Carl Torek
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"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 30, 2016 10:44:59 GMT
~ Mission 29 : Temüjin ~ (Based on an original mission idea conceived by Lt Commander Marionette)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Synopsis:En-route to Duran Theta to collect a group of scientists, the USS Raven-B intercepts a distress call from what appears to be a Tellerite Trader ship that is unable to escape a decaying orbit of a blue dwarf star ... Informing the scientific team there will be a delay to their arrival, the Raven changes course to investigate and hopefully assist.Passing through the Jorgsonn Expanse, located in the Gamma Cephei constellation, the ship suffers a momentary loss of power as they pass a blue dwarf star before the warp engines resume at maximum efficiency, despite investigating the power loss, no explanation can be found. Unbeknownst to the Raven crew, the ship had passed through a sub-space fracture.
As they approach the region where the distress call originated, Commander Blakus discovers that the ship in trouble was in fact reported missing over one hundred and sixty years earlier, and now, no signs of the stricken vessel can be found. To compound the issue, the ship begins to lose power, the main memory banks appear to be corroding, years of data vanishing inexplicably. With little option after failing to find the missing vessel, they reluctantly decide to return to their original mission ... Reversing course, they are approached by two vessels of unknown origin before being forced back to the primary planet orbiting the blue dwarf star … With power losses still a concern, they approach the ‘Earth-like’ planet, and using minimal power they establish orbit. Ordered to remain aboard until summoned, the Raven begins scanning the surface. What they find is almost beyond comprehension, and the reality of their situation dawns on each one of them .....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The planet below is Earth, but a much changed Earth ... They begin to realize what happened in this reality. First Contact on this Earth went very badly, and following the destruction of the first warp vessel designed and piloted one of the Ruling Class, the Vulcan-led Federation denied Earth entry to the Federation, warning of the repercussions should they continue to develop their warp capability, and leaving them completely segregated, virtual outcasts in their own Universe.
Here though, on 'this' version of Earth, the Mongols had spread throughout the globe ... Commander Blakus is able to scan the planets record archive and Carl is informed that the records began to differ from their own history in the early twelve hundreds by their own Gregorian calendar. From then on they find that the two realities have moved further and further apart: Temüjin, the Mongol ruler, and his direct decedents, have never been overthrown since he became Kahn in the year twelve hundred and six, his reign was 'so' successful, that this Earth had never suffered through any of the world wars their own Earth had endured. The Mongol dynasty remain sole rulers to this day, determined to conquer all who oppose them, this includes the mighty Federation. The war between them has lasted over three decades, and now the Vulcan-ruled Federation is faltering, defeat is only a matter of time, and how many lives the Federation are willing to sacrifice.
The Raven cannot halt the decay as the dilithium crystals rapidly collapse so need to make some decisions. Who should they align themselves with in order to survive, and hopefully find a way back to their own reality ? ... The alternative could be that they will be forced to live out their lives in a much changed and fearful dystopian system, where they would be hunted down and killed on sight by both sides ! ..........
Regards and enjoy
Carl Torek
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Jan 31, 2016 19:33:52 GMT
"You can’t be happy about this." Calli said as they watched the stars passing at high warp. "As far as I am aware, I didn't voice my opinion either way." Carl replied ..... ooo000ooo They had left Earth a week earlier, en-route to Duran Theta to collect a group of Scientist’s that had managed to get themselves in to trouble. 'No change there' he thought. He had always recommended Scientific teams be accompanied by Starfleet Security personnel, or at the very least a team of Marines. Everyone knew that the assignment was beneath the Galaxy Class Raven, but as far as he was concerned, it was a mission, one if truth be known he didn’t expect to be given after what had happened in the Mojave Desert. Having been 'officially' cleared of all charges pertaining to the deaths caused, He and his Senior Staff had been reinstated. Once the Raven's refit and scheduled maintenance had been completed they were sent out here, the proverbial back of beyond on a babysitting rescue mission. Should it not have gone to someone else, yes. Should the Raven be utilized so ridiculously, no, but as he said more than once, they were out here in space, not confined to a planetary assignment, or drummed out of Starfleet, or worse. So he would keep his opinion to himself and get the hell on with it ... ooo000ooo At the beginning of the third week into their journey, he was in his quarters with Chloe and the Children when the Comm chirped to life requesting he go to the Bridge. On arrival the duty Navigation Officer informed him that they were picking up a feint distress call from the Gamma Cephei constellation. It was being sent by a Tellerite Trader vessel caught in a decaying orbit around a Blue Dwarf Star. "Contact Duran Theta. Inform them we will be delayed, then change course, take us to warp eight." Carl said, admittedly grateful for the distraction of their assigned task. Passing through the Jorgsonn Expanse the Raven inexplicably lost power for a fraction of a second. Not enough to destabilize the warp field, but it slowed them fractionally for the duration of the anomalous issue. Over the next hours Blakus and his Engineers ran through every piece of data, running diagnostics on everything from the core to the ablutions, but nothing wrong could be found, cautiously Torek continued towards the signal. Dropping from warp at what they assumed was the correct location, nothing of the vessel it originated from could be found. They assumed the ship has succumbed to the immense gravitational forces and had perished ... It was at this point that the ship power began to falter yet again, dropping less than one percent, but still cause for concern, and over the next hour it continued to fall. "Captain, I am picking up two vessels approaching, coming into visual range now." "On screen." Carl ordered. He stood and approached the massive view-screen. The two ships looked both familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time as they slowed to hold position ahead of the Raven. "They have locked weapons and are ordering us to follow them Admiral." Lysia Teng informed him. He ordered a Comm link but the other vessels simply reinforced their order by firing on the Raven, then the first of the two ships passed them and slowed, obviously waiting for the interloper to fall into formation. Carl nodded and the ship turned to follow the lead ship while the second dropped behind, weapons locked on the newly installed nacelles. After almost fourteen hours travel, they approached a blue-green planet with a striking resemblance to Earth. With the power loss at seven percent and despite all still dropping, they had no option but to establish orbit. "The Commander of the lead vessel orders us to remain in orbit. He warns that any attempt to depart, or to transfer to the surface will be met with immediate and deathly force. He informs you that you and your Commanders will be summoned before the Khan in due course." Teng informed him. Torek had little option but to comply. "The Khan ?" Calli repeated, but Teng simply repeated the order with a shrug. "Begin scanning the planet ... I want a detailed report before 'whoever' down there deems to allow us an audience." Carl said, "Andae, Will, find out what’s draining our power reserves, the last thing we need is to be stuck here indefinitely. Contact Command and appraise them of our situation." "Sub-space communications are blocked Admiral." Harry said from Ops. "Of course they are." Torek said, exasperated. "Have you noticed how similar to Earth that planet is ?" Calli asked, nodding toward the blue-green orb rotating below them ..........
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Marionette
Commander
Dr. Soong's penchant for whimsical names seems to have no end.
Registered: Mar 2, 2012 3:26:33 GMT
Posts: 285
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Post by Marionette on Feb 2, 2016 16:25:16 GMT
Marionette, having been on her shift since 2 hours and 24 minutes ago, had been witness to their already being escorted by the strange-yet-not ships, and their arrival to not-earth.
"Begin scanning the planet ... I want a detailed report before 'whoever' down there deigns to allow us an audience." Carl said, "Andae, Will, find out what’s draining our power reserves, the last thing we need is to be stuck here indefinitely. Contact Command and appraise them of our situation."
"Subspace communications are blocked Admiral." Harry said from Ops. "Of course they are." Torek said, exasperated.
"Have you noticed how similar to Earth that planet is ?" Calli asked, nodding toward the blue-green orb rotating below them ..........
Marionette turned some in her chair and spoke "Admiral, Would it be out of place to propose the theory that this 'The Khan', may be a descendant or successor of Khan Noonien Singh, the 20th century Augment Dictator ? This would of course, preclude that we are in a very different parallel reality, as by our records, Kahn Singh was progressively hindered by an escalating alliance of the Other augments against him, particularly in the closing events of the middle eastern campaigns, which resulted in his retreat to Mexico, after which he and his crew of generals escaped in a DY-class vessel, later to be found by The Enterprise under Captain James T Kirk."
She would have continued on with her theories, but Marionette did not think it would be... Appropriate, to continue with her verbal analysis. It was fairly obvious that, since this 'Khan', either in person or in position, was in power, apparently for a very long time, that there would be no human-led intra-space coalition. Succinctly, there would be no subspace buoy network in place to transmit or receive long distance FTL comms beyond the natural fade-out range of a single given subspace transceiver.
She began to ponder how much of the at-hand history of the universe would coincide with the universe that they were from.... Might they meet their mirror doubles ? There was a 0.00324 percent chance of that, given that the divergence started at least in the 21st century.
And then, the Lead ship from the Not-Federation opened hailing frequencies.
<tag; all?>
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Calli Valente
Starfleet Intelligence
"Don't get in my way."
Registered: Aug 4, 2010 21:19:10 GMT
Posts: 534
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Post by Calli Valente on Feb 2, 2016 18:42:46 GMT
They had scanned the surface countless times and all with the same results ... Confusion .......
The planet below could actually 'be' Earth, their Earth ... It was a highly advanced culture seemingly without borders of any kind to separate continent from continent. to all intents and purposes, the planet was completely unified under one governing body or individual. harry suddenly informed them that the lead vessel was hailing, Admiral Torek nodded and the screen changed from a view of the planet below, to what they assumed was the Bridge of the lead ship. A man sat on what could only be described as a throne-type seat. Large, ornate, with carvings down either side and across the headrest:
=^= Unidentified vessel .. I am J'aut quri Ogljai .. Commander of the Almighty Khan's Space Fleet .. We are aware of your scans along with your attempt to access our central archive .. At this point it will make little difference to the final outcome should you displease the Kahn .. His Supreme Highness will grate you audience in due time but until then you will abide by our instruction to remain aboard your vessel =^=
=^= I am Admiral Carl Torek of the United Feder .. .. .. =^= the man on screen suddenly screamed at someone out of sight then turned back to the screen.
=^= You are 'NOT' from the Federation .. These lies will not go unpunished .. Be warned .. Any further attempt to deceive will result in the destruction of you vessel ! =^=
=^= My apologies .. Would it be possible to speak with your Ruler ? =^=
=^= His Supreme Highness Temujin Tolui Genghis Khan will deem to converse when it pleases him .. Remain here or die =^= the Comm closed to be replaced with the view of the planet below. Calli had been checking something while the man was speaking, and what she found shocked and confused her a great deal.
"Admiral. I'm not sure if you are going to like this, or believe it to be honest .... I've run the two names he gave us through the ships data banks and what it's come up with is, bizarre." she said, putting the information on the main view-screen for all to see, "Firstly, the outfits, fit with what I found but that could be coincidence I suppose, but the rest .... The name, J'aut quri Ogljai is both name and title, so J'aut quri is a title, akin to most trusted advisory, while Ogljai is the mans name ..... I also ran the other name: Temujin Tolui Genghis Khan ... My first thought was Singh and his damn augments, but if our records are correct, the man he is referring to could only be a direct descendant of, Temujin, Great Khan and founder of the Mongol Empire in the year twelve zero six, on 'our' Earth !"
Had she informed them that they were being held by the Easter Bunny her news couldn't have shocked more.
"Who ?" Lieutenant Svensson, the ship's Deputy Science Officer asked.
"Khan ....." Cali said quietly, "Genghis Khan !" Carl turned to Andae:
"Get into their archive somehow. We need to verify what we've found and quickly." he ordered, "We've seen occurrences of parallel development before, so let's not go off the handle here, but we also need to be ready if we are indeed at the mercy of the most feared and successful ruler Earth has ever known."
"He said 'we are not Federation' so does that mean they're not either, or they are but not any Federation as we know it ?" Wedlerson asked eyeing the frozen image of the man calling himself Ogljai. The knee-length wrap-around tunic, thick leather belt, rank image or status adorning the collar, now he remembered his history, it did indeed have a Mongol look about it.
"We'll cross that bridge when we are, send for." Carl said, "OK, find out what you can ... Let's at least try to be ready."
"Admiral, we're still loosing power." Blakus informed Torek.
"Yes, sorry Andae, it completely slipped my mind for a moment. Put someone on the research and concentrate on at least stabilizing the power drain. If we can't get out of here it's going to leave little or no options open." he slumped into the Command seat, eyeing the blue-green planet sedately rolling beneath them. Calli too watched the image on screen ..........
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Deleted
Registered: Apr 25, 2024 22:29:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2016 2:58:26 GMT
Will had moved from his XO chair up to a secondary Engineering console that was not in use. He began assisting Andae in the diagnostics. He was by no means an engineer but he had spent some time there trying to learn more and more as to be more useful on the Raven. Every time he thought he was on the track of something, it led to a dead end. Everything he was checking on came back with positive readings. As far as he could tell, nothing was draining their power. The only sign that is was draining was the reading itself. He released a big sigh and looked over at Blakus. "You finding anything?" he asked with frustration.
Every once in a while, he'd steal a glance at the main viewscreen. He couldn't get over just how much like Earth this planet looked. But the thought of no Federation left his mind spinning. He couldn't even imagine it. Did the flight of Cochrane and his ship not happen? Did the Vulcans not see it? He figured Carl was right. Just gather as much information as they can and be ready when the time comes. But ready for what? rung back in his ears.
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Andae Blakus
Moderator ..
Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 4, 2016 3:24:30 GMT
OOC edit: Ah sorry Will I was writing and missed your response, I can edit mine to have you working on the engineering power drain as well. I wrote that you were looking at power drains around the weapons systems
Andae had made his way to the bridge, the state of the warp core and the consistent and aggravating power loss the ship was experiencing playing on his mind. Now trying to discern the nature of the problem from the bridge's engineering station, he could find nothing except one anomalous reading - which wasn't altogether unusual for Galaxy class ships - in the dilithium crystals themselves, something laced into their molecular structure which changed their properties ever so slightly. It was part of a normal process of the decay of the crystals, though these crystals were entirely fresh, had been installed along with the new nacelles; it made no sense that they'd lose cohesion at this early stage of evolution.
Dilithium crystals had to be nurtured; they had a pattern of growth and maturity like a fine cheese or grapes in the vineyard... Blakus had been very careful to give them all the right ingredients at this early stage of their life, this incubation period where they were still dependent on their would-be mother the Chief Engineer and his accomplices. Robbed of the umbilical cord that'd fed them their nutrients in the warp engine-grade storage units at the drydock, it needed this early nurturing process to ensure the crystals were developing correctly.
Seemingly no longer able to act as mother hen nestling down over his dilithium eggs, Andae had set Tinsley and Taylor to work figuring out why the crystals were degrading prematurely.
He looked behind him at the viewscreen, the Mongol Ogljai having just disappeared to be replaced with a view of the Earth-like planet, rotating now so that in the aft view, the blue dwarf star the planet was orbiting started peeking out from behind the terminator - the sun rising. It spread out, caustic colours of red and purple from that point across the dark of the globe, now brightening to yellow and blue - a new day behind them, though soon they'd be plunged back into night.
While this almost certainly was Earth why was it in orbit of a blue dwarf? Had there been some massive forced relocation, the Mongols styling an M-class planet after Earth or perhaps even fully terraforming the surface forcing it into the Minshara category? Or had Earth somehow been jarred from its orbit of Sol and launched towards another star system, captured by the O-type blue dwarf here? Or, perhaps the most unusual possibility, this was Earth and in this reality it'd been in this system all along.
Having started his research pertaining to whether he could access the Mongolians' archives - either planet-side or the two ships acting as their escort - he felt it pressing at his conscious that there was an issue with the EPS conduits' power output (and input) (not just the warp core's travails), and he was given leave to pursue the issue and to hand the research over.
He called Marionette to the upper level, "Commander, I'm handing the research into the veritable Mongol Empire over to you and my assistant Lieutenant Milyanov. Find out as much as you can before they shut you out with whatever firewalls they might use. If we can learn what their allegiance is, whether they're part of a Federation or some splinter group from it, or if there's another human organisation out there somewhere that is part of the Federation... anything. Ah," he said, just before she was about to go, "One thing I did find out; what they call their Earth. Delkhii." He handed her a padd, smiling, "And that's in addition to your helm duties of course."
<Tag Marionette>
He returned to the engineering console to continue studying and internally debating reasons for the power drain. "Christina," he opened a comm to engineering, not optimistic about what he might hear, "The crystals. Have you found anything?" His voice spoke of several layers of despair. "The XO's helping me out as well. He's looking into the drains of power in the weapon systems."
<Tag Jamison, All>
Sighing at Christina Taylor's response, "Shall we study in Ten Forward?"
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Marionette
Commander
Dr. Soong's penchant for whimsical names seems to have no end.
Registered: Mar 2, 2012 3:26:33 GMT
Posts: 285
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Post by Marionette on Feb 4, 2016 18:38:55 GMT
Blakus called Marionette to the upper level, "Commander, I'm handing the research into the veritable Mongol Empire over to you and my assistant Lieutenant Milyanov. Find out as much as you can before they shut you out with whatever firewalls they might use. If we can learn what their allegiance is, whether they're part of a Federation or some splinter group from it, or if there's another human organisation out there somewhere that is part of the Federation... anything. Ah," he said, just before she was about to go, "One thing I did find out; what they call their Earth. Delkhii." He handed her a padd, smiling, "And that's in addition to your helm duties of course." "Yes sir" Marionette said with a nod, and accepted the Padd. Tapping her commbadge, she spoke =^= "Lieutenant Milyanov, please report to the bridge. I would like your assistance with information-gathering."=^= = - = Here though, on 'this' version of Earth, the Mongols had spread throughout the globe ... Commander Blakus is able to scan the planets record archive and Carl is informed that the records began to differ from their own history in the early twelve hundreds by their own Gregorian calendar. From then on they find that the two realities have moved further and further apart: Temüjin, the Mongol ruler, and his direct decedents, have never been overthrown since he became Kahn in the year twelve hundred and six, his reign was 'so' successful, that this Earth had never suffered through any of the world wars their own Earth had endured. The Mongol dynasty remain sole rulers to this day, determined to conquer all who oppose them, this includes the mighty Federation. The war between them has lasted over three decades, and now the Vulcan-ruled Federation is faltering, defeat is only a matter of time, and how many lives the Federation are willing to sacrifice. EDIT retag <tag; all>
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 6, 2016 2:44:33 GMT
Having listened to a brief synopsis of Marionette's research, Carl wondered what they had got themselves into when Wedlerson informed them that the Commander of the lead vessel wished to board. He was about to give orders when the man appeared in the center of the Bridge .... "I am Ogljai, Commander of the Khan's Space Fleet, and his trusted Advisor. You may address me by name or title ..... I will speak with you prior to your audience with the Khan." the man said, waiting patiently for them to comply. Motioning for his Senior Staff to join them, Carl led him to the Observation Lounge and took his seat. Ogljai eyed the decor with distaste before lowering himself into the seat normally reserved for the Commanding Officer, "You claimed to be part of the Federation upon your capture. This statement was false. So, given you are not part of the Khan's Fleet, and obviously not aligned with the hated Federation, my Lord is unaccustomed to being 'unaware' of such things and has sent me to converse before he allows you audience." "We were here answering a distress call from one of the ships aligned with, another faction in out quadrant." Carl began, but it was obvious from the first word that Ogljai wasn't believing a word. "We scanned your records." the man informed them, "My Lord Khan was somewhat amused and dismayed at what your planet has suffered under your numerous rulers. he cannot understand the concept of your world not being under one ruler other than this appointed dignitary 'The Federation President' ! ... He believes you may be here to corrupt our society." the Khan's Council said, "..... Because of this, he believes you should not be here, and at first ordered your destruction, but I was also curious, and my Lord heeds my Council on such occasions, thus my arrival ..... I am admittedly confused, and saddened at what we have witnessed. Is it truth that your civilization has suffered through no less than three world wars ?" "Yes." Calli answered, testing the theory regarding a woman's place in their society, but the Advisor seemed more than happy to address her on an equal basis, "But we learned from our mistakes. much as you yourselves have." Ogljai grinned, shaking his head before replying: My Lord Khan has sat on the Golden throne for almost fourteen hundred years, unopposed, and loved by all under his supreme rule. We have not had a conflict, however minor, in that time-span. In fact, it is uncertain if records still retain the information denoting when the last conflict between the Lord's Annexes arose. My Lord Khan is generous, we want for nothing, and all are educated in Sciences and Arts among other vocations ... We have but one goal, and that has been so for countless years." "...... and that would be ?" Wedlerson asked. "We shall overthrow the tyrannical Vulcan-led Federation, crushing them underfoot, until we are rulers of the known Universe, and beyond." "Yeh, we met another race that tried that tack." Calli commented, unimpressed with the mans battle cry, "They tried to crush all underfoot, or in their case, 'Assimilate' .... But." she shrugged, not bothering to complete the sentence. "I know nothing of this." Ogljai said, waving her comment away as if nothing. "You said that you have not had a conflict in the last what, fourteen 'hundred' years, right ?" Harry asked, receiving a nod of confirmation from the Advisor. He picked up several of the PADD's Marionette had stored her research on and passed them across the table. The Delkhii Advisor activated them and read with growing amusement before finally reaching into his deep red tunic. One of the Security Officer's reached for his phaser but Carl held up a hand as the man took out what resembled an Isolinear Date Chip. He passed it to the Deputy Chief Operations Officer: "I believe your computer will be able to readily access the information on this unit ...... Rest assured, there is no subterfuge intended, you may check the devise prior to access if you so chose, but to prevent any waste of time, think on this: why would I offer this when we could extinguish your vessel quite easily without reverting to, what is the word your distant relatives used, yes, sabotage." Wedlerson looked at Carl who nodded, so harry inserted the 'chip' and waited. Streams of data suddenly appeared, including the clearly files poached by Commander Marionette, and the information proving they were fabricated from our own records ! "I must disagree." Marionette said, that information does not mirror Earth's own history, therefore, by defini ....." "You think we stupid enough to simply duplicate your history ?" the Advisor asked, annoyance in every word as he looked her in the eye, "Oblige me if you will by accessing the section entitled : Sovereignty ..." Harry scrolled down the indices until he came to the one he was looking for, he duplicated the information on the three large screens in the lounge ... It was a representation of the Earth, or at least, 'their' Earth, not our own. The time-scale was represented in both the Delkhii Calendar, and for our convenience, the Gregorian Calendar ..... The Earth and Delkhii, as this planet was known, both had their own version of the Mongol Empire, both were autocratic, and dictatorial in their goals, and for many years they flourished almost parallel to each other, but in the year nineteen thirteen, where 'our' Mongols signed the Treaty of Friendship, it was never called for here, and in nineteen sixty one, rather than being recognized, the Mongol race spread over the surface of the planet, nations and ruling factions willingly giving up their claim in order to be under the rule of the Khan, a planet under the supreme rule of one person, where everyone became Mongol, despite color, creed, nationality, they followed the one and only Genghis Khan ! .... He in turn vowed to unite the peoples of Delkhii .... They didn't remain belt-dwelling nomads, no, they encouraged development, with each country openly sharing the smallest advancement, until they were ready to venture into space for the first time. By now, there were no countries, but rather each became an 'Annex' to be governed by a most trusted Advisor, but they were beholden to the community or land mass they were to oversee, thus the Khan had little, then no need for war and we turned our attention to the skies.
Eventually, they achieved their goal, but were met with not a friendly hand, but one that was determined to restrict the very progression the Khan had bestowed upon us for generations.
They came to the attention of the 'Federation' ... Having no knowledge of worlds beyond their own, and to find that not only were there countless other civilizations, but those civilizations had shunned them out of hand, without any attempt to know who they were, or to learn, to allow the Delkhii to learn. they were excluded participation, ostracized, told to remain a planet-bound civilization ! ..... This, the Great and Cherished Khan could not accept, and so it was that all the moderators of the Khan's Annexii (countries/continents) were brought together, and the fist known 'Council of War' was established. Not to battle their own, but to teach this 'Federation' that they did not have dominion on space, did not rule who could and could not decide who may or may not leave the confines of their own world. So the Delkhii began to build, and began to venture out, beyond their world, beyond their Planetary System, and beyond that never thought possible. But at each turn there was the hated Federation and it's cohorts, always eager to please, to run the mongol race out of space ....... But they are not a race to falter, to shirk from battle, and so .......... "So you see ... While billions upon billions of your people perished needlessly under the rule of dictators, dictators who cherished the land, the gains, the property, we, embraced the teachings and wisdom of one man, who brought the planet he loved to unification and peace. Genghis Khan is our ruler, our leader ........ Our Father." With that, the Advisor, Ogljai stood and moved away from the table, "You will be informed when your audience with the Lord Khan will take place." and with that he vanished from sight, beamed away by their own technology. Everyone looked at each other somewhat dumbfounded ! "HOLD ON ! ... They fabricated a whole planetary history ... In HOURS ... I don't believe it !" Lysia Teng said, astonished. "The planet does look as if it's developed unilaterally rather than as individual continental elements." Harry added. "Our first and major priority is the warp drive." Carl said, considering Teng's comment seriously as he continued, "Without power we're stuck here, so let's figure out how we rectify our problems." he knew there was practically nothing Blakus and his Engineers could do to the dilithium crystals, but he knew he needed to keep people busy. The complete debacle regarding his Officers' research hurt him, but it only made him more determined to get to the bottom of their problem, of die trying ! ..........
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
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Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 7, 2016 1:25:12 GMT
As the meeting broke up Carl asked Marionette, Calli, and Harry to remain: "Is there any possibility that the records you attained were faked ?" he asked the Android. "It seems there could be." Marionette said, confusion on her face. "But you don't think so ?" "No, Admiral. I do not." "You have got to admit ..." Calli began, scanning through the information Marionette had put together, "The rise to power of one Genghis Khan, his demise, the world wars, even down to the minutest detail, they couldn't have put that together from reading our own history, even if they did pull it from our archives without us knowing ..... I think we should air on the side of caution here. Marionette's report was exceptional, personally I believe they want us on their side for some reason, maybe this disagreement with the Federation has something to do with it." I still can't get my head around why they would want to fake such detail." Harry commented, "They could have simply locked us out once they realized Marionette was snooping." he stopped as the Comm chirped to life: =^= Admiral .. Message from Commander Ogljai .. You are to transport to the surface in precisely thirty minutes =^= =^= Thank you =^= Carl said, closing the Comm, "Calli, get hold of Will and Andae, you and Marionette will be coming to the surface. Commander Marionette, once there I want you to get hold of every record you can regarding the Khan's history, and look into the Federation too, without being discovered, obviously." "Understood Sir." "We need to confirm which history is correct. I have the feeling that if we decide to fall on the wrong side of the proverbial fence, we may make an enemy of this Khan, and at this point he's our only means of getting back home. Those vessels of his are warp capable, so we must assume their version of the Federation has likewise." he broke the meeting up informing his Senior Staff that Dress Uniform should be worn during their first 'Audience' with the Khan. Thirty minutes later the group were on the Transport Pad ..... oooOOOooo They materialized in a massive plaza, it must have been one thousand meters square, banners hung from spires around all four sides, north, south, east, and west, all proclaiming the Khan as the rightful Ruler of Delkhii. Twelve men stood on a circle effectively surrounding the Raven crew, they reorganized themselves with military precision before turning toward the golden palace at the eastern side of the plaza. An Officer addressed them, informing them that they should accompany him and his 'Honor Guard' .... With little option, Carl nodded and fell into step as they climbed towards the enormous golden gates which silently opened at their approach. Past the wall they were faced with yet another courtyard, this filled with exotic flora and fauna, flamingo-type birds strode around the yard as if royalty themselves. On the steps, J'aut quri Ogljai stood, resplendent in Mongol ceremonial dress ... He bowed deeply as a mark of respect, Carl and the Raven crew duplicated the gesture. Seemingly satisfied, he bade them accompany him into the Palace itself. Marionette gave a whispered commentary as they followed the Khan's most trusted Advisor. she told Carl that this was nothing like Earth's Mongol Ruler. The lavishness alone contradicted everything she knew of the Mongol Empire, Here, golden spires, yet on their Earth, it was skin and cloth tents on the Steppes, in fact, she could not recall Genghis Khan ever having lived in a palace of any kind in his entire lifetime. "These 'have' had slightly longer to, develop Commander." Calli whispered. < tag : Marionette >Entering the Palace inner sanctum, accessible to only the most trusted of the Khan's entourage, they were scanned for weapon's before being allowed to continue. Two doors, almost ten meters in height pivoted on precision hinges as they approached, and then they were on the Mongol leaders' audience chamber ....... Ogljai motioned for them to remain still as he approached the massive throne ....... The man sat, head down as he studied documents written on astonishingly, parchment ! ... He put the scrolls aside as his Advisor spoke quietly, then the man looked up. He was the archetypal Mongol. Stockily built, long hair in the traditional top knot, flowing down past the shoulders. He wore a garment worthy of his position and status, he looked both scholarly yet ruthless at the same time and Carl had to remember that while the Mongol People of 'their' Earth held a steadfast adherence to their noble values, welcoming all newcomers to their lands with open arms, often bestowing honors upon visitors, they were at the same time, a vicious race of people with an appalling disregard for Human life if it threatened their safety or that of their lands. "My Lord ....." Ogljai began, "My I respectfully present Torek of the Raven ... His advisors, Jamison, Blakus, Marionette, a mechanized entity, and Valente ...." The Khan nodded, his Advisor continued the introductions: "I present to you, the one Ruler, the Lord of Light, his highness, Temüjin Genghis Khan !" "You are strangers to our planet." The Khan began, waving toward a group of cushions spread around the throne. The Raven Officers seated themselves as did the Khan and they began to talk, I find myself somewhat confused at to you allegiance given on our first encounter you professed to be part of the Federation of Worlds, yet we know that to be untrue, alas it is a concern as you may well appreciate, we cannot find evidence that you are even from our Universe, your clothing, your demeanor, and most strikingly ... Your vessel ... It is, impressive. I would very much like to acquire vessels such as yours to aid in my, issues." "You are correct Lord Khan." Carl began, ever aware of the Advisor stood off to the side eyeing him intently. He had the feeling that if he attempted to rise from the cushion he wouldn't get half way before suffering the consequences of his attempt, "But if I may, It appears we have passed through a rupture of some form and need to return with all due haste. Alas, our means of propuls ......" "Your 'Dilithium crystals." the Khan interrupted, making Carl nod in confirmation and surprise, "You appear confused Torek of the Raven, no need to be, I have been required to learn a great deal since becoming Khan, the flintlock held my fascination for a short time, as did the combustion engine, and while I do not profess to understand the nuances of the Star Drive, I do know it requires various elements to function." "May I ask ...... Your planet, this planet, orbits a blue dwarf star, in our, where we come from, life requires a very specific set of conditions to flourish, a blue dwarf cannot provide those conditions, so beg my forgiveness but our scans show your population as 'Human' our designation for our people, how can this be ?" "That is your first question ?" the Khan replied, obviously amused. "Oh we have plenty Lord Khan ...." Carl said, "For example, how could it be that your society thrived in parallel with our own, yet 'our' Mongol Empire ceased to exist in it's original form over eight hundred of our years ago ?" "I was, reluctant to assume the role of leader to my people, but it was the only course I could take to ensure the survival of our people and traditions." "You comment in the 'first person' I assume you are referring to your ancestors when you talk about the beginning of the Mongol Empire and the fact your distant relative became Khan ?" Calli said, suddenly suspecting something was amiss. But the Khan seemed to misunderstand the question and Ogljai approached him to offer explanation. The khan laughed as he waved his advisor away then turned to the Raven Officers. "It seems you have misunderstood ..... I did not take the name Temüjin Tolui Genghis Khan, as a mark of respect for my ancestors ..... I 'am' Temüjin." the Khan said before Ogljai again approached to whisper something. The Khan nodded then once again addressed the Raven crew, "Unfortunately, I must cut this audience short. I have affairs of magnitude to deal with. Perhaps we can speak more during the banquet to be held tonight, in honor of your arrival." With that the Khan rose and stepped through the lavish curtain behind the throne. Ogljai asked them to rise and accompany him into an anteroom. They would be expected to return at second moon, or twenty one hundred hours in their terms. With little option they entered the plaza, they asked the obvious question of Ogljai, 'Are you immortal ?' but the man laughed, explaining that non but the Khan had longevity bestowed upon them. Seconds later they materialized in the Observation lounge of the Raven. "An Immortal Khan ..... Bloody hell, you can't make this stuff up !" was Calli's only comment ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 10, 2016 13:13:14 GMT
Blakus felt as if he'd been through a whirlwind of thoughts, memories, images, all thrown at him simultaneously leaving him feeling thoroughly disoriented; this was Earth's history, and yet not so, and those persistent images of the grand plaza and the golden palace beyond the similarly painted gates stayed with him as the features of the observation lounge became apparent around him. He shook himself, turning to Carl as Calli spoke, "An Immortal Khan ..... Bloody hell, you can't make this stuff up !"
He waved his arms helplessly and took a seat at the table, "That felt like a dream. Something like a kingdom of heaven... No sorry, that's the wrong history, and the wrong culture and time. Look, I can't pretend that I know much at all about the Mongol Empire, how its form here might help us to understand how to manipulate them into making a new rupture perhaps, or something of the sort..."
"Did you have a point, Andae?"
He seized upon the moment, "But I do remember that Genghis Khan once searched out the knowledge of a wise man, a seer of some sort or a scientist I cannot remember which, and asked him about life, or death. The wise man eventually realised that the tyrant was asking of him the impossible: the key to eternal life, and on Earth at least this seer was of course unable to give the Khan what he wanted. Perhaps on Delkhii he was able to supply Khan with an answer, but how? In times of such lack of learning as then, in the Asian continent in the Middle Ages?"
"Outside interference. First contact perhaps," Wedlerson said, who'd joined them in the observation lounge when he'd learned the Raven staff had been brought back aboard, "Perhaps an alien civilisation granted the Khan immortality, and the people of medieval Earth, or Delkhii as the Mongols would call it, would never know that the assistance came from beyond, or at least their writings of the incident in that period would've entered folklore and would never have been believed in their more modern times, say 21st century, and would've been considered myth."
"Look, this speculation's all very interesting," Torek said, "Though perhaps we should wait until second moon and then probe the Khan himself about this."
"Would he answer?" Andae said, more to himself, a rumination and meditation on the possibilities than a question, "If he alone of his people is immortal, then it stands to reason he never divulged the secret to eternal life; nor would he under present circumstances, especially with an unknown vessel in orbit that they cannot recognise."
He stood up and circled the room, "It's a leap for us to believe that he thinks we're not from his universe. Space is vast," he stated the obvious, pausing and feeling somewhat stupid for having said it, "He of course knows that there are species out there who look exactly human and in some cases are genetically inseparable from humans... Just because he hasn't encountered our type of ship, our uniforms, our types of names... - all Latin, Greek or Hebrew words that would've been phased out by the Mongol language's assimilation of all other language roots, probably disintegrating the Proto Indo-European language entirely - doesn't mean that he would think we're not from his universe - we could for him be from somewhere distant in space, a culture he hasn't come into contact with - this is to say, his incidentally correct claim that we're from another universe may for him actually be a ploy, to lull us into thinking that he knows the truth, when in fact he could merely be using it as a cover and actually suspects us of being another branch of the Federation of Worlds. Therefore we should be extra careful around him, and take care to ask him the... 'right' questions, and make the right assurances, if we want his assistance."
Also being careful were two cloaked Federation starships with predominantly Vulcan-Romulan crews - the two species never having diverged in this reality - quietly circling Delkhii like sharks about a stricken ship dragging along with her her historical civilisation and its people's innocent warlike perception of the universe. The small agile craft adjusted their orbits, now so that they'd pass over the sprawling conurbation that was the capital of Delkhii/Earth, and could survey the strength of its fortifications, its weak points, and where and when the Khan may be at his most vulnerable.
A report from the bridge came through, "Admiral Torek, sir, we are detecting anti-protons in an orbital path about Delkhii. Possible cloak, sir."
Andae looked over the readings as the team returned to the bridge, "Hmm... we should keep an eye on it, though 2100 hours is soon coming."
<Tag Torek, Marionette>
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 13, 2016 1:47:20 GMT
" ..... We could for him be from somewhere distant in space, a culture he hasn't come into contact with - this is to say, his incidentally correct claim that we're from another universe may for him actually be a ploy, to lull us into thinking that he knows the truth, when in fact he could merely be using it as a cover and actually suspects us of being another branch of the Federation of Worlds. Therefore we should be extra careful around him, and take care to ask him the 'right' questions, and make the right assurances, if we want his assistance." Blakus was saying, Carl fully agreed with his Engineer.
As the meeting broke up they were informed of anomalous readings close-by, Torek told his Staff to keep a close eye on the readings and inform them on the surface if there are any developments. The Exec' suggested he remain behind, not being one for the 'official' dinner scene. Reluctantly, Carl agreed and decided to take Calli down along with Andae and Marionette. Two hours later they were onceagain on the surface, this time in another quarter of the enormous Palace, that covered almost twenty square kilometers in total.
"Who the hell needs a place this big !" Calli said, squirming uncomfortably in her dress uniform.
"Stop twitching Calli." Carl said as Ogljai approached. She had to admit, the man looked the part of the Khan's most trusted Advisor, dressed in an ornate wraparound robe, bejeweled with all manner of obviously precious stones, she found herself pondering what the Ferengi would give to own that single garment.
"The Governors of our seven Principalities are in attendance, along with their wives and private secretariat, along with invited guests, the Palace has not seen such a feast in a long time, you are highly honored indeed." the man said, glancing at Calli for a second before returning his gaze to Torek, "We had hoped to entice more of your, Staff, to be our guests, is there a problem aboard your vessel that requires their attention ?"
"No .... My apologies for the number in our party, but in our, region, it is customary for a visiting group to number four or less. Obviously, if this is something that will offend the Khan then I can arrange fo ....."
"No, no .... We do not hold with tradition here, the Khan is a great believer in moderation. He feels that less is indeed more. An archaic sentiment no doubt, but something he cherishes privately. If pressed, he would openly admit that six friends around a table, enjoying conversation, a good wine, and food aplenty, is much better than all the 'false' prostration he sees on a daily basis. You would not know this, but the seven governors are all his progeny, his Sons, and two Daughters. He is a great believer in the right to hold office if capable of doing so." Ogljai said, somewhat unconvincingly, but quickly hid his opinion.
"You said, seven Principalities .... ?" Calli asked.
"Yes. Our planet is ruled by the Great Khan, but for administrative purposes, it was decided to, appoint seven Administrators. These would take up residence throughout the continents and were effectively the Hand of the Khan, their word Law, their authority total ... but most importantly, their door always open to the population. They were there to oversee, though that might well be too strong a description of their role ...." Ogljai said, deep in thought to put their social infrastructure into words the newcomers could understand, "..... Their role was one of, advisor, rather than overseer. We thrive to progress, but alas, disagreements, albeit very infrequent, do require, moderation to resolve."
"Your society seems to adhere to something akin to ... Ours." Calli commented, seeing Carl nod fractionally for her to continue, "In 'our' history, where once, hundreds of years ago, a King chose to be fair in a dispute between two women, both claiming to be the biological Mother of the child on the steps before him, not wanting to favor one party or the other he knew inwardly that the rightful Mother would be the one found if he acted honestly. His solution to the issue, was to say, unconventional."
"And was the child reunited with it's Mother !" Ogljai asked, intrigued.
"Yes." Calli answered.
One of the Palace guards approached, bowing deeply until his presence was acknowledged by Ogljai, who nodded at the information. They were to proceed into the Dining Hall, though 'Hall' was the ultimate understatement. As they progressed across the vast crystalline floor towards the dais containing the Head table, and the waiting Khan, the Advisor could not resist asking how their ancestor resolved the issue.
"He ordered the child cut in half, head to groin, and one half given to each of those claiming to be the rightful birth Mother. Before the sword could drop, one Woman fell to her knees and pleaded with King Solomon to give the child to the other Woman. The King instantly awarded custody to the rightful mother, ordering the other to be beheaded."
"Interesting ....." was all the man replied as they entered the vast Hall and took their seats at the High Table ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 15, 2016 21:12:42 GMT
The crystalline flooring of the chamber before the main hall fanned out into a spectrum of colours reflective off its surface from the stained glass windows - rearing massively - on three sides of the hall. The head table from this distance was hardly distinguishable from the specks of dust visible, floating in brownian motion about the hall, illuminated by the sunlight slanting through the colourful, pseudo-monastic windows.
Blakus supposed that - despite the images represented there of Mongols scaling mile-high walls and descending on townships torching them with things he might've described as plasma-throwers - their culture hadn't fully done away with the Judeo-Christian tradition to the extent that stained glass hadn't endured as fashion in architecture.
They steadily approached the table, the Khan waiting for them - arrayed either side of him were ceremonially armed guards who took their seats once the Raven's team had passed to within roughly a hundred metres. Golden light shone on the high and long table - perhaps twenty metres in length, the shortest side facing the approaching crew - from the stained glass arched at the top window fifty or so metres behind the Khan's head.
Nodding at them as they reached the table, the Khan waited for all his advisors and guards to sit, then sat himself, gesturing afterwards for the Admiral, Marionette, Calli and himself to take their appointed seats, close to the Khan. A part of the table was already taken up with the food of the banquet - approximately eight metres of its length, the remaining 12 metres of the table remaining empty. Blakus cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his chair; his feet not touching the floor, he swung his legs like a child at the dinner table.
"Yes," the Khan was saying sometime later, in the middle of the banquet, "My immortality was confirmed to me on the third attempt. I reached beyond these mortal spaces and on a sudden found myself possessed of an extraordinary strength. It was as if I could lift whole continents and subordinate them to my will. And so it was once the ritual was done, though, in less literal terms I will admit," he smiled at his guests, thin-lipped but gracious.
"Do you fear the Federation's reprisal with your recent attacks?" Blakus asked, picking up on something the Khan had mentioned in passing earlier.
"We have always to be on our guard, of course," Temujin put down his drinking vessel. "Yet no warrior knows fear when armed with the wisdom of my divinely imparted justice; he can treat the sentient collateral damage of this devastating war with fairness and tolerance once they are subsumed within our culture. Besides, we know already where their attacks will be made, and if they were able to carry them out, they would surely be devastating, however I have already formed a fleet as a counter to their counter-attack at Theta Sagittae. Andorians are surprisingly quick to acquiesce under torture, I've found."
Blakus winced, thinking of the handful of Andorians assigned to the Raven. "You should be wary of the Federation. If they are led by the same Vulcans that we know, they could be a subtle and hard to reach enemy, and possessed of a vast intelligence you shouldn't underestimate."
He sensed aggressive movements made behind him, guards shuffling forward with their ceremonial spears. The Khan waved them off with a laugh, his teeth tearing into a piece of meat. Ogljai answered, "The Great Khan knows all the designs of the vaunted Federation of Worlds. Those who don't submit themselves to the Khan's will, shall pay in their blood." Something else in the advisor's look gave Andae the impression he was wanting to add, 'You do know a lot about them, don't you?'
"How far have your ships travelled outside of the Solar -" Blakus stopped himself, smiling and raising a hand by way of apology, "Travelled outside of your blue dwarf home system?" he asked the Khan.
Ogljai answered again, the Khan seeming happy to defer all questions to him for this part of the meal. "180 times the distance a sun wave travels over a period of one rotation about the host star."
Blakus and the other three away team members exchanged looks. Roughly, 180 lightyears? The Khan's Empire hadn't progressed very far in its designs for the proliferation of an ethnic mongol warrior cult across the galaxy. Something though had endeared Blakus to their way of life; a strikingly innocent warrior culture that hadn't yet been made aware of the certain terrors of the galaxy that the Raven's Federation had uncovered: the Borg, those species who had bested the cybernetic lifeforms, the Dominion, a hundred other untouchable species some of which had already transcended the material world: the Organians, the Q Continuum, obscure oddities like the Metrons...
From behind the curtain away to the table's left - at a distance of some seventy metres - two scientists conversed. "The protogeneic sequencer is complete?" one asked in the darkness.
"Final stages of testing, commencing," the other mongol answered gruffly, watching the distant exchange at the table.
The other nodded excitably, turning and making his way down a dank passageway, having to crouch, "The Lord of Light shall become more than just a title!"
<Tag All>
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 20, 2016 2:25:30 GMT
As they enjoyed the magnificent feast set out before them, the Raven crew engaged in numerous conversations with others around the table. Carl was content to allow his Senior Staff to answer questions, and in turn ask their own, to which the Khan's governor's seemed only to happy to provide any information. This was what was worrying him more than his other concerns, they were being 'too' open in his opinion. They had readily accepted their explanation of their arrival and where they had originated from almost without query.
He had been speaking with the Governor from what on Earth would have been South America in the twentieth century when a question from Blakus caught his attention. he knew the Engineer was fishing for information, as they all were, and knew he was taking his time to get around to what he wanted to know. Carl was somewhat surprised by the answer:
"One hundred and eighty times the distance a sun wave travels over a period of one rotation about the host star." he glanced at the Engineer, making it as casual as possible as they all realized what the answer mean't.
So they hadn't actually spread throughout the Galaxy as the Khan's most trusted Advisor wanted them to believe. he was still a little concerned at the records they had been diligently sifting through, and the glaring errors, or rather 'emissions' in those records, it was something he hoped Marionette was still working on .... As the evening went on, entertainment was provided. Dancing, singing, feats of endurance, displays of swordsmanship. He felt his Comm badge vibrating against his chest and glanced across the large table to where Calli was now looking in his direction, he made a barely noticeable nod and she excused herself, asking one of the women serving where the bathroom facilities were located. Once alone she tapped her Comm badge and spoke:
=^= Valente .. .. =^=
=^= Commander .. Harry .. We're picking up a vessel approaching this system =^=
=^= Any identification ? =^=
=^= Not as yet but from our scans it could be a larger version of a Suurok Class Vulcan Cruiser .. .. It's slowing on the outer edge of the system .. They are scanning us =^=
=^= Don't react .. It has to be one of their version of the Federation coming to take a look at the new arrival .. I can't believe they just happened to be in the area =^=
=^= We're picking up activity on the ships in orbit Commander .. They are bringing drive systems on-line but nothing further at this point =^=
Calli was in a bit of a quandary here, should she go back to the table and inform Admiral Torek of the situation, the J'aut quri or one of the other Governors may well pick up on their conversation. Then again, she had the distinct feeling that Ogljai would have been informed that one of their 'adversaries' were parked on the outer edge of the system scanning the newcomer, so ....
=^= Commander ? =^= Wedlerson prompted.
=^= Keep a close eye on all of them Harry .. At this point we're between the proverbial 'rock and a hard place' so any reaction on our part could be less than helpful for us .. .. .. If either the Delkhii or the Vulcan ship react in any way inform the Admiral directly immediately .. Whatever happens Harry ensure the Raven is safe .. If you need to warp out of orbit do so .. Understood ? =^=
=^= Yes .. But what abou .. .. .. =^=
=^= Ship first Harry =^= Calli reiterated.
=^= Yes Ma'am =^= Wedlerson conceded. She was about to close the Comm when the Operations Officer continued urgently =^= You said to keep you informed should anything happen .. .. Well .. .. It seems the Vulcan lookalike is as curious about us as we them .. The Commander of the vessel is requesting communication with us =^=
She shut her eyes wondering, with an increasing level of irony, if things could get any worse, alas, it could:
=^= Open a Comm .. Inform him that your Commanding Officer is otherwise engaged but would be willing to contact his ship the moment he is available .. DO NOT give them any information Harry .. Including our whereabouts .. not that I have the slightest doubt that they know exactly where we are already .. I'll inform the Admiral .. maybe we can make our excuses and return to the ship before something goes totally pear-shaped .. Valente out =^=
~~~~~
Returning to the table she took her place, dropping onto the large cushion they used for seating, one of the Governor's from the East immediately engaged her in conversation and despite her efforts she couldn't remove herself, but managed to attract Torek's attention. She mouthed 'Vulcan ship - Communication - Alert !' and hoped he'd got the gist from her efforts ..... Several of the Khan'e entourage began talking in quiet tones, glancing at the Raven Officers every few seconds. Carl knew something was amiss and needed to speak to Calli quickly. Unable to do anything else, he risked some diplomatic faux-par by excusing himself from the conversation and rising to his feet. The tone of conversation dropped a few decibels as others realized he was the only person on his feet other than the serving staff, who in turn looked decidedly uncomfortable, as if it would be they punished for the situation of having a guest need to rise. Smiling, hoping this would alleviate some of the apparent tension, he leaned toward Ogljai and asked if it would be too much trouble to be allowed to speak with his Staff in private for a moment.
"Seat yourself Admiral." the J'aut quri said, his grin oozing friendliness and threat in the same instant, "We are fully aware of the observer within our system. You have no need to fear, you are under the protection of the Great Khan himself. Even the quivering Federation would not be so stupid as to attempt to, coax, you away from us." Carl watched the man closely, realizing they had nothing to gain from arguing the point, but had much to loose. He decided to be truthful with the man:
"The vessel is indeed attempting to contact my ship. They are demanding we reply."
"We know ....." Ogljai replied, making no effort to keep his tones hushed, then why would he, "We know the vessel, it is named the Na'Ver. The Commander is a woman of note among the Federation, and with us she is a highly respected, and while not feared, we are justifiably cautious when she is in our space. You think us wary of her, yes, we are, she has proved herself on numerous occasions, both in battle, and across the conference table ... If you wish to speak with her you are free to do so from your vessel, Admiral, we have nothing to hide as you can clearly seem and maybe having the rantings of S'uro, the Na'Ver Commander, will at least ease your fears about us somewhat."
He stood, clapping his hands twice. While the Khan seemingly completely ignored his Advisor, others didn't ! .....
"Return to your seat Admiral, there is much entertainment, fine food, and exotic drinks to be had this evening, and while unfamiliar with your home planet, I am sure you 'understand' the need for decorum and diplomacy, I know you would not want to, insult, the Khan by leaving before he himself, so ... Rooms have been prepared for you. The Khan has set aside time tomorrow morning to allow you private audience, but until then .... Enjoy ....
With the meal over, the tables sank into the seamless marble flooring to be replaced by several hundred small tables, each adorned with the most exotic fruit and savories. The Governors, their spouses, Children, and guests began to 'mingle' while the Khan moved to what could only be described as a golden woven velvet throne, a woman in her twenties sat on his left, and below, while on his right, a girl, no older than twelve or thirteen, sat watching proceedings.
"His wife .... Nyan." Carl looked around to see one of the Governors stood behind him, eyes locked on the Dias.
"Sorry ?" Carl said, genuinely puzzled.
"Forgive me." the man said, "I am Yesugan, First Son to the Khan, the Lady you are admiring is Nyan, the glorious Khan's Wife, or more precisely, his ruling Wife, which allows her to sit at his feet."
"It is a honor to meet you Yesugan." Carl replied, bowing in respect of the Woman's position.
"The girl ....." the Governor continued, looking at the child with something approaching utter devotion, "..... Is Altan ..... She is currently twelve years of age, and is my Father's first Daughter."
"She's his first because what, there must be others, do they take it in turns ?" Carl asked misunderstanding the mans comment.
"No. My Father, Temujin Tolui, or Khan, has borne only male heirs. But before you, you see the one true heir to all that my Father rules ... Altan is the first because she is the first female child born to the Khan."
Carl looked at the small, almost frail child sat on the gilded cushion, woven with a myriad of intricate images. She was twelve years old, but her eyes might have been a watching for a millennium. If what this man was saying, the apparently 'Immortal' Genghis Khan, sired only males since rising to power, and here was his only girl. Carl turned to the man.
"This Child !, this little girl, is his only Daughter, is that what you are saying ?" the man nodded, resignation, but total acceptance and gratification of his position obvious in his expression, ".... But your commen ......"
"She is destined to sit where only Temüjin sits once he passes beyond."
The ramifications of what this man, Son of Genghis Khan, and co-ruler of the Planet, was saying were staggering .... Was the apparently 'Immortal' Khan relinquishing his immortality to pass it on, and in doing so announcing his only Female offspring as his successor ! .... Would he, how could he, pass on his 'gift' to the child, and more importantly, would the Federation be able to prevent her succession ? ... He suddenly realized, with a frightening foreboding, one possible reason for their apparent slow and steady penetration into the further reaches of space. Why is had taken so long to travel a fraction of what they could have achieved.
Their Ruler was Immortal, so would have no constrictions of being able to see it done before their demise !
Did this version of the Federation know any of this, would they even believe if it told ? ... The Raven could finally have got themselves into something that they may not get out of ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 21, 2016 1:44:05 GMT
The two objects made their rendezvous and the protogeneic sequencer artefact was brought aboard, the Vulcan Commander walking down the passageway nodding to the officers lined either side, some of them her own species, some Andorian and two Xindi Arboreals. Despite the human governor's assurances she could not take the risk that he hadn't sent an assault team with the artefact. The door retracted and the small capsule beyond revealed itself, darkness and winking scarlet lights of a control panel - the escape pod was empty, except for the package secured to its side beneath the window.
In the ward room she debated with her senior officers, the artefact on the table between them. S'uro was always pleased to have a chance to exercise her dialectics among other willing Vulcan officers; the Andorians sat patiently, waiting for the supposed 'truth' to be arrived at.
"The question now is," her Vulcan XO said, positioned at the head of the table next to the display screen, "Should we use it? And who should we use it upon?"
"Two questions," S'uro said, thin-lipped. The XO nodded, bowing slightly and offering his apologies. The Andorians shifted a little in their seats; one may have made quiet noises of exasperation. "The Khan is not a target while the unknown vessel is in attendance. Our surveillance craft have ascertained that a party from the unknown vessel are on the surface," she said.
"They could be in collaboration. A species we haven't come by before," her Andorian tactical officer replied, clenching his teeth, "We shouldn't risk letting them escape. I recommend we destroy the Khan's palace; the whole city if need be to quash the threat of the humans and the unaligned species. And then, annihilate their vessel... the USS Raven."
"There may be others of the unaligned species not far from here," the XO countered, "They would want to know what has happened to their vessel."
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 21, 2016 1:44:38 GMT
On the surface Blakus was in conversation with a military aide of one of the seven governors and his civilian hangers-on - women in bizarre (he assumed formal) dress, courtiers, wits and other Mongols some of whom were diving in front of him with strange implements in front of their faces, positioning themselves so they had a view of Blakus and the governor's aide as they smiled - bowing, talking (likely in undesirable postures should these be still images)... Ah. It occurred to him that these people may be holographic imager snappers. He smiled for the cameras then addressed the aide, "So your world has a mass media, a form of instant worldwide communication for private consumption?"
"Yes. The Khan strictly regulates all providers of information however; broadcasts, still holographs as these people are attempting to capture of us, and journalism... if you use that same word in your culture?" the aide said, "All dissemination of information is controlled tightly, contemporary and historical knowledge limited so that only the Khan's vision for our world's future can be followed by our people, who will know of no other way of life or path their destinies may take them. All is done in the service of the Khan, and whatever we may do to enhance his glory will be done, regardless of actual -"
"Military men!" the governor waded into the group guffawing, shoving aside the military aide, the holographic imager people and grinning at Blakus. "They can be blunt and... forthright, sometimes..." he eyed his aide distastefully, who left the palace to see to security arrangements. "I apologise for the grandiose claims of my aide and can assure you he will be flogged before the third moon. Sometimes in the presence of foreign guests, our subordinates can exaggerate truths to delight, stun or shock their foreign audience."
Is that so? Blakus thought, then found his eye drawn away from the main group around the array of tables towards a curtain at the back left of the chamber - at least 50 metres distant. The curtain was waving - recent egress; he was sure he had seen two people vanish behind there, departing the chamber in obvious secrecy for surely no one would leave the banquet without the Khan's permission, or unless the Khan left first. Well this would be the test... "Excuse me for a moment," he pushed his drink into the governor's free hand who spluttered a protest (thinking he'd left one of the guests with a bad impression), and darted across the chamber towards the green curtain.
"Halt! Esteemed guest!" He'd made it half the way across, was now forced to pivot about - J'aut quri Ogljai, now wearing his ceremonial helmet, was approaching, four armed Mongol warriors before him marching steadily. "Why leave so soon, as I told your Admiral? No one leaves before the Khan does." A menace was in the Mongol's voice, harsh breath escaping the ornately decorated helm.
"Then they may leave at their will!" a voice cried from afar. One of the governors - not the same as the one Blakus had been talking to - had risen and now stood on the steps of the dais, watched sedately by the wife and daughter of the Khan that Carl had told him about - Blakus could just make this out from the appreciably large distance. The guests and courtiers were gathering about the governor, the Khan - conscipuous for his dazzling attire - among the multitude being of the last to turn to watch. Not having time to think, Blakus could only watch the scene unfold: Ogljai's face hardened beneath his helmet, the warriors turning with the Khan's lead advisor to train weapons on the unruly governor by the dais. "How does he know?" he heard one of the warriors murmur to another.
"This 'Khan' is an impostor!" the governor cried derisively - the wife and daughter (Khan elect) - sitting watching dumbly from the throne - ripples of astonishment passed through the gathered crowd, the throng now dispersing in terror. Guards closed around the party from all four corners of the chamber. The coup de grace however, was the vanishing of the Khan in his glittering armour, dematerialising as a hologram would.
Blakus, Ogljai and the four guards were still some twenty metres distant from the set of tables. Ogljai growled a low laugh, his fury however obvious, "Did you really believe the true Khan would present himself at a meeting with an unknown faction of humans, never seen before by either us or the Federation of Worlds?" He laughed darkly, "Yes, a facsimile of the Khan, a superb likeness of mood and appearance yes, but a superficial representation of his ideas and beliefs was presented to you tonight and two moons ago; you've yet to see him in his full glory! Jekutin, prepare the execution," Ogljai muttered.
The guard addressed nodded, marched towards the dais and seized the governor, soon assisted by others, and lifted him onto one of the tables, the delicacies and fruit juices being swept to the marble floor. The crowd stepped back, heads bowed suddenly reverent, the Raven officers were lost in the sea of extravagant dresses and suits of armour. Blakus charged towards the group. "Stop the Commander!" he heard Ogljai's voice distantly.
Meanwhile, the warrior Jekutin had seized a halberd from a servant who'd stepped forward from the crimson curtains that were long as the building was tall behind the throne and dais. Grunting in acceptance, Jekutin positioned himself over the table on which lay the prone governor - writhing and screaming but held in place by many arms - and lifted the halberd over his head, ready to deliver an executioner's blow to the governor's neck.
<Tag Torek, Marionette>
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 21, 2016 22:58:19 GMT
As the evening progressed, the Raven Officers were introduced to numerous dignitaries and their Family members .... He still couldn't get the information regarding the child, Altan, and her apparent upcoming succession to the throne and her becoming the first ever Female khan. He was talking with two women close to the Khan's third Son, Kouang when they heard a disturbance towards the dais. Moving forward he could see one of the Governor's being held by several guards, he recognized the man instantly having been introduced moments earlier, this was Suhe, the Khan's seventh Son !
They cleared one of the tables and prostrated Suhe on his back while one of Ogljai's guards took up a lethal looking weapon and slowly raising it above his head as the J'aut quri was speaking:
"..... Yes, a facsimile of the Khan, a superb likeness of mood and appearance yes, but a superficial representation of his ideas and beliefs was presented to you tonight and two moons ago !" Carl heard shouting and Ogljai ordering someone to stop Blakus, who was attempting to intervene. A guard reached out but Andae stepped past his grasp, alas he didn't evade the second guard, who slammed a fist into the Engineer's midriff doubling him over. Carl was about to speak when an almost nymph-like voice was heard.
"Stop. Stop this now."
He realized that in the mayhem, no-one had noticed two massive doors silently open. Eight guards, dressed in gold from head to foot had entered the great hall and were making their way towards the dais, all present moving aside like the parting of the waves. In the middle of the guards a small figure could just be seen, but as they reached their goal the guards parted. There stood the twelve year old Altan. Carl realized how small the child was against the enormous guards around her. She stood watching those around the table and he could see the guards holding Suhe now visibly shaking in terror of what may become them, but the child stepped forward and approached the table where her Brother was being held. She looked on him with something approaching sympathy and reached out to stroke his cheek. The seventh Son of Khan watched his Sister, and Carl realized he was more terrified of this girl than the fate that awaited him seconds earlier, What hold did she have he wondered.
"Suhe ... Why would you do such a thing ?" she asked her Brother quietly, "How long have we held banquets, state affairs, parades, a myriad of functions, and at how many of those has our Father attended in person ?"
"Altan ....." was all the man could say, now close to tears.
"You should address me by my correct title my Brother." the child said, every syllable oozing dangerous menace.
"Khatun Altan Alaqa-Beki, My Princess." the man said through gritted teeth as he suddenly found some inner strength, eyes glaring defiantly at the girl. In turn, Altan smiled, then turned away. The implication of her seemingly innocent action became instantly apparent as the halberd swung through it's arc, embedding itself in the ornate table.
"We need to get out of here !" Calli whispered as she tried to recover from watching the beheading. Marionette and Andae, both silent witnesses to the execution, were in complete agreement.
"Esteemed guests, you are asked to attend the Queen." they turned to see one of the royal guard, stood behind them he was weaponless, but no-one doubted his ability to protect the child, weapons or not, "You will follow."
They walked behind the guard as the remains of the Khan's seventh Son were removed and music began to play .... By the time they had reached the doors it was as if nothing of the last ten minutes had occurred ... Entering the anteroom, another massive structure of gold and silks, they were led to seats at the foot of a throne atop seven steps. Sat watching their approach the child smiled, motioning for them to sit. After a long silence she stood and began walking down the steps, two of her golden guard mirroring her movement, their eyes locked on the visitors. At the last step she sat herself down, crossing her legs in a very child-like manner.
"It was, unfortunate, that you should have witnessed that. I most humbly apologize and sincerely hope it will not affect any further, interaction, between us. Commander ... The guard that attacked you will be punished. We shall speak no further of it."
"If I may, Princess ...." Carl began but she interrupted him instantly.
"You may address me as Khatun Altan Alaqa-Beki, or while unconventional, and somewhat frowned upon by my Father, you may address me by my given name, Altan." she said, smiling. Carl felt a shiver run the length of his spine, this 'child' had just ordained an execution, yet here she was, a twelve year old girl allowing her guests to address her by her first name with no outward reaction to show what she had allowed to happen. He wondered vaguely if 'All' her Brothers were so completely under her control. He admittedly knew little of the workings of Earth's Mongol Empire, but he knew that the Khan was the ultimate ruler. No-one questioned his decisions, or they and their Families tended to suffer the consequences if they did ... If what he had been told about this child was correct, then she, as their next ruler, effectively spoke for her Father, and was revered as such.
"Apologies ... Altan." he said, standing and bowing deeply at the waist, "Would it be possible to request an audience with the Khan ?"
"You wish not to converse with me ?" she asked, a frown developing, he quickly backtracked:
"We are most fortunate to be allowed to speak with you Altan, I mean no disrespect by asking to speak with your Father."
"Good." she said, clapping her hands suddenly full of cheer, a twelve year old child once more, "You speak for your people I assume ?" she said to Torek.
"I do ... If I may, would it be permitted that two of my, Officers, be allowed to return to the festivities ? ... We try to embrace new cultures whenever we meet them." the Khatun nodded and Carl turned to Andae and Marionette:
"Go mingle." he said quietly, trying to make the comment as innocent as possible while eyeing Blakus directly, they knew what to do. Gather information, as much and as quickly as possible. He turned back to the little girl allowing them audience. How could this small child hold all the power of a world at her fingertips ? he wondered.
"You are not a member of the Federation." she stated, "Tell me, have they encroached upon your world as they try to do ours ?" leaning forward as if eager to hear their story.
"No, they have yet to reach our System." he said, realizing from her question that this Federation had not spread like their own, but was still expanding, "Would you advise we accept their offer of communication ?" he asked casually.
"You are of course free to do as you wish." Altan replied, making it perfectly clear from her tone that it would be extremely 'inadvisable' to do so ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 23, 2016 4:16:08 GMT
Still nursing the blow to his abdomen, Andae nodded to Carl and made his way with the CNO back into the main chamber. Descending the steps past the crimson curtains - beyond which had lay the golden throne and the child on the lowest step. Extraordinary... extraordinary, he thought, now trying to banish the image of a child taking control of a warrior culture; granted immortality she would grow yet would not grow old, and then would be in proper place to reign over her Empire, as far as it'd progressed out into the galaxy.
Something malignant lay within her though; that the Khan - that anonymous figure whose personality and mood they'd at least managed to glean a portion of during his holographic appearance - would give so much power to this child who seemed to him - by the aura of the golden chamber beyond the crimson curtains, and by the casual, mercurial intriguing way she handled her guests - to be invested with something more than the average human possessed; something almost divine, he might've thought, at least spiritual.
He put himself back in the throng of returned courtiers, the six remaining governors and spouses (and the very recently-bereaved spouse still in tears as she tried to wipe the blood away from the floor but only smeared it and the table on which her husband Suhe had been beheaded), positioning himself close to the third eldest governor, the one whose aide had been telling him all about the information suppression by the Khan's state.
"Casual enquiries, you know," he said non-chalantly to Marionette, who nodded and made her way off towards another table of courtiers in the crowd.
<Tag Marionette>
He approached the military aide, knocking back it seemed copious amounts of what passed for liquor on Delkhii. He saw Blakus approach.
"Guest. It's good to see you. I apologise for the unfortunate interruption to our conversation by first, my governor Relij and second, by the execution of his brother the honourable Suhe."
"Indeed," Blakus said, plunking his fruit drink down on the table; looking aside at the headless carcass covered in its sheet just now being repulsor gurneyed out of the front entrance of the palace. Perhaps they would put him on display before the people, he thought, remains burned in a cage or his corpse lifted up on a pyre in the main square. "Not so honourable anymore, I take it, in the eyes of the Khan and his daughter."
"His daughter, yes," the aide said, swigging on another fruit drink - tainted Blakus suspected with some concoction, "Though you, and all of your people should be careful in how you address her."
Blakus sighed, looked at the aide frankly, "We've been put through that already. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about the Khan's information suppression."
"No. My governor Relij's warned me already. Any more talk I get a flogging." Blakus looked across at the governor, who was now exiting the chamber with someone who he was sure was definitely not his spouse - perhaps the weeping willowy widow of Suhe had been swept up, grateful tears and accepting the embraces of her brother-in-law, to be carried off for an evening of consolation. Blakus looked back to the aide, who'd watched the departure along with him, now said brusquely, "Alright. The Khan has removed all evidence of three devastating world wars our culture has suffered - much like yours or so you tell us - to make it seem as if his mighty rule has endured unfettered by terrestrial conflicts, such he would have the majesty of his Empire. He doesn't do it alone; he has a team of historial revisionists who constantly readjust the facts about the past to fit the present and the near future, and all previous 'real' data," unexpected sarcasm, "Is expunged from the database."
"You've been very candid with me, sir. Can I offer you the rest of my fruit drink," Blakus said.
"That's very generous of you."
"Now... what if, one version of history that the revisionists and the Khan discarded in favour of something more sociopolitically acceptable to the existing state of your order, was missed in the process of expunging?"
"Impossible."
"How would you describe your loyalty to the Khan, sir?" Blakus asked. The aide choked on his drink. "You've committed what I would've thought was an unconscionable crime against your Empire by revealing such information. You're a spy, aren't you. For the Federation of Worlds?"
Recovering from his moment, the aide glared at him, "Such words, such unspeakable treason..."
Blakus, leading the Mongol away from the group whose attention they'd been attracting, said, "On the Raven we - think - we have a full history of your civilisation in which the world wars are very much in place. An event of your constantly rewritten history, which I'm sure includes many such versions where all the wars existed, which would seem to have slipped through the expunging process and was downloaded into our ship's memory banks. Who, if you know, my Federation spy friend, is responsible for the error or leak?"
<Tag Torek, Marionette>
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Feb 26, 2016 22:23:55 GMT
"Some disturbance has been identified in the main square adjacent to the Khan's palace," the Vulcan XO said, placing a padd on her desk. She drew it towards her and read. "The footage was captured by our cloaked surveillance vessels in orbit."
She nodded and instructed that the cloaked ships should withdraw before they roused any suspicion, now watching the video playback on the padd's screen; a mass of people flowing out of the palace down its broad marble steps to the square below - she knew the place well, for she'd been there - where they all then gathered about a place about fifty metres from the bottom of the steps. They were particularly numerous in one section near a column in that area, and S'uro soon realised that what they were thronging about was a corpse.
The pixellated image showed the bloodied figure of the unfortunate headless human being drawn up on people's shoulders then hefted onto the pillar; after an accelerated passage through the playback the video showed the body being cut to pieces by blades of Khanate guards who also pushed back the crowds of civilians.
"They executed one of the Khan's sons," she surmised. Indeed, no citizens of the Mongol Empire were displayed and destroyed after death in such a manner other than the governors - the Khan's sons - themselves.
"Should we take advantage of this upheaval? Use this opportunity to ensure Genghis Khan cannot pass on his powers to his successor, using the protogeneic sequencer?"
He stated the obvious, the best option open to them, she thought, however there was one problem with it. "That method would first entail finding the Khan," she replied.
"But, sir," the Vulcan did his best imitation of an all too human frown, "The Khan will have been... entertaining the guests to his world. The beings of the USS Raven, disguised as humans."
She looked up, said softly, "Dismissed, Commander Hemak." He nodded and returned to the bridge of the Sarek class vessel. She turned in her chair and took in the panoramic starfield: the successor to the Khan's golden throne, by all accounts a young female, somehow had the power to take on the Khan's presumed immortality. They need be in no rush to remove her (or the Khan) however; the daughter would grow old and die long before - if the Mongols so hoped - the Federation of Worlds would, and the capital of the Federation lay a mere 16.5 lightyears away, the most heavily defended planet in the quadrant, after the homeworld of the Klingon Oligarchy of course.
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Carl Torek
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Post by Carl Torek on Feb 28, 2016 23:19:01 GMT
"I am somewhat curious, Altan ..... You are I believe only twelve years of age, yet you are revered and addressed as 'Queen' among your people."
"You have concerns regarding my status in comparison to my Mothers ?" the child asked. Carl nodded, "Well, it would not easy to explain unless you were fully conversant with our history, but I will say simply this: My Father, the Khan, has sired only Male heirs. It was foretold that he would be succeeded by a Queen. This was obviously met with skepticism among the Ruling Council as the Khan had never before sired a girl, and the prophecy was dismissed for generations, then, my mother bore twins, both boys, alas both perished within days. My Father, distraught at the loss, was comforted by his First Wife and in due course she was with child once more.
"That was you ?" Calli asked.
"Yes ..." Altan smiled, "It was indeed."
"But, if your Father is, Immortal, he would have many children, yet he had never before had a Daughter."
"My Father has ...." Altan hesitated, looking at the ceiling as she thought deeply on her answer, "There are currently seventy four offspring, all male, seven of which are on the Ruling Council as Governors."
"He's got 'seventy four' children !" Calli said, but the girl simply smiled once more.
"It matters not how many male heirs my Father, sires." she said, her tone suddenly dangerous, "None will rule in his stead ... That is my destiny."
"What if he has another Daughter ?" Calli said, but a look from Carl made her change tack, "Not that it would matter obviously, as you are the Queen."
"Precisely." Altan said as one of her prolific personal guard approached, kneeling behind her before speaking quietly. Her eyes remained locked on Torek's during the one-way conversation and finally she waved the guard away, "It seems that a cloaked Federation vessel is taking an interest in your ship, Carl ..... I wonder, have you had any contact with anyone other than ourselves prior to entering our system ?"
"We have not Altan." Torek answered, noting her familiarity in using his given name, "Is my ship in any danger that you can detect ?"
The Daughter of Khan motioned to one of her entourage, who quickly pulled a curtain aside to reveal a massive screen. seconds later a view from what could only be an orbital structure appeared. It clearly showed the USS Raven in geo-stationary orbit above the city, two of the Khan's ship's flanking the Galaxy Class Star Ship. The 'technician' made several inputs and the screen was overlaid by their version of a tactical plot, and they could instantly see two new icons, obviously not belonging to Delkhii .....
"You can see through their cloak !" Carl commented, wondering if the technology could be acquired before they returned to their own realm.
"Not exactly .... I do not understand the technology behind our systems yet, but i am learning." the child admitted, "we can detect the Federation vessels only when they come into orbit, and even then, we cannot identify the type of vessel, just that it is there, spying, listening, watching, and all the while being watched in turn. One day soon, we hope to penetrate their cloak completely, then they will know our feelings on their encroachment of our space."
"Pardon me Altan." Calli said, receiving a nod for her to continue, "Pardon my ignorance, but you seen very knowledgeable fo ...."
"For a twelve year old girl ?" Altan interrupted, a smile on her face.
"Yes ....."
"This has been explained to me, but I am still trying to understand. I do learn quickly, I must, for the sake of the Empire and our success over the Federation .... You doubt my ability, that is understandable." Altan said, uncrossing her legs and stepping down to seat herself directly before her two guests, "My Mother, Nyan, was chosen very wisely in the hope she would bare the Khan what he so desired, but while erm, genetic manipulation is not something we condone, we do endeavor to ensure our mothers have healthy children, it is the only way to ensure our continence. For example, it is unknown if the outcome of a tryst between a suitor and myself would produce another Daughter."
"Hold on here." Calli said, "Are you telling us that you are the first, and 'ONLY' Daughter that will 'ever' be borne to the Khan ?"
"The Khan will, not be siring any more children, male or female ... So yes, I do believe that I am to be the only Female Khan in our yet to be written history. Should it be that I am to surrender my position, it will be to a male heir." Altan said, seemingly mulling something over in her head before continuing, "I believe that you are somewhat confused regarding my Fathers' long life ... It is true he has lived a long life, and has brought us from the Steppes to where we are today, but it is also felt that he cou ....."
"My Queen !" Ogljai said, suddenly appearing as if from nowhere. It couldn't go unnoticed to the two Raven Officers that those two words silenced the child instantly, the J'aut quri looked up at the visitors and spoke again, "I am sorry, but the Queen tires easily and needs to rest. She was not expecting to hold audience today, Please, feel free to return to the festivities, they will progress into the early hours I am sure."
"Altan, My sincerest thank you for allowing us to speak with you, and my deepest apologies for keeping you if you were needed elsewhere." Carl said, reaching out to take her hand, kissing her wrist before releasing it, "It was a great honor, and I hope we can converse again before we depart for home."
The Queen looked at her wrist, then at Torek, her face expressionless, before Ogljai motioned for her guard to accompany her from the chamber. He watched her leave, then turned to the Raven Officers ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 2, 2016 11:54:14 GMT
"Admiral," Andae greeted, looking behind him at the curtains just now being drawn back by one of Ogljai's heavies, the daughter of the Khan visible within, "Did you gather anything potentially constructive from the Queen?"
He looked about him; the party was beginning to disperse, though many hours of the night remained for the faithful to exercise their mouths and supposed wits. "You should know, sir, I've had a most interesting talk with an aide of the Khan's son Governor Relij... He was eager to tell me of the falsification of Delkhii history by a team of historical revisionists, to fit their current circumstances no doubt. I pressed him, thinking he may be a spy for the Federation of Worlds, or at least a traitor to his people, but he wouldn't divulge anything further... It's true, sir, if the aide speaks the truth that is: they did endure three world wars."
Marionette beside him was wearing an expression as if she was almost but not quite feeling the emotion of vindication at the news. "Did you manage to gather anything?" he asked.
<Tag Marionette>
Meanwhile across the hall, they heard the clamour from outside of whatever unspeakable acts were being carried out on the decapitated Governor Suhe - his replacement already lording it about the place in the grand chamber's interior with the spouse of Relij on his arm - Relij having left earlier with Suhe's widow.
"With your permission, sir, I'd like to ask my assistant Milyanov to have a look at those cloaked Federation ships... See if we can detect them ourselves. We've had cloaks on Federation vessels before; perhaps the technology they employ on their vessels is similar to ours. If solely as a matter of curiosity I believe we should give it a try; it may also verify what the... ahem, Queen says about them."
<Tag Torek>
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Andae Blakus
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 2, 2016 11:55:56 GMT
Lt. Milyanov...
Milyanov was thinking on that command of his own - of an engineering that was - ... Tinsley grabbed his attention before he could progress much further with the thought. "Lieutenant, your presence is requested on the bridge."
The Russian looked up, "Oh, thanks Tinsley. Another burst EPS relay, likely under that temperamental mission ops station no doubt." Arriving he found much that indicated the contrary. He took the engineering station though glanced over his shoulder at the viewscreen, it showing the imposing sight of the two Khanate ships that'd so far been stationed either side of them moving forwards, towards a point in higher orbit.
"What are they doing?" the duty officer asked, "Scan the area round the destination their current trajectory will take them to."
At this time the Russian received information from the surface that he was to ascertain if he could detect cloaked Federation of Worlds ships in orbit! Well, they'd found two already - or so they'd suspected - in low orbit, small craft perhaps with purposes of surveillance surveying the capital of the Mongol Empire (for their orbital path took them over the city every few hours). Anti-proton traces had been the tell-tale sign that'd made them suspect the presence of cloaked ships before, so let's put the same thing into practice round the region designated by the duty officer.
"The Mongol warships are three thousand kilometres from that point in orbit," Ops reported, "And... they're holding." His surprise was evident.
"Affirmative," Milyanov called out, "Reading residual anti-protons and tachyons in the region they've stopped short of, consistent with the coordinates of the cloaked Federation vessel as supplied by the ground team." Thus then, if the Mongols' claim that at these locations lay Federation of Worlds vessels, the Raven's own anti-proton and tachyon detections were sufficient proof, Milyanov thought, for the existence of said craft.
The Mongol ships held steady at three thousand kilometres, weapons unarmed but shields raised as the tactical officer reported. As Milyanov was about to pass onto the ever-present problem of the degrading dilithium crystals - and how they might fix it before they were permanently out of fuel and stranded here forever - unless by some quirk of extraordinary physics they were allowed to return to their own Federation, when - starting the scans on the matter injectors and the magnetic constrictors from there to the dilithium chamber, tapping into the appropriate frequencies - audio burst suddenly from his console - static-ridden and chopped up by the sub-microscopic phenomena of the vacuum - "- rotogeneic sequen- ... will disrupt the process of the... -ssing on his immortality... I recom- ... -ploy it as soon as p- ..."
Half the bridge had turned round to hear the broken message that'd filled the bridge with a terrible wash of scratchy noise. "I think..." Milyanov said, with growing wonder, "I tuned the magnetic constrictors' frequency - perhaps accidentally, who knows... maybe 'they' mean them to match - to an intraship comm channel on that cloaked ship out there, if it exists..."
"Are you saying," an officer said, "If that is a Federation ship cloaked out there, that they may be trying to match their internal comms to the frequency of something in our warp drive, our power drive? Ok, what could be the reasons other than aggression?"
"It could just be a coincidence," Milyanov said, "Though, I might speculate that the Federation of Worlds would be no less sparing of us than Genghis Khan's Mongols of the stars would be."
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
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Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Mar 5, 2016 1:16:57 GMT
As the audience with the Khatun drew to a close, Carl and Calli were escorted back into the main hall. For a split-second, he thought, he could have sworn he saw a shadowy figure behind the silken tapestries that lines the walls of the chamber 'presumably to segregate that throne from the rest of the room maybe ?' he wondered as he turned to get a second look, but Ogljai ushered them from the childs' presence before he could see who it was ..... Entering the main hall he could see Andae waiting to speak to him:
"With your permission Sir, I'd like to ask my assistant Milyanov to have a look at those cloaked Federation ships ... See if we can detect them ourselves. We've had cloaks on Federation vessels before; perhaps the technology they employ on their vessels is similar to ours. If solely as a matter of curiosity, I believe we should give it a try. It may also verify what the ... ahem, Queen, says about them."
"Contact Commander Wedlerson, tell him to give your Assistant whatever he needs, but try not to show our hand. If we can see them let's keep it to ourselves, OK." Carl said.
Approximately four hours later ::
With guests beginning to leave, the Raven Officer's found themselves standing off to one side. Truth be told, he wasn't sure if etiquette called for them to take their leave of the Khan, or his, successor, or if they were to wait until officially 'dismissed' and allowed to return to their vessel. The Khan's first Son, or to be more precise, the Son with the largest 'province' or continent, had approached earlier, eager to hear what his 'little sister' had had to say during their audience, but Carl apologized, saying it was alas nothing more than curiosity about the Raven crew on her part. As for her sharing anything of a confidential nature, he could not say. Feigning disinterest, the First Son moved away and could be seen leaving the banquet moments later. One of his guards, presumably his Head of Security, or whatever their equivalent, gave Torek along, hard, stare as they left.
"I don't think he likes you." Calli said, a wry grin on her face.
"We need to get back to the ship." he said by way of reply, looking around and finally getting the attention of Ogljai, who was presiding over departures, apparently ensuring everyone left in order, presumably by their standing in the Khan's court. the J'aut Quri spoke quietly to one of his entourage then approached:
"You wish to speak with me, Admiral ?"
"We are not familiar with protocol on your planet, I woul ....."
"You wish to know when it would be 'appropriate' for you to take your leave ?" Ogljai interrupted, Carl nodded, apologizing if his query was out of order, but the J'aut Quri grinned, "You were invited as a dignitary from another region of our Galaxy, as such your position is one of esteemed guest. In normal circumstances, it would be required that you remain until the Khan himself has spoken with you. But as you are aware, there are unwarranted factors that preclude that from happening. I believe that as your audience with the Khatun was concluded, you may say your farewells and return to your vessel when you see fit."
"Thank you ..... I hope we will be able to return to the surface, tomorrow maybe ?" Torek asked.
"You and your Officers were guests in the Khan's home, you are of course welcome to return to the surface at anytime, all I would ask is that you contact us prior to arrival, so we may be, ready."
"You think we may be allowed to speak with the Khan on our next visit ?" Calli asked.
"Who can say dear Lady." Ogljai said.
"Please thank the Khan, and Princess Altan, for your hospitality tonight. It is not often we get to attend such lavish proceedings."
"I will." the J'aut quri assured them before returning to his duties. Carl watched him leave then glanced at the doors to the chamber where they had met Altan, wondering if the shadowy figure was the Khan himself. He nodded to Andae who tapped his Comm badge and spoke:
=^= Commander Blakus to Raven =^=
=^= Wedlerson .. Commander =^=
=^= Four to beam up =^=
=^= Stand by Away Team .. .. .. =^=
They felt the grip of the transporter caress them, and as they de-materialized, Carl could still see Ogljai's hard eyes watching them, seconds later they were back on the Raven ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 5, 2016 13:34:30 GMT
The other explanation of course was that the Federation of Worlds vessel - if it was truly out there - had adjusted their internal comms to match with the random fluctuations of frequency in the magnetic constrictors of the Raven, with the purpose of sending a covert message, the snippets of which they'd just heard.
"Something to do with a geneic sequence?" Blakus asked, listening to the playback of the broken-up message they'd received from those coordinates.
"More likely a protogeneic sequence," Milyanov replied, "Perhaps even a sequencer."
"What's that?"
"I don't know. But the rest of the message perhaps indicates that they want us to use it, so a sequencer in whatever form it would take is likely to be what was meant in the comm." If only, Milyanov thought, he could remember his initial impression of what he thought had been said when he'd heard those digitally ruined comm bursts; his mind had filled in the blanks, accounting for timbre and the level of urgency in the distorted voice.
They heard sirens distantly, accompanied soon by the report of an Ensign; a foreign object had been found aboard the Raven, its constituents not matching with any known metals used by Starfleet vessels. Heading to deck 38 where the internal sensors had detected the anomaly, a security team with them, Blakus and Milyanov approached the junction cautiously with tricorders out. Blakus frowned, "There are decaying signs of a matter stream process... it's been beamed aboard..."
"But the shields are raised!" He didn't reply to his assistant and darted round the turn in the corridor, two of the security guards irksomely in front of him.
"Ok, out of the way, it's clearly not a hostile invasion force..." He approached the small object on the floor, a blackened - seemingly by fire - toroid with protrusions of an unfamiliar diamond structure at regular intervals. He knelt beside it, scanning, his tricorder suddenly barraged by an incoming data stream from the toroidal object. He sorted it aside from the firewall, removing any potentially malicious code, and found himself reading a message:
Protogeneic Sequencer v.932 Vulcan-Andoria product code a92i9i: to: USS Raven, unidentified allegiance, this is the protogeneic sequencer. Use on Genghis Khan to prevent him passing on his immortality to the Khatun. I hope we will have the opportunity to speak before too long. For you are human, too, and there are certain issues with regard to the Mongol Empire that you and I must address. Regards, Captain S'uro, Starfleet, Federation of Worlds.
Blakus raised an eyebrow and stood, now feeling confident to hold the toroid - the protogeneic sequencer rather - in his hands: it was surprisingly light.
"How to use it though?" he stood by the conference table, the sequencer - delivered presumably from the Federation ship the Mongols knew was nearby their planet under cloak - in the middle of the table with the staff positioned around it. "The message says use it on the Khan... How is that meant to work? We go up to him and it springs into life?"
"Why would we want to help this Federation in any case?" Wedlerson said, "Deprive our own species... some of, our present company excepted..." he glanced at Marionette and the other non-human staff present, "... Deprive the Mongols our own people in many ways of a new leader when their current one may well be fading?"
"I was hoping Captain S'uro... Wasn't she mentioned at the banquet? Would be able to tell us about that, when she has an opportunity to meet us, however she's going to manage it," Blakus said.
"Wait a minute," Carl interjected, "You said that this sequencer was beamed right through our shields?" Blakus nodded. "Then what's to stop them taking us from our ship? Unless it can only work one way; they put things onto the Raven."
That didn't bode well.
<Tag Carl, Marionette>
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Carl Torek
Command Staff ..
Site Executive Officer Ranks Officer
Fleet Admiral
"UTRINQUE PARATUS"
Registered: Jun 17, 2006 22:34:35 GMT
Posts: 6,164
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Post by Carl Torek on Mar 8, 2016 22:07:25 GMT
"Play the message again Commander." Carl instructed Harry as he and his Senior Staff sat around the curved table in the Observation Lounge. Protogeneic Sequencer v.932 Vulcan-Andoria product code a92i9i: to: USS Raven, unidentified allegiance, this is the protogeneic sequencer. Use on Genghis Khan to prevent him passing on his immortality to the Khatun. I hope we will have the opportunity to speak before too long. For you are human, too, and there are certain issues with regard to the Mongol Empire that you and I must address. Regards, Captain S'uro, Starfleet, Federation of Worlds. "..... and you think the message refers to the device apparently beamed through our raised shields ?" "I don't see what else it could be referring to Sir." Wedlerson replied. "Andae, what's our power situation ? ... Given the revelation that 'this' Federation has the ability to beam, at least one-way, through our shields, should we simply drop them to reserve what we have ?" Blakus turned to Milyanov: "It can't hurt Admiral. The decay rate on the crystals is slowwing, but has already passed forty one percent. We're not exactly in the red, but we're getting there. Sir" Torek tapped his Comm badge and ordered the Duty Officer to drop the shields, then stood and walked around the large table deep in thought .... "What I can't understand, is ... We are fairly certain that Delkhii and the Federation of Worlds are not actually at all-out war. they are doing everything possible to make it 'appear' that is the case, but if it were, then there is no way the Delkhii would allow Federation vessels into the System, let alone close enough to wave at for heavens' sake ! ...... I have the feeling, from the message sent by S'uro that they would much rather us be held responsible for the death of the Khan rather than them. less loss of life for one thing, and with the Ruling Dynasty eliminated, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to offer to hold a court to convict us while settling themselves into the Palace and strategic areas of the Planet before mentioning to the Delkhii that they have just been conquered ?" "But what will blaming us achieve in the long run ?" Calli asked, then answered her own question, "...... Let's say, for convenience-sake obviously, they simply transport that thing 'through' the Raven and into the Palace. It doesn't sound like any 'bomb' at least in the conventional sense ... S'uro said 'Use on Genghis Khan to prevent him passing on his immortality to the Khatun' ... That makes me wonder if that is their goal. Allow Genghis to die naturally then somehow force the planet to it's knees under the very short-lived rule of Altan, who would naturally be deposed in short order in my opinion." "We've a lot to think on." Carl said, dropping back into his seat, "First off is the power situation." "We could ask S'uro ...." Milyanov commented, all eyes turning to the Deputy Chief Engineer, "We need dilithium, who's to say he wouldn't be willing to provide us with some ?" he finished, shrugging as if it was an obvious option in his mind. "I'm guessing the Khan's people will be able to monitor any communications ?" Carl asked, receiving nods of agreement from those present, "Harry, open a Comm to the surface .... No need to make it secure." Wedlerson nodded to signify he could proceed: =^= USS Raven to Delkhii Ruling Council .. .. .. =^= =^= Admiral Torek .. We did not expect to be hearing from you before the morning .. Are you in difficulty ? =^= 'Like he doesn't know' Calli mouthed as Ogljai appeared on screen. =^= The Princess assured us that you were happy to help us =^= =^= I believe she did .. .. .. .. =^= Ogljai said after a moment. =^= Then we may need to take advantage of her generosity .. .. .. Due to a malfunction of our warp systems during our journey .. We have seriously depleted the crystals we use to control our matter antima .. .. =^= =^= We are of course fully aware of your problems Admiral .. But unfortunately .. Our Radan may not be fully compatible with your systems .. I will of course ask our Engineers to carry out tests to see if we may not help you in some way .. .. Was there anything else you wished to ask .. Before we take our leave ? =^= =^= No .. .. Thank you for your time Ogljai .. .. But if your Engineers could help us it would be appreciated .. .. .. I feel I must inform you that should we not be able to replace our dilithium crystals in the next .. .. Seventy two hours .. Our orbit will begin to decay .. Should that happen it could result in the Raven falling onto a populated area of Delkhii =^= =^= Fear not .. Admiral .. Should that eventually come to pass I am assured your vessel will not enter our atmosphere .. We shall contact you regarding further visits to the surface for shall we say .. Recreational purposes =^= The Comm snapped off, leaving everyone with an image of the almost openly gloating J'aut Quri ! .... No-one around the table could have misinterpreted Ogljai's comment regarding their possible incursion into the planets atmosphere, and the fact that he had all but openly stated that they would be destroyed well before any possible impact on the surface was reached. Carl suspected that he could have quite easily helped if he so wished, but the man had his own agenda, and that didn't involve pampering to the third ace he now felt he had in a previously weak hand. "I am guessing S'uro and the Federation ships heard every word ?" Carl asked. "They'd have to be completely deaf not to have done." Milyanov confirmed. "Sir, in my opinion, I can see S'uro holding off with any offer to help us." Harry interjected, "Why would he ? .... We are proverbially between the old'e rock and a hard place, with nowhere to go but down hill. At this point we have shields, for what they are worth, plus the essentials to keep us alive, but no weapons, no drive systems, and no 'get out of jail free' cards to play ... Basically, group 'A' the Delkhii, are hesitating to offer help, while group 'B' the Federation of Worlds, are mulling over options. Help the newcomer and crush the Mongol Hoards to finally be rid of the Khan and his rule once and for all, or see out what said Delkhii are going to offer the wildcard." "As usual Harry, your in-depth analysis of a given situation never fails to disappoint." Calli said, trying to keep the grin off her face. Wedlerson looked at her, his eyebrows raised as he shrugged. "OK ... For the time being restrict 'ALL' non-essential systems. Shut down Astrometrics and anything else that doesn't need to be running. We'll see if S'uro plays a card of his own. Dismissed." Torek said, watching everyone file out of the Observation Lounge leaving him alone with his thoughts ..........
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Andae Blakus
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Commander 1C
Registered: Oct 17, 2007 22:48:27 GMT
Posts: 1,452
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Post by Andae Blakus on Mar 9, 2016 21:46:31 GMT
On the outskirts of Mongol space, near the border with the Federation of Worlds - the other side of which lay Vulcan - a fleet was gathering. Cloaked ships leaving the vacuum unperturbed congregated along the border's edge, just 9 lightyears from Delkhii. The lead vessel, the Spock, was transmitting to S'uro's vessel.
"The original programming remains in place and is recoverable. It has simply received a patch, a substantial one admittedly, but I assure you the modification will not be discovered," the Tellarite barked on the viewscreen.
"There is logic to what you say," she replied after a moment, "Rather than neutralising the ability of transference, we are neutralising the life-essence of the object of the sequencer's use. My thanks, to your engineers, Captain." The Tellarite acknowledged gruffly and the channel closed.
"The 'object' will soon wish an audience with the USS Raven's officers," Hemak pointed out.
S'uro nodded, "Thus it is then that Admiral Torek must strike."
"Captain." Hemak approached her, standing close, "We are condemning a people we do not know - Admiral Torek's crew - for a crime they do not know they're about to commit." That was, she thought, assuming the Raven followed her instructions. "Why do we not destroy them?" he asked rhetorically. "You know well enough: because we need their deuterium. And what do they need? Dilithium. Do you not see the opportunity for the Federation?"
"Commander Hemak, these people are, predominantly, humans, and that desperate species casts aside all reason when faced with the prospect of its own extinction. The Raven is out here, alone - that constitutes a threat to its existence. It is impossible for us to make any deal with such irrational beings."
Irrationalism can occur in places you may not have imagined, Captain... Hemak thought, then nodded to the security personnel that'd been appearing at the entrances to the bridge over the last few minutes. Hemak dived forward and bundled S'uro off her chair, the security closing around and shooting unconscious those who resisted. Others, the most part of them, joined Hemak and his pseudo-mutineers in his taking command of the Sarek class T'Ehleyr.
"Hail the Raven, secure channel," he ordered, sitting in the Captain's chair. Delkhii may pick up the broadcast, may not. "USS Raven, I am Commander Hemak of the Federation starship T'Ehleyr. We have been in covert communication with you, you will have noticed the protogeneic sequencer we beamed aboard four hours ago. Mark me, Admiral, the sequencer will not only deprive the Khan of his ability to transfer his immortality, it will outright kill him if used. My Captain's intent had been to have you carry out the act.
"Admiral, we need deuterium. There is a shortage throughout the Federation, and our harvesting techniques in obtaining it from stellar coronae have failed of late, owing to insufficient deuterium to power the resource harvester technology. On behalf of the Federation of Worlds, I propose a trade between our peoples. Your deuterium, for our dilithium crystals."
<Tag Torek, All>
Of course, the fleet waiting on the border of Mongol space weren't there merely as insurance against Raven treachery; an assault by cloak-and-dagger on the Mongol Empire was their mission - the Spock and its fleet in position, aiming for Delkhii just 9 lightyears away. Hemak knew he had the support of the leaders of the fleet in what he'd just done, and that in wiping out or subjugating the Delkhii world they would also be assured of deuterium for years to come.
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