Star Trek TOS: Ruse - Chapter Six "Much Ado About Nothing" (standard:Fan Fiction, 3432 words) [7/10] show all parts
Author: Kirk	Added: Aug 12 2006	Views/Reads: 2481/1827	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Despite the lost of a ship, the ease of victory seems suspicious.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


“Patch him through,” he said, without his usual ‘Lieutenant'. 

Kirk heard a click and said, “Mr. Scott, report.” 

“Good news, Sir,” said the Scotsman. 

“Go ahead, Scotty, I could use some right now.” 

“The power relay junction that ties all the power systems together
overloaded, cutting off all power to the ship, causing a shut down of 
all the power plants.” 

Kirk rubbed his eyes. He was more tired then he thought. “In English,
Mr. Scott.” 

“'A dead mans switch,'” he replied. 

Kirk sighed. Scott heard it. 

“When the power junction blew, the computer sent a ‘shut down' command
to the impulse and warp engines before it lost power. When the 
batteries tried to cut in, the junction relay was gone, so the power 
couldn't be distributed.” 

“So...” asked Kirk, waiting to understand the good news. 

“We've replaced the junction. The emergency systems are online. Gravity
and life support have been restored. Impulse engines will be on-line in 
a few minutes and the warp drive is already in the final stages of 
restarting.” 

Kirk stared at the speaker. “Have you contacted Captain Golov yet?” he
asked, extremely pleased with his Chief Engineer. 

“Not yet, Sir.” 

“How badly damaged is she?” asked Kirk, as he lowered his voice,
containing his joy at the news. 

“I'd like to meet the Chief Engineer of this ship. There's nary a
scratch on her. He did something to the shields on the final attack 
that saved the ship and crew. What ever it was, it was a miracle.” 

“Thank you, Scotty. I'll contact Captain Golov on the Excalibur. I'll
pass along your wish to meet this ‘miracle worker'. When can the crew 
begin transferring back aboard?” 

"Anytime, Sir. I'd like to get back to my own engine room,” replied the
proud Scot. 

"I'd like to have you back, Kirk out,” he said, closing the channel. He
pulled off his tunic and grabbed a clean one. He hit the intercom. 
“Kirk to Spock.” 

“Spock here.” 

“Have you been able to analyze the sensor readings taken of the
Warbird?” 

“Negative, Sir, I am still running checks.” 

“Sir!” said Uhura. 

“Yes, Uhura.” 

“The Lexington has arrived and Commodore Wesley is asking for you.” 

“Transfer it here,” said Kirk. 

“Jim! This idea of yours is totally off. I have my science officer
working on our own readings, but they are inconclusive. Matt says the 
same thing. Only Angela thinks you may be right,” said the Commodore. 

“I'm telling you Bob, Spock didn't see that ship until it decloaked.
With our entrance vector to Remus there was no way that ship was just 
sitting there waiting to decloak in front of us. They have fully 
operational cloaks!” Kirk replied excitedly. 

“Alright, Jim. The Yorktown and Constellation have just arrived. Be here
in thirty minutes in my briefing room with Spock and your data. Wesley 
out.” 

“Kirk to Spock.” 

“Spock here.” 

“Hurry, Spock, I have thirty minutes to prove my case.” 

*** 

VICTORIOUS: 

Commander Turvan was studying the data he was receiving from a sensor
drone in the Neutral Zone. The news was not good. Only one Earth ship 
was destroyed. He had hoped for at least two. Three would have been 
much nicer. One ship wasn't nearly as damaged as he believed, which 
meant four operational ships still at the Zone. Now there were 
indications that the other four ships that had made a foray into the 
Zone were now returning way ahead of schedule. One of them was THE 
ship. The one that sent his brother, Maec, the most glorified Commander 
in the Romulan fleet to his death six weeks before. Oh, how he wished 
it were THAT Earth ship that was sent to its death and not some other. 
He despised its commander for being more cunning than Maec. 

He pushed a few buttons to check power consumption and speed. The power
readouts were encouraging. They could remain cloaked all the way to 
Earth, but their speed was alarmingly slow. At present, they would need 
twenty-six days to reach Earth. Their consumables were adequate for the 
trip, but if those Earth ships figured things out there was serious 
doubt that they could complete their mission. If they were forced to 
abort and head back to the Zone then six fellow ships that had no idea 
that their cloaks were not in complete working order will have died for 
no reason. They believed they were part of the ‘second' wave of the 
attack. The Praetor handpicked the ships that would be ‘detected' by 
the Earth ships. The moment he signed the order he gave them a death 
sentence by virtue of the ‘leaky' cloaks. 

Perhaps, if the Earth vessels remain at the zone for a few days, he will
give the order to decloak and order full acceleration to their target. 
At that distance their sensing devices should not be able to pick them 
out against the background radiation of space. So far the Praetors' 
ruse has worked, but knowing that THAT ship, and HE who was commanding 
it was there, made his blood boil, yet struck terror deep in his soul. 

*** 

LEXINGTON: 

Kirk sat with Spock in the briefing room. All the ship commanders were
there as well as their science officers. T'Prell had also transported 
over, wanting to know what the invasion force had learned. 

“My science officer specifically saw movement on the motion detectors,”
stated Carmela Diaz. “They damn near blew us out of the sky, even 
though we saw them.” 

“I agree,” said Ivan Golov. “We survived by a stroke of luck by my Chief
Engineer.” 

“There were multiple contacts on our sensors,” stated the science
officer of the Hood, as Charles Uda nodded his head. 

“Same thing here,” Ronald Jones of the Defiant chimed in. 

“I'm telling you, that ship came out of nowhere!” shouted Kirk. 

“What about you, Matt?” asked Wesley. 

“Our readings are inconclusive,” answered the other Commodore seated at
the table. 

“So were ours. How about you, Angela?” asked Wesley, turning to the
large female Captain of the Yorktown. 

“My science officer tells me it came out of nowhere.” 

Bob Wesley turned to look at the lady. 

“Yes, Sir. Sensors show no contact until the Romulan decloaked,” she
said, holding out the data cards. 

Bob sighed. He didn't like conflicting data. He turned his chair.
“Spock?” 

“Commodore, I will show you exactly the sensor readings as well as the
visual we had on our main screen,” he said, dropping two computer cards 
into a viewer terminal. 

The viewer came to life with the sensor readings on one side and the
visual on the other. The screen showed Remus growing in the field and 
the sensors showed only the planet and billions of life signs. Suddenly 
the view shimmered and a Warbird began to form on the screen. The 
sensor readout jumped and began to show a different readout of the 
vessel and it's course and speed. 

“As you can see, Commodore, the data shows that the ship was moving when
it decloaked. It was not stationary, waiting for us,” explained Spock, 
logically. Spock removed his data cards and replaced them with The 
Yorktown's data. 

The Planet Delekus VI appeared on the view screen, as well as sensor
readings indicating no life signs or power emanations. Suddenly a 
Warbird appeared and the sensor readings changed the same way as the 
Enterprise's sensor readings did. 

“What are the chances that two ships need a sensor adjustment?” chuckled
Decker. 

“I'm telling you Bob, there is an invasion force on it's way to Earth,
even as we speak. They probably slipped right through your blockade, 
even before you engaged the other ships!” shouted Kirk, looking at 
Diaz, Jones, Uda and Golov, as he rose from the table. 

“Something bothers me about this whole thing,” began Carmela. “Even if
they wanted to draw our ships into the Zone, and then seeing only four 
go, leaving five, why did they attack with only six ships? If I were 
the commander faced with the fact that more ships stayed than 
anticipated, I would have either called for more ships or aborted the 
mission. Even though they out numbered us by one, the advantage was 
ours. They have to become visible to fire its plasma weapon, and even 
then, it takes an eternity in battle time to build up the power to fire 
it.” 

“Maybe the ship commanders thought they would not be detected,” said
T'Prell, speaking up for the first time. 

“I agree with T'Prell”, stated Komack over the Comm system. That
startled most of the commanders at the table. They were unaware that 
there had been an open, encrypted channel, to the Admiral onboard the 
Excalibur. “I think those poor saps were set up to be detected and left 
to fend for themselves. The whole thing was to draw attention away from 
the fact that the Romulan war machine was deserted in The Star Empire 
and they wanted us to think that THIS was the attack, here at the 
border.” 

“I'm sorry, Admiral, I really think this is just bad sensor readings,”
stated Wesley. 

“Carmela!” shouted Komack. 

“Yes, Admiral?” Diaz replied. 

“I wish to transfer my flag back to The Enterprise. As ‘Star Fleet
Commander of Operations', I am hereby placing Kirk in charge of this 
battle force,” rasped Komack. 

The ship commanders looked at Kirk. Diaz spoke, “Sir, I understand and
respect you choice of Kirk as the new commander, but my doctor has 
advised me that moving you could cause...” 

There was a heated debate going on in The Excalibur's sick bay that was
being carried over the channel. Finally, there was a moment of silence 
and then Komack continued, “It seems your gal, the Chief Medical 
officer, has given me a choice. Participate on sub-space radio or be 
relieved.” 

“Bitch,” muttered Decker. 

“What was that?” Diaz snapped back to Decker, glaring at him. 

“I said, ‘That's a real bitch', meaning that it's a shame he has to stay
on your ship,” recovered Decker, to all's satisfaction. “Bitch,” he 
said again, with a grin on his face. 

“Okay, Jim. You say there is a Romulan fleet heading toward Earth; yet,
I haven't heard you once say that we should be high tailing it back 
there. Why?” asked Wesley. 

“Spock, would you explain?” asked Kirk of his First Officer. 

Spock cleared his throat and began, “We all know that our ships are
rated to cruise at warp 6. That, of course, assumes we are using normal 
power consumption on the ship with full shields and charged weapons. 
That places the warp engines at a constant 65 percent of maximum, which 
is a safe prolonged output. With Earth being several weeks away, we 
would be forced to run at that recommended speed, or risk serious 
damage to our warp drives.” 

“Tell us something new, Spock,” mumbled Decker. 

Spock ignored him and continued. “The Romulans have the same
disadvantage as we do in a prolonged journey. More so, since it is not 
sound military strategy to be sitting in enemy territory trying to 
repair overworked engines.” 

“So, all your telling us is that they have a limited speed just as we
do. How do we know if their top safe speed is the same as ours? It 
could be faster. Meanwhile we're sitting here jawing when we should be 
heading back,” groused Shultz. 

“They have one other disadvantage,” stated Spock. “Their cloaking device
takes a great deal power to operate. I would say that they would be 
very hard pressed to reach warp 6 while cloaked.” 

“They pulled this ruse at the Neutral Zone hoping that we would believe
that this was it. That this was the attack. We found the Romulan war 
machine deserted, the remaining ships stripped and without warp 
capability or shielding. We were meant to believe that we destroyed 
most or all of their warp fleet. They know their entire operation is 
going to take time, and their hopes for success rely on us believing 
this charade,” stated Kirk. 

“Jim, I still say that you're wrong,” stated Wesley. 

“That goes for me too,” said Decker. 

The Bosun's whistle was heard. “Bridge to Commodore Wesley.” 

He punched the Comm. “Wesley here.” 

“A message for Captain Kirk from the Enterprise,” said his
communications officer. 

“Pipe it through,” ordered Wesley. 

“Kirk here.” 

“Sir, I'm detecting a high intensity, tight beam transmission from the
Neutral Zone. It's encrypted the same way as the Romulan transmissions 
we intercepted six weeks ago from the Warbird,” said Uhura. 

The commanders all looked at each other. 

“Another cloaked ship?” snapped Shultz. 

“Is the source of the transmission moving, Uhura?” asked Kirk. 

“No, Sir. It is stationary,” was the reply. 

“A sensor drone,” stated Spock. 

“What direction is that tight beam headed for?” asked Kirk. 

“It is directed toward Earth, Sir,” said Uhura. 

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Kirk out.” 

“Need anymore proof, Commanders?” asked Komack over the Comm. 

Wesley and Decker bowed their heads in reluctance. 

“Okay, what's our next move, Jim?” asked Decker. 

“Everyone select a repair team and send them to the Excalibur. Get her
warp drive fixed ASAP. She can fix her weapons on the return journey if 
need be,” he said, looking at Carmela. He turned his attention to Uda. 
“Chuck, arrange the transfer of your photons to the other ships. 
They're not doing you any good without torpedo bays to fire them from, 
and some of the ships were pulled from other assignments to join us 
here already short of a full complement.” Uda nodded with the logic. 

“Captain, may I say something?” asked T'Prell. 

“Yes, of course, by all means.” 

“If what you say is true, I would ask you to consider sending a ship to
Vulcan,” she said, turning heads at the table. 

“Why, T'Prell?” asked Kirk. 

“Although we may not have known what happened to our descendents
thousands of years ago, I doubt they have forgotten being driven off 
our world, nor have they forgotten where the planet that gave them life 
is,” she said. 

Kirk looked at Spock. 

“I agree,” he said, in response to the unasked question. 

“If that's the case, one ship won't be enough against a few Warbirds,”
conjectured Wesley. 

“Vulcan has a very strong ground based defense system,” stated T'Prell.
“But lacks orbital defenses.” 

“Since when?” asked Komack. 

“Vulcan does not share all of its secrets with the Federation. We have
had ongoing problems with the Andorians over the last few centuries. We 
felt building a strong defense was both logical and necessary,” T'Prell 
answered. 

“But you are a peaceful race,” stated Jones. 

“That wishes to remain a peaceful race. That does not mean we will not
defend ourselves. The ship may not be needed, but it is a sound 
precaution.” Stated T'Prell, logically 

“I'll go to Vulcan, Jim”, said Decker, giving Kirk a wink. 

Kirk grinned back at his friend. “Okay, It's settled. Let's get back to
our ships and get ready. We leave as soon as the repairs to Carmela's 
ship and the transfer of the photons off of Chuck's are complete.” 

“Jim, do you want to silence that drone?” asked Komack over the Comm. 

“Not yet. Let them think we're still sitting here licking our wounds.
When we're ready to leave we'll drop a small proximity device. I want 
the drone to mark our departures using different headings. It will send 
a transmission to the Romulans that we broke up and headed our own 
ways. When a day has passed, we will send a signal to activate the 
device and destroy the drone. That way, they may believe it simply 
failed,” Kirk explained. “Then, with the exception of The 
Constellation, we will change our headings for Earth.” 

“Should we warn Star Fleet?” asked Chuck. 

“No, not yet. I don't know if they can break our codes but I don't want
to give them three weeks to try. We will warn them if time begins to 
grow short and we haven't found their invasion fleet,” answered Kirk. 
“Anything else can be discussed while repairs are being made. 
Dismissed.” 

Everyone rose and headed for the door, except Wesley. As Kirk passed
him, he reached out and grabbed Kirk's arm. Kirk, startled by this, 
stared at his old and respected friend. 

“Jim, I'm sorry about publicly disagreeing with you. You know how
stubborn I can be as well as thick headed.” 

“If the situation was reversed, I would have said the same thing. You
don't have a monopoly on stubbornness. The thick headed part is all 
yours, though,” Kirk replied, patting his friend on the back. 

“Go to Hell,” said Wesley. 

“I'll meet you there,” Kirk replied, as they chuckled at each other
while leaving the room. 

Next: Chapter Seven - "Idle Hands"


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