STAR TREK - SCE - 21 - War Stories Bk 1

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Androssi Vessel Overseen by Biron

U.S.S. Lexington

Androssi Vessel Overseen by Biron

Starbase 92

Androssi Vessel Overseen by Biron

U.S.S. Sentinel

Androssi Vessel Overseen by Biron

About the Author

Coming Next Month: Star Trek™: S.C.E. #22

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.

AnOriginal Publication of POCKET BOOKS

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

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

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.

For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-7434-5676-9

First Pocket Books Ebooks Edition October 2002

POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Visit us on the World Wide Web:

http://www.SimonSays.com/st

http://www.startrek.com

Other eBooks in the Star Trek™:

Starfleet Corps of Engineers Series from

Pocket Books:

#1:The Belly of the Beast by Dean Wesley Smith

#2:Fatal Error by Keith R.A. DeCandido

#3:Hard Crash by Christie Golden

#4:Interphase Book 1 by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

#5:Interphase Book 2 by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

#6:Cold Fusion by Keith R.A. DeCandido

#7:Invincible Book 1 by David Mack & Keith R.A. DeCandido

#8:Invincible Book 2 by David Mack & Keith R.A. DeCandido

#9:The Riddled Post by Aaron Rosenberg

#10:Gateways Epilogue:Here There Be Monsters by Keith R.A. DeCandido

#11:Ambush by Dave Galanter & Greg Brodeur

#12:Some Assembly Required by Scott Ciencin & Dan Jolley

#13:No Surrender by Jeff Mariotte

#14:Caveat Emptor by Ian Edginton & Mike Collins

#15:Past Life by Robert Greenberger

#16:Oaths by Glenn Hauman

#17:Foundations Book 1 by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

#18:Foundations Book 2 by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore

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

#20:Enigma Ship by J. Steven York & Christina F. York

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

COMING SOON:

#22:War Stories Book 2 by Keith R.A. DeCandido

#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.

AnOriginal Publication of POCKET BOOKS

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

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

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.

For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

ISBN: 0-7434-5676-9

First Pocket Books Ebooks Edition October 2002

POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Visit us on the World Wide Web:

http://www.SimonSays.com/st

http://www.startrek.com

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 starshipU.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 theU.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 theU.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 thiswas 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 theU.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 theU.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 theU.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, theU.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 theLexington was check her

personnel file.

She hadn’t been on board theLexington 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.

After keeping me in his damn dungeon imagining vast conspiracies to create genetically enhanced

doctors in Starfleet…

But no, there was nothing about the Starfleet investigation into whether or not Lt. Commander Elizabeth

Lense, chief medical officer of theU.S.S. Lexington, top of her class at Starfleet Medical, had violated the

Federation law forbidding postnatal genetic enhancement.

Of course, she hadn’t. The whole idea was patently ridiculous. And if the Federation wasn’t presently

embroiled in a war with an enemy ruled by shapechangers who had spent the last several years fomenting

paranoia throughout the quadrant, it no doubt would have been investigated quietly and with a minimum

of fuss.

Instead, the revelation that the salutatorian of her class, Julian Bashir, had been illegally genetically

enhanced by his parents when he was six led some to think that Lense, having, in essence, beaten him,

might also be so enhanced.

So they locked her in a room on Starbase 314 and went over her life with a fine-toothed comb. End

result: she was an absolutely brilliant and completely human physician, who had been kept off active duty,

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摘要：

ContentsAndrossiVesselOverseenbyBironU.S.S.LexingtonAndrossiVesselOverseenbyBironStarbase92AndrossiVesselOverseenbyBironU.S.S.SentinelAndrossiVesselOverseenbyBironAbouttheAuthorComingNextMonth:StarTrek™:S.C.E.#22Thisbookisaworkoffiction.Names,characters,placesandincidentsareproductsoftheauthor’simag...

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