Chapter Title: The Game's Afoot

Chapter Synapses: While engaging in battle exercises with the USS Topeka, a freak accident nearly destroys both Topeka and Hyperion. Evidence suggests sabotage.

Written by: Seraph Koji

"Topeka to Hyperion." The comm. crackled as the new Sovereign class loomed on the screen in a rather menacing way, "Prepare to be boarded."

Starwind smiled, "Now, Mister VonBach!" Starwind rose to his feet.

"Activating remodulating shields now. Arming Quantum torpedoes. Ivano, I need to get a lock on their main weapons systems."

"I'll get you your shot, Commander." Ivano smiled, slowly moving his hand on his display, having switched to a more manual control.

VonBach cheered, "Torpedoes away!"

"Hyperion to Topeka, care to rethink your position?" Starwind laughed, turning to the engineering station, where the Denobulan engineer Phral sat. "You are a godsend, Chief."

The image of Collins appeared on the viewer, "Yeah, just 'cause you painted our weapons systems! And we only have a skeleton crew here!"

"So? War games are war games, Commander." Ivano smiled.

Talara rose from Topeka's helm, and Winters stood at Topeka's tactical.

"Well, my merry band will show you men up next round!" Collins smiled, "Should we debrief on your ship or mine, Captain?"

Starwind smirked, "Mine, thank you."

"Captain's log. Hyperion is in an uninhabited system a short distance from Deep Space Four engaged in war excursuses with the newly commissioned USS Topeka, who was awaiting a crew at D.S. Four. Admiral Nechiev ordered the combat excursuses. We modified weaponry to 'paint' a marker, which transmits a signal to the main computer and registers a hit. In the spirit of fairness, Hyperion is not using a modified Multiphasic Cannon or Fusion Catalyst, but rather some new innovations. After one round of war games, Hyperion leads, but we have seven planned rounds between the two ships. And my first officer, Dorian Collins, happens to command Topeka, once again proving she can handle command."

"Assessments for the last simulation?" Collins asked.

"Topeka is strong, but we were able to exploit your shields here and here," VonBach gestured to a sensor display of the Topeka, "And cut your weapons."

"The new shield modulations seem to work famously." Winters observed, "When you recalibrated, we were unable to scratch you without recalibrating ourselves."

"Next game at 0900 hours tomorrow. Chief Phral, get crews on clean-up and fixing Topeka's shield grid flaws." Starwind ordered, "Dismissed."

The next round commenced.

"VonBach, is the Point-Defense System ready to come on-line?" Starwind ordered, before either ship fired a shot.

"Yes, sir. Four mid-strength phaser banks are fully charged." VonBach reported.

"Ivano, take manual control."

"Aye, sir."

"Phral, bring the shields on-line and activate the new modulations."

"Aye."

"Deploy fighter squadron 7." Starwind ordered, "VonBach, fire photon torpedoes."

"Torpedoes away." VonBach smiled.

Ivano gazed at the small craft flying from Hyperion on the screen, "Fighters away."

"Three torpedoes incoming," Starwind reported, "VonBach, time to prove your tactical genius."

VonBach watched his tactical display, "My modified sensors will recognize the incoming torpedoes as hostile, and the four phasers routed through the Point Defense matrix will respond."

"That's all talk Mr. VonBach. Make it happen." Starwind said, staring the three torpedoes down.

The phaser banks responded as VonBach had described, firing on the torpedoes with exacting bursts of energy. The only error was it wound up only hitting and neutralizing one. The ship shook with the simulated blast of two torpedoes carrying nothing more than an energy marker.

"The Point Defense System met nine out of ten criteria for perfect functionality you and I laid out, Captain." VonBach reported.

"Really? What was the tenth?"

"Hitting the target."

"Damn. So close too. That's good enough to implement the system, isn't it?" Starwind joked.

"We missed by 100 kilometers." Ivano reported.

"In the vastness of space, that's not that much." Starwind shrugged, "Mr. VonBach, continue firing at the Topeka."

"Captain!" Phral gestured frantically at the screen. Light emanated from a section of Topeak's hull, "Reading massive energy signatures. Something big is going down."

"Move us away." Starwind ordered, nervously.

"Reading twelve escape pods launched. All Topeka's crew has abandoned ship."

"Shields are disabled."

"Captain!" Ivano shrieked.

The image of Topeka was quickly shredded into blasts of debris and visibly burning internal sections flying right at Hyperion.

"Phral, lock onto the escape pods and beam them into our cargo bay! VonBach, Point Defensive Systems, keep those chunks of starship off us! Ivano, evasive action!" Starwind ordered frantically.

"All phasers routed through the PDS matrix." VonBach announced.

"Nacelle off our port bow!" Ivano's voice shook with fear.

Starwind tried to keep his composure, "Get us the hell out of the way, then, Ensign."

"Point Defense scanners non-responsive?" VonBach stood dumbfounded, "What?"

"Collins to bridge, Topeka's starboard hull has been compromised." Collins' voice stated the most obvious.

"Got them all, Captain, raising shields." Phral gave the bit of good news.

Ivano sighed with relief. "Putting distance between us and the Topeka."

Starwind tapped his badge, "Starwind to war games staff, meeting in the conference room, now."

As the last few filled into the room, Starwind stood at the head of the table, "Topeka is literally half the ship she was, it's a wonder she kept warp containment, and Hyperion is rather damaged too. So the question remains…" he pounded his fist on the table, "Who the hell dropped the ball here? Did Hyperion fire a live round? Why were the Point Defense sensors non-responsive? Why did our shields cut out right when Topeka exploded?"

Collins handed Starwind a data padd, "Sensor logs indicate that Hyperion's systems were compromised. Someone got into our command functions as what we believe was an explosive aboard Topeka went off."

"Explosive?" West asked in disbelief.

"Neither Hyperion nor Topeka registered a hit in that section when the explosion occurred." Collins explained.

"How did we lose control of our command systems?" Starwind asked.

"Prefix codes, Captain." VonBach mentioned the only thing that made sense.

Starwind rose an eyebrow, "Joseph? Are you suggesting a high-ranking Starfleet officer sabotaged Hyperion and Topeka?"

"Prefix codes?" Talara was confused.

"Ships since the days of the NX-01 have had all internal commands encoded with a short prefix code, like an identification that in fact it was the ship issuing the order. It was a system intended to prevent hacking into other ships. Very few people, limited to Admirals and high-profile Captains, have access to prefix code information." Starwind explained, "With a ship's prefix code, it is possible to remotely control it, which is why there are people who even know the system exists, to know that it's possible, still, to lose control of a ship."

"Any command issued with the proper prefix code is recorded as an internal command." VonBach added, "No digital fingerprints."

"Admiral Shran?" Talara suggested that an old defector may have played a role.

Starwind disagreed, "After Shran went rouge, the prefix code database was reorganized."

"Admiral Nechiev sent us out here…" Sen offered.

Collins objected, "Admiral Nechiev has no motive."

"Talara, get me a long-range sensor sweep as soon as you can, if there is anyone within range still, I want to know. Collins, contact D. S. Four, inform them of our situation, Phral, VonBach, I want our systems back on-line and tuned to perfection in one hour. We're gonna put whoever did this away in a Federation holding cell today. Dismissed." Starwind said with a definitive air.

Winters and West floated in environmental suits near the gaping hole in Topeka's hull.

"This is hopeless." Winters' vice carried a tone of surrender.

"Sarah?" West, who had drifted deep into the tear on the hull, called with a quiet connotation of discovery.

"Maybe we review the sensor logs again, scan for subspace transmissions and canvass the area looking for a similar frequency…"

"Sarah?" West repeated, without varying her inflection or volume.

"Or we can search the access logs of D. S. Four for prefix code data…"

"Sarah!" West called louder.

Winters drifted into the tear in Topeka's hull. "What is it, Amy." She paused, "What the-"

"It was a ruminant of a torpedo, analysis confirms our original analysis; it wasn't from Hyperion or Topeka. Actually, it appeared it was from the recent addition to the mothball fleet, the USS Jamestown." Winters reported shortly thereafter in Starwind's ready room.

Starwind looked over the data, "This only raises more questions. How did a torpedo from a decommissioned ship explode onboard a newly commissioned ship?"

West handed Starwind a padd, "Here's the link. Captain Marcus Holt."

Winters listed key points of the service record, "Once C.O. of the Jamestown, transferred to Deep Space Four, and awaited the arrival of the starship Reliant, which, on it's exit, happened to stop to deliver supplies to the Topeka."

Starwind remained skeptical, "Motive?"

"See, the exercise with Hyperion was not on Topeka's original agenda, so the motive must be against one of Topeka's crew." West paused, almost ashamed to suggest such an archaic thought. "With that in mind, Topeka's C.O. is an Aenar. Granted, Captain Rolaxa was a hero and one of the 200,000 surviving Aenar across the Alpha Quadrant and one of the 10,000 in Starfleet. But, given another Starfleet Aenar serves on Hyperion's crew, you are familiar with the racial hostilities from large groups of Federation species, especially Andorians."

Starwind's voice rose in anger, "Are you saying a decorated Starfleet captain like Holt committed acts of terrorism because he's a racist!"

"Captain Holt has supported, privately, several xenophobic activist groups, targeting Klingons, Bajorans, and Aenar." Winters handed Starwind another data padd. "Aboard Topeka's transport skeleton crew, it is suspected Holt made contact with Ensign Ronald Lang, a fellow closet member of the ESC, the Earthen Supremacy Coalition."

Starwind covered his eyes in frustration, "So what do we do?"

"Send our data to Reliant. Still a while 'till she reaches D. S. Nine. She can take Holt into custody and Starfleet J.A.G. will bring him back here for trial." West suggested.

"Same deal for Lang?" Starwind asked.

His advisors simply nodded.

"Our evidence is circumstantial." Starwind expressed his concerns.

"It's enough to get the professional investigators to look into it while we continue on with our missions elsewhere." Winters countered.

Starwind folded the data padds. "You two honestly think Captain Holt is behind this as some sort of racist agenda?"

"Captain, I honestly think Marcus Holt is responsible for the attack on Topeka, if not for the reason that no one else can be." Winters replied.

"The prefix code access?" Starwind asked.

West handed Starwind another data padd, "Hot off Talara's scans."

"Reliant was within comm. range." Starwind sighed.

"We have an Aenar, we became an equally viable target." West responded. "That makes our case. That data shows a low-band subspace signal shortly before detonation."

"Marcus Holt." Starwind sighed, "Why would an upstanding man want to kill noble officers on the basis of race? How fundamentally unimportant of a factor. Aenar are remarkably telepathic, but totally blind. There are less than a quarter million alive, and some lunatic person we call a Captain wants to hunt them to extinction? Why?"

"Psychotic, perhaps." West suggested, half-jokingly.

A pause of heavy consideration, and largely of distain, fell over the Ready Room. After a moment or two, Starwind handed the data padds back to Winters and West, "Get 'em."