Gathering the Troops

Posted on Fri Sep 30th, 2011 @ 8:11am by Captain qeraQ' & Commander James Frost & Commander Patrick Leroy & Commander Sakkath

Mission: In Our Time of Need
Location: Divitia Prime

The small office he had been given suited qeraQ'. Just enough space for the rest of the senior officers to get in, and space for the few things he had brought down to the surface. Suspicion had meant that he had not wanted to rely on Divitian technology and computers while he was here, and that had meant a small terminal and a large PADD were required, that would enable him to communicate and also plan the activities that were required. He was now looking at the latest intelligence package from the Marine investigations, overlaid with the Science analysis from Leroy. It did not paint a pretty picture. Where they had identified the first chemical dump large clouds of pollutants were filtering into the ionosphere. Other areas showed similar dumps, some which had been discovered by covert marine reconnaissance and some that had been predicted by the scientists. He was proud of his team, but something troubled him, he did not know whether this was cause or effect. Were these dumps something to do with the cause of the Ion Wavefront that had decimated the planet, or simply an indication of another set of systems that had been damaged. He awaited answers.

EN ROUTE TO QERAQ'S OFFICE

David was angry, not annoyed, peeved, or even pissed-off, he was screaming-meemee-wrestle-a-bear-in-in-your-underwear angry. The summons to the meeting was the latest in "Operation Clusterfuck", as he had come to call the Starfleet mission to Divitia Prime; a needless delay forced on him by Starfleet officers whose only wish was to cover their asses. Diplomacy was for the weak, in David's opinion. A diplomat is nothing more than a weakling who has run out of ammunition or the will to fight, he thought to himself. It was diplomats like that who had called of the search for him and his brother, the decision cost the Lorenz family their eldest son. Now, several years later, Klingon commanding officer was about to negotiate the scientific team into a political and interstellar quagmire. The Prime Directive did not apply here thanks to the Divitians asking for assistance. But there was enough happening that David was beginning to think there would be no way out if things went south and he had to stop that from happening.

Sakkath arrived next, his face impassive and his gait swift. Things on the surface were progressing as well as could be expected given the resistance offered up by the Divitian establishment. Neither the government nor the Science Ministry could fault his Vulcan logic and so the atmospheric ionization scrubbers had remained in place, slowly but surely improving the quality of the air on this ruined planet. Still, the discovery the Marines had made concerned him deeply. If these dump sites were indeed responsible for the catastrophe that had befallen Divitia, they needed to be addressed and therein lay the problem. It seemed quite clear that the government would sooner choose to keep their dirty little secret hidden from the public eye.

Leroy sat idly at the conference table a couple of Padds before him, nodded briefly to sakkath as he arrived then returned to his brooding mood chasing thoughts on Divitia and Divitians' situation. Being put aside from the government they had been sent to help had been a severe blow indeed. The enthusiasm in his staff had vanished right in the moment they had realized it. In the Padds he'd brought with him Leroy had a full relation on the ongoing reforestation project assigned by the ministry in the remote case that Commander qeraQ', or anyone else, showed some interest in the matter.

qeraQ' looked around at the assembled team. Some looked exhausted, others as if they were about to commit huge amounts of violence. He made a point at making eye contact with each of them, challenging them to speak first, trying to judge their feelings. Lorenz in particular had a look about him that worried the Klingon, he did not want to have to break the man but would if he had to; sometimes it was all a Marine would understand.

"The situation is shit." he began, and received a few nods. "We came here on the understanding that we would be allowed to help. Instead we have been threatened, marginalised and ignored. These people have a condescending attitude towards us, they see us as contributing to the problems and blame us for the fact that the planet is near death. I cannot fight that, I cannot stop it. I have just met with the President. That attitude is not shared at the most senior levels of Government."

"That sounds like a bunch of two-stepping bullshit, to me, sir!"

"We have orders. We are here to save these people whether they want it or not. I will not surrender that unless I receive orders to fall back from the Admiral. I will win over this accident. What that means is that we will continue to do whatever we can. I am authorising you to act without the consent of the Divitian Government. I have the full backing for this from the President, and we will deal with any consequences of this. Understand that he takes a big political risk by allowing this. Authorisation for activities will come from Commander Sakkath or Commander Frost. If there is any doubt or if what you are going to do is likely to have a Divitian aiming a large stick towards my arse end first I would appreciate prior warning." He paused to see how this was being received.

"Availing ourselves of executive power would prove quite beneficial to our efforts," Sakkath noted, impressed with how much the Commander had achieved in so short a time. "It seems that the Divitian President is a man willing to take great risks. Depending on our eventual success or failure, he will achieve great gains or an even greater fall for his unilateral support of us. Quite shrewd, politically."

"Though the Science staff is working on the current assigned task on our trip here we have developed some theories on the disaster and tried some experiments on the Takei's laboratory, small experiments that is." Leroy advised suddenly relieved from the sudden turn of events "I've tried to keep some contact with the other teams especially those working first line with the catastrophe's effects. They're late. Their bureaucracy hinders them too and the planet's deterioration doesn't wait. The cleaning of vast regions from the adverse effects of the disaster is of paramount importance still, having to protect machinery and installations with force fields, is very expensive in terms of energy. My team thought to use the vast natural caves situated beneath the surface of the planet. We could use a controlled phaser fire from the ships to dig a vertical tunnel to the caves then teleport personnel and materiel down there to build the installation. It would be protected by hundreds of meters of solid rock and the only part exposed would be the emitters destined to contrast the lingering Ion radiation." Leroy paused an instant to gauge reactions from the audience.
"At least this was what we wanted to propose to the Divitians, until we arrived here."

"An interesting proposal..." qeraQ' began, thinking of some of the potential implications, "work it up and get me an impact assessment. Coordinate with Commander Frost on the Engineering requirements and I will present the proposal to the President, while he is on our side for the moment there is no telling how he would react to us firing on the planet's surface. Sakkath it would be useful to model how much power is actually being used on protecting surface structures, my gut tells me that they will be using far more on shielding than on atmospheric scrubbing."

"I believe I can have that prepared within the hour, Commander," Sakkath promised, taking notes on his PADD, "provided I have access to the Divitian computer network."

"What about security breaches and the like, commander?" Dave Lorenz asked, his expression livid.

"Captain Lorenz, there will be no live fire operations, and no actions unless they are to protect Federation personnel. Your Rules of Engagement are from this moment changed to fire only if fired upon. I will not have us blamed for incitement to riot. The Marines who have been accused of trespass have been given a Presidential Pardon. The concept of which has only been in existence on this planet for the past 30 minutes."

"I wish you had told me that earlier, commander. I took one of their lower-level Internal Security Ministers as a prisoner."

"Bring him to me, I will see him dealt with. He may be useful to the President in open Council if he needs to make a point. I have been assured that he knows nothing of this man. Any other questions?"

"Yessir. I want to go on record as saying this is a lost cause. We have been drawn into the beginning of a civil war, sir. Our people are at unnecessary risk, and now the President of this world has announced he wants us to keep going. Am I the only one that can just hear the court-martial panel saying we are guilty of several Prime Directive Violations?"

"The Prime Directive is not a concern here. The Divitian people are an advanced race both technologically and culturally even if we would disagree with some of their customs or systems. I will, however, record your protest. I am far more worried about what would be said if we ran away and left these people to die." he paused to look around ensuring that his point had been made. "If that is all then you are dismissed."
The attendees filed out of the room carefully and qeraQ' scratched his nose. His nose always itched when he disliked something, and this was a situation he disliked immensely. There was no control over the political situation, it all relied on guile and old allegiances and favours. Part of that was very familiar to him, he had fought for his house in the Council a few times. Things were simpler in those cases, however... people didn't tend to argue when they were dead.

Straightening he smiled slightly, remembering that Marcinko was out there somewhere getting more information. Hopefully there would be something useful from him soon. He needed a few aces in his pocket!