Agents of Influence

by Dayton Ward

  “Captain Kirk,” said Lieutenant Brax over the still active communications frequency. The Endeavour security chief’s voice seemed more anxious than usual, even accounting for the present circumstances. “The Orions have succeeded in deploying something against the ship’s power systems. It appears to have drained all power from the starboard impulse engine.”

  Moving to stand next to him, Binnix said, “Uh-oh.”

  Over the link, Commander Katherine Stano added, “I can’t make contact with Captain Khatami or anyone else on the ship, but they may have their hands full right now.”

  Kirk felt his jaw clenching as he considered the possibilities as well as the ramifications. It was not as though the Endeavour had many contingency plans left to which they could turn if their current situation continued to deteriorate. If the new damage was extensive, this was more than a simple setback. It could very well place the crippled ship in mortal danger; even more so than they already faced, and perhaps more than could be overcome with the time and resources available to them.

  Work the problem, he thought, forcing himself to focus. Figure it out.

  “Commander Stano,” he said. “I suggest having Lieutenant Brax detail some of his security people to erect a few emergency shelters out here. We can use them as a temporary brig. We’ll have to organize a security detail to look after them, but it’s probably better than bringing them inside.”

  The first officer replied, “Good idea, sir. No sense letting fifty more sets of lungs suck on whatever life-support we’ve got left in there.”

  “So I’m guessing a hot shower and a nice meal after a tough day at the office isn’t in my near future,” said Binnix.

  Shifting his position, Kirk turned to look back at the group of fallen Orions she had helped him neutralize. “Doesn’t sound that way. How about emergency rations and an interrogation?” He gestured to the Orion who had manned the device apparently responsible for inflicting further damage on the Endeavour. When he glanced to Binnix, he noted the woman with her artificial Klingon features was smiling.

  “Sounds like fun.”

  Kirk was unable to suppress a small chuckle before he said into his helmet pickup, “Mister Sulu, find Lieutenant McCormack, then ask Mister Brax to let you borrow a few of his security officers. I’ve got a job uniquely suited to your talents.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” replied the Enterprise helm officer. “On our way.”

  Binnix regarded him with obvious curiosity. “What are you thinking?”

  Kirk turned his attention away from the Endeavour, instead staring past the illuminated ground that surrounded the crashed starship’s hull and into the curtain of total darkness beyond. He tried to imagine what awaited them out there.

  “I’m thinking it’s past time we took control of this situation, rather than simply reacting.”

  Twenty-eight

  Stalking the Vekal Piltari’s command center, it was all D’zinn could do to keep her rising ire in check. Why did the dimly lit room feel even more cramped than normal? It made no sense, particularly given that most of her crew was off the ship. Several of the stations were unattended, leaving her alone with her pilot and two crew members at sensors and communications. Everyone else who had not already been detailed to Netal’s raiding party was in the engineering spaces, assisting with the ship’s final repairs.

  And yet, the command center was stifling.

  “Make another attempt to reestablish contact,” she snapped, forcing herself to will away the unproductive feelings her imagination conjured while she was forced to wait here while others acted on her behalf.

  Gonet, the young Orion male who at this moment in time had the misfortune of overseeing the merchant vessel’s communications systems, turned from the console with an expression of dread. “I am sorry, D’zinn. I have made five such attempts, with no success. The Federation ship appears to still be jamming our signals.”

  “Do not cease your efforts until you are successful, or I relieve you of that task. Find a way around that disruption.”

  His eyes widening in obvious fear, Gonet mustered a simple nod. “Yes, D’zinn.” He returned his attention to his instruments, leaving her alone to battle with her own thoughts.

  The Federation starship, despite its impaired condition, was still able to interfere with the communications between the Vekal Piltari and her second-in-command. Netal had not made contact since he and the team he assembled had departed for the asteroid and arrived on its surface. While she had no delusions of her crew being able to overcome the complement of a Starfleet vessel—even one in such dire straits as the Endeavour—she had been hopeful Netal and his team might find a way to exploit the situation for Orion benefit.

  That the vessel had survived its encounter with the Klingon warship was amazing. It was also something of a mystery. Her own ship’s comm systems had detected the starship’s distress buoy adrift near the Ivratis asteroid field’s outer boundary. Gonet along with her senior communications technician, Pimujin, were able to decipher its message thanks to decryption keys obtained from what D’zinn preferred to describe as an “unconventional supplier.” The narrative provided by the buoy painted a rather different picture from what she now knew to be true. The message logged by the Endeavour’s captain indicated she was aware her ship was facing imminent destruction, and indeed the device’s own sensors had recorded the detonation of the vessel’s warp engines. Not present in that data was the survival of the ship’s saucer-like main hull section and its crew. So far as D’zinn could surmise, this was a deliberate attempt at misdirection on the captain’s part. Why had she lied about her fate and that of the people she commanded? Perhaps the Starfleet ship had been participating in some type of secret mission that required official deniability in the event it suffered unfortunate circumstances?

  That they had found the ship at all was also another noteworthy feat. For that, she credited Melac, the eager, young, and recent addition to her crew. It was he who caught a fluctuation in the Vekal Piltari’s sensor data that was so slight even those with far greater experience with such equipment might have missed it. Thanks to his diligence, they discovered the four automated Starfleet buoys deployed around the rim of the massive canyon on the asteroid that turned out to be the Endeavour’s hiding place. Despite the best efforts of the Starfleet crew to conceal their presence, Melac found them. Perhaps it was luck or just good timing, but D’zinn could not argue with the results. Neither could she ignore the questions his find raised.

  Something here was amiss, hence her decision to allow Netal the chance to reconnoiter the situation and investigate opportunities to exploit for her benefit. After all, working with the Klingons was a temporary arrangement. There was also the distinct possibility their “partners of convenience” could choose to abrogate their agreement. D’zinn always preferred to plan for worst-case scenarios, so if this was such a case, she wanted to be ready. The Federation starship and whatever mystery it harbored might well result in an even more profitable venture, provided she was in a position to take maximum advantage of it.

  For that to happen, she had to talk to Netal.

  “What about our scans?” she asked, continuing to circle the command center’s outer periphery. “Are we still unable to penetrate the interference?”

  Turning from the main sensor station on the room’s left side, the muscled Melac replied, “Still nothing, D’zinn. Even with our modifications, the disruption here is very strong. In order to obtain clearer readings, we will have to move closer.”

  Maneuvering the Vekal Piltari closer to the asteroid where the Endeavour sought refuge, to say nothing of guiding the ship into the canyon, carried no small measure of risk. At last report, Tath informed her that while repairs were completed, there remained additional diagnostic tests before he could certify all of the restored systems as operational. The engineer and his team had been working nonstop in the wake of her ship’s encounter with the civilian transport she was certain was not at all wh
at it purported to be. Where had that troublesome vessel gone? There had been no sign of its departure from the asteroid field, at least so far as her ship’s scanners were able to determine. Was it still here, hiding somewhere? Experience and instinct told D’zinn that the ship was much closer than anyone else might suspect. Going to the canyon and confirming her suspicions would be most satisfying, she decided, especially when she ordered the Vekal Piltari’s weapons to destroy the Dreamline.

  “D’zinn.”

  Shaken from her reverie, she looked up to see Melac regarding her with new excitement as he motioned toward the sensor control station.

  “The interference blocking our scans,” he said. “It has vanished.”

  Uncertain how to interpret this news, D’zinn looked to Gonet. “The disruption of our communications has ceased?”

  “It appears so,” replied the harried young Orion. “All frequencies are clear. At least, the ones we’ve modified to function here in the asteroid field.”

  Moving around the command center to join him at the communications station, D’zinn gestured to the console. “Well? Attempt to reestablish contact.”

  Was he trembling? D’zinn watched the young male shift his position so that he once more faced the console. She noted how he flustered when she drew close, and had to remind herself that his youth and inexperience when coupled with her proximity might well be interfering with his ability to concentrate on his duties. Under any other circumstances she would have found the insecurity amusing, but this was neither the time nor the place for such nonsense.

  “Channel open,” Gonet said after several moments spent hovering over his controls. “I have made a connection to Netal’s dedicated frequency, but he does not respond to our calls.”

  Was he alive? D’zinn suspected that was the case. Barring accident or the belief that no other option remained with respect to personal survival, Starfleet officers were not in the habit of indiscriminate killing, in battle or even a skirmish such as the one she had sanctioned.

  Gonet held up a hand. “Wait. I am receiving an acknowledgment of our hail.” Pressing several controls in rapid succession, he looked to D’zinn. “It appears to be coming from Netal’s excursion suit communications link, but I do not believe it is him.”

  “What?” D’zinn glared at the younger male. “How is that possible?” Even as she spoke the words, she had her answer.

  “Put it through,” D’zinn said, frustrated that the suit systems did not allow for visual communications.

  Recessed speakers around the command center crackled before static cleared and a new voice pushed through the communications system.

  “Orion vessel, this is Captain Atish Khatami of the Starship Endeavour. We have captured your entire assault force that carried out an illegal attack on a Federation vessel. There were no fatalities among your people, and you have my word they’ll be treated well. However, rest assured this action will not go unanswered. The smart play for you right now is to withdraw from this area and take no further action against my ship. Do that, and I’ll see to it your people are returned to you as soon as possible. You’ve already caused one interstellar incident. Let’s not compound that mistake with another. There might even be a way to mitigate the damage already done here. Make the right decision.”

  “It is a recorded message, D’zinn,” said Gonet. “It begins again as soon as it ends.”

  Gesturing to the console, she released an irritated grunt. “Turn it off.”

  What was she supposed to do now? The bulk of her crew had participated in the raid, and if the Starfleet captain was to be believed, then all now were prisoners. She certainly did not have the resources to launch anything resembling a rescue mission, and attacking the Endeavour while Netal and the others remained in custody was out of the question.

  “You appear troubled, my old friend.”

  So lost was D’zinn in her thoughts that, until hearing his voice, she had failed to notice Tath had at some point arrived in the command center. Where had he come from? Turning toward him, she saw the engineer seemed even more weathered and tired than normal. The dark brown coverall garment he wore while tending to the Vekal Piltari’s engines and other systems was dirty and torn. His disheveled appearance was a testament to his efforts to repair the ship’s damage even while most of his technicians had been conscripted for Netal’s assault on the Endeavour.

  “As always, your gift for understatement remains unequaled. How long have you been standing there?”

  Tath maintained his usual composed demeanor as he nodded toward Gonet and the communications station. “Long enough to hear the message. Our options at the moment remain limited. While our repairs are completed, I would advise against taking this vessel into any sort of confrontation in its current state. Our reduced crew complement is but one more factor.”

  “I know.” D’zinn nodded. This was the sort of counsel she would normally seek from Netal, and in his absence she welcomed it from her longtime friend. The difference in age and life experience compared to hers often gave Tath a perspective she not only lacked but needed, depending on the situation. “There are larger issues demanding our attention. We attacked a Federation ship. Even if I could make a convincing argument that we believed it to be an abandoned derelict, the act itself brings with it the potential for serious consequences.” The Orion Syndicate’s efforts to present the appearance of neutrality were its utmost priorities. Ship captains who strayed from that mandate often found themselves disavowed, sacrificed as rogue agents operating without authorization. It was this deniability—fragile though it might be—that kept the Federation from dispatching the might of its Starfleet against Orion interests.

  Tath replied, “I am aware of the possible ramifications, but I do not believe we have yet reached that point. Tell me, has the Federation vessel made any attempt to call attention to potential rescuers?”

  The question gave her pause, and D’zinn realized her failure to consider that detail until brought to her attention.

  You fool!

  She grimaced as her own thoughts chastised her, but there was no excusing such a simple oversight. In the rush to survey the crashed ship, and with Netal’s plan to force its crew into a state of capitulation, she had missed a key aspect of the entire situation. Thanks to Tath, she now was able to consider things from a new, better perspective.

  “They were not simply hiding from the Klingons after that encounter,” she said, smiling at her friend. “The faked message. Using the warp-engine overload as cover to mask their movements. They could not afford to be found by anyone except whoever Starfleet sent to rescue them, which means they carry something of great value; something more important than even the ship’s technology, much of which already commands high prices among the different illicit markets.”

  Weapons and other systems to be found aboard Starfleet’s most advanced vessels were among the most sought-after items when it came to the numerous merchants with whom D’zinn did business. That by itself was enough to make her want to investigate the Endeavour and determine whether anything might be salvaged from the wreck. Even after finding the crash site, she knew at least some of the crew was still liable to be aboard, but none of its personnel had used the escape pods or shuttlecraft transports.

  “There is also the matter of the Enterprise,” she said. “So far as we have been able to determine, neither ship has made any attempt to contact the other. That alone is odd.”

  The asteroid field made it all but impossible to track the movements of the other Starfleet ship as it ostensibly carried out its search mission for the Endeavour. Still, there had been no indication it had sent out even general hailing messages in a bid to reach the other ship. Had Starfleet dispatched it to this region to confirm the vessel’s fate, or was there something more at work here? A hidden agenda—trying to find and rescue the Endeavour’s crew and whatever else of value it carried—might also explain the still suspicious activity of the civilian transport responsible fo
r causing her so much grief. D’zinn remained unconvinced that ship was what it claimed to be. The longer she pondered this, the more she believed its pilot and perhaps even its passengers were working in concert with the Enterprise to find the other starship while avoiding unwanted attention.

  “There is definitely more to this situation than we know,” Tath said. “For that reason alone, I recommend caution.” He paused, his gaze wavering for a moment to the deck plating at his feet before returning his attention to her. “We have already committed—and perhaps lost—far too much.”

  “Starfleet is not like dealing with the Klingons,” D’zinn replied. “We can at least be thankful for that.” She was confident Captain Khatami would hold to her word and see to it no harm came to Netal and the rest of her crew. This did not mean they would be returned to her, despite the Endeavour captain’s assurances. Such decisions would likely come from her superiors, who doubtless would take a great interest in this matter, but before that, the recriminations would come. There would be consequences for what she had allowed to happen here, of that she was certain. The Syndicate was rarely forgiving about such things.

  Compounding her problem was the inescapable fact that she could do nothing to salvage the situation. All she could hope was that the Federation might cast its ire on someone other than her own superiors; someone with an even greater incentive to avoid Federation and Starfleet scrutiny.

  The Klingons, she thought. This is their problem now.

  “Set a course out of the asteroid field,” she ordered. “We are leaving.”

  “D’zinn?” Tath’s tone was obvious. He could not believe what he was hearing. “Are you certain this is the wisest course?”