Situation Report: Corianis

[Col. C.E. Harper 0]

Harper sat down at her desk and waited for the blue and silver UFP logo to be replaced by her contact. The face, when it appeared on the viewscreen, was tired, the room behind it dimmed to night-shift lighting. Station 215 must have been keeping local planetary time rather than Fleet-standard. "Admiral Mkory," she said carefully, "I apologize for the hour."

 

The craggy face of the Admiral didn't lighten any, but he did wave a hand. "Hazards of the pips," he said. "Which means, this is important, if my people sent the comm through."

 

"I have a report on the situation at Corianis, sir," she answered, with a slight nod. She'd had plenty of late-night calls as well, after all. "I'm afraid it's not good news."

 

Rubbing sleep out of his deep, brown eyes, Mkory exhaled deeply. "Should I get something to drink bad?"

 

She tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear, aware that her uniform was probably still dusty and smoke-stained. "The negotiations were bombed bad."

 

"Good thing I keep a flask in my desk," he said dryly. "Any idea by who?"

 

"We're not certain," she admitted. "The good news is that no one was killed in the bombing. The bad news is that while we were doing crowd control afterwards, someone -- probably the same someone -- touched off a riot."

 

Mkory nodded and leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers on the desk. "So, let me make sure I have this right. There was a bombing during the negotiations, and then a riot broke out. I have everything right, so far?"

 

"So far," Harper agreed, nodding slowly. "There was a protest during the negotiations, but that was peaceful. The bomb and the riot started in another part of the crowd."

 

"Right, and if I understood you properly, you don't have any leads, despite having two Federation starships assigned to the system, both with veteran crews, one with a ground-pounder as a CO, correct?"

 

"Not yet." She reached for a PADD on the desk, put it down again. "I've got teams on the surface working on that now, but we've only just contained the riot." A frown touched her lips at that. "Captain Calestorm's techniques leave something to be desired."

 

"Save it for your report, Colonel," he said with a slight edge to his voice. Marines. Softening only slightly, Mkory exhaled again and wiped his eyes again. "Very well. Planetary authorities should be able to carry out the investigation with your help."

 

"Presuming you mean the written report, sir," she replied, matching his tone. "I shall make certain it includes the use of tear gas on bystanders and fellow officers."

 

Part of him started to remind her that it was a non-lethal measure, but he decided that is was far too early in the morning for such a debate. "I look forward to your report, I am sure it will be interesting reading. However, Colonel, talking about it does very little to alleviate the situation that you were sent there to deal with in the first place, which is, that those dlithium mines need to be up and working."

 

"Can't be done," Harper answered flatly, resisting the urge to slump in her chair. "No one down there is interested in working together, and no one has any control whatsoever, even over their own people."

 

"Well, then, Colonel. What do you plan to do about it?"

 

She bit back a few suggestions that would have required even more inappropriate uses of force than Calestorm's stunt. "Kick it upstairs, sir," she said instead.

 

The bulk of his body moved forward and his head shook. "Not an option."

 

Continuing, Mkory's hid his own annoyance with the entire situation, and the directive he'd been given from Command that he deal with it. "Command has made their... feelings... on this very clear, Harper. We need to come to some sort of resolution on this."

 

"Admiral," she replied, trying for patience, "even with the Jackrabbit's help, there is no way we're going to be able to restore order on Corianis with the forces we have, short of martial law."

 

He tipped his head for a moment. "Well, then."

 

She sat, waiting for him to say more, until a dawning realization made her jaw drop. "You can't be serious."

 

"It's not even 0300 here, I don't joke till after at least 0600, Colonel."

 

"Well, it's 1500 here, and I do and was, sir!"

 

"Listen, I understand your objections, really I do; but from everything you've said, I think you've hit the nail on the head. If that's the only way to get them that mine working again, then that's the way it is going down."

 

Mkory's cragged face seemed even harder than it had been at the beginning of the conversation as he leaned backwards and straightened in his seat. "If this were peacetime, such a suggestion would be, as you said, a joke; but I think you know better than most commanders, it's not peace time. We're at war here and those blue sons of bitches are hitting us hard. We need that damned dilthium and we need it quickly. If the price we have to pay is our moral fortitude... Command has made it clear they have the checkbook out."

 

Harper wasn't rendered speechless often, but this was doing it. All she could manage, weakly, finally, was "The Agincourt can't stay here indefinitely."

 

If he had moral objections, they were clearly being pushed behind the sheer rock-face that Mkory had put on. Once it was clear that Harper wasn't going to argue much further, he softened somewhat. "Agreed, I am not going to tie up one of our few warships with a crew that's actually survived one of those attacks with this, however, it will take me a little bit of time to get a marine battalion sent out your way."

 

"Just to be very clear, sir. Are you actually ordering me to... to...."

 

He nodded. "I'll get you a hard copy of orders sent out before I go back to bed, but yes, Colonel. Under the Wartime Powers Act, I am granting you the authority to end this strike using whatever measures you deem required. If we don't have that dilithim, those miners won't have much of a Federation to file their complaints with."

 

Harper swallowed hard. "I understand, sir," she said quietly.

 

"I know it's going to put you a little short-handed, but would you agree that perhaps Captain Calestrom and crew should be on their way to pick up the Marines before you are required to carry out my orders?"

 

Harper rubbed her temples briefly. "If they leave us some of their ground force," she said. "They know the planet better."

 

"Understood, I'll include that in my orders, which you'll want to read fully."