"We have no idea how many ships the Rotelans have on their side of the Dark Zone, or their border, or what steps they're taking to safeguard the site where we know the Module Cloaking Device is being stored, for now. However, thanks to our long-range spy probes—"
Magellan, Aaen silently interrupted.
Carrell continued, "we've noticed an uptick in the use of their cloaking technology due to the elevated levels of tachyon radiation. Make no mistake, crew—they're out there. We still have spies on the inside who are working to get us as much more information as possible. They will send us what they have, and then we will forward that to you on an encrypted channel that only Galileo's communications array is capable of receiving."
Magellan, Aaen silently interrupted.
Carrell continued, "we've noticed an uptick in the use of their cloaking technology due to the elevated levels of tachyon radiation. Make no mistake, crew—they're out there. We still have spies on the inside who are working to get us as much more information as possible. They will send us what they have, and then we will forward that to you on an encrypted channel that only Galileo's communications array is capable of receiving."
Aaen raised his eyebrows and subtly nodded at what he just heard. There was some degree of assurance to what this crew had just heard. He started silently asking himself if the Rotelans had spies that were telling their government what we do and do not know about the situation. His mind started to run with silent questions about possibilities, all-of-which he quickly decided to immediately ignore, but still consider, considering the briefing so far didn't explicitly rule out the possibilities. Could this be some kind of political or military game . . . or a test? Trying to see just how capable the Union is, or how apparently aware we are of what they really are or are not doing? Could they be trying to see what the Union's got under the hood that they wouldn't otherwise find just flying through space? Aaen told himself to stay focused. They would be taking just as huge a risk starting a war if they did have spies planted in sensitive areas here, and they may not have the means of engaging the Union in a large-scale conflict. He guessed only time would tell that much. What Intelligence was apparently proposing to the Union High Counsel seemed to be the most tactically-sound plan. Aaen felt excited to hear more.
"You will have to find some way of breaching the Rotelan border, undetected, and then get to the planet where the military research base where the device is being stored. Your objective is to enter orbit of the planet, find the Module Cloaking Device, beam it aboard your ship, and then get outta there as fast as you possibly can. . . Any questions?"
Aaen couldn't help but ask the new question that was now on the tip of his tongue, "Admiral, is Intelligence suggesting the Module Cloaking Device can interface with Galileo?"
"We have no-idea. We suspect it might not because, from what we know, the Module Cloaking Device draws a lot more power from the equipped ship than the cloaking technology currently employed by the greater majority of the Rotelan fleet at this time—which, needless to say, is already almost impossible to detect as-it-is. Supposedly, the Module Cloaking Device is designed for what may be purposed for the first wave of Dreadnought-class warbirds. While this is unconfirmed, it remains a theoretical possibility. Our spies are looking into that possibility to see if there's any confirmable. As of right now, that remains only a possibility. Until further notice, all we know for sure is that the Module Cloaking Device exists, and must not be allowed to be used against the Union."
Aaen nodded subtly a few times again in agreement. Of the other two male officers and two female officers comprising the crew, Aaen sensed they were each paying close attention to Admiral Carrell, with some of their brain power invested in contemplation of tactics and strategy.
"Admiral, is a diplomatic solution being explored?" a male crew member sitting to Aaen's left asked.
She briefly pointed at him, "Good question, Lieutenant. The answer is no. As far as the Rotelan seem to think we're concerned, we have no clue the Module Cloaking Device exists, and are taking no action. We need the de-facto status quo to stay that way if this mission is to have the greatest odds for success."
. . . the 'odds', Aaen noted. This mention suggested to him that the Rotelan fleet is undoubtedly aware of the Module Cloaking Device, and—he guessed—undoubtedly taking comparably subtle measures to safeguard it until it can be 'field tested'. The next wave of silent rhetorical questions centered around what Aaen reasoned was going to be a military test. The match on the situation had already been lit by the manufacturer and was waiting to be held under the de-facto situational fuse. His gut churned with what that might mean. . . If they are planning on a military test of this technology, then they could try to use a dreadnought, if they had built one for this purpose. If they did their homework on past conflicts they had with the Union thoroughly enough, they may have figured out a proverbial loophole in our combat tactics and strategies, and a way to exploit them, if they existed. Then again, if they had a dreadnought, then any apparent combat tactic or strategy flaw—or lack thereof—wouldn't matter. Dreadnoughts were made for but one purpose . . . .
"Crew, before we get you aboard your ship, there is another detail you need to be particularly aware of: you will not have any backup for this mission."
Suddenly the room got a lot cooler, Aaen noted.
"If you are caught, or captured, the Union will disavow any knowledge of your existence, and the sanctioning of this mission. Get to that planet as fast as you can, beam the Module Cloaking Device aboard your ship, copy every bit of data they have on it, wipe their databanks clean of the data, and then get outta there."
"Won't they detect an intrusion into their computer systems?" the female crew member Admiral Carrell referred to as Captain sitting on the other side of the table, asked.
"If they detect you, elude and evade them as much as possible. If you can make it back to Union space with the Module Cloaking Device onboard, the fleet will be diverted to help protect you. For the purposes of this mission, you will register on the fleet's sensors as a Danube-class Runabout."
There was a silence in the room.
"Any other questions?"
Aaen looked around, then looked at Admiral Carrell.
"Commander?"
Aaen gasped before speaking, "I have an idea how we can get through the Rotelan border. It'll be tricky, but I think there's a way through."
"Good. You can discuss that with your crew en-route. Crew, Command has full confidence in each of your individual abilities to complete this mission successfully. It's going to be dangerous, but, then again, all clandestine operations are. Okay, please stand up and push in your chairs and follow me."
Another command to the computer replaced the images with the Galileo's crest. The crew formed a single file line behind Admiral Carrell as she pushed another command to release the security locks throughout the room, then opened the large door and then led them out and left through a brief maze of darkened, empty corridors until they reached a tall black personnel transporter unit. Admiral Carrell beamed away first. Aaen and the male lieutenant beamed away next to find Admiral Carrell gesturing to stand next to a familiar wall. The wall bore a black technical diagram showing the saucer-section of the Voyager. The lights suggested the ship was on alert-condition-green, though the emotional atmosphere suggested differently. There were no Voyager crew members in sight, but they were undoubtedly on duty elsewhere, judging by the echoing sound of intercom speech, probably working under the ruse there was some problem in this part of the ship that was being resolved.
The rest of the crew followed over the course of a minute.
Admiral Carrell led the crew through another brief maze of corridors—Aaen wasn't familiar with this route, nor was the rest of the crew, as far as he could tell—and then down a tall ramp to set of larger twin doors. She put her right palm on a small Plexiglas plate on one of the doors. Her hand was scanned by a flat white beam of light, and then the right-hand-side door swung open with a mechanical hiss.
Wherever they were being led, there was a dark shadow cast from the next room onto the corridor. There was an odd mechanical purring sound coming from the other side of the doorway. Aaen reasoned they were either taken on an alternative route to the Voyager's shuttle bay . . . or maybe the next room over was a shuttle bay that wasn't strictly-speaking on any of Voyager's official engineering diagrams . . . .
Admiral Carrell entered first, and then the rest of the crew in order. Aaen was second in line and peeked around the narrow section of the visible corner. He noticed immediately this shuttle bay was about twenty meters taller, and deeper than Voyager's other shuttle bays. But what more quickly caught his attention was a geometrically-perfect, flat, angled, dark-grey hull section in the center of the room. As he stepped inside, he noticed wide-eyed the port side of the central box-shaped hull was lined with long twin red lines with a familiar delta shape on the end painted along the side to the adjoining edge of the angled forward hull, and what looked like an opaque black view windows on the forward hull. As he walked to the side of the loose crowd, he felt the air electrify as he eyed the shuttle's port warp nacelle glowing red and blue. On the side of the central hull, a stainless steel metal ramp extended to the floor over the port nacelle.
The mechanical purring sound became more pronounced, as were more fast-paced beeping sounds coming from a tall, narrow open hexagonal cavity in the port-side. The ramp's mirror extended upward like an upper jaw. The cabin was well-lit. Aaen could see a small fine black chair sitting in the center of the cabin on four small wheels and a rubber material with golf-ball-sized holes in it, and a white computer terminal behind the chair and to its right atop a small up-step section of the cabin. Aaen swelled with anticipation and anxiety. The up-step section was thinly carpeted, and the wall was covered in a bumpy foam-based material Aaen couldn't identify. The mechanical purring and the beeping sounds subtly echoed throughout the shuttle bay. Aaen curiously admired the tall, deep darkness just beyond the shuttle's hull. Even its shuttle bay has secrets . . . His subconscious told him the crew was being watched. He ignored the notion out of excitement—turning his attention to Admiral Carrell—to find out what it's like to be inside the bridge!
"Crew, this is the USS Galileo, mark-five long-range—classified—stealth shuttle craft." Admiral Carrell collected the dossiers one-by-one. Aaen's gut told him it was that time—
*****
Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
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