What Now?

Posted on 20 Oct 2012 @ 9:01am by Amril & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

816 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD 01 - 0830 hrs

[ON]

Sitting at her desk with the lights flickering above her, Lirha stared intently at the small LCARS monitor. It had been barely functioning but a quick reroute of some non-essential systems had allowed her to send out the required coded messages to Starfleet. With the help of the communications equipment from Vega Colony's emergency craft, she had been able to inform her superiors of all that had recently transpired, and reinforcements had been mobilized and would hopefully arrive soon.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door chime sounded, and she tapped on her keypad and watched the screen go blank as she turned her attention towards the door. "Enter." she called out.

One side of the door opened most of the way, the other stopped halfway, still leaving enough room for Amril to slip through. The vorta appeared relatively unharmed by the ordeal everyone had been subjected too; there was certainly no loss of exuberance in his demeanor.

"Ah, captain," he said with his usual smile, "that was nicely done. I hear the crew loss was relatively low. Very commendable."

Lirha watched as her newest Operations crewman squeezed through the broken door's opening, appearing jubilant as ever. "Yes, it could have been much worse. I'm constantly surprised by how resilient our engineers build our starships." she replied, then leaned back in her chair and pulled her hair back behind her ears into a pony tail. "Please have a seat, how can I help you?" she asked, motioning towards a vacant chair.

"Well, I've been considering my fate," Amril admitted, taking a seat, "something I have never had to do before. I should like to know what Starfleet intends to do with me. I did not leave the Dominion to spend years in a high-security prison being 'debriefed' by overeager young adjutants in Starfleet Intelligence."

Suppressing a yawn, she briefly thought about what might be in store for the Vorta. No doubt he would probably spend significant time with Starfleet Intelligence who would want to know the exact details of everything which had happened to him, but from there... well, she wasn't certain. "I'm not sure." she replied honestly, looking into his very blue eyes. "I would assume you would have to pass a series of evaluations and interviews before Starfleet deemed you a non-security risk... but as to the nature of your asylum, that will probably be up to the flag staff," she added.

"Have you been ordered to hand me over to Starfleet Command?"

"No, not as of yet. I have the feeling that Starfleet is rather occupied with retrieving Project Sienna at the current moment, but I can't speak for any future orders they might give me." she explained.

"I'm sure there are some members of Starfleet who do not forget all these..." he gestured with one hand towards himself, "extra details. You have a competent intelligence officer, perhaps you might suggest I can more easily be studied here? I would be willing to submit to a debriefing aboard the ship of course."

Lirha reached up with a green hand and pushed a stray lock of hair from the side of her face, then drummed her fingers on the tabletop for several long moments as she considered the Vorta's proposal. Though he had only been on board Galileo for a few days, he had been an immense help configuring Sienna and she didn't really want to see him be taken from her ship and subjugated to what she knew would probably be a long series of interrogations. At least if he was aboard her ship, she could keep an eye on his well-being. "I see your point, and would actually prefer to have you remain aboard Galileo." she finally said in agreement. "Would you like me to speak to Lieutenant Coleman and see if she agrees?"

"Ah, I should like that very much, captain," the vorta declared, brightening more than he already was. "You are most understanding."

"Yes, well... just don't make me regret this decision, Mister Amril." she cautioned. "For now, I will defer my report to Starfleet until you have met with the lieutenant, but I expect you to be honest and upfront with any questions she may have for you."

"Naturally, captain." Amril folded his hands and gave the captain a slight bow. "If you have no more need of me, I will go assist in organizing the repairs."

Lirha nodded and waved with her hand, indicating for him to dismiss himself when ready. "Of course. I think we need all the help we can get, at the moment." she said.

"Then I will leave you to your work." Amril smiled as he turned around and left the damaged door buzzing behind him. He was in.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Amril
Vorta Defector
USS Galileo

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