Was She Wrong?

“Prime Directive, bah,” grumbled the senior Klingon.  Grannon Trex took a swig from the flagon directly.  His mood soured as he placed the container back on the table to look at Admiral Tracy Kent and then pointed a finger at her.  “You know, there are still circles within the Empire that believes the Federation should be conquering planets.  Starfleet is a formidable navy, I should know.”  His aging, yet clean, beard dangled from his frown.

The Admiral smirked before taking a sip from her wine glass.  The flickering light from the torches on the outside deck reflected from her long, straight dark black hair.  “Maybe so … to be fair, there are circles within Starfleet that believe the same.”

Opposite the Admiral sat Commodore Matthew Calgar.  His barrel-chested build was betrayed by the sudden uneasiness of the conversation.  Matthew reached for his own glass and poured some of Grannon’s effective drink.  “Come now, let’s not change the mood of the evening.”

Kathryn dodged Calgar’s verbal negotiation and glared across the table to the venerable warrior.  “I’m curious General, what would you do if you stumbled upon a pre-warp civilization?  Are they ripe for submission or destruction in the name of glory?”

Tension at the table suddenly became thick, the surrounding patrons of the restaurant unaware of the discussions from the veterans in the corner.  Tracy looked between Grannon and Kathryn with a growing smile and then placed her glass quietly on the table.  Calgar’s discomfort continued and he placed both hands to either side of his plate, as if ready to separate the Klingon and Human from conflict.

Grannon leaned forward, the leather of his ceremonial jacket creaking as he moved.  “Admiral Beringer, you assume too much.”

An eyebrow rose on Kathryn’s forehead and she leaned forward as well.  “You have not answered the question.”

After a few seconds, the Klingon burst into laughter and slapped the table, capturing the other patron’s attention.  “Well done, Admiral!”  He gulped from his cup as he sat back into the chair.  “I accept your challenge.”  With that comment, everyone else returned to their hushed conversations.

Wiping his mouth, Grannon explained, “In the older days, before the Cardassian War, Captains were left to their own discretions unless ordered by the Council.  The Empire would not be what it is without expansion, and sometimes there are … growing pains.  You should know this?”

Matthew sighed with relief and Tracy calmly reached for her glass.  Kathryn continued, “That’s what history would say, but have you faced the decision?”

Grannon shook his head.  “Should I consider myself fortunate?  I’ve read some examples of when Starfleet handled pre-warp cultures and not all of those instances had a merry outcome.  So, is it flawed?”

Kathryn glanced at Tracy, who was inspecting her nails on one hand, clearly not interested in the conversation.  Looking to Matthew, the Commodore was drinking from his cup and did so for a few seconds.  She returned to the Klingon and shrugged.  “It’s relative.  Count yourself lucky.”

“Oh, really,” Grannon looked surprised.  “This night has been filled with tales of days long past.  Please, regale us with another story.”

Looking down at her plate, the half-eaten steak beckoned.  Kathryn cut a slice and chewed it quickly.

“Back in 2410, my ship was in the Delta Quadrant conducting chart work near the Outward Fringes.  We captured subspace distortions emanating from a nearby system and we bounced to the source: two planets seemed to be engaged in a planetary war.  Long-range scans suggested the cultures did not use warp-drives, at least not by Federation metrics.”

The others started eating while she spoke.  “We did discover they were able to harness nuclear power and their ships were fueled with it.”

Kathryn paused and then sawed into her steak.  “Several areas on both planets were scarred from nuclear detonations.  Clearly, they were at war against each other.”

Tracy lifted her glass to drink.  “If I had to guess, you logged the tragedy and moved on.”

Matthew sat straight still chewing on pasta.  “Is that what you would have done, Admiral Kent?”

Smiling from the question, Tracy nodded.  “There is an idea that Captains have a moral obligation to countermand the Prime Directive if a species faces extinction.  War is not a cause to go against the Directive, although it is terrible to witness, I suppose.”

Grannon growled.  “I prefer to let the dear Admiral finish her saga.”

Tracy lifted her glass to salute and acknowledge the Klingon General’s request.

Kathryn finished chewing.  “Tracy is technically correct.  We had no idea how much further the war was to continue, yet we noticed a flotilla in the heliosphere with nuclear-tipped projectiles inbound to a planet.  I decided to use a tight-band subnucleonic beam to the projectiles in an attempt to neutralize the atomic matrix of the cores and to remain hidden.  From long-range the effect was mostly successful.

Matthew raised eyebrows.  “Mostly?”

“Yes.”  Kathryn became somber.  “A few made planetfall.”  She looked into her lap and after a small sniffle looked up.  “It seems the waiter is a little late with refills?  I’ll go see the maiter d.”  Standing, she pushed a strand of grey and burgundy hair, and excused herself from the table.

Tracy shook her head and loudly landed her glass on the table with some impatience.  “My queue to drop the conversation must have been too subtle, gentlemen.”

Grannon was startled.  “What do you mean?”

Looking to the General, Tracy’s eyes narrowed.  “Kathryn followed the Prime Directive by leaving the system after she failed to stop the missile wave from destroying several cities.  Several more cities were still intact from her subtle action.  There are always winners and losers in war and someone was going to win.  It’s not Starfleet’s place to interfere in that tragedy because there was going to be a winner.”

She paused for some effect before continuing.  “So when I ‘guessed’ what Kathryn would do, it is because that is what happened.  Looking at options, the only proper course of action was to index the system, document readings, and catalogue actions taken … then leave. “

Matthew looked around and then leaned forward to loudly whisper.  “You mean she just left the system without further investigation?!”

Tracy nodded, “in order to follow the Directive, yes.”

---
Cast For Crew:
Kathryn Beringer - Katheryn Winnick
Matthew Calgar - Conleth Hill
Grannon Trex - Orlando Jones
Tracy Maxwell Kent - Monica Belluci

Apologies

Literary Challenge 61 - The Final Battle
---

Solaris banked around the shattered dedication satellite at Wolf 359. Bright beams followed him and impacted against the debris between the Federation ship and the shooters. Once the sleek Excelsior Refit-class ship appeared from the other side, return fire laced from the saucer section, followed by a salvo from missile pods within the hull. Shileding from Fek'Ihri and Elachi ships lighted up against the barrage, some beams finding their way past the energy defense fields, then missiles slamming against unprotected sections. Internal explosions sprayed metal away from the ships, adding to the growing flotsam of the battle space.

Accelerating, the Federation vessel flew between the conglomerate of enemy ships and vented a green-colored cloud from the nacelles while firing broadsides of orange-yellow beams of havoc. At point-blank range, Solaris raked destruction across multiple ship prows, the gas infiltrating the interiors and killing crew, slowly crippling the enemy further.

"Well done, McKinnon!" Kathryn could barely contain her excitement from the command chair, her knuckles white against the arm rests. She sat at the edge of her seat as she heard the crew around her execute the attack pattern flawlessly, but it was her Helmsman that made it all come together. "Aye, Captain" was his response. She looked around the bridge: red warning lights flooded the room, every console lit up like Christmas trees revealing information in real-time and everyone was sweating from the prolonged combat. Glancing toward S'Rel's station, Kathryn looked at the damage report display of her ship above the Vulcan engineer, pulling a stray strand of hair back into the bun on her head. Not too bad, she thought to herself before returning to the main viewscreen.

As the ship turned away from the exploding wreckage, the stars slowly streaked past. Kathryn noticed a burning Federation escort in the background drifting away from the battle. "Tactical, identify the vessel on the viewscreen."

Karl Melango looked up, then quickly tapped against his console before responding. "USS Rodimtsev, Matthew Calgar as Captain. Sensor scan reveal all escape pods released, but one life sign aboard."

Kathryn's eye's widened. "McKinnon, turn to intercept the Rodimtsev. Anthi, patch me through, audio only."

As the static cleared from the speakers, a male's voice was coughing. "This is Captain Calgar of the USS Rodimtsev, who is calling at this dreadful hour?"

"This is Captain Beringer of the Solaris, can we assist?"

"No, I planned to ram an enemy when it gets nearby, I sent my crew packing after the cannons became disabled."

Kathryn looked to S'Rel. The Vulcan shook her head. Data scrolled at Kathryn's chair of the escort and she knew it wasn't flying anywhere. An idea sparked and she needed to see if it would work.

"Captain, you'll have to forgive me later." She motioned for the line to cut. "Omazei, transport him off that ship."

"Aye, Captain." The Trill tapped a few keys. Moments later she reported Calgar was causing a ruckus in Transporter Room 3 and was on his way to the bridge.

Smirking, Kathryn turned to her Chief Engineer. "Thel, can our tractor beam tow the escort at high turn velocity?"

The Andorian nodded, "it could be done but the emitters might burn out at the attempt."

Kathryn smiled. "Good. Capture that ship. Mr. McKinnon, once the Rodimtsev is one thousand meters from us, plot a course back into battle and get us to the nearest battleship."

"Aye, Captain." Ian's fingers danced across his console as the hum of the tractor beam mingled with the thrum from the quad impulse engines. The damaged escort was washed in the blue of the beam and was pulled toward Solaris. At the designated range, both ships turned back toward the fray.

The doors to the bridge opened and Matthew Calgar stormed through. "Captain, I demand to know what you are doing!"

Kathryn motioned to the empty seat on her left. "Welcome aboard Captain Calgar. The Rodimtsev must have been a fine ship for her Captain to stay aboard. Sensors revealed she was dead in space, but she has not used her last breath yet."

Calgar sat down and scowled as her surveyed the bridge, then quickly took the seat offered. "What do you mean?"

Kathryn looked forward. The viewscreen showed a large Voth dreadnought ahead. "Ian, come about positive z-axis forty-five degrees, impulse at seventy-five percent. Make a parabolic arc toward the dorsal side, then turn to face." She looked at Thel, "is the tractor beam holding?"

"Aye, Captain"

"We need a diversion. Omazei, hail the nearest Federation vessel."

The line opened. "This is Captain Ael t'Kazanak of the Vanguard. This is not a good time to talk."

"Pardon the intrusion Captain. Would you mind getting the attention of the enemy at bearing four-two-four mark four-seven? I have a surprise for them."

Ael looked toward a tactical display. "Acknowledged." The screen switched to viewing. The Vanguard changed course and expelled orange beams and torpedoes toward the dreadnought. In return, dark red lances missed and found their mark against Federation shielding. The two ships exchanged fire for a few seconds before the Vanguard turned away, fulfilling the role. The dreadnought slowly turned to follow.

Calgar looked to Kathryn. "You don't seriously plan to do what I think you plan to do?"

"Again, I'll have to apologize later. Ian, accelerate to full impulse, prepare attack pattern sigma. Thel, set tractor beam to full. On my mark, cancel the beam."

The two acknowledged as Calgar sat back into the chair. Solaris lurched forward, dragging the helpless escort behind it. As the Voth dreadnought turned, its dorsal side was fully exposed to Kathryn's charging vessel. Bright orange beams belched from every emitter available with missiles erupting from tubes, each shot weakening the Voth shield facing until it collapsed from the weight of fire.

At her command, the Excelsior-class ship turned away within several kilometers, the tractor beam silenced and the escort ship continued on it's destructive trajectory. Antiproton beams fired into both ships. The escort slammed into the Voth ship near the engines, it's hull buckling from the kinetic impact.

"Come about, burn that ship from below," Kathryn whooped.

Solaris arced toward the Voth vessel whose guns were silent. As phasers fired into the crippled ship from below, more beams, both green and teal-colored, came from nearby ships as allies discovered weakened prey. The dreadnought's remaining shields failed visibly from the onslaught, then beams and torpedoes tore into the hull. It bubbled before exploding and Allied vessels scattered from the debris, each resuming the battle against other foes.

---

In the future ...

The Klingon's eyes widened. "By Martok ... that was you?!"

Admiral Calgar frowned toward Kathryn who was grinning behind a wine glass. "That was a fine ship you destroyed, you know. They may have been able to salvage the Rodimtsev."

Kathryn shrugged. "We'll never know. So I'll say it again with witnesses this time, Admiral Calgar: I'm sorry."

---

Cast:
Kathryn Beringer - Rachel Nichols
Anthi Ythysi - Katheryn Winnick
Karl Melango - Jeremy Renner
Thel Ythysi - Kevin Sorbo
Ian McKinnon - Ben Browder
Omazei - Gemma Arterton
S'Rel - Morena Baccarin
Matthew Calgar - Conleth Hill
Grannon Trex (Klingon in the end scene) - Orlando Jones
Tracy Kent (not mentioned but in the scene at the end) - Monica Bellucci
Ael t'Kazanak - Cobie Smulders