Ensign Verato Sarjak - Not Our Own

[Renos]

((USS Blackwell, Conference Room 1))

 

::Ensign Verato Sarjak sat up straight in his chair, hands clasped before him on top of the table in the Conference Room aboard the USS Blackwell. Around him all the officers sat, waiting for the Admiral and Captain to show up and address them. It was a dicey situation they all found themselves in. One in which he himself was admittedly curious to see how it all played out.::

 

Verato: oOIt’s a deadly game we all play out here on the outskirts of space, isn’t it Verato?  It’s a dangerous balancing act of the will and mind, of truth and lies, of war and peace out here on the frontier of it all? So much more exciting than playing it safe wouldn’t you think Verato?Oo

 

::Just then the conference room doors finally slid open, snapping him back to reality as Captain Zaekia and Admiral Renos entered the briefing room together. As they sat at the head of the table, Verato shifted his full attention away from his  personal demons back to the grim matters at hand.::

 

Zaekia: Alight. Thank you all for attending. I appreciate we’ve all just been through quite the ordeal but we need answers. We need to know this vessel is fit for purpose and won’t let us down again like it has here today.

 

R’Ven: response

 

Zaekia: Engineering, let’s start with you. How bad is the damage and how long will it take us to complete repairs?

 

Yesna: ::Studying her notes::The damage is not as bad as first thought engines can be back up within the next couple of hours and the deflector will take around five hours to get it back up and running, but when we do return to a space dock I would recommend a full replacement. The power systems will need a few tweaks and bypass as we fix the dish. We could do all this with the help of the Consortium within 12 hours and we can be underway again.

 

::Verato did not think highly of the Consortium. Truly, he never had. But no matter how swift and charitable the Consortium might prove to be in helping repair the Blackwell, even the vaguest whiffs of undesirable intent he and the others had experienced thus far, was enough to put him on edge. Afterall, it was in Verato’s experience that such gestures, though sometimes noble enough in appearance, often times came with much more costly and unspoken price tags than one could easily afford.::

 

Verato: oOThen again, when one makes a deal with the ‘devil,’ it often doesn’t end well for the soul. Isn’t that right ,‘Old Friend?’Oo

 

::A grumble in his gut and a sour taste in his mouth were the only responses he received or needed.::

 

::The Admiral appeared to sour at this news slightly, but then Captain Zaekia peculiarly responded, as if somehow aware of nirs thinking on the matter.::

 

Zaekia: I know but we need their help, Admiral.

 

::Looking around slightly at some of the other officer's faces, he wondered if any others had found this a bit odd. He wasn’t sure what to make of it frankly. There was a beat of silence between the two highest ranking officers, before the Captain cleared his throat again and carried on with the briefing, perhaps a bit bluer ‘around the gills’ for whatever had just transpired.::

 

Zaekia: Sorry. Alright, let’s move on. I think we have a pretty good sense of where the ship is at right now and what sort of repairs timeline we’re looking at. Thank you, Ensign Yesna. How are things going with regards to the investigation into what happened?

 

::As he listened, Verato nevertheless felt that same gently irreverent tug at the back of his own craw that reminded him of the events at the product launch. He had not heard back from the mysterious young researcher Shalena yet. In truth, he wondered if he ever would. Perhaps she was not as eager to speak with Starfleet as he had surmised. Or, worse yet, maybe something unpleasant had happened once they had been summoned back by the Captain to regroup. Either way, he had seen no sign of her and his personal comm had had no message awaiting him. It was something deeply troubling to him nonetheless.::

 

Shayne/Thoran: Response(s)

 

R’Ven: Response

 

::Listening to the others report, Verato wondered even more than ever what the next plan of attack would be moving forward. Suddenly, blinking his eyes at that last notion, he realized the thought struck him too as a bit odd.

 

Verato: oOHere you are Verato, a diplomat, an envoy of peace, sitting here awaiting a new strategy of ‘attack,’ a new angle to work and win over your enemy. Maybe there really is more of Sar Jonn to your personality now than you realize. Perhaps one way or another,  no matter what we truly desire, we always find ourselves casting lots for our fortune and grasping at scraps of fate like spare rags. Perhaps you are no longer your own Verato. perhaps you never were. Perhaps none of us ever truly are.Oo

 

TAGS ANY

TBC

 

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Ensign Verato Sarjak

Diplomatic Officer

USS Blackwell NCC-58999

Andaris Task Force

A239403LA0