Chapter Three

Trouble

'These staff meetings are so long,' thought the new science officer. She already knew just about everything one of these meetings could explain. Being a hologram, she had instant access to all unclassified information.

"Lieutenant Commander Gambicorta, will you please pay attention?" asked the captain. "Commander, will you please continue?"

"With pleasure. As I was saying," continued Commander Sommerfeld, "the USS Santa Maria was exploring an area of uncharted space and encountered a group of hostile Romulans. During the encounter, a small number of their crew was taken hostage and is being held for ransom."

"What are the demands?" asked Dr. Sommerfeld.

"In a nutshell? A continue of hostile relations with the Romulan government or the hostages will be executed."

"We have friendly relations with the Romulans?" Tony asked.

"We're in the process of negotiating with the new Romulan Prator," Michelle responded absently.

"She speaks!" Amber whispered and was rewarded with a muffled laugh from Tony.

"Actually, we are, but they aren't going very well," commented the captain. "That's why Starfleet isn't sure whither or not this is an isolated incident. We're being sent to deal with the hostage situation and, if necessary, eliminate the problem."

"Meaning, get our people out and start shooting," Michelle said haughtily.

"No. We get our people out and wait for orders," reprimanded the captain.

"Just saying what everyone else was thinking."

"S-sir, we're receiving a p-priority signal from Starfleet," reported Ensign Corvik three days after the Interceptor left space dock.

"Patch it through, Mr. Corvik," the captain responded.

"Yes, s-sir." After he pushed a few buttons, the view screen came alive.

"Captain, may I present the Romulan ambassador, T'Wain," said the admiral who appeared.

"Ambassador, it's my pleasure."

"No, captain, it's mine. My government has instructed me to give you a special subspace code that will allow you to travel through the Romulan Empire safely," he responded. "Our government realizes that, since there are Federation hostages, the Federation should be involved. We apologize for you inconvenience and are willing to offer any assistance that may require."

"We appreciate your help and willingness to cooperate," Mike said, "but, other than the code, I don't believe your assistance will be required."

"T-transmission ended," reported Ensign Corvik as the view screen faded to the Federation logo.

"Very well, Ensign. Start transmitting the code. Miss Moore, set course, through the Romulan Empire, to rendezvous with the Santa Maria. Warp Six."

"Aye, sir. Course plotted and laid in," she responded.

"Engage."

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert," said the computer thirty-six hours later.

"Hazard Team report to Deck Two Section Two," responded Lieutenant Sommerfeld, tapping his com badge. "Jen, meet me on Turbo Lift Four."

"Tony, don't get yourself killed," Amber said sarcastically.

"Ha, ha. You just worry about that Romulan warship, pretty lady," he responded with equal sarcasm as he left the bridge. As he made his way to the Turbo Lift, he used his Transporter Pack to retrieve a Meteor Phaser Pistol and holster.

"Tony, you got another one of those for me?" Ensign Jennifer Colons asked playfully as she pulled out a standard Phaser II Hand Phaser.

"I get respect from everyone, don't I?"

"What?"

"Never mind. Deck 2." And the humming began, as the turbo lift started moving. "Do we know how many there are?"

"Fifteen. What's the plan? Shootout? Crossfire?"

"How many people do we already have in position?"

"Ten, with ten more on the way," she responded as the doors opened.

"No shootout, at least not yet. Computer: Location of Hazard Team members vs. Romulan invaders," Tony said as he tapped a wall panel and Transporter packed a Medium Range Support Rifle. Then a map of the deck appeared with icons for the Interceptor crew and different ones for the Romulans. "If we move down this hallway through here," he said as he pointed to the map.

"We can rendezvous with our guys without incident," Jen interrupted hopefully.

"Exactly."

"See, I told you I'd catch on if you keep tutoring me," she exclaimed with enthusiasm.

"But if you don't keep your voice down, we're both going to get shot," Tony responded harshly, pushing her away from the beams of light that were coming around the corner. They ducked through a door and started heading toward the other group.

"Computer: seal this door and raise the lighting two levels. Lieutenant Sommerfeld to bridge," he finished, tapping his com badge.

"This is the captain, what's wrong, Tony?"

"How're we doing against the warship?"

"Our primary shields are still more seventy-five percent and theirs are less than twenty-five percent. Our phasers are sixty percent and only fired four torpedoes," Amber responded since they still hadn't picked up their tactical officer.

"So, we're winning?" interjected Jen mockingly.

"Yeah," Amber responded sarcastically. Amber and Jen never really got along.

"Well then, Tony out," he said as he tapped his badge again. They had reached the end of the hallway when a member of a Romulan Boarding party came through a door, yelled, and started shooting.

"Get down!" Tony screamed as he pushed Jen to the ground and opened fire. He got two shots off before she hit and three more before the other Romulans knew what was going on.

"Run!" yelled one.

"Security!" screamed another.

"Open fire!" ordered a third, who seamed to be in charge before the others panicked.

Jen phasered one while Tony worked the door panel to close it. It wasn't working. Before he got the door closed, Jen had phasered two more Romulans and a third had run away. "Five Romulans in one encounter, not bad," she commented as she stood up.

"Sorry about shoving you to the floor like that. I thought the others would react faster than they did."

"No problem. I'm just glad you reacted before the Romulans did." They continued down the corridor without incident.

The ship was handling better than she could have dreamed. She was able to maneuver while the targeting computer aimed the many weapon systems. "Direct hit, sir. Her warp engines are down as well as her aft disruptors," Amber reported after firing the forward phasers. "Sir! She's cloaking!" she added with alarm.

"I can see that, ensign. The computer should still be able to aim using the Taction Detection Grid," her captain said reassuringly.

"Yes, sir."

"Target impulse engines and weapons control. Keep us behind her… On my mark… Fire," he ordered and was answered with an array of phaser beams and torpedoes.

"Direct hit! She's loosing her cloak," Amber reported confidently as Tony walked off the turbo lift and took his seat as Tactical Officer.

"Sir, three Griffin class warships decloaking off the starboard buoy," he reported to the chagrin of all those on the bridge. "They're hailing us."

"On screen."

"Greetings, you have performed excellently. Simulation terminated." And the surroundings and most of the people faded to reveal the Holodeck.

"That was impressive," Amber said as she, Tony, and Jen walked out into the hallway. "You did better than I thought you would."

"Yeah, you to. I honestly thought you would have a harder time working as both Helmsman and Tactical Officer," Tony said encouragingly. "You did really well to, Jen. You're a better shot than I thought and you do catch on quickly."

"Thanks. How much did we win by?" Jen asked.

"We didn't have any casualties, only minor injuries, we still had almost half of our primary shields and enough fire power to disable all three Griffins," Tony responded victoriously.

"That news disserves at least one drink!" Amber proclaimed, teasing Tony about his distaste of alcohol and sinthohol.

Two days later they reached the rendezvous point, ahead of schedule. "Sir, there's a ship closing on our position, I can't identify it's warp signature," Michelle reported.

"Cloaked?" Mike asked.

"No, sir. Just unidentifiable."

"Orders, sir?" Amber asked, glancing to her left to see if Tony was as worried as she was.

He was, but she couldn't tell. His experience as a Marine taught him, if nothing else, to look assured of himself. I wish I knew how to handle the position better, half of him thought. The other half thought, You'll do fine. You've done more simulators and ranked higher on more Tactical Tests than most lieutenants your age. Besides, all you have to do is listen to your dad; he knows what he's doing.

"Mr. Corvik, open all hailing frequencies and patch in the Universal Translator. Computer: Record and transmit this message. 'The captain of the USS Interceptor, a representative of the United Federation of Planets, greets you. Please respond and identify yourself.' Mr. Corvik, repeat this message every five minutes."

"Y-yes, sir."

"S-sir, we're b-being hailed," the young communications officer said after a few minutes.

"By the unidentified ship?" the captain asked.

"No, s-sir. By the R-Romulan ship that's been f-following us." This remark was meat by an exchange of puzzled looks between the Tactical Officer and Helmsman. If we hadn't been in the Holodeck most of the time, we would've know, they both thought with a shrug.

"On screen," the captain ordered and the view screen changed from an ominous looking object in the distance to an even more ominous looking g Romulan.

"My name is Dwan, commander of the ERW Car'Thein. T'Wain has ordered me to inform you of this in the case of your meeting this threat," said the Romulan who was back lit in such a way that you could neither see his face nor what was going on behind him.

"And what threat would that be?" Mike asked.

"The Tar. A species that is bent on conquest; with no scouts, no escorts, and no respect for anything that lives. They have no ships that can't wipe out a highly sophisticated planetary defense in one foul swoop. They use both disruptors and phasers, multiple shield, and a new type of torpedo that automatically changes to counter act a ships shields."

"Thank you, Dwan. This information will be put to good use. But I don't believe that your direct intervention will be necessary," Mike responded and gave the signal to end the transmission.

"Sir, I've finished scanning the unknown ship and, well, sir… there's no way any of what that Romulan said could be true," Tony reported, somewhat hesitantly. "The reason we couldn't identify the warp signature is because there isn't one. There aren't even enough people on that ship to run anything more complex than Impulse Engines. The only weapons I can make out," he said, leaning over his consul to take a better look, "are… penetrative missiles. They look like they're designed to cut through shields and ship armor. They also look like they have a less advance communications system. That may be why they never answered our hails."

"Ensign?" the captain asked, turning to his Communications Officer. "Could that be possible?"

"Y-yes, sir. I'll a-adjust our sign," he responded nervously.

"Thank you. You can also discontinue the automated transmission."

"Aye-aye, s-sir. Hailing f-frequencies open."

"Greetings from the United Federation of Planets. We apologize for our lack of communication; our systems are… very different. We also apologize if we're intruding on your space, we were instructed to wait here for another ship in our fleet."

"We of the Tar also greet you," responded a soothing but masculine voice over the speakers. "We also apologize for our lack of communication. Most of our crew is in stases and we need to periodically retrain some of our officers. And as far as 'our space' goes, you're welcome to use it as you see fit. It is obvious to us that your vesicle is infinitely superior to ours and we wouldn't-"

"Sir!" Tony interrupted urgently. "Incoming torpedo!"

"Shields!" the captain commanded, needlessly, even though he knew his son would already have raised them. "Origin?"

"The Romulan Griffin. But it looks like they're trying to make it look like the Tar, sir," he responded as their adversary fired their phasers.

"Helm, circle around the Griffin in such away as to make it look like we're going to attack the Tar but put us between them. Tactical, target weapons control and engines. On my mark…" Mike ordered as his officers made it happen. "Fire."

His last order was meat with an array of phaser beams followed by a series of small explosions. "Direct hit, sir. Both systems inoperative," Tony reported as the Romulan ship lost its cloak. "In coming Warbirds!"

"What?"

"Th-they're hailing us, s-sir," Corvik interrupted, before the captain could give any orders.

"Bring us around. On screen," Mike ordered.

"I am Commander D'Ran of the Warbird Cue'Cha. We apologize for Dwan's treacherous behavior," the Romulan woman stated sincerely. "He believes that all species other than Romulans are inferior and should be exterminated."

"We" appreciate your apology, but we hope you don't mind if we don't drop our shields right away," Mike responded, half jokingly. "I'm Captain Mike Sommerfeld of the USS Interceptor. I believe this is where we're supposed to wait for the Santa Maria?"

"Yes, captain, it is. However, you weren't supposed to be here for days."

"A consequence of the special code we received at the beginning of our trip. It allowed for an extreme… short cut through your gracious empire," Mike responded.

"He's laying it on very thick," Tony whispered, and was rewarded with a slight chuckle from Amber.

"Yes, I believe it would," D'Ran said slyly.

"S-sir, the Car'Thein is h-hailing us, audio only," Corvick interrupted.

"Patch it through."

"Captain, how dare you fire on us like that? We could have been destroyed!" a familiar voice said angrily.

"No, commander, you couldn't. You see, my tactical officer would not hit anything he wasn't told to and our targeting systems are accurate enough to shoot down one of your toilets if wanted it to. Besides, you fired on us first," Mike answered calmly.

"Lies! How could we fire on you if we were cloaked?"

"Commander, there have been ships in the past that could fire while cloaked: a Klingon Bird of Prey and your former Prator's Warship, the Scimitar," Michelle Gabicorta responded coolly.

"Isolated incidents. You have no way of proving us capable of this impossibility. Besides, our sensors show that it was the Tar that fired on you," Dwan retorted smugly.

"And our sensors show that they're not capable of the attack," Commander D'Ran interjected.

"D'Ran, you treacherous dog! How could you take the enemies side against a fellow Romulan!" Dwan demanded.

"Enemy? We are in peace talks with the Federation. Except, perhaps, you and your like. Those who use terror to achieve their goals," D'Ran responded coolly.

"Peace talks? Why would the Romulans indulge a weaker race with words?" Dwan demanded angrily.

"'Weaker race'? If we're the weaker race why could we disable your ship so easily? Or withstand a frontal assault from you ship?" Mike asserted forcefully.

"A Griffin is no match for almost any Federation starship! The only chance we had was our cloak! How did you detect it anyway?" Dwan inquired slyly.

"That, my friend, is our business, not yours."

"Captain," interjected D'Ran, "I regret Dwan's conduct, but he has a point. If there is to be good relations between our people we must trust each other."

"Yes, but there is a fine line between trust and trickery. The time for trust will come after we get our people back and a treaty is signed," Mike responded coolly.

"Clever response, captain. I look forward to that day."

"Sir, the Warbird Cue'Cha has locked onto the Car'Thein with a tractor beam. They are proceeding to tow it away," Tony reported.

"Good, now we just need to wait for the Santa Maria."

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 In an intruder situation, the lights in the appropriate area are lowered to disorient the intruders and increase detectablity, due to hand lights.