Brooding

Posted on Mon Apr 6th, 2020 @ 4:03pm by Commander Areinnye t’Vraen

977 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Prologue: Before the Inferno
Location: Personal Quarters, General's Office - 'Ssaedhe'

Kasca awoke suddenly from his restless slumber, sweating from head to toe, even given the fact the room was 4 degrees lower than Romulus standard. Wiping his eyes to try and clear his head, he realised he had struggled out of his shirt wrap. Walking over to the head to splash his face with water, he refused to look up at himself in the mirror above the modest sink.

The small state room he resided in was simple in it's fittings, and only lit with the exterior light of the stars from the small porthole window. As old as the ship was there were signs of previous inhabitants, marks on the wall, discoloured panels, small fixes to broken furniture. It made Kasca think of that he would only be a blip on the ship's life, a temporary passenger, that didn't make his mood better.

Contemplating for a moment the liquor he had in his locker, he thought better of it. Freshening up he donned his uniform, this time looking into the mirror, he straightened his bandoleer, and sheathed his knife. He may as well start his shift early, replicating a large glass of chilled Carallun, he savoured the tart citrus flavour and some semblance of alertness came to him.

Sitting at his modest desk space, he switched on his desk terminal, reading through the reports received overnight from the Flotilla, there were personnel reports, civilian incidents, training outcomes and one report of a fight between two technicians.

After an hour, cabin fever had started to creep up on Kasca, needing to go for a walk he figured it would be best to make a report to the General, taking the scenic route through the corridors of the old ship. Sounding the door chime to the General's office he stood at ease until admitted.

“Enter, Major.” said Dorvaela. “I don’t want to now how you came across the information for the patrol routes of the Navy, but I’m impressed. Not one scan, thus far” he praised. He looked up from his reports and took a hard look at the man. “ You look like Hnæv, Major. Are you ill?”

"You know better than to ask sir, I have my sources. Plus certain people in the Admiralty are quite predictable," Pilum said, before pausing for a moment and considering his response, "Perfectly fine sir. Did the navigation officer have any issue plotting the refined course?"

Dorvaela laughed, wrinkles deepening on his leathery face. “Let me give you a word of advice, Major. You need someone to tell your troubles to. Despite what these bastards have pumped into our heads, not everyone is out to get you.” He offered a smile to the stoic officer

“As for the new route, it’s fine...except that it dead-ends out in the middle of nowhere. Not only do we not have a destination, but other than this bucket, we have very few defenses. I hope the others come through, otherwise this might be a short trip” he said anxiously.

The Major raised an eyebrow, "I will take that under advisement General," He turned his attention to the Hand terminal that featured the map of the surrounding sectors, "It is unfortunate that most of this area is yet to be surveyed, the only ships that have passed through this area were Klingon, and I had better resolution on the scanner I had in Secondary school."

"What I wouldn't give for a wing of Raptor class ships or a Mogai cruiser, would greatly increase our chances and capabilities," Pilum continued. He had some small idea that there were some available, if one knew where to look or who to talk to, but it would be difficult to pull on those strings and get a result.

Dorvaela nodded his agreement as he sipped his tea. “At the moment, it feels like we are a herd of Hlai, waiting for the
Predator to strike. This ship is far from sufficient protection” he said

"I have been in discussions with Engineers through the flotilla to have them emit Neutron radiation from their vessels to emulate additional cloak signatures. Make us look like a harder target with a cloaked escort. But that ruse would not hold up very well. And having the ships spread apart to form a rudimentary Tachyon detection grid. Spreading the net too thin would make it difficult for us to protect them all, so too if we are attacked and the Hlai scatter," Pilum mused, still seemingly working through the problems.

“It would be nice if those damned civilian ships had cloaking devices. As it sits now, we will need to keep up the ruse of a quarantine flotilla full of convalescents that the empire would rather keep far away. How long until we reach the edge of Romulan space?” Asked the General.

"At this pace, around a week," Kasca said, not looking forward to being restricted to such a small ship for so long, he knew this would also be a sentiment shared by his Guard personnel. Getting some fresh ground under their boots was the best course of action, Kasca had also run the numbers on using the 'Ssaedhe' for advanced recon, and upon finding a suitable location start ferrying people ahead of the main group. The numbers did not lie in his favour, nor was it worth the risk to the remaining flotilla. He tensed slightly in frustration.

Kasca switched gears, coming to a slight attention, "If you would excuse me sir, I will see if there is any way I can amend that figure," he said, waiting for the small nod from the General, which was forthcoming as the older Romulan man studied the information in front of him. Kasca excused himself and set about finding his senior staff.


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General Dorvaela
Flotilla Prefect

Major Pilum
Guard Battalion Commander

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