Face to face with the Nironese

Posted on Mon May 1st, 2017 @ 4:07am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale & Lieutenant Commander Ziyal Tajor & Lieutenant Hel Samedi

Mission: The Trial of Cor Cordale
Location: Presidium, Orbit of Niron 5

The Victory did not often need to dock directly with other stations, but the Nironese had followed the specifications and the hard point connectors fitted like a glove. The umbilicals were connected and the atmospheric cyling completed.

At the far end of the umbilical was a young Nironese official with a note pad. She smiled warmly at the group arriving, her neck gills a pleasant green. As the approached she glanced at her PADD.

"Greetings, Captain and respected Officers of the USS Victory. I am Diplomatic officer Ishar, and I will be responsible for coordinating your activities while you are on station. I have your itineries here."

"Commander Bertrum?" she looked at the group enquringly.

Bertrand looked at the Captain and raised his left arm, "Present."

"Thank you, commander," She trilled. "I have booked you and your team a shuttle to the surface. I trust your medical team were given teh specifications for inoculation required?"

Bertrand glanced, this time at Kevin, before answering, "We've been innoculated."

Kevin could feel Cuprum looking at him, so he said very quietly "Don't blame me Commander, you're the one who freaked out, seeing Borg..."

"Then if you would be so good as to follow the green stripe along that wall it will lead you to the shuttle terminal."

Bertrand nodded to the Captain and then indicated to Kilbane and the ground team (forgot who else is coming) to follow as he moved off.

Kevin couldn't help himself, so he placed himself last, turned and walked backwards with the group, saying "Just covering us in case some Borg have decided to follow us."

"As you were, Lieutenant," Bertrand said. "One more quip and you will be on report."

"With respect Sir, it was meant as a joke, but as you wish Commander" Kevin replied "and may I remind you that you're the one who would appreciate my discretion on this matter, so if you were to place me on report, then I'd be duty bound to say what led to the circumstances of the report, and I think in this instance, you're hallucinations would make the reasons mute, but I'll real in my candour Sir, yes."

With a sudden movement lifted the CTO of the ground and pinned him to the wall by his throat using only his right hand. The security team froze unsure what to do.

"I will say this to you only once, Kilbane. Your job is to protect the crew, and especially your senior officers. That includes from threats you don't understand. If you mention my halucinations, the Borg, or any other 'slight joke, just meant in fun, just speaking my mind', if you are lucky, I will remove you from duty, and if you catch me on a bad day I will put you through a wall first. This is not a threat, this is a reality. Look my psyche file up, you will find you and the doctor are not the first person to cross this line and end up damaged. As I am in danger of crushing your larynx now, I will accept a slight nod as grounds that you understand me."

Very gently Bertrand lowered Kilbane back to the ground and released his death hold on the man's throat.

The image flashed crystal clear in Bertrand mind and he savoured it. Of course he would not do it, not with so much at stake. Instead he turned to the young officer, who was oblivious to his fantasy.

"From this moment on you do NOT have permission to speak freely, Lieutenant," Bertrand said simply. "if a single word comes out of your mouth that is not mission related, I will have you escorted back to the ship as unable to follow a direct order.

Kevin looked at Cuprum and then put his two thumbs up in the air to show he understood.

The shuttle it this way, I believe," he indicated to the security team. The officers fell into step, not knowing what had transpired to cause this, but just that the current CTO had crossed some line and none of them dared to get between the pair.

"Now, I have here a request for a technical tour for a Commander Cordale?" she looked again at the group to see who would be identified as the Chief Engineer.

The Thux raised his mechanical limb, "That's me."

"Thank you, commander," the womans gills tinged yellow as she continued. "I need to stress that this is a very unorthodox request. We are, understandably, very protective of our technology. While our government has agreed to a tour, you must understand that there will be some questions our technicians are not permitted to answer, and you are under no circumstances to interact with the machinery yourself. Is that agreeable?"

He gave a nod, actually expecting half of that to be fair, "Don't ask probing questions, accept answers that are given. No touch," and after his brief summary he gave another nod, "I fully accept."

The gills turned blue again, "Then is you would be good enough to follow the grey wall lining in that direction, our Chief technician is waiting for you. Truth be told, I think he is quite excited at the idea. He rarely gets to talk to people about what they do here."

"Looking forward to it," the Thux said with a smirk as he and the small team followed along. Included in the group was the resident rabbitess Valeria Mordin... who was her customary 'See twice as much as you say' brand of silent observer.

Hel meanwhile just stood silently behind Cor. She was just going along out of curiosity, this facility was rather spectacular and although she would've loved to get her hands on some of the machinery and equipment, just getting an eyeful would have to suffice for today.

Ziyal hung to the back of Cor's group, observing quietly. She watched the colors change on her gills and wondered what it meant. While she suspected that it was a form of mood indicator, she was not sure yet. She also doubted that not being able to see the details of the machinery was going to matter at the moment. They did not yet appear to have technology too far advanced from the Federation's own and Starfleet had very good engineers, several of whom were here. If they really wanted to discover how they were doing something, it could be worked out with a bit of time and effort.

"Which just leaves you and your diplomatic team, Captain Michaels," the woman looked at Elijah and his team. "A reception has been prepared before the serious business of the day is to be addressed. Will you all follow me?"

The Captain nodded. "Thank you." He turned to Lieutenant Keller and the small Diplomatic Team who had been assembled. The orders were simple, respect protocol and culture.

Keller smiled as he followed the Captain and the Nironese Officials.