Paradise Lost (FT, CLOSED)

[New Khitomer]

Commander Russell T. Buchanan
Lakeside Colony, Arcadia Sector
Stardate 66952.2

---

It was a beautiful day in paradise.

As he stepped out of the aircar that had brought him to Lakeside Colony, Commander Russell T. Buchanan could not help but bask in the sheer beauty that was the world that he had been lucky enough to get assigned to. Lakeside Colony, so-named for the sapphire-coloured lake around which it based, was the most distant of the colonies established by the United Federation of New Khitomer. Lakeside, and other colonies like it, were the first efforts in restoring Starfleet’s mission of exploration that had been put by the wayside for at least the last decade, arguably more. There was an entire new galaxy out there, just begging to be explored, and peering bravely behind the new frontier was a vital part of bringing the passion for exploration back to life. The Borg War, and indeed the Dominion War that had preceded it, would ensure that Starfleet never forgot its military and defence responsibilities, as had been the case during the time of the likes of Pike, Kirk and Sulu, but those men had valued exploration as much as they had defending the Federation, and so many hoped to return to now that the Borg War was becoming a distant, if still incredibly painful, memory.

And by god, Lakeside Colony was a beautiful, soothing salve on the painful memories of the Borg War.

Although it was hardly Starship duty, the assignment that any Starfleet Officer worth his salt sought after, serving on a frontier colony, especially one as new as Lakeside, was an incredibly rewarding experience to those Starfleet Officers, and Enlisted personnel, to whom the duty fell. It was not without its unique challenges of course; after all it was a civilian colony first and foremost; the Starfleet presence there was to provide defence and to assist the colonists at the direction of the Colony Governor. This of course meant that there was a certain degree of colonial politics involved, after all many of the colonists had differing priorities depending on their own background. Fortunately, as the Executive Officer of Starfleet Outpost Lakeside, Buchanan got to handle strictly Starfleet affairs at their outpost in the hills to the west of the main colony, whilst his commanding officer, Captain Sasin Ch’kariq, provided oversight and liaised with the Colonial Government. It was for that reason that Captain Ch’kariq’s office was in the Colony Hub, whilst Commander Buchanan’s office was within Outpost Lakeside. As such for Commander Buchanan the colony was more his home than his workplace, although like today his duties did occasionally bring him here.

He had been summoned by Captain Ch’kariq, but he was early for his meeting and he had ordered the yeoman flying the air car to put him down a small distance from the Colony Hub to allow him to enjoy the gorgeously sunny day. The Colony Hub was at the centre of a carefully maintained public garden, and it was through these quiet pathways that Buchanan slowly walked. He was perhaps halfway to the Colony Hub when he bumped into Lieutenant Commander Gabriele Rockwell, his Chief of Security. On a new, frontier, colony like this general law enforcement and safety was handled by Starfleet Security, the logic being that it would be a waste of valuable resources to establish a civilian law enforcement organisation for such small settlements when Starfleet would already have an established presence. As such, and unlike all other Starfleet personnel during day-to-day activity, Lt. Commander Rockwell and her security team’s were routinely armed with Type-2 Phasers whilst on-duty, which identified them as Starfleet Security acting in a law enforcement role.

“Good Morning, Sir,” Lt. Commander Rockwell said by means of greeting.

“Good Morning, Commander,” Buchanan smiled. “How are you this fine morning?”

“Patrolling the streets of paradise,” Rockwell grinned. “Can’t complain.”

“It would be in bad taste for those poor, lost souls with less fortunate duty assignments,” Buchanan replied with a chuckle as they began to walk together. “How goes the colony, any trouble last night?”

“A few bits here and there; the crew from the Intrepid were down on shore leave last night, apparently they got word that they’d be getting underway, so they wanted to enjoy themselves,” Rockwell shook her head. “Nothing too dramatic though, a few Captain’s Masts for the skipper of Intrepid, but nothing that’s gonna cost anyone their career, or anything like that, thankfully for all concerned.”

Buchanan smiled wryly; the Starship Intrepid was officially part of the Third Fleet’s Special Expeditionary Group, the task force that provided ships for long-range independent and deeps-space missions for Starfleet, but when not on such duties it was not unusual to see these ships supporting the First Fleet’s Task Force 17, the Outer Colony Patrol. With so many colonies along the perimeter, it was practically impossible for Starfleet to station a Starship in every system, instead Task Force 17 was charged with maintaining a rotating patrol, however even with eighteen starships assigned to the Task Force there would still be significant gaps in the coverage. As such, any Starship passing through the area, outbound on a mission, would be routed through one of the outer colonies, which had the added bonus of providing one last R&R excursion in Federation space. The Intrepid was on its way to explore a protonebula near the newly discovered Protectorate of Prime Redux, and had been ordered to do so through Lakeside Colony.

“That’s always a good thing, I hate to see people throw their careers away over something as simple as a drunken mistake on leave,” Buchanan commented wryly. “It’s not an excuse, of course, but it is such a damned waste when it happens, especially to the good ones.”

“Indeed it is,” Rockwell agreed. “What brings you to the Colony, Sir?”

“The Captain,” Buchanan replied simply. “With the Intrepid leaving to investigate that protonebula our probes detected, he wanted to discuss our defensive posture.”

“I’ll walk you to the hub then,” Rockwell smiled.

The two talked pleasantly for the few minutes that it took them to walk into the centre of town towards the original Colony Hub. The Hub stuck out amongst the buildings that surrounded it, for the hub and the first two dozen or so buildings had been pre-fabricated and had more of the appearance of a starship hull than a a normal building; but then that was to be expected as it had allowed the original core of the colony to be established within only a few days. As civilian colonists had arrived to supplement the original Starfleet presence the buildings that had spread out from the centred been built in a more traditional style, modern of course, but looking less like a planetary starbase. As they reached the Hub, Rockwell took her leave with a salute to resume her patrol as Buchanan began to take the steps up into the building itself, returning the salute of the two Starfleet Security officers standing post outside the main entrance. The lobby was surprisingly light and airy given the generally utilitarian design of the building as a whole, which made the space feel a lot less busy than it actually was, with Starfleet Officers and civilian staff criss-crossing the space. As the outermost Federation colony, Lakeside had been chosen as the jumping off point for future exploration missions and, even before the Starships started to arrive, there was a significant presence already in place to facilitate what preparations were required. There was a reason why, for all intents and purposes, Buchanan commanded the Starfleet presence whilst Captain Ch’kariq handled the bigger picture.

Buchanan rang the chime to the Captain’s Office, and was promptly invited inside.

“Captain, you wanted to see me?”

Captain Ch’kariq looked up and nodded, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk for his XO to sit in.

“Yes, with the Intrepid due to get underway this afternoon, I wanted to discuss our defensive posture with you; although we have no threats at this moment, our position on the frontier leaves us vulnerable to pirates or hostile civilisations in the absence of a Starship,” Ch’kariq commented. “As you know, I’ve been concentrating on my liaison duties, and I have not had a chance to review our current state of affairs on the Starfleet side of things, so I would appreciate if you could bring me up to date on our defensive assets.”

“Of course, the Intrepid has just dropped off two dozen phaser platforms, which we’ll start to establish in orbit to complement the colony’s groundside defences, and should give us adequate control over the orbital space and provide a protective umbrella,” Buchanan replied promptly. “We’re also now up to our full complement of six Danube-Class runabouts, as well as two of the new Arrow-Class, which I’ve been using as patrol ships, with the latter in particular more than capable of fending off most pirates alone, and as a squadron our complement is quite effective.”

Ch’kariq nodded, but did not look particularly happy about what he had been told. It was not a bad defensive complement for a frontier outpost, and short of tying down Starships to its defence they could not do much better for their size. They were simply too small for a Starbase, much less a standing defensive task force like those in the core worlds, after all Starfleet’s vessels were designed for a wide range of missions other than simply combat or defence, and as such relegating them to traditional ‘naval’ roles was less than ideal. Such matters had gotten better in recent years, as Starfleet had designed a number of ships that were more heavily biased towards the defensive role, and older explorers no longer suitable for long-range independent missions were still combat capable and could provide an anchor around which a fleet of smaller, more modern ships, could assemble.

“Okay, I know you won’t have had chance to exercise the Runabouts yet, so take the entire complement up this morning and exercise with Intrepid before she gets underway,” Ch’kariq ordered after a few moments of careful thought. “I want you to assume we might get a ship of comparable power, and I want to know whether we can force her off, I’m sure Captain Trax won’t mind a little practice before he gets underway.”

“Of course, Captain,” Buchanan nodded. “I’ll keep you looped into our tactical feed.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Lakeside Star System
Far Out System

For what it was worth to the tiny colony, it at least had some other planets orbiting its star with it. Sadly none of them as nice as Lakeside.

Around a very distant outer ice rock that had only barely scraped by the definition of a planet, something strange was happening. An anomaly was forming. Small and easy to miss at first, it could be a sensor ghost, or maybe a tired twitch of an eye or an officer who hadn’t had enough coffee.

But as minutes passed, it grew more noticeable, the tiny anomaly growing larger, warping the space around it slightly like looking through warped glass to a dark night. It eventually grew big enough to be about the size of a small ship and seemed to settle down. The strange phenomenon seemed oddly calm as it sat in orbit of the outer planet, even as the energy readings from it seemed to wildly fluctuate, from silent black void in space to a writhing mass of warped space and energy and back again in the blink of an eye.

And the anomaly stayed like that, making no moves, nothing. Just something new and strange for Lakeside to look at.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Russell T. Buchanan
U.S.S. Intrepid NCC-74600
Lakeside System, Arcadia Sector
Stardate 66952.2

---

Although he was only a guest aboard the Intrepid, invited to observe the exercises from the centre of its attention until the ship departed for its own mission, Commander Buchanan was enjoying the experience immensely. Despite thoroughly enjoying his planetside posting, as Lakeside Colony was both a beautiful place to work and presented its own unique challenges, he had to admit that he missed duty aboard a Starship. Moreover, although combat was the last thing that most Starfleet Officers wanted, even if they prepared for it regularly in tactical exercises like this one, there was a certain thrill to the atmosphere aboard the bridge of a Federation Starship, even during training. In this case, the relatively unusual nature of the exercise spiced things up as well, given that most combat training focused on individual ship-to-ship combat, rather than a single Starship defending itself against smaller ships. The Runabouts were technically starships, as they were far bigger, more powerful and longer-legged than shuttlecraft or fighters, but they were small starships. However, it allowed both the Runabouts to practice tactics against a larger opponent, and kept the larger starship up to speed on ways to deal with annoying swarms of smaller vessels, such as those it might encounter on anti-piracy patrols.

The Intrepid, lead ship of her class, was officially designed an explorer, but her ‘combat capability designation’ was as a light cruiser, and she was designed to have sufficient firepower and tactical systems to be able to defend itself when potentially many hours away from support. A modern ship, she was equipped with the same Type-X phaser arrays as those aboard the Galaxy-Class and most modern ships (the more powerful Type-XII was restricted to Starfleet’s most powerful ships), however she lacked the vastly superior power supply afforded to the main array on a Galaxy-Class, and her main array was also significantly smaller in any event. However, it was did allow for the same kind of flexibility, including the fact that the main array (or indeed any array) could either give off one full-power discharge, designed for use against other peer vessels, or numerous less powerful discharges, designed for use against a swarm of smaller vessels.

It was this latter technique that the Intrepid was utilising against her attackers, with the space around her filled with (exercise-only power) phaser beams as she fought off the attacking Runabouts, whose own phasers were significantly less powerful but if utilised together and in a co-ordinated manner could do some damage if given enough time. The Runabouts could also make use of their photon torpedoes, even if they were the less-powerful micro versions), whereas they were sticking too close to their target for the Intrepid to use her own torpedoes. It was an interesting fight to say the least, as phasers were extremely accurate weapons, so it was taking some fancy flying from the Runabout pilots to avoid even a handful of the beams being thrown their way.


It was not, however, interesting enough to distract the Intrepid’s science officer from her duties.

“Captain, I’m reading an unusual energy buildup in the outer system, around the ninth planet, its fluctuating rapidly and appears to be warping space.”

Intrepid’s Captain, Samuel L. Bridges, frowned.

“Is it a subspace distortion?” He asked.

“Unknown at this range, but I don’t think so.”

Captain Bridges turned to Buchanan and raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry to cut these exercises short, Commander, but I think you’ll agree that we had best go and take a look,” Bridges commented, leaning forwards to speak to both Buchanan and his XO. “Your Runabouts are welcome to come with us, it’ll do them good to exercise their sensors.”

“Roger that, Sir,” Buchanan nodded. “If I could impose upon your communications officer?”

Bridges nodded graciously, and a few moments after Buchanan transmitted his orders, the Intrepid turned with the ships it had just been ‘fighting’ and the group proceeded out-system together towards the unknown anomaly at full impulse power.

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Lakeside Star System
Far Out System

The anomaly continued it’s strange fluctuations for another minute before the energy in it shifted, seeming to even out. For a moment all was quiet and still.

And had the sensors picked up the a ghostly flicker of a ring-like structure around the anomaly?

Then it exploded.

The anomaly released a massive burst of energy, radiation bursting from it suddenly and that massive wave began to march with uncaring efficiency across the entire star system. The small ice planet it was near got hit first, the radiation melted almost all the ice on the planet instantly into vapor, the rock looking sad and desolate as all the water evaporated into space. And so it continued. Any gas giants had massive amounts of their atmospheres thrown off, smaller moons and rings pulverized while larger moons that could weather the energy had their rocks stripped bare, any atmosphere burnt off in mere seconds. Asteroids were tossed about or vaporized depending on size, leaving any belts and clusters smaller and less dense than before.

The worst was Lakeside. The wave of energy, despite having spread out from its point of origin, did not seem to be slowing down or weakening. It hit Lakeside hard. Any magnetosphere it had was poor protection as it rolled over the planet, burning off the atmosphere, the water, the infrastructure, the life, in mere seconds, leaving the planet a broken, burning husk of its former self. Any stations and satellites in orbit got the same treatment, sent tumbling out of orbit burning, melted ruins of their former selves.

So the wave continued, wrecking all in its path, rolling over the star and even managing to blast off a good outer shell and causing the star to set off flares, destabilizing the Stellar object as it continued across and out system.

Around the now stabilized anomaly was a huge structure, a ring of metal that looked oddly familiar, almost like a Casimir Gate from the newly found Protectorate.

There was little time to wonder though. As small ships began to pop into existence out of the structure. They varied in size but all bore strange look. Sleek, geometric lines and painted a black so dark it seemed to absorb all the light around it, turning them into moving voids in space, hard to see with the naked eye. They didn't say anything, their movements precise and easy as they came through, splitting off to begin scouting the planets. There had to be hundreds of the small things streaming out of the former anomaly. It wasn't until the count of the ships(?) reached nearly a thousand did it slow to a trickle.. and pop in a few larger ships. Six to be exact, all about as large as the runabouts.

Those immediately turned towards whatever ships had survived the blast and charged with surprising speed at them, opening up with missiles that streaked ahead of their motherships to try to destroy them.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Russell T. Buchanan
U.S.S. Intrepid NCC-74600
Lakeside System, Arcadia Sector
Stardate 66952.2

---

“I think the anomaly is stabilising,” Intrepid’s science officer reported. “No, wait there-“

What happened next was immediately apparent to everyone; the anomaly whatever it was exploded, and sent out a massive shockwave that began to spread out across the system. The main viewscreen had been locked on the anomaly, and whilst it they had been far too distant to see it visually, even with the visual enhancement and zoom capabilities, but the energy wave was obvious in all its horror and glory.

“Shields!” Shields!” Captain Bridges snapped. “Turn us into the wave, all power to forward shields.”

The Intrepid’s bridge crew reacted quickly to the snap of command in their Captain’s voice, and the starship was soon turning to face the wave head on, her shields were raised, and her crew braced for impact. However, outside the Runabouts lacked the more powerful shield generators installed aboard the larger cruiser, and their plight seemed grim.

“Captain, it is unlikely that the Runabouts will be able to withstand that shockwave on their own,” Commander Buchanan commented, knowing what he was about to ask would be risky in the extreme. “Are we able to extend our shields around them? I’ve got a hundred people out there.”

Captain Bridges looked conflicted; it was certainly possible that the Intrepid could extend its shield perimeter to allow the runabouts to move inside for protection, however doing so would reduce the ability of the shield to take the impact. By protecting the Runabouts the Intrepid would be standing into increased danger herself, and there were well over a hundred men and women aboard her as well.

“Tactical, extend our shields around the Runabouts,” Bridges ordered after a moment. “Comms, order them to tuck in as close as possible, let’s minimise the strain on our shields.”

As the energy wave closed rapidly on them, and getting entirely too close for comfort, the cluster of Runabouts moved as close as physically possible to the Intrepid, which promptly extended its shields around them. Mere moments later the energy wave hit, and the Intrepid’s extended shields flared in protest. On the Intrepid, the strain was obvious. The ship physically shook dramatically as the inertial dampness were pushed to their extreme, and small explosions ripped through the internal fixtures as the EPS conduits were overwhelmed by the amount of power the shields were demanding. After a few seconds, that felt like hours, the wave passed and the Intrepid settled back down again. The bridge was surprisingly quiet; officers and crewmen were pulling themselves back to their feet, but no one was taking charge, primary lighting had failed and the bridge was only lit by emergency lighting.

“Has anyone got eyes on Captain Bridges?” Buchanan called out, looking around, and upon spotting a prone form beside the Captain’s chair he moved over quickly, and found Captain Bridges. “Nevermind, I’ve found him… he’s dead… where is your XO?”

“Dead too!”

“So is our Tactical Officer.”

Buchanan sighed heavily and was silent for a moment. Any Federation Starship had an established chain of command, from the Captain down to the lowest commissioned officer, in certain career tracks anyway. However, with the Captain, First Officer, and Second Officer all dead, the next ranking officer would not have all that much experience, certainly not in a situation like this. By contrast, Buchanan had previous command experience, and was the highest ranking officer in any event. By regulation, command of a Starship devolved along its own internal chain of command regardless of the presence of a higher ranking, suitably qualified officer, on the basis that the chain of command would have more appropriate experience and familiarity with the ship and its crew. However, Regulation 19 allowed for any Starfleet Officer to assume command of a Starship, so long as certain prerequisites were met, including being of higher rank than all surviving officers and being clearly more qualified and experienced. Any command assumed under Regulation 19 would be subject to review by Starfleet Command at the earliest opportunity, and misuse of the regulation would be met by the most serious punishments a Court-Martial could provide for, due to the potential damage that could be done to the chain of command.

“I’m assuming command of this ship, under Regulation 19, note the Stardate in the ship’s log… any objections should also be logged,” Buchanan said loudly and clearly. “Alright people, I need a-“

“Sir, Lakeside!”

The eyes of everyone on the bridge, Buchanan included, turned to the viewscreen just in time to watch as Lakeside Colony was utterly annihilated by the energy wave; in the blink of an eye thousands of lives were snuffed out, and one of the most beautiful worlds encountered was turned to a barren rock. Silence reigned on the bridge of the Intrepid for a few moments before Buchanan broke it.

“There’ll be time to mourn later, people, right now we have to look after ourselves and work out what the hell just happened,” Buchanan said firmly. “Right, I need a damage report, and-“

“Sorry to interrupt you again, Sir, but there is some sort of structure at the centre of the anomaly.. it almost looks like a Casimir Gate,” Lieutenant Basi, the Science Officer, reported. “Ships are beginning to emerge, they aren’t dissimilar to those used by the Protectorate… but they’re heading all over the system…”

“I need a tactical assessment,” Buchanan frowned. “Who is going to step up?”

“Our ACTO is dead as well, so I guess that’s me, Sir… Ensign Sylvia Pierce… but I’m six months out of the academy.”

“That’s a long time in Starfleet, Ensign, you’ll do fine,” Buchanan said reassuringly. “Now, how are we looking?”

“There have to be hundreds of those little ships… maybe a thousand, but I’m also reading six larger ships…” Ensign Pierce replied, frowning at her console. “Wait… I’m reaching launch transients! Those six ships, Runabout size, are heading towards us and opening fire!”

Buchanan’s eyes widened, but he recovered quickly.

“Red Alert! Load all torpedo bays, ready Phasers,” He ordered smoothly. “How are our Runabouts looking?”

“They were protected by our shields, and the damage we took is from overloading our EPS grid, not from the impact of the wave,” Pierce reported. “They’re in good shape, and are moving into combat pairs and assuming a formation around us, ready to engage.”

“Target those missiles with our phasers, multiple low power beams, they shouldn’t require much to shoot them down,” Buchanan ordered. “Lock photon torpedoes on those six ships, prepare to fire on my mark… but open a hailing frequency.”

“Hailing frequencies opened, Captain.”

Attention Unknown Vessels, this is the Federation Starship Intrepid… your presence here shortly after a disastrous explosion and firing weapons is considered hostile. Stand down immediately or we will fire upon you.

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Lakeside Star System

The unknown craft did not respond to the hail, only closing the distance at speeds that, if this was Protectorate technology, would of killed the human crew even with the best acceleration couches available. They fired off more missiles, aimed at the runabouts even as they closed to knife-fighting range, grasers lancing out to strike out at the smaller ships, the strange ships maneuvering so they kept the runabouts between them and the larger Intrepid. A somewhat obvious ploy to keep a physical shield between them and the more dangerous foe.

Even as one of the ships got a very lucky hit in and killed one of the runabouts; the anomaly seemed fully contained in what was definitely a Casimir Gate, same size and look as the one at Ionia, the huge ring structure sitting quietly with the space in the ring rippling slightly with the energy of an active Gate.

The smaller ships were still spreading out to every corner of the star system, settling into orbits and scanning everything as they went. Obviously scouting out the system. Or at least that seemed to be part of their job.

Then a group began to go after the ruined remains of whatever had been in orbit. It was possible that with enough luck and good reaction times, someone may have been able to do as Intrepid did and thus there being survivors waiting for rescue. The tiny ships, however, began to latch on the scraps and push them towards the star. Not just destabilizing already ruined orbits, but actively attempting to get the artificial objects onto trajectories into the star.

if that wasn't bad enough, some of the small ships that had taken to studying Lakeside were descending into the atmosphere, settling above any ruins that had managed to survive getting bathed in the wave of energy and radiation and pounding them with smaller, albeit more numerous, guns, reducing what could of been mistaken for civilization into simple rubble. A few of theses ships that were one the larger side were following behind their scouting, scraping the remains of Lakeside Colony up before turning and shooting back into space and also turning with purpose towards the star, loaded down with the rubble of what had once been a thriving city for disposal.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Russell T. Buchanan
U.S.S. Intrepid NCC-74600
Lakeside System, Arcadia Sector
Stardate 66952.2

---

“Ensign, we have been exceptional in our patience,” Commander Buchanan said firmly, as more missiles were fired at them. “Target those vessels and fire!”

With the gloves removed, Intrepid altered her firing pattern, instead of using all thirteen of her phaser arrays in point-defence mode, using short, sharp beams to target enemy missiles that did not take much to destroy, she instead focused this fire from her smaller arrays. Whilst the smaller arrays, by their nature less powerful, focused on the incoming missiles, the four primary arrays, two on the dorsal hull and two on the ventral, now targeted the enemy vessels. Instead of producing numerous short beams, each of the arrays could be seen to visibly charge for a moment before firing, with the energy speeding along the array from either end until they met at whichever point of the array was closest to the enemy before lancing out towards the target. Operating at full power, a blast from these arrays was designed to be used against peer adversaries, and would require an exchange of fire, but against smaller, less powerful ships, the impact and damage could be immediate and severe.

It quickly became apparent that the enemy was trying to keep the Runabouts between them and the larger Starship, however the pilots of the Runabouts were well aware of this and did not allow them to do so; working in pairs more akin to fighter tactics, each pair focused on one of the enemy vessels, chasing them through their manoeuvres, whilst doing their best to lead anyone chasing them into the firing arc of the Intrepid’s main arrays.

Buchanan grimaced as one of the Runabouts, and older Danube-Class, was destroyed by their opponents; the gamma-ray lasers they were using were primitive, compared to a phaser, but unlike conventional lasers they were, at least, effective in a brute-force sort of way. It was tempting to order the Runabouts away, as they were obviously the most vulnerable due to their limited combat capabilities, but he also did not want to be facing the focus of all six enemy vessels on his own. It was also tempting to send the Runabouts after the hundreds of smaller ships that appeared to be looting, or at least finishing the destruction of, what had once been a vibrant star system, however there were simply too many and there was also the same tactical consideration.

“Comms, send a Code Two Alert to Starfleet Command, inform them of what has happened here, and request instructions… Lieutenant Basi, I know we’re in a firefight, but I want you to maintain a record of what these ships are doing to our system… I don’t doubt that Starfleet Command will want to see it,” Buchanan ordered firmly. “Ensign Pierce, it is my intention to find our as much about what happened here, and to do that I need those ships destroyed, so take off the kid-gloves… co-ordinate with the Runabouts and fire to destroy… these people are clearly prepared to take out a star system, so do not hold back… if they are the Protectorate… we’ve clearly misjudged them.”

Buchanan sighed.

“We gave them a chance to end this… they want it, let them have it, Ensign!”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Lakeside Star System

These unknown ships continued their deadly dance, their movements sharp, precise and perfectly coordinated, perhaps a bit too perfect. It seemed to match what little of the Protectorate they knew of. Primitive tech (the grasers) matched with what had to be some sort of artificial intelligence controlled craft given how perfectly they moved. They always seemed to know which way to dodge and shift themselves and, without the same dampeners a Federation ship would have, could put off moves that would of long since turned any humans onboard to paste.

It didn’t help the attackers in the end, as what they had in razor fast reaction times and coordination couldn’t stand up to a determined human (or alien for that matter.) They had shields, but they were nowhere near as good as the Federation’s technology.

The first one gone up in an explosion had been chased out of ‘hiding’ and into Intrepid’s firing arc. A single hit was all it took to get through the armor and shield, though the explosion from the ship’s destruction was much larger than expected, leaving only an expanding ball of plasma which couldn’t exactly leave anything behind to study.

This would be repeated three more times, though the strange ships did land a few solid hits on the runabouts and one even on Intrepid’s shields, they didn’t have the firepower to overwhelm their foes as they were whittled down to a pair, now out numbered and definitely out gunned. The ships did recognize this and turned tail to flee. Not towards the Gate however, deeper in system.

The smaller ships not engaged with clean up began to turn as one from whatever they were doing. A number well over 800 of them turned to face the fleeing attack ships, or more precisely, towards Intrepid and her companions and began to accelerate. And they didn’t stop, engines pushing the small ships up speed with no sign of slowing down except for various scattered groups delaying acceleration until they could sync up, forming a growing wall with obvious intent to kamikaze and kill them.

Probably a very effective tactic, swarming kamikaze ships when your only means of escaping a star system were a very specific point in space that may be hostile on the other side, thus limiting your choices to ‘die’ or ‘fight and die.’

[New Khitomer]

Commander Russell T. Buchanan
U.S.S. Intrepid NCC-74600
Lakeside System, Arcadia Sector
Stardate 66952.2

---

“Four enemy shields destroyed, Sir,” Ensign Pierce reported, clearly pleased.

“Excellent shooting, Ensign,” Commander Buchanan nodded. “Now do it two more times.”

As Ensign Pierce nodded and continued her efforts to target and destroy the small, evasive, targets, which were given even the more manoeuvrable runabouts a run for their money, Buchanan considered the enemy he was facing. Everything he had seen so far was consistent with the technology and ships used by the Protectorate of Prime Redux, however based on the information that had been designated to senior command staff of all Starfleet vessels and outposts after the First Contact. However, the geopolitical implications and considerations aside, the capabilities of these ships suggested that they were unmanned, as based on Starfleet’s understanding of the Protectorate’s technological base the manoeuvres they were pulling would not be survivable. As such, Buchanan mused, there was the possibility that these ships were acting entirely autonomously, and had been instructed to engage and destroy anything in the system… although such programming would be reckless in the extreme. In any event, if this was the Protectorate, they had been responsible, by the establishment of their Casimir Gate, for the deaths of thousands of Federation Citizens, and they would need to answer for their actions. Which meant that Buchanan’s priority was to gather as much information as possible, before reporting to Starfleet Command.

“The surviving ships are retreating, Sir,” Pierce reported after a moment. “But the smaller craft have all turned towards us… they’re on a collision course.”

Buchanan grimaced; so they were going to try and use brute force to destroy the Intrepid through kamikaze tactics; for all their less advanced technology the kinetic impact of a physical collision would be substantial. Although he was confident he could take out a significant number of those ships, as they were doubtless even more susceptible to his weapons than their larger brethren, there were simply far too many for the Intrepid to survive impact by those that survived its phaser fire.

“We’ve done what we can here,” Buchanan said grimly, making his decision. “Set a course for Starbase 17, maximum warp.”

“Course laid in, Sir,” The Helmsman reported a few moments later. “All Runabouts report the same.”

“Engage.”

On Buchanan’s order, the surviving Runabouts engaged their warp drives and were soon heading out-system. The Intrepid was a mere moment behind, her warp nacelles shifting into their active position, before the ship appeared to elongate and disappeared from the system in a flash of light.

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Ionia Star System
Photons in Relief

The honestly massive ship that was Photons in Relief sat quietly, and mostly alone, in Ionia Star System. Far out from Ionia and its Gate, near a solid and cold hunk of rock that was Ionia Star System's last official planet, Xioa. The ship was large enough to have sections that generated spin grav and every surface that could be painted was the official gray and cyan of The Protectorate with the star-in-Gate symbol from their flag painted on the bow of the ship. Beside the massive flagship of the Protectorate were a set of ships painted the glossy black of Fleet ships, there in case any terrorists get bright ideas.

Due to the sudden massive interest in Ionia from being the planet that had the Prime's very first First Contact, the planet had received a surprising amount of new citizens from other planets, investments in businesses here and even some tourist companies now looking to possibly work here.

So the government of Prime Redux had decided to throw its own investment into the pot in the form of another Gate. It was unusual for such a small system to get a Casimir Gate this early in its life, as other more promising build sites existed that had already been surveyed, some of these even being in other settled star systems with higher populations and thus more trade and reason to use said Gate. But another Gate in Ionia would at the least attract those who would want to see a new star system. Scientists and surveyors looking for the oddities of space and rich asteroid belts, and if there was a planet stable and close enough to the star, settlers. People looking to start anew in a place where they were less likely to be judged and could help form the new traditions of a planet from the ground up.

Prime Director Mary Lexa stared at the screen dominating the wall in the massive ballroom, showing the view of the new Gate in all its glory, Ionia Keepers, important civilians, a few High Protectorate members mingled in crowds of friends and family, all wearing they best formal clothes as they celebrated the activation of the newest Gate. It had been a privilege of Ionia's small Keeper presence to be the ones that had used they implanted data on their chips to activate the construction drones that built the Casimir Gate. Any Keeper, including herself, could of done it, but it meant a lot to a Keeper to actually use the knowledge they so jealously guarded.

Like every other Gate activation she had attended, and every other in history, it had gone without a hitch and so far they were just waiting for the scout drones to transmit back more data on the system to see if there was anything of worth there. Considering there were no immediate reports of problems like black holes or pulsars, Lexa hoped that this one would at least provide a safe place to settle.

It was disappointing in a way, she mused, when she had first risen to Prime Director she'd been so optimistic, so sure that she would be the one to find a habitable planet. She knew better than to attempt the blazing Gate construction speed of Director Prime, but her first Gate activation had been a let down, a dead end long jump that was so dangerous (a black hole with an orbiting pulsar) she'd had to deactivate the Gate only an hour after turning it on. That had been the wedge that made her accept that maybe there were no habitable planets anywhere in the Protectorate's grasp. At least until the Federation had shown up with an FTL drive and she'd had to stop herself from trying to order her people to attack to gain that knowledge from the ship's wreckage.

She was glad, as having friends in this cold universe was far more important than a way to seek out their own habitable planets. Lexa had wanted to invite the Federation to this event, but it all happened so fast, so off-the-cuff she had decided to let this be just a Protectorate party. There would be plenty of time to show off the Casimir Gates to the Federation, this one would just be theirs to enjoy and savor.

As she moved through the crowds with practiced, greetings rolling off her tongue with ease as her silky white dress rippled with the breeze of her passage. Her gray eyes caught a flash of light from her wrist pad and she quickly slipped between the crowd to the side of the room, to check. She kept a practiced smile on even as she quickly took in the data. Data from the scout drones was being filtered as the party rolled on and so far...

Nothing. Maybe a planet good for domes? It was hard to tell as some of the data about the star showed it was in a state of high activity and more data needed to be collected before they could say if that was normal (thus rendering the system more dangerous to settle) or just a period of activity that could be accounted for. She swept the data away, grabbed another flute of champagne, and strode over to talk with Director Tachy.

[New Khitomer]

Commander Russell T. Buchanan
U.S.S. Intrepid NCC-74600
Starbase 17, Arcadia Sector
Stardate 66952.2

---

At maximum warp it did not take long for the Intrepid to reach Starbase 17, although it would take the surviving Runabouts somewhat longer to arrive as their maximum warp factor was significantly lower than that of an Intrepid-Class Starship. Despite the relatively successful tactical outcome, destroying four enemy ships for the loss of one Runabout and relatively minor damage to the Intrepid, it was nevertheless a comforting sight for all concerned. Starbase 17 was the lynchpin of Starfleet’s defensive posture along the frontier, a Unity-Class station it was designed to be both a defensive outpost and vital starship support platform, being responsible for supporting the First Fleet’s Task Force 17, the Outer Colonies Patrol. Located above the largest of the outer colonies, Elysium, the Starbase dominated the orbital space, protecting the colony and ensuring that the eighteen ships of Task Force 17 were kept adequately supported and maintained, without having to return to the Anvil Fleet Yards, or any of the other space stations operational across Federation space. Considering the distances involved in the outer colonies, particularly compared to the core worlds, this was a vital capability, and allowed Starfleet to maintain an adequate presence in the colonies.

In the five hours hours that had passed since the Destruction of Lakeside Colony, Starfleet had not been ideal however. When the Intrepid dropped out of warp at Starbase 17, there were not just those ships of Task Force 17 not on patrol waiting for them, but also a cluster of five starships arrayed in a tight formation. These five starships were the Lead Expeditionary Wing, itself a part of the Special Expeditionary Group (also know as Task Force 31). The SEG was tasked with conducting specialised deep space and diplomatic missions, far beyond Federation borders, often in challenging environments well away from the Starfleet support infrastructure. The Lead Expeditionary Wing was a purpose-designed formation intended to provide a cohesive, largely self-sufficient, expeditionary force on short notice and, most critically, was the only group in all of Starfleet that was equipped with the Quantum Slipstream Drive, a semi-experimental form of propulsion significantly faster than normal warp drive, that allowed a Starship to cross many thousands of lightyears in mere minutes or hours. Due to its reliance on exceedingly rare, and difficult to synthesise, Benamite Crystals, the slipstream drive was never going to fully replace traditional warp drive, but it was certainly useful for a quick response force.

The Intrepid was assinged to the SEG itself, although not to the Lead Expeditionary Wing.

As the centre of the formation was the U.S.S. Capitoline, the only Vesta-Class Starship in Starfleet, the same class that had pioneered the development of the quantum slipstream drive. Easily the most advanced ship in the fleet, the Capitoline was the testbed for a number of new technologies, and would continue to be so into the future. Playing a rare second fiddle to the Capitoline, was the U.S.S. Sentinel, one of only a handful Sovereign-Class starships in Starfleet and the only one not to lead whatever unit it was part of, however the Sentinel was still the most tactically capable ship of the wing and would lead the formation with the Capitoline staying safely protected. A Prometheus-Class starship, U.S.S. Perseus, provided additional tactical capability, whilst two Luna-Class starships, U.S.S. Phobos and U.S.S. Deimos, served as capable, multi-purpose exploratory cruisers. It was a small but flexible, and tactically powerful, formation that would allow Starfleet to respond to this atrocity within hours, instead of the days it would take for Starfleet’s normal tactical formation, the Tactical Response Group (Task Force 32), to travel to the Protectorate.

It was, for Commander Buchanan, a reassuring reminder that Starfleet was both capable and able of responding to this disaster.

“The Capitoline is hailing, Commander,” Ensign Pierce reported.

“On-screen,” Buchanan ordered smoothly; the image of the viewscreen changed from the view of the Starships around the starbase to show the bridge of the Capitoline, focused on the command area, and the Caitian officer sat in the command chair. “Commodore R’Musar, Intrepid stands ready.”

“I don't doubt that, Commander, I reviewed your after-action report from the Lakeside system, and despite the situation you and your adopted crew performed admirably, and gathered some valuable data on both what happened, and the tactical capabilities of our foe,” Commodore R’Musar replied. “My wing has been ordered to travel to the Ionia system, and then onto the Protectorate capital system, in order to demand an explanation for this atrocity, and to determine how to proceed, and I want Intrepid to accompany us, we will facilitate your use of the slipstream… we have not divulged information to even the Federation Embassy, so we’ll be taking the lead on this one.”

“In the meantime, I have been authorised to grant you a field promotion to the rank of Captain, and to command of the Intrepid for the foreseeable future, your experience in combat with the Protectorate, and your first-hand knowledge of the disaster, will be invaluable,” R’Musar continued. “We’ll be getting underway immediately, move your ship into position behind the Capitoline, my helmsmen will relay instructions to yours, my operations officer is already transmitting the slipstream protocols to you, it’ll be bumpy with our your own drive, but it will be doable. R’Musar out.”

With a nod from Buchanan, the Intrepid bridge crew quickly got about the task of following the orders of the Commodore. The Intrepid slipped into formation behind the Vesta-Class starship, close enough to piggyback into slipspace, but far too dangerous and unpredictable to do on a regular basis. As soon as they had done so, they were ordered to red alert by the flagship and a few moments later they were in slipstream, speeding towards the Ionia system. Given the speeds made possible by the QSD, and the relatively few lightyears involved, it did not take them long, and in the blink of an eye six Federation starships returned to normal space a tactical distance from the Ionia space station previously encountered by the Endeavour. Operating at red alert, the ships had their shields raised and their weapons armed. It did not take long for the Commodore to hail the Protectorate, in the sharp, righteous tones only used by a Starfleet officer when called upon to execute their duty to defend the Federation.

Attention Protectorate of Prime Redux, this is Commodore R’Musar of Starfleet. I am here by the order of Starfleet Command in response to the destruction of the Federation Colony of Lakeside, by your Protectorate. In the name of the Federation Council, I demand a meeting with your leadership to discuss the outrage, immediately.

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Ionia Star System
Photons in Relief

Ionia Star System was busier than the last time the Federation had been there. More ships sat in orbit and there were a few more various space platforms under construction. On the surface of Ionia more of the Protectorate's habdomes had sprung up as well, indicating a sizable increase in population.

In response to the message some of the Fleet ships in orbit had turned to put themselves between the civilians and the huge Casimir Gate and the Federation force. The Fleet ships might be stirring up bad memories at the moment but their paint was glossy black, like a freshly polished car. They would still be harder to see compared to the various other colors civilians used, but they definitely had a bit of a 'showy' attitude for lack of a better term.

It was the other ships that would truly cause flashbacks for Intrepid. New ships painted that deep, void black just like the ships that were in Lakeside moved out of the shadows of Keep Station, These were small, maybe with a crew of three or four, but not matching the size of any of the ones seen in Lakeside, their shape were dead-ringers for the swarm that had taken over Lakeside. These ships were not aggressive, they just positioned themselves near Keep Station and did nothing else.

It took a couple minutes before the reply finally came... from out system. Farther out system around the distant rocky planet of Xioa, was a newer Casimir Gate. Near it, though already begin to turn in system towards the task force, was a huge ship, parts of it spinning to provide gravity for the human occupants. Obviously trying to close the distance to make communication easier and perhaps bring the four Fleet ships sitting around it in to help fight if needed.

The message showed Prime Director Mary Lexa in a stunning white dress, short blue hair styled perfectly with an expensive looking golden golden clip in her hair and looking worried, maybe a bit scared?

"Commodore R'Musar, I am Prime Director Mary Lexa aboard my ship, Photons in Relief. I nor my Protectorate have never been to this Lakeside Colony and while I am very sorry for the loss of this colony, none of my people were involved." She paused for a second, like she was unsure how to approach the situation. After all they were laying charges of destruction of a colony Lexa didn't know about at her feet. How did she respond?

"Since I am here, you are welcome to come aboard my ship to discuss the situation and how we might help you resolve this misunderstanding." Her tone was calm and controlled, like she was trying to talk a gun out of the hand of a person with a hostage.

[New Khitomer]

Commodore R’Musar, SF
U.S.S. Capitoline, NCC-72617
Ionia System, Protectorate of Prime Redux
Stardate 66952.2

---

“Very well, designate an entry point, I will be bringing a security detail. R’Musar out.”

As the communications channel ended, R’Musar leant back in his command chair for a few moments as he looked down at the small screen attached to his armrest, reviewing the sensor data from the ship the Prime Director was aboard. Noting what was clearly a new Casimir Gate in close proximity to the ship, given that it had not been present when the Endeavour had initially surveyed the system, it certainly reinforced the likelihood that the Protectorate had indeed been responsible for the destruction of Lakeside Colony. Whether through ignorance, incompetence, or intent, it was almost certain that the Protectorate had been responsible for the loss of thousands of Federation lives, and until the last option could be ruled out it had to be responded to in a manner that befitted the sheer horror of what had occurred. Moreover, even if the other two options were perhaps more likely, the simple fact of the matter was that their drones had fired upon a Federation Starship, and even if they were unaware of the damage their Casimir Gates did, the fact that they had not included Federation technology in their version of an IFF system was simply inexcusable, and twenty further Starfleet officers were dead as a result.

As the Starfleet task group moved towards the vessel in question, maintaining a tight formation, R’Musar mused that many other civilisations would simply declare war and demand restitution, indeed the Federation Council Member from New Qo’noS, a Klingon, had argued staunchly for a far more aggressive response, befitting his species warrior like culture. Although this was a robust response from Starfleet, with six starships involved, it was comparatively restrained, given the damage done. In practical terms it was good that the Prime Director sounded worried, even scared, as it would hopefully underline to these people the consequences of their actions, and R'Musar was more than prepared to lean into that.

“I think it's time we emphasise our technological superiority, XO, please inform transporter room one that I will be down shortly," R’Musar said firmly. “You will maintain a transporter lock on me and my detail whilst we are over there, and I want the Hazard Team to report to the transporter room immediately.”

A Hazard Team, more properly a Hazardous Situation Response Team, was a special unit carried by certain Starfleet vessels, intended to provide them with a deployable capability more substantial than might be provided by a regular away team. Sometimes compared to Marines, the Hazard Team answered to a ship’s Chief Security Officer, and whilst they used more militaristic weapons, equipment, and tactics, were still Starfleet Officers first and foremost, and almost all had other duties and responsibilities aboard the ship. In general, full Hazard Teams, rather than away teams with additional training, were reserved to Starships likely to be away from support for long periods of time, likely to see combat, or otherwise likely to encounter a situation requiring an elite ground-based response. As a result, far more of Starfleet lacked a Hazard Team than was lucky enough to have one, with the entire Special Expeditionary Group being the primary exception, as outside of the lead expeditionary wing it’s ships usually operated independently. The detachment from the Hazard Team that met R’Musar in the transporter room consisted of eight personnel, one officer and seven crewmen, each equipped with a hazard suit, a flexible and protective armour that at least somewhat maintained the visual look of a Starfleet uniform, and were equipped with phaser rifles.


Doubtless, the Protectorate would be less than impressed, but they were not going to have any choice in the matter, and given that they were likely expecting a shuttle rather than a transporter, they would get no warning. Indeed, even R’Musar pulled a hand phaser from the weapons locker and strapped it to his uniform belt, in stark contrast to the last time a Starfleet Officer had gone aboard a Protectorate ship or station. Stepping onto the transporter pad, the Hazard Team set itself up in a defence formation around the Commodore, ready to protect him when they beamed into the target vessel, presumably a shuttle or hanger deck.


“We’ve got the co-ordinates, Commodore.”

“Very well, let’s go find out what these people are playing at,” R’Musar said dryly. “Energise.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Ionia Star System
Photons in Relief

The location provided had been an impressively large hangar near the nose of the ship. Shuttles and other craft were all tightly locked down to the deck and in special cradles to free up more room. It was crowded and the variation of craft was impressive, but there was room for even the largest shuttle to tocuj down safely. Like Keep Station, the main body of the ship had no gravity so the few humans mulling around doing final checks to prepare for their guests were walking around with magboots on the deck or even the bulkheads.

At least until they realized the Commodore was here, at which point most off them fled the hangar. Not exactly welcoming but it had been obvious none of them were the greeting the party so the reaction to a potentially hostile force was understandable. A couple ducked into the shuttles they were checking over but did not re-emerge.

It took about ten seconds after the crew had fled before the black-armored Guard Core appeared, they didn't say anything, but were armed with rifles and sidearms of their own, though none were pointed at the new arrivals. There were 15 of them and they blocked what was the main elevator from the hangar.

Another minute of tense silence passed before Lexa herself nearly rushed off the elevator, her clothing, a more practical dark blue pants and blazer over a white shirt. The outfit was nice but obviously thrown on in a haste, the golden clip in her hair was dangling at an odd angle and actually fell off to float midair as Lexa activated her boots to stick to the deck behind the Guard Core troopers.

"Step aside." She commanded and the soldiers silently moved to let her pass. Despite the confidence infused in that command, her face was paler than usual, breathing ragged as she stopped in front of the Commodore. "Commodore R'Musar, I'm sorry we weren't expecting you so soon." A fairly mild way of saying 'how the fuck did you do that' if there ever was one.

"Please follow me so we can talk in private." Lexa turned and led the way through the ships, Guard Core trailing the group and a trio in front to a fairly lush and large conference room that was not in the spun sections of the ship. All the chairs looked comfortable but had straps to keep humans in place, the bulkheads bare save the one at the head with the flag of the Protectorate painted on it. Waiting in the room, both men looking very put of place in expensive looking formal suits, was Director Tachy and Keeper Damien. Lexa waited until whoever wanted to come in was in and a trio of Guard Core sealed the door before one of the soldiers moved to stand behind Lexa.

"Commodore," Lexa said, "I'm sorry for your nation's loss. If you could explain what led you to believe that my Protectorate is responsible for Lakeside's death, I am sure we can prove that we did not do anything of the sort." She sounded sympathetic as she took her seat at the head of the table. "As Prime Director I have access to everything the Protectorate has. There are no secrets that can be hidden from me."

[New Khitomer]

Commodore R’Musar, SF
Photons in Relief
Ionia System, Protectorate of Prime Redux
Stardate 66952.2

---

By the time they reached the conference room, Commodore R’Musar was satisfied that his point had been made. Without being overly aggressive, aside from the larger than necessary security detail provided by the Hazard Team and being openly armed he had made no overtly aggressive moves, he had been able to emphasise Starfleet’s technological capabilities and had certainly caught the Prime Director off-guard. If this was the start of some sort of hostile action against the Federation, anything that threw their opponents off their game in the opening stages of a conflict was a good thing. Although Starfleet, and the Federation, would be the last to resort to the use of force as a means by which they would resolve a situation, if they were pushed to do it then the past twenty years had taught them that being as prepared as possible was vitally important. For many decades Starfleet had been without a major military threat, ever since the end of the Federation-Klingon Cold War, and during that time it had been able to devote itself entirely to its military mission; but in the past twenty years the threats of the Borg and the Dominion had sharpened Starfleet’s tactical edge.

Once they were all seated, R’Musar was handed a large PADD (Personal Access Display Device) by one of the Hazard Team members, who pulled the PADD from a small device on his equipment belt, a personal transporter buffer, the object materialising as he did so in a similar the transporter beam. This PADD was then passed across the table to the Prime Director, R’Musar controlling what would be shown on it from his own, smaller, PADD.

“This is what Lakeside Colony looked like this morning, as you can see it is bustling, prosperous, and peaceful… and this is what Lakeside Colony looked like when the Starship Intrepid left the system less than ten hours ago,” R'Musar replied, showing two images of Lakeside Colony, before and after its destruction. “Lakeside was destroyed by a powerful energy wave, produced from an anomaly in the outer system… after which this object was at its centre... as you can see, that is quite clearly a Protectorate Casimir Gate."

R'Musar paused for a moment, allowing the Prime Director to review the image, before changing to a video feed of the subsequent battle from one of the Runabouts.

"After the appearance of the Casimir Gate, by which point 2,977 men, women, and children had been killed during the complete destruction of Lakeside Colony, hundreds if not thousands of ships appeared from the Gate, including six matching the configuration of ships we've witnessed in this star system," R’Musar continued, his tone sharp. "As you can see, the Starship Intrepid was able to fend off the attack by your ships, although not without the loss of twenty additional lives aboard the Runabout Dee… so, Prime Director, I would be very interested to hear how you intend to argue that the Protectorate is not responsible for this catastrophe."

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Ionia Star System
Photons in Relief

Lexa stared at the PADD, she honestly looked sick. Tachy and Damien shared a glance, Tachy uncomfortably pulling on the collar of his suit while Damien waited with a passive expression.

"I... I've never seen this star system, nor this planet." She said. "And I've never seen ships of that make in that size before."

"May I see it?" Damien asked and Lexa pushed it over to him. He studied the image, rubbing his chin. "These can't be ours. We don't build ships like this in that size. Too expensive and, pardon the expression, too valuable to waste in hopeless battle. We keep them small, those ships you see that somewhat look like this are Guard Core ships, each one being enough to sustain a set of three Guard Cord soldiers on long missions, but they are always manned. We don't allow adaptive AI to pilot ships for this very reason in case IFFs fail and the AIs logic tree can't tell the difference between damaged friendly and enemy."

Tachy cleared his throat. "Why don't we just bring up the scout drone footage? Surely if they caused this mayhem we should of seen it." Lexa was so deep in thought she didn't hear the Ionia Director and he reached over and touched her arm. She started and looked at Tachy. "Can I bring up the drone footage? I know its set to alert us to major discoveries but maybe it fucked up."

She nodded and Tachy got to entering commands on his wristpad, Damien seemed to be staring at the PADD with much more intensity than needed, like if he looked hard enough whatever lies it contained would be confessed.

The wall behind Tachy lit up with a scene of stars, a great swath of black and a brighter than normal star at its center. Then it split, showing the blazing outer layers of the star. The screens continued to split to smaller and smaller screens until they were almost unreadable, they shifted around with blinding speed, those studying planets going to one side, those the star another, in the middle was anything that didn't contain anything that could actively be called 'interesting' to look at before Tachy let out an annoyed breath. "Damien, I need drone footage of whatever you are looking at, can we line up the stars?" It was hard to tell exactly what star system the drones were in by eye. Seen one barren rock and a few gas giants, seen them all.

Damien squinted at the PADD and held up his wristpad to scan the image, entering his own set of commands before a vast number of the screens began to vanish. Given the number of drones they were sorting through, it took about 40 seconds before the size of the feeds began to grow, narrowing it down to six select feeds, the time rewound to before when the attack supposedly happened, the starscapes looking exactly alike, white dividing lines separated each feed and spread out over the two opposing walls to give the feeds more room to show.

As Damien hit play and looked up at the feeds, the time scale compressed to something that was actually watchable. As they watched the stars moved slightly, some of the views shifted, others stayed still. Finally the drone feeds rolled over the time of the attack and there was... nothing. Not even a flicker of Intrepid or the runabouts. No explosions, no weapons fire, just beautiful starlight as the drones went about scouting, eventually their views of the supposed battlefield changing as they narrowed their focus onto more interesting items. One of drone feeds seemed to start recording data on the star even at distance, with a small 'CAUTION: STAR HIGHLY ACTIVE, CLOSING FOR FURTHER DATA' appearing in the corner as it pointed itself at the star and sped up.

"These are the drones we have in the new star system on the other side of our new Casimir Gate." Lexa explained, though she still looked a bit sick. "The Gates allow those drones to report everything they see directly to us, near real time." She made a motion around her to the drones. "If we had encountered a Federation ship, the drones are set to alert me and other high ranking Protectorate members immediately because since your FTL does not tether you certain star systems, we could potentially run into you anywhere when opening new Gates and we got no such alerts during our celebration of the new Gate. This has to be some misunderstanding." She stressed, "Or else we would of seen your ships, your people."

"Perhaps," Tachy suggested, his voice a touch nervous. "It was some other alien we are not aware of."

[New Khitomer]

Commodore R’Musar, SF
Photons in Relief
Ionia System, Protectorate of Prime Redux
Stardate 66952.2

---

As they watched the feeds, supposedly from the drones in the system on the other side of the gate, Commodore R’Musar did not look convinced; records could be falsified, of course, and it was equally possible that they were simply omitting any records that showed anything incriminating, instead focusing on those drones without a view of the fighting. It very much rang of trying to make excuses, for why the catastrophe could not possible have been them, which at least pointed more towards ignorance or incompetence, rather than intent being the reason behind their actions. Indeed, R’Musar could not help but wonder if it was indeed the first; that they were entirely unaware that the establishment of a Casimir Gate was so destructive to the system in which it was placed. Although Starfleet Science had already been able to work out a general understanding of the technology, the ins-and-outs of it could not be properly determined without a full, in-depth examination and witnessing it in action, neither of which had happened. If they were unaware of the technology having such devastating impact, which would certainly explain why every system they had ever encountered was lifeless, there was every possibility they were equally unaware of some sort of side effect that could compromise their drones.

“If you'll excuse me, Prime Director, I must say that I am singularly unconvinced by the theory that there is a third-party civilisation that happens to use a technology that we have only encountered in your hands; the simplest answer is often the correct one, after all," R’Musar commented dryly. "For what it’s worth, from your reaction I do not believe that this is something you have done intentionally, but it seems more likely that this is some sort of tragic error, or unknown side effect... one that I can only assume has also compromised your own records..”

R’Musar frowned and leant back in his chair.

“If you are so convinced that this could not possibly have been you, I'm sure you’ll have no objection to one of my starships deploying a Starfleet probe through the Casimir Gate… that will conclusively confirm whether or not the system is, indeed, the Lakeside System.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Ionia Star System
Photons in Relief

“You can’t use probes near the Gate,” Director Tachy said, the rejection sounding automatic, as the Protectorate (and Damien that first day) made clear, scanning or even using sensors near the Gates was illegal. “It’s…”

“Director.” Lexa’s voice cut off Tachy and he fell silent, looking over to his leader. Lexa had her hands clasped tight together on the table, so tight her knuckles were white. She didn’t look well at all, her face remaining pale, but her voice was firm. “Now isn’t the time. I’m the Prime Director and I can authorize it.” She nodded to R’Musar. “Please go ahead Commodore, that does seem the easiest way to prove our Gate wasn’t the one that caused the destruction of Lakeside.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Tachy sounded more frustrated that combative, “We’ve been doing this for around a 1,000 years, over 200 Casimir Gates opened and not once have we’ve seen any signs of the destruction, signs of life or signs our scout drones have gone off the rails. They’ve worked fine since we started using them! Always up to date and properly maintained between Gate activations. Not to mention Damien pointing out that drones aren’t built as big as the runabouts! It can’t be ours!”

“Alex if you can’t control your temper I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Lexa said softly, pulling a hand free of its death grip on the other to place it over Tachy’s on the table. Her unoccupied hand was shaking slightly, showing the nerves she was trying, and failing, to hide. Tachy quieted down but still looked unhappy.

Keeper Damien was still staring at the PADD like he might undo the damage done to Lakeside by sheer willpower. After he was done he handed it back to the Federation personnel,his expression still passive save a very slight frown as the Commodore ordered the Probe launched. He silently set it up so that way they could watch the feed on a big screen.

---

As the probe moved out system it became apparent there was another ship sitting near the Gate, ‘behind’ the Gate from the perspective of the approaching drone, this one huge, painted void black and running some serious stealth, it made no move to do anything but this thing was massive, even bigger than Photons in Relief. The drone mothership perhaps?

Transit through the Gate was nothing special, buttery smooth without the ten seconds of complete lack of anything from the probe before it exited it was hard to even tell it went anywhere.

On the other side of the Casimir Gate was a star system, painfully familiar. The (now confirmed) Protectorate drones moving about with care as they studied everything, oblivious to the newcomer they went about their tasks with single minded focus. The larger (drones? Ships?) were nowhere to be found, but then again, any sign of any life other than the probes seemed to have been erased. None of the satellites that had been junked for the energy wave, no stations, no ruins or over smoothed out spots on the planet presumed to be Lakeside, not even a debris field of the destroyed runabout or the four dead drones could be seen anywhere, just the smaller drones putting about peacefully.

“This is the star system.” Lexa said as she looked at the probe’s feed. “Same one I’ve been getting reports on since we opened the Gate… I don’t see any damage, just a star system which we might be able to use in the future if the Star isn’t overly active.” Her voice sounded strangely small, like she was still trying desperately cling to idea that there had to be some mix up. After all the alternative of admitting that their Casimir Gate had caused death in Lakeside could have massive implications that went against every excuse or reason the Protectorate had used to comfort itself from the cold darkness of space.

[New Khitomer]

Commodore R’Musar, SF
Photons in Relief
Ionia System, Protectorate of Prime Redux
Stardate 66952.2

---

“That would be consistent with the information recorded by the Intrepid’s sensors; based on our analysis it very much looked like the hundreds of small drones were conducting a clean-up operation, wiping the system clean of any trace that anything had been there,” Commodore R’Musar replied grimly, before tapping his com badge again. “Capitoline, this is R’Musar, instruct the probe to conduct a stellar fix; that should definitively tell us whether this system is the same one as the one in which Lakeside Colony once sat, neither we nor the Protectorate can impact the positions of stars and other major stellar objects… get back to me as soon as you have a fix.”

R’Musar leant back in his chair heavily as they waited for the results, which would not take long to arrive. The probe that they had deployed had been a basic Class-I probe, however Starfleet’s designation system for its probe did not differentiate by age but by role, with the exact model within each class being consistently updated. The Class-I probe was designed for general duties, at relatively short range, but was more than suitable for this kind of tasking. As they waited, R’MUsar mused that it was increasingly unlikely that the Protectorate had been responsible for this disaster, or at least that they had either not done to intentionally or, perhaps more worryingly, that although the Prime Director was not responsible there was some splinter group within the Protectorate that was. If this was the case it raised far more questions than answers, and made his own mission here damned difficult. There was also the horrifying question that, if the Protectorate had indeed opened over two hundred Casimir Gates in their time, how many other inhabited systems could they have wiped out. In such a situation, how was Starfleet, or the Federation, to respond… and how would the Protectorate respond to such a realisation?

It would be faint comfort to the loved ones of those lost at Lakeside Colony if they were able to identify those responsible for this mess, even if they did play a role in uncovering some secret conspiracy within the Protectorate. R’Musar liked to think he was a good judge of character, and everything about the way the Prime Director was acting suggested that she had not been aware of what happened in the Lakeside system, so she was either a very good actor or something far deeper, and more concerning, was at play here. Indeed, the ‘clean-up operation’ seemingly conducted by the Protectorate drones certainly seemed to point towards something untoward going on. In short, it seemed very much like he, and Starfleet, were about to find themselves hip-deep in a very messy situation.

“Capitoline to Commodore R’Musar.”

“This is R’Musar, go ahead.”

“Commodore, we have just completed our Stellar Fix… the system on the other side of the Casimir Gate is, undoubtedly, the Lakeside system.”

R’Musar was silent for a moment before sighing.

“Very well, Commander, thank you… please transmit all the raw data to the Protectorate, I’m sure they will want to review it,” R’Musar replied. “Well, Prime Director, there we have it… so I do have to ask you, as I do not believe you had any knowledge of this mess, and the cover-up… who else within your government would have the means to do this without you knowing?”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Ionia Star System
Photons in Relief

“They’re just scouting drones! That’s all they are designed to do!” Tachy snapped. “They couldn’t clean up a glass of spilled milk if they tried.” His anger finally seemed directed at the Commodore as he glared at him.

Before he could say anything else Lexa tightened the grip on his hand so hard he flinched. She let go, sitting back as he rubbed his hand, his expression sour as he once again looked at her. “Director, leave. I want you to gather all the Keepers involved in building the Gate, we’re going to check all their chips.” When he began to object she cut him off. "No, I don't need to hear any objections, I need you to do as your told Director." She stressed his title, obviously no matter what personal relationship they might have, she was still the leader of his nation and he bowed his head and got up, leaving with angry haste.

Damien just looked at Lexa with a sad expression plastered on his face. "Prime Dire..."

"Keeper Damien," she rolled over him like he hadn't even spoken. "I know you were one of the Keepers who had their data used to build the Gate. Go with him. While you all get that together you can review the data

"Yes Ma'am." He said, getting up to follow Tachy at a much more calm pace. Once the hatch closed behind him she turned to face the Guard Core behind her.

"Lock down the ship. Nothing leaves this ship until I have given the order." Lexa paused for a moment, shot a glance at the Federation personnel, then said, "and all you step outside."

“Prime Director I must object.” Came the neutral voice of the Guard Core. Seemed odd to say such a thing with a computerized tone that resembled that of a person commented on mild weather.

“Noted, now go.” She said, putting a lot more steel in her voice to enforce the command. The Guard Core hesitated for a few seconds before quietly filing out of the hatch. Once the hatch closed and seal, Lexa rubbed at the back of her neck, right where her the scar for her Keeper chip was, a nervous gesture as her gaze fell to her wristpad, watching as it flashed up a text message to confirm the ship was locked down.

“To answer your question, it should be no one. It should be impossible. Everything is as hands free and secret as we can make it.” She said after a moment to gather herself. “Gate construction schematics are stored in parts on the chips all Keepers have and are read only, they can’t be modified without killing the Keeper whose’s chip is modified. The chips are encrypted with a level of protection that's higher than our governments highest protocols. Keepers are randomly selected from those that are available in the star system that the Gate is built in, and we use more Keepers than necessary in so there is redundancy in case corruption happened naturally. The schematics are uploaded to special construction drones that destroy themselves when done and Guard Core and Fleet ships keep watch over them while the build at a distance with orders to destroy any ship, civilian, government, or military, that try to approach. I,” she fumbled over herself a bit, “personally as Prime Director have to give the order to activate the Gate, the scout drones are all automated in case of a Gate opening to a dangerous system but they shouldn't have the ability to clean up anything, just report on the system. We've had some trouble with our independent worlds in the past, but all of them save the independent station have had the maximum amount of Gates built that their star systems can handle so they have access to all the material they need to thrive."

"I'm... I'm not going to pretend that Casimir Gate isn't the Protectorate's I trust you aren't trying pin something on us or else you would have come at us with a lot more firepower." Lexa ran a hand through her blue hair, causing it to fan out in the zero G. "But I assume this is some sort of high level sabotage we didn't catch... It's probably weak of me but I can't admit that the Protectorate could have been doing this for over 1000 years and 217 Gate activations without someone noticing something. We've had many brilliant Keepers working on the Gate tech, improving it, adding to it simulating the effects and finding equations to predict where they open to.. If something wasn't right we should of noticed if not..." she seemed about to say something else but cut herself off with a sigh, rubbing her face. "I'm so sorry. " Not quite ready to say whatever she had been about to say.

[New Khitomer]

Commodore R’Musar, SF
Photons in Relief
Ionia System, Protectorate of Prime Redux
Stardate 66952.2

---

Commodore R’Musar leant back in his chair as he watched the Prime Director dismiss her staff, and even her guards, it was obvious that she was taking the news that the Protectorate, or someone within it, was responsible for this atrocity. He was gratified that she had, at least, accepted the evidence that was in front of her, rather than trying to deny the facts. In many respects it was a less positive outcome for the family’s of the victims, as a clear person or persons to place the blame upon promptly would have probably helped them, but for the Federation and Starfleet’s ideals and ideology, it was far more preferable to not have a culprit who they could just go to war with. Instead, Starfleet could help the Protectorate work out what was going on and, hopefully, prevent such a disaster from ever happening again. Although the decision had been made, initially, to make a ‘tactical’ response, taking a small group of Starships into Protectorate space with potentially violent intent, it was reassuring to be able to put the more ‘base’ impulses of revenge and retribution. Moreover, the Protectorate was the first friendly civilisation the Federation had encountered in this galaxy, it would have been a shame to lose them.

It was obvious from the explanation that the process for constructing, activating, and utilising a Casimir Gate was a closely guarded secret, which explained why they forbid the structures from being closely scanned. He could understand why the Prime Director had been so reluctant to accept that it had been this gate that had caused the disaster, from everything that he was being told it shouldn't[t have been possible for something like this to happen, or certainly not the aftermath. However, R’Musar’s caitian hearing picked up on the reluctance in the Prime Director’s voice towards the end of her explanation, and his eyes narrowed slightly.

“I appreciate the explanation, Prime Director, and your candour,” R’Musar said evenly. “And I’m sorry if this is painful in any way, but… if not for what?”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Ionia Star System
Photons in Relief

The Prime Director tensed up, pressing herself hard into the back of the chair, gaze was firmly fixed on the table, expression blank before she took a few breaths to calm herself from whatever had triggered that reaction in her.

“It’s… secret.” She seemed to be having trouble speaking about it but she didn’t look sad or angry, perhaps apprehensive? Guilty? Defensive?

“But I’m going to tell, you anyways.” She said, trying her best to banish the overpowering need to not answer. Keeper training was brutal that way. “If not, the Sphere should have when it helped us.” It took a surprising amount of effort to say it.

“The Gates were not invented by Alexander Prime like we claim, that’s mostly ego stroking from Alexander. Prime Mining found an alien AI in Sol, a fairly small white sphere encased in dirty ice. Once we cleaned it off and warmed it up, it thanked us for doing so and eagerly offered to teach Alexander how to build Casimir Gates.” It was easier once she got going. “It gave Alexander basic Gate schematics, it supervised the building of quite a few of the first Gates, we don’t have a solid number on how many, and showed us how to use it, what rules apply to it, like how it need a stable gravity well as an anchor, helped Prime Mining refine crude mining processes into more efficient ways of doing things. And after Alexander seemed comfortable with the tech, the Sphere asked to be put in a protective, quiet place, away from crowds of people that would bother it and the scientists of Prime that kept trying to study it, though if we had any questions about the Gates we could always ask.”

Lexa paused, flexing her hands before lacing the fingers together to stop fidgeting.

“We still have the Sphere in its special vault on Alexander under the Capital Building where I run the Protectorate from most days. So we have the ultimate authority on Casimir Gates if we can’t find fault with the data we have here.” Lexa looked up at the Commodore, “I would prefer if you didn’t share this outside this room, but that might be too much to ask. The Sphere asked for privacy and quiet after helping humanity and I know my citizens, they’d be storming the Capital to try to see the AI if they knew it was there. So all I guess I can ask is discretion.”

[New Khitomer]

Commodore R’Musar, SF
Photons in Relief
Ionia System, Protectorate of Prime Redux
Stardate 66952.2

---

Commodore R’Musar could not help but raise his eyebrows in surprise as he listened to the Prime Director’s explanation, it certainly provided some additional context to the oftentimes eclectic technology based used by the Protectorate if not all of its technology had been self-developed. Indeed, in some respects if this information had been available at the time of the Endeavour’s first contact the question could have been raised as to whether the Protectorate was actually warp-capable, as it had not developed its technology naturally, even if it was now de facto spacefaring. In any event, the damage had been done and, in R’Musar’s professional opinion it would have been right to make first contact in any event, and was confident that the Federation Council would have endorsed such actions, even considering the Prime Directive. The active involvement of an AI was also an interesting development, that would have to be taken into account with all decisions and judgements moving forwards, and would be something that Starfleet Command would almost certainly be eager to find out more information about, as delicate as it would be to do so with something that was so clearly not common knowledge, or certainly not widely shared.

“I will have to report this information to Starfleet Command, however I see no reason why it would need to be widely known beyond the senior-most admirals, as well as the President of the Federation and the Federation Council, but we can keep the circle small,” R’Musar replied. “I do appreciate you telling me this information, as it certainly provides me with additional context to consider when deciding how to proceed, as well as a deeper understanding of your people and how your civilisation has developed over the years.”

R’Musar paused.

“Given the circumstances, I would suggest that it would be advisable to consult this AI, to see if there is anything that would have pointed towards this kind of catastrophe being a natural occurrence.. or whether there is something more sinister at play.”

[Prime Redux]

Prime Standard Year 3549
Ionia Star System
Photons in Relief

Lexa nodded. “We aren’t exactly shooting blind with the Casimir Gates, gifted it for saving someone’s life, yes, but we’ve had years to study how they work and have made improvements such as tying our quantum communications net into them. But if we want to bring the Sphere into this we will have to go back to Tau Prime and visit it in person. It’s apparently kind, but not social. Doesn’t use the Net or anything, just content to not be floating in space I think.” She shrugged. “Can’t claim to fully understand an AI we didn’t program.”

A small chime on her wristpad made her look down at the device. “We have all the Keepers gathered to check their chips, please,” she stood, magboots clicking to the deck. “Follow me.”

---

A somewhat long walk later, they had transitioned to one of the rotating sections of the ship and into a room that was fairly sparse and one the Guard Core did not follow into. The lights were dimmer than the rest of the ship and there was no decorations on the walls. The people in the room were all dressed beautifully, flowing dresses and sharp suits, suggesting that they’d all been pulled from a formal party of some sort.

Six Keepers gathered somewhat restlessly in the middle of the room around a pedestal, located on the far wall was a row of eight pods, all of them currently open to reveal padded interiors. Near one of them, Keeper Damien and and Tillman were looking over some sort of diagnostic panel on its side, though Tillman looked up to the Commodore with a worried expression when he entered with Lexa.

“We can’t find anything wrong with the pods.” Damien said. “All check out, to us, to the techs, all are 100%.”

“Is it true the Gate somehow caused the destruction of a star system?” One of the unknown Keepers asked.

“Yes.” Lexa’s voice was flat as she stepped up to the pedestal. “Everyone into the pods, we’re checking the data on your chips.”

All the Keepers all quieted, and seemed to calm themselves before stepping into the pods. Director Tachy was the last as he still looked pissed and apparently being angry going into the pods wasn’t something they could do. The pods closed and lights dimmed further; Lexa reached out and waved her hand over the pedestal, bringing up a hologram she manipulated controls on it with ease of long practice and then waited.

It was quiet, and most of the Keepers seen through a small window to their faces in the pod, seemed to have their eyes closed as the data was accessed. The first out was Damien, taking a second to roll his neck while looking at the other pods. Next Tillman stepped back out of her pod, rubbing the scar on the back of her neck as she waited. It took about a minute before all the Keepers emerged from the pods, looking around with trepidation as Lexa entered sequence of commands long enough it took another full minute to complete.

Them a schematic of the Casimir Gate popped into existence in the air, it just a representation or a model but what was an blueprint of the device that had killed Lakeside. Nothing seemed off, no red highlights or yellow warnings, just the design to build the Gate.

“Tillman.” Lexa said, looking at the young Keeper. “Do you see anything wrong?”

Tillman frowned. “Not physically. May I have access to the controls?” She asked and Lexa made a sweeping motion as she stepped back to allow Hanna access. The young Keeper stepped up and brought up a screen filled with numbers running in complex equations and code. There was obviously a lot of it as she scrolled past thousands of lines in a blur, stopping to study certain sections with a frown, shake her head, and move on.

“There’s nothing wrong with this Casimir Gate blueprint.” Tillman said eventually, rubbing at her temple with a pained expression. “Not that I can see and I’m pretty sure I read the entire Gate code at least twice for my classes on our FTL. I only skimmed the parts I believe could cause a massive energy release and there’s not a single semicolon out of place. It would take me a couple weeks to comb through this with an eye for detail though.”

“And,” Tachy said, “we had some of our uninvolved Keepers sweep the Gate with active sensors. Nothing out place there either.” He tried his best to sound at least neutral, but he obviously wasn’t accepting the idea that it was the Protectorate’s fault as easy as Lexa had.

The Prime Director sighed, looking at the blueprint then back to the R’Musar. “Commodore, I think it’s best we let most of the uninvolved Keepers go. Pretty much all of Ionia’s Keepers and Council are aboard and Ionia needs them. We can keep them under watch,” she motioned to the Keepers in the room, “while we travel to Tau-Prime to double check.”

The Keepers all looked confused, none of them looking like they understood why the Orime Director needed to go back to Tau-Prime in order to check the blueprints. To them there was nothing there that couldn’t be done here in Ionia.

“Though, it would take my ship a week to get back on its own and that’s at Photon’s breakneck top speed.”

[New Khitomer]

Commodore R’Musar, SF
Photons in Relief
Ionia System, Protectorate of Prime Redux
Stardate 66952.2

---

Commodore R’Musar waited patiently as the Prime Director and her Keepers attempted to determine precisely what had happened with this Casimir Gate, or why they had not realised the devastating impact of the technology previously (as it was Starfleet’s working assumption that this happened every time, explaining why the Protectorate had never found anything but dead systems). By this stage, his instincts were telling him that the Prime Director and her people were not knowingly responsible for the destruction of Lakeside Colony, but he was equally sure that there was something amiss here, as the observed actions of the Protectorate drones were in stark contrast to what their own records showed. As such, this heavily implied that there was something deeper and more sinister going on here, particularly if it was outside the knowledge and authority of the Prime Director herself, given how much authority she supposedly wielded within the Protectorate. It was almost as if there was some sort of ‘deep state’, to use a phrase coined by conspiracy theorists of Old Earth, at work beneath the surface, although for what possible outcome he could not imagine. Of course, as an intelligence, trained, and experienced Starfleet Officer, he knew better than to go in for conspiracies theories, but there were concerning signs that could not be entirely ignored.

R’Musar nodded grimly at the Prime Director’s conclusion, although he noted with some interest that even the Keepers did not seem to realise what she was saying… just how closely guarded a secret was this AI of theirs, and if she had divulged it to him it only reinforced his belief that the Prime Director herself, at least, was not involved in whatever was going on here. However, a week transit was simply not going to be good enough; Starfleet needed answers now, and the Federation Council would demand answers before long; delays were simply not acceptable at a time like this.

“Prime Director, the Capitoline can be at your home world within minutes, I extend an invitation to come aboard for the transit,” R’Musar replied formally, glancing at the Guard Core. “You may bring a security detail aboard, but I’m sure you realise, given the circumstances, you will be closely guarded by my own security people.”