《Galactic Schizm》Nine
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The gathering in the Captain's ready room was less of a meeting and more of loud bicker-fest. Solomon and Priya were arguing over whether or not they should head back to Jorya and make a full report and swap out the crew full of scientists for military personell. While Solomon was quite adept at adapting, he preferred those from a military background. Priya arguing that this situation and this ship is entirely unique and calls for some unique thinking. She also added that people from military backgrounds tended to just follow orders and not think outside of their orders.
At the same time Amie was arguing with Tarvon about the interior design of the new fighters. Tarvon citing years of ergonomic research. He stood firm that everything from the materials and placement of the pilot's seat, all the way to the color of the indicator lights was maximized for ease of use and efficiency. Amie arguing that it felt like flying a fighter shaped laboratory. Nothing interesting, just plain boring.
The tactical officer, Tassos, was in a semi-heated discussion with the navigation officer, Aries Stewart, and the hangar master, Kelvin Finrey. Tassos pushing for an immediate jump to the Volma system to investigate. They had a one of a kind ship that could sneak in and cause unknown havoc for the Volmagari and possible shake them into peace talks. Aries and Kelvin both vying for an immediate investigation into all the systems that are now devoid of life since the Volma pushed through to look for clues and gather more information.
Pheny sat behind her desk, patience wearing thin, hoping that they would all just settle down and stop arguing. After several minutes of listening to the chaos around her, she had finally had enough. Pheny stood, straightened her uniform, and then grabbed a mug that was on her desk. It was a nice mug, emblazoned with the word Trinity across it. It was fairly heavy too so it should probably get the job done. Pulling her arm back she yelled as loud as she could muster, "HOY!!!!!" and threw the mug with all her might at an open section of bulkhead across the room.
A loud gong sound echoed through the chamber as the mug hit the bulkhead and dropped to the deck, not even shattering. Apparently someone knew how to make a mug, she noted to herself. Startled by the sudden outburst the room fell silent and all eyes turned to Pheny. Pheny looked around the room making eye contact with each person and spoke as calmly as she could muster, "What in the galaxy is this clusterfuck?" she asked rhetorically. Solomon began to speak "Well you see, what had happened was.....". A sharp look with a raised eyebrow from Pheny and Solomon decided it would be best to just shut up.
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Sitting back down, Pheny took a deep breath and began. "I think you all have some very good thoughts and opinions on our current situation with the exception of our fighter design" she said throwing a short glare at Amie and her Father. She returned her gaze to everyone else and continued, "I think it is important to communicate with the Alliance on our first steps here. I think it is crazy to think that one crew and one ship, no matter how advanced, can carry out anything without support." Tarvon cleared his throat loudly and addressed Pheny, "That might be somewhat of an issue." he stated.
Frustration filled Pheny's face as she again glared at the man, "What have you neglected to tell us now?" she queried. Tarvon sat up straight and looked around the room. "This war has been hard on the galaxy" he began, "But not for everyone. There is a portion of the Alliance command structure that kind of wants to keep the current status quo". This statement was met with somewhat angry retorts from Solomon, Amie, and Priya. The other officers in the room seemed unphased by the statement. Tarvon raised his hands defensively, "Just hear me out. The Alliance as currently constructed has seen somewhat of an economic boom during this conflict. Weapons need to be built, resources gathered and mined, and a hundred other different things that go along with a conflict such as this." He paused for a moment, noticing that everyone was listening now. "There are many highly influential people having an extreme uptick in financial prosperity, so long as the war keeps going." He added.
Pheny sighed heavily and looked Tarvon in the eyes. She knew the man. She had watched as she grew up his propensity for trying to keep a balance as much as possible. She also knew that.... "The Alliance doesn't know about the Trinity, do they?" A brief smile passed across Tarvon's face but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "If only your brothers were as astute as you Pheny. No, the Alliance is unaware of this ship. They are also, as far as I know, unaware of the light speed break through." he said. Once again Solomon, Priya and Amie broke into a chorus of accusations and anger. Tarvon suddenly raised his voice in a commanding tone, a complete departure from the used starship salesman act, "I do not apologize for any of my actions. There is something more going on with this war. Billions of galactic citizens have disappeared and the Alliance remains perfectly ok with that. The only people I could entrust this ship to are the people in this room. None more so than you Pheny. You have to find out what's going on here, or I fear the worst is yet to come.
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It was now Pheny's turn to get angry, "You just effectively turned us into deserters!! What if you're wrong? None of us will be able to go home without our lives being destroyed." Tarvon's eyes drifted down to the table as Pheny continued, "Not only that, but this crew and this lone ship are supposed to somehow, do what exactly? Win the war?" Tarvon looked back at her and calmly stated, "No one wins a war. The only thing you can do is get people to stop fighting and try to save lives." Pheny slammed her hand down on the table "SAVE LIVES!?" she yelled. "How many lives will I save with one ship?" Tarvon was somewhat taken aback at being yelled at by his daughter. Anger flared in his eyes before he quickly squeezed them shut and took in a deep breath. Opening his eyes he looked around the room at everyone and said, "Once, long ago, a very wise woman stated 'One being with a sharp stick and nothing left to lose can win the day'. This ship is your sharp stick. And sometimes the sharp stick doesn't have to be used as a weapon, but as a deterrent."
Pheny stared incredulously at the man. She found herself not completely disagreeing with him, but really wished he found another way to do all of this. "Dad, we will discuss this all later. what's done is done. We can't go to the Alliance without losing this advantage. I have heard all of your thoughts earlier, and you can come to me later for further discussion, but now I have to make a decision. We will investigate several of the systems that the Volma have emptied out. We need much more information before we go to the Volma sector." She stated. The rooms occupants all nodded and replied with a "Yes Captain!" even though some clearly had reservations. She began to delegate duties to the officers.
"Sol and Aries, I need you to look at the star charts and come up with list of systems that you think might yield any clues. Priya, see if this ship has any data stored on the Volma's binary communications. We need to start figuring out how to listen in, and maybe even communicate. Tassos, have every tactical system checked and double checked. Amie and Kelvin repair Sols fighter and make sure the rest are ready to go at a moments notice." Pheny stood up, holding her head high and said "Okay, let's get to work. Dismissed!" A few minutes later everyone had filed out of the room except for Tarvon.
Pheny tilted her head at him and said, "We have a lot of work to do, so can we continue this later?" Tarvon nodded in agreement and then spoke, "Much later. I have to get back to Jorya. I've been away too long and it may raise a whole bunch of red flags with the wrong people if I don't get back. I'm going to take the Detrimus along with a couple of my science team and get out of your hair." Pheny grimaced slightly, but acknowledged her Fathers statement. She walked over to him and gave him a hug, "I love you, Dad" she said, all the while wondering if this was the last time she would see him.
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