweather answered and shook the Admiral's hand.
1400 - Dock Yards orbiting Earth
Lt. Donovan stood at the Conference room door and listened as Captain Archer detailed the flight trajectory for the Enterprise next Friday.
Archer indicated on the monitor when the Enterprise would accelerate to Warp Three. "We'll go out for an hour, then come back." he explained as the animation on the screen showed the flight path.
"Everything is still on schedule?" Forrest inquired as he sat back.
Archer looked at Commander Keppler, "As long as nothing else gets planted on my ship." He stepped closer to the man, "Commander, have you found out how those two bombs were put on the Enterprise?" he questioned.
Commander Keppler frowned, "No, Captain - but we are following some reliable leads."
Archer shook his head, "Not good enough!" He wanted to throttle the man to get the truth out of him.
Forrest cleared his throat, "Captain, I'm sure the Commander is doing everything he can - and now that the new protocols are in place, Enterprise is safe."
Lt. Commander Rhodes stepped into the conversation, "Captain, the new security protocols are in place. No explosives will get on board the Enterprise."
Archer looked at Keppler's Second-in-Command and frowned, "Says you."
Rhodes nodded, "Yes, Sir." he glanced at Donovan. "The protocols she has outlined have redundancies."
Archer watched as Keppler's eyes narrowed in Donovan's direction. He smiled inwardly, she had messed up Keppler's plans. He cleared his throat, "Commander, I want you to show us all of the new protocols." he directed.
Commander Keppler frowned, "With all due respect, Captain - I do have other duties to attend to."
Admiral Forrest stood up, "But I'm sure that none of them are as important as the new security protocols." He watched Keppler closely, "You will show all of us, Commander."
Keppler nodded quickly, "Of course, Admiral." He quickly waved for them to head out the door.
Commander Keppler led them through the Dock Yards and indicated the new protocols recently put in place.
Lt. Donovan watched as Keppler showed them the station that all parts and materials were scanned on before they went through the Enterprise airlock. She frowned as he moved on. "Commander, why don't you have this station set to scan for biogenetic components?" she questioned.
The group turned their attention to her, then looked at Keppler.
Commander Keppler walked over to her and the station, "Lieutenant, if you have questions for me, you should wait until we have finished." he suggested.
Archer walked back over to them, he looked at Donovan questionably, "Why would they need to scan for biogenetic components?" he asked her curiously.
Lt. Donovan watched Keppler carefully, "Captain, if the scanners aren't set to look for biogenetic components, it won't detect biomimetic materials. The way the settings are now, it may not detect the tri-cobalt explosives." she pointed out to them.
Keppler glared at Donovan, "It will detect tri-cobalt explosives the way it is set." he stated firmly.
She shook her head, "Only if there is more than a pound of it in the item scanned. The two bombs had less than half a pound in them - that's why I specifically stated to have the scanners check for biogenetic components, in order to cover the gaps in the scans." she stepped closer to Keppler and clenched her fists. She fought the urge to knock him out and haul him off to Harris, surely she could find some other way to find the maker of the bomb. She took a deep breath and turned to Captain Archer. "Everything that has passed through this scanner in the past few days will have to be re-scanned using hand scanners. They're not as thorough as this scanner, but we can modify them to look for specific components." she explained to him.
Admiral Forrest touched Donovan's arm gently to keep her calm, he'd seen the fury in her eyes. "How long will it take to use the hand scanners?" he asked softly.
Lt. Donovan went to the station and pulled up the lists of items that had been scanned the past few days and frowned. "I believe there are 23 hand scanners assigned to the Dock Yards, it will take approximately 13 hours." she calculated.
"Thirteen hours?" Keppler demanded. "We don't have the time to re-scan everything - we're already on a tight timeline!" he raised his voice.
She sighed softly, "The problem is that all of the items have to be accounted for in the place they were destined, then scanned. If the item isn't where it's supposed to be," she shrugged, "that's a whole other issue." She looked at Keppler and frowned.
Keppler was furious, "You don't know the problems you've just caused." he seethed and walked over to the scanner and quickly set it up to also scan for biomimetic components.
Forrest, Archer, and Williams quickly discussed getting more hand scanners and personnel sent up to the Dock Yards.
Donovan watched as Keppler set the scanner.
He turned to her and narrowed his eyes as he moved closer to her, "You need to mind your own business." he sneered.
She raised her eyebrow, "The safety of the Admiral and this ship are my business right now. If you had taken the proper precautions that I outlined, you wouldn't be in hot water." she countered.
He grabbed her arm, "You want us to run scans of every component that will double the time to process each item - we don't have that kind of time for a such a stupid request."
She looked at his arm, then back to him. "You will let go of my arm, or you are going to find out just how many of your bones I can break before they stop me."
He blinked, then dropped his hand and stepped back. "Are you threatening me, Lieutenant?" he raised his voice to get the others' attention.
She smiled at his tactics and stepped closer to him, "I'm making a promise to you - if I find out you had anything to do with those bombs, I will make sure that you are dealt with in a most painful way."
"Is there a problem, Lieutenant?" Admiral Forrest inquired. He grew concerned over how close they were standing to each other.
She smiled at the Admiral and stepped away from Keppler, "No, Sir. I believe the Commander and I understand each other perfectly. Don't we?" she glanced at Keppler.
Commander Robert Keppler nodded and swore to himself that he was going deal with her later. "Come along, gentlemen, there are a few more protocols to show you." he ushered them along.
As they stopped into the Conference room again, they quickly made all of the arrangements to start re-scanning every item that had been brought on board the ship the past two days.
Lt. Donovan nodded as they approached the shuttle. "Ensign?" she inquired.
"The shuttle was checked over, Ma'am." he nodded.
"By whom?" she questioned.
"Lt. Cmdr. Rhodes, Ma'am. Cpl. Torres and I kept an eye on him." He stood up straighter as the Admiral approached.
Forrest looked at Keppler, "Keep me informed on the progress of the scans. I'll send another team up within an hour."
Keppler nodded and left.
"Mind if I hitch a ride?" Jonathan Archer asked Forrest.
Maxwell Forrest smiled, "The more the merrier."
They climbed in and Mayweather started the engines and requested permission to depart.
Commander Williams sat next to Kaitlyn, "What was up between you and Keppler?" he questioned.
She shook her head, "He was just being himself. He grabbed my arm and I told him to let go in no uncertain terms."
Derek Williams slapped his hand on his knee, "Why didn't you tell us?"
She frowned at him, "It wouldn't help the situation. If I was sure we didn't need him anymore, I would have taken him down myself. Unfortunately, we still need him." She sat back as the shuttle took off and headed back down to Starfleet Headquarters.
Commander Williams leaned back and closed his eyes.
Forrest looked over at Donovan, "Who can we get up here to oversee that all of the Security Protocols are followed, all of the time? I can't leave Keppler in charge - it's too big of a risk." he scowled.
Lt. Donovan glanced at Commander Williams, then back to Forrest, "Lieutenant Reed." she suggested.
Archer looked up, "The Ordinance Officer that disarmed the bombs?" He looked at Forrest, "He would know the explosive materials to look for and the possible places to conceal them."
Forrest nodded, "Okay, I'll contact him as soon as we return."
The blast came from the back of the shuttle.
The small shuttle was sent into a rolling spin and caused the passengers to be thrown out of their seats.
Ensign Travis Mayweather's muscles' tensed as he fought with the controls and tried to counter the spin and level out. He gritted his teeth as he stopped the spin, but he couldn't slow their rapid descent.
Archer got up off the floor quickly and took note of all the readings on the controls, "The engine is off-line, I'll try to re-start it." he glanced at the young pilot. "Keep the nose up and try to slow us down." He moved to the back and opened up a panel and began re-routing some of the wiring.
Donovan frowned. The one fear she had was crashing, it had stemmed from a previous crash she'd been in with her father when she was ten. She looked at Forrest quickly, "You have your emergency button?" she questioned him.
Maxwell Forrest nodded and pulled it out of his pocket.
"Take it out and press it now." she directed and stood up.
The Admiral frowned, but went ahead and pressed the button. A few seconds later he dematerialized.
Commander Williams stood up, "It was a transport beacon? I didn't think the transporters had been cleared for people yet!" He was worried about where his boss had just ended up, but as he looked out the window at the ground they were quickly heading for, he decided that even being vaporized into nonexistence might be better than their fate.