Mentir crossed the room to his desk, where he leaned forward and activated the comm system with a touch of his pectoral fin. “This is Mentir,” he said, the sounds of his own voice interpreted as they emerged from the speaker in his ES. “Go ahead.”
“Admiral, we’re receiving an encoded transmission from theEnterprise,” Sperber said. “The first officer, Commander Sulu, is asking to speak with you.”
Demora,Mentir thought, and his mind naturally went to Enterpriseand Captain Harriman, and from there to the mission. “Put her through down here,” he said.
“Yes, sir.”
“Mentir out.” He circled around his desk—past a replica of a Nivochan asteroid runner sitting on one corner—so that he could view the monitor there. He waited only a second before Sulu’s image appeared on the screen. “Commander,” he said, rather formally, he realized, considering that they had been friends for two decades. Back at the Academy, she had attended a xenoculture course he’d taught, and they’d shared enough mutual interests that they had stayed in touch over the years. He had seen her during Enterprise’s recent visits to KR-3, but only very briefly. Attempting to put aside the serious nature of his new duties and take a friendlier approach, he said, “Welcome back to the Federation.”
Sulu nodded once, curtly, seeming to acknowledge and dismiss Mentir’s salutation at the same time. “Admiral,”she said, also sounding official. “I need to speak with you.”
Mentir felt suddenly confined in his environmental suit, the thin layer of water surrounding his body an inadequate substitute for an ocean. He feared at once that something had gone wrong. Sulu knew nothing of the mission—few did—but if Captain Harriman had been compromised…
“I am alone,” Mentir assured Sulu. “And my exec mentioned that you were communicating on an encoded channel.” Mentir also noted that Sulu appeared to be addressing him from a cabin—presumably her own—rather than from the Enterprisebridge.
“Admiral, I’ve discovered a discrepancy in Starfleet’s personnel records,”she said. Mentir took in this information and immediately felt himself calm down, his concerns subsiding. Whatever personnel matter Sulu wanted to discuss with him, it clearly would not be an issue that involved the mission or Captain Harriman’s role in it.
“I’m listening,” Mentir said.
“By chance, I found a Starfleet officer currently assigned to a starship,”Sulu explained. “But a year ago, I watched that same officer die.”
“I don’t understand,” Mentir said.
“One year ago, on a classified mission, I witnessed the death of a Starfleet officer,”Sulu said. “There was no doubt of it, no possibility that he hadn’t really died, or that he’d later been revived. His body was—” Sulu hesitated, then took a breath. “He was dead. I’m certain of it.”
“And you claim that he is now assigned to a Starfleet vessel?” Mentir asked, seeking confirmation that he understood Sulu.
“Yes,”she verified. “Several months after the mission, Starfleet apparently reassigned him to a ship.”
Mentir considered this for a moment. “The simplest explanation would be a mistake in the personnel records,” he ventured. “This would be a strange example of poor record-keeping, but I’m sure that errors do occur.”
“I don’t think this is an error, Admiral,”Sulu said. “It’s not the only instance I found. On that same classified mission, another Starfleet officer died, and a few months later, she was also supposedly reassigned to a starship.”She paused, and then said, “She was transferred from special operations to theUniverse.”
“Universe?”Mentir said, and he suddenly realized what had happened—something Admiral Sinclair-Alexander had not mentioned to him, but that must have been the case. Eventually, if she kept digging for information, Sulu would figure it out too. Mentir glanced away for a moment, his gaze falling on the Nivochan asteroid runner, but he looked back when Sulu continued.
“Yes, theUniverse,” she said. “I think these may be spies. I think—” She hesitated, and for a moment, looked away from the screen, as though something had unexpectedly occurred to her. Then she peered back at the monitor and continued. “For the Romulans, maybe,”she suggested, “or even for the Klingons.”
“But that would mean that somebody within Starfleet Command would have to be involved,” Mentir said. “To falsify the reassignments…”
“That’s why I came toyou, Tirasol,”Sulu said, the intent of her statement—that she could trust her friend—clear. “Think about this: there are no records of the deaths of these officers, since they died on a classified mission; they have extensive Starfleet records; and so nobody would question their posting to a starship.”
“You may be right,” Mentir said, knowing of nothing else that he could say. “What is the location of Enterprise?”he asked, although he was already fully aware of the ship’s movements.
“We’re en route to the Echo Sector,”she said, “to patrol the Neutral Zone.”
“I’m issuing you new orders, Commander,” Mentir said. “Enterpriseis to report at once to Space Station KR-3, and you are to report directly to me.” He needed to recruit a starship and its commander anyway.
“Sir?”Sulu said.
“Demora,” Mentir said, leaning closer to the screen and lowering the volume of the snaps and chirps that formed his voice, “we’ll discuss what you’ve found when you arrive.”
Sulu looked silently at him for a moment, as though trying to judge his intentions. Finally, she said, “Yes, Admiral. Thank you.”
“Mentir out,” he said, and he saw Sulu reach forward, obviously ending the communication from her end. The screen went blank. Mentir reached forward himself and deactivated the comm system.
He sat for a while without moving, his thoughts racing. He suspected that Sulu would continue to scour Starfleet’s personnel records in search of additional anomalies, and that she would eventually piece all of the information together and confirm the truth. Fortunately, he trusted few officers as much as he trusted Sulu, and so it would be no more of a risk to recruit her for the mission than it would be to recruit any other officer. Enterprisehad not initially been considered for the assignment because of its recent trip to Algeron, but the Romulan Imperial Fleet and the Romulan Intelligence Service would know that Starfleet’s flagship had been patrolling the Neutral Zone during the past few months, and so this could work.
Satisfied with his decision, Mentir made his way around his desk and headed for the lock, and for the comforting waters of his inner office. Considering the circumstances, he felt sure that Sulu would do as he asked, but he did not look forward to telling her what they had done, and what they would yet do. He could only hope that she would understand.
And forgive.
“The general is preparing to act.”
Ditagh stood in front of the monitor in his quarters and smiled broadly at the welcome news. His time aboard Algeron had grown frustratingly long, and his tolerance for Kage’s continued obeisance toward the Empire’s historical enemies had waned almost completely. Once the general seized power, though, Ditagh knew that Qo’noS would immediately remove itself from these pathetic efforts to pacify the Romulans and the Federation. After that, he would finally be able to bolt this sterile space station and return home.
“Do you know the timetable?” Ditagh asked his compatriot, a member of the general’s staff.
“Not precisely, but it’s going to happen soon.”
“Good,” Ditagh said. “The might of the Klingon Empire will be—” The flat tone of the door chime sounded in the small room. He looked away from the monitor and over to the door, which he had taken to locking after Kage had burst in here not long ago. The ambassador no doubt stood on the other side of the door right now; no one else on the station would have cause to call on him. “I must go,” Ditagh said, peering back at the monitor. He did not need the old man questioning him about his communications back to Qo’noS.