Chapter 6 – Three Debriefings and a Funeral
November 19, 2156 0900 20th Floor, Hall of State, Ra'tleihfi, Romulus
Centurion Shival walked into the Earth office carrying a mug of seklal. Sublieutenant Neral looked up from his desk as Shival entered, jumped to his feet and grabbed several PADDs. Neral's uniform was a little rumpled and the points of his ears drooped a bit. Probably a hard night of drinking, thought Shival. Neral scurried over to him and in a lowered voice said "Jolan tru, Centurion. I need to speak with you."
"Yes, Neral, what is it?" Shival continued into his office and headed for his chair.
"Ummm…there is some new information about Earth," Neral said as he followed him inside and quietly closed the door.
"Well, that's our job, to keep current."
"Yes, well, this information…"
"Out with it Neral, what is it?" Shival settled back behind his desk and took a sip of his seklal. The first mug of the day was always the best.
Neral plopped down in the chair in front of the desk. "The field office on Vulcan was able to obtain some reference materials and they arrived last night on the courier ship."
"That's good." Shival took another sip.
"I don't think so. This volume," Neral held up a PADD, "is a high-resolution atlas of Earth. The majority of the target areas for the drone strikes are listed as memorial areas. Old Beijing, Old Tokyo, Old Los Angeles and so on.
These were destroyed during the Humans' Third World War, one hundred and thirty five years ago. There were no inhabitants of those areas."
Shival arched an eyebrow. "What? Nonsense. The Vulcans confirmed that over thirty million were killed by the drone attacks."
"Yes. This," Neral said, holding up another PADD, "is titled World Factbook 2156." Shival raised the mug to his lips again as Neral continued. "In it, the population of Earth is listed at ten billion, three hundred fifty six million, two hundred seventy five thousand, plus or minus fifteen thousand."
Shival's sip of seklal went down his airway. As Shival coughed, Neral continued. "This document is written in English, there is no unit confusion. The thirty million killed were all in Mexico City, which was the only major city destroyed in the attack."
"Let me see that," Shival barked. He reached across his desk and snatched the PADD from Neral. The numbers were there, tabulated quite clearly. He had grown proficient in the standard Human numerals if nothing else during his time as head of the Earth desk.
"And this," Neral said, holding up another PADD, "is titled Jane's Fighting Starships 2156. In the section for Earth it lists over forty starships in their Starfleet with over one hundred and twenty under construction."
"How many?" squeaked Shival.
"One hundred twenty-four to be exact." Neral got up and began pacing, wringing his hands. "Centurion, what are we going to do?" he whined.
"Answers, they demanded answers," Shival said, cradling his head in his hands. "They gave me one uhlan and a bunch of ancient intelligence. Did they tell me they were going to plan a major attack based on our report? No, of course not. Get it done yesterday, they said."
He straightened up in his chair. "Well, Neral, they are not going to pin all this on us. Who else has seen these?"
"Nobody. They came in last night. These are the only copies."
"Good, keep it that way. We'll bring the rest of the team in slowly. Now we have to stay ahead of this problem."
"But our report was all wrong!" exclaimed Neral.
"No, Sublieutenant, our report was incomplete. We always knew that. It had footnotes even, that pointed this out. We can manage this. Here's what we're going to do…"
November 20, 2156 1100 - Andoria (Procyon VIII)
Talarak looked out the window of the Kralek Heavy Industries VIP shuttle, glad to be back finally from Earth. The return voyage aboard the new Starfleet courier, Mercury, had been uneventful and reasonably quick. She had spent most of the month getting her notes in order.
Her trip to Earth had confirmed her hopes and fears about the Humans. The icy wastes rolling past beneath her reminded her how fortunate the Humans were with their lush planet covered in oceans, forests, jungles, and plains of green. Their glaciers and scorching deserts covered a third of the land area but the other two thirds more than made up for it. And those teeming cities. Thirty million people were killed in the attack but that wouldn't be more than a blip on their next census.
The Humans themselves were good people, calm and slow to anger. Once angered, though, they would be implacable foes. Whoever had attacked them had made a foolish decision, stinging the Humans without inflicting decisive damage. The fleet the Humans were building would be the strongest in the Coalition within five years, especially with the Vulcans retiring more and more of their warships.
She was now more convinced than ever that having a strong alliance with the Humans was Andoria's best option. She needed to convince General Krag of that, as well as of the need to guard against a drone attack. And then they all needed to figure out was how to remain relevant in a sector dominated by the Humans.
The shuttle touched down and the icy wind of Andoria came into the cabin as the door opened. It was good to be home.
November 21, 2156 0800 - Administrator T'Pau's office, Shi'Kahr, Vulcan
T'Pau's office was illuminated by the morning sun. She was studying a report, a cup of jasmine tea, imported from Earth, on her desk. It was one of the few luxuries she allowed herself - she found the scent and flavor agreeable. She looked up as Ambassador Soval entered her office and walked to her desk across the bare stone floor.
"Ambassador Soval. What was so sensitive that you needed to report in person?" She found even the minimal standard Vulcan courtesies illogical and since assuming office she had made a habit of skipping them.
"Administrator, Enterprise reports that the drones that attacked Earth were purchased from the Edosians by apparent Vulcan traders" he reported, standing in front of her desk.
"What is the evidence?"
He handed over a PADD. "Primarily photographs and videos. Enterprise was unable to find any DNA evidence because the Traders killed themselves with antimatter bombs and then the city they were working in was destroyed by nuclear bombs."
T'Pau flicked through the pictures on the PADD display, fuzzy snaps from what appeared to be security camera footage, showing bipedal humanoids amongst the three-legged Edosians. Mostly the humanoids were hooded but a few shots showed pointed ears clearly. "What has been the reaction of the Coalition Council to this?" she asked.
"Concern, of course. They are eager to help us track down these criminals."
"No rash accusations of conspiracies by the Vulcan government?"
"Of course not, we remain Earth's closest ally."
T'Pau put the PADD on her desk. "I will schedule a meeting for you with the Ministry of Security. After your briefing we will dispatch a courier with an investigation team to rendezvous with the relief mission. Good day, Ambassador"
After Soval had left, T'Pau sat straight in her chair in contemplation. Mysterious Vulcans and sneak attacks. It had the Rihannsu written all over it, but only if you had all the facts. Soval was far too close to the Humans to reveal the existence of estranged cousins to him. Vulcans were already roundly distrusted by most of the races in the quadrant – with the feared Romulans revealed as Vulcans, alien emotions would lead to disaster. She would need to rely on Sopok, V'Tek and the small number of Ministry of Security personnel already briefed only. This would be a most interesting and challenging problem.
November 22, 2156 0900 - Galae s'Shiar Headquarters, Ra'tleihfi, Romulus
Subcommander Merik was pleased to have returned at last to Romulus. A good night's sleep in his own bed and the success of his mission had him looking forward to his debriefing and beyond that, to the next mission. The short walk from the transit terminal to the Galae s'Shiar Headquarters was a pleasure after being cooped up on the ship for so many months. He showed his ID to the guards and took the elevator up to the floor where the debriefing was being held.
The greeting he received when he entered the room was considerably chillier than he expected. Admiral Makkar was there, of course. Proconsul Tamman, wearing his First Commander's uniform, was unexpected as was General Vralax, the Head of Intelligence. The senior officers and their assorted aides gave him stony looks as he entered the room. Feeling uncertain but determined not to show it, he moved to the lectern facing them and pounded his chest in salute. "Sirs, Subcommander Merik, commanding Alidar, reporting for debriefing."
Makkar looked like he had bitten into a rotten osol fruit. "Subcommander Merik, we have been reviewing the drone camera video from your attack on Earth. Would you care to explain this?" He gestured to an aide and a video began playing on the view screen on the side wall. It showed a vast ocean, moving under the drone at high speed and then, for an instant, a wasteland of rubble before the video ended, presumably when the drone detonated.
"I'm not sure I understand, sir. That appears to be the video from one of the attack drones, probably the one that hit Los Angeles, though it could be Mumbai. Those were the only two where the approach was over the ocean."
"I see. And would you care to explain this one?"
Another video played, this time the drone was passing over green mountains, then apparent suburbs, and then a cityscape before ending.
"That was the Mexico City drone."
"And you don't see anything strange about the differences between these two?"
He stood ramrod straight. "Sirs. Of course, I was curious when I reviewed the video, but the drones attacked the coordinates given in the attack plan. I am certain that the guidance platform was aligned properly. My speculation was that there might have been command bunkers or other critical infrastructure hidden in the wastelands. I carried out the mission orders. I was not assigned to select targets or question my orders."
Makkar's expression had devolved from rotten osol to rotten osol with a grub in it. He said, "No, you were not expected to question your orders. Subcommander, we will continue your debriefing at a later time. You are dismissed."
November 22, 2156 1400 – 93rd Floor, Hall of State, Ra'tleihfi, Romulus
General Vralax marched across the broad expanse of the Praetor's audience chamber. The Praetor was seated in his throne on the stepped dais, Proconsul Tamman standing beside him. No one else was present except for the Praetorians stationed around the edge of the room. Small comfort that no one else would be present for his humiliation. He halted at the base of the dais, thumped his chest and saluted the Praetor.
The Praetor looked down at him. "Well, General, what are your findings?"
For a moment, the dissembling in Centurion Shival's ass-covering memo almost came to his lips. Lack of resources, time pressures, footnotes, gods cursed footnotes! He pushed those thoughts aside and embraced the path of honor. He thumped his chest again, bent down on one knee and bowed his head. "Praetor, the intelligence we presented was grossly incorrect. I take full responsibility for it. Please allow me the remainder of the day to put my affairs in order."
The Praetor nodded slowly. "You have the remainder of the day. Go with honor, General."
Vralax rose, thumped his chest again, then turned smartly and marched back to the entrance. The Praetor and Tamman watched him go. When the Praetorians had closed the door behind him, Tamman sighed. "There goes a true Romulan."
The Praetor turned to him. "He was a true Romulan, a ter'ak, with honor and integrity and we wasted him. Find me someone shifty to run intelligence, someone who can twist and turn with them and get me answers." The Praetor rubbed his chin. "This whole thing is a setback. The Humans will be out for blood, we must maintain our cloak of secrecy and determine how to remove the Daenn from the equation so we can bring Vulcan under our control."
He swept off the throne and through the door to his office, leaving Tamman alone with his thoughts.
November 22, 2156 1430 - 20th Floor, Hall of State, Ra'tleihfi, Romulus
Centurion Shival looked out of his office into the main area when he heard the door close. When he saw General Vralax and his aide he put his cup of seklal down on his desk and hurried out. Bracing in front of the general he thumped his chest in the Romulan salute. "Jolan tru, General. How can I be of service?"
The general put his hand out and his aide placed a PADD in it. "The Alidar returned yesterday. I would like your help in interpreting their video of the attack," he said in a silky voice.
Shival gulped and took the PADD. As the drone swept over a desolate landscape before exploding his hearts rose in his throat. He could not take his eyes from it even though he knew how it ended.
"This is the drone strike on the Humans?" he asked when the video had ended.
"Yes," said the General.
"Which target?"
"Los Angeles," came the reply, the general smoothly mouthing the alien name. "There's not much of a city there, is there? Why would that be, Centurion?"
Shival lifted his head to look Vralax in the eye. "The Humans destroyed the city themselves, long ago. We did not learn until yesterday."
"Your report was presented as complete. It showed targets, populations, languages."
Shival gulped. "Yes, but it's only as good as the data you get. Did you have a chance to read my memo today? Garbage in, garbage out, they say. We had foot…"
The General's upward thrust with his honor blade slipped between Shival's ribs cleanly then raised him onto his tiptoes as the guard slammed into Shival's chest.. Vralax pivoted his wrist, sweeping the blade side to side inside Shival's chest, shredding both his hearts. He pulled his blade out and the body collapsed to the floor in a spreading pool of green.
"That for your footnotes!" Vralax said and spat on the body. He spun and marched out the door.
November 24, 2156 0800 - The Redarn, Andoria (Procyon VIII)
There were many paths to the Redarn and over the years Talarak had traveled all of them. Today she looked out the window of the shuttle with new eyes, taking in the icy wastes below, searching out landmarks - mountain peaks that thrust through the ice, the occasional oasis where a volcanic hotspot produced liquid water and vegetation added a splotch of color against the endless white.
The shuttle dipped towards the surface and into a nondescript hole in the ice. Boring through ice was easy with enough power and the tunnel was long and winding with many false paths. Eventually they exited into a large, brightly lit cavern with glistening walls. Turreted disruptor cannons dotted around the floor, walls and ceilings tracked the shuttle as it slowed for a landing. In the center of the cavern a metal globe, over three hundred meters in diameter, squatted on stout legs, with braces extended upwards to the roof of the cavern. This was the Redarn, the most secure installation on Andoria.
After exiting the shuttle, Talarak walked across to a door in the nearest leg. She was quickly inspected by the security personnel there, then she took the elevator up the leg and into the globe. Inside, she followed a well memorized path to the Council conference room through featureless white plastic corridors, occasionally exchanging antenna dips with staffers she knew. The transition into the Council Room's simulated cave of roughhewn stone walls was always a bit of a shock. Seated around the bone table in fur lined chairs were General Krag, Prime Minister Tapek, Minister of State Itholar and a new face, Minister of War Zeme, replacing Talarak's old friend and mentor Peshal, who had died suddenly while she was on Earth. At the head of the table was an ornate throne of carved bone, reserved for the Absent Emperor. It was empty as it had always been for the last five centuries since the last Emperor had been made absent by removing his head. She felt the warmth of being among comrades, the tyrex, but strangely there was nothing she felt from Zeme; it was like being with a Human or other alien. Perhaps being away for so long had impaired her senses.
She took a seat, sinking into the soft makra fur and luxuriating in the feeling. Krag gave a dip of his antennas in greeting. Tapek leaned forward across the table. "Talarak, welcome back. We've had a chance to review your report and it's very interesting reading. Let's go through your impressions and recommendations about the pink skins."
Talarak waved her right hand and a hologram of the planet Earth appeared above the table. "It's hard to imagine how warm and fertile this planet is. Reading the descriptions did not prepare me. For the most part, ice is confined to the extreme north and south and high mountains," she said as she pointed at the ice caps. "Their agriculture is efficient and, as you know, there are over 10 billion on the planet. Earth is easily the most densely populated planet in the quadrant." Another hand gesture and a street level view of San Francisco appeared, pedestrians and ground cars everywhere. "It's hard to grasp this, though, without actually experiencing it." She made another gesture and the scene shifted to an aerial view, then zoomed upwards. The ocean and the bay were large expanses of blue. Expanses of green surrounded immense, dense, city. "At this level, you're seeing an area about one hundred kilometers in diameter. There are twenty five million people living here."
Zeme leaned forward. "How many areas like this are there?" she asked. "Hundreds," replied Talarak. "And what of their military?" Zeme probed.
"They espouse peace. Their 'Starfleet' is supposed to be an exploratory force only. However, their history tells a different story." Another gesture and a wasteland appeared with shattered stubs of skyscrapers poking up. "This is 'Old Tokyo'. At one time this was the largest city on their planet, over 30 million people. This image is from before the recent attack, the damage was done in their last nuclear war."
Krag stirred and rumbled "Madness. What kind of species fights even one nuclear war, let alone multiple? When Shras told me, I was speechless. And we are allying ourselves more closely with them." He leaned forward and looked into her eyes, antennae targeted on her as well. "Is this wise, Talarak?" he asked.
She took a breath before replying. "I believe so," she said, her own antennae dipping to emphasize the point. "We can see that they have made mistakes. They see this also. They had completely disarmed prior to the Xindi attack and their territorial ambitions had been put aside."
"Yes, and now they are re-arming at an unprecedented rate," said Zeme.
"They are. Do you blame them? We have always armed ourselves against our enemies."
"It's not about fairness," Zeme said. "They are moving to surpass us militarily. How do we trust them?"
"By integrating with them. By guiding them. By becoming their trusted advisors. The Vulcans are turning inwards, and they've treated the Humans with contempt throughout their association. It chafes at the Humans, as the Vulcans' attitude chafes on us. The Coalition is working and with the Vulcans falling into navel gazing, the members are becoming more equal."
"Hmmmm," said Tapek, flipping through Talarak's pictures on a tablet. He put it down on the table. "I appreciate you making the trip, Talarak, it's good to get first-hand impressions. Now, what of this attack? We are talking of the Humans' military capability but was this simple incompetence? How could these drones not be detected until they appeared in the inner system?"
Talarak waved another diagram into view in the holographic view, this one showing concentric shells surrounding a tiny solar system. "Earth's defenses were patterned after the Vulcan model, with multiple layers of defense. While their warships may not have the same offensive capabilities ours do, their sensors are not significantly less effective. The drones exploited a loophole by coming in unpowered. We need to close this loophole for Andoria."
Zeme leaned forward and studied the shells briefly before looking at Talarak. "You are correct, we need to prevent this. Do you have any proposals?"
"Yes," said Talarak. She brought up another hologram, this time showing the Andorian system. Tiny ships formed a shell around it. "First, we put additional ships on patrol around the system. We'll need to use active scanning which is limited by lightspeed, and..."
"Let me stop you there," said Zeme. "That looks like over thirty ships there."
"Thirty two," Talarak confirmed.
"And that's because active scanning is electromagnetic and limited by lightspeed and the inverse fourth power, correct?"
"Yes. Ships will need to make a scan, wait for any returns and then relocate. Range is about two light minutes."
"And stealthy coatings would reduce the range even more, correct?"
"Yes, Minister. The drones sent against Earth were lacking those, though."
"The next generation will not, certainly not if we are the target and our plans are known." Zeme steepled her fingers and looked over them. "Talarak, I want you to think bigger. Kralek Heavy Industries has long been our premier weapons contractor. I want you to come up with a better system. Do the research and make something new." She turned to Krag. "General, we need to fund this."
Krag nodded his head and others nodded with him around the table. "Yes, yes we do. Zeme's right, think bigger Talarak. I want your proposal within a fortnight."
Talarak bowed her head, somewhat stunned. "I will not disappoint you, General"
After the meeting, Prime Minister Tapek walked with her through the corridor. "Zeme is something else, isn't she, Talarak?" he said.
"She's very quick," replied Talarak. "But I don't feel the tyrek from her.."
"You'll get used to it. She has prosthetic antennae, it was a birth defect. They don't give off the right, what do you call it, electromagnetic field."
"That's unusual."
"It is. In an earlier time she should have been put on the ice at birth. What a waste that would have been!"
"Well, I have worked with enough aliens. I'm sure I can work with her. She seems like a good choice for War. I've never actually met her before."
"She's mainly worked in Intelligence, rather far from procurement. She was responsible for Vulcan surveillance before heading up Intelligence. Krag likes her and promoted her to Minister of War when Peshal died of a stroke."
"He seemed so healthy before I left.". She shook her head sadly.
"Surprised us all. Zeme has a lot of ice to carve now."
November 23, 2156 1800 – 93rd Floor, Hall of State, Ra'tleihfi, Romulus
Tamman entered the Praetor's office, closing the vault-like door behind him. In his hand he carried a PADD. The strategy it contained made it feel heavier to him than usual.
The Praetor looked up from his table, "Jolan tru, Tamman. Your meeting request was a little vague."
Tamman nodded. "I believe secrecy is even more critical for this matter. I have been studying Administrator T'Pau, Praetor. Did you know that she has performed the ritual of kolinahr, the purging of all emotions?"
The Praetor shrugged. "I thought that was true for all of our Vulcan cousins."
"No, they aspire to it, but most do not reach this level. The practitioner of kolinahr has truly purged themselves of emotion and only thinks logically. It was rare even among Vulcans until quite recently, though it was an ancient practice. I found a biography and analysis of one of the first kolinahr masters, T'Klass, in the archives and have been studying it."
"So Administrator T'Pau is more logical and more annoying than your average Vulcan? This is a big secret?"
Tamman smiled fiercely. "I'm getting there, let me lay the path. T'Pau aspires to be logical only and this may be our lever. Emotions include feelings such as loyalty and trust. You and I, Galan, feel loyalty to each other and trust. We may act illogically because we know, deep down, truths about each other that mere facts cannot displace. The practitioner of kolinahr, though, has no loyalty and no faith. Their decisions are based solely on facts and logic. And if you present the right facts..."
The Praetor leaned forward. "They will move in the direction you desire.". He was quiet for a moment before continuing. "And the other races of the Daenn, they have loyalty and faith and they will disregard the facts for a while, believing in the loyalty of T'Pau to them."
Tamman nodded. "That is my belief. And then after the Vulcans have betrayed the Daenn they will have nowhere to go except to ally with us. Now all we have to do is craft the right set of facts. It also helps that she is young and arrogant – she will rely on her intellect instead of her experience or others' counsel. I have here the plan of the information we need to feed to her."
