STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
"In Harm's Way" Part 16

Based on the Award Winning Star Trek the Next Generation Roleplaying Game published by Last Unicorn Games, 1999. Additional material taken from Star Trek Roleplaying Game by Decipher Inc. published 2002. Some setting information taken from the electronic book "The Dominion War Sourcebook: The Fires of Armageddon" by Steven S. Long, published by TrekRPG.Net, 2001 for Star Trek Deep Space Nine Roleplaying Game. Star Trek © and Deep Space Nine ® are trademark items of Paramount Pictures and used here only in the context of non-commercial private use online role-playing.


STARDATE: 55078. 5 - Somewhere in Breen Territory

Tha'thot Pran of Bota Rez stood in the Chamber of Decision and looked about the assemblage of officers of thot grade. He was one of them, had been one of them for many decades. They had chosen him to lead the military expedition to aid the Dominion Founders in their conquest of the Cardassian Union and the Federation. Slowly he held up both his purplish-blue arms to silence the august group of leaders.
"Brothers and sisters, followers of the Truth. I present myself to you this day to seek further support as the supreme commander of our military efforts now in progress along our trailing borders, I seek a vote of confidence for my continuance as the Tha'thot." He paused to watch the expressions on the faces of his peers in reaction to his words.
"I will speak," the deep voice of Thot Glar or Dosa Ghen cut the silence of the room like a disruptor bolt. All faces turned to the elder leader of the council. "I would draw everyone's attention to the fact that Thot Dos of Xilk Tre is absent from this august meeting." Thot Glar also waited in response to the whispered conversations that suddenly swept the room. When they subsided he continued, "Is that because the brot'kar of the Xilk Tre has already taken actions outside the tha'thot? Does this body of senior officers, this high war council or our chosen representative Thot Pran of Bota Rez not mean anything?" It is obvious that the elder Thot Glar is in pain as he makes his way to the center of the cavernous Chamber of Decision. Then standing beside Thot Pran he continued, "This man, this leader, represented us at the Battle of Cardassia Prime. Had not the lizard Cardassians betrayed their oath to the Dominion of allegiance we would be standing in the Supreme Secretariat of the Federation right now." Thot Glar paused for the laughter that flooded the chamber. "I have reviewed both the digital records of the battle as well as read the accounts of many of us that are here today that were present at the battle. Including the official record of Thot Pran. Had it not been for the Cardassian treachery we would not be here today, we would all be taken our fair share of the spoils of victory in Federation space." Again Thot Glar was forced to pause due to the outcry of the assemblage.
Changing track Thot Glar drew the attention of the assembled leadership of the Breen military to the fact that one of their number of missing. "Following the Battle of Cardassia the Federation Starfleet transported the Dominion's tha'thot or war chief to the Bajoran space station called Deep Space Nine. There, isolated from her staff and advisors, she was forced to sign a treaty, the so-called Treaty of Bajor that unconditionally surrendered Dominion forces acting within the Alpha Quadrant. The Jem'Hadar were taken into custody and disarmed. Our forces were given time to withdraw back into our territory - intact." Thot Glar walked to stand beside Thot Pran and slapped him heartily on the back. "This single man through his negotiation skills, insured not one Breen warrior was taken in to custody to stand before a Starfleet or Romulan judge to receive punishment for his or her actions during the war. The same can not be said for our Jem'Hadar friends, or from what my sources tell me even the Cardassians even though they handed the Battle of Cardassia to the Federation and its allies."
At this point Thot Glar walked to the edge of the Sphere of Speech to address the assemblage in a more personal manner. "Thot Dos of Xilk Tre openly seeks your support as the new tha'thot of our war fleets, our brot'kar. He has complained that we were denied our rightful spoils as compensation for the losses taken in battle to rebuild our state war fleets. He has sought the council and support of the august clans of Kethu Dar, Yec Tanta, Pej Roak, and my own Dosa Ghen, which is a wise and just course of action on his part. But what is not wise is to take his own clan's brot'kar independently into Cardassian space to take spoils for himself. He is not here because he is in Cardassian space in contempt of our agreement with the Federation not to seek retribution!" Thot Glar stopped to point as specific thots that are seated near the front of the Seats of Listening. "By taking his entire brot'kar into Cardassian space he runs the risk of making the Federation and the Romulans believe we are all in support of his actions. The Earthers and Romulans will believe that we, the Breen People are in full support of renewed military action against the Federation or the Romulan Empire. They will not see the movement of the hundreds of ships belonging to the Dosa Ghen as small commerce raid, they will see it as an invasion."
Then turning to his long time friend and political ally Thot Glar makes the anticipated announcement. "I give my personal support and the support of Clan Dosa Ghen to Pran of Bota Rez to remain our Tha'thot and charge him to prepare our clans for battle with the Federation and the Romulan Empire if they invade our sovereign space." The Chamber of Decision erupted in applause as one after another of the Breen chieftains to show personal support for the leadership of Thot Pran.
Pran raised his hands to request silence from the assembled body. "I accept your vote of confidence in my leadership in this time of crisis. I pledge, as I have before to not squander either the lives of your sons and daughters, or the ships of your independent clan war fleets. I pledge to you that I will seek what is justly ours, and I will always keep in mind the greater good of our people, our clans, and our common commerce when deciding on a course of action. I will not set the needs and desires of Clan Dosa Ghen over those of the community. But hear me, I will not sacrifice the needs and desires of the Dosa Ghen either. I will provide in exchange for your support." The overwhelming applause and calls of support forced Thot Pran to stop. Finally as members of the council left their seats to come to personally congratulate him it became apparent to all that the assembly was at an end and the Thot Pran had received his conformation of continued command of the combined war fleets of the Breen.

Tha'thot Pran collapsed on the metal bench of the reception room while his aides ushered his most loyal supporters back into the hallway. He was exhausted but excited by the level of support he had received in the Chamber of Decision. He rubbed the sides of his face, massaging the fibers of his flesh that worked as muscles in other humanoid species. The ice crystals that had formed on the metal bench stimulated the sensory organelles in his near naked flesh refreshing him. His thoughts drifted to the customs and environments of the species that dominated the trailing regions of the Alpha Quadrant. Breen were forced to wear their cumbersome refrigeration suits when outside their native environments. Since their movement into space and the exploration and expansion movement, Breen fashion had evolved a philosophy of "Less is More." What would be considered as being skimpy by other cultures was accepted as the norm on Breen worlds, the purple hairless, non-mammalian bodies of the Breen were described as mannequin-like by the species that had actually seen them outside their heavily layered refrigeration suits. Esthetically, the Breen were a handsome species physically. Their purple bodies were all to a person streamlined and well defined. The features of both the males and females were not sharp but subdued and pleasant to look upon although they appeared to be thin or emaciated to most other species.
"Tha'thot, Thot Narn is here to see you." Pran's aide brought him back to reality. Standing behind the aide was Pran's Chief of Information and long time clan brother.
"You look fatigued, have you just arrived?" inquired Pran.
"Yes Tha'thot, I have not absorbed nutrients in quite some time," smiled back the younger man.
"Come join me, I was about to refresh myself before you arrived." Together both Breen senior officers moved to the nutrient bath in the adjacent room. As Thot Narn deposited his bag and sash of office on a stool Pran waded into the dark gray sludge pool and reclined in the nutrients.
Narn carried a data display device into the pool and handed it to Pran before reclining himself. Pran scanned the data retrieved from the Keep of Information quietly while his friend absorbed his meal. Finally after a few minutes Pran asked, "Narn are these Ferengi figures correct, the Cardassians lost over sixty percent of their armed forces in the War?"
"Yes Pran, the Dominion was keeping with their agreement with us to reduce the Cardassian military to the point that our occupation would be effortless." Narn slid over to view the data display held by Pran. Once our alliance with the Founders was fully negotiated the Cardassian troops were transferred to the front lines and repeatedly placed in a position to be reduced in strength quickly. My Ferengi contacts estimate that of the twelve military Orders, combined they are now only able to field forty percent of their former strength."
Pran asked, "Are the rumors true, the field commanders are not respecting the Cardassian tha'thot's orders to reconsolidate and regroup?"
Narn shook his head vigorously, "Yes, our cloaked electronic surveillance ships are receiving indications that the surviving commanders of the Orders are ignoring Legate Jak'Karr's order to assemble at Cardassia Prime. Also just as you predicted the animals in the Tzenkethi Coalition are massing their ships on their Cardassian borders too." Narn then laughed his subdued laugh, "The Ferengi are most nervous about the Tzenkethi cat-men because for them to expand into Cardassian space would cut them off from any future profits to float to the surface in the ruins."
"The trolls are nothing if not consistent." Pran joined his friend in laughing at the Ferengi's expense. "What of the Breezi? What has their ambassador offered us today?"
"The insectoid is as hard to read today as she is every day. It is a blessing that the insects' telepathy does not work on us; otherwise they would be our masters as they are every other species spinward of us. She still does not see the benefit of an alliance with us in a move against the Trailing Species. The Breezi are content to expand at their scheduled rate. We are fortunate indeed that they require warm planets or our empires would be in direct competition."
"True enough my good friend, now back to the matters at hand. Tell me more of our Cardassian neighbors and what the Ferengi have learned for us."
"Your assessment that they are on the verge of civil war is correct. The Detapa Council has sided with the Federation seeking immediate economic and industrial aid, however Legate Jak'Karr and his militarists are concerned with the security situation along their spinward frontier. My contacts all agree that the word on Cardassia is that the Romulan thot named T'Cal has returned promising continued Romulan support for his government."
"For Legate Jak'Karr's government?" interrupted Pran.
"Yes. This is significant because the Romulans provided three of their brot'kar war fleets to the war effort against the Dominion. We have monitored what we believe the return of at least one of them back to our borders moving between Ferenginar and our space a few days ago."
"Their war fleets are much larger than ours, they have three times our numbers to each fleet. Over three hundred warships in a Romulan war fleet is there not?" questioned Pran.
"Yes. We believe that one of the three war fleets under Tha'thot Velal or as in their language "Ar'nal Belisarus Velal" is being stationed somewhere in Federation claimed space between our borders and the approaches to the Romulan Empire. We are not certain that the Federation is aware of this."
Pran interjected, "I can not imagine the level of trust between the Romulans and the Earthers being that great despite their current alliance."
Narn continued, "The current Praetor is a reformer and is very popular with the younger Romulans. He supports increasing contact with the Federation on equal terms. He is contemptuous of the Klingons and that has been a stumbling point diplomatically throughout the war." Then Narn allows himself to smile, "The Klingons are in turmoil with the return of the so-called common soldier to Qo'noS as their Chancellor. Although Chancellor Martok is a conservative and supports the noble families in the High Council, he is still an outsider. A self-made-man if you will. And adding to the stress is the fact that Martok came to power at the hands of Worf, the Klingon in Starfleet."
"The Klingons believe that Starfleet assassinated the former Chancellor to install Martok because he was a personal friend of Captain Sisko, the Deep Space Nine commander," added Pran.
"Precisely, the Klingon High Council is concerned about Martok's pro-Starfleet feelings. He was very outspoken in his admiration and affection for the Earthers he served with during the war."
"So sum it up for me," ordered Pran.
"We still have nearly one thousand ships at your disposal as Tha'thot. Two hundred of those are currently under Thot Dos' command probing the Cardassian frontier or conducting surveillance of the Tzenkethi Coalition and Ferengi borders. We have the renewed support of the clans so many more ships can be made available if we are successful in bringing profit to the clans that ally themselves to Clan Bota Rez. As is our way, the more successful the more support you receive."
"We know that the Cardassians are on the verge of collapse, and that the brutish Tzenkethi barbarians will swarm over them when they are weakened enough. Of the three Romulan war fleets we know approximately where two of them are. The third has probably been recalled to reinforce their Klingon border. The Klingons are also on the verge of yet another civil war and so will not be as ready to return to Cardassian space despite their love of war," thought Pran aloud.


If you would like to participate in this DS9 Pbem contact the narrator, there is always space for more.