10-27-2023, 03:15 AM
Having a week between launch and arriving at Desolatia III-B had given Nathan plenty of time to work on his department. Simulations, drills, exercises, and even patrols had filled up much of the new Chief of Security’s time. Getting to see everyone working together gave him even more of a sense of their chemistry, especially being underway and distractions at a minimum. There was time to tweak schedules and rosters to accommodate anything that he saw. Plus, the patrols gave him one-on-one time with people, and a chance for them to speak more freely. Even then, his work wasn’t done at the end of his shift. When he was supposed to be off-duty, he was busy filing reports, filling requests, reviewing results, and authorizing various things; the administrative stuff that never went away. Then, there was always the minimum twice daily workouts too.
Of course, he didn’t just spend time in his little realm, and there had been the occasional excursions beyond the hallways of the security or rec complexes. Trying to get to know his fellow senior officers had been high on his list. Though, admittedly, Nathan felt like he hadn’t necessarily been exceedingly good about his attempts. Aitrus and Silran were easy enough to talk to, with the Romulan Commander being a constant contact. And so too was Samantha, who seemed like she’d was accepting of Nathan. Marina, however, had been one person that Ramius was semi-avoiding. Not because she wasn’t nice, or because they didn’t jive. The problem there was they jived perhaps a little too good. That was a distraction that Nathan felt like he couldn’t afford. Spirit, on the other hand, had no such connection with Ramius. Most of their encounters had been brief and to the point, though not discourteously so. It was just that the Tactical Chief was busy, much like Nathan was. As he considered it all, perhaps Spirit saw Nathan as a distraction, like he had Marina.
During the quieter hours, when Ramius did attempt to find some rest, his thoughts often drifted. Sometimes there were intrusive thoughts, and those he had to fend off. Though not everything was negative. As was happening more often, Nathan found himself fondly thinking of his old crew. Giving each of them their own time in his mind, and adding things to put into messages that he would send them eventually. Especially a few special few that he didn’t just intend to keep in contact with, but with whom he wanted to spend time with when the Crusader returned to port.
If I’m lucky enough for those schedules to match up, he’d thought at the time.
The sound of a door swishing open brought Nathan’s attention back into the moment, and his eyes caught sight of Captain Colso. Respectfully nodding to Aitrus, he noted the smile on his captain’s face. It was a good sign, and brought the hint of one to Nathan’s face too. That was quickly tempered when results appeared on his console. Taking a moment to review the information, while still paying attention to what else was happening on the Bridge, he paused only when Colso gave the order to hail the planet.
Nathan’s attention refocused on the viewscreen, with a singular concentration on Minister Salinchar. The files on the minister felt rather sparse to Ramius, who had expected SFSEC or especially SFIC to have better been on top of it. However, with a reduced diplomatic presence on Desolatia, there probably wasn’t much of a chance to easily gather intelligence. Or, much of a reason to. What little Nathan had to review had painted a picture of Federation dithering on a planet with limited strategic value. As the Minister spoke, it was becoming more clear that the limp handedness on the part of the Federation had become a problem. Aitrus had been rather direct in his questioning of the Minister, which surprised Nathan to a degree, but he supposed that with the Salinchar being so forthright, that beating around the bush wasn’t needed.
[You may ask,] the minister replied, [but I believe that might be a matter for our meeting in person.]
Hmph… Nathan kept his face straight, but quickly keyed in a note for himself.
As Captain Colso discussed the revelations, or lack thereof, with the other senior officers, Ramius ended up taking a look at sensor details. His brows pulled down, nose wrinkled, and upper lip pulled up and separated from his bottom lip. Not wanting to believe the results, Nathan did a double check just to make sure that everything was correct. Samantha Colso revealed the reason for Nathan's reaction.
“It’s a large freighter and an escort,” she said. “And they’re Ferengi.”
Of course it’s the Ferengi, he mentally sighed, and tried to put his prejudices behind him.
Ramius had never liked the diminutive, hyper-profit driven, large lobed pests. There had been a few interactions where he’d met a Ferengi that wasn’t so bad, but those were few and far between. Most of the time, in Nathan’s eyes, they completely lived up to galactic perceptions of them and their culture. Taking a deep breath in, Ramius steadied himself at his station before deciding to pipe up.
“It’s worse than just a couple of ships I’m afraid,” he added to Samantha’s assessment.
“Our scans of Desolatia are showing that they are installing planetary defense cannons, and it looks like the Ferengi are the ones supplying them. If that’s the case, it isn’t a far stretch to assume that they are supplying other technology and armaments to the Desolatians.”
With his piece of information given, Ramius keyed in a quick message to his ACOS to prepare a series of security suggestions based on the available scans. Of course, Nathan knew how he felt about it all; the greedy imps were far from being trustworthy. Though, that wouldn’t be his actual assessment. There wasn’t any indication that anything untoward was going on. Instead, Desolations had reached out for help, and to a degree had been careful about who they went to for it. The Cardassians were just next door, and they could have gone to them. But they had been smarter than that. Or sort of smarter, against Ramius’ personal tastes. They went to a neutral power that wouldn’t rock the boat too much and create big political waves.
Of course, he didn’t just spend time in his little realm, and there had been the occasional excursions beyond the hallways of the security or rec complexes. Trying to get to know his fellow senior officers had been high on his list. Though, admittedly, Nathan felt like he hadn’t necessarily been exceedingly good about his attempts. Aitrus and Silran were easy enough to talk to, with the Romulan Commander being a constant contact. And so too was Samantha, who seemed like she’d was accepting of Nathan. Marina, however, had been one person that Ramius was semi-avoiding. Not because she wasn’t nice, or because they didn’t jive. The problem there was they jived perhaps a little too good. That was a distraction that Nathan felt like he couldn’t afford. Spirit, on the other hand, had no such connection with Ramius. Most of their encounters had been brief and to the point, though not discourteously so. It was just that the Tactical Chief was busy, much like Nathan was. As he considered it all, perhaps Spirit saw Nathan as a distraction, like he had Marina.
During the quieter hours, when Ramius did attempt to find some rest, his thoughts often drifted. Sometimes there were intrusive thoughts, and those he had to fend off. Though not everything was negative. As was happening more often, Nathan found himself fondly thinking of his old crew. Giving each of them their own time in his mind, and adding things to put into messages that he would send them eventually. Especially a few special few that he didn’t just intend to keep in contact with, but with whom he wanted to spend time with when the Crusader returned to port.
If I’m lucky enough for those schedules to match up, he’d thought at the time.
The sound of a door swishing open brought Nathan’s attention back into the moment, and his eyes caught sight of Captain Colso. Respectfully nodding to Aitrus, he noted the smile on his captain’s face. It was a good sign, and brought the hint of one to Nathan’s face too. That was quickly tempered when results appeared on his console. Taking a moment to review the information, while still paying attention to what else was happening on the Bridge, he paused only when Colso gave the order to hail the planet.
Nathan’s attention refocused on the viewscreen, with a singular concentration on Minister Salinchar. The files on the minister felt rather sparse to Ramius, who had expected SFSEC or especially SFIC to have better been on top of it. However, with a reduced diplomatic presence on Desolatia, there probably wasn’t much of a chance to easily gather intelligence. Or, much of a reason to. What little Nathan had to review had painted a picture of Federation dithering on a planet with limited strategic value. As the Minister spoke, it was becoming more clear that the limp handedness on the part of the Federation had become a problem. Aitrus had been rather direct in his questioning of the Minister, which surprised Nathan to a degree, but he supposed that with the Salinchar being so forthright, that beating around the bush wasn’t needed.
[You may ask,] the minister replied, [but I believe that might be a matter for our meeting in person.]
Hmph… Nathan kept his face straight, but quickly keyed in a note for himself.
As Captain Colso discussed the revelations, or lack thereof, with the other senior officers, Ramius ended up taking a look at sensor details. His brows pulled down, nose wrinkled, and upper lip pulled up and separated from his bottom lip. Not wanting to believe the results, Nathan did a double check just to make sure that everything was correct. Samantha Colso revealed the reason for Nathan's reaction.
“It’s a large freighter and an escort,” she said. “And they’re Ferengi.”
Of course it’s the Ferengi, he mentally sighed, and tried to put his prejudices behind him.
Ramius had never liked the diminutive, hyper-profit driven, large lobed pests. There had been a few interactions where he’d met a Ferengi that wasn’t so bad, but those were few and far between. Most of the time, in Nathan’s eyes, they completely lived up to galactic perceptions of them and their culture. Taking a deep breath in, Ramius steadied himself at his station before deciding to pipe up.
“It’s worse than just a couple of ships I’m afraid,” he added to Samantha’s assessment.
“Our scans of Desolatia are showing that they are installing planetary defense cannons, and it looks like the Ferengi are the ones supplying them. If that’s the case, it isn’t a far stretch to assume that they are supplying other technology and armaments to the Desolatians.”
With his piece of information given, Ramius keyed in a quick message to his ACOS to prepare a series of security suggestions based on the available scans. Of course, Nathan knew how he felt about it all; the greedy imps were far from being trustworthy. Though, that wouldn’t be his actual assessment. There wasn’t any indication that anything untoward was going on. Instead, Desolations had reached out for help, and to a degree had been careful about who they went to for it. The Cardassians were just next door, and they could have gone to them. But they had been smarter than that. Or sort of smarter, against Ramius’ personal tastes. They went to a neutral power that wouldn’t rock the boat too much and create big political waves.