[snip]

With a beep the comm call came through and on the tiny desktop for the Captain’s work was done the Commodore came up on the screen. Stones looked confused a moment given the angle, =/\= Uh good morning Captain Glen. Please correct me if I’m wrong but there seems to be a and unexpected angle and room sizing issue on my end. The room appears far smaller then what I recall the Mariner classes briefing room has, and you all look quite uncomfortable. Should I send an emergency engineering team over to fix your communication displays? =/\= He asked.

Cross quickly scribbled something on her Padd and passed it on to Glen ’ Just tell him there is nothing to worry about and get on with whatever he has to say before we go crazy ‘.

“No, that won’t be necessary, Commodore, but if you could make the briefing short,” Glen said. “It’s getting kind of crowded in here and I’m not sure we have room for a long briefing!”

“With that in mind I’d like to get quickly started,” Glen told the Commodore, “While we’ve been waiting, we’ve had a long discussion here already, and the main thing I wanted to ask was what would be considered a successful mission outcome here? Is this a rescue mission? Is it covert reconnaissance? Is it to promote the Federation values and technology? We are uncomfortable with the latter as these people have already made their views known with great clarity and certainty. Trying to buy them with beads and trinkets isn’t going to work. What happens if we find obnoxious or abhorrent practices? We aren’t the Galactic Police Force! The presence of a Federation starship is likely to inflame tensions rather than calm them. And if we find a natural disaster has occurred, or they have been kidnapped or attacked by some undiscovered alien power, we are only a single ship, and a long way from home. A disaster response would be better served by one of the many hospital ships. I have an excellent medical team here, but we have neither the beds, the supplies and equipment, nor the personnel in sufficient quantities to deal with that kind of event. And if we were to get into some kind of military stand-off, it is better to begin that right away with a show of force to intimidate an opponent; showcasing our weapons capabilities, rather than to limp away and tell them we’ll be back. The latter could actually lead to a worse situation if they decided we were easy prey. The only mission which makes any sense here is one of covert reconnaissance, and once again, an intelligence starship would be better equipped for that kind of long-range surveillance work.”

There was a problem with the subspace radio signal again. The image of the Commodore had pixelated and then the sound dropped out. Captain Glen couldn’t be sure if the Commodore had heard what he had said. He messaged NE Bell, the Communication Officer, on the Bridge =/\= Lt., this is an important briefing, can you please do something to strengthen and maintain the subspace signal. We need to get the Commodore back again. =/\=

Meanwhile, Glen didn’t want to worry Miriam, but he did feel like one of his episodes was returning. These had become familiar to the crew now and stemmed from the time that an alien ‘Ancient’ youngster, manifesting as a brain eating worm, had decided to take up occupancy in his head. While it was skilfully removed, clearly something of it had been left behind that did not show up on any scans or tests. From time to time, Glen would experience headaches, sickness, flashbacks and visions, and on two occasions, he had fallen unconscious. He would at least try to make it through this briefing today, but his lack of sleep was probably a contributing cause and he may need to retire to his Quarters.

The Captain couldn’t keep his worsening condition from Faith. His anxiousness at finishing the briefing quickly was a sign. Faith had seen the Captain have these relapses before, and she knew the other tell tale signs - like the way he touched his temple on the left side of his head. She forced a way through the throng to the front of the Ready Room and quietly said, “Your Ancient worm visions are returning… Someone else can do this… You need to rest!”

Faith, Yeoman