Chapter Eleven
Commander William T. Riker was a seasoned commanding officer, despite the long time he'd spent as first officer. He was quite comfortable in the command chair, having sat there many times during battle. He'd faced the Federation's greatest enemies of his era ... just never before in quite this situation.
The Trinity shook as one of the Romulans took a firing pass. They were what Star Fleet called Ravens, probably from their distictive black hull, atypical for the Romulans. The Romulan designation of the Excelsior sized starships had proved to be a tongue twister once it had been discovered. He was keeping the Trinity moving, heading towards Essex, as his relief caught up with him.
"Thirty percent weakness in our Starboard aft shields, attempting to compensate," Father Meloria said from his seat to the right of the helm.
"Helm, give me a barrel roll," Riker ordered. "Let's make it hard to hit that spot. ETA on help?" The Trinity was weaving, trying to avoid the incoming fire's right of way as it returned with steadfast intensity.
"Right about now, sir!" Tactical announced, as the Swiftsure suddenly appeared on screen. The experimental test bed was proving that it wasn't just designed for speed, cutting across the Trinity's path. One of the Romulan Ravens seemed to flinch back as a full load of quantum torpedoes and a broadside of phasers hit it as the Swiftsure dove into the battle.
Behind the Swiftsure, breaking to the starboard, was the Magdeburg. The Nebula Class starship was more than a match for the Trinity's opponents. A spread of torpedoes left the ship, pattern Sierra, Riker identified, and bracketed the other Romulan, causing it's shields to flare green.
"Helm, hard about, form up behind the Swiftsure," Riker ordered, as the Romulans twisted away from the oncoming Star Fleet vessels. "Trinity to Magdeburg and Swiftsure, your targets are designated Alpha and Beta, respectively." The Romulans began to beat a rapid retreat towards Iota Leonis B, and found the Star Fleet vessels merciless on their tails.
...
Queen Victoria's first view of the bridge gave her chills. Just as the turbolift bearing her and Marrissa arrived, and the doors opened, she heard the order, "Red Alert!" The bridge quickly dimmed into a red hue, as the tones announce the status rang out. Marrissa stepped past her, heading to her station. The Queen stepped out behind her, noting that Captain Picard was on the view screen and the android, Data, was seated in the center seat.
"Force analysts says that the Trinity, Swiftsure, and Magdeburg will be able to handle the pair of Romulans, so we should be able to remain in orbit, Captain," Data said, as the Queen came to a stop just short of the first step.
"Very good, Data," Captain Picard said. "I see that the Queen and Lieutenant Picard have made it to the bridge. Your majesty, you'll be happy to know that everything seems to be under control at the moment. We caught the man who attempted to assassinate you."
"Is he talking? I know Simmons didn't," the Queen said, stepping down to stand beside the Captain's chair. She was hoping for a break though, any reason to explain the senseless tragedy whose aftermath had begun her rule.
"Not yet," Captain Picard replied, his expression somber. "It may not be necessary for him to do so. The weapon he used was the same as the weapons used to kill Princess Mary's staff."
"Coupled with the Romulan starships in the system, I'd think treason might be a good charge for Mister Dessalines," Marrissa said, from her post. The girl seemed to be quite at ease standing at what the Queen suspected was Tactical. "Along with murder, conspiracy, and probably terrorism."
"Terrorism?" Queen Victoria said, looking over at her heir. When Victoria had first seen Marrissa in her uniform at the Retreat, she had seemed so young with her hair up in its pony tail, and quite out of place, sitting on the edge of the sofa. Now with her hair down and in her comfortable natural environment, it wasn't a young girl at tactical, it was a young lady. There was a certain assurance in her posture, as if she was confident in her post. It was an entirely different view to the Queen.
"He's organized a group that used violent force as a political tool to take over the government," Marrissa responded. She shrugged. "It's a stretch, but events like what Dessalines caused require more than just murder and conspiracy charges."
"Perhaps not as much of a stretch as you'd think," Captain Picard said. "He did call for that no confidence vote, citing the impact as a reason. However, charges are for the civilian administration to handle. And I, for one, am glad of it."
"Actually, Captain, I'm afraid that it is going to at least partially falling in your lap, or at least those of your chief of security." Victoria was focused on Marrissa, and the young officer met her gaze. "We used the Defense of the Monarchy Act of 2332 in order to at least provide some legal investigation into recent events. Only because you, Marrissa, are Chief of Security, does Star Fleet, though those in your command, have civil investigation powers. As we're currently lacking any real planetary law enforcement organization, it made sense to draft any trained officers we could. However, that effectively puts you in charge, and makes it ultimately your decision on what we initially charge Ely Dessalines with, and when we arrest him."
"I understand," Marrissa replied, lines appearing on her forehead as she considered the matter. "The questions are, do we have enough to arrest him and fully prosecute him for all the crimes which we know he is responsible for? Will we get a better picture of events if we delay? If we delay, will he continue to cause harm? That last one is the one that concerns me most. He didn't need to attack the Extearen Erregela Jaun, but he, or someone did attack the Castilleia. Right now we've got enough to at least charge him with murder."
"It is your option to arrest him for one charge and add additional charges when the grand jury convenes," Data informed. Marrissa nodded, as she looked down at her console, apparently doing some calculations.
"Captain," Marrissa said looking up. Victoria noted that Marrissa's expressions were now schooled neutral, much like that of her adopted father. She moved to the young officer's side. "After the current battle is over, I need a meeting arranged with Mister Dessalines. Your Majesty, I think it would be advisable if you're available then, though I don't want you there at first. I have Dessalines maintaining an office in Naverre and another in his home district of Port-au-Prince with a residence in the town. Any where else I should consider?"
"He has a vacation home on the slopes of Mount Montini," Queen Victoria said, now able to see the various screens that Marrissa had brought up. It looked like she was already putting teams together, and had a search going for floor plans of the places mentioned. "I suspect that his son Martin is there. We haven't seen him since the Impact."
"Actually, Mister Dessalines was just interviewed with his son on the Prometheus Network a few minutes ago," Jean-Luc said. Victoria turned to face the view screen again. "I'm afraid he cast doubt on your survival and stated that for all he knows, his son may already be King Martin I."
"Your Majesty, I may I assume that you take issue with Martin being known as your heir and Mister Dessalines being the legal regent, should he succeed you?" Marrissa said, in a very formal tone. Victoria turned back, and locked her eyes with Marrissa. The officer's face was still that schooled neutrality, but in those deep amethyst eyes, Victoria could see the fire of determination burn. "Allow me to solve that, now. Your Princess of Halifax awaits your command."
...
When the last Romulan entered orbit of the gas giant that orbited Iota Leonis B, Commander Riker knew it had managed to get there purely on luck. It's partner had spread itself over a path a full AU long, when the Romulan had tried to escape into warp, just as a torpedo had exploded. It tore itself to pieces as the warp nacelles had just enough plasma in them to maintain separate fields for a few seconds.
The second Romulan had long lost it's warp capability. It trailed ionized gas as it struggled against three to one odds. Riker had to admire the Romulan commander's ability and tenacity. Most commanders, caught this deep in enemy territory with this much damage would have surrendered. A Romulan Captain of an earlier era would have blown his ship with all aboard by now.
"Captain, transporter activity detected on remaining target," tactical announced. "They're beaming down to the planet's seventh moon."
"Deacon Joseph, report," Riker ordered, turning in his chair to face the Science station. The young man was bent over his station, rapidly hitting buttons.
"Sir, there appears to be a small base on the moon, in addition to a large cavern slightly larger than that of the asteroid that impacted Essex," Deacon Joseph reported, meeting Riker's gaze. "It's fairly well concealed from visual examination, and there are signs of a prior concealing field which has been turned off. I'm attempting to scan the cavern itself, but the angle puts a lot of rock between us and the cavern."
There was a bright flash, and Riker turned towards the view screen just in time to see the remains of the last Romulan ship explode. He turned back as soon as he confirmed that the Swiftsure and Magdeburg had both been clear of the explosion. "Can you give me a life signs report?"
"Sixty-two life signs, fifty eight are Romulan, four are human," Deacon Joseph said. "I also have detected an Repair vessel inside the cavern. It is unmanned."
"Open a channel to the Romulan base," Riker ordered. The two tone chime rang. "Romulan base, this is Commander William T. Riker aboard the Trinity. I have your base firmly surrounded and my weapons are locked. Give up."
...
Marrissa adjusted her communicator before she entered Ely Dessalines's study in his vacation home. She hoped she'd be able to collect a little bit of information from the former Prime Minister before she arrested him, so her team was on standby. The heals of her boots clicked on the hard wood floors, as she walked towards the heavy double doors that Ely's butler had opened. She straightened her posture, and felt her new cuffed tail hairstyle shift against the back of her neck as she strode confidently through them.
Mister Dessalines, Sir Ely, by right of his term as Prime Minister several years before, Marrissa recalled, stood up from behind his desk in greeting. "Lieutenant Marrissa Picard of the Enterprise to see you, sir," the butler announced, somewhat belatedly.
"Lieutenant, welcome to Chateau Dessalines," Dessalines said. He gestured at a chair in front of his desk. "Please, have a seat."
Marrissa shook her head. "I'm afraid in my line of work, I prefer to stand, Sir Ely," she smiled. Dessalines returned the smile. "Even my duty station on the Enterprise requires it."
"Very well, what brings you to my Chateau," Ely said, in a firm tone. "I somehow doubt that I rate a courtesy visit from the Fleet, since I'm no longer Prime Minister."
"Sir Ely, I'm here at the request of Her Majesty the Queen, having assumed the role of investigating the murder of your ex-wife," Marrissa replied, evenly. "On assuming the task, I discovered that you'd never been interviewed, and given your less than amiable split, I found the lack to be near criminal."
"I see," Dessalines said. "I have to admit that I was surprised that the local constable had not contacted me. I had to admit that I had been worried that the case had fallen into the cracks, if you will, of Essex's current fractured government."
"Worry not, Her Majesty seems to be mending those cracks quite quickly," Marrissa said with a smile. "At least from my perspective as an ad-hoc member of the Criminal Justice System. She's at least recognized where she can get some professionals to fill in until new ones can be hired."
"I find it hard to believe that Star Fleet would have the requisite skills to function as a fully functional Planetary Police," Dessalines said.
"I suppose you think that we're only good for chasing down Romulans?" Marrissa said, placing her hands on the back of the chair that she'd been offerred.
"If that!" Dessalines said, with an expression that Marrissa could only describe as a sneer. "I'm afraid that I have a real doubt as to the capabilities of Star Fleet. After all, you can't be more than 15 and you're a Lieutenant in it."
Marrissa smiled. He at least thought it was possible that she might be fifteen, which was a definite improvement on the usual assumptions. "I see, and what if I told you that we have chased down some Romulans right in this system."
"If that were true, than it would be the first time that Star Fleet has done something good for Essex since the Columbia was scrapped," Dessalines replied. "And I find it highly unlikely that Romulans would be this far into the Federation, anyway."
"That's what I thought too," Marrissa said, looking at Ely's desk. There was that looked somewhat familiar pocket watch. "It's not like them to head in this direction. If you're going to invade the Federation, you usually head as straight as possible to Earth. Romulus to Essex is a good sixty degrees off course."
"And what makes you think Romulans would want to take Essex?" Dessalines said, his tone conveying his contempt for Marrissa. She had found a picture of that watch that matched a certain artifact that the Captain had once shown her. "As you said, it's not a good invasion route."
"That's what I had been wondering since I started looking into your ex-wife's death, the attacks on the Sutters, and the recent attack on the Queen," Marrissa said. She'd compared the two but the picture she had of the pocket watch wasn't clear enough to be one hundred percent certain. Now she was. "My instincts said that they were somehow all related. The connections weren't the best, especially since we were sure that the impact was somehow related as well. Their was just one thread that wasn't weaving into the tapestry that was forming, a Romulan Green thread. It was almost as if it was what they used to call a red herring."
"So you can't find a reason behind everything," Dessalines concluded, as Marrissa picked up his paper weight. "Obviously the Queen isn't pulling in the right people for the job."
"I see you're using an Iconian Transducer casing for a the lid on your pocket watch," Marrissa said, looking at it closely. "If I'm not mistaken, and given that my father has had a small matter involving the ancient Iconians, that's not too likely, it's not from any of the usual sites." Dessalines raised his left eyebrow at the comment. "Father is something of an semi-professional archeologist. It comes in handy ever once in a while. When I was ten he spent an hour telling me about his encounter on Iconia in the Romulan Neutral Zone. The way he tells it is so interesting that I had to look up more. You see this pattern here?" Marrissa pointed at a blue and yellow marking. "They think it's sort of a station mark, telling where the equipment is supposed to be, just like my tricorder says that it's from the Enterprise."
"That's interesting, but I don't think you came here to discuss my pocket watch," Dessalines said. "You haven't asked me a single question about my ex-wife."
"Oh, I'll probably get to that in a moment," Marrissa said, looking at the marking. "Iconian is simular to Dewan, Iccobar and Dinasian. I spent my sixth birthday on Iccoba, and know a bit of the language. If I'm not mistaken, this reads thirty binary second star close planet thirteen moon. The Iconians referenced stars by the number of stars fitting the descriptor that are closer to Iconia. It so happens that Iota Leonis is the thirty-first closest binary star to Iconia."
"And I suppose you just read that right off the top of your head," Dessalines said. "If you're not going to ask your questions, then I suggest you put down my pocket watch and leave."
"Actually, this piece is probably going with me, as it's material evidence of exactly how that green thread fits," Marrissa said, looking Dessalines right in the eye. "An Iconian station, or even ruin would be highly sought after by the Romulans. They've been looking since the Yamato was destroyed by an Iconian computer virus. This very artifact indicates that there was one in the system, on the thirteenth moon of Iota Leonis B. It's presence is highly suspicious. You can't just walk out on the street and get something like this. Add to the fact that Romulan ships were destroyed and crewmen captured just a few minutes ago. Well, Mr. Dessalines, I have just one question."
"And what would that question be?"
"How do you sleep at night knowing that you are responsible for the deaths of over ten million people?" Marrissa watched Dessalines's reaction carefully. Chief Nelson had told her that the response to a question like this could be a key point in an investigation. It was a risky question, especially if you weren't really sure that your suspect had done the deed. Marrissa, however, was quite sure that Ely was guilty. He didn't bluster, there was no redness to his face. He was calm, cool ...
"If I was responsible for anyone's death, I'd probably not sleep a wink," Dessalines said calmly, leaning back in his chair, his hands dropping to his lap. "I can't wait to hear what gave you the impression that I'd killed ten million people, however."
"Really?" Marrissa said, with the biggest grin she could manage. "I though that the connections would be obvious by now, especially if a person whom you have maligned as not having the requisite skills for the job wove the tapestry of the crimes together so easily. You see, Mister Dessalines, if Princess Mary hadn't died, you would have never even come up. You might have even been able to escape when the plan fell apart this morning."
"Oh, so I had a plan," Dessalines said, his voice dripping in almost convincing sarcasm. "So, what plan has the almighty Star Fleet discovered me attempting?"
"I think it must have begun when your government fell a few months ago," Marrissa began, putting the pocket watch down. "I'm not sure exactly when you contacted the Romulans, but I'm pretty certain that you acquired this artifact while your were Prime Minister. The official picture of you as Prime Minister has you wearing it. Of course, you can't see enough to know it's Iconian in that picture." Marrissa shrugged. "Knowing the Romulans were interested in the Iconian artifacts, you knew they'd be interested in Essex, and if you provided them a way in, you'd be able to resume your position of power. Of course that brings up why you didn't think that another election might bring you back into power, like it did with your immediate predecessor."
"A very good question, especially since I nearly accomplished that in the last meeting of Parliament," Dessalines said. "I think your reasoning has some holes in it."
"It would, if I hadn't discussed you with Tory," Marrissa said, calmly. "It's also a contributing factor to why you made your big error. Your split with the Princess Mary, on paper it was for irreconcilably differences, but the King knew better. That's why he dissolved Parliament three months early, because he couldn't stand having a wife beater as his Prime Minister. It probably wasn't the most strictly constitutional move on his part, at least as I've grown to understand Essex's government, a task I'm probably going to be doing for quite some time. He knew better than to ask you to resign, but when that Doctor of Stellar Science decided to run against you and nearly won, it was writing on the wall. The monarchy knew, and sooner or later they'd convince Princess Mary to file charges."
"Fascinating, if true, which it isn't," Dessalines said, leaning forward a little.
"Oh it's true, but it doesn't matter, because you made the mistake of killing Princess Mary," Marrissa replied, her gaze locked on his face. It seemed to her to have a slight sheen to it now. "Though not killing her might have still caused your plan to go amuck. Ultimately, I guess it was the use of the disrupters to kill her that made the connection. If one of those hadn't been slightly damaged, we probably never would have figured out that it was a Romulan one. But it was. Of course, your companion in killing your ex-wife probably shouldn't have lent his disrupter to the man who tried to kill the Queen today ... that was a really dumb move there ... but it connects everything rather neatly. The Romulans wanted the Iconian base. You wanted the King dead, and if you killed enough of the Royal Family, your own son would be King."
"What a contrived tangle of threads you have there," Dessalines said.
"A tangle? Most certainly, but oh so true. I'd like to believe that when the Romulans suggested asteroid impact to kill most of the Royal Family, you had problems with it, but I've seen no evidence of it. I'm fairly certain that you arranged the attack on the Sutters. That, and if you'd got all the Royals who lived in Londondairy, would have left your son as the next Royal you knew in line for the throne. Unfortunately for your plans, you didn't get Tory, nor did you even apparently know of his granddaughter through his second son George. How you missed my picture in the Retreat, I don't know."
Dessalines looked down. "I never got invited to the Retreat." He suddenly stood, his chair rolling backwards with enough force to bounce off the wall six feet behind his desk when it impacted it. "And I'm not the only one who makes mistakes, Princess." A disrupter was in his left hand and pointing directly at Marrissa. "It is sad that the life of one so young will be cut so short by ill advised speculation."
Ely's thumb rose, clicking off the safety, but before his index finger could squeeze the trigger, Marrissa's left arm was in motion, her left hand hit the grip of her phaser, forcing it's tip upwards. Her thumb hit the trigger, phaser still in the holster, and it discharged, just as she had practiced. It was a nearly perfect shot from the hip, hitting right in the center of Dessaline's torso. The former Prime Minister collapsed, stunned, as Marrissa completed the motion, ending her fire as she drew her phaser out from it's short pivot mounted holster that Clara had redesigned for her.
Marrissa kept the phaser pointed at where Ely had collapsed, quickly switching to her primary hand, before she tapped her communicator. "Marrissa to Enterprise."
"Enterprise," her father's voice replied.
"I have one stunned prisoner that I need beamed directly to the brig," Marrissa said, her phaser now pointed directly at Dessalines where he was sprawled behind the desk. "Put him opposite Crewman Simmons, and read him his rights when he wakes up. Also, send down the team for the Chateau now."
Within moments, the hum and shine of the transporter took the former Prime Minister away, and announced the arrival of the investigative search party. Marrissa holstered her phaser and turned to greet Chief Nelson. She hoped he would approve of how she'd done.