Stardate: 80731:1300
Title: Silent Witness
Author: Ambassador Thessyr Tal
Time: Current
Scene: USS Relentless


Thess strode onto the bridge as the Theran ship was destroyed, the screen still polarized as the last of the blast died away. Surreptitiously he stood to one side, his purple collar and black uniform dictating what he was even though he was a memorable figure otherwise.

Deeply inhaling he lidded his eyes and visualized the Light, offering a quick prayer asking that the life of those slain be speedily sent to the Light and renewal.

He glanced to either side and noticed that one or two of the bridge staff had noticed him and with a nod and a smile, he gave them pointed looks at their consoles, reminding them politely that he wasn't the focus of the moment. With a conscious effort he reduced his already infinitesimal pheromone production to nothing and moved a little further into the bridge, remaining open to the impressions of the crew, the Captain and anything their erstwhile hostiles may give him. His mind, as a diplomat, analyzing the situation and looking for a peaceful solution, some kind of leverage. His mind, as a priest, dismayed at the unnecessary loss of life and looking for some spiritual element, some symbol or icon or legendary value. His mind, as a warrior, looking for an advantage, a weakness to exploit, something about their tactic. His mind, as a healer, horrified by the casual destruction of life these beings seemed capable of but carefully not assigning a moral or ethical interpretation of the unknown.

Black featureless shape, powerful weapons, seemingly immune to conventional defensive and offensive systems and the silent treatment; all in all it was an excellent combination to strike terror into others. Add to that the ability to jump between realities and the combination made them seem hopelessly superior.

But everybody had a flaw, everybody had something that defined them as individuals, as a species, as a spirit. Everyone had something that could be used against them as long as you could find it, think outside of your experiences and create a profile of what you knew.

Slowly he brought up his padd and began to put everything he knew so far into the program he used for negotiations. Essentially a highly complex database management system, the program looked for commonality and created statistical possibilities of the information it accessed and had entered into it. Sensor data, lack of sensor data, power signatures, tactics, similarities to other cultures and their ethical, spiritual and moral motivations; a vast array of data was leveraged.

Silently he moved to one side, out of the way, between workstations and within the peripheral sight of the Captain should he be needed. Despite the ship and the mission, it was amazing how little work he actually did for the ship. When this was over he needed to speak with the Captain about finding something he could help with, some other way to be useful.


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Ambassador Thessyr Tal
Diplomatic Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
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