The USS Kennedy was a small, unassuming ship, and that was very much by design. She wasn’t meant to project strength, but rather to serve as a means to avoid the need for a projection of such strength. But today, she was caught in the middle, and for the first time in a while, the ambassador found himself wishing he had a few more phaser banks and torpedo tubes at his disposal.

“Alright, break it down for me, commander,” Ambassador Drake asked as he sat there in the briefing room, Captain Ria Alleyne by his side while Commander Nitus and Captain Cayde sat across the table from them. “What is it that you believe the Vidirian’s Grace is carrying within its hold?”

“I believe it’s carrying stolen Federation technology,” Nitus said plainly. Pausing before continuing, “Given what has occurred earlier this year with Vadic and the Shrike, my hypothesis is that it may have been stolen from Daystrom Station, sir,” Nitus said as she looked to the ambassador and the captain of the Kennedy. Nitus knew it might have been a long shot to assume the tech came from Daystrom but it wasn’t impossible.

“That’s a scary hypothesis, but not something to go to war over without irrefutable proof,” Ambassador Drake noted.

“My chief of operations and chief engineer searched the Grace’s computer core, sir. They found evidence that a group by the name of the Iron Syndicate had acquired the tech and given it to the Crimson Fleet, who then gave it to the Klingons in exchange for something. We currently don’t know what that something is,” Nitus responded, pausing to catch her breath, “yet.”

“And who exactly does the Grace belong to?” Ambassador Drake asked, trying to keep track of all the names. He knew a bit about the Iron Syndicate, a knock off of the Orions that didn’t want to share their name, but as to this Crimson Fleet, he had no idea.

“A third party, sir,” answered Captain Cayde, drawing a chuckle from Ambassador Drake. “Yeah, it’s all overly convoluted. The ship is owned by Stellar Industries, an independent mercantile corporation with permits to operate in Federation space, although, based on some digging, best guess is a shell company used off-book by one or more Klingon houses to operate within our territory.”

“I see,” Ambassador Drake sighed. “You know how much I love smugglers, Cassidy.”

“Oh, me too, Michael,” nodded Captain Cayde. “Me too.” Both of them absolutely despised the profiteers – Federation, Klingon, Orion, and others – that preyed upon the people of the Archanis Sector to enrich themselves. They got fat, while everyone else suffered.

“Ambassador, might I suggest we take the Grace, its crew and the contents of its hold back to Archanis Station for further investigation,” Nitus suggested to him. She wanted to leave the order as quickly as possible. If that meant leaving without another word to Torvak she was all for it.

“And expect Captain Torvak will just let us go on our merry way?” Ambassador Drake asked. “Yeah, not happening. Even my name only goes so far, Commander. The moment we turn and burn away with that K’Tinga in tow, he’ll make good on his promises.” He stroked his chin, considering his options for a moment. “Do we have any further details about the contents contained within the hold? Anything to go on at all? If you are right, and there is stolen tech aboard, we have every right to seize it – and the High Council might even thank us for doing so given the current standing of House K’varrak – but I’m reluctant to act without probable cause.”

“No sir. We do not have any probable cause,” Nitus responded, “but I do have a team aboard the Grace ready to break into the hold and confirm the tech is Federation in origin.”

“Could we argue rights to visit and search?” Captain Cayde asked. “Under the laws of armed conflict, we have the right to do so to assess the nature of cargo and other facts in relation to an ongoing conflict.”

“We are not at war with the Klingon Empire,” Ambassador Drake reminded him. “And I would like to keep it that way.”

“With the Empire, no, but House K’varrak?” Captain Cayde countered. “Torvak was certainly behaving as a belligerent.”

“I’ll consider it,” Ambassador Drake replied. He was wary of taking such a step though because of the implications it could have on their own mercantile vessels operating within Klingon territory. If they opened this door, the Empire could respond in kind, harassing their own vessels to an immeasurable degree.

“Sir, I’ve remembered something. Vozuk, the Orion in command of the Grace, told me he needed to be protected from the Klingons,” Nitus said, “he was a little drunk at the time so who knows if it holds water.” It was a major risk lying to Drake but she had to do something. The possibility of letting them go and this deal still going through would put the entire Federation in extreme danger and would give the Klingons an immeasurable advantage.

“A request for sanctuary?” Ambassador Drake winked as a lightbulb went off. “If he was serious, that would be something I’d entertain, but with a catch: in exchange for sanctuary, mister Vozuk must allow us to search his hold voluntarily.”

“Fat chance,” laughed Captain Cayde. “If they got illicit goods aboard, there’s no way he agrees.”

“It’d come without the need to open a door I don’t want to open,” Ambassador Drake pointed out. If Vozuk voluntarily allowed them to search his vessel, he would not be required to classify House K’varrak as a belligerent to qualify the neutral merchant ship for a forced search. “I’m willing to sweeten the deal to make him more likely to agree too,” Ambassador Drake added as he looked back at Captain Nitus, who seemed best positioned to make the offer. “You may offer to mister Vozuk that, in exchange for allowing us access to his hold voluntarily, we will grant him and his crew immunity from prosecution for anything we find.”

“I think he will agree to this,” Nitus said. Finally they were getting somewhere she thought to herself.

“Even if he agrees,” Captain Cayde pointed out, skeptical even that he would. “It still leaves the question of what we’re going to do with Captain Torvak.”

“His demands were for the ship and crew,” Ambassador Drake replied. “If he is willing to demonstrate his rights to the ship, I’ll happily turn it back over to him, less any illicit goods it contains.” To demonstrate that would also be to admit their links to this shell company that Nitus and Cayde had described to him. “And as for the people, they are free citizens who are welcome to make their own decisions.”

“But sir, if they’re really smugglers, we can’t let them go,” Captain Alleyne spoke up for the first time. She felt a sense of duty towards the people of the borderlands, those who ultimately paid the price for all the profiteering occurring at their expense. “This’d just be setting them back into the wild to do it again and again.”

“All the more reason for Cassidy to stay alert as he continues his sorties out here,” Ambassador Drake countered. That was the primary reason why interdictors like the USS Lincoln were part of the Archanis Sector revitalization initiative. “Given the parameters of the current predicament though, we’re going to have to settle for seizing contraband and not starting a shooting war.” Things weren’t always clean out here on the frontier, he knew.

“Ambassador, I think it’s a huge gamble on if Torvak will acknowledge his connection to Stellar,” Niyus said as she looked ro Frake. “He doesn’t seem like the type to claim the ship when he can just let it go and get another deal this time in another sector.”

“Then we keep the ship and the crew,” shrugged Ambassador Drake, but then it dawned on him. “Actually, if you can materialize an agreement from mister Vozuk, it doesn’t even so much matter if we give them what’s left of that aging K’Tinga.”

“But ambassador,” interjected Captain Alleyne. “It belongs to a civilian merchant corporation.” It wasn’t theirs to simply hand over to the Klingons.

“Indeed, and we’ll hold that option in reserve,” Ambassador Drake clarified. “But worst case, we pay reparations to Stellar Industries for the loss of their vessel, and as long as any contraband and all civilians that wish to leave go with us, the rest is water under the bridge when you consider the alternative is a shootout.” It was an easy decision. He turned back to Commander Nitus. “The next step is yours, commander. Make it easy for us and convince the captain of the Grace.”

“Yes, Ambassador,” Nitus said as she stood from the table. “If you will excuse me I’ll speak with him right now,” she said as she walked out of the conference room.