"Scene of the Crime"

[Joe Manning 0]

Admiral Thorne looked at the viewscreen and the scene of the Starbase 215 wreckage, probes and shuttles flitting from one chunk of charred hull to the next. There was a stunned silence pervading the bridge of the USS Trinidad, broken only by the bleeps of computer terminals as scanners studied the wreckage and the survivor tally was gathered. Thorne clenched his right hand into a tight ball and seethed. Such an assault on Starfleet property from a Klingon ship had been unheard of in almost a century.

 

"We managed to rescue 52 individuals, sir," Commodore Blake reported. "There are ... 12 members of station staff unaccounted for."

 

Thorne turned and glowered at the Commodore. "This region was your jurisdiction a month ago, Commodore Blake. I will assume that your station personnel had managed to gather sufficient intelligence to be made aware of this attack? And that you were preparing to ready Starbase 215 for a Klingon threat? That only my arrival and intervention into your operation disrupted your well-laid plans?"

 

Blake frowned and lowered his head. The Admiral had been riding him since he was reassigned to the Trinidad, and he now knew better than to incite his new CO even further with a response. Thorne disengaged and looked at the operations officer. "What is the range on our scans of the Klingons' warp trail?"

 

"Our scanners should be able to pick it up as distant as 85 light years, sir. The ship is still moving at a Warp Factor of 8.2."

 

"Good," Thorne nodded. "More than enough time to search for some hint of what kind of a foe we are dealing with, and to transfer the survivors to the rescue ships. Then we can follow the trail. You would, at least, agree with me, Commodore Blake, that the cloaked vessel we recently engaged did -not- fire on the Starbase? And that, based on Lieutenant Commander Eastwood's reports of the movements of the invaders, its destruction was the result of an expertly planned and concealed demolitions effort from inside the Starbase?"

 

Blake nodded slowly and muttered a quiet response. Thorne continued, "Which means that these Klingons and Humans who are, for whatever reason, working together were most likely aboard the starbase hours or even days before this attack was launched, studying the layout of the Starbase and seeding power nodes with explosive devices. This was a professional job, and my gut feeling is that these pirates are up to something bigger than a raid on a Starbase. I want this wreckage combed thoroughly for any traces of their presence here. I want the Starbase manifest studied and the survivors interrogated to determine how they may have been infiltrated. And I want someone to tell me why in the hell these pirates would take a communications beacon, of all things, from the Starbase!"

 

* * *

 

Commander Mench sat on the edge of one of the chairs in the armored car's cargo space, staring at the isorod. He was still trying to figure out what had happened to the Starbase, and allowing the implications to sink in. Gular's last instructions had put it best: I would stress to you, however, that the station's destruction or the death of any of its crew would draw Starfleet's attention to the region. Starfleet's attention was now very much on the region and on QoB. They were travelling at warp speed with an Akira-class vessel's sensors locked squarely on them. And they had been responsible for the destruction of a Starfleet space station.

 

Or had they?

 

What had caused the explosions on Starbase 215, the explosions that had provided a much-needed diversion for QoB's escape? There had been no signs of damage to the starbase -- the presence of QoB's crew had not caused nearly enough of a ruckus -- and the base had not been fired upon. It only could have been sabotage by a third party. But as Mench gazed at the isorod in his fingers, he knew that he was the one who had pulled the trigger. The isorod that Gular had given him months before contained the instructions for the detonation of the Starbase, and Mench delivered those instructions when he entered the password which retrieved the encryption key.

 

The same Gular who stressed that the Starbase's destruction would be best avoided. It is no doubt in your own personal best interests to keep your activities concealed from the authorities.

 

The whole operation seemed so perfectly planned-out by Gular. Yet they'd ran into a major complication at every phase. The appearance of the second Bird of Prey at Cepheus Gamma and its destruction of the cargo transport. The presence of Klingon instigators who knew too much at Gandora. And the sabotage of Starbase 215. Mench began to wonder if these complications weren't as planned-out as Gular's mission. He again contemplated abandoning the mission, either taking QoB back to Klingon territory or (more appropriately with a Starfleet ship now tracking them) turning the crew over to Starfleet to gain leniency.

 

But his curiosity about Goldrock and the riches which awaited was still proving too strong.

 

He picked up the PADD that was still resting on the other chair and inserted the isorod. A bar appeared as the isorod delivered the encryption key and the contents of the PADD were unlocked.

 

"Good work, Commander Mench," the PADD displayed. "You have been successful to this point and are now ready for the assault on Goldrock colony ... "