Xi'Cadian Fallout (Part II)

Posted on Tue Aug 11, 2020 @ 1:42pm by Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant Yukiko Winters & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas

2,171 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Deck 12 - XO's Office
Timeline: MD 07

Federation Envoy Hilliard Braxton continued to examine the specs of the USS Ararat. He was familiar with it as having been involved in the Sviriki incident several months ago. The entire operation had gone completely sideways and a lot of good, loyal people had lost their lives as a result of it. It remained in the back of his mind as he continued to review the vessel with the commander of this upcoming mission.

"The Ararat, a light escort, hmmm...interesting," Braxton said, non-complementary, as he put the padd down and looked at Commander Ryan. "I see that it last saw action in the incident involving the Cardassians and the Svriki?" he asked. "I'm assuming it can hold its own against the Xi'Cadians the Cardassians here if need be?" he added.

“It should, sir,” Caleb told Braxton. “The Cardassians haven’t dedicated anythin’ heavy to the Xi’Cadian sector. It would look too much like an occupation or blockade. They have a garrison vessel and a few smaller ships. Besides, we don’t intend ta stick around long. Get in, get what we need, an’ get out. An’ we’re stayin’ on our side of the border as much as possible. The Cardassians can’t do anythin’ without Xi’Cadian permission,” Caleb paused, “technically,” he added.

Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas felt some apprehension as he stepped into the conference room and saw that Commander Ryan was already present with another Human before he had arrived. No matter how long he had been in his position, Kivan always felt anxiety when interacting with the higher-ups. From what he knew so far about the fallout concerning the destruction of the Atlantis, there was going to be a lot more happening.

The Cardassian/Bajoran hybrid felt some relief as he saw the new diplomacy officer enter the conference room. "I'm pretty sure you've got your hands full with the aftermath of that riots," he said, making conversation. The truth was that he would gladly trade the hassle of scared and angry civilians over having to deal with the massive critical power outages that affected the entire station. It was a nightmare that he just couldn't wake up from.

Caleb glanced up at Winters and Ta’Gas, nodding to them to join them.

Stepping inside the conference room, Natalie quickly noted that she was last to arrive. She made her way over to the Commander. "I'm sorry, sir, for being late." Her attention shifted over to the Federation Envoy Hilliard Braxton. She knew who Braxton was, even though they were never officially introduced. "Mr. Braxton, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She extended her hand towards the man.

Hillard accepted her hand. "Lieutenant Cross, thank you for being here. I understand that you have had to step up and fill in the shoes of the previous Chief of Intel, Mr. Haines," he said. He had hoped that her predecessor would have been available to step up for this particular mission. Braxton needed someone who was familiar with doing whatever was necessary to accomplish the mission.

"That's correct," Natalie replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll find a seat and wait for the briefing to begin." She excused herself and wandered over to an empty seat.

Silk nodded to the one man and nodded in the affirmative. "Indeed, well, once things have settled and security footage reviewed, I can perhaps sit with a few people and get to the bottom of what happened," she replied to the engineer. She took a spot that seemed to be open.

Caleb took his seat as everyone started to gather.

"I'll let Commander Ryan have the floor momentarily, but I wanted to apprise you all of the situation that is about to unfold. You all will be dispatched to the Xi'Cadian border to perform a series of in-depth scans of where the battle took place involving the Atlantis and Xi'Cadian combatants," Braxton said. He was purposely withholding the full extent of what scans would be performed or why such a mission could not be handled by a smaller vessel and crew such as a runabout.

"Commander Ryan will retain operational command over the mission, as well as the Ararat, during this deployment. I anticipate that this will rankle some feathers, which is why we've brought in Lieutenant Winters to properly advise on how we can sell this to the Xi'Cadians since we will be penetrating their space to perform the necessary scans," he added.

Silk just nodded. She did not think a response was needed yet, but she had an idea or two that might help. It was going to be touchy though, depending on how belligerent the party or parties might be.

Natalie sat there quietly, listening to the brief.

Caleb sat forward. “We want to be as non-belligerent as possible,” he said, “while still projectin’ the image that we’ll defend ourselves if necessary. We also want ta do this as quick as we can so we’re in Xi-Cadian space as little time as possible. So Ah want everyone on their toes ta be doin’ their jobs as quick as can be. If we have ta, we’ll need ta bugger back across the border an’ finish what scans we can from there.”

Ta’Gas saw that eyes had turned to him, so he finally spoke up. "I think I might have found a development that could help shed light on what happened," he said as he gestured to the padd in his hand. "But it's going to probably piss off our neighbors and their new Cardassian friends.

"From what we've been able to obtain, there was a signal exchange between the Class-4 sentry satellite in the area and another source," Ta'Gas said, his brows furrowed. "It's my belief that there was some kind of connection between the attack and the transfer of data to and from that satellite, but without more info, I'm shooting in the dark," he said as he looked up at the gathered officers.

“Any idea what that data was?” Caleb asked, leaning back in his chair.

Lt. Ta'Gas shook his head, uncertain. "There was a transfer of data between the unknown source and the sentry satellite and then to the Atlantis. But I'm not sure what was transmitted between the satellite and the Atlantis and what effect it had on the vessel," he said. "The missing key is going to be finding out what was the unknown source that initiated the transfer of information."

Hilliard nodded. He knew that something had triggered that defunct satellite to establish a connection with the Atlantis. He would have had an answer sooner if that damn Trill in command of the station hadn't stonewalled him.

"And that's where you'll come in, Ms. Winters," Hilliard said. "The Xi'Cadians won't appreciate our presence on their border conducting scans. So we'll need to think of a diplomatic reason to calm them down so you can do your jobs," he said. "More importantly, the Cardassians will find a way to butt in and have a say."

"Difficult, but let me do a bit of research about the area. I think something along the lines of something scientific. Enough to be plausible, explains why we are doing scans, and deniable if nothing does not fully pan out. We are going to have to look pretty nonthreatening though," Silk commented.

Hilliard laughed aloud. "I'm certain that's exactly the phrase they'll think of when they see the Ararat standing at their doorstep," he said derisively of the light escort vessel. "This is the best excuse as any for you to introduce yourself to our former Federation colleagues," Hilliard said. The idea that a race would have the audacity to break away from the Federation, and on top of that align themselves with Cardassians, was enough to make his head spin.

Caleb looked to Yukiko. “Check with astrometrics. See if there is anythin’ comin’ through that area, a comet, a subspace anomaly, anythin’. Hell, if ya have ta, mock up some false sensor readings we can share if necessary.”

"Yes, sir," Silk replied. She made a quick note on a padd, but would get to work on that as soon as the meeting was over. It was time to pay attention to the rest rather than look for interesting phenomena, if any.

"Ms. Cross, what does your department know about the tactical capabilities of the Xi'Cadians?" Hilliard asked.

Silk hated to interrupt, but she put up a hand. "If you can, sir, can you catch me up just a bit on what has happened?"

“Of course,” Caleb said. “Xi’Cadia is a nearby star system on the edge of the Typhon Expanse. It’s this sector’s major producer of dilithium, so is rather strategically important. It was a member of the Federation. Recently there was some internal political unrest, an’ the government was overthrown in a military coup. The new government then formally withdrew from the Federation an’ expelled all Federation personnel an’ appropriated Federation property. The Cardassians then entered Xi’Cadian space to protect the new nation from Federation aggression,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “We believe they may have been backing the coup. More recently, there was an altercation when the USS Atlantis strayed inta Xi’Cadian space an’ was destroyed. They’ve refused our requests for an investigation, so we’re goin’ ta have ta do it ourselves. Covertly.”

Braxton bristled at the term covertly. They were the Federation and this was Federation territory that had been taken by the Cardassians. The idea that they had to rely upon deception and a light escort instead of the full and awesome power of a Starfleet Task Force caused him to grind his teeth. However, he had learned to work with the tools he was given until he was able to get the ones he needed.

"They're hiding something and I intend to find out," Braxton interjected.

"And we just kicked the Cardassian contingent off the station," Silk commented. "That is not going to make things easier." She spared a glance at the man, but knew that more flies got trapped by stealth than outright force.

She turned her attention back to the executive officer. "It is one thing to try to make an excuse for a Federation ship along the border, but presumably with the now further escalation with the Cardassians being sent off the station, I would suggest that patrols are going to be heightened and a Federation ship, even on the Federation side of the border, is going to attract attention of the unwanted kind. Have you considered sending in a real covert operation? Traders, slavers, gamblers, that sort of thing pretty much travel anywhere and everywhere without much problem. It is possible we could gain some real intel on the ground, as it were. I have some experience in that type of operation."

“We don’t have an off the books discretionary budget for that kind of operation,” Caleb said. “It would take a month ta line up all the proper paperwork with Starfleet if we don’t wanna get our hands slapped an’ lose a pip on our collar.” He knew people who could, though, and might ask them for a bit of backup. “The Federation is playin’ kid gloves with Xi’Cadia. It ain’t the only system that sometimes chafes under Federation regulation, an’ there’s other powers t’ consider. The Ferengi have gotten in good with the Xi’Cadians, as well. An’ the Romulans are always keen ta jump on any Federation mistake.”

Silk just nodded. It would have been much easier, and she mentally laughed at paperwork. When had that ever slowed Fleet down when it wanted something. "Very good, sir," she replied. "Maybe I can wrangle some information out of the Ferengi, but subtlety, very subtlety."

"How long would it take for your team to be ready to depart to the Xi'Cadian border?" Braxton asked. "I'd like to get this underway sooner rather than later while the Xi'Cadians are still busy with their own internal struggles," he said.

“A day for equipping and briefing,” Caleb replied, “as long as the crew of the Ararat is ready. We can be on site in two days.”

Braxton nodded. "Alright, let's get moving. I don't want to give those Cardi--" He stopped to catch himself. "I don't want to give the Xi'Cadians and their Cardassian friends an opportunity to cause more problems for us in that sector," he said. "Anything further?"

Silk shook her head in the negative. Getting some pre-departure intel was going to be critical, and time was of the essence.

FIN

Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Yukiko "Silk" Winters
Chief Diplomatic Officer

Hilliard Braxton
Federation Envoy
Obsidian Sector

Lieutenant JG Kivan Ta'Gas
Assistant Chief Engineer

 

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