[USS Tar'Hana, Guest Quarters]
Enor relaxed on the plush leather couch but his mood was far from serene. Across from him on a large screen information about the recent incident on Astate was displayed. So far there was little information about what happened. What he did know was that at 0200 Colony time two days previous orbital satellites detected a nuclear explosion on the Grathong island chain about 2,500 kilometers south east of the Federation settlement of New Rhodes. Beyond that there was little else.
After the explosion he immediately ordered the Typhon Sector command staff to relocate to Starbase 145. He also took the initiative to dispatch four ships to the colony; the USS Carson City, USS Altair, USS Kyoto, and USS Southerland were all currently in orbit of the planet along with a large assortment of Romulan ships also looking into the event. The possibility of a flare-up was great but Jolias trusted Captain Savage to keep things in order.
By luck or perhaps a trick of fate Jolias was already away from the colony when the nuclear explosion occurred. About twelve hours before the explosion he boarded the USS Tar'Hana bound for Starbase Versailles for a face-to-face meeting with Admiral Cerywyn. The topic of the meeting was still unknown to him but no doubt the Admiral would want to be briefed on the most recent disaster in his sector of purview.
With a sigh he stood up and walked over to the screen switching it off. Nothing had changed in the past twenty-four hours and he doubted staring at the screen would expedite events on Astate. Instead he decided to get a short nap in. It'd be wise to have a fresh mind for his meeting with Admiral Cerywyn.
Seven hours later…
The sound of the communication panel next to the bed woke him from his sleep. Rubbing his groggy eyes to attention he quickly slid out of the bed and against the wall where he pressed the unit on "Enor here, what is it?"
"Sorry to disturb you Admiral. This is Captain Chandra. We're receiving a priority message from Astate. Would you like us to route it to your quarters?"
"Is it on a secured channel?" Jolias asked.
"Yes sir, your quarters are equipped to handle secured transmissions."
"That's fine then. Give me four minutes and then route the transmission to the main viewer in here." Jolias pushed off the wall and made his way to the water closet where he ran a damp washrag across his face. Walking back into his room he grabbed his uniform jacket and slipped it on before making his way to the large living room and standing in front of the viewer. After a short wait the screen illuminated with the image of Captain Savage staring at him "Greetings Admiral, I thought you might like an update about the current situation."
Jolias smiled "you could say that Captain."
Cilvia returned his smile and looked off screen briefly before turning her attention back to him "science teams from the Kyoto and Southerland are still trying to find a solution to the toxic dust cloud that's heading towards the southern most of our settlements. So far they haven't found a plausible fix but they are making some progress. Medical teams have been dispatched to the region where we expect the dust cloud to settle if a solution isn't discovered. On the investigative front we still don't know much. Commander Korasi and her team are investigating the epicenter but it appears everything has been vaporized. They're going to scour the entire island to try and find anything that might give us a clue about what was there. The Romulans are being snide as usual and they believe we are responsible for the incident. However, since none of their own settlements are threatened by what happened they are being nonchalant about it."
Typical, Jolias thought of the Romulans "Captain, I hate to suggest this, but have your people looked into the possibility that this incident was caused by the Romulans?"
Cilvia nodded "we are looking into that- very quietly at least. So far Lieutenant Pearsall doesn't think so. He thinks that if the Romulans were really interested in causing damage they would have detonated that nuclear explosive at the heart of our settlement and not on some isolated island. However, I'll be the first one to say that Romulan motives are about as mysterious to me as Vulcan mysticism."
"Don't let a Vulcan hear you say that Captain." Jolias grinned at the comparison "how are things there. Is the local population panicked at all?"
"Of course there are concerns. Having a nuclear weapon detonated in your backyard would scare anyone. Governor Telin has kept them calm however. I have given my word to her that the safety of the citizens on Astate is our top priority."
"Good." Jolias was glad that Cilvia remembered to tether her responsibility of command to the responsibility of keeping the locals safe "keep me informed of your progress."
"Wait Admiral." Cilvia said and held up her hand "there is one more thing I thought you should know. About the time of the explosion another ship arrived, it was the USS Corsair, they were asking for assistance with emergency repairs. We don't have a space dock facility so I thought it was unusual but I had Commander Winthrop give them any supplies they needed." Cilvia's appeared puzzled as she recalled it "they didn't need much. The Captain, Taverain Ramius, assisted us with scans of the epicenter but we had it mostly covered with Quantum Fury. They left shortly after the Kyoto and Altair arrived."
"The USS Corsair?" Jolias echoed her words and tried to recall the ship name. He didn't remember it being on any of the vessel lists he had seen for the sector "what makes you suspicious Captain?"
"Winthrop told me they didn't need very much in the way of supplies and he also said he found it odd how they kept having cascading system issues." Cilvia smirked "now, I've been around the game long enough to know when something doesn't smell right. Well, this doesn't smell right. Did you ever have Professor Gu'Lak's history class back at the Academy?" Cilvia asked him.
Jolias nodded his head. He keenly remembered the tall Tellarite's fiery orations "yes he was a third year professor when I took his class."
"Gu'Lak was always fond of telling the story about how Captain Spock evaded Starfleet authorities by creating issues that prevented the Enterprise from returning to space dock when Captain James T. Kirk was arrested by the Klingons for murdering their chancellor. Everyone in command has done this at one time or the other- I think I'll fondly call it the 'Spock Maneuver' even though it's not really a maneuver. Anyways, I think they were just trying to by time. For what, I don't know."
"I didn't take you for much of a historian Captain. I'm impressed." Jolias said also remembering Gu'Lak's lesson about the late 23rd century. "I'll look into it Captain. Keep me informed of any developments over there.
Cilvia nodded her head "will do" and her image was replaced by a spinning Federation symbol. Walking over the communications panel Jolias opened a line to the bridge "Captain Chandra pleased contact the USS Corsair and inform her Captain that I would like to speak with him."
"Yes Admiral."
It was hard to believe that a Starfleet ship might have been involved in the incident. Just what were you doing at Astate Captain? Jolias wondered as he made his way to the couch.
[End]
Vice Admiral Jolias Enor
Deputy Fleet Commander
Beta Fleet
