By the 25th century, interspecies relationships were a common occurrence. Therefore a marriage between a Vulcan and a Boslic didn’t raise any eyebrows. But there were things, small annoyances, if you will, that you had to look out for. Like the difference is Boslic and Vulcan biology. It was common knowledge that Vulcans needed little actual sleep. The Boslic species on the other hand needed ten hours at a bare minimum every day to function. But twelve- thirteen hours was more common.
That in turn led Valon to spend most of the night working in the next room in order to not wake his wife. This time, it was the list of newly assigned officers that needed his attention. At first glance, they were only young, inexperienced, ensigns from the latest batch of cadets that graduated. But on a closer look, he noticed a name he hadn’t seen or heard in a very, very long time.
Sulira Sisko. [New paragraph for emphasis, so it'll register with the reader more.]
Valon froze at the name. For this moment, his control slipped--to the point that he did not react to the klaxons of red alert status. [This is for more of a "flow" with the following action.]
Usually Kelsara could sleep through a warp core breach, but she also had an acute sense of when the red alert klaxons would sound. And just as she had anticipated, the Trafalgar went to red alert a few seconds after she woke up. Apparently something important had happened, something that needed Alpha shifts attention. [I'm not sure if you need this paragraph. It jumps to Kelsara's point of view, but the story then jumps back to Valon. Perhaps--]
He barely noticed Kelsara rushing out of their bedroom. Usually she could sleep through a warp core breach, but he knew she also had an acute sense of when the red alert klaxons would sound.
Thus, she was already out the door by the time Valon had gathered himself. That simple name had impacted him harder that he had anticipated.
“You coming?” she smiled before disappearing in the hallway, clearly in too big of a rush to notice her husbands state of mind.
Valon rose to his feet, driving the name, and the emotions it brought with it, to the back of his mind.
Chief engineer Kelsara Raitar’s place was just there, engineering. So, as usual, Valon headed alone towards the bridge. Most officers disapproved with having the captain’s family or relatives aboard. It created a conflict of interest. But Valon was the type of man one didn’t dare to confront. He didn't consider himself threatening, but he always carried himself with a certain sternness. Most people would just call it commanding presence, but Valon liked to think there was something else, something his wife probably didn’t know either. [This is for consistancy in Point Of View.]
The bridge could only be described as organized chaos as Valon stepped out of the turbolift. “Report!” he barked, allowing his annoyance to express itself in his voice.
Commander Dax was standing with his back towards Valon, reading something on a padd. Then, as he clearly considered himself finished with his task, he took his seat next to Valon.
He leaned closer and smiled. “One minute and three seconds. Not bad, Captain. I think you just beat Ensign M’orads record.” He handed the padd to Valon. “You have a good crew, sir. The slowest clocked on two minutes flat. Quite a bit faster than regulation.”
Valon briefly glanced at the padd. “Good.” He said flatly. “But next time give me a heads up, Dax. I’d like to know what’s happening on my own ship. – What’s our ETA?”
Dax nodded to Davis. “Twenty-two minutes, Captain.” The helmsman replied without looking at his console. Either he had just checked or he knew it without needing his console. Valon decided to refrain from theorizing and leaned back in his chair.
“But captain,” Dax said mockingly. “If you know when we have our drills...isn’t that cheating?”
“I suppose it is, Dax.” Valon reluctantly admitted. “On the other hand, as the captain, I must know about everything that happens aboard my ship. Come to think of it. Did you have a chance to review the list of replacements?”
“Indeed I did. I found some very good candidates for the assistant chief engineer position. Other than that they are mostly newly graduated office--” [Interuption is indicated by a dash.]
“Captain!” Donovan called out. “We’re receiving a priority one transmission from Starfleet Command. Your eyes only sir.”
The message I’ve been waiting for, he mused. “Very well, I’ll take it in my ready room. – Dax, you have the bridge.” [Inner thoughts are typically indicated by itallics.]
Upon Dax’s nod, Valon continued to his ready room, the silver doors closing behind him only moments later. He sat down in front of his terminal and entered his authorization code.
“Valon of Shikahr recognized. Rank: Captain, Commanding officer USS Trafalgar.” The computers female voice responded flatly. Moments later, the Starfleet logo was replaced by the face of an elderly, gray haired woman.
“Admiral Alasera. I was expecting Admiral Necheyev.” Valon said, a bit surprised. The elderly half Human, half Vulcan Admiral was almost considered a hero aboard the Trafalgar. Her words, ‘Travel to every star in the universe and return with their secrets’ decorated the Trafalgar’s dedication plaque. Jennifer T’Cha Alasera was indeed a celebrity, much to her annoyance.
“I sorry I’m not bringing any good news, Valon. But this can’t wait. I’m sure you know that we’ve been planning a rather covert operation for quite some time now. Well now its time for you to know the specifics.” She picked up a padd from her desk. The wide view camera on her terminal revealed it to be a padd issued by the Palais del la Concorde. “As you may or may now know, twenty-four days ago we detected a massive energy spike near a Romulan outpost matching the exact frequency of the Khitomer Cloaking device.”
“The one Donatra gave us?” Valon inquired.
“Yes, the very same. As you know, the cloak disappeared over ten years ago, and we have yet to recover it. However, three days ago, the USS Campbell responded to a Breen distress call and recovered hull fragments of two distinctively different ships. Both Federation in design.”
“Federation? As you suggesting we were behind the attacks on the outposts? Rogue officers? That hasn’t happened in nearly fifteen years. Disturbing thought, isn’t it?”
“Indeed its is." She shook her head. "But I don’t believe we did it. This was discussed for a long time and we have reason to believe that Section 31 was behind the attacks. To what end, we still don’t know. To be frank, we’re still not sure its Section 31, but the possibility alone makes it a priority. We have enough to worry about with the Klingons. We don’t need the Typhon Pact breathing down our necks as well.”
“I was under the impression that Section 31 as an organization was crippled by the Borg invasion of -81.” Valon said scratching his head in confusion.
“So were we. But it has always been theorized that a great deal of their agents probably survived--as you know, I am sure."
Valon nodded. "Of course."
"If this indeed is Section 31, it appears that they have used the last thirty years secretly rebuilding their powerbase. Your job is to investigate and confirm. We need to know what the hell is going on. There is a package waiting for you on Cardassia, at the following coordinates. Should be able to push you in the right direction.”
“What are we transporting?” Valon asked. Usually he knew better that to ask, but this time he couldn’t resist.
Alasera’s response could be described as cryptic as best. “It's more of a whom you are transporting.”
Valon nodded respectively, taking her cryptic response as a polite way of saying, ‘none of your business’. “As you wish, ma’am. I’ll take care of it.” He reached for the terminal to end the connection but Alasera addressed him again.
“Valon…”
“Yes?”
“I’m telling you this as a friend, not your superior. Try to capture someone alive for once. We need the information. Don’t blow every ship out of the sky.”
Valon's eyebrow shot up, as he cracked a wide, and very un-vulcan smile. “I’ll pass that along to my tactical officer. He’s the guilty one.” He dropped the padd, lifted his right hand and made the V-shaped Vulcan salute.
“Peace and long life, Jennifer.”
The admiral returned the salute. “Live long and prosper, Valon.” Then her face disappeared and was replaced by the Federation seal.
With the Admiral’s transmission severed, Valon had time to think. But all he could do was lean back in his seat, and mutter to himself.“What the hell have I gotten myself into…”
)...and she could cause him to face his own "soft spots"....
) the package could be Galrisan. Smuggler and a mercenary. i'm sure he has insight into the area. so it is in part 2 of the ending dax will have a mayor role. part three is the scene with sulira i mentioned earlier. but its not coming along very well so i might scrap it it alltogether. the scene would me more meaningful if it was Dax who spoke to her.
