A Cat's Tale

Posted on 16 Jun 2017 @ 1:45pm by Rear Admiral Harold Doolittle & Ensign Mimi
Edited on on 17 Jun 2017 @ 1:35pm

1,769 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Earth - Starfleet Command, Doolittle's Office (Room 1732)
Timeline: MD 02, 1300

ON:

After lunch Doolittle headed back to his office for the next scheduled interview. He was scheduled to speak with Ensign Mimi, an Operations Officer aboard the Galileo. Based on what he had seen in her personnel file she would seem to be a very...different...person, to say the least. She was of a species called the Nekomi, and apparently the only one known to be in the Federation.

"I'm betting this is going to be interesting," he said to himself as he reached to activate his combadge.

=/\= Doolittle to Ensign Mimi. Please report to my office immediately. Starfleet Headquarters, seventeenth floor, room 1732. =/\=

=/\= I am on my way Admiral.=/\= Mimi replied, the message could only have meant one thing, it was time for her interview, she was surprised it was so soon. Taking off towards the seventeenth floor she quickly arrived at room 1732 and tapped the chime.

"Enter..." Doolittle called out when he heard the chime.

Stepping through Mimi saw the Admiral sat at the desk. "Good afternoon Admiral." She said as she approached the desk and stood at attention.

As the door closed, Doolittle looked up to see a young, slightly built female standing in front of him. Vaguely feline in form, she reminded him of a Caitian who had once served as his yeoman. "At ease and have a seat, Ensign..." he said, indicating a chair in front of his desk.

Mimi relaxed slightly, pulled out the chair and sat down, her tail wrapping itself around one of the legs.

"I'm guessing you already know why you were called here," Doolittle began. "So we'll skip the formalities of explanation and cut directly to the chase. Why don't we begin by you telling me what you know about what happened aboard the Galileo while you were in the Paulson Nebula."

"I was at a backup station on the bridge as we were going through the nebula." Mimi started, she hoped the knocks to the head she'd taken wouldn't make her forget anything that could be important. "There was a lot of sensor interference but we found the Recluse and were about to dock with it when our communications became jammed. The Captain ordered Red alert and then we were hailed by the Klingon General Ko'rah telling us to surrender."

Doolittle nodded slowly as he listened to the young Ensign speak. He'd had enough experience with nebulas to know that sensor interference - especially if you were inside a nebula - was to be expected. "I see..." he said slowly. "And what exactly was the captain's response to that demand?"

"She said no." Mimi replied "And then we picked up three Klingon ships coming behind us. The Captain told the Klingons they were....." She tried to think of the word Lirha had used but she couldn't remember. "Going against the Khitomer treaty. Ko'rah ended the hail and his ships started firing at us."

"Going against..." Doolittle repeated, then realized what she had meant. "Oh, you mean that they were violating the terms of the treaty. He had been forewarned that Mimi sometimes had trouble with words and phrases in Federation Standard. "So what happened next? Did they immediately open fire on the Galileo?"

"They had to move a little first then started to fire on us, we tried to avoid getting hit and returned fire." Mimi said wanting to make it clear the Klingons fired first.

"Do you have any idea why they attacked the Galileo?" he asked. I mean, you were a science vessel. What could possibly have been their motive?"

"At the time we did not know their real motive." Mimi replied using the same word Doolittle had. "Us not surrendering made them attack."

"I'm guessing by your saying 'At the time...' that you later found that they did have a motive," Doolittle said. He spoke slowly on this subject because he understood that with Mimi there could be some confusion concerning language. "Are you able to tell me what this motive was?"

"We found out later from a Romulan that was the commander at Kreanus." Mimi began to explain, she assumed he knew what Kreanus was from other interviews but decided to explain anyway "A planet inside the nebula. That they wanted us to help with a.. politics problem they had. The Romulan did not want Ko'rah to attack us but he did."

"Oh really?" This was the first indication of any sort of motive had been indicated - at least to him. "Just what sort of political problem was that, Ensign...?"

"They wanted us to go to the Klingon homeworld and try to get them to stop looking for Ko'rah. They were sending ships into federation space to look for him. At least that is what we were told."

"Being that I'm not SFI, I'm not familiar with this Ko'rah," Doolittle admitted, his brow furrowing as he attempted to place the name if he could. "Please tell me what you know about him."

"I only know what the crew were told." Mimi started trying to remember the briefing they'd had back on Kreanus. "He was an important Klingon with a lot of people behind him, but something happened and now the high council wants him dead."

"So this other faction is trying to save this man Ko'rah? Do you have any idea why the Klingon High Council wants him dead?"

Mimi shook her head. "I do not know."

Doolittle felt that she was telling the truth when she said she didn't know about the Klingon so he changed his tactic just a bit. "Is there anything you can think of that might be helpful in identifying a reason that this group would want this man alive when it's so obvious that the High Council does not?"

"It did not matter in the end."

"Why do you say it didn't matter in the end?" Doolittle asked. "What happened?"

"Well." Mimi began then paused to think about it, "We all thought Admiral Saalm had died when the Galileo exploded but then we walked onto the bridge of a Klingon ship to go to the Klingon homeworld and she was there, alive and well."

"If she was not with the rest of her crew, how did she get aboard the Klingon ship?" Doolittle asked.

"The Klingons transported her off at the last moment." Mimi replied. "And while she was getting better she made a.... deal with the Romulan commander and the Klingon high council to give them Ko'rah."

"Oh really?" Doolittle seemed surprised that Ensign Mimi had revealed something that could prove to be so damaging to her commanding officer. "What sort of deal did she make with the Romulan commander? What did they - or COULD they - offer that would be of benefit to Admiral Saalm?"

"I don't know, the reason for us going to the Klingon homeworld was to get them to stop sending ships to look for the general, so maybe that, things got very strange while we were on the Klingon ship."

"Strange? In what way?" he asked. "Tell me what happened that you thought was strange."

"It turns out Ko'rah was behind us in his own ship, some of his people on board our ship led by one called Chorag tried to take over our ship." Mimi decided not to mention the involvement of Miraj in the mutiny.

"I'm not very clear as to why his people were aboard your ship,"
Doolittle said. "Could you please explain that?"

Mimi nodded. "There were not enough of us to crew the ship on our own and only a couple of us could read Klingon. Plus they were there to make sure we did what we were told to do, not take the ship and fly away with it."

Tell me about this one called Chorag," Doolittle said as he leaned back in his chair. "Why did he want to take over the ship?"

"I never talked with him." After what had happened on Kreanus she'd tried to stay away from the Klingons "But with Ko'rah behind us I think he had a plan of his own so had Chorag try and take over our ship."

"I see..." Doolittle said quietly as he contemplated what the young ensign was saying. "So what - or perhaps I should ask who - prevented him and his cohorts from taking over the ship?"

Mimi had almost no choice now to talk about Mirja's involvement. "Chorag tried to get our pilot Ensign Miraj Derani to help in the takeover. She agreed because she had no choice, but she was able to let security know just as the takeover was to start."

"I'm assuming she was coerced into aiding them," Doolittle said slowly. "Exactly how was she forced to help them, if you know."

"I do not know. I would like to believe she had no choice but to agree but you will have to ask Ensign Derani herself." Mimi's ears twitched as
she spoke.

Doolittle filed the name away for future reference. Ensign Derani was not on his list, but perhaps he should make it a point to interview her for his own edification.

"How long after this attempted takeover began, did it take security to regain control of the ship, Ensign?" Perhaps the amount of time would give him an indication as to how intent the renegades were on actually taking over. Was that really their intent, or did they have another agenda that they had been attempting to mask?

"I am not sure. There were a lot of things happening on the bridge with Chorag, Ko'rah's ship and then the Klingon council ship. It was hard to keep track of everything."

"I'm sure it was," Doolittle agreed. He could remember his days riding the center seat of a starship. When you were in battle, or any other tense situation for that matter, minutes could seem like hours - or vice versa. "Is there anything else that comes to your mind that you think I should know?" he asked.

"No Sir." Mimi said shaking her head.

"In that case, I'd say we're done here for now," the admiral said as he laid his PADD on the desk in front of him. "I may need to speak to you again later, but until then please remember that you are to discuss these proceedings with no one else."

"I understand." Mimi nodded slightly "Is there anything else Sir?"

"No, that will be all for now," Doolittle said. "You're dismissed."

[OFF]

============

RAdm. Harold J. Doolittle
Starfleet Bureau of Personnel
Starfleet Command

&

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer
USS Galileo

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