Ascent of Lies

Chapter 1

FUJITA WAS LYING ON the couch in her quarters on the Starship Starlight with a steaming mug of cranberry-chocolate coffee in one hand and a book in the other. It was late in the evening and the Admiral has just gotten back from a long and stressful day in Engineering. Chief Engineer Ya'MogH Q'Ara had been running some upgrades on the warp core, but it had kept breaking down. Fujita had offered to help her sort things out. Now, the Admiral was glad to be in her quarters, to relax a bit and make up for her missed lunch and dinner.

Fujita was just about to take another sip of her coffee, when her computer chimed and the face of Admiral Romanov appeared on its screen. Fujita quickly got up and walked over to the computer.

"Admiral Romanov", she said, pulling up an eyebrow. "It's a surprise to see you."

"Admiral", the middle-aged woman on the screen said. Her icy blue eyes beamed with concern. The woman's messy red hair that was streaked with grey and her tired composure made it clear to Fujita that something was going on. Something bad.

"I had better keep this short, so I'll cut directly to the chase. The USS Green has gone missing and we want you and your ship to find it."

Fujita frowned. The Green? That was one of Starfleet's newest ships, even newer than the Starlight herself. "What has happened to it?"

Romanov sighed. "We don't know. It seemed to have just... disappeared. No debris, no residual energy traces, nothing." The Admiral pulled up her eyebrows to strengthen her statement. "It's just gone."

Fujita's expression turned dark. "That ship has over a thousand people on it", she said with a strained voice. Then she straightened her face and continued in a neutral tone, "How do you propose we find it?"

'The Green was on a mission in the Damara-system to investigate an unknown anomaly. They were scheduled to return within a week, but it has now been three weeks since we have last had contact with the ship. Your mission is to go to the Damara-system and try to find out anything about the disappearance of the Green you can; any overlooked debris, any kind of traces.'

Fujita stayed silent. An unknown anomaly? The Admiral felt like there was something which Romanov was not telling her, and she doubted that the woman was planning on telling her any more. Fujita just could not put her finger on what exactly that would be.

"Alright Admiral, we're on it. When do we leave?" Fujita asked.

"Immediately", Admiral Romanov responded, her ever stern eyes drilling into those of Fujita, who countered the look with a pair of raised eyebrows.

---

Fujita knocked on Commander Anderson's quarters' doors. A few minutes ago, she had tried to contact him to inform him about Admiral Romanov's orders, but she had gotten – weirdly – no response. Now, her face turned dark as, again, there was no response. However, the computer had confirmed that Anderson was in his quarters.

Fujita stepped closer to the door. A wave of worry rushed through her, it had never happened before that she could not reach Anderson, and the only explanation that she could think of, was that something had to be wrong with him. She hoped she was wrong. After pushed a few buttons on the pad next to the door to Anderson's quarters, Fujita overrode the door's locking mechanism. She walked inside.

"Commander!" she called out. No response. Fujita stepped into her First Officer's quarters and looked around. The room was empty, except for some scarce furniture. Fujita had been in Anderson's room more often and had always found it strangely bland. She knew the man had a fine taste in art and possessed more than an average amount of gold-pressed latinum – especially considering that having latinum at all was strange for Starfleet officers. Anderson was easily richer than the average money crazy Ferengi. However, he did not ever seem to use any of this money, and preferred a clean and orderly, almost spartan room.