A TIME AND A PLACE: 5

by D. Maxwell

"So that's how we see the situation," he said taking another drink of his beer. There was a long pause between the two of them.

"And you're sure of all the facts?" the other one said.

"Absolutely." Lieutenant Fazil Shaw started fiddling with a pretzel. Both he and Lieutenant Xenia Ice were sitting at a table in the corner of the officers lounge on Starbase One. Aside from themselves, there was only one other person in the room. A Starfleet captain sitting alone at the bar. Shaw could not recall the lounge being so empty before. "everyone must be at the big Starfleet celebration" he said to himself. Lieutenant Ice thought about their current situation carefully, neither of them worked for Starfleet. In fact if the two of them were seen here together, it could cause complications, especially since the lounge was so empty, they would have no crowds to mingle with if they were discovered. Without turning around Ice asked.

"What about him at the bar?" Shaw glanced towards the lone figure and the barman now chatting with him.

"Starship captain I think, doesn't look very happy. Hang on....the barman has just left him alone. I'd say he's OK, but I'll keep a look out." Lieutenant Ice who in reality was a Major in the Federation Secret Service weighed the situation up carefully. An unknown force known simply as the Borg, nearly destroyed this planet and in the process decimated half of the Starfleet navy, it was no wonder all this was being kept from the general public.

Starfleet Command was a very secretive organisation and it didn't want to panic the whole population by telling them the truth about what really goes on in outer space, as far as everyone was concerned, everything was smooth and rosy within the Federation. It was Major Ice and Shaw's job to ensure it stayed that way. Their task in the service was to infiltrate Starfleet Command and Federation Starships and to listen out for would be 'talkers', people who just might get into the habit of telling important secrets to those who did not need to know them. The Service placed less trust in junior officers than senior ones, hence the reason for Shaw and Ice posing as lieutenants, although some senior officers were currently under investigation. As things stood, it was going to be hard to keep this Borg attack completely under wraps, a lot of people knew something about Wolf 359 already due to the number of deaths involved. The Internal Crew Registry had been handing out death notices of crew members for weeks now. But it was the near attack of Earth that Starfleet Command and the FSS wanted to keep quiet. The populace would lose faith in Starfleet if they ever found out that a hostile enemy ever got so close to destroying the planet. However the secret seemed to have been kept, so far, and the Terran population were completely oblivious to the attack. The only problem Shaw and Ice faced was a report that came in saying that someone had secretly informed the Internal Crew Registery of the imminent attack by the Borg. It was not necessary for the ICR to have been notified, as the attack it did not concern them directly. This information came through one of the FSS agents at ICR Central. Apparently a Major Tannish who received this report then proceeded to contact his officers warning them to take cover. Major Ice already had a list of the ICR people to target, via a copy of all their transmissions made at the time, when he reached Earth.

"I want you to activate all of our available agents on Earth," Ice began, "and put them on priority one alert, we need to know who has told who what. Get in contact with our ICR man and see if he can find out if this Tannish has spoken to anyone else especially people of authority, we need to plug this leak quickly..." he noticed a sudden change in Shaw's expression. "what is it?"

"Admiral Hanson has just entered the lounge, he is going over to the Captain." Ice's professionalism prevented him from turning around however his gut feeling told him that now was time to leave.

"OK, let's go." They casually got up and began chatting about trivial matters as they headed for the exit. The Admiral was too preoccupied with the captain to pay them any attention. As soon as they were outside the lounge, Ice said.

"Go to your quarters and collect your things. Change into your service technicians uniform, I shall meet you at shuttle launch bay 5 in thirty minutes. The shuttle isn't due to depart for Earth for another hour, so take your time.

"Roger." They went their separate ways, Ice decided to linger around for a moment longer in the foyer keeping the lounge entrance in view, wondering if Admiral Hanson would come out looking for the two unofficial lieutenants. He didn't. Ice began wondering what was going on with the captain and why he was here at all, rather that at the celebration on Earth. Ice kept this in mind as he headed off to his quarters.

A few minutes later, the captain and the Admiral exited the lounge together.

Major Shaw entered his quarters and immediately began to change. He hastily, but without rush, packed his belongings into a travelling bag. Within fifteen minutes, he was ready to leave, his identification badge saying he was Max Clarke, Federation Starbase electronic technician. Along with his shuttle pass for Earth, he casually left the room and headed off towards launch bay 5.

Major Ice was already there when Shaw arrived, considering they were supposed to be working for the same electronics department, it was only natural for them to sit together. Ice scanned the waiting room, there were a few people sitting here and there, but nobody of real significance. He sighed lightly, leaning back on his chair finally glad that he was allowed to rest. He closed his eyes as they sat there in silence.

"You want a coffee?" Shaw eventually asked.

"No."

Shaw got up and wandered over to the replicator "Coffee, white with two sugars." After a moment the machine placed the cup in the dispenser, He picked it up and started heading back when the sudden wailing of a siren went off. Everyone in the room looked around nervously in concern except the two Majors 'unauthorised phasor fire alarm' Ice thought 'someone has just fired a phasor on a kill setting'. This needed investigating quickly. He casually got up and walked over to the telecommunications booth by the wall, slowly so he wouldn't attract any attention, when the alarm abruptly ceased. Everyone was still looking around confused as to what was going on.

Major Ice studied the phone, giving the impression he was calling someone on Earth, he secretly inserted a card in the phone's ordinary side out-put slot. He looked at the screen in front. The special card was his own personal high priority information access device. It had the ability to convert all telecommunication consoles into message retrieval units, something only the Secret Service had and yet another toy that the public was not aware of. On insertion of the card, the out-put slot converted to an in-put one.

"Ice, Xenia, 130567190570, code clearance Alpha, Alpha, Alpha, request security access to Federation Starbase One." The phone instantly became a security computer link up, a mechanical female voice then said.

"Security link up acknowledged. High security transmission commence..." Ice watched as the phone played back all of the base's recent security transmissions until he found the one he was searching for.

"Alert, UFP alarm sounded, locate source and identify." A voice said.

"Acknowledged." There was the briefest of pauses then...

"Alarm source located. Level 286, room 23K, occupant one Captain John Haifa, serial number 386-6809-35-45DC, commander USS Salvatore registration NCC-2370, apparent homicide/suicide. Cause of death, one discharge of type II phasor on minimum kill setting to cranial cortex."

"Acknowledged, investigation now commencing."

Ice cut in on the conversation "Ice, Xenia, 130567190570, code clearance Alpha, Alpha, Alpha, delete inquiry, commence." He withdrew his card. Homicides were not his problem, he left the booth and started to return to his seat. Yet with each step he thought more about it, he sat quietly next to Shaw who was still drinking his coffee.

"What happened?" He asked. Ice stayed silent for a moment deep in thought.

"Something unusual, a Starship captain has just had his head blown off, in what is either an apparent suicide or murder."

"Ok, so."

"So this captain was on the Salvatore, which just happened to be a Wolf 359," there was pause between them.

"Was this the same captain we saw in the bar with Admiral Hanson?" Shaw asked.

"Yes I think so, I wonder what's going on," He got up again "I'm going to inform Central about it in case they want to pursue the matter further." He headed off to the phone once more. Shaw discarded his empty cup and thought about the situation, imagining that Starfleet Command would want to keep this event very hush hush. It is not good news to hear of Starship captains doing themselves in, especially if he was at Wolf 359. Everyone who served there was going to receive a special commendation. If it was a murder then that would be different and Starfleet Command would really want to keep it quiet. Murders on Starbase were not looked upon lightly. Admittedly, it wouldn't have surprised Shaw if it was suicide, that captain Looked pretty down at the bar, maybe it was the death of his wife or kid or something. Anyway now was not the time to worry about it. Once Central was informed, it would be up to them to decide what to do next, his mission was concentrated on Earth.

In another part of the station, two men were sitting at their posts in a very elaborate and technically advanced control room, the nerve centre for Starfleet Intelligence on Starbase One when suddenly a console started to beep.

"Patch into it," the first one ordered, there was the sound of dials turning and buttons being pushed as the second man placed the receiver into his ear.

"I've got it," the second one said "standby, he is asking for instructions...hang on, here comes the reply," there was a pause, then "damn, he's going for it."

The first man got up quickly "I'd better tell Kempf." he said heading for the door.

Ice returned to his seat once again.

"Well?" Shaw asked,

"Central wants me to look into it and to clarify what happened," he got up and picked up his bag "You'll continue with the original mission, I'll join you when I'm finished here." He moved off, completely unaware of the security camera which had now begun to follow him. Shaw remained in the lounge, the shuttle was due to arrive in 20 minutes. He looked idly around the dull walls "I'm hungry," he thought.

"There he goes, probably back to his quarters," the first man said. The camera following him along his journey. Both he and second man were in the presence of a third person, General Kempf. Head of Starfleet Intelligence on this station.

"Run through what happened?" Kempf ordered.

"We had a case 446, in the quarters of a Captain John Hour at 20:30. At 20:36, we picked up a security memory breach at telecommunication console 33A, unfortunately they were able to access the information concerning this Hour before could jam it. He also deleted his name and inquiry command before we could identify him. Then at 20:44 this same person then called FSS Central on the same phone. We were then able to pinpoint who it was. He had informed Central about what had taken place and asked for instructions, Central ordered him to investigate and report back his findings."

General Kempf listened silence, this was not pleasing news. Federation Secret Service agents here on Starbase! The FSS and Starfleet Intelligence did not get along at all, each distrusted the other immensely. The FSS worked directly for the United Federation of Planets. It was their job to keep the name of Starfleet and the Federation pure among the general populace of all the planets and races under UFP control. Yet they had a burning curiosity to learn about the things that Starfleet Command with held from them. Things that they thought the Federation could do without knowing, especially about their less publicised operations. To learn what they could, the FSS had planted agents within Starfleet's operations, many of them serving on Starships.

Starfleet Intelligence was a branch of Starfleet Command. Its prime duty was to protect all of its officers, crew and personnel, namely the Federation, from bribery, extortion, blackmail and so forth in the UFP's continual attempt to gain top secret information from them. The SI was aware of these FSS infiltrating Starfleet, but did not know who they were, subsequently another of their tasks was to weed out these agents and protect Starfleet person.

"Who are we dealing with?" Kempf asked, the first man punched some commands on his computer and a picture of a face appeared on the screen.

"His name is Major Xenia Ice of the Federation Secret Service," Kempf shifted uneasily " he has currently been serving on the USS Enterprise in the shuttle bay under the name of Lieutenant Prepern and has since been transferred off ship. As far as we have been able to ascertain, he met up with another agent named Fazil Shaw somewhere on this station. Apparently they were ordered to go to Earth to silence a leak of information concerning the Borg attack."

"What is Fazil Shaw doing now?"

"He is still in shuttle bay 5, preparing to board the Earth shuttle Columbia, I assume he is continuing with the original mission." The second man said. Kempf thought for a moment,

"This is not good news gentlemen," Kempf began "I don't like the idea of FSS agents checking up on our business. It is not important for them to know about the fate of Captain Hour, they could use this information against us." They watched on their screens as Ice entered his quarters "His next move will be to extract the file of the report from the security coordinator of what happened. We must insure that he does not achieve this." Kempf began to leave "I am extremely disappointed in you gentlemen for not being aware of their presence on this station sooner." Kempf's tone of voice made the two SI agents uncomfortable, they just sat there in silence "Don't let this happen again gentlemen, ever." Kempf departed. The two men looked at each other, they had never known the General to be so uptight about something like this. After all, the suicide of a Starship captain was not all that big of a deal really."

Just as Fazil Shaw was boarding the Columbia, elsewhere Xenia Ice exited his quarters dressed as a Starbase Security Officer, complete with false I.D. card and appropriate passes. Ice was one of the FSS's best agents, so he had to be prepared for everything. Getting the information about Hour would be reasonably easy. The sooner the better, he had spent to much time on this station already. He headed off toward security headquarters, the cameras following him the whole way.

As the two agents watched their screens, an internal intercom buzzed. The first man picked up the receiver,

"Yes?" He paused for a moment to listen, then "yes sir, will do." He hung up, he turned to the second man "We've been ordered to cut all audio and video surveillance." they looked at each other blankly,

"How are we supposed to track him if we can't see or hear anything?" The second one added. The first man reached over and hit a button. The screens went blank. The second man laid back and sighed.

Ice calmly wandered through the station, he could not look as if he was in a hurry. He checked through shuttle bay 5 and noticed it was empty. Good, Shaw was on his way. Satisfied, he headed back to the main complex. There were plenty of people about. Technicians, servicemen, quite a lot of Starfleet personnel. Ice glanced at most of them, suddenly he froze.

Up ahead he noticed the barman from the officers lounge talking to someone. He did not know if the barman would recognise him from when he was there, but he could not take that chance, he casually went into a side corridor. He glanced over his shoulder as he walked, just as he turned the corner, he ran head long into a woman. The shock of the impact took him completely off guard whereas it made her drop all of her computer disks.

"Damn!" she exclaimed "I spent over three hours putting these into order." She said annoyed. This was attracting attention, something Ice did not need, he quickly knelt down to help the woman noticing how attractive she was.

"I'm sorry," he said clumsily "I didn't mean it, I'm afraid my mind was miles away." She continued picking up her disks, not looking up at him.

"Well you should be paying more attention," she looked at him for an instant and stopped. "Oh my god!" she said, Ice quickly thought 'oh my god what?' she had spotted something, he thought beginning to feel nervous.

"It's you." She said, he was baffled, all he could do was play himself out of it.

"Sorry?"

"Ohmar Jackson," she said with a smile on her face "don't you recognise me, Lyn Thomas." It hit him in a big way. Ohmar Jackson was an alias he had used over eight years ago, and that's how long it had been since he had seen her. He was stationed at the Federation headquarters in Oslo, she and him had had an affair which was starting to get serious, until one day he just up and left.

"Lyn." He said, lost for words "ahh, how are you?" This chance meeting had really taken him by surprise. he could not believe his luck, or lack thereof. he had really taken to Lyn all those years ago and time had been exceptionally good to her, she was still a knock out. But for him back then, the job came first and he had to disappear, she never knew about his involvement in the FSS. Leaving her had been very hard on him but he had come to forget about her as time when on. Once though, he did check in Oslo to see how she was doing, but she had left to pursue a family with her new husband. He had been happy for her and ironically he had not been with anyone else since. 'had it really been that long' he thought. It was all starting to come back.

"How am I?" She repeated his question "how are you?" She took a good look at him "Security now I see, well they can't be feeding you to well, looks like you could do with a few pounds." A broad smile over her face. He looked down at his uniform, he had to remember what he was masquerading as.

'Well you know how things go," was all he could say, still recovering from seeing her "what are you doing her anyway?" His curiosity starting to get aroused.

"I've been stationed on this hole for a couple of years now, in Records, after the break up..."

He could not help but cut in "break up?"

"...yeah, another woman can you believe it, anyway he also worked at Fed HQ and so did she. There wasn't enough room for the three of us so I applied for a transfer and they gave it to me. I've been here ever since. How long have you been here?" She asked.

He had to think quick "Just arrived a few days ago." He fell silent thinking about her, her smile began to vanish.

"And what happened to you?"

"um..." He could not think of an answer.

"I thought we had something going there?" She said looking into his eyes. He was looking for an out, but he could not find one.

"it's a long story," was all that came out. He was torn between wanting to leave and staying, the memories of being with her started flooding back. He had to stay in touch with himself and what he was doing here, but it was becoming increasingly difficult.

"You know," she began "I always wondered about you, about what happened to you, why you left?" God she was beautiful, he could not think straight. Why did this have to happen now "You know I was never really happy with Jake, somehow I always wished I was with you instead. You leaving the way you did was pretty cruel, no goodbye, nothing."

'What do I do' he thought, she wanted answers and she wanted them now "Ahh look, Lyn." He looked into her eyes again, everything he was going to say about leaving now, went out the window, she held him in her grasp and once again he was lost for words.

"How about we do a coffee," she ventured "I was actually on my way to get some dinner before going to my quarters, why don't you join me? If your not busy." Her voice was so sweet, her complexion so pure, her hair so...

"OK," he said. The case of Captain Hour could wait a little while longer. He picked up her remaining disks as she lead him by the arm to the cafe."

Admiral Hanson exited the security complex with security coordinator Davis, who was a giant of a man, they walked slowly up the corridor.

"I appreciate you assistance in this matter Bob," Hanson said.

"No problem, it's a shame about John though, I never knew the man, but I heard he was a fine captain."

"He was indeed."

"Don't worry about anything," Davis said turning to Hanson "I'll have the file placed in my own personal data base, none of my people will look at it, and as far as we are concerned the case is closed."

"Thanks Bob. I'll tie Starfleet Command's end of it. The last thing we need is John Hour's record tarnished by saying he shot himself after being accused of cowardice. As far as Starfleet is concerned, he died of a cerebral brain haemorrhage and shall be buried with all honours of the Starfleet charter. I'll also have a chat to the crew of the Salvatore. I should be able to convince them to keep the matter of Wolf 359 quiet, they probably don't want to dirty Hour's record either."

"Then it's settled then," Davis commented "which I'm glad to hear." They shook hands.

Being an Admiral had lots of advantages, knowing people in high places was one of them. Hanson was just about to depart when...

"Oh Bob, I almost forgot, I received an anonymous transmission earlier that said the FSS were inquiring into matter of Captain Hour's..." Davis held up his hand,

"Don't worry about them, I'll make sure those clowns don't get their greasy hands on anything. It won't be the first time I've had to shake their secretive noses off of me." He said with a smile, it reminded Hanson just how good a security coordinator Davis was, being able to stand up against the FSS was no easy task. Hanson smiled back.

"Thanks Bob."

"Take care," and they went their separate ways. Admiral Hanson felt positive the whole matter was taken care of, which was good. He had so much to do, number one on the list was to begin the repairs of the decimated Starfleet armada.

"...and so I have been doing this ever since." She had been telling Ice about her life, he had time warped himself back to that time when she and he were together. He had not been with another woman since then and now he felt all the years between were yearning for him to make it up. Thinking back he could not believe he had brought himself to give her up so easily, what a mistake that had been. She was too good a woman to be treated like that. He had recalled all of the wonderful times they'd had, the trips they took together, the laughs, the tears, the joy and the sorrow. He was almost prepared to propose marriage to her, but he had left her instead. Now by a strange quirk of fate she had come back to him.

"Tell me about you?" She asked. This was going to be awkward. He hadn't been thinking of a story for him to tell, instead he had the distinct impression that he was picking up certain vibes from her, vibes meaning only one thing.

"I'd rather not discuss myself, because there isn't much to tell," it was a poor excuse but it was all he could think of.

"oh," she said coyly "so are you going to stick around this time or do you plan to simply vanish again."

"Why?"

"Well I just wanted to know if you'll have the time to walk me to my quarters." she said, they looked at each other briefly and without a word he stood up. She followed suite.

The two SI men were sitting quietly at their quarters when Captain Day, the man second in command to Kempf, walked in.

"Everything OK?" He asked. He didn't normally didn't come into the Command Centre tracking station, and the two SI men found that to be rather strange, maybe he was checking on them?

"Fine sir," said the first man.

"Good." He seemed a little awkward about being there. He wandered around the room a bit then prepared to leave, when...

"Sir may we ask you a question?"

Day stopped in the doorway "What is it?"

"We were given specific orders not to keep this FSS agent under surveillance, we were just wondering sir if anyone was watching him?" Day didn't answer straight away. Sometimes it was not always important to tell your men everything.

"He is being watched." Was all he said as he left. The two men watched him leave.

"Weird?" one of them muttered.

* * *

Ice rolled onto his back, he had never felt so exhilarated as he did now. Even after eight years of absence he had performed satisfactorily. He let out a sigh. Lyn who laid next to him rolled onto her side and started playing with his chest hair.

"I'd forgotten how good it felt," he said.

"I'm glad I've still got something left to give in my life." Their love making had lasted over an hour, she was able to give as good as she got, bringing out the man in him on more than a few occasions. For him it brought back all the memories of what had been and what should be again. He had decided to himself that once his mission on Earth was complete, he would retire from the Federation Secret Service and come to live on Starbase One. With Lyn Thomas at this side, hopefully as his bride. He felt that life had cheated him of his one basic right, the right to live like a normal man to have a wife and family. He had given up this opportunity once before, but not this time. The thought make him feel good inside as he smiled to himself, he was just about to turn over and tell her of his plans when it struck him how unfurnished the place was. No pictures, no ornaments, no nothing. Only a couple of chairs and tables. It looked as if no one actually lived here. Ice started to feel uncomfortable, like he was in a trap. He turned his head sharply to look at Lyn, she was smiling back at him with a malicious grin.

"What's the problem Xenia?" Hatred being spat out in every word.

'she knows my name!' he through the covers back and leapt out of the bed only to discover that Lyn had a phasor trained on him.

"If you kill me the UFP alarm will go off." he said desperately. She got out of the bed, the gun always trained on him, got into her robe then sat in a chair. 'she acts like a pro.' he thought.

"The alarm, which you put so much faith in, will only go off when it is turned on. It doesn't do much when de-activated." The smile returning, she motioned him to put his hands in the air. Standing naked, exposed, all of his defences down. He was in a tricky situation, so he had to think and act quickly.

'I'm a professional for crying out loud, who does she think she's fooling with? There is no way I plan to be done in like this, and by a woman!' he thought to himself, this sort of frustration was not helping his predicament. Suddenly the most obvious of questions occurred to him.

"Why are you doing this?"

The smile abruptly left her face "because I hate you, the way you dumped me all those years ago, do you think I really got over it that easily. I love you damnit and you up and went like I meant nothing..." Ice began to worry, aside from all his dreams being shattered, she planned to shoot him because he left her eight years back. This had been some sort of a set up, he realised, a trap to lure him here. And it worked. But he had to do more, and quickly. He began to put his hands down, if she was just tiffed at him for what he did, surely he could talk his way out of it. People didn't just kill each other every day. So surely there was a way to sort this out, surely.

"Hey Lyn look," he began to slowly move toward her "I didn't mean to leave you honestly but..."

"Xenia," she said slowly "one more step and I'll blow your brains out." He froze, that was the second time she had mentioned his real name. How did she know who he was? Think, damnit think!

"Hey Lyn, the name's Ohmar Jackson," he began with a smile, of sorts "you must be confusing me with someone else?." Desperately trying not to sound nervous.

"Really, so you're not Major Xenia Ice of the Federation Secret Service, currently investigating the death of a Captain John Hour, whilst on route to Earth to conduct some mission connected with the Borg hmm."

His pretence dropped, as did his initial fear of being blown away by some mad woman. This one was in 'The Business'.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"Your life."

"Why?"

"I told you, you left me eight years ago when I loved you so much it hurt. I've learnt a lot of things in that time, to hate you is just one of them. I also wanted you to know, that I know all about who you are, before you die. Concerning this," indicating the bed "I wanted to see if you were still up to standard, you passed the test."

"I'm pleased to hear that," he said sarcastically.

"You see Xenia, I know more about you than you realise, and I couldn't give a damn about your mission. You messed up my life pretty bad, and now after all this time, I get to get even." She aimed the phasor carefully at his head.

He had to play for time, he had to position himself where he could lunge at her, he would have to be quick. "Please Lyn, I'm sorry really," he started to plead, he was playing for his life. She was actually going to do it! he crouched on his knees preparing to launch himself at her. You're going to pay for this bitch! he thought to himself.

"Consider yourself, decommissioned." She said

She fired the phasor. Xenia Ice vanished screaming as he leapt at her. The phasor, set on maximum kill, turned him into anti-matter, in an instant. Only she remained. She casually got her self dressed, the smouldering burnt patch on the carpet being the only reminder that someone else had been in the room with her.

She pulled on her boots when the main door opened. A man stood there, he looked at the remains on the carpet where Ice had been.

"You killed him?" He said.

"Yes, what of it." She retorted as she began to pick up her remaining things.

"I thought you were going to shake him up a little, that's all."

"I changed my mind."

"The FSS won't like it when they hear one of their top agents is missing."

"Well I shan't be telling them," she looked directly at him, menace in her eyes "will you?"

"I still don't think you should've killed him, that's all."

She stopped what she was doing and stood up. "I don't care what you think, make preparations to destroy all evidence of his being here at this station. Also activate someone to take out this Shaw as well," the man did not move, instead he just stared at the burnt patch "Do you hear me Captain Day?"

"Yes General." he turned uneasily, and left.

She looked at the smouldering patch herself, a thin smile escaping her lips, she checked herself in the mirror.

"All in order," she thought, and with feeling the pleasure from what she had done, General Lyn Thomas Kempf left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.