Broken Promises

[Cptn_Seiben 0]

"Broken Promises"

Stardate 10805.29

 

"Admiral. What can I do for you?" Seiben asked from his seat in the Ready Room. On the surface, Admiral Barry Goldman looked back at Seiben. "Ah. Captain!" he said jovially, before getting onto business. "First off, good job in catching Ensign Harris so quickly. You'll be glad to know that he is under heavy guard in a super max facility and is currently being interrogated as we speak" Goldman replied matter of factly. "Well. I hope you get more out of him than we did" replied Seiben dryly. Goldman chose not to reply, and instead chose to move onto the next thing in the Admiral's agenda.

 

"Captain. There's something urgent that I'd like to talk to you about. Your presence is requested at HQ as soon as possible. Please beam down to San Francisco at your earliest convenience" which just about translated to 'get your arse down here right now'. "Aye sir. I'm on my way" replied the Captain, sensing this. The transmission abruptly ended after that, leaving Seiben to stare at a blank screen. Getting up from his chair, Seiben trod past the bridge and to the lift which took him to his quarters to pack, then to Transporter Room 1 so he could beam down to Earth.

 

***

STARFLEET HEADQUARTERS

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

 

The sun was still shining in the mid-afternoon late-spring day. Though Cumulus clouds have started to move in over the city, significantly increasing the likelihood of rain later in the day. A few minutes later, Seiben found himself entering the immense Starfleet building that dominated San Francisco's skyline, eventually ending up at his ultimate destination at a conference room adjacent to Goldman's office. "Rolf. Take a seat please" replied Goldman gesturing to an empty chair. He noticed that several other captains of ships and high ranking Admirals in the area were also present. Seiben nodded and sat upon the aforementioned seat after saying his greetings to the others present.

 

"Thank you all for coming" replied Goldman as the blinds were shut. The lights dimmed after that and their attention was brought to the large screen in the front of the room. "Unfortunately, over the past few weeks we've been experiencing trouble in regards with the Klingon Empire and their reconstruction efforts. It started about three weeks ago..."

 

RIO DE JANIERO, BRAZIL

THREE WEEKS AGO

 

It was a much needed vacation for the beleaguered President of the United Federation of Planets. With his usual entourage of bodyguards, he was enjoying himself in the South American city. The giant Christ The Redeemer statue overlooked the city over the Corcovado mountain like a silent sentinel looking over him. The President was deciding on what to do next when one of his aides came rushing towards him. "Sir!" exclaimed the aide, out of breath. The President looked over at his aide while his aide caught his breath and regained his composure.

 

Knowing something was up, the President and his entourage ducked into the presidential limo. After making sure they were alone, the aide continued. "Mr. President. We're having some trouble with the Klingons; in particular, the reconstruction effort" After the Praxis explosion and the signing of the Khitomer Accords, the Federation has been assisting the Klingon Empire rebuild, and prepared for the first stage in evacuations of the oxygen depleted Klingon home world. Progress hadn't been as fast as both parties would have liked. Assistance was slow and they were behind schedule on many aspects of the plan.

 

The Klingon representatives made sure the President knew about it once again straining their already stained peaceful relations. As if they weren't on case already.. and now this. As the craft gained in altitude, he was immediately patched through a conference meeting with Starfleet's top brass. "What's going on now?" asked the President abruptly, still somewhat miffed that he had to cut his vacation short.

 

The camera tilted to the right side of the conference room, revealing a large Klingon in a traditional grey military uniform. Like most Klingons, this one had an angry, scowling look to him. "Mr. President" the Klingon replied in a booming authoritative voice. "My name is General Tar'Mok, appointed representative of the Klingon Empire to the United Federation of Planets" The President relayed his greetings. "Greetings. I regret that I wasn't able to meet you in person, General"

 

Tar'Mok grunted something that the President didn't catch. "Mr. President. My government is concerned that you are not holding up to your side of the promises in regards to the treaty. Federation aid has virtually ceased in the past two weeks. If you want this peace treaty to continue, you'll explain why you stopped sending ships and assistance" The President seemed puzzled. "General, we've been sending out ships to your home world on a constant basis. In fact, we just sent three freighters and a science vessel last week" he replied.

 

"We have not seen such vessels, nor scanned them anywhere near our space. We're starting to believe that you are stalling? Or perhaps you want to extort us for something?" Tar'Mok mused suspiciously. "I can assure you that we are doing nothing of the kind, General" said the President. "We are doing everything we can to assist your people rebuild, I can assure you" Tar'Mok huffed. "It does not seem as such right now!" the Klingon retorted bitterly.

 

"General" the President replied calmly. "We will do everything we can to get the bottom of this and resume the arrival of aid to your people. You have my promise that we will resolve this, so both of us can be pleased and our peace treaty can continue" Tar'Mok didn't seem convinced, but grunted an annoyed sigh. "See that you do, Mr. President. The Klingon Empire does not tolerate broken promises!"

 

***

STARFLEET HEADQUARTERS

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

PRESENT DAY

 

"So you see ladies and gentlemen, that is what's happened over the past few weeks" said Admiral Goldman as the the screen flickered off. The blinds slowly came up as well, temporarily blinding Seiben with bright light. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up at Goldman. "So you say we sent in four ships three weeks ago, but they never arrived? Do we know what happened to them?" he asked. Admiral Goldman shook his head. "No, Captain we don't. Our last contact with them was just before they entered Klingon space two and a half weeks ago. We haven't heard from them since"

 

"What about any signs of foul play?" asked Captain Sanchez, of the USS New Hampshire. "We didn't detect any ships in the area except the science fleet. Nor did we detect any energy signatures suggesting cloaked vessels" replied the Admiral. "However..." he continued, "that might be the most likeliest cause of why those ships hadn't arrived to Kronos" Seiben raised a brow. "But why would the Klingons attack the ships sent to assist them and once again risk a war with us they couldn't possibly afford to have?" he asked.

 

"Again. We don't know. We didn't seem to detect any dishonesty from General Tar'Mok. He seemed to be genuinely angry that we haven't been sending any aid to them. But of course that doesn't mean a thing" said Goldman. "Therefore, I want a fleet of ships sent to investigate the disappearance of these ships. We're sending another shipment of aid to the Klingon home world. A fleet of five freighters and transports will be sent full of equipment and personnel to assist in reconstruction as well as seeking the initiation of the first phase of the evacuation of the home world" said Goldman.

 

"I want them to be accompanied by a fleet of vessels to ensure their protection and to assist in the reconstruction and evacuation phases" Admiral Goldman looked to Seiben. "The mission will be led by Captain Seiben and the USS Challenger as well as the Columbia" he said glancing at Captain Saylek. "Your mission is two-fold: One, to head the investigation and find out what happened to the previous aid team and two, to work with the Klingon authorities and work on expediting phase one as soon as possible.

 

"Your vessels will be stocked with the appropriate equipment you'll need at Spacedock, After which, you are to proceed immediately to Klingon space" Admiral Goldman got up from his seat. "I wish you luck, everybody. I don't have to tell you that the alliance with the Klingon depends on the success of this mission. Dismissed!" With that, the lights came back on and the others started to file out of the conference room.

 

Seiben gathered his things and was about to do the same, when Admiral Goldman approached him. "Rolf. There's one final thing that I'll need you to do. Given the delicate nature of this mission, Starfleet Intelligence insisted that they send one of their best men to assist in the investigation. Since you are the vessel that will lead this mission, they have chosen that he accompany the Challenger for the duration of the mission. Please make the necessary arrangements"

 

"Aye, sir. I'll make sure he's comfortable" Seiben replied. Goldman smiled his thanks at him and exited the conference room. By the time Seiben left the building, it had started to rain. An ominous omen to their upcoming mission? Seiben ran to his shuttle and got in just as it began to pour. There was alot to do to prepare for the mission, but as the Challenger was being prepped, he turned to south east to the Virgin Islands to pay his family a well needed visit.