War Stories: Book One Read online

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  #19: Foundations Book 3 by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

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  #21: War Stories Book 1 by Keith R.A. DeCandido

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  #23: Wildfire Book 1 by David Mack

  #24: Wildfire Book 2 by David Mack

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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  Copyright © 2002 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

  STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures.

  This book is published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.

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  ISBN: 0-7434-5676-9

  First Pocket Books Ebooks Edition October 2002

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  Androssi Vessel Overseen by Biron

  STARDATE 53675.1

  Sub-Overseer Howwi’s voice awoke Overseer Biron out of a sound sleep. “Attention Overseer. Your presence is required on the flight deck. The client has arrived one hour, fifteen minutes early for the engagement.”

  Biron was instantly awake, his annoyance at the interruption leavened by the information contained in that interruption. He checked the time-keeping device in his quarters, which informed him that it was one hour and ten minutes prior to the scheduled time of the engagement with the client. This meant that Howwi had been awakened and informed of the early arrival first, then it was left to the sub-overseer to inform Biron.

  He climbed out of his hammock and dressed. Biron made a note to investigate who spoke to the sub-overseer rather than Biron himself. Proper protocol dictated that the overseer be informed immediately of such a change in scheduling. One of the lower officers—or worse, one of the workers—had decided to inform the sub-overseer instead rather than risk the ire of the overseer by waking him up. A foolish notion, that. If it was an officer, that person would be severely disciplined. (If it was a worker, the solution was much simpler: death and replacement. Workers were, after all, easy enough to come by.)

  Once he had dressed and put in the five nose rings that symbolized his position as overseer, he exited his cabin and proceeded to the flight deck. He entered to see Sub-Overseer Howwi and the four workers presently on duty stand up in his presence. They remained standing until Biron had taken his seat at the front left of the deck.

  “Open a communications frequency to the client,” Biron said as the five others retook their seats.

  The face of a Yridian appeared on the viewscreen. A like image did not appear on the Yridian’s screen—Androssi protocol dictated that they never transmit visual communications to any but other Androssi, and even then, such a practice was frowned upon. It was a security risk, after all.

  “May I assume I’m speaking to Overseer Biron?” the Yridian asked.

  “You assume correctly.”

  “Excellent.” The Yridian bared his teeth in what Biron assumed to be an expression of pleasure. “I’m sorry I got here early, but my previous engagement was, ah, cut short.”

  “Your itinerary is of no interest to me. I wish to conduct a business transaction. I have been informed by reliable sources that you have information regarding Starfleet.”

  “Some, yes. I can give you ship and personnel movements from up to one month ago. Given sufficient incentive, I can cut that down to a week or two.”

  “Ship and personnel movements are also of no interest to me. What I require are log entries.”

  Again, the Yridian bared his teeth, but Biron noted a subtle difference in his facial structure this time. “That will cost more.”

  “I expected as much. Provide me with a price.”

  Biron noted two things. The first was that the Yridian’s protracted pause was ostensibly to consider what price he would name, but Biron knew that he was simply delaying in a futile attempt to pretend that he had the upper hand in this negotiation. Biron knew that the Yridian already had a price in mind, but wished to make the acquisition of these logs seem more difficult than it truly was. Biron had expected this behavior and did not concern himself with it.

  The second thing he noted was that Howwi looked uncomfortable. Biron had only just ended Howwi’s period of punishment—he had continued to perform his duties as sub-overseer, but at half-pay—for his succumbing to Starfleet treachery on the abandoned Cardassian space station Empok Nor, so he was unlikely to raise an objection to anything Biron did at this juncture.

  And Biron could understand why Howwi was befuddled by the nature of this particular client interaction.

  The Yridian finally spoke. “I take it you’ve scanned my ship, Overseer?”

  Biron looked over at Howwi, who nodded. “Yes, we have.”

  “Then you know what a mess it is. You’re supposed to be the best tinkerers in the galaxy. If you can upgrade my clapped-out ship—give me a full overhaul—then I can get you whatever logs you want. Just official ones, though, not personal.” Again, the bared teeth. “Even I have my limits.”

  “Your terms are acceptable.” Biron entered data into the console in front of him in preparation for transmitting it to the Yridian ship. “I am transmitting the specific personnel whose log entries I wish to peruse. I wish to obtain entries dating back at least two years.”

  The Yridian nodded. “Fine.” His fingers played over his own console. “I’m sending you the parts of the ship I want upgraded.” He looked down. “Getting the data now.” He frowned. “I’ll need two weeks at least to gather this all up.”

  Next to Biron, Howwi was perusing the Yridian’s list. The sub-overseer muted the transmission, then spoke. “We will require that time period to obtain the materials to perform the required upgrades.”

  Biron nodded, and Howwi deactivated the mute function. “That is also acceptable. We will part
ways and reconvene at these coordinates in two weeks’ time.”

  “Excellent! It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Overseer Biron. See you in two weeks.”

  With that, the Yridian ended the transmission.

  Turning to Howwi, Biron said, “Begin procedures for acquiring everything on the Yridian’s list. Use ship’s stores for as much of it as possible—even if it is already earmarked to be used on a future endeavor.”

  Howwi hesitated. “Sir, I—”

  “Your objection is both anticipated and noted, Sub-Overseer.” Under other circumstances, Biron would discipline Howwi for even considering questioning his orders.

  But these were very peculiar orders.

  “You have my assurance that all your concerns will be addressed before this endeavor is completed.”

  Seeming relieved, Howwi said, “Of course, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  The sub-overseer’s unvoiced complaint was a valid one. After all, as a ship in the Androssi fleet, their mission was to provide material requested by the ship’s Elite sponsor. Their sponsor had made no such requests recently, and certainly had done nothing that would lead Biron to contact this Yridian for Starfleet log entries. Should their sponsor request an audit—as was his right at any time—he would not be pleased by the expenditures that would be used for an unauthorized endeavor. It could have a serious impact on Biron’s ability to provide for his sponsor and, by extension, his crew.

  But Biron needed this information.

  It was unworthy of him, it was true, but he did not care. Not after the second humiliation.

  The first time Biron encountered the Starfleet starship U.S.S. da Vinci on the planet designated Maeglin, their crew managed to outmaneuver him. It was the first time Biron had ever failed in a mission for his Elite sponsor. That first time, however, Biron could very easily attribute to random chance. After all, mathematically speaking, Biron’s ability to always fulfill the requests of his Elite sponsor was bound to end eventually. Even the best overseer sometimes fails. The Elite accept this, as long as such occurrences were rare and not damaging. Indeed, Biron’s own sponsor was understanding about the failure of the Maeglin mission.

  But then Biron was thwarted again, this time at the abandoned Cardassian mining station Empok Nor—and it was again due to the interference of the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci. True, that mission had become untenable in any case; the client who was to provide the holo-emitters required by the sponsor was overly demanding and eccentric, and was proving very difficult to work with.

  However, Biron did not take kindly to failure. The best response to such was to eliminate its cause. So he set out to do what he could to eliminate the threat posed by the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci. The personnel he had requested logs for included several members of that ship’s complement, including most of its officers and all the personnel assigned to the ship’s Starfleet Corps of Engineers.

  Armed with this knowledge, Biron would find a way to end their threat to his continued ability to provide for his sponsor.

  The two weeks passed. All the material needed to perform the necessary upgrades to the Yridian’s ship were obtained and stored in Dimension 7 until they needed to retrieve them in order to perform the upgrades.

  Biron’s ship arrived at the rendezvous coordinates at the designated time, to find that the Yridian was once again early. The overseer found that he preferred clients who were early to those who were tardy, as far too many of his clients had been. Timely clients were easier to deal with.

  “Open a communications frequency to the Yridian,” Biron said.

  The Yridian’s face reappeared on the screen. “I have obtained as many of the logs as I was able, dating back to the war against the Dominion. This includes, not only logs from the da Vinci, but also the U.S.S. Lexington, the U.S.S. Sentinel, and Starbase 92.”

  Rarely was Biron surprised by something, but this Yridian had accomplished it. “That is far more thorough than I was expecting.”

  “I was simply accommodating your request, Overseer. Several personnel on your list were serving in those other places during the time frame you gave me.” Baring his teeth again, he added, “It is my hope that my adherence to the full letter of our agreement will be reciprocated.”

  “It will be. Please transmit the data, and we can begin to perform the upgrades.”

  “Sorry, but no. First of all, I’m not foolish enough to transmit data this sensitive on an open channel. It’s all contained in a storage unit, which I will hand to you. Second of all, that handoff will not take place until all the upgrades are finished.” Biron was about to object, but the Yridian, apparently anticipating this, continued speaking. “If you wish to inspect the storage unit to verify that it does contain the asked-for data, you may—but the unit stays with me until the upgrades are done.”

  Biron seethed for a moment. He did not wish to wait to peruse the logs. But he could contrive no reason why the Yridian should accede to his desire to do so without Biron fulfilling his portion of the agreement.

  “Very well. We will engage our matter transfer device and materialize upon your ship in order to inspect the unit and effect the upgrades to your vessel within ten minutes.”

  The upgrades took two days. When they were completed, the Yridian’s ship had had its sensor efficiency increased by twenty-five-point-nine percent, its cruising speed increased to an FTL of 4.0 from its previous maximum of 2.14.

  The Yridian, of course, felt the need to inspect all the changes, from the new antimatter containment unit to the burnished chrome used as molding on the helm console. Biron had seen the latter as an absurd extravagance, but this was a decadent alien species, and could not be held to the standards of the Androssi.

  After his inspection, the Yridian stood before Biron—presently standing on the cramped flight deck of the Yridian vessel—and bared his teeth wider than he had at any time in their short acquaintance. “Overseer, I thank you from the top of my head. This outstrips even what I had heard about your people’s prowess with engines. I daresay you’d give Starfleet a run for their money.”

  The praise of aliens was of no consequence. “May I take the storage unit containing the log entries now?”

  “Of course.” The Yridian went to a small panel under his environmental control console and tapped a sequence of alphanumeric characters onto a touch pad, taking pains to block the exact sequence from the view of Biron or either of the workers still present. He then opened the door, revealing the storage unit. “Enjoy the reading. There are some gripping accounts of the war there, as it happens.”

  Biron simply nodded to the workers, who removed the unit from the Yridian’s hands. Then Biron activated his subspace communications device. “Sub-Overseer Howwi. Activate the matter transferral beam and transport myself, the workers, and the storage unit back to the ship.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  “It was a pleasure doing business with you, sir,” the Yridian said, just before the matter transferral beam conveyed Biron to his vessel.

  Seven minutes after the Yridian ship engaged its warp drive, Biron turned to Howwi. “Engage the dimensional blockers on all the equipment we installed upon the Yridian ship.”

  Howwi was inappropriately enthusiastic when he said, “Yes, sir.” However, Biron was willing to forgive it. The sub-overseer added, “Dimensional blockers now read active. All equipment registers in Dimension 7.”

  Biron nodded and rose from his chair. The others on the flight deck did the same. “I will be in my quarters,” he said and departed.

  The Androssi had retrieved all of their equipment, including the new acquisitions, which would be potentially useful in future endeavors, and therefore would not be deemed untoward in an audit. Said equipment included an antimatter containment unit, but did not include the antimatter itself. The Yridian and his ship would by now have been eliminated by the catastrophic collision of the Yridian’s antimatter with the matter of the ship itself, no longer separated as they were by
a containment unit. Thus, there was no danger of reprisal from the Yridian.

  Now Biron had the information he needed. The only net loss was that of one irrelevant alien life and time: the time spent obtaining material and upgrading the Yridian ship, and the time that Biron would now spend reading over the log entries of the hated crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci.

  The log entries were not up-to-date, but the Yridian had said that there would be a gap between what he could acquire and the present day. The most recent entries related to a medical crisis on Sherman’s Planet that the U.S.S. da Vinci’s chief medical officer, Dr. Elizabeth Lense, was able to solve with the aid of Fabian Stevens, a member of the ship’s Starfleet Corps of Engineers team. Biron found the method Dr. Lense used to be of interest, and added it to his ship’s database.

  Once again, Biron found himself baffled by Starfleet’s continued insistence on aiding others for no obvious benefit. In this particular instance, the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci— with the exception of five of its complement—were also in danger from the pandemic that infected the population of Sherman’s Planet. Even so, Biron doubted that the ship’s crew’s reaction would have been any different if none of them were in danger.

  He decided to read through the logs of the chief medical officer. Hers, he noticed, were only on the U.S.S. da Vinci since shortly after the cessation of hostilities between the Dominion and the alliance among United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire. Prior to that, as the client had indicated, she served on a different vessel, the U.S.S. Lexington.

  Sitting in his quarters, Overseer Biron began to peruse the log entries of Dr. Elizabeth Lense….

  U.S.S. Lexington

  STARDATE 51246.9

  The first thing Elizabeth Lense did when she entered her quarters on the Lexington was check her personnel file.

  She hadn’t been on board the Lexington in almost a month. Her quarters were just as she’d left them—not that she cared. All that mattered was whether or not Commander Selden kept his promise.