Star Trek: Fortitude
Season Three, Episode Eleven - “Shurvun”
By Jack D. Elmlinger
PROLOGUE
“You have done well…”
Bowing graciously before the towering silhouette of his anonymous paymaster, the diabolical grin of the Tah’Heen spy broadened. He wanted to appear grateful, for he was, especially since his last paycheck had been considerably larger. Exposing himself like that on the frozen moon had been an unusual request, a break from the tradition of causing chaos and danger for the Federation presence in the Santrag system. What made it all the most sweet was the fact that, technically, he had failed. Naketha was alive and only one Romulan Centurion had fallen. Nevertheless, here he stood, being congratulated by the hologram before him.
The Tah’Heen was dressed in a new uniform, something that he had wanted to purchase for quite some time. It was a luxury, but it was one that he could afford. It was the latest in tactical stealth body armor. His shoulders were twice as broad, passed with the lightest of duranium alloys. His chest was protected by a network of flashing devices, all of them which harmonized to create a small defensive energy shield around his precious torso. Two hip-mounted holsters now, not one, held a pair of customized energy weapons.
He felt invincible and to the untrained target, he was.
“Thank you, sir,” the spy hissed in acceptance of the praise being bestowed upon him.
“My sources confirm that Naketha had returned to Romulus in disgrace,” the paymaster went on in his usual deep tone. “There is the small matter of your appearance in such close proximity to the starship Fortitude. We cannot take the risk that your ship might have been scanned.”
“My thoughts exactly, sir,” agreed the Tah’Heen. It never hurt, to be honest.
“It was to be expected… but the next test that I have planned may very well cancel out that possible avenue of danger. Ready your ship and set a course for Starbase 499. This will be a test of their intelligence… and their ignorance.”
ACT ONE
Rear Admiral Blackmore was impressed.
Never before had he seen such a lavish banquet table. Of course, the occasion was of such importance, not just in the department of interstellar relations, but also in the terms of crew morale. So much running, rescuing… so many struggles… The latest exploits of the Federation Starfleet in this corner of space had been difficult in nature. Today was new, a fresh start, and the Rear Admiral was honored to be spearheading it.
The officers aboard the Fortitude were enjoying a well-deserved rest while the shield harmonics of the Tah’Heen vessel were being analyzed and processed by the super-powerful computers aboard Starbase 499.
Today, Blackmore was in charge.
Gazing out of the banquet room’s sweeping windows, he saw his visitors out there, hanging in the empty space between Santrag II and the bulkhead beneath where he was standing. Ewan hadn’t been lying about the impressive visuals. Blackmore sincerely believed that he had never seen a ship look so beautiful before, the highly-polished chrome of the hull plating was catching enough sunlight to make it sparkle like diamonds.
A proper First Contact… guests of honor…
The Shurvun seemed like such a nice people which made it a nice change.
Ewan had kept his word. Upon the return of Fortitude to the Santrag system after the ship’s horrid Tah’Heen-induced incapacity, he had taken great strides to make contact with another Shurvun exploratory vessel. One had been found and soon enough, the Captain was standing on their homeworld alongside Tano Jmara, the friend that he had made and the commander that he respected. The tour had been brief but not it was the Federation’s turn. Jmara was the guest of honor at this banquet.
Rear Admiral Blackmore looked forward to meeting him. A man of real principle, Ewan had called him, while at the time, it had meant a refusal of assistance for the stricken Intrepid-class starship. In retrospect, both men could only revere those principles and that strength of character. It had been hard for Tano Jmara to say no.
Yes… it was a nice chance to be true explorers, for once.
Blackmore couldn’t help but smile.
He knew that there was also more reason to celebrate. There were three chairs at the banquet table reserved for guests of honor. One of them belonged to him, the one at the head of the table. The other chair was for Jmara, and the third was for a very old friend.
It had been some time since he had seen anything by media-processed news feeds from the surface of Santrag II. The revolution from last year had changed things rather dramatically down there with the overthrow of the government and the formation of a new administration… but today, Blackmore would get to hear the truth behind all of it, and once again, embrace a colleague that he both respected and missed.
Former Prime Minister Veth Ka’Gerran was returning to Starbase 499.
The door opened with a swish, revealing Ewan’s beaming visage.
“You’re starting without us, Boxer?,” the Captain quipped, soaking in the detail of the banquet table with awe. “I thought that I would be the first one here. My, quite the spread that you’ve laid out. People might think that you were excited about this.”
“Damn straight,” Blackmore chuckled. “This is what being a Starfleet officer is all about, Ewan. “It’s not about chasing spies, not fighting for survival… Meeting new races, maintaining relationships… coming together in the name of peace… That’s why we all joined Starfleet, right? I know it’s why I did, so yeah, I’m excited.”
Ewan moved towards his seat alone under his superior officer’s watchful eye.
“No Valerie?,” the older man asked him after a pause.
“Fortitude doesn’t run itself, Boxer,” the younger man replied. “Besides, the last time that she saw a Shurvun robot, she was shooting at it. It might take her a while to get comfortable around them.”
“Well, she had better. It’s great to have a new ally out here.”
“You’re telling me,” Ewan sighed, a lopsided grin breaking out on his face. “You’re telling me…”
* * * *
Lieutenant Arden Vuro took a deep breath.
The door before him would open to reveal the Starbase 499 library suite and the access point to the Starbase Database. It would also reveal the one person that he could do without interacting with Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Brodie. Time hadn’t been kind to the hostile feelings that he harbored for the tactical officer. Over the past few months, they had shored themselves against any and all calming influences.
The Bolian had found himself waking up each morning and feeling a fraction less enthusiastic about his job. Piloting a starship was still as tremendous as always, and his friends were still pillars of support and diversion. Sollik would always listen. Jason would make him laugh daily. Even Doctor Pulaski had proven just as accomplished at healing personal injuries just as she was at healing physical ones. Yet, there was still one tiny problem so unique that it amplified itself beyond all reasonable levels and dominated his mentality.
Smug arrogance… hostility… disregard for morals… Gabriel Brodie was all of these.
At least, he was to Vuro.
Bolians had always been a passionate, and emotional people. Most of them focused that emotional energy into a single characteristic, so devoted and precise was the Bolian cerebral construct. This often led people to assume that Bolians were easy to categorize but that was the mistake. While many of them turned out to be pessimists, that was simply a reflection of their recent history. While many of them turned out to be anything but athletic, that was simply an indicator of genetics.
Vuro could point to himself as a Bolian who had smashed through both of those standard rules… and many more. He was no pessimist and he frequently outperformed his Human and Suliban friends in the Fortitude gymnasium, much to their jovial consternation. Yet, he was still a Bolian and that made him both passionate, emotional, and that meant that his previous relationship with Cadet Brodie all of those years ago was difficult to bury, hard to ignore… and impossible to overcome.
They were simply too different, and yet they still had to work alongside each other.
Duty was, after all, duty.
Entering the 499 library with determination spread across his blue visage, Vuro found the object of his unease hunched over a workstation almost immediately. At the sound of a throat being cleared, the tall black tactical officer rose to face off against the helmsman in typical macho fashion.
“Lieutenant,” Brodie acknowledged slowly, wondering what was coming.
“Sir,” Arden nodded politely through gritted teeth,” I’ve been ordered by Commander Archer to report. The Tah’Heen shield harmonics that you’ve been working on… I’m to input them into the Fortitude navigational array and to flag them as priority readings for the ease of future detection. If I could have them…?”
Silence reigned. Brown eyes narrowed and blue eyes reacted in kind.
“Okay,” Brodie finally answered. “Give me a second.”
Vuro felt his muscles tense underneath his uniform. He hoped this second wouldn’t drag the encounter out.
All he wanted to do was leave.
ACT TWO
“Oh, my… a revolution, you say?”
Tano Jmara felt his silvery jaw drop in astonishment as he listened to the dramatic tale unfold. It happened over the main course while the appetizers had been his chance to relay facts about his homeworld and the Shurvun people. Now, sitting across from him as he enjoyed what Rear Admiral Blackmore had called ‘salmon’, Veth Ka’Gerran was delving into the details of the recent political turmoil of Santrag II.
The former Prime Minister looked a good deal older than simply one year. Stress had attacked his feral hair, turning half of it gray and giving him an age appearance that was far beyond what a man of his actual mileage deserved. Weight had been lost, making his fingers slender to the point where Captain Llewelly had looked sincerely shocked when Veth had reached for a breadstick. The small ring of horns that crested his skull had become weathered and gnarled, apparently a sign of Santragan emotional distress. Nobody could react with any degree of surprise. Ka’Gerran was the last remaining echo of the old system of government in a new age for Santrag II. There were many who thought that his political life was over. Many lamented his continued public service, yet his role was essential. There was nobody else with the diplomatic savvy, or his charm, or the contacts in place. He was not the official Ambassador to the Santragan People’s Freedom Democracy, like it or not.
“Yes, I do,” Veth answered, nodding towards Tanos but sweeping his hands towards the two Starfleet officers at the table. “If it weren’t for these fine gentlemen, I doubt I would have survived it. My people are quite headstrong.”
“As are mine, Ambassador,” the Shurvun smiled knowingly. “We frequently leap before looking like the crew of Fortitude unfortunately learned.”
“That was something that I was meaning to ask you about,” Blackmore chimed in, addressing Jmara with a quick aside to his old friend first. “Apologies for interrupting, Veth, but I was fascinated by your use of robotic crew members aboard your ships, Tano. if you don’t mind, I would like to learn more about them.”
“What would you like to know?,” the Shurvun asked openly.
“Well, to what extent do you use them?”
“Put it this way, Rear Admiral,” the silver-skinned ally grinned at him. “Despite the size of my vessel out there, the Vunara, I am only one of ten Shurvun in the Santrag system. The others are my ship’s department heads. They operate their independent crews of mechanical men who aren’t opposed to, say, sealing a dangerous radiation leak or walking into an unknown situation with their eyes open.”
“It sounds like you’re describing a race of enslaved beings,” Ka’Gerran interjected with his best diplomatic tone, not a hint of offense in his observation.
Tano heard it, being used to the question from other outside observers, and he dismissed it with a short wave of his hand. “We considered that issue, Ambassador,” was his reply. “Believe me, I would be the first to object if our robots ever showed the slightest hint of sentience, but they’re not programmed for higher brain functions. They answer to the central computer cores aboard our exploratory vessels. They are not independent units and they know nothing but the simple commands that we input. The firefight instigated aboard Fortitude is proof of that.”
“How so?,” Blackmore asked with genuine fascination driving his inquiry.
“If our robots were capable of analytical thought,” Jmara went on,” then they would not have simply opened fire at the first sign of a threat. The simple algorithms that they feed off of, however, saw a weapon and pulled the trigger.”
“I see…”
* * * *
The main course was cleared away, offering the diners a breathing moment before the rich dessert promised by Rear Admiral Blackmore would be brought forward. It allowed everybody to stand, breaking off into groups for conversation.
Nursing his glass of war, Ewan slid into a comparative chat with Tano. They traded stories of exploration, both of them sharing a love of their jobs despite the darker quality of the Welshman’s current missions.
Meanwhile, Blackmore did some serious checking up on Veth Ka’Gerran. They kept a respectful distance from the other men. “Honestly,” the Rear Admiral asked the Ambassador,” are you all right?”
“I’m fine now,” Veth nodded slowly. “It was a challenge at first. We’re an entirely new race now, Boxer. Our government is a system devoid of figureheads and our people have been reborn into a society that listens to their grievances. In fact, next month sees the instigation of the major policy to finally do away with finance.”
“My God, that’s quick,” Blackmore noted. “Only a year to roll back the monetary system?”
“It was the change that they sought… and it’s no longer my problem.”
They shared a chuckle.
“Well, if you ever need anything, you let me know.”
“I shall, Boxer. As Santrag II’s official Ambassador, you’ll be dealing with me just as before. The only difference will be that decisions on my part will be brought to you within a reasonable delay. Think of me as… subspace interference.”
“Never, old friend,” Blackmore smiled from behind his beard. “Never..”
* * * *
“This is never going to end,” Brodie shouted,” until you learn to bury the past!”
“Why should I even have to bury anything?,” Arden retorted, his face glowing cobalt with visible rage. “You broke my ankle after a tirade of abuse! You make my Academy experience hell, damn you!”
The shouting match had erupted, several minutes ago. So vehement was the tension between Gabriel Brodie and his Bolian subordinate that they couldn’t even stand next to each other for more than a few moments before somebody or something snapped. On the Bridge, it was a different story with duty overriding their emotions… but here in the Starbase 499 library, there were no ranks to hide behind.
“It’s not my fault,” Brodie protested,” that I was ambitious.”
“Ambition doesn’t cause physical injury,” Vuro countered, gesturing wildly.
“In that case, it did, and I’m sorry, but that was years ago! How can you still be hung up on such an incident?! The injury wasn't lasting, and the encounter was brief… Such a small part of the Academy, the societies! How exactly did I turn the Academy into Hell?!”
Vuro paused, feeling his temperature lower. Contrary to a Human opponent, the Bolian was a creature of heat meaning calm. A dip in body warmth indicated anger, a biological warning system that told him to watch himself, remembering all of them, dragging it back up… it had been a challenge for him to relay it to his friends, but now that he was facing Gabriel Brodie, the object of his anxiety, was proving to be complicated. Balling his hands into fists, feeling his muscles tense up, he let the emotions fly.
“You ruined the one focus that I have to prove everybody wrong,” he revealed, jabbing a single finger into the chest of the black tactical officer with malice. “The Martial Arts Society had never had a Bolian member before. Right from the start, you never thought that I belonged there! You had your preconceptions! Preconceptions that I was out to shatter… and you couldn’t stand it!”
“Ah, it suddenly becomes all too clear,” Brodie rolled his eyes. “This isn’t about my ego at all. This is about yours!”
The Fortitude helmsman could have swung at him. How dare he turn this around on him!
“Fuck you, Brodie,” Vuro hissed through a locked jaw. “You cheated because you couldn’t handle the defeat. You couldn’t handle a Bolian being better than you at martial arts. Your thirst for action, your need for victory… it was all about you!”
“I’m hearing a lot of critical analysis directed at me,” Brodie responded, his own stance annoyingly relaxed in that smug way that Arden hated. “Why don’t you go look in the mirror, Lieutenant? I think your problems might be found in the reflection.”
The computer chimed for attention.
Turning around, Brodie picked up the PADD that he had been downloading to before he turned back around, hanging it in the thick atmosphere between his antagonist and himself. The move cut off any rebuttal that he had planned, it was clearly the unspoken dismissal of the tactical officer. There were a few seconds of silence before a seething Vuro snatched the PADD from his grasp, accepting defeat, but not accepting the Lieutenant Commander’s arguments.
Not a single one.
There was no way that this confrontation was about his own personal flaws. Not a chance.
“See you back on the Bridge,” Brodie concluded.
“Yes, sir,” the helmsman mumbled.
In his hands, the PADD rolled over to reveal what he had come for. The Tah’Heen shield harmonics were all here.
It was incredible timing, considering what happened next… before Arden could leave.
Lights flickered and a horrible moaning sound filled the library. It was like the sound of an injured creature recoiling in fear. It conjured up images of retreat, making both Starfleet officers dream up mental images of withering demise. Of course, they knew what it really meant. The computer terminals in the room were all losing power. Every last one of the LCARS displays faded away, the black transparent aluminum failing to show even the tiniest shred of artificial intelligence. Emergency lights took a moment to leap into action, bathing the Human and the Bolian in a red eerie glow.
In the half-light, Brodie passed his suspicious gaze over to the nearby console. It read a simple sentence that carried with it a complex meaning.
Starbase Database core memory - status: dumped. Computer memory wipe complete.
ACT THREE
Captain’s Log, Stardate 51384.7;
The pleasant banquet that was playing host to the beginning of a new diplomatic relationship with Tano Jmara and the Shurvun had been cut unceremoniously short by a worrying report from Lieutenant Commander Brodie. Catastrophically, the entire Starbase Database of Starbase 499 has been wiped clean. All of the residual backup memory cores have also been dumped. The entire system has reverted back to its factory settings and everything is simply… gone. For such a ruthless incident, I can only find one suspect in this crucial time… the Tah’Heen…
The Bridge was ablaze with activity.
Over on Starbase 499, the action was just as frantic. As Erica Martinez was rallying her troops and set to the task of trying to recover the last database, Llewellyn had returned to Fortitude to investigate the task of determining exactly what had happened. Gabriel Brodie and Arden Vuro were back at their stations, their verbal accounts swirling around in the Captain’s mind while he discussed possible outcomes with Valerie Archer. Behind them, Jason Armstrong was almost punching at his operations console before it yielded a small cry of success, moments later. All reactions turned on him.
“I’ve got it, Captain,” the young ensign told them, pointing towards the main viewscreen. “A high-level polaron beam focused to the frequency of 499’s main power grid. Whoever did this wanted it to look like an accidental power surge. I’m tracing the beam.”
The viewscreen morphed as Jason worked on the problem.
At first, the main viewer showed a tactical display of the local spatial grid. There was Fortitude, a yellow wire-frame representation floating alongside the much larger Starbase 499, and the impressive green wire-frame of the Shurvun exploratory vessel Vunara. Santrag II held all of them as the viewscreen zoomed out, a thin red line tracing away from the system and out into the empty grids of space.
Everybody knew that it was the polaron beam and they watched as it weaved in and out of the neighborhood’s features. Eventually, it came to rest, a pulsing red dot hanging over the gray wire-frame representation of Santrag IV. it was a dead moon, much like Earth’s only natural satellite, Luna. Hanging above it was a collection of numbers.
“Identify the source, Ensign,” Ewan ordered immediately.
“Checking… Whoever it was, they’re long gone, but I’ve got a residual sensor echo from their ship. If we only still had the Tah’Heen shield harmonics from the Starbase Database, I could put us all out of our misery.”
“But we do,” Vuro blurted out from the helm excitedly. “My PADD! Here, catch!”
Standing, the Bolian took a hold of the PADD given to him by Brodie in the 499 library and threw it across the Bridge, narrowing missing Archer’s head and shooting her an apologetic glance. Jason caught it perfectly, placing it alongside his monitor screen and accessing both sets of numbers simultaneously.
It only took a few seconds.
“Confirmed, Captain,” the Kentuckian nodded gravely. “It’s them.”
* * * *
“Another attack,” Tano sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“We’re getting used to it,” Rear Admiral Blackmore snarled without the pretense of diplomacy holding him back. The Shurvun before him understood completely, nodding along with the emotions that were on clear display. “This is the fourth incident of the Tah’Heen meddling in our affairs. You’ll forgive my frustration, Tano, but the more that this happens, the fewer answers that we seem to gain.”
“I understand entirely,” the silver-skinned guest dismissed. “No need for apologies, sir. The entire database, you say?”
“Gone forever,” Blackmore nodded. “Nothing left.”
“You will be spending a lot of time relearning what you have learned, I can imagine. Is there anything I can do to help, my new friend? Some star charts, perhaps? Or maybe the sensor data from the Vunara’s travels?”
Blackmore tilted his head sideways, inquisitive narrowing his eyes. “I thought you were prohibited from sharing such things?”
“We are,” Jmara pointed out, with kindness in every syllable,” from unknown species. Sir, I have spent a great deal of time with Captain Llewellyn and the crew of the USS Fortitude. Now I am leaving the company of their superior officer, and I find him to be just as generous, caring, and compassionate as those that he sends out to explore. My canon of laws prevented me from helping you before, and I don’t intend to let them do so again. It was your Santragan friend, Veth Ka’Gerran, who showed me your ability to bend the rules slights when it means the protection of the innocent and defending relationships. He is a lucky man to have you as an ally. So here I stand, offering you my hand in permanent friendship, willing to bend the rules slightly in order to give that friendship a good start.”
The Rear Admiral was taken aback by this outpouring of friendship and support.
It was rare for him to be surprised at his age and it was rare to discover something new that the Galaxy could show him, standing here in the form of Tano Jmara. The Shurvun with a vessel of such technical advancement, a crew of machines, and such empathy in his heart. He was a man who even surpassed Humanity’s generosity of spirit.
Blackmore looked down to see a silvery hand outstretched towards him. It was a hand that he gladly shook.
“Ewan was right about you,” he observed. “You are a true gentleman.”
“I’ll have our star charts transmitted to you as soon as I am back aboard the Vunara.”
“Thank you… oh, and one other thing.”
Tano paused, taking his turn to tilt his head inquisitive.
“Call me Boxer,” Blackmore smiled. “All of my friends do, and you certainly qualify.”
“If you insist,” the Shurvun said, returning the smile,” Boxer.”
EPILOGUE
Sollik caught up with the Captain in the corridors of Fortitude.
“You wanted to see me, sir?,” he called out to him.
“Ah, yes,” Llewellyn remembered with his mind stacked with so much information these days that it was an effort to even recall why he was powering through the ship at such an incredible pace. “Where have you just come from?”
“Starbase 499,” answered the Suliban. “We were uploading the Shurvun star charts and sensor logs into the empty computer core. They’ve seen some amazing things, sir. If we ever return to exploration, you’re going to be spoiling for a choice about where to go first… with all due respect, of course.”
“When we return to exploration, Sollik,” Ewan reminded him. “Not if.”
“Of course, Captain.”
They walked around a corner, arriving outside the transporter room just as Ewan remembered where he was going. He paused before entering the room, shaking his head slightly as he considered the breakneck velocity that events were moving at. Every new day brought a new challenge and a new facet to the ongoing crisis. Still, there were aspects to be grateful for…
“Thank goodness that Tano was here,” observed the Welshman.
“Indeed,” Sollik agreed with him. “It’s a nice change of pace to meet someone kind for once.”
“Be available over the next few days, Sollik,” Llewellyn warned his chief engineer. “I’ve got a few things floating around that I need to speak with you about. Some technical solutions that I need to put into place as quickly as possible.”
The chief engineer frowned at him. This was unusual, to say the least. Very unorthodox. “Care to divulge any specifics, Captain?”
“No, and keep it to yourself.”
“Aye, sir.”
On that cryptic note, the two men parted ways.
The End.