Chapter 3:  Program Federation 47

 

The lights all faded and went out again. Julian hit his console in frustration. This was not a good day. He had been attempting to test a genetics theory recently published in the Starfleet Medical Journal, but every time he got his experiment set up, the power to Sick Bay was suddenly cut off and he lost everything. "Bashir to Ops," Julian said, tapping his combadge. "It happened again."

"Tell him I'm working on it!" Julian heard a slightly muffled voice yell.

"Chief Newstreak assures me that she's doing the best she can, Doctor," McGives' voice said. "Calls are coming from all over the station. Half the station seems to have lost power in the last-."

The lights went out again just as the Commander was cut off. "Oh, come on," he said under his breath. Julian attempted to leave Sick Bay. The door opened only partway as he approached. Julian had to force the door open as far as he could and then squeeze through. Only a few emergency lights were working in the common area.

"What the hell are your Starfleet friends doing to the station?" Julian recognized Vena's voice as a faint form came toward him from the darkness.

"I have no idea," Julian said, sounding just as annoyed. "You never had these problems before, I take it?"

"Only once during a Federation attack," she said, following close behind him as he headed to the turbolift. "And at least then we still had communications," she added, tapping her combadge fruitlessly.

"You headed to Ops, too?"

"I need to stop you people from destroying this station," Vena said.

"You people? I'm just a medical officer," Julian said sarcastically. "I have no control over what my superiors do in Ops."

"They interrupted your work too, I take it," Vena said with a slightly amused voice.

"What tipped you off?" Julian didn't really mean to be rude, but the power outages were becoming very frustrating. The power returned to normal as they reached the turbolift. "Ops!" Julian said forcefully as he entered. Vena jumped in behind him, the doors almost closing on her. The turbolift began moving up.

"I would think Starfleet would have a few decent engineers," Vena said.

"How can you be sure it's the people, not the station?" Julian asked.

"As I said, this has only happened once before, and we were under attack."

"I suspect sabotage," Julian said under his breath.

"Oh, of course, this is all some clever way for Rianna to get more customers," Vena said mockingly. "How did I not see it before?"

"I think you know what I mean."

"And what do you mean, Doctor?"

"That you Romulans aren't too happy with us being here. Maybe this is your way of getting Starfleet off the station," Julian said maliciously. "And you were very eager to get your clearance code back…"

Vena smiled slightly. "Believe what you want."

The two suddenly both fell to the ground as the turbolift jerked to a violent stop. Vena stood quickly. Julian held out his hand to be helped up, but Vena ignored it. "What happened?" he asked as he stood, looking around the now very dark turbolift.

"My guess would be an ill-timed power failure," Vena said. She pushed a few buttons to the left of the door.

"Bashir to Ops," Julian said, tapping his badge. There was no answer. "Communications are still down."

"I figured that." Vena was currently attempting to force the door open. She finally gave up. "Wonderful."

* * *

"Can't you at least get communications back on line?" Captain Johnson asked.

Chief Newstreak came out from underneath a computer console, her blond hair sticking to her forehead with sweat. "I'm doing the best I can! I've got every team out trying to fix this damn station; if you want it fixed so badly why don't you help?" Newstreak threw a hyperspanner at him.

"Chief!" Johnson shouted in surprise as he ducked.

Commander McGives jumped between them. "Now, now, we're all a little upset, let's not do anything we'll regret later."

The captain picked up the hyperspanner and handed it to Newstreak. "Thanks," she said quietly. A few minutes and countless expletives later, she said, "Try it now."

"Johnson to Doctor Bashir."

"Bashir here, Captain!" Bashir's voice said excitedly through a large amount of static. "We're trapped in…lift…you…" Bashir's voice became overcome by the static, and the communication was cut off.

"He sounds like he might be in trouble," McGives said.

"Get him back," Johnson said.

Chief Newstreak gave a low growl as she continued to work. "How's that?" she said after a few moments.

"Are you still there, Captain?" Bashir's voice asked worriedly.

"I'm here, Doctor, we just lost you for a moment. Where did you say you were trapped?"

"In turbolift 2, we were on our way to Ops when the lift stopped," Bashir quickly explained.

"Who's we?" McGives asked curiously.

"Vena and I, sir."

Johnson and McGives exchanged a look. "We'll try to get you out of there as soon as possible, Doctor. Johnson out."

"Poor guy," McGives breathed. "Vena's probably chewing him out and blaming Starfleet."

"He's the one that wanted to have lunch with her, Brian, remember? He'll survive," Captain Johnson said, not sounding completely convinced himself.

* * *

Vena was leaning against the side of the turbolift, glaring at Julian as he paced around the enclosed space. "You aren't claustrophobic, are you, Doctor?" she finally asked.

"I thought I asked you to call me Julian," Julian said. He continued walking around in little circles. They had been stuck in the turbolift for nearly an hour, and they hadn't heard from anyone for about forty minutes. "And no, I'm not claustrophobic." Julian stopped walking and slid down the wall and onto the ground. "This is just getting really annoying."

"You're very impatient," Vena said. She also sat on the floor. Julian wondered if she had been waiting for him to sit first.

"You seemed pretty impatient when we got on here," Julian said. He thought he saw Vena smile, but it was hard to tell in the dim emergency light. "You haven't spoken much."

"What does one talk about when one is trapped in a turbolift?" Vena asked.

Julian shrugged. "I don't know." They both fell silent for a few moments. "What about a game?"

"I didn't think to bring a kotra board," Vena said sarcastically.

"I don't mean like that, I mean like…Truth or Dare," Julian said, saying the first game that came to mind.

"I choose neither," Vena said simply.

"Okay…" Julian said, somewhat disappointed. "What about Continuation? I say a word, and then you say the first word that comes to mind." He took Vena's exasperated sigh as an affirmative. "Julian."

"Annoying."

Julian frowned. "Oh, come on!"

"I thought you were supposed to say the first word that comes to mind," Vena said. Julian could hear in her voice that she was smiling.

"Those were the first words that came to my mind," Julian muttered. "Fine. Romulans," he said with a smile. Two could play at this game.

"Cardassians."

"What?" Julian said in surprise. "How do you get from Romulans to Cardassians?"

"I don't believe that's part of the game," Vena said. Julian's brow furrowed as the emergency light suddenly turned off. "Veruul," Vena muttered.

"Okay, Cardassians," Julian said thoughtfully. "The Obsidian Order." Silence. "Vena? I said the Obsidian Order." Vena still said nothing. "Vena? Are you there?" Silly question.

"This is child's play, Julian," Vena said from the darkness.

Julian smiled. "I know some adult games we can play," he said suggestively, sliding toward her a bit.

"Don't make me kill you, Julian. I'd rather not be taken to a Federation prison within the first week you're all on the station," Vena said, sounding quite serious.

Julian moved a few inches away from her. "Okay," he said quietly. Julian saw the edges of Vena's mouth turn up in a grin. The lights in the turbolift suddenly came on. "Yes!" Julian exclaimed as they began moving up. The turbolift stopped and the lights went out again. "No!" he shouted in disappointment. The turbolift began moving again. "Yes!" It stopped. "This isn't funny," he said, addressing the computer. Julian was surprised when the computer made a 'beep' almost as an acknowledgement.

"Computer," Vena suddenly said, sounding as though she just realized something. The computer beeped again. "Is subprogram Federation 47 running?"

"Affirmative," the computer said.

Vena sighed. "Who activate the program?"

"Chief of Operations Anna Newstreak."

Vena scoffed. "By accident, I presume."

"Please restate request," the computer said.

"This better work." Vena took a deep breath. "Computer, discontinue subprogram Federation 47, authorization code Vena 3728-alpha."

"Unable to comply. Clearance code no longer recognized."

Julian felt the turbolift shake as Vena hit the wall in frustration. "If your captain hadn't taken my security clearance, the station would be fine."

"What are you talking about?" Julian asked. "Surely the station isn't falling apart because Captain Johnson took away your authorization code."

"You'd be surprised," Vena said under her breath. "Actually, Federation 47 is a program that the Romulan military made during the war to be activated if a station was ever taken by force. The program would cause everything to begin malfunctioning so Starfleet would gain nothing."

"It was sabotage!" Julian exclaimed.

"I suppose you could say that, but it was never used," Vena said. "I assume that your chief of operations accidentally activated it when attempting to alter the computer's programs." She sighed. "Only a Romulan security authorization code can discontinue the program."

"And you're the only Romulan with a clearance code, I assume," Julian said.

"I used to have one," Vena said venomously. "And it gets worse."

"What do you mean?" Julian asked nervously.

"The program isn't made to continue forever-96 hours after activation, the program will cause the station to self-destruct."