Space is Wide VI - A Position of Strength
"Let me help."-Edith Keeler
"A hundred years or so from now, a famous novelist will write a classic using that theme. He'll recommend those three words, even over 'I love you'." - James Kirk
=
SS Golfito - Underway=
"Tri-ox compound, 60cc's. Five thousand doses."
*Beep!*
"Hyronalin, 15cc's. Six thousand doses."
*Beep!*
Spacer (3rd class) Silar heaved a sigh and let his head fall forward to gently bump against the towering stack of medical supplies, reflexively avoiding bumping the augmented reality glasses he wore everywhere.
"I hate inventory," he muttered.
"Everyone does," said his Captain, Kate Meechum, "That's why we give the duty to spacers third."
Silar snapped straight at the comment , "Yes ma'am, Captain. Just..."
"Having troubles dealing with the disaster at home?" asked the Captain as she closed the distance down the aisle of supplies.
"Yes ma'am," said Silar, "And I don't get why we're even shipping this to Kelowna."
Captain Meechum cocked an eyebrow. "Great Bird of the Galaxy knows I'd have a stack of issues if something like that had happened to Earth and I'm from Vega. Go on?"
"Well, yes, we're under contract to by
Chirurgeons of the Stars, but why now? The disaster has already happened and local production is making enough for everyone now. And that doesn't explain a thing about the ration bars and nutritional supplement shakes I was double checking yesterday. Those aren't even the right flavours for Tauni populations anyway. They were all vegetarian - not even simulated meat."
Kate leaned back on the other side of the aisle.
"Good eye," she complemented, "Especially for someone who's homeworld had a chunk of moon dropped on it. So, yes, everything we're shipping is useful in cleaning up the mess that happened at Kelowna and the aftermath. Atmospheric processors, drugs that help smooth out the problems that linger, food to offset bad harvests, spare parts for everything that's hard to make on site without special equipment, but what we're really shipping is strength."
"Strength?"
"Strength. The strength to be kind. You're right that the relief supplies aren't ideal for a purely Tauni population.You've seen the news about the Romulan-Klingon war, right?"
"A damn ugly fight. But what does that have to do with the price of glasses?"
"There isn't a fight that's clean, not really. The supplies are fine food, and frankly, if the protein synthesizers broke down, I'd eat them happily myself. What they are though, is from the subset of supplies that last and are inoffensive to both Tauni and Romulan pallets. The drugs are effective on both your own species and the Romulans. You can use every bit of it, but once there's something that starts to resemble a reserve on hand..."
"You, the Federation is actually prepositioning supplies for a Taunitarian mission so you can, what? Ride to the rescue of a people who have tried to kill you repeatedly? We aren't even close to the Romulans!"
"Sophontarian please, and no you aren't as close as Paddah. If we go in to Romulan space from the coreward side things will probably base out of there. That said, building a supply chain entirely on the fly wouldn't be 'prudent'."
Silar closed his eyes for just a moment and let the organization play out against his eyelids.
"So you're giving us more than we need, because you think it would be a good thing if we gave some of these supplies away too, in a disaster that doesn't even involve your government or mine at all."
"Keep it up Silar, and you'll make Spacer 2nd Class in no time," said Kate as she reached across and clasped him on the shoulder, "Take a three day leave when we get in system. See some old friends, reconnect. In the mean time, keep counting."
"Aye ma'am," he agreed as Kate left the cargo bay.
"They're mad," he said once he was alone, "Every one of them, and none have the same ideas, and the all end up going in the same direction, more or less, anyway. It's
something alright.
"Polynutrient solution, five thousand, one litre units."
*Beep!*
-0-
"Hey, Captain?"
"Yes Silar?"
"What the plan to move all of this anyway? Since we're moving on and most of the government shipping for the Federation is tied up on official jobs?"
"Ah. Well, if there's someone in the area who can do the work, they can bid on it. The Golfito isn't the only independent ship at this end of known space after all But, the Arcadian Empire was doing a whole bunch of auxiliary ship construction for the Romulan government. My bet would be that the Federation Council can find a way to get the use of those to start running supplies and putting together the basics of a trade network again in Romulan space. At least as long as it's safe enough to run cargoes through Romulan territory again."
Silar nodded then stopped as another thought worked its way through his mind. "Didn't you tell me once that your part of a trade order that historically ran supplies through war zones to keep civilization on Earth from collapsing?"
"Safe enough is potentially a very different thing from completely safe," conceded Kate, "We ship what pays and we ship what's needed Silar. If you remember that when the time comes and you'll go far."
"I still think you Federation types are all nuts, but hell if it isn't an appealing shade of crazy."
"You'll make me blush spacer. Now, I believe that you you're on plasma conduit duty this shift, so stop stalling and off you go."
"Aye ma'am."
-0-
It wasn't often that the
SS Golfito made port at anyone's home planet, give or take Vega, and Silar was taking shameless advantage of that three day pass he'd been granted to visit a bakery in the town he'd grown up in. He'd even be taking a box or three back to the ship to share. Not that he was picking them out, that was a job for junior enlisted. Silar was too busy being debriefed by his handler.
"And you say that there's no ulterior motive?"
"I didn't say that," corrected Sargent Silar, Tauni Space Gate Command - Military Intelligence branch, "There are plenty of thoughts about what they'd like us to do with the medicines and supplies. What there isn't are actual conditions. The whole damn ship, from the Captain down to the junior crewmen is certain that if they just give us the option to help out the Romulans, that they can work out a deal to pass the supplies along through the Ked Paddah, or the Arcadian Empire and that even if we don't they can still manage.
"I'd bet my next paycheck that they've got a similar set up ready to go along the Klingon border and possibly even ready to run up the Klingon-Romulan border itself chasing fires with an extinguisher."
"Your official evaluation?"
"They want us to talk. To them, to our neighbours, to our neighbours' neighbours, everyone there just wants to talk to everyone else. Different subjects, different end goals, but every single one of them wants to talk about almost everything. If these medicines are a tool for anything besides being tools for healing, they are tools to get us to talk to everyone nearby. We need allies anyway and this will help us make them. Take it and be ready to pass it along to someone else. If we're strong enough to be free, we're strong enough to be kind."
"Your position is noted Sargent. Now, get out there and enjoy your leave. Spacer third class."
