by Thomas Astor » Thu Jul 28, 2011 11:49 am
Astor was brooding, a dark look on his face and a
glare in his eyes, staring at the collection of PADDs, papers,
files…The whole mess on his desk. De Beauvoire was hauling more and more
of these to his office, finding the books almost as fast as her
superior demanded them, but even then barely keeping up. The frantic
activity she displayed was mirrored through the rest of the office, were
officers of the JAG were working as hard as they could to assess their
current situation. It was unprecedented, they were going into unknown
diplomatic territory without full complement, with a captain who had
only just recovered from a disease and her present second in command not
capable of bearing the strain of that position. Thomas held respect for
Danforth, but he knew her, probably better than anyone on the ship. She
wasn’t made for this…Neither was he, but still…He cursed, reading
through another paragraph of his shoddily drawn up opening document.
They had nothing, no idea how to approach this. Sure, they had some
basic diplomatic documents on how to greet new races, exchange
greetings, gifts and such…But the alliance had usually had had the
advantage of dictating place, time or even terms…
The Firewall
had no such advantages, worse yet, in this case the other party held all
the cards…And Thomas would have to play this already bad hand in a game
to which he didn’t understand the rules. They had been expected…Had
some unmanned probes reached this galaxy? If so, who had sent them? Not
the Alliance, they hadn’t even been aware of this Panthotec alliance,
nor would they have been able to predict it would be this ship, manned
by this exact crew to arrive. Astor felt like someone was playing him,
that he was a cat’s paw in someone else’s plans…He was accustomed that,
but not knowing who this puppet master was, or what he wanted, it set
his teeth on edge…
”Did you find anymore references to that Light business? Or found that comparative work on the Bajorans?”
De
Beauvoire looked up from where she had been searching the stacks,
shaking her head. Thomas threw his head back on the seat, letting go of a
frustrated sigh, turning around to look at the swords hanging on the
wall behind him. This was useless, they were grasping at straws, looking
for a line that wasn’t there…They’d have to thread water for now, keep
from drowning, follow the current, until they could pull themselves out
of this mess. Thomas rubbed his eyes, he was tired, his eyes had that
hot feeling of reading too much, staring too long at things…He turned
around again…
”Just get me anything you can find about first contact…Specifically with warp-capable civilizations…”
He knew what she’d find, he had read most of them already, all that
would show up on his desk would be alternate interpretations of what
he’d already read. Interpretation after the fact, attempts to
reconstruct exactly what happened, trying to explain things from a
hindsight that was 20-20...Useless…So much knowledge and all
inapplicable to the current situation…
The ship shivered
slightly, the hum of the machinery changing subtly in pitch. They were
dropping out of warp, Thomas recognized the signs. They would be close
to their destination now. He sighed again. It wasn’t like more time
would do them any good, but still…He felt he needed it. The JAG officer
was nervous, like he had been back then. This’d be another precedent,
another first of a kind case…Thomas closed his eyes, focusing on his
breathing for a second. His nerves were frayed, they had come under two
attacks now, biological and psychological. He was on edge, tired, the
bourbon he’d had now a slight headache. All in all, he was in better
shape than he had been for that time, in front of the camera’s, in front
of the sneering admiralty brass…Thomas heard the yellow alert start,
the ship enacting protocols to keep itself safe but it didn’t register.
He was trying to calm himself. He was far more prepared than that day,
he’d make it again today…
”Danforth to Astor.”
He
blinked, sitting up straight. That voice…He shook his head, throwing a
look at his comm-badge. It was, it was her voice, only in the here and
now. Another precedent it seemed, for both of them. He pressed the
metallic object…
”Ma’am?”
“Report to the quarters of Lieutenant Junior Grade Sa'Ra and find out what's wrong damnit!"
There
was panic in that voice, but that was not what worried Astor, no more
than he usually worried about where Danforth was concerned. What
concerned his was that she was the one ordering him to do things,
especially this…That meant that Kate was nowhere to be found, which made
Danforth his immediate superior…The thought sent a chill down his
spine, noting for the first time that yellow alert had sprung on. He’d
have to contain this if he had any hope of keeping this first contact
mission from turning into a complete Charlie Foxtrot. And judging by the
tone of voice his new superior ordered him in, things would need a very
firm hand…He opened a drawer with one hand, dipping in and holstering
his own phaser. A gift of his family, most likely his father, upon
taking the military route. Thomas clicked the comm-badge again as he got
up.
”Yes ma’am…Understood.”
He
shot his aide a look, explaining all that needed to be said. She’d have
to deal with things over here for now, but he had full confidence in
her ability to. It was the ability of a few others on this ship that
caused his worries…He left the office quickly, his long legs carrying
him into the hall, already heading for the quarters as a thought struck
him. If something was indeed going wrong, he’d need more than just his
own phaser. Sure, it was a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, but
still…He threw a look around, noticing a group of four security officers
already patrolling the halls, enacting protocols of the yellow alert.
He beckoned them to follow.
”You men, with me…Captain’s orders!”
A
white lie, but the stripes on his uniform and his look deterred any
questions. Astor wasn’t angry, though his look was indeed dark enough to
cloud a sunny day, he was just determined to get this done as quickly
and efficiently as possible…It took them only a minute or so to make
their way to the quarters, security following closely on the heels of
the JAG officer, their boots clicking militaristically on the metal
floor. They had arrived ahead of any other team that bridge had sent,
perhaps only a minute or so, but Astor wasn’t about to waste any time.
He tried opening the door, finding it sealed and locked, but that
wouldn’t stop him. Astor looked at the officer at his side, a cold look.
”Get this door open…”
The
man put away his weapon, bending over to introduce his own override
code. The seconds passed only slowly as a soft, refusing beep told Astor
it wasn’t working. Someone had locked the door…And told it to refuse
standard overwrite. Time for a breach of protocol, he supposed. He
tapped the guard on the shoulder, moving towards the console himself.
”Move aside…”
Thomas
drew his own phases and quickly typed in his own override code, using
the right to issue search-warrant to get his way in. The door beeped,
processing his request and unlocked with a hiss. The men moved in,
professionally, offensively. Two of the four men stepped in first, each
going to one side of the room, weapons scanning for threats. It took
only a few moment for them to ascertain there were none…
”Clear.”
Astor
stepped in a second later, his weapon still drawn as his eyes became
accustomed to the darkness of the room. In the light streaming in from
behind him, his shadow was drawn in a long line across the floor, the
light drawn to the two officers, who were lying naked on the floor…His
face darkened even further, his brows dipping low over his eyes. All
this commotion…All this distraction…For two people incapable …Then he
saw the state the two of them were in, especially Von Tiessen. His hand
was obviously broken, the fingers bent in strange ways and the muscles
hanging weak, useless as the tendons find no more place to latch on to,
like a door that can no longer move without a hinge. His face was a
battered mess, a black eye, severe bruising everywhere. Astor didn’t
need to see anything more, he knew enough. He had served on Vulcan for a
time, he had read the precedents, he recognized the signs. Pon Farr. Or
in legalese, assault and rape. The thundercloud that had been his eyes
now spat lightning, a rumbling breath left his lungs, followed by his
voice, cold and tightly controlled, but he could feel his headache
creasing new peaks. He didn’t look at the leader of the security team,
his eyes locked on the pair in a mixture of disgust and anger.
”Please separate these two, officer…” Thomas said, nodding at the pair on the floor. ”Then
have one of your men escort Lieutenant Junior Grade Von Tiessen to the
medical bay. Have the doctors forwards his injury report to my desk.
Also ask they do a mental check-up.” He paused, fixing Sa’Ra a cold look. ”Also, please detain miss Sa’Ra and escort her to the brig…She‘ll be dealt with later.”
Thomas ignored the pair for a moment then, pushing his commbadge and giving a short debrief back to bridge.
”Astor to Danforth, both Von Tiessen and Sa’Ra have been found. Will be on the bridge soon for full debrief. Astor out.”
"To
bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the
wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the
weak..." - Codex Of Hammurabi