The Long Road Ahead
Posted on Sun Nov 30th, 2014 @ 10:36pm by Captain Liarra Von
Mission:
Aggressive Negotiations
Location: Captain's Ready Room, USS Carthage
It was time for the last task of the mission, a task that Liarra had not been looking forward to doing. Everyone on her team had managed to escape Myaz. There were no casualties, by some miracle. But despite a successful search and rescue, the mission itself was a complete and absolute failure. Now Captain Von had the duty of reporting the result of the mission to the fleet brass.
As she was steeling herself for the conversation, Lt. Kelly's voice came in over the comm. "Captain Von, we've established a secure connection with Cestus III. I have Admiral Quinn standing by."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Patch her through to me in here." Kelly acknowledged and the Federation logo disappeared from Von's terminal, replaced by the face of Vice Admiral Emily Quinn. She wasn't smiling, though it wasn't really a scowl either. That made Liarra feel a little better. "Captain Von," Quinn greeted, if you could call it a greeting.
"Admiral. It's good to see you again," Liarra replied, hoping to keep the mood light. She wasn't sure if it was going to work. "I wish I had better news for you. We lost Myaz."
"I've heard. Our listening stations near the border picked up a transmission from the Myaz capital. It was warning anyone who would listen that the Sojourners had taken the palace." Liarra's eyes slipped shut and she nodded along to Quinn. If there was one victory from this mission, it was that Niru was able to send his transmission. But her thoughts were interrupted by Quinn. "What happened down there, Liarra?"
Von sighed. "Vaishaa happened, Admiral. I don't know what to say beyond that. She came to the planet under the guise of conducting her own negotiations. King Hyram of the Myaz decided to speak with both of us together. She became accusatory towards Starfleet and the Federation, saying that we were being imperialistic and only wanted to force the Myaz to be more like us. She claimed that the Sojourners want to embrace their differences. Naturally, that put me on defense trying to dispute her claims. We argued more to each other than we really managed to make arguments in support of our sides to Hyram. He decided that one of us was lying, though we never found out who he thought it was. As soon as negotiations started falling apart, Vaishaa called in her troops. They quickly took the palace while more ships entered the system. My away team was taken prisoner."
Quinn listened intently from her office on Cestus III, nodding along. "Well, this confirmed our suspicions that the Sojourners had some interest in the Myaz. What were they after? What of the Myaz military?"
"I'm not sure you could really call it a military, at least compared to our standards. I spent some time getting to know one of Hyram's aides. Their government has had a long history of collecting things. Whatever happened to have been found on Myaz soil was considered Myaz property. Their military has a significant number of ships, but most of them protecting the homeworld appeared to be shoddily put together. They are most tasked with protecting dust bowl worlds, planets of little strategic significance. What the sovereign felt was the Great and Bountiful Myaz Sovereignty was mostly barren worlds. However, there was one item that entered their collection some time ago, the Creator. The Royals think it is a god, but in actuality it is a highly sophisticated terraformer. I don't think Hyram really knows how it works, but it converts dust bowls into lush garden worlds. During our discussions, Vaishaa seemed to show a lot of interest in the Creator. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she already knew of its existence, and that it was her only interest in the Myaz."
"A terraformer?" Quinn asked. "Why would they want a terraformer, unless they are trying to spread their empire with new colonies. But I wouldn't think that they would have enough people to really colonize a large region of space."
"I wouldn't think so either. Most of their numbers that I've seen are all soldiers. There aren't really civilian Sojourners. I could see the Ritorians having interest in the Creator. Maybe Vaishaa wants it as some sort of bargaining chip. Then again, do we have any reason to believe that there is any animosity between the Sojourners and Ritorians?"
"Intelligence out of that alliance is pretty scarce. I don't think I can shed any light on the situation. You said that your away team was taken prisoner. What happened? How did you get away."
"That was all thanks to our marines. Major Griffiths led a team to the planet's surface in a shuttle, flown by Ensign De'Havean. They were able to disrupt the Sojourner's communications and sensor jamming before making their way into the palace. From there, we escorted Hyram's aide, a man named Niru, to the palace's communication room. He's the one who sent that message your listening stations picked up. I just hope it was heeded, and that a resistance force can build up to fight the Sojourners. Hopefully they only have to hold them long enough for our fleet to disrupt the blockade..."
Quinn held up a hand on her end of the channel, stopping Liarra in mid sentence. "There won't be a fleet, Captain. We're not planning to liberate the Myaz."
"I'm sorry, but with all due respect, Admiral, we can't pass up the opportunity to gain an ally and disrupt the Sojourner advances."
"With all due respect, Captain," Quinn quickly countered. "But you said so yourself that the Myaz don't present a strategic advantage to us, and possibly not even for the Sojourners. They haven't gained much. There are other terraformers. Vaishaa has only gained a particularly advanced one. It's not even clear how she can use it to her advantage."
"But we can't just let the Sojourners run free all over the sector."
"We're not, Liarra. We're keeping them contained. We've had ships patrolling their borders making sure they don't spread too far. I feel bad for the Myaz people, but we can't save the day every time a planet gets taken. The Federation has been too embroiled in galactic affairs as it is. This is something that the Myaz are going to have to handle on their own. Besides, the Sojourners may see that there is not a strategic advantage to subjugating the Myaz and move on."
"And there's a good chance they won't either. If Vaishaa wants a terraformer to converter new worlds, why wouldn't she just move into planets that have already been converted? If we let them go, then we're effectively condoning what the Sojourners have been doing. Maybe you're comfortable in your office on Cestus III, Admiral, but it's a little different out here on the frontier. You're not the one who is dealing with the Sojourners on your door step."
"That's enough, Liarra. I understand your concern. But we're not mobilizing the fleet to Myaz. That's not coming from me. That's coming to me from San Francisco, and to them from Paris. It's out of my hands. I have your report and your objections have been noted. For now, you're to return to Starbase Three-Three-Two and continue to monitor the situation from there. I'll send ships to patrol the border and keep the Sojourners contained, but that's all I can do."
Von sunk back in her chair, dejected and defeated. She had promised Niru that she would return, but now it was looking like she was going to be unable to keep it. "Understood, Admiral."
"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, Captain, I have some other briefings to get to. Thank you for your report. I'm sure we'll be in touch again soon. Quinn out." With that, the terminal reverted back to the Federation logo.
Liarra stood up from her desk and moved to the Ready Room's window. She sighed as she studied the star streaks created by the warp effect. She wondered if somewhere out beyond those stars Vaishaa was staring back at her, wondering what she was thinking. Maybe she would have been gloating, knowing that once again she had defeated Liarra and Starfleet. But it didn't matter, Liarra reflected. It didn't matter how many little victories Vaishaa and the Sojourners came away with. All that mattered was who won the last victory. And once again, Liarra vowed to the universe that that last victory was going to go to her. But getting there meant that there was still a long road ahead.
Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer
Starbase 332
Vice Admiral Emily Quinn [P: Von]
Commanding Officer
Eleventh Fleet, "Pegasus"
