Mission Briefing

[Cptn Elias Moore 0]

NX-05 Challenger

Mission Briefing -- February 12, 2156

 

Elias rematerialized and found himself staring at a translucent blue field of shimmering energy. Looking around, he noticed that the field was the forward face of a small box; the other faces were smooth white surfaces given a metallic sheen by the ample light emerging from four tubes in each wall corner. A small opening raised up in one of the walls was covered by another energy field. A grey cot was mounted near the floor against another wall.

 

Prison cell--one of the constants that could be recognized among any culture.

 

"Welcome to the Gia-Mesu, Captain Moore." The voice of Ambassador Miriola surrounded him, appearing to have no specific point of origin.

 

"Kidnapping a Starfleet command officer, Ambassador?" Elias answered as he seated himself on the cot. "We can add that to aiding the escape of the Bo-Fang soldiers that were in our custody. Your claim to this world is becoming more and more difficult to recognize."

 

"This world is a L'Traisan tomb. And the Bo-Fang are L'Traisans. We thank you for your assistance in locating the one and capturing the other. But Earth has no jurisdiction over either of these matters. You remain here now only as we will it; thus you will remain on our ship as long as your ships remain."

 

"Everyone's arguing claims and jurisdictions." Elias said. "I think the truth is that neither side has any real claim to this world. That's exactly how the Alliance wanted it. But rather than negotiate this fact peacefully, you give us silence when we try to speak, you kidnap us when we make concessions, and you hide behind falsehoods."

 

"Falsehoods, you say?" Miriola asked.

 

"The Bo-Fang soldiers you plucked out of our brig. Not really Bo-Fang at all, are they? They're agents of your government, sent here to bully us away when you learned the location of this tomb. You wanted us out of this system, but you wanted to deny any knowledge of what's really beneath Nequencia III. Because you do know what's really down there, don't you?"

 

"You speak nonsense."

 

"Bo-Fang interest in this planet, I could understand." Elias went on. "A cast-down house, looking to restore its former glory. What better way than with the very tools that were used to diminish that glory? But why, I wonder, would the L'Traisan government be interested in the secrets of Nequencia III? Maybe you were worried that we would dig those tools up and misuse them? That would be quite responsible of you... but you've hardly conducted yourself in a responsible matter here. No, I would guess that you plan to retrieve the secrets of Nequencia III for yourself... to what end I can only wonder."

 

Elias awaited a reply, but he received only a long silence. "If your people plan to use those tools, Ambassador," he continued. "It goes without saying what sort of instability you could cause in this region of the galaxy. The sort of instability that would most certainly fall under Earth jurisdiction."

 

"The only one speaking lies is you." Miriola finally answered in a stern voice. "Your welcome here does not extend beyond your quarters, so make no attempt to leave them. Do not bother attempting communication with your vessel; the Gia-Mesu is now protected by a dampening field. If you require anything of us, simply ask--your quarters are being monitored. Good day, Captain."

 

A click signalled that the comm had been cut. "My, what gracious hosts." Elias said as he lifted his legs onto the cot and stretched out. There was clearly no point in trying to escape his "quarters," so he could only enjoy this opportunity to relax away from his duties and wonder how his crew would deal with this situation...