"The Goldrock Report"

[Joe Manning 0]

The now uninhibited sensor scans of Goldrock's surface roamed over the canyons and the adjacent hills, sending clear imagery back to the Bridge of the USS Trinidad. Clouds of dust from the mines' collapse were still blowing out of the canyons. Twisted shards of metal were lying all over the hills. Two explosions within the span of less than a half hour had created a mess of mammoth proportions on Goldrock. It was a morbid kind of relief that there were no body parts to be seen scattered about the terrain -- the explosion of the Bird of Prey had completely vaporized anything organic within five hundred meters.

 

Admiral Thorne was not happy.

 

Reports had been turned in by planetary Security Chief Petrov and Lieutenant Desmond and a complete picture of the events on Goldrock were being assembled. Everything that had occured on the dusty mining planet seemed to be straightforward enough. Headquarters had been informed of an 'incident,' though the Admiral had not yet filed a complete report. There were still unanswered questions.

 

"Lieutenant Ailar, you have the Bridge," Thorne said while rising slowly from his chair. "I am going to Sickbay. Desmond, you're with me."

 

Lieutenant Desmond was still shaken. Trinidad's chief security officer, Desmond's superior officer for the past six years, had been lost with the rest of the Goldrock away team. They'd all been aboard the Bird of Prey when it exploded. Now, suddenly, he was the chief of the security staff. While he did not mind the responsibility, the position was the last thing he wanted if it came with a memorial service for Commander Hager.

 

"While you have my sympathies, Lieutenant," the Admiral said when the turbolift doors closed. "And I know the terrible sense of loss that you feel, for I share it with you ... I need you to be with it as we conduct our investigation. You are now my most capable security officer."

 

"Understood, sir," Desmond nodded slowly.

 

"Give me the summary of events," Thorne ordered. "Starting with Starbase 215."

 

"Aye, sir. Stardate 58910.06, 2200 hours. Klingon pirate crew infiltrates Starbase 215. Human collaborators board the station posing as former captives seeking aid. They assist in the theft of Starbase 215's communications beacon. After the theft, at 2245 hours, some fifteen minutes after our arrival, the infiltrators return to their ship and blow up the station, providing cover for their escape. We manage to pick up their warp trail, however."

 

"The efficiency of the theft," Thorne observes, "and the engineering crews' discovery of four separate explosives that had been used to detonate the station's fusion reactors, suggests that their activities had not been unplanned. They had studied the station's layout and had rigged it to explode even before their infiltration."

 

"And our interrogations of rescued station crew," Desmond continued, "combined with the station reports we managed to collect have brought us no closer to determining how they accomplished this."

 

"It had to have been a mole on the station," Thorne said, shaking his head. "Possibly killed in the explosion ... sacrificed even. Continue summary."

 

"58911.03, 0830 hours, enemy warp trail ends at Goldrock colony. Presumably, the Bird of Prey immediately lands on the surface of Goldrock and activates the modified communications beacon. The armored vehicle Chief Petrov has described proceeds into the mines and begins ferrying portions of the tritanium shipment back to the vessel. These activites are hidden under the dampening blanket. Security personnel inside the mine are never accounted for; they likely attempted to stop the vehicle, but were killed by the operators."

 

"A lot of aspects of this trouble me," the Admiral remarked. "One, they knew exactly how to modify the beacon to create a large-scale dampening field capable of cutting off the colony's sensors and communications. They -had- to have had an expert in engineering about their vessel, someone very familiar with our technology. Considering the dual nature of their crew, this is no surprise, but the fact that such knowledgeable Starfleet officers would have been willing to join these cutthroats does not sit well with me. Two, the vehicle. Petrov's description does not match anything that we have been able to identify. It appears to be something completely new. Conflicting reports we've received from surviving planetary security suggest elements of Romulan design in its construction ... certainly not pleasing. And three, given the complexity of the mines' layout, they knew exactly where the shipment was being stored."

 

"Evidence of more thorough planning," Desmond observed. "Possibly, again, inside help. They may have received intelligence from a mine worker. It would not have been difficult to secure, I imagine."

 

"Yes," Thorne frowned deeply. "A lot of activity on our property with our people ... completely unnoticed by our authorities. This operation should never have been allowed to proceed."

 

The turbolift doors opened and the pair began down the corridor. Desmond continued his summary, "Approximately 0920 hours, ten minutes after Trinidad's arrival, planetary security patrols locate the Bird of Prey. The energy seals in the mines are erected and Petrov organizes all of his personnel for an attempt to take control of the Bird of Prey. The Commodore takes a shuttle down and tries to encourage Petrov to defer to our judgment in the matter, but he stubbornly continues with his plan, and fighting ensues between his personnel and armed assailants inside the Bird of Prey. It is shortly after the Commodore departs the surface at 0945 hours that the armored car returns from a trip to the mines and begins shooting."

 

"And, predictably, Petrov loses 40% of his personnel," Thorne interrupted. "Damned fringe world security."

 

"Because of the dampening field, Commodore Blake never noticed the armored vehicle. We remained unaware of its presence; Petrov claims that his people were also unaware of it at the time. Blake returns to the surface with your updated orders at 1005 hours. It is, regretably, at this time that the armored car emerges and shoots his shuttle down. At about the same time, the Klingon and non-Klingon personnel aboard the Bird of Prey began fighting each other, presumably over ownership of the tritanium. At 1025 hours, the team lead by Lieutenant Commander Hager leaves for the surface, watchful for the armored vehicle. I observe the events aboard the Bird of Prey and return to deliver a report to you at 1040 hours."

 

"I would still like to know," Thorne said as they entered Sickbay and made their way to the intensive care ward. "What, exactly, precipitated the fighting. I am sure the great wealth they had suddenly managed to gather within their cargo hold was a factor, as was their discovery by the local security force. But such a widespread crew conflict must have been initiated by a single member of the crew, most likely a subordinate officer."

 

"The rest of the events which unfolded we could observe from above despite the dampening field," Desmond said. "1105 hours, an explosion deep within the mines collapses the entire complex. As our scans have not located the armored vehicle on the surface, it is likely buried within the complex and may have even been responsible for the explosion. At 1120 hours ... the Bird of Prey follows suit. It appeared that their engine was detonated ... possibly an accident resulting from the fighting, possibly an overload initiated by whoever was in charge in order to eliminate the intruders. Commander Hager's team had not managed to shut down the beacon by that point, so we never received any further reports of his team's activities on the vessel. The heist which was attempted by the crew of the Klingon vessel ended up completely botched. Anyone who was inside the mines was not likely to survive, nor will they last much longer if they did. Our scans suggest that all of their crew were killed."

 

"Yes," Thorne said as the pair of officers stopped at a biobed in the IC ward. The monitors above the biobed were spiking faintly. "All except one."

 

"Yes," Desmond nodded. "1100 hours, a powerful quantum signature thats origin is still a mystery to us pierces the dampening field from the canyon floor. We lock on to the signature and, with great effort from our transporters ... manage to deliver it into a containment field in Sickbay."

 

Desmond and Thorne both looked down at the face of the man unconscious on the biobed. "Welcome back to Starfleet's loving embrace, Private Mench," Thorne said with a ravenous smirk. "We do look forward to having a chat with you ... "