[Galaxy] [GXY] 31 Jul 2161 :: ESS Constitution, Romulan DMZ :: Capt Kurisawa, Cmdr Romero, LtCmdr Ibarra, Maj Mason :: "Encounter in the DMZ"

[Kate Nicholson]

// Somewhere along the Romulan Demilitarized Zone //

The ESS Constitution slipped through the silence of darkest space. Under the
command of Captain Kurisawa, her mission lately had switched to intelligence
and surveillance along the DMZ, though it would not be long before her role
as a warship would again be tested, as it had been before the Armistice.

There had been alterations made to the Constitution, though the most
important were not technical in nature.  Of interest at the moment was the
fact that she had added an Intelligence Department, which had taken over a
good bit of the space on Deck B, commonly occupied by the Xeno-Anthropology
and Archaeology Labs on exploratory missions. This did not mean she had no
science capabilities anymore -- quite the contrary. Military Intelligence
was a science in its own right.

Keeping in regular contact with deep operatives in the area, the
Constitution was tipped off to a possible enemy base of operations somewhere
in this sector, likely linked to medical genetic research. The fact that the
Romulans may have such a station hidden in the vastness of space was made
more dangerous by a reference to Dr Arik Soong, the researcher and developer
of the human Augment program.


// Stardate 2161-06.16 //

It required a certain degree of madness to sit and listen to the hypnotizing
white noise of the cosmos for hours on end, relentlessly adjusting and
reconstituting suspicious tangents, most of which were dead ends. But such
was the unglamorous majority of the work Lieutenant Commander Julio Ibarra
had grown accustomed to during his career in Intelligence.  At the moment,
however, another seemingly irregular string of frequencies had appeared
exactly where and when predicted. The Constitution's Intel Department, over
which Ibarra was Department Head, were quite pleased with themselves.

It did not matter so much /what/ was said, as that it was said in the first
place. Now the job was to determine, via triangulation and signal
degradation, where each string of highlights had originated, give or take a
light year. This was another tedious task, but as seven very clear signals
were provided by the operatives in the past three days, there was plenty of
data to measure and further triangulate the course of a ship, paralleling
the Constitution's course on the other side of the DMZ border. It had to be
a ship, because it wasn't static. It moved around, but didn't follow a
predetermined bee-line like a comm drone or buoy.

After weeks of such independently collected data, this ship was strongly
suspected to be the support vessel for the genetics research facility. Now
Ibarra switched gears and devoted more of the Intel Department's resources
to the decoding of the transmissions, which was already becoming "actionable
intelligence" for Major Mason's strike team.


// Stardate 2161-06.24 //

Constitution had waited until they were quite sure the shadow vessel was
ninety degrees off their port side, and just outside of what they believed
was the extent of Romulan sensor range. The Constitution made a wide circle
around the now sublight signal and lined up for a direct course toward the
shadow.  The Constitution then shot to warp, and appeared to materialize not
far off the shadow's starboard. Their expectations were realized when they
were able to catch a Romulan warbird perched in full view. Immediately,
intelligence channels activated and data began bouncing back to the
Constitution's network of relays and ships, all the way to Starfleet
Command.  The Romulans had been caught in their own no-man's land, and their
first shot was too late to stop the news from spreading.

In returning fire, the goal was not to destroy the Romulan ship. The goal
was to gather more information on the enemy's capabilities and prove it was
a warship in violation of the Armistice.  That meant /very/ specific
targeting solutions, and the necessity to take some punishment. Sensor and
communications data was almost completely rerouted through Ibarra's "labs",
as Kurisawa played this most dangerous game.

Targets were varied and often experimental, per Ibarra's quick suggestions
and recommendations, testing the enemy for weaknesses and strengths,
response times, power fluctuations, and damage.  The Constitution's sensors
missed nothing of value. When the Constitution finally, suddenly and without
any single impetus, turned her nose upward and shot to warp, she was intact
but battle scarred, and with direct evidence of the merciless Romulan
arsenal prowling around the DMZ. As the Constitution swept back at top speed
deep into Earth's territory, she was not followed.


// Captain's Ready Room //

Kurisawa stood from behind his desk to watch the stars steak by his viewing
window.  "Commodore Sheppard has been informed and appropriate information
is being disseminated," he said to his guests. "She has discussed the
incident with the Starfleet Commander and the United Earth President.  They
are in agreement."

"An act of war then?" asked his Executive Officer, Commander Santino Romero.
"Is one incident really enough to break the Armistice?"

"There was an Armistice?" asked Major Karl Mason sarcastically.  His MACO
team had been assigned to the ESS Meridian when she assaulted the Romulan
outpost that started the war, and his deputy commander, First Lieutenant
Spencer, had been essentially "dismissed" from service after being singled
out in the Romulan's propaganda film that followed.  To say the least, there
was a grudge.

"I do seem to recall a general cease fire, yes," Romero insisted.

Ibarra shook his head.  "But just because no one is shooting, doesn't mean
there's peace.  Remember the POW camp found by the Triton?"

"A cold war is still a war," agreed Mason.

Kurisawa turned to face the officers.  "We can debate this all day, but it's
out of our hands.  Hostilities have been re-engaged.  The Constitution's
mission parameters are back to the defense and protection of Earth and her
interests.  Ibarra," the Captain said to the gold-piped Intel man, "what
resources does Starfleet have in this sector?"

"Gamma Sagittarri, Captain.  New Darwin Colony."

"It might be a good idea to check in with them.  How familiar are you with
it?"

"I've been there, once," Ibarra answered.  "Well," he shrugged, "I crashed
into GSIII returning from some field work in an area that has since been cut
off by the DMZ.  I don't remember much of the colony, and I'm not even sure
they'd remember me.  So I suppose I should say I'm not very familiar with it
at all."

Romero turned to the operative, "What was out there?  Beyond the DMZ, I
mean."

"Nothing that influences our operations."

Mason rolled his eyes.  "He means, 'you don't need to know'."  He turned to
Kurisawa.  "Sir.  How about that medical station?  Since there technically
is no DMZ anymore, aren't we obliged to check into it?"

Kurisawa let out a heavy breath.  "I'll contact Command again, see what the
strategy is.  Meet me in the Command Center with the other senior officers
in an hour for a planning session."

Romero stood, looked to the other men with weary resignation.  "I'll bring
the coffee."

~~~

Capt Togusa Kurisawa
Commanding Officer
ESS Constitution

Cmdr Santino Romero
Executive Officer / Chief Engineer
ESS Constitution

LtCmdr Julio Ibarra
Intelligence Officer
ESS Constitution

Maj Karl Mason
2nd Expeditionary Team, MACO
ESS Constitution

(All NPCs apb Kate and Robert)