Navigating Intergalactic Law - The Plan

Posted on Wed May 11th, 2011 @ 4:39pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer & Lieutenant Valkris Edwardson & Lieutenant Commander Zim Drex & Lieutenant Peter Brown & Lieutenant JG Christopher Rogan

Mission: Shadows Fall
Location: USS Iapetus - Briefing Room
Timeline: MM3 MD2 1820 hours

"I knew it." Captain Kaldor was packing in his own little corner of the briefing room, rather than sitting with the rest of the staff. "They destroyed my ship for the Genesis data! Probably to use it as some sort of weapon for the damned Tal Shiar!"

"Maybe not a weapon, Captain, and maybe not for the Tal Shiar," Krace responded from his seat at the head of the table, notably calmer than the other captain. "The Romulans implied that they weren't operating under the Tal Shiar's orders, but then again that could just be for plausible deniability, so I'll give you that point." He swung his chair slightly left and right as he rubbed his chin, thinking. "For all we know they might want to use it to terraform new bases, or for some other purpose. The reason for the theft of the data isn't the important thing here, though."

Sara nodded. "That's right, Captains. The reason the Romulans wanted the Genesis data is irrelevant. What matters is that they have it, and how they found out about it. The Genesis project was a highly guarded secret. Only those with a clearance level of at least seven and a need-to-know even knew it existed. This suggests two possibilities; that the Tal Shiar is able to operate beyond our counter-intelligence initiatives, or that there is a leak." Archer paused a moment to let the gravity of her statement take hold. "Regardless of how they learned of the program, our top priority should be to recover the information. There is a reason why Genesis is so heavily classified."

Peter looked at the group then took a breath "I agree with Commander Archer sir; Genesis must be recovered at all costs if it falls into the wrong hands spells back for the Federation and any in the Area" Stated Peter

"...Now what captain? We have kidnapped two Romulan and confirmed what we suspected or perhaps they merely told us what we wanted to know." Valkris mused "..We have no grounds to hold them for trial, we are not at war with the Romulans so they cannot be held as prisoners either!" Valkris moved forward from her place in the back of the observation room. "...Their absence will alert their comrades and unless you're willing to wipe their memories of the past few hours..." Valkris let her last statement hang in the air "...We are no better than where we started. Destroy the ship and ensure that the data has not been delivered elsewhere or risk detection.."

Acle sat upright in his chair, immediately to the captain's right. He seemed impassive. "I know this may be in the future, but, we must keep in mind that we have to find some evidence... Other than these witnesses. Preferably something on the ship in question. If we simply destroy the ship without regard to that collection of evidence, we come out as the bad guys. With that in mind, I would suggest either covert action in procuring said evidence or mounting a full boarding action."

Valkirs smiled at the Commanders reasoning "...wouldn't the simple act of boarding the ship be grounds for greater conflict Commander? I wonder if the act of stealing the information in the first place was to elicit this very same response?" Valkris mused "...Mr. Rogan, what does the Prime Directive say in this situation?"

"I'm not sure the Prime Directive applies here, Lieutenant," Sara spoke up again. "The Prime Directive refers to interference in the natural development of a primitive culture. The Romulans are certainly not primitive."

"Right, a slip of the tongue, however, General Order 8 gives us the right to intervene does it not? Though I agree, more evidence is called for.." Valkris replied.

"We have every right to act or not to act." Chris spoke up, "Diplomatically we are tentative allies to the Romulans in the terms that after the Dominion War they remained allies at a distance. The Treaty they signed with us allows them to trade with us under certain terms."

Jordan had been sitting with his hands crossed under his chin. "The only thing that applies is their permit for being in Federation space," he said quietly, "if they don't have one then, under the terms of the treaty, they're in our space illegally. Fair enough- it's a technicality that we've been lax on recently but it's still in there."

"But is it enough to risk another mission to retrieve said data?" Valkris replied "..a boarding action would mean casualties and a lot of...problems with Command. We don't know if they've copied the information and distributed it for safe keeping, the longer that ship remains intact, the greater that dissemination becomes a reality.."

Vorn had sat silent for the most part, while his officers discussed the possibilities between them, over the steepled tips of his fingers. "Starfleet General Order 24," he said, not looking at anyone in particular as he recited the order. "If a Commanding Officer deems that an individual or group of individuals pose a threat to Starfleet personnel or Federation civilians, he may take any action deemed necessary, including the use of force, to secure the safety of those threatened." He looked up at each of his officers in turn. "The Romulan's possession of Genesis is, in my view, a direct threat to the citizens of the Federation, and I believe Command will agree with me."

"Commanders," he said, looking towards Acle and Jordan. "I want you to plan a boarding action for the swift capture of the Ra'kholh, minimum casualties. Lieutenant Valkris, assist them."

Drex suddenly spoke up, lifting a hand from the table. "Wait wait. Captain." He shook his head. "We don't need to commandeer the ship. We just need to disable it's warp drive. At impulse, it would take years for them to make it back to their nearest base of operations. We just need to buy ourselves some time." He glances to the side. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but..." back toward the group again. "it would also help if we found some way to jam their communications. They wouldn't run if they weren't the only ship in the area, but if they send a message out, we might get six of these things playing frisbee with the saucer section." The rest, he made a point to take up with the Captain in private later. He sat back and rubbed his temples. He just hoped it wouldn't go as badly as he thought.

"...Lieutenant, I fail to see why this option wasn't thought of during the first mission" Valkris replied rather curtly. "...No one has mentioned anything about commandeering the ship... at least not yet, with that being said, "..the fact of the matter is, they have realized that they are missing two of their crewmen, they will most likely be on alert and on guard for any attempts we may make. If we are to carry out Captain Krace's audacious directive, a greater amount of subterfuge and luck will be needed your idea though appreciated, will most likely put us into a situation that the captain is suggesting we avoid"

Turning to Krace she offers another option "..Captain, what are your impressions of this Nevarn? In my experience, Romulan officers are many things, chief among them are ambitious. What if we could use that against him and to our benefit?"

"No." Vorn replied flatly, seemingly refusing to elaborate any more.

Ignoring Krace's dismissal, Valkris continued undeterred, "Captain, from what I've observed of this Nevarn, a little more pressure will go a long way for him to consider his own self-interests first and those of the Romulan Empire second." Valkris replied "...Competition is extremely high within their military and it isn't uncommon for one officer to play a role in the downfall of another, just to advance his own career."

"He has given us no reason to trust him and frankly, using a Romulan's apetite and deceit for our own ends is just asking for it to blow up in our faces." Vorn turned towards Drex, his mind made up on Nevarn. "Unfortunately Lieutenant, we don't have the luxury to simply restrict them to impulse and jam their communications. I have only been permitted to see a small fraction of the material on Genesis since this incident began, but even from that I have to deduce that it is too critical and sensitive to leave in Romulan hands, no matter how long for. We have to conduct a search of their ship and personnel, and eradicate all Genesis material. We have no choice, and I believe Starfleet will back me up in giving us the authority to do so. But you make a good point; work with whomever you need to in order to disable their warp capability and jam their communications. It will make our job go much more smoothly."

"Yes sir..." was her only reply, her mind began formulating just how to accomplish this task with the least amount of casualties.

Jordan shot a glance at Walex and Edwardson. Minimal casualties. Hmm.... "Got it."

Drex decided to follow up with: "While I was in that maintenance closet, I got a good look at the parking traffic for the station. If worse comes to worse, we could warp the Iapetus directly into the departure lane and generate a warp field pulse. The timing would be tricky, but it would probably collapse the Romulan's warp field before they could escape." He looked toward the Ops officer. "Lieutenant Brown and I can whip up a way to jam their communications." He looks over toward the Captain. "Just hoping we don't have to use it."

"See if you can work on a way to get that pulse to work to bring them out of warp," Vorn told the engineer. "I'd rather do this away from the eyes of that station if we can; the locals here are already pretty eager to push themselves away from Starfleet, hence why we abandoned that station two years ago. I prefer to avoid adding that complication to this situation." He swivelled his chair. "Sara, Chris; now we have a name for that ship, try searching for information on it again. We might get lucky."

Archer nodded. "Aye, Captain."

Chris followed suit, "Yes sir."

"In the mean time, I will speak to Starfleet, and get their approval for the plan." Vorn stood, signifying the meeting was at an end. "Dismissed."

Acle stood up, gathering his padd and nodding to Jordan. "Commander, if you would please meet me in my office in 30 minutes. Bring with you any recommendations on the away team personnel."

"No problem, Commander." Jordan responded, immediately thinking of how little Allison would want to go on this away mission and chuckling to himself.