They got Brooks to talk but Jamie didn't like any of it, Marcus has lost his mind. She wasn't sure what was scarier, the fact that he was trying to start a war or the fact that he built a warship under everybody's noses. Jamie was looking at the specifications in the secret Starfleet Intelligence base that they took Brooks and the Redux agents to. Archer and Reed were letting them stew. The USS Vengeance is an unmarked Federation Dreadnought-class ship built in a secret spacedock near Jupiter. It was twice as big as the Enterprise and three times faster. It had been modified with advanced weaponry and could operate with a minimal crew, one if necessary. The terrifying part was that the ship was built solely for combat. It has advanced phasers that could be fired while the ship was at warp. The ship was also equipped with additional technologically-advanced features including better shielding, more advanced transporters and enhanced warp capabilities that went up to warp ten.
"That's insane," Bones said, voicing her thoughts.
"It's a much bigger version of the ship we confiscated from Redux when we were in the academy," she told the room. That ship, the SS Relativity, was still under Trip's command and hiding somewhere, waiting for him to comm for backup. Bones, Spock, Trip, Pike, Archer, Reed, Scotty, Gaila, Carol, and Harrison all looked at her. Jamie left Sulu in command of the ship, with Uhura as his first officer; she trusted the helmsman with the safety of her crew and she knew that he would do whatever was necessary, even if the rest of senior staff was only a beam out away. Harrison filled in as much as he could.
"The Vengeance was the product of the Praxis Project. I was tasked to the Io Facility to assist with testing on the ship. I may have compromised the project a few times before abandoning my assignment," he told them.
Jamie looked at him, "Why?"
"Half the advancements on that ship should be fleet wide, not the secrets of one man. And the other half of those advancements shouldn't be on that ship at all, as they violate one treaty or another. My job is to protect the Federation, setting up a war with the Klingons is not for the benefit of the Federation at all," he told them.
Jamie smiled, "Trip trained you well." She figured that out on Qo'noS. He deferred to Trip just like she did and the way he moved was almost the same as her friend. His loyalties were with his training officer and doing what was right for the Federation, which was how it should be. "What did you guys figure out about the torpedoes?" Jamie asked Carol and Scotty. All eyes shifted to the weapons officer and the engineer.
Carol looked around the room, "The torpedoes are Class twelve photon torpedoes. They operate at a core temperature of three hundred and twenty-three degrees Celsius, and have the explosive yield of three hundred and twenty isotons and the explosive range of three hundred thousand kilometers. They run on miniaturized drive system that renders them untraceable."
Scotty nodded, "The internal guidance systems of the torpedoes were online and updated with the latest mapping coordinates to be utilized in non-Federation space. Coordinate targeting of the torpedoes is accomplished via automatic geophysical positioning."
Bones took a breath, "For those of us that don't speak weapons, that means?"
Jamie looked at him, "Advanced long-range undetectable torpedoes with a big ass payload. Very stealth and all kinds of illegal. These things violate at least a dozen regs and treaties."
The Federation had treaty agreements with a few species that banned cloaked weapons and preemptive weapons, like the stealth function that could be activated by remote capability after launch.
"This went from bad to worse. If Marcus has more of these things…" Bones muttered. He didn't need to finish, she was thinking the same thing; they were all in for a world of hurt if Marcus launched even one of these weapons.
"From what I've gathered, this mission is the first real combat situation they've been in," Carol told the group. The woman looked defeated.
"It's not your fault," Jamie told her, "Your father did this, not you."
Carol nodded, "I know, Captain. I'm just… disappointed… ashamed." Jamie nodded; 'the sins of our fathers' as the saying goes.
"So, what do we do, sir? Between these weapons and that ship…" Jamie asked.
Archer looked to be in thought, "Do we..." Jamie's comm beeped in the middle of his statement.
"Go ahead, Enterprise." It was Uhura, they were being approached by a ship that they couldn't identify. Jamie looked at the admirals, they all knew who it was. "Shields up, go to red alert. Have Kyle beam us back in 30 seconds." Uhura acknowledged.
Archer looked at her, "Your people are the only ones with a clue as to what's really going on, he'll kill you."
She knew that, "Sir, we'll give him one hell of a fight."
The admiral nodded, "I have backup inbound, keep him in our sector and talking. We'll see what other intel Brooks will give us." Pike grabbed her arm as they beamed out, Jamie chuckled; guess he was coming with them.
"Captain on the bridge," Darwin called from Chekov's station.
She looked around the room, "Fill me in, Sulu." The officer jumped out of the chair and gave her a status report before taking his usual station. Jamie glanced at Chekov, "ETA on the incoming ship?"
The navigator responded, "Three seconds, ma'am." Jamie took her seat and ordered them to maintain shields. They were suddenly faced by a huge ship, Jamie didn't like this at all.
Uhura called from behind her, "They're hailing us, Captain."
She nodded at the communication officer, "On screen. Broadcast ship wide and record."
"Captain Kirk," Marcus said as he appeared.
She took a breath, "Admiral Marcus, I wasn't excepting you. It's a hell of a ship you got there." He wasn't buying it.
"And I was expecting to receive word that you completed your mission. You went to Qo'noS, what happened?" She went with the truth.
"My orders were changed, sir," she told him.
Marcus looked at her, "Who the hell has the autho… Pike, what are you doing on the Enterprise?" He knew he was caught.
"I advise standing down, Marcus," Pike informed him. Her former commanding officer continued, "It's done, we know what's going on."
Sulu whispered, "Captain, they're scanning our ship." She glanced at him before she looked at Marcus.
"Is there something I can help you find, sir?" she asked.
"Where is your prisoner, Kirk?" he asked her. She knew that his ship could rip them apart, she just had to buy time.
"Per Starfleet regulation, I returned Commander Brooks to Earth to stand trial. He's being debriefed by Archer, Reed and S.I." The color drained from his face,
"Well, shit. You talked to him," Marcus said.
She nodded, "We did, sir." Jamie knew she had to tread lightly, there was a chance he was gonna kill them just outta spite.
"In that case, Captain Kirk, there's no reason for me to leave you alive. Don't worry, I'll make this quick. And if it makes you feel better, you were all gonna die anyway." Man, Jamie hated being right. Carol ran over from the weapons station.
"Dad, what are you doing? You're going to kill a ship full of innocent people, for what? All because they don't believe in your war," the other blonde said.
Marcus looked at her, "What are you doing on that ship, Carol?" She stood tall.
"I'm doing the right thing, like you always taught me to do. These people have done nothing but sacrifice for the Federation. They've lost friends and family members fighting for what was right. All that technology and knowledge on that ship, and you're using it to wage war against your own people. The Klingons aren't the monsters in this story, you are. I am ashamed to be your daughter." Whatever Marcus was gonna say died in his throat when his men told him that there were four ships on approach. He looked at Jamie and Carol. The young captain smiled.
"That would be Admiral Archer. Stand down, lower your shields and prepare to be boarded," she instructed him.
He looked at her, "No." He closed the comm.
Sulu looked at his console, "Captain, they're…" he was cut off by the ship being fired upon. Marcus was going to kill them.