When it hits the fan
Posted on 21 Dec 2018 @ 4:11pm by Captain Ricardo (Rico) Montoya & Civilian Robert William, MD & Klingon Lt Commander Kreval of the House of Torath & Lieutenant Commander Cevel Th'raran & Lieutenant Marion Kent & Admiral Ayana Varon & Lieutenant Jason Mitchell & Cadet Senior Grade Ryth Th'Vhaanneth & Lieutenant JG Cleopatra McCaine PhD
2,148 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
M-15 Prison Planet
Location: Observation Lounge
Timeline: 0650
Still irritated at the 'methods' he was being directed to use in there mission, Rico stood at the window watching the stars streaking past the ship as it traveled at warp to their new destination. Soon the members of his senior staff would be arriving to find out the eggs they were being tasked to unscramble.
Cevel walked into the observation lounge and upon noticing only the Captain his antennae twitched, "First one here Captain?"
Rico nodded as he let out a breath. "Oh yeah. It's a short walk from the ready room so it was an easy race to win."
Cevel nodded slightly and smirked, "Indeed Captain."
Alora entered the briefing room, she stifled a yawn and stopped by the replicator. "Raktajino House of Koleth blend, double strong." She said and a moment later the steaming mug appeared. She nodded to the senior officer as she she took a seat.
Cleo, who was coming at seven AM from entirely the wrong side arrived straight from the holodeck she'd been enjoying since late the previous night, having adapted her program to get a quick sonic shower and replicating herself a fresh outfit, choosing a civilian style bodysuit in Science teal, her hair loose around her shoulders. "Good morning Captain. Commander." She moved to the replicator as Alora vacated it. "Red eye cappuccino." When her milky coffee with its ristretto depth charge was delivered she slid into a chair at the other end of the table, curious over what sort of crisis would need her input.
Rico nodded to the counselor acknowledging her greeting.
Stepping onto the observation deck, Ryth gave the room a quick scan before moving towards the replicator himself. "I-Icoberry Juice," he said softly, waiting for his drink and then heading for the chair nearest the corner of the room, intending to stay well out of the way until he was needed.
Robert strode into the lounge at the far end with a large coffee in hand and took a seat stifling a yawn. Sickbay was ready for whatever was about to unfold so It wasn't like it was too early it was just but for some reason he just couldn't stop yawning.
Ayana walked into the room and smiled in greeting to the others before she took her seat. She was eager to learn what the ship would be doing next.
Kreval entered the lounge taking in the rooms occupants instantly. During the past few weeks he had focused on learning the layout of the ship and coordinating their position within the patrol zones with the other ships. Seeing the cadet, he took a seat opposite the only non-officer in the room.
Not really expecting anyone to come sit by him, let alone the Klingon Lt. Commander, Ryth started slightly as Kreval sat across from him, taking a moment to find his voice. "G-Good morning, S-Sir," he said softly, offering a polite nod.
Alora hid a smirk with her mug taking a long drink as she watched the cadet and the Klingon, hopefully the young officer wouldn't wet himself. "Commander, welcome to the Phoenix." She added.
Giving the nervous cadet a deep and throaty "HHMMmm", he then turn an actual officer. "Thank you Lieutenant. Tell me Lieutenant; are there any of your officers skilled with a batleth?"
Mildly annoyed that he'd just be brushed off, Ryth was still perfectly content to let the rather large officer shift focus to Alora. He sat back in his chair and once again adopted his out of sight, out of mind plan and took a drink.
"I've handled one once or twice," She replied with a grin. "I'm relatively new so I'm not sure the proficiency of most of the crew with one.
Ayana was secretly amused as she watched the interaction of the others. She knew few of them as of yet, but that would change as they moved forward. At this point, she was still getting a feel for how everyone would mesh together. She was also not the most outgoing person, so sitting back and watching was, for her, a good way to get to know the others.
Kent entered the lounge with a Padd in hand in time to note the mention of a Bat'Leth. "Nasty weapons that are a terror in the Hand to hand realm. I do not use them myself but from what I have observed it is a bit like a style of Staff work that could be adapted to a Bat'Leth." He grinned. Sorry to have inturrupted."
Jason entered a step behind Kent, but chose to not answer the Bat'Leth comment for the time being. Looking around at the almost full table, he noted a few new faces and took a seat as far from Rico as he could manage, keeping silent for the time being. His green did stand out in this group after all.
Kreval nodded to the Lieutenant acknowledging his apology.
Rico, still standing behind his command chair, took his seat. "All right. If you aren't already aware we a no longer on our patrol route. There was an incident with the first contact mission in the Tarelis system. That mission was originally tasked to the USS Berlin, and according to the Berlin's crew has gone south in a major way. During several The Imersa, their ruling counsel had most of the senior staff taken into custody and the Berlin cased out of the system.
Their mission had been out of the ordinary from the start. First of the are a warp capable civilzation. However reports that they bought that technology raised enough eyebrows that they wanted to see an unfiltered view of their society so they sent in the regular observation teams. When that came to light...as the old saying goes, the shit hit the fan. The people of the Teralis sysytem are self-absorded, decadent, arrogant and want for nothing by incarcerating the criminal elements of other systems."
Tapping a control a holo-image of a planet surrounded by a superstructure. "This is Teralis 4. The entire planet, as you can see, is encased in a well armed superstructure. It is a safe bet that our people are already there."
"So its a hostage situation?" Cleo asked, frowning slightly. "Are we negotiating?"
"No the senior staff and the other teams that didn't make it off the surface are being charged with espionage and violatinging their territorial sovereignty. We were given three options; negotiate their release, I have to personally see to their release, or we get them out by force.
"The problem is that there are untapped dilithium resources in the outer areas of the system and Starfleet wants to secure those resources. So we have to convince a people that are no better than Yridians of the ethical foundations of the federation and the prime directive. That what was done was to observe their society and not to take actions against their ruling class. All in such a way that they see the light, release our officers, and allow us to mine their systems dithium."
"Do you have anything planned?" Ayana asked.
"We were given this assignment for two reasons; this ships capabilities and...". He took a deep breath and let it out "...and my abilities," the words bitter in his mouth.
Looking to Lt. Mitchell. "The use of stick will be seen by command as failure, but we are gong to plan to get our people out one way or the other. Lt. Mitchell, we'll need your Marines ready if needed."
"We'll be ready for situation, Sir" Jason responded cooly, running through the scenarios in his head. "Will we have any usable Intel available?" He couldn't help but ask.
"We have the preliminary scans of the prison but I want detailed information. We will enter the system under cloak and get a close look of the facility. Lt. Varon, find our people and any weaknesses."
"Aye, sir," Ayana said. She made a note on her PADD, along with a few ideas as to how she could go about it.
Cleo looked surprised. It wasn't unusual for the counsellor to be left out of such information. But... "Under cloak!? Is that legal?"
"They where, apprehended, during an standard first contact cultural recon mission. The ethics of those practices have been debated in the past and no doubt they will be debated again in the future. However, no hee and not today. Our charge is to free our people and some how gain access to their systems dilithium resources. In this situation I am more disturbed my the means to be used than a few secretive scan."
Alora remained silent for the briefing, hostage situations were amongst the worst assignments from a Security perspective, the costs were often high and even when successful they usually soured or completely burned relations with the captors. While technically illegal cloaks aboard Federation ships weren't exactly new, the Pegasus and the Defiant being the most notable cases. "What have we, or rather you, been authorized to offer in exchange?"
Tossing his PADD onto the table, "Nothing! If I am unable to convince these people of the ethical justifications for the Federations policies and get them released I am to use my condition to aid in the negotioations."
Robert had been paying only token attention but the PADD hitting the table had reengaged him and he everything the Captain had said. Having reviewed the Captain's medical records he knew exactly what he was talking about. "They can't be serious!"
From her own files, Cleo knew that her captain was part Deltan. That wasn't a condition though. They couldn't mean that? Starfleet would never pimp one of their captains, surely? "Condition, sir?"
Looking to his counselor as he replied. "For those that don't know, I am half Deltan. Earlier in my career there was an accident that hypestimulated my phenomenon production to over twice that of a full Deltan. This condition is managed by regular injections. If all else fails I was ordered to lower the dosage of my treatments in order to manipulate the ruling council."
Kreval know understood their captains...irritation. "Have they no honor?!"
Cevel shook his head, "I pray it won't come to that sir. There is always a way."
Cleo looked horrified. "Sir, that's...." insane, evil even. Rape by any other name. "Unethical," she finished, frustrated by a lack of a more professional term for the horrendous act the Captain had been asked to do. "At the very least."
Ryth had been silently listening, but here he had to speak up, his stutter more pronounced as his antennae recoiled from all the strong emotions around him. "I a-a-agree that... That to u-u-use our captain l-like... Like th-that is h-horrible," he said softly, his hands gripping his cup tight enough to make his knuckles pop, "b-but I kn-know th-the Ph-Ph-Phoenix like... Like th-the back of m-m-my hand. Sh-She's st-st-strong, but... But sh-she can't f-f-fight an... An ent-tire pl-pl-planetary force. N-N-Not by h-herself..."
Rico looked out over his officers, and future officers, nodding. "I'm glad you all agree...because I have no intention of following that order. So it makes our task all the more difficult. Dr. McCain, the XO and myself will have to try to negotiate a solution while the rest of you prepare for the alternative...extraction.
"Commander Kreval, I need to know everything there is on these people...especially whats not in the official report. Operations, Science, and Enginering; Once we get our scans I need you to pick that superstucture apart. Security and Marines get your people ready for action and prepare a plan incase things go south."
Kreval nodded, "it will be done."
Glancing from one side of the table to the other, "Questions?"
Jason shook his head, and then started to signal before he stopped and vocalized. Old habits died hard. "None from my end."
Ayanna shook her head. She and her department would have a lot to do to prepare for their arrival so they could hit the ground running, but she had no questions.
The rest of the room had remained silent, and he began to not. "Okay. We have some time before we reach the system, let's make the most of it. XO, Counselor your with me. Dismissed.
As the Captain dismissed the crew, Ryth drained the rest of his drink and stood with a nod to those sitting near him before heading for the door, intending to see if any holodecks were available. If they were headed for potentially hostile space, he wanted to clear his mind.
Captain Ricardo Montoya
CO
Lieutenant Ayana Varon
Chief Operations Officer
Cadet Senior Grade Ryth Th'Vhaanneth
Chief Flight Control Officer
Lieutenant Cleopatra McCaine
Counsellor
Commander Kreval of the House of Torath - NPC
Strategic Operations officer
Dr. Robert Williams - NPC
Chief Medical officer
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