Too Vital A Mission

Posted on Thu Apr 16th, 2015 @ 11:59pm by Captain Arik Haldane & Commodore Yuri Slayton

Mission: The Night Cries
Location: Sector Control - Starbase R-6
Timeline: 2278.47: 0720hrs.

Captain Arik Haldane dragged his heaving bulk through the tight corridors of Starbase R-6, the control base for sector GS-0126 and the wider Southern section of the galaxy which was expanding all the time. The station was still to receive the refit it was due ten years ago and the whirs and whimpers from the control rooms irritated Haldane's ears.

Only a year before he had been in deep space but now he was stuck behind a desk leading the sedentary of a line officer. He looked down at his ever-growing girth shoved into the new red starfleet uniform. It hugged his body in all the wrong places but at least it wasn't as bad as his old tunic.

He rapped on the door of Commodore Yuri Slayton, dreading being the bearer of bad news. The Commodore had enough on his plate with the Klingon border skirmishes and the Gorn making erroneous claims on Cestus III without this.

Slayton had only just started flipping through the morning comms traffic that his adjutant had helpfully compiled for him when he heard the heavy thumping on his door that could only be his Chief of Staff. "Come in, Arik," he said without looking up from the status report from the USS Copenhagen.

"Sir, I need to speak with you urgently." Haldane strode into the room and had dropped into a seat across the large, old fashioned desk. "It's about the Farragut."

The commodore dropped the report he was reading and looked up at Haldane with a grave expression. The Farragut and her mission was a project of Slayton's. He had long advocated for Starfleet to focus more on Galactic South and in recent years - since the founding of the colony on Cestus III - he had finally started to get somewhere. The Farragut's mission was a big step in expanding the Federation's presence in the region. If it failed, the consequences could be significant. Especially now that the Klingons were looking this way.

"What about it?" Slayton asked, fearing the worst.

"Captain Gunning is dead, sir." Haldane didn't really have much information beyond that. The message from Lieutenant Anderson at the Administration Complex on Cestus III had been short at best- designed to ensure it reached R-6 as quickly as possible no doubt but the only other information he had made a tragic loss into something of a much larger magnitude. "Murdered."

Slayton's mouth went dry and he felt his heart skip a beat. He knew Elsa Gunning as a colleague and recognised her as an outstanding starship skipper. His mind permitted him only the briefest moment of feeling for her loss before it started computing all the political repercussions of this. "Murdered?" he repeated, still not quite believing that part. "Are they sure it's murder?"

"They're quite sure, sir. Shot in the head, so I'm led to believe."

The commodore's mind kept working the politics. There was a good chance those opposed to the Farragut mission back in San Francisco - and even in Paris - would seize upon this as a way to delay or cancel the mission. That could set plans back years, potentially handing the upper hand in Galactic South to the Klingons. Yuri Slayton wasn't about to let that happen if there was anything he could do about it. He looked past Arik and out his office window into the inky void of space while he devised a way forward.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as an idea formed. "What's the status of the rest of the crew?" he asked.

"The rest of the crew are still alive." Haldane hesitated, unsure whether his own personal theory would be worth offering.

"Good," Slayton replied, penting his fingers and tapping his chin with the joined forefingers. While his mind clicked through some of the finer points in his developing plan he added, "It seems strange, doesn't it? A Starfleet captain murdered on Cestus."

"It doesn't sit right, sir. Gunning wasn't exactly a popular officer but I don't see any of ours doing something like this." Haldane pushed himself back into his chair until he was almost horizontal. "Is it possible that the motive is more... symbolic?"

Slayton raised an eyebrow, but kept his fingers still. "Someone sending us a message, you think?"

"It would stand to reason, sir. Someone telling us to keep our noses out of Galactic South. After all, there are a few governments, the Gorn and Klingons especially who know this part of the galaxy much better than we do."

"It strikes me as a little too ... surgical for the Klingons," Slayton mused, following his chief of staff's thought. "Maybe for the Gorn as well. The Klingons would take Gunning out by destroying the Farragut, rather than shooting her in the head. They're less interested in symbols than they are in satisfying their blood lust." He sat quietly for a moment before continuing. "But you're right, it does stand to reason. The question is, if it's not the Klingons or the Gorn - and we can't really rule them out - then who?"

"I don't know, sir." Haldane pulled his cheeks downward as he considered the question. An earlier, ill-fated expedition had come across a few races in Galactic South but none who would suggest any calculated ill-will towards Starfleet. "You know the brass back on Earth are going to pull the plug, don't you? They're going to see it as an unreasonable risk."

The knowing smile came back to Slayton's face as he peered across the desk at Haldane. "People like Morrow and Toval will leap at any excuse to shut us down," he said without bothering to hide his venom as he spat the names of two admirals who had opposed moving into Galactic South. "But Earth is a long way away and there are things we can do now to make it easier for Cartwright and the others to oppose them."

Haldane had seen this rebellious glint in Slayton's eyes before. "Like?"

"Launch the mission," Slayton replied with great relish.

"Sir?" Haldane began to protest, knowing that it probably meant a reprimand for them both.

"I'll promote the XO to captain," Slayton continued. "What's his name? Rathbone?"

Haldane checked the manifest record he held. He couldn't be expected to remember the name of every officer under their jurisdiction after all. "Rackham, sir."

"That's the one!" he said. "I'll promote Rackham to captain, order him to take command of the Farragut and her mission. Tell him to get out there as quick as he can. That way, by the time San Francisco figures out what's going on the mission has already kicked off." He shrugged and sat forward in his chair, looking very pleased with himself. "It's a lot harder to cancel a mission once it's already launched. If Rackham is already out there doing the job, that will give Cartwright and the others good leverage over Morrow."

"Are you sure that will work, sir?"

The commodore paused. This was when he usually started to feel doubts about plans he came up with. However, just like every other time in his career, he swallowed those doubts and pushed ahead anyway. It had worked for him so far, why would his luck change? "Not as sure as I am that if we do nothing, Morrow will kill this mission. What do you think, Arik?"

"I think it's worth the risk." Arik Haldane had never been much of a risk taker but the Commodore was right. If they did nothing and simply reported the facts, the Farragut would be on her way back to the Galactic Core before you could say 'five year mission' and the exploration of the South- prime expansion territory in the land war against the Klingons- would be set back another thirty years. "You're right in what you say. If we do nothing, they'll pull the mission."

Slayton grinned and tapped twice on the desk with his fist. "I do like it when we agree, Arik," he said. "Have orders for Captain Rackham drafted ready for my signature. We'll get them to him as soon as possible." He paused for a moment. "Also send a message to the Cestus police asking them to forward everything they have on the case to us. When that arrives, we'll inform Starfleet Command of what's happened. And tell Jack she's going to Cestus; she can make sure the local cops don't mess things up and supervise the repatriation of Captain Gunning's body."

Haldane stood and snapped to attention, a habit he hadn't shifted despite Slayton's refusal to stand on ceremony. "Aye aye, sir."

---

Commodore Yuri Slayton
Regional Operations Chief

Captain Arik Haldane
Regional Operations Chief's Chief of Staff
Starbase R-6