Fast Laid Plans

Posted on Wed Apr 11th, 2012 @ 9:36pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant Commander Aeitos th'Ralik [PNPC] & Commander Jaeih Andorzai & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jones & Ensign Jack Lynch & Lieutenant JG Ethan Kessel & Petty Officer 2nd Class Sophie Blaise

Mission: Deep Space 19
Location: Deep Space 19
Timeline: MD21 2030hrs

Benjamin walked into the room that had rapidly been converted to serve them as a conference room. One of the longer tables from the Endeavour's mess halls had been removed and beamed over, along with enough high-backed chairs to circle the centrepiece. Whilst the selection of location had been good - one wall was covered in many windows, similar to a longer version of the ship's observation lounge, half of the room was currently inaccessible to the senior staff, as numerous men and women in yellow jumpsuits moved about bulky equipment and fittings as they worked through the meeting going on at the top end of the room.

"I take it you're making progress with accommodating the Tholians, Commander?" the captain asked, directing his question towards the Andorian engineer who even now was looking over the shoulders of the engineers at work.

"Yes Captain," the man replied. "We're setting up a containment field half way down the room's length, and we have also sealed a number of hatchways at various corridor junctions, in order to section off a portion of the station for the Tholian's usage. We'll fill the contained sections with all of the atmospheric requirements they need, but we'll be able to talk directly with them in this room."

"Much as I hate to ask this," Andorzai hesitated, remembering an ill-fated encounter with a Tholian ambassador on Deep Space Six, "might the Tholians see our 'welcome' as a threat? After all, we'd be able to drain that section of their atmosphere and kill them. Theoretically."

Liz spoke up “Tholian’s are by definition suspicion, they won’t care what we can do, they will have a lock the entire time there people are over here, the fact that we are going to all this trouble of accommodating their specific needs actually wins us a few brownie points.

Ethan Pulled his tools out of the hatch he had been working on. Trying not let himself get excited, he replaced the panel, and going to the nearest terminal, turned it on. The panel flicked for a moment, then a low humming told him it was fully operational. The atmospheric regulators where all working perfectly. Bracing himself for a shower of sparks which always seemed to happen the first time around, he turned on the second terminal - and a familiar hum mover took him as two Containment fields sprung into life in front of him. He grinned as was feeling rather pleased with himself when he heard the question, began speaking before he turned around:

"Small chance of that - I had some of the engineers install a second Containment field a few millimetres - a Back up if you will, just in case. We don't want an incidences. But then it occurred to me that if the Tholians had remote control over the second field, then even if the worst happened, and our field came down prematurely, theirs would still hold... I'll send it to -....."

Ethan blinked as he turned around and faced the Captain and Commander.

"Ah. Excuse me, sirs - I thought you were one of the engineers changing shifts. I do beg your pardon." He swallowed uncomfortably. Despite being on board nearly three weeks, he was still uncomfortable around some of the senior staff - Although noticeably less so then during the Party a few nights before. He coughed.
"I had better get back to work".

"Well, let's get started," Benjamin said, directing the officers towards the head of the table, but remaining standing, the officers clustered around him and the very end of the table, so as to stay out of the way of the technicians. "You've each had your tasks assigned to you. What have you got for me?"

"Well, I hope the Tholians appreciate cacti." Andorzai said, proffering his hand around the conference room they had set up. While it had seemed like a simple task, he had quickly realised it would be difficult to create a 'Federation style' conference room when every plant instantly withered inside the Tholian shell. "Like th'Ralik says, though. As long as we keep to this end of the table, we should be fine."

Sophie tried to reach between two officers to hand Benjamin a padd. "It's an old treaty, but the amendment on the fifth article might prove useful." She had a class on this once in college, but couldn't remember the exact details when she was on the bridge. After she had the time to think about it, it slowly came back again and after some searching she had found the right treaty. "It's not much, but it might buy us some time."

Benjamin took the padd and held it up, his right hand rising unbidden to stroke at the stubble on his chin as he thought. "It could certainly prove useful," he said at length. "But we know that the Tholians are renowned for their precision. Is there anything that we could present them with that won't appear as if we're trying to create a loophole in a treaty?" He knew that loopholes in Tholian treaties were extremely rare, and usually only found by the very, very brightest. The last treaty he knew that had been negotiated between the Federation and the Tholians had resulted in a series of sessions which lasted fourteen months - minus the pre-amble of getting the Tholians to the table.

Sophie shook her head, this was all she had been able to find in the short time they had and with the other things she had to do. The Tholian treaties were extensive and had a lot of complicated structures. Even understanding them would probably take her a while. If they had a couple of weeks she might be able to provide a better answer, maybe not even then. Sophie shrugged a little, there was a reason usually only the best diplomats dealt with these aliens.

Jack had been silent for much of the briefing but now spoke up, "Sir, there is a clause on page 326 that may be of some use, it states that in the event of an emergency, to be determined by either of the parties of the treaty, a commission to investigate such an emergency can be convened by the two parties. Now the word emergency was never fully explained in the treaty, however a Federation starship in Tholian Space would certainly count as an emergency I think. The treaty does however create specific guidelines for the commission such as a representative from each party and the investigation must take more than three solar days. I think this is the break we've been looking for."

Benjamin nodded, and made a mental note of the clause for later reference. "That's good," he told the pilot. "I might be able to use that. Commander, have you been able to find anything that Starfleet or the Federation might be willing to trade? An unpopulated system perhaps, mining rights, or information perhaps?"

"I've managed to get clearance to hand over the Upsilon Felis system. It's essentially a dustbowl. A three planet system which are completely uninhabitable by human or Tholian. It's like offering them a big bag of sand to let us keep a Luxury Shuttle."

"OK, well we've not got much, but it's the best we could do on such short notice," Byrne said, addressing everyone again now. "You've all done outstanding work so far, and I want you to continue giving nothing but your best.

"Commander, Petty Officer; I want you down here with me when the Tholians come aboard. th'Ralik, I'd like you to give them the details of the system we've set up for them here; try to encourage them that we're not going to try and flash-freeze them by shutting it off.

"Everyone else, monitor the situation from the Ops Centre. Inform either of us quietly if anything seems amiss or suspicious, and try to make sure this station's systems will behave themselves to get us through this discussion. Dismissed."

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

Commander Jaeih Andorzai
First Officer

Lt. Commander Aeitos th'Ralik (NPC)
Chief Engineer

Lt Elizabeth Jones
Chief Operations Officer

Ensign Jack Lynch
Chief Helmsman

Ensign Ethan Kessel
Energy Systems Specialist

Petty Officer Sophie Blaise
Captain's Yeoman