Jupiter Aligns for Mars

Chapter Four: Discovery

Summary: Prep continues for the upcoming festivities with the Rommies and of course that little transmitter issue. Special thanks to Putaro, who is helping as the beta and Kotik for his contextual help. Oh and Enterprise returns, be sure to read closely for Travis’s line(s).

Extra Note: I was informed that I have stolen another OC and managed to do it improperly. Lt. Rao was created by the queen of angst herself Alelou. She also created him as a him. Both Kotik and I in separate stories managed to somehow assume it was an original character and gave her a sex change operation. Oops. In my defense I have found that many of Alelou’s tales are so compelling they confuse my pea brain as to canon. I hereby offer an apology to Alelou. Sorry!

Disclaimer: Star Trek: Enterprise and its characters are copyright CBS/Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended by the author of this story, which is solely for the purpose of entertainment and is not for profit.

 “Coffee double strong black” said Trip to the dispenser. He grabbed his cup, spotted his companions alone at the Captain’s usual table and ambled over, thankful that Dr. Lucas had administered “just the thing”. He noted Donal and Malcolm were bright eyed and bushy tailed as well, Dr. Lucas was definitely worth keeping. The Captain looked immaculate as always. She had been long gone when he rolled out of bed 30 minutes ago.

“The question is, Captain, what ships are in system. We can’t take the chance that this may be tied to our comms,” noted Malcolm.

“Indefatigable, Inchon, Bern and Patagonia, I have contacted the Bern; it will arrive in one hour. It possesses the best communication facilities. We must contact Admirals Yamashita and Black. Commander Reed, meet me at the shuttle bay in 45 minutes. Commander Tucker, please explain our situation to Chief Litlitvinowitz after we have left.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Lt MacGregor do not brief the security department on the breach for the present. I believe we should operate as if nothing had been discovered.”

“As you wish, Captain.”

You’re really sexy when you take command honey. Trip followed up his thought by sending some good old-fashioned lust through the bond. The tips of her ears turned a slight green before he received the Vulcan equivalent of a cold bucket of water in response. Never mind, thought Trip.

Lt. Commander Lindstrom met T’Pol and Malcolm at the shuttlebay. “Welcome aboard Captain, Commander,” he said nodding at each in turn. “What can the Bern do for you today?”

“Please escort us to your conference room,” said T’Pol. “I will clarify following our arrival.”

Lt. Commander Lindstrom was taken aback, but the Vulcan was a captain so he led the way. After the doors closed, Malcolm looked to T’Pol. She nodded. He pulled a device from his pocket and walked slowly around the room nodding at T’Pol when he was finished. Lindstrom was obviously curious but said nothing. “May we use your comm unit, Commander?” asked Malcolm.

“Certainly, Commander.” His curiosity was piqued, but he hadn’t become the skipper of a starship by running his mouth.

Malcolm engaged the comm system and after entering a long series of codes Admiral Yamashita appeared. “Okinawa, sir” said Malcolm.

“Where are you now, Commander?”

“Aboard the Bern, sir, Captain T’Pol and Lt. Commander Lindstrom are here with me. The room is clean, comms are tight, sir.”

“Commander Lindstrom, you are about to become privy to some top secret material. I have found in my experience that if I ask you to leave now your curiosity may well run amok. Please remain. I suggest you begin thinking about what you will tell your crew. Captain T’Pol, why Okinawa?”

“Lt. Commander Reed and Lt. MacGregor have discovered a security breach on Jupiter Station. In short it appears our internal security system has been modified to store data from our own sensors. The system transmits the data off the station via burst. This was discovered last night. No attempt has been made to interrupt this process. We are continuing normal operations.”

Admiral Yamashita leaned back in his chair while reaching under his desk and said, “Hold.” Admiral Black walked into Yamashita’s office a moment later and took a seat. He nodded at the officers on the Bern. “Admiral Black, we have a security breach on Jupiter Station. It appears to be a passive system. No attempt has been made to disable it. I recommend sending Chin’s team to Jupiter Station. I further recommend that Enterprise be given warning orders for possible recall to the Sol System.”

“Agreed, keep me posted. Captain T’Pol, you will provide Lt. Chin and his team whatever resources they need. Well done. I will forward commendations for the personnel jackets of the appropriate officers.”

“Aye, sir.”

Yamashita continued, “Commander Lindstrom, dispatch a shuttle to StarFleet headquarters. They will pick up a small detachment. You may describe them as computer specialists. They are to transport them to Jupiter Station. Understood?”

“Yes, Admiral.”

“Well done, Captain. Use the name Ensign Mindanao in any normal transmission if you believe our efforts have been compromised. Yamashita out.”

“It is a simple yet ingenious design, Captain T’Pol.” Lt. Chin, had requested this meeting to brief both her and Commander Reed. “Much as you thought, it operates by sending out a tight beam signal. It compiles data for a standard week before it cycles. It then completely dumps the data. It conceals the records into the normal storage library in small, dispersed packages. It will take more time to determine where the data is being sent. It’s due for a send cycle tomorrow. It might be best to just let it. We can pirate the data to determine where it is being sent.”

Lt Chin continued, “Whoever is behind this seems only to be interested in the progress of the Challenger. Excuse me; this set of data packets is exclusively of that area. It is possible that there is an algorithm that changes the camera feeds and everything else. One question I have is how far do we go; the more we dig the more likely we will set off internal safeguards.”

T’Pol thought for a moment before speaking. “It seems the questions are: “Who is behind it? Where does the signal go? When did the program get into the system? How did the program get into our security system? Answers to these questions may allow us to infer why. Is it reasonable to assume this conference room is secure?”

“Yes, Captain.”

She hit the comm. “Buonavita, get Admiral Yamashita on a secure link.”

“Yamashita”

T’Pol quickly summarized the previous discussion. She continued, “The team has reverse engineered the program entirely, and has informed me that it contains an algorithm not as yet fully understood. We are 87.6% confident it generates the coordinates for the transmission. I recommend we allow the cycle to complete. It will allow us to determine where the signal is sent and if the instructions change. We can manually block the antenna from transmitting if required. Based on our estimated function of the algorithm, it will give us a week to find the receiver. Please note that Commander Reed has theorized we could spoof the data and leave the surveillance program in place. He does not recommend this action at this time due to the inherent risk. I bring it to your attention to let you know we considered the possibility. Lt Chin’s team is quite convinced that Commander Reed’s option is a ‘piece of cake’.

“Well done. I will recommend no action be taken until after the next transmission. Enterprise will be sent to the coordinates. If she can arrive before the following cycle I am inclined to wait again and see what she discovers. When will construction on Challenger recommence Captain?”

“We intend to begin this week sir.”

“That complicates things. I guess Enterprise will have a week to solve the mystery. When is the next transmission?”

“0400 hours tomorrow. We will have a vector by 0500 unless there are parameter changes.”

“I will contact Admiral Black. Make it happen. Yamashita out.”

“Lamarmora, get Higawa and join me in my ready room,” announced Captain Irene Buonavita over the comm.

“Aye, Captain.” He was confused, but followed his orders and five minutes later they were seated around her table.

“We will be receiving orders at 0500 hours tomorrow. They will direct us to a set of coordinates. The location is unavailable at this time, but we are to proceed at maximum sustainable warp. We are to provide Starfleet with our ETA.  There is a sub space receiver of some type there. Additional orders will be provided based on our answer. Commander Higawa, how are the engines?”

“Captain, I can delay some scheduled routine maintenance, it’s of no consequence. We can peak at warp 5.2 but best sustainable speed is 4.1.”

Alessandro spoke up, “Captain, I recommend bringing alpha shift in at 0400 tomorrow. Is there any additional information I can get to Lt. Rao?”

“I concur with the shift change. I haven’t got anything for Lt. Rao yet. That will be all, gentlemen.”

Enterprise was cruising at warp 4.1. The coordinates they had received had given them an ETA of four days three hours. Now the senior staff was gathered in the Captain’s ready room. “Our orders are to proceed to the coordinates and look for some form of receiver. It might be anything. Lt. Rao what is in that area of space?”

“Nothing. The Tellarite star charts show no systems within a few light years.”

“Lt. Rao, upon arrival, do not even scan the area. I believe the coordinates are specific enough to get a visual on it, possibly. How large must it be for us to see it?”

“If we go completely passive, we should be able to visually detect an object of one meter in diameter at 100 km. We are set to drop out of warp at a distance of 100,000 km. We should proceed on low impulse until we find it.”

“Okay, we have lots of time to think. Commander Higawa, let the bridge know immediately if the engines have any trouble.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I expect we will get additional information on the way.  Lt. Nguyen, are all weapons systems fully operational? I was told that we might encounter anything from a buoy to a hostile ship or ships.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Any questions that I can answer?” Heads shook and Irene smiled knowing they had lots of questions and she was short on answers. “Dismissed.”

After they left she leaned back in her chair. She actually knew a bit more than she had indicated although not much more. Admiral Black had told her of the discovery of the surveillance bug on Jupiter Station. She would receive whatever information they could collect to use at her discretion. There had been speculation that this might be the Romulans. Captain T’Pol had concurred, but had been quite insistent that such musings were pure speculation. She would like to have spent more time with Captain T’Pol; she seemed like a very smart lady, in addition to being Vulcan.

The info packet had arrived and Irene hurried to her ready room. She was a patient person, but heading into the unknown for two days was beginning to get to her. She opened the message from Starfleet and read through it. It told her nothing more than she already knew. She had hoped for more. The bottom line was that they did not want to possibly alert whoever was at the receiving end. She decided to go to the mess hall for a cappuccino, maybe with extra mocha.

Enterprise dropped out of warp on schedule and focused her optics on the suspected location. The atmosphere on the bridge was a bit tense, but her staff was performing well. Lt. Rao had asked and received permission for a second science officer to come on duty to monitor all of the ship’s other sensor gear while she focused on the visual. They progressed at one quarter impulse closing the distance.

“Got it, Captain.”

“Put it on the main viewer Lt.” She turned to the helm,  “Lt. Mayweather, please adjust course and let me know when we are within 100 km.”

“Aye, Captain.”

A dot grew in size until it became identifiable. “It’s a Starfleet repeater buoy,” said Lt. Rao. “What the hell is it doing here? Sorry, Captain.”

“No problem, Lt., I agree with you. Commander Higawa, is the special repeater ready?”

“Yes, Captain”

“Give your people a thank you for their efforts.”  She swiveled to face the science officer.  “Lt. Rao, deploy it. Lt. Mayweather, move us away from here at best speed. I want to comm Earth without that buoy picking up our transmission. Work out our new coordinates with Lt. Rao. I’ll be in my ready room.”

“Aye, Captain.”

An hour and 45 min later, Rao comm’d her. “We’re clear Captain”.

“Thank you. Tell Temple to get me Admiral Black. And put it through to my ready room.”

“It’s one of our buoys, Admiral.”

“What the hell is it doing there?” said Black. Irene could not suppress a smile. “I suppose I’m not the first person who said or thought that, am I?” Irene knew better than to say anything. “Back off from it, Captain.” He looked closely at her. “You already did, didn’t you? Good, we have a couple of days to decide what to do.” She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Hurry up and wait was the oldest truth in any military she mused.

“What the hell is that doing there?” said Trip, echoing the sentiment from many light years away. Trip, T’Pol, Malcolm, Donal and Lt Chin were gathered on the station in 8-3, the Captain’s conference room. On the monitor they watched Admiral Black roll his eyes, with a very human no shit Sherlock look.

Malcolm reacted first, breaking out with an uncharacteristic grin. “I think we’ll have a good piss take with ‘em, sirs. Especially if we can figure out a way for Enterprise to get coordinates for a forwarded signal.” His face changed suddenly realizing what he had said.

“Come again Commander?” said a smiling Black with a baffled look on his face.

“Sorry sir, we should attempt to fool them, sir,” contrition obvious on his face.

“How would you do that, Commander?”

“We simply replace their new data packets and send last weeks again. We could show a wee bit of activity if we wanted. I doubt anybody watching the progress here would notice.”

“I concur with Lt. Commander Reed,” said T’Pol. “I recommend we only do this once; we must terminate transmissions following this burst. Jupiter Station’s purpose is to build ships; we do not need the distraction.”

“Agreed in principle, Captain, but we will wait until after we discover where this repeater forwards the signal.”

Chin’s team quickly processed the directional instructions that Enterprise sent back to them. The coordinates for the new target were applied to the Tellarite map, and a collective apprehensive breath was taken. The new coordinates were near a system called Cheron, at the limit of the buoy’s range. It was almost a week’s journey for Enterprise to get there; it was also near the Orion Syndicate and Romulan declared space.

Admiral Yamashita was pondering the ramifications of this revelation. He, Admiral Black, and a few Coalition representatives, though strangely not Commodore Archer, he thought to himself, had come to Jupiter Station half expecting this result, but it had not made the revelation any easier to swallow. The Coalition had been informed of the penetration days before. The decision to apprise them of the situation had been taken quickly, although they both had wondered if Earth had forever lost her independence. It really hadn’t mattered though. They could hardly keep this secret. The Tellarites and Andorians were not surprised at the security breach, especially the Tellarites who revealed similar incursions discovered over the last few years. The Tellarites also applauded the Humans for their reaction. They had tipped their hand to soon and had not discovered the responsible party. The Andorians promised a vigorous security sweep of their own facilities, but agreed to hold off until this incident was resolved.

“Admiral Black,” began Senko “I caution against sending the Enterprise to the new coordinates. Without shields the ship is susceptible to boarding and/or kidnapping, let alone weapons fire.”

“Damn.”

“If I may, Admiral Black?” said Kindarn the Andorian Ambassador who held a PADD. “The Imperial Guard Battle Cruiser Dinesh can meet the Enterprise en route in approximately two days. They could either provide escort or take over the mission. We do not know what we will find near Cheron. That area of the quadrant is largely unknown to us.”

Ambassador Gral growled his agreement and Soval added. “If it is the intention of the Coalition to function together I suggest this is an opportunity. Enterprise has some deficiencies, but it has been successful in previous encounters. Two ships can provide mutual support for each other. I find it most disagreeable that Vulcan has no vessels within range to support the effort.”

“Tellar can have two ships to Cheron…” he punched a few keys on his own PADD, “two hours before the buoy cycles. Undoubtedly having them there is preferable.”

Yamashita watched as Hiram restrained himself from answering ‘Thank you Ambassador’ grunting in feigned disapproval instead. “I formally request assistance for the Coalition from both Andoria and Tellar. Unfortunately we do not know whether this is another relay buoy or a receiving station. I suggest we attempt to remain undetected. In the meantime we have a few days to establish secure communications.”

Soval began, “Admiral Black” Yamashita turned his head. “It may be time for the Coalition to begin to contemplate the assignment of liaison officers to each other’s ships.” Dubious looks around the table put pause to that idea.

Senko was pleased he had previously presented this possibility to Black. Black quickly responded. “I agree, Ambassador. I suggest we assign a working group including Commodore Archer to present a proposal.” Antennae twitched and nods and grunts followed.

The meeting continued, but Senko’s mind was elsewhere. When had Jupiter Station’s security system been compromised? His team had told him it had probably been installed during a system upgrade but how had that happened? Who had piggybacked it onto the upgrade? He had all his resources ready to go, but was waiting until the signal source could be traced. He had to assume the perpetrators might still be in place.

He smiled to himself. Harris had been chomping at the bit since Senko had abolished his autonomy. He was looking forward to having his reins loosened at least a bit. He hoped that Harris had learned his lesson, but doubted it. But he would give him the chance. He hoped the body count would only include the guilty.

“Captain,” said Lt. Rao, quickly turning around from her normal sensor station. “There is an incoming transmission targeted at the buoy.”

“Can you intercept?”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Captain.”

“Yes, Ensign Temple.” Swinging her head to the comm station.

“There is another transmission, it’s from Starfleet. Admiral Black sends ‘Continue to Terra Sigma’.”

“Ensign, is it likely the buoy received it as well?”

“No ma’am.” Irene was still pleased that they had worked out a series of codes. This one meant set course to the new coordinates. Future signals were to be routed from different repeaters, hopefully mitigating the possibility of interception by this buoy.

“Lt. Rao, can we broadcast without the buoy picking it up?”

“Not after we head to the new coordinates. We would need to veer off course temporarily.”

“Lt Mayweather, hold in position.  Ensign Temple, do not respond to Starfleet just yet.” Irene started thinking. She had no idea if the first signal had come from Jupiter Station or not. She also knew that she wanted to remain in case there were more signals. She suddenly understood what decision making in deep space entailed.

“Ensign Temple, send a one way burst transmission to Jupiter Station as follows:

Admiral Black, the buoy has just received a second burst transmission, contents will follow this message.” She looked to Lt Rao who pressed some buttons on her console and nodded at Ensign Temple. “It is my judgment that Enterprise should remain in place. I request limiting incoming transmissions as I recommend we remain inconspicuous. We will keep you apprised of any further comm activity. If this is not approved make contact at any time.”

“Smart Captain,” said Black. “Commander Matthews, make it happen.” Black’s aide left. “Captain T’Pol, forward the new transmission to Lt. Chin. Folks, I think the smart play is to leave Enterprise right where she is. Thoughts?”

“Admiral, I believe we should send a second ship to support Enterprise. The Dinesh can get there first,” responded Kindarn. “This would place the responsibility for the next portion of the original mission solely on Tellar.”

Ambassador Gral spoke up. “We can certainly get there, I assume the mission would be to discover what is at the relay point. Is there another ship that could be sent to forward any information received?”

T’Pol put the Tellarite holomap over the conference table. Soval broke in, “The Vulcan science vessel Varnum could be in position to relay in 6 days,” he pointed at the hologram. “I regret to say I do not know how to add to your projection.”

Malcolm moved next to Soval. “Ambassador, what coordinates would you suggest?” Malcolm typed them into his PADD and green ship symbol appeared near where Soval had pointed.

Kindarn spoke. “We can have the Dumandi there in seven days to provide support.” It was unspoken that the Varnum was unarmed and quite vulnerable. “I suggest that the Varnum run silent until the Dumandi arrives.”

T’Pol spoke. “I suggest we avail ourselves of Jupiter Station’s mess while we await word from Lt. Chin.”