Lieutenant JG Niev Galanis - A Different Beast
Niev Galanis
((Dining Hall – Norsel Corp, Uwe II))
Hopper: So, you’re behind the mining efforts?
Norsel: Not directly. I try not to do anything directly. But I’ve influenced the government researchers to consider the dilithium as an important resource to the project.
That was the first thing Norsel had said that gave Niev utter pause, the scientist having to mentally backtrack for a moment to find the mental pothole their mood had just hit. Did he just use the term ‘dilithium’? There was no documented word for the mineral among the Uwezo. If there had been, the crew would have known about the dilithium well before coming face to face with the deposit. Silently cursing their lack of PADD, there was no way for Niev to check just what the Universal Translator had picked up to translate - or even if it had translated the word at all.
‘Starfleet’ could have been some small slip up, a fluke in the grand scheme of things. A second word the Uwezo shouldn’t know crossed dangerously out of the coincidental territory. Swallowing subtly, Niev glanced around at the guards again as they shifted uncomfortably in their seat.
Wong/Saavei: Response.
Galanis: This could be an exchange. We’re all ultimately working for the greater good of the planet, aren’t we?
Norsel: I like to think so. But there are many who don’t see it that way. Sure, you have the fanatics, like Elarrapal, who believe the trees are speaking to them, but then there’s the general public – who are swayed by people like her – and the environmentalists, and the overly-cautious fools at the top who constantly backpedal to appease the masses. It’s like this in every society…
Hopper: Mr. Norsel, the way you’re speaking – it sounds as though you want the warp project to succeed… But we have reason to believe you were involved in the bombing…?
Norsel: Why plant the explosives? Why kidnap Greeta? To move up the timeline, of course. The government won’t be so inclined to listen to the opposition if they think they’re radical lunatics, or terrorists. They’ll crack down on the dissenters and finally permit the use of dilithium in the project that I, and Greeta, have been pushing for.
Galanis: Radical lunacy? What could possibly be so radical about using dilithium for warp? It’s simple enough to prove with sci-...
Trailing off, Niev pressed their lips sealed, and furrowed their brow in a kind of frustrated worry. In their impulsive haste they’d almost said too much already.
Wong/Saavei: Response.
((OOC from Keegan – Feel free to add in additional questions/tags for Norsel here if you want, and I can backfill them))
Hopper: Alright, let’s say we buy what you’re telling us. That you’ve been manipulating things to try and expedite the research at the warp facility. If you know so much about dilithium, why don’t you just tell the government what you know?
Norsel: That’s just it. They won’t believe it if it comes from me. I’m no eminent scientist. Just a businessman. A miner. They’ll see my interest as an attempt to profit at the expense of the government. But if a man like Vaarig Greeta – scientist, family man – tells them. They’ll listen.
Galanis: So why the explosion? Why the kidnapping? If Vaarig could figure it out, what was the problem?
Wong/Saavei: Response
((OOC from Keegan – Same, again))
Norsel: The problem was you. You showed up and threw off all my plans. I know you’re off-worlders. Aliens. When my men told me, I logically assumed you were Hovans… But now I know better. ::Pointing to Saavei:: Vulcan. ::To Wong:: Klingon. ::To Galanis:: Centauran. ::To Hopper:: My genetic scanners don’t quite know what you are.
It wasn’t just Robin who looked utterly bewildered. Had Niev something to drop, it would have fallen from momentarily limp hands, the unpleasantly hot flash of being totally caught out of their element crawling across the Centauran’s skin. Did they miss something drastic? There wasn’t so much as a trace of a sign the Uwezo were aware of space-faring species, let alone ones from thousands of lightyears away. It was an impossible turn that sent Niev reeling harder the more they thought about it. How could Norsel possibly have known, down to specific genetic coding of their species…?
Hopper: You know about the Hovans?! About… The Federation?
Norsel: Of course I do… I am Hovan.
The brief, heavy, awkward moment that settled in felt like it lasted nearly an eternity as Niev tried to process what they just heard.
Wong/Saavei: Response
What did the Humans call it again? A ‘time-out’. That’s what Niev needed right now. A moment to huddle with the rest of the crew and figure out just what in Tharon’s bones they were doing now. This had gone from a simple visit as a precursor to first contact into an entirely different beast.
Not only that, but the context of the situation slowly and surely settled into Niev’s mind. If the Hovans had been disguising themselves and meddling with the development of the Uwezo, it was no wonder things had seemed so tense and chaotic. Not only that, but as far as Niev knew, the natives of Hova had refused to open up talks with the Federation so far… but it appeared that didn’t mean they weren’t looking and listening.
Even worse than that, however, was the new light this cast on Norsel’s plan. It seemed to strike a particular chord in the scientist, who was so invested in the importance of Starfleet’s own directives, implications and possibilities unfolding before them. The typically aloof, often somewhat anxious Centauran finally seemed to have something they couldn’t help but say.
Galanis: …So this isn’t about mining. Or profit. You’re knowingly interfering, trying to technologically uplift an entire species to… what? Make them into a client state of Hova before they even know other worlds exist?
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Norsel: Response
Arms folding across their chest, Niev narrowed their eyes at the ‘Uwezo’ man before them, feeling the spike of adrenaline push their calling out of Norsel on.
Galanis: Our experience with official Hovan policy is one of isolationism. They’ve refused diplomatic overtures from the Federation so far. So which is it? Are you a rogue agent pursuing a personal agenda, or is that isolationism just a cover for clandestine operations like this one?
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Norsel: Reponse
Galanis: You even used a bomb. You risked catastrophic failure at a research facility, kidnapped an innocent, all to force the government’s hand. That’s not just interference - you’re using terrorism to shape their development. Is this a standard policy when it comes to ‘uplifting’ Hova’s neighbors?
It finally seemed to occur to Niev that it wasn’t their place to let Norsel have it over this, the androgyne’s growing agitation returning to a low simmer. That hadn’t been very diplomatic of them. But it had been at least one way of communicating their theory of what was going on to the others.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Norsel: Response
TAG!/TBC…
