Nisha Raishel

The small group of surviving bridge officers moved through the corridors with deliberate speed. Erickson had been smart enough to grab one of their guard’s comm devices to listen in on their attackers, so they knew the death of the guards on the bridge had been discovered. They had run into several of the terrorists groups and had lost their science officer in one of the fire fights. Fortunately they had also found other surviving crew members and their group had grown to 12. They had reached the deck containing the main shuttle bay and it looked less damaged than the rest of the ship. This was encouraging, but they knew the shuttle bay would be heavily guarded. One of the medical officers they had rescued from Sickbay was less than impressed with the situation. “I don’t understand! What do these people want? Why are they doing this?” Erickson looked over at Ambassador Raishel who nodded. “They are separatists from the colony moons. About a century ago Delvin colonized its 3 moons and they have been governed by Delvin ever since. The separatists want freedom and autonomy for the colonies. Business interests on Delvin that funded the colonization are blocking any concessions the Delvin government tries to make.” “But why involve us?” Another officer asked. “Several reasons. First we have been in talks recently to add Delvin into the Federation. Both the separatists and the business interests on Delvin expect the Federation to come in and put an end to the uprisings on the colonies.” “We wouldn’t do that!” the medical officer responded with shock. “No, we wouldn’t, but they don’t seem to understand that.” Raishel answered. “I was actually sent here to inform the Delvin government that we have rejected their application for membership until such time that these internal conflicts can be resolved. I told the separatist’s leader that but he obviously doesn’t believe me. In addition, the separatists no doubt hope that taking us hostage will force the Delvin and Federation governments to take notice of their demands. At the very least they probably hope this will derail Delvin’s entry into the Federation.” “The shuttle bay’s just ahead. Looks like 4 guards outside, no knowing how many inside. We can send a small group in on the top level to make sure it’s clear and provide cover while the rest of us storm in and secure the bay. With any luck the Ambassador’s Runabout is undamaged and we can get out of here.” Nisha listened quietly and nodded. She could tell Erickson wanted her out of the fight and for once Nisha was more than happy to accept that. She was still weakened by her little stunt on the bridge, or was she just getting soft? She frowned and took her position around the corner while Erickson led his teams into action. * * * * The separatists ship was no match for a fully armed runabout. Within a few minutes it’s shields were down, and a small group of security officers had beamed over and captured it’s bridge from the skeleton crew the separatists had left behind. “I’m reading power fluctuations from the Solaris Warp core. It’s become unstable, and will probably breech within the next 10 minutes.” “Well…” Nisha said with a wry grin. “I suppose I should begin negotiations with the Separatist’s leader. I’m sure he’ll be willing to discuss a way to end this within say.. the next 10 minutes or so…” * * * * “I wish you would reconsider Ambassador, Delvin IS ready for membership despite this appalling incident. Please do not abandon our request simply because of the actions of a misguided few.” Nisha and the Chief Magistrate of the Delvin ruling council walked slowly down the marble corridor, surrounded by magnificently carved pillars and large round windows that let the light of the 3 moons spill in from outside. “Moban, you KNOW this is not simply because of the incident. One of the primary requirements for membership in the Federation is resolution of internal struggle.” “But Delvin is a peaceful world! We’ve not seen conflict or war on this planet in centuries. The disorder is contained in the colonies, not here.” “But those colonies are a part of your culture Moban, we cannot ignore them and neither can you. You MUST resolve the conflict between Delvin and it’s moon colonies before we can consider another membership application.” Moban nodded. “Of course, in fact I agree with the decision, but I had to submit one last plea on behalf of the Corporate Advisory Committee.” “You understand that Committee is all that stands between your people and peace with your colonies. Your government gives too much power to them. A government should serve all the people, not just the wealthy and privileged.” Moban smiled “This is the Federations official stance on the nature of our government?” Nisha looked down a smiled a bit. “Perhaps not, just the overstated opinion of an arrogant Ambassador who tends to overstep her role.” Moban chuckled and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You have our best interests at heart, and I for one welcome your unofficial opinions. I hope we will meet again one day Nisha Raishel when my people have solved our internal problems and are ready to join a larger galaxy.” Nisha placed her hand on his and smiled “That is my wish as well Moban. Be well.” She stepped away and tapped her comm badge “Venture, one to beam up.” She smiled at Moban as she disappeared in a column of shimmering lights.

Nisha sat quietly and watched the terrorists who were holding her and the survivors of the Solaris' bridge crew captive. She watched each one in turn, taking in thier movements and noting thier behavior. She noted paterns as they emerged and made her assesments of each one. The first was also the most experienced as far as she could tell. He was the one thier leader had left in charge, and he stood silently watching his prisoners. Several times he noticed Nisha watching him and his comrades and glared at her, as if he knew her attentiveness was not something to be welcomed. He was the one on the left that she had mentioned to Erickson. All she needed to do was distract him a moment so Erikson could take him out, and she felt she could acomplish that with one of the others. The next gaurd paced back and forth behind the first. She was obviously agitated and nervous with the situation. She was smart enough not to question what her leaders were having them do, but Nisha could tell this one didn't like it at all. Not as experienced as the first, she held her gun tightly and did her best to control her twitching trigger finger. That Nisha could see it twitching from across the bridge spoke of her failure to control it. Nisha knew this one was dangerous. At the first sign of trouble she'd shoot first and ask questions later. This one had to be taken out quickly or someone else was going to die. That left the 3rd, a young man who seemed entirely bored with the situation. He leaned against the tactical station with his gun resting nearby. This one was confident but inexperienced. He figured the fight was already over and guarding the prisoners was just a formality. Young, untrained, and arrogant.. yes, this one would do nicely. "What are you going to do?" Erickson whispered. “Just be ready to take him out.” Nisha whispered back, settling down in a kneeling position and focusing her thoughts to the task at hand. What she was attempting was dangerous, but she saw no other way to swiftly deal with all 3 guards. Setting her gaze upon her target she inclined her head slightly forward, focusing her concentration on the young man’s unprotected mind. She felt the rush of power swell within her mind and clamped down upon it hard, fighting to control it and drive it to the task she was attempting. She winced slightly as the pain struck, but she had become somewhat accustomed to it, and knew that failure to ignore it would destroy her concentration, and possibly the mind the energy flowed thru. Having won the initial battle to control her raging telepathic abilities, Nisha engaged in the next skirmish. Her eyes became dilated as her gazed locked upon the young terrorist. She probed his mind and knew she had chosen her target wisely as she easily slipped in and took control. Before he even knew what was happening, the confused young terrorist had picked up his rifle and leveled it at one of his companions. The woman stopped her pacing and stared at him a moment. “What are you do..” Her question ended as a disrupter blast scorched her chest and threw her back against the bulkhead. The first turned to see what was happening, and in that moment of distraction Erickson acted quickly, pulling out the phasor and shooting him. That left Nisha’s victim, trembling and shaking, trying to fight his way free of the strange compulsions that had driven him to kill his comrade. Erickson quickly shot him as well. As the young man hit the floor, Nisha let out a gasp and fell to the floor herself. Erickson was at her side in a moment, lifting her up. “Ambassador, what happened? What did you do?” Nisha lifted her head slowly, her mind still clouded with intense pain. Blood flowed freely from her ears and nose as she looked up at Erickson and shook her head slowly. “It doesn’t matter.. we need to get to the shuttle bay.” Erickson frowned but nodded and turned to the rest of the bridge crew. “You heard her! Grab their weapons and lets move!" TO BE CONCLUDED

Ambassador Raishel lifted herself off the floor, glancing around at the carnage that had been the bridge of the USS Solaris. Judging from the damage, the shields had not been raised in time, and the explosion of the supposed ship in distress had caused massive damage. Nisha could only imagine what shape the rest of the ship was in, it was soon clear she was not the only one wondering. “Damage report!” The Tactical officer barked as he climbed back up to his station. Nisha looked over and saw that the Operations Officer was on the floor several feet away from his console. He had been thrown clear when the station exploded and was most certainly dead. She looked to her left and saw another body. Moving forward she placed her forefingers on the Captain’s neck and let out a sigh when she felt no pulse. “Ambassador?” The Tactical officer asked as he walked over to check on her. “I’m fine, Captain Mullen is dead.” Nisha replied, allowing him to help her to her feet. The Helm officer has a nasty gash to her forehead, but crawled into her chair nonetheless and tried to access her damaged console. “Helm is offline” she reported, standing to face the Tactical Officer who was obviously the ranking officer on deck. “I am rerouting sensors to secondary back ups.” A science officer at the back of the bridge reported. “We have hull breaches on multiple decks and plasma fires on decks 3, 4 and 5.” The viewscreen on the bridge sparked and was filled with static. Every few moments and image would try to form but was quickly disrupted again. A clear image came thru for a few moments, revealing a large cylindrical object. “What is that?” the Helm officer asked, staring. Nisha frowned and shook her head “That would be one of the Nacelles…” She turned to the Tactical officer, recognizing him. “Ensign Erickson isn’t it? You served on the Arcadia some years ago?” “It’s Lt Commander actually, and yes I did Ambassador, you helped me get through a rough spot when you were ships Counselor.” Nisha nodded “Your mother’s passing, I remember. Well Commander, you are the ranking officer on deck?” “Yes Ma’am, The First officer was off duty and most likely in his quarters.” “Well, we need to access the damage and determine our next course of action.” Nisha replied. “Yes Ma’am. Our priority is to the crew’s safety. Since we can’t confirm the ships integrity I was thinking we need to order the crew to abandon ship.” “A prudent measure, but we need to be careful. Whoever planted this little trap is no doubt..” Nisha was interrupted by the sound of a transporter beam. 6 armed men appeared around the bridge, leveling weapons at the survivors. The helm officer unwisely reached for a nearby panel containing a phasor, and received a deadly disruptor blast to the chest for her mistake. “That was stupid” One of the men said abruptly, “as you can see stupidity will result in a swift death. We are the Delvin Separatists Order and you are all our prisoners. You’re Federation is working with the Delvin Government to crush the independence of the Lunar Colonies. You will remain our prisoners until your federation forces the Delvin government to recognize our independence.” Nisha shook her head “I hate to dispute your obviously well thought out entrance speech, but we were sent by the Federation to notify the Delvin’s that we have rejected their application for Federation Membership.” “You can’t fool us with you’re lies.” Another growled. “Obviously not, so it stands to reason that I’m not lying.” Nisha remarked. The terrorist scowled and took a step forward but was stopped by the first speaker, who was obviously their leader. “There will be plenty of time to discuss this once we have rounded up the survivors of your ship and transported them to our base.” He turned to another of his people “You 3 stay with the bridge crew while we search the adjoining decks.” The bridge crew was gathered together and told to sit along the wall while the 3 armed terrorists covered them with their weapons. As she took her place Nisha looked over at Erickson. He was not the same timid young man she had known, but she could sense he didn’t have a clue as to how to get out of this situation. Fortunately she did. Seated with her hands behind her back, she waited until the guards were not looking directly at her and slipped the small hand phasor out of her frilled and fancy sleeve. She cautiously reached over and pressed it into Erickson’s hand. With the guards at the far end of the bridge discussing their victory, Erickson glanced over and whispered “You keep a phasor up your sleeve?” “I’ve lived a dangerous life” Nisha whispered back. “I intend to keep on living it. Be ready to take out the one on the left.” “What about the other two?” Erickson whispered. “Leave them to me.” Nisha replied quietly, calming herself and settling into a comfortable position to wait for the right opportunity.. TO BE CONTINUED

Ambassador Nisha Raishel sat quietly on the bridge of the Solaris as it dropped out of warp and began its approach to Delvin 6. She tried her best to contain her irritation as the Helm officer reported an orbital trajectory. The Captain, feeling her frustration (or simply feeling the heat of her glare upon his small rotund little head) looked over to her “We’re only 6 hours late Ambassador, I’m sure the Delvin’s will understand the delay” “I’m not sure I understand it Captain Mullen. If we had diverted thru Presper’s Expanse as I had suggested…” “I choose not to risk the expanse Ambassador; I thought we had resolved that discussion.” Nisha her best smile “Since we’re still discussing it, that thought was apparently erroneous. The dangers of the expanse are minimal, a crew of cadets could have compensated for the gravimetric currents” Nisha sighed inwardly; once again she was at odds with this Captain Mullen and his “play it safe” attitude. This attitude had seen him and his ship safely thru the Dominion Wars, but it also made this ship one of the least notable in all of Starfleet. She had angered many Admirals in her time in Starfleet, and she knew one of them was overjoyed to assign this ship and its crew to her delegation. She had requested the Arcadia, or the Ranger, or even the Enterprise would have done, but no, she was stuck with Solaris and its timid Captain. “Ambassador, I am the Captain of this ship and am responsible for..” “I am well aware of the responsibilities of a Ships Captain.” Nisha snapped. “As you’ve reminded me, may I remind you that those responsibilities are no longer yours!” Nisha was about to rip into him, but noticed the crew around them on the bridge and silenced herself. Regardless of what she thought of the man, this WAS his bridge and she was wrong to be questioning him in front of his crew. She composed herself, nodded and settled back into her chair. “My apologies captain, I’m sure I can explain the delay to the Delvin Delegation.” Mullen smiled at his success and sat back in his chair. “Helm, enter standard orbit. Open a channel to the planet and..” The Captains orders we interrupted by the Ops officer, “Captain, I’m receiving a distress call from a small vessel in orbit of one of the planets moons.” The Captain stood and walked forward “Can we open a channel?” “No sir, it’s an automated message. Sensors indicate multiple life signs on board. Their engines are damaged and their orbit is decaying. Estimated impact on the moons surface in 15 minutes.” The Captain nodded and walked back to his chair “Helm, plot an intercept course. Have transporter rooms stand by to beam their crew aboard” Nisha took in all the information intently and looked over at the Captain as he took his seat “Captain, if you read my briefing you know the dissidents on the Delvin Moons often use decoys to..” “Ambassador, I appreciate your input but I am fully capable of doing my job without it. Perhaps you should head back to your quarters and finalize your preparations for the Conference” “Captain.. this could very well be a trap, you have to..” “That will be all Ambassador, I’ve been willing to allow your presence on the bridge thus far but if you continue to interfere I will have you removed!” “Interfere? I’m trying to..” She met his glare and fell silent, knowing another word and he would expel her from the bridge. The IDIOT! Too timid to risk Presper’s expanse, but willing to waltz right into an obvious trap. Was this her fault? Was he being this careless just to prove her wrong? All she could do now was watch hope she WAS wrong. The Solaris approached the smaller vessel, still unable to contact them due to apparent damage to it’s comm systems. Quite convenient Nisha thought, but she restrained herself from saying it out loud. “Very well, bring us along side and prepare to beam the crew aboard” Summoning her most pleasant and calm voice, Nisha tried once more to emphasize caution. “Captain, may I ask that you at least scan the vessel for explosives?” The Captain stood proudly and shook his head “We’re not raw cadets Ambassador. My Science officer has already confirmed the absence of any explosive devices on the ship.” He turned to Ops and nodded “Beam their crew aboard” The Ops officer turned back to his station and nodded “Aye sir, initiating trans.. wait.. I’ve lost transporter lock..” “What do you mean you’ve lost it, reestablish lock and get them out of there.” The Ops officer franticly tapped at his console and shook his head “I can’t sir, the life signs are gone” Having heard enough Nisha jumped to her feet and dashed forward. “They must have been faked, this IS a trap Captain, get the shields up and get us out of here!” Captain Mullen stood silently and shook his head “No, why would anyone fake a distress call, this doesn’t make any sense.” “They’re terrorists!” Raishel countered “They don’t MAKE sense!” “But we found no signs of explosives, surely they can’t be a threat.” The Science Officer turned from her station “Captain, we’re reading a strange power surge in their engineering section.” “It’s their Warp Core!" Nisha yelled "They don’t NEED explosives! Raise the shields and get us out of here!”. “No…” Mullen said, still puzzled, “Surely the wouldn’t.” “RAISE THE SHIELDS!” She yelled once again, looking franticly back at the tactical officer. “Captain.. perhaps we should..” the tactical officer stammered, still waiting for his orders. “yes.. YES! Raise Shi..” His order was cut off by the explosion that slammed into the Solaris. Bodies flew as panels and consoles exploded, and the lights on the bridge flickered and grew dim. TO BE CONTINUED