JDL|aCO/AXO|Cmdr. Dhej & Ltcmdr. Hunter |"Conflict of Interest"

Posted on 241503.04 @ 1:47am by

Mission: Holy Cow

Adrianna Hunter had returned to the ship for the night. She felt uneasy about all of this. She had returned to her quarters first to see her son, in the hopes it would settle her. With a kiss softly placed on his sleeping head, in his cot, she hit her command badge, "Captain, if you have a moment can we talk to debrief and so on? We need to talk about some new information that could effect our next steps."

Karim was en route to his quarters to get some rest when he heard her message. Tapping his combadge he said "Dhej here. Where are you now Commander? I was just going off duty, but it sounds like this can't wait."

"My quarters, sir," she replied quietly, smiling in admiration at her son before her.

"Acknowledged, on my way. Dhej out." Moments later he arrived at her door and pressed the chime.

Adrianna let him in and walked in from Matthias' room, "Evening captain. I'm sorry to contact you at the end of your shift."

"It's ok Commander. It had to be important for you to do so." he replied. Then added "What's going on?"

"There seems to be a slight conflict of interest," she replied and gestured to a seat as she sat down in an armchair, clearly exhausted, both emotionally and physically, "Barula has disclosed some information to me, which I believe may come to, and excuse my terminology, but bite us in the ass."

Taking the seat on the sofa, he looked and her curiously and replied "Please elaborate Commander."

The woman massaged her temple for a moment before replying with a sigh, "The leader of this rebel alliance, is none other than her son."

Cursing under his breath, Karim replied "That certainly complicates things. Does she understand that we will do what we need to, to protect both our people and hers?"

She looked to Karim almost with a face of pleading, "I explained, but it's one thing to say that she agrees, it's another to see your son in a position like that. If Matthias was older and turned against Starfleet, I would be upset but if I saw him in a position where he could be killed or something, I would struggle to put a side my duties as a mother. This woman, yes, needs to protect her people, but also will have some maternal bond."

Karim was about to reply that he could understand how she felt, having been a mother himself. He was interrupted when the ship shook violently, and the red alert sirens went off. Finding himself on the floor in a rather undignified heap, he slapped his combadge and said "Dhej to bridge! Report!"

Adrianna somehow managed to catch herself and scramble to her feet again to make she Matthias was alright as she heard him scream awake whilst still listening in to the bridge. "Sir, we're under attack, ship has taken little damage. Our base camp planet side has been hit too. Our sensors are struggling to pick up the culprit."

"Acknowledged. Dhej out." he replied. Looking to Hunter, he said "We need to get to the bridge. Is your son going to be alright here?"

"He's fine I've got the programme running," she replied, "Let's go." She swung on her uniform jacket, kissing her son's head before heading for the door.

Following her out the door, he sprinted to the turbolift. Once they were inside, he said "Bridge!" Moments later, he stepped out onto the bridge and relieved the officer at the command chair. Taking a seat, he said "Report!"

Hunter remained standing more curious as to the response, more than the desire to stay. A young man reported back, "Only a graze, sir, to us. Our camp is near destroyed. No fatalities, only injured."

"Understood" he replied. Turning to Hunter he said "Commander, can you reach our people on the surface?"

"I can try," she replied, "With your permission, I'd actually like to be beamed to the planet myself and take some medics with me."

"I agree, but we need to make sure its safe to lower our shields before we do so." he replied. He was about to say more when a garbled noise filled the bridge.

Soon the screen flickered to life with an incoming message, "Why do you disturb us?"

Karim looked forward to a very dark room, where he couldn't make out any distinguishing features. Keeping his voice neutral he said "I'm not sure I understand. I am Commander Karim Dhej. Acting Commanding Officer of the Federation Starship..."

"I know who you are," he interrupted, "We are not uninformed. You are disturbing our new vision to be spread throughout our world."

"Your world?" Karim replied "The planet below is home to the Nirua. They are a people who from what we understand have no alliances with anyone."

"You know who I am Commander," he replied, "This is my home, I seek to make it more functional. Survival is a gift granted by the fittest and those willing to fight."

Looking at the viewscreen Karim replied evenly "Let me be clear. I don't know who you are, and to be perfectly honest, I don't care. You've attacked both my ship and the planet below, and I will respond to any further aggression appropriately."

"It's about time we had a decent challenge," the voice replied, almost mocking Karim, "I've had it with peace talks."

Sighing, Karim replied "I want to know what you are doing here, and I want answers now. When you said you had a vision for this planet, does that include influencing the health of its people? And upsetting the balance of power?"

"Power should be earned, not passed on," he responded, "This planet is my home, our home. My vision for this planet is merely one that will make it more efficient."

Not knowing what to do to reason with the being in front of him, Karim made a subtle motion for the audio to be muted. Turning to Hunter he said "Suggestions Commander? I'd like to try and get a fix on the location of this beings ship, but I don't know if I can keep him talking long enough to work on it."

"Try keeping him talking, his arrogance will mean he will want to talk about himself and his plans. Don't forget, I think this could be the person we discussed," she replied quietly.

Subtly nodding, he sent a message to her chair console, with orders for her to carefully move to the tactical console and continue scans of the source of the transmission. Signalling for the audio to be restored he said "As I have indicated before, this planet is not yours for the taking. It is the home of the Nirua. What claim do you have to the planet?"

"Birth right," the figure answered boldly, "What right do you have to help them? What do you get out of it?"

Shaking his head, Karim replied "We have the right as the Nirua have sent a distress call and we have chosen to aid them with their struggles. We don't get anything out of it. It is our mission to help those in need. We do not seek any gain for that help."

"Then you have as much right as us," the male voice came through bluntly.

Looking at him with confusion, he said "I'm not sure I understand. Perhaps you would like to enlighten me. Maybe we could reach an understanding." As he was speaking, he subtly typed a text message to Hunter, asking for an update.

Hunter forwarded everything that was coming through to her. The location was narrowing and fast. Unaware, the voice continued, "We are here, as our birthright, to help these people to fulfil their true potentials."

Replying to the response from Hunter with the hand that wasn't in view of the screen, Karim smiled broadly, and leaning back in his chair, crossed his legs casually. With almost a grin, he said "We share that goal then. We want to help these people help themselves. We are doing so by offering them help. What have you done to help them with that goal?"

"We have instigated a war," the reply was simple and almost given as a matter of fact, "war causes innovation. War is the berth of a new life. Survival of the fittest if you will."

Nodding, Karim said "Very interesting. Did you also cause the crop blight, the birthing issues, and the illnesses? If you did, your attention to detail is staggering."

"Innovations comes through tragedy," he paused, "You may call it playing God. We cause pain, in order to seek solution. The pain is worth it in the end, which is what many women say after childbirth."

Hunter looked up from her screen a moment. The man was right, but there was something dark behind what he was saying. "Captain," she said quietly, as a hint for him to look at the message she had just sent him, it read 'we've found him'.

Subtly nodding, Karim said "Thank you for explaining your actions. I assume you did so because you plan on destroying us then continuing your work?"

"'Us' is an interesting collection of misfits on your ship, do you not agree?," he responded, "We do not plan on destroying anyone. We plan on helping."

"Helping? We aren't stupid, we know you have your weapons trained on our ship. Do you expect me to believe that you will show us mercy and leave peacefully?"

"If you leave now, we will not fire," it was an honest response but there was a condition, "You get in my way and you can be sure as hell I will not only fire my weapons, but I will make sure that your ship no longer exists."

Standing, Karim stepped forward and said "We will not leave. We will continue our mission to help the Nirua and undo the damage you've caused. Before we do that, I only have one thing left to say."

"I am all for last words," he responded, "I like to hear the fear a creature has before they are consumed by an endless sleep."

Hunter shifted a little uneasy as she watched her CO. They were past diplomacy, surely?. She knew that the captain would sort this, but her mother instincts were killing her on the inside. Being ex security, she wanted to start sounding alarms and blow the psychopath addressing Karim to smithereens. Sadly it wasn't her decision.

With no expression his face, Karim said coldly, "Hunter, fire."

With a single gesture Hunter, without hesitation allowed the ship to fire, just once though.

The screen flickered a little but the person still remained, "You're second in command has an interesting surname Captain." The man sounded pained but recovered, "Your Hunter just fired at my ship on your orders." Suddenly the man spoke in his own language, "Goodbye, Captain." The screen shut off.

"Captain," Hunter piped up as she noted more weapons on the opposing ship arming.

Without looking back at her, he said "Lock all weapons on the ship and fire. It pains me to do this, but at this point it is us or them Commander."

Hunter didn't not disagree, this would be for the better in the bigger picture. "Aye, sir," she replied quickly as did as he ordered, or at least attempted to. The ship rocked violently as the ship took a hit.

Karim faltered, and as he fell, his head hit a nearby console. Feeling blood, he struggled to his feet and said "Status of the alien ship!"

Adrianna pulled herself up onto her own chair, "Re-arming themselves. We are firing now." She finally managed to fulfil her orders prior to the ship taking a hit.

"Continue firing!" Karim ordered as nearby console exploded, causing him to abandon his chair suddenly.

Adrianna reached out and put a hand on his shoulder as he fell. It was an automatic response to someone falling around her, as if to catch him. She kept the ship firing everything they had.

Space in front of them suddenly blossomed, and for a brief moment showed the imposing outline of the alien ship, then nothing but a debris filled starfield. From his spot lying on the floor Karim looked up and groaned.

Hunter stared at the wreckage before them, unsure what emotion she felt about it. She'd changed since becoming a mother and this was her first post since Matthias had been born. Coming to her senses she looked down to Karim seeing her own fingers covered in blood from Karim's head that had dribbled down onto her hand, "Captain, are you alright?"

Smiling very weakly, he replied "I seem to be making a habit of hurting myself." Wincing from his still bruised ribs, he said "Mind give me a hand up?"

She slid off her chair onto a knee next to him, pulling his arm around her shoulders and helping him up, hitting her command badge requesting first aid. Once she was happy Karim was on his feet, she slowly let him go, just to make sure he was balanced, "As long as you don't make a habit of hurting yourself to the point where your off duty or dead, you're fine."

Standing somewhat shakily, Karim let himself fall back into his chair. Pressing a hand to the cut on his head he said "I want a ship's status report. Deploy damage control teams and medical teams. After that, we can worry about repairs. Also check in on the status of our people on the ground." Pausing, he said quietly "We'll talk about what just happened alone, when we can ok?"

"You know where to find me. Once I'm done here, I need to check in with Matthias before I head to the planet," She nodded quietly, as not many people knew about her being a single mother.

"Of course." he replied "I need that status report as soon as possible."

"You'll have it in five," she looked around seeing the slight destruction on the bridge.

With a weak smile, he nodded, and waited for the medical team to arrive.


=/\=End Log=/\=

Commander Karim Dhej
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Enterprise, NCC 1701-F

Lieutenant Commander Adrianna Hunter
Acting Executive Officer
USS Enterprise