100070.7
CAPT Tungsten, D.
LOCATION Viggo System, Itrin Sector
MISSION To obtain information about the mysterious attackers of the Vesuvi system, who have also been apparently supplying their unusual technology to the rogue Cardassian faction of “House Arterius”.
OUTCOME Mission Success. While not the detailed dossier we would have preferred, the Azedi Confederacy has had prior contact with a ship matching the configuration provided by our sensor analysis. They are the Kessok. They are apparently also vulnerable to the type of computer attacks the Azedi have used in the past, and to the supernovas they seem keen to trigger. Approximate trajectory from their incursion to Azedi space has been provided.
KEY PERSONNEL
- RDML Bishop, S.
- CAPT Tungsten, D.
- CAPT DuBois, C.
- CMDR LaSalle, E.
- LCDR Reese, V.
- LCDR Bryant, O.
- LT Wind-People, A.
NARRATIVE After some initial asking around, the USS Dragon was given rendezvous coordinates for an audience with a delegation from Viggo. A relevant sidenote here, the government of Viggo considers itself to be the successor state to the entirety of the Confederacy of Azed, and their leader, Eraton, claims the title of “Grand Chancellor”. This ship and crew has encountered him before in non-hostile contact when performing aid missions in the wake of the Terran Empire conflict in former Azedi space around a year ago. Both interactions have been very transactional, though at least seemingly friendly on the surface. Grand Chancellor Eraton has ambitions both personal and for the people of Viggo that scale with his title, but he has dealt straight with us on both occasions.
Admiral Bishop was aboard for this mission, but stayed out of the negotiation purposefully, not least so that we may still have the “We will have to check with Command” card to play, if needed. He discussed with this officer and Captain DuBois some of the boundaries on this negotiation, and some advice, including that we should end things if the price is just too steep. The Admiral did monitor most of the discussion between us and the delegation from Viggo.
This officer began contact upon the ship being hailed, and was recognized by the Grand Chancellor from prior dealings, though with almost certainly purposefully misremembered surname. It is this officer’s opinion that the appearance of power and leverage is extremely important to the Grand Chancellor, so such a calculated but gentle slight was completely expected. This officer proceeded to offer a correction to the record with slight amusement, and introduce Captain DuBois, seated left, to the Grand Chancellor before making our request for information.
The silhouette of our mystery ship was transmitted to the lead ship where Eraton was speaking to us from. The Azedi mistrust of complex computing was put fully on-display for us as the surprisingly loud and slow process of rendering the image to a paper copy was made on their bridge, reminiscent of 20th Century Earth technology. At this point, we were told they would look into it, and asked what we offered in trade, to which this officer returned the question, asking them their price. The reply was twenty million tons of Neutronium or unrefined equivalent. Nevermind that it would take several human lifetimes to produce that quantity, even if the entire Federation was tasked solely to that goal, this would obviously destabilize the region, given the penchant for ship construction and slightly aggressive stance on Viggo. If this had been a final offer, we would have heeded Admiral Bishop’s instructions to walk away at this point.
With the line muted, a plan was formulated between this officer and Captain DuBois to come in with a much lower offer, and play to the Grand Chancellor’s desire to feel at least equal, if not superior, to the Federation.
Captain DuBois would make the counter-offer, stating that we could not possibly produce this amount, and apologized for wasting their time. This worked beautifully, as Grand Chancellor Eraton felt he had scored a political and PR victory here, feeling suddenly superior to the Federation. He asked what we could produce, and 700 kilos was offered.
Again, this gave the Grand Chancellor the opportunity to feel superior, which he enjoyed, and replied that our offer amused him enough that he would accept out of charity.
At this point, he explains that the Kessok invaded the fringes of Azedi space roughly 30 years ago, and as in the Vesuvi system, were tampering with the local star. The Azedi response was to “purge” the system of both the star and the Kessok, and they have had no further encounters. He explained:
“Their technology was significantly different from most. Their alterations to the star would have produced high levels of radiation. Less hardened warships than ours may have suffered ill effects. They, like all intruders to date, were unable to withstand Azed’s Light as delivered by our dreadnoughts. They, like you in our first encounter, were also unable to overcome the weaponization of your own computer’s hubris. Our intercept force sustained no damage in the engagement.”
So, this highlights several things. It matches our own limited data on their technology, a pattern of behavior, even if still lacking in motive, and that possibly launching an attack on their computers like the Azedi do could prove effective.
The location of this engagement, plus trajectory data was also given to us, showing a path beyond Azedi space.
RECOMMENDATION We should absolutely deliver the 700 kilos of Neutronium to Viggo in a timely manner, as it should do little to tip the balance of power given how they utilize it in nearly pure form for hull construction (thus not being enough for a single ship’s hull), plus keeping our word will be very important with them.
Next, strongly recommend that we dispatch a ship to the areas beyond Azedi space to see what we can learn about these Kessok. We need recon and intelligence here, signals interception would be a coup. It would likely be best to send in a stealthy ship for this mission before we attempt to figuratively knock on their front door. This officer believes we need more information before we know whether we should be seeking to degrade their ability to cause stellar disasters and transfer weapons to rogue Cardassians by force, or whether it is possible we may be able to talk and negotiate out of this. Knowing their motivations would help, but also having a clear location so that we may monitor their movements.
Of course, the Dragon is available to support such efforts, but this officer does not believe it is the ideal ship to take point on such a mission. Perhaps stationed somewhere nearby to be called in for backup if things go very wrong, or other support. It would be preferable to keep drawing an attack of Kessok ships off the table, but perhaps in some other capacity, this ship can serve as a distraction for a covert mission.
RECOGNITION All officers and crew performed to the high standards of excellence that we expect in Starfleet, but Captain DuBois in particular should be commended for his negotiating skills on this mission.
OOC Thank you @Serris and @kermit for this event! Mission brief posting | Log