"Build-Up"

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

Elias stood in the departure lounge of Docking Bay 7 on Starbase McKinley, leaning against a railway near a viewport that looked over the shipyards. Behind him, Challenger crewmen were filing through the corridor on their way to the nearest available transits to Earth. Many of them were in heated discussion, and Elias could recognize, from bits and pieces of their conversation captured as they emerged from the airlock, that they were talking about the Commodore. Even with all the questions surrounding the crew's mysterious blackout period, the Commodore's disappearance was understandably the only topic on their minds. They hushed and walked past in silence when they caught sight of the Commander. In the reflection against the viewport, Elias caught many of them glancing curiously at him. He merely stared at the viewport, not acknowledging their passage.

 

There was no evidence to indicate what had caused the six-month blackout. On one hand, nothing appeared to have changed. The length of the crew's hair had not changed even in the slightest, they woke up with joints feeling no stiffer than as if they'd woken up from a single night's sleep, and they all awoke in the exact same locations they'd occupied when they blacked out. Objects on the ship were all undisturbed, food and medical supplies had not depleted at all, and the mission logs would not even acknowledge the passage of six months. On the other hand, the deuterium and antimatter supplies had depleted enough to indicate six months of warp core operation, the environmental logs not only acknowledged the blackout period but also showed curious temperature changes... and then, of course, there was the Commodore.

 

The ship had been searched deck to deck, aft to stern--rooms, corridors, maintenance tubes, even the crates in the cargo bay--and he was nowhere to be found. A search of his quarters revealed that his pistol and communicator were also gone, but his duty uniforms were all still stored in his wardrobe. Had an emergency occured that pulled him from his sleep? Why was no one else pulled from slumber? Why couldn't the crew remember anything; were they unconscious, or had their memories been erased? Where did the Commodore disappear to, without leaving any indication of his passage? Too many questions to be answered, but very little evidence to go on. Elias already knew what they'd do next. They'd backtrack, find out if there were any traces of what had occured on the course between Earth and Cait. Given the lack of clues so far, chances were slim that they'd find anything... but finding nothing would be preferable to, as Lieutenant Walker suggested, finding his body jettisoned into space.

 

When he wasn't considering the Commodore's disappearance, Elias was remarking at the scene out the viewport. Starfleet had been busy in the six months of their absence. The McKinley fleetyards had expanded dramatically; the crew observed the same over Utopia Planitia as they'd passed Mars. The unmistakeable frames of no less than seven NX ships and even more smaller craft were being assembled between the two sites. Even the McKinley starbase had been expanded to support the visibly heightened pod traffic. The movement of labor and equipment between the construction sites looked much like a swarm of bees, even more hectic than what Elias remembered of Challenger's construction. Starfleet was working at a frenzied pace, and Elias wasn't sure he liked the implications.

 

Admiral Gardner's face suddenly overlayed one of the new NX frames visible out of the viewport. "You were expected for debriefing 15 minutes ago, Moore."

 

"I thought I'd stop and admire the scenery..." Elias said without turning. He kept the sarcasm out of his voice, though it was ripe on his mind.

 

"Yes, quite a view, isn't it?" Gardner smirked as he strode up to the railway. "All thanks to you and your crew, of course. The Caitian bounty has yielded impressive results. We should have ten new NX vessels ready for active duty by the time the year is finished."

 

Elias raised an eyebrow. "Copied the Challenger Project schedule, have you?"

 

Gardner uncharacteristically chuckled. "I'm starting to warm up to those Martian friends of yours. Their labor contributions along with the fruits of the Caitian mining operation are allowing us to amass our own little fleet out here. And with the formation of the Coalition, not to mention problems with some anti-alien extremists that we put down while you were away... folks on the surface are starting to warm up to the Project too."

 

"How aware are they that these ships are being built for war?" Elias asked, his tone as casual as he could manage. Gardner snapped a look at him, the smile no longer on his face. Elias met his gaze for the first time and smiled pleasantly. "That is what they're being built for, right?" He pointed at the viewport. "I mean it's clear in the framework of that one right there. Built more for short-range mobility... tactical mobility to be precise. And the gaps in the frame reveal where you're going to be installing... what is it... six, seven phase cannons?"

 

"Six." Gardner replied. "Standard armament since Columbia's launch. We've even since refit Enterprise. An overhaul of Challenger's tactical systems would be impossible given the construction demands the Commodore made. But his desire for peaceful exploration is continually revealed to be shortsighted. The NX missions are showing us how much more vital strong defensive capabilities are. That's all it is... defense. We're hardly at war. Quite the opposite, in fact; you have read the reports about the Coalition, I take it?"

 

Elias ignored the question and pressed on. "I was told that Challenger's construction nearly started one or two wars. One ship... poor tactical capabilities. Now you're building, as you say, a small fleet, heavily armed. Seems a little risky, wouldn't you say? Admiral?"

 

"Do you honestly think we'll back down, just because a few worlds think they can bully us around?" Gardner narrowed his eyes at Elias. "If anything, those incidents reinforced the importance of a strong fleet capable of defending Earth. Trust me to do my job, Moore, and you worry about your own. *That* is what I'm here to discuss."

 

Elias shook his head, all too willing to shove aside the Starfleet buildup issue and return his attention to the real problem at hand. "The crew's paying a visit to Earth, but I'm not giving them too much time. As soon as the ship is swept over for any signs of sabotage, I'll recall them so we can head out and look for him."

 

"Your crew has earned a decent shore leave after the Caitian mission." Gardner said. "Let them stay for a week or two."

 

"But the Commodore--"

 

"Is out of your hands." Elias looked at the Admiral incredulously. "Challenger will have other matters to attend to. Locating the Commodore is a task that will fall to the appopriate people."

 

"'Appropriate people?'" Elias repeated, raising his voice. "Who's more appropriate than a Starfleet crew? Than the crew that was under his command?"

 

Gardner paused for a moment before delivering the answer that he was sure the Commander would not receive well. "Internal Affairs." The shocked look on Elias' face said it all, but the Admiral was quick to cut off the verbal outburst that he knew would come anyway. "The circumstances of your crew's six-month blackout and the Commodore's disappearance are posing a lot of questions. There's been some speculation that he was responsible for this mystery."

 

"You're going to have to explain that particular line of speculation to me, Admiral." Elias snapped at him. "Because I certainly don't get it."

 

"According to your reports, you all awoke after this six-month period in the exact same conditions and locations as when you blacked out. Yet one man, the Commodore, was nowhere to be found, nor were his sidearm or communicator." Gardner directed his gaze out the viewport. "There is some belief that the Commodore aided his own covert removal from the ship. That he defected."

 

"Defected?! And exactly whose belief is that, I wonder?" Elias asked in a clearly accusatory tone.

 

Gardner glanced sideways at him. "The private discussions of the Admiralty are not your concern, Mr. Moore. I can tell you that there has been concern among more than one of the Admirals for quite some time, even before this incident, about the Commodore's loyalties. Even if we are wrong, however... the Commodore could still be in the custody of a hostile alien agency. This will have to go through Ambassadorial channels... and your diplomatic experience leaves much to be desired."

 

"I can't believe you'd accuse him of being a traitor. Who could you possibly imagine he'd defect to anyway?"

 

Gardner gave him a look that was difficult to read. "Like I said, Elias... leave such matters to the Admiralty... who, I have come to inform you, have elected to pass command of Challenger to you rather than seek someone else, seeing as how we'll have so many ships to staff soon."

 

For the moment, Elias suppressed any shock that the Admirals would give him a command. He was more stunned at the accusations being hurled at Moose. "They want *me* to replace the traitor, then?"

 

"I'm not amused, Mr. Moore." Gardner shot him a scolding look. "Your lack of restraint was given a wide breadth of tolerance when you had others around to keep you under control. But now that you'll have a command and you'll be reporting to us, we'll expect you to show a fair bit more discipline and respect."

 

"Respect?" Elias asked mockingly. "For you? Oh sure... because *certainly* your voice wasn't the loudest in opposition to this."

 

Rather than respond with the expected angry outburst, Gardner put on a smile that seemed almost a mark of victory. "On the contrary... mine was the deciding vote." This left Elias with a mixed feeling of confusion, skepticism, and more of the suspicion about Gardner's agenda that he'd felt the last time they spoke. He kept his feelings masked, only raising an eyebrow at the Admiral.

 

"Admiral Leonard will be available again at 1400 hours." Gardner added, looking somewhat disappointed that his surprising revelation didn't get more of a reaction out of Elias. "We will be waiting in his office to formalize your promotion and to brief you on your first mission. We will be expecting your prompt arrival this time... Captain."

 

The Admiral turned away from the railing and made his way out of the lounge. Elias resumed staring out the viewport, now even more contemplative and troubled. His attention was not on the shipyards now, but on the stars beyond. "Where are you Commodore?" He muttered to himself. "What kind of mess have you left me with..."