Aggressive Diplomacy

Posted on Tue Apr 20th, 2021 @ 5:42am by Telhas thu'S'Terion Sa-Shasol'kor t'Cheleb-Khor & Dreyem Taga
Edited on on Fri Apr 23rd, 2021 @ 10:56am

1,079 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 4 - Like a Thunderbolt
Location: IRV Kaiell in Orbit of Faltan

His chief medical officer had made every possible scan to be sure that he was no threat before he allowed Telhas to leave quarantine. Now he had finally arrived on the Kaiell's bridge. Commander Jaeihthe ir-V'Terox thu'S'Terion rose from the CO's chair and stepped aside to allow him to take command. Telhas gave a slight nod to the young woman who had been rewarded with command of this ship and adoption into his clan for developing this cruiser, a prototype for a new class.

Occupying the command seat he looked onto the screen and considered his next actions. The Kaiell did not have the space to transport passengers. And he needed this ship to act should the Falteans do anything stupid. "Red alert, power up the second quantum singularity. I want maximum energy. No shields at the moment. Charge weapons, torpedo aim at Faltan's capital. And hail my Embassy, please." He was absolutely calm, although he would have loved to to order orbital bombardment at once.

A Reman man in the uniform of Telhas' House Guards appeared on screen. "Mylord, how can I be of service?"

"Commander S'kenkh, tell my wife and the Vulcan guards to beam on board of the Kaiell immediately. As soon as they are on board, power up the Embassy's shields and weapon system. Consider every Faltean person or vessel approaching you as hostile. Make no prisoners." There was no emotion in Telhas' voice.

The Reman bowed. "Of course, Mylord. Any other orders?"

"Prepare for self-destruction, but do only initiate if it becomes absolutely necessary."

The Reman took a deep breath. "So bad, Mylord? Are we at war?"

Telhas though for a moment what he should answer. He had the power to declare a war here, but he preferred the Senate to take this decision. "Not yet, Commander. You know your orders. Telhas out."

The screen showed space and the corner of Faltan's atmosphere again.

"Mylord, all persons on board," the operations officer reported.

"Thank you," Telhas replied, "Shields up! All hands, battle stations!"

It took only a moment before Commander Jaeihthe thu'S'Terion reported "Ready for battle, Lord Telhas!"

"Thank you, Commander," Telhas said softly. He allowed himself to think about his next moves. After a minute, he had a plan. "Open a channel to Governor Taga. Tell her that we will be at war if she refuses to talk. And that I will start hostile actions immediately when we are at war."

"Yes, Mylord," the communications officer replied as she send the message to Faltan's capital.

Governor Taga obliged the Romulan Ambassador by coming on the screen. With an icy calm, she asked the Romulan Ambassador, "Is there a reason that you wish to go to war when there is an apparent plague that I must be addressing?"

Telhas smiled icily. "More than one reason. Number one, it gets me your full attention. Number two, I personally consider it rather rude that, instead of sending a representative of your government to the conference, a representative of the plagued has been sent. Number three, I do not trust you, thus I consider this a coincidence. I hope this answers your question. And, quite honestly, I am not in the mood to play games."

"Then I would suggest that you attend to your casualties as we are attending to ours. Any absence of ours was merely a timing issue due to the strains and stresses of running a government. Were I to do such a thing, I would have done it in such a random and careless way."

"Maybe, maybe not," Telhas replied, keeping his icy smile, "It does not matter anyway. Be informed that, although Starfleet abandons their station, my Embassy will stay. But it will stay as a fortress. Anyone who sets a foot into its defensive perimeter will be killed. The shields are up, the weapons are charged, and my Remans are willing to fight. Understood?"

"It is your choice if you wish to remain, but as I understand matters, there is a rather vicious disease spreading about. I would advise against it," Taga replied against it. "However, I do not believe that you will listen to wise advice."

"You should also understand," Telhas interrupted her harshly, "that any attempt to conquer my Embassy will inevitable lead to the experiment of what happens if a quantum singularity is unleashed on a planet's surface. Because this is my Embassy's power source." An evil smile crossed his face. "Although, personally, I would be most interested in the outcome of such an experiment. Some physicists say that the singularity will suck in the entire planet before it becomes unstable and explodes, others say it would just suck in a part of the planet and rip the planet into pieces when it becomes unstable. What do you think?"

"I think that you mistake me for an individual that does not care about my people," she replied simply. "I would hope that you would care more for your own."

"Believe me, I care a lot about my people," Telhas replied, "and I strongly advice you not to try anything against my people. Have I been clear?"

"We do not take kindly to threats, Ambassador. Perhaps you should not seek to place every incident that occurs on my people's door? You act as conquerors, not peacemakers. Perhaps it is fortuitous that this plague has struck so we could see each others' true colors?"

"Oh, I think I have seen your true colours already. It just seems that you considered my capabilities quite inferior to yours. This is a mistake. But I am no vengeful man. Here is what we will do know: You leave my Embassy alone, and we leave your people alone," Telhas said strictly, "And maybe," he raised a finger, "but only maybe, I will get the resources to retrieve the quantum singularity from my Embassy and level the building afterwards." He pointed the finger at her. "Behave well, and you may witness that day. Behave nasty..." He shrugged. "Well I already told you what happens then. Just by the way, the Romulan Star Empire has a different kind of making peace than Starfleet. I guess you will prefer the Starfleet way. Any questions, Governor?"

"I never had any to begin with. You're the one threatening a fight during a pandemic."

'We will see', Telhas thought, but he did not say anything for along moment. "Good for you. Enjoy your pandemic." He terminated the transmission.

 

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