Digging Deep
Posted on Wed Feb 15th, 2023 @ 5:25pm by Commander Leksander Draven & Lieutenant Commander Rann & Tom Vercetti & Vito Russo & Gul Mavek
1,056 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Episode 115 - Planting for the Future
Location: Starbase 400
Timeline: MD1, 1100hrs
ON:
After getting Brunel to a available guest quarters, Tom and Vito went to Tactical Operations. Vito tapped the door panel and waited. After a moment, the doors opened but it wasn’t Draven, instead Rann stood before them.
The ‘angry little Bolian’ had a look of annoyance on his face. “What do you gentleman need?”
“We came to talk with Lek about something.” Vito replied.
“Commander Draven is in Ops.” Rann replied then tapped the button to close to door but Vito grabbed one side and held it open.
“When will he be back?” Tom asked.
“I don’t know, go to Ops and ask him.” Rann replied.
Tom nodded at Vito and he released the door so it could close.
Minutes later, the duo stepped into Ops. They looked around for a moment before finding Draven at the Intel station looking over data of the area of space the new USS Tikov would be sent to.
“Got a minute?” Tom asked Draven.
Lek nodded as he closed out of the database. “What’s going on?”
“Brunel.” Vito replied.
Draven nodded. “I thought this was coming. He came down to drink?”
Tom nodded, “Nearly polished off a bottle himself.”
“He told us about an incident while he was CO of the USS Miami just after the Dominion War. Says he believes to this day that the Cardassians lied and his firing was not only justified but there were no POWs on board.” Vito explained.
Lek looked around for a moment. He say Bremer and K’Temoc on the other side of Ops, so he lowered his voice a little. “Yeah, that was the theory. Mike went to bat for Tony, but Internal Affairs’ investigation of the Miami’s sensor and comm logs showed they not only didn’t warn off the Cardassian ship, but that the ship had POWs aboard, never raised shields or powered up weapons.”
Tom glanced at Vito, then looked back to Lek, “He swears that’s not the case. He also says he was never told of a POW transport ship in his patrol area. We’ve known him a long time, just can’t believe he would lie.”
“I know, but we have no evidence to support him. All the evidence we have points the finger at him as negligent.” Lek paused for a moment, then tapped in a few buttons on his panel. “We might have someone, right here on Starbase 400, that can help.”
Several minutes later, Draven, Vercetti, and Ruso were on Level 29 where the Liaison Officers offices were, and they tapped the door panel of Gul Mavek’s office. After a moment the door opened and Mavek asked the three to enter.
“Mavek, we need some assistance.” Draven started.
“What can I do to assist?” Mavek asked.
Tom handed him a PADD with information they had related to the USS Miami’s incident. Mavek read it over, then looked up at the Starfleet Officers. “A lot of information from that time right after the war was, lost…or just not recorded.”
“We have a friend that’s been accused, and if he was wrongly accused…even twenty-five years ago, he deserves the truth so he can at least stop punishing himself.” Tom explained.
Mavek took a deep breath as he patted the PADD for a moment. “There might be something.” He walked back to his desk and logged into the Cardassian central network. Vito stood by the door with his arms crossed while Tom took a seat. Draven walked over beside Mavek and tapped in commands on his own PADD.
“Legat Taven was in charge of the POW exchange.” Mavek said, almost surprised.
“What is it?” Tom asked.
“Taven was brutal. Tortured, physical and metal was his specialty. He and Gul Madred took great pleasure in those tactics. They thought it was make prisoners give them more information than through other means.” Mavek explained.
“How does this help us with Tony?” Vito asked.
“Taven was killed just after the Miami’s incident, however he was reputed to have said that even with the war over and the Cardassian military in shambles, that they needed to strike one last time at the Founders by sending a ship into the Gamma Quadrant. He had access to a ship and even had a small crew to assist him. The Obsidian Order found out, eliminated him, and the records were sealed. At the time, if the Dominion knew the Cardassians were trying to attack them again it could have meant another war.” Mavek explained. “What happened with the USS Miami’s encounter with the Vaknar is exactly what Taven would have done to get to the wormhole.”
“What about his ship and crew?” Tom asked.
“They were never accounted for. It was believed they attempted to join the True Way terrorist movement, but we believe they were wiped out.”
“Looking over Starfleet’s logs, the ships the Miami destroyed matched the one the Cardassians believed Taven had. Number of Cardassians aboard match the number of his known followers too.” Draven added.
“That leaves a question. Who changed the Miami’s logs?” Vito asked. “Someone in Starfleet had to be in on it.”
“Or at least aided in the cover up to ‘protect the peace.’” Tom added.
“And I know who.” Draven added. “Admiral Charles Mendek signed off on IA’s report.”
“The same Mendek that tried to frame Mike in ’92 for attacking a Cardassian ship and was working with agents from the Mirror Universe?” Tom asked.
Draven nodded.
“So he tried to keep the peace between the Federation, Cardassians, and Dominion in ’75, then tried to cause a rift between the Federation and Cardassians in ’92? He’s dirty either way, but the change seems, odd.” Vito commented.
“And his whereabouts are unknown now.” Draven added.
“That might be something to dig on later, but right now we need to clear Brunel’s name.” Tom replied.
“I believe with the information we have, together, we can clear your friend’s name. However, it will paint both the Cardassians and Federation in a bad light. Conspiring together and letting a good officer take the fall for the actions of someone else.” Mavek said.
“The truth needs to come out.” Vito added.
“We need to take this to Bremer.” Draven said after a moment.
TBC:
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