"Mess Hall Musings"

[Kestra 0]

"Mess Hall Musings"

 

(a conversation between NPCs)

 

 

 

“What was that all about?” Harris watched as the dark haired lieutenant threw something into the trash recycler and stormed out of the mess hall.

 

Alayne shrugged dismissively. “I’ve heard she’s dated half the men on the ship.” She looked over accusingly to the science officer sitting to her right. “Seya, I thought you were going to tell us what happened on the bridge.”

 

Seya took a sip of her water and then paused. “There’s not much to tell. It’s obviously a trap. No one would just leave a fleet sitting around like that, unless they wanted to really draw us in.”

 

“But you said there were Klingons,” Harris reminded her, turning back around. “How is that even possible?”

 

“Not just Klingons,” Seya said as she leaned in closer to the other two tauntingly. “Breen.”

 

“Breen?” Alayne regarded her skeptically.

 

“I’m telling you that’s what I heard,” Seya continued. “I don’t know much more than the name though. But I had the impression that no one else really did either.”

 

Harris leaned back in his chair. “So we’ve got an abandoned UFP fleet, Klingons showing up out of the blue—”

 

“A Klingon ship, not necessarily Klingons,” Seya corrected him.

 

“—A Klingon ship, an unknown ship you’re calling ‘Breen’, and then whatever is on that god-forsaken planet,” he finished.

 

“Why do I get the feeling the UFP isn’t doing so well?” Alayne asked with a smile curving on her face.

 

“Other than the fact that they have an entire fleet sitting around abandoned?” Seya rolled her eyes and took another sip of water.

 

Alayne ignored her and turned to Harris. “Think about it. If these are Klingons, where have they been? What have they been up to? They haven’t been aiding Duren, obviously.” She saw that she had her colleagues’ attention and continued. “Then there’s that other ship, the Breen. There is a strong chance that they were either allied with Duren or strongly considering it. Maybe something went wrong.”

 

“And they took out the entire Third Fleet? Where are the bodies, then?” Seya was wholly unconvinced.

 

“Maybe it was the Klingons.” Harris said. “We still don’t know what is, or was on People’s Head. What if the Klingons have been hiding out there? What if they have control of something, some weapon?”

 

“And they used it on Duren’s ships?” Seya was being drawn in, slowly. “What sort of weapon though? And why are we still alive then?”

 

Harris thought for a second. “If they are Klingons, chances are they aren’t in any shape to really take anyone on. Maybe the UFP took them by surprise and they were forced to do something before they were ready. I still don’t know how the Breen figure in, or what could make everyone just disappear like that.”

 

Seya’s eyes darkened slightly. “I wonder how much information is being held from us.”

 

Alayne looked at both of them. “Either way, the answers are going to be on that planet. And how much do you want to bet we’re not going to like what we find?”