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The Atlas approached Rigel V. The homeworld of the Rigellians was a typical class-M planet, with the usual colours and the usual bands of clouds. About the only thing that was different was that the colours had a slightly reddish tint to them, and the planet was a bit drier and warmer than most. Abuna said, "It approaches the norms of Vulcan more than the norms of Earth."
"Which shouldn't be surprising," Hall pointed out.
"The population of the planet is something like three billion people, mostly urban and mostly living along the coasts or the fringes of the extensive desert areas. In fact, the cities seem quite large and quite built up. I wonder how they manage to get sufficient resources close to those large cities, especially water."
"What do they do on Vulcan?" Weisser asked.
"Their cities are generally smaller, and the Vulcans have developed many techniques, including technology, advanced desalination facilities and a simple philosophy on usage, to stretch out water resources."
Space facilities around Rigel V were minimal, beyond a few small ships and a couple of orbital stations. Both stations looked to be old, and were clearly under utilized. One was primarily a cargo station, and the other a passenger station. A number of ships, of wildly-varying designs, were attached to the docking ports on the stations. Abuna conducted a quick lifesign scan of the station, and was somewhat surprised at the results. "Sir," she spoke out, "I'm reading a number of different lifesign readings in the larger station. The majority are Rigellian, while almost all of the rest are of one xenotype, unknown to us."
"The Orions? They'd be common."
"That's my guess."
Yuniki spoke up, "Sir, we're being hailed. I believe it's coming from the surface."
Punching a code into the command-chair intercom, Hall said, "William, get ready to broadcast the signal from that wand."
"I'm ready," the engineer replied.
Yuniki added, "I'm receiving broadcasts in languages that the computer does not understand. What's strange is that they must know we're a ship that has never been here before. They've never seen a ship like this, so you'd think that the first thing they would attempt would be to transmit in the Preserver code."
"Maybe they're using the Orion languages as a test," Abuna remarked, "to see who we really are."
"It's too bad that we don't know any of those," Yuniki added.
"Sir," Gerthe said over the commlink, "that Rigellian wand is ready."
"Begin transmitting."
"Aye, sir," came the response.
Seconds later, Yuniki reported, "Sir, I'm receiving a new transmission, in text, using the Preserver language. They're requesting permission to transmit a Preserver-Rigellian translation matrix so that we may be able to communicate directly."
"Can we do that?" Hall asked.
Abuna checked several of the linguistic subroutines and answered, "I'm not sure. We can at least try. Hopefully, they're not going to download any kind of virus or other malicious code into our computer."
"At best, they can transmit raw data, which we can interpret and use. I doubt that they have the ability to transmit any code. They have no knowledge on the inner workings of the computer. Yuniki, give the Rigellians permission to proceed."
"Aye, sir." About a minute later, the transmission was completed. Yuniki added, "The Rigellians are waiting for us to handle this data. They're standing by."
"Lets hope that they have some patience. Commander?" the captain asked, glancing in the direction of his science officer and first officer.
"I'm working on it, sir. One thing about the Preserver language is that it seems ideal for this kind of work. It's set up to handle this exchange in language data."
"I believe that was the intent," Hall started. "We have no idea what or who the Preservers were. All we know is that they created monuments in various solar systems, so that once the inhabitants of those systems moved into space, they would find the monuments and the means to translate their languages into the Preserver language, and hence into the languages of people they would meet in space."
"It's too bad that some religious fanatic destroyed the Cydonia monuments on Mars. That person had no idea of the heritage that he was destroying."
"True. Fortunately, we were able to get Preserver data from the other races."
Abuna heard her console beep, and glanced down to check on the status of the computer activity. She was surprised at what she saw. "Captain, I believe that this might have worked. The translations might be a little rough at first, but the more Rigellian data we get, the better should be the subsequent translations. The translation matrix can also handle audio and video transmissions as well."
"So it can be downloaded into portable translation devices?"
"Yes."
"Yuniki," Hall started, "open hailing frequencies. Use the frequency that the Rigellians had originally transmitted on."
"Aye, sir," said the operations officer, but she was more focused on her task than acknowledging orders. "Hailing frequencies are open."
Sitting up straighter now, rising his voice just a little while trying to sound calm and yet articulate, Hall realized that he was doing what every captain in the new Starfleet dreamed of doing, making first contact with an alien species. Technically speaking, his first officer had already done that, but that was on another planet and was not official contact. This was. "This is captain Darren Hall of the United Earth Space Agency--and United Federation of Planets--starship Atlas. We are requesting communications."
A few tense seconds passed on the bridge of the Atlas, as they waited for a response to their message. Hall had to wonder what if the Rigellians were not willing to contact them, or could not offer what he and his crew had come this long distance for. Based on what he had heard, it might not be so easy to get dilithium, but making contact with one of the races occupying the system might be the best possible alternative.
Finally, Yuniki reported, "Response to our hail. Visual signal."
"On the viewscreen."
The image of the class-M planet turning beneath the ship was replaced by what looked like some kind of control or communications centre, as the background was dark, but interrupted with what looked like viewscreens and consoles, operated by people. However, the look was not clear as the background was out of focus. In the foreground was a woman who, had Hall not known where he was and where this transmission was coming from, could have easily passed as a Vulcan. She had the same stern appearance, and had the same tint to her skin, the same colour and composure to her hair and even the same curt hairstyle. She was wearing what looked like a loose-fitting garment that had various embellishments like gold banding and piping and little insignia just below the right shoulder. Clearly, the woman was wearing some kind of uniform.
"Welcome to the homeworld of the Rigellian people," the woman said. Hall realized that the translation program must have identified the proper noun that the Rigellians called themselves and substituted "Rigellian" instead. The others noticed that the lip movement of the woman and the sounds she made were significantly out of synchronization, suggesting a language with a markedly different grammar. "I am Xykør Ngamboq, chief delegate of alien contact for the planetary government foreign affairs bureau."
"Pleased to meet you," Hall remarked. He could not think of anything else to say.
"You are clearly visitors from a distant star, as your kind and your ship are unknown to us. Even the legends we have, ancient knowledge on space around this star, contain no knowledge of your kind. We do have matters to discuss. I would like to meet with you in person. Do you have standing with your government?"
Hall pondered exactly what that statement meant. He was not part of the government, either the united Earth government or the government of the newly-formed Federation, so he doubted that he had any authority to act beyond his orders or to speak for the government and make decisions on behalf of the government. On the other hand, Starfleet did give him a certain latitude to act, knowing that the Atlas would not be in easy communications range and it would be very difficult for him to get approval from higher up for everything he did. Finally, the captain spoke, "I am assuming that you are asking if I have the authority to act for and speak for my government without consulting them, if I need to go beyond my orders."
"That is one way to phrase it," Ngamboq remarked. She even had the emotionless demeanor of the Vulcans down tightly, which was in contrast to the four Rigellians that Abuna had encountered. They seemed unwilling to suppress any emotions.
"I have partial authority. I have specific orders, and I have general principles that guide us. If necessary, I can go beyond the orders, but I should not violate the general principles."
"I can understand that. We here on Rigel V are looking forward to meeting you. We can provide you with co-ordinates."
"Co-ordinates?"
Ngamboq seemed a little puzzled, and then asked, "Do you have transporter capability?"
"What?"
Abuna spoke up, saying, "Captain, I believe that she is referring to teleportation devices, like we saw on that alien ship we encountered earlier."
Facing the viewscreen, Hall replied, "I'm afraid we haven't got around to perfecting that technology yet." He did not bother to mention that their transporter could only handle non-living matter.
"Very well. We will transmit a course and landing characteristics for either your whole ship, if it has the capability to land, or to a landing craft otherwise."
"Understood."
The information had been downloaded, with Yuniki reporting on what they had. "The location that they are directing us to is the most densely-populated section of the planet. Given the infrastructure and how it converges on that location, I would not be surprised if that is the capital city for this planet."
"Understood. Yuniki and Quirk, you'll be accompanying me on this mission. I also need a linguistics specialist just in case. Abuna, you have the bridge in my absence. We can't be too sure what the Orions are doing in this situation, so I want you to make sure that the Atlas sensors are monitoring whatever activity that they might be presenting.
"Aye, sir," the first officer replied, but she did so with a lot of reluctance. She was hoping that she could go on this mission to officially meet the Rigellians, but realized that in this situation, it was the right of the captain to be front and centre in the official first contact mission. Then again, he got to play the role of the diplomat, which was not a skill that Abuna was comfortable with.
* * *
Fifteen minutes later, the shuttle was ready for departure. The linguist who came on board was Darlene Mwai, a tall and attractive dark-skinned woman who was somewhat reluctant to be pulled away from her sudden work on the Rigellian language. She sat behind one of the rear consoles, and continued to refine the work she was doing on the Rigellian language. Also in the rear was Quirk, who was coming without any kind of directed-energy rifle, although he did have a small and discrete, but powerful, sidearm. Hall and Yuniki sat up front.
The pilot reported, "Sir, we have clearance to proceed. The hanger door is open."
"Launch, then."
Yuniki lifted the shuttle off of the floor using the antigravity fields, and then gave the thrusters a little touch to push the small ship out of the hanger deck. Seconds later, the shuttle was falling towards Rigel V, with the Atlas receding behind them. Yuniki was able to pick up and decode the signals from the orbiting navigational satellites, which allowed her to establish the planetary co-ordinate system and hence guide them to the right location. She was able to align the shuttle with the course that the Rigellians suggested that they follow.
As the shuttle approached, Rigel V revealed itself to be a planet of contrasts. The shuttle came out of the fires of re-entry and some high-altitude cirrus clouds to look upon a desert. The mountains lined the edge of the continent, and on this side of the range was an expanse of grays and the browns that formed the desert. Beyond the mountain range was a narrow strip of green, and it was here that the cities were built. The cities were so large that they were visible from orbit, and they stood out among the green. Getting closer to the largest city, their destination, Hall and the others on board could see some splendid architecture. The Rigellians like to build tall structures, and most of them were circular and made of glistening metal, or at least glass that glistened like metal. Many had odd shapes, and some had pods of various sizes halfway up. One structure consisted of four thick circular structures that would have been impressive buildings in their own right, while at each third of the height was an expanded section that connected with the neighbouring structure through short tubes. At the top, a large domed structure capped all three columns.
The centre of the city that the shuttle flied over was almost overwhelming with the structures, along with the network of road and other transportation systems. On the other hand, Hall and the others could see something else, a seemingly endless expanse of low-rise buildings, clearly constructed quickly and cheaply, if not prefabricated, congregating all along the outskirts of the city.
"Slums," Hall noted.
Yuniki added, "I think that this planet is overpopulated given its extensive deserts. Without heavy reliance on technology, I don't see how this planet can support its population."
"You'd think that the Rigellians would have the technology to end this problem."
"We really don't know them."
Yuniki followed the flight path that the Rigellians had given them, and that took them around the centre of the city and towards what looked like an artificially created island that extended off into the shallow sea with a far too regular a coastline for it to be natural. It was also home to what might have been the main spaceport on this planet. A rather large semi-circular structure surrounded one of the landing fields, and beyond that were smaller fields with smaller buildings. Carefully following the flight plan, Yuniki guided the shuttle around the larger of the landing areas and approached one of the smaller fields. She could see hangers surrounding it, and one of those hangers was open. The vessel inside looked to be space capable, although it did not appear to be in the best of condition. It also had that plain coloration and the missile tubes that suggested it belonged to the Rigellian military. "That's where we're landing," the pilot said.
"It looks military," Quirk remarked.
"I think it is," the captain answered.
"Who's staying on the shuttle?" the security chief asked.
"Nobody. We'll trust the Rigellians with it."
"Is that wise, sir?"
Hall had thought it over, and realized that it might have been more prudent to have a couple of extra officers along for the ride so that they could guard the shuttle. On the other hand, he had no idea how long he would be spending on the surface talking with the Rigellians and engaging in diplomacy. "It might not be the most wise course of action, but given the circumstances, it might be the most effective course of action."
Yuniki brought the shuttle down to a perfect landing right in the centre of the square that was marked off with small blinking lights. As soon as the shuttle was safely on the ground, the ground began to move, downwards. "This isn't good," the pilot remarked.
"It's too late now," Hall said. "We'll deal with it."
The platform lowered into an underground facility of some type. It was brightly lit, with a number of work areas visible, along with more of the same type of craft they had seen in the hanger. That was one ready to fly, while the others here were being prepared. Once the platform was lowered, it rotated about fifty degrees, before stopping. The shuttle was facing a tunnel formed by two rail-like structures that had been lowered from overhead. The rails extended outwards to surround the shuttle, which was jolted and lifted off of the floor by tractor beams. Those beams guided the shuttle along the space between the rails until they came to the end. Only then did the technology let them go and placed them into the parking area. The rails lifted into the ceiling, and a wall rose out of the floor, isolating them from the rest of the brightly-lit facility and the number of people working throughout the area.
"Like I said," Yuniki continued, "This is not good. We're basically trapped and at their mercy."
"I know," Hall said, sounding just a bit nervous. He was a concerned about what had happened, and wished that the Rigellians had at least prepared him for this. Sitting in a shuttle underground, under the control of alien machinery whose purposes were unknown, Hall had this slight hint of claustrophobia. "On the other hand, we're here now. Shut down the systems and put the shuttle on deep standby. We're not getting out of here without the co-operation of the locals."
"Aye sir," Yuniki replied, as she quickly went through the procedure to power down the shuttle. With that done, the four stepped out into their enclosure. Looking around, Hall saw that they had just one exit, but even before they could contemplate heading through that exit and seeing what was beyond, the door opened. A woman that they recognized as Xykør Ngamboq stepped out. She was accompanied by two male Rigellians who were somewhat taller and much larger than the surprisingly diminutive Ngamboq. The two guards, as that was undoubtedly what they were, appeared to be unarmed, but if they were as quick and as strong as the Vulcans they so resembled, and if they had the same kind of discipline and training, then weapons were not really needed.
The woman spoke, and her words were translated into English through an unseen device that was somewhere on her. "Welcome to Rigel V," she said. "The others are waiting."
"The others?" asked Hall. He spoke, and wondered if the Rigellian could understand him.
Apparently she could, as she answered, "The government's first contact advisory team."
"Oh."
"If you'll come with me."
The four humans followed Ngamboq towards the lone doorway. It opened, and revealed that it led to a small room with no other exits. In fact, it looked more like an oversized turbolift car than anything else. Once the door was closed, Ngamboq removed a device from a pocket. It looked like a short rod, about six centimetres long, and on the thicker end were a few ring-like knobs that rotated around the axis of the rod. Ngamboq inserted the tapered end into a slot on the wall, adjusted the dials and pushed a button. A second later, the door opened again--but it was not to the same enclosure where the shuttle was. Instead, the door opened onto a large room.
"A transporter," Hall remarked.
"But I didn't feel a thing," Quirk said. "From what I've heard, you're supposed to feel going through a transporter. You're supposed to ‘see' something. I felt nor saw anything."
"Yeah," Yuniki agreed.
The room they entered was clearly high up some skyscraper. Broad windows, which curved slightly inwards towards the top, ringed the semicircular outside wall. The view beyond showed one of the large Rigellian cities, but Hall and the others were not familiar enough with them to tell if they were in the same city that they had passed over, or another one. In front of them was a semi-circular table with a number of places, but only four of them were occupied. A seat between two of the occupants was unoccupied, but Ngamboq moved over to sit in that chair.
The man in the centre chair stood up. He looked quite Vulcan, right down to the regal bearing and the short, shiny black hair that was simply combed and cut just above the eyebrows. "Welcome to Rigel V, honoured guests," he said, speaking through a similar translation device that Ngamboq had. Hall knew that he had to avoid looking at the mouths of these Rigellians as he spoke, since the words that he heard did not match the movement of the lips. "I am Director Abnongun Dharmat, and I'm the director of outside affairs for our planetary government. We are a peaceful people, and always welcome first contact with other species that practice similar peaceful beliefs."
"We like to think that we are," Hall said, stepping forward. He suddenly realized that he was not only speaking for his ship and crew, but for all of Earth and in fact all of the Federation.
"It is my understanding that your home planet is a great distance from here."
"It is about seven hundred and seventy light years away." The captain said those words, and hoped that the Rigellian translation devices could translate that distance into something that they could understand. "We have undertaken a journey of almost one of our years to get here." Considering how far out from Rigel this planet was, the year must be almost forever on this planet.
"So," Dharmat continued, "You have made this long journey not just for the general exploration of space, but to arrive at this particular system. Can you tell us why?"
If the Rigellians already knew so much about his people and their mission, the Dharmat should have known this one too. Nevertheless, the captain explained, "The section of space that we live in is devoid of one key substance that is necessary for faster-than-light travel, dilithium. We believe that new stars of this type, stars that have been around for only a couple of million years, if that, might have planets that are rich in dilithium."
"There is one planet in this system that is rich in dilithium," Dharmat remarked. "We don't control it, however."
"The Orions do?"
The translator was even sophisticated enough to be able to translate "Orions" into something that the Rigellians understood. "Yes, the Orions do. Still, why have you come this distance to seek dilithium? Are there not stars similar to this one closer to your home? Have you exhausted your supply?"
"Actually, no," Hall admitted. "Before our presence in space, that section of space, the section around Earth, was controlled by the Vegan Tyranny. They pretty well removed all the dilithium in our section of space."
"The Vegan Tyranny," Dharmat said, looking downwards. Based on what Hall had thought and read, the Vegans might have expanded this far out.
"You've heard of them?"
"Our history does record them, yes. It records them as the oppressed rising up against the oppressors, and sending the latter into a downward spiral that they never recovered from."
Hall had read and was familiar with pretty well everything known about the Vegan Tyranny, but this new piece of information caught his attention. "Could you elaborate?"
Dharmat continued, "At one time, there was a great empire, a technologically-advanced empire that was generally peaceful. They did not conquer other races, nor did they let those other races into their empire, because they regarded them as inferior. These people soon moved into the area of genetic modification. They did not seek to modify and genetically improve themselves. Instead, they sought to create new, viable races that would serve various functions in their society. They, for example, developed a warrior race, and they developed a race devoted to pleasure and amusement. They also developed a race that would function as a race of servants, of slaves, even. These races had an appearance similar to the originating race, but varied in skin colour. The pleasure race was green-skinned. The warrior-race was gray-skinned, and the servant race was brown-skinned. These were, of course, all distinct races in the full sense of the word. They could mate only with each other, and not with the originators or the other races."
Hall said to Quirk, "I think I can see where this is going."
Dharmat ignored the side comment, and continued, "The originators placed their newly-created variations of themselves on inhabitable planets around hot stars, like Rigel, and like Vega. An unknown race had terraformed planets a long time ago, and the originators used those planets to settle their new races. The problem that soon developed, and which they likely had not foreseen, was that once established and allowed to develop, these races could develop in ways that the originators never anticipated. The warrior race soon rose up and destroyed the originators, and proclaimed themselves the rulers of the Empire. These are the Orions. They enslaved the other races, including the servant race, which became the slave race for the Orions. Neither of these two races were genetically created for intelligence, so they slowly wore down the technological advancements of the originators, while not progressing themselves. The warriors expanded the only way that they could, by conquest. This made them a lot of enemies. They also abused the slave race, the Vegans, and were especially cruel and merciless with them. Eventually, the Vegans rose up and overthrew the Orions. In essence, the Orions became the slaves and the Vegans became the slave holders. The Second Empire of the Orions gave way to the Vegan Tyranny in most regions."
"But not here," Hall asked.
"No, not here. This was the Orion homeworld, afterall. The Orions could never defile that by keeping slaves here, so no rebellion occurred here. The worlds were attacked, but never captured by the Vegans. The two sides continued to fight their wars, and they attacked and killed and attempted to get client races on their side. Each side could not grasp the technology they had, so technology actually slipped backwards. Newer ships were more basic, and more primitive, then what they had before. The battles were very bloody. The destruction was immense. Then, the Vegans stopped coming. Warships stopped leaving Rigel VIII. Of course, we do not know what happened."
Hall did, and said, "A disease wiped them out."
Dharmat and the other Rigellians just looked at each other, and exchanged glances that puzzled the humans. Hall had to wonder whether or not the Rigellians were telepathic. Finally, the director of outside affairs spoke up, saying, "That would explain many things."
"I think I'm missing something here," Yuniki started.
"I do not understand," said another member of the panel, Envrøng Megga.
"Your people have lived on this planet presumably for a long time. If the Orion originators brought their new race, their warrior race here, you were already occupying this planet."
"That is correct."
"And they did not conquer you?"
"In a manner of speaking, they did," Dharmat continued. "We were not a militaristic race at all, and answered our need for challenges by taming this world and making it prosperous and beautiful. The Orions captured this planet, but let us continue. We survived... by selling the products of our technology to the Orions."
"That almost sounds risky."
"It was, because the Orions could not understand the technology. We could develop the devices and teach them how to operate them, but they could not never fully understand them, nor the programming behind them. It gave us some measure of control, and also allowed us to become very familiar with the rest of the Orion technology. We developed ways to reduce the effectiveness of that technology against us. We made sure that we and our world were safe. We await the day when we can reclaim our full sovereignty."
Now Hall seemed a little puzzled. "That day has not yet arrived?"
"No," Dharmat continued. "We are still waiting. The Orions still have too much control. They are still hunters, and will come after us, just to make sure that we remain in our place."
"And yet... you said that you understand the technology, and the Orions do not. You have defenses against them."
"That is true for the most part, but technology requires a fuel source. The best fuel source around, and the method by which we built our technology, requires the catalytic effort of dilithium. The Orions have made sure that we get none. We have small quantities, and can power our technology to minimal levels, but it is very hard on our people. If you look out these windows, if you fly over the cities, you can see the expanse of poorer people, for whom life is a daily struggle just to get sufficient food and water. With technology, this planet can support abundant life, but without it--or without the power to operate it--large numbers of people live miserable lives. Agriculture barely functions to provide for all, and the wildlife has been in decline for two hundred years."
"And the Orions do not allow you access to the dilithium? Do they not want to trade it for whatever products you have to offer?"
Megga answered, "Orions do not trade. They take. Of late, they are barely better than pirates. Our ships are constantly stopped by them, our crews attacked, and prisoners taken to be slaves. We end up expending resources to get our people back. They randomly attack the planet, terror attacks if you will, to keep us weak."
"It almost sounds like you need to stage an uprising," Quirk remarked.
"We have had uprisings. They have not succeeded."
Dharmat picked up the discussion. "However, the situation has changed. The Orions have fought unknown enemies, and have suffered losses. They occupied the fourth planet, but a plague came along and many died. The rest abandoned the planet."
To Hall, that was a curious fact. Rigel IV once had a civilization that was similar to the planet that they had investigated after the Atlas picked up the alien woman. Now the implication was that those people were Orions, although the civilization he had seen on that other planet was not something that a "hunter" or "pirate" race would develop. Although the Orions and that alien race was affected by the disease, humans and apparently Rigellians were not. "I see."
"With the losses, with their own struggles with an overpopulated planet where lawlessness has become rampant, the Orions are increasingly chaotic. Their central government is increasingly ineffective, and banditry has replaced standard commerce. For this reason, we believe that an uprising now might be more effective, except for the long-term effects."
"What do you mean?" asked Yuniki.
"Once we have the uprising and fully establish our independence, we need to protect that independence. That requires ships and power, and a method to reactivate our defense systems. That requires dilithium."
"I see," Hall said, with a slight shrug of the shoulders. "We don't have dilithium to offer."
"But you have a ship. It is possible to stage a raid on Rigel XII and its dilithium mines. We could never build a ship as large as yours, with the capabilities it likely has, without the Orions attacking and destroying it. We have tried. We have some small ships that could serve as escorts and assist you, if we were to risk our valuable remaining dilithium, or if you have some to spare." Because the Atlas was going to be a long way from home, they did have some extra dilithium crystals, just in case.
Hall was increasingly realizing that the Rigellians were in a roundabout way proposing that the Atlas assist the natives of this world in an attack on Rigel XII and the dilithium mining operations there. Without knowing the specifics of the mission and what they were going to attack, Hall had no idea if they could actually pull this off, but the captain could not help but to think back to the Romulan War, and some of the dangerous missions that he had been part of, or ordered, and how they overcame odds and emerged with a victory. He had to spell out what Dharmat and the other Rigellians were leading to. "I get the feeling," he started, "that you want us to assist you in raiding Rigel XII and steal dilithium. If we succeed, then you will get the dilithium you need to revitalize your planet, alleviate poverty and more effectively defend yourself from the pirate-like Orions?"
"Yes," Dharmat replied.
"And what would we get in exchange?"
"I do not know how much dilithium you want, or your people need, or how much your ship can carry, but you can acquire enough dilithium to certainly have made your journey worthwhile."
To the captain, Quirk remarked, "It sounds like some kind of deal."
"But a deal with unknown risks," Hall started, facing his security officer. "I know that your people have experience with such things, as all of you are Romulan War veterans. So are many of the crew, including myself, although not all are combat trained."
Dharmat, easily overhearing the conversation with his sensitive Vulcanoid ears, said, "I do not believe that conflict will be especially difficult. The majority of the workers on Rigel XII are slaves, some of which are even Rigellian--escaping Rigellian slaves is one way how we have managed to get at least some dilithium--while the Orions do not have an extensive presence there. Their society is in turmoil, almost a state of civil war as the various factions vie for control. Postings on Rigel XII are seen as low in prestige, and so only those Orions at the bottom of the hierarchy, and so undertrained and with little motivation, are there."
Hall just stood there, quite aware that every pair of eyes in the vast room were fixed on him. It was as if they were all expecting him to make a decision on the spot, and this was not the sort of thing that he could decide on so quickly. He did have the authority from his superiors in Starfleet to act without seeking approval, but that still did not mean he could make such a rash decision. He finally spoke up, "You know that I cannot make such a decision right away. I need time to think about it, and discuss it with my other officers."
"We understand that," Dharmat said, almost immediately. "We ask, however, that as you return to your ship, you do not discuss among yourselves what was discussed in here. This room is secured, and we are all trustworthy, but on the outside, there are spies and Orion collaborators. If word gets out that your ship could even be involved in such a mission, we would lose what element of surprise we have left."
"I understand that. Not a word will be spoken until we're back on our ship."
"Do you wish to return to your landing craft immediately, or do you wish to be shown more of the planet."
Hall had anticipated that question, and had formed his response. "I need to return to my ship. However, if it is possible, I would like other members of my crew to be taken on this tour and to learn more of your planet."
"That is permissible..."
Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4,Part 5,Part 6,Part 7,Part 8,Part 9Part 10,Part 11,Part 12,Part 13,Part 14
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