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» LCARS » Newspaper: The Federation Tribune » Newspaper Archives » 2004 » May 2004 » The Alpha Centauri Mystery, part 11: Collaboration, by Ben Versteegt
 | The Alpha Centauri Mystery, part 11: Collaboration, by Ben Versteegt |  |
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Summary: A Federation outpost on a planet in the Alpha Centaury system has
been raided by Romulans. They were looking for mysterious samples that were
recently discovered. Those samples are crystals which emit some sort of
radiation, which, if harnessed, will be a new and almost inexhaustible
source of power. The Romulans didn't find the crystals, though, since Ensign
Sandra Burke was using the samples at the time of the attack in an attempt
to capture a Cardassian who was also after the samples. She, her Ferengi
friend Zaag and the captured Cardassian were then beamed to the USS Aquinas:
Captain Ayer knew that Sandra wouldn't be safe on the planet. However, she
wasn't safe on the ship either: a Prometheus class Starship crippled the
Aquinas and beamed Sandra and the samples aboard. Later, the crew of the
Aquinas tries to begin repairs, but they are interrupted by a group of
Romulans beaming aboard. They want to know where the samples are, and
threaten to kill the Captain if he doesn't answer...
And now the continuation:
"We don't have the samples!" said Ayer, as he eyed the Romulan who put a
disruptor to his head.
"That might be so," the Romulan in charge said, "seeing how your ship is in
ruins. It's possible that somebody attacked you in order to acquire the
crystals. It is however also possible," he now stepped back, but continued
to point his weapon at Ayer, "that your attacker did not find the samples.
You might have hidden them before you were attacked. So I ask you again:
where are the samples, Captain?"
"And I tell you again," Ayer said between his clenched teeth, "we don't have
the samples."
Another Romulan forced Ayer down on his knees. He pointed a rather large
disruptor rifle at his back, and looked at his superior for the order to
fire. "Commander?" he asked.
"Not yet," he said, and kneeled down to look the Captain in the face.
"Captain," he said, in a friendly tone, almost to the point of mocking him.
"I am a peace loving person. I have no desire to kill you or have you
killed." He looked down, and sighed. "But my crew is much more fond of
violence than I am. They expect their leader to take drastic measures if you
don't tell me what I need to know." He looked Ayer straight in the eyes. "Do
you understand me, Captain?"
Ayer wasn't particularly fond of this little charade the Romulan commander
was playing. "Oh, I understand perfectly," he said defiantly. "If I don't
tell you where the samples are, you'll slaughter me."
"Oh come now, Captain," the Romulan said as he stood up. "We're no
barbarians. I promise it will be a quick and painless death." He took a
moment to reconsider. "Well, maybe not painless, but quick nonetheless."
"The ship that took the samples is gone," Ayer said forcefully. "So why
don't you go do something useful and go away?"
The Romulan commander came closer to Ayer and sat down besides him, moving
his face towards his ear. "That would take all the fun out of it, wouldn't
it?" he whispered. He stood up again, flashed the Captain a nasty smile and
then suddenly hit Ayer's face with the back of his hand. "Let the
interrogation begin," he said, smiling.
"Captain!" Watters shouted and tried to run towards Ayer, but he was held
back by two Romulans who grabbed him by the shoulders and the arms. A few
other Romulans also grabbed Zaag and forced him to sit on his knees.
Ayer looked at Watters and shook his head slowly. It implied an order not to
do anything. "You can scan our vessel," the Captain said to the Romulan
commander. "You know we don't have the samples. So get the hell off my
ship!"
"You're hardly in a position to make demands, Captain," said the Romulan.
"First of all, you don't seem to have a ship anymore, so we can't 'get the
hell off' it, and second, we're the ones holding the weapons, not you. So to
be perfectly honest with you Captain, I think that your demand doesn't carry
much weight, now does it?" He was beginning to get annoyed with Ayer for his
reluctance to co-operate. But, of course, that meant a challenge as well.
And he liked challenges. "I'll get you to talk, Captain Ayer. I'll get you
to tell us where the samples are."
"Good luck," Ayer replied. "I've already told you: the samples were taken
from us. Search the ship if you don't believe me. Or what's left of it
anyway," he murmured.
"Oh, I believe you," the Romulan commander said. "And if you're lying, we'll
find that out when we interrogate you." He looked around. "There's nothing
on this wreck that is of any value to us." He looked at Ayer again. "Except
you of course."
"What do you mean?"
"A Starfleet Captain always makes a fine hostage, although perhaps a bit
troublesome to deal with," explained the Romulan. "We could of course take
your entire crew hostage; we would just interrogate you and extract all the
information we want to know, after which we turn you over to the Federation
again. Come to think of it, that's beneficial for both parties: we get our
information and a fine reputation with the Federation, and the Federation
gets its crew back." Now, he looked at Zaag. "How's that for a deal,
Ferengi?"
It took a while for Zaag to work up the courage to speak. "Normally, I would
say that it is a fine deal," he began. "But there's more at stake here." He
turned to Captain Ayer, as far as that was possible with two Romulans
pinning him down. "Captain, what about Sandra?"
"I don't think we'll be getting around to a rescue mission any time soon,
Mr. Zaag," Ayer said with a sigh. "Unless..." he looked at the Romulan
Commander. "You can help us."
"Are you mad?" the Romulan asked. "Your lost crewmember is none of our
business. What makes you think we'll help you?"
"Because if we find her, we find the samples you're looking for."
The Romulan commander stood tall, and sighed. He seemed to be deep in
thought. "Come with me to my office, Captain," he finally said. "It appears
we have a lot to talk about." He walked towards the Ready Room and waited
for the Captain to enter it.
Ayer was dragged up from the ground and walked towards the Ready room on his
own. "Last time I checked, this was *my* ready room, commander." The both
entered.
"Check again," replied the Romulan. "I seized what's left of this vessel,
including your ready room. It's a puny spoils, but I suppose one has to be
happy with what one can get, wouldn't you say? After all, these are
troubling times."
He tried to sit down in the chair behind the Captain's desk, but due to the
damage the Aquinas had sustained, the chair broke and fell on the ground as
soon as the Romulan touched it. He stood up again. "Well, they certainly
don't make chairs like they used to, do they?" He smiled at Ayer, and if the
Captain didn't know better, he'd say that the Romulan was attempting to make
smalltalk.
"Get to the point please." Ayer didn't like to wait. The Prometheus class
Starship carrying Sandra and the samples could be out of sensor range by
now.
"My point is, Captain," the Romulan continued, as he pulled up another
chair. "that, as I have said only a moment ago, these are troubling times."
He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk. "Though the Dominion
war has ended, its effects are still noticeable throughout the quadrant.
Just look at the Federation. It has lost its glory, Captain. Before the war,
it was unthinkable that a Romulan ship could ever venture so deep in
Federation space. And yet here we are now, striking one of the founding
members of the Federation." He leaned back in his chair. "Doesn't that
bother you, Captain Ayer?"
"You attacked the outpost on Alpha Centauri," Ayer stated. "Of course that
bothers me."
"Of course it does!" the Romulan commander smiled and raised an eyebrow.
"That's only natural. And what's even more frustrating for you is that you
couldn't defend the outpost even if you wanted to. Face it, Captain. Our
ship -- a state of the art warbird -- is more powerful than your puny
Excelsior class vessel. You are obsolete and you know it. But you also
know," he leaned forward again and started to speak in a lowered voice,
"that these times require the Federation to send even an obsolete vessel
like yours into active service. What's that human expression again, Captain?
Desperate times call for desperate measures?"
"I still haven't heard your point."
The Romulan commander continued to speak as if Ayer had said nothing. "But
these times have proven to be more desperate than you had thought, haven't
they, Captain? After the events following the discovery of the crystals,
which could turn out to be powerful sources of energy, you found out exactly
how desperate these times are, and what kinds of desperate measures some
people -- even Starfleet Captains -- are willing to take. Am I right,
Captain?"
"You found out about the Federation ship that attacked us," Ayer said. There
was pain in his eyes as he remembered the battle. It was still fresh in his
memory, and he couldn't stop thinking about it.
"The impact patterns on your ship are consistent with that of Federation
weaponry," came the reply. "Furthermore, we detected a residual weapon
signature coming from the damaged areas in your ship. It is Federation in
origin."
"So what do you intend to do about it?" asked Ayer. There was no reason to
co-operate with his captor, so he made his replies as brief as he could. He
had no intention of helping these Romulans in any way, even though it could
mean finding Sandra again.
"I don't *intend* to do anything about it, Captain," the Romulan commander
answered, as he leaned forward a bit more. "Your problems are your own." He
sighed, and sat back in his chair. "At least, that's what I would normally
say. Unfortunately, your problems are ours as well." He paused to think. "It
seems that the Starfleet vessel that attacked you has indeed beamed the
samples off your ship."
"Together with my... one of my crewmembers," Ayer said, quickly correcting
himself. He was going to say 'my niece', but that was no information that
concerned the Romulans.
"Well then, it seems that you could use our help..." The Romulan grinned.
"We would be willing to help you find your missing crewmember. We would,
however, have to ask you something in return."
"Let me guess," Ayer replied. "You want the samples."
The Romulan's grin grew broader. "But Captain, how could we ask something of
you that you clearly do not have?" He stood up from his chair and began to
pace around the room. "No, the samples will be ours, don't worry. What we
want from you is your assistance in disabling that Federation vessel. Shield
codes, command overrides, weaknesses in their hull, weapon strength...
Everything."
"You must be crazy if you think I'm going to betray Starfleet secrets to the
Romulans!"
The Romulan commander shrugged. "Have it your way, Captain. We'll just have
to disable that vessel without you help. A pity, though."
"Pity?"
The commander appeared to be lost in thought. "The lives of the crew, I
mean. Clearly we have no choice but to destroy that starship once we beamed
up the samples."
"Destroy them?" Ayer got up from his chair. He was visible shocked. "Why?"
"Obviously they're not going to just *give* the samples to us," replied the
Romulan. "They will fight us for them. And judging from the damage to your
ship, I'd say that vessel has some massive firepower. They will no doubt do
at least some damage to our ship."
"Afraid you'll loose?" Ayer asked with a smirk on his face.
"Oh, no, it's not that," the commander said as he waved away the remark and
returned the smirk. "I know we will win. It's just that, if they do
significant damage, they will have to be punished."
"Punished?" Ayer shot back. "Surely they don't need to be destroyed if they
defend themselves!"
"Examples must be made, Captain. The enemies of the Romulan Star Empire must
know that crossing us is not a wise thing to do. Now if you'll excuse me,
Captain, I have to obtain some samples. I'll leave you here to wait for your
rescue. Goodbye, Captain." He turned to walk away from the desk and towards
the door, but Ayer's voice stopped him.
"Wait," the Captain said softly. A smile formed on the Romulan's face, but
when he turned around to face Ayer, the smile was gone.
"Is there something you want to tell me, Captain?"
"I'll..." It was hard for Ayer to get the words out. "I'll... help you." His
voice was the soft voice of a defeated man.
"You will 'help us'?"
"Yes, damnit!" Ayer said in a soft, subdued, yet strong voice. "I'll help
you. I'll give you the command codes if I can, I'll show you the way to
determine the frequency of their shields... but please, don't kill those
people."
"You are a wise man, Captain Ayer," the Romulan said with a broad grin. "I
do hope this won't be the last time you and I work together. I feel this
incident will help to develop the relationship between the Federation and
the Romulan Empire."
"Cut the crap, commander," Ayer said. "You know I don't have any choice. I
can't allow you to kill those people!"
"And thanks to you, I won't have to. I thank you, Captain." The Romulan
commander left the ready room and joined the others on the Bridge. There,
some Romulan soldiers were still aiming their weapons at Watters and Zaag.
"Lower your weapons," the Romulan commander said. "Their Captain has agreed
to help us."
"Captain?" Watters asked in disbelief.
"I had not choice," muttered Ayer. "They were going to destroy that ship if
I didn't help them capture the samples."
Watters and Zaag were both shocked and didn't know what to say. The Romulan
commander, however, had his words ready. "Beam what's left of this crew to
our brig," he ordered one of his subordinates. He then turned to Captain
Ayer. "Don't worry, your crew will be safe there."
"You're taking my crew captive? That wasn't the deal!" Ayer shouted.
"Really Captain, I already captured your crew before we reached any deal,"
came the reply. The Romulan then turned to the other Romulan he had been
addressing. "Beam their senior officers to our Bridge, but make sure they
are heavily guarded."
The Romulan who seemed to be in charge of transporters nodded, but
immediately thereafter asked a question, "Commander, we have detected a
Cardassian in their brig. What do we do with him?"
"Beam him to our ship as well, and put him behind a forcefield," said the
commander. "Who knows, maybe he'll prove useful."
The Romulan transporter chief tapped a padd and then looked up.
"Acknowledged, commander. The ship reports transporter sequence has been
locked in. We're ready to initiate transport."
"Then by all means..." said the Romulan commander with a grin. "Energise."
Ayer gulped as a green transporterbeam filled his sight, and his damaged
Bridge shimmered out of existence. He wasn't sure he was doing the right
thing by co-operating with the Romulans, but he didn't have any choice. As
the Bridge of his own ship, the Aquinas, was replaced by the interior of a
Romulan ship, he began to seriously doubt the possibility that he would ever
see his Aquinas again. A tear fell on the ground of the Aquinas's Bridge
before its Captain was fully dematerialised.
To be Continued.
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