To Paak & Back

Posted on Sat Oct 8th, 2011 @ 11:45pm by Commander Dietrich Reinhart & Lieutenant Commander Jonathon Bastin PhD
Edited on on Sun Oct 9th, 2011 @ 8:29am

Mission: The Pak'Leth Problem
Location: En Route To Paak
Timeline: MD01 - 1700hrs

[ON]

He had been sitting on the cramped bridge of the Verey and sighed. Less than a full standard day back on station and he was already on another intergalactic shuttle. The Richardson-class courier was a design need for Diplomats, Intelligence and Command for a very fast, high endurance limited capability shuttle that could carry a very limited crew. It was not a bad way to travel, really. What would take a regular Danube about twelve hours to fly to the Pak'Leth home sector, Paak, would take the Richardson about 6.

And he got to fly.

Dietrich pre-flighted the USS Very as he waited for the others to arrive. The mysterious and sultry Captain Tennant and the "Head of Diplomacy" for the Archanis sector, Dr. Bastin were due to board at any moment.

"Don't forget the weekly status update with HQ." The slightly accented voice of Samantha Tennant floated across the room as the doors slid open. It seemed the woman was carrying out a conversation with herself. "Yeah well, these things can't be helped. Tell the General I will take the next call - unless something comes up."

Taking something off her ear, the blonde smiled at the commander. "Sorry about that, Sir. We use these for inner-department chats. Helps to keep everyone on the same page without being in the room." Truth be told, she preferred it to the openness of a comm-badge, anyway. "Seems I get to skip out on the conference call with MCI HQ." Heading over to a rear console, she ran her hands over the controls.

If she was honest, the thought of heading out in the same day she arrived at a new posting wasn't quite the start she had envisioned. She had hoped for at least a day to get settled and enjoy the place, and yet here was was, on a cramped transport, heading into the depths of the unknown.

Lieutenant Commander Jonathon Bastin had been give just enough notice of his deployment to grab a legal PADD and a SITREP PADD before making his way to the departure craft. As normal, the diplomat was fashionably late, though by the looks of it, not by much. He took a chair behind the OPS console and made himself at home.

"So, what's the goal for our trip, Commander?" Jon asked suddenly.

The blonde-haired man in the front seat of the Richardson-courier turned around and smiled at each of the new arrivals. He had just finished the pre-flight calculations, had the final mass and balance, and filed a flight plan. Now for the briefing.

The Doctor Commander Diplomat was sitting at the Operations console, looking cool and collected despite the rapid call to duty. The Marine Intelligence Officer had just about everything covered across the small shuttle's bridge from the Diplomat. Dietrich took a shallow breath as he collected his thoughts. He was about to start when he stopped himself, clicking a button and jamming all signals within a meter of the shuttle's hull. Though this was not a critical fleet intelligence operation, it was a diplomatic courier and spies were a plenty. The last thing he wanted to do was transmit a signal from a bug of their conversation to God-know's-where in the galaxy.

"Commander," he looked at Bastin. "Captain," to Tennant. "You should have received the message on your PaDD's regarding our mission. The Station impounded a Pak'Leth merchant vessel which was inspected for Health and Safety violations and turns out to have been carrying narcotics, smuggling weapons, and a few other interesting trinkets. We will be leaving here for Paak, the Pak'Leth homeworld, to request a meeting with one of their chiefs of government to discuss the smuggling problems. Dr. Bastin, you will take the lead on the negotiations. Captain Tennant, you and I will be observing and backing up the Doctor. We'll also be taking some limited scans of their system, the status of the planet."

He was about to ask for questions when he raised his hand like he had an idea. "Also, the planet of Paak is more moon-like than anything. And by that I mean limited atmosphere and is crater-ridden. This is more due to their nuclear war than to asteroids and meteors. When we get there, we will have to take radiation treatments regularly to minimize the impact on our health. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes... are there any orbit weapons platforms we need to worry about?" Jon asked in an oddly serious tone.

It was an oddly tactical question from the diplomat. Sam gave him a strange look, before going back to her console. There weren't any questions she had, but the one posed by the Lt Commander was a good one.

Nodding, the Marine Captain set-up a secure link from the transport to her office. "Scanning all files now. I'll have an analysis ready before we arrive." She liked to get all the data first, and then make a report.

"While you are at it, Captain. What do you know about the Pak'Leth?" Reinhart was really curious. He knew plenty, but perhaps there was something that Star Fleet Intelligence knew that he didn't. Although, he was certain there was a lot more behind the walls at Starfleet Intelligence than behind the cranium of one Dietrich Reinhart. "Can you give us an ad-hoc briefing about them, Tennant?"

Looking at the man, Sam held back the retort she would have liked to give. "I can try, though bare in mind I've been on the station for all of 8 hours." In her previous assignment, her specialisation had been the Cardassians. Up to now, she had never needed to know about the southern end of the Federation. At least not in any detail.

Her fingers moved deftly across the panel as she pulled up one data stream after another. "Okay... homo-reptillia as a species. Former technological geniuses. That was brought to an end by a devastating civil war, much like the World War III of Earth, back in the 2060's.They suffered a devastating nuclear disaster. This was an almost extinction-level event. Uh..." She scanned through more files, trying to find the salient details.

"Limited resources caused feudal outbreaks once more... that's where the Ritorian's come in. Paak made contact. The Ritorians offered help, in return for trade rights... since then, they've been keeping a watchful eye over Paak. The Ritorians have a healthy arsenal. Wouldn't want to upset them in a hurry. Space mines, disruptors, torpedoes, et al. There's a lot more detail here, Sir. I'd need time to go through it thoroughly."

Ah, the Ritorians, the Commander winced. They weren't overtly threatening. They weren't entirely present. They were both, however. The fact was that this race was on the Border to Federation Space - specifically the 11th Fleet Patrol Zone, and was projected to outnumbered the fleet five to one. Those were the only "intelligence" specifics he memorized. He did not know the entire ability of the fleet, their weaponry, or their commander's intellect, but there was an old saying that many German's remembered well. Josef Stalin once said, "quantity is a quality all on its own." Or something to that like. And that segment of space was entirely unexplored by the Federation. At some point, it'd be good to get a hold of a navigational computer from a Ritorian ship.

"Right. So we have issues to deal with when we get there. We must not appear threatening to the Ritorians, but let the Paak'leth understand that we can shut down their operations in Federation Space indefinitely should they fail to police their own." The Station's XO looked directly at the Diplomat, "Can you handle this?"

The Diplomat simply nodded.

"And it is our job," a quick glance at the Station's intelligence officer, "to observe and collect." He had his own ideas, and he was sure that the Spook had her own. But he also wondered how much this woman really did in the field. He had never done any, but it was not his role.

"Let us get this show on the road." Dietrich turned back around and began the departure procedures.

::OFF::