[Tiberius] Discordant Ensemble (part 2)

Posted on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 @ 8:18am by Miral Annhwi & Alvar Walder
Edited on on Fri Feb 1st, 2013 @ 8:32am

858 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: The Enemy Within: Typhon is Missing!

ON

'Or perhaps there was no mastermind?' Bennett said gently. 'There isn't always a conspiracy to bring a society to its knees. Sometimes the people do that themselves - look at Yugoslavia in the late 20th Century. Milosevic began pumping Serb nationalism, which pushed the other groupings in the union to move away, culminating in a series of wars that rocked the area well into the 21st Century. A man says one thing, and unwittingly begins the process ... '

"True. It is unclear exactly what happened. The command of Typhon switched hands and the colonists were mostly left to their own devices. Damron was off-world a great deal. The last report was that everything was fine. Then, the unrest began. I personally think that someone or something was introduced into the equation. Damron doesn't fit the profile, but I don't know enough about the new dynamics to hazard a guess as to who it could be," Sam said.

"Commodore. I realize that the Federation does what it can to prevent any internal unrest as is happening on this colony, but any intervention will mean of taking sides. How can this not violate your Prime Directive as such a civil unrest would mean as you call it a natural and evolutionary growth of a civilization?"

'Because the Prime Directive doesn't apply here,' replied Bennett, pleasantly surprised that the Romulan knew something about Federation external policy. 'There are Federation colonists down there, one of the factions, and we're moving in to help. Hopefully we'll be able to negotiate an agreement that's fair to all parties, and whomever's responsible for the civil war, perpetrating crimes against civilisation and the like will be punished regardless of which side they were on.'

"And this is why the initial diplomatic contingent consisted of members of multiple races. It was not merely a Federation coalition," Miral said quietly from the back.

Trying to hide his grimace, Bennett nodded. 'Yes. Just in case.' He was hazy on the details - he'd not questioned Admiral Burke on them - but it sat distinctly uneasily in his stomach that Romulans had been asked to take part. There was no telling as of yet what they were up to.

Tan'Ru knew the Ambassador was back there, but she did not know why. More than likely the Ambassador is here under orders from the diplomatic branch to make sure that she does not say anything regarding the assault by the marines. Whatever the reason, Tan'Ru has a mistrust in any politicians or ambassadors. Yet she still had her duty to protect these ryak'na .

The shuttle dropped through the atmosphere in a graceful curve, coming in fast across the ocean towards the southern continent. Throwing a glance at the sensors, Bennett could see that the silicates that laced the southern desert into which they were headed were already messing with the sensors. Readings were hazy at best.

'You got the coordinates they transmitted to use?' he asked Page.

Mountains loomed far to their left. Like most of the landscape that was racing beneath them, the mountains looked dry and dessicated. Spiny was what came to Bennett's mind. The sand directly beneath them stretched bony-white from the ocean shore and deep into the interior.

As they advanced inland the sand changed colour, became a deeper, golden colour, and there were even hints of foliage dotted around a few oases. Those were sparse signs of life.

'Why does anyone bother building in the desert?' wondered Bennett aloud. A pipe snaked across the land beneath them. A water pipe from the readings. 'It's such an effort to maintain life here,' he carried on, pointing at it.

"I can see it if there's no place else, but when the planet is two-thirds wilderness, it doesn't make much sense," Sam agreed. "Unless the inhabitants are from a desert world and prefer it this way?"

"It is sometimes the case that the areas that look most benign to the untrained eye are in fact the most hostile," Lestari had in mind the unpredictable seismic activity that both created and plagued the lush valleys on the Denera continent of Delta IV, but rendered ninety percent of a vast continent uninhabitable except to highly specialised life forms, "other times, such a choice is made because the inhabitants are not fond of visitors."

"Not always. We Romulan's have homes in Deserts and frozen tundra for the sole purpose of being a part of the planet. Anybody can live in lush plant life, but it takes a special people to live in the harshest of conditions. Even better than what the Klingon's claim. I expect finding a proud people living in this kind of land." Tan'Ru smiled thinking about that possibility.

She got up and walked to the Ambassador. "Do you require any armed security escort Ambassador?"

(To be continued...)

Captain Curzon Bennett
Commanding Officer
USS Jefferson

Commander Samantha York
Executive Officer
USS Jefferson

Lieutenant Felix Page
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Jefferson

Tan'Ru Hrienteh
Temporal Scientist
USS Jefferson

Miral Tal'Aura Annhwi
Romulan Ambassador
Starbase Typhon

Lieutenant Lestari Cheten
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Jefferson

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