Data of an Empirical Nature

Posted on Sat Apr 20th, 2013 @ 11:04pm by Bail Donovan

1,845 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 82 - The Aggressor
Location: Wescott Room, Palais de la Concorde, Earth
Timeline: Concurrent

Slade Matthews stood from his desk as he tapped the button that would open a channel to his secretary outside, "Eric, how many of the Security Council Members are still on the planet?"

If the Council wasn't in recess right now, he wouldn't be asking, as all 13 members of the Federation Council's Security Council would be here. But, since recess had just been declared for 45 Earth-days to allow for the various Councillors to return to their respective worlds for various re-election campaigns, political events, family obligations and an entire slew of other things.

The young man responded, "It looks like St'Par of Vulcan, Bera chim Gleer of Tellar, Krim Aldos of Bajor, Kellerasana zh'Faila of Andoria and Dynkorra M'Relle of Cait are still on-world."

"Send to San Francisco to have them all report here to the Wescott Room in 2 hours." A brief pause, "Also, have the Ambassadors from the C'hakilian Empire and Krazzle Republic brought here as well."

"Understood, Mr. President. Will there be anything else?" The man sounded like he had a smile on his face as he tempted the President with his attitude.

"I didn't bring you from Alpha Centauri to Earth just to give me attitude. I could just call your mother and have her handle it." Slade was sitting again, picking at the food on his desk, "What did they bring me for breakfast today?"

"Uhm..." A pause as some computer commands could be heard, "It is called Yrshlkzm from Gnala."

"Okay, well send for some bacon and eggs please. I'm not eating something when I can't even pronounce the name properly."

"Sir, you do realize you have a replicator 10.5 meters from your desk? You know, that hole in the wall with the shining lights? You could get it from there." The young man enjoyed these daily bantering sessions with his boss.

"Yes, I do. And like I've told you countless other times, the food doesn't taste the same from that replicator as it does when it is made using the kitchen's replicators."

Eric rolled his eyes, "According to Captain Lessting..." he emphasized the next words, "of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, that replicator is calibrated to identical settings as the ones in the kitchen."

"I am sure it is, but I prefer the ones in the kitchen. Now, order my breakfast, or I'm making you sit with Federation Councillors all day to hear their grievances with this office." Slade responded.

"Understood, sir. Your breakfast will be here shortly." A few chirps could be heard in the background, "Sir, responses from the summons for a meeting in 2 hours in the Wescott Room have been received. All parties will be in attendance."

"Thank you, Eric." With those words, the President of the United Federation of Planets closed the comm with his secretary and turned in the chair to look out the window over the Champs-Elysées.

***Wescott Room; 2 Hours, 12 Minutes Later***

President Matthews arrived 12 minutes late to his own meeting. Which, wasn't all that unusual. 12 minutes was probably one of his best attendance windows for meetings like this. He spent the last hour going over certain data with specific intelligence analysts, to get a better understanding of what was on the PADD in his hand.

The President looked to his left at the portraits of previous Federation Presidents that lined the circular corridor that ran all the way around the building, he stopped for a moment at the newest portrait and smiled. He'd known Nan Bacco personally. They often made friendly wagers on baseball games, with him losing most of the time.

He straightened his posture and, flanked by his personal guard from Starfleet Security, entered the room. Both men took flanking positions outside the door to the Wescott Room.

As he entered, all of the beings inside stood respectfully. Slade held his hand up, "Sit down, I'd like to keep this somewhat informal as long as possible since I requested your presence during a recess to discuss something I don't want to issue either Presidential response to or an Executive Order about, just yet."

As he sat down, he continued, "This is our first meeting in an official capacity for me, so I'm probably going to muck up the procedures that you're used to." He paused, then added, "And you know what? I'm the President, I can do it any way I choose."

Everyone in the room, with the exception of the Vulcan representative, St'Par and the Tellarite representiative, Bera chim Gleer, laughed or chuckled at the obvious joke.

The Bajoran representative to the Federation Council spoke first, "Mr. President, first, I'd like to congratulate you on your successful campaign and election." Matthews smiled and nodded his appreciation of the sentiment as the man continued, "Second, without sounding rude. Why did you summon us all here? I see members of the Security Council and two foreign dignitaries. It just so happens that they are the two dignitaries that represent two powers that are currently at war." He paused, then added, "I was under the impression that the Security Council and the entirety of the Federation Council had already chosen a position on the matter; one of non-interference in a war between two sovereign peoples."

"I'm glad you broached the subject directly, Councillor." Slade picked up the PADD on the table and continued, "This PADD contains information that I received approximately twelve hours ago. Data that concerns the current war between the C'hakilian Empire and Krazzle Republic and how that war is being waged and with what resources."

The Vulcan, St'Par, spoke next, "The data contained on that PADD was provided by Starfleet Intelligence?" The President nodded and the Vulcan continued, "The veracity of the data has been confirmed?" Another nod, "If this session of the Security Council was convened to evaluate and assimilate the data you received, let us begin."

Slade regarded the Vulcan for a moment, he was very much no-nonsense. Now he knew where Sevlek got this trait, though it was probably a trait of the Vulcan people, rather than a trait learned from one's parents. "Very well." He entered commands on the table and the PADD's data were transferred to the projection systems of the Wescott Room. Another series of commands activated the holographic projector built into the large rectangular table they sat at.

It showed the original geopolitical borders of the C'hakilian and Krazzle governments before the war, in a true 3D view. The President spoke, "These, as I'm sure that all present are aware, were the borders of the two powers at the onset of the war, nearly 3 weeks ago." Some commands entered into the table changed the viewing parameters. They shifted the blobs of color into different shapes with the Krazzle representation encroaching onto the C'hakilian representation. "In three weeks, the Krazzle military has manage to either conquer or lay siege to 18 star systems with populated colonies or military assets. The Federation Council has classified both the Krazzle and C'hakilian military forces to be comparable to one another with no significant advantage in either party's favor. This amazing mobilization suggests that the Federation Council is misguided or unable to count."

Kellerasana zh'Faila spoke now, and as she did, she studied the hologram closely, "Do we have data on the movements of vessels and other military assets?"

The Krazzle delegate spoke next, his voice heavy in the accent usual with species whose native verbal communication didn't include the formation of words, but rather sound-structures. "The movements of our military forces are no concern of the Federation's."

The C'hakilian prince spoke, a little more emotional than necessary with virtually no accent, "I told you people weeks ago that they were receiving outside help. I was shot down because of a lack of evidence. It should be enough that our military forces are unable to keep solid defenses in every system and we've pulled back and consolidated our worlds close to the capital core. Defenses that have always been more than enough until now."

Of all the people to stop an argument, the Tellarite in the room, Bera chim Gleer interjected, "Gentlemen. Hostility will resolve nothing in this meeting. Facts are what we need." He turned to the President, "Do we have that information?"

Slade nodded as he entered other commands into the table's control panel. New lines appeared, lines reaching from as far away as the Romulan Empire, wrapping around the borders of the Krazzle Republic and C'hakilian Empires on the side farthest from Federation space.

Dynkorra M'Relle of Cait hissed, "This data suggests the Krazzle forces are receiving supplemental assistance from the Typhon Pact." He was a perfect model of the Caitian species. Thoughtful and polite, but aggressive when necessary. He turned to the Krazzle Ambassador, "Ambassador Hth'ren, how does your government respond to this information?"

The Krazzle growled, "I deny it." He stood and stormed out of the room, muttering curses in his native tongue.

The C'hakilian Crown Prince, Yinisl, stood, "I will remind you that I brought similar information with me to Earth."

St'Par spoke, "You brought no information with an empirical nature. You brought only hearsay provided by ship commanders that could no longer be contacted for verification after their reports were sent." The younger member of the C'hakilian royal family began to speak when the Vulcan held his hand up. He looked around the table and all four of the other members of the Security Council nodded to him. "However, we will look at this data in more depth and discuss our recommendations with President Matthews before recalling the entire Federation Council for debate on the topic of what assistance, if any, we are willing to offer your people."

The Crown Prince was seething inside. To be silenced in such a manner, by someone who was not of noble C'hakilian birth, was infuriating. He was sent here to learn though and instead nodded, "Thank you, Councillor St'Par." He looked to each of the other council members and said, "Councillors." Before finally looking at Matthews and bowing, "Mister President. If you will excuse me, I must make a report to my father on C'hakilia."

Slade watched as the man left and when the doors slid shut, he said, "You have eight hours to make your preliminary recommendations." Before any objections could be raised, "If I don't have anything in eight hours, I will sign an Executive Order authorizing the transfer of 29 starships and 4 starbases to the direct command of Admiral Sevlek, including Starbase 400 which will serve as the command point for the operation." He wondered how serious they'd take his bluff. The maximum number of Starfleet assets that could be activated by a president without a Federation Council vote and resolution was 29 starships and 4 stations of any type.

Matthews looked around the table one more time and said, "I leave you to it." He left the room as decisively as he arrived, leaving the five members of the Security Council still on Earth to determine if they needed to call all of their members back or not and then to discuss preliminary recommendations.

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