Star Trek Hunter
Episode 25:
I Dream of Shiva
Scene 13:
Transplanting Saketh
25.13
Transplanting Saketh
The negotiations for the transplantation of Saketh’s biosphere from within the Romulan Star Empire onto three planets currently within the United Federation of Planets had started on Vulcan. Admiral Ekot and former President Maria Rodriguez were leading a large, multidisciplinary team consisting mostly of scientists. Oddly, the lead scientists for both the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire were twins - Kallasa and Carauka were identical twins, half romulan and half vulcan. Lin Chun Hu and Lin Chun Xi, descendants of the legendary Lin Ling Liu, were also identical twins - half human and half vulcan.
For Ekot and Rodriguez, the negotiations boiled down to making certain that Kallasa and Carauka and the Lin brothers did not let their optimism get the better of them. Removing the biosphere from Saketh in such a way as to not kill the majority of it would be a nightmarishly difficult task. Painting that biosphere onto three different planets would be unbelievably complicated. The unprecedented challenge of this project was drawing scientists from all over the Romulan Star Empire, the Federation, the Cardassian Union… rumors of the plan had reached the Gamma quadrant and more than a hundred scientists from races no one had ever heard of before had traveled through the wormhole tens of thousands of light years from their homes to participate.
Ekot was not surprised to find Maria Rodriguez charming. She was a veteran politician and had charmed her way to the top of the Federation bureaucracy. He found himself admiring her breadth and depth of knowledge and her ability to quickly master complex information. She was asking the top experts in planetary ecology the right questions, carefully drawing them into deeper consideration, helping them focus on more promising avenues of research while keeping other doors open.
Today, Supreme Commander Sela’s battlegod, the I.R.W. Bestia, was in the Vulcan system as was the mammoth U.S.S. Ark. This meeting was being held in the main hold of Ark Saucer Section 1. It was an immense space - so large that a romulan warbird could be parked in it and a second warbird stacked on top. Enough conference tables to fill a ballroom and hundreds of chairs were completely lost in the midst of this vast space. The guests were shuttled in using a number of Star Fleet shuttles and several Romulan Star Navy landers. More than thirty such craft were parked around the conference tables. These small craft were entirely dwarfed by the space they were landed in the center of.
“We’re meeting in my space,” said President Emory Ivonovic. “But while the Federation will commit enormous resources to this effort, we know that the true risk will be borne by the Romulan Star Empire. Therefore it is only fitting this meeting be chaired and guided by those who have the most to lose. As a gesture of good faith and to ensure peace among our people, Supreme Commander Sela - this is your meeting…”
Sela took her place at the head of the table, next to President Ivonovic.
“I will be blunt. Saketh feeds one third of the Romulan Star Empire. What guarantee does the Federation offer - what backup plan is in place - in case this effort fails and in our efforts we only destroy Saketh without being able to replant it?”
“As enormous as this space we are gathered in is,” said President Ivonovic, “it is only large enough to hold a large mountain lake and its shoreline. This saucer section has additional cargo space designed to hold millions of tons of soil, water, and provide environments for wildlife as well as the capacity to compress and carry a significant amount of atmosphere. It is one of four saucer sections on the U.S.S. Ark. The engineering hull has room for a small ocean. This ship’s sister ship, the U.S.S. Atlas, should launch within the next few weeks. The Federation is sponsoring an additional two Atlas class planetary rescue ships, the U.S.S. Mohammad and the U.S.S. Delivery, both to launch within the year. Even with all four ships working at capacity, the rescue of Saketh will take decades…”
A vulcan with long, dark-red hair and a massive, dark-red beard rose, drawing everyone’s attention. President Ivonovic fell silent. Sela looked at the red-bearded vulcan for a moment, then said, “Speak.”
“I am Messick. I speak for Premiere Saoron. With the assistance of the Andorian Empire, the Vulcan High Command will construct a space station in orbit of Al Donovos III. This space station will be a gift to the Romulan Star Empire and will be designed to provide protected interior space for reconstruction of living environments from Saketh. Each living environment will be transplanted onto the surface of Al D. III with a protective dome. As long as the protective domes remain in place, each living environment will be safe. But they will be designed to be interconnected. The Vulcan High Command, in coordination with the Andorian and Romulan empires, will maintain these environments encapsulated for as long as is necessary until such time comes when the atmosphere of Al D. III can be merged safely with the living transplanted atmosphere of Saketh."
Emperor Sin IV, who was seated next to Messick, stood. Sela found herself saying, “Emperor?”
“Unfortunately, our friend and prisoner, Premiere Saoron, is no longer healthy enough for space travel. It is appropriate that the High Council’s preferred successor should speak for the High Command. The Andorian Empire will support the Al D. III project with resources and personnel as needed, Supreme Commander.”
A large, elderly bolian, seated across from the vulcan and andorian leaders, stood.
“My apologies,” said Sela, “I am not familiar with all of the dignitaries of the Federation…”
Federation President Emory Ivonovic leaned over and whispered in her ear. A few of Sela’s guards tensed at the sight of a human so close to their Supreme Commander. Decades of protecting her as she clawed her way to the top of the Romulan Navy and firmly seized control of the empire had ill prepared them for the casual intimacy or free-wheeling, chaotic conferencing that characterized Federation affairs.
“Again, my apologies, Web Executive Planning Commissioner Boles, please speak,” said Sela.
“Thank you, Supreme Commander,” came the deep voice of Xagg Boles. “The Bolian Web Service will sponsor a similar effort to put a number of large space stations in orbit of Al Donovos IV to transition environments from Saketh onto Al D. IV. We will assist the Romulan Star Empire with maintaining interconnected domed environments on the surface of Al D. IV until the atmosphere of Al D. IV can be safely merged with the native Saketh atmosphere.”
Ushi Irons stood up next to the bolian executive commissioner.
“You, I recognize,” said Sela.
“You may not recall,” said Ushi, “but we met once, nearly 40 years ago.”
“I recall, but I was undercover,” said Sela with some surprise.
“Your ears and eyebrows were different, but I would not easily forget that face…” Ushi smiled.
“You have my undivided attention, Ushi Irons,” said Sela.
“Speaking on behalf of United Earth Governments, I have been authorized to pledge, in addition to Star Fleet’s assignment of the entire fleet of Atlas class starships, support from Earth Gov. to construct and maintain space stations in orbit of Al Jenova IV. While each, if you will, terraforming operation will operate on the Saketh-to-Atlas class starship-to-space station-to-domed planetary environment model described by our esteemed fellow members, each will also employ unique techniques to ensure a thorough scientific process. It is a point of pride for the people of the United Earth Governments, representing the majority of humanity, to offer our full support for the greatest public works project in the history of humanity on behalf of a people we once thought of as our enemies. It is our fervent hope that this project will kindle a new spirit of peace, cooperation and friendship between humanity, and among all the peoples of the federation, with the romulan people.”
Emory Ivonovic chuckled. “My condolences on your loss of your seat on the Federation Council and congratulations on your recent appointment as Chief Counsel for United Earth Gov., Ushi. There is an old saying that when an Irons falls from grace, they tend to fall upward.”
<"Resistance is useless!"
