Matters of Administration

Posted on Thu Jul 23rd, 2026 @ 2:22pm by Captain Piraa sh'Zamhlass & Commander T'Zara & Lieutenant Kiran Arai & Lieutenant Kokoruda Teyali

1,526 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Green Sky
Location: Epsilon Indi, Administrative Complex
Timeline: July 27, 2401 || 1030 hours

T'Zara stepped onto the transporter pad with Lieutenant Arai and Lieutenant Kokoruda. "Energize," she said once the Transporter Chief indicated it was safe to beam them down to the Administration Complex. She hoped the Administrator wouldn't give them too much of a hard time, but the fact was they were all going to die if that happened.

The columns of light off to the Efrosian Administrator's right barely caused him to flinch or react other than an obvious eye roll. "Oh no..." he murmured, feigning fear with a tone that was absolutely dripping in sarcasm. "Starfleet is here to save us from impending doom..." He ceased his mocking and dropped his hands to his sides at the sight of the Menthian, Bajoran, and Betazoid. "At least Starfleet didn't send humans down here."

"Administrator," T'Zara gave him a respectful nod and tone that did not match his, but was not warm and friendly. "If you are quite through with your pride and prejudice, perhaps we can save everyone?"

"Save us from boredom?" asked the Administrator without blinking an eye. "I only agreed to this test so that we can get our hands on one of those new quantum regulators. That's going to do wonders for our experiments out here."

"I would expect a little decorum from someone practically begging to be saved from boredom. Perhaps I'll report this to Starfleet and reevaluate your options. We can return in six standard months."

The Efrosian could only scoff and shake his head. "If only you could. Starfleet's not going to pause your test any more than they're going to force me to participate here. However, I do need that regulator, and that'll be the only thing motivating me today. Where is this... avatar of yours anyway? I thought that holo was supposed to lead this show."

"EDEN will be guiding and directing from the Valiant," T'Zara informed him, dismissing the useless banter. Her suit gave a beep and a waft of cold air, reminding her that not all species were as fortunate.

A white-bushy haired eyebrow rose above the administrator's left eye. "Guiding and directing? A holo?"

"An artificial intelligence designed to react and respond in disaster management and assist in many departments," T'Zara corrected him.

Teyali stood off to the side, observing as the pair sniped at each other. She'd bristled at the blatant Speciesism displayed by the Administrator. It was always a little shocking when experiencing it in the Federation. Growing up on Bajor only a few years after the end of the Occupation her people had gone through their own spat of nationalism. As a half human she wasn't Bajoran enough for a long time. Now here she was seemingly too Bajoran to be human.

Biting back her first thoughts, Tey's Diplomatic training helped remind her that getting into it wouldn't help the ultimate goal. And right now that goal was getting on with this simulation to test EDEN.

"Perhaps if we got on with it and focused on the situation at hand you'll get a better idea of how EDEN works with our departments in the field?" Teyali offered with a bit of a grumble. Considering what had happened during Frontier Day, she wasn't exactly excited for more integration, but that was above her head.

With a wave of his hand, the Efrosian grunted and said, "Very well. Get on with what you came to do." He lowered his hand before clasping them in front of him. He eyed each of the uniformed personnel present, especially the Bajoran in blue who seemed to be almost as disgruntled as he.

"Officially," mumbled the adminstrator, "we were running an experiment involving subspace field generators to take a deep look at the planet's core. One of our generators malfunctioned, and it is creating distortions in and around the planet. Our engineer hasn't been able to calm the unit down."

Kiran pulled out a PADD, and tapped away at some commands, which would be feeding into the simulation. The Administrator seemed to dislike humans. Given Kiran was a Betazoid, this technically made him look the most human of the three officers. "In that case, officially I can take a look at the generators, and see if they can be stabilised long enough for the evacuation." He rolled his eyes slightly.

"Are you prepared to begin evacuation?" T'Zara asked to get things back on track with the simulation.

A new sigh escaped the Efrosian's bearded face. "Yes, yes," he gruffed, his frustration quickly returning. "Prepared, yes, but only because one always must be ready to give subspace its room to work."

"Then let's get everyone moving to the transporters while EDEN coordinates," T'Zara said as she tapped her combadge. "Commander T'Zara to EDEN. Prepare for wave one of transports."

She looked at the two officers with her. "Get everyone moving and ready!"

Kiran looked to the Commander. "Yes Ma'am." He began to download the readings of the generator onto his PADD, so he could work on that while he was assisting with the evacuation.

=^= Given the time constraints, I recommend we direct the civilians to the geothermal caverns first. They offer the best structural protection if containment fails and the highest probability of successful beam-out even as conditions worsen.=^= EDEN's voice came over the combadge.

"Acknowledged," T'Zara replied. "Move out."

"There are thirty-six people in this complex," the Administrator informed T'Zara, whisking a long entrail of his moustache away from his chest before it could get tangled with his beard. "Not including myself, or your... Away Team. I would need two assistants to accompany me in locking our computers before transport."

"Lieutenants Teyali and Arai will assist you," T'Zara said. “I and E.D.E.N. will assist, but we must move quickly."

Arai nodded affirmativly. "Let's get this done Administrator. Can you take us to where your computers located?"

“This way,” the Efrosian muttered, not bothering to gesture to show a simple form of hospitality. “It’s worth noting that even though the research we are conducting is groundbreaking, the Federation hasn’t been able to spare many upgrades over the last couple of decades. Our computers are thirty years old. The storage array twenty-five, and the operating system is something we’ve had to patch a couple times ourselves.”

Within a couple of minutes, they had taken a staircase down to the lower level where their computer mainframe was located. The screens were alive with cascading data models and database rows, and several hatch covers were removed, revealing bays of isolinear chips and patch cables.

“We’re pretty good at keeping it running, but it’s not without its challenges.”

Kiran looked around, almost in awe, as if the computer systems were part of a museum. These computers were built when he was only 7 years old. "The fact they're still running as well as they are are a testament to your engineering teams, Administrator." Despite the mans attitude, Kiran could respect decent engineering work.

“I would recommend a fractal encryption code,” said the Administrator, “as it is one of the most secure methods. While this planet is perfect for our experiments, we are very aware of our location. Don’t want anyone dropping by unannounced with these unattended. The problem is, our engineer retired a year or so ago and no one else knows how to do it.”


* * *

Back in the main hall, several non-human scientists looked towards the woman in the cryogenic suit. “When this is over,” an Andorian then noted to the Commander, “remind me to ask you about how that works. I might like to try something like that in this humid environment.”

Outside, a storm started to approach the administration building. There would still be a few minutes before it would hit, but those heavy clouds certainly were looming.

T'Zara looked over at the Andorian as her suit gave a chirp and an icy blast of air came out of the collar. She gave a toothy smile and nodded. "It is a breath of home," she said as she worked to ensure that everyone was on track.

"Remember to take only what you can safely carry," she reminded the others.

"What?" one of the colonists asked suddenly. "Are we not coming back when this simulation is over?"

"Do exactly as you would if it weren't a simulation, but go now," the Menthian Commander barked.

The Andorian and their team members nodded and set themselves to work. While others began to gather a few things from throughout the room, the Andorian disappeared into a side room to collect their belongings. Just as soon as they left, there was a yelp and a crash from the side room.

T'Zara turned to enter the room, hoping that she didn't have another emergency on her hands. "What's going on in here?"

Sadly, the Commander's hopes were instantly dashed. Standing in front of the Andorian were three Romulans, armed with disruptors that were trained on the spooked Andorian. One of those was repointed at the Starfleet Commander. "Epsilon Indi is under new management," said the ranking Romulan. "And you are prisoners of war."

 

RSS Feed