SD 241301.13 JL | Dar, King, Ducati, Sov'aal | "Meeting the Governor"

Posted on Mon Jan 14th, 2013 @ 2:11am by Captain Olan Dar & 2nd Lieutenant Jasmine Garza & Lieutenant JG Alexia Ducati

2,020 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Romulan Ale.. I mean Aide
Location: Romulan Colony
Timeline: Prior to "Connecting the Dots"

As the haze of the transporter beam dissipated, Olan glanced around the colony. The reports from the away team were fairly accurate. It was hardly well put together but seemed to suit the needs of the people.

Olan glanced to King and nodded, leading the way into the colony to locate the Governor.

Ellis nodded for the other Marine to be in the back with the diplomat in between him and the captain while Ellis was up front with Dar his rifle laying across his chest but finger on the trigger. "I don't have a good feeling about this." Ellis said quietly but loud enough for Dar to hear him.

Lexi on the other hand was a nervous wreak she was taking deep breaths to keep her self calm. {You can do this they're just snobby Romulans.}

Olan nodded to King, "It's your job to have bad feelings, just be calm." he noticed several of the Romulan colonists doing the whispered message passing thing as they moved down one of the dirt streets, "Somehow I don't think Lansine managed to arrange a meeting for me. I wonder what happened."

Ellis kept his eyes peeled ready and willing to shoot anyone or anything down. "How are you holding up peace talker?"

{Peace talker?} Lexi wasn't sure if she should be offended or not. "I'll be just fine!" She said hoping with confidence in her voice.

Governor Sov'aal had no idea what this 'meeting' was about. From the sound of the request it was not an update on the colonies supplies or the illness. he met the Human Officers in the street. "Gentlemen, If you want to come inside, I have some refreshments set out for our parley."

Ellis grabbed his rifle a little tighter and slightly brought it off of his chest. Knowing if they refused the offer things would go downhill quickly from there.

Sov'aal eye shot to the Marine. "I am not certain what you plan to do with that rifle sir, but I assure you it will not be needed." he paused then turned to captain Dar. "I have made sure that every hospitality was afforded to you and your officers. Will you do me the courtesy to tell me why this man is so anxious?"

Captain Dar glanced at King, clearly displeased, "Stand down, Captain." he had warned him repeatedly to remain calm and nonthreatening and within moments of meeting the Governor he's shifting his weapon as if he expects to use it.

Olan motioned Alexia inside and turned to King, "A word." he pulled the two Marines aside to have a quick discreet chat, "I understand your unease but I warned you. Now you will remain outside." he then added in a whisper, "Have the ship activate pickup only on my commbadge and listen in."

Lexi wasn't thrilled that she was stepping through first quickly looking around the room like she always did. Looking for any exits besides the entrance that she walked through.

Ellis just nodded he wasn't gonna fight his Marine instinct on this particular assignment. He took up a position near one of the windows while the other Marine remained near the door.

Olan left the Marines as they were and moved back to the Governor, "Shall we" he said, "The Captain means no offense, he is just concerned about my presence on a Romulan colony given the current political climate."

"Of course." Sov'aal nodded. "The Political climate is exactly the reason we ventured out on this undertaking Captain. I can understand your crew's concerns. Please." he motioned for the Officers to enter before him in a sign of respect. "Once inside He turned to them. What can I do for you?" he asked as he poured a drink for each and offered them a plate of fruit. "I understand this drink is somewhat similar in nature to terran coffee. I would of course have offered you fresh fruit rather than replicated, however I wish to air on the side of caution in regards to food stuffs."

"None for me, thank you." Olan politely declined the offer, "I felt it was time to meet with you directly. I understand that there has been some progress with the investigation into the illness affecting your colony."

He glanced to Alexia, "This is my diplomatic officer, Lieutenant Alexia Ducati. She helps to keep me from making a fool of myself." he gave her a little smile, hoping to break some of her nerves.

The Governor nodded and set the cup and plate aside for the Captain and looked toward the other Officer to confirm she declined as well. he sat behind his desk. "So i am told." he paused for a moment. "But I am forced to think that that is not the only reason for your visit Captain."

Lexi gave the Romulan a small nod, "how long have you been settled here?" She asked politely but also making it sound like she was just curious as she started putting together a timeline in her head.

"It has been approximately 10 months by your calender." Sov'aal replied.

Lexi nodded making some quick calculations in her head. It would've been very close to opening days of the Romulan conflict. But she couldn't say anything about it not with the Romulan being right there. "Interesting........is there a reason you chose this particular planet?"

Olan jumped in to offer some clarity, "We're curious about the circumstances of your colony. Our engineering team has noted a distinct lack of typical colony equipment, generally the heavier stuff meant to properly build infrastructure. No doubt you've had a harder time than some without it."

"There was another ship along with ours. It set out two weeks after ours. It was supposed to meet up with us after we set up the colony residences. It never arrived. When you showed up in orbit. We had hoped you were our sister ship." It was a lie. But he hoped he would not have to discuss the events of their arrival at this planet.

The explanation Sov'aal provided had enough truth in it that it could all be true but Olan would still have to agree with Robert's earlier assessment that something wasn't right. However, he did not feel he had enough to outright question the Governor's statement.

"We did discover a wreak in the outer system. The ship was big enough to carry the necessary equipment and additional people. I'm afraid it doesn't look like anyone could have survived." he said, watching the Romulan carefully.

Lexi just listened allowing the Captain to speak and ask the questions. She was impressed by the way the Romulans could convey light lies as truth and make them sound incredibly truthful and at the same time it completely terrified her.

Sov'aal lowered his head slightly. I was afraid something like that statement would be true. "Did they suffer captain?" He asked as he thought about the kinds of deaths they would have faced under such an attack.

"It is hard to say. It appears many on board died when the hull was breached." he said with sincere sympathy. It seemed that the Governor was being sincere as well on this topic. It posed some interesting questions about the circumstances here.

Suddenly one of the local security officers burst into the office, "Governor!" he glared at the Starfleet officers as he approached the desk, "Starfleet is flying combat craft over the colony! We have armed to prepare for invasion!"

Sov'aal stood up with enough force to knock his chair backward. "What!!??" He was all for being hospitable, afterall; he and his colony had turned their backs on the Empire such as it was. For the Federations to do something like this..? "What is the meaning of this Captain?"

Unless the Marines decided to fly the entire squadron over the colony for some reason the only thing Dar could think of causing this reaction was the survey mission Landon was flying.

"There is no invasion, Governor." Olan said, trying to keep the pitch of his voice down at a calming level, "There are minerals in the ground that prevented us from getting a proper orbital scan of the area so we had to send down a ship for a closer survey of the planet."

"Surely you have craft better suited for that task captain than military fighters. " Sov'aal replied. "We may be simple colonists now, But we are not gullible." He said nodding to his aid. Two armed militia men entered the room from an adjoining room. Two more would be by now approaching the marines outside.

Olan raised a brow at the new arrivals, "True. The ship is a runabout with an advanced sensor suite." he stood, "You may not be aware but the Federation is at war. Not with the Romulans though and I'm certainly not about to start one by invading your colony. A fighter escort is prudent in war time."

"And besides, Governor. What possible reason would I have to invade your colony? Especially after spending the time and resources to investigate the illness killing your people?"

As much as his years of distrust of Federation Officers effected his thoughts, he had a hard time arguing with the Human. "Then this is a simple miss understanding is it?" He asked cautiously.

Olan nodded slowly, "It is. I assure you I have no interest in a conflict."

"I will accept that." he nodded to the guards. "You have acted with more honour than what I had expected from your people Captain. I will not start a conflict when one can be avoided."

Both Ellis and the other Marine raised their weapons when they saw the guards coming forwarded. Ellis removed one hand off his weapon to open the door, "Captain we've got company he shouted into the building.

Dar raised a hand toward the marines, "It's alright, Captain. Everything is under control." he looked back to the Governor, "With luck the scans the runabout took will be able to give us more information about the spread of this toxin or whatever it is. I'll make sure the information is shared. Who knows, you may find a better source of materials for your mine."

Lexi looked around nervous and slightly moving behind the Captain knowing that she should've moved more in front of him to keep him safe but than again that was what the Marines were for.

Ellis lowered his weapon slightly but still kept his finger on the trigger and moving closer to the door making sure the other Romulans had to go through them before they could get into the building.

"One other reason I did come down was to speak with my First Officer, Commander Lansine. We've had trouble contacting him due to the same interference that hampered our sensors. I don't suppose you know where I can find him."

"Last I had seen your Commander, he was taking a team into the mines with my foreman." the Governor replied

Olan nodded and wondered how long Robert would be considering he was staring down the barrel of orders taking the XO back to Earth, "Well I'm sure he'll surface soon enough."

Olan left the building and paused with the group once they were clear. He glanced around then loomed to Alexia, "I think that went well. Don't you?"

"Yes in the sense we weren't shot or attacked.......but he was lying about a lot of stuff......he knew about the derelict and exactly what happened to it." Lexi said not holding back.

"Well that was the point of this little visit after all." the Captain admitted with a slight smirk to the group, "Now though, we really must find Commander Lansine."

"Sir......I can help you with that." Sarah said walking up, "Private King; the last I heard he was checking out some of the side streets and that's when we lost contact with him."

"Alright, show me." he looked to Ellis, "Keep your eyes peeled." then looked back to Sarah and nodded for her to lead the group to Rob's last known location.

=/\=

 

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