99 Problems and the Pandora Is One

Posted on Fri Jul 17th, 2020 @ 6:30am by Admiral Audra Milne
Edited on on Sun Dec 6th, 2020 @ 9:37am

Mission: The Evils Within
Location: Earth - Starfleet HQ

ON:

The night had set in across the San Francisco city, the lights of Starfleet HQ twinkling like the stars in the sky. In a private meeting room on the fourth floor of one particular Starfleet building, an officer and an Admiral were in deep discussion.

"How long has the Pandora been out of contact?" Rear Admiral Milne asked, concern across her face.

Milne was the new chief of operations for the Inconnu Expanse - a battle-born former Captain who had risen through the ranks of Starfleet due to her strategic prowess and ability to structure a fleet with deft precision. She had been tasked with taking over the Expanse's mission after the previous Fleet Commander, Fleet Admiral Lastey Vincent, had so severely underperformed and acted so recklessly that lives and ships had been lost. Poorly executed plans, gross inadequacy, promoting friends over qualified officers. In a short period of time, Fleet Admiral Vincent had run his fleet into the ground and there had been casualties as a result. The Federation would have lost the whole Expanse had it not been for diplomats crafting the Access Agreement, managing to at least maintain peace in the sector for a while and saving Starfleet personnel. But now that very peace was under threat from another of her predecessor's grand ideas.

"Two weeks now." Commander Pa'tall reported, standing firmly at attention in front of his superior. He had been Milne's XO and confidante while they served together. He had no desire to command on his own, and thus followed Milne into HQ to continue to act as her advisor and faithful lieutenant. "Admiral Thac covertly contacted the ship while they were on-course to the Carnwennan Corridor, we believe to investigate the distress signal coming from the Hesiod Region. Thac used several communications relays and high security channels to hide his actual location, so we don't know for sure where he was or what he said. We do believe he instructed the Pandora to hide their location as they went off-line from Federation sensors after the call was made."

"And how long has Admiral Thac been avoiding us?" Milne asked, her disdain for the man clearly evident.

"We can't know for sure how long he's been using relays." Pa'tall shrugged, "His ship is apparently within the Gavarian Corridor, but we've not been able to establish firm contact. They are resisting orders to return to Federation HQ. Former Admiral Vincent claims to have no knowledge of his activities or whereabouts."

"Bullshit." Milne cursed. "Vincent and Thac are covering up something, I can smell it." Milne declared, as she tossed a PADD over to Pa'tall. "Look at this resource list. Countless amounts of supplies, construction equipment, terraforming technology - not to mention people have been diverted into the Expanse under Thac's command with no official record. I can't get anything out of Science or Intelligence other than a highly classified research document which has no discernible information on it. They can't tell me what was being built or why. The only thing they can tell me is that it was going to the Hesiod Region."

"Do you think Science and Intelligence aren't telling you something?" Pa'tall asked, his brow furrowed. "On purpose?"

"I hope not." Milne sighed, "Though, I believe they genuinely don't know. The official reports that were submitted are a labyrinth of misdirections, each one referring to another report, which refers to another report, which refers back to the original report somehow. The finer details granted Thac the ability to do whatever he pleased, with a 'post eventum' clause to justify the initial approval. It takes a lot of orchestration to write reports that deliberately tell you nothing. Everyone's busy pointing the finger at each other because they're being lead to believe someone else is to blame."

Pa'tall let out a deep breath, "I'm not sure I like what that implies, Meg."

"Me either." Milne sighed, "The only clear information we have is a distress signal coming from Hesiod and the Pandora appearing to head that way. Which leads me to conclude that whatever they are up to, it's happening there. I know that's where the Pandora will be."

"Where does Admiral Francis fit into all of this?" Pa'tall asked, not sure he wanted an answer. "He's also fallen off the radar like the Pandora, right?"

"Into the Bermuda Triangle you mean?" Milne scoffed. "I don't know. Starfleet assigned him to the Expanse but he was under Thac's command, who knows what he's been up to. I certainly won't believe anything he had to say at least."

Milne had been given the impossible task. After it came to light that Fleet Admiral Vincent was not capable of holding the job, he was quickly retired from the role. However, without evidence that he had purposely done anything wrong, the old brass within Command were hesitant to act. It was embarrassing enough that a person they had promoted to oversee the Fleet had managed to mismanage the job so badly that lives were lost, so they were unwilling to admit that actual corruption could have occurred as well. The matter of Thac and the mysterious science facility were swept under deep under the rug. Though some wanted investigations and arrests, Starfleet wouldn't act without evidence of wrong-doing, and wrong-doing couldn't be proven without an investigation, and an investigation would hurt Starfleet's reputation and ability to operate. So Command debated the subject, paused for lunch, and later tasked Milne with the job of cleaning up the Expanse mess without ever admitting there was a mess to clean up.

Milne sighed heavily. She sat down in her chair and rested her elbows on the table, rubbing two fingers into her temples with eyes closed. Pa'tall meanwhile flipped through the PADDS, trying to find some kind of information.

A thought struck the Commander, "Why the Pandora?" He asked.

"Hmm?" Milne replied, not opening her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Why would Thac ask the Pandora to investigate the Hesiod distress call?" Pa'tall said with a shrug, "If that is where Thac has built his super-secret science facility, which he and Former Admiral Vincent are so keen to cover-up, why send the Pandora to find it?"

Milne opened her eyes, she considered the thought, "Without Vincent protecting him, Thac can't move from the Gavarian corridor. He would have to send someone he thought he could invite into this scheme, perhaps? Someone he believed he could manipulate, or already had."

"The Pandora?" Pa'tall questioned, a look of disapproval. "But they have no history with Admiral Thac. Thac was a nobody until six months ago when Vincent suddenly promoted him, and the Pandora has been in the Expanse for years. Also, from what we have seen, the Pandora is making a difference in the region. Even if they followed his instructions to fly off the radar, I don't see them joining Thac's scheme entirely."

Milne raised an eyebrow, "Have you seen Captain Temple's records? It has S.I. all over it. The rest of the crew is no better. Griffin, Brennan, Mindo, Nash. There are more holes in their service records than Swiss cheese. That ship is a who's who of Starfleet's problem cases, somehow banded together for the good of the Federation? I don't buy it."

Pa'tall offered, "A ship like that won't be easily manipulated. They're not going to follow Thac willingly."

Finally, Milne was given a reason to smile. "Of course!" She laughed. "Thac gets the distress call from his secret base and panics. He can't rely on Vincent anymore so he tries to clean up the mess himself. He thinks the Pandora will help him out and that is how we'll get him!"

"Sir?" Pa'tall stiffened, knowing Milne long enough to know when an order was forthcoming.

"Send the USS Palatine into the Hesiod Region. Tell Captain Rao he has permission to use Emergency Speed and get to the Pandora as soon as possible." Milne said firmly, a steely glare full of determination now. "Our number one priority is to find the Pandora, find out what they know, and use it to nail Thac and Vincent!"

"It's a plan." Pa'tall nodded, unwilling to admit he was quite excited by this course of action. Finally they would have the evidence to force Starfleet to act, and all of Thac and Vincent's secrets would come to light. "But what about the Pact? They will notice the Palatine's movement and they will get suspicious. Maybe even hostile?"

Milne could only shrug. She hoped that she wasn't sending the Palatine into danger to find the Pandora, but it was a risk they would have to take to bring both ships back to Federation space.

"I will deal with the Pact." Milne replied resolutely. "Get that ship home."

OFF