DISCLAIMER: Star Trek and all related characters are the property of Paramount Pictures, Inc and CBS-Paramount Television. No copyright infringement is intended. This work of fiction is for entertainment purposes only and no money has changed hands. The original characters and events are the sole property of the author and may not be used without permission.

STAR TREK:

THE CAVALIER INCIDENT

By Darrin Colbourne

Sitting at the Science Station in Control, Ben Goren wondered idly what the sentient beings that might evolve from the muck of Shiva Three would think if, just as they were mastering heavier-than-air flight, they discovered evidence that one day in their prehistory their sky was filled with the spacecraft of two interstellar races. Of course, it was unlikely such evidence would survive the natural evolution of the planet itself, but it was happening, and at least there was someone to witness it.

The Klingons had taken the lead in the Search and Rescue effort. Two of their transport shuttles and two more Raptors were circling the crash site. Divers in heavy encounter suits were in the water trying their best to locate their fallen comrade, while the ships scanned the surrounding ocean in search of the crashed ship's flight data recorder. Above that scene, Rider Two and Haulers One and Two circled. Both Starfleet transports were loaded with Human divers in heavy encounter suits, along with surface and subsurface search equipment. They were there as backup, while Rider Two assisted with the search for the flight recorder. Circling high above the other ships was Rider One, piloted by a now contrite Silas and a devastated Montoya. Without an experienced backseater and with a damaged ship there was little Silas could contribute to the effort, so she circled and stayed out of the way.

Meanwhile, as the spacecraft did their jobs and Goren watched the scene, Koloth raged at Pike from the main viewer. "…and I assure you, Captain Pike, that this blatant act of aggression on the part of your officers will be reported to the highest levels of my government, and yours!"

"Really? Are you also going to tell them that it was your officer that was intent on goading mine into taking evasive maneuvers?"

"My pilot was engaged in combat exercises on a neutral world, and had every right to do so!"

"Your pilot was gathering intelligence on my people and ships, and neutral world or not, he had absolutely no right to do that!"

"If you accuse my officer of espionage, you are obliged by your own laws to give him the chance to defend himself! He cannot defend himself from Sto'Vokor! Your officers, however, are here to answer for their crimes. I accuse them of violating the cease-fire and killing my officer, and I demand that you turn them over to me so that they may stand trial for their actions!"

"I don't think so! My people were engaged in purely scientific study around the planet! They didn't fire a shot, and your officer killed one of the indigenous life-forms before he crashed his ship! The only crime committed here was his crime against nature!"

That made Goren look toward the center seat. It sounded like something Montoya would say.

It didn't have much effect on Koloth. He still looked livid, but he forced himself to calm down. "Captain Pike, surely we can come to an understanding. It is your custom to investigate such mishaps involving your pilots, is it not?"

"Yes it is, as I'm sure it is yours."

"Then I ask that when you conduct your investigation we be allowed to observe and participate. Would that be acceptable?"

Pike glared at the screen. His gut instinct was to refuse, but given that the Klingons were the ones who'd lost a man in the incident it was a reasonable request. "I'll see what I can do."

"I will await your communication." Koloth signed off with that.

Pike let out a calming breath through his nose, then he turned to the Communicator. "Recall Rider One and have the Executive Officer report to Control."

Montoya's gaze was fixed on the crash site. She'd managed not to scream when the whale was killed or when the Raptor went down, but the initial shock had given way to tears by the time the first rescue ships arrived. Her sobs had quieted down, but she was still crying. "How could you?" She said.

Silas didn't have an immediate answer. She wasn't even sure Montoya was talking to her. All she could think about was what she knew would happen next.

"Answer me!" Montoya said, leaving no doubt she was talking to Silas. "Tell me why we had to do that! Tell me why it was so important for us to cause two deaths just because the Klingons had the nerve to show up in the same system we were in!"

Silas sighed. "Isabel…"

"Rider One, Prize. Stand down from Away mission and Return to Base. Do you copy?"

"Copy that, Prize. Rider One is standing down and Returning to Base." She signed off. "And here we go…" She pulled out of her circle and accelerated to escape velocity.

"So now we just leave?" Montoya said. "We just go back to the ship and forget everything that's happened?"

"Not even close." Silas said. They continued on in silence until they reached orbit, where Silas informed the ship they were out of the atmosphere. The ship radioed back approach instructions, and Silas completed almost a full orbit in order to gain speed and altitude. She approached Enterprise from aft, slipped under the ship and found the Flight Bay outer doors open and waiting. Her entry and landing on the Flight Deck were textbook.

When the outer and inner doors closed, Silas heard: "Welcome home, Rider One."

Silas huffed. "Sure. Now all we need is the welcoming committee."

They showed up just moments after the Flight Deck repressurized. First came Silas's plane crew to help the flight crew out of the Cavalier. They were followed by Gunny Larkin and two more Landers in Work Colors. All three were wearing sidearms.

As soon as Silas and Montoya were standing on the deck, Larkin approached. "Commander Silas, Commander Montoya, on the Captain's Orders you are both relieved of your duties and restricted to quarters pending the investigation of today's mishap."

"Wait, why am I being relieved of duty?" Montoya said.

"I can't speak to that, Sir. I'm only here to relay the Captain's orders and have my men escort you back to your quarters."

Montoya was about to protest further, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. It was Silas. "Let's just go with them, Isabel. It'll be all right."

Montoya just glared at her, then turned her flight helmet over to one of the plane crew and headed for the Hangar Deck. One of the Landers fell in step behind her. As she walked she noticed there was a team of Engineers in black coveralls standing just inside the entrance to the Hangar Deck. She assumed they were waiting for the Cavalier to be towed in.

Montoya didn't say a word to anyone all the way back to her stateroom. The Lander stationed himself outside as she went in. She stopped just inside the entrance as the door closed, leaned against it and covered her face with her hands. She wanted to scream, cry, pound the walls, do something to give vent to her sadness and anger, but couldn't decide which to do first.

Commander McDonald's voice snapped her out of her funk. "None the worse for wear, I see."

Montoya lowered her hands and opened her eyes to see Number One sitting at her desk. The sight helped her decide on screaming. "How the hell did you get in here?"

McDonald remained perfectly calm as she pointed toward her own quarters. "I live next door, remember? I came in through the head."

Montoya closed her eyes and forced herself to calm down. "Then why are you in here?"

"I'm here to ask you about what happened down there."

Montoya opened her eyes and stared daggers at McDonald. "And you felt it was necessary to arrest me just to ask me questions."

"Not arrest. 'Restrict to quarters.' Two different things."

Montoya gave her an incredulous look, then sighed and came all the way in. She flopped down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. "Is this part of your job, too?" She asked.

McDonald turned in the chair to face the bed. "Strictly speaking, investigating a mishap involving one of our smallcraft would be the job of the Group Commander, but since she was flying the craft in question the responsibility has to fall on the next senior pilot aboard, and that would be me."

"And restricting us to quarters?"

"Again, strictly speaking, that isn't usually necessary, but this mishap also involved the death of an alien citizen…"

"I know. I was there."

"…and the mission was launched and conducted under the direction of our Science Officer."

That made Montoya sit up. "So I made it necessary for you to restrict me to quarters simply because it was a science mission and I was along for the ride?"

"Commander, you are Second Officer aboard this ship. You are Third-In-Command and our Mission Planner. I understand that you have yet to fully comprehend what all that truly means in terms of your responsibilities, but it should be enough for me to say that there is nothing simple about anything you do, especially in this instance. The fact that you were there, in Silas's craft, running your mission, means that if it's shown that she bears responsibility for the Klingon's death, you will bear some of the responsibility as well."

Montoya chuckled mirthlessly. "You're all insane." She muttered as she got up and started pacing.

McDonald watched her passively. "We're insane because we expect you to accept responsibility for your actions?"

"No, you're insane because you and your Landers have spent all week teaching me how to kill Klingons and when one of them actually dies you act like you have a problem with it!"

"We do have a problem with it if we're not at war with the Klingons…"

Montoya threw up her hands. "Finally! One of you admits it!"

McDonald continued as if she hadn't heard. "…and of course we're not at war with them at present. The training is for the day that happy circumstance comes to an end, but no one wants to hasten that end, and that's exactly what would happen if it's shown that you and Silas were responsible for the Klingon's death."

Montoya stopped pacing and looked McDonald in the eye. "Well, if it worries you so much, why didn't you stop her?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"When the ship asked her why she was speeding up she told them she was trying to draw the Klingon into some kind of combat drill, and the ship practically told her to 'damn the torpedoes' and go for it!"

"Wait…you're saying that Silas voiced her intent to engage the Raptor and the Control Room cleared her to do it?"

"Well, she didn't say she was going to engage. Just something about 'ACM training,' or something like it, then the ship said 'That's Great, Go get 'em!' or whatever jargon you use!"

McDonald turned away. "Damn!" She muttered.

"What is it?" Montoya said.

McDonald turned back. "It wasn't 'the ship.' When one of our pilots is talking to 'Prize', he or she is speaking to the Communications Officer in the Control Room…"

"I understand that. So?"

"So, the Communications Officer doesn't have the authority to tell a tactical craft to do or not do anything. Such directives come from the Watch Officer."

"But I don't see…Oh. It was during the Forenoon Watch, wasn't it?"

McDonald nodded. "You realize how much further this complicates things. If what you say is true then Captain Pike is at best a material witness and at worst complicit in Silas's actions, and I'm obliged to report such to him and request that he recuse himself from any Board of Inquiry that might be convened to investigate the matter."

"Are you saying he wouldn't recuse himself?"

"I'm sure he would. That's the problem, because then we'd have to turn the matter over to his immediate superior…"

"And his immediate superior is back on Earth."

"Bloody Marvelous!" McDonald hissed.

There was a short silence between them, then Montoya said: "So we just go back to Earth. I would think you'd be happy about that. You haven't exactly been supportive of what we're doing out here."

"For pity's sake, Montoya! I don't want going back to Earth to result in the Captain being stripped of his command and Silas being sent to jail!"

"Would I go to jail, too?"

"No, you'd most likely be decommissioned and permanently beached…and to be honest that I wouldn't mind. At any rate, we wouldn't necessarily have to go back to Earth for the hearing. It all depends on what Jellico wants to do." With that, McDonald stood and headed for the door.

"How long am I to be confined?" Montoya said.

"Until the investigation is concluded." McDonald said. "I'll arrange for your meals to be brought here. In the meantime you are not to discuss this incident with anyone else. Is that clear, Commander?"

"Aye Aye, Sir." Montoya's voice dripped with sarcasm.

McDonald stopped herself before she opened the door and turned back. "Let me ask you something, Montoya. Why didn't you stop Silas?"

"I tried to stop her! I begged her to stop!"

"Did you order her to stop?"

"Well, no, but what good would that have done?"

"Are you saying you think she would have disobeyed the order?"

"Absolutely! She was flying the mission! I didn't have any authority…"

"It was your mission, and she's serving in a ship where you are Third in the Chain of Command and she's Fifth, which means you had all the authority you needed to order her to stand down from engaging the Klingon and resume her primary assignment. If you had given that order and she had disobeyed, or you were overridden by Captain Pike, you wouldn't be here right now. There would be no question of responsibility on your part."

They stared at each other for a moment, then realization took the wind out of Montoya's sails. "I didn't know…"

McDonald sighed. "Hence our continuing to be at odds. Commander, I have a full-time job aboard as well, so I don't have time to teach you everything you need to know to do yours in one sitting. I will teach you as much as I'm able, but I would think you'd at least try to work some of this out on your own. Working things out is supposed to be your specialty, after all." With that, McDonald turned and left.

Montoya simply stood in the middle of her stateroom and let that sink in. The hell of it was McDonald was right in every respect. Dr. Narain had often complimented her on her ability to solve puzzles, and there was nothing more puzzling to Montoya than the military. There was something else that Dr. Narain had said: The whole point of her wearing a Starfleet uniform and taking the Science Officer posting aboard Enterprise was to give her the authority to give orders to regular Starfleet personnel, and in this instance "regular Starfleet personnel" included Silas.

"Damn," she muttered, then started to change out of her flight suit.

"There's been a complication." Pike said. "My Executive Officer has given me some information that will effect our inquiry into this matter. I'm going to need to contact my superiors and have them look into this."

Koloth forced himself to remain calm. "If you think that's necessary, but I would think that you'd be capable of handling this on your own."

Pike looked off screen for a moment, as if he were trying to come to grips with something. "Yes, well, as I said, there's been a complication."

"I see. Do you anticipate the need for more of your ships to come to this system?"

"That will be up to my superiors. I honestly couldn't say one way or another."

"Very Well. I will, of course, need to notify my superiors as well of this…'complication.'"

"Of course. How is the search coming?"

"I'm afraid we might have to give up on recovering our pilot."

"My condolences."

"And we have not yet recovered the Raptor's flight recorder."

"I see. It would help us to resolve this situation all the more rapidly if we could have access to the Raptor's flight data…"

"I'll see what I can do."

"I'll await your communication." Pike signed off, and his image was replaced on the viewer by the image of the Enterprise.

Koloth slammed his fist on his command chair and cursed. "I should kill that imbecile with my bare hands!"

"Captain Pike?" Jhang asked.

"No, the fool that exposed us to the Enterprise and set these events in motion in the first place!"

"I understand your frustration, Captain, but if we killed every experienced officer that made a small error…"

"There's an old Human poem that begins 'For want of a nail…' It ends with the heroes losing the war. The moral is clear: Even the smallest mistakes can have the greatest consequences. Contact First Armada Command. Inform them that we face two possibilities. Either the Enterprise will be recalled to Earth or we will soon be up to our beards in starships. In either event we will need to adjust our mission parameters."

It wasn't exactly up to his beard, but two days later Koloth was forced to face the second possibility. A detachment of one cruiser and two frigates from Starfleet's Cruiser/Destroyer Group Three warped into the Shiva system and joined Enterprise and Martok in orbit. The cruiser, USS Trailblazer, was one of the Pathfinder Class, ships that might have replaced the Constitution Class entirely if cost overruns hadn't forced a limit on the number of Pathfinders built and paved the way for the cheaper Constitution Class Refit. The newer cruisers were sleeker, faster and armed with Vertical Torpedo Launch Systems in their Support Sections, obviating the need to keep their targets in their boresights.

Christopher Pike always felt a sense of dread whenever he saw a Pathfinder sharing an orbit with him. Even before he received command of one he had always been a fan of the Constitutions, and he knew the Pathfinders' original purpose. He was always struck by the gut feeling that a Pathfinder in his orbit meant that his Enterprise was about to be taken away and scrapped. It was an irrational fear, he knew, but he'd never been able to shake it.

Trailblazer brought a different dread with her this time. Pike turned that dread over in his mind as he waited in the Hangar Deck while the Flight Deck repressurized. A Workhorse transport had just come aboard from the other cruiser carrying three Very Important Persons. When the main hatch opened the three Starfleet officers walked into the Hangar Deck with a purpose. The controller in the Flight Ops section announced them as they crossed the threshold:

"Trash Hauler Squadron, Arriving." Captain Terrence Ironside looked too tall and seemed too muscular of build to even fit in the cockpit of one of the squadron of Workhorse transports he commanded, but he'd been flying similar ships for nearly twenty years and had never had a problem getting behind the controls. His pilots knew him as a gruff commander who saved what personal warmth he could muster for leave time with his wife and kids.

"Outrider Squadron, Arriving." Captain Sheila McAllister was the opposite of Ironside: small, slim and more personable with her pilots. A skunk stripe of gray adorned her otherwise jet-black locks and she sported a near-permanent tan that she maintained whenever she could by camping and taking the sun in the Outback of her native Australia.

"Cruiser/Destroyer Group Three, Arriving." The most intimidating member of the trio was Rear Admiral Benjamin Sisko, former fighter pilot, starship commander and, until the start of the Common Man Project, Captain Pike's boss. He was nearly as tall as Ironside and very fit for a man his age. With his dark head shaved bald, the only way one could tell he was going gray was to hunt for the gray hairs in his thin, scrupulously manicured goatee.

All three officers were wearing their Dress Black uniforms, making Pike feel underdressed in his Work Colors as he walked up to greet them. "Permission to come aboard, Captain?" Sisko said.

"Permission granted," Pike said as he and Sisko shook hands. "Welcome aboard the Enterprise." He shook hands with Ironside and McAllister in turn. "Captains, welcome aboard. If you'll follow me, we've set up quarters for you on the Command Deck." Each officer was carrying a small suitcase. On Pike's signal yellow-shirted crewmen took the bags and went on ahead.

When the formalities were over, Pike tried to get some information from Sisko in an oblique fashion. "I was kind of surprised when they said you'd be coming out here, Sir."

Sisko grunted. "Jellico had his hands full, so he asked me to come in his place. You don't know what you started with your report, Chris. Since we got the word we put out Flash signals to the entire group. Six other Connies reported Klingon ships in their AORs, and three more reported intermittent contacts with what may or may not have been Kahless cruisers. This has gone all the way up to the World Command Authority. The Klingon Ambassador was summoned to the President's Office, and our Ambassador was called in to see the Emperor. Jesus! What are you people doing out here?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, Sir." Pike said as they got into the turbolift.

"When I detached your ship to work on this project I was told it was going to be a milk run. You ferry a bunch of scientists on a field trip around the galaxy until they get their own ships or until everybody gets bored of the concept, right?"

"That was the plan, Yes, Sir."

"And the first system you get to you nuke a planet!"

"Sir, as I explained in my report…"

"I read the report, Chris! It reads like bad science fiction!"

Pike sighed. "All Command Deck." He said, getting the lift moving.

"And now this!" Sisko went on. "What were you thinking?"

"Well, from what you just told me it looks like the Klingons have a major reconnaissance operation going on, centered on the Deep Recon Group. It isn't just us."

"No, it's not, but no one else went out of their way to splash a Raptor!"

"Sir, neither did we, as I'm sure will be borne out in the hearing."

"Who's running the investigation?"

"My XO, Commander McDonald."

The lift stopped on the Command Deck and Pike led the others out. "I want to see her ASAP." Sisko said.

"Aye Aye, Sir." Pike said.

"I assume my pilot's on restriction?" Captain McAllister said.

"As per standard procedure. Admiral, Captain Koloth asked to be allowed to observe how we handle this when this first happened."

"What did you tell him?"

"Didn't say yes or no. I had planned to string him along at first, then when we had to call you in I thought I'd run it by you."

"Do we need anything from the Klingons?"

"We were monitoring their communications with the Raptor. McDonald thinks we have a handle on what happened, but she and my ChEng would like to get their hands on the Raptor's flight recorder."

"Did they recover it?"

"We think it finally surfaced by the end of that day, but we'd left the crash site to the Klingons by then, and they've been stringing us along since then."

"That data is their price of admission into the gallery at the hearing. I'll tell them myself."

"Aye, Sir. Here we are."

They had stopped in front of a four-man stateroom. Ironside recognized the cabin immediately. "Isn't this where your Ops guys bunk?"

"This is such bull." Flores said. "I finally get used to that half-cushioned cot Starfleet calls a bed and I have to give it up to one of those witch-hunters."

She was sitting on one of the beds in Sick Bay, voicing her frustrations to Dr. Boyce. He had offered to let her stay there as long as there were no major Medical Emergencies. "There's always this kind of displacement when a flag officer comes aboard." Boyce said. "The irony here is that if Commander Montoya weren't confined to her quarters she'd probably be down here with you."

"That's what else is bull, treating Belle like she had anything to do with this when anybody with half a brain could tell you it was all that lunatic Silas's fault."

"'That lunatic Silas'? I thought you liked Commander Silas."

"I did! I still do. I just didn't know she was gonna go nuts."

"I'm sure she didn't go nuts, and whatever happened this will be settled in a day or two. Admiral Sisko and the others will be gone and you'll be back in your own half-cushioned cot soon after that."

"Or back on Earth."

"Are you planning on leaving us?"

"Of course not! Look, hasn't it occurred to you that somebody might use this as a reason to call off the Project?"

"It has, but it also occurs to me that Admiral Jellico would do his best to make sure that wouldn't happen, which is probably part of what's keeping him on Earth. I don't doubt the Project will go on. The real concern here is who'll be running our part of it."

"All I know is I hope it's not me! I'm getting migraines just running the Science Department while Belle is locked up."

"Why didn't you come see me?"

"Rhetorical migraines, Doctor."

Boyce chuckled. "I have cures for those, too. What's your biggest headache?"

"The fact that we can't do any close observation of Shiva Three since Captain Pike suspended our flight schedule."

"Surely you can do some observation using the ship's instruments…"

"Not the type of observation we'd like. The idea is to get as close to the ground as possible even if we can't land. Scanning from synchronous orbit only gives you the broad picture. The flights gave us more details…"

"Like confirming the presence of whales."

"Just like that. I'm dying to know what effect all of this is having on the pod of the one that died, but there's no way I can see that from up here."

Boyce thought about it for a moment. "Like I said, Gwendolyn. Two days, three at the most, and you'll be back to doing what you came out here to do. You and Isabel."

"You promise?"

"Hey, I'm your doctor, which means I'm always right."

Koloth was up late that night, staying awake with the dual stimuli of raktijino and aggravation. He was in his quarters, staring at the intelligence file on Rear Admiral Benjamin Sisko. He'd had no way of knowing if the dark-skinned Human was one of the people transferred to Enterprise from Trailblazer until the man contacted him soon after the transfer, but it made sense. The Pathfinder was formidable enough on its own, so the only reason she would need escorts would be if there were another high value target riding in her, and there were few things more valuable to Starfleet than their fleet commanders. Also, until recently Enterprise had been part of Sisko's fleet, so it was logical to assume that Sisko was the superior Pike had contacted.

So now Koloth had a small task force to deal with, one that could be greatly reinforced as quickly as Sisko could shout for help. And Martok? His ship was on its own. The response he'd gotten from First Armada Command had been as confusing as it was frustrating. The other ships of the Observation Force were being recalled, which meant his mission was effectively over, but he had been ordered to remain in the Shiva system to guarantee a "Klingon Presence" in the Humans' investigation. Of course, the volatility of the current situation made it impossible to overtly strengthen that presence, so he would have to make do with the assets he had should there be any other "negative" developments.

Koloth grunted. It would be easier if I could just blast them and get it over with! If he laid on the attack quickly enough and made the first salvo a sizable one he could destroy the frigates outright and damage Enterprise and Trailblazer enough to blunt any serious counterattack. Not enough to prevent his eventual destruction, but delay it at least, and at any rate going to Paradise in a glorious blaze would be preferable to the current situation.

His musings were interrupted by someone pounding on his door. "Enter!"

The door opened to admit Jhang. "The engineers have recovered the data."

"Finally!" Koloth was relieved. He hadn't believed they would get any of the data in his lifetime. No one aboard had ever seen a data recorder that had taken so much damage. The things were meant to survive catastrophes, after all, but the Raptor's impact and the time the recorder spent in Shiva Three's waters had taken a severe toll. "Have you seen it?"

"Yes, I have." Jhang held out a palm computer.

Koloth put down the one he was looking at and took the other one. "What am I seeing?"

"The recording is paused at the beginning of the engagement, when the Cavalier began evasive maneuvers."

Koloth touched the "Play" and "Advance" contacts and watched the playback at high speed. Most of the data coincided with what he remembered seeing in the Control Room. There was nothing that looked out of the ordinary, so he was about to tell Jhang what their next course of action would be when he did spot an anomaly. He paused the recording, reversed it, then paused again. He cursed at what he saw. "I'm surrounded by incompetents!"

"That's what the engineers thought you would say."

Koloth ignored the jibe. "He cloaked! I told him not to cloak! I gave specific orders to every pilot aboard not to cloak, and this ignorant patahk did it anyway!"

"If the Humans find out about this…"

"They want the data in exchange for letting us attend their formal proceedings on this matter. We'll give it to them."

"Should we alter the data?"

"Don't bother. I'm sure they already suspect that Toro cloaked and want the data to confirm it. If the data contradicts their findings they won't believe it. They'll just keep looking until they find something that makes sense to them. Send it to them as it appears."

"And if they ask if you ordered Toro to cloak his ship?"

"I will say I gave no specific order either way. It's the easier lie. More importantly, it's the one they're more likely to believe."

"Well, if we're not going to bother hiding this information from them, then why do we care if we can attend the proceedings? We already know what the outcome will be."

Koloth tossed the palm computer down in disgust. "The outcome was never my greatest concern. I want to see the people facing it. I want to look them in the eyes, and if I can't do that in my brig on my ship, I will do it at that hearing on theirs."

Jhang bowed and saluted, then left Koloth alone with his thoughts. They darkened immediately as they turned to politics, intrigue and the variables involved in fighting a "Bloodless" War.

So much easier to just blast them!