JP: Cmdr. Karrod Niac & Vice Admiral Makisig Corcino - We Gave Our Today
Karrod Niac
((Ready Room, Deck 3, USS Ronin))
The doors to his office swished shut behind him to a Bridge full of stunned officers. They’d all heard the declaration from the Lattice Alliance and each was trying to grasp the implications of it. The only difference between the crew and Karrod himself at that moment was his ability to do it in private. He blew out a long breath as he crossed to his desk and sat, trying to assemble the frantic events of the last few days into a briefing that the Admiralty could process. As the Starfleet Command seal sprang into life on his desktop console Karrod squared his shoulders and prepared himself for the worst. Instead he was greeted by a confusing sight as the face of Corcino’s attaché, Captain Nehir Sahin, appeared on the screen.
Niac: =/\= Captain Sahin? Where’s Vice Admiral Corcino? =/\=
The dark-haired woman furrowed her brow, clearly a bit taken back by the terse tone from the Ronin CO. She cleared her throat before replying.
Sahin: =/\= The admiral’s in a meeting right now with the Chief of Starfleet Operations and her staff, Commander. Can I take a message? =/\=
Karrod’s eye twitched.
Niac: =/\= Captain, I don’t care if he’s meeting with the Space Koala itself. Put me through to Admiral Corcino, now. =/\=
Sahin rolled her eyes slightly.
Sahin: =/\= And what exactly is this call about? =/\=
Karrod glowered at the screen with enough intensity to make the composite scared for its well being.
Niac: =/\= The end of your career if you don’t put me through to him. =/\=
Still clearly annoyed, the attaché nonetheless looked over offscreen, checking on something.
Sahin: =/\= …hold please. =/\=
Niac: =/\= Don’t you dare- =/\=
Before he could finish, the screen changed back to the Starfleet Command seal once again.
A memory surfaced from deep within Niac of a hostess at one of Rostil’s first restaurants. She’d been harsh and judgmental and discriminating to an insufferable degree, so she made an excellent person to run his front of house. Rostil had never particularly liked the woman but had to admit that she was terrifically effective as a guard dog. Karrod shook away the memory as the Starfleet seal vanished, changing this time to the face of his former CO and now vice admiral, Makisig Corcino. From the view behind him, it looked as if Corcino had stepped just outside of his meeting into an office hallway in San Francisco.
For his part, Makisig had known Karrod long enough to know by the expression he wore on his face that they should just cut to the chase.
Corcino: =/\= Commander. Does your priority alert mean your mission is complete or are you in trouble? =/\=
Niac: =/\= You’re right both times, Admiral. The Ronin’s mission is complete but we are all in a lot of trouble, Maki. How long have you been in that meeting? I’m guessing you haven’t seen the subspace message yet? =/\=
The admiral let out a sigh.
Corcino: =/\= Honestly, I should be thanking you for getting me out of this damn meeting. Half the flag officers seem to have their heads in a different universe these days with all this planning and pageantry for next year’s Frontier Day celebration. =/\=
And of course it was now placed onto officers like Makisig to figure out the logistics of what the higher ups were asking.
Niac: =/\= Yeah well save your thanks until you see this. =/\= Karrod tapped a few commands into his terminal and dispatched a copy of the Lattice Alliances declaration and their proposed territory. =/\= That was sent wideband subspace across the entire region. =/\=
Corcino’s eyes shifted to the side slightly as he scanned the text of the message. Finally, he just muttered one word.
Corcino: (low whisper) =/\= …punyeta. =/\=
Niac: =/\= It gets worse. I can confirm positively that not only are they using Sencha wave radiation, they figured out a way to weaponize it. =/\=
The decorated Dominion War veteran was already dissecting the implications.
Corcino: =/\= Tactical analysis? =/\=
Niac: =/\= It makes their larger ships effectively indestructible. We’re compiling sensor logs and data gathered by my away teams now but it looks bad, Maki. The Sheliak are trouble enough alone…as part of an alliance with Tholians? I don’t think they’d make their little announcement if they weren’t pretty confident of pulling it off. =/\=
Corcino: =/\= Where are you and the Arrow now? =/\=
Karrod shook his head and felt a small bolt of shame for not having thought of the Arrow once in the last few wild hours. The intensity of their actions and the fierce defenses of the Olidra system had narrowed his focus.
Niac: =/\= Not sure of the status of the Arrow - with all the interference in this area we’re only just getting long range comms back and my first call was to you. Ronin is on the way back to Deep Space Thirty Three to make repairs and restock on ordinance. =/\=
Makisig nodded from the other side of the screen.
Corcino: =/\= You sure you don’t want to head back to a proper shipyard for the final certification? =/\=
For the first time since he sat down Karrod smiled and leaned back in his chair. He looked around his spartan office and put an affectionate hand on his desk.
Niac: =/\= I’ve never had more confidence in a ship, Admiral. I’m sure DS33 can patch up the few new scrapes we picked up. =/\=
The admiral nodded.
Corcino: =/\= Noted. Consider the Ronin on active status with the fleet register as of this moment. =/\=
He then let out a deep breath, shaking his head.
Corcino: =/\= …%#$@, Kar, you’re really gonna make me have to go back in there and talk again with these bumbling bureaucrats about all of this. =/\=
Something behind Karrod’s eye throbbed.
Niac: =/\= Maki, maybe I’m not making myself clear to you. This was a massive operation, they could’ve produced hundreds of ships before we realized what was happening. This could totally destabilize this entire area of space, Maki. =/\=
Corcino: =/\= I get it. It’s not *me* you have to convince. I know it seems like everything’s on fire out there, but you have to remember from here in San Francisco and Paris, the Alpha Isles might as well be on the other side of the galaxy. Honestly, if it weren’t for this “Lattice Alliance’s” claims on the half a dozen Federation holdings, I wouldn’t be confident that Command would approve sending *any* ships out there. =/\=
Karrod could feel his teeth grinding together and forced his jaw to unclench with conscious effort.
Niac: =/\= How about you put me on the comm in that meeting, Maki, I’ll talk some sense into the Chief of Operations myself. I like her more than I like you anyway. =/\=
Despite all the years of animosity that had been boiling over between the two men, Makisig unexpectedly just let out a chuckle.
Corcino: =/\= Hmmph. As much as I’d love to see you make a fool of yourself, I can’t afford to lose you as the Ronin’s CO. =/\=
Karrod squinted, suspicious of anything that sounded even vaguely like a compliment from his dear old friend.
The admiral shook his head again.
Corcino: =/\= Look around, Kar. There aren’t that many old warhorses like us around. Half the captains in the fleet weren’t even out of the academy when the war ended, and the majority of the rank and file weren’t even born yet. They didn’t see what you and I saw. They don’t remember… =/\=
Having entirely lost his patience Karrod interjected.
Niac: =/\= If what the Ronin experienced today is any indication, they’re going to see worse than we did. I need you to get our data to Starfleet Intelligence with all the top priority those bars of yours come with. We need to figure out a way to counter this weapon, Maki. Fast. =/\=
Makisig blinked as he looked back at Karrod, reassured that he had made the right decision to get him the Ronin’s captaincy.
Corcino: =/\= My point is–I put you in that chair for a reason, Kar. Despite how much of a stubborn son of a bitch you are, I trust you. As long as you send that data and any future updates to me directly, it’ll get to the right people. No guarantees if you try any other channel. =/\=
Karrod heard a strange note in the admiral’s voice that gave him pause but he couldn’t put his finger on why. He dismissed it a moment later, wondering if perhaps the admiral had simply been in San Francisco too long.
After another deep breath, Makisig continued.
Corcino: =/\= All right, I better get back in there and make a case. I’ll do my best to get you some support out there. For now, hold the line, Captain. =/\=
Karrod caught a reflection of the ship’s crest mounted on the wall behind his desk. The ship’s motto came into his mind a moment later.
Niac: =/\= For your tomorrow, Admiral. The Ronin will be here. =/\=
Corcino: =/\= Good. Extend my compliments to your crew. You’re my eyes and ears out there. =/\=
The admiral gave a final nod before his image was replaced once again with the Starfleet Command seal.
Karrod let out a slow breath as he slowly rotated his desk chair towards the viewports that made up one large wall above his curving couch. The stars rushed by as the Ronin headed back towards safer harbors, and Karrod felt a weight lifting off him, replaced instead by the confidence he’d found in the ship and crew in the last few days. He hadn’t realized it consciously until he’d said it aloud, but he truly had more confidence in the Ronin and her crew then he’d ever had in a ship before. He could feel the certainty settling down into his bones that his crew was capable of facing the storm that was coming, and it filled him with one overwhelming priority.
To do whatever he could to keep them safe.
The stars streaked past the viewport, and the darkness beyond no longer seemed as foreboding.
END
================================
Commander Karrod Niac
Commanding Officer
USS Ronin - NCC-34523
V239509GT0
&
Vice Admiral Makisig Corcino
Starfleet Command
I238705TZ0