Ensign Justin Brax gave his command red uniform tunic just a slight adjustment as he wandered through the crowds gathered on the promenade as the Starfleet Exploration Colloquium was in full swing. In the wake of the Federation Day disaster, the public relations experts at Starfleet Command apparently felt a massive scientific exposition on Starbase Bravo, far from the graveyard orbiting Earth, would provide the galaxy a positive distraction from the massive loss of personnel and ships which had crippled the fleet, even if only temporarily. 

In the weeks since he was assigned to the 4th Fleet and came aboard the station, Justin had spent the majority of his time wandering the station alone, learning about every shop, office, corridor, service passage, docking port, and person of note on the station. While his official posting was one of dozens of intelligence officers on the station, his superiors at Covert Operations had created a superfluous billet in the station’s manifest with no duties on record, nor an immediate supervisor. On a station crewed by 100,000 Starfleet personnel, it was easy for one officer to hide in plain sight and go unnoticed. 

To support his cover assignment, Justin had been given unassuming quarters on the station appropriate for his rank and billet, and an even more unassuming office- which he had never used- among all the other offices in the station’s intelligence section in Sector Bravo. Instead, Justin worked out of a small, converted cargo bay near the commercial docks in Sector India registered to a fake identity created by Starfleet intelligence. From this ‘office’, Justin could work unimpeded and unsupervised on the tasks assigned to him by his Covert Operations handler, whom he only knew by the codename “Helix”. 

His assignment to the station also provided Starfleet Intelligence the perfect location to operate. A nerve center for both Starfleet operations and civilian trade, Justin had access to an untold number of ships and individuals from across the galaxy. The Colloquium had multiplied that access by a hundred fold as scientists, artists, engineers, and traders flocked to the starbase to show off their latest-and-greatest achievements. 

Which brought him to his current assignment. Among those in attendance was a delegation from the Romulan Free State, which consisted of two dozen of their best scientists who’s exhibits focused largely on showing infrastructure development and social advancements within the Free State. Notably absent from their exhibits was any mention of the Tal Shiar or the Free State’s military. The presence of the Free State at the Colloquium had raised eyebrows, feathers, and scales in suspicion and concern, and it took a special dispensation from Starfleet Command to allow the Romulan delegation aboard the station. While the Free State and Federation were technically at peace, it was an uneasy peace. While Starfleet Security and Intelligence had argued the Free State should be treated with extreme caution, the altruistic heads of Starfleet Medical and Sciences, as well as several prominent members of the Federation Council, had successfully argued that science and art could build bridges between the two interstellar powers in ways force of arms could not. 

Which is fine, Justin thought, in theory. 

Justin knew better. The Free State, more specifically the ruling Tal Shiar, were duplicity made manifest. While some considered the rumored abilities of the infamous Romulan Intelligence Service greatly exaggerated, Justin knew the rumors were far more fact than fiction. Starfleet Intelligence had classified files on a half dozen Romulans that frequently arrived at the Starbase Bravo, posing as independent traders or members of the competing Romulan Republic, who were known to be covert operatives of the Tal Shiar. All six had arrived at the station in the days leading up to the Colloquium and were still on the station. More senior Intelligence agents had been assigned by Starfleet Intelligence, through the station’s chain of command, to monitor their activities to prevent them from interfering with the peaceful exposition. Meanwhile, Justin had been assigned to monitor a member of the Free State’s official delegation- Subcommander Tarrin. 

Intelligence had sent Justin all the information they had on the Subcommander. The daughter of a former Romulan Senator, Tarrin was approximately thirty Earth-years old and raised in a life of privilege as a child. She had been provided the best technical education one could receive in the former Romulan Empire. Both her parents, and most of her extended family, had perished in the Romulan Supernova, but Tarrin had been off world when the Romulan homeworld had been incinerated. Despite her pedigree, Tarrin had shown herself to be mostly apolitical as an adult, and it was believed she chose to work for the Free State, and by extension the Tal Shiar, because they had the funding and facilities necessary for Tarrin to continue developing her technical expertise. While working for the Free State, Tarrin earned rapid promotions through the ranks of the Navy as she helped design and build the next generation of Romulan warbirds.

However, while others had developed advanced propulsion systems and weapons, Tarrin had focused on defensive systems such as shields, deflectors, and sensor countermeasures. These defensive systems could be modified and used by governments who were politically opposed to using Federation technology, or independent civilians who could afford to buy the best. Tarrin had come to the Colloquium to display and advertise these defensive systems to a wider market. 

As he finished his mental review of Tarrin’s file, he came within sight of the Free State’s exhibit on the promenade. Fitting for a galactic power, the Free State’s exhibit filled an entire auditorium that was about one hundred meters square. Holographic displays along the two opposing side walls cycled through larger-than-life animations displaying the various industrial technologies the Free State brought to the Colloquium. At the far end of the auditorium was a large dias, that supported several small tables and replicators to facilitate casual conversations with the Free State delegation. Befitting their Romulan heritage, the entire auditorium was bathed in a soft green light, save for the crimson hologram of the Free State emblem- a raptor with wings outstretched over an inverted triangle. Overall, it was an impressive and unexpectedly welcoming exhibit, if one judged it by the number of individuals walking between the various displays and speaking with the Romulan delegation. 

Also in attendance, Justin noted, were several Starfleet security officers just inside the auditorium. Although the security officers stayed in the shadows along the extreme perimeter of the auditorium, their gold uniforms and holster phasers made their purpose unmistakable. Although the Free State delegation had been given permission to attend to Colloquium, that permission did not give its delegation carte blanche to wander one of Starfleet’s most important starbases. Also, not all those aboard the starbase were happy to have the Romulans on board, and Justin suspected the security officers were instructed to protect the Romulan delegation as much as limit their access to sensitive areas of the station. Part bodyguards, part prison guards. If their presence with the Romulans extended beyond the exhibit, Justin may need to alter his initial plans. 

He scanned the exhibit as he feigned interest in a display showing the latest subspace communications relay. It didn’t take him more than a minute or two to identify Subcommander Tarrin on the Dias at the far end of the auditorium speaking with a tall Takaran wearing a suit of conservative cut but obviously high quality material. Standing dutifully just behind and to the left of the Takaran was an attractive Andorian female in a not-quite conservatively cut outfit holding a PADD. The tabletop between Tarrin and the Takaran showed a miniature hologram of a shield emitter. While Justin couldn’t hear what was being said, their respective body language told him the Takaran was either a government official or business executive, while the Andorian was an aide of some kind, and the Takaran was listening to Tarrin give what was colloquially referred to as a “sales pitch”. 

It looks like she’s convinced him to buy, Justin concluded as the Takaran and Tarrin both reached forward and shook hands. The Takaran then turned to his Andorian aide, gave an approving nod, and walked off the dias. The Andorian aide dutifully followed while entering data into her PADD. 

Good for her, Justin thought. By all accounts, she is a brilliant engineer. And while I’m not an engineer, based on what I know of shield systems, her latest design truly is a great improvement over the last generation of Romulan shield generators. 

But it’s not her shield designs that has Starfleet concerned, Justin reminded himself. If her latest design for a cloaking device is as good as suspected, it would give the Free State military an advantage over every other power in the quadrant. And Starfleet can’t allow that to happen. 

The orders Justin had received from Helix two hours before had been explicitly clear. He was to infiltrate the Romulan delegation and determine the validity of Starlfeet’s suspicions regarding her cloaking device design. If the suspicions proved to be true, and Tarrin’s design represented a significant advancement in cloaking device technology, he was to ‘convince’ Subcommander Tarrin to defect to the Federation. If he failed to sway Tarrin to the Federation, he was to use ‘whatever means necessary’ to ensure she could not finish development of her cloaking device for the Free State Navy. 

Colorful language for a simple assignment, Justin mused. Either Subcommander Tarrin leaves Starbase Bravo as a defector, or she doesn’t leave at all.