LtCmdr Jovenan – Thanks god I’m not the captain
Jovenan
((Bridge, USS Artemis))
It was hardly Jovenan’s first time trying to track someone across the Borderlands. Each time, the circumstances had been unique, and that was true now as well: the ships had not exchanged a single blow, there was nothing wrong with the Artemis nor with the space around them, but at the same time, they didn’t know what the pursued ship could do. Even if one ignored the possibility of the Afalqi hiding somewhere under the cloak, it wouldn’t have been correct to think that Jovenan or the other members of the Artemis crew had an advantage through their familiarity with the area. Space was huge. Reading through the list of possible hiding places, Jovenan realised that she not yet been even close to many of them.
Jovenan: There are only a few other inhabitable worlds in the neighbouring sectors. Further out, we have factions such as the Nascaik and the Thama, and the Celendi Nebula. Plenty of opportunities to hide if they head straight to one.
Storm: Can we eliminate any of those planets because of location or other factors?
Munro: Without knowing the full capability of the Afalqi or who is helping them, it’s hard to say.
MacKenzie: We should try to resist speculation until we have more concrete evidence that those possibilities are in play…
Speaking of evidence, they had just reached the point where they had gained the planet that alerted them to the sensors’ range. Jovenan turned her gaze to the relevant screen. Data kept pouring in – her fellow scientist must have been eager to get their hands on the current readings of the remote colony world – but Jovenan filtered most of it out for now.
Jovenan: I have the Outer Seedea’s system on sensors. No vessels currently detected in there.
Storm: That doesn’t mean much.
Well, it did show them that the Afalqi, or whoever else the colony officials had thought for them, was not there any more, or was hiding somehow or somewhere their sensors couldn’t reach for from this distance. A negative result was result as much any other. But in essence, it was true; it was what they had expected.
Storm: I mean, in the case that they do have a cloaking device.
Munro: We can probably assume that they know by now that Starfleet is involved? Our presence did not go unnoticed on Meranuge IV. That rules out any location that has positive ties to the Federation. It makes sense that they would avoid those sectors or they risk being detected?
Jetripar: It did come to light that there may have been one or more accomplices left behind. I wouldn't be surprised if they are still communicating with Havun. If so, he probably knows far more than we want him to.
Jovenan pursed her lips. If she had not failed to suspect and question the receptionist – the very first person her team met on Meranuge – the Afalqi might not have found out that they were pursued by Starfleet. Her team had even raised the notion of the receptionist’s odd behaviour to her, yet she had dismissed the idea. The lack of prejudice and suspicion towards others were going to be her downfall. But it was too late now; they had work to do.
Storm: Let’s see if we can detect any warp wakes yet.
Munro: If you can do that, lieutenant, I’ll give you my holodeck privileges for a month.
Jovenan raised an eyebrow. She didn’t remember ever receiving such incentives… not that she had much use for the Commander’s holodeck privileges anyway.
Jetripar: Havun never showed this much care with his work on the project. He's sloppy. I'm certain we will find something.
Jovenan: Maybe so, but it’s still better not to underestimate one’s opponents.
Storm: I’m picking up three warp wakes…Permission to put them on the viewscreen?
MacKenzie: Go ahead.
The graph replaced the image on the main viewer. Jovenan had a look at the three lines that emerged from the system before turning back to her own console, studying the data. In itself, there was no clear indication which one(s) of the trails were produced by the Afalqi and which by other traffic in the area, but it was interesting that the trails were all roughly equally clear – either someone had happened to leave the colony at the same time as the stolen ship, or there was something sketchy about the trails.
Jovenan: The trails appear to be created concurrently, and diverge from a point near the colony world.
Storm: If I zoom out and put the other locations given to us by Secretary Jetripar, we have something interesting.
Jovenan turned on her seat towards the main viewer. The depiction of the system grew smaller until it was just a point on the screen, and instead two of the lines originating from there connected to the aforementioned locations: the Barol system and the ngeb Station. There was no clear point to reach for the third line. She bit her lip while Commander Munro broke out to a laughter.
Munro: :: incredulous laugh :: They left false trails for us.
MacKenzie: Slippery things, I'll give them that…
Jetripar: I don't understand. How is that even possible?
Jovenan: Smallcraft can produce a trail that can pass as a full ship’s one. Even drones can be modified to do just that.
Storm: Response
Munro: That third trail? Where does it go? Can we extrapolate with known data a likely destination?
Scratching her neck, Jovenan watched the image change again on the viewer. The third line continued on, following the same trajectory – which, for all they knew, might not actually be what the Afalqi followed, since turning was something most spacefaring vessels were capable of – on and on with ever increasing uncertainty, until it reached a coloured area of the map. The Captain groaned audibly.
Jetripar: A complication, Captain?
Storm: Response
Munro: That’s Nascaik territory :: beat :: If they reach that border, we won’t be able to follow them.
MacKenzie: ::shaking her head, trying to make sense of it:: Why, though? So they think they'll be free or we'll stop pursuing them?
Perhaps. Jovenan had heard of the Nascaik, obviously, but she hadn’t ever met them. She knew that the Excalibur – no, the Resolution – had been involved in a mission with the Nascaik and the Thama, but that had happened over a year before she had graduated from the Academy and been assigned to the Borderlands. She couldn’t tell much about those cultures beyond what she had read. Would they allow the Afalqi to hide within their territory? Or were they behind it all, or completely oblivious?
Jetripar: No no. We can't let them just cower behind a border.
Munro: Hopefully it won't come to that, Secretary.
Jovenan: If we don’t follow the third trail, they would be able to reach the Nascaik territory before we can intercept them. Would we be allowed to keep pursuing them beyond their border?
Storm: Response
The Captain raised a finger.
MacKenzie: Not so fast. I did help mediate their non-aggression pact with the Thama after all. The Nasciak are a difficult people, but I think they owe me one.
Jetripar: Now that's the reason we called Starfleet! Famed for their connections, quadrant-wide.
That was a compliment worth smiling for. Jovenan was happy and even proud that the Captain’s long-term, consistent and personal diplomatic outreach could benefit them in circumstances where laws and treaties well short. The Federation and Starfleet had a varying reputation among the residents of the galaxy, but the person behind the actions of goodwill was seen in a better light than the complex organisations.
Jovenan: Havun and the others might not know this. They might have picked the Nascaik under the impression that we won’t pursue them there.
Storm: Response
MacKenzie: So, I suppose the question is: do we follow the obvious paths, or the outlier? Which way do we think they went?
There was no obvious answer. Jovenan turned to her own consoles, staring at the screens silently as if she’d be able to spot something they had missed if she put her mind to it. Nothing popped up from staring alone; the lines on the screen remained just lines, the quickly fading trails of a ship that they might not be able to find for a long while if they picked incorrectly here. She tried squinting, but no invisible patters appeared.
Jetripar: I can see a case being made for any one of them. Though I will admit I can't see him even thinking of visiting a foreign territory he has no relationship with. I also wouldn't expect him to hide somewhere closely aligned with the Romulans, given some of the technology aboard his stolen vessel.
Munro: Unless you know something we don't know, it's unclear who he's been in contact with :: to MacKenzie :: But I do agree we should consider the most likely options based on the evidence we have.
Jovenan: On the other hand, they might have gone to one of the other options, expecting us to fall for the likeliest one, whichever that is.
Storm: Response
Jetripar: Yes, I would say the Klingons seem the most likely candidate to me. Though I fear that Havun may not consider how unlikely they would be to let him leave.
Jovenan glanced at the Secretary and then turned towards the Captain. Having sat on the central chair for exactly one battle, Jovenan had seen a glimpse of how difficult a spot the command of a starship was. She was happy that she didn’t have to make the decision here, and if she hadn’t known the Captain’s abilities and skills, she would have been sorry for their Commanding Officer.
Munro: Not the Romulans?
Jovenan: Didn’t you also find planted Klingon technology on the site? Would they use the same bluff twice?
Storm/MacKenzie: Response
Jetripar: You see, we had an... arrangement with the Romulans. The Barol system, while not officially under Romulan jurisdiction obviously, still has enough of their influence that they would likely turn the Afalqi over to one of their own rather than to us. They would not be pleased to learn we had allowed their technology to slip out of our hands.
Munro: An arrangement?
Now that was unexpected. As much as Jovenan wanted to believe in the Secretary’s goodwill, she had to admit that his selective reveals were becoming a nuisance to the investigation. She couldn’t fully blame him, seeing that he probably had laws and regulations that applied to him, state secrets that could be only revealed when needed, but she still wished that they had known that hours ago.
Munro: What route do you think Havun has taken?
Jovenan adjusted her posture on the chair.
Jovenan: The Barol system and the ngeb Station are more obvious options, but that could only make them better bluffs. The Nascaik route seems so much more unlikely that it wouldn’t fool us on itself, so it could be where they’re actually heading, just to get us off their tail.
Storm/MacKenzie: Response
Jetripar: Havun was never known for his organisational skills, and I don't see him having the courage to barge into unknown space and ask for shelter. No, I still think ngeb Base seems the most likely option.
Munro: Why would Havun do this? :: to MacKenzie :: I can't help but feel we're missing ‘the why’. If Secretary Jetripar is to be believed, Havun doesn't seem like he could pull this off by himself?
All Jovenan could do was shrug. It felt awful to have no further advice to offer to the command officers, when as the CSO it was her duty to know better and share her knowledge. Despite all the insight they had, despite all the speculation and conjecture, the best they seemed to be able to do was to flip a coin and make a choice. Hopefully the Captain had better ideas than that.
Storm/MacKenzie/Jetripar: Response
Munro: Klingons don't feel right to me. They don't go in for this level of deception. Someone has been pushing them since we got to Meranuge IV and we have no evidence of their involvement. Are we willing to risk antagonising the Klingons and getting them involved? They wouldn't mind getting their hands on an experimental ship full of Romulan technology, I suspect?
Jovenan: The Klingon Empire is still our ally. Could we ask them for help?
Storm/MacKenzie/Jetripar: Response
Munro: Captain, if we select the one trail for the Artemis to track and send out the Atlas and the Prometheus to track the other trails at maximum warp, its unlikely that they would have been able to sustain the false trail for long and we can divert course?
Finally, a possible solution to their trilemma.
Storm/MacKenzie/Jetripar: Response
Jovenan: The Argo class transports have the maximum speed of warp 7.5. It’s a question of how that compares to the Afalqi’s smallcrafts’ and drones’ performance.
She glanced at the Secretary. Mr Havun and his collaborators getting Romulan technology on board in secrecy was a feat, but the devices were generally small and not visibly suspicious to someone who didn’t know about their nature. Meanwhile, acquiring entire shuttles from a foreign power might have been more of a struggle to keep hidden. That all was, however, assuming the Afalqi had no other means of fabricating warp trails than physical objects to make them… or any other cards in their sleeves.
Storm/MacKenzie/Jetripar/Munro: Response
Jovenan: The Afalqi and its decoys have considerable headstart, but with our and the Argos’ sensors, we can negate a large portion of it. With their speed, the Argos would be able to reach a negative recognition in… two hours or less. The Artemis takes significantly less. Assuming the decoys don’t have other means to manipulate their signature.
Storm/MacKenzie/Jetripar/Munro: Response
Jovenan: There’s also the possibility that if either of the Argos find the Afalqi, the Artemis needs to turn around to come face the Afalqi and help our transport. The further we’re apart, the longer it takes for the assistance to arrive.
Storm/MacKenzie/Jetripar/Munro: Response
----
Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11