Chapter 13: "Move and Countermove"

=/\= - =/\=

"Leih, scanners picking up energy fluctuations, bearing two nine three mark seven," the Tactical Officer of the Romulan scout ship Laehval reported.

Erei'Riov Dalok's grim expression momentarily lightened to one of surprise. He really hadn't expected to find anything, but rather had felt confident in his believe that Director Terrh was simply paranoid. Now it seemed that the Tal'Shiar officer did actually have some sort of sixth sense.

"Cause?" Dalok asked tersely.

"It's one of ours," the officer at the Science console chimed in.

"Fvadt," the Erei'Riov grumbled, "on screen."

Intermittent sputters of energy were visible on the screen. A piece of a hull section decloaked for but a second, then more fizzles of energy followed, and another brief flashing of an outline.

"It's a shuttle, rekkhai," the Tactical Officer informed.

"A shuttle? This far out in space?" Dalok's brow quirked. "Scan for its mother ship," he ordered. "Helm, take us to the coordinates."

"Ie, rekkhai," the helmsman promptly replied, "heading two nine three mark seven."

=/\=

"No ships within scanning radius, leih," the Tactical Officer reported just as the Laehval came up next to the small craft. "There are also no indications of any cloaked ships of ours."

"No lifeforms aboard the shuttle either, Erei'Riov," the Science Office noted.

"Khre'Arrain Gwui," Dalok mashed a button at his seat, calling on his security team, "take two officers with you and beam over to the coordinates I'm sending to the transporter room. It's one of our shuttles, supposedly unmanned. I want you to search it."

"Ie, rekkhai," a female voice answered.

"Keep me informed," Dalok instructed her.

He leaned back in his seat, pondering on why exactly an unmanned Rihannsu shuttle would be here, now. Could it be a trap, loaded with explosive devices to blow them out of the sky? But nothing his tactical officer had reported thus far had indicated that. Could the craft have been out here for a long time, and they just hadn't noticed it until the cloak began to fail? But who would so carelessly leave an empty shuttle in space? And what would its function have been? To spy on them? It all seemed rather obscure.

=/\=

"The shuttle is secured," Gwui's voice brought Dalek to focus back on the matter at hand, "There is nobody on board, rekkhai. Orders?"

"Shut down the cloak," the Erei'Riov commanded, "pilot it back to the Lagga, take it into the hangar. We'll be escorting you and then beam you back on board once you've parked it."

"Understood," Gwui acknowledged.

Dalek patiently watched as the shuttle's cloak was deactivated. He halfway expected someone to start firing on the small craft when they began to move toward the planet, but nothing happened. It was all still very strange to him. Perhaps Terrh would have a better idea of what might be going on.

"Open a channel to the Lagga," he requested with slight trepidations over just how the Director might react to this find.

=/\= - =/\=

"My intuition has never failed me, Dalek," Terrh ch'Vaeridh rumbled, gloating just a little. As arrogant as some might found him to be, Terrh's hunches had not only proven correct time and again, they had also saved his life more often than he could count.

The Laehval's captain's report had made him sure in his belief that there was a Rihannsu force out there somewhere, poised to foil his plans, and he wasn't about to wait until they would attack. He would take measures to assure they would get a nasty little surprise should they come blasting into the inner circle of the system. Despite Dalok saying that his officers had not detected any signs of possible cloaked Galae ships, Terrh was certain he could trust his feelings more than the instruments.

He stepped up to the control console and opened a comm link to all three of his ships. "Attention, leihs," he boomed, "an intruder has been found. While it was only a small shuttle, I am not about to sit here and wait for any other ships to drop in and ambush us." The fury in his voice abated a bit, and changed into a calmer but cold and menacing tone, "I'm ordering all of you to head to the asteroid belt's edge and deploy a line of cloaked mines. Coordinate your efforts to cover the most space possible. Start from where the shuttle was found into the direction of the planets orbital path, along the asteroid belt and toward the planet itself. Erei'Riov Dalek has the coordinates."

He clenched his jaw, "I'll arm them as soon as you're done with your task." A sinister smile suddenly spread on his lips, "We'll either flush out who's already here, or give an unforgettable greeting to whomever will be visiting."

=/\= - =/\=

"Bravo," Admiral Boris Michaev clapped theatrically, "What a performance, Arrain R'Kal. You almost had me believe that poor old Mirok was impeded with taking care of his wounds and had to have you handle the contact with the Klingons as his loyal servant," he finished his caustic critique. "You missed your calling."

The Chameloid in disguise as a Romulan turned, just as the illumination on the Umbra's bridge brightened again. They had dimmed the surroundings and added a few purposefully placed red and green lights, glaring in the direction of the visual sensor, so that the Klingons wouldn't be easily able to tell what R'Kal's surroundings were. It had worked. The question of his whereabouts had not come up in the conversation.

"You have a funny way of showing your gratitude, Admiral," Temba replied in Rihannsu. "You know, I didn't have to do this for you."

"And I don't have to keep you alive," Michaev replied blatantly. He motioned to Zlar, and the Andorian promptly ushered the supposed Romulan to a seat, where he was shackled to the chair's arms with manacles to both wrists.

"Now," the Admiral sauntered over, "thank you for your services." He gave a slight bow. "The Klingons will be here within the hour. They're awaiting our signal before making the attack run on the mining vessel. All's in good order."

"I thought the prize you wanted was the mining ship?" Temba cocked his head. "Why tell the Klingons to damage it?"

"Oh, they won't get that far," Michaev assured him, "As soon as they decloak to attack, the Romulans will be all over them." He smiled coyly. "You might not see anything out there," he motioned to the viewscreen, where the huge mining ship loomed, "but you know as well as I do, Terrh has his ass covered. I'm sure there are plenty of cloaked ships to protect his little project."

=/\=

"Admiral," Waridid drew Michaev's attention to the screen, "look."

A greenish speck was moving toward the enormous mining vessel.

"Magnify," Michaev ordered. He stepped up to his command chair and laid a hand on it, watching intently as the scene came into focus. "Well well..." he wore a lopsided grin, "looks like somebody found the derelict shuttle."

The small craft moved into the mining ship's holds and vanished from their view.

"How much do you want to bet that it had a cloaked escort?" The Admiral glanced at his agents in turn. None of them took the bet, of course. He chuckled. His eyes went back to the viewscreen. "So, there we go. Now we can be sure Terrh knows that somebody's out here."

"Great," Meili muttered.

"And you know, he's sure to be looking," Michaev noted ominously. "Keep and eye out, Micro, and stay your distance."

=/\=

"Admiral." This time it was Kazra drawing Michaev's attention. He looked up from the bluish crystal in his hands.

"What is it?"

There was a dismal expression in Kazra's eyes when he spoke, "I was just checking on Amtor. Apparently he received instructions from his superior in connection with the discovery of the shuttle."

"And?" Michaev looked a little tense.

"And..." Kazra sighed, "the head Engineer passed down orders from Terrh about assisting the three ships with supplying them with... cloaked mines."

"Where?" Michaev asked brusquely.

"Something about carpeting the area between the asteroid belt and the planet," Kazra answered.

"Damn." Meili flopped onto her seat. "If they manage to do that and activate the mines... it'll be almost impossible for anyone to approach the mining ship covertly."

"It's a big area to cover," Zlar pointed out. "Plus, the planet is moving. It's not like they can carpet one spot and they'll be good. They'd have to continue modifying the perimeters of the mine field, and that takes a lot of mines."

"True," the female agent countered, "but they could always just move the ones from the rear to the front."

"And chance setting off the mines themselves?" Kazra interjected.

"No, you dumbass," she spouted angrily, "they'd just turn them off. They got the codes."

"Who are you calling a dumbass?" Kazra shot across the bridge, ready to slap the Augment agent.

Meili sprung up from her chair.

"Enough!" Michaev bellowed. "Get back to your consoles!"

Meili's nostrils flared. She glared at Kazra. He glared back. But then both capitulated under Michaev's dark stare and went back to handle their duties. All the while, Temba carefully watched the scene in silence.

"We're moving the ship," the Admiral declared. "Micro, take us away from the asteroids and move us as closer as possible to the mining vessel, without chancing getting in the way of anything flying by."

=/\=

It took almost thirty minutes for the Umbra to make the journey from her former spot to within 200 meters of the Romulan mining ship, the Lagga. There, the cloaked Starfleet ship under the command of the notorious SFI Rear Admiral Boris Michaev would lay in wait until Kazra, aka Agent Succuba, would give word that the thalaron weapon was ready.

By then, the fleet of rogue Klingons should have arrived, and it would be time for Michaev's agents to pounce on the just as notorious, newly proclaimed Director of the Tal'Shiar, Khrein Terrh ch'Vaeridh, and spoil his fun. Michaev was almost giddy at the thought.

Leih = Commander (the position, not the rank)

Erei'Riov = Sub-Commander (SF equivalent rank: Commander)

Fvadt = Damn

Rekkhai = Sir

Khre'Arrain = Senior-Centurion (SF equivalent rank: Lt. Cmdr.)

Galae = Romulan Fleet

Khrein = General