Chapter Five – Hidden Evil p2
Admiral Janeway crashed down in her chair in her office in Starfleet Command. She pulled two padds out of her right desk drawer, and placed them side by side. Looking around for a stylus, she opened her middle drawer. Not seeing one on top of the clutter, she started emptying the drawer. She smiled as she came across her long forgotten Voyager comm badge. She wiped the dust off of it, and propped it up on her desk. Finally finding a stylus, she activated a padd. The units screen flicked on, and displayed the simple sentence: MEMORY EMPTY. She tapped the new file button, and got a blank writing space. She started to write out her weekly schedule, but then realized her heart just was not in to thinking about it. Her thoughts were still on the Doctor, and what was happening at Starfleet Medical. She then wondered if the communication line was down.
"Computer, open a comm link with Starfleet Medical."
-Standby. Finally something was going right. She waited for a few moments, and realized the computer must be pulling a few favors to get through. She looked at her desk, and realized something was missing. Coffee. She thought. Just as she started to get up and get a mug, her computer screen flashed. A Starfleet lieutenant's face filled her screen.
"Yes, Admiral?"
"Lieutenant, I was calling about your lockdown… what happened?"
"Doctor Melendez and the Voyager EMH were conducting experiments on the Tribodien plague. Something happened and there was a containment breach… We have gotten it isolated, the lockdown will be lifted within the hour, or so I am told." Janeway frowned.
"I thought they had developed a cure for that?"
"They did, but something went wrong. I do not know the details, Ma'am."
"Ok. Can you route me to the Voyager EMH?"
"Yes Ma'am. Standby." The woman pressed a few buttons, and was gone. Janeways computer monitor displayed the words STANDBY. She got up, and ran to the replicator. Moments later, she sat back down with a mug of coffee. She stared at the 'standby' on her screen for a moment, then the Doctor appeared.
"Admiral! It's great to see you."
"You too, Doctor. What happened over there…" She leaned in and whispered jokingly, "I hear the quarantine is your fault." The Doctors face flushed bright red.
"I assure you, that it was not my fault. We had that antidote working… but I think that there is a third party involved somehow. I don't know. Hey… do you know of a Captain Brian Tracy?"
"Let me guess, you got a message from him?"
"How did you know? He told me that he knew that Starfleet was sending me to Risa, and he offered his ship for the transport. He seemed young… what ship does he command?"
"That is a very good question, Doctor. He sent me a message the other day, and told me about his new ship. He wouldn't tell me what her name was though. Every time I try to access Utopia Planitia's ship manifest, I get disconnected from their system. I've done everything possible, short of calling Admiral Draline himself, but he is impossible to get a hold of, so there isn't any point. Doctor, I will accompany you to Risa. Sounds like it doesn't get any better than this- the chance to see a brand new ship, and go to Risa in the same trip!"
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Captain Brian Tracy labored to breathe in the small turbolift, as it sped toward the bridge. This air… or so they call it. I'm going to be glad when I don't have to breathe it any longer. He felt the turbolift start to slow down. Game face on, Brian. He instantly replaced his pain-stricken face by an emotionless one. Cold, hard steel. The doors swished open, and he walked onto the bridge.
"Captain on the Bridge!" A young ensign said, clear and loud. Everyone turned to look at the lift, and stood at attention.
"At ease, people. Don't do that, it's not fun for either of us, believe me." Tracy said as he walked down the carpet to the helm. "How long until we can do a full systems test?" He asked, not really directing the question to anyone, just putting it out on the table.
"Tactical is ready for anything, Sir." A young, but capable woman announced from behind a panel. "Security Chief Tara Valentine, nice to you." Tracy walked up to her.
"Anything?"
"Yes, sir. The Borg, or Species 8472, I don't care, I can take them." Yes, but can you take my species?
"You seem a little over confident, Ensign Valentine. Prove it." A few nervous glances were exchanged between the bridge crew. Valentine and Tracy never broke eye contact. Those who knew Tara, knew she didn't loose. She would rather die than loose, at anything. If she said she could take it, she could.
"Alright… I will prove it. Computer…" She paused, and then grinned as she stared into Tracy's eyes. "… Intruder alert." The lights on the bridge immediately shifted from white, to angry red.
-Shipwide red alert, Intruder alert! Intruder alert! All security personnel are being dispatched. The computer announced, as loud screeching red alert klaxon started to blare. Suddenly, six security officers beamed in on the bridge, compression rifles at ready. The all did a quick sweep of the bridge, and the lead officer yelled "Clear!" Two men stayed behind to guard the turbolift, and the rest beamed out. Only seconds later, a man's voice came over the comm.
"Renolds to Valentine, we have done a full point sweep of the ship, and we have come up clean… was that a false alarm, or should we start lower deep point scans?" Valentine raised her eyebrows in satisfaction with her security team. She looked at Tracy, and mouthed "Well? Satisfied?" Brian sweetly smiled back, and reached over the helm station, and killed the comm.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Valentine spat. "Renolds doesn't know what to do!" That's the point. Tracy pointed to the operations officer.
"Take gravity offline, communications, and transporters."
"Sir?"
"Do it!" Tracy yelled at him. The officer nodded, and complied. Suddenly, everyone started to float. Tracy smiled when his feet lifted off of the ground. "You see, Valentine, What Renolds did just a few seconds ago was easy. Now let's see how long it takes him and his team to do a sweep now, and get to us." He then looked at the confused guards that had beamed in earlier. "You two just sit tight. If your bosses are as good as they claim to be, you'll be out of here in just a few." Tracy pushed off from his chair, and floated to his ready room. "Ops, when the security team gets here, turn everything back on. I'll be in my ready room.
Three minutes later, the ready room doors opened. Valentine walked in, for gravity came back online moments earlier.
"I don't like you. You cheated. " She said, as she tossed a padd down on Tracy's desk. Brian Tracy picked up the padd, and skimmed its text.
"Two minutes and forty one seconds. Not bad, not bad at all. And don't worry, I don't like you either. And as the Captain, I'm allowed to cheat. Dismissed." Valentine stood there, and glared at him for a moment more.
"Something more?"
"No, sir." She muttered, and left the room. Tracy sat there for a moment, still scanning the padd. Truthfully, the team reacted much faster than he had anticipated. They were good. Too good. I hope that doesn't present a problem later… His thought was interrupted when his communications officer came over the speakers in his room.
"Captain, you have an incoming communication from Admiral Janeway."
"Route it here." He replied. Moments later, Janeway's face blinked up on his screen. "Admiral, it's good to finally talk to you."
"Captain Brian Tracy, I must say your message the other day came as a bit of a surprise to me."
"Well, I try to keep everybody on their toes."
"Well, you're doing a good job. I was calling to inform you that the Doctor and I will be using your transport to Risa this up coming weekend. You have got me wondering what your ship is. What's the name? And why the secrecy… I mean it is just a ship." Tracy grinned.
"What you refer to as just as ship is the most advanced piece of technology ever to come from an Earth manufacturing station, Captain. It has advanced anti-Borg equipment, a warp drive that can out run anything in the known universe, and best of all, its Starfleet. I'll tell you this; I would hate to have this ship on my bad side."
"You keep avoiding my question, Captain. What is the name of this ship?"
"Admiral, there is a reason I invited you to see the ship first. Its name is Voyager, NCC-74656-A."
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What a twist, what a twist. What do you guys think?