The Phantom of the Operation
Posted on Sat Aug 29th, 2020 @ 3:09am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Commander Owen Nash & Admiral Gordon Francis & Captain Tobias Rao & Admiral Audra Milne
Edited on on Sun Dec 6th, 2020 @ 9:36am
Mission:
The Evils Within
Location: USS Palatine - Ready Room
ON:
Having left the rendezvous with Mauricio several hours previously, Owen made sure to push the engines of the Severn as much as he dared to get both himself and the real Admiral Francis to the Hesiod System. Now that the pieces of the puzzle were falling in place and the Admiral was with him, Owen knew that he had to get to the system as fast as he could and to try and contact the Pandora.
He was lucky that the trip had gone quietly so far, however, that wasn't a given that it would be that way once they arrived. A sensor beeped for attention at the pilot's console and Owen smiled as he checked its readout.
"Admiral, we're entering the Hesiod System," he said as he pulled the Runabout out of warp but keep the Danube Class vessel at maximum impulse. Once they passed the marker, Owen started to scan the system.
"I'm going to try and locate the Pandora, all being well that she's still here," he said.
"If I remember my briefing right," said Admiral Francis, "there are two planets in the system, known informally as Hesiod Blue and Hesiod Green. My instructions were to head to Green. That's where the Pithos facility should be, and that's probably where the Pandora is."
Owen nodded as he read the data coming back from the readouts and also listened to the Admiral. "I'll take us towards Hesiod Green and see what we can find there," he said. As he made the course adjustments on the console, suddenly the sensor screen gave out an alert. Owen looked over and re-checked the readout before he reported back on his findings.
"Well, I'll be a... Admiral, you said the Pandora was ordered to go to Hesiod Green? Owen asked.
The Admiral shrugged. "Until today I didn't even know Pandora was in the area."
"Well, I'm picking up a Federation Starship in orbit of Hesiod Blue and... there seems to be a small outpost set up on the planets surface," Owen said as he tightened the scanning range further on the sensors as the Runabout headed towards Hesiod Green. "My god, its the USS Palatine, its Captain Rao's ship!"
"Tobias?" said Francis with a small grin. "Now what's he doing here? And where's the Pandora? Can you hail the Palatine?"
Owen nodded as he responded an "Aye, sir" before opening hailing frequencies. "USS Palatine, this is the Federation Runabout USS Severn calling, please respond." Allowing for a pause, Owen continued. "USS Palatine, this is the Federation Runabout USS Severn calling, Commander Owen Nash calling, please respond."
On the Bridge of the Palatine, Commander Morgan stood at the Operations Station as he heard an alert for an incoming hail. Looking up, he reported to Captain Tobia Rao.
"Sir, we're receiving a hail, on a standard Starfleet frequency," Morgan reported. Her re-checked the console twice before making sure he believed what he was seeing.
"A Starfleet frequency? Who is it that's calling?" asked Rao.
"Its Commander Nash, sir, from the Pandora, he's signalling from a Runabout, the USS Severn," Morgan continued. Rao stood up from the conn as he gave the order to open a channel in return.
"Channel open, Captain," Morgan advised.
"USS Severn, this is Captain Rao of the USS Palatine, how may we assist you? whats your business in this area?" Rao asked.
Owen let his head drop a little in relief before answering back. "Its good to hear your voice, Captain, and its good to know that there are friendly in the area, " Owen said. "Permission to being the Severn on board the Palatine sir, I have an important package on board with urgent delivery instructions."
Back on the Palatine, Rao pointed at Morgan and nodded. Morgan sent a message to the Shuttlebay to prep for an incoming arrival as Rao continued. "Understood Commander, you are clear to land. Come in safely and I'll meet you there myself, Palatine out." As soon as he finished his message, Tobias left the bridge via turbolift and made his way to the Shuttlebay.
Back on the Severn, Owen closed off the channel and looked at Admiral Francis. "I'm very happy that we have some people in the area we can trust," he admitted. "With the Palatine in the area, the Pandora must be nearby. She's been a support vessel to us for the entire time we've been in the Expanse and I can say with confidence that we can trust Captain Rao."
Admiral Francis nodded. "I'm familiar with Captain Rao, and I have the same confidence."
Owen set course for the Palatine and moved the impulse engines to maximum to close down the distance between the Severn and the Palatine. Soon, the Runabout had landed inside the Palatines Shuttlebay and the two officers were guided towards the Conference Room to speak with Captain Rao.
Once the Runabout had landed, both Owen and Admiral Francis were ushered to the Conference Room quickly and at the same time escorted by a security team on their journey there. Once inside, one of the security officers guided them to several seats at the large table, where there was a tray of water and various drinks options waiting.
Several moments later, Captain Rao entered the room and nodded to the security officer. "Thank you Haines, you can leave now, secure the room at both ends and make sure we're not disturbed," Rao ordered. Once Haines was out of the room and two single beeps were registered that the room was secure at both ends, Rao stayed standing.
"Owen, what the bloody hell have you and Temple gotten yourselves into? Where the bloody hell have you been for two weeks? You do realise that Starfleet Command has you down as AWOL?" Rao fired the questions at his friend but also knew there would be good answers coming back as well.
Owen smiled. "Why, Tobias, I never knew you cared," he said with a smile. "Ok, I'll come to the point, I've been on a personal mission for Temple, related to this business regarding Admiral Thac and the Hesiod system...and I also stumbled across a very important lead whilst I was... AWOL as it's been put."
With that, Owen turned to present the other occupant in the room. "Captain Rao, I believe you know Admiral Francis?" he said.
Francis smiled as he shook Rao's hand. "Good to see you again, Captain. I wish it were under better circumstances. I'm sorry I don't have that bottle of Scotch I promised you the last time we talked. These days I seem to have been in two places at once."
Tobias smiled as he recognised Admiral Francis in the flesh and realised that they were amongst friends. It also meant that he was able to speak freely in the room, already knowing he could trust both men in the room. "Its good to see you too, Gordon. Its been a while," said Tobias.
Admiral Francis leaned over and examined the drinks on the table. "So what can you report, Tobias?" he asked as he poured himself a glass of iced zucchini water.
"Very well, we've been ordered here by Admiral Milne to locate the Pandora after shes been running silent for the past few weeks," Tobias explained.
"For some reason, it turns out that Rear Admiral Thac seemingly ordered them here and also ordered them to run silent. What we have found out is that there is a civilian temporary outpost on Hesiod Blue, however, it seems that the Pandora has landed on Hesiod Green after locating a secret facility there."
Tobias took a breath as he pressed a command on the wall panel behind him. He turned back around to face Admiral Francis and Owen.
"We're not sure yet what the reason is behind the facilities creation and operation, however, we do know that it's classified and that even with my access, I can't get any of the files open. They've been sealed by Rear Admiral Thac. In the meantime, we've been running active scans after the fighter squadron from the Pandora encountered Ravager resistance. We've provided support to them for now so that they are able to defend the cvilcian outpost and also make sure that there is fighter support should the Pandora re-appear. In the meantime, the Palatine has been ordered to stay in the area and provide support where needed."
Once he was finished, Tobias took a seat. "Now what the hell is going on here, gentlemen?" he asked.
Admiral Francis shrugged. "You've been here longer than we have. It looks like all our answers lie with the Pandora, and whatever's going on on Hesiod Green... which is where I'm supposed to be. Do you know anything of who's running the facility down there? In my short briefing with Admiral Thac, I was told to oversee a science facility in the Hesiod system. I was given only a little information on a PADD, which I studied for only a few minutes before I must have blacked out. I woke up in a shady establishment on Delavi. My communicator had been taken and for all I know, I was left for dead. I've spent the last six months trying to survive and find a transport to Hesiod. Most of the people there didn't even know what Hesiod was. Of course, I couldn't locate it on any star chart, because apparently it's so remote it's hardly been mapped! If it weren't for Commander Nash and Mr. Arnaldo, I wouldn't be here!" He shrugged and took a gulp of water and sighed. "That's what's been happening on my end," he concluded.
"Once we arrived in the system, we picked up the Palatine and were hoping that you had managed to get hold of either Captain Temple or the Pandora," admitted Owen, who was beginning to think the worst had happened to his home.
Tobias shook his head. "Unfortunately, all we know is that Admiral Thac was the senior officer in command who ordered the Pandora here," he answered. "We've still not heard anything more from the Pandora, however before you arrived we were signalling them on every Starfleet Friendly frequency we know of...its possible that..."
Before he could finish his thought, Tobias heard the inner comm beep for attention.
=/\= Rao here, go ahead. =/\=
=/\= Captain, we're getting an urgent subspace communication from Starfleet HQ. =/\= The voice of an Ops officer interrupted. =/\= Patching it through at your command. =/\=
=/\= Understood, make sure its on a secure transfer in this room, our eyes only. =/\=
On-screen came the troubled visage of Admiral Milne, clearly strained from what was turning out to be a very long day.
"Gentlemen, I have received your reports." She said immediately. "Admiral Francis, it is good to see you again. We had high concerns on your whereabouts."
Francis shrugged. "Being an experienced Starfleet Admiral, who has served on eight starships, two of which I was an XO, and one I commanded for eleven years, I've had ample experience dealing with new worlds and challenging situations. Yesterday, Commander Nash found me on Delavi, where I had been marooned for some time. He wasn't even looking for me. When I told him who I was, he insisted I was currently commanding officer in the facility on Hesiod Green."
As he spoke, Francis' tone slowly descended from its usual jovial timbre into dead ice.
"It's very hard to steal one's identity in this day and age. Yet whoever is on Hesiod did. Every report he made would have contained my signature and security code. If it didn't, it would have been flagged. And that's just under regular circumstances. When you're assigned to a top secret facility in the remotest part of the galaxy, there are even more policies to follow."
Francis' pace slowed a little as he continued. "I was found by accident. I had been on Delavi for the last six months. You didn't know I was missing until the last six minutes. And you tell me you - or 'we,' as you put it - have been concerned on my whereabouts? I find that very hard to believe, Admiral."
Milne raised her eyebrow, perplexed by the man's demeanour towards her. But she realised he had obviously been through quite a traumatic period, likely with very little sleep or peace for six months. So she paused before she answered, hoping to address his concerns instead of his tone. "Admiral, we were all concerned, and we are glad to see you well. I have a directive from Starfleet's CO and the Federation council to get you home safe as soon as possible." She tapped away at her PADD and sent the message over subspace relays to the Palatine as proof.
"From our perspective," Milne sighed, "the last time we had any substantial contact from you is when you left Earth to investigate the Pithos facility. After that, you - or, whoever was imitating you - was only giving us vague reports from Pithos. 'Everything fine' one said. Another was, 'All operational'. We immediately noticed the lack of detail and thoroughness you are known for and flagged this with Bravo Fleet Admiral Vincent and Task Force commander, Admiral Thac. They both dismissed our concerns and said we should trust your judgement. However, as time went on, records also showed you made no attempts to contact your family either. It was entirely at odds with your usual behaviour, and those who know you started to speak more vocally about it. Anytime we did, Vincent or Thac would show us a new message from you, or whoever it is on Pithos, insisting everything was fine."
She shifted slightly as she continued, "Unfortunately, only a few people knew Pithos existed. Trying to convince Command to review the operation in the first place was incredibly difficult, as I'm sure you recall. Vincent and Thac controlled the entire situation, even as we kept asking questions. When we received the distress call from Hesiod, they tried to cover it up, claimed it was an error. However, we discovered that Thac had dispatched the Pandora to investigate the SOS and the Pandora itself had disappeared off all comms and navigation charts. Finally, this was enough evidence for Command to suspend Vincent and Thac and appoint me to find out what was going on. We actually had no idea if you were involved with the former Admiral's plans, as it seemed as if you were working with them, but we were deeply concerned nonetheless. I apologise that Starfleet has failed you, Admiral Francis."
Francis shook his head. "I protested promoting Thac to Admiral. I never thought it would come back to bite me. Or in this case, nearly kill me." He sighed. "As far as your apology goes, I'll accept it when I see Vincent and Thac court-martialed and stripped of rank."
Milne nodded, "A salient point, Admiral. Right now, Vincent is denying everything and blaming the whole operation on Thac but Thac has gone AWOL. We have Starfleet Security on the hunt for him, however we can't charge either of them without proof. Proof that Pithos operated outside of Federation law, that both Thac and Vincent are culpable for everything, and that they have tried to cover it up. While there are a number of us within Starfleet who are supporting a full investigation, it's likely this will be the biggest internal scandal Starfleet has faced in decades. We don't know who else might have been working with Vincent and Thac, or how deep the collusion goes. That's causing many others to become... timid, to say the least." She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "They will not act without proof and if that proof isn't substantial enough, they may still try squash the investigation in order to protect Starfleet's image."
Francis grunted. "It wouldn't be the first time. But it's going to be hard to rebound from this mess without my own head on the line. I will not be a scapegoat in this. Not after what I just went through. Heck, I'll take Thac out behind the barn and teach him a lesson myself if I have to."
"I believe there's already a line forming for that particular privilege," Milne remarked.
Owen decided to speak up, seeing an opportunity to assist both Admiral Francis and Admiral Milne. He stood up from his seat.
"Admiral's, with your permission, the situation seems clear. We need to find Captain Temple and the Pandora. Knowing the Captain as I do, he will have taken scans of any activity or facilities on Hesiod Green and those will have been securely logged in the Pandora's database," he explained. "Once you have that evidence, that should go a long way towards exposing Thac and also exonerating Admiral Francis here. May I even be as so bold to suggest that its also possible if the Pandora is on Hesiod Green and Thac is there, he could use her as a means of escape. If Captain Temple suspects any foul play, I know he'll act accordingly, even if that means detaining Thac."
At this suggestion, Tobias also spoke up. "Admiral, I agree with Commander Nash. If Thac is down there and decides to use the Pandora as a way of escape from Hesiod Green, The Palatine will be escorting the Pandora out of the Expanse...Should he wish to try and make an unexplained exit, both starships have the tools and capability to stop that from happening."
"You don't have to tell me about ships' capabilities," Francis said. "But how do we know Thac doesn't have an ace up his sleeve? From what I've seen, he's a pretty crafty little worm."
"If he is down on Hesiod, somehow, then we have underestimated his... tenacity." Milne nodded, "And it leads me to believe that this conspiracy could be far deeper than one rogue Admiral. He must have been working with others, not just Vincent. To pull off such a stunt would be unprecedented." She sighed heavily and rubbed her temples at the mere contemplation, "We've had defectors before, individuals putting themselves before the greater good of the Federation, but nothing like this. An entire Fleet of our operations, the whole Inconnu Expanse mission, has been compromised. It will take more than sensor logs and testimony. We will need Thac. Alive."
Admiral Francis nodded. "Agreed."
"Then I'll make sure that happens," Owen said. "If Thac doesn't know that either Admiral Francis or the Palatine is here, then we hold surprise as our advantage," Owen explained. "For all intense and purposes, I've been on leave for the past few days, so why would I turn up early on the Pandora? its normal for a senior officer returning from leave to locate their starship and return back to duty. If Thac is down there, or onboard the Pandora...then I can grab him or make sure that Captain Temple keeps him there."
"See that you do; he is the key to bringing down this whole conspiracy." Milne replied. "I'll leave you now to prepare. I am attempting to send as many ships as I can to your region, but Thac had them so spread out, it could be days before the nearest vessel arrives. Send me updates as soon as you have more information, or if you manage to make contact with the Pandora."
Owen nodded. "Understood, Admiral," he said, knowing what he had to do next. Return home.
"Admiral, as ordered, the Palatine is standing by. We'll support Commander Nash in his mission and also be ready to assist the Pandora," Captain Rao confirmed.
"Very well. Milne out." The Admiral gave a firm nod and the screen reverted back to the Starfleet insignia.
OFF
