The Tholians - Part 2

Posted on Sat Mar 24th, 2012 @ 2:43pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Commander Jaeih Andorzai & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jones & Lieutenant JG Michael Watters & Petty Officer 2nd Class Sophie Blaise

Mission: Deep Space 19
Location: Deep Space 19 - Station Ops
Timeline: MD21 1720hrs

Previously:

"Open hai-" the captain had been waiting for the exact moment he had calculated the Tholians would be within range, but even so he was cut off.

"The Tholians are hailing us, Captain." Andorzai reported curtly. "All standard frequencies. I don't think they want to be ignored."

Byrne nodded. "Put them on-screen."

---------------------

As the viewscreen shifted from a view of the Tholian's oddly-shaped craft, Benjamin found the new sight no less disheartening. The Tholian bridge had a much stronger orange hue than would be comfortable for most humanoid workplaces, and much of it was coming from the Tholians themselves. Only one was visible on the viewer, standing at the centre of the room, and obviously in a position of command.

The crystalline creature made a series of chirps, clicks and cracks, which the Universal Translator took some time to translate and pipe through the station's speakers. "You are Starfleet. This is not Starfleet space. What are you doing here?" Benjamin noted how imperfect the translation was.

"We were out here investigating a power signature we detected," the captain responded, moving forwards towards the screen. He had remembered from his various briefings over the years that the Tholians did not tolerate imprecise or untrue words, and so decided to just be blunt. "Those readings led us to this station, which we are now studying."

More squeals and clicks. "We do not believe you. We do not recognise this kind of space station. We believe it is a new Federation staging ground."

"I can assure you, it is not," Benjamin held up his hands, automatically on the defensive. "From what we can tell, this station is many thousands of years old; abandoned." He decided not to tell the Tholian captain that Starfleet had decided to take possession of the station and reclassify it as DS19. Perhaps this was why; they had wanted to keep it out of the hands (claws?) of the Tholians. Byrne turned and gave Andorzai a look which he hoped that the man would correctly interpret as a signal to put out a call to the Antarctic and any Federation ships still within range to get to them as fast as they could.

The translator was put to work again. "Do not lie to us. Our sensors can tell that you are working to bring this station to full power. The Tholian Assembly will not tolerate a Starfleet presence here. You will either request permission to alter your treaty with us or remove yourselves from this region."

"I don't have the authority to do either of those," Ben answered, truthfully. "I will have to speak with my superiors."

"Do so. You have three hours." The channel closed, once again displaying the approaching ships, which had begun to spread into a position which would allow them to take up strategic positions around the station quickly once they arrived.

Turning from the screen, Benjamin orders came rapidly. "Get me a line to the nearest Starfleet Command Outpost. Any flag officer will do, or at the very least somewhere that can relay a real-time signal back to Cestus." He turned to Blaise. "How far away is the Antarctic?"

"I'm bouncing a few relays back through our space." The First Officer said, frantically tapping at his console. "I think I can get you Rear Admiral Tyrrell, sir."

Sophie checked the ship's position and made some calculations. "About week Sir, assuming constant maximum warp. Six days maybe if their engine can work at optimal efficiency." Too far away to provide any immediate back up. Sophie vaguely recalled the treaty from one of her college courses, but it had been too long ago to come up with any useful details at the moment.

"Lieutenants, anything?" the captain looked up towards his Operations and Tactical officers, hoping that they had come up with some kind of a way to give them some bite to their bark, if it was needed.

Michael jabbed at his console before letting out a frustrated sigh. He had given up actually trying to access the station's tactical systems in hopes of at least making it look like they had something up their sleeve. Were they aboard a more fully operational station, it would have been rather simple to throw around a few duranium shadows and employ several thoron fields to give the impression of being fully armed. "I'm afraid not, sir," Michael replied, "but we're still working on it..."

"There may be a way to make something work but it might carry a little risk. The stations sensor array can be very confusing to vessels sensors, I may be able to configure the array to mess with the Tholians sensor array which if worse comes to worse could remove there targeting systems." Liz felt like she was grasping at straws but that seemed to be where they were at this point.

Sighing as he turned towards his first officer, he gave him a nod. "Get me the Admiral, then."

"Aye, sir." Andorzai replied as he initiated the comm-bounce. The number of buoys that the communication relays had to jump off was instantly calculated by the communication sensors but if one was out of alignment, the whole thing could collapse. Luckily, it didn't. "Okay, sir. I have the Admiral."

"On Screen," Benjamin said, looking once again to the large device over the room's main entrance. "Admiral Tyrrell," the captain began, without pre-amble. "Captain Byrne, Deep Space 19. We have a situation out here, sir."

The Admiral was covered in a thick layer of grey grime which he wiped away from his face as he heard the words of Captain Byrne through the comm. He had imagined it was probably a social call, the Captain was probably looking to speak to his Dad, Byrne the Elder but had to come through official channels. His tone and the vacant look on his face suggested otherwise. "What've you got, Ben?"

The captain's answer was short and simple. "Tholians."

The response of the Admiral came like a dull thud against the comm system. "Oh. I see."

"Our sensors have just picked them up approaching the station. The area's local environment made the Endeavour's sensors unable to detect them," the captain explained. "We're recalibrating now, but the station sensors are already tuned to filter through the readings." Moving around to stand a bit closer to the screen, but still without having to crane his neck uncomfortably to look at it, he continued. "The reason I'm contacting you Admiral is that they believe we are working to establish Deep Space 19 as a forward base to assist in military operations against the Tholians. They're insisting that we either request permission to alter our treaty with Tholia - presumably to include this system under Federation control, or withdraw from the station immediately."

After a short pause, Benjamin stood a little straighter, clasping his hands behind his back. "We need orders from Starfleet, Admiral."

"Indeed." Admiral Tyrrell seemed dumbfounded by the situation. "Bear with me, Captain."

The viewscreen fell dark for a few minutes, the Admiral's face replaced by the placeholder in the shape of the seal of the United Federation of Planets until the man returned to the screen.

"All right, Captain," he said. "Here are your orders. Starfleet believes that station is too much of a valuable artefact and asset to just release to the Tholians because they want to expand their lawn once they've seen we have a candy bar sitting between our two fences. Get the Tholians into negotiations with you; Starfleet will give you full latitude in this, but you are not authorised to release any Starfleet holdings to the Tholians without prior approval from Starfleet Headquarters, and the negotiations must be centred around keeping that station securely in Federation hands. Good luck Captain; Starfleet out."

As the screen went blank again, the holographic emitters actually shutting off this time to allow a view of the blank wall behind it, the captain sighed and placed his hands on the top of the table at the centre of the deck, shifting his weight through his shoulders.

"We've got just under three hours," he said. Looking up at his officers. "Go search through every text we have about Tholian treaties, negotiating tactics; hell, even what their favourite ice cream is if it's in there. Find me things that we can barter with, promises we can make; anything that could be of help." He knew that Starfleet had just dropped another big one on him, and got the feeling that throughout all the time that he was on this station, things were likely to keep going the same way. For now, he just needed information to arm himself with for this next gargantuan task that they had forced upon him. "Commander, see if you can find and kit us out a conference room. I'll want you all there in two hours." Standing straight, he took a deep breath. "I'll go have Commander th'Ralik come up with a way to let the Tholians survive when they come aboard."

---------------------------
Captain Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer

Commander Jaeih Andorzai
First Officer

Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jones
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant JG Michael Watters
Chief of Security

&

Petty Officer Sophie Blaise
Captain's Yeoman
Deep Space 19 / USS Endeavour