Mission Accomplished

[Chirakis 1]

Mission Accomplished

A Joint Log taken from the conversation between SubCommander Jorahl and Commander Chirakis during last week's sim.

 

Commander Chirakis was still contemplating the advantages and disadvantages of the midshipman's ocular implants when a gruff command opened the cell door and SubCommander Jorahl appeared. He was worn and agitated, a shadow of the calm, decisive Romulan who had visited her a few days ago.

 

"So, the Athra is the name of the aliens, is it?" Cut to the chase.

 

"Is it?" The quip gave her a chance to refocus, and in the space of Jorahl's brief pause, she added, "Are they the Athra? Or are these beings a shadow of them?"

 

"I believe that was the name the starship captain called them, after taking with you."

 

Accusatory? Any story, when passed on, began a life of its own. Suppositions became facts, facts became misconstrued, words twisted. But at least she and Jorahl had the same focus, so correct the assumption and move on to collaboration - if possible.

 

"It was a conclusion I came to after a cursory investigation." She adopted a more conciliatory tone.

 

Jorahl did not. "What is their nature? What do we need to know that we don't already?"

 

Kirel shifted her weight to meet his gaze. "You believe I am withholding information," she responded calmly. "I am not. I give information when I am sure it is accurate. I am not sure the Athra of legend and the creatures that attacked us are one and the same. They are similar, but so far the Athra themselves are only a legend. But, I will tell you what I shared with Captain Halloway, if it would be any help."

 

"We need whatever information we can get."

 

"Very well," she began, assuming a more relaxed, conversational tone in an attempt to settle the growing rift between them. "The legend I heard from a pre-warp people in a system near Breen space, along the vector the creatures took after the last attack, is this. The Athra are ancient space-dwelling creatures of unimaginable power that 'strikes fear into the hearts of the people.' They have what we would call a base ship, but what the legend calls a 'mother' ship, from which its 'children' emerge to 'ravage planets' and leave them desolate. I noticed that their 'children' very much resemble the ship that crashed over there." She allowed a small grin as she waved her hand in the direction of Leilani's cell. "The bodies of the 'children' are 'one with their craft.' In our terms they are fully integrated with the hulls of their ships, the hulls being partially metallic and partially organic. They use the 'communication of the gods' - that is, they communicate telepathically - something you could exploit, given the telepathic species on the station."

 

"What is their motivation?" The SubCommander's eyes remained intensely focused, his arms folded.

 

"Their motivation, according to legend, is survival. And to that end they conquer and strip worlds of whatever they need to survive. Beyond that, not much is known.

 

"Apparently, though they live in space, they are sustained as any planet-dwelling creature would be. This leads me to believe they may have evolved from planet-dwellers to space dwellers. Or... our species may still be planet-dwellers. And... we have yet to see inside the 'mother' ship. There is no guarantee that what controls the base ship is similar to what attacked us. They could be two entirely different species."

 

"I would assume this mother ship would not be the one we destroyed. Our luck is not as such, hmm."

 

"I would believe that they would have more than one base ship. However," she waved dismissively, "moving back to the 'children,' the people who retold this legend showed me a mummified carcass. Inside I found data crystal that, according to the science department, contained star charts of this system from thousands of years ago. And on that chart was the location of the colony on TKR117. Other information was undecipherable. The language did not exist in the database."

 

Jorahl assumed a more relaxed pose, his eyes still holding a steady gaze. "Anything indicate that they can be discouraged from attacking us? Taught that it is not worth their losses?"

 

"From what we have seen of them so far.... on Ageis," she said after a long, thoughtful pause, "I would hope that we could discourage the attacks. But there was nothing on the data crystal. Nothing that we could decipher." Shifting her position, she stepped closer. "We must find a way - you must find a way - either to defend ourselves or to discourage attacks."

 

His understanding was evident in his tone. "If they are roaming opportunist then they can be persuaded to go look for easier meals. If they have some other agenda with this area, then we must learn it."

 

Kirel nodded. "Another consideration? Why did they not attack the colony? Surely there is something they could use for survival there? Instead, they bypassed it to attack the station."

 

"You said that system was on their charts. They had been there before, even if a thousand years ago. Was this asteroid field on those charts?"

 

"It was. But in slightly different configuration, figuring several thousand years' drift."

 

"Then perhaps we were simply something new."

 

"Or something threatening."

 

"Indeed. I hope to become something more than just threatening to them."

 

With that, Jorahl left the cell. But from her cell Kirel heard his order to Armstrong. "Make sure all security officers are fully prepared for boarding actions. Conduct drills as needed."

 

Mission accomplished.