Chapter Text
* * *
NCC-3717 (USS Gol)
“Commander, new sensor contact at long range. No transponder ID, but the vessel reads as an Excelsior-class by mass and configuration.”
Whereas Lieutenant Commander Jarrod wanted to expel a heavy sigh and mutter ‘finally’, he held that impulse in check. He was the XO and at present, the duty officer on the bridge, and thus must conform to regs… or more so than he might otherwise. “Ops, confirm sensor contact. Comms, send challenge hail and our encoded ID. Helm, alter course to intercept, best speed.”
Jarrod tapped his combadge, “Captain to the bridge.”
* * *
NCC-2544 (USS Repulse)
Keller narrowed his eyes toward T'Rel. "What do you mean the message stopped transmitting? You said it would loop until acknowledged," his tone, though quiet, held a knife's edge.
"Sir, once we cleared the interference, it seems the source ceased transmission," T'Rel replied, keeping her poise under the circumstances. "Reason unknown."
He thrust himself from his seat, not bothering to hide his agitation. "My patience is reaching its limits, XO. We're under strict orders to maintain radio silence and we're diverting from the mission to chase down message fragments and a trumped-up commodore." His hands clasped at the small of his back as he paced from the center of the bridge to where T'Rel stood on the perimeter. "You understand there can be no further delays, don't you?"
T'Rel's eyes shifted over toward the communications position, where Lieutenant Ha-vatoreii's maroon-covered back showed his attentiveness toward his duty. Her gaze reached out almost as a silent plea for any information.
As though by her will, the lieutenant turned to announce, "Captain, we have the flash traffic in whole, now. It appears the message was on a delayed cycle from the source."
Keller turned his scowl away from T'Rel and focused it on the lieutenant. "On screen!"
"Aye, sir," replied Ha-vatoreii immediately. Then, he hesitated. "Sir, incoming challenge and hail from the starship Gol."
The captain furrowed his brow. "Gol?" He turned back to T'Rel, "Get me everything you got on that ship and her captain." He then ordered, "Let's hear the commodore's message."
The viewscreen blinked away from the warp-distorted stars to show the visage of Commodore Trujillo, clearly and without the interference from before. She stared into the visual pickup and intoned, “This message is a Priority-One Communique, and is being broadcast on an encrypted and secured Starfleet frequency. This is Commodore Nandi Trujillo, commanding USS Reykjavík and Rapid Response Detachment Delta.
“Any Starfleet personnel receiving this message who are associated with USS Repulse, NCC-2544, you are directed and required to return immediately to Federation space and submit yourself for inspection and investigation into the events surrounding your actions within the recognized territory of the Gorn Hegemony.
“There has been no declaration of hostilities between our two governments, and your actions have pushed the Federation and the Gorn Hegemony to the brink of war without explanation or known provocation.
“Failure to comply with these orders will constitute willful insubordination, in addition to potential charges of Conduct Unbecoming for initiating hostilities with a foreign power without authorization.
“Captain Keller, you and your crew are hereby officially recalled. The clock is ticking.”
One the message finished, the atmosphere of the bridge changed considerably. T'Rel paused her lookup of Gol's information in the ship's computer to give the message her full attention, and now with the weight of Trujillo's words hanging in the air, she checked Keller's reaction before doing anything further.
Keller wore a red-faced scowl on his features. "'Conduct Unbecoming?!' How dare she!"
Lieutenant Ha-vatoreii called out, "Captain, Gol is awaiting our response."
T'Rel returned to her display device and called up the information. "Gol is an Akyazi-class perimeter action ship, commanded by Commander Glal." She transferred her findings to the main viewscreen, overlaying the frozen face of Commodore Trujillo.
The captain returned to his seat, saying nothing in response to either officer. His own gaze drifted to the deck as he moved slowly into a sitting position.
Ha-vatoreii tried once more. "Captain?"
"Give me a damned moment, Lieutenant!" Keller snapped at the communications officer. "XO?"
"Sir?" replied T'Rel, after raising a reassuring hand toward Ha-vatoreii.
"Given that the Commodore has sent these orders… in your interpretation, does the radio silence order still apply?" he asked her, his tone much softer than before.
She called up the ship's logs to locate the precise verbiage of their mission orders. Her long fingers tapped the inputs quickly, though her quarry eluded her after a full minute of searching. "Captain," she said with uncertainty, "I'm unable to locate our orders in the ship's computer."
* * *
Glal strode out of the turbolift onto Gol’s bridge with Leo hot on his heels, sliding into the chair as Jarrod relinquished it and headed to his own post.
“No response as yet to our challenge hails, sir,” Jarrod advised.
Glal grunted sourly and shot a glance at Leo. “He seems to be insisting on observing comms silence. I know Reykjavík’s still broadcasting the recall order, so he should have heard it by now. I’m open to ideas on how we play this, Commander.”
Leo glanced at the tactical display from just over the shoulder of the person seated there. "Well… she's just broken free of the interference, so they're probably listening to the commodore's orders clearly for the first time." He turned back toward Glal and smirked. "Wish I could be a fly on that bulkhead, listening in, right?"
Glal’s eyes bulged as he struggled to maintain his composure. He cleared his throat loudly, eyes watering. “No comment.”
Leo held his smirk. With a pat on the shoulder of the lieutenant junior grade seated at tactical, he asked, "No change in Repulse's course or speed, so far?"
The lieutenant replied, "No, sir. Still at warp eleven, headed for our border. They'll reach our position in twenty minutes if they hold their speed."
"Alright, thanks," Leo noted with a succinct nod. "This ship is pretty stealthy, right? Likely, they don't even know we're right here, watching them." He addressed Glal and Jarrod. "Recommend we reposition ourselves to make certain Keller can see us. And by now, you're going to want to order him to divert. He's had enough time to ponder and respond to the initial hail." He paused, "Hey, we should also maybe let the commodore know that we found them, Skip."
Glal gestured to the text interface on his armrest display. “I did that three minutes ago. The commodore doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” He smirked within his thatchy beard at Leo. “We’re stealthy, but Repulse’s sensors are top of the line and a helluva lot more powerful than ours. If we can see her, you can be sure she’s seen us for a while now.”
"Then definitely order her to divert and respond," Leo affirmed, his lips pulling back into a grimace. "If he deigns to respond, stand ready to take some verbal damage. He's going to pull rank on you every chance he gets."
Glal growled from deep within his throat. “And we’ll see how far that gets him.” He gestured towards Jarrod’s station on the bridge’s upper level. “Repeat the challenge hail.”
Jarrod turned to do just that, only to raise an eyebrow as he touched a hand to his comms earpiece. “We have a response coming in from Repulse, sir. Visual comms.”
Glal sat back in his chair, his tusks quivering with anticipation. “By all means, XO. Let’s not keep the captain waiting.” He looked over at Leo, the Tellarite’s eyes sparkling with mischief. “Tuck in here right next to my chair. Don’t be bashful.”
* * *
"What do you mean, you can't find the orders?" Keller asked. His entire body visibly tensed; his complexion threatening to turn a deeper shade of red, reaching more of a purple. "Check the communications logs, now!"
T'Rel wasted no time. "Lieutenant," she called to Ha-vatoreii, "some assistance, please." Crossing over to the communications station, both officers worked in tandem to locate the transmitted orders, or even record of receipt.
Ha-vatoreii shook his head. "Apologies, sirs, but I cannot find any record of any transmission at the given stardate. In fact," he elaborated with a short pause, "the only traffic from headquarters received close to that time was the scheduled system update of our timekeeping program. As we've been operating under radio silence since, until Commodore Trujillo's message today, we've received nothing."
Ashen while hearing the explanation, Keller stalked toward communications and yanked the lieutenant out of the seat in order to directly access the controls and inputs. The captain stabbed commands into the system and with his own eyes witnessed the same as both his executive officer and communications specialist reported.
Keller lifted his haunted eyes toward T'Rel. "Where did it go?"
The Vulcan shook her head slowly, once. "Unknown, sir. It's as if the message was never transmitted to or received by this ship." She let out a short sigh. "Therefore, to your earlier question, given that we have no proof of being ordered under radio silence, protocol demands we respond to Gol's hail."
The captain's throat worked angrily as he dry-swallowed air. He rose from the communication panel and passed by Ha-vatoreii without so much as an apology for his assault of the lieutenant. When he reached the center seat, he touched the arm, but did not reseat himself. "Mr. Ha-vatoreii, as the XO says, open a channel to Gol."
Aboard Gol, Jarrod nodded to Glal. “Channel open, sir.”
Glal sat resolutely in his chair and dipped his head in acknowledgement of Keller. “Captain Keller, this is Commander Glal. I’ve been ordered to locate Repulse and escort you back to Commodore Trujillo for further inquiry into the goings-on out here on the border with the Gorn.”
"'Goings-on?'" Keller shot back angrily. "You are addressing a superior officer, Commander-" Before his tirade could properly find speed to take off, his eyes drifted over to Leo Verde. "Son of a bitch! Verde!"
"Present," Leo replied tonelessly, offering nothing more than a casual wave of his left hand.
“I don't know what this… officer… has been telling you, Commander, but he is nothing more than a miserable disgrace to the uniform," Keller growled loudly, his right hand gripping the arm of the captain's chair next to him. "What did you do, Verde, beg your daddy to reinstate you to the space service?"
Taking in a deep breath, Leo shook his head. "No, sir. I'm still in the JAG Corps," he said calmly, touching his badge of office displayed proudly on his chest under the line officer's badge. "I feel that we should table our reunion until after you respond to Captain Glal, here. With all due respect and everything."
"'Due respect,' my ass," Keller grumbled. "Yes, fine. Commander Glal, seeing as how I'm the senior officer here, I will take your order under advisement. We have higher orders."
As soon as Keller said that, T'Rel hesitated visibly on the screen, and the other officers suddenly found their stations very interesting as none of them looked in Glal's direction any longer.
“Do you, Captain?” Glal asked in a seemingly reasonable tone. “Starfleet Command disagrees. Commodore Trujillo was dispatched out here with a task force to locate you and find out what spurred a seemingly unauthorized attack against a Gorn installation. As my orders come from the commodore, a member of the admiralty, duly authorized by way of Fleet Operations, for the moment I exist outside your chain of command.” He sat forward in his chair, his thick-fingered hands clasped in front of him. “I’m merely the messenger, sir.”
Before Keller could respond, Leo asked, "Commander T'Rel? Can you confirm that Repulse has higher orders on record, something we can read for ourselves to confirm the captain's claim?"
Keller snarled, "How dare you impugn my word, Verde? You're the insubordinate bastard, here, not me."
T'Rel allowed Keller to say his piece before responding. "Commander, I'm unable to respond to your inquiry."
"Unable?" wondered Leo. "Or unwilling?"
Again, she hesitated before responding to Leo's question. Finally, she admitted with a nod. "I invoke the Seventh Guarantee, sir."
Keller turned his head slowly toward T'Rel. "What have you done?" As she opened her mouth to respond, he cut her off with a curt gesture; a knifed hand slicing through the air. "Go below, you're relieved!" He then told Glal, "I need to handle my staff, Commander. I'll contact you within the hour." The transmission closed without anything further.
Glal emitted something between a sigh and an analytical hmmm, a deep, gravelly sound. “That went about as well as I expected.” He raised an eyebrow at Leo. “You?”
"You threw him off his game by having me stand next to you," Leo admitted. "But then, I assume that was your plan," he finished with a smirking grin.
The Tellarite leaned back into his chair once again. “Why, Commander, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Leo chuckled softly. "Sure." He noted, more seriously, "I had a hunch that T'Rel wouldn't give him up, but her response was admirable under the circumstances. I feel bad for putting her on the spot like that, though."
“I feel for his unfortunate officers and crew as well,” Glal confessed. “Nevertheless, we have to investigate this thoroughly.”
Leo glanced back at Jarrod, to make sure he said his next sentence loud enough for both officers to hear, "You should prepare to have to relieve Keller of command. And uh… if there's going to be any sort of boarding action, then I should go with them."
“I’ll give him his one hour before pushing any harder,” Glal said. “Then it’ll be up to him how far or how badly this goes.”
Jarrod cast a glance at Leo from his station. “And why would you want to be part of any boarding action?”
Leo smiled sadly. "This has essentially turned into a JAGMAN investigation, now. But, uh… I'm still boarding-qualified from my service on the border. Ultimately, and I can't believe I'm going to say this out loud, I think I'm going to volunteer to defend that asshole. So, I need to make sure the son of a bitch's rights are being secured."
Glal nodded. “Nobody’s talking about denying an officer their rights, Leo. But if he puts up a fight in the face of lawful orders, he’ll get what he’s served.”
"Of course," Leo said confidently. "And I wouldn't imply otherwise… it's simply my duty to carry out." He sighed. "So… we'll wait the hour, then I guess we'll arrest him. My gut's saying he has no legal leg to stand on, and knows he's in deep. Played enough poker in my life to know what a bad bluff looks like."
* * *
After closing the channel and sending T'Rel belowdecks, Keller ordered Lieutenant Commander Vara to take the conn and slow the ship to warp four before they crossed over into Federation space. He followed in T'Rel's path from the bridge to the lift, until he reached the hatch leading to her quarters and announced himself.
T'Rel opened the hatch, still wearing her uniform. "Captain."
"Commander," Keller responded softly. "Might I have a word?"
She blinked at his change in tone when addressing her. In the years of service together, Keller never once hesitated to treat her with contempt. "Of course, sir," she said, stepping aside to admit his entry.
Once the hatch closed itself behind him, T'Rel guided him to an empty seat as she took the other within the spacious stateroom afforded to the senior officers aboard Repulse. "How can I be of service, Captain?"
Keller sighed, letting his chest sink downward and almost inward. "I don't think you realized the damage you've done, XO. You and I witnessed those orders together. They're in the computer, we need more time to find them. Why did you choose not to give us that time?"
T'Rel's expression softened, albeit only slightly. "Sir, time was of the essence. Commodore Trujillo's orders were clear, and however it may have happened, we had no evidence of our orders to prove that we were operating under higher authority."
"But we would, eventually-"
"No, sir," she interrupted him uncharacteristically. T'Rel rose from her seat and approached an elaborate tapestry upon the bulkhead within the front room. "As you pointed out to Commander Glal, an officer of higher rank has authority to recall or rescind us, if necessary. We had no orders. In other words, sir, we look like rogue officers off on a mission to start a war between the Federation and the Gorn."
Keller regained his confidence. "The Gorn started this!" he thundered. "The mission was in response to attacks on the border."
"Was it, though?" T'Rel asked. "If the orders didn't exist, how can we be sure that the briefing associated with it held any truth?"
The captain stopped his response under her questions. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. "No. I refuse to believe that we were fooled into marching across the border without cause. There had to be justification for this action. The admiral said-"
"And where is the admiral, now, sir?" T'Rel wondered softly. "Before you arrived," she said, pulling a display device from her personal desk, "I tried to locate that name in the listing of flag officers. I found no such mention in any department or any division within Starfleet."
Keller snatched the PADD from her hands and peered at it. He tapped and scrolled through the text. With each passing minute and second, his desperate eyes scanned each screen until his rage blinded him from reading a single letter.
"I came to my conclusion on the bridge when Commander Verde asked me to confirm your report," T'Rel said, after a few moments of silence. "We lack the resources to search. The JAG Corps can help us do that. They will conduct a full forensic investigation into our systems and records."
He tossed her PADD across the distance and let it crack against the bulkhead. "Turn myself in? For carrying out orders?" He spat, "Never. I will not suffer the humiliation of being arrested and relieved of my command. Certainly not by a man like Leo Verde. He's probably laughing his ass off, right now."
She pressed her lips together as Keller spoke. When he finished, T'Rel noted, "I have no other recourse at this time, sir. And, I plan on standing next to you when they arrest you. I do not plan on avoiding prosecution."
Keller scoffed. "You're damned right, you won't. If I'm going down for this, you can bet you will, too." When she did not respond to him, he took a step forward and raised his voice, "You thought I was going to be grateful for your sacrifice, Commander?"
T'Rel shook her head. "No, sir. That was not my expectation."
"Then what do you think you get out of telling me this?"
She stepped forward and closed the distance to meet his challenge head-on. "A Starfleet officer's first duty is to the truth."
* * *