Late night meeting

Posted on 22 Jun 2009 @ 4:53pm by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal

1,835 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: M2: Aggressive Negotiations
Location: Captain's Ready Room

Elek stepped into Commander Da'nal's ready room. "Thank you for seeing me so soon, Captain."

"You wouldn't have asked to speak with me if there wasn't a need." Moving over to the replicator as he opened his jacket slightly. "Bloodwine." As the drink materialized he turned to the Diplomat. "Can I get you anything?"

"A Vulcan blood orange juice, please."

After retrieving the beverage he walk back over to his desk, handing it to Elek he then moving around to his seat. "Now what did you want to speak with me about?"

"Sir, I have spoken again with Nniol today, and also speak with Ambassador Isha. When I visited Nniol, Isha actually came in and spoke to him face-to-face. I had my doubts, but the ambassador seems ... unaffected by the visit. Sadly, the desired effect - for Nniol to tell me something useful - didn't happen. In fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect. I doubt very much we'll get anything useful out of him before we reach Romulus.

"Well I honestly didn't think he'd admit to anything...willingly. We will just have to build our case based on the physical evidence. Check with Silonez on the communications logs from the Vrelnec, have the Ambassador assist. We need to know if he was receiving instructions from someone; and if so who that someone is. In addition to the logs I have this..." Da`nal retrieved a PADD containing a copy of the recording he had made during his first meeting with the Ambassador. Locating the proper time indexes he played various portions of the recording.

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Full text available at: http://ds5.co.uk/sms/index.php?page=post&id=236

..."Of course the room is monitored, there is very little Rihannsu territory which isn't ... it looks as though I'll have to do some very fast talking later when Deletham asks me why I allowed you to operate your device. It is very simple really, Rakka witnessed a message that was transmitted to me by an agent of the Tal’Shiar – the coding was such that once played the message erased itself, hence my wish for a witness who would be trusted by my hosts on this station. There is a Nraehhi'Saehne (Political Officer) on that ship pulling stings and generally making a nuisance of himself.†Isha steepled her fingers, “Now I don’t like someone who declines to give me his name attempting to make a scapegoat out of me, particularly not one whose political interests appear to deviate significantly from my own.â€

"Well if it becomes an issue," nodding to the PADD, "you just thought it was a standard issue Fleet datapadd. So this Nraehhi'Saehne has pissed you off and he's a political opponent. That doesn't explain what he's doing here."

“No, it doesn’t,†Isha agreed drumming her fingertips lightly on the desk. “Nor did his message – first he warned me to leave the station within thirty six hours, then he made his transmission in which he exhorted me to make a scene regarding some allegedly stolen property that he wishes to have returned within twenty four hours – if he meant within twenty four hours of receipt of the transmission we are running short on time, I received it not long after 14:00 yesterday, I told Rakka at around 16:30 … if the goods are not returned within that time he told me that ‘appropriate action’ will be taken by the cloaked vessels.â€...

..."Let me tell you what he said next, I quote: 'Following this ‘incident’ a second strike will occur within forty hours of receipt of this message. Our missionary ships house followers of the D’ravasai whose ambitions must not become widely known. It is your duty and responsibility to ensure that the Federation Station focuses its attentions on a ‘rogue element’ within the Consulate seeking to take advantage of our external attack to launch their own internal assault on Deep Space Five. If you are unable to identify a suitable candidate within your organization you yourself must accept the role.' I do NOT accept that role, Da'nal, nor do I believe that this man has the support of anything other than a faction at most."...

...Isha shook her head, "I don't wish to overstate the point but this is the Tal'Shiar we are discussing right now - they may have been planning this for months. We could be looking for an operative or it could be someone otherwise innocent who has been programmed to react upon presentation of a certain stimulus. They could have built in explosive charges during repairs the last time the station took any serious damage."...

..."There is one other thing," Isha said, recalling the discussion she had with Rh'vaurek just after Tahir had brought the hidden ships to her attention. "the commander who contacted Tahir, H'daen tr’Rehu, he was named ir-Ainleth before his marriage - he is actually the sister of the planetary governor Rhiu ir-Ainleth a lady, and I use the term loosely who was one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Shinzon incident; that piece of dirt now holds a senate seat and her name keeps occurring in conjunction with one or two others, most notably Nniol tr'Illialhlae. Both he and H'dean tr'Rehu have isolationist leanings, and the latter, I am informed, does have a link to the D'ravasai." She paused, intrigued to see what he would make of that....

..."Have someone examine the communications grid, if they look closely enough and if they are sufficiently skilled they will discover that around 14:00 yesterday the system was bypassed from my quarters for a short period of time - this was when I spoke with the missionary ship Rhainndhaell you may be able to identify the frequency that our friend was using - with this you may be able to cross reference the pattern with other communications to DS5 and identify who else he may have spoken to."...



Actually recording: http://ds5.co.uk/sms/index.php?page=post&id=186

Other info: http://ds5.co.uk/sms/index.php?page=post&id=187

Communication between Romulan ships and DS5: http://ds5.co.uk/sms/index.php?page=post&id=139
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Handing him the PADD. "It also contains the recording played for the stations security chief as well as communication between the Deep Space 5 and the Romulan ships. He's been claiming that this whole thing was in order to retrieve the Ambassador. This is obviously false. If she had been recalled or stripped of her duties the Romulan government could have arranged for her removal through official channels. Starfleet command, as well as myself, doesn't believe this is a mere family squabble either."

Elek nodded. "I agree, sir." He placed the data disk he had received from Isha on the table. "Sir, I had a long conversation with the ambassador, and she filled me in on her family's back-story. It's very complex, in its way, but briefly -" He tried to summarize the conversation, but it took some time. He made sure he covered it all, though, including the conspiracy of Federation, Romulan and Klingon officers.

"That disk contains the names of the officers concerned, in all three alliances, and they're names to be concerned about, sir. High-ranking officials, all of whom are well-placed to do something."

Da`nal let out a long breath. "To do what is the question." He placed a hand to his chin, pulling at his beard as he thought. "What is your opinion of the Ambassador? During you discussion did you sense any duplicity from her?"

Elek shook his head. "I sensed a lot of conflicting emotions, but duplicity wasn't one of them. She's deeply passionate about the future of her Houses, she's terrified almost to the point of physical symptoms of Nniol, she has a love, of sorts, of her husband ... and a deep-rooted fear about what she will face when she gets back to Romulus."

He took a deep breath, unsure how Da'nal would react to the next thing he would say. "She wanted to speak to Nniol again, directly, without anyone else present. To make him think that this was a secret meeting. I eventually acquiesced, with the proviso that I could observe from the next room. He ended up trying to convince her to help him escape. She's convinced that he might try it anyway, even without her help."

He wasn't surprised at the attempt. He would have been more surprised if he hadn't tried to 'arrange' his escape. "And how does he plan to do that?"

"He wanted Isha to wait until we'd crossed the Neutral Zone, then find the code to drop the brig force field. What he had planned after that, I don't know. I sensed that he had something in mind, though." Elek shrugged. "Perhaps he still does."

He sighed. "He's a clever man, Captain," Elek said, "but he's also completely amoral. He sees Isha's House as *his* House, and he'll do anything and everything to gain control of it, and keep control of it. The entire attack seems to have been entirely motivated around that."

Da`nal wondered how he was planning to escape...had they been infiltrated like the station had? "So who stood to gain, other than Nniol, if he gained control of the House?"

"Several other people, sir," Elek replied. "Other Houses would inevitably rise or fall depending on how high the House's star rises."

"Narrow that list down to the most likely suspects. I don't want to be blindsided when we arrive."

"In addition, sir, I feel I should tell you - my son has just been named Deputy Chairman of the Continuing Committee, which he envisages serving as for about five years, and then staging his own death. Any longer than that, and people will start getting suspicious about his unusual longevity."

"I see. Thank you for informing me. I assume that he doesn't plan on making his departure a defection?"

Elek shook his head. "Doubtful, sir. Only a quarter of his bloodline comes from a Federation world. I don't know what he *will* do, though." He smiled. "No matter how old they are, you can't make your children do anything you want."

Recalling his father's own attempts to 'guide' both his and his brother's action he huffed a short chuckle. "Very well. Is there anything else?"

"No, sir, thank you for your time," Elek replied, his smile still in place as he rose.

Then as there is nothing else...good night." As Elek reached the doors to leave, "Lieutenant, one more thing.

"No more 'Ambassadorial" excursions, and arrange a formal Dinner between the Ambassador and myself in order to get everything clear as to our plans once we arrive....perhaps you should be there as well."

Elek hesitated, then nodded. "Understood, sir," he replied. "I'll arrange dinner in the diplomatic mess for tomorrow evening. Myself included."

With that, the diplomat left the captain's ready room.

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Cmdr Da`nal
CO

Lt (jg) Termin Elek
CDO / Counselor

 

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