The Ocean of Night

By Putaro

Rating: R

Genres: adventure

Keywords: Romulans

This story has been read by 2529 people.
This story has been read 5616 times.

This story is number 2 in the series Five Year Mission


Chapter One: Fallout

Author’s note/Summary: Welcome to The Ocean of Night, part 2 of Five Year Mission. Thanks to all of you returning readers for your support. If you haven't read it already, you will probably want to read Setting the Course, part 1 of Five Year Mission. Setting the Course deals with Enterprise getting ready for the five year mission, TnT romance and Romulan machinations. Part 2 is going to be faster paced and more of a science fiction and adventure story. We'll explore new territory and meet some new and some perhaps familiar alien races. I'm looking forward to the TREC!

Thanks as always to Alelou for her advice and support!

Disclaimer: Star Trek: Enterprise and its characters are copyright CBS/Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended by the author of this story, which is solely for the purpose of entertainment and is not for profit.

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 Captain’s Log, August 18, 2156 – Earth has been attacked with nuclear weapons by an unidentified enemy. Who attacked us and why is unknown. Enterprise is proceeding to the source of the control signals for the attacking drones. Perhaps we will find the answers we seek there.

August 18, 2156 2300 (Pacific Time) – Enterprise Ready Room, Outer Sol System

Jonathan Archer was alone in the Ready Room. The adrenaline of the battle had worn off and he was limp. What the hell had just happened? The drones had appeared from nowhere and they’d failed to stop them. At least two nuclear weapons had been detonated – how many more had gotten through?

This wasn’t the time for brooding, though. He had to get ready for the next challenge. It was still twenty minutes or so before they would reach the source of the control signals, and what they would find there was anyone’s guess. It was unlikely the control ship had remained, but not impossible.

The comm panel chimed, and Hoshi’s voice came out of the intercom. “Captain? I have Starfleet Command for you.”

 

August 18, 2156 2300 (Pacific Time) – Warbird Alidar, Interstellar space (near Sol)

The first battle of the as yet unnamed war was over. Subcommander Merik finished reading the last of the after-action reports with a sense of satisfaction. They had trained for over a year for this mission, and he was proud of the results. Ten enemy ships had been destroyed; an orbital shipbuilding facility and eleven of the surface targets had been annihilated. He copied and pasted the unfamiliar target names from the mission instructions: Beijing, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, New York, London, Moscow, Mumbai, Delhi, Jakarta. Twelve of the twenty-four nuclear-armed drones had been destroyed before they were able to reach their targets.

Some of the gun camera video was a little odd in retrospect; apparently many of the targets were desolate areas. However, the squadron had delivered the payloads to the designated areas and he had double-checked the map co-ordinates. Perhaps the Humans hid command bunkers in those spots.

He finished the report and sent it off as a microburst subspace message. Alidar continued on its leisurely way, still masquerading as a lumbering Tellarite freighter. Merik looked forward to their homecoming in four months; he was sure that commendations and a promotion awaited him.

 

August 18, 2156 0935 – The Forge, Vulcan (40 Eridani III)

The Romulan safe house was buried deep in the bedrock and heavily shielded from the geomagnetic instabilities of the Forge. Subcommander Lovok and Sublieutenant Suran had been locked in the suite of five small rooms for over a local year now with only occasional short trips to the surface to break the monotony. During the V’Las administration an optical fiber had been surreptitiously run out from Shi’Kahr and buried under the sand and rock. This was their only link to the rest of Vulcan. Several other Romulans had been infiltrated since the death of T’Jan, but they were not in contact with them.

Suran rolled out of bed and rummaged through the pile of clothing on the floor for a semi-clean tunic and pants. Donning these, he headed to the dining area for a cup of seklal. Lovok was seated at the small table, wearing a robe and drinking his own morning beverage. “About time you got up,” he growled at Suran. “Go check the news feeds.

Scratching, Suran went into the workroom and seated himself at the view screen. Their work had been uneventful for months. He brought up the usual search terms. Today, however, the results were much more than expected.

“Subcommander! There’s been some kind of attack on Earth. It’s one of the critical search terms!

That brought Lovok to life; he came in and seated himself at the other view screen.

After a few minutes perusal of the large volume of data, they came to the conclusion that there was little actual information so far, though the Vulcans had generated vast amounts of analysis and commentary. They sifted out the facts and composed a short message to send by microburst transmission.

 

August 18, 2156 1700 20th Floor, Hall of State, Ra'tleihfi, Romulus

The Earth desk had expanded considerably from when it had been formed. Centurion Shival had his own office, with a window even, and a staff of ten worked outside in a common room. He was sipping from a mug of seklal and enjoying the view of Ra’tleihfi when Sublieutenant Neral bustled in through the door, waving a PADD. “Sir, sir, we have the reports on the Earth attack!”

Shival sat up straight. “Excellent! Let me see.” He scanned through the terse report from Vulcan. “Why do most of the city names have ‘old’ in front of them?” he asked, putting the PADD down on his desk.

“I really don’t know.” Neral peered at the PADD, trying to read upside down. “Perhaps it’s a Human custom to add that after something is destroyed?” he said brightly.

“Well, it will just cause confusion. Remove those, neaten it up, and get it upstairs right away!”

 

August 18, 2156 1740 93rd Floor, Hall of State, Ra'tleihfi, Romulus

Proconsul Tamman entered the Praetor’s office with a spring in his step. The Praetor was standing at his large table, as usual. The door slid shut with a muffled thud.

Tamman smiled. “We have the results of the attack and they look very good!”

The Praetor lifted an eyebrow. “Remind me again, which attack?”

“The one on Earth. It was scheduled for today, remember?”

“Oh, yes, I’d completely forgotten.” He gestured at the PADDs spread over his table. “All of this Klingon nonsense, you know.”

“Well, it looks like a success. We destroyed eleven of their cities, ten of their ships, wiped out their orbital shipyards and the casualties were over thirty million. I think it will be some time before they attend any more conferences or smooth over any difficulties between the Vulcans and everyone else.”

“Those were the Galae s’Shiar results, I assume. They sound very rosy.”

“We have confirmation from the Vulcan media as well. They are preliminary reports, of course, but it all fits together.”

The Praetor put his hands on the table and leaned over it for a moment, then looked up at Tamman. “Quite a thing, isn’t it, sentencing thirty million beings to their deaths?”

Tamman shrugged. “They stood in our way.”

The Praetor straightened up. “Quite true, quite true. Well, that’s why I’m Praetor – someone must make such decisions.” He wiped his hands together. “Now, how shall we proceed with the rest of the Daenn?”

The two brought up charts on the large view screens and bent to their plotting.

 

August 18, 2156 2305 (Pacific Time) – Enterprise Situation Room, Outer Sol System

The senior staff stood around the chart table in uncustomary silence. T’Pol could see that Hoshi’s eyes were red from her silent weeping at her station. Phlox was clearly disturbed; T’Pol knew he regarded Earth with great fondness. She could feel Trip’s anguish through the bond, although he was trying hard to keep his emotions under control. Captain Archer had withdrawn into that hard shell he had built around himself during their time in the Expanse. Lieutenant Commander Reed was expressionless, while Lieutenant Mayweather looked stunned.

Archer had invited the diplomatic staff and the MACO commander, Lieutenant Valois, to join them as well. Ms. Patel stared at the table surface and she shook her head faintly every few seconds. Mr. Wong and the lieutenant both had their lips set in thin lines.

Archer began. “I just received an update from Starfleet Command. There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that, for some reason, most of the targets were memorial sites: Old Beijing, Old Tokyo, Old Los Angeles, Old Moscow and several others. San Francisco was targeted but the defenses took out the drone before it could detonate. The same happened at Shanghai, Sydney, Osaka, Paris, almost all of the inhabited targets.” He paused and clutched the edges of the chart table. “The bad news is, one got through to Mexico City. The early estimates are the entire city and its suburbs were wiped out, over thirty million dead.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. “Jesus, that’s worse than the Xindi attack,” Trip said.

“Bastards,” bit out Wong.

Archer raised his hand and they quieted. “We need to focus on the task at hand. We’ll be where the control signals were coming from in fifteen minutes. Hoshi, have there been any more signals?”

Hoshi was looking at the floor but her voice was clear. “No, nothing that matches the signature.”

“T’Pol, anything on long range sensors?”

“No, there are no subspace emissions that we can detect.”

Archer nodded. “They probably ran as soon as the attack was finished. With any luck, though, we’ll be able to pick up their warp trail.” He looked around at the crew with his mouth set in a hard line. “And when we catch up with them, our orders are to capture them if at all possible. We want to know who to bring the fight to.”

 

August 18, 2156 2324 (Pacific Time) – Enterprise Bridge, Outer Sol System

Enterprise dropped out of warp, shields up and weapons ready. “Any sign of a warp trail?” queried Archer, his attention focused on his own tactical display, as though scrutinizing it more closely would show something.

“No, Captain,” replied T’Pol, hunched over her viewer. She worked the controls next to it. “However, there is a radiation signature that is consistent with a small vessel, perhaps a relay, exploding.”

“Damn,” gritted out Archer. “Is there any debris? Maybe we can figure out who built it.”

“No, the destruction was complete.” T’Pol turned from the viewer to face him. “There is no information for us here.”

 

August 19, 2156 0035 (Pacific Time) – T’Pol’s cabin, Enterprise, Outer Sol System

Trip slipped through T’Pol’s door quickly. “Thank you for coming,” she said, and let herself be enveloped in his arms as he kissed her. “Anytime darlin’,” he said. “It’s been quite a day. I could use some neuropressure myself.”

They sat down on the floor and she removed the red pajama top. Trip seated himself behind her and began touching the pressure points on her back. “You’re awfully tense,” he said. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She closed her eyes. “Ensign Gutierrez is from Mexico City. It was my duty to inform him.”

 

August 20, 2156 1400 (Pacific Time) – Coalition Council Chambers, San Francisco, Earth

“And so I ask the other Coalition members to assist us in discovering the perpetrators of this unprovoked attack and in delivering our retaliation to them.” Minister Samuels sat down in the chair at Earth’s position at the table, Earth’s ambassador to the Council sitting behind him.

Ambassador Shras, of Andoria, rose. “Andoria will support Earth,” he said simply, then sat back down.

Gral, the Tellarite Ambassador, rose, and faced Samuels. “Not so fast. I’ve been studying your history, Earthling. Will you go on a hunt for ‘weapons of mass destruction’ now?” he said, scornfully. “Who will be the target of your retaliation?” He waved around the room. “Any of our worlds could have produced these drones. Will you wish to search us all for evidence of this attack?”

Samuels rose again. “We are not accusing anyone in this room of the attack. We will have justice, though,” he declared, slamming his hand on the table. “Thirty million of our people have been killed.” He looked around the room. “Is this what we should expect from joining the galactic community? Is this what our message of peace is bringing us?” He appeared to be close to tears.

Soval rose from his seat. “Vulcan grieves with you, Minister. Now, as ever, Vulcan, too, wishes to deliver a message of peace. We will support you in your search, but we urge a peaceful resolution when the perpetrators are identified.”

Shras jumped to his feet, antennae twitching. “Peaceful resolution? After a nuclear attack on civilians? There’s only one answer to butchers like that!”

The meeting dissolved into chaos.

 

August 23, 2156 1400 (Pacific Time) Enterprise, Outer Sol System

Hoshi stepped into T’Pol’s office. She was still wearing the dress uniform she and the rest of the crew had donned for the memorial service earlier.

“Commander, I have the latest reports from Earth. Everyone’s immediate family is accounted for now.”

“That is agreeable to hear,” T’Pol said as she accepted the PADD. “What is the status of your family, Hoshi?”

“I finally spoke with them and they’re fine, thank you. They were in Osaka when the attacks happened. They made it home last night.”

T’Pol thought back to the tranquil garden of the Sato home and in her mind saw the trees and grasses turning brown. “And radiation from the attack?” she asked.

“The reports are it’s mostly blowing out to sea in Japan.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Hoshi left and T’Pol studied the PADD. Many areas were being evacuated as radioactive fallout from the blasts spread. She saw that New San Diego was one of the affected areas, and made a note to speak with Ensign Spector.

 

August 25, 2156 0900 (Central European Time) Prime Minister’s Office, Brussels, Earth

“Yao Lin, thank you for accepting the position,” Samuels said as the new Defense Minister entered his office.

“I am honored. I thought, however, that DeForrest was doing an excellent job.”

“I thought so too. There was a demand for heads, though, and he wound up being the sacrifice.”

“I see. And what are your instructions for me?”

“We need to be seen to be doing something about this. Roast Starfleet over the coals to tighten up the defenses. Find out who the hell did this and deliver vengeance to them.”

“I was informed that investigations are already in progress, but there is very little hard evidence. It may take months to develop anything. Will there be another demand for heads?”

“There may be.” Samuels rubbed his hand over his mouth. “Enterprise was scheduled to leave for an exploration mission. Send them on their way and we can say they’re searching for the attackers. Who knows, maybe Archer will turn up with the goods again. At least we can say we’re doing something that people will understand.”

 

August 25, 2156 1335 (Pacific Time) Enterprise Ready Room, Outer Sol System

Archer turned away from the view screen with a sigh. Ten minutes of arguing with Gardner had been fruitless. Gardner had looked exhausted, with dark bags under his eyes. He had not even defended the decision to Archer; he had simply and tiredly re-iterated it again and again, and said it couldn’t be changed. Archer hit the comm and summoned the First Officer and Chief Engineer then slumped back in his seat.

Trip and T’Pol came in together and stood in front of Archer’s desk. He turned his chair to them. “Well, we have our mission,” he said, shaking his head.

“That’s good, isn’t it?” said Trip. “We’ve been going in circles for almost a week now. I don’t know how those boys on the perimeter patrols keep from going nuts.”

“Our mission,” he said, making air quotes with his fingers, “is to proceed on TREC as planned. If we come across any information on the attackers we’re to pursue it, but otherwise we’re to stick to the original mission plan.” He waited for their reaction.

Trip blurted, “Are they completely crazy back there on Earth?”

T’Pol raised an eyebrow. “It makes as much sense as any other course of action at this time. Starfleet needs to be seen as acting, but we have no information. One direction is just as likely as any other to yield results and our mission is to the least explored regions.”

Archer sighed. “Maybe you’re right. Tell Travis to set a course. Dismissed.” He turned his chair to look out the window, ignoring them as they exited. A minute later, the stars in the window turned to streaks as Enterprise spread her wings and left Earth behind at warp speed.


Comments:

Asso

As far as Enterprise being the "flagship" for United Earth, I don't think that's really the case.  At this point it's the first ship of its class, experimental in many ways, not designed as a warship and commanded by a loose cannon of a captain who is politically untouchable.  Personally, I thought one of the problems with ENT as a series was that Enterprise and Archer were always presented as being way too important and special.  I enjoyed that in TOS, Enterprise and Kirk were good, perhaps even the best in the fleet, but we weren't being told that all the time and THEY weren't being told that all the time.

How true!

Linda

I am enjoying this fic.  Too bad about Mexico City, though.  I spent the summer of 1969 there and had a great time.

putaro

Thanks for the comments!

My take is that the Tellarites will argue about anything and that doesn't necessarily mean they're being hostile, but they will feel free to ask awkward questions at any time.  We can find any number of bogus "casus belli" in Human history, I just picked one that was likely to get more of a gut reaction from a contemporary audience.

As with many "secret weapons", once the element of novelty is lost and the barn door firmly shut after the horses have exited this style of attack is unlikely to succeed again.  At least against Earth.

As far as Enterprise being the "flagship" for United Earth, I don't think that's really the case.  At this point it's the first ship of its class, experimental in many ways, not designed as a warship and commanded by a loose cannon of a captain who is politically untouchable.  Personally, I thought one of the problems with ENT as a series was that Enterprise and Archer were always presented as being way too important and special.  I enjoyed that in TOS, Enterprise and Kirk were good, perhaps even the best in the fleet, but we weren't being told that all the time and THEY weren't being told that all the time.

Cogito

Thank goodness Trip and T'Pol's relationship has reached the point where they can comfort each other. We need much more of this!

I'm as baffled as Trip is at the decision to send the flagship away exploring at a time like this. But I don't know what direction the attack came from - I suppose that if it came from the same general direction they had been planning to explore, and it was a region that we knew nothing about, then in the absence of any other leads it would make sense to head out and see what we can find. At least that would be more productive than simply waiting in orbit.

I do hope that Starfleet and the powers-that-be will take the hint that Earth's defenses need to be reinforced. This was only a small scale attack, but half the missiles still got through. If it hadn't been for the duff targeting data, it could have been every bit as devastating as the Romulans think it was. (I'm guessing that the memorial sites were places that had been devastated during the Great War - a nice touch, but also very sobering; the main reason the Romulans didn't do much damage is that we'd already blown these places up ourselves.) Samuels' comments suggest they're going to reinforce the planetary defenses, but I hope it's something substantial and not just a token effort to placate the public. If the Romulans come back, I want to see them found promptly and given a sound thrashing. :)

It's interesting to see your take on the alien reactions to the attack - Shras demanding vengeance, while the Tallarites are more concerned with not being blamed. And it's good to see the crew in general supporting each other. It sounds as if the Praetor has more mischief in mind, and I suspect the bad news has barely begun.

panyasan

Interesting! I like how you bring bits and pieces together in showing how horrible the Romulan war is. It's realistic. I also like that we see the different reaction from every specie in the coalitation. I found it interesting that the Tellarites pick just that part of human history to disagree. What's behind it? 

Asso

Yes, definitely a start worthy of note. With a few strokes and intense, all the actors in the drama are brought to light, each with his own distinctive features. Moving on.

 

Weeble

Great start. I really enjoy how confusion reigns...for all especially for those who actually know what happened.  it is an interesting angle that Andoria supports and the Tellarites "blame Bush". The Vulcans are well within character, they only get a bit frisky when they are attacked. I really like the way you are establishing coalition reactions. This is gonna be fun.

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