Uninvited Guests (Part I of II)
Posted on Fri Feb 5, 2021 @ 6:00am by Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan & Lieutenant T'Lul & Lieutenant Si'Lar Trellis
1,942 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Docking Gate 4
Timeline: MD01 1100
Tags: Symbiosis Commission, Trill
[ON]
Maritza wasn't even pretending to read the reports from Lt. Winters when her young Bolian yeoman put his head round the door.
"The Symbiosis Committee ship has requested to join the stack, ma'am," he said. "They're asking for priority docking."
"Tell them to bugger off. They can queue like anyone else." It was petty, but Maritza was past caring. She threw the padd down. "Tell flight control no preferential treatment."
Evikkan nodded, and departed. Maritza walked around to Ryan's office, knocked once, and entered. "Chairman Rell's ship has arrived. Are you ready?" It was an innocent question, but she knew it had levels. Not just was he ready to do his duty, but had he made sure all the skeletons in his closet were secure.
Caleb turned back from his contemplation of the wall. “As ready as Ah’ll ever be,” he said, getting up and walking over to his coffee maker. “Ah’ve dreaded this day since Dr. Desatu said that she couldn’t safely remove the symbiote,” he said quietly. “It had been inside her too long, the Joinin’ was complete. Mah fault. And Ah’ve tried ta prepare mahself for this, but ya never really can be fully prepared.” He gave a wry smile and took a breath, straightening his shoulders. “Ah’m ready. Zandy’s...off where they won’t find ‘er. Just need ta keep up the lie.”
Maritza said nothing. Mika Naquis Ryan's death would have been an impossible decision. The only people to blame was her own culture that prized the worms disproportionately to people. "This is my station. If they can't keep their hands off my people, they can go to hell. Ask Mr. Trellis to meet us at the gate. We'll try and conclude this as soon as possible."
Caleb nodded. “Lieutenant Trellis. Meet the captain and executive officer at Docking Bay 3,” he instructed over his comm. Then he tossed back his coffee to finish it.
Several minutes went by before Lieutenant Trellis finally made it to Docking Bay 3. He nodded to the assortment of Security personnel that were within the bay. Ordinarily there would not be this many Security staff unless the station was expecting an important visitor. He was dreadfully imagining who was preparing to come onboard.
"Ma'am, Commander Ryan," Lt. Trellis said as he walked over to the gathered officers.
“At ease,” Caleb said. “Chairman Rell of the Trill Symbiosis Commission is dockin’ soon,” he explained to Trellis. “Don’t know what brings ‘im ta the ass end of nowhere, but we’ll find out,” he said disingenuously, glancing at Captain Soran.
Lt. Trellis sighed irritably. Having the Chairman of the Symbiosis Commission onboard the station was not good and could only invite more problems. Having one of the highest ranking members of Trill government make an extraordinary trip out to Deep Space Five signaled that Trill was putting a spotlight on the station and what was going on. That would just provide Hex with more of an opportunity to do...to do whatever the hell he had planned.
Then there was still the issue of Commander Ryan's daughter carrying the Naquis symbiont. As much as it infuriated him to know that a Human was carrying a symbiont, he could not allow that to distract him from the bigger threat.
Hex was still on the loose.
Lt. Trellis also knew from his own investigation that the girl was currently gone, and had not been seen for several days, if not weeks. On top of that, he did not know where his own sister had disappeared to. He knew well enough about the relationship between the Trill Ministry of Defense as well as the Symbiosis Commission to know that she was close enough to keep an eye on things without being seen.
And that troubled him more than anything else.
"Aye, sir," Lt. Trellis said unenthusiastically to his Human superior officer.
The docking station doors cycled, indicating that the other end had successfully connected and was disgorging passengers. They didn't have to wait long before two Trill men in dark uniforms stepped in and to the side to reveal a man in his sixties, silver hair neatly trimmed, and a deep band of Trill spots, paler than the skin around them, dressed in a rich burgundy suit that was neatly tailored. Alongside him was a woman of a similar age, in an elegant suit of her own and tasteful accessories, the epitome of a successful politician's wife. More bodyguards and staff waited behind.
Maritza’s lips pressed tightly together for a moment and stiffened to her straightest posture, rigid as a steel beam. "Chairman Rell, on behalf of Starfleet I welcome you to Deep Space Five." She didn't offer her hand. She glanced over to the woman. "Mother."
Caleb blinked, and looked over at Maritza with surprise. What the hell? He recovered himself from his surprise and turned to greet the dignitaries. “Welcome aboard, Chairman. We have a VIP suite set up on Embassy Row for you. It comes with a full office suite for yer staff,” he told them. “If there’s anythin’ ya’ll need durin’ yer stay, don’t hesitate ta ask.”
Darag Rell gave a smug smile over at Maritza. "Maritza, oh, sorry. I forgot you wish to play this politically. Captain Soran, I see that you gave us all the courtesy that you felt was due." He then turned his gaze over to Caleb and said, "However, it does seem that your Executive Officer knows how to treat a dignitary with the proper respect." Nodding approvingly at Caleb he said, "You can show my wife and my staff the way. I will find my own way there later. I have allocated this time with Captain Soran. So, if you will excuse us?"
What the hell is going on? Si'Lar thought to himself. The Chairman of the Symbiosis Commission was Captain Soran's father? But she was an Unjoined.
None of this made sense. But what made mattered worse was the obvious security issues this posed. Not only would Security need to protect a foreign dignitary and his wife, but they were the parents of his commanding officer.
"Chairman Rell, Captain Soran, perhaps your conversation would be best served if it was continued in a more secure setting, such as the Diplomatic Conference Room?" the Trill suggested. He knew that the facility would be much easier to secure from any unexpected attack or any other surprise that Hex may plan to hatch.
"A wise suggestion, Commander," Rell replied with a smile. "I'm certain that Captain Soran will be good enough to lead the way. Then we can have a proper discussion."
Caleb nodded to the Chairman and turned to the woman. “If ya’ll will step this way,” he said, offering the woman a smile. “Ah hope yer trip wasn’t too unpleasant. Ah know it’s a long way out to Deep Space Nine from Trill.”
"Even at warp nine," the woman agreed. "I'm Tonza, Maritza's mother. You must be Commander Ryan." She looked over to Trellis. "And you're Si'Man's son? He's told me so much about you.”
Lt. Trellis bit down on his teeth. The situation on the station had already been bad, but this had certainly made it worse.
Maritza counted to three to control her temper. There was no graceful way out of this. She stood in front of her father, face hard. "The turbo lift is this way. If you'd follow me, Chairman."
Rell did as he was told. After all, he already put himself in a position where the XO knew that the captain was related, and that meant extra protection and favors even if Maritza was going to misbehave as normal.
"Lt. Trellis to Chief Petty Officer Sudale, set up the Diploma---" Before he could finish the sentence, he noticed feedback and distortion from the comm unit. "What the hell?"
"Lt. Trellis to Chief Pett--" Distortion and what sounded like the conversations of other comm unit links sounded. He looked with confusion to Commander Ryan and Captain Soran. "There's something going on with the communications," he said quizzically.** "Everything was fine an hour ago."
Soran glanced to Ryan, trusting he would make enquiries.
“Commander Ryan ta Ops,” Caleb tried, getting much the same distortion. He frowned and looked to Maritza’s mother. “Mah apologies, Mrs. Chairman. Ah’ll have ta leave ya with Lieutenant Trellis while Ah look inta this. If ya need anything, just holler.”
Tonza Soran just gave him a gracious smile and a nod. Maritza resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm afraid we're still trying to iron out problems since the station got an invasive species into the system," she explained. She hoped it was just that, and not something more serious. Her father's security didn't seem too spooked.
Darag Rell told the captain, "Knowing you, Maritza, sorry, Captain," he corrected with a snort that made it clear that he purposely 'errored.' "I am surprised that you did not have your security and ops departments working day and night to fix any security breach. Is it possible that you are getting more lax since you have left home?" he poked.
“We are workin’ day and night, sir,” Caleb asserted. “The station’s recovery turnaround has been nothin’ less than remarkable. An’ no one on this station works harder than Captain Soran.” Ain’t that the truth.
The captain counted to three, and then again in Klingon, High Romulan, and Terran. And she still failed to keep the higher ground, "Only if it's possible for you to get more elitist. Not something you'd think was possible. Yet here we are."
Si'Lar most certainly wasn't going to get in between the Chairman of the Symbiosis Commission and his Commanding Officer. More importantly, he wanted to find out what the hell was going on with the comms system. Was it just a random glitch, or was Hex carrying out some plan to go after the Commissioner and his wife.
"Ma'am, if you would please come with me, I can show you to your quarters and general guest area," the security officer said as he gestured towards the lift, leaving Chairman Rell and the captain.
Darag Rell waited until he was alone with his daughter. "I see that your attitude has not improved. It is a wonder that Starfleet trusts you to any diplomatic relations."
"I do just fine with races that don't support minority rule," Maritza said sweetly. "You realise that this is a waste of time. If Hex was here, then it's left after you sent your goose steppers in three weeks ago." She rounded on him. "Did you have the nerve to tell her family yourself, or did you get one of your boot lickers to do it?"
"You say it is a waste of time, but if that were so, then you would have already had the problem handled. You always were headstrong and wrongheaded. But, as usual, I will have to clean up your messes."
"My mess? You didn't give me a chance to even look. The first I knew you were looking for Hex was when you told me your agents were arriving. Your people went at this gung ho. Yours! Mine have been cleaning your mess ever since!"
To be Continued…
Darag Rell (as portrayed by Amanda Rose)
Known Troublemaker
Chairman of the Symbiosis Commission
Lieutenant Si'Lar Trellis
Covert Security Investigations
Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer
Captain Maritza Soran
Captain
DS5
RSS Feed