Allison Reyes stood alone, staring into the great beyond. She’d spent three decades among the stars, yet she never grew tired of the view, nor of the adventures that awaited. Tonight, though, would be no such adventure; no, tonight would be something else, a repentance for decades of neglect and for mistakes more recent.

The door to the observation deck hissed open, and Commander Jordyn Kerrigan, Executive Officer of the USS Diligent, stepped through the threshold. “Ma’am, the chief just called. The guests have arrived, and they’re on their way up. And just as a warning, he said they look awfully surly too.”

“Would you look any different – or feel any different – if you’d been through what they’ve been through?” Admiral Reyes asked pensively as her eyes drifted from the stars to the taupe and ochre planet beneath them. “Since our arrival, our water purification systems poisoned them, our power planet nearly flattened their colony, and when they sought to make their voices heard, our officers shot them.”

“But ma’am, we know the plant was sabotaged.”

“We know that, but do they?”

“Can’t we show them the proof?” asked Commander Kerrigan. Lieutenant Commander Linus Rhodes, the cyberintelligence specialist from the Advanced Science, Technology and Research Activity, had all the evidence. It was clear as day. The implications were terrifying too. How had a Borg subroutine found its way to this backwater world? Who on Duraxis had the ability to modify it for their needs? And why would they try to blow up the colony if this was about protecting it?

“Yes, unapproachable technobabble that’ll fall on deaf ears,” Admiral Reyes pointed out. “After being neglected by the Federation for decades, they have no reason to trust us, and no way to independently verify our claims. As for the three protestors lying dead in the dirt when they were just exercising their right to demonstrate, they undermine any goodwill we might have had.” The failings of the Pacific Palisades on the eve of their arrival had stripped any hope they had of persuading colonial leadership that their intentions were pure.

“How’re you going to handle that, ma’am?” Commander Kerrigan had heard the report from Captain Vox and Lieutenant Commander Koh. It was insane. Starfleet officers did not kill protestors. Period.

Before Admiral Reyes could reply, the door of the observation deck whisked open, and two men walked in, escorted by a pair of her security officers. Courtesy of the intelligence report the Chief Intelligence Officer of the Pacific Palisades had provided, pretty much the only good thing to come off that boat, Admiral Reyes recognized them both. One, the better dressed of the pair, was Erlic, the current governor of Duraxis. The other, his clothes caked in dust and debris, was Voral, the populist opposition candidate in the upcoming election and a leading voice of the anti-Starfleet movement that’d swept the colony. Voral was the one that’d demanded an audience after the shooting, but in consideration of Duraxis’ upcoming election, she’d invited both to the ship.

“Welcome to the Diligent,” Admiral Reyes began warmly. “I am Fleet Ad…”

“Why’d you invite him here?” Voral interrupted, gesturing at the governor with hate-filled eyes. “Are you afraid to face me without your puppet?” It was Governor Erlic that had welcomed Starfleet to Duraxis in the first place.

“Puppet?” Erlic recoiled at the accusation. “Hardly!” He’d only accepted Starfleet’s offer of assistance in the hopes of seeing a brighter future for his people. Being honest with himself though, it had completely backfired. “I want the same answers as you, my friend.”

“Friend?!” Voral countered disdainfully. “You weren’t there, Erlic. It was me out there, fighting for our people. It was me out there, watching as they gunned down three of our people. It was me out there, demanding this audience. Where were you? In your palace painting your nails?”

Ah, so that was how it was going to be, Admiral Reyes thought to herself. Not good at all. Given the upcoming election, the opposition candidate painting the current governor as a puppet was going to force him to show he wasn’t. And that meant they’d be caught in the crossfire. “Gentlemen, please…”

“Ah yes, this isn’t about the governor anyways, admiral-general whoever-you-are,” Voral asked as he spun on her. He didn’t care who she was. He hated what she represented, and it was as simple as that. “It’s about you and your self-righteous Federation, which assumes it knows better than us, those who actually live out here on the frontier.”

“We don’t go where we aren’t invited,” Fleet Admiral Reyes offered gently, aware she was wading into a minefield, one where frontier localism had blended with a nasty political dispute. “We came to your world, at an invitation from and with the consent of your government, in an effort to improve, through infrastructure upgrades, the lives of those who…”

“Well, if that’s what you’re here to do, you failed!” Voral interrupted, disinterested in letting her finish. He didn’t care what she had to say. He was here for a reason. “Let me tell you too, after my victory in the elections next week, you can expect to no longer have this invitation, to no longer have our consent!” And that meant the Corps of Engineers would have to leave their planet, and that the Starfleet ships would then depart their skies. “You may have just arrived, miss admiral, but let me tell you what’s happened so far… your people came with grand promises, but so far, they’ve delivered jack shit save for a water purification system that poisoned our youth and a fusion reactor that almost blew us all up!”

“I…” Admiral Reyes began to reply.

“I’m not done yet!” Voral snapped with a ferocity that caused the security officers by the door stiffened up. The opposition leader, though, was undeterred and just continued his verbal assault. “You see, as bad as those failings were, they could at least be explained as incompetence. But what happened tonight, that wasn’t incompetence. That was a crime!”

He wasn’t wrong, Admiral Reyes knew. Those officers aboard the Pacific Palisades, one of them had made a fatal mistake, and a mistake that would ripple out from here. It wasn’t just about Duraxis either. What had happened outside the reactor was all but guaranteed to spread, and when it did, it would threaten to undo months of work across dozens of colonies across the sector.

“Gerrik, Huran, and Sarai… those were their names, the three who are dead in your attempt to silence us,” Voral said coldly, his eyes narrowing on her. “But we will not be silenced! Not until you leave our skies!” He then spun towards his counterpart, the current – and soon to be former – governor of Duraxis, the man who, whether as a puppet or as a fool, had allowed Starfleet onto their world in the first place. “What say you, Erlic?”

“I, for once, find myself in agreement with my colleague,” Erlic answered as he turned towards the admiral. “What happened tonight was inexcusable, and it marks the end of our relationship.” There was sense of both regret and finality in his tone. He had hoped that, in welcoming Starfleet to their world, he’d been ushering in the beginning of a new era, one where they would be able to move beyond the threat of famine and scarcity, but some things came at too steep a price.

“What happened tonight was inexcusable,” Admiral Reyes concurred. She knew better than to try and defend it. In fact, she very much intended to prosecute it. “The Federation respects civil discourse, and I give you my word that we will conduct a full and transparent investigation into…”

“Save your breath, admiral,” Erlic interrupted. “Your word means little. It is time for you to go.”

Voral looked rather smug, hearing his opposition finally say it, and he piled on: “You said you don’t go where you aren’t invited, admiral. Well, if I just heard the governor right, you are no longer invited, so off you go.” He knew better than to expect the admiral to honor it. That’s not what Starfleet did. It said one thing, but it did another. It always had, as long as he’d known of it.

“Voral is correct,” Erlic concurred, much to the admiral’s disappointment. After tonight though, his mind was made up. “This is over. Take your things and leave Duraxis.” They’d just have to make do as they had before. To make do on their own.

“We can take our things, but I’m afraid we won’t be going,” Admiral Reyes shook her head. “Not yet, at least.” Knowing what was in play somewhere down there, they could not leave yet.

“See?! It’s as I’ve always said! Lies, and more lies!” Voral exclaimed angrily, his face fuming with rage. “This was never out of some form of selfless benevolence! It is, and always has been, an attempt to meddle in our affairs!”

“Quite to the contrary,” Admiral Reyes explained. “The reason I am here is to get to the bottom of what has happened, including both the recent infrastructure issues and the failure tonight.”

“What has happened is of your own making,” Voral insisted.

“Maybe in part, but certainly not in full,” Admiral Reyes replied, watching the pair carefully for any reaction to what would follow next. “We have reason to believe that the reactor failure was an act of terrorism, one propagated not by the peoples of your planet, but by external actors. We will not leave until we get to the bottom of that.”

“But our colonial rights…” Voral tried to counter.

“Your colonial rights extend insofar as it pertains to your world, and it is at your governor’s discretion whether or not the Corps of Engineers will continue its mission…”

“They will not,” Erlic folded his arms across his chest, his mind made up.

“Understood. They will not,” Admiral Reyes conceded, knowing she needed to pick her battles, and there was something more important at stake right now than proving the Federation a good partner for Duraxis. “But as it relates to the peace and security of the Federation as a whole, Starfleet retains the right, anywhere within our territory, to investigate and to intercede as necessary to preserve it.”

“That sounds like a lot of legalese to justify your presence,” Voral retorted.

“Again, I agree with my colleague,” Erlic concurred, somewhat shocked to have found himself on the same page as his vitriolic opponent so many times in one night. “I am a man of this place, but I am no fool. Duraxis is hardly important enough to matter to our neighbors. What the hell does it matter to the peace and security of your Federation as a whole?”

“Our forensics teams have determined that a malicious piece of software, installed after the deployment of the reactor, was responsible for what happened three days ago,” Admiral Reyes explained, trying to keep the technobabble to a minimum. “And this malware, it carried a specific signature, one of Borg origin.”

“You’re saying the Borg Collective is interested in our world?” Voral scoffed. “Fat chance!”

“No, I’m saying that someone on Duraxis came into possession of Borg technology,” Admiral Reyes replied. “And three nights ago, they set out to kill every man, woman and child on your world.”

Voral’s obstinance could not be broken, but now, Governor Erlic looked shaken.

“In an effort to put an end to the proliferation of such dangerous technologies, the Diligent was dispatched to get to the bottom of this,” Admiral Reyes pressed. “And we will not be leaving until we do.” 

There was a firmness in her tone that made it clear this was not up for debate, and Erlic was too shocked to argue the point anyways.

“Additionally, as to what happened tonight, it was a violation of everything the Federation stands for, and I give you my word that we will conduct a thorough and transparent investigation,” Admiral Reyes continued. “And, if it would help, your own security forces are welcome to participate alongside our JAG and Security teams.”

“I would appreciate that,” Erlic nodded.

“We will get to the bottom of this,” Admiral Reyes assured them. “Justice will be served.”

Erlic appeared momentarily appeased. Voral, meanwhile, just stood there fuming. For now though, she’d made the space they needed to conduct the investigations that had to take place. As long as nothing else went wrong.