The Krenim Consult

Posted on Wed Feb 17th, 2016 @ 12:09am by Captain Li Hawke
Edited on on Wed Feb 17th, 2016 @ 2:19am

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Krenim Homeworld

* Krenim Homeworld *

"I see." Lortan sat gazing at his viewscreen as the man before him gave his report. On the screen was a dark-haired young man, his expression serious. The two tiny ridges between his eyebrows marked him as Brenari. "And are you absolutely certain? What of the other one?"

The man sitting before Lortan cleared his throat, a purely nervous reflex. "The Devore lost him. Two operatives, Lortan, only two! They disabled his watcher and got him off the planet in a matter of minutes!"

"I see," Lortan said once more. "So the men who stole what was stolen from us were successful in the heist and escape. What of our operatives on Devore who were tracking him?" It was with some effort that he kept his voice calm. "What of them, Bashev? What were they doing? Picking flowers and bird-watching? They must have been to fail so spectacularly."

Bashev had begun to sweat. He swiped at his brow with a handkerchief, hating that he was showing such weakness before the President.

"I can assure you that they have been properly punished," Bashev assured him. He searched his mind for something more to say, anything that might improve the situation but nothing came.

"Good." Lortan looked back at the face on his viewer. "Now, impress me and tell me where he is now."

Bashev's hopes of getting out of this alive sunk considerably. "We - we don't exactly know. He and the Betazoid fled and he just seemed to vanish. They caught the Betazoid, as you know, but the Brenari was not seen again. The Devore searched extensively, according to my sources, but to no avail."

"Where is the Betazoid now?"

Bashev couldn't meet Lortan's gaze as he answered. "I am unsure. Our Intel has reported that the ship seemed to vanish in Hirogen space. However, Intel believes the Betazoid is Starfleet, despite the fact that neither of his rescuers were in uniform and the ship was Klingon."

A slow smile spread over Lortan's face. "Finally, you have given me something useful to prove our Intel is not completely useless. That means that he will eventually end up at 900. Logic dictates that this one," he tapped the image on his viewer, "will hide out there too. And therein lies a problem."

"The sphere, yes," Bashev stated.

"The sphere," Lortan agreed. "However, I don't want to do anything hasty. If the Brenari is there, chances are good that they know what it is by now. It would be a fool's errand to go attack that station right now. They have too many friends out here and the station itself is far from defenseless. However, if they are smart, and they are, they will want to know what we are up to. Now, Bashev, if you were them, what would you do in this situation?" He watched Bashev squirm and hoped this man would prove he still had a brain in his head.

"Well, I would...I would send out scouts to look around this area and see if we are making any moves in their direction." Bashev watched the President carefully, looking for any sign of approval.

The sign came in Lortan's smile. "Very good. That's that I would do too. That way, if we are mobilizing, they will have plenty of warning. For now, I want this sector watched very closely. Any ship that is not ours is to be reported immediately. I don't intend to go in guns blazing yet. It would be foolish to use an axe when a scalpel would do a better job, if you get my drift?"

Bashev nodded. "I agree, but you know that any Krenim arriving there will be under close scrutiny."

Lortan nodded. "Of course, which is why we will bide our time." He laughed at his own little joke. "Depending on what we want to do with time, hmmm?"

Bashev nodded. "I'll give the order. If there's nothing else?"

Lortan waved a dismissal. "Not at the moment. Go put the fear in your staff. I will not tolerate any further failures."

Bashev scurried out, leaving Lortan staring at the image of the Brenari. "One way or another, you will pay for this, Brenari. Over....and over.....and over.....and over...."

Then Lortan began to laugh.

**************
Lortan
President, Krenim Homeworld

Bashev
Scared Lackey