Mission Briefing

Posted on 26 Sep 2022 @ 9:50pm by Captain Bane Plase

1,490 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Outbreak
Location: Captain's Office, Deep Space 9

ON:



"Right in there, sir," the young Lieutenant wearing the departmental color of the sciences said. By the looks of her, she was Romulan. It still took Bane back a little, seeing Romulans in Starfleet uniforms. Not that he had anything against it; quite the opposite, in fact. It was just that he had spent the first 20 years in Starfleet with Romulans as the foreign power that was always trying to undermine or otherwise outmaneuver Starfleet. Thankfully they were able to put most of their differences aside and see each other with more similarities than there were differences.

The Cygnus had finally arrived just a few hours ago. Before Bane could be here, he had to make sure everything on the Cygnus was set to station-keeping and secured before he left the ship. It took a bit longer than normal, what with the damage the ship had suffered during their last mission. Bane had to smile to himself; he had heard Lieutenant Spangler call it the 'Failure to Communicate Mission.' He wasn't wrong at all, not by every measure of the phrase, from not communicating with The Commonwealth to not communicating with the Crystalline Entity. Naturally, the name stuck. Spangler certainly had a way with stating things, often very unconventionally.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Bane said, following the direction she was pointing at. The office was behind two doors that split open from the center, much like the doors on the Cygnus did, but these doors were much heavier looking, and had transparent aluminum on them so you could see through to the other side. In addition, it was up a flight of stairs. He ascended them and pushed his hand to the door plate, letting the occupants inside know there was someone outside. Not that it was needed, what with the aforementioned windows.

"Come in, Captain Bane," the response came immediately. It was from the stations commanding officer, Captain Poket Amodeyus. Like Plase, Poket was a Bajoran. Prior to Bajor officially joining Starfleet, Poket was a Major with the Bajoran Militia. When Bajor was accepted to the Federation, he had automatically been enlisted into Starfleet at the rank of Lieutenant Commander. From there, he rose on his own merits to command.

Plase stepped inside the spacious office. "Thank you for having me," Bane said. "Your reputation precedes you, Captain Poket." Bane pronounced it like 'Pocket.'

"As does yours, Captain. And it is pronounced 'Poe-Ket," he said.

Bane grimaced inwardly. It was rare for him to make a mistake like that. He chided himself and made a mental note to buckle down on his studying. "Of course, my mistake, Captain."

Poket made a gesture familiar to all Bajoran's to not think anything of the faux pas. "I'd like to introduce you to the stations Chief Strategic Officer, Lieutenant Commander Bolat." Bane looked over and nodded at the Bolian officer. "He comes from a long line of strategic officers, and was instrumental in the success of the Fairfax Incident.

Bane nodded, impressed. "I commend you, Commander. That was an outstanding piece of work." Bane held out his hand to shake the Bolians.

"Thank you, sir," he said, shaking Bane's hand. "I was just a small part of the whole operation, and was glad to do my part."

Plase looked over to Amodeyus. "Humble too, I like it."

"Yeah, he is. It makes it hard to compliment him and give him a pat on the back sometimes," Poket joked. All three of them smiled. "Please, have a seat." Poket waited for the two officers to sit before he did, then started the meeting. "That was some tough luck with not being able to make First Contact with The Commonwealth. It would have been a big feather in your cap."

Bane nodded somberly. "Indeed. The tough luck should all go to the people of The Commonwealth, though." Poket and Bolat both nodded, both with pained expressions on their faces. All three of them knew the entire civilization had been lost. That was the worst luck of them all.

"Well, your next mission just came down the channel from Starfleet Command," stated Poket. "Bolat?"

Bolat sat forward, his cue given from his Captain. "Thank you sir. Captain Bane, your next mission is another First Contact mission."

Plase interrupted. "Really? That is very surprising. It's unusually rare for a ship to be assigned two back-to-back First Contact missions."

Bolat nodded. "I agree. However, since the Crystalline Entity took your opportunity from you, and for your exemplary handling of that situation, you and your crew are being rewarded with another one. This time, you will be surveying, cataloguing and performing First Contact with a race called, uh," he paused, looking down at his notes, "The ‘Antiocians.’ We do not know much about them, other than they performed their first faster-than-light speeds a little more than a year ago. So far, they haven't ventured outside of their solar system, as they are only able to achieve a little more than 1c. They have not yet invented subspace technology, still using direct-line radio signals for communication. As such, even though they are exploring their own star system, their communications are primitive and extremely slow. We have intercepted a few of their transmissions from their home world, but we believe these are for entertainment purposes more than they are for communicating with the outside galactic community."

Captain Poket spoke up. "Why do we believe that, Commander?"

Bolat looked to his Captain in response. "There is nothing in the limited communications we have picked up that relate to anything space-related, and nothing that indicates it originated after their first flights faster than light. We think we just happened to pick up stray transmissions. In fact, a lot of it is oriented towards a socially stunted society, much like the Vulcans were before they went head first into logic."

"So they are warlike?" Bane remembered his xeno-history from his days at the Academy. That is, at least some of it.

"No Captain," Bolat said. "That is to say, they are much more aggressive than we are in the Federation. The transmissions we have picked up show they are right on the cusps of achieving the next level of society, but they aren't quite there yet. They are still aggressive, yes, but they are being tempered by inclusiveness in their entertainment. They are moving towards a society that is merit and prestige based, but still use primitive forms of currency for trade and necessities," Bane thought to the trinket he bought earlier when he met Lieutenant Seitha and had to use Gold Pressed Latinum, and felt a little ashamed. "They still have several nation-states, but those are starting to coalesce into larger nation-states. Our xeno-anthropologists believe another 100 years will pass before they get to the one-world government.

Plase nodded again. "I see. So what are our orders? Are we going in for a duck-blind?"

Poket responded. "Nope. You are going in to show them there is life out there among the stars. Your mission is to show them their light is shining brightly, and there are people out here that want to know more about them, and to hope to share their culture with them. We want them to know there is a community out here, and now that they have crossed into FTL travel, we would like to welcome them to the community."

Bane frowned, his brows furrowing sharply. "Wait, is Starfleet asking me to recruit them to the Federation?"

Bolat shook his head. "No sir. Not at all. They do not yet meet all the requirements for admission. For starters, their government. And mostly, because they are too violent right now, though you do not have to tell them that," he smiled.

Bane did not return the smile. "I see. So we are just letting them know we are here, and here to help should they want it, and to learn all we can about them."

"Exactly," Poket said. "I could not have said it better myself."

Warming up to the assignment, and getting excited about it despite himself, Bane nodded. "We can do that!"

"Good," Poket said. "Your ship still has a few more days worth of repairs. In that time, I encourage you and your crew to enjoy all the hospitality this station has to offer. If you or anyone wants to visit Bajor, there are twice-daily shuttle runs to the planet and back. I am sure that you and Mr. Bolat will be talking a great deal more."

"That's right,' Bolat said. "Until then though, I will transfer all data we have on the Antiocians to your Ready Room on the Cygnus so you can study it and disseminate it as you see fit to your officers and crew."

"Excellent," Bane said. "Thank you both!"

"Any time, Captain," Poket said.



OFF

Bane Plase, Captain
USS Cygnus, Commanding

 

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