This Day? Worse? Challenge Accepted!

Posted on Mon Oct 16th, 2017 @ 6:58am by Captain Michelle Bartlett & Lieutenant Commander J'Loni Mo'Bri

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/3
Location: Bridge/Observation Lounge
Timeline: June 16, 2399 @ 1100

Michelle was still at the XO's seat. It had been a rather dull and uneventful watch. Whatever that meant anymore. The events of yesterday afternoon very clearly cast a pall over most of the crew. And it was quiet. Almost too quiet. The Commodore was busy in talks, which were to have started an hour ago. She got very little information from anyone, which she also hated. Even Commander Honn was finding Myers unreachable.

Her unease, then, was probably not helped when she saw two engineers walking intently towards her.

"You either come bringing excellent news about the ship's systems... Or it's somehow managed to get worse." Michelle said as she looked at Meru and J'Loni.

"Do you have a moment, Commander?" Meru asked.

"I've got more than a few, it would seem." Michelle replied.

"Commander, we need a word with you in private and in a secure location", J'Loni said, looking at Meru.

"Of course. Why don't we use the Observation Lounge? I don't feel right going into the Ready Room yet." Michelle said. "Lieutenant Damian, you have the bridge." she said as she got out of the chair.

J'Loni entered first snd waited for the two commanders to enter before she said,
"Computer Security code Mo'Bri Alpha975 Pi secure all doors to observation lounge."

"Observation Room doors sealed Secirity Code Alpha 975 Pi recognized Lt. Cmdr. J'Loni Mo'Bri came the response. She then moved to the adjacent wall panel and pulled it off and disabled both audio and video circuits. "Ok now this room is secure. Please sit. The Commander and I have several reports to tell you. I will let Cmdr Alennis speak first", she said as she pulled upon the view screen the figure of her grandfather.

Michelle realized there was a conversation about to be had that would require bringing the Commodore himself in. "Computer, open channel to Outpost 7-G for Commodore Jason Myers. Secure frequency."

Within a minute or two, Jason appeared on screen. "Please say there's something resembling good news."

"Unsure yet. Commander Mo'Bri wanted us briefed on something and it sounds like it may be important."

"I'm all ears." Jason replied.

Looking at the Commander and the Commodore she cleared her throat and then looked at Alennis, who only nodded her head as it was going to be totally in J’Loni’s lap, closing her eyes to clear her mind she began this report. “I called this because my Musketeers have been doing digging and found several things that lead us to believe it was definite sabotage. Lt. Hawk found in the environmental systems several chips and relays that did not belong. The isolinear chips involved were not Starfleet issue but were of Cardassian design with Klingon command codes embedded in them. Upon further investigation, he found that these chips would, if used, cause the emergency force fields to fail in key areas of the ship when they were used thus preventing the fields from shoring up breeches in the hull. There would have been a great deal of lives lost if it were to happen. He also found a number of relays that were of Starfleet issue but were tampered with that would have caused several surges that would have caused the environmental systems to fail on key decks most notably the bridge, engineering, sickbay, and the armory. The environmental systems in the shuttle bay would have been compromised into oepning the bay doors thus evacuating the air explosively taking out the entire contents of the bay. I don’t need to tell you that the shuttles and fighters would have been sucked into open space. In the communications systems, Lt. Zen found two commands that were completely Cardassian command chips. They were disguised as being Starfleet but when she looked closely a the encryption she found the Cardassian command and it would have been sent to the Cardassian High Command alerting them that the Wellington was completely defenseless and adrift. This I can only conclude that we are still in danger of being further sabotaged at this point. In addition, I the wreckage, CPO Salchin found along with Lt. James the residue of an explosive attached to one of the warp coil magnetic constrictors which when exploded would have literally wiped out the shuttle. This, I assume is the reason why the shuttle blew up with such force. The magnesium in the coils would produce a flash as bright as that and a flame that hot to instantly melt and vaporize anything. There was little left of the wreckage but we did find that much. Upon further examination of the recordings of the shuttle bay they found evidence of someone going in after the shuttle was cleared by two flight control officers, one of which is my CPO Charlie McDougal, a trusted engineer of many years, and it was only after they left the recording showed a second individual entering, who my CPO Salchin recognized as being a science officer she knew. What worries me the most is that Lt. Eric Matherson, my propulsion wizard, found several issues involving isolinear chips and relays in the warp core chamber and controls. The relays were not of Starfleet issue but Klingon copies, bad ones at that, and isolinear chips which had both Klingon and Cardassian commands on them. These chips and relays were in the main magnetic constrictor control and the warp plasma control panels. Should these have been implemented, we would have suffered a warp core breech. I can not emphasize the scope of this deliberate sabotage to my lady the Wellington. I will not stand for this and since Commander Alennis is present I am sure she will agree with me on this. This is my home, my people, and my families here and I will defend them with all I have even to the death to protect them. Now I will run the message from my grandfather and he will further explain why I have called you here besides what we found. It will make things cleared and in all likely hood give you, Commander Bartlett a better idea of what is going on in the Empire at this time. Computer run playback of my grandfathers message. “Playback commencing”, came the reply.

On the screen appeared her grandfather, Kar'Belek, looking bit surprised by all this. An older man about 95 or so but not looking his age, "My daughter, to what do I owe the honor?", he said.

"Grandfather, I suspect so much has happened since we spoke last," she said. She had some idea but not all the facts so she let him tell her first and she would fill in the blanks as they spoke.

"Yes my child, a lot has happened but, first I must tell you this...", he said, hesitating before he continued. "Another attempt has been made against our House", he said sadly. "This time by the House K'Targh!", he said angrily. "They are loyal supporters to the House Mo'Guev, who are loyal to the houses of Kil'Breckt and Gi'Lech. All three are loyal to the Cause Movement here on the home world, a cause that has pledged to over throw Chancellor Mar'tok and destroy your peace initiative dealing with the return of this pa'tagh of a Klingon captain who has been captured", he said.


"Can you possibly find out who? It might mean the difference between an all out war again with the Klingons and Cardassians and the Federation, not to mention the Dalacari and possibly other Delta Quadrant species. We believe we have a saboteur on board and is targeting several of our systems. They have already taken the lives of half our command crew and in all probability, the diplomatic people will be summarily be eliminated making it bad for the Federation", she said almost pleading for help. "Has the challenge on our House been met?", she added.

Kar'Belek answered very solemnly, "Yes it has and not without blood shed. But, it was successfully prevented by aid from our three allied Houses, L'Kugh, Mordin, and Kilrah", he said. "J'Loni, you must be very careful, your life and that of your family there are in danger there. They know where you are! Please my daughter watch your life and that of your family and friends as they are all targets. I must go, the Chancellor has called an emergency session. Quap' la", he said, and the screen went black.

“Now you have the full conversation I had with my grandfather. I must add this, a long time ago, my father, when he was alive, he, along with the graces of the Federation intelligence division, during the Cardassian war, decided that with my knowledge of engineering I should go under cover to one of the largest Cardassian ship yards and snoop around for information as to what they were building and how we could detect them if they succeeded in obtaining a cloaking device from the Breen, Jem'Hadar and the Dominion. I was there for two years and I had the misfortune of being caught. Needless to say I do know Cardassians and how they torture for information. I had the misfortune of having a waking dream on the Pathfinder where I nearly killed someone and needless to say, during the war I made a blood oath to kill any Cardassian that made an attempt on my life or that of my family, being it my blood family or my engineering family. During the attempt of my house’s take over the first time, I swore a blood oath then against all three of the houses in the attempt and now that they have done it again, the oath stands. Should I find that we have Klingon’s here on the ship from those houses I can not guarantee that I will not claim the rite of vengeance on them. However, if they make an attempt to gain entrance to engineering they will be killed with out thought or reserve. I have given Lt. Mor’Tok the job in security, for the protection of my daughter and that of the entire engineering Musketeers as Lt. Hawk does have family as well. Sirs, at this point in time all, and I mean ALL of engineering personal and their families are targets as well as the senior staff. I do not trust Bowman because she is not what she appears to be. She exhibits all the arrogance and demur of a typical Cardassian individual. I will not permit her to enter engineering and if she does somehow manage to get the codes, I have a second encrypted set that will go into effect automatically which will only allow me to rescind them. It is my way of protecting this ship and her crew. I am part Betazoid and from what I sense telepathically and emphatically from Bowman suggests that she is definitely not human. Her actions raise many red flags in my mind. I have not nor will I give her these codes. If the codes are circumvented, Commander Bartlett will be notified immediately. I may have stepped beyond my position but I think you will agree that my actions are warranted. These negotiations are in serious jeopardy of being sabotaged. If the Cardassians succeed, it will open up all of the Delta quadrant for them to just walk in and take over like they did on Bajor. Once they do this they will give the Klingon rebels the ability to colonize out here and then later at an appointed time take over those colonies as well and plummet the Delta Quadrant into war with the Klingons and Cardassians. The Klingon Empire can not afford another war with the destruction of Praxis and her dilithium mines. So here we are...” she said taking a deep breath not sure of or if she had seriously over stepped herself in her actions.

“When my grandfather calls me back with what was found out on Qo’noS from the council meeting I will notify you immediately. He will be able to shed more light on this issue and possibly give us names. I know I will go through the officers roster to find out just who is a Klingon in a high position on this ship and make it known if he or she is of one of the warring houses on the home world. They would fall under suspect by security and well, what the reactions would be, I can’t comment on that at this time. Only that their lives also would be in jeopardy as well” she added. Sitting back down she looked around and waited.

Michelle thought to herself for a moment. Worse news. Definitely worse. "Klingon and Cardassian codes embedded... Have we even been looking for the right suspects all this time? I assumed it was the Organization."

"If you were a Cardassian wanting to destroy the alliance between the Federation and a fair part of the Delta Quadrant as well as the Klingon Empire, who would you hoodwink into doing your dirty work?" Jason asked. "If this is true and we've gotten dragged into a struggle between Klingon houses attempting to bring down the government on Qo'Onos, it's also probable that the Klingon denial of any wrongdoing is actually valid."

"Which puts us in even more of a bind as you're dealing with those negotiations. But... we do have contacts in the High Council" Michelle said, gesturing to J'Loni. "Perhaps that's not really the IKS P'Lakh sitting at the blockade. Commander, is it probable that transponders could have been switched and that the High Command doesn't realize it yet? I'd like you to ask your grandfather if he can get a straight answer from the High Command about the P'Lakh's orders once the Dalacari drone left Klingon space. Providing of course it doesn't endanger him"

"Yes commander, my grandfather can privide the information you request. Mar'tok would be willing to work with not only myself and my house but with both of you as well to end this peacefully. My grand parents were already danger once they were placed on the council and since the first attempt on my house 8 years ago", she replied.

"I see. What about Commander Bowman?" Michelle asked.

Jason placed his hand to his forehead. That would be the trickier part. "It wouldn't be the first time a Cardassian operative ended up in the Delta Quadrant disguised as someone else. The USS Voyager had a Cardassian operative aboard that was pretending to be a Bajoran and a Maquis. The thing is, of course, to prove it. God, I think I liked it better when she was just an uptight careerist. Captain Ross mentioned her attitude had gotten worse over the last 4-5 months. Commander Bartlett, I want you very quietly to comm her family back home and talk to them. I'm also going to need evidence or something to confirm she's an imposter otherwise for now that's stepping into the realm of a conspiracy theory. Albeit, a very probable one."

"Aye, sir." Michelle said. "And the talks?"

"I will inform the Ts'usugi of what we have found and encourage them and the Dalacari to be on high alert. Their investigations are also coming to evidence of sabotage. The trick will be to not inform the Klingons as to why they're moving to high alert."

"With all due respects sirs, if I may, my wolves may be of some help here. Both are excellent trackers and hunters. Lone wolf has in the past sniffed out several different species in our travels and if I expose him to the scent of Cardassian blood or feramones, he could, in all likely hood tell you if Bowman is indeed not who she pretends to be. This would be a backup plan that should be considered. I have faith in my hunters and theyhave yet to be wrong", she said. Now how this would be taken by all of them was something she knew would work if used.

Jason pondered for a moment. He knew in doing this, he was setting up a situation in which there was a command structure being established outside the regular Commanding Officer and if that was proven wrong, then there could be some serious trouble for all of them. But Commander Bartlett had also been his First Officer years ago on the Yorkshire. He trusted her judgement, and he knew she would exercise her authority to relieve Bowman if it came to it. If she said yes, they could proceed. "Commander Bartlett, I leave this decision with you."

Michelle pondered for a moment, looking at Meru and looking at J'Loni. She finally looked at the panel. "Proceed." she said. "There's also a Marine I can assign to watch over her. We'll keep the ship on high alert and continue to secure all areas.

"Thank you, ma'am." Meru said.

"As for Commander Bowman, what do you want us to do in the meantime?" Michelle asked.

"Continue to obey all reasonable orders given by her. She is the Commanding Officer for the moment. Which I intend to rectify once this mission is over. She must not know that she's being watched."

"Sirs, with respect to assigning a marine to watch Bowman, your current ranking Marine is Klingon, who, at this point in time I have not established which house he belongs to, it would not only be impracticable and unwise to let him know of our meeting and intentions. I trust the Assistant Chief of Security, Lt. Mok'Tor, to watch Bowman. He knows how to shadow and if she is indeed the saboteur, being Klingon would not arouse her suspicions. What we don't need here, is for either of them to bolt. Also I would like permission for Lone Wolf to accompany me through out the ship. I know it is not normal procedure but during our investigations it is warrented. Sheba can remain in engineering while Lone Wolf is with me", she stated.

"I can accept that recommendation." Michelle said. "If it satisfies you, sir." she said to Jason.

"Do it." Jason said. "Anything else I need to know?"

"The crew is... struggling through this. I'm at a loss as to how to make it easier on them. I just know Bowman won't." Michelle said.

"Ross was their CO for 6 years, Shelly. You can't expect them to be back to normal 24 hours after the fact." Jason said. "Be patient with them."

"Then sirs, I will make the appropriate measures in engineering and teach both wolves what the need to know. Lone Wolf will accompany me throughout the ship leashed of course", she said, as she stood to leave. "As soon as I hear from Qu'noS you will notified immediately", she added.

"Works for me. I'll let you get back to the conference, and I'll resume my watch." Michelle said. "Anything else we need?"

"I'll let you know how things are going here." Jason said. "Good luck." he said as the Dalacari emblem appeared on the screen

"I have preparations to make and continue repairs and other items that need be made. I will contact you when my grandfather communicates with me again. Quap'la to all", she said as she left the observation lounge.

"Keep an eye on Bowman, Commander." Meru said. "Cardassian operative or not, I don't trust her. I think if nothing else, she's colluding with the Organization."

"That's the part that makes no sense. Her father's death pushed her in that direction? Her family have been loyal to Starfleet for years. Her great-grandfather did security detail at Khitomer. But you're right. Something's up with her, I just wish we were addressing it in different circumstances." Michelle said.

"We don't always get to pick and choose when we confront problems, ma'am. Ask any Bajoran if they were happy that amid a war and still shaking off the trauma of the Occupation, we learned the spiritual leader of our people was a traitor. Bajor has never been the same since."

Michelle nodded. She knew the Chief was right... "I'll talk to you later this evening. Let's get back to work."

Lt. Cmdr. J'Loni Mo'Bri
Assistant Engineering Officer
USS Wellington

Commander Michelle Bartlett
Acting Executive Officer/Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Wellington

Lt. Cmdr. Meru Alennis
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Wellington

Commodore Jason Myers
Task Force Commanding Officer
Starfleet Command