Vantages

[Cmdr Ba'alyo 0]

Commander Zen Ba'alyo rested his arm behind his head, propped against the firm pillow of his bunk. According to Reed, the ship had entered Federation space and was working its way toward the Obalarin system. Captain Zareh of the Cepheus had chosen his vantage well. As a cartographer himself, Ba'alyo made it his business to be versed in the astronomical features of any neighborhood he ventured into. For practice, he plotted his own course, sketching our a trajectory similar to the one Reed had charted. He was pleased to find his skills hadn't yet atrophied.

 

Thinking of the navigator made his smile, recalling her give and take with the helmsman M'Guire. For all their bickering, they seemed to work well together - neither wanted to make a careless error that would be source for the next round of derision. Still, if the banter rose to interfere with bridge duties, it would be his job to rein it in.

 

But it wasn't astrogation or crew interaction that occupied his thoughts as he put off sleep. The Ambassador's sudden ailment, coincident with the Elasian's abrupt delay in talks and hasty fleet movements toward Troyian space, was troubling. He wasn't inclined toward conspiracy theories, but galactic politics seemed to be drilling it into him.

 

Ambassador Praan was stable, according to Doctor Juno's account, but cross-department teams were still investigating the root cause of his collapse. Poldara and Freeman had confirmed it was not a result of the transport itself, which meant something had happened on the Valerin, flagship of the Regent. As Akoval had noted, that kicked the mystery into his domain, as well.

 

So their mission had gone from simple diplomacy to stealthy intelligence gathering. The captain was making the right move, he agreed. While close ties to Troyius, the Federation might be obligated to intervene. If hostilities erupted, Starfleet needed to know its commitments.

 

Through he had every faith in Starfleet abilities to defend the Federation, it was true that fewer ships operated along the border region - a token of goodwill toward the Klingons. The peace dividend had freed them for what was being called a new era in exploration, rivaling one led by the Constitution-class in the 2260's. But it did reduce the presence along these formerly-contested border worlds. Were the Elasians using the lapse to make a bid for empire? The diplomatic meeting had certainly demonstrated the military gains they'd achieved through trade of their mineral wealth.

 

Zen shifted, trading which arm propped up his head. With their known belligerence, it was easy to ascribe motives to the Elasians, but his conjecture couldn't determine why they would want to disrupt their own talks.

 

Were there other parties interested in keeping the Elasians from improving relations with the Federation? Challenger had exposed a Romulan ship operating just one sector away from the Tellun star system. What were they doing so far in Federation space? Did they have some interest in keeping the border destabilized? On the other hand, the Klingons had strong demand for Elasian dilithium, until the destruction of Praxis had curtained their military outlays. Could they be looking to keep the Federation from picking up what had been a valued trade partner?

 

Zen drew a deep breath, realizing he fallen into thoughts of conspiracy again. Maybe it was as simple as two squabbling species who wasted away their future, too concerned about their past.

 

He rolled to one side, fluffing the firm pillow. He relaxed, settling into sleep. At least they could count on the Organians to prevent an outbreak of war.