Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Prime Directive
Chapter Three
His vision cleared as the feeling of small insects climbing over his body had dissipated before he raised his weapon quickly once again at the many armed guards stood before him. Seeing the eight armed men and woman before him with their weapons trained upon him, Galen lowered his weapon slowly at the directions of the tall bearded man before him and placed it at his feet and stepped backwards two steps before kneeling, crossing his legs with his hands behind his head. Kneeling in a large almost empty room, with the acceptation of the men and women before him and three craft lining the walls some similar to the one he had risked everything to protect and some of an entirely different design. Almost instantly, Alison rushed in front of him with her hands raised as she spoke quickly towards the bearded man.
"COMMANDER! Lower your weapons. He is none hostile sir, he protected me and the shuttle"
"Lieutenant, the Captain wishes to speak with you… NOW!" The bearded man grunted harshly.
"Commander Riker, this is Colonel Galen Antos… he, helped me"
"NOW Lieutenant"
"Commander… Riker is it?" Galen said as he remained with his hands and legs crossed. "Sir, may I stand? This is most uncomfortable"
"Colonel. Make one wrong move…" Riker said firmly.
"Sir. I know who and what you are. I also know that your people have a… Directive… about interference with younger and less advanced races…"
"How the hell do you know that?" Riker barked as he looked at the Lieutenant sternly.
"I have had a lot of experience with your people and your technology Commander Riker. My people are on the verge of a devastating war which began with the arrival of your USS Copernicus. Forgive me Lieutenant, I know more then I informed you of…" He said as he slowly stood, with this hands firmly locked behind his head. "Commander Riker, I respectfully request an audience with your Captain Picard. The Situation on my planet has changed with the arrival of your shuttle, it is also my guess that it has only been antagonised with the arrival of this vessel"
"Not to mention the fact that you beamed up everything in front of a platoon of Southern Coalition forces sir" Alison said quickly. "Speaking of which sir, Bill?"
"Ensign Carpenter has been transported directly to sickbay, his injuries are extensive" Riker said slowly.
"Commander Riker, I can only apologise for the treatment that…"
"Colonel Galen. I have my own orders. Lucky for you sir, the Captain wishes to speak with you as soon as possible" Riker said with a harsh tone in his voice.
"No sense in keeping him waiting sir. Commander Riker, I am not your…"
"Sir. Allow me to escort our guest to the Captain in the observation lounge? I can vouch for him sir" Alison said quickly.
"Commander Riker. What would you do if you suddenly found yourself onboard a vessel of a highly advanced race? I would respectfully request that four of your security officers place myself in isolation once I have spoke with your Commanding Officer, I will not resist" Galen said as he slowly moved his hands from behind his head to before him as if waiting for handcuffs.
"A lesser man, would not have offered this Colonel. Lieutenant Burke, please escort the Colonel and Lieutenant to the Observation lounge, Phaser set on Stun"
"Thank you Commander. May I suggest a heavy stun setting? I have had some experience with your weapons also. Do not ask me what I think you are about to ask me sir, it is a very long story. Perhaps I may even be able to shed some light on your USS Copernicus. Our records on that incident are very complete, as is my memory of my encounters with that vessel's support craft"
Escorted by three security officers, the Lieutenant and First Officer Colonel Galen Antos entered the large briefing room where he saw a tall bald human male stood before the window looking out over the planet below the vessel.
"Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Colonel Galen Antos and Lieutenant Alison Macdonough as requested" Riker said slowly.
"Thank you Commander. Lieutenant, I will deal with you shortly" The Captain said as he turned slowly to face them.
"Captain Picard, it is a pleasure sir. First off allow me to say that your Lieutenant did not violate any of your regulations such as your Prime Directive, a Directive which I know, no longer applies to this world since the interference of the USS Copernicus almost a century ago. May I sit and explain sir?"
"Of course Colonel. Mister Data; join us immediately please?" Picard called out.
"Of course Captain"
Sitting in the nearest seat before him, Galen once again looked around the room as the Security Officers stood by the exits while Commander Riker took his seat next to the Captain while the Young Lieutenant sat facing Galen himself and moments later, a tall pale-faced male entered the room and sat at his side and nodded slightly.
"Well Colonel Galen, you may begin"
"Thank you Captain. Roughly Eighty of your Years ago, a space faring vessel appeared in orbit of our planet during a very delicate peace negotiation between the Northern Alliance and the Southern Coalition, the two primary warring factions on my world. Immediately, our combined military forces where put on full alert and for the first time in centuries, we worked together against what appeared to be a new threat, or at least that is what we thought. I remember my father, a General in the Northern Alliance at the time, telling me what happened several years after the incident, it shocked him and those around him. Moments after arriving, one of their support craft left that vessel and attempted to enter our atmosphere which was being fired upon by the larger vessel…" Galen said slowly.
"Fired upon, by the mothership?" Riker said with shock.
"Yes Commander Riker, the attack caused the vessel to crash into the Central Ocean, between both continents and quickly sunk. My father dispatched one of our largest and fastest oceanic warships to the region and recovered the craft itself, but the occupants where gone. Three weeks later, reports came through that the Southern Coalition had captured the two surviving occupants, the Captain, the First Officer along with the bodies of four other crewmembers" Galen said, much to the shock of the crew before him.
"Mutiny, on a Federation Starship?" Picard said as he glared at his First Officer.
"Yes sir, it appears is if that was the fact. Shortly afterwards, the Copernicus disappeared from orbit. The craft was quickly taken by the Alliance, my people for analysis and backwards-engineering. Many years ago, I was transferred to a highly classified department, based on information discovered within that vessels computer device, a new weapon was made…"
"An Anti-Matter Bomb sir" Alison said quickly.
"What?" Replied the Captain, with a deep shock.
"According to intelligence reports, the Southern Coalition had forced the only two survivors of the vessel to work with them in designing weapons for their defence. A new and deadly stalemate had begun on my world since three years ago the first Anti-Matter bomb had been detonated on a remote island, which it vaporised before the observing leaders of the Military forces I once worked with. When I saw the devastation and the look of purest of joy in their faces, the greed and the thirst for power, myself and six others left the program… Captain Picard, I am the only one of those six people which are still alive today. My closest friend, one of the Scientists who worked on that program was assassinated, three months ago by the Alliance forces"
"They are trying to clean up the mess Captain"
"Thank you Lieutenant, I understood" The Captain said with a shocked tone.
"Captain, if I may. The cultural contamination of this world has gone far beyond anything that we could have expected" Data said firmly. "During my research, I uncovered what had happened to the USS Copernicus. After returning to Starbase twelve, it was reported that the Captain, First Officer and four other crewmembers where lost along with a shuttlecraft during an Ion Storm. Further investigation by Starfleet Command discovered that the Captain had become mentally unbalanced and was forced to relinquish command by several members of his crew. The next ranking officer was the Chief of Security a Lieutenant Commander Ericson Kaczynski, the Grandson of Admiral Howard Kaczynski. The Admiral had discovered the Mutiny and in order to protect his grandson, he ordered all of the evidence destroyed and the crew itself where transferred throughout the fleet while the vessel itself had been placed into the Mothball fleet, she was finally dismantled and scrapped forty years ago"
"A cover-up at the highest levels of Starfleet? That's unthinkable" Picard said with disgust.
"Lieutenant Commander Ericson Kaczynski eventually arose through the ranks to that of captain of the USS Alexander before which he was the in-line for Captain of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B"
"And what does all of this have to do with you, Colonel Antos?" Riker said quickly.
"Colonel Galen sir, Antos is my given name, not my family name. When your shuttlecraft crashed on an island which I called my home, I found your vessel and it's occupant, she was injured, I tended to her wounds and informed your Lieutenant of the situation. Captain, I know that you have no reason to trust me about anything of which I have said…"
"Captain, the Colonel's information does tally with what I have discovered" Data replied.
"So what would you have us do Colonel Galen?"
"I do not know Commander Riker. Is this not as the Lieutenant would say 'Your Mess too clean up?' since this in direct response to your ship and the mutiny of her crew?"
"The Colonel is correct Commander Riker" Data said quickly.
"Captain Picard if I may. I risked everything to protect your officer and your vessel, there are those on my world who know of your existence. If you would allow me the opportunity to intervene in this crisis on my world, it maybe possible to contact the head of state of both powers and convene a meeting between the two. The head of the Alliance, codenamed 'Pegasus' I can reach easily as she is a friend of my family, however the First Minister of the Coalition maybe more difficult and would require something a little more of an indirect approach. If I, no if WE can end this war before it begins a war which will devastate that world outside your window, together we can repair the damage done to this world, a damage caused by your people" Galen said as he leaned closer to the table and looked directly into the Captain's eyes.
"Allow me to discuss this with my officers Colonel. Lieutenant Watkins, please escort the Colonel to our Guest Quarters" Picard said with a nod.
"Thank you Captain. If I may sir, may I offer my apologies to your Ensign Carpenter?"
"Of course. Colonel, we are watching you" Picard said firmly.
"I would expect nothing less Captain, where I in your position. May I also say, you have a most impressive vessel"
Standing slowly from his seat, he stepped backwards one step before carefully pushing the seat closer to the table with a smile and nod towards each of those sat before him. Watching curiously, Captain Picard nodded before the unusual Colonel left the room and the doors hissed closed behind him as he spoke to the Lieutenant.
"Interesting young man you have found Lieutenant"
"Captain, that 'Young-Man' is twice your age. He saved my life sir and he protected the shuttlecraft with nothing more then a bolt-action rifle and eight rounds against a heavily armed military force" Alison said swiftly, almost without taking a single breath.
"Can he be trusted Lieutenant?"
"I believe so sir. He only accessed our database once, and that was to check my physiology. I confirmed that myself"
"Which begs the question Lieutenant, what happened? Why did you alter course towards that planet in the first place?" Riker said with the authority of his rank.
"We had completed our survey of the Nebula as ordered sir, when we detected what looked like an Anti-Matter signature on a supposedly, pre-warp planet. So we altered course to investigate, within regulations of course. We suddenly lost main power and became trapped in the planet's gravity well with nothing more then the emergency batteries and that is when I sent the distress call, we passed over the Southern Continent and beamed the Ensign down to a secluded section before I made a series of turns to slow the decent of the shuttle. With sensors dead, I saw a small island and set the shuttle for a controlled crash landing and that is when I beamed out. Unfortunately sir, I materialised eighteen feet above the ground and fell through some trees. I saw the shuttle crash and quickly made my way there, that is when I saw the Colonel. It will all be in my report sir which I shall have on your desk shortly. Captain, I place myself up disciplinary action. Without the assistance of the Colonel, I could have allowed advanced Federation Technology to fall into the hands of a Pre-Warp Civilisation"
"You got lucky Lieutenant" Riker replied instantly.
"Indeed, now the problem remains, what do we do about the planet below?" Picard said slowly.