A Tale About Tejar

Posted on Mon Aug 24th, 2020 @ 4:14pm by Commander Temperance Zachary & Captain Aviram Drell & Lieutenant Commander Batu Ra-Ejine MD & Lieutenant Daisuke Hafan, 3rd Tribe of Bon-Hwa & Lieutenant Elijah Mitchell & Lieutenant Commander Cor Cordale
Edited on on Mon Aug 24th, 2020 @ 4:34pm

Mission: Episode 04: "Tempest"
Location: Observation Lounge, USS Vesta
Timeline: Day 1 at 0850

ON: [[Observation Lounge, USS Vesta, Mission Day 01, 0850 hours]]

Through the doors of the lounge, the form of Cor Cordale lumbered in, a thick tail swinging behind him gently with each step. First things first, the engineer made his way to the wall of replicators and snagged himself a cuppa', as it were. Strong, black, and spiced with the human spice known as cinnamon. A sip, and the Thux was alive again. He figured he was the first one here, which meant he could have probably gotten a few more minutes of rest. "Wallet sharks." he muttered, a curse if ever there was one. Oh well, he'd be a trend setter today, as he walked by the observation windows to gaze out to the streaking stars.

The methodical plodding and whoosh of the door opening announced the entrance of Hafan, whose head arrived an easy full second before the rest of his body. He made his way to the table and removed one of the chairs, opting to sit on the floor as he normally did. Settling his hind on the ground he leaned forward with his forward legs to pour himself some coffee. The drink, being a new experience for him since coming to the Federation held a certain excitement.

From one 'Not a Human' to the other, Cordale raised his mug to Hafan.

With a cup of herbal blend tea already in hand - spiced camomile, vanilla & roasted chicory root - Lieutenant Mitchell entered the Observation Lounge. This would be the first time he met most of the ships senior officers, including the Captain. To say that he was nervous was an understatement, hence the tea. That particular blend was supposed to have a calming effect, but right now it seemed to be having little effect on the young Lieutenant. He greeted the gathered officers with a shy 'good morning' and found a seat quickly.

Drell had always had a certain appreciation for staff meetings. Not only was the content itself often enlightening, but having a chance to connect with colleagues and make sure they were all on the same page was something he felt was important to the well-being of a ship’s crew. This was especially true in light of the fact that so many of the staff were new to the ship. Granted, he’d had a chance to speak with them individually via subspace and perhaps once or twice in person, but this was one of the first times they’d all be together in one place.

He entered the observation lounge at about five minutes to the hour. It would have been sooner, but he’d gotten caught up with yet another update from Starfleet Command. “Good morning,” Drell said by way of greeting as he moved toward the head of the table.

Following the Commander out of the turbolift from their conversation together Batu walked straight into the frying pan as it were. The Efrosian doctor had just arrived on the ship dressed in uniform, blue across the shoulders and upper chest. Taking a look around the room he eyed the assorted group of officers already present and nodded to the two non-human officers at the table. He had read about the unique species on the ship. Now he was excited and he pulled up a seat next to them and smiled. "Hello there, I'm Doctor Ra-Ejine. It's a pleasure to meet you both."

"Oi." Cordale offered in greet, along with a nod. "Cor Cordale, engineer extraordinaire." he chuckled. "Or so I've been told. It's good tah meet'cha." he raised his mug of coffee in salute. A large white mug with a cartoonish caricature of the officer holding it, giving two thumbs up. ne of the hands giving the gesture, much like the hand currently holding the mug, was artificial in the picture. Written around the image in bold text was the phrase, "Thux to be you".



Temperance walked into the observation lounge with Batu and offered a quick smile to the rest of the senior staff that had already arrived. With a quick round of introductions, she grabbed a cup and poured herself a hot coffee before sinking into a seat next to Captain Drell, picking up a PaDD that had been set on the table. "Right, if everyone's ready, we may as well get down to business.

She tapped the PaDD and the display screen on the wall changed, bringing up an image of a Cardassian in a military uniform. "This, is Breloc Tejar..." There was a moment of silence that seemed to increase the weight of his name as it hung in the air. "Breloc Tejar was a male Cardassian military officer during the mid-24th century. He served on Bajor during the Occupation where he held the position of military overseer. While he was considered a distinguished officer by the Cardassian leadership of the time, Bajorans remember him as having been among the most ruthless in his enforcement of law and policy as well as his overall attitude toward the people. It is believed that, by the end of the occupation, Tejar was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Bajoran civilians.

Sometime after the Cardassians withdrew from Bajor, Tejar resigned his military commission and disappeared from public view. It wasn’t until the early 2390s when Castellan Garak made the decision to open a full investigation into Cardassian behavior during the occupation that Tejar became a person of interest once more. Representatives of the Cardassian government reached out to their counterparts in the Federation to seek assistance in locating Tejar, capturing him, and bringing him to justice." She tapped at the PaDD again and a star chart appeared next to the profile picture. "We have been directed to the Tholian border region. Cardassian Intelligence has indicated that it is a significant region of interest in the search for Tejar."

As Zachary made the presentation, Drell watched the other members of his staff and observed their reactions. Much of what he saw was not unexpected. The horrors and atrocities of the Occupation of Bajor weren’t exactly a secret anymore.
In fact, there were those (Drell among them) who suspected Starfleet and the Federation had known more about what was happening than they’d openly admitted at the time. Certainly, in the years since, many of the shadows and skeletons had been brought to light. So the essence of what Zachary had just shared about Tejar’s crimes wouldn’t have been news to anyone.

Cardassia was looking to bring him to justice. Wow, that was something. "How close to the Tholains are we gettin'? I know dey don't appreciate visitors." Cor questioned. The horrible deeds this ... person... had done to those under him struck a chord with the Thux.

Batu listened quietly as the horrors of the Overseer were spoken of and his crimes were laid bare. It explained now what the first officer had told him earlier about their destination but it caused some concern, one which was just brought up. "I second that question Commander. And more importantly, if we are heading for the Tholian border region we need to consider the planetary conditions of where this crew might be searching. It's my understanding most planets in that region are class n and y like Tholia itself."

"Well if we're lucky, we're just gonna be *near* their space, not in it. Though, if this guy is cornered he may jump the border." Cordale suggested.

“Tactical has assembled appropriate equipment with dealing with both planetary classes,” Hafan piped up in a moment of silence. “And while there is hostility and talk of the nonaggression pact signed during the Dominion War, I’ve heard unofficially there is talks between the Tholians and Federation between two dunes,” Hafan stopped, cocked his head slightly, “Or back room politics? I am still learning your phrasing.”

"Our intent is to stay as far away from the Tholians as possible," Temperance responded, picking up the PaDD and thumbing into it. "The Federation does have a stance of nonaggression with the Tholians, I certainly don't feel like putting that to the test this week. We want to go in quietly, and get out quietly. Leave only footprints, take only memories," she quipped.

Lieutenant Mitchell sat forward. "Does intelligence indicate why he's out along the Tholian border?"

"Last place in the universe anyone's gonna look for him?" the Thux guessed.

“No doubt, lieutenant,” Drell said, acknowledging Cordale’s response, “The Tholians have a...different...understanding of how space works, specifically when it comes to borders and territories. For that reason, most tend to give the area a wider berth, just to be safe.”

"This is our location of interest. Xiu IIId." The map narrowed in on the third planet of the system. "The planet was previously inhabited. No one knows for sure what happened to the colony that was here, only that it was destroyed. No one on the colony was able to escape. There are of course about a million rumours, each one more fantastical than the next. Some stories blame the Tholians for attacking the colony, others blame Federation. While the region hasn't been specifically restricted, the Federation tends to chase people away that come poking around, as do the Tholians. There are some structures still intact and there are some interesting ruins and relics down there, so mostly it's just the odd archeologist, bounty hunter, pirate or Ferengi we tend to find looking for riches on the planet. Specifically, there have been recent reports of the same vessel being in the area on a few occasions. Intelligence seems to think that could be associated with Tejar."

Temperance glanced around the table. She knew a couple of the senior staff had already been given a heads up on Tejar, but the rest of them were coming in blind. Something that she was sure may have been a little unsettling. The intensity of the crimes that lead up to him being wanted across the galaxy was a reminder of how brutal they had been, and still had the potential to be, even if they were on better terms with the Federation, there was still lingering doubt. "Any questions? Concerns? Thoughts?" she finally asked.

Cordale examined the screen, listened to the mission brief, and his Thuxbrain started working, "I've... had previous experience with the Ferengi. If they're around, I can see if they know anything. If they're involved I..."

'We're here to announce another successful promotion to Foreman! Another mine has opened up...'
'C'mon! If they see you slacking off they'll punish you! Hand me that shovel, Cal! I'm gonna have to cut...'
'If we save our pay, we can buy our way out! Just the three of us.'
'Just the three of us...'

"... I'll handle them gently." Cor said, returning from his unwelcome trip down memory lane. It was a bad day to be an empath around the Thux. Normally he wore his emotions on his sleeve, easy to read, and easy to gauge the mood. Today, he was mailing out invites to a dark place, a mental memory of caves, tunnels, mining, and two other Thux. "So we think he's making round trips? Maybe he's using some dark cave or something as a storage cache."

Temperance's gaze fell on Cordale for a moment, her eyes narrowing slightly before she turned her attention back to the screen. "We'll have about 36 hours to prep for the away teams. I'll get information out to everyone as quickly as possible. I suggest you use the time to prepare and get some rest. I have a feeling we're going to need to be on our toes for this one."

Deactivating the screen, Temperance picked up her PaDD and stood up, giving a quick nod to Captain Drell before she started toward the door, the uneasy feeling settling in again.