And So It Begins Part I
Posted on Tue Apr 25th, 2023 @ 2:02pm by Captain Julien Naal & Commander Steven Greco & Lieutenant Evelyn Stewart & Remy Naal & Lieutenant Commander Keishara Davaris
1,749 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Prologue: Centre Predominate
Location: Starfleet Command - Main Conference Room
Timeline: MD 001: 0930 hrs
Commander Steven Greco walked into the conference room alone and confused. He saw about a dozen Starfleet admirals and highly regarded captains in the room, talking amongst themselves with their executive officers. He was told he was going to get his next assignment, not be faced with a room full of the brass.
Greco quickly spotted his new commanding officer speaking to a lieutenant commander he brought with him. He was hard to miss being a Vulcan. Taking a breath, he slowly approached both of them. "Captain, Commander Steven Greco. I understand I have been assigned as your first officer.
Stryvek regarded the newcomer for quite sometime. It had been said that since he had no emotion to speak of the Captain could look straight into a person's soul. Of course that was not true, however, Stryvek did have the ability to read body language. At the moment it seemed that the Commander was bit nervous. "Yes Commander welcome to the USS Moore. This is Lieutenant Commander Keishara Davaris our Chief Security and Tactical as well as the Second Officer. Do you have any questions?"
As the tension sat there between the two all Keishara could do is look between the two and suck some air through her teeth. As the new XO looked at her she nodded in his direction before going back to scanning the room. She was always ever present at the Captain's side, had been for years, and at all events she was allowed she protected him from enemies of the political kind as well.
Steve nodded at the woman, curtly in greeting. He turned his attention back to the Vulcan before glancing around the room. “Thank you, Sir. My questions about the Moore can wait until we are aboard. I’m more wondering what is going on. I haven’t seen so many captains and admirals assembled in years.”, he admitted.
"Probably here to kiss some ass and get promotions." Kei snorted. "The smell of desperation and perspiration is in the air. Captain Bernard is a walking puddle..."
Greco gave the woman a stern look. “You are talking about a captain, Commander.” He warned her. “Maintain discipline.”
The situation may have been unusual, but they were still Starfleet officers. Protocol was going to be maintained as far as he was concerned.
"My discipline has not waivered." Kei replied looking Greco up and down. "Here was me thinking the Captain here was the only one unable to take a joke."
Stryvek cocked and eyebrow at the reference to his person. The Vulcan found no use personally for humor however, he understood the need and effects it had on his crew. So logically he allowed for Davaris to have her moments. But this should not be one of them. "Commander Davaris the XO is correct in this instance. Lets save your colorful references for a more private setting." His tone was as even as ever.
Outside of the conference room, Remy Naal, a young human male, gave a comforting smile to the nervous Romulan by his side. “Relax, it will be fine.”. He attempted to reassure. “I will do most of the talking, just stick to the facts.”
"Easy for you to say, this has already gone crazy." Amarok replied as he began to fidget with the padd he held. The Romulan didn't want to make a bad first impression on the President of the Federation, especially since he had his species long history of bad blood to cut through.
None of it was his doing, so he sometimes asked himself why should he get blamed for it simply because of his species. It had been a thing of beauty, when those who thought he'd not reach his goals suddenly proven wrong, when he saw their faces at his achievements.
Amarok had to get a holoimage with the President. Maybe after the meeting? He thought.
Remy just gave a good natured smile to the other man and put his hand on the Romulan’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Don’t worry, my friend. We are taking steps to help.”
Before Greco could respond, a yeoman entered the room and approached the podium at the head of the conference table.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, the CNC and the Federation President.” She announced to the room before moving to a chair in the corner.
Steve followed the assembled party and stood at the table next to his captain in front of a seat. Everyone stood as Fleet Admiral Harris walked in with the Andorian president, followed closely behind was Remy and Amarok.
“Please, have a seat.”, said Admiral Harris. “Thank you all for coming. This briefing is of the upmost security, requested at the highest levels and is considered classified.”, the admiral explained as he scanned the room. When he saw the nods of understanding he called on Remy before stepping back from the podium and taking his seat beside the President.
Remy approached the podium and took a breath to calm his nerves. He grew up around many of these officers, but it was still nerve-wracking to have to address them all at once. His eyes drifted for a moment to his father, sitting stoically across the table, listening intently. “Ladies and Gentlemen, as many of you know it was discovered last year that the binary stars in the Glintara system of the Romulan Empire will go Supernova in what was approximately thirty years.” Naal explained, “Unfortunately, that is no longer the situation. We received confirmation last night that the stars have prematurely gone nova. They took with them the population of every planet within a fifty light-year radius, including most of the densely populated planets in the Empire. The Romulan Empire is gone.”
Remy stopped to let this fact sink in for everyone.
Kei frowned. Life lost on such a scale hit home all too much. Whereas she didn't know how the Romulans would feel, but she understood from her own perspective from the loss of El Auria. Clearly the eggheads got it wrong, or maybe, just maybe it was an outside influence. Kei wouldn't speculate.
If the Captain felt anything for the lives that were lost no one would know. Stryvek sat with his eyes fixed on the podium and the speaker at it. For the moment he wanted any and all information. So to that end he would refrain from speaking or judging in any way.
Steve glanced around the table, no doubt wearing the stunned expression that he saw on many of the officers’ faces. He vaguely heard one of the captains ask this could have happened.
With a grim expression on his face, Remy turned towards Amarok to approach and explain. “Doctor…”
It took a moment to register his title being used, Amarok thought he'd feel utterly devastated at knowing his homeworld and most of his people dead. He blinked as he realised that he didn't feel as he should.
Amarok approached the podium. "Greetings," he began and opted for a neutral balance of expression as he placed his hands on the podium surface. "The Glintara stars," he tapped in several commands into the panel which brought up a holographic model of them to a largish size beside him as they where prior to supernova.
"Last night the eldest of the two seem to have accumulated enough mass where its gravitational force could have accelerated the absorption of the youngest's fuel to a point where the eldest reached critical to collapse into a supernova, it's explosion would have destroyed the youngest before it spread out across the blast zone." Amarok explained. The hologram showed the devastating explosion and the cascading blast zone that reached and cleared several star systems of life on the planets, making them uninhabitable. Romulus being one of them.
He left out that this particular case seemed suspicious for how could there be a scientific claim to the report for a predicted 30 years remaining and yet instead it happened now. Science doesn't lie, though in the wrong hands...
Amarok wondered why the prediction was utterly wrong as he looked across the room at those assembled. "I can go into further detail if you like but there is very little time to deal with the aftermath of a supernova so I will not waste your time. I will be available later should you require me." He said to the group and stepped away so Remy could return.
Remy nodded to the Romulan in acknowledgment, giving him the faintest traces of a smile before turning back to the assembled group. “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a crisis. As we speak, my organization, the United Relief Council, has already deployed civilian transports to help relocate Romulans past the neutral zone and into Federation territories.” Remy stated, letting his convictions about the goals and purpose of the humanitarian organization give him conviction. “But we need Starfleet’s help. We need protection for the transports, logistical support for resource allocation, surveying and establishing of potential colonies on new worlds. We cannot have another Bajor. We cannot have another Cardassia Prime.” He said tersely about the two decimated worlds that suffered under military regimes for years.
“Now, what questions do you have?”, he asked feeling far more confident than he did at the start of the debriefing.
Stryvek stood up and addressed the podium. "With all due respect to present company. In years past the Romulans have been a very isolated people. Rarely do they seek aid or give aid for that matter. So, one has to ask. Do we know if they want our help?"
Admiral Shaw stood up as well. “Indeed. Wouldn’t this fall under the Prime Directive, to not interfere with internal matters?”
Remy grabbed the edges of the podium with both hands to ground himself, even as his grip was tight enough he could feel his hands ache. This was exactly why he left Starfleet. He glanced at his father again, remembering the principals the man instilled in him.
“The Prime Directive…” He said almost more to himself in disgust than to answer them. “Gentlemen, this is a catastrophe on a scale that is unfathomable. This is not a matter of the Prime Directive!” He said, his indignant anger coming through in his voice. “Billions died instantly and millions more are flooding into Federation space as we speak. A civilization is about to go extinct…”
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