Title: Star Trek-Infinity: In the Name of Progress [PG] (MISC)

Author: Charles Rando (trando@worldnet.att.net)

Series: MISC

Rating: [PG]

Part: NEW 1/2

Disclaimer: Paramount owns the characters in The Next Generation and Deep
Space Nine, and Peter David owns the Selelvian race (see his book, Strike
Zone). I'd like to think that the characters I've invented and the story are
mine. :-)

Summary: The Infinity is called to assist a world on the edge of the Neutral
Zone, but when Commander Neddek is attacked while conducting repairs on the
planet's surface, the crew discovers that there may be a traitor in their
midst.


CHAPTER ONE

Captain's Log- Stardate: 48333.2- The Infinity is proceeding to Habaria in
the Numeris sector in response to a distress call. Although the planet is as
technically advanced as many Federation worlds, even to the point of
possessing warp technology, they are still using nuclear fission reactors to
power much of their planet. Unfortunately, the shielding surrounding the
fission plant in the capital city is beginning to fail, and although that is
not a serious problem, it has worried the ruling senate of Habaria enough to
request Federation help. The matter may, however, turn into more than just
an engineering problem; I am a little suspicious about the timing of this
failure... as it comes just a few days before the Habarian Senate was about
to debate switching over to fusion technology.

"We've arrived at Habaria, sir," Ensign Marit reported as Captain Charles
Rando stepped onto the bridge.

"Thank you, Ensign," Rando replied, sitting down in his command chair. He
turned to the burly officer at the tactical station behind him. "Has there
been any response to our hail yet, Lieutenant?"

Lieutenant Evan Remley shook his head. "I began hailing the planet as soon
as we entered the system, just like you told me to, but they're not saying
anything. Of course, there is a major electrical storm bearing down on the
capital city."

Rando glanced to his right where his first officer sat. "They didn't say
anything about any storms. Let's have a forecast, Mr. Remley."

"Sir, the storm will reach the city in just under three hours," Remley
reported. "From the looks of things, it's pretty severe. Wind gusts of up to
seventy kilometers per hour, electrical discharge on an average of two every
minute, and torrential downpours. In Earth standards, I'd say they're facing
a Class 5 hurricane."

Rando whistled. On Earth, a Class 5 hurricane was the strongest storm nature
could produce. This storm couldn't have come at a worse time. He turned to
Witherell. "Can you pick up anything from them, Commander?"

"There's a great deal of widespread panic down there, I can't focus in on
the Senate," Commander Kevin Witherell told him. "The timing of this storm
hitting just as the shields begin failing must be frightening the Habarians.
It's possible that they went as far as a coup d'�tat."

"Nevertheless, it looks like they're going to need our help even more now,"
Rando said. He looked up at the sound of the rear turbolift opening.
Lieutenant Marianne V'gel and Commander Neddek stepped onto the bridge.
"Lieutenant, what can you tell us about the Habarians?" Rando asked as V'gel
sat down to his left.

"From what we know of them, Captain, they are very isolationist and very
distrustful of other cultures. You might even call them xenophobic," the
Trill said. "But when you're right in the middle of two inter-galactic
powers who have been at each others' throats for centuries...."

"Which would explain why they wouldn't be answering our general hail,"
Witherell commented. "They'll want us to prove we're who we say we are, and
not a Romulan ship."

Rando nodded. "Open a channel, Mr. Remley. I was the one who responded to
their original distress call... perhaps they're waiting to hear from me."

"Channel open, sir," Remley replied.

Rando stood up and walked towards the large viewscreen at the front of the
bridge. "This is Captain Charles Rando of the U.S.S. Infinity . We have come
here in response to your distress call. Do you require assistance?"

The image of Habaria was replaced with the image of a young woman. She had
short brown hair that shaped a face that seemed almost designed to be
continuously smiling. She was not.

"Captain Rando, I am Ambassador Lentini of Habaria. We thank you for your
swift arrival for we do still need your assistance," the woman said.

"Ambassador, it is good to see you're still all right," Rando replied. "When
you didn't answer our hails, we thought something had happened to the
Senate."

Ambassador Lentini seemed to shrug this off, as if it were something that
happened on a daily basis. "We had to ensure that you were who you said you
were. Any other ship could have claimed they were the Infinity , but no
others could present a Captain Rando."

"I understand your desire for caution," Rando said, "but in this situation,
time is of the essence. If something goes wrong and I am not available,
you'll have to be prepared to communicate with another of my crew."

Lentini nodded, but it was impossible to tell whether she was agreeing with
Rando or just trying to appear that she did.

"Now, I am prepared to offer any assistance you may need in equipment and
manpower, although I have a feeling that you'll want as few people down
there as possible," Rando said.

"We were hoping that only you would journey to our planet, Captain," Lentini
admitted.

Rando shook his head. "That won't be possible. For one thing, it would be
against Starfleet regulations for me to beam down into a potentially
dangerous situation alone... and for a second thing, I am not very
technically adept. I would not be able to help you with our equipment."

"Very well," Lentini acquiesced. "You may also bring along one of your
engineers, but that is all we will be able to allow."

"Captain, with your permission, could I say something to the Ambassador?"
V'gel asked.

"I have no problem with that," Rando replied. "Do you, Ambassador?"

"She has shown respect for her superiors," Lentini responded. "She may
speak."

"With your permission, Ambassador, I would also like to accompany the team
that goes to your planet. Although I do not know much about engineering, a
pride myself on my knowledge of cultures, and I would love to hear any
information or stories you'd be willing to tell."

The Habarian ambassador actually seemed impressed by this idea. "Very well,
young lady, you may accompany your Captain as well. Just make sure your
bring along adequate recording equipment." Lentini turned her attention back
to the captain. "Captain Rando, when can we expect your team to arrive?"

Rando turned to Commander Neddek who replied, "We would require one hour to
prepare our equipment for transport."

"Would one hour be all right with you, Ambassador?" Rando asked.

"That will be acceptable, Captain, however, I feel I must warn you. There is
a massive electrical storm approaching us from the east. We would feel much
safer knowing that the shield was fully operational when it arrived."

Rando was puzzled. The shield generators only covered the power plant, not
the city itself. There was a Class 5 hurricane bearing down on them, and all
they were worried about was their power plant? Rando wondered what other
storms the planet had experienced were like in comparison. "We'll try to get
to you as soon as possible, then," he told the Habarian ambassador.

"We appreciate that. Habaria out."

Rando turned to Neddek. "Get as many of your people as possible to prepare
your equipment, Commander. I want us ready to go in a half hour."

Neddek nodded. Although by blood he was a Romulan, his Vulcan logic
prevented him from protesting as many humans would have done. "Aye Captain,"
he replied, and then turned to leave the bridge.

Rando now turned to V'gel. "Lieutenant, I must ask, how did you manage to
squeeze your way onto the team?"

V'gel smiled. "The Habarians may be a very xenophobic race, but they're also
very proud. They love telling outsiders about their culture and their
experiences, as long as they don't learn anything in return."

"Whoever said proper cultural communication was a two-way street obviously
never encountered the Habarians," Witherell commented quietly. Raising his
voice, he said, "Captain, can I speak with you?"

"I already know what you're going to say, Commander, and the answer is
'no.'" Rando replied.

Witherell grinned. "So you're not going to beam down to the planet, sir?"

Rando treated the Betazoid with a dirty look. "I know you know what I was
thinking, Commander. I am going down there. The only way we're going to help
the Habarians is by playing by their rules, like it or not."

"With all due respect, sir, I don't," Witherell said.

Rando looked at him with a slight grin. "And what makes you think I do?"

CHAPTER TWO

"I do not see what their problem is!" Ambassador Lentini exclaimed as she
burst out of the Habarian Senate's chambers. Her personal guard, a man about
twice her size, followed quickly.

"Well, they did instruct you to only allow two to beam down here..." he
said.

"You were there, Benne, you heard what the spotted woman said!" Lentini
shouted. "She offered to listen to the history of our entire society, to my
history! How could I turn that down?"

Benne shrugged. "You could have said 'no.'"

Lentini sighed. "We had to give in somewhere, Benne," she told him. "I could
tell by the look on the human captain's face that our position was already
rigid enough. If we had turned down the request of the spotted woman, they
may have refused to help us!"

Benne looked worried. "Is it really that bad?"

"If we don't get the shields repaired by the time the storm arrives, we
could be in serious trouble." A nearby clap of thunder punctuated her words.
"The fission plant is constructed completely out of metal, and it is one of
the largest buildings in the city! If lightning were to strike the plant...
it could set off a nuclear explosion like this planet has never seen, even
more powerful than the ones during the War of Consolidation. The entire city
could be completely wiped off the face of the world!"

Benne absorbed this information for a second when a small metal plate on his
wrist began to beep. "Ambassador, the Federation captain is contacting you.
He and his people are ready to beam down."

Lentini nodded and the two of them continued down the long hallway into a
large, spacious room. "Tell Captain Rando to lock onto our coordinates and
beam into this room." Benne responded by typing a message on the small metal
plate, and less than ten seconds later, Captain Rando and his officers
materialized before them.

"Captain Rando," Lentini said, bowing her head in greeting. "Welcome to our
planet."

Rando looked down at the woman, and then down some more. Ambassador Lentini
was about a meter tall, even shorter than Doctor McDonald, the ship's
auxiliary medical holographic program. The man behind her was about twice
her size. "Thank you, Ambassador," Rando replied, bowing his head in
response. "May I present my chief engineer, Commander Neddek, and my chief
cultural officer, Lieutenant Marianne V'gel."

Lentini bowed to each of the officers in turn before saying, "And this is my
personal guard, Benne. He has served me for the last fifteen years." She
looked again at the three officers. "Where is the equipment you promised
us?"

"It would be very difficult to carry the equipment from here to your power
plant," Rando told her. "We planned on beaming the equipment directly there
once we arrived."

Lentini nodded. "I have arranged for transportation for your engineer," she
said. "However, I would like to request the company of you and your
Lieutenant as a special greeting ceremony that is due to start soon."

"I'm not sure that..." Rando began to say when V'gel interrupted him.

"The Captain and I would be honored," she said. V'gel knew that Lentini
would be so interested in telling her stories that she would overlook the
brief lack of respect.

"I will be able to enact the repairs myself, Captain," Neddek said, matter
of factly. "I do not believe there is anything you or Lieutenant V'gel could
do to assist me."

"Well, if you insist, Commander," Rando replied. "Then as Lieutenant V'gel
said, we would be honored to join you."

"Excellent!" Lentini exclaimed, and then made a motion towards Benne. He
tapped the piece of metal on his wrist a few times, and a moment later,
another Habarian man, about the same size as Benne, entered.

"Captain Rando, Commander Neddek, Lieutenant V'gel, I present to you
Engineer May," Lentini said. "He will be assisting your Commander Neddek in
repairing our shields."

"It's an honor to meet you, sir," May begun saying. "I've always wanted to
meet someone from another planet! Are you a Vulcan?" he asked, grabbing
Neddek's hand and shaking it furiously before Neddek could answer. "I've
always wanted to meet a Vulcan, sir! I've read as much as I possibly could
about your people, which, I must admit, isn't very much. But I can tell that
you and I are going to get along just fine, just fine!"

"I do not wish to be rude," Neddek started to say, "but if you have read so
much about Vulcans, then surely you must know that they are touch telepaths,
and that physical contact makes them uncomfortable?"

"Yes, yes, I've heard about that," May replied enthusiastically.

"Then perhaps you would stop shaking my hand?" Neddek suggested.

"Oh, of course, of course, sir! So very sorry! We'd better be getting on! We
need to fix those shields before the storm hits. If you'd come this way?"

Neddek gave Rando a look that seemed to indicate, as much as the Romulan was
able to indicate, that he was not going to enjoy working with this man. It
would probably require all of his control to prevent him from becoming
emotional.

"Good luck, Commander," Rando told him sympathetically. "I have a feeling
you're going to need it." Another clap of thunder made Rando realize how
true those words were.

CHAPTER THREE

The ride to the power plant lasted at most two minutes, although Neddek
couldn't wait to get out of the train-like vehicle as soon as it had
stopped. After he had put enough distance between himself and Engineer May,
Neddek contacted the ship and requested for his equipment to be beamed down.
As it was arriving from the ship, Neddek took the advantage to look out over
the water that surrounded the power plant on three sides. Not too far off in
the distance, he could see dark clouds billowing over the ocean. He had
never encountered a storm like this on Vulcan... the fact that the planet
was basically all desert accounted for the lack of powerful storms he had
seen. He had, of course, studied powerful electrical storms during his
science classes at the academy, and had weathered a few on other worlds, but
he had never experienced the sensation he now had. He was not sure if it was
due to the intensity of the coming storm, or the danger it represented to
the power plant, or the possibility that the power plant's shields had been
sabotaged, but he actually felt... excited? Logically, it stemmed from his
recent adventures with J.W. through time and his reassociation with his
Romulan heritage. Although Neddek had chosen to keep his brother S'tev with
him in this timeline rather than have his false Vulcan heritage returned to
him, he was still attempting to come to grips with his formerly repressed
emotions. Many of these emotions stemmed from racial slurs he sometimes
encountered for being Romulan. Even though Admiral Daubar, at the request of
Captain Rando, had insured Neddek not be drummed out of Starfleet for being
a Romluan, some people refused to accept him for what he was. At times, he
wondered if it would be necessary to journey back to Vulcan to attempt to
re-achieve Kolinahr and free himself of these errant emotions. It would also
give him the chance to see S'tev again, who had been taken to Vulcan to be
raised by his family, Neddek's family.

"It looks like you should have everything you need, Neddek. Did all of your
equipment get there in one piece?" asked Lieutenant Remley.

"Indeed," Neddek replied, returning his attention to the job at hand. "I
will contact you if I need further assistance. Neddek out."

"So, are we ready to get started?" a voice asked behind him. Neddek turned
to see Engineer May a little closer to him than he would have liked. This
man was taking Neddek's control of his emotions to their limits.

"We can now begin," Neddek replied calmly, stepping away from May towards
the boxes full of engineering tools.

"I'll gather my team then, shall I, Commander?" May asked, but before Neddek
could answer, May was already calling, "Merick! Can'aster! Chadis! Help us
unpack this equipment!"

"The job would most likely go much faster and be more efficient if I were to
do it myself," Neddek to May bluntly. If May took offense, he didn't show
it.

"Nonsense, Commander, we know what we're doing! There are ten crates, and
five of us, so we'll each do two crates!" May exclaimed, hefting a large
crate down to the ground and opening it. He pulled out a tricorder. "So tell
me, Commander, what does this do exactly?"

Neddek fought the urge to grab the tricorder out of the Habarian's hand.
May's team had just run up to them, and it probably would not have looked
good for an off-worlder to be so rude to their chief engineer. Neddek knew
it also wouldn't have been very Vulcan... but it sure would have felt good.

Neddek turned his attention to May's team, three men about the same size as
May and Ambassador Lentini's bodyguard. Unlike May, however, they were not
beleaguering him with questions about how each piece of equipment worked.
For some reason, although Neddek had not given him any answers, May
continued to inquire about each tool he pulled out of his crate. Merick was
actually doing a decent job of organizing tools he had most likely never
encountered before in a slow yet efficient manner. Can'aster would
occasionally throw Neddek nervous looks, as if being around the off-worlder
made him uncomfortable. The last engineer, Chadis, looked as if he would
have preferred being as far away from the plant as possible: he continuously
looked out across the ocean towards the storm, and then back at the shield
generator, and then off to some point further inland. His lack of attention
was hindering his work, and Neddek soon found himself unpacking Chadis'
crates as well as his own. There was something very peculiar about Chadis'
behavior, something that didn't come to Neddek right away. Then, Neddek
decided what it was about this man that bothered him, and he decided to keep
a close eye on this Engineer Chadis because he was acting very much like a
saboteur. Then again, any one of them could very well be guilty of sabotage.

******************************************************

"So then after fourteen years serving in the Habarian Senate, I was
appointed as Ambassador to... well, basically to whatever race we encounter.
It's a difficult job, to say the least, making sure that your people aren't
influenced too greatly by outsiders. Captain Rando, would you like some more
baked k'tara?"

Rando looked up at Ambassador Lentini's question. The food they had been
served was indeed very good, which did surprise him. His palette leaned
towards traditional Earth meals, and he had many times been forced to
stomach an unpleasant meal while providing security for one of the
Charleston's away teams. This meal, which consisted of some kind of animal
meat and a variety of vegetables and sauces, actually did leave him wanting
more. "Thank you, Ambassador," he replied. Thunder boomed again in the
background as the storm moved closer and closer. The winds had also begun to
pick up. "I think I will have some more."

"Are you sure you don't want to know how it's prepared?" Lentini asked as a
servant refilled Rando's plate. "I could give you the recipe if you like."

Rando put up his hand, "Perhaps after we finish eating," he said. He had
once made the mistake of inquiring about just what it was he was eating at a
similar banquet... it had turned out to be the meat of a native poisonous
spider that grew to be about three meters long. It had taken all of his
strength not to lose control of his digestive system. "I like to be
surprised," he said with a grin, and then thought, "And give my stomach
enough time to digest."

Lentini smiled back. "Of course, Captain. You and Marianne are gracious
guests. I wish all intergalactic species were like you."

V'gel saw this as an excellent opportunity to impress the Habarian
Ambassador again. After all, the reason she was so taken with V'gel and
Rando was because they were paying rapt attention to her stories. "So you
were appointed Ambassador after serving in the Senate for fourteen years?"
V'gel asked, and Lentini's smile broadened even more as it became apparent
to her they were going to return to the previous subject.

"And I've been Ambassador ever since," Lentini replied proudly. "I guess
I've done my job well. That was the same time Benne was assigned to me, to
protect me against any hostile races I might encounter." She motioned
towards the large Habarian man who was standing behind her. "Over the years,
he's dealt with rogue Tholians, Breen pirates, Ferengi 'entrepreneurs',
almost any race you can think of... and I've never once received a single
injury."

Rando nodded. "That's most impressive."

"Habarian males are renowned for their strength and endurance," Lentini told
him, "while Habarian females are renowned for their intelligence and their
bureaucratic skills. Once our people realized these advantages our sexes
had, many of our problems ended. Did you know that we have not had a war
here for over a century and a half?"

"The information the Federation has on your people is very limited," V'gel
said. "We don't know much about your planet, people, or history. I admit,
it's that severe lack of information that enticed me to come down here...
not to fill in the blanks in the Federation's records, but to find out for
myself what a remarkable people you are."

Lentini practically glowed at V'gel's words. "Thank you, Marianne. In fact,
in return for your graciousness, I would be willing to see if our government
would give you more information about our people." Behind her, Benne took in
a deep breath, almost as if he was cautioning her. "I admit, it will be
difficult... I've already been called in front of the Senate for letting
three of you down instead of two... but I think I might be able to make them
see the benefits of having our stories known throughout the galaxy. We could
serve as an example to many burgeoning races."

Rando smiled diplomatically. "I'm sure you could, Ambassador. I've actually
been wondering something for a while, but it's not a personal question and
so I wasn't sure if I should ask it."

"Go right ahead, Captain," Lentini replied. "With any luck, I will be able
to answer it," she added with a grin.

"I'm curious about the storm that is approaching this city," Rando said,
noting the hint of worry that crossed the Ambassador's face. "The biggest
fear your people seem to have is that it will damage the power plant if the
shield fails. On my planet, a storm of that magnitude would have the
strength to destroy an entire city itself."

"This electrical storm is actually quite moderate compared to some of the
ones we've encountered here," Lentini explained. "We're so close to the warm
ocean water here, and storms of this kind are constantly parading across us,
especially at this time of the year. All of our buildings are very well
constructed, and can stand up to the heavy winds and lightning of the storm.
The only potentially danger comes from the power plant, because it was built
so very long ago, and instead of building a new plant out of the synthetic
materials we used to rebuild the rest of the city, we just built the shield
generator to protect it from the storms." She sighed. "I suppose it was
arrogant of us to think that the generator would never fail to protect the
plant."

"If the power plant isn't constructed of the same synthetic materials your
city was built out of, what IS it constructed of, Ambassador?" Rando asked.

Lentini sighed again. "It was constructed using various metallic alloys at
first, to facilitate the transferal of electricity from the plant to the
city. It wasn't always a nuclear plant, Captain... at first, it was powered
by the water in the ocean. We had it all figured out too... even though the
plant was highly conductive to electricity and was often struck by
lightening during a storm, we had methods to absorb that energy and store it
for later use. We actually had harnessed electricity from the sky! But then,
when we switched to nuclear fission, it was decided that the power plant
could create enough energy by itself, and so the machinery to absorb the
lightning's energy was removed, and the shield was constructed."

"But if the power plant were to be hit by lightning while the shield was
down...," V'gel began.

Lentini looked up at the Trill. "It could very possibly trigger a nuclear
explosion that would destroy this entire city," she finished.

CHAPTER FOUR

"Sir, I still don't understand! Why did they have to change?" Lieutenant
Remley complained.

Witherell chuckled. "It happens every so often, Lieutenant. I've watched it
change a few times during my Starfleet career."

"But look at it, sir!" Remley insisted, tugging at the shoulder of his
uniform. "This is all the gold in my outfit now! The old uniform was almost
half gold! I LIKED the gold!" A flashing light on his console caught his
attention. "Commander, the Captain is contacting us."

"Open a channel," Witherell ordered. It never ceased to amaze him how
quickly Remley could go back to focusing on his job. "How's the feast,
Captain?"

"The food here is just fine, Commander," came the reply. "In fact, if the
city is still here tomorrow, I suggest you try some."

"'If the city is still here tomorrow,'" Witherell repeated. "Why wouldn't it
be?"

"Ambassador Lentini seems to think that a direct lightning strike on the
power station could set off a nuclear explosion," Rando said calmly.

Witherell, on the other hand, was not as calm. "Sir, this is unacceptable!
Please, return to the ship at once, your life may be in danger!"

Witherell knew that if his Captain had been standing in front of him, he
would have seen his face harden. "I can't do that, Commander, for two
reasons. One, it would be a diplomatic insult for me to leave: I was the one
who initially responded to the Habarians, I have to be down here as long as
everyone else is. And 'b', I have faith in Commander Neddek's abilities to
get that shield generator up and running properly. Currently, we're not in
any danger, and I don't think we will be in any."

"Sir, if it would be possible for us to move you to a more secure location,
out of the perimeter of the potential explosion?" Witherell asked. He wasn't
going to give up until all avenues had taken.

"That won't be possible either, Commander. Under Habarian law, I have to
stay with Ambassador Lentini, and she wants to stay inside the city to
prevent a panic. I must say I agree with her... nothing worries the people
more when the government up and leaves town in the face of a disaster."

"Sir, what if we...."

"Commander, I hate to do this to you because I know you're just doing your
job, but there ARE no more options. Lieutenant V'gel and I are staying right
where we are until Neddek finishes his job."

Witherell could tell by the tone in his Captain's voice that all other
attempts to change his mind would be futile. "Very well, sir," he replied.
"But we will be keeping an active lock on you. If anything goes wrong, I'm
pulling you out."

"I wouldn't expect any less, Kevin. Rando out."

Witherell glanced at Remley who had been listening to the conversation from
his post at tactical. "That could have gone much better," he stated before
sitting back down in the command chair.