First Day Dinner

Posted on Wed Jul 27th, 2016 @ 10:32am by

1,406 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: New Faces and Terror Beyond
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: Current

Captain Ra had just left the Bridge with a mind full of thoughts and considerations about the coming mission. The explosion at the conference while not unusual of itself left few clues, the biggest issue was the volatile nature of the players involved. Klingons were not a talkative species and prone to violent mood swings that often blinded them to reason, the Romulans suspected everyone, doubted and questioned everything while the Cardassians were always up to something but often too late to see what until the card was played.

What was also a worry was the Klingons fielded a Negh'Var class Battleship to investigate. The Romulans a Valdore, both ship extremely powerful and now the pending arrival of an Ascension class capital ship might just provoke action instead of words. Ra held little worry of the Cardassian Keldon Class but with the war over the Cardassian military was pressed thin with its shipyards capabilities.

Still, with three heavily armed warships in orbit of a dangerous situation, the ice was indeed thin to walk on.

Perhaps an outsiders perspective might shed some light, one not wrapped up with the requirements of duty and Starfleet.

Elizebeth moved about the Captain's Quarters, enjoying the redecorations of the place and had a fresh bowl of nuts setting on the coffee table next to his easy chair along with a relaxing Efrosian drink. She smiled when she saw the stars shift and fade away as the ship jumped to warp speeds.

Ra walked into what was now his home for the foreseeable future, everything was in its place, unpacked and clothing stored. It felt more of a home now than before but still held an alien feel to it as just recently this belonged to an Admiral.

"Are you home my dear?" He called out, almost right away he could feel the cooler air soothing him and providing comfort. Taking off his jacket he draped it over the back of a chair before sinking into the easy chair apparently prepared for him.

"Yeah, love!" Elizebeth appeared from the bedroom wearing her usual attire. Even at this temperature it was warm to her. But she was slowly acclimatising to the warmer environment. "Need anything? How was your first day on the job?" She moved with her alluring graceful movements, sitting next to him in her chosen chair. Where they could both watch the stars or what ever was outside the ship.

"Interesting." Ra spoke looking up at his Wife as she appeared. "we have been ordered to the site of a bombed scientific conference, Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians are in attendance. The Vulcans have been trying to keep the peace until we arrive." Ra began to eat the nuts he had to in order to remain healthy. "And what of your day, how was it my love?"

"I explored the ship after you snuck out of the cabin earlier this morning. So instead of eating alone. I went to eat in one of the cafeterias about the ship and ran into Mrs Bawden. We had a nice chat."

"Oh." Ra spoke surprised. "Anything of note?" Wondering if anything was mentioned about the talk earlier about her position as First Officer.

"About her family and job.," Elizebeth looked at her husband with a smile. "Being Exec is a lot tougher on her and her family life. But she sounds solid and comes with small unit leadership skills." Elizebeth looked thoughtful. "She had ship command before. But during war games with the Dreadnought. Nothing long term."

She had her snacks handy, "There is more to this story than you're telling me. Lets hear it, before I hear about it on the news." She nibbled on them.

"A scientific confrence was held to discuss the refinement techniques used on dialithium crystals and how they might be used to aid in the prevention of damage to sub space while at warp speed." Ra began then paused to sip his drink. "Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, Vulcans and most of the major races attended. Unfortunatly someone detonated an explosive that destroyed the building, it fell onto a school and partially destroyed a Hospital."

Ra paused as if giving himself time for thought. "The Vulcans had mediating peace between the major powers currently and awaiting our arrival. So far a Negh'Var, Valdore and Keldon battleships are in orbit and tensions are running very high. Leads are few but I am hopeful that I can get the talks going before the shooting starts."

"So Fleet sends this ship since it's the biggest to compete with the others to match the threat provided by the other star empires. We get to play catch up with our investigation which will be independent of everyone else." She looked thoughtful. "Which will instill even more paranoia to a tense situation."

"With this ship first mission reputation. Will not look to good for the Federation." Elizebeth spoke thoughtfully as she chewed ice wafers. "Host a gathering on the Dreadnought. Amongst the food and drinks, find out what the others have found out. Let them do the investigation and compile what they find."

"That will be my first step, once they are here I hope to gleam what they have discovered themselves. I hope that will put us on an even footing to proceed." Ra replied eating a few of his dietary nuts from the bowl. "So far nobody is talking, the Vulcans are doing what they can but in light of the ships present and the tensions, I've got to somehow establish a working relationship of equality and openness."

"I'm sure you are dealing with seasoned captains that don't want war. So there is going to be a lot of posturing. Klingons will be the loudest. Romulans will speak after what they can glean to twist things to their advantage. Cardasians will buddy-buddy as they try to subtly stick the knife in your back."

"I'd get the Chief Counselor to gather the best profiles on each of the species. Tap into Fleet Intelligence for the more... subtle nuances." Elizebeth smiled at Ra. "Everyone wants justice and themselves to come out clean. Hoping that none of their Species Kin was involved in the bombing."

"Unfortunatly we don't have a Chief Counselor on board, sadly one of the few positions currently vacant on my senior staff." Ra replied having his mind pulled to that very issue. "I could ask Starfleet to send someone but with all the change this ship has endured recently I'd prefer to avoid additional outsiders on board if at all possible."

Then he thought about his Wife. "Your interest in diplomacy I see is not wasted. A rather in depth answer, very nice."

Elizebeth smiled warmly. "I gotta live here also. And flying around in battle scorched ship does not improve one's standings at first glance, m'dear. Unless it in wartime. Then it makes the ship more intimidating." She paused, "Then get intelligence to bring up a good profile. It may be slanted for the worse case scenario. But at least you're prepared."

"Indeed." Ra replied as he pondered. He knew he was at a disadvantage due to being the late arrival. Others no doubt had answers they were reluctant to share. He also knew that in the one hand he could not come off as pushy while in the other he hand to do the Starfleet thing and seek the truth through talk and diplomacy.

"Don't eat to many of them nuts. I wanna try out a new recipe." Elizebeth spoke with a smile as she got up to check on the meal that was on a warmer to keep warm. "A speciality dish."

"Ohhh." Ra spoke sitting up in his chair from his relaxed position. "Your wish is my command my love." He placed the bowl of nuts aside slightly out of reach so he didn't partake of them again. "A strole and inspirational ideas for a meal."

The meal was an Efrosian dish and had the nuts he needed to get the necessary nutrients from for survival. It was to cut down on the after effects of eating the nuts. Also neutralised the toxin to other species if they wanted to eat some. There were their favorite drinks also.

Elizebeth got up and retrieved it from the warmer and set it up for him at the table. She settle in across the table from where he usually sat. "Dinner is served."

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