Friday, 12 November 2021

Death of a President - Civil War Chapter Nine

    Garibaldi walked into one of the many restaurants on the station looking for the man named Devereux. He soon found him. The man in question was sitting at a table eating a meal with two of his companions. When Garibaldi walked over to the table they put down their napkins.
    “Which one if you is Deveraux?”
    The bearded man responded.
    “I am. So what is it to you?”
    “I’m investigating the murder of Stephen Petrov, a lurker from Down Below. During my investigations your name has come up. I’d like to talk to you in Security.”
    “That will not be necessary. I have not killed anyone.”
    “I didn’t say you did, and if that’s the case you wouldn’t mind coming down to Security then, would you?”
    Deveraux put down his napkin, and he and his two friends were escorted to Security.



    Ambassador Mollari returned to his quarters, and Vir was anxiously waiting for him.
    “Ambassador! We’ve just received a transmission from Homeworld. They want to know what is happening about Quadrant Thirty-Seven!”
    Mollari paused before he gave his response to his attaché.
    “Send a transmission to Homeworld. Tell them that I will personally take care of the Quadrant Thirty-Seven problem.”
    Vir could not believe his ears.
    “Are you alright Ambassador? I thought I was in an alternate universe for the moment. I thought I heard you say that you were personally going to take care of the problem!”
    “Just send the transmission Vir, and then leave me alone!”

    Over the past few hours Captain Sheridan had been studying the files over the recent Narn/Centauri Quadrant Thirty-Seven dispute. To him there seemed to be no solution to this problem, and although he had only been on the station a short time he knew he had to do something to resolve this dispute. To that end he decided to pay a visit to G’Kar’s quarters. When he entered he was greeted by G’Kar’s aide, Na’Toth.
    “You must be Captain Sheridan. I am Na’Toth, the head of Ambassador G’Kar’s diplomatic staff.”
    “I would like to see the Ambassador if that is possible.” said Sheridan.
    “I’m afraid the Ambassador is indisposed at the moment Captain.” Na’Toth replied. “He is not taking any visitors.”
    Just as Na’Toth finished her sentence three scantily-clad women emerged from G’Kar’s bedroom. Each had a smile on their face. A few seconds later G’Kar himself emerged, clad in a white bath robe. He went to pour himself a drink when he saw Sheridan.
    “Ah, Captain Sheridan I presume! A pleasure to meet you at last! Will you have a drink with me?”
    “No, thank you, Ambassador. I’m here to discuss the Quadrant Thirty-Seven problem.”
    The expression on G’Kar’s face suddenly changed.
    “Na’Toth, please leave us alone.”
    Na’Toth did as she was told. A few seconds later G’Kar and Sheridan were alone.
    “I trust you have studied the files, Captain.” said G’Kar. “I suppose you’re going to tell me that I should give in to the Centauri demands!”
    “On the contrary, I’m here to ask you to give Ambassador Mollari room to manoeuvre. You’re not even giving him room to breath. The Narns and the Centauri have been at each other’s throats for years now. Surely now is the time to let bygones be bygones as it were. Try to compromise on a few things. If you do the Centauri may do the same. Perhaps now could be a time for change.”
    G’Kar sat down in his chair and took a sip from his drink.
    “Perhaps you are right Captain Sheridan. At the council meeting tomorrow I will try to be a little more…tolerant!”
    Sheridan smiled.
    “Perhaps my first few days on Babylon 5 will be a success after all!”

    A short time later Sheridan entered Garibaldi’s office. Upon seeing his new C.O. Garibaldi got to his feet.
    “At ease Mister Garibaldi.” said Sheridan. “Burton told me you had a suspect in the Petrov murder. Have you managed to get anything out of him yet?”
    Garibaldi sat down in his chair again.
    “No. He knows something, but he’s not talking. I did manage to find out something about him though. Take a look at this.”
    Garibaldi tossed a phaser to Sheridan.
    “Looks like an ordinary phaser to me.”
    “But it isn’t. All phasers are made of a special alloy, and each of them have their own registration number, which can’t be filed off. Deveraux’s phaser has no number.”
    “You mean he’s found a way of removing the registration?”
    “Maybe, but there’s also one other possibility. Starfleet Special Agents phasers don’t have registration numbers either!”
    “So this guy could be an undercover agent?”
    “That’s the only thing I can come up with. I can’t find anything in the files about this guy, and Starfleet Command doesn’t seem to have anything on him either!”
    Then Garibaldi’s second, Burton, came rushing in.
    “Chief! It’s Deveraux! He’s gone missing!”

    Narn fighter patrol designated T-111 was returning to it’s mother ship, a Narn heavy cruiser, in Quadrant Thirty-Seven on the Narn/Centauri border. To the pilot it had seemed like just another routine patrol.
    “This is fighter T-111. Patrol completed. I am returning to base.”
    “Understood T-111. You are cleared to land.”
    The pilot steered the fighter towards the cruiser. Then his sensor panel started to go crazy. They were picking up something directly in front of him. The pilot looked out of his cockpit window, and for a moment he could have sworn he saw a Federation starship in front of him, but a few seconds later it resembled the sub-space anomaly that was usually associated with a Romulan or Klingon cloaking device. Then the attack began. Before the pilot could do anything he was hit by phaser fire and totally destroyed.
    The attacker then turned his or her attention to the heavy cruiser. The Narns had no chance because they could not see their attacker. They fired in vain but could not see their target. They had no way of telling if they hit or missed their attacker. But then it was too late. A barrage of photo torpedoes suddenly appeared as it out of nowhere, and with the cruiser’s shields damaged they were destroyed.
    Then two more Narn heavy cruisers appeared in the distance, and the invisible ship soon attacked them. Like their comrades the two Narn cruisers had no defence against their invisible assailants. They soon joined their countrymen on the other side.
    The ship then began to move towards the military outpost. Already thousands of Narns had been killed, and soon thousands more would meet the same fate. The outpost stood no chance. The sensors could not get a weapons lock on the mystery ship, and soon the outpost was destroyed. In all the mystery attackers took ten thousand Narn lives. The ship moved away like a thief in the night.

    Starfleet One and it’s sister ship, Starfleet Two, moved through the Sol system towards the Jupiter station and the jump-point of Io. President Watt sat in his quarters in front of his computer screen. Watt then pressed a button on the com-panel.
    “Captain Johnson, have you managed to make contact with Mister Leacock yet?”
    “No Mister President. No one seems to know where he is!”
    “Keep trying Captain, and notify me the minute you hear something. Watt out.”
    “One other thing sir. Senator Servalan has been taken ill. She’s been transferred to Starfleet Two. I’m afraid she won’t be joining us at Io.”
    “Some piece at last!”
    “What was that sir?”
    “Nothing Captain. Just inform me when you make contact with Mister Leacock.”
    Watt switched off the com-panel. He was starting to get worried about his old friend and Vice-President. He had never done anything like this before. He was an Istarian after all!

 

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