Convergence [2/6]

Posted on Sat Oct 3rd, 2026 @ 1:14pm by Captain Jaro & Lieutenant Harinarayani Khatri & Lieutenant Commander Riaani ek'Meru

1,027 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 1: The Fissure
Location: Deck 10 - Astrometrics
Timeline: 12 hours before arrival in the Orellia system; again

Jaro stepped through the threshold, the cool, low-lit blue illumination of the chamber bathing his crimson uniform. His intent had been simple and direct. Less than twenty minutes ago, via a brief audio chime over the ship’s internal communication system, Riaani had casually passed along an observation: Lieutenant Khatri appeared to have spent the better part of forty-eight hours virtually embedded in Astrometrics. The Kodaaj'ek hadn't known what their chief pilot was doing there—only that she seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the lab without break.

As a Denobulan, Jaro found the circadian necessity for daily sleep cycles an unfortunate biological circumstance, but as a Starfleet command officer, he was acutely aware of Starfleet Medical Regulation 33-B. Knowing Khatri's dedication, Jaro could hazard an educated guess as to what she was doing down here: running endless iterations of atmospheric entry models for Orellia IV. If she continued to burn the candle at both ends, Dr. Zhol or Counselor Elara would have no choice but to declare her medically unfit for duty due to acute fatigue. The cruel irony this would imply was undeniable: if Khatri worked herself into exhaustion trying to perfect the flight plan, she would be locked out of the flight console by medical decree and wouldn't actually be permitted to execute the very approach she had sacrificed rest to devise.

Under normal circumstances, managing fatigue and enforcing shift rotations fell squarely on the shoulders of the Executive Officer. The First Officer was supposed to handle such operational matters independently, escalating it to the Captain only if an officer proved obstinate or circumstances exigent. But Riaani had been aboard the Amazônia for only a short time, was unfamiliar with the finer points of managing a Starfleet crew and was likely unaware of the context of Khatri's stay in Astrometrics when she commed him. Throwing her directly into the deep end of unwritten Starfleet social nuances afelt profoundly unfair. Remembering his own days as a young Executive Officer—and the delicate balance between enforcing regulations and preserving the crew’s trust—Jaro had decided to take matters into his own hands this time. He would step in and then use the situation later as a quiet, one-on-one coaching opportunity with his new second in command on the finer points of being a Starfleet XO.

What Jaro had not anticipated was finding Riaani standing right here in Astrometrics beside the holographic dais, having clearly wandered down here by herself.

He caught himself in mid-stride, a brief flicker of surprise touching his eyes before his decades of diplomatic training smoothed his features back into an expression of colloquial composure. The glowing, golden projection of Orellia IV hovered above the central console, crisscrossed by dozens of overlapping blue and amber trajectory arcs. It took no great leap of intuition to realize he had walked in on a detailed walkthrough of the approach procedure.

Allowing the briefest moment of awkward silence to dissipate naturally, Jaro stepped up to the edge of the dais, placing his hands comfortably behind his back.

"It appears I have walked into a meeting of the minds." He offered Khatri a gentle, approving nod before turning his eyes toward his new Executive Officer. "Since you are here, Lieutenant Commander—and given that your people have long designated the Orellia system as a region best left undisturbed—I am exceptionally curious. Are there any specific insights or historical context from the Osha'Thaar archives that might shed light on the atmospheric hazards Lieutenant Khatri is working so diligently to get us through?"

If Khatri had been uncomfortable before she was downright squeamish now. Her entire life had been a very intentional ongoing tutorial on how to read a room quickly, down to an individual scrutiny of the key components, and so she had a baseline impression of Jaro that at least allowed her to be unsurprised by the timing of his arrival. That did not preclude an element of suspicion, since it seemed unlikely that the two most-senior members of staff had descended on her at the same time out of purely coincidental curiosity. At the very least, the Captain had thrust himself right into the topic Raya had been gradually working herself around to investigating herself and so, begrudingly, she afforded the man a brief nod of acknowledged thanks. ek'Meru's mannerisms were not confrontational in any way but they were difficult to decipher without prior reference material.

As if to demonstrate the point perfectly, the Kodaaj'ek swivelled to face the new arrival and afforded Jaro the same docile consideration she'd been confronting Raya with for the past fifteen minutes. The woman paused, turned her attention back to the projection and then adjusted her stance so that her body could follow. Then, bathed by the somber blue light, Riaani's expression lapsed into the prolonged pensiveness of someone retracing their own thoughts in an attempt to corral them into a coherent explanation.

"I have requested official documentation," she eventually revealed, her tone measured. "It's been some time since I've read over the records, my recollection is more a summary than a detailed justification. I mentioned to you," Riaani turned back to Jaro, "that this region has seen significant Borg activity for decades if not longer. This, of course, accounts for the residual technology your people are now utilising." The Kodaaj'ek's tone didn't waver and once again, Khatri was left to guess at whether the woman held an actual opinion beyond stating the obvious. "This planet," she gestured towards the screen, "was a known stronghold. If my memory serves me correctly, it has been speculated that they exacerbated the preexisting conditions to create an environment that made detection nearly impossible. It may be that they used it as a launching pad for ongoing incursions or perhaps they had some other use I'm not aware of. It's certainly true," Riaani added with deliberate precision, "that they faced very little opposition to warrant such extreme measures just to stay hidden."

[TBC]

Captain Jaro
Captain
USS Amazônia

Lt. Commander Riaani ek'Meru
On-loan Executive Officer
USS Amazônia

Lieutenant Harinarayani Khatri
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Amazônia

 

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