Prologue
"Admiral!
Admiral!"
It
was a warm in
On
the terrace of the Starfleet Headquarters cafeteria, Admiral Martha Nguyen
looked up from her meal across the terrace as Commander Derek Garrison, her
aide, came running towards her, waving his hands wildly. He came next to her
and was panting loudly: "Excuse me, admiral" He said. "But
there's something big happening..."
"Big?"
She frowned. "What do you mean by that?"
"We
have Captain Richardson on subspace. He'll have all the information you
need."
She
knew that her aide would never disturb her lunch unless something really
important was happening. She quickly followed him to her office where the face
of Captain Richardson was displayed on her computer screen.
"Captain?"
She sat down in her chair.
"Admiral,
good to see you."
"And
what circumstances are those?" She asked.
He
frowned: "Something very wrong is happening in the Klingon Empire,
admiral. Our long-range sensors have picked up a large armada of Klingon
warships, all of them ready for battle. We don't know its true intentions yet,
though. But somehow, I doubt they're thinking of scientific research."
"Are
they heading anywhere?" She asked.
"Strangely,
they're headed for Qo'Nos."
"The
Home world?" She frowned. "What are they up to?"
Suddenly,
Garrison came into the office: "Excuse me, admiral. But someone is here to
see you."
"Who
is it?" She asked. "Tell him I'm busy."
"It's
Rear-Admiral Patrickson, he says it's urgent."
"Patrickson!"
She blinked. "Okay, bring him in."
She
turned to
Patrickson
stepped into her office as she closed her computer; Garrison closed the door of
the office and left the two of them alone.
"Patrickson,"
She smiled. "Please sit down."
"Nice
to see you again, Martha." He dropped into the chair on the opposite side
of the desk from her.
"I'm
really busy, you know." She said. "There's something that's happening
in the Klingon Empire that's..."
"It's
precisely because of that that I'm here." He interrupted gently.
She
frowned: "Really? How could you already..." She stopped; she had
forgotten that he was part of Starfleet Intelligence. "Right..." She
said slowly.
"Yes,"
He smiled, as if reading her thoughts. "I have been informed by some
sources within the Empire of a large conspiracy. It seems that a small annoying
terrorist group has revealed itself to actually have tentacles reaching into
the Klingon Empire's government itself...What is happening in the Empire is no
longer a terrorist-hunt; we're looking at a civil war."
"What?!"
She stared at him. "What are you talking about?"
"I
suppose you didn't read the report on the
"No...I
try to stay away from reports dealing with the Klingon Empire." She said.
"Well...There
have been several terrorist bombings in the Empire recently. The terrorist
group was known as the
"But
that means..." She scratched her head. "That means that we can't
intervene..."
His
eyebrows rose: "What do you mean?"
"If
the
"...Prime
Directive..." Patrickson finished. "Of course..."
"The
Federation can't intervene," She said.
"Yeah...And
if we ask the council to bend the rules it will take months before something
happens; and by that time the River of Blood will have taken control of the
whole Empire." Patrickson crossed his arms. "There is only one
solution..."
"Which
is...?"
"Starfleet
Intelligence is going to intervene." He said. "I'll get some
operatives to team up with Klingon Intelligence and we'll do everything in our
power to stop them from getting to Qo'Nos."
"How
will you manage to?" She asked.
"I
don't know..." He said. "We just need to hope for the best. If the
She
nodded: "Okay...Then let's hope for the best, then."
He
nodded and left the room.