"When life gives you lemons, beat the fuck out of those pale yellow bastards until they bleed, laugh in life's face, and enjoy your fresh lemonade."
"You know, I think there's a law somewhere that prohibits cruel and unusual punishment." Jennifer stated as Evan and she entered the second crew cabin they had to clean on the deck. It was the second to last deck, but there were at least fifteen crew cabins on said deck. They had about two more hours on shift before being able to go to sleep. It was the third week of their extra duty, and they only had two more days left of 'assisting' the sanitation team with ship cleanliness. It was going to be a long two days.
Assisting the sanitation team had actually meant going above and beyond their genuine assigned duties. For the past three weeks, Jennifer and Evan had been cleaning crew cabins, making beds, sanitizing crew latrines, and doing crew laundry.
"Hey Jenn, I think you might want to take a look at this." Evan said, holding a PADD in the air.
Jennifer put down the sani-wipes she was using to clean the desks in the double room with and walked over towards the bunk beds Evan was standing next to.
"Why do you have someone's personal PADD in your hand?" Jennifer asked, immediately recognizing the PADD as non-standard issue.
"You do remember whose room we're in right now, right?" Evan asked. Jennifer shook her head truthfully denying she held the knowledge. All rooms had begun to look alike at this point in their unnecessary and unfair punishment. "Finnegan's and Ward's. This is Finnegan's PADD. I picked it up off his messy bed, so I could make it, but as soon as I touched the thing it lit up with this." Evan handed Jennifer the PADD and waited.
Jennifer looked at the program on the PADD and gasped. If she was reading it correctly which she was, it was a subroutine. Not very sophisticated, she noted, crude even, yet it would be effective. In the top left corner of the PADD's screen, a notification was blinking still. Finnegan must have just barely missed them when they came on deck to clean the crew cabins. The notification blinking obnoxiously in Jennifer's face stated that the program had been downloaded onto a portable device. A device which would allow Finnegan to install the program. Jennifer looked over the program again, taking careful attention to understand where he intended to install the subroutine and what the anticipated result would be. As soon as she figured it out she blanched, losing all blood in her face.
"What is it for?" Evan prompted quietly, having noticed Jennifer's reaction to studying the program.
"We need to go to the captain immediately. Skip our first line, skip his supervisor, and skip the first officer. This poses as very serious threat to the mission, especially if the scheduled rendezvous with the Armonians is going to happen today." Jennifer replied turning to the door afterwards.
"What the fuck is it, Jenn?" Evan grabbed Jennifer's arm and turned her around to face him before she reached the automatic door. "Tell me."
"Finnegan has somehow created a subroutine he has probably installed by now, or is on his way to install, that will auto-target the next ship and or planet we come into contact or orbit with. The program is intended for the ship's phaser bank cannons, to overload them to a certain frequency as to provide the phasers with enough power to obliterate a ship or destroy a small city on the surface of a planet. Completely. Probably us along with it, but definitely massively destructive. We need to inform the captain, NOW!"
Evan stared at Jennifer for a moment before dragging her with him through the door. He didn't ask if she was sure, he didn't ask for confirmation. He knew the look on her face, and it was pure confidence mixed with utter terror. The only time he had seen her look like that before was years ago. She was sure of her conclusion, so he was too. The captain did indeed need to be informed.
Jennifer and Evan came bursting out of the turbo lift without regard for protocol, hurried.
"What is the meaning of this, Kirk? Michaels?" Commander Chenowyth asked harshly, rising from his seat at the commotion.
"Captain," Jennifer started, ignoring the first officer for the moment, "we need to speak with you. Now. It is a matter of great urgency.
"And just what could be so urgent for you to completely disregard protocol? Not even request permission to come aboard the bridge? Which you are not authorized to do at the moment, might I add." Captain Garrovick reprimanded the two young adults. Jennifer didn't flinch.
"Sir, look at this, and tell me if you know what it is." Jennifer thrust the PADD forcefully into the captain's hands, he was still seated in his chair.
Captain Garrovick looked down at the PADD he was offered confused. "I'm not a programmer, Kirk. What's the meaning of this?"
Commander Chenowyth walked to the captain's position and offered to look at the PADD without as much as a word. Captain Garrovick handed the PADD to his first officer and decided not to question the two cadets in front of him until Chenowyth had come to a conclusion.
Jennifer noticed that Commander Chenowyth had at least a more than basic understanding of programming, as he had started to lose the color in his face as well. He handed the PADD back to Captain Garrovick before turning on the two cadets.
"You will tell me where you obtained this PADD and how that program came to be on it. You will do so in full detail now." Chenowyth ordered.
"Sir, as you are most likely aware, Michaels and I are on extra duty do to an unverified accusation. I say unverified because the source is less than credible. It was the source of how we were thusly accused that is the owner of this PADD. You can confirm it yourself within the PADD's ownership settings. The program on that PADD was written by its owner, and I have to assume someone else, because there is no way the PADD's owner knows enough about ship's specific systems to be the only author of the subroutine you have just studied." Jennifer informed him, looking between the captain and the first officer. "Michaels and I found this PADD while cleaning the crew quarters of said owner."
"And you're sure of this information? Absolutely sure?" Captain Garrovick asked, still not quite sure what he was dealing with.
"One hundred and fifty percent, sir." Evan replied confidently.
"Commander, let's take this to my ready room, yeah?" Captain Garrovick said, subtlety asking if it was the best course of action to speak anymore on the subject in company.
"That would be wise, sir." Chenowyth responded.
"Cadet Uhura, please dispatch a message to the Armonians that we will be delayed for an unknown amount of time due to an emergency situation." Captain Garrovick instructed the cadet who was sitting next to the chief communications officer. No doubt, Jennifer surmised, that Uhura knew the Armonian language while the chief communications officer did not, which would be the reason she was on the bridge during Alpha shift manning the communications console with the chief communications officer.
"Cadets." Chenowyth gestured to the turbo lift, telling Jennifer and Evan to walk ahead of the captain and first officer.
"Lt. Sharon," Captain Garrovick addressed his helmsman before entering the turbo lift, "all stop. Wait for further instructions. You have the con."
"Aye, sir." The helmsman replied. Garrovick entered the turbo lift, anxious to what was awaiting him behind closed doors.
The turbo lift ride was short and silent, as was the short walk from the lift to the captain's ready room. Captain Garrovick took his seat behind his desk and Commander Chenowyth took his position at the captain's right side, still standing.
"Take a seat, cadets." Garrovick instructed. He looked to his first officer, asking a silent question to which Chenowyth nodded in agreement with. "Computer, activate security sequence Chenowyth Alpha 2364 Beta 5." Jennifer could only guess what the security sequence was, but didn't need long to be informed.
"Command code and voice print confirmed. Sequence activated. Room is now secure." The computer verified. Secure could only mean one thing. Nothing was going to be recorded now.
"Alright cadets, you have my attention, or rather, you have the attention of my first officer, which has my attention. Explain. In detail. No need to talk in code, we're aren't being recorded." Garrovick said.
Jennifer took a deep breath, looked at Evan, and Evan nodded. Jennifer would inform the two senior officers of the situation and possible ramifications.
"Sirs, as you are well aware Michaels and I were placed on extra duty approximately three weeks ago for being charged with dereliction of duty. I start here because I believe it ties into this whole situation." Both officers nodded for her to continue with her briefing. Jennifer had quickly come to the conclusion, on the way to the bridge and to the ready room that she and Evan's 'fall from grace' had been part of a master plan. It was what made the most sense. LTCDR Pearce had to have been the one to assist with coding the subroutine. "The dereliction of duty we were both accused of was excessive socializing during our duty shift, appropriated by one eyewitness, and not backed by other officers on shift with us. LTCDR Pearce also informed us that the security logs from every single shift of ours in the phaser bank area had been erased from the ship's computer. He then went on to accuse me, and later Michaels, of erasing the security logs which would have provided evidence for him to use. The evidence that would have been provided would have acquitted us of such a charge, yet he did not deem it necessary to restore the logs. Which, if you will allow me to once I am finished, I am sure I can do."
"How does this PADD, and its owner fit into your charge?" Chenowyth asked skeptically.
"The owner of the PADD is cadet Finnegan. He is also the only plausible person to be the alleged eyewitness to our charge of dereliction of duty. He was the only person, save for those officers on shift with us and LTCDR Pearce who could have possibly witnessed such a thing, as he was often coming and going during our shift to the Armory Chief's office. He also has a grudge against me, which you, captain, can confirm because you were there for the end of the situation at the barbeque hosted by Admiral Archer at his house."
Jennifer paused, waiting for confirmation to continue. When Garrovick nodded silently she continued speaking.
"Now, with the above information, and given that I saw LTCDR Pearce at the barbeque as well, the only rational explanation is that we, Michaels and I, were set up for this charge as to lose credibility and standing with you, sirs." Jennifer said.
"And the PADD, cadet?" Garrovick questioned.
"The PADD, captain, was found in Finnegan's room. On his bunk, by Michaels." Jennifer answered.
"It's true, sir. I know that generally ship security doesn't keep the recordings of crew member cabins for more than 24 hours, but since it hasn't been that long, you can look at them if you want to confirm it." Evan replied resigned not to be trusted with appearing to randomly 'find' such a horrible program. "He must've just left his cabin not five minutes before we got there, sir."
"Computer, what cabin is assigned to Cadet Finnegan?" Chenowyth inquired.
"Cadet Sean Finnegan Paul Finnegan is assigned to Cabin Two located on Deck Four." The computer intoned.
"Computer, play security log for Cabin Two, Deck Four, at… 1345 hours." Garrovick instructed after pressing a button on his desk's computer display console. It was only just a few minutes prior to 1400 hours now, which would be the ballpark time that had lapsed since Jennifer and Evan had been in Finnegan's room.
After what seemed to be only about five minutes of watching footage, fast-forwarding and reversing footage the captain looked to his first officer and nodded silently again.
"Okay, so your story is confirmed. You found the PADD and you didn't place it there. Now explain the contents of this PADD and how it ties into your punishment." Garrovick said.
"And why implicate Evans either? If it was just you that needed to lose credibility?" Chenowyth added.
Jennifer chose to answer the first officer's question first, as it was easiest to explain. "Sir, Evans was implicated for two reasons. The first being that in order to accuse me of this specific dereliction of duty, because it is the easiest and simplest to accuse someone of, there needed to be another person accused one the same shift as me as well. Excessive socializing is usually up to the perception of the officer dealing with the charge. The second is that Michaels is my friend, and everyone knows it. It wouldn't be too hard to think that we would talk to one another, stretch it out, and now you have excessive socializing to implicate dereliction of duty while on shift. Even you sirs, believed the charge enough not to dispute the report." Jennifer paused waiting for a quick reprimand at the backwards implication that the two officers in front of her had not trusted her with her duties, and by extension Evan. It didn't come. She was right, and they both knew it.
"The subroutine on the PADD is designed to interfere with the ship's phaser bank cannon's programmed functionality. The subroutine is designed to be remote activated, a safeguard, I'm sure, to prevent accidental targeting. When installed, if activated, the phaser cannons would be programmed to automatically charge and lock onto any target as big, if not larger, than a constitution class starship. It could lock on to a small city of a planet if we were to assume standard orbit. The ship's phasers would then overload enough to completely destroy its designed target. Obviously you can understand the possible ramifications should such an event happen, thereby explaining my rather unannounced and against regulation entrance onto the bridge. As soon as I had figured out what the subroutine was and what it would be designed for, I knew that I needed to bring it straight to you, captain. When I looked at the program in Finnegan's cabin, there was a notification still active, meaning he hadn't been gone long, which informed me that the program has been downloaded onto a portable information transference device. Most likely some kind of miniature memory chip of some sort."
The new information quickly took the senior officers by surprise, and Jennifer didn't hesitate to continue.
"I have to presume, considering the players, that Finnegan means to install this program into the phaser bank cannon that Michaels and I are assigned to during Gamma shift, when we are, sorry were, scheduled to rendezvous with the Armonian ship. A ship gentleman, that is considered comparable to a Federation Constitution size Starship." Jennifer allowed this information to sink in before she continued to answer the question as to why the charge against her and Evan had some part in the whole situation.
"Now, due to all the information that you have, is it so inconceivable to assume that Finnegan, and possibly LTCDR Pearce used the charge to discredit myself and Michaels, leaving open the possibility that we would fire upon a ship in revenge for the punishment chosen for us? Because to me, that seems the only logical explanation. Or perhaps, Finnegan just wants to do something completely stupid. However, before you consider the latter option, ponder one thing. Why would they go through the trouble of discrediting us, if not to blame us for something larger? You know I have a level 7 rating in computer programming, sirs, if you've read my file. I could have programmed the subroutine, although I will tell you if I had, it would definitely be much more elegant than the one on Finnegan's PADD. Also, if I were the one to erase the security logs, which LTCDR Pearce accused me of, I would not have left a blank gap, I would have replaced the footage with something innocuous, and no one on this ship, at least to my knowledge, would have been able to figure out the logs had been tampered with."
The two senior officers seemed to consider what they were being told. Looking to one another, as if to gauge the plausibility of Jennifer's story, they quickly reached what appeared to be a mutual agreement.
"Okay, Kirk. Say this is actually all true. Which, we are inclined to believe it is. What do we do about this? Because from where I'm sitting, it seems we have two options. We can call Finnegan, and Pearce up here, confront them, and possibly get almost nowhere, or we can test this theory of yours out." Garrovick said.
"Sir, testing this theory out would be catastrophic. Major loss of life. Mission failure. Not to mention a diplomatic disaster for the relationship the Federation has with the Armonian government." Jennifer rebutted.
"I didn't say we had to test it out on the Armonian ship, Kirk. I'm not a murderer." Garrovick retorted, laughing for the first time since the discussion had begun. "I'm simply suggesting that we don't allow anyone else to be made aware of that fact. We can't formally investigate the conclusions you've drawn. Not without a potential disaster, or at least Finnegan and or Pearce being made aware of our own awareness. Much as I don't want to think about my armory chief being involved in a sabotage so unsavory, I don't think we can risk letting them know we're onto them. That being said, we need a plan." Garrovick finished, he finally let his mask falter a bit, and Jennifer could see the regret written on his face. She understood, she'd feel the same way if she were captain and one of her crew, someone she was supposed to trust, completely tuned that around on her.
Jennifer's mind was racing. She was thinking of possibilities to test out the subroutine that would not endanger anyone's lives. She knew an overload on the phasers, could be at the very least, damaging to the ship and leave the phaser bank inoperable. But the ship had more than one phaser bank cannon, if it were to encounter an enemy of sorts, other phaser banks could be utilized. It was a risk, for sure, but much less so a risk than massive loss of life. Jennifer looked over to Evan and could tell that he too was considering options and game-plans. They definitely needed one, and they needed one quickly.
"Sir," Evan spoke up, "is there an uninhabited planet in a neutral system anywhere nearby?"
Garrovick looked to his first officer. "The Drana system is approximately nine hours away at warp six, sir. We could be there roughly around the time we were supposed to rendezvous with the Armonian ship." Chenowyth answered his captain's silent question.
"Oh my god! Evan, that's brilliant!" Jennifer exclaimed, understanding immediately what he was proposing.
"If I may, what do you wish to accomplish by adjusting our heading to the Drana system?" Chenowyth asked.
"Sirs, Kirk said that the subroutine was programmed to auto-target and fire on a target at least the size of a constitution class starship." Evan said, placing emphasis on the 'at least' part of his statement. "If we were to assume standard orbit around a planet, an uninhabitable planet, at the same time that we would rendezvous with the Armonian ship, we could test the subroutine that way, with a much decreased risk. The risk to the ship's phaser bank cannon would still exist, but, there would be no loss of life, nor any risk of severely damaging our diplomatic ties with the Armonian government." Evan concluded. Jennifer quickly worked through his proposed plan and decided that it definitely had merit. She could probably reprogram the phaser bank to only overload to a certain degree, limiting the risk to the ship and its weapons even more.
"We would have to lie to the crew, except perhaps the bridge crew, who would need to be informed of the plan." Jennifer added. "I could also program a safety threshold into the ship's weapons system, limiting the risk of damage when the phaser bank goes to overload. It would override only the specific part of the subroutine Finnegan has no doubt installed by now." Jennifer added. "I am the better programmer, at least."
Garrovick and Chenowyth considered their own options silently.
"Alright. The plan has definite merit. Until then, we will investigate the matter of your current charges." Garrovick said, looking directly at Jennifer. "You said you can probably pull up the erased security footage Pearce mentioned?"
"Easily. Nothing is ever truly gone. And considering that I am the better programmer, I'm assuming Finnegan, or even LTCDR Pearce if it was him, just did a block erase. Easy enough to resolve, honestly." Jennifer replied.
"Good. Can you do it from here?" Garrovick asked seriously.
"On your console, captain?" Jennifer replied.
"Obviously. I don't want this PADD of Finnegan's to be touched any more yet." Garrovick answered.
"Sure, if you don't mind, sir?" Jennifer rose from her seat and walked to the captain's desk. Garrovick stood from his chair and allowed Jennifer access.
Jennifer got to work, pulling up the ship's security footage system. She focused then on the armory area, and specifically the phaser bank cannon room which she and Evan were assigned to. She then pulled up what was supposed to be the archive of footage, realized the gap, and started to extract the data necessary for the restoration process. It took her about ten minutes in total, but she had successfully restored the erased footage from the ship's backup hard drive system. The footage was slightly damaged, and grainy, unlike existing security archives, but it was there.
"Sir." Jennifer rose from her seat to allow the captain to take back his chair and moved back to the couch in his ready room next to Evan.
"Alright. With the current plan in place I have time to review this footage and officially clear both of you of all charges. Effective immediately you are no longer required to report to the sanitation team during Alpha shift as punishment. Both of you will report to the bridge instead. LTCDR Pearce will be notified of this, unfortunately, but I'm pretty confident I can swing it to sound as if I have a special punishment for the remainder of your phase. I want both of you to report to Gamma shift as normal tonight, but I'm also going to send Commander Chenowyth down there with you. He will act as a witness when the shit hits the fan so that neither of you can be charged with anything, considering we're going to obliterate a fake ship and all." Garrovick laughed at his last statement, causing the other three to join in.
"All right, that's it for now. You two can go get some food and rest. You'll need it." Garrovick said. "Unless you have anything to add, commander." He turned to look at Chenowyth.
"Only that I apologize for the brisk behavior I greeted you with when you stormed on the bridge. However, in my defense, you two did seem quite crazed." Chenowyth laughed.
"Won't happen again, sir." Jennifer paused for effect. "Unless, you know, another crazy saboteur comes to light that is, then I apologize in advance for my crazed entrance onto the bridge." Jennifer received laughter from both the captain and first officer then.
"Alright you two, you're dismissed." Garrovick waved them off and Jennifer rose from her seat with Evan to exit the captain's ready room.
"Crazy times we live in, huh?" Evan said.
"Crazy times indeed." Jennifer agreed. "I don't know about you, but trying to stop a mad man from blowing up a ship has made me absolutely ravenous."
"I'm quite famished myself." Evan replied chuckling.
"Commander Chenowyth, what brings you down to my neck of the woods? Aren't we supposed to be rendezvousing with the Armonian ship soon?" Jennifer heard LTCDR Pearce ask the Farragut's first officer when he entered the phaser bank hold.
"Just doing my rounds, Pearce. Besides, you know I'm not really needed for the meet-up. Bunch of hogwash diplomatic nonsense if you ask me." Chenowyth chuckled. Jennifer had to give it to the man, he could play act with the best of them that was for sure.
Jennifer glanced over at Evan and both cadets slowly backed away from the phaser control consoles. Jennifer had already programmed the new overload safety protocol, and she could only hope that when it happened, no one else was close enough to the area to be hurt.
"Bunch of idiots, those Armonians, if you ask me. Why the Farragut was chosen to travel half the damn quadrant just to satisfy their childish need to feel like the Federation still wants them to be allies is beyond me. If you want my opinion, I don't even know why the Federation wants a bunch of pansy ass aliens as allies. It's not like they have much in the way of weapons anyway. And here we are giving away medical supplies to yet another race in need. I just don't get it. The Federation is strong, even if we still rely heavily on the Vulcans." Pearce ranted on.
Jennifer had thought that the man was slightly xenophobic, sexist, and altogether just a fucking douchebag, but she'd never heard him talk like this. She briefly wondered if the captain was aware of Pearce's xenophobic, well not exactly phobic, more like hatred, views of other alien races. Surely he did, and perhaps he was just biding his time to catch Pearce in a situation much like the one that was about to play out soon. She'd never heard Pearce voice his sentiments so strongly, at least not in the past few weeks she'd been aboard the ship. Maybe he just saved it for people he thought he trusted. Surely he didn't realize that Jennifer and Evan were close enough to hear his every word.
Jennifer caught the gaze of Commander Chenowyth and nodded, signaling that the overload safety protocol had indeed been implemented into the ship's phaser control systems, and waited. The captain would announce any minute now that they had met up with the Armonian ship and all hell would break lose.
On cue, the captain's voice rang over the ship-wide intercom system.
"Attention Crew: We have met our scheduled rendezvous with the Armonian ship and will shortly begin transporting the provisioned medical supplies to them. Have your teams ready, but standby for further instructions. Thank you all. Garrovick out." Damn, Jennifer thought, he was certainly convincing. Only Garrovick, Chenowyth, Evan, herself, and of course the bridge crew knew where they actually were. In the Drama system, currently orbiting the seventh planet.
The charging of the ship's aft phaser bank cannon shouldn't have come as a surprise to Jennifer, but she still jumped slightly when she heard the sound it made. Pearce must have heard it too, because he turned around from just outside his office glaring directly at Jennifer and Evan.
"What the hell did you just do, Kirk?" Pearce shouted, rushing towards the console. Jennifer side stepped him as he shot past her and allowed him to play out his part. "This thing is powering up, and it's locked onto a target! What is the meaning of this, cadet?" Pearce screamed turning around, faking frustration and anger. "I can't even reverse the order. What have you done?"
The overload happened and the ship's aft phaser fired. It destroyed what Jennifer knew to be some part of the planet's surface, but Pearce obviously hadn't really looked that hard at the console, because he started screaming again.
"You just caused the destruction of a ship! A Federation ally ship! I will have you kicked out of Starfleet and imprisoned for this!" Pearce bellowed.
"Kirk, Michaels. You will follow me to the captain. This act of defiance and destruction will not be tolerated, the captain will be informed immediately." Chenowyth roared violently. Jennifer thought he would have made an excellent actor.
"Now wait a damn minute, sir! These two are responsible for blowing up a ship, don't you think I should be part of their interrogation?" Pearce demanded bordering on the line of insubordination.
"Garrovick to Pearce. What the fuck was that?" Garrovick's voice sounded over the intercom right on schedule.
Pearce walked straight to the com unit on the wall next to Chenowyth to respond, however Chenowyth beat him to it.
"Captain, I have Kirk and Michaels in custody. I will be bringing them to you shortly to explain what has just occurred..." Chenowyth spoke to the intercom.
"Send Pearce too, he's responsible for those two. Garrovick out."
Chenowyth considered the Armory Chief for a moment, and he was ready to respond to the man's previous statement when Cadet Finnegan walked into the area.
"Cadet Finnegan, what is your purpose here?" Chenowyth demanded intensely.
Finnegan looked at the first officer as if he'd been caught red-handed, which in reality he had, he just didn't know it yet.
"I have an update to give to LTCDR Pearce, sir, but it can wait." Finnegan responded in almost a whisper. He glanced at Pearce and Jennifer caught the short smile, brief though it was Pearce had flashed to Finnegan in response.
"Then you may accompany us to see the captain." Chenowyth answered. "Come, now."
Jennifer followed directly behind Commander Chenowyth, Evan to her left. Straight behind her were Pearce and Finnegan. Jennifer could almost feel their satisfaction wafting off of them. Little did they know they had been caught already and this was simply a trap.
The way to the turbo lift was quick and silent.
"Destination?" The turbo lift computer asked.
"Bridge." Chenowyth answered.
"Why are we going to the bridge? Surely justice would be better served in a more… discreet location?" Pearce inquired feigning a sickly sweet innocence in his voice.
"The captain is on the bridge." Chenowyth answered, as if it were completely obvious, which it was. The Armory Chief did not respond, instead huffed a sigh of happy resignation. Finnegan, Jennifer saw when she turned around quickly to look at the cadet, was smiling brightly, not even to attempt to hide his own satisfaction. He met her gaze proudly, as if he had accomplished a major life goal.
The turbo doors hissed open and Jennifer took a in a deep breath steadying herself with anticipation.
"I have the men responsible for the overloaded phaser fire, sir." Chenowyth announced as soon as every member of the group had stepped onto the bridge. Jennifer noticed, turning herself half facing Pearce and Finnegan that both faltered in their confident gait.
"I see." Garrovick replied, looking directly at Pearce and Finnegan. "Thank you, commander."
"My pleasure, sir." Chenowyth responded before taking his seat on the bridge.
"Report, Kirk?" Garrovick asked turning his gaze to Jennifer.
"Captain, sorry to interrupt, but I don't think you understand." Pearce started, but he did not get the chance to finish.
"I believe I understand perfectly, Pearce. And you will not speak unless spoken to. Interrupting an order given by a commanding officer is subject to insubordination. There will be no insubordination on my bridge, are we clear?" Garrovick demanded sternly.
Pearce gulped. "Crystal, captain." Jennifer turned her head to look at Finnegan for a quick moment before reporting to the captain. She noticed that Finnegan had also started to guess that something was seriously wrong with his plans.
"Captain, as predicted the subroutine was activated and the phaser cannon did indeed auto-lock onto a target and proceed to fire. However, I was able to install the safety protocol into the phaser's programming. No injuries to report, sir." Jennifer responded to the captain's query boldly.
"Well then, you are to be commended, Kirk. I sure as hell wouldn't have been able to do that so quickly, if at all. I thank you. You as well, Michaels, for your assistance in uncovering a most repugnant plot." Garrovick responded before shifting his harsh gaze to Pearce.
"Now, for the heart of the matter. Lieutenant Commander Pearce, you are hereby relieved of your position as Armory Chief. You are formally charged with and will be court martialed for the following offenses: Conspiracy to sabotage Federation interests, ship security, and the careers of two Starfleet cadets. You are further charged with willful dereliction of duty in the highest offense, attempted murder on several accounts, attempted destruction of Federation and Federation allied property, and conduct unbecoming of a Starfleet officer. You will be processed for court martial, following a thorough investigation into the aforementioned charges, and you will be confined to the brig until this ship returns to Earth, at which time you will be released into the custody of Starfleet security and be held in a holding facility until a decision is made at the conclusion of the investigation for the date of your court martial. You may be processed for separation from service and possible prison time may be served due to the severity of the charges placed before you. Do you understand?" Captain Garrovick asked, his tone alone demanding that he be given a single word of acknowledgement and nothing more.
"Yes, sir." Pearce whispered, realizing he had been defeated.
"Cadet Finnegan, you are hereby formally charged with and will be court martialed for the following offenses: Conspiracy to sabotage Federation interests, ship security, and the careers of two Starfleet cadets. You are further charged with attempted murder on several accounts, attempted destruction of Federation and Federation allied property, and conduct unbecoming. You will also be processed for court martial, following a thorough investigation into the aforementioned charges, and you will be confined to the brig until this ship returns to Earth, at which time you will be released into the custody of Starfleet security and be held in a holding facility until a decision is made at the conclusion of the investigation for the date of your court martial. You will be processed for separation from service, removed from the academy, prohibited from enlisting again, and possible prison time may be served due to the severity charges placed before you. Do you understand?"
Finnegan looked as if he was going to throw up, Jennifer realized. He had lost all color in his face and the look of extreme confidence and satisfaction that had been evident moments ago was replaced with a guise of pure dread.
"Yes, sir." Finnegan whimpered in response.
"Fantastic." Garrovick smiled. "Security," the captain instructed into his intercom, "please send two officers to the bridge to escort our offenders to the brig."
"Acknowledged, captain. Lieutenants Slagle and Murphy will be there shortly." A voice replied.
"Thank you. Garrovick out. Lt, please open a ship wide channel." Garrovick turned to his chief communications officer.
The communications officer flipped a switch on her console and responded, "Channel open, sir."
"Thank you, Lt. Attention Crew of the Farragut. As you may have guessed we've had a little incident and the ship's phasers were fired. No need for alarm, as you can see, there is no red alert. The situation has been dealt with. Furthermore, we have not rendezvoused with the Armonian ship. I apologize for the deception, however it was necessary. Please be assured that we will resume course to rendezvous with the Armonians shortly. Thank you all for your understanding. Garrovick out." The captain turned back to the communications area to order another instruction. "Cadet Uhura, please send a transmission to the Armonians that we will be departing now to rendezvous with them. Express our sincerest apologies for the lengthy delay."
"Right away, sir." Uhura responded. She sounded shocked, still, by the events that had just unfolded in front of her, but she remained professional and detached. No doubt she would grill Jennifer later about the whole fiasco.
"Cadets Kirk and Michaels." Garrovick turned to face Jennifer and Evan just as the security officers entered the bridge to escort Pearce and Finnegan to the brig. "You are now officially cleared of all and any charges laid against you since your arrival on this ship. Your duties are now officially transferred from the armory to the bridge, you will be given the day off tomorrow, and report for Alpha shift for the remainder of the tour. Please acquaint yourselves with Commander Parma, Chief Tactical Officer. He will assign your duties, some of which will be conducted on the bridge, some not."
"Yes, captain." Jennifer and Evan responded simultaneously.
"Helm, get us out of here." Garrovick ordered. "Resume course to the scheduled rendezvous point with the Armonian ship. Maximum warp. We've got medical supplies to deliver."
"Aye, captain." The helmsman responded.
Before the helmsman could engage warp drive a violent shudder rocked the ship. The Farragut had been fired upon.
"Sir, two Klingon warbirds just de-cloaked starboard." The science officer informed.
"Red alert, shields up." Captain Garrovick ordered.
Jennifer and Evan were glued to their spot standing on the bridge, holding onto the console directly behind the captain. They couldn't exit through the turbo lift now, risking being stuck if it went offline.
"Captain, we're being hailed."