Admirals, Romulans, Pyrryx and Politics

Posted on 07 Jan 2025 @ 3:38pm by Lieutenant Commander Maurice Rubens & Captain Corvus DeHavilland

Mission: M4 - Falling Out
Location: Captain's Office
Timeline: M4 - MD26 - 1000 HR
2452 words - 4.9 OF Standard Post Measure

“That’s it for reports from throughout the sector.”

Rice sat before DeHavilland’s desk, PADD in hand, and swiped to another page. With Rice technically removed from the day-to-day with the Korinn and DeHavilland juggling all the day-to-day issues with the station, the preparing for the Pyrryx, and, recently, the Pathfinder’s patrol there’d been little to talk about in their weekly check-ins. Loki III was quiet for once, the Sunstorm Truce was holding between the various factions.
Today would be different. Rice had realized he needed to bring DeHavilland up to speed on the potential pitfalls facing the Korinn issue.

“Next there is a communique that came in from the Romulan Republic. They’re escorting a ship from the other side of Romulan space. It’s light on details, but I have confirmed with the Troysian ambassador on the Republic’s capitol planet that it’s a legitimate mission. The species is known as the Norfar.”

Corvus gave her head a slight shake, “I’ve never heard of them. Friendly?”

“The Troysian ambassador met them at some dinner. Other than being furry, she said we should get along with them just fine.”

“And they’ve never made contact with the Federation before… simply because the Romulans were between us?” she pressed curiously. Not that there weren’t nearly endless possibilities in terms of sentient life in the cosmos, but it was relatively uncommon to find them this close to home, so to speak. The Federation had been dealing with the Romulans almost since the moment humans achieved Warp travel.
“Occupied,” Rice reported reading from his notes. “The Empire invaded somewhere around 2120 or so. The Norfar were quite the explorers prior to that and that’s part of the reason they’re so interested in making contact with the Federation. Prior to falling to the Romulans, their space program ran exploratory missions to pre-warp planets, many of which are now members of the Federation. Let’s see…Benzar…Trill…Hekaras II…half dozen others…and Earth’s on this list, too. As a show of friendship, they want to return samples they took from each planet. Nothing in the message said what the samples are. Could be interesting for the Science Department to take a look at.”

“And informative as to when they were on Earth,” Corvus agreed. “Could change history as we understand it…” She mused thoughtfully.

“Since we don’t know anything about their culture, I’ve ordered my team to prepare for a standard First Contact with unknown species. We should be good as long as there aren’t any dead bodies to swap,” Rice cracked a half smile. When the team from the Pathfinder had made contact with the Korinn, they’d brought a deceased member of the species back with them, a show of respect that the ocean-dwellers couldn’t understand. Rice had arrived on the station only after, but found the episode funny.

“That’s a good idea. Just to be safe. While technically not the first contact between our species, the first official one on record,” Corvus agreed. “Does the Republic have anything to offer in terms of customs or formalities? I’m sure they don’t respect them the same way we do, but any information would be welcomed. I’ll need to brief the Admiral on anything we can gather.”

“You’d be surprised about the Republic. I’ve spoken to various diplomats who’s governments have recognized the Republic and they say the Republic is a far cry from the Empire or the Free State, culturally speaking. They’ve been heavily influenced by Unificationists, Qowat Milat, Reman Equality Front, a healthy dose of humility and shame due to their belief that the ‘old ways’ killed 800 million Romulans when the star went supernova.” Except for an almost imperceptible dip in the corner of his mouth, Rice held back his seething displeasure that he was getting the information second hand. It was ironic that the very people in the Federation who’d torched the rescue efforts, now recognized the worst of the Romulans as the Empire’s successor state.

Rice continued, “We’re lucky the Troysians do have a diplomatic presence, but they’ve only met the Norfar once. All that was relayed was that they’re kind, humble to the point that we will need to give them permission to meet our eyes - otherwise they’ll just spend the whole time staring at their feet - and that thing about the samples.”

“Alright. We’re going to need a quick list of things like that for everyone. We don’t need to be quietly insulting them without even knowing it. There’s no telling what kind of counter propaganda they’ve been receiving all these years. We need to show them that the Federation is not as bad as the Romulans would have them believe.”

“Speaking of the Romulans…” Rice let the intro float on the air. He’d spoken with Gordon about the need to loop in DeHavilland, but it was going to be delicate. They hadn’t worked together long enough to have a rapport, which meant trust was to be in short supply. “It has to do with the negotiations around the Korinn.”

DeHavilland nodded at him to continue. Rice plunged into a rehearsed chain of events. He described Gordon’s team’s first visit with him to discuss the Romulan approach. Although he told her about Inimik and how she requested information on the Romulan family that could be on Loki III, he skipped what he and Gordon had offered the Romulan Senator. (At this point it was moot, and would’ve sidetracked his conversation.) Finally, he came to Radak’s speech, describing that senator’s anti-Federation stance, and the oddity of his words.

“It was such a surprising turn of events, that speech,” he said, coming to the end, “After some discussion with Gordon, we’ve come to the conclusion that Radak’s speech was for an audience of one: Admiral Harshman. Radak really wants this Romulan family and for whatever reason, Inimik is keen to find the family for Radak. The only person involved in this whole affair who would even consider turning over the family is Harshman.”

Corvus arched an eyebrow curiously. Romulan’s weren’t known for their humanitarian efforts, even in a galaxy where their homeworld was gone. They were, as always, a secretive species whose proclivity for conflict was legendary, even wounded as they were. So to hear that they were interested in something as simple as a refugee family didn’t fill her with warm fuzzies. There had to be something to gain here for them. Had to be.

“And we know specifically where this family is?” Corvus asked, already wondering if they should be arranging protection of some variety.

“Not a clue. Probably living under an assumed name. Honor Ncune - she’s on the diplomatic team from the Exterior - is going to try and find them. Do you think out Security team can help her?”

“I don’t believe that will be an issue, but the more people who know will make it harder to keep this secret,” Corvus answered.

Rice nodded in agreement. “As for Admiral Harshman…” He let the name hang in the air, trying to judge Corvus’s attitude toward Starfleet’s chief diplomat. Surely, the Captain had sat through enough of the negotiations over the Korinn to form an opinion, but Rice hadn’t been there to get a good read on where she stood on the topic. Nor did he know how Harshman had come across.

“As for the Admiral?” Captain DeHavilland replied.

Rice met the Captain’s gaze. “We’re at a place where we can preempt her or react to what she does. There’s not very many ways to act to head her off from trying to find the family for the Romulans. Short of an order from Starfleet Command, I suppose. Maybe Admiral Sependiyar…?”

Corvus gave a half shrug, “The Admiral could be a resource. I’m not sure what more he can do to stay ahead of Admiral Harshman, though. But we can read him into this and see what he suggests,” she agreed. Her relationship with the Admiral still wasn’t tight, but it hadn’t really been that long.

“I suppose he can’t act directly to stop her anymore than we can. All she has to say is she’s acting as any diplomat would by taking the meeting and listening to the offer. Can’t fault her for that - I would’ve done the same. So, if Honor and station Security can find the family first, we can take them out of play and this becomes a moot point. If Harshman, even out of curiosity, finds them first then we’ll have to react.”
“Agreed. Suggestions?” Corvus asked as she got the impression that head something in mind already.

Rice looked away. “I have an idea, but first. Where do you stand on the Korinn, Captain?”

The Captain cocked her head slightly, “The Korinn?”

“Yes,” he paused. He wasn’t keen on revealing his own feelings on matters - it limited options - but in this case he made an exception, “I believe we should help. I think it’s imperative that we do. The Federation has done a lot of running away from its ideals in the past decade. It’s time we stopped.”

“Helping the Korinn comes with a significant cost,” Corvus replied tightly. “The Pyrryx are not the sort to simply lay down and let us take it. It could lead to full scale war…. however…” she trailed off pensively. “... one could argue we already are at war. There’s simply been no declaration. The Pyrryx certainly do not hesitate to attack any Federation vessel they see and, for our part, presume that we will be attacked the moment we see one,” she frowned. “Were it not for that… yes, I believe we should help without question. But the strings attached to that ideal are could cause far more deaths than maybe you or I are prepared to admit.”

“I was told once that rare are the days when there is truly a right and a wrong. And rarer still are when they are without sacrifice.” He crossed his legs and tapped his knee for a moment, considering for a moment. “We need to stop Harshman, but we can’t stop Harshman. So, we need to get political.”

Rice paused again considering how much Corvus might actually want to know about his plan - not that he had much of one - or about his personal goal. That he was sure about. The Captain didn’t notice the look. “We need to erode the support she has in the Federation Council. Her sponsors are people who don’t like failures, don’t like to be embarrassed, and one that loathes Romulans.”

“You sound like you have a plan. So let’s hear it,” Corvus waved somewhat flippantly. While she could understand discretion she also didn’t like beating around the bush any longer than she really had to.

“I do. I do have a plan. The beginnings of one anyway. It’s not without its risks.”

DeHavilland sat forward a bit, “Admirals, Romulans, Pyrryx and politics. At which point in the conversation did you think I got the impression that this would all be ‘safe’?” she asked with a shake of her head. She was already dealing with so much that put her at risk so what was one more issue. What was one more pile of excrement to find herself covered in while trying to pretend to everyone else she wasn’t.

“I don’t mean risky for us. This is politics. As my grandma used to say, ‘Acid kills the ina raptor, not the Inronok.’” DeHavilland raised an eyebrow. Rice took that to mean he should get to the point, “I suppose you’d have to know about Trill zoology. Anyway, Harshman needs to find that family. Everything hinges on it.”

“Ok,” Corvus nodded.

“It’s all about leverage and right now all we have is a strange speech from a Romulan politician and some circumstantial clues as to what’s going on. Might as well be trying to move a two-ton boulder with a toothpick for all the good that’ll do us. So, she needs to find that family. Unless I’ve completely misjudged her, she’ll tell the senator exactly where they are. That’s all the leverage we need.”

“And how do you suggest we get that leverage, Mr. Rubens?” DeHavilland pushed. “Is there a more concrete plan you have in mind, or do I replicate a crystal ball for us to use?” she asked. This was exactly the reason why she wanted nothing to do with senior fleet level command or diplomatic process. The gamesmanship required to maneuver through all that was exhausting to her. She much preferred a foe she could look directly at. She understood the need for people like Rubens, but that didn’t mean she liked dealing with it.

Rice nodded, but then asked. “I don’t mean to be opaque, but I’m working off gut instinct. So, she’s got to find that family. Once she does, I suspect she’ll do what she always does and feed that family to the Romulans. They’re not Federation citizens, so she’ll have few qualms. We’ll need to get evidence of her collusion. Tracking her subspace communications is against Federation law, so I would suggest we get the evidence from the Romulans themselves.”

“Do you have a suggestion?” Corvus asked, feeling less and less confident about this by the second.

“We’ll have to find someone,” Rice shrugged as if it wouldn’t be that hard. It would be extremely hard and, quite frankly, he would end up leaning hard on someone to do it for him. The Captain needed plausible deniability, however, and he was glad to give it to her.

Corvus laughed sardonically, “Just that easy?” she asked, shaking her head.
“I wouldn’t say easy. I can approach some contacts via back channels. They have contacts who would be handy.” The lie was as smooth as the truth and he sold it with the biggest lie of all, “It’s all I can do. Should I get started?”

With a sigh, she nodded. “Yes. Do what you can, as quietly as you can,” she ordered carefully.