WAR GAMES PROLOGUE

KLINGON SECRET BASE 3

LOCATION SOMEWHERE NEAR FEDERATION NEUTRAL ZONE

COMMANDER'S OFFICE

Kruge strode into the office. Commander Warath waved him to the chair in front of his desk. Warath was known among Klingons as a fierce warrior, but for some reason had been assigned to this task of maintaining a secret base near Federation space. A base whose purpose was to send others out to battle, but not get any battle for your own glory. Only few knew exactly what was going on here.

Warath started pouring a stein each of bloodwine. "Kruge, let's drink to your success!"

Kruge was slightly miffed. His whole portion of the operation was a disaster. "A success? I expected you to cut my throat when I entered! It was a total disaster!"

Warath shook his head after finishing a big gulp. "Not so my friend! Yes, the Norsican base may have been destroyed, we may not be able to use them to weaken the Federation, but you may have weakened them far worse than we ever dreamed!"

Kruge sat down and grabbed his stein. "How so?"

Warath finished another gulp and let out a quick belch. "As you know, the Organians enforce this treaty and make it nearly impossible for us to destroy the Federation."

Kruge nodded and squinted his eyes in a glare. "Peace, how can we possibly have peace with them? They are weak. There can be no trust. How could I have weakened them so much?"

Warath pointed to the wall screen and pushed a button. "This man is a senator, a very prominent one, name is Jameson. He was a prisoner on the pirate base. We have kept an eye on him for a long time because of his opposition to Starfleet. He is one of their 'doves'."

Kruge shook his head as he was drinking another sip of bloodwine. "What is a 'dove'?"

Warath shrugged. "I do not know how it comes about. It is what humans classify as a politician that does not like war."

Kruge laughed out loud. "There are humans that do like war?"

Warath nodded. "Watch out for them. Humans do not like it like us, but the ones who are willing to fight do it very well. Politicians that back them are called 'hawks'. Again, I do not know why."

Kruge said thoughtfully, "I have seen a hawk. I escorted an ambassador to Earth once. My ship stayed in orbit long enough to move him to the embassy and bring back the old ambassador. I was invited to see a demonstration of a trained hawk. The Earth ambassador thought it would impress me."

Warath asked, "Did it?"

Kruge nodded, "It did. The hawk is a Earth bird of prey. Very keen eyesight, sees small prey from great distances. It also waits for the prime time to attack, and then attacks with a fierceness and suddenness that would put many Klingons to shame. If there are 'hawks' in the Federation, we have to eliminate them."

Warath smiled. "The Organian treaty as you well know does not allow for open battle. The Klingon High Council feels like it is honor-bound to follow the treaty. There is a sizeable portion on the council that does not trust the Federation, the humans' portion in particular and is trying to provoke them."

Kruge gave Warath a dull look. "I know this. My last mission was to get the Norsicans to harass the Federation to pull assets off their border. I failed at that. The Norsican base was taken out by one starship. A SINGLE STARSHIP!"

Warath continued smiling. "We will get to that in a minute. This senator that the Norsicans captured, has hated Starfleet in the past. The latest intelligence report indicates that he is now even more against Starfleet's mobilization on the neutral zone. He believes Starfleet is to blame, his rescue used too much force. He intends to continue to press against Starfleet. You have done more to weaken the Federation than the entire fleet could possibly have done!"

Kruge shook his head. "How could this be so?"

"Don't you see? This Senator is going to push for Starfleet vessels to have less weaponry on board, have less shielding on board, we may even be able to manipulate him to have less Starfleet vessels overall! The damage could be immense! When one of our ships comes across them, our ship will automatically have an advantage. They will be facing less phasers, less shields, less power, less everything! It will be like having several free shots against an unshielded ship!"

Kruge was dumbfounded. "They are this stupid?"

Warath shook his head. "Not all of them, there are those who know how to battle. But their position is weakened."

Kruge still was in shock. "How so? I do not understand their politics."

Warath explained, "The Federation is basically governed by the will of the people. Manipulate that will, and you manipulate the Federation. We must be careful what we do."

Kruge looked at the picture of the Senator Jameson. "And he can do that?"

Warath drank another gulp and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "More so than most Senators. Let's keep an eye open for opportunities in the future. How much of that battle did you see?"

"Not much, but you got the data from the station."

Warath pushed a button and schematics of the Wisconsin came up. "What is your assessment of this ship?"

Kruge pointed at various parts of the ship. "This is the first time I came across the new heavy cruiser. It is called the Enterprise refit class. Named after the only Constitution Heavy Cruiser to survive their five-year exploratory mission, the Enterprise. The Enterprise was refitted with new engines, new phasers, new everything. This new cruiser can take on one of our D7 battle cruisers easily."

"Not our newest ones."

"That has yet to be determined. I think our newest D7, the M model, will be about equal to or maybe slightly below the Enterprise class."

Warath heard this before, but not from a front-line commander. "What about their tactics?"

Kruge thought a bit. "I am not sure how well they would have done against Klingons. Norsicans are not good warriors, they mostly are bullies. I am not sure how they did it, the base should have destroyed the ship with ease. There is a curious period of blank data on their sensor logs, about five minutes. It seems the starship took advantage of this and landed boarding parties to rescue the hostages, as well as severely damage the base."

Warath nodded. "I saw the blank data also. We have no idea what caused it. Whatever it was, it did not hurt the Starship. Anything else?"

Kruge pointed at the ship. "Your data on the shuttles is inaccurate. They used old assault vessels called Raptors."

Warath shook his head. "Never heard of them before."

Kruge explained. "Old style assault ships the size of a shuttle. By today's standards they will be very old, underpowered, weak weapons, and no shielding. The Federation must be desperate to field an old vehicle as that."

Warath thought a bit. Something sounded familiar. He pushed a button, "Computer. Search Federation transmissions for Senator Jameson and Raptor."

The computer displayed a waiting symbol, then answered, "Finished. The following public transmissions meet the criteria." A list of dates and times and program names was listed.

Kruge shook his head. "They are truly weak. So much information for us to look at. Why?"

Warath looked over the list. "Too long to explain. There! Computer display file 115320."

The Screen started showing the hearing into the Wisconsin from two years ago. The two Klingons watched for hours the whole proceeding.

After it was done, Kruge's eyes narrowed. "Amazing. I still do not understand why that senator is giving Captain Jacobs such a hard time with his ship. I see what you mean that this senator will be a great asset for us. Did they build the ship?"

Warath nodded. "It is the USS Wisconsin. It is the ship that hit the Norsican base."

Kruge's eyes shifted to the screen. Frozen on the screen was Jacobs sitting before the Senators. "That is what happened. They used that EMP device. What do we know about it?"

Warath shook his head. "Nothing. Evidently, it eliminates power for a short period of time. Keep in mind, most of what was on that station you gave them. It works on our systems."

Kruge pointed at the screen. "He knows how to use it, has the tactics, and the will to fight. He improved the Raptors, I underestimated them. We should let our commanders know about this Wisconsin immediately."

Warath nodded. "I wanted your assessment. I did not bargain for this. What do we need to tell them?"

Kruge was quick. "Tell them that this new Enterprise class is more powerful than the D7M. This specific ship is a warrior ship and not to underestimate it or the crew on board. Tell them we need as much information as to this Captain Jacobs; we need to know about him. Anything about his past?"

Warath spoke to the computer, "Computer, background on Captain Joshua Jeremiah Jacobs, Federation Starfleet. Current assignment USS Wisconsin."

The computer did a search. "Captain Jacobs, previous assignment Derf Class tender the Wolverine. No other data."

Warath looked to Kruge. "I will send a request to the council to get our spies to get a full dossier on Jacobs. Let me get to your next assignment. We have identified a pattern with Organian intervention. They seem to not be able to interfere every thirteen months or so. We are not sure about this, it is just a theory, and with any theory, it needs to be tested. What we want you to do is to take your ship plus a D7S to a system of your choice. Lay a trap and get into an engagement with Starfleet."

Kruge asked, "Do you want me to capture them?"

Warath shook his head, "We do not have any use for prisoners. You will be lucky if you could destroy the ship. If you could capture it, we do not know how the Organians would react, if at all. The purpose is to find out how long we can keep a maximum engagement going with the Federation."

Kruge slammed the stein down. "Then why bring a D7S?"

"The Stasis field will help keep the engagement going longer. Your ship is not that powerful, it was meant to scout. I am not looking for serious damage, but length of time that we can engage the Federation during this period of weakness of the Organians. We need to know so that in 13 more months we can plan a maximum engagement to destroy as many of Starfleet's ships as we can. I want you because I can trust you. This whole base and the ships assigned to it are not known by the High Council. Surprise will be on our side."

SPACEDOCK ORBITING EARTH

USS EXCALIBUR, CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS

Captain Harold 'Hank' Jackson was sitting on his couch relaxing and reading some news that was happening around the Federation. Top news was the dramatic rescue of hostages that had been taken by Norsican Pirates, including a very prominent Senator Jameson. Details on the rescue were scant, Starfleet was not offering any details, except that there were no Federation casualties. He smirked and thought that the new Starfleet ships would be more than a match for a pirate ship. Whoever had the assignment of rescue had to have had an easy job.

He looked around at his new quarters. The Excalibur was Starfleet's answer to the Klingon battleship. Details on the Klingon design were scarce, but it evidently had tremendous power, enough able to drive four warp nacelles. With four nacelles, they could have a very large warp field encompassing a very large vessel. Or they could make a small ship go very fast. The Klingons designed the former, it being the largest Klingon vessel to date. The Excalibur also had four nacelles, two warp reactors, more armament than had ever been put on a ship before, and the largest crew to date. This ship could out gun and out run any two heavy cruisers in existence, the Enterprise included. Captain Jackson smirked at that thought. According to the designers, the next breakthrough will be transwarp, and the Excelsior, which was being built currently, was designed to test transwarp theory. In the meantime, the Excalibur was King of the Fleet.

The Com whistled, Captain Jackson leaned over and pushed the button. "Captain here."

The communications officer said, "Incoming message from Admiral Clayborne. Secure channel. Tagged as private."

Jackson answered, "Send it down here." A moment later Clayborne's image came up.

"Captain Jackson, how long before you get underway?"

Jackson looked at his clock, "We are scheduled to depart tomorrow morning. Right now, we are doing final checkouts and loading."

"Captain, can you depart in two hours? Complete checks underway? If anything comes up, you can get it taken care of at Starbase 5."

Jackson thought a short time, "Admiral, that is highly irregular. Only matters of urgent need would cause a starship to leave early without completing commissioning checks."

Clayborne looked impatient, "I know that, I have been a starship captain before! I need to be at Starbase 5 as soon as possible for a classified meeting. Your ship is the fastest available. Keep in mind that I am second-in-command of Starfleet."

Jackson did not appreciate being pressured like this. However, helping out the future Chief of Starfleet Operations would have its perks. "Admiral, I will check with my crew. My short answer is that we will depart as soon as possible to accommodate you. I will have my executive officer assign you quarters."

Clayborne nodded. "Very good Captain. Clayborne out." The screen went to the standard Starfleet symbol as its screen saver. Jackson leaned back and thought a minute. Why would Admiral Clayborne want to be at Starbase 5 in such a hurry? Nothing unusual was happening on the Klingon border that he knew of. The Excalibur was slated to be based out of Starbase 5 anyway, so what would it hurt to leave a few hours earlier to help an Admiral?

ENSIGN JOESEPH KENN'S TEMPORARY QUARTERS

USS WISCONSIN

Kenn looked at the orders that just arrived. He scrolled the data pad back to the top. The Orders were quite clear.

TO: ENSIGN JOSEPH KENN

FROM: STARFLEET COMMAND

ENSIGN KENN, ASSIGNMENT TO USS HURON HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED TO USS WISCONSIN EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. REPORT TO LT CDR BAUER, COMMANDING SECURITY.

His uncle had his way after all. Kenn's uncle, Senator Jameson, after being rescued was appalled at the use of force the Wisconsin used to rescue the hostages. Jameson already did not like Starfleet and the Wisconsin in particular. Jameson told Kenn that he wanted Kenn to be posted to the Wisconsin and covertly observe what goes on board ship that isn't put in the logs. Kenn thought it was just another way to say he wants him to spy on the Wisconsin.

Kenn had a lot of time to think when he was in the cell. He realized all that Bauer and Teal'c had taught and that the Badgers stood for he had totally missed. The Badgers were the only group able to save the hostages, him being one of them. 'Normal' Starfleet security could not hope to accomplish what the Badgers did. He would love to have a second chance at becoming a Badger, but not this way. He was being forced on the Wisconsin.

Well, he better report as ordered. Maybe not just yet though, the orders did not say 'immediately'. There was one stop where he could get some help with this, Pastor Octavian. He was the perfect person to help him do the right thing.