Two Queens Too Many

Posted on Sun Aug 30th, 2020 @ 9:13pm by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa & Commander K'Niras Sh'howul & Lieutenant Junior Grade Amanda Turell & Lieutenant Commander Michael Essex & Lieutenant Thavus th’Koruh

Mission: S01E05 ConQstador
Location: Rigel VI

==Back on The USS Musashi==

Essex stood, for his part happy to be going up to the ship. "You got it," he said. He was up on the ship in no time and back to the bridge. "Commander Sh'Howul," he started. "The Captain needs you down there. She's asked me to take command of the ship and you are needed down there. Coordinates have been set and are in the transporter room, Sir."

K'Niras nodded in response to Essex's words. "Sure... I'll head down there." He didn't want to just go down there blind though, and Essex hadn't offered any information at all. "So who is this queen?" he asked, checking the little bit of equipment he was carrying and his personal firearms. He also didn't want to go empty handed.

"She's human. Something is not right. A human as the head of the Orion planet? Careful. The Captain should not be there alone. I don't have to remind you that she's top priority. She wanted you down there for a reason."

The Caitian frowned, making his way toward the turbolift to head for the transporter room. "Human? Orions can be so odd. I'm not sure why they would make a human their queen though." He shrugged, his ears laying back against his head. "I'm headed down there now."

It was only once the Caitian was down on planet that Essex managed to relax in the command chair memories flooding back.

=== Palace ===

"Will you join me Captain?" The queen returned to her sofa and bade Fig to follow her.

"Yes, your majesty," replied Fig. I never thought I would have the honor to be in the presence of royalty thought Fig; however, she hardly saw this woman before her as true royalty. Nothing was adding up and zero plus zero was still zero in the 23rd century. She followed the woman and waited until they were safely away from the others.

Fig cleared her throat. "You know, as good as Federation intelligence is, we did not have much information about you. Actually, we do not have any. It was as though you had no existence before recently. We found no records that would seem to indicate birth. We do not know your actual name, and though you may look Humanoid, I am frankly not convinced; however, the Federation did not send me down here to challenge your rule over these people."

"Orions have a thing for secrecy, keeping their cards close to their chests," the queen replied. "Did you know in the past Orions would deliberately self destruct their ships rather than allow themselves to be caught?"

K'Niras stepped out of the swirl of the transporter, into the middle of the room the crew was currently in. His long tail swished back and forth behind him as he took in the scene in the "throne room". He smiled a little when he spotted Fig. "Greetings, Captain. I hope I am not too late to the party?"

Immediately noticing another unexpected transport, Jessop moved to place himself between this new arrival and the queen, drawing his weapon when he realised it was carrying a phaser. "Give me the phaser," he told the Caitian.

"You are not too late to the party, though this party is under control," Fig nodded with a smile. "It's alright, Number One. You can hand over the phaser, we're guests of the queen and she will not permit any harm to come upon us," the Captain said looking at Jessop.

K'Niras put up his hands when Jessop stepped forward, intending to show he didn't mean any harm and he quickly turned over the phaser when requested. "Glad to know that we won't be harmed. Sorry about the interruption. They should have set me down further away." He was still smiling a little, just showing his front teeth.

Jessop took the phaser then turned to Fig. "Tell me Captain, will there be any more armed guests arriving you haven't told us about?" he asked, somewhat angrily.

"Outside Jessop... Now," the queen told him.

Jessop bowed slightly before turning and heading out the throne room, taking a post the other side of the doors.

Satisfied, the queen turned back to Fig. "Where were we?"

K'Niras stood where he was, his tail switching back and forth behind him. He had been prepared for a little more to be going on when he arrived than just a meeting. His ears swiveled around, as he surveyed his environment curiously.

"We were at the point where you tell us who the hell you are and where the hell you came from," replied Captain Figueroa. "There is absolutely no information about you, none that the Federation can dig up. Hell, I even reached out to the Klingons. That is how desperate I am to know... and I am not too keen on the thought of some legitimate regime springing up seemingly overnight. What royal bloodline are you even from? What claim do you even have to this throne, your majesty?"

Fig was not one to mince words and she was not about to start sugar coating. "The Federation asked me here for diplomatic reasons, to forge an alliance, if I found you a legitimate ruler of this world, but we have no intelligence information on you. Not now, not prior, and I am beginning to suspect there is nothing to be found. We've rummaged through local transmissions, small comm chatter dating back to your sudden rise, some religious zealots of this world think you are some sort of God while others have portrayed you as a demoness," the Captain added swiftly. "So the question stands. Who or what the hell are you... your majesty?"

"Me... I'm just a humble woman, who decided to spite her loathsome excuse for a partner for leaving her by taking over an entire planet, if this doesn't get his attention, nothing will," the Queen replied, though her voice made it sound jovial.

"Take it from another woman with a complex relationship background," replied Fig. "You do not need to impress a man, nor get his attention. If he is not paying you attention, he does not deserve you. It should be him trying to get your attention, and only give it if he has earned it," added the Captain. "Though a woman, humble or not, does not simply seize control over an entire world seemingly overnight. So, my question still stands... what are you or where did you come from, because I am not accepting that you were born here and toppled the government regardless of how disorganized they were."

The Queen laughed. "Oh I'm not doing this to impress him, I'm doing it for fun. His idea of fun is gallivanting around the universe using his... skill to impress females of every species. Mine is messing with him and the balance of the universe."

"So, this is..." Fig examined the woman up and down. "This is not what you truly look like? You are not Human nor Humanoid. This is a guise?"

"I'm actually a big shape shifting lizard person from the future," she replied, though she laughed at the Fig's change of expression. "Oh you humans are so gullible."

Captain Donatella Figueroa was slightly amused by the statement, but not amused by the mockery and insult levied against Humans. "Do not mistake Human curiosity and open-mindedness for gullibility, your majesty," quipped Fig. "You may have a kingdom on this planet, a castle full of guards, but I have Federation starship in orbit and phasers that can be locked onto these precise coordinates. One order and they will level this castle and all the queen's horses and all the queen's men, won't be able to put this back together again," added Fig paraphrasing an old Earth nursery rhyme with her own spin.

She crossed her arms. "My patience is growing thin, your majesty, and the Federation is in a heated war with the Klingons. We needed this alliance with Rigel VI, but you are no Queen. You are no diplomat, and you have no legitimate claim to the throne. This world is not your playground and these people are not your pawns. You can dress up and play Queen all you want, but do so elsewhere."

"That's enough dancing for now girls, come back and join us," the Queen said to the assembled dancers, who swiftly returned to the sofas and the guests.

"Maybe you're right Captain. After all, this war proves to be quite an interesting one for the federation." The Queen stood up and started to walk away from the sofas. "You're going to need all the help you can get and you'll end up skewing your moral compasses quite a lot, but you'll pull through in the end... just." Passing through the columns she turned back to face Fig. "You have an interesting future, Captain. I hope to see you again one day." Before Fig could respond the Queen clicked her fingers and disappeared in a flash.

"K'Niras!" shouted Fig as she quickly advanced forward where the 'Queen' had just been standing only moments ago. "Commander," she said looking at her Caitian First Officer. "We are going to have lengthy reports to make to the Federation and Starfleet Command about this," noted Fig. She looked around, but the other woman was gone. She was nowhere to seen, nowhere to be found.

K'Niras had reached for his phaser and remembered it had been confiscated. He frowned and shook his head, his tail now lashing back and forth, showing his frustration. "Can we call up to the ship and see if they can trace the transport? That was a transport, wasn't it?" he asked, pulling his tricorder out instead and stepping closer to Fig, tricorder up and scanning.

Fig's mouth hung ajar as she struggled to respond to her First Officer. "I...I don't know, Commander. I really do not know" she replied. "Whoever or whatever she was, she's gone...but what now?"

Recovering a communicator, she quickly flipped it opened. "Landing Party to Musashi, come in Musashi" Captain Figueroa said. She waited a moment for a response, hoping that Essex would respond.

"Go ahead away team. Musashi here. Essex leaned forward from his command chair.

"Michael, I have no idea what just happened down here, but the queen is gone...just gone. We aren't detecting any sign of transporters, but please scan for any sign of a starship. Wherever she went, I think her reign has ended."

He doubted that anyone just disappeared. "I see. To quote a Vulcan, Fascinating."

After a minute had passed another flash occurred and two people appeared; one male one female, both Orions. They both looked around visibly confused "What are we doing in the old palace?" the woman asked.

The sudden arrival of folks was reassuring. These had to be governmental officials. "Captain Donatella Figuera," Fig said as she approached the woman, her hand extended. "You may want to take a seat. I'll happily fill you in on what I can, but we're here on behalf of the Federation on a Diplomatic Mission." Captain Donatella Figueroa had no idea how things would proceed, but if successful in negotiating neutrality or support from Rigel VI would be crucial to cutting off the Klingon expansion, potentially swinging the war back into the Federation's favor.

::END::