Chapter VIII
A pair tricorders hummed softly in a dimly lit, half-empty apartment. Through the window a busy San Francisco landscape could be seen, personal shuttles zooming by on the airway and pedestrians walking home after a day of work. The figures of two women sitting on a couch could be made out, one sitting rigidly and the other relaxed. They were not the ones operating the tricorders, however. That distinction went to the two men wandering about the room, first scanning, but presently standing at opposite ends of the room, entering commands.
"There, that should do it," Captain Felix Pavlik announced as he placed his tricorder on a small table. Across the room, Commander Treyvin Smyne did the same thing.
"That is the most heavy-duty jamming signal I have ever rigged up using just a pair of tricorders. I didn't even think it was possible," Smyne noted.
"I have a few tricks up my sleeve, Trey," Felix replied, his grin hidden in the low light.
"Aw, I bet they teach that to everybody that attends ATCT."
"If you lasted more than a week there, maybe you would have found out."
"As much fun I think it is to listen to you two bicker like and old married couple, I think poor Emily is about to jump out of her skin as a result of all this cloak and dagger stuff," interrupted the calm voice of Natalie Pavlikova. Pavlik and Smyne had teleported Emily from her apartment without warning and brought her here. They did the same to Natalie, but it wasn't the first time for her. "So why don't we get to it already?"
Both men paused momentarily and remembered themselves. They walked to the centre of the room and each sat down. Here enough light shone on their faces to see their eyes, and Pavlik's stared intently at Emily.
"As I have told you, after the Dominion War, I served aboard the USS Deliverance under Allison Meyer as her first officer," Pavlik began, his voice steady and gentle, as soothing as a babbling brook. "As you also know, we were the lead ship in the relief and reconstruction efforts in Cardassian space, helping the survivors of the Jem'Hadar massacre.
"What you don't know – either of you – is that during this time I was approached by a woman named Sloan to join a Federation black ops organization called Section 31."
"Wait – black ops? What is that?" Emily asked, still tense.
"Haven't you ever read a spy novel?" Natalie teased, trying to lighten the mood. "Black operations – black ops – are covert operations where the actions taken and the agents involved were deniable by the government that sponsored them. I was not aware that we undertook any covert operations outside of signal interception."
"Sure, we have a massive complex in San Francisco full of analysts working for Starfleet Intelligence doing just that. We also have people in the field doing reconnaissance and building contacts – filling holes in the information collected from transmissions.
"On occasion, Starfleet Intelligence sanctions missions that involve sabotage, although all the cases I've heard of involved relatively understandable goals like setting back weapons programs, destroying doomsday devices – yes, Natalie, I see that sceptical look but there are such things as doomsday devices and Starfleet blows them up – and while those missions are usually denied by Starfleet and the Federation at the time, they are sanctioned and supervised by Starfleet Command and, in turn, the Federation Council."
"So you were recruited by a faction of Starfleet Intelligence?" Emily asked, looking concerned.
"No, that's the thing: it's a separate, unique entity," Felix answered leaning forward. "From what I was told, Section 31 does not have to report to anyone. Not Starfleet Intelligence, nor Command. Not even to the Federation Council."
A look of horror dawned on the so far unflappable face of Natalie Pavlikova and she instantly changed her posture. Suddenly it was clear that this wasn't a joke. Treyvin and her brother weren't playing games. They were serious. "Anyone who wants that kind of autonomy cannot be doing things that would live up to scrutiny," she noted.
"Certainly not if they've really been around for two hundred years," Felix replied. "And I'm convinced they've done more harm than good, even if you shelf the immorality of their actions."
"The Federation, with its values of compassion and the rights of sentient beings, has expanded faster than any empire in both the Alpha and Beta Quadrants precisely because of its transparency and benevolence," Treyvin agreed. Risans were an ancient space-faring species, and although they, as a people, made few attempts to expand their holdings before joining the Federation, many among them saw Federation expansion as inevitable given the inclusiveness of the organization.
"What kinds of things did they ask you to do?" Emily asked, her figures teasing a lock of her blonde hair nervously.
"First of all, they abducted me when I was to have a week of shore leave and ran me through a ridiculous test of loyalty. I was put in a simulation – without my knowledge, mind you – where I was led to believe that Captain Meyer was replaced by a changeling and that she might be plotting one last strike against the Federation. Well, I passed."
"How did you do that?" Natalie asked.
"I figured out it was a simulation, and that forced Sloan to end it," Felix supplied readily. "She explained to me who she was and that I had been selected to work as an agent."
"And what did you tell her?"
"What do you think, sis? I told her to go to hell," Felix replied defensively, looking a little hurt. "Not that it did any good. She said that she would be in touch. And she was.
"Some months later, while we were in the former DMZ, she approached me. I was in charge of setting up a new water filtration system on Minicorn IV. It was a resource rich, naturally beautiful world with a single settlement of Cardassians who were suffering, but entrenched.
"She told me about a design flaw in the water infiltration system that was barely detectable. The flaw would fail to filter out a toxin in the ground water that is lethal to Cardassians but tolerable for Humans – a major reason it passed scrutiny at Starfleet Engineering. All she wanted me to do was make sure the system was implemented as designed. With the Cardassian population eradicated, the planet would eventually be settled by Federation colonists. So, of course I went tinkering.
"Recalibrating the system was easier said than done and any delays in implementation could cost lives. I managed to come up with a fix so that running water would be restored only a few hours after we had originally planned. However... something didn't feel right with my solution, and so I held off for another day to review my work. My instinct was correct; my original fix – the most obvious one – would produce a highly explosive chemical compound that would build up in the filters and would ignite during the filter cleaning process, destroying the filtration plant and most of the settlement."
"She tried to get you so focussed on one problem that you would not see the forest for the trees," Natalie said, shaking her head. "Pretty clever; she knew how you can get when faced with a problem."
"Please, that's how everyone gets like when faced with a problem with lives on the line," Felix replied dismissively. "Let's not forget that I beat her, damn it. Minicorn IV is now a growing, prosperous, and healthy Cardassian colony."
"Sloan doesn't seem like the one to respond kindly to setbacks. How did she react?"
"In retrospect? Predictably. She surprised me in my quarters a day or so after the filters were cleaned and made a series of veiled threats. She told me that if I was not more accommodating during my next mission that she would find a way to drum me out of the service – or, more sinisterly, make sure I'd never make captain.
"At the time, though, I was spooked. I had figured that, having beat her, she would leave me alone, not come right back at me. I stayed aboard the Deliverance until her crew was granted some leave... and I never went back. Instead, I accepted an assignment at Starfleet Research. I didn't see Sloan again until I had been assigned to the Surprise, here in this very apartment. Then again on the Surprise herself two nights ago."
"So what made you bring this to us now, years after your first encounter?" Natalie queried neutrally. She knew her brother did not like to discuss the service, particularly its darker aspects, and she was surprised by his candour.
"I had very seriously considered keeping this between myself and Trey, as we are both Starfleet officers there are less barriers in terms of what I am free to speak about with him than either of you," Felix replied, his brow furled deeply in a look of concern. He paused to take a deep breath and looked straight into Emily's shimmering eyes. "In our last meeting, Sloan had threatened to use you and Natalie in one of her schemes should I refuse to cooperate. That threat has obligated me to come to you to figure out how to handle this.
"I would like to start off by saying I'm completely open to resigning my commission and retiring from Starfleet."
Natalie was stunned by the offer. Her brother had dedicated his entire adult life to Starfleet. During the Federation's most trying times, he had never shied away from a tough assignment, even volunteering for some of the Dominion War's most perilous missions. Although Felix had never said a word about it, she knew, as a sister might, how high a personal price he had paid to make it through war with both the Klingons and the Dominion. Every minute of his four years on Earth at Starfleet Research had been required to make him whole again; or, at least, something remotely like it. Now that he was finally ready... to be forced to give up his ambition to protect those he loved from the unsolicited advances of a megalomaniac...
"No. To hell with that shit - no!" Emily exclaimed to break the silence. Smyne and Natalie both regarded her wide-eyed as neither had ever conceived that the savvy, utterly feminine blonde could swear like a transport captain. "Felix, I want you to stay home with me more than anyone else, but I will not allow you to do it out of a sense of obligation to me or your sister. What in God's name are you going to do as a civilian anyway? Work with the other eggheads at Daystrom? To hell with that too, my man is starship captain and I won't let anyone take that away from him. Let's take these sons of bitches down."
The emotions of the four citizens took moments to sort out after Emily's bold declaration of war against Section 31, running the gamut from boisterous bravado to hysterical laughter, and any kind of serious discussion could resume. Following the maxim know thy enemy, Treyvin and Felix outlined some suspected Section 31 operations.
"Do you remember that disgraced Admiral that copped it in the Briar Patch? Dougherty?" Treyvin asked the ladies. Both, with the glimmer of recognition in their eyes, nodded. "I was XO on the Camelot when orders came down from Starfleet Command to assist the Enterprise in mopping up the situation. Admiral Nechayev was baffled after our brief. Although the Son'a were nominal Federation allies at the time, she seemed greatly distressed at the idea there was any kind of active partnership. The Federation only made nice with the Son'a to keep them out of the war.
"When we arrived, my friends on the Enterprise told me that Dougherty had claimed to be working under Federation Council orders, a statement that never reached reports that made the FNS bulletins. I didn't piece it together until Felix told me of his encounter months later, but it seems like a classic Section 31 operation."
"I also believe that they're behind the disaster that struck the Lantaru sector," Felix added. Seeing puzzled expressions on his friend's faces, he picked up a book he had underneath his chair. "This is my great grandfather's copy of the Official Coalition of Planets Star Chart Companion. In it, a small Coalition research outpost in the Lantaru sector is mentioned. Except, that would be impossible if you believe the current issue of the Official United Federation of Planets Star Chart Companion, which reads, and I quote:
"'The Lantaru sector has been a perpetual mystery for space-faring species in the adjoining sectors, as it is here that such unusual rifts in subspace occur naturally and in such abundance that maintaining a warp field is as of yet impossible. Buoys are maintained by Starfleet Research warning travellers of the dangers as they continue their study of the phenomenon.'
"There is a classified report that was made available to me when I made captain that confirms that what happened in Lantaru was not natural. What makes me think the involvement of the Section is that this disaster was the result of an outrageously dangerous and overambitious project conducted in complete secrecy in a remote corner of the Federation."
"During the War, I remember one closed session of the council I attended as an aide to Councillor Mathis. A Starfleet doctor had developed a cure for the Changeling's disease, which had affected the entire Great Link, apparently," Natalie recalled slowly, the events being years ago and something she had previously put aside, as they still made her uncomfortable. "As it became known, council faced a motion to share the cure. It was controversial, but a solid majority opposed it.
"While obviously distasteful to all, what really threw me was that nobody asked how. How did the Founders get infected with the disease? How could a people so notorious for secrecy and discretion make such a disastrous mistake? And, the biggest how of them all: how could a single Starfleet doctor manage to find a cure that had eluded the entire medical communities of the Vorta, the Cardassians, the Breen and the dozens of other conquered species that the Founders – who themselves are masters of genetic engineering, after all – could bring to bear on the problem?
"It was a question no one seemed willing to ask, for they were afraid of the answer. And I'm not suggesting that the entire council knew of the existence of Section 31, but they definitely knew they something wasn't right... and they just didn't want to know."
"Well, Sloan has always told me she was willing to do anything to preserve the Federation's way of life," Felix replied. "Infecting the Great Link with a life-threatening disease would have been seen as an attempt to prevent a war, or, at the very least, end it."
Encouraged, Natalie offered another possibility, "And what about Leyton's coup? Could they have had a hand in that?"
Before Treyvin or Felix could weigh in, Emily spoke.
"No," she said, "the details of the case just don't match Section 31's MO. I read the details of the Leyton Trial extensively while I was in law school. Leyton relied heavily on well-placed officers that were formerly under his direct command."
"And they say nepotism is dead," Treyvin quipped privately to Felix.
"They would like you to think that," Felix replied with a sparkle of levity.
"The Section recruiting methods appear to rely specifically on a lack of connection between operatives," Emily continued. "Felix had never met Sloan before and could never hope to trace her connection to him. Furthermore, the Section seems to be obsessed with the idea of protecting the Federation's 'way of life.' If successful, Leyton's coup would have radically altered life in the Federation. It's precisely the thing the Section would want to prevent."
"That's how we saw it," Treyvin commented and Felix nodded. The latter added a quick, "Sorry, sis."
From here the speculation dried up along with the conversation and the gravity of the situation was becoming increasingly apparent to all involved. After all the revelations and speculation, Felix could gauge that his little cell was emotionally exhausted.
"Look, I know that there is so much for us to talk about, but it can wait," he said to break the silence. He stood up. "Trey, can you beam back to my sister's townhouse and make sure it's clear of listening devices and her computers clear of spyware? I'll do the same for Emily."
"Sure thing, boss." He stood up, and took Natalie's hand to help her up. He grabbed the two tricorders, deactivated them and handed the second one to Pavlik. "Smyne to Dunaj. Two to beam directly to the residence of Natalie Pavlikova."
As his first officer and sister dematerialized, he turned to face Emily. He offered her both his hands to help her up and he smiled at her tenderly. When she was standing he leaned down and kissed her softly.
"Come, let's get you back home," he said as they smiled at each other. "Pavlik to Dunaj. Two to beam to the quarters of Emily Askew."
They were transported smoothly to the foyer of Emily's apartment. Felix bade Emily to sit while he ran some scans. She declined, and instead followed him about the quarters, looking over his shoulder to see what he was doing. Apart from the humming of the tricorder, once again there was a silence of voices.
"There's something you said that I just don't get," Emily told Felix after a few moments passed and he had moved on to checking her computer. "You said that Sloan subjected you to a test of loyalty, but from how you passed it, I would have inferred that it was a test of intelligence. I can't shake this feeling that you lied, but about what?"
Felix tensed and sighed.
"Clever girl," he murmured. He turned to face her and louder, he replied, "You're right; that's not how I passed the test. The test was designed to see whether or not I held my personal relationships in higher regard than my sense of duty to the Federation.
"The simulation ended when I was ordered by Captain Meyer to carry out a controversial task. Although I lacked definitive proof, I felt as though my suspicion was confirmed and that my CO had been replaced by a Founder. I… relieved her of command."
"You didn't, did you?" Emily asked with her heart in her throat. Infinitesimally, she moved away from Felix. "You shot her?"
"I did," Felix replied, the shame of his decision reflected both in his voice and on his face, "right in the back."