The Omega Directive

Posted on Sat Feb 8th, 2025 @ 6:44pm by Captain Zseeq & Lieutenant Commander Eve Hall

1,198 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Audacious
Location: Briefing Room, USS Saratoga
Timeline: 2401-05-04, 11:00

The rest of the crew filed out of the Briefing Room and back to their respective stations. Commander Hall, who has now taken a seat at the briefing table immediately adjacent to her new Commanding Officer spoke almost as soon as the last officer had left.

"Captain Zseeq," she began, "I want to be clear that I was not aware the Commodore was going to pull that stunt with your Executive Officer before it occurred, and I certainly was not expecting to be appointed in the Commander's stead. I was under the impression I was coming here as a Mission Advisor. That being said, I might be young, but I believe I am more than capable of fulfilling the role."

"Commander, I have no doubt that you are more than capable of performing as an Executive Officer in Starfleet. You appear relatively young and are already a Lieutenant Commander, which is no small feat. I also know that Commodore Targaryen has a reason for everything he does as I served with him for several years aboard DS12. The thing is that there are a lot of people still overcoming the challenges of Frontier Day and this is yet another abrupt change that impacts them. The Saratoga is an exploratory vessel and here we are potentially triggering a war and we've not even been in space a week. This is just a lot for people to take in," the Captain explained from the head of the table.

"Well, I'm sorry if my arrival brings any further upheaval." she sat quietly waiting for the Captain to likely question her further, "There are elements of the Audacious and the experimental drive that I'm unable to disclose to you Sir. But, I'll endeavour to share everything with you that I can."

The Deltan Captain crossed his arms and leaned into his chair. He looked at the new XO carefully, considering and calculating. After sucking his teeth for a second, he answered, "Fair enough. So, what can you tell me that you didn't in the briefing?"

Hall let out a heavy sigh, mainly from her nose and pushed herself back into the chair she had been occupying. She gave the arms of the chair a quick, intense, squeeze. " The Audacious project was under the leadership of Dr. Bendes Kettaract." she hoped that was enough to prompt her Commanding Officer's next line of questioning. She wasn't going against her orders to share information on a need-to-know basis, if she answered specific questions from him.

Captain Zseeq sighed at the announcement. Every Captain in Starfleet was briefed on Bendes Kettaract, and so was Zseeq despite the relatively short period of time he'd been a Captain. There was a lot more toward this situation now and he really questioned whether the Saratoga was the right choice for this mission.

"Do you mind if I use the replicator? It's been a long journey, and I've had very little coffee today." she pointed to the recess in the wall container the replicator terminal.

Zseeq motioned to give his approval as he continued, "So why is Saratoga on this mission and not a dedicated Omega team?"

"Well, I don't know why the Saratoga has been given this mission Captain, but I do know that initial sensor data shows no indication of the Omega being present." Eve spoke as she made her way to the replicator. On arrival tapped a few controls on the front of the device. Within moments a small tray had appeared, with two reasonably sized china cups, a loose-leaf tea diffuser to accompany each cup, a small kettle of already boiling water and a ramekin of dried tea leaves. Hall, tray in hand retraced her steps back to the meeting room table.

Captain Zseeq looked at the tray as the new XO brought it back to the table, helping to lower the tray onto the tabletop. Glancing at the cups and the tea diffuser, the Captain considered where to take their conversation next. "Commander, you're an expert in the Audacious, what exactly are we getting ourselves into and why shouldn't I just destroy it and get it over with like my Science Officer has suggested?"

"I'm an expert in the underlying technology Captain," she corrected him slight, "the Audacious is the closest we've gotten to making coaxial warp a possibility. Unfortunately, that information was lost along with Kettaract. We made small leaps forward with the knowledge that the USS Voyager brought back from the Delta Quadrant."

She proceeded to make tea while she spoke, "But, we don't know what went wrong with the Audacious. When you consider the other impacts that the test had, Starfleet has been keen not to test a new engine until we fully understand what caused the issues last time around. We've been theorising and running simulations on holodecks. Getting access to the Audacious may allow us to actually perform a real world test again."

"So, in other words, progress is the reason I shouldn't destroy it," the Captain smiled as he considered all of his options. "The Romulans don't have a lot in the way of ships in the Maelstrom, at least according to SI, so that's one benefit. The problem I can see is they don't have a lot in the way of territory either. They'll probably lock on and find the Audacious. Has the Commodore shared with you the risk of Romulan intervention and, more to the point, do we engage them if they do challenge us, Commander?"

"If the Romulans do know of the Audacious, I don't believe they currently possess the ability to reclaim it themselves or currently have the capacity in their fleet movements to effectively stop us." She stopped for a moment considering her words, "They may attempt - and rightly so given we are entering their territory - obfuscate our mission. But Command has made it clear we should complete this mission at any cost."

Zseeq considered the weight behind the answer, knowing full well that this could start a war between the Federation and the Romulan Free State. The Romulans weren't exactly a major power anymore since the collapse of their government in the 2380s, but they still weren't a group to be trifled with for no reason at all. If they did intervene and attack there would have to be a plan.

"We'll need a cover story for this mission to justify our traveling into Romulan Space," the Deltan relented. "I'll leave that up to you, Commander. Was there anything else?"

"No Sir." she drunk from her cup of tea, "I suppose I best get unpacked and settled into my quarters before my first duty shift." Eve nodded to the Captain, placing her cup back on the tray and standing waiting to be dismissed.

Captain Zseeq nodded, politely, to the new Executive Officer. He looked at the display built into the tabletop, bringing up the cabin assignments, "Looks like they got you setup in the guest suites for now. The info should be on your PADD. I'll let you get to it, Commander," the captain said as he rose from his seat. "If you need me, I'll be in the Ready Room."

 

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