Written by : Miera (beta kyrdwyn, Kylie Lee)
Translated by : Laurent
Original published 21 October 2005
French version published 07 April 2006
Damage Control, II
"Put your hands up where I can see them," the uniformed security officer barked. His rank insignia marked him as a lieutenant.
Tucker and Mayweather raised their hands, while Tucker tried to explain. "Good thing you're here, Lieutenant. We were just about to call you. I'm Commander Charles Tucker from Enterprise. We came here--"
"I don't care who you are. Keep your hands up and turn over your weapons." Two other men stepped inside, phase pistols aimed at Tucker and Mayweather. One came forward and took their weapons and communicators; and the lieutenant in charge gestured for them to come back into the living room.
"Ensign Mayweather is a friend of the victim. We came here to check on her and found the place like this," Tucker tried again.
The lieutenant pulled out a set of restraints from his pockets. "Commander, you've just been found at the scene of a crime, armed, and we know for a fact that Ensign Mayweather here is the last person who saw the victim alive."
Tucker stared as the lieutenant handcuffed Mayweather. "What?"
"Travis Mayweather, you are under arrest on suspicion of murder."
Tucker looked into Mayweather's shocked face and wondered what the hell else could go wrong.
********
Mayweather sat in the interrogation room for what felt like hours. His only consolation was that by now Commander Tucker had probably been able to contact Enterprise and tell Captain Archer what was going on.
But he was still stuck here.
And Gannet was dead. Whatever was on that data device had to be involved in this, and whatever it was she had learned must have been very serious.
Two investigators came into the room. Neither of them had been at the apartment when Mayweather was arrested. He eyed them warily, thinking back to over his many discussions with Lieutenant Reed about interrogations (most of them conducted while Reed was mocking the police interviews in old movies). The older one was thin and had flecks of gray in his dark hair. The other man was shorter and stouter, with a slightly fleshy look to his face Mayweather didn't like.
"Ensign, I'm Lieutenant Commander Mercis, and this is Captain Huntington. We need to ask you some questions about Gannet Brooks."
Mayweather nodded, but he didn't say anything. Both men were behaving calmly, as if this were a business meeting--except for the fact that Mayweather's hands were still cuffed together.
"You've known the victim for a number of years, is that correct?"
"Yes. Since I was in training for Starfleet."
"You were romantically involved at one time?"
"Yes." Mayweather's voice went ice cold. It didn't seem to faze the Lieutenant Commander.
"We're just checking the facts, son."
Mayweather bristled slightly at the patronizing tone but said nothing.
"Now, you hadn't seen each other for some time until about a week ago?"
"That's right. She was covering the interspecies conference when we ran into each other."
"And she was on board Enterprise for several days working on a story about the ship's crew?"
"Yes."
"Are you aware, Ensign, that the story was never filed? And that her editor claims he knows nothing about sending her on the assignment?"
Mercis was staring at him, and Mayweather fought not to blink too much or shift around in his seat. Gannet's true job as an intelligence agent was classified information, and even given his current predicament, he couldn't reveal that. "No, sir, I wasn't."
"So I imagine you're likewise unaware that for the past several days she hasn't been reporting in to her job? Or that we've had her under surveillance for suspicious activity since she returned to Earth from Enterprise?"
Mayweather felt the hackles on his neck rise. If they'd been watching, they'd seen him with Gannet the night before. He remembered her eyes darting around, looking everywhere but at him. She'd had reason to think she was being watched--and she'd been right. Were these the people she was afraid of? Had they seen her slip him the data device? If they knew about the device, they had to know that he would already have brought it to the ship. What did they want with him, then?
Captain Archer's words about whatever was going on being much bigger than they thought came back to him. Suddenly he felt a distinct sense of panic and wanted nothing more than to get out of this room before he said the wrong thing.
Unfortunately, the only people he knew he could trust were a long way away.
********
"Jon. I thought you'd call."
Archer glared at Admiral Novotny. At least the admiral had taken his call. If he hadn't, Archer would have made a visit in person. He leaned toward the screen. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he demanded without preamble.
Novotny looked calm, which only made Archer more angry. "Ensign Mayweather is the last person who saw Gannet Brooks alive, Captain. He may be the only person who can tell us what happened."
Archer did a double-take. "Then you know he's innocent?"
"We're fairly certain that he didn't kill her, yes."
The anger rose up in him again. "Then what? You're holding him to cover your ass and make it look like you have some idea of what's going on?"
"Captain," Novotny's voice grew sharp. "I understand that you're upset, but I'm still your superior here. There is a lot more going on than you know."
Archer tried, without total success, to calm his voice. "I would understand much better if you stopped keeping things from me."
"Dammit, Jon, of all people you should know that there are situations where information has to be kept quiet!" Novotny snapped in an uncharacteristic show of anger.
"I don't like being lied to, Admiral, not by you or by anyone. And the fact that you're holding my helmsman when you just admitted to me that he's innocent isn't making it a lot easier to trust you."
Novotny merely looked at him. "Worrying about your trust isn't part of my job, Captain. We're keeping Mayweather in custody for the time being, for his safety as well as ours. Whether you believe that or not is your own affair. Novotny out."
The screen went blank and Archer sat back, trying to control his desire to throw something across the room. Preferably something breakable. He'd barely mastered the impulse when the door chimed.
"Come in," he gritted out.
The door opened to reveal T'Pol and Ambassador Soval. The Ambassador nodded solemnly. "Captain," he said, his usual Vulcan calm contrasting sharply with Archer's anger.
Archer rose to his feet and tried to modulate his voice. "Ambassador. I wasn't expecting a visit."
Despite the Vulcan stoicism, Soval looked tired and irritated--or at least as irritated as a Vulcan could look. "Unfortunately, I am not here to visit, Captain. The conference has ended."
Archer fought not to swear aloud. Things were going from bad to worse. "What happened?"
Soval folded his hands in front of him. "The other delegates believe that Earth is not yet ready to participate in an interplanetary alliance, and they have decided to end the proceedings and wait until your planet has a chance to resolve recent events."
Archer frowned. "So that's it? Months of work just to get these species together in one place and they're ready to give up?"
"The Rigellians have suggested that perhaps an alliance can be created without human participation, leaving open the option for Earth to join in at a later date," T'Pol put in.
Archer glared. "None of these species were talking to each other before we got them here. How do the Rigellians think they got here in the first place?"
"I've indicated to the Rigellian ambassador that Vulcan is not interested in the creation of a large-scale alliance that excludes one of our existing allies," Soval said, making Archer look at him in surprise. Some things had changed, all right.
He sighed. "Did the delegates make any arrangements for future meetings?"
Soval nodded. "It was suggested that representatives reconvene in several months, perhaps after the completion of the starbase project. The Tellarite ambassador pointed out that the completion of Starbase One might indicate that we can work together without killing each other."
Archer knew those words were probably a direct quote from the Tellarites, but the fact that Soval had repeated them made him wonder if after all this time Soval was finally developing a sense of humor.
He nodded and glanced at T'Pol. "I assume that your ships are coming to collect the delegates within the next few days?"
"No," Soval said, holding out a data disk to Archer. "The continuing unrest in Earth's cities, as well as recent events, have led Starfleet Command to believe that it would be safer for the delegates to return home aboard Starfleet vessels. Enterprise is to transport myself, the Andorian, and the Tellarite delegations home, while Columbia transports the remaining delegates."
Archer felt a moment of empathy for Captain Hernandez, having to deal with the Corridan and Rigellians on the long trip. Then again, Andorians and Tellarites were no bargain either.
It was too bad Shran wasn't diplomatic material. At least he and Shran could have drunk Andorian ale and swapped stories. "How soon do we need to leave?"
He could see in T'Pol's face that she knew exactly what he was thinking. "Tomorrow morning," she told him, and he swore silently. His ship was missing its helmsman, and he wasn't happy about the idea of flying to three different star systems while Mayweather sat in jail on Earth.
He nodded to her. "Commander, you can go back to your work." That was a veiled order for her to join Sato and recommence work on the data disk. Suddenly, decoding it seemed more important than ever. "I'll escort the Ambassador to his quarters."
*******
Sato was hunched over the computer workstation when T'Pol re-entered the lab. "Ensign, have you made any progress?"
Sato didn't move right away. T'Pol approached but Sato held up a hand and finished inputting a series of commands. She looked up at the screen and T'Pol followed her gaze.
The encrypted data on the device, displayed on the screen, began to reorder itself smoothly.
The two of them remained still, watching and waiting, until the decryption program finished.
Sato stood up, tired but triumphant, and T'Pol nodded, "Well done."
********
The command crew, minus Mayweather, stared at the screens of the conference room as Sato and T'Pol explained what they've learned.
"There are copies of Paxton's financial records on the device. They indicate a large portion of the funding for his operations were coming from a company called Hatham Industries," Sato said, pointing at the screen.
"There was no mention of Hatham in Starfleet's reports on the Terra Prime attack," Reed pointed out.
"No, but there are records on this device indicating that Starfleet Intelligence searched Hatham's offices after the attack and found nothing," T'Pol put in.
"The offices had been cleaned out and any records of the company available through other channels on Earth have been erased," Sato added.
"Why would Starfleet not mention this in the reports?" Tucker asked.
"If Paxton was getting aid from the people behind this company, and those people went into hiding, Starfleet would want to keep that information classified in order to continue trying to find them. Announcing they were involved would only drive them deeper underground," Reed theorized.
Archer nodded. "Which helps explain why Starfleet would hold Travis for Gannet's murder when they know he's innocent. They're hoping to lull the responsible party into a false sense of security, maybe get them to surface again."
"Assuming that the people behind Hatham are the same ones who in fact murdered Gannet Brooks," T'Pol observed.
"It makes sense," Tucker argued. "There's incriminating data on this disk. If she got hold of it, the people most at risk would be the ones to remove her."
"The disk also exposes Starfleet Intelligence for failing to capture major investors in a terrorist activity, as well as indicating they have been concealing vital information from the rest of the population regarding the same people," T'Pol countered.
"Gannet Brooks was a Starfleet agent. I'm not willing to believe that Starfleet is running around killing its own agents on a whim," Archer said before the argument could develop farther. He stood up and walked to the display. "Is there anything else on the device that we didn't already know?"
"It's got the location of Hatham's former offices, but there's no information on the company officers," Sato answered.
"We still don't know enough," Archer growled, shaking his head. "And we're running out of time. Enterprise is scheduled to depart Earth first thing tomorrow morning to return the conference delegates to their home worlds."
"We can't just leave Travis in jail, Captain," Tucker protested.
"I know that, Trip. T'Pol, Hoshi, go over the data from the disk one more time. Make sure there's nothing we missed, including who might have designed it." He waited while the two of them left, leaving him alone with Reed and Tucker. "We need more information," he said, looking at Reed.
"Sir," Reed began to object, but Archer raised a hand.
"I know you don't like this, Malcolm, but we're out of options."
Tucker was looking confused. "What's going on?"
Archer ignored him and spoke to Reed. "Take Trip with you when you make contact."
"Captain, I don't think that's wise. It's outside of the standard protocols." The lieutenant hesitated for a moment. "Also I'm not certain Commander Tucker will be entirely safe."
Tucker now looked alarmed. Archer shook his head. "It's not his safety I'm worried about, Malcolm."
Archer left the two of them alone, knowing Tucker was better off getting the story from Reed in private.
*****
"I can't believe you didn't tell me," Tucker muttered as he and Reed walked through an alley in San Francisco. "Article 14, Section 31 of the charter? 'Extraordinary threat'? Black ops for--for the good guys? You're an agent?"
"I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, Trip," Reed answered. Even whispering, he sounded annoyed.
"But you didn't tell me after you told the captain either," Tucker complained.
"You weren't even stationed on Enterprise at the time," Reed snapped.
Tucker opened his mouth to continue the argument, but Reed raised a hand in warning.
A tall man with gray hair, a little on the heavy side, stepped out of the shadows. He paused when he saw Tucker.
"Commander Tucker, meet Mr. Harris," Reed said, voice ironic. "Harris, I'm sure you know Commander Tucker. You've never met, but I'm certain you know more about Commander Tucker than Commander Tucker knows about himself."
"You decided you needed backup, Malcolm?" Harris asked.
"I'm here under orders, as I explained to you. Captain Archer wants to know about Hatham Industries."
Harris eyed Tucker for a minute before turning to Reed and answering. "I imagine I know exactly what you do. Hatham was a front, funneling supplies to Paxton's lunar operations. Starfleet Intelligence managed to screw up the investigation. Hatham was tipped off by someone, and the people responsible disappeared."
Tucker worked hard not to betray his surprise. Nothing on the data device indicated that Hatham had been tipped off--and if they had been, that meant Starfleet Intelligence might be compromised after all.
Reed didn't seem to be having trouble concealing anything. "And the fact that you watched all of this happen suggests you had someone keeping tabs on the Hatham people before they managed to escape."
Harris shrugged. "We have people watching a lot of things, Malcolm. Sometimes things seem important only in hindsight."
Tucker felt his anger rise, but Reed didn't give him a chance to speak. "You know where they are." It wasn't a question.
"I do?" Harris asked, and Tucker felt the older man was toying with them for amusement.
"If you had them under surveillance, you would have had them followed when they left. They can't have got off Earth yet. All space traffic has been suspended since the attacks, at least until tomorrow. And I somehow doubt you're going to charge to the rescue of Starfleet Intelligence and arrest these people before they go off-world."
"And you want to know where some of these leaders of Hatham Industries might be hiding so you can find them yourselves." Harris folded his arms and looked at Tucker again.
"I told you, Captain Archer has ordered me to get whatever information you have," Reed gritted out.
"Ah, but Malcolm, what's in it for me?"
Tucker dearly wanted to offer Harris a taste of what would happen if he didn't cooperate, but Reed sighed. "What could you possibly want from me at this point?"
Harris smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "Very little, I should imagine. But," he nodded toward Tucker.
"No," Reed all but growled.
"Malcolm?" Tucker asked quietly.
Reed invaded Harris's personal space, and despite being smaller and shorter than the older man, he suddenly looked far more menacing than Tucker had ever seen him before. "It's bad enough that you think you can twist me on the end of your rope. You're not getting your hands on a member of my crew."
Harris ignored Reed's imminent threat and looked at Tucker. "All I'm asking for is a favor, Commander Tucker. I give you the information you want, and you owe me one."
"No, Trip." Reed looked very close to throttling Harris, which wasn't going to do anyone any good, no matter how much he and Tucker might enjoy the prospect.
"Yes, all right," Tucker said and Reed whipped around, glaring at him. "We need this information," he reminded the lieutenant firmly.
"Trip, you've no idea what you're agreeing to--" Reed began, but Harris clapped him on the shoulder almost jovially.
"Excellent. The board of directors of Hatham are holed up at this address." Harris extracted a folded piece of paper from his coat. "And as a bonus for the start of our new understanding, Commander, I'll tell you that our section has a theory on some of these people."
Tucker took the paper and waited. "I'm listening."
"We've suspected for some time that Terra Prime wasn't acting alone, and that it was possible hostile alien agents were working to help them with their activities."
Tucker frowned. "What for?"
Harris spread his hands. "Who knows? There are any number of reasons a hostile species might want to suborn a supremacist organization on Earth, primarily keeping Earth out of the business of the rest of the galaxy."
"You think some of the Hatham board may be alien agents in disguise?" Reed asked.
"We don't have any proof of this, of course," Harris demurred. Reed snorted derisively. "Well, thank you gentlemen, for this very productive meeting. Oh, and Commander?" Harris paused before walking away. "I was sorry to hear about your daughter."
Tucker stared after Harris, feeling revolted.
Reed took the paper from his hands. "You should've listened to me," he muttered. "When Harris calls in his favor, it will be at the worst time imaginable. You will not like it. Not one bit. Trust me."
"We needed to know, Malcolm." As they turned and walked off together, Tucker thought to himself that Reed was right. He had no idea what he had just gotten himself into.
********
Archer settled into his chair on the bridge, trying not to focus on the absence of Ensign Mayweather in the pilot's seat. Tucker and Reed had called in to say they were on their way to the location where Harris thought the missing leaders of Hatham Industries were hiding. Sato was maintaining radio contact with them.
A beeping noise from T'Pol's station made him get up. "What is it?"
"Sensors are detecting an anomalous reading in a high orbit above the planet," she said, tapping commands into her console.
"What kind of anomalous reading?" he asked, turning toward the tactical station.
"Sir!" Lieutenant Giordano's voice was uncharacteristically excited. "Sir, it's a Klingon Bird of Prey."
"What? Sound tactical alert," he ordered. The ship's lights turned color and he looked around at his startled staff.
Giordano hesitated. "I can't explain it, Captain. One minute nothing was there, and then--"
"They appear to have been cloaked," T'Pol said.
"Try hailing them," Archer told Sato. "Move us to an intercept course," he told the helmsman.
"Columbia is also moving to intercept, sir," Giordano reported. "They're closer than we are."
"No answer to hails," Sato said.
"Captain, I'm detecting an energy surge consistent with transporter activity."
Almost as soon as T'Pol said it, the ship vanished.
There was a heartbeat of silence as everyone focused on the sensor readings. "They've gone back under the cloak," T'Pol stated.
"Can we track them?"
"No."
"Enterprise to Tucker. What's your status?" Archer said to the comm.
Tucker's voice came back a moment later. "We've got nothing here, Enterprise. The place is empty."
Archer's hands clenched into fists. The cloaked ship had beamed someone out. They'd been so close...but it hadn't done any good, after all. He turned to T'Pol. "Can you project their trajectory based on their last position?"
She thought for a moment. "It would be pure speculation. The ship was not in motion while it was decloaked."
"Do it anyway. Trip, Malcolm," he said to the communications system again. "Look around and see if you can find anything. Call Hoshi if you run across anything that needs translating."
"Understood." Tucker cut the connection.
Archer glanced at Sato. "Put me through to Admiral Novotny at Starfleet Intelligence. It's time to get our helmsman back."
********
The door to the ready room chimed, and Archer called for the visitor to enter. The Vulcan, Andorian, and Tellarite delegates were all on board, and each species, not to mention each individual crew member, had an infinite number of petty demands that apparently only he, the captain of the ship, could satisfy. He had hoped he would have more answers about the Terra Prime terrorist attack on Earth before they left. His only solace was that his helmsman was back on board. Mayweather had finally been officially cleared and released before they left Earth.
The door slid open, revealing Reed. He handed a PADD over to Archer. "I completed my interviews yesterday, Captain. This is the final report on my internal investigation of the ship's crew."
Archer took the PADD and thumbed through the contents. "You're recommending transferring four people off of Enterprise?" he asked, surprised.
"I found no evidence of wrongdoing or sabotage, sir, but yes." Reed was standing more or less at parade rest, his hands behind his back. "All four of these people interacted with Ensign Masaro and may have had sympathy for his cause. Two of them indicated personal discomfort with alien diplomats we've encountered, and Ensign Stabler has displayed behavioral issues since the mission in the Expanse."
"I admit, I was hoping your investigation would prove that Masaro was acting alone." Archer got up and went to the viewport.
"As I said, sir, I found no evidence that he wasn't. Commander T'Pol and I spent several hours checking the medical database before we found the record of Masaro breaking into the ship's medical storage units to retrieve the DNA material he stole. There is no indication he was helped at any point, or that he was in league with anyone on the ship."
"But you still want these people transferred."
"With all due respect, sir, you asked for my recommendation," Reed said with a touch of wryness. "The decision is up to you."
Archer gave Reed a slightly bemused look and walked back to his desk. "I don't like having to be suspicious of my own crew," he said tiredly.
"I don't think anyone on board is pleased with the situation, but..." Reed paused a moment, and Archer knew he really wasn't going to like whatever the lieutenant was about to say. "While transferring people off the ship probably won't help the atmosphere among the crew, allowing them to remain after my report is filed might be worse. It may very well exacerbate the tension and suspicion and make them targets."
"The last thing we need is paranoia developing among our own people."
"I agree, sir. With these transfers, it's possible the crew will be able to settle back into a normal routine."
"A clean house." Archer was silent a moment, then he sat down. "What happened with Harris?"
"You received my report, sir," Reed said neutrally.
"Yes, I did. Now I'm asking you what happened," Archer put a slight edge in his tone and the younger man slumped just a little bit.
"I believe Harris would have given me the information we were looking for, but he took advantage of Commander Tucker's presence and manipulated him into making a deal in exchange for the information," Reed said, with no small amount of bitterness.
"He wanted a 'favor'?" Archer said. He'd been dubious about the nature of this deal Tucker had made since the two men had returned to the ship and given their initial report.
"Yes, sir."
"Any idea what this 'favor' might entail?"
"I'm not certain Harris knows exactly himself. I think he saw an opportunity to get Commander Tucker into his debt, and he took it."
Archer sighed. "Well, we'll have to deal with Harris at a later time."
Reed shifted uncomfortably. "Sir--"
Before he could continue the door chimed. It was T'Pol. "Captain, the senior staff are assembled for the briefing."
Archer looked at Reed, who shook his head. "All right. Come on, both of you." They walked onto the bridge, where Phlox, Sato, Tucker, and Mayweather were standing around the briefing area.
Archer gave Mayweather a pat on the shoulder as he walked past. He'd missed the ensign when he'd been gone--not only his steady, professional presence at the helm, but his good humor off duty. His popularity and practical jokes kept the crew at ease.
Ease seemed to be something hard to find these days.
"Hoshi?" he asked. She had been the one to call for the briefing.
"We've identified the language used to construct the original encryption on the data device," Sato said, glancing at T'Pol.
"Klingon?" Archer asked expectantly.
"No," T'Pol said.
"It's Romulan, sir. Or a derivation of Romulan," Sato explained.
Archer stared. He wasn't the only one. "You're certain?"
"Yes, Captain. I've checked the language against the Vulcan database and our own records, including the information Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed brought back from the disguised drone ships a few months ago."
"Why would the Romulans show up in orbit in a Klingon ship?" Reed asked.
"It may not have been an actual Klingon ship," T'Pol noted. "We believe the Romulans were behind the drone ships. They have the technology to mimic the form of other ships."
"Can you compare their energy signatures, like we did with the drone?"
T'Pol shook her head. "The ship was uncloaked for too short a time, and the data from our sensors is incomplete."
"So we have no way of telling if it was a Klingon ship or not?" Mayweather asked.
There was a moment of silence before Reed observed, "There's also the matter of timing. It's extremely convenient that just when we were about to locate the leaders of Hatham Industries, the ship appeared and, we assume, beamed them away."
Tucker nodded. "The only people who knew we were about to find them were either here on the bridge, or Harris." Tucker's mouth twisted slightly when he said the name.
"I doubt anyone from Enterprise could have warned them. There were no communications or transmissions from the ship to the surface other than our communications link with Commander Tucker," Sato said.
"Double check the logs anyway," Archer said. Sato nodded.
He looked at T'Pol. "So, we may have allowed alien agents who have been at work on Earth for months to escape. We don't know if they were Romulan or Klingon, and it's possible their conspirators remain on Earth."
"There's also the possibility that someone from Starfleet is involved," Mayweather pointed out, a little darkly. His imprisonment appeared to have left a bad taste in his mouth. Archer couldn't really blame him.
"It is also possible that the Romulans and Klingons are working together," T'Pol said. "Which, if true, would be a significant threat to the stability of this entire region of the galaxy."
The senior staff looked at one another for a long moment in silence.
End.
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