The Diplomatic Answer

Posted on Sun Sep 11th, 2011 @ 9:49am by Captain qeraQ' & Admiral Ricky Wegener

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Divitia Prime

"Dobry, I need you to keep things in order down there, you are there to control the diplomatic situation."

"I understand Commander, but things are incredibly tense here. The rumours of Borg drones on the surface are spreading rapidly and the incidents of public order have been increasing. There's a lot of political pressure being put on the forum and the speakers have started looking for political sacrifices. Unfortunately we are one of the most visible manifestations on the surface. The President is coming under increasing pressure to act and take action."

"Do they want us to fix this problem or not?"

"They do, but on their terms. The authorities don't want to admit that they cannot handle things. They get embarrassed when they are shown to be less effective than they could be and very tight lipped with any praise. Needless to say that the somewhat... Unyielding nature of our teams have caused frayed hairs. I can only do so much to keep the politicians on side."

"I will not rein our people in. We have said that we will do all we can to save this world, I will not reprimand my officers for doing their jobs, regardless of the consequences."

"Then I fear, Commander, that I will not be able to keep things in control much longer." a shout from off the side of the screen took the young Lieutenant's attention, a man entered the room shouting loudly at the young diplomat who nodded briefly to the Klingon on the other end of the com link. A heated discussion followed and was concluded when the Divitian stormed away. A flustered looking Lt. Dobry returned to the screen. "That was the Minsister for Security. he was asking us to release the Marines caught trespassing into Divitian custody. Apparently they were found in a restricted area and Lorenz refused to release them to a local constable. He then vanished from the MCC with the constable. Needless to say the Minister is claiming that his constable is being kidnapped."

"Kidnapped! How can they accuse us of Kidnap!" from the last reports Lorenz had supplied the two men had headed towards Leroy's position to share some information voluntarily. "Do these people not communicate to each other?!?"

"That is the problem sir, it is a very hierarchical and bureaucratic political system. By the time things have got to the top they have been through layers of Chinese whispers. The truth gets boiled down to inaccurate reports that are then presented as fact. Please forward me the reports from Captain Lorenz and I will attempt to contain things before the py get out of hand."

"Keep me informed Lieutenant, I will have the reports sent to you. qeraQ' out."

Things were getting heated, and he felt like this battle was poised on the edge of a blade. All it needed was someone to apply more pressure and the blade would tear clean through. tapping the desk in front of him thoughtfully he pondered his next move. Part of him was tempted to simply call everyone back and leave, waiting for the Divitians to come back asking for help again. The deaths that resulted would, perhaps, lead to a softening of the arrogance that had so far been displayed. It was not exactly an honourable course of action, however, more Romulan... And that was not his way at all.

"Ensign Valda, get me a secure subspace channel to Admiral Wegener, priority 1"

=^= Sir it is 0300 station time =^=

"Get me the Admiral on the double Ensign!" he shouted roughly, tiredness beginning to fray his usual attempts to keep a level volume. Years of Klingon battle fields and ships had made him a little too eager to shout. The prospect of the conversation to come also weighed heavily. Not only would he be delivering bad news, but he'd be waking the Admiral up to boot!"

* * *

The intercom chime in his quarters rang once. He ignored it. It rang again. He cursed, rolled over in bed and tried to shake the cobwebs from his head. "This had better be important," he said, sleepily.

=^= Yes, Admiral =^= came the reply from the female voice at master control. =^= It's Commander qeraQ'. He's advising it is extremely urgent. =^=

He rolled out of bed and put on a robe. "Put him through to my desk monitor."

The link closed and the monitor on his desk began to swivel, opening up for him to use. Within moments, his XO was in front of him.

"Speak to me," Rick said. If qeraQ' said it was urgent, Ricky knew it was just that. It was better to just get down to brass tacks.

=^= We are getting a lot more political resistance than expected. The marines have been involved in riot suppression and some have been confined to quarters after recon on a cave position turned out to be some kind of classified chemical dump. =^=

"Shit," Ricky said, more to himself than to his XO.

qeraQ' continued. =^= Leroy has been marginalised and Commander Frost has caused a stir with some of the locals. We are being seen as scapegoats by the general population and I am concerned that this will escalate into a serious threat. So far Lt. Dobry is managing the situation but I am not sure how long that will calm things politically. =^=

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Ricky finally put his hands on his hips. "I know that you're trying to oversee everything that's going on, but you may have to actually go down and help Dobry. You've got more pull than he does, and the Divitians know that, so whatever you say may carry a little more weight. But we can't lose sight of what we were asked to do, which is to help these people survive. If you need to go planet-side and do a little glad-handing yourself to smooth things over, or even do more walking amongst the troops, then make it happen. I'm sure I don't have to tell you that time is of the essence." He paused. "Do you need more personnel? I can recall a ship or two and send them your way at high warp." One of the perks of not only being the station commander, but also the task force commander, was that he could do just that--stop a ship's mission right in the middle and redirect it elsewhere.

=^= Given the current environment more ships could be interpreted as an invasion force. If anything I'm tempted to move one of the ships away.=^= he shook his head slightly, =^=I'm not sure how much more we could achieve with more resource anyway, Sakkath has positioned scrubbing equipment in an effective manner and some improvement is being seen. The science ministry are resisting but you can't resist a Vulcan's logic, especially when it's coming forcefully. I fear we won't make true progress until we can understand the cause. The marginalization of Leroy will stop us from being able to achieve that. =^=

"I guess that settles that," Ricky said. "You'll need to go down and speak to these idiots, let them know just what the hell is at stake and make them see that we need Leroy in the game to get them the help they need. And Commander, since they asked us to come, you may remind them that we will not leave until Speaker Zee'Hrai asks us, just like he was the one that asked us to come in the first place. He is the voice of the planet, he will have to be the one to ask us to go. If the council doesn't like it, they can talk to Zee'Hrai about it."

=^= Some pressure from Zee'Hrai may be useful, I will head down to the surface shortly and have Dobry arrange a meeting with the President and the council if necessary.=^=

"Do me a favor, eh? Just remember that you aren't in the diplomatic corps for a reason--you don't have the...temperament for it," Ricky said with a smile. "But I know you can handle them."

=^= Understood. I will trust my instincts as ever. I will send you a report following my meetings on the surface. Unfortunately the shielding system will prevent me from communicating directly. =^=

"Just keep me informed and do your best. Wegener out." The screen went blank and Rick sighed deeply. He had wondered if this sort of thing would happen once his people got to the planet, but he hadn't believed it would go this far. It seemed that it was time to speak with Zee'Hrai, who was still on the base, and let him know what was going on.

--------------------------------

A joint post by:

Commander qeraQ'
First Officer
Starbase 900

&

RADM Ricky Wegener
Commanding Officer
Starbase 900