Star Trek: The voyages of the USS Apollo

Chapter Ten: The Emergency Meeting

August 27th 2410

"Captain's Log: Star Date 387345.640. It has been two days since the Reptarian Empire received scans of our Warp Core from a gang of Drakor pirates. The news has hit the Crew very badly and morale is low. Ada is trying her best to help by doing funny impersonations of people she has met over the years and it has helped a little bit. But we have to focus on finding the scans of the Warp Core and deleting them. Captain Narcay of the Drakor Police has informed his Government of the situation and they in turn have informed the Shalari Republic and Reptarian Free State, who have sent diplomats to an emergency meeting at a trading post close to the border with the Reptarians. They understand the gravity of the situation just as much as I do and despite being from vastly different cultures and ways of life, we have come together to meet on how to stop the Reptarian Empire from achieving Warp 8 technologies and conquering this corner of the Gamma Quadrant. Hopefully the meeting will go well."

Port Mercuva was a large and populous station, with thousands of Reptarian refugees coming through each day to escape the fighting between the Empire and Free State to find peace and new lives in the territories of the Drakor Alliance and Shalari Republic. Across the halls and promenades of the station were stores that sold various trinkets and supplies. As well as restaurants and bars that sold a variety of different foods and drinks. But the U.S.S Apollo and it's Crew were not there for any of that. They were at Port Mercuva to meet with the diplomats on how best to stop the Reptarian Empire from harnessing the Warp 8 technology and conquering the stars.

At a round table in the Command Centre of the Station were the Senior Officers of the U.S.S Apollo and the ambassadors from the Shalari Republic, Drakor Alliance and Reptarian Free State. All of them were looking to Captain Rivers for an explanation about the threat that the Reptarian Empire now posed and would soon get their answers as he said "Thank you all for coming. As you all know me and my crew are from the Alpha Quadrant and are part of the United Federation of Planets. An alliance of various different alien races, united for the common good of us all." The Shalari Ambassador, aware of the Federation from Governor Salmar, then asked "Yes we understand. Now tell me. Just how is it that you people have achieved Warp 8?" Commander Alisha Flores then explained to the ambassadors "All member races pool their resources and technology together to achieve prosperity for all. It is thanks to this that we have developed ships capable of reaching up to Warp 10."

Impressed that the Federation had achieved that high of a Warp, the Reptarian Free State Ambassador said "Impressive Lieutenant. Perhaps we should do the same?" The Shalari Ambassador agreed and said "Yes. It would benefit us all and it could potentially improve the quality of life for all citizens. After all, it is the moral obligation of a government to make life better for the people by putting the people and their needs first." The Shalari Ambassador then looked back at Ethan and asked "So Captain. As we are aware, your Federation prohibits sharing advanced Warp technologies with any alien race that you consider you be of a lesser technological stage. Why?" Ethan wasn't sure how to explain, so he said "I believe my Chief Science Officer can explain that." The ambassadors all looked at T'Vrell as she said "Very well. When my people, the Vulcans, first confirmed the existence of Captain Rivers' people, Humans, we decided to wait until they developed Warp technologies. Only when Zefram Cochrane developed Warp 1 did we make contact. At the time, Earth had spent ten years recovering from a global conflict known as World War Three. It had lasted twenty seven years, resulting in the extinction of six hundred thousand species of plant and animal life and the deaths of thirty percent of the world population."

Gasps of shock were heard from the Ambassadors and the various onlookers around them as T'Vrell mentioned World War Three. The Shalari Ambassador was especially horrified as he said "That sounds terrible! I hope that your people did the right thing and provided aid to the Humans when you finally did make contact." Captain Rivers then said "Yes, they did. They provided aid to the countries worst affected and introduced advanced technologies that helped speed up our recovery. But they made sure to only give a few pieces at a time because they feared we would destroy ourselves if we got too advanced in too short a time." Curious for as to why, the Drakor Ambassador asked "Why exactly?" T'Vrell then explained "We were hopeful that we could guide Humanity to be less violent and more cooperative with each other. The Human Race was still violent in many ways at the time of First Contact, so we found it logical to give only technologies that would relieve the global post-war crisis. We helped them recover and by 2150, the whole planet had unified under United Earth. Which became a founding world of the Federation ten years later."

The Reptarian Ambassador realised why the Vulcans had been careful with what technologies they gave and said "I see. So you were worried that the nations of Earth would start fighting each other for the advanced technologies. So you made sure to spread morals of peace as well as introduce the needed technologies to rebuild the planet, allowing Humanity a chance to reach a Warp level society by themselves."

Everyone else in the Command Centre realised the same thing and mummers of approval were heard throughout the onlookers, all of whom listened well as Ethan said "Now you understand. When you combine good peace with advanced technology, you get a benevolent power that can help change the Galaxy for the better. But when you combine violence with advanced technology, you get an evil empire determined to conquer the cosmos. That is exactly what the Reptarian Empire has become and we must recover the Warp Core scans before they use them to win the war against the Free State and then conquer the rest of the surrounding star systems."

The Ambassadors spoke to each other for a few minutes, discussing what they should do in light of this threat. After much talk, the Drakor Ambassador said "We shall deliver your case to our individual governments. They shall decide on what action to take." Ethan was hopeful that it would be soon, so he asked "How long will it take?" The Shalari Ambassador answered "A few hours at best."

"Captain's Log: Supplemental. The Ambassadors have agreed to present our case to their governments and weather or not they do help us will be up to them. Hopefully they will and we won't have to charge into the Empire alone to battle them and recover the scans."

The Senior Officers of the Apollo had been waiting for three hours to receive their response when the Ambassadors walked back into the Command Centre. Relieved that the waiting period was over, Voq said "At last. I was beginning to think that you would never arrive." The Shalari Ambassador seemed apologetic as he said "My apologies. All of our governments had to take votes regarding the threat to us all." Hoping that that the Shalari, Drakor and Reptarian Free State were going to help, Ensign Jackson asked "So what did they agree on?" The Reptarian Ambassador sat down in her chair and explained "The votes have been unanimous. All of our governments have recognised the threat and have chosen to organise a joint military operation with the Apollo to recover the scans before the Reptarians can reverse engineer them." Looks of hope and joy filled the faces of the Senior Officers as Toral triumphantly said "Yes!" The Shalari Ambassador then sat down in his chair and explained "Of course the votes still have to be ratified, but already it is going to be a complete breakdown of relations with the Empire. Two non-aggression and non-interference deals will have to be abolished and the Empire will likely declare war on the Republic and the Alliance once we send in our forces to their Ministry of Science. In the meantime, to lead the assault, I'd like you to meet an old acquaintance of yours Captain Rivers."

Ethan almost gasped as he saw Kadari, the Shalari Defence Force Captain, now Admiral apparently, who the Crew of the Apollo had met when they arrived at Corva Prime. Ethan stood up and said "Captain Kadari. I did not expect to see you again." Kadari quickly corrected Ethan saying "It's Admiral now. I was promoted after defeating pirate raiders when they attempted to invade Corva Prime five days after your last visit." The two shook hands as Ethan said "I will be more than glad to work with you on stopping the Empire from reverse engineering our Warp technology. So what ships in your fleet will be assigned to this mission?" A state of shock filled the room as Kadari said "All of them."