The Hour of The Wolf
Chapter Twenty-Nine

Authors note:-

Quick point, this plot thread has been going on too long. I originally wanted this to be a quick aside, leading to the Klingon Civil War… and it's just blown up. With any luck I can polish things off soon and we can get to the cool parts I have had planned for quite some time.

But before that time to address an issue I've been dancing around since the beginning, Just how the hell the Galactica and the Fleet cross two galaxies to find Earth? Well they had the technology.

The fascinating thing about Colonial technology, from an engineers perspective, was it's alien-ness. In a very real sense their technological development zigged where Federation advances zagged. Their machines following principles that Federation scientists would never consider. Multitronic circuits, fission based thrusters and oscillating multi-level magnetic fields were just the tip of the iceberg.

Dr Leah Brahms was, in all honesty, one of the Federations top experts in propulsion. Even so it had taken her years to be accepted by her colleagues. Some of them were incredibly set in their ways and her ideas were considered a little too radical in some circles. However to many she was the modern day Richard Daystrom of engine design. If it wasn't for her the Galaxy Class, the largest Federation ship to date, would probably still be in the design phase. Crippling engine flaws and all.

For the last few months she'd been on New Kobol, working with the Colonials and trying to understand their technology. Mostly she was trying to figure out how they achieved faster than light travel without Warp Drive. It would probably take her the rest of her life to really understand it all, but she had finally figured out a rough understanding. The answer was what she had identified as the Colonial Subspace Mass Displacement Effect. While engineers like the Akria's Chief McTalbot had shortened that to Displacement Drive. She still preferred calling it CSMDE because it was far more accurate and gave a good grounding for the science behind it. Science that she'd worked hard to understand.

It had taken weeks for her to get even a rough grasp of the physics behind it and Leah was quite proud of that. The hardest part for her to get her head around was that technically there wasn't an engine involved. The Colonial ability to travel faster than light was actually a side effect of their power source.

The Colonials didn't have matter-antimatter reactors and only used fission power for their sub-light thrusters. Considering both too unstable and dangerous. Instead, for energy, they used strange devices called Energisers. She'd read the literature on them, what she understood of it. Many of the terms were strange and she wasn't sure they matched with what she knew which explained a number of problems she was having elsewhere.

In effect Energisers were overly complicated giant subspace capacitors on an order that had never been dreamed of by the Federation. A rechargeable battery, so to speak, that collected background energy much like twentieth century solar power cells would with sunlight. Only in this case constantly gathering power from entropy itself. The larger the Energiser the more power they could collect, store and utilise.

The CSMDE was what happened when you flipped that process into reverse. As well as pulling energy out of subspace Energisers could drag matter down into it. Because time and space obeyed different rules in subspace that meant vessels could traverse vast distances in a fraction of the time it would take in Warp before being thrown back into normal space.

Unfortunately as much as she knew there were still some rather large gaps in her understanding. Most important to Leah was trying to explain why her experiments with installing a standard Energiser in a Starfleet shuttle had failed so spectacularly. Every time she tried to engage the device it disrupted the shuttle's systems. Depolarising the power cells, scrambling the computer interface, disabling communications and even knocking out the gravity-net.

In some ways Federation and Colonial technology did work well together. Replicators most notably, weapons and tractor beams too for some reason, but they were having troubles. Transporters were spotty, shields and most forcefields also flailed and no one could quite figure out why.

Which was why when she heard that the Rising Star was making a trip deep into Federation territory Leah jumped at the chance to run some more tests. It had taken some fast talking, as well as the promise of a few favours and a bottle of Andorian Ale, but she'd been able to get onboard.

'I'm telling you, this isn't going to help.' Renna said as they were setting up the sensors. 'The problem is those little pasteboard boxes you call shuttles. They're too small.' Renna was the chief mechanic on the Rising Star. She was only a little older than Leah, but thanks to the Colonials extended lifespans looked younger. The woman had been raised in the Rising Star's engine room. She was built like a Klingon and had enough muscles to make a Nausicaan think twice but was also one of the Fleet's best experts in Energisers.

Leah was setting up a thermal array on the mega-pressure pumps. 'I can't trust the technology on something larger until I can understand and test it on a small scale.'

'Doesn't work like that, here let me help you.' Renna took the pressure sensor and wired it into one of the controls. 'You need a critical mass point before the Energiser effect can be measured accurately.'

'I calculated that.' Leah pointed out.

'You Federation.' Renna shook her head. 'You think things can be calculated, run it through a computron and you understand it? The universe doesn't work that way Leah. This sort of thing isn't science, it's art. Half instinct half inspiration. Now we can stick these sensors anywhere you want, but until you get that we'll just be wasting time.'

'The will of the Lords?' Leah tried not to sound critical, she'd heard this argument from Renna and other Colonials before. Despite being an engineer she was highly religious, well what passed for religion with her people.

The Colonial mechanic laughed; 'I won't lie. I know they're looking out for us, but that's not what I mean. You need to know how to feel what she's telling you. Ships like this one don't just fly, they live in space. Power is her life's blood and the Energiser her heart. Everyone has her own rhythm, their own sweet spot. You already know that deep down, you've just got to know how to hear that. It's a partnership between you, the ship and the universe.'

Leah disagreed 'Ships are propelled by physics, not poetry. Physics can be quantified.'

Renna laughed. 'You have been spending far too much time with those Vulcan friends of yours!'

'And you've been spending too much time around McTalbot.'

'Now he gets it, not totally but Mackie has more of it than you.' Renna frowned at her. 'You know, I think that's your problem Leah. You've spent all your time on computrons, but never gotten out there and watched it work in practice.'

'Of course I have.' Leah protested. 'I came here on the Akria…'

'Doesn't look like you paid much attention. Stick with me Leah, you'll learn fast.'

Sela filled into the office room, just behind Commander Tomalak, Sub-Commander Selok. The three of them had been summoned to the Proconul's office. Neral was young and ambitious. He was also dangerous. Newly elected he was a politician through and through.

She wouldn't make the mistake of trusting him. The Proconul stood and waved them to the seats in front of his desk. 'Please, please come in. I'm glad you could find the time to meet with me.' he said without a trace of irony. They didn't have much choice in the matter.

Once they sat down he looked at each of them carefully. 'I'm sorry to have to ask you to come. I've been trying to catch up with all the projects my predecessor oversaw. As great a man he undoubtably was his illness really effected him near the end. You wouldn't believe some of the projects he was supposed to be overseeing. Several had gone completely out of control.' The implication was obvious.

Sela was the first to admit that there had been setbacks. She'd tried to mitigate them, but she had the feeling he would see right through her deflections.

'Now, I'm going to be honest. I was concerned when I first heard the details of the project. Then I heard about the more recent developments the three of you have been involved with. Quite frankly I say its time to cut our losses, but the Praetor has taken an interest and I promised him I'd give you a chance. So here is your opportunity. However you better be very convincing, or this project won't be the only thing terminated.' he finished as he glared at them.

Sela fought to keep her expression neutral. There was no doubt in her mind she would be the first brought before the firing squad. 'I feel that, before we begin, I need to establish some context.' She announced standing up. 'Since it's inception the Federation has been identified as the Romulan Empire's greatest threat. Outstripping us in manpower and resources. Since their alliance with the Klingons that threat has become even more real.'

'We know this.' Neral sat back in his chair. 'I am more concerned by recent developments.'

Sela carried on regardless. 'It was identified that our previous attempts to disrupt both the Federation and their alliance with the Klingons only provided them with a common enemy. As such this project was conceived. The goal; to disrupt both individual governments from within. Causing distrust and a breakdown of diplomatic communication.'

'Go on.'

'My duties were part of phase one. Utilising contacts and operatives deep within the Klingon government we were to manoeuvre a pro-Romulan anti-Federation stance.'

Neral turned to the other two 'And what are you doing during this phase?'

Tomalak shot her a dark look. 'We were testing the Federation's defences. A number of low level probes. Scouting missions to test the Federation sensor net. We have had some success.'

'And disasters. Such as Galornden Core?' Neral snapped. 'You lost a scout ship and alerted the Federation when they detected it's distress call! And you Sub-Commander Selok, decades of deep cover only for it all to be relegated to failure by a botched extraction. What exactly did you learn?'

The Tal Shiar operative didn't meet his gaze. 'Exactly. Whatever tactical benefits we might have had were lost when Starfleet discovered your survival. At best we inconvenienced them, at worse we gave our enemies reason to sure up their defences. Yet all this pales into nothing when compared you your failures Commander Sela. On the eve of triumph our most valuable asset in Klingon government gets himself killed in a barbaric honour duel. Throwing years of planning away. A true Romulan would have admitted their failures. You on the other hand have sat there and kept throwing resources at this mess in the hope that it will somehow solve itself.'

Sela let the true Romulan slur pass. It wasn't the first time she'd heard it and wasn't going to be the last. It wasn't her fault her mother was human and she had accepted that. Still, she couldn't keep the anger out of her voice when she replied. 'Proconsul, there has been no failure. Not yet at least.'

'Explain yourself.'

Taking a breath Sela took a second to gather her defence. 'Klingon government is barbaric, but in this case that works to our advantage. Duras was in many ways merely a figurehead for his family's claim. Although he is dead, his family still has the right to challenge this Gowron for leadership.'

'Go on.' he said again, this time with less of a sneer.

'The sisters of Duras have found a son, illegitimate but should serve our purpose. With our clandestine support and guidance they could turn that political challenge to a true military one.'

'Your talking civil war.' Tomalak said. 'You want to goad those howling barbarians into slaughtering each other? For what?'

'To drive a wedge between them and the Federation. Starfleet will not interfere. Even if they wanted to they would be forced to consider it a strictly Klingon matter, one their prime directive forbids them to get involved with.'

Selok nodded. 'It is their highest law.' Her time undercover had given her an understanding of the Federation, better than most who only had propaganda and what had been edited by the Tal Shiar.

'And they will not break it, even if our influence is discovered?' Neral asked

'Only if they have absolute proof we are supporting Duras' the operative told them. 'And then they will only respond proportionally. The last thing the Federation desire is a war, they prefer to make their gains in other, more subtle ways.'

'They are a devious and resourceful.' Tomalak agreed, 'but don't underestimate them. They are more than willing to fight should they need to.

'We just have to make sure that it is not needed. We can limit our support to Duras, insist it is to hide it from the Federation while we save resources.' Sela announced. 'This may increase the risk that the Duras will lose the war. Even so…'

'Even so a civil war will weaken Klingon forces and the Federation's lack of support will not be appreciated. If our friends are victorious the new Klingon high command would still be in our debt.' the Proconsul sat back and thought for a moment 'You've done well. Very convincing. Here is m proposal:- When I make my recommendation to the Continuation Committee I will acknowledge that there is still some possibilities. However you will postpone the second phase, the invasion of the Federation will be on hold until we are sure it will succeed and there are no suspicions of our true goals.'

Neral stood up. 'Until then I'll have Pardek continue to infiltrate the Dissidents. If nothing else we can use this opportunity to identify and execute them, we can't have their corruption spread to the public at large. Oh and Pardek will answer to me directly from now on, as will the three of you. Jolan Tru' Neral dismissed them and turned away to look out over the capitol.

Alynna was still watching from the porthole of her quarters. Technically she was under house arrest, which left her little else to do. She had tried reading and also listening to music but couldn't enjoy either. She needed to plan, to prepare her attack. Will Riker and the others would be expecting her to be on the defensive but that wasn't the case.

She was still convinced that Hanson and others in Starfleet were betraying the Federation, no matter how they excused it. On reflection she should have tried a different approach, but there was no telling the damage they had already done. They needed to be stopped and this was going to be her last, best chance.

It was as she was formulating the best strategy that she saw it. A ship blinked into existence some distance away. It hadn't de-cloaked or warped in, it just simply appeared. One instant it was empty space, the next a ship was there. She couldn't see any warp nacelles or deflector dish, in fact she had never seen a ship design like it. About the size of a Excelsior class it had an ultra-aerodynamic hull design that looked like a flat bulbous fish. There were two of what Alynna guessed were shuttlebays. A guess that was proven correct when a large shuttle launched and set a course for the Enterprise.

The strange vessel pulled up to the Enterprise and Alynna could make out some writing on the hull. It was called the Rising Star. As an Admiral she had a lot of experience with ships of all kinds and from the design she could tell it wasn't a battleship. It also didn't look like a science vessel as she couldn't make out any sensor arrays. If anything it looked like a luxury transport on a large scale.

It didn't take long before her door chimed and then opened. John was the only person that had visited her so she wasn't surprised that it turned out to be security. 'Admiral, we've been asked to take you to the observation room. Admiral Hanson is waiting for you there.'

'And Admiral Haden?'

'He will be there too.

'Well I wouldn't want to keep them waiting.' She said smartly. Hanson wanted to meet privately before taking the charges before the JAG. If he wanted to keep this quiet that meant she still had an advantage.

In the corridor it wasn't just security. There was another woman, human at first look but wearing a strange uniform. A mixture of tan's and brown, with large boots, a dark jacket and a gun belt strapped to her thigh. 'Who are you?'

'Lieutenant Deita, Colonial Military. Commander Adama asked me to come with security, Keep you company.' The dark skinned woman told her, but Alynna was non the wiser

'Commander who.'

'You'll know soon enough, he wants to meet.'

Shrugging Alynna followed the security to the turbo-lift, where Haden and his escort were waiting. With a nod to each other they entered the lift and headed up to deck one

Inside the observation lounge were another two people in the strange uniform, as well as two security officers that were also wearing gun belts. They were standing behind Admiral Hanson and a white haired man in a blue outfit. It had the same ribbed effect and chequered pattern on the cuffs as the warrior's but instead of a jacket the elderly man had a short cloak and a large silver medallion at his throat.

'I am Commander Adama. President of the Council of the Thirteen. You must be Admiral Nechayev and Admiral Haden. There is have a lot we have to talk about'

Alynna shot a quick glance to Haden and then back to the Commander. 'What's going on here? Who are you? What is that ship out there? What the hell have Hanson and the others been hiding?'

End Chapter Twenty-Nine