USS PATRIOT: Catherine's Office ("Historia")

From: Nai (naomi_lara_at_optusnet.com.au)
Date: Tue Jan 09 2007 - 03:40:07 PST


"Historia"
Con't from Erik's "Elsewhere in Esperion"

 
Location: USS PATRIOT
Scene: Catherine's Office
 
The drone of the streaming news report was a constant feature in the 
background.  It was the only way that Catherine could keep tabs on the 
situation going on below as she continued working.  She constantly had a 
nagging worry in the back of her mind, and felt frustrated that she 
couldn't act on anything.
 
All she could do was sit back, watch and wait for any eventuality.
 
The current situation however, was giving her a unique insight.  By not 
being directly involved with the happenings, it allowed her to develop a 
relatively unbiased understanding of the situation.
 
As far as she could tell, there were two antagonists - the government, 
and the rebel movement.  Both were using the religious upheaval to 
further their own ends, and both had much to gain by emerging victorious.
 
Catherine knew that the situation on the planet would explode.  It 
wasn't a matter of if, in her mind, but of when.  She was anxious, 
unsettled, apprehensive, and definitely couldn't keep her mind on her 
work.  Her thoughts kept turning to the situation below, and eventually 
she gave up the pretence of trying to finish her tasks. 
 
She would spare a little time with the dramas of Esperion.
 
"Computer, upload a synopsis of the political and military movements of 
Esperion over the five thousand years, or at least until records date."  
Sterling asked, as she flipped her braided hair over her shoulder onto 
her back.  "Summarise alliances, movements, motive and actions over 
defined time period.  Also note any religious connotations."  It was 
going to be a massive task, even for the super computer. 
 
[[Working.  Will have two point seven hours to compile.]]  The computer 
replied.  It was going to take her days to read all of the information 
and to make sense of it all, which she wasn't very confident of.
 
The intelligence operative replicated herself some J'Quari.  Kenta had 
given her a taste for it, but no matter how many times she tweaked the 
recipe, it was never quite as good as his version.  And Catherine wasn't 
going to ask him for it either. "Computer, are there any records in the 
historicals that may detail how this planet is supposed to be 
destroyed?"  She asked, then took a sip of the hot spiced tea.  Even 
though it wasn't great, it still brought a faint appreciative smile to 
her lips and her shoulders relaxed slightly.
 
[[No historical record found.]]  She had expected that.  It just would 
have been too easy otherwise.
 
Catherine frowned as she sat down behind her desk and pondered the 
meaning of the Esperion legend.  Was this apocalypse a literal event, or 
a metaphorical one?  Both ideas held merit, and there was enough 
evidence to back both core ideas.  Many cultures had reached their 
epitome of existence, only to have some sort of internal conflagration 
that resulted in its demise.  From the viewpoint of those remaining, 
they would well consider it a destruction of their world.   Civil war 
and disease were mostly to blame; but so to was the changing of social 
order, the changing of a religion, anything that could end life as the 
Esperion's knew it.  And any of the ideas were possible.
 
 From the other standpoint, if they were to consider a physical 
destruction of the planet, was it an endogenous threat, or exogenous.  A 
sun going super nova, a rogue asteroid or comet could cause 
destruction.  So could a massive upheaval of the world's tectonic 
plates, or a super volcano.
 
One thing Catherine knew for certain was that praying wouldn't alter 
their future.
 
The woman began asking the computer a battery of questions.  Were there 
any asteroids or space debris on an impact trajectory? Were the solar 
emissions stable, or was there any evidence that an instability was 
forming? Were there any changes in the light spectra?  Was there any 
evidence of machinery, life signs or power signals coming from the host 
of dead moons and planets that also inhibited the solar system?  Was 
there any evidence of other space travel or races coming by the planet?
 
She probed the computer's database thoroughly, trying to determine the 
most logical method of a planetary destruction.  Catherine just kept 
following trains of thought, and could only hope that she'll eventually 
find a lead.
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NRPG:  Just kicking things along
 
 
Naomi Lara
 
Lt. J.G. Catherine Sterling-Jade
Intelligence Operative
USS PATRIOT
 
And
 
Lieutenant Tellah 'Cal'  Callishendrack'Hylarmarishnakaashanah
Chief of Operations
USS PATRIOT
 
And
 
Commodore Teneill Danara-Bennow
Deputy Chief of Starfleet Intelligence


From HyperNews_at_youth.net 


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