((Hurricane Bridge))
Ambassador Krey rubbed his chin, as his mind raced while he watched the tactical plot on the bridge wing of the Typhoon class ship. Things were beginning to spiral, and they could very well precipitate a war.
“Captain, did I just hear correctly, one of our vessels fired upon those unidentified targets? Unprovoked. And I see the Malem and a group of fighters are now moving in that direction?” The Ambassador asked. He had been a Starfleet officer, and had even been the CO of an Excelsior class ship for over a decade up until his transfer to the reserves and the start of his diplomatic career in 2370. And he knew very well that once a battle was joined diplomacy often became all but impossible in situations like these.
He didn’t receive an immediate answer from the Captain who was undeniably busy actually Captaining the ship as well as coordinating the response of the other vessels.
“Captain, as per our orders from Starfleet. I am hereby taking command of the mission!” Krey said in pointed and more forcefully tone.
An immediate hush came over the bridge crew as the words were said with the unmistakable force and conviction of a starfleet Captain, but one who wasn’t ‘their’ Captain.
“Our orders state that I am to take charge once we make contact with this new species. And I can’t open a diplomatic dialogue if our ships are attacking them, without even positively identifying them. Please recall the Malem, da Vinci and those fighters. Order the Malem, Ganelax, and Slivin to prepare to attempt the rescue of the Appalachia as soon as possible.” Krey walked over to the centre of the bridge where Captain Raku was.
“Well they certainly aren’t attacking the ships on any orders from me. You can take charge as we’ve been ordered, but don’t forget. This is still my ship. I remain in command of it.” The Bajoran’s tone was just as firm.
“Of course Captain. And aside from the general orders I may relay to any given ship, I would like you to retain responsibility for our tactical posture and responses as we agreed.” Krey replied in a gentler and more diplomatic fashion.
“Miss Shaninne”, the captain continued. “Open a channel to all local ships.”
“Channel open, Captain”, the Orion communications officer stated after a flurry of her verdant hands along her control panel.
“All vessels, fall back to the Hurricane’s location as we prepare to rescue the Appalachia. Have the Malem, Ganelax and Slivin take up position near the singularity cluster. All ships hold fire on the cloaked vessels, I say again hold fire. We must try to speak before we open discourse with torpedoes.” Raku realized it was too late for that after he said it.
The ping was sent out in a way where other vessels could respond, mainly patched through Shaninne’s earpiece.
“Get me through to Nor’easter One”, Captain Raku added.
“Open.”
“Hurricane to Nor’easter One, how are things progressing with the thoron field?”
“We’ve made several close passes to the Appalachia, Hurricane. We don’t want to stop moving, but the singularities don’t seem to be tracking us. They aren’t chasing or firing on us.”
“It sounds like they are working. Have Alpha and Beta flight pull back to the Hurricane’s position. We’ll make sure you re-flood the area with thorons before the rescue attempt.”
“Roger, Hurricane“, Vamav replied. “Headed your way. We also detected a small object that appeared to be deliberately ejected from the Appalachia and relayed the info to the Slivin to investigate further.”
Raku turned to The Ambassador. “Well, our ships are falling back into position. Hopefully we can find a way to establish contact with the locals.”
‘Could you have your comms officer hail the fleet in that asteroid belt please. All language forms, and all frequencies. Lets see if we can get them talking.” Krey was still holding on to a vague hope that the situation hadn’t yet gotten to far out of control.
The captain eased into a smile as he nodded. “Right away.” He turned to the voluptuous green officer as he stood in front of his chair.
“You heard him, Ensign”, said the dark-eyed Bajoran captain.
“Sending out a searching ping in their vicinity.” She tapped as she continued. “Cloaked vessel, we would like to prevent any further misunderstandings. Let’s discuss ways we can work together to find common ground.”
She ran the message through a linguistic modulator before she transmitted her words.
“Let’s see if they acknowledge”, Raku said as he watched the viewscreen.
