Breakdown

Posted on 12 Oct 2023 @ 11:49am by Lieutenant Maralen Seitha

936 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Antioch III, Security Command Center
Timeline: Present

Maralen was standing before a large, oval-shaped table. On the table was displayed a real-time map of the planet. There were markers scattered over the surface of the table, red, green, and blue in color. Across from him, on the other side of the table, stood the individual who was now in charge of the planet's Security Forces.

Garshaan studied the table before him with a look of slight confusion. Oh, he knew what this table was for; he had seen it used when the former head of Planetary Security had used it to track situations as they happened. That was not why he was confused. He looked up at the Cat-Man across from him -- were the situation not so dire, he would take a second to marvel at the very odd alien, but this was neither the time nor the place. Motioning toward the markers, he asked, "What do the colors signify?"

Maralen's eyes came up from the table and locked with Garshaan's. In the days since this had begun, he had watched the planetary security forces work. They were good at their jobs, but they were wholly unprepared for this. Therefore, he did not hold it against this man -- who had not been in charge until this morning -- that he seemed slightly shaken.

Maralen kept his expression calm as he answered. As he spoke, he indicated each color. "The red markers are where incidents are taking place. The blue markers are where our combined forces are. And the green markers are areas that have been secured."

When things had begun to escalate beyond the local security's ability to control, Maralen had offered the help of the Cygnnus' Security to assist... with the captain's blessing. Naturally, he had left a skeleton crew of Security aboard the ship just in case, but most of his people were down here with him helping to quell the disturbances that had arisen as more and more people had died from this disease.

The ship's security forces had been scattered across the planet and combined into hybrid teams with the planet's security forces. Those teams were watched and dispatched to new problem locations from this room by either Maralen or the head of Planetary Security. This morning, that man had died, leaving poor Garshaan to try to help Maralen, and Maralen felt very bad for him, but there was no time for sympathy yet.

"How are we to ensure that the green areas stay green?" Garshaan asked. The security forces of both the planet and those provided by the ship above were already spread pretty thin. It felt like just as they got one area under control, another erupted into violence and looting. It all felt overwhelming to Garshaan who had never seen his people like this. Overwhelming and sad.

Maralen could hear the emotion in Garshaan's voice, and he understood it. He elected to answer the direct question instead, however, for the moment. "Initially, my strategy was to spread outward from those spots in a pattern," he admitted. "However, that has proven to be an invalid strategy." His eyes turned back to the table between them as he continued. "The simple fact is that we can't. We don't have enough people for that level of enforcement."

In his Realm days, he would have called for reinforcements, and They would have sent them. But here, he did not have that luxury. All the "reinforcements" were already here. Hell, he was the reinforcements.

As they watched, blue markers moved toward red ones. The team leaders sent reports to Maralen which were heard over speakers in the room. It all seemed like a garbled mess to Garshaan, but the Cat-Man seemed to understand it. Oh, Garshaan could hear bits of his own language, but it was mixed in with bits of other languages he did not know, presumably those spoken by members of the Cygnus crew.

As Maralen directed a set of forces toward one trouble spot, something caught Garshaan's eye, and he looked at a section of the board that had been clear seconds before. "Maralen," he called, pointing to that section.

Maralen looked to where Garshaan was pointing and frowned. Motioning toward the nearest set of blue markers, he directed, "Send Morris and his team." Then he went back to directing other units.

Garshaan touched an earpiece he wore and spoke into it. "Mr. Morris, there is a new trouble spot four streets north of your team."

The man on the other end of that communication, a seasoned Starfleet officer, acknowledged. "Understood. We've got it."

Garshaan could then hear the man issuing orders to his team, and the blue markers representing them began to move toward the trouble area. Therefore, Garshaan interpreted the man's response to him as affirmative and looked over the table's surface once more.

Over and over, Maralen and Garshaan moved the teams from hot spot to hot spot. More spots turned green, but a few of the green ones went red again and had to be re-secured. All in all, though, it appeared as though they were beginning to get a handle on the situation.

Maralen did consider the possibility that maybe a Counselor or two might be good to help ease the frightened minds of the locals. However, it was not safe for them yet. So he and Garshaan continued their work, securing more and more of the planet as the hours slid by.

~End~

Lt. Maralen Seitha
Chief of Security
USS Cygnus

&

Garshaan
New Head of Planetary Security
Antioch III

 

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