Romulus Ascendant Excerpt

 Here's an excerpt from the rewrite of my Hunt For Red October-as-a-Star Trek story "Romulus Ascendant":

Romulus Ascendant

 

The ship emerged from warp in Vaebn Three’s massive shadow.

 

“We have secured from hyperspeed,” Revlaek reported. “Vaebn Three is 183,000 kilometers distant.”

 

Suddenly the Battle Alert klaxon went off.

 

“Vessel decloaking!” Druhel announced. “cHR Ra’kholh, distance: one thousand kilometers and closing!”

 

“Get us to the planet!” Tacitus ordered. On his tactical display he could see the Ra’kholh, one of the ungainly Akif­-class Klingon-model battlecruisers, gaining on them. 

 

“Ra’kholh is firing torpedoes!” Druhel said. Fortunately for them, Rihannsu fleet engineers had never been able to rig the Kll’inghann ships to generate the more deadly plasma torpedoes, so Ra’kolh only carried photons. But they were destructive enough.

 

The spindly Klingon ship recloaked even as her torpedoes continued toward Romulus Ascendant. Three of the torpedoes sailed clear, but the last-

 

“One of the torpedoes has acquired us!” Druhel warned. “Aft disruptors ready! One shot will detonate it!”

 

“Hold your fire!” Tacitus ordered. “Pilot, increase speed! Take us into the atmosphere!”

 

d’Taj realized what Tacitus was doing. “All hands, brace for turbulence!” he called out as the ship plunged toward the gas giant. “Sound collision!”

 

Romulus Ascendant hit the atmosphere, punching through a fast-moving band of methane that struck the ship hard, knocking it sideways at six hundred kilometers an hour.

 

The inertial dampers overloaded and the compartment pitched, throwing everyone to starboard.

 

A second later the torpedo detonated on contact with the atmosphere. The shockwave hammered Romulus Ascendant, rippling through the great ship’s superstructure. The bridge went dark as the computer shifted all power to structural integrity, and d’Taj held onto the railing around the command pedestal and prayed to the Elements the ship would hold together.

 

Finally, the shaking subsided and the instrument panels around the bridge started to light up again.

 

“That was real!” the subcenturion at Communications stammered as he climbed back into his seat. He cast an accusatory glance at Tacitus “Khre’Riov, they’re trying to kill us!”

 

d’Taj forced himself to smile as he gave the headrest of the subcenturion’s chair a reassuring pat. “Relax, boy. Of course it was a real detonation; these are live-fire drills, not computer simulations. And if they were trying to kill us, we’d be dead.”

 

“Still,” Tacitus said, “the Ra’kolh’s commander was foolish to run an attack drill inside the Neutral Zone. The Federation monitoring stations might have detected it. Pilot, you will stay in the atmosphere and maneuver to the planet’s south magnetic pole, then bring us to an altitude of 400 kilometers and hold station. That should keep us from being seen while we complete our repairs.”

 

He looked confidently ahead, and pretended not to see the suspicious glances of the crew.

USS Tereshkova

“Captain, we’re getting some very interesting images from the Number Eight drone,” Mandala Flynn’s science officer said.

“What do we have, Val’tir?” Flynn asked.

 

The Coridani brought up the pictures on the display screens above their station. “This is a gas giant in system RNZ-215, Romulan designation Vaebn.” The images were a bit fuzzy, but the bands of gases in an area of the planet’s southern hemisphere were clearly disturbed; dark-colored scarring radiated out from what looked like an impact point.

 

“This isn’t far from where those ships were detected,” Flynn said. “Are there any unusual readings in the area?”

 

Val’tir shook their head. “It’s too far away to tell. Captain. This could be almost anything: cometary impact, an asteroid strike-“

 

“Or a torpedo detonation.”

 

Val’tir took a deep breath. “That, too. But why would the Romulans be shooting at a gas giant?”

 

“Maybe they weren’t.” Flynn said. “The drone picked up two warp signatures.”

 

“The Saratoga only saw one,” Val’tir reminded her. “Lieutenant Sgeulaiches is more experienced than me, I might’ve misinterpreted the data.”

 

Flynn smiled at her nervous young officer. “No you didn’t, Val. I have faith in you. Besides, what makes more sense: a single Romulan flying into the Neutral Zone for some target practice on a boring old gas giant-“

 

Val’tir’s eyes widened “-or one ship chasing a second into the Neutral Zone and firing at it! But why?”

 

“I don’t know,” Flynn replied. “But I’m guessing someone up the chain of command knows more than they’re telling us.”

Star Trek: TNG Vignette

SESSION OF THE FEDERATION COUNCIL EXPLORATION AND DEFENSE COMMITTEE: INVESTIGATION INTO THE PEGASUS INCIDENT

Stardate 48130.1

"An 'isolated incident'. "

Councilor Serikia Xiramin fixed Starfleet Admiral Jeremiah Hayes in her gaze. "That is how you referred to it in your statement, correct? Three Admirals--including the Chief of Starfleet Security--and a whole raft of senior Starfleet Intelligence officers conspired to violate the Treaty of Algernon, outfit the Starship Pegasus with an illegal cloaking device, smear the starship crew that died during its testing as mutineers, and cover up the whole affair, and it was just an 'isolated incident'? With respect, Admiral, what kind of fools do you take us for?"

Hayes was taken aback. The aides who conducted his briefing assured him that the junior Bolian member was only on the committee as a concession to the small-but-vocal faction of the Council that was critical of Starfleet. The committee chairman, Sotek, was supposed to be keeping her on a short leash. 

"The truth is there have been quite a few of these 'isolated incidents' during the last few years, isn't that so?" Xiramin continued. She glanced down at her notes. "Stardate 45076: Starfleet Admiral Kennelly colludes with Cardassian agents to illegally offer weapons to Bajoran resistance fighters as part of a ploy to deliver them into Cardassian hands-"

Hayes tried to interrupt "A scheme that was thwarted by Starfleet officers-"

Xiramin ignored him and kept going. "Stardate 44769: Starfleet Security overreacts to an equipment failure on the starship Enterprise by sending retired Admiral Satie to throw due process out the window and start accusing everyone of treason-"

"That is an unfair characterization of-"

"And let's not forget Stardate 41309, when this Council learned that the 40-year civil war on Mordan IV was largely attributable to Starfleet Admiral Mark Jameson supplying weapons to both sides in clear violation of about two dozen Federation statutes and treaties-"

Hayes appealed to Sotek, "Mr. Chairman, will you please bring the junior Councilor to heel?"

Sotek remained impassive. "Your request is quite out of order, Admiral. Councilor Xiramin is speaking for the committee."

Xiramin continued. "Admiral Hayes, how can you seriously expect the committee to see this latest incident as anything but the most recent example of an out-of-control Starfleet establishment that demonstrates little or no allegiance to a bedrock Federation principle: civilian control of the military? How can the Federation Council pass any laws or ratify any treaties if Starfleet feels free to disregard them at will? How, Admiral, can we stand in front of the Romulans, the Klingons, the Cardassians, or the Dominion and tell them that the United Federation of Planets is a democracy if Starfleet will not abide by the decisions of the people's elected representatives?"

Hayes took a breath. "Councilor, with all due respect you're ignoring the fact that in each instance it was Starfleet personnel who brought these misdeeds to light and refused to participate in them even when ordered to do so."

"And you don't find it concerning that it's increasingly falling to junior officers to contravene the illegal activities of their superiors?"

"I have great confidence in the institution of Starfleet, and it its people," Hayes replied. "And based on every opinion poll I've seen, so do the citizens of the Federation."

"This isn't a talent competition, Admiral. The only opinion polls a democracy concerns itself with are elections." 

Stardate 48164.2

The clip came to an end, and the image of the Council Chamber in Paris was replaced with the painting that normally adorned the large viewscreen behind the desk in Captain Picard's quarters. The Enterprise was returning from a mission to transport a group of colonists to a newly-explored world at the edge of explored space; the transmission of Admiral Hayes' testimony had taken two weeks to reach them.

After a few moments, Picard said "She's right."

Riker was surprised. "Sir?"

"Starfleet has a problem, Will. We have a problem. We've convinced ourselves that our being out here in the thick of things makes us better-qualified to set Federation policy than the people who were elected to do it."

"But Admiral Hayes is right, too, sir," Riker countered. "The public doesn't seem to mind. Think of how much responsibility the Federation has ceded to Starfleet over the years without a hint of protest--how many treaties have they sent you to negotiate rather than a civilian ambassador? How many crimes do we investigate and trade disputes do we mediate that used to be handled by civilian agencies not that long ago?"

"It's a fair point," Picard said as he walked over to the viewport and looked out as space flowed by at warp speed. "Our society is becoming more militarized. We're heading down a dangerous path."