NPCs: "Path Of No Return"

[Chaze...@aol.com]

"Path Of No Return"

 

President Nanietta Bacco

Secretary of Defense Raisa Shostakova

Councilman James Pennington (Earth- External Affairs Committee Co-chair)

Councilwoman Eleana of Delta IV  (Delta IV- Chair of the Judiciary Committee)

Admiral Jas Abrik, Security Advisor to the President

Vice Admiral M'ral, Chief of Starfleet Security

Captain Holly Richman, Intelligence Liaison to the President

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<Le Palais de I'Elysee- Paris, Earth>

 

The famous Salon Dore, or 'Golden Room' was astonishingly beautiful even after nearly seven centuries since the palace's construction.  While her predecessor preferred the more anti-septicly clean offices the Executive maintained in San Francisco, within easy distance of Starfleet HQ, Nanietta had always preferred the splendor of the traditional seat of Federation executive authority.  The majesty of the place was like a haven, allowing her mind to wander back to better days before she'd saddled herself with the burden that came with politics and power. 

 

Hell, if it weren't for the Palace, she might well have killed herself.

 

"Madame president..."  the mature, masculine, Vulcan voice of her personal secretary, the bi-centenially old Vulcan named Sivak, filled the room in an unassuming, inpassionate way.  Only a Vulcan could possibly survive so long as the secretary to the infamously ill-tempered Nanietta Bacco without quitting.  "Your guests arrived in Transporter Room Three.  They are being escorted as we speak."

 

"Very well Sivak, have them come in as soon as they arrive, thank you." 

 

She smiled amicably as the Vulcan bowed his head.  Sivak was a man of formality, and in all honesty, a really good friend; unintentionally or not.  He had an incredible penchant for balancing out her schedule, balancing the competing interests, all in a fashion that allowed her to make a well informed decision.  He was one of the few that wasn't always clamoring for something, or trying to work his own angle.  Amazing it was, how friendly people became when you were of use to them.  Few chose to care for you otherwise.

 

Sivak was one of the few always there.  He was there when the Dominion War she was handed off was finally over; and he even gave her the honor of a 'dance' at the celebration that followed the truce ceremony.  He was there when the Triad struck, and throughout that war of setbacks and reversals.  He was there when they received word that the high-risk hostage rescue operation she authorized was an unmitigated success, and was at this moment preparing a draft of a personal letter to the family of the one hostage that didn't make it.  He was there when Bhrode was riding rough-shod over the Articles of Federation to keep her own wrinkly ass safe, when the Terror attacks his Trill, when they received word of the bombings on Romulus and the papal assassination, then the next one, and he was there this morning when the President was officially briefed on the latest assassination of a Pontiff... she never thought her term would span three pontifical reigns, but Sivak was there for all of it. 

 

Good man, that Sivak.

 

Her thoughts were interrupted as the heavy, antique-style wooden doors handcrafted by some of the finest Artisans on Earth were opened, and the small group of advisors for her 'next' meeting filtered in.  Between the Romulan situation, the Earth situation, and the Cardassian situation, her life was starting to become more and more an endless series of executive meetings.

 

She needed a nap.

 

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats."  The President instructed in a sharp and crisp fashion.  She'd had enough drama for the day, between the political battles, melodramas, roving patrols from Homespace Security, Starfleet Security, and the Palais' own Marine contingent, she was feeling more and more like she was trapped in some mid 21st Century North Korean soap opera.  "I'd like to make this as quick as possible, I'm sure you've all heard about the ongoing Romulan issue and the recent assassinations in Vatican City.  This meeting will focus on the Turkana IV situation.  I needn't remind you that none of you, under any circumstances, are to speak to anyone about what is revealed here.  Captain Richman, can you summarize the brief you provided please?"

 

"Of course ma'am."  The young Starfleet Captain offered a professional nod.  "During the raid to rescue our hostages on Cardassia, Starfleet Intelligence was tipped off by a reliable source that a Cardassian transport bound for Federation space might be preparing for a terrorist attack within the Federation's borders.  Starfleet Marines boarded the vessel, captured a significant amount of intelligence, and returned safely.  The ship itself was destroyed, apparently in a desperate attempt to conceal the operation.  What our analysts have discovered though is that the ship has made a multitude of stops within Federation space in recent months; each time it passed near one particularly troubling area..." Holly tapped her fingers against a wall mounted console, a three-dimensional holographic image of the planet coming up.

 

"Turkana IV, the anarchial black hole that we'd rather forget about.  You may be familiar with its past; home world of one Lieutenant Tasha Yar, Turkana IV was intended to be a Federation settlement in the Ancient world revival scheme.  It was relatively poor in terms of resources, but its location made it an ideal resort world and transportation hub.  Turkana IV grew and eventually ascended to the Federation, but societal problems lead to the institution of an oligarchy of warlords as the primary governance on the colony, and eventually they left the Federation all together, descending into a constant state of civil war.  There hasn't been a functioning, unitary government on the planet in over fifty years... at least not until what we believe to have been a Coup took place.  Intelligence is still sketchy, but it appears the heads of the two-largest factions were overthrown in a popular uprising. lead by a Marcos Caleb.  He released a statement proclaiming Turkana IV to be 'liberated' and very publicly executing the head of one of the deposed factions.  We now believe the majority of the lesser warlords have aligned behind him..."

 

"What do you mean believe?  James asked incredulously.  "You're talking about a planet well within Federation space, and you the whole of Starfleet Intelligence cannot confirm what's going on there?"

 

"Starfleet Intelligence is limited in what it can do."

 

"Care to elaborate on 'limited', Captain?"

 

"I'll be happy to explain, James."  Councilwoman Eleana interjected.  "The Captain is referring to the post Section-31 legislation curtailing Starfleet Intelligence's operational capacities within the Federation.  In short, after the Sol incident, many of us decided Starfleet Intelligence should no longer maintain an active and permanent internal-intelligence capacity.  The Intelligence Oversight Act was passed in the wake of the incident, and requires Starfleet Intelligence to prove by clear and convincing evidence that there is a need to maintain an active surveillance program in a particular area of Federation territory or home world, and such a need usually has to be extreme enough to put the security of the Federation in jeopardy."

 

"Thank you ma'am."  Holly sighed internally.  "Sufficing to say, our evidence doesn't meet the criteria, at least not yet.  As far as we know, the one issue we had to be concerned about was dealt with... but the possibility remains that heavy, military grade planetary weaponry, including Interstellar ballistic missile systems, may have been trafficked to Turkana IV by some element related to the Cardassian situation."

 

"Crell Moset?"

 

"Possible sir, and probably, but we have no hard evidence of his involvement in anything yet."  Holly brought up the next projection.  "Our Marines reported that the transport was carrying a Dreadnought style long-range inter-stellar missile.  The weapon was designed by the Cardassians for the penetration of enemy defenses to strike a particular strategic target; shipyards, planets, etcetera.  It was designed to carry a massive anti-matter/matter warhead that could destroy the ecological systems of just about any planet.  It's a doomsday weapon, not to put too fine a point on it."

 

"And..."  Eleana scooted against the table a little more to lean in.  "What kind of range does such a weapon have?"

 

"It has independent warp, and our only practical experience with the weapon suggests that it can literally loiter for years before hitting a target."

 

"My God..." James shifted uncomfortably.  "There wouldn't be a world in the Federation that couldn't be a target."

 

Holly took a hard swallow, this was going to be a tough sales pitch and she knew it.  "Sirs, ma'ams, I think the potential threat here is too great to be ignored.  We need to know for certain what's on that planet."

 

Bacco nodded.  "Agreed Captain, but what actions do you suggest?"

 

Breathing in deeply, she let it out.  "We would need to send in ground forces."

 

James frowned.  "Can't we simply task a ship with scanning Turkana IV, ensuring there are no signs of that kind of weapon there?"

 

"There are ways, even low-tech ways, of fooling even the most advanced sensors.  Turkana IV has a network of deep caverns and tunnels that our sensors can't completely penetrate, and any signatures they might give up can easily be concealed given the state of the planet.  Verifying by hand is the only way to insure that Turkana is safe; and our best bet at gathering the information we need to help our Cardassian allies."

 

Eleana ran her fingers over the bridge of her nose.  "Pardon me Madame President, but are we seriously discussing a war within Federation space?"

 

"Madame President..." Raisa cut in.  "In my estimate, a ground force is the best bet under these circumstances."

 

"A ground force?  On what is essentially Federation soil, against people who would be Federation citizens but for their unfortunate history?!"  James finally shouted.  "That's madness!  This is the talk of despots and tyrants, not subject matter I would expect to hear in the office of the Federation President!"

 

"James..."

 

"Suppose the people on Turkana, who we know from reports are armed by the way, are scared shitless by the approach of Marines to the point that they consider it an invasion and open fire.  Are we seriously going to authorize them to return fire?  Or are we just throwing bodies into the grinder, hoping to gum up the works?"

 

"As vivid as your retort is James..." Nanietta leveled her gaze at him.  "I think you're blowing it out of proportion.  But you do have a point, clearly we can't just march into Turkana IV as if we are at war with the system.  Whatever else they are, they are also seasoned guerilla fighters, and I've had enough blood spilled on my watch as is."

 

Vice Admiral M'ral, the Cait in charge of Starfleet Security, took charge of the conversation at this point.  "There is another option Madame President, a more limited, peace keeping operation, might be more politically sensible.  If I may suggest, perhaps rather than a combat operation like the Marines are trained for, we do have ground security forces that have a lighter touch.  It's been established that security personnel are more apt at winning hearts and minds..."

 

"People 'are' less afraid of police than soldiers."  Raisa pointed out.

 

"Peacekeeping."  Nanietta considered it for a moment.  "What's your take Eleana?  I mean legally, do we have the authority to conduct such a mission?"

 

"Based on the briefing and what I've learned, I would say that it would be within the discretion of the Executive, though a mandate from the Security Council would be preferable."

 

"James?"

 

"We talked about it."  Pennington nodded.  "And I think you would get the Council's support.  They wouldn't authorize combat, but a Peacekeeping operation could be sold."

 

"Very well."  President Bacco looked to M'ral.  "The mission is yours Admiral.  Prepare your operation ASAP.  I want a full briefing in my hands tomorrow morning.  James, I need you to start making calls, set up the resolution and the vote.  I know it's going to be close, so if anyone needs convincing, let me know.  Meeting adjourned."