Star Trek: Death of the Federation

[rhoenix]

USS Empyrian
Diplomatic Chamber

As Captain Solheim and Commander Inzeti entered the meeting room, they saw that several of the other crews had already arrived - including Riov Cretak. Both Captain and Commander gave those present nods of respect as they awaited the others to arrive, so that this meeting could begin. To Captain Cretak however, Captain Solheim gave a small smirk as well. "Captains," he said in greeting.

Captain Solheim himself appeared much as he usually did - tall, with somewhat shaggy brown hair, and almost unnaturally crisp blue eyes, along with the small scar across his nose and temples that indicated the reason for his artificial eyes at some point in the past. His uniform was a red undershirt of command staff with a grey uniform over it, similar to those worn on the space stations, where the dress code was somewhat more relaxed. The shirt of his uniform was unzipped halfway, showing the red turtleneck shirt beneath. There was a pistol of an odd design sitting at his left side, in a holster, but within easy reach.

Commander Inzeti, on the other hand, appeared to be a contradiction of fine detail. Her skin tone appeared Vulcan, in that it was a light tan; not dissimilar to a human of Hispanic descent. Her bearing and stance, despite the pistol sitting at her waist, was rather reminiscent of a Vulcan as well, her height only seeming to accentuate her air of contemplation. However, the way her eyes scanned the room was both wary and calculating; more so than most Vulcans. Her hair was also long, though kept in a tight braided bun at the back of her head. Her uniform was similar to Captain Solheim's, save that hers was properly worn, hanging properly on her athletic and shapely frame.

Both of them took their place near the others, standing together near the wall. Oddly enough, both had their arms crossed as they watched the others.

(edit: needed better description of characters)

[Charon]

USS Empyrian
Diplomatic Chamber

The diplomatic team from Barbarossa was possibly the most heavily armed of the diplomatic teams to arrive, though it would have been a toss-up between them and the Klingons, but the eclectic team of two Orion, two Romulans, and a human had more people and thus slightly more weapons on their persons.

Hizir himself was the most eye-catching person in the room, not because he was incredibly attractive or tall. He was of average height, with skin that was beginning to wrinkle with age and weariness. His full beard a dark red with no sign of gray in it. What really brought the attention however was his hat, a full-sized old style admiral's hat complete with plumes. Apparently the pirate believed that being ostentatious was part of the job description.

The Romulans next to him were both in Romulan Star Empire outfits, standing at full attention and doing their best to be Romulans. The Orions were dressed in Orion outfits, which was to say they weren't wearing much at all. The woman looked around the room with a languid smirk on her face while the male looked about as serious as the Romulans did. Apparently spending years in each other's company had shed some discipline on the Orions.

Hizir smiled to the young captain that was apparently a Kirk and took off his hat with a flourish. "The pleasure is all mine, Captain Kirk. I look forward to many exciting adventures with you." The pirate winked a little and put his hat back on.

All signs of mirth and amusement drained from the older captain's face however when Cardassians entered the room. His eyes grew deadly serious and his sudden change in demeanor immediately flowed to the other four, who went from observing their surroundings to preparing for a fight. Though the Orion woman seemed to be smiling even more now. Hizir's hand strayed to the weapon on his hip for several seconds and everything got really quiet really fast.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Alpha Quadrant
Nivoch System, USS Empyrean
Diplomatic Chamber

Captain Vlad'Stok was mid hand-extension when he was put in a somewhat awkward position by a short female ship captain and her first officer. He paused, and briefly apologized for withdrawing his hand.

"I will admit to being in an untenable situation, offering my hand to one, only to need to respond to a salute from another. Perhaps I should invest in a holographic representation of myself in order to avoid these situations in the future. Given that option is not available to me at the moment, I cannot refuse the salute of my people, and shall extend proper greetings to you Captain Dubois, and Mr. Dunok in the same way." That bit about holograms was definitely a tension reducing joke on his part, put completely deadpan. He stood up straight with his feet at exactly shoulder-width and raised his hand in the salute, speaking in Vulcan

"Tich tor ang tesmur." he said to them both, also indicating the other two

His datapad was continuously updating with ship status, and the status of the Gilgamesh, including what they would need.

Then, before anything else could occur, such as catching up between old friends, the bearded man who's name was apparently Captain Hizir went for his weapon upon seeing the arrival of a Cardassian. Admittedly, what he remembered of the ship's name--the Katara--would make the Cardassian a war-criminal, but compared to the Borg, war-crimes were not on the top of the list of priorities.

"Stop Captain. Think before you act. Your aggression under the circumstances is not logical--even if you have no other priorities but simple self-preservation. You are out-numbered, and even with some ships damaged and with you in command of.." he looked at his datapad and used quick process of elimination " one of the warbirds, the combined tonnage present here is more than enough to destroy your ship if you become hostile. You knew there would be a Cardassian before you beamed aboard. Stand down."

[General Havoc]

"This is absolutely not up for debate," said Ereshal, pointedly looking at something other than the angry tactical officer. "I'm going by myself and that's final."

"Commander," said Lt. Luther, "I will not let you do that. Those bastards are practically shooting each other over the salvage out there. You're taking a security team and that's - "

"I decide what the away team is comprised of, Charles," said Ereshal, "not you. There's still live Borg on this ship, or there could be. Every security officer is needed here. I won't have a single extra casualty aboard Argonaut because I took an escort." She turned to face him finally, a cosmetic change of course, given her blindness, but one that would work better on humans. "The Commander wouldn't want it."

She 'saw' Luther wince at the low blow. "The Commander wouldn't want you running off and endangering - "

"I'm the first officer of this ship," said Ereshal. "I'm supposed to be the one endangering myself in these situations. You're supposed to be taking my orders."

"Not with the Commander disabled you aren't. With him down, that's my job."

"You're about as diplomatic as the Borg," said Ereshal, slinging the medical satchel over her head and around one shoulder, letting it hang under her other arm. "We need the rest of the fleet to work with us. I have to do this myself."

Luther still didn't like it, but there was nothing he could do, and he knew it. "You'll use our transporters?" he asked.

"Commander wouldn't want it any other way," she said with a smile. "Keep a lock on me while we're over there."

"I'll make sure they..." Luther paused for a second. "While... we're over there?"

It took nearly everything Ereshal had not to flinch at her slip of the tongue. "All the captains?" she asked, struggling to recover, "the ones you're convinced are going to be pulling knives on each other?"

This seemed to satisfy Luther. "Anything goes wrong, we'll pull you out," he said, backing towards the door, which opened for him as he neared it. "Good luck."

A second later, and Luther was gone. Ereshal collapsed into the desk chair, taking several deep breaths, before opening a drawer. She removed a pair of small objects, each no larger than a coin. One she slid into her ear, the other held in one hand as she slid open the medical pack before dropping it inside. Sealing the pack up again, she stood up carefully, feeling the weight, and from a side pocket on the pack, she withdrew a pair of electrode scanners, which she attached to the side of her own uniform. Two small screens on the side of the medical pack began silently relaying biomedical information on respiration and heart rate for anyone who cared to look. To any external observer, the Aenar Commander was carrying a bio-monitor, likely at her doctor's request. With luck, that was all it would be seen as.

She tapped the side of the bag gently but firmly, and adjusted the earpiece moments later. "I hear you," she whispered, to nobody in particular. "This is such a bad idea." A very faint quiver from deep within the bag was the only response she got, before she stood up, adjusted her collar and the bag's strap, and slapped her combadge.

"Ereshal to Transporter Room 2. Initiate Site-to-site transport."

*---------------------------------------------------------------*

A single transporter beam joined the collection of others that had and continued to twinkle into existence. Seconds afterwards, a single Aenar was standing in the conference room, armed with a phaser in its holster, and nothing else. Around her shoulder was slung a mid-sized medical bag, from which electrodes were attached to the Aenar's side, adhered to the uniform with suction and transmitting signals which were silently interpreted by the screen on its side.

Hostility was evident, surrounding, it appeared, the small Cardassian delegation. A Vulcan was trying to talk a contingent of Orions, Romulans, and Humans, from doing something that everyone might well regret.

For a second or so, the Aenar seemed to hesitate, turning slowly about to take the full room in. And then, finally, she acted.

"Captain DuBois," said the small Aenar in a large voice, louder than she needed to, loud enough to carry across the entire room and hopefully divert attention away from the impending fight between the Orions and the Cardassians. The initial message delivered, the rest of her words were in a normal tone.

"Lt. Commander Ereshal, Executive Officer, USS Argonaut," she said, stiffening and delivering a parade ground salute. "Commander Kalpov sends his regrets, sir, but... he was injured during the fighting aboard the Argonaut, and will not be able to attend the meeting. As first officer of the Argonaut, I will be attending in his place, with your permission, sir."

The words were absolutely correct, but there was an almost imperceptible hint of something else behind them, something slightly less deferential than the words would indicate. Nothing so overt as to build offense against, merely a subtle warning that, rank or no rank, this Aenar was not here just to meekly accept the orders of the two dozen or so officers in the room who wore more collar pips than she did. Her blank, empty eyes, her quivering antennae, all of them gave an impression of someone watching the entire room with practiced care, and she held the medical bag tightly under her arm as she looked quickly from officer to officer, resting for just a little longer than normal on Captain Cretak, as well as Captain Kirk, though what it was she perceived or thought of those two in particular, she gave no sign.

"Thanks to the efforts of the Klingon and Romulan marines, our ship has been secured, and we are flushing out the last of the Borg now. Commander Kalpov asked me to convey the thanks of himself, and of the entire crew of the Argonaut, for the support that all of the ships here lent us while we were being boarded, as well as to ask after those of our crew that were transported aboard the Empyrean. We are... compiling casualty reports now, and he wishes to know what happened to them."

With luck, that would be enough to throw everyone off all thoughts of shooting the Cardassians... as well as of other things.

[Cynical Cat]

"Captain Kirk, no relation, you fight as fiercely as your line name suggests," replied Kadon. "This one is pleased to have your ship on our side."

The Klingons walked off the transporter pad and toward the briefing room at a sedate pace. The doors hummed open, revealing the tense meeting inside. Kadon took a moment to assess the situation.

The Klingon appeared to ignore the tense confrontation. He sat down and waited for Ereshal to finish speaking. "The report will be appreciated," said Kadon. "Several of the captains present indicated they considered spare parts an urgent matter and there is also the issue of damaged ships like the Gilgamesh. I'll let my Chief Engineer take over."

The squat figure placed a flip open lap top computer on the table. "Gentle beings," began Trakka Seragal, "the Riskadh has completed an initial survey." He tapped the case. "In addition I have a program that will help sort by urgency of the needed parts and the priority that the fleet sets to the particular ship or system being restored."

[rhoenix]

Uncrossing his arms, Captain Solheim looked at the Riskadh's chief engineer as he gave his report to those present. He was keeping an eye on Hizir, Captain of the Barbarossa, though you couldn't tell from his relaxed demeanor.

He flipped open his small palmtop computer, to which Swift had earlier sent a complete list of parts that Lieutenant Vela, and the engineering staff of the Humbolt had compiled. For anyone close enough to see, they would be somewhat surprised to see that it had no visible screen. "I and my ship would appreciate that," Captain Solheim said as he reviewed the list, and prepared it to send to the engineer. "I can send you a precise list of what parts we will need to return the Gilgamesh to fighting shape again. Thankfully, it's not that long of a list."

While he was speaking, Commander Inzeti stood at his side, seemingly relaxed. However, her eyes swept the room, noting every detail.

[Hotfoot]

Alpha Quadrant
Nivoch System
Empyrean Diplomatic Chambers

For the first time in a long while, the number of life signs aboard the Empyrean grew to nearly one third its normal capacity. Those who beamed aboard via the ship’s transporter pads were given a proper escort to the Diplomatic Chambers by polite, if relatively quiet crewmen. As per orders, the corridors on the way to the destination were clear of crew, furthering the illusion of the ship being poorly manned. While the illusion would not last, it served no purpose to put others ill at ease prior to the talks.

Inside the chambers, activity grew. As guests were escorted in or beamed directly to the room, activity grew. DuBois looked around, greeting the representatives in turn. First, the Vulcans, who took particular interest in Dunok, to no suprise. He could even note a small twinge of some stray emotion flicker across his science officer’s lips before the energy went to his eyebrow. The Vulcan emotional bypass, he had heard Lieutenant Forest call it. A fitting, if somewhat improper name for it. “Captain Vlad’stok,â€

[SirNitram]

The next transporter beam to materialized housed not Captain Markson, but a Vulcan, flanked by two security officers, each holding the makeshift flechette launchers that the Vigilance used.

"I represent the USS Vigilance, Combat-Refit, Galaxy Class. I am Mr. Suvuc, XO to Captain Markson. The Captain is presently engaged and I have gone in this place. The Vigilance remains intact, though any plasma torpedos or high-yield battleship-capacity thrusters can be obtained, I have a priority on them."

The Vulcan was cold. Not hiding his emotions, just cold, like he disliked the necessity for this.

[Cynical Cat]

"The meeting room has to host a dozen captains and additional officers," said Captain Kadon mildly. "We have two dozen people here already and not all the delegations have arrived. There is no room for everyone's security detachment. I suggest security adjourn to the nearby rooms and corridors."

[Charon]

As Dubois spoke to him there were several seconds of pause where Hizir was looking only at the Cardassian before he finally turned his eyes away and his hand moved from his holster, the rest of his retinue began to relax after that, though the Orion woman looked slightly disappointed at the prospect. Hizir smiled, though it was clear that the somewhat exuberant mood he had arrived with was now gone. "Captain Dubois. I should be thanking you for that warning you got to us. We weathered it just fine, thanks to the rather nice new toys many of the other captains here have." Hizir smiled some and took his seat, nodding to both the Klingon and Romulan captains.

"Commander Ereshal, it is good of you to join us. The Barbarossa wishes the best for your ship and her captain." Hizir nodded to the Aenar before turning back to the Klingons. Apparently he was still playing a little catch-up.

"You should consider yourself lucky I brought guards and not my engineers, Captain." He let a sly grin escape. "By now they would have jumped over this table to attack your Engineer over that salvage. But you certainly have a point and I concur." Hizir glanced back at the two guards who were still standing that they should head out and the two stepped back and looked around, waiting for directions on where they would be waiting. After that, Hizir leaned back in his seat, apparently slightly more relaxed again. "Ready for what you think is fair." He said, looking directly at the squat Engineer, not making any demands until he heard both what was available and what their idea was on the division of salvage.

[Cynical Cat]

Nictating membranes slid over Seragal's eyes and then opened. "Fair? Ah yes, you are Federation. Fair is not part of the calculation. Necessity is the prime consideration with the needs of the fleet being of the highest priority. And this is just my opinion and I am not even a captain. If my plan is adopted, then a reasonable distribution of the salvage will be based upon the needs of the various ships and that requires information regarding the current status of all ships. I believe the human phrase is 'you show me yours and I'll show you mine'?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"It is good that cool heads are prevalent here. I am reminded of the teachings of Surak." T'Lorn said before he nodded to Captain DuBois for the diffusion of the uncomfortable situation. Then he sat down.

"I tend to agree with Mr. Seragal. Fairness should not be an issue--setting aside the many iterations of the concept In this case, we all have the same interest. Defeating the Borg. To this end, there should be no conflict over salvage--at least no rational one--unless the requirements and abilities of ships in the fleet overlap. In which case, usable salvage ought be distributed according to where it can go the farthest in achieving our mutual goal."

He looked down at his datapad.

"The USS Gilgamesh needs power relays in order to replace plasma conduits powering her shields. Without these, she will not be ready for combat in the near future. The transmission systems--given the modifications to this vessel--could potentially be used to increase signal power. The sensor facing that is available could also be used either on this, or my own ship for a variety of purposes. If for no other purpose than studying borg sensors. There are a number of heavy plasma torpedoes, and a heavy disruptor array. If any ship has the ability to power such a weapon, or needs to replenish torpedo stocks, those should go to those vessels. On our part, we have a stock of two hundred and fifty photon torpedoes that we have no way of launching. As a result, we will donate two hundred and forty of them to replenishing fleet torpedo stocks. The remaining ten..." he paused for a moment. "...may be useful for purposes outside of their original design parameters, and shall be retained for those circumstances." he looked around, and then to Mr. Seragal

"Mr. Seragal, you say you have a computer program for assigning priority in the distribution of salvage components. The only difficulty I see, is assigning priority to ships and the value of different salvage components where several ships can have a use of non-critical or ship-design specific importance. How does your computer program resolve the conflicts and trade-offs which arise in those situations? I assume a ranking algorithm based on increases in combat-effectiveness?"

[Cynical Cat]

"Captain?" Trakka asked.

"By all means proceed Thought Master," said Kadon. "This one is always interested when you address technical matters."

"Very well then. The algorithms in question are quite complex and their are call up tables and data bases they tie into that allow an accurate calculation to be made of the value of any repair made to a ship of any design within the database. It allows for modifications based on prize rights and so forth, if desired."

Seragal made a gesture similar to a shrug. "Division of the spoils is not an area where Klingon mathematics are deficient. I believe earlier versions had contributions from Vulcan tharavul. My contributions to the program are mostly to the data and call up tables. Also, your inventory list is deficient. There are a number of smaller, but not insignificant parts that we were able to salvage. The list is quite extensive starting with-, ah but perhaps this is getting too technical for this particular hearing. The complete list, along with the program and appropriate notes are on my computer and available for download so the captains and their officers may examine them at their leisure."

[Charon]

Hizir laughed a bit. "I'm not Federation, and actually I was using the Ferengi definition of fair." He said with some mirth in his eyes at what he apparently considered a joke. The Ferengi definition of fair was generally considered to be 'What I can get my hands on is mine'.

Hizir shrugged his shoulders. "I couldn't tell you everything we need." He looked down at the data of the ship parts thus found. "We could mount those disruptor arrays, and we certainly wouldn't say no to more torpedoes. What we really need though are engine parts. The Barbarossa has problems with Full Impulse and she can't make her maximum Warp. As long as we're talking about efficiency though, the Barbarossa will be in charge of future salvage operations." Hizir quickly raised a hand to let him continue, and to imply that it was really better than it sounded. "The simple fact of the matter is that I have the best damn salvage crew in the quadrant on my ship and they can find the goods, strip a ship, and get working parts faster than anyone. In the interests of survival and war time we would of course give what is necessary for other ships to make repairs and upgrades."

[Cynical Cat]

Kadon smiled, showing teeth. It was not an expression that Klingon junior officers wished to see. "Your proposal will be considered Captain Hizir, but you are not the only captain with a crew experienced in salvage operations. If you wish to be appointed to such a position you will need to convince the rest of the captains of your crews skills and reliability. We have, for example, a ship full of Vulcans with considerable technical skills and a well established reputation for integrity in the Humbolt. Why we entrust salvage operations entirely to one ship, which may or may not be in shape to conduct such operations after a battle, and why should that ship be the Barbarossa?"

[LadyTevar]

"Gentlebeings," Captain Kirk said, raising a hand as she stepped forward and slipped into one of the seats around the table. "Let us get an idea of what each ship needs before we argue who gets to do the salvaging."

She then sent Hizir a grin that showed just as many teeth as the Klingon captain, but was a bit more friendly. "The Spector still has all of her workbees, which are at the disposal of the fleet for the salvage work, as well as any EV repairs that we might be able to accomplish." The grin turned wry, her eyes glimmering with mischief. "I somehow doubt there's be enough parts to replace my Bridge, but if someone has ideas how to get that main lift working, I'd appreciate it." The huge scar across the Spector's saucer, bisecting where the Main Bridge should be was the most noticeable feature at the moment.

"Otherwise, I have turned two of the Spector's bays over to manufacturing," she continued. "We have the ability to build torpedoes and replacement parts for shuttles, as well as internal hull plates. All we need is materials to throw into the replicators."

[General Havoc]

Commander Ereshal had been standing at the side of the room, listening to the discussion without commenting. As the talk turned to mathematical distribution tables for dividing the salvage, she seemed to glance away fractionally from the discussion for just a moment, though with her blind eyes, it was not easy to tell. She reflexively raised a hand to her ear, thought better of it, and lowered it once again. By the time she had stepped forward, she had recovered full equilibrium.

"Captains," she said, "the Argonaut is still accruing damage reports from the battle and the boarding action, but before I transported here, Commander Kalpov instructed me specifically to ask how long we intend to remain in the vicinity of Nivoch."

"The Borg assault force has been destroyed, but the Borg will by now be aware of the loss of their Cube, and are almost certain to launch a fresh attack as soon as they can organize one, and with greater force than they just did. Even if they don't know what actually happened here, they'll have to take anything capable of destroying one of their Cubes seriously." The Aenar licked her lips nervously as she looked from Captain to Captain. "Commander Kalpov also wished to emphesize that, in his opinion, it would be less than ideal if the Borg found us still here when they arrived."

"I don't have standing to make demands, sirs, but insofar as Argonaut is concerned, I suggest that every ship take on as much salvage as they can hold while we make repairs and transfer supplies from the surface, and then we get out of here as fast as possible. Even if there is special equipment still left intact, I don't believe we will have time to fit it out while we stay here, not if we hope to keep ahead of the Borg. As far as we know, they could already have a dozen cubes in Transwarp heading this way.

Ereshal hesitated, antennae flickering from point to point before she resumed.

"We... have another concern as well. There are a hundred and fifty nine thousand people, both colonists and refugees, on Nivoch IV right now. If the Borg come looking for what happened, they won't hesitate to exterminate or assimilate them. We might be able to take some of them with us, but even if we packed all of our ships to capacity and beyond, we could never carry more than a tenth of that number. Argonaut is already carrying almost two hundred civilian dependants and refugees. We can take on more, but not enough to make a dent in the colony down there. Does anyone have a plan for this sort of thing?"

[Cynical Cat]

"All the high value equipment is already aboard the Riskadh," replied Kadon. "Salvage operations are ongoing, but further gains will be minimal. If the fleet wishes to adjourn the discussion of salvage for another time and deal immediately with the refugees, I have no objection."

[Charon]

Hizir laughed and shook his head, clearly not all that intimidated by the Klingon. "I'm certain all of your crews are good at salvage operations. You would have to be to survive as long as most of you have. But most of you have only been doing this since the war. Many of the crew on my ship were working on salvage operations before the war, some of them since the Dominion War. Hell, I've got Adrek, Pel, Zek." Those three names were possibly known by some of the assembled captains. Namely as three of the most infamous scavengers in the quadrant. "They're professionals. Quite frankly, Captains, my crew have more experience in this matter than most of your crews combined. But I did not suggest my ship would be doing this alone, simply that we will be in command of salvage operations." Hizir's smile showed his teeth in a rather Klingon manner. "Tell me Captain, what exactly is the reason your ship should be in charge of the matter?"

Hizir glanced over to Ereshal. "I concur that we should take on salvage as quickly as possible. As good as we may be, it'll at least be several days, if not weeks to get this gear up and running. There are many things we can do about the salvage, there is little we can do about the refugees. We take who we can, who we cannot..." Hizir was quiet for a second and then shrugged softly, if a bit forlorn in manner.

[Agent Fisher]

Tarka smirked at the human captain in the silly uniform. As the meeting started, he settled into his seat, keeping his mouth shut on issues of salvage. While the Katara had helped destroy a sphere and fought against the Cube, as one of the least liked species at the table, he knew he wouldn't get much of anything of real value.

The Cardassian had to hold back his chuckle at the fight that seemed to be brewing over the matters of salvage when refugees were brought up.


"I have to agree with Captain Hizir." The Gul said. "I doubt among our ships combined we would have capacity for more than a tenth of hte population down there. Are there any spaceworthy vessels on the planet? Those with warp drives head ot Bajor, any without, we tow."

[General Havoc]

"Our sensors haven't detected any vessels on the planet," said Ereshal, "but that doesn't mean there aren't any. "But even if there are, I don't see how we can tow anything big enough to get a large portion of that colony off the planet, and still keep ahead of the Borg." Ereshal looked around at the assembled captains before saying what likely several people were already thinking.

"We can't take most of them with us," she said. "And sooner or later, they're going to figure that out."

[Comrade Tortoise]

T'Lorn raised an eyebrow at the mention of the Ferengi usage of the word "fair". The Ferengi: an entire culture that seemed to have gone back in time, stolen the collected works of Ayn Rand, and then based their entire civilization around the broken philosophy of Objectivism, and German stereotypes of Jews from the human twentieth century. Ayn Rand's works were still required reading in the Starfleet Academy, as an object lesson in how not to construct an ethical system

His eyes switched places, the other raising and the other dropping as the three ferengi engineers were mentioned.


Well... That is explains why Captain Hizir wants to control salvage operations so badly. He has to pay the Ferengi, otherwise they will allow the ship they occupy to explode

"I concur. It is absolutely impossible to take the population with us. I think the only chance they have is for us to be gone well before the borg get here. Perhaps the borg will change course to follow us, and ignore the planet. We cannot fight the borg who will come here in overwhelming force alone. They will send two or three cubes instead of one, and in the fleet's condition before we can properly prepare, we will be wiped out. Admittedly, it is a small chance for them, but it is better to live and fight another day when the consequences of fighting will be the same--with the additional destruction of our ships.

As for the salvage distribution issue, I think we may have a variety of conflicts of interest at play here. Perhaps it would be best if someone not suggesting themselves hold the burden of final decision making and coordination. "

[Marcao]

Alpha Quadrant
Nivoch System, USS Empyrean
Diplomatic Chamber

Riov Galan Cretak stood unmoving and watched the dynamics of the room. The mannerisms of the gathered men and women was noted although he expected that anyone worthy of extended command was more than capable of shielding their emotions beneath layers of professionalism. Nonetheless, he enjoyed taking the moment to see who approached whom, what words were said and who gravitated towards each other. There was a web of relationships in the room before him and it was in his best interest that he understand the strands intimately. It would be one of his tasks to maneuver the egos and ideologies arrayed in this room for the betterment of his vessel and his people both within the S'harien and elsewhere.

It was the crew of the Empyrean that reacted first and he almost smiled. Of course, how could they not react when it was their ship? It was their obligation to be gracious hosts. The Federation had always been willing to negotiate and they had a tendency to being cautious beyond their relatively short life spans. His eyes watched the human officer, whom he recognized as Captain Dubois. When the man spoke he nodded his head and offered a curt smile. Humans had always enjoyed it when others smiled.

"Captain Dubois, it is a pleasure to be aboard your vessel." He paused for a moment, his eyes moving around the room before returning to his face. "It is the first ship of its type I have had the pleasure of seeing first hand." He paused then when Dubois made his offer and considered it for a second before he nodded. "I would enjoy that."

His head turned and he glanced towards the captain of the Katara. His attention did not linger there, akin to a God glancing at a supplicant and finding him wanting his eyes left the Cardassian and focused on the captain of the Barbarossa. The Barbarossa was of interest to him. There were not many surviving Romulan Warships and how Captain Hzir came to commanding the D'Deridex class warbird was something he was very interested in. Nonetheless, the human had shown his worth in the fight against the Borg. Allowances would have to be made until he had the information he required to act. When Captain Dubois spoke he nodded and moved alongside Idrakht towards the table. He chose to sit on the same side as the Klingon. The move was symbolic for two reasons. Firstly, it represented the two largest non-human powers. Secondly, it indicated that he and his ship would submit to the will of the Riskadh in the matter of salvage rights.

When the Vulcan which clearly represented one of the Federation warships appeared his attention was naturally drawn towards the sound heralding his arrival. When he spoke, he listened. He had no specific interest in either of the salvage that he desired and as such he did not feel compelled to respond. The Vulcan did an admirable job of shielding his emotions like his people. However, the thinly veiled dislike that fluttered beneath the facade he presented was difficult to miss. It seemed that this Vulcan was not diplomatically inclined. The knowledge caused a ripple of pleasure to spread through him.

His attention left the Vulcan and focused on the exchange between Dubois and Captain Hzir. The arrival of Ereshal was noted but he paid her little attention. It was best to not act as if he knew her well at all. The truth was that he did not. He would keep her commander's secret. He would do so until he had no choice to reveal it. He doubted it would come to that however. Kalpov was far more useful as an ally than an adversary and he expected that sooner or later, the truth would come out on its own. The more pitched battles that transpired the more likely his secret would come out. The exchange between Hzir and the Klingon allied engineer drew his attention.

Ultimately, it was the conversations that blossomed around him that warranted a response. He listened closely to the proposals linking them to the personalities that offered them. In the end, he felt compelled to offer his thoughts on the matter. While there was no larger inherent value on his thoughts than those of the other captains arrayed around him, he did not like the direction that the conversation was headed at this time.

"Captains and other members of the task force." He said firmly in the language of the Federation. He could speak the language fluently and it was likely the language that the most people within the room were familiar with.

"I support the idea that whatever salvage has been gathered be shared as equitably as possible with need being the predominant concern. Individually, no ship in the task force could have single handedly defeated the Borg forces arrayed against us. To this end, I will make available a detailed list of all the salvage gathered by the S'harien and her daughter craft to Captain Kadon of the Riskadh. I am interested in power relays and conduits as well as certain components from the exterminator frigates." He hesitated for a moment letting his words sink in before he continued. "While I agree that we do not have an unlimited amount of time, we should deal with the salvage now and reach a consensus. We will either accept that we will work together as a singular unit or we will fracture now. I am not interested in postponing this dicussion."

He went silent then and glanced around the room. "Captain Hzir is correct even if his words were more callously chosen than required. The colonists in Nivoch IV are a concern. Realistically, the Borg will send forces to investigate what transpired here and they will find the colony in Nivoch IV when they reach the system. The question at this point that we should be asking is a simple one. What can we do about that? Realistically, I know what I will be doing." He paused for a moment and continued. "I will designate one quarter of the capacity of the S'harien to my people. Every Romulan that wants to leave the world and board my ship will be given a berth on the S'harien. At current, there are no more than 100 such individuals in the colony. The remainder of the twenty five percent will be chosen at my discretion. The final three quarters of capacity will be filled out in a lottery fashion which will be coordinate in part with colonial magistrate." He said nothing more. The reasons for his choices were easily discerned by those who understood the difficulties before them. Each ship had to have the flexibility to resupply as best as possible and there were skilled personnel in the planet whose skills had to be properly harnessed. A lottery out in the open indicated that they were doing the best of a bad situation and sought to address the riots that would ensue as people started to disappear wholesale.

[Comrade Tortoise]

T'Lorn nodded at Galan Cretak in appreciation.

"I had not considered that possibility. Our ship is one of the smallest in the fleet, do not have significant space for passengers. If refugees are do not bring many personal belongings, we can probably fit up to fifty in our two small holodecks, another ten in the arboretum, VIP quarters another twenty, the four modular labs can be converted to emergency quarters, another twenty. We can fit one hundred refugees. There are forty vulcans on the planet, we can take them. Of the remainder, families selected by lottery."

[rhoenix]

"Riov Cretak's idea has merit; if a similar idea is adopted by the other ships here, not only can we get some potential replacement crew and parts for any we've lost, but we can minimize potential revolts," Commander Inzeti said, her voice carrying as from one used to public speaking. "We not must not only consider the impact here, but also the sort of report we'll be bringing to Bajor with us."

"Exactly," Captain Solheim said with a slight smile as he looked at Commander Inzeti, and then back to the assembled Captains. "At least for the Federation ships here, I don't think we want to have to explain how we had to suppress a planet-wide riot before we left. As for ship capacity, on the other hand, we can take about another 70 uncomfortably, but I'd also like at least to replace a few engineers lost in the boarding."