Update

Posted on Mon Jul 24, 2017 @ 11:27pm by Captain Isha t'Vaurek & Captain Maritza Soran

1,489 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: tbc - Maritza/Isha
Timeline: MD 06 0800

::ON::

Commander Maritza Soran stepped through the door smartly at 0800 sharp, padd in hand, ready to debrief the captain on the last, and next, twenty four hours. It was an interresting time to be aboard the station. And as the humans said, May you live in interesting times. "Good morning, Ma'am. Are you ready for the morning update?"

Isha raised her head, her expression mask-like. She resisted the temptation to close her eyes and grasp the bridge of her nose to relieve the weariness that seemed to burden her each and every day.

"Good morning Commander," she replied gesturing to the opposite seat, "I am indeed."

Soran took the offered seat, and turned on her padd. "Further to the seizure of our personnel, I have contacted the Amanirenas and the Hojo, who are both only six hours out. They should be here by fifteen hundred hours. Sir Mortimer has an appointment with the Lissepians at eleven, they have refused to see him sooner. Commander Aldrex is dealing with SFHQ and the State departments of the Federation, and United Earth, since all the victims are Humans. Lockdown remains in place. Commercial traffic is starting to back up, and we don't have the personnel to scan ships any faster."

And that was just for starters.

One hand tightened on her knee beneath the desk but after a moment's reflection with the other Isha punctuated her response, "Inform the Lissepians they will see Sir Mortimer at nine, if they refuse they will be expelled. No negotiation."

"Yes Ma'am." Maritza didn't bat an eyelash. She was more than happy to do things thehardway. She'd happily give the Lissepians an ultimatum. Let Sir Mortimer play the reasonable one, and he'd be far more likely to get what they wanted. "And the backlog?"

Isha paused for a breath and a thought - the Lissepians were almost certainly working with the Cardassians, even if independant they'd be at her door looking for a solution if htey saw no alternative than to keep the appointment with Praxis.

"Use the Dyson Shipyard facilities to hold and search ships - since this infernal planet landed on my doorstep Starfleet has moved research elsewhere so we have both docks and personnel - they'll not be happy about it, but it will relieve the strain. Only essential vessels to dock directly."

Isha leaned back, "What else?"

"More trouble on the Promenade, the usual factions. This time its the non-humans getting anxious since the Ferengi was found. That makes, to my count, the fourth body found in that bar in the last 2 years. Raddon is opening some sort of new research facility in the Square Mile. I have intelligence looking into it, but so far everything is looking legitimate." Soran tapped her fingers on her padd. The Humans First, as she had privately dubbed them, were getting bolder, but neither security or intelligence had anything to go on. Yet.

There was in Isha's mind something about the place that was poisonous, some essence that leached into the souls of otherwise rational beings causing them to - to what?

"It is troubling. Starfleet regulations are too lax for my liking. Do what you need to get to the bottom of this."

Now there was a loose command. Romulans absolutely did not piss about, Maritza observed. But... "I can't bring Raddon and his people in without evidence, and right now I haven't got any."

Isha steepled her fingers, "If only you did." she breathed the words over her fingertips. "Let's see what Praxis' meeting yields, and as a precaution ... keep tabs, I think the expression is that the humans use - on the Lissepians. Let them think they are safe."

"Understood," Maritza made a note on the padd, and then moved on to the last item on her list. "The Cardassians have also parked a small fleet off our boundry. We have lodged complaints, but they're claiming its scientific, to take advantage of Pangaea's emergence." The tone of her voice suggested that if it hadn't been unprofessional she would have added, My ass it is.

Isha raised her gaze - what was left of her family, at least that available to her depended on Pangaea. "If that fleet breaches the boundary who soever commands it will have a lot of explaining to do." She closed her eyes briefly.

"Tell me, Commander, have they yet been so bold?"

Maritza shook her head. "There was an incident with the Bajoran's in unclaimed space, but they haven't pushed us that far, yet."

There was a plan forming in Isha's mind - it was one that would secure peace in the sector for centuries, but sane it was not.

Isha glanced up over her fingers. "Indulge me, Commander. If you were sitting in my chair, what would you do?"

Soran thought about it. "I'd have sent for the marines and every ship bigger than a frigate within hailing distance, and claimed every inch of that planet absolutely unequivocally. No sharing. No possibility of sharing."

The Romulan nodded. She had been trying to hard to approach the situation in a way that would meet with Starfleet's approval rather than using her instincts, Soran's approach was much more in line with her own way of thinking. "A show of strength. One that would remove all doubt that we might not defend what is ours."

"Given who we are currently playing host to," Maritza explained, "Turvan and D'Aerrol both need reminding that the Federation is flexible, not spineless." The Cardassian and Romulan ambassadors were both from backgrounds that confused mercy with weakness and compromise with cowardice.

"I cannot speak for Turvan, but D'Aerrol should know my reputation better than her appears to. Perhaps he thinks I have gone soft," Isha mused - perhaps many others did too when she announced her surprise retirement and took herself off to a remote colony world beyond Romulan borders only to re-emerge as a Federation puppet.

"Well, Turvan has a small fleet parked off our starboard side, demanding their citizen back. They say they have medical facilities for him, we have no grounds to hold him. but it feels like bowing to force."

The tips of Isha's ears tingled. When she'd ordered the Ferengi vessel raided it had been meant as a bluff - that her orders were followed both surprised and tickled her. It told Isha that beneath the polish there was more to Starfleet officers. The question she needed to answer for herself was would they do it a second time - not raid sovereign territory, but risk the station for a bigger goal ... for an ideal.

She looked at Soran - not quite in the true Starfleet mold, she thought but was that part of their strength - embracing difference above conformity?

Ideals indeed, and for principles.

Part of her knew that she could appeal to the new neighbours for aid and that fleet would be gone in an instant but that would not engage the support of her crew. There was a palpable threat out there and it needed to be fought with something tangible, something physical.

To protect those ideas and principles that made Starfleet what it was.

"What is our own garrison strength, Commander?" she asked.

Soran consulted her padd, not becuase she didn't know, but to sure nothing had changed in the ten minutes she'd been in the office. "The fighter wing is at basic strength. We lack a truly competent CAG but the interim is not an idiot. The marine unit is spread out on Pangaea itself, and what we really lack is ships of the line. I've sent requests out to all nearby vessels, but they will need time to set course.

Isha's gaze did not waver. She barely even blinked. "Have the wing step up patrols close to the Cardassian presence - not too close to prompt them to take action, but close enough to let them know that we are aware of them. If anything I wish to provoke a stand-off until our re-enforcements arrive."

Maritza gave a grimly satisfied nod. It was about time they responded more assertively to Turvan's provocations. "I'll send them up immediately." She added notes to her padd with a stylus, and then looked up. "Do you have any further business, Ma'am? I've covered everything I need to."

"That is all, Commander," Isha said. She'd let her personal concerns and confusions over the loss of Eviess cloud her wits for much too long. There was always time to grieve, but not when it got in the way of her duty.

Now Isha had a chance to take back control. She was not going to waste it.

"Then if you'll excuse me," Soran stood. She finally had permissions to crack the whip. She was going to do so with relish.

---

Commander Maritza Soran
2XO/Head of Strategic Operations
DS5

Captain Isha t'Vaurek
DS5

 

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