Hidden Meaning

Posted on Tue Dec 8th, 2020 @ 4:22am by Commodore Loatha Targaryen & Captain Wilkan Targaryen & Rear Admiral Greg Coulson & President Gruzy of New Xindus & Captain Nathan Bishop & Captain Ryan Walsh & Commander Nathan Hawkins & High Commissioner Jasmine Haynes

3,338 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Cheese
Location: Briefing Room, Starfleet One
Timeline: 2430-08-29, 22:15

Admiral William Teagarden accepted the cup of Tarkalean Tea that the Yeoman brought in for him as he sat at the head of the table in the Briefing Room adjacent to the Bridge of Starfleet One. Directly across from him President Gruzy sat, a scowl on his face and sleep trying not to take over his eyes as he looked toward him. He picked up the PADD and looked at it as the holographic form of Admiral Luzol appeared in the room.

"This had better be good, Will," the Commander of Starfleet announced as she looked at her husband. "The boys just got to sleep and I have a million reports," her husband motioned to the opposite side of the table and the President there. She pulled back her composure and refastened her uniform jacket, "My apologies, Mister President. I did not know that you were present," she playfully smacked her husband's arm, but he knew it was more than just a gentle tease.

The Xindi Reptilian yawned, "He pulled me away from my slumber. You can hit him harder if you like. What is the meaning of this Admiral?"

"We have a few more people that we're waiting for, Mister President. As soon as they're here we'll get started," the CO informed hoping that they got here sooner rather than later. Several of them were being transmitted from Earth via hologram. He hoped that they arrived soon.

Beyond the small cluster already gathered personnel Commander Hawkins arrived inside the briefing room bringing the aroma of coffee with him. "Mister President, Admirals," he nodded in greeting before setting down his brew and taking a seat a touch surprised he was among the first to arrive at this emergency meeting.

Ryan entered the meeting, his hair still damp from the shower he had been taking when the call for the meeting came through. He nodded to the others and took a seat.

Bishop had made his way from the bridge to the meeting. He left Galatea in command and had imparted her with the orders to immediately inform them if any other messages were directed to them. He nodded to the others there. "Mr. President, Admirals." He addressed them.

Jasmine wondered why the late night meeting. She knew something big must be going on. She was still trying to transition into her new role. Most of the crew, were still unaware of the change. They knew she had been re assigned, but still serving at the President's leisure. She walked in, and walked over towards Ryan. She gave a slight smile, then looked over to the President.

When he saw that everyone had arrived, William knew that it was time to begin. Setting aside his tea, the Admiral rose from his chair and typed on the keypad built into the tabletop. A star chart appeared in the center of the room as the lights lowered around them.

"Thank you all for joining me at this late hour. At 18:00 hours today we intercepted a transmission from the Vulcan Star System. The message was an innocuous one, easily ignored as a fake message that should be quickly deleted, but that is the purpose of it. As some of you know the message consisted of one word: Cheese."

Gregory Coulson sighed at the announcement, "You can't be serious."

"My sentiments exactly, Admiral," President Gruzy said wiping the sleep from his eyes. "There had better be a point to this, Admiral. I have a very important meeting tomorrow morning."

"There is more to it," William said looking from the President then back to Coulson, "Isn't there Greg?"

The Rear Admiral gave a slight nod, "There is. When I served in Intelligence - what seems like a lifetime ago - I was partnered with a Vulcan Starfleet Officer named Sakkath."

"Sakkath?" Luzol questioned leaning against the table. "Isn't that the name of the Vulcan Administrator?"

"One in the same," Coulson answered. "When he retired, Sakkath entered into politics on Vulcan and later rose to oversee all of Vulcan. Before that, while we worked together, I had a code name: Cheese."

Teagarden interrupted, "And we have analyzed the message, discretely, and the voice matches Administrator Sakkath."

"What did the message say?" Jasmine asked, hoping that the President or the Admiral would fill them in. She also wondered, why she was not informed of this message prior to this moment. She was now Chief of Staff, and felt unprepared.

"Just the word Cheese, Comman," he paused as he said it, realizing his gaffe. "I'm sorry, High Commissioner."

"Will, I assume that this is a secure channel," Coulson asked uncomfortably.

He nodded, "It is. Which is why I'm certain that we'll all need to be prepared for the fallout of what is about to be discussed. Proceed, Senior Agent."

Coulson sighed as his former title was shared. It almost made him sick to hear it, but he knew it would come back one day. "Sakkath, myself, and Admiral Teagarden are former operatives for Section 31." He glanced at Teagarden, "Shortly before the Confederacy of Vulcan left the Federation, 31 installed Sakkath to serve as its eyes and ears within the Vulcan government. Unification was becoming more and more of a possibility and the Federation needed to be ready for such a challenge. Further, the potential of the Romulan Free State gaining a foothold on our territory was becoming more and more salient. Because of this it was agreed that steps would be taken."

"At the approval of then President Lesia Enaren Section 31 initiated Operation Ni'Var. It was an effort to conquer the Romulans through unification. Sakkath was arranged to become the Administrator of Vulcan and he would help to guide the Romulans and Vulcans back together. At that point, Vulcan would then initiate proceedings to bring the new Romulan Empire into the Federation as full members. Essentially, we would conquer the Romulans without a shot. Two code words were established for use. In the event of mission success we would have received the phrase 'Knight'," he looked at Teagarden as he said it then back to the group, "Cheese was the code for the mission having been compromised."

Jasmine was a little taken away, by the sudden news. She would have never imagined that Admiral Teagarden, is or was a Section 31 operative. Was there a such thing as former operative? "Do we have an extraction plan for Sakkath? Assuming this was a call for extraction." She did not want to believe that Starfleet would abandon one of their own. Especially on a mission of vital importance. Even though it was compromised and failed, the operative could still have some vital information to pass along.

"It doesn't matter," President Gruzy interrupted as he leaned forward. "Officially, Sakkath is the leader of a foreign power no longer politically aligned with the United Federation of Planets. Section 31 is dead, their operations and missions even more so. President Enaren may have pardoned you both for your crimes against the Federation, but I still am not fully onboard with that decision either. Going after Sakkath, no matter what happened, is a tactical risk that we can't make right now. The Federation Council is on the verge of war with itself over the Dominion and that little weasel Caxl's death. We throw the Romulans into the mix and it'll get ugly even faster than you can imagine."

"I told you that this mission would come back to bite you, Director," Luzol had ice in her tone as she said the title. "What happens if the Romulans figure out that the Federation manipulated them? That we tried to conquer them through deception and sabotage?"

Coulson smirked, "They'll give us a medal and invite us to the Tal'Shiar Christmas Party?"

The Commander of Starfleet rolled her eyes.

“When have we ever done what was easy?” Ryan asked quietly. He was still taking in all that had been revealed in the past few minutes.

"Captain Walsh's humor aside, he brings up a very good question. Relations with the Romulan Star Empire, has always been shakey. And they are a prideful people. The fall out will be bad." She said, as she looked over to the Admiral, and then over to Luzol.

The Xindi sighed, "What would you have us do? Launch a full scale mission to Vulcan and potentially risk an even greater incident if you're all caught?"

Hawkins pinched his nose concerned by the details of the meeting. Learning their senior leaders had former ties with Section 31 was unsettling, lying and keeping secrets were traits never forgotten. He'd do well to keep his cards closer in the future Nathan noted drily.

"We'd find a way not to be," the Commander spoke up. "Surely we have further contacts that could be useful in this?"

"I'm not suggesting a full scale rescue operation. Like the Commander said, surely we have other channels we can explore." Jasmine asked, knowing she was still new to it all, but she had to believe that Federation would want to seek peace within the galaxy. The last thing they needed was an unstable Romulan people. They were barely holding on. Doing nothing, in her eyes did not seem like a wise choice.

“We need to handle this carefully,” Ryan added. “But we cannot sit and do nothing. I agree that there has to be a “right” plan.”

"There is one," the Admiral answered. "Mister President, despite our pardon from President Enaren I am requesting that you order Admiral Luzol to dismiss both myself and Admiral Coulson from Starfleet for our actions," he looked at his wife then his friend, "Effective immediately."

The President shifted in his chair, "For what purpose?"

"We're guilty of crimes against the United Federation of Planets, the Romulan Free State, and the Confederacy of Vulcan. We need to be held responsible for our crimes and the penalty should be our removal from Starfleet itself."

Hawkins glanced sideways to Bishop whom remained silent throughout so far, he toyed with the idea the Captain already knew about this therefore was holding his tongue. "So you can travel to Vulcan without an affiliation and investigate further?" The Commander probed with a shake of his head. "Alone?"

"It seems premature to offer a resignation or possible termination from Starfleet. I think we should look at the possibility of administrative leave until the current conflict is resolved." Jasmine suggested, as she looked over to the Admiral and then the President.

Luzol interrupted, "But Administrative Leave ignores the key argument Commander Hawkins proposed: he's still Starfleet which draws him back to us if he's caught." She leaned forward toward the table and rested her elbows on it, "That's what he's going for. A disgruntled Starfleet Officer. If caught easily disavowed. Problem is Romulans don't take prisoners and then my kids grow up without a father."

"Hey what about me?" Coulson interjected.

"Or the annoyance that is Greg Coulson," Luzol concluded.

From his place, Bishop spoke. "The Admiral is invoking cowboy diplomacy. However if he is caught these Indians will make a spectacle of him as well as Admiral Coulson. " He looked at the others, "Can't you see it?" Two Admirals both former Section 31 agents, with a shared past history of trying to bring down the Romulan Star Empire.. This isn't a bad idea, It's a monumental bad idea." He finished as he looked around the room to see how the others felt.

William looked at his First Officer, "Unfortunately we have very limited options as, if the worst has happened and Sakkath has been found out, then the Federation has deliberately and maliciously interfered in the governance of a sovereign power and they have the proof of it. Which is why our dismissal is so critical as it shows that the Federation is not accepting of what has happened and what we did. Further, if preferred, I submit myself for arrest."

Hawkins shook his head: "Dismissal or arrest aside, it won't help Sakkath or dampen the potential political fallout that may follow if he had been uncovered."

Jasmine looked straight to the Fleet Admiral, she wanted to make sure her message was going to be heard. "Fleet Admiral Luzol, what is the point of a pardon? What gives Starfleet the authority to circumvent the power of the Federation President? What message is Starfleet sending if the circumvent the pardon of a former federation president?" Jasmine asked, seeing that he was a little to trigger happy with the Admirals. They needed to focus on the crisis, not go on a side tangent. Jasmine despite her loyalities to Starfleet, needed to protect the integrity of the Office of the United Federation of Planets President.

The Commanding Officer of Starfleet Command looked over across subspace, "I don't feel that Starfleet needs to be the one to order the pardon overturned. The opposite in fact. If I were to hazard a guess though I would assume that the Federation President ultimately would have the right to extend additional charges against Admiral Teagarden that would not be covered by the original pardon. Besides, the pardon itself could be seen by the Romulans as being a slap in their face. We're on the verge of war and we don't even know what the Hell is going on in this scenario."

Ryan sat back and listened. It seemed there were many opinions floating around, they didn’t any more at the moment.

"That's Baloney Admiral. You honestly think the Romulans won't see through your 'arrest'? They'll see it for what it is an attempt a best appeasement of them and at worst a further attempt to put something over on them. It is a no win situation." Bishop declared.

"Every day in space is a no win scenario, Captain," William pointed out. The Commanding Officer sat there a moment, not speaking as he considered the options carefully. He couldn't come out and say the plan he'd formulated because then they would all be involved in the situation as coconspirators. Worse, none would have deniability for the situation at all. Not that the Romulans would probably listen. The reality was they really didn't know exactly what was going on. The code word only meant there was a problem, but didn't give a specific issue.

He broke free, "I'm open to other ideas that don't involve me and Greg going to jail."

Bishop kept a rein on his temper. Cooler heads were needed if they were going to prevail. "We monitor the situation for anything unusual. Subspace radio traffic. Shake up, mass overhauls in government offices. Starship, fleet movements. It's better than you and Admiral Coulson going in an running the huge risk of being caught, tortured for information or just plain tortured and lets not forget getting killed." He looked around the room, "Hell, we can schedule fleet maneuvers near the Confederacy. They can protest all they want but they can't stop it."

"And what if we hear something along those lines? Then what Captain?" Hawkins asked. "It may already be too late by then, Sakkath could be dead and his confessions laid bare if we choose to sit on our heels and wait."

Bishop looked at Hawkins, so Nathan wanted to use ranks? Well he could do that as well. "I don't think that's going to be an issue Commander. Obviously the Romulans don't know anything yet or they would be crowing about it and telling the entire quadrant what they know. In addition I'm reminded of an old Earth saying. "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'"

"With that mentality we won't be rushing to doing," Hawkins bit back without thinking.

"And what would you have us do? Rush in with phasers firing and torpedoes launching without properly analyzing the situation. That's a recipe for disaster." Bishop fired back.

"Of course not, don't be absurd," the Strat Officer replied hotly. "I was referring that we can't afford to sit round playing guessing games. We need more facts about Sakkath's position, which as much as I hate to say can not be done from orbit. We need boots on the ground."

"Boots on the ground? Fine, but not the Admirals. They'd be spotted and picked up thirty seconds after they arrived and then the Romulans would have a field day." Bishop countered.

"Unless the disguise and intel is up to scratch," Nathan objected. "No one would be the wiser."

The President tapped his fingers on the tabletop as he listened to both sides. He'd remained fairly quiet during the discussions before him, not wanting to push too far too fast with this for fear of causing a breakdown. Ultimately he knew that the final decision was going to be his, but it was one decision too many. The Xindi leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.

"That's enough," the Xindi interrupted. "This whole scenario puts us in a horrible predicament and damn you both for putting us in this position, but damn Lesia for letting you get away with it. You both interfered with the development of a sovereign nation and now we have to try to pick up the pieces of your mistakes. We don't know what happened, but if you are both correct in that he's been compromised and that was what his message meant, then we do have a serious condition brewing. For all we know the Romulans could be preparing to strike even now."

He looked at Jasmine then back to the group, "We know that the Federation Council is going to be meeting tomorrow for session and one of the priorities that is being brought up by the Bajoran Councilor is new legislation to reign in Starfleet. We do not know specifics, but we know that you are to blame for it. Personally, I want to just throw you in the brig but I know that there is more to it than just that. Ever since you killed the Klingon Chancellor you've been rogue, but now we find that you were also involved in such a horrific assault on a foreign power. It's unconscionable! It's criminal!"

The President sighed, "But our choices are limited. We will deal with that later, for now we need to adjourn and let cooler heads prevail."

"Mister President time is of the essence," William interrupted. "If we don't act and Sakkath..."

"Not another word, Admiral," Gruzy charged. "Unless it is your formal resignation. I have already figured out your plan and I don't think more subterfuge on your part will get us anywhere at this point." He stood and tugged on his jacket, "Now, is there anything else?"

Hawkins stared at his untouched coffee feeling slightly ashamed at himself. His frustration at Bishop misunderstanding him had escalated more than it should have. In turn they'd ticked off the President, his chiding was more scolding than whatever Teagarden had planned next. Sensing he'd done nothing but ill he held his tongue as Gruzy scanned the room.

Jasmine was not very fond of the situation. She wondered to herself, what happened to leaving no man behind? What happened to not hanging your fellow starfleet officer out to dry. Just because he resigned in a way retired from Starfleet, did not mean she still did not care about the corps fundamentals and corps belief's of the Federation and of starfleet. She seriously wondered if the Admiral lost his sights. She made a mental note, starfleet officers do not make good politicians. She sat in the briefing room waiting for President to make his next move.

Ryan felt like the meeting was getting out of control and he had no intention of adding to it so he continued to observe and store information.

The President rose from his chair, "Since we're done here I think now is a perfect time to adjourn. Maintain course for Earth, maximum warp." He left the room behind as the holographic figures started to fade away.

Admiral Teagarden stared forward knowing, deep down, this was far from over.

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