Diligent

[Bry_Sinclair]

In an attempt to cast off this latest bought of writers block, I sat down and just started writing what came into my head, which has lead me to creating the Miranda-Class U.S.S. Diligent and her eclectic crew. No title for this piece, as it's really more of a writing exercise than anything else.

Events take place approximately ten months after the end of the Dominion War, in a remote sector where the Diligent and two newly established colonies are all the Federation presence in the region.

Enjoy.

- Brydon

* * * * *

“Captain to the bridge.”

Pa’u Taula frowned to herself at the summons, noting the hint of tension in the voice of Lieutenant Keller. In seconds she was on her feet and heading for door. Three years of warfare and stress had well and truly left its mark on everyone in Starfleet, herself included—but thanks to the opaque faceplate of her envirosuit, she never had to worry about her shipmates seeing the concern on her lilac face.

Stepping onto the bridge she approached the forward conn and ops stations, where Keller and T’Aeyn sat, respectively. “Report.”

“Sensors have just detected a ship on our current heading,” stated Keller as she looked over the navigational array readout.

“Silhouette is that of Cardassian vessel, Kolak-Class,” added the ops manager.

Taula shot a look back at Ensign Jatov. “Sound yellow alert, shields up.”

“Yellow alert, aye. Raising shields,” the diminutive Choblik replied immediately.

As alert panels illuminated she looked back at Lieutenant j.g. T’Aeyn. “Kolak-Class, are you sure?”

“It is on the edge of our sensor range, Captain, but from what I can ascertain at present that would be the most likely match.”

Taula’s smooth brow creased. Not only were they almost two hundred and fifty light-years away from Cardassian space, but the Kolak-Class had been retired from service thirty-five years ago. How one could end up all the way out here was beyond her, but even the hint of a Cardassian ship in this region had her on edge. She had hoped that when she’d been offered command of the Diligent, assigned to provide support and protection to two fledgling colonies, that she would never have to face off against the likes of the Cardassians again—but it wasn’t to be now.

“Position?”

“They are twenty-two degrees to port off out current heading, at present speed we’ll intercept in fifty minutes.”

“Captain,” Lieutenant j.g. Chaudhary spoke up from the aft science station, “I’m not picking up any active EM emissions or subspace signals. They look to be dead in space.”

“Life-signs?” she asked the chief science officer.

“We’re too far out to get anything definite, sir.”

The turbolift doors opened and Lieutenant Commander Rafael Diaz hobbled onto the deck. Her first officer silently grimaced with every move he made, but it was something he never complained about—he was lucky to be alive. Following the Battle of Chin’toka, he’d had to endure hours of surgeries to repair his damaged body and have multiple organs and three limbs replaced with bio-synthetics, unfortunately wartime shortages such as they were he’d been left with some lingering problems (something Doctor T’Sow Pa was trying to correct, but would still take time to sort) as well as extensive scarring, including on his face and neck. As someone who relied of technology to survive herself, Taula knew the struggles it sometimes took on the individual.

The first time she had met her prospective new XO, he had told her that he didn’t want any special treatment whilst his current condition was being addressed. He wanted to do his duty, would ensure her orders were followed and do whatever was asked of him. His sheer dogged determination had been what had clinched it for her. Of course, there were times they had to do things a little differently, but for the most part he had shown himself to be a promising first officer.

“I saw the yellow alert and thought you might need me.”

“We have a Kolak-Class ship just off our current heading,” she told him and saw same mixture of worry and confusion on his face as was on hers.

“Cardassians? Here?”

She nodded her head once. “There are no signs of power or active signals. Inconclusive life-signs.”

“I’d suggest we go to red alert on our approach and make sure we have weapons lock, I wouldn’t put it past the Cardassians to play possum.”

“Agreed. Commander, inform colony operations of what we’ve found and tell them we’re on top of things, but they may want to step up security—just in case.”

“Aye sir,” he replied before heading to his post. She didn’t extend the offer of aid as he climbed the two steps to the upper level, knowing that if he wanted the help he would’ve asked for it. A stool had been added to his freestanding console, on the starboard side of the bridge, opposite tactical—on either side of her chair—but he only ever used the seat if he was having a particularly tough day. He sat and set to work.

“Keller, alert out course to intercept and increase to warp eight.”

“Aye sir. ETA in twenty-eight minutes.”

Taula nodded her encased head then stepped up to her chair. “T’Aeyn, Chaudhary. Run every scan we’ve got, I want to know as much information on that ship as possible.”

“Aye Captain,” the two junior lieutenants replied.

She stared ahead at the viewscreen, quietly hoping that they weren’t about to face off against the Cardassians again.

* * * * *

 

[admiralelm11]

I like it. You have an interesting crew dynamic here.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

“Still no power emissions or signals, sir,” T’Aeyn announced as they dropped out of warp, red alert panels flashings.

“Scans aren’t reading any life-signs, though there are some reinforced sections that our sensors are having difficulty penetrating,” added Chaudhary.

“No target lock detected, Captain,” stated Jatov, his cybernetic hands hovering close to the fire controls. As per Diaz’s suggestion every forward-facing weapon the Miranda-Class U.S.S. Diligent had was locked onto the old Cardassian ship.

“Any other ships in range?” asked Diaz.

The Choblik shook his head. “Nothing in sensor range, Commander.”

“Let’s hope it stays that way,” her XO commented—a sentiment Taula shared.

Slowly she rose. The ship was powerless, lifeless and alone, but all that just compounded the mystery. There was only so much their sensors would be able to reveal, if they wanted answers they would need to go aboard. As the bridge crew scanned and analysed as best they could, she stepped over to Diaz.

“Commander, is there an away team standing by?” she asked softly.

“I’ve got an away team ready to assemble in transporter room one for search and salvage operations.” He paused for a moment, casting a quick glance at his LCARS display, before looking back at her. “When you beam over, don’t take any unnecessary risks, sir.”

“You have my word, Commander,” she told him, a sad smile curling her thin lips, knowing that he’d rather be leading the mission but knowing that in his current condition that wouldn’t be possible. “Get the team together.”

He gave her a single nod and tapped the intercom. She turned back to the viewscreen.

“Keller, close to transporter range. Ensign, maintain weapons lock. T’Aeyn, with me. Commander Diaz, the bridge is yours.”

“Aye sir,” her XO replied without protest, though she did catch a look Chaudhary and Jatov shared before she headed for the nearest turbolift, T’Aeyn following close behind.

The journey was a short one. They entered transporter room one to find four of the crew pulling on white EVA suits; without power the ship would lack gravity, heat and breathable air—though being a Lothra what they classed as ‘breathable’ was toxic to her. As T’Aeyn got suited up, Taula pulled on a pair of gravity boots—her envirosuit providing her with plenty of hydrogen to breathe and heat to survive—before securing a phaser and tricorder on her belt, and a SIMs beacon on her wrist.

“Captain, the bridge has signalled we’re in position,” transporter chief Riggs informed her.

“Thank you,” she said to the non-com before turning to the away team, all of whom had yet to secure their helmets. “Once we beam over and have confirmed the ship is abandoned, we’ll split into two teams. Lieutenant Amon, Doctor T’Sow Pa and I will start searching the shielded areas of the ship,” she began, knowing that her security chief would object to not providing personal protection for the ship’s Captain, “Commander Sinojj, take T’Aeyn and DiFalco to the engine room and try to restore power to the computer core. We need to access their logs and find out what happened to the ship. Understood?”

“Aye Captain,” the team replied.

She stepped up onto the platform and drew her weapon, thumbing it up to full stun as the others fitted their helmets (T’Sow Pa had a moment of difficulty given the flared bone crest on the top of his scaly head), before taking their places and readying their weapons—Amon and DiFalco both opting for type-III rifles.

Satisfied they were all in place she nodded at Riggs. “Energise.”

The away team materialised into darkness, which lasted a moment before the lights on the EVA suits automatically responded and increased. For Taula the sensors on her faceplate could easily scan through the black, so as the others adjusted to the changes she could already see everything. The gasp of shock behind her was not unexpected.

The corridor was littered with floating corpses.

* * * * *

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

Spooky! Nice start, Bry. As usual, you have assembled an eclectic crew with a sense of history. Derelict ships can offer up all sorts of plot trails. I'm interested in seeing where this trail leads.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

“I’ve got another Bajoran over here,” Amon’s voice was hollow through the comlink, an eerie tone from the Betazoid.

The tally between both teams now stood at sixteen Bajorans and only four Cardassians. The Kolak-Class wasn’t a large ship, a little under double the length of the current Hideki-Class escort, and had been used as an interceptor—fast and with enough firepower to be a threat to ships twice its size. Its six decks had capacity for a crew of seventy, and whilst it would’ve been in service during the midst of the Occupation of Bajor if was unlikely to be used for transporting prisoners—definitely not without a full crew complement to keep their inmates in check.

T’Sow Pa swept his tricorder over the body. “Looks like the same as the others,” he told them, which meant that the poor woman had died due to exposure to deep cold and lack of air. A bleak picture was being painted as they searched the ship, one that saw all the people succumbing to slow, lingering deaths.

“Sinojj to Taula,” came the quiet voice of her chief engineer.

“Go ahead, Commander.”

“Captain, there’s no way we can restore main power. The warp core has been ejected,” the Boslic told her.

“What about their auxiliary or emergency power?”

“Cardassian design only includes one backup, and from what I can see their secondary generators have been complete depolarised. There is no way to power this ship up, not without the correct spare parts.”

That would explain what had happened to the Bajorans and Cardassians onboard; freezing and suffocating once the ships environmental systems lost all power. But was it an accident or some sort of sabotage? What had happened onboard?

“Understood. What if we hook up a portable generator?”

“That’d be our best bet, Captain. I can link it directly to the main computer and we could at least gain access to their records and telemetry before the system shutdown.”

“I’ll report in and request one be transported over.”

“Thank you, sir. Sinojj out.”

She tapped her combadge. “Away team to Diligent.”

“Diligent here. Go ahead, Captain,” Diaz promptly replied.

She quickly filled him in on their findings so far, as well as requested a portable generator be beamed to Sinojj’s half of the team. She kept to the facts, keeping her impressions and assumptions to herself, they would all reach the same conclusions she had, but she didn’t want to let slip her own feelings—they were walking through a tomb, the final resting place of all these people.

Just ahead, she saw Amon glance back at her. The security chief’s keen telepathic senses no doubt picking up on the morbid thoughts that she was keeping to herself—even if Amon wasn’t trying to scan, Taula’s feelings on the dead ship were strong and radiating from her. She turned her opaque faceplate away from the other woman’s deep black eyes, know that it wouldn’t make any difference but still feeling the need to pull back, after all such feelings weren’t appropriate for a starship Captain. The new fourth pip on her collar sometimes felt like a great weight around her neck.

“The generator is on its way now, sir. Do you need additional search teams?”

Focusing once more on the comlink, she shook her bald head. “Negative. We’ve covered two decks already and are almost at the reinforced section now. Once we’ve checked there, I can redeploy the current team to cover more ground if necessary.

“Once we’ve got the main computer online, we’ll set up a data transfer. I’d like Lieutenant Chaudhary to start going over the information, see if he can piece together what happened here.”

There was a pause on the link, though she knew Diaz would be giving the younger man the nod to start configuring a secure, partitioned section of the database for the transfer. “We’ll be ready for the uplink, Captain.”

“Good. We’ll be out of communication once we enter the reinforced area, I’ll make contact once again after we emerge. Taula out.”

She took a deep breath of the hydrogen mix inside her envirosuit, then turned back to Amon and T’Sow Pa. “Let’s get in there,” she told them, projecting a level confidence she didn’t completely feel.

“Aye sir,” Amon replied and approached the heavy double doors ahead of them.

The section they couldn’t scan was the ship’s forward cargo bay; the largest on the interceptor had a hatch at the front to allow access to the ship whenever it landed—for loading freight and troop deployment without relying on transporters.

T’Sow Pa moved to the panel and looked back them. Amon raised her rifle and Taula tightened her grip on the phaser, before nodding at him. The doctor pulled the manual release and the doors rumbled open.

Their lights cut through the dark, picking out two columns of containers securely magnetised to the deck, as tools, PADDs and other detritus hung in the airless space. Lieutenant Amon led the way, followed by Taula and T’Sow Pa, who had his tricorder open and actively scanning. The Betazoid swept her rifle, with mounted flashlight, in an efficient arc around the bay, identifying all the places where someone could hide, but all she highlighted was one more Cardassian body, his body curled up, eyes and mouth frozen open.

The doctor’s scanner chirped, drawing her attention.

“I’m getting some unusual readings in here,” the T’Ranq’zanite physician announced.

“Life-signs?” Amon asked, taking another quick look around the bay.

“Negative. Some sort of energy pattern the tricorder can’t identify.”

“Are we in any danger?”

“Levels are constant, no radiation, no emissions that I can detect. I’d say we’re alright for the time being, sir.”

She let out a pent up breath. “Fan out. Let’s find it.”

Amon carried on down the middle aisle, as T’Sow Pa headed to the portside, and she took starboard. She pulled her tricorder out as she moved further into the bay, but kept her phaser up. Rounding the towering stack of containers and barrels, she stopped, weapon pointed squarely at the torso of a Cardassian EVA suit that gently swayed like seaweed in an ocean current.

Keeping her weapon aimed, she raised her tricorder and ran a quick sweep. The figure was devoid of active life-signs though there was a biological trace; someone must’ve tried to survive a few extra days by putting the suit on, only to perish by some other means. The energy readings were also coming from the same location of the suited person. Slowly, she approached and stepped around to the front peering into the helmet. The face of a partially-mummified Bajoran woman stared back at her.

She then turned to what the woman had been looking at before she’d died. Sitting on top of a utilitarian container, strapped down to keep it safe, was a casket of dense wood, intricately carved with an oval gem in the centre of each panel radiating a soothing silvery hue. Taula had never seen such craftsmanship in person before, but knew just what the case was.

“Clear,” Amon called.

“All clear here,” added T’Sow Pa.

“Over here,” she replied back to her team, “I’ve found a Bajoran Orb.”

* * * * *

 

[admiralelm11]

An Orb of the Prophets? That'll make this crew popular on Bajor. I suspect that this was a ship that served during the Occupation. I am really enjoying this story, Bry.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Taula entered the multipurpose science lab to find Chaudhary and three others in blue collared uniforms hard at work, the chief science officer and one of his specialists were fussing around the Orb case whilst the other two were staring at computer screens. All of them were so engrossed in their analysis that they never heard her enter. As soon as she stepped inside her yellow eyes locked onto her discovery, something about it drew her in and wouldn’t let go.

During the war, she’d served as first officer of the U.S.S. Yeager which had frequently been placed on detached duty to help guard Deep Space Nine. Whilst in the Bajoran System she’d made sure to read up on their culture and history, so had become familiar with the nature of and lore surrounding the Orbs, but her duties had meant she’d never had the time to visit the planet to learn more. Though she had long since chalked up their worship of the devices to nothing more than superstition, actually being in the presence of one was rapidly changing her opinion.

“Report, Lieutenant.”

Chaudhary’s head snapped towards her, finally realising they had company. “Captain, we’ve only just begun our analysis, but I’ve compared our readings to what we have in the database and can confirm that it is an Orb. Though to get anything more from it I’ll need to open up the case and—”

“No,” she stepped in.

“Sir?”

“This is a religious artefact of the Bajoran people, Lieutenant, I don’t think they’d appreciate it if we opened it up just to poke and prod at it. Run scans, sample the case for quantum dating, log all your results, but do not open it. Understood?”

“Yes Captain,” the young man replied, looking thoroughly disheartened and somewhat annoyed.

“Now what can you tell me about the ships logs?”

He finally tore his eyes away from the casket, looking towards the two others who were seated at the terminals, the various monitors filled with information, most of which was written in Cardassian. Something told her that he’d left the data analysis to others, so he could take a crack at the mysteries of the Orb.

“Mikhail, what have you got?” he asked an even younger looking ensign.

“Much of the data has been corrupted, most likely the result of a power surge, so we have to piece it back together and extrapolate what we can. The closer we get to the point at which the computer core shut down the greater the damage.”

She looked at Chaudhary. “You’d better get to it, Lieutenant, I want answers ASAP.”

“Aye sir,” he replied sheepishly.

With her officer back on track, she left him to work. After her discovery, she’d returned to the Diligent with the Orb, and had Diaz assemble two other search teams. If there was one religious article onboard, there could well have been others, but she also wanted the teams to secure the bodies and bring them aboard—after decades floating in the lifeless vessel they deserved to recovered, so that they may be returned home for a proper burial. The teams had reported in just before she’d left the bridge for the lab, reporting that a total of thirty Bajorans and seven Cardassians had been located. All of the Bajorans (except the one she’d found in the EVA suit) and three of the Cardassians had died due to the cold and lack of air. The other four Cardassians had all been killed, two had been shot and the other two had been beaten to death, the pattern looked like extreme interrogation techniques. The woman in the cargo bay had died of dehydration and starvation.

Heading back for the bridge, she needed to contact Starfleet Command and inform them of their discovery so that they could make arrangements with Bajor and Cardassia for the return of their dead and property. Of course given that they were so far out from Earth, all communications needed to be done through recorded messages, they had no communications satellites to help boost the signal to allow for real time contact with headquarters.

Stepping into a corridor that led to a turbolift, she spotted Counsellor Jynahros 301 waiting for a carriage to arrive. Following the war, Starfleet had placed a great emphasis on the need for counsellors and psychiatrists being made available to its officers and crewmen—given all some of them had gone through the emotional and mental scars may never heal. Taula, like many onboard, faced sleepless nights, bouts of anxiety, and other problems brought about by months of too much violence and stress and not enough rest or nourishment—there were still times she found the quiet, easy pace to be so alien to her. Lieutenant Jynahros was thorough and patient, offering a sympathetic ear and safe space to open up in when required, as well as a swift kick in the rump for those who needed it—the ‘tough love’ approach as s/he called it. At first Taula had been apprehensive about letting out her inner most thoughts and feelings, the Diligent being her first command she didn’t want to appear incapable of the responsibility placed upon her, but after only her first session with Jynahros she’d found herself liking the Hermat enough to feel comfortable with hir (rumour had it that s/he was also a top notch sex therapist, though Taula wasn’t sure if that was true or more just a myth about Hermat).

“Counsellor,” she said as she approached.

Jynahros looked over hir shoulder and smiled. “Captain, hello. I heard about your important discovery, congratulations.”

“Thank you. I just hope it helps to answer all the questions about that ship.”

“I’m sure the Bajorans will take it as a good omen, especially after the Prophets recalled their emissary.”

“I hope they do, they may also be able to supply us with some information about when it went missing and who those people were onboard that ship.”

“We can but hope, sir.”

The doors opened and Taula gestured for the Counsellor to go ahead of her. Inside, the lift was ordered up to the bridge, with a stop at deck three. Given the nature of their relationship, one of both superior/subordinate and therapist/patient, they had mutually agreed to only discuss such matters privately when in their respective offices, but with Jynahros’ flare for getting others to open up they were never at a loss for conversation.

“Bajor is definitely on my ‘bucket list’,” the counsellor confessed.

“Excuse me?”

Jynahros flashed a toothy smile, exposing hir sharp canines. “A phrase I heard from my human roommate at the Academy, a list of thing to do before they die, or ‘kick the bucket’ as he phrased it.”

“Ah I see. I wouldn’t mind getting the chance to visit; I heard from many on DS9 just how beautiful it was.”

“The closest I’ve gotten was Starbase 375, then I got this assignment and headed in the opposite direction.”

“Well I apologise for spoiling your travel plans, Counsellor.”

“No need, Captain, this crossed off ‘venture out into the unknown’,” s/he retorted with another wide grin.

Taula chuckled to herself. The lift slowed and stopped. As the doors opened, Jynahros gave her a respectful bow of the head and stepped off. Moments later, she reached the bridge.

“Status report, Commander.”

Diaz rose from the command seat and stepped to the side as she approached. “Cargo hold B has been converted into a makeshift morgue for the bodies and recovery is already underway. Doctor T’Sow Pa is back aboard and collecting DNA samples we can supply to their respective homeworlds, to help with identification. Search teams have found no other Bajoran artefacts. We’ve also completed a full structural scan of the ship; she is in good condition given her age and the fact she’s been adrift for so long, and will hold up for a low warp tow.”

She smiled to herself, pleased to see he was correctly anticipating her. Though the Kolak-Class ship wasn’t in anyone’s way floating in open space, should the Cardassians want to recover the vessel having it at one of the colonies would make it easier for them to locate—not to mention the fact that it would allow for a more in-depth analysis of the ship itself by either the Diligent itself or teams from colony operations.

“Nicely done, Commander. Once all the bodies have been recovered and our teams are back onboard we’ll get underway. I will need to send in my report to Starfleet Command, please patch all the current telemetry to my ready room; I’ll include it in my communiqué.”

“Of course, sir.”

She stepped back down onto the lower level and headed for her ready room to compile her report, wondering just what HQ would make of their quick succession of discoveries.

* * * * *

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Everyone watched as Lieutenant j.g. Chaudhary rose and approached the large monitor, located between the two doors of the observation lounge at the rear of deck one. Taula was at her customary place at the head of the table; also present were Lieutenant Commanders Diaz and Sinojj, Doctor T’Sow Pa, and Lieutenant j.g. T’Aeyn.

Chaudhary cleared his throat, a nervous habit he had whenever presenting information in such a formal situation. “As you heard yesterday, Captain, a lot of the data we were presented with had been corrupted due to an energy surge. However, we’ve managed to analyse everything that was left and I believe we’ve pieced together a fairly accurate timeline of what happened.

“This ship, the Kalgar, left Bajor forty-one years ago after it was seized by an early Resistance cell. We can surmise they took several of the crew, who were unfortunately still onboard, prisoner, before leaving the planet and heading for neutral space. They were only six days away when they pulled into a wormhole.”

“Surely not the Bajoran wormhole,” interjected Diaz.

“No sir, they were over a sector away from Bajor at the time. It looks like this was naturally occurring, unstable version, small but very strong; they had no chance to escape it. They were transported all the way out here in a matter of minutes, but the journey wasn’t a smooth one. I’d guess that travelling through it overloaded their warp core and damaged their secondary generators, so once they emerged they needed to eject the reactor—which left them stranded and without any source of energy.”

“On a ship that size with that many people onboard,” T’Sow Pa picked up, sitting forward, “they’d only have sixteen hours of breathable air, but the temperature would’ve plummeted quickly.”

Taula nodded at the CMO then looked back at Chaudhary. “Any logs or records made by the Bajorans? Anything to indicate why they took an Orb with them?”

He shook his head. “From what we can tell the Bajorans didn’t make any log entries.”

“During the Occupation, the Cardassians seized many cultural, historic, and religious items from Bajor, including the Orbs,” stated T’Aeyn, her long fingers steepled in front of her. “They had reportedly taken eight of the nine Orbs; perhaps that was not the case. This cell may have sought to save this one from being pilfered.”

Diaz, seated between Taula and T’Aeyn, nodded in agreement as Chaudhary retook his seat. “It’s as good a theory as any we’ve got.”

“I’d have to agree, though the Bajorans have always believed that the Cardassians took all eight—this may be a shock to them, though I suspect those Resistance members will be hailed as heroes once their story becomes known,” she mused, more to herself than the others in the room. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I’ll include your findings in my next report in to Command. Doctor, how have you gotten on with the bodies?”

“I’ve collected DNA samples from all thirty-seven,” he told her, pulling an isolinear chip from his lab coat pocket and sliding it up the table to her. “They’re all on there, as well as holo-images of the Bajoran earrings with family crests, and the results of the examinations of each body.”

“Greatly appreciated, Doctor,” she said picking up the chip, then looked at Sinojj. “How’re we holding up from the tow?”

“Tractor beam is at optimal dispersal, SIF is at one hundred percent and the warp field is stable. The Cardassian ship is showing no signs of hull stress. I wouldn’t recommend we go any faster however, I wouldn’t want to push our luck.”

“Don’t worry, Commander, we’re in no rush.” She looked at the face of each officer in turn for a moment. “Is there anything more to add?”

No one replied.

“Very well. Dismissed.”

Together they rose, before all of the others headed for one of the exits. Taula moved over to the viewports and stood for a moment, looking past the torpedo roll bar to the ochre-coloured ship safely enveloped in their aft tractor beam as stars streaked past.

“Everything alright, Captain?”

She looked back at Diaz, who had paused next to the portside exit. Though she had handpicked the man to be her second-in-command, had served with him for almost eight months, she wasn’t someone who easily opened up to others—even more so since she had been promoted—but something Counsellor Jynahros had said to her in a session still resonated deep inside. Letting others in, sharing the burden, wasn’t a sign of weakness or inability to cope with captaincy, but could help build new levels of trust and respect.

She looked back out at the Kalgar. “From the moment we picked up that ship, I’ve been gearing myself up for full on tactical engagement. Even now, I still feel like it’ll spring to life and open fire on us. But this is what we’re meant to be about: making discoveries, learning answers, providing aid. So why does it now feel so wrong?”

Diaz took a few pained steps closer to her, leaning against the back of a chair for added support. “I know just what you mean, Captain. I had to stop myself from ordering Ensign Jatov from locking aft torpedoes when we first started towing her. Hopefully, it’s just a phase and we’ll soon get back into the proper Starfleet way of thinking once again.”

“I hope so, Commander,” she said with a sad smile.

* * * * *

END

 

[admiralelm11]

Good story. Good crew. I wouldn't mind seeing more adventures with this crew, Bry. You seem to have a hit on your hands with them. Commanding Officers are allowed to have doubts occasionally. I think you have a good dynamic with this one.

 

[NinjaRaiden2005]

That was pretty good. Wouldn't mind reading more.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

“Target all weapons!” Rafael Diaz barked, gripping the armrests of the Captain’s chair.

“On which side, sir?” asked Ensign Jatov.

The first officer shot him a sideward glance. “Both.”

“Aye sir.”

“Incoming hails from both command ships, sir,” T’Aeyn informed him, as soon as the Diligent’s phasers and photon torpedoes locked onto both vessels.

Olivia Keller, seated next to her at the conn, turned back towards Diaz. “Looks like you got their attention.”

Looking at the viewscreen where twenty armed and angry warship hung in high orbit, their weapons primed and ready to continue their bloody feud, Diaz could only hope that the away team was having better luck than he was with their respective leaders. As the lone starship in the sector, there to safeguard and support two fledgling colonies, the Diligent was in high demand to fulfil the mandate of Starfleet—from providing aid to ships in need, to charting unexplored system, to negotiating peace treaties. It was a great burden to place on an aging Miranda-Class vessel and her over-taxed crew.

“They are repeating their hails, Commander.”

Diaz nodded at the Vulcan. “Put them both on screen.”

“Aye Commander,” she replied in a measured tone.

A moment later the screen switched to a split display, with the commanders of both ships facing off against him and each other.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“This is an outrage!”

Four pairs of eyes from two aliens, both of whom had bright red skin mottled with blue spots from their forehead over their bald crown and disappearing into the collar of their uniforms (one a dark mustard the other a vibrant emerald), bore into him as they yelled over one another.

Diaz, whose aching war wounds kept him up most nights, remained seated as he held the stares of both men. The Brenaethan civil war had been waging for so long that all they wanted to do was blow each other out of the stars, but the Diligent’s mission was to keep that from happening—at least long enough for both sides to begin talking peace.

“The actions of both sides have placed the lives of Federation citizens in danger, which makes it my job to make sure that no harm comes to them. So unless you want to see just what a Starfleet ship is capable of, I’d suggest powering down your weapons and waiting to hear from your representatives on the surface.”

He looked down at T’Aeyn. “End transmission.”

The two captains disappeared, replaced once more by the fleets they were leading. Both commanded ten ships, more than enough to battle one another and turn on the starship. Fortunately the Brenaetha were only at a mid-twenty-second century level of development; low yield plasma cannons and reinforced hull armour was the extent of their tactical capabilities. Though they still had greater numbers and multiple hits would start to take its toll on their shields, hopefully not before they managed to beam up their away team on the planet below and withdraw to relative safety.

A chirp from tactical drew everyone’s attention on the silent bridge. Jatov looked at in then released a pent up breath. “Both sides are powering down their weapons.”

Diaz let out an unsteady sigh. They weren’t calling his bluff, yet at least. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to follow through with the threat he’d made. “Ensign, once all the ships have complied power down ours—but keep shields up and maintain active scans of both sides.”

“Aye sir.”

He could only hope that things were going smoother for the Captain.

* * * * *

The combination of high-pitched shouting and seething hatred was giving Toa Amon the beginning of a bad migraine, one that would only get worse the longer the ‘talks’ went on. The agenda that had been set out for the initial meeting was in tatters, both sides having quickly fallen back into old practices of blaming the other for every hardship and misfortune they had faced over the last sixty years. She had to fight the urge the walk over to them and knock their brightly coloured heads together.

Though she was trying to block out the thoughts and feelings of everyone in the meeting room, with so much intense hostility it was hard to maintain indefinitely. After four hours she had passed her limit and was doing all she could to keep focused, not wanting to pick up on the thoughts of the away team—but every so often something crept in. It was enough to let her know she wasn’t alone, Captain Taula was at the end of her tether and Counsellor Jynahros was thinking about doing a lot worse than banging their heads together. The last member of their party however was someone she couldn’t read much from, due to the structure of his brain.

Commissioner Uul Hizsus sat between the captain and counsellor, hands clasped loosely on the tabletop, his angular purple head moving from one delegate to the other as they argued and bickered. The Saurian was the individual responsible for Federation operations in the region, which put him in charge of the colonies, cargo and mining ships that worked in the sector, and the Diligent. Due to the importance of the negotiations he’d taken it upon himself to act as intermediary to help facility the process, but so far he’d done nothing but let them scream and shout at one another.

Just when Amon thought that her ears would start bleeding with the crescendo of shrill accusations, there suddenly came a lull. Both of the brightly coloured politicians seemed to run out of steam simultaneously, at which time Hizsus rested his hands flat on the surface in front of him.

“Thirty minute recess,” he announced the first thing he’d said since making introductions, then pushed himself to his feet and headed for the nearest exit.

All of those in the room stared after him for a moment, before Taula and Jynahros stood and followed the civilian official out. Amon was the last one of their group to leave the room, keeping a wary eye on the opposing sides as she did—who likewise were heading to their own private anterooms.

After the door closed behind her, and they had some privacy, all three officers scrutinised Hizsus, though the two lieutenants remained quiet.

“Commissioner,” Taula began, her undoubtedly bewildered expression hidden behind the opaque faceplate of her envirosuit, “do you have a strategy in mind for moving these talks forward?”

He let out a rapid succession of inward breathes, which was the Saurian equivalent of a chuckle. “You could say I was ‘gathering intelligence’. In order to start building bridges, I need to understand what knocked them down in the first place and what has kept them apart since then. In a civil war such as this, whatever the initial cause will pale in comparison to everything that has taken place as the years turned to decades.”

“You were following all that?” Amon spurted out before remembering her place and adding, “Sir.”

Though his face was incapable of the expression, he gave her a look that smiled at her. “It’s a talent I picked up being around politicians for so long, Lieutenant.”

“So you’ve let them argue to the point where they’ve got nothing more to say to one another,” surmised the Hermat counsellor and cultural specialist.

The civilian shook his head. “I’m afraid not. There will be more; I thought it best to give everyone a breather before we delve in even deeper. Lieutenant, I hope this isn’t too much of a strain on you.”

“It’s not the most pleasant of rooms I’ve stood guard over, but I’ll be alright, sir.”

“Once the real work begins, hopefully we won’t have a need for guards in the room, until then it will put the representatives at ease. Whilst I’m assured that the phaser scrambler is working.”

Amon nodded. “You have nothing to fear about that, Commissioner, no directed energy weapon can be fired in this entire building.”

“Good. Now, we better make the most of this respite. I’ll make sure to call the next one sooner than this,” with that he headed for the small private office he had to work from. They watched him go and were then alone in the anteroom.

“It’s definitely a...different way of beginning negotiations,” Jynahros commented.

Though the Captain remained quiet, Amon sensed her predominant thought, one that she shared: I hope it works.

 

[Cyfa]

I'm looking forward to reading some more of this. I really enjoyed your writing and the themes of the first story - some interesting characters with hints and tasters of backstory. Great stuff!

 

[admiralelm11]

I like this! Keep up the great work, Bry!