The Third Battle of Latari (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 08 Apr 2021 @ 3:34pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Commander Andreus Kohl & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror
Edited on on 08 Apr 2021 @ 3:36pm

3,632 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: Latari System, Latari B III High Orbit
Timeline: MD 05, 0017 hrs

Previously, on The Third Battle of Latari (Part 1)...

Diego clenched a fist and let his nails dig in, wanting to punch his console in frustration. Every element of his security and tactical intuition warned him this would be a terrible idea. But he swallowed the adrenaline and reached to his display to safe the starship's phasers and torpedoes. "Weapons cold - on standby," he confirmed.

Goldie nodded, looking for any place she could pull a little extra power to give to the shields. There wasn't much by now, but she managed to pull a bit here and abit there. "Forward shields increased by fifteen percent."

Jemima began to bounce, ever so slightly, on the balls of her feet. She hoped that, at long last, this would be good news. If not, she hoped they'd die quickly. Power...she looked to see if science could lose some power, but it was already cut down as far as it could and still allow them to do the work needed.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

USS Kali

As the voice of Captain Saalm was transmitted over the speakers Evry's hand had been raised ready to give the signal to retreat. Her hand shook slightly at the uncanny sound of the twice translated voice and she lowered it slowly, now deeply uncertain of the situation that was unfolding. "That is the correct code." She hadn't been there to see what had happened on the bridge of Galileo but she had heard a story - mutiny, desertion - a wariness took hold of her that the timbre of the translated voice did nothing to alleviate.

Though the captain had no intention of staying around any longer than she had to this was something that could not be ignored. If Saalm, the deserter, was with the Tholians now and had assisted them in the previous battle... She turned to the three of Galileo's officers behind her and spread her hands in a gesture communicating Any thoughts?

Saalm. Marisa felt the knot in her stomach slowly untwist. Maybe, just maybe, this would turn out okay. "Hear what she has to say. This might be the miracle we've been hoping for." She'd been with the captain for a while now, had seen her come out of impossible situations before. The scientists had a feeling this was one of those instances when the truth was far more interesting--and unbelievable--than the scuttlebutt about her being a traitor.

Then again, Marisa had been on the planet when Saalm left the Galileo. It was still worth hearing her out. She definitely wanted to know how the Orion got there--and why. One thing she did know, Saalm was no deserter.

Blake's heart had skipped a beat hearing Saalm over the comm. Well, sort of hearing her. The question, thank the stars, had been answered as to where she was, but the answer had only complicated the chaos even more. What in the universe had happened while they were away? She looked to Evry, nodding firmly to her with certainty in her eyes. Whatever was happening, she trusted Saalm with her life. With her daughter's life.

"We'll hear what she has to say." Evry's calm response was reached only by the reassurance by Blake's quiet confidence. Whatever the captain had heard about Saalm the two of them were still both Starfleet captains and Evry found she truly wanted to trust the uncanny voice, she really wanted it to be true, but she couldn't share in the science officer's optimism. "The Tholians are an enemy force and active threat. We then have to assume that Captain Saalm is under duress."

Evry hesitated a moment, rubbing her forehead wearily. "It is too early yet to talk about rescue but we need to do our best to find out what is going on here. You three know the captain much better than I do. If you pick up any hidden messages through the..." She made a small precise wave to the view screen in a gesture to indicate the murky waters that were the current communications they were receiving "I need to know everything you might notice that the translator hasn't fully garbled. We can't take anything here at face value."

"Yes, ma'am," Marisa said. Unfortunately, telepathic communications didn't work over subspace, but she would look for body language that might give her an idea of how Saalm was feeling, and if she was trying to convey a hidden meaning. As a former counselor, she'd had some training in that.

"Understood," Blake nodded in agreement, her arms folding tightly across her chest. Whatever she was up to, she just hoped that Lirha had a solid plan. Right now, the tension between the three ships was enough to cause a space fracture, let alone with the mix of Tholians and colonists in need of help. She turned briefly, long enough to order tactical to power down weapons and to refocus efforts into repairs. If they were going to all be trapped in this standoff, they might as well make use of any little time they had.


Latari B III, High Orbit

In space above the ravaged planet Latari B III, the two lines of Tholian and Federation starships continued to face off. The forward phaser arrays of each Starfleet vessel glowed bright orange and were ready to fire -- but then one by one, as ordered, they powered down their weapons. Over the open comm line between the two factions, the transmission from the Tholian heavy cruiser continued.

"..St..nd down, they're no threat now--", Saalm's distorted voice could be heard talking to someone in the background before high frequency shrieks interrupted. "Yes I know.." Another shriek. "Why are your kind so impatien--" The transmission suddenly cut off.

Swaying back in his seat, Kohl muttered, "Where did she...?" to nobody but himself. He planted his boots and rose to his feet, saying, "Open a hailing frequency," as he did so. Looking to ops, Kohl asked, "Get me a visual." The way his lips curled, betrayed the only indication that Kohl had any doubts about the veracity of Saalm's claims.

"Yes, sir." Goldie opened up another comm channel with the Tholian ship.

The communications connection was restored and now Galileo's main viewscreen displayed a bright, distorted image of three blurry figures - two orange in coloration flanking either side of a green entity at the center. The interiors of Tholian vessels were rumored to be above 200C and the visual heat blur was hard to penetrate with humanoid eyes.

"Captains," continued Lirha, "I've established a -ease fire... diplomatic relations with the Tholians. I," There was a short pause, "We have crit--al intelligence. Request transport for four to Galileo."

Standing steady, it took all of Andreus Kohl's efforts not to wince in incredulity at what Saalm was proposing. Diplomacy. With the Tholians. It was unheard of; Saalm had achieved what the Federation's Diplomatic Corps had failed repeatedly. Instead, what Kohl said was, "Understood, Captain. I'll alert the transporter room." --Kohl tossed a look to Goldie Brown, letting her know to do the same, and then he considered the screen again-- "Will we need to make any environmental considerations for a meeting room, Captain?"

"..We do not require your accommodation," coldly replied one of the Tholians in the background. The comm link was severed from the foreign end and the Nova-class' main viewscreen now returned to the spatial image of the three silicon vessels directly in front of the Starfleet task group.

There was the slightest of pauses before Captain Rasmussen sputtered over the tactical frequency in protest. "What?! Tholians are beaming aboard Galileo? Kohl!"

Rasmussen had made most of Kohl's hard choices for him on his first flight as Captain, and Rasmussen could certainly make the rest of Kohl's tour as Lagrange's XO miserable, but if there was a way out of this nightmare without nuking a planet, Kohl was going to grasp at that little straw. "Galileo's rightful Captain is returning to her ship," Kohl said, correcting Rasmussen's assessment. Cheekily, he added, "And she's bringing guests for dinner, Captain. I suppose you'd better brush off your dress whites."

A loud thump came across the channel as Rasmussen pounded his fist on his console in anger. "Dammit, Andreus!" His XO was about to allow enemy combatants and a derelict captain to transport to Galileo with minuscule vetting of their intentions - and aboard the one starship in the task group with the most advanced technology and classified scientific intelligence. There was a long silence of acceptance in the transmission before the senior captain spoke again. "Stand by for my arrival. Starfleet will have my head if you screw this up," he reluctantly conceded. "Navren, you're coming too," he ordered.

There was audible wariness to the gruff voice of Kali's captain as she responded but also a slight bristling indignance at Rasmussen's tone "I'll be there momentarily. Galileo, have your transporter room ready to receive me." Every aspect of this seemed dubious to the Tellarite and the prospect of leaving her ship in the hands of an officer she hardly knew was definitely not helping matters.

With a tilt of his head, Kohl replied, "I'll make it so." As soon as he said it, Kohl was in motion, striding out of the command well and closing the distance to the turbolift. Without looking back to the security station, Kohl said, "Diego, you're with me. I trust Captain Saalm, but we don't gotta trust her guests."


USS Galileo, Deck 2, Transporter Room 1

In the middle of the transporter assembly, two blue shimmers started to materialize out of thin air within the forward pads. Molecular particles manifested as the transport sequenced flared then finished, leaving both the Tellarite and Human captain standing aboard the Nova-class starship.

As the bright light of the transporter beam faded from Captain Navrin's eyes the first face that came into view was that of Commander Kohl. She didn't know him well, they'd only met at a couple of perfunctory meetings and she'd never properly had a chance to form much of an opinion on him but with all the day's revelations she was approaching this whole situation with a rather large dose of caution. As soon as Evry felt fully solidified she stepped down from the transporter pad and directed a grunt of acknowledgement to the transporter operator.

Captain Rasmussen materialized on the pad next to the shorter captain and took in his new surroundings. The room was cramped and small, annoying for those like him who held a private distaste for Starfleet's minimalist vessels. This Nova-class assigned to his task group was no exception. He gave Navrin a glance of acknowledgement then looked forward toward Kohl and Diego as he stepped down from the platform.

Standing next to Galileo's acting captain, Lieutenant Diego had procured a phaser rifle from the nearby weapons locker and now watched the other captains arrive with his weapon at the ready. Their presence became both intimidating yet reassuring, leading to slightly less trepidation about whatever would transport over next. He let his rifle hang from its sling while he stood at parade for the two starship commanders.

Commander Andreus Kohl had only cocked an eyebrow when he'd first seen Diego obtain the phaser rifle. It didn't exactly align with Kohl's diplomatic training, but after all the mutinies and now Captain Saalm being found among Tholians, Kohl couldn't think of anything reasonable he could say to disagree with the phaser rifle. As the other two Captain's beamed in to Galileo, Kohl tapped his combadge, and he said, "Kohl to Doctor Allyndra. We're about to have guests in Transporter Room 1. I'd love your eyes on them."

Be right there she promptly replied.

"Report," queried Rasmussen. He looked to Diego, one of his own officers and the only security personnel present in the room. "Are you ready for this, lieutenant?"

Diego stared at the far wall just above the captain's tall head with discipline then creased his eyes. The message was clear enough. He reached a finger to the top of his rifle's upper receiver then tapped twice on the power setting button. The weapon charged to its max setting, capable of disintegrating matter.

After conferring with the transporter operator in hushed tones, Kohl turned back to Rasmussen. "The Tholians have provided transporder coordinates, sir," Kohl reported. And then in the way that usually infuriated Rasmussen, Kohl cleared his throat and he remarked, "The way this day has gone, we've got to be ready for these Tholians to be anything from a suicide bombers to religious missionaries to professional mimes."

Navrin, who had taken a place besides Rasmussen, couldn't help but roll her eyes at the Commander's remark. She appreciated a brief moment of humour breaking her out of what was surely a very stressful situation for them all - it wasn't quite enough for a laugh though. The captain tried grasping at some amusing words to express that appreciation but nothing really fit in place. "After all that's happened today, the latter might be a nice change of pace." She blurted out awkwardly before mumbling something under her breath as she tried to look a bit more sober about the whole thing.

Allyndra had gotten word of the contact and she took a medical kit and tricorder to ensure that the two after being in the hands of the Tholians were still in somewhat functioning health.

Jeysa arrived just before the transport began, Kohl had called her last minute to observe and record what was no doubt going to be an interesting meeting, she was excited to see a Tholian too.

USS Galileo's transporter room started to brighten with four luminescent shimmers of light on the main pad assembly. Spread out equidistant from each other, two large signatures started to materialize toward the rear alongside two smaller ones at the front. Within three seconds, the transporter sequence finished and four new biologicals stood on the platform.

The initial shock of seeing a Tholian for the first time was often difficult for humanoids to process. Mysterious and reclusive, they were one of the Alpha Quadrant's oldest and most undocumented races. What was known of them - from their limited observed behavior - had revealed a highly xenophobic species profile. The Tholians were long considered technologically superior yet kept to themselves and maintained almost no contact with any of the other Alpha or Beta Quadrant races. Their physical appearance as silicon-based lifeforms was unlike that of any other carbon-based life encountered by the Federation. The two Tholians now standing at the rear of the transporter platform were large and spindly in shape, covered in a technological exoskeleton of some form. Each of them possessed six legs, three on each side, and a tall torso with glowing white eye slits at the top. They both had two jointed arms similar to humanoids yet hands with only three, long finger appendages.

On the transporter pad in front of the Tholians, Captain Lirha Saalm and Ensign Ryan Alexander simultaneously arrived clad in their respective red and gold-collared Starfleet uniforms. They miraculously appeared to be alive and unharmed at first glance, yet both of their facial features displayed fatigue.

A tired a worn out look plastered Ryan's face as the he rematerialized on the transporter pad. He looked to the assembled group, smiling slightly at being back onboard the Galileo.

The Orion captain's green eyes briefly squinted while she observed the welcoming party in front of her. Captains Rasmussen and Navrin...Petty Officer Vansen, Commander Warraquim, a security guard and her yeoman...and - she almost did a double take - her ship's former chief science (and second) officer donning a crimson command uniform standing at the front.

"Andreus?"

A lopsided grin took up residence on Andreus Kohl's face. Gently, he said, "Lirha," forgetting his place momentarily. Instead, he was remembering he first time he'd met her when he'd been an ensign; he remembered the trust she'd placed in him as an officer even after he'd been paralyzed by the Borg; he remembered how proud he'd been when she'd promoted him to second officer of the last Galileo... "You're back...."

"We can get to that in a moment," Allyndra interrupted running the scanner over the two of them with a look that said she would easily be happy to sink her fangs into the first person to object.

"Alright, heat exhaustion and some burns, but nothing that requires immediate sickbay," she said looking at Kohl. "Just let's not make this overly long alright?"

After clearing his throat, Andreus Kohl squared his shoulders and folded his hands behind his back. Looking up to the Tholians on the transporter dais, Kohl said, "Welcome to the Galileo. I'm Commander Andreus Kohl and my crew is honoured by your presence."

Captain Saalm regarded Allyndra when she stepped forward and scanned. She was grateful for the security precaution she knew was probably underway on the commander's medical tricorder. Then she replied to Kohl's greeting by approaching him from the pad. "The Tholians have no use for pleasantries, I've discovered," she quietly advised in his ear as she passed him then presented herself in front of the tall, pudgy task group commanding officer.

"Captain Rasmussen. I've negotiated a temporary cease fire with the Tholians. With your permission, we can begin to strategize with them to sanitize the solar system in conjunction with our current protocols. They're aware of the Genesis infections on our colonies and are now offering assistance." Lirha paused to look from Rasmussen to Navren to Kohl, then back. "They can't defeat the silicon creature on this planet's surface alone...and neither can we."

The Orion captain looked over her shoulder to the two Tholians she'd become acquainted with in past days, then back. A silence hung in the air which was broken by the clicking of Tholian appendages on the deck plating. The two alien lifeforms stepped down from the transporter pad on their six legs and approached, coming to a stop behind the Orion captain. Their glowing white eyes looked down at the humanoids in the room and across each of their foreign features.

"There is not much time," Saalm warned.

Jeysa looked at Lirha and gave her a small smile, she looked like hell but it was nice to see her Captain again.

Allyndra turned her attention to the Tholians after checking Alexander over and looked at them. She had not seen them close up and to her eyes there was more definition. She could see the nuances in their face carapaces just like her hair she imagined. While much was below her spectrum in the glow, there was also that went higher as well. It was a moot point at the moment but she tapped the side of her medical tricorder and said, "I did study a bit on Tholians in college, these suits are good but eventually even here they will have trouble keeping proper temperature so should watch for hypothermia. I can see if there are cool areas forming, as my eyes can see in a higher spectrum along with the instrumentation, and besides keeping an eye on these two, I am going to request that as still second officer and chief medical officer I attend any further proceedings."

The appearance of the Tholians had been a bit of a shock to Kali's Tellarite captain but it didn't take long for her to turn that shock back to bristling resentment and suspicion. Pulling herself together Navrin decided to give an affirmative nod in the direction of Galileo's chief medical officer "I'm sure all of us in the Federation delegation would feel much happier with a doctor present." She leaned heavily on the word Federation with an almost accusatory glance at Captain Saalm. Nothing she had heard yet here was bringing her anywhere near to trusting this process or having any comfort with the current situation.

Nodding to Navrin and Allyndra, Commander Kohl shared his agreement that Allyndra should remain. It wasn't long, though, before Kohl's gaze shifted back to the Tholians, who were remaining eerily silent. Still, Lirha had insisted there was little time, and little point to any of the esoteric niceties of Federation diplomacy. Pivoting his gaze from the Tholians to Lirha Saalm, Kohl asked, "How do the Tholians intend to sterilize the system?"

"We will brief you and explain everything," Saalm covertly answered. "..With your permission, of course." Her deferment to Kohl's judgement was a formality meant not only for the other Starfleet captains, but also the Tholians. A primitive attempt to teach the humanoid concept of respect and hierarchy.

Only hesitating for the length of a breath, Kohl supposed he could gather Lirha's intent. "I'm in agreement, Captain," Kohl said. Squaring his shoulders, Kohl swept an arm towards the double-doors out to the corridor. "If you'll all follow me," Kohl said entreatingly, "We can plan our attack."

Allyndra followed the group. She was curious but did not want to be in the way either plus it gave her time to observe the Tholians a little closer.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

All Crew, USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Diego
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

All Crew, USS Kali
[NPCs Ullswater]

Captain Rasmussen
Commanding Officer
USS Lagrange
[NPC Saalm]

RSS Feed