Fortunate Son

Posted on Sun May 7th, 2023 @ 7:41pm by Lieutenant Commander Diane Doctrine

Mission: Starship Side Quest
Location: Kepek's ship in Eldritch Shuttle Bay
Timeline: Just After Part 3 and Before Part 4 of Rescue Run

==USS Eldritch, Shuttle Bay==

Kepek and Cael Walked into the Bay where the Marvhil was now docked, Kip was grateful they had room for his lady. She was a decommissioned Angsion scout vessel a little larger than a Federation runabout. Kip pressed a button on COMM and a door opened. “Make sure the crew is comfortable I’ll be in my cabin if you need me.”

“We had the comfort of a Federation vessel and you're going to sleep in your cabin?” Cael shook his head.

“I’ll be more comfortable here,” Kip said with a cigar in his hand. “Keep Annie and of trouble.

“Fine,” Cael nodded. “Oh and Kip, The next time you try to light one of those things a Federation vessel I’m going to shove it up your ass.”

“I didn’t know you rolled that way.”

“Fuck you,” Cael grinned.

“Right back at you friend,” Kip laughed.

He moved inside and went into his cabin, he got on the COMM.

“Kepek to Doctrine.”

[This is Doctrine, go ahead.] came the reply.

“Please meet me on the Marvhil in the shuttle bay.”

[I’ll be there shortly, Doctrine out.]

Moments later, Diane showed up. “Mister Kepek,” she greeted him. “You wanted to talk to me?” She tried to keep the suspiciousness from her tone but didn’t quite succeed.

"Yes, we've spoken a few times before. I wasn't able to give my name then, but with everything going I think you need to know more of what's going." Kip said. "I assume you translated those files I sent you?"

"I did," Diane looked a measure more comfortable now that she knew who she was dealing with. "There were a lot of interesting tidbits in those files. If some of that gets made public a lot of feathers could get ruffled."

“‘That’s an understatement,” Kip said. “Shortly after I got a hold of those files one of my routine intel runs turned into an ambush. I was set up by someone either in Fleet Intelligence or with Fleet contacts set my crew up. Ren trusts you so, that's good enough for me, I need to get to the bottom of this.”

Diane chewed on the inside of her cheek for a second before saying, "I can assure you, I'm in complete agreement with that sentiment. Can I guess the start of that is finding Soran and Sky?"

“Yes,” Kip said. "I owe him my life.”

He picked up PADD with a picture of young people in uniforms. “Here we are, him, me, We’re the only ones left. I can’t lose anyone else.”

Diane examined the picture. It appeared to be a unit of Angosian Sentinels judging from the uniform markings. “You and Soran are the only ones currently alive in this picture?”

He shrugged and pointed out the man in the front, “Lemfoe is MIA, but I think he might have resurfaced to place by now if he were alive. We were all on Roth during the shit show, I was injured so I wasn’t there when the government toppled. Some of them were KIA or MIA after the Davin Campaigns. That’s where Soran’s brother died.”

Diane continued to look at the picture, “What did your unit do to warrant this… “ she looked up at Kepek, “being targeted this way? What were you all involved in? There has to be a common denominator.”

“Roth is the only thing they have in common… we were there, not all of us were in the same places, but we were there. There are a lot of things that don’t add up. I think somebody doesn’t want what we did coming out. Seeing as a dozen people have died…"

Diane leaned against a bulkhead, "All right, I'll bite, what happened, and why doesn't someone want it public?"

“I wasn’t there,” Kepek said. “Two units of Sentinels were sent to stop the ‘Talsion interference’ in Rothin government. There’s no evidence the Talsions were doing anything, we took out their government and replace it with people that keep letting use their world.”

“So, I can’t imagine the Rothins liked their home being taken over,” Diane stated.

“The Angosians offered them protection from the Talsion Union, it was fine until they decided being free was better than being safe." Kip sighed. “My people decided their world was too strategically important to let them go. I’ve always hated what we did.”

Diane folded her arms across her chest and rested her chin in her hand, "So, now what happens? If none of these worlds are Federation members there's not a whole lot Starfleet can do to help... legally. We need a reasonable goal here."

“My people are in the process of applying for Federation membership, if their misdeeds are discovered the Federation Council will order them to make reparations before allowing them entry.” Kip sighed, "There are people in my Government and yours that don’t want that to happen.”

"The reparations paid or the Federation membership?" Diane asked. "Either way, unless your government is unanimous about joining the Federation, they won't be allowed in. It's an 'everyone is in' or no joining type of situation. They do know this, right?"

“Yes, they want to join,” Kip said. “They just have different motives, my fellow veterans want to join for the support. Those in power want access to Federation resources and most of the civilian population wants protection and diplomatic resources to keep us out of future conflicts. I'm certain if they knew what happened on Roth III, they would insist on reparations for those people. The bastards in power want to skip that step. I know my father's one of them."

Diane had to refrain from rolling her eyes. How many times had she heard that in the past? “That seems to be the way it goes with most worlds petitioning for membership. There are always different factions wanting in for different reasons. They come together to agree on one thing. Federation membership, then they put on a dog and pony show until they’re accepted. Once they are members, they also have to realize the Federation won’t get involved with local government unless all arguing parties agree to arbitration by a Federation ambassador. That is far easier said than done.”

“I agree that the road to Angosians joining is a lot longer than they think, the next is getting the truth out to the public. We need Soran for that, to my knowledge he is the only surviving witness of what happened. He’s also a friend." Kip shrugged. “Not going to lie, seeing family have to deal with the shit their allies have caused would be very satisfying. I just joined the military to piss them off.”

"All right," Diane seemed to be agreeing, "To make this public then, first we need to get Soran back." she held up one forefinger, "two, we need him to make a statement to Federation authorities." She held up another finger, "We'll probably need one other person to testify," she held up a third pointing it at Kepek as a hint. "Then we let the Federation council figure out what they want to do. These are all achievable goals. Anything else you can think of?"

Kip paused for a moment gathering his thoughts. "I wasn't going to say anything to the girl, but the way Soran left his medallion is very worrying…"

“I’d be inclined he left it to give us a clue that he was there,” Diane replied. “Like I always carry a viridium patch. They can be tracked by starship sensors up to three sectors away. That way if something happens, the search party can find me, or at the very least track where I’ve been. Soran is smart, this doesn’t surprise me.”

“In our culture, that medallion is a symbol of accepting death,” Kip explained. “It’s stamped with an image of ‘the Ren,’ the woman who gave Soran that nickname had a wicked sense of humor. In our culture, the Ren plays music to soothe the wounded and lead the dead into the next world. Some of the more superstitious and nihilistic soldiers would leave Ren medallions on the bodies on battlefields, and others insisted on holding them when they were wounded. I don’t think he’s expecting to come back.”

“Soran had explained some of that mythology to me at one point,” Diane answered, “but he also doesn’t seem like the type to accept death easily either.”

He let out a laugh, "His idea of acceptance is to take as many bastards with hilm as possible and burn everything to the ground. I'm sure he'll try to keep that woman safe, but if he loses faith… We'd best get to him as soon as possible."

Diane knew Kepek was right. "We're on the way as we speak. I want to get back to the bridge to check on our progress."

"The Captain's engineers are working on my repairs in case the Marvhil is needed," Kip said. "It was good talking to you, I'm glad we have an understanding."

"It's nice to know Soran has more friends than those on the Resolution," Diane offered a small smile.

“It good to see him making a Life for himself,” Kip nodded. “I’m going to see in the tech needs a hand getting the repairs done. Let’s bring him back.”

{OFF}