Starfleet's Blessing

Posted on Mon Jun 6th, 2011 @ 6:28pm by Captain Vorn Krace

Mission: Shadows Fall
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MM3 MD2 1930hrs

Captain Krace reached up to rub his face as the ready room doors closed behind him. They weren’t even supposed to be on a 'mission' of any kind; he and the Iapetus were just supposed to be moving towards the Union system to make use of the Gateway; nothing complicated, nothing potentially dangerous, to them or to the region’s politics. But yet, they had been pulled into this the moment they had received the request from the Marconi, and that ship's subsequent destruction. Vorn knew he couldn't just walk away from this incident now even if he didn’t have to be the one to purge the Ra'kholh's computers of any Genesis data; it was too important a duty for him to be able to feel done handing it off to another.

"Captain," the slightly tinny voice came through the room's hidden speakers, somewhere up near the corner which marked the meeting of the ceiling and the four walls. "I have a secure line for you to Commodore Blye at the Bellatrix IV Relay Station."

"Very good," Vorn replied, as he moved over towards his desk. "Lock the transcript of this to my access only, then pipe it through in here." Sitting down at his desk, he tapped the control that would raise the small screen from its recessed place within the desktop.

"Captain Krace. Welcome to the Triangle" Blye gave him a slight smile as he pulled up the Captain's service record. "I understand that you are here to clean up a mess, from your service record it looks like you just might be the man for the job."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Commodore," Krace said, giving a slight nod towards the screen. "I'm afraid I couldn't send a full brief through one of my junior officers or over and open channel. Allow me to give you the full details briefly; the Marconi, the ship responsible for continuing the classified research that expanded from the Genesis Project in the late twenty-third century, was destroyed by an internal explosion. Through evidence we have gathered from our sensor logs and two individuals we have in our brig, my senior staff and I have concluded the ship's destruction to be the result of actions taken by the Romulan ship Ra'kholh. At this time we do not believe that they are acting on orders from the Empire, though we cannot preclude that possibility."

Blye leaned back in his chair, visibly concerned with the information that the Captain had relayed to him. "Tal Shiar maybe? Those bastards have a history of running amok and creating trouble for all of us, I'm sure they would love to get their hands on something like that." Blye was pulling up Genesis information on the side console. "The two prisoners that you have in your brig, who are they?" Blye had stopped and turned, even if these where rogues this might turn into an interstellar incident. "And I hope you've given them all the respect afforded to rogues."

"One is a Sub Commander Nevarn," Vorn replied, easily able to remember the name of the one who had given him the most trouble in the interrogations. "Doesn't seem to be a person of particular note, but his knowledge of how to skirt the system and of the names of my senior staff puts me on edge with him. The other we haven't been able to get a name for; he refers to himself as 'John'. It would appear though that this Romulan was among those which were directly involved in the destruction of the Marconi." Vorn leant forward in his chair, resting his arms on his desk as he continued.

"The Tal Shiar is a possibility, but I'm uncertain as to whether they are acting upon direct orders or under some other agenda. Regardless, we can't let the information that they stole get back to the Empire. My crew and I are putting together a plan as we speak to board and secure the Ra'kholh, to purge all of the data from their memory banks. What I need from you Sir is Starfleet's approval for this. If we aren't careful, even in the Triangle I'm sure that the Romulans could spin it into a diplomatic incident if they found out about this before we were able to retrieve sufficient evidence from the ship's computer."

Blye looked over all of the information he had about the Genesis, Tal Shiar, and activity in the triangle region. Every moment that was spent out here as opposed to in there, looking for that ship meant more time that the grubby Romulans had to get their hands on it."Approved Captain, I'll have all of the current sensor data transferred over to you as well as any back logs that you may find relevant to the area. Hopefully this will be a just a smash and grab operation, the more time you loiter in the operational area the more conspicuous I'm sure you'll become."

"Thank you, Commodore," Krace replied, inclining his head to the man, grateful at the quick approval. "If the Romulan Empire should express any... discontent with my actions, what shall I tell them?" He planned to ensure that his operation went off without the Ra’kholh having the chance to contact the Empire, but he wanted to know what Starfleet’s official line would be in case something didn’t go according to plan.

"That you were running a survey mission of gaseous anomalies in the area and that the wreck was being surveyed for any potential survivors, if that doesn't work blast your way out. To the ship itself, you are to conduct it as a by-the-book overt boarding, unless something goes wrong. You are going to be in neutral territory, so you have as much right to be there as they do and that ship has information that is important. I don't want an incident but those bastards will look for a fight and then use a mixed up logic to try and blame you for it. If it comes down to compromising the mission and a little bit of turmoil, save the mission." Blye leaned in "Is that clear?"

"Absolutely clear, Sir," Krace responded, nodding his head to reinforce the affirmative. At that point, the room’s comm. system bleeped at him again. "Captain, sorry to disturb you, but the prisoner is asking to speak with you."

"I have to go, Commodore. I’ll make sure to forward you my mission report once the situation has been dealt with."

"Understood, we all have our little annoyances to attend to. Good hunting Captain, and good luck." Blye nodded to Krace and hit the end communication button on his console.

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Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding, USS Iapetus

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Commodore Blye
Task Force 86, Bravo Fleet