Strife

Posted on Fri Sep 18th, 2020 @ 11:29pm by Captain Bakti Kret & Galatea & Ambassador Tovaa Cofrar & Councilor Kohek Cilona of Vashti & Ambassador Ras th'Zaanaq & Councilor Idris Kizak of Betazed & Councilor Nokomis Diza of Krios & Councilor Ana-Maria Alexandrescu of United Ficus

2,479 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Exodus
Location: Federation Council Chamber
Timeline: 2430-01-10, 11:15

"Thank you, Captain, for agreeing to speak with the Council so quickly," Gaia said as she reviewed the details coming through on the news feeds.

Captain Bakti Kret sat in his seat on the Bridge of the Starship Defiant with an annoyed look on his face, "I wasn't given much of a choice. Starfleet Command informed me that I had to be on this call."

The hologram knew well though that she had to play this as diplomatically as possible, "I understand, Captain, that you have other responsibilities with overseeing the search for the President's vessel. I will try not to keep you for very long."

"Please do," he answered as he accepted a PADD from someone off the screen. "We're running low on time and we found the remains of the Kirk a short while ago."

That concerned her. The Kirk was a Ushaan Class starship with fairly high capacity defensive capabilities. If it was destroyed that meant things could take a quick turn. "We're going to get started. I'm putting you on hold for a moment." She tapped a control before he could say anything else and pressed a control to engage the tones informing the Councilors they were about to begin and to return to their seats.

As far as days went, this was a very bad one. Nokomis returned to her seat but her thoughts were far away from anything that was going on around her. She stared off into the distance and only thought about the way the body had looked when they'd found it. She wanted answers and her mind was not going to let this go until she had them. The baby kicked, making her smile as she was pretty certain that her child shared the mother's point of view.

Hearing the remains of the USS Kirk had been found gave Ras a sinking feeling in his stomach. Surely that meant that the Spock had shared a similar fate as her sister ship. If that was so then Ras would need to lead the Federation through its darkest days for a long time. He hoped he was wrong but the longer the Spock was missing, the less hope of finding them alive.

Ambassador Cofrar came back into the room from a quick sojurn to her offices. She had watched as more and more returned to their seats, but was happy to see Mis had returned but still no Caxl. She approached her Kriosian counterpart, "Any luck?"

"Hmm?" She asked, lost in thought and not understanding the meaning of the words at all.

"Councilor Caxl? We're you able to convince him not to continue his foolhardy efforts to secede from the Federation?" The Tellarite asked with a grunt of contempt for the Benzite.

"Oh, no." Nokomis answered. "I didn't get to speak to him actually." Mis realized that the news had not broken yet and she wasn't sure it was her place to share such information so she kept her lips pressed together and tried not to give anything away in her expression though she could only think about the image of his body in her mind.

The Tellarite Ambassador grunted in surprise at the statement. If anyone would've been able to reach out to the Benzite, Tovaa would've expected it to be Mis. She sighed, "Hopefully he didn't do anything too foolhardy."

"No, I don't think he'll be doing anything foolish any longer," Though again she offered no indication of what she meant or why they had not met.

Ana-Maria had remained quiet and listened to those around her. She looked as she was deep in thought as she waited to get more information about the Spock and the President.

Idris Kizak of Betazed re-entered the chambers after a brief conversation with Jozan. He hoped Starfleet had the President and the Kirk, or at least some lead to them. He made his way to his seat, he greeted the other councilors as he went.

Councilor Ras waited patiently with everyone else. He wonder what was keeping Captain Kret from coming back to them. Perhaps it was good news...perhaps it was bad. Whatever the outcome, Ras was starting to grow impatient with the waiting.

Gaia looked at Ambasssdor Ras and whispered, "You need to call the meeting back to order." She handed him a datapad detailing the next agenda items to make it less obvious. The top item was the search progress.

“Of course.” Ras said quietly to the AI. He was still getting used to all these new procedures. He was used to sitting on the other side with the other Councilors. The Andorian stood up, clearing his throat as he did so. “I call this meeting back to order.”

Off to the side Ambassador Cofrar grinned as the meeting was called back into order. The Tellarite rested against the back of her chair on the stage, looking out at the gathered throng of people carefully. The room had less and less people in it than she'd hoped for, but she was no less impressed by the gathering. Almost the entire Council had come for this session, save for a handful of worlds. She wondered if the Twenty would take an opportunity.

Gaia adjusted the controls and the holographic replica of Captain Bakti Kret appeared on the stage. Sitting in his Captain's Chair on the Bridge of the Defiant, he was next to Ambassador th'Zaanaq and stern faced as he looked out at the leaders of the Federation.

"Are we on?" He asked absently.

“Yes, Captain Bakti. What additional information do you have for the council?” The Andorian asked.

The Bajoran shifted in his seat, "Defiant and its support ships have executed a search grid of the area. We've scanned nearly 47% of the area and not located the President as of yet." He paused as he reached for a PADD being handed to him. "We located the remains of the Starship Kirk approximately twenty minutes ago. No survivors."

“Is there any initial indications of what destroyed the Kirk?” Ras asked. The loss of the Kirk was a great one and one which would be mourned at the right time, however, this wasn’t it. They needed information on the Presidents whereabouts whether it be live or dead.

This brought the councilor's death out of her mind. The loss of a starship? Mis wanted to know more and waited patiently for an answer.

"It was attacked," Captain Bakti answered. "The energy patterns suggest it was through, primarily, disruptor fire." He adjusted an indicator off screen, "We left a probe behind to catalogue the wreckage, but we needed to move on to continue our search. So far both the Georgiou and Spock remain missing."

‘Disruptors?’ Thought Ras, he began listing known users of disruptors in his head. ’Klingon, Romulan, Breen, Cardassian, Ferengi.’ The list was extensive. “Captain, can you determine the energy signature of the disruptor fire?” The Andorian asked.

"We left a probe behind to investigate," the Bajoran reminded. "We should have that information soon."

Ras made a fist in frustration but kept his cool in front of the council. “Very well, is there anything else you need to report on?”

Ana-Maria still remained silent, but smirked as she knew there where other races out there that use Disruptor based weaponry. And many in this room will never hear of some of them.

"Were the Spock, Kirk and Georgiou operating together or near each other's locations at the time of them being declared missing?" Idris asked as he wanted to establish if there were any connections between where and when the vessels went missing. Another hope was perhaps maybe by location and maybe local traffic they could see who may have attack their President and the other vessels.

The Bajoran Captain paused as he pecked at a datapad's screen, "I'm sorry for the delay. We may've just found the Georgiou. They were operating in close proximity as the Kirk and Georgiou were assigned to escort the President to Earth for this session." He handed the PADD off to an off screen member of his crew, "There's a warp trail that we're picking up too. I'm going to send our support ship to try to pursue."

Ras nodded, “Keep is apprised of what you find, Captain. If you have nothing else to report, we shall leave you to go about the search.”

"Can I do anything to help?" Nokomis didn't see how there was but she hated the thought of people in trouble while she just sat around.

Idris grinned and added. "Captain, if you and or any of those in the search, need any support, you just say the word and the Council will get you that support." The Betazoid Councilor declared.

"We will keep that in mind," the Bajoran answered. "But we have the situation under control at this time. I am sure that you have other, more important matters to attend to; what with Councillor Caxl being found dead..."

"Oh, has that been announced?" Nokomis asked. Perhaps she hadn't been listening. Though not usually one to daydream she had a lot on her mind lately and was a bit more tired but still determined.

From among the crowd a tall, regal looking Romulan woman stood. Her long, flowing blonde hair and piercing blue eyes struck out through the crowd. The Councilor from Vashti was clearly alarmed, "The Benzite Councilor is dead?" It was an incredulous question. "How? When?" She demanded to know. "Are we all at risk? Is the threat of secession so severe that the Federation goes about murdering its own Councilors to stop it?"

The Andorian frowned, “Excuse me, Captain, Councilor Caxl is dead?!” Shock evident in his voice.

The Betazoid blinked then frowned as well. "What? Where? When? How and how do you know that?" He asked many questions.

"This afternoon, his office, undetermined as of yet. His assistant and I found the body." Nokomis said answering the questions she felt she could. She had no idea if this was a threat to anyone else and she dared not make any speculation about it.

“Why wasn't this brought to my attention sooner, Councilor Diza?” The Andorian asked as he looked in her direction.

"There are suspicious circumstances surrounding his death and I'm not involved in the investigation. I had assumed they wanted to keep things quiet for the time being." Mis answered with a small shrug of her shoulders.

The Councilor from Vashti continued, "This cannot stand! Whatever happened to the Councilor is a threat to us all! With the President missing, now Councilor Caxl dead, it seems someone has it out for the Federation government! We need to solve this mystery. Now!"

The Andorian nodded, “I’m in agreement, it seems that the Federation council members could be a potential target.”

"What shall be our course of action?" Idris asked the council as a whole.

“For everyone’s safety, I think all council’s should go into isolation with Starfleet Security placing armed guards with each Councilor for their protection until this situation has been sorted out.” Ras replied, it wasn’t the course of action he wanted to take but one he needed to in order to protect the life’s of every Councilor in the Federation.

Mis couldn't help but think, 'and what if it was one of us? Shall we go ahead and tip our whole hand?' But she remained silent other than a sigh. This was starting to sound more like an Agatha Christie novel than a meeting of the Federation Council.

"Are we sure that is safe at all?" The Romulan woman asked pointedly. "Starfleet was irresponsible in their efforts to protect the President and Starfleet One. How do we know they weren't behind this all?"

“I can easily put that to bed. We are not behind it and will do everything in our power to keep the council members safe.” Ras replied in a firmer tone.

The Councilor from Vashti spoke out, "Odd, here I thought that you were a Federation Councilor and not a representative of Starfleet. Perhaps I was mistaken by this assumption from your being here as Acting Speaker."

Tovaa Cofrar decided to interject at this point, "A point that I feel this Council needs to remedy." She looked at her friend, "Not the Starfleet comment, but rather the statement of the Acting title. I hereby move that we nominate Ambassador th'Zaanaq to assume the permanent position of Speaker of the Federation Council."

Ras was shocked by the nomination. He wasn’t here for the politics but to help the Federation and give his homeworld of Andoria a voice in the council. If he was honest, he’d done an awful job filling in for the President. “Thank you, Councilor Cofrar but I don’t think now is the time to sort this out.”

"Now is the perfect time," the Tellarite interrupted, "Do we have any seconds or other nominations?"

The same Romulan as before interrupted, "So that we can further show the sway the 'core' worlds have over the rest of us?" She motioned toward the gathered. "Life not bright enough from your chair on the stage?"

Ambassador Cofrar couldn't hold off a response, "We are not in any way promoting that one world is more important than any other, Councilor. This is a Federation of equality, your world, my world, Ambassador th'Zaanaq's world, Councilor Kizak, each of us is equal to all others. We have to remember that," she looked around the room at those gathered. "Now is the time to build the Federation stronger. Who is with me?"

The Representative from Vashti seethed. She spoke up again, "I am with you for building the Federation stronger, but through the rise of those outside the Core. My world lies along the former Neutral Zone, I have seen the dangers of being too xenophobic and focused on the homeland and not the colonies. While I cannot nominate myself for such responsibilities, I do feel that other worlds should have a voice."

Several of the Councilors applauded as she spoke, but others jeered. The question became would Kohek Cilona be a nominee, or another?

It was over as quickly as it began. From the gathered a voice of support came from the crowd for the Romulan delegate, securing her position as a nominee for the role of Speaker of the Federation Council. Gaia checked the readouts, knowing firmly that the risks were growing and their safety was growing more and more at risk. She made an announcement, "Ladies, Gentlemen, and Invited Nonbinary Species: We have been asked by Federation Security to vacate the Senate Building and return to our homes. Each of you will be assigned a security detachment to ensure your safety during this troubling period. We are adjouned."

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