The Strider Incident Part 2

Captain's Log, Stardate 40367.2

Last time on Star Trek: The Triangle Missions…

The Niven, after sustaining significant damage from the battle over Valtor II, was undergoing heavy repairs at Starbase 27. The USS Strider, a ranger class scout, was also being repaired at the base and her captain, Christine Reardon was being held in custody. A group of her crew is convinced she is being framed and have asked us for our help in clearing her name.

And now, the conclusion.

I received a message from the chief of engineering at the starbase saying that because they are currently working on the Strider, they could not attend to my ship because it required the full complement of crew. I was informed that the work will begin on the Niven tomorrow.

Shortly after, I was summoned to a conference room for a meeting. On my way, I heard voices speaking down a hallway and saw Commodore Harmonson talking with four Klingons dressed in imperial garb. Two of them were Admiral Kai and Ambassador Kor, and I presumed the other two to be their bodyguards. The entourage was accompanied by Captain Curtis and chief operations officer Commander Sharon Mandel.

I overheard Kai stating to Harmonson that he is going to motion to the Organians that Tasor be immediately ceded to Klingons. The only reason why Kor is here is because the ambassador neutral to both Gowran and Duras was killed en route by Strider's fleet. He believed it to be a Federation plot due to the only ship destroyed in Klingon's fleet was the one carrying the diplomat.

The Organians are due to arrive in 3 weeks. Harmonson asked Curtis when Rear Admiral Davis would be arriving to judge Reardon's case. He was set to arrive in 10 days, and the trial would begin immediately upon his arrival.

Vigilante

After arriving at the conference room I was summoned to, alarms suddenly blared and Mandel reported a security alert in sector 7, deck 5. She recommended I either get to quarters or to stay here. I headed out under the guise of returning to quarters, but I must admit my curiosity was piqued and my steps lead me to find sector 7. I came upon a scene with a group of security officers and see a body lying on the ground. The ensign blocking the way said that he could not allow me to come any closer. I innocently flashed him a smile saying I had gotten lost and asked for directions to the nearest turbolift.

Evidently, Lieutenant Commander Akoval was being held for questioning in the security incident. I was not given any further information on his involvement so I called Commander West and asked him to meet me in front of the interrogation room he was being held to be our JAG officer. I was handed a PADD from him and he instructed me to record every little detail I witnessed. I don't think I would be of much help considering how little I saw, but I was determined to help get to the bottom of things.

During dinner that night, Akoval relayed his story on what happened to him. He had gone to see Reardon, the two were old acquaintances, and was attacked. One of the guards jumped in front of a phaser blast to protect Reardon and died for it. He was the unfortunate fellow I saw in the hallway. Akoval had knocked Reardon down, took a dropped phaser and stunned assailant. However, because he was found at the scene of a crime with a phaser in hand, he was taken in for questioning. Thankfully, he was released with no charges. The shooter was Lieutenant Darvin Harris, the older brother of a recent Academy graduate who was stationed aboard the USS Clark as an ensign and was killed in the incident. He was close to his brother, blamed Reardon for his death, and foolishly took matters into his own hands.

"Suicide"

Lieutenant Commander Hazor had been working with Lieutenant Davials, a communications officer, to personally investigate a hunch he had about the code red message in question. Davials had apparently had a small breakthrough and after hearing Akoval's story, Hazor got a bad feeling about his well being and went to check on him. Sadly, his intuition was correct as he scanned for life signs in his quarters, found none, called security, and Davials was found dead on the floor.

Curtis came storming up to us, red-faced and still in pajamas, no less, and barked, "Ever since you guys have been here, people on my base have been dying. What the hell are you doing at the scene of another death?" West calmly stepped up and explained that because no one has been detained, any remarks can be inflammatory and actionable. Curtis walks away in a huff with a biting comment saying, "I hope to never see you guys again." West muttered under his breath that the feeling was mutual.

Inside Davials' quarters, Akoval found a suicide note claiming work stress. Hazor claimed that just mere hours ago, Davials had come up to him, claiming to be tired and wanted to meet up with him later to discuss a finding of communication discrepancies. Hazor feels that foul play was involved and I am inclined to agree.

Joyride

Lieutenant Thompson of the Strider's crew communicated in saying they wanted to meet with us as soon as possible. They had been discussing the events up to now and felt that we were the only ones they could trust. Thompson is certain Reardon will not get a fair trial, but is confident she is innocent. Unfortunately, none of the evidence is strong enough to clear her. Because Klingons were killed, especially the ambassador, it was his belief that Reardon would be made out to be an example. We all knew that the only way to clear her name was to recover the Strider's log buoy, and the only way to do this was if we immediately commandeered the Strider. The Strider's crew planned on taking Reardon on the risky mission.

Lieutenant Karil was scheduled to be the duty officer on conn this evening and would be able to block any communiques from the starbase to any ships sent to come after us. Lieutenant Desmonal was also staying behind, but she was going to get us into the ship given her access through engineering. We planned to get Reardon onto the ship by making a holographic projection appear simultaneously to beaming her out and onto the Strider. Thompson was going to warm up the warp core for a "stress test".

We gathered materials and weapons from Niven before rendezvous time and my small crew of Hazor, Akoval, and Maniersi were able to beam onto Strider. I gave orders to dress in casual clothes as this was not a Starfleet mission and we were acting of our own accord. We successfully beamed Reardon onto the bridge and when she regained consciousness, I informed her that she had some very dedicated crew members who are intent on proving her innocence. Considering how they had roped my crew in as well, I couldn't stand by just to let them die, so of course I had to come along too. She gave a weak smile and gave the order to lay in a course for the Stogar system.

Just as the course was laid in, Curtis came on screen demanding we bring the ship back immediately. I calmly stated that because the Niven crew was on administrative leave, we were just taking the newly repaired Strider for a joyride to experience the efforts of his crew and terminated communication before waiting for a response. When we were 30 seconds away from warp, three shots were fired over the bow and there was an incoming message from the Niven. Harmonson was on the bride of my ship and said, "You're making a big mistake. Stand down now and you'll get off with just a reprimand." I looked to Maniersi and he signaled that he was lying. I responded, "I'm sorry, Admiral, but injustice is a bigger mistake." and cut communication just as we went into warp.

Treachery

With Hazor's efforts, conn came back online in moments and in just the right time for we intercepted an encrypted message written in Klingon. It took a while to decode, but the message read: "Fed… battle scout Strider… from Starbase 27… must stop… kill those on board… MIK." Using clues from his original hunch, Hazor was able to determine that the message was sent using the command access of Captain Curtis.

When we arrived in the Stogar system, sensors indicated that there was one cloaked ship in the area and the log buoy we were after was within the ship. There was an incoming communique from Captain Tasin of the IKV Bloodsteel and he demanded that we stand down or be destroyed. Reardon asked for his terms and Tasin replied that we will meet on the Strider to discuss them. He gave his word of honor that they will not destroy our ship. The group attending the meeting consisted of Reardon, Akoval, Maniersi, Hazor, and me. Their entourage was Tasin, his first officer, and a few of their marines.

Tasin demanded we explain why a ship that had destroyed a Klingon vessel was back yet again within Klingon space. I replied that we were here as Federation civilians investigating treachery from high within our own ranks. His next question took me a little by surprise because he asked for the location of Admiral Kai. When I answered that he was at Starbase 27, he stated for us to consider ourselves prisoners of the Klingon Empire and he would confirm our story. They left without incident and much to our relief, beamed over the log buoy after a short while. Tasin came on screen saying, "I believe this belongs to you. But you," he looked at Reardon, "belong to me. Return to Starbase 27. We will see you there."

When we approached starbase, Curtis ordered us to drop shields for auto-transport and to prepare to be taken into custody the moment we dock. I concurred, but requested that we be given a chance to explain our situation with a JAG officer present. He snapped that I was in no position to make demands to which I retorted that we had evidence that implicated him in giving the order for the code red to the Strider. I thought Curtis' head was going to explode with the amount of screaming and how red his face was. Perhaps Karil saved us from having to hear anymore for the communication was cut abruptly.

The USS Yamato was nearby and her captian, Captain Varley, communicated in for us to prepare for tractor and to not make this difficult situation any more difficult. That decision was not up to us for pandemonium ensued when a Klingon ship decloaked with weapons armed and the Klingon ship docked at starbase cloaked. West, on the bridge of the Niven, communicated in with Varley saying we should all only take defensive action. Varley said for us to come into custody and they'll assist the Bloodsteel in finding the other cloaked ship. We got into Starbase and immediately had an audience with Curtis and West as our JAG officer to present our evidence.

What the log buoy shows will determine our fate...