Chapter Two
The
shuttlebus filled with Bolian
tourists was very noisy. Little children ran around screaming as their parents
tried in vain to stop them. One of the kids ran up and almost took out the eye
of lieutenant commander Sutter who sat at the back of the bus.
As
the bus entered
A
few moments later, the bus stopped and she stepped off along with a few Bolian tourists who immediately began taking 3-dimensional holo-pictures of the massive Starfleet complex.
Janna
walked quickly to the main complex of Starfleet where most of the directors of
Starfleet Intelligence worked. The building wasn't the biggest, strangely enough, but-like for Janna-when you knew what happened
inside, it seemed to be, by far, the biggest building.
She
stepped up to the front entrance where two security guards stood, their hand
phasers in their pockets. When she approached them, the one on the left, a Tellarite, asked her for identification.
«
I'm lieutenant-commander Janna Sutter from the USS-Montreal. » she said.
The
two guards exchanged glances then the Tellarite gave
her a nod : «
You may enter, please wait in the waiting room. Someone will come get you. »
She
entered and sat down next to a man reading some trashy magazine that the people
in charge of the H.Q. left so that people could pass the time reading 'news'
about how the Federation is about to go to war with the Bolians,
then half-way down the article the writer abruptly stops because he realizes
that the Bolians are actually part of the Federation.
She
decided to rest a little, she closed her eyes and let her head fall slightly
back against the back of the chair.
A
few minutes later, she was kicked out of her daydreams by the voice of the
officer sitting next to her, he had evidently gotten
disgusted of the magazine and put it back down.
«
Are you all right ? » he asked as her eyes fluttered
open.
She
smiled : « Yeah...I was just trying to rest, I haven't
slept for a full day. »
«
Oh. Well, sorry... »
«
No it's okay. I'd love some company. »
He
held out his hand : « I'm lieutenant George Samuels. »
« Pleased to meet you. I'm lt.-commander Janna Sutter. » she
took his hand.
«
So, why're you here ? » he
asked.
She
opened her mouth and then realized that she couldn't say a thing about her true
reason to being here, so she said : « I was here to
meet a Rear-Admiral about my new assignment... »
«
You don't know what it is ? » he seemed suspicious.
«
Uh...nope. » she smiled.
He
frowned and leaned closer to her, his voice was little above a whisper : « I think I know why you're here. »
«
You do ? » she asked, also in a whisper.
«
You received the message, the Team 1 message. »
She
hesitated, did she know she could trust this person ?
Was he also a part of Team 1 or was he a spy ?
«
I know...In fact... I'm rear-admiral Patrickson. »
«
What ? » she stared at him.
He
smiled : « Ranking members of Starfleet Intelligence
never show themselves as their real selves in public. I can only wear my real
uniform when I'm in the Starfleet Intelligence sector of the building. »
«
Oh... » she said. « Well, pleased to meet you, sir. »
He
nodded and added : « When the others get here, still
keep pretending I'm lieutenant Samuels until they're all here. You can never be
too careful. »
«
Why should we be careful here ? » she asked. « We're surrounded
by Starfleet and Federation members. »
«
Normally, I'm not supposed to by part of Starfleet Intelligence...To the eyes
of almost everyone in the Federation, I'm just any old officer. If anyone
discovered that I was Starfleet Intelligence it would be the end of my career,
both with SI and Starfleet. »
«
I still don't understand. » she said. « Surely people can recognize your face
when they see you dressed up as a lieutenant. »
«
This isn't my face. » he smiled.
She
frowned and shrugged, brushing away the extra questions she had for this
strange officer.
About
half an hour later, there were six more officers and a civilian in the waiting
room, some of them conversing calmly. Janna glanced at Patrickson
and he gave her a wink. She nodded and they both stood up. They went near the
seven other people and Patrickson started telling all
of them in a very low voice : « Please follow me. »
Some
of them hesitated but soon all of them were following the disguised
rear-admiral to the lift. They all stepped inside, Patrickson
said to the computer : « Top floor. »
«
Requires command authorization. » said the computer.
Patrickson punched in a code on a side panel and the lift
slowly started moving.
«
Now. » he said loud enough so everyone could hear. « I suppose you all know why
you're here. The subspace message assembling Team 1. »
They
all exchanged a few looks and then their attention went back to Patrickson who smiled : « Yes, all
of you, you are Team 1. »
A
man with black hair and a commander's rank insignia asked :
« And who are you ? »
«
I'm rear-admiral Patrickson. »
«
You sure don't look like an admiral. » a woman civilian said. She looked in a
very bad mood.
Patrickson gave a small smile to the woman, then grabbed
his ear and ripped it off. Everyone stared at him in amazement.
«
I'm not actually a lieutenant. » he explained, looking very strange with an ear
missing. « I am an admiral, I need to disguise myself
so that nobody knows I'm with SI. »
The
lift stopped at the top floor and everyone stepped out with the one-eared
admiral in the lead, he started ripping off other pieces of his face and
dropping them in his pockets. When they got to his office he had almost taken
off the whole of his fake-face.
The
office had exactly eight chairs for each of them and one at the desk. The large
window at the opposite end of the room was obviously stainglass
so no one could see through.
«
Please be seated. » Patrickson said. « I'll be back
in a few moments. »
The
eight people sat down and waited patiently. Janna studied all the people in the
room. One was a captain of rank, another one was a commander, besides the
civilian and a lieutenant, the rest of them were all
lt.-commanders.
The
rear-admiral stepped back into the room, his hair was clean and so was his face
from the strange clay used to make his other face. He was wearing an admiral
uniform and was a little shorter and older than his alias.
«
Well, I hope you're all comfortable. » he sat down at his desk and studied his
eight guests, suddenly, his eyes rested on the civilian woman. « Are you Agatha Burnel ? »
«
No. » she said bluntly.
He
raised an intrigued eyebrow : « Then who are you ? »
«
Sylvia Burnel. I'm her sister. »
Patrickson stared at her.
Burnel
smiled and said : « My sister disappeared two days
ago, strangely, one day before she did she told me everything about Starfleet
Intelligence and Team 1, et caetera... »
«
But your sister... »
«
Don't ask
«
So you decided to replace her. » he said.
«
She asked me. She knew you needed her for her piloting skills, she was sure I
would be able to satisfy you. »
«
How come I didn't hear of your sister's abduction. »
«
I don't have a clue... »
«
Great... » he muttered. « Well, I'll have to discuss this with my superiors but
I believe it'll be okay to accept you within Team 1...besides, you already know
about us, it'd be a waste of time to brainwash you. »
«
Happy to hear you say that. » she nodded.
« All right. » Patrickson
activated his terminal. « I'll just check if you're all here. »
He
studied the screen for a moment and said : « Captain
Kyle Anderson ? »
«
Present. »
«
Commander Alan Kline ? »
« Right here. »
«
Lt. commander Janna Sutter. »
«
Yes. »
«
Lt.com. Jennifer Mantion. »
«
I'm here. »
He
proceeded to ask all the names and all of them were there. Janna recognized the
name Simon Tarses from one of Clara's letters, he had
served on the
« Very good. Now, being part of Team 1, you know that you
are needed for perilious or covert missions. This
mission is a mix of both. A ship carrying a large supply of dangerous bacteria
and viruses failed to contact us after having entered the Bryson nebula. The
viruses on that ship are extremely dangerous and normally we should have
destroyed all our samples of the viruses. Of course, we didn't, neither did our allies but that's the way things go. »
Commander
Gregory Eskina asked : « What were you doing with the
samples ? »
«
We were studying them, » Patrickson explained. « A
team of highly experienced scientists were trying to make vaccines or any form
of defence against these killers. »
«
And what are we supposed to do ? » asked Tarses.
«
Find the ship, recover it if possible. If necessary, destroy it. We can't risk
leaving the ship in there for too long. The nebula is very close to Romulan and Ferengi territory. If the Romulans find the ship somehow.
Will be in deep trouble since we were supposed to destroy the samples, and the Ferengi are sure to steal the samples and sell them to the
highest bidder. »
« Simple enough. » Captain Anderson said.
«
I agree. » Patrickson said. « But don't be too
careless, some of the viruses on that ship have killed millions. I don't want
millions more to die. »
The
captain nodded and asked : « How will we get to the
Bryson nebula ? »
«
We'll provide you with a ship. The USS-Valiant, a Defiant-class
vessel. She's just been put into service. The crew of the ship is made
up of several Starfleet Intelligence officers, so they won't go babbling around
what they see. Still, you should try to be as distant as possible from the
crew. The less they know, the better. »
The
whole crew seemed a bit uneasy at that.
«
And due to a small, unexpected change: Miss Sylvia Burnel will be your
navigation specialist and conn since her sister is...absent. » Patrickson said. «We shall be investigating this matter
further…»
The
rear-admiral stood up, as did Team 1. He studied them one last time then said : « A transport pod will come and pick you up in the courtyard, it'll bring you to
McKinley where the Valiant will be waiting for you. As soon as you're on
board, go straight to the nebula at full speed. I'll be in touch. » he turned
to Captain Anderson. « I am hereby making you captain of the Valiant.
Good luck. » Then he said : « Good luck to you all. »