—- Kradashian City, Kradashian IV —-

The Starfleet historian smiled reassuringly at the captain of the USS Luna, who was without her ship and was being thrust into an unfamiliar situation. He was unsure of how well she was going to do at this, press handling was not in her background and Adriana Cruz was going into a situation where things were stacked against her. She had bad news to present to people who had a history of not trusting the Federation, Starfleet, or any other authority. She also had news that was not immediately obvious. It would likely be easier to convince people to trust Starfleet to relocate them if their star was dying in the next month, not in a century. But massive relocations of societies did not happen in months, or even years and it was either start soon or things would get a lot more desperate.

”Thank you for coming with me Lieutenant Siegel,” Captain Cruz said.

Siegel nodded, “You will do great, you’re confident and from what I see you understand the science enough to be a good communicator and not over complicate it.”

Cruz nodded, “But as Lieutenant Haus pointed out, I’m a woman of colour and not the best messenger on this world.”

Siegel shrugged, “Well we are all imperfect messengers, but the good news is that Earth finally was able to address their environmental issues, I’m sure you’ll be at least a step towards the future here.”

A young man who worked for the broadcast studio approached the historian, “Captain Cruz, it is your time now.”

Lieutenant Siegel shook his head, “No she’s Captain Cruz.“

”Ah, well if you’ll come with my Captain,” he said nodding and doing his best not to look surprised or distraught. Cruz followed after him and Lieutenant Siegel watched from back stage as the Captain took a seat next to a blonde woman. A man with light brown hair and a beard sat across from her, as if they were both guests. 

The blonde woman turned to a camera and smiled, “Welcome back. Today I am welcoming Starfleet and the Federation’s Captain Adriana Cruz to the Daily Chat and she is here to talk about something we all should be concerned about a supernova of our sun. Joining her is Doctor Pencival Adams to debate her on the science. Captain Cruz, can you begin what do you think is happening to our sun?”

Cruz looked between the two people on stage, “Sorry, I was not aware this was going to be a debate. There is no debate, the sun is in the later stages of a supernova. The temperature on the planet will continue to rise over the next century and then it will explode.”

”Scary stuff Doctor Adams, you’re a scientific advisor for the government care to respond?” the blonde woman asked her other guest.

He smiled as if a child had just done some incorrect math and he was there to correct them, “Well that is a novel theory but we have lived by the light of our sun since we came here from Earth so long ago. Yes we have seen some heating, but planets warm and cool naturally over time. Our environmental shields protect us from the heat.”

”They won’t once the sun goes supernova,” Cruz pointed out.

”This is just a non-violent way for the Federation and Starfleet to control us, so that we’re pawns of the Vulcans. They want to relocate us and then strip our planet for resources,” Doctor Adams said, “Why else did Captain Cruz bring a warship?”

“Did you bring a warship Captain,” the blonde woman asked.

”No, I came in a Luna-class starship made for exploration,” Cruz said.

”Could your ship flatten one or all of our cities from orbit?” Doctor Adams asked.

The Captain shook her head, “Our armaments are for defensive purposes only, not for anything else. There are tensions with rival powers that we need to be aware of though we strive for peace.”

”Not what we’d call back on my homeworld, gunboat diplomacy?” the doctor asked.

”I’m from Earth, so it’s my homeworld, and no we’re not here for gunboat diplomacy,” Cruz said.

”Do you admit though that your constant wars with the Cardassians have endangered our planet continually?” the host woman asked.

Cruz shook her head, “That was not the intention. The Cardassians were the aggressors, and all we have ever done is attempt to protect human colonies including this one.”

”But now you demand we move,” Doctor Adams said and smiled, “Typical Vulcans.”

”I’m not a Vulcan,” Cruz pointed out, “And this science has been verified by many of your planet’s own experts as well as the Daystrom Institute on Earth.”

”Scientists friendly to the Federation no doubt,” the man said.

”Look you have time to study this, and to relocate in an orderly fashion,” Cruz said, “But if we wait too long, it will be hard to get everyone moved. This isn’t your problem, but you have to think about the next generation, and their kids.”

”Science is how Vulcans have always tried to control us,” Doctor Adams said, “As I’m sure your viewers know.”

After the interview backstage Captain Cruz groaned and Lieutenant Siegel sighed, “I’m sorry Ma’am I should have prepared you for that. During the environmental crises on Earth the media always tried to play ‘both sides’ to a scientific fact. I did not think they’d try matching our evidence with rumor and innuendo.”

Cruz shook her head, “We failed, either way. We’ll have a ship come in a year or two and transport off Starfleet and its Embassy. We’ll give passage to anyone who wants off but at this point we can’t force them to relocate. Even if we wanted to we don’t have the resources. It was hard enough when there was a chance the majority would listen to us.”

Siegel nodded, “There’ll be some. Even on Earth in the old days there were some. Maybe it won’t be the billions we were hoping to reach but there’s going to be some people who heard you and listened.”