STF

RTF Chief's Office - Nakuto calls a truce (of sorts)

Posted July 12, 2021, 4:23 a.m. by Commander Kara Nakuto (Consultant Researcher - Yellow (Engineering)) (Sharon Miller)

Posted by Chief Warrant Officer Kodek Vonn (RTF Commander) in RTF Chief’s Office - Nakuto calls a truce (of sorts)

Posted by Commander Kara Nakuto (Consultant Researcher - Yellow (Engineering)) in RTF Chief’s Office - Nakuto calls a truce (of sorts)

Posted by Chief Warrant Officer Kodek Vonn (RTF Commander) in RTF Chief’s Office - Nakuto calls a truce (of sorts)
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Their last meeting had not ended amicably. In fact Kara considered a Klingon B’aht Qui challenge to be more cordial than conversation with Vonn. But this time her call was not a social one. It was business. And by approaching the RTF Chief in their office as opposed to the more vulnerable location of their quarters, she hoped that the Breen officer might find it less difficult to address her as a fellow crewmember instead of a presumed enemy.

Still, as she pressed the chime she found her anxiety sufficient to wish that she had brought along her bat’leth.

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant Researcher)

The door slid open silently to reveal the most spartan-looking office ever. A desk and two chairs in front of it. A very long rifle standing in the corner. And seated at the desk, hands flat on the desk and unmoving, was the Breen. There was no motion, no movement. As Nakuto came in the voice said “Commander. How may I be of assistance?” flatly and without emotion.

Vonn, RCO

Kara entered Vonn’s office as the ancient human might the proverbial lion’s den. It was a challenge that called to question decades of training and immersion into Klingon society, this attempt to adopt a more submissive demeanour. But it was of upmost importance that the RTF Chief hear Nakuto fully before casting her back onto the deck.

“I believe it is I who might be of assistance to you,” the half-Klingon replied, now clearing the doorway fully and standing to attention before the bare desk. “I have long admired the skill and precise training demonstrated by your agents, when engaged in battle with an anomaly. Our recent delivery to the base of several Abell-level entities was testament, I believe, to the talent, and the immense bravery, of your capture team.”

The unspoken ‘but’ was so glaring as to almost assume physical form.

“While at the starbase, I was tasked with overseeing the off and on-loading of anomalies. And while again I admired the courage and tenacity of the RTF officers involved, it appeared to me as if containment might be one area where your team could use some additional help. I have spent the past year on the Leviathan coming face to face with these anomalies, have made recommendations for, overseen construction of, even assisted in the application of, various forms of containment. And so I come to offer my own skills to yourself and to the RTF.”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant Researcher)

There was silence from the Breen for a long moment, then the voice said “Please sit.”

The half-Klingon shifted into the seat with an almost infinitesimal speed, as if one wrong move could trigger retaliatory movement from the other side of the desk.

Again there was silence, but the desk interface activated and files scrolled swiftly through the screen. Finally the voice spoke. “Current service aside… you have a history of insubordination and being led astray by your sibling. That pattern has lessened recently, true. So tell me why you want to join the RTF? Not why you feel you would be an asset… but why you want to be a part?”

Vonn, RCO

Her features illuminated at the mention of her sister, then plummeted to shadow with the question in its wake. Why did she wish to join the RTF? The self-identification of her corresponding skill-set was indeed a part of the reason. But there was also the other part. The part that would demand no less than the raw and unsanitised truth. What Kodek Vonn would do with that truth lay beyond her ability or her desire to control.

“Have you ever encountered a void, Chief Vonn?” she asked, knees drawing up underneath her chin as if the floor had suddenly become molten. “I do not refer to holes or gaps or other such spaces inbetween. But a void in its truest and most primal sense - an absence. Of life. Of time. Of existence.”
A pause as dark brown eyes locked on those shielded and unseen. And unreadable.

“It materialised first in a jefferies tube. Junction 37B. Directly across from the main sensor relay. Although I consider that detail a coincidence and nothing more. Clark went in first. Engineering officer. Young. Talented enough while remaining a team player. He was, and still is, a great loss. As was Majandra Guerin, my security chief and right-hand woman. And Akirel Ros, my…”

Words ceased on the threshold of her voice beginning to break, head bowed in a gesture of respect for fallen comrades and concealment for the threat of falling tears. When once again those eyes were lifted to the other’s mask, they would see a defiant fire beginning to kindle deep within.
“I was told, upon my return, that I had been lost within the void for an entire year. Although to me it had felt like mere seconds. And at other times like centuries. They tried to demand descriptions and assessments and data of my experience inside that endless abyss. But tell me, Chief Vonn, how does one find words adequate to describe the torturous infinity of nothing?”
She laughed. Dry and bereft of any trace of humour.

“Since me there have been others, too, who have escaped. Loki. And also Ros. But Majandra and Clark remain lost. Although I live in eternal hope.”

Her posture returned to attention, brown eyes now alight with determination.
“That, Chief Vonn, is why I wish to join the RTF. Because I have seen an anomaly from the inside out, have experienced, with every atom of my being, how the laws of nature and of science are perverted by its very existence. And until I gain an understanding of what these anomalies are, of where they come from and of what they want from each of us, then I will never truly escape the clutches of the abyss.”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant Researcher)

The Breen sat motionless for a long few moments before the voice said “That tells me why you want to study them. But why join the RTF? We do not study, do not analyze or seek truths. We track, capture, and transport. Failing that, we neutralize. We have no time for probing scientific questions… those we leave to the reasearchers. If you are seeking answers… perhaps the lab is a more suitable environment?”

Vonn, RCO

Nakuto frowned. Vonn’s thought processes appeared curiously, and rigidly, dichotomous. She wondered if this was a trait common to all Breen or something particular to Kodek Vonn alone.

“There is always time for scientific questioning, Chief Vonn,” the half-Klingon countered. “These creatures are as distinct in their individual requirements as they are in their capacity for destruction. And while a uniform and replicate approach may serve you well during capture, it is my opinion that such linear thinking leaves us vulnerable during containment. So again, I offer my skills to the RTF as both a warrior and as a scientist. So that I may continue to learn about these anomalies from every angle. And so that I may play my own part in keeping this ship, and the crew of whom I have come to care about deeply, safe.”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant Researcher)

There was another long pause and the the voice said “Have you reviewed past RTF missions, Commander? Not the operational reports… the actual helmet-cam footage? The RTF is far from uniform and replicate in it’s approach. As you say, each anomaly is unique. Each requires it’s own approach. And while you may believe that the RTF approach leaves the ship vulnerable during containment, I would remind you that our duty ends when the containment door closes with the anomaly on the inside. That being said… if you wish to train with us and go on a mission as an armed observer to see first-hand what we do… I will allow it. After you have trained with us and I know you will not be a distraction. Consider this an… internship… of sorts. If it works, you may find a spot on the team. I am sure your knowledge of the anomalies will prove beneficial.”

Vonn, RCO

The half-Klingon fell into silence as she considered Vonn’s offer. From starship captain to intern. How the mighty warrior falls within the shadowed grasp of the abyss. Still, there was a part of Kara intrigued, and more than a little excited, at the prospect of stepping away from her laboratory and into some action.

“On a ship housing such dangerous entities, does your duty ever truly end?” she commented, her mind recalling the most recent breach by the one they had come to know as ‘Dave’. “But it is not stabilised containment that concerns me, Chief Vonn. Durheim’s team are exceptional in both ingenuity and construction and I trust in the operation of their units. What concerns me,” she sat forward and pinned the RTF Chief with a solemn stare, “is that brief moment of exchange, that blink of an eye when the RTF steps back and the security team step forward. For if any moment was primed to see this fragile control shattered, then this moment would most definitely be it.”

“Control is an illusion, Commander. Learn that now. Our job is to make our illusion the most believable.”

Sitting back once again, she offered a conceding shrug. “Or perhaps my concerns are misplaced. Either way, I accept your offer of an internship, Chief Vonn.”

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant Researcher)

“Concerns are never misplaced. Unaddressed concerns are the ones that are dangerous. 0500 tomorrow. Holdeck three. Be there in workout clothes. No weapons. Acceptable?”

Vonn, RCO

The half-Klingon nodded her acceptance of the terms, then, with no desire to push the Breen into throwing her out once again, she quickly added, “Thank you for the opportunity, Chief Vonn,” and then made a quick but determined retreat.

  • Kara Nakuto (Consultant Researcher)

Posts on USS Leviathan

In topic

Posted since


© 1991-2024 STF. Terms of Service

Version 1.15.9