A Morning Brief

[Cptn Corizon 0]

While the Excalibur heads towards the Newel system, and Camelot heads towards Avalon, the Scorpiads continue to hold the wormhole, but for what purpose?

 

Chief Scientist Cl-niik moved as swiftly as all four of his walking legs could carry him across the breezeway between the command complex and the research complex of the small base that had sprung up in the Irdan system. The short (even by mammalian standards) white-gold Scorpiad was late for his morning meeting with General N’Karittt and he didn’t want to keep the Androct waiting.

 

Moving through the sliding doors, he clamored quickly up a ramp and down a corridor, making several turns until he arrived in the meeting room. Shuffling datapads between arms he looked up to see N’Karittt waiting patiently.

 

Cl-niik was less than a half-dozen cycles old—a few hundred years—and he’d never been in charge of such an important project. He found himself more than a little nervous every time he had a meeting with N’Karittt, who was widely considered to be one of the most powerful non-Emri in the entire empire.

 

“Forgive my tardiness,” Cl-niik said between breaths.

 

N’Karittt waved a claw dismissingly and put some sort of small insect into his mandibles, crunching between them and sucking the liquefied remains into his mouth before speaking. “No apology needed, I was just having a bit of breakfast; may I interest you in a Dallink Beatle?”

 

“No thank you,” he said politely, though he wanted to take the General up on the offer. “I suppose you’d like a full report on the wormhole project?”

 

“That is why you’re here,” N’Karittt said as he put another of the insects to his mandibles with a crunch.

 

Unphased by the crunching sound, Cl-niik handed N’Karittt a datapadd across the small table and cleared his auditory pathway. “As you are aware, it takes a great deal of energy to operate the nurseries needed to produce our vessels—especially the large warships.

 

“In the past, we’ve been dependent upon harnessing the energy of the Yunari Protostar to provide this enormous amount of energy. However with the collapse of the Protostar some months ago, we’ve been unable to find a suitable replacement for powering the nursery facilities.”

 

N’Karittt motioned his acknowledgement of the information; most of it he’d already been briefed on, but he knew that the young Mari needed encouragement if he were to become a strong and productive member of the Empire, and being an attentive listener, letting the Mari believe he was hearing much of this information for the first time would provide him with a bit of confidence.

 

“The wormhole,” Cl-niik continued, “is the first source of suitable energy we’ve been able to find in the entire quadrant; which is why this project is of such importance to the Empire; because so long as we are unable to power the nurseries, we are unable of growing new vessels; putting us in a weakened position during the height of a military conflict.”

 

“And how is the project going?”

 

“As you’ll see in my report,” Cl-niik said as he motioned to the datapad he’d handed to N’Karittt, “We’ve encountered only a few minor difficulties with the harvesting process, but are otherwise on schedule to begin stockpiling the energy by the targeted date.”

 

“Excellent,” N’Karittt said as he flipped through the information. “And what of these ‘wormhole aliens’ that we’ve heard reports of?”

 

Shifting his weight between legs and expanding his body as he took a deep breath, Cl-niik looked towards N’Karittt. “Apparently they are some sort of non-corporeal species that infests the wormhole. They style themselves ‘the Prophets’ and portend to be deities to a race of people known as the Bajorans…”

 

“The species that inhabits the planet we’ve secured in sector 45?”

 

“Yes,” Cl-niik affirmed. “There homeworld is at the terminus of the wormhole.”

 

“And what effects will harvest have on these aliens?”

 

“Unknown at this time, but we are conducting a study on the matter. Preliminary examinations tend to suggest no ill effects to our operation, but an unusually high number of simulations do project fatal results for the aliens themselves.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Should I investigate the possibility of a less invasive procedure with a lower risk to the indigenous aliens?”

 

“That would cause a delay I assume?”

 

“Most likely.”

 

“Then no. We cannot afford delays. Without the assurances of renewable forces we’re unable to commit our own forces to the destruction of the Dominion.

 

“The Al-Ucard and Eritans, while loyal servants, do not have the capability to conduct a full scale war against the Dominion. And until we are assured of the ability to recoop our losses, they will stand alone. But they can only stand so long before they break. So as I said, we cannot afford delays.”

 

“I assure you there will be none.”

 

“Very well,” N’Karittt said. “I am sure you have things to be doing?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You’re dismissed then,” the elder Scorpiad said with a wave of a claw. “I expect a detailed report of your findings on the wormhole aliens.”

 

“As you Command.”